Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 651
Do you want to be faithful to the second minister?
This is another controversial topic.

One sentence also led to a large-scale debate between scholars and Guozisheng. Some people supported Jiang Tianyi, thinking that cheating a villain is not cheating, and that is justice. Both sides insist on their own opinions, and neither can refute the other.

In the end, even Wang Jiayan was paralyzed.

I don't know whether to deceive Hong Chengchou and these other ministers.

But Chongzhen's inner principles have never wavered.

Jiang Tianyi proposed that legal principles are nothing but human feelings, but as a time traveler, Chongzhen hates human feelings the most. It is precisely because of this human nature that weaves the whole society into an intricate network of relationships. If you want to do something, even if it's just seeking a doctor or reading a book, you have to find connections everywhere.

It is also this sophistication of the world that conceals all kinds of social chaos and violations of laws and disciplines.

As a result, speculators are prevalent in the world, while those who are upright and capable but not good at drilling are often excluded. Over time, a broken window effect of bad money driving out good money is formed.

If so, the country is over.

The Song Dynasty ended like this, and the Ming Dynasty also ended like this.

Even the modern Republic of China died in this way.

The prince's iron-fisted anti-corruption campaign in Shanghai ended up encountering the greatest human sophistication.

And the reason why the Chinese revolution was able to succeed is also because the older generation of proletarian revolutionaries broke the rules of the world, were truly impartial and selfless, and strictly followed the rules no matter what.

No matter what happens in the future, and no matter whether it can be achieved or not, one of Chongzhen's grand goals as a time traveler is to get rid of the ways of the world and realize the true Confucianism and the law, that is, the rule of law.

It is to use the set of Confucian principles to educate the people.

But at the level of governing the country, legalist principles must be adopted.

So Chongzhen did not participate too much in tonight's debate.

In fact, most of the time, Chongzhen just acted as an audience.

Because his identity is too sensitive, he is the current emperor, and he also wears the aura of "Enlightenment from Meishan Mountain", so once he ends up participating in the debate, he will soon make the opponent cautious in his words and deeds.

After returning to the tent in the camp, Chongzhen suddenly asked: "Gao Banban, have you accepted the present?"

Gao Qiqian was so frightened that he suddenly shuddered, and hurriedly knelt down to beg for mercy: "Long Live Lord, this old slave didn't say anything, let alone plead for Hong Chengchou's other ministers."

"Get up, I said I punished you?" Chongzhen said angrily, "Tell me, who gave you a gift?"

"Long Live Lord, that's going to be more." Gao Qiqian pointed to count in detail, "the first one is Hong Chengchou, the second one is Wu Sangui, and there are Jiang Yu, Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, Shang Kexi, Wang Fuchen and so on. , there are quite a few others, but the old slave can’t remember the names at once, there must be about thirty of them.”

"There are more than 30?" Chongzhen shook his head and smiled, "This is called the tree falling and the monkey scattered."

"That's right, the tree falls and the monkeys scatter." Gao Qi subtly echoed, "Dorgon, the big tree, has fallen, and the monkeys like Hong Chengchou, Wu Sangui, and Kong Youde will collapse without their backbone."

After a pause, Gao Qiqian asked again in a low voice: "Long Live Lord, how should this old servant reply to these hozens?"

"Are you trying to test my tone?" Chongzhen said with a smile, "Or do you want to teach me how to do things? Or you will teach me how to deal with these monkeys?"

"Long live my lord, how dare this old slave have such wild and rebellious thoughts."

Gao Qiqian just got up, and when he heard the words, he fell to his knees in fright again, thinking to himself, Lord Long Live is really astute now, and he can clearly see any careful thoughts in his heart.

At that moment Gao Qiqian hurriedly said: "This old slave will hand over the gold, silver and jewels given by the second minister to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. From now on, he will not dare to accept gifts from others, not even a penny."

Chongzhen laughed, the old eunuch is quite clever.

It's no wonder that so many emperors like to use eunuchs.

Firstly, eunuchs are the emperor's domestic slaves and can be killed at will.

Secondly, some eunuchs are indeed smart and capable.

However, it is absolutely impossible for Chongzhen to give eunuchs a chance to gain power.

As for the hozens like Hong Chengchou, Wu Sangui, and Jiang Yu, let's take this opportunity to clean them up. It would be more troublesome to keep them, mainly because it doesn't take much trouble to clean up these second ministers.

……

Chongzhen did not want to give these hozen a chance to return to the Ming Dynasty, but Fulin was very worried that these hozen would turn against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty.

In particular, Hong Chengchou, who had received the imperial edict for almost half a month, was still entrenched in Tianjin Wei and refused to lead his division back to Beijing, which made Fulin suspicious.

So Fulin gave another order to Ye Bilong and Sony who were halfway there, telling them to divert to Tianjin and join Hong Chengchou's army first before returning to Beijing.

By the first ten days of June, Sony and Ebilong led the main forces of the Eight Banners to arrive in Tianjin Wei successively.

Because Hong Chengchou couldn't wait for Chongzhen's reply, he also gave up the idea of ​​betrayal, and immediately mobilized hundreds of thousands of Manchu and Han troops to return to Beijing with Sony and Ye Bilong.

One more thing must be said here, even if Hong Chengchou turned against the water, he would not be able to take away many people.

Dorgon's reform of the Eight Banners military system is still reliable, and it has largely severed the personal attachment relationship between generals and soldiers. Because of the reward of land, and most of his parents, wives and children are in Beijing, so It is said that the fighting will of the Eight Banners Mongolian Army, the Eight Banners Han Army and the Green Battalion is still very firm.

Therefore, Hong Chengchou's betrayal took away at most a small number of servants.

Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, and Shang Kexi are also similar.

Their original trilogy was dismantled by Dorgon long ago.

In this way, on the one hand, it was too late to wait for Gao Qiqian's reply, and on the other hand, the troops in their hands were really limited, not enough for them to support themselves, so when Sony and Ye Bilong arrived one after another, Hong Chengchou, Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming , Shang Kexi and these other ministers gave up thinking about it, and could only bite the bullet and follow Sony and the others back to Beijing.

On June [-]th, the army led by Suo Ni, E Bilong and Hong Chengchou arrived in Tongzhou.

Although Sony and Ebilong are the main combat factions, they are still good soldiers. The garrison in Tongzhou is a testament to their ability, because in this way, they can form a corner with Beijing, and the Ming army is in a situation of being attacked from the back.

此时聚集在通州的清军兵力，有7万八旗满洲，2万八旗蒙古、11万八旗汉军、4万绿营加20万练勇，共计44万人马。

Overnight, Tongzhou became a huge barracks.

In the city of Beijing, there are 2 Eight Banners Manchurians plus 10 Lianyong.

At the same time, Daming also increased its troops again, and transferred two infantry towns from Nanjing.

By mid-June, except for the second town that was left to protect the Liang Road between Dagukou and Beijing, the Ming army gathered outside Chaoyang Gate had reached 2 infantry towns and 7 cavalry town, with more than 1 people .

By this time, the decisive battle between the Ming and Qing armies was already imminent.

……

But Fan Wencheng and Ning Wanwo didn't give up yet. They dragged Hong Chengchou who had just returned to Beijing, and the three of them entered the palace together to find Bumbutai, trying to persuade the Queen Mother to stop the decisive battle.

"My servant waits to greet the Queen Mother." The three of Hong Chengchou knelt down to pay their respects.

"Stay flat." Bumbutai signaled the three of them to get up, and asked again, "Mr. Heng Jiu was not in danger when he entered the city, right? In the past month or so, the scouts of the Ming army have been extremely arrogant."

"Back to the queen mother, the slave is not in danger." Hong Chengchou replied.

"The Ming army has lifted the blockade on Beijing, and they have all retreated to the camp outside Chaoyangmen."

"That's good." Bumbutai said happily, "The late emperor often told the Ai family that Mr. is a national scholar, and the regent also highly respects him, so if Mr. has good or bad things, it will be a great loss to the Qing Dynasty."

"I'm ashamed to be a slave." Hong Chengchou said again, "Empress Dowager, this slave has something to say from the bottom of his heart."

"Mr. is a scholar of the country. What you offer must be a good policy for governing the country, and what you put in must be good words of gold and jade." Bumubutai said, "The Ai family is here to listen carefully."

Hong Chengchou said solemnly: "The Ming army's firearms are sharp and its soldiers are in full swing. The defeat at Hunhe River, the two defeats at Dagukou, and the defeat at Guting Town are enough to prove that today's Ming army is not what it used to be. It is hard to say that our Qing soldiers will win a decisive battle with him, and the slave thinks that he should avoid his edge at the moment, and pursue and attack him when the veterans of his division are tired and forced to retreat."

"Slaves and others also agree." Fan Wencheng, Ning Wan and I also said in unison, "At this time, we must absolutely not fight the Ming army."

Bumbutai smiled, and said warmly: "The Ai family has no knowledge, but they have read a few history books of the Han family. There are indeed many such precedents in the history of China. The Han dynasties were often unable to hold out, and they waited until the veterans of the foreign army were exhausted to attack again, such as the battle of Feishui, the battle of Caishiji in the Southern Song Dynasty, and the battle of Diaoyucheng."

"What the Empress Dowager said is very true." Hong Chengchou said, "For the weaker army, it is the only strategy not to fight with deep ditches and high fortifications, and to pursue and attack the strong enemy when the veterans are exhausted."

Bumbutai asked back: "However, has there ever been a counterexample?"

"A counterexample?" Hong Chengchou couldn't react for a while.

Bumbutai said again: "In the history of China, is there any foreign army in the north who does not fight with deep trenches and high fortifications, and finally drags down the army in the south?"

"This?" Hong Chengchou was at a loss for words.

There seems to be no such precedent in history?

Fan Wencheng quickly said: "The Queen Mother, the reason why there is no such precedent in history is because the Han people are not warlike, while the foreigners in the north are martial, and their people are all brave and good at fighting. Therefore, in history, the army of foreigners in the north often oppresses the Han people in the south. Fighting, but the Han people in the south rarely have the ability to fight back."

"So, why is the Qing Dynasty an exception?" Bumbutai laughed. "In history, the foreign armies in the north have always suppressed the Han army in the south. Why did it change when we arrived in the Qing Dynasty? It became The Han army in the south fought against the foreign army in the north? I’m afraid it’s unreasonable, right?”

(End of this chapter)