After staying at the 110 base for five days, inspecting many projects and leaving a lot of materials, Li Yongji set off again to continue his inspection trip.

According to the plan, Li Yongji's itinerary after that was quite close, not only to inspect the construction and organization of the army, navy, and air force in various parts of the Yangtze River, but also to inspect the local people's livelihood construction, and to inspect all kinds of projects.

Although the itinerary was tight and the inspection work was tiring, Li Yongji enjoyed it. Not to mention that he will accept all kinds of worship and worship everywhere he goes, and not to say that he can taste local specialties and appreciate the local scenery everywhere, just to see the thriving construction achievements in various places can make him feel a kind of joy from the heart.

A series of tense and busy inspection activities also made Li Yongji understand one thing, that is, why in another time and space, Jin Sanpang of a certain country is obviously so sick, but why he loves to inspect so much, it is really an unusual pleasure in itself, and it will really make people addicted.

Originally, the inspection activities in various places, or the emperor's inspection, would continue until November, but on 15 October, when Li Yongji had just completed his inspection work in Hangzhou and arrived at the Jiaxing Military Port to inspect the local naval construction in detail, he suddenly received an important news from the north.

The news is very simple, that is, the Xianfeng Emperor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty died in Mukden, and the new emperor ascended the throne in the Fengtian Emperor's Palace, and changed the era name to Tongzhi.

This news was accompanied by an envoy sent by the Manchus to Beijing to ask for an audience with Li Yongji, with the aim of negotiating a full peace with their own Chinese Empire.

Speaking of which, for the Manchu Qing who retreated back to the Northeast, Li Yongji was so busy recently that he almost forgot about this stubble, but this time Emperor Xianfeng died, but he reminded Li Yongji. That is, the Manchu Qing Dynasty has not yet perished, Mongolia has still not surrendered, and China has not really been unified.

In the past, the Manchu Qing Dynasty was left because they were afraid of the Russians and wanted to have a buffer, and the territory they annexed was too large and too fast, and they were afraid that they would suffer from indigestion if they continued to fight, and they planned to wait until they finished fighting the Americans and then come back to clean up here.

But now it seems that the Russians have completely relented. His own strength is also unprecedentedly strong, and it is no longer meaningful to continue to keep the Manchus, so now, the Manchu Qing Dynasty, a problem left over from history, has indeed come to be resolved.

In this regard, Li Yongji directly called Zhou Da, commander of the Beijing Military Region, at Jiaxing Port to inquire about the construction of the Beijing Military Region and whether he could independently take the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, rest assured, my First Military Region is only counted as the Praetorian Guard and the National Defense Army. There are more than 300,000 soldiers and horses, plus the local militia and police forces, the total number is more than 500,000, and the strength can be said to be unprecedentedly strong. I'm not even afraid of foreigners, let alone dealing with a Manchu Qing who will only survive in the northeast. ”

"I'm not asking how many people there are in your military district, I'm asking you how prepared you are." Li Yongji said, "If you want to go north to the Manchu Qing now." How sure are you that you will succeed in one fell swoop? How many troops and how many supplies are needed? It's almost winter, are you sure you can win in winter? I'm talking about a victory with minimal losses! ”

"Your Majesty, you're right. It is true that winter is about to enter the winter, and it is said that winter is not conducive to combat, but the preparation of our army is more adequate, and the regular army can ensure that everyone has a cotton coat, and my troops are mostly northerners, and after such a long time here, the ability to withstand cold is also very strong, and if you enter the northeast, it is no problem at all. ”

Speaking of this, Zhou Da continued: "As for how many people, Your Majesty is not my boast, if you want to defeat the Manchu Dynasty, it is enough to dispatch only one division of the Jingwu Army, and at most add some logistics support, counting it, going to 30,000 people can ensure that nothing goes wrong, and going to more people is a complete waste." ”

"It's too wasteful to send out a division of elite troops, they are all automatic weapons, and it is not easy to replenish materials, it is too expensive, and it is not cost-effective." Li Yongji said, "In this way, let the newly formed national defense force attack, send out 100,000 people, half volunteers, half conscripts, so that not only will the cost of the troops be less, but it can also play a role in training." ”

"Okay, yes, but Your Majesty, since you said that you want to train the army, why don't you come to a bigger one, directly send out 300,000 people, together with the Praetorian Guard, so that everyone can have a good time on the battlefield last time, what do you think?"

"Three hundred thousand? Do you know how much it costs to send 300,000 people? ”

"It doesn't matter, as long as you win, money is not a problem, I heard that the palace in Fengtian also has a lot of good things, grab a handful, enough for this army to dispatch." Besides, instead of sending 300,000 people together, I will advance in batches and let them attack in waves.

To put it simply, I will make an attack corps one by one, and the first attack corps will take down a city, station the border on the spot, and let the troops behind continue to attack; The second wave of attack corps will take down another city, continue to station guards, and let the troops behind them fight forward, so that the troops in this wave can not only play the role of training the troops to the maximum, but also fight steadily and steadily, and will definitely not be repeated.

Besides, the Manchu Qing Dynasty is not only to fight the Northeast, Mongolia also has to send troops at the same time, so I want to divide these 300,000 troops into two routes, all the way into the Northeast and all the way into Mongolia, to solve the problem completely.

Even, after conquering the Northeast, if the opportunity is right, we can also find a chance to directly take North Korea, didn't you say that the strategic position of the Korean Peninsula in the future is very important, and it must be completely controlled in our hands? It just so happened that this time we used the excuse that Korea was still a vassal state of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and did not submit to us, and we would have defeated it all at once. ”

"You're thinking beautifully." Li Yongji smiled.

Indeed, after the founding of the Chinese Empire, Korea did not submit to the Chinese Empire in time like the small states of the Indochina Peninsula such as Vietnam, Burma, and Cambodia, but continued to submit to the Manchu Qing as before.

This is not to say that North Korea does not want to, but because North Korea does not have a direct border with the Chinese Empire on land, on the contrary, the Manchu Qing in the northeast directly borders North Korea.

Although the Manchu Qing Dynasty lost a large area of land and even lost the legal system that ruled China, because of the fast running at the beginning, it still retained a large number of living forces, not to mention other soldiers and horses, such as the Eight Banners Green Battalion, and there were still 300,000 troops on the surface.

Although these 300,000 troops are actually weak and have low combat effectiveness. But that depends on who you compare yourself to. Compared with the army of the Chinese Empire, it is indeed weak, but if you face the Korean army like noodles, the Qing army is still relatively strong.

Moreover, because of the loss of a large part of China's territory, the Manchu Qing in the northeast, in order to feed the army and at the same time to boost the morale of the people, like their ancestors in history, have recently sent troops to bully Korea, but they have also won many victories. Let North Korea dare to be angry and dare not speak.

In fact, although Korea did not openly submit to the Chinese Empire, it had already sent a secret envoy to Nanjing, hoping that it would send troops to attack the Manchus as soon as possible, but it had not agreed to come down because of various concerns.

Now, it is true that this excuse can be used to directly take down North Korea.

It was the middle of the nineteenth century, the colonial era of the great powers, and nationalism had not yet fully awakened. It is the time for the final partition of the territory, and if this time is missed, it will be extremely difficult to occupy Korea after nationalism has spread widely in the world.

Opposite. If you take Korea at this time, first build something similar to an autonomous region, and then slowly assimilate, then rely on the power of Chinese civilization. In a few decades, Korea will truly become an inalienable territory of the Chinese Empire, and its future strategic advantages will be much greater.

The same thing. In fact, Japan can also forcibly annex during this period, but to fight Japan is not like fighting North Korea, it needs to go all out, at least until it intervenes in the United States, which cannot be done.

"If you still want to fight North Korea, those 300,000 people are really not many." Li Yongji thought for a while, "In this way, you don't have to divide the army into two ways, just put all the 300,000 people in waves to the northeast, and then fight steadily, and after conquering the northeast, you will take advantage of the situation to attack Korea, and then I will let the navy cooperate with you, and be sure to take the Manchu Qing and North Korea for me together." ”

"Thank you." Zhou Da was overjoyed, "However, if I don't go to the Northeast if I'm wrong, what will happen to Mongolia?" Those barbarians still wear the same pants as the Manchus. ”

"Don't worry, I'll let others fight Mongolia." Li Yongji smiled, "You're going to fight the Manchus and North Korea, you can't eat all the meat alone, you have to give others a little soup to drink." ”

"That's right." Zhou Da nodded, "I don't know who His Majesty plans to let go to Mongolia?" ”

"What do you think of Wang Sanwu?"

"This, Commander Wang went to Mongolia, naturally there is no problem, I'm afraid it's a little overkill." Zhou Dadao, "Commander Wang's troops are also very powerful, let him go to fight small Mongolia, some of them use cattle knives to kill chickens, right?" ”

"Don't underestimate Mongolia." Li Yongji said, "Although the Mongolian army is not as good as the Manchu Qing, their cavalry is still quite powerful, and the overall combat power is much stronger than that of the Manchu Qing. ”

"Completely cleared? If Wei Chen guessed correctly, did you mean that all the Mongol princes who controlled the various ministries should be killed? Don't be gentle? ”

"Yes." Li Yongji said lightly, "The Mongols are ignorant and ignorant, and have always only obeyed the strong, as long as we are ruthless and fierce enough, kill all their upper-class intellectuals and princes and nobles, or kill most of them, and then forcibly promote our culture to their next generation, let them learn Chinese, write Chinese characters, wear our clothes, plus transportation facilities such as railways and highways, it won't be long before Mongolia will truly become an internal province of ours."

At that time, except for the title of Mongolian, the Mongolians will be exactly the same as our Han people in other aspects, and they will no longer have much real meaning, and at that time, it will be truly once and for all. ”

"Your Majesty is far-sighted, and Weichen is not as good." Zhou Dadao, "But Your Majesty, Mongolia is very poor, if it directly becomes a directly governed province, will it be too burdensome for us?" After all, many of the policies implemented by the provinces directly under the central government are too generous, and the prosperous areas are fine, the taxes are relatively high, and they can be balanced, but the poor place in Mongolia can't squeeze much oil and water, on the contrary, we still have to invest at that time, and some of the gains outweigh the losses. ”

"You know what, Mongolia is full of treasures." Li Yongji said, "Not to mention the rich minerals in Mongolia, Mongolia itself, everywhere is the steppe, there are many high-quality pastures, you can develop animal husbandry, what beef and mutton, milk and the like." It's all over there.

In fact, the main problem in Mongolia is that the transportation is not good, as long as the railway is built, it is not a problem. ”

"I see, Your Majesty." Zhou Dadao, "So, do you need to deal with the Mongols and the Manchus and Koreans?" Kill their princes, nobles, and scholars too? ”

"Well, if you can, of course." Li Yongji smiled. "You can do this, after entering the Northeast, it is naturally easy to say that if the other party surrenders early, for the sake of influence, you can accept their surrender first.

However, afterwards, you can put some charges on those Manchu princes and nobles and scholars, and it is better to get some physical evidence, just say that they want to plot a rebellion. conspiracy and rebellion, etc., and then in the name of searching for the rebellious party, large-scale arrests, especially those who understand Manchu. It can't be let go. ”

"Yes, I promise to wipe them all out!"

"It's okay to raid the house, just wipe out the clan." Li Yongji said, "It's also labor." It's too wasteful to simply kill, and it's too inhumane to keep killing. Bad reputation. Then, when the time comes, you will send all those men, women, and children to prison, all men over the age of thirteen to be sent to mining, women to the Department of Education, and all boys under the age of thirteen to Los Angeles prisons in the Americas, where they will be reformed and re-educated through labor. ”

"Wonderful, wonderful, really wonderful." Zhou Da said excitedly, "If we don't kill them, we can show our generosity and kindness, but if we mine in prison, it is better to live than to die, at least one or two years, at most seven or eight years, we will all die of illness and exhaustion, and when people die, we will not have a moral burden." As for those children, sending them to overseas colonies is also the best way, the distance is far away, and it is estimated that they will not be able to go back in this life, and after a long time, they will forget everything. ”

"Anyway, it's a little smarter." Li Yongji said, "It doesn't have to be a rebellion, it can also be something else."

In short, try to kill as few people as possible, arrest more people, and quickly pronounce the sentence when people are arrested, and after the sentence is announced, we must try to divide the detentions as much as possible, and don't all serve their sentences together, otherwise, they will die on a large scale in one place, and the fool will also see that there is a problem.

In fact, it is not necessary for them to die in prison in the short term, but it can also be appropriately long-term, such as three or five years, or even ten years later. ”

"I understand, Your Majesty." Zhou Dadao, "These people are valuable laborers, and if you don't squeeze them out of the last value as livestock, it's too cheap to die." In addition, let them serve their sentences, they will not be put too much pressure all at once, let them not think about anything other than work all day long, and then, they can't all die of exhaustion and illness in a short period of time, they should try to separate the time period and engage in a natural death. ”

"I was right." Li Yongji smiled, "It's a pity, you are now the commander of the military region, and you no longer care about the detention of prisoners, so you don't need to worry about how to manipulate these prisoners, there are professionals to do it, you only need a lot of clever names and a large number of arrests." ”

"Yes, I know."

"Well, calling you is just to get you ready early." Li Yongji said, "At most, I can communicate with you in advance, the official order to send troops, I will ask the State Council to first issue an announcement to declare war on the Manchus, and then let the General Staff give you an order to send troops, you must receive a formal order from the General Staff to send troops before you can lead troops to war, you can't just mess around with me when I say that, understand?" ”

"I understand, this is a national war, and we must pay attention to the right name."

"That's right, that's it, rightly so." Li Yongji said, "We are now Chinese orthodoxy, and we must pay attention to uprightness in war, pay attention to the impact, and there is no need to continue to play sneak attacks." Okay, that's it, you go down and prepare, pay attention to confidentiality, and don't leak the news in advance. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, I will gather troops in the name of the exercise and ensure that the news will not leak in advance."

"It's good to know."

After finishing the call with Zhou Da, Li Yongji called Wang Sanwu again and told him what he meant.

Sure enough, as Li Yongji expected, as soon as he heard that there was a war, even if it was not against the Manchu nest in the Northeast, but only against Mongolia, Wang Sanwu was also extremely excited, and he made a strong guarantee, for fear that Li Yongji would change his mind.

"Don't be in a hurry to make a statement." Li Yongji said, "Don't look at you as just a partial teacher, but Mongolia is actually more difficult to fight than the Northeast." Because Mongolia is not like the Northeast, there are a large number of mature cities, mature roads, and a large population, which can be supplied on the spot, and there are mostly vast steppes and large forests. The land is vast and sparsely populated, and it is not easy to obtain supplies, so you have to rely on yourself for everything, and you must be more fully prepared before you can make the trip.

Moreover, the Mongols fought mainly with cavalry, with strong mobility, and they could not run, and if they wanted to completely defeat the Mongols, they could only use cavalry with equally strong mobility.

So. The key to the war against Mongolia is intelligence, logistics, and mobility, all of which are indispensable. Because of this, the army entering Mongolia will not be the same as the army entering the northeast, you can enter with 300,000 troops, and you can only bring 20,000 or 30,000 cavalry at most, otherwise the logistical pressure will be too great.

In addition, the terrain of Mongolia is complex, and attention must be paid to winning over the local middle and lower classes. Pay attention to political propaganda, win over a group, suppress a group, and try to splash dirty water on those Mongolian princes and nobles. Win the hearts and minds of the local middle- and lower-class Mongolian herders and collect reliable guides, not only respecting their customs, but also being willing to spend money. We must make the vast number of illiterate herdsmen accept us and feel that we are for their good, but it is the tribal princes and nobles who are the great bad. Got it? ”

"Oh, what does His Majesty mean is that this time to attack Mongolia, is to attack the heart for the top, and attack the city for the bottom?"

"That's pretty much it." Li Yongji said, "Mongolia is vast and sparsely populated, and transportation is inconvenient, so it is best to hold a public trial meeting after taking down a place, and incite the local poor herdsmen to criticize and fight against those Mongolian princes and nobles, and it is best for those herdsmen to kill those nobles with their own hands." ”

"Oh, just to get them to vote?"

"That's right, vote for the name, but the method should be ingenious, don't say the name or anything, just say liberation, that's right, we want to liberate them, we have to choose some bitter and bitter ones, let them do it themselves, we just help on the side." Li Yongji said, "After doing this, we must recruit a group of poor herdsmen to serve as soldiers on the spot, give them weapons, and pay them salaries, and give some preferential measures to the families of these Mongolian conscripts. ”

"So I don't really have much to fight?" Wang Sanwu said depressedly, "Listening to the meaning of His Majesty, it seems that the main reason I went to Mongolia was to deter, and then provoke the local poor to kill the nobles?" ”

"Well, that's what it means." Li Yongji said, "When you go to Mongolia this time, I guess there are really not many tough battles to fight, because no one can beat you in a frontal battle." As for killing the nobles, yes, we want to kill the nobles, but our main purpose is to kill the old nobles and create new ones. In other words, those who listen to us and whose hearts are toward us, we will give them benefits and support them to become new masters, and those who are disobedient will either be killed or arrested as slaves and sent to mining and road repairs, understand? ”

"But if that's the case, you don't think you need me, right? Just send a division commander over. ”

"Why don't you understand?" Li Yongji said, "Your identity is there, and you went to Mongolia in person, which shows that you value them." And you go to Mongolia not only to do this, but also to help stabilize the place, not only to fight the whole of Mongolia for me, but also to stabilize all of it, at least to garrison troops in the area of Baotou Town for a long time, and then to receive Han immigrants in the local area, and build a new city, understand? ”

"Long-term garrison in Baotou Town? Receiving Han immigrants and building a new city? Wang Sanwu was stunned, and finally understood what Li Yongji meant.

"Your Majesty, do you want me to be in charge of immigration to Mongolia there?"

"Yes." Li Yongji said, "Mongolia is now full of Mongol territory, but there are too few Mongols, don't you think it's too wasteful for them to occupy such a large area of abundant water and grass?" Therefore, we need to move the Han people from the Central Plains to the Central Plains, build roads and cities in the local area, and open up new pastures. In this way, not only can Greater Mongolia be developed, but also the people near the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River can be relocated, and some of the harm caused by the flooding of the Yellow River to the people can be reduced. ”

Speaking of this, Li Yongji sighed: "Let's be honest, I have now mastered the whole country, and the flooding of the Yellow River cannot be ignored, but the control of the Yellow River is not a day or two of effort, and it consumes a lot, so I plan to take the unusual road, first move the people nearby, reduce the number of people on both sides of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, and then plant trees and grasses extensively on the Loess Plateau, so that the damage can be smaller."

But the number of people near the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River is huge, where will they migrate? Come to think of it, Mongolia and the Northeast are the best places. ”

"Oh, Your Majesty, are you planning to move the Han people to Mongolia and the Northeast? Just for the flooding of the Yellow River? ”

"It's not just about the Yellow River." Li Yongji smiled, "The key is to dilute the ethnic group and give full play to the racial characteristics of our Han nationality." ”

"What are the ethnic characteristics of the Han Chinese?"

"It's the ability to assimilate. We Han people can't do anything else, but the assimilation ability is first-class, and the Han people are naturally an agricultural people, as long as there is land, as long as it is occupied by the Han people, then this land is Han people. When the time comes, I will issue a homestead law, and at the same time, I will implement a series of preferential policies that are conducive to Han Chinese immigration, so as to ensure that immigrants can arrive in these places smoothly and live safely.

When the time comes, I will issue a homestead law, and at the same time, I will also implement a series of preferential policies that are conducive to Han immigrants to ensure that immigrants can arrive in these places smoothly and live safely.

If you think about it, once Mongolia and the Northeast are full of Han people, and the Han people occupy an absolutely dominant position, these places will naturally become Han people, right? (To be continued......)