Chapter 915: The Enemy Is at the Thousand Buddha Temple (Seeking Subscriptions)

Having arranged his own affairs, the last ruler of the Great Qing, the Shunzhi Emperor Fulin, with tears in his eyes, descended from the Meishan fortress accompanied by his trusted generals Sonin, Suksaha, Bumbulshan, Bayintu, and others.

Fulin's two thousand five hundred most trusted Manchu vanguard camp warriors had long since been mobilized, deploying a defensive cordon all along the foot of Meishan. The cordon began at Meishan, passed out through the Bei'an Gate, up Gulou Lower Street, turned onto Xiejie Street, turned again near the Desheng Gate barbican onto Babukou Alley, and finally stretched all the way to the Thousand Buddha Temple. Every five paces a sentry, every ten paces a picket — all Manchu warriors in full armor and fully armed.

Although the Manchu glory days were now past, no one could deny that these second- and third-generation Manchus still possessed formidable individual fighting prowess. In a long-street melee, even the finest Ming infantry might not be their match!

In addition to the elite troops arrayed along the streets, Suksaha, Bayintu, and Bumbulshan had also selected three hundred brave men to serve as Fulin's bodyguards, surrounding and protecting the Qing Emperor as he made his way to the Thousand Buddha Temple, which had been under heavy guard since early morning.

Precisely because the route from Fulin's descent to the Thousand Buddha Temple was so heavily guarded, Shang Kexi, Kong Tingxun, Shang Zhixin, and the others did not dare act rashly.

After all, there were still quite a few traitors in Beijing who were not on the "amnesty list" — men like Geng Zhongming, Shen Yongxing, Gang'atai, Fan Chengyin, Chen Jin, Ma Degong, Sun Youguang, and others, all of whom controlled portions of the army (apart from Geng Zhongming, the rest were all officers in the Beijing Guard Army under Suksaha's command). If Shang Kexi and Kong Tingxun acted rashly, a bloody battle would be unavoidable — and they might end up not catching Fulin but getting themselves killed instead.

So when Fulin descended the mountain to take command at the Thousand Buddha Temple, Shang Kexi used the imperial edict issued by Fulin to move troops out through the Anding Gate and form battle lines — needless to say, the troops marched out of the city were mostly those controlled by Geng Zhongming, Shen Yongxing, Gang'atai, Fan Chengyin, Chen Jin, Ma Degong, Sun Youguang, and the others. And of the two thousand five hundred vanguard camp cavalry directly under Fulin, two thousand riders, after completing their task of escorting Fulin into the Thousand Buddha Temple, would also march out of Beijing and be deployed separately below the five bastion forts.

The designated battlefield lay between the northern moat of Beijing and the northern earthen wall. The distance between the northern moat and the northern earthen wall was roughly six li — neither too wide nor too narrow, so not too many troops could be deployed there.

The Qing army had five bastion forts of varying sizes north of the city, all mounted with Hongyi cannons and Folangji cannons, which could provide covering fire for Qing troops sallying out to engage.

The Ming army opposite likewise relied on the crumbling remnants of the northern earthen wall (which was not a continuous wall but broken and collapsed in many places) to build multiple fortifications, also mounting cannons.

Thus both armies deployed on this battlefield had to face the enemy's elevated firepower, and both appeared quite patient, showing no eagerness for battle. After entering the field, they all began digging trenches, stacking sandbags, and constructing simple fieldworks.

Meanwhile, the artillery on both sides began firing shells, disrupting the enemy's deployment and fortification efforts.

The rumbling of cannon fire began to sound north of Beijing!

Boom, boom, boom—

By the time the muffled thunder of cannon fire reached the Thousand Buddha Temple, Fulin had already removed his bright-yellow armor and changed into a monk's robe, sitting upright on a meditation cushion while the monk Yulin Tongxiu, razor in hand, shaved his head!

Make no mistake — Fulin had not seen through the vanity of the world and decided to become a monk. He was disguising himself to flee. As long as the green hills remain, there is no fear of running out of firewood!

This escape had been planned single-handedly by Sonin, with preparations underway for months. Fulin's trusted men Songgotu, Nalan Mingzhu, Gao Sai, and others had already left Beijing with a portion of the most reliable warriors of the two Yellow Banners, carrying a great hoard of gold, silver, and treasures, and had found Fulin a rather reliable place of seclusion.

The secret tunnel out of the city had also long been dug, its entrance located within the Thousand Buddha Temple.

After exiting the city through the tunnel, they would move westward along the dry bed of the abandoned old moat (because five new bastion forts had been built outside the north wall, a new moat had been dug). At the junction of the old moat and the Long River (already blocked off), several fast boats had been prepared to receive them.

Sonin, Suksaha, Bumbulshan, Bayintu, and the others had all changed into monk's robes and shaved off their queues, each looking like a Shaolin warrior monk, carrying podao blades on their backs and gripping the divine weapons of the jianghu — flintlock pistols!

There were also several dozen fierce-looking big monks, each with a great blade on his back and a firearm in hand, looking very formidable. If there really were any masters in the jianghu, they certainly would not be able to beat these men.

At that moment, Yulin Tongxiu had put away his razor and pressed his palms together: "Your Majesty, the shaving is done."

"Do not call me Your Majesty anymore." Shunzhi sighed. "Give me a dharma name!"

"Your Majesty," Yulin Tongxiu said, "your name contains the character Fu. Perhaps keep it and change just one character?"

"Change one character?" Fulin asked. "Change it to what?"

"How about changing it to the character Te?" Yulin Tongxiu said. "You are no ordinary member of the Buddhist clergy, so the character Te is most fitting."

"Monk Fute?" Fulin thought for a moment. "Good! So be it." He glanced back at the crowd of monks. "From now on, do not call Us — call this poor monk Master Fute!"

Sharhuda, the deputy commander of the vanguard camp who had been leading the men guarding the Thousand Buddha Temple, hurried in at that moment. Seeing Fulin already disguised as a monk, his nose stung and he squeezed out a few tears.

"Sharhuda, what has happened?" Fulin had spotted him too.

"Your Majesty..." Sharhuda wiped his tears. "This slave has received secret word: Shang Zhixin and Shang Zhixiao gathered three thousand armored soldiers in the Desheng Gate barbican this morning — all trusted death-warriors of the Shang and Kong families. These three thousand men have not marched out of the city to form ranks; instead they have taken Xiejie Street and are heading toward Babukou!"

"What?" Fulin drew a sharp breath. "Are they going to—"

A clamor of noise, like ocean waves, came rolling in at that moment. Fulin held his breath and listened intently. Faintly, it seemed someone was shouting at the top of their lungs: "The enemy is at the Thousand Buddha Temple! The enemy is at the Thousand Buddha Temple—"

"They have rebelled!" Sonin tensed up at once. "Your Majesty, we must leave now!"

Sharhuda dropped to his knees with a thud: "Your Majesty, flee quickly! This slave will take men to hold them off for a while..."

Fulin sighed, pressed his palms together, and intoned a Buddhist invocation: "This poor monk's karmic ties with Beijing are at an end. Go — let us go. Sonin, lead the way! Suksaha, you are responsible for the rearguard!"

"Sharhuda, take care of yourself as well. Hold them for a moment, then make your escape!"

With that, Fulin followed Sonin toward the rear of a Buddha statue, where the entrance to the secret tunnel lay.

Suksaha took a torch from a "baturu monk" dressed exactly like himself!

Firewood and straw had long been piled inside and around every building in the Thousand Buddha Temple. Once lit, it would become a raging inferno...

By the time the great fire at the Thousand Buddha Temple blazed up, the three thousand armored soldiers commanded by Shang Zhixin and Shang Zhixiao had already, with artillery support, broken through the defenders Sharhuda had placed at Babukou — these Manchu warriors were no fools; they too knew the cause was lost, and now, seeing the Shang family troops turn coat, they naturally lost their will to fight. Before Sharhuda could even come out of the Thousand Buddha Temple to rally them, they had already scattered in all directions, no longer a formed unit.

Just as the two Shang brothers were beside themselves with joy, they saw the Thousand Buddha Temple catch fire.

"Big Brother, Big Brother! The Thousand Buddha Temple is on fire!"

Shang Zhixin, who was directing the assault, was startled by Shang Zhixiao's shout and quickly looked up. The moment he saw it, his face changed drastically.

The Thousand Buddha Temple was already engulfed in raging flames!

"How — how did it catch fire?"

"Big Brother, Fulin must have burned himself to death..."

"Th-this... what are we to do?" Shang Zhixin was somewhat stunned. Fulin, really — why did you have to die? Wouldn't it have been better to let yourself be captured alive? The Zhu Emperor was going to enfeoff you as Marquis of Wei!

Even if you wanted to die, you could have jumped from a building, hanged yourself, slit your throat, drunk poison, or cut your belly open... why did it have to be self-immolation? If the body is burned away, what is our family supposed to present to the Zhu Emperor?

(End of Chapter)