Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 251: As one rises, another falls, and the country’s fortune and strength are further enhanced!
"Your master is dead. Put down your weapons, or... kill—"

The thunderous sound of horse hooves suddenly exploded on the ground!

With thunderous shouts, the Ming army, like a raging sea, smashed into Liaoyang city. Facing the large number of Ming troops, all tactics and all resistance became meaningless.

"It's over!" A Jiala Zhangjing couldn't help but sigh to the sky.

In less than an incense stick of time, the huge rock-like monster composed of tens of thousands of Eight Banners soldiers was pierced through by the Ming army's artillery and muskets.

Waves of blood and deformed corpses were intertwined.

The defeated Qing soldiers fled frantically towards Shengjing, and a small number of them fled in all directions.

Ma Xianglin, who was lying in ambush on the Shengjing Road, did not wait for Dorgon's reinforcements, but instead waited for the fleeing soldiers. Without any hesitation, he directly ordered his soldiers to open fire at full force.

Boom boom boom...

bang bang bang~
The noise continued. On this day, the people of Liaoyang City saw a magnificent scene. The Tartars, who used to be high and mighty, were beaten to pieces by the Ming army. They were covered in blood and wounds, and were in a panic like dogs that had lost their homes...

……

The battle lasted for nearly an hour when the two brothers Adai and Xihan appeared in Ma Xianglin's sight with their troops.

"What, Baiyintu passed away?"

Adai was holding a big knife, and he felt suppressed pain and tightness in his chest when he heard this. Gong Adai, Xihan and Baiyintu were brothers. They joined Dorgon together in order to get to the top.

They thought that with the death, surrender or rebellion of Jirgalang, Yuetuo and others, they had finally got their chance.

As long as he could hold on to Liaoyang, he could rely on his military exploits to gradually ascend to the pinnacle of power, but unexpectedly he died at the hands of the Ming army?
"How is this war fought?" Xihan clenched his fingers, his eyes red.

Until now they have not figured out which Ming army is still the same Ming army. In the past they hunted and killed them at will like driving ducks, but in just a few months, earth-shaking changes have taken place.

Tens of thousands of Manchu Eight Banners descendants collapsed, but the other side was as cruel as tigers and leopards.

Since the Battle of Tongzhou, everything has been developing in a strange direction. They knew that the other side had artillery and advanced firearms, but... what they could not understand was the combat effectiveness and morale of the Ming army.

In the past, the Ming army was timid and did not dare to fight.

Now, at the moment of the confrontation, the fighting power that suddenly erupted was far greater than that of the Qing soldiers, and their fierce momentum was like a rock pressing down directly.

As for the Qing army, there was no problem with the command, tactics, or the previously decided city defense strategy. As long as they could hold Liaoyang City and wait for the emperor to eliminate the unusual movements in Shengjing, plus the food that Dudu had snatched back from Korea, they would be able to survive the winter.

After the winter, everything can be dealt with as long as it is not beyond common sense.

But it seemed that the Ming army knew all the deployments of our side, and they were always able to crush all the plans before we could react.

Although there were deficiencies in planning, in terms of combat power, all the generals of the Qing Dynasty now seemed to have begun to accept the strength of the Ming army.

When the two armies charged, even if the war horses of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty were faster, as long as there was a collision, more casualties would be on the Qing soldiers.

In the Liaodong area, the Qing army was clearly the first echelon and had absolute advantages against the Guanning Iron Cavalry. However, when facing the five major camps coming from the capital, they were defeated miserably.

What exactly is going on?

Gong Adai hesitated for only a moment before a surge of chaos swept over him. Suddenly, several beams of light shone out from under the dark clouds in the sky and fell in the distance.

I saw a Ming army general covered in blood, followed by countless "devil-like" people covered in blood, who seemed to have rushed out of a sea of ​​blood and corpses. They shouted, "Kill the Tartars, don't let any of them escape."

"This time I'm going to kill five of them—"

"The official in front is mine, no one can snatch it from me..."

The 10,000 Qing soldiers led by Gong Adai and Xihan lasted less than half an hour before they were defeated like a tidal wave, leaving a field of corpses and fleeing back to Shengjing with most of the defeated soldiers.

……

Li Banghua did not order a continuation of the pursuit, but instead ordered Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting to lead troops to seize food supplies, dig trenches and cut off the enemy's retreat in the Liaoyang area.

War is important.

But consolidating the results is more important.

Now that most of the elite Qing troops are still there, it's right to be cautious.

During this process, Chongzhen participated in the whole process and even took people to dig trenches.

Hongniang's injuries were not serious, and as she was young and had abundant blood, she recovered in a few days. She wanted to go to the battlefield but found that the Battle of Liaoyang had ended. She had nothing to do and could only stroll outside the central army.

When I saw Zhu Yonggan actually digging a trench, I felt a chill and surprise from the bottom of my heart.

Compared to the ruthlessness, scheming, and gentleness that this man had shown in his previous plots, he seemed to be a little more sunny at this moment.

In this freezing winter, there is a touch of warmth.

Recalling the dream she had a few days ago, Hongniang's face suddenly became hot.

Oh my God, why would I have such an idea... Kill me!
Hongniang ran away, leaving a large group of people staring at Chongzhen in a daze, with meaningful smiles on their faces. Only Chongzhen himself was still confused.

……

"What did you say? Sony, Aobai, Tulai and others have also defected?" In Shengjing, Dorgon couldn't sleep for several days. Just after he fell asleep for a short while, he heard an urgent report and ran out of the palace barefoot.

He snatched the battle report from Tan Tai, his eyes turned black with anger, and his body was about to fall.

"Your Majesty, they deserve to die!" Tan Tai knelt on the ground, "I request that their wives and children be executed together to serve as a warning to others."

"Your Majesty, I request that all of their families be executed!"

Many princes and nobles also knelt down and begged.

After Dorgon ascended the throne, there were some snobs among them, such as the three brothers Gong Adai, Xihan and Baiyintu.

But apart from this, the other two yellow flag ministers were actually extremely unwilling.

In order to make the two yellow flags submit to him as soon as possible, Dorgon asked Adai, Xihan and Baiyintu to collect evidence to attack Sony and others. The three brothers Gong, Adai and Gong then helped Dorgon to win an ally, who was Tan Tai.

Dorgon directly granted Tan Tai the title of first-class duke, which made Tan Tai grateful and devoted to Dorgon.

It is these few bad apples that have brought great hidden dangers to the two yellow flags.

These people knew very well what Sony, Oboi and others had done in the past, so they provided evidence to Dorgon to frame the ministers of the two yellow flags and continued to suppress these people.

It was precisely this that provided an opportunity for Sony, Oboi and others to defect.

Dorgon held his forehead and kicked Tan Tai to the ground, "You guys are misleading me!"

"I am the ruler of a prosperous country, why have I fallen to such a state? It is all because of you who have misled me... Now that Liaoyang has been destroyed, Shengjing is in danger. If Shengjing is lost again, how can I face my ancestors?"

All the princes, nobles and ministers knelt on the ground, not daring to say a word.

……

In Liaoyang City, after the Ming soldiers occupied the city gates and all the official residences, the first thing they did was to start clearing out the Manchu Tartars in the city.

The Tartars had been in Liaoyang for decades. The Tartar cavalry fled, but there were many Manchus among them. Many of them had no time to escape, and even did not want to escape at all. When the Ming army entered the city, they launched a crazy revenge against the Han people.

Faced with such stubborn resistance, the Ming army also launched a killing spree.

Some Tatars hid in caves, waiting for the Ming army to rush in and then killed them.

Huang Degong, Sun Yingyuan, Li Dingguo and others were furious and directly ordered people to stuff the palm mine in.

Boom boom boom~~
There was a sudden cracking of the ground and collapse of the sky, and suddenly there was no breath in the cave.

Some Tatars were on top of houses, shooting arrows with bows, but were shot down by cannons and muskets.

Gunpowder and lead chips fell on the streets like rain. The Tartars were hunted out of the city one by one and beheaded on the spot.

Some Tartars dug holes in the ground to escape outside the city, but were caught by Ma Xianglin's troops. They chopped off their heads and built a Jingguan (a sacred tomb) on them.

Under the leadership of the Han people in the city and the Manchus who had surrendered to the city, every household and alley was searched thoroughly, and even the weeds and bushes were rooted out with spears.

In just a few days, the Ming army cleared out the city of Liaoyang. The corpses of the men with pigtails were piled up like a mountain and dragged outside the city. They were doused with grease and burned.

"Do we have to kill them all?" Chongzhen looked at this scene and couldn't help but feel sick. However, Zhang Shize laughed at him, "You can't stand this? When the Tartars killed the people of our Ming Dynasty, they were even more cruel than this."

Sun Yingyuan also said: "Every time the Tartars entered the pass, they would massacre the city, kill, burn, rob and commit all kinds of evil. We are just a small fry compared to them."

"We do this to avoid any hidden dangers. If the Tartars in Liaoyang City riot again when we attack Shengjing, our retreat will be unstable."

"..." Chongzhen's eyes suddenly turned cold. He could hardly imagine how cruelly the Tartars would treat the people of the Ming Dynasty.
……

The Ming army screened the bald men three times and asked them to find someone to act as a guarantor, and the guarantor had to be a Han Chinese, otherwise they would be beheaded immediately.

Sony, Oboi, Tulai and others were escorted to Kyoto by the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

As core figures of the Qing Dynasty, even if they had great abilities, Zhu Changgan would not allow them to continue staying in Liaodong. In comparison, the political and symbolic significance of their defection was greater.

In the next two days, the front-page headlines of the Ming Times told about the Liao-Da War and the news that the core members of the Qing Dynasty had defected to the Ming Dynasty.

In addition to distributing it in the mainland of Ming Dynasty, several trucks were also brought in from Kyoto and distributed in large quantities for free in Liaodong.

Even in Shengjing, a large number of copies of the Ming Times appeared on the streets and even on the walls of the Shengjing Imperial Palace.

As soon as this incident happened, it was like a raging storm, causing a huge shock in Shengjing.

From Dorgon to the princes and ministers below, their scalps suddenly felt numb when they looked at the newspapers they picked up.

"Who sent it? Has the person been caught?" The veins on Dorgon's forehead bulged.

"Your Majesty, the man has not been caught."

"A bunch of idiots, this is the capital of my Qing Dynasty, not his Ming court... You can come as you please, leave as you please, it's like a toilet or a canal?" Dorgon gritted his teeth, his face grim, and cursed at everyone hysterically.

"Investigate. Even if we have to dig deep into Shengjing, we must dig out these Ming court spies for me."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Dorgon sat down on the dragon throne and looked at the princes and ministers. Looking at them again at this moment, it seemed that everyone's face was filled with malice.

Dorgon waved his hand and asked the young eunuch to help him go back.

"The Emperor's illness has recurred, the court is adjourned!"

The injuries he sustained in the battle of Ningjin left him with a chronic illness, and he would suffer from splitting headaches whenever he got anxious.

……

At the same time, in the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Changgan received envoys from Britain and Spain.

In April 1565, Spain invaded the Philippines, and in June of the same year sent the large galleon "San Pablo" loaded with Asian spices to the port of Acapulco on the southern coast of Mexico. Since then, a direct round-trip connection from Manila to America has been established.

The silk, porcelain, pearls and other products of the Ming Dynasty were exported to Mexico, Peru and other places in America, and the profit from a single voyage was more than ten times.

This route is known as the famous Silk and Silver Route and was used by the Spanish with their Manila Galleons for over 250 years since its discovery.

In the tenth year of Chongzhen alone, a silk weaving factory in Mexico that used Chinese raw silk as raw material had 14,000 workers. This shows how huge the amount of Chinese raw silk shipped to Mexico was.

The profits are so huge that it is really staggering.

Now that the Ming Dynasty has more advanced firearms and ships, it naturally cannot miss this opportunity.

"You can do business with our Ming Dynasty, but the trading partners must be officials of our Ming Dynasty." Xu Ci Fu explained the rules of the Ming Dynasty. These things had been studied many times before.

"Besides that, I hope that the ships of my Ming Dynasty can sail on the high seas without interfering with each other."

The British envoy knelt on one knee with one arm clasped over his abdomen, "Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, this is also what we want to say."

The Spanish envoy was not to be outdone and also asked: "Does your country have any intention of purchasing the Manila Galleon?"

They did not miss any opportunity to make money from the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Changgan shook his head directly, "We have our own sailboats, so we don't need to buy any from you."

The mortality rate of Manila galleon crews was as high as 30%. If the voyage lasted more than six months, they would become floating coffins. The Ming Dynasty had invented larger, more comfortable galleons with a lower mortality rate.

This is still their most advanced technology. If it was sold to the Ming Dynasty, it would definitely be eliminated by them, and the environment would only be worse and the mortality rate would be higher.

The Ming Dynasty's own ships had a larger displacement, could carry more than 300 passengers at a time, and were equipped with 150 cannons, which undoubtedly made them a dominant force in this era.

As for the Spanish route that they treasured, Zhu Changgan also knew about it.

Every June, they set sail from the South China Sea on the southwest monsoon to the waters of 6°~45° north latitude, then sail east along the "Kuroshio" in the North Pacific, and finally arrive in Acapulco. The journey is more than 42 nautical miles and takes about 6 months.

The return trip is a direct voyage following the ocean current and takes only three months.

What Zhu Changgan valued was not only money, but also American crops such as corn, potatoes, tomatoes, sweet potatoes and even tobacco. These things would be introduced into the Ming Dynasty through this route and would affect the Chinese dietary structure and lifestyle.

After the British and some of the troupe's envoys left, Zhu Changgan suddenly remembered that he hadn't checked his main storyline for a long time.

"Main quest: Save the Ming Dynasty Completion: 8888/10000"

"The National Fortune of the Ming Dynasty: 25470 (The national fortune is over . The trend of natural disasters and the cooling of the Little Ice Age has been reversed. It has continued to warm up. The lives of the people have improved. Everything is stable and improving."

"The Ming Dynasty has lasted for 6700 days"

「Modern lifespan bonus: 6700 days」

「Funding reward: 183561642 yuan」

Oh wow, all aspects have been improved a lot, especially the country's life span has been increased by 2500 days, which is equivalent to an increase of 7 years.

……

(End of this chapter)