Before hanging himself, Chongzhen lifted the table

Chapter 104 Loyalty Hall

Emperor Chongzhen understood that it was basically impossible to save them.

But no matter what, you have to do something for them!
Suddenly, something moved in his heart, and he immediately had a plan. He immediately turned serious and shouted loudly: "I have decided to build a Hall of Loyalty and Martyrs next to the Ancestral Temple. All those who have served the country loyally will be enshrined in it, and they will enjoy the incense of the Ming Dynasty and live with the country forever! "

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in the city couldn't help but be very shocked. They all turned to look at him with expressions of disbelief.

Since ancient times, loyalties and martyrs have occasionally been commended, temples have been built to pay homage, or the imperial court has issued decrees to confer priests and be worshiped by local people.These people may have great influence or be famous.For ordinary people, they basically die when they die. Except for relatives and friends who will pay tribute, it is impossible for anyone else to pay homage.

But now, the current emperor actually said in front of so many people in front of the two armies that he would set up a Hall of Loyalty and Martyrs next to the Imperial Ancestral Temple, where all those who were loyal to the country would be enshrined, enjoy the incense of the Ming Dynasty, and live with the country forever!Doesn’t this mean that ordinary people, as long as they are loyal to the country, can enjoy this top-notch incense and leave a name for future generations?
Is this true?
I don’t know if Emperor Chongzhen knew their doubts, but he shouted loudly again: "Before you set out, you all recorded your names. Now that you have served the country loyally, I will personally enshrine your memorial tablet into the loyal martyrs after I return to Beijing." Tang!"

After finishing speaking, he turned around and looked behind him, looking at all the cavalry officers and soldiers who were watching him, and shouted loudly again: "I swear here that all those who have been loyal to the country will be enshrined in the Hall of Loyalty and Martyrs, and will be paid tribute by the Ming Emperor. The incense of the Ming Dynasty will last forever with the country!"

At this moment, everyone believed that the emperor would definitely do this.You know, this was heard by countless people in front of the two armies.

After confirming this, the officers and soldiers of the imperial court suddenly showed expressions of ecstasy. If they died fighting for the country and were treated like this, how could they be so afraid of death?

If in later generations, the prevalence of atheism diluted this concern about things after death, then in this era, most people believe that there are ghosts after death, believe in the king of hell, etc.

After a person dies, he is most afraid of becoming a lonely ghost. Even if there are family members who will pay homage to him, that family may be gone and he will be forgotten.However, once you enter the Zhonglie Hall, you don’t have to worry about it at all. As long as the Ming Dynasty is still there, you can always enjoy the incense and you will not suffer after death!

This kind of treatment can actually come to ordinary people. It is really a great favor from the emperor!

No one knew who it was, but he immediately shouted: "Long live my emperor!"

Really, at this moment, they really hope that such a good emperor can live long live, long live!

Then, all the other officers and soldiers of the imperial court shouted together, including Zhou Yuji, and even Fang Zhenghua, who would all be the beneficiaries, and they all shouted excitedly: "Long live my emperor!"

This voice also included those good men who were tied up on the city wall and were about to die!
Amidst the shouts of "Long live my emperor", the defenders on the city wall, no matter how resentful they were towards the government, at this moment, they all showed envious expressions and looked at the imperial officers and soldiers outside the city. , look at the dazzling current emperor!

They know very well that if they die in battle, there is a high probability that they will not receive such treatment, and they will just be wiped out like a bowl of loess!
Mr. Gao watched all this silently, feeling quite shocked.

In her impression, when she listened to the chats between Li Zicheng and other brothers, regarding the discussion of the current emperor, she would never think that the emperor would be such a person: extremely brave and good at capturing people's hearts!
What happened today, originally, if I saw through the emperor's trick and took down the insider who was trying to defraud the city, it should have been a heavy blow to the morale of the imperial officers and soldiers!

However, what she saw before her eyes was that the morale of the imperial officers and soldiers was high. From her perspective, if the emperor wanted these imperial officers and soldiers to go to hell at this time, no one would frown.

She was sighing when she suddenly saw a few fast horses from the imperial army galloping towards the west. It looked like there was something urgent!

Could it be that reinforcements have arrived?
Thinking of this, Mrs. Gao couldn't help but feel pleasantly surprised.

Those fast horses quickly arrived at Emperor Chongzhen's side, and it was Ye Bushou who was placed under surveillance in the west.

As soon as Emperor Chongzhen heard the news, he immediately turned to look at the generals around him and said firmly: "Although the enemy army has more than [-] people, they have rushed here overnight and have stretched for dozens of miles. They are disconnected from end to end. I decided to give them a head-on attack." , teach the thieves a lesson!"

Zhou Yuji looked at the army with high morale, and without thinking much, immediately nodded and said: "Your Majesty is wise, I will think that the rebel army is like this, maybe they want to reinforce Daizhou as soon as possible. In this way, I will know that an ambush point is available."

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he immediately nodded, then pointed at the city head and shouted: "Wait!"

After finishing speaking, he led more than [-] cavalry troops and headed west with rumble of horse hooves.

On the top of the city, Mrs. Gao frowned when she saw the imperial army heading west. When she heard her subordinates asking the emperor what he meant, she turned to look at Zhou Dabiao and others, probably She understood the meaning, and it was probably related to Zhou Dabiao and others.

The morale of the imperial officers and soldiers is as high as a rainbow. I hope the brothers who come here are cautious!

………………

After traveling all night from Ningwuguan to Daizhou, even the most elite army will inevitably have organizational problems.

After waiting until daybreak, Zhang Tianlin, "Guo Tianxing", saw that the team was dragging for dozens of miles, especially the subordinates who had been added to his team this year, and they were left behind and were nowhere to be found.This situation made him curse.

His subordinates asked him for instructions: "Brother, why don't you take a rest and wait for the team behind you! Look, the brothers have been exhausted after traveling all night."

Zhang Tianlin was in a bad mood. She raised her riding whip and made a beating motion, and said loudly: "Didn't you see that His Highness asked me to drive all night? You are still resting, and I will wait until Daizhou to rest again!"

"But if the imperial army is besieging Daizhou, wouldn't we go up and die?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Tianlin said nonchalantly: "Just tell Tan Ma to hurry up. If we find that there is fighting on the Daizhou side, we will form a team. If there is no fighting on the Daizhou side at all, I don't want to get hurt along the way! Turning around, His Highness asked, I thought I was slacking off halfway!"

At this point, he paused and added: "If there are really many reinforcements from the imperial court, they will definitely take advantage of the opportunity to pursue Yanmen Pass after capturing Yanmen Pass. But it didn't happen. Why? Because the imperial court cannot have many reinforcements, do you understand?"

Zhang Tianlin has a carefree personality. In the original history, when Li Zicheng wanted to kill Jiang Quan, he stepped in to protect him; then after Li Zicheng was defeated and fled, he was not alert at all, and was killed by Jiang Quan as a surrender to the Qing Dynasty. Meeting gift.

At this time, it cannot be said that there is something wrong with him.After fighting for so many years, I still have basic military judgment skills.No, after listening to his analysis, his men felt the same way, so they sent additional scout horses to explore the way ahead and said nothing more.

However, war is sometimes an ever-changing thing and cannot be explained by conventional theories.

Zhang Tianlin guessed correctly. There were not many reinforcements from the imperial court, so they captured Yanmen Pass at the beginning and had no intention of continuing the pursuit.However, who let Ningwuguan get the news that Li Zicheng's grain and grass camp was stationed in Daizhou, so even if the troops were small, the imperial court decided to try to attack Daizhou.

In short, due to a strange combination of circumstances, Zhang Tianlin got it wrong this time.

Still far away from Daizhou, Zhang Tianlin's three thousand cavalry troops were at the forefront, followed by infantry troops one after another.

After about three poles of sunrise, we were about to reach an open area. The boundaries of Daizhou were all plains and hills.

But at this moment, Zhang Tianlin and others suddenly noticed something moving. When they heard the sound, they turned around and saw the imperial cavalry on the north and south sides taking advantage of the terrain to charge towards them from a high position.From behind the hill, a steady stream of people came out, no one knows how many!

"Damn it, what's going on?" Zhang Tianlin was shocked and yelled, "What's Tanma doing for food? Hurry, rush over!"

Naturally, his men didn't know that there would be an ambush by imperial officers and soldiers here. When they saw that they were being ambushed, they all panicked.

The [-] cavalry were in a long queue, but they were suddenly ambushed. In panic, those at the front of the team followed Zhang Tianlin and rushed out, trying to rush to the open space and escape to Daizhou; and Those at the back of the team, when they reacted and wanted to catch up, they saw that the imperial cavalry had already rushed down, intercepting them at the waist, and finally had no choice but to hit their horses and flee back!
"kill……"

It was not until this time that the imperial officers and soldiers issued thunderous shouts of killing, chasing the fleeing bandits in the south and north respectively.

Zhang Tianlin was lying on the horse. When she saw this scene, she immediately cursed: "Where did the demon army come from!"

So many cavalry were able to hide silently on the roadside before. The shouts after they came out were like thunder, which seemed to contain infinite power. It was definitely not the movement of the imperial officers and soldiers he had seen before. To him, it was like seeing a ghost!As a general who is used to leading troops in battles, he has seen many armies, but he has never seen an army with such high morale!
Look, those imperial cavalry are rushing to chase each other, as if they are afraid of falling behind!
This army was definitely not a well-trained elite division, but the state of this army and its eagerness to fight was really the first time he had seen it in his life!

At this time, Zhang Tianlin was cursing in her heart, but she didn't dare to stop at all. She kept pinching the horse's belly and slapping the horse's butt, trying to escape as soon as possible and stay far away from the lunatic army in front of her.

But he had not escaped for a long way when he suddenly saw a lot of tripping ropes on the ground, one after another.It was just a hasty cover-up, very blatant, so what if it was discovered!
At this moment, Zhang Tianlin came to her senses. The imperial officers and soldiers behind her were chasing after them, just not giving them a chance to avoid the stumbling rope!

"Damn it!" He yelled, and quickly controlled the horse to avoid the stumbling ropes as much as possible, trying to escape from the place where the stumbling ropes were arranged with his superb riding skills.

However, they ran away in panic, and there was a group of crazy officers and soldiers chasing behind them. Especially the bandits who were running at the front did not notice the tripping rope at all. Suddenly, many horses of the bandit cavalry were tripped, and people were turned over, mixed with injuries. The dust raised is so spectacular!
After Zhang Tianlin finally escaped from this area full of stumbling ropes, before he could breathe a sigh of relief, he saw a cavalry army of about 1000 people crossing his path.

There were about 500 cavalry troops dismounted and placed on both sides of the road, armed with bows and arrows and three-eyed muskets. There were also more than 500 cavalry troops, divided into four or five teams, in full formation, waiting for the rebels to crash into them.

"Damn it!" Zhang Tianlin cursed angrily and immediately turned the horse's head, trying to find another way out.Because he could see at a glance that his side, which was seriously attrited by the horse rope, was unable to hedge against the cavalry on the opposite side.

However, when he looked up and looked around, he found that there was no other way to escape.Turning around and looking behind him, he saw his men lying on the ground, as well as their horses.

"Damn it, done it!" Zhang Tianlin cursed angrily, and immediately took out the lance in his hand, ready to charge, just in case he could rush out!
At this moment, the officers and soldiers were heard shouting in unison: "Those who surrender will avoid death!"

After hearing this, Zhang Tianlin cursed loudly: "What the hell!"

After finishing speaking, he urged the war horse under his crotch again and began to charge at a faster speed.

The men who had followed him to escape from the Timasuo area saw him, and some of them rushed forward without hesitation.But some people hesitated and did not follow.

Zhang Tianlin didn't care so much, she just stared at the intercepting imperial officers and soldiers in front, and shouted viciously: "Kill!"

The narrow road meets the brave to win!

After so many years of fighting, I still have this understanding.

When his men heard this, they all fell on their horses and charged, shouting at the same time: "Kill!"

The imperial officers and soldiers responded to their shouts of killing.

"Bang bang bang..."

"Blah blah blah..."

The imperial officers and soldiers in the north mostly used three-eyed blunderbuss and rarely used bird blunderbuss, which is why they valued the multiple lead bullets fired by the three-eyed blunderbuss.There is no accuracy, but as long as there are enough three-eyed guns, there will be enough coverage.

Suddenly, with the sound of bows, arrows and firearms, the charging bandit cavalry, either men or horses, screamed one after another, and then fell to the ground with a crackle.

Zhang Tianlin and a few rogue cavalrymen managed to escape the disaster.But they were about to face a confrontation with hundreds of imperial cavalry, and there was no way they could win.

However, the ferocity in their bones made them still choose to charge.

But at this moment, Zhang Tianlin found that a cavalry commander in front took out a bow and arrow and shot arrows in his direction.

He despaired at just one look, because his experience found that the cavalry chicken thief was targeting his horse!
Sure enough, Zhang Tianlin and several of his accomplices behind him were all shot by war horses, and then fell forward violently.

Faintly, Zhang Tianlin thought she had something wrong with her ears, but she actually heard a voice coming from the front: "Long live your archery skills!"

That's right, it was Emperor Chongzhen who followed the wise saying of shooting men first and shooting horses, and shot their horses.

After hearing Fang Zhenghua's praise, Emperor Chongzhen was indifferent and just ordered: "Clean the battlefield immediately and capture as many living people as you can."

After hearing his decree, military orders were issued, and the cavalry officers began to clean the battlefield.

It has to be said that the battlefield chosen by Zhou Yuji was very good, allowing the imperial officers and soldiers to easily win the battle.

In less than half an hour, the cavalry that went west to pursue the rebels, led by Zhou Yuji and He Zan, returned to the emperor and reported to the emperor that they had pursued them for more than ten miles and killed many soldiers. Death, at least in the short term, the bandit army has been frightened by the news, and it is impossible to come back without reorganizing its military strength.

It is not unusual at all to be able to win the war by waiting for work and unexpectedly attacking an army of thieves who were traveling all night.

The inventory of the battlefield has come out. More than 30 people were injured among the imperial officers and soldiers, and none of them died. On the side of the rebel cavalry, a total of about 500 cavalry prisoners, led by the thief general Zhang Tianlin, were captured. They were killed or died of obvious injuries. There are more than [-] people.

Among the more than 300 prisoners, many were injured, mostly minor injuries.

Zhang Tianlin fell from a high-speed horse and was only slightly injured. He was confused. But when he heard that the person who shot his horse was really the current emperor, he was shocked to wake up, and then he regained consciousness. shocked.

The current emperor is so capable of fighting?
But after he came to his senses, he did not beg for mercy. He even shouted to the emperor: "Emperor Dog, grandpa is a good man again after 18 years. Come on, if grandpa frowns..."

In Zhang Tianlin's opinion, the emperor would definitely kill him, so he would naturally have to be tougher.

As a result, before he finished speaking, the emperor didn't even look at him, but just ordered: "Take them all away!"

………………

At the top of Daizhou City, the Gao family did not listen to the suggestions of her subordinates and said that they would send troops to follow the imperial army, but she rejected all the suggestions.

Daizhou City is where the food and grass for the front line of the army are located, and it is also the place where small families in the army are settled. This must not be missed.

On the surface, she had been very calm, letting Li Zijing go back to heal his injuries, and stayed on guard on the top of the city.

I don't know how long it took, but Gao finally saw the returning imperial officers and soldiers, as well as the Ming Emperor.

The defenders on the top of the city suddenly became nervous.The return of the imperial officers and soldiers meant that they might have won a victory in the west.For them, it was a natural defeat.

More than 400 horsemen came out of the official army formation and came to the city. Each horseman pushed the prisoner off the horse. One of them shouted loudly to the top of the city: "According to His Majesty's decree, Zhang Tianlin and others The bandit army 410 and five people are exchanged for loyal men of the imperial court!"

Hearing this, the defenders on the city were immediately shocked.

These people who failed to deceive the city and were captured were still soldiers of the Dashun Army a few days ago. To the emperor, they were absolutely unknown!Unexpectedly, the emperor attached so much importance to them and always wanted to save them!
The current emperor is so loyal? ! !

(End of this chapter)