Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

() In the current city of Laizhou, there are more than 2 defensive Ming troops and young adults.The two governors Xu Congzhi and Xie Lian, together with the four officials Zhu Wannian, the magistrate of Laizhou, and Yang Yufan, the commander-in-chief, respectively presided over the guarding of a city gate, which made the morale in the city quite high.

Moreover, Zhu Wannian, the magistrate of Laizhou, did a good job in preparation. The city had enough food, grass, ordnance, and supplies for defending the city. Facing the more than 3 rebels outside the city, in the eyes of ordinary people, it should be said that it was more than enough to defend the city.

actually not.Unlike the impregnable Dengzhou City, the terrain of Laizhou City is not very dangerous.Moreover, Laizhou City was a new city rebuilt in the 26th year of Wanli. Its walls are three feet five feet high, the base is two feet four feet thick, and there are four gates.Below the city is a moat, two feet deep and four feet wide.

It is also because of the guidance of Sun Yuanhua, a firearms expert, that the construction of Laizhou City referred to Western fortification methods, and built forts.Moreover, as another logistics base in Liaodong, the city has sufficient food, grass and weapons.

But the disadvantage is that there are few heavy firearms, most of which are light artillery produced in the Ming Dynasty, and there are not many soldiers who know how to operate artillery.In comparison, the artillerymen of the rebels outside the city had all been trained by Portuguese officers before the rebellion, and their cannonballs were extremely accurate.Especially for stationary targets, bombarding the crenels of the city wall is as easy as shooting a target.

In order to attack Laizhou City, the rebels mobilized almost all Hongyi cannons and bombarded Laizhou City from all sides.The power of this artillery was so powerful that the Ming army standing on Laizhou City could hardly raise their heads.

Knowing the power of artillery, the rebels thought that the Ming army in the city should have lost the courage to defend the city, so they began to fill the moat and prepare to transport siege equipment.

But what I didn't expect was that when the rebels who filled the moat approached the city wall, there would always be a large number of Ming troops on the seemingly empty city wall.Under the shooting of the firecrackers and bows and arrows of the Ming army, the rebels suffered a large number of casualties.And after so many times, the rebels also understood that they underestimated the willpower of the defenders in Laizhou City.

So the rebels, who had suffered a small defeat in the first battle, took a rest.They divided their troops to conquer Pingdu and then returned to attack Laizhou.The looting in Pingdu boosted the morale of the entire rebel army.What is even more surprising is that the number of rebels attacking the city has also increased.Seeing the strength of the rebel army, nearby bandits and refugees all came to vote.The number of rebels attacking the city soon exceeded 4, approaching the figure of [-].

The rebels also summarized the reasons for the failure of the first siege.They decided to concentrate their firepower and focus all artillery fire on the northeast corner of the city.Under the cover of artillery fire, the rebels continued to dig tunnels, trying to break into the city.

In this regard, the defenders in the city also prescribe the right medicine.Along the city wall, large vats were buried at intervals so that the blind could hear the direction of the tunnel, and the defenders poured water into the tunnel, drowning the enemy soldiers.Who says blind people are useless in war?

But the rebels were not at all discouraged.The rebels again sent troops to dig tunnels on the edge of the city. After digging a large hole, they filled coffins with gunpowder and placed them in it. After the explosion, the city wall was blown down several feet.

But when the rebels swarmed in from the gap in the city wall, the well-prepared defenders poured boiling oil on the influx of rebels, and then threw torches, and the dead rebels slept under the flames.And Xu Congzhi and others ordered people to drop the sandbags that had been prepared to plug the gap.

The defenders of Laizhou City are not only passive and beaten, but also extremely mobile. At night, Xu Congzhi and others sent death squads out of the city quietly, attacking from several directions, destroying many artillery pieces of the rebels, and quite a bit. gain.

And at this time, Peng Youmo, the general of the Shenji Battalion who rushed from the Beijing Camp, did not fear the enemy in Qingzhou like his colleagues did.He led more than 300 officers and soldiers of the Shenji Battalion, took advantage of the darkness, and decisively rushed into Laizhou City along the gap in the encirclement of the rebels outside the city.

Such an arrival of the first reinforcements greatly boosted the morale in the city.More importantly, Peng Youmo brought firearms experts from Shenji Camp.They strengthened and improved the technology of the artillery, and raised the artillery level of the defenders.So the artillery fire in the city gradually suppressed the artillery fire of the rebels.

Later, in a sneak attack by the rebels at night, the participating general Peng Youmo led his troops to repel three consecutive attacks by the rebels. The soldiers and civilians of Laizhou called it a "reconstruction effort".For the first time, the balance of victory and defeat tilted towards the Ming army in Laizhou City.

At the time of the bloody battle between the army and the people in Laizhou City, the war of words between the officials of the two factions of suppression and appeasement in the court hall became more and more intense.

At that time, Sun Yuanhua, who was captured at that time, once showed his interests and righteousness to Kong Youde and other rebel generals.Faced with Sun Yuanhua's persuasion, Kong Youde expressed his attitude of changing his mind and asking for security.

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen was still inclined to recruit security.Because there were civil uprisings in various places in the Ming Dynasty at that time, and the Houjin army outside the pass besieged Dalinghe City.The entire imperial court is spending money everywhere, and its military strength is also stretched.If it can be recruited, at least it can alleviate the immediate predicament.

In addition, the faction of officials headed by the chief assistant Zhou Yanru, in order to keep their official positions and rescue Sun Yuanhua's cronies, they also tried their best to recruit the rebels.After all, the first assistant has a high official position, so in the court, the opinion of appeasement has the upper hand.Therefore, the imperial court also agreed with Sun Yuanhua to convict with guilt.

But then, an incredible scene happened again.Wang Daochun, the inspector in Shandong, even hid the edict privately, and the rebels resumed their rebellion on the grounds that they could not be recruited for a long time.

And Sun Yuanhua tried his best to persuade the rebels again to let him return to the court to tell the truth.But when Sun Yuanhua returned to Beijing, Wang Daochun sent troops to attack the rebels, causing the rebels to attack Laizhou and the chaos expanded.

In later history, some historians pointed out: If it were not for Wang Daochun's unauthorized actions.Maybe Sun Yuanhua's recruiting will be successful.This situation will not reach the unmanageable situation that follows.

In their view, the rebellion of the rebels like Kong Youde seems to be largely blamed on Wang Daochun's treachery.And Sun Yuanhua's subsequent death was completely wronged.

On the surface, the words of these historians seem to have some truth.You can see the sparse words in Wang Daochun's memorial.

""Thieves used to caress me for a long time, one stroke and six cities fell, and then Dengzhou died, three strokes and Huang County lost, and now four strokes and Laizhou besieged.Our army has suffered repeated setbacks, can we resume fighting?Beg to send out the army as soon as possible to save this dangerous land. "

As for the rebels who have taken treachery as a daily routine, what reason does Wang Daochun have to believe in their promise to accept appeasement?

From the author's point of view, the most likely way for Kong Youde and the others to ask for appeasement from the imperial court is to delay the attack.When the rebels are ready, they will definitely rebel again.The ambition of this careerist has already risen, are you still thinking that they will restrain their ambition again?

But on the other hand, Wang Daochun's act of disobeying the imperial government's decree and hiding the edict privately should also be severely punished.No matter how correct Wang Daochun's personal approach is, he should not disobey the imperial court's decree.This is the meaning of the modern saying "reserve personal opinions, but firmly obey the organization".

Know that there may be a matter where the truth is indeed on the side of the individual minority.But in the vast majority of cases, the perspective of the officials at the bottom is narrow, and what he thinks is correct is also partial.The imperial court often considers issues from the overall perspective.What is right locally may be wrong globally.And this happens quite often.

If they all follow the opinions of the individuals below, then how to ensure the smooth flow of the imperial court's decrees?So from this incident, we can see how chaotic the communication and execution of the Ming Dynasty's government orders were at that time!

So in this way, Sun Yuanhua and Wang Daochun's memorials made the whole court's debate chaotic.

The officials who advocated appeasement said: It was the actions of Wang Daochun and others who defied the imperial government's decree that led to the failure to appease the rebels.As long as the appropriate officials are sent to recruit again, they should be able to succeed in recruiting.

The officials who advocated the encirclement and suppression said: The rebels have repeated their rebellion twice and three times, which shows the wolf ambition of the rebels.Therefore, we should give up the illusion of appeasing the rebels, mobilize a large army, and wipe out the rebels in the heart of the Ming Dynasty.

However, because Wen Tiren, Zhou Yanru's chief political opponent, remained silent, those officials who advocated encirclement and suppression were not well organized because they had no leader.Therefore, under the unanimous voice of the officials who advocated appeasement, Emperor Chongzhen once again favored appeasement and sent officials to appease the rebels.

At this time, the imperial court sent Zhang Guochen, the highest-ranking civil official of Liao nationality, to appease him, but Zhang Guochen was once again bewitched by the rebels' false surrender.