Chapter 66: Remember It All—I Am Wu Sangui (Please Favorite, Please Recommend)

"What? Zhu Youjian has that kind of nerve? He went up onto the wall himself to fight me? You're not mistaken, are you?"

Li Zicheng wiped his mouth. When the cannon fire had started, he had been eating with several of his subordinates, and now he had lost all appetite for feasting.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, this general saw a field of yellow dragon banners atop the Zhengyang Gate arrow tower, and many people shouting 'Long live His Majesty.' It must be the Zhu emperor himself who has come."

"Then there's no mistake. Dismissed." Li Zicheng waved his hand and sent the reporting junior officer away. Lowering his head, he saw a piece of donkey-meat sandwich lying on the ground. It had slipped from his hand when the cannon fire startled him. Such a tasty thing, fallen to the ground like that—and he couldn't pick it up and eat it now. He was an emperor now; he couldn't pick food up off the ground. What a pity...

With a sigh, Li Zicheng glanced at Du Zhizhi, who was eating with him and looked just as astonished, and asked, "Old Du, what do you say?"

Say what? Du Zhizhi thought to himself: Has the emperor inside the Forbidden City been replaced? How did his methods suddenly get so much better? First he borrowed the caitiffs' troops and even promised a marriage alliance. Now he's gone up onto the wall in person to oversee the battle... And right, this emperor somehow got his hands on silver too, and is even recruiting men to defend the city at one tael a day!

If this keeps up, can Li Zicheng still change the dynasty? I'd better not have backed the wrong master...

"Your Majesty," Du Zhizhi said with a frown, "there should be no mistake... The bandit Zhu emperor is a stern man; he wouldn't play tricks with something like this."

"Your Majesty, never mind whether that fatuous Zhu emperor goes up on the wall or not—within a few days, Beijing will be in Your Majesty's grasp!" Song Xiance's voice rang out.

The grand strategist struck a pose, made a show of calculating on his fingers, and then smiled and cupped his hands: "This subject congratulates Your Majesty. The fatuous Zhu emperor will be captured by Your Majesty!"

"Oh? You're certain he can be captured?" Li Zicheng asked.

Song Xiance said with great certainty, "Alive, you'll see the man; dead, you'll see the corpse!"

Li Zicheng finally broke into a broad smile and laughed: "The strategist has never once miscalculated. I can set my mind at ease now! Tomorrow I'll oversee the army and attack the city, and take the Zhu bandit alive... But tonight, let's move somewhere else first. Grand Strategist, calculate again—where else around here would be suitable for me to stay?"

Boom—boom—

Just as Li Zicheng was asking, another round of shelling came over. The shells fell inside the Temple of Heaven and the Altar of Mountains and Rivers, and one seemed to hit a temporary horse stable, for the neighing of warhorses rose immediately after.

It looked like the Temple of Heaven was no longer habitable. He would have to find somewhere safer.

...

While Li Zicheng was busy moving, Zhu Cilang had already led over a thousand officials and their families who followed him along Chang'an Avenue, Chongwenli Street, and Chaoyangmen Avenue, and arrived at the barbican of Chaoyang Gate.

The outer gate of the barbican had already been quietly opened by this time.

Near the gate, nearly one thousand armored cavalrymen had already mounted their warhorses. Wu Sanfu, also mounted on a tall chestnut horse, faced this "ironclad cavalry" square and was shouting instructions at the top of his lungs.

"All of you remember this: once we're out of the city, none of you are to say you're Han Generals or Eastern Palace guards or anything like that. You are all Guan-Ning Iron Cavalry! Household retainers of Regional Commander Wu of Ningyuan! And I am your Regional Commander Wu, Pingxi Earl Wu Sangui! Have you got that?"

"Got it!"

"Who are you?"

"We are the Guan-Ning Iron Cavalry! Household retainers of Regional Commander of Ningyuan, Pingxi Earl Wu Sangui..."

"Good! Just remember that... Don't be afraid. Every one of you is big and tall, and you've got damn fine iron armor too. You look sharp, your ranks are neat—on the battlefield you'll look like first-rate elite troops! What's there to be afraid of? If anyone should be afraid, it's the roving bandits' small mounted patrols!"

Zhu Cilang had also been drawn over by the rousing spectacle of these thousand-odd cavalrymen. Without going to look for his Imperial Father and Imperial Mother, he rode straight to the outer gate of the barbican.

Right—his Imperial Father and Imperial Mother were both here at the Chaoyang Gate barbican now!

The one overseeing the battle at Zhengyang Gate was a fake Chongzhen, played by the loyal Ming subject Guang Shiheng, whose build resembled Chongzhen's.

And the imperial carriage that arrived at Dongzhi Gate was, of course, completely empty.

The real Chongzhen, Empress Zhou, Empress Dowager Zhang, the two princesses, and Zhu Cilang's betrothed consort Lady Ning had all disguised themselves and quietly arrived at the Chaoyang Gate barbican in commoners' horse-drawn carts.

Besides Chongzhen, Empress Zhou, and the others, the foremost leaders of Beijing's noble houses, the able-bodied young men of the noble families, and a great number of important mid- and high-ranking civil officials had all reached Chaoyang Gate. In addition, several hundred carts and mule carts loaded with gold and silver, and several hundred camels laden with gold and silver, had also arrived at Chaoyang Gate.

One could say that the true essence of Beijing was now concentrated at the Chaoyang Gate barbican and the nearby Chaoyangmen Avenue.

As long as this essence could be brought to Tongzhou, then the capital in Zhu Cilang's hands would be no small sum!

"Is that Thousand Years?"

A clear female voice suddenly came—it was Wu Sanmei's voice. These past two days she had been moving together with Huang Dabao, in effect keeping an eye on Huang Dabao, the money-managing head eunuch, on Zhu Cilang's behalf—gold and silver worth more than five million taels was now under the management of Huang Dabao, Soy Sauce Huang, and Su Laomi! There was no way Zhu Cilang could rest easy, but he had no one else to use.

So the future Empress Wu Sanmei was put to great use. With a few old matrons and palace maids from the Eastern Palace, she kept watch over those chests of gold, silver, and treasure. Only when they had all been transported to the Chaoyang Gate barbican was the task complete—every entrance and exit of the barbican had been sealed off. Without Wu Sanfu's order, people like Huang Dabao, Soy Sauce Huang, and Su Laomi could not leave at all, let alone the carters, grooms, and laborers they had hired. So Wu Sanmei had some free time and wandered around looking for Zhu Cilang. And she actually found him!

"Sanmei?" Zhu Cilang was happy to see the young woman and asked with a smile, "What's your third brother doing?"

"Him? He's pretending to be my second brother."

Pretending to be Wu Sangui? Trying to scare Li Zicheng? Zhu Cilang nodded. Not a bad idea.

So he rode along, talking with Wu Sanmei, until they came before Wu Sanfu.

Wu Sanfu also saw Zhu Cilang coming with his sister. Watching his simple-minded little sister's closeness with the Crown Prince, Wu Sanfu was inwardly overjoyed.

If his sister became Empress, then he could at least get himself a marquisate!

A share of the rich lands of Jiangnan would be his!

"Thousand Years!" Wu Sanfu did not dismount to greet him, but cupped his hands from horseback. "This subject is about to lead troops out and cannot perform the full ceremony. Please forgive me."

Zhu Cilang waved his hand. "We're all family—what need for full ceremony? So you're heading out? Are you confident?"

"Of course I'm confident!" Wu Sanfu said. "Sun Fugui, Wang Guoyong, and Whiskers Wang have already led cavalry out... They should be able to drive off the roving bandits' mounted patrols near Chaoyang Gate. This subject will then lead these ironclad riders out and first move stealthily to the vicinity of Tongzhou. When the bandits' pursuers come, I will lead the ironclad cavalry in a charge, posing as my second brother's men, and scare the bandits off. That way Thousand Years can reach Tongzhou safely."

So Wu Sanfu really did know how to fight! And he even knew how to use a bit of stratagem. Yesterday, seeing that bunch of big, burly Han Generals, he had come up with this plan of impersonating Wu Sangui to scare people.

Over a thousand big fellows, all with iron armor, all able to ride, and all able to form strict ranks! They could perfectly pass as household retainers of the Guan-Ning Iron Cavalry!

In fact, the Wu family's own retainers didn't even look as sharp as these men! The Han Generals were big fellows handpicked from all over Northern Zhili, specially drilled in formation, and the armor on their bodies was fine stuff—clearly forged at great cost in the days when the Great Ming was flush with money.

Put them on a battlefield, and as long as they didn't run into real Manchus or the elite core troops of the roving bandits, ordinary enemies would be scared off at the sight of them—a thousand big ironclad cavalrymen! And so orderly! If they were really as formidable as they looked, they'd smash through tens of thousands of infantry!

Zhu Cilang clapped his hands and laughed: "Sanfu, you're a real military talent! An excellent plan, excellent! Those Han Generals do look imposing—they'll certainly scare the roving bandits off."

Wu Sanfu cupped his hands. "Thousand Years, this subject will take the men out now... You should also hurry and leave the city while it's still dark."

(End of Chapter)