Chapter 25 7. Contradictions arise immediately, and Fan Wencheng offers strategies to stabilize the government

After Huang Taiji won the decisive battle of Songjin, his national power was unprecedentedly strong.At this time, the Ming Dynasty had become extremely weak, and could no longer withstand the blow of the powerful Eight Banners forces of the Qing Dynasty.On the night of the ninth day of August in the eighth year of Chongde, Huang Taiji died suddenly, which caused the internal affairs of the Qing Dynasty to be in a chaotic situation.Dorgon and Huang Taiji's eldest son Hauge started a struggle for the throne. After negotiation, both of them finally gave in and gave up the throne to Fulin, the ninth son of Hong Taiji.The battle for the throne after Huang Taiji's death ended in the shortest time at the lowest cost without causing serious consequences.At this time, Dorgon held the military power, continued Huang Taiji's unfulfilled dream until his death, and prepared to enter the pass to destroy the Ming court.

In 1644, according to the plan deployed by Huang Taiji before his death, Dorgon wanted to unite the peasant army and jointly crusade against the Ming Dynasty.He sent a letter to Li Zicheng, but Li Zicheng ignored it and did not reply. Dorgon's plan fell through.Li Zicheng led the peasant army to rush towards Beijing in an overwhelming manner. Beijing fell and the Ming Dynasty fell.At this time, the Qing court did not know that the Ming Dynasty had been destroyed by the rebels.Dorgon ordered the refurbishment of military weapons, reserves of food and horses, and planned to attack the "Ming Dynasty" in early April.On the fourth day of April, when the Qing army was about to set off, Fan Wencheng, a member of the Privy Council, wrote to Dorgon, comprehensively expounding the strategic thinking of marching into the Central Plains and unifying the world.

Fan Wencheng said in the letter: "The enemy of the Qing Dynasty is no longer the Ming Dynasty, because the Ming Dynasty is extremely weak, and it will die sooner or later. The powerful enemy that hinders us is the powerful peasant army, so we are fighting against the peasant army when we fight for the world. ..." Dorgon read Fan Wencheng's letter, and his original plan to conquer the Ming court was a little shaken.At this time, the news of the death of the Ming Dynasty just reached Shenyang. Dorgon's original intention of entering the customs was to conquer the Ming Dynasty. Unexpectedly, the peasant army, with millions of people, entered Beijing first and won the rule. right.The emergence of a new political situation shocked Dorgon and Zhubeile, and they were at a loss for a while.Faced with this major event, what should the Qing Dynasty do?The Ming Dynasty is dead, and it is no longer the object of the Qing army's conquest. Should we still send troops?How to deal with the peasant regime, such a major issue, Dorgon did not dare to make a rash decision.

The destruction of the Ming Dynasty by the peasant army was undoubtedly a sensational event for the Qing army.The Peasant Army and the Qing Army both fought against the Ming Dynasty. Now the Peasant Army took the lead in destroying the Ming Dynasty and captured the capital.In some people's opinion, entering the customs now is a bit superfluous.Dorgon knew in his heart that if he gave up his plan to enter the customs now, the previous sacrifices would be meaningless.After planning for a long time in his mind, he came to a conclusion: the meaning of entering the customs is not to overthrow the Ming Dynasty and you're done. Overthrowing the Ming Dynasty is actually the basis for unifying the Central Plains.Now that the Ming Dynasty was destroyed by the Peasant Army, the target of the spearhead has changed. It is imperative to eliminate the Peasant Army regime stationed in the capital.

Therefore, he held an emergency meeting to discuss the plan of entering the customs.In addition to the kings Baylor, Dorgon specially invited Fan Wencheng to participate.At this moment, Fan Wencheng had gone to Gaizhou in southern Liaoning to recuperate. He received Dorgon's order and immediately returned to Shenyang to attend the meeting. Dorgon sat in the front hall with a gloomy face. Zhu Baylor, the prince and ministers expressed their thoughts one after another, but Dorgon kept shaking his head. Most of their opinions were about making peace with the peasant army and sharing the world.This not only made Dorgon think of Fan Wencheng's letter, although he didn't know that the Ming Dynasty had been destroyed by the peasant army at the time, but the words in the book roughly explained important points.As the saying goes: One mountain cannot accommodate two tigers.Even if we can share the world with the peasant army, there will be no problem for a while, but after a long time, problems will follow, and the consequences will definitely be unimaginable.

As soon as Fan Wencheng arrived, Dorgon couldn't sit still. He stood up and said, "Scholar Fan has come. This time the matter happened too suddenly. I discussed it with you for a long time and didn't come up with a good idea." Here’s the solution. I read your letter last time, and what you said in the book seems to have expected this kind of result to happen. Now that it really happened, I wonder if Xueshi Fan can come up with a plan based on the current situation.” Fan Wencheng said: "The prince praised the veterans like this, and the veterans are outspoken. I didn't expect the Ming Dynasty to be destroyed before, but I just analyzed the situation at that time. The situation has changed now, but the general idea should not change. The demise of the Ming Dynasty is not necessarily a bad thing for us. One less enemy means one less burden. Now we can concentrate all our energy on dealing with the peasant army. Of course I mean dealing with them, not talking to them and share the world."

Dorgon nodded and said, "This has touched my heart. Ever since Li Zicheng rejected my idea, I have planted such a seed in my heart. At that time, I thought that my opponents in the Qing Dynasty had many opponents invisibly. One out of nowhere really added a tricky mess. Now that I think about it, I am too worried, since the Ming Dynasty is destroyed, our purpose will change accordingly, and we will point the finger at the peasant army." Dorgon's words stunned everyone present and caused a commotion.Dorgon waved his hand to quell the commotion and said: "You may not be able to accept this reality for a while, but the matter has come to this point, and we have no choice. Even if we win Beijing first, we will definitely fight the peasant army again." .I don’t think they will accept any kind of peace and sharing the world.” These words played a certain deterrent effect, and those who were eager to refute also swallowed the words in their mouths.

Dodo said: "Since everyone has reached a consensus, let's not waste time on it. Let's talk about how to deploy it. I think it's better to clear things up as soon as possible. Any delay will make our road difficult. .The situation should be better if the Peasant Army has not yet gained a firm foothold and attacked quickly.” Dorgon showed joy on his face, thinking that as long as the internal unity is united, it will be much easier to solve the problem.He continued to ask Fan Wencheng: "Does Xueshi Fan have any good ideas?" Fan Wencheng said: "Since the rampant 'invasion of bandits' began, the Central Plains have been devastated. Now they have invaded the capital and want to establish a country and become king. Although the Ming Dynasty was destroyed, it changed its master, and we changed the target of the crusade. Although the peasant army rallied Millions, rampant, not invulnerable, here I propose three ways to win. First, the siege can not be attacked by force, but can be outsmarted, and try to use the method of appeasement. Second, during the period of entry, do not plunder the wealth of the rich and merchants. Wealth. Third, don’t kill people indiscriminately, rape women, burn houses, etc. As long as you abide by these three rules, you will be less hindered in your march, and you will win the hearts of the people, and your chances of winning this battle will be firmly in your hands.”

Dorgon said: "What Fan Xueshi said is very true. Although force can win, people's hearts cannot be conquered by force. You must keep these three points in mind, and be sure to supervise all ministries when entering the customs. If you violate this Those with the three rules, no matter how big or small the official position, must be dealt with strictly." Fan Wencheng's thoughts had a great influence on Dorgon, who was in power, and he was fully aware that this march would be decisive to the fate of the Qing Dynasty, and no negligence could be allowed.He resolutely made a historic decision related to the fate of the Qing Dynasty: entering the customs to seize power.After the meeting was held, Dorgon issued an emergency mobilization order, and the mobilization of soldiers and horses was quickly assembled.On the seventh day of April, a solemn graduation ceremony was held.On the ninth day of the lunar new year, Dorgon led a large number of Manchu, Han and Mongolian generals including Duoduo, Azige, Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, Shang Kexi, Fan Wencheng and Hong Chengchou to enter the customs.

This time when he entered the customs, Dorgon held the idea of ​​winning or losing in one fell swoop. In terms of military strength, all males under the age of seventy and over ten years old joined the army.However, the majority of troops are still Mongols, plus 40,000 cavalry, the number of people entering the customs is between 100,000 and 120,000.In order to seize the power in the Central Plains, Dorgon spared no effort to mobilize the whole country, and completely pinned the fate of the Qing Dynasty on this battle of entering the customs. In the preparatory work before entering the customs, Fan Wencheng's proposition played a decisive role.He clearly pointed out that the peasant military regime led by Li Zicheng was not the object of the Qing alliance, but an "enemy" that "must be punished"; it could not share the world with him, it must be eliminated, and ruled by the Qing family.The big change in form made Dorgon change his original idea of ​​uniting with Li Zicheng, and changed to a life-and-death struggle.Fan Wencheng's strategic thinking was to take advantage of the chaos when the Ming Dynasty had just been overthrown and the Peasant Army's foothold in Beijing was not stable.The strategic goal he put forward greatly inspired the ambition of the Qing ruling group headed by Dorgon.What Fan Wencheng said strengthened the confidence of Dorgon and others in making decisions to seize power from an ideological point of view.Fan Wencheng has repeatedly emphasized that if the Qing Dynasty wants to seize the world, it must change its previous policy of burning, killing and looting. It must implement a policy of appeasement, stabilize the people, and win the hearts of the people in order to win.Dorgon fully accepted Fan Wencheng's suggestion, and he did it when he entered the customs.