Chapter 55: Enemies on a Narrow Road

"The dashing King Chuang has an army of two hundred thousand, invincible across the realm, and Wu Sangui has already collapsed in utter and humiliating defeat."

To boost the gentry's morale, Gu Zhenhua instantly doubled the size of Li Zicheng's forces. He tossed Gao Di's severed head right in front of the gathered gentry, smiling as he asked, "Take a good look, everyone. Gao Di has already met his end, and Wu Sangui is not far behind. Do you not wish to become founding heroes of a new dynasty?"

They wished to, oh how they wished to!

The gentry's eyes bulged. The past ten days or so had been nothing short of absolute nightmare. They had endured every imaginable torture; some had been locked up with the deranged, surrounded by unbearable, stinking excrement.

In the dead of night, they would suddenly feel hot breath blow against their faces, and upon opening their eyes, they would be met by a pair of blank, unblinking eyes staring straight into theirs. No one's heart could withstand such terror, and within days, several among them had lost their minds.

As gentry members suffered mental breakdowns one after another, they grit their teeth, carved away their own fortunes, and handed over vast sums of silver, only for Wu Sangui to demand even more without being satisfied. Of course, they had no idea this was all orchestrated by Li Jibo, who had shifted all the blame squarely onto Wu Sangui.

Now, hearing that Wu Sangui was on the verge of defeat, everyone was beside themselves with joy.

"That scoundrel Wu Sangui, blind to the mandate of heaven, actually dared to oppose King Chuang! We will not let him off!"

"Indeed! This old man still has over a hundred retainers at home, more than enough to lend King Chuang a helping hand."

"My nephew serves in the Guanning Army; he can simply surrender to King Chuang."

The gentry rolled up their sleeves and eager to act, growing more exhilarated by the minute. Gu Zhenhua was equally immensely pleased. Li Zicheng's devastating defeat at Shanhai Pass was largely due to his ignorance of the situation, which had allowed the Later Jin to exploit the vacuum.

The gentry were local potentates; if they were willing to aid Li Zicheng, the Dashun army at least wouldn't have suffered such a catastrophic rout and could have sustained itself for a much longer period.

"My lords, if you wish to achieve merit, you must seize the moment. Once this village is passed, there will be no such inn!"

The gentry's enthusiasm was instantly inflamed, and they scattered in all directions, running like madmen. These fellows once again proved that human potential was infinite; grey-bearded old men who had been locked up for ten days could suddenly sprint as if running the final stretch of a hundred-meter dash.

Watching the scrambling gentry, Gu Zhenhua returned in high spirits to the cargo depot. By this time, various supplies had already been loaded onto more than a hundred wagons, forming a long, winding dragon. The soldiers stared at the loot with covetous and burning eyes, unable to hold back their drooling.

"My lord, the gold and silver have all been loaded, along with three thousand fine bows and arrows, one thousand matchlock firearms, and twenty thousand catties of gunpowder," Yue Polu reported excitedly to Gu Zhenhua.

At that moment, Li Xu also walked over and said, "There are three categories of goods remaining: artillery pieces, armor, and grain. However, we only have about one hundred and fifty wagons left, and we cannot take everything..."

"Load the armor, load the cannons!" Gu Zhenhua said in a loud voice. "Listen well, everyone: we must transport what is most valuable and hardest to acquire."

In the blink of an eye, the wagons were piled high with armor, crouching-tiger cannons, and Frankish breech-loading guns. After a thorough looting session where every good thing was seized, only thirty thousand dan of grain were left behind.

"My lord, what should we do with the grain?"

"Burn it!" Gu Zhenhua did not hesitate for an instant.

The soldiers' expressions immediately turned troubled, and some even had tears welling in the corners of their eyes, simply unable to bring themselves to do it. Those who had never starved would perhaps never truly understand the value of grain!

"My lord, this is life-saving provisions! In times of famine, five catties of white flour could trade for a child!"

"Remember what I said. Do you want the Later Jin to eat their fill and then come back to slaughter us?" Gu Zhenhua looked around at the assembled soldiers, let out a long breath, and then said with deep emotion, "Brothers, many of you come from impoverished backgrounds and have never known a full meal, so you cherish grain all the more—I understand this clearly. But we cannot afford to be foolish. If we leave the grain behind, it will certainly fall into the hands of the Later Jin. Once those bandits have eaten their fill, they will pillage all the more fiercely. Rest assured, as long as you follow this marquis, I guarantee that every single one of you will be well-fed and warmly clothed. Not only will you survive, but you will live with dignity!"

"I believe in my lord!"

Hou Sanhuai shouted at the top of his lungs, tightly gripping a torch in his hand and hurling it fiercely onto a grain stack. Crimson flames leaped up furiously, crackling as they ignited.

"We all believe in my lord!"

More and more soldiers hardened their hearts, gritted their teeth, and cast their torches toward the grain stacks. Instantly, crimson flames soared to the skies and thick black smoke filled the air, the raging fire rapidly devouring the provisions.

At last, over two hundred wagons were packed to the brim. The haul was even greater than the harvest from the capital. Gu Zhenhua was immensely satisfied, sitting astride his warhorse and shouting excitedly, "Brothers, we are nearly ready! Follow this marquis out of the city, a brilliant future awaits us all!"

"Long live! Long live!"

Several thousand men roared as one, surging forward closely behind Gu Zhenhua to break out of the city.

...

Outside Shanhai Pass, at the Weiyuan Platform.

Dorgon stood on the heights gazing into the distance, watching the echoes of battle and the sky-filling fires of Shanhai Pass. He clenched his fists tightly, a look of mesmerized obsession in his eyes, involuntarily recalling the scene of leading his troops into the pass six years prior.

Majestic walled cities, prosperous commerce, abundant produce, vast territories, countless commoners... Every single thing made the blood of the Manchu nobility—who survived by plunder—boil with excitement, longing to instantly bring this magnificent land under their own grasp.

Dorgon felt precisely that way at this moment. He could clearly sense that an unprecedented opportunity was awaiting him.

"Scholar Fan, what do you think the outcome of this expedition into the pass will be?"

"Reporting to the Prince Regent: naturally, it will be galloping across the Central Plains to establish an eternal foundation for ten thousand generations!"

Hearing Fan Wencheng's words, Dorgon burst into loud laughter. "Scholar Fan, quite a few people have told me that if we could merely emulate the Great Jin and effect a division of the north and south, that would already be the greatest fortune imaginable."

Upon hearing this, Fan Wencheng hastily said, "The Prince Regent must never entertain such a thought. The Zhu Ming dynasty is devoid of the Dao, and the rebels are merely a mob, utterly no match for our Great Qing warriors. As long as we treat the officials and gentry with generous solace and win over the hearts of the people, unifying all under heaven is by no means impossible!"

"Hahaha, let it be as Scholar Fan says."

Just as Dorgon's loud laughter echoed, a disheveled troop of cavalry suddenly galloped from afar, rushing in a panic toward the Weiyuan Platform. At their head was none other than Wu Sangui.

Not long ago, Dorgon had laid eyes on Wu Sangui, yet seeing him again now gave Dorgon quite a start!

Between Wu Sangui's nose and mouth was a horrific wound; a section of his nose was missing, his upper lip was gone, and two of his front teeth were knocked out.

Originally, Wu Sangui was a dashing and refined figure, a peerless match for Chen Yuanyuan. Yet in the blink of an eye, he had been transformed into something neither human nor ghost—both laughable and lamentable...

"King of Pingxi, what on earth has happened to you? Who could have injured you like this?" Dorgon asked in astonishment.

Wu Sangui grit his teeth in hatred. This was naturally Gu Zhenhua's masterpiece—an arrow shot straight through his philtrum had left him in this wretched state. Since the surgeons of this era had not yet mastered otherworldly plastic surgery, Wu Sangui's facial appearance was utterly ruined.

"Prince Regent, my... my subordinates have mutinied. The Ming dynasty remnant Gu Zhenhua incited the soldiers to rebel, and he even blew open the Xiluo City gate."

"What?" Dorgon's eyes bulged in shock, and he could not help demanding, "King of Pingxi, how did you guarantee things to me previously? Wasn't the situation at Shanhai Pass supposed to be firmly in the palm of your hand? How could you fail to keep your own subordinates in check?"

"This... ah! Wu-wu, wu-wu-wu..."

Anxious, Wu Sangui opened his mouth wide, causing his wound to rupture anew. Fresh blood poured over his lips and down his neck, staining everything, while his words became completely garbled.

Dorgon furrowed his brows in utter irritation and simply waved his hand, ordering someone to take Wu Sangui away to quickly treat his wounds, genuinely fearing that this newly surrendered King of Pingxi might bleed to death on the spot.

Dorgon shifted his gaze to the deputy commander Yang Kun, and asked with a frown, "Is the situation in the city truly that dire?"

"Reporting to the Ninth Prince, indeed it is. If you do not dispatch troops immediately, Shanhai Pass will belong to Li Zicheng. We won't be returning either, lest we get our heads lopped off by Li Zicheng!"

"Hmph, trying to play hardball with me." Dorgon gave a cold snort from his nose, though he knew the situation was urgent. Since Wu Sangui's Guanning Army could no longer hold out, he had to intervene.

Dorgon immediately summoned Prince Ying of the Second Rank Ajige and Prince Duoduo of the Second Rank Duoluo, ordering them to lead the elite forces of the Two White Banners to enter Shanhai Pass forthwith.

Ajige and Duoduo were already raring for a fight. After Wu Sangui received cursory treatment for his wounds, he once again served as the vanguard, guiding the Manchu forces into Shanhai Pass through three routes: the South Water Gate, the North Water Gate, and the Guanzhong Gate.

Gu Zhenhua was still unaware that the Later Jin had already made their move. He was currently leading his troops charging toward the east, intending to break out from the flank of the Dashun army.

However, Gu Zhenhua completely underestimated the level of chaos inside Shanhai Pass—though, of course, he himself was largely responsible for it. The Dashun army and the Guanning Army were locked in ferocious hand-to-hand combat, constantly attacking one another.

Those newly liberated gentry had also hurriedly organized men to assist the Dashun forces. The streets were filled with throngs of panicked people, and the sounds of battle shook the earth.

"My lord, exactly who are we supposed to kill, and who are we supposed to help?" Guo Yunlong furrowed his brows anxiously from the side.

"Whoever blocks my path, kill them!"

Gu Zhenhua declared fiercely. Taking the lead once more as the vanguard clearing the path, his saber whirled up and down like a hyper-efficient meat grinder, continuously cutting down those who stood before him.

Having fought his way all this distance, Gu Zhenhua had no idea how many swords and sabers he had notched or broken. Both of his arms felt utterly numb, yet he mechanically repeated the same combat movements. Relying on Gu Zhenhua's divine valor, they finally carved out a bloody alley, with the men closely following behind.

Thus they grew closer and closer to the city gate; victory was finally in sight, and even Gu Zhenhua could not help relaxing slightly.

"My lord, look at that! What is that?"

Gu Zhenhua was startled, hastily following the direction of the pointed finger. In the distance, a vast ocean of white had appeared—white garments, white armor, white banners, and white horses—surging overwhelmingly toward them.

Tatars!

Everyone present could not help gasping in shock. The final player in Shanhai Pass had finally made its entrance!

"My lord, do we fight or not?" Li Xu could not help asking.

"Fight, why wouldn't we?" Gu Zhenhua said firmly. "This marquis will not be reconciled without giving the Tatars a taste of our strength!"