The wheel of history is rolling forward, and time soon comes to the late autumn of the fourth year of Longwu.
As mentioned before, on the frontal battlefields of the Ming and Qing Dynasties this year, the Ming army began to counterattack one after another from the end of spring, and gradually took back Kaifeng Prefecture and Guide Prefecture.
Due to heavy losses in the previous year, the Qing army was unable to organize a counterattack, nor was it able to organize an effective active defense. It only traded space for time amid chronic blood loss, slowly retreated, reorganized its armaments, and raised new troops in the rear.
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By September of this year, the Qing army was left with only Luoyang in the south of the old Yellow River route in Henan Province. It could still rely on the dangerous mountains and rivers, and the Eight Pass Ring Line was temporarily able to survive, while other areas in the plains were occupied.
The Ming Dynasty was restored.
In the direction of Shandong, the Qing army also retreated and had to shrink its defense line to the Taishan and Yimeng Mountains, confronting the Ming army across the mountainous area. Taishan and a small part of the Lunan Basin hills south of the main line of the Yimeng Mountains were also lost.
Gave it to Ming Dynasty.
To put it bluntly, except for Luoyang, the Ming and Qing Dynasties were basically bounded along the Yellow River-Taishan-Yimeng Mountain, all the way to the sea in the east.
In terms of military progress, the Ming army's advance was not rapid, but it was absolutely steady and the damage to the people was relatively small. It could take over a piece of land to consolidate a piece of land, and the people's spring plowing and summer planting were not affected.
In Kaifeng, after returning to the Ming Dynasty, the farmers who returned to Germany could still eat the food they planted in the spring without having to pay taxes, which was a big blessing.
As the severe natural disasters gradually eased at the turn of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Henan suffered too many casualties in the past few years. Now the land is absolutely vast and sparsely populated. People can plant as many fields as they want. As long as you have the physical strength, private and government support
The conflict was finally completely resolved.
After the Ming Dynasty recaptured Kaifeng, Shangqiu and Lunan areas, it immediately took advantage of the situation to conduct a thorough investigation of the land and population, taking advantage of the fact that the original landowners and nobles were basically wiped out repeatedly and had no power to resist, so as to do a solid job in these basic tasks.
If there is a gap in the population, the Ming court will organize the people who originally fled south to return to their hometowns northward as soon as possible. It also promised that as long as they are willing to return to their hometowns, the government will provide each household with twenty acres of unowned medium-sized dry land for free, or ten acres of farmland.
After all, there are still 50 million people in the south of the Ming Dynasty. Although the total population of the world dropped by 60% during the wars in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the vast majority of the remaining 40% fled to the south, and the south is still crowded with people.
It is small, so we have to rely on industry and commerce to absorb part of it.
Now that the north has been liberated, there are only more than one million living people in the huge Henan Province. Of course, we must bring back some of the refugees from Henan who originally fled south.
According to Zhu Shuren's estimation, with a plain area of cultivated land as large as that of Henan and no major disasters in peacetime, it is more than enough to support five million farmers. At least three million refugees can be brought back from the south. Even if the population increases in the future, it will
Resisted for a long time.
While the Ming army gained a foothold in Kaifeng and Lunan, the news about North Korea's complete abandonment of darkness and surrender to the Ming Dynasty also spread back to Beijing in September. More disagreements were brewing within the Qing court, and there were many opinions on the ruling power.
Ergon's distrust.
A series of failures and improper responses have made the Beijing court like a powder keg ready to explode at any time.
Zhu Shuren slowly advanced on the military front, giving the Qing government time to "reflect". This move finally came to show its effect.
…
One day when winter entered in October, Leke Dehun, the king of Shuncheng County who was left behind by the Qing army in Luoyang, was frowning and thinking about how to survive the winter.
The Ming army's offensive was not strong. The Ming army from Nanyang had spent the whole autumn fighting against the Qing army at the three passes in Luonan such as Yinque, Taigu, and Sheyuan on the line of Funiu Mountain and Songshan.
In the east direction of Kaifeng, after the Ming army captured Kaifeng Mansion in the summer, they only attacked Sishui Pass (Hulao Pass) without spending any money.
However, the Ming army's siege also made Luck Dehun very uncomfortable.
The area of Henan Prefecture was originally quite large, and there was a lot of land for agricultural production. In peacetime, it could produce a lot of food. But now it is wartime, and the Qing army must rely on the mountain dangers to shrink the defense line to Yinque, Taiyuan.
Valley and other places, that would be equivalent to giving up a large area of land outside the pass.
Relying only on the agricultural output of the narrow Yinluo Plain north of Yinqueguan will not be enough to maintain the urban population of a big city like Luoyang. What's more, half of the remaining Azig troops from last year are stationed in various passes around Luoyang.
Where are the remnants of.
This year, the autumn grain harvested locally in Henan Prefecture, Luckard calculated, is only enough to feed his entire 60,000 first- and second-line troops, plus the population of Luoyang City, for more than two months. After that, he will have to count on Shanxi
The direction passes through Mengjin Ferry, constantly importing grain to Luoyang.
Prince Su Hauge had already greeted him. Shanxi was originally poor and had difficulty in transshipment. The road to Hanoi was also threatened by the Ming army in Kaifeng. The fleet on the main stream of the Yellow River was often harassed and intercepted by Ming army warships.
——The warships of the Ming Army have now moved from the Huaihe River through the Grand Canal to the main stream of the Yellow River in the north.
If the Mengjin Ferry in the north of Luoyang City is cut off in the future, the Ming army will not have to fight. As long as the blockade lasts for the first half of the year, the Qing army in the Luoyang Basin will eventually be like a withered vine and dead fruit because it cannot support itself.
What happened to Kong Youde in Pizhou at the end of last year was a carbon copy of his Luck Dehun.
At this stall, Prince Su Hauge from the Shanxi direction also chose to guard the border and stop the war as winter was approaching and heavy snow was about to close the mountain. It was inconvenient to continue arguing with Wu Sangui.
Hauge personally inspected the Tongguan and Hangu front lines, and then instead of returning to Shanxi via Hedong, he took the Xiaohan Road to visit Luoyang, intending to return to the rear from Luoyang via Mengjin.
When passing through Luoyang, Luck Dehun, as the county king, should of course show his friendship as a landlord and give a good banquet to Hauge, the prince.
In terms of national law, Hauge's title is one level higher than his. In terms of elders and children, Hauge is his cousin (Luke Dehun is Daishan's grandson, one generation younger than Yue Tuo). Moreover, he is also
We have to count on Hauge to maintain his logistics. How can we not be diligent when the grain bag is in his hands?
At the banquet, Hauge talked to him about the failure of the war and the difficult national destiny of the Qing Dynasty, which inevitably made him sigh.
Halfway through, Hauge suddenly said: "When the late emperor was here, he was very cautious about entering the Central Plains, saying that we Manchus must not lose our foundation outside the Pass, otherwise one day we will completely degenerate into the Han people who are as greedy for life and fear of death, wealth and honor.
I'm afraid that I won't be able to get out of seclusion again in the end.
Looking at the current situation of the country, Prince Rui insists on going his own way and wants to fight to the death with the Nanmanzi in the pass. This is because he is reluctant to let go after entering the pass. Our Manchu people now have less than 200,000 soldiers, and that is even the old and weak.
Forget it, if the losses continue, if there are still as many casualties as last year, within two or three years, even if you escape from the customs in the future, it will be difficult to establish a clan!"
Luck Dehun was shocked when he heard this: "Prince Su, be careful what you say! The two armies are in a stalemate, how can you achieve your ambition!"
But now that Hauge had spoken, he would not play tricks with him anymore. He went straight to the point and made it clear:
"I know that you were involved in Shuotuo and Adali's plot to establish Dorgon, and were exterminated by your second uncle (Daishan) for his righteousness. Later, it was only when Dorgon became more stable in power that your clan title was restored.
I will also grant you the title of Baylor and let you lead the army and make meritorious deeds with the Prince of England to show the world that those who follow him, Dorgon, will benefit sooner or later even if they are temporarily demoted.
But now Gu can guarantee that as long as you abandon the darkness and turn to the light and cooperate with Gu, Gu will definitely regard you as a hero in the future. You can also abandon your uncle and follow your ancestors, and you cannot be unfilial.
And if you insist on following Dorgon, Dorgon will definitely not be willing to completely lose Henan for the sake of his own prestige and regent power. By then, your 60,000 troops will only die in vain in Luoyang, and will gradually be consumed by the Southern Barbarians.
All!
All of Dorgon's status is based on entering the customs. It is absolutely impossible for him to consider retreating and operating outside the customs!"
At this moment, Hauge was patient enough to reason with Luck Dehun.
Luck Dehun's second uncle Shuotuo and his elder brother Alida supported Dorgon back then, but they died trying to claim his support. However, Luck Dehun's grandfather Daishan was opposed to Dorgon's rise to power.
From this point of view, Hauge thinks that whether Luck Dehun can fight for it is basically a 50-50 question. It depends on whether he has figured it out. There are steps to take with his grandfather or with his second uncle and brother.
As long as Luck Dehun hangs out with him and has Daishan's face, Hauge can pretend that the past has not happened and everyone can move forward.
Unfortunately, Luck Dehun was still hindered by the chain of suspicion and did not dare to take this step. He was afraid that taking sides erratically would eventually lead to disaster.
In this case, there's not much to say.
Hauge dared to say this, of course he was well prepared. At the banquet that day, the two sides directly met each other.
Hauge came with an army. The West Route Army he and Wu Sangui were stalemate with was not smaller than the defenders in the Luoyang War Zone. He also won over others in advance who were not close to Dorgon and wanted to retreat northward and abandon Luoyang.
Generals, they have reached a tacit understanding secretly.
"Uncle Jiu, it's up to you! Our Qing Dynasty should be based on the land of Longxing outside the Pass, and we can't let everyone fight with the Southern Barbarians inside the Pass! Only when we return to the grassland can we be like the Northern Yuan Dynasty.
Invincible!"
It turned out that Babutai, who was assigned by Dorgon as Luck Dehun's deputy general, also chose to side with Haug.
Babutai's seniority is definitely high enough. He is also the son of Nuerhachi, the ninth son. Speaking of which, he is also Huang Taiji's younger brother and Dorgon's older brother.
Luckard calculated his seniority and could only be regarded as Babutai's grandnephew.
Luck Dehun was able to command the Qing army around Luoyang simply because he and his elder brother Adali were on the right side. Dorgon wanted to declare to the world that everyone who sided with him would have a good ending.
But Luck Dehun's age is a flaw. He was only fifteen years old when he first stood up for the title reduction! Now he is just twenty years old! To put it bluntly, he was promoted so quickly only because his brother Adali died.
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For such a young man to be a commander, he definitely needs an older lieutenant general who can command troops.
Historically, the young Luck Dehun took command and immediately accomplished many feats. He pacified Zhejiang and Hunan in the Southern Ming Dynasty, and killed the Fang Guoan Department of King Lu's regime and the He Tengjiao Department of Hunan. Only then was he granted the title of County King. But carefully observe his resume.
, it is not difficult to see that in those battles, his ninth uncle Babutai was forcibly appointed as his deputy.
Babutai is almost 60 years old. He has been fighting since the Nuerhaci era. He has fought for the Jurchens and the Manchus for almost 30 years. In the end, he has to serve as a deputy general to his grandnephew who is good at standing in the team. This is special
How can you bear it?
Now there are people who want to oppose Dorgon and come up with the slogan "Save the people and lose the land, save the people and the land". The priority is to preserve the Manchu population. Don't worry about the gains and losses of one city and one land with the Nanmanzi. Of course he will support it!
This is also in line with the conservative and prudent thinking of the Manchu royal family of the older generation.
Young people don’t know how high the sky is, so let them be buried with Dorgon!
When Luck Dehun saw this, blood rushed to his head. He knew that life and death depended on a single thought, so he quickly drew his sword and asked his close guards to also draw their swords and prepare for a fight.
While preparing for the attack, Luck Dehun also bluffed and boosted his morale: "Hauge! You actually dare to rebel! Do you think you have a chance of winning today by winning over Ninth Uncle?
Even if you control the army outside, most of the guards in this courtyard today still listen to me! Put down your weapons quickly, and I can still spare your life!"
Hauge smiled ferociously: "Since Gu dares to speak, he is naturally prepared both internally and externally. Huangkou boy, you think that fighting is just about outnumbering people! Oboi still won't take action!"
As soon as Hauge finished speaking, a tiger general behind him suddenly jumped out, like a god of death, and went straight for Luck Dehun.
Historically, Aobai was able to be reused by Shunzhi later, and Tuogu was because he performed very well in resisting Dorgon with strength, so Shunzhi felt that he was loyal.
And if we look closely at Obai's background, he originally belonged to Hauge. He resisted Dorgon and was considered to be loyal to his old master. Now that Hauge has personally ordered him to bring order to the chaos, how can there be any reason for Oboi not to do his best?
Although there are currently more personal guards in the courtyard who are loyal to Luck Dehun, no one is the enemy of Ao Bai Yihe. He kills more than ten people in a row like a mad tiger, and finally kills Luck Dehun.
In front of Hun, he chopped it into two halves with a knife.
Once Luck Dehun died, the others lost their backbone, and were driven by Obai's inertia to kill several more people, and finally laid down their weapons and surrendered.
…
After a bloody but confidential Hongmen Banquet, Luck Dehun died suddenly after failing to reach an agreement.
At least it was temporarily claimed that he died suddenly due to illness.
As the deputy general, Babutai, the general of the auxiliary state, successfully took command of the 60,000 Luoyang Qing army. As the son of Nuerhachi and the younger brother of Huang Taiji, Babutai was of such a high seniority that he only had the title of general of the auxiliary state.
.His humility and humiliation over the years are evident.
No wonder Hauge succeeded in wooing him as soon as he was wooed.
After Hauge completely mastered the Western Expeditionary Army against Wu Sangui, and also mastered the Henan Army and Shanxi Army, he finally decided to ask his confidants to write to Dorgon, requesting that the south of the Yellow River be completely abandoned, and in order to preserve the vitality of the Manchus, he made strategic adjustments
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At the same time, some people also wrote insinuating words, pointing out that someone should be responsible for the previous consecutive defeats!
These petitions also pointed out a problem: Judging from the intensity of the Ming army's counterattacks in the past year, the Ming Dynasty originally planned to peacefully coexist with the Qing Dynasty! They did not have much determination to expedition to the Central Plains. Maybe they just wanted to fight with the Southern Song Dynasty and Jin Dynasty.
Let the country maintain a long-term stalemate!
If the Qing Dynasty had not taken the initiative to provoke the war and started a war, maybe the Qing Dynasty would have been able to settle down and occupy the north for a long time, and continue to enjoy the prosperity and prosperity!
It's all because some people are greedy and want to start a war. As a result, they suffer backlash! Instead, they lose even more vested interests!
It took more than half a month to prepare the entire letter to criticize and win over the army. During this period, they also found excuses to switch defenses and secretly move troops closer to Hebei to defend themselves internally and externally. By November, the situation finally reached a point where the situation was completely revealed.
The most critical thing is that Dorgon's clique suffered successive defeats. All of Dorgon's half-brothers who led troops abroad died, and his direct troops were completely rebuilt twice. He had no capital!
The newly rebuilt Two White Banners have been infiltrated by Hauge and Jierhalang. Now the Two White Banners and Zhenghong Banner are controlled by Hauge, while the Two Yellow Banners support Emperor Fulin or Hauge. Anyway, as long as he is the son of Huang Taiji, the Two Yellow Banners will
All supported,
Hauge promised that he would not be rude to his innocent brother, nor would he seek to become emperor himself. He secretly broke an arrow in front of the generals of the Two Yellow Flags, and the Two Yellow Flags supported him.
Five of the Eight Banners have been won over by Hao, and the Han army flags and some green battalions in the three provinces of Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan have also been won over.
Dorgon expected other direct descendants of the Green Camp to fight against him, but he was no longer strong enough.
Of course, Dorgon will not sit still and wait to die.
Although the strength of the Green Camp he personally promoted and who were only loyal to him in the Qing court was insufficient. But even if it was insufficient, he still had to give it a try and rely on this strength to fight back!
At the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, when Hauge quickly led his troops back to Beijing to "side the Qing Dynasty", Dorgon ordered the deployment of the Green Battalion to suppress him!
However, this move finally completely angered Jierhalang, and also angered other Manchu Eight Banner veterans - this was a proper act of eating the inside and outside, "leading the beasts to eat people", leading the Han people to fight the Manchus! Can this be tolerated?
What's more, the Zhushu people in the south also ceased fire at the right time, assuming that "our Ming Dynasty also loves peace. As long as Dorgon, a militant, is not on the stage, Ming Dynasty can have peace with the Qing Dynasty for a few years."
At the same time, Zhu Shuren was still watching the excitement and was not afraid of big troubles. In the final attack on Luoyang and Lunan areas, he used a large number of the Green Camp surrender troops who had been defeated in Fengyang battlefield and surrendered, so that these Dorgon-trained troops could be used.
Troops fighting forward are attrition.
Moreover, while fighting back, he specifically emphasized that these troops were trained by Dorgon, and bombarded the Qing army with information to let them see clearly how wrong Dorgon's strategy of cultivating the Green Battalion was, and how many "people of non-our race" had been cultivated.
The Han people’s armed forces must be different!
At this juncture, Jierhalang and the others also knew that there was a fight to the death between Hauge and Dorgon.
What is most feared now is that the stalemate between the two sides becomes protracted, because as long as it lasts, the Qing army will suffer from serious internal friction and exhaust the remaining Manchu troops.
And only by avoiding this situation from happening, allowing Dorgon and Hauge to decide the winner as soon as possible, and one of them dying as soon as possible, will the overall situation of the Qing Dynasty be best for him.
At the critical moment of life and death, Jierhalang went to Haug privately to confirm a question:
"Prince Su! It's true that you had grievances in your heart at the beginning, and you also made great contributions to the country! But you shouldn't have internal strife at this time. If you and Prince Rui both lose, the Southern Barbarians will come over again! Crossing the Yellow River and going on the Northern Expedition, we will lose a lot of money.
After all, I am the Qing Dynasty!"
At this time, Hauge finally showed his cards and hinted to Jierhalang: He was sure that as long as Dorgon died, the Ming Dynasty would maintain peace with the Qing Dynasty for several years! There would be no more Northern Expedition!
When he heard the news, a chill arose in Jierhalang's heart: "Are you a Manchu traitor? Have you privately negotiated peace terms with Zhu Shuren?"
Of course Hauge cannot admit this accusation, otherwise wouldn't he become a traitor?
Therefore, he could not reveal any secret agreement, but just patted his chest and promised: "Of course I have not betrayed my country and asked for peace! But I am sure of it! Anyway, Prince Zheng, you know very well that the sooner one of Dorgon and I dies, the worse it will be for me.
The clearer the better!
If you don't believe me, if I die and Dorgon lives, the Ming Dynasty will never be able to restore peace with him, even if it is only for a few years!
But if Dorgon dies, at least there is still a chance! It was Dorgon's decision to enter Shanhaiguan back then! If he dies, Mingren will have a way out! I don't dare to seek long-term peace, but I can definitely do it after a few years of breathing.
of!"
Jirharang was silent and had to admit that what Haug said was right.
Hauge does have the risk of lying and secret negotiations, but he at least has the opportunity to truly bring peace and protect certain vested interests.
And if Dorgon is allowed to continue to be in power, there will be no chance left in this regard. Because the foundation of Dorgon's power is based on the radicals, if he could not make a big cake for the Qing Dynasty, who would
Will he be allowed to grow in power? The source of legitimacy for his rule is expansion!
Based on this analysis, the forces of the Eight Banners finally completely fell to Hauge.
Everyone felt that Hauge was the eldest son of the late emperor, and he was very legitimate back then. Dorgon did such a lousy job, so there was no problem in supporting Hauge. Moreover, Hauge said that he would not harm His Majesty, and everyone was still a loyal minister!
In the twelfth lunar month of the fourth year of Longwu, the Southern Ming court continued its slow attack and slow pressure strategy for a year, finally ushering in the effect of "If you rush, the enemy's various departments will inevitably unite, and if you slow down, they will harm each other."
In the city of Beijing, an extremely tragic but relatively short-lived fire broke out.
The underlying logic is almost exactly the same as that of "If Cao Cao does not conquer the two Yuans, Gongsun Kang will kill them and sacrifice their heads."
A civil war broke out between the majority of the Manchu Eight Banners troops remaining around Beijing, a handful of Dorgon's confidants who were closely related to him, and the Green Camp loyal to Dorgon around Beijing.
Along with the civil war, there was also a battle for the offensive and defensive of the imperial city and the palace city. Thousands of corpses were laid out at once, and corpses were everywhere in the Forbidden City. The green bricks and stones on the floor were all soaked in blood. The palace guards
The eunuchs and palace maids were also massacred, causing great harm to the fish in the pond.
When Haug's Six Flags Army finally entered the palace, Dorgon himself was covered in blood and resisted with his last remaining soldiers.
Hauge still sent his most brave general, Obai, to fight his way through the rebellious army, and Obai killed Dorgon with his own hands.
But looking at this issue from a national perspective, this civil war has been very restrained.
At least the fighting was only in and around Beijing, and did not spread to other areas in the four provinces controlled by the Qing Dynasty.
Moreover, the internal strife ended in just a few days, so that the enemy country did not have time to make any reaction. Until the end of the war, the Ming Dynasty had not received any news.
The final result was that more than 6,000 Manchu elite troops from the Eight Banners were killed in the civil war, and a considerable number of them were Dorgon's loyalists. The casualties on both sides were basically 50-50 - Dorgon had been in power for many years, even if he lost again
With all the hearts of the Eight Banners, he can always pick out thousands of people who are willing to follow him to the end.
The number of Manchu civilians, reservists, and family members who were affected by the disaster was several times greater. Including the subsequent liquidation, the total number of people killed and exiled was about 13,000.
In the end, the total population loss, including soldiers and civilians, women and children, was about 19,000.
The green battalion troops composed of Han people and the Han Army Flag were killed and wounded in the civil war and fled, with a total loss of more than 20,000 people. The innocent civilians in the capital were killed and injured even more.
After the civil war ended, Haug finally seized the position of the number one regent, and Jierhalang's power and interests were also guaranteed. Other Manchu conservative dignitaries, as long as they were not hard-core Afu Dorgon, also suffered no losses.
You can even participate in dividing the spoils.
But the interests of Dorgon's die-hard party members will of course be taken out as spoils of war and divided up. The number of people who died in the purge has already been taken into account.
The status of the young emperor Fulin is still guaranteed, and Hauge doesn't want to go too fast and cause bloodshed everywhere. And if he doesn't guarantee Fulin's status, he won't be able to win over Jierharang's power support. Jierha
Lang will also have doubts.
The current situation is considered the most delicate balance state.
After a bloody reshuffle of power and suing for peace, the transition was finally smoothed out with the Qing court spending 20,000 to 30,000 troops and considerable human and financial resources.
Hauge was also full of expectations, hoping that he could maintain peace with the Ming Dynasty, continue to have the vested interests of Shanxi, Hebei and most of Shandong, and let the Ming and Qing Dynasties draw the Yellow River as the boundary to divide the country.