Chapter 593: Owing That Much in Usurious Debt, How Could He Not Fight Desperately?

Luo Xiushen looked at the young "Loan Prince," who had racked up a mountain of debt at such a tender age, with some bewilderment. "An opportunity? Your Highness, what do you mean?"

A ruthless expression at odds with his beardless young face appeared on Zhu Cijiong's features. Lowering his voice, he said, "We're not attacking Taiyuan. We'll slip south along the Lüliang Mountains and strike the salt fields at Xie Lake!"

"Your Highness, Dorgon has already agreed to let Commander Jiang and his men go!" Wang Yongji, the Governor-General of the Three Frontiers who had come to deliver the news, hastily reminded him. "Moreover, the eastern barbarians and the court have already concluded a marriage alliance. Dorgon is preparing to send his daughter to Nanjing to become a Noble Consort. From now on it will be Southern Ming and Northern Qing."

Before he had even finished speaking, Zhu Cijiong let out a cold snort. "Dorgon is deceiving us. How can you believe it too?"

"Your Highness, how is this deception?" Wang Yongji stared at the "Loan Prince." "Our spies in Beijing have also reported this matter. The marriage envoy Zu Kefa delivered the betrothal gifts to Dorgon on the eighteenth day of the fourth month. Dorgon not only accepted the gifts, he also issued an Imperial Ama edict proclaiming it to the world. How could this still be a hoax?"

"Why couldn't it be a hoax?" The Loan Prince Zhu Cijiong glared fiercely at Wang Yongji. "To wipe us out in the Lüliang Mountains, what base and despicable thing would the Tartars not do? Didn't you just say Southern Ming and Northern Qing? We ask you, are the Lüliang Mountains in the south or the north?"

"The Lüliang Mountains are naturally in the north, but..."

Wang Yongji still wanted to tell the "Loan Prince" that he could go to Jiangnan and become a wealthy, idle prince and slowly repay his debts. But before he could finish, the "Loan Prince" Zhu Cijiong let out another cold snort. "Has His Majesty issued an edict ordering us to abandon the Lüliang Mountains and return?"

"N-no, he hasn't..."

The "Loan Prince" Zhu Cijiong slammed the table. "Then what more is there to say? Dorgon must be using trickery, wanting to lure Jiang Xiang and the others out of Datong Prefecture, then set an ambush along the way and annihilate them in one stroke!"

"This, this..." Wang Yongji was so thoroughly rebuffed by Zhu Cijiong's words that he didn't know what to do, and could only cast a pleading glance at Luo Xiushen.

Luo Xiushen was closest to the "Loan Prince," so he naturally understood this prince's little schemes — ever since leaving Beijing, this prince had "let himself go," selling offices and titles, racking up usurious debts, none of it anything good! And after ascending the Lüliang Mountains, he had encountered a situation where Wang Yongji, Gao Di, Zhang Xixian, Li Jiantai, and himself all checked and balanced one another, jointly pushing the "Little Loan Prince" forward as their banner.

So he had started out as a puppet, but his authority had grown steadily, until now he had become the true Great (read: Dai) King of the Lüliang Mountains — who doesn't enjoy the taste of real power? How could he be willing to give up power and go to Jiangnan? And besides, he owed a mountain of usurious debt! On the Lüliang Mountains he was a big shot who could owe debts and not pay them. If he went to Jiangnan... how would he repay his usurious debts? The Hongxing Emperor could not possibly shoulder them. Could the Retired Emperor Chongzhen and the Retired Empress pay them for him?

This matter was probably not just something the debt-ridden "Little Loan Prince" was unwilling to accept — the old Shanxi loan sharks who had lent him the money wouldn't agree to it either!

Only if the "Loan Prince" became master of Datong or even Taiyuan would he have the ability to repay his debts.

"Your Highness, if you feel there is trickery in this, then you ought to head north to reinforce Commander Jiang!" Luo Xiushen reminded him. "If you want to relieve the siege by attacking somewhere else, you should strike Taiyuan. These salt fields at Xie Lake are too far from Datong. By the time word reaches the Qing forces at Datong, Commander Jiang may already be..."

"But the salt fields have salt!" Zhu Cijiong said. "And in the nearby city of Xiezhou and the town of Changle there are also the trading houses of the nine great profiteers. If we take them, we can seize at least a million, can't we?"

So it was all for the sake of plundering money!

Wang Yongji and Luo Xiushen exchanged a glance, both wearing bitter smiles. This "Loan Prince" had exactly the same disposition as his elder brother! Both had fallen into the money pit.

Zhu Cijiong actually just wanted to grab some money and pay back at least part of his usurious debts. His starting point was still good... it was just a little unfair to Jiang Xiang and the soldiers and civilians of Datong.

He sighed and asked Wang Fuchen, who was standing below in the hall, "Can you still return to Datong?"

This Wang Fuchen was in his twenties, with a fair complexion, a tall and graceful bearing, and eyebrows like sleeping silkworms. He bore a striking resemblance to the portraits of Lü Bu in circulation, and had earned the nickname "Living Lü Bu." His original surname was Li, but he had acknowledged Vice Regional Commander Wang Jinchao, a subordinate of Jiang Xiang, as his adoptive father, and so had changed his name to Wang Fuchen.

And his performance in the Datong army lived up to the name "Living Lü Bu." He often rode a yellow horse in a white robe, leading brave warriors out of the city to engage the Qing forces, unmatched in valor. The elite Eight Banners troops under Ajige all knew how formidable this fellow was, and had even given him the nickname "Horse Sparrowhawk."

This time, with Jiang Xiang besieged and out of options, he had sent Wang Fuchen with two or three hundred household retainers from various families to break through the encirclement. In the end, fewer than a hundred had fought their way into the Lüliang Mountains.

Judging from how tightly the Qing forces had surrounded Datong, Wang Fuchen did not believe either that Dorgon would truly let the soldiers and civilians of Datong live.

Moreover, over these past few years Datong had been like a large, hard fishbone, lodged firmly in Dorgon's throat. Could Dorgon really swallow this bitter humiliation and spare the soldiers and civilians of Datong?

The "Living Lü Bu" had already thought it through. Shaking his head, he said, "Your Highness, this humble one fears he cannot go back."

Zhu Cijiong also knew of the reputation of the "Living Lü Bu, Horse Sparrowhawk." Now, seeing the man in person, he was very pleased, and so nodded and said, "In that case, follow this prince for now. It happens that this prince has just acquired a thousand fine Western-bred horses and can establish a cavalry force. You shall command it."

"This lowly general kowtows in gratitude for Your Highness's grace!" Wang Fuchen hastily knelt and kowtowed.

Zhu Cijiong let out a breath. "Summon Fat Chen and that horse trader. This prince wishes to write the loan receipt and affix his seal in their presence."

The loan receipts for the usurious debts owed by the Great Ming's "Loan Prince" were all written by his own hand, signed with his own name, and stamped with his own seal. So there was no way to deny them — at most, he could owe the money and not pay it back!

As long as he remained the Great (read: Dai) King on the Lüliang Mountains, no matter how much debt he owed, he had nothing to worry about.

While the Great Ming's "Loan Prince" was incurring yet another usurious debt, northwest of Beijing, in the territory of Xuanfu, banners fluttered and military tents rose in layers. Inside the central bright-yellow great tent, the Great Qing's Imperial Ama Dorgon was reclining against cushions, leafing through the account books sent up by the Plain White Banner's commandant office, smiling as he read — the Imperial Ama had finally turned a profit! The Plain White Banner's lands both inside and outside the passes had yielded good harvests last year, and the rents had finally been collected in full. After deducting the grain stipends issued to the bannermen and the expenses of maintaining the various government offices, the Imperial Ama himself still came out ahead.

In addition, the population of the Plain White Banner had grown considerably. Last year the Great Qing had been relatively peaceful. Apart from Datong Prefecture, Taiyuan Prefecture, and Tongguan Guard (including Fenglingdu), where some Plain White Banner warriors were still fighting, the Plain White Banner troops everywhere else had been withdrawn to rest and recuperate, and so quite a few children had been born... It was only a pity that none of the women in Dorgon's own household had conceived, and the Empress Dowager's belly also showed no sign.

Besides all this, Dorgon had recently encountered another piece of good fortune. The "thorn" that had been stuck in his "throat" for more than three years — the city of Datong Prefecture — could finally be pulled out!

That scoundrel Jiang Xiang had defended the city well enough, but his brain was no good! Dorgon sneered: after meeting with Zu Kefa, the fool had actually believed that this Imperial Ama would spare the soldiers and civilians of Datong!

How could that be possible?

Apart from those it could not defeat, whom had the Great Qing ever spared? Never mind Datong, which had held out for three years — there were plenty of cities that had been massacred after holding out for just three days.

This time, under the pretext of going hunting in the Daqing Mountains, the Imperial Ama Dorgon had led fifteen thousand elite Eight Banners troops out of Beijing for the purpose of going to Datong Prefecture to lend Ajige a hand.

In addition, he also wanted to see with his own eyes the power of the English red-barbarian light cannons in actual combat. Each of the old Eight Banners now had a red-barbarian light cannon company, each with an establishment of six red-barbarian light cannons. If all were brought out, that made forty-eight red-barbarian light cannons.

Don't think that forty-eight red-barbarian light cannons is a small number. Historically, even up to the era of the Napoleonic Wars, an army corps of a hundred thousand men was basically equipped with only a little over a hundred field guns. Any more than that would affect the army's mobility.

The Great Qing's Eight Banners troops now followed the path of coordinating cavalry and artillery, so they could not be equipped with too many cannons lest mobility be affected. Moreover, cannons were easy to cast, but gunners were hard to train. Besides these forty-eight red-barbarian light cannons, the current Qing forces also had roughly three to four hundred fixed fortress cannons, requiring as many as several thousand gunners. Any more and they truly could not produce them.

(End of Chapter)