Chapter 298: Misfortune of the Ragtag Troops!

So Liu Zeqing's army had been a target of infiltration by the Southern Provost Office of the Embroidered Uniform Guard for the past several months!

The Embroidered Uniform Guard of today was no longer the same as before, when it handled too many miscellaneous matters and did none of them well. Now it was a highly specialized intelligence agency.

Its primary mission was now sharply defined: intelligence work. The Northern Provost Office handled external matters, responsible for spying on enemy intelligence. The Southern Provost Office handled internal matters — arresting traitors and moles, infiltrating and surveilling warlords who used their troops to assert their own power. All of that was the Southern Provost Office's work.

And Liu Zeqing, entrenched in the two prefectures of the Eastern Depot and Jinan, was a key target of the Southern Provost Office's infiltration!

Moreover, Liu's forces were especially easy to infiltrate. This was because Liu Zeqing, unlike Liu Liangzuo and Xu Dingguo, was no crude brute. Liu Zeqing fancied himself a man of refinement, was especially fond of befriending literati, and even liked to compose poetry.

So a great many "Donglin Faction men" who had fled Beijing mingled in Liu Zeqing's entourage. These men, of course, were not really Donglin — they were sons of Beijing's ennobled families and meritorious officials. Every one of them had a fine appearance, and the little learning they had was just enough to get along with Liu Zeqing. They were also particularly skilled at currying favor and building connections, and most importantly, they had ample intelligence funds. So after a few months of work, they had infiltrated Liu Zeqing's clique until it was about as porous as a sieve.

Besides his fondness for befriending literati, Liu Zeqing had also spent these months working hard to build up Mount Tai, and this was another important reason his clique had been infiltrated.

The Mount Tai bandits were all men of the rivers and lakes, of the same stripe as Li Yan, Hong Niangzi, and Chen Yingyuan. When Zhu Cilang was in Shandong, he had sent Li Yan and Hong Niangzi to win them over, issuing many Chiliarch commissions — and these were Chiliarch commissions from the Grand Marshal's Office!

And when Zhu Cilang left Shandong, he left behind Chen Yingyuan — the roving-bandit commander who had been won over by Li Yan and Hong Niangzi at Qingzhou — to serve as Guard Commander of the Mount Tai Guard, stationed at Crouching Tiger Mountain in the Mount Tai range. At the same time, Chen Yingyuan was also brought into the Embroidered Uniform Guard, serving as Chiliarch of the Mount Tai Office of the Southern Office.

For the rough-and-ready men under Liu Zeqing to build up Mount Tai was to deal directly with the Mount Tai Chiliarch Office of the Southern Provost Office of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. How could they not be infiltrated?

That Li Huajing whom Liu Zhigan mentioned was the Mount Tai Mobile Corps Commander sent by Liu Zeqing to build up Mount Tai. He roamed and roamed until he roamed right over to Zhu Cilang's side.

And Liu Zhigan, whom Liu Zeqing had appointed Assistant Regional Commander defending Liaocheng, had also been won over by Zhu Cilang's high office and rich rewards. When Li Ruolian led his troops to the Eastern Depot Prefecture, Liu Zhigan acted as an inside agent and did not dismantle the ten-zhang-long stone bridge outside Liaocheng's west gate. The surface of the Eastern Depot Lake outside the west wall of Liaocheng was very narrow — most of the water was around forty zhang wide, but outside the west gate the water was narrowest, a mere ten zhang, spanned by a stone-slab bridge that could be dismantled. Once the bridge deck was removed, an attacker would have to cross ten zhang of open water to reach the barbican below Liaocheng's west gate.

Because of the inside agent Liu Zhigan, Liu Zeqing's lair was easily taken by Li Ruolian.

Although he knew this Liu Zhigan was very likely a traitor eating from within and working for outsiders, Liu Zeqing did not dare have this nephew of his dragged out and beheaded.

Because his entire family, old and young, was inside the walls of Liaocheng! If he beheaded his nephew, could his family, old and young, still live?

Moreover, he had not advanced alone, but had moved together with the armies of Li Chengdong and Sun Degong. Li Chengdong was a fierce general under Gao Jie, and Sun Degong was a valiant commander whom Huang Degong relied upon.

Though these two forces were not large in number, their fighting strength left Liu Zeqing's troops several streets behind. If it came to an open break and a fight, Liu Zeqing's bit of strength would be gone. And once his strength was gone, would the Great Qing still want you? What would they want you for? To be a booi bondservant?

Liu Zeqing's brow furrowed tighter and tighter, as if he were locked in a fierce internal struggle. Just then, from outside the door came the voice of one of his trusted household commanders: "Commander, the Governor of Shandong's provincial guard has advanced to within twenty li south of Dezhou."

The Shandong provincial guard was Gao Hongtu's force, numbering as many as four thousand, commanded by Li Dakai, the former Vice Regional Commander of Chizhou who had followed Shi Kefa north to rally to the throne. It had been garrisoned in Jinan all along. Now, for some reason, it had advanced to Dezhou!

Liu Zeqing drew a sharp breath. This meant they were going to settle him by force!

Now the six thousand men led by Li Chengdong and Ma Degong were to the north — these two forces had marched north together with Liu Zeqing, and because the roving bandits had been defeated, they were now on their way back south, and most likely had already received secret orders to attack Dezhou! And Li Dakai's four thousand men were to the south. If the two sides launched a joint attack, whether he could even make it to the Great Qing side would be hard to say.

Liu Zeqing thought for a long while before asking, somewhat unwillingly: "Then what about the bit of savings this old man has stored in Liaocheng..."

"They've all been loaded onto ships for you!" Liu Zhigan said with a smile. "Uncle, when will you board and sail south? His Highness the Thousand Years has reserved a large and luxurious garden estate for you in Nanjing!"

"Thousand Years, the memorial of Liu Zeqing, Regional Commander of Shandong and Earl of Liaocheng, requesting resignation has arrived!"

On the twenty-eighth day of the eleventh month, just two days after Liu Zeqing was forced to hand over his army and leave the camp at Dezhou, his memorial requesting resignation was delivered into the hands of Zhu Cilang, the Ming Crown Prince and Army-Pacifying Prince, far away in Nanjing.

Zhu Cilang took the memorial from Bi Jiucheng and asked in a low voice: "Only Liu Zeqing's?"

"Only the Earl of Liaocheng's." Bi Jiucheng paused. "Liu Liangzuo and Xu Dingguo have not submitted memorials."

"It seems they've gone over to the eastern barbarians!" Zhu Cilang let out a breath.

The defection of Liu Liangzuo and Xu Dingguo had long been within Zhu Cilang's expectations. But that Liu Zeqing had not fled was a bit of a surprise to Zhu Cilang — this matter was mainly Gao Hongtu's fault, for sending Li Dakai with four thousand elite troops to receive Liu Zeqing. And Liu Zeqing had imagined a scenario in which Li Chengdong and Ma Degong attacked from the north, so he had been frightened into coming to Nanjing to retire. What a mess — they had already prepared to confiscate his property, and now they ended up giving him a big villa on top of it!

The Crown Prince sighed: "What of Li Chengdong and Ma Degong? Any news of them?"

"There is," Bi Jiucheng said, taking out Li Ruolian's memorial and handing it to Zhu Cilang with both hands. "The Shandong Regional Command reports that the two forces of Li Chengdong and Ma Degong have also withdrawn back into Jinan Prefecture."

The grand and thunderous northern expedition of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen had, it seemed, turned into a complete and utter farce.

Zhu Cilang thought for a moment, picked up his brush, took several sheets of letter paper, and began writing to Gao Jie and Huang Degong — he wanted to keep the two armies of Li Chengdong and Ma Degong in Jinan under Gao Hongtu's command. So he needed to explain matters to Gao Jie and Huang Degong.

The territory that Gao Hongtu, nominal Governor of Shandong, could actually govern had always been very small. Over the past several months it had consisted only of the plain south of the Daqing River in Jinan Prefecture. Now the situation had improved somewhat, because this northern expedition had still yielded some gains: they had taken Dezhou, Wuding Subprefecture, Binzhou, Haifeng County, Yangxin County, Leling County, Lijin County, Shanghe County, Linyi County, Deping County, Ling County, Pingyuan County, Yucheng County, and Qihe County north of the Daqing River in Jinan Prefecture — three subprefectures and eleven counties in all. These subprefectures and counties had previously not been Great Qing territory, but rather a no-man's-land buffer zone seized by various local strongmen. Now they had become subprefectures and counties directly administered by the Ming Governor's Office of Shandong, and of course they needed Ming troops to garrison them.

Gao Hongtu's four thousand provincial guards could not hold them all, so Gao Hongtu had submitted a memorial several days earlier requesting that the two forces of Li Chengdong and Ma Degong, six thousand men in total, be kept in Jinan. At the same time, he requested appointment as concurrent Jinan Garrison Regional Commander, with overall charge of Jinan's civil and military affairs, plus a monthly subsidy of thirty thousand taels for military expenses.

Zhu Cilang of course approved Gao Hongtu's request. But he would not take away Huang Degong's and Gao Jie's troops for nothing — he would give them certain compensation. Li Chengdong and Ma Degong had each taken three thousand men with them. So Zhu Cilang would give Gao Jie and Huang Degong two hundred thousand taels of silver to recruit and train six thousand elite troops to fill the gap.

Zhu Cilang also wanted Huang Degong to move his garrison to Shangqiu, the prefectural seat of Guide Prefecture, and take over as Regional Commander of Henan, replacing Liu Liangzuo and Xu Dingguo in governing Guide Prefecture and the southeastern part of Kaifeng Prefecture.

And the troops, money, grain, and equipment that Liu Liangzuo and Xu Dingguo had left behind in Shangqiu and Suizhou would all be placed at Huang Degong's disposal, as compensation for transferring Sun Degong out from under Huang Degong's command.

In addition, the two commanders Liu Zhigan and Li Huajing, who had gone over to Zhu Cilang, would also receive rich rewards.

Liu Zhigan would be appointed the Eastern Depot Prefecture Garrison Regional Commander, replacing Liu Zeqing in defending the Eastern Depot Prefecture.

Li Huajing would be appointed Yanzhou Prefecture Garrison Vice Regional Commander, with charge over Yuncheng, Juye, Caozhou, Jiaxiang, Jinxiang, Yutai, Shan County, Dingtao, and Chengwu west of the Grand Canal in Yanzhou Prefecture — eight counties and one subprefecture.

(End of Chapter)