Last night, the Shunjun military camp was brightly lit all night, and troops and horses were mobilized frequently. Of course Dorgon could guess that they were going to launch a general offensive today, so the Qing army also sent people to the south of Xuzhou City, where the Ming Navy was stationed, to discuss
Matters of coordinated and unified operations.
Dorgon sent Bo Hetuo to lead thousands of soldiers and horses to the Ming army camp, hoping to urge the Ming army to join the battle as soon as possible. In order to seduce Ma Shiying, Dorgon also offered conditions to cede all the territory south of the Yellow River to the Ming army.
.
But this is of course a generosity to others. After all, the land in Henan is basically in the hands of the Shun Army, and it is not Dorgon's turn to make any decisions on his own.
No matter how stupid Ma Shiying was, there was no way he could convince the Nanming warlords to join the war with the spoils of war that they had not yet obtained.
So Dorgon agreed and asked Bo Hetuo to take a large amount of silver to the Nanming army, and first handed over about 1.5 million taels of silver to Ma Shiying.
For the Qing Dynasty, which had just harvested the entire North China through the hair-cutting order, there were still tens of millions of taels of silver in the treasury, and more than one million taels were given to the Southern Ming army, which was simply a drop in the bucket.
Dorgon promised that as long as the Nanming army participated in tomorrow's battle, the Qing army would also pay an "annual tribute" of five million taels of silver and three hundred thousand taels of gold.
Annual tribute is a gift that vassal states or vassal states pay to the court every year. Dorgon's promise to give such a huge amount of annual tribute to the Southern Ming court every year is nothing more than a blank check.
If the Battle of Xuzhou was really won, the regent could refuse to admit it at any time. But in Ma Shiying's eyes, such a promise would undoubtedly greatly enhance his status in the court, and could also help Emperor Hongguang consolidate the emperor and strengthen the central government of Nanming.
centralization.
The small court of Nanming was suffering from the separatism of feudal towns, and Ma Shiying was also worried about these warlords. If he could get this annual tribute, not only would Nanming surpass the Eastern Jin and Southern Song Dynasties who also traveled south, but the small court of Nanjing would also have greater control over these warlords.
Greatly enhanced.
This deal is indeed a very good deal, provided that Dorgon keeps his word.
Within the Qing army, Nikan, Shuotuo, Mandahai... many people were very dissatisfied with the shameful term "Sui Gong", because this idea was proposed by Fan Wencheng, so that Nikan several times
He broke into the military tent and drew his sword directly to kill Fan Wencheng.
"Fan Wencheng has disgraced the country and must be killed to serve as a warning to others!"
But Dorgon understood that between fame and reality, we, the Qing Dynasty, who are confident in our strength and culture, can completely give up our reputation to Ma Shiying and take the reality ourselves.
After reprimanding Nikan, he sent a team of Han soldiers to send 100,000 taels of gold to the Nanming camp, and continued to increase the number to ensure that when the battle tomorrow comes, Nanming's 60,000 scarecrows can serve as targets for the Qing Dynasty, at least attracting
Part of the Dashun Army's firepower.
"By the way... I also need to buy some food with the Ming army, just in case."
The Qing army broke into Xuzhou from southwest Shandong and only had 20 days of food supplies. Now after several battles, there is not much left. Therefore, Dorgon asked Nanming to provide some food for the Qing army. Of course, the money issue is easy to talk about. The Qing Dynasty
The army is currently short of soldiers, food, gunpowder and cannon, but it is not short of money.
The city of Beijing alone was enough for Dorgon to plunder tens of millions of taels of silver.
These Ming Dynasty officials, dignitaries, eunuchs, relatives, and the people's anointing collected from them were "returned" to Zhu Yousong by Dorgon lavishly today.
At dawn the next morning, after the Xiaoqi battalion in front of the Qing army discovered that the Dashun army was dispatched, Bo Hetuo hurried back to the Qing army's position with hundreds of escorts.
Most of the soldiers Bohetuo brought with him stayed at the Ming army's position, mainly because he was not optimistic about their situation after briefly observing the situation of various Ming army units.
Bo Hetuo was worried that after the war started tomorrow, it would be a joke if the Ming army saw the power of the battle between the Qing and Shun armies and collapsed without a fight, dragging down the Qing Dynasty instead.
That's why a part of the Eight Banners soldiers are specially left. After the war starts tomorrow, these elite soldiers can serve as the backbone and fire brigade of the Ming army to help the Ming army stabilize the front.
After Dorgon saw the first batch of grain brought back by Bohetuo, he was finally satisfied:
"We have food in the army, so we can slowly confront the bandits. Are the bandits going to fight me? We guard the trench. As long as we don't let the bandits' large forces enter Xuzhou City, we can slowly capture Xuzhou."
Bo Hetuo was worried:
"Your Majesty, I went to the Nan Ming Army and looked at their formations. They really don't look like they can fight. If the bandits break through the Ming Army's defense line, I'm afraid the Ming Army will be defeated in one blow. We won't even be able to save them.
Worth it."
Fan Wencheng pointed at the map and said with a smile:
"No matter how weak the Ming army is, they are in the south after all. Now the ice and snow have melted, and water networks are crisscrossing the river. The bandits need to be prepared for continuous cross-river operations in order to break through the Ming army's defense line.
This gives us enough time to rescue the Ming army or attack the Liu bandits."
Dorgon also said: "Don't they all say that Li Laiheng is a natural-born general? Although it is an exaggeration, it is true that Li Laiheng is skilled in military affairs and is extremely skillful in using troops. With Li Laiheng's military strategy, he will not be unable to see the situation clearly.
, if the Liu bandits go around to the south and cross several rivers to attack the Ming army, we can cut off all the Liu bandits' routes back to Henan, press them to the Huai River and annihilate them."
What Dorgon did not say also included that if the Dashun Army really targeted the Ming Army, it would need to bypass Xuzhou and open up the direct road from Xuzhou to Henan.
At that time, the Qing army can abandon the Ming army and directly attack Guide Mansion in eastern Henan. All the field regiments of the Shun army are gathered in Xuzhou. As long as the Qing army enters Henan, it will not bloom everywhere and they can plunder wantonly.
, because food is at the enemy’s disposal, do you no longer have to worry about it?
The Qing army also had a general understanding of the timing for the Dashun Army to launch a general offensive. The enemy had been gearing up since last night, and after dawn, the entire army was in full swing. It seemed that the bandits could no longer hold back and were about to pounce with all their strength.
Dorgon left Xuzhou City with many Baylor princes. He was still a little regretful. He looked at Xuzhou City on horseback and said:
"The guard has the demeanor of Ancestor Dashou. I have suffered a small loss in the Qing Dynasty's southern and northern campaigns. I can only defeat Li Laiheng alone before defeating this city."
All troops and horses of the Qing army were ready to attack the Dashun army. Kong Youde, who was originally placed on the front line, was pleased that the two Han troops had been withdrawn at this time.
Dorgon himself considered that if he kept deploying the Han army at the forefront, it would inevitably make others feel that he was deliberately consuming the power of others, which might alienate the Han vassal kings such as Kong Youde.
His original intention was to transfer King Sanshun's troops back to the vicinity of the Chinese army in the hope of stabilizing the morale of the Han army. However, this made Kong Youde even more surprised and dissatisfied. After all, when digging trenches before, the Han army had been at the forefront and was frequently attacked.
The attack by Shunjun's light cavalry resulted in many casualties.
Now that the trenches have been built and the battle is about to begin, Dorgon transfers Kong Youde back to the rear. Doesn't he mean to prevent the Han army from making meritorious deeds?
Or even more dangerous, this simply made Kong Youde feel extraordinarily untrustworthy. He only felt that Dorgon's deployment of troops was entirely to guard against and fear him.