Chapter 362: Prince Who Pacifies the West, King of the Northwest

An army was making its way through the mountains and ravines within the borders of Qingyang Prefecture in northern Shaanxi.

This was a considerably large army — not only numerous in men, but with a great many mules and horses accompanying it, making the column even more massive. Standing in the middle of the force, one truly could see neither head nor tail; tens of thousands of troops were advancing in vast, surging waves toward the northwest. The army's vanguard had already crossed into Pingliang Prefecture, while the rear guard was still beside the Ziwu River within Yan'an Prefecture.

Wu Sangui was among this force, riding a fine Liaodong steed, wearing long-bodied iron armor and an eight-petaled iron-tipped helmet. The queue hanging behind his head had vanished at some point, and he was dressed entirely like a Ming army general.

Behind him, the great banner of the Great Qing's Prince Who Pacifies the West was also gone, replaced by a great banner reading "Garrison Commander of Ningxia Garrison, General Who Subdues the Caitiffs, Earl Who Pacifies the West" — Garrison Commander of Ningxia Garrison bearing the seal of General Who Subdues the Caitiffs was a Ming office! And Earl Who Pacifies the West was a title conferred by the Ming!

Now Wu Sangui had hidden his queue, raised the Ming banner, and even conferred upon himself the title of Garrison Commander of Ningxia Garrison and General Who Subdues the Caitiffs — not because he had returned to the Ming, but in order to win over the gentry and local strongmen in Shaanxi who were still loyal to the Ming.

Earlier, when fighting in Shanxi, he had tasted the benefits of assistance from Shanxi merchants and Shanxi scholar-officials, and he knew how deeply the roving bandits had alienated the hearts of the literati.

Therefore, after entering Tong Pass, he had ordered his troops to put away the Qing banners, had his officers and men hide their queues, and had banners made reading "Garrison Commander of Ningxia Garrison, General Who Subdues the Caitiffs, Earl Who Pacifies the West."

And from this banner one could roughly infer Wu Sangui's objective after entering Tong Pass — although Dorgon had promised him the title of King of Guanzhong, Wu Sangui knew his own limits. His strength was simply no match for Li Zicheng's. Moreover, he had been secretly sabotaged by Zhu Cilang and had nearly become a second Hong Chengchou! How could he dare to exhaust his forces?

If the Guanning Army were spent, Dorgon would surely send him down to keep Hong Chengchou company!

Therefore, after Wu Sangui entered Tong Pass, he set up an empty camp at the foot of Mount Fenghuang, while his main force crossed the Wei River by night and entered the northern bank region. Then he force-marched along the Luo River into Yan'an Prefecture, and from there advanced west along the Ziwu River into Qingyang Prefecture.

To conceal his movements, his forty-thousand-strong army avoided towns and cities as much as possible, and all civilians encountered along the way were forcibly conscripted into the ranks.

And although Li Zicheng had occupied Shaanxi for over a year, he had never built up the grassroots — distributing land to officers and soldiers would have been one form of such governance, but Li Zicheng had not implemented it. His officials were only dispatched down to the county level. Though the people's hearts leaned toward him, there was no channel linking the people's sentiments to the Shun government. So even if some "commoners" discovered Wu Sangui's army, they could not get word to Li Zicheng quickly.

This was why Li Zicheng had temporarily lost track of Wu Sangui's army's movements!

But Wu Sangui also knew that Li Zicheng would not remain "blind" for long — after all, the movement of a forty-thousand-strong army made too much noise. So he had to seize the time and move his troops as far from Chang'an as possible, drawing near to his first objective — Guyuan Subprefecture in Pingliang Prefecture.

That place had originally been the station of the Shaanxi Garrison Regional Commander, and it was also the key route from Guanzhong to Ningxia. By traveling north along the Hulu River, which flowed past the city of Guyuan Subprefecture, one could enter the territory of Ningxia Garrison.

Once he occupied Ningxia Garrison, Wu Sangui would have a truly reliable base!

Ningxia Garrison was one of the Nine Frontier Garrisons, governing five guards — Ningxia Guard, Ningxia Forward Guard, Ningxia Central Guard, Ningxia Rear Guard, and the Ningxia Left-Right-Central Garrison Guard — and possessed a large number of frontier military households and hereditary military families.

Moreover, in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, when Li Zicheng took the three border commands, Ningxia had offered virtually no resistance and had been brought under control by a single proclamation. Thus Ningxia's military families, military households, and agricultural production had not suffered great losses.

Now they could be put to use by Wu Sangui!

After securing control of Ningxia Garrison, Wu Sangui also planned to continue westward to seize Gansu Garrison, taking the entire Hexi Corridor and Xining Guard.

In this way, Wu Sangui, the Prince Who Pacifies the West, would become a true King of the Northwest!

"Prince Who Pacifies the West, King of the Northwest," Wu Sangui murmured to himself, a rare smug smile appearing on his face. Gazing at the layer upon layer of mountains ahead, at the long dragon of troops and horses rolling forward, at the setting sun in the west, he turned his head and called out, "Liu Sheng, how far is the vanguard from Guyuan Subprefecture?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, roughly fifty or sixty li." Liu Sheng was a native of Qingyang Prefecture and was very familiar with the terrain of Qingyang and Pingliang. "The vanguard has just reported that they have taken Shuangfeng Fort and Magang Fort, and the road to Guyuan Subprefecture is now open."

"Fifty or sixty li..." Wu Sangui raised his head to look at the sky. It was nearly dusk. "It seems we'll have to march through the night again. I wonder if the men can still walk?"

Guo Yunlong, who was marching alongside Wu Sangui, said, "They'll have to walk even if they can't. This campaign is a contest of legs against the roving bandits — we absolutely cannot lose!"

Li Zicheng still regarded Wu Sangui as government troops, and Wu Sangui's side had likewise not fully changed its thinking, still treating Li Zicheng as fast-moving roving bandits.

But in reality, Li Zicheng's great army could no longer "rove"!

At the very moment Wu Sangui was driving his troops forward with desperate effort, Li Zicheng's great army still had not moved a single step from his capital, Chang'an Prefecture.

Because not long after Ma Shiyao recovered Tong Pass, the great banner of the Great Qing's Prince Yu, Dodo, had appeared at Fengling Ferry, separated from Tong Pass by only a river!

Now with Wu Sangui in the west and Dodo in the east, Li Zicheng, who had originally held the strategic advantage of the Guan-Long region, had suddenly fallen into complete passivity.

"Imperial Lord, Imperial Lord, Wu Sangui has been found! Wu Sangui has gone to Pingliang Prefecture!"

Within the Hall of Martial Valor in the imperial palace at Chang'an, Li Zicheng, who had been anxiously consulting with his ministers on countermeasures, finally learned where Wu Sangui was.

"Pingliang?"

"Imperial Lord, it was reported by Chen Zhilong, the Military Commissioner of Ningxia."

Hearing the report from Chen Linran, Minister of the Board of War, Li Zicheng felt a wave of dizziness. In Ningxia, the Shun had only Chen Zhilong and Niu Chenghu, two surrendered generals, and five or six thousand garrison troops converted from the Ming army. How could they possibly fight a Guanning Army of thirty or forty thousand?

They might not even fight at all — those two fence-sitters would simply defect to Wu Sangui and become thrice-serving officials. Though one wondered whether Wu Sangui himself was now a twice-serving or thrice-serving official, having gone back over to the Ming.

"Imperial Lord," the Marquis of Ru, Liu Zongmin, urgently requested to go to battle, "let this subject lead troops to relieve Ningxia! Give this subject forty thousand men..."

"No need!" Li Zicheng cut him off before Liu Zongmin could finish. "This is not the time to divide our forces. What Wu Sangui is after is nothing more than Ningxia and Gansu — let him have them! Our true mortal danger is still the Tartar caitiffs!"

These words sounded rather strange. Liu Zongmin, Tian Jianxiu, Gu Ying, Niu Jinxing, and Song Xiance, who were present, could not help but frown!

What exactly was the Yongchang Imperial Lord thinking? Let Wu Sangui run rampant in Ningxia and Gansu? Would that work? Who could guarantee he would not strike from the west to seize Chang'an while the Shun army was locked in battle with the Tartars in the east?

(End of Chapter)