Before hanging himself, Chongzhen lifted the table

Chapter 133 Unable to give an answer
Fan Wencheng frowned after reading the letter, and immediately reported to Dorgon: "Master, I saw that Wu Sangui said he was grateful to His Highness for marrying his beloved daughter and promising the throne. However, the court is ignorant and incompetent, so he is willing to submit. Qing Dynasty, this reason seems... seems to be lacking."

"What, you said he was pretending to surrender?" Upon hearing this, Hauge immediately interrupted and asked.

Dorgon also frowned and immediately asked: "Why do you say that?"

Others stared at Fan Wencheng curiously. Although they looked down on Fan Wencheng, a Han Chinese, they still recognized his abilities.

Fan Wencheng looked at Dorgon and said: "These conditions were not absent in the past, and they were also treated with similar courtesy, but Wu Sangui kept evading it. Why did he agree so readily this time and start bargaining? I thought that I had to figure it out. Only at this point can we know whether his surrender is true or false, or whether he has some conspiracy or is at the end of his rope!"

Dorgon was a little unhappy after hearing this, and Wu Sangui emphasized how moved his married daughter was to Wu Sangui.But he is also rational. After thinking about it carefully, he feels that what Fan Wencheng said makes sense.

However, he also has problems.

The army has already set off. If we want to figure out the whole story and then decide how to act, the army will consume one day of food and grass every day it stays here.The Qing Dynasty did not have much property and could not afford to be wasted for no reason.

Besides, there really aren't many good ways to investigate Wu Sangui's affairs and get stuck in Shanhaiguan.

So, he expressed these concerns and asked Fan Wencheng, "Do you have any good ideas?"

After hearing this, Fan Wencheng had an idea, so he immediately responded: "I think that we can leave a force in front of Shanhaiguan to negotiate with Wu Sangui. Then the army will not change as planned. When our army invades the Gyeonggi area, we will form a strong attack on Shanhaiguan." When attacked from both inside and outside, he must have no way out. In this way, he can also force Shanhaiguan to return to our Qing Dynasty!"

Dorgon was moved when he heard this suggestion. He looked towards Han Chen, called Hong Chengchou over and asked, "What do you think, Hong Qing?"

In the era of Huang Taiji, Huang Taiji was still very wary of Hong Chengchou. He did not give him real power and only consulted him occasionally.Most of the time, Hong Chengchou could only stay in his own house and was not allowed to go out.

However, after Dorgon came to power, he began to pay more attention to Hong Chengchou. Although he still did not give him real power, the number of consultations was obviously more than that of Huang Taiji.

When Hong Chengchou heard Dorgon ask him what he thought, he quickly said respectfully: "I think it was the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty who ordered Wu Sangui to retreat to the pass, so that he lost the ability to support the army and could no longer make the right choice."

When Dorgon heard this explanation, he seemed to think it made sense, and asked again: "Do you think it is basically true that Wu Sangui wants to submit to the Qing Dynasty?"

After hearing this, Hong Chengchou did not dare to vouch for it. He just replied: "I don't know what the situation is in the pass. I can only guess. There is only one thing. Logically speaking, Wu Sangui should not know that our Qing Dynasty has sent a large army to investigate this matter!"

After hearing this, Dorgon thought for a while, then turned to look at Dai Shan and said, "Why don't the army rest for two days and return to Wu Sangui quickly? If all the conditions are agreed, he will offer the pass immediately, so that the army can pass through Shanhaiguan." Have you entered the capital?"

It was just a matter of waiting for two days, and Daishan and others had no objection.

Therefore, Dorgon no longer wrote letters in the name of Zu Dashou, but directly wrote the letters himself, and asked his subordinate Tan Ma to send them to Shanhaiguan at an accelerated speed of [-] miles.

Wu Sangui never expected that Jianlu would reply so quickly, so he immediately rushed to Wang Chengen and explained the situation.

Wang Chengen was also very shocked. At this moment, it is estimated that the long live master in Jinzhong has just received the memorial sent before, but the reply from Jianlu here has already arrived.

In other words, Jianlu definitely did not reply to the letter in Shenyang, but answered the letter halfway.This means that just as Long Live Lord expected, Jianlu sent out troops!
After reaching this conclusion, Wang Chengen looked at Wu Sangui and immediately asked: "How do you think we should deal with it?"

He was not good at military affairs. In such an emergency, he still had to ask Wu Sangui what he meant.

After Wu Sangui heard this, he quickly replied: "If you don't drag Jianlu away here, my father-in-law should immediately warn your majesty, the capital, and all the other places in Ji Town to prepare for war."

After hearing this, Wang Chengen said hesitantly: "What if Jianlu fails to enter the pass in the end?"

If this is the case, then he is lying about military information!

When Wu Sangui heard this, he said without hesitation: "Since the Jianlu army has been sent out, there is no reason to return. The food and grass baggage for each trip will consume countless amounts. If Jianlu finally finds out that Shanhaiguan is just perfunctory, they will definitely take a detour. The Mongolian grassland attacks the pass, unless their food and grass have been exhausted and cannot support the detour to the Mongolian grassland!"

After hearing this, Wang Chengen felt that it made sense and immediately prepared to write a memorial.

When Wu Sangui saw it, he asked hesitantly: "May I ask my father-in-law? My brothers are asking, when will the verified military pay be paid?"

When Wang Chengen heard this, he felt a little unhappy, but he remained calm on the surface and even showed a smile: "There are 200 million taels of silver here in Shanhaiguan. It will take some time to transport it from the capital, right?"

When Wu Sangui heard this, he quickly explained: "The last general actually told the big-headed soldiers the same thing, but they knew there would be a large sum of money, so they were all very anxious!"

After hearing this, Wang Chengen chuckled and said: "We understand, but you can rest assured that the arrears have been settled everywhere. There is no reason why Shanhaiguan won't settle the arrears here. As long as the process is completed, the money that should be paid will definitely be there." Every penny is worth it!”

Having said this, he paused and then asked: "Look, what else is going on?"

When Wu Sangui heard this, he quickly said no.

Therefore, Wang Chengen wrote several memorials and immediately sent them out on horseback.

Afterwards, Li Yutian, Gao Di and others were summoned to discuss the matter, reported the situation and began to step up preparations for war.As for the reply to Jianlu, Wu Sangui naturally thought about it and wrote it, and then sent it after showing it to Wang Chengen.

The reason given this time was that the families of Wu Sangui and Gao Di were in the capital, and when they secretly brought their families to Shanhaiguan, they would immediately offer them to Shanhaiguan.

After Jianlu received this reply, he decided not to wait any longer and asked Daishan to lead 5000 troops to continue communicating with Wu Sangui, while he himself led the army to march as planned.

Emperor Chongzhen received a memorial from Wang Chengen when he led his army through Yanmen Pass.

Detouring through Guguan, arriving at Taiyuan, and then heading north, the memorial finally delivered to him was a big detour.

Although Wang Chengen's letter did not speak in an absolute tone about the possible invasion of the Jianlu, Emperor Chongzhen knew at once that the Jianlu had really gone out in full force as in history.

I just don’t know how long Jianlu will be delayed by Wu Sangui, and when, where and how will they invade the pass?There is no original history for these things to refer to.

Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen immediately issued an order to Xuanda, Jizhen, Shanhaiguan and the capital, ordering them to immediately fortify the walls and clear the country, and prepare for the defense of the city.Then, he himself ordered the army to march faster.

In the Datong Basin, because there is no interference from the war, the weather in May can already see green crops everywhere. If there are no other interferences, it should be a bumper harvest season.

It's just a pity that it is basically confirmed that the Jianlu invaders will invade on a large scale.

Generally speaking, Datong and Xuanfu were important border military towns of the Ming Dynasty, with complete military facilities and the largest number of border troops.If Jianlu attacked here, he would be in trouble.And throughout history, they seem to have never attacked Datong or Xuanfu.

That is to say, he once pursued Lin Danhan and surrounded Xuanfu when he returned to the army.However, during the subsequent raids, they never came to Shanxi.

In this way, I hope it will be the same this time, so that Shanxi can recuperate and become a piece of pure land in troubled times!

However, what Emperor Chongzhen never expected was that when he led his army past Datong and just arrived in Yanghe, he saw a beacon message.

"Your Majesty, Langyan, the highest-level beacon fire alarm in Xuanfu, Jianlu has broken through!"

Emperor Chongzhen was listening to Zhu Zhifeng's report on the farming and military preparations on the front line in his yamen. When he heard this, he was shocked. The speed seemed too fast.

So, without saying a word, he immediately left the yamen and turned to look northeast.

I saw wolf smoke rising straight into the sky on the mountains in the distance, one mountain after another. It was very spectacular, but it also made everyone who saw it feel frightened!

If possible, no one wants to see the smoke being lit; but once the enemy really comes to attack, it is better than not lighting the smoke and being kept in the dark until the enemy arrives at the doorstep.

Zhu Zhifeng, the governor of Xuanda, was beside Emperor Chongzhen. Looking at the beacon fire, he said with some confusion: "Why did Jianlu break through Zhangjiakou? This has never happened before!"

After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen most likely knew that in the past it was because there were Shanxi merchants that Jianlu could not attack Xuanfu; but now that Shanxi merchants are gone, Jianlu would naturally have no scruples, and he might even be Fan Yongdou who escaped. You must have brought Jianlu back to kill him!

He guessed in his mind, but did not say anything. He just convened a military meeting immediately.

However, just as the military meeting had begun, soldiers from outside came in again to report that the highest level of beacon fires had been ignited in many places in the capital.

The Great Wall defense line is not just a building built on the hilltop, but also includes a complete set of defense facilities such as piers, beacons and so on.One of the functions of the Great Wall Defense Line is early warning.

Therefore, Fenghuo's communication is complete, and once the enemy invades, the general situation can be quickly transmitted.

Emperor Chongzhen knew immediately that this large-scale invasion by Jianlu was roughly divided into two entrances.

The first place is when Jianlu defeated Zhangjiakou and entered the Pass; the second place was when Jianlu broke through Miyun and entered Xifengkou and other places.

As the only earl in the Beijing camp, Zhou Yuji felt deeply responsible for his great responsibility. He was the first to advise Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, the Jianlu are a powerful enemy. Now they are heavily invaded, and our army only has more than [-] people. When the detective Only by knowing the enemy's situation can we deal a heavy blow to Jianlu!"

These words are mature and prudent words, and they are also in line with the Art of War saying that you must know yourself and the enemy, so that you can fight without danger!
Emperor Chongzhen, who was a little impatient at first, immediately calmed down after hearing this.

I have issued warnings repeatedly, and everyone in the capital should be on guard. There is no need to lead troops to the battlefield without knowing anything!

So, he immediately passed the order and the army prepared for war. The best were not collected at night, and were sent out in large numbers to inquire about the enemy's situation.

………………

On the capital side, the beacon message was received almost at the same time.

At the beginning, everyone was not panicked because the imperial court had already been prepared for the invasion of Jianlu.But soon, after news from various places spread to the capital, many people in the capital panicked.

It is not known that the Jianlu troops on the Xuanda side were far away, but the Jianlu army that broke through the pass from Miyun quickly moved southward and successively attacked Huairou, Changping, Shunyi and other places. There was also a group of Jianlu troops that broke through the Xifengkou side. Then, they successively captured the important frontier towns of Jizhou, Zunhua, Qian'an, Yongpingfu and other places.

Suddenly, in a very short period of time, Jianlu captured almost all the towns along the Great Wall defense line in the north of the capital.The offensive was so fierce that no matter whether it was an ordinary town or an important border town, it was defeated by it.

The originally agreed-upon strategy of strengthening the walls and clearing the wilderness became empty talk as the cities fell one after another.

Almost every day, or even several pieces of bad news reached the capital every day.Many people in the capital were able to break through the defense.

"Jianlu is invincible in the field. Now he can even attack the city in one attack. What should we do?"

"The Emperor is right outside. If we bump into him, wouldn't it be dangerous?"

"It's really a disaster. The army of Li thieves just left, and before we even had time to take a breath, the Jianlu invaders invaded in large numbers. How are we going to live like this?"

"King Qin, please quickly ask His Highness the Crown Prince to issue an edict to King Qin. The enemy forces are coming so fiercely that we cannot stop them without gathering all the troops from across the country!"

"Where can King Qin's army come from at this time? We can only hope that the emperor can show his might again and defeat Jianlu!"

"Yes, we have the emperor here, so everything will be fine."

"..."

Fortunately, word had spread in the capital about how brave the emperor was, so many people hoped that the emperor could defeat Jianlu. However, many people did not think so.

"Do you really believe that the emperor is so powerful? That was all blown out by the court!"

"Then it's a fact that we defeated Li's army of thieves, right?"

"The army of the Li thieves left on their own. How could the emperor defeat him? Besides, the thieves of Li were originally chased and beaten by the imperial officers and soldiers, but as for Jianlu, they have always been chased and beaten by the imperial officers and soldiers. How can this be the same? What?"

"That's right. Jianlu has never been defeated. So we can only hope that they can get out of seclusion as soon as possible after grabbing enough property this time!"

"..."

The capital is too big, with a population of one million, so naturally there are all kinds of people.Many people have different interests and speak differently.

For example, those who were previously suppressed by Emperor Chongzhen and had interests harmed, the relatives, servants, associates, etc. of Shanxi merchants, the interested parties of the killed princes, nobles, ministers, etc., and even the emperor who was involved in the invasion of Jianlu He is not secretly gloating over the misfortune of the most fortified capital in the world.

Deep down in their hearts, they even hoped that Jianlu's invasion would kill the emperor!
Not only the people but also the officials in the court had similar thoughts that they were not optimistic that the emperor could win.Even their thoughts are even more dirty.

Of course, they couldn't tell the outside world, they would just tell their wives or confidants in the end.

"The current emperor has suddenly become violent and has killed so many officials. He has become just like Emperor Taizu back then. If something unexpected happens this time, it might be a good thing."

"I heard that the former Jiading uncle was exiled to Qiongzhou and was killed by thieves before he arrived in Shandong. Look, even such a relative of the emperor died in the hands of the emperor. It is really cruel!"

"Actually, it's still the crime of cherishing a treasure. Who allowed those people to have so much money? The emperor was in urgent need of money, so he killed pigs and sheep! But I'm just worried, sir. The most prominent birds have been killed. The emperor's If the money runs out, will others follow in those people’s footsteps?”

"Jianlu is invincible in the field, but the capital is always invincible. Let's just sit back and watch the fight between dragon and tiger. It is best for both sides to suffer losses!"

"The prince is kind and kind. If he ascends the throne and becomes emperor, then everything will be at ease!"

"..."

If a powerful enemy is present and people are in panic, it will always be detrimental to the situation.

After Prince Zhu Cixi heard the news from Jin Yiwei commander Li Ruolian, he was immediately furious: His father is so wise and powerful, but some people think that his father can't defeat Jianlu!
These people should be killed!

So, he immediately issued an order to Li Ruolian: Anyone who confuses the public with evil words should be arrested!Anyone who slanders the emperor shall be killed!

The Jinyiwei only listened to the royal family's orders when doing things. After Zhu Cixiang's order, the Jinyiwei went out in large numbers and arrested more than 1000 people in just one day. Immediately, the comments in the capital became unanimous, and they all praised the emperor for his wisdom and martial prowess. The invasion will be defeated!
But as for what they are thinking in their hearts, it is unknown to outsiders.

In the court, Zhu Cixiang had a question that he couldn't figure out. He asked Fan Jingwen, the chief assistant of Zhibing, "The imperial court has warned many times that various places should be prepared for Jian's invasion. Why has Jian lost cities and territory continuously over a period of time? Is Lu really that powerful?"

After hearing this, Fan Jingwen had an answer and explained his reasoning: "Your Highness, please see that none of the cities captured by Jianlu were heavily guarded. Although there are important border towns such as Ji Town and Zunhua, they are still We have not yet completed the calculation of outstanding wages, completed the reorganization of the army, and transferred many elite soldiers to the capital camp. It is not surprising that it was captured by the Jianlu invaders who invaded in large numbers!"

Before Zhu Cixi could breathe a sigh of relief, Fan Jingwen commented with a serious face: "Jianlu has not lost a single battle in the field, and it should not be underestimated."

One fact is that every time Jianlu entered the pass, he always plundered and then came out on his own, instead of being beaten out by the imperial officers and soldiers.

After hearing this, Zhu Cixi couldn't help but worry a little: "I asked Tang Tong and other generals about the strength of the capital, and they all said it was only enough to defend the city. I don't know how my father's side is doing. Can they defeat Jian Jian without reinforcements?" prisoner?"

Fan Jingwen listened and responded with silence. He didn't want to deceive you and couldn't give an answer!
(End of this chapter)