Chapter 894: The Great Qing Still Has Loyal Subjects! (Please Subscribe)

Column after column of Qing soldiers once again appeared on the streets of Beijing. The banners of the Great Qing had already been put away in Beijing for some time. But as more and more loyal remnants of the Great Qing poured into the city from Shanxi and Northern Zhili, green-helmeted, green-armored Qing soldiers with queues almost filled the entire capital, patrolling and standing guard on its streets. It gave people the illusion that a Qing revival was imminent! There was just one strange thing — why were all the Qing soldiers loitering on Beijing's streets wearing green helmets and green armor? Back when the Great Qing still ruled, the Qing soldiers on Beijing's streets had all been dressed in yellow!

Yet these sturdy men in green helmets and green armor, marching through the streets in perfect order, still exerted an astonishing pressure. And these green-armored elites had openly raised the banner of the Great Qing — a huge character "Qing" written on a white banner.

Tens of thousands of green-banner soldiers carrying the Great Qing's standard, led by their officers, marched back and forth along Beijing's main streets every day, while another portion went up onto the city walls of their own accord and took over the defense of the Beijing fortress. The reason it was said to be "of their own accord" was that Fulin, who lived within the palace city, had never issued an edict to restore the Great Qing.

Of course he wanted to restore the Great Qing, but the time was not yet ripe!

The Great Ming was at the height of its power, and the remnants of the Great Qing still had no common leader. Dodo beyond the pass was still playing the loyal subject of the Great Ming — he had not only ordered all the old Manchus, Solons, and Barhuts to adopt Han surnames, but had also cut their queues, changed their clothing, and spoken Chinese, putting on the appearance of a great fusion of all peoples.

This was plainly a refusal to oppose the Ming and restore the Qing!

Meanwhile Jirgalang and Chang'adai, entrenched in Datong, wanted to submit to the Great Ming, hand over Datong, and settle in the Tumed Plain — not seeking wealth or rank, only peace year after year, far from the battlefield, content to live out the rest of their lives in safety.

And within Beijing itself, quite a few genuine old Manchus of the Eight Banners were quietly slipping away, abandoning their Beijing household registrations and their courtyard houses inside the Second Ring Road. Some went beyond the pass to join Jin Dodo, while others simply went to Tianjin to submit to the Great Ming!

As for Fulin himself, he did not regard opposing the Ming and restoring the Qing as his present priority. The only reason he was still clinging to Beijing and refusing to leave was simple — he had nowhere to go!

He could not go to the Tumed Plain, and the territory beyond the Great Wall belonging to the Chahar Bordered Banner was equally out of the question. Could the remnants of Ligdan Khan love the Great Qing? Fulin did not dare believe it.

But Fulin believed even less that he could restore the Qing realm with Beijing alone!

His true purpose in holding Beijing was actually to use it as a bargaining chip to trade for a territory where he could settle in peace. If that failed, he could still surrender! Zhu Ama had said he would not kill him.

So Fulin did not want to completely tear off all pretense and raise the banner of the Great Qing. The problem was that the loyal remnants of the Great Qing were too many — far too many!

"Your Majesty! Please proclaim to the world and restore our Great Qing!"

"Your Majesty! The ancestral realm must not be lost in our hands!"

"Your Majesty! All under heaven long for our Great Qing!"

"Your Majesty! Please restore the Great Qing!"

Outside the Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City, the space was now packed with loyal remnants of the Great Qing, some in official hats with peacock feathers, some in green helmets and green armor — a vast black mass kneeling over a huge area, every one of them weeping and shouting for the restoration of the Great Qing. The old Manchu guards at the gate were dumbfounded!

What was going on?

Every day old Manchus were slipping out of Beijing to beyond the pass — most of them Manchus of the two Yellow Banners, many of them holding hereditary posts! They had a share in the Great Qing! If even they no longer loved the Great Qing, what were you green-hatted bastards making such a fuss about?

What business of yours is the Great Qing?

The old Manchus guarding the Meridian Gate were baffled, but inside the Meridian Gate, Fulin — who was receiving Shang Kexi, Geng Zhongming, Kong Tingxun, Sun Youguang, and Shen Yongxing, these leaders of the Qing loyal remnants, in the Hall of Heavenly Mandate — was not baffled in the least.

"Your Majesty, within Beijing there are still fifty thousand elite troops and over a hundred thousand loyal commoners, with grain enough to last two years. Beyond the pass the Imperial Uncle holds a hundred thousand troops, in Datong Prince Zheng holds thirty thousand, and the various Inner and Outer Mongol tribes have no fewer than a hundred thousand horse. All these men are loyal to Your Majesty and loyal to the Great Qing. They are only waiting for Your Majesty to ascend the heights and give one cry to restore the Great Qing, and they will stake their lives to follow!"

"Yes! Your Majesty, hesitate no longer!"

"Your Majesty, the opportunity must not be missed! The Shun state in the southwest has already begun its northern campaign. The Zhu Ming's rear is on fire. If we raise troops in Beijing, the Zhu Ming will be attacked from both front and rear!"

The words sounded wonderful, but Fulin felt a chill run down his spine.

Because he knew that the moment he agreed to these men's demand to restore the Great Qing, he would have one foot in the coffin.

Dodo, Jirgalang, and the leaders of the Southern and Northern Mongols were in no hurry to restore the Great Qing! They still had territory and good lives, and Zhu Cilang was not going to drag them off to be executed by slow slicing — so why would they make trouble?

The ones who truly had no way out now were Shang Kexi, Geng Zhongming, Kong Tingxun, Sun Youguang, and Shen Yongxing — these arch-traitors. Zhu Cilang would not spare them, so they had no choice but to fight.

Moreover, the lesser traitors who followed these arch-traitors had no good end either. Even if they surrendered, they would be sent to Taiwan or the Western Regions — a near-certain death either way!

Rather than sit and wait for death, better to make a grand, lively fight of it! Even if they died in the end, at least they would have made some noise!

Fulin did not dare openly refuse these arch-traitors. Most of the troops in Beijing capable of fighting were in their hands!

"This matter still requires the opinion of the Imperial Uncle." Fulin steeled himself and said, "The Imperial Uncle is presently gathering his forces beyond the pass. Once he is nearly ready, it will not be too late for us to raise the banner. By then the Zhu Ming army will have been stalled beneath the strong walls of Beijing for a long time. When their troops are worn and their soldiers weary, we will invite the Imperial Uncle to lead his elite troops in a killing strike. We will surely defeat the Zhu Ming and revive the Great Qing!"

"Your Majesty is sagacious!"

"Your Majesty is sagacious."

The traitors had finally heard a satisfactory answer. They spoke a few words of flattery and praise, then each withdrew. Fulin let out a long sigh and looked at Sonin, Suksaha, and Bumburshan beside him, along with Lang Bilong, who had come from beyond the pass — that was Ebilun. He was of the Niohuru clan, so he had changed his surname to Lang.

"Look at this — what is to be done?"

The old Manchus looked at one another, and for a moment none knew what to say. Only after a long while did Sonin speak.

"Your Majesty..."

Sonin wanted to offer Fulin some comfort, but received a glare from Fulin. "Call me Prince!"

He did not want to be emperor now. This emperor business was killing him!

"Prince," Sonin said, "this slave believes the troops' morale can be used!"

"Used?" Fulin snorted. "Used for what? They all want to put Us — no, put this prince — on the fire to roast!"

"Prince," Suksaha said, "among this slave's guards there are also many loyal remnants of the Great Qing."

The guards defending Beijing were also mostly traitors! There were no arch-traitors among them, but the vast, boundless wastelands of the Western Regions were waiting for them!

"What about the Vanguard Battalion cavalry?" Fulin asked.

Fulin no longer had a Valiant Cavalry Battalion. All the old Manchu cavalry — there were not many of them, in truth — had been reorganized into the Vanguard Battalion cavalry, that is, firearm cavalry, numbering only about 2,500 in total.

"Prince," Bumburshan said, "the brothers of the Vanguard Battalion can move out at any time — to escort the Prince in fighting his way out!"

"Where could We go?" Fulin asked.

"Prince," Lang Bilong said, "Prince Jin has had this slave prepare the traveling palace and fortress at the Mulan hunting grounds. If Beijing cannot be held, Your Highness may take temporary refuge at the Mulan hunting grounds."

Fulin remained silent.

Sonin said, "Prince, for now you must placate those people in Beijing. If they rise up, there is no telling how things will develop!"

Fulin snorted. "What more could happen?"

Sonin said, "If they have no way out, they can also leave us no way out!"

Fulin shuddered, and the expression on his face collapsed at once. What a mess this was. He, the Qing emperor, did not even want to restore the dynasty — so why were you traitors in such a hurry to restore it?

You loyal subjects of the Great Qing are far too meddlesome!

(End of Chapter)