Chapter 298: Strife Within the Eight Banners, Deliberations on Entering the Pass

For Xu Biao, Zhang Nai was a hot potato, but for Wu Sangui at Shanhai Pass, whether to accept Zhang Nai was an even more agonizing decision.

In truth, the Wu family, as Liaodong warlords, held people like Xu Biao in utter contempt, at most sending someone to maintain contact as a gesture of goodwill—after all, more friends meant fewer enemies—but to say he would accept Zhang Nai for Xu Biao's sake was out of the question.

Though Wu Sangui held the title of Count Who Pacifies the West from the court, the men under his command were all officers of the Liaodong Army, and every step he took had to consider the interests of the Wu family and even the entire Liaodong Army faction.

Though Wu Sangui still held absolute dominance within Shanhai Pass, court influence was already beginning to sprout, and he had to be on guard.

Before the year of Jiashen, Gao Di had been unable to outmaneuver Wu Sangui at Shanhai Pass, and his troops were fewer than the Liaodong Army's, but ever since Tang Tong arrived at Shanhai Pass to take up his post in the year of Jiashen, the situation had changed.

First, Tang Tong was a Vice Regional Commander personally appointed by the Chongzhen Emperor to garrison Shanhai Pass; second, Tang Tong had once achieved a great merit—reportedly crushing the Dzungar cavalry led by Ajige in a frontal engagement—which made Wu Sangui, unaware of the true circumstances, somewhat wary of Tang Tong's forces.

Having fought the Dzungar armies for years, he knew well the ferocity of their cavalry in open field battles; even the Liaodong Army of today could not claim certain victory in field engagements outside the city walls.

Gao Di's troops were mainly distributed on the left flank of Shanhai Pass, an insignificant position, and few in number—hardly a concern—but Tang Tong commanded tens of thousands of men, a force that could not be ignored whether scattered or concentrated.

Xu Biao was smugly pleased with himself, thinking he was relieving Wu Sangui of a burden, never imagining that Wu Sangui, upon receiving the news, was nearly furious—whether he accepted Zhang Nai or not, it was a losing proposition either way.

Who was Zhang Nai? Even though Wu Sangui had never entered the pass to suppress bandits, he had still heard of his reputation.

Among the five camps under Li Zicheng's command, the strongest was the Central Army under Liu Zongmin, which was divided into three brigades—the Main, Left, and Right—each commanded by a general, and the Main Brigade's Martial Might General was none other than Zhang Nai.

"Zhang Nai actually surrendered to the court?" Wu Sangui paced back and forth in the main hall, unable to believe the fact, and asked again: "Is the intelligence accurate?"

Xia Guoxiang also found it hard to believe—Zhang Nai's position in the Dashun regime was second only to Liu Zongmin, Gao Yigong, and the like; if he were genuinely surrendering to the court, that would be like the sun rising from the west.

"The intelligence is accurate, but my lord, this Zhang Nai may not be sincerely submitting. Keeping him in Funing City is fine! If this rogue rebels again, we can easily destroy him and claim merit, or at worst let the court send troops to suppress him while we reap the benefits from the sidelines—wouldn't that be splendid?"

Xia Guoxiang's meaning was that he did not believe Zhang Nai had truly surrendered to the court, suspecting he intended to stage a comeback.

Wu Sangui also understood that if this man were brought into Shanhai Pass, the pass would become a full table of mahjong—Gao Di, Tang Tong, and this Zhang Nai were all double-dealing sorts, and things would become difficult to manage, likely descending into utter chaos.

"Very well, do as you suggest. Send word back—do not deliver Zhang Nai to Shanhai Pass."

Wu Sangui was a man of quick decisions, immediately grasping the gravity of the matter; his Wu clan was currently surviving in the cracks, and neither Shanhai Pass nor the Liaodong Army could afford any disorder.

"Regent Prince, the Ming army inside the pass has won a great victory! Li Zicheng has lost Taiyuan and retreated to hold Tongguan!" At nightfall, a Qing scout dismounted at the Regent Prince's mansion in Shengjing, hurried into the main hall, and knelt directly to report.

"Li Zicheng actually lost—how could he lose? Didn't he have a million troops?" Dorgon was somewhat surprised; Li Zicheng had seemed poised to accomplish all that needed doing for the Great Qing, and he could not afford to lose at this critical juncture.

"Heh heh, Li Zicheng's defeat is not entirely impossible." Fan Wencheng smiled confidently, speaking with assurance: "This slave has long said these roving bandits are nothing but a motley rabble. The current Supreme Commander inside the pass is Chen Qiyu—a man who is the most strategically gifted Supreme Commander since Hong Hengjiu and Sun Chuanting."

In fact, since returning his forces from the Doyan region this time, Dorgon had been seething with anger.

This time and last time—he had been slapped in the face twice, and slapped hard. Last year he had said they would enter the pass to contend for the realm, only to end up cowering in the capital for a time; Ajige fought an unknown Han army and retreated back inside the pass with heavy losses.

This time at Doyan was even more absurd—Dorgon had just arrived at the border ready to make his move when he suddenly received the Empress Dowager's decree ordering him to withdraw. When he returned to Shengjing and saw Ning Wanwo's severed head, his long-suppressed patience reached its limit, and Dorgon's fury erupted outright.

In truth, though Dorgon kept a low profile, his position and authority within the Dzungar realm far exceeded anyone else's.

This was the first time in a long while that Dorgon had lost his temper in public—not only was Fulin too terrified to make a sound, even Bumbutai trembled all over, utterly devoid of the dignity of an Empress Dowager.

As for the assembled princes and ministers, they were all meek and submissive, terrified that Dorgon might take a disliking to them and have them executed.

But quite the opposite, the Han traitors thought differently from the Manchus—Dorgon's fury upon seeing Ning Wanwo's head was interpreted by them as anger over that matter, and for a time, the Han traitors were deeply moved.

How considerate their master was, how protective of his own people he was—to be able to serve as slaves of the Dzungar, to be dogs of the Dzungar, was truly a blessing cultivated over generations of ancestors, the greatest honor imaginable.

Reality gave them a resounding slap in the face—just as the Han traitors were deeply moved and kept flocking to the Regent Prince's mansion to offer advice and schemes, Dorgon cursed them out and turned them away at the door.

In the end, the Han traitors could only slink back in disgrace amid the sneers of the Manchu nobles.

In fact, Bumbutai had called Dorgon back this time for two reasons: first, to soothe the restless hearts of the princes and ministers at court, and second, because she felt that whether the Great Qing could enter the pass depended entirely on Dorgon alone, and she wanted to advise him to prioritize caution and lead troops to stabilize the situation.

But this time, Dorgon simply could not swallow this indignation—even before news of the Ming victory arrived, he had already been mobilizing the Eight Banners' troops, planning to enter the pass once more to show the Han people the might of Manchu warriors.

In truth, upon hearing of this great victory, Dorgon also felt some apprehension about this incursion.

In previous incursions through Qiangzi Ridge and Qingshan Pass, the Ming army had offered scarcely any meaningful resistance, all cowering within their cities trembling, and any Ming troops daring to fight in the open field were routed.

Even when facing the Tianxiong Army led by Lu Xiangsheng, the fighting had not been especially difficult, and that time Lu Xiangsheng had been fighting with his back to the wall, his combat effectiveness higher than usual—not at all what normal Ming troops should have been capable of.

But in this battle at Guguan, over a hundred thousand Ming troops had routed a million-strong Dashun army, even driving the Dashun forces out of Taiyuan entirely, and then successively taking Fenzhou and Liaozhou—the Ming army's combat effectiveness could not possibly have skyrocketed so quickly before.

So the question arose: just how strong was this newly formed Imperial Guard?

After consulting with Fan Wencheng and the others, Dorgon concluded that this Imperial Guard likely numbered around one hundred fifty thousand, possibly even two hundred thousand—the Ming army was probably deliberately understating their numbers to exaggerate their achievement, otherwise how could they have routed a million-strong Dashun army?

Moreover, this Imperial Guard could not possibly be all new recruits as the Han slaves claimed; in Dorgon's view, troops capable of producing such results in their first battle could not be new soldiers—they could only be elite Ming troops that the Chongzhen Emperor had transferred from the Zhili and Shandong regions.

Since the Qing army was already operating deep in enemy territory to plunder population, livestock, and supplies, if such an Imperial Guard remained to guard the capital region, the losses would certainly be severe—so rather than that, it was better to seize this opportunity to enter the pass once more.

No sooner said than done—that very night, Dorgon settled the plan with Fan Wencheng and, in Fulin's name, issued a decree summoning the princes and nobles of the Eight Banners to the Regent Prince's mansion to discuss the matter of dispatching troops to enter the pass.