Chapter 602: Dorgon, What Are You Trying to Do?

Dorgon did not call Zhang Xianzhong's "Old Ten Thousand Years" a pile of dry bones without reason. The man was, after all, a major figure who had twice ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, and he still held Chang'an and Luoyang. A thousand years ago, with that much territory, he could have swept the world.

But times had changed. Chang'an and Luoyang were no longer so important. And Zhang Xianzhong himself was even less so. Ama Dorgon had already crossed swords with Old Ten Thousand Years Zhang several times, and every time had won a complete victory. Nikan, redeeming himself for past offenses, had led fewer than ten thousand elite troops of the Nine Banners and fought his way from Hulao Pass all the way to the walls of Luoyang.

If the Hongyi cannons had not failed to arrive, he would have taken Luoyang itself.

Incidentally, the ten thousand Nine Banners troops Nikan commanded were a new-style army in the Great Qing mold, made up of cavalry, mounted infantry riding horses and mules, and field artillery.

Their way of fighting was simple enough: the cannons bombarded, then the cavalry charged; the cavalry charged, then the cannons bombarded. The mounted infantry, usually Plain Green Banner troops, were responsible for protecting the cannons and holding the position, and at times they too could mount horses or mules and launch a charge.

Their cannons were not many. An army of ten thousand men was assigned only two Hongyi light-gun niru, twelve 3-pounder guns in all.

Yet with just this little artillery and this handful of infantry and cavalry, they had beaten the several tens of thousands of troops Zhang Xianzhong sent out until those troops lost all fight. Zhang Xianzhong's men had campaigned their way over from Huguang and Sichuan, and no longer had much in the way of cavalry or horse teams. In a charge against the Qing army's ten thousand cavalry and mounted infantry, how could they be a match? And if they formed up to defend, the twelve 3-pounders battered them until they were covered in dust and shame.

Twelve guns could not kill all that many men, of course, but how much punishment could Zhang Xianzhong's roving bandits take? They were shelled round after round with no way to strike back, and when they risked a sortie, the enemy cavalry cut them down. After a few rounds of that, they collapsed. And when the great army retreated, the Qing cavalry fell on them and slaughtered them in pursuit.

So after those battles, Dorgon had a clear measure of just what sort of figure Zhang Xianzhong was.

"Tell Nikan," Dorgon said to Fan Wencheng, "that he must leave Zhang Xianzhong, that pile of dry bones, alive."

"Leave Zhang Xianzhong alive?" Fan Wencheng was taken aback. "Imperial Ama, what use is there in keeping him?"

"There is use, of course," Dorgon said. "He has already been beaten into fear, so as long as we do not attack Luoyang, he will not dare make trouble for us. Keeping him serves, first, to block Wu Sangui. As long as Wu Sangui has not taken Xi'an Prefecture, he will not openly rebel.

Second, it gives the Hongxing Emperor and Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, and the rest something to keep hoping for. If we finished Zhang Xianzhong off in a stroke, they would turn cautious and wary. Then they would be harder to deal with."

Fan Wencheng at once put on an expression of boundless admiration and said with a smile, "Imperial Ama is truly brilliant. This slave is in awe."

"Your Majesty, this is a memorial from Regional Commander Shi."

The Hongxing Emperor Zhu Cilang's barge had just come alongside the canal wharf in Yangzhou when Huang Xiaobao brought him Shi Kefa's report.

Zhu Cilang took the memorial, opened it, glanced at it, and let out a soft "Hm."

Li Yan and Wu Guoyong, who were in the cabin discussing affairs with him, exchanged a look. Li Yan asked, "Your Majesty, what does Regional Commander Shi say?"

"The Plain Green Banner troops in Shandong have been called up in force."

Wu Guoyong's expression turned grim. "Dorgon means to strike first."

"No," Zhu Cilang said, shaking his head. "The Plain Green Banner troops are being shifted further west, while at the same time they are pulling back to a defensive posture on the Shandong front."

Li Yan said, "They must mean to deal with Zhang Xianzhong first."

"Is Zhang Xianzhong that formidable?" Zhu Cilang was not so sure. Historically, the man had died the moment the Tartars struck. But after Zhang Xianzhong's death, his four sworn sons had been truly formidable, especially Li Dingguo, who had held out against the Qing for many years and had even killed Prince Dingnan Kong Youde and Prince Jingjin Nikan.

Could Zhang Xianzhong already be dead?

Li Yan had no idea how much Zhu Cilang knew about Zhang Xianzhong. He said thoughtfully, "Zhang Xianzhong can fight well enough at times. His sworn sons all have some ability, and this time they have entered Luoyang, a dead end. Perhaps they have roused themselves to fight with desperate effort."

Or perhaps someone has killed him, Zhu Cilang thought. Li Zicheng was right now playing dead. Perhaps Zhang Xianzhong had learned from him.

Li Yan was still letting his imagination run. "If Zhang Xianzhong has roused himself, then we can accomplish something on the Shandong front. If we can open the canal transport line from Pei County to Dezhou, this northern expedition will be all but assured."

This was no longer the seventeenth or eighteenth year of Chongzhen. Zhu Cilang could now squeeze considerable resources out of the eight southeastern provinces to sustain the war in the north. Moreover, the arms trade with the Dutch and the Portuguese, and the growth of the four great armaments bases at Foshan, Anping, Shanghai, and Nanjing, had helped guarantee the "modernization" of the Ming army. Under these conditions, the balance of military strength between Ming and Qing had reversed, or at least shifted from Qing strong and Ming weak to something like parity.

So as long as the canal line through Shandong fell into his hands, Zhu Cilang was confident he could hold it.

And if he held the canal line, he could force the Qing army out of Shandong. On paper, Shandong's land registers showed more than sixty million mu, most of it in Yanzhou Prefecture, the Eastern Depot Prefecture, and the northern part of Jinan Prefecture. Once that territory returned to the Ming, the Great Qing would lose the land it used to settle its Plain Green Banner troops.

"Guoyong!" Zhu Cilang said to Wu Guoyong. "You are a man of Liao, and you are the Right Army Strategist. Liaodong and Liaoxi must be yours. We appoint you Regional Commander of the Liaodong Command, bearing the seal of Grand General Who Pacifies Liao, with overall command of military affairs in Liaodong, Liaoxi, the Northern Seas, and Joseon."

Wu Guoyong rose at once, then knelt and kowtowed. "Your subject Wu Guoyong respectfully receives the imperial decree."

"Rise," Zhu Cilang said, bidding Wu Guoyong to his feet, then gave further instructions. "Liaodong and Liaoxi are the lair of the eastern barbarians, so we must not rashly penetrate deep into their heartland. The proper course is first to secure a base and advance step by step. You may select one or two abandoned cities along the coast of Liaoxi or Liaodong to develop, or seize a large offshore island as a base."

Though the situation looked favorable, Zhu Cilang still put stability first. There were many forts along the Liaoxi corridor right on the shore. Taking one or two to draw the enemy's attention would be enough; there was no need to go deep, for that would be too risky.

In addition, on the territory of Fuzhou Guard on the Liaodong Peninsula there was a large island called Changsheng Island. It lay very close to the coast, and every winter, when the sea froze, it was joined to the Liaodong Peninsula. If they could seize it in the autumn and build a simple bastion fort on it, it would make a fine strongpoint.

Within Yanzhou Prefecture, along the banks of the Si River, a large column of war wagons was moving westward at an unhurried pace.

In Shandong at this time, the autumn wind had just begun to rise, and the harvest season was near. But in Ziyang and Qufu counties in Yanzhou Prefecture, which had been a tug-of-war zone between the Ming and Qing armies for the past two or three years, agriculture had long since been ruined beyond recognition.

On both banks of the Si, there were fire-ravaged, broken villages everywhere. The fields lay so desolate that no trace of their former cultivation remained, and golden-yellow thatch grass grew nearly to a grown man's chest. The peasants who had once worked the fields were long gone, either to the southeast or to Qufu or into the nearby mountains. Of those who had gone to the mountains, the able-bodied men had mostly been enrolled by Shi Kefa and Kong Yinzhi into the Qufu trained army, and some of them were now in this eastward-moving wagon army.

This wagon force had two battalions. The organization of a wagon battalion was entirely different from that of a Kenan New Army infantry battalion. Each had a total strength of around three thousand one or two hundred men, more than a New Army regiment. Their tactics somewhat resembled the Hussite wagon forts of European history, but their firepower was far greater.

One after another, the side-shielded wagons linked end to end, pulled by horses and pushed by men, moving slowly forward while screening the arquebusiers and pikemen marching in formation. A small number of cavalry roamed near the main body, keeping constant watch and guard so that no large Qing force could approach.

But the cavalry on watch had found nothing the whole way. It seemed that around the county seat of Ziyang, the chief county of Yanzhou, no Qing troops had been active for some time.

Shi Kefa's adopted son Shi Dewei and his brother Shi Kecheng were at that moment among the wagon troops. Both rode horses, side by side, moving slowly westward along the banks of the Si, now and then speaking in low voices.

The two of them had been ordered by Shi Kefa to probe forward toward the county seat of Ziyang. Over the past two or three years, Shi Kefa had attacked Ziyang several times, and each time had been defeated by the Qing army. This time he was trying once more, and at the same time testing the enemy's strength.

(End of Chapter)