Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 364 You plot against me, I plot against you

Guangyuan
Qing Army Camp
"Report~~~~! Your Majesty! Aobai's troops have breached the current fort!"

Following the soldier's report, Hauge, who was sitting in the central military tent, moved his eyes away from the letter in his hand, but when he heard the victory report from the front, he turned his eyes back with an expressionless face.

Don’t be fooled by his serious face now, but these few months have been the most comfortable time for him since Huang Taiji’s death.

Not to mention losing the throne.

After all, he is an adult prince and controls the two powerful blue flags. If he ascends the throne, the various forces in the court will no longer have the possibility of turning things around. These people will naturally unite and find a throne that is easier to control.

Hauge had figured this out when he faced challenges from all sides in the hall that day. Later, he just blamed Huang Taiji for not appointing a crown prince earlier, but he did not dwell on it too much.

The key point is that he was fighting well, but lost his title because of a trumped-up charge. Afterwards, He Luo was unable to deal with the remnants of the rebel army in Shaanxi, so those sinister guys in Beijing called him out again.

Are we your dogs?

If you don't need it, just hit them a few times. If you do need it, just throw a bone to them?
This was Hauge’s first reaction after receiving the imperial edict.

If it were someone else, they would probably have all kinds of negative emotions after being oppressed like this, and even if they had to lead the troops to fight due to the situation, they would still strive for enough benefits for themselves.

But Hauge was not the material for struggle after all.

After complaining for a while, he rushed back to the front line from Xi'an without wasting even a moment.

Of course, such an action can be understood as wanting to get the military power into his hands as quickly as possible, but for the reckless man Hauge, it was 100% just impatience. Otherwise, with the strongest combat force in the Qing Dynasty at his disposal, how could he not even get the title of regent?

"Send the order, let Aobai rest and attack again tomorrow."

While looking at the letter in his hand, he gave an order to the soldier. The others seemed a little confused and read the letter carefully.

The letter was from Jirgalang, which said that the envoy sent to Yingtian not only failed to meet the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, but also did not get even a single word of approval from the cabinet.

So after discussing with those people, he came to the conclusion that the Southern Dynasty would not have the intention of dividing the country by the river, and he then thought that fighting should be used to promote talks, so that the Southern barbarians, who had won two consecutive battles, would know that the Qing Dynasty was not to be trifled with.

When the letter reached this point, Jirgalang also wrote down his future purpose.

Anyway, each party in the court had its own plans, and since the stalemate was unresolved, they wanted to ask Hauge, the General Jingyuan, what he thought.

Hauge found these words in the letter quite strange.

After all, since Huang Taiji's death, who has taken Haoge seriously?
Even though there is no regent or assistant minister in the court now, those people are all old foxes. If they have no other plans, how could they ask Haoge?

"What do you think this Jirgalang means?"

Having said that, Hauge handed the letter in his hand to a young general at the lower right side of the big tent. When the young man was reading the contents of the letter, he did not show any impatience. Instead, he paid close attention to the other person's expression as if he cared very much about his thoughts.

The young man's name was Luo Luohun, and he was one of the many grandsons of old Daishan.

Although he is only 24 years old, in terms of title, he, the Prince Duolo Yanxi, is one level higher than the deceased Nikan.

It is obvious that in Huang Taiji's eyes, Luo Luohun is the best among the younger generation of the Aisin-Gioro family, and he lived up to expectations and demonstrated outstanding abilities in all aspects.

It does seem like God is jealous of talented people.

In the original history, this talented horse from the Aisin-Gioro family died in the army when he followed Haoge on the Western Expedition.

If not for this, he would definitely have a place among the three great princes in charge of government affairs in the early Qing Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, the situation is unclear and it is not easy to jump to conclusions."

After a moment, Luo Luohun handed the letter back to Hauge, then he hesitated for a moment and said something tentatively.

It's not that he really couldn't see the inner intention, but such matters involved political struggles in the court.

If I say it directly, it will seem that I have something on my mind. It is better to wait until the other party asks me a few times before expressing my thoughts.

Although this will inevitably involve yourself, it will ultimately reduce the suspicion.

"Oh! You are always like this, saying whatever you want to say. Would I sell you out?"

Sure enough, after he finished speaking, Hauge's rather anxious voice came over. Then he stopped making trouble and told Hauge all his thoughts in a few words.

He can see clearly.

Although the Qing Dynasty still had hundreds of thousands of troops at this time, Duoduo's troops had lost their will to fight after fleeing for nearly a month, and Ajige's entire army was simply wiped out.

Even though those in Beijing have been fascinated by the world of pleasure, it seems that only Hauge's troops still maintain the fighting strength they had before entering the Pass.

At this time, Jirgalang sent this letter on behalf of all parties in the DPRK. On the surface, he was asking for Hauge's opinion, but in fact, he had some ulterior motives.

The reason is very simple. The first two battles have proved the strength of the Ming army's navy. At this stage, the borders between the two sides are all densely covered with water networks such as Lianghuai.

Under normal circumstances, since we have suffered two major losses due to the dense water network, we should learn from the Jin people and give up these places that are not beneficial to us.

However, the imperial court had suffered a series of defeats. If it gave up on Lianghuai without fighting another battle this time, the situation would inevitably be reversed and it would put itself in the position of the southern barbarians last year.

But if we deploy troops to guard
Defeat is almost certain.

The key is who should be held responsible for the defeat? Who should use the power in their hands to add to the pit?

Once the usually reckless Hauge gave some advice, Luo Luohun would guarantee with his head that the court would definitely draw troops from the west and do everything according to Hauge's "suggestions".

"Your Majesty, we should focus on the war at hand and let them worry about the affairs in the southeast."

In the end, Luo Luohun gave his suggestions, but Hauge put his mind on other things.

"You mean Jirgalang has rebelled?"

"."

When Luo Luohun heard these words, he was speechless.

Jirgalang was not Hauge's minister, and Hauge was not Jirgalang's master. At best, the two of them were allies who kept each other warm in such a special environment before. How could there be any talk of betrayal?
However, Luo Luohun knew Haoge quite well, so he would not make the mistake of explaining these things to Haoge.

But since the other party had asked, he couldn't remain silent. After a little thought, he said something cryptic: "Duoduo and Ajige have suffered a series of defeats. The more than 100,000 troops in your hands are enough for them to join forces."

"Well, I'll do as you say."

After hearing that Haoge acknowledged his plan, Luo Luohun stopped talking. But when he thought that the other party would write a letter immediately, he heard Haoge talking again.

"Did the people sent to the south reply?" Hauge was indeed an idiot when it came to political struggles, but he was quite shrewd when it came to matters related to war.

Just like this time, as soon as he got the news that He Zhen and Sun Shoufa had abandoned Hanzhong, he immediately sent troops to occupy the city. Later, when he saw the densely packed forts in Guangyuan area, he decided to make preparations for both situations.

There is nothing much to say about the first move, which is naturally to rely on artillery to pull them out one by one, and the other move is to send a large number of envoys to the central Sichuan to instigate all possible forces to rebel.

This is not Hauge's fantasy.

Zhang Xianzhong's reputation as a killer had spread throughout China, and it was no exaggeration to say that he could stop a child from crying.

When he first entered Sichuan, he caused a heavy loss of population in this land of abundance. Even though he was a little more restrained this time, he was still met with a frenzied counterattack from local forces.

Of course, this does not mean that Zhang Xianzhong killed people while others did not.

In those days, few military commanders took the people seriously. Even if a few of them were able to survive, it was only because they needed the people to provide them with money and food.

The key is that this guy's methods are too cruel. Most people would just kill them and leave it at that, but he is as cruel as can be.

Just like in the battle of Chongqing, the Ming army was ultimately unable to stop Zhang Xianzhong.

If someone else were in this situation, they would either choose to kill the generals and disperse the soldiers, or simply kill all 30,000 defenders, but he actually cut off the right hands of all 30,000 soldiers.

Thirty thousand people.

Thirty thousand people without their right hands.

Thirty thousand people who lost their right hands but can still speak.

With the spread of these people, Zhang Xianzhong's reputation naturally grew.

With the blessing of this reputation, even the generals of the Dashi would become suspicious, not to mention other forces in Sichuan.

Therefore, when Hauge was trying to capture the Guangyuan stronghold from the front, he was also controlling the rhythm and did not choose to launch an all-out attack.

He still had expectations for the large number of envoys to be sent to Sichuan.

"Not yet, but if you calculate the time, it should be within a few days."

"Well, if Zhang Xianzhong's backyard is on fire, we can relax here," Hauge paused, then he looked outside the tent, and then continued after retracting his gaze: "But Guangyuan can't relax at all. Send another letter to Xi'an and ask them to send more gunpowder and shells within a few days. If there is any delay, military law will be imposed."

For Hauge, the current situation is undoubtedly quite favorable.

He had artillery support on the front, and the Dashi Army's forts could only delay time and had no essential impact on the entire battle.

After all, although Hauge came from afar and there were not many people in Shaanxi behind him, Zhang Xianzhong could not gain the advantage of fighting locally, and there were not many people in Sichuan either.

Considering this, the two armies are identical in terms of logistical supplies.

Although his real trump card has not yet been used, it is expected to make some achievements.

Therefore, the fact that his army was wasting time in Guangyuan did not cause Hauge much anxiety.

But then again, war is a matter of you scheming against me and I scheming against you.

When Hauge was as stable as a rock because of his trump card, why wouldn't Zhang Xianzhong on the opposite side find other ways?
"His Majesty."

Inside the Guangyuan government office, Zhang Xianzhong was staring at a map in a trance. At this moment, Li Dingguo ran in hurriedly. When he saw that there were other people in the room, he immediately restrained his emotions.

"You came."

After replying calmly, Zhang Xianzhong turned his attention back to the map. Even though the map did not show the path he had in mind, he still calculated the success rate of the plan based on the map.

The Qing army's artillery put him under tremendous pressure these days.

Watching the forts being destroyed under artillery bombardment and groups of soldiers being killed in them, even a figure like Zhang Xianzhong, who had the temperament of a devil, couldn't help but become anxious.

If Guangyuan is not defended, Sichuan will have no strategic location to defend. At that time, the Qing army will march straight in, and he really has no confidence in being able to defeat the enemy on the plains.

Then the situation is very clear. Zhang Xianzhong needs to find a good strategy to defeat the enemy before Guangyuan can no longer hold out. Otherwise, the Dashi that he built with great effort will be completely destroyed like snow encountering the scorching sun, and he, the emperor of Dashi, will end up like Li Zicheng.

But how could a commander like Hauge easily leave loopholes for the enemy?
During this period, the Dashi Army lost countless scouts and scouts, but after all the trouble, they could only admit that the Qing Army not only had a very organized camp, but also the soldiers were very alert.

A few days ago, the Emperor of Dashi, who felt that he had no other options, finally thought about it for a long time and had a detailed talk with Li Dingguo for most of the night.

Not many people knew about this night talk, and only the two of them knew what was discussed.

Although some people later discovered that Li Dingguo had been missing for a while, no one dared to ask anything because of Zhang Xianzhong's bloodthirsty nature.

Until now.

"How did things go?"

When Li Dingguo heard Zhang Xianzhong's question, he was a little hesitant, but since the emperor had already asked it, he couldn't be on guard, but in a flash his voice was heard.

"Your Majesty, our troops have arrived seventy miles west of Bazhou and are waiting for orders."

"No one knows, right?"

"No, I kept it a secret the whole time. When I saw the general leading the troops, I immediately pulled the horses out."

Hearing Li Dingguo's answer, Zhang Xianzhong couldn't help but nodded slightly.

He kept this matter secret to the utmost. Not only did the officials under his jurisdiction know nothing about the transfer, but even the military generals still didn't know what they were going to do.

There is no way around this.

After he established Dashi, the forces in central Sichuan either rose up in direct rebellion or pretended to obey him. Even now, a large number of them have been killed, but the situation has not improved much.

If there were no interference from outside forces, he was confident that he would be able to manage central Sichuan like an iron barrel in another six or seven years. However, just when the Ming army in the south had retreated a little, the Qing army in the north came directly to attack.

Under such circumstances, Zhang Xianzhong not only paid attention to keeping secrets on such important matters, but was also cautious even on slightly more ordinary matters.

Specifically speaking at the moment, even though Li Dingguo had already brought his men here, he still asked them to hide their whereabouts, for fear that the people in Sichuan would discover the clues and thus make this plan fail.

"Let's set off tonight."

"Order!"

(End of this chapter)