Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 656: Pi Island Changes Hands
"Brother Xu, what do you think the court will do next?" Sun Yuanhua couldn't help but ask Xu Xiancheng. He had just learned about the relationship between Zhu Shenzui and Xu Xiancheng not long ago. When he heard that Zhu Shenzui, a member of the royal family who besieged the capital, was actually Xu Xiancheng's brother-in-law, Sun Yuanhua was so shocked that his jaw almost dropped and he was completely stunned.

Sun Yuanhua was not good at being an official, let alone governing a place, and he did not have much talent in military affairs. To put it bluntly, Sun Yuanhua was just a technical official. It would be fine for him to do some technical work or be a counselor to pick up leaks, but if he was to be a governor or a provincial governor, Sun Yuanhua would not be able to do it.

Although there were many reasons for the Shandong mutiny, Sun Yuanhua was not responsible for it. If Sun Yuanhua had not trusted the Liao army too much, and had not forced the Liao army and Liao people to settle down regardless of the actual situation in the area, and had not been well prepared when he sent troops to reinforce Liaodong, and had not predicted other problems, the mutiny would not have happened.

After the mutiny, Sun Yuanhua even held out a glimmer of hope for the Liao army, and almost used the wrong person, causing a disaster. Fortunately, Xu Xiancheng, as the imperial envoy, brought Li Xin to Leiden and decisively took over the military and political affairs of Leiden. He first captured the Liao generals in Leiden and controlled the army, and then joined forces with General Zhang Keda to dispatch troops to defeat the rebels and capture Kong Youde alive. Otherwise, not only Leiden would fall into the hands of the rebels, but Sun Yuanhua himself would also become a prisoner of the rebels.

From this point of view, Xu Xiancheng was not only his good friend, but also his savior. If it weren't for Xu Xiancheng, Sun Yuanhua would have been dead long ago.

So when Sun Yuanhua learned that Zhu Shenzhui was Xu Xiancheng's brother-in-law, although he was extremely shocked, he had no intention of reporting Xu Xiancheng. Instead, he persuaded Xu Xiancheng to make preparations early, and if it really didn't work out, he should decisively kill his relative for the sake of justice in order to gain forgiveness from the court and save himself.

Although Xu Xiancheng did not listen to Sun Yuanhua's words, Sun Yuanhua remembered his kindness. Later, Xu Xiancheng privately told Sun Yuanhua that this matter was not urgent and he should wait and see before making a decision. Moreover, the most important thing at the moment was to withdraw the soldiers and civilians from Pi Island. As for the capital, it would not be too late to talk about it after the result was obtained.

Seeing Xu Xiancheng like this, Sun Yuanhua was helpless. Although he felt that Xu Xiancheng's actions were too risky, in his opinion, it would be best to draw a clear line with Zhu Shencui immediately. Otherwise, when Zhu Shencui was defeated and died, and Xu Xiancheng was implicated, it would be too late.

But the subsequent development was really unexpected. Within a few days, the main force of the Beijing camp was destroyed, then the reinforcements from Changping were destroyed, and then the capital could not be defended and was directly broken by Zhu Shenzhui. Not long after Zhu Shenzhui took control of the capital, he turned himself into the regent and was also given the title of King of Jiaocheng.

Such a change was beyond Sun Yuanhua's expectations and beyond his imagination. Only then did Sun Yuanhua completely understand why Xu Xiancheng was so determined and not in a hurry to express his attitude. After coming to his senses, Sun Yuanhua was full of admiration for Xu Xiancheng and for a while he was looking forward to the changes in the Ming Dynasty after Zhu Shenzhui became the regent.

"I don't know about that for now. The situation is not stable yet. We have to wait for all places to express their opinions before we can take any action." Xu Xiancheng thought for a while and said frankly.

Li Xin nodded and said, "That's right. You can't eat hot tofu in a hurry. The Ming Dynasty has been ill for a long time. If we take drastic measures, it may be counterproductive. Now that the regent is in charge of the government and the court has stabilized, we will wait for the local governments to express their opinions and the government orders to flow smoothly, and then there will be changes. You and I can just do our duty and wait and see. There is no need to rush for so long."

Sun Yuanhua nodded silently. He understood the truth, but sometimes the mentality was different. Just as Li Xin said, the Ming Dynasty had been in a state of illness for a long time, with many internal and external problems. Although Zhu Shenzhui was the regent, he was not a god. It was impossible for him to change the Ming Dynasty immediately, and it was even more impossible for him to solve so many problems overnight.

Even if it is to cure diseases and save lives, we have to proceed step by step, let alone a huge country?

"By the way, how are the resettlement preparations for Liaodong's military and civilians?" Xu Xiancheng didn't want to discuss this issue any more. They couldn't guess what was going on with the central government, and guessing was useless. Right now, it was most important to do their own thing. It had been a few days since the withdrawal from Pi Island, and the first batch of military and civilians from Pi Island had boarded the ships sent out. When they were taken to Shandong, personnel resettlement was the top priority. It was because of the problems with the resettlement of Liaodong's military and civilians that Kong Youde's Shandong rebellion later occurred. This time, a similar situation must not happen again.

Sun Yuanhua smiled bitterly: "Don't worry about this matter. Every failure is a learning experience. With Kong Youde's experience as a lesson, how can I fall flat on my face again?"

"That's good." Xu Xiancheng just asked. The general plan had been given to Sun Yuanhua. The next step was for him to make the specific arrangements. If Sun Yuanhua couldn't do these things well, it would be too much of an underestimation of Sun Yuanhua.

"Why don't I help Brother Chuyang for a few days? The situation in the capital has been settled anyway, and I have nothing to do for the time being." Li Xin thought about it and suggested.

"What?" Xu Xiancheng did not agree immediately, but asked Sun Yuanhua.

Sun Yuanhua immediately nodded in agreement: "I would love to have Brother Li's help. Thank you Brother Li for this."

Li Xin smiled and nodded, and the matter was settled. The three of them continued to chat about it for a while, and then went about their business separately. In the next few days, the soldiers and civilians withdrawn from Pi Island landed in Shandong one after another and were resettled by the local authorities.

When the news of the withdrawal of the soldiers and civilians on Pi Island reached Huang Taiji, he was greatly surprised. He did not expect that the Ming Dynasty would be so decisive this time. They actually gave up the important place of Pi Island regardless of its importance and directly withdrew all the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians on the island. This was completely inconsistent with Huang Taiji's expectations for the Ming Dynasty.

Since Nurhaci started his rebellion during the Wanli period, Huang Taiji has fought countless battles with Nurhaci and the Ming Dynasty. Huang Taiji knows the old rival Ming Dynasty too well. Compared with the previous Later Jin Dynasty and the current Qing Dynasty, although he has more wins than losses in the battles with Ming Dynasty, after all, Ming Dynasty is strong and has a large population, which is far beyond his reach.

To put it in one sentence, the Ming Dynasty could be defeated many times, but Huang Taiji could not. Even if the Ming Dynasty was defeated several times, as long as it still occupied the Central Plains, it could recover quickly. But Huang Taiji could not be defeated, especially a big defeat. His Eight Banners had only tens of thousands of people at most, and there were only a few hundred thousand Manchus in the entire Qing Dynasty, which was less than half the population of the capital.

After Huang Taiji came to power, he adopted various policies. On the one hand, he plundered the population everywhere, and on the other hand, he appeased the Han people in Liaodong for his own use. This made the population under his rule gradually exceed one million. But even so, the entire Qing Dynasty was far inferior to the Ming Dynasty in terms of strength. The population alone was very different. You must know that the Ming Dynasty had a population of nearly 20 million in the early years of Chongzhen. In recent years, the internal rebellion and banditry of the Ming Dynasty has led to a sharp decline in population, but no matter what, there are still more than 150 million people, which is a hundred times more than the Qing Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty can be defeated many times, but Huang Taiji cannot. Once defeated, the foundation he has laid with great difficulty will collapse, the Eight Banners will be invincible, and the myth of being invincible in the world will be broken. This is also the reason why Huang Taiji was so angry after the Dorgon brothers were defeated on the grassland. Fortunately, they did not fight against the Ming Dynasty. They could fool around if they lost to the Mongols temporarily. Once the bannermen learned the truth, serious consequences would occur.

This time, Huang Taiji attacked Korea with the purpose of further strengthening his own power. After conquering Korea, he not only eliminated his worries, but also planned to use Korea's national strength for his own benefit.

In addition, after conquering Korea, Huang Taiji's next important step was to eliminate the Ming army in Pi Island. Pi Island, this thorn in the eye, had caused Nurhaci a lot of headaches during the Mao Wenlong period. If Yuan Chonghuan had not done a stupid thing and killed Mao Wenlong, Huang Taiji would never have been so courageous as to lead his troops to bypass Shanhaiguan to attack the Ming capital, and the Ji Si Incident would have been even more impossible.

But Huang Taiji never expected that when he conquered Korea and was about to use the Korean navy to attack Pi Island to eliminate this hidden danger in one fell swoop, the Ming Dynasty withdrew its troops from Pi Island. Such an unexpected move really confused Huang Taiji and made him extremely surprised.

Based on his understanding of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty should not have done this. Shouldn't they have defended it to the death even though they knew they couldn't hold it? By giving up the strategic location of Pi Island, weren't the soldiers of Pi Island afraid of being punished by the Ming Dynasty court? Would they have the courage to face the wrath of Emperor Chongzhen? Huang Taiji knew what kind of person the Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty was. He was ambitious but incompetent, and he was also short-sighted and suspicious. It was unimaginable that such a master would have such courage.

The Ming army moved too fast. Before Huang Taiji could send out his troops, the soldiers and civilians on Pi Island had almost evacuated. By the time Huang Taiji mobilized the Korean navy and led the Eight Banners to attack Pi Island, the soldiers and civilians on Pi Island had already evacuated.

When Huang Taiji landed on Pi Island, he saw the devastation on the island. The Ming army not only evacuated all the soldiers and civilians on Pi Island, but also left behind all their broken belongings. In addition to the houses, even the iron pots for cooking and earthenware jars for drinking water were not left to Huang Taiji. A bare Pi Island was left to Huang Taiji, making him so angry that he didn't know what to say.

"Sweat!"

Suddenly, a man came hurriedly and shouted Huang Taiji from a distance. Huang Taiji frowned and looked at the man when he heard the voice.

Just as he was about to speak, he saw that Huang Taiji's expression was not right, and then he realized that he should now call Huang Taiji "The Emperor" instead of the Great Khan. Before the war with Korea, Huang Taiji officially issued an edict to change the name of the Great Jin to the Great Qing, and ascended the throne to be the emperor. How could he be called the Great Khan now?

"Your Majesty...Your Majesty...Your servant pays homage to Your Majesty..." The man quickly changed his words and knelt down respectfully towards Huang Taiji, kowtowed three times.

"Get up." Huang Taiji's expression eased slightly and he raised his hand and said.

The man finally breathed a sigh of relief, got up from the ground, took out a letter and handed it over with both hands, saying, "Your Majesty, this is an urgent letter from Mr. Fan in Shengjing."

"An urgent letter from Mr. Fan?" Huang Taiji was slightly stunned and quickly reached out to take it.

Fan Wencheng is Huang Taiji's most important adviser. Not only is he a Grand Secretary of the Internal Secretariat of the Qing Dynasty, but after Huang Taiji became emperor, he imitated the Ming Dynasty to set up the six-department system. Among them, Fan Wencheng served as the Left Councillor of the Ministry of Personnel. The status of this official position is second only to the Manchu Prime Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. In other words, Fan Wencheng is now equal to a Grand Secretary and Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. If it were not for the restrictions of his identity, with Huang Taiji's trust and heavy use of Fan Wencheng, his official position would be much higher.

He opened the letter and scanned it at a glance. When he saw the content of the letter clearly, Huang Taiji was stunned on the spot, his face was gloomy and full of surprise. Others didn't know what was in the letter that made Huang Taiji so moved.

"Shuotuo!"

"The slave is here!"

"Your 1,000 troops will join Shang Kexi's troops and lead another 5,000 Korean naval troops to stay in Pi Island temporarily and sweep the surrounding area. Make sure to wipe out the remaining Ming troops!"

"The slave obeys the order!"

Huang Taiji did not say much, but directly ordered Shuotuo to stay behind, while he himself did not even stay in Pi Island for a full day, and returned to the land by boat. When he returned to the shore, Huang Taiji asked Shuotuo to lead part of the troops to station in Korea to monitor the King of Korea, while he himself returned to Shengjing with the main force. More than ten days later, Huang Taiji arrived in Shengjing exhausted, and the first thing he did after returning was to find Fan Wencheng and directly ask about the situation of the Ming Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)