Chapter 80: Hard to Tell the Loyal from the Treacherous

"Companion Cao, We and Our Imperial Father have come to seek refuge with your family. What's this? Are we not welcome?"

At the north gate of Wangqingtuo, Cao Huachun saw Zhu Cilang, the Ming Army-Soothing Crown Prince, clad in helmet and armor atop the drawbridge — and his heart gave a jolt.

Truly, the very thing he feared had come to pass!

Wu Sangui's arrival alone would have been terrifying enough... once the great Guanning Army arrived, wouldn't Wangqingtuo become a battlefield?

But now the ones who had actually come were Wu Sanfu and Zhu Cilang, and it was said the Chongzhen Emperor himself would soon follow... that was even more terrifying! Li Zicheng would surely come in pursuit! And with the Chongzhen Emperor and Zhu Cilang lodging here at Wangqingtuo, the stance of Cao Huachun's entire clan would be laid bare! Not even a plunge into the Yellow River could wash that clean — once Li Zicheng's men arrived, wouldn't the whole clan be wiped out to the last?

And besides, why was the Crown Prince flying Wu Sangui's banner? Cao Huachun wondered further: What did this mean? Did he not trust this servant? This servant is so loyal, yet the Crown Prince actually distrusts him — it truly chills the heart!

Still, those huge ironclad cavalrymen who had come with Wu Sanfu looked formidable indeed!

Every last one of them was built like a giant spirit-general, and their ranks were perfectly ordered — clearly superbly drilled. The Valiant Guard Camp he had once commanded was surely no match for them... could these really be the legendary Yi Ding raiders?

Wu Sangui had not come himself, yet he had handed his ace cavalry to his brother Wu Sanfu to escort the Crown Prince?

His heart was in turmoil, but Cao Huachun dared not show the slightest disrespect on his face.

Wangqingtuo's gates now stood wide open, and the Wu family's Yi Ding raiders could charge in at any moment! If he did not want his clan exterminated, he had to play the loyal subject with all due deference.

"Why would Thousand Years say such a thing?" Cao Huachun collected himself and at once dropped to his knees before Zhu Cilang. "This old slave's loyalty to the Great Ming is plain for the sun and moon to witness!"

Zhu Cilang, already dismounting with Wu Sanmei's support, walked over to Cao Huachun with a smile, bent down, and helped the old eunuch to his feet.

"Companion Cao, that you are so loyal to the Great Ming gives Us great comfort." Taking Cao Huachun by the hand, Zhu Cilang walked toward the interior of Wangqingtuo, his tone heavy. "We shall not hide it from you, Companion Cao — the Roving Bandit Zicheng has already fought his way into Beijing! Our Imperial Father and We are now fugitives in exile. So in all matters We must be cautious and prudent!"

"Thousand Years need not grieve," Cao Huachun said, seeing the sorrow on Zhu Cilang's face and forcing himself to offer comfort. "Wu Sangui has tens of thousands of crack troops, and the armies rallying to the throne from all quarters will reach Northern Zhili within days. Then we can join forces and retake the capital."

Zhu Cilang shook his head and deliberately raised his voice: "It cannot be retaken! Because the enemy coveting the capital is not the Roving Bandit alone — there are also the eastern barbarians of the northeast! We have already received the field reports of Wang Yongji and Wu Sangui: the eastern barbarians' Prince Regent Dorgon has personally led a hundred thousand iron cavalry westward... it is estimated they will bypass Shanhai Pass and enter through the Zunhua–Miyun corridor. Before long, all of Northern Zhili will become a battlefield where the eastern barbarians and the Roving Bandits clash! With the paltry strength the court has in hand, is there any way out other than to journey south to the auxiliary capital? That is why Wu Sangui dares not linger in Yongping either — within days he will lead his great army to Tianjin to join Us. The one thousand Yi Ding raiders now escorting Us are the vanguard of the Guanning Army."

Cao Huachun was shocked again and again. He had thought the news that Beijing had fallen to Li Zicheng was already bad enough — he never imagined there was even more terrifying news!

A hundred thousand Manchu troops were about to enter the pass and contend with Li Zicheng for Northern Zhili!

"Companion Cao," Zhu Cilang sighed again, "when the time comes, several hundred thousand troops will fight a bloody war across Northern Zhili... Wangqingtuo will hardly escape becoming a battlefield! What does your Cao family plan to do? Stay and leave things to fate, or escort Our Imperial Father and Us south?"

Hearing this, how could Cao Huachun dare say he would not go south?

Not go south, and wait to be conscripted by Li's Roving Bandits or the eastern barbarians to fill in siege trenches? And besides, the Wu family's Yi Ding iron cavalry had already entered Wangqingtuo!

"Naturally, this servant will escort His Majesty and Thousand Years south!" Cao Huachun asked, "May I ask where His Majesty has reached?"

Zhu Cilang said: "Our Imperial Father is traveling behind under Wu Xiang's protection and will reach Wangqingtuo tonight. Companion Cao, should you not take your family's troops out to welcome Our Imperial Father?"

"I should, I should indeed..." Cao Huachun said hurriedly. "This subject has three thousand stout braves here, all of whom can be dispatched to welcome His Majesty!"

"Good!" Zhu Cilang suddenly stopped walking and, still holding Cao Huachun's hand, said, "Then let us set out at once!"

Huh? Set out at once? Cao Huachun was stunned again and again, thinking: Then what was the point of coming all this way into Wangqingtuo?

What was the point?

To occupy it, of course!

"Wang Qi!" Zhu Cilang summoned Wang Qi, the Battalion Commander of his Eastern Palace Guard Camp.

"This subject is here!" Wang Qi strode forward at once to receive orders.

It turned out that the troops who had now arrived with Zhu Cilang and Wu Sanfu were not the Yi Ding raiders at all, but the Tiger Cavalry Camp — reorganized from the Giant Han Generals — plus part of the Eastern Palace Guard Camp. The Tiger Cavalry Camp was temporarily under Wu Sanfu's command, while the Eastern Palace Guard Camp was commanded by Wang Qi.

"We command you to remain in Wangqingtuo with your own troops!" Zhu Cilang immediately issued Wang Qi his orders, then said to Cao Huachun, "Companion Cao, order your men to move out! Do not keep Our Imperial Father waiting!"

Cao Huachun glanced around — a great crowd of huge armored soldiers had already closed in. How could he dare disobey Zhu Cilang? He hastily answered: "This subject... this subject obeys the decree!"

"Good! We set out at once!" Zhu Cilang had not closed his eyes for days and had just ridden over a hundred li; all he wanted now was a good long sleep. But who asked him to be such a filial son? The Chongzhen Emperor and Empress Zhou were still scores of li away! True, they were protected by six or seven thousand motley troops under Wu Xiang, Li Ruolian, Zhu Chunjie, and others. But there were still pursuers behind them!

So after "taking" Wangqingtuo, Zhu Cilang could not spare a moment's rest — he had to turn right around with the Cao family's troops from Wangqingtuo plus Wu Sanfu's huge cavalrymen and go back posing as the "Guanning iron cavalry."

That would make three or four thousand "Guanning troops"! If they were real, Tang Tong's eight thousand men would not be enough to withstand a single thrashing from them!

...

The main forces of Li Guo and Tang Tong had by now made camp. It was already dark, and most of Tang Tong's eight thousand men were poor soldiers who had nothing good to eat, lacked vitamin A, and all suffered from night blindness. Only a few hundred household retainers plus a few hundred veteran camp soldiers under Li Guo could move about in the dead of night.

So at night, all they could do was make camp and let the other side travel on through the darkness.

But the two of them were not worried about Zhu Cilang slipping away (they did not know the Chongzhen Emperor was with him either), because Hao Yaoqi had already led several hundred cavalry to the vicinity of the Tianjin garrison. And the Shun army had a crucial inside agent at the Tianjin garrison, who could absolutely coordinate with Hao Yaoqi from within and without to seize the garrison city.

When that happened, wouldn't this Crown Prince Zhu Cilang be a turtle in the jar of the Great Shun's heavenly soldiers?

Moreover, the Ming officials and soldiers escorting Zhu Cilang in his flight had been traveling day and night without rest, covering over a hundred li, and were already utterly exhausted. During today's daytime pursuit, the Tang family retainers scouting ahead had captured quite a few officials who had fallen behind — and had gotten their hands on a good deal of gold and silver!

At this rate, one more day of harrying and they would collapse.

So Li Guo and Tang Tong were in no hurry. They dispatched two or three hundred Tang family retainers to make a show of force behind the fleeing Crown Prince Zhu's party, driving them to exhaust their strength even faster. As for the main force, it rested at ease.

Tomorrow they would make a forced march in hot pursuit and capture the Zhu family's Crown Prince in one stroke!

Inside a hastily pitched tent, Li Guo and Tang Tong were sitting and drinking together when a voice suddenly called from outside: "My lord, an imperial edict has arrived!"

"An imperial edict?" Li Guo started. "Bring it here at once!"

An edict dictated by Li Zicheng was quickly delivered into Li Guo's hands. Li Guo opened it and glanced at it, and his expression changed at once.

"What is it?" Tang Tong asked. "My lord, what has happened?"

Li Guo said: "The capital has been taken!"

"That is good news!" Tang Tong said, looking at Li Guo's expression with some puzzlement.

"But the Zhu family's Son of Heaven is not in Beijing!" Li Guo said. "Of the two bands of Zhu rebels that fled through Dongzhi Gate and Chaoyang Gate, one of them must be led by the Zhu family's Son of Heaven!"

A flash of wild delight crossed Tang Tong's face — this would be a merit unmatched in a generation!

"My lord, where do you think the Zhu family's Son of Heaven is?"

"I don't know!" Li Guo narrowed his eyes. "But wherever he is, he cannot escape the palm of our Great Shun's heavenly soldiers!"