The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

Chapter 251 Chongzhen’s Fury

October thirteenth.

Capital.

Forbidden City, Hall of Martial Arts.

Zhou Yanru and Chen Xinjia lowered their heads below - Chongzhen was furious.

"In less than a month, we have lost Xiangyang, Yunyang, Chengtian, De'an, and Huangzhou. Even Hanyang and Jingzhou will not be protected! What do Ding Qirui, Wang Yongzuo, Song Yihe, and Zuo Liangyu do for food?!"

Chongzhen held the imperial case with both hands and stared at the Huguang battle report in front of him, panting and his eyes red.

If it weren't for the fact that there were two courtiers present, he would have wanted to sweep down all the memorials on the imperial case to vent his anger.

"Hong Chengchou and Yang Wenyue are both incompetent! One led an army of 10,000+ to rescue Jinzhou, but he was actually besieged in Songshan!

The other one was defeated one after another at the hands of intruders, causing Kaifeng Mansion to lose several cities in a row and almost no longer belonged to the imperial court!What a waste! "

After hearing this, Zhou Yanru still lowered his head and remained silent, while Chen Xinjia sighed secretly.

It's no wonder that Chongzhen was furious. It was because the Ming Dynasty had lost too many wars since the beginning of autumn.

In July, at the urging of Chen Xinjia, Hong Chengchou led eight generals including Ma Ke and Wu Sangui with a total of 13 troops to station in Songshan in order to rescue the city of Jinzhou that was besieged by Jiannu slaves, hoping to fight the Qing army.

Unexpectedly, the retreat was cut off by the army led by the captive chief Huang Taiji (Huang Taiji).

Hong Chengchou wanted to fight but lost to Jiannu. He wanted to defend but his retreat was cut off and he was short of food and fodder.

As a result, there was a battle in Songshan. Yang Guozhu, the general of the Xuanfu, was killed in the battle. Ma Ke, Wu Sangui, Bai Guangen, Wang Pu, and Tang Tong led their troops to break the siege and fled, with more than 5 soldiers killed.

Moreover, more than [-] people including the governor Hong Chengchou, the governor Qiu Minyang, Cao Bianjiao, and Wang Tingchen had not yet succeeded in breaking through, and were besieged by Jiannu in Songshan.

At this point, several Ming armies in Jinzhou, Tashan, Xingshan, and Songshan were all divided and surrounded by Jiannu. They had no food and grass to help them, and they were cut off from each other. Tens of thousands of border troops were in desperate situations, waiting for the imperial court to rescue them.

The problem is that the imperial court has no soldiers at all!

Ma Ke, Wu Sangui, Bai Guangen, Tang Tong, and Wang Pu are all guilty at present, and their troops and horses are often damaged, making it difficult for them to shoulder important tasks.

As for the other soldiers and horses in the pass, only Sun Yingyuan and Zhou Yuji from the Warrior Camp (affiliated to the Beijing Camp) can be used.

However, the two divisions combined only have more than 1 troops. They are currently encircling and suppressing Li Qingshan's division in Shandong. Restoring the imperial court's control over the canal is the most important thing at the moment. If there is no result in this matter, it will be impossible for Zhou Yuji and Sun Yingyuan to transfer him. at.

In fact, most of the discussions in the court these days were about who should be responsible for the defeat of Songshan, rather than how to rescue Hong Chengchou, Zu Dashou and others who were besieged outside the pass.

In the end, the finger was pointed at him, Chen Xinjia.

Therefore, he was under great pressure and depressed these days - he had a hunch that he would not be able to be a great Sima for much longer.

The reason why he hasn't been kicked off yet is because Chongzhen recently instructed him to plan something: negotiate peace with Jiannu!

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, it has almost never made peace with its enemies.In addition, Chongzhen did not consider whether to really negotiate for peace.

Therefore, this matter can only be carried out slowly and secretly.

Unexpectedly, there has been little progress in negotiating peace with Jiannu. Recently, the imperial court has received successive battle reports from Henan and Huguang.

The intruder entered Kaifeng Mansion from Ruzhou again in late September.

The governor Yang Wenyue led Hu Dawei and others to block it in Yuzhou, but were defeated and retreated; then they fought in Xinzheng, were defeated again, and retreated to Zhuxian Town.

The intruders may have learned the lesson from the failure to take Kaifeng directly this time. This time they did not take Kaifeng directly, but captured Yuzhou, Xinzheng, Changge, Weichuan, Weishi, and Mi County.

The Wei thieves also took the opportunity to go north and captured Yancheng, Xiangcheng and Shangshui one after another.

Chongzhen was furious when he heard the news. General Yang Wenyue, governor Gao Mingheng and other Henan civil and military officials cursed and issued orders to reprimand him.Later, the anger was transferred to Fu Zonglong, the governor of the three sides, blaming Fu Zonglong for his delay in taking action in Shaanxi.

So he issued an order to urgently order Fu Zonglong to lead He Renlong, Li Guoqi and others out of Tongguan to attack Luoyang, hoping to force Li Zicheng to withdraw from Kaifeng Prefecture.

Before everyone in the court could recover from the series of battles in Henan where cities and land were lost, another battle report came from Hubei.

The content of the battle report had just been read by Chen Xinjia with Chongzhen on his face.

As Chongzhen said just now, in less than a month, all five mansions will be lost!

Almost all of Hubei is not owned by the imperial court!
call--

Chongzhen let out a long breath, seemingly suppressing his anger for the time being, and asked in a deep voice: "Yuan Fu and Da Sima, please tell me, how should we deal with this thief?"

Chen Xinjia and Zhou Yanru looked at each other, not knowing what to say for a moment.

Seeing this, Chongzhen couldn't hold back his anger anymore and shouted: "Huguang is our granary of the Ming Dynasty! King Chu, King Rui, etc. are also vassal here. Does the court want to watch the vassal fall into the hands of thieves?!"

"Zhou Yanru! Come and tell me!"

Just now he was called Yuan Fu, but in the next moment he was called by his first name - Zhou Yanru knew that he had to say something, otherwise all the favor he had received since entering the capital would be in vain.

"Your Majesty, according to the battle report, except for Xiangyang Mansion and Yunyang Mansion, not all the other mansions were occupied by the Wei thieves.

De'an Prefecture also has Yingcheng and Xiaogan, Huangzhou Prefecture also has Huanggang, Qishui, Qizhou, Guangji, and Huangmei, Chengtian has Mianyang, and Jingzhou also has Jiangling, Jianli and other places. "

"Don't you think I have military skills?!" Chongzhen interrupted Zhou Yanru angrily, "Huguang is thousands of miles away from the capital. Now the places you mentioned have probably been captured by the Wei bandits! Even if they haven't, they are still Sooner or later!"

"Your Majesty, please calm down." Zhou Yanru was so frightened that he almost knelt down, "Please listen to my detailed explanation."

"Say it!" Chongzhen stared at Zhou Yanru, "I want to see what you can say!"

Zhou Yanru swallowed his saliva to moisten his throat that was dry due to nervousness, and said: "The thieves went south to Huguang this time and captured several places in half a month. They seemed to be aggressive, but in fact they brought trouble to themselves.

The Ming Dynasty has owned the world for more than 200 years, and its rule is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Even if various places are occupied by bandits, the people's hearts will always be directed towards the imperial court.

Therefore, I thought that I could issue an edict to allow local gentry and landlords in Huguang to form regiments to fight against the traitors.

In addition, he can also promise to be granted a title, allowing Zuo Liangyu to rely on the natural dangers of the Yangtze River to prevent the traitors from continuing southward.

When the imperial court recruits large armies from Hunan, Jiangxi, Jiangnan, and Sichuan, it can, with the cooperation of local regiments, drive the traitors back to Henan and even eliminate them. "

Let the local gentry organize a group to practice and suppress thieves?

After hearing Zhou Yanru's suggestion, Chongzhen became less angry.

After thinking for a while, he looked at Chen Xinjia and asked, "What does Da Sima think?"

Chen Xinjia frowned and said, "It's okay to let the local gentry host the group training - now that bandits are everywhere in the world, many gentry and landlords in various places have built forts to protect themselves.

If the imperial court allows this generation to organize regiment training, it can give full play to the human and material resources of local gentry and landlords, which will indeed help curb the rampant bandits.

But if you want to drive Zuo Liangyu, you may not be able to rely solely on the promise of a knighthood - during the Battle of Nanyang, His Majesty had promised to be knighted.If you make such a promise now, Zuo Liangyu may not be interested. "

Chongzhen heard that there was something unfinished in Chen Xinjia's words, so he asked: "What's the countermeasure of Grand Sima?"

Chen Xinjia hesitated for a moment and said: "You can first grant a title to gain their trust, and then promise to be promoted to a higher position!"

　Second more.

　　Good night~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)