The fall of the Great Qing marked the end of the war in the Central Plains.
In less than two months, the Great Xia had managed to protect the Great Jin Dynasty while also conquering the Great Han and Great Qing, becoming the biggest winner of this war.
After a series of fierce battles, the Mongolian army had completely defeated the Turkic cavalry and successfully occupied the Western Turkic Khaganate. After this battle, the Mongolian territory had expanded by half, becoming a super grassland kingdom that spanned from east to west.
Just based on the size of the Huaxia region, the Mongolian territory was already comparable to the Great Xia.
With the decline of the Great Zhou, the Mongolian Empire had already replaced the Great Zhou Dynasty and became the greatest opponent of the Great Xia in unifying the Huaxia region.
There was bound to be a battle between the two.
… …
On the 21st day of the eighth month, Ouyang Shuo arrived at the capital.
Although Feng Qiuhuang had already proposed to Ouyang Shuo to merge the Great Jin Dynasty with the Great Xia when the Great Zhou army withdrew from the Great Jin Dynasty, Ouyang Shuo wasn't in a hurry to take over the Great Jin Dynasty.
Firstly, the war had just ended, and the Great Jin Dynasty had finally managed to defend their territory. Their morale was at its highest, and it was also the time when the court and commoners were the most cohesive. If Feng Qiuhuang suddenly announced that they were going to merge with the Great Xia Dynasty, the commoners might not be able to accept it, and it might even ruin the mood.
Secondly, the Great Jin Dynasty was riddled with holes and there were even cracks in the court. Feng Qiuhuang was currently conducting an unprecedented purge. If they merged with the Great Xia now, they would probably have to give up halfway.
Ouyang Shuo wanted to borrow Feng Qiuhuang's hand to plunder the Great Jin Dynasty before taking it over.
It might seem hypocritical to let Feng Qiuhuang carry the 'purge', but from the Great Xia's point of view, this was the most beneficial method for the Great Xia, and Feng Qiuhuang believed that Feng Qiuhuang would understand.
Furthermore, given Feng Qiuhuang's pride, she wouldn't want to hand over the disorderly Great Jin Dynasty to Ouyang Shuo.
Thus, the matter was decided.
After Feng Qiuhuang completed the purge, she would merge the Great Jin Dynasty into the Great Xia. At that time, the Great Xia would appear as the 'savior', quelling the aftermath of the purge and winning over the hearts of the people.
This way, she would be able to preserve a relatively intact Great Jin Dynasty. After all, Ouyang Shuo didn't want to take over a terrible mess.
To Feng Qiuhuang, the Great Jin Dynasty was like her 'dowry'. The quality of the 'dowry' would, to a certain extent, determine how far Feng Qiuhuang could go in Great Xia in the future.
Compared to Bai Hua and the rest, Feng Qiuhuang was a latecomer.
Ouyang Shuo thought very highly of Feng Qiuhuang and had high expectations for her. Naturally, he didn't want Feng Qiuhuang to attract criticism the moment she joined Great Xia.
Capital City, West Side Courtyard.
After arriving in the capital, Ouyang Shuo did not receive the members of the Qing royal family, nor did he receive the old ministers of the Qing Dynasty with great fanfare. Instead, he holed himself up in a quiet courtyard and dealt with the post-war matters in a low-key manner.
Staying in the room, Ouyang Shuo could still hear the bustling noises coming from the streets and the incessant sounds of firecrackers. That was the citizens of the capital celebrating without restraint. They were celebrating Great Xia's "recovery" of the capital.
The enmity between the Manchus and the Han was really inexplicable.
No matter how low-key Ouyang Shuo was, his appearance still caused ripples in the pond that was the capital. There was no need for Ouyang Shuo to make an appearance, merely his name was enough to bring about deterrence to this ancient city.
The bustling capital city seemed to become quiet all of a sudden.
There was a good saying, "A person's name is like a tree's shadow." Now that Ouyang Shuo had reached this realm, just by relying on his name, he could accomplish things that many people couldn't accomplish no matter how hard they tried.
Just like this time.
Although Ouyang Shuo didn't make an appearance and only stayed in the courtyard, because of his presence, the officials sent by Great Xia to take over the capital city immediately felt that the previously difficult task had become smoother.
The resistance that they encountered previously seemed to have disappeared without a trace.
The imperial court of Great Xia had already decided to merge the capital county into the Northern Frontier Province, and the Northern Frontier Protectorate would also be relocated to the capital city. In the future, the capital city would be positioned as the central city of the dynasty in the north.
With the capital city as the center, it would radiate to the entire north.
With such a strategic city, the imperial court was naturally very concerned about it. The degree of importance they attached to it was no less than taking over a province.
There was another difference between the capital city and other places, and that was that the majority of the officials in the city were Manchus.
This naturally wouldn't do.
The imperial court had already decided to remove all officials above the fifth rank in the capital city. Apart from a few who had a good reputation, the rest would either be demoted to commoners or sent to other provinces.
This naturally caused a lot of resistance. After all, it was destroying the iron rice bowl of others. If it wasn't for Ouyang Shuo personally overseeing the capital city, even with the current prestige of Great Xia, there would probably be chaos.
Apart from the officials in the city, the more troublesome problem was how to settle the Qing Dynasty royal family, especially Emperor Kangxi.
In this regard, the imperial court had two opinions.
One thought that they should follow the way the imperial court settled the Great Han royal family. They should confer Kangxi the title of Prince Qing and restrict him to the prince's residence to appease the people.
However, there were also people who didn't feel at ease. They felt that Kangxi wasn't like the former Crown Prince of the Han Dynasty, Liu Fuling, who had unparalleled prestige among the Manchus. Even if Kangxi was restricted from traveling, he would still play a role in the dark.
Rather than that, it would be better to bestow death on Kangxi.
There were also people who opposed this idea.
Firstly, bestow death on an emperor who had already surrendered would be a disgrace to the dynasty. Secondly, if a precedent was set, it would only cause the future dynasty to resist to the end and never surrender.
After arguing for a long time, it was Ouyang Shuo who made the final decision.
Ouyang Shuo pondered for a while and decided that conferring Kangxi the title of Prince Qing would definitely not work. He decided to adopt a compromise and demote all the members of the Qing royal family, including Kangxi, to commoners and send them to the southern border.
There was a reason for the difference in treatment between the Qing royal family and the Han royal family.
Firstly, the civil and military officials of the former Han Dynasty were put in important positions in Great Xia, while the officials of the Qing Dynasty had to face a great purge. As a result, there was less resistance to demoting the members of the Qing royal family.
Secondly, Tian Wenjing, Zuo Zongtang, and the other officials of the Qing Dynasty in Great Xia were all Han people and didn't have deep feelings for the Qing Dynasty. Naturally, Ouyang Shuo didn't need to care about their feelings.
Thirdly, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had an extremely high prestige among the Han people. His influence wasn't limited to the Central Plains Province, but the whole of China.
Therefore, Great Xia had to take good care of the descendants of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
In comparison, Emperor Kangxi's influence among the people of China was much weaker. Just like in the capital, there were many people who applauded.
Therefore, even if Emperor Kangxi was demoted to commoners, other than the Manchus, no one would come out to defend him.
Of course, Ouyang Shuo didn't go too far. He conferred the title of Emperor Kangxi's fourth son, Yinzhen, who was later known as Emperor Yongzheng, as a second-class earl.
In this way, he could give an explanation to the surrendered Qing army.
In this attack on the Qing Dynasty, they captured a total of 320,000 Qing soldiers. Ouyang Shuo wasn't in a hurry to come to a conclusion on how to deal with these prisoners of war. He only ordered the Northern Frontier Army to be responsible for keeping them in the outskirts of the capital.
The reorganization of the army was a matter of moving the whole body.
Ouyang Shuo planned to wait until after Great Jin submitted to the Qing Dynasty. Then, he would combine the Great Jin army and the captured Han army to carry out a systematic reorganization.
Moreover, the war in the Central Plains was far from over.
While Ouyang Shuo was overseeing the capital, Han Xin had already led the Leopard Troop back to the Central Plains Province. In a short period of time, neither Qin, Tang, nor the Great Zhou dared to have any designs on Great Jin.
Naturally, the Leopard Troop didn't need to be stationed in Great Jin.
The Central Plains Province had just been conquered and only needed a large army to oversee it.
After handing over the defense to the Leopard Troop, the Fifth Corps of City Guards stationed in Luoyang would return to Shanhai City.
Similarly, after handing the prisoners of war to the Northern Frontier Army, the Imperial Guards would also return to Shanhai City.
Apart from the Flying Bear Army led by Li Jing, who was temporarily guarding the capital, the three corps of the City Guards, the three corps of the Soaring Eagle Army, and the First Corps of the Yingzhou Corps would all return to their respective camps.
From the looks of it, Great Xia was not prepared to destroy the Great Zhou Dynasty in one fell swoop.
It was not that they did not want to, but that they could not.
After the Great Qing Dynasty was destroyed, the remaining five countries would definitely be more closely united.
There were more than three million troops in total. It was not like they could start a war whenever they wanted. If they were not careful, they might get into trouble.
Ouyang Shuo's strategy was to nibble away at them one by one.
Of course, in order to speed up the process, Ouyang Shuo did not hesitate to use one trump card after another.
The location of the battle this time was in the southeast region.
On the 22nd of August, the second day after Ouyang Shuo left for the capital, the deputy commander of the southeast military region, Sun Bin, led the Tiger Army and the Xiangjiang Army, a total of 600,000 troops into the Great Zhou Dynasty's Jiangnan Province.
The flames of war that had just subsided were ignited again.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
