In the late Ming Dynasty, rising from the grassland

Chapter 157 Emperor Chongzhen’s helplessness
"Boom boom boom..."

"Kill..."

After some testing, Huang Taiji also discovered that the Ming army defending Dongying was the weakest, so he concentrated [-] red cannons. First, they bombarded the Ming army in Dongying into chaos. Only then did Kong Youde Charge with [-] Han army flags.

The real Jurchen cavalry and Mongolian cavalry fired arrows from behind to cover.

"Hold it to me. If anyone dares to retreat, I will kill him..."

"Quickly, go report to Governor Lu, saying that the enemy's offensive is too fierce and can't be stopped. Please ask for reinforcements!"

Wang Pu and his servants roared and scolded the soldiers who were cowering and wanting to retreat, and at the same time shouted anxiously to the messenger.

But his heart was filled with hatred. Jiannu couldn't attack from anywhere, so he attacked from the east camp where he was stationed, and even pulled all the cannons over.

Although Wang Pu's [-] soldiers and horses were extremely powerful, they also knew that once Jian Nu invaded the camp, everyone would be doomed. In addition, there were servants behind him to supervise the battle, so they all mustered up the courage to defend the earth wall trench. back.

For a time, the two sides were fighting fiercely, and the Han army flag of Jiannu was obviously a level higher than the Ming army in terms of equipment and morale.

Lu Xiangsheng had been paying attention to the fighting in Dongying. It was not until Wang Pu could no longer stop him that he sent two thousand Tianxiong troops to support.

With the addition of the Tianxiong Army, the Han army flags that were about to rush into the camp were immediately pushed back. Looking at the extremely brave Tianxiong Army, other Ming troops were infected and their morale also increased greatly.

In this way, the two sides fought fiercely in Dongying for three days.

After three days, Jiannu not only failed to attack the camp, but instead destroyed tens of thousands of Han army flags, and morale also dropped seriously, which forced Huang Taiji to stop his fierce attack.

Although the Ming army also suffered a lot of losses, after Jiannu stopped attacking, Lu Xiangsheng swapped Wang Pu and eight guerrilla generals and switched defenses with each other.

At this moment, in Jiannu's camp, Huang Taiji's face was very ugly.

Monk Kong Youde was kneeling on the ground, his head hanging down.

"Get up!"

Huang Taiji waved his hands. He knew that it was not that the two of them were not working hard, but that the Ming army had too many troops. Coupled with the fortifications and the reinforcements from the Tianxiong army who dared to fight, he wanted to rely on only [-] Han army flags. It may not be realistic to break through the opponent's camp.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Both of them breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

After standing up, Shang Kexi said: "Your Majesty, in fact, the combat power of the Ming army is not high. Our army has attacked several times, but every time it will be repelled by the Tianxiong army who came up with reinforcements. Although their number is not large, But almost all of them are warriors who dare to die. If you want to break the camp, you must lead the charge with warriors who dare to die!"

"I'm afraid a forceful attack won't work, so we have to find another strategy!"

Huang Taiji waved his hand.

Obviously they were reluctant to let the Jurchen warriors fight directly against the Tianxiong Army. Last year and this year they lost too many warriors in the hands of that group of horse bandits.

A total of 4 cavalry and [-] infantry were lost one after another. Although there were only more than [-] real Jurchen warriors among these [-] people, they were still seriously injured. Their Jurchen warriors really cannot be broken anymore. Damaged.

Even the Han Army Banner and the Mongolian Eight Banners could not suffer too many casualties, otherwise the Qing Dynasty would really lose its vitality, so after losing [-] Han troops, he decisively stopped the attack.

All the princes and belles of the Eight Banners also understood that the Jurchen warriors could not suffer any more losses, so they all remained silent and did not clamor for battle as usual.

In the next few days, Huang Taiji did not dare to launch a strong attack. Instead, he let the artillery bombard continuously to damage the morale of the Ming army, while he continued to test and find the flaws of the Ming army.

However, Lu Xiangsheng's defense was absolutely watertight. Except for strong attacks, there was no loophole at all.

In desperation, Huang Taiji could only ask Azig to go south with [-] cavalry to see if he could break through the Great Wall and invade Datong, forcing Lu Xiangsheng to return to the division for rescue.

Unfortunately, after Lu Xiangsheng took office, he began to vigorously rectify border defenses. Guard posts in various places had already received strict orders from Lu Xiangsheng to strictly guard against it.

So Azig led his cavalry around the outside of the Great Wall several times, but failed to find a breakthrough and had to return without success.

Seeing that the food and grass he carried were being consumed at a speed visible to the naked eye, Huang Taiji became anxious for a while. In the end, he had to send out a call to the Tumut tribes in Hetao, but he was also politely rejected.

The reason also makes Huang Taiji very helpless, that is, the Jurchens did not fulfill their original promise to protect them, resulting in the massacre of three of their Tumut tribes by Namu Zhong, so now unless Huang Taiji kills Namu Zhong The heads were raised to eliminate this hidden danger, otherwise the tribes would no longer fight for the Jurchens.

Huang Taiji naturally did not dare to use force. He knew that the Tumut tribes had always been loyal to the Ming Dynasty and had the best relationship with the Ming Dynasty. They had no choice but to join the Jurchens. Now the situation in Hetao has become turbulent again, and one hundred thousand Ming troops have returned. After fighting out of the Great Wall, they would burn incense if they did not join the Ming Dynasty.

After all, Hetao is backed by the Ming Dynasty, and there are so many benefits to joining the Ming Dynasty. At the beginning, the Tumut tribe was just a small tribe, but because it submitted to the Ming Dynasty, in just 30 to 2 years, its population grew from 20 to more than [-]. The largest tribe in Mongolia and the richest tribe.

Indeed, almost all the Tumut tribes in the front were waiting and watching. Especially after Lu Xiangsheng led a hundred thousand Ming troops to break out of the Great Wall, many tribes had the idea of ​​​​submitting to the Ming Dynasty. However, Huang Taiji later arrived with his army. , this made the leaders of each tribe give up temporarily and wanted to continue to wait and see.

When Lin Dan Khan moved west to attack their Tumote tribe, if the Ming army dared to go out of the Great Wall for reinforcements, how could their great Khan Bu Yatu join the Jurchens?
.........

Capital of the Ming Dynasty.At this moment, Emperor Chongzhen, who was only 27 years old, had a face full of fatigue and haggard, completely unlike a young man in his twenties.

Looking at the memorial in his hand, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but frown. He became more and more annoyed as he looked at it, and finally slapped the memorial on the table.

Chongzhen couldn't help but be angry. When Lu Xiangsheng petitioned for war, he said it was a beautiful opportunity, a golden opportunity, not only to rebuild the slaves, but also to regain the Hetao in one fell swoop.

From now on, there is no need to worry about Jiannu going around the grassland and knocking on the gate to enter. The court can concentrate on encircling and suppressing the rebels.

He also said that there was no need for the court to allocate money, food, troops and horses. The troops, horses, food and grass in Xuandasan Town alone were enough. Only then did Emperor Chongzhen agree to take the risk of sending troops, and even tacitly agreed that the Lin family army would seize control of Hetao and would not be vassal for the time being.

But now it's better, the 20 slaves have become 50, a quick victory has become a stalemate until the winter, and the court has to escort [-] stones of grain and grass over within a month.

Now that the economy is in recession, the court is in a hurry. Where can it get the 50 shi of food and grass?
Although he knew that Lu Xiangsheng could not be blamed, but that Jian Nu and the additional troops were to be blamed, which changed the situation in Hetao, Emperor Chongzhen was still dissatisfied with Lu Xiangsheng at this moment and felt that he had been deceived.

However, Chongzhen also knew that one hundred thousand frontier troops had now left the Great Wall and the two armies met. If there was not enough food and grass, the disastrous defeat of the Battle of Sarsh might be repeated again.

So he had to suppress his dissatisfaction and anger and summon the Minister of Hubu and the Minister of War.

"Yang Aiqing, this is the urgent message from Lu Aiqing eight hundred miles away. The situation in the Hetao battle has changed. Please take a look first..."

Emperor Chongzhen ordered the eunuch to first hand the memorial to Yang Sichang, the Minister of War at the side.

Yang Sichang was also very dissatisfied that Lu Xiangsheng bypassed the Ministry of War and the Cabinet and delivered the memorial directly to the inner court. This was obviously to prevent him, the Minister of War.

Among the governors of the entire Ming Dynasty, only Lu Xiangsheng and Hong Chengchou currently have such an honor. They can directly submit memorials to Chongzhen without going through the six cabinet ministries.

Of course, Hong Chengchou, who believed in the doctrine of moderation, would naturally not do such a thing that offended the six ministries of the cabinet.

Yang Sichang took the memorial and read it ten lines at a time. The more he read, the more frightened he became.

"Yang Aiqing, in your opinion, is it feasible for Lu Aiqing to withdraw his army to the Great Wall at this time?"

Obviously Emperor Chongzhen still wanted Lu Xiangsheng to withdraw directly.

Because the imperial court could not afford to have a hundred thousand troops stay on the grassland for a long time, but it was worried that a hasty order would cause the situation to get out of control, so it wanted to first ask Yang Sichang, the Minister of War, for his opinion.

"Back to Your Majesty, Governor Lu's memorial was issued two days ago. According to what is said in the memorial, the two armies are probably not far apart at this time. By the time the decree arrives, the two armies will probably have engaged in battle. It would be too dangerous to withdraw rashly. .”

Even though he was dissatisfied with Lu Xiangsheng in his heart, Yang Sichang did not pay for personal expenses but told the truth.

Obviously, compared to previous ministers of the Ministry of War, Yang Sichang still has a better understanding of the overall situation and understands the importance.

"So, this war is inevitable?"

"Ai Qing, do you think my 15 soldiers can withstand the [-] slaves' army and hold on until winter?"

Emperor Chongzhen frowned first, and then asked again.

Obviously, Chongzhen was already a little dissatisfied with Lu Xiangsheng, so he also had doubts about his words.

"Your Majesty, if the situation is as Governor Lu said, our [-] border troops will defend the camp. As long as the food roads are open, it will not be difficult to hold on until winter.

It’s just that I’m worried that there will be changes in Guihua. Once the Lin family’s army is unable to hold back Jiannu’s [-] reinforcements in Guihua, I’m afraid…”

Yang Sichang said carefully, and when he said this, he secretly looked at Emperor Chongzhen's face.

Sure enough, Emperor Chongzhen's face suddenly darkened.

Thinking that Lu Xiangsheng had entrusted the safety of [-] Ming troops to a group of traitors, I became even more dissatisfied with Lu Xiangsheng.

But the deal was already done, so I had no choice but to look at the Minister of Hubu on the side and ask: "Zhang Aiqing, how much food does Hubu have left now?"

"Your Majesty, it will take another month for the summer grain to be escorted to the capital. Now the Ministry of Household Treasury has no money or grain."

"Snapped!"

Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but burst out. He slapped the dragon case hard and said angrily: "Last year, the three rings plus the autumn grain were a total of 300 million taels of silver and 500 million stone of grain. How many grains have been put into the warehouse?" The moon is gone, where have all the money and food gone?”

"Your Majesty, at the beginning of this year, the armies in Liaodong alone escorted 200 million troops and 300 million grains..."

As if he had been used to this kind of scene for a long time, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue calmly calculated the accounts for Chongzhen with his fingers. The calculation was done without missing a penny, which was reasonable and reasonable.

In the end, Emperor Chongzhen had no choice but to wave his hands and fell down on the dragon chair.

(End of this chapter)