Huang Ziya was afraid that the nearly 50,000 Manchu and Mongolian elites would find that their numbers were outnumbered and would continue fighting and cause greater losses, so he immediately asked the 10th Division, 11th Division, 3rd Division and 4th Division, which had relatively little losses, to pursue them symbolically. After a while, the four division commanders were also smart and captured a large number of Manchu and Han soldiers who fled behind.
The news of the great victory in Henan and the surrender of Ma Shiying and Zuo Menggeng to the Qing Dynasty arrived in Nanjing almost at the same time. At that time, Zhu Yousong, who had changed, was diligently reviewing the memorial. He was surrounded by several close eunuchs and two unchangeable guards. Suddenly a eunuch ran in and handed the emperor two eight-hundred-mile urgent memorials that arrived at the same time. Zhu Yousong picked up the memorials above and looked at them. The memorials fell to the ground with a cry of "Ah!". It turned out to be the surrender of Ma Shiying and Zuo Mengeng. In the Manchu memorial, Zhu Yousong said bitterly to Zhang Huahan: "Ma Shiying and Zuo Menggeng surrendered to the Manchu. I have long known that there is no good in the two of them being together. You also asked me to appoint them high officials to appease them. It was in vain. I should have dealt with them then." Zhang Huahan said in a low voice: "It was my fault. It must have been the decree to kill those who retreated that made these two people who were greedy for life and fearful of death retreat. It was my idea that went wrong. I I'm too worried that the Manchu and Qing dynasties have occupied Henan. The Manchu and Qing dynasties are indeed very powerful." Zhu Yousong said, "I don't blame you. They just won't surrender to the Manchu and Qing dynasties and won't obey my orders." Zhu Yousong picked up the second memorial. At first glance, his face looked a little strange. After closing his eyes, he opened them and found that the words inside had not changed. He suddenly laughed and said: "Haha, Zhang Aiqing, you are such a lucky general! But there are still enough casualties. Tragic." After saying that, he gave the memorial to Zhang Huahan. Zhang Huahan took a look and saw that it was Huang Ziya's handwriting, which said "Great Victory in Hunan, killed more than 200,000 enemies, and captured 80,000 enemies. 70,400 dead soldiers, suffered Thirty-four thousand were seriously injured, and almost all of the more than 70,000 soldiers were slightly injured. Now the remaining 90,000 Manchu troops of the Qing Dynasty fled to Shanxi and southern Shaanxi, and the remnants of Ma Shiying and Zuo Menggeng, a total of 70,000, fled to the direction of Shaanxi. Zhu Yousong saw Zhang Huahan After seeing the loss of the guard, he said with mournful face: "Okay, don't look pitiful. I will make Huang Ziya the Duke of Chu, the general who can defeat the enemy. In addition to Huguang, Henan is also temporarily under Huang Ziya's management. , but it was agreed that money, grain, and young men can all be taken from Henan, but your reforms, land revolution, and industrial development are not allowed to be carried out in Henan. It is based on the imperial system. Look at what you have done. What is the state of eastern Huguang and Zhejiang? The ministers all joined your base because of these two places. There are several emperors from Guangdong and Guangxi who are far away from Shangao. Many ministers and powerful wealthy people have joined your base. I'm so noisy. Okay, you deal with their memorials. Sit next to me and deal with these memorials. What are you waiting for? It's too late. Can you still go to the morning court tomorrow?" Zhu Yousong pointed to the thick paper. Zhang Huahan asked Zhang Huahan to criticize the memorials of various reforms carried out by Emperor Ta Shenhu in the ruling area. Zhang Huahan hurriedly sat next to the emperor to criticize these memorials.
In fact, these memorials were almost all made by die-hards among the land gentry who contacted the ministers to participate in the protection of the Japanese government, because they did not understand the wealth that commerce and industry could bring, and just wanted to stick to their own land, and the guardians were guilty of adultery. The large households that violated the law directly confiscated the land, while other large households with large amounts of land forcibly purchased the land at low prices, and could not pay back the credit in cash. Later, they were simply forced to invest the money from the land into shares in the factories that protected the land. Of course the die-hards among the wealthy gentry gave up and went to the ministers to submit a memorial to protect the motherland. Zhang Huahan was more reasonable than them and immediately explained the profits that business could bring. He was very dissatisfied with the democratically elected system, saying it violated the laws of the imperial court. Zhang Huahan replied that such a system itself was a trial, allowing the people to supervise and elect grassroots officials who they believed were seeking benefit, and also supervised the corruption of grassroots officials, because once If someone commits adultery, the people have the right to recall him and re-elect suitable people after a certain period of time. Zhang Huahan responded to all memorials in a reasonable and reasonable manner based on different situations. While reading the memorials, Zhang Huahan also learned about the progress of reforms in various places and was very pleased. , it seems that Huang Zongxi, Huang Chunyao, Hou Tongzeng and Huang Ziya have all selected many capable talents, so that they can reorganize the government, develop industry and commerce and implement land reform and other undertakings so quickly and well.
Huang Ziya, who received the imperial edict in Henan, immediately mobilized his army and sent Gu Yanwu and his fourth division to occupy Zuo Menggeng's original territory such as Wuchang. Huang Ziya took the prisoners and the strong men Zeyou had gathered, and selected 60,000 new recruits to supplement them.
Entering the army, he found nearly 4,000 craftsmen and diggers from the former Dashun Army who had been captured by the Manchu, Ma, and Left armies. He immediately reorganized them and sent them to where they were needed, leaving 2,500
Diggers formed a special unit.
In the Imperial Palace of Beijing, everything was white, and a grand funeral was being held. The happiest person in the funeral was the grown-up Emperor Shunzhi. He couldn't help but feel sad when he saw that the person he hated most was dead.
A smile appeared.
Fan Wencheng, Hong Chengchou, Leng Sengji, Sony, Ye Bilong, Dorbo, Tan Tai and other important Manchu, Han and Mongolian ministers and generals in the Qing Dynasty had worried looks on their faces, while the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang was behind the scenes.
She was crying quietly behind the curtain. The Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang remembered that Dorgon allowed the Manchu Jurchens to dominate the outside world in order to prevent herself and the Eight Banners from depleting their strength. He could have used troops to seize power and become the emperor himself, but he did not hesitate to compromise and support Haoge.
Fulin as the emperor, all of this is not only the reward for his passion and tenderness, but also shows that Dorgon loves him and is a true Manchu hero. Now that his pillar has fallen, the country is already in crisis.
, she now has plans to return outside the customs.
After the Manchu royal family and princes and ministers completed Dorgon's funeral with an extremely grand ceremony, they immediately gathered together to discuss how to deal with the current crisis. Just when the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang said that she planned to return to the outside world, not only the civil and military ministers objected,
Even Emperor Shunzhi disagreed.
Leng Sengji stood up and said: "The regent asked the princes of Mongolia many times before his death to lead the entire army and tribes to move south, but the princes of Mongolia did not agree. Now that the regent is dead, many princes of Mongolia are under the control of the regent for the overall situation.
Moved by the spirit of sacrificing life and death, they all went south and gathered more than 200,000 troops to be used by me to Manchu Qing Dynasty and destroy Nanming."
The Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, the Emperor Shunzhi, the Manchu royal family and the ministers all took a breath of air-conditioning when they heard this. What kind of assistance is this? They are taking advantage of the opportunity to occupy the territory, but they are indeed needed now. No matter what, what kind of assistance is there?
The Mongolian army is much stronger than the Han army, and they are all cavalry, which are very effective in combat. Now we can only rely on them.
At this time, Hong Chengchou stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager, and the Regent asked me to purchase guns, equipment and drawings for producing guns and ammunition from the Portuguese before my death. I have already completed the process, and there will be a Portuguese fleet the day after tomorrow."
Eighty artillery pieces, 50,000 muskets, and a large amount of bullets, shells and gunpowder were sent from the sea. The regent said before his death that these guns were equipped for the Han Eight Banners and the Green Camp Army, but no bullets or gunpowder were used in the battle.
It was issued only when the time came, and bullets and gunpowder were strictly controlled to prevent the army from mutiny."
The Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang and Emperor Shunzhi nodded after hearing this. They knew about this matter. They didn't expect Hong Chengchou to do it so quickly. However, it also cost a lot of gold and silver stolen from the pass. There were so many muskets, artillery and
The price of ammunition is astronomical. Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang said: "I didn't expect that we would have strong support from allies like the Mongolian princes and loyal ministers like the Hong Qing family. It seems that we still have the strength to fight against Nanming.
"
At this time, Fan Wencheng stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager, I think we should temporarily rest and recuperate for a few years. In the past few years, due to the large number of hundreds of people from Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hebei, Henan, Shandong and even Beijing and Gansu,
Thousands of people were encouraged to enter China City, which led to a decrease in the gathering of people under our rule. Later, with the blessing of our ancestors, a magical barrier that made it impossible for people to enter and exit appeared in China City three years ago, which finally prevented the loss of people. However, in the past few years
The floods in the Yellow River have also caused the people in the Qing Dynasty who are close to the Yellow River to live in dire straits. In addition, the frequent wars in the past two years have resulted in the loss of a large number of strong men. We are extremely short of food and grass. Now we secretly ask Zheng Zhilong to buy the goods he sold from Jiangnan at high prices.
Food, if this continues, the treasury will one day be empty. I suggest that all the Han troops should be stationed in the fields now, and all the strong men should be in the fields. We should use our current strength to defend first, and at the same time, build muskets and artillery, and build an all-firearms force.
Finally, five years later, we will have enough troops and supplies, and then we will gather all the firearms troops and the cavalry of the Mongolian princes to conquer Nanming in one go."
As soon as Fan Wencheng finished speaking, generals such as Dorbo and Tan Tai stood up and disagreed with Fan Wencheng's suggestion and demanded that troops be sent out immediately to avenge the regent. Sony, Hong Chengchou and some Manchu and Han ministers all agreed with Fan Wencheng's suggestion. Sony also
On the basis of Fan Wencheng, he added: "I would like to report to the Emperor and the Empress Dowager that I should first negotiate peace with Nanming and then establish a peace treaty. The Han people are all greedy for pleasure. After five years, they will relax. When we wait
After about five years of preparation, let them launch a sudden attack, and they will definitely be able to seize the world by then." After considering and discussing it, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang and Emperor Shunzhi immediately adopted their opinions.
One morning in the spring of the 10th year of Hongguang's reign in the Ming Dynasty, Huang Ziya's memorial was placed in front of Emperor Hongguang in the court hall of the Nanjing Palace. The content of the memorial was to ask Emperor Hongguang to agree to the Qing Dynasty's request for peace talks. Now most of Henan, Shandong, and Hunan are
They were all suffering from the war, so it was better to pacify Zhang Xianzhong in Sichuan and recuperate for a few years before dealing with the Manchus. Moreover, the armor and ammunition for the army were in short supply. After the last war, the armor and ammunition for the army were hugely consumed.
There is no preparation for another war, and according to reliable information, Mongolia has dispatched 200,000 troops to Shanxi and Shaanxi areas, eyeing the territory of the Southern Ming Dynasty. Once a war breaks out, even if the south supports the eastward troop transfer to the west, both sides will lose.
Please ask the emperor to think twice about the consequences.
After Zhang Huahan peeked his head behind Emperor Hongguang to read the contents of the memorial, he thought to himself: Huang Ziya has become more mature and more stable after the last battle. In addition to what Huang Ziya said, Zhang Huahan knew that Huang Ziya also had the most important thing.
In other words, if it takes four to five years to develop, the Guards will have at least 380,000 troops equipped with armor, fast guns, and artillery, as well as at least hundreds of thousands of cavalry, and will have airships.
and armored ships. Thinking about the development prospects he formulated after several letters to Huang Ziya, Zhang Huahan was very excited. His current thoughts were no longer limited to unifying the world and becoming a world power, but letting China occupy what could be occupied in the world.
Territory, making China an empire on which the sun never sets.
While Zhang Huahan was daydreaming, Emperor Hongguang suddenly said: "My dear friends, I know that some of you are inextricably related to the traitors Ma Shiying and Zuo Mengeng." As he said this, he handed over a few letters in his hand.
The letter was thrown down the hall. When Gao Hongtu, Gao Zhuo and other ministers in the court saw it, they immediately knelt down and kowtowed in fright. It turned out to be letters exchanged between Gao Hongtu, Gao Zhuo and other ministers and Ma Shiying and Zuo Mengeng in recent days.
Zhang Huahan was by Emperor Hongguang’s side every day. Of course he knew whether it was the name of the newly established Jinyiwei, Dongchang, and Xichang, which was directly responsible to the emperor.
, Gao Zhuo and other ministers, as well as the messengers sent by Ma Shiying and Zuo Menggeng, found letters from them.
Zhang Huahan thought to himself: These people are really stupid. They don’t use codes to say secret things, but just write the names and surnames in Chinese characters. Then if you write in Chinese characters, you should be more subtle and write them directly in vernacular.
, the content of the letter was that Ma Shiying and Zuo Mengeng did not want peace talks between the two countries because they wanted to seize their original territory, but their own strength was too weak and they would only have a chance when the two countries were in conflict, so they asked Gao Hongtu and Gao
Zhuo waited for the ministers who had a good relationship with Ma Shiying to find a way. The time, events, and characters were all accurate. For example, in the correspondence between himself and Huang Ziya, all the secret places used strings of Arabic numerals to represent words or meanings, that is, typing
Even today’s code-breaking experts don’t know what we are talking about. These people are so stupid.
Emperor Hongguang said: "Get up. If I don't kill you now, I will give you one last chance to change your ways. This time I have already recorded your crime of treason and collaborating with the enemy. Whether you will survive depends on how you behave in the future."
Your house has been sealed off and guarded by Huang Aiqing. You can take care of yourself. You can decide whether you live or die. Currently, your hat is still on your head, but if I want to take it off, I will have to put it on again.
We picked all the things together, do you understand?"
Gao Hongtu, Gao Zhuo and other ministers thought they must be dead, but when they saw that Emperor Hongguang actually pardoned them, they all cried: "The emperor is so kind. I will never be able to repay the emperor's kindness even if I die. Thank you, long live the emperor. Long live the emperor."
"Zhang Huahan looked at Emperor Hongguang and felt that he was becoming more and more like a wise monarch. Zhang Huahan thought to himself: If Emperor Hongguang continues to be so wise, there will only be two ways in the future: confrontation and cooperation. If there is confrontation, then the constitutional monarchy will be established.
Even if it is not necessarily possible, will it really lead to confrontation? It seems that we need to communicate more with Emperor Hongguang about the democratic system.
Emperor Hongguang said: "The benefits of peace talks outweigh the disadvantages now. The people need to recuperate and the Zhang bandits in Sichuan need to be exterminated. It will take time. Do you have any different opinions?" The ministers said to themselves: Anyone who says there is no peace talks now
They are all treasonous and collaborating with the enemy. How can we say no to peace talks? All the ministers shouted: "Your Majesty, the benefits of peace talks outweigh the harms, and I have no objections." dd