Aspiration

Chapter 170 Li Zicheng's Massacre

When Dorgon heard this, he had an idea.

He thought that Li Laiheng sticking to Beijing was for the stability of Xi'an.Now, we don't fight Beijing, let Beijing become an isolated city, and our main force concentrates on attacking Shaanxi, so that Li Zicheng can't be emperor in Xi'an at ease, he will definitely ask Li Laiheng to save him.Yep, that's a good idea.

Thinking of this, he said to Azig and Duoduo, you two are limited to capture Xi'an within half a month.Azige marched from Shanxi to attack Li Guo's tribe; Duoduo marched from Hebei to Henan and captured Tongguan

Dorgon's brain was working very quickly, and after a while, the entire battle plan was formed.He just thought about it and said that there is basically no need for major revisions.Even Azig, who has always been conceited, has to admire this younger brother.

The final decision was that Dorgon continued to contain Li Laiheng in Beijing, and Azig and Duoduo attacked Shaanxi at the same time.

In Beijing, Li Laiheng, Li Yan and Hao Yaoqi were together.They understood that it was very dangerous to win this big battle, and they were really lucky to be together.

Li Yan said: "I am very worried now. Two roads are very difficult for us. One, Dorgon left us and attacked westward. We have nothing to do in this isolated city of Beijing. Enter , there is no logistical support, retreat, there is no way to retreat. The second road, Dorgon's main force is stalking us, I think, Beijing City can only be defended for half a year. The key is that the emperor must organize forces in time to march eastward, so that we can way out."

Li Laiheng was also depressed. He was worried that Li Zicheng would no longer consider the matter of the Eastern Expedition. In this way, it would be meaningless for them to stay in Beijing.

What is Li Zicheng doing at this moment?

If Li Laiheng knew what Li Zicheng was doing now, he would definitely vomit blood with anger.

Xi'an has now been changed to Chang'an.Since Li Zicheng and his generals are mostly from Shaanxi, the idea of ​​establishing the capital of Xi'an is easy to understand.

These days Li Zicheng has not been actively preparing for the Eastern Expedition as Li Laiheng thought, nor has he placed officials in Henan and Hubei, but is doing two things.The first thing, he sent Wu Ruyi and Li You to conquer the "Great Western Empire", that is, to conquer Zhang Xianzhong.The reason is that one country cannot have two masters, and if there is Dashun, there cannot be Daxi.Most of the generals and civil servants were in positive support of this proposal. Only Tian Jianxiu and Song Xiance had different ideas, but they did not dare to provoke public outrage, and only raised their concerns about the Western Expedition.Of course, there was another reason why the two of them did not resolutely oppose it. They believed that the reason why Li Zicheng released the words of the Western Expedition and sent Li You and Wu Ruyi to lead [-] troops into Bashu was mainly because of political needs. Emperor Dashun is orthodox, the real dragon emperor who represents the will of heaven.The second is that he was worried that Zhang Xianzhong would come out of Qishan to attack Li Zicheng like Liu Bei did back then, so he took active defensive measures, using offense as defense.This strategy was a very fatal move for Li Zicheng. He already had insufficient troops, and now that he was fortified on all sides, he was defenseless everywhere. How could he have the energy to deal with the Manchu regime?The second thing is to build a large-scale construction project and continue to complete the construction of his palace on Panlong Mountain in the north of Mizhi County, Li Zicheng's hometown.The palace is close to the mountain and has [-] steps on the front and back. It connects the beautiful and unique Le Tower, Plum Blossom Pavilion, Pengsheng Tower, Ertian Gate and the Yuhuang Pavilion standing in the sky, winding and orderly straight up to the top of the mountain. On an open flat land on the top of the mountain, there are majestic and magnificent Qixiang Hall and Zhaoqing Palace.Its buildings are majestic, tall and straight, with great momentum.

These two things are inseparable from Li Zicheng's own thoughts.Li Zicheng's ambitions have faltered since the defeat of the Three Customs. Although he didn't show it, deep down he wanted to settle down in a corner, occupy the land of the Three Qin Dynasty, and be a local emperor.But what kind of ambition does Niu Jinxing have?He fled all the way from Beijing back to Xi'an, still in shock. He repeatedly begged Li Zicheng to step up his defense and reinforce his troops in Tongguan and other places, and he finally calmed down a little.

Indeed, Li Zicheng is now focusing his energy on defense.Li Guo deployed heavy troops along the Yellow River to prevent Qing troops from crossing the river.Tens of thousands of Ma Shiyao guarded Tongguan to prevent Qing soldiers from entering Xi'an from Henan.Wu Ruyi and Li You were in the west to prevent Zhang Xianzhong from advancing eastward.Only in the south, Li Zicheng still controls Xiangyang, trying to form an alliance with Zuo Liangyu.

Li Zicheng sent two special envoys to approach Zuo Liangyu, hoping that Zuo Liangyu would support Dashun, and Li Zicheng agreed to make him a vassal.However, Zuo Liangyu prevaricated. He neither explicitly rejected Li Zicheng's alliance, nor gave up his support for Emperor Hongguang. He stationed troops in Hankou, strangled the throat leading to Nanjing and Jiangnan, and waited and watched the changes.

Today, Li Zicheng received Li Laiheng's battle report and knew that they had defeated Dorgon's several attacks.He was very happy and said that with Li Laiheng guarding Beijing, the Qing soldiers could not go west or south.Seeing that Li Zicheng was so happy, Tian Jianxiu wanted to remind him of the crisis Li Laiheng was facing, and even more so, that the Qing soldiers would probably ignore Li Laiheng and go west.But Li Zicheng is respected as the emperor now, and there may be unforeseen disasters if he is disturbed. Therefore, he tried his best to restrain himself and secretly told himself that it would not be too late to remind him after Li Zicheng calmed down. However, at this time, Li Zicheng suddenly said that he would send Liu Fangliang Entering Bashu, Tian Jianxiu couldn't help it.

He said: "Your Majesty, although Li Laiheng defeated Dorgon in Beijing, it was only a partial battle and did not fundamentally change the overall situation of the war. I believe that Li Laiheng's battle report is not an announcement of good news, but a report of worry."

When Li Zicheng heard it, he asked disapprovingly, "What is reporting worry?"

Tian Jianxiu replied: "Li Laiheng said in the battle report, 'Although the enemy chieftain is defeated, its momentum has not declined. I am afraid that the lonely army will not last long, and I am even more afraid that Dorgon will find another way to harass Shaanxi." The minister thinks that Li Laiheng is worried about Dole. Dagon ignored Beijing, directly attacked Shaanxi, Henan, and even went straight to Jiangnan. In that way, Beijing became an isolated city, or a dead city.”

Hearing the death word, Li Zicheng was not happy. He said, "Li Laiheng is no ordinary general. He is in Beijing. Dorgon absolutely dare not go west or south rashly. Isn't he afraid that Li Laiheng will cut his way?"

Li Zicheng's voice just fell, and there was a lot of praise.These echoing praises came not only from the civil servants who surrendered, but also from Li Zicheng's original brothers.Since Li Zicheng became emperor, the voices around him have changed a lot, especially for some civil servants who surrendered.Someone speaks, someone listens, and then more people speak.

Therefore, with Li Zicheng's analysis, many voices echoed him.

"Your majesty is wise, with Li Laiheng's troops in Beijing to restrain him, how can the Qing soldiers dare to attack?" The civil servants were always very firm when they agreed.

"Yes. There are Li Laiheng and others in the east, and His Majesty the Wise Commander in Chang'an in the west. Sooner or later, the Qing soldiers will retreat and withdraw from Shanhaiguan.

There were many similar echoes and flattery, but no one said a word for Tian Jianxiu, as if Tian Jianxiu committed a heinous crime today.

"General Tian is always pessimistic and disappointed recently. This is not good, this is not good, it will affect the morale of the army." Some people began to criticize Tian Jianxiu.

Liu Zongmin has always had a feud with Tian Jianxiu, so he said contemptuously: "Jianxiu, you should focus on the defense of the capital you are in charge of, and you should worry less about other things. I think your spirit has been worn down too much. It’s not appropriate to express too many opinions.”

Tian Jianxiu was really speechless, he managed to muster up the courage to remind him, but was criticized by everyone for being partial and bruised.

Song Xiance originally planned to express his opinion, but when he saw that the situation was not right, he quickly covered his mouth tightly and swallowed the words that came to his mouth.

At this time, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance came out to play.He said that now there is a phenomenon of concealing the number of people in various states and counties, and there are even more cases of tax resistance. Landlords in various places generally use the poor harvest as an excuse to refuse to pay various taxes.Now the grain depot is empty, and if we don't think about it as soon as possible, there will be a shortage of food, and the food shortage will be troublesome.Then, he analyzed the reasons. Naturally, he would not talk about the problems of the poor, because Li Zicheng and others represented the interests of the poor.He said that those wealthy people are very hateful. Not only do they not want to overcome difficulties and contribute to Dashun, but they find excuses to evade their responsibilities.

After Hubu Shangshu finished speaking, a group of generals who had followed Li Zicheng for many years spoke up. They said, "Kill!"

"Yes, kill!" Niu Jinxing, as the number one civil servant, gave instructions as the prime minister, "The landlords and local tyrants who fight against taxes and rents, kill a few of them. No, kill a group of them, and kill the prestige of our Dashun Dynasty." Come. Let me see, each prefecture, county, township, and mile selects a group of people who dare to oppose our Dashun Dynasty, and kills his entire family, exterminates his three clans, and exterminates his nine clans."

Niu Jinxing's words were very vicious, he seemed to be full of anger and had nowhere to vent, so he said something that made the generals feel ashamed.

Niu Jinxing did not expect that what he said would soon become a trend in Shaanxi. From then on, all counties and counties started killing people, and finally turned into a competition. It seemed that the magistrate of that county was incapable of killing less people in that county.

This disaster is like a plague, quietly spreading everywhere.

Li Laiheng heaved a long sigh when he received the information from Chang'an in Beijing.

"What's wrong, this kill, it's our Da Shunchao who was injured."

Li Laiheng and Li Yan sighed at the same time.

Lao Jiu had a look of vicissitudes on his face, so he sorted out a piece of information and came to report to Li Laiheng and Li Yan. He said: "Chang'an is not very stable. Some country gentry and landlords, old ministers of the Ming Dynasty began to contact Wu Sangui's people secretly. Wu Sangui has also approached the Yellow River with Azig, and they are planning to forcibly cross the Yellow River with the support of the people organized in Shaanxi. In addition, Duoduo has entered Henan and is preparing to storm Tongguan. Therefore, the situation in Shaanxi is not optimistic."

"Not only Shaanxi, but the whole country is not optimistic." Li Yan said, "The emperor has no plans to go east, and now even most of Henan has given up. It is meaningless for us to stick to Beijing like a trapped animal."

Why doesn't Li Laiheng know?Now, he was restrained by Dorgon, and Duoduo and Azig concentrated their forces to storm Shaanxi, and there was no suspense about victory or defeat.

Now, how about ditching Beijing?
One is to advance westward, attack Azig or Duoduo, and form a decisive battle situation. Can Li Zicheng agree?The second is to break through and develop in Henan. Isn't this the reason why Li Yan was killed in history?The third is to go out from Juyongguan and harass the old lair of the Qing Dynasty. Is the expedition without logistics realistic?

Li Laiheng was thinking about his next plan.

Seeing that Li Laiheng did not answer, Li Yan continued, "In my opinion, the best move is for us to enter Henan, temporarily abandon Beijing, control Henan, and Shaanxi will be stable."

Li Yan said a sentence that he was wronged through the ages.

Hundreds of years later, when people talked about Li Zicheng's final defeat and killing, they all felt sorry for Li Zicheng's mistaken killing of Li Yan.

Li Yan was killed because he proposed a development strategy in Henan, and Li Zicheng suspected that he had a different intention.

Li Laiheng was determined not to let Li Yan be killed by Li Zicheng.He put forward the idea of ​​a decisive battle westward.

"Go west to Shanxi and destroy Azig near the Yellow River!" Li Laiheng made up his mind.

Others could not eliminate the Qing soldiers during the movement, but he, Li Laiheng, could do it.

The plan to abandon Beijing was not approved by Li Zicheng, who only agreed to half of the plan.That is, if the city of Beijing continues to be occupied, Li Laiheng can send troops westward to join forces with Li Guo to attack Azig.

Li Laiheng had no choice but to ask Li Yan to discuss the matter.Li Yan thought, this kind of plan is too risky, Beijing has already become an isolated city, and now they send troops to the west to support, how can Beijing be defended?Therefore, Li Yan said: "Laiheng, I think it is better to manage Henan. We have to defend Beijing and send troops to the west. As a result, we can imagine that we will be wiped out. How about this, we divide the troops, you just need to give I have [-] troops, if there are too many, I don’t want any of them, I will go back to Henan for development. After half a year, I will lead my troops to the north to break the siege of Beijing and drive out the Manchurians.”

Li Laiheng hesitated.It wasn't that he didn't believe Li Yan's words, nor was he reluctant to give Li Yan five thousand soldiers. What he worried about was that Li Yan would attract Li Zicheng's suspicion because of this, and he was worried that Li Yan would be killed by Li Zicheng.Because that's how history is.

Li Yan insisted on his point of view. He was confident that in Henan, he only needed half a year to develop a force of about [-] troops. Qing decisive battle.

Li Laiheng thought, since Li Zicheng had no plans to advance eastward, this deadlock had to be broken, and letting Li Yan stand out to develop might be the only living move.After thinking about it, Li Laiheng said: "General Li Yan, this is a good idea, but this strategy must be proposed to the emperor in my name, otherwise, I am worried that others may misunderstand."

Li Yan naturally didn't understand what Li Laiheng meant. He could only understand that the relationship between Li Laiheng and Li Zicheng was closer, and the chances of getting support were greater.

(End of this chapter)