stubborn thief

Chiseling open the Liaodong border wall was a little more difficult than Liu Chengzong had imagined.

The muddy flats of the Liao River caused a lot of trouble to the clan camp that was digging the wall.

Fortunately, the reaction of the Daiqing Eight Banners was also very slow.

In five full days, only two groups of less than 200 people arrived. Qian Shisheng guessed that they might be the two remaining Niulu.

One team stood on the wall for a long time, but were scared away by cannon fire from the shore the next morning. Another Niulu simply did not climb up the wall, but were seen by a small group of Tang cavalry who climbed up the city wall before the border was broken. They rode their horses from a distance inside the border, wanting to defend but not daring to do so, and only moved eastward after the border wall was broken.

On May 24, the ninth year of Chongzhen, the floating bridge on the Liaohe River was built, and the clan camp rushed to the wall and began to chisel it.

Early in the morning of the 25th, four gaps were chiseled in the border wall.

More than 30,000 marshals crossed the river in large numbers, divided into two groups, and rushed into the capital of the Daiqing Empire.

The army led by more than a thousand Tang cavalry as the vanguard, Wu Sihu led more than 2,000 cavalry from the Beiyuan camp, and combined with Suba's 7,000 Mobei cavalry to make a total of 10,000. On the day of breaking through the border, they crossed the Pu River, swept eastward, swept through the villages and forts along the way, and drove towards Shengjing a hundred miles away.

Liu Chengzong led one brigade and three battalions of more than 20,000 troops and rushed southeast as soon as they entered the border, first crossing the Pu River and then the Hun River, heading straight for Liaoyang a hundred miles away.

This route of advancement is actually related to Qian Shisheng.

Liu Chengzong's original plan was to split his troops into two groups, but he would lead the main force to Shenyang, while Wu Sihu, Subadi and others would lead the cavalry to plunder in Daiqingjingji.

It is necessary to divide the troops into two groups.

Although Subadi's 7,000 Mobei soldiers came to help in the battle, they were not direct troops after all. They could do some cheap things, but they would never fight in the tough battle of siege and capture cities.

At least in this battle, no one will fight him.

The only troops capable of attacking the city were Gao Yingdeng's First Brigade. They were equipped with heavy weapons, but it was unclear whether they could suppress the artillery of the defenders on the city wall of Shenyang.

Therefore, the original plan of the Marshal's Army was for Liu Chengzong to rush straight to the city of Shenyang, relying on speed to rob if he could break through, and turn around and sweep the outside if he couldn't break through, fighting quickly and retreating quickly.

The bridge was built, the border wall was chiseled open, and the army was ready to enter the border. Old man Qian Shisheng said something and directly asked Liu Chengzong to change tactics, sending a small force to march towards Shenyang while the main force directly attacked Liaoyang.

According to intelligence from the Ming Dynasty, the garrisons at the front lines of the Daiqing Empire in Haizhou and Liaoyang were not the Eight Banners, but the Tianyou Tianzhu Army of Huang Taiji of Zhili.

Haizhou was the fief of Shang Kexi, Liaoyang was the fief of Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming, and their families and old subordinates were all here.

When Liu Shizi heard that it was the fief of King Samshun, he immediately ordered Wu Sihu and Subadi to lead their troops to Shenyang, and he led 20,000 troops to attack Liaoyang directly.

Qian Shisheng, who was accompanying the army, looked confused.

He proposed that the fiefdom of the Tianyou and Tianzhu Army was in Haizhou Liaoyang, hoping that Liu Chengzong would avoid Liaoyang. Although Kong Geng's gang were Han troops, they were different from those Han troops who lost the battle on the battlefield and were surrendered.

There were many Han troops in the Later Jin Dynasty, most of whom were forced to surrender when they ran out of ammunition and food. They changed their flags and became puppet troops. They had a serious tendency to avoid fighting when fighting against the Ming Dynasty and could not be considered the backbone of the army.

The Tianyou Tianzhu Army was different. Kong Youde took the initiative to defect to the Later Jin after the Shandong Rebellion, so he was the most diehard when fighting against the Ming Army.

Qian Shisheng believed that it would be more trouble than gain for Liu Chengzong to fight them, and even if he won, he would not be able to weaken the power of the Eight Banners.

To be honest, Qian Shisheng was used to his advice not being accepted.

Because he has seen everything and has a very good attitude.

Qian Shisheng became a student of Gu Xiancheng at the age of twelve, and personally participated in the reconstruction and establishment of Donglin Academy. He studied "The Great Learning" with Gao Panlong. Qian Longxi was his teacher, and Wei Dazhong, Wen Zhenmeng and others were his close friends.

He became the top scholar at the age of 42, but after serving as an official for only a few years, he resigned from his post and returned home to live in seclusion for ten years due to party disputes and a dangerous situation.

It was not until Chongzhen ascended the throne and issued an imperial decree to appoint him to be in charge of the Nanjing Hanlin Academy and the editor of "Veritable Records" that he truly felt that Chongzhen was a sage king sent from heaven.

Qian Shisheng, who was over fifty years old at the time, was so happy that he wrote a memorial to Chongzhen.

Although he had lived in Donglin Academy for half his life, he still told Chongzhen that the court had just suffered a great disaster and the world could not afford drastic reforms. Therefore, when employing people, it did not matter whether they were gentlemen or villains. Even villains with talents could be put to great use. This was something that only a monarch with great heroism could do.

What this means is that when it comes to the eunuch party, the imperial court must also employ people based on their abilities.

He submitted a memorial in Nanjing, and the emperor personally decided the case of treason in Beijing. It took only 49 days from the filing of the case to the verdict, and more than 200 officials of the Ming Dynasty were removed.

For the first time, Qian Shisheng felt that there was something wrong with the emperor.

It just so happened that Yuan Chonghuan was killed, and Qian Longxi, Qian Shisheng's teacher, was attacked as a clique because he recommended Yuan Chonghuan. He was originally sentenced to death and later exiled to Dinghaiwei.

Qian Shisheng escorted and took care of him all the way to Pingjiang Prefecture. He then wrote a letter to the court, saying that he was ill and wished to resign.

However, Chongzhen thought that he was a grateful person because he escorted his teacher, so he promoted him.

The refugees started to make trouble, and the emperor was worried about them.

He submitted a memorial suggesting reducing the old taxes and recruiting refugees to open up new land. The emperor was very pleased, promoted him, let him join the cabinet, and then levied new taxes.

As soon as he arrived in Beijing, he submitted a memorial to the emperor, saying that it was not difficult to suppress the bandits, but it was difficult to eradicate them. The greatest danger to a country was when the emperor did not care about the people who were fleeing.

During his three years in the cabinet, he wrote letters to governors and governors-general in various places, repeatedly reminding them that in order to recruit refugees, they had to do a good job of identifying and resettling them, identifying who were the real traitors and who were the refugees who were coerced, where to disperse them and where to provide them with food and clothing. If this job was not done well, they would eventually rebel.

This sentence, "The greatest trouble for a country is when its people flee and its rulers do not care about them," appeared exactly twice in his memorial to Chongzhen.

This is actually the same as pointing at someone's nose and scolding them.

It was from this time that Chongzhen began to dislike him.

Qian Shisheng had long disliked Chongzhen.

He felt that the emperor was frighteningly impatient in dealing with the refugee problem. On the one hand, he killed old bandit leaders and recruited old bandits, while on the other hand, he increased salaries and taxes, creating new refugees.

Are you recruiting soldiers here?

There is no way to persuade him.

The emperor worries about money every day.

Qian Shisheng studied the canals in Beijing. Between Qihuamen and Tongzhou, there is a Tonghui River, which is a small canal built by Guo Shoujing in the Yuan Dynasty.

This river was used to transport grain. Every year, 4 million shi of grain was transported from the south to the north and stored in Tongzhou. Among them, 1.6 to 1.7 million shi were transported from Tongzhou to the capital via the Tonghui River.

Shipping by ship doesn't cost much, but if it is transported by land, the price of this batch of grain will be expensive.

During the Ming Dynasty, the river was blocked during the Yongle period because there was no sluice; during the Zhengtong period, a sluice was built, but there were problems with the water source again; during the Jiajing period, the water source was solved, but there were problems with feng shui again.

Fortunately, Jiajing did not believe in Feng Shui. He was the chief of the Five Thunders and had three halls struck by lightning. Yet he could write "Fire Alert or Question" to call on the people not to believe in the theory of communication between heaven and man. How could he believe in Feng Shui?

Besides, what kind of person is a Feng Shui master? How could he understand Feng Shui better than a god?

The repairs saved 110,000 taels of silver in the first year the ship was opened.

During the Wanli period, the river was blocked again.

It was no surprise that the Grand Canal was blocked during the Wanli period, let alone this small canal which was only 40 miles long. It was blocked until the Chongzhen period, and the annual freight costs for transporting grain and fodder from Tongzhou to the capital ranged from tens of thousands to more than 100,000 taels.

Qian Shisheng wondered if this money wasn't just being thrown away every year.

He wanted to dredge the Tonghui River again. After calculation, it would only cost a few hundred taels of silver and the job could be done in two months. What could he not do with the money left over from the annual shipping?

The Feng Shui master in the capital came out again and said that Bai Fu's water diversion would damage the imperial mausoleum.

Even the Emperor Daojun didn't care about the Feng Shui master, but the Emperor Chongzhen, who cried poor every day, cared about it, but it couldn't be repaired.

By this time Qian Shisheng had already given up hope on the court.

Over the past seven or eight years, he had offered the emperor countless strategies, big and small, including leniency, tax reduction, people's peace, suppressing bandits, increasing revenue and reducing expenditure, but not a single one of them was fully adopted and fully implemented by the emperor.

The emperor read each of the suggestions, praised them one by one, and promoted him continuously, but none of the suggestions that could be put into practice were useful.

There was no other way, Qian Shisheng planned to go home. He had been in office for all these years and had not accomplished anything practical.

Chongzhen was kind to him, and there was a difference between the emperor and his subjects. He could not blame the emperor for being too impatient and having problems, so he could only look for the reasons in himself and think that he was useless.

So he presented Chongzhen with the "Four Precepts", which read "Be lenient in governing the people, be simple in ruling those below, be humble in heart, and be fair in policy making", meaning that he wanted the emperor to see his heart and listen to his words, and then his work would not be in vain.

The meaning of these four sentences is very simple. They tell Chongzhen to be more straightforward, tolerant and peaceful towards his ministers, not to imprison and kill people at every turn, and to use softer political means to do things.

All policies in the world are poisonous. Any policy that is not well thought out will have a negative impact that the world cannot afford.

Just as he had presented the four strategies, the martial artist Li Yan came to suggest plundering the wealthy families in the south of the Yangtze River.

Qian Shisheng was determined to put Li Yan in prison because he was afraid, but not because he was from Jiangnan and was afraid that his property would be confiscated in the future.

But when he was studying in his early years, he did not think solely of relying on the imperial examination to enter the officialdom and make a living, but learned a lot of economic knowledge.

Today, there is no peace in Qin, Jin, Chu, Yu and Jiangbei, Sichuan and Guizhou have been at war for years, Guangdong and Guangxi are in remote areas, and northern Zhili is under the threat of the Eight Banners. The Ming Dynasty looks very big and strong, fighting against the stupid bandits in the west and resisting the Jin invaders in the east, but the only actually safe places are half of Jiangnan and a canal.

Regardless of whether Jiangnan is rich or poor, or whether the gentry are good or bad, at least several million shi of grain can be transported to Tongzhou every year. This is a capability that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.

The food could be seen and touched in Beijing, and the troops in Ji and Liao could eat it.

If you really want to seize power, you can seize all the royal relatives living outside the imperial city. The increased income will not affect the situation in the world, and the grain from the south of the Yangtze River can still be transported here, which is at least an increase in revenue.

You yourself have destroyed the only relatively stable Jiangnan region. The gentry have risen up in arms against you, and the tenants and serfs are not grateful for your kindness.

If the two sides start fighting and the canal is cut off, how can the Ming Dynasty continue to perform its drama?

The emperor didn’t understand such a simple truth. Did Wen Tihen not understand it either?

Chongzhen was right when he said that Qian Shisheng was always thinking about seeking fame.

Because Qian Shisheng wanted to pass the buck. He was really incompetent and could not assist the emperor, nor could he save the collapsing empire. So he wanted to leave some words to prove that it was not that he wanted to do nothing, but that he wanted to do a lot, but people just didn't listen.

He can't help it.

And Liu Chengzong... Liu Chengzong was even more stubborn and self-willed than Chongzhen, so it was even more impossible for them to listen to him.

According to Qian Shisheng's understanding, if a mirror was placed between Liu Chengzong and Chongzhen, two tyrants of the same age would be reflected.

The journey from the border wall to Liaoyang was very difficult for Qian Shisheng.

He thought about it over and over again, but couldn't understand why Liu Chengzong was so determined to attack Liaoyang. Finally, when they were still thirty miles away from Liaoyang and camped to rest, he asked.

Liu Chengzong was delighted when he heard this: "Lord Qian, there are things you don't understand, right? Attacking Kong Geng's city will certainly not hurt the Eight Banners, but it will hurt Huang Taiji, and they are not that difficult to deal with."

Liu Chengzong had given careful consideration to whether to attack Shenyang or Liaoyang.

Dai Qing's livestock and people were all retreating to the outskirts of Shenyang. Even if he could besiege Shenyang before Huang Taiji, there were sufficient troops in the city and time was tight. He would have to withdraw as soon as the reinforcements arrived.

Of course the benefit is to capture Shenyang, which must be a huge benefit.

The wealth in Liaoyang may not be that great, and conquering the city may not yield more than plundering the outskirts of Shenyang.

But the advantage is that once it is conquered, Huang Taiji's rule will be shaken.

Because Kong Geng's troops were not the main force in the ecological niche of the Later Jin Dynasty, but like Liu Chengzong's Mongolian Legion and Zu Dashou's Yi Ding, they were internal deterrent forces directly under the leader.

If this force is crushed, Huang Taiji's rule will definitely be shaken.

Qian Shisheng was extremely smart and didn't think in this direction at first, but when Liu Chengzong said it, he reacted.

"The Grand Marshal is attacking Liaoyang in order to cause civil unrest in the Eastern Tartars?"

Liu Chengzong nodded first and then shook his head: "It won't be a civil strife, it will just make his rule more difficult."

The Eight Banners were a group of feudal nobles. After losing the army of King Sanshun, the power held by Huang Taiji was almost the same as that of other great nobles, which naturally increased the variables of his rule.

Qian Shisheng still looked worried when he heard this, as if he still felt that Liu Chengzong's plan to attack Liaoyang was inappropriate. He said, "But Kong Geng and other rebel generals are fierce and will definitely defend the city to the death. I'm afraid..."

"I don't think so."

Before Qian Shisheng could finish, he was interrupted by Liu Chengzong, who shook his head and said, "Those are Ming troops. Master Qian also said that they are rebels who defected to the Eastern Tartars and shaved their heads. If they fight against the government troops, they will fight to the death, otherwise their heads will be in danger."

Liu Chengzong raised his hand and pointed at the main camp: "These are also rebels. There are many soldiers in the army who have shaved their heads and left pigtails. I will not punish them for rebellion and surrendering to the enemy, so what are they afraid of?"

"This……"

Qian Shisheng was speechless for a moment, as if this was indeed the case.

At this moment, the sound of footsteps came from outside the tent. Zhang Xianzhong led the messenger into the tent and said, "General, an urgent report from the brigade."

"Come."

When Liu Chengzong took the letter, he saw it was written by Gao Yingdeng, saying that the cavalry of the First Brigade was on night patrol and caught the night guard sent from Liaoyang.

During the interrogation, it was learned that there were two cities in Liaoyang. The old city of Liaoyang was on the west bank of Taizi River, and the Dongjing City built by Nurhaci was on the east bank. It contained the Khan's palace and the Daiqingzu Mausoleum was in the east of the city.

At this time, only Kong Youde was stationed in Liaoyang with his troops, and the city was poorly guarded. The Han army was first drawn away by Shi Tingzhu, and then Huang Taiji recruited Geng Zhongming and the artillery unit. There were only 3,000 soldiers in the city.

Gao Yingdeng wrote to ask whether we should attack Dongjing City on the other side of the river separately when we arrive in Liaoyang City tomorrow.

"Geng Lao Er is not here, so it's the same if we deal with Kong Youde first."

Liu Chengzong turned around and said to Zhao Jifang: "Write a letter, attack the old city of Liaoyang first, be careful and don't let the enemy attack from outside the city."

After that, he said to Qian Shisheng: "There is another benefit to attacking Liaoyang. It can attract the main force of Huang Taiji's Eight Banners and allow our detachment heading to Sarhu to attack his hometown in Jianzhou!"

Liu Chengzong couldn't help but shake his head as he spoke: "The ancestral grave is not in the same place as my hometown, but I was able to find it. This is fate!" (End of this chapter)