"Xuanfu?" Dorgon spread out the map on the table and looked at it carefully.
The other flag owners also came closer to take a look.
After a while, everyone returned to their original seats.
"Li Zicheng wants to do what Zhu Yuanzhang did and build high walls and store up grain?" Haoge raised his eyebrows, still with that disdainful expression on his face.
Dorgon glanced at him and ignored him, instead he said to the guards outside the door: "Come here, please ask Mr. Fan to come in for a discussion."
After hearing Fan Wencheng's name, Duoduo's face suddenly became stiff.
The others also looked at Duoduo with mocking eyes.
The reason was simple: last October, Duoduo forcibly seized Fan Wencheng's concubine, and was severely punished when Dorgon found out.
In fact, according to the internal rules of the Eight Banners, it is natural for the banner leaders to enjoy the wives and concubines of their subjects (don’t say anything that is not conducive to unity). No matter how high Fan Wencheng’s official rank was, he still had to kneel when he saw his master (Fan Wencheng was under Duoduo’s Zhengbai Banner at the time).
However, most flag owners would not do such a thing, but Duoduo only loved war and women in his life. When he saw that Fan Wencheng's concubine was beautiful, he got carried away and snatched her away.
Three months after the incident, Fan Wencheng's concubine was sent back. Although she was badly tortured, she finally came back (this paragraph was forced to be modified).
But Duoduo was miserable. He was fined ten thousand taels of silver for a woman, and one third of his Niulu were divided into the Bordered White Banner of Dorgon.
Afterwards, Dorgon and Dodo changed the flag's color, from the original fifth-ranked Bordered White Banner to the third-ranked Plain White Banner, second only to Fulin's Plain Yellow and Bordered Yellow Banners.
Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility that this was a self-torture trick staged by Fan Wencheng and Dorgon!
Although no one laughed out loud, Duoduo couldn't stand it anymore. He stood up and was about to leave, but after seeing Dorgon's deep eyes, he sat back down in a sullen manner.
Soon, Fan Wencheng arrived at the Hall of Ten Kings.
Although Huang Taiji was dead, Dorgon and other princes and beiles still respected Fan Wencheng. Especially Dorgon, he stood up and welcomed Fan Wencheng in.
After the greetings, Dorgon handed the letter to him, and only asked him after he had finished reading it, "What do you think, Mr. Fan?"
Fan Wencheng thought for a long time, and just when Duoduo was about to explode, he spoke.
"My Lords, Beile, I am not surprised at who Zhu Youjian killed, but I didn't expect him to kill the merchants from Shan and Shaanxi who helped us transport supplies and pass on information. This is really strange!"
The others nodded.
After all, this line has been in operation for 20 to 30 years. It is indeed a bit abnormal that it was suddenly cut off without any warning.
Dorgon asked: "Should we notify those merchants in Xuanfu to evacuate temporarily? After all, they have served the Qing Dynasty for many years and are meritorious officials of the Qing Dynasty!" (In 1636, Huang Taiji proclaimed himself emperor and changed the country's name to Qing)
Dorgon did not really care about the lives of those people. There were three reasons for this.
First, we will have to rely on those merchants to transport supplies in the future and we cannot abandon them easily.
The second is to continue to win over other Han people to work for him. Only the Han people themselves understand the Han people. If he wants to compete for the Central Plains and unify the world, he must rely on the power of the Han people.
Third, the Shan and Shaanxi merchants in Xuanfu controlled a large amount of wealth, which could not fall into the hands of the Ming court.
Fan Wencheng didn't say anything, but fell into deep thought.
After a long while, under the gaze of everyone, he asked: "Do you have a map?"
"Mr. Fan, please look here!" Dorgon lifted the silk cloth on the wall, and a huge map appeared.
Fan Wencheng took the long stick handed over by Dorgon and said slowly: "I have three strategies: good, medium and bad. I hope you will listen to my detailed explanation."
Dorgon and Jirgalang looked at each other, and led the others to bow and salute: "I hope you can give me some advice, sir."
Fan Wencheng cleared his throat and pointed to Beijing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and said, "Although Li Zicheng was defeated, the Ming court also paid a huge price to deal with Li Zicheng. Now is the time to revive everything!"
"Our army can take advantage of the situation to break through the Great Wall and go south to surround Beijing! Just like the siege of Jinzhou back then, we can surround it but not attack, and attack the reinforcements instead!"
"At the same time, send troops to feint at Shanhaiguan to contain Wu Sangui. It will only take two or three months, and when the food is gone, Zhu Youjian will surrender without a fight!"
"This is the worst option!"
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment after hearing this... This strategy was too risky.
Wu Sangui had 50,000 soldiers and horses. Even if the Eight Banners were very powerful, they would have to divide their troops into 30,000 or 40,000 to fight back.
If you want to implement a strategy of besieging Beijing without attacking it, you need a huge force! The eight banners of the Qing Dynasty plus the eight banners of the Khan and Mongolia only have a total of 130,000 or 140,000 soldiers (combat soldiers), which is not enough!
Even if Beijing was captured, the price to be paid would be huge. The Crown Prince of Ming was in Nanjing, and there were Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng outside. In the struggle between Ming and Qing, the bandits would really benefit!
But they only questioned, not denied, because the greater the risk, the greater the reward.
Seeing everyone's questioning eyes, Fan Wencheng smiled faintly and pointed the stick in his hand at Shanhaiguan: "Besieging Beijing is indeed very risky, but you can replace Beijing with Shanhaiguan!"
Dorgon and Jirgalang's eyes suddenly lit up.
This is how Wu Sangui's uncle Zu Dashou surrendered. If Wu Sangui had also surrendered, the Qing Dynasty's advantage would have been obvious.
But by the same token, besieging Shanhaiguan was equally risky.
Fan Wencheng continued, "Second, we should follow the example of Zhu Yuanzhang and build high walls and store up grain outside the Great Wall, so that the Ming court and Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong will fight each other. When both sides are defeated, our army will immediately march south to establish the capital in the Central Plains!"
"This is the strategy!"
"In August of the third year of Chongde (the eleventh year of Chongzhen), Li Zicheng was defeated at Tongguan. Upon learning of this, Emperor Taizong immediately led his troops into the pass, forcing the main force of the Ming court to return to Beijing for support, giving him a chance to catch his breath."
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
