Chapter 885: Cut Down All the Crooked-Necked Trees! (Seeking Subscriptions)

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, good news! Good news!"

The man being called "Your Majesty" was Jin Fulin. He was no longer openly the emperor, but inside Beijing, the people under him still called him Your Majesty. Fulin did not stop them from calling him that carelessly. It sounded pleasant to his ears — if he could hear it one more day, then one more day it was!

As for Zhu Cilang's punitive expedition, he no longer cared either, because after all the reports from every quarter were gathered together, they all pointed to one reality: the war between him and the Great Ming was not over yet!

Because he could not give up Beijing, and Tumed was even less a place he could go. The land and water of Tumed were far worse than the area around Beijing, not even comparable to the Bashang grasslands north of the Yan Mountains. If he truly went there, it would simply be a fate of slowly starving to death.

Moreover, Guihua City, because of the destruction wrought by the Qing army in earlier years, was already ruined beyond repair and fundamentally impossible to defend. Around Tumed there were also no natural defenses to rely on, making it easy to fall prey to harassment from Prince Dai, Zhu Cijiong, and the surrounding Mongol tribes.

Especially that Prince Dai, Zhu Cijiong — under his command were many Datong soldiers who hated the Qing to the marrow of their bones. Once Fulin moved west to Tumed, he would almost certainly be attacked by Zhu Cijiong's forces, and then Guihua would become a second Datong.

So after weighing the matter again and again, Fulin and his ministers all concluded that not surrendering Beijing was the more advantageous course.

And inside Beijing, Fulin was not entirely without cards to play. He still had a strong city to rely on, still had a great army to use, and still had years of accumulated military grain to eat — thinking of that grain, Fulin could not help but feel tears welling up. That was all the legacy Dorgon had left behind. It was what Dorgon had saved through frugality during the five-year truce — nearly three million shi of flour, millet, and soybeans in all! That grain was enough to feed the soldiers defending the city and their families for several years!

Truly, in this world only Ama is good — though that Ama of Zhu Cilang's doesn't count!

Fulin simply did not believe that the Zhu Emperor truly had the ability to keep an army of tens of thousands to a hundred thousand men camped beneath the walls of Beijing for years on end!

Although the Wei River water route had been opened up by the Ming army, and the Tianjin garrison had become the Ming army's grain stockpile, the section of the canal from Tianjin to Beijing had many places silted up and damaged, and without repairs it would be hard to put to great use. So the Ming army's cost of transporting grain was still not low. If the army doing the eating numbered as many as a hundred thousand, plus the livestock, plus the civilian laborers doing the transporting, it would all be an enormous drain no matter how one reckoned it.

Besides the strong city of Beijing, in the autumn of the seventh year of Hongxing, Fulin gained yet another trump card: the hearts of all the traitors under heaven had turned to him.

The Zhu Emperor's punishment of Fan Wencheng, Sun Sike, Li Shuaitai, Xu Dingguo, Geng Jimao, and the other arch-traitors had been too harsh — to the point of savagery. Although it had cowed the hearts of the people of the Central Plain, it also had a side effect: it made the arch-traitors who had not yet fallen into Ming hands sink into despair and terror.

In truth, the Zhu Emperor did this not entirely out of hatred for traitors. If he truly hated traitors that much, why was Zu Dashou still perfectly fine? Zhu Cilang used cruel punishments on the arch-traitors also to kill the chicken to warn the monkey — to overawe the people's hearts!

The Central Plain, from the early Chongzhen years until now, had seen war year after year, with soldiers and bandits running rampant, and the common people had been forced to fortify their villages for self-protection. Local strongmen had thus risen in response to the times.

And the backbone of these strongmen had, for the most part, taken part in all manner of struggles against the rule of the Great Ming — any strongman who truly and firmly supported the Ming would have long since run off south to become a meritorious official.

So for Zhu Cilang to rapidly establish local government in the Central Plain, survey the land, and use a portion of the land to reward meritorious officials and soldiers would very likely provoke these petty strongmen. If he could not appear a bit savage now, and things truly erupted into chaos, the trouble would be even greater.

And the contradictions that arose around the land of the Central Plain at the same time drove a batch of lesser traitors to rally around Fulin, this "Emperor Within the Second Ring Road."

Therefore, the good news reaching Fulin's ears these days had grown more and more numerous.

Fulin, who was standing atop the Meishan fortress staring blankly at a crooked old locust tree that had once appeared in his nightmares, turned his head at the sound. The visitor was the "Junior Scholar" Sonin.

Fulin was no longer emperor, so the people under him naturally all had to be demoted. Sonin, a perfectly grand Grand Secretary, had been changed to "Junior Scholar," commonly called the Little Scholar — it sounded a bit like a degree awarded upon graduating from elementary school.

"Sonin," Fulin put away his heavy thoughts and showed a faint smile, "who else has come to Beijing to throw in their lot with us?"

"Shang Kexi has come!" Sonin said. "He has brought fifteen thousand elite troops and more than fifty thousand family members, marching over from Shanxi. He has also brought several hundred thousand jin of Xiezhou salt, tens of thousands of shi of Shanxi millet, and tens of thousands of large livestock."

Because Shang Kexi had chosen the correct side at the Battle of Jieshi Mountain, he had been enfeoffed in Pingyang Prefecture, and thus lay outside the first wave of Ming strikes. But seeing the fate of Geng Jimao and Fan Wencheng, he did not dare remain in Pingyang any longer, and instead led his troops in flight to Beijing to throw in his lot with Fulin.

"Good, good!" Fulin laughed. "Another fifteen thousand elite troops — our confidence in holding Beijing has grown by a few more parts."

"There is more!" Sonin went on. "Geng Zhongming and Kong Tingxun have also come from Datong with some of their old troops. The two men's forces combined number over a thousand. Although they are all older veterans, every one of them has been through the killing fields and bears a blood-deep grudge against the Ming."

Geng Zhongming and Kong Tingxun had chosen the wrong side at the Battle of Jieshi Mountain, and so had lost their princely titles. But Dodo had not killed them either; instead he handed them over to Jirgalang to be kept under watch. The enthroned Geng Jimao and Fan Wencheng then sent some older veterans to Datong Prefecture to guard them.

"Truly loyal subjects!" Fulin nodded. "Though the name of our Great Qing no longer exists, so long as there are loyal subjects such as these, it will surely be able to rise again! Is there any news from the grasslands? When can Jirgalang and Chang Adai arrive?"

Compared with the three arch-traitors Shang Kexi, Geng Zhongming, and Kong Tingxun, Fulin hoped even more for the support of the old Manchus and the grassland Mongols.

Because he needed the cavalry of the old Manchus and the grassland Mongols to raid and harass the Ming army's rear, and he also could not simply hole up in the isolated city of Beijing — otherwise, no matter how much grain Dorgon had left behind, there would come a day when it was all eaten.

Someone had to hold the strongpoints in the Yan Mountains near Beijing — places like Huailai Garrison, Yanqing Prefecture, Juyong Pass, Bohai Post, Chaohe Post, and Baiyang Pass — in order to disperse the Ming army's strength.

At the same time, it would make it easier for Fulin to break out and escape when Beijing's walls were breached.

"There is no news from the grasslands for the time being." Sonin's face, which had just been brimming with delight, had already stiffened somewhat. "As for Jirgalang and Chang Adai, they have sent men to deliver memorials."

As he spoke, two envelopes were already in Sonin's hands.

When Fulin saw the envelopes, his expression darkened at once.

These were not memorials!

"We will not read them!" Fulin said. "You speak!"

"Chang Adai says he will lead the elite troops of Taiyuan Prefecture to garrison Xuanfu, to serve as a strong reinforcement for Beijing." Sonin said. "Jirgalang says that with him defending Datong Prefecture, it can be as solid as a golden fortress. In addition, he has sent men to Tumed to repair the city walls and recruit and pacify the populace, in preparation for Your Majesty's relocation there."

"Outrageous!" Fulin's face turned ashen. "That old fox Jirgalang wants to go to Tumed himself to take refuge, doesn't he?"

In truth, Jirgalang and Chang Adai no longer had much strength left. They had both sent elite troops to support Dodo and fought the Battle of Deshengdian, and all had suffered heavy losses.

Sonin said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, this slave has heard some rumors."

"Speak!"

"If Your Majesty does not go to Guihua, the Ming Emperor will enfeoff Jirgalang as Duke of Guihua and Pacification Commissioner of Tumed."

"Jirgalang deserves death ten thousand times over!" Fulin's voice trembled, his eyes blazing. He raised his head and looked west — whether or not he hoped to see Jirgalang's face from a thousand li away, in the end he did not see Jirgalang, but instead saw a crooked old locust tree.

"Someone come!" Fulin shouted.

Sonin was frightened on the spot and dropped to his knees with a thud before Fulin. "You must not! Your Majesty, now is not the time to punish Jirgalang."

Fulin glared at Sonin. "Who said anything about punishing Jirgalang?" He raised his hand and pointed at the crooked old locust tree. "Quickly, find men to cut down all the crooked-necked trees on Meishan for Us!"

(End of Chapter)