Chapter 419: Military Governor of Tai'an Army

Gao Hongtu left in tears, and with him went some twelve or thirteen thousand men — a total that included the more than five thousand Li Chengdong had gathered. There were also some militia soldiers who had fled under Helohui's pursuit (that part of the Ming army cut off east of the Qing trenches and earthen walls), who later arrived in small groups at the Tuhe Renzi Fort. A final count put them at a little over two thousand.

In other words, of the 28,000 men Gao Hongtu had brought to the Tuhe battlefield, plus the 2,000 left to hold the Tuhe Renzi Fort, only about 15,000 remained in the end — more than half had been lost!

Oh, and there were also the 2,000 men under Ma Degong, who had run off to Liaocheng. Those probably shouldn't be counted as losses. If Gao Hongtu had gritted his teeth, reformed his ranks, and held his ground against Dodo, those 2,000 men, plus the other ten thousand or so Ming troops defending Liaocheng, could all have been preserved.

But Gao Hongtu had to go and leave in tears! Now Dodo could boast to his heart's content. In truth, his own losses were painful enough. In the "Battle of the Earthen Enclosure," Xu Dingguo's Green Standard troops, along with the Han troops and booi who had been supervising the battle, all suffered heavy losses — no fewer than 2,500 killed or wounded in total.

And in the "Battle of the Tuhe Breakout," Wu Weihua's Green Standard troops were nearly wiped out, and the Green Standard and Han troops under Gangatai also suffered heavy losses. The two combined lost more than 5,000 men.

But what pained Dodo most of all was the loss of the Manchu Eight Banners warriors under his command. The battle by the Tuhe riverbank was even more costly, with total casualties exceeding 800 men!

In other words, Dodo's forces suffered around 8,300 or 8,400 casualties in the Battle of Tuhe. Considering that most of the wounded had hard-to-treat gunshot and javelin wounds, and that medical conditions in Dodo's army were extremely poor, the final number of dead or permanently incapacitated was probably no less than 7,000!

For the Great Qing, this battle was a true Pyrrhic victory!

If one added the losses at Qufu, plus the scattered losses the Qing army had suffered since entering Shandong — including deaths from disease, casualties from attacking unimportant forts and cities, scouts and patrols who went missing or were killed or wounded, and those killed or wounded while carrying out looting missions — a total of eight or nine thousand Qing troops had already been wiped out. Among them, the losses of true Manchus were no fewer than 1,000!

And the total army Dodo had brought into Shandong was only forty-five or forty-six thousand. Where had they even gotten to by now? Eight or nine thousand gone, leaving thirty-seven or thirty-eight thousand. No matter how one looked at it, that didn't seem like a force capable of conquering Shandong.

But Dodo still seized on Gao Hongtu's mistake of withdrawing and packaged himself as the victor. Then he assembled an army of over thirty thousand and advanced in grand array toward Liaocheng, the chief city of the Eastern Depot.

This advance, in turn, nudged the situation in Shandong slightly in the Great Qing's favor.

Because at this moment, inside the city of Liaocheng, there were two would-be arch-traitors. One was Bo Yongfu, the garrison commander of the Eastern Depot, who had been secretly communicating with the Qing for quite some time.

The other, of course, was Ma Degong, who had slipped away from the Tuhe battlefield and fled to Liaocheng — historically, he had the great merit of capturing the Hongguang Emperor and presenting him to the Great Qing!

In this timeline, because he was a top general under Huang Degong, Zhu Cilang found it awkward to act against him. He could only find an excuse to kick him off to Shandong and hand him over to Gao Hongtu for re-education.

But who could have expected that in the Battle of Tuhe he would misjudge the situation? Thinking Gao Hongtu was finished, he deserted in the face of battle and ran to Liaocheng. After entering Liaocheng, he went even further, singing Dodo's praises and exaggerating Gao Hongtu's defeat.

If Gao Hongtu had still been at the Tuhe front at that point, holding his ground against Dodo, Ma Degong would have been just about ready to lose his head.

But Gao Hongtu had to go and withdraw, and Dodo advanced on Liaocheng in the posture of a victor.

Now the deserter Ma Degong and Bo Yongfu, the Vice Regional Commander of the Eastern Depot, who had been trapped in Liaocheng for many days and didn't understand that the market value of Qing collaborators had plummeted, had their chance to incite mutiny. The Ming troops inside Liaocheng, apart from Ma Degong's men, had all been besieged into a daze and had no idea what the going rate for a traitor was these days, so they were easily stirred up by the two of them.

And Liu Zeqing's nephew, Liu Zhigan, the garrison Regional Commander of the Eastern Depot, had far too shallow a footing in the army. Faced with mutiny, he was powerless to suppress it, so he had no choice but to take a few personal guards and flee to Caozhou to seek refuge with Li Huajing.

Once the mutiny succeeded, Bo Yongfu and Ma Degong together surrendered to Dodo, who was baring his fangs and claws outside Liaocheng!

This delighted Dodo beyond measure, because Bo Yongfu and Ma Degong not only presented him with the Liaocheng fortress, a city he could use as his base, but also brought over ten thousand Green Standard troops, which could make up for the losses Dodo had suffered in recent days.

Moreover, the city of Liaocheng had stored tens of thousands of shi of rice and flour, enough to feed Dodo's great army for half a year.

Now Dodo had finally gained a firm foothold in Shandong, and he had the capital to continue contending with the Ming army!

Meanwhile, on the other side, Gao Hongtu, who had fled weeping back to Jinan Prefecture, was on one hand enduring hardship to revive his militia, and on the other hand sending a memorial to Nanjing that made Zhu Cilang's eyes go wide.

This Governor of Shandong for the Great Ming actually wanted to carve out a prefecture from the territory under his own jurisdiction to bestow upon Li Chengdong, and he even wanted the Ming court to enfeoff Li Chengdong as Military Governor of Tai'an Army!

"Does this Gao Hongtu think he's the Military Governor of Ziqing Circuit? Does he think Shandong is the Gao family's private property? He actually bestowed Tai'an Prefecture on Li Chengdong, and he wants Us to enfeoff Li Chengdong as Military Governor."

In the Hall of Literary Splendor in the Forbidden City at Nanjing, Zhu Cilang, the Ming Crown Prince overseeing military affairs, was truly at a loss whether to laugh or cry. Holding the memorial Gao Hongtu had submitted, he spoke his questioning words with a smile.

The civil and military officials seated below were all seething with anger, just waiting for the Crown Prince's face to turn stern so they could impeach Gao Hongtu and Li Chengdong as traitorous ministers.

But the Crown Prince's smiling face showed not the slightest sign of being put away.

What did this mean? Was His Highness the Crown Prince prepared to recognize Li Chengdong as Military Governor of Tai'an Prefecture?

That was not a good precedent to set!

Zhu Cilang smiled and asked Chief Grand Secretary Wei Zaode, "Chief Grand Secretary Wei, what do you think — should we also enfeoff Gao Hongtu as a Military Governor?"

"That would not be appropriate." Wei Zaode hastily shook his head. "Gao Hongtu is a civil official, and a Governor at that."

"Heh heh, isn't his Shandong militia a case of a scholar commanding troops?" Zhu Cilang laughed. "What kind of civil official is he anymore? Besides, what is the situation in Shandong right now? What use is a Governor there? We think that if we can just get the southeast properly in order, that will suffice. As for the north, we'll hold a few key places, and for the rest, enfeoff Military Governors or establish vassal states — none of that matters, as long as they can hold back the Tartars."

Hold back the Tartars, and couldn't Zhu Cilang just comfortably be his Crown Prince, and then advance to become Emperor? An emperor of half the realm was still an emperor!

So in Zhu Cilang's view, Gao Hongtu had done rather well. If there were a few more "traitorous ministers" like this, the Ming dynasty would be rock solid. Even if it became like the Tang dynasty after the An Lushan Rebellion, that was fine — didn't the Tang muddle along for another hundred and fifty years after the An Lushan Rebellion?

It was now 1645. Add 150 years and that was almost 1800 — Napoleon would have risen by then!

"Enfeoffing Gao Hongtu as Military Governor would still be inappropriate — he hasn't asked for it, after all!" Qian Qianyi frowned deeply. "But Li Chengdong can still be enfeoffed. It's just that... the scourge of military governors must still be guarded against. There are good military governors, but there are bad ones too! Didn't the two traitors Bo Yongfu and Ma Degong raise Liaocheng and surrender to the enemy?"

"That's true enough!" What Zhu Cilang was thinking of, however, was Zuo Liangyu upriver in Huguang. The old fellow was still hanging on by a thread, his mind alternating between confusion and clarity. Who knew if he might suddenly have a brain spasm and come to "purge the court of evil ministers"...

"Then let's enfeoff Li Chengdong as Military Governor of Tai'an Army," Zhu Cilang said after a moment's thought. "Although Gao Hongtu lost a battle, he fought well and should be commended. Enfeoff him with a title... enfeoff him as Baron of Laoshan."

"Enfeoff him as a baron?" Wei Zaode asked.

"Correct!" Zhu Cilang said. "The reform of the nobility has been under discussion by the Imperial Clan Court for a long time now, and a draft already exists. It plans to establish the two ranks of viscount and baron below count, and no longer enfeoff generals or commandants. From now on there will be seven major ranks: Prince, Commandery Prince, Duke, Marquis, Count, Viscount, and Baron. Within each major rank there will be three types: territorial titles, hardship titles, and ordinary titles. Territorial titles come with land, hardship titles are hereditary, and ordinary titles are demoted each generation.

Furthermore, regardless of the title, only one heir may inherit it; all other sons will be commoners."

(End of Chapter)