Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

Within a month, not only did the Qing Dynasty lose all its elite troops, but also royal family members such as Prince Heshuo Yu Duoduo, Prince Wuying Ajige, and Prince Zheng Jirgalang were killed in battle one after another.

Now that Huang Taiji is dead, the news will be exposed sooner or later, and the Qing Dynasty will soon be in chaos.

This is not the worst. A country cannot be without a king for a day, but the Qing Dynasty at this time was not like the Han dynasties within the Great Wall where the son succeeded the father. It was still in the stage of co-governance by the Heshuo Beile.

All military and national affairs were discussed by the emperor and the eight great beile, including the selection of the crown prince.

Although Huang Taiji had always been inclined to change this situation and wanted to designate his eldest son Hauge as the crown prince, he had never received everyone's consent.

The issue of the crown prince had been put on hold. Huang Taiji had originally planned to appoint a crown prince after personally leading the army and taking advantage of the momentum of his victory over the Ming court. Unfortunately, things did not go as he wished.

What's worse is that half of the ministers of state are dead. If the eight-kings council system is to be maintained, the ministers of state must be filled before choosing the crown prince.

In the past, just for the position of a minister of state, the various banners of the Qing Dynasty fought openly and secretly. Now it involves the crown prince. It is hard to imagine what kind of bloody storm the Qing Dynasty will face after returning to Shengjing.

Internal and external troubles are not enough to describe the current situation of the Qing Dynasty.

"For now, we must return to Shengjing as soon as possible and discuss the matter of the new emperor with Hauge and others." Dorgon said after a moment's silence.

Yizhou, as the front line closest to the Ming court, is no longer safe. Unless the Ming court does something stupid, they will never miss the opportunity to counterattack.

However, Dorgon's words were obviously perfunctory, so Daishan had to speak openly.

"Old Fourteen, you should understand what I mean.

In such a critical moment, if we still cling to the old ways, then the Qing Empire will be doomed."

Daishan's words were meaningful, but Dorgon obviously knew what he meant. However, he just stared at Huang Taiji's corpse in a daze without answering.

After a long while, Daishan spoke first:

"If you really care about Lao Ba, take over the position when you return this time. I will fully support you.

Haoge is not a wise ruler. If he takes the throne, the Qing Dynasty will surely perish."

In Shengjing, in addition to Hauge, there were also Aiduli and Sakharian, one of whom was the son of Amin and the other was the son of Manggurtai.

Although their father died for offending Huang Taiji, these two people were very close to Hauge. If they followed the rules of political consultation, these two people would most likely support Hauge to succeed to the throne.

But the Qing Dynasty no longer had time to let their uncles, nephews and brothers fool around, and had to cut the Gordian knot.

Among all the people, Daishan believed that the only one who could take on the heavy responsibility was Dorgon.

"Okay." Dorgon came to his senses and replied with only one word.

This actually surprised Daishan a little. He thought that his fourteenth brother would refuse, after all, the eighth brother had been very good to the fourteenth brother over the years.

"The 6,000 bannermen who followed you back will all respect you. You should make good use of them." Daishan said again.

After suffering such a great defeat, according to the laws of the Qing Dynasty, all of them should be executed. Needless to say, these 6,000 remaining soldiers understood that the only way they could survive was to follow Dorgon.

"We will set off at dawn tomorrow and return to Shengjing." Dorgon stood up and covered Huang Taiji's ferocious face with a piece of yellow brocade cloth.

"But if we leave, what will happen to Yizhou?" Daishan raised a new question.

The Ming court's attack was launched recently, but Yizhou currently has only five or six thousand troops, most of whom are Mongolians and Han people.

Daishan was very worried that if they left, this group of people would simply surrender the city to save their lives.

"I will let Geng Jimao and Shang Zhixin defend the city." Dorgon was very decisive.

Upon hearing this, Daishan immediately nodded and stopped talking.

……

On the afternoon of June 17, the 14th year of Chongzhen, the Imperial Guards, led by Zhang Shikang, arrived at the city of Yizhou.

"How come these dogs are still so energetic?" Sun Weifan put down the monocular telescope in his hand and frowned.

According to common sense, the Qing Dynasty lost its elite troops in the first battle, and the morale of these border cities should be very low.

According to Sun Weifan's previous plan, he had intended to persuade them to surrender directly. After all, the purpose was to recover lost territory. As long as they were willing to surrender, everything would be fine, and it would not be impossible to spare their lives.

But through the telescope, the enemies defending the city were all staring with their eyes wide open, as if facing a powerful enemy, but they did not show any signs of cowardice.

"General Sun, that must be because they have never witnessed the truth." Zhu Cilang took over the conversation seriously.

Sun Weifan nodded in agreement. Zhu Cilang had been talking about the truth all the time these days, so much so that most of the generals understood what the Crown Prince was talking about.

"That's not right, Marshal. All those guarding the city are Han people." Huang Degong frowned while holding a telescope.

This makes people even more confused. The Han people were considered inferior people in the Qing Dynasty. Shouldn't these people be looking forward to the Ming Dynasty regaining its lost territories?

Cao Bianjiao also picked up the telescope to check with some doubt, but after just looking around, he immediately knew the reason:

"Damn it! The people guarding the city are Geng Zhongming's men. I saw Geng Zhongming's son!"

After all, Cao Bianjiao had served in the Ming border army before, and he knew most of the Jiannu generals, especially Geng Zhongming and Shang Kexi. Cao Bianjiao had dealt with Sanshun Wang and others many times.

Of course, they are all physical interactions.

"That's not surprising. Dorgon is a smart man." Zhang Shikang chuckled.

At this time, who is most afraid of the demise of the Qing Dynasty?

Apart from the royal family of the Qing Dynasty, the only ones left are probably the traitors who once defected to the Qing Dynasty.

Especially those typical traitors who were receiving salaries from the Ming Dynasty.

Given their actions, they were most worried about being liquidated by the Ming court.

Among these people, Geng Zhongming, Shang Kexi and Kong Youde were the most outstanding. These three people had the highest titles among all the traitors.

Even if they used their toes to think, they would understand that if they were captured by the Ming court, beheading would be the least punishment they could get.

Although Geng Zhongming and his two companions had been killed by the Imperial Guards in the previous war, their son was alive and well because he stayed behind.

"Shout out, who's coming?" Zhang Shikang said after looking around.

"Is it still necessary?" Sun Weifan asked with wide eyes.

"There has to be a process." Zhang Shikang chuckled.

"Come on, we know them."

After Cao Bianjiao finished speaking, he kicked his horse's belly and took a few steps forward, shouting towards the wall of Yizhou City:

"Where is Geng's son? Why don't you come and pay your respects to your Uncle Cao?"

Cao Bianjiao was about the same age as Kong Youde, but his words were clearly full of contempt. Cao Bianjiao did not want these traitors to really surrender.

Geng Jimao on the city wall was not angry at all when he heard this, but just waved to his men.

A row of longbowmen drew their bows and shot at Cao Bianjiao. Due to the long distance, most of the arrows hit the ground more than ten steps in front of Cao Bianjiao.

But it still shows the attitude of the defenders.

"One month, guard for one month, and you will inherit your father's title." Geng Jimao muttered.

……