Chapter 781: Russia, Don't Be Afraid

Dodo is now a patriotic prince — fighting the Tsarist Russians, fighting the Japanese on Sakhalin, and winning every time. Now he's about to send fifty thousand troops to attack Yaksa Fortress and do battle with Russia's five thousand musketeers. What overflowing patriotism!

But Ajige in Beijing doesn't believe a word of it!

How could a godforsaken place like Yaksa support five thousand Russian soldiers? What would they eat? Go fishing in the Amur River or hunt bears in the old forests?

And Sonin, who had just arrived in Beijing, had already gotten to the bottom of Russia's situation.

In the Hall of Martial Valor within the Forbidden City in Beijing, Sonin was holding forth at length.

"Rest assured, Prince Regent, Russia will never send that many troops to Yaksa Fortress. That country is at best a third- or fourth-rate power over in Europe — big, but not strong. The first-rate powers in Europe right now are Spain and the Ottoman Empire. The second-rate powers are France, England, the Netherlands — that's what we call the Red Barbarian Country — and there's also the Holy Roman Empire, plus Poland and Sweden. All of these are stronger than Russia.

"Moreover, Russia is currently under attack by the Ottoman Empire. The two countries are hereditary enemies. Russia's ancestors were originally something called the Eastern Roman Empire, which the Ottomans destroyed. And now the Southern Ming has allied with the Ottoman Empire and France — they are Russia's enemies. As for us, we've allied with Spain, the world's foremost power. Russia will show respect for Spain's sake even if not for ours, and won't go to war with us.

"So before this slave left Europe, I already asked King Philip of Spain to intercede and negotiate with Tsar Alexei of Russia. It will certainly be settled."

Sonin wasn't bragging — it really could be settled. Because the Habsburg family was the Ottoman Empire's mortal enemy, and Russia was also the Ottoman Empire's mortal enemy. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. How could Alexei I refuse to give face to Philip IV?

This wasn't the age of Peter the Great. Russia hadn't reformed, and was just a third- or fourth-rate European country, while Spain was a mighty world empire!

Besides, Alexei I would soon meet a powerful foe in the direction of Kazakhstan — the Dzungar tribe, which was about to hang up the signboard of the Great Ming Northern Protectorate.

This Great Ming was allied with Turkey and also opposing Russia in Central Asia, so Russia naturally had to join forces with the Great Ming's mortal enemy, the Great Qing. Why would they attack the Great Qing?

"Sonin," Ajige said, looking at the man who had now become an international diplomat, "tell me — what does Old Fifteen want with those tens of thousands of troops he's raising?"

"That... this slave dares not say." Sonin didn't dare speak.

The matter was plain to see, but saying it aloud could get one punished.

"Isn't it just that he wants to be Our Ama?" The Shunzhi Emperor, however, was "imperially unfiltered" — he actually came out and said the words about being his Ama.

Ajige shot him a glance, thinking to himself: I'm the only one who wants to be your Ama! Old Fifteen has no such idea — he wants to be the Great Qing Emperor!

"If Old Fifteen wants to fight, then we'll oblige him!" Ajige said. "But we need a pretext too. What would be a good one?"

"Prince Regent," Prince Zheng Jirgalang said with a smile, "isn't the pretext right in front of us?"

"Right in front of us?"

"Exactly! Attack Russia! Didn't Russia station five thousand musketeers at Yaksa Fortress? We can't just watch Prince Yu do all the work by himself! We should also send troops to Lake Baikal and cut off the Russians' route of retreat."

In fact, the Russians at Yaksa hadn't come from the direction of Lake Baikal. They had traveled via the Arctic Ocean into the Lena River to reach Yakutsk, then marched south from Yakutsk into the Amur River basin.

But the Great Qing didn't know this, and assumed they had come overland.

"Prince Zheng, you're truly a cut above!" Ajige gave Jirgalang a thumbs-up, then asked, "And how do we deal with the Southern Ming? Perhaps you could offer another suggestion."

"Isn't the Southern Ming still catching up on their studies?" Jirgalang said. "They can't have finished that quickly, can they?"

"Still, we can't let our guard down," Ajige said with a frown. "Old Fifteen is not easy to deal with... we must go all out, so we have to stabilize the south."

The numerical advantage seemed to be on his side, but he had his own difficulties. He was holding the Son of Heaven hostage to command the Nine Banners. Without the banner of Shunzhi, he would be left with only his own Bordered White Banner and the troops of the Taiyuan Angbang Zhangjing headquarters — about ten thousand men in total, and he couldn't pull all of them out. Across the Yellow River there was also a debt-ridden Great Ming "Loan Prince" eyeing Taiyuan Prefecture and drooling!

So the Bordered White Banner troops Ajige could actually field would never exceed five thousand — nowhere near enough to defeat Dodo's tens of thousands.

Moreover, he couldn't mobilize troops under the pretext of punishing Dodo, because Dodo's own Plain Blue Banner also had an Angbang Zhangjing headquarters in Henan Prefecture, commanded by Abatai's fourth son, Prince Duoluo An of the Second Rank, Yolo. If Ajige went to war with Dodo, Yolo would very likely march out from Henan Prefecture — and then not only would the flames of war spread to Henan Province, but the Ming to the south would probably take advantage of the chaos to loot.

Therefore Ajige could only mobilize troops under the pretext of attacking Lake Baikal, while at the same time keeping Yolo and his Plain Blue Banner troops in Henan Prefecture, and also stabilizing the morale of the Plain Green Banner.

After all, the Plain Green Banner had a great many men. If they refused to send troops under the pretext of guarding against the Ming, the forces Ajige could use would be drastically reduced.

"Then send out the Fourteenth Princess," Shunzhi interjected.

The Fourteenth Princess was named Ajige — a daughter of Hong Taiji and Shunzhi's younger sister. Because she was born of a concubine, she was enfeoffed as a Heshuo Princess (a daughter of the empress would have been a Gulun Princess). She was only twelve years old this year.

Among the Shunzhi Emperor's sisters, this Ajige was the most beautiful, but she had a terrible temper — willful and headstrong. In history, she had been married to Wu Sangui's son, Wu Yingxiong.

But now Wu Yingxiong was attending elementary school in Nanjing. If he wanted a wife, he'd have to find one among the Ming imperial clan — he wouldn't be marrying Ajige.

Ajige thought for a moment. "That is one way... The Chenghua Emperor's princess died before she could cross Zhu Cilang's threshold, but the marriage alliance can still continue. We'll send him a replacement. That should buy us some stability for a while."

A replacement, huh...

Shunzhi said with a smile, "The Southern Ming's envoy of mourning, Huang Dabao, hasn't left yet. We can bring this up with him now, and both sides can begin making arrangements. As long as the marriage isn't settled, Zhu Cilang probably won't consider sending troops. That should buy us some time."

Ajige clapped his hands. "Good, let's do it!"

After the council in the Hall of Martial Valor ended, Shunzhi went with Sonin to the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility to see the Grand Empress Dowager Bumbutai.

Before his mission, Sonin had been a Chamberlain of the Imperial Guard. Ajige had temporarily restored him to his original post, so he had to go kowtow to the Empress Dowager.

"E-niang, look who's here!"

When Shunzhi arrived at the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility, Bumbutai was sitting with her eyes closed, chanting sutras. Hearing her son's cheerful voice, she opened her eyes and saw Sonin, whom she hadn't seen in quite some time, coming in with Shunzhi.

"Sonin is back?" Bumbutai asked with a smile. "Did this trip to the West broaden your horizons?"

"This slave Sonin greets the Empress Dowager." Sonin first bowed respectfully, then, at the Empress Dowager's gesture, rose to reply. "In answer to the Empress Dowager, this slave's horizons were greatly broadened..."

Bumbutai actually had little interest in Western affairs. Seeing the look of delight on her son's face, she asked, "My son, what good fortune have you encountered?"

"E-niang," Shunzhi said with a smile, "your son has finally married off the Fourteenth Princess!"

"To whom?"

"Zhu Cilang!" Shunzhi said with a smile. "She'll perfectly fill the vacancy left by Donggo."

"That..." Bumbutai furrowed her brow. "The Prince Regent agreed?"

"He agreed."

"Then war is coming," Bumbutai said. "The Fourteenth Princess is merely a chess piece to keep Zhu Cilang in check. And Zhu Cilang is happy to watch us slaughter each other! The marriage will probably succeed — but with the Great Qing's two Prince Regents fighting each other, who will win in the end?"

(End of Chapter)