Chapter 137: Two Traitors: One Civil, One Military

Kong Youde was originally a miner in Tieling, completely illiterate. He first followed Mao Wenlong, the Regional Commander of Pidao, and after Mao Wenlong was executed by Yuan Chonghuan, he defected to Sun Yuanhua, the Governor of Denglai—also the father of Sun Heding—who was then the Regional Commander of the Ming Dynasty's firearm forces.

Kong Youde learned a great deal about firearms under Sun Yuanhua. Later, after instigating the Wuqiao Mutiny, he took the firearm force that Sun Yuanhua had painstakingly built and defected to Hong Taiji, where he was now enfeoffed as the Obedient Prince.

The capital Kong Youde relied on to be enfeoffed as a prince was that firearm force in his hands—the only qualified artillery unit in the Ming Dynasty at the time. It contained a large number of well-trained gunners, and not only had Western instructors, but the precision range-finding they used was also a secret method that ordinary artillerymen had no qualification to learn.

It was because of Kong Youde's existence that the Manchu Qing gained the ability to cast red barbarian cannons themselves, and gradually began to surpass the Ming in the number of cannons. In the historical Battle of Song-Jin, the Qing army's cannon count had already exceeded that of the Ming.

Kong Youde's firearm force not only had numerous cannons and excellent gunners, but even their muskets were all of fine quality, with no danger of bursting.

These were all fine firearms that Sun Yuanhua had spent a fortune to produce back then. If he knew this little bastard had defected to the Qing, Old Sun's coffin lid would definitely not be able to hold him down.

Hearing Hong Taiji's question, Kong Youde bowed and said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, the muskets used by my Ujen Cooha can break iron armor at fifty paces, and at a hundred paces they are still lethal against unarmored soldiers. As for what the gushan ejen said about Ming troops being able to break three layers of heavy armor within eighty paces—I do not believe it!"

Kong Youde thought to himself: I've only defected to the Qing for a few years—has the Ming really changed that much? Breaking three layers of heavy armor within eighty paces? What bullshit! This is practically an insult to my Ujen Cooha!

In fact, Kong Youde did not know that although his Ujen Cooha firearm force was strong, it was only formidable in terms of cannons. As for muskets, even the two thousand matchlock Rumi muskets of the Ming troops in Jinzhou could shoot farther than theirs.

More than ten years had passed, and the muskets Sun Yuanhua had spent a fortune to produce were already outdated and obsolete. Only the cannons were not too badly affected and could still be used.

Hong Taiji nodded, deeply trusting Kong Youde's words, and said: "If I were to have you, my dear minister, do battle with that Yongwei Camp that uses firearms, would you be confident?"

Kong Youde laughed heartily: "My Ujen Cooha is unmatched among the Han army! If that Yongwei Camp were to encounter us, they would surely be reduced to ashes!"

Although Kong Youde's words were arrogant, they secretly contained flattery—being unmatched among the Han army meant he could not compare to the Manchu soldiers, did it not? Everyone present was shrewd; even someone as dim-witted as Hooge understood the implication and was even satisfied in his heart.

Hong Taiji burst into loud laughter and said: "Since firearms are so formidable, I intend to expand the Eight Banner Han Army from the original two banners to eight banners, devoted exclusively to training with firearms. What do you think?"

The moment these seemingly casual words left his mouth, the entire court erupted like a boiling pot, especially the Manchu ministers, who all stepped forward to speak, declaring outright that it could not be done.

Everyone understood how formidable firearms were. If these barbarians who had defected over were allowed to master this great killing weapon, what if they rebelled?

Hong Taiji said without changing his expression: "Firearms must be trained, that is certain. If you are unwilling to have the Han army practice them, then train with firearms within your own respective banners—how about that?"

If the previous moment was a boiling pot, this time it was poking a hornet's nest. Even Prince Li, Daišan, could no longer stand by and watch. He said in a loud voice: "Your Majesty, mounted archery is the very foundation of our Great Qing! We Manchus have practiced the bow since childhood—this ancestral law absolutely cannot be changed!"

Daišan was Nurhaci's second son. After his elder brother Cuyin was brought down by a coalition of his younger brothers, Daišan was made crown prince. Later, due to rumors of an affair with the old khan's consort, the old khan stripped him of his position as crown prince.

After Nurhaci died, Daišan failed in his struggle for power with Hong Taiji and retreated to the second line, but he still controlled the Bordered Red Banner, and his eldest son Yoto even controlled the Plain Red Banner.

Daišan was ten years older than Hong Taiji. Because of his seniority and high status, he served as clan chief, which counted as holding considerable power. When the other Eight Banner ministers saw Daišan speak up, they too all stepped forward to oppose having the Eight Banner troops switch to training with firearms.

Hong Taiji ignored everyone and looked instead at Fan Wencheng, who had remained silent all along: "Minister Fan, you give your view."

Since the beginning of this year, when Ning Wanwo—who had been known together with him as the "Twin Traitor Heroes"—offended the Manchu nobility and was stripped of his rank and rewards and sent home to grow vegetables, Fan Wencheng had become the sole little strategist among the Manchu Qing's Han ministers, and he had become even more low-key.

Hearing his master's question, Fan Wencheng dropped to his knees with a thud and cried out loudly: "Your Majesty's expansion of the Eight Banner Han Army is a most sagacious move. However, your minister feels that only two banners of the Han army need to train with firearms. Firearm manufacturing consumes enormous resources, and mass production would only add to the burden of our Great Qing."

Fan Wencheng did not mention the matter of the Manchu Eight Banners training with firearms at all. He knew that was a mine—step on it and he would die. He could also see that this fat man Hong Taiji wanted both to expand the Eight Banner Han Army and to train a firearm force.

Therefore Fan Wencheng played a clever trick and struck a compromise, which both fulfilled Hong Taiji's wish and did not offend the Manchu nobility—perfect by any measure.

The Crown Prince shot Fan Wencheng an appreciative glance, thinking to himself that this dog of a man really did have some tricks up his sleeve. It seemed he would have to seek him out for matters in the future—saving both trouble and effort.

The assembled ministers all nodded in agreement as well, feeling it was feasible, and took another measure of respect for this dog Fan Wencheng.

Hong Taiji immediately announced: the Eight Banner Han Army was to be formally expanded from the original two banners to eight banners, with the same organization as the Eight Banner Manchu and Eight Banner Mongols, but without banner masters—each banner would have only the single post of gushan ejen, with surrendered Han Chinese like Kong Youde serving as the gushan ejen of the Han Eight Banners.

Hong Taiji's purpose in establishing the Eight Banner Han Army was, in truth, merely to have more cannon fodder.

In this campaign against the Ming, the various tribes of the Eight Banner Mongols had originally planned to follow behind the Manchu soldiers and pick up the scraps, but instead they had become cannon fodder and suffered heavy losses. Many tribes had already expressed dissatisfaction and wanted to break away from the Manchu Qing.

A few days earlier, Hong Taiji had executed the two Mongol minor chieftains who had made the most noise with thunderous methods, which finally cowed the various Mongol tribes and made them considerably more obedient.

After resolving the cannon fodder problem, Hong Taiji said again: "The Ming crown prince has shown such performance at such a young age. If he is allowed to grow up, in the future he will likely be the greatest scourge of our Great Qing! Minister Fan, what do you think we should do about this?"

Fan Wencheng, who had just stood up and was secretly rubbing his knees, heard his master ask again and hastily knelt down once more, saying: "Reporting to Your Majesty, the History of the Song, Biography of Yue Fei records that a scholar said to the Fourth Prince Wuzhu of the Great Jin: 'Since ancient times, there has never been a case where a great general could achieve merit abroad while a powerful minister held sway at court.' This saying is not only effective against military generals—it is equally effective against that Ming crown prince."

Seeing that the assembled ministers seemed not to have understood his meaning, Fan Wencheng sighed inwardly, cursed them as illiterate in his heart, and had no choice but to continue explaining: "Your minister has heard that the Chief Grand Secretary of the Southern Court, Wen Tiren, is a powerful minister. When the Zhu family's crown prince leads troops and achieves merit abroad, Wen Tiren will feel his own power threatened. Therefore your minister concludes that Wen Tiren will certainly try every means to deal with the Zhu crown prince while his wings are not yet fully grown."

Hooge cut in: "People who achieve merit get suppressed and targeted? Are the people of the Southern Court mentally ill?"

The moment Hooge said this, Hong Taiji and Jirgalang both furrowed their brows, while Dorgon and Dodo nearly burst out laughing. A brain is a fine thing, but not everyone has one.

Fan Wencheng inclined his head toward Hooge and said with a slight smile: "His Highness Prince Su may not know this, but since ancient times, Han dynasties have had the saying 'the crown prince does not command troops.' The Han emperors are not as open and aboveboard as the emperors of our Great Qing, who dare to let princes hold military command. They have always been cautious toward feudal princes, and a crown prince is even more an object of their wariness."

Hong Taiji nodded, growing fonder and fonder of Fan Wencheng, whose words were honeyed. He laughed: "Correct—Minister Fan understands those Southern Court people best! We can exploit this point, have the spies gathering intelligence in the Ming capital stir things up, and let them fall into chaos among themselves!"

Hearing this, the assembled ministers hurriedly offered congratulations in unison: "Your Majesty is wise!"

Reply to readers: This book has quite a lot of readers—it's just that few leave comments. During its recommendation period, it gained five thousand collections in half a month. For anyone below the level of a top-tier author, that's already a very good result, and I'm very satisfied with it, so I absolutely will not abandon it.

If I do abandon it, readers can ask my editor for my address and send me razor blades, or even come to my door to fix my air conditioner!