"Send it to Hauge after you come back from Henan?" Daishan sighed, "How long do we have to wait?"
"It won't be long," Dorgon said. "You can come back in three or two months."
"What?" Daishan blinked, "You can defeat the Nanman in three or two months?"
"Hey," Dorgon waved his hand, "How can it be so easy? Three or two months can only stabilize the situation in Henan and Shandong to prevent the Nanman barbarians from taking advantage of the situation to counterattack and take back Zhongzhou... Since ancient times, whoever wins the Central Plains wins the world! Huainan The defeat does not mean anything. As long as the Central Plains is finally returned to the Qing Dynasty, it is only a matter of time before we conquer the world. Even if we fight for several generations, it will still be Beipingnan in the end."
"But how are you going to stabilize Zhongzhou within three months?" Daishan asked again.
As soon as this question came up, all the ministers present at the meeting pricked up their ears and turned their eyes to Dorgon.
People like Daishan, Abatai, Jierhalang, and a lot of other Manchu princes and ministers in the early Qing Dynasty were relatively capable of fighting. But politically and strategically, they really have no direction. If Daishan had taken over from Nurhachi back then, he would probably still be hanging around outside the customs now. He doesn't have Huang Taiji's ability. After Huang Taiji, Dorgon, the regent, was a ruthless man full of bad intentions.
Probably only he can think of a way to stabilize the situation in Zhongzhou.
Dorgon smiled and uttered three words: "Set a green flag."
"What's the point?" Daishan didn't seem to understand.
"Set a green flag!" Dorgon said, "In addition to the eight flags, we will set up two new flags, the straight green flag and the bordered green flag."
Ji Erhalang frowned and asked: "Prince Regent, what's the use of this? We only have a few people in Manchuria. No matter how many flags we set up, the population will not have time to reproduce."
There were approximately 60,000 strong men in Manchuria under the Eight Banners before entering the customs. Including the young men and old men who could join the army, the number could not exceed 80,000. Over the past year or so, more than 10,000 people have died in battle and illness. In other words, there are only 40,000 to 50,000 elites left in Eight Banners Manchuria who can truly fight.
In history, these 50,000 heavenly soldiers led hundreds of thousands of Han troops and green camp soldiers to defeat the world. But now when they encounter a ruthless person like Zhu Cixiang, the Han army and the Green Camp will not be able to use them very well. And the Eight Banners Heavenly Soldiers are not dead enough... It’s hard to think about it!
"True Green and Bordered Green are not from Manchuria," Dorgon said, "they are for the Nikans."
"Don't they have Han troops?" Daishan said.
Dorgon shook his head, "Can we incorporate all the Nikans who worked for the Qing Dynasty into the Han army? Even if we were willing, would those Nikans be willing? Wu Sangui wouldn't, right? How many people does he have now? Forty thousand? Sixty thousand? Are you willing to hand it over?"
Jirhalang said: "There are also green soldiers."
"Green camp?" Dorgon snorted, "Where can I get green camp if I don't have money? Prince Zheng, you are an assistant to the government, you should know how many old foundations the court still has? This time I spent a lot in Shandong and Henan, and I can earn a lot of money." What? King Su defeated Huainan again. The Eight Banners, the Han Army, and the Green Camp lost at least fifteen thousand people, and there were still thousands more injured! How much of the old foundation will be left after the pension is paid out? "
"this......"
The problem is serious!
Green soldiers are paid to serve as soldiers. If you don't have money, who will be a green soldier for you? If the Green Battalion disbanded, not counting Wu Sangui, who had ulterior motives, the Qing Dynasty would not even have 100,000 available troops.
One hundred thousand people are spread out on such a vast battlefield as Shanxi, Shaanxi, Beizhi, Liaoxi, Liaodong, Henan, and Shandong... How can we continue to fight?
"Prince Regent," Jilharang already somewhat understood what Dorgon meant, "do you want to transform the Green Camp soldiers into Green Flag soldiers?"
"Not only the Green Camp," Dorgon said, "but also Wu Sangui's men and horses, as well as Kong Youde, Shang Kexi, and Geng Zhongming's soldiers, all belong to the Green Flag. From now on, Wu Sangui's Western Army will be under the Green Flag. The ones to the east Kong Youde, Shang Kexi, Geng Zhongming, and other green camps are all considered Zhengluqi."
Jierhalang frowned slightly: "What's the difference between Green Camp and Green Flag?"
Dorgon explained: "The Green Camp is a paid mercenary force, while the Green Flag is an integrated army and civilians, similar to the Eight Banners... Naturally, the flag land must be granted!"
It turns out that Dorgon's brilliant idea was to expand the enclosure... This was the method he came up with when he was studying the Three Kingdoms at night, which was to cultivate land. Moreover, the current situation in North China is almost the same as when Cao Mengde was playing farming. There are fewer people and more land, and it is completely desolate!
Dorgon sighed: "There is no money... There is no land to rob! There is plenty of land. Henan and Shandong are full of abandoned farmland, and Gansu and Shaanxi are also free. Wu Sangui. Just encircle some of it and give it to the Green Banners, and let them be like our Eight Banners, both soldiers and farmers, working in the fields as soldiers, so that we can save a lot of military pay."
"Prince Regent," Jilharang asked, "How will this land be enclosed? Will landless people be allowed to surrender as slaves? How will it be managed after the enclosure is completed? Should it be managed uniformly within the banner, or will the land be divided among households? "
Dorgon said: "In Shaanxi, let Wu Sangui do it himself... Wu Sangui decides how many Jia La, how many Niu Lu and how many Gushan Ezhen should be set up with the green flag. Let's stay away from it.
As for the Zhenglu flag, it is sealed on the ground in Henan and Shandong. How to do it specifically? After I went to Henan, I found King Sanshun and the general soldiers of the Green Camp to discuss it slowly. There will always be a way. "
"There has to be an approximate number, right?" Daishan asked with a frown.
Dorgon touched his beard, thought for a while and said: "Our Eight Banners have encircled 20 million acres in Beizhi... How many people do we have? Counting the Han army and Mongolia, it is less than 100,000, and there are still some left It's outside the customs. The average person has more than 200 acres, right? Zhengluqi should also recruit this amount!
Let them build 200 Green Flag Niulu, give them 100,000 troops, and enclose 20 million acres of land! "
"Another 20 million acres?" Jierhalang frowned, "How many are there in total in Shandong and Henan? How much is left after encircling 20 million acres?"
Dorgon couldn't answer this question, so he glanced at Fan Wencheng who was attending the meeting of political kings.
Fan Wencheng's eyes were red and his face was yellow. He was obviously really sad about Hauge's death. Seeing Dorgon's eyes, he immediately stood up and bent down and replied: "Prince Zheng, there are more than 60 million acres in Shandong Province and more than 74 million acres in Henan Province... But the court does not Occupy these two provinces. On the territory of the imperial court, there are still 80 to 90 million acres. Moreover, these two provinces have been at war for many years, and many places are sparsely populated and have a lot of wasteland. There is no problem in enclosing 20 million acres... After the circle is completed, there will still be at least 60 million acres that can be taxed. According to the total grain tax in Henan under the previous dynasty, 2.3 million shi of flour a year is not too much."
"Where's Beizhili?" Jierhalang asked again, "How much more can be collected?"
"The original tax amount in Beizhili is very light," Fan Wencheng said. "With 20 million acres less, it can still be completed, which is 600,000 shi a year. Shanxi also has 2.3 million shi. We don't occupy the whole province now, but 1.5 million shi." There is still some... If we give a little more, the land tax can always be 4 million taels. As for commercial taxes and customs duties, the maximum is 1.5 million taels a year. With this income, we can't maintain a hundred thousand taels in any case. There are green soldiers, so enclosing the area with green flags is the only way."
4 million stone grains and 1.5 million taels of silver are the maximum income that the Qing Dynasty can get in the next period of time.
As for Zhu Cixiang, it can be doubled at least 10 times!
More than money, the Qing Dynasty had no chance at all... But Dorgon still found the most favorable factor for the Qing Dynasty - the conflict between people and land in the north has been greatly alleviated due to years of war.
In the territory directly ruled by the Qing Dynasty, the population was between 15 million and 10 million. The arable land is at least about 200 million acres!
Therefore, the Qing Dynasty did not need Jiangnan to pay tribute of 4 million shi every year. As long as the land on hand was reasonably distributed and utilized, it could be maintained well.
Zhu Cixiang's core area of southern Zhili, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi has more than 200 million acres of arable land. If the influx of refugees from the north is included, the population is at least 780 million, and the contradiction between man and land is far more serious than in the Central Plains.
