The meeting in the audience hall of Fort Maria lasted until the evening of the same day. Clementina gushed about Zuo Zongtang, Zheng Hong and Liu Jiong a lesson in European politics. From the intricacies of marriage between European royal families, to the Napoleonic Wars, the Vienna System, the European Revolution that ended not long ago, and, of course, the European gendarme status of the Russian Empire after the European Revolution.

When Zuo Zongtang and others heard that Russia was actually the hegemon of the European continent, they all stared at each other - they didn't expect this Russia to be such a powerful country in Europe! Russia doesn't seem to be very strong in the East, maybe because it's too far away, right? It is indeed not a good thing to fight an endless bad war with such a power.

After listening to Maria's introduction, there was silence in the audience hall for a long time before Zuo Zongtang suddenly asked: "Isn't the emperor going to give up Mongolia and show weakness to the Russians?" ”

Zhu Jishi couldn't help laughing: "It's okay to show weakness to the Russians, but it's absolutely impossible to give up the Khalkha Mongols." ”

Hearing this statement, Zuo Zongtang breathed a sigh of relief, and then said: "Please ask the emperor to make the Mongolian strategy clear." ”

Zhu Jishi stood up, paced with his hands behind his back, and said, "Of course, Mongolia wants to recover, but it is not appropriate to use the method of thunderstorm...... If the army is driven straight in, Yi Xin will flee to Siberia, and the Russians will instruct Yi Xin to enter the territory of the invaders for many years and disturb my peace. If I want to destroy Yixin, I will inevitably go to war with the Russians, then China, Britain and France will be under the arms of these two countries, and these two countries will fan the flames from the side, and if the Russians are weak, they will help Russia, and if the Russians are strong, they will help me. This is a curse that will not work in my favor. My idea is still to take it step by step and attack the heart. ”

The so-called step by step. It is to constantly build castles in the territory of Khalkha Mongolia as a stronghold. Step by step, it is advancing north and west. Effective control over the whole of Khalkha Mongolia. And attacking the heart is the first, which is naturally to win the hearts of people. Zhu Jishi co-opted the Yellow Sect and married the Khalkha Mongol Four Khans.

Zuo Zongtang seemed to agree with Zhu Jishi's "eight-character policy" very much, and nodded again and again, with the strength of the Ming Dynasty now, it is not difficult to recover Mongolia with a thunderous momentum. The difficult thing is to govern Mongolia, to integrate Mongolia into the Ming Dynasty and become a part of the Ming Dynasty forever.

In fact. The Manchu Qing Dynasty's policy of "marrying and building temples" in Mongolia was very successful, and Zhu Jishi is now copying it. It's a pity that it was stirred up by Yi Xin, if the county lords of the Khalkha Mongolian Four Khans all entered Emperor Zhu's harem, and Jebu Zundamba also arrived in Yingtianfu, Yi Xin really could only go to Siberia for exile with his tail between his legs.

Zhu Jishi smiled slightly, and said: "It's okay, Yixin's Eight Banners disciples are not very reliable in doing things, so that Tushetu Khan's daughter Oyuntana ran out, and I have already ordered Peng Yulin to personally escort her to Yingtianfu." In the near future, I will be able to include her in the harem, and then I will have a bond with Mobei Mongolia. Other than that. I also plan to follow the example of the Manchu puppet emperor and go north to Chengde. also engaged in a Mulan Autumn Ceremony, and the Khan of the Mongolian tribes was assembled. I heard that the Manchu emperors were all titled Mongol Great Khan, and I also planned to get one or the other. ”

In history, since the beginning of Huang Taiji, the Manchu Emperor has nominally served as the Great Khan of Mongolia, Huang Taiji is called Bogda Chechen Khan, Shunzhi Emperor is called Eyer Zasak Khan, Kangxi Emperor is called Enhe Amgulang Khan, Yongzheng Emperor is Nailal Tutob Khan, Qianlong is Tengger Gugeqi Khan, Jiaqing Emperor is Saishyar Tuilugartu Khan, and even Daoguang Emperor has the honorific title of Tolgrad Khan. So Zhu Jishi also plans to make some sweat for himself. In fact, Siberia was originally the territory of the Buryat Mongols and the Oirat Mongols, who shared a common religion and language with the Khalkha Mongols and the Chahar Mongols (Monan Mongols), and their living customs were relatively similar. If Zhu Jishi is supported by the Khalkha Mongols and the Chahar Mongols to become the Great Khan of the Mongols, and then controls the Yellow Religion in Tibet, the Ming Dynasty will have a leading party to seize Siberia in the future.

Zhu Jishi paused for a moment before continuing: "If I want to get the support of the Mongol princes in the north of the desert and become the Great Khan of the Mongols, then I can't use the power of thunder to drive Yi Xin away, but let Yi Xin stay in Kulun temporarily, and at the same time seize the entire northeast south of Heilongjiang. In this way, Yixin's hundreds of thousands of Eight Banners children can only eat Khalkha Mongolians, how many Khalkha Mongolians are there? How can you afford to feed hundreds of thousands of people in Yixin? The Mongols are not an agrarian people, but nomadic herders. If the Khalkha Mongols can't survive, they will definitely move south in large numbers, and I can let them stay in the Horqin steppe, and then transfer food from the northeast to help them. In this way, the Khalkha Mongol tribes will definitely support me as the Great Khan, and hope that I will help them recover their homeland and expel the Manchurians, which is my method of attacking the heart. ”

Saying that, he looked at Zuo Zongtang with a heavy gaze and said: "I originally wanted Zeng Guofan to come to collect Mongolia, and taking Mongolia is seven points political and three points military. But now, Zeng Guofan has fallen to Kulun, and his life and death are uncertain. This man who received the Mongols...... Do you have any suggestions? ”

Zuo Zongtang and Zheng Hong glanced at each other, Zhu Jishi's idea was very good, imitating the Manchu Qing method to control Mongolia, but it took more than a hundred years for the Manchus to subdue Mongolia. The war with the Jungar Khanate alone has been fought for hundreds of years, and how easy is it for Zhu Jishi to achieve the great things that the Manchu Qing Dynasty has been successful for more than 100 years in two or three years?

Zuo Zongtang said tentatively: "What if the emperor can't subdue the hearts of the Mongols? ”

Zhu Jishi smiled coldly: "Those who follow me prosper, and those who oppose me die!" ”

Zuo Zongtang nodded, you have to have such determination to deal with the Mongols, otherwise it will be difficult to achieve results by blindly using benevolence. He was pondering who would be the ideal candidate to pacify the Mongols. Outside the door, Weng Tongyi's report sounded.

"Your Majesty, the telegram of Shanxi Governor Miao Peilin forwarded by Baoding Mansion."

"Miao Peilin? What does he want to do? ”

"He asked the emperor for war and wanted to send troops to pacify Mongolia." Weng Tonggong said, "In addition, Miao Peilin also reported that there are a large number of illegal gentry and businessmen in Shanxi who colluded with the remnants of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and plotted against them, and they are now being arrested and confiscated." ”

"Miao Peilin?" Zhu Jishi laughed, "Zuo Xiang, Zheng Xiang, do you think this person is available?" ”

Zuo Zongtang shook his head: "In the end, it is not as ideal as Zeng Guofan, and the minister thinks that it is best for the emperor to drive the expedition in person, sit in Beijing, and unify the command of the two armies in the southeast to attack Mongolia." ”

……

In the city of Taiyuan, there is already an atmosphere of rectification at this moment.

While Miao Peilin sent a telegram to Ying Tian to ask for war, he also issued martial law in the name of searching for traitors. The streets of prosperous Taiyuan are full of slaughter. There was not a single idler on the street, only the officers and soldiers of the Miao family carrying guns patrolled by. In front of almost all Jin merchant firms, there are soldiers of the Miao army standing guard. Business can't be done, but none of the shopkeepers can leave, and they have to be inspected! The mansions belonging to the Jin merchants and Shanxi gentry inside and outside Taiyuan were also mostly guarded by the Miao army. A list of arrests and fines has been drawn up, some of whom are to be arrested, some of whom are to be fined, and outside the West Gate, there are more than 100 headless corpses, all of whom are unscrupulous profiteers who smuggle military supplies to Outer Mongolia. There are also many proprietors and gentry of Shanxi merchants who were dragged to watch the execution, looking at those corpses, they all had a chill down their spines, shrunk their necks, and regret in their hearts except fear.

More troops were transferred from the barracks in Taiyuan City, and after assembling, they set off urgently and headed for Taigu, Pingyao, Shouyang, Wutai, Qixian and other places where the gentry in Shanxi were more powerful. The sound of mobilization and assembly sounded briefly, and then these fierce and greedy foreign troops in the eyes of the people of Taiyuan drove out one after another.

Although Miao Peilin is the governor and governor of Shanxi, he has the military and political power. However, his forces were limited and could not occupy the whole province of Shanxi. It is only focused on strategic places such as Taiyuan, Datong, Linfen, Shangdang, and Xinzhou. For the areas where the Jin merchants and Jin gentry were powerful, only county officials were dispatched, and there were no garrisons. Moreover, the gentry in these areas have organized large-scale regimental training and armament, and they do not use force, so I am afraid that it will be difficult to arrest the lawless gentry and businessmen there. (To be continued......)