Chapter 983: What the Ming Fears Most — a Garrison Rebellion? (Please Subscribe)

The door to Dodo's bedchamber opened, and in the dim light, Dodo, only forty-three years old, was not lying in bed but sitting in a round-backed armchair, wearing a cotton robe that looked too large for him. His gaunt, skin-and-bones face still carried an air of unassailable authority; the bearing of a king beyond the passes had not diminished in the slightest because of his illness.

If one were to ask who the lord of the Ming restoration within the Old Mountain Palace feared most, there could be no doubt: it was the man before him now, Dodo, sick unto death.

Although Dodo had lost the battle for the passes, he had preserved his strength. His kingdom beyond the passes still held two to three million people and could still field fifty or sixty thousand elite troops at a moment's notice. Add the horsemen of the Khorchin Mongols and the Juu Uda Mongols who had attached themselves to Dodo, plus the elite troops of the Kingdom of Joseon, and he might well be able to muster an army of over a hundred thousand!

Besides the considerable size of his army, Dodo's territory also possessed the two important "Pacific trade ports" of Vladivostok and Busanpo, and it produced precious furs and pearls.

The furs and eastern pearls produced between the white mountains and black waters were shipped by the Pacific route to New Spain, and from New Spain transshipped to Europe, where they could be exchanged for Dodo's army to obtain original-manufacture firearms, cannon, and gunpowder from the European continent! They could even bring Dodo military advisors from Spain and the German lands!

Thus the equipment, tactics, and training of Dodo's army were even better than those of the Qing heavenly troops of the same period in history!

If the Qing soldiers of history were to meet the present army beyond the passes, there is no doubt they would be strung up and soundly thrashed!

Of course, Dodo's army beyond the passes still lacked the strength to fight Zhu Cilang's new Ming army head-on — the new Ming army had already developed to the stage of transitioning from matchlocks to flintlocks (because firearms were still handmade, output could not compare with the industrial age, so the transition to flintlocks would take a fairly long time), and it also possessed the world's only wooden-fused explosive shells!

Nevertheless, this still fairly formidable army in Dodo's hands, combined with his other trump card, could give the Son of Heaven in Nanjing a very great headache.

That trump card was the vast territory beyond the passes!

Right now, no one could force Dodo to sign an unequal treaty ceding Outer Manchuria! With this new army of Dodo's, which had absorbed the advanced military technology of Spain and the German lands, not to mention the handful of Cossacks Russia had in Siberia being unable to defeat it, even if another twenty or thirty thousand "Santa Claus soldiers" were brought over from Moscow, they would be just as surely sent to their deaths.

Therefore, the territory beyond the passes in Dodo's hands included Outer Manchuria and Sakhalin Island, with a total area of two million four or five hundred thousand square kilometers!

Moreover, because of the existence of the Heilongjiang River Fleet and the Pacific Fleet, Dodo's hold on these two million four or five hundred thousand square kilometers was very solid indeed — troops stationed on the Khanka Lake plain could be rapidly and in large numbers transferred to the Heilongjiang front via the Ussuri River or the Pacific water route (the Tartar Strait).

Likewise, the troops on the Heilongjiang, including the Khorchin Mongol troops who had withdrawn to the Hulunbuir steppe, could also use the Heilongjiang–Ussuri water transport to move rapidly toward the Khanka Lake plain or Vladivostok.

And the army beyond the passes, with the Khanka Lake plain as its base, thus had ample strategic room to maneuver. It could very easily use a protracted war to deal with the Ming court's punitive expeditions.

Furthermore, this was the Little Ice Age! Once winter set in beyond the passes, it was all ice and snow, cold beyond description, and the Ming troops from the south simply could not adapt.

Therefore, as long as Dodo's army beyond the passes held its base on the Khanka Lake plain and relied on support from the Heilongjiang direction, it could drag the war into winter no matter what.

It was precisely because Dodo was not easy to deal with that, after defeating the Qing dynasty within the passes, the Ming had not pursued victory beyond the passes, but had halted before Shanhai Pass. Even when Dodo marched into Joseon, the Ming had chosen to let the matter rest and acknowledged the replacement of the Yi with the Kim in Joseon.

Zhu Cilang's "appeasement" was of course not out of fear of Dodo, but because he needed time to digest the fruits of victory from the war that destroyed the Qing. The vast lands of Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, and western Shandong needed time to be sorted out and distributed; the long-neglected Yellow River dikes needed major repairs; the silted canal channels needed dredging; the depressed commercial cities needed reviving; the Beijing citadel needed restoration; and the four garrisons of Daning, Beiping, Anbei, and Shuofang needed time to be put in order. In addition, two Mongol vassal states had to be established north of the Gobi. A whole heap of troublesome matters, all of which had to be paid for with real gold and silver!

Moreover, in order to enter the New World, he had clashed with Spain, and had also joined forces with France and England to bite that Philip IV who thought himself king of the earth.

Therefore, he could only leave Dodo to one side. If the Zhu Emperor could choose Dodo's lifespan, he would very much like Dodo to live another eight or ten years. Because as long as Dodo did not die, the Andong Protectorate would have no problem of succession and partition — the Protectorate was an internal vassal garrison, not an external vassal state. According to the Ming's laws on internal vassals, unless granted special imperial permission, the lord of an internal vassal garrison could not hold office for long or make it hereditary.

And Zhu Cilang had never agreed to hereditary succession for the leader of the Andong garrison; he had only graciously permitted Dodo to hold Andong for an extended term — the Andong garrison covered more than two million five hundred thousand square kilometers! And it occupied the fertile Northeast and Outer Manchuria. How could Zhu Cilang possibly allow the Andong garrison to practice hereditary succession like the Anxi garrison?

Dodo could not be compared with Wu Sangui! Wu Sangui was Wu Sanmei's second brother; the Wu military house was the foremost imperial in-law family of the Ming, and also the leader of the Liao clique of the new army. What was Dodo? He was an enemy of the Ming!

Therefore, allowing Wu Sangui to hold Anxi hereditarily was beneficial to the Ming's stability and unity — Anxi was so poor, and it bordered Central Asia under Islamic rule. The Wu military house's rule in Anxi was utterly dependent on the central dynasty, and there was no possibility of it seeking independence.

The Andong garrison was different. Two and a half million square kilometers of fertile land — if it were left outside the central government's control for several generations, it would be strange if it did not seek independence. Among the Ming's ten great garrisons — Andong, Beiting, Anxi, Hexi, Anbei, Shuofang, Beiping, Daning, Jin'ou, and Jinghai — the most likely to seek independence was Andong, followed by Beiting; the other eight garrisons actually could not manage to rebel.

And the Ming court itself already had plans to split the Beiting garrison into the Dzungar Khanate and the Beiting garrison, but toward the Andong garrison there was no room for any concession whatsoever.

Therefore, while Dodo lived, Zhu Cilang only feared and guarded against him; but the moment Dodo died, the Zhu Emperor would have to face a garrison rebellion that would give him a splitting headache!

"Doni, Oboi, both of you, sit!"

Doni and Oboi entered Dodo's bedchamber together. Oboi had already paid his respects to Dodo earlier, and Dodo had told him to wait outside for Doni; after Doni returned, they were to come in together — because Dodo's energy was now very poor, and he needed to conserve it.

Seeing Doni and Oboi finish their salutations and sit respectfully on the embroidered stools, Dodo sighed softly and said: "It is all Heaven's will. I had thought I could shield you from wind and rain, but I did not expect Heaven to take me now!"

"My Prince..."

"Ama..."

Dodo waved a hand, cutting off their sentimental words, then continued: "These past days I have finally understood — Heaven not only wants to take me, Dodo, it is also making trouble for Zhu Cilang!

Because as long as I do not die, the present state of the Andong Protectorate can be maintained! That is also the situation the Zhu family most wants to see. As long as I do not die, whether there is war or not rests in the Zhu family's hands.

But once I die, the initiative for war or peace passes into your hands! Zhu Cilang cannot tolerate hereditary succession in the Andong garrison. Doni, you are only twenty-one this year; once you inherit the Grand Protectorship, it would be for a long, long time! How could Zhu Cilang tolerate the land beyond the passes remaining in our family's hands for another few decades? So he will certainly make trouble over the question of succession in the Andong garrison!

If you refuse to accept it, then it will be a garrison rebellion! I think the Ming of today perhaps fears nothing more than a garrison rebellion! Ten great garrisons! If one cannot be settled, the remaining nine will all entertain thoughts of carving out their own domains. If he keeps appeasing them, the Ming of the future will be the Tang! And right now he is fighting Spain, and opening war in Mongolia, and wants to interfere in the troubles in Japan, and still has to go to the rescue in Siam — he is extremely busy! Do you know what to do?"

(End of Chapter)