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

On the other side of the Liao River, Dorgon, dressed in military uniform, stared coldly at the endless camp of the Guards. Although there was no expression on his face, he sighed in his heart.

All the wars we have fought with that bastard Zhang Shikang in the past three years have ended in failure.

The Qing Dynasty became increasingly exhausted, while the Ming Dynasty regained its strength.

What was even more unacceptable to Dorgon was that the Ming Dynasty had defeated the Qing Dynasty's prideful strengths with its own weaknesses, and all the decisive battles were actually field battles.

After the defeat at Guanshan, even though Dorgon tried his best to restore morale, the Eight Banners soldiers changed their expressions when they heard that they were going to fight a field battle with the Guards.

The Ming court’s firearms were truly powerful.

Once upon a time, the Eight Banners warriors, who were famous for their field battles, had fallen into such a state.

Fortunately, his purpose this time was not to fight in the field, but to prevent Zhang Shikang from crossing the river.

The spies inside the pass had already reported that the Ming court was short of food and fodder. As long as he delayed long enough, even if the Guards were good at fighting, they would be helpless without food and fodder and ferry boats.

As early as when he was on his way from Yizhou City to Shengjing, Dorgon ordered the destruction of ships along the Liaohe River. At present, it seems that the Guards did not launch an attack because they did not have enough ferries.

But Dorgon did not feel happy about this.

Previously, his elder brother Huang Taiji said that if Zhang Shikang was not destroyed, the Qing Dynasty would not be established. At that time, Dorgon was still very dissatisfied and believed that the evaluation of Zhang Shikang was really national honor.

Now it seems like a slap in the face.

Now it is not just a question of whether to survive or not. Once the guards successfully cross the river, it will be a question of whether to perish or not.

Only he himself knew the strength of the more than 50,000 troops he had cobbled together.

Except for the more than 10,000 Eight Banners soldiers who are still capable of fighting, the rest are mostly new recruits or the old and weak Han Eight Banners. They can fight in favorable battles, but if they need to fight to the death, this group of people cannot be relied upon.

Even so, Dorgon could only use heavy rewards to motivate morale. He promised all the soldiers that if they could stop the guards, everyone would be promoted one level and rewarded with a large amount of property and land.

This made all the soldiers very happy, at least on the surface their morale was still good, even though they did not realize that once the Guards were allowed to cross the river, not only would all their rewards be lost, but their lives would also be in danger.

The road from Liaohe River to Shengjing is almost flat and can be reached in three or two days. For Dorgon, the first battle is the decisive battle.

"Your Highness the Regent, someone is coming from the other side of the river. They must be envoys from the Ming court." A soldier in charge of lookout came to report.

Another general even asked whether he should be killed, but Dorgon glared at him fiercely.

"Bring the person to see me in the big tent." Dorgon said after a moment's silence.

He wanted to see what the envoy was trying to do at this critical juncture.

Soon, a middle-aged man in Ming Dynasty official uniform came to Dorgon and said with a bow:

"I am Chen Ying, a Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Rites of the Ming Dynasty. I have come to deliver a message to His Excellency the Grand Marshal of the Army. I presume you are Prince Dorgon, right?"

Chen Yingxing was just performing a normal bow, which was basically used in situations of equal status. This made the other generals in the tent very dissatisfied, and they wanted to chop off Chen Ying's head.

Chen Ying sneered fearlessly:

"You can chop me as you please. If you chop me, the Grand Marshal will sacrifice ten thousand Jianzhou Jurchens to me." He added:

"You Jianzhou Jurchens, there aren't many of you left anyway, right?"

Since ancient times, those who dared to serve as envoys to enemy countries were almost all tough guys, especially when an empire was strong, envoys would even dare to threaten their lives.

It gives people the impression that once they go to an enemy country, they have no intention of returning alive. The Han Dynasty during its heyday is the most typical example of this.

There are generally two considerations for doing this: one is to avoid tarnishing the country's prestige, and the other is to leave a name in history, which is something the censors of the six ministries would love to have.

Dorgon just waved his hands at his subordinates and did not give Chen Ying a seat. He just said:

"Your Grand Marshal didn't send you here just to say this, did he?

If that's all you're talking about, you can really go die now."

"The Grand Marshal orders you to surrender immediately and stop resisting and wasting the lives of ordinary people.

"If you understand the current situation, the Grand Marshal says that all of you Jianzhou nobles can be spared from death, and everyone can be given a share of land." Chen Ying replied calmly.

Dorgon frowned when he heard this, thinking he had misheard. He looked at the generals around him, and they all looked puzzled, and some even laughed out loud.

When the Qing Dynasty recruited Han officials to surrender, it offered them the best treatment, including titles and many rewards.

Not to mention that they would never surrender, just look at the treatment. How many acres of land does each person get?

They are the royal family of the Qing Dynasty, and they go to farm the land themselves?

"How dare you tease me?" Dorgon said angrily.

"The Grand Marshal always keeps his word, and he also said that this is the only chance, and you should consider it carefully." Chen Ying was still not polite.

In fact, when the Grand Marshal said these words to him, Chen Ying thought he had misheard.

This was the first time he had heard of such a tactic of surrender, but as an envoy, the most important thing was to convey the message.

"Your Highness, please give the order and let me chop off his dog head!" A general felt insulted and drew his sword, pointing it at Chen Ying.

Chen Ying didn't even move, his expression still looking like he was going to chop me down quickly.

Dorgon was calm after all. He just looked at Chen Ying with a contemptuous look and said:

"What if not?"

"Hmph, if not, after we destroy your country, all the Jurchens in Jianzhou will be forced to work as coolies and slaves for a hundred years, mining for the Han people to atone their sins." Chen Ying snorted coldly.

Tell him to kill them all.

He thought that the Grand Marshal was not a hesitant person and didn't know why he did this.

"You can go back and tell your Grand Marshal that the warriors of the Qing Empire would rather die than surrender. Besides, the outcome is still uncertain. If you have the guts, cross the river."

Dorgon's tone was still very calm, as if after experiencing the bloody battle of Guanshan, many things suddenly became clear to him.

Those who get angry immediately when something happens are not powerful but stupid.

Chen Ying was somewhat disappointed when he heard this. He had even written a suicide note before coming.

"You guys have the upper hand for now, but you've taken the initiative to negotiate peace. I guess there's a problem with your food supplies, right?

Or are there not enough boats to cross the river?"

While speaking, Dorgon kept staring at Chen Ying, as if trying to find the answer from Chen Ying's face.

However, Chen Ying still had a deadpan expression. After hearing what Dorgon said, he looked at Dorgon cunningly and said:

"you guess?"

……