Chapter 2498
Although Chongzhen admitted defeat, completing the transfer of power between the two countries was not something that could be accomplished overnight.
Haihan was militarily well prepared to compete in the Central Plains, but he was far from fully prepared in terms of human resources for governing such a vast country. Many places still need to maintain the existing governance system for a period of time. The most Haihan can do is to replace the yamen with a sign.
People in some inland and remote areas may not realize that the ruler of the world has been replaced by someone else until two or three years or even longer.
However, after the results of the Dagukou peace talks were reported back to Haihan, they still caused a great sensation. For a country that was only established more than 20 years ago, replacing the Ming Dynasty is simply an elusive goal. Even many people who have joined the Haihan nationality still regard the Ming Dynasty as orthodox. But when this day came, everyone found that achieving the goal was much easier than imagined.
The war had only been fought for a few months, but the Ming Dynasty actually surrendered. This was much faster than the three to five years of hard work the Executive Committee said during the pre-war mobilization to prepare for a hard fight. The Emperor of Ming Dynasty has issued an edict to the world not to take any more hostile actions against Haihan, and he is expected to officially abdicate soon.
But the actions of the Haihan Army did not stop there. As Tao Donglai said, since the Ming Dynasty was at peace, there was no need for the Manchu Qing Dynasty to exist.
Tens of thousands of Haihan troops were immediately transported to the northern part of Liaodong Bay and landed, and then advanced north to launch an offensive against the Manchus.
The Ming army guarding Shenyang City had received Chongzhen's imperial edict at this time, and opened the city to welcome the Haihan army. Yan Chujie, who commanded this battle, set up the frontline headquarters in the city.
Tao Donglai invited Chongzhen to watch the battle in Liaodong as promised. At this time, Chongzhen had nothing to worry about, so he once again came to Dagukou from the capital, and then took a boat to Liaodong with Tao Donglai.
Haihan's latest sail ironclad made Chongzhen quickly understand why the Ming Navy was unable to fight back. The tonnage of this kind of warship is eight times that of the largest Fuchuan in the Ming Dynasty. Both its firepower output and sea speed are far beyond the reach of Fuchuan, and a fight can only be a one-sided situation.
After they landed at Gaizhouwei, they took a car prepared in advance and rushed to Shenyang along the official road. Chongzhen was very curious about this kind of transportation that did not require animal power. Upon seeing this, Tao Donglai said that after the Northeast was pacified, he would send him a car as a means of transportation.
Although the Manchu Qing Dynasty was weak at this time and retreated to the north of Shenyang, its territory was not small. It basically took over the jurisdiction of the former Nuergandusi, heading north to the northern part of Sakhalin Island. The distance from Liaodong Peninsula to the northern end of its territory is almost the same as the distance from Sanya to Jinzhou.
These areas are sparsely populated and lack infrastructure. If large forces are to be assembled for combat, both transportation and supplies will become a big problem. A combat method that relies heavily on later stages, such as the Haihan Army, is not suitable for this special environment.
Even if the Haihan Army has a complete advantage in terms of strength, it is actually unrealistic to completely wipe out the Manchu forces. Therefore, the goal set by Haihan was not to slaughter the Jurchen clan, but to completely surrender the Manchu Qing Dynasty and become one of Haihan's vassal states.
Since the Manchu and Qing Dynasties signed the Golden State Agreement with Haihan in 1639, they have opened trade to Haihan. Over the years, under Haihan's deliberate management, it has basically become the only foreign trade channel for the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, and the Manchu Qing's dependence on this has become increasingly obvious.
Indispensable supplies such as salt, iron, tea, sugar, and cigarettes must be provided by Haihan. When times are bad, they even have to ask Haihan for food to tide them over.
Dorgon, the regent of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, had passed away a few years ago. Shunzhi, who is now in power, was only sixteen years old. When he came to the throne at the age of six, the Manchu Qing Dynasty had already ceased war with Haihan. And his understanding of Haihan is that "Haihan's army is extremely ferocious and invincible", and it is difficult to think of Haihan as his main opponent.
When Haihan went to war with the Manchus last year, there were still people around Shunzhi who were ready to make a move, thinking that this was a good opportunity to flank the Ming Dynasty. But instead of waiting for the right time to attack, the Manchu and Qing Dynasties waited for tens of thousands of naval and Han troops who suddenly appeared in the direction of Liaodong. Haihan asked Manchu merchants to bring back the news, requiring the Qing court to surrender unconditionally, downgrade to a vassal status, and surrender to Haihan, otherwise it would be an all-out war. Of course, as a necessary measure before the war, all trade activities between the two countries have been stopped by Haihan, and no more supplies will be transported from the south to the Qing Dynasty in the near future.
At the same time as this news came back, there was another news that could not be said to be good or bad - the Ming Dynasty had ceased war with Haihan, and Emperor Chongzhen personally asked for his surrender.
It is naturally a happy thing to see an old rival suffer misfortune, but with the Ming Dynasty gone, Haihan can free up his hands to deal with the Manchu Qing Dynasty with all his strength, which is hard to laugh about.
The young Emperor Shunzhi did not want to provoke such a powerful opponent, not to mention that the Ming Dynasty had been defeated. Could the Manchu Qing survive?
However, there were also some ruthless people in the Manchu and Qing court who liked to take advantage of others, so the two armies finally had a head-on confrontation on the plains three hundred miles north of Shenyang.
Of course, there was no suspense about the outcome of the battle. The Manchu Qing lost more than 20,000 soldiers in this battle, while the opponent Haihan's casualty rate was only about one percent.
It is worth mentioning that at this time, the Qing army also had a large number of muskets and artillery installed, but it was still unable to fight back when facing the Haihan army with more advanced weapons and equipment.
Chongzhen, who was on the front line in person, witnessed the entire battle between the two armies. This time he was really convinced. The Haihan Army's combat effectiveness, which was said to be the best in the world, was not just a boast. It killed the enemy at an unimaginable speed. Chongzhen was also somewhat grateful that his previous decision was not wrong, otherwise it would be unimaginable to imagine the tragic consequences.
Almost all the militants on the Manchu and Qing side were exhausted in this decisive battle. There were only two ways left for Shunzhi. Either to lead the people to flee north to a bitter and cold place beyond the reach of the Haihan army; Then he decisively begged for surrender so that the Manchu tribe could continue to live in their hometown.
Shunzhi finally chose the latter.
Half a month later, the surrender ceremony was held in Shenyang, the former capital of the Qing Dynasty. Chongzhen did not leave and return to Beijing immediately after the war, but chose to stay and watch this scene.
The Ming Dynasty and the Manchu Qing Dynasty had been fighting for decades, but this was the first time that the rulers of both sides met. But the irony is that both sides are kings of subjugation. The only winner here is Haihan, and they are just foils.
After signing the letter of surrender, the young Shunzhi felt relieved, but Chongzhen, who witnessed this historic scene, felt lost.
Two countries that had existed for less than twenty years and two countries with a history of more than two hundred years came to an end in the same year.
(End of chapter)