Chapter 393: I'll Make Sure You Get a Grand Send-Off

Kong Yinzhi was already prepared to run!

He had packed up all the gold, silver, and valuables, and even mustered 500 able-bodied guards, ready to leave as soon as it got dark.

But before night fell, that damned "law bandit" Shi Kefa arrived with his personal guards!

The garrison inside Qufu's main city now consisted of Shi Kefa's 5,000 headquarters troops plus Kong Yinzhi's 5,000 Kong clan soldiers. Though the two sides were roughly equal in numbers, Shi Kefa's headquarters troops were regulars, drilled for nearly a year by Liu Zhaoji, a veteran of the Liao army, and Shi Kefa's adopted son Shi Dewei. It wasn't the brutal "997" style of training, but one drill a day was still guaranteed. That level of training was something the Kong clan soldiers simply could not match!

If it truly came to open fighting, the Kong clan soldiers could not hold out.

Besides, what would Kong Yinzhi do after wiping out Shi Kefa? Defect to the Tartars? He had cursed their ancestors back eighteen generations and slandered them by claiming the Tartars were coming to topple Confucius's altar — would he still dare become a traitor?

Perhaps Dorgon, to win over the scholars of the realm, would not kill him openly, but slipping him a little poison or the like — would that not be a trivial matter?

A man so terrified of death — how could he willingly swallow Tartar poison?

If he did not go over to the Tartars, could he flee to Jiangnan? If he wiped out Shi Kefa and then went to Jiangnan, would that not be walking to his death?

"Ah, how is it that there is no way out?"

Kong Yinzhi sighed and slumped into a grand tutor's chair, his aged face twisted almost into a knot.

"There is a way out! How is there no way out?" Shi Kefa said with a smile. "Qufu has strong walls and many troops, and enough grain to last a year and a half or more. Moreover, Governor Gao and Militia Commander Zuo's 100,000 militia troops can come to our aid at any time.

We need only hold Qufu for a few months. Once the enemy is worn out and their troops exhausted, Governor Gao and Militia Commander Zuo will naturally bring their troops to fight the invaders. With us striking from within and them from without, how could we fail to win?"

Still win? Those are Tartars! Even Hong Chengchou could not beat them — can you, Shi Kefa, beat them?

Kong Yinzhi did not believe it for a moment! But since he could not leave now, he had no choice but to fob Shi Kefa off: "Has Your Excellency already made arrangements with Governor Gao and Militia Commander Zuo?"

Stroking his beard, Shi Kefa was thoroughly pleased with himself. "Of course the arrangements are made! I have agreed with Governor Gao and Militia Commander Zuo on a term of half a year. So long as the Tartars besiege Qufu for half a year without taking it, they will lead their troops to relieve us. By now the militia under their command total no less than 100,000, and after half a year their training will be complete — enough to fight a decisive battle with the Tartars!

With Qufu's impregnable walls and moats, surely we can hold for half a year? If the Tartars attack Qufu for half a year without success, they will surely be worn out and exhausted. With weary troops facing Governor Gao and Militia Commander Zuo's tens of thousands of fresh soldiers, how could they not be defeated?"

As he laid out his plan, Shi Kefa could not help beginning to admire himself — after all, he was a minister versed in military affairs who had served as Minister of War in Nanjing!

What a pity — if only His Majesty had sent him to Beijing earlier, how could things have come to today's pass?

"Let us hope so!" Kong Yinzhi sighed, though in his heart he had still not given up the thought of flight, only he dared not show it.

But his thoughts could not escape Shi Kefa's discerning eye. The Grand Supreme Commander narrowed his eyes and studied this Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage, pondering whether he ought to give him a grand funeral.

Just then, Shi Kefa's adopted son Shi Dewei came hurrying in. After saluting Shi Kefa and Kong Yinzhi, he said: "Most of the night scouts we sent south and east of the city have been driven back. Tartar cavalry have already circled to the southeast of Qufu and cut off our line of retreat!"

It was over.

Tears welled up in Kong Yinzhi's eyes. This time there was nowhere left to run — he would have to grit his teeth and hold out in Qufu to the death!

Hearing this news, Shi Kefa also abandoned the idea of giving Kong Yinzhi a grand funeral, and said with a smile: "They are only a few small bands of Tartar roving cavalry. What is there to fear? My Lord Duke, I have some military matters to attend to, so I shall take my leave first. Rest easy and await news of victory!"

Kong Yinzhi had no idea how close he had come to being "honored." Inwardly he cursed those damned Tartar cavalry — what were they doing circling around to the southeast of Qufu for no reason? In a siege you leave one side open — don't you know that? Once the city is completely surrounded, the defenders lose all hope.

In truth, both Shi Kefa and Kong Yinzhi had misread the Qing troops' intentions. Dodo had sent cavalry around to the southeast of Qufu not to cut off Shi Kefa's and Kong Yinzhi's retreat, but to send men looking for "chives."

This whole march had truly infuriated Dodo — the "chives" had all fled! Along the way he had encountered hardly a single living soul. Of course, not all the Han people in the western part of Yanzhou Prefecture had run off; there were still quite a few in the area around Caozhou, Dingtao, Juye, and Jiaxiang. But they were not "chives" — they were armed thugs! They were split into two groups. One was the force led by Li Huajing, an old subordinate of Liu Zeqing, based in Caozhou and resisting the Qing army.

Li Huajing and Liu Zeqing were both local bosses in the western part of Yanzhou Prefecture, and the backbone of their troops came mostly from around Caozhou — deeply rooted, one might say. After gaining this territory in western Yanzhou, Li Huajing followed the example of the various Overcoming-Hardship guard armies and used the land of the counties under his control to recruit stout fellows. In a few months he had already gathered more than ten thousand Shandong braves.

The other group had originally been rebels — an uprising army flying Li Zicheng's banner, led by a brave named Gong Wencai, with a force of 20,000, based at a low hill called "Manjia Cave" in Jiaxiang County, controlling a good deal of surrounding territory. Because this territory had been assigned to Li Huajing by Zhu Cilang, Gong Wencai had clashed with him, and they had fought several indecisive battles. Later, Li Yan sent Red Maiden to mediate: Jiaxiang, Yuncheng, and Juye counties were assigned to Gong Wencai, and Gong Wencai was made nominally subordinate to Li Huajing; they also swore brotherhood, which settled the struggle between the two sides.

After Li Huajing and Gong Wencai joined forces, this territory in western Yanzhou became very troublesome — all of it armed thugs. Though they were a motley crew, the Qing Green Standard troops truly could not handle them.

Dodo could not spare Eight Banners troops for the moment to deal with these thugs, so he had to send men to the southeast of Qufu to seize laborers — he needed men to help dig trenches to surround Qufu! And he needed a great many of them!

Because the scale of Qufu was far larger than previously known, the workload of digging trenches had also greatly increased.

Previously the Qing army had only known of Qufu city itself, not that there were nine outlying bastions beyond the walls — these nine bastions were positioned a little over 200 paces beyond Qufu's gun platforms, effectively extending Qufu's perimeter by five or six hundred meters! To encircle such a large area with trenches, the work was several times greater than originally expected — they would have to dig more than twenty li of trenches.

Relying on the men of the three traitors Liu Liangzuo, Xu Dingguo, and Wu Weihua — how long would it take them to finish digging the trenches?

Moreover, the tens of thousands of troops under Dodo's command needed supplies. When he and He Luohui joined forces at Linqing, their total strength was about 45,000. They had left about 10,000 along the way, and brought 35,000 to the walls of Qufu — no small number. Yet they had brought very little grain and fodder with them. Except when marching on the steppe, where there was no choice but to carry full supplies, the Qing army generally lived off the land wherever it campaigned.

But this time, Dodo's march into Shandong had run into unprecedented trouble — the "chives" had all fled, so where was he to seize grain?

Without seized grain, how long could his thirty or forty thousand troops hold out before Qufu? He talked of besieging the city to strike the relief force — they would starve to death first!

Even as Dodo sent out his cavalry to seize "chives" and grain southeast of Qufu, he also began observing the state of Qufu's defenses.

This was a city unlike any he had ever seen: a large city in the center, with nine "points" around it, like a sun, each of the nine points facing a round bastion built of sandbags filled with earth.

"Cao Zhenyan, can your Hongyi cannon batter down those round bastions?"

Standing on an observation cart converted from a wagon, Dodo had been studying the scene for a long while through a single-tube telescope. He turned his head and asked Cao Zhenyan, company officer of the Plain White Banner's Han artillery.

"In reply to my master," Cao Zhenyan said with full confidence, "this slave has brought ten Hongyi cannon this time, enough to level those earth bastions built of sandbags."

"Good!" Dodo nodded, pointing at the round bastion ahead. "Then I give you one day. Use the ten Hongyi cannon to batter that round bastion down, and let the Nikhan of Qufu know the might of our Qing artillery!"

"Ja!"

(End of Chapter)