Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 331 Shunzhi wants to run away

In late spring, the vegetation in the Qianqing Palace of the Forbidden City is lush and the birds are chirping.

The Forbidden City today has undergone many years of renovation and is even more magnificent than it was during the reign of Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty. The colored glaze is new and eye-catching, the windows are clean, and the beams and pillars are solid, giving it the appearance of a new dynasty.

Some of the giant trees such as willows, cypresses and ginkgo trees in the Qianqing Palace were left over from the Ming Dynasty, while others were transplanted from various places by the Qing court.

Contrary to the impression of later generations, the Forbidden City had always been planted with a lot of plants. It was not until the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom invaded the Forbidden City and was protected by the giant trees. Jiaqing simply ordered the cutting of plants, and only a few plants were retained in the Imperial Garden.

There were several memorials thrown on the ground. The young Aixinjuelu Fulin was still angry and was reviewing new memorials. He kept muttering to himself: "Our dynasty has never suffered such a setback in military operations. Since the founding of the country, there has never been such a setback as today..."

Jiangxi and Zhejiang sent military reports one after another, verifying that Zhang Cunren, Shang Kexi, Li Qifeng and other senior officials had all died in the battle. Pingnan, which was relied upon by the Qing court as the pillar of eastern Guangdong, suffered the heaviest casualties and was almost completely wiped out, from Shang Kexi, the king of Pingnan, Ban Zhifu, the general of the left wing, Xu Erxian, the general of the right wing, to ordinary soldiers, almost no one who stayed in Guangzhou was spared.

The imperial court mobilized a large army, raised more than 100,000 troops, and spent millions of dollars in military funds, but most of them were defeated. Not only did it fail to recover western Guangdong, but it also lost eastern Guangdong, and lost famous generals such as Bashan and Shang Kexi, and famous officials such as Zhang Cunren and Li Qifeng.

Shunzhi was furious. He had just taken power and was just trying to show off his power and establish his authority in front of his ministers, especially in front of Dorgon's followers. But now, he had shot himself in the foot!
The eunuchs stood in awe, their heads bowed, trembling with fear for fear of getting into trouble. The chief eunuch Wu Liangfu carefully watched Fulin's expression, personally brought a cup of steaming green tea, and said, "Master, calm down. There is no need to get angry and hurt your liver."

Wu Liangfu was a eunuch during the reign of Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty. He was bold and careful, and was very much in the favor of Emperor Shunzhi. When Shunzhi was young, he was suppressed by Dorgon and Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, and was quite depressed. Wu Liangfu was accustomed to the court politics of the Ming Dynasty. He grew up with Shunzhi and often instilled court secrets into him. Therefore, he was both Shunzhi's slave and Shunzhi's close companion.

Last year, Dorgon died, and Shunzhi cleaned up Dorgon and his followers thoroughly, with the guidance of Wu Liangfu. In order to eliminate Dorgon's influence, Shunzhi promoted a large number of officials who had been excluded and persecuted by Dorgon, including Jirgalang, Sony, Oboi, Ebilun and others.

Wu Liangfu was his best friend and was also very favored by him. In order to control the power of the inner court, especially to get rid of the constraints imposed on him by Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, Shunzhi chose to use Wu Liangfu.

The most typical event was that Shunzhi, at the request of Wu Liangfu, established the "Thirteen Yamen" in accordance with the "Twenty-Four Yamen" of the Ming Dynasty's inner court, namely, the Sili Yamen, the Yuyong Yamen, the Yuma Yamen, the Neiguan Yamen (Xuanhuiyuan), the Shangyi Yamen, the Shangshen Yamen, the Shangbao Yamen (Shangbaosi), the Sishe Yamen, the Shangfang Yamen (Shangfangyuan), the Xixinsi, the Zhonggu Yamen (Liyi Yamen, Liyiyuan), the Bingzhang Bureau, and the Weapon and Dyeing Bureau (Jingju).

Less than three months after the establishment of the Thirteen Offices, the Imperial Household Department had been emptied out, and the influence of Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang had been greatly weakened. A group of eunuchs gradually formed in the Forbidden City around Wu Liangfu. The ancient Forbidden City seemed to be repeating the bad policies of the eunuch dictatorship of the Ming Dynasty.

Shunzhi still trusted Wu Liangfu, his great companion. He ignored the dignity of the royal family, picked up the teacup and gulped down the tea, saying: "Wu Liangfu, send someone to tell the imperial army camp, the vanguard camp, and the firearms camp to make preparations in advance. I will visit Shengjing soon."

"Ah?" Wu Liangfu was shocked and quickly knelt on the ground, admonishing: "Your Majesty, the front line has failed and the people in the capital are uneasy. If you visit Shengjing at this time, the soldiers and civilians will surely be terrified."

It was said that he was touring Shengjing, but in fact he was just running away. Wu Liangfu was frightened. The emperor was too rash. He lost his temper after a slight setback on the front line and wanted to flee to his hometown in the northeast. Wouldn't it be a joke if it got out?

"Otherwise, Shengjing is the birthplace of the Qing Dynasty. My visit to Shengjing will surely boost morale and inspire the army."

"The Imperial Guard Battalion, Vanguard Battalion, and Firearms Battalion are all elite troops of the Eight Banners of the Beijing Camp, and they have the strictest regulations. Without a written order, I'm afraid they cannot be mobilized."

The Royal Army Battalion and the Vanguard Battalion have a long history, while the Firearms Battalion is a newly created unit with a composition of nearly 8,000 Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners soldiers.

The creation of the Firearms Battalion was also proposed by Wu Liangfu, with two purposes: one was to weaken the various banners, strengthen the Beijing Camp, and consolidate the power of the royal family; the other was to strengthen firearms and serve as a benchmark for the Eight Banners. Wu Liangfu also urged Shunzhi to send eunuchs to the Firearms Battalion to supervise training, like the Ming Dynasty's military supervision system, which was fiercely opposed by the Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners. Shunzhi was also well aware of the disadvantages of military supervision and did not listen to Wu Liangfu's bad idea.

Prince Zheng Jirgalang was able to distinguish right from wrong and strongly supported the establishment of a firearms battalion. He once led his troops to fight against the Red Army in Quanzhou and was deeply impressed by the Red Army's firearms.

Shunzhi thought Jirgalang was mature and prudent and had no political ambitions, so he asked Jirgalang to preside over the establishment of the Firearms Battalion. Jirgalang was old and weak, so he asked Oboi to assist him, and Shunzhi agreed.

Oboi was a member of the Guwalgiya clan and a member of the Bordered Yellow Banner of Manchuria. He had made great military achievements and was a close confidant of Huang Taiji during his lifetime. After Huang Taiji's death, Oboi supported Haoge and was at odds with Dorgon.

When Dorgon was regent, he cracked down on dissidents and was deeply afraid of Oboi. He found fault with him twice and argued that Oboi deserved death. In the end, due to his outstanding military achievements, court officials competed to protect him, so Dorgon failed to kill Oboi.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend, so it is natural that Shunzhi valued Oboi.

This Aobai was indeed a man of talent, not only with his outstanding military achievements, but also with his insights. He was full of energy and presided over the establishment of the Firearms Battalion, formulating a charter in a short period of time, which won praise from the court officials.

The Eight Banners Fire Flag Battalion was specially selected from the Eight Banners Manchu and Mongolian soldiers who were familiar with firearms, and had two new types of soldiers: musket guards and artillery armor.

The training was divided into two camps: the inner and outer camps. The camp inside the capital was the inner firearms camp, which was divided into two camps: rifles and cannons. The outer firearms camp outside the city was the outer firearms camp, which specialized in musket training.

There were more than 5,000 musket guards and nearly 1,000 artillery and armored personnel in the inner and outer camps. In addition, there were more than 1,600 training soldiers to supplement the musket guards.

The three types of soldiers total 8,000 people. More than 5,000 have been selected and are currently undergoing intensive training.

"Asshole!" Shunzhi was furious, and even scolded Wu Liangfu, saying, "I have my reasons for not issuing the imperial edict. Is it your turn to remind me?"

Wu Liangfu blushed and left the hall. A slave is still a slave after all. No matter how powerful he is, if he falls out of favor, he will be nothing.

He called a trusted eunuch and whispered, "The master is not in a good mood and wants to visit Shengjing. You should go to see the empress dowager and ask her to come to the Qianqing Palace."

The eunuch was about to leave, but Wu Liangfu felt that something was not right, so he said, "You stay and serve the master, I will go and invite the Queen Mother."

Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang disliked Wu Liangfu and repeatedly criticized him. Wu Liangfu's proposal to set up the Thirteen Yamen also deeply offended the Empress Dowager.

But at this point, no one could persuade Shunzhi except Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang.

(End of this chapter)