Chapter 149: What a Cunning Traitor!

East of Shanhai Pass lay Weiyuan Fort.

Dorgon's command tent was now set up outside Shanhai Pass, in Weiyuan Fort at the foot of Huanxi Ridge. His more than one hundred thousand Eight Banners troops had pitched camp all around Huanxi Ridge. The Manchu soldiers' four-colored battle flags stretched in the wind as far as the eye could see. Tents, campfires, cooking smoke, and the ceaseless neighing of warhorses — all of it seemed to tell the men on Shanhai Pass that the invincible Eight Banners heavenly troops had arrived!

If you don't want to die, then hurry up — shave your heads, submit to the Qing, and open the pass to welcome the royal army!

For all his military might, and despite the fact that on the other side of Shanhai Pass there was another force — the Shun heavenly troops — out for the garrison's lives, Dorgon, now lodged in Weiyuan Fort, was somewhat vexed, because he had just received definite bad news from Zu Zepu, who had come down from Shanhai Pass.

The Great Ming had not yet fallen!

Because the Chongzhen Emperor and the Crown Prince Zhu Cilang were still alive and well!

Not only alive, but with twenty thousand crack troops and two hundred warships in hand, and they had even defeated the roving bandits' pursuing force at Tianjin Guard.

Moreover, the one who had led the Ming court's breakout and defeated the roving bandits' pursuers at Tianjin was not the Chongzhen Emperor, but the Army-Supervising Crown Prince Zhu Cilang!

In other words, the Ming court had changed hands in terms of actual control. The "enlightened sovereign" Chongzhen had been sidelined, and a cunning, treacherous, unfilial Crown Prince had seized real power.

And what gave Dorgon an even greater headache was that there was now also a Ming Prince of Ding up on Shanhai Pass!

From the very start, those two scoundrels Wu Sangui and Wang Yongji had been hiding behind the thirteen-year-old Prince of Ding, Zhu Cijiong, and negotiating with the Manchus in his name.

And today, Zu Zepu, who had arrived at Weiyuan Fort bearing gifts, still carried a state letter written in the Prince of Ding's name, coming to discuss the matter of borrowing troops with Dorgon. This put Dorgon in something of a bind.

Originally, on the march to Shanhai Pass, Dorgon had already worked things out with Fan Wencheng and Hong Chengchou. They were determined to force Wu Sangui to surrender, and had even prepared to enfeoff Wu Sangui as Prince Who Pacifies the West.

But now that scoundrel Wu Sangui refused to admit he was the boss of the Ming troops on Shanhai Pass, and instead held up a child, the Prince of Ding, as a shield. This put Dorgon in a very awkward position — he could enfeoff Wu Sangui, but he could not enfeoff the Prince of Ding, Zhu Cijiong.

And the fact that Chongzhen and the Ming court were all at Dagu Estuary was also a problem — the Prince of Ding, Wu Sangui, Wang Yongji, Gao Di, and the rest could sail away at any moment.

Since ancient times, the one thing hardest to endure is death! There are plenty of men who become traitors out of fear of dying, but if they could run off to Jiangnan and keep living in luxury and pleasure, who the hell would surrender to the Great Qing and become a traitor?

Especially that Wu Sangui — his sister was on the verge of becoming the principal consort of the Ming Army-Supervising Crown Prince, and in the future she would be the Ming Empress. If he simply took two or three thousand household retainers south, would he have to worry about wealth and rank?

So Dorgon could not push those men on Shanhai Pass too hard. Otherwise, if they all fled, the troops on the pass might well surrender to Li Zicheng, and then Dorgon's own death would be near — not killed by Li Zicheng, but done in by the coalition of princes, Beiles, and Beizis in the upper ranks of the Great Qing.

Because the reason everyone had supported him in becoming the all-powerful Prince Regent was that they were counting on him to lead them through the pass and strip Beijing empty. If he ended up blocked outside Shanhai Pass and unable to get in, could he go back and keep his life?

The moment he thought that a Prince Regent as brilliant as himself might well be done to death by those two scoundrels Wu Sangui and Wang Yongji, Dorgon sank into gloom.

Just as he was brooding, the two old traitors Fan Wencheng and Hong Chengchou arrived together.

Unlike Dorgon's gloom, the two old traitors were beaming with delight — though whether they had come to gloat over Dorgon's predicament was anyone's guess.

The moment the Great Qing Prince Regent saw them, his anger flared — taking the Shanhai Pass route had been their idea in the first place!

And now, in this situation, it was too late to detour around the northern foothills of the Yan Mountains. How infuriating!

"This subject congratulates the Prince Regent, and congratulates the Great Qing!"

"A great victory is at hand; this subject congratulates the Prince Regent."

The two old traitors did not even look at the Prince Regent's expression, but came forward, bowed, and offered their congratulations, as if the Great Qing had already established its capital in Beijing!

"What is there to congratulate?" Dorgon said angrily. "There is still a Prince of Ding on Shanhai Pass, and the Ming court is over at Dagu Estuary in Tianjin. Wu Sangui and Wang Yongji still refuse to shave their heads and submit to the Qing; they only talk of borrowing troops to help suppress the bandits."

Hong Chengchou, who had something of a rat-like, furtive look, understood Dorgon's mind, and gave a chuckle. "Rice must be eaten one mouthful at a time, and wars must be fought one battle at a time.

The Great Qing's most urgent tasks are three: first, take Shanhai Pass; second, destroy Li Zicheng's elite veteran camp; third, bring the Ming Guanning Army under control.

As for whether Wu Sangui and Wang Yongji shave their heads and submit to the Qing, that is not important. And forcing them to submit now is not the best policy either."

"What do you mean by that?" Dorgon asked.

Hong Chengchou said, "If Wu Sangui and Wang Yongji shave their heads, then the Ming emperor and crown prince at Dagu Estuary will lose all hope. And once they lose hope, they will sail south. If they reach Nanjing, it will be difficult for the Great Qing to take them. That Army-Supervising Crown Prince in particular has some real talent; he might well set things in order and build a half-empire south of the river. Would the Great Qing be content to remain merely a northern dynasty?"

What? Not even satisfied with a northern dynasty? If this Prince Regent could secure a northern dynasty and half the realm, I'd be overjoyed...

Dorgon rolled his eyes and thought: You, Hong Chengchou, are even more black-hearted than I am! You actually want to unify the whole realm?

"So if Wu Sangui and Wang Yongji don't shave their heads, will Chongzhen and his son stay at Dagu Estuary and not leave?" Dorgon asked in a deep voice.

Hong Chengchou stroked his beard and smiled. "This old subject is confident that with a small stratagem, we can lure Chongzhen and his son toward Beijing. When the time comes, we need only have the Eight Banners heavenly troops ambush and seize them en route, and we can capture them in one stroke. Then the Prince Regent need only enfeoff Chongzhen and his son with princely titles, confine them in Beijing, and let them continue to enjoy wealth and rank, and all the Ming territories can be pacified by a single proclamation."

In truth, all this talk of enfeoffing them as princes and keeping them in comfortable confinement was just formulaic language — Chongzhen was Hong Chengchou's former master, and if Hong Chengchou said outright that Chongzhen should be put to death, it would make him look lacking in decency. So he had to say "keep them in comfortable confinement" — keep them, keep them, and then one day they would have a grand funeral, which would also be the will of Heaven.

"How do we lure them?" Dorgon pressed.

Hong Chengchou said, "The matter is not difficult. We need only refrain from entering Beijing for the time being after defeating the Roving Bandit. At the same time, send an envoy to Dagu Estuary to arrange with Chongzhen and his son the matter of annual tribute and rewards for the troops.

When Chongzhen and his son hear that the heavenly troops seek only gold, silver, and valuables, and have no designs on the land within the passes, they will certainly return to Beijing — or at least to Tianjin."

"Will Chongzhen and his son fall for it?" Dorgon asked again.

"They certainly — er, they should!" Hong Chengchou suddenly felt a sense of uncertainty himself. If it were Chongzhen squinting over there at Dagu Estuary right now, he would be ten-tenths certain. But now that it was a Zhu Cilang who had "imprisoned his father and killed his brother (by another's hand)," it was truly a bit hard to say.

"Then what about the tens of thousands of troops under Wu Sangui?" Dorgon asked hesitantly. "If they return to Chongzhen and his son, can our Great Qing heavenly troops still take Chongzhen and his son?"

Hong Chengchou smiled. "The Guanning Army's families are all at Shanhai Pass. Once the pass is in our hands, the Guanning Army's families will be under our control.

Moreover, in the battle at Shanhai Pass, the Guanning Army will inevitably be the first to wear itself down against the roving bandits; only after both sides are battered will we send in the Eight Banners' crack troops. Does Your Highness think Wu Sangui would dare use exhausted, depleted troops to resist the heavenly troops? Once the heavenly troops have entered the pass, Your Highness can send Wu Sangui with over ten thousand cavalry and twenty thousand Eight Banners troops to pursue the roving bandits, keeping Wu Sangui's forces out of Beijing. And the infantry Wu Sangui leaves at Shanhai Pass will not only be leaderless, but will have eighty thousand heavenly troops watching over them — would they not be entirely at Your Highness's disposal?

Once Chongzhen and his son have fallen into the Great Qing's hands, will Wu Sangui not serve Your Highness?"

Dorgon narrowed his small eyes and mulled it over carefully, then finally burst into loud laughter. "Excellent! Truly excellent! Master Hong is indeed our Great Qing's Zhuge Kongming!"

Just then, a report came from outside the command tent: "Reporting to the Prince Regent, another envoy has come from Shanhai Pass, saying that the roving bandit host has left the Hongwadian camp and is advancing toward the Shihitan west of Shanhai Pass. A great battle is imminent!"

(End of Chapter)