Harem: Biography of Concubine Qin

Chapter 228
Even if the matter of establishing the crown prince is over, the emperor only fined the few ministers who wrote the letter with half a year's salary.

Now is the time for employing people, if these ministers are dismissed and investigated, it will inevitably cause trouble.

Holding the memorial of the governor of Fujian, the emperor was furious.

Half of the garrison troops in the Huguang area were sent to Fujian, and the Eight Banners Navy also transferred [-] to Fujian.

A small Fujian has gathered more soldiers and horses than the capital, but it just can't beat Taiwan.

Not only was he unable to beat him, but he was also beaten.

"Where are my most valiant Eight Banners soldiers? Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, why can't they even defeat a small island?"

All the ministers looked at each other, Suo'etu said: "Although Taiwan is small, there is a strait in the middle, so it is easy to defend and difficult to attack. The soldiers on the island live by the sea all the year round, so they are naturally more proficient in naval warfare than our Eight Banners soldiers."

"Isn't my Eight Banners Navy also trained in the Yangtze River and the Yellow River? Nalan Qing, tell me."

"Returning to the emperor, in my humble opinion, compared with the sea, the Yangtze River and the Yellow River are just small ditches. The Eight Banners navy trained in the small ditch is no match for the Taiwanese navy churning in the sea."

The emperor suddenly realized how weak the Qing Dynasty was at sea.

It is so weak that even a small Taiwan cannot be taken back. What if other countries lead naval fleets to attack in the future?

He suddenly realized a little bit, thinking of Xiang Qingyuan who was almost demoted to a barbarian land by him last year.

He advocated opening customs and doing trade with Westerners, did he also think of this...

"Xiang Qingyuan, tell me."

Xiang Qingyuan stood up from the crowd, cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, the minister's words were harsh again. I'm afraid even the emperor and the ministers will stab me this time."

Everyone felt a little uncomfortable when they heard this, Xiang Qingyuan has always been like this.

The name has been changed, but the biting bone remains the same.

"No matter how harsh I am, I still want to say, please take back the soldiers of the Manchu Eight Banners. Instead, the local conscription in the southeast area will be used, and then the Han Eight Banners soldiers will be sent to help."

Fujian is far away from the capital, and the local residents are all Han Chinese.

Xiang Qingyuan wants to take back all the soldiers of the Manchu Eight Banners and send the Han Eight Banners instead. Wouldn't it be all Han soldiers fighting?

"No!"

Tong Guowei took the lead and said: "Fujian is a place where the sky is high and the emperor is far away. Hundreds of thousands of Han soldiers are gathered. If they rebel on the spot, how can they cooperate with the Zheng family in Taiwan?"

According to Tong Guowei's meaning, that is, even if the Manchu Eight Banners Navy is not useful for fighting, at least it can supervise the Han soldiers.

Xiang Qingyuan was not inferior at all, and snorted and said: "Master Tong is really powerful. The emperor sent a large army to the expedition, but it was just a minister to supervise the army. It is good for Master Tong to send [-] troops from the Eight Banners Navy to supervise the army."

These words not only stabbed Tong Guowei, but also pierced the hearts of all the Manchu ministers in the court.

Xiang Qingyuan clearly said that the Manchu Eight Banners navy is useless, which Manchu minister can listen to this?
All of a sudden, the court became a common enemy, and Xiang Qingyuan was the target of public criticism.

It is rare for Suo'etu to stand on Tong Guowei's side. Although they fight frequently, they are both Manchus after all.

"Your Majesty, I see that Xiang Qingyuan has a rebellious heart, and dare to point out that I am full of Eight Banners navy is useless! If I am full of Eight Banners soldiers, how can the Qing army defeat the Ming army and enter the Central Plains?"

Suo'etu directly talked about the entry of Qing soldiers into the pass and the change of dynasty, and the Han ministers in the court became more and more afraid to speak.

If they speak for Xiang Qingyuan at this time, they will inevitably be considered as rebellious.

"Exactly, Xiang Qingyuan, a Han man, dared to speak nonsense on the court, the emperor should immediately pull him out of the Meridian Gate and behead him!"

"The land of Fujian cannot only have Han soldiers, the emperor must not listen to Xiang Qingyuan!"

……

Seeing that the court had become a criticism meeting for Xiang Qingyuan, Chen Wenyi frowned, and was about to stand up and speak for him.

Standing in front of him, Chen Xihai stretched out his foot under the robe, blocking his way.

He raised his head to look at Chen Xihai in surprise, only to see that he turned his face slightly and shook his head slightly.

The foot that was about to step was finally retracted, and he understood what Chen Xihai meant.

His return from Horqin's great victory is already eye-catching enough, and this military achievement made the emperor promote Chen Wenxin as a concubine.

Now that the upsurge has not yet passed, if he speaks out again, it will only make people think that he is relying on his military skills and has no law.

Now is the time for him to avoid suspicion, he can't speak rashly, he can only hide his strength and bide his time.

"All right!"

The emperor waved his hand impatiently, "Xiang Qingyuan, what else do you have to say?"

The emperor himself is also a Manchu, and he doesn't like to hear Xiang Qingyuan accuse the Manchu Navy of being useless.

But he is the emperor, if he is angry because he praises the Han Banners to Qingyuan and belittles the Manchu Banners, then he is not the emperor of the world.

——but only the full emperor.

He wants to tell everyone that he is not only the emperor of the Manchus, but also the emperor of the Han people.

As for Xiang Qingyuan...

If he can't make a reason today, even if he doesn't want to punish him, I'm afraid the Manchu ministers of the Manchu Dynasty will smash him to pieces.

I saw that Xiang Qingyuan was neither humble nor overbearing, and there was no anger at being insulted on his face.

He laughed and said: "Back to the emperor, I dare to ask, is the Manchu family mentioned by the emperor empty words? Since the Manchu family, the Han Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty, aren't they the emperor's soldiers?"

"I would like to ask Lord Suo again, when did the lower officials say that the Manchu Eight Banners Navy is inferior to the Han Eight Banners? Although Xiang Qingyuan is a civil servant, he has read many battle records in history, as well as military strategies."

"I only know how to adapt to local conditions. The Manchu Eight Banners navy is not good at sea warfare. If there is a war in the river basin, I believe they can handle it. Now it is across the Taiwan Strait. How many people in the Manchu Eight Banners navy have never even seen the sea. How to fight?"

"The Emperor is wise and powerful. The Han army was not able to properly drill in the Ming Dynasty, so the strength is not as good as the Manchu Eight Banners. Now under the Emperor's wise rule, who dares to say that the Emperor's Han Eight Banners are not strong enough?"

Xiang Qingyuan said a lot in one breath, and at the end he even kissed a little flattery, which made the faces of the ministers all over the court even more embarrassing.

They were so aggressive earlier that they wished to kill this ignorant Xiang Qingyuan.

Now that I hear it this way, I think what he said is quite reasonable...

The emperor nodded, "If you recruit troops locally in Fujian, those local soldiers will naturally be more familiar with naval warfare. The help of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty seems to be enough..."

The emperor saw that in the memorial presented by Fujian, it was indeed mentioned that many soldiers of the Eight Banners could not adapt to the waves of the sea, and even vomited on the warship.

The emperor was still thinking, but Suo'etu and others resolutely objected, "Even if the Han soldiers are more capable of naval warfare than the Manchu Eight Banners Navy, the emperor must not let these hundreds of thousands of Han troops stay away from sight and be unattended."

After all, what these Manchu ministers were most afraid of was the direct rebellion of Han Chinese soldiers in Fujian.

"Your Majesty, don't forget that Zheng Chenggong, the ancestor of the Zheng family in Taiwan, was given the surname Zhu by the former Ming emperor..."

A word of Zhu is enough to punish one's heart.

The emperor's heart is big enough, and he can't afford this risk.

Now there are worries in both the north and the south of the Qing Dynasty, and it cannot withstand another civil strife.

At this time, the Minister of the Household Department stood up and said to the emperor: "I also think that it is not a good thing to have too many troops in Fujian. My concern is the issue of military rations."

"Fujian's local food production is sufficient for self-sufficiency. Even if it is robbed by Taiwan, it can still pay enough taxes and food to the court every year. What I am worried about is that so many military forces are concentrated here. If Taiwan cannot conquer for a while, food and grass will not be paid. .”

Fujian, Jiangsu and Zhejiang are important places for the imperial court to collect grain.

It would undoubtedly be a waste if all the military rations were given to the Manchu Banners navy who were useless.

This level of mutual consideration caused the court to fall into silence again. The court is now hoarding military pay and food to prepare for the disaster that may come from the north at any time.

None of these grains should be wasted.

"For a [-]-strong army, the daily ration is [-] Dan..."

The emperor's face changed, he couldn't ignore this real number.

Unexpectedly, it would be so difficult to recover a small Taiwan.

Suo'etu cupped his hands at this moment and said: "Your Majesty, instead of spending so much effort to regain Taiwan, why don't you give up this tiny place..."

"absurd!"

The emperor slapped the table angrily, resolutely refusing such remarks advocating abandoning Taiwan.

"Although Taiwan is small, it is a big fortress. It is connected to Penghu, Ryukyu and other islands, and many pirates originated from this. If you want to completely eliminate the rogues in the Qing Dynasty, these seemingly inconspicuous islands must be To take it back."

In fact, what Suo'etu said was also the voice of many ministers, but they dared not speak out.

Now that the emperor refuted him, no one dared to say that.

"Lan Xiangqing suppressed the Shandong pirates, tell me."

Chen Wenyi stood up, "Back to the emperor, what the emperor said is true. In fact, the problem of pirates is like a snowball. When I suppressed the bandits in Shandong, I saw that the leaders of the pirates were often from small countries such as Japan and North Korea. But their subordinates led most of them. The people of the Qing Dynasty came to rob the people along the coast of the Qing Dynasty again."

"I have interrogated those people from the Qing Dynasty who pretended to be pirates. They were also good coastal citizens. Because they were robbed by Japanese pirates and unable to make ends meet, they simply joined the ranks of pirates."

"Ministers think carefully, if the small island is not recaptured, and the pirates are allowed to occupy it. The more they harass the good people along the coast, the more people who leave their homes, the bigger the pirate team will be. In the end, we will kill all The people of the Qing Dynasty are also poor people."

"If you give up islands like Taiwan, you will be giving pirates a shelter at your own pillow."

(End of this chapter)