The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 789 In the Mud
At the end of July in the fourth year of Chongzhen, the Liaodong Campaign was basically over. The Ming army held the cities of Tiekai and others in Liaoshen. Huang Taiji sent out all his troops, suffered heavy casualties, and ultimately failed to gain any ground.

The Ming army defeated the elite Eight Banners troops in the battle, killed more than 10,000 Qing soldiers, captured more than 30,000 Zhenyi, Baoyi, Mongolian and Korean soldiers, and seized countless silver, money, food, fodder, carriages, horses and firearms.

After this battle, all that Huang Taiji had accumulated over the past ten years was wiped out. It was doubtful whether he could keep his throne. What was certain was that the Qing Dynasty was severely damaged and only half of its nine lives remained. It would take another 20 to 30 years for it to recover and it would be impossible for it to pose a threat to Liaodong again.

On the second day of August, Qi Meng ordered the army to stop pursuing, and the troops returned to Shenyang one after another to be rewarded according to their merits.

It is a pity that the Nu chieftain Huang Taiji was not captured in this battle.

It has to be said that this son of the plane has always had good luck. Qi Meng remembered that this was the third time that this fat Tartar had escaped.

"This is probably the most flexible fat man." Liaoyang Bo sighed to the people around him.

According to Ye Bushou's report, after Huang Taiji led the remaining troops to retreat to Hetuala, he immediately drove out the surrounding people and strengthened the fortifications overnight. Combined with the management in the previous few years, Hetuala had been built by the Jiannu into a fortress that was easy to defend and difficult to attack.

According to the analysis of the General Staff, if the Jiannu continued to resist stubbornly, and wanted to completely capture Hetuala and complete the complete destruction, the Ming army would have to lose at least 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers.

Qi Meng certainly couldn't afford such a price.

Since the Tartars have heavily defended their lair, there is no need to fight to the death.

As the saying goes, desperate rats will devour cats and dogs will jump over the wall when they are desperate. Liu Zhaosun didn't understand this principle back then. He thought it would be better to use his remaining courage to pursue the enemy. He led thousands of soldiers and horses to advance recklessly. As a result, he almost became the King of Western Chu in front of Taizi River.

Qi Meng would certainly not repeat this mistake.

Since attacking the city doesn’t work, let’s attack the heart.

Just as the Earl of Liaoyang was preparing to send an envoy to talk to Huang Taiji, the Qing emperor had already taken the lead and sent a group of high-ranking bannermen including Han ministers Gao Hongzhong and Bao Chengxian to Shenyang to negotiate peace.

"This is a handwritten letter from our emperor. Please review it, General Qi."

In the living room of the Shenyang General's Mansion, after some greetings and formalities, Gao Hongzhong handed over the handwritten letter from Huang Taiji to Qi Meng.

The spy chief Zhang Dong took the letter, sniffed it, and made sure it was not poisoned before handing it to Kang Yinggan. Kang Yinggan immediately tore open the envelope and respectfully handed the letter to the Earl of Liaoyang.

Qi Meng shook the letter paper, looked at the neat official script on the paper, and blurted out:
"Your master's Chinese characters are quite good. If he can't make it in Jianzhou in the future, he can come to my house and work as a clerk."

The two bondservants smiled awkwardly and pretended not to hear.

After a moment, Gao Hongzhong said with a pleasant expression, "I wonder if General Qi is satisfied with the peace terms proposed by the Qing Emperor."

Qi Meng took a quick look and found that compared with the peace terms brought by Fan Wencheng last time, Huang Taiji had obviously made concessions this time.

Qi Meng threw the letter on the ground and asked coldly, "Where is Minister Fan now?"

Qi Meng had no interest in Fan Wencheng at all; he had just thought of him and asked casually. However, Gao Hongzhong hesitated for a long time and stammered, "Fan Wencheng went insane and died last month."

"What a pity! Minister Fan was a good official." Upon hearing that Fan Wencheng was dead, Earl Liaoyang showed a strange smile on his face.

Seeing the atmosphere had calmed down, the two bondservants continued, "Everyone in the Qing Empire hopes to resolve their conflict and reconcile. There's no need to keep fighting and killing each other every day, watching the bloodshed of the people of both countries and ultimately being powerless to do anything about it."

However, Qi Meng did not buy it at all, and he did not give the Qing Kingdom any chance to negotiate.

Supervisor Kang pointed at Gao Hongzhong and said in feigned anger:

"Your master is trying to murder General Qi! Jianzhou is a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. If you want to negotiate, you should go to the capital, find the officials of the Ministry of Rites, and talk to General Qi. Do you want General Qi to overstep his bounds?" Gao Hongzhong did not expect the Earl of Liaoyang to do this. He and Bao Chengxian were stunned on the spot. Fortunately, the two bondservants reacted in time, smiled bitterly, and said in a low voice:

"General Kang, you're joking. Who in the world doesn't know this? Who doesn't know this? Liaoyang Bo has long controlled several provinces and commanded an army of 100,000. Many elite soldiers and generals from all directions are under his command. Deng Changxiong, Wang Erhu, Pu Gang, and Yuan Chonghuan are military governors in various places. Even you, General Kang, are called the General Inspector, but in reality you are the Governor of Liaodong..."

Kang Yingqian smiled, but did not refute. He just listened to what the bondservant said.

Bao Chengxian continued, "In the 47th year of the Wanli reign, General Qi first came to Liaodong. The court promised to let him do as he pleased. East of Jinzhou, all the areas were under their control. The civil and military officials appointed were known as 'Dongxuan', and officials from the 'Dongxuan' were found in almost every area."

"Yes," Gao Hongzhong continued, "Who doesn't know that now 'officials selected from the east are everywhere in the world'? The Ming court has probably been hollowed out by the Earl of Liaoyang, leaving only an empty shell."

Bao Chengxian smiled flatteringly: "Regarding the affairs of Liaodong, it is better to discuss it with the Earl of Liaoyang than with the imperial court. The emperor's words may not be counted."

Kang Yingqian nodded without comment and said a few humble words.

The two bondservants were overjoyed and saluted Qi Meng again, striking while the iron was hot:

"Lord Liaoyang, as the Qing Emperor promised in his letter, if the two families cease fighting, our country is willing to offer three million taels of silver, ten carts of pearls from the East, one thousand pieces of fine mink fur, and twelve beautiful women from Jianzhou..."

Bao Chengxian had a standard rat-tail braid on his head. Because he had lived in a cold and harsh place for a long time, the skin on his jaw was a little cracked, and he could hear some air leaking when he spoke. He carefully looked at Qi Meng who was sitting in front of him, but did not dare to look at this killing god.

Qi Meng was very friendly: "I can accept the silver, pearls and mink furs, but as for the beauties!"

He turned around and looked at Kang Yingqian.

General Kang smiled awkwardly. Even a veteran player like Lao Kang, with the blessing of Vajra Powder, could not arouse interest in the beauties of Jianzhou. They were really too hard to swallow.

"Since the Earl of Liaoyang doesn't like women, let's skip this..."

Just as the two bondservants were secretly delighted, Qi Meng suddenly said:
"If you don't get close to Dayu'er, it's useless to see all the beauties! Go back and tell Huang Taiji that if you want to survive, you must immediately offer Bumbutai and six million silver coins."

Bumbutai?

Gao Hongzhong didn't care about this woman, but he cared about six million taels of silver...
I feel trembling just hearing this number.

"Lord Liaoyang, didn't we agree on three million taels?"

Qi Meng said word by word: "That was before. Now, you have to pay more."

~~~~
Qi Meng had no interest in defeating Huang Taiji and destroying the Qing Dynasty.

For this frequent visitor to the Eastern World, pacifying Liaodong and eradicating the Qing Dynasty was just a routine matter, so he did not feel any joy from beginning to end - at least not as ecstatic as the first few times he destroyed the Qing Dynasty.

His ambition is to eliminate all presence of Vine Company here, then break out of the Eastern World and declare Vine Company bankrupt from a physical level.

To realize this ambition, it is first necessary to integrate the power of the Ming Dynasty, in simple terms, to replace the Ming Dynasty.

~~~~
August 15th, Mid-Autumn Festival.

The Earl of Liaoyang submitted a petition to the imperial court, requesting a reduction of 100,000 soldiers, allowing him to retire and return to his hometown of Junzhou to become a wealthy man, on the grounds that Liaodong had just been settled, the people were suffering, all industries were waiting to be developed, and the military expenses were huge.

The memorial arrived in the capital on August 28 and was presented to Emperor Chongzhen for his review. After reading the memorial, Zhu Youjian was terrified and immediately ordered the chief minister Zhou Yanru to come to the palace to discuss the plan of abolishing the feudal system.

(End of this chapter)