Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Now it is necessary to have soldiers and money, then Yang Sichang will start to form troops.

First of all, Yang Sichang set the date for this bandit suppression, from December of the 11th year of Chongzhen to February of the [-]th year of Chongzhen, a total of three months.

After that, the main battlefield for suppressing bandits was determined.In addition to the Fengsi and Chengtian ancestral mausoleums that should be defended, Henan and Shaanxi were determined to be the places to kill thieves.

Then, there is a net on all sides.Yang Sichang's arrangement: the governor of Shaanxi should break Shangzhou and Luonan; the governor of Yunyang should break Yunyang and Xiangyang; the governor of Huguang should break De'an (now Anlu) and Huangzhou (now Huanggang); Lu'an; the governor of Fengyang stopped Yingzhou (now Fuyang) and Bozhou; the soldiers of the governor of Yingtian still blocked Qianshan and Taiping (now Dangtu); the soldiers of the governor of Jiangxi blocked Huangmei and Guangji (now Huangmei County, Hubei) West); the troops of the governor of Shandong directly blocked Xuzhou and Suzhou;

Then came the main mobile force to suppress the bandits: Xiong Wencan, the prime minister of the five provinces, raised the frontier soldiers;Everyone must work together to suppress the Central Plains, and make an endless trend.

If Chuang Wang Li Zicheng, Guo Tianxing Zhang Tianlin and other bandit chieftains go out of the Kanto, the Governor of Shaanxi Hong Chengchou will mention Zuo Guangxian, Cao Bianjiao, Zu Dabi and other generals to go out with them.

Finally, there is the goal of the battle: all local governments and military generals will mobilize and prepare for three months of hard work to end the ten-year unresolved situation.Therefore, Yang Sichang promised: it will take three months to stop the thieves.

And at this moment, the news of Wuhu's great victory came, and the letter of surrender of Zhang Xianzhong and Liu Guoneng was also submitted to the court, which was a good start!So the monarchs and ministers in the court were full of optimism.

If you stretch out your hand, you will know if it is there.As soon as Yang Sichang established a grand strategy, he immediately saw immediate results, which immediately reflected Yang Sichang's ability and the vision of Emperor Chongzhen.Not to mention luck.Luck is also a part of ability, so Emperor Chongzhen was Longyan Dayue.

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen seemed to have such a beauty in front of his eyes: as long as he could pacify the bandits in the near future, he would be free to deal with the Qing army outside the pass, and once the military crisis was completely eliminated, the prosperity of Zhongxing would not be too far away up.

As for Yang Sichang, a minister of pillars and beams who can really do things with sincerity and arrange such a major military operation properly, he is full of gratitude in his heart.Until later, Yang Sichang's plan of "spreading the net on ten sides" was finally aborted, and his feelings still did not completely disappear.Because after all, Yang Sichang was the most powerful during his entire reign.He is also his most trusted minister.

So Emperor Chongzhen decided to use precious manpower and material resources to hold a big event to celebrate, to show the majesty of the central government of the Ming Dynasty, and to boost the morale of the whole country to suppress bandits.And such big events have been similar throughout the ages. Emperor Chongzhen chose the military parade.

In October of the tenth year of Chongzhen.Emperor Chongzhen held the only military parade in his life.On this day, the whole city of Beijing is under martial law, and people are prohibited from traveling.Under the guidance of the mighty guard of honor, Emperor Chongzhen rode out of the palace slowly on a steed.Civil and military officials also rode behind the emperor.

Accompanied by the accompaniment of "The Music of Wu Cheng", this huge team first arrived at Zhengyang Gate, and then went around the gates along the inner city.All the soldiers of the Beijing camp have already lined up on the city wall, bright military flags are fluttering with the golden wind, and the blades and armor are shining in the sunlight. Wherever the emperor appears, there will be a roar like a tsunami. Long live" sound.

Emperor Chongzhen saw the majestic and orderly appearance of the army.I am very happy, and specially rewarded Lu Wanxue, the Minister of Rongzheng, who carries the four-character scripture of "doing nothing".On this pleasant autumn day, he seemed to see again the great power of his empire and his army.

That night, Emperor Chongzhen had another good dream.He seemed to see that his name was listed in the ranks of Taizu and Chengzu, receiving the cheers and admiration of all ages.

However, Emperor Chongzhen would not know that most of the hundreds of thousands of troops who were inspected were temporarily hired by the generals of the battalions to fill up the number. Working as temporary workers up and down has indeed stimulated domestic demand in Beijing.And rely on such a superficial army to maintain this dilapidated empire?dream!

Moreover, to realize Yang Sichang's grand strategy, there are still two pillars that need to be resolved: one is to fight against the outside world first, and the other is to pacify the country with war.

Let me first say that if you fight against the outside world, you must first secure the inside!Putting aside emotional factors and giving up the difference between Huayi and Yichang, Yang Sichang's strategic thinking of concentrating all national power first and solving a major enemy first is no problem.This can also be seen from the previous description of the strategy presented in this article.That is to say: within a period of time, one problem is solved.

For this reason, Yang Sichang proposed: In order to completely solve the "confidential trouble" of the peasant army, he believed that the "shoulder and arm trouble" of the Qing army should be treated calmly, and it is best to negotiate temporarily first.

And this idea is not wishful thinking.As early as October of the eighth year of Chongzhen and February of the ninth year of Chongzhen, Huang Taiji sent two letters to the frontier defenders of the Ming Dynasty and asked them to forward them to the Ming court. The content of the two letters talked about the issue of peace .

Yang Sichang believes that since the Manchu Qing Dynasty is willing to negotiate peace, there is an opportunity to exchange some kind of compromise for a period of peace to ensure that the Central Plains will be cleared and the country will be restored.In Yang Sichang's view: This is nothing more than an expedient measure, a normal delaying tactic between the two opposing sides.

It cannot be said that Yang Sichang was wrong, but he did not expect the national conditions and conservative stubborn forces of the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty was a dynasty in the Central Plains founded by expelling the Mongolian Yuan.Moreover, the Ming Dynasty was also the toughest dynasty: no vassals, no tribute, no peace.

In addition, the Ming Dynasty has always regarded itself as a central power, and has never looked down on the barbarians around it, and has no idea of ​​​​equal exchanges between modern countries, so letting them negotiate with the Manchu Qing is more uncomfortable than killing them.

Doesn't it mean that the Ming court still wants to call itself emperor to the Qing Dynasty?How many princesses will you send to get married?Give a large sum of old coins every year?Because from Emperor Chongzhen down to the ministers, there is no concept of equality between the two countries at all.For them, there must be a division between countries. (In fact, the Manchu and Qing Dynasties in Liaodong are already one country, so here are also two countries)

Therefore, as long as a minister proposes peace in the court, even if it is an expedient measure, he will be pursued and beaten by a group of righteous people immediately.I don't doubt the conscience and motives of those righteous people, but their actions did hinder Yang Sichang's grand strategy. It should be said that these righteous people are the legendary "patriotic thieves"!

Another point is that Huang Taiji's Manchu Qing Dynasty did not follow the baton of Ming Ting and Yang Sichang, nor did you fight against foreign countries when you said you wanted to.Through the spies all over the pass, they clearly know every move in the pass. Whenever they have the opportunity, they will send troops into the pass and take chestnuts from the fire. They will not allow the Ming court to wipe out the peasant army in a stable manner.This will also be described in detail later.

Let's talk about using war to appease.In fact, from the essence, Yang Sichang was not a pro-war faction as described by the so-called historians of later generations. He was a real and radical pro-battle faction.The reason for such a misunderstanding is that later generations were misled by the blind appeasement of Prime Minister Xiong Wencan and Yang Sichang's helpless expedient appeasement.

This can also be seen from Yang Sichang's moral character.No matter how much you deny Yang Sichang's ability, no one can deny that Yang Sichang is a loyal minister and filial son.And his father, Yang He, died indirectly at the hands of the Peasant Army, so Yang Sichang and the Peasant Army had a feud against his father, so how could he be merciful to the Peasant Army?

Therefore, after seeing the letter of surrender, Yang Sichang deeply understood that when the peasant army was at a disadvantage, they would often use the name of accepting the surrender to subdue, and seldom had any sincerity.But Yang Sichang couldn't resist the holy will, so he had no choice but to ask Zhang Xianzhong to kill other peasant armies first, and then he could recruit security, otherwise he should take the opportunity to suppress them severely.As for Liu Guoneng, because it was Wu Shigong who surrendered, Yang Sichang will not be mentioned here.

But Emperor Chongzhen had already been dazzled by the victory. Besides, the temptation to win a big victory without increasing troops and pay was simply too great.Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen refuted Yang Sichang face to face, saying: "How could he come to surrender and just say that he just wanted to kill him?"

So the Bureau of Fu was decided, Zhang Xianzhong was appointed as the deputy commander in chief, stationed in Gucheng to the west of Xiangyang, disbanded more than [-] troops and returned to farming, leaving [-] elite soldiers to wait for Xiong Wencan to dispatch.But Zhang Xianzhong didn't wait for dispatch, he just built a house in Gucheng, planted land, trained troops, and asked him to go out to delay because of insufficient food and salary, and Xiong Wencan had no choice.

In addition, Liu Guoneng was also appointed as a general and classified as Zuo Liangyu's subordinates.As for whether Liu Guoneng will go or not, the court has no control for the time being.

At this time, in October of the tenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng and Guo Tianxing's peasant army went south to invade Sichuan and began the Sichuan strategy.They successively conquered thirty or forty counties in northern Sichuan and the Chengdu Plain, and once reached the outskirts of Chengdu.

And this sudden military action frightened the Sichuan local government in the Ming Dynasty.The governor of Shaanxi, Hong Chengchou, who was in charge of encirclement and suppression on the western front, quickly led the Zuo Guangxian Department of the Guyuan General Army and the Cao Bianjiao Department of the Lintao General Army into Sichuan to intercept and attack the peasant army from the eastern front.The newly appointed governor of Sichuan, Fu Zonglong, mobilized tens of thousands of Sichuan troops from all walks of life to prevent the peasant army from going south from Chengdu to Langzhong.

Yang Sichang's grand strategy of "spreading the net on ten sides" has finally begun.

Let's put aside these battle situations for now, let's go back to the Runing Army first, and see a wonderful performance suddenly presented by the navy of the Runing Army! (To be continued..)