For Zhu Jie's words, Chongzhen didn't feel much surprised, after all, the strength of the Qing army entering the pass has reached more than 100,000, and all the elite cavalry, such a strong force, coupled with strong combat power, if you want to defeat the opponent, it is impossible without an elite army of hundreds of thousands, even if you want to withstand the attack of the Qing army, without more than 100,000 troops, it is impossible!

"Zhu Aiqing, I want to believe you, but you also have to tell me how many troops you need to be able to withstand the threat of the Qing army and even defeat them!"

Chongzhen asked.

Zhu Jie shook his head and replied: "Your Majesty, war is a comprehensive factor, the commander's command, the general's ability, the soldier's combat power, the weapon factor, the supply factor, the authority factor, and the strength of the army is just one of the factors. ”

"Oh?"

Chongzhen asked: "Then you should give me an analysis, among these factors, which is better or worse than our opponents?" I want to hear the truth! ”

Zhu Jie said with a smile: "Your Majesty, the ministers never tell lies, first, the factor of the commander, the Emperor Taiji, Dolgon, Azig and even Duoduo in Manchuria are all first-class famous generals, and they have been seen in the battles over the years; Of course, the ministers will definitely not be worse than them, in the eyes of the ministers, they are not peerless generals! Second, the ability of the generals, Your Majesty, this is our weak link, from the time of Sun Chengzong, until Lu Xiangsheng, Hong Chengchou, the Ming Dynasty was defeated again and again, in the internal and external wars, the generals' losses were too great, the stars withered, and now there are very few generals who can charge into battle, and they are alone; Third, the combat power of the soldiers, this is the biggest factor in our current gap, the Manchurians are known as the Jurchens are less than 10,000, the Manchurians are invincible, their cavalry combat power is far above the infantry of the Ming army, and now the elite division is exhausted, and it will take at least one to three years to cultivate individual combat power that is on par with the Qing army......"

"So long?"

Chongzhen's brows furrowed tightly, can the Qing army give me such a long time to commit another offense? Unlikely......

Chongzhen said in a deep voice: "Zhu Aiqing, if it takes three years to cultivate an army to resist the Manchurian Tartars, what will happen within three years?" These tartars will definitely not give us such a long time ......"

"Your Majesty!"

Zhu Jie smiled slightly: "Three years is indeed a long time, but there are two factors that can really be very beneficial to us......"

"What factors?"

Chongzhen's spirit was shocked, and he hurriedly asked.

Zhu Jie replied: "First, that is, our weapons, I am confident that in the short term we will be superior to the Manchurian Tatars in terms of weapons, which can make up for the lack of our individual combat strength to a certain extent; Second, within one to two years, it is unlikely that the Manchurian Tatars will launch an attack on our Guannai, and at least within a year, it will be absolutely impossible for the Manchurian Tatars to attack us! ”

"Why? Are you so sure? ”

Chongzhen said in surprise.

"Of course!"

Zhu Jie sneered: "The emperor is blessed with heaven, with the protection of the heavens, how can it be possible for the Manchurian Tartars to occupy the right time, place and people?" The emperor and the ministers dared to conclude that in the near future, perhaps now, the Manchurian Tartars had fallen into an unpredictable upheaval, and that it would be impossible for them to go south until this upheaval was over! ”

"Unforeseen upheaval?"

Chongzhen was stunned for a moment, the Manchurians have always been very united, especially the Emperor Taiji's martial arts, power and tactics, very powerful, compared to his father Nurhachi, even surpassed, and the military power is said to be all in the hands of their brothers, how can there be turmoil?

"Your Majesty, the minister dares to assert that Huang Taiji has been killing for years, fighting endlessly, and doing Tianhe, is absolutely not alive this year, and now, Manchuria holds great power is his brother Rui Prince Dolgon, once Huang Taiji is dead, the ambitious Dolgon, will definitely covet the imperial power, however, Huang Taiji's eldest son is now also a heavy general, and there are two yellow flags to support, no matter who wants to win the throne of the puppet emperor on both sides, it will take a lot of time to suppress the opponent, and even kill them all, Isn't this a great opportunity for us to recuperate? ”

Chongzhen's heart jumped suddenly, he looked at Zhu Jie in surprise, and asked in surprise: "Zhu Aiqing, is this true?" ”

Zhu Jie nodded, and replied firmly: "Your Majesty, I am very confident in my judgment, it will not take a few days, the news outside the customs will naturally come over, Huang Taiji will return to the west, Prince Rui Dolgon and Prince Su Haoge will compete for the throne, and in the end, I am afraid that it will be the snipe and the clam that will fight and make a wedding dress for others......

Huang Taiji wants to return to the west with his life?

Chongzhen's heart was pounding, this was a big surprise, if Zhu Jie's judgment came true, then he would no longer have to be afraid every day, over the years, Huang Taiji had given him too many nightmares, he should have died a long time ago......"

Zhu Jie continued: "Your Majesty, we still have the last two factors, one is the factor of troops, the other is the factor of logistics, for the Ming Dynasty, the strength of the army has never been a problem, even now the national strength is still no less than 700,000, several times that of Manchuria; The factor that really restricts us is the factor of logistical supply, for Manchuria, they feed the war with war, and never have to worry about logistics problems, but we can't, on our territory, we can't rob our own people, right? When I arrived in the land of Manchuria, it was a poor and remote country, and the climate was cold, and there was nothing to rob ......"

Chongzhen nodded in agreement, it is indeed like Zhu Jie's analysis, the annual Liao salary has long been overwhelmed by the imperial court, the pressure is huge, in addition to the Liao salary, there are also salaries and training salaries, and the annual expenditure is tens of millions of taels of silver, and the normal annual tax of the imperial court is only millions of taels, so they can only desperately levy taxes on the peasants, and they can fish when they dry up......

"Don't say anything else, Zhu Aiqing, just say how many troops you want, even if I beg my grandfather to tell my grandmother, I will give you the silver!"

Chongzhen gritted his teeth and said, for the sake of his own country, he can only grit his teeth and stand up now.

"Your Majesty, you don't have to be ...... like this"

Zhu Jie said with a smile.

"Y-What do you mean?"

Chongzhen asked?

Zhu Jie replied: "Why do you need extra silver from the emperor?" As long as the emperor takes out the establishment for the ministers from the existing establishment, and the ministers reorganize and train the army, you give me 30,000 troops, I train 30,000 troops, you give me 100,000 troops, and the ministers will train 100,000 soldiers, so doesn't this reduce the tax pressure on the imperial court? ”

Chongzhen was surprised and delighted, yes! Instead of raising those old soldiers who can't fight, it's better to hand them all over to Zhu Jie for retraining, if you can really train an elite division, wouldn't it kill two birds with one stone?

"Your Majesty, in fact, we are not too few troops now, but too many troops, the minister thinks that you can vigorously meet the standing troops in various places, reduce expenditures, and then use all the silver saved on the road of training elite soldiers, this is called elite soldiers! Just like Emperor Taizu back then, the army was not as strong as it is now, and he still chased Mengyuan to the north, why? Elite soldiers, 1,000 elite soldiers, enough to defeat a rabble of 3,000 or even 5,000! But it only takes a thousand to two thousand troops to consume, and this is a real bargain! ”

Zhu Jie made a deafening voice again!