From the beginning of the Northern Expedition in October of the 22nd year of Chongzhen to the first half of the 23rd year of Chongzhen.

This is basically the situation of the Northern Expedition of the Guards and other armies of the Ming Dynasty.

After the second half of the 23rd year of Chongzhen, it will be a stage in which the entire Northern Expedition is politically completed.

During the period from October of the 22nd year of Chongzhen to the first half of the 23rd year of Chongzhen, it was naturally impossible for the Manchus to sit and wait for death without doing anything.

After all, at this time, the Manchu Qing was still a rising political force, and its ruling group was not completely corrupted, and even most of them were still aggressive.

Although Shunzhi was still only eleven or twelve years old at this time, Bumu Butai, Dolgon, Zilharang and others naturally would not just watch their Qing Dynasty return to the bitter cold land outside the Guanguan or even be destroyed.

Since the Manchu court knew the time of the Northern Expedition of the Ming Dynasty, it has been stepping up preparations, and it has been preparing with both hands.

On the one hand, Zilharang, who was actually in charge of the government, was actively concentrating his forces to defend the key passes, and on the other hand, he was also beginning to prepare for a safe retreat to the Guanwai Road.

Even though Zilharang had transferred Hauge, who might threaten the imperial power and affect internal stability, to the northwest, he took the initiative to ask the regent Dolgon to take charge of preparing for the withdrawal of the Guanwai.

In the face of the strong enemy of the Ming Dynasty, Dolgon was not pretentious, and readily agreed to Jierharang, and actively prepared to quickly transport the wealth accumulated by the Qing Dynasty in the Guannai over the years out of the Guanwai when there might be a chance for his Qing Dynasty to lose the opportunity to occupy the Guannei, so as to prepare for his comeback.

"There are Zhou Ze and Haoge in the northwest, and the west of Tongguan can be safe, and Shanhaiguan now sends Zu Dashou must be more secure, after all, Zu Dashou has a deep foundation in the Guanning area, and now as long as the Tiger Pass and Baoding are guarded, I may still have a glimmer of life in the Qing Dynasty."

This was what Dolgon promised Shunzhi and Zilharang and others at the time.

But what Dolgon didn't expect was that Zhou would send troops to Sichuan without the consent of his own Qing court.

"This week is really angry with Lonely, Lone has been letting him accumulate strength in Hanzhong, who let him attack Sichuan! Could it be that he really thought that Lone wanted the Qing Dynasty to cut off the alleged king in Sichuan, did he know that doing so was tantamount to letting Zhang Xianzhong's army follow the Ming Dynasty! ”

Dolgon was very angry with Zhou, and he suddenly remembered that Zhou was a servant of the king of Doro, Luckdhun, so he sent someone to summon Luckdhun to him.

"What, Luckedhun hasn't been back since he went hunting in abundance?"

Dolgon's first suspicion of Zhou Ze was when he learned that Luckedhun was missing.

"Find it now! In addition, go to the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, Zhou Ze, to search and search! Dorgon commanded.

"Lord Qiqi, the minions broke into Zhou Zhitai's mansion and found that there was no one in their house, and there were still a few family members in the past, but now they are gone, and even the stove is full of dust."

When the people under him replied to Dolgon, Dolgon sat down with a heavy face, and said nothing, and waited for a long time before suddenly roaring:

"Why are you still stunned! Go and find it, search for the Duluo County King Luck Dehun and Zhou Ze's family for the whole city, be fast! ”

After Dolgon finished speaking, he threw a vase directly on the ground, as if the beads in his hand were about to be crushed by him.

"Prepare the horse immediately, and the official will immediately see the auxiliary king Zilharang!"

Dolgon immediately informed Zilharang of the disappearance of the king of Doro, Luckedhun, and Zhou Ze's family.

After hearing this, Zilharang couldn't help but be surprised: "Now what Gu is most worried about is whether Luckedhun and Zhou Ze will vote for Daming, according to the regent, what should we do?" ”

"This is also the sin of the foolish brother, these two people are my people, but I didn't expect this situation to suddenly appear, according to the foolish brother, now I can only lock up the family of Na Lek Dehun and interrogate him strictly, maybe he can ask something?"

As soon as Dorgon said this, Zilharan nodded: "What the regent said is very true, since this is the case, it is up to you to handle this matter, and immediately lock up the family of Narakdehun and interrogate them strictly!" ”

As a result, Dolgon immediately arrested Lekdehun's family, but after the torture, no one gave any useful information, only that Zhou Ze's people had sent a letter, which made Lekdehun suddenly decide to go hunting in Fengrun.

Dolgon began to suspect Zhou Ze of this, thinking that Zhou Ze might not be as simple as he thought.

Therefore, Dolgon once again sent people to strictly raid Zhou Ze's mansion.

Even Dolgon sent people all over the city to inquire about Zhou Ze.

Dolgon knew that the assassin who had assassinated Feng Quan, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty's Inner Court, had actually appeared in Zhou Ze's mansion, and was nominally a brother to one of Zhou Ze's old servants.

As a result, Dorgon began to suspect that Zhou was a brocade guard.

But when he began to doubt, he had already received the news that Hauge had entered Sichuan.

"Hauge, idiot! Immediately sent people to 800 li to hurry up to the emperor's edict to see Haoge, telling him to stay in Xi'an, strengthen the defense west of Tongguan, and do not enter Sichuan to fight! ”

Dorgon roared angrily and hurried to the auxiliary king Zilharang.

"Hauge is confused, Hauge is confused! I knew that this would be the case, and Lone should not have let him go to Xi'an to be a general of the expedition to the west, but he turned out to be good, and he really went to conquer Sichuan, shouldn't he stay in the southwest honestly with his thoughts? ”

Zilharang stomped his foot and sighed.

"This blames me, it's the stupid brother who used the wrong person, and this Haoge doesn't have a long brain, doesn't he understand that we sent him to be a general to conquer the west in order to guard the west of Tongguan, didn't Brother Wang explain it to him in advance?"

Dorgon said.

"I said it, why didn't I say it, but this Haoge also wants to be called the king and the emperor too much, alas, now he can only guard the east of Tongguan."

Zilharang sighed again.

"If Haoge can really occupy Sichuan and stand on his own, and Zhou Ze only takes refuge in Haoge and is not a spy of the Ming Dynasty, maybe it will be better."

When Dorgon said this, Zilharan nodded.

But at this time, Ning Wan walked in: "Two princes, there is an urgent report from the northwest, Zhou Ze has raised troops against the water, raised 100,000 troops to the south to conquer Haoge, and also said that he will respond to the battle of the Northern Expedition of the Ming Dynasty. ”

"What do you say, Zhou Ze is really backwater? You repeat! ”

Dorgon roared.

"It's true, the slaves don't dare to deceive the two princes", Ning finished saying this, and Dolgon sat down on the ground angrily.

Zilharang also said with a depressed face at this time: "We can't save Haoge, the only way now is to hold Tongguan, I hope there will be no Ming army outside the pass." ”

"Lord Wang, report! Eight hundred miles outside the gate, Xingdu and Shengjing fell into the hands of the Ming army. ”

When Zilharan and Dodor heard the news, they were stunned.

(End of chapter)