October 15, the 24th year of Chongzhen, Hetuala.
Although nearly two months had passed since the capital was moved, Fulin was still not used to it in many ways.
He was neither adapted to the environment here nor very dissatisfied with the existing conditions.
"I am so disappointed that the capital of the Qing Dynasty is located in this poor and barren land." Fulin said without turning his head while standing on the city wall.
Dorgon smiled and said, "Your Majesty, please bear with me for a while. I will be able to do it after we counterattack Shenyang."
"Counterattack Shenyang?" Fulin smiled bitterly: "The Qing Dynasty is short of food now. Let's get enough food for the soldiers to survive this spring."
"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I'm already making preparations."
"Oh?" Fulin turned around and stared into Dorgon's eyes: "Uncle, please tell me what preparations you have made?"
"I sent someone to inform Korea and asked the King of Korea to immediately arrange for people to transport grain to the Qing Dynasty."
"They may not obey orders, right?" Fulin was a little helpless.
Koreans fear power but not virtue.
The reason they were able to submit to the Qing Dynasty was because they were frightened by the Eight Banners Army.
Now that the Ming army is at the gates of the city, the Eight Banners soldiers can barely protect themselves, let alone deal with the Koreans.
Without the threat of force, North Korea would never obey the Qing Dynasty as it did before.
"Your Majesty, rest assured. Everything is under my control." Dorgon said, "The King of Korea and the high officials in the court have hostages in the Qing Dynasty. They will not tear each other apart unless it is absolutely necessary."
"What if?" Fulin raised his head.
“Even if we fall out, I can send troops to Korea this winter and defeat them by force again,” Dorgon replied.
"The main force of the Ming army is in Shenyang. If we send troops to Korea now, aren't we afraid that the Ming army will take advantage of the opportunity to attack?"
"Haha!" Dorgon laughed loudly: "The Ming army has penetrated hundreds of miles into Liaodong. If they leave Shenyang and continue to advance eastward, Yizhou, Guangning and Kaiyuan behind them will be short of troops. At that time, the Eight Banners soldiers only need to..."
"Uncle!" Fulin looked at Dorgon with a complicated look: "Don't cut off the Ming army's retreat. In the past, you always wanted to cut off the Ming army's retreat, but not only did you lose soldiers and generals, you were also forced to abandon Shengjing."
Dorgon immediately stopped smiling, his face filled with embarrassment.
Previously, he wanted to cut off the Ming army's retreat, but ended up being almost surrounded by the Ming army again.
If Wu Sangui had not leaked the secret to him in advance, his entire army would probably have been wiped out.
"The Ming army has not yet established a firm foothold and it is already winter, making it difficult for infantry to march. Therefore, I conclude that the Ming army would not dare to launch an offensive this winter. Even if the Ming army really launched an attack, I would be able to get the news at the first time and return to provide support immediately," Dorgon explained.
"Well," Fulin nodded and said, "North Korea is not rich in food. The food they can provide is not much, not enough for us to survive this winter."
"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I have another solution." Dorgon smiled mysteriously, "Before moving the capital, I sent people to follow the smuggling merchant ship to Fujian. If nothing goes wrong, we will be able to return to Liaodong soon with a cargo ship full of grain."
"I hope so!" Fulin breathed a sigh of relief and continued to ask, "Is there any new news from the Ming court recently?"
“Yes, there is,” Dorgon scratched the back of his head, “This incident had a huge impact within the Ming court, but it had almost no impact on the Ming army in Liaodong.”
"What's up?"
“There was news from within the Ming court that when the Eight Banners entered the pass and plundered in the first year of our dynasty, Duke Yansheng surrendered to the Qing Dynasty and donated millions of taels of silver to the Qing Dynasty,” Dorgon said with a smile.
"Is this true?" Fulin looked at Dorgon.
"Of course not," Dorgon shook his head and denied, "Yanshenggong is the Yanshenggong of the Ming court. He will not pay tribute to the Qing Dynasty, nor will he provide financial support to the Qing Dynasty."
Fulin nodded. Although he showed an expression of belief on his face, he began to doubt in his heart.
He suspected that Dorgon had accepted the silver from Duke Yansheng but had not reported it to the court.
The king and his minister chatted for a while, then left with their own thoughts.
In Shenyang City, more than 200 miles away, Wang Yongji was discussing the battle plan after the spring with the generals of various departments.
The Jiannu have moved their capital.
If you want to attack Hetuala, you must first pass through Sarhu.
The most critical problem in attacking Sarhu was...the unfamiliarity with the terrain.
To win a battle, the right time, right place and right people are all essential.
We cannot control the weather, we can only wait.
Although the Ming army seemed to be harmonious, there were actually conflicts among them.
Not to mention the terrain problem.
The Ming army had not set foot in Fushun City for decades.
There are large areas of mountains and forests to the east of Fushun City. The Ming army could only understand the approximate locations of rivers, mountains and jungles based on previous information.
Details are unknown.
In theory, we can go to the mountains to find the mountain people and learn about the situation from them.
But when the Jiannu left Shenyang, they not only relocated all the people in the city, but also took away or directly killed all the mountain hunters along the way.
This deprived the Ming army of the few opportunities it had to understand the terrain.
And the most crucial point.
Should we divide our troops when attacking Sarhu?
During the Battle of Sarhu in the 47th year of Wanli, Yang Hao, the then governor of Liaodong, chose to divide his troops and encircle Sarhu.
Yang Hao, courtesy name Jingfu, was from Guide Prefecture (now Shangqiu), Henan Province.
He became a Jinshi in the eighth year of Wanli.
In the 20th year of Wanli's reign, he trained troops in Yongping and was in charge of military farming and horse management affairs.
Three years later, he was appointed as the military supervisor of Liaodong. He fought against the then Liaodong general Dong Yiyuan, making the Liaodong Mongols unable to raise their heads.
The following year he was promoted again for his contributions in farming.
In the 25th year of Wanli's reign, he was appointed You Censor-in-Chief and went to Korea to be in charge of military affairs to aid Korea.
In the first month of the following year, the Ming army under his command "failed to achieve full success" in the Battle of Ulsan.
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