Dorgon suddenly promoted Hong Chengchou to a higher position and became the only Han prime minister in the Qing Dynasty, instantly confirming his status as the world's greatest traitor.
This made Hong Chengchou a little confused. Even if he was causing trouble in the north, even if he secretly made great achievements, in the future he would be forced to deal with fierce political disputes. Would the emperor in the south really be able to spare him?
Definitely not!
You must leave immediately, escape secretly to Nanjing, and show your identity and position. If you leave a few months later, the yellow mud will fall down your crotch. If it is not shit, it will still be shit. No matter what, you cannot tell.
Hong Chengchou secretly packed his belongings and prepared to take two of his confidants with him, and during this time he ran away at night.
You can't go south from Shandong, where the epidemic is serious and too dangerous. You can go into Henan from Beizhili. Although there are Qing soldiers everywhere along the way, you should be able to escape by dressing up.
Don't bring too much wealth, just a hundred taels of silver and a few dozen kilograms of grain.
While Hong Chengchou was busy working, a domestic servant knocked on the door outside and shouted: "Master, it's not good, our house is surrounded by soldiers. There are soldiers outside several doors. They say they are here to protect the master, and they are in various courtyards."
There are soldiers walking back and forth along the wall."
"This Dorgon...Oh, that's it, that's it!"
The world line was closed again, and Hong Chengchou received the same treatment.
Historically, after Hong Chengchou surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, Huang Taiji was also heavily guarded. Because of his special status, he served as the governor of five provinces, the governor of Xuanda, and the governor of Jiliao. Many of the Ming Dynasty border generals were his former troops.
.
Hong Chengchou immediately went out and took a sedan chair straight to Dorgon's mansion.
"Your Majesty, immediately lead troops to hunt down the Hou family and his son!" Hong Chengchou said when they saw him.
Dorgon wondered: "Why kill them?"
Hong Chengchou explained: "They must go to Shandong to persuade Zuo Liangyu to join the Nanjing court. If Zuo Liangyu cannot be persuaded, they can go to Nanjing themselves."
Dorgon still didn't fully trust Hong Chengchou. After much deliberation, he called his men and said: "Send two more Niulu to catch up with the Governor of Shandong. They must protect him personally and not leave the Governor for a step. If the Governor of Shandong betrays him, he will immediately
Take him back to Beijing. If he can’t be taken back, he will be killed directly.”
Two Niu Lu, that is, twenty soldiers, monitored Hou Xun around the clock.
Hong Chengchou continued: "What does the prince think of the Nanjing court?"
Dorgon said with a smile: "After winning Beijing, I will rule the world. After tomorrow's summer harvest and harvesting the wheat, I will personally lead the army to the south!"
Hong Chengchou said: "Your Majesty, the people in the north are poor, but the people in the south are rich. Zhao Han can be defeated ten times and still be able to regroup. When our army first entered the Central Plains, many surrendered troops were wavering, and there was not much military rations, and the people were not enough, so we were defeated by one or two
I will have to return to Liaodong next time."
"Li Zicheng swept across the north and was completely defeated by our Manchurian soldiers? Zhao Han seemed to have an elite army, but in fact there was nothing to fear." Dorgon really didn't take Zhao Han seriously.
Hong Chengchou advised: "Your Majesty, you must not underestimate the enemy, we cannot afford to lose. The Ming border troops first surrendered Li Zicheng, and then the Qing Dynasty. If we do not say that our army was defeated, let's say that the two sides are in a stalemate, and these border troops may turn to the south."
"
"That's right," Dorgon was not a fool. "If we can't win quickly, these surrendered generals are likely to defect again."
Hong Chengchou said: "First the soldiers approached Shandong and forced Zuo Liangyu to surrender."
"He will really surrender?" Dorgon was not sure.
Hong Chengchou smiled and said: "Zuo Liangyu has been unable to surrender to Zhao Han because he is reluctant to give up the military power in his hands. Now that there is a serious epidemic in Shandong, his troops are weak, and our army is pressing down on the border, Zuo Liangyu will definitely ask for help from Nanjing. Before that, he could
He was named King of Dingnan, ordered to lead the army in Shandong, and spread the news throughout the world."
"Does this allow Zuo Liangyu to surrender to the Qing Dynasty?" Dorgon asked.
Hong Chengchou said with a smile: "Zuo Liangyu has always been a double-edged sword and is not worthy of trust. When the news came out that the Qing Dynasty made him king, how could Nanjing dare to send troops to rescue him? It would be great if we didn't fight him! This man has never expressed his attitude.
, just want to get more benefits from both sides. The Qing Dynasty sent troops to fight him while giving him enough benefits, so he could only surrender to the Qing Dynasty."
Dorgon nodded and said, "That's good."
Hong Chengchou added: "However, beware of this person defecting. Even if he becomes the prince of the Qing Dynasty, I may betray the Qing Dynasty at any time. I want to find an opportunity to escort him to Beijing under house arrest, keep his title, and then canonize him.
The eldest son is the heir apparent, and he has to grant officials and make wishes to his generals, so that he can truly control Shandong."
Dorgon praised: "Sir, you really know the old officials of the Ming Dynasty well."
Hong Chengchou put away his smile and said with a serious face: "We must send troops quickly before the summer harvest next year. We cannot wait until the summer harvest. Our army is short of food, so we should take advantage of the enemy's wheat harvest to grab it!"
During the summer harvest, wheat is mainly harvested.
But during the Little Ice Age in the late Ming Dynasty, Hebei was unable to grow winter wheat and could only grow spring wheat.
Even in many places in Henan, winter wheat cannot be grown.
Therefore, Zhao Han's summer harvest season was more than a month earlier than that of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. It is very likely that Zhao Han used the time lag to quickly send troops after harvesting the wheat. Not only did he have grain himself, but he could also go to the Manchu Qing territory to collect grain.
Hong Chengchou's intention was obvious, to raise as much military provisions as possible, and when Zhao Han's wheat harvest was about to be harvested, he directly sent troops to go south in a large scale.
Let those soldiers from the Ming Dynasty surrender, use their numerical superiority to plunder everywhere, and go to Zhao Han's place to burn, kill and loot at will.
This is equivalent to hundreds of thousands of troops rushing down, and Zhao Han can't defend himself at all.
When Zhao Han sent troops to deal with the surrendered soldiers and generals, he just fell into Hong Chengchou's plan: Zhao Han and the Ming Dynasty's surrendered generals consumed each other and eliminated the unstable factors in the Qing Dynasty. The main force of the Qing Dynasty's more than 100,000 Eight Banners soldiers could look for opportunities to choose the battlefield. Or
Surround and annihilate the main force of the Datong Army, or cut off the Datong Army's food routes, or burn, kill, and loot Zhao Han's territory to destroy the people's livelihood and economy in the area under Zhao Han's jurisdiction.
If Zhao Han ignores the enemy army and directly leads his troops to attack the Manchu and Qing territory. Haha, you can fight and rob as you like, but there is not much food here anyway. The more cities you capture, the more troops you have to divide and garrison, and the more stretched
With long front lines, food routes become more dangerous.
Hong Chengchou has gone dark, and Dorgon forced him to wear the label of a traitor, and heavily monitored him to prevent him from leaving, so he might as well become a real traitor!
Anyway, there is no way out, we can only help the Manchus conquer the world.
…
Nanjing.
Officials from the Cabinet, the Ministry of War, and the Governor's Office were all called to discuss the matter.
Li Banghua pointed at the map and said: "Henan bandits and Henan gentry regiments have all defected to the Manchu Qing Dynasty. On the Puppet Qing side, three marquises and six counts were granted in Henan alone."
Pang Chunlai said: "The Qing army is heavily stationed on the border. There will be a battle in Henan next year. It's not whether we want to fight, but the other side will definitely fight!"
Zhao Han was also helpless.
While the Ming Dynasty court was still there, Zhao Han attacked Anhui and Jiangsu, and officials in various major prefectures and counties surrendered.
But after the Ming Dynasty was overthrown, the area had been occupied by rebels and gentry regiments. Zhao Han was unable to persuade them to surrender and could only fight all the way. Instead, the Manchus were able to recruit large-scale surrenders.
The difference is simply that Zhao Han's recruitment and surrender conditions were too harsh.
The Manchus and the Qing Dynasty gave each other a title and were allowed to retain the army and land.
There were also some who insisted on resisting. For example, the Datong generals had surrendered, but the Datong civil servants left behind by Li Zicheng led the officials and civilians to defend the city against the Qing Dynasty. As a result, the Manchu and Qing forces led the Datong generals to attack the city of Datong.
With the cooperation of spies, a massacre was carried out directly after the city was broken.
There were very few generals who chose to resist. Instead, many civil servants from various places emerged who vowed to fight to the death against the Qing Dynasty.
"No matter how insufficient food is, the army must be expanded!" Mao Yuanyi is now the staff officer of the Governor's Mansion.
Li Banghua nodded and said: "Yes, the army must be expanded!"
"I also support military expansion."
"In the previous battle against Zhang Xianzhong, due to terrain restrictions, we could not expand the army. But the border between Henan and Anhui will definitely be a battlefield next year. The terrain is flat and smooth, and it is impossible to fight without expanding the army!"
"There is also Shandong. Zuo Liangyu has always refused to surrender. If we don't expand our army, it will be difficult to stabilize Shandong!"
"..."
The cabinet, the Ministry of War, and the Governor's Office all agreed to expand the army and were waiting for Zhao Han's decision.
After Zhao Han thought carefully, he said: "Then expand the army to ten divisions, cancel the previous establishment, and name them purely by numbers. The first division and the second division guard Shandong, and the third to sixth divisions garrison Runing Mansion, Feng
Yangfu, the 7th Division and the 8th Division stationed troops in Nanyang Fu. The 9th Division continued to attack Sichuan. The 10th Division continued to encroach on Guangxi."
The 10th Division has been stationed in Guangdong, and it has not done anything in the past few years.
The mountains of northern Guangdong, the mountains of eastern Guangdong, and the mountainous areas of Fujian were full of bandits. The 10th Division wiped them all out, and by the way, many Yao people who practiced slash-and-burn farming were subdued.
In the past year, the 10th Division captured Wuzhou Prefecture and Xunzhou Prefecture in Guangxi and is planning to attack Pingle Prefecture.
Their military rations are not very sufficient, and most of them are in mountainous areas. Every time they send out troops, they have to use civilians to transport food, and they can only slowly eat away at one government after another.
Pang Chunlai suddenly said: "Should we establish Dongjiang Town? After the war begins, we will send troops to surprise the Tatar hinterland."
"Yes," Xu Nianzu said, "send out the navy and force North Korea to trade food with Dongjiang Town. In this way, Dongjiang Town only needs money to maintain, and food can be purchased from North Korea."
"Then form the 11th Division!" Zhao Han said.
There was no way around it, but the Manchu Qing's move to mobilize troops forced Zhao Han to expand his army on a large scale.
The Manchus and Qing Dynasties had no choice but to fear that Zhao Han would suddenly send troops across the border, so they had to hoard heavy troops on the border.
If no one trusts anyone, there will be no negotiation.
Fortunately, Zhao Han has a large number of farmers and soldiers, and he is also producing weapons and equipment every year, so he can expand his army on a large scale at any time to prepare for war.
The regular troops of the Datong Army are about to be expanded into eleven divisions, each with a full strength of 10,000 people. Adding in other troops and cavalry, Zhao Han's regular army finally exceeds 120,000 people.
This number is comparable to the Eight Banners Army of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
Xu Ying suddenly said: "Improve the conditions for recruitment and surrender. I will send people to recruit soldiers from the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. Zuo Liangyu can be made a marquis, as long as he hands over Shandong!"
Zhao Han thought about it carefully: "You can try it."
(There is an Easter egg chapter map at the end of the chapter. It is very rough. Can any expert help make a more beautiful one?)
