As soon as the old lady's words came out of her mouth, there were two tall and thick Mongolian princes sitting on embroidered pillars on the right side of the old lady, and they all panicked.
One of the princes, who was in his thirties and had the same appearance as the old lady, and was Duoama (Dorgon)'s favorite pie-faced prince, opened his mouth and asked: "Auntie, the Qing Dynasty is about to end, our Horqin Ten What should I do with the flag?"
The person who asked the question called the old lady "aunt", and was naturally the old lady's great-nephew, Horqin Left Wing Center Banner Zasak and Prince Shuodarhan Bandi.
The 50,000 "Horqin Iron Cavalry" transferred to the capital by Bumbutai this time were led by the Bandi prince and Biliktu, the hereditary king of Doro County of the Horqin tribe in Nezasak Mongolia, as the coach and deputy coach. .
Biliktu's "Prince Bi" was about the same age as the others, but he was a generation younger. He was Bumbutai's great-nephew, so he had to call the old queen "great-aunt."
"Great-grandmother, don't you mean that even if Guan Nei is gone, our Qing Dynasty can still defend the territory of Guandong, Korea, and Mongolia and continue to confront the Ming Dynasty. Why is this not the same situation as the Liao Dynasty? Why is it about to end?"
Bumbutai looked at his two juniors from his natal family, and sighed and said: "We in the Qing Dynasty want to be in the Liao Dynasty, but is the Ming Dynasty willing to be the Song Dynasty? Besides, the reason why Daliao can be called Daliao is because It’s because Song Taizong’s two Northern Expeditions to Yanyun were both defeated by the Liao. If Song Taizong had won a great victory at the Gaoliang River and wiped out the Khitan’s elite troops, would the Liao still be able to dominate beyond the Great Wall?”
"Here, what should I do?"
"The Qing Dynasty is coming to an end, and our Horqin Ten Banners will be in dire straits."
The two Mongolian princes were also anxious. The Horqin Mongols were no more miserable than the other Mongolians. They were shareholders of the Qing Dynasty! Since the time of Nurhaci, he has been a popular follower of the Heavenly Soldiers of the Later Jin Dynasty. Not only did he repeatedly follow the Heavenly Soldiers of the Later Jin Dynasty (Qing Dynasty) into the Central Plains, but he also helped Nurhachi and Huang Taiji to bully their fellow Mongolians.
The Qing Dynasty is about to end. Other Mongolian tribes in southern and northern Mongolia can still change their camps and accept the Ming Dynasty as their master, but the Horqin tribe may have to be buried with them!
"The Empress Dowager, I think the Qing Dynasty may not be over, but it can still be saved."
The one who also wanted to save the Qing Dynasty was Suo'etu. He was even worse off than the two Mongolians. The Horqin tribe was nomadic at least. At worst, they could "wander" far away, and they should still be able to survive. After all, the world is a big place!
But Suo'etu is a Manchurian, where can he run? Go to Rakshasa to join King Yu? Or should he flee to Taiping Valley and defend himself?
These two paths may seem okay at first glance, but in fact they are not that easy to walk through.
It's too far to go to the Rakshasa Kingdom to be a "Soetuf", and I can't even bring a few subordinates with me. Even a bare minister can't do much by running away.
It’s not close to Taipinggu Road, but you can still bring more people. But the problem is that the territory in the west was jointly conquered by the Qing Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty. Now that the Qing Dynasty is about to end, and Wu Zhou seems to be able to bounce around for a while, will that old boy Wu Yingqi move into the Western Regions and seize the blessed land of Taiping Valley?
Therefore, for Suo'etu, the best strategy is to save the Qing Dynasty!
"How to save?" the old lady asked.
"The Empress Dowager, as I see it, now that we are in the same boat as Yang Qilong, we should work together to rescue the 80,000-strong army trapped in Shandong! With these 80,000-strong army, we, the Qing Dynasty, can gather them together The army can still have a small 200,000 people. Even if it cannot fight the Ming army in Beijing, it can still withdraw outside the pass. In the future, only Aisin Gioro's Manchuria, Horqin's Mongolia and Yang's North Korea can work together to resist the Ming Dynasty. It can still be maintained.”
When the old lady heard what Suo'etu said, she didn't know what to say except sighing.
If the 80,000 troops trapped in Shandong could be rescued, the Qing Dynasty could really raise 200,000 troops if it worked hard. But the problem is that in order to rescue the 80,000 troops, the Qing Dynasty would have to send all the troops it could scavenge from Beijing. Go to the front!
But even then, plus the trapped 80,000 troops, the Qing Dynasty could send out at most a hundred thousand troops. Even though it had occupied a lot of land in Shanxi, Wu Yingqi, who had recently been busy extracting money from Shanxi merchants, also sent troops. That’s as high as we can muster an army of 200,000!
The Ming Army's Northern Expeditionary Army numbered 400,000! And there are 400,000 militiamen who can be replenished at any time to the regular army. 200,000 versus 400,000 (800,000), isn’t it clear who has the advantage?
Kangxi had previously used more than 200,000 elite troops, relied on six or seven forts, and dug out the Yellow River to flood Li Zhongshan's retreat. The result was such an ugly defeat. Now he relies on a patchwork of more than 100,000 or 200,000 troops. Can you still win?
But the Qing Dynasty is now a loser gambler, even giving it a try with Emperor Chongzhen back then. If you don’t put your last remaining capital on the bet with the Qing Dynasty and Li Zicheng, then you really won’t be willing to die!
Just as she thought of this, an "aunt" in her forties walked in from outside the main hall of Cining Palace and gave the old queen a crouching salute: "To the queen mother, Zhang Yong, the admiral of the nine gates, is asking to see you."
When the old lady heard this, she immediately smiled bitterly and said to Suo'etu: "Suo'etu, it seems that Yang is not willing to be a little king of North Korea!"
Suo Etu said: "The Empress Dowager Shengming. In the future Qing Dynasty, his nephew will be the emperor and his sister will be the queen mother. He will be the number one relative of the Qing Dynasty!"
Bu Mu Butai snorted: "I'm afraid he is still thinking of plotting to usurp the throne and become the second to Sui Duke Yang Jian, right?"
"The Empress Dowager," Suo'etu said, "precisely because he has this intention, he will join us to save the 80,000-strong army of Empress Dowager Yang and Prince Gong!"
Bumbutai sighed and looked at the two Mongolian princes again.
"Auntie, if Yang Qilong surrenders to the Ming Dynasty, then the Sauron cavalry he has will be used by the Ming Dynasty!"
"Great-grandmother, there are also many cavalry in the Ming army in the Northern Expedition. If they join forces with Yang Qilong's cavalry, it will be impossible for us to go nomadic to the Mughal lands in the west!"
Bumbutai nodded: "Okay, since you all want to take another gamble, then bet the last bit of the Qing Dynasty's wealth on it!"
Shanxi, Niangziguan, where the Prime Minister of the Great Zhou Dynasty traveled.
Just when Beijing was preparing to stake its final capital to save the Qing Dynasty, Wu Yingqi's carriage in Niangziguan City at the junction of Shanxi and Zhili also welcomed two groups of envoys, one of which was sent by Empress Dowager Yang of the Qing Dynasty. The Qing envoy was headed by envoy Chen Tingjing; along the way was Lu Sanhao, Fatty Lu, whom Wu Yingqi was familiar with when he was in Yunnan.
"Prime Minister, now we have reached a critical moment when our lips are about to die and our teeth are about to become cold. The Emperor of the Qing Dynasty has said that the Qing Dynasty only wants a situation like the Liao Kingdom. The land of Shanxi and Henan can be given to the Zhou Dynasty. But if The Qing Dynasty was defeated, and the emperor's army was completely annihilated in Shandong. At that time, the Qing Dynasty could only withdraw from the pass and retreat to Saibei and Liaodong to recuperate. Then the pass would be the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Dongming Dynasty!
Prime Minister, please do the math: how much wealth and population will the Ming Dynasty have after it swallows up the Shandong Province of the Qing Dynasty? And even if the Zhou Dynasty takes Shanxi, how much land and population will it increase? Although there is only one word difference between Shandong and Shanxi, Shandong has a much larger population than Shanxi. It has always been the most populous province in the north of the Qing Dynasty! "
The one who was settling the accounts for Wu Yingqi was Chen Tingjing. In fact, there was no need to settle the accounts. Wu Yingqi also knew that it was impossible for the Zhou Dynasty to fight against the Ming Dynasty alone - if the populations of Shanxi, Hezhong and the Western Regions were not included, the population of the Zhou Dynasty was less than 10 million, while the Ming Dynasty Not counting Shandong, there are more than 60 million!
Shandong is a province with a large population. Even though many people have moved to Liaodong in the past two years, the population is still around 8 million, while Shanxi's population is less than 3 million.
In other words, the population of the Ming Dynasty will soon exceed 70 million, while the population of the Zhou Dynasty, including Shanxi (excluding the Western Regions and Hezhong), is only 12 million. There is no need to fight!
"Prime Minister, what Chen Zhongtang said makes sense. Even if we use all the strength of the country, we can only raise an army of 200,000 at most, and it will not last long. We cannot defeat Ming's army of one million! Now Li Fuchen is sitting in Huguang, gathering together We have tens of thousands of soldiers, and we are already sharpening our swords. Once the Qing Dynasty is defeated and goes out of the country, we will be the next unlucky ones!"
The person who was beating the drums on the side was Wu Sanwei. This old man frowned and looked worried about the country and the people. He kept speaking for the Qing Dynasty. It seemed that he had received a lot of benefits from Chen Tingjing.
Wu Yingqi seemed to be persuaded by his advantageous fourth uncle, and nodded heavily: "Fourth uncle, Chen Zhongtang, I still know the truth behind the death of the lips and the coldness of the teeth. Don't worry, the truth will never refuse to save you!
Chen Zhongtang, go back and tell the Qing Emperor that he cannot write two characters of Wu in one stroke. Since he is his uncle, there is no reason not to save him! But in this land of Shanxi, there are still many loyal officials of the Qing Dynasty who are blind! "
Shanxi produces loyal ministers! Qixian, Taigu, Wenshui, Yuci, Xugou and other places are full of "loyal ministers" of the Qing Dynasty, headed by the "eight loyal ministers" such as Fan, Jin, Liang, Tian, Zhai, Huang and Erwang. He resisted desperately, but was unwilling to surrender to the Zhou Dynasty. In fact, Wu Yingqi was not very evil. He only asked the loyal merchants in Shanxi to scrape together 10 million taels of silver for him, and provide him with 100,000 camels, 100,000 mules and horses, and 300,000 people.伕 and 3 million shi of grain. In addition, each family will provide some people to help develop the river.
But for this small request, those "loyal ministers of the Qing Dynasty" in Shanxi refused to agree. They were so loyal!
"Don't worry, Prime Minister. As long as the Prime Minister sends troops to Zhili and helps the Qing Emperor to destroy the Ming army that broke into Zhili, the Emperor can issue an order to cede Shanxi to the Zhou Dynasty. At that time, those Shanxi wealthy merchants will have no righteousness. Resist the heavenly soldiers of Zhou Dynasty!"
Chen Tingjing himself is also from Shanxi, and his family is also a Shanxi merchant. Now he is risking his life to protect the Qing Dynasty.
With Chen Tingjing's guarantee, Wu Yingqi finally relaxed, and together with Wu Sanwei, sent Chen Tingjing out of Niangziguan.
Standing inside the gate of Niangziguan, watching Chen Tingjing and his party leave in a hurry, Wu Yingqi just snorted coldly: "We are cutting Shanxi again, and we are selling Shanxi merchants...Isn't the Qing Dynasty coming to an end?"
"Prime Minister, I think so too..." Wu Sanwei, who looked like a supporter of the Qing Dynasty just now, also changed his face, "If Kangxi hadn't suffered a disastrous defeat, how could he have brought down Shanxi, which was both beautiful and beautiful on the outside and inside? Cede it to us? It’s even more impossible to package up and sell all the eight imperial merchants!
We have to be careful and don't throw all the money we have at hand into it. "
It turns out that Wu Yingqi's purpose in sending troops to Shanxi was just to gain a vote... His Zhou Dynasty was really too poor, and he didn't get much oil and water from the river before sending troops. It seemed that the trade routes in the Western Regions were not promising, so he thought of it when he was desperate. I learned from Li Zicheng and went to Shanxi to earn money.
Unexpectedly, Kangxi actually gave up Shanxi brother to him, and even the eight imperial merchants were not guaranteed. It seems that this defeat is really a big deal!
"Fourth uncle," Wu Yingqi thought for a while and then said to Wu Sanwei, "first go and see Lu Sanhao and touch the land of Ming Dynasty..."
Having said that, Wu Yingqi's brows were already knitted together.
Wu Yingqi had actually known Ming's trump card for a long time... He had already guessed it when Wu Guogui and Wu Shijue ran to the New World.
Between the Ming Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty, as long as there was still some room for change, Wu Guogui and Wu Shijue would not run away.
But even so, Wu Yingqi still wanted to fight for it again.
After all, Wu Xiaotuo and Wu Xiaoji were both Li Zhongshan’s wives and concubines... Li Zhongshan himself was also a relative of the emperor of Zhou Dynasty!
The envoy sent by Li Zhongshan to the Zhou Dynasty, Daming Shangshu Youcheng Lu Yifeng and Lu Sanhao, were also from the Pingxi Palace.
There should be some room for maneuver on this matter, right?
"Old Prince, don't you know how I, Lu Sanhao, do things? I always say good things, be a good person, and do good things..."
In Wu Sanwei's hotel in Niangziguan City, Fatty Lu, who had traveled thousands of miles and traveled a lot, finally had a good word with Wu Sangui's half-brother.
"Mr. Sanhao, according to what you said, can Zhou and Ming coexist in the future?"
Although Wu Sanwei and Lu Sanhao were not familiar with each other at all, I didn't know how this person said good things, acted like a good person, and did good deeds. But Lu Sanhao's words still gave him hope.
"Of course..." Lu San said with a smile, "Of course Zhou and Ming can coexist!
What General Li means is that after the Qing Dynasty is destroyed, the Ming Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty will turn the entire continent of China into the world of the Han people! "
"Shenzhou Continent?" As soon as Wu Sanwei heard this, he knew it was not a good thing.
Wu Sanwei also knew about the concept of Shenzhou Continent. Generally speaking, it is similar to the Asian continent of Westerners. There are always about 20,000 miles between east and west!
If the Ming Dynasty is in the east and the Zhou Dynasty is in the west, the two sides should be divided equally.
So what was allocated to the Great Zhou was the Mughals and Persia, as well as the Levant and Arabian areas... Judging from the name, it didn't sound like a good and peaceful territory!
"Mr. Sanhao... The western part of the Shenzhou Continent is too poor. It's either grassland or desert, and there are no products at all. We are going to the Great Zhou Dynasty, won't we have to suffer from poverty for generations to come?"
Lu San said with a smile: "Those areas are poor now. What are you afraid of? As long as they are safe, there will always be development in the future. As for the property... look carefully, there will always be some.
If the Great Zhou Dynasty did not go to the west, but stayed in the Eastern Land...then I, the Ming Dynasty, would definitely unify the Eastern Land in the future.
By then, life will be in ruins again! When the old Wu family is defeated, they may not even have the strength to go west! "
"What are you talking about?" Wu Sanwei immediately became angry, "I have 200,000 soldiers in the Great Zhou Dynasty. Are you afraid that your army in the Great Ming Dynasty won't be enough?"
"Old Prince... Our Ming Dynasty has an army of 400,000 in Zhili and Shandong alone!" Lu Sanhao said with a smile, "If the Zhou Dynasty wants to fight, there is no need to wait for the Qing Dynasty to be completely defeated.
It’s a good time to send troops now! We, the Ming Dynasty, the Great Zhou Dynasty, and the Great Qing Dynasty, will fight a Three Kingdoms War on the territory of Zhili!
One battle will determine victory or defeat... If the Zhou army is defeated, don't waste your strength on the east side, and go to the west as soon as possible! "
Wu Sanwei snorted and looked unconvinced: "What if you defeat me?"
"Impossible, absolutely impossible!" Lu San said with a smile, "General Li has an army of 400,000 people and is supported by powerful people in Shandong. He needs food, food, and people... How can he be defeated? Old prince, can you and Prime Minister Wu, please tell me carefully, when you go to the battlefield, you must clearly understand the situation before fighting!"
(End of chapter)
