Chapter 51: A Bumper Harvest of Warhorses

Upon the dilapidated ramparts of Shanhai Pass, Gu Zhenhua stood tall and straight, drawing his bow to its absolute limit. With a sharp twang, an arrow flew straight toward an enemy commander's helmet, grazing the scalp so closely that a fraction lower would have pierced the man's skull.

The young officer turned deathly pale in an instant, wheeled his horse around, and fled in a panic. Yet after galloping several dozen paces, he suddenly noticed a strip of cloth tied to the shaft of the arrow, bearing eight bold characters:

"Wu has surrendered to the Qing, Emperor Chuang, take care of yourself!"

By this time, Gu Zhenhua was already mounted, leading his men to seize enemy warhorses.

"Li Zicheng, show some spine and slaughter a few more Tartars for me!"

Muttering to himself, Gu Zhenhua and his men cut through a street and came upon a vast, requisitioned open square filled entirely with warhorses—easily two to three thousand of them.

"Lord Gu, those guarding the warhorses are Wu Sangui's trusted personal guards. Charge straight through them!" Li Xu warned, and Gu Zhenhua nodded hurriedly.

The generals of the late Ming Dynasty all shared the habit of keeping personal guards. Plainly speaking, these guards were the military slaves of the generals, entirely dependent on their masters for survival. Heavily armed and fiercely combat-effective, the number of a general's personal guards directly determined his military strength.

The Guanning Army was no exception. Commanders at all levels maintained numerous guards, and Wu Sangui, in particular, boasted over three thousand elite retainers. In battle, these men served simultaneously as vanguard shock troops and督战队 (督战队 meaning execution squads/enforcers). Vital resources like warhorses were placed under their direct supervision.

To these loyal retainers, Wu Sangui was their god and their entire world; the possibility of winning them over was virtually nonexistent. Never intending to persuade them, Gu Zhenhua took the lead and charged directly forward.

"Who goes there?"

"Your executioner!"

Raising his hand, Gu Zhenhua loosed three arrows in rapid succession, sending three guards crashing to the ground. The remaining guards were startled, but rather than retreating, they rushed forward with redoubled frenzy, clashing with Gu Zhenhua.

Every single one of these guards was a master of martial arts with extensive battlefield experience, and Gu Zhenhua exercised extreme caution in the face of such foes. Hand-to-hand combat in a narrow space left no room for retreat or evasion.

Swapping blows for hundreds of rounds existed only in chivalric romance novels; in reality, victory or defeat was decided in a matter of moves. Survival depended entirely on stamina, reflexes, ruthlessness, and speed.

Both of these traits were Gu Zhenhua's strengths. Moreover, having undergone modern scientific military training, he knew the human body's vulnerabilities like the back of his hand.

His strikes with the saber were unerringly precise and vicious, affording the enemy no time to react. The blade swept across a guard's flank, instantly spilling his viscera. The sickening, greenish mess induced nausea, and before the next guard could fully comprehend what had happened, Gu Zhenhua's blade slashed across his throat, sending a head flying far into the air.

Seeing Gu Zhenhua cut down the guards one after another, the soldiers behind him felt their blood boil. Yue Polu and Hu Shan, in particular, took the lead and charged forward.

"Let's see you be arrogant! Let's see you act high and mighty! Let's see you eat better than me! Let's see you take a bigger share than me! Let's see you look down on me..." Hu Shan bellowed curses while swinging his battle-axe, shattering a shield before instantly smashing another skull.

The smell of blood stimulated everyone's nerves as the soldiers swarmed forward. The guards guarding the warhorses numbered fewer than a hundred. Facing a twenty-to-one disparity combined with a fiend like Gu Zhenhua, their morale rapidly collapsed.

"Quick! Inform the General-in-Chief that there's a mutiny!"

A dozen surviving guards fought desperately to carve a path out and escape. Gu Zhenhua drew his bow once more, dropping six or seven of them, though a few managed to slip through the net.

"Brothers, mount up quickly!"

At the command, the men surged forward, each claiming a warhorse. At that moment, a head peered out from a nearby stable, looking around furtively.

"Who's there?"

"Don't shoot! Don't misunderstand! We're Lord Gu's men! We're on your side, on your side!"

A small, withered figure emerged from the room, bowing repeatedly. Urging his horse forward, Gu Zhenhua caught sight of the fellow: barely five feet tall, hunchbacked, with bulging eyes and a sparse, yellowish beard on his chin, resembling nothing so much as a giant shrimp.

Spotting Gu Zhenhua, the man hurriedly said, "You must be Lord Gu! Mr. Li said long ago that you are majestic, imposing, and a rare hero in this world. The moment this humble one set eyes on you, your heroic aura..."

"Shut up," Gu Zhenhua barked angrily. "I have no time for your nonsense. Was it Mr. Li who told you to wait for me? Did he leave any instructions?"

"Yes, yes!"

The fellow hastily turned around, pulled out a bundle of white cloth strips, and offered them with a smile to Gu Zhenhua.

"Mr. Li instructed that you should all tie these around your arms to avoid accidentally hurting your own people."

Hearing this, Gu Zhenhua felt as though he had just awakened from a dream. Shanhai Pass was chaotic enough right now, with the Guanning Army, the Dashun Army, and perhaps the impending arrival of the Manchus; an official friend-or-foe identification marker was indeed essential.

"Mr. Li is most thoughtful. Everyone, put them on!"

At Gu Zhenhua's command, a clear white strip of cloth was tied around every right arm, making them highly conspicuous. In this courtyard alone, there were over three thousand warhorses. The soldiers took one each, and with plenty remaining, some simply took two. Since Gu Zhenhua had declared that the horses belonged to them, they stood on no ceremony.

"Lord Gu, Mr. Li also instructed that if you have the nerve, right near Xiluo City, there are still plenty of warhorses and pack animals. That area is also close to the granaries and the treasury..."

Before the man could finish, Gu Zhenhua grabbed him by the collar and hoisted him up onto a warhorse.

"I lack nothing else, but my nerve is more than enough. Lead the way!"

Gu Zhenhua had stated long ago that all captured warhorses would belong to the captors, so the soldiers exerted themselves with redoubled vigor. Led by Gu Zhenhua, they charged directly toward the West City.

Meanwhile, Shanhai Pass had descended into complete chaos. The moment Gu Zhenhua departed with over two thousand men, a massive gap was left in the city's defenses. The Dashun Army immediately flooded in. Seeing no defensive troops, they initially suspected a trap.

Yet after advancing a few paces, they realized it was a heaven-sent breach. Someone bellowed from the ramparts, and the Dashun Army outside the walls surged in en masse.

Not only the South City, but the North Wing City had also seen defenders surrender to Li Zicheng, and the Dashun forces poured in through there as well. Attacking from both ends, Wu Sangui's army was thrown into total disarray, retreating step by step in a desperate scramble for survival.

"What is the meaning of this? Wu Sangui, that idiot, dawdling over a single execution—he's utterly useless!"

Wu Sangui was raging in his command headquarters when a flurry of hurried footsteps heralded the breathless entry of Yang Kun. "General, bad news! The rebel bandits have broken into the city!"

"What?!" Wu Sangui sprang to his feet, his eyebrows bristling. "A pack of fools! I'll go out and slaughter them myself!"

Armoring himself completely, Wu Sangui paused for a fraction of a second as his hand brushed his head. His hair had already been shaved off, leaving only the Manchu queue at the back of his head. A flash of revulsion crossed his mind, but he instantly cast it aside and strode out of the mansion. Mounting his horse with saber in hand, Wu Sangui led the charge toward the west of the city.

"General, the rebels broke in from the south. You should..." Yang Kun cautioned.

Wu Sangui merely offered a cold smile. "Precisely. I must set the Prince Regent's mind at ease!"

Gritting his teeth, Wu Sangui charged forth. His target was none other than Crown Prince Zhu Cilang.

In truth, long before the battle of Shanhai Pass even commenced, Dorgon and the Manchu main army had arrived ten miles outside the pass, though they refrained from joining the fray, choosing instead to watch from the sidelines as spectators.

After half a day of fighting, Wu Sangui could no longer hold out. He personally led Wu Sangui (Note: name duplication in source text contextually refers to subordinates/relatives like Wu Sanrong) and others out of the North City to meet Dorgon and request military intervention from the Qing.

Yet Dorgon was too cunning to engage in a losing proposition. Reinforcements could be sent, but the Guanning Army must surrender to the Qing, and Wu Sangui was promised the title of Prince Pingxi.

Unlike in history, Gu Zhenhua had brought the Crown Prince to Shanhai Pass, multiplying Dorgon's vigilance toward Wu Sangui tenfold. If Wu Sangui fought the battle and then escorted the Crown Prince back to the capital, how could the Manchus ever take the Central Plains?

Consequently, Dorgon laid down his conditions: Wu Sangui must immediately shave his hair and adopt Manchu attire, accept the title of Prince Pingxi, and surrender the Crown Prince as a hostage.

Driven to a corner, Wu Sangui had no choice but to shave his head and become a subject of the Qing.

A petty man is no gentleman, and a truly ruthless man lets nothing stand in his way. Having surrendered to the Qing, a thorn in his side like Gu Zhenhua could no longer be tolerated; hence his successive orders to Guo Yunlong and Wu Sanrong to assassinate Gu Zhenhua.

Naturally, in Wu Sangui's mind, an even greater trouble was the Crown Prince. He knew full well that the Manchus had no intention of restoring the Ming Dynasty, meaning the Crown Prince was a dead man walking—yet Wu Sangui was equally unwilling to bear the stigma of regicide.

Suddenly, he recalled Fan Wencheng's parting warning: *In times of chaos, petty villains multiply, making it hard to distinguish true from false; proceed with utmost caution!*

Wu Sangui finally understood Fan Wencheng's implication. Who cared whether the prince was genuine or counterfeit? As long as he insisted the Crown Prince was an impostor, executing him posed no problem at all.

Just as Wu Sangui braced himself to eliminate the Crown Prince and deliver his pledge of loyalty to Dorgon, Gu Zhenhua and his troops charged into the horse pastures.

With the loss of the frontier territories, warhorses for the Ming Dynasty had grown increasingly scarce, but the Guanning Army was a definitive exception. The elite Guanning Iron Cavalry alone numbered ten thousand. Following the standard configuration of three horses per trooper, the Guanning Army should possess thirty thousand warhorses, and fifty thousand would hardly be surprising.

Beyond pure warhorses, a massive quantity of pack animals was essential to sustain operations beyond the frontier. Bursting into the horse enclosure, Gu Zhenhua was instantly stunned by the spectacle before him: a vast, dark sea of horses.

Some reared and neighed, others pawed the earth; there were at least ten thousand of them. Greed blazed in Gu Zhenhua's eyes—probably not even the entire southern region could muster so many fine warhorses!

Especially with the Manchus controlling the north, acquiring warhorses elsewhere was out of the question. This was his sole opportunity, one that could not only sustain two thousand cavalrymen but also breed new generations to guarantee a steady supply of military mounts.

At that thought, Gu Zhenhua's blood boiled. "Brothers, what are you waiting for? Follow me and charge! Don't leave a single warhorse behind!"