Chapter 421: Let's Screw Over Hooge Together

"Thousand Years," Wu Xiang's brow was still knitted, "no one knows what Hooge is scheming, but these days he's no longer staying in Suiyang — he's shifted his forces to Xuzhou, and it looks like he's preparing to move against Nanyang and Xiangyang."

The Southern Ming side had made a fine calculation, hoping to lure Hooge south to the banks of the Huai River and destroy him there. But they had overlooked one thing — what exactly was the relationship between Hooge and Dorgon and Dodo? How could he possibly coordinate with Dodo? When Dodo got into trouble in Shandong, Hooge naturally had to keep his distance, lest Dorgon order him to attack Xuzhou to relieve Dodo.

"Hooge won't really launch a full assault on Nanyang and Xiangyang," Zhu Cilang shook his head, "because that's exactly what we'd be praying for. The things we'd be praying for are mostly the things Hooge won't do."

Li Yan nodded and said, "His Highness the Crown Prince is absolutely right. Li Zicheng has now shifted to Xiangyang, and the tens of thousands of old-camp troops of the roving bandits who followed him to Xiangyang, Nanyang, and Yunyang were all allotted land this spring, so the Roving King's army has recovered its morale and can fight again.

If Hooge really did go and attack Nanyang and Xiangyang, he would suffer catastrophic losses!"

Li Zicheng's act of distributing land to his soldiers in the three prefectures of Xiangyang, Yunyang, and Nanyang meant that the Shun regime had completed its transformation from a peasant regime to a feudal regime. The old-camp soldiers who received land had gone from propertyless roving bandits to feudal soldiers owning land and property — and they were the first generation, whose fighting strength was relatively well assured.

Moreover, because their land lay in the three prefectures of Xiangyang, Yunyang, and Nanyang, they would of course fight to the death to defend those three prefectures — so even if Li Zicheng wanted to run again, it would be impossible now!

If Hooge marched south in force against Nanyang, he would certainly meet extremely stubborn resistance — the two counties belonging to Nanyang Prefecture that Hooge currently occupies both lie north of Fangcheng Mountain, and are in fact territory Li Zicheng voluntarily abandoned. South of Fangcheng Mountain lies the Nanyang basin, which is now the farmland of more than twenty thousand Shun old-camp troops. If Hooge wants to fight his way in, he can wait to trade lives with the Shun old-camp troops! Even if Hooge won, he'd lose a good ten or twenty thousand men, and his supporters in the Plain Blue Banner and the two Yellow Banners might well be wiped out.

"But that doesn't mean he'll necessarily strike toward the Huai River!" Wu Xiang said. "Nanyang and Xiangyang are hard to attack — are Runing and Fengyang any easier? And the fighting in Shanxi and Shaanxi isn't over either; the Tartar caitiffs' rear is hardly secure."

"What if," Zhu Cilang said thoughtfully, "Dodo's forces take Xuzhou?"

"Xuzhou?" Wu Xiang frowned and thought for a moment. "Thousand Years wishes to abandon Xuzhou?"

Zhu Cilang nodded lightly. "Xuzhou has the peril of the suspended river; it is by nature easy to attack and hard to defend. Gao Jie is also careless by temperament — stationing a large army in Xuzhou city is far from safe, and if the Qing troops besiege it, there will be trouble.

Better to have him withdraw into Haizhou, using the water network around Pizhou and Suqian as a wall, with his back to the Eastern Sea and Yuzhou Mountain as the final stronghold."

The so-called peril of the suspended river refers to the Yellow River flowing past the north of Xuzhou city — during the transition between the Northern and Southern Song dynasties, the Yellow River changed course southward, seized the Huai's channel to the sea, and passed through Xuzhou. Because of centuries of silt accumulation, the Yellow River outside Xuzhou city had silted up into a suspended river, so defending the city had become impossible. When the time came, the Great Qing troops would simply breach the Yellow River, and the whole place would be underwater.

Moreover, Xuzhou's territory was not large now — just five counties: Pengcheng, Xiao County, Dangshan, Feng County, and Pei County. Of these, Feng County and Pei County had already been ravaged once by Dodo's troops! And most of the people of Pengcheng, Xiao County, and Dangshan had fled as well, so the value of holding on was no longer great.

Zhu Cilang continued his analysis: "If Dodo takes Xuzhou, then Huang Degong can smoothly withdraw toward Suzhou and Lingbi. That way, the territory of the three counties of Shangqiu, Xiayi, and Yongcheng will be something Hooge cannot avoid seizing — and as long as he comes to seize it, we'll have a chance to lure him toward the banks of the Huai.

As long as he comes close to the Huai, or simply crosses it, we'll have a chance to strike him hard. If we can kill several thousand or even ten thousand, then no one will dare covet the southeast again!"

By now Zhu Cilang had realized that the relationship between Hooge and Dorgon and Dodo was something that could be exploited.

"Thousand Years," Li Yan said with a frown, "as long as Hooge is willing to station his troops in Guide Prefecture, this subject is confident he can lure him south.

But Dodo probably won't march south to Xuzhou. He suffered in the Battle of the Tu River, and now he's being very cautious — he's pulled his forces back to the line of the Grand Canal north of Weishan Lake, and even abandoned Ziyang, the seat of Yanzhou Prefecture."

After Dodo gathered the ten-thousand-odd men of Bo Yongfu's and Ma Degong's commands, and gained the Liaocheng fortress and the stores within the city, he had secured a foothold in the Eastern Depot Prefecture in the northwest of Shandong Province. Now he was using Liaocheng (the seat of the Eastern Depot Prefecture) as his main base, resting his troops and developing his territory — essentially the whole of the Eastern Depot Prefecture was now under his control.

In the territory of Jinan Prefecture, Dodo's forces held only one department and four counties — Dezhou, Leling, Ling County, Deping, and Pingyuan — facing off against the "Qi Braves," who held most of Jinan Prefecture.

In the direction of Yanzhou Prefecture, Dodo's army had pushed south along the Grand Canal as far as Luqiao Town in Jining Department, roughly controlling the two departments and two counties of Yanggu County, Shouzhang County, Dongping Department, and Jining Department, thereby splitting the Ming forces in Yanzhou into two groups: west of the canal (Shi Kefa's command) and east of the canal (Li Huajing's command).

Barring surprises, Dodo's next target should be Li Huajing's and Gong Wencai's forces west of the canal; he was unlikely to thrust deep into Xuzhou alone.

"Then let Dorgon give Dodo the order," Zhu Cilang smiled faintly. "He is, after all, Our future father-in-law, Our esteemed elder. We are very much looking forward to his advancing a step further and becoming emperor of the Great Qing — but this Hooge has been blocking Dorgon's path all along!

This time Dodo took a beating in Shandong; if Hooge gets too smug about it, Dorgon's days won't be easy either, will they?"

"What kind of dogshit battle has Old Fifteen fought! Fighting a bunch of Shandong bumpkin militias and still losing that many men — he's getting worse the longer he goes on!"

Beijing, the Regent's palace, inside the study: Dorgon, his face full of fury, was berating Dodo. But Dodo had not returned to Beijing to hear the scolding — instead he had sent Heluohui back to report to Dorgon in secret the true circumstances of the "Battle of the Tu River."

That's right — the true circumstances of the Battle of the Tu River could only be "secretly reported," not openly written up in a memorial and submitted. Because the victory was too humiliating. If it were written up as a memorial and sent up, the princes and beile who opposed Dorgon would have plenty to say.

So in the memorial Dodo sent, the Battle of the Tu River was a great victory! And the real Tartars who died in battle weren't that many either — they all died of illness because of poor health!

Hmm, being a Tartar is hard work — killing people, setting fires, looting homes and robbing houses, how exhausting! So they ruined their health at a young age, and with the unfamiliar climate and epidemics spreading and whatnot, it's perfectly normal for nine hundred-odd men to die of illness.

But Dodo couldn't fool Dorgon like that, so he sent Heluohui to report the true situation.

"My Prince, Prince Yu has done his utmost," Heluohui shook his head. "Shandong today is not the same as it was a few years ago!"

"Not the same? What's not the same?" Dorgon glared and demanded.

"My Prince," Heluohui replied, "according to what Prince Yu learned in his thorough investigation after the Battle of the Tu River, Shandong now has no Governor-General, no Governor, no Militia Commissioner at all!"

"Then what does it have?"

"Military Governors!" Heluohui said. "Gao Hongtu, this 'Governor of Shandong,' is a fake — he is actually the Military Governor of the Ziqing Circuit. Shi Kefa, this 'Governor-General of Seven Provinces,' is also a fake — he is actually the Military Governor of the Yanyun Army. And Zuo Maodi's 'Shandong Militia Commissioner' isn't real either — he must be the Military Governor of the Beihai Army.

These three Military Governors are all men who command troops on horseback and govern the people on foot. Of them, Gao Hongtu and Zuo Maodi are local powers in Shandong, with plenty of kinsmen, disciples, and former subordinates to draw on. Over the past year and more, they've already brought their territories and armies firmly under control, so they're not easy to deal with anymore!"

Dorgon drew a deep breath, still looking ready to explode with rage: "Old Fifteen fights this badly in Shandong, while Hooge is having smooth sailing in Henan — hitting wherever he points. How do you explain that?"

(End of Chapter)