Chapter 92: Whose Heaven-Sent Opportunity Is This?

In history, Dorgon led the main Qing army toward Shanhai Pass on the thirteenth day of the fourth month, but in reality, Dorgon had never actually intended to launch a direct assault on Shanhai Pass.

Shanhai Pass, known as "the greatest fortress under heaven," was not only defended by Wu Sangui's tens of thousands of Guanning troops, but also coordinated with several tens of thousands of Ming soldiers under Gao Di, the Regional Commander of Shanhai Pass.

Beyond that, there were also hundreds of thousands of Liaodong civilians who had migrated inward from the Ningyuan area—people united by shared hatred—and combined with Shanhai Pass's superb geographical advantage, a direct assault on the pass? Easier said than done.

In history, Dorgon had only heard of the chaos of the Central Plains war and seized the opportunity to enter the pass directly and contend for Beijing; bypassing Shanhai Pass and entering through the Xifengkou area was clearly the most appropriate decision.

But halfway through the march into the pass, he suddenly learned that Li Zicheng had already taken Beijing, and only then did Dorgon press forward in force toward Shanhai Pass, hoping to coerce Wu Sangui into surrender with promises of high office and rich rewards.

Now Li Zicheng had failed to take Beijing and was instead locked in a bitter struggle with the main government forces around Ningwu—for Dorgon, this was naturally a heaven-sent opportunity to strike first and seize the capital.

Therefore, from the moment Dorgon departed Shengjing, he had kept his banners furled and drums silent, entering the pass along the very same route used by the invaders in the second year of Chongzhen.

Along the way there were actually quite a few Ming garrisons in various fortresses, and their combined numbers would have been enough to give Dorgon a real fight, but the Ming troops were so terrified upon hearing that the Qing army was invading in force that when they saw the Jianzhou barbarian host marching past beneath their walls, they didn't dare let out so much as a fart.

Nor was that all—the generals and civil officials in these places were in remarkable tacit agreement. To evade accountability from the court, they didn't even bother to report it, pretending they hadn't seen the Jianzhou barbarian army thundering past right under their noses.

Aside from Shanhai Pass, the fortresses around the capital region and the Ji Garrison had long been hollow shells. Dorgon marched a thousand li, yet until his army arrived at the outskirts of Beijing, the Chongzhen Emperor remained completely unaware—this was the crux of the matter.

After entering, Dorgon made no haste to expose himself. After sending out scout riders in all directions, he kept his forces—the Manchu Eight Banners, the Mongol Eight Banners, and the six Joseon banners, totaling over two hundred thousand men—crouched in the Pinggu area, waiting for an opportunity.

Wu Sangui, waiting and waiting on his end, never saw Dorgon come knocking at the pass. In his heart he understood what was going on—that bastard Dorgon had surely bypassed Shanhai Pass and headed straight for the capital.

But Wu Sangui couldn't fathom what the Chongzhen Emperor was thinking. At the start of the year, an edict had been issued summoning troops to defend the throne, and before Wu Sangui could even pack his bags, the edict was rescinded. Then, hot on its heels, the Duke of Ying, Zhang Shize, was appointed to replace his own father as Commander of the Capital Camps.

Wu Sangui had originally treated this matter as a joke—didn't he know what a sorry state the Capital Camps were in? But over these past few months, word had it that Zhang Shize had actually gotten the Capital Camps into decent shape.

Zhang Shize was at least a Duke of Ying, a descendant of a famed founding general, and the foremost among the capital's meritorious nobles. His father was also rare in being renowned for daring in battle. Toward this man, Wu Sangui actually felt a measure of apprehension.

As for Dong Qi, the current Commander of the Jiazi Camp—he was the sort of minor figure Wu Sangui wouldn't normally deign to glance at. The Chongzhen Emperor truly had no one left to employ, if even such a character could become a Commander.

Wu Sangui pored over the day's major and minor news from the capital each day. Though a cold sneer hung on his face, in his heart he grew ever more puzzled over what this emperor was really thinking.

Could there truly be troops under heaven with greater fighting strength than his own Guanning army? If not using him, who else could the emperor use?

Wu Sangui knew full well that Beijing was in imminent peril, yet he still kept the Guanning army stationed at the pass without budging—in truth, he was playing his own little game of preserving his strength amid the chaos of the age.

In the Qing army camp, Dorgon and the assembled princes, Beiles, and ministers were in council when suddenly the sound of horse hooves came from beyond the tent, followed by a burst of footsteps, and then Abatai walked in, his body covered in bloodstains.

Abatai had been stewing with anger, having rushed back without pause upon receiving the order to withdraw. But seeing Dorgon's grim expression, he didn't dare vent his fury and could only kneel and speak in a muffled voice:

"Prince Regent, I have returned."

"Returned? How did the intelligence-gathering go?" Dorgon took a draw from his long pipe, first blowing out a cloud of smoke before asking in a flat tone.

But every prince and minister in the tent knew that Dorgon's interest lay elsewhere—his real intent was to use this opportunity to call Abatai to account.

Abatai was fierce and bold on the battlefield, but here he was like a child who had done wrong. He raised his head to glance at Dorgon, then actually took the initiative to admit his mistake directly.

The expression on Dorgon's face relaxed somewhat—clearly he was quite satisfied with Abatai's honest and docile attitude.

No matter how much he had previously wanted to do away with this brainless brute Abatai and take command of the Plain Blue Banner himself, at this critical moment of employing men, the Qing could not afford any internal turmoil—and besides, keeping such a brute around still had its uses.

Dorgon immediately set down his long tobacco pipe and rose to his feet, saying:

"What words are these from Seventh Brother? We are all nobles of the Eight Banners, all serving the Empress Dowager and the Emperor—what need is there for distinctions of rank?" At this point, Dorgon's expression shifted, and he said in a deep voice:

"If you defy my orders again next time and act on your own authority, don't blame me for turning ruthless!"

Abatai had just been trembling with relief at the earlier words, but upon hearing the ending he was startled once more, quickly lowering his head to confess and accept punishment. The surrounding Beiles also stepped in to smooth things over, saying a few inconsequential words.

Before long, Abatai finally got around to the real business:

"Prince Regent, I took men to look around Huangcun. The ground was covered with traces of camp sites, but I didn't see a single southerner. Could the intelligence from the ahās be mistaken?"

Upon hearing this, Dorgon fell into thought. He took a draw from his pipe and asked:

"The intelligence is certain—it cannot be wrong. What I want to know is, what sort of troops did you fight for half the night that you lost over two hundred warriors?"

Hearing this, Abatai looked somewhat embarrassed and said:

"It should... have been the roving bandits' men!"

"Hahaha, Abatai, don't tell me you only found out after the fighting was over?" Suddenly, Hooge, who was wearing full yellow armor off to one side, caught the implication and immediately began to mock.

Abatai stammered without producing a sound, but Dorgon's attention at this moment was not on that at all. Upon hearing Abatai's words, he sank back into thought.

Dorgon had always been deeply wary of the roving bandits—after all, this Dashun army had swept across the Central Plains for years; how could their fighting strength be weak?

The reason he had undertaken this thousand-li raid upon entering the pass was precisely to avoid Li Zicheng's army, said to number a million. Who would have thought he wouldn't encounter the Ming army, but would instead, by some twist of fate, first cross swords with the Dashun troops.

According to Abatai, this Dashun army that had suddenly appeared numbered only a little over ten thousand, but their armor and weapons were all perfectly uniform, and they had fought the Plain Blue Banner cavalry to a standstill through the night.

An unknown Dashun general had actually survived several exchanges with the Qing's Prince Rao Yu, Abatai—this was even more startling to Dorgon.

Abatai's ferocity was plain for all to see among the Qing army; never had any Ming general survived crossing blows with him. Just how many more such generals did this so-called Dashun have?

The Qing army had over two hundred thousand men—this was already the full strength of the nation, even counting the forcibly conscripted Joseon troops—but among them, only about a hundred thousand Manchu Eight Banner soldiers could truly be called elite.

Yet the Dashun army was said to number a million. Even if Hong Chengchou and Fan Wencheng were right that Li Zicheng was exaggerating and the Dashun army's numbers weren't that inflated, Dorgon's own estimate was that five or six hundred thousand should still be there.

At this thought, Dorgon's brow furrowed even deeper. If several hundred thousand Dashun troops all had this level of fighting strength, then whether to attack Beijing at all would require careful deliberation.

"Quickly summon Mr. Fan to the tent for consultation!"