Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 197: Peace and the Lost Country
As the military orders from the Five Army Headquarters were announced, the battles in Xiangyang, Nanyang, Xuzhou, Lunan and other places ended one after another, and the troops of the Palace Army also entered a state of rest and recuperation. The soldiers who had been fighting for more than half a year finally got a chance to catch their breath.

That evening, in a winery south of Yuezhou City, Zhao Zhengdong, the newly promoted captain of the Tianwu Left Camp of the Palace Guard, was drinking and talking about the future with a group of officers from the same camp.

This winery belongs to a trading company called "Chang'an Ju". It is a well-known place in Yuezhou City. Because it is not far from the military camp and is quite hidden, its business is very hot and the seats are always full every night.

At that moment, red lanterns hung everywhere in Chang'an Residence, illuminating the entire hall with a warm glow. The winery was filled with soldiers, thoroughly enjoying this hard-earned peace. Zhao Zhengdong and his brothers occupied a large table by the window on the second floor, which was laden with wine and meat.

After the Battle of Wuchang, Zhao Zhengdong was finally promoted to Qianzong due to his merits, the highest-ranking officer among all the officers present. As a former leader of the boat trackers, he was also regarded as the big brother by everyone.

Now, his face is full of smiles. Not only did he get promoted recently, he also took a concubine next to the base. It can be said that he is "in high spirits when good things happen to him."

Sitting next to him was his most capable young brother, Gu Defu. Gu Defu had been rapidly promoted to captain due to his military exploits, and his injuries from the Wuchang street fighting had largely healed, so he was currently busy getting married.

Sun Da and Hu Laoqi were also at the table. They were both promoted to the rank of centurion. Sun Da had been transferred from Gu Defu's command, but still served as deputy centurion in Tianwu Zuoying. Hu Laoqi was the centurion of a newly established firearms bureau under Zhao Zhengdong.

Inside and outside the winery, the lights were bright and bustling. Several waiters were busy in and out, greeting the guests inside and outside, and constantly serving hot food and wine. Zhao Zhengdong blushed, raised his glass, and said loudly:

"Brothers, let's drink this cup. From now on, we will never have to live in poverty again!"

Upon hearing this, all the officers responded in unison. Gu Defu, Sun Da, Hu Laoqi and others took the lead in raising their glasses, and the winery was filled with a happy atmosphere.

As cups clinked, laughter and joy could be heard. Zhao Zhengdong put down his cup, smiled slightly, and swept his eyes over everyone's faces. These were all his capable men, and quite a few of them were old brothers brought up by the boat trackers. On the battlefield, swords and guns were ruthless, and there were only a handful of them who could survive to this day and make contributions.

After all, for an army like the Palace Army that has fought many hardships, made many achievements, and expanded rapidly, surviving means rapid success!

Zhao Zhengdong quickly put down his wine glass, wiped the wine stains from the corners of his mouth, and said with a smile:

"You bastards, you're all officers now. Stop running to the brothels every time you take leave. You should think about getting married."

However, Sun Da, Hu Laoqi and the others didn't take it seriously at all. They all talked about other things or just started joking. They rarely had vacations and didn't save enough money, so it was naturally impossible for them to take concubines directly at the station like Zhao Zhengdong did.

Zhao Zhengdong naturally knew what these old brothers meant, and then turned to look at Gu Defu and said with concern:

"Tokutomi, how is your injury healing?"

Gu Defu scratched his head and said with a smile: "Brother, my injury has healed, it's nothing serious."

"How are the arrangements for getting married going?" Zhao Zhengdong asked with a smile.

"Brother, we're already making plans. We'll get married as soon as we're done resting. I've finally made it big, and it's time for me to start a family and build a career."

Zhao Zhengdong was overjoyed after hearing this. He nodded and turned his gaze to Sun Da and Hu Laoqi, saying, "Listen, you two! Defu is more sensible than you!"

Sun Da looked at Zhao Zhengdong's red face and serious expression, and immediately smiled and said:
"Brother, I'm all alone here. Even if I want to get married, there's no one to help. Why don't you wait until you've arranged it for Old Gu and then do it for me too? I want to get married too. I'm already a proud family member for having lived to this day. If you ask someone to find me a few more wives, I'll have to open a separate page in the Sun family's genealogy."

Seeing this, Hu Laoqi said, "Brother, don't worry about me. I'm choosing a wife for my son!"

Gu Defu and Sun Da are both bachelors, but Hu Laoqi's situation is a little different. His son is already in his teens, and he has no intention of remarrying. Instead, he plans to find a wife for his son.

Zhao Zhengdong listened and nodded with satisfaction. He listened to these words, and his heart was filled with emotion. After taking a sip of wine, he blushed and said:

"The battlefield is brutal, and any of us could be killed at any moment. Continuing the family line is a serious matter and cannot be delayed."

In this era, continuing the family line was a crucial matter for soldiers, and even the Emperor, Zhu Cilang, attached great importance to it. After all, as Zhao Zhengdong had said, the battlefield was brutal, and they could die at any moment. He didn't want these young men to lose their family line.

After saying this, Zhao Zhengdong couldn't help but recall the memories of his time with these men since they joined the army. They had come from Shandong to Nanjing, trained together, fought side by side, and experienced countless life-and-death experiences together. These men were his most trusted comrades and the foundation of the Palace Army.

Thinking of this, Zhao Zhengdong couldn't help but take a deep breath and said slowly:
"The money we earn now and the land we are given are all earned with our lives. If we die without a son, we will be sorry to our ancestors."

After three rounds of wine and five dishes, as everyone's faces gradually turned red, the topic became more and more bold, gradually turning from personal life to the various gossips that had been circulating within the army recently.

Zhao Zhengdong blushed, gently put down his wine glass, and said to several old brothers who were also drunk:

"I heard that bastard named Li from the training team and that bastard from the logistics department are both under investigation. Is this true or not?"

Gu Defu was already full of himself at this point. He slammed his wine glass on the table and laughed loudly, "Brother, that's of course true. Once they're all dealt with, we might even get a lot of benefits! These corrupt officials have already been investigated."

Zhao Zhengdong listened and nodded in agreement:
"This is indeed a good thing. Your Majesty is now vigorously cracking down on corruption in order to bring justice to us brothers who have fought bravely on the battlefield. Our Palace Army was originally doing well, but the recent incidents were all caused by these villains. It would be best to draw and quarter them all."

As soon as Zhao Zhengdong finished speaking, Sun Da burped and immediately continued, "Brother, you're right. Hiccup. Now, His Majesty is rectifying military discipline for the sake of those of us who are actually fighting. Hiccup."

Upon hearing this, Hu Laoqi also laughed and said, "That's right! We are all His Majesty's people. Everything we have now was given by His Majesty. We must be loyal to His Majesty and serve the Ming Dynasty. We will drive out the Tartars and restore our homeland!"

"Once we clear out all the civilian officials in charge of logistics and military affairs, there won't be so many troubles in our army." Gu Defu cursed drowsily.

"It's those civil servants again! Damn it! I've heard about this before. These guys are the most hateful. They withhold military pay and rations. They're even more hateful than the Tartars!" Hu Laoqi's face flushed red as he said angrily:
"Our Palace Army is relatively good. I heard that the soldiers in Zuozhen, Jiangbei, and other local camps have been severely deprived of their salaries, and even lost their lives. That's why Your Majesty wants to conduct a thorough investigation."

When Zhu Cilang first ascended the throne, he adopted the principle of incorporating almost all the troops from all over the south. Although he made some adjustments, those people still had their original habits to some extent, and many bad habits were inevitably revived.

His prestige in the army was once again demonstrated. The Palace Army was founded by him, and now it has become the strongest army in the world. All the soldiers in the army follow his lead, and this is why he dared to reorganize the various armies and reform the Ming system.

At the same time, Zhu Cilang did intend to use this military expansion to readjust the strength of each department and thoroughly strengthen the various departments of the Palace Army in order to achieve the purpose of weakening the strength of the remaining departments in disguise. These were all preparations for the reorganization of the various troops that had been incorporated in the past two years.

However, what Hu Laoqi heard were genuine gossips, and a lot of them were simply false rumors and completely unreliable.

"Also, I heard that the land distributed after retirement will not be as much as it was a year ago. This must be the result of the mischief of those civil officials. If they don't distribute more land, how can we recruit good soldiers? Although we didn't lose many soldiers this time, if we want to march north, we have to recruit at least 20,000 to 30,000 new soldiers, not to mention the local garrisons!" Sun Da complained.

"Haha, it's more than 20,000 or 30,000, at least 40,000. Your Majesty must expand the Palace Army, and focus on expanding it. There are also the Loyalty Battalion, the Left Town, and the Huguang Battalion. With so many troops, if all of them are really expanded, there will be at least 50,000 or 60,000 new recruits..."

Zhao Zhengdong was already drunk and said a lot of things that he shouldn't have said at once, and was directly covered his mouth by the sober officer.

This is basically the case with the military of this era. There are huge problems in both organizational strength and institutional management.

However, most of what these officers said were actually just rumors. Zhu Cilang did not order the Five Military Commandery to announce a comprehensive recruitment plan. He only issued tasks to various states and counties through the Ministry of War, and many officers made guesses based on the number of veterans dispatched.

In other words, even if the Qing court's spies heard what they said and passed the information back to Beijing, Dorgon would not be able to judge whether it was true or false. Because, in other wineries, there were more officers who heard other rumors and spread rumors of recruiting 100,000 or even 200,000 soldiers.

Such information is naturally difficult to distinguish between true and false and is of little significance.

However, Zhu Cilang was carrying out drastic reforms and implementing new policies. Many officials in the Ming court dared not speak out. Dorgon also received this information and was preparing to make full use of it.

At this time, the Qing court had sent envoys to Nanjing and brought the news that Shunzhi was preparing to "withdraw troops and negotiate peace" with the Ming court.

With Zu Zepu's assistance, Dorgon's envoys widely spread the news of his intention to "negotiate peace." Under immense pressure from the New Deal reforms, Ming officials, led by Ma Shiying and He Tengjiao, seized the opportunity to strike back and began urging peace talks, especially given the attractive terms offered by the Qing court. Consequently, a wave of calls for peace quickly swept through Nanjing's officialdom. Many officials, who had been left behind by Zhu Cilang's personal push for institutional reforms and military purges, joined in, with Ma Shiying gradually becoming a leader.

Zhu Cilang naturally learned about the peace letter sent by Dorgon at the first time, and then summoned the ministers in Nanjing City to Yuezhou Prefecture.

Less than two weeks later, all the officials gathered in Yuezhou Prefecture again, including Wang Yingxiong. As the commander-in-chief, he naturally wanted to get involved in such a major event.

In the temporary palace of Yuezhou Prefecture, Zhu Cilang's face was dignified, his eyes as sharp as a torch, as he surveyed the courtiers. He knew that many of these self-proclaimed elders were merely seeking short-term gains, not truly concerned with the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty.

"The envoy sent by Dorgon said that he wanted to withdraw troops and negotiate peace. What do you think?" Zhu Cilang made his attitude clear and asked coldly in a bad tone.

However, despite this, Ma Shiying was the first to step forward and bowed to Zhu Cilang, saying:

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid the Qing court is truly frightened by your attack this time. The slave chieftain even bluntly stated: If peace can be negotiated, the army will immediately withdraw from Shanhaiguan. If the peace talks come true, the people will be spared the suffering of war and can recuperate, and the court will be able to defeat the enemy without fighting. It can be said to be the best of both worlds!"

He Tengjiao also echoed, "Yes, Your Majesty, the people's livelihood is in decline and the war has been going on for years. Since the Eastern Tartars are so sincere, temporarily "negotiating peace" is indeed a good option."

After hearing this, Du Yinxi snorted coldly and clasped his hands towards Zhu Cilang, saying:

"How ridiculous, Lord He, you said some time ago that the Western bandits were untrustworthy and that appeasement was absolutely impossible, so how come the Eastern bandits are trustworthy now?

Dorgon would not easily withdraw his troops, this is beyond doubt; moreover, this is most likely just a delaying tactic by the Qing army, absolutely do not believe it! "

As soon as these words came out, the ministers in the hall looked at each other in confusion and started to discuss. Du Yinxi continued:

"The Dongluo's conditions may seem tempting, but there are many traps hidden within them. Elder Ma, Elder He, have you considered this?"

But Ma Shiying did not give up and continued to argue:
"Your Majesty, the Eastern Tartars are indeed not to be trusted completely, but if we can use 'peace talks' to get the Qing troops to withdraw, it will certainly be beneficial to Your Majesty's Northern Expedition. Otherwise, the Qing army will surely take the opportunity to harass us, which will delay our army's training..."

Ma Shiying naturally knew that the Qing army was likely to go back on its word, but as long as he could push things towards peace talks, the pro-war faction would definitely lose power temporarily, and he would have the opportunity to turn the tide and win.

Although Zhu Cilang was temporarily safe while he was reorganizing the court and the army, his officials were falling into crisis one after another, which made him very panicked. When he heard the news of peace talks from the north, it was like grabbing a life-saving straw.

After all, in Ma Shiying's view, the pro-war faction gained power because the Ming army had won consecutive victories on the battlefield. Once the Ming's focus shifted to peace talks, these pro-peace factions would surely gain the upper hand and be given important positions.

"Yes, this may be a conspiracy of Dorgon, but we can also take advantage of it." He Tengjiao continued:

"For thousands of years, the southern invasion of the north has resulted in more defeats than victories, and it is not something that can be accomplished overnight. Your Majesty is a wise ruler throughout history. While you can quickly revive the Ming Dynasty and restore the vast northern territories, you must not underestimate the enemy and advance rashly.

Now, pretending to negotiate peace and misleading the Eastern Tartars is the safest strategy. I, on the contrary, feel that those who only want to start a war again and disregard the overall situation are the ones who are truly bringing disaster to the country and the people."

When Li Banghua heard such incredible words, his anger, which he had been able to suppress, exploded directly, and he immediately lost his composure and angrily shouted:
"Shut up! You short-sighted people only know how to covet temporary gains, but ignore the long-term interests of the Ming Dynasty. Negotiate peace, negotiate peace, and talk back and forth. In the end, it will only lead to the destruction of the country!"

As soon as Li Banghua said this, the atmosphere in the hall suddenly became tense. The ministers were intimidated by the majesty of the chief minister of the cabinet and dared not speak again.

The Ming Emperor Zhu Cilang glanced at them coldly, becoming increasingly disappointed with these people.

He knew full well that Dorgon's so-called peace talks were merely a stalling tactic. They would not actually withdraw their troops, but would simply seize the opportunity to accumulate strength and await the next attack. The ministers, however, could see the Qing army's true intentions: they had ulterior motives.

On this issue, Zhu Cilang and the ministers in the palace had no room for negotiation. He knew too well why Ma Shiying, He Tengjiao and others were so keen on peace talks. If they could fight, they would probably advocate a northern expedition.

However, Zhu Cilang naturally would not miss such an opportunity. He had not expressed his attitude before and gave Ma Shiying and He Tengjiao the opportunity to speak in order to publicly attack the two and disintegrate their small group, which would help the comprehensive promotion of reform.

"There is absolutely no need to discuss peace talks again. I am the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. How could I have ended up in a situation where I had to negotiate peace with a bunch of defeated bandits?"

Zhu Cilang's every word was powerful:

"I hereby issue my military orders. All armies must intensify their training and enforce strict discipline. The armies of Huaibei, Xiangyang, and southern Sichuan must be on high alert and ready to fight at any time. The future of the Ming Dynasty will not be achieved through peace talks, but through the strength of our soldiers!"

Seeing this, Ma Shiying was about to argue, but he quickly said, "Your Majesty, if we can negotiate peace to gain some temporary peace and then make plans later, that's not a bad idea..."

His voice was obviously very nervous, and he glanced at He Tengjiao. Seeing that the other party didn't dare to speak, Ma Shiying's heart suddenly turned cold. This meant that he would "fight alone."

Ma Shiying knew that his position was not stable, but he still continued:

"Your Majesty, this could certainly be a Qing army trap, but if we can properly exploit it, our dynasty can also take this opportunity to recuperate and accumulate strength."

Upon hearing this, a cold light flashed in Zhu Cilang's eyes. He knew that only by firmly refusing to negotiate peace could this unhealthy trend be stopped and Ma Shiying, the treacherous minister who had risen to power by taking advantage of the situation, be completely suppressed.

He looked at Ma Shiying and He Tengjiao, and he knew clearly what they were thinking. Among these officials, some were greedy for power, some were for their own interests, and some were due to their limited knowledge of the so-called history of the Jin Dynasty, the Southern Dynasties, and the Song Dynasty. Out of uncertainty and fear about the future, they were worried about the failure of the Northern Expedition and were determined to negotiate peace.

But the present was different. The South's war potential and the Qing's strength were not something that could be replicated historically. Faced with such a situation, he, as the current emperor, had to stand firm and not allow anyone to sway his established course.

"I have made up my mind. There is no need to discuss this matter further. What the Emperor of Jin, the emperors of the Southern Dynasties, and the Emperor of Song cannot do, I can do!"

After saying that, he waved his sleeves and left the hall, leaving the ministers looking at each other in bewilderment.

Ma Shiying and He Tengjiao secretly groaned in their hearts. When they saw Zhu Cilang signaling the ministers to discuss the matter, they thought that the other party also had the same idea and could temporarily stabilize the situation through peace talks, but they did not expect that His Majesty the Emperor was so determined.

However, they all knew that the young emperor's determination was unshakable. They could only restrain their thoughts temporarily and wait for the right time to make plans.

Du Yinxi stood aside, watching all this silently. Although he had some doubts about the Northern Expedition, Zhu Cilang's firm attitude gave him hope. He knew that only such an emperor could truly lead the Ming Dynasty to a successful Northern Expedition and usher in a revival.

After leaving the court, Zhu Cilang summoned Li Banghua and Du Yinxi, two of his trusted ministers. They were both loyal and reliable ministers and were deeply trusted by Zhu Cilang.

"Ma Shiying, He Tengjiao and others may not have believed the Qing court's peace talks so easily. Dorgon's conspiracy is not difficult to see through, but Ma Shiying and He Tengjiao's thoughts are probably much deeper." Zhu Cilang sighed.

These two were cabinet ministers of the Ming Dynasty, holding high positions. They also made considerable contributions in Zhu Cilang's consolidation of the throne. It was not easy for Zhu Cilang to take them down. The two had to make big enough mistakes or completely lose the support of their followers.

Otherwise, Zhu Cilang would be undermining the foundation of the Ming Dynasty court with his own hands, and his political credibility would be greatly damaged.

Li Banghua and Du Yinxi nodded repeatedly after hearing this. Li Banghua then bowed and said, "Your Majesty is absolutely right. All regions must strengthen their border defenses to prevent surprise attacks by the Qing army. We must not give the Qing army any opportunity to exploit this situation."

Zhu Cilang smiled and said, "Dorgon hasn't been able to launch any attacks lately. The most important thing now is what's happening in our court. You must all intensify your crackdown on corrupt officials and not allow them any respite. Only by eliminating these poisonous tumors can I fully devote my forces to the Northern Expedition and annihilate the Qing army."

Du Yinxi heard this and said:

"Your Majesty, now that word of the peace talks has spread, I'm afraid the morale of the troops and soldiers across the country has been shaken. If you want to boost morale and combat corruption, perhaps Your Majesty should personally inspect the military camps across the country to understand the soldiers' training. This will be the best way to combat corruption and boost morale."

(End of this chapter)