stubborn thief

Chapter 651: Ming Dynasty Henan General

King Wan'an was killed and the Fu clan was besieged, causing an uproar in the court.

The impact was even greater than the earlier rumors of the massacre at Tongguan.

Just as King Han at the Marshal's Office thought, the ministers in the court also had the same opinion: King Wan'an was dead, and it didn't matter much.

After all, King Wan'an, like most princes in the world, has a very distant blood relationship with Emperor Chongzhen. They are all descendants of Zhu Di.

In name, Prince Wan'an was actually the emperor's uncle. He was the ninth-generation grandson of Zhu Di, and Chongzhen was the tenth-generation grandson of Zhu Di.

Their relationship ended there. When Chongzhen heard the news that Prince Wan'an had been killed, his reaction was the same as that of his ministers: This prince is so unlucky.

Prince Fu is different.

He is Chongzhen's uncle, and it is no exaggeration to say that anything happening to Prince Fu is a matter of concern to the state.

As soon as the news of the siege of Fuzhou reached the capital, all the civil and military officials were silent when they went to court the next day, too frightened to speak.

Chongzhen had no place to vent his anger, and when he saw the officials' expressions, he became even angrier.

  Liu Chengzong led his troops to invade the east, and a decisive battle in Shaanxi almost caused the biggest military defeat of the Ming Dynasty since the Tumu Fortress. The officials in the court dared not say a word about western affairs. How did Chongzhen feel?

He didn't feel it.

The emperor has become numb.

I still haven't figured it out in my head, and I can't understand how Liu Chengzong could have fought the battle so cleanly.

Generally speaking, for example, in the Battle of Sarhu, the army marched out of the border 88,550 troops, lost more than 48,000 soldiers and more than 300 generals, which was an unprecedented defeat. A year or so after the battle, Liaodong was gathering the remnants of the defeated troops.

This was a normal battle, and more than 42,360 soldiers were able to return after it ended.

  How could a family's wealth be completely lost in a war?

Liu Chengzong was lucky. The Ming Dynasty mobilized more than 100,000 soldiers from five provinces, including Qin, Sichuan, Ning, Hu, and Yun, and launched a major battle in Shaanxi, but it came to an abrupt end.

Sporadic reports were sent to him, but there was no news of the person he wanted to kill, and those who could deliver the reports seemed extremely loyal.

Lu Xiangsheng was almost exhausted in Huguang, running around chasing after various bandits and robbers.

Hou Liangzhu, the general of Sichuan, was the most active in sending reports to the imperial court. He was the only one who could speak on the southern battlefield, and the imperial court had to believe whatever he said.

In Tangbao, he was fighting hard and fiercely. He defended Sichuan from attacks by rebels and bandits many times and even extended the battle line to Hanzhong area to protect Sichuan. He was the Southern Pillar of the Ming Dynasty.

It’s true that Hou Liangzhu never told a single lie in the Tangbao newspaper.

He did command 20,000 Sichuan troops and fought a series of battles at the border between Sichuan and Shaanxi. After all, Gao Yingxiang in Shaanxi and Yao Tiandong in northern Sichuan were both rebels, and we didn't say in the Tangbao that we were fighting against Liu Chengzong, right?

As for the fact that there were not many results, it was because there was a severe flood in Hanzhong. Our troops were stationed in the south of Han, while the enemy troops were stationed in the north of Han. We were separated by the water and could not reach each other. It was all heaven's fault.

  In short, against the backdrop of defeat on all four fronts, General Hou strangled the rebels by the throat, preventing them from attacking Tianfu with a single soldier!

Of course, Chongzhen was not completely deceived. He still had eunuchs supervising the army, but the supervisor also praised Hou Liangzhu.

Given the situation at that time, Liu Chengzong fought like a devil. The northern army was still communicating well the day before, but the next day the four armies changed flags and the military momentum collapsed. The southern army was still in the ascendant during the day, but was wiped out that night.

With the morale of the army shaken, the Sichuan Army was almost frightened and fled back to their hometown. It was only thanks to Hou Liangzhu's extremely high prestige and his compliance with the morale of the army that the situation was stabilized.

It is not empty talk to say that he tried his best to protect Sichuan. If it were not for him, Gao Yingxiang would have been divided into two parts by the flood and would definitely have entered Sichuan.

As the only remaining general, Chongzhen's hand twitched as he held the knife, but he really couldn't kill him, which made him even angrier.

As for the Lieutenant General Zu Dale, he was as clever as a monkey.

His battalion was originally a Liao cavalry battalion, a model unit in Liaodong, and half of its soldiers followed Zu Kuan to reincarnate.

As for the remaining half, Zu Dale was frightened and ran away from the battlefield. Later, he gathered the surrendered troops along the way. His force was more than before the war, approaching 6,000.

He first ran to meet Hou Liangzhu in Sichuan, and then ran all the way east. He didn't dare to say a word to the court before leaving Shaanxi.

By the time the imperial court received his news, he had already fled to Huguang with his officers and soldiers to help Lu Xiangsheng fight.

It’s true, even when facing Liu Chengzong, Zu Dale was frightened by Zu Kuan’s death and didn’t even know how he ran away.

However, when facing ordinary bandits in Huguang, General Dale was himself and struck back with heavy blows.

Li Zicheng had just entered Huguang and had not been showing off his power for long before he was overthrown by his Liao soldiers. The miners' rebellion that rose up in Yunyang and other places was chased and beaten by Zu Dale.

After the defeat in Shaanxi, Zu Dale became more active in suppressing the rebellion in Huguang.

Even the generals' habit of being reluctant to go into the mountains to suppress bandits was gone. They could be said to fight wherever they were ordered to, go into the mountains when they were told to, cross the river when they were told to, open fire at full force, and command the officers and soldiers of the two battalions to fight desperately.

Not afraid of death.

Zu Dale is really not afraid.

The Liao soldiers have always relied on their strong armor and four hooves to fight hard and kill the flag slaves and the white armor. They all have one head and two hands. They deserve to die because they have no ability.

He was afraid of dying in the same way as Zu Kuan. Before he could even fire his long arrows or three-barreled gun, before he could even touch the enemy's body, in a few puffs of gunpowder, an entire group of soldiers and horses were gone.

When those damn lowly Later Jin banner slaves saw the chariot camp, they had to squat far away and wait for the shield carts to be delivered, and then hide behind the shield carts and press forward.

Zu Dale couldn't accept that kind of death.

As a result, the military supervisors in Huguang kept speaking well of Zu Dale, as this was the right time to use people.

  Chongzhen was so angry that he had no place to vent his anger. He even wanted to execute a few ministers, but he couldn't figure out who to kill!

However, not all the things the court has faced recently are bad.

At least there are good things in the east.

For example, Emperor Chongzhen was so angry that he almost had Yang Sichang arrested and put in jail.

As early as this year when the Later Jin invaded Xuanda, officials in the court had never stopped impeaching Yang Sichang.

This is mainly because of Yang Qi.

Just like when Wang Huazhen was impeached for raising Hanhuduntu, everyone said that Yang Sichang was wasting money and food by raising Yang Qi.

Of course, many local officials in Xuanda, Shanxi also impeached Yang Qi, saying that he was a liar. He was blocked in Guihua City by 20,000 Later Jin troops and was besieged like a grandson. There were no 100,000 Mongolian soldiers at all.

Emperor Chongzhen also felt that Yang Qi was as cowardly as a mouse. He commanded a large army but was trapped in Guihua City by Dorgon, crying for his parents. He was truly a useless general in the city.

This also made him feel that Liu Chengzong's ability to employ people was very poor.

If he was Liu Chengzong, the supervisory officials sent by the Grand Marshal's Office should have arrived in Guihua City by now. Not to mention beheading Yang Qi as a public display, they would also have put this useless general who brought disgrace to the Marshal's Office into prison.

He will never be allowed to stay in the position of Governor of Mo Nan and deceive the world and steal the name.

But Yang Sichang was not stupid. Facing the emperor's questioning, he certainly had to defend himself.

After writing several memorials, Yang Qi's actions outside the border and the threat he posed to Dorgon were explained one by one, which finally calmed Chongzhen down. The one who felt the most uncomfortable was Yang Sichang. He actually knew very well that the reason why many officials impeached him was not because of personal grudges, but because Yang Qi's method of dealing with the Later Jin army was practical and effective.

However, this effective method violates the political correctness of the Ming Dynasty.

No one is a fool.

Yang Qi fortified his cities, cleared the fields, avoided fighting, refused decisive battles, and relied on delaying time to counter the logistical problems of the Later Jin Dynasty's lack of supplies.

Is it useful? Of course it is.

But the Ming Dynasty did not dare, was unwilling, and was unable to use this tactic.

This is a tactic that is unacceptable from top to bottom.

No one hopes that the Eastern Tartars will break through the border this year and Yang Qi's example will become a model. Next year, the Eastern Tartars will enter Shanxi, and the Ming army in Shanxi will fortify the local areas and burn the land to the ground, leaving the Later Jin with nothing to rob and forcing them to retreat.

That's just fucking unrealistic.

First, the assets of officials, gentry, generals, in short, all the rulers of the Ming Dynasty are outside the city. Do you mean to just clear the city and destroy the countryside?

Second, given the current military expenditure and discipline of the Ming army, is it possible to predict if those soldiers received the order to first clear the countryside and then burn it down, or first burn it down and then clear the countryside?

Third, we can defend Shanxi and clear the countryside, but what if the Later Jin breaks through the border wall of Jizhen? Should we defend northern Zhili or even outside Beijing?

  Who are those who are being cleaned up? Can they be cleaned up?

Even if we look at things from a positive perspective, everything is fine. By clearing the countryside once a year, we can hopefully outlast the Later Jin. But for the Ming Dynasty itself, production stagnation and the losses suffered by local military, civilians, officials and gentry are greater than a single invasion and robbery by the Later Jin.

This method of defending a city won’t work.

What's the point of raising soldiers and generals? We must fight to the death!

This is the real reason why Yang Sichang was impeached.

But he had no temper. Even if he was so angry that his teeth were itching, he couldn't tell Chongzhen about these politically correct things.

After all, who knows that Chongzhen can't afford to lose this man? From the first year of Chongzhen to the present, the Ming army and the Later Jin army have won or tied countless battles on local battlefields. Unless the main general died, there are only a handful of people who have been praised by the emperor for their good fighting.

Never be satisfied. If you lose a fight, it is shameful; if you win, it is a deserved victory by bullying the weak.

But in fact, no matter how big the Ming Dynasty was and its territory was vast, it was too far away and could not exert its strength. In the local battlefield in Liaodong, it could only draw, which meant that the weak defeated the strong.

From Yang Sichang's perspective, this battle made him look at Yang Qi from outside the border with a new respect, and his impression of him changed greatly.

Although Dorgon led his troops for a stroll to the south of the desert, and was very impressive militarily in blocking Yang Qi in the city and did not suffer too much loss when he plundered Xuan Da, it was a complete failure on the political level.

Everything happened because of Yang Qi's interference, which changed the nature of Dorgon's Western Expedition.

Dorgon's Western Expedition originally had a main purpose and a secondary purpose.

The secondary purpose was to find food on the way to Mo Nan.

The main purpose was to show the existence of the Later Jin to the Mongolian tribes south of the desert during the meal, to pull back the Mongolian tribes that had surrendered to the Marshal's Office, in order to compete with the Marshal's Office for the ruling right south of the desert.

As a result, because of Yang Qi... Actually, it’s not Yang Qi’s fault. Yang Qi from the Marshal’s Mansion is just the scapegoat.

It mainly depends on the will of the Mongols, the real masters of the south of the desert.

In order to preserve a certain degree of independence for the Mongolians south of the Gobi Desert, Sanang Taiji of the Ordos tribe offered advice to his lord Jinong Elinchen.

It is suggested that he take up the banner and take advantage of the fact that his immediate superior Yang Qi is a Han Chinese and does not yet understand Mongolian ways, and first rely on the superiority of the old aristocratic bloodline that has ruled the grassland for generations to lead the new aristocrats in team building in the Marshal's Office.

The whole incident is that simple.

The team building was very successful. By looting the Karashian tribe, the old nobles demonstrated their brilliant strategic deployment, and the new nobles showed sophisticated tactical skills. Everyone worked together as one, increasing the team's centripetal force and cohesion.

But this resulted in the failure of Dorgon's goal of conquering the west before he reached the grasslands south of the desert.

With Karashen gone, the number of registered Mongolian soldiers of the Later Jin Dynasty dropped sharply from more than 9,000 to more than 1,000. The Mongolian tribes south of the desert that participated in the looting of Karashen all became enemies of the Later Jin Dynasty and all fled to the vicinity of the Ming Dynasty's border wall deep in the Mu Us Lake.

Even if Dorgon managed to recover the wealth, population and livestock, he could only recover part of the losses, and his goal would still fail.

Therefore, actions like besieging Guihua City, trapping Yang Qi in a circle, and raiding Xuan Da were all just acts of impotent rage after the goals had failed.

Many people, including Yang Sichang, understood this situation, but Chongzhen was the only one who did not understand.

Long after the Battle of Mobei ended, the border defense posts along the way reported to the Ministry of War. Starting from Xuanyun, Jizhen, Liaodong, and the border wall guards along the way all reported that deserters and herdsmen were vying to rebel from the Later Jin Dynasty, and hundreds of them had fled to the Han area and requested to join the army.

This situation has occurred every year.

After all, the times were not good everywhere. The border troops of the Ming Dynasty were starving, and the people outside the border were already at the point where they would either starve to death if they didn't rob desperately.

But there were not as many as this year, and the border officials summarized the situation of each fort and reported it to the Ministry of War. It was easy to analyze a piece of information: those who rebelled against the Later Jin were all Mongolian soldiers and Mongolian herdsmen.

When all the frontiers sent reports on the interrogation of deserters and herdsmen to the Ministry of War, the situation became clearer - the foundation of the Ming Dynasty had been shaken for decades, and it was finally the turn of the Later Jin Dynasty to be shaken.

It was not until this time that Chongzhen realized that Dorgon's Western Expedition was a complete failure.

There was no one left in the left and right battalions of the Mongolian army of the Eight Banners of the Later Jin Dynasty.

These two camps were filled with Mongolian soldiers who had not yet been incorporated into the Eight Banners of Manchuria. The sudden loss of male men caused people to become uneasy. Rather than being incorporated into the various banners and serving as banner slaves, they decided to escape into the border walls and beg for food.

But in fact, fleeing into the border wall was only the practice of some Mongolian herdsmen who were dependent on the Later Jin Dynasty.

The greatest impact of this Battle of Mobei, which took place in the summer of the eighth year of Chongzhen, was that it made the small tribes living in the eastern part of Mobei realize that the Later Jin could not gain enough advantage in the Mobei grasslands.

  Then when the next conflict begins, they will be the first stepping stones to be hit - Harashen was so powerful, but he was killed and looted, let alone them?

Therefore, more small tribes where nobles still existed simply drove their livestock to the northwest to seek refuge with Chechen Khan Shulei.

In the court, as Zhang Yichuan captured Yongning and besieged Luoyang, they discussed ways to break the siege.

At this time, Zhang Renxue, a Jinshi graduate and military inspector of Henan, submitted a memorial to the court.

  He said that it is the duty of a minister to do whatever is necessary. The enemy is so powerful, can we just sit back and watch?

He proposed to the emperor and requested the court to change his position, expressing his willingness to serve as a military general and personally command the army to fight against the rebels.

Chongzhen liked this kind of spirit so much!

The matter was immediately brought to the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Censorate for discussion. As a result, the ministers all thought that this matter was outrageous and suggested that the emperor give Zhang Renxue an assignment to be in charge of military affairs, and there was no need for him to hold a military position.

Would Chongzhen agree to this?

  If you want to get things done, you must do them thoroughly and well!

He immediately rejected all objections and appointed Zhang Renxue as the commander-in-chief of Henan, ordering him to organize the army and recruit generals as soon as possible to lead the army to rescue Luoyang, the capital of Henan Province, from siege.

good morning!