Chapter 698: Driving the tiger and swallowing the wolf
Luoyang.
After Zhu Yihai received Wu Sangui's offer to lower his contract, he quickly made adjustments.
He personally led a town in Luoyang, sent gold to attack Yu, led a town in Shaanxi Province, and Zhang Quan in Ruzhou. He captured the troops of three towns in Yingzhou, Zhu Zhongyi was stationed in Zhumadian, Zheng Zunqian was stationed in Xinyang, and Liu Mu was stationed in Xuzhou.
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The emperor's deployment in the west and south of Henan was to set up two lines of defense. The former one was based on Funiu Mountain and Dabie Mountain, and the latter one was bounded by the Shaanxi-Luo Yellow River.
The purpose of the two lines of defense was clear, which was to completely block the east and north sides of Nanyang in Jingxiang, forcing them to go to Guanzhong.
"Wu Sangui wants to be beautiful. He wants to sit in Guanzhong and watch tigers fight from a mountain. How can such a good thing in the world be possible?"
Zhu Yihai could see through Wu Sangui's thoughts at a glance.
I still want to support my troops and respect myself. I don't want to follow the Tatars anymore, but I don't want to contribute, and I even want to separate the country. Since I still have 50,000 troops in my hand, this idea is really good.
"Wu Sangui is not sincere. He didn't even send a son. How can he show sincerity?"
Wu Sangui only sent a guerrilla to deliver the surrender form, and then sent four Manchu women.
These four Manchu women were the four Manchu aristocratic women who were rewarded to him by Dorgon after he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. Whether he was guarding Liaodong or marching outside, they followed him every step of the way.
It was said that they were concubines given as a reward, but they were more like a few eyes and ears arranged by the Qing court. Wu Sangui naturally knew it, and now they all came to Zhu Yihai.
It was a sign of sincerity, but in Zhu Yihai's opinion, it was far from enough.
If you want to sit on a mountain and watch tigers fight, or even if you want to gather troops and separatist power to separate one side, how is that possible?
Zhu Yihai adjusted his deployment and took the initiative to withdraw the besieging troops outside Nanyang. After setting up two lines of defense, he retracted his fists and was not in a hurry to fight.
However, it's not that Zhu Yihai won't fight, it's just that he won't fight on the northern front.
"A decree was sent to Yu Dafu, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu in Hanzhong, asking them to relieve Li Guohan's siege in the town of Bao and at the same time relieve the siege of Aobai."
Zhu Yihai looked at the map.
Li Guohan was surrounded by mountains and rivers, and was about to be surrounded to death. However, Obai, the first warrior in Manchuria, was isolated in the Qinling Mountains, and his life was precarious.
Now Zhu Yihai asked them to relieve the siege and let them return to Guanzhong via Baoxie Road.
"Your Majesty wants to drive away tigers and swallow wolves?" Chen Qianfu, governor of Huanghuai, asked.
"Since Wu Sangui said that he would change his past and return to the Ming Dynasty, he must show some performance. Do I care about four Manchu women?"
"That's right, if Wu Sangui really wanted to show his sincerity, he would send his eldest son Wu Yingxiong as a concubine, right?" Qian Sule, governor of Jiangbei, said with a smile.
Zhu Yihai waved his hand, "Am I the kind of person who seizes wives and concubines? Back then, Wu Sangui betrayed his country and surrendered to the captives, but he insisted on using Chen Yuanyuan being kidnapped by Liu Zongmin as an excuse to say that being angry is a beauty. It's ridiculous."
Qian Sule also stopped joking, "Your Majesty, Li Guohan was almost surrounded to death in Baocheng Town. Now that he is released, should he let the tiger go back to the mountain?"
"There is also Obai, who is known as the best warrior of the two yellow flags."
"On the Hanzhong side, although Li Guohan has been trapped for a long time, he still has the strength to fight. Continuing the siege will cost a lot of money. If he attacks by force, there will be more casualties. It is better to let them go to Guanzhong." Li Guohan and Ao Bai are die-hard Manchu loyalists.
Lackeys, after the siege is relieved, they will definitely leave in a hurry and will have to pass through Wu Sangui's territory.
Wu Sangui may not let them leave easily.
In other words, even if Wu Sangui lets them leave, they are willing to leave directly, which is not entirely a bad thing.
How much trust could Wu Sangui trust Li Guohan and others to evacuate through Guanzhong? The two sides were suspicious of each other, and it was easy for their guns to go off. What's more, now that Nikan was about to fight back to Guanzhong, it was very likely that Li Guohan and others would join in the crusade against Wu Sangui.
Even if Wu Sangui is really capable of comforting these people and giving them a way to leave, it would not be a bad thing for Zhu Yihai.
“Take it step by step and bite off more than you can chew.”
Qin Liangyu's sudden death was also a huge loss to the imperial court, especially in Sichuan and Shaanxi.
Now that Qi Biaojia was the governor of Sichuan and Yu Dafu was the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, Zhu Yihai needed to reorganize Sichuan and Shaanxi.
Hanzhong and Xing'an still belong to Shaanxi, and Jiezhou belongs to Gansu.
Yun and Xiang still returned to Hubei.
Letting Li Guohan go and Ao Bai return to Guanzhong will relieve Wu Sangui's headache. The Ming army can garrison the passes in the Qinling Mountains with a small number of soldiers and horses, and can be free to continue to reorganize the troops and horses of Shaanxi, Gansu, Yungui, Sichuan, and rectify local officials.
"Zhu Dapeng and Zhu Dingguo's troops went down the Han River, joined forces with Gao Bizheng, He Zhen and others to attack Yunyang and intimidate Xiangyang downstream."
"Zhang Shipeng, Ma Wannian, Qin Yiming and others withdrew to Sichuan, sent a group of troops and horses down the Yangtze River, and joined forces with Li Chixin of Yiling, Yuan Zongdi and others to surround Jingzhou and intimidate Wuchang."
"Tell them, don't worry. Each town will gather elites, raise more flags, and make the momentum louder, but don't march too fast. Try to drive them away instead of surrounding them, and try not to attack fortresses."
Downstream, Jiangxi and Jiangdong also sent some troops up the river to block the Yangtze River and prevent the Huguang Tatars from jumping over the wall and going down the river."
The emperor circled the map.
The strategic intention is very obvious, which is to drive away the Qing army that was surrounded by Nanyang, Huguang and other places.
We finally surrounded them, why did we let them go?
Guanzhong!
Wu Sangui's surrender and his behavior after surrender made Zhu Yihai very distrustful of Wu Sangui, so this time the main target of using troops was not Nikan, but Wu Sangui.
If you can drive tigers and swallow wolves, it is best for Wu Sangui and Nikan to fight. If you can't fight, you can also drive the Huguang Qing army into Guanzhong and make them chaotic.
If Wu Sangui dared to lend a way to the Qing army, Zhu Yihai would just enter Guanzhong in the name of pursuing the Qing army.
If Wu Sangui dares to remain in seclusion, then Zhu Yihai can take advantage of the new power to regain Huguang's power, mobilize the elites from various towns, rush into the pass, and directly overthrow Wu Sangui.
Zhu Yihai didn't look down upon Nikan and other impoverished soldiers in Huguang and Shaanxi. As long as they were willing to leave honestly, it would be a good deal for Zhu Yihai to go to Huguang and Nanyang without a fight.
Otherwise, if he were to fight the Tatars here and completely annihilate the surrounding Qing troops, he would have to suffer a lot of casualties and even consume a lot of money, food and materials. After this battle, he would not have any energy left to enter Guanzhong for a while.
, and there is also the possibility of being attacked from behind by that bastard Wu Sangui.
This kind of person can do anything.
Of course, the best result is that Nikan and others abandon Huguang, Nanyang and other places, rush to Guanzhong, and then fight with Wu Sangui, killing both sides. Zhu Yihai will take the opportunity to come in, then destroy Nikan and others, and then beat Wu Sangui
, reorganized his soldiers and horses, summoned him into the court and served him first.
But this is unlikely.
Zhu Yihai was prepared for the worst.
"I have a suggestion." After Chen Qianfu understood the emperor's intention, he came up with a bad idea. "It is better to pick a few cavalry, put on the uniforms of Wu Sangui's tribe, use his banner, and then attack the Tatar soldiers.
"
"Wu Sangui clearly doesn't want to fight the Tatars, so let's find a way to make them fight!"
Zhu Yihai knew that although Chen Qianfu was also a scholar, he was not an ordinary scholar. He was courageous and knowledgeable. He had been in charge of intelligence for him for several years and had many clever ideas.
"This is a good idea. Chen Qing will come up with a detailed plan."
Qian Sule also suggested that the fact that Wu Sangui had surrendered to the imperial court should be publicized widely, and that he had sent four Manchu women to the emperor. He should also publicize it well, and even publicize that he had sent his son to the emperor as a bodyguard.
"Gao Bizheng and Liu Tichun of Yunyang Prefecture in Xing'an Prefecture can also send troops to pretend to be Wu Sangui's troops and horses from Shangluo to attack Wang Guangen in Yunyang. Our troops and horses in Shaanzhou can pretend to be Wu Sangui's troops and horses in Tongguan to attack Nanyang or pass through.
The Qing army attacking Shanxi from the Yellow River can also attack directly in Nanyang and Xiangyang, just to muddy the water as much as possible."
"How can these Tatars figure it out clearly? Even if Wu Sangui had a hundred mouths, he probably wouldn't be able to explain it clearly."
Zhu Yihai also summoned the accompanying Prime Minister and cabinet bachelors to discuss how to dispatch officials, garrison troops, and provide relief as soon as possible after Huguang was recovered.
Wen'an's suggestion was that the Ministry of Civil Affairs should start selecting all the officials needed in Huguang, including the Nanyang area. After the selection, they would first be sent to the prefectures and counties around Huguang to assist with the logistics of this war. Once Huguang was recovered, they would be able to
Arrive soon.
Hubei Province will be divided into ten prefectures, Wuchang, Hanyang, Huangzhou, Jingzhou, De'an, Anlu, Xiangyang, Yichang, Shizhou, and Yunyang, and divided into three roads, Jianghan Road, Xiangyang Road, and Jingnan Road.
Compared with the military, Zhu Yihai was more worried about the problems after the recovery of Hubei.
There have been wars here for several years, and the Tatars have completely sucked the blood out of them. Countless people have gone bankrupt and the population has been decimated.
Many fields are deserted.
There are also various problems.
After recovery, a large amount of blood transfusion is required.
Fortunately, the upper and lower reaches of Hubei are now controlled by the Ming army, especially the lower reaches of the Liangjiang River, which is now a stable granary and the golden waterway of the Yangtze River.
In recent years, the imperial court has purchased grain from a centralized basis, built grain stations and granaries in various places, and also set up large transfer warehouses at transportation hubs. It has a lot of grain on hand. This can be regarded as a bit of confidence for the imperial court.
"Mr. Wen is right. To govern a local area, you must first select officials and send them to surrounding prefectures and counties in advance to get used to them. This not only assists local officials with war logistics, but also allows them to take office as soon as possible after recovery. I still have
A suggestion is that the prefectures and counties surrounding Hubei can form a sisterhood with Hubei first, and then provide corresponding support to strive for the fastest stabilization of Hubei."
"The officials are selected first and sent to the neighboring prefectures and counties to be ready at any time."
"Then materials, grain, salt, and cloth must be mobilized."
The officials of the Shao Tian Dynasty were quite experienced in these matters. They had experience in everything and had detailed plans.
In the late Ming Dynasty, Huguang had already become the granary of the world.
The former Taihu granary had to rely on external grain imports due to the development of industry and commerce. Huguang's grain has become a commodity grain that is easy to transport and low-cost.
In recent years, Huguang has been ravaged by Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and other Tatars. It has been basically destroyed. Everything needs to be restored and developed again.
"Everyone has accumulated a lot of relevant experience over the years. My only request is that this time we must be fast. Officials, officials, money, grain, salt, as well as the army, cattle, seeds, etc. must be prepared in advance to recover
Once a place is established, it must be restored immediately.
Restoring stability is the first priority. After releasing grain and providing relief to save the people, they need to recruit and pacify the hungry people and bandits. Then they need to clean up the fields, restore industry and commerce, etc. They must be quick, and they must not wait until the Tatars are driven away, and the aftermath can't be followed by rehabilitating the people.
It’s still summer now, but winter will come soon.”
After Hubei is recovered, the entire south can develop with peace of mind and become the rear area. Especially the provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Hunan, Chu, Jiangxi, and Huaihe can relax their hands and feet, carry out in-depth reforms, reorganize troops and horses, and rectify official administration, and there will no longer be worries.
