I

Li Zicheng's troops consisted of five battalions, front, back, left, middle, and right. He only took three of them to Beijing.

The rest of the troops were thrown in Shanxi and Henan.

In addition, there are also many Ming border troops who, after surrendering to Li Zicheng, stationed in Xuanfu, Datong, Miyun and other places.

Li Zicheng took the initiative to evacuate from Beizhili, and wanted to leave this foodless land to the Manchu Qing to clean up the mess. On the other hand, he returned to Shanxi, so that he could manage Shanxi and Henan, and eat up all of Shaanxi by the way.

Then, Li Zicheng misunderstood Man Qing's reaction.

After Huang Taiji entered the customs and occupied Beijing, he immediately wooed the gentry, reused Han officials, and paid lightly to the common people. At the same time, a large army was sent to pursue Shanxi frantically, and Li Zicheng was caught off guard and lost a lot of logistics along the way.

Moreover, Huang Taiji sent a partial division to attack Datong and Yulin directly from Beijing.

Along the way, he persuaded him to surrender and made a wish to the Ming border general who surrendered to Li Zicheng. He sealed eight marquises in one breath, and promised to let these border generals continue to lead troops, and guarantee their floating wealth and land in the border town.

As a result, the Manchu Qing partial division with only 8,000 people persuaded the Daming Frontier Army with more than 40,000 people to surrender.

They fought from Beijing to Yulin, and from Yulin to Yan'an. Finally, the army surrounded Xi'an and cut off Li Zicheng's retreat.

The other division entered Henan from Beijing, recruiting and surrendering bandits along the way. It was another official appointment to make a wish, and a large number of Henan local uprising troops, including the local gentry regiment training troops, abandoned Li Zicheng and threw themselves into the embrace of the Qing Dynasty.

The Manchu and Qing divisions on the South Road also had fewer than 10,000 people, but when they reached Luoyang, there were 60,000 to 70,000 Han troops.

The reason why the recruitment and surrender of the two Manchu divisions went so smoothly was purely because Li Zicheng did not have the "popular support".

Those Han forces who took refuge in the Qing Dynasty can be summed up in three types: frontier soldiers, rebels, and gentry.

Li Zicheng didn't give the frontier soldiers any benefits, only let them temporarily station in the border town, and restrained them not to harm the people. Many rebels in Henan were not regarded as confidantes by Li Zicheng because they rebelled too late, and even ordered the leader of the rebels to disband the army. The gentry hated Li Zicheng even more, wishing Li Zicheng would die sooner.

As soon as the Manchu Qing Dynasty came, they appointed officials and made a wish, and these people were not prohibited from looting. The conditions were extremely generous, how could they not want to submit?

As for the main force of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, they approached Taiyuan from Guguan to fight a decisive battle with Li Zicheng's main force.

Wu Sangui, Kong Youde, Shang Kexi, Zu Dashou and other Han army flags broke out with terrifying fighting power due to their eagerness to perform meritorious service. Especially the firearms unit of the Han army, which made Li Zicheng dizzy. Wu Sangui led the remaining Guanning iron cavalry, and three thousand cavalry dared to charge into the formation of tens of thousands of cavalry.

Li Zicheng was defeated in Taiyuan!

Facing the three-way invasion of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, Li Zicheng became a bandit again after his defeat, and fled into the border of Shaanxi with only a few thousand elites.

Luo Rucai, the living Cao Cao, fell out with Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng successively, and later went to war with the Datong Army. Facing the surrender of the Qing Dynasty, he also chose to resist resolutely. After a fiasco, he killed dozens of his concubines and fled to Shaanxi with the remnants.

While the Manchus were chasing Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai in Shaanxi, they were busy rectifying the capital.

Huang Taiji possessed great talent and general plan, obeyed Hong Chengchou's words, promulgated a series of good policies, and vigorously promoted Han officials.

Then, Huang Taiji contracted the plague and died.

Among the Eight Banners stationed in Beijing, two to three thousand people were infected with the plague. Nearly 100,000 people in Beijing were infected with the plague!

...

Beijing, the outer city.

"Father, Xue Binting (Xue Guoguan) is dead." Hou Fangyu said.

Hou Xun asked, "How did you die?"

Hou Fangyu said: "If you starve to death, the whole family will starve to death."

Hou Xun was taken aback for a moment, then shook his head and sighed.

When Hou Xun served as Minister of the Household Department for Chongzhen, he basically did nothing for several consecutive years. The only thing he accomplished was that during his tenure, he successfully prevented Chongzhen from increasing the faction, and he never raised taxes once.

Li Zicheng passed by his house and forcibly recruited him to be an official, but Hou Xun also refused to do anything.

Now that the Manchu Qing Dynasty is in charge of Beijing, Hou Xun still eats vegetarian meals in his corpse.

Xue Guoguan used to be Hou Xun's political opponent, but now that he heard that his whole family was starved to death, Hou Xun's mood is extremely complicated.

In this time and space, Xue Guoguan is the last Chief Assistant of Ming Dynasty!

Xue Guoguan's several million taels of silver were all taken away by Li Zicheng. At that time, Xue Guoguan was beaten to half his life. Seeing Man Qing coming, Xue Guoguan knelt down to welcome him.

However, Hong Chengchou said: "Da Ming died at the hands of this man!"

Upon hearing this, Huang Taiji put Xue Guoguan on the blacklist and ordered that he would never be hired. He starved to death until now.

Hou Fangyu whispered, "Father, I have to find a way to escape to the south."

Hou Xun asked back, "What about the family?"

Hou Fangyu said: "Father can take the initiative to ask Ying to go to Shandong to recruit Zuo Liangyu. The child will accompany him all the way. After arriving in Shandong, his father can find out Zuo Liangyu's thoughts. If Zuo Liangyu is inclined to Nanjing, he will persuade him to take Shandong and join him in Nanjing." That emperor. If Zuo Liangyu is vacillating, then he will procrastinate. The boy will quietly go to Nanjing and persuade the emperor of Datong to send troops to Guide Mansion. In this way, the safety of the family can be guaranteed, and my father and son can also contribute to the new dynasty of Datong."

"I'm afraid Nanjing has no intention of sending troops for the time being." Hou Xun frowned.

Hou Fangyu said: "Regardless of whether there is a large-scale invasion or not, Guide Mansion should be taken. Shangqiu is a strategic point, which can be attacked and defended. How can it be held in the hands of the Qing Dynasty?"

The hometown of Hou's father and son was in Guide Mansion, which was temporarily occupied by the Manchus and bordered on Zhao Han's territory.

Hou Xun considered silently.

He is now serving as the right servant of the household department of the Manchu Qing court, but he doesn't want to be an official for the Manchu Qing at all.

In particular, Dorgon ordered the establishment of Mancheng in Beijing, expelled all the Han people, and ran around the capital to enclose land. This series of policies made Hou Xun feel deeply humiliated. If it wasn't for keeping his family, he would immediately find a way to go south.

There are many Han Chinese officials who have this idea!

Huang Taiji's series of policies have brought Han officials back to their hearts. However, Dorgon was only in power for one month, and the Han officials were alienated.

Hou Fangyu continued to persuade: "Father, my son has read "Datong Collection". There is an article "Family, Country and Tianxia" in it, which was written by the emperor of Datong. If the dynasty is changed, the country will be destroyed. If the country is taken by the Tartars, it will be the death of the world. Ah! How tragic is the death of the world, didn't my father see it? Hundreds of thousands of people in the inner city of Beijing were driven away like pigs and sheep, and you and my father and son were also driven away pigs and sheep! And outside Beijing, the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty Horses are staking land, the gentry are all fish on the chopping board, and the common people are all coated slaves! What else is there to miss in Beijing?"

"Okay, then try it, or you will die!" Hou Xun clenched his fists.

A few days later, Hou Xun had an audience with Dorgon.

Dorgon is now full of ambitions. He was originally weaker than Hauge, and basically has no hope of inheriting the Qing throne. But by a stroke of genius, by supporting Fulin, he won the support of a large number of nobles from the Eight Banners, and successfully became the second regent.

But Hauge is still the first regent, still pressing Dorgon.

Therefore, Dorgon proposed to build a full city, and proposed to enclose land in Gyeonggi. This move was so powerful that even Hauge's supporters began to support Dorgon's rule.

Dorgon seized power and beat Hauge to the ground!

Dorgon asked with a smile: "It's you who went to Shu and asked me to change my name to the emperor's father and regent?"

Hou Xun knelt on the ground: "Your Majesty has made outstanding contributions and supported him. He is the number one hero of my Qing Dynasty's arrival in Dingjiangshan. Why can't I be called the emperor's father and regent?"

"Imperial Father Regent, Imperial Father Regent..."

Dorgon walked around, the more he talked about this title, the more he liked it.

Although his power has surpassed that of Hauge, both of them belong to the regent, and there is no difference in terms of title.

Only by changing his name to "Emperor's Father Regent" can he truly suppress Hauge!

Dorgon looked at Hou Xun more and more pleasingly, and asked: "You are very loyal, what reward do you want?"

Hou Xun knelt down and kowtowed and said: "Your servant died for the Qing Dynasty, how dare you dare to extravagantly ask for rewards? Shandong Zuo Liangyu is the former minister. Please, the emperor's father, the Regent, appoint me as the governor of Shandong, and persuade Zuo Liangyu to bring Shandong to me. Qing!"

"That's good, then you will take the position of the right servant of the household department and concurrently serve as the governor of Shandong," Dorgon said with a smile, "when you come back from Shandong, I will definitely reward you greatly!"

"Thank you Your Highness for cultivating!" Hou Xun kowtowed again.

Dorgon backed away from the left and right, already regarded Hou Xun as his confidant, and asked: "Haoge is quite in the way, what can you do to suppress him?"

Dorgon asked Fan Wencheng and Hong Chengchou about this question. They didn't dare to explain it directly, they just made insinuations, but Fan Wencheng and Hong Chengchou were unwilling to participate, and they kept pretending to be stupid and didn't understand.

Hou Xun said in a low voice, "Divorce."

"Divorce who?" Dorgon asked.

Hou Xun didn't say it clearly, but said ambiguously: "Your Highness should be clear."

Dorgon thought about it carefully, and suddenly laughed: "You Han officials are still good at this court battle!"

Divide who?

Of course, it is the separation between Hauge and the banner owners of each banner, especially Jierhalang, the owner of the Xianglan Banner.

During the epidemic, the Manchu Qing seldom held court meetings, and Dorgon directly appointed Hou Xun as the governor of Shandong.

After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, this was a routine operation.

Let the main force attack the big cities along the way, and then send Han officials to serve as governors, responsible for recruiting and surrendering officials, bandits and rebels from various prefectures and counties.

When Hong Chengchou heard the news that Hou Xun and his son were about to leave Beijing, he suddenly felt something was wrong.

Shandong is the center of the plague, so Hou Xun went to recruit Zuo Liangyu?

I'm afraid I'm trying to get away with it!

However, Hong Chengchou dared not speak out, because his relationship with Dorgon was not very harmonious yet.

In other words, Hong Chengchou also planned to sneak away.

In Hong Chengchou's eyes, Huang Taiji belongs to the wise master, but Dorgon is mentally retarded!

If the south is the small imperial court of the Southern Ming Dynasty, Hong Chengchou has full confidence to settle it. But Zhao Han is the emperor in the south, and the world created by one sword and one gun is full of the current broken state, how can it be possible to stabilize the country?

Hong Chengchou had to leave a way out for himself, his family was all in Fujian, and he also wanted Ye Luo to return to his roots.

After much deliberation, Hong Chengchou decided to see off Hou and his son.

Outside Beijing, a large number of homeless people have been deported dozens of miles away, lest they spread the plague in Beijing.

On both sides of the official road, the land is barren.

Many farmers are weeding and plowing the land. With the rain after autumn, they can replant some grain. They are now serfs, and all the food they grow must be handed over to the Eight Banners nobles. As for how much you can keep for yourself to eat, it all depends on the wishes of the masters.

Hong Chengchou clasped his hands and said: "Brother Dazhen is going to Shandong now, brother Yu is waiting for the good news."

"The salary of eating the king, the matter of being loyal to the king, it's all about doing your best." Hou Xun said with a smile.

Hong Chengchou looked at Hou Fangyu again: "My nephew has a lot of friends in the south, and I must have many old friends in Shandong."

Hou Fangyu's heart suddenly said, "Where is it?"

Hong Chengchou said: "If my nephew meets an old friend in the south, you can also greet him for me."

Hou Fangyu cupped his hands and said, "Definitely!"

The three of them tacitly bid farewell.

After returning home, Hong Chengchou suddenly received an imperial decree that Dorgon resumed his duties in the Ming Dynasty, the prince Taibao, the Minister of the Ministry of War and the right capital censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. At the same time, he entered the inner court to assist in military affairs, was awarded the bachelor of the secretarial academy, and became the first Han prime minister in the Qing Dynasty.

Hong Chengchou was stunned for a moment, and then understood Dorgon's intention.

Dorgon is trying to win over Hong Chengchou, so as to control those Han generals who surrendered, and recruit all the Han generals to Dorgon's command.

It has to be said that Dorgon is not good at anything else, but he is a good hand in political struggle.

Subsequently, Dorgon promoted the titles of the banner owners of each banner. The titles are already top-ranked, so give them more land. Especially Hauge's supporter and rival, Dorgon offered various rewards.

In just one month, Hao Ge betrayed his relatives.

Another trumped-up charge was found, and Hauge was convicted and seized the title, and he was immediately relieved of his military power.

In this way, Dorgon took control of the Qing Dynasty, and then purged Hauge's hardcore followers. Being suppressed by the Eight Banners nobles, they couldn't help but say strange things, so gossip spread everywhere.

Han officials were dumbfounded when they heard that the emperor's father, the regent, stayed overnight in the Queen Mother's palace, and that the emperor was the regent's own son.

(Two updates today, three updates tomorrow.)