Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 129 Who is Chong Zheng?

With the deployment of the Ming army in Jinzhou and Guanning, it meant that many things had reached a point where they could not be undone, such as Zu Dashou and Wu Sangui.

"Retreat!" After waking up, Huang Taiji finally ordered the army to retreat.

"Your Majesty, are you leaving just like that?" Ajige wanted to say something but was stopped by Huang Taiji with a wave of his hand.

"The opportunity has been lost. There is no point in attacking Jinzhou now."

From the initial troop mobilization, the chaos on the Guanning front of the Ming Dynasty, the astonishment and panic of the border towns such as Ji and Liao, to the current frustrated return.

More than 40,000 Qing troops were killed or wounded during this invasion, and each flag suffered heavy losses. The Ming army's combat effectiveness suddenly became stronger. He had to be wary of and prepare for many things.

On the way back to Shenyang, the atmosphere was depressing and uncomfortable. Huang Taiji had already gotten off the horse and into the carriage. No one knew what his physical condition was, but it was certain that it was much worse than before.

Because there were already several bowls for collecting blood passed into the carriage.

The establishment of Shenyang as the capital by Huang Taiji was of great significance. There were four political centers in the history of the Later Jin Dynasty. The first one was Feiala. It was the period when Nurhaci acquired the five tribes of Jianzhou and the Haixi Jurchens and initially established his own armed forces.

The second is Hetuala, where Nurhaci formally established the Later Jin Dynasty, entered a war stage with the Ming Dynasty, and won the Battle of Sarhu.

The third one is Liaoyang. Nurhaci defeated the Liaodong Governor Xiong Tingbi and Liaodong Governor Wang Huazhen, established a preliminary separatist regime in the northeast, and began to sweep across Liaodong.

The last one is Shenyang. Huang Taiji established his capital in Shenyang. The Later Jin Dynasty did not have the ability to build canals, plank roads, and post roads like in the Central Plains, so it could only move the capital to a larger city.

Judging from the migration route, the Manchus gradually migrated to the plains, gradually approaching the direction of the Ming Dynasty, all for the sake of the vast land of the Ming Dynasty.

inside the carriage,

"Your Majesty, please don't move. I will do it for you."

"Go and call Dorgon over."

"Whoo!"

A eunuch serving Huang Taiji quickly poured the blood into his sleeve and planned to deal with it when Huang Taiji went to the toilet.

This is to prevent outsiders from knowing the emperor’s true physical condition.

Huang Taiji did not want the throne to fall into Dorgon's hands. Now that Hauge was captured by the Ming court, he had to insist that there was nothing wrong with his health.

Soon, Dorgon came over and knelt down behind the curtain.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you. How is your brother doing?"

"It's okay!" Huang Taiji's face was pale, and the eunuch behind him supported his back.

"The war situation is not favorable now. Based on my understanding of Chongzhen, he will definitely order the Ming army to invade again... ahem..."

Huang Taiji started to cough violently halfway through his speech, but soon stopped and continued, "Fourteenth brother is the pillar of the Qing Dynasty. I hope you will stay at the front line to stop the Ming army."

The muscles on Dorgon's face twitched, but he finally said, "I obey your order!"

Huang Taiji waved his hand to let the carriage continue moving, and the army moved slowly along with the carriage.

Dorgon stood up from the ground with a frown on his face and his eyes flickering, and he had a plan in his mind.

……

In the capital of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Changgan was holding a small court meeting with Sun Chengzong, Yang Sichang and others.

Looking at the memorials handed over by the generals of Baoding, Shandong, Qingzhou, Denglai and other places, Zhu Changgan tapped the table lightly.

These generals, who had not submitted a memorial to the emperor for several years, now submitted several memorials in a row, hoping that the emperor would give them some cannons and muskets.

In this battle, not only the Qing Dynasty was stunned by the equipment of the three major camps, but the border towns within the Ming Dynasty were also stunned.

"No!"

Zhu Changgan asked Wang Chengen to draft an edict, "Tell them that the Armory's production is limited and it is temporarily unable to supply the border towns."

But he did not make a final statement, leaving them with hope, predicting that by next year, the border towns will be able to use the artillery and muskets of the three camps. "

According to Zhu Changgan's plan, after a few months, artillery will be distributed to various border towns, but they will not be the most advanced.

Before rectifying the administration of officials, it is necessary to ensure that the weapons in the hands of the generals of the border towns are at least one or two generations behind those of the three major camps under his control.

Only in this way can suppression be achieved.

If this cannot be achieved, Zhu Changgan will not allocate a single penny to them.

Otherwise, if some of them have equipment, wouldn't it be the same as during the reign of Chongzhen, when they were all warlords, eating the court's food and wages, raising their own private soldiers, and only obeying orders but not announcements?

Chongzhen couldn't do anything to them.

In addition, the emperor and his ministers discussed the rewards and punishments for the soldiers who went on the expedition.

The Tianjin general had died in battle, and Zhu Changgan no longer pursued the matter, but he was still considering who should go.

Sun Chengzong, Yang Sichang and others recommended a few, but Zhu Changgan put them on the table without making any comment.

……

Wang Chengen looked at everyone and said, "If you have anything to say, please report it. If not, please leave the court!"

But a man straightened his clothes and stood up, "Your Majesty, I have something to report."

"Play!"

"Your Majesty, I think that losing the vassal states is too serious a crime. If civil and military officials lose their jobs at best or be beheaded and their property confiscated because of a defeat on the battlefield, wouldn't everyone be in danger?" Liu Zhifeng expressed his political views passionately.

Everyone was stunned and looked at Liu Zhifeng in surprise.

This civil official who came to power by betraying Zheng Sanjun is now going to confront the emperor?

All the civil and military officials present understood one thing: Chongzhen valued his vassal states the most. Even when the court was in great difficulty, he never thought of depriving the vassal states of their property to provide disaster relief and pay for military expenses.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty's ancestral system, starting from Zhu Yuanzhang, attached great importance to the royal family and vassal states.

Throughout the Ming Dynasty, the princes were regarded as the royal relatives second only to the emperor, and their status was extremely respected. The killing or capture of the princes was a great shame and humiliation for the state.

But you mentioned the loss of the vassal states, which is a heavy crime. What do you want to do?
The so-called loss of the vassal states was actually due to poor defense, which led to the death of the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty.

Historically, there was a horrific incident of beheading ministers during the Chongzhen reign, in which thirty-six civil and military officials were beheaded in one day.

The governors included Zhang Qiping of Baoding Prefecture, Chen Zubao of Shuntian Prefecture, Yan Jizu of Shandong Prefecture, etc. The generals included Wu Guojun and Chen Guowei of Jizhen, and the generals of the supporting suppression forces Zu Kuan and Li Chongzhen, etc.

The high level and large number of people not only broke the record of the Chongzhen period, but it was probably only comparable to the killing of meritorious officials during the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang.

And all this was because of the murder of one man, namely the Ming Dynasty's vassal, Prince De, who was captured by the Manchus who entered the country and was never seen alive or dead.

These people were beheaded on the same charge of "losing the royal family and vassal states."

It can be said that this was Chongzhen's Achilles' heel, and touching it would mean death.

But Liu Zhifeng actually dared to stand up and mention this matter, which made everyone unbelievable.

As expected, the emperor was furious and almost roared, "Liu Zhifeng, what do you want to do? Isn't it a capital crime to capture the vassal state? Can it be a life sentence?"

"Come, tell me what crime should be punished for?"

At this time, the Director of the Anti-Corruption Department, Xu Cifu, also stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I think what Minister Liu said is very true. The battlefield is unpredictable. If we lose the battle because of our concerns about the Ming Dynasty's vassal states, it will be a disaster for the Ming Dynasty."

Minister of Rites Cheng Guoxiang also stood up and said, "Your Majesty, this is not good for the country."

At this time, Sun Chengzong also stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I also think that the crime of losing the vassal states is too great. In order to kill more Ming generals, the rebels will frantically kill the vassal states. Isn't this a kind of protection for our vassal states of the Ming Dynasty?"

The emperor was stunned when he heard this. This situation did exist.

Some peasant uprisings aimed to kill the Ming vassal states, which meant that, in addition to damaging the Ming dynasty's reputation, they would also drag down the Ming generals involved. The emperor could not help but ask, "If, as you say, the Ming vassal states are not protected by the civil officials and generals, who else can protect them?"

Liu Zhifeng, the Minister of Justice, said again: "Your Majesty, according to the ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty, the royal family and vassal states can retain a maximum of 3,000 guards. If they defend the city together with the local officials and generals, it will be enough to protect themselves."

Zhu Changgan looked at everyone and sighed after a long while, "We'll discuss this later!"

……

But after the morning court session, Liu Zhifeng and others did not leave, but continued to kneel outside the palace gate.

When the sun went down, Wang Chengen came out of the palace, walked to his side, patted him gently and said, "Okay, Minister Liu, let's stop here today and come back tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, Liu Zhifeng sighed, stood up and bowed to Wang Chengen, "Thank you, eunuch!"

"What are you thanking me for? I'm just doing errands for the Emperor. I have to say, your acting skills are pretty good today."

"How dare I neglect the things that His Majesty has entrusted me with."

After the two exchanged a few pleasantries, Liu Zhifeng and others left.

That’s right, all of this was Zhu Changgan’s idea.

It would be inappropriate for the emperor to directly issue an edict that "losing the royal family and vassal states" was no longer a capital crime, but it was another matter when Liu Zhifeng said it.

If this were made public, the court officials would be infuriated, and the emperor had to agree to their request for the sake of the Ming Dynasty.

In Zhu Changgan's view, "the crime of falling into the hands of the royal family and vassal states" was a huge hidden danger.

The princes controlled enormous wealth, but made no contribution to the Ming Dynasty.

When the generals in charge of defending the city were fighting against the rebels and the Qing Dynasty, if a vassal died, it would be a capital crime. This was too risky for the soldiers, and they would be more cautious and more likely to lose the battle.

That's why Xu Cifu and Liu Zhifeng planned this.

In this way, the peasant uprising army in the south would not be so murderous towards the princes and vassals, and in order to survive, the princes and vassals would contribute all their food and servants to defend the city together with the local officials and soldiers.

……

As it was getting close to evening, the ministers left and Zhu Changgan concentrated his mind slightly.

"Main quest: Save the Ming Dynasty Completion: 1799/10000"

"The Ming Dynasty's national fortune value: -1024, (the people are living in dire straits, the national fortune is negative, and natural and man-made disasters continue.)"

"The Ming Dynasty has lasted for 400 days"

「Modern lifespan bonus: 400 days」

「Funding reward: 10958904 yuan」

"Nice..." Zhu Changgan couldn't help but shout. He looked around and breathed a sigh of relief when he found that no one was paying attention to him.

The main quest once again experienced a surge in progress. The progress bar increased by 800, the national fortune value directly increased by 2,000, and the national destiny doubled, exceeding one year for the first time.

The prize money also reached eight figures.

This battle was of vital importance, and such a huge increase was actually within Zhu Changgan's psychological expectations.

Historically, it was the Qing Dynasty's fifth entry into the Pass that was considered the most brutal blow in Huang Taiji's strategy of "cutting but not destroying" the Ming Dynasty, deeper than any other time before.

It was this entry into the pass that caused the situation of the Ming Dynasty's rebel army to collapse and become irreversible.

All the efforts of the previous decade or so were destroyed.

Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting can be said to be the last two good generals of the Ming Dynasty. However, at the most critical moment of the war, the battle came to an abrupt end because of the invasion of the Qing army.

This led to a series of butterfly effects afterwards.

Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and others were able to catch their breath and continue to use their huge energy to snowball. Eventually, the situation became uncontrollable and they dragged millions of refugees with them to launch a fatal attack on the capital.

"Your Majesty, Haoge has entered the capital first." Wang Chengen came in from outside and asked with a smile: "Your Majesty, please tell me what to do?"

Zhu Changgan came back to his senses, "Oh? I just wanted to ask him where he went. Let him parade through the streets for three days, then let him eat and drink. When the three camps come back, I will hold a military parade to let him see the military might of my Ming Dynasty."

"Not only will I not kill him, but I will release him and let him return to Liaodong to fight Dorgon for the throne!"

However, before that, Zhu Changgan planned to have a long talk with Hauge.

……

Looking at the mountains in all directions, the sky is clear and blue.

Chongzhen looked at the river in the distance, which was like a ribbon, sparkling under the setting sun and extending along the edge of the village and town.

At the junction of light and darkness, a legend slowly passed through the field of vision.

The shadows of the trees rubbed against each other, making a rustling sound in the breeze.

"The mountains and rivers are picturesque. This is the mountains and rivers of the Ming Dynasty..."

Chongzhen was distracted for a moment. At this moment, he suddenly understood what Prince Xiang meant by wanting to see the land of Ming Dynasty. "It's beautiful! It's really beautiful!"

Just as I was about to say something, I heard someone coming over and immediately fell silent.

"Brother-in-law, the village military meeting, please go over."

"I haven't worshipped heaven and earth yet, but I am not your brother-in-law." Chongzhen looked gloomy and rolled his eyes at him. He was extremely disgusted with the title of brother-in-law.

The Third Master didn't take it seriously, "It's only a matter of time!"

"My father's hand. I heard you were involved as well?"

"No, that was done by the fourth and sixth brothers. I only found out about it afterwards."

Chongzhen was about to speak when he saw many unfamiliar faces and asked, "Has our stronghold recruited many more soldiers?"

The third boss nodded and said, "The Ming court increased the military pay by 2.8 million taels. South of the Yellow River and north of the Yangtze River, thousands of miles from east to west, except for the cities of the prefectures and counties, the villages have long been destroyed. There is not a single seedling for hundreds of miles. People are eating each other. They can't survive and have no choice but to become bandits."

"This word doesn't sound like it came from your mouth." Chongzhen frowned, "Who did you hear it from?"

"I heard from Lao Si that we have recruited more than 3,000 people in the past two days, and it is said that the King of Chuang has recruited more than 100,000 people."

"Hundreds of thousands of people?" Chongzhen couldn't help swallowing his saliva, "How could they have taken so many with them?"

"Yes, the people were already having trouble making ends meet, and Chongzhen ordered the government to investigate the "surplus land," saying that the land reclaimed by the farmers exceeded the original amount of land, and after the investigation, taxes were levied on the basis of land." The three families could not help but curse:
"Now that large areas of land are abandoned, what about the idea of ​​checking the "overflowing land"? Is this just wishful thinking?"

Chongzhen was silent.

The third brother was still cursing: "It's nothing more than making up excuses to intensify the extortion of poor peasants in order to avoid adding burdens to the big landlords."

"This 'heavy tax' was also very deliberate. It stipulated that the rent of houses in the private sector, regardless of whether they were large or small, would be taxed one penny per storefront. As a result, the government took advantage of the situation and stipulated that every storefront would be taxed one penny for every room..."

Chongzhen remained silent again, his face flushed.

Because he knew that everything the Third Brother said was true, and he was the one who ordered it, and all of this was the so-called "suppression of salary."

"What did you just say? Who is Chong Zheng?" Chongzhen suddenly asked.

The Third Master laughed and said, "Brother-in-law, don't you know this? Chongzhen was a heavy tax collector, just like during the reign of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty, we called him Jiajing, "Jia Jing"..."

At this moment, Chongzhen's face turned blue and purple, his fingers were clenched, and his body was shaking. He raised his hand and was about to punch them, but he saw the three men suddenly turn their heads around.

"Brother-in-law, what are you doing?"

(End of this chapter)