Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 498: Arrest and Return to Beijing
Theoretically, there were no enemies to the west of the Qing Dynasty except the Mongolian Empire in the northern desert and the Yarkand Khanate. Others such as the Khoshut Khanate and the Mongolian Empire in the southern desert had already surrendered.

But to Dorgon, the internal and external vassal states and neighboring countries were nothing. What really worried him were Jiang Ge and Haoge.

Needless to say, Hauge was a powerful enemy in the court.

It's just that the problem between the two is an internal conflict. Even when facing a powerful enemy, they can still seek common ground while reserving differences. The person he really fears is Jiang Ge from Datong.

This man was originally the general commander of Datong in the Ming Dynasty. After the Dashun Army conquered Taiyuan, he took the initiative to contact the Dashun regime and then became a feudal lord under Li Zicheng.

It must be said that he was a man of good sense, but the situation always changes unexpectedly. Two months later, news came that the Dashun Army was defeated in Shanhaiguan and abandoned Beijing. Jiang Ge immediately launched a rebellion, using the head of the Dashun garrison commander as a stepping stone to surrender to the Qing Dynasty.

If that were the case, Dorgon would not be so wary of this person.

In the final analysis, every one of the Han officials in the Qing Dynasty was a traitor who was only interested in fame and fortune and was afraid of death. There was essentially no difference between rebelling once and rebelling twice.

But Jiang Ge is different from others after all.

At the beginning of his rebellion, he seemed to be influenced by the Qing army's propaganda and never thought that the Qing court had the intention of ruling the Central Plains.

Under such circumstances, he supported the descendants of King Zaoqiang of Dai to "continue the worship of the previous emperor", directly revealing what he was thinking.

It’s not hard to guess what happens next.

The Qing army was unstoppable at that time and would not tolerate such behavior. Dorgon immediately reprimanded Jiang Ge for it being "extremely unreasonable". Jiang Ge then wrote a petition asking for forgiveness for his "crime of being ignorant and incompetent" and requested that "he be relieved of his military power and replaced by a virtuous and capable person" so that he could "rest in the fields and sing about the peaceful years for the rest of his life".

Obviously, this was a method of retreat in order to advance, and the Qing court, which was fully engaged in military operations, would not risk removing him.

However, since Datong is adjacent to the capital, it is inevitable that it will be punished.

During that period, although Jiang Ge transferred all of Datong's elite troops to help Ajige attack Shun's army, he was still continuously charged with various crimes and reprimanded.

Faced with such a situation, Jiang Ge, who was in a weak position, had no choice but to send his eldest son to Beijing as a hostage. He also tried his best to plunder the local area for use in the Qing court's war.

According to the original history, Jiang Ge would have continued to retreat like this until the Southern Ming regime was forced to Guangxi and the Qing court was ready to take action against him, then he would launch a rebellion.

But now the Qing court is still suppressing him as usual, but its power is far less than before. Under such circumstances, if Dorgon could trust him, he would probably not live to this day.

I have to interrupt here.

The Qing court, knowing full well the strength of the border troops, was extremely wary of Jiang Ge.

It happened that Li Chengdong and Jin Shenghuan were causing trouble in the south during that period, but the Qing government gathered all the main forces of the Eight Banners that could be mobilized to Shanxi.

The emperor's father, Regent Dorgon, Prince Ying Ajige, Prince Jingjin Nikan, Prince Duanzhong Bolo, Prince Chengze Shuosai, Prince Duolo Mandahai, Prince Duolo Wakda, Prince Pingxi Wu Sangui, Gushan Ezhen Li Guohan, and Governor-General of the Three Borders of Shaanxi Meng Qiaofang.

This deployment not only gathered all the elite troops that the Qing court could mobilize in the north to Shanxi, but also withdrew the troops of Jirgalang, Lekedehun and Tan Tai who were fighting in the south, so that they dared not take large-scale actions.

If the Southern Ming regime could seize this opportunity and take action, it would definitely deal a heavy blow to the Qing army south of the Yangtze River.

But during that period, He Tengjiao was captured and killed by the Qing army in a muddle while competing for merit; the Yongli court was confined to Guangdong and Guangxi and was plagued by intrigue.

For nearly a year, the Ming army in the south did nothing, allowing the Qing army to easily wipe out the various rebel forces in Shanxi and Shaanxi.

In the Battle of Shanxi and Shaanxi, Jiang Ge's entire family was killed, Lieutenant General Liu Qian and his son died in battle, Lieutenant General Wang Yongqiang and his brothers died in battle, Han Zhaoxuan, the marshal of the Ming Yi army, died in battle, and the leader of the Yi army, Bai Zhang, died in battle;
Governor Jiang Jianxun, Provincial Governor Liu Bingran, the rebel army chief Chen Du, the military supervisor He Shouzhong, and Jincheng defender Zhang Douguang were captured and killed.

The rebel governor Wan Lian burned himself to death.

At this point, the area around Beijing was completely pacified and the Qing army no longer had any worries.
-
Datong
Zongbingfu

Since surrendering to the Qing court, Jiang Ge has not had a single comfortable day. The warnings and apologies he received not only made him extremely depressed, but also kept him in fear all the time.

Others might think that since he was having a hard time in the Qing court, he should be happy to see the Tartars suffer successive defeats.

No matter what, he is still on the broken ship of the Qing Dynasty, and Beijing is just constantly threatening him but has no intention of really taking action against him.

Under such circumstances, the news of the Manchus' successive defeats in the south not only did not make Jiang Ge feel any better, but also added a deep sense of entanglement to his mood.

"Somebody come!"

After a loud shout, the guards outside the door immediately ran into the room. Then Jiang Ge showed a hint of hesitation, and after weighing the pros and cons, he asked in a deep voice, "Have you received any reports of the Ming army's movements in the past few days?"

When the guards heard these words, they were stunned for a moment.

Although Datong was an important place among the Nine Frontiers, the enemies they faced were mostly Mongols who came to plunder.

Under such circumstances, anyone would find it a little strange that their commander-in-chief wanted to know the movements of the Ming army thousands of miles away.

But then again, since Jiang Ge asked, how could he, a personal soldier, have the right to comment? Then the personal soldier thought about it briefly, and in just ten breaths, a stack of official reports was in Jiang Ge's hands.

At this time, more than a month had passed since the end of the Battle of Huai'an. The Ming army, with the momentum of a great victory, launched an attack south of the Huai River.

Needless to say, Xiangyang had already been badly damaged by years of war, and Ajige withdrew all the troops there when planning the battle of Ganzhou.

At this time, the Ming army in Hanzhong, Hunan and Jiangxi launched a large-scale attack. Even if Wusheng was stationed in Maicheng, he might not be able to escape.

Another one is Hefei.

The situation in this place was slightly better than that in Xiangyang, but it was also attacked by the Ming navy.

After looking at all the details, it was estimated that the entire area south of the Huai River was lost within a few months. Jiang Ge did not have many doubts.
"that's it?"

"To answer the Marshal, that's all."

Hearing this, Jiang Ge waved his hand and fell into deep thought.

According to his thinking, if he were to become the commander of the Ming army, he would have to take advantage of the lack of troops north of the Huai River to attack the Qing army both by land and sea.

But after searching for a while, he found nothing except the news that the Ming army attacked Hefei and Xiangyang. As an old veteran on the battlefield, Chiang Kai-shek was somewhat confused about what the Ming Emperor was up to.

At sea? Seems unlikely.

Even though the Ming army's navy was powerful, it still needed the assistance of the land camp.

If we only transport 10,000 or 20,000 soldiers and horses by sea, it won't amount to much.

Being hindered by the gang in the south?
Probably not.

The Emperor Ming acted ruthlessly and had already damaged the vitality of those people in the south.

Now, let alone being constrained, they are probably already planning how to lick our boots.

Jiang Ge thought over and over again, but he still couldn't understand why the little emperor would give up such an opportunity.

After a long while, he could only throw the disc of newspapers back on the table in frustration, obviously no longer having the energy to think about it.

Just as the personal soldier thought, no matter how difficult the situation of the Qing army in the south was, he, the general of Datong who was thousands of miles away, only needed to know the general situation and there was no need to figure out every move of the Ming army.

But Jiang Ge saw it clearly.

If the current situation continues to develop, the best outcome for the Qing court would be to return to the outskirts of the Great Wall, with no possibility of conquering the world again.

Those Jianzhou barbarians just went back, but if he surrendered again and again without a suitable gift, his fate would probably be even more miserable than that of the Tartars.

"Alas~~~~~, why don't I have the luck like Hu Maozhen and the others."

After a long sigh, Jiang Ge sat back in his chair weakly, as if the current situation really made him extremely conflicted.

To be honest, he was quite disdainful when he learned that Hu Maozhen surrendered to the Ming Dynasty.

Firstly, that guy led so many troops but was defeated by the weak Southern Army. Secondly, that guy did not understand the change of the situation and used Nikan's head to cut off all his retreat routes.

In the eyes of a lively person like Jiang Ge, such behavior can only be described as stupid and is not worth mentioning at all.

But who would have thought that the situation would change again and again, and the foolish act at the beginning actually had a bit of foresight, and Nikam's head became an investment with a very high return.

You know, when the Southern Dynasty was in danger, Hu Maozhen successfully became a trusted general of the Emperor Ming just by relying on his head. But now even if he leads his entire army and the whole of Shanxi to surrender to the Ming Dynasty, it will only make the Emperor Ming wary.

not to mention.
“Ah~~~~~~~~.”

After another sigh, Jiang Ge finally gave up the idea of ​​changing his mind immediately.

If the Ming army marched northward in large numbers after conquering Huai'an, he could raise an army in Shanxi to respond. But the Ming army does not seem to have such an idea now, and Shanxi is in the lair of the Qing army.

Under such circumstances, even if he had any ideas, he could only surrender and wait.

With this in mind, Jiang Ge stopped thinking and decided to make plans early so that he could take action when the situation changed. However, at this moment, the personal soldier turned back, bowed on the porch and then reported in directly.

"Report to the commander-in-chief, the young commander is back."

Marshal?

Could it be Sheng'er?
But why would he come back at this time?
As his mind turned, Jiang Ge waved his hand, and the soldier returned the same way. After a while, a young man with eyebrows very similar to his entered the room.

"I am Jiang Zhisheng, your humble servant, and I am here to greet the Marshal!"

"How can you."

"Your Excellency, I am here with the ambassador to announce the emperor's decree. The emperor wants to confer the title of king on you."

"Prince?!"

When Jiang Ge heard the words, he immediately stood up from his chair. Then he restrained his expression, as if he had controlled his emotions. However, his shaking hands in his military uniform revealed his true emotions.

Similar to Li Chengdong, Jin Shenghuan and others, they all believed that they would be treated well by the Qing court because of their merits. When there was a huge gap between reality and expectations, they naturally felt resentment.

And at this moment, the prince that he had been thinking about for a long time was actually right in front of him. Who could treat it calmly?
just
"Why did the court confer the title of king on me? Have you heard any rumors in the capital?"

Jiang Ge had been through a lot, and even though his emotions were still unstable, he realized something was wrong. He asked his eldest son, who immediately looked at his expression.

"Reporting to the commander-in-chief, I have also had some contacts with the royal nobles in the capital. According to them, the southern part of the country suffered heavy losses from the successive defeats. That's why the princes thought of our Datong soldiers and wanted to compensate the commander-in-chief."

"Nothing else?"

"Yes, but they didn't tell me in detail." The eldest son of the Jiang family paused for a moment, and when he saw his father frowning, he continued, "But from his words, I guess that someone advocated taking away the commander's military power, and in the end, because they were afraid of trouble, they decided to appease him."

After hearing this, Jiang Ge nodded.

This is the correct way, otherwise the Tartars would be too cowardly.

In essence, he was not close to the Tartars, so it would be strange if no one proposed such a solution.

As his mind turned, he had already come up with some ideas.

It is absolutely impossible to work for the Tartars again. Being trapped in Datong is just waiting for death. It just so happens that the Tartars want to transfer the Datong army to the south. It is better to pretend to agree and then turn against them when they are safely in the south.

Thinking of this, Jiang Ge acted as if he was extremely moved, and then, led by his eldest son, he rushed out of the city. As soon as he saw the team announcing the decree, he rolled and crawled in front of them.

"General Jiang Ge respectfully welcomes the angel from the imperial court!"

It must be said that his behavior was so appropriate that even his eldest son was in a trance.

just
"It has been found that Jiang Ge has committed many illegal acts. He has been arrested and brought back to the capital. All matters concerning Datong will be handled by his eldest son Jiang Zhisheng!"

(End of this chapter)