Chapter 267: Reading the Enemy

While Hong Taiji in Shengjing was dispatching troops and preparing to march south, Hong Chengchou, far away in Jinzhou, received an urgent six-hundred-li dispatch from the Ministry of War. He immediately ordered the Yongwei Camp, which had already garrisoned Yizhou city, to withdraw completely, and the baggage camp along with the captured Han booi bondservants were to pack up all the supplies within the city and retreat together to Songshan.

The office compound of the Liaodong Governor in Jinzhou was heavily guarded inside and out, with fully armed armored soldiers visible everywhere.

In the inner hall, Hong Chengchou, Zu Dashou, Fang Yizao, Zhang Dou, Mao Yuanyi, Shen Shiyu, and others were conferring over the relevant documents sent by the Ministry of War.

Hong Chengchou, seated in the main position, spoke expressionlessly: "This court's formulation of the coming campaign concerns us all. If any of you have suggestions, speak freely. Should they prove of benefit, I will afterward report them to the relevant offices and credit you accordingly. If there are no other strategies, then we shall implement the plan set by the Ministry of War!"

Although Hong Chengchou did find merits in the Ministry of War's operational plan, he still felt somewhat disgruntled, having wanted to make a great showing in western Liaodong.

He knew the formulation of this strategy was certainly proposed and led by Yang Sichang—indeed, it was likely nothing more than the personal opinion of Yang Wenruo himself. His intent was simply to use the credit for devising the strategy to overpower Hong Chengchou, the Supreme Commander of Ji and Liao, once the imperial army won a great victory—seizing the primary credit for the campaign while also gaining the advantage in entering the Grand Secretariat.

The current Grand Secretaries were all over sixty years of age, and neither in ability nor official reputation did they measure up. It was said His Majesty had once declared he would hold a court nomination to add new Grand Secretaries, but because both the Left and Right Censors-in-Chief of the Court of Censors were in the provinces overseeing disaster relief for the refugees, the most weighty votes were lacking, so the matter had to be shelved for the time being.

His Majesty's intent in this proposal was very clear—he was preparing to bring the new generation he favored into the Grand Secretariat. Once they had spent a year or two familiarizing themselves with the procedures for handling various affairs, the original Grand Secretaries would certainly retire to make way for their juniors.

The Grand Secretariat of the Great Ming had an unwritten rule: the ranking of Grand Secretaries was determined by the order in which they entered the Secretariat, not by examination results, ability, or former position. This meant whoever entered first was most likely to become Chief Grand Secretary, while the others could only wait their turn in line. Moreover, if everyone was of similar age, unless something unexpected befell those ranked ahead, one could serve in the Grand Secretariat for twenty years and still never become Chief Grand Secretary. What was most galling was that Yang Sichang had just passed fifty—only a few years older than himself. If Yang entered the Grand Secretariat first, Hong Chengchou would never have a chance at the position of Chief Grand Secretary in his lifetime.

Hong Chengchou had privately pondered this: there were not many ministers who could catch His Majesty's eye at present. He himself was certainly among them. Lu Jiandou, Sun Baigu, and Chen Yuxuan—whether in seniority or ability—were all top choices; their entry into the Grand Secretariat was all but certain. The two Censors-in-Chief of the Court of Censors were somewhat older, and moreover they performed well in their own posts; His Majesty would likely add honors to their titles but would not let them enter the Grand Secretariat. As for the others, they could not even be compared with the aforementioned men—entry into the Grand Secretariat was impossible for them.

If not for Yang Wenruo, the future position of Chief Grand Secretary would very likely be his own.

"Does not His Excellency Hong find this Ministry of War strategy overly conservative? At present the imperial army is about to achieve an unprecedented great victory—this is precisely the time to press the advantage and advance. Why abandon territory and turn back, needlessly blunting the imperial army's momentum? Moreover, the dispatch also mentions that the main force of the Jianzhou barbarians is absent. Should they send troops to attack, their numbers would not exceed fifty thousand, nor would they be elite troops. At present the imperial army has twenty thousand elite soldiers of the Yongwei Camp, numerous cannons, tens of thousands of cavalry and infantry under the Junior Guardian, and another thirty thousand of the Capital Camps are en route beyond the passes. Calculated thus, the imperial army has reached nearly one hundred thousand. Since we outnumber the enemy severalfold, why not deploy in full formation between Yizhou and Jinzhou to strike the invading enemy hard—or even seek to surround and annihilate them?"

Fang Yizao's words broke the silence of the gathering and pulled Hong Chengchou back from his wandering thoughts into reality.

The Ministry of War's dispatch had not revealed Yang Sichang's ultimate design in full; it only laid out a general strategy for the immediate campaign. Hong Chengchou was the only one who knew the truth—even Zu Dashou was kept in the dark.

"What the Governor says has merit, but Zu here feels the court's strategy is quite workable. Though the imperial army has won a great victory this time, it was achieved against an enemy outnumbered by dozens of times. The fighting power of the Jianzhou barbarians cannot be underestimated. If they come in great numbers and the imperial army meets them in open-field battle, victory or defeat hangs at fifty-fifty—even a win would be a pyrrhic one. With our losses in men and officers, should their main force return, our army would likely lack the strength to press on and take Shengjing!"

Zu Dashou, who had rarely spoken, suddenly opened his mouth to refute Fang Yizao.

When he learned the court was again transferring the Capital Camps to the Jinzhou front, Zu Dashou had already understood Zhu Youjian's intent: gather all the capable imperial troops from within the passes at Jinzhou, and when the time was ripe, drive straight for Shengjing.

Zu Dashou had no objection whatsoever to this Ministry of War strategy of using Jinzhou as bait to lure the enemy into attacking—in fact, he welcomed it from the bottom of his heart. Because it meant the Jinzhou army only needed to stay behind the city walls and defend. No matter how brutal the fighting outside the walls, it had nothing to do with Jinzhou, and the Jinzhou army's strength would suffer no losses whatsoever.

He could not have wished for anything more than for the Jianzhou barbarians and the imperial army to fight each other to the death. If both sides suffered heavy losses, the imperial troops inside Jinzhou city could come out and pick up an easy windfall—strengthening their own power while watching the imperial army be consumed. Would the court not then continue to rely on his Zu family as before?

As for the court's plan to assemble a great army to attack Shengjing directly, Zu Dashou did not think highly of it.

Were the Jianzhou barbarians so easy to deal with? The Emperor and the grandees of the court were far too contemptuous of the Eight Banners' soldiers.

Though the Yongwei Camp had displayed the sharpness of their firearms and the ferocity of their soldiers in the battle to take Yizhou, had it not been for the Jinzhou cavalry shielding their flanks, and had the Jianzhou barbarians not been so few in number, the outcome would have been hard to predict.

If the Eight Banners troops numbered in the tens of thousands, neither the Yongwei Camp nor the Capital Camps would find it easy to gain any advantage.

Should the imperial army push northward in the future, on the vast and flat plains, the Mongol cavalry would not be pushovers. They would not meet you head-on; they would only harry you endlessly and cut off your grain supply lines. Given time, morale would waver, and then if a single Ming unit collapsed, it would spread through the entire army like a plague—the consequences of that would be too dreadful.

The discipline the Yongwei Camp had displayed was indeed most strict, but the various other Ming troops transferred in from within the passes were not necessarily all like that. Zu Dashou knew well the character of his many colleagues—the reputations of Zuo Liangyu, He Renlong, and others were none too good.

The Ministry of War's plan was very sound. The Jianzhou barbarians did not yet know that the elite Ming troops from within the passes had arrived; subconsciously they still believed the previous battle had been fought by the Jinzhou imperial army, and their mindset would be extremely relaxed. The Ming army's action of taking Yizhou without holding the city would reinforce the barbarians' misjudgment, leading them to believe the Ming offensive must have been launched for some particular reason, and that after taking their spoils they would obediently run back and hide in Jinzhou city.

Exploiting the Jianzhou barbarians' complacency, the imperial army, relying on the terrain advantages around Songshan, would very likely be able to inflict another heavy blow on the Eight Banners troops who came seeking revenge.

While Zu Dashou expressed admiration for the Ministry of War's strategy, inwardly he was also grumbling: since there were capable men like Hong Chengchou and Yang Sichang, why had they not been given important posts earlier? But now that such formidable figures had taken the stage, Hong Tai and his lot would likely find it hard to accomplish anything.

"Zhisheng, do you have anything more to say? How is the morale of the Yongwei Camp, from top to bottom? Though the previous battle was won, there were both gains and losses. Zhisheng has little experience on the battlefield, so some errors were unavoidable—this is an ordinary matter. But after the battle, you must have the officers and soldiers who fought recount in detail what they experienced and thought, so as to guard against repeating the same mistakes!"

Hong Chengchou said to Mao Yuanyi in a gentle tone.

Hong Chengchou, seasoned by long years of battle, had of course noticed that Mao Yuanyi's command during the Yizhou battle had its improprieties. This he also understood—what is learned from books is shallow after all. Though Mao Yuanyi's Records of Military Preparedness was indeed a monumental work on military affairs, a commander's on-the-spot reactions and decisions were even more important, and this could only be improved through participation in many battles.

"Reporting to the Supreme Commander: after the battle, this subordinate did convene the officers and soldiers who fought on several occasions to summarize the gains and losses, and afterward found it quite beneficial. It is easy to discuss warfare on paper, but hard to make decisions on the field. Fortunately, our army's advantage in this battle was enormous; had the numbers been equal, our losses would likely have been far heavier, and this subordinate would have become the Zhao Kuo of the Great Ming! Please rest assured, Supreme Commander—the entire Yongwei Camp burns with high fighting spirit, and morale has not been broken by this minor setback. In the coming battle, the Yongwei Camp shall turn shame into courage and not allow the Jianzhou barbarians to flaunt their might!"

Mao Yuanyi rose and clasped his hands in salute.

After experiencing the Yizhou battle, the combat losses of the Yongwei Camp had wiped away all the pride in Mao Yuanyi's heart. Only now did this man, who had once been arrogant of his talents, understand that the situation on the battlefield changed with every instant—a single small error in judgment by the commander could very well lead to total defeat. Keen observation and swift, correct decision-making were the essential qualities of an excellent general.

"Excellent! Since that is so, I hereby declare: the Ning-Jin cavalry shall send out scouts to reconnoiter the surrounding area. Jinzhou city shall be completely sealed from this day forward. The twenty thousand troops of the Jinzhou army shall devote themselves to defending the city, with the Junior Guardian Zu commanding from within. The Yongwei Camp shall move its encampment to Songshan, find favorable terrain to set up camp, and await the arrival of the Capital Camps. The Jianzhou barbarians should reach Jinzhou within fifteen days. When they do, I shall take my seat at Songshan and issue orders on how to meet the enemy based on their deployment!"