Chapter 334 Dorgon: Do you know how I have lived these two and a half years!
"What a bunch of rubbish! The world has not yet been unified. It has only been a truce for two and a half years, and it has become like this! Do they think they can live like this forever?
Are the Ming people in Nanjing really that cowardly, like our ancestors in the Southern Song Dynasty, living in peace and harmony for a hundred years? I, a son of the Eight Banners, have only been harvesting hard-core crops for two years, and have already learned how to carry a cage and frame a bird?
Drag the few soldiers who were caught escaping from training today, together with Niu Lu, who accepted their benefits, to Caishikou and behead them! To serve as a warning to others! Improve military discipline!"
This scene happened in June of the fourth year of Shunzhi. Early that morning, Dorgon, the regent of the Qing Dynasty, made a rare inspection of the Two White Flags drill that he had not paid attention to for a long time. As a result, he found that there was a serious problem of insufficient manpower during the drill.
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Groups of Manchu Eight Banners soldiers who pretended to be sick and took leave, as well as those rotten Niulu officers who turned a blind eye after accepting benefits from the soldiers, made the regent very angry. He had a fit on the spot and ordered all the typical examples to be captured.
He was dragged out and ordered to enforce military discipline.
Of course, the two Niulu whose profits were cut off had more or less personal grudges - two and a half years ago, Dorgon's younger brother Duduo destroyed the main force of the Two White Flags in Jiangnan for nothing.
Today's Two White Banners were reorganized and trained by drawing troops from the reservist families of the original Two White Banners and sending senior officers from the Two Yellow Banners controlled by Jilhalang and Hauge.
The soldiers were soldiers from the two white flags, but the generals were from the two yellow flags. Many officers even went to the two white flags and remained loyal to Hauge and Jirhalang in private. For these people, since Dorgon caught the obvious mistakes,
If the law can be punished, there is no need to be lenient. It is just a matter of killing chickens to scare monkeys and eliminate dissenters.
…
During the truce period of the past two and a half years, Dorgon has lost a lot of weight, which shows that he has worked hard, but he has not lost weight. Most of his energy has been devoted to organizing and training the new Green Camp Army, as well as raising armaments and controlling
common people.
The 600,000 Green Battalion he planned was beginning to take shape. The first batch of 200,000 people recruited had already gone through two and a half years of training, and had a certain foundation. Their combat power was already considerable. Compared with
The veterans of the Han Army Flag are not much different either.
The subsequent two batches of Green Battalion Reserves, totaling 400,000, although of slightly poorer quality, still looked like a regular army, far from being comparable to the peasant army back then.
The price of all this is that half of the country in the north has been cruelly squeezed by Dorgon and has become increasingly dilapidated. The cumulative population has declined, reaching more than one million every year!
The Manjiadong Rebellion in Shandong involved hundreds or even thousands of villages. Those places where the resistance was fierce were almost wiped out by the Qing army. All the remaining wealth among the people was also robbed and used directly as military supplies. It was quite like taking advantage of the benefits.
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As long as you are not afraid of killing or robbing, even on a dilapidated and disaster-prone base, it is absolutely possible to gather resources and support the army like a shot in the arm——
For example, Guanzhong at the end of the Han Dynasty was tortured by Dong Zhuo for more than two years, and then by Li Jue and Guo Si for seven years. It was considered that Guanzhong was "one hundred people alive" and the population was almost wiped out. But this
During the process, Guanzhong's money and food have been supporting the Xiliang army numbering hundreds of thousands, which shows that this road is feasible in a short time.
Dorgon really had no choice. When Duduo was just overthrown, he really had no ability to organize another southern expedition, so he had to engage in internal exploitation, rob the rebels, expropriate the land and build military camps, and the tax rate could be much higher than that of ordinary people.
fields, greatly expanding military rations.
Behind these 200,000 direct veterans of the Green Camp and 400,000 Green Camp reservists, there were about two million people who were starved to death or killed for resistance because of excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and more than one million people fled south to the Ming Dynasty.
At the beginning of the second year of Shunzhi, Dorgon made a preliminary attempt to conduct a thorough investigation. At that time, he determined that there were still 19 million people in the north, including about one million Manchus, about one million Mongolians, and a total of three Han people outside the Pass and Han people in the new banner.
million, squeezing out the remaining 14 million purely Han Chinese.
Two and a half years later, by the turn of summer and autumn in the fourth year of Shunzhi, the total population of the north had dropped to 16 million. The racial composition of the first three parts of the population had not changed much, but the oil-extracting denominator of the last and fourth part had shrunk year after year, leaving only
The next eleven million or so.
Specific to the population changes in each province, Shandong and Huaibei are the places with the most drastic population decline. Two and a half years ago, these two places were relatively densely populated areas under the Qing government, with two million people each.
The number of households with more than 100,000 registered residents has almost been reduced by half.
Shandong is because the Manjiadong peasant army and the Qing army in the Shandong plains repeatedly washed and slaughtered each other so cruelly. Huaibei is because the military settlements are more oppressive and it is close to the Ming Dynasty. Many people really can't survive.
, knowing that they could survive by crossing the Huaihe River secretly, so they kept fleeing south.
It is expected that the remaining 11 million Han people in the Guan area will support the two million Manchus and Mongols in front of them, as well as some of the Han people who have risen to the ruling class. Obviously, this support ratio cannot be sustained.
Dorgon knew very well that now that the new army had been trained, the combined combat power of the direct armed forces in his and Azig's hands could once again overwhelm the combined strength of Haug, Jilharang, Abatai and other parties.
, then it is imperative to march south again,
Otherwise, the Qing Dynasty could directly eat itself to death and bleed itself to death, and there would be no possibility of sustainable development.
It was precisely because he felt that he had defeated Jierhalang with the Green Battalion that he had recently begun to gradually test again and become stronger. He also began to pay attention to the daily drills and training of the Two White Flags. When he saw the corrupt and degenerate Eight Banners children who deserved severe punishment, he
Never show mercy to regain your authority.
If we went back half a year and the Green Camp's combat strength and scale were not that strong, Dorgon would not dare.
…
Uncharacteristically, Dorgon strongly intervened in the daily rectification of the Two White Flags, and even executed several military officers selected and transferred by Jilhalang who were originally under Hauge.
This matter may not be a big deal, but it is definitely enough to cause quite a stir among the Manchu and Eight Banners relatives and nobles in Beijing who have been quiet for two and a half years.
Anyone with a keen sense of smell knows that this is another time when the regent wants to flex his muscles and show his absolute control over the court situation, hinting that the auxiliary king should not dictate fundamental decisions involving the future and destiny of the Qing Dynasty. This time he has established his authority.
There will definitely be big moves in the future.
Jierhalang, who was opposite him, was not stupid. After receiving the news that afternoon, he was so angry that he threw two tea cups:
"This is for me, and you know how to show your teeth to me! Could it be that you feel that the new Green Army has been trained, and you want to find an opportunity to attack privately to show off your power?"
Jierhalang's status in the Qing court has historically been inferior to that of Dorgon. The main reason was that Dorgon established the strategy of leading troops into the Pass, captured Beijing, and took control of the Central Plains.
Military merit is the most important thing for the Manchus. No matter what the original status of Dorgon and Jierhalang were when Huang Taiji died, just looking at Dorgon's subsequent achievements, those kings Beile who were not convinced by him at the beginning gradually became convinced.
At this juncture in history, that is, in the spring and summer of the fourth year of Shunzhi, Jierhalang was supposed to be punished by Dorgon because of the royal palace's overstepping of regulations, and he took the opportunity to remove him from his position as assistant minister.
In fact, it was because Dorgon was gradually becoming more powerful and his military exploits were shining brightly. It was just a random excuse - in history, Dorgon himself used the emperor's guard of honor at that time. To say that he exceeded the rules, Jierharang was in front of him.
It's just child's play.
Now Dorgon has been restrained by Jierhalang and has been restrained for two and a half years. It is nothing more than his previous defeat, which forced him to temporarily decentralize power to appease people.
But no matter what, when Dorgon was in power, he allowed the Qing Dynasty to obtain and keep the northern Central Plains. If they were defeated occasionally, as long as they recuperated and regained their strength, the Manchu nobles would still support Dorgon again.
…
After Jierhalang realized Dorgon's renewed strength, he did not dare to make any mistakes. He just looked for an opportunity to "friendly negotiation" with Dorgon.
At the end of the court meeting the next day, Jierhalang stopped Dorgon and wanted to say privately:
"How is the Prince Regent these days? I heard that the Prince Regent has been running the army and killing people recently. Is it because he is too angry? Since the Dutch country is very important, it is better to take good care of himself."
Dorgon was stopped, and he showed no expression on his face. He just said: "Brother Wang, are you talking about the rectification of flag affairs a few days ago? That is the internal affairs of our Zhengbai Banner. What do I want to do?
Isn’t it appropriate to deal with it as you wish?”
Jilharang choked slightly, and his nasolabial folds twitched slightly. Dorgon told him businesslikely that he really couldn't grasp what the problem was.
Because the flag owner's handling of flag affairs really has nothing to do with outsiders, Dorgon allowed him to infiltrate the two white flags in the past two years. In the final analysis, it was just an exchange of hidden rules. Jierhalang favored the establishment of the Green Camp by allowing Dorgon to collect more money and food.
, in exchange for the above conditions.
Now that Dorgon wants to speak truth on the stage, he cannot directly stop it. The most he can do is to void the previous private transaction conditions, and from now on he will no longer favor the green camp in terms of money and food to further expand its army and strengthen its weapons and armaments.
Therefore, Jierhalang just said without being humble or arrogant:
"The daily reorganization of the Two White Banners is naturally a private matter within the flag. However, some officers of the Two White Banners have slacked off to this extent. In the final analysis, it is because the court has insufficient expenditure in the past two years and cannot maintain the money and food required for the training and preparation of troops and horses at all times.
All that money and food was used to expand the green camp. I have no merit in the war in the Eight Banners, so how can the daily military pay be enough to maintain morale? As long as the court tilts further and allows more land to be enclosed and more crops to be given to the hardcore, these problems will be easily solved."
Jilharang's words are pure nonsense, and there is no logical causal relationship at all. However, he just wants to forcefully involve the two things together. To put it bluntly, he is using the previous interests to exchange tacit understanding to remind Dorgon.
:
If you dealt with me on the last matter, then I can only deal with you on this matter.
However, the expected situation of Dorgon and him re-compromising and sharing the spoils did not happen. Dorgon was willing to go to this step, obviously because he had accumulated enough strength and felt that he could break through the critical point.
I heard him say calmly: "I am a son of the Eight Banners, and it is true that I have been a bit frustrated in the past few years. There is no shortage of military pay, but the lack of plunder and rewards has made my life more decadent than in previous years.
However, the people in the north are already miserable, and it is impossible to hope for expansion of the enclosure and hard-core crops to cheer up people's hearts. For the current plan, since they want to live a good life, they should take it from the heads of the southern barbarians!"
Jilharang Tong Kong slightly zoomed in: "The regent really wants to restart the border war? Do you know what this means? Now at this juncture, the war suddenly restarts, and the timing is not necessarily more favorable to our Qing Dynasty than last year or next year!
I am not against starting a war. Now that things have happened, Nan Ming and our Qing Dynasty are in conflict, and they will definitely not be able to coexist for a long time. But after all, the armistice has been stabilized. When to restart, naturally we have to choose the one that is most beneficial to our Qing Dynasty.
Timing! I don’t see anything particularly beneficial to my Qing Dynasty this year!
I heard that in the past two years, several types of rice and wheat have been introduced from the south, such as corn and potatoes, which were not available in ancient times, and the yield is much higher than that of rice and wheat. Last year, only a few places in Huaibei privately tried military settlements, and as expected, some of them were solved
Military rations. This year, the promotion has been expanded and spread to Shandong and Hebei.
It is said that Nanming has promoted these things for the longest time for seven or eight years. It was first in Suihuang, and later expanded to the entire Huguang. It is said that it was gradually promoted to the entire south four or five years ago.
The Southern Barbarians have been benefiting from it for seven or eight years, but the Qing Dynasty has been benefiting from it for less than two years. This is only the second year. The extension area is not large enough and the harvest has not yet come. In this way, the national strength of the north and the south benefits from the abundance of corn and potatoes.
, it is obvious that the south is far better than the north! If the Qing Dynasty can rest and recuperate for a few more years, the north will gradually spontaneously grow more corn. Wouldn't it be possible to regain some of the national strength relative to the south, and then start a war?
Wouldn’t it be more beneficial?”
Jilhalang didn't say anything else, and casually argued with Dorgon about the issues of food and population.
The corn and potatoes he mentioned were indeed gradually spread during the Ming and Qing dynasties during the peaceful farming truce. Zhushu people could not control these things, because once a kind of food became popular among ordinary people, everyone would grow it.
If the seeds can be obtained, it is inevitable that they will be smuggled to Huaibei and infiltrated into occupied areas.
How can we talk about keeping the technology secret for something that millions of people have access to? There is nothing more than a diffusion process. The Qing army needed to experiment, promote it, and breed and retain seeds, which all took time.
The Ming Dynasty only took advantage of a time difference. I planted corn and potatoes six years earlier than you. The savings of these six years can form a huge gap in national power.
After all, Jierhalang is a little older. He is already fifty years old. From the age of forty-seven to fifty, he naturally no longer has the recklessness of young people and wants to seek stability.
Dorgon is much younger than him. He is thirty-six this year, and he still wants to take a big shot. More importantly, he sees the problem more comprehensively than Jierhalang. He realizes that the development of national power is not so simple.
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"How can the decline and rise of national power depend on the amount of food? For the current plan, as long as there is enough food, the national power can be stabilized. As for relying on surplus food to repopulate the population, it will take more than ten years to see the effect?
Previously, the Qing Dynasty had exhausted its efforts to organize and train the new green army. In the past few years, the household registration in Shandong and Huaibei has been reduced by half. The oppressed Han people have already begun to flee south. If it continues, it will only be detrimental to the Qing Dynasty.
The only option now is to immediately defeat the Nanmanzi militarily and defeat them in blood, reestablish their authority, frighten the Han people in the world, and let them know that there is no chance of surrendering to the Ming Dynasty! It is nothing more than being killed by my Qing Dynasty again! It is better to just treat me as my Qing Dynasty from the beginning.
Submissive people!”
When the truce was just two years ago, to be honest, Dorgon did not expect that so many people would be unable to bear the oppression and flee south during the truce. Mainly because the Qing Dynasty had been victorious against the Ming Dynasty for decades, and he felt that everyone in the world should
If you can see clearly that there is no future, no one will turn to the Ming Dynasty and suffer twice.
But after all, he underestimated the subsequent long-term influence of the destruction of Duduo and the death of Liu Liangzuo in Huainan Nikan.
Even though Nanming gave him a "face" in the end, pretending that his attempt to storm Fengyang failed and retreated, the Qing army seemed to have won the "victory of the last battle before the truce" and left the card table in a relatively relaxed mood.
But as the people of Lianghuai calmed down, many people gradually realized the future of following the Ming Dynasty, and realized that "this Ming Dynasty is not the other Ming Dynasty. With the sage kings and virtuous ministers on the throne, the Ming Dynasty is not the same as when the late emperor Chongzhen was in power."
The Ming Dynasty is completely different. The Ming Dynasty now has a future and is worthy of loyalty."
This awakening of people's hearts was what Dorgon feared the most, and it was more serious than any specific defeat on the battlefield. He had to save a little bit of strength to put out this idea with all his strength!
…
Jierhalang didn't think that deeply at first, but after being repeatedly emphasized by Dorgon, from the perspective of the overall interests of the Qing Dynasty, he had to admit that Dorgon had a point.
But then came another trouble.
Jierhalang had to remind: "Even if we have to restart the war, how can we inspire people's morale and find an excuse to start a war? I, the Qing Dynasty, don't care about integrity. If you want to kill the barbarians, you will kill the barbarians, and if you want to invade the south, you will invade the south. But after all, it has been a truce for several years.
, always give the soldiers a proximate cause."
The greatest righteousness of the Southern Expedition was, of course, to "unify the world and end the civil war." This could be used in any change of dynasty. To put it bluntly, it was for the sake of unification. Don't allow others to snore and sleep on the side of the bed. You can fight at any time if you want.
But that is only a distant cause, not the immediate and immediate cause. To boost morale, it is also important to combine distant and near motives so that ordinary soldiers can relate to them.
The troops don't know why they are fighting, and why they suddenly start fighting again at this time is in trouble.
In particular, the Manchu Eight Banners are no longer as bloody as they were three years ago, and the social garbage that carries caged birds in Beijing has gradually increased. You must find a reason for them.
Regarding this issue, Dorgon was obviously prepared and had thought about it in advance.
He showed his cards bluntly: "In the past few years, the Nanmanzi have been absorbing my escaped slaves from the Qing Dynasty! This reason is always worth using to arouse the same hatred of my Eight Banners son, and march south to seize the treasures of my children!
As for now, I will fabricate some provocations and frictions, but say that during this summer or autumn harvest, a large number of Huaibei villagers will flee southward, and our Qing soldiers will pursue and arrest them! Once the war starts, the follow-up will be a matter of course!
As for the route of marching, I will be cautious and will not choose to go straight from Huaiyang to Nanjing as I did three years ago. At that time, I asked my fifteenth brother to go straight to Huaiyang because of the unstable foothold in Nanming and the internal friction.
The foundation was not deep, so he took advantage of the Fulu controversy to attack his heart. In the end, he fell short because of his reckless advancement.
Now that the foundation of the Southern Ming Dynasty has been stabilized, it is meaningless to pursue a quick surprise attack. We should use the correct military method of the southern expedition since ancient times to slowly gain the upper reaches of the country, and then wipe out Wu Yue!
Either advance troops from Nanyang and defeat Xiangyang, or take advantage of the situation and take advantage of the situation to capture Xinyang and Huainan first, completely occupying the dangers of the Dabie Mountains, and then encroach step by step, or follow the Dabie Mountain East Road, from Fengyang to Shouxian and Hefei, and from Feishui to Chaohu to the north of the Yangtze River.
These routes are better than going south via Huai'an and Yangzhou to fight for the Hangou Road."
Jierhalang saw that Dorgon could recognize the strategic mistakes made three years ago, and he regained some confidence in him.
Indeed, marching directly from Huai'an to Yangzhou and then crossing the river from Zhenjiang is a time-grabbing strategy to get a head start. Since ancient times, once the North-South confrontation has stabilized for many years, no one has taken this route to conquer the South again.
Striving for benefits upstream has been the correct way to conquer the south since ancient times. However, it is somewhat impossible to start from the uppermost reaches of the Yangtze River, that is, the Sichuan area.
After all, the danger of the Qinling Mountains is completely in the hands of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty's rule in Sichuan is still very stable. It is said that Governor Fang Kongzhen, who may be promoted to governor, is also very popular in governing the people, and there is no opportunity to take advantage of it.
Sichuan guard Qin Liangyu was also a well-established general and was tabooed by the Qing army. The only flaw was that Qin Liangyu was old. It was said that he had been seriously ill in the past two years - in the third year of Longwu, Qin Liangyu was already seventy-four years old (History
If he can live for more than a year, he will die of old age)
The current situation in Sichuan made it impossible for the Qing government to take action, not to mention that Wu Sangui of Shaanxi was still wandering there.
Dorgon gave up the Yangzhou Road, did not consider Sichuan, which was impossible, and focused on Nanyang, Xinyang, and Hefei, which shows that he is more stable at least.
The senior officials of the Qing court had another internal discussion and finally came to a consensus on the general direction of starting another war.
All that remains is the deployment details and how to allocate troops and personnel to the various armies, which can all be discussed.
In addition, since the war was about to begin, some preparations for internal unity had to be made. Dorgon issued an order in the name of Shunzhi, asking the provincial governors to send their direct sons to Beijing as hostages, so that when military power was decentralized in wartime, they could better
Take control of the hostage area.
Of course, in actual operation, the officials of the Qing court who drafted the decree would not be so clumsy and directly state the true purpose.
So the words on the surface of the will are as follows:
"Officials in the capital of third rank or above, and officials outside the country such as the governor, governor, and commander-in-chief each send one of their legitimate sons to serve as guards in the court to learn Manchu etiquette, test their talents, and appoint them as envoys." (Historical fact, the original text is word for word. The only discrepancy.
According to official history, this decree was issued in March of the fourth year of Shunzhi, but now it has been postponed to May)
On the surface, it says that it is to give the sons of governors an extra chance to test for promotion, not to be used as hostages. Moreover, before the governor, an additional "officials in Beijing of third grade or above" is added. It seems to be mainly to give more opportunities to the children of Beijing officials.
The governor is just a facilitator.
In fact, anyone with a little bit of political awareness knows that targeting the governor is the real thing, while the officials in the capital are just a smoke bomb.
After the decree was issued, the Han governors and generals from various places would naturally follow it, especially the generals newly recruited into the Green Camp.
Wu Sangui from Shaanxi and Jiang Yu from Shanxi were also among the recipients.
However, Wu Sangui never claimed to be a Qing minister in name, and his position was delicate. After receiving the Qing court's overtures, it was difficult to decide whether to send Wu Yingxiong to Beijing.
However, Jiang Guan from Shanxi had actually been a Qing minister for many years. Moreover, he was located in the hinterland of the Qing-controlled area and had no choice. He only hesitated for a few days before sending his eldest son to Beijing. Jiang Guan's resignation further put pressure on him.