national surname chiming

Chapter 424 Dorgon: Do you know how I have lived these two and a half years!
"These bastards! The world hasn't been unified yet. It's just a truce for two and a half years, and it's rotten like this! Do they think they can live like this forever?

Are the Ming people in Nanjing really so cowardly, like the Southern Song Dynasty and our ancestors, living in peace for a hundred years?My Eight Banners child, only two years of hard-core crops, have learned to carry cages and birds?

Take those soldiers who escaped for training today, and Niu Lu who accepted their benefits, all dragged to Caishikou and beheaded!Use it as an example!Purge military discipline! "

This scene happened on a day in June of the fourth year of Shunzhi.Early this morning, Dorgon, the Regent of the Qing Dynasty, made a rare inspection tour of the Two White Flags drill, which he hadn’t paid attention to for a long time, and found that there was a serious problem of insufficient manpower during the drill.

A group of Manchu Eight Banners soldiers pretending to be sick and asking for leave, as well as those corrupt Niulu officers who turned a blind eye after receiving benefits from the soldiers, made the regent very angry. Drag it out and cut off military discipline.

Of course, those two Niu Lu who had their benefits cut off were more or less personal grievances-two and a half years ago, Dorgon's younger brother Duo Duo wiped out the main force of the two white flags in the south of the Yangtze River.

Today's Two White Banners were reorganized and reorganized by drawing troops from the reserve families of the original Two White Banners and sending senior officers from the Two Yellow Banners controlled by Jierhalang and Haoge.

The soldiers belonged to the two white flags, but the generals came from the two yellow flags. Many officers even went to the two white flags, and they still loyal to Haoge and Jierhalang in private.For these people, since Dorgon has caught the obvious mistakes and can be punished according to the law, there is no need to be lenient, just to make an example of others and eliminate dissidents.

……

During the truce period of the past two and a half years, Dorgon has been blackened a lot, which shows that he has worked hard, but he has not lost weight.Most of his energy was devoted to training the new army of the green battalion, as well as raising armaments and controlling the people.

The 60 Green Battalion he planned has begun to take shape. The first batch of 20 people recruited had already undergone two and a half years of training. Veterans aren't too bad either.

The subsequent two batches of green battalion reserve soldiers with a total of 40, although their quality is slightly inferior, they also have the appearance of a regular army, which is far from comparable to the peasant army back then.

The price of all this is that half of the country in the north has been brutally squeezed by Dorgon, and it has become more and more dilapidated, and the population has declined cumulatively, reaching more than 100 million every year!
The Manjiadong Rebellion in Shandong involved more than hundreds of villages. Those places where the resistance was fierce were almost wiped out by the Qing army, and all the remaining wealth of the people was robbed and used directly as military funds. .

As long as you are not afraid of killing or robbing, even on a dilapidated and troubled base, it is absolutely possible to gather resources and support the army like a booster——

For example, in Guanzhong at the end of the Han Dynasty, it was persecuted by Dong Zhuo for more than two years, and by Li Jue and Guo Si for seven years.But during this process, the money and food in Guanzhong have been supporting the 10,000+ Xiliang Army, which shows that this road is feasible in a short period of time.

Dorgon really had no choice. When Duoduo was just destroyed, he was really unable to organize the Southern Expedition, so he had to engage in internal exploitation, snatch all the rebels, expropriate the land and set up military settlements, and the tax rate could be much higher than that of ordinary people. Fields, greatly expanding the military rations.

Behind the 20 veterans of the Green Battalion and the 40 Green Battalion Reserves, about 200 million people were starved to death or killed because of excessive taxes, and more than 100 million people fled south to Daming.

At the beginning of the second year of Shunzhi, Dorgon initially tried to conduct a thorough investigation. At that time, it was determined that there were still a total of 900 million people in the north, including about one million Manchus, about one million Mongols, and a total of 300 million Han people outside the customs and newly-raised flag-coated Han people. , squeezed the remaining 400 million purely ruled Han Chinese.

After two and a half years, by the turn of summer and autumn in the fourth year of Shunzhi, the total population in the north had dropped to 600 million. The ethnic composition of the first three parts of the population had not changed much, but the denominator of oil extraction in the last fourth part had shrunk year after year, leaving only About 100 million.

Specific to the population changes in each province, Shandong and Huaibei are the places where the population has dropped most dramatically.Two and a half years ago, these two places were relatively densely populated areas under the rule of the Qing court, and each had a population of more than 200 million.

In Shandong, it was because the Manjiadong Peasant Army in the Luxi Plain and the Qing Army repeatedly washed and washed and slaughtered too brutally.Huaibei is because the military colony is more powerful, and at the same time it is close to Daming.Many people really couldn't survive, knowing that they could survive if they crossed the Huai River secretly, so they kept fleeing south.

Counting on the remaining 100 million ruled Han Chinese to support the 200 million Manchus and Mongols in front of them, and some of the Han Chinese who rose to the ruling class, it is obvious that this support ratio can no longer be sustained.

Dorgon is very clear that now that the new army has been well trained, the combined combat power of the direct armed forces in the hands of him and Azig has once again overwhelmed the joint efforts of Hauge, Jierhalang, Abatai and other parties. , then another southern expedition is imperative,

Otherwise, the Qing Dynasty would be able to directly eat and bleed itself to death, and there would be no possibility of sustainable development.

It is precisely because he feels that he has overwhelmed Jierhalang with the green battalion, he has recently started to gradually test and become stronger, and he has begun to pay attention to the daily training of the two white flags. Never relent, in order to regain prestige.

If we go back half a year, Dorgon would not dare to do so when the green battalion's strength and scale were not so strong.

……

Uncharacteristically, Dorgon once again strongly intervened in the daily rectification of the two white flags, and marched to kill several officers who were selected by Jierhalang and originally belonged to Hauge.

This is not a big deal, but it is definitely enough to cause quite a stir among relatives and nobles of the Eight Banners in Beijing who have been quiet for two and a half years.

Anyone with a keen sense of smell knows that the regent is going to show off his muscles again, showing his absolute control over the court, implying that the co-regent should not dictate fundamental decisions related to the future and destiny of the Qing Dynasty.This time, the prestige has been established, and there will definitely be big moves in the future.

Jierhalang on the opposite side was not stupid. After getting the news that afternoon, he was so angry that he threw down two tea-tasting cups:

"This is for the king, and you know you have to show your teeth to the king! Could it be that you think that the green battalion new army has already trained, and you want to find an opportunity to provoke and gain power in private?"

Jierhalang's status in the Qing court has always been inferior to Dorgon's in history. The main reason is that Dorgon established the strategy of leading troops into the customs, captured Beijing, and entered the Central Plains.

No matter what the original status of Dorgon and Jierhalang was when Huang Taiji died, just looking at Dorgon's subsequent achievements, those kings Baylor who refused to accept him at the beginning also gradually obeyed.

At this juncture in history, that is, in the spring and summer of the fourth year of Shunzhi, Jierhalang should have been punished by Dorgon for the reason that the palace exceeded the system, and he took the opportunity to dismiss him from his auxiliary post.

But in fact, it was because Dorgon's power was gradually spreading, and his military achievements were shining, so he just made up an excuse-in history, Dorgon himself used the emperor's guard of honor at that time. It is simply pediatrics.

Now that Dorgon has been held back by Jierhalang and restrained for two and a half years, it is nothing more than the previous defeat, which made him have to temporarily decentralize power to appease the hearts of the people.

But in any case, when Dorgon was in power, at least the Qing Dynasty obtained and kept the northern Central Plains. Occasionally, if he was defeated, as long as he recuperated and regained his strength, the Manchu relatives and nobles would still support Dorgon again.

……

After realizing Dorgon's regained strength, Jierhalang didn't dare to make a mistake. He just found an opportunity to "negotiate friendly" with Dorgon.

At the end of the court meeting the next day, Jierhalang stopped Dorgon and said in private:
"How is the regent recently? I heard that the regent is prone to killing people in the army recently. Could it be that he is too angry? Since the Netherlands is the most important thing, it is better to take care of him."

Dorgon was stopped, and he didn't show the slightest expression on the surface, but he said calmly: "Could it be that brother Wang is talking about the rectification of the flag affairs a few days ago? That is the internal affairs of our Zhengbaiqi. What does the king want?" You can deal with it as you like, isn't it right?"

Jierharang choked slightly, and his decree lines twitched slightly.When Dorgon told him in a businesslike manner, he really couldn't grasp any problems.

Because the flag owner's handling of flag affairs really has nothing to do with outsiders, Dorgon allowed him to infiltrate the two white flags in the past two years. In the final analysis, it was just an exchange of unspoken rules.Jierharang exchanged for the above conditions by allowing Dorgon to search for more money and food to favor the formation of the Green Camp.

Now that Dorgon wants to talk about the truth on the table, he can't directly stop him. At best, he can only cancel the previous private transaction conditions, and from now on he will no longer support the further expansion of the green camp and the strengthening of weapons and armaments in terms of money and food.

Therefore, Jierhalang just said neither humble nor overbearing:

"The daily rectification of the two white flags is naturally a private matter within the flag. However, some officers of the two white flags have been slack so far. In the final analysis, it is because the imperial court has insufficient expenditure in the past two years, and cannot always maintain the money and food needed for the training and preparation of soldiers and horses.

Those money and food were all used to expand the green camp.I am full of the Eight Banners and have not made any credit for the war. How can the daily military salary be enough to maintain morale?As long as the court tilts further, allows more circles of land, and gives more hardcore crops, these problems will be solved. "

Ji Erhalang's words are pure nonsense, and there is no causal relationship at all logically, but he just wants to force the two things together. To put it bluntly, he is using the previous benefit exchange to tacitly remind Dorgon:

If you were business-like with me on the last matter, then I can only be business-like with you on this matter.

However, the expected re-compromise between Dorgon and him to share the spoils did not occur. Dorgon's willingness to go this far is obviously because he has accumulated enough strength and feels that he can break through the critical point.

He said calmly: "I'm a man of eight banners, and it's true that the past few years have been a bit suffocating. There is no shortage of military pay, but the lack of plunder and rewards makes my life more decadent than in previous years.

However, the people in the north are already miserable, and it is impossible to expect expansion of enclosures and hard-core crops to boost people's hearts.For the current plan, since they want to live a good life, they should take it from Nanmanzi! "

Ji Erhalang's pupils dilated slightly: "The regent really wants to reopen the border wars? Do you know what this means? Now that the war is suddenly restarted at this juncture, the timing may not be more favorable for my Qing Dynasty than last year or next year!

This king is not against going to war.Now that things are going on, Nanming and my Qing Dynasty are in conflict, and it is bound not to be able to coexist for a long time.But after all, the truce has been stabilized, and when it reopens, it is natural to pick a time that is most beneficial to my Qing Dynasty!This king didn't see any special advantages for my Qing Dynasty this year!

I heard that in the past two years, several types of rice and wheat have been introduced from the south, such as corn and potatoes, which were not available in ancient times, and their yields are much higher than that of rice and wheat.Last year, only a few places in Huaibei tried privately to set up military settlements, and they really solved part of the military rations.This year, the promotion has been expanded, and it has also spread to Shandong and Hebei.

It is said that Nanming promoted these things for the longest period of seven or eight years. At the beginning, it was in Suihuang, and later it was expanded to the whole of Huguang. It is said that it was gradually promoted to the whole of the south four or five years ago.

It has been seven or eight years since the Southern Barbarians have benefited from it, but it has been less than two years since I have achieved it in the Qing Dynasty. This year is only the second year. The area of ​​promotion is not large enough, and the harvest has not yet come down.In this way, the national strength of the north and the south benefited from the amount of corn and potatoes, obviously the south is far better than the north!If my Qing Dynasty rests and recuperates for a few more years, all the people in the north who can grow corn will gradually grow corn.Wouldn't the national strength be able to regain some relative to the south, and wouldn't it be more beneficial to start a war at that time? "

Jierhalang didn't say anything else, and just refuted the issue of food and population with Dorgon.

The corn and potatoes he mentioned were indeed gradually spread during the years of the peaceful truce between the Ming and Qing Dynasties.Zhu Shuren can't control this thing, because once a kind of food is popularized to the common people and everyone can get the seeds, it is inevitable that it will be smuggled to Huaibei and infiltrated into the enemy-occupied areas.

What kind of technical secrecy is there for something that is accessible to millions of people?It is nothing more than a process of diffusion. It takes time for the Qing army to experiment, promote and reproduce.

Daming is only taking advantage of the time difference. I planted corn and potatoes six years earlier than you, and the savings of these six years can form a huge gap in national strength.

After all, Jierharang is a bit older, already fifty years old, from 47 years old to 50 years old, naturally he no longer has the recklessness of young people, and wants to seek stability.

Dorgon is much younger than him, he is 36 this year, and he still wants to fight big.More importantly, he sees the problem more comprehensively than Jierharang, and he realizes that the comparison of national strength is not so simple to calculate.

"The rise and fall of the national power depends on the amount of food! For the current plan, as long as there is enough food, the national power can be stabilized. As for relying on the surplus food to repopulate the population, it will take more than ten years to see the effect?
Previously, my Qing Dynasty had exhausted all resources in order to train the new army of the green battalion. In the past few years, the household registration in Shandong and Huaibei has been halved, and the oppressed Han people have already fled south. If it continues, it will only be detrimental to my Qing Dynasty.

Right now, the only way is to immediately defeat the southern barbarians militarily, to reestablish our prestige, to frighten the Han people all over the world, and let them know that there is no chance of surrender!It's nothing more than being killed by my Qing Dynasty again!Why don't you just obediently be an obedient citizen of the Qing Dynasty from the beginning! "

When the truce was just two years ago, to be honest, Dorgon did not expect so many people to flee south during the truce.The main reason is that the Qing Dynasty had won consecutive victories against Ming for decades, and he felt that everyone in the world should see clearly that Ming has no future, and no one would vote for Ming and suffer twice and suffer twice.

But after all, he underestimated the long-term influence of the follow-up waves of Duoduo's downfall and Huainan Nikan Liu Liangzuo's death.

Even if Nanming gave him "face" in the end, pretending to try to attack and recover Fengyang failed and retreated, the Qing army seemed to have won the "victory of the last battle before the truce", and he left the poker table with a relatively relaxed mood.

But as the people in Lianghuai calmed down, many people gradually realized the future of following the Ming Dynasty, and realized that "this Ming Dynasty is not that Ming Dynasty. With the sage king and virtuous prime minister in power, what happened when the Ming Dynasty and the first emperor Chongzhen were in power?" Daming is already completely different, the current Daming has a future, a Daming worthy of allegiance."

This awakening of people's hearts is what Dorgon fears most, and it is more serious than any specific fiasco on the battlefield.He had to accumulate a little bit of starting strength, and put all his strength to extinguish this idea!

……

Jierhalang didn't think so deeply at first, but after being repeatedly emphasized by Dorgon, he had to admit that Dorgon had some reason from the perspective of the overall interests of the Qing Dynasty.

But then came another trouble.

Jierhalang had to remind: "Even if we want to start a war again, how can we inspire people's morale and find an excuse to start a war? My Qing Dynasty doesn't care about faith. I kill the barbarians if I want to, and invade the south if I want to. But after all, it has been a truce for several years. , always give the soldiers a proximate cause.”

The most righteous name of the Southern Expedition is of course "unifying the world and ending the civil war", which can be used in any dynasty change.To put it bluntly, it is for the sake of unity, how can we allow others to snore and sleep on the side of the couch, and hit them whenever they want.

But that is only the distant cause, not the immediate immediate cause.To boost morale, it is also very important that ordinary soldiers can be substituted for the motivation of combining far and near.

Troops don't know why they are fighting, and why they are suddenly fighting again at this time is troublesome.

Especially the Manchu Banners are not as bloody as they were three years ago, and the amount of social rubbish that is carrying birds in cages in Beijing has gradually increased. You have to find a reason for him.

For this problem, Dorgon obviously came prepared and thought about it in advance.

He straightforwardly showed his cards: "In the past few years, the southern barbarians have been absorbing my escaped slaves from the Qing Dynasty! This reason is worth using at any time to arouse my Eight Banners to fight against the enemy and fight south to snatch back the treasures of our children!
As for the present, I will fabricate some provocative frictions, but say that during the summer or autumn harvest this year, there will be a large number of Huaibei residents fleeing south, and my Qing soldiers will pursue and arrest them!Once the war starts, the follow-up will be a matter of course!

As for the route of the army, the king will be cautious, and will not choose to go straight from Huaiyang to Nanjing like three years ago. At that time, the fifteenth brother was allowed to go straight to Huaiyang. The foundation is not deep, and the dispute between Fu and Lu has hit the heart.In the end, due to aggressive advances, the success fell short.

Now that the foundation of the Southern Ming Dynasty has been stabilized, it is meaningless to seek a quick surprise attack. We should use the righteous way of military tactics of the Southern Expedition since ancient times, strive to gradually seize the upper reaches, and then wipe out Wuyue!

Either advance troops from Nanyang and destroy Xiangyang, or take advantage of the trend to first take the land of Huainan in Xinyang, occupying the danger of the Dabie Mountains, and then nibble away step by step, or take Shouxian and Hefei from Fengyang along the Dabie Mountain East Road, and go straight to the north of the river from Chaohu Lake in Feishui.These routes are better than going south from Huai'an and Yangzhou Zhenghangou Road. "

Seeing that Dorgon was able to recognize the strategic mistakes made three years ago, Jierhalang regained some confidence in him.

Indeed, going straight from Huai'an to Yangzhou, and then crossing the river from Zhenjiang, is a way of fighting for time, seeking a head start.Since ancient times, once the confrontation between the North and the South has stabilized for many years, no one will take this path if they want to go south again.

Striving for the benefits of the upper reaches has been the right way to march south since ancient times, but it is somewhat impossible to start from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, that is, the Sichuan area.

After all, the Qinling Mountains are almost completely in the hands of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty's rule in Sichuan is still very stable.I heard that Fang Kongzhang, the governor who may be promoted to governor, is also very popular in governing the people, and there is no opportunity to take advantage of it.

Sichuan guard Qin Liangyu is also a famous old general, who was taboo by the Qing army. The only fly in the ointment is that Qin Liangyu is old and has been seriously ill for the past two years. If you can live for more than a year, you will die of old age)
The current situation in Sichuan made it impossible for the Qing court to take action, not to mention Wu Sangui from Shaanxi is still wandering there.

Dorgon gave up Yangzhou Road, did not consider Sichuan, which was impossible, and focused on Nanyang, Xinyang, and Hefei, which shows that he is more stable.

The high-level officials of the Qing court discussed again, and a consensus was formed on the general direction of the war again.

What remains is the deployment details and how to distribute the troops and personnel of various armies, all of which can be discussed.

In addition, since the fight is going to start, we have to do some preparations for internal unity.In the name of Shunzhi, Dorgon ordered the governors of all provinces to send their own sons to Beijing as hostages, so that when the military power is devolved during wartime, they can better control the hostage places.

Of course, in actual operation, the officials drafting the decree of the Qing court would certainly not be so aggressive and directly state the real purpose.

So the plain text of the decree is as follows:
"Officials of the third rank and above in Beijing, the governor, governor, and chief soldier of the foreign officials, each sent one of their own sons to the imperial bodyguards to learn Manchurian etiquette, test their talents, and grant them as envoys." (Historical facts, the original text is not bad. The only difference This decree was issued in March of the fourth year of Shunzhi in the official history, and now it has been delayed until May)

On the surface, it is said that it is to give the sons of the governors an extra chance to be promoted, not to be a hostage.And before the governor, an additional "officials of the third rank and above in Beijing" was added, as if it was mainly aimed at giving more opportunities to the children of Beijing officials, and the governor was just incidental.

In fact, anyone with a little political awareness knows that targeting the governor is the truth, and the Beijing officials are nothing more than smoke bombs.

After the decree was issued, the governors and generals of the Han people from all over the country would naturally follow it, especially the generals who were newly incorporated into the green battalion.

Wu Sangui from Shaanxi and Jiang Yu from Shanxi were also among the recipients.

It's just that Wu Sangui has never said that he is a Qing minister in name, and his position is delicate. After receiving the favor of the Qing court, it is difficult to decide whether to send Wu Yingxiong to Beijing.

Jiang Yu from Shanxi had been a real official of the Qing Dynasty for many years, and he was located in the hinterland of the Qing control area, so he had no choice but to hesitate for a few days before sending his eldest son to Beijing.Jiang Yu's resignation further put the pressure on Wu Sangui.

(End of this chapter)