Chapter 829: The Ten-Year Northern Expedition in Three Steps

In early September of the sixth year of Hongxing of the Great Ming, Zhu Cilang had already arrived at the Yunlong Mountain temporary palace outside Xuzhou with a streamlined "little court" and a "general staff." The master of this place was Gao Jie, and it was a rather fine garden, situated on high ground, so there was no fear of flooding — if the Yellow River really did lose control within the next few months!

At this moment he was receiving Shi Kefa, Gao Jie, Huang Degong, and Li Chengdong. These four had all grown considerably in ability! Zhu Cilang's rise had given them more opportunities for tempering, and the arrival of the Prince de Condé had also given them the chance to thoroughly master the methods of organizing campaigns in the age of the "musket square" by studying the many battles of the Thirty Years' War.

If they were to deploy for battle now, the four of them would no longer fear any Tartars!

Even if the Brave King came, so long as the disparity in forces was not too great, they were confident of defeating their opponent — actually, there was no need to defeat him; fighting a few draws would be enough to wear down the old Manchu forces in Dodo's hands.

Moreover, Shi Kefa had long ceased to be a regional warlord; the "Qufu Army" under his command had already been reorganized into the Great Ming New Army. He himself had served for several years as Governor-General of Shandong and Liaodong, with his headquarters at Dengzhou.

And although Gao Jie, Huang Degong, and Li Chengdong still retained a certain degree of independence, their armies had also been "standardized."

Among them, Gao Jie's Xuhai Army had been reorganized into 8 infantry regiments, 2 cavalry battalions, and 2 field artillery batteries. The infantry regiments were all "Maurician" units, while the cavalry battalions were "black lance cavalry." The artillery batteries were equipped with 3-pounder guns, with the 2 batteries fielding a total of 12 three-pounder cannon.

The Huaibei Army under Huang Degong's command had exactly the same organization as the Xuhai Army — also a combined force of infantry, cavalry, and artillery comprising 8 regiments, 2 battalions, and 2 batteries.

Li Chengdong's army had been transferred to the Liaodong Peninsula to hold Lüshun, and he himself had received the office of Military Commissioner of Liaodong. But his commissionership was not that of a warlord carving out a territory; he was merely the military and civil administrator of Lüshun in Liaodong. The forces under his control were also limited — not as many as the troops of Gao Jie and Huang Degong. In all he had 4 regiments and 2 batteries — 4 infantry regiments plus 2 artillery batteries, a force of just over ten thousand, and no cavalry, because there was simply "no ground for using horses." The task of the ten-thousand-odd Liaodong troops was merely to hold the Jinzhou Long Wall, so the Liaodong Army's infantry regiments were all-musket units, equipped with no pikes.

They had artillery emplacements, moats several zhang wide, and forts capable of independent defense (along the line of the ramparts), and the defensive line they garrisoned was not very wide, so there was naturally no need to consider field battles.

"The Qing army has changed considerably over these past few years as well. Because of the great battle at Jieshi Mountain and the internal split, the old Manchu has withered severely, and the strength of the Plain Green Banner is also declining. It is the new Manchu beyond the passes that is flourishing — but the new Manchu still cannot compare with the old Manchu. The main force of the new Manchu is infantry, though armed with muskets plus pikes, swords, and shields. They have not yet reached the level of the early Spanish tercio, and they simply cannot defeat us. In the Thirty Years' War over in Europe, engagements between infantry were ordinarily decided by firepower; the more muskets one had, the greater the chance of victory. So what Dodo can rely on is still cavalry and fortresses.

Heh heh — in the old days we built cities and forts to defend Liaodong; now Dodo must rely on fortresses to preserve his own home and country. But so long as we have the resolve to keep fighting, the new Manchu beyond the passes, with their system of merging soldiers and farmers, will ultimately be dragged to collapse!"

The one analyzing the situation was the military strategist Li Yan.

Zhu Cilang's northern expedition this time was divided into three routes!

The main force was of course the great Xuzhou army under his own command, which would advance westward along the Yellow River, with the objective of recovering Guide Prefecture and Kaifeng Prefecture.

The western-route army was commanded by Wu Sanfu, Governor-General of Huguang and Henan. His task was to sever communications between Henan Prefecture and Kaifeng Prefecture, while seizing the outer perimeter of Henan Prefecture, isolating Luoyang, and ultimately forcing the Qing army in Luoyang to withdraw northward.

The eastern-route army was under the direction of Shi Kefa, Governor-General of Liaodong and Shandong. It had two tasks: first, to pin down the new Manchu army beyond the passes; second, to seize the lost territory of the Eastern Depot Prefecture, Jibei Prefecture, and Yanzhou Prefecture, recovering all of Shandong.

With the help of his general staff, Zhu Cilang had drawn up a ten-year plan to destroy the Qing. And this plan had been broken down into several phased plans for implementation.

The objective of the first phase was to recover and absorb all of Shandong and the greater part of Henan — according to the plan, Zhu Cilang's army would use a year and a half, that is, by the end of next year, to complete the first-phase task in full! Not only to recover the territory, but also to complete the initial absorption.

The objective of the second phase was to recover the territory within the passes and south of the Great Wall, excluding Datong and Xuanfu — that is, to recover the two great fortresses of Beijing and Taiyuan!

This phase would require at least two years!

He must not treat himself as the Anglo-French allied forces, or treat the Great Qing of the Shunzhi years as the Great Qing of the Xianfeng years.

The objective of the third phase was the vast territory beyond the passes and in Mongolia!

Without five or six years, how could it possibly be recovered? With territory that vast, a single circuit might not even be completed in a year!

"Commander Shi," Zhu Cilang took up the topic and said to Shi Kefa, "you are now a veteran general. The affairs of Shandong and Liaodong are fully entrusted to you! The three armies of Xuhai, Huaibei, and Liaodong, as well as the four divisions of the New Army garrisoning Shandong and Liaodong, and the Beiyang Fleet, are all placed under the control of the Governor-General's office of Liaodong and Shandong!"

The troops the Zhu Emperor handed over to Shi Kefa were not many — fewer than 120,000 in total — but their combat strength could be called formidable!

Zhu Cilang's gaze burned as he looked at Shi Kefa, Gao Jie, Huang Degong, and Li Chengdong. "If there are any questions, you may raise them now!"

Shi Kefa had long since formed his plan, and said: "Rest assured. At present, on the Shandong front, only Liaocheng and Dezhou are strong cities. Of these, Dezhou is the gateway to Northern Zhili, and attempting to take it could trigger a decisive battle.

This subject's idea is to first feign an attack on Dezhou, drawing the main force of the eastern barbarians eastward, then fall back south of the Daqing River and seek an opportunity for a decisive battle."

Zhu Cilang nodded lightly. Shi Kefa's plan seemed simple, but it could greatly confuse the Qing army and powerfully support the advance of Zhu Cilang's central-route army on the Henan grand camp — breaching the Yellow River could only be done on the south bank; breaching the north bank would be flooding oneself. Therefore, so long as the Henan grand camp was taken or surrounded, the Yellow River crisis would be resolved.

He then looked at Gao Jie, Huang Degong, and Li Chengdong.

Gao Jie laughed: "This subject has no objections. Siege warfare is somewhat more difficult — we have no great cannon — but in field battle we are confident! Not counting the Liaodong Army, on the Shandong front alone we have 16 infantry regiments, 6 cavalry battalions, and 8 artillery batteries. Nothing can go wrong!"

Huang Degong also said: "Right, nothing can go wrong!"

Li Chengdong said: "The Jinzhou Long Wall is also utterly secure. If the eastern barbarians want to break through it, they will have to suffer thirty or fifty thousand casualties!"

Zhu Cilang smiled: "In that case, let the Shandong front move first! We shall first send a military envoy to Liaocheng. Tell that old ox grazing on young grass, Fan Wencheng, that We have prepared a ducal residence for him in Nanjing. If he is willing to submit to the Great Ming, he shall not lose the rank of commandery duke. If he remains obstinate, then it will be too late for regret!"

Zhu Cilang was not the sort of sovereign who could not tolerate a grain of sand in his eye; he was still willing to offer some benefits to buy off the upper ranks of the Tartar caitiffs, in exchange for a bloodless victory.

But what he could give to the line of the Pacifying-South King of the Plain Green Banner was only one commandery duke, a few marquises and counts. As for the others — apologies!

If everyone could preserve their original interests, then why would the Zhu Emperor be undertaking a northern expedition at all?

The envoy sent to urge surrender was Fan Wencheng's old acquaintance Zu Kefa, who entered Liaocheng carrying the dowry list of Princess Jianning — in theory, he had come to take receipt of Liaocheng!

Because his credentials were formally impeccable, and because he was an old acquaintance, Zu Kefa entered Liaocheng with ease. But when he saw Fan Wencheng, he was startled.

Fan Wencheng seemed to be ill, and quite seriously at that!

"Aiyo, Pacifying-South King, what has happened to you? You have wasted away to a shadow, and your complexion is poor. Though you are an old husband with a young wife, you still must not exert yourself like this! At your age, you are no longer what you were in your youth. When you get to Nanjing in the future, you must take care of yourself — do not go sewing wedding clothes for another man's bride!"

(End of Chapter)