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

Chapter 871 Fan Wencheng Offers Advice

"Give Mr. Fan a seat!"

Wu Liangfu quickly brought a stool and placed it below Huang Taiji. Fan Wencheng once again kowtowed to thank His Majesty, then stood up and carefully sat down with half of his buttocks next to him.

Fan Wencheng's current rank is not low. Before Huang Taiji ascended the throne, he was Huang Taiji's study official. This official position is equivalent to Huang Taiji's personal secretary, and he is deeply trusted by Huang Taiji. After Huang Taiji became the Khan, Fan Wencheng was promoted. Huang Taiji directly changed the study into the Inner National History Institute, the Inner Secretary Institute, and the Inner Hongwen Institute, also known as the Inner Three Institutes. Fan Wencheng suddenly became the Grand Secretary of the Inner Secretary Institute, responsible for writing letters with foreign countries, recording memorials from various government offices, defense speeches, imperial edicts, imperial edicts of civil and military officials, and offering sacrifices to the Confucian Temple and sacrificial texts to civil and military officials.

This position is different from the Eight Banners position, which shows that Huang Taiji intended to replace the Eight Banners with the court department. Fan Wencheng's position in the court is equivalent to the cabinet minister and minister of rites, and his authority is not light.

In order to avoid excessive sensitivity within the Eight Banners, Huang Taiji promoted Fan Wencheng to the second-class Jiala Zhangjing. A few years ago, Huang Taiji reformed the Qing official system and formally established the Six Ministries. Fan Wencheng made many suggestions and helped Huang Taiji greatly. He was further promoted to the Minister of State Affairs and became the head of the Qing civil servants.

Fan Wencheng was extremely grateful to Huang Taiji for being able to serve him to this extent, and he was even more determined to support the Ming ruler and work hard for the Qing Dynasty. In the past few years, Fan Wencheng worked hard for Huang Taiji. Huang Taiji's adjustment of the Eight Banners included replacing the Eight Banners system with the Six Ministries, and Fan Wencheng used all his skills in this process.

Now the system of the Qing Dynasty has been changed on the original basis. Although it has not met expectations, it is at least much better than the original system. There is no other way. In history, Hong Chengchou did not completely solve the problem. How could Fan Wencheng do it? But this does not affect Fan Wencheng's important position in Huang Taiji's mind.

"Mr. Fan, do you know about the affairs of the Solon tribe?" Huang Taiji did not beat around the bush and asked directly after Fan Wencheng sat down.

"Your Majesty, I have heard about it." Fan Wencheng nodded in reply.

"Now the Solon tribe has obtained the weapons of the Ming Dynasty. Originally, the Solon people were able to fight, but now with the support of the Ming Dynasty, it is even more difficult to fight. Originally, I planned to subdue the Solon tribe and use it for the Qing Dynasty, but now the situation has changed. The two armies I sent out suffered a miserable defeat and returned without success. I wonder if Mr. Fan has anything to teach me?"

Fan Wencheng looked a little solemn. He was well aware of the serious consequences of the war against the Solon tribe that had just ended. He did not expect that the troops that were originally sure to win would end up like this. According to Huang Taiji's plan, this time he was supposed to completely subdue the Solon tribe and then take it for himself. However, this task was not completed, and he suffered a defeat, which directly affected the subsequent arrangements.

The Suolong tribe received support from the Ming Dynasty, which was unexpected for the Qing Dynasty. Neither Huang Taiji nor Fan Wencheng expected such a situation to happen. Although they did not know how the Ming Dynasty sent these supplies to the Suolong tribe, no matter how you look at it, the source of these military supplies is only the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, since the Ming Dynasty conquered Pi Island, the Ming Dynasty's navy has controlled the sea area south of Korea. From this perspective, it is very likely that the Ming Dynasty contacted the Suolong tribe from the sea to Nurgan as Xitku and others speculated.

"Your Majesty, I think you have three solutions right now."

"Oh, tell me about those three countermeasures." Huang Taiji asked hurriedly.

Fan Wencheng stroked his beard and said, "First, although we lost this battle, the strength of the Qing Dynasty has not been damaged. And judging from the reports, the Solon tribe has also suffered some damage. Although the Solon tribe is capable of fighting and has obtained military equipment and supplies from the Ming Dynasty, these are facts, but the Solon tribe does not have many people. Now the three Solon tribes combined have less than 100,000 people. Excluding the elderly, the weak, women and children, there are only more than 10,000 people who can fight. Although the Solon tribe won this battle, it lost at least a thousand people. Although it was not to the extent of serious injuries, its losses were not small."

"Now our Qing dynasty is strong and powerful, and a defeat in a battle is nothing. If the emperor sends a large army to the north to suppress the Solon tribe, no matter how strong the Solon tribe is, it will not be defeated by our Qing dynasty. With the emperor's military power, if he attacks with all his strength, not to mention defeating the Solon tribe, even destroying it is not a problem. The key is whether the emperor can make this decision."

Huang Taiji nodded slightly, Fan Wencheng was right. Although they were defeated due to carelessness this time, it was nothing compared to the strength of the Qing Dynasty. It was true that the Eight Banners lost 2,000 people, but the Qing Dynasty was no longer the Later Jin during Nurhaci's time.

Today, the Eight Banners are strong and powerful. After so many years of operation and expansion, the total population of the Eight Banners has reached one million, and the Eight Banners troops controlled by Huang Taiji have exceeded 100,000. If the Han Army Banner and the Mongolian Eight Banners are added, the total number of Eight Banners troops that can be mobilized is as high as 150,000.

Based on this huge number, the loss of only two thousand people is really nothing, and no matter how strong the Solon tribe is, it can never be the opponent of his 100,000 troops. Moreover, Huang Taiji can mobilize the Mongols of Khorchin, Inner and Outer Khalkha, and Eastern Chahar at any time to cooperate in the battle. But the problem is whether Huang Taiji is willing to do so. Huang Taiji did not fight the Solon tribe to destroy the Solon people, but because he saw the Solon people's ability to fight and fierceness. He wanted to subdue the other side and subdue the Solon tribe for his own use. This is also the reason why Huang Taiji did not go all out several times. He only defeated the Solon tribe but did not pursue the victory to completely destroy the other side. He only drove the other side all the way north, constantly compressing the other side's living space and forcing the other side to surrender.

If it weren't for the fact that the leader of the Solon tribe, Dular. Bomubogor, was determined to not surrender, how could the Solon tribe have survived until today? Moreover, Huang Taiji was different from ordinary people. The more fiercely Dular. Bomubogor resisted, the more Huang Taiji wanted to subdue the Solon tribe. In his opinion, the bloodiness of the Solon people was what he wanted. As long as he worked harder, when Dular. Bomubogor finally had no way out, everything would be done.

But he didn't expect the situation to change like this, which made Huang Taiji's plan for many years come to nothing. Huang Taiji was angry because of this, and at the same time he also changed his mentality about how to deal with the Solon tribe.

Fan Wencheng's suggestion was very simple, which was to send troops directly to attack the Solon tribe again. Since the other party refused to surrender and relied on the support of the Ming Dynasty to compete with the Qing Dynasty, it would be better to destroy the Solon tribe and there was no need to attack them again.

Huang Taiji was somewhat tempted by Fan Wencheng's suggestion. If that was the case, getting rid of the Solon tribe would indeed allow him to vent his anger, but Huang Taiji also felt regretful. He had always wanted to subdue the Solon tribe over the years, but now if he changed his strategy from subduing it to completely destroying it, Huang Taiji couldn't help but hesitate. If the Solon tribe was gone, then he would lose a usable army that was good at fighting, which was a pity.

Fan Wencheng knew Huang Taiji very well. He saw through Huang Taiji's thoughts and knew that Huang Taiji still did not want to completely destroy the Solon tribe because doing so was not in the interests of the Qing Dynasty.

"As for the second point, I think that if we want to deal with the Solon tribe, we can think of other ways besides war. I heard that although Dular Bomubogor is the leader of the three tribes, there are still some people who oppose him. Especially in recent years, the Solon tribe has been driven to the north by our Qing Dynasty. It is cold and difficult to survive in the north, and there are many people who disagree with it..."

"What do you mean?" Huang Taiji's eyes lit up.

Fan Wencheng nodded and said seriously, "As the saying goes, the enemy is the enemy's enemy. Your Majesty is a wise ruler of the time, so he naturally understands this principle. The reason why the Solon tribe refused to surrender is because of Dular Bomubogor. As long as he dies, the three tribes will inevitably split. By then, it will be much easier to split and disintegrate. In addition, the military power of the Qing Dynasty is so strong, so what if the Solon people have the weapons of the Ming Dynasty? Do the Solon people really think that the swords of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty are not good?"

"Haha, this is indeed a solution." Huang Taiji laughed. Fan Wencheng's idea was good. If Dular Bomubogor could be killed, all problems would be solved. The reason why the Solon tribe had been resisting the Qing Dynasty was because of their leader Dular Bomubogor. This guy was as smelly and hard as a stone in a toilet. If Dular Bomubogor was gone, then the Solon tribe's attitude would inevitably change, and many things would be much easier to deal with.

"What about the third one?" Huang Taiji asked.

Fan Wencheng raised three fingers and said, "As for the third one, it's the Ming Dynasty. The current changes are caused by the Ming Dynasty. The new emperor of the Ming Dynasty is no ordinary person. He can actually come up with a plan to support the Solon tribe to contain the Qing Dynasty. This shows that this person is really not simple."

"I think we need to work hard from within the Ming Dynasty to make it chaotic again. Since the death of Lin Danhan, there are now two powers competing for power in the world, one is my Qing Dynasty, and the other is the Ming Dynasty. Before the reign of Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, the country was corrupted by internal and external troubles, but my Qing Dynasty was thriving under the leadership of Your Majesty. During the Ji Yi period, my Qing Dynasty, under the command of the Emperor, invaded the capital of the Ming Dynasty and almost captured the capital of the Ming Dynasty. The strength of the army was unmatched, and the situation was very good..."

At this point, Fan Wencheng paused and sighed with some regret: "It's a pity that the Qing Dynasty lacked siege artillery at that time, and the Ming Dynasty's capital was so strong and solid that it was difficult to break through, so we failed. I originally wanted to make a comeback, and after a few more attacks in the future, and with the Ming Dynasty's internal strife, there would always be a chance to rule the Central Plains, but I didn't expect the situation to change suddenly. Zhu Shenzhui suddenly appeared and entered the capital as a mere royal family member. He first served as the regent, then became the King of Wu, took charge of the central government, and then became the emperor. Zhu Shenzhui's ability far exceeded that of Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian. In just a few years, the situation in the Ming Dynasty changed drastically. Not only did he quell the internal troubles, but he also had the energy to take care of Liaodong. That's why the emperor returned empty-handed in the battle of Jinzhou that year and failed."

Fan Wencheng's words left Huang Taiji speechless. Fan Wencheng was right. Huang Taiji had been going smoothly before. First, he ascended the throne as Khan after Nurhaci's death, and then he used various means to consolidate his regime. He eliminated dissidents internally and monopolized power. He also launched attacks externally, which made the Later Jin Dynasty even stronger at that time.

Especially in the battle of entering the Pass after the Ji Yi Incident, Huang Taiji led the elite troops of the Eight Banners and was full of vigor and vigor, shocking the world. Moreover, Huang Taiji later changed the Later Jin Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, and directly became the emperor of the Qing Dynasty from the Khan. No matter from which point of view, Huang Taiji can be said to be at the peak of his power, with the momentum to annex the world and rule the Central Plains.

(End of this chapter)