Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

And what was the Ming court doing at this time?They are still ignorant of the military actions of the Qing army, and they are still deeply involved in the party struggle for Yang Sichang's entry into the cabinet.This party struggle made Emperor Chongzhen into a mess.Until the end, Emperor Chongzhen was so angry that he downgraded Huang Daozhou, the standard bearer of the Donglin Party who attacked Yang Sichang, to six ranks, and sent him to Jiangxi to work as a small Ninth-Rank Grinding Officer in the Inspectorate of Jiangxi. Keep it in mind.

As for Yang Sichang, he is still dreaming of reconciling with the Qing Dynasty.But soon, he will wake up from the dream.Lu Xiangsheng, who was in charge of announcing the defense line, let go of government affairs and wanted to show his filial piety and noble character.And the Xuanda defense line of the Ming Dynasty, which was headed by the dragons, suddenly became a mess.

First of all, Yue Tuo's right-wing Qing army entered Qiangziling and went straight to Miyun.But coincidentally, at this time Ming Jiliao governor Wu Aheng was leading his subordinates to celebrate the birthday of Deng Xizhao, the eunuch of the supervising army. Everyone was drunk and rushed to the battle after hearing the alarm, and they were defeated!Both Wu Aheng and the general Wu Guojun died drunk in the battle.It's really a standard drunken dream!

It was not until the right-wing army of the Qing Dynasty was waiting for the left-wing army to converge from the direction of Qian'an in the east of Beijing that the Ming court heard the alarm at this time, and the capital once again entered a state of martial law.

However, for the re-entry of the Qing army, the Ming Dynasty has become a skilled worker.Emperor Chongzhen and his ministers had experienced several times in recent years when the Qing army approached the city, and they always had some experience, and they were not as panicked as they were at the beginning.

As for Yang Sichang, although he secretly complained that the imperial court could not adopt his peace proposal early, so that he was attacked again like this, but as a soldier, he had to dispatch troops and generals to support him, at least to drive the Qing army out. Customs.

To be honest, Emperor Chongzhen at this time had high expectations for this capable Minister of the Ministry of War. He dreamed of achieving much better results than the previous few times, and even gathering and annihilating the invading enemy, so he approved all the arrangements of Yang Sichang according to the regulations. .

And Yang Sichang's arrangement is as follows: Zu Dashou, the commander-in-chief of the Liaodong forward, led his troops into the guard.Gao Qiqian, the eunuch of the Shanhaiguan Supervising Army, led the pass, and the Ning Bingyi as the aid; Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of Xuanda, was appointed as the supervisor.Take charge of the soldiers and horses from all walks of life, and lead the Xuanfu, Datong, and Shanxi armies to the left, and the Tianjin, Qingzhou, Dengzhou, and Laizhou armies to attack the Qing army; , Wu Shigong's Department of Runing General Army, and Li Lu Department of Nanyang General Army stopped the Qing army from the front; while the armies of the Beijing Camp strengthened the defense of the capital.

This kind of battle defense arrangement should be said to be quite satisfactory, but it did not take into account the aggressive combat effectiveness of the Qing army's iron cavalry, which was not something the corrupt Ming army could resist, let alone the fact that the Ming army commanders from all walks of life had their own ideas. [

What's more, the Qing army was extremely arrogant. After entering the plain area, it was often divided into several groups and galloped at lightning speed, attacking cities and lands everywhere, and looting wantonly.The Ming army's strategic response based on steady and slow defense was actually impossible to defend against.

Let's not talk about the other Ming armies.Let’s talk about Xuanda Governor Lu Xiangsheng first!After receiving the military order, Lu Xiangsheng immediately rushed to the capital at night, stationed troops in Changping, and then went to Beijing to meet the emperor.Emperor Chongzhen had always had a good impression of Lu Xiangsheng, and it was time for him to be of great use at this time, so he was specially summoned when he summoned his ministers on the fourth day of October.

Not surprisingly, when I saw Lu Xiangsheng.Emperor Chongzhen asked him what strategy he had for fighting the Qing army?So Lu Xiangsheng replied: "Your Majesty ordered the minister to be the supervisor, and the minister only knows that there is war." The implication is that he opposes peace talks with the Qing army.

But what Emperor Chongzhen said was inexplicable.Since Yang Sichang had been whispering in Emperor Chongzhen's ear "Make peace with the Manchu Qing money!", although Emperor Chongzhen had never agreed, but when the Qing soldiers came again this time, he did regret that he did not follow Yang Sichang's suggestion.

However, after the Qing army entered the fortress, they did not show any intention of negotiating with the threat of force. At this time, even if they wanted to contact the Qing army, they could not find a way. How could they talk about peace talks?

It seems that Lu Xiangsheng is still immersed in the state of party struggle with Yang Sichang.

Emperor Chongzhen pondered for a while, and then said to Lu Xiangsheng very unhappy: "The imperial court didn't ask for a reconciliation. It was just a discussion in the outer court."

Although the topic was over like this, Emperor Chongzhen's impression of Lu Xiangsheng immediately took a 180-degree turn.In the eyes of Emperor Chongzhen, when the country was in crisis, Lu Xiangsheng didn't want to turn the tide, but only thought about party struggles. Such a character was too bad.Of course, there was some misunderstanding in this, but in the future battles, it would have an extremely bad impact on the Ming army's battles, especially Lu Xiangsheng's own battles.

Maybe Lu Xiangsheng didn't believe what Emperor Chongzhen said, but he didn't want to delve into the matter; maybe Lu Xiangsheng saw Emperor Chongzhen's displeasure.Anyway, he was very sensible and didn't continue this topic.

Lu Xiangsheng went on to say: "The enemy's most important thing is to prevent everything. Forcing the mausoleum to shake people's hearts is something to worry about. Approaching Shenjing to shake the foundation is something to worry about. Divide troops out of the south of Gyeonggi, plunder the surrounding counties, and destroy us. There is food to worry about. If you concentrate your forces for defense, you will lose the city and sink many lands. If you divide your troops to respond, it will be difficult to win if you are weak. If you have few troops, you will not be able to defend well, and if your army is insufficient, you will be in chaos. These are all ways to defend against the enemy. difficulty."

Lu Xiangsheng was indeed an outstanding commander. What he said was the dilemma of the Ming army's separation and integration. He also estimated the tactics used by the Qing army sharply, and indeed pointed out the key points of fighting the Qing army.And Emperor Chongzhen also thought it was very reasonable, so one person counted the short and the two counted the long, so Emperor Chongzhen ordered him to discuss with Yang Sichang and work out a feasible combat plan.

In fact, it can be seen from here that Yang Sichang and Lu Xiangsheng can be regarded as the two most outstanding military talents in the Ming Dynasty, but they also have their own strengths. Yang Sichang is good at strategic planning, while Lu Xiangsheng is good at commanding battles.

If these two people can learn from each other's strengths, cooperate sincerely, and make careful arrangements, then despite the difficulties in the entry of the Qing army, it is still possible to achieve better results in this battle against the Qing than the previous few times. .

It's a pity that both of them are limited by cronies, and they have been suspicious of each other from the very beginning. They just tear each other down and cooperate at all.

When Lu Xiangsheng saw Yang Sichang, instead of discussing how to face the Qing army, he first accused Yang Sichang of his money.He said: "The public is determined to pay money. Haven't you heard of: the alliance under the city? Confucius also thought it was shameful in "Spring and Autumn"? Xiang Sheng was ordered to supervise the teacher. If he only obeyed his orders, Yuan Chonghuan's fate is a lesson from the past. Don't you want to Thinking about it, filial obedience is in the body, but you can't change filial piety into loyalty, and serve the country with all your strength, if you lose both loyalty and filial piety, how can you still have face in this world?" [

All of a sudden, the conversation between the two was full of gunpowder.