Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 225 The Manchus send troops
After deciding to surrender to the Jiannu, Wu Sangui immediately wrote a letter, stating the whole story, and then quickly sent someone to deliver it to Jinzhou.

After the Battle of Jinzhou, Ningyuan was the only city left outside the Ming Dynasty's Shanhaiguan.

Ningyuan is Huludao in later generations, and the Liaodong area from Shenyang to Jinzhou has been completely taken over by the Qing Dynasty's Jian Nu.

By now the Manchu Qing Dynasty had already proclaimed itself emperor and established its own country.

Nurhaci first established the Later Jin Dynasty, and after Huang Taiji succeeded to the throne, he changed the country's name to Qing.

After Huang Taiji's death, Dorgon won the final victory in the political struggle with Hauge, but he still had to make a compromise and make Huang Taiji's ninth son Fulin his master.

Therefore, Emperor Shunzhi Fulin was actually the third emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty after entering the Central Plains and establishing Beijing as the capital.

However, compared to the emperor, Shunzhi was more like a puppet during the period when Dorgon held power.

Because at this time, Jirgalang instructed all ministers to report everything to Prince Rui Dorgon first, the title of the book also listed Dorgon first, and the orders of the Qing Dynasty were also issued by Dorgon.

Therefore, Shunzhi had basically no real power. When the ministers discussed matters, Dorgon sat at the top, and the discussions among the civil and military officials below had almost nothing to do with Shunzhi.

of course.

At least Dorgon would still maintain his superficial respect.

A few days later, in the Shengjing Imperial Palace of the Qing Dynasty, Dorgon handled state affairs in the Chongzheng Hall.

The Shengjing Palace was built by Nurhaci and was expanded by Huang Taiji and later the Qing Dynasty to the scale of the later Shengjing Palace.

At this time, the main body of the Shengjing Palace was basically completed. Although it was small, it had all the necessary facilities. The main hall was the Da Zheng Hall, currently called the Du Gong Hall. It was the place where the meetings of the Eight Banners princes and ministers were held before the Qing Dynasty entered the Pass. It was somewhat similar to the Fengtian Hall of the Ming Dynasty.

The Chongzheng Hall is like the Qianqing Palace of the Ming Dynasty, where the rulers handled government affairs before the Qing Dynasty entered the country, including convening important figures for the morning court and summoning important ministers to discuss matters, which were basically done here.

At present, Fulin has not yet taken power, and the morning court every day is just a formality. After the court is over, Dorgon will do his work behind the regent's desk next to him.

Besides him, the only other person in the room was Grand Secretary Fan Wencheng of the Internal Secretariat.

Unlike the thin scholar imagined by later generations, Fan Wencheng was tall and had a very imposing appearance. Standing there he did not look like a scholar but rather a fierce general.

But this person is very smart and strategic.

Because of this, he was valued by Nurhaci, promoted many times by Huang Taiji, and Dorgon also sought advice from him many times.

Even though Huang Taiji set up the Three Inner Courts, and later during the period of Jirgalang's regency, six more positions for grand secretaries were added to the Three Inner Courts, which was equivalent to the position of the Ming Dynasty's cabinet, it did not shake Fan Wencheng's position as the chief grand secretary at all.

Dorgon handled government affairs himself, but in fact, most of them were handled with the help of Fan Wencheng. After Fan Wencheng handled the official affairs reported by various places, Dorgon reviewed them and made the final decision.

As for the so-called Eight Kings' Council, after Dorgon's political struggle, even Jirgalang, who was also the regent, was defeated.

It can be said that at this time Dorgon had already become the only powerful person and had more say than during the Huang Taiji period.

Naturally, there would be no Eight Kings Deliberating on Government.

In April, Fan Wencheng was recuperating in Gaizhou, but as there were too many things to do, Dorgon summoned Fan Wencheng back in May and asked him to assist him in governing the country.

While the two were handling matters in the palace, the guards outside came in and reported: "Report, the Secretary's Academy Scholar Yitu wants to see you."

"Let him in."

Dorgon raised his head.

Jueluo Yitu, a scholar of the Secretariat, was Fan Wencheng's deputy, responsible for organizing the confidential memorials coming in and out.

At this moment, he hurried into the hall, knelt down before Dorgon and said, "Your servant pays respect to Prince Rui."

"what's up?"

"There is an urgent request from the Southern Dynasty."

"What about the Ming Taizu again?"

Dorgon frowned.

During the reign of Huang Taiji, the Qing Dynasty completed the transformation of the Jurchen primitive tribal alliance into feudal centralized power.

According to the institutional changes promoted by important Han officials such as Fan Wencheng and Ning Wanwo, a strict logic of upper and lower levels was organized.

During the Dorgon period, the Eight Banners nobles were only in charge of military affairs, and the original form of the Eight Banners nobles' participation in politics was severed, while government affairs were handled by civil servants.

It can be said that the Qing Dynasty had formed a highly efficient system at this time.

Under such circumstances, the early Qing Dynasty was quite powerful both militarily and politically. Not only did it have a rigorous political framework, but its foreign policy was also well planned.

Not to mention that after the Qing army moved south, they implemented a series of policies including holding a funeral for Chongzhen, re-employing a large number of former Ming officials, prohibiting looting, and stopping shaving hair, which quickly won the favor of the Han gentry.

At this time, the Qing Dynasty had already planted many spies in the Ming Dynasty. In many cases, they knew everything about the Ming army's movements and military deployment.

The hottest news in the Ming Dynasty in the south at the moment, which is at the national front-page headline level, is naturally the news that Zhu Yuanzhang won the resurrection match and came down to earth to save the world.

By the time the news reached the Qing Dynasty, it had almost changed.

What about the Taizu who had three heads and six arms, and could collapse a mountain with a wave of his hand? What about the heavenly soldiers and generals under his command who were extremely brave, and could stop a million lions by themselves?

There are various versions of the story due to rumors among the people.

Therefore, Dorgon actually scoffed at it. Including counselors such as Fan Wencheng, they all believed that either there was a rebel in the south pretending to be Taizu, or Chongzhen in the south had gone mad and fabricated such things to stabilize the people's hearts.

Anyway, in the past half month, Dorgon no longer wanted to read any news about Zhu Yuanzhang. It was too outrageous and exaggerated, and reading too much of it would easily lower his intelligence.

But what Dorgon did not expect was that this time it was not news about Zhu Yuanzhang, but something about Shanhaiguan.

Yitu said: "My lord, it is Wu Sangui. He has sent a letter of surrender and is willing to submit."

"what?"

Dorgon opened his eyes wide instantly, staring at Yitu like a lion, and shouted, "Say it again?"

Yitu repeated, "Wu Sangui said he was willing to surrender."

"Ok?"

Dorgon looked suspicious.

Wu Sangui's uncle Zu Dashou was captured and surrendered. Zu Dashou had been asked to write letters to persuade him to surrender before, but there had been no movement. Why did he suddenly surrender today?

There must be something wrong when something is abnormal. Dorgon was suspicious by nature, so he started to think about it.

"Your Majesty."

Fan Wencheng was not qualified to call himself a slave, so he stood up, bowed and said, "I think there is a trick."

"Yeah, I think there's something fishy going on, too."

Dorgon pondered and said, "I have persuaded him to surrender many times before, but he suddenly surrendered today for no reason. There must be a reason for this."

Yitu took out a secret letter from Wu Sangui from his bosom and said, "Master, there is a letter from Wu Sangui."

"Bring it here."

"Yes."

Yitu handed over the letter respectfully.

Dorgon took it and looked it up and down for a long time, and the more he looked, the more confused he became.

"Look at it."

After reading it, Dorgon gave the letter to Fan Wencheng.

Fan Wencheng took it respectfully and glanced at it.

The hall fell into silence.

Yitu stood aside, Dorgon sat there in deep thought, and Fan Wencheng had a serious expression on his face.

After a long time, Fan Wencheng took the letter in his hand, lowered his head and thought for a moment, then raised his head and met Dorgon's gaze. "Your Majesty."

Fan Wencheng thought, "I think we can give it a try."

"You said."

Dorgon said without comment.

Fan Wencheng said: "It says here that the so-called Ming Taizu has already gained power in the south and spread prophecies, saying that Li Zicheng should break through Beijing in April this year, Chongzhen will hang himself, Wu Sangui will open Shanhaiguan and let our Qing Dynasty enter, and from then on the Central Plains will belong to our Qing Dynasty."

"Ah."

Dorgon nodded slightly. He was quite happy to hear the news.

It was just that I had never known whether I should take it seriously, but I still spread the news. When the princes and ministers of the Eight Banners heard it, they all smiled and said that this was the Mandate of Heaven.

"Let's not talk about whether this prophecy is true or not. Based on my understanding of them, it is a capital crime to make false comments about Taizu. It is also a capital crime to spread the news that the emperor hanged himself and the Ming Dynasty fell. Can such a thing be said in a letter?"

Fan Wencheng added: "What's more, such rumors are already everywhere in the Ming Dynasty. According to the information obtained by the spies, the city of Beijing is now in an uproar, and the imperial palace has not sent anyone to arrest and stop them."

"Well"

Dorgon nodded again.

This is not the hereafter.

During the feudal imperial era, the Manchu Qing dynasty could launch a literary inquisition and kill many scholars just based on a few words or a line of poetry.

Therefore, the emergence of such news itself represents something unusual.

It might even be true.

Otherwise, based on this information alone, Chongzhen would have launched a massive crackdown in Beijing and killed those who spread the news.

After all, this is not an allusion, but a direct statement about Taizu and himself.

"I think there are two possibilities."

Fan Wencheng added: "First, this is false. Chongzhen and Wu Sangui set up a trap and deliberately spread such news to lure us into the pass."

"What about two?"

"Second, of course, this is true. Wu Sangui really wants to surrender to us."

"Which possibility do you think is most likely?"

Dorgon asked.

Fan Wencheng smiled and said, "The first one is very unlikely. Emperor Chongzhen will not use Taizu as an excuse. Does the king still remember the incident with Chen Xinjia?"

"Ah."

Dorgon immediately understood.

At that time, Chongzhen wanted to negotiate peace with them privately, but the Minister of War Chen Xinjia who was in charge of this matter accidentally leaked the news, causing criticism from both the court and the public.

Chongzhen was afraid that he would be implicated in the matter, so he pushed all the blame onto Chen Xinjia and had him killed to cover up the truth.

The mere matter of peace talks had caused rumors and gossip to spread, putting Chongzhen under tremendous pressure from public opinion, not to mention the current situation where Taizu had descended to earth and hanged himself, leading to the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

If the news spread, I'm afraid people all over the world would talk about it. The news that the Ming Dynasty was destroyed and the Han people were enslaved would greatly weaken the morale of the Han people, while the morale of the Manchus would inevitably be high.

Thinking with your toes, coming up with such a bad idea will not only have no effect, but will also backfire.

Therefore, Fan Wencheng believes that the first possibility is almost zero.

Then the only possibility left for them is the second one, that the news of Taizu’s descent to the earth is true, and the prophecy he brought is also true.

However, Dorgon still pondered and said, "I am afraid that the emperor of the Southern Dynasty will take advantage of the spread of this news to make us think that we can easily break through Shanhaiguan. Haven't they already increased their troops? If they use this news together with Wu Sangui to set a trap and lure us in, then..."

"Your Majesty, there is no need to worry."

Fan Wencheng smiled and said, "Wu Sangui said in the letter that he is willing to cooperate with the king to seize Shanhaiguan. We can observe outside the city first and act according to the situation. If the opportunity is right, we can take Shanhaiguan. Even if there is a trick, we can just ride away and they can't do anything to us."

"Ah."

Dorgon said, "That makes sense, but our spies reported that the so-called Taizu in the south has a strong army and is heading north. After we enter the pass, we are afraid that we will run into him."

Fan Wencheng immediately said, "Back then, the Liao people said that if the Jurchens were less than 10,000, they would be invincible. Our Qing Dynasty is the descendant of the Jin Dynasty and the descendants of the Jurchens. Back then, Emperor Taizu started his army with seven hatreds and had only more than 10,000 soldiers and horses. Now he has established the Qing Dynasty with more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, which is enough to stop the millions of Han people. In addition, the Ming people are corrupt, the court is unstable, and the internal bandits are plundering. There are only tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in Shanhaiguan. At this time when the army is so strong, do you think our current situation is worse than the battles of Sarhu and Songjin?"

In the Battle of Sarhu, later generations said that the Ming army had 200,000 troops and Nurhaci had 60,000.

In fact, according to historical records, the recordable military strength of both sides was that the Ming army had about 80,000 to 90,000 troops, and Nurhaci had about 40,000 to 50,000 troops, so the disparity in military strength was not that great.

But even so, this is a game where the David and Goliath defeat the Goliath.

In the Battle of Songjin, Hong Chengchou led an army of 130,000, while Huang Taiji led 110,000, and the military strength was further reduced.

Although the Qing Dynasty also suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Songjin, they took Jinzhou and other places and continued to plunder in the interior, which resulted in the Qing Dynasty's military strength expanding considerably to nearly 200,000.

of course.

This is the total military strength of the country.

Most of them were the Eight Banners of Mongolia, the Eight Banners of Han, and other affiliated troops such as the Three Shun Kings, the One Shun Duke, the Eight Banners of Chahar, Outer Mongolia, and Outer Korea.

The actual number of Manchu-Jurchen soldiers was probably around 60,000.

But since we are going to fight a war through the pass, and it is a war to annihilate a country, we must mobilize all our forces.

Of this 200,000-strong army, at least 150,000 or 160,000 must be present.

In fact, historical records show that Dorgon did lead a total of 100,000 Manchu, Han and Mongolian troops to enter the pass first, and then Shunzhi immediately moved the capital to Beijing, bringing with him 50,000 to 60,000 people.

Basically, these 150,000 to 160,000 troops are the Qing army's troops after entering the pass.

But afterwards they quickly accepted the surrender of many Ming troops, formed the Green Camp, and their military strength expanded rapidly.

But no matter what, the Ming army in Shanhaiguan now, even if Wu Sangui's troops are included, is only about 70,000 to 80,000 people.

If Wu Sangui is excluded, Wang Jiayan would only have more than 40,000 but less than 50,000 troops at his disposal.

Moreover, his subordinates were all troops drawn from various places, and each of their generals was an unruly military leader, so it was hard to say whether they could obey his orders.

If you are afraid to fight when you have an absolute advantage in military strength and the enemy is weak in combat effectiveness and has poor command, then you are a coward.

As for the so-called Ming Taizu, Fan Wencheng believed that as long as they could enter the pass, they would be able to quickly replenish a large number of troops.

Even if it was really the Ming Taizu who came down to earth, the Qing Dynasty would not be afraid at all and could easily fight him.

Let's see whether the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty was more powerful or the founding army of the Qing Dynasty was more powerful.

"okay!"

After hearing what Fan Wencheng said, Dorgon just hesitated for a while, then nodded and said: "You are right. Back then, my father and my brother were able to defeat the strong with the weak, and beat the Ming people to tears. I have more soldiers and horses than them, so what should I be afraid of? Yitu!"

"The slave is here."

Yitu said hurriedly.

"Tell the Secretariat to send a message to the princes and beiles of the eight banners immediately. I want to call a meeting."

Dorgon said.

"Yes!"

Yitu then walked out backwards.

Dorgon looked outside the palace. It was a bright sunny day. He couldn't help laughing and said, "My Qing Dynasty is the destiny of heaven. The land of the Han people should be ours!"

(End of this chapter)