Fortunately, Huang Taiji seemed to have gotten used to fainting in the past few months. The imperial doctor had been waiting by the side for a long time, and the people around him also knew how to deal with it. Therefore, Huang Taiji woke up after a while.
Afterwards, he asked most of the people to retreat, leaving only the few of the eight Baylors who had not been eliminated by him.
Huang Taiji leaned on the back of the dragon chair, and his expression was obviously much worse. He glanced at Dorgon and others, and said weakly: "The eight major Shanxi merchants were killed by the Ming Dynasty court. Even if we look for merchants again, at least in the It’s probably not possible in the short term. So, if nothing else, I’m afraid there won’t be enough food right now. What do you think?”
In fact, the destruction of the eight major Shanxi merchants was far more than a simple lack of food in Liaodong. However, this food problem will continue to be solved for now.
Azige hugged Huang Taiji's legs tightly. When he heard this, he said without hesitation: "My brother is willing to lead the troops into the pass and rob his mother."
After hearing this, Huang Taiji did not reply, but glanced at the others.
Seeing this, Jierhalang frowned and said: "It's not the end of the year yet. If we enter the customs, where will the food and drink of the army come from? In the past, when we entered the customs, we all knew that the Ming Dynasty's grain was transported north to Tongzhou, and even if we robbed it, If we can't find food, Shanxi merchants are still here as a last resort, so we don't have to worry about whether the army has food."
"Yes, according to past practice, even if we want to enter the customs, we have to wait at least until October!" Dorgon agreed with a stern face when he heard this.
When Azig heard their disapproval, he said to Huang Taiji: "Your Majesty, those weak chickens in the pass, as long as they capture the city, are they afraid of running out of food? My brother is willing to issue a military order. If you don't rob enough money, food and population, I will never return to Liaodong!"
Jierhalang and Dorgon have made their attitudes clear and stopped talking nonsense.
Duduo, who had spoken actively and humiliated Fan Wencheng before, had not spoken yet. When Huang Taiji turned his eyes to him, he had no choice but to reply: "We haven't entered the customs for several years, and we don't know what's going on inside the customs? "
After hearing this, Huang Taiji frowned and pondered for a moment, then said, "You can ask Hong Chengchou about this matter. He should know the best."
Upon hearing this, Duduo immediately said in a disbelieving tone: "Maybe he was the one who tipped off the news. Ask him, can he tell the truth?"
"..." After hearing his words, Huang Taiji couldn't help but fell silent.
But after thinking carefully for a while, he shook his head and said, "It shouldn't be him."
At this point, he saw other people looking at him and explained: "Now he has no soldiers and no power, and there is no one he can trust around him, right? So, how can he inform the Ming Dynasty court in the pass? "
At that time, Liu Aita was the commander-in-chief of Dai Jin, and he had brothers and useful people under his command, so he was able to hook up with Yuan Keli, the then governor of Denglai.
However, Duduo was obviously not convinced, and immediately retorted: "What if he colluded with someone with military power?"
"..." Upon hearing this, Huang Taiji fell silent again.
In his opinion, this is indeed possible. If any of the original Han generals tried to rebel against the Qing Dynasty and approached him as Hong Chengchou to collude, it might be possible.
There was silence for a while in Chongzheng Hall. Finally, Huang Taiji decided to say: "The problem of shortage of food and grass must be solved. But now that we have no sources of information in the customs, it is really inappropriate to enter the customs rashly. That white pole Didn’t the army arrive at Zhangjiakou? The Ming Dynasty court also withdrew Guan Ning’s army. Where are these people placed and what is the current situation? We don’t know anything about this!"
The implication was that he still disapproved of entering the border and plundering.
However, if there is no additional food and grass supplies, many people will definitely starve to death this winter! Who asked them to use all the supplies they had accumulated over the past few years to fight the Songjin War!
There was another moment of silence, and finally Dorgon said: "Perhaps we can send orders to the various Mongolian tribes and let them enter the border to hunt autumn valleys, so as to test the situation at the border of the Ming Dynasty. And for the time being, we can let North Korea pay more tribute of grain and grass for emergency relief?"
Huang Taiji listened and nodded. This is indeed a method. Anyway, the Mongolian tribes also wanted to attack Qiugu in previous years. Now, let them advance a little earlier and try the Ming Kingdom's border defense after the Songjin Battle.
Among the vassal states of the Qing Dynasty, only North Korea was a farming country. They could have food there, and now they could only go to North Korea to get it.
Therefore, although there was no discussion on what to do in the long term and how to fill the gap caused by the destruction of the eight major Shanxi merchants, at least they could make do with the current situation.
Huang Taiji was a little tired, and just when he was about to announce the adjournment of the meeting, Jierhalang asked again: "What about the Ming army on Juehua Island? Since the Ming army retreated in such a hurry before, maybe there are some people on Juehua Island as well? Less food and grass!"
In the past, the Ming army stored grain and grass on Juehua Island. It was captured by Xianhan and burned down. Now that I think about it, it all hurts.
Hearing his words, Huang Taiji looked at him and asked, "Do you mean to use Kong Youde and others?"
When Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, Shang Kexi and others returned to the Qing Dynasty, they brought warships to join them. However, those warships are now abandoned at the junction of the Sancha River and the Taizi River. They are usually used to cross the river at most. They are not maintained and repaired. They don't mind if they are damaged. However, it may be a problem to use them now.
The reason why this happened was because of Liu Aita's fault, which made these prisoners dare not let the Han generals escape their control. Otherwise, if they really wanted to betray them, they would just sail back and run back, and there would be nothing they could do.
Now, when hearing Huang Taiji's straightforward question, Jierhalang would still nod his head and cautiously agree. But at this time, he already knew that someone in Liaodong had tipped off the Ming Dynasty. He weighed it and finally replied: "Your Majesty will decide everything!"
Huang Taiji thought carefully for a while, and finally said: "Let's wait until winter. If there is still a shortage of food at that time and the sea is not frozen, we can talk about this matter again."
In the end, these slave chiefs actually had no good solution and could only take it one step at a time. So, envoys were sent to Mongolia and North Korea.
……………………
At the same time, in Kaifeng, Ye Bushou hadn't found out where Li Zicheng's troops' food supplies and family members were placed, but he found that there were more and more thieves probing horses everywhere!
After the confrontation between the two sides, the fast horses galloped back to Kaifeng, almost in all directions in the south.
The shouts of "drive, drive, drive" and the rapid sound of horse hooves can be heard all the time. Anyone who saw this scene knew that something big had happened. For Kaifeng, there is basically only one major event.
Zhang Mingwei immediately became nervous, and his staff team was obviously busy. Generals from all walks of life were coming in and out, and the frequency of coming to see him suddenly increased several times. After the news is summarized, the situation becomes clearer.
"Everyone, the coalition of thieves led by Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai has marched towards Kaifeng. It is said to be a million-strong army. It seems that they are here to fight us." At the urgent military meeting, Zhang Mingwei announced straight to the point.
While speaking, he glanced at the generals below and found that none of them looked fearful. On the contrary, they were all excited, which made him very satisfied.
In fact, he could also understand the thoughts of these generals: the thieves were known as millions, and this usual practice of bluffing could only scare new recruits or civil servants who had never been on the battlefield. For these generals, who are not battle-hardened and have won a great victory, how can they be afraid of them!
On the other hand, if the bandits take the initiative to come here, it is equivalent to setting the battlefield in Kaifeng. The generals and soldiers below are the most familiar with it, and they can wait for work in leisure, which is another advantage.
Sure enough, after Zhang Mingwei made his announcement, all the generals below were vying for a fight.
However, Zhang Mingwei did not agree. Instead, he announced in a deep voice: "The camp and Kaifeng are at odds with each other, covering the food road behind them. Everyone, go back and prepare for the battle, and be ready to face the battle."
"I will obey your orders!" The voice that responded to him was very loud.
Afterwards, the imperial officers and soldiers officially began to prepare for war. Regardless of the personnel, they accelerated their evacuation. Food, grass, baggage, ordnance and armor were also checked and prepared.
It only took one day for Kaifeng to be ready. Everyone, whether serious or excited, etc., are all waiting for the arrival of the bandit army.
One day later, the imperial court began to retreat at night, and people returned to camp from various places. Many Ye Bu Shu troops came back with injuries, and some even brought the remains of their comrades who died in battle. Obviously, the scout battle has become more intense, which also indicates that the bandit army is about to arrive.
Sure enough, by the afternoon of the next day, countless bandits came from the south of Kaifeng Mansion, covering the mountains and plains.
But not long after, the area around Kaifeng Mansion was filled with rogue cavalry, roaring and galloping in an extremely arrogant manner.
As for the imperial officers and soldiers, Zhang Mingwei has returned to the Chinese military tent outside the city, forming a quarrel with the Kaifeng Mansion, and is ready.
The main force of the Rogue Thieves' infantry also arrived one after another, so that wherever the sight could be seen, there were almost only the Rogue Thieves.
It's one thing to hear that there are many bandits, but it's another thing to see them everywhere you look. Especially the rogue cavalry. Although they didn't see everything, from what they saw before them, they knew that there were much more than the imperial court.
Watching them act arrogantly in front of them, watching the countless heads of thieves. The soldiers who had been excited to achieve military exploits before could not help but become serious.
At this time, they all obviously knew that the next battle would definitely be a very difficult battle.
Suddenly, on the battlefield in Kaifeng, there was almost only the movement of bandits, while on the court side, whether it was the military camp or the city of Kaifeng, everything was quiet, forming a very sharp contrast.
