nanming man

Chapter 76
People say that auspicious snow heralds a good year, but the early snowfall is not a good thing.

Usually, September is the time of harvest, but at the end of September this year, heavy snow fell on the Great Wall.

At the beginning of October, along the Ji Town of the Ming Empire, snowflakes were blown by the north wind and flew all over the sky, and the sky was gray.

On the beacon tower along the Great Wall, an old soldier from Ji Town was wearing a shabby padded jacket, holding a red-tasseled gun in his hand, standing in the cold wind, shivering non-stop.

In the Battle of Songshan, the elite officers and soldiers along the Great Wall lost seven or eighty eight, leaving only some old, weak, sick and disabled. However, the Ming Dynasty's treasury was full, the treasury was empty, and there was no money and food to recruit soldiers, so the defense was extremely weak.

The two soldiers guarding the beacon tower, one was a lame old soldier in his 40s, and the other was a half-old child in his teens. His face was red with cold, and his hands and feet were covered with chilblains. , swollen like a stewed trotter.

"Third boy, it's cold, I'll just watch it, you go down and hide." The old soldier stretched his hands into his sleeves, wrapped his arms around the spear, shivering, and said to the little soldier next to him whose nose was freezing.

"Uncle Liu, I'm not cold, so I'll stay here with you." The pawn was trembling, with a trace of stubbornness on his childish face.

The old pawn waved his hand, "It's useless for you to stand still, go down and rest for a while, and you will replace your Uncle Liu later~"

At this moment, the pawn didn't move, his face suddenly showed full of panic, he pointed his finger outside the gate, and said in a trembling voice: "Liu~ Uncle Liu~ behind~"

The old pawn was taken aback when he heard the words, then turned around, and saw a large group of people and horses suddenly appearing in the wind and snow outside the pass, all of them were figures of people and horses in sight.

The old pawn saw a big banner appearing on the horizon, followed by an overwhelming number of iron riders rolling towards him, causing the ground to tremble, and his face was filled with horror, "Sanzi, run quickly, the Tartars are inhuman, and they will come later!" I can't go."

After the old pawn finished speaking, he picked up a piece of firewood from the fire and limped to light the wolf smoke. Seeing that the pawn was motionless, he immediately roared again, "Ponu, you fool, stand still!" What are you doing, run away, and avenge your uncle in the future."

"Uncle Liu, what about you?" The pawn is from Beizhi. When the Qing army entered for the fifth time, his family was taken away by the Qing army. He changed his name to Ponu and joined the border army of Jizhen. The old pawn surnamed Liu is from Xiong County. , a whole family died in the ninth year of Chongzhen when the Qing army entered the bandits. After his son was killed by the Qing army, he met a young pawn who had just joined the army as a handyman, and treated him like his son.

In the wilderness outside the Great Wall, large groups of Manchurian cavalry appeared in the wind and snow, exuding fierce murderous aura.

Under the banner of the Great Banner, the Manchurian general Abate, wearing heavy armor, riding on a strong horse, took out a telescope imported from Portugal, glanced at Huangyakou in front of him, and saw smoke billowing one after another on the Great Wall , The scene was very spectacular, but he was not at all anxious about it, ignoring the Ming army's alarm.

"Guan Ning's army is hiding in Shanhaiguan and dare not go out to fight. Who else can stop my Qing cavalry along the entire Great Wall?" Abatai shook his horse a few times, slapped him, and laughed wantonly: "Order Tong Tulai Lead your troops, Wu Zhenchao, quickly break through the barrier, and after the army enters, it will be under the city of Jizhou."

The combat strength of the Eight Banners Army at this time can be said to be the best in the world, and it is difficult to find an opponent in the world. The last elite Guan Ning cavalry in the Ming Dynasty can only be ranked second.

Outside the Guan wall, tens of thousands of Qing troops lined up in several square formations according to their respective flags. The formations were distinct, the formations were clear, and the flags were flying. In the cold wind, there was silence, only the horses snorting and the wind blowing the banners. There was the sound of hunting, and all the horses and men remained motionless.

Abate gave an order, and the cavalry beside him took off the horns from their waists, raised their heads and blew the horns, and the low-pitched horns pierced the sky.

A group of blue-armored Han soldiers among the crowd raised the banner to show that they had heard their orders, and then dismounted one after another, holding their weapons and carrying simple long ladders, and pressed aggressively towards Guancheng.

These blue armors are all Han Chinese, and the battle armor still maintains many characteristics of the Ming army, but these people have completely pledged their allegiance to the Manchu Qing and became members of the Eight Banners army.

The Eight Banners system is a very peculiar military system, but in essence, it is nothing more than a bandit group bound by interests.

Manchu Qing wanted to maintain this system, relying on both kindness and power to give enough benefits, and entering the customs and looting was undoubtedly the happiest thing for Banners, and it was also the best way to obtain benefits.

These blue-armored Han soldiers don't care how many old and weak women and children there are in the pass, and how many people will die under the butcher's knife. In their view, the people in the pass are lambs waiting to be slaughtered.

On the pier of the Great Wall, the beacon was lit by the old soldiers, and the alarm bell of "Dang Dang Dang" was also sounded by the soldiers.

A hundred household official with a broken arm hurriedly led hundreds of old and weak people up the wall. He looked at the crowd of Tartars outside, and suddenly slowed down, but he still walked to the wall resolutely. On the ground, he leaned on the cold wall with his only remaining hand, looked at the Tartars for a moment, and finally calmly said to the soldiers behind him: "Arm!"

On the other side, the old pawn glanced at the Tartars who were approaching, and said to the younger pawn: "Uncle, with this leg, you will be overtaken by the Tartars if you don't run too far. Don't worry about Uncle. You live well. From now on, I will avenge your uncle and give you a good life." Think about it, uncle, we can't die~"

Li Ponu couldn't help being sad, the grief in his heart stuck in his throat, tears streamed down his face in an instant, he backed up a few steps, until he hit the side wall, he suddenly turned around and fled down the beacon tower.

"Kill the Tartars!"

Li Ponu ran down the pass, and the old pawn screamed in despair from behind him. With tears in his eyes, he fled south with more than a dozen young pawns.

Not long after, there were cheers from the top of the city, and Li Ponu turned his head to look with red eyes, and the figure of the blue armored soldier had already appeared on the top of the city.

Several old soldiers who had just escaped from the city were shot down by a wave of arrows from these blue-armored soldiers. The door was closed and pushed away by the Qing army, and a large number of Qing cavalry rushed out from the door opening.

Li Ponu turned his head and looked at a Mingzi flag. The Qing army who was attacked by the pass threw the pass wall and hit the ground heavily. His eyes were red and he endured sadness, so that his companions could continue to run south~
In the 15th year of Chongzhen, in October, under the leadership of Belle Abatay, the Manchurian, Mongolian, and Han armies had 12 banners, about 6 Qing troops, plus tens of thousands of Mongolian soldiers from the Outer Domain, with a total force of nearly 10. After entering the customs at Yakou, they met in Jixian County, defeated Bai Tengjiao, the general soldier of Jixian County, and Jixian County fell.

The Qing army immediately divided into two groups, all the way to Tongzhou, all the way to Tianjin, plundering Beizhi, and the officers and soldiers dared not fight.

The city of Beijing had to be under martial law, and the ministers of the Ming Dynasty guarded the nine gates, guarding the city of Beijing, waiting for the support of soldiers and horses.

For a time, on the North China Plain, teams of Manchurian Eight Banners cavalry galloped across the sky, raising smoke and dust all over the sky.

The villages and cities in Beizhi were trampled by the Eight Banners, the cities were slaughtered, and the villages were dilapidated. Apart from fleeing, the people had no other choice but to be slaughtered or captured.

In Beijing, in the Bauhinia City Palace, Emperor Chongzhen, who was just in his early thirties, angrily threw the memorial on the ground, his chest heaving violently.

"In one day, sixteen cities fell. Where are the soldiers of Ming Dynasty? Where is Sun Chuanting? He hasn't left the customs yet, waiting for Jiannu to break through Beijing?" Chongzhen's eyes were red and he was furious.

The Ming emperor came to the throne at the age of sixteen or seventeen. He worked hard for more than ten years and worked hard. He worked harder than the Ming emperors before him, and he had to do his duty.

More than anyone else, he wants to make some achievements, but sometimes, limited by his own ability, he makes more mistakes instead of doing more.

When Chongzhen came to the throne, the situation in the Ming Dynasty was acceptable. However, after more than ten years of hard work, the situation became more and more corrupt, but he didn't know what to say.

There are many external factors, such as natural disasters, but climate change is global in nature. Ottomans, Spain, and France also faced the same problem during the same period. They did not collapse, so the main reason for the collapse of the Ming Empire was own inner problems.

In addition to the long-standing disadvantages of the empire, Emperor Chongzhen ascended to the throne at a young age and did not receive a good study of emperors, which is also one of the reasons.

A boy in his teens shouldn't have to bear these responsibilities, but since he has taken the position of emperor and is keen to personally handle important military and political affairs, he will be directly responsible for the rise and fall of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, allowing a person with insufficient ability to ascend to the throne of God and grasp and exercise the supreme power is a flaw in the system itself, and it is also one of the realizations of the scholar-officials in the late Ming Dynasty who urgently called out, "Since Qin, all emperors are thieves."

Later generations endowed the king Chongzhen with too many other emotions. Seeing him work hard, be diligent and frugal, and finally die for the country, so for the political stance of Fuming, he was never too harsh, but stripped of these additional things, Chongzhen himself was suspicious and did not take responsibility. He did have many problems.

In the main hall, several officials lowered their heads and did not dare to speak. University scholar Wu Sheng said: "Your Majesty, the court will leave Tongguan. I'm afraid I won't be able to serve as king at this time."

When Sun Chuanting was released from prison, he made the same mistake as Yuan Chonghuan. Literati like to brag, and most people know it, and they don’t take it too seriously. But Emperor Chongzhen was different. He hated others to deceive him, so he told Sun Chuanting that five thousand elite soldiers were enough to sweep away the truth. Believe the words of Mieliu Thief.

Now he saw that after Sun Chuanting arrived in Shaanxi, he had not sent troops to suppress the bandits for a long time, and he wrote to complain from time to time, asking for money, food, and soldiers, which made Chongzhen a little suspicious.

"Hmph, I have already given him enough soldiers, but he has delayed until now. The Ministry of War will send an order to him to destroy the thieves as soon as possible, and then go north to serve the king." At this time, Chongzhen had no other choice. If the Qing army is allowed to wreak havoc in the pass, the Qing army must be driven out.

Chongzhen waved his sleeves and added: "Didn't Huang Degong defeat Zhang Bandit? The Ministry of War immediately ordered him to be transferred here too~"

(Thank you for the reward from Xiao Juice, and wish you all a happy new year in advance, and thank you for your support.)
(End of this chapter)