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Chapter 938 Chongzhen's Helplessness and Wisdom
When Dorgon was thinking about whether to send Azige to attack, he suddenly heard a sentry report from the front that the soldiers and horses under Wang Pu, the commander-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty, were building a pontoon bridge, intending to cross the Xiaoling River to the north.

When he heard the news for the first time, he couldn't help being shocked. The Ming army was advancing step by step on the Nuer River and Xiaoling River, blooming everywhere, although it seems that Ningyuan Wu Sangui is still the main attack.

But at this moment in the battle, the Ming army of five routes has gone northward. It can be seen that the Ming army is determined to win this, and the troops that can be mobilized by one's own side are becoming more and more limited, but Zhang Cheng's Xuanfu army has not yet appeared. Dole Dagon couldn't help feeling anxious.

He looked up and caught a glimpse of King Azige of Wuying County, and said suddenly: "King Wuying, you lead the warriors with white flags inlaid, and the Mongolian warriors with two yellow flags from Adai and Tulai, and immediately go to the south pass of Jinzhou to face the general army of Datong King of Ming Dynasty. "

Azige was stunned for a moment, never thought that Dorgon would suddenly send him to lead the army to attack, although he failed to lead the army to fight against Wu Sangui's troops as he wished, but it is rare to be able to lead the army alone.

He was overjoyed, received the order loudly, turned around and called Adai and Tulai's names, and left in a hurry without delaying at all.

…………

But at this moment, subtle changes have taken place in the situation on the battlefield between the Ming and Qing. With Wang Pu's joining, the strength of the Qing army has become slightly stretched.

In fact, since the Battle of Jinzhou until today, both the Ming army and the Qing army have been exhausted, relying on the breath of their respective leaders to barely maintain it.

Not only did the Qing Dynasty mobilize the whole country to deal with this battle, but even the magnificent Ming Dynasty, which is known for its vast land, rich resources and large population, almost mobilized the whole country.

Now almost all the soldiers and horses that can fight in the whole country have been mobilized to Liaodong. Even the money and food needed for this battle are raised from all over the country and transported here with difficulty.

It can be said that if this battle is lost, the rebellious bandits in the Ming Dynasty will no longer be able to be cured, and there will be no soldiers capable of fighting, and they can only be allowed to become a prairie fire.

This battle was not only a battle of national destiny in the Qing Dynasty, but also a battle of national destiny in the great Ming Dynasty.

No matter which side is defeated, it will immediately face the decline of national power and the situation of the people's power. It will no longer be able to cope with the next war, and maybe it will really destroy the country because of this battle!
Both the high-level officials in the Ming and Qing Dynasties had a deep understanding of this. The only difference was that the Qing State was from top to bottom. Both the king and the courtiers had a clear and profound understanding.

However, the kings and courtiers of the Ming Dynasty were still immersed in the great dream of the Great Ming Dynasty. They were not only extremely optimistic about the Battle of Jinzhou, but also did not regard it as a fatal event. Instead, they regarded it as a way to attack political opponents Tool, trying to control the success or failure of the Battle of Jinzhou above the court.

Perhaps only Hong Chengchou, governor of Jiliao, Qiu Minyang, governor of Liaodong, Zhang Dou of the military constitution, Yao Gong of the procuratorate and other frontier ministers can have some clear understanding, but they are in the frontier, but they are powerless to influence the political disputes in the court .

It can only be reduced to a pawn in the political struggle of the court!

It was also with a slight awareness of these things that Emperor Chongzhen once again ordered the eunuch Wang Chengen to come to Liaodong in the name of passing on the decree and sit here after he had already dispatched a supervisory army.

…………

In fact, Emperor Chongzhen was not a fool, but the political situation in Ming Dynasty was already like this, and the entire civil official group had become corrupt. They fought against each other and formed an extremely huge interest group.

This group has even grown so large that even the current emperor dare not confront it face to face!
Because, this civilian interest group that hugs each other for warmth is already extremely large. If they rashly tore up their skin with it, who can guarantee what kind of things they will do when they jump the wall in a hurry?
It might be a good idea to change the Zhu family's children to continue to be the emperor, but it is really urgent, and there is no guarantee that they will not change the surname of the entire Zhu family tomorrow.

Although Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian was born in the emperor's family, he was bullied while urinating. His mother Liu Shi was just a lady who was not favored at the time. Zhu Changluo died after being scolded.

From then on, Zhu Youjian was raised by a servant surnamed Li Xuan, but not long after, this servant Li Xuan also gave birth to a princess, and he had no time to raise Zhu Youjian, so he was raised by another servant Li Xuan.

It can be seen that Emperor Chongzhen's childhood life was not satisfactory, and he had several different caregivers, which made him develop a cautious and suspicious character.

Even when he was canonized as the King of Xin, Zhu Youjian became more cautious when the eunuch "nine thousand years old" Wei Zhongxian took over the power, for fear of being caught by Wei Zhongxian, he would punish himself.

Just imagine, Zhu Youjian was only a 16-year-old doll when he became emperor, and before he inherited the throne, he lived cautiously in fear because of fear of being convicted.

He had never received any instruction in the art of emperors. At the beginning of his ascension, he obeyed the words of the Donglin Party and other civil officials. He not only severely punished the eunuch Wei Zhongxian, but also eradicated the "eunuch" who was attached to him in one fell swoop. group.

After cutting off Wei Zhongxian's party, Emperor Chongzhen worked conscientiously and worked hard to restore the Ming Dynasty's decline and realize the great cause of rejuvenating the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, the young Emperor Chongzhen credulously believed in Yuan Chonghuan's "five-year flat Liao" strategy, and the cabinet also used Donglin's one-party courtiers, but he never thought that the situation in the court would be worsened day by day.

Not only did the "five-year Ping Liao" turn into empty talk, but the country was full of wars and thieves, and the external environment became increasingly difficult. With the death of Mongolian Lin Dan Khan, Hou Jin finally freed up his hands to further cut off the wings of Ming Dynasty.

North Korea also became its vassal under the force of Hou Jin.

As for Jiannu, in the ninth year of Chongzhen, he changed the Yuan Dynasty and founded the country, showing his strong desire to be on an equal footing with the Ming Dynasty, and even to compete for the world.

All this caused Emperor Chongzhen to lose trust in the courtiers of the Donglin Party, and he had several cabinet ministers because of this, but the courtiers were all focused on party and political struggles, and they all wanted to take the opportunity to suppress their opponents and expand their own faction's strength.

Emperor Chongzhen, who was gradually disappointed with his courtiers, became more and more suspicious and jealous. Because of this, he often lost his temper because of trivial matters.

But as an emperor, Chongzhen also knew that to govern the vast world of Ming Dynasty, he couldn't completely rely on himself alone, and he was destined to be inseparable from the courtiers in front of him who upset him.

He can only "pull out the big ones from the small box" and choose courtiers who are loyal to himself and Ming Dynasty among the existing courtiers to use.

Therefore, when he met Yang Sichang, he had a great sense of a bosom friend, and despite the criticism of his courtiers, he was promoted and reused, and he had great trust in him.

On the other hand, Lu Xiangsheng, who was known for his bravery in fighting, aroused the suspicion of Emperor Chongzhen because he belonged to the Donglin Party. He wanted to use him but also guarded against him.

As for the current minister of the Ministry of War, Chen Xinjia, he is nothing more than Yang Sichang's replacement.

Emperor Chongzhen knew in his heart that Chen Xinjia was far inferior to Yang Sichang, but he was not a party of Donglin, and he could act according to Emperor Chongzhen's own wishes. This was the real reason why Chen Xinjia came to power.

In recent years, the suspicion and murder shown by Emperor Chongzhen is even more of his angry resistance against the Donglin Party and the entire civil official group.

There are so many things about governing the country. Since it is destined to be inseparable from the support of the civil society, it can only reach a delicate balance. stuffy.

It was under this situation that Zhang Cheng appeared quietly, like a little fire in the dark night, a little warmth in the cold winter, which made Chongzhen see a possibility.

Because of this, Emperor Chongzhen vigorously supported Zhang Cheng, not only his loyalty and bravery, but also the fact that he had no shadow of a civil official group behind him.

In fact, Emperor Chongzhen was well aware of the support and support of Zhang Cheng by Lu Xiangsheng, Yang Sichang, Chen Xinjia and others, but these did not affect Zhang Cheng's loyalty to the emperor, so he did not intervene.

As early as the beginning of his succession to the throne, Emperor Chongzhen listened to the clever words of a group of Donglin Party, and withdrew all the eunuchs and supervisors stationed all over the country to the palace, but everything was counterproductive.

Since then, he has once again reactivated the inner eunuchs in the palace, and sent them to various key places to serve as military supervisors and other duties. Naturally, it is inevitable to resume secret spying, private investigation and secret visits.

Of course, in a short while, it is difficult to restore the secret visits of Jinyiwei and Dongchang's spies to their heyday, but there are still arrangements for some key points.

What's more, Xuan Mansion is an important place for the imperial court's frontier defense, and it has always been a place where spies are prevalent. Although they have been idle for several years, many original spies have gone to other places, or have changed to other jobs.

But there will always be some people who will be found. Although these people may have other purposes, they will come back to be the secret agents of the imperial court, but they have no time to take care of it.

Naturally, among them were the spies sent by Zhang Cheng, and many false information about Zhang Cheng were delivered to the current emperor of the Ming Dynasty in this way.

Of course, Emperor Chongzhen didn't know anything about all this. He still had great trust in Jinyiwei and Dongchang, especially the information spied and secretly visited by Dongchang's spies.

Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen also had great trust in Zhang Cheng. He wholeheartedly wanted to support Zhang Cheng, not only to quell the bandits and Tartars for him, but also to use this external force to check and balance the civil official group that was gradually out of control.

Prior to this, Emperor Chongzhen had also been deeply disappointed with the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty. He also thought about using the descendants of the honored officials from the early Ming and Chengzu periods, saying that they were "after all, my family's officials" in order to check and balance the power of the civil official group. , to realize the wish of ZTE Daming.

For this reason, Emperor Chongzhen also deliberately resumed the riding and archery competition of the descendants of Xunchen, which had been suspended for nearly 200 years, but when he held a personal inspection ceremony in Meishan, he was greatly disappointed.

I originally wanted to select brave and capable talents from them, "to prepare for the city", but at this ceremony, only Li Guozhen, the uncle of Xiangcheng, was able to hit six arrows in a row, while the other descendants of honored ministers did not perform well. , Embarrassment is of great use.

There were more than a hundred descendants of nobles in the Manchu Dynasty, and the descendants of honorable ministers who were finally selected for use were only a few such as Xiangcheng Bo Li Guozhen, Funing Marquis Zhu Guobi, Chengyi Bo Liu Kongzhao, and Xin Chengbo Zhao Zhilong.

The courtiers are unfaithful and disloyal, they only know that the party is in constant struggle and the generals are all greedy for money, but also cowardly and unable to fight, and now there are almost no nobles in the court, how tortured is that kind of despair?

Zhang Cheng appeared just at this time, like a tailor-made military general who could save the world for Emperor Chongzhen, he miraculously appeared in the last days of Ming Dynasty.

All kinds of coincidences in the world have their causes, and some things will not happen for no reason.

Maybe God can't bear to see that China's 200-year literary prison has flourished, and its thoughts have been imprisoned, and it has finally fallen behind the world trend, resulting in a century of humiliation.

In this life, send Zhang Cheng to the end of Ming Dynasty to see if he can create a different Ming Dynasty!

…………

The Xuanfu army garrison was still silent, but this silence gave people an extremely depressing feeling, as if something big might happen every moment.

From the top to the bottom of the whole Huangtu Ridge, there are all kinds of flags fluttering in the wind, and of course the most of them are red flags.

Zhang Cheng stood on the mountainside, on the platform of a stone castle facing the Xiaoling River, looking at the Xiaoling River in the distance, red flags stretched from the bank of the river towards Huangtuling.

Red is a festive color as well as a color of passion.

However, the red flag has a special meaning to Zhang Cheng, because it is dyed red with the blood of the hero!
It can be said that the belief in the red flag has long been deeply rooted in Zhang Cheng's heart. As a generation who grew up under the red flag, his obsession with the red flag is indelible.

The reason why Zhang Cheng has a special liking for the Ming Dynasty is not only because the Ming Dynasty is the last swan song of China, but also because the emperor guards the gate of the country, and the king dies in the country. The heroic and tragic.

The integrity of the Ming Dynasty is just like what Ao Ying, the right minister of Sichuan during the Zhengde period, said in his notebook novel: "The respect of our country is far ahead of the past. There is no kinship between the Han Dynasty, no alliance like the Tang Dynasty, no small coins for the year of the Song Dynasty, and no gift for brothers and enemies."

In addition, Daming belongs to the virtue of fire, so red is preferred, but for Zhang Cheng, red has a very special meaning, which is also a factor of his love for Daming.

Just as he was imagining endlessly, Wei Zhice, a guerrilla in the car battalion, walked up to him and said, "Commander, all battalions have assembled, waiting for Commander's instructions."

Zhang Cheng withdrew his gaze, landed on Wei Zhice, and said to him: "Director Hong still didn't let me wait. Now that the army is marching north, but you have to stay at Huangtuling, do you have any complaints in your heart?"

Wei Zhice didn't take it seriously, he said bluntly: "Zhi Ce followed the commander-in-chief, not seeking meritorious service, only to kill slaves. However, the killing of slaves by my Xuanfu army is no different from Zhi Ce's killing slaves. How can you complain!"

(End of this chapter)