Chapter 167: The funeral of the two emperors (Part 1)
By early February of the seventh year of Chongzhen, there were only more than 20 Niu Lu of the Two White Banners soldiers and horses still stranded in Huaibei, taking orders from Dorgon. And most of them have lost a lot of people. Only the five Niulu led by his uncle Abtai are relatively complete, because these people are the direct soldiers of the old Khan Nurhaci. They once had a respected status, but when Huang Taiji After taking power, he was suppressed, so he naturally hated Huang Taiji deeply.
In addition, the miscellaneous Han troops who were originally stranded in Xuzhou also responded to the call of Emperor Chongde of the Qing Dynasty and crossed the Yangtze River in hundreds to divide their fields. Dorgon couldn't stop him even if he wanted to - the ones who were sent to intercept Most of the Eight Banners soldiers also went to Jiangnan to make a fortune!
There is no way, as the saying goes, people die for money and birds die for food. Regardless of whether they are Manchus or Han people, who doesn’t want to go to Jiangnan and other wonderful places to enjoy the blessings?
Seeing that the strength at hand shrank sharply, Dorgon himself became more and more guilty, and even retreated.
However, Dorgon also knew that he was playing too much this time, and he actually took advantage of Huang Taiji's critical moment to conserve his strength and sit on the mountain to watch the fight between tigers and tigers! Even if he knelt down in front of Huang Taiji now and cried bitterly and repented, and asked for forgiveness, I'm afraid he wouldn't get any good results from him.
Although Huang Taiji’s recent imperial edict from Jiangnan is very nice, claiming that as long as Dorgon realizes his return and is willing to come to Jiangnan with two white flags, everything will be forgotten. Houses, gold and silver, fields and Jiangnan beauties will all be available. . However, Dorgon is also a smart king who is famous for his developed mind, and he knows that his good brother Huang Taiji will never spare him this time! Thinking of Mang Gurtai, whose entire family died tragically, and Amin, who was imprisoned until death, Dorgon felt that if he had listened to Bago's sweet words and foolishly headed south rashly, he would have ended up even worse than them.
But the problem is that most of Dorgon's subordinates are generally unwilling to follow his path to the end. First of all, of course, it is the huge temptation of Jiangnan beauties, farms and treasures. Those colleagues who have benefited from Jiangnan have sent news one after another, saying how luxurious and beautiful the pavilions and pavilions in the homes of Jiangnan rich people are, which makes them greedy; secondly, there are so many Ergon's strength can no longer compete with Huang Taiji, and he will definitely lose if they fight. Therefore, these people all admonished Dorgon one after another, hoping that for the sake of everyone's prosperity and wealth, it would be better for him to go south and admit his mistakes to the emperor.
Within the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty, a military robbery group, as the leader, he had to think about the prosperity of his subordinates. If you insist on going against the will of everyone, the result will definitely be betrayal and separation. Compared with the character of Huang Taiji who went south to gamble, the risk of holding on to the end in Huaibei is not small at all!
Therefore, Dorgon discussed with Dodo and Abtai for a long time, but still couldn't make up his mind. In the end, he had to continue to endure the day, and at the same time hoped that Huang Taiji would be dazzled by the beauties from Jiangnan, break his waist from exhaustion, or let Jiangnan's The civil uprising held them back, and they couldn't care about the mess on their side for the time being.
Unfortunately, this is purely Dorgon's wishful thinking. As a majestic and unparalleled hero, how could Huang Taiji be the kind of person who indulges in wine and sex?
On the other hand, it is true that since the regretful Jiangnan Jin gentry learned that the "Qing royal division" wanted both their money and their lives, the prefectures and counties that had not been captured by the Qing army or had nominally surrendered began to "compete" "Raising troops as a recovery plan", there were scholars and gentry everywhere organizing rebel armies and setting off a vigorous anti-Qing movement. Many of them were suppressed before they even had time to rally their troops. But some people actually succeeded in raising an army.
For example, Fushe scholars Chen Zilong, Xia Yunyi and others, after escaping from Huqiu in Suzhou, recruited troops to fight against the Qing Dynasty in Songjiang Prefecture. Within a few days, they gathered more than a thousand people, set up a statue of Taizu of the Ming Dynasty to swear an uprising, and the military slogan was "Zhenwu". ", in an attempt to counterattack Suzhou and rescue the local people. However, although there were more than a thousand volunteers gathered by Chen Zilong and Xia Yunyi, they had nothing to do with their pay and food, and most of them were refugee fishermen. They were untrained and did not know discipline, so they were very useless. The leading scholars also knew nothing about military affairs, and had not even organized group fights in the countryside. As a result, this impressively named "Zhenwu Army" was dashed away by a small group of Eight Banners cavalry before it even reached the Suzhou city walls. It was left dead and wounded, with Chen Zilong and other principals only being spared their lives.
Except for the "Zhenwu Army" of Songjiang Chen Zilong and Xia Yunyi, which was on the verge of collapse, the rebels who emerged from other places in the south of the Yangtze River, because they were all a mob, either cowered, or swirled and died, or even died. Some of them blew up their own camps and collapsed. In Huang Taiji's view, these losers and cowards did not pose any real threat to the Qing cavalry. At most, it was just the difference between being strangled to death one day earlier or one day later.
Therefore, after the capture of Suzhou, although many Han officials came to remonstrate, they hoped that the Qing army would not turn around and go north, but continue to sweep Songjiang, Huzhou and Jiaxing, thereby taking over all of Jiangnan. In addition, Turge, a general with a white flag, led his three Niulu troops to attack Jiangyin County and failed, so he had to cry bitterly and ask Huang Taiji for help. However, Huang Taiji still insisted on resolving the internal conflicts within the Eight Banners first, and was determined to defeat Dorgon first!
On the third day of February in the seventh year of Chongzhen, after regrouping the various Qing troops who had participated in the massacre in Suzhou, and having generally healed the arrow wound on his right shoulder, Huang Taiji left Fushui Villa, drove out, and ordered the entire army to return Zhenjiang, once again preparing to cross the river and head north. At the same time, Huang Taiji issued an ultimatum to Dorgon, asking him to either cross the Yangtze River quickly and kneel in front of his horse's hooves and bear the thorns to plead guilty. Then Huang Taiji guaranteed that he could forget the past and everyone would still be good brothers in the future; The brothers fight each other based on their own abilities, and from then on, each of them has his or her own destiny to win or lose!
When the news reached Huaibei, the two white flags still stranded there were immediately shocked. Although no one dares to attack Dorgon directly yet, many people have begun to collude secretly. Be prepared to abandon the dark side and turn to the light as soon as you see the emperor's chariot. And Dorgon also had to face a terrible multiple-choice question: should he surrender and hand over his life to others, or should he fight a desperate battle that is bound to lose?
But not long after, Dorgon was very surprised to find that he didn't seem to have to do multiple-choice questions for the time being.
Because Huang Taiji's chariot will never appear in front of him again.
To be precise, Huang Taiji, the Chongde Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, died suddenly before he set out to cross the river from Zhenjiang Prefecture to the north!
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——In the middle of the night on the fifth day of February in the seventh year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongde of the Qing Dynasty Huang Taiji died suddenly while sitting upright in his sleeping tent in the imperial camp in Zhenjiang. He was forty-three years old. It is said that the cause of death was cerebral hemorrhage or myocardial infarction: Huang Taiji had been obese since he was a child, had an unhealthy diet, suffered from severe high blood pressure, and often had nosebleeds. His first class was several bowls, so that Huang Taiji, who had been fighting all year round, had to use a bowl on his horse. Collect blood while continuing to direct the battle...
Over the past year or so, the Qing Empire first went from dormancy to its peak, then fell from the peak to the abyss, and then climbed out of the abyss with difficulty. The ups and downs of its national destiny were as thrilling as a roller coaster. Huang Taiji, who was already in poor health, couldn't help but feel physically and mentally exhausted, especially during the Nanjing War where the fate of the country was at stake. He almost collapsed, but he managed to hold on with all his strength. Therefore, without Huang Taiji realizing it, he had burned out his own vitality. As long as a small inducement was needed, he could die peacefully.
In short, no matter what, Huang Taiji, the Chongde Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, died suddenly and without warning in the Zhenjiang military camp on the eve of preparing to cross the river to the north.
For a time, the Qing army in the south of the Yangtze River was in chaos and was no longer able to go north to fight. Who would inherit the throne became a big problem.
At this time, Huang Taiji had three sons still alive. The eldest son Hauge was twenty-six years old, the second son Ye Keshu was eight years old, and the youngest son Shuo Sai was seven years old. As for Fulin, the Shunzhi Emperor in another time and space history, it was not yet available. born. Among them, the two younger sons, Ye Keshu and Shuosei, were not only young, but their biological mothers had a relatively humble status. According to the traditional rules of the Jurchens, they had no inheritance rights. Based on this calculation, it seems to be a matter of course that Hauge, the eldest son, will inherit the throne. But the problem is that the father-son relationship between Hauge and Huang Taiji is not very good, so Huang Taiji has never considered handing the throne to him, and naturally he will not pave the way for him. And Hauge himself has a rough temper and limited talents, and cannot convince the powerful officials.
On the other hand, if ranked by eldest brother, then it seems that the throne should be given to Dorgon! After all, everyone still remembers that when Nurhachi died of illness, he wanted Dorgon to ascend the throne, but Huang Taiji turned the table and intercepted him.
What's even more terrible is that the several Mongolian concubines who really controlled Huang Taiji's court: Queen Zhezhe, Hai Lanzhu, Dayu'er and others did not give birth to sons, and they had a bad relationship with Hauge. On the contrary, there seems to be some vague feelings between Dayu'er and Dorgon, the brother-in-law... So it is still unclear who the women left by Huang Taiji will turn to in this battle for the throne. It's hard to say.
What's more, after the Qing Empire completely lost its homeland of Liaodong, the Han people who joined this system began to have more and more say.
As various forces were involved in this huge whirlpool, the future and destiny of the Qing Empire became increasingly unclear and unpredictable.
As a result, the Qing Empire, which had just been forced to stop its decline by Huang Taiji with the military miracle of conquering Jiangnan and the rich harvest of looting the gentry in Jiangnan, once again became unpredictable and precarious, and fell into a complicated and unspeakable undercurrent. middle.
On the other side, just a few days after the death of Huang Taiji Longyu, the Chongde Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, his old rival who became the Nine-Five Master at almost the same time also entered his life in a miserable and decadent atmosphere. The last moment... - On February 9th, Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youjian, entered his final moments in Chizhou Prefecture, South Zhili, at the age of only twenty-four.