Chapter 116: Go Have a Talk with the Tartars

The news that Ming troops were massing at Tongzhou reached Abatai at Pinggu and Ajige at Baodi, putting both men on edge for quite a while as they hurriedly strengthened the defenses of Pinggu and Baodi.

But after waiting several days, they discovered the Ming army hadn't made a move at all, and in the end even dispersed — which left the Tartars furious, feeling they'd been played for fools!

On the thirtieth day of the eighth month, Abatai personally led an army of twenty thousand out of Pinggu, intending to take Tongzhou and kill the Ming Crown Prince to win himself a great merit.

Upon receiving the news, Zhu Cilang led the Yongwei Camp, the Shenji Camp, and the Shenshu Camp — the Three Great Camps — out of Tongzhou, ordering Meng Ruhu to defend Tongzhou to the death and not let a single Tartar step inside the city.

Along the way, Huang Degong couldn't help asking: "Your Highness, why are we withdrawing from Tongzhou? With our army's strength, even if the Tartars have twenty thousand men, taking Tongzhou should be impossible for them, shouldn't it?"

Zhu Cilang smiled faintly and said: "Those other units I've all sent to guard the cities — the only ones fit to fight are our Three Great Camps. So what if we hold Tongzhou? What I want is Tartar heads. Only by beating them until they hurt and crippling them will they dare not launch another brazen large-scale attack on our Great Ming!"

Zhu Cilang continued: "Tongzhou's geographic position is very important. If Tongzhou is besieged, the capital is sure to be thrown into turmoil, and someone in court might well stab us in the back! If we withdraw from Tongzhou and the Tartars keep besieging it, we can harvest heads from behind them. And if the Tartars don't attack, then hasn't the crisis resolved itself?"

All the generals said: "Your Highness is wise!"

The Three Great Camps continued heading south. Before long, a Longxiang Night Scout came to report that Abatai had given up attacking Tongzhou and was leading his main force, changing direction to chase after them.

Zhu Cilang chuckled and said: "So he's after me after all!"

"Your Highness, let's form up right here and wait for them — show these Tartars what we're made of!" The generals stirred into a clamor, all begging to fight.

Zhu Cilang asked the Night Scout: "Roughly how many cavalry do the Tartars have?"

"Over ten thousand cavalry!"

"Withdraw to Xincheng!" Zhu Cilang immediately ordered a retreat to Xincheng — with over ten thousand cavalry, how the hell could they fight?

The terrain from Tongzhou to Xincheng was all flat, which gave cavalry an enormous advantage — ten thousand horsemen could charge back and forth against tens of thousands of infantry, and a few waves would send the infantry collapsing.

Not to mention the Yongwei Camp's thousand-odd cavalry — even the Shenshu Camp's five thousand cavalry had been worn down to fewer than four thousand in previous battles, and their combat power simply couldn't compare with Tartar cavalry.

The Shenji Camp had plenty of cannons, and powerful ones at that, and the Yongwei Camp's firearms were formidable too — but Zhu Cilang didn't dare take the risk. With so many Tartar cavalry, if they truly clashed head-on, his odds of losing control were higher.

When Zhu Cilang led the main army into Xincheng, the area before the city gate was already packed with people. Led by Xincheng County Magistrate Ren Guangyu, the common folk cheered and welcomed them in a double line along the road.

The people were grateful to the Crown Prince for saving their lives and had also come to call Xincheng "Thousand-Year City." Now that the Crown Prince had arrived with his army, the people of Xincheng were beside themselves with excitement.

After the main army entered Xincheng, Zhu Cilang discovered that the new Xincheng had taken on a fresh radiance — shops stood in rows, and the streets were clean.

Once, a force of a thousand Qing soldiers had tried to take Xincheng, only to flee after leaving several hundred corpses behind — they hadn't even pried loose a single clod of Thousand-Year mud.

The people of Xincheng were no longer the gaunt, sallow refugees of years past. Now their lives had clearly improved, and food and clothing were no longer a problem.

The main crop of Xincheng's people was now sweet potatoes. Cuttings were planted from late June, ripening by late September or early October, with an expected yield of around two thousand jin per mu — more than ten times the output of ordinary grain.

Sweet potatoes had been introduced with tremendous effort by Chen Zhenlong, a man from Changle, Fujian, who had been doing business in Luzon (the Philippines) during the Wanli reign. Xu Guangqi had promoted them and summarized the "Thirteen Superiorities of the Sweet Potato" for publicity: First, one mu yields several dozen shi; second, its color is white and its taste sweet, and among all the crops grown in various soils it is uniquely outstanding.

In other words, sweet potato yields had nearly multiplied tenfold compared to rice and wheat. Land that could once support one person could now, planted with sweet potatoes, support ten people.

According to local gazetteer records, during the Wanli and Tianqi reigns of the Ming dynasty, the Provincial Administration Commissions of Shaanxi, Henan, South Zhili, Shandong, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, and Yunnan had already widely planted corn and sweet potatoes.

Sweet potatoes had the advantages of drought tolerance, strong disease resistance, strong pest resistance, and high yields. Their drawback was that they didn't taste as good as rice or wheat flour — especially the bloating and acid reflux that came after eating red sweet potatoes — so the common folk weren't very enthusiastic about planting them.

Most of Xincheng's people had previously been refugees. As long as they could eat their fill, who cared about acid reflux or bloating? Hearing the Crown Prince say this crop would fill their bellies when planted, the people all began vying to plant it, waiting for the great harvest to come.

The moment he entered Xincheng, Zhu Cilang issued orders for the three camps to prepare for battle. Adding the New Camp, that made four camps of troops, over twenty thousand men in total! But Zhu Cilang still had no intention of going out of the city for open-field battle.

The New Camp's thirteen thousand men had been in training for less than three months. Although they'd been drilled into decent shape in every respect, Zhu Cilang still wasn't reassured about sending them into battle — after all, they'd never seen blood, and without veteran soldiers leading them through real combat, a rash fight would bring enormous casualties. Better to let them defend the city first and see blood that way.

An hour later, Zhu Cilang — who was being entertained at the county office by Xincheng County Magistrate Ren Guangyu — received word that a Tartar vanguard army of ten thousand had arrived at the city walls.

"That fast?" Zhu Cilang was somewhat surprised.

Though surprised at the Tartars' speed, he was in no hurry at all. After summoning Sun Yingyuan and whispering a few words in his ear, he went back to eating and drinking at a leisurely pace.

Abatai's second son, Bohetuo, was serving as vanguard general for this operation. Leading an army of ten thousand, he had already encircled Xincheng on three sides, leaving only the east gate open — if the Ming army tried to flee east, the tens of thousands of Qing troops at Baodi would sweep up and cut them off, heh heh heh.

Bohetuo wasn't in a hurry to start the assault. After two straight days of marching, his backside was sore from sitting — he needed to catch his breath before fighting.

Sun Yingyuan came to the city wall and saw the sea of black-clad Tartar soldiers below. He felt somewhat anxious — Xincheng's defenses had only just begun, and if the Tartars attacked now, his losses would be heavy.

After thinking it over briefly, Sun Yingyuan decided to send out two daring officers, in the capacity of envoys, to the Qing army camp to have a talk with Bohetuo.

Seeing the Ming army send two men to negotiate, Bohetuo was baffled. I've already surrounded the city — what the hell is there to talk about? Either fight or surrender!

Though these two officers sent to negotiate were only Battalion Commanders, they were dressed in flashy finery and claimed to be Assistant Regional Commanders. The two men were not only bold but exceptionally good at spinning tales. Playing off each other, they showed off their silver tongues and dropped some startling revelations that made Bohetuo's expression shift.

"You're saying the Ming Crown Prince was scared to tears inside the city?" Bohetuo's heart delighted as he raised an eyebrow.

Bohetuo had previously seen the Ming Crown Prince shy away from battle and flee south all the way — he was somewhat inclined to believe these two big talkers, mainly because they spoke so pleasantly!

The two big talkers nodded vigorously, their acting superb, even claiming the Crown Prince was willing to present a letter of surrender, and that the city held a million in gold and silver to be sent along with it.

Bohetuo was somewhat moved. Subduing the enemy without fighting was something only outstanding generals could achieve — and now it had fallen into his lap? This was going to be a great merit!

The Ming Crown Prince really was just a child, easily frightened! Bohetuo sneered inwardly. He personally wrote a letter of summons to surrender and, following protocol, had the two big talkers of the Yongwei Camp carry it back.

The letter's wording was severe, exuding a strange confidence throughout, demanding that the Ming Crown Prince surrender quickly to spare the people from suffering.

After reading the letter, Zhu Cilang merely smiled faintly, then handed it to one of the big talkers whose face he found agreeable, saying: "Take this to wipe your ass with!"

After the banquet ended, Zhu Cilang, in high spirits, had County Magistrate Ren Guangyu lead him on a tour of Xincheng, treating that idiot Bohetuo and his ten thousand Qing soldiers as if they didn't exist.

After carefully reviewing Xincheng's development, Zhu Cilang couldn't help showing an appreciative expression. Ren Guangyu was capable — he'd governed Xincheng so well and hadn't let down his expectations.

Ren Guangyu was deeply moved as well. He never imagined that when he'd fled the famine back then, he'd flee his way into becoming a County Magistrate. He owed his rise to the Crown Prince's recognition, and besides, Xincheng was his home — how could he not put his all into governing it well?

Zhu Cilang made a circuit of Xincheng and then reviewed the New Camp. The New Camp was in excellent shape — all carefully selected fine prospects who weren't afraid of hardship in training.

This time, choosing to set the battlefield near Xincheng was mainly to temper the New Camp. A sword he himself had forged — it was time to draw it from the sheath and let its edge shine!

Ever since he'd sent the two big talkers back with the letter, Bohetuo had ordered his army to lift the encirclement, preparing to welcome the Ming Crown Prince's surrender outside the city.

But the Ming army didn't surrender all afternoon. Come evening, still no surrender. Finally, by the next day — still no surrender!

Bohetuo gazed at the city walls of Xincheng from afar and saw the Ming army strengthening their defensive works, hauling cannons up onto the walls.

"What's the meaning of this?" Bohetuo was dumbfounded. Weren't they supposed to surrender? Why were they strengthening their defenses instead? Even hauling cannons up there?

Puzzled, Bohetuo sent two envoys to Xincheng to discuss the surrender — but the two Qing envoys couldn't even get through the city gate. They could only stand beneath the wall howling dryly, demanding the defenders inside open the gates and surrender at once.

The Ming soldiers on the city wall kept right on installing cannons, paying them no mind at all. Occasionally a soldier would spit down at them by way of reply.

Bohetuo sent another envoy, along with a letter, making it all very formal — but Sun Yingyuan wouldn't even glance at it. He stood atop the wall and bellowed down at the Qing troops below: "If you want to fight, fight! If not, get lost! What's all this nonsense! Cowards!"

"Your mother's!"

Only at this moment did Bohetuo realize he'd been played! He ordered his army to prepare for an immediate assault and kill these barbarians dead!