Chapter 14 The Commanders of the Western Regions of the Ming Kingdom
Abate turned over and dismounted, and he used both hands to help Turg, who was saluting him, to lift up. The experience of having a low status among the Nurhachi descendants despite being older made Abate develop a more modest style of conduct.
After he and Turg saluted with Manchu and Mongolian etiquette, they asked in sticky, unclear Manchu: "Have you heard the news about the commanders of the Ming Dynasty in the west? There are prisoners of the Ming Dynasty army.
He said that those thieves are near Xuzhou."
"The commanders of the Ming Dynasty in the west? But now we are in the east of the Ming Dynasty, how can we meet these people?"
"According to the prisoners, the commanders of the Western Region of the Ming Dynasty have occupied many places in Henan and Huguang. Perhaps they are also preparing to attack Shandong. This is not important. The important thing is that the Great Khan specifically asked us to contact the Western Region of the Ming Dynasty.
Things about handsome men."
Abatai mentioned Huang Taiji's request to enter the Guan Dynasty and contact the Qing army to contact "the commanders of the Ming Dynasty in the west", that is, the various peasant rebel armies. This was an important strategy offered to Huang Taiji after Hong Chengchou surrendered.
Although Hong Chengchou had been away from Shaanxi for several years and did not understand the specific situation of the rapid development of the Chuang Army in the past two years, he also knew that Li Zicheng had already established a foundation in Kaifeng and became one of the major concerns of the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, after he surrendered to the Qing army, he proposed a strategy to seize the Yan Dynasty, which was to ask Abatai to lead his troops into the pass to plunder.
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Abatai captured many officers and soldiers under the command of the Xuzhou Suppressant General near Yanzhou. From these officers and soldiers, he had learned that Li Laiheng was leading a hundred thousand soldiers and horses in the area of southern Shandong and Huaibei.
"The traitor commander of the Ming Dynasty currently has an army of one hundred thousand, and it is said that he is traveling to the south of Xuzhou."
"There are actually so many 100,000 people!" Turge was surprised at first, but then he laughed, "But I heard Mr. Hong say that only ten soldiers of the Ming Dynasty's thieves and commanders can defeat one Ming Dynasty official army. Then
These 100,000 soldiers and horses are equivalent to 10,000 Ming troops."
"Hahaha, that's right." Abatai also smiled, "But ten thousand Ming troops can be considered a force. The Great Khan said that if we encounter Ming thieves and commanders, we must try to contact them.
Use them... Mr. Hong also said that the thieves and commanders of the Ming Dynasty are all lowly and shameless people. We can promise them some money and use these thieves to lead the way for us."
Turge thought of giving some money to the thieves, and said with some heartache: "Do we really want to give them money? The Ming army is vulnerable. Even if we don't have anyone to lead the way, we can still defeat Shandong."
"Ha, why are you so stupid?" Abatai smiled, patted Turge on the shoulder and explained, "We just need to give the money to these bandits at the beginning, and wait until they help me capture Xuzhou for the Qing Dynasty.
In the future, we will fight back again. After all, the bandits' 100,000 troops are only equivalent to 10,000 Ming troops, and there is no way they can be my opponent of the Eight Banners Cavalry. If we eliminate the bandits, not only can we get all the money back, but also
You can seize all the gold and silver treasures from these thieves."
"I see!"
Turge clapped his hands and praised him. After thinking about it for a while, he felt that Abatai's plan was very good. Although he did not think that a Xuzhou city could stop the Qing army's advance, but if the thieves could be used to save them a little trouble, then what?
What about enjoying it but not doing it?
Abatai continued: "There are 100,000 bandit soldiers and horses, and they are gathered in the south of Xuzhou. We should be able to find them easily. In my opinion, let's deploy a few smart and capable people now, and it is best to understand Chinese.
, take some capable troops, cross Xuzhou and go south directly to contact the rebels. Taking Xuzhou in this way will be an easy task."
Abatai mentioned that he wanted to select some people who knew Chinese to go south. Turg immediately thought of Li Shutai, Li Guohan and other Han bannermen. However, he did not like Li Guohan who exposed the indiscriminate killing of people by Bilong, so he said:
"Li Shutai is Li Yongfang's son. He understands Chinese, so let him go!"
Li Yongfang was originally an imperial officer for Qianhu in Fushun in the Ming Dynasty. After Nurhaci became Khan, the Ming Dynasty promoted Li Yongfang to a guerrilla general in order to strengthen Fushun's border defense. However, when the Jin army besieged Fushun, Li Yongfang still betrayed the people of Fushun.
, surrendered to Nurhachi easily, and became the first high-ranking general in the Ming Dynasty to surrender to the Donglu.
The day after poor Li Yongfang surrendered, Nurhachi completely destroyed the city of Fushun, moved the entire city's people to Hetuala, and distributed them as slaves to the Manchus.
As for Li Yongfang, who was the first Ming Dynasty general to surrender to the Jin Dynasty, he received the grand courtesy of Nurhachi and married Abatai's daughter.
However, although the Manchus valued the Liao people more than those who valued surrender within the pass, as the Qing regime gradually became more stable, Li Yongfang's status continued to decline. When Tian Cong died of illness in the eighth year, his status and power were no longer as good as before.
There are only six assistant commanders under the banner of the Han army, and they only have the title of third-level son.
It's just that Li Yongfang and Abatai are related by marriage, so Li Shutai's status in Abatai is naturally higher.
Abatai probably believed that the commanders in the western regions of the Ming Dynasty might not work fully for the Qing army, and that going directly southward across Xuzhou would involve crossing both the Yellow River and the Grand Canal, which did pose a high risk.
So he immediately rejected Li Shutai's choice and said: "Li Shutai, he is Meile Erzhen of the Han Army Banner, and there are still many things to deal with. We have to conquer the city, and I can't do without his assistance.
Well, I think I'll let Li Guohan go and find a few smart and capable Manchu generals to go south with a few thousand soldiers and horses.
If the contact is successful, ask them to directly attack Xuzhou from the south with the bandits. If the contact fails, ask them to directly eliminate the bandits as well, and we will take Xuzhou ourselves."
Turg had a bad premonition in his heart. In order to reject the candidate Li Guohan, he brought out Li Shutai, who was related to Abatai, without careful consideration.
In fact, if you think about it carefully, this mission of crossing Xuzhou and going south to contact the bandits is really not a good job.
Why can't I just think about it?
Sure enough, Abate continued: "In this way, let Ao Bai and Yi Bilong lead the troops south together with Li Guohan. Well... we still need to find a serious coach, so let Tan Tai be the coach.
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Things really developed as Turge thought. Abatai actually asked Aobai and Ebilong to go south together... Turge had a headache. He was a little opposed, but he couldn't say anything, so he could only reluctantly agree.
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Tan Tai is Gushan Ezhen of Zhenghuang Banner, which in Chinese means the capital of Zhenghuang Banner. He is the younger brother of Shumulu Yanguli, one of the founding heroes of the Later Jin Dynasty during the Nurhaci period. He was already the commander-in-chief when he was eight years old.
Baya Lazhangjing, an elite white-armored soldier.
Tan Tai participated in the plundering campaign led by Dorgon, broke through the Qingshan Pass from Taipingzhai with Gushan Erzhen Yechen, and fought against the Ming soldiers in thirteen battles, all of which achieved great victories. He was a member of the army with rich experience in fighting in the pass.
Experienced general.
Tan Tai was from the Zhenghuang Banner and was also Huang Taiji's confidant. As for Ao Bai and Ye Bilong, they were both from the Xianghuang Banner, Huang Taiji's own general, not to mention.
The people Abatai sent out to contact the commanders in the west of the Ming Dynasty were all Huang Taiji's confidants. He also considered how this matter might develop, so he chose Tan Tai, Obai and others to avoid the future emperor's
Tai Chi blamed him again.
"According to what Mr. Hong said, the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty's commanders in the west are weaker and more vulnerable than the Ming army. But a hundred thousand people, after all, there is strength in numbers.
We still have to be extra careful and extremely vigilant. First, we must not expose our plan to kill all the bandits after taking advantage of them. Second, we must also be careful ourselves. Mr. Hong said that all thieves and bandits in the western part of the Ming Dynasty are completely unknown.
He is a capricious person, and we want to kill the thieves. These thieves may also be jealous of our rich treasures and lives, and want to stab us."
Turgze finally asked worriedly: "The bandits in the west of the Ming Dynasty and the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty are all Han people. What if they unite to deal with us? Then Tan Tai, Obai, and Bilong will cross the Yellow River and
If the Grand Canal goes south, it will be difficult to retreat to Yanzhou, so it will be a bit dangerous."
Abatai smiled calmly and said: "Hahaha, look at Kong Youde, how happy are those people? Aren't they also Han people? They all know that the Ming Dynasty is in bad luck. The shamans also say that destiny belongs to the Qing Dynasty. These people know the current affairs.
They will cooperate with us. Even if they are ignorant of current affairs, according to what Mr. Hong said, they are enemies with the Ming army. How can they work with the Ming army to deal with us?
Turg, your courage is getting weaker and weaker, which is not good!"
After Huang Taiji became emperor and changed his title and established the Qing Dynasty, he banned the theory of shamanic divination in the country. However, Manchu clans like Abatai still believed in shamanic religion out of habit. Although Huang Taiji punished him many times
, but Abatai was always a person who made small mistakes but never made big ones, and he did not pose any threat to Huang Taiji's autocratic status, so Huang Taiji finally resigned to Abatai's superstitious shamanism.
"If these thieves in the Ming Dynasty are really ignorant, we will kill them all. In this way, we can rob an additional hundred thousand strong and healthy men. Wouldn't it be a big fortune? Haha!"