Chapter 628: Let's Go Tomb-Raiding

When Dorgon heard the news that the Duke of Yansheng had fled, tears nearly came to his eyes — at last he could see hope of getting out of this trap!

In battle he was formidable, but when it came to setting traps and ruining people, Zhu Cilang was absolutely the more formidable one!

Right now he was pinned down by Zhu Cilang in Shandong, pinned down at the Kong Family Cemetery in Qufu, and in theory there was no hope of escape at all. Even if he could defeat Zhu Cilang on the battlefield a few times, he still could not break free — he could only cut his losses and get out.

And not just cutting ten or twenty percent. At the very least he would have to cut away the territory in Shandong and Henan, along with Wu Sangui, all at once. And Zhu Cilang would not give up the Lüliang Mountains, would not give up Lüshunkou, and would not hesitate to take Princess Dongguo as a little bonus.

If the cut went that deep, the Great Qing and the Great Ming could live in peace thereafter, and Dorgon would grit his teeth and agree to it. Such a situation would still be far better than the Liao state in the old Song-Liao standoff, would it not?

Moreover, the Northern Metropolitan Region and more than half of Shanxi would still be preserved!

In addition, Dorgon could also move part of the population of Henan and Shandong beyond the passes. That way the Great Qing would have at least ten million people, and for a country like the Great Qing, with few people and much land, population was productivity, population was wealth.

But Dorgon also knew that after Zhu Cilang got the advantage, he would not stay quiet for many years. Once he had digested the territory of Shandong and Henan, he would very soon launch a third northern expedition — and then Dorgon would be the last Imperial Ama!

Yet Kong Yinzhi's flight from the city had shown Dorgon hope of breaking free!

It was not certain that he could really break free, but hope now existed.

Suksaha and Fan Wencheng could not suppress their excitement either. They too knew the importance of Qufu — Qufu was the mighty fortress that the Great Qing had fought three years to take and still had not taken!

Once Qufu fell, the Great Qing would control more than half of Yanzhou Prefecture, and could also cut the overland communication line between the Ming southeast and Shandong.

The Qing position in Shandong would then improve dramatically!

After leaving part of the force to hold the great bastion of Qufu, the Qing army could temporarily withdraw from the east bank of the canal and shift its forces to Henan Prefecture, seeking to crush Zhang Xianzhong, and then push the front line back to the Guanzhong region.

In this way the Great Qing could overawe Wu Sangui from the east, and that despicable wretch Wu Sangui would not dare rebel.

Of course, all of the above was the grand strategic picture. For the soldiers of the Great Qing's Nine Banners who had followed Dorgon into Shandong, the treasures inside Qufu and beneath its ground were what they most wanted.

The "Kong Family Cemetery tomb-raiding" theme that Zhu Cilang had hyped up was a self-fulfilling theme!

For this affair had not only fooled the scholar-officials of the Ming southeast, it had also made many Qing officers and soldiers believe there was treasure beneath Qufu. Since there was treasure, what harm was there in digging a little out and sharing it among everyone?

The men had been on campaign with Dorgon for quite some time now, and the end of the war was nowhere in sight. Worse still, this campaign against the Ming army had basically brought losses with nothing to make up for them.

What was lost was not only lives, but incalculable wealth!

The Qing army now operated on a land-based military service system — that is, it relied on the income from granted farmland to support the expenses of military service. The old Eight Banners had booi and tenant farmers; they did not till the land themselves, so they could go on long campaigns.

But the Plain Green Banner had no booi and few tenant farmers, so they could only be half soldier, half farmer. Once a war dragged on endlessly and there was no plunder to be seized, these half-soldier, half-farmer "landed troops" would certainly go bankrupt.

One reason the historical fubing system could not be sustained lay precisely in this.

Moreover, what the Plain Green Banner soldiers of the Qing army lost in this war was not only time away from farming — the fields and estates of many Plain Green Banner soldiers had been burned to the ground by the Ming army!

If they were not allowed to recoup their losses by tomb-raiding, then by this time next year, even if they were not beaten to death in battle, they would pretty much have died of poverty.

If the Plain Green Banner died of poverty, could the old Eight Banners still have a way out? With their small numbers, how many times could they beat Zhu Cilang?

Suksaha saw that Dorgon was so overcome with delight that he had forgotten to give orders, and hastily reminded him: "Imperial Ama, send troops at once to pursue! Do not let the Duke of Yansheng escape! He must be fleeing with gold, silver, and treasures!"

Fan Wencheng also hurried to offer a plan: "In that earlier battle we captured a good number of Southern Army armor and padded war coats. We can now find some men to disguise themselves as Southern Army troops and try to bluff their way into the city. Once the Duke of Yansheng has left, the people inside Qufu will surely be in turmoil, and if a company of Southern Army troops arrives, the men on the walls will very likely open the gates to welcome them!"

Zuo Maotai could only sigh.

What sort of business was this? He was a Shandong jinshi, and because of one moment of weakness — no, it should be two moments of weakness — he had first surrendered to Li Zicheng, then surrendered to the Great Qing, becoming a thrice-serving minister, and now he still had to go along and dig up Confucius's grave!

He thought for a moment, then steeled himself and said to Dorgon: "Imperial Ama, as this slave knows it, there is nothing of great value beneath the Kong Family Cemetery."

Dorgon was a little surprised to hear this: "Zuo Maotai, how do you know there is no treasure in Confucius's tomb? Could it be that your family—"

His words were not finished; the remaining half-sentence was: Could it be that your Zuo family has dug up Confucius's grave before?

"No, no," Zuo Maotai could barely get the words out. "Imperial Ama, Confucius was a man of two thousand years ago. In those days the whole world was poor; there was nothing good to be had. And Confucius never achieved his ambitions in life; he had little family wealth."

Watching Zuo Maotai stammer out his explanation, Dorgon smiled and waved his hand: "The Kong Family Cemetery, of course, cannot be dug up. We still honor Confucius!"

Confucius's grave would not be dug, but other people's graves could still be dug! The Kong family had so many members doing the work of officials, landlords, and the ruling class, and every one of them had been given a grand burial.

"Beat the drums, assemble the generals!" Dorgon said. "We march on Qufu!"

"Zha!" Suksaha answered loudly, and with great delight went off to have his men pass the word.

"Long live the Imperial Ama! Long live! Long live, long live, long live—"

Wave after wave of thunderous cheers spread through the freezing air, sweeping across the flatland north of the Dawen River and crashing against the slopes of Yunmeng Mountain and Mati Mountain, startling the Ming troops encamped there.

Zhu Cilang, who was inspecting the camp, was also startled. What was going on? Were the eastern barbarians really coming to fight to the death?

Strategically, Zhu Cilang could afford to lose, but tactically he dared not slacken in the slightest. After leading his troops up Yunmeng Mountain and Mati Mountain, he had ordered his two divisions to cut timber and build fortifications, preparing to fight a defensive battle relying on the terrain.

The fortifications had only just been finished — were the eastern barbarians already coming to attack?

Zhu Cilang and Yan Yingyuan, who served behind him as deputy military strategist (acting in place of Li Yan and Wu Guoyong), exchanged a glance, both finding it hard to believe.

Zhu Cilang reacted at once and strode toward the watchtower on the summit. Yan Yingyuan and the imperial bodyguards following Emperor Zhu also reacted, and together they followed His Majesty the Emperor toward the watchtower.

The group filed up to the foot of the watchtower. Many of Zhu Cilang's generals and staff officers also surged over, and upon seeing Zhu Cilang they knelt in salute. Zhu Cilang waved a hand and called out "Dispense with ceremony," then beckoned to Yan Yingyuan and the two division commanders, Hao Yaoqi and Wang Zhou, and the four of them climbed together up to the high platform of the watchtower.

On the high platform, Zhu Cilang took the telescope Yan Yingyuan handed him and gazed southward. In his field of view, the Qing army's great camp, more than twenty li wide at the front, lay stretched out before him. The camp that should have been utterly quiet was now boiling over, as if it had exploded into chaos. Yet order within the seething Qing camp remained good: from afar one could see the Qing tents being struck one by one and loaded onto carts, while column after column of neatly arrayed cavalry was moving out in sequence, heading south. A scattering of roving patrols had also appeared on the white fields north of the Dawen River, spreading out into several lines of pickets.

"The Qing army is moving south?" Zhu Cilang was stunned for a moment, and then understood what had happened. "Qufu — damn it, that bastard Kong Yinzhi has abandoned the city and fled!"

"My Lord," Hao Yaoqi asked, "the Tartars' morale is very high. Could it be they are going to Qufu to dig up grave goods and strike it rich?"

This Hao Yaoqi was quite professional, even knowing the term "grave goods." Emperor Zhu thought to himself: He must have been a tomb robber before, surely?

Zhu Cilang sighed. "That must be it. Kong Yinzhi can only atone for his crime with death this time!"

(End of Chapter)