In fact, the Manchus did not lack population, because they brought back tens of thousands of Han Chinese people from Beizhili and captured many slaves in Korea and Mongolia.

There is only a lack of flags, that is, the source of soldiers of the Eight Banners of Manchuria!

Dolgon retreated to Yaozhou, and while raising military rations, he recruited troops and reorganized, and the number of soldiers in the Eight Banners quickly recovered to 100,000.

But the 100,000 Eight Banner soldiers at this time are not the same as the 100,000 a few years ago.

Shandong, Henan, and Liaodong were defeated several times, and the Eight Banners of Manchuria and the Eight Banners of Mongolia were re-replenished to about 70,000 men. However, first, the combat effectiveness of the army has declined, and second, there are fewer and fewer bannermen available for conscription.

The decline in combat effectiveness of the Han Army's Eight Banners was even more obvious, with losses approaching 20,000 before and after. After the re-replenishment and reorganization, many of the Han Eight Banner garrison troops were demoted in the past two years.

The military and political system of the Manchu Qing Dynasty could not recuperate and recuperate, and it was necessary to maintain a large number of troops for a long time.

In particular, in the face of a declining situation, it is all the more necessary to expand the army and prepare for war. In this way, the savage Jurchens can be subdued, the outer Mongolians can be subdued, and the Korean monarchs and ministers can be subdued.

Further north in the steppe, the Khalkha Mongols are eyeing each other.

The last time the Manchus attacked and plundered the Mongol tribes, it was only the Chechen Khan in the Khalkha Mongols, and this alone was able to mobilize 30,000 cavalry (which was disabled a few months ago). In addition, the large tribes of the Khalkha Mongols, as well as the Tushetu Khan and the Tohuit tribes, were waiting for the decline of the Manchus to take their part.

In the area around Lake Baikal, there were also Buryat Mongols, one of whom bordered the Manchu territory.

If Dolgon does not maintain a large army, the outer Mongols will rebel in minutes, and the Khalkha Mongols and Buryat Mongols will attack in large armies!

It dragged on until mid-October, and the main force of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which had been reorganized, set out from Jinzhou to rescue Shanhaiguan - if they didn't go to the rescue, the defenders of the Eight Banners at Shanhaiguan would have to kill the people to make military rations. And when Dolgon besieged Gaizhou, more than 10,000 defenders of Ningyuan and Jinzhou had already gone to Shanhaiguan to rescue them, and more than 2,000 people fled in disarray.

The Manchu army marched to Shaheyi (near Suizhong), and Dolgon received a battle report from the vanguard troops: "Your Highness, the enemy army has withdrawn!" ”

Dolgon's face was gloomy, and he ordered: "The whole army stops, order the vanguard battalion to recapture Weiyuantai, and immediately station there to prevent the enemy from counterattacking." ”

The army came to the rescue and saved a lonely.

Dolgon's main force was still nearly a hundred miles away from Shanhaiguan at this moment, and the vanguard was only forty miles away from Shanhaiguan.

So far away, those damn southern barbarians actually ran away directly by boat!

It was completely a war of attrition of grain and grass, Fei Ruhe and Zhang Tieniu besieged Shanhaiguan but did not attack, and consumed three months of military rations in vain. Dorgon came to the rescue with a large army, and even if there was no fighting, he had to consume a lot of military rations.

Let's see who can't hold it first.

Afraid that the Datong army would come again, the small Weiyuan Terrace was arranged by Dolgon with 2,000 defenders. With so many soldiers, they are crowded in Weiyuan Taili, and they must be stationed nearby in peacetime, and they can only retreat in urgently to hold on in case of war.

Just when Dolgon had completed the withdrawal of the army, he received news again: "Your Highness, the Nanban is plundering the countryside of Yaozhou and Haizhou, and scattering lime everywhere in the cultivated farmland!" ”

"Sprinkle lime?" Dorgon didn't understand.

The messenger explained: "According to the nobles who know how to farm, if the fields are sprinkled with lime, the crops will be reduced in the coming year. If the lime is sprinkled too much, the seeds will not germinate. ”

The lime mentioned here is quicklime!

Dolgon was stunned when he heard this, and then gritted his teeth and said, "What a vicious heart, what is the difference between this and burning pastures in the grassland?" ”

……

On the Liaodong Peninsula, there are lime mines in the mountainous areas east of Fuzhou City.

Zhao Han sent some craftsmen to come and planned to burn cement in Liaodong, and built a simple fortress in each town, and most of the workers who excavated the lime mines were prisoners of war.

After the Gaizhou Defensive War, cement production was temporarily suspended, and a large amount of quicklime was burned!

Thousands of dragoons, one person and two horses, each set off with dozens of catties of quicklime. In that way, they were tied to the horse's back, and when they encountered land with few weeds (cooked land), they poked a hole in the sack and sprinkled it along the way.

At this time, it was already snowing in Liaodong, and quicklime was sprinkled on the snow, so it was guaranteed that there would be no way to grow grain next year.

"The enemy is coming!"

"Haha, let's go!"

Wu Huapu laughed and rode away, and in the cities of Haizhou and Yaozhou, there were thousands of Manchu defenders each. It is estimated that he was provoked by the practices of the Datong army, and occasionally dared to go out of the city, and pursued them on horseback.

But the dragoons did not engage in battle at all, and scattered sentinels from afar, and immediately slipped away when they encountered the enemy, and never penetrated deep into the hinterland of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

On the contrary, the population in the countryside was moved further north, and the Datong army did not capture anything this time.

Anyway, just one meaning, Gaizhou, Yaozhou, Haizhou, a radius of more than 100 miles between the three cities, in the next two or three years, no one will want to grow food again!

Dolgon returned to Shenyang and convened a meeting of the nobles of the Eight Banners.

This time, they actually united, no longer mentioning past grievances, and concentrating on how to develop in the future.

Dai Shan said: "What dragoons of the Southern Barbarians, it is very annoying to fight, and I should also train one in the Qing Dynasty." ”

Zilharang echoed: "The shotgun vest of the Han army banner can be turned into dragoons. ”

Dolgon nodded and said, "This is reasonable, and it should be practiced at the beginning of spring." ”

The shotgun vest of the Eight Banners of the Han Army, its establishment was included in the Manchu Xiao Cavalry Battalion. They followed the Manchu cavalry, rode and galloped into the battlefield, and then dismounted and fought in the posture of firearms, which was essentially no different from the Datong dragoons.

In terms of tactical use, it is very different.

The shotgun vest of the Han army flag, the war horse is only used for hurrying, and the formation of musket infantry is still used when fighting.

Now that they were hurt by the Datong dragoons, the Manchus began to learn new tactics and wanted to fully carry out the dragoons of shotguns and vests.

Zilharang also said: "The Southern Barbarians are not the Ming Dynasty, and Gaizhou City cannot be stormed. Or they can send a fine work to the south to divide the monarchs and ministers of Nanjing, and create rumors that the Gaizhou guards intend to rebel. ”

Tong Yangxing said: "I have already inquired, the general of Gaizhou is called Hu Dinggui, the general of Fuzhou and Jinzhou is called Li Zheng and Xiao Zongxian, and there is also Lu Xiangsheng, who commands Xiaocai. Hu Dinggui, Li Zheng, and Xiao Zongxian, all three of whom were the old subordinates of the Nanban Emperor. Only Lu Xiangsheng is a general of the Ming Dynasty, and it is best to start with Lu Xiangsheng. It is said that Lu Xiangsheng tried to restore his sight, and he was arrogant and domineering in Liaodong, and often had the words of longing for the old master of the Ming Dynasty. ”

Dolgon said: "This Hu Dinggui is also a general, and he can forge his letter to my Qing Dynasty, and he may be able to recruit this person over." ”

Dorgon had been learning from Huang Taiji, including this strategy of subjugating enemy generals.

Take Zu Dashou as an example, he once led his troops to surrender, and then left his son and his generals and ran away.

Instead of expressing anger, Huang Taiji wrote to Zu Dashou, saying that he would treat his son and generals well. also asked Zu Dashou to pay attention to safety, don't let Chongzhen know about the surrender, and after a few cold greetings, he said that Daqing was waiting for Zu Dashou to return at any time.

Historically, Zu Dashou fled by deception, fought with the Manchus for another ten years, and killed many Manchu generals. In the end, he was forced to surrender, and Huang Taiji really kept the agreement and entrusted the whole family of Zu Dashou with important responsibilities.

Regardless of national righteousness, in the face of such a "British master", will you feel in your heart?

Zu Dashou is okay to say, at least in Daming, he also mixes well. People like Kong Youde, Shang Kexi, and Geng Zhongming, how miserable they were in the Ming Dynasty, but they were courteous to Huang Taiji when they went to the Manchu Dynasty.

Dolgon is now also starting to play this trick, and he plans to write letters to Hu Dinggui, Li Zheng, Xiao Zongxian, and Lu Xiangsheng in person.

Don't surrender, just express your admiration, send a few leather jackets in winter, and then ask for warmth. First, it is to have a relationship with the generals of Datong, and secondly, it is a precursor to the discord plan, and it is used to disgust the monarchs and ministers of Datong by this means.

Next, you can also quietly send gold and silver, and quietly give beautiful women.

Especially in Nanjing, start with the families of Datong civil officials. Little by little, the benefits are given to the family, and they are unconsciously pulled into the water, so that it is an established fact. The civil official got the goods again, and he was afraid of exposing his family's connection with the Manchu Qing Dynasty, so he might secretly help to become an internal response.

These Manchu nobles don't just know how to fight!

"The most important thing now is food," said Dolgon, "and the army first went to Gaizhou, and then to Shanhaiguan, and sent troops and generals repeatedly, and the army consumed a great deal of food. If you don't do something, you might be able to survive this winter, and there will definitely be a great famine next spring. ”

Hauge said: "In winter, the wind is cold and the snow is strong, and the grassland cannot be removed. The Han people's northern Zhili was also so poor that they had no food to grab. Why don't you go to North Korea? ”

"How much grain can North Korea have?" Man Dahai asked rhetorically.

Hauge said: "It doesn't matter how much food he has, if he goes and grabs it, he can always grab some." Moreover, North Korea is full of shrimp soldiers and crab generals, and they fled when they saw the Qing Dynasty soldiers. It is much easier to go to Korea to fight a war than to go to the steppe. There is no need to bring the people with them, each person will set off with a pawn, and there is no need to prepare much for pulling grain and grass. After the snow melted in spring, he went all the way to the Korean royal city and forced the Korean lord to send the grain himself. If the North Korean civilians are taken captive to carry grain, the lost population will also be gained, and next year's grain will also be available. ”

"Great idea!" Zilharang praised.

It is somewhat risky to go to the grassland to rob, but it is extremely safe to go to North Korea to fight the autumn wind, and there is no need to even think about logistics, and you dare to send troops with half a month's worth of food.

Poor Korea, which has not yet recovered from the previous plunder, has been forced by the Datong army to sell grain many times, and next year will usher in another raid by the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

The whole of Korea will be emptied, and even the two classes of nobles will not be spared!

After agreeing on the matter of grabbing grain, Dai Shan suddenly said: "There are signs of rebellion in the outer Mongolia, and the Gulu Siqibu, who took the lead in avoiding the war before, must be dealt with in accordance with the rules." But you can't kill it directly, otherwise you will force the outer Mongolian vassal to rebel. ”

Dolgon had already thought about it, and said, "It is better to remove this man from his military title and support his brother to replace him, and let the two brothers kill each other." ”