Cutting 1719

Chapter 352 Expanding the Eight Banners and Opening Manchuria
Reclamation of Manchuria is by no means a rare word for the Qing Dynasty. It can be said that since the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, people have been mentioning it, but they have been blocked. The reason is also very simple. Manchuria is the lifeblood of the Eight Banners. It cannot be easily cultivated, and the Han people are not allowed to enter the customs.

Yongzheng's proposal to reclaim Manchuria was actually a last resort. His related land policies can only solve half of the land problem, that is, to raise the tax that should be collected, but there is no good solution to the other half of the human problem. Those people who have been born are really extra, but there is no land to plant.

Now the world is in chaos, and Yongzheng does not have the face-saving shortcomings of his father Kangxi, so he has always faced the current problems of the Qing court and is actually working to solve them, especially in the eyes of Yongzheng today. The biggest enemy is definitely not the White Lotus Sect, but Ning Chu who is working steadily.

Since ancient times, when the world is in turmoil, there will be many rogues, but they can't do anything at all. From the Yellow Turban Army to the Red Turban Army, from Huang Chao to Li Chuang, it seems that there is a mighty wave on the surface, but in fact it is difficult. Even Li Zicheng was able to break through Beijing when he changed from a bandit to a bandit.

Therefore, the White Lotus Sect has now entered the pass, but Yongzheng still set his sights on Ning Chu, who is steadily expanding in the south, and after watching Ningchu's actions, Yongzheng also came to a disheartening conclusion—— Ning Chu is too big to be controlled, and it is even more impossible to destroy it. At this time, developing Manchuria has become an alternative path.

"Your Majesty, the affairs outside the customs are related to the Dragon Veins of the Qing Dynasty. We must not develop it hastily, otherwise, once the Dragon Qi is damaged, it will be really detrimental to the Qing Dynasty." Lai Du hurriedly advised.

Now Yongzheng is extremely tired of this kind of empty talk, he snorted coldly, "If I hand over the Northwest Army to you, will you be able to fight to the death with Chu Ni's main force?"

"Your Majesty, this servant thinks that at the moment we can only stick to it and not fight."

Lai Du, who had already lost his vigor, did not dare to speak. He had personally experienced this major defeat in the previous Anqing battle. It can be said that the Qing army at this stage has performed well enough. The reason why it is still There is only one reason for the failure, and that is that the combat effectiveness of the Fuhan Army is too strong.

The current so-called Northwest Army is actually a cobbled together army, with 10,000 soldiers from the Beijing Battalion and Eight Banners, [-] Mongolian cavalry, [-] Shaanxi-Gansu Green Battalions, plus tens of thousands of guards. , Speaking of which, it is also an army of [-]+, but Lai Du knows very well what the combat power is. Relying on such an army to fight against the Fuhan army is nothing more than another defeat in Anqing.

"Since that's the case, then you don't need to say any more!"

Emperor Yongzheng's face was a little gloomy. In fact, the Qing Dynasty now needs a big battle before it can completely fail. That is the Eight Banners and [-] new troops with thousands of hopes. The army is bound to have a decisive battle. If you win, it will be easy to talk about it. If you lose, you can only retreat outside the pass.

But can it win?

Yongzheng was still not sure in his heart, so he needed to make preparations in advance, that is, to transfer more bannermen to the outside of the pass, to keep the essence of the Eight Banners, and also to keep the chance of turning around in the future.

"I think that the opportunity to reclaim Manchuria has come. If there is any further delay, if something unexpected happens in the future, you will not even be able to escape outside the customs. If most of the bannermen are transferred back to Manchuria, on the one hand, it will reduce the loss of money and food, and on the other hand It can also leave a way for our Eight Banners to escape outside the customs. Some of the people of the Eight Banners in the capital should understand my painstaking efforts."

Zhang Tingyu, who is in charge of the household department, knows in his heart that the current Qing Dynasty seems to have a chance on the surface, but it is actually dying. At this time, the 60 banner people inside and outside the capital, their hard-core crops, and their ration needs will all become The last straw that crushed the Qing Dynasty, so the strong men cut their wrists today.

Of course, it would be difficult for hundreds of thousands of Eight Banners to leave the capital and go back to the outside of the customs to live the hard life again. This person can only live well, so how can there be any reason to go bad?Therefore, the reclamation of Manchuria is only a current plan of Yongzheng, and there is still a long way to go before it can be implemented, at least to convince more core figures of the Eight Banners.

After all, no one would agree to let the Eight Banners children who had been raised by the Qing Dynasty for so many years suddenly lose their hard-core crops. If one operation is not good, it will be an earth-shaking event. Of.

It's just that seeing the idea of ​​reclaiming Manchuria has been confirmed by the Military Aircraft Department, Emperor Yongzheng is also a little excited, so he continues to throw out another idea of ​​his own, which is to expand the Eight Banners, which is also a pre-reclamation method outside the pass.

This policy is actually due to the aftermath of the previous war. Since the rebellion of the Han army, there have been many battles, large and small, and the loss of the Eight Banners has reached more than 60 troops. At the same time, but now the Eight Banners have a total of only 20 million people, of which only [-] people can be drawn to serve as soldiers.

That is to say, now that the war has been fought, there are basically no people in the Eight Banners. Let alone whether there are people to replenish the source of troops, even if they go out to reclaim, it is impossible to expect those old, weak, women and children to reclaim the frozen soil in Liaodong. More Han people joined the Eight Banners, so they have the manpower to reclaim the land in Liaodong, and there are also widows who marry the Eight Banners.

"Your Majesty, it's not impossible to expand the Eight Banners, but how to do this still needs to be discussed."

Xu Yuanmeng spoke again. In his eyes, it was purely whimsical. Just now, the iron crops of the Eight Banners were cancelled, and the Eight Banners began to be expanded later. The others are not stupid. Who will come to find out?You can't go to the street and pull people's heads to make up the number!

Yongzheng had already had some plans in mind, "I thought that to reclaim Manchuria, we should not only use Manchurian men, but also need more young and strong men, so we will expand the Eight Banners, mainly young and strong, not those old and weak women and children. , As for the relatives and relatives of these people are not allowed to raise the flag, mainly recruiting the Han Eight Banners, plus Mongolian Hui and other ethnic groups, 20 people should be able to support the early stage."

"What about the Eight Banners New Army? Should these people be added?" Toray asked another key question.

This question just touched Yongzheng's inner pride. He said with a smile: "I think some of these people can be selected to join the Eight Banners New Army. If they perform well, we can add another 10 people. The Mongolian Eight Banners are the generals, and the Han Hui Eight Banners are the soldiers, so we can be safe."

"Hundreds of thousands?"

"Yes, hundreds of thousands."

Everyone was amazed, the Eight Banners qualification that was so precious in the past has now become this Chinese cabbage, anyone can take a bite of it?But are the soldiers recruited in this way reliable?

Yongzheng's face was a little dignified, "Since the arrival of Chu Ni's army, the Eight Banners have suffered extremely heavy losses. There are no less than 10 young and strong people. This battle will not be finished in a short time. How many corpses will be filled in the middle? Have you ever calculated?" Pass?"

"I've figured it out! If we fight for another year, the Banners will die, and my Eight Banners will be gone! At that time, no matter how the world changes, it has nothing to do with us Banners! If the Eight Banners are expanded, we can continue persist in!"

Speaking of it, the times are different. In the past wars, the real casualty rate was very low. Most people were chased to death after retreating, but it is different now. In front of guns and artillery, human life is just a number In the previous battles fought by the Qing army, the tragic death was almost indescribable.

As soon as Zhang Tingyu heard this, he felt that his whole body was a little dizzy. Expansion of the Eight Banners sounds nice, but where does the money come from? "Your Majesty, if the Eight Banners are expanded now, I'm afraid that the money in front of us will not be able to be used for the current money in the treasury. It will all be used for the new Eight Banners army."

"Let Nuo Min go to Shanxi to sell an official, no matter what method he uses, as long as he can get back the money from those old pits in Shanxi, it will be a great achievement! Tell Nuo Min, I want 1000 million taels!"

The rumors of expanding the Eight Banners became more and more intense in the capital. Although most people of insight knew that this was a good strategy, they couldn't hold back the Eight Banners in the Beijing camp. Many, the quality of the Eight Banners has declined, which makes them feel very depressed.

The commanders of the various banners also have some opinions. In the past, it was an honor to be a member of the Eight Banners. The Han people could not lift the flag easily. Members, how can you convince the public?

But for the Han people, they don't accept this feeling at all. Who still can't see clearly what is going on in this world?Although it is said that the Qing government still occupies half of the northern country, it is actually empty inside. The original green battalion soldiers in the north have been emptied in sevens and eighties. Now they recruit some refugees, and their combat effectiveness is extremely weak. What is the expansion of the Eight Banners now? Idea, you can figure it out with your ass!
The Eight Banners were dissatisfied, and the Han people were also dissatisfied. Logically speaking, this matter would not be possible. However, Emperor Yongzheng was very determined to implement it at this time. In Zhili, he had already begun to expand the Eight Banners, mainly to raise a large number of landless peasants. , but only some of them were recruited into the Eight Banners of the New Army, and most of the rest were still filling the green battalion.

For Yongzheng, these days are not only bad news, but also some good news. For example, Dai Jinxian submitted a memorial, claiming that the first batch of eagle-billed blunderbuss supervised by the Frang machine has officially come out, and it took half a year. Left and right, this news made Yongzheng feel very excited, and he decided to go to check it himself.

When Yongzheng arrived at the Firearms Camp, he found that the entire camp had become a mess. Many carts pulled by mules and horses were entering and leaving the camp, and there were many wooden boxes on them. Moving into the big camp, everyone is carrying their shoulders and hands, and it seems to be very busy.

"Report to the emperor, slaves Dai Jinxian and Narsu kowtow to the emperor, long live the emperor, long live the emperor."

Dai Jinxian and Narsu, king of Heping County, had a bit of joy on their faces, bowing down to Emperor Yongzheng. This was the first batch of new firearms in the Qing Dynasty. Dai Jinxian and Naersu were really overjoyed.

Yongzheng raised his eyes and found that there were already many soldiers of the Eight Banners in front of him. They were taking out a brand-new eagle-beaked blunderbuss with a faint light from the wooden box, playing with them in their hands, and a few leaders were checking them. In fact, firearms are mainly based on counting. After they are sure that they are correct, they will be covered with wooden boards again.

"It seems that the firearms of the Westerners are really good. Looking at the workmanship, they are much more refined than our bird guns, and should not be inferior to Chu Ni's firearms."

Satisfied, Yongzheng took out an eagle-billed gun from the box, and fiddled with it in his hand. He also knew how to shoot a shotgun, so he felt a little itchy at the moment. He took the musket and walked all the way to the front of the shooting range. A target thirty paces away.

That's right, it's pretty good to set the target at [-] paces these days. In fact, most of the muskets exceed [-] paces, and the accuracy is completely up to the sky. Whether you can hit the target basically depends entirely on luck. .

However, when Naersu saw that Yongzheng wanted to test the gun himself, he was a little nervous, and quickly said: "Your Majesty, although the quality of this musket is worse than that of a bird's gun, there is no guarantee. It’s not good for the emperor, it’s better for the slave to test the gun first, if there is something good or bad, it won’t hinder the master.”

"I have confidence in you, I will try this gun myself."

Yongzheng threw down a word, and then lit the matchlock. After a puff of thick smoke passed, the musket made a violent "bang", which made Yongzheng's arms go numb, and a bigger puff of smoke drifted away. , and at the edge of the target in front of Yongzheng, a big hole has been punched.

"Long live the emperor! The emperor is invincible!"

Seeing that Emperor Yongzheng hit the target with thirty steps, everyone couldn't help but kneel down and flatter him. Even Yongzheng himself was very proud. He held the eagle-billed gun quite fondly, and said, "Although this gun is good, it can It's a bit too expensive”

"Your Majesty, the cost of making this gun is much higher due to the shortage of manpower. If more skilled craftsmen can be hired, the cost can be reduced slightly. Also, there is a lot of iron ore lost in the Qing Dynasty. The price of iron is also increasing day by day, which makes the cost rise."

Dai Jinxian replied honestly, just as if he suddenly thought of something, and said with a smile: "If the emperor allows it, we can open foreign trade with Western countries, and then we can also buy a batch of eagle-billed guns to make up for the loss of the new army of the Eight Banners. insufficient."

Regarding Dai Jinxian's thoughts, Yongzheng was naturally clear in his heart, and he didn't say much at the moment, he just put the gun into the wooden box, looked at Narsu and said, "Ping Junwang, you need to eat more snacks these days, the Eight Banners New Army It is related to our foundation, so it must not be underestimated, if you have any questions, you can tell me."

As soon as he said this, Narsu's face really showed a bit of embarrassment. Thinking about it, there is really something that needs to be dealt with by the emperor.

"Reporting to your Majesty, the Eight Banners new army has enough soldiers now, and weapons will not be a problem in the future, but the biggest problem right now is the Eight Banners military system left by our ancestors, and now it has reached the point where it has to be changed."

(End of this chapter)