Chapter 617: Dorgon

South of the Gobi, the Later Jin army was advancing.

Though Hong Taiji judged that no decisive battle would erupt south of the Gobi on this campaign, the lineup of commanders dispatched was still formidable.

The commanding officer was the twenty-three-year-old Jin Dynasty Minister of Personnel, Dorgon. Despite his extreme youth, he was already a battle-hardened veteran who had followed his elder brother Hong Taiji on campaign for seven years.

The Jin imperial clansmen accompanying the expedition also included Hong Taiji's eldest son, Hošo Beile Hooge, as well as Daišan's third son, the Jin Dynasty Minister of Rites, Sahaliyan.

Besides them, this army also contained two major chieftains: Gürüsiqibu of the Kharchin tribe, and the chieftain of the Nen River Khorchin, Jinong Badari, who was the son of Oba Khan.

Back when Oba Khan was still a taiji of the Nen River Khorchin tribe, he came under attack by Ligdan Khan and received reinforcements from Nurhaci, after which he immediately went to Shenyang to meet Nurhaci and swear an oath of alliance.

That alliance between the Nen River Khorchin tribe and the Later Jin was of the utmost importance to Nurhaci. When Oba drew near Kaiyuan, Nurhaci had Manggūltai and Hong Taiji enter Kaiyuan three days early to welcome him, and personally traveled ten li outside Shenyang to greet him.

Following that, a marriage alliance was sealed with an oath. Oba allied with the Later Jin, and Nurhaci supported Oba in proclaiming himself Tüsiyetü Khan.

In this alliance, the brilliant khan Nurhaci, with his powerful army and sturdy horses, naturally held the advantage, but Tüsiyetü Khan Oba also possessed equal standing; he merely became a grandson-in-law through the marriage.

Last year, Oba died. His son Badari not only inherited his father's khan title and Nurhaci's granddaughter, but was also enfeoffed by Hong Taiji as Jinong of the Mongols.

The Nen River Khorchin had already become a powerful constituent part of the Later Jin. Badari was not merely a minor khan belonging to the Nen River Khorchin, but the Jinong of all Mongolia.

As Hong Taiji's nephew-in-law, his status among the Later Jin nobility was extremely high, ranking below Dorgon but above Hooge and Dodo.

The title of Jinong was naturally a promissory gesture; after all, the genuine Mongol Jinong, Erinchen, was still alive and well over on Liu Chengzong's side.

Moreover, Erinchen's presence was overwhelmingly conspicuous, leading twenty thousand Mongol cavalry to sweep through the Kharchin tribe like a hurricane.

It was as if he was deliberately provoking the Later Jin, telling them that this Jinong was a fake, a false Jinong!

Regardless, Badari was quite satisfied with the grand promise Hong Taiji had dangled before him.

After all, ever since the Nen River Khorchin allied with Nurhaci, they had already bound themselves to the Later Jin war chariot.

If the Later Jin grew slightly stronger, they, as allies, would have a powerful backer.

If the Later Jin became immensely powerful, they, as vassals, could also secure a place for themselves.

If the Later Jin were destroyed and the Mongols grew strong, the Nen River Khorchin would be forever nailed to the pillar of shame as traitors who colluded with a foreign tribe!

However, regarding the current situation, Badari was extremely displeased.

He had originally thought this western expedition would be very simple, but never expected that halfway there, the Kharchin, their powerful reinforcement, would already be raided, losing troops and commanders.

Beside a lake at the foot of the volcanoes in the northern outskirts of Jining, the army had just halted to rest when Badari saw a bayara rider gallop over. The rider dropped to one knee in salute and said, "Efu, the Ninth Beile invites you to a council of war."

The Ninth Beile was Dorgon.

Hošo Beile was the highest title of enfeoffment during the Later Jin period.

Dorgon ranked fourteenth among Nurhaci's sons, but during Nurhaci's reign, there were only eight beile of the Later Jin.

These were the four senior beile: Daišan, Amin, Manggūltai, and Hong Taiji; and the four junior beile: Ajige, Dorgon, Dodo, and Jirgalang.

Among these eight men, Dorgon was only older than Dodo, so by age, before Hong Taiji assumed the title of Sure Khan, Dorgon was the Seventh Beile.

However, after Hong Taiji became Khan, he also enfeoffed Nurhaci's seventh son Abatai and tenth son Degelei. By order of seniority, Dorgon thus became the Ninth Beile.

Dorgon was the commander-in-chief of this western expedition. Though Badari was the Khan of the Nen River Khorchin, he dared not be negligent. He hurriedly donned the armor he had just removed, mounted his warhorse, and rushed to Dorgon's royal tent in the main army.

Outside the royal tent, Badari spotted the personal retinue of the Later Jin Khan's eldest son, Hooge, at a single glance among the numerous bayara.

It could not be helped; Hooge's personal retinue was extremely conspicuous.

Everything in the Later Jin was currently in the process of standardization. Last year, Hong Taiji decreed that the Mongol troops attached to the Eight Banners must also use the Jin state's helmet tassels, helmet spikes, banners, and yak-tail standard tassels to facilitate unified command.

In truth, what Hong Taiji wanted to do went beyond this; he also wished for armor and military equipment to become standardized.

But lofty ideals cannot exist independently of objective reality.

At present, their productive capacity meant that not only the Mongol Eight Banners, but even the Manchu Eight Banners could not equip all armored combat soldiers with standardized armor and weapons.

So they could only find a solution starting with the helmet tassels.

Fortunately, this kind of order was not too heavy a burden for the vassal Mongol nobles. After all, when they went on campaign, a small tribe only needed to provide one taiji and one hundred cavalrymen.

And under these circumstances, when bayara clad in Japanese-style armor appeared outside the royal tent, people could not help but notice.

The institution of bayara was more numerous during Nurhaci's era. At that time, one niru of three hundred able-bodied men had one hundred armored soldiers, including ten white bayara and forty red bayara. These men served as both elite cavalry and as mobile cavalry accompanying the general, similar to household retainers.

This meant roughly one-sixth of a niru consisted of bayara.

They would occasionally be thrown into battle like main-force cavalry, entirely because their commander was Nurhaci.

But by the Hong Taiji era, the prestige of the Later Jin bayara had greatly increased, because Hong Taiji retained only the white bayara as bayara, rapidly reducing their proportion to one-thirtieth of the elite cavalry.

In other words, if the niru commander is viewed as a feudal noble, the bayara were the knights under that noble.

The men under Hooge wearing Japanese-style armor were not Japanese, but warriors clad in ancestral spoils of war.

As soon as Badari entered the tent, he saw that the atmosphere was somewhat tense.

Mongol lamas and Han banner slaves accompanying the army were carefully drafting a map of the Jining area.

The young Dorgon sat inside the tent, his brow slightly furrowed, looking at Hooge. "When you were in Qinghai, what exactly did you say to that Old Master Liu? How did Marshal Liu's barbarian suddenly become our state's mortal enemy?"

To be honest, this matter had nearly become an obsession for Dorgon.

On the field desk before him lay a report of Mongol losses compiled by the Minister of Rites, Sahaliyan. Once he had checked this report for omissions and errors, he would have it delivered to Shenyang and presented to his elder brother Hong Taiji.

This report recorded the Mongol population that Hong Taiji had ordered incorporated into the Eight Banners after expelling Ligdan Khan and the Later Jin occupying the territory south of the Gobi.

From the two large tribes of Tümed and Kharchin alone, excluding the blind and those with crippled hands or feet, there were a total of 9,123 able-bodied men aged between eighteen and sixty.

These able-bodied men had all been registered under the Eight Banners. Their wives and children signified a population exceeding thirty thousand, capable of sustaining two military operations of ten-thousand-man scale within a decade.

But now, the Tümed tribe had rebelled, and the Kharchin tribe had suffered brutal slaughter.

Sahaliyan's tally during this western expedition showed that of those 9,123 registered Mongol able-bodied men, only 1,140 could now be found.

This number even included the five hundred cavalry Gürüsiqibu led when he greeted the army.

Without even fighting a single pitched battle, nearly eight thousand able-bodied men had been lost, along with the associated thirty thousand women, children, and elderly.

Truly, Dorgon feared that his elder brother Hong Taiji would die of rage upon seeing this report.

But Hooge felt deeply wronged. He spread his hands and said, "There was nothing, Fourteenth Uncle. In Xining, Old Master Liu treated me very warmly. When his words touched upon Father Khan, he was even more reverent, praising Father Khan more than once as a dragon among men. It was because he feared I might contract smallpox that he had me sent away."

Hooge was so agitated he nearly jumped up. This Fourteenth Uncle, three years his junior, was truly vicious, opening his mouth to pin such a huge disgrace squarely on his head.

"I even invited them to merge clans with us and together call ourselves Manchu — Old Master Liu didn't refuse."

Hooge truly did not think so, because back then Liu Xiangyu had rejected his proposal to jointly call themselves Manchu.

Because what Liu Xiangyu had said that year was that it was still far too early to discuss this matter, that they would have to wait until he succeeded to the great rule of the Later Jin state — it was just that Hooge absolutely could not tell anyone else those words.

"If not for the smallpox epidemic, he even wanted to discuss with the Great Khan the matter of both calling ourselves Huaxia."

Hooge simply did not say that this Great Khan had to be him.

As for you lot... Old Master Liu doesn't even know you, not worth talking so much with you.

Old Master Liu just likes me!

At Hooge's response like this, Dorgon slowly shook his head.

Wrong.

He still felt this matter was wrong.

If Hooge had no problem, then something must have happened after Hooge left; otherwise the Marshal Manor's attitude should not have shifted so quickly.

After all, this thing called the Marshal Manor... in Dorgon's view, was simply a match made in heaven with the Later Jin!

Militarily, the two states shared a common enemy: the Great Ming.

Geographically, the Marshal Manor lay in the northwest, the Jin state in the northeast, separated by mountains and rivers, moving like the Shen and Shang stars that never meet.

Economically, the Marshal Manor had many tools but little gold and silver; the Jin state had much gold and silver but few tools.

In population, the Marshal Manor's main population were barbarians from inside the Great Wall, the Jin state's main population were Tatars from outside the border wall.

No matter how he looked at it, Dorgon felt that the Marshal Manor ought to be the Later Jin's natural ally, and moreover should be an ironclad ally like the Haracin and Khorchin.

Even if he exhausted his imagination, the worst relationship he could conceive between the two states was nothing more than exchanging official dispatches, each calling themselves king, never meeting, being surface-level brothers.

Not worth going to such great lengths of war.

Dorgon did not understand, truly did not understand.

Even if Liu Chengzong might have obtained the Imperial Jade Seal, received the legacy of the Chahar tribe, and proclaimed himself some Daiching Khitan Khan.

This khan title, for the Later Jin state, apart from the name Daiching sounding very pleasant, had no impact whatsoever.

Because Hong Taiji was a ruler focused on centralizing power, anti-hunting-and-gathering, anti-nomadic, and pro-Sinicization.

What did Khan even count for — did this title still hold any weight now?

Within the Manchu at this very moment, there was already a current of thought urging Hong Taiji to proclaim himself emperor.

It was just that at this time no one yet thought of entering the pass; even the relatively radical Dorgon's utmost imagination went no further than charging into the pass every year when the grain ripened, destroying castles, besieging Beijing, attacking reinforcing armies from all directions, and draining the Ming state's national strength.

This was the Later Jin's hardest time; its bluffing national strength simply could not support such a grand ideal as entering the pass.

So he simply could not imagine what irreconcilable contradiction could exist between the Later Jin and the Marshal Manor.

How was it that that little bastard Hooge went on one trip to Qinghai, and the Marshal Manor immediately dispatched a great army to Monan and became our mortal enemy?

No matter how foolish the Foolish Khan was, he couldn't be so foolish as to fail to see these principles.

He even felt that Liu Chengzong lacked ambition — your goal should be to ally with the Later Jin and launch a charge toward the great imperial throne of the Central Plains dynasty.

What are you doing fighting us when you're stuffed full with nothing better to do? There's a hole in your brain!

They call you the Foolish Khan, and there's not a damn bit of error in it.

Dorgon truly wanted to crack open Liu Chengzong's skull and see just what kind of junk was stuffed inside.

"Both calling ourselves Huaxia would actually be a good thing, but look at how they're acting now — does it look like they have that intention?"

Dorgon sighed.

Emotionally, in fact not only he, but the vast majority of Manchus including Hong Taiji were happy to accept this notion.

But in objective reality, this matter sounded like talking in one's sleep.

Because jointly calling themselves whatever could not solve the problems they currently faced.

If there were enough food, a warm environment, and at the same time the existing interests of the vast majority of officers and commoners were safeguarded, the Marshal Manor could probably cease fire with the Great Ming in the blink of an eye.

By the same logic, it was the same for the Later Jin state: if there were food, warmth, and the existing interests of the vast majority of nobles and tribal members were safeguarded, the Later Jin could also immediately forge eternal amity with the Great Ming.

During last year's Xuan-Da campaign, Chongzhen had a reward edict left at the northern tower of Yingzhou, which began: "The Manchu were originally our subjects, now they rebel and raid our borders; in this scorching season they send troops deep into our territory and shall surely suffer heaven's punishment."

Hong Taiji replied: "I have seen the Emperor's letter stating 'the Manchu are my tributary state' and such words. Not only does the Emperor say this, even I do not consider it wrong. The Emperor is the great sovereign ruling all under heaven; we were originally your tributary state."

"The various grand ministers of Liaodong bullied us beyond endurance; we repeatedly sent word of our grievances, yet the Liaodong officials blocked them and would not pass them on. I considered this situation — the enmity was already deep, difficult to explain clearly; only by resorting to arms could we hope for an inquiry into the cause. Who would have thought the Emperor would be deceived by the Liaodong officials, cheated for over ten years, without a single word of inquiry, so that the war never ceased. Had the Emperor sent someone early to investigate, the arms would have long been laid to rest."

These words were not entirely truthful — or rather, the words were true, but they could not represent Hong Taiji's real thoughts.

Just like the letter Liu Chengzong wrote to Chongzhen.

It was already too late.

They had tribes following them, had even established their own state.

The Jianzhou people were nearly dead from this war; there was only victory or defeat, this road could no longer be stopped.

Badali saw Dorgon in a daze and seized the chance to step forward and salute, asking: "The Ninth Beile has summoned me — what military orders do you have?"

"The Tüsheet Khan has come at my invitation; I am deeply grateful."

Seeing Badali, Dorgon hurriedly put away his reflections, rose and returned the salute, then exchanged a few polite words before asking: "How is the mood among the various taijis of the Khorchin tribes?"

Badali sighed and shook his head: "The Haracin have been raided; our army faces the risk of running out of provisions. Several taijis are already entertaining thoughts of withdrawing."

Dorgon's face smiled, but his eyes were exceptionally cold: "Can they truly withdraw?"

He did not mind withdrawing the army; in any case, the situation both at home and in Monan had already deteriorated to this point — if he led the army out and returned without achievement, he would merely be punished and suppressed by his elder brother.

But Khorchin would be in dire straits. When people cannot survive, the first thing they consider is always themselves; when it came down to it, if the Manchu were abandoned, they would slaughter each other, and the last ones standing would surely be their Jianzhou people.

Badali also understood this logic; it was just that right now, advancing or retreating was a very difficult choice.

His gaze shifted to the Monan map behind Dorgon, and he raised his hand: "Where does the Ninth Beile think we should advance to achieve victory?"

Their current position, and the position of the pre-planned battlefield, were both unfavorable.

"West of Jining is the Yin Mountains, shielding Guihua City; to the south is the Great Ming's Xuan-Da border wall."

Bada Li said, "I've heard that the Emperor was very dissatisfied with last year's campaigns and has specially prepared an army in the Xuan–Da region just to deal with us."

"You've heard of it too?"

Dorgon had also heard of this. In fact, through the Kharchin tribe, he knew even more than Bada Li.

That army had two commanders, surnamed Wang and You respectively, with a troop strength of around ten thousand. The Emperor spared no effort in supporting them — horses, rewards, weapons, and equipment, all answered at a single call. Only, no one knew where they were currently stationed.

Dorgon said, "This is a pincer formation."

At those words, not only he, but even Hooge and the others burst out laughing when they heard the term.

The Later Jin army had never used a pincer formation.

Because Nurhaci, who conquered the realm with half a copy of *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*, had discovered that in that military text, the pincer formation had never once won.

This tactic was like Lü Bu's foster fathers, Cao Cao's attendants, or Zhang Fei's foot soldiers — whoever took the role died, whoever used it lost.

But after the laughter passed, a deep worry settled on Dorgon's face.

Because at this very moment, he could feel the oppressive pressure the pincer formation was exerting on him.

Just as the term's origin suggests — the so-called pincer does not refer to a deer's antlers.

It comes from the Spring and Autumn period, in the twenty-fifth year of King Xiang of Zhou, when the armies of Jin and Qin clashed at Xiao. Jin seized the deer by the antlers, and its vassal Jiang Rong grabbed the deer by the legs — together, they flipped the great Qin army to the ground.

Dorgon could feel that the Ming army within Xuan–Da might indeed, at any moment, grab him by the leg.

But having campaigned alongside his elder brother for many years, Dorgon had great confidence. He rose and said, "An advance requires decisiveness. Hesitating any longer will not bring help to our troop strength, and may cause us to miss a golden opportunity."

"Our advance is hasty, but the enemy's defenses are equally hasty. Put all thoughts of retreat out of your minds."

He drew a line across the northern part of the map. "To avoid being struck by the Ming army, and also to bypass Yang Qi's defenses in the west, we shall advance westward along the northern foothills of the Yin Mountains, striking the Ordos west of Guihua City. First, we seize provisions and baggage, then we plan for a decisive battle!"

"From this day forward, one hundred twenty li each day. In eight days, we assemble on the northern bank of the Yellow River in Ordos. Advance!"