Chapter 77: Cao on the Wall (Seeking Recommendations)

Cao Wenbao was originally Cao Huachun's nephew, adopted by Eunuch Cao. Born in the second year of Chongzhen, he was the same age as Zhu Cilang — both sixteen — and held a hereditary rank of Vice Chiliarch in the Embroidered Uniform Guard. But he had never seen a real battle, and now, watching a thousand armored cavalry ride toward them in formation, his young face turned pale with fright.

These were iron cavalry, every man helmeted and armored! And their ranks were strict and uniform — even from a distance, the killing intent pressed in on them at once!

Eunuch Cao, by contrast, was perfectly composed; not a trace of alarm showed on his fair, clean-shaven face. After handing the telescope to his son, he merely smiled and said, "Help your father down. They're coming straight for us. Once they get closer, we'll know whose men they are."

Cao Wenbao supported Cao Huachun as they carefully descended the stairs, asking in a low voice, "Father, which side should our Wangqingtuo back?"

Which side to back had not yet been decided! Although Zhu Cilang had painted a rosy picture of Jiangnan feudalism when he sent Cao Huachun out of the capital, Cao Huachun had a large family here at Wangqingtuo and could not simply follow the Great Ming down a dead-end road without careful thought.

Besides, whether the Chongzhen Emperor and his son could even get out of Beijing was still an open question!

Cao Huachun smiled. "Let's wait and see... We're just struggling to survive in these chaotic times. Don't we have to lean whichever way the wind blows?"

Cao Wenbao's eyes darted about, and he lowered his voice further. "Father, the people in town all lean toward the Shun!"

Cao Huachun snorted. "The people? The people's hearts are treacherous!"

As the two spoke, they had already descended from the watchtower and now stood on the wall at the northern edge of Wangqingtuo.

Wangqingtuo was a market town and originally had no wall. It was only after Cao Huachun prospered that he paid to have one built. Because it was his own money spent to protect his own home, the wall was built extremely solidly, using large quantities of grey brick, with a moat outside. Without Hongyi cannon, taking this fortified town would be no easy matter.

Cao Huachun's elder brother Cao Huachun was already quite old, his beard and hair completely white, but he too had come up onto the wall.

This was a moment of life and death for the Cao family of Wangqingtuo! If they chose the wrong side, the entire clan would be wiped out!

Seeing his fifth brother Cao Huachun come down from the high platform, Cao Huachun asked urgently, "Fifth Brother, is it the Shun army?"

"Most likely..." Cao Huachun said in a low voice. "All iron cavalry, ranks perfectly ordered. Beijing has no such elite troops!"

"Then should we..." The old man's face already showed panic. "Should we go out to welcome the Roving King?"

Cao Huachun sighed.

The Cao family was the largest landlord in Wuqing County and also ran businesses; moreover, Cao Huachun and Cao Huayu were both high officials who had skimmed plenty from their posts. Such a powerful house naturally had no love for a Roving King who cried, "Eat his mother, wear his mother."

Incidentally, the Shun army's extortion of military funds did not begin in Beijing! They had done it all along — otherwise how could they have promised three years of tax exemption? If the poor were all exempted from taxes and no money was extorted from the rich, what would Li Zicheng's million-strong army eat? What would they spend?

So the extortion of military funds was not the reason Li Zicheng failed in Beijing... Being defeated by the Manchus was the only reason!

"Elder Brother, rest easy," Cao Huachun said with a smile, reassuring his eldest brother. "I've already had Wenbao prepare a hundred thousand taels of silver and ten thousand shi of wheat... If it is the Shun army, we'll offer it up at once. That should keep our family safe."

"Good, good..." Cao Huachun breathed easier. "Now we can only spend money to save our lives. As long as they don't redistribute our land, everything can be settled."

Compared with "forced contributions," land redistribution was far more terrifying!

But no matter how terrifying forced contributions and land redistribution were, they were still better than having the whole clan wiped out by the Shun's heavenly troops, weren't they?

As the Cao clan waited in fear and trembling, the distant armored cavalry finally drew near Wangqingtuo.

In the dim yellow twilight, a set of royal command flags and a great banner suddenly appeared in the telescope Cao Wenbao held up.

"Regional Commander of Liaodong, Earl Who Pacifies the West..." Cao Wenbao read the words on the general's banner in a low voice. Cao Huachun, standing beside him, was startled.

"Son, what did you say?"

"Father, the title on the general's banner is 'Regional Commander of Liaodong, Earl Who Pacifies the West.'"

"Regional Commander of Liaodong, Earl Who Pacifies the West... Wu Sangui?!" Cao Huachun was stunned. "What is he doing at Wangqingtuo?"

The old man Cao Huachun beside him was also surprised. "Fifth Brother, isn't the Regional Commander of Liaodong garrisoned at Ningyuan? How has he come to our Tianjin?"

Cao Huachun said, "Elder Brother, on the sixth day of the third month His Majesty ordered Wu Sangui to abandon Ningyuan and come to the capital to rally to the throne."

"But we're a hundred and fifty li from Beijing. Why has he come here?" The old man still could not understand.

It was his nephew Cao Wenbao who was quick-witted and cut in: "Wu Sangui must think Li Zicheng is too strong and doesn't dare go directly to lift the siege of Beijing, so he brought his troops to Tianjin instead."

Cao Huachun frowned. "That must be it... Ah, this Wu Sangui — he could have gone anywhere, why did he have to come straight to our Wangqingtuo?"

Cao Huachun asked, "Fifth Brother, should we go out to receive him?"

Cao Huachun's frown deepened, and he sighed. "Wu Sangui has come — can we refuse to receive him? Wu Sangui's Guanning Army is not just a thousand-odd men; he has tens of thousands of troops! We cannot afford to offend him!"

The iron cavalry arriving now must be Wu Sangui's personal troops, the "Yi Ding Raiders"... a thousand men handpicked from three thousand Wu household retainers. Every one of them wore iron helmet and armor and was highly skilled in martial arts, especially adept at mounted charges in squads of fifty.

Among the forty thousand men of the Guanning Army, the only ones who could truly stand toe-to-toe with Manchu elite troops were these one thousand Yi Ding Raiders.

Never mind that Wangqingtuo had nearly three thousand able-bodied men — if they were actually led out to fight the Yi Ding Raiders, the enemy wouldn't even need all one thousand; a single charge of fifty riders would be enough to break them.

Even if they held the fortress, once the Guanning Army's rear column arrived, breaking Wangqingtuo would be a trivial matter.

And if it came to that, the whole family would be wiped out! So even if Cao Huachun dared betray Chongzhen and Zhu Cilang, he did not dare refuse to receive a great warlord like Wu Sangui!

"Wenlu!" Cao Huachun summoned his second brother Cao Huayu's eldest son, twenty-six-year-old Cao Wenlu.

"Fifth Uncle, what are your orders?"

Cao Wenlu was a Confucian scholar with a xiucai degree who had attended the Imperial Academy; he was now the Cao family's public face.

"Take some good food and drink out to greet them," Cao Huachun paused. "If it really is Wu Sangui, send someone back at once to report. This old man will have to go out of the city to welcome him."

"Your nephew obeys."

......

"Thousand Years, it seems someone has come out to welcome us!"

Wu Sanfu, standing in his stirrups and peering ahead, turned and asked Zhu Cilang beside him, "Should this subject continue pretending to be my second brother?"

"Pretend! Keep pretending!" Zhu Cilang laughed. "Until we're inside Wangqingtuo!"

"Thousand Years, do you not trust Cao Huachun?" Wu Sanmei, riding behind Zhu Cilang, cut in.

"Heh heh," Zhu Cilang was still all smiles. "We are willing to trust Cao Huachun... which is precisely why we fly your second brother's banner."

"Oh..." Wu Sanmei did not understand at all; she simply felt the Crown Prince's words were unfathomably profound and admirable.

"Sanfu," Zhu Cilang said to Wu Sanfu, "We cannot conveniently show Our face. In a moment, it will be up to you to handle them. Remember, the more you say, the more mistakes you make... Cao Huachun won't come that far out of the city; it will certainly be his sons or nephews. So don't say much to them — just insist on entering the town to rest. Once we reach the city gate, Cao Huachun is bound to come out to greet us. Then We will reveal Ourself and take control of him, and he will naturally be a loyal subject of our Great Ming!"

"This subject understands!" Wu Sanfu accepted the order, immediately spurred his horse forward, and went to the front of the column as Zhu Cilang had instructed to bluff the Cao family's fence-sitters.

The Crown Prince, now a homeless dog in charge of the army, was cautious to the extreme. If not for the fact that the several thousand men who had fled Beijing had marched for nearly a day and a night, covering almost a hundred and fifty li, and were utterly exhausted — and with many pursuers still on their heels, they needed a safe place to rest and regroup for a day — he would not have come to Wangqingtuo to seek out Eunuch Cao...

(End of Chapter)