The swansong of the swansong

Chapter 186: I will never give in even if I die
In the sedan chair on the way to Donghuamen, Yinyou kept thinking about a question: what exactly did Kangxi mean by asking him to go?
After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, Korea continued to secretly use the reign title after Chongzhen, risking offending the Qing Dynasty.

Is there any need to ask? The Li family of North Korea must be lingering on the Ming Dynasty!

Back then, if Wanli had not sent a large army to Korea to join the war, the Joseon royal family would have been wiped out by Kinoshita Tokichirō.

However, the three major expeditions of the Wanli period really emptied the national treasury.

The burden of treating princes like pigs was much heavier for the Ming Dynasty than for the Qing Dynasty, and its ability to collect taxes was far inferior to that of the Qing Dynasty.

The Qing Dynasty had no money to pay the soldiers, so it dared to indulge the Hunan Army, set up checkpoints everywhere, used violence, and brutally collected likin.

The official road toll from Zhangjiakou to the capital contracted by Yinyu was one of the three types of lijin!
To be honest, people are selfish.

Li Chengliang, the general of Liaodong, originally adopted the strategy of supporting the weak and suppressing the strong. He deliberately let the Jianzhou Jurchens kill each other, resulting in extreme internal disunity.

However, due to fierce party struggles in the court, Li Chengliang was driven out of office and stayed at home, growing sweet potatoes for ten years.

After Li Chengliang returned to Liaodong, in order to maintain his position as a local emperor, he used various tricks to keep the enemy at bay.

Thus, the old captive, who was originally a tool, took advantage of the situation and rose to power.

After the rise of the Jiannu, the Ming Dynasty suffered repeated military defeats and was caught in a vicious cycle of fighting on two fronts.

Yinyou realized that Korea's courage to continue using the reign title after Chongzhen had completely angered Kangxi.

Yinyou was not in charge of the Ministry of Rites, so why would Kangxi ask him to go? It must be to discuss the use of military force!
As expected, at Kangxi's place, Yinyou met the fourth elder, the chief Manchu prime minister Wenda, the Minister of War Yintebu, and the first-class marquis Chentai who was recuperating at home.

However, what Yinyu did not expect was that the Fourteenth Prince was also in the palace.

Chen Tai, whose surname is Dong E, his father is the famous General Fuyuan and the first-class public official Yanggu.

It is worth mentioning that Chen Tai’s aunt was Dong Efei, who caused chaos in the inner court of Shunzhi’s reign.

No need to ask, it was obviously a military meeting.

After Yinyu paid his respects, Kangxi said coldly with a gloomy face: "The Eastern Kingdom is a small country, but it uses the reign title of the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Aren't you bullying the weak military power of the Qing Dynasty?"

Before Kangxi finished speaking, the fourteenth prince, who had always wanted to seize military power, shouted impatiently: "Khan Ama, please issue an order. I am willing to lead 3,000 cavalrymen to trample Seoul, capture the young king of Korea, and present the captive to the Qing Gate."

Yinyou pretended not to hear and kept his mouth shut in silence.

Kangxi’s personality is like this: the more you want to fight for it, the more I won’t give it to you!

The Eighth Brother and his companions never learned their lesson and always wanted to seize power, but they never saw through Kangxi's intentions.

The first one to speak first can get the military power. Wouldn’t it be that Kangxi had been the emperor for 51 years in vain!

Kangxi ignored the Fourteenth Prince and turned to ask Wenda: "Lu Sui, what do you think?"

Wen Da frowned and said, "Your Majesty, if we send too few troops to Korea, we won't be able to destroy the country. If we send too many troops, once the war reaches a stalemate, the treasury may consume too much money. After all, the Baohe Hall is still under reconstruction, and the Changchun Garden and the Rehe Palace are also under expansion."

As the Prime Minister, Wenda is indeed very capable and his words are all mature and wise in governing the country.

Although Wenda did not refute Old Fourteen in person, he used the method of settling accounts to indirectly deny Old Fourteen's wild words.

Although North Korea is a small country, it has always maintained an army of over 100,000 to defend against the Qing Dynasty in the north and Japanese pirates in the south.

You think you can destroy the Kingdom of Korea with only 3,000 cavalrymen? That's obviously bragging!
Back then, Huang Taiji, with the might of the Eight Banners Army at its peak, led an army of 100,000 and forced the Koreans to surrender.

"Chen Tai, your father is unparalleled in his bravery and has made great achievements in battle. You won't let me down, will you?"

Kangxi actually skipped the Minister of War Yin Tebu and asked Chen Tai directly.

Chen Tai has been following Fei Yanggu in his battles, and although he has never led an army independently, he has extremely rich military experience.

"Your Majesty, our Qing Dynasty has countless artillery and muskets, so we can easily defeat Korea. However, Korea is three thousand miles long from north to south, and the number of troops sent by our Qing Dynasty must not be less than 50,000. Otherwise, the food supply route will be easily cut off by the enemy army." Chen Tai was talking about the correct principle of using troops.

Why did Emperor Kangxi have to send hundreds of thousands of troops when he launched his third expedition against Dzungar Khanate?

To put it bluntly, it was Wang Jian's old method, piling up national strength and pushing forward like the Great Wall, forcing the Chu army to fight a decisive battle!
Qin's victory over Chu and Qin's victory over Zhao were both the result of piling up national strength and pushing forward with hard consumption!

If Zhao had sufficient national strength, no shortage of food, and was not afraid of hard consumption, there would not have been the tragedy of the Changping Battle.

"Yin Tebu, what about you?" Kangxi turned his head to look at Yin Tebu, as if he had just remembered the Minister of War.

"Your Majesty, the Green Camp in Jiangnan is becoming increasingly corrupt and is no longer useful. On the contrary, the Green Camp in Zhili and Shaanxi and Gansu still wants to fight."

The Ministry of War is only in charge of the Green Camp, so Yin Tebu only talks about the Green Camp’s actual combat power.

Yinyou nodded secretly. Among the Eight Banners nobles in the early Qing Dynasty, there were many dandy young men who carried bird cages, flying hawks and running dogs, as well as many knowledgeable high-ranking officials like Yin Tebu.

The reason why a brick dynasty can maintain its rule is that there must be many capable people within the ruling class!

"Little Fifteen, I will give you 50,000 soldiers and horses to help me conquer Seoul, okay?" Kangxi asked Yinyu at the last moment, obviously with high hopes for him. Among all the princes, even the eldest prince with great military achievements had never led an army alone.

However, Yinyou had led troops to fight or suppress rebellions several times alone.

Especially the most recent time, Yinyu controlled all the Zhili troops, and his status was almost the same as that of the Grand Marshal of the Army of the World!
In front of everyone, Yinyou was not stupid enough to offend Kangxi.

Yinyu still follows the old rules and will surely conquer Korea quickly, provided that he meets several conditions.

"My dear Khan, the tiny Eastern Kingdom can be conquered at any time, so there is no need to worry. However, the Firearms Battalion must go to Korea with me, and the Fujian Navy must obey my command."

Yinyou's position is very firm. I have absolutely no problem conquering the small country of Korea.

But, there are conditions!

No matter what era, an executive who cannot negotiate with the boss is definitely not a good executive!

Kangxi was not surprised that Yinyu wanted the Firearms Battalion, but what surprised Kangxi was that Yinyu actually wanted the Fujian Navy?

However, Kangxi, who was well-read in history books, immediately thought of a person: Su Lie, the commander-in-chief of the Shenqiu Road Army of the Tang Dynasty.

Su Lie, whose courtesy name was Dingfang, was the chief contributor to the Tang Dynasty's conquest of Baekje!

At this moment, Yinwei was thinking of four words: cross-sea landing.

As Wenda said, North Korea is indeed a small country.

However, North Korea is known for its three thousand miles of beautiful territory because the distance between the north and the south is too long, which puts serious pressure on logistical supplies.

However, North Korea's strategic disadvantage is that its east-west route is too narrow and can easily be cut off by enemy forces at sea, so it will be unable to take care of both the front and the rear and will be doomed to failure.

Unlike Kangxi's outdated military thinking, Yinwei's tactics were modern decapitation tactics.

The army boarded ships and crossed the Yellow Sea, suddenly landed at Incheon, surrounded Seoul with lightning speed, and blasted down the city walls with heavy artillery. The outcome of the battle could be decided in one go.

Old Fourteen was very angry and the consequences were serious.

Not only did Kangxi turn a deaf ear to his advice, but he also demanded that Yinyou be given 50,000 troops without even asking for permission.

Isn't this just looking down on him through the crack in the door?
"It's sheer nonsense. The Yuan Dynasty attacked Japan several times but ended up in a miserable defeat because strong winds overturned countless warships." Old Fourteen is indeed a guy who has loved military affairs since he was a child. He pointed out the key point as soon as he opened his mouth.

When fighting across the sea, the thing we fear most is not the weak North Korean soldiers, but the powerful typhoon!
An aircraft carrier of 100,000 tons needs to avoid the typhoon area in advance, let alone a small wooden boat of more than 100 tons?
"Fourth Prince, how about the third treasury of the Ministry of Revenue?" Whenever Kangxi wanted to use silver, he would always argue with the fourth prince.

The fourth brother bent down and said respectfully: "My dear Khan, the Ministry of Revenue has no money..." He complained bitterly.

Yinyou secretly found it funny. The fourth son was a notorious miser. It would be extremely difficult for Kangxi to get rid of him!
However, the fourth brother has been in charge of the Ministry of Revenue for so many years. If he had not been tight-fisted, the financial expenditure of the Qing Dynasty would have collapsed long ago.

When we fight, what we fight for is money and food.

There is no way Kangxi didn't understand this hard truth!
In fact, Old Fourteen also understood, so he only asked for three thousand cavalry.

However, among the people present, except the fourth brother who knew nothing about military affairs, who could not understand the fourteenth brother's little thoughts?

Get the military power first, and then, after entering Korea and encountering obstacles in the attack, ask Kangxi for 100,000 soldiers!
Old Fourteen's abacus is making a lot of calculations, and he is very shrewd!

As long as the two countries went to war, in order to maintain the prestige of the Qing Dynasty, Kangxi had no choice but to hold his nose and be forced to send more troops to the Fourteenth Prince.

The son tried his best to plot against his father's life. Hehe, did he really think Kangxi was Sima Zhong?
"Little Fifteen, I order you to be the General of the Eastern Expedition, lead an army of 50,000, and command the General of Fengtian, the General of Jilin, and the Fujian Navy..."

Unexpectedly, before Kangxi could finish his words, the Fourteenth Prince shouted, "Khan Ama, you are so biased. I will never accept this even if I die!"

“Wuwu… I won’t give in even if I die…” Old Fourteen actually fell to the ground and cried in public. He cried so sadly!

"Nonsense, too much nonsense!" Kangxi was so angry that he slammed the table and cursed the fourteenth brother, "You are a yellow-mouthed boy, how dare you roar in front of the emperor?"

If an ordinary person was scolded by Kangxi, he would just kneel down and apologize.

However, Old Fourteen was not afraid of death. He cried and shouted at the top of his lungs: "A few days ago, Khan Ama praised me for being proficient in military affairs and being of great use. How come I have become a child today?"

"Get out, get out, get out..." Kangxi was obviously so angry that he said "get out" three times in a row.

"I can walk on my own. I don't want you to fork me!" Old Fourteen got up from the ground and ran away, still crying loudly, "You are too biased. I will never accept it even if I die!"

Kangxi rolled his eyes in anger, and suddenly his body went limp and he fell into the arms of the fourth brother.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty..."

For a moment, there was chaos in the room.

PS: If there are more than 9500 monthly tickets, there will be four updates, and this is the first one.

(End of this chapter)