Chapter 785: The Brave Prince

The Qing's "Brave Prince" Dodo has arrived!

The Brave Prince is of course brave!

The foremost warrior of the Great Qing was actually Dodo rather than Oboi — it was just that Dodo was a master, and it would not do to rank him alongside a pack of slaves.

But his bravery was universally acknowledged — one look at him was enough to tell!

Dodo's appearance could be summed up in eight words: "tiger's back, bear's waist, a face full of hard flesh." At a glance he was a great general whose valor surpassed three armies, and he closely resembled his father Nurhaci.

And his temperament was shot through with that same fierceness: anything that could be settled with blade and sword, he would never consider settling with stratagem.

So he would not learn from Ajige and go negotiate any cession of territory with Ming envoys; Zu Kefa got driven off after a single meeting with him.

Not long after Zu Kefa was driven off, his western-expedition army of more than fifty thousand had finished assembling. Although it was smaller in number than his opponent Ajige's, and most of the men were raw recruits, with cavalry far inferior to Ajige's, Dodo still did not hesitate. With about 52,000 men, he left Shengjing and drove straight for Shanhai Pass.

Shanhai Pass had always been under his jurisdiction, and its garrison was made up of his own men. By the time Dodo arrived with the main army, Helohoi had already called up about 3,000 men and laid in a large store of grain and fodder.

Dodo ordered his troops to rest at Shanhai Pass for a day, and on the fifteenth day of the seventh month he led a total of 53,000 men out of Shanhai Pass, heading west toward the passage north of Jieshi Mountain, more than a hundred li away.

There were passages on both the north and south sides of Jieshi Mountain. The southern passage ran along the seashore, broad and level, favorable for the movement of a large army. But Dorgon's "Jianling" mausoleum had been built there, blocking half the passage. Moreover, the terrain in that area favored massed cavalry charges, which was highly unfavorable for Dodo, who lacked Manchu armored cavalry. Dodo had no more than ten thousand old Manchus under him, of whom more than three thousand had been organized into several vanguard battalions as "dragoons," while of the remaining fewer than seven thousand, quite a few had to serve as officers and officials. With a dozen or more prefectural-level yamens below, plus an army of over fifty thousand, he could not control it all without at least fifteen or sixteen hundred men!

So the men who could actually serve as armored cavalry numbered only a little over five thousand. In addition there were about five thousand dragoons from the vanguard battalions (Oboi had brought two thousand Solon dragoons), making about ten thousand cavalry in all.

The remaining 43,000-odd men were all infantry and artillery, the vast majority of them infantry.

These infantry were further divided into about twenty battalions (this was modeled on the Ming New Army's organization), each battalion being assigned one 300-man musketeer niru, expanded from the musketeers of the various firearms battalions under the Shengjing General's Office. In all, just six thousand musketeers!

Besides one musketeer niru, each infantry battalion of Dodo's eastern army also had three pike niru, one sword-and-shield niru, one archer niru, and one guard niru — calling them "guards" sounded fine, but really they were just menial laborers.

On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, Ajige's western army and Dodo's eastern army began deploying and making camp in the hilly ground north of Jieshi Mountain.

About ten li north of Jieshi Mountain stood Chengshan, a mountain running east to west, and the ten li between Jieshi Mountain and Chengshan formed the passage through which a large army could move.

But this passage was not flat open ground: on its western side were two areas of hills, Fengtuo Ridge and Jieshan Ridge. Both were relatively easy to cross, and several roads ran through them as well.

And as soon as Ajige discovered that Dodo was heading north of Jieshi Mountain, he immediately dispatched troops to seize Chengshan, Fengtuo Ridge, and Jieshan Ridge, along with a peak on the northern foot of Jieshi Mountain called Heifeng Mountain.

One could say he had completely occupied the advantageous terrain!

In addition, he left 20,000 troops of the Bordered Yellow Banner, Plain White Banner, and Plain Green Banner in the Jianling fortress, commanded by Tuhai, Suksaha, Shang Kexi, and others, to guard against Dodo's army suddenly turning toward the south side of Jieshi Mountain. At the same time, they were prepared to launch an attack on Dodo's flank and rear at the critical moment.

That is to say, on the battlefield north of Jieshi Mountain, Ajige had arrayed nearly 60,000 troops in all, and had moreover occupied the advantageous terrain!

But Ajige could not win by defense alone, because time was not on his side — the Ming Empire was glaring at him from behind!

Who knew when that Condé cram school would end? Perhaps the Ming army would soon launch an offensive — there was no telling!

Moreover, the eighty thousand troops he had brought to Jieshi Mountain had been thrown together, and it would be no exaggeration to say each harbored his own designs. And Dodo was the successor Dorgon had designated!

Dodo's army of over fifty thousand, by contrast, was loyal to him alone, and Ajige was unlikely to split or subvert those troops.

So Ajige could not afford a prolonged standoff with Dodo at Jieshi Mountain; he had to seek a quick, decisive battle.

And Dodo, this Brave Prince, was not reckless — he too could read the situation and knew Ajige's weak points.

Therefore, after advancing to the northeast of Jieshi Mountain, to the west bank of the Yang River, some eleven or twelve li beyond Heifeng Mountain and Chengshan, he halted and began pitching camp.

On a high slope at the northern foot of Jieshi Mountain, several hundred guards of the Bordered White Banner in white armor stood watch on all sides, while a tall, fat, powerfully built man, escorted by a crowd of Qing civil and military officials, stood at the height, raising a telescope to survey the battlefield in the glow of the setting sun.

This stout man was Ajige!

He too was of a fierce and valiant disposition; apart from being a bit duller than Dodo, he was very like him in other respects, and in looks as well — at a glance they were clearly full brothers. Dorgon, by contrast, was rather different from the two of them: he did not resemble Nurhaci, but took after their mother, the Grand Consort Abahai.

Ajige gazed at the distant terrain, his eyes flickering ceaselessly. Dodo's deployment opposite showed that he intended to use the Yang River as his support and fight a pitched battle — with a casual move, he had put Ajige in a very awkward position.

In the art of directing troops in battle, Dodo was indeed the superior one!

Dodo's army was making camp. Seen from afar, countless soldiers were busy on the east bank of the Yang River, some digging trenches and raising ramparts, others setting up palisades.

The camp was tightly laid out, and one could tell at a glance it was an "infantry camp," which showed that Dodo's army was mainly infantry — though in fact Ajige knew this even without looking at the camp.

Dodo's greatest weakness was that the troops in hand were no good: most were peasants recruited on short notice, not old Manchus of the true Eight Banners, but Han Chinese peasants who had crossed into the northeast.

So Ajige did not take Dodo's infantry seriously at all.

What truly worried him were the several thousand vanguard-battalion cavalry in Dodo's hands and the several dozen 3-pounder cannon — those were the trump cards Dorgon had given Dodo to protect his household!

Among the Qing dignitaries present, Jirgalang was the number-two figure after Ajige. His expression carried a hint of gravity as he pointed with his riding crop at Dodo's camp, which was still taking shape, and said to Ajige, "Prince Regent, if we let Dodo finish building his camp, it will not be easy to take it. Even if we succeed, the losses will be too great."

Ajige said, "He chose a good spot to pitch camp. The width of the front is only ten li, perhaps even a little less. We have more men, but we cannot really deploy them all!"

"Then form more ranks, and send troops to hold Chengshan and Heifeng Mountain — that way we cannot be defeated!" said Jirgalang. "In addition, the twenty thousand troops at Jianling can swing around to Dodo's left rear and make him fight with enemies at his front and back!"

Ajige nodded. "Who can go command the twenty thousand at Jianling?"

Jirgalang patted his chest. "I will go! When the time comes, let the Prince Regent fire a cannon as the signal, and I will personally lead the army out to attack."

"Then who will command your Bordered Blue Banner troops?"

"My brother Naodai can command them," said Jirgalang. "Let him take the troops up Heifeng Mountain to hold the line!"

"Very well!" Ajige was of course somewhat annoyed in his heart — this Jirgalang was thinking of preserving his own strength at the critical moment!

"Prince Regent," Wakda of the Plain Red Banner now spoke up as well, "leave Chengshan to us men of the Plain Red Banner to hold!"

Ajige nodded again. "Good, good, so be it!"

This Wakda had become the leader of the Plain Red Banner (not its banner lord) after Mandahai's death, and this time he was campaigning in place of the banner lord Cang'adai. Moreover, he was on very good terms with Dodo, having once held office under the Shengjing General's Office and campaigned with Dodo against the Khalkha Mongols. Had Mandahai not died the year before, he would most likely be on Dodo's side right now!

Ajige knew that the Plain Red Banner, the Bordered Blue Banner, and the like were all unreliable, so he could only grit his teeth and say, "Tomorrow, the troops of the Bordered White, Plain Yellow, Plain Green, and Bordered Red Banners will lead the assault!"

(End of Chapter)