Chapter 617: The Tomb-Robbing Imperial Father

Dorgon led his troops out of Yuancheng County, the seat of Daming Prefecture, on the morning of the seventeenth day of the eleventh month of the fourth year of Shunzhi of the Great Qing. He then crossed the already-frozen Wei River, passed south through Nanle, Qingfeng, and Kaizhou (all under Daming Prefecture) under Qing rule, and then advanced northeast along the frozen Guangji Canal, crossed through Puzhou, which belonged to the Eastern Depot Prefecture, entered Yuncheng County in Yanzhou Prefecture, and from the Liangshanji area of Yuncheng broke through the Ming army's canal blockade line and burst into the Ming army's rear!

Before Dorgon's army of tens of thousands, the Ming army's canal defense line was as good as nonexistent!

The so-called canal blockade line was indeed not easy to break through when the canal was not frozen — crossing the river took some time, and the Ming army had built a simple bastion fort every twenty-some li along the canal, each garrisoned with a few hundred men (all under Huang Degong's command). Although they could not stop the Qing army from passing between two bastion forts, they could light beacon fires and send dispatch riders to report to the main force at Liaocheng. At the same time, they protected all the boats on the canal, making it difficult for the Qing army to cross, thereby achieving the goal of delaying the Qing army.

But once the canal froze over, the blockade line became as good as nonexistent.

The two bastion forts were more than twenty li apart, and when visibility was poor they could not even see each other! Moreover, the power and range of artillery in this era were limited, so for Qing troops passing between two bastion forts, the Ming soldiers holding the forts could only watch them swagger through.

Furthermore, most of the prefectures and counties west of the canal blockade line were under Qing control. The Great Qing's land enclosure and allotment by headcount had not been done for nothing! The foundation of Ming rule in this region — the gentry landlords — had been entirely eliminated!

Whether it was the shaven-headed, braided Green Standard soldiers, or the peasants who were not qualified to shave their heads, all now stood on the side of the Great Qing.

So it was very difficult for the Ming to restore its rule west of the canal. Even if they occupied some cities, they could not reach down to the grassroots level. Moreover, the Qing cavalry's superiority was too great; ranging freely across the plain on the west bank of the canal, the Ming army's night scouts had almost no room to operate, and thus had no way of grasping the movements of Dorgon's great army.

It was not until the Qing army of tens of thousands grandly arrived at the Liangshanji area that it was discovered by the Ming army forts along the nearby canal. By the time they hurriedly lit beacon fires and sent dispatch riders to raise the alarm at Liaocheng, the Qing army had already swaggered through between the two forts, headed east, and vanished into the vast wilderness.

Inside the headquarters of the Supreme Commander of the Seven Provinces at Liaocheng (which outwardly still flew the banner of the imperial temporary residence), the atmosphere at this moment was one of noisy clamor. The various high officials gathered there no longer had the high spirits they had shown when they had recently recaptured Liaocheng; all of them wore grim faces as they assembled in the main hall for a council of war.

"This force of eastern barbarians is numerous, at least thirty or forty thousand strong! Our main troops are all away from home. East of the Taiyi Mountains, where can they not go?"

"Judging by the direction of the eastern barbarians' march, they should be heading for Qufu! Right now, east of the Taiyi Mountains, only Qufu has abundant stores within its walls!"

"And there are treasures under the ground at Qufu too!"

"Under the ground at Qufu? The Kong Forest? The eastern barbarians still haven't forgotten that matter?"

"Not necessarily the Kong Forest — what treasures could the Kong Forest have? But the Duke of Yansheng has been passed down for more than sixty generations by now! A great aristocratic clan of over a thousand years — how many treasures are buried beneath the ground?"

"Indeed. There must be at least ten million taels, right?"

Somehow, the topic of the council of war quickly veered off onto tomb robbing! The "false propaganda" launched by the Zhu Emperor really was a pitfall! Wave after wave of public opinion campaigns had brainwashed great Confucian scholars like Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, and Zuo Maodi!

Now they all believed that Dorgon's family were part-time tomb robbers!

Since they were going to rob tombs, of course they would look for a place with a lot of big tombs to rob.

And in Shandong, Qufu was the place with the most big tombs. Never mind the Kong Forest — when Confucius died, his family was not yet wealthy, so not many good things would have been buried with him.

But his descendants had done very well for themselves. A great aristocratic clan of over a thousand years — how many ancestors had been given grand burials? And they had been buried, but never dug up!

Every dynasty had honored Confucius. State-run tomb robbers gave their family face and would not dig up their graves. Private tomb robbers did not dare to dig them up either.

So the treasures under the ground at Qufu were probably more numerous than those at Tianshou Mountain (the Ming imperial tombs)!

Now the eastern barbarians and the scholars were not of the same path at all. They had already done things like land enclosure and allotment by headcount, which were as bad as "killing a man's parents." What would digging up the graves of the Kong family of Qufu count for?

"Supreme Commander Shi, how are Qufu's city defenses? Can it hold?"

Gao Hongtu asked about the defensive arrangements at Qufu. Shi Kefa showed a trace of worry. This time he had pulled out the main force of the Qufu trained troops... but what worried him even more was Kong Yinzhi, who had remained in Qufu.

As long as this Duke of Yansheng did not flee, with Qufu's strong walls, even if Dorgon had tens of thousands of elite Eight Banners troops, he would not dare to assault it directly.

For the sake of those treasures under Qufu, sacrificing ten or twenty thousand veteran Eight Banners troops would not be worth it.

"We must follow the eastern barbarians' army!" Shi Kefa stroked his beard. "But not too closely — trail them from a distance, advance steadily and surely. Commander Huang, what do you think?"

Huang Degong frowned deeply. He knew that the "cart troops" of Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, and Zhu Yihai's factions had very poor mobility, and might not be able to withstand concentrated artillery fire.

"We must concentrate the troops from all the forts along the canal," Huang Degong said. "Best of all would be to join forces with His Majesty."

"How long would that take?" Shi Kefa shook his head repeatedly. "I fear Qufu would be lost by then!"

He was afraid that Kong Yinzhi would flee from Qufu. Once Kong Yinzhi fled, there would be no one left to defend Qufu. If such a fortress, built at the cost of countless manpower and resources, fell entirely into Qing hands, then the Shandong campaign would be lost.

Qufu was not too far from the Grand Canal. If Dorgon placed a few thousand veteran Eight Banners troops inside Qufu, canal traffic would be very difficult to maintain. Without the support of the canal supply line, the Ming army could not possibly keep a large force along the canal in the Eastern Depot and Yanzhou Prefectures, let alone continue the northern expedition.

Moreover, this fortress at Qufu, which Shi Kefa himself had overseen the construction of, would in the future become an insurmountable obstacle on the Ming's road north.

Huang Degong pondered for a moment. "Then concentrate as much as possible. Give this humble official two days, and this humble official will try to assemble ten battalions."

Shi Kefa glanced at Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, and Li Shiyuan, who represented Zhu Yihai. "Our three factions will contribute another twelve cart battalions, two infantry battalions, two cavalry battalions, and one artillery battalion. How about that?"

The four garrisons of Shandong were mainly cart battalions, but they were not without infantry battalions, cavalry battalions, and artillery battalions. Li Chengdong, the Military Governor of Tai'an Army attached to Gao Hongtu, had brought two infantry battalions and two cavalry battalions this time, a total of two thousand elite troops.

In addition, under Shi Kefa's Qufu militia banner there was also a field-mobile artillery battalion, equipped with some three-pounder battalion guns and one-jin great general cannons, and the artillerymen had all been trained in Nanjing.

Gao Hongtu counted on his fingers. "About forty-five thousand men, plus more than fifty three-pounder guns and one-jin cannons. Can we fight the eastern barbarians with that?"

Huang Degong shook his head. "Still a bit short, but it doesn't matter. We can ask His Majesty to join forces with us. His Majesty has one division plus two cavalry regiments, and one guard battalion — more than twenty thousand men in total.

Besides, we can march out under His Majesty's banner. Dorgon will certainly not dare to seek a decisive battle."

Shi Kefa nodded. "Good, it's settled!"

Zhu Cilang had left his banner at Liaocheng in order to bluff Dorgon, but he had never imagined that Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, and these other "treacherous ministers and rebels" would take matters into their own hands, march out of Liaocheng under the Zhu Emperor's Son of Heaven banner, and drag their carts (side-shield carts), baggage, and artillery off in pursuit of Dorgon.

But how could they possibly catch up? They had set out from Liaocheng on the third day after Dorgon crossed the canal blockade line. For Dorgon's great army, which covered fifty or sixty li a day, three days meant they had already traveled more than one hundred fifty li.

And his target was not Qufu at all, but Li Chengdong's old base, Tai'an Prefecture!

(End of Chapter)