Hong Chengchou said: "I want to say that our Qing army will last longer, but there is a prerequisite."
After a pause, he continued: "If our Qing soldiers cannot stop the Ming navy and allow grain ships from Huai'an, Yangzhou and even Nanjing to continuously enter Xuzhou, or if the master cannot collect grain from the Eight Banners' private treasury,
Or in Xuzhou, the fields in Guide Prefecture yielded very little, so the Ming army was the one who persisted to the end."
Dorgon's expression condensed and he murmured: "Navy division? Ming army navy?"
After whispering for a moment, Dorgon suddenly shouted: "Cao Eryu, hang up the map of Xuzhou."
"Hey!" Cao Eryu agreed, and immediately brought a few coats to move a sandalwood screen, and hung the map of Xuzhou on the screen.
Dorgon and Hong Chengchou walked to the screen one after another.
Facing the map of Xuzhou, Dorgon asked Hong Chengchou with a serious face: "Hengjiu, if we don't relieve the siege, can our Qing soldiers stop the Ming navy?"
"Master, there is definitely no problem in blocking the Ming Navy."
Hong Chengchou said categorically: "Although the Ming navy's firearms are sharp, the sturdiness of its naval warships is completely different from that of the forts."
"Our Qing soldiers only need to build more forts along both sides of the Yellow River."
"And by erecting more red cannons on these fortresses, it will be impossible for the Ming navy to reach Xuzhou."
After a pause, Hong Chengchou continued: "The reason why Chongzhen dared to hoard troops in Xuzhou, Pizhou and even Xia Town was that his greatest reliance was on the navy's firearms. Little did he know that this was also his greatest disadvantage! If our Qing soldiers persisted in holding the troops,
If we do not follow this plan, sooner or later the soldiers and civilians in Xuzhou City will be in dire straits because they will run out of food."
Dorgon hummed slightly and asked again: "So how much food do you estimate is stored in Xuzhou City? How long can it last before it falls into the desperate situation of running out of food?"
"Master, this is hard to estimate." Hong Chengchou shook his head.
Fan Wencheng pondered for a moment and then said: "The letter from the Ten Kings said that there is at least 500,000 shi of grain in Shanyang's warehouse, so according to common sense, the grain in Xuzhou should be 500,000 shi!"
"Half a million stones?!" Dorgon's face fell instantly.
Ning Wanwo said: "The standard of sitting grain is only half of that of line grain. Calculated at one liter per ding per day, half a million stones of grain can be enough to support half a million soldiers and civilians for more than three months. If Chongzhen has a dark heart, he will not care about the inner city of Xuzhou."
The people live and die, and only the food rations for the 50,000-strong army are guaranteed, which can last for more than three years!"
"Three years?!" Dorgon's face almost turned black.
"In reality, it will definitely not last three years." Hong Chengchou said solemnly, "Two years at most."
"My slave seconded the proposal." Fan Wencheng also agreed with Hong Chengchou's judgment, "At this time, the Southern Ming Dynasty was no longer the original Ming Dynasty, and the Ming army in Xuzhou also lost the morale of the Liao army. It lasted two years."
"Two years? Two years!" Dorgon paced back and forth again with his hands behind his back.
The Eight Banners Army held on to Xuzhou for two years, which was undoubtedly a huge challenge.
Hong Chengchou and the other three stopped talking and just looked at Dorgon quietly.
Dorgon kept pacing in Nuange, and his pace became faster and faster.
This is undoubtedly a difficult decision. Should we persist? Or should we withdraw as early as possible?
Ning Wan and I silently kept our mouths shut. They were only responsible for planning and providing reference opinions to Dorgon, but the final decision still had to be made by Dorgon himself.
A quarter of an hour passed quickly, and Dorgon still had not made up his mind.
Because it was really difficult to make this decision, and the stakes were too high, Dorgon had a vague intuition that this decision was likely to determine the fate of the Qing court for hundreds of years to come.
So there is absolutely no room for mistakes.
Dorgon really couldn't make up his mind, so he stopped and asked Hong Chengchou: "Hengjiu, do you think it will be possible to only leave half of the troops to guard the fields in Xuzhou and besiege Xuzhou?"
Dorgon still couldn't make such a decisive decision and wanted to make a compromise.
That is to leave half of the army to continue to besiege Xuzhou and garrison the fields, and then allocate the other half of the army to fight in other directions, such as Tumed River and Shandong.
"No." Hong Chengchou said flatly, "Half the troops are definitely not enough."
Hong Chengchou's answer was unexpected by Dorgon. He had known it would be this answer.
At this moment, Dorgon really deeply felt the difficulty of insufficient national power. As long as the Qing Dynasty had half the national power of the Ming Dynasty, it did not use half of the national power. As long as it had 20 to 30% of the national power of the Ming Dynasty, he would not have to fight for more than ten or two hundred thousand troops.
He was worried about hundreds of thousands of stones of military rations, but the problem was solved in a flash.
Didn’t you see that Chongzhen had 50,000 or 60,000 troops stationed in Xuzhou, Pizhou and Xia Town?
Didn’t you see that Chongzhen recruited so many local warriors just in Huai’an?
Didn’t you see that Chongzhen stored more than 500,000 shi of grain in just one warehouse in Shanyang?
If the Qing Dynasty had such manpower and material resources, how could it not be a joke to destroy the Ming Dynasty and the Pseudo-Shun?
It's a pity, it's a pity that such huge manpower and material resources belong to the Ming Dynasty. Chongzhen, the idiot emperor, really wasted everything. He had such powerful manpower and material resources but couldn't use them.
Seeing that Dorgon was still unable to make up his mind, Hong Chengchou said again: "Master, the lion and the elephant fight the rabbit with all their strength, let alone a war to destroy a Central Plains dynasty like Nanming?"
Ning Wan, Fan Wencheng and I also echoed: "Master, be careful not to divide your troops! Last October, the troops were divided into two groups to attack Nanming and Puppet Shun. Yin Jian is not far away. Did Master forget it so quickly?"
Dorgon felt more and more irritable, but he managed to hold back his anger.
Because he knows that getting angry at people is of no use, but will only chill people's hearts.
The strong are those who can control their emotions, and only the weak will be controlled by their emotions.
Dorgon stared at the map with deep eyes. Suddenly, Dorgon's eyes lit up and he said: "Hengjiu, in addition to adopting a long-term siege strategy for Xuzhou, is there any strategy for quick victory?"
"Quick victory?" Hong Chengchou said in astonishment, "Master, although the Ming army cannot withstand field battles, it can still defend the city. The previous defeats of the ten kings in Xuzhou have also proved this, so it is not appropriate to pursue a quick victory, otherwise even if it means taking
If we go to Xuzhou, I'm afraid it will be a tragic victory, which will inevitably affect the next step of the southern expedition."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Dorgon said in a deep voice: "Is there no other way besides attacking by force?"
Hong Chengchou smiled bitterly and said: "I am so stupid that I really can't think of any other better way to break the city."
"Is it true that I can't think of it, or that I have thought of it but don't want to say it?" Dorgon looked directly into Hong Chengchou's eyes and said, "I don't believe that with your resourcefulness, Hengjiu, you can't think of Shui Yang?"
"Flooded? Digging the Yellow River?!" Hong Chengchou's expression suddenly changed.
After Ning Wanmei, Fan Wencheng's expression also condensed. I really didn't expect this.
"Yes, it's a flood strategy!" Dorgon snorted coldly and said, "Yan Yingyuan attacked with fire and flooded in Shanyang. In one battle, he killed nearly 4,000 warriors of the Qing Dynasty and more than 5,000 soldiers.
, so now, I will retaliate in the same way as others, and dig up the embankment of the Yellow River to flood Xuzhou!"
"Master, this is absolutely impossible." Hong Chengchou said urgently.
"No?" Dorgon said angrily, "You dare to say no? In your eyes, Hengjiu, the lives of the Han people are lives, but the lives of our Eight Banners warriors are not lives, right? So you would rather protect both sides of the Yellow River.
The Han people are willing to sacrifice tens of thousands of my Eight Banners disciples, right? Is this how you repay my trust in you?"
"Master, things are not as simple as you think." Hong Chengchou knelt down anxiously, "Although I am a Han Chinese, I am a minister of the Qing Dynasty, and I am also a domestic slave of yours. All my thoughts are for my country.
Qing Dynasty, the slaves are not unwilling to sacrifice the Han people on both sides of the Yellow River, but they are all for the sake of the Qing Dynasty."
"Really?" Dorgon said, "If you don't want to flood Xuzhou, are you doing it for the sake of the Qing Dynasty?"
"Yes, not digging the Yellow River embankment is just for the sake of our Qing Dynasty." Hong Chengchou nodded and said, "Master, you only know that the Yellow River course is higher than the ground. As long as the embankment is dug, the water pouring down will be enough to submerge the entire city of Xuzhou.
, as for the hundreds of blunderbuss surrounding Xuzhou City, let alone..."
"That's it." Dorgon said, "Once the Yellow River bursts its banks, Xuzhou and even the downstream prefectures will be transformed into Zeguo in an instant. The thousands of blunderbuss towers built by the Ming army along the Huanghuai River will be immersed in an instant.
Underwater, in this case, the Huanghuai defense line carefully built by Chongzhen will no longer exist."
Speaking of this meal, Dorgon said again: "When the flood recedes, our Qing soldiers will send out troops again. They can easily break through the Huanghuai defense line and reach the Yangtze River without any effort! Isn't this kind of tactics better than spending a lot of money?
With the manpower and material resources, the stalemate with the Ming army in Xuzhou lasted for several years?"
Hearing this, Ning Wan, Fan Wencheng and I nodded repeatedly.
Because they think what Dorgon said is reasonable, flooding Xuzhou is indeed better than fighting for consumption in Xuzhou.
Hong Chengchou sighed, shook his head and said, "My master only knows one thing, but not the other. Digging the Yellow River embankment is actually a double-edged sword. An accidental move will not only fail to hurt the Ming army, but will hurt the Qing Dynasty!"
"What do you mean by this?" Dorgon frowned and asked, "Why would it hurt the Qing Dynasty instead?"
Hong Chengchou said: "The Yellow River has been a river that has nourished the people since ancient times, but it is also a river that harms the people. It bursts twice every three years and changes its course once every hundred years. The people along the river are really miserable."
"However, since Pan Jixun's control of the river during the Wanli period, the Yellow River's course has been fixed in Kaifeng, Kaocheng, Shangqiu, Dangshan, Xuzhou and Suqian. Although there were occasional dykes and dam breaches during this period, there has been no major disaster in nearly a hundred years.
The river changed its course, so the river bed became higher and higher, and it was already much higher than the ground."
After saying this, Hong Chengchou added in a more serious tone: "But in addition to the river bed being higher than the ground, the dams on both sides of the Yellow River have another characteristic, and this is the most deadly."