Chapter 648: Ceding Territory, Paying Reparations, and Marriage Alliance — Part 2

Dorgon's withdrawal from Qufu and his construction of palisade defenses along the Daqing River and the Grand Canal were, of course, a measure born of necessity, but at the same time they eliminated the risk of a decisive battle in Zhili.

Once the veteran Eight Banners troops returned, the Qing army's total strength in Northern Zhili could reach at least seventy to eighty thousand! And the ships that the Beiyang Governor-General's office could muster could at most put twenty thousand men ashore on the beaches near Dagukou — a numerical disadvantage of one against four. One certainly could not treat the newly raised hard-struggle New Army as if it were the Anglo-French allied forces, nor treat the Eight Banners soldiers who had only entered the pass a few years ago as the worthless rabble of the Xianfeng era.

So the plan to land at Dagukou and launch a decisive battle in Zhili could only be shelved.

However, the "Five-Route Northern Expedition" that Zhu Cilang had initiated was not over, because Zhu Cilang needed to return to court in triumph — the Five-Route Northern Expedition was the first major military operation he had launched since ascending the throne, and victory was essential!

And Emperor Zhu still held a trump card!

His trump card was the strategic initiative conferred by command of the sea in Bohai Bay!

The Ming army needed to march only seven hundred li from Jinan Prefecture to Penglai, the seat of Dengzhou Prefecture, and from there it could cross the sea to the southern Liaodong theater. The Qing army, by contrast, would need to move more than two thousand li from the Jinan front to southern Liaodong. With the military strength of the two sides basically at parity, the value of this trump card of Zhu Cilang's was enormous.

But the greatest value of this trump card lay not on the battlefield, but at the negotiating table.

Because Zhu Cilang knew that on the battlefield he could not defeat Dorgon — Dorgon could not even afford to win now. If victories like the Battle of Guishan were won eight or ten times over, the Eight Banners' sons would be nearly all dead, and then victory would march straight into extinction!

Under these circumstances, Dorgon and his Eight Banners troops were fighting with their backs to the river — if it truly came to blows, they would fight to the death!

Given Zhu Cilang's standard of generalship, if he ran into a Dorgon fighting with desperate abandon, how could he possibly win?

Although Zhu Cilang could afford to lose, losing too often would also cost him prestige. If his prestige fell too far, the demons and monsters in the south might well stir up trouble.

So the Hongxing Emperor's present wishful calculation was to "cash in" his strategic advantage, force Dorgon to concede defeat at the negotiating table, and allow himself to return to Nanjing in the posture of a victor, consolidate his power, and then launch a new round of reform and reorganization.

In another three to five years, not only would the Southern Ming's advantage be greater, but the hard-to-beat Dorgon and Dodo would likely have died of illness, and Ajige would have been done in by Shunzhi — wouldn't it be far easier to fight then?

Men like Oboi and Suksaha were simply not in the same class as the three brothers Dorgon, Dodo, and Ajige.

Ever since the solid ice on the sea off western Liaodong had broken up, the brothers Oboi and Murima had been driven to distraction by Ming troops who frequently entered the pass by sea, and they were helpless against the Ming troops who had built a fortress at Sheshanwu — Wu Guoyong and Liu Chongru, who directed military affairs in Liaodong, played the tactics of "when the enemy advances we retreat, when the enemy retreats we advance, when the enemy camps we harass" inside and outside Shanhai Pass, wearing Oboi down endlessly.

Moreover, Oboi found it very difficult to determine the number of Ming troops entering the pass — the Ming troops came by ship, and every time they made a great show of it, sailing out with several hundred vessels large and small to intimidate people. Oboi dared not be negligent, so he had no choice but to respond with all his strength while sending urgent appeals for help to Beijing.

Thus urgent military dispatches of "the Southern Ming has entered the pass again" and "the Southern Ming has withdrawn" arrived one after another in the hands of Dorgon, who was recuperating in Beijing.

And arriving in Beijing at the same time as Oboi's urgent military dispatches was Norbu, the brother of Sonam Choephel, the Gelug regent and Desi.

Norbu had been released by Wu Sangui and escorted by his men to the border of Datong Prefecture. He brought Dorgon the news that the Fifth Dalai Lama had been detained by Wu Sangui.

This truly was a case of rain leaking through the roof on a night of continuous rain. Dorgon was already racking his brains over the Khalkha Mongols!

The Khalkha Mongol troubles had begun in the third year of Shunzhi. Because the Dorgon brothers were at odds with Tengjisi and Tengjite, the leaders of the Sunid tribe of the Inner Mongolian steppe, they had been finding fault with the Sunid tribe ever since taking power.

This ended up angering Tengjisi and Tengjite. These two men were noble scions of the Golden Family, direct descendants of Emperor Zhaozong of the Yuan, and grandsons of Dayan Khan, who had dominated the Mongols for over a decade. They wielded great influence on the steppe.

Unable to endure Dorgon's bullying, Tengjisi and Tengjite led their tribe north in the third year of Shunzhi, leaving the Inner Mongolian steppe to seek refuge with the Setsen Khan of the Khalkha Mongols.

The Setsen Khan's tribe, disregarding its tributary relationship with the Qing, openly took in the Sunid tribe, striking a posture of refusing to submit to Qing jurisdiction.

So Dorgon had long intended to send troops to punish them, but the seesaw war with the Southern Ming had kept him from doing so until now.

But this matter could not be dragged on forever. The longer it was delayed, the more it made the Qing look weak. If the Khalkha Mongols all rose in revolt, wouldn't the Qing be attacked from both front and rear?

Therefore Dorgon planned, once the Fifth Dalai Lama arrived in Beijing, to immediately launch a punitive expedition against the Setsen Khan's tribe and the Sunid tribe — the Mongols on the steppe all believed in the Great Lama, so bringing the Great Lama along would give Dorgon a political advantage.

But unexpectedly, the Great Lama had been detained by Wu Sangui.

Now there were Ming troops entering the pass in western and eastern Liaodong, a Ming-Qing standoff in Shandong, Wu Sangui's defection in Shaanxi, the Khalkha Mongols still unsettled, and Dorgon himself had been ill ever since toppling the Kong family. However one looked at it, he seemed to be having a run of bad luck, as if struck by divine punishment! It seemed he still had to get the Fifth Dalai Lama back — even if not for the Khalkha Mongols, at least the lama could chant sutras and perform rites to dispel Dorgon's ill fortune.

That afternoon, after just finishing court, Dorgon was in no mood to return to the palace to see the old lady Bumbutai. Instead he went back to his own Chonghua Palace — formerly the Prince Regent's residence, which had been renamed Chonghua Palace after Dorgon became Imperial Ama.

Just as Dorgon and several trusted confidants were discussing in the study of Chonghua Palace how to ransom back the Fifth Dalai Lama, a subordinate suddenly came to report that Jin Zhijun had returned to Beijing and was outside the palace requesting an audience.

"Quick, bring him in at once!"

Dorgon immediately had Jin Zhijun brought in. Jin Zhijun looked travel-worn and dusty, clearly having hurried the whole way without stopping — perhaps he had not even gone home. What a fine slave he was!

"This slave Jin Zhijun respectfully inquires after Imperial Ama's sacred well-being!"

Upon seeing Dorgon, Jin Zhijun at once performed the grand obeisance, calling himself a slave.

He was now a slave of the Plain Green Banner, and before long he would be transferred to the Bordered Green Banner — his prospects were boundless!

"Rise. Give him a seat." Dorgon glanced at him and saw his face was full of delight, which at once set his mind at ease considerably. "Well? Has the peace negotiation made progress?"

"Congratulations, Imperial Ama. The peace talks are proceeding smoothly." Jin Zhijun said, "Zhu Cilang has agreed to conclude a five-year pact with our Great Qing — for five years, neither side shall attack the other."

"A five-year pact..." Dorgon was somewhat disappointed. If only it could have been fifteen or twenty years — that was the number of years needed to produce a true Manchu warrior of the veteran Eight Banners.

"Then when will they return Jinzhou Guard?" asked Dorgon's confidant Helohui.

"That... that... Zhu Cilang refuses to return Jinzhou Guard."

"Not return it?" The newly appointed Plain White Banner Bayara Banner-Commander Borhuit was furious. "Then what kind of peace is there to discuss?"

"Zhu Cilang says this peace agreement only covers five years. After the five years expire, he says we can go and take it ourselves."

"Bastard!" Ekeqin, who had just assumed the post of Plain White Banner Angbang Zhangjing — that is, the Regional Commander leading the Plain White Banner troops garrisoned outside — also raged. "Give him five years to fortify the place, and how are we supposed to take Jinzhou Guard?"

Dorgon, however, remained impassive, merely looking at Jin Zhijun. "What other conditions are there?"

Jin Zhijun said, "He also wants... he also wants us to give him one million shi of flour, as reparations."

"How is that possible?" Dorgon's face showed difficulty. "One million is no small sum."

"Imperial Ama, he is not asking for one million shi of flour for nothing," Jin Zhijun hastily explained. "He will give us silk and cotton cloth worth one million taels of silver as betrothal gifts for the Princess."

"So that is how it is." Dorgon frowned slightly. "Then did he mention the Fifth Dalai Lama?"

"No, he did not mention him. The Great Lama is not in Zhu Cilang's hands. But Sonin has been sent to Dengzhou and is being held together with Sun Zhixie and Kong Sixi."

(End of Chapter)