Chapter 42: The Famous General Zhu Chunchen (Please Favorite, Please Recommend)

"Fuck Zhu Chunchen's ancestors back eighteen generations!"

Li Zicheng stood in the middle of a great hall in his temporary palace at Diaoyutai, furiously striking the floor tiles with his longsword, so enraged that even the empty socket of his left eye throbbed with a dull pain.

His left eye had been shot blind during the assault on Kaifeng. Though much time had passed and the wound had long since healed, at times a stabbing, knife-cutting agony would still strike without warning. And every time that pain came, he thought of the three bloody assaults on Kaifeng!

And would this city of Beijing prove even harder to take than Kaifeng?

At that thought, Li Zicheng fell silent all at once — a silence so deep it was almost frightening.

"Your Majesty, today's losses were negligible," Niu Jinxing, Grand Secretary of the Tianyou Hall of the Shun, stepped forward and said in a soothing tone. "Moreover, the officers and men of every camp have been roused to fury by that Zhu traitor's cunning. Every man is eager to fight — the army's morale can be put to use!"

Song Xiance added, "Your Majesty, I have already questioned Tang Tong and Du Zhizhi. This Zhu Chunchen who schemed against us today is the most trusted general of the Zhu emperor, enfeoffed as Duke of Cheng, appointed Commander of the Capital Camps, of noble-merit lineage, descended from the great general Zhu Neng of the Jingnan Campaign. Who would have thought that among such pampered, silk-clad scions, one with real military talent could emerge."

Li Zicheng's anger subsided slightly. "A fine 'pure subject' indeed! He saw through Gu Junen's stratagem and nearly did me in... If the Zhu Son of Heaven had used him against us from the start, we might never have come this far! It seems I was too simple in thinking about entering Beijing!"

"Your Majesty," said Gu Junen, somewhat deflated at having his scheme exposed, but still doing his utmost to plan for Li Zicheng, "I too have questioned Du Zhizhi and the Zhu-traitor soldiers who surrendered at Changping. Beijing is indeed hollow — short of troops and short of pay. Even with a fine general like Zhu Chunchen, it cannot hold out for long. What we need to watch now is still Wu Sangui's force to the east. We may well not be able to take Beijing before Wu Sangui arrives to relieve it!"

Li Zicheng's brows locked tight. His single eye swept over the strategists and commanders in the hall, finally settling on a burly, yellow-faced man with a curly beard and a short-bearded man of refined bearing.

"Can we win?" Li Zicheng asked without naming anyone, just casually. But every gaze in the hall turned toward the curly-bearded, yellow-faced bruiser and the short-bearded man.

The curly-bearded, yellow-faced bruiser still wore his iron armor, a phoenix-wing helm on his head and a saber at his belt. His eyes blazed like fire as he said with absolute finality, "Certain victory!"

"Not so easy..." the short-bearded man gave a different answer.

"Yellow Tiger, you speak first." Li Zicheng looked at the curly-bearded, yellow-faced bruiser. "Yellow Tiger" was the man's nickname; his real name was Liu Zongmin, Li Zicheng's most trusted general, holding the rank of General of Authority and commanding the Central Authority personal troops.

Liu Zongmin stroked his curly beard and laughed. "The Zhu Son of Heaven has few elite troops in the capital, and they dare not fight in the open field. Wu Sangui is but a lone army — even thirty or forty thousand, what is there to fear? My old camp alone has over fifty thousand here. How could we not beat him?"

"Sky-Locking Sparrowhawk, what say you?" Li Zicheng asked the short-bearded man. "Sky-Locking Sparrowhawk" was likewise a nickname; his real name was Tian Jianxiu, holding the rank of General of Authority over all camps — a man of marshal's talent, the general Li Zicheng relied on most.

"The Guanning border troops have fought the Manchu soldiers to the death year after year; naturally they are not to be compared with Zhu-traitor troops from elsewhere." Tian Jianxiu said. "Moreover, the Guanning Army has many cavalry, moving like the wind, hard to pin down. If the capital proves hard to take, and the Guanning cavalry refuse to give us a decisive battle but only cut our supply lines, what then?"

Li Zicheng's great army had to eat too! And the lands around Beijing, ravaged by war after war, had long since become a desolate wasteland. How could they sustain an army of a hundred thousand or more?

That was why Li Zicheng had to haul grain and fodder from places like Xuanfu, Datong, and Taiyuan to keep his great army in the field for a prolonged campaign.

If Beijing could not be taken quickly, and Wu Sangui used the Guanning iron cavalry to sever Li Zicheng's supply lines, then his great host would have no choice but to slink away in defeat.

"Surely not?" Liu Zongmin shook his head. "Would Wu Sangui dare not relieve the capital? Is he not afraid the Zhu emperor will have his head cut off?"

Tian Jianxiu shook his head. "If he drives us off, the Zhu emperor will only reward him. But if we break the capital first — heh — the Zhu emperor will be dead himself. Whose head would he cut off then?"

Li Zicheng nodded. "True enough! Sky-Locking Sparrowhawk, if you have a plan, just tell me. Don't keep us in suspense."

Tian Jianxiu thought for a moment, then said, "If the capital cannot be broken quickly, better to surround three sides and leave one open."

"Surround three, leave one open?" Li Zicheng pondered. "You mean to leave the Zhu Son of Heaven a way out, so he won't hold the city to the death?"

Liu Zongmin cut in, "The Zhu Son of Heaven won't run. If he were going to run, he'd have run long ago."

Tian Jianxiu smiled. "Exactly — he won't run. But he will summon Wu Sangui into the capital! The moment Wu Sangui's troops enter the high walls of the capital, a tiger has entered a cage... Either he will be forced out to fight in the open field, or we will trap him to death with long trenches! Either way, it is a dead end!"

"Good! Haha!" Li Zicheng burst out laughing. "Sky-Locking Sparrowhawk, you truly are my Xu Da and Chang Yuchun... So be it! Surround three, leave one open. But I won't let Wu Sangui enter the city so easily either.

Yellow Tiger, get the Central Authority personal troops in order and march them to Shahe to encamp. The moment you spot Wu Sangui's force, let his vanguard and main body pass, and strike only his rear. Hit them hard for me!

Sky-Locking Sparrowhawk, you take the capital. Set up camp tonight, start building siege engines tomorrow, and send men to shout at the walls the night after. This war of hearts and minds must continue!"

...

Li Zicheng's side had been spooked by the "famous general Zhu Chunchen," pulled back to camp, and for the moment made no further move. Over at Fucheng Gate, Zhu Cilang let out a long breath.

Fortunately, Li Zicheng had not flown into a rage and launched a full assault — otherwise the capital's defenses and his own makeshift battalion would have been exposed for what they truly were.

Behind the towering, seemingly inviolable walls of Beijing, the troops actually capable of fighting numbered fewer than a thousand. And even that thousand was no match for Li the Roving King's old camp.

One could say with certainty: the moment Li Zicheng's old-camp soldiers set foot on the inner-city walls of Beijing, Zhu Cilang would have no choice but to flee in utter disarray.

And for now, of course, Zhu Cilang still had to prepare to flee — only he could flee a little less disgracefully...

"Duke of Cheng, you must take this in stride. Wealth is but a worldly possession, and besides — you know full well the state of Beijing's defenses. Sooner or later it cannot be held. Can your family's mountains of silver all be carried off to Jiangnan? We are not asking for your entire fortune. However many carts you can find, load them with gold and silver; whatever cannot be carried, present to Us. Once We reach Jiangnan, We will still make you Commander of the Capital Camps."

By now it was late. Zhu Cilang had gone with Zhu Chunchen to the Duke of Cheng's mansion, and the two sat in the outer hall, wine and dishes laid out, eating while watching chest after chest of silver being carried out of the residence.

This was all the Duke of Cheng's silver! The sight cut Zhu Chunchen to the heart, and tears streamed down his face. Zhu Cilang was kind-hearted after all, and could not bear to watch his grief, so he offered words of comfort.

"Thousand Years, please do not jest with this subject," Zhu Chunchen said through his tears. "This subject knows his own measure. Once in Jiangnan, being a wealthy commoner is more than enough. How would I dare dream of commanding the Capital Camps?"

"Why couldn't you be Commander?" Zhu Cilang picked up a piece of dripping fatty meat, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed a few times, and swallowed it whole. "You can cut off heads now! Do Zhao Zhilong or Xu Hongji down in Nanjing have that skill?"

At the mention of cutting off heads, a wave of nausea swept over Zhu Chunchen. Watching his family silver being taken away, he felt heartbroken. Heartbreak plus nausea — he had lost his appetite entirely.

Zhu Cilang went on with his persuasion: "Don't decline. Once We are in Jiangnan, the meritorious nobles We rely on will all be northerners. You are one, Li Guozhen another, Zhang Shize another — all pillars of the state, far more reliable than those people in the auxiliary capital. When the time comes, Commander, Garrison Commander, Supreme Commander — all of it will be yours."

His words were not entirely empty persuasion. Compared with the pack of meritorious nobles in the auxiliary capital of Nanjing, the Beijing nobles were of course more reliable. Because the Beijing nobles had been swallowing up land all across the Northern Metropolitan Region; once they got to Nanjing they would all be propertyless proletarians... much like those people who followed that certain Chiang fellow to Taiwan in history! If they didn't serve loyally, they wouldn't even have food to eat!

(End of Chapter)