Chapter 150: The Flash in the Pan of the Qing Empire (I)

August of the sixth year of Chongzhen, Shandong, Qingzhou Mansion, Shouguang County

“…… Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! ”

“…… Kill the Tartars! ”

With the roar of artillery and the earth-shattering shouts of killing, the 30,000 Dengzhou army entered Qingzhou from the area of Changle County, and the first target was Shouguang County on the west bank of the river. In the face of such an overwhelming and fierce offensive, the small number of Qing troops deployed by Huang Taiji at the front of Qingzhou collapsed and collapsed at the first touch. In just ten days, the Qing army successively abandoned Shouguang, Linqu, Le'an, Guangrao and other county seats, and even the Qingzhou capital fell after resisting for a day. The soldiers and horses of all walks of life either broke up and surrendered after the defeat, or rushed all the way towards the provincial capital Jinan.

-- After Huang Taiji led the main force of the Eight Banners to attack Nanzhili, the Qing troops stationed in the area around Qingzhou had only a total of only six or seven thousand people, and they were basically dominated by the former Shandong Ming army that had just surrendered.

At this time, Huang Taiji's eldest son, Hao Ge, was taking 1,000 Manchurian banner soldiers and 5,000 newly surrendered Ming troops to guard the city of Jinan. The bad news of the drastic changes in Liaodong before came to the army, which had already caused great confusion in the hearts of the troops in Jinan City. Now seeing that the Qingzhou battlefield collapsed on all fronts, and Chen Xin's Dengzhou army continued to rapidly approach Jinan Mansion, Haoge, who had few soldiers under his command, couldn't help but beat the drum in his heart, so he had to hurry up to the old father Huang Taiji stationed in Xuzhou for help.

In the face of the sudden force of the Dengzhou Army on the battlefield in Shandong, His Majesty Huang Taiji, who had just received the news of the drastic changes in Liaodong, was angry and vomited blood for a while and almost fainted, and was suddenly even more caught off guard. In desperation, the "Emperor Chongde of the Qing Dynasty", who had just ascended the throne for a few days, had to order to gather the soldiers and horses of the Eight Banners, prepare to drive the expedition again, turn around from Xuzhou and go north, and compete with Chen Xinshuai's Dengzhou army.

However, many people are not very optimistic about the prospects of Huang Taiji - two months ago, when the main force of the Wenxiang Sect army was in the southward expedition to Yangzhou, it was blown up by the Eight Banners soldiers from the north to Xuzhou, and as a result, the sect leader Wang Ke had to lead his troops to hastily turn around to rescue the old nest, and then was defeated by the Qing army that was waiting for work, and since then it has been wiped out. Now the situation of the Qing army is almost a copy of the previous Wenxiang Sect, how can people of insight be optimistic?

As a result, all parts of Huainan and Huaibei, which had just planted the banner of the Qing Dynasty, immediately began to commotion again. Many of the backbone of the Wenxiang Sect and Ming Dynasty officials who had just visited the Qing Emperor in Xuzhou immediately became anti-Qing elements after returning to their hometowns. From Xuzhou to Yangzhou, except for a number of prefectures and counties where the Eight Banners were stationed, the rest of the more remote places were full of undercurrents. But at this time, Huang Taiji was already anxious, and he had no time to take care of these trivial matters, just to gather the soldiers, horses and grain to rescue Shandong in the north, it had already given him a headache.

At this time, the Eight Banners of the Manchu Qing Dynasty were not so much state power as an armed robbery group integrating military and civilian forces. At that time, each Niu Lu of the Eight Banners of Manchuria generally had 300 strong men, and in peacetime they drew one of the three dings, that is, one hundred strong men were drawn as soldiers. The bannermen who serve as soldiers are called "armor men", and the bannermen who are not soldiers for the time being are called "Yu Ding" or "idle". Even these "Yu Ding" or "idle" who were not soldiers did not produce on weekdays, and relied entirely on the Han people to provide for them, and they were all paramilitary personnel who could fight on their horses in armor, in fact, all the people were soldiers, and in many cases even Manchurian women had to receive military training. And when the army was expanding during the war, Jurchen strong men other than the armored people were often recruited.

The social structure designed in this way really squeezed the war potential of the Jurchen clan to the limit, but because the total population of the Eight Banners was limited after all, even if it was so reckless, the Qing court could only muster up about 50,000 Eight Banner soldiers at most. During this expedition to Nanzhili, Huang Taiji brought a total of 25,000 Manchurian soldiers, 3,000 Mongolian soldiers, a small number of Liaodong Han troops, and more than 10,000 surrendered Ming troops who had just been recruited. Coupled with the more than 10,000 people brought by Dolgon from the Henan battlefield, the total number of troops was more than 50,000. Of course, these more than 50,000 people cannot be all soldiers, but also include a large number of auxiliary soldiers such as miscellaneous servants. But for the Qing Dynasty, which had just entered the Central Plains, it was already a soldier of the country.

But the problem is that after the Wenxiang Sect soldiers entrenched in Lianghuai were defeated and surrendered, Huang Taiji dispersed a considerable part of his troops to receive the prefectures and counties that returned to the Qing Dynasty, and by the way, let these soldiers plunder the towns and towns and make a fortune by the grass valley, as a reward for their previous military exploits. Now that they are suddenly about to be gathered up again, it will be a big mess. It took a lot of time just to exchange messengers, and then it was necessary to prepare the rations, ordnance, coolies, and ships to fight north...... By the time Huang Taiji had assembled and reorganized the whole army, arranged the remaining soldiers and horses, and then marched north along the canal to Shandong, more than a full month had passed. And this is already a rare high efficiency among ancient armies.

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Very fortunately, when Huang Taiji was anxious and rushed north with more than 30,000 people and rushed back to Shandong by land and water, the Qing emperor was relieved that Jinan City had not been captured by the Dengzhou army, but was still flying the banner of the Qing Dynasty!

But this is not the credit of the emperor's eldest son, Hauge. In fact, as early as when the Dengzhou army was just approaching, Haoge, who seemed to be brave but was actually timid, escaped from Jinan with all the more than 1,000 Eight Banner soldiers under his command under the pretext of ensuring the smooth flow of the Grand Canal, and hurriedly retreated to Dongchang Mansion in the west.

However, although the master of the Aixin Jueluo family had fled, the prefect of Jinan, appointed by the Qing court, showed astonishing loyalty and courage. This person first killed all his wives and concubines and children, exposed their bodies in front of the yamen, in order to show their determination to fight to the death, and then called on the gentry in Jinan City to give food and people, and swore to fight against the Dengzhou thieves, and for a time actually got a very enthusiastic response. Next, the prefect's yamen organized scholars to spread rumors in the city, saying that the Dengzhou rebels killed people without blinking, eating people's hearts and lungs, and they were very tricked into some people who did not know the truth to go to the city to help defend it.

-- Although Chen Xin, who was in charge of Dengzhou Town, did not display a red flag with the pattern of a sickle and a hammer, his land policy was the same as that of the early days of the "Party", that is, he forcibly confiscated or ransomed the land of the landlords and gentry, and then distributed it to the families of the soldiers, thus establishing many military-dependent farms named Tunpu. The goal is to win the hearts of the military and create a group of hardcore supporters of their own in Dengzhou as quickly as possible. At the same time, Dengzhou Town has virtually reduced the potential sources of opposition forces, disintegrated the original organizational and mobilization forces of the people without a trace, and ensured the stability of the base camp.

Obviously, whether it is the expropriation or redemption of land, it has seriously touched the sensitive nerves of the gentry and landlords in the world, because according to the rules of the Ming Dynasty, only they can skillfully seize the land of those poor and lowly people, and there is no reason to let the lowly warriors ride on their heads upside down. So, as early as when he was still under the banner of the Ming Dynasty, Chen Xin began to constantly suppress and slaughter the landlords and gentry, and at the same time, he was constantly attacked and assassinated by the landlords and gentry. After the anti-flag was erected, Chen Xinshuai's tactics for land reform became even more intensified, not only allowing many poor people who had no land to stand on the land to be allocated to the fields and becoming Chen Dashuai's hardcore supporters, but also killing the landlords and gentry in Jiaodong to the point that they were full of people, and their hatred for each other was as deep as the sea, and they were incompatible.

-- Although it is not that a highly productive traveler cannot afford to buy land, the problem is that in many cases, it is not possible to buy land with money. It must be known that in the era of feudal dynasties, the relaxed and leisurely life of those landlords and gentry was completely based on the suffering of tenant farmers. And the political power in the rural areas was mostly controlled by a small number of gentry and landlords. And the basis of its status and power is a large tract of land.

Although the landlords and gentry in the feudal era were stubborn, they saw this point quite clearly, and naturally they clung to the land and refused to let go. Because once the land is lost, the landlord will lose the original power base, and no amount of gold and silver treasures can buy this thing!

On the other hand, in the eyes of Chen Xinshuai, since whether it is redemption or confiscation, these landlords and gentry will not obediently obey, and will definitely jump out to make trouble, so simply save this money as military expenses, and directly use bullets and sabers to talk to the landlords!

Since the Manchurian Eight Banners, which were "unparalleled" in history, were able to stake land around Beijing, not only taking away the land, but also making the original landlords serfs, then the modern Dengzhou Army, which had stronger combat effectiveness, obviously could also do such a thing. Anyway, there is no humanitarianism at all these days, no matter whether it is slaughtering the city and exterminating the tribe or something, it is a very normal ruling measure, as long as you kill and kill as much as you want.

As a result, in Jinan City at this time, there were many landlords and gentry who fled from Dengzhou Mansion and Qingzhou Mansion in the east, because they were forcibly divided by a group of poor mud legs gathered by the Dengzhou Army, and all of them had a hatred for destroying their families with Chen Xinshuai. Under the crying and propaganda of these victims, the landlords and gentry of Jinan Mansion also knew about Dengzhou Chen Dashuai's "perverse behavior", and they both lamented and indignant, and scolded Dengzhou Chen Dashuai for "colluding with thieves to change Xia", "I have never heard of such a harsh treatment of gentry in ancient times"! For a while, the hatred exploded.

Of course, if no one stands up and raises their arms, most of the gentry can only pinch their noses and admit it, or drag their families to flee farther away. But now that the prefect is willing to take the lead in destroying the family, the gentry of Jinan Mansion naturally have infinite loyalty to the Qing Dynasty, and would rather go bankrupt than beat back the Dengzhou rebellion and overseas thieves.

As a result, when about 4,000 high-spirited Dengzhou troops fought all the way to the city of Jinan, they found themselves hit a hard stone, and several strong attacks were beaten back, and they were attacked by Jinan Xiangyong at night. Next, the ruthless vanguard quickly mobilized dozens of cannons, lined up around the Jinan city wall, and the fierce artillery fire smashed the bricks and stones on the wall, revealing the yellow and slimy rammed earth inside. But the Qing army defending the city also fought bloodily, even in the face of the metal storm shot by so many cannons, they still screamed and fought to the death.

Although the Dengzhou army once used artillery to collapse a section of the city wall in the east of Jinan, then the ants attached themselves and poured into the city in an attempt to take the government directly. Unexpectedly, tens of thousands of local villagers in Jinan City were temporarily assembled. When guarding his hometown, he was extremely tenacious. After an unprecedented chaos and tragic street fighting, the Dengzhou army that attacked Jinan was pushed back, and hundreds of people were killed and wounded, and their morale was also greatly damaged.

At the same time, there were problems in the rear of the Dengzhou Army. As the army advanced too fast in the previous stage, it only had time to occupy the towns and main lines of communication, and as a result, after the initial shock, the local gentry in Qingzhou soon began to counterattack in a big way, and they continued to induce the villagers to rebel and contact the Qing forces in the west, and at the same time ambushed the Dengzhou officials who went to the countryside to collect grain and taxes, creating one cruel and bloody case after another.

In this regard, Chen Xinshuai was not a false and righteous virgin, and immediately drew troops from all fronts, responded to violence with violence, and began to exterminate the rebellious gentry everywhere, preparing to plow the remaining landlord and gentry forces in the occupied area again. However, due to the rebellions one after another, the Dengzhou army was unable to guard against one after another, so in a short period of time, it was really unable to continue to maintain the supply line of the Jinan siege troops.

Therefore, Chen Xin, who was not reconciled, sent a report to the East Asian Theater General Headquarters and applied for the transfer of air units in order to quickly solve the Jinan problem, but Huang Shi categorically refused, on the grounds that he wanted to give priority to ensuring the complete victory of the Liaodong sweeping war, and at the same time warned Chen Xin not to blindly be greedy for more, but to read more of the "Theory of War" -- any offensive must have a limit!

In the end, Chen Xin had no choice but to scold that he was raised by his stepmother, and at the same time gave an order to the front-line troops in Jinan to retreat......

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When Huang Taiji led the army back to Jinan, the tragic siege had ended for many days, and the Dengzhou army had retreated to Qingzhou Prefecture, which was hundreds of miles away. However, looking at the bloodstained and ruined city walls, and listening to the gentry in the city recounting the war, Huang Taiji still couldn't help but sigh with emotion, sighing that my Qing Dynasty is really the destiny of heaven, even if the situation is unfavorable for a while, there are still such loyal and martyred ministers! However, just as he was about to reward the meritorious ministers, he learned that the prefect of Jinan in the Qing Dynasty, named Sun Zhiqi, had unfortunately been killed at the end of the battle.

As a result, Huang Taiji was even more excited for a while, and ordered that Sun Zhiqi, the prefect of Jinan, be posthumously awarded a scholar, and his wife was given a fate. and personally wrote a memorial for this loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty in recognition of his loyalty and bravery. At the same time, a monument was erected on the shore of Daming Lake in Jinan to record the exploits of Sun Zhiqi.

Then, Huang Taiji ordered Hauge to be reprimanded in front of the whole army and punished him for the crime of fleeing without a fight, so as to declare that his rewards and punishments were clear.

However, just as Huang Taiji was trying his best to set a positive example in Jinan City, trying to boost people's morale. Thousands of miles away, in the Yamen of the Datong General Army, the two leaders of the Guanning Army, Wu Xiang, the king of Zhou, and Zu Dashou, the king of Jin, were politely receiving Li Yunrui, the secret envoy of Huangshi, the commander-in-chief of the East Asian Theater of the Huameng, and Wu Sangui, the son of the king of Zhou, who came with Li Yunrui, was still standing aside with a smile on his face.

“…… What General Huang wants to express, presumably the two princes should also understand! ”

Li Yunrui unceremoniously ate the refreshments and cakes, and said in a big way, "...... Speaking of which, you two princes are also a generation of heroes, why are you willing to be slaves to the Tartars? Instead of being a cow or a horse for others, how can you be comfortable being your own master? ”

“…… Your Excellency's lesson is that we are also the people of China, although we were forced to surrender the Huang Taiji earlier, but we already had the intention of setting things right and expelling the Tartars. It's just that the nine-tailed fox demon Huang Taiji is very shrewd, and he really can't find a suitable opportunity for a while. Now that General Huang has taken all Liaodong and smashed the nest of Jiannu, and the Eight Banners in the Central Plains have all become lost dogs, how can we continue to play for the Tartar? ”

King Zu Dashou of Jin hurriedly said nonsense with a smile on his face, "...... It's just that...... The Central Plains within the Great Wall can really belong to us? ”

“…… It's true, my family only needs Liaodong, and the land of Beizhili in Shanhaiguan can be shared by the two princes. Our army doesn't want an inch of land, and if we don't take any property, even Shanhaiguan can continue to be occupied by your army, this sincerity should be enough! ”

Li Yunrui didn't smile, "...... Of course, the two princes also have to cut off with the Manchurian Tartars and hand over a letter of nomination! Otherwise, how would we know if the two of us have repented? Could it be that the two princes felt that the troops at hand were not enough, and they could not defeat the remnants of Jiannu who stole the capital division? That's fine, my lord is happy to send a Funing army into the customs to help the two princes recover the capital from the Tartars......"

“…… Belch...... With this, you don't have to bother General Huang! At present, the elite soldiers of Jiannu are either in Shandong or Nanzhili, and there are only one old and weak women and children in Beijing, and I can deal with it by myself! Please also ask Your Excellency to return to General Huang as soon as possible, and let him wait for good news......"

Wu Xiang, the king of Zhou, immediately broke out in a cold sweat, hurriedly waved his hand and declined, and at the same time gave his son Wu Sangui a look, and asked him to bring a plate of gold and silver and put it in front of Li Yunrui, "...... Your envoy has worked hard from afar, and a mere courtesy is not a tribute......"

“…… Hehe, His Royal Highness King Zhou is really polite, thank you very much, then it will be disrespectful in the next place......"

-- The wheel of history rumbled, and in the midst of this conspiracy, the short-lived Qing Empire came to a dead end......