Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 249 The Strategist Li Yan

The news that the heads of Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming appeared in the mansions of Fan Wencheng and Hong Chengchou spread like wildfire throughout Beijing, and indeed caused a great shock among the Hanchen bureaucrats in the Qing court.

Some Han officials who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty even began to resign due to illness, fearing that one day they would be retaliated against for being officials of the Qing Dynasty.

This is why Dorgon is angry.

As an ambitious man among the military aristocrats of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the reason why he was able to preside over the government even after he was defeated and captured in the battle of Duduo and lost [-] troops, and overwhelmed courtiers such as Jierhalang, was because he still had the power of the Han bureaucrats in the ruling and opposition parties. support, and he was able to continue to persuade the Manchu and Qing courts to continue preparing for the Ming Dynasty because of the support of the Han bureaucrats.

From a certain point of view, the Han officials who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty are now Dorgon's allies.

And Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian's intimidation methods are undoubtedly destroying this alliance, reducing Dorgon's power, and indirectly helping Jierhalang.

It is precisely because of this that Dorgon became furious. For the Han people in the north, he could wantonly ravage them in order to win over the hearts of the Manchu military nobles, but for the Han bureaucrats who surrendered to the Manchu Qing, that is, these Han landlords , he wants to win over even more enthusiastically, and even treat him courteously. He knows that if he wants to really help the Qing Dynasty win the world, he has to rely on these people.

On the one hand, Dorgon instructed Shunzhi to decree to retain the Han officials who resigned, and on the other hand, he personally comforted the Han officials.

However, among the Han officials who surrendered to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, even if there were Han officials who continued to work for the Manchu Qing despite the awe of the Ming court, they were quite dissatisfied with Dorgon's behavior of overpowering the young master Shunzhi. And voted for Jierharang.

After realizing that he had to establish a good relationship with Han officials if he wanted to compete with Dorgon, Jierharang also began to win over more Han officials in the name of consolidating the monarchy and attacking powerful officials, and he was still able to fight Dorgon All courts stand against each other.

Party struggles began to emerge within the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but Shunzhi Fulin was still young, so he was naturally unable to suppress it, and Xiaozhuang could only try his best to linger. Not to mention exhausted.

Within the Qing court, there was no time to look south because of the complicated internal strife.

At this time, on the Huguang battlefield, Ming's military forces have gradually formed a comprehensive counterattack against the Azig Department of the Qing army.

Although the current Azige Department has already occupied Chengtianfu City and is under Wuchangfu City, what he does not know is that the Liu Fangliang Department of the Third Guards Army and the Huang Degong Department of the Guards Army have begun to march northward and westward. A total of nearly [-] troops came to Wuchang Mansion.

At this time, Du Yinxi, governor of Huguang, and Li Yan, governor of Huguang, were still in the governor's office of Huguang in Wuchang Prefecture.

Gao Yigong, Liu Tichun, Li Jin, Yuan Zongdi and other main generals of the extermination army also gathered here.

However, after losing several cities in a row, Gao Yigong and other generals of the extermination army were somewhat depressed. They all asked the military adviser Li Yan whether they should retreat to the Changsha area of ​​Changde and use the complex terrain of Dongting Lake and Hunan to deal with the Qing army. .

Du Yinxi, governor of Huguang, also agreed with this, and couldn't help but said: "Your Majesty's decree at the beginning was to order us to fight against the captives to the death, but we don't have to worry about the gains and losses of a city and a pool, but we must ensure that within two months, we will not let you go." Jige's troops advanced into Jiangxi to prevent the rear from being unstable when the court annihilated the Duduo tribe; now it is late June, the Duduo tribe has been wiped out, and we have fulfilled the imperial court's will. decree, and if someone in the court really impeaches him, Du will be responsible for it."

"I don't know something about the platform. It's not that Li doesn't care about the casualties of the brothers who destroyed the captive army, nor that Li is afraid of taking the responsibility of failing to defend the city. It's because now that the Duoduo tribe has been defeated for more than a month, please Just think about it, would Azig of the Qing army have heard the news of Duoduo's defeat? Under the circumstances, will another army be sent south to attack Ming?"

Li Yan asked, but Du Yinxi smiled: "Although I don't understand military affairs, I also understand that the correct way is to withdraw, and if you let the army go deeper, you will be alone. Even if you are undefeated, it will be difficult for you." Dorgon probably won't do something that wastes money and food to win."

"As Zaitai said, if Dorgon was the next official, he would immediately send someone to order Azig to return to the court after learning that Duoduo was defeated. Azige's department has been fighting with our extermination army since October last year. Now after a short rest, he went south to attack Daming. After losing his own brother, he will naturally not let his own brother take risks, otherwise, what would he do to deal with Ji Erhalang and others in the court."

Since Li Yan led the rest of the Chuang army to belong to the Ming Dynasty and accepted the reorganization as the Extermination Army, Wu Mengming, the commander of Jinyiwei, informed Li Yan of all the political, military, economic and cultural conditions of the Qing court according to Zhu Youjian's order. Therefore, the current Li Yan The relationship between Azig, Dorgon, Duduo and others is also very clear.

Du Yinxi, governor of Huguang, and the senior generals of the extermination army were all lost in thought. After listening to Li Yan's analysis, they also began to admit that Azig might return to the court soon, but they didn't What is clear is that since Azig is likely to withdraw quickly, why did he have to approach the city of Wuchang, cut trees and set up camp, making great preparations for attacking the city.

"What the military adviser said is indeed reasonable, but I don't understand why Azig hasn't withdrawn since he wants to withdraw. Now the Qing army outside Wuchang Prefecture is gathering more and more. I'm afraid that when his red-clothed cannon arrives, they will It's time to siege the city." Gao Yigong, the commander-in-chief of the Huguang Army and the commander-in-chief of the Huguang Army, couldn't help raising this doubt for the officials present.

Li Yan smiled slightly: "It's easy to understand. Azig is still preparing to attack the city. There are only two possibilities. One is that he has not heard the news; The iron cavalry gathered under the city of Wuchang, but in fact, the cannon and the iron cavalry of the Manchuria headquarters have been quietly withdrawn to Xiangyang."

"Then from Li Futai's point of view, which one is more likely?" Du Yinxi asked.

"Reporting to the platform, I believe that the key thing for us now is not to care about the possibility of Azig, we just need to make sure that he will withdraw sooner or later, and since Azig will retreat sooner or later, if he can really get his whole body Retiring is actually not a good thing for my Ming Dynasty." When Li Yan said this, Liu Tichun raised his bar first: "Military division, why is this not a good thing? If the Tartars want to retreat, don't we have to retreat? Isn’t Daming safe and sound?”

"Everyone, Zhitai, after the failure of Duduo's army all the way, the offensive and defensive positions between our Daming and Jiannu have changed. If the Azige troops of the Qing army continue to advance south at this time, it will be a lonely army. There is no need for that Doubt, then, since my Ming Dynasty can concentrate its forces to eat the Doduo Road, it can now eat the Azig Road. As long as the Azig Road is eaten, the vitality of the Qing army will be damaged by at least half. This is the best for my Ming Dynasty. It's a good thing, not to mention eating Azig, which is tantamount to cutting off Dorgon's other arm, which will also help intensify the internal struggle of the Qing court. You can stand firm in the court, and Jiannu still has the power to go south to defeat the Ming."

(End of this chapter)