Chapter 361: Minister of Rites (19)
"Sister, does the governor think those documents are more important than occupying Hebei?"
When Qian Qing heard this, his expression changed slightly, "Don't talk nonsense. The governor is thinking about something else."
"What is the governor thinking?" These old brothers seemed to be determined to get to the bottom of the matter.
Qian Qing felt that Huo Chong's ideas were indeed difficult for ordinary people to understand, but at this time he had to make up for Huo Chong's words. So he asked, "Is there a big difference between occupying Hebei today and tomorrow?"
The old brothers thought about it and shook their heads.
"Someone tore off a page from a book and left. It was this book that was torn... No, your pot was left outside the yard, and because I was late to get it, someone broke it. Do you think it makes a big difference if you leave earlier or later?"
Although the old brothers could not understand why Huo Chong cared so much about the information, and even felt that Huo Chong valued human lives less than those files. But after Qian Qing's comparison, at least everyone understood that Huo Chong was not without reason for being so anxious. Some things are gone if you go too late.
Knowing that Huo Chong was not indifferent to everyone's life and death, the old brothers asked a question: "Sister, if we attack Hebei now, why don't we occupy the whole of Hebei?"
Qian Qing also felt that attacking Hebei simply for some information was unacceptable. If the purpose was to liberate Hebei, it could be done. He replied, "We can fight first, and then the military branch of the Ministry of Rites will discuss and give you advice after seeing how the situation develops."
When the old brothers heard about the Ministry of Rites, they looked a little embarrassed. Qian Qing knew that the old brothers really didn't like the Ministry of Rites. After all, they were all in charge of something, but no one wanted to let others have a say. However, Qian Qing knew that the Ministry of Rites would definitely be in charge of the army in the future.
Seeing that the old brothers were directly opposed to the Ministry of Rites one by one, with no intention of cooperating, let alone understanding the Ministry of Rites' plans, Qian Qing knew that it was useless to say anything, so he simply stopped asking for trouble.
Soon, the troops were ready. After the 50,000 troops were assembled, they set out towards the tip of the Jiaodong Peninsula.
The navy had been notified and immediately mobilized ships to help transport troops and horses. Bohai is a large bay, with the two ends of the bay very short apart. The tip of the Jiaodong Peninsula is in the south, and the tip of the Liaodong Peninsula is in the north.
The weather was fine and the waves were not high. The navy loaded troops on the Jiaodong Peninsula and then headed for the Liaodong Peninsula. Although it was only a few dozen miles of water, many soldiers were already seasick. They were dizzy on the boat and felt pale and uncomfortable after getting off the boat.
However, the temporary loss of combat capability by such a small number of troops did not affect the progress of the Chinese army. After the troops were reorganized, they continued to move north to attack the Qing stronghold on the Liaodong Peninsula.
After walking for more than 30 miles, they still hadn't reached their destination. Seeing that there were not many people along the way, the troops of the Chinese Army were very surprised.
You have to know that at that time, Shandong had a population of 40 million. To be honest, you might not be able to find a place in Shandong where you can walk 30 miles without seeing any human habitation, even in very poor places like the Yimeng Mountains.
Almost at the same time, Hong Zhou was leading his army to Shengjing. At this time, Hong Zhou had no idea that the Huaxia army had actually launched an attack on the Shengjing court at about the same time. This south and north seemed to have been discussed in advance.
Hong Zhou certainly did not discuss this with Huo Chong. He sent people to test why Huo Chong did not pursue the enemy after the victory. Of course, the reason was to persuade Huo Chong to surrender to the court. Huo Chong's clean and neat refusal did not surprise .
However, the news brought back by the envoy, especially Huo Chong's view on the origin of the Manchus outside the Great Wall, made Hong Zhou very unhappy because he thought Huo Chong was wrong.
For the Manchus, there is only a saying that the area outside the Great Wall is the birthplace of the Manchus. There is no view that the area outside the Great Wall is the Manchus' hometown.
After all, the Manchus also have to maintain their dignity. It has only been less than a hundred years since they entered the Great Wall, so the Manchus are not going to make up a story that the land outside the Great Wall is their homeland.
But Huo Chong pinned such an argument on the Qing Dynasty, which made it impossible for the Qing Dynasty to argue. Because the Qing Dynasty knew that the area outside the Great Wall was the birthplace of the dragon, but it was also unwilling to admit that the area outside the Great Wall was originally owned by the Han people. It was the Qing Dynasty that killed all the Han people outside the Great Wall and then seized the area outside the Great Wall.
If the Manchus said this internally, it would be fine. But the main force under Hong Zhou was Han Chinese, and saying this to Han Chinese would only chill their hearts. Even the most loyal Han Chinese officials, once they heard the Manchus' plan to use the area outside the Great Wall as a retreat, some of them were willing to follow the Qing Dynasty. But more people would choose to leave the Qing Dynasty.
That's why Hong Zhou had to lead his army to attack Uncle Ba even though he knew he was not good at fighting. This was an internal matter of the Bannermen, and it had to be resolved by the Bannermen themselves.
The Qing army had horses, so they could move faster. However, after walking for dozens of miles, not to mention seeing a stronghold, not even a human figure could be seen. Hong Zhou asked his subordinates, this place looked flat, was it still in Mongolian territory, or had entered Manchuria.
The Mongolian leader immediately reported that the army had already entered the Manchurian territory.
Hong Zhou couldn't help but sigh when he heard this. He had come all the way from the northwest to here, and he saw that the mountains in Xi'an were bare and the water was turbid. Compared with the northwest, the plain in front of him was undoubtedly extremely suitable for human survival.
However, this place is extremely desolate. If it were in Shaanxi or Shanxi, there would be at least several towns.
But this was inevitable. In the early years of Emperor Kangxi's reign, many Shandong people went to the outside of the Great Wall to open up land, and Emperor Kangxi immediately issued an order to strictly prohibit it.
When Huo Chong mocked the Qing Dynasty, he said that after the Qing Dynasty killed millions of Han people outside the Great Wall, it shamelessly claimed that the area outside the Great Wall was the homeland of the Manchus.
Hong Zhou always thought Huo Chong was a very cold guy. So this statement was particularly consistent with Hong Zhou's imagination of Huo Chong. This statement was a mixture of truth and falsehood, and it also met the thoughts of the people outside the parties involved. Ask anyone whether the border area is the hometown of the Manchus. Ten out of ten will say yes.
Then Huo Chong's conspiracy succeeded. Huo Chong could easily incite the Han people, saying that the Qing Dynasty killed millions of Han people outside the Great Wall.
Hong Zhou was angry with Huo Chong and his subordinates at the same time. Let's talk about the bannermen first. At this time, no one satisfied Hong Zhou. There was no one who could be entrusted with important tasks.
As for the Han people, haha. In the fourth year of Qianlong's reign, Hong Zhou was going to hold the imperial examination. As a result, except for the candidates from nearby areas such as Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, and Xining, the candidates from other areas, especially those from Jiangnan, were very slow. Not many came.
The reason for this situation is not surprising. Huo Chong ordered the confiscation of all the land of the Qing officials. And it was executed on the territory he seized. Just such intimidation scared the candidates from Jiangnan from taking the imperial examinations. Hong Zhou knew that the Shengjing princes headed by his eighth uncle believed that the Manchus should rule the Han people. Hong Zhou did not agree with this attitude. The lack of Han people coming to take the imperial examinations would only make the Qing Dynasty weaker. The weaker the Qing Dynasty, the fewer talents would come to surrender. So no matter what, the Han people must feel that the Manchu emperor should be the emperor. This is probably the biggest difference between the Xi'an court and the Shengjing court.
Hong Zhou felt very bitter as he thought about the things that he must not tell others. He had only learned some things from his father before, but he didn't know the real reason for doing so.
Now Hong Zhou had to figure out the reason by himself, which was really hard and painful. Besides using all his brainpower to think, he couldn't ask others clearly. He had to accumulate knowledge by himself in the hope that he would figure it out one day.
In such days, Hong Zhou knew that he was wrong. But he didn't know where he was wrong, and he didn't know when he would understand that he could be right. Hong Zhou was surprised when he thought of such days, and even hoped to talk to Huo Chong to see how this big traitor dealt with such hardships.
However, Hong Zhou did not know that Huo Chong did not actually feel any pressure in attacking Shengjing, because Huo Chong's troops were not originally intended to attack Shengjing.
But there were some ideas in the army, for example, someone suggested launching a surprise attack on Shengjing. If it was in Shandong, such a surprise attack would certainly not be sudden, but in the vast and sparsely populated area outside the Great Wall, a surprise attack became very realistic.
However, the members of the Ministry of Rites in the army did not agree with this view that made the commander excited. Since all members of the Ministry of Rites disagreed, the commander of this operation was also very unhappy.
However, the members of the Ministry of Rites were neither happy nor afraid of this. What these children from farming families cared about was whether the follow-up teams could open up new villages and towns on the Jiaodong Peninsula and allow the people of Shandong to move to the Jiaodong Peninsula to live.
The commander thought this was a reasonable idea. After all, Shandong has a large population and little land, and the nearby Jiaodong Peninsula is so empty.
But the Ministry of Rites was not only composed of children from farming families, there were also guys from the literati family of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
This guy first told everyone about Shengjing. Shengjing was the capital of the Qing Dynasty (Later Jin) from 1625 to 1644, and the secondary capital from 1644 to 1912. In a broad sense, the Shengjing area also includes the entire Northeast region including the three provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang today.
In the tenth year of Tianming (1625), Nurhaci, the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty, moved the capital from Liaoyang to Zhongwei, Shenyang, and started to build the imperial palace in Shenyang. Shenyang ushered in a historic turning point, from a military garrison to the Shengjing Imperial City, one of the two capitals of the Qing Dynasty, and gradually developed into a central city in Northeast China.
In the eighth year of Tiancong (1634), Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty, Huang Taiji, honored Shenyang as "Shengjing". In the first year of Chongde (1636), the Han, Manchu and Mongolian peoples jointly presented a petition for the emperor's ascension to the throne. Huang Taiji proclaimed himself emperor in Shengjing (Shenyang) and changed the country's name to Qing.
After the Qing Dynasty moved its capital to Beijing in the first year of Shunzhi (1644), Shengjing became the capital. In the thirteenth year of Shunzhi (1657), the Qing Dynasty established Fengtian Prefecture in Shengjing City with the meaning of "following the will of heaven", so Shenyang was also called "Fengtian".
After talking about history, this guy said that there was no special reason to attack Shengjing from a military perspective. If Shanhaiguan could not be controlled, Shengjing would be just a center that could be attacked at any time.
Compared with Shengjing, what Huo Chong said before the battle was told to the troops and the people, so that everyone would understand the cruelty of the Qing Dynasty. Once they immigrated, they would rely on more efficient paramilitary organizations to prevent the Qing Dynasty's massacre.
The commander was shocked when he heard this. He never thought that such a guy could make a simple and straightforward matter so complicated.
Moreover, the conclusion was to use armed farming, which added too much trouble to the troops.
But this damned member of the Ministry of Rites, who was born as a scholar, was approved by other members of the Ministry of Rites. Those members of the Ministry of Rites, who were born as farmers, not only fully agreed with the armed farming, but also did not care about the commander of the army. They also believed that the propaganda that the Qing Dynasty would massacre the people outside the Great Wall was true. They believed that such propaganda could make everyone recognize the true face of the Qing Dynasty.
The commander was even more unhappy. Are there any rules or disciplines left?
So the army became a subordinate of the Ministry of Rites? Whatever the Ministry of Rites wanted to do, the army had to obey?
But the commander understood that these members of the Ministry of Rites were all chosen by the people, and he must not let these bastards go to Huo Chong to complain. He could only tolerate their current bastard words and deeds for now. He would find an opportunity to explain it to Huo Chong later.
There are many people who think this way, not only outside the Great Wall, but also in Jiangnan.
Hu Yue listened to his subordinates telling him about how Yu Qian led his troops to attack Fuzhou recently. They were ambushed by the Qing army many times along the way and also clashed with local bandits in Fujian. In short, Yu Qian suffered a lot of losses.
After listening to this, Hu Yue said nothing. Although he has a nickname of "nonsense", it does not mean that Hu Yue thinks he has to take advantage of others.
I don't know what these guys are thinking. They seem to think Huo Chong is a weakling who can be manipulated by his subordinates. Hu Yue and even Lei Hu are powerful officials who can influence Huo Chong.
Seeing that Hu Yue didn't say a word, the subordinates tried to test him: "Commander Hu, Yu Qian and his men are not good at fighting! Commander Hu, can you send someone to give them some advice? Don't embarrass Yu Qian and the emperor."
The subordinate's words further confirmed Hu Yue's belief in his subordinate. Huo Chong would not only not let anyone take away his authority, but would also try his best to expand his authority. Now Yu Qian looked like Huo Chong's disciple, but in fact, Yu Qian represented another young force. Huo Chong wanted to let this force come to the fore.
As for Yu Qian’s one or two failures…haha, Hu Yue couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
The subordinates were a little puzzled, "Why is Commander Hu laughing?"
Hu Yue sighed, "I don't know whether you really don't understand or are just pretending not to understand. This is the first time our people have entered Fujian. Just reading Yu Qian's battle report has given me a lot of feelings about Fujian. Sending people to instruct Yu Qian, haha, if we fight Fujian, I'm afraid we will be worse than Yu Qian!"
Seeing that Hu Yue had no intention of intervening, the subordinates could not help but persuade him a few more times. However, Hu Yue did not want to cause any more trouble and just expressed his optimism for Yu Qian.
After his subordinates left, Hu Yue showed an unhappy look. How dare these guys be so bold! They dared to directly point fingers at Huo Chong's decision. They are really asking for trouble!
For a moment, Hu Yue was a little embarrassed. After all, these people were his subordinates, and he couldn't be too harsh on them. But he couldn't not give them a warning. While thinking about it, he forgot the core of the matter, that is, whether the Ministry of Rites Branch led by Yu Qian, the head of the Sixth Division of the Ministry of Rites, could successfully capture Fuzhou.
At this time, Yu Qian was attacking Fuzhou. The reason why Fuzhou was attacked instead of Guangzhou was not simply because of the distance between the two places. Although there was an ancient road leading to Fuzhou, there was also an ancient road leading to Guangdong.
The reason for attacking Fuzhou was simply because there was a Manchu city in Fuzhou. There were Manchu military units in Guangzhou, but no formal Manchu city.
The Chinese army followed the plan and made preparations. A group of members who applied to join the Ministry of Rites were called together. Since Qian and other members of the Ministry of Rites welcomed these people, they became members of the Ministry of Rites according to the "Fireline Entry" rule of the Ministry of Rites.
Before these people could get overjoyed, Yu Qian quickly emphasized, "You are all brave in combat and can use military skills effectively. You dare to fight and you can fight. Joining the Ministry of Rites requires everyone to at least use what they have learned. It is definitely not for everyone to act like masters and command soldiers at will."
"Branch chief, you have said it many times. Of course we know why we should join the Ministry of Rites. Joining the Ministry of Rites is to prevent others from bullying us!" The new members of the Ministry of Rites immediately expressed their opinions.
Yu Qian also knew that the Ministry of Rites was not a one-time deal, and it was not like a carp leaping over the dragon gate and then turning into a dragon and that was it.
The members of the Ministry of Rites will have more assessments, more study sessions, life sessions, etc. Whether they are really as they say, there is plenty of time and opportunity to verify.
So the members of the Ministry of Rites began to take the oath, and after the oath, Yu Qian began to prepare for the final battle.
The Fuzhou general in the city was like an ant on a hot pot. It was a bit inappropriate to set up the Qing Dynasty in Fuzhou, but it had to be done this way. Unexpectedly, this time it pushed the Fuzhou general into a desperate situation.
In the first year of Longwu (1645), Zhu Youjian, the King of Tang in the Ming Dynasty, established his capital in Fuzhou and proclaimed himself emperor, changing the reign title to Longwu. In the second year of Longwu (1646), the Qing army defeated the Longwu regime and captured Fuzhou. In the early Qing Dynasty, the Qing army and Zheng Chenggong fought a seesaw battle in Fuzhou. From the 13th year of Kangxi (1674) to the 15th year of Kangxi (1676), Geng Jingzhong again took Fuzhou and rebelled against the Qing. The turbulent situation led the Qing government to implement a maritime ban and relocation policy, forcing coastal residents of Fuzhou to move inland, which severely damaged the social economy of coastal Fuzhou. It was not until the 23rd year of Kangxi (1684) that the relocation policy was cancelled.
That is why the Qing Dynasty felt that Fuzhou must not be relaxed and must be treated as a priority.
Seeing that the people outside the city were all Chinese soldiers, the Fuzhou general could only mobilize his troops to fight. Of course, with the two or three thousand people in Fuzhou, it was not realistic to fight against the five thousand Chinese soldiers outside Fuzhou. The only realistic method was to defend the city.
The general's subordinates asked, "Sir, I heard that the rebels are very good at fighting, but I don't know how they are good at fighting?"
The Fuzhou general actually didn't understand it either. He could only perfunctorily say, "I heard that the rebels' firearms are very powerful."
"Firearms are powerful, so we should use close combat. We must not let the rebels have any chance to use their power!"
