"Not bad! Zuo Aiqing's idea is very good! Feng Yunshan nodded and praised, turned to Fan Ruzeng and said, "Fan Aiqing, the contact with these tribes will be handed over to your secret service department." I can write a few secret edicts, and if necessary, you can give them them as proof, as long as these few tribes in Manchuria are willing to submit to the imperial court and assist in the encirclement and annihilation of the remnants of the Manchu army, any conditions can be raised. One thing, I am not the emperor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, I do not confer the title of king, at most give them the position of marquis, and as for the fiefdom, they also have to conquer it themselves. But if you don't submit, hmph, it's time to let the special forces of Shengjing who have been training for so long come out! ”

When Zuo Zongtang heard this, he thought of those tough soldiers, and couldn't help but worry about those tribes, hoping that they could return to the empire with interest, otherwise...... How much he wished that there would be more soldiers in this kind of special forces, but now there are still very few, only 500 troops, and His Majesty has the Special Service Department in charge.

Fan Ruzeng hurriedly bowed down: "Weichen takes the order!" Your Majesty, Weichen will let the soldiers of the first regiment of special forces rush to Manchuria. While there are still a few months to go into winter, if there are tribes that don't open their eyes, they can kill chickens and monkeys and teach them a lesson. ”

Feng Yunshan then turned to Zuo Zongtang and said, "Zuo Aiqing, continue to talk about your Manchurian strategy!" ”

Zuo Zongtang arched his hand and said: "Your Majesty, today, in addition to Tibet and Huijiang, Manchuria and Mongolia have not yet been returned to Wanghua. Tibet does not have much population and troops, so sending an envoy to recruit the Kashag government, and at the same time sending several spies to arrest or surrender the minister stationed in Tibet, supplemented by a strange army of 2,000 people to declare force, can make Tibet submit to the imperial court. For Tibet's subject countries, such as Bulukpa (Bhutan), Tsemengxiong (Sikkim), and Gurkup (Nepal), they can also be recruited. ”

"And back to Xinjiang, as early as after the beginning of spring, the General Staff Headquarters has sent two generals, Liang Litai and Luo Qiongshu, who captured Gansu, to lead more than 20,000 soldiers of the Fourth and Fifth Infantry Divisions to return to Xinjiang. In the near future, troops will be sent to Urumqi and Kurkha Lawusu until the capture of Ili. ”

"Mongolia is the biggest headache! There are many tribes in Mongolia, and even the Manchu Qing only control the internal Mongolian tribes and the eight banners of the Mongolian banners in Monan, such as Horqin, Chahar, the naturalized city of Tumut, Ordos and Ulanqab, etc., each banner is governed by officials sent by the imperial court (usually the governor), which is no different from the state and county governance of the Central Plains. As for the foreign vassal Mongolia, it is impossible to directly govern it, and can only implement the Zasak system, that is, to divide the Mongolian tribal princes for semi-autonomy, and say that the ministers or counselors sent to the local areas say that the Mongolian princes in these places are controlled, but in fact, it is another matter. These Mongol tribes, the Manchu Qing only nominally subdued, in fact equivalent to the vassal kings, and the Imperial Court was in charge of these Mongol affairs. It can be seen that these foreign vassals were difficult to tame Mongolia, because they were nomadic people, and once they found out that the imperial court was going to take action against them, they scattered and fled, and soon returned, coming and going like the wind in the steppe, difficult to subdue. Zuo Zongtang obviously consulted a lot of information and sent someone to inquire about Mongolia's intelligence in detail. He went on to analyze: "Still, the ruthless Manchus did something beneficial to the Chinese Empire: their more than 200 years of rule over the Mongols had actually severely weakened the Mongols. ”

Feng Yunshan knew what Zuo Zongtang meant, and what he said should be the semi-open and semi-secret policy of reducing the number of people implemented by the Manchus against Mongolia.

In the history of later generations, Feng Yunshan once saw a book on this subject, which mentioned that it was said that the Manchu Qing Dynasty was afraid of the strength of the Mongols, although most of Mongolia had been annexed to the Manchu Qing, but they were still on guard everywhere.

On the surface, the Manchus shouted the slogan of "Manchu and Mongolian family", but in fact they had been dividing the Han and Mongolians, and even all other ethnic groups that posed a threat to the Manchus. On the surface, the Manchu Qing Dynasty implemented the Manchu-Mongolian alliance, and awarded various titles such as prince, county king, beyler, beizi, and auxiliary prince to the Mongol tribal leaders according to the degree of merit and loyalty, which seemed to be very preferential to the Mongols. But in fact, while encircling the Mongol tribal leaders on the one hand, and on the other hand, letting a large number of Mongol herders be like lambs, keeping them under house arrest in sheepfolds, and not allowing them to come into contact with the outside world, especially the Han Chinese, so that they can be permanently fooled and not aware of the outside situation.

In fact, the Manchu government controlled the ordinary Mongols very strictly, and even the Mongols could only enter the Central Plains or the imperial capital from Shanhaiguan, Xifengkou, Gubeikou, Dushikou, Zhangjiakou, and Kill Hukou. The number of registered people at the time of entry will still be released according to the original number when exiting the customs, and except for the above six gates, no entry and exit from other gates are allowed.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty forbade the Mongols to learn and contact with the Han culture, and the strict nomadic boundaries strengthened the ecological isolation of the steppe peoples, so that the Mongols could not obtain the advanced production technology and production tools of the Han people, and they were always nomadic peoples, and there was no development for more than 200 years. It belongs to Mongolia alone, with thousands of large and small temples and more than 200,000 lamas, and nearly 1,000 large and small temples built in Mobei, with more than 100,000 lamas. The Manchu Qing exempted lamas from military service, conscription, and tax burdens, encouraged Mongolian herders to abandon the lay and become monks, and made a large number of Mongolian warriors who were trapped in life chant scriptures and practice Buddhism, becoming trumpets, and imprisoning the Mongolian economy and population.

The Manchu court stipulated that if a Mongol household had three to five men, two or three must become monks. Lamas are not allowed to take wives, and in the long run, the population will inevitably decline. In addition, according to later historians, the Mongol lama policy also led to improper sexual behavior among the Mongols, resulting in an epidemic of venereal diseases and many deaths, which seriously affected the population growth of Mongolia.

According to the Autobiography of Feng Yuxiang during the later Republic of China, Mongolia should have a population of tens of millions at a normal growth rate, but after 300 years of Manchu rule, the actual population was reduced to less than one million. In Mongolia at that time, seven or eight Mongol men had only one wife, while in the Manchu Qing Army and the Beiyang Overseer Army, a Mongol woman who accompanied the army had several mainlanders as her temporary husbands, and in fact formed a promiscuous society.

Moreover, how can a person who does not take a bath once a year pay attention to hygiene? After promiscuous sex infects them with gonorrhea and syphilis, they can only listen to nature. Even the leader of the lamas at that time suffered from syphilis and collapsed his nose. According to Feng Yuxiang's census in Mongolia, the results were shocking: 85 percent of Mongolian young people between the ages of 17 and 25 suffered from willow disease. The percentage of those over the age of 25 is even greater. At that time, Mongolia began to communicate with the Han people, and only then did they understand how deeply the Manchu Qing poisoned them, so the lower class of the Mongolian people began to respond to the League to unite against the Qing.

Feng Yunshan thought of this, and his heart became conflicted.

On the one hand, he did not have a good impression of these current Mongols, who were controlled by the Mongol princes and nobles, so he was in favor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty's conspiracy and poisoning of the Mongols and weakening the military strength of the Mongol tribes. But on the other hand, he was deeply sympathetic to the lower class Mongolian people, and even the Mongolian compatriots in later generations, and at the same time, he thought that if the Manchu conspiracy was exposed and publicized and known to every Mongolian lower class people, he would inevitably get their support. But in this way, it will offend the Mongolian nobles and princes, after all, in this era, all the discourse and influence are the final say of these nobles. It is even possible that if they want to free these Mongol slaves, they will cry and point their knives at themselves and fight for their masters.

He couldn't make up his mind, thinking that he was not as good as Zuo Zongtang and them in dealing with these things, it was better to tell him about it and let him make up his mind.

Due to the blockade of the Mongol tribes by the Manchus and Mongols, the Mongols were isolated from the outside world, they did not know the outside world, and similarly, the outside world did not know their situation. Therefore, although Zuo Zongtang is well-read and knows the macro situation in Mongolia, they do not know the specific living conditions of the Mongolian people.

"Zuo Aiqing, don't look at the Manchu and Mongolian families that the Manchus said, I tell you, if the Manchus only offered up the Mongolian nobles, and set up a huge conspiracy to put the Mongolian common people in danger of extinction. They introduced the Yellow Religion of the Lama, so that the Mongols believed in the Yellow Religion, many Mongolians competed to be lamas, coupled with the successive wars, almost all the Mongolian prime of life was recruited as soldiers, the entire Mongolian steppe, only more than one million people, and among the million people, the courage is almost less than twenty percent. In other words, in the whole of Mongolia, there are not yet 200,000 brave men. Feng Yunshan told the truth of the matter.

Zuo Zongtang was taken aback, he looked at Fan Ruzeng in surprise, and thought that it was the information that their secret service department had discovered and reported to the emperor.

"Your Majesty, is this serious? If that's the case, that's great! Zuo Zongtang thought for a moment, and then excitedly shouted: "Your Majesty, let the Secret Service Department send dozens of Horqin Mongol troops to sneak into the Mongolian steppe, spread this matter everywhere, spread rumors, make the Manchu conspiracy public, and take the opportunity to take the Mongolian Yellow Sect for his own use, so that it can become the agent of the empire in Mongolia." In this way, the Mongols naturally hated the Manchus, and His Majesty could take the opportunity to subdue the Mongol tribes, take their cavalry as the vanguard, and then encircle Manchuria, especially the Heilongjiang area, with the speed of these Mongols, plus their hatred, they are not afraid of these Manchu remnants fleeing in all directions! ”

"At the same time, Your Majesty may decree that the Mongol nobles should be submitted, and if they are truly obedient, it is natural to say that they may continue to be their Mongol princes, but their families and tribes must be controlled so that they cannot betray again, and the military power must be restored. If they do not submit, they will send hundreds of elite soldiers to supervise these obedient Mongol tribes and go to conquer. This was done to the point of using the Mongols against the Mongols. ”

Feng Yunshan nodded and said, "What Aiqing said is reasonable, so I will do it accordingly!" ”

Fan Ruzeng also looked at Zuo Zongtang with admiration, and secretly said in his heart that Mr. Zuo was really calculating. He remembered something and hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, Lord Zuo, there is one more thing." The Secret Service Department found out that after the original Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Northern Expeditionary Army failed to capture Manchu from Liaodong, it moved to the border area between Manchuria and Korea. Xiuyan Hall and Phoenix City, which were originally occupied by Huang Wenjin and Zhu Xikun, the prime minister of Qiu Guanzheng, were occupied by Qin Rigang, a rebel who was later defeated by the Manchus. Moreover, he will design to murder Huang Wenjin, and Zhu Xikun escaped because of his alertness, but he only led more than 1,000 people to flee into North Korea. ”

"When's the news?"

"Back to Your Majesty, just the news I got last night!"

Feng Yunshan nodded, too, if he had gotten the news earlier, he would have reported himself a long time ago, he turned his head to Zuo Zongtang and said, "Zuo Aiqing, you analyze this Qin Rigang and the others, see what the follow-up situation will be?" ”

Zuo Zongtang thought for a moment, and then said aloud: "Your Majesty, although Qin Rigang is a wolf, he can't even defeat the remnants of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and he fled to Phoenix City after the new defeat, using conspiracy and trickery to kill Huang Wenjin and expel Zhu Xikun, and only then can he get their troops to have one or two thousand soldiers and horses again, so there is no need to worry." His Majesty only needs to send one infantry division, and it will be enough to annihilate him. Your Majesty, Weichen is thinking about Korea, a former Manchu vassal state. ”

"Your Majesty, Korea, as the closest vassal state to the empire, has not sent an envoy to pay tribute or presented a letter of state after the empire has been established for so long, and it is obvious that it is still colluding with the Manchus. Either waiting and watching, or fantasizing that the Manchu Qing would one day be able to fight back and recover the Central Plains, so they were afraid of offending the Manchus. In that case, it must be taught a lesson! Therefore, Weichen suggested that the hands of Qin Rigang and Zhu Xikun could be borrowed to clean up North Korea. For Zhu Xikun, His Majesty can proclaim to the world and appoint him as the envoy of the Chinese Empire. This will both bring him down and protect him. If North Korea is unfavorable to it, then our crusading army can use it as an excuse to crusade against North Korea at one time. As for Qin Rigang, Weichen thought that it was better not to encircle and annihilate him, but he could first hype that he would send a large army to attack, so that he would know that he would have time to escape. With Qin Rigang's cautious character, he will definitely retreat to the territory of Korea, in this case, His Majesty can order North Korea to send troops to attack Qin Rigang, let the two sides fight each other, no matter who wins and who loses, the empire can find a reason to send troops to help the loser, and occupy Korea by chance! ”

Zuo Zongtang obviously figured out Feng Yunshan's thoughts, and saw that Feng Yunshan's recent policy was to attack from all sides, and for these surrounding places, just like Vietnam, they all wanted to do it in the form of direct rule, not just stay in the relationship between the original vassal states.

Feng Yunshan laughed and said, "Not bad! Ji Gao's idea is very good! As he spoke, he said to Fan Ruzeng: "Have you collected relevant information about North Korea?" ”

Fan Ruzeng shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, the Special Services Department does not have enough personnel, and there is not much news about North Korea. However, the Secret Service Department learned some information from the DPRK side from Jeju Island and the merchants on the sea route. ”

Feng Yunshan knew that this was not to blame the Special Services Department, so he said: "You inform Zuo Aiqing of all the information about North Korea, and let the General Staff sort out a battle plan." I demand that within this year, we must occupy North Korea as we did with Vietnam. Then with the Korean soldiers as the vanguard, the Mongol soldiers and the captive army were postponed, and went to Heilongjiang to attack the remnants of the Manchu Qing army. and build a city in the outer northeast area. ”