Dorgon sat in the middle of the chair. Although he was patient and listened to Li Lutai's talk about the battle in Shandong, his face turned pale and looked very ugly. After Li Lutai finished speaking, he lowered his head and did not dare to give him a
Dorgon looked at each other. The entire Wuying Hall was silent, as if a needle could be heard.
After a long time, Dorgon said, "Li Lutai, E Mengge, are the process of this battle you mentioned true?"
Li Ruitai said in a trembling voice: "What the slaves say is absolutely true and you will never dare to deceive Prince Rui. If there is a lie, I am willing to take the blame for the whole family."
E Mengge also said: "Prince Rui clearly checks that all the slaves say is true."
Dorgon nodded, squinted for a while, then looked at the dozen ministers standing on the left and right again, turned to a minister standing on the left and said, "Hong Qing, what do you think?"
This minister was Hong Chengchou, because he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty in 1642 in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen. He was very familiar with the situation of the Ming Dynasty. This time, Dorgon led his army out of seclusion and brought him with him to prepare for the situation.
Chane consulting. Hong Chengchou was originally an ordinary talent, and in the Ming Dynasty, he had long been responsible for pursuing the Hongmin Army and was also very proficient in military affairs. Every time he gave Dorgon, he reached the point.
Therefore, whenever Dorgon encounters something he doesn't understand or is difficult to understand, he will ask Hong Chengchou for advice, and his reliance on him is becoming more and more powerful, with a momentum exceeding Fan Wencheng.
Shandong's failure this time was indeed beyond Dorgon's expectations. In his opinion, even if He Tuo and Li Lutai cannot completely eliminate Shandong's Ming army, Zhi Shao can still stabilize the situation in Shandong. Na Zhi waited for it
However, it was a crushing defeat. Not only did more than half of the troops be demolished, even the brave generals and Tuo died on the battlefield. After receiving the report, Dorgon naturally became furious and wanted to fight Li Lutai and Emengge at that time to kill him.
The whole army also lets himself breathe a sigh of relief.
But the Manchu and Han ministers all tried their best to persuade each other. Because it was Hong Chengchou, he believed that Li Lutai had done his best in the battle in Shandong, and the failure was not entirely Li Lutai's fault. He should still be called back to Beijing for detailed inquiries.
Then make a decision in the process of this battle. Although Dorgon was a little unwilling, he could not resist the persuasion of all the ministers, so he only endured this breath and sent Li Shutai back to Beijing.
.
In fact, what Li Lutai said in the emergency text was very detailed. After returning to Beijing, he only answered some detailed questions raised by his ministers.
Now seeing Dorgon ask him again, Hong Chengchou also took a step forward, bowed and said, "Reporting to Prince Rui, I think what Li Zhangjing said should be true."
Li Lutai and E Mengge both looked at Hong Chengchou with gratitude. After all, it was very rare to be able to say justice to them at this time. But Dorgon hummed and said, "All of them are true?"
Is the merchant army so incredible?"
Hong Chengchou said: "Prince Rui, don't forget that two years ago, Rao Yubeile led his army out of the pass to attack the Ming Dynasty, and was also in Jinan and Jingzhou, Shandong. He was frustrated by the Ming army. At that time, it was the merchant army guarding Shandong.
.And according to Rao Yubeile, the merchant army relies on the sharp firearms. It is very similar to what Li Zhangjing said, so I dare to say that what Li Zhangjing said is true."
After hearing this, Dorgon didn't say anything else?
At this time, Fan Wenchen also listed: "Prince Rui, what Lord Hong said is very true. Imagine that Rao Yubeile had been through the battle for a long time, and with the help of the Minister of Internal Affairs, he led tens of thousands of elite soldiers, but he could not win, let alone the
Li Zhangjing's troops, so this battle is not a crime, it is because we expect the enemy to be in trouble. Therefore, I will punish Li Zhangjing and ask Prince Rui to think twice."
Dorgon's face improved a little, he thought about it again and said, "Li Lutai, I will record it for you this time. You will first remove your military post and stay in Beijing and wait for the disposal."
Li Rutai hurriedly kowtowed to Dorgon and said, "Thank you, Prince Rui." Then he got up and left Wuying Hall.
And Dorgon said again: "Hong Qing stays, all the other adults will retreat first."
The other Manchu and Han ministers knew that Dorgon wanted to discuss major issues separately with Hong Chengchou, so they all bowed to Dorgon, and then Lu Ji withdrew from Wuying Hall. After a while, only Hong Chengchou and Dorgon remained in the entire hall.
Two people.
Yushi Dorgon is also a man who has experienced many battles. After listening to Li Lutai's explanation, he also knew that Li Lutai did his best. The failure was understandable, and it was a bit unreasonable to kill him. On the other hand, Li
Lu Tai is not an ordinary person. If he rashly kills him, he is afraid that the generals of the Han army will be disappointed. Therefore, he took this step and spared Li Lu Tai.
Dorgon frowned and then asked: "Hong Qing, are artillery and muskets really that powerful? In the past, I have led my army to attack the Ming Dynasty twice, and I have also used artillery and muskets to the Ming army.
After fighting, I didn't see anything surprisingly special about them! Why did it immediately become unique to Shang Yi?"
Hong Chengchou smiled bitterly and said, "Report to Prince Rui, we don't know much about Shang Yi's situation now, so it's hard for Weichen to answer. However, according to what Li Zhangjing said just now, Weichen discovered the Shang army and other Ming army.
There are a few differences in comparison.”
Dorgon said: "What's the difference?"
Hong Chengchou said: "First of all, among the firearms used by the merchant army, muskets are used more than cannons. Almost everyone has one shot. Even when short-term forces are connected, they also insert a short sword into the musket and use it as a spear.
Moreover, the muskets used by the merchant army seem to be farther than other muskets, and the method of using muskets is more proficient and the firing speed is faster, so they are naturally more powerful. These points are similar to other Ming soldiers.
It's very different. Maybe this is the reason."
Dorgon also nodded and said, "What Hong Qing said is extremely true, but only these points can be done by me, the Qing Dynasty, and other Ming troops can do it, which does not mean that the merchant army can do it.
Such a great reason.”
Hong Chengchou said: "These are just inferred from Li Zhangjing's statement, but it is not known how they are all, because we still have too little contact with Shang Yi, we need to inquire in detail, and we also need to
Please come to Beijing to discuss with us so that we can know ourselves and our enemies. Therefore, for the time being, we should not continue to use troops in Shandong.”
Dorgon was stunned, a little surprised, and said, "Aren't you using troops to Shandong?"
Hong Chengchou nodded and said, "Yes, Prince Rui Mingjian, our Qing Dynasty is short of troops now, and now the enemy who is the most important is Li Chuang, not the merchant army."
Dorgon thought about it again and said, "Hong Qing, why do we say that our main enemy is Li Zicheng, not Shang Yi? In my opinion, Shang Yi is much more powerful than Li Zicheng!"
Hong Chengchou smiled and said, "Prince Rui, the enemy's chief is not determined by strength or weakness. Although the merchant army is brave, according to my opinion, the troops are limited. After killing Wang Aoyong the last time, he stopped moving forward.
After Hetuo and Li Rutai led their troops to Shandong, they voluntarily gave up Jinan. After defeating Hetuo in Qingzhou, Li Rutai did not continue to attack Jinan. It can be seen that they could only defend Qing, Lai and Deng Sanfu.
The land is powerless to expand."
Dorgon nodded and said, "It makes sense."
Hong Chengchou said again: "No matter how brave the merchant army is, it is also the army of the Ming Dynasty, and it must be subject to the Nanjing court. If it is not capable of the enemy, it can also be taken away by wisdom. Moreover, Ju Ji heard that Nanjing Ji sent a northern mission to the north, so here
For a period of time, as long as we stick to Jinan and do not take the initiative to attack Qingzhou, the merchant army will not start the war easily. Therefore, although the merchant army is strong, it is not the primary enemy of our Qing Dynasty at present."
After hearing this, Duo Gon nodded repeatedly and said, "It's still Hong Qing's opinion, he is better than others."
Hong Chengchou continued: "Li Zicheng is different. This person was born as a bandit, and he has always been unrestrained and no one can control him. He is also able to wander around and have nowhere to go. Although the bandits are not as brave as the merchant army, they will disperse as soon as they fight and then disperse.
Reunion is still in chaos, but their actions have no direction and no fixed place to live. Wherever they go, they will leave immediately after robbing them. Therefore, they are often trapped with ten times more troops, and it is difficult to capture them, and even if they are
He was beaten to the end of the entire army. As long as he had a breath, he could immediately gather a group of troops to fight against our Qing Dynasty. What's more, Li Zicheng still has hundreds of thousands of troops under him. Once he was dispersed and messed up, he would be unable to defend himself.
Therefore, we must take advantage of Li Zicheng’s new failure and make a concerted effort to completely eliminate it and eliminate future troubles forever.”
After a pause, Hong Chengchou said again: "Even if you can't completely eliminate Li Zicheng, you must drive him across the Yangtze River and let him go to Nanming to make trouble, don't disturb my Qing Dynasty. And when Li Zicheng disturbed Nanming, he would have caused trouble.
After the earth was turned upside down, the Qing Dynasty could send troops south to collect the land of Jiangnan.”
Because Hong Chengchou started his career in the Ming Dynasty by suppressing oppression of bandits, he did not deal with Li Zicheng once or twice, and he was also well aware of the habits and characteristics of the peasant army. Therefore, when it comes to Li Zicheng, he is also very knowledgeable.
After hearing what Hong Chengchou said, Dorgon pondered for a long time, and finally nodded, saying, "It's still what Hong Qing said." At the same time, he couldn't help but admire Huang Taiji, because Huang Taiji was the first time.
In order to surrender Hong Chengchou, he tried his best to let his beloved Concubine Zhuang come forward to persuade him to surrender, which was also very puzzled at the time. Huang Taiji's explanation was that after Hong Chengchou was found, the Qing Dynasty was
If the army attacks the Ming Dynasty again, it means that there is a guide who can achieve twice the result with half the effort.
At that time, Dorgon didn't understand, but now he understood it. What Huang Taiji said about guide did not refer to the road, but to Hong Chengchou's understanding of the situation, characteristics, habits, etc. within the Ming Dynasty. Just like what he said just now
If it weren't for a person familiar with the Ming Dynasty, it would be impossible to say it. At the same time, Dorgon also remembered that after Hebatai returned to Shengjing, Huang Taiji seemed to have sent a special person to collect Shang Yi's information, which was difficult.
Had he expected what happened today? When he wanted to see this place, Dorgon couldn't help but sweat, and then he realized that he was indeed much worse than Huang Taiji.