Chapter 280: Roving King, What Are You Trying to Do

The night battle at Jingxing, fought from the hour of Zi to the hour of Chen on the thirteenth day of the tenth month, ended once again in defeat for Li Zicheng.

The Roving King Li, who only a few months ago had been invincible, had now become an emperor of constant defeats. Not only could he not beat the Eight Banners, he could not even defeat Wu Sangui's traitor troops. And this time he had even sent out elite forces like the Iron Man Battalion and the Boy Battalion on a night raid, and had broken into Wu's camp, only to be held off by Wu's officers and men as they scrambled to meet the attack. The fight dragged on until Wu Sangui personally led his Yi Ding cavalry and matchlock squads to the scene, throwing in heavy matchlocks and armored troops for a counterattack that drove out the picked troops commanded by Luo Hu and Liu Fangliang.

After several hours of fierce fighting, Li Zicheng had gained nothing but more than 1,500 casualties.

This truly left him somewhat dejected. He was plainly an emperor who had won the people's hearts, so why were the soldiers under his command becoming less and less able to fight?

A full 4,000 picked troops had gone out, and they could not even take two of Wu Sangui's camps! If that dog of a traitor Wu Sangui had not been so poor at fighting, so timid and hesitant to launch a large-scale counterattack, it was hard to say whether Liu Fangliang and Luo Hu would even have made it back.

On the way back to the Guyuan Great Wall under escort by the imperial guard camp, Li Zicheng could plainly feel the sagging morale. The old-camp soldiers marching before, behind, and around him all hung their heads in dejection, without a trace of spirit, as though they had suffered some crushing defeat.

Just as Li Zicheng was fretting over his men's ever-sinking morale, a burst of urgent hoofbeats suddenly came from up ahead. He looked up and was taken aback, for the rider galloping toward him was none other than his military adviser, Song Xiance!

Song Xiance was a man who waved a goose-feather fan, always presenting the calm air of one whose every calculation was flawless. In all the years Li Zicheng had spent with him, he had hardly ever seen him spur a horse at full gallop.

The last time Song Xiance had been like this was after the defeat at Yipianshi!

"Military Adviser, what has happened?" Li Zicheng found it strange, and without waiting for Song Xiance to come up to him, he called out loudly.

Song Xiance did not answer. He rode all the way up to Li Zicheng before lowering his voice and saying urgently, "Imperial Lord, bad news. A large Tartar force has broken through Pingxing Pass, Fanshi county town, and the prefectural seat of Daizhou."

"What?" Li Zicheng was so startled he nearly toppled from his horse. He barely steadied himself, then pressed, "How can this be? How could the Tartars possibly raid Pingxing Pass? Is the Lingqiu ancient road not in the hands of the Ming troops at Datong?"

Song Xiance shook his head. "Imperial Lord, it must be the Ming troops at Datong who let them through. We have fallen for the Zhu Crown Prince's trick!"

"This is inviting the wolf into the house!" Li Zicheng ground his teeth. "How could the Zhu Crown Prince be so foolish?"

Song Xiance sneered. "He is not foolish at all. He means to kill with a borrowed knife!"

"Kill? Kill who?" Li Zicheng's eyes bulged, and a fierce light showed in them.

"Not to kill Your Imperial Lordship, but to kill his three brothers!" Song Xiance said. "He is an unfilial son who seized power from his Imperial Father, and what he fears most is his three brothers returning."

"Hmph! Vile!" Li Zicheng ground his teeth. "I won't let him have it easy. Xiance, what should be done?"

"Imperial Lord, we can send the Prince of Yong to Wuchang and hand him over to Zuo Liangyu."

"Done!" Li Zicheng nodded.

Song Xiance added, "Northern Shanxi is clearly beyond saving. Imperial Lord, you should fall back another step."

Li Zicheng's brow furrowed deeply. "Must Taiyuan Prefecture still be held?"

"It must be held!" Song Xiance said. "If we do not hold Taiyuan, how is our great army to get away?" He paused, then added, "Send the General-in-Chief Chen Yongfu to hold it! He is utterly loyal to Your Imperial Lordship and will surely tie the Tartars down!"

Li Zicheng ground his teeth. "Chen Yongfu alone will likely not be enough. We must also move the great army lying hidden in Zezhou! The Tartar host will surely follow me to Taiyuan Prefecture, leaving their rear exposed. Perhaps that can turn the situation around a little."

The news that Pingxing Pass, Fanshi county town, and the prefectural seat of Daizhou had been taken by the Qing army was delivered to Datong Prefecture that same day by relay riders sent out from the Andong Central Garrison.

At that moment, inside the city of Datong Prefecture, an army of thirty thousand had already been fully assembled and could march out at any time!

The armament of the Ming troops at Datong may also have exceeded the expectations of Zhu Cilang, far away in Nanjing. Though the thirty thousand Ming troops here could hardly get any pay, the swords and shields, long spears, and bows and arrows in their hands were all fine goods of passing quality. Every combat soldier had a suit of cloth-faced iron armor.

In addition, this Ming army also possessed one thousand matchlock muskets of excellent quality!

Apart from their equipment being up to standard, these Ming soldiers also looked considerably better in complexion, clearly having eaten their fill for several months.

The Ming troops at Datong could have decent weapons and a full belly because they now had a great patron!

Their great patron was the gentry and Shanxi merchants of Shanxi!

That was right — it was those Shanxi merchants who smuggled goods beyond the passes and lent the Tartars a helping hand who were now funding the Ming troops at Datong.

This was because the Shanxi merchants had now encountered an enemy who made them grind their teeth in fury — Li Zicheng!

The targets of Li Zicheng's torture and extortion in Beijing had included merchants as well! And among the merchants of Beijing, those from Shanxi and Shaanxi were the majority. The high command of the Shun army were all Shaanxi men, so naturally they treated Shaanxi merchants a bit more politely. But could the old Shanxi foxes expect any good once they fell into their hands? Every Shanxi man doing business in the capital suffered grievous losses!

And Li Zicheng, after withdrawing from Beijing, had not gone straight to Shaanxi as he had in history, but had taken up residence in Taiyuan Prefecture. This made things even harder for the gentry and merchants of Shanxi! Although Li Zicheng did not continue the torture and extortion in Shanxi, he was still carrying out the policy of "exempting grain taxes and equalizing land." In the parts of Shanxi under Li Zicheng's rule, merchants and gentry not only could not collect a single dou of wheat in land rent, but even the usurious loans they had made went down the drain!

Moreover, because of the Shun court's "grain tax exemption" and its policy of refusing to recognize the privileges of Ming gentry, the tax-evasion schemes such as "fraudulent registration" and "scatter-transfer" had become a sore point for the Shanxi gentry — the farming households fraudulently registered refused to pay gentry grain levies, and even demanded the dissolution of the registration relationship!

As for scatter-transfer — that is, dispersing land onto the account books of poor peasants in order to shift tax and levy burdens — it had caused rich merchants and gentry to lose their land!

And that was not all. There were also plenty of "crafty tenant peasants" who went to the Shun government offices to accuse their landlord masters of plotting rebellion — and every single accusation stuck! Even if the accused landlords and rich men were not wiped out to the last household by the Shun army, they could hardly escape utter ruin!

For the gentry and merchants of Shanxi, such days were truly unlivable. And those who could deliver them from this sea of misery were, on the one hand, the Great Qing occupying Beijing, and on the other, the Dai princedom at Datong.

But at present the gentry and merchants of Shanxi could not see the larger direction clearly either.

The Great Qing over in Beijing was seizing land, seizing houses, and forcing people into bondservice — looking even more ferocious than the roving bandits. And the Great Qing and the Great Ming were still in peace talks, as though the Great Qing merely wished to be a Liao state.

So a group of Shanxi rich men sought out Li Jiantai, who was living in retirement in the countryside — that former Ming Grand Secretary Li Jiantai who had spent 150,000 taels to buy a "return-home permit" from Liu Zongmin.

And Li Jiantai at this time was also thinking of eating the Ming's "turn-back grass" again, so he contacted a group of Shanxi merchants, scraped together several hundred thousand taels in military funds, over a thousand fine-quality matchlocks, and a large batch of grain, and, taking advantage of the reopening of trade after Li Zicheng made peace with the Ming, shipped all of it to Datong.

At the same time, Wang Yongji, Jiang Xiang, Luo Xiushen, Gao Di, and the others on the Datong side were also working hard to save themselves.

Not only had they completely stopped the stipends of the old Prince of Dai's household (a stipend that exceeded the regular land tax of Datong Prefecture), they had also reorganized the military farms and fields of the many guard stations under the Shanxi Regional Military Commission and the princely fields of the Prince of Dai's estate. All the princely fields and military fields had been redistributed, so that nearly forty thousand Datong officers and men obtained land of their own — though this land distribution had a touch of fraud about it, because according to the peace terms Datong had reached with Beijing, the territory of Datong Prefecture was to be exchanged for Taiyuan Prefecture.

But how could ordinary soldiers know that? Now that they had obtained land, eaten their fill, and had decent equipment, their energy naturally rose!

"The great matter is accomplished! The great matter is accomplished!"

Inside the Prince's Household Administration Office, Wang Yongji laughed loudly and said to Luo Xiushen, Jiang Xiang, Gao Di, and Li Jiantai, "The Li rebel is finished. Now it is time for us to march! Commander Jiang, Commander Gao — which of you two will hold Datong, and which will go to Zhenxi Guard?"

Jiang Xiang had no interest in Zhenxi Guard. What he wanted was Taiyuan. And Gao Di also kept silent; Fenzhou and Qinzhou were what he wanted.

Seeing that the two Commanders were both silent, Luo Xiushen seized the chance to volunteer: "For this first engagement, let this humble official lead the Prince's household guards into battle!"

(End of Chapter)