Chapter 295: The Anti-Qing United Front

Zhaozhou, a subordinate prefecture of Zhending Prefecture — famous to later generations for the Zhaozhou Bridge — was now entirely a sea of Shun troops in blue clothes and white caps. The tightly disciplined Old Camp soldiers surged in like a flood, and the Qing officials and soldiers stationed in Zhaozhou had not even the courage to resist before they became "brave men" who fled at the first sight of the enemy. Before fleeing, however, they did considerable harm to Zhaozhou city: first they plundered the few remaining residents, drove them out of the city in the depths of winter, and marched them all north; then they set fire to every house in the city and burned it to the ground. And they gave it a fine name: "strengthening the walls and clearing the fields."

Not long after the Qing troops withdrew with the people they had seized, Li Guo and Tian Jianxiu led nearly thirty thousand high-morale Shun Old Camp soldiers into the desolate city of Zhaozhou.

Incidentally, Li Zicheng's Old Camp troops had suffered one blow after another since their defeat at Yipianshi, and their losses had been severe. Of the sixty thousand Old Camp soldiers who had originally set out eastward, fewer than thirty thousand had managed to retreat to Shanxi. Although more than ten thousand Old Camp backbone troops had been drawn in as replacements from Gao Yigong in Guanzhong and Yuan Zongdi in Xiangyang, the numbers still fell far short of what they now appeared to be.

So the forty thousand Old Camp soldiers commanded by Li Guo and Tian Jianxiu were actually watered-down troops. The elite soldiers who had entered the Old Camp before the battle of Yipianshi numbered only fourteen or fifteen thousand. The rest were newly recruited strong men — some from Ming army backgrounds, some local bandits and horse thieves, and some simply common civilians. The fighting strength of this army could no longer be mentioned in the same breath as the Old Camp troops who had fought the Qing army and the Guanning Army at Yipianshi.

That this roundabout northern expedition had achieved such results truly exceeded Li Guo's and Tian Jianxiu's expectations.

Both men were of a cautious disposition, and especially after suffering setbacks at the Tianjin garrison and Yipianshi, they no longer had the old heroic spirit of sweeping across the eight wildernesses. So when faced with a string of victories, they became all the more prudent and careful, and after advancing to Zhaozhou they did not dare go a step further.

In the Zhaozhou prefectural office, which had been swept by fire, Li Guo, wearing a fur-lined hat, sat on a stone bench in the garden with an old acquaintance, lost in thought. The old acquaintance was Feng San, a subordinate of Li Yan and Hong Niangzi. He now had a proper name — Feng Mingshan — and an impressive official post: Chief Clerk of the Prince of Tang's household and concurrently Left Guard Commander of the Prince of Tang of the Great Ming.

This time, however, he had not come on the Prince of Tang's orders, but to deliver a personal letter to Li Guo and Tian Jianxiu from Zhu Cilang, the Great Ming's Army-Pacifying Crown Prince.

The Great Ming Crown Prince wanted to join forces with him, the Shun imperial nephew, to resist the Qing!

Moreover, in the letter Zhu Cilang explained to him the matter of the Dai princely fief's unauthorized alliance with the Qing — this was absolutely the doing of the Dai fief's people on their own initiative; the Great Ming Crown Prince himself was resolute in his determination to resist the Qing!

In addition, Zhu Cilang told Li Guo in the letter that if the northern expedition's situation turned unfavorable, he was welcome to move south and station his troops around Kaifeng and Nanyang. He would not even need to declare himself a subject of the Great Ming; the Great Ming was willing to agree to mutual non-aggression, and could even lend him grain, cloth, and other supplies.

These conditions were quite attractive!

But now the whole world knew that the Great Ming Crown Prince was cunning and ruthless — if he joined forces with him to resist the Qing, would he be swallowed up while they were still fighting?

"Marquis of Bo, our provisions are running low. Ever since we left Weihui Prefecture, it has been very difficult to forage for grain along the way. The Tartars have been burning and killing everywhere, and both sides of the main roads have been reduced to scorched earth."

After Feng Mingshan left, it was Tian Jianxiu who spoke to Li Guo. At Li Zicheng's side, he was a big-shot figure on equal footing with Liu Zongmin. Now with Li Guo, however, he was a step lower, serving as Li Guo's deputy — after retreating from Beijing, Li Zicheng had kept his Old Camp firmly in his own grasp.

Those who could command independently were, apart from Yuan Zongdi, who had long since been detached to lead troops in Xiangyang, only his eldest nephew Li Guo, his brother-in-law Gao Yigong, and Luo Hu, commander of the Boys' Camp, whom he treated as his own son.

Even Tian Jianxiu and Liu Zongmin were no longer allowed to command an army on their own.

Unlike Liu Zongmin's unruly temperament, Tian Jianxiu was a great general who knew when to advance and when to retreat, so Li Zicheng had assigned him to assist Li Guo.

"Is there any news of His Majesty?" Li Guo asked.

Tian Jianxiu shook his head. "Marquis of Bo, His Majesty has already withdrawn his troops from Guguan. No one knows where he has gone; contact has been lost. Perhaps he has retreated into Guanzhong."

The backbone of the Shun army was all Shaanxi men. After withdrawing from Beijing, they had begun to grow homesick, all wanting to return to their old homes in Guanzhong and live peaceful lives. In the eyes of the Shaanxi men, once Tongguan and Wuguan were closed, Guanzhong would become a world unto itself.

Li Guo actually shared this sentiment. Hearing Tian Jianxiu say this, he sighed as well. "Returning to Guanzhong would indeed be best. In fact, we should have gone back long ago. After leaving Beijing, we should have headed straight for Guanzhong. Only by properly developing Guanzhong can our foundation become secure."

"Developing?" Tian Jianxiu shook his head and lowered his voice. "Marquis of Bo, I have made inquiries with Feng San. That fellow Li Yan has done very well for himself in Runing! In just a few short months, he has built up quite a situation."

"How did he develop it?" Li Guo asked with a frown.

"It wasn't very difficult. He simply seized land, people, and silver," Tian Jianxiu said. "Then he rewarded people according to merit, distributing part of the land, people, and silver. Feng San said the Ming's Army-Pacifying Crown Prince has been doing the same in the southeast — confiscating tens of millions of mu of land and tens of millions of taels of silver from the southeastern nobles and meritorious officials! The tens of thousands of soldiers of his Overcoming-Hardship New Army who followed him all received land — at least fifty mu of Jiangnan paddy fields each! Everyone was overjoyed. The Zhu family's position in the southeast is now secure."

"Moreover, the Tartars have also been enclosing fields, seizing houses, and forcing people into servitude within three hundred li around Beijing, distributing the land and people to their Eight Banners officers and soldiers."

Li Guo sighed. "We ought to do the same!"

"But His Majesty..." Tian Jianxiu began, then swallowed his words.

In fact, even without him saying it, Li Guo knew what he meant — wasn't it just that "His Majesty is a bit too soft-hearted"?

Did this even need to be said? Who among the Shun army's high command didn't know it?

This Yongchang Emperor could look terrifying when he was being ruthless, capable of any atrocity. But deep in his heart, he was extremely sympathetic toward the poor common people. He genuinely cherished the poor as the foundation of the Shun dynasty.

His approach somewhat resembled the "free model" of later internet companies: first use the free model to capture the market, then figure out how to make a profit.

But Li Zicheng had no way to raise funds to cover the losses caused by the free model, so he had no choice but to shortchange the brothers under him.

Now an ordinary Old Camp soldier's monthly pay was a mere one tael of silver — not nearly enough to support a family — and army rations were only enough to fill the belly. If they wanted to get rich, they could only rely on looting, but Li Zicheng, fearing that too much looting would cost him popular support, kept them under strict restraint.

Compared to the Eight Banners soldiers who had enclosed vast tracts of banner land, and the Overcoming-Hardship New Army veterans who could receive at least fifty mu of Jiangnan paddy fields (new recruits had to earn merit or serve ten full years before being granted land), the actual income of the Shun Old Camp soldiers was now only about one-tenth of theirs. What motivation was left? Before taking Beijing, they could still talk about ideals, but now — what ideals were left to talk about?

Fortunately, information did not travel fast in this era and transportation was inconvenient. Otherwise there would be no need to fight at all — Li Zicheng's Old Camp soldiers would all have gone to submit their resumes to Zhu Cilang!

But if Li Guo really took Li Zicheng's forty thousand Old Camp soldiers to station at Kaifeng and Nanyang, right next to Runing Prefecture, and played at some anti-Qing united front with Zhu Cilang — heh heh — wouldn't Li Yan undermine his foundation completely?

Li Guo and Tian Jianxiu were of course not blind to the risks of allying with the Ming, but they had no way out now. This great roundabout counteroffensive had reached the point where it was nearly spent. Push further north? Did they really want to make a trip to the walls of Beijing? This time they could not count on the people of Beijing welcoming the Roving King, because Beijing had essentially become a city of bannermen.

And the Tartar troops could not all be trapped in Shanxi. As long as Dorgon still had twenty thousand Tartar soldiers at his disposal, the forces of Li Guo and Tian Jianxiu were in danger.

Since advancing north was extremely dangerous, turning south was inevitable. The only question was where to go.

So when Luoluohun and Tantai led more than ten thousand Eight Banners troops into the territory of Zhending Prefecture, Li Guo and Tian Jianxiu did not even entertain the thought of a decisive battle, and immediately chose to retreat in great strides.

At the same time, Wu Sangui's great army crossed the Wangwu Mountains and burst into Huaiqing Prefecture, cutting off Li Guo's and Tian Jianxiu's route of retreat into Henan Prefecture (Luoyang).

Thus, retreating south to Kaifeng and then turning toward Nanyang became the only way out for Li Guo's and Tian Jianxiu's force.

(End of Chapter)