Chapter 844: The Manchu Zhuge Liang (Begging for Monthly Tickets)

The Mongol commander facing Xia Wanchun was a jasagh — the "governor" of a banner — named Borjigin Tsering, a warrior of the Setsen Khan tribe of Khalkha Mongolia and a son of Setsen Khan Sholoi, and of course a descendant of Genghis Khan!

He was a burly giant of a man who looked every inch a Genghis Khan, and mounted on a short-legged fine steed he appeared even more massive.

But this Tsering, for all his formidable looks, was no good at fighting — he had only studied scripture-chanting, never learned how to win battles.

Over in Khalkha Mongolia he was often bullied by thirty or fifty Cossacks, and later, because his father supported the Sonid chieftain Tengjisi, he followed his elder brother Benba with thirty thousand troops to fight Dodo — which of course ended in utter defeat, and he barely escaped being killed by Dodo! A while ago he again followed Benba south into the Ordos Loop, leading troops in a great battle on the Hanhai sands against Prince Dai, Zhu Cijiong's black-gun troops — needless to say, he was defeated again...

But losing so many battles had taught him a thing or two! So this Tsering had already seen that the Ming black-gun mule troops he now faced were on the same level as the Cossacks. Their fighting style was much the same — not much fond of shooting arrows, just fond of firing black guns and charging. The black guns could be fired mounted or dismounted, fierce and accurate! Their charges were ferocious too, and ordinary Mongol warriors simply could not withstand them.

A hundred-odd Cossacks on the grasslands and in the forests south of Lake Baikal counted as a whole army! Without several thousand Mongol warriors, no one dared take them head-on!

And Tsering had only 1,000 Mongol cavalry under his command — how could they defeat a hundred-odd Ming black-gun troops who were much the same as Cossacks? And these Ming black-gun troops most likely had reinforcements behind them!

So for now he did not dare order his men to charge, but instead reported the enemy situation back to Buba, Chakhundorji, Wangshuk, and the others commanding the main Mongol army to the rear, while continuing to keep watch.

Seeing over a thousand Mongols standing dumbly on the far bank of the river and not coming over, Xia Wanchun knew the Mongols were playing tricks! They must be trying to use his hundred-odd men to draw out the main force behind them!

"We'll fight as we withdraw!" Xia Wanchun summoned his three platoon leaders. "Niupai, all the bow cavalry are yours — you'll cover the rear. Old Li, the musketeers are yours — fall back three to five li first, then find a place to set an ambush. Zhao San, you bring the gun cavalry and follow me."

"Yes sir!"

The three platoon leaders answered as one, then withdrew in order — first to move were the black-gun cavalry, then the gun cavalry, and fewer than thirty bow cavalry covered the rear, retreating like a gust of wind.

Just as they withdrew, Tsering received 2,000 reinforcements, led by two of his brothers. Tsering's father, Setsen Khan Sholoi, was very good at producing sons — the jasaghs of all 23 banners under his command were Sholoi's sons.

This time Sholoi had sent his heir Buba, along with Tsering, Bater, and Batu Erdeni, leading 6,000 warriors of the Setsen Khan tribe into Northern Zhili. Now the three brothers Tsering, Bater, and Batu Erdeni had joined up.

Bater and Batu Erdeni also brought Tsering an exciting piece of good news.

"The Great Khan has already reached Tianjin!" Bater said to Tsering. "The Great Khan has issued an imperial decree ordering us to hold onto the southern barbarians who have penetrated into the Dacheng County area no matter what! As long as we hold them, the southern barbarians' Governor-General Shi Kefa will have to bring his great army north... and the moment he dares come, the Great Khan can annihilate him in one blow!"

The current battlefield lay within Dacheng County, Shuntian Prefecture. Tianjin was northeast of Dacheng County, a distance of 120 li between the two places.

And Shunzhi's move of leaving Beijing to take up position at Tianjin was an excellent one, because Tianjin was the unavoidable route for any Ming army marching north to attack Beijing — without taking Tianjin, the water route to Beijing could not be opened. And with the water route blocked, even feeding an army attacking Beijing would become a problem!

Moreover, Beijing had been rebuilt into a solid fortress, and could only be breached by bringing up large numbers of heavy siege cannon!

These large-caliber guns were enormously heavy, and transporting them overland was extremely difficult.

Besides blocking the throat of any Ming advance north, striking out from Tianjin also allowed a rapid envelopment of the Ming army's flank — it was only 400 li straight down from Tianjin to the Daqing River, a mere three or four days' hard ride for cavalry.

So Shunzhi's plan was to draw Shi Kefa's main force near Dacheng County, then send out elite cavalry to cut off Shi Kefa's line of retreat and turn him into a second Hong Chengchou.

And the elite cavalry in the mind of Shunzhi, this Great Khan of the Mongols, consisted of the Vanguard Battalion, the Elite Cavalry Battalion, the Firearms Battalion, and the Kheshig Battalion — over ten thousand men led by the Inner Ministers — plus fifteen thousand Mongol cavalry recruited from the Ju Ud League, where the six Khorchin banners were located. Counting only combat troops, the total was under twenty-six thousand.

In addition, five thousand combat troops of the infantry battalions at the Tianjin garrison had already been mobilized and could also march out with the Great Khan Shunzhi's picked troops.

As for the rest of the "Mongol iron cavalry" that Shunzhi had lured in, they were merely the sweet bait used to draw Shi Kefa in.

Shi Kefa had now moved to Wuqiao — the very place where the Wuqiao Mutiny had occurred. The once bustling county town was now desolate beyond recognition; before Shi Kefa's great army arrived, only a hundred-odd households remained in the town — in Jiangnan that would count as no more than a village.

A thatched-roof county yamen in "Wuqiao Village" now served as Governor-General Shi's field headquarters. He had been an official half his life, yet this was the first time he had ever seen a government office with a thatched roof... it really was an education!

But inside, the thatched yamen was quite warm — the windows had been boarded up, thick door curtains hung at the entrance, and a stove had been lit inside. It was very comfortable.

With the New Year approaching and the battlefield relatively quiet, Shi Kefa had been fairly idle these past two days. This morning he had handled a small amount of military affairs, and after lunch there was nothing to do, so he took out the notes he had made while attending the cram school in Nanjing and began leafing through them. He was just absorbed in reading when a sudden gust of cold air hit his face. Shi Kefa hurriedly looked up and saw Gao Jie and Huang Degong enter, one after the other.

These two great generals had originally been enemies. Huang Degong considered himself "first-line elite" and looked down on Gao Jie as a second-rater. And Gao Jie, because his wife had become Chongzhen's adopted daughter, considered himself imperial kin and likewise looked down on Huang Degong. But over the past few years both had served as second-raters under Emperor Zhu, their troops reformed again and again, and they themselves had gone to Nanjing for remedial classes and become cram-school classmates. During the graduation exam the two had even passed cheat notes to each other, which brought them much closer, and recently they had arranged a marriage between their children.

"Commander," Gao Jie, still as casual as ever, cupped his hands toward Shi Kefa — which counted as his salute — and then said, "Urgent report from Li Yuanbo: he's caught a big fish!"

Huang Degong was more proper, cupping his hands: "Your subordinate greets the Commander." Only then did he add, "Vice Regional Commander Li encountered tens of thousands of Mongol cavalry in the area between Dacheng County and Qing County, and is now engaged in fierce fighting."

"Tens of thousands of Mongols?" Shi Kefa was startled. "Li Yuanbo is surrounded?"

"No," Huang Degong shook his head. "The Mongols Vice Regional Commander Li encountered are very weak in combat — they should be nomadic Mongols from the steppe. Though they number in the tens of thousands, they still cannot hold 1,500 mule troops. So after meeting the enemy at Dacheng County, Vice Regional Commander Li fought as he withdrew and led them to Qing County. Qing County lies beside the canal and is a large county; the county town is intact and can easily be held."

Gao Jie said, "Governor-General, the opportunity is rare. We should break camp and march north at once, and fight a hard battle to teach these Mongols never to come rampaging into the Central Plains again!"

Shi Kefa thought for a moment. "Qing County is over 200 li from us, and only 120 li from Tianjin... will the eastern barbarians at Tianjin come south?"

"No need to fear," Huang Degong said. "The Imperial Son-in-law and I have 16 regiments, plus 2 more divisions available — over sixty thousand men in all. In addition, 800 mule troops and 4 artillery battalions can move out at any time. We need not fear losing."