Chapter 549: Wavering

After the meeting, Gao Hongzhong attended to some administrative matters under his jurisdiction. By the time he returned to his courtyard residence in Liaoyang City, it was already dark. After several bondservants helped him change his clothes, Gao Hongzhong waved them away, then summoned another man who looked like a bondservant. This bondservant had a plain, unremarkable face and wore an expression of extreme caution.

With an indifferent look, Gao Hongzhong told the bondservant to enter the room. The bondservant came in bowing and scraping, closing the door behind him. The moment the wooden door shut with a bang, Gao Hongzhong's expression instantly changed, as if switching faces, and he put on a smiling look.

"My lord Zhou, at today's council of the Tatar Great Khan, Sahaliyan said that this year's harvest in central Liaodong has been poor, and the grain and fodder will be difficult to stretch until spring. There is also good news for you, my lord: Hetu Ala has been broken by the Dongjiang Garrison. The Tatar Great Khan did not send reinforcements to Sarhū, only dispatching an additional five hundred Han soldiers to Lianshan Pass, along with an extra thousand bondservants to transport gunpowder, firearms, and the like. Both Sahaliyan and Jirgalang proposed that the main army move to Gaizhou for a decisive battle with Dengzhou."

The bondservant, who had by now shed his plain demeanor, his eyes gleaming with spirit, asked Gao Hongzhong after hearing this, "Did they say whether they would go to Gaizhou or Haizhou?"

"They did not mention it, but at the very end, Huang Taiji asked Dorgon about the terrain of Gaizhou. In my view, Huang Taiji is already wavering."

The bondservant nodded thoughtfully and said, "Huang Taiji has been to Gaizhou many times and knows it like the back of his hand. Asking Dorgon now is actually a way of having Dorgon speak, to help him recall the surrounding strategic situation of Gaizhou and thus choose the most suitable battlefield. What did Dorgon say at the time?"

"Dorgon said that neither the east nor west side of Gaizhou is suitable for combat. The north is mountainous, and the area near Boluo Guo, thirty li to the north, could serve as a site for a large-scale decisive battle. He believes Gaizhou City itself is a suitable place for a decisive battle. There, the city walls can shelter the main army, and outside the city there are two layers of earthen walls. To the south, the Qing River serves as a barrier. They could wait at ease to strike the Dengzhou Garrison hard, and if necessary, they could also attack southward. From what I gathered, his greatest wish is to rely on the city for a stubborn defense at Gaizhou."

The bondservant lowered his head in thought. After a moment, he looked up and said, "Dorgon is dreaming. If the Later Jin main force went to Gaizhou, would Lord Chen ever go and storm the city walls? But the news is not yet confirmed, and transmitting it even once now is extremely dangerous. We will speak again when there is confirmed news. However, for your dedication, Lord Chen will certainly grant you even greater benefits."

"I dare not think of benefits. To drive the Jianzhou Bandits and Tatars out of Liaodong and restore our Han rivers and mountains—that is my lifelong wish."

The bondservant naturally did not believe him, but he offered a few words of encouragement nonetheless. Finally, he reminded him, "In the future, do not use words like 'Tatars' or 'Jianzhou Bandits' in your speech. If you say them too often, you might slip up out of habit and bring disaster upon yourself for no reason. When you are before me, just continue to use their honorific titles. We are in a business where one risks beheading; there is no need to be particular about such superficial things."

Gao Hongzhong hastily agreed. This bondservant before him was the man sent by Wu Jianzhong. He could speak fluent Mongolian and Jurchen, and his appearance closely resembled a Mongol. To outsiders, he was known as a Mongol who had come to serve Gao Hongzhong, thus resolving the issue of his identity.

This bondservant was a versatile operative from the Intelligence Bureau's action team, here this time to take on the critical role of information assessment and transmission. Not only did he obtain information from Gao Hongzhong, but he also needed to verify it through multiple channels. Because the area between Haizhou and Gaizhou was teeming with massed armies and scouting cavalry everywhere, transmitting messages was an extremely difficult task. In the end, he might even have to personally sneak back to the Dengzhou lines.

Gao Hongzhong was suspected to be Dengzhou's informant at the highest levels of the Later Jin. Most of the other high-ranking individuals were true Jurchens, who had a natural barrier with Dengzhou and were extremely difficult to buy off. The best targets were these Han people who could access high-level secrets.

Gao Hongzhong himself only had three hundred Han households under his command, similar to Fan Wencheng and Bao Chengxian. However, his seniority exceeded theirs. When Huang Taiji first came to power, Gao Hongzhong had also seen hope and served this wise ruler in his heart with all his might, including proposing the bold raid beyond the passes in the Jisi year.

In the years that followed, he offered Huang Taiji many pertinent suggestions and acted as a vanguard for Huang Taiji's political reforms, such as establishing the Six Ministries to weaken the power of the banners. If not for the emergence of Chen Xin, by this time in the original eighth year of Chongzhen, Kong Youde would have long since brought a powerful navy to the Later Jin, and Lushun would have already been captured by them. Gao Hongzhong should have been among the surrendered Han officials strongly urging Huang Taiji to advance by both land and sea to take Shanhai Pass directly (see "Memorials of Officials During the Tiancong Reign"), a group that also included Chen Xin's old superior, the current Assistant Regional Commander of Linqing, Zhou Hongmo.

But the rise of the Dengzhou Garrison denied Gao Hongzhong and Zhou Hongmo this opportunity. Their fates were all changed by the unexpected arrival of Chen Xin and Liu Minyou. Now, the Later Jin was besieged on all sides, and even central Liaodong was tottering. Anyone who brought up attacking Shanhai Pass again would simply be considered mentally unstable.

Gao Hongzhong looked at the man from Dengzhou before him. From the Dengzhou intelligence personnel he had come into contact with, Gao Hongzhong sensed there were many capable individuals among them, possessing all sorts of strange skills. This was only a glimpse of what he had seen. That high degree of execution capability also strengthened Gao Hongzhong's confidence in Dengzhou. Chen Xin had told him in Lushun that every era has its capable people and heroes; they just need a reasonable system to place them in the most suitable positions.

Although Gao Hongzhong was a Han, he deeply understood the situation within the Later Jin's upper echelons. For years, Huang Taiji had been constrained by the Eight Banners' feudal enfeoffment system and could not bring the full national strength of the Later Jin to bear. Many of the suggestions put forward by Gao Hongzhong and others were difficult to implement, which made him feel a profound resonance with Chen Xin's words. At the same time, he felt some unease. This time, two Dengzhou messengers had come, hiding among his retinue. They occasionally went out for activities but never told Gao Hongzhong about any other contacts. Gao Hongzhong could feel that they were in a state of high alert at all times, which also kept him in a state of extreme anxiety. However, he had already transmitted intelligence to Dengzhou several times and had boarded Dengzhou's pirate ship; now, he could only see this path through to the end.

By now, the sky was completely dark. The distant sound of gongs from the night patrol echoed from afar. The bondservant slowly let out a breath. "Huang Taiji is already wavering. This is actually an important piece of intelligence as well. Whether to send it out, let me think on it further."...

"The reserve troops from Linxian's Tunbao and the Zhending Mobile Corps Battalion have started fighting?"

Chen Xin hurriedly took the urgent report. This urgent report had been sent from Linxian, transmitted through the relay stations of the trading company along the way to Dengzhou, then shipped to Lushun, and finally delivered by fast horse to Guo'erpu. The entire process had taken no more than five days.

Wu Jianzhong said calmly, "The Emperor has lost his patience."

After hastily reading it, Chen Xin laughed and said, "He has indeed lost his patience. He has always been brooding over this thorn in the side of Northern Zhili, but he probably didn't expect this outcome."

Chen Xin handed it to Wu Jianzhong. Seeing that the final battle result stated the Zhending Mobile Corps Battalion had suffered over three hundred casualties, with the remnants fleeing toward Great Ming Prefecture, Wu Jianzhong let out a mocking snort.

"The Mobile Corps Battalion couldn't even defeat the reserve troops from Linxian's Tunbao. The Emperor should probably sober up a bit. But ah..." Chen Xin picked up another urgent report sent by the Intelligence Bureau from Tianjin. "The garrisons in Changping, Tongzhou, Baoding, and Miyun in Northern Zhili have all received troop transfer orders. Liang Tingdong also sent word that the Emperor wants the Ministry of War to mobilize ten thousand battalion troops. Besides these forces from Northern Zhili, there are also the border troops from Jizhen, mainly mobilized from Zunhua and Santunying. The Shanhai Pass Regional Commander's office has also received transfer orders, but You Shiwei is delaying on the pretext of grain supplies. The objective of these troops is unclear, but the greatest possibility is still that they are targeting us."

Wu Jianzhong said coldly, "A portion of the Northern Zhili troops has already been mobilized to pursue the roving bandits, mostly from Changping. Most of what the Emperor is mobilizing this time are probably phantom troops from various battalions. It would be good if two or three thousand of them can actually fight."

Liu Minyou frowned and said, "There is also intelligence from Shandong sent by the Foreign Affairs Department. Xu Congzhi has also received transfer orders, demanding he move the Wude and Eastern Depot river defense troops to the northern part of Jinan Prefecture and drive Geng Zhongming back to Qingzhou Prefecture. Xu Congzhi sent back a memorial saying there are several bands of roving bandits in the Henan region near southwestern Shandong, and he is also temporarily stalling."

Chen Xin smiled slightly. Since the main force of Dengzhou had been mobilized, the imperial court had begun some minor maneuvers. The troops from Northern Zhili and Jizhen were not worth fearing, but this time they were also mobilizing the border troops from Shanhai Pass, which raised Chen Xin's vigilance. Although You Shiwei had a rather close relationship with Dengzhou and was quite fearful of Dengzhou's military strength, and was currently dragging his feet without sending troops, after a long delay, other thoughts might arise.

Especially once the Liaodong sea froze, Dengzhou's troops would be unable to transfer back to Dengzhou in the short term, and even message transmission would become extremely difficult. If the Liaodong situation remained unresolved for a long time, changes would occur on all sides. If the Emperor used this opportunity to divide the internal factions of Dengzhou, supplemented by the intimidation of some border troops, then chaos could erupt in Denglaiqing. With the Dengzhou army in southern Liaodong unable to return for reinforcement, the morale of the troops would also waver. The several months of freezing period in between would be a test.

Liu Pojun, who had remained silent all along, said quietly, "My lord, why don't we strike directly at Haizhou? With the Dengzhou Garrison's current model, the infantry also possesses strategic offensive capability. Although they still cannot perform tactical maneuvers like cavalry, it is not infeasible in a strategic offensive. After defeating the Jianzhou Bandits as quickly as possible, we can transfer half of the combat battalions back to Dengzhou, and Dengzhou will be as stable as Mount Tai."

Chen Xin looked at the map for a long while. A fully flintlock-equipped infantry force, under a perfected organizational structure, indeed possessed strategic offensive capability. They could rapidly change formations while on the march, making it difficult for cavalry to succeed in sudden raids against the infantry itself. However, his infantry still included heavy infantry formations like pike squares. These infantry units were less capable than the fully flintlock-equipped troops in terms of mobility and transitioning from marching to combat. The overall mobility of the army could only be determined by these heavy infantry units. Moreover, Dengzhou's cavalry was still far fewer than the Jianzhou Bandits; apart from the cavalry battalion, only the First Guards Battalion had a cavalry company headquarters.

Facing an opponent like the Later Jin, whose main force was cavalry, the Dengzhou infantry itself did not fear their attacks. The key point still lay in the supply lines, because the Later Jin had strong city defenses and outer fortifications at both Haizhou and Liaoyang. The two sides were not engaging in a field decisive battle between main forces.

According to the assessment by the Military Orders Department based on intelligence collected by the Intelligence Bureau, the likelihood of the Dengzhou army quickly capturing key points like Haizhou, Niuzhuang, and Liaoyang after a rapid march, using operational maneuvers to draw out the Later Jin army and force a quick decisive battle, was very low. Moreover, the conditions for a decisive battle were unfavorable to Dengzhou.

In Europe during this era, for large-scale military operations, unless both sides had the will to engage in battle, it was very difficult for one side to force the other onto the battlefield. The same was true for the two armies facing off in Liaodong. Although the Later Jin army had the advantage in mobility, if the Dengzhou Garrison was unwilling to fight a decisive battle, it could rely on occupied military forts to wage a medium-scale war of attrition. Facing Dengzhou's defensive system, the Jianzhou Bandits could only withdraw. If the Jianzhou Bandits were unwilling to fight a decisive battle, they would retreat into central Liaodong, and after the Dengzhou army extended its supply lines, they would attack those supply lines to force Dengzhou to withdraw.

The climate of Liaodong was also an uncertain factor. The timing of the first snowfall this year was irregular, which could cause unpredictable results for Dengzhou's march and supply efforts. Therefore, Chen Xin was still unwilling to take risks, especially when attrition was to his advantage.

After once again steeling his resolve internally, Chen Xin slightly shook his head, rejecting Liu Pojun's proposal. He would not allow a non-critical provocation from the imperial court to influence his campaign decisions. Although he himself was also somewhat worried about Dengzhou, he had to suppress these emotions and not let them shake his determination. Moreover, he believed that the situation Huang Taiji faced was even more severe than his own.

But the trouble caused by the imperial court still had to be dealt with. Chen Xin turned to Liu Minyou. "Brother Liu, the logistics matters are now in order. I'm afraid you will have to return to Dengzhou to hold the fort."

Liu Minyou nodded. "Rest assured about matters in Dengzhou. Li Donghua, Song Wenxian, and I will handle the affairs there properly."

Chen Xin nodded. "I'll be troubling you, Brother Liu. I will issue a formal order for you to oversee all affairs in Dengzhou. All reserve troops stationed in Dengzhou and Penglaixian will be under your personal command. One reminder for you, Minyou: trust the Dengzhou reserve troops and the settlement households. Given the current situation in Dengzhou and Laizhou, reason less with those people; that will only complicate matters. Respond firmly to any provocation from any side, and things will be simpler that way."

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