I

  Chapter 366 364 [Manchu sent troops]

   The last bowl of sorghum porridge, Sun Chuanting drank less than half a bowl, and then sat in the courtyard and wandered away.

   Concubine Tian was nursing the baby in the house, she dared not reveal her identity, even though Sun Chuanting had just helped.

   "Da da da da!"

There was the sound of horseshoes in the alley, and some officials rode their horses and shouted along the way: "Your Majesty has an order. All the squares in Beijing will implement the Baojia Law. From tomorrow onwards, the price of grain will be stabilized. Each square will supply grain with the amount of Baojia! Officials below the third rank of the Ming Dynasty, or Those who have been dismissed from their posts and are willing to submit to the new dynasty will be selected as officials immediately!"

  Sun Chuanting was a little surprised that Li Zicheng was short of food, so he sold food to the common people at a low price and limited quota.

  As soon as this policy comes out, the city of Beijing, which is about to collapse, can immediately restore order.

   "Master Sun." Concubine Tian Gui shouted from inside the room.

  Sun Chuanting asked: "Which family is Madam, have you ever seen me?"

  Tian Guifei said: "Although you and I have never met, but Governor Sun reported his name just now, then we know each other. Please come in and talk to Governor Sun."

  Sun Chuanting stepped into the room, and the baby fell asleep after feeding.

   "This is His Majesty's youngest son, who has not yet reached the age of one hundred days." Tian Guifei said.

"what?"

  Sun Chuanting was taken aback suddenly, and quickly asked, "Do you have proof?"

  Tian Guifei said: "It is very urgent to leave the palace, and there is no certificate."

  Sun Chuanting frowned, doubtful.

  Tian Guifei took out the bamboo flute: "This flute is made of jade bamboo inlaid with gold. In the whole north, only a few are planted in the imperial palace."

  Glancing at the bamboo flute, Sun Chuanting basically believed it.

  Sun Chuanting did not ask Concubine Tian Gui's identity, but only said: "What does Madam want me to do?"

  Tian Guifei said: "A rebel official passed by just now. Officials below the third rank, or dismissed officials, can be hired on a merit basis. I am presumptuous, and I invite Sun Dushi to be an official in the puppet dynasty."

  Sun Chuanting became more and more confused: "Why?"

   "I have no money to buy food, and Sun Dushi has no money to buy food. It is important to save the life of the prince." Tian Guifei's reason is very simple.

   "Good!" Sun Chuanting immediately agreed.

  Sun Chuanting immediately took Tian Guifei away, and the two agreed on their identity relationship, saying that Tian Guifei's mother and son were Sun Chuanting's deceased relatives.

   After reporting his name, Sun Chuanting was quickly interviewed by Li Zicheng.

   In fact, Li Zicheng has been busy meeting various people. He even went to the suburbs in person, communicated with the elderly nearby, and promised that he would be exempted from taxes for three years.

  There are also a large number of shabby officials in Beijing, who have no chance to embezzle, and all of them are poor.

  These poor officials were promoted and appointed by Li Zicheng, and they were also released to take over the prefectures and counties. Give a sum of travel expenses and food, let officials promote the policy, and say that the land tax will be exempted for the next three years.

  Since one wants to ascend the throne and become emperor, a grand ceremony must be held.

  If you want to hold a grand ceremony, you must have a large number of civil servants, otherwise the ceremony process will not be clear.

  Li Zicheng quickly reorganized and set up a cabinet with Niu Jinxing as the head and assistant.

  Change the Hanlin Academy to the Hongwen Museum, change the six departments to the six governments, and change the six departments to the six government advices.

  Hou Fangyu's father, Hou Xun, has been appointed Minister of the Military Government, that is, Minister of the Ministry of War.

  Hou Xun was forcibly recruited in his hometown, and Hou Fangyu was also recruited. If you don't follow the thief, you can't do it, otherwise you will be copied and killed!

  Sun Chuanting volunteered to serve and was immediately appointed as the left servant of the military government.

   Even, Sun Chuanting was given a mansion, allowing him to temporarily live in the confiscated Xungui's home.

   Next, a series of decrees were issued, and at the same time vigorously rectified the law and order in the capital. Several Dashun soldiers who were forced to buy and sell were beheaded in public. The already very good military discipline instantly became equal to Zhao Han's Datong army.

  Sun Chuanting was very shocked by this, but soon disappointed again.

  The civil officials under Li Zicheng's command are actually decorations, because the principle of employing officials is "to use force to control literature". Sun Chuanting's position is similar to the Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War, but he can only assist in the management of ordnance, and cannot intervene in military issues at all.

  In order to show his magnanimity, Li Zicheng even appointed Bian Dashou as the magistrate of Daxing County.

   Bian Dashou dug Li Zicheng's ancestral grave!

  …

   "Your Majesty, good news, Hong Chengchou and Ma Ke are willing to lead the army to surrender!"

   "Okay, the fruit is a great thing!"

   Li Zicheng was very happy. On the second day after he took the throne, Jizhen and Shanhaiguan all surrendered.

   Sure enough, it is the destiny!

   On Hong Chengchou's side, some generals still had doubts.

  For example, Cao Bianjiao, who almost killed Li Zicheng, worried that he would be retaliated against in the future.

  Bian Dashou was appointed as the county magistrate, Cao Bianjiao immediately let go of his worries. He could surrender, but he refused to give up his military power. The two sides bargained, and the deal was quickly made.

   More than 20,000 Jizhen soldiers and 10,000 Shanhaiguan soldiers became Li Zicheng's subordinates.

  It seems to be complete, but in fact there are many problems.

  The 70,000 elite troops brought to Beijing by Li Zicheng were indeed strictly disciplined. But the rest of the troops were either recruited rebels or surrendered Ming troops, and their military discipline, morale, and combat effectiveness were in a mess.

  At the beginning of May, Li Zicheng officially opened a course to obtain a scholar, allowing scholars in Beijing to directly enter the Jinshi examination.

   At this moment, Ma Ke sent an urgent military message: "The Mandarin slaves are approaching Shanhaiguan. Shanhaiguan is short of food and grass, and morale is low. I beg Your Majesty to send troops to rescue!"

  Northern Zhili had a large number of secret works of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties. After the fall of Beijing, Huang Taiji immediately dispatched troops in a hurry.

  Huang Taiji personally led the main force to approach Shanhaiguan, Hauge and Dorgon each led the division, and invaded from Lengkou and Xifengkou respectively.

  Li Zicheng, who was planning to march south, had to mobilize troops to deal with the Manchus.

  Li Zicheng attached great importance to this, and specially appointed a "Shanhaiguan Defense Envoy" to go to Shanhaiguan to supervise and guide Ma Ke's work.

  This defense envoy is named Zhang Ruoqi.

  The world line seems to have come to an end. In history, Wu Sangui guarded Shanhaiguan, and Li Zicheng also sent Zhang Ruoqi to be the defense envoy of Shanhaiguan.

  Regardless of his sincere attachment or not, Sun Chuanting could not sit idly by, and ran to see Li Zicheng overnight: "Your Majesty, Zhang Ruoqi does not know soldiers, and likes to corrupt and seize power. You must not send him to defend Shanhaiguan!"

   "I know you have an enmity with him. Don't get me with the party disputes of Ming Dynasty." Li Zicheng reprimanded.

  Sun Chuanting hesitated to speak, completely giving up on Li Zicheng, ready to take the prince south at any time.

   Zhang Ruoqi was appointed and immediately set off for Shanhaiguan.

  One operation, the Shanhaiguan officers and men complained a lot.

  Fortunately, Li Zicheng was born as a soldier, leaving only a small number of troops to garrison Beijing, leaving more than 60,000 elite troops, including Shanhaiguan soldiers, a total of 80,000.

   On Huang Taiji's side, there are only 40,000 troops, including 300,000 soldiers.

   After several days of confrontation, the military rations were greatly consumed. Li Zicheng decided to take the initiative to go out to fight, and he still wanted to save the military rations and go south to fight Shandong.

   "Report, the enemy has left the customs!"

   "Just come, the whole army retreats."

  After hearing the news from a distance, Huang Taiji was very happy, and took the initiative to retreat to Yong'an Fort, choosing to defend the city.

  The defense of Shanhaiguan was turned into a siege of Yonganbao by Li Zicheng.

   After half a month of fighting, Huang Taiji completely turned into a turtle. The 40,000-strong army was divided into two, one was to defend Yong'an Fort, and the other was to defend the nearby mountains, forming a corner to resist Li Zicheng's attack.

   This guy is stalling for time. His two partial divisions have to detour across the Great Wall and go straight to Li Zicheng's rear.

  The outcome of the war has actually been decided long ago.

  Li Zicheng didn't take the Manchu Qing to heart, and didn't even release the details. He only sent sentry cavalry to spy on the enemy's intelligence.

   And Huang Taiji has eyeliner everywhere, and he knows Beizhili well, and his military plan is very targeted.

   At this time, Huang Taiji was still alive, and the Manchu Qing army was at its peak, not the Qing army who came to fight Shanhaiguan after the internal strife.

  …

  Cold port direction.

   Tang Tong, who has surrendered to Li Zicheng, is drinking and having fun in the city.

  Da Ming is dead, everything is easy.

  Tang Tong has run out of military rations, and now he doesn't think about anything. Just wait for Li Zicheng to win the battle and come back to pay himself, otherwise his soldiers will mutiny.

   "General Town, it's not good, the Tartars are here!" The guards rushed in to report.

   "Go!"

  Tang Tong was so frightened that he ran to the stable in a hurry.

   While running, he suddenly came to his senses, how could Li Zicheng's group of rogues beat the elite soldiers of the Tartars?

  Tang Tong defeated the bandits many times, and lost to the Manchus many times.

  He has contempt for Li Zicheng and fear for Man Qing, and immediately feels that Man Qing will win at the critical moment.

   What's more, the Manchu Qing army has already killed, and I must not be able to resist it.

  Even if Li Zicheng wins the battle, but he loses the cold mouth, he will most likely be accused. It is better to surrender now.

  Tang Tong rode on his horse and ordered the whole army: "Follow me to welcome the soldiers into the village!"

   "The enemy has surrendered!"

   "Haha, the Han people are still so courageous."

   Hauge laughed out loud, which did not surprise him.

  Manchus and Qings came to attack the Great Wall Pass every time, and the defenders of the Ming Dynasty fled after hearing the news. The only difference, before was to escape, this time it became a surrender.

  After accepting the surrender, Hauge encouraged him, and said to Tang Tong: "Soldiers are precious, don't delay, and immediately lead the troops to fight Jizhou with me!"

  Tang Tong came up with an idea: "General, I think we can attack Qian'an first."

   "Why did you call Qian'an first?" Hauge asked.

Tang Tong explained: "The guard of Qian'an is Bai Guang'en. This man was originally a bandit, but he was recruited by the Ming Dynasty and became the general soldier. He is a thief himself, and he kills thieves ruthlessly. He has a big grudge against Li Chuang's lieutenant general. Moreover, this man was born as a bandit, although he is well appreciated by Hong Chengchou, he has many conflicts with the other generals in Ji Town. Now that he is forced to submit to Li Chuang, no matter whether it is Li Chuang's people or Hong Chengchou's people, they may find him to settle old scores."

  Haug smiled and said, "There are no people outside here."

   "That's true," Tang Tong said with a smile, "Bai Guangen is anxious and afraid of being retaliated by all parties. As long as the general arrives, this person must surrender to my Qing Dynasty!"

  Haug said: "If Bai Guangen offers the city and surrenders, I will give you a great service!"

   "Thank you, General, for your appreciation." Tang Tong was overjoyed.

  The Manchu and Qing divisions joined forces with Tang Tong to advance, and as soon as they arrived at Qian'an City to persuade them to surrender, Bai Guangen ordered the soldiers to open the city gate.

   Before a battle was fought, Haoge had 8,000 more soldiers under his command, and then sent his troops to attack Jizhou, where Hong Chengchou was sitting.

  Haoge had good luck in this way, but Dorgon kicked the iron board.

  Dorgon also attacked Xifengkou by surprise, but was immediately counterattacked by Cao Bianjiao.

  Cao Bianjiao led his servants to attack at night and killed Dorgon's tent. Fortunately, they were all elites. Not only did the Qing army not collapse, but they were able to gather troops to encircle them.

  Cao Bianjiao successfully broke through, led the troops to Jizhou, and joined forces with Hong Chengchou's pacesetters to defend the city.

  Hong Chengchou was very embarrassed, he had soldiers but no food.

   (Sorry, something happened, the update is late.)

  (end of this chapter)