Back to the end of the Ming Dynasty when the emperor

Chapter 291 Of course you have to kill the Tartars first

In the second year of Shunzhi, the first year of Hongguang, that is, in mid-March 1645, Zhu Yousong completely pacified the warlord power of Wuchang Hou Zuo Liangyu and his son, so that the vast area east of Yichang, that is, Yichang under the actual control of the original Zuo Liangyu , Qianjiang, Tianmen, Dangyang, Jingzhou, Xiantao, Suizhou, Xiangyang, Wuchang, Jiujiang, Hukou, Pengze, De'an and other vast areas are loyal to the Nanming court again.

So far, the problems of the warlords in the late Ming Dynasty supporting their own self-respect and not listening to the imperial court's restraint have all been resolved.From the four towns in Jiangbei to the personal conquest of Wuchang, it took Zhu Yousong more than half a year to carry out five personal conquests, big and small. for a full four months.

Compared with Zhu Yousong's use of troops against the warlords of the four towns, including Huang Degong, Gao Jie, Liu Liangzuo, and Liu Zeqing, although these times were all conquests by the royal family, the last time and scale are the best.Because it took less than a month for Zhu Yousong to deal with the warlords of the four towns, but this time it took four months, which can be said to be longer than the sum of the four towns.

Speaking of the largest scale this time, Zhu Yousong mainly mobilized more than [-] soldiers including elite troops such as the Imperial Battalion and Navy Battalion. The family with the greatest potential threat to the imperial court is Zuo Liangyu.

In addition, it happened to be winter that the Zuo family's father and son were personally conquered. Affected by the weather, the troops had been rested for two months. This is also an important reason why the expedition lasted the longest.

Compared with eliminating the influence of the warlords of the four towns, there is another obvious difference in the use of troops by Zuo Liangyu and his son this time. Counting people and horses, only more than 3 soldiers and horses were recruited before and after, while Zuo Liangyu and his son had 53 horses. This ratio is too small. There are also more than 4 people. Except for Huang Degong, who all surrendered to the imperial court, about half of the soldiers and horses of the three warlords surrendered to the imperial court.

This can only be that Zhu Yousong's policy towards them is different. The four warlords Zhu Yousong mainly punished the chief villain. Policy, this was also what he considered from the perspective of the overall Nanming crisis at that time.

It was different for Zuo Liangyu, especially after Zuo Liangyu's death, Zuo Menggeng led the people to surrender and became traitors. Zhu Yousong never allowed them to surrender, and mainly focused on killing the traitors and eliminating their vital forces.

This time Zhu Yousong's best plan was the direct confrontation with the Qing Tartars. The most exciting thing was that the two princes of the Qing army were personally killed by him outside Jiujiang City. Ten thousand Tartars, but the significance is extraordinary.

The most important strategic significance is that the Eight Banners Iron Cavalry is invincible, and the Tartars are no more than that!Zhu Yousong established such confidence for the civil and military officials, which undoubtedly dealt a heavy blow to those peacemakers and Qing-fearers in the court. It eliminated their misunderstanding and established Zhu Yousong's true dragon emperor prestige.

After Wuchang Marquis Zuo Liangyu's power was settled, Zhu Yousong felt more confident. He rewarded the three armies in Yichang, rested his troops and horses, and stabilized the people's hearts. He stayed for ten days in total, and the time came to early April.

Yichang is not far from Sichuan, and there is still a staunch enemy of the Ming court in Sichuan, that is Zhang Xianzhong, a giant lord who claims to be the king of Daxi and is called a thief by Ming, but Zhu Yousong did not move him easily this time.

The main reason is that there is not much food and pay. Although Zuo Liangyu and his son got a lot of spoils this time, such as armored equipment, tents, food and wages, tens of thousands of people marched and fought, and they spent a lot of money.

Of course the army is enough, the terrain in Sichuan is complicated, and the land of Qin and Jin also has a powerful enemy that threatens the Ming Dynasty the most, that is Li Zicheng, the king of trespassers. Although the trespassers are very frustrated now, they won the Tongguan battle and their vitality was not damaged. , Jiaolong gets cloud and rain, it is definitely not a thing in the pool.Once he gains power, Li Zicheng will inevitably leave Tongguan and point his sword at Daming.If the thief and the thief join hands, it will be even more troublesome.

Therefore, for such a strong opponent, don't provoke it easily for the time being. It is better to wait until the court soldiers have enough food and resources, and then use them after planning. Anyway, Zhang Xianzhong is still in Sichuan and Li Zicheng is still in Shaanxi.

Another main reason is that Henan is still fighting fiercely. The armies of Henan and Shandong provinces are fighting with the Qing army, and they are advancing and retreating. Kaifeng (that is, the current Kaifeng area) is the main battlefield. This Prince Yu Duoduo is awesome Unexpectedly, with only 7 horses, Lu Jiude and Huang Degong's 20 million troops could not take advantage.

Duoduo is so powerful that Zhu Yousong was famous before wearing it.In history, most of the short-lived Nanming regimes were executed by him. In particular, Emperor Hongguang was directly torn from his dragon chair by him. The historical tragedies Yangzhou Ten Days and Jiading Three Massacres were all caused by him. The chief designer and executioner, his hands were stained with the blood of the Han people.Thinking about this, Zhu Yousong was furious, and he didn't want to be unhappy.

Compared with the Tartars, the bandits must be killed first!

Therefore, Zhu Yousong decisively decided to send his troops northward from Yichang to conquer the Tartars.The marching route or combat strategy has also been determined, that is, go out of Yichang, go to Xiangyang, pass through Nanyang, take Luoyang, and go straight to the rear of Duoduo.

Before leaving, Zhu Yousong mobilized troops to condemn the generals, and left [-] troops in Yichang and Wuchang, led by Luo Dai and Daoxing. Du Yinxi, the governor, still participates in politics for Huguang.

The official titles of these three officials are the same as before, but the scope of their duties has been adjusted, mainly to allow them to oversee the military and government affairs of the five provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Guangxi, Guangdong, and Jiangxi.

These three officials are all talents with both civil and military skills, and any of them can be regarded as national heroes in history. Therefore, Zhu Yousong asked them to run the southwestern important area of ​​Nanming with military titles. strength.

The three officials were so grateful that they knelt down on the ground and kowtowed for the emperor's kindness.

Before Zhu Yousong left, Zhu Yousong told the three of them that the [-] soldiers and horses left behind for him could be dispatched when necessary, mainly to defend against thieves and intruders. Thousands of soldiers and horses are definitely not enough, so they have to recruit soldiers and horses to prepare for the imperial court.

However, due to the shortage of food and salaries, Zhu Yousong did not allocate one tael of silver and one stone of grain to the three officials. They needed money to recruit troops to guard against thieves, manage the local area, and clean up the officialdom. Zhu Yousong asked them to temporarily list them from the income of the five provinces. branch.In other words, the income of the five provinces this year can not be handed over to Chaoyan for the time being, and the three of them will discuss and find solutions to other difficulties.

The three officials once again knelt down to express their loyalty, reassuring Zhu Yousong that they would definitely devote themselves to their hearts and minds, and repay the mighty emperor's favor.

After all the arrangements were in place, Zhu Yousong personally supervised and led an army of [-] troops, left Wuchang with the loot such as food and salaries, and headed for Luoyang in a mighty way...

　PS: Have a great weekend everyone.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)