Ming Dynasty entry: I am Chongzhen, the greatest emperor of all time!

Chapter 125 Unable to Eat or Drink

After several days of fleeing.

Dorgon's horse hooves finally struck the blue bricks of the south gate of Shengjing, and black blood dripped from his brocade armor.

Shengjing was still the same Shengjing, just like always. The bells on the city gate spun in the wind, the people kneeling along the long street craned their necks, and children rode on their fathers' shoulders to see the victorious flag.

There was none of the scorn from officials or attacks from political enemies that he had imagined, not even a trace of complaint.

All that remained were the expectant gazes of the many Jurchen people.

They eagerly awaited their sons, husbands, and fathers returning home victorious with their invincible Prince Rui, bringing with them countless gold, silver, and slaves.

Tell them that the Southerners who drove them into Shengjing a few days ago have been slaughtered.

But the more this happened, the less Dorgon dared to move forward.

He'd rather get a good scolding right away; maybe that would make him feel better.

At that moment, he suddenly understood why the Southern Man wrote that Xiang Yu, the King of Chu, committed suicide at Wujiang.

He is not as good as Xiang Yu, the Hegemon of Chu.

Far from being as good.

After his defeat, Xiang Yu had no face to see the elders of Jiangdong, so he committed suicide.

Despite his defeat, he still had to return to Shengjing, the capital city built by his father and brother, with a heavy heart.

He would have been better off dying on the battlefield; then he would still be the wise and mighty Prince Rui of the Qing Dynasty, instead of the stray dog ​​he is now.

While I was lost in thought.

An old woman slowly walked up to him and asked with a smile.

"How many bondservantes did Prince Rui bring back?"

The old woman's question made Dorgon's throat tighten.

He saw the widow of the Bordered Yellow Banner clutching a brand-new indigo cloth, which was prepared to make new clothes for her victorious husband.

A three-year-old child lies beside an old woman, a longevity lock tied with a red rope scratching against his quiver, the lock engraved with "May your father be safe and sound."

Dorgon's iron-like body swayed involuntarily.

Fan Wencheng, who had been observing him, quickly whispered a reminder, "Your Highness, it's time to dismount."

Dorgon's finger guards dug into the reins, and an old wound on his palm reopened and bled.

He ignored Fan Wencheng's reminder.

Still lost in his own daze.

He couldn't count how many times he had returned victorious, but he remembered how many kilograms of salt should be sprinkled on the city gates each time he returned in triumph. In the eighth year of Chongde, after defeating Ligdan Khan, Huang Taiji ordered thirty carts of salt to be used to pave the imperial road.

Now all that's left on the ground is rice paste frozen into ice crystals.

Suddenly, the bondservant men of the Plain Yellow Banner stirred up, and a one-eyed old man squeezed out from the crowd.

Dorgon recognized the old man as the groom he had saved in Jinzhou in the ninth year of the Tiancong reign. The old man was holding a pottery jar, from which wafted the aroma of stewed roe deer meat.

"Your Highness," the old man limped to the front of the horse, his one cloudy eye suddenly widening, "Where is my Hazir? He's serving as a Goshha under Prince Yu."

Dodo's whip froze in mid-air.

Dorgon pressed his tongue against his palate, the taste of blood mixed with the cold wind of Liaodong filling his lungs.

He didn't remember the young man named Hazir. Perhaps he was in the formation, perhaps he was pierced through the gut by a hook-and-sickle spear while breaking through the Ming army's chariot formation, or perhaps he fell from his horse and died during his escape.

But he didn't dare say it, and he didn't know how to say it.

I opened my mouth several times, but couldn't utter a sound.

"Haqir has been promoted to the position of battalion commander of Bayala and will remain in the south to handle official duties." Fan Wencheng stepped forward and stuffed the loose silver into the old man's arms. "Prince Rui has granted your family an additional ten mu of pastureland."

"Hey! Good! I knew Prince Rui couldn't possibly lose!"

The crowd finally erupted in cheers, and several Plain White Banner boys squeezed in front of the remnants of the Bordered White Banner to ask for their battle tactics.

Dorgon's armor suddenly felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, and the arrow wound on his shoulder burst open, with pus and blood seeping into the lining through the gaps in the iron plates.

"Get out of the way!" Dodo could no longer contain himself and, in a fit of rage, suddenly lashed his whip at the ground. "You've startled Prince Rui's horse! You'll regret it!"

However, this could not stop the cheering crowd.

They've been suppressing their feelings for too long.

After Nurhaci unified the Jurchens, they rarely suffered defeats and never even regarded their opponents as human beings. They only knew that their men would go out for several months and return with inexhaustible gold, silver and grain.

They've always been the ones driving the Southerners away; when did it become the Southerners' turn to drive them away at their own doorstep?

Moreover, in recent days, defeated soldiers have been returning to Shengjing, saying that Prince Rui has been defeated.

They were at their wits' end. Outside the city were the cannons of the Southerners, and to the east, the Koreans were constantly attacking. The threat of death hung over their heads.

Their savior has finally returned; how could they not be excited?

Women in patched cotton robes pushed off their headscarves, eight-year-old children climbed elm branches just to catch a glimpse of Dorgon, and families of those from the Bordered Red Banners surged forward carrying meat, hoping to find their husbands and sons.

"Your Majesty!"

An old man knelt down in the middle of the road with a thud, his empty sleeves fluttering in the wind, crying out, "Are my three sons still alive?"

Dodo's whip cracked again in the air, "Get out of the way!"

The old man was startled, but he still finished speaking.

"I am an old soldier from the Bordered Yellow Banner who followed the late emperor in the fifth year of the Tiancong reign. I was wounded when I came down. My three children all went south with Your Highness. I just want to know if those three brats are brave or not, and whether they have disgraced me!"

Dorgon could no longer hold back, and he suddenly reined in his warhorse, falling to the ground.

He glanced at the old man first, then closed his eyes resignedly and looked up at the sky.

"In this battle... we have lost..."

"Fourteenth Brother!?"

"Your Highness!??"

Dodo and Fan Wencheng exclaimed in surprise at the same time.

They had agreed beforehand that they would first go to the palace to overcome the most difficult hurdle, and then discuss matters of public sentiment.

We must do everything possible to preserve Dorgon's personal prestige among the people.

But Dorgon's single sentence ruined the entire plan.

The latter simply shook his head.

"A defeat is a defeat..."

"Old servant, this time I returned with only 60,000 troops from four banners: two yellow and two white. Go and see if your son is among them..."

Upon hearing this, the old man was struck dumb, staggered a couple of steps, and suddenly collapsed to the ground.

His eyes were filled with disbelief.

"Prince Rui...Prince Rui...lost?"

The tattered white flag swept over his head, and the spirit-summoning banner wrapped around the flagpole made his throat tighten.

Those were the ninety-nine prayer flags of the shamanic lineage before the expedition; now only three gray strips of cloth remain, swaying in the wind.

"Remove your armor." Dorgon pulled off his breastplate.

Goshha, from the Bordered White Banner, hurriedly knelt down, "Master, no! It's inside the city!"

"Disarm!" Dorgon's roar startled the warhorses, causing them to rear up.

Dodo rushed up and grabbed his brother's hand, only to find his palm sticky with blood seeping from the gaps in the gold-embroidered armor, which had soaked the mink lining into a blood-stained sack.

Bang!

The breastplate bounced three times on the bluestone slab before rolling to a child's feet.

The child looked up, his face smeared with snot, and asked with a blank expression, "Where's my father? He said he'd take me to eat candied hawthorns when he got back." Dorgon's facial muscles twitched. "Your father might be a couple of days late coming home. Go find your mother first."

The child shook his head. “My mother died. A few days ago, some southerners came into our house and stole all our grain. They also killed my mother. My father said that when my father comes back, he will avenge my mother.”

"Go to Prince Rui's residence to collect twenty taels of silver as a form of compensation." His fingernail scratched the child's face, drawing blood. "From now on, you will live in Prince Rui's residence."

The crowd stirred with a buzz.

The tattered felt hat of a bannerman from the Bordered Blue Banner was knocked off, the bone whistle of a runaway Mongol slave fell into a snowdrift, and an old woman from the Plain Yellow Banner suddenly pounded the ground and cried out, "My son!"

Dorgon's braid brushed against the quiver on his back, where three whistling arrows remained.

He suddenly unfastened his sword and threw it at Dodo, the pearl on the scabbard falling to the ground. "Issue the order! The widows of fallen soldiers shall be provided with three dou of rice per month, their orphans shall be sent to the banner school, and their parents over seventy years of age shall be supported by this prince!"

"Brother!" The old woman tugged at the hem of Dodo's python robe. "We only have..."

"Sell the land." Dorgon snapped his court beads in half, the coral beads bouncing and rolling into the crowd. "By my decree, the twelve estates under Prince Rui's name outside Shanhaiguan shall be sold immediately to fund the relief efforts!"

The family members of the Bordered White Banner, dressed in mourning clothes, crawled forward on their knees, while the prayer flag pole of the escaped Mongol slaves pierced the coat of the Plain Blue Banner bondservants.

Taking the opportunity, Fan Wencheng shouted, "Prince Rui is benevolent! The spirits of the fallen soldiers can now rest in peace!"

"Rest in peace my ass!"

A few sobs rose from the crowd, gradually merging into suppressed whimpers.

Dorgon suddenly knelt down on both knees.

Dodo's quiver fell to the ground in the snow, and Fan Wencheng rushed over and grabbed his arm, "Your Highness, you mustn't!"

"This kneeling is a tribute to our elders and fellow villagers." Dorgon shook off his advisors and slammed his forehead heavily against the bluestone slab. "I, Dorgon, am incompetent; I failed to bring my men home!"

The ice surface cracked like a spiderweb, and blood seeped into the snowdrifts through the cracks in the bricks.

The old bannerman from the Bordered White Banner suddenly ripped open his tattered coat, revealing a wolf's head tattoo on his chest. "My master led me out of Khorchin back then."

"Our master is kind!" The widow from the Plain Blue Banner threw her mourning band on the ground. "My dead husband has no one to blame but himself for following the wrong master!"

Dorgon choked up again; any further words seemed utterly inadequate at that moment.

Seeing this, Fan Wencheng had no choice but to let the army enter the city first, in order to prevent the palace from sending people to directly seize military power.

The remaining soldiers and ragtag troops marched in formation toward Shengjing City.

As the remnants of the Bordered Yellow Banner carried the corpses past, their cheers sounded like the cawing of choked crows. Everyone finally believed that they had indeed lost this battle.

The old woman's earthenware jar shattered on the road, and roe deer meat rolled onto the ground.

Dorgon saw white mourning bands flashing through the crowd, more and more, until they turned into a vast, overwhelming wave of snow.

"Your Highness!" An old soldier rushed to the front of the horse, his forehead slapping against the blue bricks, drawing blood. "Where is my master? Where is my prince?"

Dorgon's Adam's apple bobbed.

He remembered the sight of the two red flags being besieged by the Ming army, the two large red banners unable to cover the scattered limbs.

Dodo suddenly held his sword sheath horizontally, shouting, "Prince Li died for his country, a worthy death! Both Red Banner soldiers are outstanding!"

"Prince Li?" The old soldier looked up blankly. "I was asking about Prince Zheng."

The crowd paused again, then erupted into a frenzied uproar.

The orphan girl screamed and lunged to the side, while others began searching for their relatives in the line.

Dorgon's breastplate clanged as it was kicked on the ground.

He saw his own shadow reflected on the ice, his face beneath the iron armor even paler than when the late emperor died in the eighth year of Chongde's reign.

Dodo was sternly rebuking the people who rushed into the ranks, while the widow of the Red Banner captain embraced the broken sword and kissed the emblem on the hilt.

"Beat the drums!" Dorgon suddenly roared.

As soon as Prince Yu raised his command flag, ten python-skin drums crashed down from the city wall.

Snow dust splattered from the drumheads and landed on Dorgon's face. He took off his iron helmet and threw it at the drum formation. The verdigris of the chime bells mixed with blood streaks was dazzling in the sunlight.

"The fault of this battle lies entirely with me!"

Dorgon's roar startled the crows into flight.

The mourning sash of the blue-bordered banner's bondservants was blown up onto the flagpole by the wind, and the orphan of the plain yellow banner forgot to suck his thumb.

Fan Wencheng's hand, gripping the map, bulged with veins.

"It was my mistake in judging the range of the Ming army's firearms, and it was my mistake in trusting the loyalty of the Mongol tribes."

Dorgon's armor opened and closed with each breath, like a dying pangolin.

"The two White Banners suffered countless casualties, and the two Yellow Banners lost seven banners. The eagles of Khorchin can no longer soar over the Khan Mountain."

Sobs rose from the crowd, gradually merging into a tide of grief.

"But what deserves the most death is that when I withdrew my troops, I abandoned the Bordered Blue Banner to cover the rear!" Dorgon suddenly tore open his armor, revealing an old, centipede-shaped scar on his chest. "Jirgalang is still at Nurhu Mountain, but I sounded the retreat!"

Dodo drew his scimitar half an inch from its sheath, shouting, "Brother, are you crazy?"

Fan Wencheng, however, seemed to understand Dorgon's intention.

"Prince Yu, watch your words!" He suddenly lunged forward and grabbed Dodo's robe, his voice hushed. "The Prince is winning people's hearts!"

The old soldier with the red flag suddenly pounded the ground and wept bitterly, "My poor son!"

The crowd surged like waves of grass overturned by a hurricane, with countless hands reaching out to Dorgon.

The remnants of the Plain White Banner hastily erected a shield wall, but the widow of the Bordered Yellow Banner broke through it.

"Give me back my man's life!"

The hairpin of the orphaned girl from the Bordered Blue Banner grazed Dorgon's cheek, and drops of blood splattered onto Fan Wencheng's report.

Just as Dodo's blade was about to strike, Dorgon suddenly gripped the edge, his palm a bloody mess: "Let her stab! Stab her here!"

He grabbed the girl's hand and pressed it to his heart, saying, "Your father shielded me from the Khorchin's arrows!"

Fan Wencheng's knees slammed heavily against the blue bricks: "Prince Rui is willing to give away all his wealth to comfort the orphans! The parents of the fallen soldiers are the Prince's parents, and their wives and children are the Prince's wives and children!"

He pulled a land deed from his pocket and tossed it into the crowd, "This is Prince Rui's estate in Fushun. Tomorrow it will be converted into an almshouse!"

The crowd's cries and curses gradually turned into whispers.

"Open the granaries!" Dorgon roared, coughing up blood. "Issue my decree! All sons of those who died in battle, upon reaching the age of ten, shall be enlisted in the Bayara Camp! Their wives and daughters shall be supported by the Prince Rui's Palace for life!"

Before the words were even finished, the crowd suddenly parted like a tide.

Twenty soldiers from the Plain Blue Banner carried a brocade palanquin and approached. The leader revealed an imperial edict from the Shunzhi Emperor: "His Majesty has decreed that Prince Rui must enter the palace for an audience immediately!"

Dorgon straightened up, his armor scraping against the ice, and caught a glimpse of Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang's pheasant-feather cloak flashing past on the palace wall.

"I am guilty, I must kneel down and face the Holy Spirit!"

"Brother!" Dodo's warm hat tilted askew in fright. "It's three miles from the city gate to the palace gate!"

Dorgon had already crawled half a zhang on his knees. The brocade python robe was worn smooth and cottony, and the iron plates on his knee pads sparked as they dragged across the bluestone slabs.

Just as Goshha of the Bordered Red Banner was about to mock him, he suddenly noticed that blood was flowing from Prince Rui's knee; the arrow wound from yesterday's battle had reopened.

"Master!" The remnants of the Plain White Banner knelt down in a flurry. A toothless man with a missing ear suddenly tore open his clothes and threw himself on the ground. "This servant will cushion you!"

The crowd went wild.

The blue-bordered bannermen threw down their willow baskets, the prayer flags of escaped Mongol slaves were spread out like a white carpet, and the old soldiers of the plain yellow bannermen trembled as they took off their sheepskin coats.

Dorgon's braid came undone, the ends brushing against his hands covered in frostbite. Suddenly, he roared, "Get out of my way! I deserve to die!"

As the first rays of dusk crept onto the glazed tiles of Chongzheng Hall, Dorgon's knee pads were already worn through.

He began his kneeling procession from the Shengjing Gate, his iron armor leaving bloody marks on the imperial road. The remnants of the Plain White Banner followed behind, carrying the list of the fallen, tearing off a piece of armor and throwing it into a bronze basin with each name read out.

"Akedun, Third Niru of the Bordered White Banner"

The armor plate clanged as it hit the copper basin, and cold sweat beaded on Dorgon's forehead.

(End of this chapter)