Chapter 362 The purpose of retracting the fist is to make the punch hurt more
After the liberation of Beijing, Zhu Shuren spent two months in Beijing to clean up the hardcore traitors and deal with the problem of low-ranking officials being demoted, and basically solved the problem.
Thousands of civil servants and gentry took this opportunity to uproot themselves, which also reduced many difficult local snakes in the north. In the future, the lives of ordinary people may be much easier because of this.
But to be honest, most of the civil servants and gentry in Beijing who were liquidated, exiled, and sent to the army were actually not natives of the north. At least one-third of them came from Jiangxi, and there were other well-educated areas in the Jianghuai and Huaihe provinces in the south. Who would let Ming Ming
Those are the places where imperial examinations have always been strong.
Historically, it was not until the early Kangxi period that the Qing Dynasty gradually reversed the composition of the talents left over from the previous Ming Dynasty. This is because it was basically not until the early Kangxi Dynasty that most of the traitor surrendering civil servants left by the previous Ming Dynasty reached the age of retirement.
But now according to the calculation of the pseudo-Qing Dynasty, Shunzhi only lasted seven years. In just seven years, it was not enough for the original traitors to retire from old age, so they had to be eliminated manually by Zhu Shuren.
Of course, if it is just a matter of liquidation and sorting out, there is no need to keep hundreds of thousands of troops in the north. It would be too wasteful to eat horses and chew them. Although the north can now rely on local food production to meet the needs of the people, it cannot support a few extra people.
One hundred thousand frontier troops.
If Zhu Shuren's army is stationed for one more day, the rations for the army of 500,000 will have to be transported from the south. When the war is fierce, there is no feeling after a few months, and everyone thinks that they will get through it by gritting their teeth. But once the intensity of the military operation drops,
, if you have to maintain such a diet all year round, your finances will be very tight.
Therefore, during the two-month liquidation period, Zhu Shuren also did a lot of other things, mainly to slowly eliminate the green camp bandits and bandits who had gathered in the mountains and forests again after their escape, and to recover Xuanfu, Yongping, and other areas along the Yanshan Mountains.
An important defensive area.
After the Qing army abandoned the city of Beijing, they did not immediately abandon several important passes along the Great Wall defense line. They also wanted to keep these passes so that they could continue to do what they did before entering the pass, when autumn was high and there was plenty of autumn food to grab.
, just enter the customs and plunder a handful——
It is normal for Hauge to have such thoughts. After all, in the eyes of the Qing court officials, even if they gave up Beijing, they would only give up direct rule over the Central Plains, but this did not mean that they would also give up "indirect rule".
Back to the state of the Chongzhen Dynasty where "the Han court helped rule and collect taxes, and the Manchus were only responsible for the Han people to collect the taxes and then enter the customs to grab a wave of ready-made food." From the perspective of the Manchu high-level officials, it was still very possible for the long-term
Did it.
To avoid these disasters, Zhu Shu people should of course chase down the bandits and clean up every inch of land within the Inner Great Wall and even the Outer Great Wall.
In February, the Ming army captured the entire Xuanfu and recaptured Zhangjiakou. In early March, they captured Jimen and Miyun guarded Gubeikou, completely stabilizing the Juyongguan defense line. Before the end of March, Xifengkou and other Great Wall passes in Yongping Prefecture were also
was recovered.
In the end, only Shanhaiguan was left, still in the hands of the Qing army. Because Shanhaiguan was directly connected to Liaodong, the heartland of the Qing army, the Qing army did not have to detour through the prairie to reinforce Shanhaiguan, so the defense was very solid and could not be won overnight.
.
Moreover, Zhu Shuren considered that Hauge seemed determined to defend Shanhaiguan and was willing to spend money on it, so he came up with a plan——
Previously, I failed to use the city of Beijing as a meat grinder to grind out the last tens of thousands of elite Qing troops. Hauge simply burned, looted, and ran away. Now I just want to use Shanhaiguan as the last meat grinder.
opportunity, and strive to eliminate more effective forces of the Qing army on this battlefield.
It also lets Hauge, a landlubber, know that this kind of strategic pass surrounded by mountains and seas is not so easy to defend! With the pitiful naval power of the Dog Tatars, who dares to defend the coast is seeking death!
After deciding on this idea, Zhu Shuren did not ask for the immediate recovery of Shanhaiguan. He only stationed a certain amount of heavy troops in Yongping Prefecture in front of the pass, and strictly guarded the other Great Wall passes in Yongping Prefecture, pretending to take it slowly. For the time being,
Paralyzed the wariness of the Qing army.
At the same time, after consolidating the other Great Wall defense lines except Shanhaiguan, Zhu Shuren also ordered a temporary withdrawal of part of the Ming army to the south, and the other part was transferred to the field army in February in advance, taking advantage of the spring plowing before it was delayed.
Switch to production in the north and strive to be self-sufficient in part of the military rations.
The remaining portion, especially the food needed from the spring famine to the summer harvest, still relied on transportation from the south. However, after the recapture of Beijing and Tianjin, the loss of military food transportation was greater than before in Daming, Handan, Baoding and other places.
It was much smaller in the final battle.
Because during the decisive battle in the hinterland of the Hebei Plain, even the Grand Canal was unavailable, and there were no canals around Damingfu and Handan. After arriving in Tianjin, not only would there be a canal, but the old business that the Shen family had been doing for many years could be completely restored——
Shipping military rations through the Yellow Sea.
Therefore, in the past few months, Zhu Shuren has ordered the garrison to quickly repair Tianjin's port facilities and dredge the Yongding River. Once transportation losses are reduced, the problem of feeding hundreds of thousands of people will not become an astronomical figure.
The Yongding River, Wuqing River and other rivers connecting Tianjin's Dagukou to Beijing had been repaired during the Chongzhen period. After all, the city of Beijing relied on these rivers to maintain its lifeblood. Once it became shallow and could not pass watercraft, several rivers around the capital were
Millions of people will starve to death.
However, during the seven years of Shunzhi's rule, because the north and south were always under the control of two political powers, the water transportation in the south was completely cut off. Dorgon and Hauge no longer wasted their people's efforts to dredge the Yongding River and Wuqing River every year.
Anyway, no food will be transported in even if the manpower is spent, so it is better to save energy and eat less food.
After seven years of siltation, it will naturally take some effort to re-activate it. The soldiers of the Ming Dynasty's main battle force were somewhat resistant to doing this kind of river work, but after the generals explained their needs, everyone knew
This was because of the issue of food for my army, so I tolerated it and worked as a coolie for a few months.
…
After settling all this, Zhu Shuren asked the Nanjing court for instructions, preparing to withdraw 200,000 troops from the Northern Expedition to the south, and then divide another 100,000 troops to station along the east coast, such as in Denglai, Tianjin and other places.
Leave 200,000 combat troops in the northern inland area not close to the sea to reduce military food consumption and maintain a balance of fiscal revenue and expenditure for the sake of longevity.
The difficulty of retaking the pass is far from the same level as the difficulty of the remnants of the Beizhu Grassland. You must be prepared for a protracted war. If you are too eager and eat yourself up, and there is another wave of bandits from the Chongzhen period, you will definitely
It's not worth the loss.
Zhu Changzi, the Longwu Emperor of Nanjing, didn't have any ambitious plans. He was very satisfied if he could regain Beijing within half a year this time.
As for the civil servants in the DPRK and China, Shi Kefa, who was the most hawkish and focused on justice, also felt that the progress of meritorious deeds was fast enough, so he approved them all and allowed Zhu Shuren to withdraw some of his troops to the south first.
On the eighth day of April, Zhu Changzi officially issued an order, allowing Zhu Shuren to return south temporarily with 200,000 troops, and bring with him the main meritorious generals, return to Nanjing to report on their work, accept promotions, and also report to the meeting to discuss the next phase of the pursuit.
How to expand it specifically.
Only Zhang Huangyan, the governor of Henan and Northern Zhili, was left in the north, who temporarily took charge of the pacification and governance of the newly restored areas and continued to suppress bandits and eliminate scattered remaining enemies.
In addition, Zhu Changzi also announced his opinions on the disposal of the remaining palaces, palace treasures, eunuchs and maidens in Beijing.
The harem in the Forbidden City in Beijing needs to be sealed and does not need to be repaired. To temporarily save money and food to show compassion for the people, it only needs to clean up the burned and damaged remains.
In the former dynasty, the three main halls cannot be used without the emperor's presence in person, but the left and right side halls, the original six yamen, can be directly used for office work, and a palace can also be used as a temporary shogunate for the governor of Northern Zhili.
After all, in the Ming Dynasty, there were no governors in the north and south Zhili, and there was no yamen for governors to work. Of course, the newly established official positions and supporting work must be urgently based on authority.
In fact, it is impossible not to rebuild the burned-down Forbidden City buildings, because there is currently no supply of materials that meet the standards. If they are forced to build, and the standards are lowered in the end, the dignity of the court will be lost, so it is better not to build.
Historically, in the early years of the Qing Dynasty, many palaces in the Forbidden City were burned down, and materials could be used to rebuild them. An important source was the Ming Tombs left behind by the Ming Dynasty——
From the Kangxi to Qianlong years, the only remaining golden nanmu trees in China that were large enough and old enough to build palaces were completely insufficient. In the Qing Dynasty, many golden nanmu trees were used to build the Forbidden City in the name of "helping the previous dynasty with repairs."
"The Ming Tombs have been in disrepair for a long time", and then replaced the Ming Tombs with cheap new wood, and then used the old golden nanmu material removed from the Ming Tombs to repair the Qing Palace.
But the problem is that now that the Ming Dynasty is back, the rulers of the Ming Dynasty can never learn the tricks that the Qing Dynasty could use in history. We can’t let the descendants of the Zhu family tear down the wood from the ancestral tombs of the Ming Tombs to build the palace, right? This is a big deal
It is a crime of great unfilial piety.
As long as the Ming Tombs are not demolished, the entire land of China will not be able to find enough golden nanmu to completely rebuild the Forbidden City in Beijing according to the old standards. Money cannot solve the problem. Even if the entire land of 10 million square kilometers is turned over, there will not be that much
Golden nanmu tree.
In addition, the Ming Dynasty always had two sets of six departments in the north and south, but originally the six departments in Beijing were officially responsible for handling affairs, while the six departments in Nanjing were supporting spare tires. Now that the imperial court is working in the south, it is somewhat respectable not to reset the six departments in the north at all.
It doesn't make sense.
Therefore, after Zhu Changzi discussed with Shi Kefa, they decided to re-establish the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Industry in Beijing to make preparations and decisions for future liberation operations and to further expel the Tartars.
Because there was a war to be fought, the preparation of money, food and military supplies, the deployment of troops and generals, and the construction of supporting infrastructure all had to be handled as quickly as possible. We could not ask Nanjing for instructions on everything and delay our return.
As for the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Punishment, and the Ministry of Personnel in Beijing, for the time being, there will only be one polished commander with the false title of Shangshu. Anyway, these three departments have nothing to do with military affairs. This shows that the Ming Dynasty has not given up Beijing's status as the capital, and also avoids some people.
Take "violating the laws of our ancestors" as an excuse.
At the same time, there is only one minister left and the minister is given a salary, which does not cost much. Naturally, the court naturally has senior ministers who are highly virtuous but inconvenient to hold real power. This is a very pragmatic way of handling it. It does not cost much.
There is no need to argue about money.
After completing these tasks, we will be able to live up to our reputation, and the matter of moving the imperial court back to Beijing can be discussed slowly and in a long-term manner, and no one will gossip if we delay it for a few more years.
After instructing the disposal of the Forbidden City and the Six Ministries in Beijing, the last part of Zhu Changzi's edict was about the placement of the personnel of the puppet Qing imperial court.
Zhu Changzi was not a lecherous person, so he directly announced that all the newly recruited palace maids and eunuchs after the Puppet Qing Dynasty entered the customs could be released from the palace and allowed to be free.
If it is really difficult to make a living and the palace cannot support itself, the person concerned can also apply for it and be rewarded to the meritorious generals and clan members as maids, concubines or slaves. Everything is voluntary.
As for those who have lived in the palace for more than seven years, that is, the palace maids and eunuchs who have been in the inner palace since the beginning of the Chongzhen Dynasty, they are old people recruited by the Ming Dynasty. Of course, these cannot all be kicked away, otherwise it will hurt the court.
Decent and benevolent.
So we treat them differently and screen them first:
If any eunuch took the initiative to please the new Tatar master in the past seven years and asked for promotion, he would be kicked out of the palace. If there was any eunuch who took the initiative to help the Tatar master with ideas and harmed his compatriots, he would be executed if there was evidence.
of.
If the eunuchs had not committed any bad deeds in the past seven years and had not been favored or promoted by the Manchus, then the Ming Dynasty would definitely have retained them and given them a pension to show their benevolence.
As for the palace maids, those who had been defiled by the Tatars had already been released by Zhu Shuren, and Zhu Changzi also felt that he had done the right thing. As for those who had not been defiled, their years were also divided. Those who had been in the palace for more than seven years were recruited by the Ming Dynasty.
If it is not defiled, the Ming Dynasty will be responsible for providing for it in old age. If it is defiled, it will be rewarded to the soldiers and they can also be provided for in their old age.
Those who have been in the palace for less than seven years are regarded as recruited by the Tatars. Their loyalty is completely doubtful and they will be released to the people.
Zhu Shuren, of course, strictly implemented this order - in fact, Zhu Shuren had almost thought of Zhu Changzi's idea before accepting the order, but he was unwilling to overstep his authority.
In the early Ming Dynasty, Lan Yu gave someone a reason for this, saying that he had insulted the concubines and maids of the Yuan Dynasty's harem. It was not that it was wrong to insult the women of the foreign Tartars, but that there were some things that officials should not make their own decisions about.
Zhu Shuren is just dictatorial, but he is dictatorial in order to save the world more efficiently, not because he is domineering by nature.
In areas that do not affect major policies, he can still be modest as long as he can, and does not have to be domineering over trivial matters that have no political benefit.
…
After handling the remaining problems in Beijing in strict accordance with the decree, Zhu Shuren finally went south with 200,000 troops on April 15th.
The army marches normally, but only covers sixty miles a day. But on the way back south, because it doesn't need to carry food and can eat wherever it goes, it can go faster. The land route can cover at least eighty miles a day, and some waterways can cover hundreds of miles.
The Ming Dynasty still has food shortages the further north it goes, so it eats southern food whenever it can to avoid wasting transportation back and forth.
After just one month's march, the two thousand miles journey was completed, and on May 16th, we officially returned to Nanjing.
Zhu Changzi went out of the city in person and went all the way to Jinshan Ferry in Zhenjiang to greet the army. Then they returned to Beijing together. The courtesy was the best in the Ming Dynasty.
Who knows that this is a great achievement in regaining the northern capital, and deserves more courtesy than all previous victories.
Zhu Changzi also announced that land tax and Ding tax would be exempted nationwide for one year to celebrate the return of his homeland. However, commercial taxes were not exempted, and surplus grain had to be purchased from the people at the guaranteed minimum price given by the government. After all, food still had to be eaten. If one
If there is no food harvest every year, the court will not be able to survive.
When the people in all provinces heard the news, they couldn't help but sing and celebrate together. Those who were used to the suffering of the Tatars even cried for joy. The streets of Nanjing and along the road were full of people who sincerely supported and welcomed us.
In order to show off his merits and martial arts, Zhu Changzi also rarely rode on horseback. He wore the same golden crown with phoenix wings and armor with silver scales and gold dragon patterns as in the "Picture of Going Out and Entering the Police". He also gave Zhu Shuren the bridle to ride side by side, only one horse behind.
head.
However, the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty and the people onlookers did not think it was inappropriate. This was due to the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains and the restoration of the old capital.
Returning to the Forbidden City in Nanjing, it was naturally a tedious process of giving banquets to welcome the wind, and giving various rewards and promotions to meritorious soldiers.
All of a sudden, the Ming court granted another five or six miscellaneous general titles, and seven or eight more marquises.
Cao Bianjiao and Huang Degong were even granted the title of duke. The Ming Dynasty had not been granted the title of duke for many years, but when Zhu Yuanzhang founded the country and Zhu Di usurped the throne, they were all granted the title of duke. Now that the merits of the Central Plains are restored, of course they should be
Get the Duke.
Liu Guoneng, Li Fuming, Zhang Mingzhen, etc., are more or less not ready. In the future, we have to hope for the Northern Expedition to the grasslands, or the last attack on Liaodong to establish slaves. It may be possible in their lifetimes, but the older ones among them have little hope.
Already.
In addition, even young generals such as Li Dingguo, because of their outstanding performance and rigorous military management in the final decisive battle with Hauge in Neihuang County, were able to maintain their positions in the trenches after the main force of the Qing army entered the Ming army camp.
The troops did not collapse and fought with the Qing army to the end, creating conditions for the final annihilation of the main force of the Qing army.
Therefore, Li Dingguo was also made an earl. As a Western traitor and a surrendered general, he missed the contribution of saving the nation. It is already very good to be able to achieve this step now. He is still young. If he can perform extraordinary feats in the subsequent in-depth attack on Manchu and Mongolia,
There is still great hope.
After the generals and civil servants presented rewards one by one, only Zhu Shuren himself was left, but his merits were too high to be rewarded. He was already a prince, and had already held the highest military position in the Ming Dynasty. He had nothing to give.
Fortunately, Zhu Shuren doesn't care about this. He just wants to make a fortune and hold real power in a low voice, and false reputation is not important.
…
After spending a few days to deal with all the rewards and promotions, the monarch and his ministers finally had some time to discuss the follow-up timetable for pacifying the thieves and the major policies for the next few years.
On May 20th, the fourth day after Zhu Shuren returned to Nanjing, Zhu Changzi once again summoned him to the palace alone to discuss matters. He did not summon other cabinet ministers, but asked his daughter Zhu Yuchan to accompany him. The form of a family banquet was obviously to facilitate Zhu Shuren to express his opinions directly and engage in political affairs.
That's all.
After the banquet was set, Zhu Changzi humbly asked for advice: "How many years do you think it will take to wipe out the remaining enemies on the grassland? Will it deplete the finances for a long time? How many years will it take to recover the strength of the north? Raise food on your own to support the army.