Chapter 268: Li Zicheng Is Feeling Rather Good

Outside the East Prosperity Gate of the imperial city in Beijing stood a palace of considerable grandeur, originally named the Palace of Revering Splendor. It was one of the residences of the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace; had Zhu Cilang completed his marriage while in Beijing, he would have lived here.

Now, however, this palace belonged to the Qing Prince Regent Dorgon, and its name had been changed to the Prince Regent's Residence. After the Shunzhi Emperor moved into Beijing, Dorgon moved into the newly renovated Prince Regent's Residence.

And so this place became the center of power of the Great Qing.

"Your subject Wu Sangui respectfully wishes the Prince Regent golden peace."

Although he too held the title of prince, Wu Sangui still respectfully kowtowed and paid his respects to the Prince Regent, performing, of course, the rites of the Great Qing.

"Good, good!" Dorgon looked at Wu Sangui, who had already shaved his head and changed into the robes of a Qing prince, and nodded with satisfaction. "Prince Who Pacifies the West, how was the harvest in Ningyuan this year?"

"Thanks to the Prince Regent's good fortune, it was a rare bumper harvest."

The Prince Regent Dorgon smiled. "Good, good. Since it is a bumper harvest, then your men should be able to move out, yes?"

Wu Sangui asked, "Prince Regent, is it time to go to war with Li Zicheng?"

Dorgon nodded and said with a smile, "Now that His Majesty has also arrived in Beijing, once the enthronement is completed on the first day of the tenth month, we can send out the troops."

Wu Sangui was taken aback. "His Majesty's enthronement? Did His Majesty not already ascend the throne last year?"

"Ah, this is the second enthronement." Dorgon laughed. "This prince had people look into it. That bandit Li Zicheng ascended the throne twice—once in Xi'an, once in Beijing. Our Great Qing's emperor cannot lose to him, so he must ascend twice as well!"

Oh, so even this was a matter of keeping up with the competition.

"The Prince Regent speaks wisely!" Wu Sangui nodded. "We cannot let Li Zicheng outdo us. In the future, once our Great Qing has unified the north, we can go to Xi'an and ascend the throne once more."

"Hahaha." The Prince Regent Dorgon stroked his beard. "That will not be necessary. Xi'an shall be yours. Are you not the Prince Who Pacifies the West? Pacify Xi'an, and there you shall rule as prince!"

This meant Wu Sangui's men would have to take the lead. But Li Zicheng would not be easy to fight! If they had struck while the iron was hot back in the fifth month, they might have taken Taiyuan in one push. But now it was almost the tenth month, and Li Zicheng had spent five months fortifying Taiyuan—his foundations were likely already solid!

Wu Sangui frowned. "My prince, although Ningyuan had a bumper harvest this year, it still cannot supply an expedition of tens of thousands of troops into Shaanxi!"

"You do not need to supply it," Dorgon said with a smile. "The court has grain in hand!"

"The court has grain? Could it be that the Southern court has agreed to pay annual tribute?"

"Hmph!" Dorgon snorted coldly. "That little Crown Prince of the Southern court still has not received Sun Zhixie and Jin Zhijun to this day! Who knows what he is scheming?"

Wu Sangui thought to himself: it must be that sister of mine being formidable, keeping the Crown Prince utterly bewitched—so much so that he does not even want Dorgon's daughter!

What a pity. If he had gone along to Jiangnan himself, how wealthy and honored he would be now.

"My prince, then the grain..." The one asking was Zu Zefu. When Zhu Cilang defeated Duolong, he had been serving as an envoy in Dorgon's camp. So he had gone over to the Tartars, and later he had attached himself to Wu Sangui.

Dorgon said with a smile, "The Eight Banners princes and soldiers who came from the east have grain on the unowned lands they have enclosed! They have already enclosed more than ten million mu, and the rice and wheat obtained from it is no less than several million shi."

Wu Sangui immediately drew a sharp breath: this was seizing the very food from the mouths of the Han people of the capital region! No—it was seizing the very lives of the Han people of the capital region!

The capital region had long been short of grain, relying on the four million shi of rice and flour shipped from Jiangnan each year just to have enough to eat. Now the grain transport had already been cut off, and the capital region would certainly face shortages. And Dorgon had also moved over a million bannermen and booi in from beyond the passes, and still needed to raise military provisions for war. Wu Sangui had originally been worried on Dorgon's behalf; he had not expected the man's solution to be so simple.

It was simply to use the seizure of houses and the enclosure of land to drive the Han people out to starve, saving the rations for the heavenly soldiers of the Eight Banners!

Wu Sangui understood at once: against such a ruthless man, Li Zicheng was in grave danger. As for the Great Ming... he did not know what tricks his own brother-in-law had to deal with a ruthless man like Dorgon.

"This subject is willing to be the vanguard!" Wu Sangui loudly volunteered for battle. "To pacify the roving bandits for the Great Qing!"

Dorgon laughed heartily. "Prince Who Pacifies the West, rest assured. This prince wants you to lead the attack not to expend the Guanning Army, but only to pin down the roving bandits. This prince still has a follow-up move. In this battle, our Great Qing will surely win! Save the strength of your Guanning Army for attacking Shaanxi! Once Shaanxi is taken, it will bear the surname Wu, and your descendants shall hold it in perpetuity!"

"Earl of Tong Pass, how much money has His Majesty given us?"

"You, Chen Chuan, why do you only ever think of money?"

"Ai, it is not that I want money—it is the brothers below..."

"Xiaochuan, you are an old hand of the Children's Battalion. After following His Majesty for so many years, do you not know how to think on His Majesty's behalf? The situation is so difficult now. His Majesty has so many people to support, and with the three-year tax exemption still in effect, his purse is tight!"

"But, but the eastern barbarians are enclosing land and seizing houses..."

"What are you saying? Do you want His Majesty to imitate the eastern barbarians and lose the people's hearts?"

"The people's hearts, the people's hearts, always the people's hearts. I say our His Majesty is simply too eager to win the people's hearts!"

The ones speaking atop the low gate tower of Guguan were the chief and deputy commanders of the Children's Battalion: the Valiant and Resolute General, Earl of Tong Pass Luo Hu, and the Martial Might General Chen Chuan.

Luo Hu had just returned to Guguan from Taiyuan after receiving his military orders. The 5,000 elite troops of the Children's Battalion would bear a heavy responsibility in the coming battle against the Qing army.

But Luo Hu's deputy Chen Chuan was extremely dissatisfied that Luo Hu had not brought back any reward silver!

To Luo Hu, the absence of extra rewards was only natural, because the Shun regime's finances were in terrible shape.

The three-year tax exemption period had not yet passed, and because the Shun court advocated "exempting grain taxes and equalizing land," it could not gain the support of the landlord class, so it had essentially no tax revenue. All expenditures were sustained by the gold and silver brought out from Beijing.

Setting aside how the armies in various places were paid, the nearly 100,000 troops concentrated in Taiyuan Prefecture alone required no less than 400,000 taels per month in provisions and pay! In addition, Li Zicheng's court still had to send money to the armies campaigning and garrisoning in various places, maintain an ever-growing bureaucracy, and the emperor Li Zicheng himself still had some expenses. All added together, money was flowing out like water!

From the sixth month until now, Li Zicheng's Shun court had already spent more than 3.5 million taels of silver!

And to prepare for the coming decisive battle, Li Zicheng still had to spend money to purchase grain, procure weapons and warhorses, repair the city walls in various places, and placate the Ming generals who had surrendered but whose loyalty was unsteady.

All these various expenses added together came to over 1.5 million taels more—gone!

This rate of spending pained Old Li terribly.

And of the silver he had scooped up from Beijing, a good deal had been lost in the two battles of Dingzhou and Zhending, so the silver he brought to Taiyuan was less than 20 million taels.

At this rate of spending, by next year he would be just like the Chongzhen Emperor—dying of poverty!

Yet even as Li Zicheng was nearly dying of poverty, the men below still complained it was too little.

Over on the Ming side now, the hardship-enduring meritorious officials who had followed Zhu Cilang were all dividing up fields, land, houses, wives, and silver.

And over on the Tartars' side, they were enclosing land and seizing houses, forcing Han people to submit as slaves! The area within three hundred li around Beijing had basically been given away to those Eight Banners lords.

Only Li Zicheng's Shun army had received the least. How could morale possibly stay high?

And Li Zicheng, of all people, had a "bodhisattva's heart," always thinking about winning the people's hearts—while the old brothers under him who had not gotten any spoils were nearly dying of resentment!

But at this moment, Li Zicheng himself was feeling quite good, because Yuan Zongdi, who was guarding Xiangyang, had just sent him Gu Junen's report.

Zhu Cilang did not want Li Zicheng to declare himself a subject; instead, he was willing for the Great Ming and the Shun to become brotherly states, together resisting the eastern barbarians!

"Hahaha!" Li Zicheng burst into wild laughter. "Everyone, our Great Shun has now formed an alliance with the Great Ming, and together we can resist the eastern barbarians! The Great Ming's Army-Pacifying Crown Prince has agreed to keep the Datong side holding firm without moving, and at the same time ordered Shi Kefa and Gao Hongtu to deploy troops in Jinan Prefecture and Jining Prefecture. He will also send a naval force across the sea to attack Joseon, to divide the eastern barbarians' attention!"

Li Zicheng paused. "I have also received word that the eastern barbarians will march out from Beijing on the second day of the tenth month and can reach Guguan by the fifth. Our Great Shun will march out on the thirtieth day of the ninth month, in two columns: sixty thousand elite troops to Guguan! Forty thousand elite troops south to Huaiqing!"

(End of Chapter)