Chapter 618: A Great Battle Approaches!

At Yanzhou Prefecture, in Ziyang County, the great camp of the Ming army stood beneath the banners of the Son of Heaven of the Great Ming.

"Zhongji, the north-south standoff is now a fact, and the two sides are evenly matched. For ten or twenty years, neither will be able to destroy the other. But the countless common people on both sides still have to live, don't they? Right now your people are running rampant in Liaodong and Liaoxi, and our Great Qing people are stirring up trouble in Shandong. Neither side is comfortable. Let's put it this way: the two armies haven't yet come to major blows, so if each side takes a step back, both can still climb down. Previously, Imperial Ama wanted to trade territory in Henan for territory in Shandong, and your Imperial Lord refused — fine. How about we simply restore the pre-war state of affairs, and draw a border between Yanzhou Prefecture and Jinan Prefecture? You then transfer the Prince of Dai from the Lüliang Mountains to Shaanxi, and we won't ask about Gansu and Shaanxi anymore. That should be workable, no?

As long as your Imperial Lord agrees, Imperial Ama will immediately send the gege south and hand her over to your Imperial Lord. That is handing over a hostage!"

The speaker was Zuo Maotai, cousin of Zuo Maodi, now serving the Great Qing as the Circuit Intendant of Guangda (in charge of military defense for Guangping and Daming prefectures in Northern Zhili). Earlier, when Dorgon had stopped at Daming, he had spotted him among the officials who came to receive him, and had simply taken him along. After capturing Tai'an Prefecture and discovering that "Zhu Cilang" was leading troops toward him, he had sent him to sue for peace.

That was right — Dorgon still wanted peace, and he did not dare lightly risk a decisive battle with Zhu Cilang.

So after scraping together some supplies in Tai'an Prefecture (his purpose in attacking Tai'an had been to seize supplies), he immediately abandoned the city and moved south, pressing toward Qufu. He did not dare besiege the Qufu bastion, however; instead he passed through Sishui County east of Qufu, circled south of Qufu County, and stormed Zou County, whose defenses were lax.

While resting and reorganizing in Zou County, Dorgon learned that the main force of "Zhu Cilang" was approaching Ziyang, so he immediately moved north into the half-abandoned Yishui camp, and at the same time sent Zuo Maotai to sue for peace — and lowered his demands.

He asked only for a restoration of the pre-war state of affairs, and offered to exchange Shaan-Gan (that is, Wu Sangui's territory) for Lüliang, while also promising that the moment a peace agreement was concluded, he would hand over the Dong'e gege.

But Zuo Maotai did not see Zhu Cilang in Ziyang; he saw only his own cousin, Zuo Maodi.

"Dalai, is Dorgon sincere about peace?" Zuo Maodi looked at his traitor cousin with a face full of suspicion.

Zuo Maotai gave a bitter smile. "How could he not be sincere? To tell you the truth, Imperial Ama never had much ambition to begin with. He only seized the chance of a lifetime to enter the pass and occupy Northern Zhili, Shanxi, and Henan. To put it bluntly, he's grabbing whatever he can, and if he can't grab it, so be it.

This incursion into Shandong was a matter of necessity. And since entering Shandong, he hasn't dared seek a decisive battle; he's only skirmished and avoided battle. In truth, he is using war to seek peace."

Zuo Maodi let out a breath and said to his cousin, "Dalai, His Imperial Majesty is busy with military affairs and probably has no time to see you right away. Wait patiently for a few days."

Zuo Maotai nodded with a smile. "Fine, fine. I'll wait."

After sending his cousin off, Zuo Maodi did not go to see Zhu Cilang, because Zhu Cilang was not in Ziyang at all at that moment — he was far away at Crouching Tiger Mountain City in Jinan Prefecture.

Crouching Tiger Mountain City was in fact a huge mountain valley, located in the Taishan range south of the city of Jinan Prefecture.

As early as when Gao Hongtu took over as Governor of Shandong, he had treated this place as the future base for Shandong's resistance against the Qing. He had built fortifications at the mouth of the valley and on the northern slope of Crouching Tiger Mountain, and had also developed the surrounding valleys and slopes, planting large quantities of sweet potatoes — for the past two years, the poverty-stricken Shandong militia army had lived on sweet potatoes for at least five months out of every year.

After the city of Jinan Prefecture came under threat from the cavalry of the Qing army under Bolo, the commoners and officials in the city all poured into Crouching Tiger Valley to take refuge, leaving only an empty city for Bolo.

But Bolo did not dare enter the city, because the Central Division of the Model Army — originally stationed at Dengzhou and preparing to cross the sea next spring for a distant expedition against Dagukou — had advanced to Boxing County in Qingzhou Prefecture, and had also sent its cavalry battalion forward to the banks of the Daqing River.

Bolo, discovering this "large force" of Ming cavalry, withdrew to Jiyang County on the north bank of the Daqing River and continued to face off against the Ming army. Then the Central Division of the Model Army, under Division Commander Wang Zhou and Staff Officer Tian Yiqing, cautiously marched into the ruined city of Jinan Prefecture.

So when Shi Kecheng arrived at Crouching Tiger Mountain with Dorgon's latest peace terms, Zhu Cilang already had two divisions' worth of troops at his disposal.

Moreover, after some ten days of probing, they had roughly determined that the Qing troops north of the Daqing River were not the main force.

"Dorgon is playing tricks!"

Zhu Cilang, who was never one to trust others lightly, would never believe that Dorgon was sincere about peace.

This was Dorgon, the Imperial Ama of the Great Qing! If Dorgon could be relied upon, a sow could climb a tree!

Besides, the current situation basically still matched the Marshal's Office's original calculation — draw the Qing main force to Shandong, Liaodong, and Liaoxi, so that next spring they could attack Tianjin by sea!

Although the three divisions originally intended for the Tianjin operation had now all been committed to the Shandong and Huaibei fronts, the forces of Wu Guoyong and Gao Jie committed to Liaodong and Liaoxi had not encountered any strong enemy.

So Zhu Cilang was calculating on launching the Dagukou landing operation after the start of next spring, and naturally he was unwilling to cease hostilities and negotiate peace now.

After hearing Shi Kecheng's report, Zhu Cilang asked Yan Yingyuan, who was temporarily acting as military adviser, "Liheng, is there any news from the military adviser?"

"Your Majesty, this morning we received a report from the military adviser sent from Pizhou. The eastern barbarian cavalry that broke through to Suining on the southern front, upon discovering the Left Division and the Forward Division closing in on them, retreated through Hong County and Lingbi toward Mengcheng. It seems this eastern barbarian force is not the main force either."

"There's no mistake — Dorgon's main force is at the Yishui camp." Shi Kecheng said, "It's wedged right between Ziyang and Qufu."

"Is Qufu all right?" Zhu Cilang asked. "Can the army at Ziyang enter the city of Qufu?"

"My brother is somewhat worried," Shi Kecheng said. "There is no large force inside Qufu, but the city's defenses are very strong and can withstand an assault by the eastern barbarians. However..."

"Kong Yinzhi might run?" Zhu Cilang asked.

Shi Kecheng nodded.

If he runs, that would be for the best... Zhu Cilang thought to himself: Dorgon entering Qufu is not a problem, and even less of a problem is him digging up graves and robbing tombs in Qufu.

With that thought, Zhu Cilang rose and walked to a long table spread with maps. Shi Kecheng and Yan Yingyuan immediately gathered around.

The map showed the terrain of Shandong and the strategic situation of both sides. Zhu Cilang raised his hand and pointed to a winding river at the southern foothills of Yunmeng Mountain (part of the Taiyi range).

"This is the Dawen River. North of the river are Dongping County and Yunmeng Mountain. As long as the Shandong forces withdraw to the Dawen River line, they will be safe." Zhu Cilang said, "We will also lead troops south to join forces with Supreme Commander Shi and the others."

Shi Kecheng was taken aback. "Your Imperial Majesty, are we giving up on Qufu?"

Zhu Cilang said with a smile, "Just agree to Dorgon's terms, won't that do? As long as the troops at Ziyang can join Us at the banks of the Dawen River... Dorgon's scheme to rob the Kong family cemetery at Qufu will not succeed. With our seventy or eighty thousand troops glaring down at him, would Dorgon still dare attack Qufu?"

"Imperial Ama, good news, good news! The Son of Heaven of the Great Ming has agreed to our terms!"

Inside the Yishui camp, Zuo Maotai, just returned, had not even entered Dorgon's great tent before he began loudly announcing the good news to the Imperial Ama of the Great Qing within.

Inside that bright yellow tent, a council of war was being held at that moment, because just as Zuo Maotai was leaving Ziyang County, the Ming army inside Ziyang had broken camp and marched north.

Their movements, of course, could not escape the red-armored and white-armored soldiers of Suksaha. So Dorgon was at that moment gathering his generals to discuss the matter.

Hearing Zuo Maotai's voice, the generals in the great tent all breathed a sigh of relief and were about to congratulate the Imperial Ama, when they saw Dorgon's sallow face clouded with gloom.

"Imperial Ama," Fan Wencheng asked with a smile, "do you want to raise the stakes a bit?"

Dorgon snorted. "Raise what stakes? The conditions we proposed — they didn't agree to them!" He gritted his teeth. "That boy Zhu Cilang will never give up his desire to destroy our Great Qing!"

Fan Wencheng was stunned. "Imperial Ama, you misheard. Zuo Maotai said the Ming emperor agreed..."

Dorgon glared at Fan Wencheng. "Do you think We have gone senile? Our ears are not deaf! But... if Zhu Cilang agreed to our terms, why is he still moving his camp north? Why doesn't he enter Qufu? If he fears an ambush from us, he could also ask us to move our camp! Why is he leaving?

Don't you think this is strange? There must be some trick in this!"

"A trick? Imperial Ama, then why do you say the Zhu emperor is moving his camp north?"

Dorgon laughed coldly. "Need you ask? He wants to join forces with the Ming army at Jinan Prefecture — there are at least two divisions there!"

(End of Chapter)