national surname chiming

Chapter 325
Chongzhen's request for help to Zhu Shuren was sent from Beijing on October [-]th.

Li Zicheng's army hit the territory of Shuntian Prefecture on December [-]th, and it hit the city of Beijing on December [-]th.

That is to say, just two months after Chongzhen gave Zhu Shuren the imperial edict, Li Zicheng killed him.At this point of time, it was really difficult for Zhu Shuren to react.

Of course, the city of Beijing is still solid, and it will take a necessary period of time before Li Zicheng can reach the outside of Beijing city and finally enter Beijing city.

Historically, it took Li Zicheng four days to take Beijing after he had made preliminary preparations and formally launched a full-scale offensive.

(Note: There are many theories in the historical materials. Although some of them are described in a shorter period of time, there are obviously unreliable descriptions such as "Cao Huachun opened the door to welcome the thief", and they are inconsistent, and there is a battle after opening the door, so I do not believe it. But In general, there are rumors of breaking the city in three to five days, I take four days, it doesn't matter.)
Today, because Li Zicheng came earlier, the plague in Beijing has not yet reached its peak, so the guards in the city are stronger than in the same period in history.

Moreover, Li Zicheng launched the attack in the twelfth lunar month of winter, and the weather was more unfavorable to the attacking party than in March in Yangchun, and the soldiers and horses fighting along the way suffered more damage.

Under the ebb and flow, it is not surprising that Chongzhen will guard for another ten days and a half months even if he relies on the isolated city of Beijing.

More importantly, Chongzhen also added a reason to boost morale that did not exist in history:
After Beijing was besieged, Chongzhen summoned important ministers and generals several times a day, and tried to reason with them, saying, "Now the situation in Ming Dynasty is not desperate, Zhang Xianzhong in the south is dead, and Sun Kewang is also dead (Chongzhen temporarily increased his bragging to deceive his subordinates), It's just that Zhu Shuren didn't spare his hands at first, and didn't expect the intruders to come to the capital so quickly to cause harm to the capital, so there was no time for reinforcements.

And it was Li Zicheng himself, the court report made it clear that he was defeated by Cao Bianjiao, a mere division under Zhu Shuren's command, at Dasan Pass four months ago, and lost tens of thousands of soldiers!So as long as you stick to the capital, hold on until Zhu Shuren dispatches the Sichuan Army and the Huguang Army King Qin!The world will surely return to peace!Before that, Wu Sangui from Shanhaiguan could also help me hold on for a few months until Zhu Shuren arrived! "

Not to mention, although all the ministers have been alienated from morality, especially Chongzhen was still in the last half a month before the thieves besieged the city, and they were still liquidating their internal responsibilities. The demotion of Zhang Guowei, Minister of the Ministry of War, made the hearts of the courtiers even worse than when Chen Xinjia was killed.

But Chongzhen's words still make sense. He is honest and honest, and he has strong support outside. He may come to serve the king at any time.Gritting his teeth again, and going through this period of time, won't his name go down in history?
Once you have this idea, many people are still willing to stick to it——

After all, even Chen Peisi, who "produces a bastard every few thousand years", reads the script first and knows, "If I grit my teeth and make it through, I will become a positive person", then I probably have the motivation to bite He gritted his teeth and stood up.

In the first ten days after Li Zicheng's siege, the defenders and generals in Beijing were really blinded by this kind of motivational speech for a while, so they didn't think about it for the time being, and just fought with the siege troops.

The city of Beijing is still very strong. Although the firearms are old and unreliable, they are in sufficient quantity, and the quantity of inferior gunpowder is also sufficient.Regardless of the cost, it really hit Li Zicheng's troops with heavy casualties, even worse than at Ningwuguan.

It's just that Li Zi has eaten the bean paste from Chengdu steamed buns, and he is only short of his last breath, and he is betting the lives of his whole family. How can he easily back down at this juncture?

Especially for Li Zicheng in this life, the threat behind him was more serious than that of the same period in history. He knew very well that once Zhu Shuren freed his hands and flanked him from behind, he might not be able to get any benefits.

Now that the northern provinces are so dilapidated, if the two sides continue to hold each other for a long time and cannot plunder the south to recover blood, then the north will definitely not be able to fight—unless they directly join forces with the Tartars.

With the strength of the Tartars, they can suppress the Han people in the south.If the Tartars hadn't intervened, it would have been impossible to even think about relying solely on the civil war among the Han Chinese and the extent to which the northern provinces have been devastated by disasters.

Li Zicheng had to make a quick decision. It would be best if he could catch Chongzhen, or at worst he would force Chongzhen to make an alliance under the city to legalize his Dashun regime.

So he had no choice but to continue to use his life to fill it in. Before facing all the siege methods used in the fortification of the city, no matter whether it was effective or not, he piled them up regardless of the cost, and tried it all.

Ten days later, after the courage of the Ming army at the beginning passed, the decline began to show again. The main reason was that the city guards found that the court was too stingy with rewards. This kind of juncture was so hard, it should be said that money should be paid every day to stabilize people. good.

The pancake "General Wu and Governor Zhu will come to the rescue" painted at the beginning is indeed beautiful, but what does it have to do with ordinary soldiers?
Ordinary soldiers have fought for Daming for so many years, and they haven't seen much benefit from winning?
Such things as meritorious promotion can only motivate those who are officials, and it is useless to the grassroots.

Just like a company, you can use mission, vision and values ​​to draw cakes for middle management and key teams, but you can only talk about money directly with grassroots employees.It's a vision of a beating worker telling you a fart.

After the army's morale was unstable, Zhang Jinyan, the new minister of the Ministry of War, was still afraid of taking on the responsibility, so he didn't upload it. In the end, there was almost a small-scale mutiny, which was reported to Chongzhen by Luo Yangxing of Jinyiwei, so Chongzhen asked people to raise money urgently to reward the army.

As a result of all this, there is nothing to repeat. It is still the same as in the same period of history. Even Queen Zhou's father was reluctant to take out the money, and even squinted part of the money that Queen Zhou took through him to pretend.

Because whether he is willing to pay for Chongzhen has nothing to do with "whether there is hope to hold Beijing, whether there is hope to become a hero of ZTE".

The key to whether the officials are willing to pay is not whether they are willing, but whether they dare.

Chongzhen's self-willedness and ignorance of flexibility doomed all officials not to dare-as soon as Chongzhen overcame the difficulties, he would kill ministers indiscriminately.Who knows if he survives this time, will he liquidate the officials who are too corrupt and find other excuses to kill them?Now that he can get a large sum of money, isn't it a solid evidence of his crime?

Therefore, it is not hopeless to save the current Beijing city until the reinforcements arrive, but as long as Chongzhen is alive, the courtiers cannot gamble.

The city of Beijing and Chongzhen must be destroyed, and it is impossible to coexist at the same time.

If Chongzhen could open his eyes, commit suicide immediately, pass on the crown prince, and let the prince show his weakness, pretending to be submissive and never liquidate the guilty ministers, maybe there is still a glimmer of hope to save Beijing, but he can't do it Eye of the sky, can only resign to fate.

……

The war in Beizhili was in full swing, and the envoys sent by Chongzhen also traveled for nearly 20 days after leaving Beijing. Finally, on the third day of November, they found Zhu Shuren in Hanzhong, who was personally deploying to fight the plague, and conveyed his will.

Because eunuchs can't stand the bumps, they don't have martial arts, and they can't travel more than three or four hundred miles a day, so the envoy this time is not the prince who has always dealt with Zhu Shuren, but someone sent by the Ministry of War.

The envoy was sent by Zhang Guowei, a general named Jiang Ruolai.Nine years ago, when Zhang Xianzhong dug Fengyang Imperial Mausoleum, Zhang Guowei was still the governor of Anlu. This Jiang Ruolai was a local guard who helped Zhang Guowei and the supervisor Shi Kefa fight several battles in the Qianshan area. Retired the thief.

(Note: When Zhang Guowei was the governor of Anlu, Shi Kefa was in charge of the local military preparation, so Shi Kefa supervised the army. After Zhang Guowei was transferred, Shi Kefa was promoted to the governor of Anlu, which is equivalent to becoming a deputy.)
This Jiang Ruolai was considered Zhang Guowei's confidant general. Later Zhang Guowei went to the Beijing Ministry of War and took him to Beijing.In history, Zhang Guowei was exiled from the capital by Chongzhen, and when he went to be the governor of Zhejiang, he brought this Jiang Ruolai with him to be the chief soldier of Zhejiang, so he was the most direct iron.

Because when the imperial edict came out of Beijing, Zhang Guowei had not been taken down yet, and he was still the Minister of the Ministry of War. Even if the imperial edict was delivered, there were still 20 days before Zhang Guowei was demoted.

Zhu Shuren was also loyal, and when he received the order from Jiang Ruolai, he immediately expressed his position respectfully, saying that he would definitely send troops to rescue His Majesty as soon as possible.

But he also had a few difficulties, so he had to immediately clarify with the Ministry of War:
"Rescue is urgent, but our Hanzhong garrison still has some soldiers who have been infected with the plague, and there are still those who have not yet developed the disease. I will follow the doctor's order and isolate those who are suspected of being infected but have not yet developed a battalion. It is inevitable that it will spread, and I am afraid that most of the soldiers and horses will lose their combat power before they reach Beizhili.

I also ask the envoy to be considerate and allow our army to spend a few days screening, and the recovered soldiers will be dispatched first, and the rear army will slowly advance.In addition, if it is necessary to speed up the march for the sake of saving the driver, the most convenient way is to use the Hanzhong soldiers to follow the Hanshui River to Xiangyang first through Yunyang.

The rest of the armies in Chongqing and other places will first follow the Yangtze River to Jiangling, and then go north to Xiangyang to collect troops. This can save the Hanzhong soldiers from going south and then going north. There are also sporadic remnants of thieves hiding deep in the mountains, which will inevitably harass them.

Even if our army can defeat them, it will take a lot of time to search and pursue them. For the sake of rescue, I pray that the imperial court will allow the governor to act in a hurry, and persuade the remaining thieves in Yunyang to surrender on the condition of a complete pardon of previous crimes.

In the same way, the governor has now pursued and suppressed Sun Kewang, almost cornering him, but it will still take more than two months to completely wipe him out.If the imperial court can pardon Sun Kewang's previous crimes, the governor will be sure to force him to surrender. In this case, all the troops in Sichuan can also deploy as soon as possible, and there is no need to reserve too many troops to guard against Sun Kewang. "

Jiang Ruolai is only here to pass on the decree, how can he have the authorization to promise so many big things?But considering that his benevolent Zhang Butang was urged by His Majesty, he was also loyal, and regardless of his own status, he knelt down and begged Zhu Shuren to take some responsibility:
"Guo Xingye! The general will not accept the orders of the emperor! Now it is to save you faster, even if you act urgently and make up your own mind to pardon a few small thieves in Zhao'an so that the march will not be harassed, His Majesty will only appreciate it in the future. Your loyalty! What could be wrong?
It's better to send troops as soon as possible!His Majesty is already very dissatisfied with Zhang Butang, if he does not ask for reinforcements, Zhang Butang will probably be questioned by His Majesty! "

Of course Zhu Shuren had to put on an attitude of absolute loyalty and act until the last moment.He hesitated for a while, then said: "Forget it, future generations will comment on merits and demerits, so I won't go to the capital to ask for an order first.

For the scattered thieves in Yunyang, I will take some responsibility myself. Taking advantage of the time when the army is organized here to raise supplies, I will send people to Zhao'an to pardon them, let them not obstruct the passage of our army, and tell them that this opportunity must not be missed. Help, there will never be such a good Zhao'an condition in the future!

Sun Kewang, give me half a month to clean up!The official and the governor of Sichuan made a joint decision and decided to deal with this matter together!It would take at least half a month to rectify Sichuan soldiers and horses, and this is not a delay!

After the official leads the front to Xiangyang, he will take a short rest and wait for the rear troops from Chongqing, Jiangling and other places to gather up.During this period, I will send a six-hundred-mile fast horse to Beijing in a hurry to report to Your Majesty about my urgent actions and obtain His Majesty's understanding.

It is much faster to go from Xiangyang to Beijing. Even if Henan is occupied, you have to detour from Xuzhou, and you can get there in [-] days if you are [-] miles away, and you can go back and forth in [-] days.I will stay in Xiangyang for ten days, waiting for the rear army, isn't that too much?Marching all over the world, there can be no faster one! "

Jiang Ruolai is also a soldier who has been fighting for so many years. Of course, he can judge that it only takes ten days for the army to gather, which is already very fast.

As for Li Zicheng's army of hundreds of thousands, it is impossible for Zhu Shuren to send reinforcements with only the few troops currently in Hanzhong.

In contrast, as long as you compare Wu Sangui in Shanhaiguan, you will know that Zhu Shuren has been very fast and sincere in saving him.

……

After everything was implemented as planned, Zhu Shuren spent more than ten days in Hanzhong to prepare the luggage, deploy the logistics, and identify the plague soldiers. It is too late to wash the mud, but in the actual implementation, it was finally found that the slowest preparation work was that there were not enough ships.

The Hanzhong garrison had never thought of marching from Yunyang to Xiangyang along the Hanshui River before. The local ships were few and unprepared.

This section of the Han River in the Qinling Mountains is famous for its rapid currents and dangerous shoals. It is easy to go from Hanzhong to Xiangyang, but it is difficult to go back to Hanzhong from Xiangyang.

Otherwise, during the Three Kingdoms period, after Zhuge Liang's death, Jiang Wan proposed to Liu Chan that "the three prefectures of Shangyong can be taken downstream from Hanzhong", and Jiang Wei would not have said that "the Han River is easy to advance and difficult to retreat. Even if you succeed in a sneak attack, you can't get more than Wei Yu." Liu Chan was dissuaded from accepting it on the grounds that it is difficult for our army to support him for a long time.

After the ship arrived in Xiangyang downstream, it was too difficult to re-stretch the fiber and return to Hanzhong upstream for the second trip.

With such a harsh geographical environment, Zhu Shuren couldn't be blamed for walking slowly.

In order to show his sincerity, Zhu Shuren even made other attempts when he found that there were not enough ships on the Han River, such as letting the vanguard of Dasan Pass try to leave Qinling and Baoji from the north to attack the pass controlled by intruders. See if you can rush out of Guanzhong, and then go to the Yellow River.

This road must be very dangerous, all the way through the occupied area of ​​​​the Chuang army.And after Zhu Shuren made some attempts, he quickly got some important information: Li Zicheng has fortified the wall and cleared the wild in Guanzhong!Not only did the counties run out of food, but even the population was evacuated and concentrated in a limited number of strongholds!
Today's Shaanxi is simply a thousand miles away, and it is impossible to raise food on the spot!The Sichuan army must bring its own food and grass all the way out of the customs during the Northern Expedition!
This logistical pressure is undoubtedly unbearable, and the end of going this way will only starve to death.

Therefore, Zhu Shuren didn't just wait for the boat in Hanzhong these days,
He showed the greatest sincerity, proving that all other ways are impossible, and he made a little bit of military exploits in the process of trying, defeating some of Yuan Zong's first peripheral troops.

He even wrote to Chongzhen again, wanting to ask Chongzhen to give him a chance to pardon Yuan Zongdi and make peace.As for whether this letter can be delivered, I don't know.

After such a delay, Zhu Shuren's army finally dispatched the scattered thieves in Yunyang on November [-]th, and set off for Xiangyang in batches.

(End of this chapter)