stubborn thief

Liu Chengzong, from the Marshal's Office, was full of pride and self-satisfaction outside Yulin City.

The defeated Chongde Emperor returned to Shengjing City in resentment, swallowing the bitter pill of defeat.

The Eight Banners army of over 63,000 men poured out, but the remnants returned to Shengjing on the day they were defeated. Only slightly more than 38,000 remained in battle, and countless horses, camels, and mules were lost.

As soon as the troops entered the Liaodong border wall, news of their defeat reached the outskirts of the city, immediately causing a huge uproar in Shengjing. People went from street to street, creating a great commotion as they inquired whether their relatives were still alive on the battlefield.

For several days afterward, news of the deaths spread widely from Liaoyang to Jianzhou, and the airspace over every inch of land east of Liaoyang was filled with cries.

In an instant, every household was shrouded in mourning. One widow received thirteen obituaries in a row. Even worse, some people were simply reported missing, with no trace of them, whether alive or dead. Even the fact that someone could bring back a queue (braid) was considered a stroke of good fortune.

Since the reign of the Old Khan, even when every family was in mourning, the Later Jin dynasty had never suffered such an unprecedented blow as this time.

Geng Zhongming, a prince of a different surname, was killed in battle; Kong Youde went missing; Heshuotu Efu was bombed in battle; Gushan Ezhen Ma Guangyuan was killed; Dudu, the eldest grandson of the old Khan, was captured; Yingge, the son of Li Yongfang, rebelled; and countless Jiala and Niru generals below Gushan died, with some Niru even being directly expelled from the ranks.

For a time, Daiqing Gulun showed an extremely divided side.

The civilian Eight Banners military households were stunned by the huge military defeat. There were orphans and widows everywhere, dressed in mourning clothes. Some Niru (military units) had seven or eight families with more than a dozen female relatives but not a single male.

In the imperial court, the first major event Huang Taiji did upon returning to the capital was to be carried in a sedan chair and lead the Eight Banners nobles to the ancestral temple to hold a grand sacrificial ceremony to announce his victory to Nurhaci.

At this point, Huang Taiji's health was in great danger; he was finding it difficult to walk and think.

Domestic affairs were mostly discussed and handled by Dorgon and Daišan. Huang Taiji usually didn't say much, only nodding or shaking his head.

After Huang Taiji suffered a defeat, the Aisin nobles all harbored grievances, and their long-suppressed grievances finally surfaced.

Although people dared not go too far given that the two yellow flags were still in place and the two white flags were there to help, some Huang Taijis's words about being too inhumane to their brothers and sisters also came out.

Huang Taiji clearly felt that his control over his body and the Eight Banners had decreased sharply with the war, and he was willing to make concessions. So he held a meeting in a perfunctory manner to discuss whether Amin, who had been imprisoned for a long time, could be released after realizing his mistakes.

This actually has nothing to do with Amin, and the number of relatives of Daiqing Gulun is not so great that they need to release him.

Huang Taiji's sincerity was simply a way of saying that he would not be so cruel to his brothers and sisters in the future.

As a result, on the very day Amin was released, he jumped out and offered his advice, suggesting that since the army was insufficient, they should not attack Korea, but should emulate the wisdom of the old Khan and first clear out the wealth and food of the Han people in the country, and then deal with the winter.

This complete idiot caused Emperor Chongde's condition to deteriorate rapidly.

Under the leadership of clan chief Daishan, the Aisin nobles reached a consensus: they appreciated the emperor's good intentions, but they didn't want Amin's sincerity—he should be locked up!

After enjoying half a day of freedom, Amin was sent back to the manor by his younger brother, Jirhalang, to continue his confinement.

But this awareness is by no means unique to Amin.

With the defeat in battle, the number of pastures, farmlands, and manors controlled by Daiqing Gulun decreased sharply.

The troops of the Khorchin Left Wing and other tribes that returned east with the Eight Banners lost their garrison in the eastern part of the Xing'an Mountains and were forced to garrison near Shengjing. Princes Wu Keshan and Manzhu Xili kept asking Dorgon for supplies and land.

Dorgon had no surplus grain or land to give them, and sent them back to the borderlands again and again.

However, the border area is now occupied by the Darhan army of the Marshal's Mansion. Several thousand armored ruffians from the southern desert are idle and do nothing but ride around on horseback, killing anyone they see.

The Han army faced a similar situation. Shang Kexi, relying on the last remaining title of the Three Shun Kings, took the opportunity to gather many defeated soldiers and veterans from the Kong and Geng vassal states, and stationed troops in Liaoyang to plan the recapture of Haizhou, but with little success.

Zu Dashou of the Guan Ning Army was stationed in Niuzhuang and refused to leave. Wu Sangui, the vanguard commander, even moved into Haizhou and sent people to search for young men in Gaizhou, Fuzhou and other places. They were all between the ages of thirteen and twenty-eight, regardless of whether they were Jurchen or Han, and all of them were forced to shave their heads and join the army.

Wu Sangui should not be older than 28. If he is older, just tie him up and throw him to his uncle in the rear. Let him go to farm or become a servant.

He only wanted young people from Liaodong who were younger than him. These young men were simple-minded and physically strong. As long as they were paid enough, they would fight anyone and everything.

As people get older, they retain the imprint of the Ming or Jin armies in their minds, and once they develop their own independent thinking, they become cunning and treacherous.

Although Shang Kexi took advantage of Shi Tingzhu's absence and the deaths of Ma Guangyuan and others to briefly become the leader of the Han army, he did not have the ability to lead the Han army to fight against Wu Sangui and reclaim their hometown of Haizhou.

As a result, more than 8,000 Han soldiers, like the Mongol soldiers, were stationed outside Shengjing.

Tens of thousands of people had nowhere to live and not enough food. Military discipline plummeted, and looting and killing became rampant.

Even because they were defeated by the Marshal's army, the Han army was no longer so afraid of the Eight Banners. When junior officers were humiliated by Jurchen officers, they dared to lead their men to draw their swords and rush into the Niru manor to retaliate.

After looting, they either ran towards the North Korean border or crawled outside the border wall.

It wasn't just Han and Mongol soldiers who did this; the Eight Banners soldiers also got involved, causing infighting and fleeing outwards.

The entire Daiqing Gulun, the Manchu clan that Huang Taiji had painstakingly built up over the past ten years since his ascension to the throne, was on the verge of disintegration.

Fortunately for Huang Taiji, no force around him was willing to accept these people.

The Ming army occupied Haizhou, the Liaodong troops of the Marshal's Office, the Darhan Army roaming the Lingdong region, and the Korean Six Garrisons border troops that had been mobilized. Seeing that there were few people crossing the border, they killed anyone they saw without distinguishing right from wrong.

The territory of Daiqing Gulun shrank drastically, and the occupied lands were all war zones. The occupying forces were all bullies who would take advantage of any opportunity and run away when there was none.

For them, the cost of distinguishing between genuine surrender and feigned surrender is too high.

What grand strategy and vision? A common soldier wouldn't understand that.

Those who charged forward on horseback, brandishing their swords, were the less skilled Eight Banner soldiers who offered their necks to be slaughtered; those who turned and ran were the Eight Banner soldiers who were terrified... all were considered meritorious deeds.

As for whether he was Han Chinese or not, go tell the imperial inspector who's checking heads, even if it means risking your life.

Seeing the situation becoming increasingly chaotic, the brothers Wu Keshan, Prince of the Khorchin Left Wing, and Manzhu Xili, Prince of the County, decided to lead more than 5,000 men across the border back to Chuoluomen City. However, as soon as they crossed the border, they were forcibly pushed back into Liaodong by Shandan of the Dalaihan army with 2,000 cavalry.

It's not that Shandan and Xiaozhamusu are particularly powerful; in a real fight, Dalaihan's army might not be a match for the Khorchin Left Wing.

But Wu Keshan was already afraid of fighting. The few men he had were the last troops on the left wing of the Khorchin, and he dared not fight or risk a battle.

As a result, the already nearly scattered and disintegrating Qing Gulun were forcibly reunited by butchers from all directions, forming an unprecedented unity around the half-paralyzed Huang Taiji, which greatly increased the prestige of Emperor Chongde.

There was no other way; Shang Kexi, Jin Yuhe, Wu Keshan, and Manzhu Xili, these Han and Mongol generals, were the ones who least wanted Huang Taiji to fall.

Once Huang Taiji falls, the once unbreakable Manchurian alliance will immediately collapse into the most primitive Eight Banners, and then they will be the targets of attack.

The Eight Banners had just suffered a heavy blow and dared not fight the Marshal's army again for a short time. However, the Eight Banners soldiers were not afraid of the Han Banners and the Mongol Banners.

However, this chaos did not last long.

After resolving the troubles caused by Amin, Daišan and Dorgon immediately set about dividing pastureland between the Han and Mongol banners, even at the cost of sacrificing some of the Eight Banners' garrisons and estates.

The Blue Flag unit, which suffered the most damage in the Lingdong Campaign, was naturally the one that was sacrificed.

Hauge's dissatisfaction was futile; he had been reduced to a figurehead on the battlefield, a feudal lord who had no power without soldiers.

Emperor Chongde grumbled and objected, but before he could finish speaking, Dorgon interrupted him and finalized the decision.

Dorgon knew what Huang Taiji wanted to say, and he also knew that Huang Taiji was not speaking up for Hauge because he was his son, but because Lanqi had withstood the final casualties on the battlefield and deserved to receive compensation and care after the war, instead of having the manor confiscated.

If we do this, no one in the Eight Banners will dare to fight to the death in the future.

But the problem facing Dorgon now was that the two white, two red, and two yellow armies were even less willing to accept the distribution of their estates and lands to the Han and Mongol armies. The demoralized Han and Mongol armies also could not accept their continued wrangling.

Therefore, the only option is to temporarily allocate the Blue Banner's territory to them, in order to drive the Han and Mongol Banner armies to retake Haizhou, and then slowly discuss and compensate the Blue Banner with the remaining six banners.

At least for now, the Eight Banners still have a glimmer of hope: Korea.

Just then, Azig finally returned.

Ajige's return was not easy.

Realizing that the northern route was impassable, they bribed the Ming army to take the road from Tianjin to Wudingzhou, seizing nearly a thousand civilian ships of various sizes along the coastline, sailing for dozens of miles at sea, and returning eastward.

Fearing interception at sea by Shen Shikui of Dongjiang Town, they dared not take the island route from Dengzhou to Jinzhou. More than 200 ships were lost during the voyage, and only more than 900 ships reached Gaizhou.

He thought that everything would be peaceful once he landed, but just as he stepped ashore, the siege of Haizhou began.

Ajige, having vented his anger at sea, immediately led his troops to attack the besieged camp. The enemy dared not confront him and collapsed without firing a single arrow.

After driving away the besieging army, Ajige, who was both hungry and angry, immediately ordered his men to go down to the city walls and call out to Shang Kexi to prepare meat, wine and food to reward the troops.

His response was a barrage of bullets.

The Liao soldiers on the city wall, who understood the Jurchen language, laughed loudly: "Shang Kexi has been chased away by you!"

Shang Ke had finally mustered up his men and mustered his courage to go to Haizhou City and nervously challenge Wu Sangui. Just as he set up his siege camp, he saw a troop of men rushing in from the west. He thought it was Zu Dashou leading his army to help his nephew in battle, so he was frightened and quickly ran east.

They came from the west, and they're especially fierce; they must be the Guan Ning Army!
Ajige never dreamed that Shang Kexi was outside the city, while Wu Sangui was inside!
Ajige dared not attack the city. Although his men were all elite troops, after months of wandering and fleeing from enemy territory, and suffering heavy losses at sea, he had no will to fight. He simply wrapped Shang Kexi up and headed to Shengjing.

Huang Taiji, Daishan, Dorgon, and others were both surprised and delighted upon receiving the news.

The joy was that Ajige had returned alive, but the shock was that his return was ill-timed.

Because Ajige is not returning, the number of his 20,000 elite troops is dynamic; it could be 20,000 or it could be zero. There is still hope as long as there is change.

But once Ajige returned, the number was set, and several thousand more people were lost.

The previous funeral arrangements hadn't even been finished when another one was being arranged.

However, these losses were not fatal blows to Huang Taiji.

His fatal blow came as the entire city of Shengjing was immersed in a somber atmosphere of mourning, with every household wearing mourning clothes, while the Korean envoy's villa was set off with a string of firecrackers.

Since Chongde ascended the throne without paying his respects, the Korean officials in Shengjing City have had their food cut off by Daiqing Gulun, and they have had no access to firecrackers at all.

Huang Taiji believed that some of his brothers were happy to see him lose the battle.

This string of whips is more lethal than Amin.

That afternoon, Huang Taiji was so angry that he couldn't stand up.

Overwhelmed with anger, he only managed to grab Dorgon's sleeve and utter his last two words: "Don't kill him."

Dorgon knew that when Huang Taiji said not to kill, he meant not to kill the Korean envoys—everyone wanted to kill them after such an incident.

But Huang Taiji was actually wronged this time, because the firecrackers given to the Korean envoy were not actually given by the Eight Banners nobles.

Having gone through what happened with Amin, the consensus among the new aristocracy is that Huang Taiji may be too cruel to his relatives, but he is doing the right thing.

Just like that Amin, he went crazy as soon as he was released.

He was able to say, in front of several Han generals, that he would first seize the wealth of the Han people.

To put it bluntly, the Han soldiers now outnumber those of any other banner. If they are prepared, who will take whose loot?

Therefore, at this moment, no one would oppose Emperor Chongde's past policies on a major level.

The firecrackers that the Korean envoy brought were ones that the envoy had collected himself after the enthronement ceremony of Emperor Chongde. He had gathered some firecrackers that hadn't been set off at the time and made a string of them.

As for why they picked this up, it's because the Kingdom of Korea was poor.

The Ming Dynasty had been deceiving people, claiming that gunpowder was made by boiling seawater. It wasn't until the Wanli era, when Korea was fighting against Japanese pirates and aiding Korea, that they learned how gunpowder was made.

But even knowing how to do it is useless, as North Korea lacks sulfur, and the production and purification processes for saltpeter cannot meet the demand.

The annual trade and smuggling combined amounted to less than 10,000 catties of gunpowder. Gunpowder was so scarce that the imperial court could not consume more than 30 catties during festivals each year.

So the envoy from the annex picked up the firecrackers that had been thrown on the ground, intending to see what use they would be after returning home. But unexpectedly, Dai Qing suffered a crushing defeat and was in mourning throughout the city.

The Korean envoy was so pleased that he put down the string of whips.

The two envoys and their entourage were apprehended.

This matter should have been handled by Jirgalang, but since Jirgalang was the garrison commander of Shengjing and was suspected of being involved, it was handed over to Dorgon.

After questioning the Korean envoy, Dorgon did not believe his answer at all, but he was relieved and closed the case.

This case is too difficult to handle.

To put it bluntly, Emperor Chongde suffered a setback, and every noble in the Aisin family had ample motivation to celebrate with firecrackers.

Daishan's two Red Banners were not greatly damaged, and he was deprived of the opportunity to succeed him that year. Is it strange that he set off firecrackers?

Dodo, this kind of ridiculous nonsense is definitely Dodo's style.

Dorgon himself even suspected that he had sent the string of firecrackers himself, but he had simply forgotten.

So let's just close the case with a plausible explanation. These are turbulent times; what if something is actually discovered?

Dorgon thought to himself, "If we investigate carefully, they'll find out that the firecrackers were sent by Amin, who was under house arrest. Setting off firecrackers will be the least of our problems."

However, once the matter was investigated, Dorgon planned to kill all the Korean envoys and their entourage.

The evil Qing Gulun needed to kill some people to vent his anger.

These two envoys were exactly the best candidates.

But Huang Taiji wouldn't allow it.

When Emperor Chongde regained consciousness, he seemed to have lost some of his vitality. This time, he didn't even summon the banner leaders of the Eight Banners, but instead summoned all his relatives, Han and Mongol generals.

"The rudeness of the Korean envoy is too numerous to list. This is all because the King of Korea deliberately wanted to provoke us first, kill their envoy, and then accuse me of betraying the Heavenly Alliance. That's why he made them do this."

“My conduct is such that I would never be angered by such a trivial matter. Even if the two countries are already enemies and are engaged in a fierce battle, there is no reason to kill the envoy sent by them. Killing him is not the duty of a ruler.”

"Release those two envoys. Now that Ajige has returned, we should reorganize our troops, first take Haicheng, seize ships to create the appearance of attacking the Shen family on Pi Island, but in reality, we should concentrate our main force to quickly attack Korea. Do not take useless fortified cities, do not attack well-trained border troops, but directly take their capital to obtain funds, provisions, and manpower to conquer Korea!" (End of this chapter)