Chapter 621: Targeted

In the summer of the eighth year of Chongzhen, the land south of the Gobi was a realm of despair.

The most despairing man on this land was, without doubt, Dorgon of the Later Jin.

Dorgon was actually a sensitive man with a deep inferiority complex, though in him, this inferiority had transformed into fierce competitiveness — an extreme, relentless drive to prove himself.

Such a disposition should never have taken root in Dorgon, for he was the son of Nurhaci.

In the year after Dorgon's birth, Nurhaci had already conquered, annexed, annihilated, and destroyed the Hada, Hoifa, and Ula tribes, leaving only the Yehe clan barely clinging to life under Ming court intervention.

In truth, even before Nurhaci rose in rebellion, his sons had little reason to feel inferior — despite the years he had spent serving under Li Chengliang, but that was Li Chengliang.

The Li Chengliang who held all of Liaodong under his military rule.

This is like citing Qi Jiguang presenting his calling card to Zhang Juzheng, addressing himself as "your gate-running dog, this humble Qi," to illustrate the low status of Ming military officials.

That was Zhang Juzheng, the Imperial Tutor and Regent, standing above all beneath only one man — every civil and military official in the court was his gate-running dog.

Dorgon's inferiority did not stem from his social standing, but from his body.

His father was Nurhaci, his mother was Abahai, and his full brothers were Ajige and Dodo.

Ajige's name meant "Little Fellow," yet he grew into a giant of the Jin Kingdom, towering in height and massive in girth.

From childhood, he followed his father Nurhaci in riding and slaughter; he survived smallpox, which left him with a pockmarked face, a brawny frame, and a terrifying glare — like a crude savage, a super-brute who fought with ferocity and thought with simplicity.

In this regard, Dodo, nine years younger than Ajige, was much the same. In the first year of Chongzhen, at fourteen, Dodo went on his first campaign and earned the title "Erke Chuhur," meaning "Brave General."

Dodo was also exceptionally candid. Because his mother was forced to die as a sacrificial consort upon his father's death, he harbored deep hatred for Hong Taiji. Whoever Hong Taiji favored, Dodo attacked — he was essentially a smaller version of Ajige.

Only Dorgon seemed to have undergone a genetic mutation, bearing no resemblance to his brothers whatsoever.

He was a true "Ajige" — it was just that he was plump at birth and was given a name meaning "badger."

But he soon lost that plumpness. Not only did he become thin, he was also frail and sickly. In Nurhaci's Jianzhou era, a child like him was hardly distinguishable from a cripple.

Dorgon had wealth and niru solely because Nurhaci's love for his birth mother Abahai extended to her son.

Yet while Nurhaci lived, Dorgon's status as a Jin imperial clansman was profoundly awkward.

From the first year of Tianming, when the Jin Kingdom was founded, through the eleventh year, at the New Year's Day court ceremonies, the younger Dodo could attend as an imperial noble paying homage directly to Nurhaci, while the frail and sickly Dorgon was hidden away, given no chance to show his face at all.

It was only after Nurhaci's death, when Hong Taiji inherited the Khanate, that the three brothers — Ajige, Dorgon, and Dodo — became tools for Hong Taiji to check the other clansmen, by virtue of the military power they held.

In the first year of Chongzhen, Dorgon and Dodo accompanied Hong Taiji on their first campaign. The younger Dodo earned the title "Brave General," while Dorgon received "Mergen Daiqing," meaning "Wise General."

That was an era when Nurhaci had only just faded from the scene, and the social climate had not yet become what it is today. In the old Aisin Gioro family of the northeast, receiving the title "Wise" was, in the eyes of most of Dorgon's brothers, not much different from an insult.

It was basically equivalent to being called a coward who dared not fight on the front lines himself.

It was not that Dorgon dared not fight. In fact, from childhood he had yearned to, desperately training in archery and horsemanship. But he suffered from internal heat and caught chills easily, and being born in the northeast, he contracted wind-cold illnesses year after year, leaving his constitution so weak that he simply lacked the physical capacity to charge into battle.

But from Hong Taiji's perspective, he was genuinely praising Dorgon. He absolutely adored this frail, dark, and skinny younger brother.

Because he desperately wanted to call his other brothers stupid, but could not. Praising Dorgon, however, was tantamount to calling everyone else stupid — it perfectly achieved his goal.

For Hong Taiji, Dorgon's virtue lay precisely in the fact that he did not possess the heroic bearing of Ajige or Dodo, and posed no threat whatsoever to his Khanate — intelligent, decisive, insecure, and fiercely competitive.

Always wearing the look of someone screwing up his resolve, silently gearing up for something big, desperate to wipe away past shame.

Strike Dorgon down, and Dorgon was long accustomed to enduring it; praise Dorgon, and it served to strike others down.

If Dorgon grew displeased, it was easy to handle — just give him a chance to prove himself, and he would clutch at this last straw like a drowning man, never letting go.

He was the perfect tool.

So Hong Taiji not only refrained from looking down on Dorgon as a sickly weakling the way others did, but whenever Dorgon sought to prove he could fight too, Hong Taiji would deliberately cultivate this image of Dorgon as a frail invalid.

Take the Battle of Dalinghe, for example. Dorgon led his troops charging into the enemy formation. Afterward, Hong Taiji furiously berated Dorgon's subordinates, saying: "My younger brother charged into the fray as well — had any mishap befallen him, I would have had you all severely punished without the slightest mercy!"

In reality, just before Hong Taiji rebuked Dorgon's subordinates, he himself had led two hundred bayara in a charge at the Xiao Ling River.

The youngest brother, Dodo, had even more reason to weep. He personally led the pursuit, chasing all the way to the vicinity of Jinzhou, where he fell from his horse. His mount ran into the Ming army's formation, and he only made it back by seizing a subordinate officer's horse.

We're all brothers — why doesn't elder brother ever worry about me?

This differential treatment came down entirely to the fact that individual constitutions cannot be generalized — Hong Taiji regarded Dorgon as half a cripple.

But in truth, Dorgon's physical condition was indeed not far from that of a cripple.

For any commander under heaven, the ability to conduct large-scale maneuvers tests the comprehensive strength of his army.

Only for Dorgon was it different. For him, a forced march first tested his own body.

But when a sensitive, insecure man sets his mind to something ruthless, he is often far more resolute than others.

Dorgon did not need others to look up to him.

The bedrock of inferiority has never been believing oneself inferior to others in every way.

Quite the opposite — it is the inability to calmly accept being inferior to others.

He not only had to accomplish everything his other brothers could do, but he had to do it better than them.

At this very moment, Dorgon, leading his army into the Ordos Plateau, was paying the price for this conviction.

Eight consecutive days of forced marches, exceeding a hundred li per day, subjected Dorgon to a dual trial of body and will.

This was the first time Dorgon commanded a large army as an independent commander.

During the march, his army faced endless harassment, encirclement, and interdiction from the Southern Gobi Mongols. Units repeatedly fell behind, went missing, or even lost contact as entire formations, only to be gathered and reorganized again through search efforts.

By the time he truly reached the northern bank of the Yellow River, Dorgon, who originally weighed only around a hundred and twenty jin, had shed thirteen jin in eight days. He looked utterly haggard, visibly gaunt beyond recognition.

But just as the pontoon bridge across the Yellow River was completed and the Ordos Plateau lay within arm's reach, Dorgon found himself in a quandary.

Because Gurusqub, who was tasked with entering the plateau first, reported back: "Ninth Beile, the several otogs of the Ordos tribe have already fled south. Their grazing lands along the Yellow River have been stripped bare — most likely they've fled to the vicinity of the Ming border walls."

The reason Gurusqub used the phrase "most likely" was that his forces had only penetrated a limited distance into Ordos.

Past the grazing lands on the southern bank of the Yellow River, not far to the south, lay the boundless great desert — the Mu Us Sea.

In truth, this intelligence was secondary.

What truly made Dorgon waver was the report from Colonel Luoli of the Plain Yellow Banner: "Ninth Beile, the enemy forces in the direction of Guihua City remain motionless."

"Yang Qi is still in Guihua City?"

Seeing Dorgon's furrowed brow, Luoli answered cautiously: "Yes. From Qingcheng to Wolf Mountain, his troops have only been observed moving north of the mountains, or returning from north of the mountains. No southward crossing of the Yellow River has been seen. But our scouts estimate the forces he has mobilized to be four or five battalions, over ten thousand horse and foot."

The current situation made Dorgon a bit… a bit hesitant.

He had already been very decisive, but Yang Qi clearly hadn't hesitated either — he'd directly bundled up his household possessions and thrown them all into the great desert.

Dorgon estimated that his army was now only two days' march from the livestock and people of Monan. As long as those people relaxed their vigilance just a little, his troops would catch up.

It was just that they would probably catch up inside the Mu Us Sea. The Monan Garrison troops were carrying livestock and were not all combat soldiers, so their marching speed in the desert would be slowed.

But the same went for them.

The Khorchin Grasslands had once turned into the Khorchin Sandy Land during the historical Jin dynasty period, but after the recuperation and recovery under the Ming and Yuan dynasties, they had already returned to excellent pastureland suitable for grazing.

So this desert terrain… the Later Jin army was very unfamiliar with it, and it also filled Dorgon with dread.

And on the other hand, Yang Qi throwing his possessions into the desert while leading his troops himself to hold Guihua City equally couldn't help but puzzle Dorgon.

In his expectations, Yang Qi should have been tied down by the challenge letter for a few days, then realized what was happening and led his troops to the pass between Wolf Mountain and Yin Mountain.

If he reacted quickly, he would block him there; if he reacted slowly, he would launch a pursuit there against him crossing the Yellow River.

He would then be able to weave a big trap for Yang Qi during the pursuit.

But now Yang Qi's actions… was his reaction just too damn slow?

This undoubtedly made Dorgon's deliberations more difficult. Should he continue the pursuit and thrust into the Ordos Plateau?

Or should he march east to attack Guihua City and strike at Yang Qi, who was holed up inside?

The time left for Dorgon to think was still ample.

His great army slowly assembled on the northern bank of the Yellow River and, according to plan, used pontoon bridges to cross the Yellow River in orderly units.

In any case, no matter which direction they were to attack, they had to fill their bellies first.

And on the matter of filling bellies, Gürüsükeb of the Kharchin tribe had provided him with a very good idea.

The Ordos region was actually quite good, because it had always been sparsely populated with vast land, so wild rabbits and pheasants were extremely abundant. And for some reason, it seemed neither Yang Qi's nor Erinchen's people had engaged in large-scale hunting.

Gürüsükeb had arrived three days early, split his troops to cross the river, and then went hunting. On the first day alone, he shot eighty-one rabbits and twenty-three pheasants. On the second day, he took ninety-three rabbits and twenty pheasants.

Today, Gürüsükeb did not hunt.

Not because Dorgon had arrived with the main army, but because Gürüsükeb's hand had swollen up from shooting his bow.

Their hunting method was the battue, and it wasn't that all four hundred soldiers had such results. In fact, most of the troops were responsible for the encirclement.

The main idea was for the army to form an encirclement ring, driving the prey in a directed manner, herding a large area's worth of game into one place. The highest-ranking noble would shoot first, then others would shoot in descending order of status, and only at the very end would the soldiers rush in together for the final capture.

The whole process was very similar to a military operation. Although the total haul was astonishing, not everyone had as much as Gürüsükeb.

Even so, just this meat could sustain the army for two more days.

Dorgon planned to first launch an even larger battue to the south, letting the army eat well for two days mixed with their dry rations, and take the opportunity to replenish their water skins for the march, before considering the matter of attack.

In any case, they were already in Ordos. No matter how much the Monan tribes' livestock ran, they couldn't run far.

But just as Dorgon's great army had finished crossing the river, Yang Qi's letter arrived.

In truth, the entire process of the Later Jin army crossing the river had been under Yang Qi's surveillance.

At first, it was only scouts from the Tümed tribe watching them from Ula Mountain. But later, learning that the Later Jin army seemed to have even crossed its follow-up forces over the Yellow River, and that the surveillance troops left in the east had withdrawn, Yang Qi came over himself.

Yang Qi knew there were rabbits in Ordos.

In fact, the rabbits in northern Ordos were relatively few. Further south, past the Mu Us Sea, the rabbits near the border wall were even more numerous — they had multiplied into a plague.

The largest export commodity from the Ordos tribe to Yulin Garrison was rabbits. Of course, this was not a collective tribal activity, but private trade between herders and herder-soldiers with border civilians and border troops across the border wall.

Due to the prices caused by the special location of the frontier, one rabbit could only be exchanged for two or three copper coins, which would then be turned around and exchanged for the daily necessities the herders urgently needed.

Yang Qi and Erinchen were not leaving the rabbits un-hunted; it was just that autumn hadn't arrived yet, and they hadn't had time to hunt them.

And the rabbits and pheasants in northern Ordos, even if the Later Jin army hunted them all, would only be enough for the army's rations for a few days. Mixed with marching dry rations — if they had any — they could stretch it to an extra ten days to half a month.

This was also Yang Qi's goal: to give the Later Jin army one more option.

And at this very moment, this letter of Yang Qi's could directly give the young Dorgon high blood pressure from sheer rage.

He laid his cards on the table directly, telling Dorgon: You now have three choices.

The wild game north of the Mu Us Sea could barely be hunted to provide enough rations to lead your troops back home. Though not enough to eat your fill, you could think of other ways on the road.

But if you hunt the wild game, you won't catch up to my tribespeople fleeing south. They have already reached southern Ordos, separated from Yulin Garrison by only a single wall.

As soon as they see you emerge from the Mu Us Sea, they will drive their livestock into Ming territory. At worst, they'll give all the livestock to the border troops. Once you leave, I can snatch them back. You won't catch them.

I still have troops left in Guihua City, with rations remaining for two and a half months. You'd be better off sustaining your army on the wild game you hunt and coming to attack my Guihua City.

If you wish to fight, Yang will be waiting right here in Guihua City.

South of the Yellow River, Dorgon clutched the letter, his face shifting between dark and light.

He knew why Yang Qi was so full of confidence telling him that the troops in Guihua City only had just over two months of provisions.

Because his army had brought no heavy cannons, and likewise had no siege equipment. If Yang Qi was fully determined to play the turtle hiding in its shell, holding Guihua City for two months would not be difficult.

The most critical issue was not attacking the city. In fact, Dorgon understood clearly that the most important wording in Yang Qi's letter was time.

Two and a half months later would be October, the days when the Liao River freezes over.

Dorgon could not guarantee he could take Guihua City in two and a half months, and even less could he guarantee that if this army did not return to Liaodong and became known to the Ming army, what consequences it would bring to the line from Jinzhou to Shenyang.

And to kill his way south into Yulin was an even more absurd idea.

"Yang Qi… has been to Liaodong!"

Dorgon crumpled the letter in his palm into a ball of waste paper.

He could see it now. Liu Chengzong truly wanted to rule Monan, and at the same time, he truly regarded the Jin state as his number one great enemy, even surpassing the Great Ming. Stationing Yang Qi, who had been to Liaodong, in Monan was specifically aimed at their Jin state!