Chapter 596: Is Imperial Ama About to Make a Foolish Move?

These days the old Long Live Lord in Chang'an was always half-drunk, half-sober — because if he didn't drink, there was nothing else for him to do!

When he first entered Xi'an, he too had been full of soaring ambition, thinking he could rise straight to the heavens. Even if he couldn't do what Li Zicheng had done back then — march east and take Beijing — at the very least he could be King of Guanzhong, right?

But reality was always so cruel. This old Long Live Lord of his was simply no match for the Roving King Li!

Back then, the moment Li Zicheng entered the Qin passes, the people immediately rallied to him and hearts turned to him from all directions. Without much effort, he took the military towns of Gansu and Shaanxi.

But now that it was his turn, Zhang Xianzhong, the military bosses of Gansu and Shaanxi wouldn't give him face. They'd rather throw in with a traitor like Wu Sangui than submit to the Xi dynasty. After his offers of amnesty and recruitment failed, he sent Zhang Kewang and Zhang Wenxiu west at the head of troops to chastise Wu Sangui.

As it turned out, that expedition poked a hornet's nest. It happened to come just as Wu Sangui was carrying out his Chiliarch-system reform — that is, reorganizing the troops under his command and the civilian households under his jurisdiction into militarized units based on the chiliarch, or thousand-household unit. After a rough sorting-out, he came up with a total of 330 chiliarch offices (whose commanders were called Chiliarchs).

Of these, 130 were directly controlled by Wu Sangui. These chiliarch offices were all built on the foundation of the Guanning Army that had marched west, and they clustered around Wu Sangui. The position of Chiliarch was not hereditary but appointed by Wu Sangui. These chiliarch offices not only had to bear military service but also had to pay taxes to the Grand General Who Pacifies the West's headquarters.

The remaining 200 chiliarch offices were held by the powerful military houses of Gansu and Shaanxi, with the Chiliarch post passed down hereditarily by the heads of those houses. These chiliarch offices did not need to pay taxes to the Grand General Who Pacifies the West's headquarters, but they still had to bear military service.

Military service was divided into two types: regular rotation and mass muster. Regular rotation meant that the soldiers and civilians under each chiliarch office had to serve in rotation as soldiers for the Grand General Who Pacifies the West. But the Grand General's headquarters would not conscript directly from the people under a chiliarch office; it would only demand men from the Chiliarch. So every chiliarch office had to guarantee that at any time 80 fully armed warriors were serving as soldiers for the Grand General Who Pacifies the West's headquarters, and it also had to provide those warriors' rations.

In other words, the Grand General Who Pacifies the West's headquarters theoretically possessed 26,400 standing troops!

Mass muster, on the other hand, was a great call-up — levying military service beyond the regular rotation. The upper limit of mobilization was every able-bodied man in all 330 chiliarch offices, theoretically allowing a muster of several hundred thousand men. That would be fighting to the death!

And a "Chiliarch-system reform" like this naturally needed a goal that could unite the two great systems of Guanning and Gansu-Shaanxi. That goal was Zhang Xianzhong — Zhang Xianzhong was a great bandit chieftain who had fought his way across half of China, and wherever he went he plundered, so he must have a great deal of portable wealth on hand.

As long as they robbed Zhang Xianzhong, everyone could make a fortune!

And it was at just this moment that Zhang Xianzhong sent Zhang Kewang and Zhang Wenxiu to come looking for trouble. Wasn't that delivering himself to their doorstep for target practice?

So Wu Sangui immediately assembled 55,000 picked troops and began drilling them, and he also summoned up the spirit of "Sangui who fights to the death," sending his own core army to lead the assault. He directly beat the militarily mediocre Zhang Kewang into a daze, and Zhang Kewang returned in crushing defeat, even losing Fengxiang Prefecture.

At this, the old Long Live Lord Zhang Xianzhong was somewhat dumbfounded. He'd run into a thief robbing a thief!

Now Wu Sangui was garrisoned in the prefectural seat of Fengxiang, which was not far from the prefectural seat of Xi'an. It was estimated that after the autumn harvest he would come attacking, and when that happened it was hard to say whether Xi'an could hold!

If Xi'an fell, where could a roving bandit like Zhang Xianzhong go?

To the east, Tong Pass and Xixiakou were both blocked tight. To the south, Yuan Zongdi and Liu Fangliang had it sealed off. Going north was still possible, but the problem was how poor northern Shaanxi was! Hadn't everyone rebelled precisely because they couldn't stand the poverty of northern Shaanxi?

If they now fought their way back into northern Shaanxi, wouldn't the army fall apart?

So apart from drowning his sorrows in drink, Zhang Xianzhong had no options left.

Today he had drunk a few extra cups, and just as he was drifting between drunkenness and sobriety, Zhang Dingguo's voice suddenly reached his ears.

"Imperial Father, Imperial Father, good news! Brother Nengqi has broken through Tong Pass! Our road east is open!"

Zhang Xianzhong was still muddled, but on hearing this news he chuckled. "Dingguo, my son, you're teasing your daddy again."

"Imperial Father, your son is not joking, it's true!" Zhang Dingguo's face was full of delight. "For some reason, more than half of the Tartar troops guarding Tong Pass were transferred away. Brother Nengqi spotted it and personally led his death-sworn warriors in a sudden assault, and took it in one blow. Tong Pass is now our territory!"

"Hahaha!" Zhang Xianzhong slapped the table and laughed. "Good, good, good! Now that's what I like to hear. Go on!"

"Imperial Father, your son has been thinking we should seize this chance to march east on Luoyang!" Zhang Dingguo laid out the plan for Zhang Xianzhong. "In ancient times, Chang'an was the Western Capital and Luoyang the Eastern Capital. As long as we take Luoyang, we'll hold both capitals, and Father can proclaim himself Emperor again!"

Zhang Xianzhong was now an emperor behind closed doors, but to the outside world he was still a king. Zhang Dingguo knew his foster father's mind best — he very much wanted to savor being emperor once more — so he made this proposal.

"Good!" Zhang Xianzhong laughed heartily on hearing it. "Damn it all, your old man is going to Luoyang to proclaim himself Emperor! Dingguo, summon all the generals for me!"

"As commanded!"

Zhang Xianzhong's efficiency was quite high. Once he sobered up and confirmed that Tong Pass had truly been taken by Zhang Nengqi, he no longer waited or hesitated. He immediately recalled Zhang Kewang and Zhang Wenxiu, who were garrisoned at Wugong and Mei County, then ordered Zhang Wenxiu to hold Xi'an, Liu Jinzhong to garrison Xianyang, Feng Shuangli to garrison Shangzhou, and Bai Wenxuan to garrison Fuping. After that, he personally led a great army of 100,000, sweeping out of Tong Pass in grand array and charging toward Luoyang.

Crash! The Qing Imperial Ama smashed a Duan inkstone on his desk to pieces. As if that hadn't vented his anger enough, he grabbed the brush-washer and smashed it too. In the study of the Imperial Ama's traveling palace in Taiyuan, all the Qing dynasty's leading figures in Shanxi, Ajige included, stood to one side with hands lowered and shoulders hunched, not daring to so much as breathe loudly.

The moment Nikan's memorial admitting fault arrived, Imperial Ama Dorgon had leapt to his feet.

That wretch Nikan! How could he take the troops from Tong Pass to relieve Xiezhou? Did he think that bandit chief Zhang Xianzhong had really been beaten to his last breath by Wu Sangui? If that were truly the case, Wu Sangui would have gone to seize Xi'an Prefecture long ago — would he still be camped at Fengxiang Prefecture without moving?

Now look what had happened. Xiezhou hadn't been saved, Tong Pass had been seized by Zhang Xianzhong, and on top of that Zhang Xianzhong was advancing east in force, bearing down on Luoyang. A splendid situation, all ruined by Nikan.

And that little whelp Zhu Cijiong was just as bad! Instead of reinforcing Datong, he'd taken his troops to attack Xiezhou and the salt fields of Xiechi!

Are you a prince of the Great Ming or a goddamn roving bandit?

Dorgon finally roared: "All of you, goddamn it, get packed and ready! We are going to Luoyang in person to see how that bandit chief Zhang Xianzhong keeps hopping around!"

Several officials of the Plain White Banner immediately acknowledged the order, turned, and went to make preparations for the army's departure. But Ajige, who had been leading troops in Shanxi and Shaanxi ever since they entered the pass, did not move. Seeing that Dorgon seemed to have cooled down a little, he quietly reminded him: "Imperial Ama, what about the Lüliang Mountains? Are we just going to ignore them? These past few years, the Prince of Dai's army in the Lüliang Mountains has been growing stronger and stronger, and now a great many remnants who fled from Datong have gone up into the Lüliang Mountains. I fear..."

In the Battle of Datong, the Qing army had of course won a complete victory, but it had not wiped out the Ming army to the last man. At least ten thousand Ming soldiers and their families had gone up into the Lüliang Mountains. These were Ming soldiers with a blood-deep hatred for the Great Qing, and what was more, they had fought and scrambled through three or four years of the Datong campaign. The fact that they had survived to reach the Lüliang Mountains was proof of their ability.

With the addition of this group, Zhu Cijiong's strength would grow even greater!

"What is there to fear? They're nothing but bandits in the mountains!" Dorgon glared at Ajige.

Ajige frowned deeply. He knew that this Shanxi campaign was Dorgon's first war since becoming "Dorgon Ama," and it absolutely could not be lost!

Though they had now taken Datong Prefecture, they had allowed Zhang Xianzhong to seize the chance to break out of Tong Pass, and he was on the verge of taking Luoyang.

Luoyang was an ancient capital of thirteen dynasties. Its political influence was hardly something Datong could compare to. To gain Datong and lose Luoyang would be a losing outcome.

But the problem was, once Dorgon went south to Luoyang, wouldn't the Third Crown Prince up in the Lüliang Mountains get a chance to catch his breath?

Moreover, once the Qing army was locked in battle with Zhang Xianzhong, wouldn't the Southern Ming take the chance to profit from the chaos?

Marching south to Luoyang was a foolish move!

(End of Chapter)