Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 177 The End of Zhang Xianzhong, Part
About ten miles east of Gucheng.

A group of people, covered in blood, rushed out of the encirclement of the Yongwei Camp. They were Zhang Xianzhong, Li Dingguo, Sun Kewang and others.

"No, we can't run along the official road. If we continue like this, we will definitely be caught up by the cavalry of the Yongwei Camp." Zhang Xianzhong's face revealed madness and anxiety.

Faced with the attack from the Yongwei Camp, the army of more than 10,000 people was defeated in just half an hour.

As they cried and shouted for their lives, they watched with their own eyes as the people around them were hit by the artillery and muskets of the Yongwei Battalion, with their bones exposed and they howled in agony.

Before, I only heard that the four major camps defeated the Manchu Tartars in the north and were very powerful, but I didn't have any psychological expectations about the combat power of the four major camps.

It was not until today, when they suddenly fought, that I realized how weak the combat effectiveness of my soldiers was.

Lin Mingqiu's concubine had already been killed by him, and the two boxes of treasures were also distributed to his brothers.

Even so, he still felt insecure, fearing that someone would betray him.

"Kewang, Dingguo, there is a fork in the road ahead. You two should take your people and go separately."

"Godfather, what about you?" Sun Kewang asked, wiping the blood off his forehead.

Zhang Xianzhong waved his hand, "Just leave me alone, go... go quickly."

Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo looked at Zhang Xianzhong with red eyes and wanted to persist, but Zhang Xianzhong scolded them angrily, "It's time now, get out!"

"It's only a matter of one who can walk away!"

Li Dingguo turned around and took a few people with him. He gritted his teeth, mounted his horse, gave the horse a sudden jerk, and galloped away wildly.

Sun Kewang wanted to say something, but Zhang Xianzhong stopped him, "Go!"

After the two men left, Zhang Xianzhong took a deep breath and said to the old camp that had followed him from Shaanxi: "Abandon the horses, we will walk up the mountain."

The people in the old camp were his fellow townsmen and clansmen in Shaanxi.

Zhang Xianzhong asked Li Dingguo and Sun Kewang to act separately, not only to go separately, but also to let his two adopted sons draw firepower for him.

Only in this way could he turn back and go to Shangluo Mountain to join forces with Li Zicheng.

When the flag is raised, with the old camp there, we will be a new team.

Zhang Xianzhong and his men killed the horses, covered them with branches, and took hundreds of people from the old camp into the woods... and fled towards Shangluo Mountain.

Two hours later, the sky gradually darkened and everyone was excited.

Because it was getting dark, it basically meant they were safe.

Everyone suffers from night blindness, so even the government troops cannot chase them at night.

"Marshal, we can take a break and eat something." A man from the same clan as Zhang Xianzhong grinned and sat down on the ground.

However, the next moment, there was a "whoosh" sound.

There was an arrow stuck in the neck of this fellow tribesman of Zhang Xianzhong, right in the aorta. Blood was gushing out. He opened his eyes wide and covered his mouth with both hands, but they soon fell down weakly.

"Enemy attack!"

Zhang Xianzhong and his old camp soldiers immediately realized that the pursuers were approaching, and they drew their swords, took out their bows and arrows, and fought back.

Boom~boom~
Two rockets were fired, and the view in the mountains suddenly brightened.

Teams of Ming troops gathered here.

"kill!"

With arrows raining down from the sky and seeing that a war was inevitable, Zhang Xianzhong could only draw out the broadsword from his waist and charge towards the enemy.

The leader of the Ming army, who was riding a tall horse and had a full beard, said, "Send the signal, we have caught a big fish, let the brothers come over."

But who is this?
It was none other than the Governor of Denglai, Hu Hengtai.

Long before Zhang Xianzhong surrendered, the emperor had sent him a secret decree, ordering him to lead his troops to garrison between Shangluo Mountain and Gucheng.

A few months ago, Hu Hengtai was promoted from the fourth rank to the third rank by the emperor.

Although his rank was only promoted one level and he was still the Governor of Shandong and the Admiral of Military Affairs, he heard the accurate news that His Majesty wanted to rebuild the Denglai Navy. That is to say, in addition to the General of Dengzhou Town and the General of Dongjiang Town, there will be another navy under the control of the Governor of Denglai.

How could he not be happy? Therefore, he took this mission particularly seriously.

Even though he knew that His Majesty had asked him to hide in the direction of Gucheng leading to Shangluo Mountain, it was only to prevent Li Zicheng from coming to rescue or Zhang Xianzhong from escaping.

But he still patrolled day and night, and he never expected that such a great credit would actually fall on him.

"Keep your eyes open... don't let any of them escape, especially the leader!"

"We must kill a few people even if we have to die!" The people led by Zhang Xianzhong also knew that it was the most critical moment, and they resisted desperately.

Although it was a battle on foot, the brutality of the battle was even greater than on the plains. The grass on the ground was dyed red, and the blood on it was like dew, and the shoes would be soaked as soon as you stepped on it.

After an unknown amount of time, Hu Hengtai's hand holding the knife became numb. Suddenly he heard a cheer and ran over quickly.

"Let me see what Zhang Xianzhong looks like..."

……

July 20,

Huang Degong of Gucheng received the news.

"Governor Hu Hengtai of Denglai led 5,000 soldiers and horses to intercept Zhang Xianzhong and more than 500 others. After fighting for two hours, all of them except Zhang Xianzhong were killed."

"Damn it..." Huang Degong threw the newspaper in his hand to the ground in anger, "I spent so much effort, but I didn't expect that the peaches were picked by him."

Denglai Governor Hu Hengtai did not even come to Gucheng, but directly arranged a prison car and went to the capital to claim credit.

How could Huang Degong not be angry? !
As for Zhang Xianzhong's four adopted sons, he only killed one and captured one, while the remaining two, Li Dingguo and Sun Kewang, escaped.

Compared with the Yongwei Camp, Zuo Liangyu and Chen Hongfan were in a worse situation. When they arrived with their troops, the battle was already over.

Unlike Chen Hongfan's reluctance, Zuo Liangyu felt more worried and frightened.

He met Huang Degong and wanted to ask him some questions about the situation in the court, but the other party's attitude was lukewarm.

After just a few brief words, he bowed and said that he had official business to deal with, and asked the soldier to see him off.

Zuo Liangyu came out of Huang Degong's tent with an ugly look on his face.

In this battle, he saw with his own eyes the combat effectiveness of the Yongwei Battalion and the lethality of artillery and muskets. Not to mention the bandits, even his own soldiers were no match for them.

This is a huge gap and a huge difference. Before this, Zuo Liangyu's army was the only fighting force in the Central Plains of the Ming Dynasty.

Evaluation of him in the court:

"Brave, good at shooting, illiterate, a mere warrior!"
This means that he is very brave and agile, good at archery and fighting, but he is a reckless man. Zuo Liangyu was impeached many times by civil officials in the court for visiting prostitutes, gambling, robbing, burning and killing with soldiers...

In the seventh year of Chongzhen, Chen Qiuyu was appointed governor-general of five provinces. He made every possible effort and dispatched generals and governors to defeat the rebel army. Zuo Liangyu won a lot of credit during this period, but was criticized by the court for "fleeing when facing a strong force and fighting when facing a weak force" and was looked down upon.

But he didn't care, he kept his head down and led his troops.
During this period, Zuo Liangyu and Zhang Xianzhong fought each other in Henan, Anhui, and Huguang, and they tacitly did not engage in any major battles. As soon as Zhang Xianzhong left, Zuo Liangyu came.

Counting the days, not meeting each other but not falling behind, they just circled around like this. Every time Zuo Liangyu arrived at a place, his soldiers would commit crazy violence. Last year, Zhang Xianzhong entered Xiangyang to rob, and Zuo Liangyu entered Xiangyang right after. In the name of investigating bandits, he killed and robbed everywhere in the city, and embezzled a lot of money, so that the people of Xiangyang hated the soldiers more than the "bandits".

Now that Zhang Xianzhong was defeated by the Yongwei Camp in one day, the pressure to suppress bandits in various parts of the Central Plains was suddenly reduced a lot, which also meant that he was of little use.

It's terrible if it's not very useful.

Zuo Liangyu started his career in Liaodong, although Li Chengliang was no longer there when he joined the army.

However, Li Chengliang's influence in Liaodong has not diminished much, especially Li Chengliang's strategy of nurturing tigers, which was highly praised by the illiterate Zuo Liangyu. In his opinion,
Although Zuo Liangyu could not read, he was influenced by Li Chengliang's tactics. Li Chengliang's "victory in battle and prestige in the remotest areas" and his numerous military exploits were dazzling, all because he "kept the enemy to protect himself."

This is the source of Li Chengliang's countless military exploits. He almost followed Li Chengliang's path step by step.

But now... the Yongwei Battalion came and killed Zhang Xianzhong with just one blow. Naturally, his so-called "stabilizing force" in the Central Plains collapsed.

How could he not panic? How could he not be confused?

In particular, Huang Degong also told him a piece of news.

The emperor is about to hold a military performance in the capital and invites generals from all over the country to attend. Zuo Liangyu is also among them. "A military performance in the capital?
"What does your majesty mean? Are you going to hit us?"

……

Liaodong,

The "Tianyou Army" led by Kong Youde suffered heavy losses after being chased and intercepted by the Manchu and Mongolian cavalry many times, and finally arrived at the location of the navy on Juehua Island.

The Ming Dynasty's navy in the northern region originally had three main forces: the Juehua Island Navy in western Liaoning, the Denglai Navy in the Shandong Peninsula, and the Tianjin Navy in Tianjin Wei.

However, in the sixth year of the Tianqi reign, Nurhaci sent more than 10,000 cavalrymen to charge towards Juehua Island along the ice, burning most of the warships. Only more than ten soldiers and civilians survived, and the navy of Juehua Island was basically destroyed.

After that, it was swallowed up by the Qing Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty established its own navy. However, the number and quality of ships could not compare with those of the Ming Dynasty.

But this is perfect for Kong Youde. He doesn't need too many ships, just enough to escape to Pi Island.

The "Tianyou Army" fought a fierce battle with the Qing army on Juehua Island using artillery and muskets. They soon defeated hundreds of people on the island with their superior forces and seized dozens of warships.

"Damn it, he just got away like that~" Jirgalang, Yuetuo and others arrived with their men, but could only watch Kong Youde leave.

The bitter consequences of the Qing Dynasty's lack of attention to the navy were clearly revealed at this moment.

The ship was gone, and they didn't know Kong Youde's purpose. Even if they wanted to chase him, they had no idea where to start, so they could only take their troops back to Shengjing.

It was a farce that ended like this.

This was a great shame for the Qing court.

At the same time, the news that the 16 Mongolian tribes south of the desert had submitted a letter of surrender to the Ming Dynasty reached Shengjing, and Dorgon was furious.

It is said that on this day, he ordered the execution of three maids and two eunuchs in the palace, and then summoned the imperial doctors into the palace, and both of them were beheaded...

……

Ming Dynasty, Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Changgan was doubly happy. He looked at the memorial and stood up excitedly, "Good, good... Everything is getting better."

Zheng Hongkui brought back news that his brother Zheng Zhilong was willing to lend 150 warships to the Ming Dynasty.

One hundred and fifty ships was beyond Zhu Changgan's expectations.

With these ships, naval warfare can be developed.

No matter what, going from 0 to 1 is the hardest.

After having version 1, he believed that the subsequent improvements would be rapidly updated under the auspices of the Arms Department.

The Ming Dynasty originally had three main forces in the north, namely the Juehua Island Navy in western Liaoning, the Denglai Navy in the Shandong Peninsula, and the Tianjin Navy in Tianjin Wei.

The navy of Juehua Island was destroyed by Nurhaci.

The Denglai Navy was originally quite powerful, but the Kong Youde Rebellion almost uprooted the Denglai area and the Denglai Navy suffered heavy losses. At this time, only the Tianjin Navy was relatively intact.

Only Zheng Zhilong's navy in the south was strong. In the sixth year of Chongzhen, a fierce battle broke out with the coalition forces of the Dutch East India Company and Liu Xiang's pirates in Liaoluo Bay on the southeast coast of Kinmen, Fujian. In the end, the Ming Dynasty defeated the enemy with absolute superiority in military force.

This established the status of the Ming Dynasty Navy in one fell swoop.

Before this, Zhu Changgan had also muttered that Zheng Zhilong was originally a pirate, and was surrendered to the Ming Dynasty for the sake of fame and fortune, so he might not have much loyalty to the emperor and patriotism.

Now that his navy has been requisitioned in the name of the imperial court, he is willing to provide 150 warships, which shows that he is still willing to contribute to some extent.

Of course, it is not ruled out that Zheng Zhilong was willing to lend the ship because of the Qing Dynasty's invasion of the Pass and the Mongolian War south of the desert.

But no matter what, Zhu Changgan achieved his goal.

The second is that Zhang Xianzhong was captured and is now being taken to the capital by Hu Hengtai, the governor of Lai. More than 10,000 of his men were wiped out, and one of his four adopted sons died, and one was captured, which was considered to have met expectations.

"Wang Chengen!"

"Your Majesty, the eunuch is here."

"Pass on my order to reward all the ministries and publicize it on the front page of the Ming Times. Also, tell Huang Degong not to come back for the time being and make a concerted effort to completely wipe out the bandits in the Central Plains."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Wang Chengen walked out with a happy look on his face.

As eunuchs, their loyalty was to the emperor. Naturally, they were happy when the Ming Dynasty prospered.

"Your Majesty, you haven't been to the Queen's place for a long time. This is not good."

"I understand." Zhu Changgan thought for a moment, "We won't go to Chen Yuanyuan's place at noon. In the evening, let Chong... go to Kunning Palace."

After Wang Chengen left, he excitedly called up the blue attribute box.

"Main quest: Save the Ming Dynasty Completion: 4073/10000"

"The Ming Dynasty's national fortune value: 512, (the national fortune is positive, the trend of natural disasters and the cooling of the small ice age has stopped, and the temperature will gradually return to normal, but the people are living in dire straits and need to change urgently."

"The Ming Dynasty has lasted for 1000 days"

「Modern lifespan bonus: 1000 days」

「Funding reward: 27397261 yuan」

Zhu Changgan stood up, wishing he could throw a set of punches to break through a thousand days and get one step closer to a hundred years. He also discovered a problem, which was that the duration of the Ming Dynasty's national destiny had been greatly increased compared to before.

At first it was a few days, dozens of days, a hundred days, and now it is directly three hundred days, which can be said to be measured in years.

It is estimated that in the future, the increase will last for several years or even decades.

The country's prosperity will last for a hundred years, which seems still long.

But Zhu Changgan felt that he was about to touch it.

A billion in assets and a hundred years of life to return to modern society to enjoy life. This goal, which he once thought might not be achievable in his lifetime, now seems extremely clear to him.

At this moment, Zhu Changgan's blood seemed to become hot, and the blood flow speed also accelerated, "Wang Chengen, set up the Chenghua Palace..."

(End of this chapter)