"The slave waits to see the master."

Ning Wan, Fan Wencheng and Hong Chengchou came one after another, and knelt down to beat Dolgon according to the etiquette of Jiannu.

Actually, Ning Wan and I are the red flag coat, Fan Wencheng is the white flag coat, and Hong Chengchou is the yellow flag coat, strictly speaking, they are not Dolgon's minions.

Because Dorgon is the master of the white flag.

But if you look at Dolgon as the Jiannu Emperor, then that's fine.

Therefore, Ning Wan and I, the three hardcore traitors, are also dissecting their hearts to Dolgon in this more obscure way: The three of us support you to be the emperor.

Dolgon's political talent is extremely high, and it is natural to see it.

Therefore, Dolgon did not beat and scold the three of Ning Wan and me as the ordinary Manchurian to the clothed minions, but instead seemed to be a particularly polite corporal, and he was more humble and polite than the emperor Taiji back then.

"Three gentlemen, please be seated." Dolgon raised his hand and instructed Cao Eryu again, "Dog slave, don't hurry up and serve tea to the three gentlemen, ask for good ginseng tea." ”

"Huh." Cao Eryu promised to leave.

Ning Wan and the three of us each thanked each other and sat down in turn.

Dolgon sat down and asked, "Calculate the time, Zuo Maotai should also go to Xi'an, what do you say, what choice will Li Zicheng make?" Will you agree to an alliance with me? ”

Ning Wan took the lead and said, "It's impossible. ”

Hong Chengchou continued: "The slave has been fighting with the thief for several years, and he knows a lot about this person's character, and he is not a big heart, and even a little bit of a blind eye, so it is impossible to form an alliance with the Qing Dynasty, because he was defeated by his master at the most proud time, and was expelled from Beijing by his master. ”

Fan Wencheng finally said: "But it is absolutely impossible for him to send troops to help Nanming." ”

They had already said these analyses at the time of the last meeting, and Dolgon had heard them more than once, but they also knew that Dolgon was under a lot of pressure and needed to give them confidence repeatedly.

This time, the pressure on Dorgon was indeed very great.

Because now this kind of troop dispatch is almost desperate.

Or rather, this is a gambling attack, if you win, you will take all, and if you lose, you may lose everything.

"Li Zicheng will not send troops to help Nanming, I believe this." Dorgon nodded, then added, "But will the generals under him act on their own initiative?" ”

Hong Chengchou said: "Is the master talking about Gao Yigong and Niu Jinxing?" ”

"Yes." Dolgon nodded, and said, "Gao Yigong has 70,000 troops in Yulin, Niu Jinxing has at least 50,000 troops in Luoyang, and Li Yan has 30,000 troops in Suide. ”

"If the war goes well, that's it."

"Once the war does not go well, a stalemate will be formed on the Huanghuai front,"

"Will Gao Yigong, Niu Jinxing, Li Yan and others take advantage of the situation?"

After saying this, Dolgon said: "So I'm thinking, should I send some troops back to Shanxi?" At least ensure the safety of Shanxi and Datong. ”

Although Hong Chengchou and the three of them continued to give confidence, Dolgon was still a little shaken.

"Master, this is absolutely impossible." Hong Chengchou hurriedly persuaded, "Although Nanming has been decaying and weak for a long time, but the hundred-legged insect is dead but not stiff, and he still sits on the anointed land in the south of the Yangtze River, the source of wealth, and the manpower and material resources that can be called are still a hundred times that of my Qing Dynasty. ”

Hong Chengchou is familiar with history books and has seen too many disputes between the north and the south.

In the history of China, there were very few successful northern expeditions of the southern regimes, but it was not uncommon for the northern regimes to go south to destroy the separatist regimes in the south of the Yangtze River, but in addition to these two, there were also many confrontations between the north and the south.

Moreover, Hong Chengchou also summed up this, and found that if the northern regime is not successful in one blow, it will be difficult to destroy the southern regime after that, and there is a high probability that a confrontation between the north and the south will be formed.

After Cao Cao's defeat at Chibi, the Three Kingdoms were formed.

Fu Jian's army was defeated in Weishui, and then there was a confrontation between the North and the South for nearly 200 years.

Then the Sui Dynasty destroyed the Southern Chen Dynasty and the Song Dynasty destroyed the Southern Tang Dynasty with one blow, achieving a unified dynasty.

After that, the Liao soldiers went south and the Jin soldiers went south but failed to destroy the Great Song Dynasty with one blow, and finally formed a confrontation between the north and the south.

The only exception may be the Mongols going south, the Mongols made many expeditions to the south, lasting more than 50 years, and finally destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty, Hong Chengchou did not think that the Qing court could become a second Mongolia, because when the Mongols destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty, both manpower, material resources and armaments far surpassed the Southern Song Dynasty, and the Qing court did not have this advantage.

Therefore, there is a high probability that the Qing court will only have one chance, and once it is missed, it will inevitably form a confrontation between the north and the south.

Fan Wencheng also knew this, and also persuaded: "Master, as the saying goes, the lion fights the rabbit and still does his best, not to mention the Ming Dynasty, which has lasted for nearly three hundred?" As Heng Jiu said, if you can't destroy Nanming with all your strength at this time, wait until Nanming recovers and continuously gathers the manpower and material resources of the whole country, it will be almost impossible to destroy it at that time. ”

Ning Wan also said: "The slave also thinks that he can't divide the troops at this time, and he hopes that the master will think twice!" ”

Dolgon could no longer sit still, and got up and paced back and forth in the warm pavilion, occasionally scratching his bare brain, or pulling the rat's tail at the back of his head.

From these small movements, it can be seen that Dorgon is really anxious inside.

On the one hand, he felt that Hong Chengchou was right, but on the other hand, he was really worried about Beijing's safety, or he was really afraid that the Qing court would lose everything.

Before this, the soldiers attacked in two ways, respectively Fa Shun and Fa Ming, the Qing court also poured the whole country's troops to attack, Dolgon did not have the slightest anxiety, the reason is very simple, because the pseudo-Shun and the Southern Ming are the target of the Qing army, and they are too busy to take care of themselves, so Beijing is only 5,000 soldiers and horses, but it is still as stable as a rock.

But now it's different, now it's the whole country's soldiers who only fight Nanming's family!

At this time, the hundreds of thousands of troops of the pseudo-obedient became the Menghu on the side of the couch, and the ghost knows when this Menghu will come out and bite them? Maybe this bite will bite the nascent Qing Dynasty to death.

As regent of the Qing court, Dolgon could not fail to consider this.

Dolgon hesitated for a long time but couldn't make up his mind, and asked, "How about transferring another flag to defend Shanxi?" ”

It is said that after the fall of the country, in fact, Dolgon still left the yellow flag in Shanxi, and the focus of defense was Datong and Xuanfu.

Now, Dolgon intends to send another Eight Banners Manchuria to Shanxi to strengthen the defense of the Dashun army.

"Master, you have always been wise and martial, why are you in the lake at this time?" Hong Chengchou also let go, and said with a dark face, "The combat effectiveness of the Shun army is still very strong, and it dares to take the initiative to attack my Eight Banners, so if the pseudo-Shun really pours the country's troops to attack, there is no difference between one flag and two flags, and it is necessary to have more than half of the Eight Banners elite soldiers and the corresponding number of Han army and Mongolian cavalry to be able to repel it!" ”

Dolgon's face fell, and his words were contrary to his words.

No matter how big-hearted you are, advice can be harsh.

Hong Chengchou shook his head and said: "Master, you must think twice!" ”

"Humph!" Dolgon was furious and walked behind the screen with his sleeves flicked his sleeves.

The atmosphere in the warm pavilion froze suddenly, and Hong Chengchou's face was like ashes.

He felt that this time he might really fall out of favor, and that Dorgon would never trust him as much as he had ever trusted.

However, just when Hong Chengchou was suffering from gains and losses, Dolgon walked out from behind the screen again, and the whole person became like a warm spring breeze again.

"Thank you three gentlemen for reminding me, this king almost missed a big thing."

Dolgon gave a long swipe to Hong Chengchou and the three of them, and then said: "This king will send Prince Xiaoyu to quickly lead the troops to Xuzhou and launch a battle to destroy the Ming!" As for the pseudo-Shun, if you want Shanxi, then give it to them, as long as the Guguan, Bauhinia Pass and Juyong Pass are not lost, Beijing and Gyeonggi will be as stable as a rock! ”

After a pause, Dolgon said again: "Take 10,000 steps back, even if Guguan, Bauhinia Pass and Juyong Pass are lost, Beijing City will not be able to keep it in the end, then it's nothing, it's a big deal to go back to the customs and start over!" ”

"Master Shengming!" Hong Chengchou and the three of them hurriedly fell to the ground.

……

At this time in Xuzhou, it was already shrouded in the atmosphere before the war.

Because three days ago, the Jiannu army had crossed the Yellow River from the mound pass, and the prefect of Germany, Sang Kaidi, was cowardly before the battle, and when he heard that the Jiannu army had arrived, he immediately opened the city and surrendered, which was really speechless.

Duoduo also reciprocated the favor, and appointed Sang Kaidi as the governor of Henan on the spot, and he was still stationed in Germany.

After appeasing Sang Kaidi and the Ming Dynasty, Duoduo left a small number of Eight Banner soldiers, and then led more than 200,000 troops to continue to kill Xuzhou, and the speed of the march this time can be called a god speed.

In just the past three days, an outpost battle broke out between Yiding and Jiannu near Xiao County, and the two teams of both sides fought a vicious battle under the cover of night, with casualties on each other.

"Holy Lord, the Jiannu army has arrived in Xiao County!" Wu said, "I can go to Xuzhou in the evening at the latest!" ”

Hearing this, Chongzhen and the civil and military generals and scholars present suddenly looked stunned, half a month ago, the march of the Jiannu army was really like a turtle speed, and it took almost half a month to walk from Weihui Mansion to Daimyo's Mansion.

But after passing the Daimyo's Mansion, it suddenly speeded up, and it entered Cao County in Yanzhou Prefecture in less than three days, and after three days it crossed the Yellow River from the mound road crossing and then forced to land in Guide Mansion, and then it was another three days to Xiao County, and the Jiannu army was about to march under the city of Xuzhou, and the speed of the march was simply godfast!

"Okay, thank you guys." Chongzhen said, "Go down and rest." ”

"The minister retired." Wu made a long throw of charcoal and walked out of the hall.

Chongzhen and a group of civil officials, military generals and scholars returned to the sand table.

Zheng Sen even took a few scholars to move the models representing the Jiannu army from Shangqiu to the vicinity of Xiao County, and there were as many as forty or fifty of these models, including cavalry models, infantry models, and models of chariots and Hongyi cannons, representing the cavalry, infantry, car battalion and artillery battalion of Jiannu respectively.

Chongzhen glanced up at the calendar hanging on the wall, and on the second day of the second month of February, the dragon looked up.

Although there was some nervousness in his heart, Chongzhen did not show the slightest expression on his face.

Chongzhen first turned his head and asked Plug Yinxi: "Plug Qing, have the people all withdrawn into Xuzhou City?" ”

Du Yinxi was originally in charge of the Juntian affairs in Guide, but when the Jiannu army went south, the Juntian affairs of the Guide Mansion could no longer be carried out, so he had to bring the displaced people back to Xuzhou.

Du Yinxi arched his hand and said: "Back to the saint, they have all entered the city." ”

Chongzhen turned his gaze to Jinyiwei's commander Li Ruolian: "Li Ruolian, are those people secretly connecting again, preparing to prepare a pot of pulp food to welcome Jiannu?" ”

Li Ruolian arched his hand and said, "Yes, they are all operating in secret." ”

By the way, Sang Kaidi's surrender was coerced.

The one who wrapped the Sang Kaidi was the gentry of the Guide Mansion, including the Hou family.

The Hou family was originally a family of eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty, but last time he touched the interests of the Hou family in the Qingzhang field of Guide Mansion, this time he blocked Yinxi to return to Juntian, and he stabbed the Hou family in the heart, so as soon as Jiannu arrived, the gentry led by the Hou family immediately coerced the prefect of Guide, Sang Kaidi, to surrender.

Not only is Guide Mansion, but the gentry of Xuzhou are also ready to move.

Because the plug Yinxi is in Tuntian, Xuzhou, the wasteland is not really wasteland, most of it is the land in the name of the gentry family, but because there is no tenant farmer to cultivate, it has to be abandoned.

After Du Yinxi summoned the displaced people to resume farming, the gentry came to ask for the return of cultivated land.

Regarding this matter, Du Yinxi reported to Chongzhen last year.

Du Yinxi's opinion is to return the cultivated land to the gentry family after three years.

However, this suggestion was directly vetoed by Chongzhen, because he wanted to use Xuzhou's 4 million mu of cultivated land as collateral to issue bonds in Nanjing.

After the issuance of bonds by the Shiyi Exchange, Xuzhou Jinshen also made trouble.

But Chongzhen was not polite to them, and directly suppressed them with an iron fist, killing six or seven.

After that, the gentry in Xuzhou were honest for a while, but now that they heard that the army of Jiannu had arrived, the gentry in Xuzhou City and the counties under their rule began to move again, preparing to welcome Jiannu with "pot pulp food".

Li Ruolian asked again: "Holy Lord, what should I do with these people?" ”

Chongzhen is not an indecisive master, and sentenced these gentlemen to death on the spot: "All of them will be arrested first, and then tried separately, and if there is a problem, they will be executed directly, and if there is no problem, they will be locked up first." ”

The Jiannu army is about to be overwhelmed, and Chongzhen doesn't want to be in chaos at this time.

Therefore, it has become an inevitable choice to purge the gentry in Xuzhou Prefecture and counties with an iron fist, and this matter cannot be hesitated.

Li Ruolian responded by turning around and leaving in a hurry, while Chongzhen turned his gaze to Zheng Hongkui, the chief soldier of the water division: "Zheng Zongbing, you will return to Qingjiangpu and always pay attention to the water situation of the Yellow River, once the ice of the Yellow River begins to melt, you will immediately lead the water division to help, and there can be no delay!" ”

Saying this, Chongzhen specially advised: "Zheng Aiqing, you must understand the truth that saving soldiers is like fighting fire, the real decision of the war may be the last moment, if you arrive a moment early, my Ming will win, if you arrive half a moment late, my Ming may be defeated or even die, so don't delay!" ”

"Remember." Zheng Hongkui solemnly promised.

Seeing Zheng Hongkui leave, Chongzhen turned his head and instructed Zhu Cihong: "Prince, immediately send flying horses to inform Xia Zhen, Pizhou and Huai'an Mansion, all towns must strictly abide by the town's letter, and they must not abandon it without my will, no matter what happens, they are not allowed to abandon it, and those who violate the order will will not be punished!" ”