Chapter 132: Sniper Shot at Dorgon

A quarter of an hour later, Ajige saw from afar the Plain White Banner army, its ranks well-ordered and its banners bright and distinct.

At the very front of the army, a young man was being surrounded by the generals of the Plain White Banner, and on both sides of them were arrayed the elite white-armored Bayara of the Plain White Banner.

Ajige spurred his horse forward and called out: "Fourteenth Brother! You've come!"

The man addressed by Ajige as Fourteenth Brother was none other than Dorgon, banner master of the Plain White Banner and Prince Rui of the First Rank. At the age of eight, Dorgon had been appointed by the old slave Nurhaci as a beile of the first rank, deliberating on state affairs together with the Eight Great Beiles, and commanding the military strength of fifteen niru.

Now Dorgon was twenty-four years old, long since the second most powerful figure in the Qing, and though he looked young, he appeared extremely mature and steady.

"Twelfth Brother, welcome back in victory!" Dorgon looked at his own full brother, born of the same mother, and said with a smile.

Ajige looked at this Fourteenth Brother who still did not know the situation, and said with some tension in his heart: "Fourteenth Brother, Seventh Brother—Seventh Brother was killed by the barbarians!"

"What? Seventh Brother died in battle?" Dorgon said in surprise, and a look of grief gradually appeared on his face.

Seeing Dorgon suddenly become frighteningly quiet, the generals around him stepped forward one after another to console him. Dorgon waved his hand and listened expressionlessly to Ajige and the others' report of the battle.

Ajige gave a rough account of the events of entering the pass, especially how from Shunyi to Miyun, and then from Xincheng to the day before, the Yongwei Camp had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, along with several contingents of the Capital Camps, all extremely formidable, and every banner had suffered heavy casualties under their forces.

"A crown prince of the Ming leading a few barbarian armies frightened you into not daring to give battle, and you fled, abandoning all your treasure?" Dorgon stared wide-eyed at Ajige and said in a cold voice.

Ajige, feeling the sting of his reproach, also grew angry and said: "What was I supposed to do? So many of our Great Qing's warriors died at his hands. Wasn't I also thinking of our two white banners, us brothers? Why are you blaming me now?"

"Twelfth Brother, setting everything else aside, you actually abandoned the main force and left the pass on your own! Do you know what the consequences will be?" Dorgon was furious, and at the same time deeply disappointed in his own full brother.

Ajige was simple-minded, with not a shred of political sense, and did everything in a complete mess that made one angry. He had originally been a banner master, but had been stripped of it by Hong Taiji. And now he had gone and done something this stupid again—not only losing the spoils of war, but even getting Seventh Brother Abatai killed. Dorgon wished he could take a whip and hit him over the head a few times to make him a bit smarter.

The generals of the Plain White Banner stepped forward one after another to dissuade them, urging the brothers not to harm their harmony, and the two of them turned their heads aside in a sulk.

Just at this moment, Zhu Cilang led his cavalry army in pursuit all the way outside the pass. Seeing another force had arrived on the opposite side, he was somewhat surprised in his heart. He now had only these eight thousand cavalry by his side; the musketeers and the Tianxiong Army had not yet caught up, so he did not dare rashly launch an assault.

The Ming army's nearly ten thousand cavalry stretched out in a dark mass with no end in sight, leaving the Qing army unsure of how many more men were behind them, and they too did not dare rashly attack. And so the two sides faced off outside the pass.

"It's the crown prince of the Ming!" A Tartar general beside Ajige, seeing the dragon banner fluttering among the Ming army, could not help but cry out in fear.

The Qing soldiers who had just left the pass with Ajige and the others had already been scared out of their wits. If not for Dorgon and the several thousand elite troops of the Plain White Banner being present, they would probably have already started running.

Seeing Ajige and the other generals frightened into such a state, Dorgon was even more furious in his heart. He waved his hand to summon a Tartar general beside him and had him go forward to deliver a message.

A Qing general on the opposite side spurred his horse forward a few dozen paces and said: "Is that the crown prince of the Ming over there? My master is the banner master of the Great Qing's Plain White Banner, Prince Rui of the First Rank, Dorgon. He wishes to speak with you up close!"

"Dorgon?" Zhu Cilang had not expected to run into such a figure here. Though he had heard of Dorgon's great name, he felt not the slightest interest in this man who had even slept with his own sister-in-law.

Zhu Cilang glanced at Dorgon in the enemy formation across the way, and instead of answering the Qing general's words, said to Zhao Jinglin beside him: "Do you have the confidence to take out that Tartar Prince with the flashy armor?"

"The Prince?" Zhao Jinglin was startled at the words. He looked at Dorgon in the distance, and a look of longing appeared in his eyes. He said eagerly: "Let your subordinate try!"

Zhao Jinglin took down the rifled musket hanging from his body and began to load the bullet. After preparing everything, he rode his horse behind one of the cavalrymen, found a good concealed position, and tilted his head to begin aiming at Dorgon.

Zhao Jinglin took two deep breaths, stared at this number-two figure of the Tartars before him, and slowly squeezed the trigger.

With a crack, a janggin of a company beside Dorgon fell with the sound, and the generals and personal guards around him were all startled, hastily shielding Dorgon tightly.

Dorgon, however, was not flustered in the slightest, merely frowning slightly, somewhat surprised by the shamelessness of the Ming army. At the same time, he did not understand how the Ming army's muskets could shoot so far—this was fully two hundred paces away.

Ashan, the gushan ejen of the Plain Blue Banner who had been chased all the way like a stray dog by the Ming army, said: "Prince Rui, the Ming army's muskets shoot far and are deadly. The Imperial Son-in-law and the Beile Raoyu both died to their sneak attacks. Please be extremely careful!"

Dorgon's eyelid twitched, and his expression turned very unpleasant. He glanced at the Ming army, gave a light snort, and said in a cold voice: "Withdraw the troops!"

Seeing the Qing army retreat, a burst of cheers rose from the Ming cavalry. Zhu Cilang sighed and said: "Alas, what a pity!"

Zhao Jinglin, however, hung his head, feeling guilty in his heart while secretly fuming—such a good opportunity, and he had failed to seize it. Truly—

Huang Degong said in a booming voice: "Your Highness, part of the population and supplies have already been shipped out of the pass by the Tartars. Should we continue the pursuit?"

Zhu Cilang was also considering whether to wait for the main army behind to arrive and then charge out of the pass together, first rescuing the common people, then grabbing a haul of the Tartars' goods.

Sun Yingyuan immediately stopped him, saying: "Your Highness, we must not pursue any further. We are now in Tartar territory. Our army has pursued too fiercely, and the logistics and grain can no longer keep up. Even resupplying locally from Qian'an would take several days—there is simply no way to guarantee it."

Huang Degong shouted: "Then let's learn from the Tartars—sustain the war by war, plunder wherever we fight!"

Sun Yingyuan retorted: "This land was the land of our Great Ming not long ago, and in the future our Great Ming will certainly recover it. Using the Tartars' despicable methods—I cannot do it, and I believe Your Highness cannot do it either!"

Huang Degong was left speechless by his rebuttal. In terms of education, Sun Yingyuan was nine streets ahead of Huang Degong; in terms of reasoning, he was eighteen streets ahead.

Huang Degong did not argue with Sun Yingyuan. He respected reason over persons—as long as something benefited the state and the people, he could accept it.

After being silent for a while, Zhu Cilang finally spoke: "Pass the order—withdraw the army!"

Even if joining several contingents of troops could recover some land outside the pass, what then after recovery? How would it be held?

Not to mention that with the Great Ming's current strength it could not hold this land—even the several contingents would suffer considerable losses in recovering it. After all, outside the pass, the Tartars had cannons, while the Yongwei Camp did not.

Zhu Cilang gazed into the distance across this land, his eyes growing ever sharper. He said in a clear voice: "One day, I will lead a great army back outside the pass and personally take back the splendid rivers and mountains that belong to my Great Ming!"

Some readers feel it's not enough and ask for more chapters each day. I'd like to as well, but my abilities don't allow it—historical fiction isn't easy to write. I spend more time researching materials than typing, and I get stuck on the writing all the time.

This book has already reached three hundred thousand characters. Since the results are fairly good, I estimate there will be another two rounds of recommendations coming, so there's no rush to go paid.

Though I don't have much of a backlog saved up, please rest assured—no matter what happens, I won't stop updating, and I certainly won't abandon the book!

I'm doing so well, why would I cut myself off? Finally, please give me your recommendation tickets!