Chapter 1414: All Sides Stir

Originally, the Chongzhen Emperor felt little about this number, but when Chief Grand Secretary Sun Chengzong heard it, his expression changed. He explained it very clearly — back at Sarhū, Nurhaci had used no more than fifteen hundred Jurchen troops; in the subsequent sweep across the Liao garrison towns and the storming of major cities, he never exceeded ten thousand each time. This time, he had committed roughly more than a third of Jianzhou Jurchen's total capital forces.

The Liaoxi military clan had sent a great deal of intelligence this time, some of which even Sun Chengzong and Wang Zaijin had not known, making people realize just how much they had concealed before. But now, no one had the leisure to care. The Chongzhen Emperor and many in the court were clutching at this like a life-saving straw.

For example, the commanding general this time was the Second Beile, Amin, with Jirgalang as his deputy. Neither of them were Nurhaci's sons, but his nephews — the sons of Nurhaci's younger brother, Šurhaci.

Nurhaci had executed Šurhaci long ago, but Amin and Jirgalang, backed by powerful tribes, could not be touched, nor could the old foundation of the Bordered Blue Banner be disturbed. They could only be given high status and allowed to preserve their strength.

This Yoto was the son of the First Beile, Daišan, commanding his own niru and forces. Moreover, Nurhaci had personally looked after this grandson. But because Yoto was the son of Daišan's first wife, he had been badly mistreated as a child and had even gone missing once.

With these several men serving as commanders, one could not say the troops they led were weak, but it did show that Jianzhou Jurchen still had strength to spare, still had cards in reserve, and perhaps even other arrangements in place.

Though no one wanted to admit it, it had to be said — many in the Ming court wanted to hear exactly this. If Jianzhou Jurchen still had strength to spare, then the Ming still had a sliver of hope. The best outcome would be both sides crippling each other, letting the Ming reap the fisherman's profit. At the very least, both sides would suffer losses, giving the Ming a chance to catch its breath.

To think that they had once feared Jianzhou Jurchen like tigers and wolves, believing them a threat to the realm and its altars, yet now regarded them practically as saviors — many were unwilling to voice this thought. It was indeed shameful.

The Chongzhen Emperor, Zhu Youjian, even wanted to ponder one matter: could the two sides join forces to strike Zhao's Army together? But this notion was promptly strangled by his ministers. If it leaked, the Ming's legitimacy would vanish entirely, and all hearts under Heaven would turn to Zhao Jin.

"I fear there would be no ending then." These were the exact words of the personal eunuch Wang Cheng'en, and they plunged the Chongzhen Emperor into gloom and depression for a long time. Wang Cheng'en was one of his trusted confidants. For even this confidant to speak so bluntly — and not about the future, but about an "ending" — it likely meant he felt this throne would not be held much longer and was already considering a retreat for himself.

Yet at this moment, there was still every reason for optimism. Some details had gone unnoticed, but two numbers had caught everyone's attention: five thousand Jianzhou Jurchen cavalry, five thousand Mongol cavalry — that made over ten thousand horsemen. The figure of ten thousand cavalry had been invoked in many battles, but those who could actually put up such capital were exceedingly rare.

Never mind Jianzhou Jurchen — in the Ming's largest campaigns against the Mongols, incursions of ten thousand cavalry had occurred no more than ten times: Esen of the Oirats, Dayan Khan the Little Prince, and Altan Khan — only those. As for the Ming side, only the Li clan of the Liao garrison, at their peak, could barely muster a force of that scale.

To those who understood or did not, ten thousand cavalry — and the ever-fierce Mongol and Jurchen cavalry at that — was an unstoppable, world-sweeping might. That Zhao Jin of Xuzhou, from the day he raised his army until now, had never yet clashed head-on with a great foe of ten thousand cavalry, much less faced Tatar slave cavalry far superior to Ming horsemen.

What was more, Zhao's Army in Liaodong was now an isolated force. If any mishap occurred, it would be Zhao's Army's first defeat since they took up arms. This Zhao Jin of Xuzhou had been acting with reckless impunity; once he suffered a setback, perhaps the entire tide could be reversed.

What mettle they truly had would be weighed and measured against this mighty foe of ten thousand cavalry...

East of Xuzhou lay Haizhou, the salt-producing region of Huai, now also a vital port for Zhao's Army. And in the Liao garrison, there was also a Haizhou, located over a hundred li northwest of Gaizhou Garrison. Together with Gaizhou Garrison, it choked the east-west throat of the Liao garrison — a strategic point among strategic points.

By late October, the Liao garrison had entered the agricultural off-season. The sea was rough with high winds and waves, no longer fit for sailing. Heaven and earth were stark and bleak — the season for marching and war had arrived.

Haizhou Garrison in the Liao garrison had become a vast military camp. Troops and supplies arriving from Liaoyang and Shenyang first assembled here, then advanced toward Gaizhou. It had also become the army's supply depot, where grain and matériel were stockpiled, and served as the gateway for Jianzhou Jurchen's line of retreat. The other column of troops coming from Guangning, meanwhile, headed directly for Gaizhou.

Jianzhou Jurchen deployed their forces with unhurried composure, because the Zhao's Army opposite them was in no rush to advance. They were merely stockpiling provisions and building encampments and fortifications around Fuzhou and Jinzhou, showing no sign of launching a sudden strike on Gaizhou Garrison. For now, Zhao's Army light cavalry had appeared near Gaizhou Garrison, seemingly monitoring the Jurchen troop movements there.

With cavalry scouting for intelligence and screening the battlefield, the Jin army's cavalry of Jianzhou Jurchen naturally had to counter them. Small-scale clashes erupted at this stage — pursuits, ambushes, hunting one another.

What surprised the Jurchen and Mongol commanders was that in mounted archery and horsemanship, and in the various tactical applications of cavalry, Zhao's Army's performance was not the slightest bit inferior. According to the elite riders of the Khorchin Mongols, the other side very likely had cavalrymen of steppe origin as well — and ones with better equipment and training.

At this point, the only thing they could console themselves with was that Zhao's Army cavalry numbered two thousand at most, which, compared to their own over ten thousand horsemen, was truly nothing to speak of.

The Han commoners of the Liao garrison had long since despaired of the Ming. Many had resigned themselves to toiling like beasts of burden for Jianzhou Jurchen. They had never expected that now, word of Zhao's Army would arrive. Though these were not Ming government troops, they were still a Han army, and that alone made them better than the Jurchens. Some even believed that the dynasty within the passes had already changed.

Han civilians from the Liao garrison began fleeing toward Fuzhou and Jinzhou. The Liaonan Peninsula, with Jinzhou and Lüshun at its tip, had an eastern coast that ran toward Goryeo. The military and civilian population on this side was relatively sparse, but they had always followed the Dongjiang Garrison in resisting the Jurchen and identified deeply with the Dingliao Independent Regiment on Pi Island — because many of the Liao civilians in that regiment had come from here before going to Pi Island. Once they confirmed the connection between the Zhao's Army in Jinzhou and the Dingliao Independent Regiment, they contributed manpower and resources.

Besides the Liao civilians coming from the eastern coast, there were also those coming from the western coast. The area from Gaizhou Garrison to Fuzhou was densely dotted with villages, stockades, and forts of all sizes, with far more Han civilians than on the western coast. But ever since the great battle began, large numbers of commoners had scattered and fled in all directions — only, very few fled toward Fuzhou and Jinzhou.

The repeated back-and-forth struggles, the life-and-death outcomes, had long since robbed these Han civilians of all confidence. They only sought to avoid being caught in the war, and they feared that joining Zhao's Army would mean perishing along with it.

Jianzhou Jurchen's thinking was also simple: to strengthen the walls and clear the fields, denying this strange army supplies and manpower. As a result, up to now, the Han civilians who had come over to Zhao's Army from the western coast were actually fewer than those from the eastern coast.

"... I reckon the Tatars can't be bothered. If they drove large crowds of commoners toward us, whether we took them in or not, it would be a terrible calamity for us either way..."

"... We must understand one thing. Our Zhao's Army has come to Liaodong to seize this territory for Master Jin, not to save this handful of people. They may be wretched, but if we fail to take this Liao garrison, then millions will be wretched. Compare the two, and everyone should know what choice to make..."

Toward the Liaodong Han civilians who came seeking refuge, no matter how wretched or how sincere, Zhao's Army did not accept them. They merely directed them to the eastern coast, to follow the shore and seek refuge in Goryeo. By the banks of the Yalu River, several large Han civilian camps had already been established, with dedicated personnel responsible for purchasing grain and equipment from Goryeo.

The journey from Fuzhou to the banks of the Yalu, never mind the several hundred li — in this early winter season, it was truly bitter beyond words. Even though few Jianzhou Jurchen troops now roamed the western coast, the treacherous route and the foul weather alone were enough to claim lives.

Zhao's Army's heart was so cold and hard that not only were the Liao civilians accompanying the army outraged, but even the soldiers within Zhao's Army grumbled considerably. The method for quelling the discontent and murmuring was also very simple.

Lu Da's Fengpei Regiment took in over a hundred Han civilians who had come seeking refuge. On the third day, Jurchen spies were rooted out. These spies were not Jurchens in disguise, but genuine Han civilians of the Liao lands. Several accomplices went to poison the stables and were discovered by those watching them. Once this incident came to light, the clamor of opposition instantly fell silent.

The Jianzhou Jurchen side seemed not to have placed much hope in spies mixed among the refugees. The Han civilians who came seeking refuge arrived sporadically and did not cause too much trouble.

In reality, most of the Han civilians around Haizhou Garrison and Gaizhou Garrison had been rounded up as laborers, forced to haul provisions and matériel, repair roads, and some were even conscripted into auxiliary troops. The army's temporary grain shortages were made up by plundering directly from Han civilian villages — a misery too wretched to describe.

Compared to the bustle on the periphery, inside the walls of Haizhou Garrison it was rather calm. There were even rumors that some nobleman's theater troupe had also arrived at Haizhou Garrison, and that merchants had brought in fine wine. In the former residence of a Ming Assistant Regional Commander, there was drinking and merrymaking all day long. But once this rumor started, no one noticed any further sign of it.

Originally, Jianzhou Jurchen had none of these diversions. Nurhaci kept a very tight watch on this; he deeply detested his sons and nephews indulging in the various pleasures within the passes.

But in recent years, with so many victories won and so much territory seized, the mountain-like, sea-like wealth of the Liao garrison had fallen into the hands of the Eight Banners nobles. Naturally, they would not remain content with a life of austerity and began to pursue the pursuits they had once envied but could not obtain.

Merchants from Shanxi and Shandong brought silks and satins, brought fine wines of every kind, and even procured theater troupes composed entirely of female singers. Whatever the wealthy households of the Ming possessed, the nobles of Jianzhou Jurchen must have as well.

Vast quantities of furs, ginseng, and various specialties from beyond the passes were exchanged for enormous amounts of wealth and goods — part used for military funding, part transformed into the nobles' luxury and pleasure.