is not only concerned about Li Zicheng, but not only Zhu Guoqiang in Nanjing.

Entering the Jiashen year, Dolgon, who was on the Mongolian plateau, was also watching the changes in the situation of the Ming Dynasty. After escaping to the Mongolian steppe, it seemed that he was fighting in the east and west on the Mongolian steppe, and even pointed to the Western Regions, all the way to the Tianshan Mountains.

In addition to sending many detailed works in Beijing as in the past, he did not hesitate to give heavy rewards to those who found out particularly important news. Regarding the hectic measures and disputes in the Ming court, as well as the important activities of the thieves, there were lurking meticulous reports to the grassland almost every day or every three or two days.

It seems that Dolgon, who is bent on consolidating the Qing kingdom in Mongolia and ruling in Moxi, but with the understanding of the Western Regions, he no longer thinks about how to lead the army to recover Shengjing and how to defeat the Ming as he did at the beginning. He even felt that he should take advantage of the fact that the Ming Dynasty was too busy to take care of itself and did not have time to consider the opportunity of the Great Qing Kingdom to expand westward as much as possible.

Thousands of miles to the west, there is a wider land than Manchuria, and more importantly, there is no general Zhu Ciying there. Especially in the face of the continuous military victories since the Western Expedition. Dolgon even felt that the future of the Qing Kingdom was in the West, and he even studied Genghis Khan, who was the only one who destroyed the Western Xia, the Jin Kingdom, and the Southern Song Dynasty after the successful Western Expedition and the integration of the forces of the Western Regions and other places.

Dorgon has never been a short-sighted man, which is why he continues to expand westward, but this does not prevent him from eyeing the gates.

Sometimes, Dolgon even thought that the Ming people knew little or nothing about the situation in the Western Regions, and that when they reacted, they would regret it.

Around the end of the first month, Dolgon even got a report that a bandit leader named Li Zicheng had established the "Shun Dynasty" in Xi'an and changed the Yuan to "Yongchang". From the end of December last year to the beginning of the first month of this year, 500,000 men and horses were sent to cross the Yellow River from the vicinity of Hancheng in batches, and after entering the territory of Shanxi, they were invincible and were marching to Taiyuan, claiming to seize the Ming Dynasty.

This news came not only from the capital, but also from all over Shanxi, where the merchants were still extremely important partners of the Qing Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty needed horses and cattle from the grasslands, and he also needed silk, cotton cloth, and tea to buy the Mongols.

The Jin merchants provided him with a lot of information about the thieves, and when he learned that the general army of Xuanda and Da had surrendered to the thieves and that the rogues were marching on the Jingshi, Dolgon was stunned.

So immediately invited Hong Chengchou and others to come over to discuss, in the process of conquering Mobei Mongolia and Moxi Mongolia, Hong Chengchou's performance made Dolgon impressed, and even, if it was not for Hong Chengchou's proposal, the use of the contradictions of the various tribes of Moxi Mongolia, the Western Expedition of the Great Qing Dynasty would not be so smooth, and now the mutation within the Ming Dynasty naturally needs to listen to his views.

In the humble opinion of the ministers, Li Thief claimed that 500,000 horses had crossed the river into Jin, but it was just a false statement, and the actual number of troops was definitely not there. The number of generals is probably between 200,000 and 300,000, not more. Even if it is 300,000, the number of troops that can fight under the city of Beijing will not exceed 200,000. ”

Dorgon asked:

"Why do you estimate so little?"

Someone else chimed in:

"Lord Hong, I estimate that Li Zicheng's people who came to the capital are probably more than 500,000, didn't he take people captive as soldiers in Taiyuan and other places?"

"The captured soldiers will also escape, and the people we captured will flee halfway, let alone the soldiers?"

Hong Chengchou thought for a moment and said with a smile:

"From the standpoint of our Great Qing Kingdom, of course we hope to make the thieves stronger, only in this way will they fight with the Ming Kingdom to lose both, such an idea is naturally good. However, such an idea is nothing more than wishful thinking. The minister was in the Southern Dynasty, fought with the thieves for many years, and knew a little about the truth among the thieves. The thieves are accustomed to intimidating with false voices, and taking advantage of the weaknesses of the imperial court and the officials and armies of the provinces, so that they can grow rapidly and continue to win and have today. In recent years, the thieves have been at their peak, claiming to have millions of people, but in the opinion of Yichen, there were no more than 500,000 at the peak. The minister said that although Li Zicheng had about 500,000 men, he still divided his troops to garrison everywhere, and there were many important places that he could not afford to garrison. From this point of view, the actual number of soldiers of Li Thief's cross-river expedition will never exceed 300,000, even if the captives are soldiers, but he still has casualties, a Zhou Yuji will let him lose nearly 100,000 soldiers, even if he replenishes the soldiers and horses, it is probably this number, besides, Li Zicheng established a false name in Xi'an, and crossed the river to the east, in a vain attempt to officially claim the emperor in the capital, so he will take many important figures such as civil and military officials with him, and each bureaucrat must have a group of slaves to follow, and there must be other soldiers and horses to protect. Besides, these 300,000 soldiers and horses are thousands of miles away, how easy is it to talk about? Tens of thousands of people were also assigned to the grain and grass transportation guards alone. In this way, if he had crossed the river east with 300,000 men and left troops along the way, he would not have 200,000 men when he arrived at the city of Beijing. ”

Although Dolgon thought that Hong Chengchou's opinion was reasonable, he still asked Hong Chengchou in confusion:

"You are familiar with the situation in the Southern Dynasties, and you really have extraordinary insights. But what I still don't understand is that you said that Li Zicheng did not have many troops, and he relied on false intimidation, but he galloped through the Central Plains in recent years, was invincible, swept Huguang, drove into Shaanxi, easily occupied Xi'an, and swept all over the northwest, so that the Ming Dynasty was unable to cope with it, and was on the verge of national crisis. How do you explain this? ”

After that, Dolgon did not wait for the confession to speak, and then said:

"Let's talk about it today. I've ordered someone to prepare lunch, let's go, let's go to the lunch table, and talk while eating!" ”

As soon as he got up from the brazier, Dorgon said:

"There is one more thing that I will discuss with you to see if it is possible. If it is feasible, of course, the sooner the better, and it is good to meet Li Zicheng halfway through and get his reply. ”

"What is the king's clever move?"

Hong Chengchou asked.

Dorgon replied with a confident smile.

"I want to send someone to meet Li Zicheng on the way to Shanxi with a letter from my Great Qing Kingdom, one to find out whether he is an enemy or a friend to my Great Qing Kingdom, and the other to personally see how strong Li Zicheng is. What do you think of this plan? ”

Hearing this, Hong Chengchou said.

"In fact, it doesn't matter if you are friend or foe, and it doesn't matter if you look at his strength or not."

Dorgon smiled meaningfully,

"Oh? Why is that? ”

"Because whether it is friend or foe, strength or weakness, in the end, Li Zicheng must fight with Zhu Ciying first, as long as they fight, for my Great Qing Kingdom, there will be no benefit!"

"What Mr. Hong said is very true!"

Dorgon laughed. Then he gently waved his right hand and said:

"Let's go, discuss big things while we eat!"

Dorgon picked up a large piece of meat from the hot pot, not thinking about it.

"As far as we are concerned, it doesn't matter who they are, as long as they fight, it will be beneficial and harmless to our Great Qing Kingdom, and the longer they fight, the more beneficial it will be to us."

Dorgon paused, and then said,

"What we need now is time, in the past, we only had the Central Plains in our eyes, but now, there are so many places to the west, and there are so many people, let's knock down these places, just like Genghis Khan back then, he first laid a huge country in the west, and then came back to fight the Song Dynasty. We can be like him, build a large enough territory in the west, and then take the troops from the west to fight the Ming Dynasty like Genghis Khan. ”

Dolgon's words made Hong Chengchou pause and move his chopsticks again, he glanced at Dolgon, and then praised:

"What the prince said is very true, the minister heard that Li Zicheng has plundered countless things all the way, we can not only contact him, but also sell him red-clothed cannons, after all, we need silver and a lot of goods from the Central Plains!"

Dolgon nodded approvingly at Hong Chengchou's suggestion.

"Your idea is good, the stronger Li Zicheng is, the more chaotic the Ming Kingdom will be, the more chaotic they are, the more opportunities we will have in the future, and we can also take the opportunity to exchange for a large sum of silver, not bad, not bad."

After nodding his head in praise, he asked Hong Chengchou again:

"Do you think you should give him some gifts besides the letter?"