Chapter 729: Honoring the Left

One hundred twenty li south of Fearless City, at the confluence of the Nen River and the Songhua River mouth, lies Chuo Le Men City.

The Chinese meaning of this city's name is Northern Dipper City. Like Fearless City, it was built in that same era, on the advice of Nurhaci, by the Khorchin.

Only this city was not built as well as Fearless City, because the one who controls it has always been the chieftain of the Khorchin Left Wing. It is now the residence of Wu Keshan, Prince of the Left Wing Middle Banner and Imperial Brother-in-Law Daiqing.

In Mongol tradition, the right is honored; the Right Wing is the direct-line chieftain, and the Left Wing is the collateral branch.

But times have changed. Now, with Hong Taiji ascending the throne in Shenyang, changing the reign title to Daiqing, the collateral-branch Left Wing, closer to the Aisin clan, has become the new nobility.

This Aisin tradition of honoring the Left Wing and slighting the Right Wing is known to everyone across the Northeast, but within the Marshal's headquarters, it is a secret worth exploring.

This is not some deliberate scheme of sowing discord by Hong Taiji or the earlier Nurhaci, but a matter of history.

Long before the founding of the Later Jin, the Khorchin Left Wing had three lords, the three brothers Manggusi, Ming'an, and Kongguo'er.

When Nurhaci rose to power, he faced enemies on all sides.

The various Jurchen tribes allied with the Khorchin to launch the Battle of Gule Mountain against him. Because nine tribes joined the alliance, it is also called the Battle of the Nine Tribes.

That battle was massive in scale, but in truth, not much fighting happened. The allied forces failed in consecutive attacks on two forts, and at the slightest setback, before truly engaging in battle, they collapsed and scattered on their own.

The Khorchin tribe suffered minimal losses in the campaign. Among them, one of the three Left Wing lords, Beile Ming'an, gave a very conspicuous performance: his warhorse was startled and threw him; in the panic, he mounted a bareback horse and fled for his life.

He was terrified, and lost face terribly.

Nurhaci rose from humble beginnings and had no illustrious bloodline. In the eyes of Mongol society's nobility, dominated by the Golden Clan, he was just a small peddler and old soldier who picked pine nuts, gathered mushrooms, and depended on the Ming horse markets for a living.

Never mind Wengguodai, father of the Khorchin chieftain Oba; even the Haixi Yehe, fellow Jurchens, looked down on Jianzhou.

Only after withstanding the Battle of the Nine Tribes was he finally regarded as a ruler by the Mongol and Jurchen noble society of the Northeast.

To reverse the situation of facing enemies on all sides, Nurhaci made Ming'an, who had lost face in the war, a target of appeasement. He clothed the twenty captured Mongol soldiers in cotton coats, returned their horses, and sent envoys to establish friendly relations.

He also sent an envoy to formally seek a marriage alliance with Ming'an's daughter, establishing a bond. Then, using Ming'an as a breakthrough point, he proceeded to befriend the other two major lords of the Left Wing, Manggusi and Kongguo'er, exchanging marriage for marriage.

Among these three brothers, Ming'an and Kongguo'er both married their daughters to Nurhaci, while Manggusi married his daughter Zhe Zhe to Hong Taiji that same year.

Now Zhe Zhe is the Empress of the Daiqing State.

After that, the marriage alliances between the Khorchin Left Wing and the Later Jin continued unbroken.

The lord of the Left Wing Middle Banner, Wu Keshan, is Manggusi's grandson.

Empress Zhe Zhe is his paternal aunt. His two younger sisters were successively married to Hong Taiji, and both times Wu Keshan personally escorted his sisters to Shenyang.

The elder sister is called Bumbutai, now Consort Zhuang, who would later become known as Xiaozhuang.

The younger sister is called Harjol, now Consort Chen, whom Hong Taiji loved desperately.

Precisely because of this, when Hong Taiji ascended the throne in Shenyang, he granted five princely titles to the Khorchin.

They are: Left Wing Joriktu Prince Wu Keshan, Baturu Prince Manzhu Xili, Bingtu Prince Kongguo'er; Right Wing Prince Badali, Prince Budaqi.

Bingtu is an excellent term, meaning the seven virtues a high-ranking noble like a Khan must possess; it can also be understood as a virtuous prince.

Baturu Manzhu Xili is Wu Keshan's younger brother. He was the most actively campaigning, most meritorious, and most battle-hardened noble of the Khorchin in the Later Jin era. The reason he was only granted the title of Prince is that his battle merits were all written into his elder brother Wu Keshan's princely investiture edict.

The format of other people's princely investiture edicts is: this person achieved such-and-such merit at such-and-such time, therefore he is made a prince.

But the format of Wu Keshan's princely investiture edict is: someone else achieved such-and-such merit at such-and-such time, therefore Wu Keshan is made Prince.

'Your grand-uncle Ming'an, before submitting, offered a daughter in marriage to the Taizu; your grandfather Manggusi, before submitting, offered a daughter in marriage to Us; you have offered your younger sisters in marriage to Us unceasingly.

When besieged, other Beile all fled, but your younger brother defended the city and annihilated the enemy, presenting the captured camels and horses as tribute; hearing of the Taizu's passing, your younger brother came to offer incense; during campaigns, other nobles either did not come or went home halfway, but your younger brother led his own troops to war, and after fighting came to join forces with Us.

Subudi of the Haracin could not defeat a hundred-some Ming troops, but your younger brother led twenty riders and routed them; pursuing the Chahar, your younger brother retrieved the Chahar's baggage left at Shahe Fort and brought it to Us... Therefore, We enfeoff you as Joriktu Prince, hereditary and irreplaceable.'

It's not that Wu Keshan had no merits at all, but his achievements were rather unpresentable. After all, the edict couldn't just say: because of his merit in offering women, We loved them desperately, so he is made a prince?

The entire edict creates a feeling that his younger brother is incredibly formidable, and he is capable of keeping his younger brother in line.

As for the Right Wing.

For ten years after the Battle of the Nine Tribes, the traditional Khorchin chieftain Oba adhered to one principle: no matter who wanted to fight Nurhaci, he would personally lead troops to lend a hand.

It was not until the Khorchin fell out with the Chahar and Nurhaci's Jianzhou Guard had fully risen that Oba grudgingly threw in his lot with Nurhaci.

Oba's son Badali also inherited his father's pride, outwardly submitting to Hong Taiji but inwardly defiant.

In fact, within the entire Khorchin, there were many nobles capable of being chieftain; all five princes were qualified.

But Budaqi married into the families of Daišan, Šurhaci's son Jaisanggu, and Jirgalang; Kongguo'er married his daughter to Ajige; Manzhu Xili likewise married a daughter of Yoto of the Daišan clan.

Only Wu Keshan was Hong Taiji's closest blood-kin by marriage.

Therefore, when Hong Taiji ascended the throne as the Chongde Emperor, only Wu Keshan could serve as the Left Wing chieftain.

In fact, if it had been possible, Hong Taiji even wanted to prop up Wu Keshan as the chieftain of the entire Khorchin... but alas, this elder brother-in-law of his truly lacked strong ability and ambition.

The man just wanted to be an idle prince; he didn't even really want to be the Left Wing chieftain.

So when the Khorchin came under attack this time, the farthest place the main Eight Banners force pursued to was Wu Keshan's Chuo Le Men City.

Hong Taiji was truly afraid that the Left Wing chieftain he had painstakingly propped up would be killed by those bastards from south of the Gobi.

The Khan's tent outside Chuo Le Men City.

Wu Keshan, holding a document, sought out Hong Taiji. After saluting, he reported: "A fugitive from the Right Wing has come to report that in the battle at Liaoze, the Banner-Commanding Taiji of the Right Wing Front Banner, Baisiga'er, was defeated and captured."

"That fool."

Hong Taiji sighed impatiently, looked at the map in the tent, and said: "No wonder. Oboi sent word that the besieging army below the city seemed to be communicating with Badali."

Oboi was Hong Taiji's bodyguard, though his official rank was Jalani Janggin.

He was a genuine Manchu noble kinsman, a descendant of an angel investor in the Aisin clan.

His grandfather, Solgo, was the chieftain of the Suwan tribe living near the Jianzhou Left Guard. In the fifth year of Nurhaci's uprising, he submitted with five hundred households, an event of immense significance. As a result, his eldest uncle, Fiongdon, became one of the Five Grand Ministers of the Nurhaci era, and his father, Weiqi, is now the Garrison Commander of the Eight Gates of Mukden.

In this campaign, Hong Taiji did not send the main Eight Banners force to pursue Erinchen. He only ordered Oboi to lead a small cavalry force to shadow them, solely to observe the situation there and obtain timely unexpected intelligence.

And on the map hanging in the tent, there were clear and detailed charts of the Khorchin, and even parts of the Sechen Khan's grazing lands, and the cities, tribes, lakes, and waterways south of the Gobi.

At this moment, on the tribal distribution map centered on the Khorchin Left and Right Wings, densely packed battle markers and battle-report notations were marked.

"Erinchen's use of troops is muddled and nothing to fear. Badali also dares not rebel; he's just a useless Noyan. When the time comes, we'll just exchange him back from Liu Chengzong."

Though he said this, a look of worry still lingered on Hong Taiji's face.

But what worried him was not the right wing — Badali would absolutely never dare rebel.

Because just as the Khorchin Great Consort who married into the Later Jin brought her own dowry, and that dowry, when Later Jin attacked Datong, was able to capture three forts — more useful than Wu Keshan himself.

The Later Jin imperial clan woman Zhunzhe, who married into Khorchin, also brought a few personal followers. After Oba died, Badali inherited her in levirate, and now those followers are right beside Badali, inside Fearless City.

What worried Hong Taiji was Wu Keshan.

"Erinchen's ten-thousand-plus cavalry — eight thousand are scattered across the left wing grazing grounds, burning and killing everywhere. The right wing, by contrast, suffered its worst losses in that encounter battle by the Liao Marshes... Have the left wing's niru losses been tallied yet?"

Hong Taiji could not go on. His heart was bleeding.

From Hong Taiji down, the vast majority of the Eight Banners nobility had followed the old Khan in riding and slashing — you could say every one of them was battle-hardened — but none had ever seen anyone fight such a bastard war as Erinchen.

It was only because Liu Chengzong had stationed his army in the Xing'an Mountains, forcing Hong Taiji to detach troops under Dorgon to cover the rear, that the twenty thousand Eight Banners could not encircle them on the steppe — otherwise none would have escaped.

It was sheer contempt for human life.

On the intelligence reports they looked like an army, but in reality they were a gang of bandits, fighting like some goddamn multi-stage rocket.

Eight thousand live bandits rampaged and raided across the three banners' grazing grounds of the left wing, leaving devastation everywhere — too ghastly to behold.

Truly, Hong Taiji held the Manchu Eight Banners in his hand, and he prided himself that when it came to marshaling troops to seize spoils and plunder men and livestock, no army under heaven was more professional than his.

But goddammit, these madmen of the Southern Mo were no army at all.

They did not fight for spoils or to win survival resources — they charged into Khorchin purely to wreak destruction.

The key thing was, why the hell didn't they just loot?

Let our Eight Banners troops enjoy a taste of what the Great Ming border army gets — wait for you to plunder Khorchin, then we encircle and chase you down and take the spoils back.

Those cattle and sheep, the cloth and valuables — one rinse and wouldn't they all enter my Daicing state treasury?

The bastards left nothing but slaughter and burning.

For days on end, every field report Hong Taiji received said the same thing: the Eight Banners had chased the enemy to their designated post, only to see black smoke rising everywhere.

The grasslands looked plague-stricken.

Dead cattle everywhere — even lambs too small to take and wounded horses and mules were hacked down on the spot.

Perfectly good cattle — slaughtered, a few slabs of meat cut from the chest, shoulder, and hind leg, and the rest that couldn't be carried away, if there was time, buried in pits or dragged into the sea-pools; if there was no time, dragged beside felt tents and lele carts, set alight with fodder and animal dung, burned to charred cinders.

The whole southern steppe was smoking.

Hong Taiji had come to hate Liu Chengzong to death. That faint mutual sympathy between a Liaodong wildling and a Shaanxi pauper had vanished utterly in the black smoke.

Shaanxi was not the only place struck by disaster — Shenyang had also endured these years of great drought and great flood. The Joseon crown prince, living as a guest in Shenyang, had to farm his own land — such a humiliating thing, and he had held his nose and done it.

Their situation was no better than Shaanxi's. Just five years ago, some Eight Banners soldiers had killed their own, cut off heads, and fled to the Ming border — clutching fistfuls of silver while people starved to death.

Hong Taiji could not bear to see this — sheer waste.

Most critically, the Khorchin state was, to Later Jin, a symbol.

With Hong Taiji's enthronement as the Chongde Emperor, he had enfeoffed the Five Princes of Khorchin.

This grand enterprise, spanning two generations of Later Jin khans and decades of effort aimed at conquering the Khorchin Khanate, had at last drawn to its close.

Henceforth, Khorchin would lose any semblance of independent political status, and the entire khanate's strength would be freely drawn upon by the Aisin family, without reservation.

This should have been an immense victory and a great triumph.

But what they wanted was an intact Khorchin.

His blood pressure soared with rage.

When Wu Keshan heard Hong Taiji ask about the losses, his face could not help but turn bitter. He shook his head mournfully and said, "Many niru cannot find their people — whether they fled when the enemy passed through, or... met with misfortune, I do not know."

"Alive, we want to see the person; dead, we want to see the corpse. What do you mean, cannot find them?"

Hong Taiji waved his hand, cutting off further talk, and only said, "In any case, first send your trusted men to Fearless City. Find a way to get a message into the city. Ask Badali clearly why he is corresponding with the enemy general. If that brother of his has said anything he shouldn't have, you warn him."

"Tell him this is Our word: now that he is a prince, he must not heed the words of a brother with no foresight and stray down the wrong path."

"Then, for the left wing, you must move every niru to the North Star City as quickly as possible. Do not go west of the Nen River for now. Even if the left wing troops survived, they likely dare not engage them in battle..."

Hong Taiji spoke, then cursed, "When We return to Shenyang, We shall make a thorough inquiry into who it was that first said Liu Chengzong was some fool khan who only knew how to chop people. Halting his army at the Xing'an Mountains to build a city, directing the Outer Vassal Mongols to strike the steppe, playing favorites and sowing discord — his skills are very fine indeed."

His gaze returned to the hanging map. Looking at those symbols marking each engagement, his expression grew darker still.

The former Chahar tribes had been raided, but the Marshal's Army had performed very professionally there — well-organized, swift in action. Men, horses, cattle, sheep, felt tents, and lele carts — not one left behind, all taken away, creating a pristine steppe at top speed.

Extremely eco-friendly — the Eight Banners troops would have to applaud if they saw it.

On the left wing, thick smoke everywhere — even cattle and sheep were slaughtered. It was as if any little grasshopper that dared hop would be split in two.

And on the right wing, Erinchen had led two thousand cavalry straight across it, neither splitting his forces nor making detours along the way. Apart from the unlucky ones in his path, goddammit, he practically committed no offense at all!

In Hong Taiji's view, what devilish scheme was Liu Chengzong playing at — was it not obvious?

The closer one was to Daicing, the heavier the blow Liu Chengzong would deal them.

Wu Keshan saluted and accepted the two orders, immediately instructing his subordinate jaisang to carry them out. Only then did he return to the tent, his face full of worry, and ask, "Then in the west, are we just to let that Liu the Barbarian build his city and station troops? If the barbarian finishes that city, I fear the left wing will never know peace again."

Seated, Hong Taiji raised his head and glanced at Wu Keshan. He chuckled lightly and said, "Scared? For now, we can only wait."

"Wait?"

Wu Keshan had not been scared before, but now he truly panicked. "Wait — wait for the barbarian to finish building his city?"

"What else can you wait for? That's waiting to die! I truly don't know what's inside that head of yours."

Hong Taiji spoke irritably to his elder brother-in-law, then let out a long breath, silently chanting a mantra in his heart — 'This is the elder brother-in-law, this is the elder brother-in-law' — to quell his anger.

A moment later, having adjusted his mood, he narrowed his eyes and said, "Wait for Gaizhou and the other regions to relocate their people and livestock inward. Wait for the Three Compliant Princes to bring their cannons north — then we shall settle the score with that barbarian once and for all!"

?? Good evening!

? (End of chapter)