Chapter 886: Greasy Queues (Please Subscribe)

"Prince Jin, Grand Protector of Andong, Jin Dodo. Ha, that's settled then. Doni, get to work!"

Dodo had now finally decided to become Jin Dodo. A fine name — auspicious and festive. Dodo had already had his fortune told: his five elements lacked metal, which was why he kept getting poorer. Now that he had changed his surname to Jin and his given name to Dodo, he was certain to prosper.

"Ama, do we really have to cut it?" Doni held a dagger in his hand and looked at his own father, somewhat reluctant to bring himself to do it.

"Cut it!" Dodo glared at his son. "What are you dawdling for? We're cutting a queue, not cutting off a head."

It turned out that what Dodo wanted his son to help cut off was his own queue. The queue could not be kept! If he kept the queue, his head would have to move house.

Dodo added, "Besides, my queue is too greasy — it's always picking up dust. If I don't wash it every day it's a nuisance. Better to cut it off and be clean." Having said this, he looked around at the circle of Manchu generals. "What do you all say? Are your queues greasy or not?"

"Greasy! Like they've been smeared with lard."

"Better to cut them off — cut them off and be clean. This slave has wanted to cut his for ages!"

"Right, right. Dragging a queue behind the back of your head is too inconvenient — it's always snagging on things. Better to cut it!"

"His Highness speaks truly. This slave also thinks keeping the queue is no good."

Dodo smiled. "In that case, this Prince will go first. Doni, get to work!"

"Zhe!" Spurred on by everyone's words, Doni also felt that his own big queue was greasy — if it went a day without washing it smelled. Indeed, cutting it off would be cleaner. So he no longer hesitated. He walked behind Dodo, raised his hand, brought the blade down, and cut off Dodo's queue, leaving only a small tuft of hair loose and drooping at the back of his head.

"Haha." Dodo felt the back of his head. "Clean indeed. Good, good. Now it's your turn — one by one! Today everyone cuts off their queues. After cutting the queues, we change clothes. The Son of Heaven of the Great Ming has issued us clothes. From now on everyone will be in python robes and black gauze caps, and we must also speak Han Chinese. Can you all speak it? If not, hurry up and learn!"

Cutting queues, wearing Han clothing, and speaking Han Chinese — all three were to be inspected! The Duke for Perpetuating Sage would personally lead an inspection delegation beyond the Pass to check. Once the inspection was passed, Dodo could formally become Grand Protector of Andong and Prince Jin, and only then would he count as an inner vassal of the Great Ming.

If he failed the inspection, Shi Kefa would come to pacify Liaodong in five years. This was no joke! Right now Dodo simply could not produce enough money and grain to sustain a long-term war against the Great Ming. And fighting the Great Ming was too much of a losing proposition!

There was nothing to plunder at all, and he would instead be plundered in turn by those mule soldiers who fired from ambush. It was even possible that Ming troops would land from the sea to burn, kill, and pillage for three or five years — if they didn't beat Dodo to death, they could still make him die of poverty.

So after Oboi returned to Shenyang bearing the large pile of official robes, black gauze caps, and queue boxes (boxes for storing queues) bestowed by Zhu Cilang, Dodo said not another word and arranged today's collective queue-cutting and clothes-changing event.

In no time at all, a bunch of fellows who looked like Qing princes, dukes, and high officials had, with a shake of their bodies, transformed into Ming military officers.

Dodo looked over everyone's appearance, nodded with satisfaction, and opened his mouth in Han Chinese: "Good, good. You actually look a bit the part, damn it!

There's one more thing — everyone's Manchu surnames should be changed too! His Majesty has bestowed Han surnames on us all. Those surnamed Aisin Gioro have all changed to Jin. I am Jin Dodo."

"A fine name!"

"Pleasant to the ear!"

"Prosperous-looking."

"Certain to make a fortune!"

Everyone thought it was quite good and vied to praise it with thumbs up.

Jin Dodo then said to his son, "Doni, you are Jin Doni."

"Thank you, Ama, for bestowing the name." Doni was not very willing, but there was nothing he could do.

"Don't call me Ama," Jin Dodo said. "Call me Father!"

"Thank you, Father."

Jin Dodo continued, "Nikan, you are Jin Nikan. Yue Le, you are Jin Yuele. Bahana, you'll be called Jin Bahana — four characters? That doesn't seem to work!"

"Just call me Jin Ba," Bahana said. "Two characters, clean and neat, and easy to write."

"Good, then it's Jin Ba." Jin Dodo went on, "Oboi, your surname is Gūwalgiya — now you're Guan Oboi! Tantai, your surname is Šumuru — change it to Shu, so you're Shu Tantai. Leng Sengji, you're of the Nara clan, so you'll be Na Sengji. Tuhai, you're of the Magiya clan, so you're Ma Tuhai. Heluohui, you're of the Ši clan — what surname would be good?"

"Just use He. I'll still be He Luohui."

Jin Dodo nodded, and at last his eyes fell on Shang Ke'ai. "Ke'ai, you won't change. You'll keep the surname Shang."

"This slave obeys Your Highness." Shang Ke'ai paused, then asked, "Your Highness, are we truly giving up on Beijing?"

His elder brother and a great crowd of nephews (Shang Kexi was superbly prolific) were all in Beijing, so he had to ask, didn't he?

Jin Dodo shook his head and sighed. "There's no way to help them. Our cutting queues and changing clothes now is really just a stalling tactic. If we can use this bought time to pacify Joseon, we'll have the situation of the old Goguryeo, and we can continue to contend with the Great Ming. If we tried to save Beijing, wouldn't we have cut our queues and changed our clothes for nothing? And without the money, grain, and wealth of Joseon, how long could we hold out?"

Jin Dodo of course knew that Zhu Cilang would not let him off, but both sides needed to catch their breath. On Jin Dodo's side, he had to seize the time to recover his strength, while Zhu Cilang had to digest the territory already in hand and at the same time arrange the campaign to retake Beijing.

Of course, if Dodo jumped about too wildly, Zhu Cilang could also set Beijing aside for the moment and strike first at Jin Dodo beyond the Pass.

So he had to put on a good performance and act a bit more docile. If he wasn't docile enough, then instead of Shi Kefa they might send someone like Qian Qianyi — and that alone would be enough to make him sweat!

While Dodo and the others were hard at work performing, in Beijing, where Fulin resided, there arrived an unexpected visitor from afar — none other than Huang Shu, the man who had ruined Zuo Maodi and then gone over to Li Zicheng.

He had come all the way from Chongqing, bearing the order of the Shun Emperor Li Guo to summon Fulin to surrender!

The Great Qing was now gone, but the Shun was still lurking in the southwest! And in recent years the Shun dynasty had developed rather well. The Great Qing, to put it bluntly, was still a tribal regime — no matter how much Dorgon reformed it, it could not escape its foundation of Manchu supremacy.

The Shun dynasty was different. The Shun dynasty was the true rebirth of Huaxia — a new dynasty that had torn everything down and started over. At the beginning its footing had been unsteady and its foundations insufficient, and it had been given a savage beating by the Manchus. But after it recovered, it developed better and better.

In particular, after the Shun and Xi armies merged in Sichuan and began implementing the "Eight Princes Deliberative Council" and "land enclosure and equal-field distribution," it had gotten onto the right track, and its national strength was flourishing day by day.

Moreover, in recent years, taking advantage of the favorable situation of the Ming-Qing standoff, they had seized the time to recuperate in Sichuan and to replace native chieftains with regular officials in Yunnan. Not long before, the allied forces of the Ming and the feudal native chieftains in Yunnan had been utterly defeated by Li Dingguo. Mu Tianbo had led his remaining troops far away to Tibet to seek refuge with the Khoshut Khanate — they would pass through the Khoshut Khanate to reach Hexi, find Wu Sangui, and with Wu Sangui's help proceed to Nanjing. That long, roundabout journey had cost them dearly!

At the same time as they crushed the Ming and native chieftain forces in Yunnan, the Shun dynasty had also obtained Western firearms technology through the Burma trade route and hired Portuguese artisans (because Portugal had been annexed by Spain, the Portuguese colonists wandering abroad had lost their bearings and were easily made use of by feudal rulers of various countries). They had established Western-style arsenals in Kunming and Chongqing, producing high-quality turtledove-foot matchlocks and 3-pounder bronze cannons.

And on the basis of these improved weapons and equipment, the Shun army had also carried out corresponding tactical reforms. However, they did not copy the Ming army's methods outright — the Ming army's square-formation tactics used long pikes against cavalry and relied on muskets and cannons to deliver killing power, while neglecting close-combat capability. This was typical European fighting style, because on European battlefields both sides had very good shock cavalry, so foot soldiers armed with short weapons and shields were of little use.

The Shun army, however, now operated mainly in the mountainous southwest, where cavalry was of little use, so there was no need for large numbers of pikemen. In their place came sword-and-buckler troops equipped with javelins.

After completing this military reform, the Shun army's combat power in the southwestern mountains increased greatly. Not only did it defeat the Yunnan native chieftains and the Mu family's forces, it also seized a great deal of territory from the Ming army's two garrisons in western and eastern Sichuan.

But Li Guo, Li Laiheng, and the Eight Deliberative Princes below them all knew that once the Great Ming had completely wiped out the remnants of the Great Qing, the Shun's own crisis would be fast approaching!

(End of Chapter)