"Your Majesty, Minister Ali proposed a plan for us to make peace with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom...... Our banner people returned to their hometowns outside the gates, and Manchuria and Mongolia are ours. In the future, they will not invade each other with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and each will cultivate virtue and politics. The minions thought that this was an opportunity to win a respite for the Qing Dynasty. ”

Mu Zhang'a stole a glance at Emperor Daoguang as he replied. To be honest, he was very interested in Ali Guo's suggestion - this was the only way for the hundreds of thousands of defenders, civilians and officials in Beijing to survive! He Mu Zhang'a didn't want to be martyred in the Qing Dynasty like this!

"Flag Man...... Retreat to the outside of the border? Emperor Daoguang was suddenly a little excited, and his voice also raised: "Mu Zhang'a! What do you think I'm doing in Beijing? It's not about buying time for our flag people to retreat outside the gate! Do you think that hundreds of thousands of people will leave when they say they will leave, and if they say that they will settle down outside the customs, they will settle down outside the customs? If it weren't for guarding this Beijing city and attracting the attention of the Cantonese bandits, do you think they wouldn't have chased them all the way out? At that time, the bones and blood of our banner people will be thrown away from the gate! ”

The so-called banner people refer to the Eight Banners of Manchuria, the Eight Banners of Mongolia, the Eight Banners of the Han Army, and the Baoyi Minions. According to Daoguang's 27-year household registration file, there were more than 1.6 million banner people in the Qing Dynasty. Among them, there are about 500,000 in Beijing, about 300,000 in the Gyeonggi region (except for Beijing, including the Eight Banners of Mongolia in Chahar and Rehe), less than 400,000 under the three generals Shengjing, Heilongjiang, and Jilin outside the Guan, and 400,000 in other parts of the country. But up to now, there is probably no one who knows how many banner people there are in China. Emperor Daoguang could only roughly estimate the situation outside the Guan, and there were about 700,000. Among them, there are no more than 70,000 young and strong men, and more than 600,000 old and weak women and children. accounted for the vast majority.

Other than that. There are also about 300,000 to 500,000 Han Chinese who have left the customs from the Gyeonggi area. At present, the total population outside the border is between 1 million and 1.2 million...... However, most of the fertile soil outside the customs has not been cultivated. After all, there were only 400,000 people there, but now it has suddenly tripled, and this is a big problem. Originally, Lin Zexu was expected to send millions of stone grain from Jiangnan to Manchuria to meet the needs of those exiled people for a few years. But now, this plan has completely failed, and the rations of more than one million people outside the border have become a problem.

Besides, the Cantonese bandits have already hit the outer city of Beijing. How can you be willing to indulge in the tiger's troubles? If you still allow the flag people to go out of the customs to recuperate, you are not afraid that they will fight back for revenge in the future?

"Your Majesty, in fact, the Cantonese bandits are now in a dilemma, their more than one million people have gathered around Beijing, they can't attack for a long time, and there is a shortage of military food......"

"Nonsense, how can they have a shortage of military rations? This year should be a good year for Naoli, right? "Emperor Daoguang has always cared about agricultural affairs, and he knows the agricultural production in the Zhili area well, but he doesn't remember which county in Zhili reported a famine in the 28th year of Daoguang.

"Your Majesty...... The Yellow River burst in October (lunar calendar), and the three provinces of Zhilu and Henan were flooded...... "Mu Zhang'a Tutu Tu Tu Tunnel."

"Break in October?" Emperor Daoguang's brows furrowed. "How is it possible, October is not the flood season."

"This ...... This one was dug up. Excavated by Cantonese bandits! ”

"Drowned Kaifeng?" Emperor Daoguang looked at Mu Zhang'a with burning eyes, and suddenly said, "My Eight Banners New Army...... Is it that my Eight Banners New Army has been flooded? Mu Zhang'a, has there been any news that the Ali Kingdom has brought to Sanglingqin? What happened to his 250,000 army? ”

"Monk...... Monk Greenqin was defeated and fought a decisive battle with the Cantonese bandits in Huaxian County, Henan, 150,000 against 500,000! There were too many Cantonese bandits, and the subordinates under the command of Seng Lingqin fought hard with them for three days and three nights, and finally they were outnumbered and defeated. Now he led the rest of the more than 30,000 people to retreat to Kaifeng City, and there are about 40,000 people in Henan and Shanxi Green Camp in Kaifeng City. Shandong also has about 60,000 Hunan troops and Lu troops, and Lin Zexu also took 50,000 Liangjiang training troops to the north, and now he may have arrived in Shandong......"

Mu Zhang'a told Daoguang the news that he had wholesaled from Aliguo, of course, he didn't tell the truth, but he couldn't tell Emperor Daoguang that Monk Greenqin's 150,000 army was defeated by 70,000 Cantonese bandits, which would hurt Emperor Daoguang's self-esteem too much.

Emperor Daoguang broke his fingers in his heart at this time, 30,000 + 40,000 + 60,000 + 50,000 = 180,000! There were still 70,000 capable of fighting in the city, that is, the Manchus still had at least 250,000 troops around Beijing. There's still a chance!

Thinking of this, Emperor Daoguang stood up suddenly, stepped down from the throne and stomped in the Heart Cultivation Palace: "Okay, there are still 250,000 troops!" There is still a chance...... Passed on the decree, Lin Zexu was the governor of Zhili and the minister of foreign affairs, controlled the military affairs of the five provinces of Zhili, Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi, and commanded the troops to suppress the bandits in Guangdong and relieve the siege of Beijing! ”

Still dreaming! Looking at the excited Daoguang Emperor, Mu Zhang'a and Nerjing smiled bitterly at the same time. The Manchu Qing had 250,000 troops in Zhilu, Yu and Jingshi, but how many bandits were there? At least 1.25 million! Moreover, Seng Lingqin's 150,000 Eight Banners New Army defeated 70,000 Cantonese bandits, and you let Lin Zexu command 180,000 people to come north to relieve the siege of Beijing? Does he dare to come?

……

Temple of Heaven, the camp of Yang Xiuqing, the king of the East.

"Lord Aliguo, please go to the inner city again, and tell Mu Zhang'a and Nar Jing's forehead, just say that our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is determined to restore the eighteen provinces of the Han people, and has no intention of exterminating the Manchurians. Even if they are willing to agree to leave the customs before the heavenly soldiers break through the Forbidden City, we will not do any harm, and allow them to go out of the customs on their own, and they can go to Manchuria and Mongolia if they want. In the future, the Great Wall will return to the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Qing Dynasty will be outside the Great Wall, and everyone will not invade each other. ”

It was Yang Xiuqing who spoke, and these days, the Taiping Army was fighting very hard in Beijing. The bannermen trapped in the city had no way to retreat at all, so they had to fight. Not only did the young and strong go to the battlefield, but even the old and weak women and children also went to the city to defend themselves. Therefore, the losses of the Taiping army were not small, so Yang Xiuqing came up with such a method - to use the Ali Kingdom, which was enthusiastic about splitting China, to fool Daoguang and the bannermen who defended the city and the Qing soldiers, saying that they could be released from the customs, and the Taiping army was not interested in the land beyond the Great Wall.

This statement is, of course, deceitful. He is Yang Xiuqing, the king of the East, but not the loyal king Li Xiucheng in history. It won't be like Li Xiucheng who will let the flag people in Hangzhou live in the city! In the future, Li Xiucheng fell into the hands of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, how could he have a way to live? Since the Manchu Qing Dynasty wanted to exterminate the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, how could Yang Xiuqing be soft?

But when it's time to fool people, Yang Xiuqing never blushes. He asked Ali Guo to go around the inner city of Beijing for so-called mediation, but he didn't expect Emperor Daoguang to be fooled. What he really wanted to deceive was the hundreds of thousands of defenders and officials in the inner city of Beijing.

In addition, as long as the defenders, civilians, and officials in the inner city of Beijing are willing to lay down their arms and surrender, the Kingdom of Heaven will guarantee that they will not harm them. Those who are willing to go outside the border will be paid by the kingdom of heaven. Those who are willing to stay in the gate and serve as a citizen will be given land by the kingdom of heaven. Those who are willing to go out of the kingdom of heaven, this king will also use it. ”

Ah Liguo did not know about the deception, and nodded enthusiastically: "Your Majesty, I promise to bring your words to the Manchu officials in Beijing. After speaking, he stood up, bowed to Yang Xiuqing, and turned around and walked out of the hall.

As soon as Ali Guo left, Li Xiucheng came in from outside and kowtowed to Yang Xiuqing: "King Dong, that Wu Shilang of Nanming is quite talkative, and he is even willing to buy the bones of the Qing Demon." It seems that this time I can get millions of stone food! ”

"Bones?" Yang Xiuqing touched his beard, as if he understood something, and said with a smile, "Probably to whip the corpse, right?" When we kill Daoguang, we can send the body to Zhu Jishi. You don't need money for this, it's better to add to it. ”

As soon as the joke came out, everyone in the hall laughed. Yang Xiuqing said to Li Xiucheng again: "The newly attached Right 10th, Right 11th, and Right 12th Army will be handed over to you, and we will dig the tomb of the Qing Demon together." Then go and tell Wu Chunqiu and ask him to write a letter to Zhu Jishi quickly, asking him to transport the rice and grain to Tianjin, and then trade in Tianjin. ”

"Subordinates obey." Li Xiucheng kowtowed, and just wanted to turn around and leave, but was stopped by Yang Xiuqing again: "By the way, you sent someone to report two days ago, saying that your people caught a lot of Qing demons during the battle in the outer city, and there is a deputy called Gua...... Long-lived? ”

"It's called Guerja. Longevity. ”

Yang Xiuqing nodded: "Escort them to me." (To be continued......)