Chapter 764: The Enemy Sleeps at Your Pillow

"Empress Dowager, Your Majesty, we slaves have all been pleading with Imperial Ama to take care of his dragon body and stop going hunting with the princes of India and Mongolia."

"Empress Dowager, Your Majesty, Imperial Ama has had a fever for several days now. His health truly is failing. You two must still try to persuade him."

On the afternoon of the day before Prince Aurangzeb was due to arrive at the Mulan hunting grounds, inside the gold-topped great tent where the Shunzhi Great Khan resided, Dorgon's trusted men — Suksaha, commander of the Vanguard Battalion, and the Inner Minister Leng Sengji — were speaking with worried faces to Shunzhi and Bumbutai about Dorgon's health.

Hearing that Dorgon's body was failing, the Shunzhi Great Khan was instantly overcome with wild joy!

If Dorgon were to die right now, that would truly be a blessing from his own Ama (Hong Taiji)! If Dorgon had died last year, Dodo might well have become Shunzhi's new Ama!

Because at that time Dodo was in Shengjing, and there was reliable word that upon learning of Dorgon's grave illness, Dodo had begun assembling the elite troops of the nine banners outside the passes, and had also detained a batch of guns, cannons, and gunpowder that the Spanish had shipped to Haishenwai. This was plainly preparation to lead troops through the passes and become Shunzhi's new Ama!

This Dodo's constitution was far better than Dorgon's. If he became the new Ama, who knew when Shunzhi would ever get to rule in his own right?

And if Dodo became the new Ama, Shunzhi would then have three Amas.

But now Dodo was far away at Nurgan City. To hurry back to Beijing would take at least two or three months! And if one added the time needed to receive word and assemble troops, he probably could not reach Beijing in five or six months.

With five or six months gone, wouldn't the daylilies have long gone cold? He still wants to be Imperial Ama? Not having his head cut off would already be boundless imperial grace!

"Empress Dowager, Your Majesty, you two must restrain Imperial Ama somewhat! The Great Qing cannot go a single day without Imperial Ama."

Suksaha's tearful voice came through, cutting off Shunzhi's train of thought.

How furious the Shunzhi Emperor was in his heart! This Suksaha was truly guilty of the greatest evil!

"The Emperor and I both understand!" Bumbutai's words, spoken like an old matron, pierced Shunzhi's heart like steel needles. "Tonight I will have a good talk with him."

Talk at night? Shunzhi thought to himself: This means blowing pillow-talk wind! Dear Ama, open your eyes and look — my E-niang is about to run off with someone!

Bumbutai then continued: "Suksaha, you are Imperial Ama's trusted man and commander of the Vanguard Battalion. If I cannot persuade Imperial Ama, you must be extra vigilant. No matter what, you must not let any mishap befall Imperial Ama."

Suksaha immediately knelt and kowtowed: "Empress Dowager, rest assured, everything rests on this slave. If any mishap befalls Imperial Ama, this slave willingly accepts death!"

You deserve to die! Shunzhi thought. Your whole family deserves execution!

Bumbutai then said to the Inner Minister Leng Sengji: "Leng Sengji, go summon the head of the Imperial Medical Academy. I wish to question him thoroughly."

"Zha!" Leng Sengji received the edict, turned, and left the great tent.

Inside the great tent, only four people remained: Suksaha, Bumbutai, Shunzhi, and Wu Liangfu.

Bumbutai sighed and said: "Imperial Ama's health is likely not long for this world. What is to be done!"

Suksaha said: "Please rest assured, Empress Dowager."

Bumbutai nodded and waved her hand: "Go attend to your duties. Everything rests on you!"

"Zha."

Suksaha also left. Now Shunzhi finally did not have to hold it in any longer. In a low voice he said to his mother: "E-niang, Dorgon, he—"

"Hold your tongue!" Bumbutai cut him off at once. "Call him Imperial Ama!"

"He is not my Ama!" Shunzhi said huffily.

"He is!" Bumbutai's face was iron-blue. "You must treat him as your Ama! As long as he lives, you must treat him as your Ama!"

"E-niang—"

"Enough!" Bumbutai cut Shunzhi off again. "Emperor, go at once to Mengguqing and brush up on your Mongolian. You are a Mongol Great Khan, yet you cannot even speak Mongolian fluently. Does that look proper?"

Scolded by his mother, the young Shunzhi Emperor was on the verge of tears. Was it easy for him? Chinese, Manchu, French — that was already three languages, and now he even had to speak Mongolian fluently. If Oboi later pacified Japan and made him Tenno, would he have to learn Japanese too?

Though full of resentment, Shunzhi had no recourse. He held no power at all now, so he could only obey obediently.

So the Mongol Great Khan went off to cram Mongolian all night, while elsewhere, the Great Khan's father (Dorgon was a clever khan, wasn't he? And he had married a Mongol wife — how could he not speak Mongolian?), who spoke Mongolian very fluently, climbed into the bed of the Great Khan's Empress Dowager, Bumbutai.

The moment Dorgon lay down, Bumbutai reached out a large hand, felt his forehead, and said in a pleasantly surprised voice: "The fever has broken?"

"It has," Dorgon said with a laugh. "I drank a bowl of ginger soup, sweated all over, the fever went down, and I feel spirited again."

Dorgon's illness was, in truth, some sort of bacterial infection requiring antibacterial and anti-inflammatory treatment. If there had been penicillin, streptomycin, or the like, and so long as he was not allergic, a few injections might well have cured him on the spot.

But where were antibiotics to be found now? So the imperial physicians could only treat the symptoms, pouring bowl after bowl of ginger soup or other sweat-inducing Chinese medicines down his throat.

So long as they could bring his temperature down, he could get through tomorrow. And to ensure that Dorgon pulled through smoothly, the physicians had to prepare many sweat-inducing, fever-reducing decoctions in advance, constantly cooling Dorgon's body. Otherwise, if the fever spiked to thirty-nine or forty degrees, he would surely topple from the saddle.

And poisoning these decoctions was impossible, because someone would taste the medicine on Dorgon's behalf.

"That is wonderful," Bumbutai said with a smile. "Then tonight have the physicians prepare more sweat-inducing decoctions. Drink plenty, and tomorrow you will be greatly improved."

"Naturally." Dorgon smiled. "Tomorrow I must not lose face before the princes of India and Mongolia."

Prince Aurangzeb arrived at the Mulan hunting grounds on the morning of the eleventh day of the ninth month in the eighth year of Shunzhi of the Great Qing. To display the valor of the true Great Mongols to this "White Mongol" from India, the Mongol Great Khan Shunzhi and the Great Khan's father Dorgon would that day stage a grand army hunt — and it could not be staged after Prince Aurangzeb arrived; it had to be set up in advance, because only then could they fully display how diligent and hardworking the heavenly troops of the Qing Mongols were.

Thus what Prince Aurangzeb saw was a scene of a thousand horses and ten thousand men surging back and forth, driving and encircling prey (released from cages).

Or rather, it was a scene of nomadic cavalry and firearm troops fighting in coordinated battle!

Specifically, the nomadic cavalry were scattered on the outer perimeter to control the field; the officers and men of the firearm battalions formed battle lines to create a front; and the Vanguard Battalion's cavalry, split into dozens of hundred-rider squads on either side of the infantry formations, galloped back and forth under the central command, simulating charges, or dismounted and formed ranks, using volley fire to startle the prey.

There were also some armored heavy cavalry arrayed behind the firearm battalions, guarding the area around the central command of Dorgon and Shunzhi. These were all Dorgon's bayara personal guards, dressed in traditional Manchu mounted-armor fashion, wearing heavy armor, carrying bows and arrows, with long spears on their backs, following beside Dorgon and Shunzhi. Whenever they saw prey being driven toward them, they would sally forth, encircle the prey, and present it for Dorgon, Shunzhi, the visiting Prince Aurangzeb, and Prince Ying, Ajige, and the others to shoot down.

There were also twelve 3-pounder cannons arrayed on either side of the central command. Each time a round of killing was complete, they would fire a signal shot, prompting the nomadic cavalry roaming the outer perimeter to release more prey and drive it inward.

Seeing the seamless coordination among the nomadic cavalry, the Vanguard Battalion, the firearm battalions, and the "Great Khan's personal guards," Prince Aurangzeb had his eyes well and truly opened. Although the Great Mongol Nation's firearm battalions and heavy cavalry could only be called mediocre, the cannons' caliber was not large, and their numbers were few, their multi-arm coordination was superb — precisely what the Timurid Empire's armies in Hindustan lacked.

It seemed this journey north had not been in vain! So long as the Great Khan's empire was willing to send troops, the Uzbek Khanate would surely be thoroughly ravaged. Only — that Great Khan's father seemed somewhat off. Why was he swaying unsteadily on horseback? Could he have had too much to drink?

(End of Chapter)