Chapter 1733: Bring This Official's Coffin!

"Draw blades! Raise shields!"

Fan Wencheng's order was not very loud. Behind him, the booi bondservants of the Later Jin's Bordered Red Banner, drawn up in a square formation, silently drew their waist sabers and raised their shields.

It was already the early hours before dawn. Although it was still mid-autumn, the wind carried a bone-piercing chill. To the left and right of the group of Bordered Red Banner booi led by Fan Wencheng were booi from several other banners as well. Every man held a steel blade in hand and raised a round shield high.

Several thousand bondservants had all put on the cotton armor that was standard issue for the Eight Banners troops. Row upon row of helmets rose and fell slightly, and every man craned his neck, staring at the low hill opposite them. There lay the Da'ankou Pass of the Jizhou Garrison section of the Great Wall!

The Jizhou Garrison section of the Great Wall was simply too long. The ground that needed defending stretched seven or eight hundred li! And there were far too many passes along it where a breakthrough was possible. With the Jizhou Garrison's current strength, they simply could not defend them all.

Moreover, the only mobile forces the Jizhou Garrison had — including the two thousand men initially sent to reinforce Xifengkou and Han'erzhuang — had all been transferred by Zhao Shuaijiao to the battlefield around Yiyuankou several days earlier. For from the first to the sixth day of the eighth month, the Ming army and the Later Jin troops that had entered through Yiyuankou had already fought seven or eight small- and medium-scale engagements.

Through this series of engagements, Wang Zhichen and Yuan Chonghuan had both grown far more confident, because they discovered that the Later Jin army invading through Yiyuankou contained large numbers of Kharchin Mongols. Their fighting strength was not great, and even with Eight Banners troops supervising them, they were no match for the elite Liaodong troops.

So Wang Zhichen and Yuan Chonghuan put their heads together and decided to concentrate their forces and pull off a big score at Yiyuankou — after all, Mongols and Jurchens both counted as Tartar caitiffs, and chopping off their heads was just as good for claiming merit.

Therefore Yuan Chonghuan transferred several hundred artillerymen and twelve Hongyi cannons from beyond the pass, and had Zhao Shuaijiao concentrate all his personal guards. They set the date: on the eighth day of the eighth month (Yuan Chonghuan was a Guangdong man and liked the number "eight," which sounds like "prosper"), they would have a great battle with the Tartars!

And Hong Taiji, for whatever reason, had also chosen the eighth day of the eighth month, that auspicious day, to launch a surprise attack on Da'ankou Pass and Longjing Pass.

Since the Later Jin's Eight Banners troops had always been precious, Hong Taiji was reluctant to spend them filling the breaches at Da'ankou and Longjing Pass. So he used the booi bondservants instead — but do not think being cannon fodder was some great tragedy for the booi. This was an opportunity to win a future!

The Later Jin's booi bondservants could rise. As long as their merits were sufficient, even booi could reach the highest offices. So among the booi, those who were tall and strong still had something to strive for.

Moreover, the Later Jin was at that moment in its meteoric rise. Although it was generally ferocious both at home and abroad, it was still quite generous to its running dogs and hawks.

Serve well as a booi, and glory, splendor, wealth, and rank could still be yours!

Fan Wencheng and Fan Wencai, the two brothers, were exactly such fine bondservants — tall and strong — and because they truly had some ability, they had both won their master's favor and been given the chance to lead men and earn merit.

The two Fan brothers now each led one hundred booi, waiting only for the order from the supervising Great Beile Daishan before hurling themselves at Da'ankou.

As for whether it would be glory and riches or throwing their lives away for nothing, that depended on luck. Although Hong Taiji had employed stratagems, Da'ankou was after all a strategic strongpoint — the Great Wall had been built right up the mountain, so how could it not be formidable? Shield carts, battering rams, scaling-ladder carts — none of them could get up there.

To break Da'ankou, the only way was to swarm the walls like ants. If there were even a thousand defenders up there firing down with three-eyed guns, then Fan Wencheng and Fan Wencai would be in grave danger.

"Master Fan! Master Fan! The master orders us to go first!"

A young booi of the Bordered Red Banner came running over at full speed and delivered the master's order to Fan Wencheng.

"Squad Leader Zhang," Fan Wencheng said to the youth, "you come up with us too. Charge up there, and you'll be a bannerman!"

To go from booi to bannerman — that was rising to heaven in a single step!

"I, I…" Squad Leader Zhang was still young, just a big boy of fifteen or sixteen. He could not compare with the Fan brothers, and his master did not think much of him, so he never got enough to eat. He had grown up thin and small, looking as if he had not even developed yet.

He raised his head and glanced at the Great Wall on the mountain, then timidly shook his head.

Fan Wencheng sighed. "Riches are sought amid danger. We who are bondservants must fear danger even less!"

With that, he let out a great shout: "Brothers, follow me and charge!"

At that cry, over a hundred fine bondservants of the Later Jin moved as one, shields raised, scaling ladders on their shoulders, charging up the slope with a roar.

"Great Khan, the Bordered Red Banner bondservants have attacked!"

Dorgon, the "Tomb-Raising Beile" of the Great Jin, had been holding a telescope fixed on the summit of Da'ankou the whole time. Though the light was somewhat dim, what kind of eyesight did the Tomb-Raising Beile have? Even from far away he could clearly make out the fine bondservants of the Bordered Red Banner charging onto the wall at Da'ankou. And he also noticed that there were very few Ming troops on the wall — nowhere near enough to stop the bondservants led by Fan Wencheng.

Hong Taiji let out a breath and said with a smile, "Since they have charged up, they are no longer bondservants — they are bannermen!"

"Bannermen of booi stock, at that!" Dodo muttered beside him, a look of displeasure showing on his fleshy, brutal face.

Hong Taiji did not know that his little brother had just "awakened to love" and had taken a fancy to Fan Wencheng's wife. If Fan Wencheng were still a booi, Dodo would only need to say one word and he could sleep with the man's wife. But once Fan Wencheng became a bannerman, his status changed, and sleeping with his wife would be somewhat against the rules.

"A bannerman is a bannerman!" Hong Taiji said with a laugh. "Our Great Jin has always been clear in rewards and punishments. This Fan Wencheng is indeed a fine bondservant. Twice before he risked entering the pass and gathered a great deal of intelligence for us. If we are to reward him all at once, he should be given half a step of advancement."

"Great Khan," Dorgon said, "from the look of it, Longjing Pass will certainly fall as well. Once Da'ankou and Longjing Pass are in hand, Xifengkou will also be in the bag. Where shall we strike next?"

"First Santunying, then Zunhua." Hong Taiji smiled. "Old Fourteen, from here on it will be up to you, Old Twelve, and Old Fifteen!"

"Rest easy, Great Khan," Dorgon said with a smile. "Leave it to our Two White Banners!"

The present Two White Banners were in fact the original Two Yellow Banners — Nurhaci's own direct-line troops. They contained an especially large number of niru companies, and their strength was considerable. All of it had been passed to the three brothers Ajige, Dorgon, and Dodo. And among them, leadership actually rested with Dodo, a mere child — Nurhaci had probably intended Dodo as his heir, which was why he let him inherit the position of banner lord of the Plain Yellow Banner, the banner with the most men (Nurhaci himself had been lord of the Plain Yellow Banner).

But when Nurhaci died, Dodo was too young. Even with the support of the Two Yellow Banners, he was not qualified to become Great Khan, so in the end it was Hong Taiji who seized the khanate. Moreover, Hong Taiji had forced the death of Lady Abahai, the birth mother of Ajige, Dorgon, and Dodo. Yet he lacked the power to go further and kill all three brothers. For the three brothers jointly controlled two banners, and their strength could not be underestimated. Still, they were not Deliberative Great Beiles, and compared with Daishan, Manggūltai, and Abatai, they were a cut below.

So Hong Taiji not only could not move against them, he even had to give them some sweeteners — for example, letting the Two White Banners go take Zunhua county town.

"Magistrate! Magistrate!"

In his study, where Shi Kefa was holding a copy of the Record of Military Training to brush up on his studies, a shout in a Xuanfu accent rang in his ears. He looked up and found that his personal guard captain, Wang Dadou, only sixteen this year, had already rushed into the study.

This Wang Dadou came from a military household in Xuanfu. Earlier in the year he had also tried out for the mounted guards before the tent, but had not been selected. However, he had not been sent home either; instead he had been assigned to Shi Kefa.

Though the boy was young and had not read much, he was the son of a military household on the Xuanfu border wall. He had trained in martial arts since childhood and was proficient with all kinds of weapons, and he also had a natural gift for leading troops. So he had become Shi Kefa's personal guard captain.

Shi Kefa looked at the shouting Wang Dadou and frowned slightly, about to scold him, when Wang Dadou spoke again: "The Jianzhou slaves are here! They have broken through Da'ankou, Longjing Pass, and Xifengkou, and have also taken Han'erzhuang and Santunying. They are now advancing on Zunhua!"

Shi Kefa drew a sharp breath, his face grave. "What is there to panic about? Go pass the word: this official is going to inspect the city defenses! And have someone bring out this official's coffin!"

(End of Chapter)