The army currently on the books of the Dashun Dynasty is not very large. There are more than 20,000 troops in Xi'an Prefecture and Fengxiang Prefecture. Yan'an Prefecture and Yulin can probably pull out a few thousand troops. Together they are almost 30,000.
There are about 60,000 people concentrated in the west of Jingzhou Prefecture - including old camp soldiers, new attached soldiers and accompanying auxiliary soldiers. Among them, there are no less than 30,000 old camp soldiers with strong combat effectiveness.
There are still about 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers and horses in Xiangjing Prefecture, Hanyang Prefecture, Chengtian Prefecture, Nanyang Prefecture, Yunyang Prefecture, Hanzhong Prefecture, and Gongchang Prefecture, of which no less than 20,000 are old soldiers.
Thirty thousand plus sixty thousand plus forty or fifty thousand, the total is 1,340,000. Compared with the millions in history, that is nothing. But these 1,340,000 are "dry goods", without family members or trapped people. Even the entourage of the old camp soldiers are very strong and capable of going into battle.
In addition, because the Nanming led by Zhu Cihong was more effective in the war against the Qing Dynasty, Li Zicheng had more time to straighten out the internal affairs, and finally established a more effective feudal system. Therefore, the cohesion and combat effectiveness have been greatly improved, and at the same time, the cost of "absorption and merger" of the opponent has been raised.
Recruiting feudal soldiers and recruiting rogue bandits are not the same price! The rogue bandits can get away with a few small coins (most likely they will cause trouble again), but the feudal soldiers can't get enough land or money to feed them?
If these 1,340,000 people were to receive the treatment of new officers and soldiers who had overcome difficulties or the green flag of the Qing Dynasty, Zhu Cihong and Dorgon would probably have to make plans for several months... Prince Zhu The total number of new troops on hand to overcome difficulties is only a little over 200,000 (of which only 100,000 are actually able to fight tough battles, and the rest still need to be equipped, trained, and organized). The military pay, military rations, equipment, and training expenses alone are enough. Zhu Cihong's Minister of Household Affairs, Chen Rui, and Minister of War, Wu Xiang, complained.
Another 130,000 to 40,000 yuan... Unless Huguang is digested and the income of 20 million Shibai rice is squeezed out a year, it will not be enough to cover the expenses.
No money, just no money!
As for Dorgon's side, let alone that. The 1,340,000 Green Flag Soldiers would need 30 million acres just to enclose the land! Where to circle? Now the Eight Banners and Xianglv Banner have taken over 40 million acres, and Wu Sangui has taken over land in Shaanxi. The rest of the land was distributed according to the calculation of land balance - it was all taxes from the Qing court! Four liters per acre, 30 million acres equals 1.2 million shi!
In addition, officials from the Eight Banners and the Xianglu Banner have to eat an extra portion. Inside and out, it’s three million stones a year! How could it be awarded? If you really do this, the Eight Flags and the green flag will have to jump up! Does Dorgon still want to be Emperor Ama?
Unless you can take enough territory with you, you may not be able to accept the traitor... You really can't afford it!
But if you can still hang out if you have a territory, who would be considered a traitor?
Similarly, if Zhu Cihong wants to win over the Dashun princes who have territory and troops, the money he has to pay is a sky-high price... Who will rebel if there is no benefit?
Therefore, the future Shun Taizong Li Guo does not need to consider the rebellion of the four princes yet... Even if they will rebel, it is not something that will happen right now!
At Shilipu Inn, in front of Li Zicheng's coffin, Li Guo was sitting at the top, and below were Li Laiheng, Liu Zongmin, Tian Jianxiu, Liu Xiyao, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, and Gu Junen.
A Shilipu Conference, which will determine the future and destiny of the Dashun Dynasty, is being held secretly.
The first consensus reached at the meeting was that the funeral should be kept secret!
Li Zicheng still has to pretend to be alive...and the longer the better! Don’t talk about it until you really can’t hide it anymore.
The second consensus is, of course, to divide the troops and manage the territory. According to Li Zicheng's "edict", each of the four princes was allowed to take over a piece of territory and establish a vassal town to shield the Dashun court.
The third consensus is to give up part of the territory of Nanyang Prefecture, Chengtian Prefecture, Hanyang Prefecture and Xiangjing Prefecture that are obviously undefendable. And the family members of various camps who stayed in Xiangjing and Nanyang were moved to Hanzhong first. After Sichuan was pacified, the families of the various camps were placed in the territories of the four princes or throughout Sichuan.
The fourth consensus is to speed up the entry into Sichuan! Change the original plan of going all the way to Sichuan, abandon Guanzhong, and go to Sichuan. Mobilize the troops of Gao Yigong and Luo Hu (who are also direct descendants of Li Zicheng) to invade Sichuan through Hanzhong, and cooperate with the East Route Army to capture Chongqing Prefecture. There are two ways to enter Sichuan from Hanzhong, one is through Baoning Prefecture; the other is through Baoning Prefecture; Travel to Taiping, Dongxiang and Dazhou in Kuizhou.
The first one is the main road into Sichuan, and the second one is a small road, which is relatively difficult to walk, but it also has unexpected effects.
The fifth consensus was to formally confer Li Guo as the crown prince and Li Laiheng as the crown prince in the name of Li Zicheng. This confirmed the leadership status of Li Guo and Li Laiheng in the Dashun Dynasty.
The sixth consensus is to immediately move into Fengjie, the first county in Kuizhou, and then change Fengjie County to Yongan County, Kuizhou to Yongan Prefecture, as the capital of Dashun, and place Li Zicheng's coffin in Yong'an.
...
"Your Highness, Your Highness, I just got some very strange news!"
"How weird is that?"
"Li Zicheng has just made his nephew Li Guo the crown prince."
"Is this strange? Didn't Li Zicheng call himself the emperor? He has no son, so it is normal for his nephew to be the prince! Otherwise, who will take over if he dies?"
"But...Li Guo is two years older than Li Zicheng!"
"Oh! So what?"
At the Yuhu Palace, Zhu Cixiang, who was still busy cleaning up the aftermath of the Battle of Tangjiashan, had just received the news from Du Yinxi that Li Guo had recognized his new father.
He didn't react for a while, but after hearing Du Yinxi's analysis, he felt something was wrong. Why did Li Zicheng accept a nephew who was two years older than him as his son?
"Your Highness the Crown Prince," Du Yinxi said, "As far as I know, Li Zicheng has a younger brother alive and more than one young nephew. Why would he accept an old nephew as his heir? Besides, the Crown Prince is two years older than his father, and is very likely to be younger than his father. My father died first..."
yes!
Although there are no young or old on Huangquan Road, except for the early death of young children, it is still a high probability that the eldest will die first these days.
This Li Guo is older than Li Zicheng, so he may die earlier. What's the point of making him the prince?
"In addition," Du Yinxi added, "I also received news that Li Zicheng's army was robbing salted fish everywhere on its way to the west!"
"What? What did you say?" Zhu Cixiang was stunned again and again, "Robbing salted fish?"
"Has His Highness the Crown Prince forgotten the death of the First Emperor in the sand dunes?" Du Yinxi reminded in a low voice.
"Ah!" Zhu Cixi pressed his forehead, "He's dead!"
Du Yinxi nodded: "It's a secret! Your Highness the Crown Prince... If Li Zicheng is really dead, then it will be the best time for us to wipe out the bandits in one fell swoop!"
Wipe it out in one fell swoop?
It makes me happy just thinking about it!
Zhu Cixiang’s brows furrowed in happiness!
Because he knew that the bandits Du Yinxi said he wanted to wipe out in one fell swoop were not limited to Huguang.
Now the bandits in Huguang have the tail of a rabbit, and it looks like they won’t grow back! Wu Sanfu just sent good news, saying that the entire territory of Hanyang Prefecture had been recovered. Li Yan also reported that the bandits in Nanyang and De'an Prefectures were also retreating steadily. In addition to the three counties of Xiangyang, Gucheng, Guanghua and Junzhou, the loss of land in Xiangyang, Nanyang, and De'an Prefectures should be completed soon. recover.
The armies of Wu Guoyong and Yan Yingyuan are also making good progress in Jingzhou Prefecture, and have now advanced to Yidu County and the vicinity of Huya Mountain...
Since the rogue bandits in Huguang are about to be eliminated, the "complete annihilation" mentioned by Du Yinxi naturally refers to the rogue bandits in Sichuan and Shaanxi.
"Your Highness," Du Yinxi suggested, "now we should concentrate our troops into two groups, pursue the rogue bandits into Sichuan, and attack Xiangyang and Yunyang. We should also use both suppression and appeasement to take advantage of the opportunity when the rogue bandits lose their backbone. Defeat them, then recruit them one by one and use them for your own use!
After the remaining troops of Li Zicheng were eliminated, the Xian thieves entrenched in Sichuan would not last long. The same method could be used to suppress and pacify them, beheading them and using them as slaves. In this way, Huguang, Sichuan, and even Shaanxi can be stabilized. The imperial court can use these sponsored bandits to march northward to the Central Plains and drive out the Eastern captives! "
What a combination of suppression and appeasement, to defeat the captives...but the question is, at what cost?
