Dorgon, who had been promoted to Emperor Ama of the Qing Dynasty, tried every means to delay the all-out war between the north and the south in order to promote his three major layouts of "pacifying the northwest, reforming the Nine Banners and developing the outside world".
In Nanjing, the capital of Emperor Hongxing, a group of warlords who came to Beijing for the pilgrimage were encouraging Emperor Hongxing to launch a northern expedition, and they were getting better and better!
Because from this point of view, time is not on the side of Ming...
"Your Majesty, the art of military use has never been perfect since ancient times. And from the north to the south, there are few who have succeeded completely. Only the great talents and strategies of Taizu of this dynasty were able to achieve great success. But today's world and the end of the Yuan Dynasty are in great danger There is a difference. The Donglu who occupied the Central Plains and Yanyun are different from the Mongolia at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. The Mongolia at the end of the Yuan Dynasty was already decayed, internally disintegrated, and there were endless struggles. Therefore, there were dry bones in the graves, and sooner or later, Emperor Taizu Gao would sweep them away. But now Donglu is a newly established state. It started from Nurhachi and passed down to Fulin for only three generations, but the kings such as Dorgon and Duduo who really held power were only two generations... It is the prosperity of the country. Time!
If His Majesty, in order to ensure the safety of the Northern Expedition, first reorganizes the internal affairs, and then refines the troops and horses, and does not hesitate to spend three to five years, is he not afraid that the Donglu will also use these three to five years to reorganize and develop, and become more prosperous?
Therefore, in my opinion, if the Northern Expedition is to be successful, it must be done as soon as possible, before the Donglu develops vigorously, and it will take three to five years to go all out and achieve success in one fell swoop. If I miss these three to five years, I'm afraid that our Southern Dynasty will be increasingly wasted, while the Northern Dynasty will be prosperous..."
The person who said the above words was none other than Shi Kefa, the governor of the military sect of the seven provinces!
Because he performed well when Zhu Cihong came to the throne, Shi Kefa can barely be regarded as a loyal minister now.
The reason why he is barely considered a loyal minister is because the autographed letter from Gao Yushun that Ji Kun brought back from Xuzhou has been confirmed to be true!
The letter was indeed written by Gao Yushun, but the content in the letter... I don't know if it is true! Anyway, Ji Kun couldn't figure it out - this guy was a litigant at first, and later became a cruel official. He had seen countless people and developed a pair of piercing eyes. But even with his sharp eyes, he couldn't tell whether Shi Kefa and Huang Degong had any thoughts of rebellion?
Zhu Chunjie, the commander of the Jinyiwei, was also confused. Although he sent spies around Shi Kefa and Gao Jie, he never received any reports of contact between the two of them and Gao Yushun or Zhu Cizhao.
But at the same time, Wu Sanfu, who led his troops to capture Xiangyang, reported secretly that Zhu Cizhao, Gao Yushun, and Concubine Yuan Guifei had been secretly released as early as the end of the 18th year of Chongzhen, and were personally escorted out of Xiangyang Prefecture by the military advisor Song Xiance. The situation...and many of the Dashun officers and soldiers who surrendered or were captured knew about this, so it should be credible.
In addition, Wu Sanfu did not know that Ji Kun and Jin Yiwei were investigating Shi Kefa and Huang Degong, nor did he know that Gao Jiemi reported Shi Kefa and Huang Degong.
Wu Sanfu had no interaction with Shi Kefa, Huang Degong, and Gao Jie, and had little contact with them, so it was impossible to frame Shi Kefa and Huang Degong on a single charge. Moreover, Wu Sanfu has never reported anyone in front of Zhu Cixiang...
So this case is really confusing!
"Shi Qing," Zhu Cixiang, who was sitting behind a table in the Dongnuan Pavilion of Fengtian Palace, just looked at Shi Kefa expressionlessly, "do you think Donglu will be prosperous?"
Shi Kefa was sitting on a chair "alone" with Zhu Cixiang. When he heard Zhu Cixiang's question, he nodded and said: "Your Majesty, I have been in Qufu for a long time, and I pay attention to the changes in the situation in the north every day. Based on my observation, from the east After the captives set up two green flags and started planning and dictating farming methods in Shandong, Beizhili, Shanxi, Henan and other places, the situation became increasingly stable, the people no longer fled, farming gradually resumed, and the rebels everywhere became more and more difficult day by day. . If the Northern Expedition starts within this year, there should be a good chance of winning. If it is delayed for three to five years, I'm afraid there won't be much chance of winning..."
Zhu Cixiang knew that what Shi Kefa was observing was a scene of an increasingly prosperous dynasty after its restart—few people, a lot of land, two holes (farming wars), and all kinds of complex production relations and social relations were swept away. And with light, everything becomes very simple.
For northern scholars like Shi Kefa, this simple and emerging society is probably more ideal than the chaotic nascent stage of capitalism here in Nanming, right?
"Shi Qing," Zhu Cihong said, "I also want to move north to the Central Plains as soon as possible and regain the old capital. However, the Northern Expedition will require at least three to four hundred thousand troops, millions of civilians, and will take several years... The food consumed by the war for a year is probably tens of millions of stones, right? If we consider that there are still many people in the north who need relief, the court needs to prepare even more food."
The food consumed by an army of three to four hundred thousand per year is no less than two million dan (the specific number also takes into account the number of livestock in the army). If there is no waterway to transport food, but must rely on land or part of the land, a If the annual grain and grass consumption is two million stones multiplied by five, it may not be able to completely guarantee the supply.
It would be difficult to supply this amount of grain before Huguang's grain production was fully restored - it was not that the court could not receive that much grain, but that it was difficult to have such a large amount of grain in surplus.
"Your Majesty," Shi Kefa said, "the strategy of the Northern Expedition has been stated in the memorial submitted by me... It does not require hundreds of thousands of troops, millions of civilians, nor does it require several years of effort. It only requires one person The brigade division crosses the sea and seizes the mountains and seas, and leads the elite soldiers of the Eastern captives to fight. I can then take the elite troops to the west, advance along the river (Yellow River), directly capture Zhongzhou, and then enter Shanxi, and join forces to replace the king. When the time comes, Your Majesty Then use the title of Duke to recruit Wu Sangui to return to the court. How could the Donglu dare to occupy Yanjing? How could the Northern Expedition fail?"
Shi Kefa's plan sounds good and may be realized - as long as he lands in western Liaoning, the battle with Shanhaiguan can attract Dorgon's main force to go. Then the warlords of Shandong and Huaibei and the Tang king of Nanyang can sweep Henan together. After Henan is acquired, the situation in Shanxi will definitely change drastically, and the anti-Qing rebels will definitely gain momentum. And Wu Sangui, who was huddled in Gansu and Shaanxi, took the opportunity to raise troops to rebel against the Qing Dynasty. Why worry about the big thing failing?
"Shi Qing," Zhu Cihong asked, "How much food do you need to send troops from Shandong and Huaibei to the west? How many civilians? How many livestock? How much can you raise on your own?"
"Your Majesty," Shi Kefa said, "Last year's grain harvest in Shandong and Huaibei was poor. All the armies relied on sweet potatoes to satisfy their hunger. Many people fled. It was indeed very difficult. This year's spring sowing situation is not good. The weather is dry and there is little rain. It is estimated that there will still be a harvest failure. , when there is no shortage of food, the government will need to release grain to relieve the famine. Therefore, the armies may not be able to raise much food and grass...but the civilians and livestock can still raise some."
Zhu Cixiang lowered his head and thought for a while, and then said: "This year, there will be rice to be redeemed from the fields in Hubei, and maybe there will be grain taxes from the customs. By winter, the Military Field Department should be rich...Before winter, it is We can't get any food together. So Shi Qing can go back and prepare first, and come back in the autumn, and I will discuss the Northern Expedition with you."
Although Shi Kefa's historical performance is not very reliable, Zhu Cixiang feels that the plan he proposed has certain feasibility... At least there is no problem in landing in western Liaoning and capturing Shanhaiguan!
Zhang Huangyan has been operating on Juehua Island for almost a year or two. He has built a city on the island that can station troops, built a large number of warehouses, and built a dock for a large number of ships to dock.
The army and supplies can go to the island with a favorable wind at the end of summer this year, and then walk directly to Ningyuan Acropolis after the sea freezes in winter... No matter how strong Ningyuan Acropolis is, it is not a bastion and cannot withstand twelve pounds. Continuous bombardment from Hongyi artillery.
Once Ningyuan falls, can Dorgon send troops all the way to rescue him?
Even if we don't engage in field battles, don't stick to Ningyuan, and just retreat to Juehua Island, we won't lose money!
