Chapter 1792: Bombarding Hong Taiji, Part 2

"Your Majesty," Gao Hongtu, Governor-General of Yan-Yun, had now also arrived at Rehe City. When he heard that Zhu Youjian intended to send troops into the Chahar bend, he hastily stepped out from the ranks to volunteer. "I am Governor-General of Yan-Yun, and the Chahar bend lies within my jurisdiction. I should lead the troops there together with Zhao Shuaijiao, Regional Commander of Yanshan. Your Majesty should remain in Rehe Fortress to direct the overall situation."

Zhu Youjian waved a hand and said with a smile, "Governor Gao, though you can manage troops and use soldiers, you are still no match for Hong Taiji… Moreover, Hong Taiji has stationed his army at Qingcheng precisely to fight Us at Yanshan. If We did not go in person to meet him, would it not look as though We feared Hong Taiji?"

His words sounded very fine, but in truth he had already prepared thirty-six black-hearted 3-pounder black-powder cannons for Hong Taiji, intending to give him a vicious surprise.

It might not necessarily send Hong Taiji straight to the Western Paradise, but the concentrated bombardment of thirty-six 3-pounder black-powder cannons could still blast a gap in the Later Jin army's battle line. Then the iron cavalry could launch a massed charge!

The work of opening the way with black cannons and charging with iron cavalry was not something a civil official like Gao Hongtu could do.

Zhu Youjian paused, then added, "You and Commander Zhao will remain here at Rehe City. Build up the two forts of Rehe and Gouguan for Us as quickly as possible!

In addition, the work of settling military and civilian chiliarchies along the Rehe and Luan Rivers must also be accelerated. We have taken Yanshan not solely to pacify the barbarians and exterminate the slaves, but because the land of Yanshan is of the utmost importance to the present Great Ming. This place can not only shield the gates of the nation, but also has dozens or even hundreds of mountain valleys and basins that can support people and open up farmland. To some extent it can ease the contradiction of too many people and too little land within the passes. At the same time, it is a starting point for our Great Ming to turn from retreat to advance, to expand ceaselessly. Therefore it must be managed with all effort!"

Although the Yanshan mountain range was not a rich agricultural region, it still had no small number of valleys, river valleys, and basins. Once opened up, they could support quite a few people!

Moreover, Zhu Youjian also knew that there were potatoes, sweet potatoes, and old corn — all of them could keep people alive!

Gao Hongtu had not really wanted to lead troops to fight Hong Taiji to the death. Now that he heard Zhu Youjian speak thus, he stayed in Rehe and set his mind to farming in peace. He answered loudly, "This subject receives the decree. This subject will exhaust his mind and energy to manage Yanshan for Your Majesty."

Zhu Youjian nodded briefly, then glanced at Zhu Chunchen, the noble entrusted with the Rehe traveling palace and Garrison Commander of Xingzhou.

Zhu Chunchen immediately stepped forward and said with a grin, "Your Majesty, this subject will also exhaust his mind and energy to manage the Rehe traveling palace well for Your Majesty."

As for the so-called Rehe traveling palace, construction had not even begun! It was merely an idea of Zhu Youjian's — he had discovered that on the west bank of the Rehe there was a stretch of landscape of exceptional beauty, and moreover it lay at the center of Yanshan: to the north were the grasslands, to the east was Liaoxi, to the south one entered the Great Wall and not far beyond was Beijing, and to the west was Xuanfu. Furthermore, the Rehe connected to the Luan River, and in the high-water season each year it could reach the Yongping seaport, so communications were fairly convenient. It was a strategic point controlling Yanshan. Thus the idea of establishing a traveling palace at Rehe had sprouted in his mind.

And Zhu Chunchen's post of "Keeper of the Rehe Traveling Palace" was in truth an empty title, intended merely to make his office sound grand — after all, he was Duke of Chengguo, Left Commissioner-in-Chief, with the added title of Junior Tutor to the Heir Apparent, and had once served as Commander of the Capital Camps. Giving him only a post as Garrison Commander of Xingzhou seemed a little small.

Zhu Youjian waved a hand. "The Duke of Chengguo is a descendant of the Prince of Dongping. How can he let building a house for Us delay his winning of merit? Last time below Tangzhi Mountain, you charged at the head of the assault and won great merit. This time you must make still greater efforts. Oh, and this time when you charge the enemy line, remember to bring a weapon. Don't charge in bare-handed again!"

The affair of the Duke of Chengguo charging the slave army bare-handed had already become a joke, spread all around the circles of Beijing's ennobled nobles and hereditary military officers.

"This subject… this subject obeys the decree." Zhu Chunchen's cheeks burned. He could only brace himself and say, "This subject will be sure to bring a long spear this time."

Zhu Youjian nodded. "Good, Duke of Chengguo. We give you ten days to gather one thousand military-household cavalrymen and come to Rehe. Ten days from now, We shall send forth the army into the Chahar bend and fight a decisive battle to the death with the slave bandit Hong Taiji!"

At the foot of the Yanshan Mountains lay the Saihanba Grassland.

This grassland had originally belonged to a certain tribe of the Kharchin Mongols. Now it was a pasture shared by Zhu Youjian's Duoyan Myriarchy ordo and the Uriyangqa Myriarchy ordo — these two myriarchy ordos had grand names, but in fact they did not possess many households. By the second month of the second year of Chongzhen, the Uriyangqa Myriarchy ordo had only a little over six thousand households in all, while the Duoyan Myriarchy ordo had even fewer people, only a little over thirty-six hundred households.

The two myriarchies together amounted to no more than ninety-six hundred-odd households, yet they occupied the Bashang Grassland that had originally belonged to the Uriyangqa Myriarchy and the various Kharchin tribes — the fertile Bashang Grassland had originally contained many small tribes belonging to the Uriyangqa Myriarchy and the various Kharchin tribes (these two groups of Mongols in fact had no strong core; they were merely two very loose tribal confederations), but because of continuous warfare and the forceful consolidation carried out by the Uriyangqa Grand Princess, many tribes had gone far away to other lands.

Therefore the entire Bashang Grassland, during the first and second years of Chongzhen, was empty and desolate. But at this time, the Saihanba Grassland at the foot of the Yanshan Mountains had suddenly become bustling. On the green grassland, clusters of yurts could be seen everywhere. Flocks of sheep like white clouds and herds of yellow and brown cattle flowed everywhere across the hillsides.

Even more numerous were great bands of Mongol men, riding their sturdy little horses of no small endurance, galloping back and forth across the grassland. Some of these riders carried sabers, some held lances under their arms, and their whistling cries rang out one after another as they rode in groups, seemingly drilling some battle formation.

The Great Khan of Northern Yuan, Ligdan Batur, surrounded by a group of Gorlos Tümed iron cavalrymen, sat astride a tall horse atop a high slope. He was not, however, watching the Mongol cavalry below drilling their charge, but was receiving two decurions of the Uriyangqa Myriarchy ordo who had just sworn allegiance to Zhu Youjian, along with the Borjigin Morigen whom these two decurions had brought in under escort.

"Reporting to the Great Khan, the Later Jin Khan Hong Taiji has indeed arrived at Mameng Mountain. On the fifteenth day of the second month he led the elite of the Two Yellow Banners, the Two White Banners, and the Two Red Banners out of Shenyang City. Because the troops he led were not many, his marching speed was very fast, and on the first day of the third month he reached the Qingcheng fortress below Mameng Mountain."

The loyal Mongol Borjigin Morigen was prostrated before Ligdan Batur's horse, reporting to the Mongol Great Khan in full detail everything he knew of the Later Jin army's dispositions.

As Ligdan Batur listened to Morigen's words, his somewhat gloomy face showed not the slightest ripple of emotion — for in recent days, this was not the first time he had heard such good news!

It had to be said that he, the Mongol Great Khan, still enjoyed great prestige! Apart from the Khorchin Mongols, who followed the Jianzhou Jurchens with all their hearts, among the other Mongol tribes that had attached themselves to Jianzhou there were large numbers of Mongols loyal to the Chahar Great Khan (Genghis Khan and the Golden Clan were practically gods to the Mongols). Therefore, after word spread to the Left Wing Mongols that Ligdan Batur had encamped his troops on the Saihanba Grassland, Mongols loyal to the Great Khan came in an unending stream across the Thousand-Li Pine Forest to join him.

And the news they brought about Hong Taiji and the Later Jin army was all much the same: because of insufficient army provisions, Hong Taiji had no way to dispatch a large force, and could only lead an elite force of fewer than ten thousand men to Mameng Mountain to support Manggūltai.

"Elder Brother," Ligdan Batur's younger brother, the taiji Shatu, now came up close and said in a low voice, "The taiji Neiji of the Jarud tribe and the taiji Sebten of the Barin tribe are both willing to submit and act as our inside agents. Among the Naiman and Aohan tribes, too, there are many who wish to return to the Great Khan's side. The opportunity is rare!"

The Jarud and Barin tribes were two of the five great camps of the Chahar's allies, and their strength was considerable. They had originally been enemies of the Jianzhou Jurchens, but because of Ligdan Batur's mishandling, they had submitted to the Later Jin. The Naiman and Aohan tribes had originally been component parts of the Chahar Eight Great Camps, and had likewise submitted to the Later Jin only out of necessity.

Now that the Later Jin's fortunes were poor, their desire to change masters and return to the Northern Yuan side was nothing to be blamed, and was moreover the custom of the grasslands.

"Elder Brother," Ligdan Batur's second sister, Princess Taisong, now also echoed her brother's suggestion. "The decisive battle between the Southern Emperor and the eastern barbarians is about to begin. We should take some action. We cannot simply sit on the Bashang Grassland and watch the outcome. If the Southern Emperor once again defeats the eastern barbarians, will not the Jarud, Barin, Aohan, and Naiman tribes turn and submit to the Ming?"

"This…" Ligdan Batur was, after all, the Mongol Great Khan! Toward the Ming, he naturally harbored hatred from the bottom of his heart, and he did not trust them either.

"Great Khan," said the taiji Jaisang Chükür, husband of Princess Taisong and Myriarch of the Central Army, also advising, "In order to prevent the four tribes of Jarud, Barin, Aohan, and Naiman from submitting to the Ming, we should at least cross the Thousand-Li Pine Forest and enter the banks of the Shira Muren (the Huang River), and there quietly watch the outcome at Mameng Mountain."

Ligdan Batur nodded and said with a smile, "This plan is still the best. After we cross the Thousand-Li Pine Forest, we need not go and clash with the Jianzhou Jurchens. We shall continue to watch… As long as we keep our distance from the Jianzhou Jurchens, there is nothing to fear."

(End of Chapter)