Chapter 816: The Baturu of the Pacific

Dodo's scheme really was pushing the soon-to-be-married Fourteenth Princess down a path to her death!

The territories of the three feudatories in the Central Plain were nominally her dowry, but when the Ming court went to take possession of the land, the three feudatories refused to hand it over. And when the Zhu Emperor sent troops to seize it himself, the Qing army suddenly breached the Yellow River dikes — not only flooding the Ming army, but turning vast tracts of land on the Yellow River's southern bank into a waterlogged wasteland!

Hadn't this Fourteenth Princess become bait to lure the enemy for the Qing army? What good end could possibly await her then? Shunzhi thought to himself: if someone used a pretty little woman to trap him like this, he would certainly have her carved into ten thousand pieces!

Yet he could not ruin Dodo's vicious scheme for the sake of a sister — because he too knew the plan was ruthless enough and brilliant enough! The Zhu Emperor would very likely fall for it. If the Zhu Emperor could be drowned, the Great Qing would be in luck!

Although the Shunzhi Emperor did not think much of this beautiful sister of his, truly pushing her onto a path to death did cause him a twinge of reluctance. So after returning to Beijing from Jianling, he wore a gloomy, unhappy look.

When he went to the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility to pay his respects to Bumbutai, the moment he entered, a young girl dressed in bright red brocade rushed over like a gust of wind and said, "Imperial Brother, you're finally back! Mother and I have been worried sick these days."

Shunzhi saw that the girl was thirteen or fourteen, with an oval face, thin lips, large eyes, and curved, lovely brows. She was quite tall and graceful, truly a rare beauty.

This little beauty was none other than Shunzhi's fourteenth sister, the Fourteenth Princess Ajige!

Shunzhi looked at his sister and forced a smile: "Haven't I come back?"

Seeing her son return whole and unharmed, Bumbutai breathed a great sigh of relief — Shunzhi had gone to Jianling to meet with the Imperial Uncle Dodo, after all.

Shunzhi stepped forward and bowed to Bumbutai: "Your son greets Mother!"

"Good that you're back. Come, come, let Mother have a look at you." Bumbutai beckoned to her son.

Shunzhi rose and went to Bumbutai's side, with Ajige bouncing along behind him.

Bumbutai pointed at Ajige and said to Shunzhi, "While you were away these days, it was this girl who kept me company. She really is like my own daughter. Why not enfeoff her as a Gurun Princess?"

Gurun Princess was the title for imperial daughters born of the empress in the Qing dynasty. Ajige was born of a concubine, so she had been made a Hosoi Princess. Now that Bumbutai said she wanted to enfeoff her as a Gurun Princess, it meant she intended to take her as her own daughter.

"Your daughter thanks Mother!" Ajige hastily knelt and kowtowed to Bumbutai in gratitude.

Bumbutai waved her hand with a smile: "Good, good, good. It's settled then. Later I'll have your Imperial Brother issue the decree. I still have some things to discuss with the Emperor today, so you may go back first."

How skilled Bumbutai was at reading faces and moods! She naturally knew her son had something on his mind, so she dismissed Ajige, then signaled with her eyes to the serving palace maids and eunuchs, having them all withdraw.

"What's the matter?" Bumbutai asked. "Your Fifteenth Uncle had no plan either?"

"He has a plan — and a ruthless one at that!" Shunzhi said. "He wants to use water as soldiers and breach the Yellow River dikes!"

"Oh." Bumbutai nodded. "Will it work?"

"It should work!" Shunzhi said. "On the way back to the capital, your son discussed it with Sonin, Suksaha, and the others. They all said it would work — at the very least it can delay the Ming army's movements. The longer the Ming army is bogged down in Henan, the greater our chances of victory."

"Then that settles it!" Bumbutai laughed. "Why the long face?"

Shunzhi said, "The people of Henan will suffer for it — and Ajige won't get any good fruit either."

Bumbutai frowned. "Where did you learn such a bodhisattva's heart, child? The suffering of the Henan people is fate. Being born common folk is already a bitter fate; being born into a chaotic age on top of that — it would be strange if they didn't suffer! As for Ajige, hmph, that's fate too!

Being raised in an imperial household is her good fortune; marrying the emperor of an enemy state is her misfortune. Even if she is killed, she must accept her fate!"

Shunzhi sighed.

Bumbutai waved her hand: "Stop sighing. Hurry up and send Ajige off in grand style!"

"This slave Oboi greets the Imperial Uncle!"

"This slave Baturu de Velasco greets the Imperial Uncle."

By this time the Great Qing Imperial Uncle Dodo had also returned to Shengjing. The moment he was back at the palace, he summoned both Oboi and de Velasco, the Vice Admiral of the Pacific Fleet whom Cavallero had helped bring in.

The two men were dressed identically, wearing the first-rank military officer uniforms of the Great Qing, court beads around their necks, and peacock-feather court hats on their heads. Take off the hats, and there were two big bald heads! Behind Oboi's big bald head still trailed a money-rat queue, while de Velasco had no queue behind his head — just a bald pate.

Both called themselves "this slave," which showed they were both bannermen. Oboi was of course a Manchu of the Bordered Yellow Banner, while de Velasco was a European of the Plain Blue Banner, and he also held the hereditary rank of Adaha Hafan. So he was "this slave de Velasco."

As for Baturu, that was the title Dodo had bestowed upon de Velasco. And not just any Baturu — the First Baturu of the Pacific!

That is to say, the First Warrior of the Pacific! That was even more impressive than Oboi's First Baturu of the Manchus!

The foremost courage on the Pacific! Truly the champion of valor across the Pacific.

However, this bannerman of his could not speak Manchu, and could only speak a little halting Chinese — though of course, outside the passes there were not many bannermen left who could speak Manchu either; only some older Manchus could speak a bit. So it was perfectly normal that de Velasco, a European of the Plain Blue Banner, could not speak it.

"Rise!" Dodo said with a smile, waving for the two men to stand and report.

They could only stand; no seats were given.

"Speak. How many ships do we have?" Dodo asked.

Oboi replied, "Reporting to the Imperial Uncle, our Pacific Fleet has now assembled ten large seagoing vessels. Five of them are great galleons of the Spanish kingdom; the rest are bird ships and sand ships."

"Five more bird ships and sand ships? Where did they come from?" Dodo asked.

"They came to join us under amnesty," Oboi said. "There are pirates in the waters off Joseon. When they heard that our Great Qing was establishing a navy, they came to offer their allegiance."

In this age, the seas were full of pirates! The Ming coast had its pirates, and the Joseon coast naturally had its pirates too.

"Oh." Dodo nodded. "Have they all been raised into the banners?"

"They have," Oboi said. "All of them, according to your decree, have been raised into the European Plain Blue Banner and the European Plain White Banner."

It turned out that before Dodo left Shengjing for Jianling, he had issued a decree: all sailors who came to join with leased ships or by sailing their own vessels would be raised into the banners without exception — into the European company of the Plain Blue Banner and the European company of the Plain White Banner. No matter their skin color or what they looked like, from now on in the Great Qing they would be European bannermen!

"What of the fleet's Vigorous Elite Battalion?"

What Dodo was asking about was the "marine corps" — the warriors Oboi had personally trained, intended for the assault on Tsushima Island.

By the way, Oboi was now the Admiral of the Great Mongol Pacific Fleet — that is to say, the direct superior of Baturu de Velasco.

"Imperial Uncle," Oboi replied, "this slave personally selected one thousand warriors and has trained them for over three months. Now every one of them has the skill to dive into the sea and catch turtles. With this slave leading them, the wokou on Japan's Tsushima Island will certainly be no match."

The wokou on Tsushima Island were truly wronged! They had provoked no one and offended no one, yet had inexplicably become "bandits" — and would very soon encounter the First Warrior of the Manchus and the First Warrior of the Pacific!

"Has the situation of the wokou on Tsushima been ascertained?"

"It has." Oboi said, "The wokou leader on Tsushima is surnamed So, called So Yoshinari. He has five hundred elite soldiers under him, plus several merchant ships that ply between Joseon and Japan. He holds a trading wakan at Dumopo in Joseon's Busan, but that wakan was emptied after the Japanese invasion of Busan — presumably for fear that we would counterattack."

"Heh heh," Dodo sneered. "The monk may run, but the temple cannot! We are not the Ming, who only fight wokou along the coast. We will strike straight into the wokou's lair! Oboi, you must fight well. Make certain the wokou of Tsushima learn the might of our Great Qing and Great Mongol warriors! Best of all, bring me that wokou leader So Yoshinari alive!"

"Zha!"

(End of Chapter)