golden scales

The main room behind the main hall is still the layout of Zhu Cihong back then. In the eyes of Ming scholars, it can be described as extremely simple and plain, even the Manchus can't see it.After Dorgon took over, he collected many famous calligraphy and paintings, hung them on the wall, and made all kinds of gold and silver utensils.

"Song Hongye, how do you feel these days in the Ministry of Internal Affairs?" Dorgon sat on the soft couch, chatting with Song Hongye in a leisurely manner.

Song Hongye knelt on the ground, bowed his head, and said, "Master, after the slaves arrived at the House of Internal Affairs, they first recruited some reliable people from the capital, and scattered them into the homes of the ministers of the two yellow banners as servants to collect information. This is like Spring plowing is general, and I dare not pull out the seedlings to encourage them to grow, and I can only wait for them to grow up slowly to be of great use."

Dorgon can understand this kind of cultivation work of putting a long line to catch big fish.The new eyes and ears are all started as low-level servants, so what is the use?Only when you can serve personally can you find out the secrets.

"Is there any arrangement among Han Chen?" Dorgon asked.

Song Hongye had already been mentally prepared, and said: "Among the Han officials, the high-ranking ones use servants, and it is difficult to install them. It is not easy for the low-ranking ones to support their families. They can't afford servants."

Dorgon was disturbed for a while, and asked surnamedly: "Didn't the Han army flag be given a coat after entering the customs?"

"Oh, what the master is talking about is the Han army flag." Song Hongye looked suddenly enlightened, and hurriedly said: "Some have been placed in, but some have not. Master, Meng Qiaofang's family is among the eyes of the placement. This time Taiyuan fell, We also collected a lot of information."

Dorgon originally wanted to ask Hong Chengchou, but when he heard that there was news from Meng Qiaofang, he couldn't help asking curiously, "What news?"

"I'm afraid Meng Qiaofang is not dead." Song Hongye didn't finish his sentence, but mixed the truth and falsehood: "Meng Qiaofang suffered from a cold a few years ago, and then he kept saying that his body hadn't recovered and he couldn't see things. Even the Ming army attacked the city. Anxiously, he never left the mansion for half a step, which made the soldiers feel quite chilled. I was curious at the time, what kind of wind and cold made me so sick? The person sent copied the prescription, but it was just an ordinary ailment Forget it, if you ask a seasoned doctor to explain the prescription, he also said that the illness is not serious. If so, his illness is a bit strange."

Dorgon's heart trembled when he heard the words, and said: "This is just your speculation, can you take it seriously!"

"Master," Song Hongye shouted, "the Ming army surrounded the governor's mansion when they entered the city. At that time, Meng Qiaofang was not dead. Why did Prince Zhu Ming live in it for two days before news of his death came out? This is one of the doubts. Doubts Part two: Why did the Ming army report the name of the general who killed the captives, but Meng Qiaofang's name was not seen."

"You mean, he really surrendered?" Dorgon actually believed it in his heart.

"Master, the front line is thousands of miles away, and the news is confusing, so I dare not make a conclusion." Song Hongye said: "It's just that there is something strange about Meng Qiaofang. Even if he really died, it may not be because he died in the city. Death."

Dorgon is a smart man.The associative ability of smart people is much richer than that of ordinary people.When Song Hongye mentioned this, Dorgon himself would make up the story of Meng Qiaofang colluding with the enemy, selling Taiyuan City, and quietly returning to the Ming Dynasty to enjoy the blessings.As for spreading the news of the death, it is nothing more than to keep the family members in Beijing from being implicated. Maybe they are secretly arranging people to take their wives and children out.

Dorgon collected himself and asked directly, "Does Hong Chengchou have eyeliner?"

Song Hongye said: "Hong Chengchou has no chance to get in."

"As soon as possible." Dorgon said simply.

"Hey!" Song Hongye obeyed, thinking in his heart: Manchurians have distrusted Han people more and more, and I'm afraid I won't be able to do long jobs in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of War.

Dorgon happened to have a headache and he couldn't keep his eyes open due to the pain. He waved Song Hongye back.Song Hongye didn't delay, and hurried back home, sorted out the information with his "wife", and sent it out.After getting a job in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he has more freedom than before, and he even has the endorsement of Dorgon to deliver news secretly, which is really the most suitable job for the spy.

"Otherwise, please Your Highness include you in the list of Han Jian? Then Dorgon will trust you." Yingyue said.

"Bad idea." Song Hongye quickly vetoed it, saying, "I have another way to make Dorgon trust me more."

"What is it?"

"Speak for Hong Chengchou." Song Hongye said confidently.

"Then Dorgon doesn't believe you even more?"

"What do you know? It's called the false and the real, and the real and the false. It is true that Dorgon was suspicious of Hong Chengchou, but he has not transferred him back for a long time. It can be seen that he knows that the South Road cannot be separated from Hong Chengchou, and he is also worried about His Royal Highness." Do you think that if Hong Chengchou didn't turn his back on him, but Dorgon killed him, wouldn't he have to bear the reputation of laughing through the ages?"

"Then if Hong Chengchou really sets things right..."

"I don't think so." Song Hongye twisted his beard and said: "First of all, if Hong Chengchou wanted to rebel, he could have done so long ago. Why is there no movement on the South Road? Secondly, if the crown prince wants to instigate Hong Chengchou, he doesn't communicate with me. , This is really unreasonable... I have to dig out the people who have separated the relationship between Hong Chengchou and Dorgon, and the problem must be on the capital's side."

……

——Most of this countercurrent came from the capital.

Hong Chengchou was sitting in the office, with a volume of books spread out on the desk.This book is the anthology of the crown prince collected by him. The name agreed on outside the book is "Wen Hua Ji", but in fact it is "Physics", "Chemistry" and other techniques of investigating things.This kind of book is really tiring to read, especially for readers like Hong Chengchou, who has been educated in Confucian classics since childhood and lacks a foundation in mathematics.

Hong Chengchou finally lost his patience in reading, closed the books, stood up and paced the room.He knew that there was a bad trend in Yanjing, and he said that he and Zhu Ming secretly negotiated the song.In fact, anyone who has personally experienced the Battle of Songshan knows that it is absolutely impossible for Hong Chengchou to return to the Ming Dynasty.

The tone of the Battle of Songshan in the Ming Dynasty was: the generals fled the battle and fell to the supervisor.Hong Chengchou was framed very innocently.In fact, Hong Chengchou's own strategy and tactics also had problems, and Huang Taiji finally caught the handle and defeated the Ming army in one fell swoop.Under this situation, even if Hong Chengchou was not captured, he would not dare to return to Daming.

So everyone knew that Hong Dushi went on a hunger strike for several days and was finally subdued by Huang Taiji, but the half-pushed and half-accepted feeling was not humane.

Hong Chengchou believed that after surrendering to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, he had always been a low-key man and did not stand in line, especially in the battle between the two yellow flags and the two white flags, he had always stayed away.

So who could be behind him?

This question is really puzzling.

But no matter who did the tampering, it is fundamental to clear one's suspicion first.

Hong Chengchou made up his mind, ordered people to spread paper and ink, and wrote a letter of deep friendship to Dorgon.From the first time I came to the Qing Dynasty and received the kindness of Huang Taiji, until now I am leading the army outside, I am grateful for the kindness of the Qing Dynasty.Afterwards, he changed his style of writing, and he didn't say anything about what people were suspicious of, but only said that his health was not good, and it was getting weaker and weaker after the Chinese New Year. He was afraid of delaying the king's affairs, so he asked to return to Yanjing to recuperate.

In this way, it can be regarded as resigning military power to show innocence, as long as Dorgon is not very suspicious, this is enough.On the contrary, if it has reached the point of no return, after returning to Beijing, it will just end up being idle, and it will not hurt your life.

After Hong Chengchou finished writing, he read it carefully and sighed, only to feel that it is really hard to be a minister in troubled times.But at this time, he was still firmly on the side of the Qing Dynasty, and did not feel the need to take this opportunity to contact the Ming court.Although the situation in the Manchu and Qing Dynasties is not very good, no matter how bad it is, they can retreat to the outside of the customs, waiting for a grand and unprecedented "grab the west".

However, the day after Hong Chengchou sent this sincere letter to Yanjing, he received the news that Taiyuan had fallen and Meng Qiaofang had died.This was like a blow to the head, which scared him to divide another [-] soldiers to guard Longquan Pass in the west of Fuping County, so as not to prevent the Ming army from going north, conquering Wutai, and crossing the Taihang Mountains to go straight to Baoding.

This preventive measure was originally a move to move first, but in Dorgon's view, it had a lot of meaning.

At this moment, Xinzhou and Dingxiang in northern Shanxi are still in the hands of the Qing Dynasty. Are these three thousand soldiers the anti-Ming army or the anti-Qing army?

Moreover, why did the Ming Dynasty not fight the half-battled Beizhi battlefield, but suddenly ran to recover Taiyuan?Did Abatai and Hong Chengchou, who were on the front line, know about this kind of mobilization of the Ming army? (To be continued.)