Chapter 1739: The Situation Is Excellent — Later Jin Is Finished!

The first year of Chongzhen in the Great Ming, the ninth day of the ninth month.

Beijing.

Inside the Ministry of Personnel offices outside the Meridian Gate, a dozen or so high officials in python robes and black gauze caps were holding memorials sent in from Zunhua, Yutian, Jizhou, Pinggu, and other places, every face full of delight.

The situation is excellent!

Some of these memorials reported victories, some reported all quiet. In short, the Later Jin troops who had broken through the passes had spent these days wandering around the countryside of the capital region without taking so much as a single county seat. What was more, they had suffered heavy losses at Zunhua and Yutian. If the head-counts reported by Shi Kefa and Lü Daqi contained no exaggeration, then both the battles of Zunhua and Yutian could count as great victories.

Still, judging by the fact that after the battle of Yutian the Later Jin troops no longer dared attack cities, nor dared offer battle to Ming forces beneath the walls, one could tell they had truly suffered heavy losses at Zunhua and Yutian.

The Chief Grand Secretary Huang Liji was grinning so wide he could hardly close his mouth, holding Shi Kefa's memorial and reading it over and over until he could recite its contents from memory.

The murmur of discussion among the dozen or so officials below gradually grew louder.

"The Jian slaves have really walked into a trap this time. Since they came through the passes they haven't taken a single county seat, yet they still keep charging toward Beijing — now they're surrounded on all sides!"

"Exactly! Right now there are a hundred thousand elite Capital Camps troops here at the capital, a hundred thousand tomb-guarding crack troops under the Duke of Ying at Changping, and Yuan Yuansu leading fifty thousand elite Ji-Liao troops tailing the Jian slaves as they move west — he's already reached Pinggu. His Majesty's own Xuan-Da crack troops and headquarters troops have gone out beyond the border wall from Longmen Pass, and one part has even moved into Miyun. The slave bandits are surrounded on all sides by our great armies — thirty thousand men all told!"

"Looks like the slave bandits can't escape now! Three hundred thousand great troops closing in from four sides — how many men do the slave bandits have? Fifty thousand at most!"

"Right, right — the bandit slaves are few. If forty or fifty thousand of them die in one battle, their vitality will be badly damaged!"

"It seems the pacification of Liaodong is just around the corner!"

Hearing the discussion, Huang Liji had not entirely lost his head. He looked up at the Minister of War Wang Zaijin, who had not spoken. "Minister of War, what do you think? Can we win?"

"Of course we can win," Wang Zaijin said with a frown. "The slave bandits have been inside the passes for over a month and gained no advantage. They've suffered three defeats in a row at Yiyuankou, Zunhua, and Yutian, and apart from Santunying they haven't broken a single city. After the battle of Yutian they no longer even had the courage to fight us beneath the walls. With the fighting at this stage, how could we not win?

But how complete a victory we can achieve still needs careful thought. Do we really have the strength to kill forty or fifty thousand slave bandits in one battle? I think that's a bit doubtful!"

"How can it be doubtful? We have three hundred thousand troops!" The speaker was the Vice Minister of Rites Wen Tiren — he would never have the chance to become a Grand Secretary in this lifetime; Vice Minister of Rites was probably his ceiling, but he did not know that yet, and was still working hard to make a name for himself.

"Where are three hundred thousand?" the Vice Minister of War Zhang Fengyi cut in. "Counting the troops under the Duke of Cheng who just returned from Datong, if the Capital Camps can field fifty thousand men that would be remarkable! Of those, at least thirty thousand are temporary hires who can't fight at all. The Changping garrison originally had at best ten thousand men. Xuanfu on paper has eighty or ninety thousand, but the real number is at most thirty thousand, and sending the Duke of Ying twenty thousand would already be impressive. The capital and Changping together come to eighty thousand, and some have to be left to guard the house, so fielding fifty thousand would be a lot. The Ji-Liao side probably does have fifty thousand. His Majesty's own forces may not be able to muster fifty thousand; at most ten or twenty thousand can reach Miyun. The four columns combined come to a hundred and twenty thousand at most. The slave bandits have at least fifty or sixty thousand — our numbers only double theirs."

"Zhang Boqi, are you saying the Capital Camps, the Changping garrison, and Xuanfu have over a hundred thousand phantom soldiers?" Wen Tiren might be useless at practical matters, but his political instincts were sharp. He knew perfectly well that Zhu Youjian was deeply dissatisfied with the Beijing military nobility and extremely distrustful of them, so he immediately seized on the phantom-soldier issue to stir up trouble.

Zhang Fengyi was stopped cold by Wen Tiren's words and fell silent at once.

That the Capital Camps, the Changping garrison, and Xuanfu had many phantom soldiers was no secret — everyone knew it — but bringing it up openly in court discussion was still highly improper.

It was just like after the great victory at Ningyuan and Jinzhou, when the Supreme Commander Gao Di raised the issue of phantom soldiers in the Liao garrison. The moment his memorial went up, he became the target of everyone's attacks, and Sun Chengzong used a single memorial to deflect the fire onto military pay — and Gao Di was immediately thrown out. Before Gao Di went beyond the pass as Supreme Commander, he had drawn pay on the standard of over a hundred and ten thousand men, and had distributed it accordingly. If the Liao army had only sixty-some thousand men, how could he have paid out for over a hundred and ten thousand?

And now Wen Tiren was raising the phantom-soldier issue, which of course would not bring the fire onto himself, because he was Vice Minister of Rites — he had nothing to do with issuing pay, nor was he responsible for counting heads. But it would interfere with military operations.

"Wen Changqing," Wang Zaijin said with a frown, "with the enemy at our gates, let us not raise the phantom-soldier matter. Concentrate our minds — driving the slave bandits away is the urgent thing."

Wang Zaijin's goal was to drive the Later Jin army away, not to annihilate them, nor even to inflict heavy damage.

Wen Tiren snorted. "To drive the slave bandits away, we first have to drive the Duke of Cheng, the Marquis of Funing, and the Count of Xincheng out of the city! If we don't use the phantom-soldier issue against them, will they be willing to leave Beijing? If they don't leave the city, how will the slave bandits be willing to go? And if the slave bandits don't go... breaking one or two cities is only a matter of time! Surely the Minister of War doesn't imagine that every city in Northern Zhili is like Zunhua, Yutian, Jizhou, Pinggu, and Shunyi?"

Reminded by Wen Tiren, Wang Zaijin sensed something wrong too. The five cities Hong Taiji had encountered on his march had all been specially reinforced by the young Son of Heaven at the beginning of the year! Not only had especially capable officials been sent, they had also been granted heavy authority, and large sums from the privy purse had been allocated, and officers had been drawn from the Directorate of the Imperial Horses and the Ji, Liao, Xuan, and other garrisons to help organize local militia. One could say the Son of Heaven had truly spared no expense on the defense of these few prefectures and counties!

The privy purse alone had disbursed several hundred thousand taels!

Even rarer, the young Son of Heaven had an eye for talent, and had found several officials willing to spend all that silver where it counted, seriously organizing militia and repairing fortifications.

That was why the slave bandits who came through the passes had been gnawing on hard bones the whole way.

But such specially reinforced prefectures and counties numbered only six in all outside Beijing — besides Zunhua, Yutian, Jizhou, Pinggu, and Shunyi, only Tongzhou remained.

If the slave bandits did not gnaw on Tongzhou next, but bypassed it and moved south, the trouble would be enormous!

Huang Liji had also noticed the problem. He looked at Wang Zaijin. "Minister of War, the prefectures and counties south of Beijing..."

Wang Zaijin shook his head. "Not a single county seat can be held. The prefectural cities are somewhat better."

"We can't let them attack those!" The Minister of Revenue Feng Quan shook his head. "The Ministry of Revenue may finally run a surplus this year. If the lands near the capital are ravaged by the slave bandits, the deficit will be bottomless!"

Wen Tiren clapped his hands. "Well then, isn't that the point? They draw millions in pay every year — when the moment comes, shouldn't they go out and show themselves?"

Wang Zaijin was also swayed by Wen Tiren. He nodded. "The Capital Camps must be sent out of the city. Right now there is no Son of Heaven in Beijing for them to protect, and the weather is still warm — the moat has not frozen, so they cannot assault the city at all."

Beijing's moat was absurdly wide. Unless it froze over or was filled in, assaulting the city was extremely difficult — unless someone betrayed the country.

But this was the first year of Chongzhen, not the seventeenth, and Chongzhen was also the Southern Emperor whose martial prowess was first under heaven — he was not in Beijing at all, so there was no one to sell out even if one wanted to!

Wen Tiren rubbed his hands. "Then it's settled. I'll submit a memorial later, saying the Capital Camps have far too many phantom soldiers, that the real troops are only twenty percent, and that they cannot go out of the city to kill slaves."

Huang Liji glanced again at Wang Zaijin. Wang Zaijin nodded. "We can have the Capital Camps encamp at Beiyuan, put on a show of strength, raise many banners, falsely claim a hundred thousand, and assume the posture of a decisive battle with the slave bandits. At the same time, order Yuan Yuansu to lead his troops out of Pinggu and advance west, fortifying as he goes and pressing toward Shunyi. Then have the Duke of Ying make a great show at Changping. We can put out word that the Son of Heaven is personally leading a hundred thousand Xuan-Da crack troops and has already reached the Changping garrison, and will shortly join with the Capital Camps army and the Ji-Liao army to encircle and destroy the slave bandits!"

Now that was formidable — the Capital Camps troops falsely claiming a hundred thousand, the Changping garrison with seventy thousand on paper, the Xuan-Da relief force another hundred thousand, the Ji-Liao troops fifty thousand — three hundred and twenty thousand great soldiers in all!

The Later Jin state is finished!

Chapter recommendation: the great author Tianhuang Guizhou's new book, The Most Ruthless Tyrant of the Great Song! The Tyrant author's Chongzhen has crossed over to the Song dynasty! Ruthless beyond belief!

(End of Chapter)