Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Huaiyang is located in the north of the Yangtze River, and it is an important barrier for Nanming's Yangtze River defense line, and Nanming also stationed heavy troops in various towns in this area.It is conceivable that once Chi Ming's Shandong Army starts to move, a full-scale war with Nanming will surely break out.

And the Daping Dynasty will soon face the dilemma of fighting on two fronts.Neither troops nor supplies can be arranged.That's why Wu Shigong strictly ordered Chi Ming not to act rashly.

After receiving this strict order, Chi Ming could only give up and go straight to Yangzhou.But his young heart is undoubtedly full of depression.In order to vent, he can only increase the intensity of the exercise, anyway, it is right to train soldiers!And seeing the intensified exercises of the Daping Army, and seeing that they did not dare to go one step further, the confronting towns of Nanming felt more at ease.

This scene lasted until mid-May.When the Daping Army invaded Shaanxi, swept through several provinces in the Northwest, and chased after Li Zicheng's remnant army, the news came that the generals of the Daping Army, such as Chi Ming, and the generals of the towns in Nanming were all upset. .

……

In June, after the 13 Daping Army led by Zhou Xun and Xue Yong wiped out the main force of the Dashun Army near Jiujiang, the tens of thousands of ships prepared by the Dashun Army to go east to Nanjing were also captured by the Daping Army.

At this time, Zhou Xun, Xue Yong and others with strong soldiers and horses, boats and food, also began to live their minds. They wanted to go down the river in one go, take Nanjing directly, and completely wipe out Nanming.

At this time, Wu Shigong, who knew the temper of the arrogant soldiers on the front line, was deeply afraid that they would violate the order with the reason of "being outside", and frequently issued strict orders not to fight with the Nanming army.And Zhou Xun, Xue Yong and others who were about to disobey the order on the grounds of "will be outside" had no choice but to stand still.Military operations to the east were temporarily suspended.

……

Judging from the two battlefields of Shandong and Huguang, Nanming seems to be able to breathe for a while under the stance of the Daping Army.But no one thought of it.These two battlefields have undergone shocking changes one after another, leading to the Shandong Army and the Huguang Army launching full-scale military operations one after another.

Let me talk about the Shandong battlefield first:

On the second day of June, at the junction of Shandong and northern Jiangsu, a small group of dozens of Southern Ming troops, led by a general, surrendered collectively to Chi Ming's Shandong Army in Yangji Town.At the same time, they also offered the Yangji Town where they were stationed to the Shandong Army.

At that time, the Nanming Army in the towns of Jiangbei.Most of them are stationed in the city, and the soldiers in this small group are nothing more than "eyes and ears" and cannon fodder arranged at the forefront, and of course they are not direct descendants.So the main reason for their surrender is self-evident.but.The news that the Daping Army of the Huguang Weekly Patrol Department came eastward was also a major reason for destroying the confidence of these soldiers.

I don't analyze the reasons why these soldiers surrendered, and these days, there are not a few scattered Nanming soldiers who surrendered.But this time is an exception.Because this team of soldiers even offered up the town of Yangji where they were stationed.

And this situation embarrassed the two armies facing each other.For Chi Ming's Shandong army, it was all meat delivered to their door, so it was definitely not for nothing.

But for the Nanming army, this Yangji town is also important, but it is not particularly important. It is really nothing to give up.However, the Shandong Army's move to take over Yangji Town set a very bad precedent—the Daping Army broke the default de facto ceasefire line between the two armies for the first time, and broke into the defense line of the Nanming Army.

However, the officials and generals of Nanming were miserable.After all, this Yangji Town was not captured by the Daping Army, but offered by his own soldiers who surrendered.If you insist on saying that the Daping Army broke the tacit understanding.There are also some unreasonable.Do you want to send someone to the Daping army to have a talk and ask them to take the initiative to return Yangji town?This is obviously impossible.

So the two armies remained silent for five days, not knowing how to deal with this unexpected situation.But on the seventh day of June, the second team of the Nanming army saw that they had set an example, and they also surrendered in Xianzhen, and then the third team....

Although Chi Ming obeyed Wu Shigong's advice, he still had his own little mind.This was sent to the door to surrender and surrender, not to take the initiative to attack, this is not a violation of the emperor's imperial edict!So he took advantage of the situation and commanded the Shandong Army to press forward, occupying the territory offered by the surrendered Nanming Army these days.

But this made the Nanming Army panic even more, because the Daping Army finally dispatched troops.On the tenth day of June, a general of the Southern Ming Army stationed in Suqian led more than [-] men from his troops to surrender the city.Then the situation suddenly got out of control.

……

The situation on the Huguang battlefield is even more bizarre:

When the country is in crisis, all the little ghosts and evildoers will jump out.

In December of the 16th year of Chongzhen, Mu Hu, a servant of Gao Mengji, the Shaoqing of Honglu Temple, was traveling from the north to the south. On the way, he met a young man and went with him.But when he went to bed at night, he was surprised to find that the boy's underwear was woven with dragon patterns, so he was surprised to ask his identity, and the boy claimed to be the crown prince.

After arriving in Nanjing, Mu Hu sent the boy to Gao Mengji. Gao Mengji couldn't tell the truth from the fake, so he hurriedly sent him to Suzhou and Hangzhou to hide.It should be said that Gao Mengji still has a conscience.At this time, Emperor Hongguang had just sat on the throne, and no one was allowed to peep.The crown prince Zhu Cihong is more qualified than Zhu Yousong to ascend the throne, so once the identity of this young man is true, he will definitely be killed.So, Gao Mengji actually gave the boy a way out.

However, this young man didn't know how to hide it, and often flaunted it to the public, showing his noble and coquettish appearance.This gets people's attention and whispers behind their backs.As a last resort, Gao Mengji could only report to the court secretly, so Emperor Hongguang sent an internal official to hold the imperial letter to announce the call.

On the first day of March in the first year of Qiongyuan, the young man arrived in Nanjing from Jinhua, Zhejiang, and was handed over to Jin Yiwei Feng Kezong to take care of him.The next day, Emperor Hongguang told his ministers, "There is a young son who said that he was the former emperor's east palace. If he is the real son of the first emperor, he is my son. He should support you and not make him lose his home." Officials such as Ke and Dao went to examine it together.

And the great scholar Wang Duo had served as the instructor of the Eastern Palace for three years, so he was naturally familiar with the prince's appearance, and he could tell at a glance that he was a traitor and a fake. When Hongguang founded the country, many officials had served in the Chongzhen court, and Wang Duo was not the only one who had met the prince Zhu Cihong.Others, such as Liu Zhengzong, Li Jinglian, who used to be the lecturers of the Eastern Palace, and Qiu Zhizhong, the accompanying eunuch of the old Eastern Palace, all denied it.

At that time, the officials in the Hongguang court also knew that the "prince" who came from the north was purely fake, and no one raised any objections.

Originally, this fraud case came to light, but this case was used to advantage by careerists.

Zuo Liangyu, who sits in the upper class of Nanjing, Nanjing, he occupies strategically important places, and his subordinates are relatively strong.When Zhu Yousong Dengji's edict was issued to Wuchang, he was reluctant to admit it at first. Only after the persuasion of Huguang Governor He Tengjiao, Governor Huang Shu and others, he agreed to read it and expressed his support.

Since Emperor Hongguang was mainly supported by generals from various towns such as Huang Degong, Gao Jie, and Liu Liangzuo, Zuo Liangyu did not participate, so he was not considered a hero in making decisions.So this has become a heart problem for Zuo Liangyu.So he became more and more rebellious in the guarded place.

And the imperial court regarded the generals in other towns as arrogant, which also aroused Zuo Liangyu's resentment.Huang Shu, the censor of Huguang patrol, was originally a dirty villain. When the suspicion between Zuo Liangyu and the Hongguang court was deepening, not only did he not mediate in the middle, but instead used Zuo Liangyu's troops as the backing, trying to improve himself in the Hongguang court. own status.

At the end of May in the first year of Qiongyuan, when the remnants of Li Zicheng's Dashun Army entered the Jiangxi area under the pursuit of Zhou Xun and Xue Yong's troops of the Daping Army, Zuo Liangyu did not dare to fight against the main force of the Dashun Army. Fleeing along the river.

At that time, Nanjing was full of turmoil over cases of false princes and "concubines", and the cabinet scholars in power aroused strong dissatisfaction among officials and gentry, which provided Zuo Liangyu an excuse to avoid the war.

On the third day of June, Zuo Liangyu falsely claimed that he had received a secret order from the former emperor and prince to go to Nanjing for rescue. Under the name of the Qing emperor, the whole army sailed down the river eastward.Before leaving, he ordered the massacre of all the people in Ezhou.

On the fifth day of June, Zuo Liangyu went to Jiujiang and invited Jiang Du Yuan Jixian to meet him in the boat.Zuo Liangyu took out the "Crown Prince" secret order from his sleeve, and set up an altar to torture animals, and made an alliance with the generals.

Of course, the generals who followed Zuo Liangyu were all willing to agree, and Zuo Liangyu forced Yuan Jixian to go to Nanjing together to "beside the Qing emperor and save the prince".

However, Yuan Jixian believed that the authenticity of the "Emperor Prince" was uncertain, and he did not know who sent the secret edict. He said sternly: "The old virtues of the former emperor should not be forgotten, and the new kindness of today's superiors should not be neglected." He also bowed down to the generals and asked them Cherish the people.

Zuo Liangyu replied: "The plot to trap the prince, what the minister did, has nothing to do with the present. If you love the people and everyone has your own heart, why should you worry about it?" Then he took out the "oath and call" and showed it to Yuan Jixian.

How could Yuan Jixian believe in such unwarranted evidence?After he returned to the city, he ordered the Ministry to stick to Jiujiang and not allow left soldiers to enter the city.Unexpectedly, Zhang Shixun, the general of the Ministry, had colluded with the generals of the left, and set fire to the whole city at night.Yuan Jixian prepared to die in despair.Zuo Liangyu sent Zhang Yingyuan to take him into the boat. Yuan Jixian threw himself into the water several times, but was rescued.

Zuo Liangyu tried his best to express to him that he did not intend to overthrow Emperor Hongguang, and asked Yuan Jixian to go east together to "modify the generals".Yuan Jixian had no choice but to agree with Zuo Liangyu and his generals to strictly prohibit burning, killing and looting.

But when the Zuo army was preparing to go east from Jiujiang, on the seventh day of June, Zuo Liangyu fell ill and died, ending his life of murderous crimes.Zuo Liangyu is a "famous general" who killed the people of Ming Dynasty more powerfully than the rebel peasant army!At this time, it was only three days before the Jiujiang Incident. (To be continued..)