The Revolt of the Three Feudatories: All-in at the start in Beijing

Upon learning that Emperor Kangxi had vomited blood and fallen into a coma, a large number of Eight Banner generals came to the main tent. Now, all of them had lost their families and had just been marrying wives all over Nanjing.

If the emperor were to pass away, how would we live?

Inside the tent, after the imperial physician examined his pulse and massaged him, Emperor Kangxi slowly regained consciousness, though his face remained pale.

"Your Majesty, you fell into the water several months ago and were infected by the cold energy, which has now penetrated your lungs and internal organs. You must avoid any movement in the future..."

The imperial physician was giving instructions when Emperor Kangxi interrupted him.

"Step back and let the General in!"

The imperial physician dared not say anything more, and left with his medicine box. Soon after, Tu Hai came in, only to see Kang Zheng looking at him indifferently before throwing the letter on the ground.

"Look, is this your encirclement plan?"

"Now that Shang Zhixin has imprisoned Shang Kexi and taken the opportunity to rebel, he has already captured Ganzhou and is heading north. Chani has no troops to spare, so he can only gather all the Green Standard Army troops and retreat to Nanchang City. He also made it clear that he only has 10,000 troops, which is probably not enough to hold the city."

"Without the Green Standard Army in control, most of Jiangxi has now been occupied by Shang Zhixin, and Prince An is isolated and helpless, and could be besieged by Wu Sangui in Jingzhou at any time!"

Upon hearing this, Tu Hai sighed inwardly. This was the way the emperor acted. It was Kangxi who arranged the encirclement of Galdan and he himself made the decision to mobilize the troops in Jiangxi, yet the person who did the work had to take the blame.

As for the contents of the letter, Tu Hai had already guessed most of it, so he could only pretend to read it carefully.

"Your Majesty, Jiangxi has already lost most of its territory, so there's no point in sending reinforcements. It would be better to continue the siege of Galdan. I believe there's not much food left in Pei County."

"Galdan has no sons. If we can kill him this time, the entire north will once again submit to our Great Qing!"

Emperor Kangxi was also deeply moved upon hearing this.

So, do we want the North or Jiangxi?

Just as Kangxi was preparing to continue the siege, he recalled Galdan wielding his broadsword and couldn't help but shudder. As if suddenly remembering something, he stood up abruptly from the couch.

"No, something's not right!"

"How could Galdan fall for the trap so easily? And after realizing he had been tricked, why didn't he immediately retreat to Shandong? Instead, he stayed in Pei County to hold out. This is abnormal!"

Kangxi thought that if it were him, as a qualified emperor, he would definitely flee with his guards immediately and would never risk his life.

Why did Galdan stay behind?

The more Kangxi thought about it, the more confused he became. He reached out and scratched his scalp. The moment he did so, his eyes widened as if a new brain had grown in them. He then plopped down on the couch and exclaimed in surprise.

"Oh no, Galdan is trying to trick me!!!"

"He must have brought a large amount of provisions with him, and he also knows that our Great Qing is under attack and will definitely be short of troops!"

"That Galdan wants me to destroy my own arm!"

Kangxi's self-talk made Tu Hai, who was standing next to him, think it made sense, since it did seem to be going against the grain.

At that time, they had not fought on the main battlefield.

Galdan could have easily fled with his elite troops, losing 20,000 to 30,000 men, which would have been better than dying under siege.

"Your Majesty, what should we do now?"

Tu Hai was so flustered that he spoke with a lack of confidence, but Kangxi shook his head upon hearing this.

"I have decided to personally lead 15,000 Manchu bannermen and 30,000 elite Jiangxi Green Standard Army troops south. We cannot allow the Three Feudatories to continue causing trouble like this, otherwise our Great Qing will have nowhere left to retreat!"

"The remaining five thousand Eight Banners cavalry and over forty thousand Green Standard Army soldiers will be stationed in Xuzhou to prevent Galdan from advancing south!"

"As for Kaifeng, let Prince An handle it!"

……

The next morning, Galdan climbed the city gate as usual, dragging a 150-pound Guan Dao (a type of halberd).

When Batel, who was on night watch, saw Galdan approaching, he immediately put down his binoculars and went forward.

"Your Majesty, the Manchu Tartar camp was ablaze with fire all night, and now that the sun is high in the sky, there has been no movement whatsoever."

Upon hearing this, Galdan immediately took the binoculars back and began to examine the Qing army camp. A short while later, Galdan slapped the arrow slits.

"Kang Mazi, he actually ran away?"

"So you can let it go?"

"Bater, quickly take some men and pry open the stones at the south gate, then lead a hundred cavalrymen to check the Tartar camp. If there's nothing there, set it on fire!"

Although he said he was sending Batel to check, Galdan was already 100% certain that Kangxi had left, otherwise he wouldn't have asked him to clean the city gates.

Batel acted swiftly, leading the soldiers who had taken over to begin clearing the stones from the south gate.

A month ago, I didn't think too much about it and just piled things up as solidly as possible. Now, cleaning them up takes more than three times as long as it did back then.

By noon, the city gates were finally cleaned up. Batel immediately led his troops to check, and soon after, the Qing army's gates were engulfed in flames!

Galdan was relieved and immediately left the city, riding his warhorse at full gallop. After being besieged for a month, he felt like he was rusty, but now, galloping down the road, he felt like he was going to a disco to listen to a DJ playing Free Flying.

The Qing army had indeed left. Apart from the surrounding fences, the only things left in the camp were the charcoal and residue left behind by the soldiers cooking their meals.

Now that Kangxi has left, Galdan has no intention of staying. This brief confrontation has made Galdan more clear-headed. Without enough firearms and soldiers who know how to use them, it is better not to rashly head south.

This time, he returned with a thousand personal guards.

Since Zhao Liangdong has already given his answer, as the emperor, he should still be given the trust he deserves, and the entire army of 50,000 will be handed over to him for command.

At the same time, the army should be withdrawn from Pei County and stationed in Jining Prefecture and Daming Prefecture to block the roads leading to Hebei.

The journey from Pei County back to the capital, which should have taken half a month, took Galdan a full month to reach Andingmen, with frequent stops and starts.

By this time, it was already close to September.

After three months away from the capital, Galdan did not immediately return to the city, but instead went to the nearby camp.

More than 200,000 families of the Eight Banners are buried here. Galdan established a military camp here, and tens of thousands of soldiers trained day and night. Even if they turned into evil spirits, they would shake them away.

Galdan did not bring any ceremonial guards. He was wearing gilded dragon-patterned armor, which ordinary soldiers could not understand. He was warned by cannon fire just three miles outside the camp!

A burly cavalryman with thick lips rode up to within a hundred paces of Galdan.

"Who are you? You are not allowed to trespass on this military camp!"

Galdan took out a tiger tally covered with special symbols from his pocket and threw it over.

The soldiers conducting these checks are specially trained, literate, and able to recognize various credentials; their rank is equivalent to that of a centurion.

After the soldiers checking the tally saw it clearly, they immediately dismounted, raised their fists to their eyebrows, and gave Galdan their orders.

"Pan Feng, a soldier from the Han army camp, greets His Majesty the Emperor!"

Galdan looked on with curiosity upon hearing this.

"Your name is Pan Feng? That's a good name!"

"Do a good job, I have high hopes for you!"

After Galdan finished speaking, he led a thousand personal guards and rode off towards the military camp, leaving Pan Feng completely bewildered.