In fact, the current Zilharang is also worried about his future and inexplicably confused.

Therefore, after hearing the news that the emperor fell from the city wall and was seriously injured and could no longer serve as a director, Zilharang, who had been up and down in politics for many years, immediately keenly knew that the Qing Empire, which is now in a vacuum of supreme power, a terrible civil war for power and profit was coming.

After all, as a new empire, it is absolutely impossible to maintain such a leaderless state forever, and next, the two most powerful in the Qing Dynasty, Dolgon and Hauge, should immediately start a bloody and cruel battle for this supreme power.

Then, in this drastic change that can be called the collapse of the world, how to stand in line and which side to choose to take refuge in the next self is undoubtedly an extremely critical life and death bet.

He has always liked to stand in line impartially in political struggles, so as to achieve the greatest benefits with a neutral attitude, but the moment he got the news, he fell into extreme hesitation.

This life-and-death bet will be bloodier and more brutal than any political struggle that Zilharang has ever experienced.

Because he knows that in the past political struggles, although both sides of the struggle secretly and ruthlessly demolished each other, and even took each other's lives, after all, the scale was limited, and the people and objects involved could be completely controlled.

And now, the battle between Dolgon and Hauge, given that the top-level rulers are completely vacant, and the two of them are the most powerful in the Qing state, both have a considerable number of soldiers and supporters, and the ensuing battle will never only appear in the situation of political struggle, but is very likely to turn into an extremely cruel and bloody civil war, and evolve into a full-scale war that affects the entire Qing Empire.

Such an ending is undoubtedly an unspeakable tragedy for the Qing Empire, which was originally thriving day by day, and it is a devastating blow to the national fortunes of the Qing Dynasty.

This battle, which was fought almost with the strength of the whole country, not only did not achieve the expected results, but because the emperor was lost in this battle, the fortunes of the entire Qing Empire were reversed, and it fell into a sad situation of falling apart.

In this sense, the battle of Vladivostok was the Achilles of the Qing Empire. Let this giant, which was originally powerful and feared in all directions, fall in an incredible way.

It's just that now that the raw rice has matured and the civil strife in the Qing Empire is inevitable, what should I do next?

It took three days and three nights for Zilharang to think about this important and urgent issue before finally making his own decision.

Of course, it was also a very difficult decision.

That is, he still felt that it was more reliable to bet most of his chips on Dorgon, Prince Rui.

After all, according to the soldiers who fled back, Dolgon was the temporary emperor of the current Eastern Crusade, commanding the whole army.

Then, Dolgon's mastery of these 100,000 elite Qing troops of the Eastern Expedition has undoubtedly occupied a considerable initiative in the future battle.

In addition, in the current Manchurian Eight Banners, except for the two Yellow Flags and the Zhenglan Banner, which will firmly support Haoge, the other five banners may eventually support Dolgon, who is more powerful and resourceful, and whose prestige and military exploits are far greater than Haoge.

And those Mongolian Eight Banners, the Inner and Outer Khalkha Mongol Tribes, as well as the Eight Banners of the Han Army and other miscellaneous troops, it is estimated that they will all fall with the wind and choose to take refuge in Dolgon, who is more likely to win from this civil war.

In this way, in the comparison of forces between the two sides, Dolgon undoubtedly has a great advantage, and it can even be said that in this battle for power in the Qing Empire, he has occupied an absolute advantage and initiative, while the Hauge side is completely on the defensive.

That's why Zilharang, after some careful consideration, finally chose to bet most of his chips on Dolgon.

This is a cruel world where strength and strength take everything, and in this world, fists and strength are the greatest truth, and they are also the only laws in political struggle.

It's just that in his heart, although he has already made a decision, there is always an indescribable sense of foreboding.

That is, Zilharang believes that although this Dorgon has an absolute advantage, he wants to easily and completely eliminate Hauge and eradicate the Hauge Group, but it is not so easy.

Because, Zilharang knows that the political and military struggle is never smooth sailing, without the slightest change and twist and turn, and now, although it seems that Dorgon has the upper hand, Hauge is not absolutely without the power of backhand, nor is it absolutely without the chance of turning defeat into victory.

Because, although Hauge has limited power at home, he has one of the biggest variables, that is, seeking foreign aid.

In addition to the current Qing Empire, there are three powerful forces that are qualified to become opponents of the Qing Empire, one is the Russian Empire of the Mobei Giant Bear, the other is the Ming Dynasty in the south, and the last one is the huge and invisible empire of Li Xiao, the king of Naping Liao.

Jierharang analyzed it in his heart, and finally he decided that among the three major trends, the only one who had the strength to become a strong help for Haoge was Li Xiao, the king of Liao.

Because, the current Russian Empire can't even recapture the city of Yakutsk captured by Li Xiao, but wants to ask the Qing Dynasty for reinforcements, which shows that the strength of the Russian Empire is not enough to expand to the Far East, so when the Qing Dynasty was in civil strife, Russia wanted to participate, but it was also powerless.

The other excluded is the war-torn Ming Dynasty, which is now the Ming Dynasty, only a few months ago in the Songjin War, lost 130,000 Ming troops, lost the vast area from Jinzhou to Songshan, and the elite of the country was almost lost. In the country, the forces of those rogues are in the ascendant, spreading poison everywhere, and the Ming army is already in a hurry to suppress the bandits, where is there still the strength to participate in the civil strife of the Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, the force that has the ability and desire to participate in the civil war of the Qing Dynasty can only be the king of Pingliao, Li Xiao.

Li Xiao, who occupies the whole of Shandong, the whole of the South Seas, and vast areas such as Ezo, Sakhalin, Yakutsk, and Outer Manchuria, and has tens of millions of people, is now under the rule of a vibrant, powerful, and growing empire, like a powerful and invisible empire.

Although Li Xiao is named Ming Chen, now he is like an independent monarch, except for the nominal vassal relationship with the Ming Dynasty, he is completely not controlled by the Ming Dynasty.

In Zilharang's view, the future development prospects of Li Xiao and his rule are far beyond the reach of the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, and even the distant Russian Empire.

And with the support of a strong economic foundation, Li Xiao now, under his hands, there are more than 100,000 Tang troops built by him, and completely obey his orders, this well-equipped, strong, disciplined tiger and wolf army, will definitely be like a tiger descending from the mountain, taking advantage of the opportunity of the Qing Dynasty's civil strife, fiercely pounced on the Qing Empire, and bit a large piece of meat on it.

Although Li Xiao's Tang army had just fought to the death with the Qing army at Vladivostok Fort, and it seemed that the two were inseparable and had become mortal enemies, Zilharang, who had been tested politically for a long time, knew that such a situation could be completely changed with a little diplomatic effort.

This political struggle was originally the dirtiest and dirtiest thing in the world, and in order to win the struggle, Mo said that to unite with the previous enemy, that is, to offer his soul to the devil in exchange for a covenant, Dolgon and Hauge, the two power-hungry guys, will not hesitate to do it. Of course, joining forces with Li Xiao, who was a former enemy, and now Haoge, who is in a relatively weak position and has a more unpredictable future, is of course more likely to do so.

As long as the Tang army participates in this unprecedented large-scale civil war in the Qing Dynasty, then Haoge, who was originally in a relatively weak position, will receive strong support and assistance, so it is still difficult to know who will die in the battle between him and Dolgon.

And what makes Zilharang even more sad is that no matter whether Haoge thinks of asking the Tang Army for help, the Tang Army will definitely participate in the large-scale civil war of the Qing Dynasty in various ways, and will never give up if he does not pull a piece of meat from the Qing Dynasty. In short, Li Xiao's wishful thinking is that he must get as much benefit as possible from the turbulent Qing Empire, and it is best to achieve the effect of taking advantage of your illness and killing you.

And the only thing that Zilharan is not sure about now is whether the current Haug has thought of this move, or whether he only wants to fight Dolgon on his own.

So after Zilharang made the decision to bet most of his chips on Dolgon, he quietly left himself a tail.

That is, although he planned to let all his soldiers and horses and let his generals quietly take them to Liaoyang to fight for Dolgon, he himself, like Prince Dai Shan, continued to stay in Shengjing City, posing as a loyal service to the Qing Dynasty, so as to show Haoge that such a respected political old man was still on his side, and he was still willing to insist on serving the descendants of Huang Taiji. In this way, you can make a two-headed bet and finally put yourself in an invincible position.

In this way, if Dorgon wins in the end, it will naturally be very grateful to his soldiers and horses for their help. And if Haoge wins in the end, he must be grateful to him for being such a virtuous and respected old minister, Prince Zheng of the Qing Dynasty, who can stand firmly on his side, and it is estimated that he will also treat him well.

Thinking of his painstaking arrangement of the way back, Zilharang couldn't help but sigh in his heart, an inexplicable wry smile appeared on his face, and then he slowly shook his head.

He secretly thought in his heart, perhaps, his current self, such a helpless situation, is still very consistent with the current situation of the Qing Empire's left and right branches and uncertain future.

Zilharang sat in the courtyard for more than an hour, and it was nearly noon, and he was about to go home for dinner first, when suddenly one of his men came into the hall in a hurry and reported to him urgently.

"Prince Zheng, it's not good, something big has happened outside the city!" The men, who were running out of breath, walked quickly into the hall and immediately fell to the ground.

"Oh, what's the big deal, you're going to say it quickly?!" Seeing that he was in such a hurry, Zilharang's face suddenly tensed, and then he asked sharply.

"Prince Zheng, at the Wujing camp outside the west gate of Shengjing, a large number of Han soldiers and horses were assembled early this morning, and then they crossed the Hunhe River together and headed west, as if they were leaving the Qing Dynasty!"

"Ahh ……”

Hearing the soldier's report, Zilharang exclaimed, and suddenly frowned.

He knew that at this very moment, these Han troops must also be trying to find a way back, so during this period of time, a large number of Han troops such as Kong Youde's department and Geng Zhongming's department have left the military camp on the outskirts of Shengjing and marched south to Liaoyang, Tokyo to serve Dolgon.

Therefore, for such a thing, Zilharang is naturally like everyone else, turning a blind eye to things. After all, his soldiers and horses with blue flags who were still in Shengjing had been brought to Liaoyang by his generals yesterday. He did it this way himself, and he could blame others.

It's just that the information reported by this subordinate now still really shocked Zilharang.

Okay, these guys, they didn't even choose a side, anyway, taking advantage of the chaos and no one to take care of the Qing Dynasty now, they quietly fled westward to escape from the Qing Realm, but they really took a unique and unique path that was different.

Such an unprecedented and blatant defection is really shocking, and it can also be seen from this that with the absence of the emperor, the high-level magnates are vying for power and profit, making the current Qing Dynasty how chaotic and disorderly.

Moreover, the route chosen by this defecting Han army was extremely clever, they fled from the west, crossed the Hunhe River from Wujingying, and then crossed the Dashengbao, which was the border of the Karaqin Mongols, and if the rebels arrived here, it would be an endless Hetao Plain without any obstruction. Due to the good relations between the Qing Dynasty and the Mongol tribes, there were no decent passes set up on the way west, and there were no defensive border troops to stop them. In other words, there was no other way to take decent measures against this rebel army than to immediately send a large army to pursue and destroy this rebel army.

It seems that among the defected Han army, there are still quite resourceful people, and they are giving them strategies to choose such a clever escape route.

It's just that now I have no soldiers and no power in my hands, so what can I do to stop this Han army from escaping? It can be said that their escape at this time will only be in a state where no one cares about it or cares about it.

With civil strife imminent, the clan fleeing, and the army defecting, isn't this Qing Dynasty really going to embark on the same road of ruin as the Ming Dynasty?

Zilharang slumped back in his chair, his heart was so sad that he seemed to have countless words in his chest that he wanted to shout out loud, but he opened his mouth, but in the end he could not say anything.

Finally, he looked at the confused eyes of his subordinates, waved his hand weakly, said that he understood, and waved him to retreat first.

The biting cold wind blew from outside the lobby, and he sat down on his chair, motionless, like a puppet.