Before hanging himself, Chongzhen lifted the table

Chapter 110: Mutual non-aggression in secret

Regarding this issue, the leaders of Baoding City are basically pessimistic.

The atmosphere in the lobby of the Governor's Yamen was a bit heavy, especially after the casualties and material losses were reported, the atmosphere became even more depressing.

After a while, it was Ma Ke who broke the silence and said to Shao Zongyuan: "In the current situation, there are no reinforcements around. Originally, the only possible reinforcement was Liu Zeqing from Shandong. But according to the latest newspaper, His Majesty has announced his guilt. We can’t count on him to come to the rescue!”

In the original history, Liu Zeqing excused himself from the King Qin because he injured his leg, and later ordered him to reinforce Baoding and defend the south gate of the capital. However, Liu Zeqing refused again.

At this time, after hearing Ma Ke's words, it seemed that he was vaguely blaming the emperor and Liu Zeqing for quarreling with each other and ending the possibility of reinforcements. The hearts of those present became even heavier.

Without reinforcements, Baoding will be captured by the bandits sooner or later.

However, it was Ma Ke who started to speak again: "Your Majesty has definitely predicted that Baoding will not be able to be defended. Therefore, the previous decree has stated that if Baoding cannot be defended, the capital can be retreated."

At this point, his real intention became obvious, which was to break out of the encirclement and run to the capital.

After hearing his words, Lu Yingjiao immediately asked unhappily: "Breakout? What will the people in the city do?"

Zhang Datong, who is also from Baoding, also loudly said: "There are rebels outside the city. How to break out of the encirclement? It is better to stick to Baoding. The rebels will inevitably retreat after suffering huge losses!"

They are all from Baoding. If they break out of the siege, they will run out on their own. All their small property is in Baoding city, and they will definitely be retaliated by the bandits!

Therefore, the local generals naturally insisted on holding on.Visitors like Marco are more inclined to look for opportunities to break out.

Shao Zongyuan listened to the opinions of both sides and finally made a decision: "The losses suffered by the bandits in this battle were huge. They may not attack Baoding again. Even if they attack again, as long as I and others work together to defend the city, I am afraid that the bandits Li will not be able to withstand several attacks." City!"

Having said this, he said in a tone that left no room for doubt: "Everyone, there is no need to think too much. The main thing is to prepare for war quickly. If you stick to it, there will definitely be a turn for the better. If you really cannot hold on, I will give you an explanation!"

The meaning is relatively clear, that is, when the city really cannot be defended, and Marco and other guest troops want to break through, he will not stop him.But before that, I hope we can work together to defend the city!
After hearing this, Lu Yingjiao, Ma Ke and others responded with fists in their hands, and then quickly went to work.

At the same time, in the Dashun Army camp outside the city, Li Zicheng was also unhappy.

The statistical results of the war were presented to him, and the losses were greater than he expected.Especially in this siege, some brothers from the old camp climbed onto the city, but they all died on the city walls.

Recalling the previous battles, Li Zicheng thought of the battle of Ningwuguan again for some reason.

Especially when Baoding City was almost taken several times, it was actually done deliberately by the defenders in Baoding City. Just like at Ningwuguan, they deliberately showed weakness when reinforcements came, thereby achieving the purpose of depleting the morale of their own troops?

If Baoding City is not hiding its clumsiness and has really tried its best, then it can organize a few more sieges. I believe that Baoding City can be captured quickly, but I am afraid that Baoding City is just showing weakness, which is a bit of a pain!

To fight, or not to fight?

According to the information provided by Liu Fangliang, the defenders in Baoding City are all unknown people, that is, Ma Ke is okay.

However, Li Zicheng did not dare to conclude that there were no other capable people in Baoding!
Faintly, at this time, he felt a bit like being bitten by a snake once and fearing the well rope for ten years.

While Li Zicheng was thinking about it, suddenly, he saw Niu Jinxing coming in with a happy face. As soon as he entered the main tent, he said there: "Your Highness, good news!"

When Li Zicheng heard this, he immediately became energetic and asked immediately: "Did the Ming Emperor capture Taiyuan?"

If so, you have fallen into his trap and can destroy the emperor's efforts to build Renjun's reputation.

After hearing this, Niu Jinxing shook his head and said: "There is no news from Taiyuan yet. Wei Chen has got a copy of the Ming Dynasty's imperial newspaper. He knows what happened in the court of the Ming Dynasty. It can be helpful to our country, Dashun." Extremely beneficial!”

When Li Zicheng heard this, he was slightly disappointed, but then he became a little curious. He immediately took a copy of the Di newspaper presented by Niu Jinxing and started reading it immediately.

Soon, he finished reading several things that Niu Jinxing had drawn. Then, the first comment he made was: "Is the Ming Emperor crazy?"

When Niu Jinxing heard this, he smiled happily and immediately echoed: "No, in this world, soldiers have power. Who dares to despise those who have heavy soldiers? He actually dared to announce the crimes of Liu Zeqing, Zuo Liangyu and others, and said that he would arrest them They used the law of revitalizing the country to force Liu Zeqing, Zuo Liangyu and others to raise troops to fight against the Ming Dynasty, but they made several powerful enemies in vain!"

At this point, he added with a look of gloating: "From my perspective, seeing that the world is in danger, he started to break the pot, haha!"

Li Zicheng laughed, but then he looked thoughtful again and said again: "It can also mean that the emperor is desperate to survive. He thinks that the people's support is more important, so he would rather force Liu Zeqing, Zuo Liangyu and others to rebel. I don’t want them to harm the court’s reputation anymore!”

After hearing this, Niu Jinxing immediately flattered him and said, "His Highness is still wise. He immediately saw the little thoughts of the Ming Emperor!"

After a pause, he said with a smile: "But after the Ming Emperor captured Taiyuan, his hard work would be in vain. Otherwise, he would have to do his best to collect food and grass so that the people of Jin could survive until the autumn harvest. But He doesn’t even think about it, are we going to let him do it and not give him any more problems? Haha!”

Li Zicheng couldn't help but feel better when he thought about the emperor's embarrassment.

After thinking for a moment, he said: "Since Liu Zeqing will fall out with the Ming Dynasty, there is no need to keep troops to prevent him from rescuing Baoding and the capital. You send people to contact him. Our two families are not in conflict with each other. We will not If he goes to Shandong, he should not come to Beizhili! Otherwise, if he leads the army into Shandong alone, there will be no place for him!"

When Niu Jinxing heard this, he was shocked and quickly reminded: "Your Highness, we are different from before. People like Liu Zeqing have a bad reputation. If the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty announces it to the world like this, his reputation will only become worse. No, It’s so sticky!”

His implication is that they have been cleansed and they also need to win the hearts and minds of the people and can no longer get involved in stinking shit.

At this time, Li Zicheng heard Niu Jinxing's advice and naturally understood what he meant. He didn't pay attention to it. He just said lightly: "So you are the one who sent people, and the water in the well does not offend the river. Do you understand what I mean?"

As soon as he heard this, Niu Jinxing came back to his senses, and immediately said with great joy: "Wei Chen is stupid. Your Highness just pointed it out, and Wei Chen understood!"

The relationship between Li Zicheng and Liu Zeqing is a tacit understanding. If they are not aligned, they are not enemies. They each do their own thing and everyone is fine.

Li Zicheng estimated that Liu Zeqing would definitely agree.After all, his current strength can crush Liu Zeqing.If you dare not agree, then you really have to lead the troops to take over Shandong and become part of the Dashun territory. It is not impossible.

Affected by this incident, Li Zicheng's mood improved. While ordering to continue building siege equipment, he waited for Liu Zeqing's reply.He planned to call Baoding again before Liu Zeqing could reply.If it can be defeated, that would be the best.If you still can't defeat it, just leave one army to watch over Baoding, and other armies can be deployed to attack the Ming capital.

To this end, he summoned his nephew Li Guo and asked him: "Those brothers from Beizhili who were selected a few days ago should be near the capital. You sent scouts to go north to the capital to intimidate the rich squires." Everyone rushed to the capital to cover those brothers sneaking into the capital."

When Li Guo heard this, he immediately clasped his fists and accepted the order.But before he could turn around and leave, Li Zicheng told him again: "Remember, be louder and move slower, so that those rich squires will have the opportunity to escape to the capital."

The difficulty of attacking Baoding City has exceeded Li Zicheng's imagination, and it will only be even harder to attack the capital later.For this reason, before attacking the capital, he took precautions and thought of more ways to seize the city.

Li Guo understood the idea, immediately agreed again, and then went to make arrangements.

In fact, the news that the bandits were heading north had reached the capital as early as when Liu Fangliang arrived in Baoding.However, some people are like this. Unless they feel that death is imminent, they will not be willing to move.

They always have a sense of luck, thinking that Baoding City is also a big city and the bandits may not be able to capture it.Since Baoding City has not been captured yet, they will not continue to go north, and there is no need to flee.Only when they feel that a knife is about to be put to their necks will they be afraid and run for their lives!

But on the capital side, the alert level has naturally been raised.Even if some people were unwilling to cooperate with the Armor Protection Law that had been implemented before, when the news came that the bandits were attacking Baoding, they all cooperated.

Anyone who wants to enter the city must provide a guarantee from the city residents, explain their identity and purpose, etc., and there will be official inspections every day.People without a guarantee cannot enter the city.

The only exceptions are the families of soldiers from the Beijing camp who moved to the capital from Xuanfu and Datong.They do not need the guarantee of the people in the capital, but they must have documents from the Hu Ke who is responsible for forwarding the matter to Wu Gan.

After Wu Ganlai learned about the situation, he quickly reported the latest situation to the emperor and requested to suspend the relocation of the Jingying Family Primary School. At the same time, before receiving the emperor's reply, he used the [-] Mongolians newly assigned to him as bodyguards to escort the soldiers in the Jingying. Jia Xiao went to the capital.

These Mongols are good at riding and shooting. If they encounter a small-scale bandit army, they can definitely shoulder the responsibility of protecting them.

The situation around the capital is becoming more and more tense day by day.There are also rumors from time to time that the bandits have captured Baoding and will attack the capital soon.

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen had just arrived at Zijingguan.

After passing Pingxing Pass from Yanmen Pass, the road to Zijing Pass was extremely difficult, and the transportation of grain and grass supplies was a big trouble. This is probably the reason why the bandits did not choose to take this road to attack and advance to the capital.

Fortunately, this is also the case. The defenders at Pingxing Pass are not bad. The ones stationed at Zijin Pass are the same old and weak soldiers as at Juyong Pass. The young and strong soldiers can run away early.

Zijingguan belongs to Baoding Prefecture and is in the upper left corner of Baoding Prefecture, that is, in the northwest direction.

The distance from Zijingguan to Baoding City is only slightly shorter than that to the capital.After leaving Zijingguan, there are Yizhou, Dingxing, and Xincheng, and further north are Zhuozhou, Gu'an, and then to the capital.If you go south, you will go to Rongcheng, Ansu, Mancheng, and then to Baoding City.

When Emperor Chongzhen led the army to Zijingguan, He Zan, the vanguard commander who arrived at Zijingguan first, sent someone to report to Emperor Chongzhen the news of the bandits attacking Baoding.

At first, Emperor Chongzhen was a little unconcerned. Wasn't it just a traitor who wanted to attack the capital? Liu Fangliang was attacking the capital?
Calculating the time, it should be about this time.

It wasn't bad, but after calculating it, Emperor Chongzhen was stunned for a while.

Because this day, if the original historical development were to follow, would be the day when his body was hanged!
In the blink of an eye, time flies so fast!
After Emperor Chongzhen discovered this, he couldn't help but feel a little emotional!

If you think about it seriously, in just one month, you have to fight against the grinding wheels of history almost non-stop, traveling day and night. It is really tiring.

At that time, Zhu Zhifeng was tied up on horseback and driving on the road. Emperor Chongzhen actually had a lot of time to take a rest, but he held back.

But fortunately, all the hard work paid off. I no longer had to hang myself on the days when I would hang myself, and I also brought an almost elite army with me, built from scratch!

Emperor Chongzhen sighed with emotion, and after arriving at Zijingguan, he held a military meeting.

Looking at the six general soldiers in the hall, Zhou Yuji, He Zan, He Zhen, Wei Shizhen, Ning Long, and Liu Jiuqing, Emperor Chongzhen said to them: "The rebel army is attacking Baoding City. My intention is not to return to the capital first. The siege of Baoding comes first, what do you think?"

Zhou Yuji and others had long heard from the emperor that the rebel army would have a branch from the south to attack the capital. For this reason, they also had to rush back to the capital to ensure its safety.When I heard the emperor's words at this time, I naturally had no objection. Defending Baoding was equivalent to guarding the south gate of the capital.In addition, Xuanda and other places are safe, which means the capital is safe.

As a result, several generals came out to ask for battle, wanting to be the vanguard in rescuing Baoding.

The rescue of Baoding was considered the first real field battle of this new army, and it was a serious battle.Emperor Chongzhen attached great importance to it and appointed Zhou Yuji as the vanguard of the army. Under his command were [-] cavalry and [-] infantry.

The army rested and recuperated before the war at Zijingguan. The night troops sent out earlier were replaced by Jin Zhensun's local cavalry from Baoding.After all, he is a local, familiar with the terrain, and can understand more about the situation.

In addition, we also started making sandboxes around Baoding City, which were made of mud. Of course, the soldiers from Baoding were also responsible for supplementing the sandboxes, and finally a sandbox was made.

Emperor Chongzhen could not bear the consequences of defeat, so he could only use all the knowledge he could think of carefully.

Of course, the sand table actually existed in ancient times, but he attached great importance to it. This was the emperor's attitude, and the people below did not dare to be careless.

It shouldn't be too difficult to defeat Li Zicheng's partial division and the army led by Liu Fangliang.Emperor Chongzhen was relatively relaxed with this thought in his mind.

Unexpectedly, Jin Zhensun rushed back to Zijingguan that night.

Later, Emperor Chongzhen summoned the generals overnight and announced new news: "The bandit leader Li Zicheng arrived in Baoding two days ago with the army in person!"

Zhou Yuji and others were surprised when they heard this.This news was really beyond their expectations!
Everyone present thought that Li Zicheng led the army back to Taiyuan, so why did he appear in Baoding?

After coming back to his senses, Ning Long said with some regret: "If we had known that the bandit army had planned an empty city plan, we should have gone to recapture Taiyuan!"

If Taiyuan is captured, it will mean that most of Jin will be recovered. This is the biggest victory in recent years.

After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen shook his head and said: "There is no point in taking it back. If Li's army is in Baoding, how to fight this battle needs to be renegotiated!"

The reason why he said this was because of his previous point of view, even if he took Taiyuan back, he would not be able to hold it for the time being, so there was no point in taking it back.

After hearing his words, the expressions of the generals became serious.

Li Thief's army is more than ten times our own strength. It is very difficult to win.

In the past 5000 years, there have been only a few wars in which the minority defeated the majority.It's just a normal war, it's all about winning with strength!

These generals in the lobby are all generals who have been tempered in troubled times. Especially in front of the emperor, a wise and powerful emperor, it is impossible to talk in general terms.

In the end, it was Emperor Chongzhen who said: "Our army's ability to detect information needs to be further strengthened. Please wait and mobilize the most elite cavalry officers in the army to form a few more night-time troops to find out the information first."

After a pause, he added: "The army is dormant at Zijingguan for the time being to prevent the bandits from knowing that we have arrived in the capital."

Emperor Chongzhen believed that since he was surprised by Li Zicheng's appearance in Baoding, Li Zicheng should be equally surprised by his appearance here so quickly.Making good use of this information gap is one of the factors that creates your own ability to win the battle.

After hearing this, Zhou Yuji and other generals immediately clasped their fists to accept the order, and went about their business seriously.

As Emperor Chongzhen expected, Li Zicheng at this time had no idea that the Ming Emperor who was facing him had also led his army to Baoding Prefecture.After preparing for several days and rebuilding a large number of siege equipment, Li Zicheng ordered another attack on Baoding City.

However, what disappointed him was that it was almost the same as the first time. Although they attacked the city several times, they were still driven back by the defenders.If there is any difference from the first battle, it is that in this second siege, the number of times the city was attacked was many times more than the first time.

Moreover, Li Zicheng discovered through his clairvoyance that some strong men had appeared in the garrison at the top of Baoding City.

However, no matter what, Baoding City still defended the second siege!
(End of this chapter)