With 100,000 elite soldiers at the start, what should you call me?

……

A messenger arrived in the capital with an urgent message.

Beneath the surface of the once tranquil capital, undercurrents began to surge, and it was only a matter of time before the surface surface began to churn.

The surging undercurrents churned up the waters of the capital city, making them murky.

The powerful and wealthy families all used their own methods to obtain information from the post station workers.

Inside the palace, in a room crowded with Manchu officials.

"Your Highness, could you please let us see that letter we just read?" asked Ming Andali, the Minister of War.

Dorgon no longer concealed his intentions and summoned a eunuch to make a copy, which he then hung up.

The font was large, like a notice placed in the city.

The crowd gathered around the paper, looking at its contents, all with solemn expressions.

"Li Tian... where did this guy come from? He was able to wipe out tens of thousands of my Qing army in one night. There must be remnants of the Ming Dynasty behind him." After reading the information in the urgent report, Ming Andali asserted that this must be the remnant Ming forces.

"It's possible that's not the case. This Li Tian is probably just like Li Zicheng, simply rebelling," Sony said, offering a different perspective.

"This Li Tian has some ability, why don't we try to win him over?" Minister of Rites Enged suggested.

Winning over and dividing the enemy was a common tactic used by the Qing Dynasty.

When the Hongguang regime was first established, it had a solid foundation and a large number of soldiers available for battle.

However, it was plagued by serious internal conflicts, with everyone harboring their own agendas.

The Qing dynasty took advantage of this opportunity to win over and divide the people, letting them fight amongst themselves, and then stepped in to reap the benefits.

This tactic has always worked. It was used to recruit Liu Zeqing, Zheng Zhilong, and other people with ulterior motives who were fickle in their intentions.

Many people present nodded in agreement with the proposal.

First, recruit them while secretly preparing. Once they agree, you'll be caught in a dilemma, unable to back down.

At this moment, Sony interrupted Enged's suggestion: "Let's put aside the matter of winning over and dividing people for now. There must be something we don't know about that led to the great defeat in Jianning Prefecture. This matter must be investigated."

Dorgon frowned upon hearing this.

The decision to appoint Chen Jin to go south and pacify Fujian was made on the advice of Fan Wencheng and Hong Chengchou.

If we were to hold someone accountable, wouldn't we have to ask the regent for responsibility?

Dorgon immediately narrowed his eyes and looked at Sony.

"These guys, they've already started targeting me so quickly?"

The atmosphere in the room immediately became tense.

No one dared to directly attack Dorgon at this moment.

Not long ago, Prince Hauge of the First Rank died in prison, and the cause of death was the infighting in the court some time ago.

At this moment, Ming Andali stepped forward and said, "This matter is not difficult to investigate. The former Governor-General of Zhejiang and Fujian, Zhang Cunren, is still in Fujian. We only need to summon him back and have the Dali Temple conduct a trial, and the truth will come to light."

They directly blamed Zhang Cunren, a Han Chinese general who had surrendered.

The portion size is sufficient, and it can also suppress the arrogance of the Han people.

"No, Zhang Cunren followed the late emperor into the pass in his early years and was one of the leaders of the Han people in Liaodong. If we harm Zhang Cunren, we will only lose the hearts of the Han people in Liaodong."

This proposal was immediately rejected by Engeld.

"Let's leave today's matter here for now. Let's first win over Li Tian's envoy. If he's willing to surrender, we'll grant him the title of third-class viscount."

Dorgon interrupted the meeting and decided to discuss it again in a few days.

Everyone agreed, and after they left, they all did the same thing: inquire about information from Fujian.

Sure enough, not long after, intelligence about Fujian followed one after another.

In addition to intelligence from Fujian, there were also memorials from General Chen Tai, Minister of Revenue Bahana, and others.

The situation was not peaceful for the Han Chinese either.

A letter from Zu Zeyuan was delivered to the capital and arrived at the Zu residence.

An elderly man with a sallow complexion, gray hair, and wrinkles was quietly feeding fish by the pond.

This old man was none other than Zu Dashou, the Left Commander of the Liaodong Left Army Commandery, who once dominated Liaodong.

At this time, he had become the commander-in-chief of the Plain Yellow Banner of the Han Army, a high-ranking official, but in reality, he was confined to his home to retire.

"Sir, there is a letter from Fujian."

The butler handed a letter to Zu Dashou.

The latter took it and opened it, his aged eyes scanning the contents without stirring a ripple in his mind.

After reading it, Zu Dashou simply said, "I understand."

He then threw the letter into the brazier.

Meanwhile, Hong Chengchou also received a letter from Fujian.

He had already suspected Dorgon's unusual behavior in court a few days ago.

I just didn't expect something like this to happen in Fujian.

"So that's how it is. The Governor-General of Zhejiang and Fujian, Chen Jin, was killed in battle, and of the hundreds of thousands of troops, only fifty or sixty thousand escaped overnight."

Hong Chengchou murmured, "This Li Tian is quite interesting. I don't know where he came from, but he managed to recruit 100,000 people without using Zhu Ming's name. He does have some ability."

"But in the end, they are just clowns jumping around. The Qing Dynasty is the one that is destined to prevail and is the one that is the mandate of heaven."

Hong Chengchou sneered and burned all the letters.

The flickering firelight swayed slowly in his dark eyes.

After several days of intelligence gathering, Dorgon convened another meeting of the Manchu Eight Banners.

This time, there were more people, and they were all more distinguished.

The regent Dodo, Prince Ajige, former regent Prince Zheng Jirhalang, Fei Yingdong and other high-ranking Manchu officials, as well as the ten-year-old Shunzhi Emperor.

"This meeting is the meeting of the Eight Banners of Manchuria."

"I'm sure everyone is aware of the meeting's content over the past few days; it concerns Li Tian from Fujian."

Sony stepped forward to chair the meeting.

"This matter is of great importance, and I'm sure everyone is already aware of the information about Li Tian."

"Li Tian is an extremely mysterious person, and his past experiences in Jianning Prefecture are difficult to investigate."

"Hmph, he's probably just a cowherd from some village. What can he possibly find out?" Ajige sneered, clearly showing his contempt for Li Tian's identity.

Sony chuckled; "Back then, the Ming Dynasty's founding emperor was also a cowherd. We shouldn't underestimate him."

After saying that, he continued, "The Battle of Jianning Prefecture was the most devastating battle since the Qing Dynasty entered the pass, which is why Prince Rui attached such importance to it and summoned everyone to discuss it."

"I heard that no fewer than five thousand of our Jurchen warriors died in this battle. I want to know who killed our Jurchen warriors," Jirhalang suddenly said.

These words immediately made the atmosphere at the scene heavy.

Before Huang Taiji came to power, the Jianzhou Jurchens were the self-designation of the people. After Huang Taiji came to power, he carried out sweeping reforms and changed the name of his ethnic group to Manchu.

From then on, most Manchus also called themselves Manchus.

"No one has killed our Manchurian warriors," Ming Andali said at this point.

"Alas, now is not the time to dwell on this issue. The Manchus are already few in number, and the loss of so many warriors in this battle in Fujian will inevitably cause internal turmoil." At this moment, Ebilun, one of the ministers of the council, spoke up.

"Although we Manchus are invincible, we are still a minority. If we want to rise above the powerful Han people, we cannot afford to make any mistakes. If the Han people realize that we Manchus cannot control them, other regions will surely descend into chaos. The Han people are not honest; they are very wicked!"