Chapter 898: The Western Expedition Army Goes East (Seeking Subscriptions)

In the great hall of the Shenyang Pacification Protectorate, the civil and military officials of the Protectorate system all wore black gauze hats and round-collared rank-badge robes. Although these officials wore Ming dynasty caps and robes, their inner allegiance was still to the Great Qing — and they were not the later generation of fussy, pedigreed Qing descendants, but that founding generation of rough, uncouth warriors who did not bother to hide their thoughts too carefully. So now every one of them wore a worried frown and sighed in lament.

Because these loyal remnants of the Great Qing, whose hearts were filled with the Great Qing, had just received a piece of excellent news — the Great Qing had been restored!

The restoration of the Great Qing was of course good news for them. The two hundred thousand Ming troops stationed at Tianjin now had somewhere to go, and would not threaten the lands beyond Shanhai Pass for the time being.

And their master Dodo could take the chance to stir about a bit, send troops to Joseon and make a big haul, and make up the deficit left by last year's expedition into the passes.

As for Beijing — it could certainly hold out for a year!

And after the fighting at Beijing was over, the Ming army would surely need several months to rest and regroup; attacking beyond the passes would be a matter for the ninth or tenth year of Hongxing.

By then, Dodo's side should have recovered some strength. They could not win in a fight, but they could stall and sue for peace; as long as they could drag things out, they could always get a decent result in the end.

In truth, when the Heaven-Mandated Great Khan first rose up, he had never thought of unifying the whole realm. If he could be enfeoffed as a king and extort a bit of annual tribute from the Great Ming, he would have been satisfied.

So the Qing remnants who had followed Dodo out of the passes were now set on the idea of carving out a corner of territory and living a modest life; none of them was willing to go back through Shanhai Pass to throw their lives away.

But the problem was that Prince Dodo had put out word yesterday, saying that today he wanted to discuss with everyone the matter of forming a Western Expedition Army!

A western expedition!

If everyone remembered correctly, Beijing lay to the west.

Was this meant to imitate the Liao dynasty's method of striking Emperor Taizong of Song?

But Emperor Taizong of Song did not have black-gun mule troops, long-gun foreign-horse troops, nor forty-eight-pound siege cannons, nor the Three Oceans Navy (the Northern Ocean, Eastern Ocean, and Southern Ocean)!

And back then the Khitan heartland guard corps was far more numerous than the old Manchu population beyond the passes today!

Right now, beyond the passes, at the very most there were only twenty thousand able-bodied old Manchu men. Never mind a defeat — even winning two or three battles would use them all up.

If the old Manchu elite were gone — whatever Beijing looks like inside now, that is what Shenyang will look like in the future!

According to news brought by the Eight Banners bannermen newly fled from Beijing, things inside Beijing now were outrageous: princes everywhere underfoot, dukes and marquises as common as dogs; a hereditary general was too embarrassed to even mention his rank! If the people in this very hall went to Beijing, except for the few who held princely titles, everyone else would be a damn head shorter than whoever they met.

And most of those princes, dukes, and marquises in Beijing were Han traitors, all forced upon the Shunzhi Emperor. This was no restoration of the Great Qing — it was simply the restoration of the Great Han of Emperor Xian of Han from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

"His Highness the Prince arrives!"

While the loyal remnants of the Great Qing were sighing one after another, Dodo arrived, still dressed in a Ming prince's python robe. Nikan and Yolo exchanged a glance, and Yolo said, "Everyone stand properly. We still perform Ming rites."

The crowd of civil and military officials buzzed and bustled back to their places. After a flurry of commotion, they finally formed ranks. When Dodo came out, everyone knelt and kowtowed, offering greetings in Chinese.

Dodo gave his assembled commanders a faint smile and swept his gaze over them one by one. Then he unhurriedly seated himself on the princely throne. "All rise. I have called you all to the princely residence today for no other matter than to discuss the formation of the Western Expedition Army. It has been nearly a year since we returned from within the passes. We have rested long enough, have we not? Once this year's spring planting is done, can we muster the troops again?"

At Dodo's words, everyone's faces fell.

Dodo's army was mostly a fusion of soldier and farmer. At first glance it seemed fine — it saved money and prevented the army from becoming excessively corrupt. But fighting and farming were two things that would ultimately conflict. How much did fighting and training delay farm work?

If the army always won victories, with rich plunder, or if the campaigns were not long, then everyone could bear it.

But once they suffered heavy losses and a long war, the farmer-soldiers could not endure it — men dying on one hand, farm work neglected on the other, and if they could not get sufficient subsidies from the state or their lord, then they had no stomach for fighting.

Now the Great Qing had just been restored, and the Prince wanted to muster troops — and had even spoken of forming a Western Expedition Army. It was plain as day: he meant to go to Beijing and support the Qing Emperor!

The area around Beijing had been looted several times over and was nearly all barren ground. Even a victory would yield little profit, and the two hundred thousand troops of Shi Kefa and Yan Yingyuan were not so easily defeated.

Even if they defeated those two hundred thousand Ming troops, how many of their own would die?

Seeing his subordinate commanders all with drooping faces, Dodo knew what was on their minds, and laughed. "What? All afraid of the Zhu family's soldiers?"

"My Prince," Nikan took up the subject, his face full of worry, "I will not hide it from you — the men below truly are afraid!

And this slave is afraid too! There are not many old Manchu left. At the very most, those truly able to take the field number twenty thousand. And the Han men cannot serve well as cavalry — they are all old farmers who till the soil, every household with so much land to manage that they have no time to train. In close combat or in firing guns, they are no match for the Ming army, and as for riding horses, do not even hope for it! Without the old Manchu to hold the line, we are finished."

The Ming army's new troops were all "997" professional soldiers, in camp all four seasons, drilling two or three times a day. As long as training was kept strict, their fighting strength was certainly greater than Dodo's old farmers!

And Dodo's farmer-soldiers were not numerous enough either. The total population beyond the passes was under three million, and the able-bodied men that could be raised — one hundred fifty or sixty thousand — was the absolute limit. Several tens of thousands had already been killed or wounded, so now at the very most there were one hundred ten or twenty thousand. Add the old Manchu, the Solon and Barhu people, and the men of a few Mongol tribal leagues allied to Dodo, and it came to one hundred fifty or sixty thousand — still fewer than the men of Shi Kefa and Yan Yingyuan.

Moreover, the Ming army was not limited to the Tianjin route alone. In the Tumed Plain there was the great army of the Prince of Dai and the Ordos tribe, and in Shanxi there was the great army led by Wu Guoyong and the Prince of Tang.

Add all the various armies together, and if not four hundred thousand, then at least three hundred fifty thousand! With Dodo's little capital, never mind losing — even if you won, how many times could you win?

"Ha ha ha!" Dodo looked at his subordinates, each showing fear on his face, and suddenly burst into loud laughter. "Do you think this prince is a fool? Would this prince really lead troops into the passes to fight the Ming army head-on? How many sons of the land beyond the passes do we have? How could we possibly fight like that?"

Nikan said in confusion, "My Prince, but you just said we were to form a Western Expedition Army!"

"You, Nikan, are too honest," Dodo said with a laugh. "Is 'Western Expedition Army' not just a name? Does calling it the Western Expedition Army mean it must strike west? Then if you gave it the name 'Ever-Victorious Army,' would it be guaranteed to win every battle?"

Nikan suddenly understood. "My Prince, then where is our Western Expedition Army to go?"

Dodo laughed. "Make a noise in the west, and strike in the east! The Western Expedition Army is of course going east!"

"East — that is Joseon?"

Dodo nodded. "Correct! It is Joseon! Joseon is weak, but when we can fight a clever battle, there is no need to fight head-on. Since this prince returned east, the kingdom of Joseon has cut off all contact with us, and has been drilling troops on a large scale under the pretext of defending against Japanese pirates — clearly intending to catch this prince off guard. So this prince will now give them a taste of their own medicine! We will muster troops under the name of a western expedition, then suddenly raid Joseon's northern border. At the same time, I will order Oboi to command the naval forces, disguised as Japanese pirates, to land at Guryongpo and strike at Joseon's rear.

Attacked suddenly on both its northern and southern fronts, the kingdom of Joseon will surely panic and fall into chaos, and within a few months it will be destroyed. And the Great Ming's heavenly troops are tied down by our Great Qing's Emperor, with no leisure to look east for a year or two. By the time they free their hands, this prince will long since be the ruler of Joseon!

Gentlemen, what do you think of this prince's plan? Fighting Joseon — you should not be afraid of that, should you?"

The atmosphere below immediately exploded. The worried looks on the faces of the Manchu commanders were swept clean away, and they began discussing animatedly, brows dancing with delight.

"Fighting Joseon — of course we are not afraid! The Prince is sagacious!"

"The Prince is brilliant — truly brilliant!"

"Once we take Joseon, we will at least have a Goguryeo-like situation. Then we need not fear the Great Ming!"

(End of Chapter)