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

Chapter 976: Conferring the Title on Khorchin

Zhezhe deliberately said these words with deep meaning. Although Dorgon was angry after hearing them, the problem was that what the other party said was true. Moreover, from the overall situation, Agudamu's entry into Chahar did pose a threat to the Qing Dynasty, and it was necessary to prevent him from controlling the entire Chahar.

But Dorgon was not an ordinary person. If he was just a reckless man, he would not have controlled the government as a prince. Although the emperor was Shunzhi and the empress dowager was Zhezhe, he, the regent prince, was the actual controller of the Qing Dynasty. As for the other Jirgalang, he had become a decoration and was not to be feared.

"Your Majesty is right. It is true that the lips and teeth are in danger. Agudamu entered Chahar with the purpose of occupying Chahar first, and then continuing eastward to attack the Khorchin and other tribes. The Khorchin and other tribes are not only the barriers of the Qing Dynasty, but also the allies of the Qing Dynasty. Naturally, we must save them."

Dorgon said this, and although his words were true, Zhezhe and Fan Wencheng who were present understood the other meaning in his words, which was the three words "logically speaking".

As expected, Dorgon continued, "But at present, the Qing Dynasty wants to go to war with Agudamu, but it is unable to unite the Mongolian tribes to wage war. Since the previous emperor's siege of Jinzhou failed, rebellion broke out within the Eight Banners, and the previous emperor took great efforts to suppress it."

"According to the plan of the late emperor, he would accumulate strength to attack the Ming Dynasty after internal stability, fight to support war, and mainly plunder the resources of the Ming Dynasty to strengthen himself while weakening his opponent. Unfortunately, no one expected that the late emperor would send Hauge to the north just after he was ready to recover the three tribes of Solon, and then march south after the war in the north was over. But before Hauge could decide the outcome of the war in the north, the late emperor suddenly passed away. After the death of the late emperor, Hauge led his troops back to Shengjing regardless of the war, causing the military action against the three tribes of Solon to fail. After that, the ascension of the new emperor was delayed for a long time. When the emperor succeeded to the throne, the late emperor's plan had long been out of date and could not be continued for the time being."

"Due to these reasons, the current national strength of our Qing Dynasty is not as good as before, and because the Ming Dynasty has implemented a blockade policy against our Qing Dynasty in the past two years, our Qing Dynasty cannot obtain materials from the Ming Dynasty through merchants as before. Our Qing Dynasty was established in Liaodong. Although Liaodong is good, it is far from being as prosperous as the Ming Dynasty. There are deficiencies in land, population, and production. Although the previous emperor implemented a policy of treating Han people well in the early years and used Han people to open up wasteland and produce in Liaodong to make up for the deficiencies, the effect has been limited so far, and the output cannot meet the needs of our Qing Dynasty at all."

"Right now, our Qing dynasty is short of supplies, especially food and fodder. If things continue like this, let alone going to war, I'm afraid we won't even have enough food to eat. When I was young, I followed the old Khan to fight. When the late emperor was alive, I fought under his command in all directions. From this point of view, I do have some insights."

"War is not only about the army and combat power, but also about logistics and supplies such as food and fodder. In particular, without the latter, even the most capable army cannot play a role. This was the case with the Ming army before. Why can our Eight Banners elite defeat the Ming army again and again? Are those Ming troops really incapable of fighting? Absolutely wrong! The strength of the Ming Dynasty is well known, and the equipment of the Ming army is not bad at all. The reason why they are not strong in combat is because of the military pay and supplies. If there is not enough military pay and the soldiers are not well fed, can such an army play a role?"

At this point, Dorgon looked at Fan Wencheng, who nodded silently. He agreed with this point. Dorgon was right. The reason why the Ming army could not fight was that they had no military pay and food. The combat effectiveness of a hungry army was completely different from that of an army that was well fed and had military pay. In addition, Huang Taiji formed the Eight Banners of the Han Army with the surrendered Ming army. Everyone could see clearly how powerful these Eight Banners of the Han Army were. They were no worse than the ordinary Eight Banners in a real fight.

Dorgon continued, "Although the Chahar issue is urgent, it is not urgent. Even if Agudamu leads his troops into Chahar, he can only occupy the central and western regions of Chahar. Moreover, the tribes in these regions are subservient to him on the surface, but no one can predict what will happen in reality. In my opinion, Agudamu will not be able to gain a foothold in the central and western regions of Chahar in less than a year or two."

"Even if he controls the central and western Chahar grasslands, there are still the tribes in the eastern Chahar. Will these tribes willingly let Agudamu become the real ruler of Chahar? For the sake of their own pastures and status, these tribes will inevitably rebel against Agudamu, not to mention the reaction of the Khorchin and other tribes."

"Qitat is the leader of Khorchin. Since he has already felt threatened, is it possible that the leaders of other tribes are not as good as Qitat? For their own interests, it is inevitable to fight against Agudamu. Even if the Qing Dynasty does not take action, they may be able to stop Agudamu from advancing eastward with their strength. Even if they cannot defeat him, it will take Agudamu at least several years to accomplish this. Anything can happen in such a long time. Why be so anxious?"

Zhezhe was a little dissatisfied at first, but as Dorgon spoke more words, Zhezhe's expression fell into deep thought.

Yes! The Qing Dynasty today is not the Qing Dynasty before. Before that, that is, after the Ji Yi Change, the Qing Dynasty was at its peak. It plundered a huge amount of materials and people from the Ming Dynasty. After these things were transported back to the Qing Dynasty, the entire Qing Dynasty was full of food. The materials in the warehouses were countless, and the food and grass were piled up into mountains.

But after that, two consecutive unsuccessful wars and the internal judgment of the Eight Banners led to the continuous consumption of materials in the Qing Dynasty. The originally abundant materials continued to decrease with the passage of time and the war factors, and the Qing Dynasty began to lack materials. In addition, the Ming Dynasty has implemented a severe economic and military blockade on the Qing Dynasty in recent years, and the Tumed tribe is also eyeing Mongolia, so it is impossible for the Qing Dynasty to obtain materials from the Ming Dynasty through smugglers as before.

These situations are real. Those present are the highest-ranking figures in the Qing Dynasty, so they certainly understand this. The main reason why Huang Taiji began to plan another war against the Ming Dynasty during his lifetime was also because of this. The Qing Dynasty had insufficient productivity. Even if Huang Taiji implemented a relatively relaxed policy towards the Han people to encourage them to farm, the situation in Liaodong could only be alleviated but not completely solved. Therefore, the only way to maintain the rule of the Qing Dynasty was to obtain supplies from the Ming Dynasty. In the case of blockade, it was only possible to launch a war and plunder through war.

Unfortunately, Huang Taiji died suddenly before the war could start, and the plan to launch a war was shelved with his death. The war materials that Huang Taiji had collected with great difficulty were also consumed in the subsequent period, and there was not much left, which could not support a large-scale war at all.

In other words, the Qing Dynasty now does not have the ability to unite the Mongolian tribes to launch a war against Tumed and Agudamu, and this war will not benefit the Qing Dynasty in the short term regardless of the outcome. It will only serve to curb Agudamu's efforts to take over the entire Chahar.

Everyone knows who is behind Agudamu. Behind him stands the entire Tumed. Everyone knows how powerful Tumed is now. It is also rumored that the brothers Tengger and Agudamu of Tumed are actually princes of the Ming Emperor. Otherwise, why would the Ming Dynasty give such high courtesy to the Tengger brothers and even give Tengger the title of Prince and Agudamu the title of Duke?

Whether this is true or not is still debatable, but Dorgon believed that it was very likely to be true. After all, many sources of intelligence pointed to this statement, and neither the Ming Dynasty nor Tumed denied the rumor. From this point of view, Agudamu's entry into Chahar was not only Tumed's plan, but also Ming's plan, and its purpose was to suppress the Qing Dynasty's influence in Mongolia through means in Mongolia.

If this is the case, the final outcome of the united war among the Mongolian tribes under such circumstances is difficult to predict. Once the Qing Dynasty is stuck in this quagmire, the longer the war lasts, the more likely it is that the Qing Dynasty's limited supplies will not be able to support a sustained war, and may even drag down the entire Qing Dynasty.

Dorgon believed that under the current circumstances, it was not appropriate for the Qing Dynasty to directly intervene in this war. Anyway, it would take time for Agudamu to completely take over the entire Chahar. If there was resistance from the Chahar tribes, Agudamu would encounter some troubles, which would take even longer.

Furthermore, the Khorchin and Inner and Outer Khalkha tribes were not fools. They also understood the principle of "the lips and the teeth are cold", and would definitely assist the Chahar tribes in resisting Agudamu's eastward advance. Therefore, the Qing Dynasty did not need to take action immediately. It only needed to use its influence in Mongolia to properly unite the Mongols and stop Agudamu first. The most important thing for the Qing Dynasty now was to solve the problem of supplies. Once there were enough supplies, there would be more options, whether to intervene in the Chahar affairs or to go south and continue the war with the Ming Dynasty.

"Prince Rui means that we can put Mongolia aside for the time being and solve the material problem of the Qing Dynasty first, and let the Mongolians solve the problem themselves?" Zhezhe asked.

"Your Majesty, I understand." Dorgon nodded and said, "This is the best way at the moment. Even if the Mongolian tribes cannot defeat Agudamu, they will definitely be able to hold him off for a while. Besides, the Mongolian tribes are also strong. Let them fight first. Even if they lose in the end, Agudamu will definitely suffer a lot of losses."

"I understand, but if the Mongolian tribes want to unite, I'm afraid it won't work just by relying on the threat of Agudamu, right?"

"Your Majesty, don't forget about Qitat." Dorgon said with a smile, "Qitat is the leader of Khorchin. Compared with other Mongolian tribes, Khorchin is naturally a subordinate of the Qing Dynasty. As long as you give Qitat some promises and let him take the lead in uniting other tribes, and your Majesty issues an order in the name of the Empress Dowager of the Qing Dynasty and the Emperor, I think Qitat will try his best to do this for the sake of your Majesty and the Emperor. Moreover, this matter is extremely beneficial to Khorchin, otherwise Qitat would not have sent this letter to your Majesty. What do you think, your Majesty?"

Dorgon picked up the letter and gestured. Zhezhe nodded silently, admitting that what Dorgon said made sense. If that was the case, it was indeed very likely. However, Zhezhe was also worried about whether Qitate had the confidence to do this when the Qing Dynasty did not send troops. He could not help but mention this. Dorgon smiled and said that this was too simple. Qitate was the leader of Khorchin, and the Khorchin tribe had been loyal to the Qing Dynasty for three generations. Qitate was the son-in-law of the Qing Dynasty and the nephew of the queen, not an outsider.

In this case, the Qing Dynasty could give Qitate a reason and directly confer the title of Duolo County Prince on Qitate, which could be hereditary. In this way, Qitate would become Duolo County Prince of the Qing Dynasty, and he could represent the Qing Dynasty in Mongolia to contact the Mongolian tribes. Wouldn't this kill two birds with one stone?
(End of this chapter)