Chapter 430: Chapter 430

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

Behind this "300 li" and "five double-hours" was actually an enormous investment. First, the roads and bridges between the Huai and Yangzi rivers had been repaired and fortified!

Over the past seven or eight months, the Grand 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 seat, Huai'an prefectural seat, Xuyi county seat, Shouzhou city, and Luzhou prefectural seat.

All the bridges along the route 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 deployed with "Grand General" cannons capable of sealing off the river channels and bridge decks.

Second was the formidable marching capability of the Hard-New Army — a distance of 300 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 just over three li a day... until they literally marched themselves out of provisions!

Such a thing was not permitted in the Hard-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 300-li march along official roads could be completed in just two days, and the troops could still immediately enter battle.

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

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

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

In addition, south of the Jiangbei Grand Camp there was a dock of considerable size. Through this dock and the Yangzi River 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 in twelve days cross the Dabie Mountains 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 Yangzi waterway, the two "secondary centers" of Jiujiang and Anqing, and several important official roads between the Huai and Yangzi rivers, Zhu Cilang's sixty thousand new army troops could maneuver rapidly throughout the Huai-Yang region and along the middle and lower Yangzi.

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 at Wuchang, the Crown Prince could in the shortest time assemble forces to block or extinguish him!

And the troops Zhu Cilang had deployed along the Huai River, and Liu Kongzhao's naval force placed at Jiujiang, were merely "meat shields" for resisting the Great Qing, or Zuo Liangyu, or any other force coming down the river.

In later military terminology, this is called "defense in depth." The saying "to hold the Yangzi one must hold the Huai" actually refers 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 Zhu Cilang and Chongzhen, father and son, entered the Jiangbei Grand Camp, the Great Qing's Grave-Robbing Beile, Grand General Who Pacifies the Distant, Prince Su Hooge was riding into the empty, desolate Mengcheng county seat with a face full of fury, everywhere the ruins of houses burned to the ground.

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

Dorgon's acts of holding the Son of Heaven hostage and sleeping with the Empress Dowager were already outrageous enough!

But a few days ago, something even more outrageous had happened. Dorgon had actually used the pretext of the "Great Victory at Xuzhou" to promote himself another rank, advancing 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 to assemble in one place to await the transmission of his orders, and were to "form ranks and kneel to send him off and welcome him back." If he returned from outside to his princely residence, the princes, dukes, and nobles were to escort him to the gate of the residence.

Furthermore, at New Year's Day and congratulatory ceremonies, after the civil and military officials had paid court to the Shunzhi Emperor, they were to go and pay court to Dorgon. At court sessions, Dorgon was to alight from his sedan chair inside the Meridian Gate for convenience, while the various princes were to alight outside the Meridian Gate, and so on.

In other words, when Hooge returned to Beijing, he would have to "form ranks and kneel to send off and welcome back" Dorgon... They were all princes, and Hooge was the eldest son of the late emperor — on what grounds 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 he, Hooge!

"My Prince, we have arrived!"

Oboi's voice suddenly rang out, cutting off Hooge's thoughts. Hooge looked up and saw before him a shabby, run-down yamen. It was called a yamen, but in truth the gate had long been gone — someone had burned it away! Half of the main hall inside was gone — the roof was missing, 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 smiled bitterly. "This slave has already sent men to find thatch. By tonight we can put up a thatched roof."

"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 — at least it'll be cool."

"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 a roofless house for a while?"

"How could that be?" Oboi smiled. "This slave has prepared an oxhide tent for you... and has had bathwater heated."

"That's more like it!" As Hooge spoke, he had already dismounted. Immediately booi bondservants of the Plain Blue Banner came forward to hold a sunshade over him. Oboi led the way, escorting Hooge all the way to the rear courtyard of the county yamen, to the front of an oxhide 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 bondservants of the Bordered Blue Banner."

Shang Kexi held the rank of Prince, yet Oboi, a mere Gūsa Ejete, could call him by name directly — this showed how watered-down that princely title really was. Had it been a proper Manchu prince, even a Commandery Prince, Oboi could not have spoken of him that way.

"This Shang Kexi does know how to handle matters," Hooge said with a smile. "By the way, where has Shang Kexi gone? Why haven't I seen him?"

"Replying 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 flowing into 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, relying on their Huai River fleet, think they need not fear our 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 recourse?"

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