I really don't want to be emperor at the end of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 377 Loyal ministers are more hateful than corrupt officials

Chapter 377

"My lord, please think of a solution quickly!"

Wang Chengen was very anxious. As the saying goes, once an emperor, once a courtier, he was the eunuch beside Chongzhen. It took him more than ten years to get to a high position, but before he had time to enjoy the blessings, something like this happened again.

Even if he supported the crown prince, how could the eunuchs around the prince put him in the position? That was their base. He still hoped that Cheng Shijie could rescue Emperor Chongzhen.

"This is a hopeless situation. Even if Zhuge is reborn or Sun Wu is reincarnated, what can be done? The army of the Northern Expedition is probably over. The champion and His Majesty...

Cheng Shijie sighed and shook his head, not daring to say any more, but the meaning was clear enough. These two might not be able to come back!

If Emperor Chongzhen's Sanshenshan camp in Kunning was not conquered by Huang Taiji, it can only mean one problem. Huang Taiji was using Emperor Chongzhen to fish, which is an encirclement point in the art of war to attract reinforcements.

This means that Cheng Shijie will lead Navy Commander Ning to fight the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is a clearly loss-making business, and Cheng Shijie will definitely not do it.

Wang Chengen punched the ground and said angrily: "What nonsense is this! How could the originally good situation suddenly become like this!?"

Cheng Shijie smiled faintly and said: "My lord, don't you know the nature of those civil servants in the court? They have no other abilities, but their ability to hold back their own people is unparalleled!"

At this point, Cheng Shijie suddenly stirred up his spirit, slapped his forehead, and shouted: "No!"

Wang Chengen was startled and asked: "Your Majesty, what's wrong?"

Cheng Shijie looked a little panicked and said: "No, the Queen and several highnesses are still in Beijing! Now they are simply staying in the wolf den, and they may be torn to pieces by the pack of evil wolves at any time! Eunuch Wang, I will give you five hundred elites. You take them with you and find a way to sneak into the capital and rescue the Queen and the others! Your Majesty may have encountered something unexpected, and the Queen must not make any more mistakes!"

Wang Chengen led 500 people from the district into the capital to rescue the queen, concubines, princesses and princes who were stared at by countless pairs of eyes. It was like pulling out teeth from a tiger's mouth. However, now Wang Chengen was not afraid that he was in danger. He was not afraid at all and just asked: "Rescue" What happens next to the empress and the prince? How to arrange it?"

"It's all up to my father-in-law to decide how to arrange it!"

Cheng Shijie looked at Wang Chengen and said: "Now that we are in this situation, I guess you don't believe me either. If you believe me, you can take them all the way to the southeast, pass Langfang and enter Tianjin. Ning Haijun's troops stationed in Tianjin will naturally protect them." If they, my father-in-law, do not believe me, protect them all the way to the southwest, through Zhuozhou, Gaoyang, into Baoding, continue south, into Daming Mansion, the territory of Tianxiong Army, or all the way south, no matter what happens, don't Look back, don’t stop, do you understand?”

Wang Chengen cried out: "Your Majesty, what about you? What should you do!?"

Cheng Shijie said solemnly: "Me? I will lead these two thousand elite soldiers to defend Yongping and firmly block them at the choke point of entering Gyeonggi! I want them to smash their heads under Yongping City and bleed. I want them to know that the Ming Dynasty The bloody spirit of the soldiers and civilians is still there, and I want them to know how powerful I, Cheng Shijie, am!"

Wang Chengen said: "Your Majesty, let's evacuate. Let's evacuate to Beijing together, pick up the Queen and the others, and then evacuate to Tianjin. It's still too late. Those trash guys in Beijing camp can't stop us! Please, evacuate with us." Well, I don’t want you to die here and die here in vain!”

Cheng Shijie sighed: "You only have one life. If you have a choice, who would be willing to die? But... such a big country is going to perish, but no general is willing to die for it, and he will be laughed at by future generations. Don't let me have too many princes. I said, hurry up and return to the capital with your troops, time is running out!”

In fact, Cheng Shijie really did not ignore Emperor Chongzhen. Of course, he only did not dispatch the Ning Navy officers. However, in Liaodong, where commerce was prosperous and developed, a profession naturally emerged, which was armed escort. In Liaodong, there was no need for it. I am worried about safety issues, but outside Liaodong, this safety issue is easily guaranteed.

There is also sea. Although Ning Haijun has defeated 90.00% of the pirates, there are still a small group of maritime merchants who are both merchants and pirates. They will come to rob them when the opportunity arises. This kind of temporary sea law is even more cruel. They rely on It is not the ransom but the goods or money itself, so every time it is obtained, everyone on the ship will be killed and the ship will be sunk. From now on, it is difficult to distinguish whether it is an accident or an encounter with pirates.

However, it is difficult for ships with armed protection to encounter such accidents, so there are more and more maritime security teams. Among them, there are two of the most famous security companies in Liaodong. The first is the "Umbrella" managed by Gao Jie, the eldest son of the Cheng family. "Company, the logo of Umbrella Company is like a round shield, but it is a skull guarded by Hydra, which makes people look very uncomfortable.

Umbrella Company is two large security companies in Liaodong. In addition to Umbrella, there is also a company called Jindun. The boss behind Jindun is Chen Guodong. Of course, Chen Guodong, like Gao Jie, is only the boss on the surface. The real boss is Cheng Shijie.

In addition to these two security companies, there are more than 100 small and medium-sized security companies registered. This means that from now on, no one is allowed to keep followers privately, especially armed followers. They can hold weapons, but medium-sized weapons Security personnel must be able to hold it.

The real purpose of establishing the Protective Umbrella and Golden Shield is actually to do dirty work, just like the entire western Liaoning, the Funing Guard, and the Tianjin Guard were taken down without any bloodshed, all relying on these methods.

As the saying goes, people die for money and birds die for food. Some people are suitable for the days of licking blood from the edge of a knife. They can no longer return to a peaceful life. Although Cheng Shijie did not send troops to directly support Sanshen Mountain, he issued a task to the Liaodong Security Company. As long as Within half a month, if you get the signature from Lu Xiangsheng or Emperor Chongzhen, whether it is a can of cans, grain, or cotton clothes, the value of everything can be realized a hundred times.

As long as there are enough benefits, some people are willing to take risks. Therefore, Gao Jie sent more than 600 camels and more than [-] to [-] cavalry. Chen Guodong also sent more than [-] people. As for those small and medium-sized security companies, they also sent many, many It has a scale of more than [-] people.

As for whether they can reach Sanshen Mountain, this is something Cheng Shijie can't worry about. Even though they are not a regular army, in fact, their equipment is better than that of the regular army. At least the equipment in their hands is retired from the Ning Navy. , armor, spears, and even grass-cutting thunderbolts, and they were fired in thirty batches. Facing a small group of cavalry, it was as easy as cutting grass.

It is said that these armed security personnel cannot defeat the Jiannu army on the wild battlefield, but nearly one-third of these security personnel are Mongolians who are familiar with the local terrain. If they take a detour to avoid the Jiannu army, In fact, it is not difficult. Even if the slave army plus the surrendered Guan Ning army are included, the total number of troops now is 30 million. But the problem is, let alone 30 million, even an army of 60 million cannot seize the entire Kent. mountains.

The entire affirmative mountain range is more than 500 miles long from west to northeast to southwest, and more than 320 miles from north to south. The entire mountain range covers an area of ​​about 30 square kilometers. Even if all the more than 600 troops of the Jiannu were pressed up, the circumference would be more than 100 miles. , on average, there are only more than [-] people per mile and kilometer, not to mention that most of the slave army has gone south.

Just as the slave army entered the Pass in the second year of Chongzhen, Da'ankou and Longjing Pass were deceived by Guan Ning's army. However, by the time they arrived at Zunhua City, the situation had changed.

In fact, as early as when Erendabsanur City was attacked by the Guanning Army, Lei Shisheng judged that the Guanning Army had rebelled and Lu Xiangsheng was already in danger. With the siege of Erendabsanur City, the Manchu and Qing troops More and more, Lei Shisheng judged that the main force of the Northern Expedition had been defeated.

In desperation, he chose to break out of the encirclement. When they entered Zunhua City, before they could take a breath, Guan Ning's army caught up with them.

Zunhua City was captured in the second year of Chongzhen, so the city defense is now tighter than before. The Zunhua garrison officers and soldiers were as puzzled as Emperor Chongzhen. If the refugees were justified in rebelling, because the Ming Dynasty was sorry for them, but Guan Ningjun There is no reason to rebel. Ming Dynasty is worthy of them!

However, the problem is that Guan Ning's army has already appeared under the city. Facing the closed city gate and the Ming army soldiers who were ready, Wu Sangui did not continue to deceive the city. If he continued to deceive, he would treat everyone as fools and bring humiliation to himself. .

"Surrender or not!"

As soon as Wu Sangui's envoy Xu Yin fell, Chen Yongfu chopped off the envoy's head with a knife and hung it directly on the city wall. Chen Yongfu yelled at Wu Sangui: "Jiang Xie Niang!"

Chen Yongfu's decisive attitude made Guan Ningjun realize that it was impossible to recruit and surrender. Want to Zunhua?Okay, just risk your life!

"Attack, the city will be broken without sealing the sword for three days!"

Wu Sangui was furious and commanded the army to attack the city. He planned to capture Zunhua City before other troops, show his face in front of Huang Taiji, and get more credit. The Ming Dynasty was finished. The Manchu and Qing dynasties were the general trend. Now, immediately Every military exploit he makes will determine the future and status of these traitors in the new dynasty. How dare he not try his best!
As a result, he kicked the iron plate.The defenders of Zunhua City greeted the incoming Guan Ning army with hot bullets and artillery shells. The sound of gunfire on the city wall was continuous, and puffs of gunfire spurted out. There were splashes of blood, and countless warriors of the Guan Ning Army, who were famous for their bravery, were hit by bullets that could buy two for just a copper and iron, so that their heads exploded and they died on the spot!

After they finally reached the city wall despite the hail of bullets, grenades that were hissing and smoking were continuously thrown down on the city wall. They only heard waves of frightening explosions. The Guan Ning army huddled under the city wall was hit by shrapnel. Divide the troops and cut down the clumps, leaving the dead and wounded behind!Not only that, the Sky Air Force guarding the city also threw down thunderbolts weighing fifty or sixty kilograms. The lethality of this thing was quite terrifying. If one was thrown, two or thirty people would be blown away. Crawling around and making no sound like a human being, that scene made many desperadoes who didn’t take their lives seriously even feel terrified!
In the first attack, Guan Ning's army lost thousands of men. Such losses gave Wu Sangui the urge to vomit blood!Wu Sangui, who was furious, mobilized twenty Hongyi cannons and aimed them at the city wall. The huge lead ball roared out of the cannon with powerful kinetic energy and hit the city wall so hard that the brick skin of the city wall cracked. , bricks flying everywhere like shrapnel!
However, Zunhua City retaliated, and the two sides fought an artillery battle for half an hour.

The artillery on the front line rumbled, shaking the heaven and the earth. Thousands of troops and horses roared like thunder. Sharp arrows almost covered the sky. Hot guns flew through the air. Rockets dragged out slender flames in the air. It was a spectacular sight. .

However, the current Huang Taiji was not in the mood to appreciate this epic scene. He stared at the Zunhua city wall covered with large pools of blood, and the bloody battle flag on the wall, with a gloomy look on his face, gritting his teeth and mumbling to himself language.

"This artillery doesn't seem to be that powerful!"

Although Huang Taiji knew that the artillery of Guan Ning Army was not as sharp as Ning Haijun, the problem was that the power of Guan Ning Army's artillery now was not weaker than that of Ning Haijun's artillery during the Haizhou War, and it was several times stronger. .

But the problem is, there is no problem in Zunhua City?

In fact, Huang Taiji forgot that except for Shenyang City, Ning Haijun actually did not seize the city directly from Jiannu. Jinzhou City was caught off guard and there was no one at all. Haizhou people were at the right time, and a snowfall brought a cold spring. , more than [-] men and horses under Duduo were frozen to death. It was simply a matter of thousands of miles away.

When Huang Taiji led the Eight Banners elites to meet Jiannu at Bali Bay, Ning Haijun relied on a combination of trenches, barbed wire, landmines, grenades, thunder blunderbuss, bowl-mouth blunderbuss, tiger squat cannons, flying thunder cannons and other weapons. , Jiannu was caught off guard, not to mention that Wu Sangui was suffering from depression in Zunhua City.

Cheng Shijie led the elite troops of Ning Haijun. They did not take advantage of Shanhaiguan City. They used glutinous rice juice mixed with Sanhe soil to build a city wall that was even stronger than reinforced concrete. Ning Haijun's field artillery was only three inches in diameter, which was [-] meters. [-] mm, artillery shells of this caliber are more difficult to directly hit this kind of city wall. Even if there is no heavy artillery, even the little devil's [-] infantry cannon cannot destroy the city wall.

Huang Taiji's eyes were a little unkind, and Wu Sangui was very anxious. This time, he missed the trick and failed to show off. Instead, he kicked the iron plate. As the artillery bombardment stopped, the artillery position of Guanning Army was in a mess, and there was almost no one left alive. Got it!

The heavy losses made Wu Sangui realize that the Tianxiong Army was the ancestor of cannons. It was better not to show off this little thing in front of the Tianxiong Army. It was not enough!It seemed that the artillery was hopeless, so Wu Sangui could only attack the city with ants and take lives.

Under his forced order, Guan Ning's army, consisting of thousands of troops, took turns to launch fierce attacks, with each wave of attacks getting higher and higher.Lei Shisheng and Chen Yongfu commanded calmly, using precise volleys of guns and shelling to inflict massive damage to Guan Ning's army. When Guan Ning's army rushed under the city wall, hail-like bombs would be thrown down, causing their flesh and blood to fly everywhere. .

This was the first time that Guan Ning's army truly experienced the power of Tianxiong's weapons. They attacked at all costs, killing and injuring more than a thousand people every day. However, except for piles of corpses and wounded, they could not get anything. After a few days, Guan Ningjun was beaten to the point of fear.

They took the initiative to lower their demands and stopped competing for the first prize. As long as they could survive the siege, they would find a way to get some wine to celebrate. No matter how brave and arrogant the general was, he couldn't help but tremble and change color when he looked at the walls of Tangshan City. !
Wu Sangui was at a loss to do anything about this. He used all the methods available to him, but this damn Zunhua City was surprisingly difficult to chew. Tens of thousands of troops were beaten to the point where they couldn't hold their heads up by just 5000 people. What could he do?
He suspected that the Tianxiong Army had a grudge against him in his previous life. Otherwise, why was it that he was the only one among several armies to encounter such a stubborn resistance, while the others had a smooth journey?
At this moment, Zu Dashou came with his ancestor Guan Ningjun.

When Zu Dashou met, he asked: "Uncle, how are you?"

Wu Sangui said with a sad face: "Everything is fine, but uncle, you are old and traveling thousands of miles, so you must be careful about your health!"

Zu Dashou said: "Don't worry, my old bones can still hold on for a while. How is the progress now?"

Wu Sangui said with a depressed look on his face: "We have been attacking for several rounds, and thousands of people were killed and injured each time, and we have never been able to reach the city wall!"

Zu Dashou seemed a little surprised: "It's so hard to fight!?"

Wu Sangui said: "Yes! Many generals say that they have never encountered such a hard nut in their lifetime of fighting!"

Zu Dashou frowned slightly: "Who is so powerful? Zhu Mei? I know his ability..."

"It's the sound of thunder, the commander of the rear camp under Lu Xiangsheng!"

Zu Dashou had a worried look on his face: "This city is difficult to conquer. You picked a good job!"

Wu Sangui had a bitter expression on his face: "Uncle, my nephew knows it's wrong, what should I do now!"

Zu Dashou said: "What else can we do? No matter the cost, attack day and night and capture Zunhua as soon as possible!"

Wu Sangui: "Are we really going to do this? How many people will we lose if we do this?"

"Even if we fight 2 or [-] people here, we still have to win Tangshan!"

Zu Dashou Wu Sangui still looked reluctant. He sighed: "The emperor has decided to come to Zunhua in person to supervise the battle. Uncle, you know what this means. The future of my Guan Ning army depends on this battle. Got it!"

As soon as he heard that Huang Taiji was coming, Wu Sangui, who was already thinking about preserving his strength, couldn't help but shudder and threw this little thought out of the window!He dared to fool Chongzhen, but he never dared to fight with Huang Taiji, not even in the slightest. Huang Taiji was not as easy to fool as Chongzhen!

Huang Taiji wanted to go to Zunhua in person to supervise the battle, which showed that he attached great importance to this battle. Wu Sangui had no choice but to fight until Zunhua was defeated!
Cheng Shijie also encountered trouble. Zhu Guozi was a strong resistance faction. After the fall of the country, he wanted to raise his troops for revenge. The Qing soldiers entered the pass. He insisted on not shaving his hair and living in seclusion in Shimenzhai to write books until he was old.

When Ning Haijun and Cheng Shijie arrived outside Yongping City, he had the gate of Yongping Mansion tightly closed. Thousands of old, weak, sick and disabled, as well as young and strong, all climbed onto the city wall. No matter how Cheng Shijie explained, he did not let them go.He insisted on Cheng Shijie's order.

"Shuai Cheng, if there is no military order, I am sorry that I cannot let you go due to my official duties. Please, Marshal Cheng, ask for orders from the capital!"

"My grass!"

Cheng Shijie wanted to ask for an order from the Ministry of War, but the question was, would the Ministry of War give him an order?It was absolutely impossible, how could Cheng Shijie get the order.

"Zhu Guozi, your fucking elm head!"

Cheng Shijie was so angry that he yelled: "If Huang Taiji is allowed to lead the Qing army into the pass, you bastard will be a sinner forever!"

Zhu Guozi said righteously: "Cheng Shuai, who knows if you are planning to rebel? If Cheng Shuai doesn't want to rebel, just obey orders. If he wants to rebel, then walk through the city on Zhu's body!"

Cheng Shijie really wanted to kill Zhu Guozi with one shot. Sometimes, loyal ministers are more hateful than corrupt officials. In fact, that is the case. Just like now, Cheng Shijie would rather meet a corrupt official, because corrupt officials are afraid of death and know how to seek benefits and avoid harm.

But Zhu Guozi was a loyal minister.In the eyes of loyal ministers of the Ming Dynasty, Jiannu was hateful, and Cheng Shijie was equally hateful, even more hateful than Jiannu.

(End of this chapter)