Chapter 21: Dorgon

  Jirhalang was detained in a tent not far from the royal tent, and all the words Wang Pu said to Huang Taiji were heard by him without exception.

  Unintentionally hearing such major news, the shock in Jirhalang's heart can be imagined! Now that Huang Taiji has been captured, the Eight Banners Army is leaderless. If Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming and Shang Kexi are allowed to continue causing trouble, the Eight Banners Army on the Songshan front line will be in danger at any moment!

  Ji Erhalang made up his mind secretly and was determined to find a way to escape.

  Heaven never abandons those who are diligent; opportunities will come soon.

  Originally, there were two household guards responsible for guarding Jirhalang, one guarded the first half of the night and the other guarded the second half. Before midnight, the guard who was supposed to be on duty in the first half of the night possibly had a stomachache from eating dinner and called the guard who was supposed to be on duty in the second half of the night awake, gave him two instructions, and then pulled up his pants and went behind a low wall not far away to relieve himself.

  The servant who was called awake mumbled a couple of times and fell asleep again.

  Opportunity is fleeting, and Zhirhalang, who was pretending to sleep, quickly struggled to get up, because his Achilles tendon had been cut off, so he could only use his hands to support the ground and crawl out of the tent. Less than ten steps away from the tent were two fine horses tied up, and as long as Zhirhalang got on horseback, he was confident that he could escape, even if he lost both feet, he would still be able to outrun these Southern Ming barbarians.

  As soon as he crawled out of the tent, a team of Ming army patrolmen passed by in front of the tent. Jierhalang quickly shrank into the Artemisia bushes beside the tent. The team of Ming army almost walked past Jierhalang's side. Fortunately, the sky was dark, and the Artemisia was as high as half a person, so Jierhalang was not discovered.

  Only after the Ming army patrol had walked far away did Zhirhalang crawl out of the grass thicket.

  When the master Ding Fangbian finished, he had just walked out from behind the low wall. Zhirhalang had already untied the horse's reins and climbed onto the horseback with great effort.

  Drive.

  Ji Er He Lang gently shook the reins, and his warhorse suddenly opened its four hooves and galloped wildly.

  "It's all over, Jian Nu has run away." The household servant shouted loudly, "Jian Nu has run away, hurry and chase!"

  Jirgalang urged his horse to gallop at the fastest speed, bursting out of the Ming army's campsite. The night wind whistled by, and in front of him lay the endless Liaodong Plain. Turning back, he saw a group of Ming soldiers holding torches just emerging from the campsite. Jirgalang let out a cold laugh, fiercely whipping his horse, and vanished into the dark night like a whirlwind.

  ■■■

  Duoduo led five thousand white flag cavalry back before crossing the Liao River, and Zhezhe was brought to his face by a group of riders.

  At this time, Duoduo did not know that Shengjing had fallen, nor did he know what the purpose of Huang Taiji's decree to call him and 5,000 Bordered White Banner cavalry back to Shengjing was. Therefore, the marching speed was not particularly fast, and it took two days and nights to advance less than 300 miles, just entering the Xaling Post on the west side of the Liao River.

  When Jirhalang, with his hair disheveled and his face covered in dirt, wearing tattered clothes, arrived before Dorgon, the latter could hardly believe his eyes. How had the majestic Qing Empire's Shengjing Lieutenant General, the Bordered Blue Banner's banner lord, Prince Zheng of the First Rank Jirhalang ended up like this?

  "Prince Zheng, what's wrong with you?" Duoduo exclaimed, "How did it become like this? What happened?"

  "Hurry, hurry!" Zhirhalang urged the horse to gallop for more than half of the night, already exhausted and panting, "Go quickly to Lianyun Island, Lianyun Island..."

  "Going to Lianyun Island? What's the point of going to Lianyun Island?" Duoduo asked in surprise, "Isn't Lianyun Island where the Three Obedient Kings' naval forces are stationed? What would I do there? Besides, His Majesty has ordered me to lead my troops back to the capital."

  "The Emperor has been captured!" Ji Rong hastily said, "He is now being escorted by the Ming army to Lianyun Island, if we're late it will be too late!"

  As soon as Zhirhalang finished speaking, the personal guards and generals around Duoduo changed their expressions. The emperor being captured was no small matter, it was like the sky falling down for the entire Qing dynasty.

  "The Emperor has been captured!?" Duoduo frowned and said, "Prince Zheng, this kind of joke can't be made lightly."

  "Who's joking with you?" Zhirhalang blazed, "Prince Yu, you'd better lead the troops to Lianyun Island immediately to intercept the Ming army. If you miss the opportunity and let the Ming army take the Emperor away to the interior, you'll be the sinner of the entire Qing dynasty!"

  Duoduo's face changed and he exclaimed: "Prince Zheng, are you telling the truth?"

  "Of course it's true."

  Duoduo said: "But what's going on? How was the Emperor captured?"

  Zhirhalang said, "This matter can't be explained clearly for the time being. In short, Shengjing has fallen and the Emperor has been captured. I still have to rush to Songshan to report the news. You, Prince Yu, should hurry up and lead your troops to Lianyun Island."

  "Alright, time is of the essence. I will lead the troops to Lianyun Island immediately."

  Manggūltai ordered Beile Niankan (the third son of Nurhaci's eldest son, Chuoying) to lead 200 cavalrymen to escort Jirgalang to Songshan and then lead 5,000 iron cavalrymen to swiftly kill their way towards Lianyun Island.

  ■■■

  Songshan, Duergun's camp.

  Dorgon was gathering Shunzhi Emperor's uncle, Prince Hauge, Duke of Wu Ying, A Jige, Beile Abatai, San Xian Wang and other princes and ministers such as Ganglin, Xifeng and Souni to discuss matters.

  After the defeat of the Ming army's main force of over 100,000 soldiers, Hong Chengchou led only a few thousand remaining soldiers to retreat and defend Songshan City. Upon receiving news of the defeat at Songshan, Emperor Chongzhen wanted to send reinforcements to rescue Hong Chengchou but was unable to do so due to a lack of available troops within the passes. As a last resort, Emperor Chongzhen symbolically dispatched several thousand Ming soldiers to lift the siege of Songshan, only for them to be completely annihilated by the Qing army.

  Soon, the Qing army again divided its forces to capture Lian Mountain and Xing Mountain, at which point the connection between Songshan, Jinzhou and Ningyuan was completely cut off by the Qing army, and it was only a matter of time before the city fell. Given that the Qing army had already secured victory, in order to avoid further casualties, Ganglin, Suoni and other officials proposed a long-term siege of Songshan.

  Dorgon summoned everyone to his own tent to discuss long-term siege strategies.

  The meeting had just gone halfway when Jirhalang was supported by two Qing soldiers into the account, and Jirhalang's appearance shocked Dorgon and others. Beile Bayintu, who had a good relationship with Jirhalang, rushed forward to support him and shouted: "Prince Zheng, what happened to you?"

  "It's all over, something big has happened."

  Jierhalang escaped from Liaoyang and galloped all the way to Songshan, already in a state of near collapse. He only said one sentence before closing his eyes and fainting into Bayintu's arms.

  "Dorgon hastily ordered: 'Quickly, quickly summon the imperial physician who stayed with the Emperor in the army!'"

  Long before the order was given, the imperial physician arrived at Dorgon's tent with two servants in attendance. After a great deal of effort lasting more than half an hour, they finally managed to wake up Jirgalang. Dorgon and others rushed to Jirgalang's bedside, anxiously wanting to know why he had become like this.

  Haug, who was naturally impatient, asked first: "Prince Zheng, what's going on?"

  "Ah, Prince Su." Ji'erhalang looked at Hao Ge and sighed, "The sky of our Great Qing Dynasty... has collapsed."

  "What's going on?" Hauge asked in confusion, "What's going on?"

  Jirhalang's eyes swept around, and he spotted Gong Xunwang Kong Youde, Huai Shunwang Geng Zhongming, and Zhi Shunwang Shang Kexi in the crowd. Suddenly, his anger ignited, and he bellowed loudly: "Quickly! Quickly seize these three traitors - Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, and Shang Kexi! Don't let them escape, quickly!"

  Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming and Shang Kexi's faces changed greatly, and they were so frightened that they quickly knelt down to the ground. Kong Youde knocked his head on the ground and cried: "Your Highness, we have been loyal to the Qing dynasty since our surrender, why do you say we are spies? We are really wronged!"

  "Framed? Hmph!" Zhirhalang sneered, "If I hadn't heard it with my own ears, I would never have thought that you were spies sent by the Southern Ming barbarian faction to infiltrate our Great Qing Empire!"

  "Innocent, I'm innocent."

  Kong Youde and the other two were scared, their bodies trembling like sieves, kneeling on the ground and shouting injustice. Although they looked as majestic as Jierhalang, in front of the Manchu people, they were just lowly slaves. If Jierhalang wanted to kill them, it would be as easy as crushing an ant.

  "Preposterous?" Zhiruiharang shouted, "If it weren't for your secret help, how could the thousand elite soldiers of Wang Pu, the commander-in-chief of Nanming Datong, have possibly passed through our Great Qing army's Songshan camp? If it weren't for the help of your family slaves left in Shengjing, how could Wang Pu's troops have deceived and broken into Shengjing?"

  "What?" Haug was shocked and exclaimed, "Shengjing has been breached by the Ming army?"

  Jirhalang gritted his teeth and said: "The Ming army not only captured Shengjing, but also set the entire city on fire. The magnificent imperial palace and your residences have all been reduced to ruins! Even Li Guangwang and I were taken prisoner by the Ming army. If I hadn't escaped by luck, I'm afraid I would have been taken to Lianyudao with the Emperor, Li Guangwang, Chen Fei, and Zhuang Fei."

  "Ah! Both King Li Zicheng and the Emperor have been captured by the Ming army?"

  Dorgon and others suddenly turned pale, the Emperor was caught, this great Qing dynasty's sky has truly collapsed!

  Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming and Shang Kexi were even more pale-faced. Such a great disaster had occurred in the Great Qing Empire, and the three of them would still be loyal to the empire with all their hearts, but they might also find it hard to escape death.

  "Prince Zheng!" Haoge roared in extreme anger, "You're talking nonsense!"

  Ji Zhaolang shook his head and said, "I'm not talking nonsense. Originally, the Ming army didn't know that the emperor had returned to Beijing. Wang Pu had already led his troops away from Shengjing. It was Kong Youde and others who sent someone to inform Wang Pu, and only then did Wang Pu lead the Ming army in a surprise attack. The emperor was completely unguarded and suffered misfortune."

  "Kong Youde!" Haoge turned his head and glared at the three Kong Youdes, gritting his teeth and saying, "This king will kill you..."

  "Right, kill them!"

  "Dare to betray the Emperor, chop them into pieces and feed them to dogs."

  Daishan's sons Shoto, Sahalaha and Abatai etc. followed suit, the crowd was enraged.

  Gang Lin, Xi Fu, Suoni and others wanted to persuade them, but they were just low-ranking foreign ministers and could not intervene in the affairs of the imperial family. Tong Yangxing, Fan Wen Cheng, Li Yongfang and other Han people dared not speak out even more. At this time, speaking on behalf of Kong Youde and his three men would be easily seen as their accomplices, wouldn't that be asking for trouble?

  Just as Haoge and the others were about to cut Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming and Shang Kexi into pieces in their rage, Dorgon suddenly raised his hand and shouted: "Halt!"