Chapter 451: Eastern Route

Outside Yingzhou City, army banners stood like a forest. Huang Taiji stood on the hillock beyond the south gate, watching an endless stream of Great Ming commoners being escorted into the various camps under cavalry guard. Occasionally, those with relatives inside the city wailed loudly toward the city walls, but atop the walls there was only dead silence.

The plundering had yielded better results than Huang Taiji had anticipated. He had risked dispersing his forces to broaden the army's frontage. It was also extremely dangerous, but according to the intelligence they had received, the Ming Ministry of War had only just begun mobilizing the Dengzhou troops, and Dengzhou was over two thousand li away. Even without any preparations, marching a hundred li a day would still take more than twenty days.

So Huang Taiji intended to expand the scope further. Everything north of Yingzhou had already been stripped bare. Further south lay the Inner Great Wall, and the range upon range of towering mountains there made even Huang Taiji frown. Although they too came from deep mountain forests and had some intelligence support, this was still unfamiliar territory after all. No matter how much the Later Jin soldiers boasted of being wild boar skins, they still possessed basic human emotions.

Moreover, as always, the Later Jin soldiers fought with desperate ferocity only when driven by extreme need. The men had been starving for the better part of a year, with the old and young back home waiting for food, so when they entered the pass the whole army was like fierce tigers charging down a mountain. Now, after reaping considerable spoils, that barefoot-fearing-no-shoes edge had dulled. Huang Taiji could clearly sense the decline in fighting spirit across all the banners.

The only ones still brimming with zeal were the Bordered White Banner, the Plain Blue Banner, and Abatai of the Bordered Yellow Banner — the very ones who had been beaten most severely by the Dengzhou garrison over the past two years. Abatai was originally a fiery-tempered man whose ability in battle far surpassed those lesser beile. But over the years, he had suffered too many setbacks because of his birth. After Huang Taiji took power, Abatai's status was even lower than that of teenagers like Dodo. He threw two tantrums — once making the excuse that he lacked fur clothing and refusing to attend Huang Taiji's banquet, and another time listening to his wife and refusing to marry his daughter off to a Mongol taiji. Huang Taiji seized on these small faults, mobilized the revolutionary masses to deal with him twice, and finally he settled down.

Abatai said to Huang Taiji, "Great Khan, we have been inside the pass for over ten days. Since the Ming border army's elite troops have all gone south, we might as well plunder for a few more days."

Yoto, standing nearby, said, "The date was set long ago by the Great Khan. The difficulty is not here in Xuan-Da, but in Liaonan. We must exit the pass by early March. At the latest, we must reach Liaodong by the end of the month. Otherwise, the Dengzhou garrison and the Dongjiang garrison will turn Liaodong upside down."

After speaking, Yoto glanced at Abatai. For this incursion, Abatai, the Minister of Works, had brought every able-bodied male from his niru. Six niru, including bondservants, scraped together eight hundred people. Of these, about two hundred were actual Jurchen able-bodied men; many of the rest were Jurchen elderly and weak, the youngest thirteen or fourteen, the oldest over fifty.

Having been targeted and beaten badly by the Dengzhou garrison at Lüshun, Abatai's strength had greatly diminished. To say he harbored no resentment toward Huang Taiji and Haoge would be false. But he belonged to the Bordered Yellow Banner. Under the Later Jin system, he could not even collude with other banner lords if he wanted to. He could only swallow his grievances and defer to Huang Taiji and Haoge at every turn, positioning himself as Huang Taiji's trusted confidant. This change finally won Huang Taiji's approval. This time, he was specially permitted to bring more men and was given preferential treatment in the allocation of territory. Abatai had already seized two hundred Mongols and over a thousand able-bodied Han Chinese, along with more than two thousand elderly, weak, women, and children. Most of these people would starve to death along the way, and only the strong would remain in the end.

These able-bodied people would at least allow Abatai to restore his production capacity. The actual Jurchen warriors lost at Lüshun could not be easily replenished; they could only slowly be captured from the northern fish-skin Tatars.

Abatai held no respect for a junior like Yoto. After hearing him out, he did not argue. This was his principle now: listen more and speak less.

Huang Taiji turned to Abatai and said, "Old Seven, your losses at Lüshun were indeed somewhat heavy. Now the Western Route and Central Route armies have both converged on Yingzhou. My intention is, if you wish to gain more, go with Ajige and the others on the Eastern Route. Take your own troops and notify Ajige and the Third Beile. Tell them to change their plan — they need not come directly to Yingzhou. Instead, strike eastward and attack Hunyuanzhou, Lingqiu, Guangchang, and other places."

When he mentioned the Third Beile, Huang Taiji paused briefly. That Mang Gūltai had grown even more insolent now, echoing Daišan in every word, frequently bringing up the attack on Lüshun to rub salt into Huang Taiji's wounds, and doing so with great relish.

This time, Mang Gūltai was leading the Eastern Route army, and there had been no problems at all with his command along the way. In terms of pure fighting ability, he was far superior to someone like Dorgon. The Western Route, attacking Datong, was handled by Daišan's family — including Daišan, Yoto, Sahaliyan, and Šoto. Šoto had been reinstated, and this only happened after Yoto personally came to plead with Huang Taiji.

Yoto looked at Yingzhou City before him. The walls were packed with militia organized by the city. Facing these cities of the Central Plains, as long as the defenders had even a modicum of fighting spirit, the Later Jin army had no solution in this kind of raid.

Sure enough, Huang Taiji gave Yoto further instructions: "Beile Yoto, take Sahaliyan and Šoto and attack Daizhou. But the mountains south of Daizhou are complex terrain — do not advance further. Only attack the flatland forts and settlements near Daizhou."

Yoto hurriedly accepted the order. Huang Taiji finally turned his gaze to the two lords of the White Banners. These two had fought disastrously at Lüshun, especially Dorgon, who not only affected the entire army during the earthen wall battle but also showed cowardice during the subsequent retreat operations, falling far short compared to his other brothers.

After returning to Shenyang, Dorgon was punished at the Deliberative Council. He was stripped of his post as Minister of Personnel, fined three personally-controlled niru which were handed over to his elder brother Ajige, and made to present three saddle horses to every noble of beizi rank and above.

Dodo, because he personally controlled a banner, had the Plain White Banner which was in fact the most powerful of all Eight Banners. The Jurchen custom was to dote most on the youngest son, and Nurhaci was no exception. He was utterly indulgent toward this teenage youngest son, giving Dodo his last fifteen niru as well. Dodo's niru count had reached thirty very early on. These niru were all the most powerful ones directly commanded by the old chieftain — not only did they have large populations, but their warriors far surpassed those of ordinary niru. Huang Taiji's two Yellow Banners, at the very beginning, only had about thirty niru combined.

With the aim of dividing Dorgon and his brothers, Huang Taiji did not punish Dodo severely, only fining him some horses for privately withdrawing the White Armor Soldiers from the earthen wall. Thus Dodo bore little resentment, while Ajige even gained three niru from Dorgon. Huang Taiji struck one, soothed one, and co-opted one. The three brothers each faced different circumstances and could not unite at all — an excellent result.

Huang Taiji studied Dorgon for a few moments. This younger brother in his early twenties had a calm expression, showing no trace of the disgrace after the Battle of Lüshun. Huang Taiji had some doubts about Dorgon's skill in battle, but he rather admired this brother's cunning.

After a moment, he finally spoke: "Beile Haoge, Mergen Daiqing, Erke Chuhu, with Beile Haoge as the Regional Commander, lead troops to attack Shuozhou. Same as Beile Yoto's route — do not penetrate too deeply into the Inner Great Wall, and do not attack any fortified cities, stockades, or forts."

"Je!" The several men acknowledged the order in unison. Haoge answered especially loudly. He stole a glance at Dorgon, feeling rather pleased with himself. After Lüshun, Dorgon had been thoroughly suppressed and barely spoke at the Deliberative Council anymore.

Huang Taiji finally looked again at Abatai. "Doroi Beile, set out as quickly as possible. Notify the Eastern Route's Mang Gūltai, Beile Ajige, Doroi Beile Abatai, Bordered Yellow Banner Gūsa Ejen Beizi Darha, Plain White Banner Gūsa Ejen Beizi Ašan, and the others — they need not converge on Yingzhou. Lead your respective niru troops and each man's own bondservant forces, and raid along the line of Lingqiu, Guangchang, and Xinzhou. You may threaten Zijing Pass and Daoma Pass, leaving the Ming unaware of our main army's direction, and draw their reinforcements toward the various passes of the Inner Great Wall. All forces are to set out tomorrow. Return to Yingzhou before the twenty-third of the second month."

The Long Qibing column on the march had gathered up some horses along the way and was now a mix of infantry and cavalry. They were also the main force that had conducted the hundred-li night raid on Zijinliang. Having just been converted from infantry to Long Qibing, and subjected to Zhong Lao Si's terrifying training regimen, every man's stamina was formidable. Although winter marching was difficult, they could still cover fifty li a day.

Zhong Lao Si rode his horse. Seeing those horses with drooping heads, he cursed loudly, "What damn mongrel horses, slower than men on foot. Next time we'd be better off stealing mules."

The soldiers around him all burst out laughing. But these mongrel horses were indeed of poor quality — all seized from the bandits. The good horses had already become regular cavalry mounts. These mongrel horses were mostly cart-pulling horses the bandits had looted from wealthy households; their endurance and explosive power could not compare to warhorses. What the cavalry didn't want was dumped on the Long Qibing.

According to Zhong Lao Si's plan, the Long Qibing were to be multi-role troops, not merely mounted infantry. He had also written suggestions for improvement to the Dengzhou Aide Office. But faced with such horse quality, his regular cavalry training simply could not be carried out.

A staff officer came from up ahead. "Deputy Battalion Commander, ahead is the prefectural seat of Zhending Prefecture. Shall we continue marching today?"

Zhong Lao Si looked at the sky and said, "The main force will encamp on the spot. Send out picket riders to continue scouting Jingxing Pass and Gu Pass, and see if any Jianzhou bandits have reached there."

After speaking, Zhong Lao Si called over the quartermaster. "Contact the trading company in Zhending Prefecture. See how much provisions and fodder they can provide. Best if they can find some carts. If provisions are sufficient, I can transfer an extra company of reserve troops to go to Shanxi together."

The quartermaster shook his head. "My lord, if you intend to conduct sustained operations in Shanxi, we had best not bring the reserve troops. Today the picket riders encountered refugees fleeing Datong Prefecture through Daoma Pass. They say a hundred thousand Jianzhou bandits have already moved south to Shuozhou and may strike directly at Datong. All across Shanxi, the city gates are shut. Once we reach Shanxi, we certainly won't be able to buy grain, and it will be very difficult to contact the local trading companies."

Zhong Lao Si considered for a moment, then beckoned over the operations staff officer. "What's the latest intelligence from the forward pickets?"

"Ahead at Daoma Pass, refugees are surging like a tide. Some say the Jianzhou bandits have already breached the Inner Great Wall, others say they've gone toward Yanqing Prefecture to attack Juyong Pass. In short, all sorts of reports are coming in."

Zhong Lao Si looked again at the two agents from the Intelligence Bureau. The lead agent hurriedly said, "The roads through the various passes are blocked. The entire Datong Prefecture is crisscrossed by Tatar cavalry roaming at will. Our Intelligence Bureau people can't get through. It's been three days without any news from the Xuan-Da direction."

Zhong Lao Si scratched his head. This was his first time commanding troops independently. The safety of over two thousand men rested on him alone. What he had to consider went far beyond simply how to fight a battle. This kind of march was an even greater test for him — and this was in Beizhili, with the support of the trading company. If it were in impoverished Henan, he felt he truly wouldn't know what to do.

At this thought, he couldn't help feeling that Zhu Daichun didn't have it easy either. But the thought flashed by only briefly, and he immediately resumed his carefree demeanor. He said to the staff officer, "Any news from Dengzhou today?"

"Just forwarded today from the Zhending Prefecture trading company. The second batch of relay riders from the Military Orders Department has reached Zhending Prefecture. They've reported the march progress of the Dengzhou garrison's relief force for Xuan-Da. They set out from Dengzhou Prefecture just three days ago. The force includes three thousand from the Guards Battalion headquarters, one company-strength unit from the First Battalion, Geng Zhongming's Main Force Battalion, a temporarily organized Cavalry Unit from the Military Academy, and two temporary logistics battalions — totaling seven thousand nine hundred men."

Zhong Lao Si curled his lip. "Quite a few men, damn it, but distant water can't quench a nearby thirst. If they were in Zhending Prefecture right now, we'd have a proper fight with the Tatars. As it is now... Is Lord Chen personally leading the troops?"

"No. The Guards Battalion commander, Wang Zhangfu."

Zhong Lao Si heard this — so it was this old superior of his. He chuckled briefly, then said to the operations staff officer, "Wang Zhangfu can be trusted in a fight, but we can't count on him right now. Tomorrow, you'll go ahead with the picket riders. First, gather intelligence on Daoma Pass and Zijing Pass. If it can't be verified, send picket riders beyond the pass to scout Shanxi. We must confirm the exact situation of the Jianzhou bandits. Don't let me charge into Datong Prefecture blind."