Chapter 597: Is the Qing Finished?

Fengxiang Prefecture, Qishan Grand Camp of the Wu Family Army.

The Prince Who Pacifies the West, Wu Sangui, stood before the huge map inside his central command tent while a personal guard held up a candlestick to light it for him.

Riding the momentum of his great victory over Zhang Kewang and Zhang Wenxiu and his capture of Fengxiang Prefecture, Wu Sangui had completed the chiliarch-system reform in a very short time. His Pacifying West Grand General's headquarters could now raise a fairly large army of not inconsiderable fighting strength at relatively low cost. In the present chaotic age, that was enough to make him a power to be reckoned with.

But the foundations of this power of his were a little thin — being Prince Who Pacifies the West had turned out to be a losing deal! He had hardly any silver left, and the rewards for the last campaign against Zhang Kewang and Zhang Wenxiu had been paid out with high-interest loans borrowed from Jabusi.

The high-interest loans from Jabusi could be repaid slowly, but the army provisions for mustering a great host to besiege Xi'an had to come out of Wu Sangui's own pocket — the eighty men each chiliarch sent on active duty were supplied by the chiliarch office, but the additionally mustered troops could not count on the chiliarch offices for food. The chiliarch offices were poor too!

But Wu Sangui's own household had no surplus grain either, and could not feed so many men. And while silver could be borrowed somewhere, grain was another matter entirely — there was simply no way.

Fortunately, the territory of Fengxiang Prefecture now belonged to him, so he could at last recoup a little. Fengxiang Prefecture lay in the western part of the Guanzhong Plain, and its subordinate counties of Fengxiang and Fufeng contained large stretches of flatland. Moreover, the prefecture had belonged to Li Zicheng since the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, and afterward had become a battleground in the tug-of-war between the Shun and the Qing, so the landlords and gentry had nearly all fled. Thus Wu Sangui had easily converted close to two million mu of land in the two counties into military fields under the Pacifying West Grand General's headquarters — which in practice meant they paid grain to the headquarters. If rent could be collected at the standard of one dou of flour per mu, after the autumn harvest he would receive two hundred thousand shi of flour, enough to sustain a hundred thousand troops besieging Xi'an.

But before the autumn harvest, Wu Sangui could only stay put here at Qishan and quietly watch the winds and clouds of the realm.

Yet the winds and clouds of the realm shifted far faster than he had expected.

The first news to arrive was that the Qing Imperial Ama Dorgon and the Prince Regent of the Ying Commandery, Ajige, had broken Jiang Xiang and massacred Datong, finally pulling out the hard thorn that had been stuck in the Qing state's throat for nearly four years.

This news badly frightened the fence-sitting Wu Sangui; he almost thought Ama Dorgon would soon come to settle accounts with him. He hastily wrote a memorial begging forgiveness, and even asked "Ama Dorgon" to send a governor to Shaanxi.

But no sooner had his memorial been sent off than the situation in the realm changed again. The "Loan King" up in the Lüliang Mountains had actually made a great showing of himself, succeeding in a surprise attack on Xiezhou. Not only did he strip the Xiezhou salt pools, the Salt Administration City, Anle Town, and the Xiezhou prefectural city completely bare, he also lured Nikan, who was guarding Tong Pass, away to Xiezhou. This gave Zhang Nengqi, who was stationed at Huayin, the chance to seize Tong Pass, opening the road east for Zhang Xianzhong. Then Zhang Xianzhong marched east with a hundred thousand troops and, before the Qing forces could return from Shanxi to relieve it, captured Luoyang in one stroke.

After taking Luoyang, Zhang Xianzhong tore down the signboard of "Western King of the Shun" and openly proclaimed himself Emperor of the Xi, even holding a second enthronement ceremony in Luoyang. Of the four emperors in the realm today, only Zhu Cilang had been enthroned once; the other three had all been enthroned twice. It could be counted a wonder of the age.

And Zhang Xianzhong's act of being enthroned twice at Luoyang seemed to have enraged the Qing Imperial Ama Dorgon, who had never held even a single enthronement ceremony.

So Dorgon abandoned the Prince of Dai, Zhu Cijiong, who had fled back to the Lüliang Mountains, crossed the Yellow River southward on the twenty-second day of the sixth month, and entered Zhengzhou on the twenty-fifth. He began using Zhengzhou as a base to muster the Green-Bordered Banner troops of Henan and Shandong, putting on the posture of preparing to counterattack Luoyang. A few days earlier he had also sent envoys to Qishan, ordering Wu Sangui to march on Xi'an after the autumn harvest and coordinate with Dorgon's main Qing forces in a joint campaign to exterminate Zhang Xianzhong.

With the strength of the Qing's nine banners plus Wu Sangui, destroying Zhang Xianzhong would be as easy as turning over one's hand — but would the Southern Ming side simply stand by and watch?

This was the perfect moment for Zhu Cilang's northern expedition against the Central Plains! He absolutely must not miss it!

Looking at the map and comparing the positions of the Ming, Qing, Shun, Xi, and Wu forces, Wu Sangui muttered to himself, as if asking and answering his own questions.

"Dorgon will not fail to guard against a Ming northern expedition — but can he guard against it all?

The Ming navy's advantage is simply too great. There is no need at all to get entangled with Dorgon in the Central Plains. Liaodong, Liaoxi, the Tianjin garrison — every one of them is a place to strike! And the Ming need not seek any quick victory; they only need to drag things out. The Qing cannot afford a war of attrition."

"And there is still the Prince of Dai up in the Lüliang Mountains... and me in the northwest. Even if we basically do not march, Dorgon must still guard against us, and that ties down no small number of his troops. If the Prince of Dai and I both make a move, the Qing looks like it is finished!"

"It seems the moment has come for me, Wu Sangui, to turn my coat and strike back. Then the Wu family will have three dukes in one household, and Sanmei can be made empress!"

At this point, Wu Sangui seemed to have made a great resolution. He turned and looked at Liu Sheng and Wu Guogui, who stood behind him.

"Both of you will have to make a long journey!"

Wu Guogui asked, "My Prince, where do you wish this general to go?"

Liu Sheng said, "My Prince, do you want this general to make a trip to Xiangyang?"

Wu Sangui's brother Wu Sanfu was now in command of troops at Xiangyang. If Wu Sangui was going to defect back to the Ming, he naturally ought to contact Wu Sanfu.

Wu Sangui shook his head and said to Liu Sheng, "You make a trip to Nanjing. Liu Sheng, surely you are not without connections?"

"Connections..." Liu Sheng's heart jolted. He understood now that Wu Sangui had long known he was a secret agent of the Hongxing Emperor!

But that did not matter, because Wu Sangui was finally going to defect back to the Ming!

The Qing was finished!

"Correct!" Wu Sangui nodded. "Go to Nanjing to have an audience with His Majesty, and also see the old master..."

"My Prince, what should I say?"

Wu Sangui thought for a moment and said, "Have me appointed Pacifying West Grand General. All military and civil affairs west of the two prefectures of Xi'an and Yan'an and north of the two prefectures of Hanzhong and Gongchang shall be under the jurisdiction of the Pacifying West Grand General's headquarters. The court shall also give the Pacifying West Grand General's headquarters three million taels of silver per year in military funds... and a one-time reward of five million taels!

Furthermore, Sanmei must be made empress at once!

As long as the court agrees, I will rise in revolt and defect the moment the court's northern expeditionary army lands at Dagu, and march straight on Beijing!"

Wu Sangui was certainly asking for the moon!

But it was a demand he had to make. He had three hundred and thirty chiliarch offices under him, and the number of centurion offices was as high as three thousand three hundred! The military bosses great and small were beyond counting, and every one of them was so poor their eyes had turned red. If they were not given a little sweetness, would they be willing to risk their lives in battle?

Moreover, if Wu Sangui could not extract benefits from Zhu Cilang, he would not be able to command the allegiance of his followers!

Why did the warlords in the Gansu-Shaanxi region who were hoping to advance and become "four subjects" support him, Wu Sangui? Was it not because the Wu family was the meritorious and noble house most favored by the Hongxing Emperor?

Only by propping up Wu Sangui could they get benefits from Nanjing!

Without benefits, who would rebel?

Therefore, Zhu Cilang making Wu Sanmei empress and bestowing rich rewards on Wu Sangui were both necessary conditions for Wu Sangui to command the Gansu-Shaanxi military bosses to risk their lives in battle.

"My Prince, this general understands!" Liu Sheng nodded, his dark face covered in a pleased smile.

This was a great achievement! Surely it would be worth at least an earldom?

"My Prince, where shall this general go?" Wu Guogui asked. "Shall I also go to Jiangnan?"

Wu Sangui shook his head. "You go and invite two people for me!"

Wu Guogui was taken aback. "Invite people? Invite whom?"

Wu Sangui said, "One is Sonin, and the other is named Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso! Remember, you must invite them with the utmost courtesy, and absolutely must not harm them. The safety of our hostages in Beijing all depends on them!"

Sonin was the Grand Secretary Dorgon had sent to Qinghai and Tibet — the one who had nearly been frightened to death last time by Wu Sangui's personal guards wearing the wrong clothes.

And Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso was a great deity Sonin had invited from Tibet: the great living Buddha of the Yellow Hat Gelug school, the Fifth Great Lama.

Dorgon had invited Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso to Beijing as part of a grand scheme — the Great Lama was the leader of the Yellow Hat sect, with enormous influence among both the Oirat Mongols and the Khalkha Mongols, and a vast number of followers. If Dorgon could win his support, he could become the Imperial Ama of the great steppe! Now that the Qing state was not developing smoothly in the Central Plains, it had no choice but to place greater importance on Mongolia and its old northeastern homeland. So by seizing the Great Lama, Dorgon would be forced to exchange him for the hostages Wu Sangui had placed in Beijing.

(End of Chapter)