I really don't want to be emperor at the end of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 365 Primitive Biochemical Weapon Attack

Chapter 365

The scale of this expedition was unprecedented. Except for the Ning Navy, almost all the capable troops of the Ming Dynasty were assembled for the expedition. At the beginning, the people of the country were really excited, thinking that it was possible to eliminate the slaves. After decades of turmoil, the Ming Dynasty was The slaves who have been tortured enough can rest in peace!
The people were still very happy. Liao's salary was like a big mountain pressing on them, making them breathless. Now the slaves were seeking death, which angered the entire Ming Dynasty. The emperor led a new expedition and vowed to crush the slaves. They all thought that This time Jiannu will not be exterminated.

At least he will be beaten to be honest for several decades. I probably won’t have to pay the salary, right?They can also breathe a sigh of relief.

However, after the Northern Expedition army set out, they discovered that this was not the case. Once the army of [-] and hundreds of thousands of civilians were moved, the bedding, food, and military pay... were all astronomical figures. Officials at all levels took the opportunity to plunder, and the imperial court ordered an increase of half a tael of silver. Their gifts can be increased to five taels,

The whole of Beizhili was severely raided, especially in the Beijing and Tianjin areas, and countless people were forced to lose their families and their families.There is no other way. Officials in the late Ming Dynasty had no other abilities, but their ability to plunder people's wealth and mess up things was unparalleled.

After layers of plundering and sinking, although the Beijing-Tianjin area was blown up three feet high, the military resources sent to the front line were far from enough, and the civil servants and some generals who accompanied the army took advantage of their power to be greedy. Even fewer could be distributed to the soldiers, causing everyone to complain.

This time, most of the grain and grass for the Ming Dynasty's Northern Expedition were in the hands of large grain merchants. They sent the grain to the army, but for the people in Gyeonggi, they charged a higher price, and even each bucket of grain rose to eight taels of silver. .

This kind of food price was only sold at such a high price in Shenyang between the fifth year of Tianqi and the seventh year of Tianqi. Because the price of food was too high, Nurhachi massacred the people of Liaodong and robbed food.Now let alone the people in Gyeonggi Province who can't afford food, even ordinary officials can't afford it. How much money do they have in salary?

Cheng Shijie was actually not optimistic about this Northern Expedition. As an outsider, he could tell at a glance that this was almost a replica of another Tumu Fortress Incident. The last Tumu Fortress Incident directly broke the Ming Dynasty's situation of equal emphasis on civil and military affairs. The 50 elites and nobles of the dynasty stepped on the mud, and the civil servants directly overran the military ministers and the imperial power.

While Cheng Shijie was thinking about how to respond, Zhou Ning, Chang Yu, Shen Mingyu, Li Xin, Li Dingguo, Sun Kewang and others came to the Ning Haijun General Military Mansion.

"Meet the Master!"

Cheng Shijie looked at the people who suddenly came in and asked, "Have you eaten? If not, let's eat together. If you have eaten, just wait for me."

"This……"

When Zhou Ning was about to speak, Shen Mingyu sat down directly and said to the servant beside him: "Add a few more sets of bowls and chopsticks!"

Shen Mingyu, like Chen Guodong, was born as a disciple of Cheng Shijie. When Cheng Shijie was still white, they lived in Cheng Shijie's home in Dengzhou City. They ate and lived with Cheng Shijie without any restrictions.

Watching Shen Mingyu sit down, Zhang Yu and Zhou Ning also slowly found their seats and sat down. Finally, Li Xin, Li Dingguo, Sun Kewang and Liu Wenxiucai sat at the bottom.

Fortunately, Cheng Shijie's dining table was big enough. After all, Cheng Shijie had many concubines in name, so only a large dining table could accommodate them.

Cheng Shijie's meal was actually not extravagant, but it was slightly more varied. There were more than a dozen dishes. Everyone had a great time eating together. Only Li Xin, who was dining with Cheng Shijie for the first time, was a little restrained.

Cheng Shijie looked at Shen Mingyu calmly and said with a smile: "Can't you wait any longer and are you ready to go south to Annan?"

"Exactly!"

Shen Mingyu led the Annan Army to go south and seize the Red River Plain to resettle the people of the Ming Dynasty who were affected by the Little Glacier weather. This was Ning Haijun's established strategy. Because of the heavy snowfall in Mobei last year, Mobei Mongolia suddenly moved south and was forced to stop. Now Shen Mingyu really wants to go south again.

Cheng Shijie sighed and said: "The Annan Army has temporarily canceled its plan to go south!"

"why?"

"Because the plan can't keep up with the changes!"

Cheng Shijie said calmly: "I can judge that the Ming Dynasty's Northern Expedition to establish slaves will not only be defeated, but the entire army may be defeated!"

Zhou Ning and Chang Yu looked at each other for a long time, and Zhang Yu said: "The commander-in-chief means..."

"The Annan Army's southward mission will be put on hold for the time being. We will enter restorative training in Haizhou. We will wait for orders and be ready to go north at any time!"

Cheng Shijie continued: "A while ago, Guan Ningjun asked Zu Dabi to come over to buy artillery and rocket launchers. Based on Guan Ningjun's relationship with us, there was nothing wrong with selling them some. However, Guan Ningjun kept the light artillery and didn't use it. Instead, they asked for the purchase of our four- and five-inch heavy guns, which speaks volumes!”

Although the five-inch breech-loading rifled artillery is powerful, the problem is that this kind of artillery is difficult to move and cannot keep up with the movement speed of field troops. Even the artillery force of the Ning Navy is not equipped with five-inch heavy artillery. If the five-inch heavy artillery is used to dismantle The city wall is very effective, especially the rammed earth wall.

This aroused Cheng Shijie's suspicion. It is understandable that Guan Ningjun wanted to buy armor and equipment from Ning Haijun. The Jiannu slaves Guan Ningjun faced had already escaped. Only the northwest region still had contact with Jiannu slaves. But the problem Yes, Jiannu did not have a city wall for Guan Ning's army to attack.

Obviously, it can be judged that the artillery purchased by the Guan Ning Army was not for their use. It was probably used as white gloves to serve the slaves. As one of the main armies of the Northern Expedition, the Guan Ning Army's behavior was suspicious, and the Northern Expedition was even more unsuccessful. of hope.

Zhou Ning reacted: "The commander-in-chief means that Guan Ningjun is no longer trustworthy?"

"How can Guan Ningjun ever be trusted?"

"That's true!"

Cheng Shijie said calmly: "If it is determined that the Guan Ning Army has defected to the Jiannu, the General Staff needs to formulate a plan. Our Ning Navy must capture Liaodong as soon as possible and completely control the entire outside the Guan!"

"Yes!"

Shen Mingyu asked doubtfully: "With the fighting power of Guan Ning Army, there is no need for Annan Army, right?"

There is no problem with what Shen Mingyu said. Don't look at Ning Haijun's establishment of six brigades. After reorganization, the third brigade is actually stationed in Shenyang, the sixth brigade is stationed in Guangning, and the fourth brigade is stationed in Taining. This is from the south, east, and Surrounding the Guan Ning Army from three directions in the north, the three Ning Navy main brigades have more than 6 troops, plus three artillery regiments and 21 infantry regiments. Not to mention that the Guan Ning Army has mobilized more than half of its troops for the Northern Expedition. Even if the entire Guan Ning Army is All the troops are in western Liaoning. If Zu Dashou can hold on for a month, he is really awesome!
"The mission of Annan Army is not to deal with Guan Ning Army!"

Cheng Shijie said: "The mission of the Annan Army is the same as last year's mission in Shanxi, to close the door and beat the dogs! Once Jiannu goes south, you take a boat and attack the Funing Acropolis. With the cooperation of the navy, you can quickly capture Funing, and then attack Divide into two groups, one inside and one outside, advance all the way along the Great Wall defense line, and close the door!"

Shen Mingyu said: "Now I understand!"

Cheng Shijie looked at Zhou Ning and Li Xin and said, "Let your back-up troops in Gyeonggi and Beizhili move quickly!"

"Move?"

Cheng Shijie nodded and said: "I am not optimistic about this Northern Expedition. It can be foreseen that Jiannu will not meet the imperial Northern Expedition army in Monan. Instead, he will lure the enemy deep into the Northern Expedition and lengthen the food road of the Northern Expedition. Once the food road is out, If the problem is solved, I am afraid that these more than 30 troops will not be able to come back."

"The commander-in-chief's judgment is the same as our general staff's plan deduction!"

"The people are innocent. Let them move towards Tianjin. Once we get to Tianjin, we have the sea at our back and have the advantage of shipping, so food and supplies will not be a problem!"

Cheng Shijie continued: "With a large-scale organization, people will definitely flee south. In this way, they can avoid the war zone!"

Li Xin asked: "Commander, have you ever thought that the refugees and tenants in Gyeonggi will follow us south, but those who have land, families and businesses may not follow us south!"

"There's nothing you can do about it. Never try to wake up someone who is pretending to be asleep!"

Cheng Shijie said: "I don't believe that there is not a smart person in the entire Ming Dynasty who can't see that this Northern Expedition is a big trap. But the question is, did anyone remind Emperor Chongzhen? No, so, in this world..."

Li Xin and others said: "We will swear allegiance to the Lord!" The Northern Expedition army was getting farther and farther away from the Great Wall and closer to Jiannu, but the morale of the Ming Dynasty's Northern Expedition army was getting lower and lower.Lu Xiangsheng, a smart man, saw all this and was worried.

As the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition, Zhu Chunchen was very worried after seeing the consumption of the troops. Two to three million soldiers had to be transported from the pass. The manpower and material resources consumed were astronomical. Ten days and a half month was enough. If this continues for a few months, even a golden mountain in Ming Dynasty will be eaten up and destroyed!

Therefore, Zhu Chunchen advised Emperor Chongzhen: "According to my opinion, it is best to win this battle quickly. After Huang Taiji became emperor, he still had a lot of troublesome things to deal with. He was so busy that he could not even dream. I would have thought that His Majesty would personally lead an army to attack him. If our army attacks decisively, we will definitely catch him off guard! If Jiannu reacts, this battle will be difficult to fight. It may last for a year or two without being able to tell the difference. Win or lose!”

Emperor Chongzhen believed this deeply. He actually knew that the court had insufficient food reserves. His greatest expectation was to decide the outcome in a battle, so he did not realize at all that how could the war be as simple as he imagined?
Huang Taiji was not a fool. How could he engage in a decisive battle with the Ming army when the Ming army had an absolute advantage? Just like the tradition of the nomads for two thousand years, he only needed to retreat towards Mobei. Should the Ming army pursue him or not?

With every step further north, the supply difficulty will increase. Even if Cheng Shijie is not short of food, he would not dare to go north easily because the environment in Mobei is so harsh. If he gets lost and cannot find a water source, the entire army will be destroyed. will enter death.

It is more than 1000 miles from the Great Wall defense line to Erendabu Sannuoer. The supply line is so long. If the Qing army makes a roundabout attack, how can the Ming army cover it?That's not how wars are fought!

Lu Xiangsheng asked to see Chongzhen many times and wanted to tell all his hidden worries, but Emperor Chongzhen refused to see him. He wrote several memorials, urging Chongzhen to stop advancing and stabilize the grain roads in the rear first. Didn't look!

In fact, Chongzhen read all the letters written by Lu Xiangsheng, but did not understand a single word.In the eyes of Emperor Chongzhen, the situation is not a small good, but a great good, a great situation!
The army fought all the way and was invincible. Jiannu fled in the face of the wind and did not dare to stand in front of the Ming army. Emperor Chongzhen's vanity was greatly satisfied.

However, Lu Xiangsheng repeatedly wrote to say that something was not right and that it might be dangerous to go further, which made him both disappointed and annoyed.He kept waiting, and when Lu Xiangsheng figured it out, he asked him to replace Zhu Chunchen and lead the three armies to attack Jiannu. Lu Xiangsheng's fighting ability was not comparable to that of a hundred Zhu Chunchen, and Chongzhen still knew this.

However, Lu Xiangsheng had no intention of reflecting at all, and kept mumbling: "Your Majesty, you are wrong, you have been fooled by the slave establishment, and people are playing tricks on you!"

"Hmph, you mean that I am a big fool, and I don't even know that I am being fooled around by others? I am absolutely infallible!"

Emperor Chongzhen was so angry that he simply ignored Lu Xiangsheng and waited until he figured it out!

Lu Xiangsheng worked hard and finally met Emperor Chongzhen. He said excitedly: "Your Majesty, please don't be greedy for success. It's better to be cautious!"

"Marquis Champion, the morale of the officers and soldiers is very high, please stop pouring cold water on everyone! I have decided to join forces and attack Shengjing, and chop off the head of Hong Tai's traitor before Jiannu can react, to comfort him. The spirits of Emperor Shenzong and Emperor Xizong are in heaven!"

Emperor Chongzhen looked at Lu Xiangsheng with a displeased expression, paused, frowned and said: "Since Ai Qing is so unsure about this war, don't join the war and stay behind to escort the army's supplies of food and supplies! Without you, I can also win the battle!"

Lu Xiangsheng's face turned pale, his lips trembled, he wanted to say something but couldn't say a word.What to say?His loyal advice was harsh to his ears, he raised objections again and again, and his disappointing actions to pour cold water on Chongzhen had made him lose Chongzhen's trust. In Chongzhen's eyes, he was no longer a pillar of the country, but a disappointing guy, so he simply sent him away. Escorting food and grass, out of sight, out of mind!

Chongzhen learned the lesson that in the Battle of Sarhu, the Ming army was dispersed and defeated one by one by Nurhachi. He listened to Zu Dashou's advice and united a hundred thousand troops in one place. The Qing army wanted to repeat the old trick and defeat the Ming army one by one. The army will only be shattered.

Guan Ning's army acted as the vanguard of the army, with the Beijing camp in the middle, and the Ban army and civilians with poor combat effectiveness at the end. Several 10 men and horses drove out of Jinzhou despite the wind and snow, and rushed towards Shengjing along the official road.

The Qing army seemed unprepared for such a rapid attack by the Ming army. The defenses of the major towns along the way were extremely empty. The Ming army came down with a drum, and in just a few days, they won seven battles and seven victories, beheading more than [-] people. The brilliant victory made Chongzhen extremely satisfied. He was convinced that he had made the right bet this time and caught Jiannu off guard!
At this time, the vanguard of the Ming army had entered the territory of Sunit. In the seventh year of the Mongolian Apocalypse (1627), the Sunit tribe broke away from Lindan Khan of Chahar and moved to Outer Mongolia. It once attached to Karr in Mobei. Kabu.

This place is less than [-] miles away from Erendabusannaoer. Ordinarily, no matter what Jiannu thought, a large number of troops should be deployed here. But the problem is that this is an obvious loophole, but Emperor Chongzhen turned a blind eye. At Chongzhen's insistence, Under this situation, the Ming army continued to advance regardless of everything.They didn't encounter any decent resistance along the way, and the Qing army kept retreating.

Zhu Chunchen said proudly, "They say how fierce and brave Jiannu is, but in my opinion, they are just a bunch of chickens and dogs, a bunch of cowards who are ready to retreat!"

Wu Sangui echoed: "That's right! The power of the Holy God is unpredictable, and the godfather has many plans. He only builds slaves, how dare he stroke the tiger's beard!"

Wu Sangui was very knowledgeable. He knew that Zhu Chunchen was the Prince Consort, and his wife was the daughter of Emperor Wanli. She was also the uncle of Emperor Chongzhen. However, Zhu Chunchen's wife died in the first year of Tianqi and has been single for 17 years.Wu Sangui was like his cousin Wu, who was sent to Zhu Chunchen's tent disguised as a man.

Zhu Chunchen was very happy and recognized Wu Sangui as his godson. ,
Zhu Chunchen was quite pleased with Wu Sangui's flattery and laughed loudly: "What do you think Huang Taiji is doing now?"

Wu Sangui said: "Maybe he is hiding somewhere now, burning incense and praying to Buddha, and begging his ancestors for blessings? Unfortunately, this can't save his life!"

Zhu Chunchen laughed wildly again, extremely proud.

The generals frowned. Li Chongzhen wanted to speak several times, but looked at Emperor Chongzhen who was also smiling, and finally swallowed his words.

However, Wu Sangui guessed wrong. Huang Taiji was not hiding in Erendabusannaoer and shivering as he said. At this moment, he was leading the army out of Erendabusanur, facing the spearhead of the Ming army's attack. Come and kill.

Long before the Ming army left Jingan Fort, he secretly transferred the troops of the four banners to the west and went straight to the Hetao Plain. He planned to use his old lair in Fengzhou as a basis to move south to Shanxi with lightning speed.

Thanks to the attack by the Mongolian army in Mobei, most of the castles in Shanxi from north to south to the north of Changzhi County, Lu'an Prefecture were damaged. Although some damaged castles and passes were repaired, the problem is, No money.

Many places have been renovated, especially Pingding Prefecture where the Chechen Khan tribe and Cheng Shijie fought. Cheng Shijie only built an ice city with hot water at that time. Now it has not had time to freeze, so Pingding Prefecture can no longer be used as a defensive fortress.

By passing through Shanxi, you can pass through Yangqu and Jingxing, enter Zhendingfu, and threaten the capital from the southwest. This is what Chechen Khan Shuolei wants to do.

These four banners were led by Daishan, Dorgon, Yuetuo, Duduo, Azig and others. Huang Taiji himself only had Zhenghuang Banner, Xianghuang Banner, Zhenghong Banner and Xianglan Banner, in addition to [-] Mongolians. The cavalry, [-] Han troops, the total strength of the Ming army is basically half of that of the Ming Dynasty.

However, the Ming Dynasty's new army was frightened by the Mongolian cavalry. They had to fight several big victories to regain their previous confidence and courage. As for the Han army, they could only be used as cheerleaders for the time being. They were nothing more than equipment, training, discipline or will. If they are too far apart, letting them take the lead will simply cost them their lives.

The only ones who were truly reliable were the powerful Manchurian forces of the Four Banners, but they faced the Ming Dynasty's elite troops, and they did not have any advantage in terms of military strength.But Huang Taiji was full of confidence. He knew from the beginning that he would win this battle!

Entering the territory of Sunit, it is a semi-desert and semi-steppe landform. More than 30 Ming troops suddenly faced the problem of drinking water. They finally found a small lake, but before they had time to drink water, they found that the lake was smelly and filled with flies. , you can see a large number of corpses of cattle, sheep, horses, and people floating in the lake. These corpses have long been soaked and swollen, taking on the appearance of giants. From time to time, corpses erupt, making the stench even more unpleasant.

The Ming Dynasty had never encountered such a situation, but it avoided a burst of chaos, especially seeing that there was water that could not be drunk, which frustrated the Ming army soldiers and caused a burst of chaos on the scene.

At this time, ripples appeared in this unknown small lake. This was the phenomenon of the arrival of a large group of cavalry. The Ming army had never encountered any decent resistance, and suddenly encountered the main force of the Qing army, which inevitably caused a period of chaos.

At this time, the Qing army was really rude. The rolling iron cavalry raised dust and smoke, like a sandstorm, and came across the wilderness. The sharp arrows they shot almost covered the sky. The Ming army was shot down in rows, and the blood stained the sand. .

At the critical moment, Wu Sangui took the lead and led the Wu family's most elite [-] servants to attack the spearhead of the Qing army's cavalry attack. Their formation was quite dense, and their armor was made of high-quality steel. The arrows shot them like hedgehogs, but no one was injured and fell off their horses.

Wu's servants suddenly rode into the middle of the Qing cavalry like a hurricane. Thousands of sabers formed a blue-grey curtain. In the cold light, blood flew from the heads. The Qing army was hacked to the point where they were knocked over. After a fierce battle, hundreds of people were thrown away. The corpse retreated in embarrassment, and the morale of the Ming army was greatly boosted!

Emperor Chongzhen was overjoyed when he saw this. He pressed Wu Sangui's shoulder affectionately and said loudly: "Ai Qing is brave and invincible. She is really the number one warrior of the Ming Dynasty!"

Emperor Chongzhen generously rewarded Wu Sangui with 3 taels of silver and a large number of precious royal ornaments as rewards.

However, Wu Sangui was not happy, but his eyes were cold.

No matter how stupid Zhu Chunchen was, after watching the Ming army encounter tens of thousands of Qing troops, he knew that they were encountering the main force of the Qing army. Zhu Chunchen did not dare to rush in again, and ordered to set up camp on the spot and stabilize the position first.

Any general with rich combat experience would never camp by this polluted lake. In Zhu Chunchen's opinion, having a lake is a good thing. Although people can't drink the water from the lake, war horses can drink it, and the war horses won't mind taking a dip in the lake. Dead man or dead horse.

Many soldiers of the Ming Army fished out the corpses from the lake, but many of them had already experienced vomiting and dizziness. This was mild poisoning. But the problem was that the idiot Zhu Chunchen didn't realize that something was wrong. Seeing the main force of the Qing army arriving one after another, Zhu Chunchen felt a little nervous and said to the generals: "This battle should be fought quickly, otherwise the Jiannu will gather more and more and the battle will be difficult to fight!"

This is actually the original biochemical weapon used by the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)