Chapter 145: Let's Go Avenge the Chongzhen Emperor!

In Liaodong in April, though summer had not yet arrived by the calendar, the season of warm spring and blooming flowers had already come. Along both sides of the road, grass and trees were sprouting, green threads everywhere, a scene full of life.

The Manchu Eight Banners troops marched in formation according to the order of their banners. The Manchu Eight Banners were distinguished by banner colors, though they were not actually eight colors, but four — yellow, white, red, and blue — with four additional bordered banners: bordered yellow, bordered white, bordered red, and bordered blue, which had red or white trim added to the uniforms and banners of the four colors. Seen from afar, long dragons formed of four colors rolled across the Liaodong land, with neither head nor tail visible.

The scale of this Qing troop movement was unprecedented. From the Eight Banners Manchu and Eight Banners Mongols, two men were drawn from every three, concentrating more than sixty thousand elite soldiers. And the infantry and cavalry of the Eight Banners Han armies — the Obedient and Compliant Prince Kong Youde, the Cherishing Compliance Prince Geng Zhongming, the Wise and Compliant Prince Shang Kexi, the Continuing Compliance Duke Shen Zhixiang, and other units — were deployed in full force. The total strength dispatched exceeded one hundred thousand, and provisions and baggage were fully prepared.

For this minority dynasty that had grown wild in the northeast for decades, whether it could enter the Central Plains and become a powerful contender for the cauldron of the realm all rested on this single move!

As commander of the hundred-thousand-strong Qing army, the Prince Regent Dorgon, because his health was not very good, rarely rode on horseback during the march, and most of the time traveled in a yellow informal sedan chair carried by four men, with a yellow umbrella in front of the chair. In addition, he had a large yellow sedan chair carried by sixteen men prepared for himself, divided into bundles and transported by camels. There was also a great felt tent called a tent-palace, likewise carried by camels. These yellow implements had all been taken from the imperial storehouses, old items that Hong Taiji had once used.

He had not yet established his capital in Beijing, yet he openly used implements that only an emperor was permitted to use — it was hard not to set people's imaginations running.

The great army led by Dorgon had departed Shengjing, Shenyang, on the thirteenth day of the fourth month. Although Zu Zepu had arrived at Shengjing on the eleventh of the fourth month and met with Dorgon, agreeing on the matter of borrowing troops to suppress the bandits, Dorgon had still made preparations for both contingencies.

According to plan, the army was first to advance due west, then turn southwest — either to go through the Liaoxi Corridor and enter Shanhai Pass to join forces with Wu Sangui in attacking Beijing, or to break through the Great Wall in Jizhou or Miyun territory, advance steadily and methodically, and approach Beijing step by step.

The former was of course the most ideal. With the nail of Shanhai Pass removed, the Qing army could move in and out of the Central Plains along the shortcut of the Liaoxi Corridor. And with no worries behind them, they could devote full strength to seizing Central Plains territory.

The latter was far less ideal. With fifty thousand Ming troops at Shanhai Pass gripping their throat, their rear would remain threatened. Taking Beijing would not be much of a problem, but pursuing Li Zicheng with full force and rapidly expanding their territory would not be easy — unless they first eliminated Wu Sangui after dealing with Li Zicheng.

But after fighting Li Zicheng and Wu Sangui, how many of the Great Qing's Eight Banners troops would be left?

Moreover, if Li Zicheng unexpectedly defied Hong Chengchou's prediction and, after losing a field battle, retreated to hold Beijing, Dorgon would be at a loss. On one side, the strong walls of Beijing; on the other, the mighty pass of Shanhai. If a hundred thousand Qing troops had to storm and seize these two fortresses, they would likely be ground down until barely a scrap remained.

In other words, Li Zicheng was not entirely without a chance of victory — as long as Wu Sangui did not invite the Qing troops through the pass, and Li Zicheng did not attack Shanhai Pass but instead fought the Qing army beneath the walls of Beijing. Then victory and defeat would be evenly balanced.

Even if defeated, it would not be too disastrous.

So in the days after setting out, Dorgon had been restless, fearing that Wu Sangui would go back on his word, and even more afraid that Li Zicheng would remain immobile in Beijing.

Later historians all liked to regard Li Zicheng's lingering in Beijing and failure to attack Wu Sangui promptly as a great blunder. But Dorgon at this time was anxious precisely because he could not get news of Li Zicheng's eastern expedition.

Because in his view, it was fundamentally impossible for Li Zicheng to take Shanhai Pass in a short time without paying terrible casualties.

If Li Zicheng had that ability, Dorgon would not dare enter the pass to seek death!

A mighty pass and strong fortress like Shanhai Pass, defended by forty or fifty thousand troops — even if the Eight Banners troops attacked it, it would take a long, drawn-out campaign with heavy casualties.

On the fifth day after the Qing army left Shengjing, the morning of the seventeenth of the fourth month, the main force of the Plain White Banner, with the Prince Regent, the Heshuo Rui Prince Dorgon, had reached the banks of the Liao River. Once across the Liao River, he would have to decide whether to head for the Liaoxi Corridor or toward the northern foothills of the Yan Mountains.

It could be said that the critical moment deciding the fate of the Great Qing had arrived!

Just as the Plain White Banner troops were resting and eating, preparing to cross the river, Geng Zhongming, commander of the Eight Banners Han army, who as the army's vanguard had already crossed the river, suddenly came back to the eastern bank in person by small boat and presented himself before Dorgon.

"Reporting to the Prince Regent, good news!" Geng Zhongming, nearly fifty this year, still looked robust and solid, full of vigor, his square face glossy and ruddy, brimming with delight.

"What news?" asked Dorgon, his face sallow from several days of poor sleep.

"The Roving Bandit has marched out! His target is Shanhai Pass!"

Dorgon let out a long breath, pressed his palms together, and said, "Buddha be praised!"

"There's more!" Geng Zhongming said jubilantly. "Tianjin Guard has been taken by the Roving Bandit's great generals Li Guo and Li Yan! And while Chongzhen and the Crown Prince were fleeing by ship, they were ambushed by the Roving Bandit's female general Hong Niangzi — their ship caught fire and sank. The Ming has fallen!"

"Heaven blesses the Great Qing! Heh heh." A rare flush of color rose on Dorgon's sallow face, and his wide mouth grinned so broadly he could not close it. "Quickly, summon Fan Wencheng and Hong Chengchou."

Fan Wencheng and Hong Chengchou were summoned at once. Upon learning the news Geng Zhongming had brought, the expressions of the two men were quite amusing. Fan Wencheng was all smiles, beaming with joy. Hong Chengchou wore a mournful look, as if his parents had died.

Dorgon smiled and consoled Hong Chengchou: "Hengjiu, do not grieve. The Ming's fate is exhausted. Let us now carefully plan how to avenge the Chongzhen father and son!"

Fan Wencheng had never held office under the Ming, so he had no need to grieve for the death of his former sovereign. He said with a smile at once: "My Prince, since the Ming sovereign and his son are dead, and Li Zicheng has personally led a great army against Wu Sangui, what reason does Wu Sangui have left not to submit to our Great Qing? This subject recommends advancing by way of Liaoxi and encamping close to Shanhai Pass."

Hong Chengchou wiped his tears and said: "My Prince, this subject shares the same opinion as Grand Secretary Fan. Li Zicheng's campaign against Wu Sangui is a grave blunder. Wu Sangui has been driven into a corner and has no choice but to join our Great Qing. Therefore there is no need to detour around the northern foothills of the Yan Mountains — we should head straight for Shanhai Pass!"

Dorgon laughed: "Since you two are of one mind, then we march on Shanhai Pass!

In addition, send an envoy to tell Wu Sangui that our Great Qing wishes to join forces with him, together to avenge the late Ming emperor and the Crown Prince!"

At the moment Dorgon was making up his mind to avenge the Chongzhen Emperor and Zhu Cilang, Shanhai Pass was likewise falling into panic because Li Zicheng's personal expeditionary army was drawing near.

Li Zicheng's army was actually not very large. He had not brought too many troops to Beijing — otherwise the Chongzhen father and son, Zhu Cilang and his father, could not have escaped. On the day he entered the capital, including Liu Fangliang's force in the Baoding area, the veteran camp troops he brought numbered only sixty thousand. In addition there were the surrendered Ming troops of Chen Yongfu, Bai Guang'en, Tang Tong, and others — at the very most, no more than a hundred thousand.

But Li Zicheng was quite good at bluffing. A mere hundred thousand men were brazenly inflated by him into a host of a million, and it truly frightened quite a few Ming troops.

And this time, although Li Zicheng brought only sixty thousand men on campaign, he still spared no effort in blowing it up. Sixty thousand were inflated to two hundred thousand, and the men on Shanhai Pass all believed it — Shanhai Pass was so strong, the garrison was not small, and they were the elite of Guanning. Li Zicheng would not dare come without two hundred thousand men, unless he had become emperor and lost his head!

So the news that a "two-hundred-thousand-strong army" was sweeping in to attack Shanhai Pass immediately frightened the Ming troops occupying Yongping Prefecture out of their wits.

The calls to borrow Qing troops for aid, which Feng Yuanyang had suppressed, rose once again.

(End of Chapter)