Chapter 148: Prince Ding, Go Draw Some Hatred!

Though Thousand Years is a heaven-sent genius, when it comes to military formations he is still a layman.

After hearing the firelock tactics Zhu Cilang had assigned to the vanguard brigade's officers and men, Wu Xiang, Cao Youyi, and Wu Sanfu all sighed inwardly.

Firelocks are all about rotating volleys, keeping up a continuous stream of fire. Who ever heard of firing one volley and then jamming a two-foot spike onto the muzzle to use the gun as a short spear? Is this not pure nonsense? Are these roving bandits supposed to be musketeers or pikemen?

Besides, the turtledove musket is five feet five inches long, and even with a bayonet fixed it only comes to a bit over seven feet (the bayonet and the barrel overlap somewhat), so it is still far too short. And the turtledove musket is too heavy — twenty jin. With the bayonet fixed it is around twenty-two jin. What use is a gun that heavy and that short? Better off just using a waist saber!

All three men could see that Zhu Cilang was giving foolish orders, but none of them said a word — let those roving bandits go die! The more of them dead the better!

Seeing the three of them silent, Zhu Cilang naturally felt rather pleased with himself. The truth was he really did not understand firelocks. In his later life he had never even touched a pistol, let alone a rifle with a bayonet. What he knew of firelocks came from the story widely circulated online about the British lobsterbacks' devastating close-range volleys at twenty or thirty meters, and from the Russian military man Suvorov's famous saying: the bullet is a fool, the bayonet is a hero.

Copying the lobsterbacks and Suvorov could not possibly be wrong, could it?

So Zhu Cilang had mashed the two approaches together: simply fire one round at close range and then charge with the bayonet. After all, Hao Yaoqi's roving bandits had little time to master the complicated motions of loading and firing. If they were made to fire repeatedly they would surely fall into chaos. Better to fire only a single volley in a battle, then use a disciplined bayonet charge to defeat an enemy stunned by the volley.

In Zhu Cilang's thinking, the key to this tactic lay in two points. First, it must not fear the Manchu soldiers! That was crucial. Most wild firing on the battlefield comes from fear. To hold the single round until the enemy closed to twenty or thirty paces would require tremendous courage. Going weak in the knees at the sight of Manchu soldiers would not do!

And within the Hard-New Army system, the only officers and men who could be expected not to fear the Manchu soldiers were those recruited from among the roving bandits' old-camp captives.

Moreover, these old-camp roving bandits were willing to fight hand to hand, and their skill in close combat was not much inferior to the Wu family's household retainers. In the Battle of a Single Rock in history, had Wu Sangui not had Manchu troops to aid him, he would most likely have been cut down by the Shun old-camp soldiers!

So Zhu Cilang had decided to build here at Dagu a firelock brigade made up of surrendered roving bandits, and then use the favorable terrain of Dagu and Haisha Island to lay out a defense. He wanted first to shatter the myth of Manchu invincibility before marching south.

In addition, Zhu Cilang's effort to build this "roving bandit army" — the Central Division vanguard brigade — was also meant to balance the power of Wu Xiang and Wu Sanfu within the Hard-New Army.

When Zhu Cilang returned to the Grand Marshal's Office for Army Pacification, Chen Rui, Minister of the Ministry of War, and Bi Jiucheng, Supervisor of the Grand Marshal's Office, were waiting anxiously in the main hall. The moment they saw the Crown Prince return, the two men went up to pay their respects, then presented a memorial and a letter.

The memorial was jointly submitted by Prince Ding, Zhu Cijiong; Wang Yongji, Governor-General of Ji-Liao; Wu Sangui, Regional Commander of Liaodong; and Gao Di, Regional Commander of Shanhai Pass.

The letter, meanwhile, was from Wu Sangui to Zhu Cilang.

"Prince Ding?" Zhu Cilang picked up the memorial, flipped it open for a look, then said with a smile to Wu Xiang, "Old Father-in-law, Changbo has grown quite a bit. He knows to use Our younger brother as a shield. Not bad, not bad."

Wu Xiang had not seen the memorial and did not know what had happened. Hearing Zhu Cilang mention Prince Ding, he felt something was amiss.

"Thousand Years, what has my worthless son done with His Highness Prince Ding?"

Zhu Cilang shook his head and laughed. "It is Li Zicheng and Dorgon arriving together at Shanhai Pass. It is all fate!"

This Wu Sangui was simply fated to be a traitor! Saving him would be hard indeed!

Zhu Cilang handed the memorial to Wu Xiang, then took out Wu Sangui's personal letter and began reading it.

The content of Wu Sangui's personal letter was a declaration of loyalty to Zhu Cilang, while also explaining why he had pushed Prince Ding, Zhu Cijiong, to the front — according to Wu Sangui, putting Prince Ding in charge was to prevent the Manchus from forcing a surrender. The Manchus could force the Liaodong army to surrender, but they could not force the Ming Prince Ding to surrender.

As long as the Liaodong army remained on the Ming side, even if Shanhai Pass were lost, they could still entrench in Shanxi or the capital and continue to contend with the Manchus.

The idea was fine, but what was the caliber of Dorgon, Fan Wencheng, and Hong Chengchou? Wu Sangui was far too green to play mind games with them.

Besides, Wu Sangui did not hold many cards to play!

If Li Zicheng stayed put in Beijing, Wu Sangui would be courted by every side. But once Li Zicheng personally marched against Wu Sangui, then Wu Sangui would have to beg the Manchus to save him.

So his fate as a traitor was sealed!

"Thousand Years," Wu Xiang had by now finished reading the memorial. The old man's brows were tightly knit. "My worthless son Sangui is loyal to you and to the court."

"I know, I know," Zhu Cilang said amiably, showing not the slightest anger. "We have always known Changbo's loyalty. There is nothing wrong with his putting Prince Ding forward. Otherwise, on what grounds could he negotiate with the Tartars? He is only the Liaodong Commander, and above him there is still the Governor-General of Ji-Liao!

And the realm is already in utter chaos. The Ming dynasty has been shaken to its foundations. The various princes are all of the blood of the Great Ancestor, the Exalted Emperor. According to the ancestral statutes left by the Exalted Emperor, they ought to step forward and defend the altars of state. How can they merely be idle rich men?"

"Thousand Years," Chen Rui, Minister of the Ministry of War, said in a low voice of caution upon hearing this, "the rites honored by the princes are also house law left by the ancestors. Moreover, the lessons of the past must be guarded against."

Zhu Cilang waved his hand and smiled. "The restrictions on princes were for times of peace and prosperity. What sort of age is this? Besides, Prince Ding has already been raised up as Deputy Grand Marshal of All the Realm's Armies. Why should We not go along with popular sentiment? Surely Imperial Father would also be pleased to see this?"

He paused, then rose to his feet. "The matter of Prince Ding going out to supervise the army still must be reported to His Majesty. Master Chen, accompany Us to the traveling palace."

"What? Chun-ge, you want to abolish the restrictions on princes?"

When the Chongzhen Emperor heard his son propose sending Prince Ding out to supervise the army, he was inwardly delighted — Zhu Cijiong certainly seemed more filial than his elder brother, every word and deed conforming to the standards of a prince. With him out supervising the army, that rebellious son Zhu Cilang would have to restrain himself somewhat.

On the surface, however, the Chongzhen Emperor put on a look of astonishment — he must not let the rebellious son see what he was thinking.

Zhu Cilang smiled. "The restrictions on princes are outdated. Besides, there are not many princes left now. Those who have lost their fiefs and fled can no longer be counted as princes. As for those still in their fiefs, it is time to loosen their bonds and let them contribute money and effort to defend the court and their own safety."

By now the only Ming prince still in his fief was the Prince of Shu, Zhu Zhishu. The rest had fled or died. The scourge of the princes had long since ceased to be a real concern.

Even the Prince of Shu, Zhu Zhishu, could not hold out much longer. Whether he could last until the edict loosening his bonds reached Chengdu was hard to say.

As for Prince Ding, Zhu Cijiong, since he had not yet reached the age for enfeoffment, he had no fief at all.

"Then where would Prince Ding's fief be?" The Chongzhen Emperor still wore a frown, doing his best to conceal his delight.

"What about Daizhou?" Zhu Cilang said after some deliberation. "Once the roving bandits have been driven out of Northern Zhili, let Third Brother go to Datong Prefecture as his princely seat."

"Enfeoffed at Datong Prefecture?" The Chongzhen Emperor sensed something off. "But can Datong Prefecture even be recovered?"

"It can." Zhu Cilang smiled and took out the memorial submitted in Prince Ding's name, handing it to Chongzhen. "The bandit false emperor Li Zicheng has already reached Shanhai Pass, and a hundred thousand eastern barbarian troops have likewise arrived east of Shanhai Pass. So Wang Yongji and Wu Sangui have decided to borrow troops from the eastern barbarians.

Li Zicheng is doomed to defeat this time! And Xuanfu, Datong, and the other places only surrendered to the bandits under duress. Once the roving bandits are routed, they will most likely turn back to the court. If we send Third Brother to Datong at this moment, it will be just the thing to raise the morale of the soldiers and people of Xuan-Da, and make Xuan-Da a key bastion of our Ming resistance against the barbarians."

A key bastion against the barbarians? At those words, Chongzhen's earlier good mood vanished completely.

This rebellious son is too vicious! Not content with having already caused two of his younger brothers to fall into the hands of the Roving Bandit as captives, he now wants to push the filial child Cijiong into the jaws of the eastern barbarians as well. This is imprisoning the father and killing the brothers! He is practically comparable to Li Shimin! Fortunately We are no muddled sovereign like Li Yuan, and will not let this rebellious son succeed!

(End of Chapter)