Chapter 1788: Hong Taiji's Second Campaign Beyond the Yan Mountains

After tossing a small pouch of copper coins to Squad Leader Zhang, Fan Wencai headed straight for the Khan's palace — he was going to report important intelligence from inside the passes to Hong Taiji.

One look at his shaved-bald head told you he had spent the past few months inside the passes. It turned out that after completing his mission of escorting the old booi out of Shenyang, Fan Wencai had not even returned to the city before receiving a new assignment delivered personally by his younger brother Fan Wencheng: to enter the passes and make contact with Fan Yongdou and the others.

But when he reached Beijing, he learned that Fan Yongdou, Wang Dengku, and Jin Liangyu had already gotten themselves into trouble — they had been arrested by the Eastern Depot's agents on charges of colluding with the barbarians and betraying the country, and their prospects looked grim.

Fan Wencai was scared out of his wits. Had he arrived ten days or half a month earlier, he would most likely have been hauled off to the Eastern Depot along with Fan Yongdou!

Though badly frightened, Fan Wencai still had not forgotten the task his master had assigned him — to spy out the latest movements of the Ming army.

And the Ming army's movements were not actually hard to find out. There was no need to infiltrate any very high levels; one only had to take a stroll outside the city walls of Beijing. Troops may not have moved yet, but grain and fodder always went first! Since the winter of last year, grain convoys could be seen from time to time on the official road running northwest from Tongzhou toward Xuanfu.

Moreover, it was no secret that the Ming Emperor had taken up residence at Xuanfu — nearly everyone in and around Beijing knew it.

With the young Emperor stationed at Xuanfu and grain being shipped there on a massive scale, anyone with half a brain could guess what the Ming army was planning to do.

After figuring out the Ming army's general intent, Fan Wencai then plunged into the tiger's den, once again disguising himself as a monk to scout out the Xuanfu garrison.

At Xuanfu, Fan Wencai had little trouble picking up even more alarming news — the Chahar tribe's Khutugtu Khan, who bore the empty title of Northern Yuan Great Khan, had set out eastward with a large body of his people as soon as spring began, and by early in the second month had already reached the Bashang grasslands north of the Daqing Mountains, outside the walls of Xuanfu.

Zhu Youjian had arrived at Xuanfu, Khutugtu Khan had arrived at Bashang, and the two of them were now relatives and allies; since they showed no sign of fighting each other, they must be planning to join forces against someone else.

And who was that "someone else"? There was no need for espionage to know — it had to be the Great Jin!

After confirming that the Great Ming and the Northern Yuan were going to join forces to attack the Great Jin, Fan Wencai dared not delay for a moment. That very night he disguised himself as a lama monk and, on the pretext of going to beg alms from the Chahar tribe, slipped out through the Xuanfu border wall (the Xuanfu wall was very long and simply could not be fully guarded; besides, everything outside the wall had become Ming territory, so security was extremely lax). He then bought two ambling horses from Mongols grazing outside the wall (people of the Uriankhai Tumen's Ordo) and galloped eastward without stopping, riding for more than ten days straight until he finally entered the city of Shenyang.

"Great Khan, although this slave did not lay hands on any secrets, I am fully confident that the young Emperor of the Southern Court and Ligdan Batur of the Chahar tribe will very soon join forces and march east, and their objective should be the area around Mount Mameng."

Inside the Chongzheng Hall of the Khan's palace. Fan Wencai, who had only just returned to Shenyang and had not even had time to wipe his face, was now prostrate on the floor, reporting his findings from inside the passes to Hong Taiji, Daishan, Ajige, Dorgon, Abatai, Yoto, Hooge, and the others.

It had to be said that at present, throughout the Great Jin — or at least throughout the Great Jin's Eight Banners — from the exalted Beile lords down to the lowliest booi slaves, everyone was brimming with a fierce hunger for military merit.

This was probably the power of "all profit flowing from a single source," was it not? Even Zhu Youjian's household retainers did not possess such ferocity now.

In the Great Jin of today, if one wanted to rise or even just hold on to one's position, one had to rely on military merit. Apart from military merit, there was no other path to take. This was what was meant by "all profit flowing from a single source"!

And it was precisely because of this system, in which a man could only distinguish himself through military merit, that the Great Jin's Eight Banners, high and low, were extremely warlike. Now, upon hearing that the Great Ming and the Northern Yuan were going to join forces and march against them, this group of Eight Banners chieftains in the Chongzheng Hall actually all showed expressions of excitement.

Hong Taiji was likewise all smiles. He waved a hand to dismiss Fan Wencai from the hall, then looked to his left and right and said with a laugh: "These past days the Third Beile, who is stationed at Mount Mameng, has also sent word that he has confirmed signs that the Southern army and the Chahar tribe are preparing to attack together. Now that Fan Wencai has reported the same thing, it seems there can be no mistake!"

He gave a cold laugh: "Zhu Youjian may have the valor of Lü Bu, but he is still too young and hot-blooded, and lacks steadiness! He has not even put his own house in order, nor finished training his new army, yet he is already rushing to send troops to the Yan Mountains — and what is more, he has thrown in his lot with that useless Khutugtu Khan. It seems this battle of the Yan Mountains will be a fine opportunity for our Great Jin's heavenly soldiers to deal a heavy blow to the Southern Court and the Mongol Chahar tribe!"

"Great Khan," said the Senior Beile Daishan, "this second campaign into the Yan Mountains rather resembles the Battle of Guandu in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Zhu Youjian is Yuan Shao, holding the four provinces of Qing, Ji, You, and Bing, while Your Majesty's position is somewhat like that of Prime Minister Cao. Your Majesty's troops are elite, so the advantage lies in a swift decision. Zhu Youjian has ample grain, so his advantage lies in protraction."

Daishan was, after all, a military strategist well versed in the Three Kingdoms; he saw at a glance the Later Jin's greatest crisis!

Hong Taiji nodded: "The Senior Beile is absolutely right. Every man of our Eight Banners is a fine fighter, and all are brave. When it comes to assaulting the Southern Court's strong cities inside the passes, we are somewhat lacking — not that we cannot take them, but they are not worth dying in such numbers for. But if the battlefield is moved to the Yan Mountains, We have no fear of fighting a decisive battle to the death with the Southern Court and the Chahar tribe!

What We fear now is only that the Southern Court and the Chahar tribe, relying on their ample provisions, will slowly wear us down. Do any of you have a good plan to break this?"

At these words, the several Beile lords all could not help but frown. To "defeat Yuan Shao," one needed a Xu You to lead the way and raid the grain depot at Wuchao! But on the young Emperor's side, who was the Xu You who would lead the way?

"Great Khan," — after a while, it was still the "Clever Beile" Dorgon who spoke first — "how many troops do you intend to send this time? And how long can the grain we have on hand sustain them?"

"Zhu Youjian and Ligdan Batur are joining forces, so their strength will certainly be considerable." Hong Taiji frowned. "If we send too few troops, it will not be enough to crush them. If we send too many... I fear the army's grain consumption will be too great. Moreover, Mount Mameng is somewhat far from Shenyang — seven or eight hundred li away. And we have very few civilian laborers to use for transporting grain; we can only rely on what the army carries with it and what it can requisition along the way for supply. Truly, we cannot afford a prolonged campaign!"

Hong Taiji's present situation was nothing like Cao Cao's at the Battle of Guandu, because Guandu was not far from Xuchang. Moreover, at Guandu the two armies of Yuan and Cao had faced off and held their ground in the Guandu area alone for as long as three months! Cao Cao's army had been able to hold out that long, which showed it was not particularly short of grain.

Because the land reclamation at Mount Mameng had not yet succeeded, Hong Taiji now lacked the capital to lead a large army and stand off against Zhu Youjian at Mount Mameng for three months. If it really dragged on that long, the Great Jin would be all but finished!

So the Great Jin's contest with the Great Ming for the Yan Mountains was rather like Zhuge Liang's six expeditions from Qishan — everything else could be managed, but the lack of grain was the greatest difficulty of all!

Dorgon said: "Great Khan, the art of war says: if you outnumber the enemy ten to one, surround him; five to one, attack him; two to one, divide him; if evenly matched, you can fight him. Although our Eight Banners' military strength is great, because of our grain shortage it is difficult to concentrate and employ it in the Yan Mountains. Therefore our actual combat strength is at most twice the enemy's. If we want a quick victory, the only way is to use the method of 'if two to one, divide him.'"

He truly was the Clever Beile — others were doing well just to read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but he could quote Sun Tzu's Art of War. No wonder he became regent after Hong Taiji died!

Hong Taiji asked: "How do we 'if two to one, divide him'?"

"That..." Dorgon thought for a moment, and already had a plan. "Great Khan, although the young Emperor of the Southern Court is young, he is not without cunning, and is not easily deceived. But the Chahar tribe's Khutugtu Khan is rather foolish and easier to deceive. Moreover, what Khutugtu Khan cares about cannot possibly be the mountain forests and valleys of the Yan Mountains. The grasslands along the Liao River and the Huang River to the north are the Mongols' territory, and the Chahar tribe's very foundation. We should have a way to lure Khutugtu Khan out onto the grasslands, and then destroying Ligdan Batur would be as easy as turning over one's hand.

And once Ligdan Batur is destroyed, Zhu Youjian will be left with one hand and no way to clap; driving him back will then be no great difficulty."

(End of Chapter)