Chapter 459: The Great Qing Green Banners (Second Update, Begging for Monthly Tickets)

"Wait until we return from Henan to send word to Hooge?" Daishan sighed. "How long would that take?"

"Not too long," Dorgon said. "Two or three months and we'll be back."

"What?" Daishan blinked his old eyes. "Two or three months and you can defeat the southern barbarians?"

"Hey," Dorgon waved a hand, "is it that easy? Two or three months is only enough to stabilize the situation in Henan and Shandong, to keep the southern barbarians from counterattacking and retaking the Central Plains. Since ancient times, whoever gains the Central Plains gains the realm! The defeat at Huainan doesn't prove anything. As long as the Central Plains ultimately all belong to our Great Qing, taking the realm is only a matter of time. Even if we face off for several generations, in the end the north will still conquer the south."

"But how are you going to stabilize the Central Plains within three months?" Daishan asked again.

The moment this question came out, all the deliberative princes and ministers present pricked up their ears, and their gazes turned to Dorgon.

Daishan, Abatai, Jirgalang, and a whole host of other early Qing Manchu princes and ministers were all quite capable in battle. But in politics and strategy, they truly had no direction. Back then, if Daishan had succeeded Nurhaci, they would probably still be idling beyond the passes now — he didn't have Hong Taiji's ability. And after Hong Taiji, Dorgon the Prince Regent was a ruthless man full of schemes.

Probably only he could think of a way to stabilize the Central Plains.

Dorgon smiled and spat out three words: "Establish the Green Banners."

"Establish what?" Daishan seemed not to have heard clearly.

"Establish the Green Banners!" Dorgon said. "That is, beyond the Eight Banners, newly establish the Plain Green and Bordered Green Banners."

Jirgalang frowned and asked, "Prince Regent, what use is that? Our Manchu people are only this many. No matter how many banners we establish, the population can't multiply in time."

Before entering the passes, the able-bodied men of the Eight Banner Manchus numbered about sixty thousand. Adding the youths and old men who could serve in the army, they could not exceed eighty thousand no matter what. And over the past year or so, more than ten thousand had died in battle or from illness, one after another. That is to say, the truly combat-capable elite of the Eight Banner Manchus now numbered only forty to fifty thousand.

In history, these fifty thousand heavenly soldiers, driving several hundred thousand Han troops and Green Standard soldiers, had conquered the realm. But now, facing a ruthless man like Zhu Cilang, the Han troops and Green Standard were no longer very useful. And the Eight Banner heavenly soldiers were not enough to keep dying — just thinking about it was difficult!

"The Plain Green and Bordered Green are not our Manchu banners," Dorgon said. "They are for the Nikans."

"Don't they already have the Han troops?" Daishan said.

Dorgon shook his head. "Can we put all the Nikans who fight and die for Great Qing into the Han troops? Even if we were willing, would those Nikans be willing? Wu Sangui wouldn't be willing, would he? How many men does he have now? Forty thousand? Sixty thousand? Would he hand them over?"

Jirgalang said, "There are still the Green Standard troops."

"The Green Standard?" Dorgon snorted. "Without silver, where does the Green Standard come from? Prince Zheng, you are a co-regent — you should know how much of the court's old reserves are left. This time in Shandong and Henan we spent quite a lot, but what about income? Prince Su has also been defeated at Huainan. The Eight Banners, Han troops, and Green Standard units lost at least fifteen thousand, plus several thousand wounded! After paying out pensions from those old reserves, how much will be left?"

"That..."

The problem was serious!

Green Standard soldiers served for pay. Without money to earn, who would serve as a Green Standard soldier for you? If the Green Standard troops disbanded, and not counting that scheming Wu Sangui, would Great Qing even have a hundred thousand usable troops?

A hundred thousand men spread across battlefields as vast as Shanxi, Shaanxi, Northern Zhili, western Liaoxi, Liaodong, Henan, and Shandong... how could the war be continued?

"Prince Regent," Jirgalang had begun to grasp Dorgon's meaning, "you intend to reorganize the Green Standard troops into Green Banner troops?"

"Not only the Green Standard," Dorgon said, "but also Wu Sangui's forces, and the troops of Kong Youde, Shang Kexi, and Geng Zhongming — all together they will be incorporated into the Green Banners. From now on, Wu Sangui's western army will be the Bordered Green Banner. Kong Youde, Shang Kexi, and Geng Zhongming in the east, along with all the other Green Standard units, will be counted as the Plain Green Banner."

Jirgalang frowned slightly. "What difference is there between the Green Standard and the Green Banners?"

Dorgon explained, "The Green Standard hires soldiers with money, while the Green Banners unite soldiers and civilians as one, just like the Eight Banners — naturally they must be granted banner lands!"

So Dorgon's brilliant move was to expand land enclosure. This was a method he had thought of while reading the Romance of the Three Kingdoms at night — military agricultural colonies. And the current situation across all of northern China was much the same as when Cao Mengde had practiced military colonies back then: few people, much land, and desolation everywhere!

Dorgon sighed. "There is no silver... there's nowhere left to loot! But there is plenty of land. In Henan and Shandong, abandoned farmland is everywhere, and in Gansu and Shaanxi it's up to Wu Sangui. Perfect — we'll enclose a bit and distribute it to the Green Banner troops, letting them be like our Eight Banners: soldiers and farmers at once, farming while serving as soldiers. That way we can save a great deal on military pay."

"Prince Regent," Jirgalang asked, "how is this land to be enclosed? Will landless commoners be allowed to attach themselves as slaves? And after enclosure, how will it be managed? Will it be managed collectively by the banners, or divided among households?"

Dorgon said, "In Shaanxi, let Wu Sangui handle the Bordered Green Banner himself. How many jalan to establish, how many niru, how many gūsa ejen to appoint — all up to Wu Sangui. We'll interfere as little as possible.

As for the Plain Green Banner, it will be established on the lands of Henan and Shandong. The specifics — after I go to Henan, I'll meet with the Three Princes Who Surrendered and those Green Standard Regional Commanders and work it out slowly. There will always be a way."

"There should at least be a rough number," Daishan said, frowning.

Dorgon stroked his beard and thought for a moment. "Our Eight Banners enclosed twenty million mu in Northern Zhili. How many people do we have? Counting the Han troops and Mongols, not even a hundred thousand, and some are still beyond the passes. On average, over two hundred mu per person, right? Let the Plain Green Banner recruit to the same number!

Let them establish two hundred Green Banner niru, with a troop quota of one hundred thousand, and enclose twenty million mu!"

"Another twenty million mu?" Jirgalang frowned. "How much land do Shandong and Henan have in total? After enclosing twenty million mu, how much will be left?"

Dorgon could not answer this question, so he shot a glance at Fan Wencheng, who was attending the Deliberative Council of Princes and Ministers.

Fan Wencheng's eyes were red and his face sallow — clearly he was genuinely grieving Hooge's death. Seeing Dorgon's look, he immediately rose and bowed, replying, "Reporting to Prince Zheng: Shandong Province has over sixty million mu, and Henan Province has over seventy-four million mu... though the court has not occupied these two provinces in their entirety. On the court's territory, eighty to ninety million mu are still there. Moreover, these two provinces have seen many years of war, and many places are sparsely populated with abundant wasteland. Enclosing twenty million mu is no problem... After enclosure, at least sixty million mu will still be taxable. According to the former dynasty's total grain tax from Henan, collecting 2.3 million shi of flour per year would not be excessive."

"What about Northern Zhili?" Jirgalang asked again. "How much can still be collected?"

"Northern Zhili's original tax quota was light," Fan Wencheng said. "Even with twenty million mu less, it can still be met — one year is six hundred thousand shi. Shanxi is also 2.3 million shi. We haven't occupied the whole province now, but 1.5 million shi is still there. Let's be a bit more generous — the land tax can still total four million shi. As for commercial taxes and customs duties, at most 1.5 million taels per year. Relying on this income, there is absolutely no way to maintain a hundred thousand combat-capable Green Standard troops. So enclosing land and establishing the Green Banners is the only way."

Four million shi of grain and 1.5 million taels of silver — that was the maximum income Great Qing could obtain in the coming period.

And on Zhu Cilang's side, it could be multiplied at least tenfold!

In a contest of money, Great Qing had no chance at all. But Dorgon had still found Great Qing's most favorable factor — the contradiction between people and land in the north had been greatly alleviated by years of war.

On the territory directly ruled by Great Qing, the population was only between fifteen million and ten million. And arable land was at least around two hundred million mu!

So Great Qing did not need Jiangnan to pay tribute of four million shi every year. As long as the land at hand was reasonably distributed and utilized, it could sustain itself very well.

Meanwhile, in Zhu Cilang's core territory — Southern Zhili, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi — there might be over two hundred million mu of arable land. If the refugees flooding in from the north were counted, the population was at least seventy to eighty million. The contradiction between people and land there was far more severe than in the Central Plains.

(End of Chapter)