Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1895 Stalemate and Waiting ([-])

In the early spring and March of 1684, there was already a little warmth in Chengdu.In a heavily guarded side hall somewhere in the shogunate of the Sichuan Jiedu Envoy of the Dashun Kingdom, Liu Qi, the secretary in charge of the Jiedu, was reviewing some documents.

He is now the civil servant most relied on by his benefactor Liu Zhonggui, and the main operator of the entire shogunate's transmission and foreign negotiations. Naturally, his abilities need not be repeated, which can be seen from the requirements of his official position: "The job of secretary is also difficult! Yuan Rong The soldiers of the three armies in order, manage the gangsters of the subordinates, guard the country, praise the emperor for teaching, and make friends with the guests. The government, the orders of the three armies are promoted and dismissed, and all matters of diction are issued by the secretary. If you are not a man who is both discerning and sensitive, it is not suitable to live in it."

In other words, most of Sichuan's military affairs, culture and education, diplomacy, pilgrimage, personnel affairs, sacrifices and other aspects of policies and official documents issued by orders were all written by him.This not only requires him to be proficient in diction, but also requires him to be able to correctly understand the meaning of Liu Zhonggui, the highest official of the shogunate, the governor of Sichuan Province. There is no doubt that this is a civil servant in Liu Zhonggui's inner circle, and he is also one of his most trusted confidants .

When talking about this point, it is necessary to mention the special status of the current Liu Zhonggui shogunate (that is, the former Dashun Zuoying), that is, they have great autonomy in military power, financial power, and personnel power.According to the Changsha imperial court, the Sichuan shogunate is: "... the shogunate invites professionals to serve as the shogunate, and the number of posts is based on the system. If there are those who are transferred within a few days, they may need to be replaced. Let the shogunate come. If you appoint another official, you can do it if you don't play it." .”

It can be seen from this that Liu Zhonggui only needs to report to the imperial court afterwards, and there is no need to obtain prior approval for any officials Liu Zhonggui wants to appoint.Although there are strict regulations on the number of these officials, and the diplomatic power still belongs to the imperial court, they have achieved great independence. Killing, sending a surprise soldier into Sichuan alone—well, this is a bit exaggerated, but it’s not too far off—the reason for laying down a piece of the world is a miracle, and it has to be rewarded heavily, so it has the privilege of opening alone.

Compared with Liu Zhonggui, Guo Sheng, the former Jiangxi military governor who also conquered Jiangxi alone, did not have such good luck.Born in the middle battalion, he was deeply restrained by Li Guo. Changsha participated in all aspects of personnel transfer, money and food distribution, and army reorganization, so his independence was far inferior to Liu Zhonggui.This has nothing to do with other things, it is only related to the background and the resources you have. Who told you that your father was not a veteran in the Li Zicheng era? When Li Zicheng led 20 soldiers and horses to attack Beijing from Shanxi, Liu Fangliang alone led a 10-man division to bypass Henan. Going north, blocking the way for Chongzhen's monarchs and ministers to go south, you can be said to be a veteran general, and he was in charge of a battalion from the beginning-you didn't make great achievements?

Therefore, Guo Sheng did not get the privilege of opening and building a mansion until his death. Many powers in Jiangxi were controlled by the Changsha court, especially after the army was reorganized in the later period.Of course, Guo Sheng himself didn't have any thoughts of separatist regimes, and he was very submissive to Li Guo, so he had great power on the surface in Jiangxi, and he maintained a so-called "lord and minister" drama with Changsha until the end of his life.As for Guo Sheng, Guo Shi'an, his nephew who succeeded him as Jiedu envoy and his confidant general, would have even less power than him, and would only be smaller.Now Guo Shian is also 70 to [-] years old. With the average life expectancy of this age, I believe he will not live for too long. When he goes, I am afraid that Jiangxi Jiedushi's position can also be revoked, or just become The beauty officials who add titles to important ministers no longer have practical significance.

After understanding this point, you can understand more clearly how difficult it is for Liu Zhonggui to be in the current situation!Sitting in the land of half the province, the elite soldiers and generals gathered under his command, opened and built the mansion by himself, and Weifu used it for himself. I don't know how many people are envious!At least, the Youying Yuan Bao's Division and Shangluoshan He Daoning's Division, which still maintain a certain degree of independence in the Dashun Army, are very envious, and they faintly take them as an example, gearing up to make a big difference, and then open a new one. The shogunate is so handsome and handsome, how carefree and carefree it is, and it's justified, how wonderful!

However, judging from the current situation in Shun and Qing, it may be very difficult to achieve this.Yuan Bao's right battalion (passed down by his father Yuan Zongdi) was trapped on the front line of Hubei, like a dragon swimming in shallow water, unable to move, and had to consume each other with the Qing army every day. Although the supplies were still sufficient, after many years of fighting Many of my old brothers were killed and injured, which is not always a good thing.But Yuan Bao can't say anything about this, he can only smash his teeth and swallow his blood. Who made you stand on the front line and there is no land to develop around?Looking around, apart from the Qing army fortresses, there are still Qing army fortresses around, and he couldn't seize the opportunity of Wu Sangui's illness to enter Sichuan like Zuoying. This is bad luck, no wonder.

As for He Daoning, who inherited the foundation from his father He Zhen, compared to Yuan Bao, he is a bit worse.Because his father He Zhen had a dark history of surrendering to the Qing army for a short time, and he often guarded the northwest, so he was quite unfamiliar with the Changsha court.Later, when Li Zicheng left for Huguang, He Zhen and his son also killed the Qing court supervisor, resolutely went south and returned to Jian, and finally joined the Dashun system.However, due to various reasons, they have never been able to integrate into Li Guo's inner circle. In addition, they have been stationed in Shangluo Mountain to harass the Qing army in Shaanxi, so they have not very close contact with Changsha. Most of them were transported from Hunan, but the feeling of ambiguity was still lingering.

The current He Daoning is cramped in the Shangluo Mountains, the land is small and barren, and most of his daily needs depend on the outside world.In the past, there was Zuoying to help some money and goods. Now that Zuoying has entered Sichuan, most of the Yunyang Mansion has been taken back by the Changsha court, and they are completely dependent on the Changsha court. Therefore, it is predictable that they will be completely controlled and subdued in the end. Not to mention self-contained and independent kingdoms, it is simply impossible.

Therefore, the current hilltops in the Dashun system tend to slowly melt away.In this way, Zuoying, which occupies the essence of Sichuan and opened and built a mansion alone, is more conspicuous, which means that most of the pressure will be borne by them.At this point, Liu Qi, who is the secretary of Liu Zhonggui's shogunate Jiedu Zhang, has already felt that the tree is so big!

Liu Qi finished reviewing some of the documents, understood some of the meanings, and then put them aside, intending to hand them over to a small official for filing.And he himself asked a servant to make a pot of coffee, intending to try this novelty gifted by a friend on the east coast. He heard that it was delicious, but he didn't know if it was true or not.

While the servants were making coffee, Liu Qi leaned on the back of the chair, squinted his eyes slightly, and thought about the news he heard from Jieshuai Liu Zhonggui in the morning, that is, Li Dingguo of the small court of Nanming had arrived from southern Sichuan. The reason for the retreat is unknown, but it is reported that he and Sun Kewang had different views on some matters, and the conflict deepened, so he fell ill.Liu Qi thinks this is actually very possible, because Li Dingguo is quite old now, over sixty, when he was young, he lay on ice and ate snow, and his body wasted a lot.Afterwards, he ran around again and again, fighting south and north, exhausting his mind and body. There must be a lot of hidden diseases in his body. I don't know if he will be able to get up after falling ill this time.And if he couldn't get up, then he could persuade Jie Shuai to send a troop south to recover some counties in the south that were occupied by Li Dingguo during the chaos, although they were actually occupied under Wu Sangui's rule and were not directly hostile to Dashun.

This army is expensive and not expensive, only 5000 people are enough.After all, after Li Dingguo's elite main force withdrew, those second-line troops guarding the place should not be successful, but they can be calmed down one by one.However, some people think that this move may cause antagonism with Nanming, and Liu Zhonggui should be careful not to make enemies.They felt that instead of sending troops to conquer the people in Xiying who were already doomed to fail, it would be better to clean up the many chieftains in the area under their jurisdiction.

Taking advantage of the drastic changes in the situation in Sichuan, these local snakes rose up one after another to rebel against Wu Sangui and seized some territory.Later, as the Sichuan War ended and the situation became clearer, these people retreated quietly, but it was an indisputable fact that they did not listen to orders. How could Liu Zhonggui endure this?What's more, many of the chieftains and the Qing court were not clear about it. When the two sides had a battle of more than [-] troops in Central Sichuan, many people even stood on the side of the Qing army.

Furthermore, some orders have been sent from Changsha recently, asking Sichuan Town to send troops to the east to assist Hunan's rear battalion soldiers Ma Qing to suppress the chieftain forces in the territory in order to liberate the population.After all, seeing that the battles on the front line in Hubei are now going up and down, the cessation of the flags and drums has a strong meaning, and it is time to free up your hands to clean up the independent kingdoms in the territory.

Liu Qi thinks this matter is actually quite important.Some of these chieftains are quite good, with a relatively respectful attitude and willing to maintain good relations with the outside world; It is very abominable to rob and kill business travelers at every turn.Regardless of whether it is a friendly chieftain or an unfriendly chieftain, there is no doubt that he has a lot of manpower and resources at hand, but he cannot be properly included in the governance of the court. On the contrary, he has to waste a lot of management costs, which is simply unreasonable.

It was fine if he didn't have time to take care of them before, but this time Li Laiheng planned to spare some of his troops to suppress the chieftain forces in the territory, open up trade routes, promote commerce, and increase the revenue of the imperial treasury, so he planned to do it thoroughly.Therefore, Changsha also wrote to Liu Zhonggui's shogunate in Chengdu, asking him to send some soldiers and horses—there is no set rule on how many to send, but it must not be less than [-], otherwise it would be contempt for the imperial court. Do you want to live a good life—to assist Changsha The imperial court's suppression operation.For this reason, Zhang Neng, a veteran of the Central Battalion who had not left in the Chongqing Mansion, had led his troops to the east, and took the lead in starting the war to clean up the chieftain forces, which can be regarded as showing the sincerity of the imperial court.

"There are Tusi separatist regimes in western Sichuan, who ruled over them as kings; southern Sichuan also has Tusi, and there are also people from Xiying; there are also a large number of Tusi forces at the junction of Eastern Sichuan, Guizhou, and Hunan. These bastards were still obedient when the former dynasty was at its peak. , but once the Central Plains is in chaos and the wars are endless, these people will show their true colors again, separatist, and dominate. The imperial court has ruled Hunan for so many years, and only some familiar vassals are more respectful, but many things have to be discussed with them. It's a shame and a shame." Liu Qi thought to himself, "But now that the Tartar court is in trouble and the situation in the country has improved greatly, it's time to recruit a large army to wipe them out. Otherwise, those grass-headed kings may still think that the court is weak and can be bullied Woolen cloth."

What Liu Qi just said about "the Tartars are in trouble" was of course the news revealed to them by the commercial station in Chengdu set up by the people from the East Coast.After Zuo Ying's many confirmations, he believed it to a certain extent, so his emotions became agitated again, wondering if he should take the opportunity to expand his territory.However, after Liu Zhonggui considered for a long time, he finally decided to focus on stabilizing the internal situation, and after he finished his recuperation, he would launch a large-scale northern expedition to attack many prefectures and passes controlled by the Qing army in northern Sichuan.

And since they don't go north, then Zuoying or Sichuan Town's next strategic choice is actually very obvious, that is to go south, but this is limited by the overall national policy of the Dashun court.That is to say, it is very simple for Liu Zhonggui to send troops to the south, but whether it will damage the major affairs of the Changsha court and lead to the collapse of the whole situation is a matter that needs to be carefully considered.Liu Qi has been in the scene for many years, and he has been involved in secrets for many years. He knows the pros and cons of it, so he feels that it is harmless to send thousands of soldiers to take advantage of Li Dingguo's illness and return to Yunnan to engage in some friction. .

But if you go south with all your troops and start a war of destroying the country with Nanming, then there will be big problems!First of all, regardless of whether you can quickly defeat those troops in Xiying, as far as the Qing Dynasty is concerned, will it just watch you do so?How can it be!Do you think that the Qing army in northern Sichuan and Hanzhong are all dead?It is true that people are in trouble now, but this does not mean that when you take away most of the elite troops to attack Yunnan, Zhao Liangdong from the Hanzhong camp cannot create enough obstacles for you. not yet.

Therefore, when the time is not yet ripe for going north or going south, sorting out internal affairs and cleaning up chieftains are probably the only options.And this, in fact, is a microcosm of the overall strategic situation of the Dashun court today. It is too embarrassing to go north, but it is too embarrassing to go south. It seems that we can only clean up the door for the time being, and then take the opportunity to carefully test a wave, including people from the east coast. The reaction of various forces including Dashun to the possible southward movement of Dashun is to prepare for the large-scale southern expedition in the future—of course, if it feels that there will be great resistance, the implementation of the southern expedition will still be postponed. There is no way, Dashun's strategy The situation is too embarrassing to have to be careful.

(End of this chapter)