Before hanging himself, Chongzhen lifted the table

Chapter 238 Find a way!

The two most important cities in Liaodong were Liaoyang and Shenyang, and the Jianlu were mainly concentrated around these two cities. Although other cities also had built-in prisoners, they were very few compared to these two cities.

Therefore, as long as the Jianlu in these two cities are annihilated, the troops can basically be divided to sweep across other Jianlu-controlled areas, and the pacification of Liaodong will be just around the corner.

That is to say, the Jianlu annexed North Korea, so after wiping out Liaodong, they had to attack the Korean Peninsula again. However, the three naval divisions landed at different locations on the Korean Peninsula to fight. The arrival of the Liaodong army only served as the final word.

On the day when the army arrived in Shenyang, it was already getting late, so it was naturally impossible to launch an offensive, so they set up camp one after another.

Among the generals of the imperial army, Zhou Yuji was fine, but Huang Degong, Wu Sangui and others were looking forward to it.

Putting down the war against the Jianlu in Liaodong should be their last chance to gain titles based on military merit. But unexpectedly, Jianlu first abandoned the cities in the Liaoxi Corridor, and later also abandoned Haizhou, leaving them without any military merit.

Fortunately, all the Jianlu people have gathered in Liaoyang. If they want to rely on this important military town to resist the imperial power, there will always be military achievements to be made, right?

In the end, I still didn't expect that the current emperor actually came up with a trick to burn down Liaoyang, burning hundreds of thousands of captives alive in the city, and all of a sudden the military success they were looking forward to was wiped out!

But it doesn't matter, there is still a puppet capital of Jianlu, and I heard that all the kerosene carried by the army was lost in Liaoyang, so the war in Shenyang should be fought seriously, and military merits should be achieved, right?

With this expectation, the officers and soldiers of the imperial court, from the commander-in-chief to the ordinary soldiers, were all full of enthusiasm, high morale, and ready to fight this battle well.

After a night of silence, Emperor Chongzhen did not steal the city again at night. He first sent troops to sweep around Shenyang, but he himself was not in a hurry to capture Shenyang. He just inspected the suburbs of Shenyang and saw that the crops here were about to mature, and found that there were actually some fields growing sweet potatoes.

The crops in Haizhou and Liaoyang have been harvested by Jianlu in advance, but the crops in Shenyang can eventually be used by the court, so Emperor Chongzhen is not in a hurry.

Of course, he's still waiting.

On the afternoon of the third day, Li Dingguo, who was cleaning up the Liaoyang battlefield, took more than a thousand surviving Liaoyang prisoners to the Shenyang army and delivered the order to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, most of the captives in Liaoyang City were burned and smoked. Even if they are dead, these more than a thousand prisoners are still alive among the remaining captives."

There were actually many Jianlu who jumped from the top of the city, but most of them were injured and could not be escorted to Shenyang.

According to Li Dingguo's report, no trace of Liaoyang slave chief Duduo and others has been found yet, and they may have been burned to death. Among the more than a thousand Jianlu who were escorted over, the highest-ranking ones were Jianlu's Beizi and the like, and there was no top slave chief.

Emperor Chongzhen didn't care about this. He looked at the more than a thousand prisoners held in the square of the camp. Every one of them had dull eyes, as if they had no souls. They were probably burned out by the Liaoyang fire.

Yes, this is the effect you want. With this in mind, Emperor Chongzhen immediately issued an order to release these captives back to Shenyang City.

When Fang Zhenghua heard this, he immediately flattered him and said: "Long live this move is really great. Once these more than a thousand Jianlu are released into the city, the morale of the Jianlu in the city will definitely collapse! The next war will be easy." !”

When the army fights, no matter it is ancient or modern, the most important thing is not the equipment, but the morale. Once there is no morale, the army ceases to be an army.

After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen just smiled lightly and said: "It is natural to do what can be done to reduce the casualties of the imperial officers and soldiers."

After all, Liaoyang is a big city. Therefore, in order to burn Liaoyang, Emperor Chongzhen had to throw all the kerosene he prepared into Liaoyang City. Otherwise, even if there was wind, Liaoyang City might not be able to be burned down.

Now facing the city of Shenyang, there is not enough fuel to do it again. Another thing is that this is Ming Dynasty's territory. Burning all the belongings is burning your own property, which is not cost-effective.

Burning a Liaoyang City, and it was the strongest city in Liaodong, was enough to establish prestige.

No matter what happens when these more than a thousand captives are put into Shenyang City, they must make the most of the burning of Liaoyang.

Establishing authority is not about showing off one’s authority, but making things easier and smoother for the next one!

At this time, the officers and soldiers of the imperial court drove more than a thousand captives out of the military camp, and then released them back to Shenyang City.

What was a bit surprising was that of the more than a thousand prisoners, few could come to their senses and flee quickly after finding out that the imperial army had released them.

Most of the Jianlu were still in a state of despair, following others walking slowly towards Shenyang City.

The movement outside the city was naturally reported to the regent by the ever-vigilant defenders. Therefore, Dorgon immediately rushed to the top of the city to check the movement.

When he arrived at the top of the city, although the city gate was not open, the defenders on the top of the city already had many familiar faces among those who knew the people below the city. They were all shouting questions, trying to figure it out. what's going on?

Suddenly, there was a commotion all over the city.

Most of the Jianlu on the top of the city were shouting anxiously, and because some of their relatives and friends were also in Liaoyang, they were shouting even louder.

Many of the prisoners under the city were squatting there and crying loudly. Those who could speak were shouting: "Fire, fire, fire..."

"It's over, it's over..."

"..."

The Jianlu at the top of the city could only roughly know that Liaoyang was probably doomed, but the specific situation was obviously not clear enough from the shouts at the top of the city.

After Dorgon confirmed that the more than a thousand people under the city were soldiers of the Qing Dynasty stationed in Liaoyang, he asked people to open the door carefully and let them all into the city.

Later, several of the highest-ranking Beizi and others were called to Dorgon to reply.

If Dorgon hadn't asked, even though he couldn't figure it out even if he thought about it, there was still a glimmer of hope. After all, the Ming army appeared in Shenyang almost without stopping. The Liaoyang side was heavily guarded and had the tallest and strongest city wall. Maybe they were still holding on there.

As a result, when Dorgon asked this question, he immediately shouted and fell back. Fortunately, his personal guard had quick eyesight and quick hands to support him. Otherwise, if the back of your head hits the ground, you may get a concussion even if you are wearing a helmet.

After coming back to his senses, Dorgon pushed his guards away, staggered to his feet, then turned to look at the Ming army camp outside the city, with despair and some resentment in his eyes, and murmured to himself. : "So cruel, so cruel, really too cruel..."

Hundreds of thousands of Qing people in Liaoyang City were burned down by the Ming Emperor! Even if you don't care about anything else, just this fire can seriously damage the vitality of the Qing Dynasty!

At this time, he knew how to be cruel! When the Jianlu people burned, killed, looted and massacred the Han people, did they realize whether they were ruthless or not? However, no matter how angry Dorgon is, things in Liaoyang have become a foregone conclusion! There is also a grim fact before him, that is, Shengjing has become an isolated city!

Although there is Hauge's troops on the other side of the Great Wall, they only have 10,000 or 20,000 troops. They only rely on the Great Wall to defend against the Ming cavalry coming from the grasslands. If there is an enemy situation, Dorgon will send reinforcements from Shengjing.

Hauge has always been brooding about the original battle for the throne. He definitely knew it. Therefore, he could not give Hauge too many people.

But now, Hauge may be Shengjing's foreign aid. However, the power is too weak, even if he comes to rescue Sheng Jing, it will be of no avail!

Jilharang is on the North Korean side. If we can gather together, we can probably gather an army of more than 100,000 to come to the rescue. The strength of the troops was almost there, but the distance was too far. It would be impossible to reach Shengjing within ten and a half days.

The most important thing is that the Ming emperor's methods were too ruthless. He used the same methods to deal with Liaoyang to deal with Shengjing. There was no way he could wait a few more days!

How to do?

Dorgon's eyes were a little dull as he looked at the Ming army outside the city and in the direction of the Ming emperor's military tent. Deep in his heart, he felt despair!

If I had known this earlier, I should have evacuated Shengjing as soon as possible!

It's just a pity that these are all hindsight. Now that the Ming army is surrounded outside the city, it is simply impossible to break out!

In Dorgon's mind, it can be said that he was racking his brains to think of countermeasures, but he could never come up with a good way. His personal guards looked at him and felt as if the regent was aging rapidly in this short period of time!

I don't know how long it took, and Dorgon himself didn't know how he returned to Chongzheng Hall. After he came to his senses, he immediately convened a meeting of generals of a certain level in Shengjing City, including Emperor Bumubutai and Shunzhi, who were also invited to the scene.

This might be the last meeting of the Qing Dynasty, but he hoped not. He hoped to gather more people to think about countermeasures, and maybe they could come up with some solutions.

God will never destroy the Qing Dynasty!

Not long after, the Chongzheng Hall was filled with senior Qing generals, all of whom had ugly expressions on their faces.

Among them, some people already know the specific situation, and some people still don’t know what the situation is. Therefore, after gathering at the Chongzheng Hall, although they saw that the regent was already there, they were all whispering and discussing without saying that the meeting had started.

Suddenly, the Chongzheng Hall was buzzing like a vegetable market.

"Your Majesty, can Shengjing be defended?"

Dorgon heard Bumbutai's voice coming from behind him, and finally came back from his thoughts. He ignored Bumbutai's questions, just looked at the front of the hall, suddenly slammed the table and shouted loudly: "Discuss the matter." !”

After being photographed like this, the Chongzheng Hall suddenly became quiet.

Dorgon scanned the faces of everyone below and saw anger, fear, despair, and panic...

In short, there are all kinds of expressions, but there is no confident face.

He spoke slowly, told the specific situation, and then asked with hope: "Do you have any good ideas for this, to protect my country?"

Hearing his words, Bumbutai was dumbfounded. Did she never expect that the situation would be so serious?

As the Queen Mother, why was the Qing Dynasty about to fall before her son could even take charge?

No, absolutely not!

She was thinking that in the Chongzheng Hall, after hearing Dorgon's words, it was quiet for a while, and then someone shouted.

"How can we fight this? The Ming army's artillery has a longer range than us, and its shooting accuracy is better than ours. It can block the city gate directly with artillery."

"At night, if the Ming army burns Shengjing like they burned Liaoyang, all of us will die!"

"I can't control that much anymore. Let's fight with the Ming army! Anyway, it means death. I would rather die in battle than be burned to death!"

"Yes, fight with Ming Gou!"

"What are you fighting for? We were simply massacred at will by the Ming army! We are just fish on the knife board!"

"..."

Hearing these sounds coming from below, Dorgon couldn't hear anything useful at all. When he was about to speak, he suddenly heard the bead curtain behind being opened and someone walking out.

The people in Chongzheng Hall were a little surprised when they saw it. They immediately shut up and looked at the person who came out with a little curiosity.

This person is none other than Bumu Butai. Originally, she took Emperor Shunzhi to sit behind Dorgon, separated by a bead curtain. Normally, it would be impossible for her to come to the front.

Bumubutai walked up to Dorgon, then stared at Dorgon who was sitting there and said, "The emperor of the Ming Dynasty must have let those people in to establish his authority and would not burn Shengjing again. Otherwise , he won’t waste any time and just burn the city!”

When Dorgon heard her words, he immediately came back to his senses: Yes, if the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty planned to burn Shengjing, there would be no need to let in more than a thousand people to scare people!

So, he quickly asked Bumbutai: "Then what did the Ming Emperor mean by doing this?"

This woman really has a knack for reading people's hearts. Dorgon thought so in his heart and couldn't help but look forward to it. I just hope Bumubutai can figure out a way to save the Qing Dynasty based on popular speculation.

Everyone else in the Chongzheng Palace was silent and looked at the Queen Mother waiting for her to speak.

Bumubutai said with a somewhat excited expression: "I don't know very well, but one thing is for sure. The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty did not want to burn the city. Maybe he wanted to capture us, the leaders of the Qing Dynasty, such as the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. , such as the regent, such as me, etc."

Having said this, she paused and then said: "Or maybe he wants this city. After all, Shengjing is now the most prosperous town in Liaodong. So as long as the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is right in his mind, he can't possibly take the most prosperous town in Liaodong. All the good cities were burned down!"

As she spoke, she grabbed Dorgon's arm and said with excitement and anxiety: "Aren't you the smartest? Think about it, what is there in Shengjing that can impress the Ming Emperor, and we How can we use this matter to protect our Qing Dynasty?"

　Thanks to Running Beef Bun for the reward of 5000 starting coins!

　　

　

(End of this chapter)