Ming Empire

Chapter 168

"Well, what Mr. Fan said is very reasonable, so let's make it so. The needed ironware was obtained from North Korea, and the craftsmen found a way to find a batch from the pass." Dorgon praised Fan Wencheng's proposal, "This The matter is settled like this, Mr. Fan, you can handle it according to the order of the king, anyone who needs it can tell the king, the king knows that you can handle this matter well.",

Dorgon's words made Fan Wencheng almost shed tears. He quickly knelt down and respectfully kowtowed a few times, "Thank you for your trust, master. This slave must do his best to serve the Qing Dynasty. Do things, do things for the master!"

"Mr. Fan, I have wronged you during this time, don't worry, with me here, no one will dare to do anything to you!" Dorgon patted Fan Wencheng on the shoulder to show his trust in him.

"Thank you Prince Regent for your love, I am so grateful!" Fan Wencheng knelt down and kowtowed again, his forehead was broken and blood flowed.

Fan Wencheng looked like a dog slave, which made the other dog slave Tong Yangxing feel disgusted.This guy is only about to lick Dorgon's heel with his mouth!
But Tong Yangxing didn't dare to show any contempt. In order not to let Dorgon underestimate him, he immediately expressed some of his thoughts.

After talking about something related to firearms, Dorgon said another thing he hesitated in his heart.

"Mr. Fan, according to reports from the spies, Sun Chuanting is now leading an army westward to Shaanxi and Henan. Cao Bianjiao's men and horses in Liaodong have been transferred south, Cao Yue's Datong army has also been taken away by him, and Cao Yue himself has been sent to Nanjing for training. Datong is empty. , There are less than 1 people in the town army, I ask you, is my Qing Dynasty going to take this opportunity to march south again to avenge several failures?"

As soon as Dorgon mentioned this matter, Fan Wencheng cheered up immediately, and after taking a look at Dorgon's expression, he shook his head firmly: "Master, this slave feels that my Qing Dynasty has failed me many times in the Southern Expedition." When the results of the battle are obtained, it is better not to take the southern expedition lightly. During this southern expedition, our Qing army suffered heavy losses. The Eight Banners of the Han Army and the Eight Banners of Korea were almost completely wiped out, and the Eight Banners of Mongolia also suffered heavy losses. The national strength of our Qing Dynasty was greatly affected. Greatly weakened. The servant feels that what we have to do now is to recuperate and rectify the rear, and when the Qing Dynasty recovers its vitality, it is better to march south."

As Fan Wencheng said, he immediately explained the reason for his thinking.

After the defeat of the Qing army, the deterrence of neighboring tribes also declined. North Korea and some Mongolian tribes rebelled, and disunity appeared within the Jurchen. This happened after Hauge's death.These unkind things must be resolved as soon as possible, otherwise they will intensify.Also, the Qing army suffered a disastrous defeat and was severely injured. Even if the main force of the Jurchen Eight Banners is still there, if they want to go out again, the main force of the battle must be the Jurchen Eight Banners, because there are no other servants to use in large quantities.

If the war is unfavorable again, the Jurchen Eight Banners will suffer a great loss, which will really hurt the foundation of the Qing Dynasty. If the loss is really huge, it will be difficult to recover in a short time.Therefore, Fan Wencheng advised Dorgon not to take risks again. The most important thing to do now is to stabilize the rear, continue to control the ministries of North Korea and Mongolia, and suppress the rebels.

When the Ming army fought with Li Zicheng's peasant army and lost both sides, the Qing army, which had recovered part of its vitality, could pick a bargain.

Of course, this was a helpless move. If there were no previous two disastrous defeats in Datong, then when Sun Chuanting led an army to suppress the bandits, it would be the opportunity for the Qing army to seize the opportunity to harass Liaodong and Beijing.

At the end, Fan Wencheng said: "Master, this slave does not mean that we are indifferent. We can make a feint against Liaodong to prevent Hong Chengchou from knowing the actual situation of our Qing Dynasty. This is what we need!"

"Mr., let this king be enlightened." After hearing what Fan Wencheng said, Dorgon relaxed his frown, and praised Fan Wencheng with a slight smile: "This king will follow what Mr. said, for the time being." Abandon the plan for the Southern Expedition, wait until the rebellion is suppressed, and the rear is stabilized, and then discuss the matter of the Southern Expedition after setting up a few firearms. I hope that by then, Li Zicheng can make a mess of Ming Dynasty!"

"Master, in fact, we can send someone to contact Li Zicheng to discuss the matter of the north-south attack!" Fan Wencheng made a bold decision again.

After Dorgon thought for a while, he immediately agreed with Fan Wencheng's suggestion, "What Mr. said is reasonable, I will think it over carefully!"

When Dorgon and Fan Wencheng, Tong Yangxing and other traitors were discussing follow-up strategies, Hong Chengchou of Liaodong was not idle. He was worried that Jiannu would be transferred into the customs while a large number of troops in Liaodong were taken advantage of, especially Cao Bianjiao, who was the best at fighting. After the Ministry is transferred to the south, it will take the opportunity to attack, so it is strictly ordered that the soldiers under the command are ready to prepare for the next possible slave invasion with the highest combat readiness.

At the same time, a large number of spies were sent to Shengjing to find out about Jiannu.

After the Battle of Songshan, Hong Chengchou has made a lot of preparations, including measures such as rectifying troops and strengthening the city wall.

In fact, Hong Chengchou really wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to recover Liaoyang and other cities after Jiannu suffered several disastrous defeats.But he knew that with the current strength of the Liaodong Daming army, there was no way to take the initiative to regain the lost ground.

Now the town army in Liaodong can only stick to the city and want to take the initiative to attack, which is basically a dream.

He once proposed to the court to raise troops, horses, food and grass to go out of the customs and take the initiative to attack Jiannu, but Chongzhen rejected it.It's not that Emperor Chongzhen didn't have this idea, he was very eager to regain the entire Liaodong and completely eliminate the threat of slavery, but no minister in the court supported Hong Chengchou's suggestion, and everyone believed that the power of slavery in Jianshu had not suffered a major loss. Before the rebellion of the bandits was put down, they could only take a defensive position against Jiannu.

In the eyes of the emperor and ministers of the Ming Dynasty, the biggest threat to the Ming Dynasty now is not Jiannu, but Li Zicheng's rogues.

They believed that Jiannu's invasion of the south was just to plunder the wealth and slaves of Daming, and they never thought of occupying Daming's territory. Those cities in Liaodong that were captured by Jiannu were now abandoned there, and Jiannu did not actually occupy them.

Compared with the rogues who want to stand in place of the Ming Dynasty, the slaves who will not compete with the Ming Dynasty are more threatening.Therefore, whether it is Emperor Chongzhen or the ministers in the court, the most urgent thing now is to raise an army to put down the bandits and restore the Central Plains.Just after the Battle of Datong ended, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't wait to order Sun Chuanting to lead hundreds of thousands of troops into Shaanxi and Henan, preparing to fight Li Zicheng to the death.

Emperor Chongzhen even hoped that the encounter in Nanjing would lead to the training of 10,000+ elite soldiers as soon as possible, so that the bandit rebellion could be resolved as soon as possible.He was full of expectations for Cao Yue's military training plan, so he also favored Cao Yue and gave him a lot of convenience.

However, while giving Cao Yue more power, he also sent many people to strictly monitor Cao Yue, including the newly appointed Nanjing eunuch Wang Ning, and several Nanjing Jinyiwei leaders.It's just that Emperor Chongzhen didn't know that the people he sent to monitor had almost been bought by Cao Yue.

(End of this chapter)