Chapter 856: The Yellow River's Waters Come Surging Over

In the seventh year of Great Ming Hongxing, on the eighth day of the first month, reports of victory from the eastern front had come flying in like snowflakes to the temporary palace on Yunlong Mountain in Xuzhou, where the Great Ming Emperor Zhu Cilang was sojourning. The Battle of Hejian had ended in complete triumph!

Faced with enemies at both front and rear, the Qing army on the Zhuangqiao Village—Guanyintang battlefield had no choice but to retreat in panic, even though they had already deployed their battle formation and begun engaging Ming forces equal in number and fighting strength.

There could be no worse retreat than this—for the side that had to flee, it was a nightmare! Especially since the Ming troops pursuing them moved very fast, and there were also more than a thousand of those extremely troublesome "black-gun mule soldiers" who could chase and hammer them relentlessly.

In order to get more troops back to Beijing, Wu Keshan and Baiyintu had no choice but to abandon from the very start the 2,000 Green Standard infantry who had marched out from Tianjin, and they seized the livestock belonging to those men. As a result, all 2,000 of them surrendered en masse to the pursuing Ming forces—and then even acted as guides, leading part of the pursuers along shortcuts to intercept the fleeing Qing troops.

These men were all natives of Hejian Prefecture, so they knew the terrain better than anyone. They also had local connections and could find grain, livestock, and civilian porters for the pursuing Ming army. At present, the whole of Northern Zhili had only three or four million people—so empty it was frightening! The common folk therefore had plenty of open land in which to hide from the ravages of war. Once fighting broke out between Ming and Qing, not a soul could be seen anywhere near the battlefields or the main roads. Only the local bosses of Hejian Prefecture could find the hidden commoners to come out and welcome the royal army.

With the support of the guides and the masses, the Ming pursuit naturally became sustained and vigorous. And although the Qing troops had a fair number of horses, they could not find enough fodder along their escape route to feed them, so the horses could not hold out for long.

In the ice and snow, with no horses, perhaps no rations either, and pursuers right behind them—if three or four thousand of the twenty thousand Qing troops managed to run back to Beijing, they would truly have to burn high incense in thanks...

While Shi Kefa's and Huang Degong's armies were comfortably pursuing the Qing troops and reaping the results, Gao Jie, who had made a detour through the territory of Dong'an and Wuqing counties, had also landed a big fish! His "black-gun mule soldiers" intercepted several imperial bodyguards on their way to Beijing to deliver an edict, and they also seized an imperial decree conferring upon Aisin Gioro Fuquan the title of Prince Yu, with joint command of the Two Yellow Banners. Fuquan was Shunzhi's only surviving son—his eldest, "Niuniu," had lived only eighty-nine days before dying. And Xuanye, who in history would become the Kangxi Emperor, was still in his mother's womb, not yet born.

But even if Xuanye were born, he probably would not get the chance to become emperor of the Great Qing, because the Qing now had an Imperial Uncle Dodo! And even if Dodo died in a couple of days, Dodo's legitimate son Doni could succeed as Imperial Younger Uncle—the Kangxi reign era probably would never come to pass...

Although it would be very hard for Shunzhi to pass the throne to his son, the position of banner lord of the Two Yellow Banners could indeed be passed to a son. So the Shunzhi Emperor, sensing that he might be about to die, issued an edict making Fuquan a Prince and "handing over" the Two Yellow Banners to him—nominally, of course. Fuquan was only a few months old and could not manage affairs at all; in practice, the ones making decisions were still Bumbutai and Mengguqing.

Unfortunately, this edict never made it to Beijing—it fell into Gao Jie's hands halfway there. This confirmed that the Shunzhi Emperor was in Tianjin!

Then what was there to be polite about? Hurry up and surround him—he must not be allowed to escape!

So Gao Jie stopped prowling between Beijing and Tianjin and instead advanced eastward with his entire army, tightly surrounding the Shunzhi Emperor in the Tianjin garrison. He then sent the captured edict and Shunzhi's bodyguards together to Yunlong Mountain in Xuzhou.

"Ajige, come over here and take a look—is this your brother Fulin's handwriting?"

Inside the temporary palace on Yunlong Mountain, Emperor Zhu was cheerfully beckoning to Princess Jianning. The little girl was now dressed in the attire of a Han maiden: a dark green short jacket embroidered with soaring phoenix patterns on top, and a leek-green floral gauze python skirt below. With her fair complexion, pretty face, and lively personality, she looked even more adorable. The little lass had been a bit timid when she entered Emperor Zhu's study—probably because she had failed yesterday's arithmetic exam again and feared the family discipline. The girl was a bit slow, especially fond of play, and not much inclined to study; Jin Dongzhu, who was in charge of teaching her, had no shortage of headaches.

Hearing Emperor Zhu's words, Princess Jianning let out a huge sigh of relief, then felt a small pang of disappointment... In the end she simply curtsied to Zhu Cilang, moved lightly with lotus steps to Emperor Zhu's side, took up an edict scroll, and unrolled it. It bore writing in both Manchu and Chinese. The Manchu script was fairly neat, but the Chinese characters were a bit like a dog's scratching—clearly the Shunzhi Emperor's own imperial hand.

Princess Jianning nodded and said, "It is the Emperor Brother's own hand... Is he making Fuquan the heir apparent? Has something happened to the Imperial Uncle?"

"Heh heh," Zhu Cilang laughed. "Dodo is perfectly fine! Fulin is making arrangements for his own death!"

Princess Jianning said in surprise, "Ah? Has the Emperor Brother contracted an incurable illness?"

"No—he has been trapped in the Tianjin garrison by Gao Jie!"

"Then what is to be done?" Princess Jianning looked somewhat worried.

Zhu Cilang smiled again and said, "Ajige, hurry and write a letter urging Fulin to surrender... For your sake, We will not make things difficult for him. As long as he is willing to surrender, We can make him Prince Gong, and give him double stipends—no, triple stipends—guaranteeing him a lifetime of wealth and honor."

Princess Jianning quickly curtsied to Emperor Zhu again. "This slave thanks His Majesty for his generous grace on Fulin's behalf."

"We are all one family!" Zhu Cilang waved a hand with a smile. "Hurry and write—write it right here... Can you write? Do you want Us to call Dongzhu to help you?"

Ajige said, "This slave can write."

"Good, good. Hurry and write."

Princess Jianning answered again, then pulled up a chair and sat down beside Emperor Zhu's desk, picked up the paper and brush that had long been prepared, and began to write.

She really could write—her small regular script in the "hairpin flower" style was neat and orderly, the phrasing was smooth and fluent, and there was not a single wrong character.

This Princess Jianning was evidently inclined toward the humanities; it was only arithmetic she could not manage.

"Well written!" Zhu Cilang said with a smile. "Ajige, you may go back for now... Once We are done with affairs, We will come find you and Dongzhu."

Finding them was, of course, for the matter of their studies...

After putting away the letter written in Ajige's own hand, Emperor Zhu had Li Yan and Prince Condé invited into his study.

The two men paid their respects, and as soon as they were seated, Zhu Cilang came straight to the point: "It is Fulin's own hand... He is inside the Tianjin garrison, trapped by Gao Jie!"

"Your Majesty," Condé asked, "if we capture this Mongol Great Khan, does that mean the war is won?"

"No," Zhu Cilang shook his head. "The Qing state now has two centers of power. The Imperial Uncle Dodo holds the greater authority. If Fulin falls into our hands, Dodo will become the common sovereign.

Strategist, is there any news of Dodo?"

"Not much," Li Yan shook his head. "The Liao Sea is frozen over now, and southern Liaoning is under martial law, so it is very hard for us to get intelligence from beyond the Pass... But one thing is certain: Dodo began mustering troops before the new year."

"Has he entered the Pass?" Zhu Cilang asked.

"Unknown." Li Yan shook his head again. "Our cavalry is only so much, and we cannot scatter it too thinly, so we cannot search the northeast of Northern Zhili. Besides, all of Northern Zhili is still sealed in ice and snow; the merchants are all holed up for the winter, the villages and stockades everywhere are shut tight, and there are many Mongol cavalrymen roaming about—our spies also find it very hard to move."

Dodo was no easy mark either. After entering Shanhai Pass, he had sent out cavalry to sweep the area around his main force and screen his own movements. Moreover, he deliberately avoided the battlefield around the Tianjin garrison and advanced along the southern foothills of the Yan Mountains, so the people at Yunlong Mountain did not know he had already led his army into the Pass.

Zhu Cilang thought for a moment. "We still must have Shi Kefa be careful... Prince, if it is convenient for you, could you go to Governor-General Shi Kefa's army and serve as his advisor?"

"No problem," Prince Condé said. "Your Majesty, do you need me to take the Tianjin garrison?"

"That..." Zhu Cilang thought it over. "It depends on the situation! Let us see whether we can smash Dodo's great army."