Chapter 179: Still, the Roving King Was Better! (That's All for Today)

The coffin lid was pried open, and at once a foul stench filled the air. Because the weather was so hot, the Hong Chengchou inside was no longer very fresh — he had already begun to rot and stink.

Luo Yangxing and Guang Shiheng both knew Hong Chengchou. Pinching their noses, they took a few looks, and not only confirmed that the man lying in the coffin was indeed the genuine Hong Chengchou, but also discovered the knife wound on Hong Chengchou's neck and the marks of stitching.

To the professional eye of Luo Yangxing, the former Guard Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Hong Chengchou had clearly not died a natural death — he had been killed by a sharp blade that severed his neck. It was truly brutal.

"Supreme Commander Hong was beheaded?" Luo Yangxing's voice trembled as he asked.

Oboi sighed again and nodded lightly. "It was the Prince Regent who ordered him killed!"

"Why?" Luo Yangxing asked.

"Because he was in the Qing in body but in the Ming in heart — he was all along acting as a spy for the Southern Court!"

How is that possible? You've been fooled! Luo Yangxing thought to himself: If such a thing were true, how could I, the Guard Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, not know about it?

Oboi suddenly lowered his voice. "You said before that once you saw Hong Chengchou, you could hand over Beijing! Now Hong Chengchou has been delivered to you. When will Beijing be handed over?"

What? What? This thing packed up and delivered in a coffin is supposed to count as Hong Chengchou!?

Luo Yangxing and Guang Shiheng were both dumbfounded. Looking at Oboi, whose face had darkened, they no longer knew what to say.

Oboi's tone was grim as he continued: "Your emperor and crown prince have already abandoned Tianjin and Dagu and fled by sea! Harbor no illusions — Beijing is already something in our Great Qing's bag!"

In fact, they had not left completely. Zhu Cilang had left a brigade of defenders on Haisha Island, holding the bastion built of sandbags and rammed earth, and had also placed four Hongyi cannons and eight Folangji cannons on the bastion's four projecting triangular redoubts.

In addition, Zhu Cilang had moved the people of Dagukou onto Haisha Island, and then shipped them in batches to Shandong — these were all "righteous people" who had seen the valor of the Great Ming's heavenly troops, and they were very reliable!

But Oboi was not going to tell Luo Yangxing and the others this news!

Luo Yangxing glanced at Guang Shiheng — what do we do about this?

At that moment Oboi gave another cold snort. "Let me tell you: our Great Qing's Ujen Cooha heavy troops, carrying Hongyi cannons, have already arrived beneath the walls of Beijing and are now setting up the guns. Any resistance from you people will be futile!

And as for how our Great Qing's heavenly troops deal with enemies who hold a city to the death — surely you two are not ignorant of that?"

At these words, Luo Yangxing and Guang Shiheng both shuddered. The eastern barbarians loved nothing more than massacring cities! When the eastern barbarians seized cities and territory in Liaodong, every time they met resistance, they would retaliate with a city massacre! If the Han people under their rule showed the slightest resistance, they would be slaughtered in a frenzy! In the fourth year of Tianqi, the Mandate Khan Nurhaci issued no fewer than nine khan's decrees to "kill the grainless Nikan sent in from every place after being ferreted out" — meaning he wanted to kill off all the Han people under his rule who had no grain, in order to save rations.

And in the subsequent invasions, the eastern barbarians slaughtered on a massive scale. Whenever a city that resisted was breached, it was often wiped out to the last person! In later Qing historical records, after the Jinan massacre in the twelfth year of Chongzhen, Hong Taiji wrote to Chongzhen, admitting that "a million died," and even said, "It was not We who killed them; it was in truth you, sovereign and ministers, who killed them yourselves" — meaning that the resistance of Jinan's soldiers and civilians had brought the massacre upon themselves, and they had only themselves to blame!

Oboi laughed coldly a few times and added: "In the fourth year of Chongde, our Great Qing's heavenly troops entered Shandong and took more than sixty cities in succession. Apart from eight cities that surrendered, the remaining fifty-odd cities were all slaughtered to the last! If Beijing dares to resist, our Great Qing troops will slaughter it just the same! That Li Zicheng cherished the people of Beijing — our Great Qing is not so soft-hearted. Our Great Qing would rather kill every person in the city of Beijing than hand this iron-walled city over to anyone else!"

Luo Yangxing gave a few dry laughs. "Even if the Roving Bandit killed all the people of Beijing, he still couldn't hold Beijing."

"Who says so?" Oboi's brows shot up. "The Roving Bandit abandoned the city and fled for no other reason than fear of the Beijing people rising in revolt and a shortage of grain. If he had hardened his heart and killed a few hundred thousand, he would not have had to worry about rebellion within, nor about running out of food. With the fighting strength of the roving bandit troops, holding this strong city, how could they not have stopped the Great Qing troops? You Nikan all say the Roving Bandit was cruel and lost the people's hearts. The way I see it, he fell to ruin precisely because he was not cruel enough! If our Great Qing's Prince Regent were to enter Beijing, heh heh..."

The meaning of "heh heh" was that the Han people with Beijing household registration would all be driven out — if you surrendered obediently now, then every Han commoner in the city would be expelled, to make room for the Eight Banners masters!

Historically, this policy was called "house seizure," one of the six great malpractices after the Qing entered the Pass — though called a malpractice, it was in fact the key to the Qing's ability to gain a rapid foothold in Beijing!

Of course, this policy later also became an important reason for the Qing dynasty's decline! The Eight Banners' heavenly troops turned into Beijing small-townsfolk, and after urbanization the birth rate fell. Later still, the Eight Banners masters gathered in Beijing became hostages of the various great powers — the moment Beijing was threatened, the Great Qing state would readily pay money and cede territory!

The matter of stripping Beijing household registration and handing over Beijing property was something Oboi would not mention now, because he did not yet know about it. What he did know was that you Beijing Nikan either surrendered or died!

The Great Qing state is not that soft-hearted roving bandit Li Zicheng.

Luo Yangxing and Guang Shiheng both knew how ferocious the Tartars were, and at this point they could only heave a long sigh.

Luo Yangxing sighed. "Since offering up Beijing to protect the common people was Supreme Commander Hong's dying wish, this official can only comply!"

Guang Shiheng caught on at once and nodded repeatedly. "Right, right. This official is of the same mind."

"My Lord Duke, Supreme Commander Hong and Prince Yu, along with the Eldest Young Master, have arrived with troops. They have now entered Zhending and are asking you to come at once for a meeting!"

Inside the city of Jingxing, Wu Sangui — still the Duke of Jin of the Great Ming — had just received word that Hong Chengchou, Dodo, and Wu Sanfeng had arrived together.

He was now joined with the forces of the Commandery Prince of Wuying, Ajige, preparing to attack Gu Pass, which was held by the Shun army's General of Resolute Courage, Luo Hu.

Although the Shun army had suffered defeat after defeat, it was not entirely without the ability to resist. Moreover, the Shun army's several defeats had all come in field battles, not in defending cities and passes — if Li Zicheng had truly used Oboi's method, killing off or driving out the people of Beijing, the Shun army could still have held Beijing!

How many Manchus were there, after all? How could they withstand the attrition of bloody siege warfare? If they really lost tens of thousands beneath the walls of Beijing, the realm would no longer have anything to do with them.

So now, facing Luo Hu, who was holding the pass firmly, both Wu Sangui and Ajige felt their scalps go numb.

In addition, Wu Sangui was not sure what Dorgon was really planning. Would he suddenly strike at him?

Hearing that Hong Chengchou and Dodo were bringing reinforcements, Wu Sangui finally let out a breath. Right now he was in an awkward in-between position. Only once he entered Taiyuan would his title as Duke of Jin be secure.

"Did you see Supreme Commander Hong?" Wu Sangui asked the trusted household retainer who had come from Zhending.

"I did not see him," the retainer said. "I saw the Eldest Young Master. The Eldest Young Master has now also returned to the Great Ming and has been made Commandant of the Capital Camps in Beijing."

Wu Sangui smiled. "It seems the Crown Prince still relies heavily on our family! That is good."

He did not think much of it. After all, his own elder brother would not deceive him, would he? So he set out with a hundred or so household retainers and galloped off to the prefectural seat of Zhending.

Inside the prefectural seat of Zhending, the banners of the Eight Banners troops and the banners of the Ming army stood side by side. Dodo's princely residence and Hong Chengchou's headquarters were also right next to each other, everywhere displaying the friendly relations between the Ming and Qing states.

After Wu Sangui entered the city, he had no suspicions and went straight into Hong Chengchou's headquarters. It was only when he reached the main hall that he realized something was wrong.

For he saw two coffins laid out side by side. His elder brother Wu Sanfeng had already changed into the uniform of a Qing military officer and was standing between the two coffins.

Seeing Wu Sangui enter, he merely gave a bitter smile and pointed to the coffin on the left. "Second Brother, Supreme Commander Hong has been killed by the Prince Regent. He is in this coffin!" Then he pointed to the coffin on the right. "This coffin is one your foolish elder brother has prepared for you. If you do not submit to the Great Qing today, then you will have no choice but to lie down in it! Otherwise, you will be the Great Qing's Prince Who Pacifies the West!"

Either lie down in the coffin, or become the Great Qing's Prince Who Pacifies the West... But once he became Prince Who Pacifies the West, would he no longer have to lie down in a coffin?

Wu Sangui looked at his elder brother, his face full of conflict, and shook his head. "Elder Brother, our third sister is a selected consort of the Great Ming's Army-Supervising Crown Prince! She may well soon be the Crown Princess..."

Wu Sanfeng looked at his brother and gave a bitter smile. "No matter. The Prince Regent's own daughter is also to marry the Ming Crown Prince. When that happens, our family and the Prince Regent will be relatives!"

Was there such a way of claiming kinship?

"But... but will the Prince Regent trust our family?" Wu Sangui looked at Wu Sanfeng. "Half of our family is on the Ming side, and moreover in high office and noble rank — we are the Ming Crown Prince's trusted confidants!"

Wu Sanfeng laughed. "Changbo, you worry too much. Your foolish elder brother has been in the Qing a long time and knows the inside story. If the late emperor were still alive, your defecting to the Qing would have no future. But now the late emperor is gone, and the Prince Regent is not the emperor, after all! How many people can he use, how many can he trust? Apart from Prince Yu Dodo and the diehards of the two White Banners, who else is there? However unreliable our family may be, we could never replace him as Prince Regent, nor could we meddle in the household affairs of their Eight Banners, could we?"

"This..."

Wu Sanfeng watched Wu Sangui sink into thought, then continued: "For our family, the present situation is best! If you took tens of thousands of Guanning Army troops to the Southern Court, would the Army-Supervising Crown Prince be at ease? The household retainers in the hands of Father and Third Brother number only a little over six hundred — for the Crown Prince, that is just the right amount to be useful, yet still manageable. That is why he is at ease, and why he treats Third Sister well! If tens of thousands of troops and several thousand household retainers really did go over, heh heh, it would be hard to say who was master and who was servant!

Changbo, set your mind at ease! Come with me to see the Prince Regent. He will surely put us to important use.

Because he has no one else to use!"

(End of Chapter)