Chapter 579: Work Hard, Sons of the Nine Banners (Any Monthly Tickets?)

"Ama of my child, why are you in such a rush to send Dong'e off to Zhu Cilang?"

"It's not that I'm in a rush — the situation forces it, Empress Dowager. Do you think this peaceful stretch between us and the Southern Ming will last? If we don't settle this early, once the two sides start fighting, Dong'e's marriage will fall through. Sending her over next year can push the start of war back by a few more months — perhaps even to the year after."

"If war breaks out and you've sent Dong'e over, won't she just become a hostage?"

"How would she become a hostage? That young Zhu emperor of the Southern Ming isn't so lacking in judgment. He's bringing Dong'e over to make her an Imperial Noble Consort — how could he use his own woman as a hostage to threaten his father-in-law? If he did that, he'd be no hero, no true man!"

"Ama of my child, you think quite highly of that young Zhu emperor?"

"Of course. He may hold the title of Crown Prince, but the eight southeastern provinces — Jiangnan, Jiangbei, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Hunan, Hubei, Guangdong, Fujian — he conquered that territory himself! If not for him, our Great Qing might well have unified the realm!"

"That being so, isn't he the mortal enemy of our Great Qing?"

"Exactly! He is our Great Qing's mortal enemy! Which is all the more reason I must send the princess over — this is a stalling tactic, and it is also Dong'e's fate. If she can go happily, then hers is a good fate!"

The Forbidden City, the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility. Tonight was the great wedding day of Aunt Bumbutai and Uncle Dorgon, yet the two of them were in no hurry to take each other by the hand and climb onto the kang. Instead, they sat face to face chatting, and even got onto the matter of Dong'e's marriage.

Dong'e was only ten this year. Even if they waited until her coming-of-age year — the standard age for marriage — that was still five years off. Yet Dorgon looked as though he could not wait to send Dong'e away, which struck Bumbutai as very strange.

And Dorgon's answer surprised Bumbutai greatly — Dorgon had never imagined that a marriage alliance could long preserve the "no great war" situation between Ming and Qing (small clashes never ceased, and over in Shanxi there was still the endless Datong campaign). He merely wanted to delay the outbreak of a great war!

To send away his only daughter, whom he treasured like a pearl in his palm, just to delay things by a few months — wasn't that a bit too selfless? Was Dorgon really that good a man?

Aunt Bumbutai asked, puzzled: "Just a few months — is it truly that critical?"

"Call it critical if you like, or call it better to fight late than early — the key is how we use the next year and more!" Dorgon was always full of energy when discussing affairs of state, and he had almost forgotten that he was supposed to be a bridegroom.

"What do you mean by that?" Bumbutai asked.

Dorgon said: "I've been thinking that we have three great tasks to accomplish next. First, pacify Shanxi and Shaanxi. We can't have people endlessly stabbing us in the back when we fight the decisive battle with the Southern Ming, can we?"

"That won't be easy!" Bumbutai said. "Never mind Datong — even that Wu Sangui is no good. He received such great favor from our Great Qing, yet instead of repaying it, he keeps a foot in both camps. Last time Sonin passed through on his way to Tibet, the men Wu Sangui sent to receive him got it wrong — they thought they were welcoming Ming envoys, so they turned up wearing Ming mandarin-duck battle jackets. It scared Sonin half to death."

Dorgon waved a hand and laughed: "Wu Sangui is a house-watching thief, not worth worrying about. Once Jiang Xiang at Datong is finished, he won't dare act up. The real trouble is the roving bandits entrenched at Xi'an, Yan'an, and Yulin. They quieted down for a while, but recently Li Zicheng sent some so-called King of the West over to Guanzhong — strong troops, sturdy horses, putting on a great show of might. I sent several envoys to negotiate peace, and that fellow Zhang killed every one of them!"

The news that Li Zicheng might be "playing dead" had of course reached the Qing side as well. But since the official word from both the Shun and the Ming was that Li Zicheng was alive, what grounds did the Qing have to treat Li Zicheng as a dead man?

Moreover, after Zhang Xianzhong reached Xi'an, he had not cast aside the Shun dynasty's banner. He still commanded the three armies in the name of "King of the West of the Shun" — because the moment he abandoned the Shun banner, he risked being attacked by Yuan Zongdi, entrenched at Hanzhong, and Liu Fangliang, entrenched at Gongchang and Long'an. So until he took Tong Pass and shut the gateway to Guanzhong, he would not fall out with the Shun forces.

At the same time, Zhang Xianzhong had no intention of joining hands with the Qing either, and had killed all the envoys Dorgon sent to make contact.

Bumbutai nodded, taking in Dorgon's plans for the western front, then asked: "And what are the other two great tasks?"

Dorgon said: "The other two great tasks are the Nine Banners military reform and the development of our old homeland beyond the passes!"

"Nine Banners military reform? How would that work?" Bumbutai asked first about the military reform — control of the sword was no small matter! If Dorgon meant to use the reform to seize military power over the Nine Banners, then this aunt was prepared to turn hostile.

Although the aunt's own son was the Emperor, he had not yet reached the age to rule in person, so she also worried that once Dorgon concentrated power and lost all checks upon him, he might go from Imperial Ama Prince Regent to Emperor of the Great Qing!

Dorgon saw the wary look on the aunt's face and laughed: "The Nine Banners military reform has two main points. First, develop artillery on a large scale — every banner is to establish red-barbarian light-cannon companies, and the existing Hongyi cannon companies must not be disbanded. Moreover, every regiment is to have one garrison company equipped with general's cannons, Folangji cannons, and musketoons."

"Second, build fortresses and divide the territory for defense! Every regiment is to have a regimental bastion fort, called a regimental fort, built on the model of the Southern Ming bastion forts, to serve as the regiment's root and foundation, garrisoned by the garrison company."

The aunt breathed a sigh of relief. Dorgon had no intention of concentrating military power; on the contrary, he was strengthening each banner's forces.

"And how will the old homeland beyond the passes be managed?" Aunt Bumbutai asked.

Dorgon sighed: "The old homeland beyond the passes is our line of retreat! In the present situation, can we afford not to develop it with care? So I've been thinking — each regiment should draw off one company to return to the old homeland beyond the passes, where they will also be allotted land and build fortresses, each holding a patch. Though the old homeland is bitter and cold, the fertile land along the rivers is still good, and can be opened up and cultivated."

"Also, these past few years Russia has been pressing steadily eastward, drawing ever closer to our Manchu homeland. Many Barhu and Daur tribes have migrated into the Heilongjiang and Jingqili River basins. We must gather them in and enroll them in the Eight Banners as well."

Historically, in the early Qing, because the gains within the passes were so great, the court neglected the development of the lands beyond the passes, and also neglected the matter of Russia pressing step by step toward the Heilongjiang and Jingqili River basins. The Qing court did not take the Barhu and Daur people's pleas for aid very seriously.

But now the situation is different. The state of affairs within the passes is not good, and there may truly come a day when we have to withdraw. If the old homeland beyond the passes is not properly developed, where will the sons of the Nine Banners go?

"Ama of my child, is it the Nine Banners or the Eight Banners who are going to the old homeland beyond the passes?" Bumbutai was still a little confused, because Dorgon sometimes said Eight Banners and sometimes Nine Banners.

"Naturally the Nine Banners!" Dorgon laughed. "The Plain Green Banner has many people — a hundred thousand households! Of course a portion should be sent to the old homeland beyond the passes. But the Barhu and Daur who have come over to us need not be given a share — they aren't short of population."

At present, a standard Manchu Eight Banners company ought to have two to three hundred households, while a Han-martial company usually had four to five hundred households. Of course, the household count of a company was only approximate; sometimes there were great disparities between companies.

The companies of the newly formed Plain Green Banner, however, were fairly standard — basically all five hundred households. Once a company was mustered, it formed exactly a five-hundred-man battalion. In addition, five Plain Green Banner companies formed a regiment. The Plain Green Banner had two hundred companies, organized into forty regiments. If each regiment sent one company to develop the lands beyond the passes, then forty companies — roughly twenty thousand households — could be moved out from within the passes.

On the "old Eight Banners" side, about sixty companies could be drawn off, more than ten thousand households. If they also gathered in some Barhu, Daur, and Solon people (also inhabitants of the Heilongjiang basin), they could probably make up another twenty thousand households.

And these forty thousand households would then be divided into nine shares, each garrisoning a piece of banner land, working the land on one hand and guarding the frontier on the other. In this way the Great Qing would have a line of retreat! But accomplishing this would also take time — even one or two years would feel quite tight.

(End of Chapter)