Chapter 14: Repelling the Enemy Beyond in Shanxi, Settling Trouble Within the Capital (Please Bookmark!!!)

Taiyuan was a key stronghold in Shanxi and the forward position of Daizhou, where the Ningwu Army was stationed.

Now that Zhou Yuji had received military pay support, and since the Ningwu Army was directly under the Ministry of War, nominally the local governors and grand coordinators could no longer pose any hindrance to him.

This was precisely the Chongzhen Emperor's intention in sending Li Fengxiang to Shanxi. Zhou Yuji felt deeply honored by the imperial grace, and on the one hand set about adding armor and weapons for his soldiers, while on the other hand worked hard to build the Daizhou defense line for the capital.

But time waited for no one—the Chongzhen Emperor was pressed for time, and Zhou Yuji even more so.

On the seventh day of the second month, a few days before Li Fengxiang arrived in Daizhou, a peasant army of roughly two hundred thousand swept in from the northwest and surrounded Taiyuan city so tightly that not even water could leak through.

Cai Maode, the Governor of Shanxi, understood that Zhou Yuji was in no position to send reinforcements, and did not ask for help. He merely gave away all his family wealth to support the defense of the city.

Zhu Shenxuan, the Prince of Jin enfeoffed at Taiyuan, heard that Li Zicheng's great army was bearing down on him, and could not sit still in his princely residence all day long. Yet for reasons unknown, he simply refused to part with even the slightest bit of silver to reward the troops.

Cai Maode, the Governor of Shanxi, once led several civil officials to personally visit the princely residence, but Zhu Shenxuan, the Prince of Jin, actually ordered them beaten out the door with clubs. The residence gates remained tightly shut.

As an imperial clansman of noble birth in the city, Zhu Shenxuan's conduct crushed the morale—already at rock bottom—into complete collapse.

Such is the fickleness of the world. Yet even so, Assistant Regional Commanders Niu Yong and Wang Yongkui led their own subordinates out to meet the enemy in battle.

The Ming soldiers had long gone without pay or any support. Compared to the Dashun army outside the walls, they were in truth the ones who looked like starving peasants.

Niu Yong and Wang Yongkui's subordinates numbered fewer than five thousand. Before a Dashun army of over two hundred thousand, they were like a lone leaf boat on surging waves—unable to raise even a decent-sized spray.

The two assistant regional commanders fell in battle, and five thousand imperial troops died outside the city walls. Yet the Dashun army remained unstoppable as it bore down on Taiyuan. When Cai Maode, the Governor of Shanxi, heard the news, he knew his end had come. Weeping with grief, he gazed toward the capital and hanged himself.

Taiyuan's heavy city gates were flung open by a swarm of surrendering Ming soldiers and common folk. Dashun soldiers in white arrow-quilted jackets poured in through every gate. Once inside, they immediately flooded the streets and alleys, seizing every strategic point without a moment's pause.

"Welcome the Dashing King—no more grain levies!"

"The Dashing King has ordered: open the granaries and distribute grain!"

Before long, specially arranged cavalry detachments began riding along the streets shouting these cries.

"So this is the Prince of Jin's residence? Men, smash the door down for me!"

The Prince of Jin's residence, which had shut its door on Cai Maode, was crazily smashed open, and countless peasant soldiers surged inside. At such a moment, the residence guards Zhu Shenxuan had placed such hope in had long since fled clean away.

In the open square, chests upon chests of gold and silver that the peasant army had carried out of the Prince of Jin's residence were piled high. Song Xiance and the others made a rough count and laughed heartily—this time they had taken in at least another million taels of silver.

At the same time, several roving bandits climbed atop Taiyuan's city walls, tore down the sun-and-moon banner that had flown for over two hundred years, cast it to the ground, and raised in its place the tall banner inscribed with the words "Great Shun."

In the governor's yamen, officers and men of the Dashun army bustled about. A burly man draped in a deep crimson cloak, wearing armor unique in style within the entire Dashun army, strode in followed by a line of generals and civil officials—a most conspicuous sight.

This man was none other than the Dashing King Li Zicheng of ballad fame. He looked up at Governor Cai Maode, who hung from the roof beam with no breath left in him, and said with considerable admiration:

"Cut him down and give him a proper burial. A man of letters with such backbone is truly rare."

Li Zicheng's voice carried a hint of magnetism, layered with a thick northern Shaanxi accent—pleasant to the ear.

Behind him, the Grand Military Advisor Li Yan stood in a plain blue robe, a long sword at his waist, his face full of admiration for Cai Maode.

Since the Dashun army had marched north, they had met with almost nothing but knees bent in surrender. To this day, they had not even fought a single proper battle—truly absurd.

Hearing this, Li Yan nodded slightly and personally fetched a wooden stool to lower Cai Maode down.

"Dashing King, Zhu Shenxuan has been brought."

Several old-camp soldiers dragged the Prince of Jin, Zhu Shenxuan, over in tight ropes. Li Zicheng turned to look and could not help but laugh out loud—this was hardly a revered prince.

Liu Zongmin, his face flushed red, bellowed:

"Big brother, what use is keeping this pig head? The way I see it, just chop him with one stroke and be done with it!"

Liu Fangliang also shouted: "Well said! The court's princes are all pigs. Keeping them just wastes grain—we could feed one more brother who charges into battle!"

"No need."

Li Zicheng laughed heartily and waved his hand, saying:

"Brothers, you are all too hasty. Best to keep this pig alive for now—drag him out for a stroll before battle, and let those Ming soldiers tremble with fear!"

Surrounded by those burly, rough-hewn peasant army commanders, Zhu Shenxuan did not even dare to struggle, terrified that these brutes might chop him down with a single stroke. Fortunately, an old-camp soldier soon came in and rescued Zhu Shenxuan from his predicament.

This affair briefly became a source of amusement throughout the Dashun army. Li Yan turned it into a ballad and had his subordinates spread it everywhere, intending to shatter the morale of the Ming troops at Daizhou.

Next, Li Zicheng ordered a rest and refit at Taiyuan. Eight days later, he would begin a fight to the death with Zhou Yuji, the newly appointed Bandit-Suppressing General of the Chongzhen Emperor.

If Li Zicheng wanted to change the dynasty, he had to take Daizhou. Yet Daizhou was only the beginning—the hardest bone to gnaw was Ningwu Pass beyond it, said to be extremely easy to defend and hard to assault.

The Ningwu Army, having suddenly received unprecedented support from the court—with years of back pay issued all at once and great improvements in armor and weapons—saw its morale soar.

Zhou Yuji laid out the defense line at Daizhou, single-mindedly determined to share the burdens of the Chongzhen Emperor in Beijing. Even if his entire family died on the battlefield, he would have no regrets.

As the saying goes: the reckless fear the ruthless, and the ruthless fear those who do not value their own lives. If Li Zicheng counted as ruthless, then Zhou Yuji was absolutely one of those who threw their lives away without a second thought.

While battles raged one after another over in Shanxi, the capital and the surrounding Zhili region were hardly peaceful either.

The Eastern Depot, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Directorate of the Imperial Horses, and the Capital Camps were all in constant motion. The Donglin Faction and the wealthy gentry were not about to be outdone, continuously making their own moves. Though nothing showed on the surface, within it could only be described as utter chaos.

Within ten days, the depot and guard forces the Chongzhen Emperor had placed such hopes in had already extended their coverage to the entire capital.

According to Wang Cheng'en, every court official and great household in the capital with a name worth mentioning had shadows of these little birds within their walls—and the coverage was still expanding outward.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard centurion Li Fengxiang had dispatched moved quickly. Roughly around the time Zhou Yuji and Li Zicheng had just begun fighting, he arrived in the capital.

When the Chongzhen Emperor received the news, he happened to be fretting over another matter—he was out of money again!

This time, the Chongzhen Emperor actually found himself hoping, against all precedent, that those Donglin civil officials would embezzle more. That way, when he ran short of funds, he could finish one off and confiscate even more from his household.

But in the court, aside from fools like Li Banghua who thought themselves righteous in speaking out, most of those sent forth to speak were small fry. Anyone with even a bit of sense would not leap out on their own.

Take Wang Aoyong, for instance—confiscating his property had yielded over two hundred thousand taels in ready silver, and selling off his estates and belongings had scraped together another hundred-plus thousand. But the cost of recruiting new troops exceeded the Chongzhen Emperor's expectations, and within a few days the coffers were empty again.

After much deliberation, the Chongzhen Emperor actually set his eyes on the household of the current Emperor's father-in-law.