Cutting 1719

Chapter 492 The Future Is Uncertain

On the first day of the fourth year of reform, the Jehol Hall did not have much atmosphere for the New Year. On the contrary, due to the war, it looked a bit desolate and dilapidated everywhere.

During the New Year's Eve, the ground was already covered with a layer of fine snowflakes. Now, with the violent northwest wind, the temperature in the entire north has dropped a lot, and fine icicles have formed on the road.

In the bitter cold wind, I saw a long procession marching in the snowy weather, but it couldn't be seen at a glance. The marching people were all wearing worn-out cotton jackets, walking with a limp step by step, and most of them had expressions on their faces. They were all extremely pale, and even fell to the ground while walking, and there were fallen corpses on both sides of the team, as well as the wounded who were abandoned.

In the queue, although there were still some horses, these horses were skinny, and most of them were not being ridden, but directly pulled forward. The whole team was filled with a sense of failure.

Zhenghongqi Mongolian capital Tong Boyan's face was extremely pale, his arm hung down directly, with bright red blood stains on it, it was the injury left in Baliqiao before, and his whole body was a little listless.

But if it was just the injury, it would not make Boyan so painful. In fact, what really made him more painful was the memory of the Battle of Baliqiao, which was too tragic
The Battle of Baliqiao was said to be only two days long, but it became the pain point of the Qing army. More than 11 Eight Banners elites participated in the battle, and were completely defeated by the Fuhan army. Only less than 4 people survived. They went straight to Xifengkou, and joined the Eight Banners Army waiting there, and there were barely more than [-] people.

Among the more than 4 people, 3 of them are the Eight Banners New Army who have not participated in the war, and more than 1 are the remaining Qing cavalry, which can be regarded as the last property of the Qing Dynasty in the pass.

In addition to these more than 4 people, there are [-] Russians who guarded the royal family of the Qing court, the family members of some ministers, and [-] to [-] bannermen in the capital, and embarked on a long trek from Xifengkou , They will detour from Rehe and other places to Shengjing outside the pass.

You must know that it is a long road from Xifengkou to Shengjing, which is completely incomparable with the Liaodong Corridor. Therefore, many of these 10,000+ people have already fallen on the road. Became the cause of death, and many more people were on the brink of death.

Even Boyan, who is the capital of Zhenghongqi Mongolia, was confused about the future at this time. After the Battle of Baliqiao, not only the main force of the Qing Dynasty was defeated, but even Emperor Yongzheng died in the battle. , which made Boyan completely lost his confidence in the future, he didn't know where the future of the Qing Dynasty was.

Although theoretically speaking, this lone army still has a Shengjing to go to, and the fourth elder brother will become the new emperor, but even Yongzheng is unable to restore the overall situation, what can a young and ignorant prince do?
Furthermore, without the Huahua land in the Central Plains, what can be done by relying on their 10,000+ people, plus 30 to [-] banner people outside the customs?

The more he thought about it, the more hopeless Boyanfa felt in his heart. He sighed and closed his eyes. At this moment, a coolness appeared on his face, and he opened his eyes involuntarily, but saw that the sky had begun to float. With snowflakes, the weather seems to be getting colder.
In the marching tent, the surviving courtiers of the Qing court gathered together, the leaders of which were the former ministers of the military aircraft department, led by the academician Xu Yuanmeng and Prince Zhuang Yunlu, their faces were full of tears, Eye circles are as red as rabbits.

Because Emperor Yongzheng died on the battlefield and couldn't even get his body back, he adopted a secret form of mourning, and waited until he returned to Shengjing to hold the funeral, so everyone did not obey filial piety.

"Although the emperor is already in heaven, the Qing Dynasty has not yet died, and our 10,000+ people must live on. I invite you to come here today to discuss some follow-up regulations."

In the big tent, Xu Yuanmeng's face was a bit sad, and he sighed slightly: "I invite some adults to come, I hope you can make up your mind at this critical moment."

Speaking of being my lords, in fact Prince Zhuang Yunlu is the one who can really call the shots. He holds the military power in one hand, and even Xu Yuanmeng is polite to him, so everyone is also quite polite to Yunlu.

Yun Lu glanced around at the crowd, and said in a low voice: "Right now we are heading towards Shengjing, the distance is really long, even without Chu Ni's cavalry chasing us, it will be even more difficult to reach Shengjing safely, the key is Another point, if the Fuhan army attacks our Shengjing, what should we do?"

Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but fell into silence. In fact, most of them had thought about this issue, but no one dared to expose it—after all, the big guys still have Shengjing to go to no matter what. , if you can't even go to Shengjing, what should you do?
No one knew the answer, not even a mature suggestion at this time, so Sheng Jing became the only dream that could be counted on.

On the contrary, Prince Zhuang Yunlu, who is more straightforward, paused for a while, "I have already lost once in the Qing Dynasty, so I can't act blindly anymore. At least I have to find out the situation in the direction of Shengjing before deciding whether to go or not." there."

Xu Yuanmeng nodded slightly, and asked, "What if there are bandits from the Fuhan Army in the direction of Shengjing?"

In fact, in everyone's minds, it is almost acquiesced that there is a large army of the Fuhan Army in the direction of Shengjing. After all, there are already guards of the Fuhan Army in Ningjin. Irresistible!

"If Shengjing is in danger, how about going to the Mongolian ministries?" Someone softly made a suggestion, and when he made this suggestion, he was glared at by Xu Yuanmeng and Prince Zhuang.

The reason is also very simple. The love and hatred between the Qing Dynasty and Mongolia cannot be written in a single book. The relationship between the two parties is not as simple as it appears on the surface. There are a lot of opposing voices, not only the Eight Banners of Manchuria, but also the Eight Banners of Mongolia.

Mongolia is not a complete collective, but more of a regional concept, just like the Mongolian tribes south of the desert are called Monan Mongolia, which is divided into Horqin, Zalaite, Durbert, Bahrain, Zha Lute, Urad, Karaqin, Ujimqin, Chahar, Tumed, Ordos and other ministries are said to be connected to Shengjing and Heilongjiang in the east, Yili East Road in the west, the Great Wall in the south, and Juemo in the north. It extends for more than ten thousand miles.

In addition to Monan Mongolia, which is huge in itself, the north of the desert is called Mobei Mongolia, also known as Khalkha Mongolia. The tribes to the west of the desert are called Moxi Mongolia, that is, Oirat Mongolia, and the Junggar tribe, Heshuote tribe, and Turhut tribe belong to Moxi Mongolia.

Since the Yuan Dynasty, the Central Plains dynasty has always been deeply afraid of the unification of Mongolia, so they have tried every means to split the various tribes of Mongolia, which has resulted in the division of hundreds of tribes, large and small, and naturally there are a lot of opposition, so when someone proposes to go to Xu Yuanmeng and Prince Zhuang stared at each other when they were in Mongolia.

It can be said that neither Xu Yuanmeng nor Prince Zhuang would consider going to Mongolia unless it was absolutely necessary.

It's just that when they thought of this, everyone felt a little worried, and the atmosphere in the tent became more and more dull.

"How about we ask the Russians about their plans?"

I don't know how long it took before another voice rang out. It was Jiang Tingxi, Minister of the Military Aircraft Department and Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites. His face was a bit disturbed. After all, today is different. He is a Han Chinese after all, and he must behave in a certain way. You have to be low-key, otherwise you don't know when you will die for an inexplicable reason.

"Russians?"

Xu Yuanmeng's eyes lit up slightly. This is a good idea. Now everyone is unreliable. On the contrary, the Russians can rely on one or two, because other people just want to beat the dog in the water, and the Russians only want to protect their own interests in negotiations. The Qing Dynasty must be preserved, otherwise wouldn't those signatures be in vain?
"Your Majesty Jiang's words are quite reasonable. In this way, you can continue to contact the Russians first. On the other hand, let's quickly send someone to Shengjing to inquire about the situation. If the situation is still good, then go directly to Shengjing!"

Seeing that Xu Yuanmeng had made up his mind, Prince Zhuang Yunlu also nodded. The current Qing Dynasty could no longer tolerate the slightest civil strife, so the ministers would try their best to help each other when discussing matters.

When Xu Yuanmeng and others went to the direction of Shengjing to check the news, the direction of Shengjing got the news of the defeat of Baliqiao first. The interception checkpoint set up finally delivered the urgent delivery to Ma Qi, the new governor of Shengjing.

Before the Battle of Baliqiao started, Ma Qi, Governor of Shengjing, Marsai, Chief of the Five Departments of Shengjing, Zhang Tingyu, Yin of Fengtian Prefecture, and others had quietly made up their makeup and bypassed the Ningjin area from outside the pass, and arrived in Shengjing safely. Beijing, and began to take over all the defense and government affairs of Shengjing.

Of course, when they were busy with things in Shengjing, one eye was always fixed on the capital, on the decisive battle. Therefore, when the news of the Battle of Baliqiao came during the starry night, everyone was at the first sight Time got the news, and also knew that Emperor Yongzheng died on the battlefield
"Your Majesty! This servant is in pain."

"Your Majesty, this old slave wished he could kill Chu Ni to avenge his father!"

"Your Majesty, the country of the Qing Dynasty cannot live without His Majesty."

For a while, there was a burst of crying from the governor's office in Shengjing. Whether it was true or false, at least in the current environment, everyone was crying bitterly.

Governor of Shengjing, Ma Qi, is an old minister. After all, he also experienced the death of Kangxi, so although he also cried a lot, he immediately understood that the succession is important right now, so he immediately sent someone to block the news, and then together with Marr Sai and Zhang Tingyu went to the Shengjing Palace to meet Queen Ulanara and Si Age Hongli.

When everyone arrived at the palace, Ma Qi had already sent someone to deliver the news to Queen Ulanara. She had already come to Shengjing before, so she was the highest representative of the current royal family. The concubines, like Concubine Xi, Concubine Qi, Concubine Ning and others, were already crying into a ball at this time.

"The slaves and others kowtowed to the empress for a thousand years, and now the emperor died in battle, but the country cannot be without a king for a day, and our Qing Dynasty cannot be without a master for a day!" Ma Qi and others knelt on the ground, and their faces were also full of sadness. color.

Empress Ulanara was born in Zhenghuang Banner, Manchuria. She was originally the daughter of the Minister of Internal Affairs Fei Yanggu. When Yongzheng was still the prince, she was conferred the title of Fujin by Kangxi and gave birth to a son, Honghui, who was eight years old. Unfortunately, he died young. Because of his gentle and kind personality, he had a good relationship with other concubines since he took charge of the harem, so he was very popular both inside and out.

Originally, the relationship between the emperor and the empress was very harmonious, so after the empress Ulanala heard the news of Yongzheng's death in battle, she cried several times in a row, but she also knew in her heart that the current state affairs are important and cannot be tolerated too much. Sad, he forced himself to hold back tears.

"Ma Qi, I have already sent people to summon the fourth elder brother Hongli, the fifth elder brother Hong Zhou, and the eighth elder brother Hongsheng. I will issue the will directly here later."

The Ulanala family is a loyal person, and he understands the importance of succession, so he immediately sent someone to bring all the princes here, so as to determine their positions early and prevent the occurrence of another seizure.

Yongzheng's heirs were not prosperous, and most of the children they gave birth died young. Therefore, only the third elder brother Hongshi, the fourth elder brother Hongli, and the fifth elder brother Hongzhou lived to the preface. However, they died suddenly in the capital before Hongshi. And died, now only the fourth elder brother Hongli and the fifth elder brother Hong Zhou are left, like the eighth elder brother Hong Sheng is only three years old and has not yet reached the age of Xu Chi.

Everyone knew in their hearts that there was only one person who could inherit the great order right now, and that was the fourth elder brother Hongli, so there would be no suspense at all, but the succession to the great order would have to go through a process in order to convince the public.

After a while, I heard a burst of crying outside, but it was a few young elder brothers and princesses who had arrived, but they had already started crying loudly before they entered the palace, even though they were all teenagers , but already knew the major issues of human relations, and felt even more distraught.

After everyone entered the hall, Hongli, Hongzhou and others followed the queen and others and began to cry again. Ma Qi knew that it was not time to talk about business, so he knelt on the ground and waited for everyone to finish crying. But the more he thought about it, the more uncomfortable he became, and the circles of his eyes started to turn red again.

After a long time, the fourth elder brother Hongli had extraordinary knowledge after all. He stopped crying first, and looked at the elderly officials kneeling below, with a somewhat confused look on his face.

In Hongli's heart, the person he admired the most in the world was his Emperor Ama Yongzheng, but now when Emperor Yongzheng was killed in battle, it made Hongli feel a little more fearful in addition to sadness, If even Yongzheng can't save the overall situation, what can he do as a yellow-haired kid?
(End of this chapter)