Chapter 609: Objective: Shanhai Pass!

Hearing the question Wu Guoyong raised, the Ming officers present all felt as if a lifetime had passed. Had the balance of strength between Ming and Qing really shifted this fast?

Was the Great Ming truly that powerful now?

Before the eastern barbarians, had the Great Ming really stood up again?

Liu Chongru, who commanded the Northern Fleet, spoke first: "The fleet is ready. Ten centipede ships can be deployed at any time, and there are even more troop-transport sand ships — over a hundred can be mustered. The problem is that Shanhai Pass is hard to take. The pass is held by Oboi, who is famed as the foremost warrior of the Manchus, so he won't be easy to deal with."

Wu Guoyong could not help sighing with emotion: "Back in the day, during the Battle of Songjin, I actually ran into this Oboi! He was leading a vanguard of red-and-white armored troops from the Bordered Yellow Banner, and I was leading a cavalry unit to open the way ahead. We collided head-on, and I was defeated by him and fled all the way back to our main formation. Then the fellow dismounted and fought on foot, breaking through five of our infantry formations in a row. Truly a man of unstoppable valor!"

Shen Tingyang frowned: "These past two years the Northern Fleet has made many landings along the Liaodong and Liaoxi coasts, but whenever we actually ran into their Eight Banners crack troops, we never got the better of it."

Gao Jie laughed: "That was the past. Back then the soldiers had no pay in their pockets and no food in their bellies, the weapons in their hands were rotten, and they had no good armor to protect them — that's why the Tartars had their way. It's different now. Our men eat their fill, drink their fill, and are paid in full. Their weapons and armor are all of the finest quality, and they've got fearsome firearms besides. If we run into Oboi again, there's nothing to fear!"

Wu Guoyong looked at Shanhai Pass on the map. On the Liaoxi Corridor beyond the pass, many "abandoned cities" were marked, while within the pass, Yongping Prefecture was marked with many "banner estates."

He said thoughtfully: "Shanhai Pass is immensely strong; taking it by storm will indeed not be easy. The army's three-pounder guns can't batter Shanhai Pass, and while the fleet's twelve-pounders might be able to smash the walls at Laolongtou, it wouldn't mean much. So all we can do is make a show of force and see whether we can draw Dorgon's main army toward the Shanhai Pass area."

Drawing the Qing main force to the rescue by feinting at or storming Shanhai Pass was the Marshal's Office's strategy, and of course it had to be carried out!

Since conditions for storming Shanhai Pass were not yet ripe, naturally the only option was to plan a feint. Wu Guoyong thought for a moment, then said: "There are many abandoned forts along the Liaoxi Corridor outside Shanhai Pass. Let's not take the big ones first — only the small ones, the ones close to the sea. On the Liaoxi side, the big forts all lean against the mountains; the ones by the sea are all small forts and stockades — post stations, harbor stations, that sort of thing." He glanced at Liu Chongru. "Commander Liu, you're the fleet commander. Pick a spot."

The Liaoxi Corridor had been a frontier defense line since the mid-Ming. Along the Liaoxi mountains, the Great Wall had been built, along with many forts and beacon towers. On the seaward side, however, the defenses were rather lax — basically no large forts or stockades.

Liu Chongru thought for a moment. "Then let's choose Sheshan Station under the Ningyuan Central-Left Guard."

Sheshan Station was a harbor station, located at the mouth of the Liuzhou River.

"Fine," Wu Guoyong nodded. "That place is good. Before the Liuzhou River freezes over, it still counts as defensible terrain. The only drawback is that it's a bit close to Shanhai Pass — it might not be easy to hold."

"That's easily solved!" Liu Chongru had a plan. "We can send elite small squads to land and raid Yongping Prefecture to draw the Tartars' attention. Along the Yongping coast there are several farmland estates belonging to the eastern barbarian Tartars — rich and fat. Oboi can't possibly ignore them! While he's looking west, we'll throw up a bastion fort at Sheshan Station."

Liu Xinyu cut in at this point: "We could also sacrifice one centipede ship and run it straight aground on the sandbar at the mouth of the Liuzhou River."

Wu Guoyong looked at Shen Tingyang, who nodded and said: "If it really comes to that, we can sacrifice one centipede ship. We can mount some great general cannons and 24-pounder mortars on the centipede ship's gunwales and deck, turning it into a gun battery."

"Good!" Wu Guoyong slapped the table in decision. "That's how we'll do it! When the northeast wind rises, we'll set sail eastward. Our objective — Shanhai Pass!"

"Third Brother, Third Brother, Sheshan Station is in urgent danger!"

Murima, the Meiren-i Janggin defending Shanhai Pass, knocked hurriedly on the door of his third brother Oboi's room. Hearing no movement, he knocked again, more urgently.

From within the bedchamber came Oboi's weary voice: "Small."

Murima was the sixth son of Weqi, the younger brother of Fiongdon, one of the Five Founding Ministers of the Later Jin, and the youngest son of the family — "Little Six" was his childhood name. He was closest to Oboi, and so he had always followed Oboi around to see the world.

And Oboi truly had ability. Needless to say, he was a first-rate fighter; in officialdom he likewise rose swiftly and smoothly. First he attached himself to Hooge, the late emperor's eldest son, and under Hooge's promotion became the Bayara Guard Commander of the Bordered Yellow Banner. After Hooge died in battle, he gained the favor of Oboi's mortal enemy Dorgon and became an Amban Janggin. For a time he was even assigned to garrison Tianjin, a place so rich it dripped with oil!

Murima naturally basked in the reflected glory too, becoming his brother's deputy — that is, the Meiren-i Janggin garrisoning Tianjin — and skimmed off no small amount of profit.

But before he and Oboi had enjoyed the good life for long, Dorgon packed them off to this godforsaken Shanhai Pass.

And the defenses around Shanhai Pass were so lax it made one anxious. The previous Regional Commander of Shanhai Pass was Bai Guang'en, who had surrendered from Li Zicheng's side during the Shanxi campaign. Apart from falling ill, he just idled his days away. He had never properly set up defenses inside or outside the pass.

So after Oboi took office, he toiled day and night without rest — reorganizing the troops, building beacon towers inside the pass, expanding the walls of Shanhai Pass, and at the same time repairing the Ironworks Fort, Weiyuan Fort, Shilipu Fort, the Guangning Central-Front Guard city, and Yong'an Fort outside the pass. He also had to allocate land outside the pass to the Plain Green Banner troops garrisoning the pass for military farming — these Plain Green Banner troops had all been allotted land in Henan. But there were many abandoned farmland estates outside Shanhai Pass, and temporarily distributing them could also boost morale.

Just when the defenses inside and outside Shanhai Pass were beginning to show a little improvement, and Oboi could catch his breath and rest a bit, the soldiers of half a Plain Green Banner niru stationed at Sheshan Station came fleeing back clutching their heads.

By the time Murima led a Plain Green Banner daidan janggin into Oboi's bedchamber, this foremost warrior of the Manchus was already sitting on the edge of the bed yawning. He had only returned from Yongping Prefecture the previous night — Yongping's defenses were also under his command, and that too was a headache!

Within Yongping Prefecture, the land was all Eight Banners estates, but there were hardly any Eight Banners troops there — not even many Plain Green Banner men. It was all booi bondservants and tenant farmers.

And they weren't any good as bondservants either. If they weren't cunning, greedy, treacherous slaves, they were vicious slaves who harbored hatred for the Great Qing — most of these booi were Han commoners from the Northern Metropolitan Region who had been forced into bondservice. Only a few of the bondservants in charge were old booi from beyond the pass, and they weren't good people either — it was just that there was no one else to use.

As for the tenant farmers, even less need be said.

"Reporting to the Amban Janggin, Sheshan Station cannot be held! A Southern Ming centipede gunboat charged straight into the Liuzhou River and ran aground on the mudflats right beside Sheshan Station harbor. The ship is loaded with many cannons, and it can fire explosive shells. It blasted Sheshan Station into a sea of fire!"

After hearing the daidan janggin's report, Oboi remained expressionless. He merely waved him away, leaving only his brother Murima.

"Third Brother, two niru of cavalry are already preparing. They can ride out at any time!"

There were two niru of cavalry at Shanhai Pass. One was a Bordered Yellow Banner niru with strong fighting power. The other was a Plain Green Banner niru led by Bai Liangzhu, the adopted son of Bai Guang'en, its old core being Bai Guang'en's household retainers.

The two niru together numbered some seven hundred forty or fifty cavalry — the most precious mobile force Oboi had at hand. But Oboi was not prepared to use them now.

"Ride out, my ass. Didn't you hear him say a Southern Ming gunboat has beached itself? We've only got this bit of cavalry. How dare we go fight a gunboat? We couldn't win even if we tried!"

"So we just watch them take Sheshan Station?" Murima was somewhat unwilling.

"It's fine!" Oboi waved a hand. "The weather will turn cold soon. Once the sea freezes over, Sheshan Station will be an isolated city."

Murima nodded. "Third Brother, when the time comes, we'll go clean up the Southern troops at Sheshan Station."

Before he had finished speaking, a report sounded from outside the door: "Reporting to the Amban Janggin, beacon smoke is rising thick from the Yongping direction!"

Oboi glanced at Murima and smiled bitterly: "The Ming raiders have entered the pass. Looks like we'll have to make the trip after all."

(End of Chapter)