Aspiration

Chapter 101 Strategy Change
In the Forbidden City, there is a rare happy atmosphere.The governor of Shandong and other good news came frequently, and they worked together to kill a large number of Qing soldiers.

Sitting on the dragon chair, Emperor Chongzhen became much more energetic. He looked at the general civil servants and military generals, and thought to himself that the imperial court still had many talents.

He finally breathed a sigh of relief.Shandong Qing soldiers were all wiped out.He wants to issue an order to reward the Governor, Governor, General Soldier, and Taiwan-making officials of Shandong.

Beheading six thousand elite Qing soldiers, the results are brilliant!
The battle report on beheading the Qing soldiers was sent out on the fifth day of June.On the seventh day of June, Emperor Chongzhen received the battle report. When he saw that all the Qing soldiers who invaded Henan were beheaded, he was so excited that he didn't fall asleep all night.This is an unprecedented achievement.

Rewarding Shandong officials is a must, and Hong Chengchou doesn't have to return to his teacher Qinwang.

However, the order to urge Hong Chengchou to step up the attack must be sent as soon as possible.There is no elite in Shandong, but it was able to kill thousands of elite Manchu troops. He Hong Chengchou led eight general soldiers with tens of thousands of horses. There is no reason why he should not understand the siege of Jinzhou, and there is no reason why he should not annihilate the Qing soldiers. Therefore, he must be urged to step up the attack The main force of Manchuria.

There are only 10 troops in Manchuria and the Eight Banners of Han Dynasty, and less than 20 in the Eight Banners of Han Dynasty. With the addition of troops from Mongolia and North Korea, the Manchurian army is only more than 20. Can these [-] people really be able to compete with our Great Tomorrow Dynasty? Yet?

Emperor Chongzhen couldn't figure it out.

He must urge Hong Chengchou to step up his attack.

"Chen Xinjia."

"Your Majesty, I am here." Chen Xinjia knelt in front of Emperor Chongzhen and replied.

"The decree. Hong Chengchou led 50 troops. He has been going north for several months. It has been protracted, wasted money and food, and failed to accomplish an inch. Order, the army and horses under his subordinates will attack the Eastern captives vigorously, and they must not wait and see." Emperor Chongzhen said angrily. .

"I obey the decree. Immediately draft an imperial decree to urge Hong Chengchou to step up his attack, break the siege of Jinzhou as soon as possible, and severely damage the main force of the Manchus." Chen Xinjia repeated.

Today, Emperor Chongzhen is in a good mood, and Shandong has won a big victory. This is the rare good news for a long time.

"Well. The great victory in Shandong, how to reward the meritorious ministers and generals, the Ministry of War has drawn up a plan." Chongzhen said.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Chen Xinjia knew in his heart that Shandong Qing soldiers were not killed by Shandong officers and soldiers. He also wondered, what kind of army has such a powerful combat force?However, the governor of Shandong and others said with certainty that they killed him, and the emperor was convinced of it.That being the case, let's not pierce this layer of paper.

Therefore, he followed the emperor's words and said that Shandong civil servants and generals should be rewarded heavily.He suggested that in the future, anyone who kills the head of a Qing soldier will also be rewarded heavily.

Emperor Chongzhen said yes.The other ministers also said yes.

Chen Xinjia was not in a good mood today, but seeing that the emperor was in a good mood, he had bad news to report, so he had no choice but to suppress it first.

In fact, Chen Xinjia just received a report that Kaifeng, Henan is in crisis.Li Zicheng claimed to have millions of soldiers, and now he has swarmed eastward, preparing to attack Kaifeng, the capital of Henan.

Kaifeng is the capital of Henan and the fiefdom of King Zhou. Now there are only 2 Kaifeng guards.To defend Kaifeng, it is absolutely impossible to rely on these [-] people alone.

Kaifeng is an important city in Chinese history. As the capital of Henan Province, there is a lot of grain and silver in the city, with reserves exceeding ten Luoyang cities.At this time, the military rations that Li Zicheng was in need of, conquered Kaifeng, and the food and grass for millions of troops for half a year were solved. Therefore, the attack on Kaifeng was of great value to Li Zicheng's development.

Kaifeng, located in the hinterland of the Central Plains and on the bank of the Yellow River, has a history of more than 3000 years.The Xia Dynasty established its capital in Kaifeng for 157 years and was called Laoqiu, and the Shang Dynasty established its capital in Kaifeng for 27 years and was called Xiaoxiao.After all waste.During the Spring and Autumn Period, Zheng Zhuanggong built a granary city here and named it "Qifeng", taking the meaning of "opening up and sealing the frontier".Wei in the Warring States period, Houliang, Houjin, Houhan, Houzhou in the Five Dynasties period, Northern Song Dynasty and Jin Dynasty all established their capitals here, and it is known as the "city of seven dynasties".Especially during the Northern Song Dynasty, from the Chenqiao Mutiny to the Southern Song Dynasty, after 168 years of the Nine Emperors, "the population exceeded one million, and the goods were concentrated in the north and south." It was the political, economic, and cultural center of the country at that time, and it was also an international metropolis.

Regarding the attack on Kaifeng, Li Zicheng's generals were extremely enthusiastic, and even Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, and Li Yan did not raise any objections.

Today, Emperor Chongzhen is happy.An ordinary minister would not have the guts to destroy the Emperor's elegance, and neither would Chen Xinjia.However, compared with the emperor's elegance, the safety of Kaifeng is much bigger.

Therefore, Chen Xinjia really didn't dare to conceal such a big matter.

"Your Majesty, I still have important military reports." Chen Xinjia finally couldn't bear it and said.

Emperor Chongzhen's complexion changed slightly. He knew that there must be no good news for Chen Xinjia to play again at this time, and there might be some bad news.He thought, could it be something outside the customs?

"Your Majesty, it is reported that Li Zicheng has millions of troops and is ready to attack Kaifeng!" Chen Xinjia said tremblingly.

"what"

Chongzhen's face was full of anger. It seemed that Li Zicheng's appearance was caused by Chen Xinjia.He was frightened by the word "million".

"Where did he get 100 million soldiers? Could it be that he can turn beans into soldiers?" Chongzhen asked.

"Your Majesty, there have been a lot of hungry people recently, coupled with the mutiny and surrender of the officers and soldiers, Li Zicheng indeed has 50 soldiers and horses, and he is called a million people."

This is indeed bad news. Li Zicheng has hundreds of thousands of troops, and he can suddenly fight against the imperial court.

Chongzhen asked, what is the plan of the Ministry of War?
Chen Xinjia had already made plans, and replied truthfully that he would ask the emperor to issue a decree. Sun Chuanting would still be the supervisor of the division, and he would hold the title of Minister of the Ministry of War to control the strength of nine provinces. Henan, Shandong, Hebei, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Huguang, Anhui, Hunan, and Jiangsu nine Provincial troops should be deployed by him.Give Shang Fang a sword for protection, below the commander in chief, cut first and then play.

Chongzhen thought to himself, it had to be like this.Sun Chuanting is not bad, Zhang Xianzhong was killed by him and disappeared, now let him take advantage of the victory to pursue and destroy Li Zicheng.Last time he decreed that the generals of the five provinces could be transferred by him. Now that the situation is urgent, the soldiers and horses of the four provinces will be added under his control.He felt that it was not enough, he had to recruit troops, and he had to raise a large amount of military pay, because the two battles inside and outside the pass were almost at the same time, and victory or defeat depended on it. Therefore, he instructed the Ministry of Households to prepare military rations and salaries as soon as possible to meet the needs of the front line.

The Minister of the Household Department smiled wryly, where did the military rations and salaries come from?

Sun Chuanting received the appointment notice seven days later.He thought, although his soldiers surpassed all previous supervisors.However, the cold sweat told him that his subconscious had already told him that his result would not be any better than Yang Sichang.

That night, he also quietly prepared a bottle of poison.

Li Laiheng returned to Luoyang City.

Li Zicheng was both happy and worried after hearing his introduction of his experience of fighting against the Qing soldiers.However, he quickly shifted his mood to the attack on Kaifeng.

Sure enough, Li Zicheng had no intention of running Luoyang at all.What Li Zicheng meant was also what he meant when the old general took orders.They believe that to defend Luoyang firmly, the defending force must be twice the combat force.Although he now has 60 troops, in this way, he has about [-] troops left to attack the main force of the Ming army, and he has no advantage at all.He thought, why not take into account the gains and losses of a city and a pool?In this way, hundreds of thousands of soldiers can be led to sweep across the Central Plains, destroy the main force of the Ming army, and then take Xi'an, Shaanxi as the center, proclaim the emperor the king, and then carry out the Eastern Expedition. , Hebei, and Beijing.It won't be long before the world is set.

However, this strategy is obviously wrong.Xi'an used to be one of the best places to build a capital. However, with the passage of time, food, population, water transportation, etc., it is decided that Xi'an is no longer the best place to build a capital.Of course, Luoyang is not the best place, but for the current expedient, Luoyang is still more suitable than ten Xi'an.

There are advantages and disadvantages in attacking Kaifeng.It's good to be able to capture it in one fell swoop. The food and grass can meet the expenditure of the army for more than half a year. However, if it cannot be captured, the officers and soldiers gathered all over the country may force Li Zicheng to fight in the Central Plains.

In the decisive battle in the Central Plains, for untrained soldiers, there are more defeats than victories.

Li Laiheng expressed his concerns again.

Li Zicheng laughed loudly, and said affectionately: "Laiheng, you don't understand this. I now have an army of 60, known as a million, and I can completely sweep the country. Now, we don't care about the gains and losses of a city or a pool, so as to eliminate the main force of the Ming army. As the main goal. As long as the officers and soldiers are almost wiped out, the Ming Dynasty will be over soon? Laiheng, Chongzhen is now suffering from internal and external troubles. If we don’t give him a fatal blow at this time, don’t we wait for him to recover? No way? Besides, Luo Rucai waited until the original thirteen rebels were ready to join us. Haha, we will be able to eliminate the officers and soldiers soon.”

"King Chuang, have you considered Manchu soldiers?" Li Laiheng said.

"Manchu soldiers? There are tens of thousands of them, and they dare to be an enemy to our army of one million? Worry too much, worry too much." After speaking, Li Zicheng laughed loudly.

(End of this chapter)