golden scales

The 18th year of Chongzhen's New Year's Day was really joyful and worrying for several families.

The people in the Lunan area did not even put up lanterns and festoons, but in order to support the Battle of Tianjin, the Mingtong area was diligent and frugal, and did not allow the government to hold extravagant lantern activities.Everyone in the wealthy family also pretended to be shabby because of the reason that their wealth is not revealed.

"I hope that Beijing can be recovered before the Longevity Festival, so as to celebrate the birthday of the saint." Xiao Donglou patrolled the city wall of Tianjin, consciously or unconsciously bringing up the topic of attacking Beijing.

The Qing army that besieged Tianjin had retreated, but Zhu Cihong did not issue new combat missions, but let the first division consolidate Baoding and the second division consolidate Tianjin.The sudden silence made Xiao Donglou very uncomfortable, and because he made a mistake before, he dared not open his mouth to ask for the task of recovering Shanhaiguan.

It is not Xiao Donglou's first initiative to restore Beijing before the Longevity Festival, and many people say so.As a big festival juxtaposed with Winter Solstice and New Year's Day, the Longevity Festival in the Chongzhen Dynasty was on the first spring day, so it lost the limelight and was only a lively place in the palace.

Zhu Cihong is very opposed to sayings such as presenting gifts and celebrating birthdays.In his view, nothing should be decided for a certain date.The only time decision can be made is because the situation itself has come to an end, or it has to be done.If in order to celebrate the birthday of the Holy One, he rashly launched an offensive and let the soldiers fight under immature conditions, which is enough to be called "tyrannical".

What's more, the crown prince had already made a strategy with Wu Zhen, and he didn't want to force the Qing Dynasty into a desperate situation.

If you plot slowly, you will definitely get the fruit you want, and there is no need to pay a higher price for rushing time.

In addition to the looting on the capital's side, Azig recruited civilian husbands in Datong, Shanxi.The news of leaving customs and fleeing into Mongolia suddenly surprised Zhu Cihong, and shocked Dorgon even more.No one thought that Azig had such a "vision", but it was more likely that he simply felt that he couldn't fight anymore.He wanted to rob people and property, and go back to Shengjing to live his own life.

Jiang Yu didn't cherish the conditions offered by the Ming court, and when he was riding on the wall, he suddenly found that the wall had collapsed.And because Azig took away the elite of Manchuria, Datong's defense was empty.Therefore, he hastily sent envoys, hoping to revolt, but Dan Ning was unwilling to become Luo Yukun's second.Seeing or not seeing the envoy, he launched a large army to attack Datong.

Datong defenders have long been dissatisfied with being treated like bullies with the green flag, and they are even more unwilling to work for Jiang Tuan. In the crushing battle, the entire Datong was successfully occupied, and the troops marched eastward, pointing at Juyongguan.

……

"Brother Chen, the situation seems to have changed." A strong man approached Chen Yiyuan and spoke in a low voice.The eyes are looking around, looking very vigilant.

Chen Yiyuan came back from Tianjin after picking up his life, but he was still assigned to the green battalion, and became a defense for no reason.However, they did not return to Beijing when they retreated in Tianjin, but were assigned to Funing County for garrison.Manchurians can't trust Han soldiers, and where there are green camps, there must be Eight Banners.The former is used to do coolie and dirty work, while the latter is responsible for monitoring.

As far as Manchuria is concerned, Shanhaiguan is a matter of life and death. There are more and more Eight Banners soldiers stationed there, which are almost equal to the Green Battalion soldiers.

"There are more and more people these days, and I heard that Datong has been restored." The strong man whispered: "I'm afraid the Tartars won't last long."

"It can be seen." Chen Yiyuan stood at the top of the city, watching the endless stream of people passing through the city gate below.From the cries from the people's ranks, it can be known that these people were all victims of being robbed by the Eastern captives.The young and strong teams used ropes to string people together, but the old, weak, women and children didn't even have ropes.Several Manchurian Zhenyi rode on horses and swung their whips, driving people to Shanhaiguan like cattle.

Shanhaiguan is located in the throat of Liaoji, with mountains in the north.To the south is the sea, and there is not so much land to house the people.Every day so many people are driven over, it goes without saying that they are all going to be taken captive to Liaodong by the Tartars.

The strong man saw his eyes tearing open, and his back molars couldn't help but clenched tightly.Said: "It's a shame that so many people were chased away by a few tartars! It's better to kill him violently!"

"He has a knife." Chen Yiyuan sighed.

The strong man said: "Even if you stand and let the Tartars chop, they won't be able to kill so many people."

"Are you the first to stand out?" Chen Yiyuan glanced at his partner: "You, Zhang Hanmin, are the hero, why are you standing here with the green flag on your shoulders?"

Zhang Hanmin's face flushed: "We have no choice but to, who knew that we would be sold like this. Brother Chen, how will we live in the future? Is it possible to go to Liaodong to live the life of being ashamed and drinking blood?"

"Hmph, you have a good idea." Chen Yiyuan pointed to the people in the city and said, "Look at them, if they can be ashamed and drink their blood, it will be considered a blessing from God. The Tartars don't treat us as human beings, so we won't talk about it at that time." .”

Zhang Hanmin said in a low voice: "Brother Chen, I haven't inherited incense for my family yet, I don't want to go to Liaodong."

"Talk to them." Chen Yiyuan pointed at the Manchurian soldiers under the city: "Tell me something?"

"I can't let my son be born as someone else's slave." Zhang Hanmin squeezed out a sentence as if he didn't hear Chen Yiyuan's answer.Seeing that Chen Yiyuan's face changed slightly, he just said again: "Back then, I abandoned Da Ming with my elder brother and followed Da Shun. I originally wanted to have a peaceful life. Later I abandoned Da Shun and followed Da Qing, thinking that I would rather die than live But now the head is also shaved, people have to rush to work outside the customs, this is not even leaving us a way to survive!"

Seeing that Chen Yiyuan didn't speak, Zhang Hanmin said again: "Brother Chen, ordinary people don't have knives in their hands, we have them! Why don't we do the opposite!"

Chen Yiyuan's heart moved, and he immediately dismissed this crazy idea.His subordinates said that there was a battalion, but in fact there were only more than 500 people, and the main force capable of fighting was only more than 100.The Manchu Qing did not deploy heavy troops in Funing, only a hundred-strong army, clearly monitoring the green battalion.

"Funing County is easy to talk about." Chen Yiyuan said in a deep voice: "It's just that there are tens of thousands of people in Yongping Mansion. Lulong and Changli are on the west, and Shanhaiguan is on the east. Look where we can go." Looking for a way out?"

Zhang Hanmin thought for a while, and said: "I heard that the Tartars are now running outside the pass, and Shanhaiguan doesn't have any heavy troops. Why don't we capture Shanhaiguan and dedicate it to the imperial court, so we can find a way out."

Chen Yiyuan made several twists and turns in his heart, and finally nodded.Zhang Hanmin was naturally very excited when he, the chief general, nodded. The two went to contact the troops one after another to identify reliable confidantes. The first step was of course to find out the way to Shanhaiguan.

These two people heard the name of Shanhaiguan every day, but they had never been there.When I learned that Shanhaiguan is not just a pass city, I was quite surprised.There are more than 100 strong men under their hands, dozens of knives, guns, and a dozen pairs of armor. If they want to steal the pass, they can still try, but after stealing the pass, they will be surrounded by the east and west, and the north and south wings. The city was completely besieged.Not to mention defending the city, this manpower can't even guard a city gate.

This is not treason, it is clearly death.

No matter how arrogant Zhang Hanmin was, he could only give up the idea of ​​occupying Shanhaiguan at this time.

It's just that every day, seeing more and more people mourning eastward, Chen Yiyuan and Zhang Hanmin are both in a tight grip, it's really sad that the rabbit dies and the fox hurts others, thinking that I will soon follow in the same footsteps, and sleep and eat all day long. .

After leaving Shanhaiguan, it is the Liaoxi Corridor, and the Donglu Shudi.The banners wanted to send the population and belongings home, and these people had to pass through the 370-mile corridor and enter the Liaohe Plain before they could stop.After driving for three or four hundred miles, it was not easy for half of the people to survive in the freezing cold and lack of food and clothing.As for returning to the homeland alive again, it is even more difficult to go to the blue sky.

However, these fresh human lives are just a piece of data to the high-ranking decision-makers.

The difference is the level of detail of the numbers.

The number of people plundered by the Eight Banners obtained by Dorgon has an accuracy of "[-]".And the number Zhu Cihong got was accurate to "hundred".In order to facilitate the formulation of combat plans in the future, Zhu Cihuang also asked Song Hongye to propose that Dorgon register Qimin in Liaodong to determine the number of people in each banner and the maximum possible combat effectiveness.

When Song Hongye and Dorgon talked, the focus fell on understanding the number of Dingkou in other banners.Dorgon is very selfish, clinging to his Niulu and two white flags, and at the same time greedily staring at the population in the hands of his brothers and nephews, he naturally appreciates this.

The previous population was difficult to count, but these newly plundered people are very convenient to count. Anyway, I have to count them when I leave the customs, so as not to hide their private interests and refuse to turn over to the public according to the proportion.

Song Hongye has finally achieved the highest level of a spy: influencing decision-making.

For this reason, Zhu Cihong must increase Song Hongye's weight in front of the Manchu nobles, especially Dorgon.From Dorgon's point of view, he analyzed what he needed most at the moment.

Is it a soldier who is good at fighting?

No, the Manchus would not admit that the Zhushen warriors could be defeated.

Is it a general who can command an army and defeat the enemy?

Perhaps, but there is nothing he can do. Song Hongye's background as a Han Chinese determines that he will not be given military power.

Is it hearing and eyesight?

right!This is what Dorgon wants most.

In the era of Nuerhachi and Huang Taiji, all the movements of the Ming army were watched by the people of Jianzhou.Especially in the later period of Huang Taiji, all the military deployment and mobilization of the nine border towns of the Ming army could not escape his eyes.Therefore, the Manchurian iron cavalry was able to attack it by surprise and defeat the Ming army with just the right superior force.

How are these advantages established?It is the contribution of intelligence by loyal Shanxi merchants!

However, due to the hasty entry this time, Shanxi merchants did not have time to collect military and civilian intelligence from the south. Although Song Hongye was ordered to carry out intelligence collection on the Ming court, because the time was too short, he could not see the harvest, so that he fell into the deaf and blind The situation is subject to people everywhere.

With such a painful experience, if Song Hongye can prove his irreplaceable position in intelligence work, he will be able to provide more and better intelligence in the future, and he can also have a greater influence on Donglu's decision-making.

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