Chapter 762: Chengzong

Emperor Chongde had a dream.

The dream was long — his army was suddenly ambushed.

Guns and cannons surged like mountains and seas, red-armored cavalry charged from all sides, none could withstand them, sending every banner fleeing in utter disarray, so wretched that even the imperial procession was lost.

He woke himself up in sheer fury.

Upon waking, his limbs were weak, the left half of his body barely obeyed him; the slightest recollection made the veins on his forehead throb, nearly sending him back into unconsciousness from rage.

Damn it — he really had lost the battle.

One defeat, and he was tormented three times over — even in dreams they won't let me be!

The furious Emperor Chongde pounded the carriage shaft in the jolting wagon and cursed: "Chengzong! Chengzong!"

Dorgon, in grimy armor, was riding escort not far away. Seeing movement in the carriage, he rode over with a face full of joy — only to hear Hong Taiji cursing when he got close.

It frightened Dorgon badly. He hurried nearer and said urgently: "Sacred Khan, what's done is done. Your dragon body must come first — you absolutely must not lose your temper again!"

Dorgon's eyes were bloodshot. His azure-blue satin python armor was worn through in many places on the velvet surface, with slash marks from blades; his cheeks were sunken, making his already small, thin frame look even more like a punching bag — wretched and pitiful.

Hong Taiji heeded the advice, forcibly suppressing the rage and grievance in his heart. He looked at Dorgon with pained concern and said: "It was only one battle — how do you look like you haven't slept in three days? …Has Liu Chengzong's army withdrawn?"

Dorgon was already full of grievance. At Hong Taiji's words, his bloodshot red eyes nearly shed tears: "Sacred Khan, you've been unconscious for five days!"

In those five days, Dorgon had not dared to rest for a single moment. Even when he was so exhausted he dozed off on horseback, he would wake before traveling far, checking on Hong Taiji's condition and feeding him broth.

If Hong Taiji hadn't woken soon, he would have sent a fast horse to Daišan, who was guarding Shengjing, telling the Grand Beile to prepare for the emperor's funeral.

Amid Emperor Chongde's stunned disbelief, Dorgon said: "We have now entered the border wall. Liu Chengzong's army was still at Aohan Sands three days ago. Eidu led twenty riders to scout beyond the border and has not yet returned."

Even now, Hong Taiji still had not recovered from the blow of defeat, able only to listen as Dorgon reported the past days' deployments, reconnaissance, and intelligence analysis.

That Liu Chengzong was truly arrogant beyond measure — after the battle, he didn't even bother to move his camp, setting up nearby the battlefield for days, with great flocks of vultures circling without dispersing.

"Fortunately, it seems Liu Chengzong also lacks the strength to pursue… Casualties?"

Emperor Chongde had wanted to ask this the moment he woke, but his heart was too afraid — he dared not hear the concrete answer.

It was stuck in his throat, impossible to hold in.

Only now, having steeled himself sufficiently, did he open his mouth to ask Dorgon: "What are the casualties?"

Dorgon's face had still carried the joy of seeing Hong Taiji escape death, but at these words he froze, nearly weeping on the spot.

The Chongde Emperor had slept through it all. Yoto and Hooge were juniors, and as for Dodo — never mind shouldering responsibility, they should thank heaven and earth if he didn't cause trouble.

That fellow had fled at the forefront, running his horse literally to death, then dragged a niru commander under Dorgon's banner off his horse, stole the horse, and galloped away at top speed, the first to reach the border wall, where he ducked into a beacon tower and demanded someone make him hand-twisted noodles.

The heavy responsibility of leading the defeated officers and remnant troops back fell onto Dorgon's shoulders — jittery and scrambling, he also had to clean up after the reckless Dodo.

Dorgon was full of grievance — he was only a year and a half older than Dodo!

In these days leading the army back, he missed with all his heart the older brothers he usually found annoying.

Like his full elder brother Ajige, whose brain was bizarre but who could fight like a monster; Daišan, of the same generation but nearly old enough to be his grandfather; even Amin, even stranger than his eldest brother, he missed dearly.

If those three were here, at least his burden would be lighter.

What Dorgon most dreaded hearing right now was Hong Taiji asking about casualties.

"Sacred Khan, this… let us return to Shengjing first."

Who knew that Emperor Chongde would grow frantic at this, glaring and stiffening his face: "Could it be you only cared about fleeing and failed to record the casualties?"

Dorgon said nothing, only looked at Hong Taiji, and Hong Taiji understood — the casualties had already been tallied.

Dorgon simply did not wish to speak of it.

"Speak."

Emperor Chongde let out a heavy sigh through his nose: "I am prepared."

"Prince Huaishun Geng Zhongming was struck by a spear on the battlefield, his intestines spilled to the ground; he stuffed them back into his belly and fled with the army for three days — he died yesterday. Prince Gongshun Kong Youde was scattered during the army's withdrawal and his whereabouts are unknown. Duke of the Plain Red Banner, Hoxotu the imperial son-in-law, was commanding at the front line when he was struck by a sky-charging cannon and died in formation…"

"Ujen Cooha's gūsa ejen Ma Guangyuan was struck in the face by a musket ball on the battlefield, his forehead shattered — he died the day before yesterday. Plain Blue Banner colonel Ilesun was hit by cannon fire and died in formation. Bordered White Banner…"

Dorgon at first listed them one by one, but as he spoke his face showed he could not bear it. He shook his head: "The entire army's dead, missing, and wounded exceed forty thousand. The remnant troops now gathered number thirty-eight thousand-odd, of whom just over twenty thousand are still fit for battle, with the rest lightly wounded…"

Hong Taiji waved his hand weakly.

He could listen no more.

He — he felt that when the Old Khan passed away, the Mandate of Heaven of the Later Jin had been taken with him.

"The White Banner — how many men does your White Banner still have?"

Dorgon could not help but be stunned. At a time like this, Emperor Chongde had not even asked how many men remained in his own Bordered Yellow Banner.

He answered: "Reporting to the Sacred Khan, the Plain White Banner's losses are not great — still over nine hundred iron-armored soldiers in formation, totaling three thousand four hundred and twenty banner troops. The Bordered White Banner suffered heavy blows — only two thousand one hundred and twenty banner troops remain in formation."

Beyond his expectations, upon hearing this dire news, Hong Taiji not only did not rage, but his face showed relief: "Good! Good! Good!"

"So long as your White Banner has not suffered heavy losses, my heart is at ease!"

Because the Bordered Yellow Banner's losses were under a thousand cavalry. Though many were iron-armored troops, Daicing did not lack iron — armor could be forged quickly and in large quantities.

Hong Taiji had a clear sense of his own direct forces; what gave him no certainty was Dorgon's men.

So long as Dorgon had not suffered too greatly, the two of them were the most powerful banner lords under Daicing — together, they could suppress anyone.

At least there was no need to fear internal strife.

If the Plain White Banner had also been heavily struck, they likely could not have kept the other banner lords in check.

"At present, how many banner troops remain in formation, and how many banner soldiers will be fit for battle once their wounds heal — the Eight Banners."

The moment Hong Taiji said this, Dorgon knew he meant excluding Han, Mongol, and Heaven-Blessed Army forces. He knew the numbers for each banner, but could not add them up on the spot, so he said: "Under the Eight Banners, just over twenty-three thousand remain."

In that instant, Emperor Chongde seemed drained of his vital essence, as if he had aged ten years, sighing long and short.

This campaign had levied over thirty-eight thousand banner soldiers; now only twenty-three thousand remained, and among them many were wounded and would struggle to take the field again.

As for those fallen banner soldiers — never mind their bones, even their queues could not be brought back. Who knew how many kinsmen and in-laws were among them… Hong Taiji did not even know with what face he could return to Shengjing.

The taste of defeat was too bitter, too hard to swallow.

"I…"

Huang Taiji shook his head and asked Dorgon with utter sincerity, "Was I wrong to insist on chasing him and fighting this battle?"

Dorgon sighed.

The Chongde Emperor's words made him inexplicably recall what Dodo had said to him in the tent the day before the ambush.

Dodo had said Liu Chengzong's line of march was like a ghost's — unless he wanted to be caught, even if you moved faster than him you still couldn't catch him, and besides, even if you did catch him you couldn't get the money back, so you might as well go home and listen to some opera.

Thinking back on it now, Dorgon realized Dodo had been right.

They had all let the fury of a major town being plundered and an ancestral tomb being burned cloud their minds. Even if the money was written off, they only wanted to catch Liu Chengzong and hammer him hard, to wipe away the shame.

Each one of them prided himself on unmatched brilliance and fierce valor in battle, yet in the end, none were as clear-headed as that cynical, irreverent child.

Dodo was clever after all; it was just that he had been doted on by the old Khan since childhood, which made him willful, unrestrained, and absurdly reckless, with the result that... neither the Emperor nor Dorgon, his own blood brother, ever took Dodo's words seriously.

Or rather, even when the boy seriously analyzed something and discussed proper business, he spoke so incoherently that it was very hard for the listener to take him seriously.

A grave matter of sending out troops and horses — why drag going home to listen to opera into it!

But now that things had come to this, there was no longer any need to argue who was right and who was wrong.

The most important thing for Dorgon right now was that Huang Taiji's self-doubt had clearly had the spirit knocked out of him by a crushing defeat.

This made the report Dorgon had been about to give on the movements of Guan Ning inside the border stick in his throat. He could only step forward and say respectfully, "Sacred Khan, see clearly — your subject brother will lead the White Banners and serve with all his heart. We kinsmen are still here, our men and horses are ample, and we will certainly not let chaos arise within the state. Once the troops that plundered the Ming border return, the situation will be stable. Sacred Khan need not worry over this."

As if Huang Taiji would worry.

A battle lost was a battle lost; the lessons to be drawn and the bitter feelings could not be avoided.

But who was he?

He was the successor who, among the Aisin nobles — every last one of them ruthless — had fought his way to the top relying on his own character, wit, and intellect.

From the First Emperor of Qin onward, founding emperors who established a great enterprise could hardly ever produce a proper crown prince intact — either they died young, or it was Xuanwu Gate drawn swords, and there was even a Yongle who first died young and then drew swords. In the end, whoever won was the true Son of Heaven.

Only by standing out brilliantly among one's own blood brothers could one inherit the great enterprise.

Huang Taiji was merely probing.

He was testing whether this younger brother who most resembled him could still obey his every command in a time of crisis.

But this move was truly superfluous. For Dorgon, with the bunch of brothers he had, if they didn't listen to Huang Taiji, who else could they listen to?

When it came to the talent for winning merit on horseback, every one of those brothers had more or less trained it up. Even Dodo, whom the Chongde Emperor had assessed as "in reviewing merits and faults, though he has rendered no great service to the state, as the youngest son of the Imperial Father and Grand Ancestor, he is enfeoffed as Prince of the First Rank," was relatively cool-headed in his sense for a campaign.

But when it came to supporting the Daicing state, apart from Huang Taiji, which of them had the makings of a sovereign?

Yet Huang Taiji had to probe, because after this campaign, his prestige was damaged, and the worst outcome was that he might have to abdicate.

It was not losing a battle that would force him to abdicate, but the very nature of the Daicing state. It was foreseeable that once he returned, his orders to the various banners would no longer be followed as effortlessly as moving his own arm and fingers, as they had been before.

And to make matters worse, too many people had died in this battle. Every banner would need to reorganize once they got back. Even Huang Taiji, who treated his own kinsmen with the utmost ruthlessness, could no longer use slaughter, that most effective means of intimidation.

He had to satisfy the nobles. If the pressure grew too great, he would have to step back on his own — that was retreating in order to advance. Under no circumstances could he be forced back by others.

So he planned to restore the Council of Eight Princes and place himself back in his comfort zone.

Relying not on prestige and battle merit, but using political methods to rationally mobilize the nobles — that was his strength.

Only in this way could he advance the three matters he needed to accomplish next.

Step one: return to Shengjing and first pull the wool over Father's eyes.

Report a victory at the ancestral temple, and let the old Khan know that that Liu Chengzong, who had charged into the capital committing every evil imaginable and was exceedingly Chengzong, had fled the border in panic and been driven off by me.

Treating a funeral as a celebration is farcical, of course, but sometimes it is very necessary. At the very least, it can soothe people's hearts and let them see a worse possibility — we lost a field battle outside the border, but what if this battle had been fought inside the border? Wouldn't Liu Chengzong have plundered all of your estates clean?

The losses were huge, but just tell me — did Chengzong leave or didn't he!

Step two: dissolve the Han and Mongol armies and absorb them all into the Manchu Eight Banners.

This was a stopgap measure. The Manchu population was in decline, and they could no longer afford to care about the distinction between master and servant.

Liu Chengzong was too formidable in battle. He had to raise the status of the Daicing Han and Mongols; otherwise, the next time they met in battle, face to face on the field, it would be a disaster if all the Han and Mongols defected.

But this could not solve the fundamental problem, because Daicing was a feudal aristocratic slave-plantation state. If you raised the slaves' status, then who would do the labor?

Joseon.

Step three: intensify the capture of the Jurchen population in the northeast, and attack Joseon.

This very year, once the second matter was settled, the attack on Joseon had to be put on the agenda immediately. Make them exchange fraternal duty for filial piety, and at the very least, seize enough food to last until next year, and capture several hundred thousand people from Joseon.

This matter was harder than the first two steps.

The difficulty lay precisely in that enormous population figure.

But they had no choice but to seize them.

In truth, the Chongde Emperor was far more pessimistic about the state's prospects going forward than Dorgon was.

Dorgon still pinned his hopes on Ajige bringing those twenty thousand troops back to stabilize the situation, but in Huang Taiji's view... Ajige would be lucky to bring back ten thousand men.

That bastard Liu Chengzong was still stationed outside the border, blocking Ajige's route out. Ajige couldn't exactly smash through Shanhai Pass to come home, could he?

What about the Guan Ning army... The Chongde Emperor suddenly thought of the Guan Ning army and could not help but ask Dorgon, "Has Zu Dashou's Jinzhou army made any unusual moves?"

Dorgon thought to himself, This is bad — the Emperor has asked about Zu Dashou after all.

Unusual moves? Zu Dashou had done far more than that.

"Reporting to Sacred Khan, Zu Dashou... just as our forces pursued Liu Chengzong out of the border, Zu Dashou crossed the river and advanced east. Dandali of the Plain White Banner garrisoned at Lanpan, Ningguta defending Gaizhou, Zhang Xiba defending Xiuyan, Fudai defending Niuzhuang, and others — all are dead."

The Chongde Emperor's mood had just barely lifted half a notch when it suddenly plummeted back into the abyss.

These men were all squad leaders of armored troops dispatched by the niru to capture fugitives. By reason, they could have fled when facing a major enemy. That they were all killed now clearly meant the Jinzhou army had come prepared, advanced with extreme speed, surrounded them, and made escape impossible.

He asked urgently, "What of Haizhou then? What of Shang Kexi, Zhang Cunren, and Cao Guangbi garrisoned at Haizhou?"

Dorgon's expression was grim, deeply worried about Huang Taiji's state of mind. He said, "Zu Dashou's forces came with overwhelming momentum, swooping down on Liaoyang. The various commanders at Haizhou lacked the strength to stop them and could only retreat east by ship, but on the Xingjing stretch of the river, they came under artillery fire from the Jinzhou army."

"Fortunately, the Jinzhou army's cannons were poor. A Great General cannon and a Hongyi cannon burst their barrels one after another. Shang Kexi and the others were thus able to break through with their troops. Haizhou consequently fell to the Jinzhou army."

"At present, Prince Zheng, Jirgalang, has already joined forces with the Prince of Wisdom and the others, driven out the enemy occupying Xingjing, and is putting out the fire at the ancestral tomb."

Huang Taiji had merely been anxious at first, but upon hearing the good news that Jirgalang had driven out the enemy occupying Xingjing, the expression on his face turned cold instead.

He had just been thinking of treating a funeral as a celebration, reporting a victory at the ancestral temple, and pulling the wool over his father's spirit in heaven — and now Jirgalang had gone straight to pulling the wool over the eyes of the living.

Liaoyang City had long since been looted and burned by Liu Chengzong. When he left the border, the blaze from Liaoyang could be seen from Tiger Skin Post, reddening half the sky — so how could Zu Dashou even enter the city?

Isn't that just bullshit?

Obviously, Zu Dashou reached Liaoyang, found the city beyond saving, and left on his own.

What made it especially frustrating was that Huang Taiji realized he himself had driven Liu Chengzong away, so he hardly had any standing to censure Jirgalang.

After a long while, the Chongde Emperor caught his breath and heaved a sigh.

"Haizhou has fallen into the hands of the Jinzhou army. This will be trouble in the future... Zu Dashou, ah, Zu Dashou, how I long to see you one more time, you Chengzong!"

?? Good evening!

? (End of chapter)