Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Of course, the Ming army in Songshan and Jinzhou didn't know that the Runing army was planning a rescue operation at this time.Although the imperial court did not give the Runing Army support in terms of military resources, it could completely let the Runing Army's actions go.After all, this is also the only chance to rescue the Songshan and Jinzhou Ming armies, so we should let the Runing army have a try no matter what!

However, Chen Xinjia's suggestion killed the last chance of survival of the Ming army in Songshan, Jinzhou and other cities.

At this time, others could delay resolving the predicament in Liaodong, while Chen Xinjia, Minister of the Ministry of War, who was mainly responsible for military affairs, had nowhere to go.In desperation, he finally remembered the "reconciliation" policy that he tried several times but never succeeded.

And just at this time, Yang Shengwu, the supervisor in Liaodong, sent back a battle report to the court in order to perfunctory the court's order to send troops to rescue.And in this battle report, it said: The heavy snow in Liaodong was more than ten feet deep, and the Qing army was cold and short of food, and wanted peace talks.In fact, now that the Qing army has completely taken the initiative in the Liaodong war, how could they release the Ming army from Jinzhou, Songshan and other cities, and let the tiger go back to the mountain?So this is completely a misrepresentation of the wishes of the Ming Dynasty.

But this kind of misrepresentation fell into the hands of Chen Xinjia, which immediately made him feel like a treasure.And this battle report also reminded Chen Xinjia: Although Yuan Chonghuan and Yang Sichang had previously proposed the strategy of using "money" against the Qing Dynasty, both of which were unanimously vetoed by the emperor and courtiers, but in the face of such a serious military crisis, there is no way to mediate. Sending troops, the only way to try is peace talks.

In fact, before this, some people of insight in the imperial court had discussed the issue of "reconciliation of funds" again.When Fu Zonglong, the former minister of the Ministry of War, was released from prison and served as the governor of Shaanxi, he discussed with Chen Xinjia the issue of making peace with the Qing Dynasty before his departure, and Fu Zonglong talked about it with Xie Sheng, a scholar before leaving Beijing.

After that, Xie Sheng felt that it was hopeless to win Liaodong.At the time of the call, he secretly reported Chen Xinjia's proposal to Emperor Chongzhen.Ever since Yuan Chonghuan was killed on the charge of passing money, and Yang Sichang was scolded by the government and the opposition for advocating negotiations, peace talks with the Qing Dynasty have become a forbidden area for the Chongzhen Dynasty to discuss state affairs.The main combat faction held high the banner of the difference between Yi and Xia, and they were impassioned but could not come up with any feasible countermeasures; while some people who had a clearer understanding of the country's situation knew that negotiating with the Qing as much as possible was a way to temporarily escape the crisis, but they did not Dare to bring it up openly, for fear of being accused of collaborating with the enemy.

And Emperor Chongzhen himself was deeply constrained by public opinion and traditional concepts, and he was afraid of being charged with the eternal crime of surrendering to the barbarians.But at this time, the sinister situation forced him to consider this "bad strategy".

Emperor Chongzhen immediately summoned Chen Xinjia for this matter, and on the surface he put on a gesture that he would never surrender to the "Tarjah", and severely blamed Chen Xinjia.But both Chen Xinjia and Xie Sheng understood.The emperor's secret summons itself meant that he was already interested in the peace talks.

Therefore, while Chen Xinjia apologized, he stated his own reasons. Xie Sheng also tried his best to persuade: "If the other party is really willing to negotiate a peace, the draw is still beneficial." Emperor Chongzhen pondered for a long time before finally agreeing to Chen Xinjia's suggestion.However, Chen Xinjia was required to act in secret, and everything must be done in secret.Don't let the courtiers hear the wind.

But the all-knowing speakers still got wind of it.Several censors and officials went to ask Xie Sheng about the situation.Xie Sheng said to them: "The emperor strongly advocates peace talks, everyone, please don't say too much." But the officials immediately impeached Xie Sheng for these words, saying that he "spread the words to the public, and violently exaggerated the emperor's faults. It is disrespectful. No one is courteous."

Emperor Chongzhen was also very angry about this.He was shy about the peace talks with Qing Fang.He really didn't want others to know, and he was very afraid of being criticized as a fool and misleading the country, but Xie Sheng suddenly stirred up the whole city.According to his usual temper, if Xie Sheng didn't get it right, something unexpected would happen.Fortunately, at that time, he was focusing on innovation.His attitude towards the courtiers has been surprisingly gentle for many days, this time he just scolded Xie Sheng a lot, and in the end he just cut his status to serve the people.However, regarding the peace talks involved in the incident, he has been hesitating and hawing, and he has never expressed his attitude.

As the king of a country, being so secretive about such a major issue related to the safety of the country reflects the fatal weakness of Emperor Chongzhen's character.And this kind of attitude towards this important decision fundamentally determines that the peace negotiation cannot be successful.However, from the beginning of the 15th year of Chongzhen, the peace talks with the Qing side were carried out in extremely confidential manner. All major matters were planned and decided by Emperor Chongzhen himself, and Chen Xinjia was responsible for the implementation of specific arrangements.

Therefore, in order to prevent the peace talks from being affected, Chen Xinjia issued an order to Wu Shigong to stop the expedition through the Ministry of War.To be honest, at first Wu Shigong was half-hearted about this rescue, but when the imperial court actually prevented the Runing Army from going out to rescue, Wu Shigong couldn't help feeling powerless, and then a sense of relief. All the obligations that should be fulfilled have been fulfilled.And in the future of the Ming Dynasty, if you don't die, you won't die!

Therefore, the proposal of Chen Xinjia and others may be wise, but it is fatal to propose it at this time.From a small point of view, this ruined the Ming army in Jinzhou, Songshan and other places; from a large point of view, this made the Ming Dynasty slide a long distance into the abyss of subjugation.

Afterwards, Wu Shigong stayed in Zhenyuan City, presided over the army to speed up the construction of the city, and watched the changes in the overall situation of the world with cold eyes.

On the 15th day of the first lunar month in the [-]th year of Chongzhen, the peasant army decided to use gunpowder to blast open the city wall of Kaifeng, so they sent the warrior Mao Shishi to dig out the bricks of the city wall at a pre-selected location, and then dug a large hole more than ten feet deep and ten feet wide. , Fill it with dozens of stones of gunpowder in cloth bags, and pull out the lead.Cavalry and infantry were deployed at the entrance of the cave, ready to charge into the city in one fell swoop when the city wall collapsed.

Unexpectedly, the city wall of Kaifeng was very strong. After the gunpowder detonated, the landslide and the ground cracked. The city wall did not collapse, but the peasant soldiers outside the city were injured by the flying earth and rocks.

Later, when Li Zicheng was inspecting under the city wall of Kaifeng, Chen De, the son of Chen Yongfu, shot a cold arrow. Li Zicheng blocked the arrow with his right arm and returned with minor injuries.Later, it was rumored that Chen De shot Li Zicheng in the left eye, and Li Zicheng also honorably won the nickname of "Crossing the Blind", and Chen De was promoted to a guerrilla general with this arrow.

After Li Zicheng was injured, because Kaifeng City was so strong that it was difficult to conquer it in a short time, and Zuo Liangyu had led his troops to follow, Li and Luo's coalition forces stopped attacking the city and withdrew from Kaifeng.

And in the first month, Emperor Chongzhen secretly appointed Ma Shaoyu, who was in charge of Zanhua military affairs before the Liaodong Army, as a special envoy for the peace talks with the Qing Dynasty. .

Ma Shaoyu is light and simple, and his main assistants are Zhou Yuanzhong, a blind fortune teller who has no official position but has dealt with the Qing side many times in the past, and a dismissed candidate named Zhu Liangcai, plus a small team led by generals Li Yulan and Zhou Weiyong. The small security forces quietly left Shanhaiguan.

At that time, the cities of Song and Jin were besieged, and only Tashan was close to Ningyuan, and the passage to the rear had not been completely cut off. Ma Shaoyu and his party entered Tashan and informed the Qing that an angel would come to negotiate.The Qing Dynasty has always attached great importance to the use of negotiations to achieve political results, but when the siege is about to be effective, it is unwilling to delay the military aircraft because of the negotiations, so the mission to Ma Shaoyu is just hypocrisy, sending representatives. The old man is not much stronger than the lineup of the Ming Dynasty delegation.

The two delegations met at Gaotaibao near Tashan. Both sides were polite on the surface, and Ma Shaoyu entertained the Qing envoy with a banquet as the host.But after eating and drinking, the Qing envoys were unwilling to talk about practical issues, but first hoped to see the emperor's imperial edict to prove Ming's sincerity.

However, the Ming Dynasty never had any experience in negotiating with the barbarians and vassals, so Ma Shaoyu did not bring the edict when he left Beijing, so he had to ask Beijing for instructions.Emperor Chongzhen was determined to negotiate peace, so he made an exception and wrote an imperial edict to the Qing Dynasty, but he still couldn't let go of the airs of the Celestial Dynasty.The imperial edict said: "I heard that Shenyang has the good intention to stop the soldiers and stop the people, but the governors along the border have never heard of it. ... It prevents me from being open and sincere to treat people far away, just like the old agreement of my ancestors' contact with Chao Enyi. .” All in all, it expresses leniency towards a barbaric vassal state.

As for the so-called "reward", that is, the economic redemption of the Qing side, Emperor Chongzhen agreed to pay 47 taels of silver every year, just like the "year-old coins" of the Song Dynasty, which can be regarded as heartbreaking and cruel.

The representatives of the Qing side sent Emperor Chongzhen’s imperial edict back to Shengjing for Huang Taiji’s review, and soon came back with something to say, saying that the imperial edict was different from the imperial imperial edict issued by the emperors of the Ming Dynasty to the leaders of the Jurchen ministries in the early years, and the seals did not match. The minister forged it, and was also very dissatisfied with the language in the imperial edict.

Negotiations were temporarily suspended for this reason, and Ma Shaoyu had to truthfully report to Emperor Chongzhen.In fact, this was just a ploy by the Qing side to delay. Because it was February and the weather was warmer, the Qing army was already preparing to launch a general attack on Song and Jinzhu cities to collect the fruits of victory.

Also because it was February, Wu Shigong was ready to return to Runing.Taking advantage of this period of more than a month, 7000 members of the Runing Army worked together to build a Zhenyuan City on the flat ground with a length of about [-] steps and a width of about [-] paces.The city was built because of its roughness, the height is not high, only about two feet, but the thickness is very thick, reaching more than two feet, so it is easy to increase the height of the city wall on this foundation.In addition, a moat about three feet wide was built outside the city.

Then, Wu Shigong will do the finishing work before returning.First of all, he must determine the troops left behind.So, he called Yu Ji, Fu Sheng, Ye Chao, Hadan Battelle and others who had arranged to stay behind into his tent. (To be continued..)