Chapter 275: Both Sides Have a Surprise Force

Li Zicheng's use of troops this time followed the path of "matching with the regular, winning with the unexpected." Matching with the regular meant meeting the Qing main force in a decisive battle in the Guguan–Jingxing area, drawing the entire Qing main force there.

Winning with the unexpected meant the forty thousand cavalry deployed at Zezhou, commanded by Tian Jianxiu and Li Guo, waiting for the chance to march north through Huaiqing Prefecture, Weihui Prefecture, Zhangde Prefecture, and Shunde Prefecture to Zhending Prefecture, threatening the rear of the Qing main force attacking Guguan!

Of course, this great flanking maneuver by the forty thousand cavalry was not meant to fight a decisive life-and-death battle with the Qing main force, but to force them to withdraw from beyond the Guguan Great Wall by threatening their rear.

Li Zicheng did not seek to annihilate the Qing troops in great numbers either; he only sought to force the Qing troops back and hold the Guguan line. That way, the Shun army's position in Shanxi would be secure. Because the Qing's territory inside the passes was not large, basically just the Northern Metropolitan Region.

According to the intelligence Li Zicheng had gathered, in the Wanli years, when the Great Ming was still doing fairly well, the total farmland in the Northern Metropolitan Region was under 50 million mu, and the total tax grain was under 600,000 shi — this little farmland and tax grain was fundamentally insufficient to supply the more than one hundred thousand Qing soldiers who had come east, plus the hundreds of thousands or even a million Eight Banners family members and booi bondservants.

As long as Zhu Cilang was not brain-damaged enough to marry Dorgon's daughter and give the eastern barbarians four million shi of "tribute grain" every year, the eastern barbarians' Northern Metropolitan Region would soon be stricken by famine! Then they would have no strength left to attack Shanxi again.

Li Zicheng's train of thought was interrupted by a burst of urgent hoofbeats. He looked up and saw Chen Chuan, Vice Regional Commander of the Children's Battalion, galloping toward him at full speed. Only at the foot of the hill did he dismount, then walked up the hill on foot and came before Li Zicheng to kowtow respectfully.

"Your Majesty, the Earl of Tong Pass is directing the battle at Old Pass. He has already beaten back three assaults by the Wu traitor today, and is now locked in fierce combat with the Wu traitor's fourth assault."

Li Zicheng asked, "How is the Wu traitor's morale? Can they fight?"

Chen Chuan answered, "Reporting to Your Majesty, the morale of the Wu traitor's troops is markedly lower than before."

Song Xiance, who was at Li Zicheng's side, said with a laugh, "Your Majesty, the Wu traitor's soldiers were always fed full with Ming silver — several million in pay and provisions a year. Now they can follow the Tartars and eat grass!"

Li Zicheng smiled. "Well said. It's time the Wu traitor tasted some hardship!"

General of Authority and Marquis of Ru, Liu Zongmin, was also with Li Zicheng, and said with a smile, "Your Majesty, the Wu traitor's morale is already broken. This is the chance to strike hard. I have trained one thousand iron cavalry who can serve as the vanguard!"

Liu Fangliang, General Commanding the Left Camp, also immediately asked to fight: "Your Majesty, I have trained two thousand Iron Men, the finest elite troops. They can raid the Wu traitor's main camp tonight."

Liu Zongmin's iron cavalry and Liu Fangliang's Iron Men were both elite troops that Li Zicheng had ordered his five old camps to train and organize for this very decisive battle.

Moreover, since the army withdrew to Shanxi in the fifth month, Li Zicheng had also massively expanded the old camps. The four old camps that had followed him on the eastern expedition — the Central Authority Personal Army, the Left Camp, the Right Camp, and the Rear Camp — had each been expanded to over twenty-five thousand men, bringing the four camps' combined strength to one hundred thousand.

He also appointed Chen Yongfu as General Commanding, to gather the various troops in Shanxi plus Chen Yongfu's old unit, totaling twenty thousand, to hold Taiyuan Prefecture, guarding against unrest from the Datong direction and from the local gentry of Taiyuan Prefecture.

"Hold Yellow Tiger's iron cavalry for now. When Wu Sangui withdraws, we'll hit him hard then. We must avenge the old brothers who died at Yipianshi!"

Liu Zongmin cupped his hands and said, "This subject receives the decree!"

After speaking, Li Zicheng turned to Liu Fangliang. "Fangliang, tomorrow night it will be up to your Iron Men to win merit. Remember, take the gain and stop — do not get drawn into a prolonged fight. We do not fear the Wu traitor's troops, but behind the Wu traitor there are still real Tartars of unknown number. Do not underestimate them. This is the first battle, and the first battle must be a victory — even a small victory will do!"

Liu Fangliang also cupped his hands: "This subject will certainly be careful."

After Yipianshi, the Shun army hated Wu Sangui's forces, but feared the Manchu troops!

Now that the Regional Commander harbored fear in his heart, his command was inevitably timid and constrained.

On one side was a Li Zicheng grown timid and constrained, while on the other side the Qing troops were at the height of their boldness.

Neither the Shun army at Taiyuan nor the Ming army at Datong was worthy of notice in their eyes!

The only thing that made the Qing high command — Dorgon, Dodo, Hooge, and the rest — feel thorny was the force Zhu Cilang had placed in Dengzhou and Laizhou.

Because the Manchu First Warrior Duolong had fallen at their hands, and the Deng-Lai Ming army had the strong city of Dengzhou on land, and had also built forts and stockades on many islands along the coast.

Furthermore, the Dengzhou naval fortress still housed the Northern Fleet, which neither the Great Qing nor its tributary Joseon could do anything about. Although this fleet had not yet done anything too outrageous — only stopping ships on the northern seas to collect tolls and forcing the Joseon kingdom to trade with them — for the Great Qing, which had no navy, the threat from the sea was always uncontrollable and uncertain!

But the Deng-Lai Ming army and the Northern Fleet were not something Prince Yu of the Great Qing, Dodo, needed to worry about right now. He was no longer responsible for the southern and maritime fronts, but was leading his troops on a flanking western expedition to cut Li Zicheng's rear.

The large force, composed of twenty thousand Eight Banners crack troops and over ten thousand Han troops under Kong Youde and Shang Kexi, was at this moment threading its way through the mountains where the Yan Mountains and the Taihang Mountains meet.

Their line of march was the Lingqiu Ancient Road of Feihu Gorge, one of the Eight Passes of the Taihang, running from Zijing Pass in the east to Pingxing Pass in the west. Along the way they had to pass through five strategic points — Futu Gorge, Shimen Gorge, Yima Ridge, Tiechai Ridge, and the Lingqiu mountain town — before they could reach the foot of Pingxing Pass.

These five strategic points had all previously been under the control of the Datong Ming army. Although the Datong Ming army was fairly useless, as long as they held the passes and defended stubbornly, that would be enough to give Dodo a headache. It was not that they could not be taken, but that it would take considerable time and would leak word, letting Li Zicheng prepare. If just over ten thousand Shun elite troops were deployed on Pingxing Pass, they could easily bottle up Dodo's force — which had not brought any Hongyi cannons — until their grain ran out!

If the Datong Ming army could go one step further and join with Li Zicheng to lay an ambush at any one of the five strategic points — Futu Gorge, Shimen Gorge, Yima Ridge, Tiechai Ridge, or the Lingqiu mountain town — then the Qing troops, strung out in a marching column so long that neither its head nor tail could be seen as they threaded through the mountains, would likely have to return home with broken wings.

If Dodo's force, serving as the surprise element, were defeated on the Lingqiu Ancient Road, then Ajige and Wu Sangui's forces beneath the Guguan Great Wall could not possibly win any victory either. This wave of the Great Qing offensive would then be completely thwarted!

But two hours earlier, Dodo's central army had already passed through the Lingqiu mountain town, the last of the strategic points on the Lingqiu Ancient Road. Thirty li ahead lay Pingxing Pass, held by the Shun army.

The sky was gradually darkening. Dodo looked back at the Lingqiu town walls bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun and let out a long breath — these stupid Nikans had already missed the best chance to thwart the Great Qing's heavenly troops.

Now they only needed Kong Youde and Shang Kexi, the two Obedient Kings, to take Pingxing Pass, and victory would be assured.

A dispatch rider came hurrying from the front. He spotted the great banner raised high beside Dodo and the Bordered White Banner bayara guards protecting Dodo, and rode up. At the outer ring he was stopped by a white-armored soldier; after exchanging the password he was brought before Dodo.

"My Prince, Prince Gongshun's main force has already reached the foot of Pingxing Pass. They found the defenders on the pass in panic and unprepared, so he has ordered the vanguard battalion to deploy and prepare to assault the pass!"

Unprepared, just as expected!

Dodo thought to himself: Those Nikans at Datong are honest indeed — they didn't even leak a word to Li Zicheng. It seems Li Zicheng's torture-extortion and land equalization really did infuriate them!

"Rest in place and eat some dry rations." After Dodo passed down the order to rest in place, the Eight Banners soldiers, who had toiled for most of the day, said little and sat down in groups to rest, eating the dry rations they carried.

Dodo did not rest, but rode swiftly forward with his bayara guards toward Pingxing Pass. Before he could even see the pass, he heard the crackling of arquebus fire, like beans popping in a pan, coming from ahead.

One of the white-armored soldiers beside Dodo was a survivor who had narrowly escaped from Dagukou. At the sound of gunfire he shuddered and said loudly to Dodo, "My Prince, danger ahead — Nikan arquebuses!"

No sooner had he spoken than Dodo lashed him with his horsewhip. "Nonsense! That is Prince Gongshun's Ujen Cooha — it is our Great Qing's arquebuses killing Nikans!"

(End of Chapter)