*****
The political storm caused by Ajige's defeat continued to expand in Yanjing.
Although Dorgon had dismissed Ajige from his post and tried to calm the situation;
But the severity of the situation exceeded Dorgon's expectations. Instead of easing, the political storm intensified.
Since its founding, the Qing Dynasty had never experienced such a devastating defeat.
Not counting the more than 40,000 people who had just surrendered from the brothers Wang Guangen and Wang Guangtai, the Manchu and Mongolian Banner Army led by Ajige and Shang Kexi, plus Wu Sangui's Guanning Army, had a total of more than 60,000 people. In the end, only 14,000 people escaped.
Almost the entire army was wiped out. Faced with such heavy casualties, is it enough to hold Ajige alone responsible
Who formulated the strategy in the first place? Don't they have any responsibility at all
The Qing Dynasty was not a monolithic entity; on the contrary, the power struggle within it was extremely fierce and cruel.
Two years ago, Huang Taiji died suddenly. Eight ministers including Sony, Oboi, Tulai, Turg, Tantai, Baiyintu, Heluohui and Tazhan swore in front of the temple of Emperor Taizong of Qing that they would do their best to support Haoge to come to power.
Sony, Oboi and others also mobilized the most elite troops of the Plain Yellow Banner - the Bayala soldiers (guards) to guard the palace, shouting: "We only know the descendants of the late emperor, nothing else!" We vowed to protect Hauge to the death.
Duoduo and Ajige were not to be outdone and were ready to mobilize the elite troops of the Plain White Banner to attack. The two sides were on the verge of a war.
Later, Dorgon gave in and proposed to support the six-year-old Fulin, thus avoiding a crisis of great division. After becoming regent, he split the two yellow flags. Tan Tai, Baiyintu and He Luohui successively defected to Dorgon.
But the problem was far from being completely solved. Sony, Aobai, Tulai and Turgu had not surrendered yet. Since the four ministers were all very capable and good at fighting, Dorgon could not take action for the time being. In order to avoid affecting the overall situation;
Now Aobai, Tulai, Turg and others are leading large armies to fight outside, and they are not without any ability to fight back.
Prince Zheng Jirgalang and Prince Li Daishan, who each headed a banner, were also dissatisfied with Dorgon's tyranny, but because Dorgon was so powerful, they dared not show it.
On the other hand, when He Luohui rebelled, he falsely accused Hauge of "rebellion". Dorgon, Dodo and Ajige all expressed their intention to execute Hauge. In the end, Hauge was spared because the young Fulin cried and refused to eat.
When he ascended the throne again after entering the Pass, it was the young emperor who proposed to restore Haoge's title.
What does a six or seven-year-old kid know? Dorgon guessed that someone must have instigated the young emperor to keep Haoge so that he would have some reservations.
The person who instigated this behind the scenes was most likely the Holy Mother Queen Mother Borjigit.
Although Borjigit seems weak and can be bullied, don't forget that she is the daughter of Zaisang, the Beile of the Khorchin tribe of Mongolia, and has the support of the Khorbi tribe behind her.
If it was really Dayuer who instigated the little emperor behind the scenes, the problem would become even more complicated.
Although the military and political power is now in the hands of Dorgon, the young emperor is, after all, the recognized master and holds the name of righteousness.
If someone gathers forces that are dissatisfied with Dorgon in the name of the young emperor, and Daishan and Jirgalang support them, the situation will be extremely bad.
The ministers in the court were engaged in a war of words every day. For the time being, no one dared to point the finger at Dorgon, but they were not so polite to people like Fan Wencheng and Ning Wanwo.
They were the ones who instigated the invasion of the country. They also helped Dorgon plan the strategies after the invasion. Now that the army has been defeated, the voices calling for the execution of the instigators are getting louder and louder. Fan Wencheng, Ning Wanwo and others now dare not go to court at all, because if they do, they will often be beaten by Manchu officials.
Dorgon certainly understood that attacking Fan Wencheng and others was tantamount to attacking himself, so he tried his best to protect Fan, Ning and others.
However, now even Duoduo, who was far away in Jiangnan, sent a private message to Dorgon asking him to exchange Fan Wencheng for the captives of the Banner Army.
In his reply, Dorgon scolded Duoduo harshly and urged him to let go of his personal grudge with Fan Wencheng and put the overall situation first.
The dispute in the court soon spread to the people. As many as 20,000 to 30,000 families of the captured Bannermen went to the palace to ask the court to exchange their family members. They cried and made a lot of noise. The area in front of the palace was more lively than a vegetable market.
Moreover, early in the morning, there were often leaflets on the street, including Qin Mu's edict of founding the country, vivid descriptions of Dorgon's adultery with the empress dowager, accusations of the atrocities of the Yangzhou Massacre, the details of Ajige's tragic defeat, and discussions on the inevitable defeat of the Qing Dynasty;
Dorgon ordered a massive hunt for spies, confiscated leaflets, and even ordered martial law in the capital at night, but such leaflets were still rampant.
The people were discussing the issue privately, and their hearts were in turmoil. The rebellious sentiments caused by the order to shave their heads, which had just been suppressed by the bloody massacre, were stirred up again;
The number of Manchus assassinated outside the city suddenly increased, and the subsequent retaliatory killings by the Tartars further intensified the antagonism between the Manchus and the Han.
The atmosphere inside and outside the city became very tense. Originally, the inner city would allow many Han people to go in and sell things, but now all this was forbidden. The inner city became a place where Han people could hardly enter.
Under the circumstance of foreign and internal difficulties, Dorgon took Gannan out of the prison of the Ministry of Justice. Gannan suffered a lot in the prison, but he was not afraid.
The purpose of his being ordered here this time was to exchange the families of the Guanning Army, which was only secondary. His main purpose was to carry out political blackmail, and this purpose had been achieved.
Gan Nan straightened his robes and said calmly, "Has the Regent decided to kill me?"
There was no emotion on Dorgon's face. A man in his early thirties looked calmer than a man in his fifties or sixties. He asked coldly, "Do you think I really dare not kill you?"
"If the Regent decides to kill me, it just means that the Regent is guilty."
"I have killed so many people that you are no problem. You don't need to waste your time. Let's talk about the terms of exchange."
Gan Nan smiled calmly, found a chair and sat down, then answered calmly: "The Regent has too many worries and his memory has become worse. I have already made the conditions for the exchange. Now I want to tell the Regent that you can refuse my king's conditions, but you will never allow bargaining."
"If that's the case, then why should I keep you here? Come on, take me out and behead me."
"Your Majesty, there is no need to scare me. I am not afraid to tell you in this private room that I don't really care whether I can get back the families of the Guanning Army, because I have already reorganized the Guanning Army and have firmly controlled it. Whether you do or not, it won't have much impact. As for Fan Wencheng, Ning Wanwo, and Hong Chengchou, I am still very sincere in exchanging them. The price of one thousand for one is high enough. Your Majesty, just be content."
"Do you think I'm just trying to scare you? Come on. Drag him out and behead him!"
"Has the Regent never thought about the impact that nearly 20,000 people who were first castrated, had their eyes gouged out, had their noses cut off, had their teeth plucked out, had their ears cut off, had their fingers chopped off, and then survived the disaster and were released?"
Even a strong man like Dorgon could not help but feel disappointed after hearing this. If Qin Mu had killed the captives directly, it would have been easier to deal with. But if, as Gan Nan said, he had maimed all the captives and released them, the impact would have been fatal. Who knows what would happen to the 20,000 or 30,000 family members outside the palace.
Of course, Dorgon could have taken revenge, but wasn’t what the Qing army did in the Ten Days of Yangzhou brutal enough
There are tens of millions of Han people, and killing hundreds of thousands of them may not necessarily have a fatal impact on them.
But the Manchu-Mongolian Banner Army only had 100,000 people. Suddenly, 20,000 people were tortured. If they were released, the Manchus would see it and be afraid. The impact would be unbearable for Dorgon.
"If I don't kill you, you won't do this?"
"It's hard to say. It all depends on the regent's sincerity. I only know that if the regent kills me, the 20,000 captives will definitely end up like that, and my king will hand them over to Hauge, Aobai, Tulai and others."
Gannan's last sentence hit Dorgon's soft spot hard. These tortured captives fell into the hands of Hauge and others, and it would be difficult for Dorgon to kill them even if he wanted to silence them. These people would become a powerful weapon for Hauge, Obai and others to use against Dorgon.
***
Wuyang Pass, with the Dabie Mountains to the east and the Tongbai Mountains to the west, is the watershed between northern and southern China and a strategic point for the Central Plains to enter Jinghu.
The 30,000 vanguard troops led by Tian Jianxiu and more than ten cannons had been attacking Wuyang Pass for five days. The 15,000 reinforcements led by Liu Tichun arrived with food and supplies and joined the fierce battle to attack the pass.
As for the Qing army, as soon as Hauge took over the army, Lekedehun was ordered to separate 10,000 troops and gather another 20,000 to 30,000 Green Camp troops nearby to march westward to attack Luoyang.
Although Haoge was nominally the commander of the army, he actually only had 5,000 bannermen and 8,000 green camp soldiers. The most fatal thing was that 60,000 shi of grain and grass in Queshan were burned, leaving Haoge's army without food.
While guarding the pass, Hauge had to send troops to plunder everywhere, but the Xinyang area had suffered from wars for many years and was sparsely populated and desolate. The food and grass that Hauge could rob were extremely limited. The more than 10,000 Qing troops defending Wuyang Pass were starving and some Green Camp soldiers began to defect.
Haoge was ruthless enough. He ordered that the captured Green Camp soldiers be thrown into the big pit and cooked. The aroma of meat filled the air every day and the hungry Tartars ate with relish.
But the number of captured Green Camp soldiers was limited after all, and it was difficult to feed everyone, so Hauge ordered the bodies of the Green Camp soldiers who had just died in battle to be cooked as well.
In fact, eating human flesh was not a new thing during the war. Li Zicheng’s army also ate human flesh. The Prince of Fu, Zhu Changxun, who weighed more than 300 kilograms, was made into a "Fulu Banquet" by Li Zicheng.
But Hauge forgot one thing, he was not eating the enemy, but his comrades who had just fought side by side with him. The other Green Camp soldiers saw this and couldn't help but feel sad for the rabbit's death.
The battle at the pass was extremely brutal. Hongniang led the troops every day and twice charged into the pass, vowing to avenge the more than 20,000 elderly, weak, women and children who died tragically at Wuyang Pass.
Taking into account the special relationship between her and Qin Mu, Tian Jianxiu forcibly dismissed her from her military post, which temporarily stopped her crazy behavior.
Hauge survived for three days by eating corpses, but still received no food support from the rear.
However, several thousand Green Camp soldiers could no longer hold on and dispersed on the third night.
Now Hauge had no corpses to eat, so he had to order the abandonment of Wuyang Pass and retreat to Xinyang for food. Wuyang Pass fell into the hands of the Qin army from then on.
.(To be continued..)
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