Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

After reactivating Sun Chuanting, Emperor Chongzhen summoned Sun Chuanting in the Wenhua Hall and asked him about the strategy to quell the civil strife.Sun Chuanting has always had his own views on the great plans of the world, and he talked eloquently to the emperor.Probably because he has been locked up in prison for a long time. In fact, Sun Chuanting has no idea how corrupt the world's affairs have become, and he doesn't know that the strength of the peasant army has far surpassed that of the original, so he still boasted in front of the emperor: Five thousand elite soldiers are enough to defeat thieves.

It was the first time that Emperor Chongzhen summoned Sun Chuanting alone, and he felt a little bit like seeing each other late, so he immediately ordered him to lead the Beijing camp troops to rescue Kaifeng, which was under siege.But at this time, Li Zicheng had already untied the siege of Kaifeng, turned to attack Yancheng and Xiangcheng, and wiped out Wang Qiaonian's tribe.In this case, there is only one Sun Chuanting who is most suitable to take on the important task of Governor of Shaanxi.

At this time, the nominal commander of the peasant army in the Central Plains was Ding Qirui, the governor of the seven provinces, but he was mediocre and incompetent, and he had done nothing since he took office.When Emperor Chongzhen appointed Sun Chuanting, he really regarded him as the backbone of the peasant army to encircle and suppress the peasants.

And Ding Qirui did not live up to the "trust" of Emperor Chongzhen. In May, the 18 army commanded by Ding Qirui was almost wiped out.When Ding Qirui fled in embarrassment, he lost all the imperial edict, seal and sword of the supervisor.Emperor Chongzhen was so angry that he ordered Ding Qirui to be arrested and imprisoned, and Yang Wenyue was also dismissed from office.Although Zuo Liangyu advocated fleeing first, the imperial court had some scruples because of his large number of soldiers, so he only executed Yang Dezheng, another general soldier, as a "fatou example" and executed him.

At this time, the only three troops available to the Ming Dynasty were Wu Shigong's Runing Army, Zuo Liangyu's Chu Army, and He Renlong's Qin Army.

The situation of these three official armies is that the generals support their own self-respect, and gradually form a situation where the tail is too big to lose, which is prominently manifested as ineffective mobilization.Or even if they were transferred, the civil servants who left their supervisors would flee for their lives when they encountered a strong enemy.In particular, these three people are all arrogant and domineering people, and none of them are used by the court.

He Renlong "returned" from Sichuan to Shaanxi in the 13th year of Chongzhen. He refused to sacrifice his life for the pursuit of Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai's peasant army. , Wang Qiaonian were thrown to the peasant army one after another.

Zuo Liangyu refused to obey when he was the supervisor of Yang Sichang, and Ding Qirui was helpless with him after he succeeded him as the supervisor.

As for Wu Shigong, let alone mention it.

So Emperor Chongzhen knew that if these three people could not be controlled, it would be impossible to suppress the peasant army's rebellion.He decided to take measures respectively to try to change the status quo.

Because He Renlong's problem was more serious, Emperor Chongzhen secretly ordered Sun Chuanting, the new governor of Shaanxi, to kill him, so as to kill a hundred policemen.In April of the 15th year of Chongzhen, Sun Chuanting ordered all the generals to gather in Xi'an.He Renlong was suddenly arrested at the banquet, and immediately beheaded for public display after announcing his guilt.Then arrange the aftermath.The soldiers of Herenlong were divided into various generals.Promote He Renlong's peasant army traitor, that is, the "little boy" who had eloped with Li Zicheng's ex-wife-the deputy commander-in-chief Gao Jie to the commander-in-chief, in order to stabilize the morale of the army.

So Sun Chuanting took all the more than ten thousand people in Hebu as his pacesetters.The generals of the Qin army were awed by Sun Chuanting's majesty and reputation, and they were still docile for a while.

As a result, the Qin Army became the only main force in the Ming Dynasty that had a strong combat effectiveness and obeyed the dispatch of the court.And Emperor Chongzhen was also very satisfied with Sun Chuanting's performance, and issued many awards.And pinned all his dreams of annihilating the main force of the peasant army in one fell swoop on Sun Chuanting.

But everyone didn't know, or didn't know it clearly, the powerful combat power of the Qin army was actually greatly reduced.Part of the powerful Qin army established by Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting was taken to Liaodong by Hong Chengchou; part was lost because of Sun Chuanting's imprisonment; part was lost because of Zheng Chongjian's imprisonment and killing.Because of the defeat of Fu Zonglong and Wang Qiaonian, they lost part of it; in the end, there was Ding Qirui, the "prodigal son". Now, how many veterans of the Qin army are there?It is possible that all the survivors are with the peasant army of Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai!

As for Wu Shigong and Zuo Liangyu, the Ming court considered that they had many soldiers under their command.Especially Zuo Liangyu, a considerable part of his command is the peasant army he recruited, if it is not handled properly, it is likely to disperse and become a "rogue".Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen took the method of concluding kindness.

what to do?Hou Xun, who was kind to both of them, was appointed as the supervisor.Hou Xun should be used to win over the relationship between these two people.Another supervisor from the "Zhao Prison Military Academy" appeared.

When Hou Xun took office, the imperial court asked him to lead the army to break the siege.And Hou Xun also went to the imperial court and proposed a comprehensive plan for the strategy of using troops.Anyway, this overall plan is a long and eloquent article, so I won't describe it in detail.However, the focus of the memorial also shows that Hou Xun has realized that the balance of power between the two sides has undergone fundamental changes. The Ming Dynasty, which is at a disadvantage, can no longer actively seek the main force of the peasant army to fight.

Therefore, Hou Xun objected to the court's decision to rescue Kaifeng as a top priority, and advocated that Shaanxi, Baoding, Shandong, Fengyang, Huaixu, and Fu should be ordered to guard their own territory. He himself did not move Wu Shigong and Zuo Liangyu northward according to the imperial court He untied the siege, but went to Runing to sit in Wu Shigong's army and act in camera.

Hou Xun also pointed out: At that time, Henan was already a thousand miles away, and food was in short supply. The peasant army was concentrated here with nearly one million people, and it would not be long before there would be a food crisis.At that time, he will lead Wu Shigong's department and Zuo Liangyu's department from southern Henan and Hubei to the north, and together with Sun Chuanting, governor of Shaanxi, will attack the peasant army in Henan.

Not to mention whether this battle plan can be realized smoothly, but at least it proves that Hou Xun is very clear-headed and has a good strategic vision.Therefore, a person's private life and morals have nothing to do with his abilities.

However, as soon as Hou Xun's suggestion was put forward, it was immediately rejected by Emperor Chongzhen.Regardless of the actual situation, he insisted that the siege of Kaifeng must be untied first.Under such circumstances, Hou Xun had no choice but to head south.

In addition, Emperor Chongzhen was still trying his best to "govern and reform".He summoned his ministers one after another to discuss various aspects of government affairs and put forward new requirements.

To deal with internal strife and foreign aggression requires a large number of elite soldiers, it is necessary to reorganize the army and train soldiers.On this issue, he first thought of the Forbidden Army in the Beijing Camp. When convening a meeting of relevant officials, he proposed that [-] elite soldiers be selected from the Beijing Camp and reorganized for training.

Wu Tong, the servant of the Ministry of War in charge of the Beijing camp, said: The Beijing camp should have elite soldiers and strong generals. It was only after a long period of peace that the old, weak, sick, and disabled people appeared. Instead of re-establishing the camp, it is better to weed out the elderly Weak, strong and strong.He also proposed specific methods such as the appointment of capable generals and the assessment and selection of soldiers.Emperor Chongzhen was very happy to hear that, and agreed to let Wu Sheng do the same.

However, the plan to train the Beijing camp later became a dead letter, and because of an unexpected natural disaster, the strength of the Beijing camp did not even rise but fell.This will also be described in detail later.

As for the financial problem that has been a headache for Emperor Chongzhen for more than ten years, because the power of the people in the world has been exhausted, the source of income is basically hopeless, so he can only find a way to stop the flow.In view of the situation that there are soldiers in the books of various places but there are no soldiers when they are called, he requires the household and military departments to conduct a thorough check on the number of soldiers in each place.

Emperor Chongzhen also asked all localities to quickly settle and settle the money and grain owed to the central government, and asked the Ministry of Households to come up with specific measures.However, in the chaotic state of the government, these two measures of Emperor Chongzhen were also not implemented, and the financial situation was still deteriorating sharply.

In addition, Emperor Chongzhen's "New Deal" also included some less important aspects that could show a little new atmosphere.For example: He asked the Ministry of Punishments and local officials to conduct a major clean-up of prisoners in custody across the country; in addition, he also made some reforms in the etiquette system, all of which are irrelevant.

But in the face of the dilapidated and dangerous situation in the Central Plains, the ministers of the DPRK and China were at a loss and had no countermeasures.Zhou Yanru, who was reinstated as chief assistant, brought a large number of Donglin patriots into the court. Emperor Chongzhen originally had great hopes for these "loyal ministers and righteous men" who claimed to be loyal and criticized the past rulers.

However, the Donglin Party members who regained power were no different from their opponents when dealing with the country's catastrophe.The same is not enterprising, the same is passive prevarication, and the same is at a loss.The situation in Kaifeng was tense, and many Henan officials urged the cabinet to find a way to dispatch troops to relieve the siege.Zhou Yanru said: What can I do?Had to give up Kaifeng.

The ministers found this answer inconceivable. Kaifeng is not a frontier town, and abandoning it would only reduce the territory a little. Abandoning Kaifeng would also mean abandoning Henan, abandoning the Central Plains, and allowing a rebellious state within a state to exist.What will it mean if it continues to develop?

In June of this year, He Fengsheng, a bachelor, begged to retire and recuperate, and was approved.Before leaving, Emperor Chongzhen summoned him for the last time and gave him a special banquet.When he was summoned, He Fengsheng seemed to have a premonition that this was the final farewell, and suddenly he burst into tears and didn't speak. He just knelt on the ground and kowtowed dozens of times, and the sound of crying shook the palace.

Emperor Chongzhen and other ministers were all baffled by his crying, and at the same time, they were infected with grief for some reason, and couldn't help but wiped away their tears. Finally, it developed into a chorus of the monarch and his ministers crying collectively, and the scene was spectacular.I cried enough to think about it, but I didn't know what it was for?

for what?Of course, for the shadow of subjugation hanging over their heads.Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen added Wu Shigong's general title as "Dangkou" again to step up his win over Wu Shigong.

Then, he promoted Yu Zilian to Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing, and allowed him to raise money and soldiers from the people.And Yu Zilian, the ten-thousand-year substitute, is really chest tight.

In addition, the Li and Luo coalition forces in the Central Plains have surrounded Kaifeng City, while the Manchus in Liaodong are still eyeing it.

Under such circumstances, the Ming Dynasty began its final struggle.

(End of the seventh volume) (To be continued...)