Reclamation of Manchuria, this is by no means a rare word for the Qing Dynasty, it can be said that since the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, there have been people who have been mentioning, but they have been blocked back - the reason is also very simple, Manchuria is the lifeblood of the Eight Banners, and it cannot be easily reclaimed, let alone let the Han people enter the customs.

Yongzheng proposed to reclaim Manchuria, in fact, it was also a last resort, his relevant land policy can only solve half of the problem of land, that is, to collect taxes, but about the other half of the problem, there is no good way to solve it, and those who have extra people are really surplus, that is, there is no land to plant.

For example, if there is a big chaos today, Yongzheng does not have the shortcomings of his Laozi Kangxi's face-loving, so he has always faced the current problems of the Qing court, and he is also really starting to solve them, especially in the eyes of Yongzheng today, the biggest enemy in the world is by no means the White Lotus Sect, but Ning Chu, who is working steadily.

From the Yellow Turban Army to the Red Turban Army, from the Yellow Nest to Li Chuang, it seems that a mighty wave has been set off on the surface, but in fact it is difficult to succeed, even Li Zicheng at the beginning was transformed from a rogue, to a sitting Kou, and was able to break through Beijing.

Therefore, the White Lotus Sect has now entered the Guannei, but Yongzheng still set his sights on Ning Chu, who was steadily expanding in the south, and after watching Ning Chu's actions, Yongzheng also came to a disheartening conclusion - Ning Chu is already uncontrollable, and it is impossible to complete it if he wants to destroy it, and at this time, the development of Manchuria has become an alternative path.

"Your Majesty, foreign affairs are related to my Qing Dynasty dragon vein, and we must not develop it rashly, otherwise once it damages the dragon qi, it will be really unfavorable to the Qing Dynasty......," Lai Du hurriedly advised.

Yongzheng was now extremely tired of this kind of empty talk, and he snorted coldly, "If I hand over the Northwest Army to you, can you fight to the death with the main force of Chu Rebellion?" ”

"Your Majesty, the minions think that they can only hold on to the moment, and they can't fight......"

Lai Du, who has been knocked out of his sharpness, did not dare to speak, in the previous battle of Anqing, he personally experienced this great defeat, it can be said that the Qing army at this stage has played well enough, and the reason why it still failed is only one reason, that is, the combat effectiveness of the Fu Han army is too strong.

The current so-called Northwest Army is actually a patchwork army, with 50,000 soldiers of the Beijing Battalion and Eight Banners, as well as 20,000 Mongolian horse teams, and 30,000 Shaanxi and Gansu Green Battalions, plus tens of thousands of defenders, it is also an army of more than 100,000, but what is the combat power, Lai Du is very clear in his heart, relying on such an army to fight with the Fu Han Army, it is nothing more than another Anqing defeat.

"In that case, then you don't need to say any more!"

Emperor Yongzheng's face was a little gloomy, in fact, the current Qing Dynasty is still far from complete defeat and still needs a big war, that is, the eight banners with thousands of hopes of 100,000 new troops, if the future Ningchu Northern Expedition, then this new army and the Fu Han army are bound to have a decisive battle, if you win, it is easy to say, if you lose, you can only retreat to the pass.

But can you win?

Yongzheng was never sure in his heart, so he needed to prepare in advance, that is, to transfer more banner people to Guanwai, keep the essence of the Eight Banners, and be able to keep the opportunity to turn over in the future.

"I thought that the opportunity to reclaim Manchuria had arrived, and if it was delayed any longer, if something happened in the future, I would not even be able to run outside the border. If most of the banner people are transferred back to Manchuria, on the one hand, it can reduce the loss of money and grain, and on the other hand, it can also leave a way out for our Eight Banners outside the customs...... Now some of the people of the Eight Banners in the capital should understand my hard work. ”

Zhang Tingyu, who was in charge of the household department, knew in his heart that the current Qing Dynasty seemed to have a chance on the surface, but in fact it was already on the line, and at this time, the 600,000 banner people inside and outside the Beijing Division, their hardcore crops, and their ration needs would become the last straw that crushed the Qing Dynasty, so the strong man broke his wrist and needed it today.

Of course, if you want to let hundreds of thousands of Eight Banner disciples leave the capital and return to the outside of the gate to live such a hard and bitter life again, it is more difficult in a short period of time. Therefore, the reclamation of Manchuria is only a plan of Yongzheng at present, and there is still some way to go before it can be implemented, at least to convince more core figures of the Eight Banners.

After all, let the children of the Eight Banners raised by the Qing Dynasty for so many years, and suddenly let them lose their hardcore crops, no one will agree to this, if it is not operated well, it will be a earth-shaking event, so Yongzheng can only slowly try it.

It's just that now that he saw that the idea of reclaiming Manchuria had been confirmed at the Military Aircraft Department, Emperor Yongzheng was also a little excited, so he continued to throw out another idea of his own, that is, to expand the Eight Banners, which is also a pre-emptive means of reclamation outside the Guan.

This policy is actually also because of the sequelae of the previous war, since the beginning of the Han Army, to now there have been many large and small battles, and the loss of the Eight Banners is as many as more than 100,000 people, although this is the Manchurian, Han and Mongolian Eight Banners combined, but now the total of the Eight Banners is only 15.6 million people, of which 200,000 can be drawn out to serve as soldiers.

That is to say, the battle has been fought until now, and there is basically no one in the Eight Banners, not to mention whether there is anyone to replenish the source of troops, even if it is out of the customs to reclaim, it is impossible to expect the old and weak women and children to reclaim the frozen soil of Liaodong, and only more Han people can join the Eight Banners, so that there is this manpower to reclaim the land in Liaodong, and the widow who marries the Eight Banners.

"Your Majesty, if you expand the Eight Banners, it's not impossible, but how to recruit this, you still need to say."

Xu Yuanmeng spoke again, in his eyes, this was purely a bit whimsical, the iron crops of the Eight Banners were just going to be canceled in the front, and the Eight Banners began to be expanded later, these other people are not stupid, who will come when the time comes? You can't go out on the street and pull people's heads to make up the numbers!

Yongzheng already had a plan in his heart, "I think that the reclamation of Manchuria cannot only use Manchurian men, but also need more young and strong men, so we expand the Eight Banners, mainly to the young and strong, not those old and weak women and children, as for the relatives of these people are not allowed to carry the flag, mainly to recruit Han Eight Banners, plus Menghui and other ethnic groups, 200,000 people should be able to support the early stage." ”

"What about the Eight Banners New Army? Should these people be added? Tory asked another crucial question.

This question just touched the pride in Yongzheng's heart, and he said with a smile: "I think that among these people, some people can be selected to join the new army of the Eight Banners, and if they perform well, they can expand hundreds of thousands of people to come in. ”

"Hundreds of thousands?"

"Yes, hundreds of thousands."

Everyone was surprised, what kind of Eight Flags qualifications did this treasure have in the past, but now it has become this cabbage, and anyone can come and take a bite? But are the soldiers recruited in this way reliable or not?

Yongzheng's face was a little solemn, "Since Chu rebelled and the troops came, the losses of the Eight Banners have been extremely heavy, there are no less than 100,000 people in Qingzhuang alone, this battle can't be finished in a short time, how many people's corpses need to be filled in the middle, have you ever calculated?" ”

"I've counted! If I fight for another year, the flag people will die, and my eight banners will be gone! At that time, no matter how the world changes, it has nothing to do with our flag people! If we expand the Eight Banners, we can continue to persevere! ”

In the past wars, the real casualty rate was very low, most of the people were chased and killed after retreating, but now it is different, in front of muskets and artillery, human life is just a number, and the battles fought by the Qing army in front of them are almost indescribable.

As soon as Zhang Tingyu heard this, he felt that the whole person was a little spinning, and the expansion of the Eight Banners sounded good, but where did the money come from? "Your Majesty, if the Eight Banners are expanded now, I am afraid that the silver in front of me will not be able to be taken out....... Now the silver in the treasury is supplied to the New Army of the Eight Banners. ”

"Let Nuo Min go to Shanxi to sell officials, no matter what method he uses, as long as he can get the silver from those old pits in Shanxi back, it will be a great achievement! Tell Nuo Min that I want 10 million taels! ”

...........

Although most people of insight know that this is a good policy, they can't stand the children of the Eight Banners in the Beijing camp, and they are clamoring everywhere, claiming that this is for the Han people to grab food, and the expansion of so many at once that the quality of the Eight Banners has declined, which makes them feel very depressed in their hearts.

The generals of each banner also have some faint opinions, in the past, it was a kind of glory to become the Eight Banners, and the Han people could not easily carry the flag, which was called great grace, but now the Han people have no merit, they can become a part of the Eight Banners, how can they serve the public?

But for the Han people, they don't appreciate this at all, and who can't see the current situation in this world? Although it is said that the Qing court still occupies half of the north, but it is actually empty, the original green battalion soldiers in the north are empty, and now they are recruited as some homeless people, and their combat effectiveness is extremely weak.

The Eight Banners are not satisfied, and the Han people are not satisfied, so it stands to reason that this matter will not be possible, but the Yongzheng Emperor is very determined to implement at this time, and has begun to expand the Eight Banners in Zhili, mainly to carry the flag to a large number of landless peasants, but only some of them are recruited into the Eight Banners of the New Army, and most of the rest are still filled with green battalions.

For Yongzheng, this period of time is not only bad news, but also some good news, such as Dai Jinxian submitted a fold, claiming that the first batch of olecranons supervised by the Francophone has officially come out, which lasted about half a year, this news made Yongzheng feel very excited, and he decided to go to check it in person.

When Yongzheng drove to the firearms camp, he found that the entire camp had become a mess now, many mule-drawn carts were entering and leaving the camp, with many wooden boxes on them, and hundreds of soldiers of the Han Eight Banners were moving the wooden boxes into the camp, and everyone was carrying them on their shoulders, which seemed to be very busy.

"Enlighten the emperor, the minions Dai Jinxian and Narsu knock to see the emperor, long live the emperor, long live long live."

Dai Jinxian and Narsu, the king of Heping County, both had a little joy on their faces, and bowed to Emperor Yongzheng, which was the first batch of new firearms in the Qing Dynasty, and Dai Jinxian and Narsu were really overjoyed.

Yongzheng looked up and found that there were already many Eight Banners soldiers in front of him, who were taking out a brand-new glowing hawksbill from the wooden box, fiddling with it in his hand, and a few leaders were checking the firearms, in fact, it was mainly based on counting, and after ensuring that it was correct, it was re-covered with the wooden board.

"It seems that this Westerner's musket is really good, looking at this workmanship, it is much more refined than our bird gun, and it should not be worse than Chu Wei's musket."

Yongzheng was satisfied with taking out a hawkbill from the box, put it in his hand and fiddled with it, he can also use a shotgun, and he was a little itchy at the moment, holding the musket all the way to the shooting range, and aiming at the target thirty steps away from the distance with the hawkbill.

That's right, it's already very good that the target can be set to 30 paces this year, in fact, most of the muskets are more than 30 paces, and this quasi-head will fly completely into the sky, and whether you can hit the target or not depends basically on luck.

It's just that when Narsu saw that Yongzheng wanted to try the gun by himself, he was a little nervous, and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, although the quality of this musket is better than that of the bird, it is difficult to guarantee that it will not be good, if it is really accidentally blown up, it will not be good to hurt the emperor, it is better to let the slave try the gun first, if there is a good one, it will not hinder the master." ”

"I have faith in you, and I will try this gun myself."

Yongzheng threw down a sentence, and then lit the fire rope, only to see that after a thick smoke, the musket made a violent 'bang', which shocked Yongzheng's arm a little numb, and saw a larger smoke drift away, and the edge of the target in front of Yongzheng has been punched out of a big hole.

"Long live the emperor! The emperor's spear is invincible! ”

Everyone saw that Emperor Yongzheng hit the target in thirty steps, and couldn't help but kneel down and flatter, even Yongzheng himself was very proud in his heart, he was quite fond of holding this eagle beak gun, and he still couldn't finish saying: "Although this gun is good, it is too expensive.......

"Your Majesty, this gun is currently due to a lack of manpower, which makes the cost of this gun much higher, if you can have more skilled craftsmen, I am afraid that the cost can be slightly reduced, and there is a lot of iron ore in the Qing Dynasty, and the price of iron is also increasing day by day, so that the cost rises."

Dai Jinxian replied honestly, but as if he suddenly thought of something, he said with a smile: "If the emperor allows, you can open foreign trade and trade with Western countries, and you can also buy a batch of hawkbeak guns to make up for the lack of the Eight Banners New Army." ”

Regarding Dai Jinxian's thoughts, Yongzheng was naturally clear in his heart, and he didn't say anything at the moment, just put the gun into the wooden box, looked at Narsu and said: "King Pingjun, I have to have more snacks these days, the Eight Banners New Army is related to our foundation, so we must not underestimate it, you can tell me if you have any questions." ”

As soon as he said this, Narsu's face did show a little embarrassment, thinking that there was really something that the emperor needed to deal with.

"Back to the emperor, now that the new army of the Eight Banners has enough soldiers, weapons will not be a problem in the future, but the biggest problem at the moment is the Eight Banners military system left by our ancestors, and now it has reached the threshold where it has to be changed......"