Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 496: Deploy troops!

In fact, it was confirmed that Xu Shaoyue was pregnant more than a month ago, but the fetus was not yet stable at that time, so she kept it a secret on the advice of the mothers-in-law.

It has to be said that this news played a crucial role in the stability of the Ming regime, and its effect was even more direct than the victory in Huai'an.

In the final analysis, before she became pregnant, it was still unclear whether Zhu Cilang, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, had normal fertility, and whether his legal succession could continue became a mystery.

Under such circumstances, it is possible that some people would have the intention of stirring up trouble, and it is not difficult to imagine the weakening of the court's power.

Just like the early Tang King.

In the past, the ownership of the throne was always unclear, and various forces had more or less connections with the princes.

Therefore, when Zhu Cilang arrived in Hangzhou, he was extremely unstable and even considered setting up another court in Fujian.

There is no need to say much about what happened later. As the Ming army won victory after victory, the ownership of the throne gradually became no longer a mystery.

After Zheng Hongkui, his biggest supporter, lost power, the King of Tang calmed down a little.

But then again, during that period, Zhu Cilang had to go to the battlefield frequently due to circumstances, and the legal lineage of his lineage was in great danger.

With this reason, the princes like the King of Tang are like a centipede that is still alive even after its death, and the forces that have ties with them will always be connected.

It is also for this reason that the Tang King and other vassals were able to struggle after seeing the hope of feudal overseas.

However, these causes and consequences had become a thing of the past with the queen's pregnancy, and the collateral princes finally lost the last chance of getting their hands on the throne.

All in all, since it has been proven that the emperor has normal fertility, it doesn't matter whether this time he gives birth to a son or a daughter.

To put it more extremely, even if Xu Shaoyue unfortunately had a miscarriage during her pregnancy, it would be a private matter of the royal family. For the court officials, they only needed to select a few more beauties to solve the issue of the royal family's heirs, and there would not be any waves at all.

At this point, the last hidden danger of the Jingwu regime was finally eliminated, and the court showed great enthusiasm.

Of course, things in the world of the living always have good and bad sides. When the benefits of Huai'an's victory and the continuation of the legal system fell on the Ming Dynasty, the disadvantages fell without exception on the city of Beijing.

"You mean Huai'an City was not going to fall in the first place, but it was Li Benshen and his men who turned against us at the last minute that led to this great defeat?"

Looking at Wang Zhengzhi kneeling in the middle of the Wuying Hall, Duoduo asked this question without thinking. After the news spread, the Aisin-Gioro kings sitting in the hall had different expressions, and then they all looked towards the Queen Mother at the same time.

The news of the defeat in Huai'an had reached Beijing for quite some time, but this time, whether it was the commanders such as Hong Chengchou and Lekedehun, or the generals such as Tong Yangjia and Li Benshen, they were all captured by the Ming army. In the end, the Qing court only received the news of the defeat, but knew nothing about the detailed process.

According to the situation at that time, Dorgon, who planned the war, naturally had no way to defend himself, and all parties were eyeing him covetously. But who would have thought that just when Prince Rui's faction was about to make concessions again, Wang Zhengzhi, who was detained in Huai'an by Hong Chengchou, suddenly returned to Beijing.

Then there was a question about Wuying Palace.

It was a piece of luck that he happened to be there when Hong Chengchou sent people to control Hongguang. After some inquiries, he easily found out the battle situation outside the city.

People like him take "A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall" as his guiding principle, and he reached the ferry before Hongguang was brought to the city wall.

It is not difficult to imagine what happened next. With his identity as an angel, Wang Zhengzhi easily got a boat and finally reached the north of the Huanghuai River before the Ming navy blocked the river.

Normally, this angel would be able to act tyrannically again after returning to the area controlled by the Qing court, but the news of the defeat at the front spread quickly like the wind, and the local area soon became chaotic.

Seeing this situation, Wang Zhengzhi, who knew how to protect himself, decisively abandoned his conspicuous carriage and returned when Beijing was in panic.

"Reporting to the prince, I was not on the city wall at that time, but according to the personal guards sent back by the Grand Secretary, our army had indeed entered the Southern Army camp earlier. If it weren't for the sudden death of General Tong, who was in charge of the command, it would be reasonable for us to win this victory."

Wang Zhengzhi did not directly answer Duoduo's question, but just seemed to be stating what he knew.

But he had wasted a lot of time on the journey and must have known about the various rumors. If combined with the first-hand information obtained from Yu Huaian, it would not be difficult to restore the entire process. He would not have said such words that were somewhat inconsistent with the facts.

He could see clearly that Dorgon was now in an absolute disadvantage and would have to pay a heavy price for this defeat in every way.

If he told the truth, it would not cause any more trouble except leaving Dorgon powerless to fight back. But if he changed his words a little, the responsibility for the defeat would have to be redistributed. How could Dorgon, who had been given a chance to catch his breath, not look at him differently?

just
"According to you, Tong Yangjia died at the hands of Li Benshen?"

Wang Zhengzhi had just finished speaking when Jirgalang's follow-up question came over. When he turned around respectfully and was about to answer, Jirgalang had already stood up from his chair, and then a stern rebuke came over again.

"If you saw it with your own eyes, I would have nothing to say. But if it is all based on your imagination, you will have to watch out for the heads of your nine clans after I verify it!"

"In reply to your Highness, I did not see it with my own eyes, but according to the Grand Secretary's personal guards, General Tong was at the rear of the army, so even if the Southern Army could use strong bows, they would not be able to hit him. So if it wasn't his personal soldiers who did it, then it must have been Ah Ha's assassination. There seems to be no other possibility."

I have to say that even if you want to start a new project, you have to have the ability to do it.

There were more than dozens of lives at stake on Jirgalang's shoulders, and even an ordinary military officer would have found it difficult to withstand such intimidation. However, Wang Zhengzhi, a civil servant, remained calm after bearing his might head-on, and did not even stumble in his words.

At this point, it was impossible to find loopholes in Wang Zhengzhi's words. However, if Tong Yangjia really died at the hands of Li Benshen, then the defeat in this battle would have nothing to do with the plan, and the attempt to kill Dorgon by this would become a vain one.

Such a situation was naturally unacceptable to Jirgalang, but when he was about to ask further questions, Duoduo checked first.

"Alas~~~~~, when Li Benshen returned alone, I felt something was wrong, but I didn't pursue it because I needed him at that time. Now it seems that he had colluded with the Southern Dynasty a long time ago, I really..." The more Duoduo spoke, the more agitated he became. In the end, he seemed to have regretted it to the extreme, and then he slammed the table beside him and turned his head to the side.

Seeing this, Jirgalang's face suddenly turned red, and it was unclear whether he was angry at Li Benshen's betrayal or realized that he could not suppress Dorgon.

However, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If he missed it, he wouldn't know when he would be able to take control of the government again. He didn't want to retreat easily.

But then again, things have developed to this point, and it has become an ironclad fact that Huai'an was defeated because Li Benshen defected at the last minute. Even if Jirgalang still has some delusions, it is impossible for others to go all the way.

"According to the Ministry of War, General Li Benshen and his men brought their families to Huai'an when they were transferred south."

Old Daishan, with his eyes slightly opened, said this lightly, and everyone's attention in the hall was cast on him. Then he lazily changed his sitting position, and spoke again after he settled down.

"I originally thought that if I could save face in Huai'an, I could safely fight the Southern Dynasty in the Central Plains, but after losing 150,000 to 160,000 men, I'm afraid Henan and Shandong will be difficult to defend."

As soon as he finished speaking, old Daishan's eyes returned to a half-open state, and he became lazy again. But when he heard this, both Jirgalang, who was chasing Dorgon, and Duoduo, who was determined to get rid of the responsibility for his brother, turned their eyes to the map, and the tense atmosphere just a moment ago calmed down.

Indeed, the top priority now is how to deal with the Southern Dynasty, which is pressing forward step by step. It is meaningless to pursue responsibility for the sake of fighting for power and profit.

just
"Let's mobilize troops. We can mobilize 200,000 from Mongolia, 50,000 from outside the Great Wall, and add the surrendered troops from Shanxi and Hebei. It won't be difficult to gather 400,000 or 500,000 troops. After all, Henan and Shandong cannot be lost!"

After a moment, Duoduo was the first to express his thoughts. Then he glanced at the faces of the kings present, and when he saw that everyone had a frown on their brows, he spoke in a decisive tone.

"The Southern Army relies heavily on the navy. Although the land camp has strong troops, their numbers are always limited. As long as we go all out, we will be able to use the geographical advantage to prevent them from going north!"

When the news spread, people like Jirgalang were immediately interested.

All in all, the Southern Army has never defeated them in a serious land camp battle, so it is understandable that they still have hope.

But at this time, there was still some vague worry on Dorgon's face, and when his brothers looked at him, he just nodded slightly.

He could see clearly that with one defeat after another, the Manchus' ability to control their servants had been reduced to the lowest level.

Of course, this weakening is somewhat different, and not all of them have become rebellious, but in the current situation, we must be careful, otherwise
While Dorgon was thinking, Jirgalang in the hall had already started a discussion with Duoduo. He then suppressed his worries and waited for the idea to be passed. He added: "One more thing, whether the Southern Dynasty agrees to peace talks or not, we have to send people over."

His meaning was very clear. Although the Southern Army had not yet completely controlled the area south of the Huai River, the Qing court's power there was almost negligible, and it would not delay the Southern Dynasty for much.

However, mobilizing troops not only requires a lot of effort on the road, but also takes time to integrate the various armies after arrival.

Under such circumstances, time became extremely tight, and his plan for peace talks was to buy time.

"I heard that Chongzhen's family had a very good relationship, and the young emperor of the Southern Dynasty must be very concerned about his only remaining sister."
-
As the meeting in Wuying Hall came to an end, teams of cavalrymen set out from Beijing to various locations.

However, at this time, the power of the Qing court had been weakened to the extreme, and the southern provinces also began to have other thoughts.

Jinan
Shandong Governor's Office
"Someone come! Pour the wine!"

After a loud shout, a servant came in timidly. After taking a look at the drunken state of the governor, he hesitated for a while and finally refilled the empty wine jug.

The governor was named Fang Dayou, and he surrendered to Duoduo when the Qing army marched south.

During that period, the Qing army was unstoppable and their only ambition was to cross the Yangtze River and destroy the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, both Duoduo and Ajige simply accepted the position of surrendered official and led their troops south, but did not leave enough troops to stabilize the place.

It can be said that Fang Dayou was an extremely capable person. At the beginning, he relied on a few hundred troops to recruit the surrender of the rebellious Zhi people and brought most of Shandong under the rule of the Qing Dynasty. Later, the Qing army transferred all the limited troops away, and he gathered some scattered soldiers and took over several counties.

By this time, in the whole of Shandong, only Zeng Hualong, the governor of Dengzhou of the Ming Dynasty, and Zhao Yingyuan, the flag bearer of the Dashun Dynasty, were left to resist stubbornly in the city. Although other places continued to resist, they were generally considered the territory of the Qing Dynasty.

If it were someone else, they would probably focus all their attention on cleaning up the place, and those two tough guys would have to be dealt with slowly after the army returned.

However, Fang Dayou first used a trick to scare Zeng Hualong away, and then used deception to kill Zhao Yingyuan. As a result, he dealt with the two biggest troubles without any effort.

It is not difficult to imagine what happened later. Under his actions, the repeated resistance in Shandong gradually disappeared, and his position as governor became more and more stable.

But things are different now than they were in the past.

The harder he worked in the past, the more miserable his future would be, so he kept pouring the wine.

(End of this chapter)