Chapter 128: Pursuing the Qing Army

After Cao Huachun brought the victory report to the capital, the Chongzhen Emperor and the Grand Secretariat found it hard to believe. The recent great victories at Shunyi, Huairou, and Miyun, with a total of fourteen thousand enemy heads taken, had already been astonishing enough.

Yet in less than a few days, another great victory at Xincheng arrived—eighteen thousand enemy heads, and even the killing of a Jianzhou barbarian efu, the son-in-law of the old slave Nurhaci? This was a bit hard to swallow. Many ministers even began to suspect that the Crown Prince was killing innocent people to claim credit.

The next day, when large numbers of severed heads were transported into the capital, only then did everyone believe it—the Ming army had won a great victory! The entire capital was immediately thrown into uproar!

Chongzhen ordered the ten thousand or so heads to continue being piled onto the skull mound before the Western Market for the capital's populace to view. In recent days, the Western Market had become the busiest place in the city, with commoners squeezing and shoving just to catch a glimpse of that spectacular giant mound of skulls.

The Imperial Ming Times ran a special feature, and all newsstands were surrounded by crowds. Even teahouses and taverns had storytellers stationed there, letting their imaginations run wild as they breathlessly narrated the various battles, describing them so vividly it was as if they had experienced it all personally.

All the officials displayed their dazzling literary talents, and congratulatory memorials piled up before Chongzhen's dragon desk like falling snow, keeping the Emperor grinning from ear to ear every day.

At each morning court session, officials would from time to time deliver flowery rhetoric praising Chongzhen, likening him to a sage ruler under whose leadership the Great Ming would be revitalized. The Crown Prince's faction also took the opportunity to sing praises of the Crown Prince.

Only Wen Tiren and other members of the Wen clique wore displeased expressions. Riding on the Crown Prince's rising prestige, this Crown Prince faction increasingly disregarded him, the Chief Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat. At several court sessions, people had openly contradicted him to his face.

In the Grand Secretariat's signing office within the Wenyuan Pavilion, Wen Tiren paced back and forth alone, his expression sour, muttering to himself: "If this continues, the third voice in the court will grow louder and louder."

Seizing a moment when the Chongzhen Emperor was in high spirits, Wen Tiren submitted a memorial: "Your Majesty, according to frontline reports, the barbarian rebels have already withdrawn their troops and are preparing to leave the passes. Would it not be fitting to have the Crown Prince bring his army back to the capital?"

Chongzhen nodded and immediately declared the capital's martial law lifted. His mood was buoyant—the Jianzhou barbarians had finally been driven off, and with heavy losses at that.

Just as Chongzhen was about to announce that Zhu Cilang should return his army to court, he instead received a memorial from the front urgently requesting grain supplies from the court. According to the memorial, Zhu Cilang had already led the main army past Yutian, and requested that the Ministry of Revenue deliver the follow-up grain supplies to Yutian within five days.

"The Crown Prince is pursuing the Jianzhou barbarians?"

The assembled ministers erupted in clamor. Even Wen Tiren felt somewhat exasperated—why did this Crown Prince love fighting so much? He had already rendered monumental service; what more did he want?

In his memorial, Zhu Cilang stated his intention to teach the Jianzhou barbarians a profound lesson and to recover the abducted commoners and the Great Ming's resources.

On the second day after the Tianxiong Army arrived at Xincheng, just as the heavy rain ceased, Zhu Cilang led the Yongwei Camp, the New Camp, the Shenshu Camp, and the Tianxiong Army—twenty-four thousand men in total—carrying only ten days of dry rations, on a forced march toward Lengkou.

He planned to inflict heavy damage on the Qing army before it could leave the passes, recovering the people and resources. Because the route was long and the terrain complex, unfavorable for hauling cannons, the Shenji Camp would not participate in this operation and was responsible for holding Xincheng.

Wang Wannian was deeply dejected, but on reflection, the Shenji Camp had already earned plenty of battle merits. With this round of rewards for service, he was bound to get himself a Vice Regional Commander post at the very least, and perhaps even a Commissioner-in-Chief position in the Five Armies Commissioner-in-Chief Office.

The Qing army passed through Zunhua and Qianxi, with its elite troops in front and the captured population and supplies slowly trailing behind. The defenders of the two prefectures merely followed at a distance behind the Qing army, not daring to approach, pursue, or harass.

Seeing the Ming army fear the Qing like tigers, Ajige's mood—previously dampened by his losses—immediately brightened. He ordered music to be played, held high a wooden placard reading "Officials Need Not See Us Off," and had the captured Ming women dressed in gaudy finery lined up in the rear of the army.

Liu Jingyao, the Yongping military supervisor, was enraged by this insolence. He personally led the Yongping garrison out of the city for a night raid, killing over two hundred Qing soldiers at Zaohe Village in Qian'an.

The garrison troops of Santun Camp in Zunhua had been following the Qing army the whole way, also hoping to launch a sneak attack, but they fell into an ambush set by Ashan, gusha ejen of the Plain Blue Banner responsible for the Qing rearguard, and were wiped out to the last man.

On the eighth day of the ninth month, Zhu Cilang led over ten thousand cavalry and caught up with the main Qing force preparing to leave the passes at Qian'an. Scouts at the rear of the Qing formation spotted a large body of Ming troops pursuing. Ashan attempted to repeat his trick, leading three thousand Qing soldiers of the rearguard to lie in ambush near Hongshan, planning to catch the Ming army off guard and buy time for the front formations to exit the passes.

Every move of the Qing army was already under the surveillance of the Longxianging Night Scouts and the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Ashan's ambushing force was instead enveloped by the Ming army—caught in a trap of their own making. Apart from a few who escaped, nearly the entire force was annihilated.

Ashan fled back to the main force with a few riders in utter disgrace. This ambush had yielded nothing—no gains, not even a nuisance caused—and had cost nearly three thousand men. He hung his head in despair, too dejected even to cry.

Abatai had long expected this outcome and did not blame Ashan, knowing full well how fearsome this Ming army was. Ajige, however, was not so easygoing as Abatai and prepared to deal with Ashan according to military law.

Ashan was, after all, a man of the Plain Blue Banner. Abatai pleaded for him repeatedly, offering to lead his own troops as the rearguard as the condition for Ajige to spare Ashan. Ajige finally agreed with a cheerful laugh, leading his two White Banner forces with the captured population, supplies, and baggage out through the passes first.

Lengkou Pass was narrow and elongated in terrain, unable to accommodate many troops passing through at once. The Qing army had captured one hundred eighty thousand Ming people and livestock, and with grain, fodder, and other supplies added on top, they could only drag their long column through slowly—it would take at least two to three days to fully exit the passes.

Ajige had long been scheming how to slip away first, and the Ashan incident provided the perfect opportunity for his plan to succeed. Still, Ajige showed some consideration for his seventh brother, deliberately leaving behind the surrendered Ming general Chao Pichang and two thousand surrendered troops to help Abatai cover the rear.

Chao Pichang, the former Regional Commander of Changping, had lived a miserable life since surrendering. Because he was too cowardly, the Qing troops always looked down on him and treated him like a dog. Of the five thousand men who had originally followed him in surrender, more than half had already run away.

When he heard that his master intended to leave him behind to cover the rear, Chao Pichang was scared half to death. He had thought that once he left the passes he would finally live a good life, but never expected to be used as cannon fodder instead.

Abatai ordered the main army to set up camp at Jianchang, focusing on defense to block the pursuing Ming army. As for the arrangement of Chao Pichang, he was naturally and unceremoniously placed in the first echelon of cannon fodder.

After annihilating the Qing ambush force, Zhu Cilang had the army rest nearby, waiting for the trailing infantry to arrive. Having marched three hundred li continuously over muddy roads, the several camps of troops were thoroughly exhausted.

In this campaign, the Yongwei Camp dispatched over five thousand men, the New Camp eleven thousand, the Shenshu Camp over three thousand, and the Tianxiong Army five thousand. Among them, the cavalry of the various camps totaled ten thousand. After receiving concrete intelligence on the Qing army yesterday, the cavalry was tasked with pursuing the Qing forces first.

By the next day, the Ming army's follow-up infantry began arriving in succession. Zhu Cilang ordered another period of rest, then began preparing to launch the final attack on the Qing army.