Chapter 1036: Manchu Good Brothers (Seeking Subscriptions)

Dorgon's son Duo'erbo had been well and truly screwed over by a single remark from Heluohui!

He could find excuses not to attend the alliance meeting with Duoni and Zhulan, but could he skip the funeral of his own Ama, Dodo? If he didn't go, how could he still call himself a filial son?

So he had no choice but to temporarily hand over the reins of power to Heluohui (who had in fact been the one actually wielding power all along), and travel with Mulima by land toward Jianzhou City — they dared not take the sea route, for the remnants of Spain's Eastern Invincible Armada and the newly formed navy of Japan's Toyotomi clan were still active around the Japanese archipelago, and sometimes slipped over to the Joseon coast to raid. And after the Ming and Spain went to war, Duo'erbo's Kingdom of Joseon had cut off all contact with the Spaniards, expelled the Spanish merchants and missionaries from its territory, and was now in a state of hostility with Spain. Spanish warships would therefore also attack Joseon's warships and merchant vessels.

Traveling by land, however, took considerably more time. Duo'erbo and Mulima traveled for more than ten days before they finally made their way from Hanyang on Joseon's west coast to Jianzhou City on the shores of Lake Xingkai.

Jianzhou's defenses had "grown" considerably since the time of Dodo's death. No longer a lone fortress by Lake Xingkai, it had developed into a full fortress defense system. Within a radius of two to three hundred li around Jianzhou City, seventeen or eighteen small bastion forts had been built, using the surrounding mountains, forests, and lakes to their advantage, ring upon ring of protection around Jianzhou City.

Between these small bastion forts and Jianzhou City itself, more than a hundred farmsteads had also sprung up, all of them protected by ditches and earthen walls, and very solidly built.

Around the farmsteads stretched vast fields of newly sown wheat and rye. The tender green shoots had already broken through the soil, and seen from a distance, both sides of the road were a broad expanse of lush green, very pleasing to the eye.

The people living in this area were all the most reliable "Old Eight Banners" — that is, the former "Beijing household registrants." The "Beijing household registration" and the "courtyard houses inside the Second Ring Road" had now become the Xingkai Lake farm household registration and log cabins on the farmsteads!

Some of the Old Banners had no idea what they had lost, so every one of them was still cheerful. After finishing their farm work, they would tuck their hands into their sleeves and gather in groups along the dirt roads at the edges of the fields, asking each other for news.

"Did you hear? The King of Joseon came to Jianzhou City yesterday to mourn!"

"Not only heard — saw it with my own eyes. Wearing mourning clothes, with several dozen equally mourning-clad guards, riding hard down the main road from the southwest, straight into Jianzhou City."

"Wearing mourning? Then it really is a funeral. Who died?"

"Must be the Prince's E-niang who passed."

"Didn't the Prince's E-niang pass away long ago? The Grand Princess Consort living in Jianzhou City now is the old Prince's third successor consort."

"Then it's the Grand Princess Consort who's gone."

"What nonsense are you all talking? How could the Grand Princess Consort be gone? The Grand Princess Consort is perfectly fine. The Grand Princess Consort's maiden clan is Nara, Bordered Blue Banner, same banner as me. I caught a distant glimpse of her just a few days ago when I delivered game to the princely residence — full of vigor!"

"Then who died?"

Just as they were chatting, the company commander of their Old Banners unit came galloping up on a fast horse. Seeing the men squatting by the roadside, he roared: "Great mourning! Great mourning! The old Prince has formally passed away!"

Dodo's departure had truly not been easy! From his unofficial death to this formal passing, more than a year — nearly two years — had elapsed. His corpse had been lying in a coffin the whole time, dead beyond all doubt. Yet the Ming court simply refused to acknowledge it, stubbornly insisting that Dodo was still alive. Truly unreasonable in the extreme!

So when the news arrived, the entire Andong Army was instantly thrown into an uproar.

Since ancient times, people have only ever killed the living and kicking; no one had ever heard of the reverse — "reviving" someone stone dead. This Ming Emperor was truly absurd beyond all measure.

But what happened afterward left everyone somewhat at a loss. The Andong Army Protectorate actually "revived" Dodo as well, ceased issuing mourning notices for him, and all important documents issued by the Protectorate once again bore the title "Edict of the Grand Protector, Prince Jin."

Of course, there were no handwritten orders from Dodo himself.

No one, no matter who, could possibly see a Dodo who could move. If they did, they'd be scared out of their wits!

And so this Dodo had hovered between life and death for over a year, and now at last he could have a grand and glorious funeral.

Thus, inside and outside Jianzhou City, preparations for Dodo's grand funeral procession began once again.

Within the princely residence in Jianzhou City, Dodo's older sons — including Duoni, Zhulan, Duo'erbo, Bakdu, Ceni, and Zakdu — had all changed into mourning clothes and gathered in the newly arranged mourning hall, sighing and lamenting. Also present was an old monk — none other than Dodo's elder brother, Ajige.

"Amitabha. Old Fifteen can finally be laid to rest this time. This humble monk has already had the burial site chosen — in the Changbai Mountains. Not only is the feng shui excellent, it is also extremely secluded, guaranteed to never be found!"

Duoni was somewhat displeased by Ajige's words and snorted: "Why should it never be found? Is this something to be done in secret?"

"Well, well," Ajige said with a bitter smile, "isn't Old Fifteen the 'Gold-Touching Prince'? Shouldn't we take precautions?"

"What 'gold-touching'—" Duoni glared at his uncle. "That's a Ming slander against my Ama! My Ama does not dig up graves!"

"Fine, fine, he doesn't dig up graves. But he did his fair share of slaughtering cities, didn't he?" Ajige asked. "That's not slandering him, is it?"

"Well, well..."

Dodo was indeed ferocious! In all the years of fighting the Ming, he had slaughtered cities more than a few times, killing countless Han civilians.

Zhu Cilang had previously lacked the certainty of a quick and decisive victory, which was why he had delayed using troops beyond the passes. But now, by laying his cards on the table, Emperor Zhu had shown that he was ready for war!

Once the Ming army attacked Jianzhou, Dodo would likely be dug up and his corpse desecrated!

"It won't come to that — it won't!" Duoni gritted his teeth, sweeping his gaze over his brothers. "As long as we brothers are of one heart, we can certainly defeat Emperor Zhu!"

"Right! We can certainly win!" Zhulan was the first to second his younger brother. "Second Brother, I'll follow your lead — tell us how to fight! Should we strike first?"

Duoni turned and glanced at the old monk Ajige.

Ajige said: "Emperor Zhu would love nothing more than for us to strike first. What does our Manchu nation rely on to resist him? Superior numbers and stronger troops? Ha — how has the fighting in Mongolia been going lately? Are the black cavalry sent by the Four Northern Garrisons formidable or not? When our cavalry meets them, how confident are we? And in Nanjing there are even more formidable foreign-horse cavalry — all tall, powerful horses, charging like a sudden storm. Our warriors simply cannot withstand them!"

"Uncle, then how should we fight?" Duo'erbo asked.

"Naturally, a protracted war of maneuver — rely on Manchuria's open terrain, disperse the Ming army's strength, then concentrate our forces and destroy them one by one!"

Duoni nodded: "The late Prince said the same! The late Prince moved to Jianzhou precisely to give us more room to maneuver and shift."

Ajige shook his head. "Jianzhou is fine in every way, except that it's too close to the sea. Originally the Spaniards watched the sea routes, so it was absolutely secure. But now — what do we do about the sea routes?"

In truth, Ajige was overthinking it; he had made cross-sea landing operations out to be far simpler than they were. But Duoni was equally ignorant of naval warfare. Hearing his uncle's words, he too grew tense, glanced at Duo'erbo, and said: "Fifth Brother, the key to blocking the Ming navy lies in Joseon!"

Why drag Joseon into this again? Duo'erbo tensed up at once and stammered: "Joseon — Joseon is a small country, it can't hold them back..."

"It doesn't need to hold them back completely," Duoni said. "Just hold the western ports of the Korean Peninsula — Busanpo, Ulsan, Guryongpo, Wonsan, and the rest."

"Then — then what about Hanyang?" Duo'erbo asked.

"Of course we must be prepared to abandon it," Duoni thought for a moment. "As long as we hold Gyeongju in the southeast of Joseon, even if Hanyang falls, we can still tie down the Ming army. As long as the Ming cannot use Joseon as a springboard to attack Vladivostok, we have nothing to fear! Fifth Brother, we cannot just look after our own petty interests now — we must work together as one!"

(End of Chapter)