Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 132 The situation is like winter and summer, and you know the cold and the warm

After entering June, the summer becomes scorching hot.

But on Chang'an Street in the capital, people were shoulder to shoulder, standing on tiptoe to look in one direction.

The soldiers of the three camps finally returned to Beijing. From the great victory in Tongzhou to now, the war that lasted for nearly a month finally came to an end, and they returned to the important capital again.

Zhu Changgan led the ministers to meet the guests five miles outside the city, which was a great honor.

Before this, the Ming Times had been following and reporting on the war between the Ming Dynasty and the Tatars, and every major victory was the front-page headline.

As the saying goes, "after a long drought comes a rain." The Ming Dynasty was weak and had not won a single victory in decades. The war situation had become extremely bad.

Now, a great victory has been achieved, followed by a series of great victories, which have poured into the hearts of everyone in the Ming Dynasty like a torrential rain.

So when the news came that the three battalions were about to arrive in Beijing, the entire capital was in an uproar.

Compared to the last time the three camps returned to the capital, there were many more civilians outside the city at this time. They were a black mass, spreading out like a wheat field.

The emperor was like this, so even if the ministers were unwilling, they had no choice but to follow him.

Even though these civil officials were resentful about the fact that a eunuch like Cao Huachun was able to serve as the commander-in-chief, they all had no choice but to follow suit under the general trend.

"I'm coming……"

"Boom boom..." The drums started beating, and the military band of the Ministry of Rites played and played the triumphant music.

When the soldiers from the three camps appeared in their armor, the cheers and shouts of the people in the capital were as hot as a boiler that had been burned dry, and they seemed to melt the earth.

Huang Degong sat on his horse, bared his teeth and shouted at the Yongwei Battalion behind him: "Brothers of the Yongwei Battalion, shout for me!"

"The Ming Dynasty will be victorious!"

Zhang Shize of the Beijing Camp was not to be outdone, and shouted at the top of his voice: "Brothers of the Beijing Camp, where are you?"

"Long live the Ming Dynasty!"

"Long live the Ming Dynasty..."

Among the white-pole soldiers, Ma Xianglin looked back and shouted, "The Great Ming is mighty!"

"The Great Ming is mighty!"

"..."

The roars of tens of thousands of soldiers shook the heavens and the earth, and rushed towards the surroundings like rolling waves, making the people in the capital boil with blood and shocking the ministers who came to greet them.

Especially the matchmakers and some women of marriageable age, their voices were almost hoarse from shouting. If they hadn't been stopped by the people from the Five Cities Military Department, they would have probably run out to grab people by now.

The soldiers of the three camps are completely different from before. In the past, they would let their sons and nephews join the army because they could not survive, but now they try every means to get their sons and nephews into the three camps.

Not to mention the eighteen taels of silver a year, if you killed a Tartar on the battlefield, you would get fifty taels of silver. Even if the enemy was injured, disabled, or died, you would still receive a pension.

This was not just written in the "Da Ming Times", but was spread by the families of the three major camps in the capital. Those rotten soldiers that they looked down upon before suddenly turned into wealthy families with hundreds of taels of silver.

This is a bit similar to the sudden appearance of ten thousand yuan households in the village in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Even more than that.

For example, in 90 and 91, the average annual salary of an employee in Hangzhou was 1156 yuan, and at most they could save to yuan a year. A household with a salary of yuan is equivalent to the savings of an ordinary employee family for years.

During the Chongzhen reign, natural disasters and wars made it difficult for ordinary people to survive, let alone save up two taels of silver.

However, the soldiers of the three camps could earn dozens or even hundreds of taels of silver after each battle, which meant that a family would have to work for twenty years to earn that much money.

Besides, their families had already calculated that the casualties of the soldiers from the three camps in the two expeditions were less than half.

For poor families in the Ming Dynasty, it was difficult to survive, and marrying into such a family was undoubtedly a wealthy choice.

Even if she marries him and the man dies, many people can accept it.

Because their children can enjoy the welfare of the Ming Dynasty, and there is a pension of 150 taels, which is enough for the children to grow up.

In addition to the women, there were also those young people. They looked at the returning soldiers with passion in their eyes, "This is my Ming army, I want to go in."

"You, with your weak arms and legs?" Someone on the side laughed and said, "Not everyone can enter the three major camps nowadays."

The little guy angrily retorted: "If I can't do it, I'll practice. Don't bully the weak!"

"Hey, you kid..."

There are many people who hold the same idea as him, and the three major camps not only recruit strong people, but also some special soldiers, such as people with accurate throwing skills. It is said that the Yongwei Camp and the Beijing Camp have a kind of firearms, and they need some people who can throw far and accurately.

As long as you pass the test, you can join.

It just so happened that this guy had been herding sheep since he was a child. Every time he herded sheep, he would wrap stones around his whip and use it to drive away the sheep that ran away. He would hit wherever he pointed. Now that he heard that the three major camps were recruiting such talents, he decided to give it a try.

After the soldiers entered the city, Minister of Rites Cheng Guoxiang, on behalf of the court, comforted the troops.

This time, more than 20,000 enemies were annihilated. Zhu Changgan was not going to keep a low profile anymore. He wanted to be as high-profile as possible and directly piled up a wall of silver outside the palace.

Millions of taels of silver, shining brightly in the sun, were so dazzling that one could not open their eyes.

"Gong Yelong, kill one enemy, advance two levels, and get a reward of twenty taels."

"..."

"Jiao Zexiang, you killed two enemies and offered to not be promoted. You will be rewarded with 100 taels!"

The officials of the Ministry of Rites kept shouting at the soldiers who had made meritorious services to come up on stage to receive their awards, and they came down directly with silver in their hands.

In the distance, the people of the capital had never seen such a scene of distributing money.

The impact was so strong that every pore of the people who saw this scene felt as if they were emitting heat, impulse, and desire... They wished they could go into battle and kill the enemy right now.

Cheers came and went.

Moreover, the ones who are recited first are those who have killed fewer enemies. As more and more people are killed, the reward will be more silver, and the impact will be greater.

The people blushed and went home excitedly to cook and eat.

Perhaps, even they themselves are not aware that the seeds are taking root and sprouting in their bodies, slowly growing, and will eventually become a force that cannot be ignored.

Of course, this was mainly for the soldiers. The rewards for the generals were given within the palace. Under the leadership of Wang Chengen, all the main generals who went on the expedition entered the Qianqing Palace to drink with the emperor.

From Cao Huachun, Li Banghua, Qin Liangyu to Huang Degong, Ma Xianglin and others, it was their first time to sit at the same table with the emperor, and they were inevitably a little nervous.

But as the dishes and wine were served, and the emperor praised them, everyone slowly relaxed and began to enjoy the food. The emperor and his ministers were all happy, and after they had enough food and wine, the emperor's edict finally arrived.

Cao Huachun was appointed as the eunuch garrisoning the capital, and was given ten thousand taels of gold and the surname Zhu.

Li Banghua was appointed as the Grand Secretary of Dongge and was given the title of Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince.

Qin Liangyu was granted the title of General of the Xiaoqi Banner and the title of Minister of War.

Sun Yingyuan was promoted to commander-in-chief of the Beijing camp, and one of his sons and nephews was appointed as a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Huang Degong was the commander-in-chief of the Beijing camp and the supervisor of the Yongwei camp. He helped one of his sons and nephews to become a captain of the Jinyiwei.

Zhang Shize was promoted to deputy commander-in-chief of the Beijing camp and granted the title of right governor-general.

Ma Xianglin was promoted to deputy commander-in-chief of the Beijing Camp...

Huang Degong did not continue to rise, but he laughed the most happily, with his mouth almost reaching his ears.

Because it can be heard from the imperial edict that he is in charge of the Yongwei Camp alone, and although Sun Yingyuan was promoted to the rank of commander-in-chief, it is obvious that His Majesty wants to transfer him to serve in other places.

I guess Zhang Shize, Ma Xianglin and others were just deputy generals.

At such a young age, he has already taken charge of the most powerful army of the Ming Dynasty. How can he not be excited and calm?

……

In addition, Zhu Changgan also rewarded Lu Xiangsheng, Wu Aheng and others.

Moreover, the position of Governor Denglai was raised from the third rank to the third rank, which caused a lot of discussion in the court.

The reason why Zhu Changgan did this was also for the next action.

Six years ago, Chongzhen wanted to establish a firearms unit in Dengzhou Fortress that could fight against the Later Jin.

Unfortunately, Sun Yuanhua handled the situation improperly, and was led to a rebellion by Kong Youde, Li Jiuchen, Li Yingyuan and his son, which completely destroyed the Ming Dynasty's plan to establish an advanced firearms army and enabled the Tartars' firearms to advance by more than ten years.

Although he was defeated, Zhu Changgan believed that there was nothing wrong with this idea.

From Dengzhou, one can advance by sea to attack the retreat route of the Jianzhou rebels, Yaozhou.

Retreat and enter the heartland of the Ming Dynasty.

After this battle, I believe the Tatars will not dare to invade the heartland of the Ming Dynasty again in a short time, so the place of Denglai becomes more and more important.

In addition, Zhu Changgan also appointed the General of Datong, and the General of Shanxi was selected from the list recommended by Lu Xiangsheng.

Zhu Changgan's attitude towards Lu Xiangsheng was clear. In this battle, his Tianxiong Army was almost wiped out, leaving only more than 300 old and weak soldiers. It can be said that he devoted his life to the cause.

However, he did not agree to Lu Xiangsheng's request for firearms in his memorial.

Zhu Changgan believed in the other party's character, but not the current situation.

Historically, when the Qing Dynasty entered the Pass for the fifth time, Lu Xiangsheng immediately rushed to the capital overnight after receiving the military order, stationed troops in Changping, and then went to Beijing to meet the emperor.

His words to Chongzhen were also powerful, "Your Majesty has ordered me to be the commander-in-chief, and I have no choice but to fight."

Chongzhen ordered him to discuss the battle plan with Yang Sichang. Yang Sichang and Lu Xiangsheng could be regarded as the two most outstanding military talents in the Ming court at that time.

One is good at strategic planning, the other is good at battle command. If the two can cooperate sincerely and complement each other, even though the Manchu Tartars are as fierce as jackals, it is still possible to achieve better results in this battle against the Tartars than in previous times.

Unfortunately, the two people were confined by factional views from the very beginning. They were very suspicious of each other from the moment they met. They only tried to undermine each other and there was no cooperation at all.

Lu Xiangsheng scolded Yang Sichang for making peace with the Qing Dynasty, not going to the funeral and not being able to fight. He was both loyal and filial, so how could he still have the face to live in this world?
Yang Sichang held a grudge, which laid the groundwork for Lu Xiangsheng's later death in battle.

Therefore, before eliminating the factional disputes, it was impossible for Zhu Changgan to supply artillery and muskets to the officers and soldiers in these border towns.

……

At the same time, Shengjing outside the Great Wall.

But it was a completely different scene. More than 40,000 soldiers were lost at once, including nearly 10,000 soldiers from the Eight Banners alone, so that the whole city was in mourning.

Only half of the Plain Blue Banner was left, the Bordered White Banner also lost more than half, the Two Yellow Banners lost a quarter, and the Plain White Banner lost a quarter.

The losses of the Eight Banners of Mongolia, cavalry from small tribes, and Korean soldiers were unprecedentedly heavy.

There were people in mourning everywhere, but their coffins were empty because the bodies of the Qing soldiers were thrown into the Ming Dynasty and piled up into mausoleums.

To the Tartars, corpses are sacred, and every time someone dies, they have to make a grand ceremony. The dead person's face is washed, hair is combed, clothes are put on, silver is put in their mouths, relatives and friends chant scriptures, pray, and the dead person ascends to heaven...

But now the bodies have not been returned. How can the relatives of these soldiers be willing to accept this?
So they gathered outside the palace, clamoring to see the emperor.

Calling Dorgon and Yuetuo to come out.

In the Qing imperial palace, Ajige, Ashan, Duoduo, Yuetuo and others knelt outside Huang Taiji's bedroom, waiting for the emperor's next order.

The key point of this entry into the Pass was that the 80,000 people together with the more than 30,000 people brought by Hauge later, totaling 130,000 people.

The captured population was only 36,000, the livestock less than 50,000, the grain only 20,000 shi, and the gold, silver, ironware, etc. were even less, less than 20% of the last time they entered the pass.

Such a disproportion also made other banner owners dissatisfied, and they also came forward to denounce Dorgon and Yuetuo.

The reason why Hauge was not denounced was because he was captured.

"Your Majesty, please don't get up!" Hai Lanzhu watched with tears in her eyes as Huang Taiji trembled all over and tried to sit up, and she could only help him up.

But before he could get up, blood spurted out from under his nose again, dyeing his robe red.

Huang Taiji expressionlessly let the eunuch catch the blood in a bowl, and continued to put on his dragon robe. Then the palace maid wiped his face clean before he slowly walked out.

"Long live the Emperor!"

"Long live the emperor..."

"Stand up!" Huang Taiji forced himself to get on the throne. "I already know what you are talking about. The crime of this war is no longer the fault of Prince Rui and Yue Tuo. The power of the Ming court's firearms is beyond our understanding before the war."

"The soldiers are all loyal and brave. I will allocate pensions to them from my treasury. In addition... cough cough..." Huang Taiji quickly covered his mouth and nose.

After a long while, he continued, "To reward the soldiers who went on this expedition, Prince Rui will be awarded ten thousand gold coins, and Yue Tuo will be restored to the status of Prince Heshuocheng."

Uh?
Yue Tuo was a little confused. He lost the battle, but the emperor not only did not punish him, but instead restored his status as a prince?
Not only was he puzzled, but other people around him also had flickering eyes.

Around last year, Yuetuo caused Huang Taiji's dissatisfaction because of his upright character. He was often blamed and demoted many times, and became a Duroberle.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that the emperor actually wanted to deprive him of his title as leader of the Bordered Red Banner, but now he was restoring his status as a prince. Why?
Especially Duoduo, he squinted his eyes, looked down at Yuetuo, glanced at the emperor's sleeves, his pupils shrank suddenly, and quickly turned back.

A thought suddenly came to my mind: The emperor is in poor health!
(End of this chapter)