golden scales

Zhu Cihong feels a slight sense of accomplishment every time he sees the fresh title of "Chongzhen 18th Year".In any case, Daming has only been in his hands for nine months, and there is already an obvious stop loss signal.

What about another nine months?

Four or five batches of recruits would go into each battalion, enough for him to build up four divisions.

More servitude and drudgery will be put into construction, paving hardened roads to the front lines.

There will be more and more people with first-class diplomas, and C- and D-level diplomas can even be popularized in villages.

Administrative talents can satisfy the grassroots leadership positions in the five provinces, and the fresh atmosphere brought by fresh blood can make the north of Ming Dynasty take on a new look.

……

So, it's all just a matter of time.

Dorgon was also counting the time.It has been nearly eight months since the Qing soldiers entered the customs. During these eight months, the Qing soldiers finally took down half of Shanxi and the whole of Shaanxi. However, the Ming army in the south of Jifu really made him feel like a thorn in his throat.In particular, neither Abatai nor Hong Chengchou was able to win even one village on the South Road, which made him feel very ominous.

Fortunately, I listened to Suksaha's words and gave up the hot seat to Jierhalang.Now Jierhalang is bound to ride a tiger, and while he is suffering from the South Army, he has repeated successes from the West Army.

"Master, Prince Zheng is here." The personal attendant reported in a low voice behind Dorgon.In his eyes, his master is getting angry more and more easily because of small things, even louder voices may offend him, so everything has to be careful.

"No." Dorgon waved his hand in disgust.

"How is your lord?" A mid-spirited voice broke in. After all, Ji Erhalang was one of the regents, so he naturally knew the reason to break in.

Dorgon looked towards the door full of anger, and sure enough, he saw Jierharang with gray temples, and walked in pretending to be calm.Behind Jierharang was a burly figure.Standing a full head taller than ordinary people, it was Oboi who was bestowed the title "Batulu" by Huang Tai.

This can't blame the guards in the mansion for not being able to stop Jierhalang.

"Slave Oboi, pay respects to Prince Rui." Aobai threw his sleeves and stepped forward, knelt down on one knee, and greeted him.

This Ming Dynasty military salute has become a custom in Manchuria.

Seeing Oboi coming up, Dorgon subdued and felt a little more at ease.See Jierharang coming forward again.If he wanted to hug him, he also went close to him, and the two hugged gently before separating.

"Is Prince Rui in good health?" Ji Erhalang looked sincere.

Dorgon invited the two of them to sit down, leaned on the back of the chair, pretended to be out of breath, and said: "It's better, I'm afraid I won't be able to ride horses on the battlefield in the future."

"Prince Rui has been in poor health since he was a child, and this time he was lucky enough to enter the customs. I can find some famous doctors to take a good look at it." Ji Erhalang was fostered by Nurhachi's family since he was a child, and he has a good relationship with Nurhachi's sons. He said at this moment These words were also full of warmth, which calmed down Dorgon's irritable heart.

It was precisely because of this that Dorgon, who was known for his intelligence, was willing to take up his words and said: "The situation in the pass is very anxious."

"Who says it's not." Jierharang sighed heavily, and all the heroic spirit he had just put on was gone.He didn't hide from Dorgon, and said: "Now the situation in the south can't be opened, and Shanxi can't be defeated. Shaanxi is better, but no matter how you look at it, there is a danger of being cut off. Sigh. I don't know when the prince will come back to take care of things." Huh? Old brother, I really can't bear it anymore."

"I think the fight is pretty good. It's not bad if the south is not attacked. If you can stabilize the west and connect it with Mongolia, you can advance and retreat by yourself in the future." Dorgon said.

"Prince Rui," Jierhalang said without any concealment. "Xian Khan, the foundation laid by the first emperor was finally carried forward in the hands of the prince, so that I, the Qing Dynasty, occupied Zhu Ming's old land. Brother, I don't want to just leave the bitter cold outside the customs. You also know that the crops outside the customs have not been able to grow these years. Many horses and children die every winter. Zhu Shen is unwilling to retire now that he can go to such a good place."

"Daming has fifteen provinces, and we only have 10 people. Even if we are defeated, we can only rely on those Nikan to defend." Dorgon sighed: "But Nikan is too timid to fight. The defenders saw the army coming. How can we fight like this? Besides, even if life is so good now, every household has coats and can eat enough food, how many people among Zhu Shen are willing to go out to fight?"

"In the past, every Niuluhua who robbed the west side just said good things and wanted to go. Now you want to make up for the rest, you see if they are willing." Jierhalang was also quite helpless, with hints of resentment.However, he came here this time to persuade the two white flags to put aside their past suspicions and send troops together, and immediately changed his tone: "Now the spring is about to bloom, and Nikan also needs spring plowing. It is estimated that there is no way to fight anymore. You see, if No, let’s beat down Shanxi in one go, at least we have to wait until the grain is ripe.”

"I probably won't be able to fight with my body." Dorgon shook his head and said.

"Azig and Duoduo are both good fighters," Jierhalang said.

"My lord, I just came back from the west, those trespassers are really vulnerable, no matter if it's Prince Ying or Prince Yu, they will definitely be able to catch them easily." Obai also beat the side drum loudly.

"Can Hauge control the two of them?" Dorgon said casually.

Hauge is Huang Taiji's eldest son, and it is no problem to suppress Luo Luohun, Nikan, and Yue Le.However, both Azig and Duoduo are the beloved sons of the old Khan Nurhachi, and they hold the most elite Manchuria Niulu in their hands. Isn't it too hard to want them to obey Hauge's command?Not to mention Hauge, even Abatai from South Road couldn't control these two sons-in-law.

"Will Haoge listen to Azig?" Dorgon asked again.

Probably not.Especially this time when it was rumored that Hauge and Dorgon were vying to marry the Empress Dowager, the conflict between the two white flags and the two yellow flags deepened.The most irritating thing is that even though no one is married to the queen mother, some people say that the Qing court was afraid of marrying because of Ming's reprimand.Especially with the fact that South Road hit an iron plate, this kind of argument seems to have a tendency to spread.

"I'll go in person!" Jierhalang finally slammed into Dorgon's pocket: "If you want to come to King Ying and King Yu, you should give me some face."

Dorgon patted the armrest lightly: "Who is in charge of the court?"

"Who else can there be besides you?" Jierhalang said, "But I still have to take Sony and the others with me. I'm afraid you will have to work harder."

Dorgon looked at Ao Bai, seeing that Ao Bai did not respond, he knew that Jierhalang and Lianghuangqi had reached an agreement.Just looking at the huge concessions made by the two yellow flags this time, one knows that Shanxi has to be leveled.Otherwise, hundreds of thousands of troops will gather in Shaanxi, and the supply will not be stable, and there will be chaos.

Speaking of supplies, Dorgon had a headache again. The Grand Canal was cut off from the south by the Ming Dynasty. How could he buy food here!

"The army went to the west road, went out of Tongguan, and attacked Henan and Huguang. As long as they got there, there would be food." Jierhalang said: "Sitting trapped in the north, there is only one dead end."

"The Ming army is not easy to fight..." Dorgon sighed bitterly.

"It doesn't mean that they have strong troops guarding everywhere, right?" Jierhalang said in disbelief, "I heard that the guard camp of the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty is on the south road, which is almost equal to our Baya camp, can it not be powerful? ? But I’m afraid there won’t be such a strong force in the west, otherwise the Ming Dynasty could end up in this situation?”

"That's fine," Dorgon said, standing up, "No matter which flag, we are all the same ancestors, and when it's time to hold a group, we still have to hold a group. This time, my Qing Dynasty will stay in the pass to eat meat, or go back outside the pass to eat cakes. Look at Lord Zheng!"

"Brother, I can only do my best." Ji Erhalang himself felt a little lack of confidence: "But this time the food and grass of the army..."

"Let's collect food from Jifu. Back then, when Lao Khan was in dire straits, didn't he come here?" Dorgon pretended to be relaxed.

The most difficult time for Nurhachi was that he had no food, and he was afraid that the people would rebel, so he came up with an idea: kill people without food.

If the Han people in Liaodong could not make up six or seven buckets of rice per mouthful, they would be marked as people without food, and then all these unstable factors would be killed.In this way, the remaining population is people with food, which can be further squeezed.And the foodless people are all dead, so naturally there will be no rebellion.

The price of grain in Shaanxi rose to 16 taels a stone, so the peasant army rebelled vigorously.The price of grain in Liaodong was 24 taels at that time, but no one rebelled.

When Emperor Chongzhen said sadly, "Thieves are also my sons", Nurhachi shouted "You are all sorry for me", and then swung a butcher knife to kill 300 million Liao people to only [-].

Perhaps this is why barbarism always trumps civilization. (to be continued...)