Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 419 Dorgon’s Choice

Beijing.

When Gao Jinku appeared in Korea, Man Dahai's urgent report began to be sent to Beijing. By the time Dorgon received the news, Zhou's army had already appeared in Seoul.

Dorgon learned that Zhou's army had landed from Korea, and their target was very clear, it must be Liaodong. Dorgon knew that Meng Jun had no intention of surrendering, and this was an open conspiracy, which was to take advantage of the fact that the Qing Dynasty was surrounded by enemies on three sides and was short of troops.

In the imperial study in the Forbidden City, Dorgon was frowning and staring at the intelligence in his hand. Ever since Meng Jun sent Xiong Ruolin and Shen Congwen as envoys for negotiations, he had a premonition that perhaps Meng Jun was not deceiving him, but was really sending troops to Korea. Until the news of Gao Jinku's arrival in Seoul came, Dorgon's worries became a reality.

At this time, Bolo hurried into the study, his expression was also solemn. As soon as he entered the palace, Bolo said, "Regent, Li Hao has rebelled. When I invaded Korea, the spies I left behind sent a secret letter. Li Hao arrested many officials who were loyal to my dynasty and put 5,000 soldiers of the inner guard under the command of Gao Jinku. Regent, Liaodong is in danger!"

Bolo presented the latest intelligence to Dorgon with a serious expression.

Dorgon took the intelligence, quickly glanced through it, and then slammed it heavily on the table, cursing: "One day, I will attack Korea again, and then I will destroy its country!"

Bolo was silent for a moment after hearing this, then he raised his head and said with a firm look in his eyes: "Regent, our dynasty now has only two choices. One is to go all out and attack Meng Jun in the south. As long as we drive Meng Jun out of Shandong and then turn around and destroy Jiang Xiang, there is still room for our dynasty to turn around in the north."

Dorgon did not comment, and Bolo continued: "Second, we should immediately withdraw troops to support Liaodong, at least to preserve the foundation outside the Great Qing Pass."

Dorgon heard this and shook his head slowly. "Neither of them is easy. If we march our entire army south, even if we can defeat Meng Jun, it will take a long time. Although Jiang Xiang of Datong has not moved his troops, he will definitely attack Beijing when the army marches south. Once Beijing is lost, the army's retreat will be cut off, and the consequences will be..."

Dorgon stopped talking at this point. Seeing this, Bolo asked hesitantly, "Does the Regent want to withdraw to the border?"

It seemed that there were only two choices, but unexpectedly, Dorgon still shook his head and said, "No, the Qing Dynasty has gone through so many hardships, how can we give up the land within the Great Wall so easily?"

Bolo asked doubtfully, "What does the Regent mean?"

Dorgon said slowly: "I am waiting until the Meng thief can no longer hold back and rushes into the Hebei Plain."

"What about the Gao Jinku outside the pass?"

Dorgon said slowly to Bolo: "Bolo, you almost defeated the Meng bandit, but you let him get a glimpse of hope. Do you feel regretful?"

Bo Luo said after a long while: "I think about it day and night, and I regret it!"

Dorgon's eyes were deep, and he said slowly to Bolo: "Bolo, before Duoduo died, he wrote me the last letter in which he praised you highly and said that you can take on the important task."

Upon seeing this, Boro knelt on one knee and said with a firm face: "I, Boro, will live up to the high expectations of the Regent!

Dorgon nodded and said, "Bolo, lead 50,000 Manchu, Han and Mongolian cavalry to Liaodong immediately. Not only must you repel Gao Jinku, but you must also severely punish Korea and show the consequences of betraying the Qing Dynasty."

When Bolo heard this, he was stunned at first. He didn't expect that the Regent would send out 50,000 troops, but he still bowed and accepted the order.

However, before Dorgon finished speaking, he added: "Bolo, in fact, you can only lead 5,000 cavalry to return to Liaodong first. The number of 50,000 is just a lie. I will spread a lie in the court to make Meng Jun think that we will go back to defend Liaodong with all our strength, so as to lure him to send troops to Hebei!"

Bolo was surprised for a moment, then he understood Dorgon's intention and nodded in agreement: "The Regent has a far-sighted vision. Please rest assured, even if there are only 5,000 people, I can defeat the Gao thieves and enter Korea!"

The next day, in the court, Dorgon spread the word that the ancestral land outside the Great Wall must not be lost, and said that he had sent Bolo to lead an army of 50,000 to Liaodong, and his words implied that he had already thought of withdrawing from the interior.

Dorgon's words caused an uproar in the court. Some said that the Central Plains should not be abandoned lightly, while others said that the Central Plains was a hellhole and they could not stay there and should withdraw to the outside of the Great Wall. There were constant quarrels in the court.

After leaving the court, Feng Quan was on his way home in a sedan chair. When the sedan bearer reached a stone bridge, Feng Quan opened the curtains and saw a wonton stall not far away. Feng Quan said to the sedan bearer, "Get off the sedan. I'm hungry."

The servant beside him said quickly, "Then I will buy a bowl for the master."

"No need. I'll just eat here at the stall." Feng Quan then signaled the sedan bearers and servants to wait where they were, while he slowly walked to the wonton stall and seemingly randomly chose a spot to sit down, cleverly avoiding the noisy sight of the passing crowd.

He raised his head slightly and glanced at the surroundings. After confirming that no one was paying attention, he called the owner of the mixed soup stall in a low voice. The owner seemed to be selling mixed soup, but in fact, he was a spy affiliated with the Qingluan Guard. He was Lu Ping's single-line contact and was used to receive intelligence from both inside and outside the Qing court with Feng Quan.

Feng Quan coughed lightly as a signal, and then pretended to tell the boss to prepare wontons, but in fact he was secretly passing a note. The text contained in the note was a secret contact message between him and the Qingluan Guards, and its meaning could only be understood with the help of a special book.

The spy understood what he meant and took the note calmly. After completing the handover, Feng Quan waited for the store to serve a bowl of wontons. After eating, he got up, paid the bill and left, as if nothing had happened.

In less than an hour, in the pen shop, Lu Ping compared the information provided by Feng Quan with the information obtained from other channels. Intelligence from all sources showed that Dorgon wanted to withdraw from the interior.

Dorgon has already sent Bolo to support Liaodong, and has also withdrawn nearly half of the 110,000 Qing troops in the suburbs of Beijing. Judging from the situation, it seems that Dorgon is really going to run away.

But Lu Ping always had a sense of doubt. This seemed to be too smooth, whether it was the intelligence obtained or the Qing court's willingness to abandon the interior so easily. However, Lu Ping did not have such great power to know the secret conversation between Bolo and Dorgon.