Chapter 428: Defense in Depth

Three hundred li and five double-hours!

Chongzhen, who could only discuss warfare on paper, naturally had no idea what Zhu Cilang was talking about.

Behind this "three hundred li" and "five double-hours" was, in fact, an enormous investment. First, the roads and bridges between the Huai and Yangtze had been repaired and fortified!

Over the past seven or eight months, the Marshal's Office, the Central Capital Garrison Command, and the Huai-Yang Governor's yamen had successively hired two to three hundred thousand civilian laborers to repair the official roads leading from the Jiangbei Grand Camp to Fengyang prefectural city, Huai'an prefectural city, Xuyi county seat, Shouzhou city, and Luzhou prefectural city.

All the bridges along the way had also been reinforced so that 12-pounder Hongyi cannons could pass over them.

In addition, simple bastions had been built beside the important bridges, garrisoned with small numbers of troops from the various guard units, and Great General cannons capable of sealing off the river channels and bridge decks had been deployed.

Second was the formidable marching capability of the New Army — a distance of three hundred li would take an ordinary Ming army three or four days at best. Before the Wuqiao Mutiny, the several thousand troops led by Kong Youde and others took a full month to cover a mere one thousand li from Dengzhou to Wuqiao in Dezhou, averaging thirty li a day until they literally marched themselves out of provisions!

Such a thing was not permitted in the New Army! The New Army's standard marching speed on official roads was no less than fifty li per day, while under forced-march conditions the requirement was one hundred fifty li per day, sustained for two days, with the troops able to enter combat immediately upon completing the march.

In other words, a three-hundred-li march along official roads could be completed in just two days, and the troops could still go straight into battle.

Such a marching speed could already compete with the elite troops of the Eight Banners!

Third was a 600-li express courier relay network covering the region between the Huai and Yangtze, which had also been established. A dispatch sent from Fengyang prefectural city could reach the Jiangbei Grand Camp within five double-hours!

With this courier relay network, Zhu Cilang could sit in command at the Jiangbei Grand Camp and direct the entire Huai-Yang theater by remote control. He could also keep constant track of the invading Qing army's movements and seize opportunities for a decisive battle in time.

In addition, to the south of the Jiangbei Grand Camp there was a dock of considerable size. Through this dock and the Yangtze fleet, the sixty thousand troops stationed at the Jiangbei Grand Camp could also move by water to Anqing or Jiujiang in an extremely short time.

Using Anqing as a base, the New Army could then cross the Dabie Mountains within twelve days and reach Xinyang Subprefecture in Runing Prefecture, joining the Henan theater.

And using Jiujiang as a base, the New Army could launch an offensive against Huguang.

In other words, centered on the Jiangbei Grand Camp, relying on the Yangtze waterway and the two "secondary centers" of Jiujiang and Anqing, as well as several important official roads between the Huai and Yangtze, Zhu Cilang's sixty-thousand-strong New Army could maneuver rapidly throughout the Huai-Yang region and the middle and lower Yangtze coastal areas.

No matter where Hooge broke through, Zhu Cilang's great army could reach the battlefield in the shortest possible time.

Even if that half-dead Zuo Liangyu raised troops in Wuchang, the Crown Prince could still muster forces in the shortest time to block or crush him!

And the troops Zhu Cilang had deployed along the Huai River, as well as Liu Kongzhao's fleet stationed at Jiujiang (formerly the Yangtze Fleet, now designated the Jiujiang Fleet), were merely "meat shields" against the Great Qing, or Zuo Liangyu, or any other force coming down the river.

In later military terminology, this was called "defense in depth." The saying "to hold the Yangtze one must hold the Huai" actually referred to this kind of defense in depth — from Fengyang to the Jiangbei Grand Camp, a full three hundred li of defensive depth now lay before the Qing army!

South Zhili, Mengcheng.

At the time when Zhu Cilang and Chongzhen, father and son, were entering the Jiangbei Grand Camp, the Great Qing's Grave-Robbing Beile (a title Hooge himself did not acknowledge), Pacifying-the-Distant Grand General, and Prince Su, Hooge, was riding into the county seat of Mengcheng with a face full of fury — a town completely empty, filled everywhere with fire-ravaged, ruined houses.

What angered him was not the scorched-earth resistance against the Qing within Mengcheng's walls, but his fourteenth uncle, the Great Qing's Prince Regent Dorgon.

Dorgon's conduct in holding the Son of Heaven hostage and sleeping with the Empress Dowager was already outrageous enough!

But a few days earlier, something even more outrageous had happened. Dorgon had actually used "the great victory at Xuzhou" as a pretext to promote himself another rank, from Prince Regent to Imperial Uncle Prince Regent.

And that was not all. The imperial edict investing him as Imperial Uncle Prince Regent came with a whole host of special privileges. For instance, at all grand ceremonies such as hunts and military expeditions, all princes, dukes, and nobles were required to assemble in one place and await his orders, and to "line up and kneel to send him off and welcome him back." If he went out of the city and returned to his princely residence, the princes, dukes, and nobles were required to escort him to the gate of his residence.

Furthermore, on occasions such as New Year's Day and congratulatory ceremonies, after the civil and military officials had paid homage to the Shunzhi Emperor, they were then to go and pay homage to Dorgon. At court sessions, Dorgon was allowed to dismount from his sedan chair inside the Meridian Gate, while the various princes had to dismount outside the Meridian Gate, and so on.

In other words, when Hooge returned to Beijing, he would have to "line up and kneel to send off and welcome back" Dorgon. They were all princes — and Hooge was the eldest son of the late emperor. Why should he kneel to Dorgon? Dorgon was placing himself above all the princes; this was preparation for usurping the throne! And the only one in the entire Great Qing who could stop his usurpation was none other than Hooge himself!

"My Prince, we have arrived!"

Oboi's voice rang out abruptly, cutting off Hooge's thoughts. Hooge looked up and saw before him a shabby, dilapidated yamen. It was called a yamen, but in truth the gate had long been gone — burned away by someone's fire! Half of the main hall inside was missing — the roof was gone, though the walls still stood.

"This is it?" Hooge frowned deeply. Dorgon was sleeping inside the Forbidden City, and he, the dignified eldest son of the late emperor, a Prince of the Great Qing, was to stay in this roofless house?

Oboi gave a bitter smile. "This slave has already sent men to find thatch. By tonight we can have a thatched roof put up."

"A thatched roof." Hooge looked around. Everything was charred black, and there were no good houses to be had. "Fine, fine. A thatched roof it is — quite cool, anyway."

"My Prince speaks truly!" Oboi nodded repeatedly. "A thatched roof is indeed cool..."

Hooge wiped the sweat from his forehead and laughed bitterly. "Then get it done quickly. What now? Am I to sit in this roofless house for a while?"

"How could that be?" Oboi smiled. "This slave has prepared a cowhide tent for you, and has also had bathwater heated."

"That's more like it!" Hooge said as he dismounted from his horse. Immediately, booi servants of the Plain Blue Banner stepped forward to hold a parasol over him. Oboi led the way, escorting Hooge all the way to the rear courtyard of the county yamen, to a cowhide tent whose top was covered with a great deal of thatch.

The tent flap was lifted open, and several women dressed as maidservants were bustling in and out.

Hooge asked with a smile, "Where were they captured from?"

"Reporting to My Prince," Oboi said with a smile, "they were all presented to you by Shang Kexi as a token of respect. They were not captured here in South Zhili — they are all booi servants of the Bordered Blue Banner."

Shang Kexi held the rank of Prince, yet Oboi, a mere gūsa ejen, could call him by name directly — which showed just how diluted that princely title was. Had it been a proper Manchu prince, even a Commandery Prince, Oboi could not have spoken of him so casually.

"That Shang Kexi does know how to handle matters," Hooge chuckled. "By the way, where has Shang Kexi gone? Why haven't I seen him?"

"In answer to My Prince," Oboi said, "Shang Kexi has taken men along the Guo River, the North Fei River, and the West Fei River to collect boats."

The Guo River, the North Fei River, and the West Fei River all passed through Mengcheng county, all running northwest to southeast, and all connected to the Huai River.

"What? Boats can still be found?" Hooge was taken aback. "The county seat has been burned to this state..."

"Shang Kexi sent men back to report that some have been found," Oboi said with a smile. "No large boats, but quite a few small ones. Perhaps Hou Xun and Zhu Chunchen are relying on their Huai River fleet and do not fear our brave warriors crossing the Huai in small boats?"

"Hahaha!" Hooge burst into loud laughter. "They think this is still the Three Kingdoms era? Northerners ride horses, southerners sail boats — they have a few dozen warships, so the celestial troops of our Great Qing have no way across?"

"Exactly!" Oboi laughed. "We have brought several dozen Hongyi cannons south with us. Never mind the little Huai River — even the Yangtze would be nothing! Set the Hongyi cannons up on the riverbank, and any boat will be blasted to splinters!"

(End of Chapter)