Begging in late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 601 The Struggle Before Destruction
Compared with Sun Chuanting, he is very spicy and decisive. Although Zheng Chongjian is not so courageous, he still has one more thing than Sun Chuanting, that is, toughness. Historically, Sun Chuanting retreated in Jia County because of food shortages, and was rushed to the back by the army. , He retreated to Nanyang in one fell swoop, where he fought a decisive battle with the Chuang army, and Sun Chuanting did not die in that battle. He retreated all the way to Tongguan, where there was no way to retreat, and he died in the battle just now.

But there was also no way out, Zheng Chongjian acted even more stubbornly than Sun Chuanting, he directly pressed the whole army, taking advantage of the impact of the food shortage, he fought the final decisive battle with the Chuang army, once he won, Even if Li Laiheng and other invading cavalry were able to defeat Luoyang, it doesn't matter. Even if they lose, at least they have fought hard, better than Zhuxian Town, better than the Songjin War. useless.

It's a pity, after all, the three-sided force at this time is three points weaker than the three-sided force trained by Sun Chuanting in history, and in this era, there is no Gezuo Fifth Battalion to join the Chuang army. It is easy for Li Zicheng to simply digest the troops of Cao Cao and Luo Rucai After a whole day of decisive battle, it finally ended with the defeat of the officers and soldiers.

At the moment of the defeat, more than 16 of the 6 horses were killed on the spot, and all the rest were scattered. Hundreds of thousands of ordnance were discarded, and more than [-] mules, horses and livestock were discarded. Zheng Chongjian also died in the battle, and the last deck of cards for Emperor Chongzhen was lost.

However, Zheng Chongjian is not to blame for the incident. The offensive and defensive trend of the world has changed. At this time, the peasant army is strong and the imperial court is weak. The most important thing to do is to stand firm and wait for the opportunity, but Emperor Chongzhen didn't even do this Finding out, or rather not wanting to believe it at all, blindly forcing the ministers to go to fight, can only end up being beaten.

A decisive battle launched by the wrong leader at the wrong time is destined to end in tragedy.

The death of Zheng Chongjian immediately caused a chain reaction. Chen Yongfu, the commander-in-chief of Henan Province, surrendered. More than 8000 Henan soldiers who had been fighting for several years than the peasant army finally fell into the hands of the Chuang army. Luoyang, which had just been recovered for less than half a month, was lost again. Zhu Yousong fled south with Gao Jie in embarrassment after failing to build the foundation of Prince Fu's Mansion, and lost his huge foundation to the peasant army again.

At the beginning of October, Li Zicheng took Li Yan as the forward, and he personally commanded the main force to attack Tongguan from the west of Luoyang.Unexpectedly, the officer and army would be defeated again this time. The distraught Emperor Chongzhen directly denounced Zheng Chongjian as a citizen and lost his family. In a panic, he gave Bai Guangen the seal of General Smuggler and ordered him to guard Tongguan and stop Li Chuang's army.

However, Zhu Youjian probably never imagined in a hundred dreams that Bai Guangen's army stationed outside the city was defeated on the third day after receiving the seal from General Dangkou. However, Bai Guangen offered the city and surrendered without hesitation. Just like Paulus in World War II, this seal of the general who looted bandits became a bargaining chip for him to fight for high treatment from the Chuangjun.

Once Tongguan is lost, Xi'an is no longer in danger.

But even at this time, the second son King Qin who had a grudge with Song Qingshu, sitting on the Weihe Plain with tens of thousands of acres of royal land and tens of millions of silver in treasury, still refused to give out even a tael of silver to help the army. It was cold and cold, but the Sichuan army guarding the city was defending on the city wall wearing single clothes and hungry. The deputy general of the Sichuan army, Wang Genzi, was furious, and opened the east gate to welcome the intruders into the city. The most important city in the Northwest fell into the hands of Chuang Jun.

On November 27, the Yan'an Mansion surrendered. On November [-], the army arrived at Yulin City, the last stronghold of the Ming Dynasty in northern Shaanxi. Hanzhong under the moon, Gansu under the beginning of January, once the most powerful defender of the Ming Dynasty, the three sides completely fell into the hands of the Chuangjun.

…………

The first month, the capital.

Although it was the New Year's Eve, the entire Forbidden City was not at all festive, and even the eunuchs removed the red lanterns and red brocades that had been hung, saying that the emperor enjoyed the people together, but the emperor was not happy, and the people naturally also It is not allowed to follow along with the music, the entire capital is full of soldiers from the five provinces and horses, and every household is also cut off lights and music, and no singing or laughing is allowed.

Even the famous Eight Great Hutongs had their main entrances sealed with wooden boards, but even so, it couldn't stop the nobles and gentry from seeking pleasure. The acquainted girls greeted each other with smiles, and in the deep courtyards of the tall mansions, the very low sound of opera was faintly heard.

The palace of the Forbidden City seemed to have entered eternal silence, the steps of the little eunuch's aisle were so small that they looked like ghosts, and the palace people dared not even make a sound, for fear of offending the emperor who was aloof in the Golden Temple.

In the imperial study room, the majestic son of heaven, like a lunatic, was sitting on the cold dragon chair with unkempt hair and unkempt face, his eyes were already blood red, but Emperor Chongzhen was still desperately reviewing the memorial, he could only use crazy work to resolve his heart Anguish and panic.

Just twenty days ago, the letter of credence sent by the envoy sent by Chuangjun was openly placed on his golden palace. That gangster who he once regarded as unworthy of the stage, that lowly postman, openly challenged him, the Emperor of Ming In the letter of challenge, in the letter of credence, the dazzling first year of Dashun Yongchang still reverberates in Zhu Youjian's eyes, and Li Zicheng aggressively set the date of the decisive battle in the letter of credence.

March tenth!

"This traitor!"

Xi’an’s request for help, Xi’an has been lost, and was thrown aside, Yulin asked for an increase in military pay, Yulin City was also destroyed, and it was also thrown to the foot, Sichuan lost contact, Huguang was blocked by thousands of miles, it took a long time to review, and it was hard One that can be approved is actually the news of the outbreak of the Yellow River flood in Shandong. Now that the national treasury has been dried up and the crisis of national subjugation is imminent, the Emperor Chongzhen still has the heart to care about these things. Finally, a large pile of thick memorials was overthrown by Chongzhen. On the ground, he threw Zhu Pi on the ground violently, and Zhu Youjian slammed the table hysterically and cursed. Anger vented on his head.

But at this time, there was still a light knock on the door, and the angry Chongzhen directly threw the ink cartridge over, roaring, "Who is it! I said that no one should disturb me!"

"Return to Your Majesty, Wu Xiang is here!"

His head was full of ink, and the ink trickled down his eyelids, but Wang Chengen didn't seem to be his own face, still holding his fists with lowered eyebrows, and complaining to the emperor.

After all, he was his trusted eunuch. Seeing Wang Chengen, most of Zhu Youjian's anger disappeared suddenly. Hearing his report, he stood up eagerly and shouted in a panic: "Come here! Comb my hair , change clothes!"

…………

It is enough for a courtier to make the dignified emperor dress up to meet people, but Wu Xiang has this capital. He is the father of Wu Sangui, the commander-in-chief of the Shanhaiguan regiment!

Originally, there were many soldiers and horses available in the Ming Dynasty, such as Sanbian, Xuanda, Sichuan soldiers, wolf soldiers, and Zhejiang soldiers. Almost every province could pull up a strong army. At the beginning of the peasant uprising, only the Shaanxi side could fight a few Hundreds of thousands of peasant soldiers fled with their heads in their hands, blood flowing like rivers.

However, with so many years of brutal tug-of-war, and severe attrition on the outside battlefield, coupled with Chongzhen's own cruelty and ungratefulness, almost most of the legions that could fight were defeated, and the generals who could fight either died or were demoted to peasants. Army, with Zheng Chongjian's three-sided force in Jiaxian County, the entire army was wiped out in Tongguan, and the entire northwest fell into the hands of the Chuang army. Emperor Chongzhen looked around, and there were no soldiers in his hands.

Zuo Liangyu's army is far away in Huguang, and he himself was beaten by Li Zicheng's partial division like a grandson. If he is asked to come to the capital, he will not be in time. Like a wolf, weak as a sheep to the enemy, the Qing army entered the customs in 16 years of Chongzhen, Dorgon just hit Dezhou, this man has already pulled the soldiers and horses and ran to the easternmost section of the Shandong Peninsula, if it wasn’t for Denglaidao governor Zhang Hao, he would have died Guard Wuqiao to prevent him from continuing to advance north. Maybe this long-legged general can run into the sea. The Jianghuai Song Department is considered to be the last strong force, but this one has been so arrogant and domineering since a few years ago. That's it, and besides that, this General Ping Liao is still a typical idler.

Since the 15th year of Chongzhen, the diplomatic missions of Nanyang countries, Japan and other countries have come to the capital dozens of times, vaguely showing the appearance of Wan Guo coming to the court served by the Yongle Dynasty. Unfortunately, the current court is not as strong as the Yongle Dynasty. Unable to spend money to send these foreign guests, in order to support the image of a big country, Emperor Chongzhen even had to secretly take out some treasures in the palace and sell them off. Hate, at this time, he was automatically filtered out.

In fact, Wu Sangui's Ningyuan defenders can't move either. Ningyuan is next to the Qing forces. With this block, even if the Qing army enters the customs, they have to detour thousands of miles and go to Mongolia. But if Ningyuan is lost, Shanhaiguan will not be able to defend immediately. The capital was really exposed to the iron heels of the Qing army overnight.

However, compared with the iron hooves of the Qing army coming north at any time, the threat of the peasant army has been a sling around the neck of the Ming Dynasty. Since Li Zicheng's crusade came, more than 20 days, from the cabinet to the officials, a Feasible strategies have not been put forward. Chongzhen gave hope that Chen Yan, the chief assistant of the cabinet, would personally propose to transfer Wu Sangui's army to the south to guard the capital, but the big guy knows the temper of the Lord Long Live. Even if the capital is saved now, the responsibility for the loss of Shanhaiguan will be held in the future , maybe it will be pushed on your head.

How did Chen Xinjia die?

For no reason, more than 20 days of precious life time were wasted. Finally, unable to bear this kind of torment of waiting to die, Chongzhen decided to open the mouth himself!

Really well-groomed, Da Tianzi seems to have regained his former refreshment, although the bloodshot eyes cannot be covered up no matter what.

Wang Chengen was covered in ink and couldn't see people, so he was replaced by the great eunuch Fang Zhihua, and the reception platform was also smashed into chaos. Wu Xiang was called to Dongnuang Pavilion, but no matter what, he couldn't hide the urgent thoughts of Emperor Chongzhen. As soon as we met, he directly asked anxiously.

"The capital is in crisis. I want to mobilize your father and son's forces to guard the capital. How about it?"

"The ancestral land, the size, don't give up!"

Emperor Chongzhen's irresponsibility caused all his subjects to suffer from sequelae of fear. Immediately, Wu Xiang clasped his fists and tried to persuade him heartbrokenly that he didn't want to take the blame for abandoning the land at all.

A wave of anger instantly bloomed on Emperor Chongzhen's face, but for a moment, he suppressed the anger again, and said urgently again.

"Right now, the thieves are approaching the capital. I have dispatched soldiers from Ningyuan for the sake of our ancestors. How much military salary do we need to enter the customs?"

"One million taels!"

Wu Xiang said another urgent and helpless sentence, but in an instant, Emperor Chongzhen's face darkened instantly, full of despair, he turned his back trembling, and muttered helplessly to himself.

"million!"

"However, there is only 7 taels of pure silver in the house. If you collect gold and silver utensils, you can almost draw 30 to [-] taels..."

"Your Majesty, it must be a million! Ningyuan's army is worth 60. Even if it is only paid for two months, plus food and gunpowder, it will cost 50 taels. Besides, the people outside the pass must not be abandoned. The family members of Ningyuan's army have 40. The resettlement population needs to be at least [-] taels, a million, which is already the minimum limit, Your Majesty..."

Holding his fists with a bitter face, Wu Xiang was still counting strokes, but with his back turned to him, Emperor Chongzhen could no longer listen to a word, his face was full of confusion, and the majestic emperor was shaking dejectedly. head.

"Millions! Millions!"

(End of this chapter)