In the late Ming Dynasty, rising from the grassland

Chapter 158: Corruption has become a habit
Although the Ming Dynasty's treasury could run away with rats, Emperor Chongzhen's inner treasury still had some inventory.

It's just that today's Chongzhen is not like the years when he first ascended the throne. As long as the civil servants complain about poverty or scare them, they will be stupid and take out money.

But this time Emperor Chongzhen had to grit his teeth and take out 100 million taels of silver, asking the Ministry of Household Affairs to collect 20 grains and grass within ten days, and the Ministry of War had to transport it to the battlefield within half a month.

And with the money, the eunuchs and civil servants in the inner and outer courts all moved into action as if they smelled the smell of blood, and the efficiency of the household department was also surprisingly high.

However, the 100 million taels of silver were reduced by [-]% as soon as they came out of the inner treasury. After passing through the Ministry of Household and Military Affairs, the money actually used to purchase grain and grass was less than [-]%.

But 20% still left 20 taels of silver. For the heads of the Ministry of Household and Military Affairs, purchasing [-] shi of grain and grass was more than enough.

In just eight days, the Ministry of Revenue purchased 20 shi of grain and grass, and then handed it over to the Ministry of War to hurriedly transport it to Yanghe.

Half a month later, the grain team arrived at Yanghe as scheduled, but the people along the way ate horse chews, leaving only 20 shi of 15 shi, a full quarter of which was consumed.

After learning that the grain team had arrived in Yanghe, Lu Xiangsheng sent almost all his cavalry to protect the grain. Huang Taiji naturally did not miss it and also sent all his cavalry.

However, the fifteen thousand cavalry of the Ming army were not afraid of charging or entangled with the Jiannu cavalry. However, the Jiannu cavalry was worried about excessive casualties and was tied up. In addition, the food road was too short. In the end, the Jiannu cavalry Only a small part of the grain trucks were burned, and most of the grain trucks were safely transported to the camp.

At this time, the two sides had been facing off for almost a month, and the Ming army had almost no food and grass left. As the food and grass arrived, all the generals, including Lu Xiangsheng and Wang Pu, breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

Looking at the carts of food and grass, the morale of the entire Ming army soared.

"Sir, the inventory has been completed. The military rations that arrived this time are about 12 dan. After removing the sand, gravel and weeds inside, it should be about [-] dan."

"How is the condition of the military rations? Is it moldy?"

Lu Xiangsheng was not surprised at all that there was sand, gravel and straw in it, nor was he angry at all, because he had long been used to it over the years, so he only cared about the quality of the food.

In fact, he was already very satisfied with the fact that each bag of grain contained only [-]% of gravel and hay, because usually the military rations allocated by the court had to be mixed with at least three layers of gravel and hay, sometimes even [-] to [-]%.

"Sir, only [-] stones are slightly moldy, and the rest are mostly last year's new grain." Zhang Han explained helplessly.

Obviously, although he hates this kind of thing, he can't do anything about it.

"All moldy grains are used to feed the horses and must not be eaten by the soldiers. After sending [-] additional men to Huotou Camp, all gravel and husks must be removed from the grains before cooking every day."

Lu Xiangsheng waved his hand and ordered.

Although the military rations shipped by the court were unreliable, the soldiers could not be eaten directly, otherwise the war would not be fought.

"It's an adult!"

"Just these [-] stones of food and grass are only enough to feed the army for another month!"

After Zhang Han answered, he said with a bitter look on his face.

Your Excellency originally mentioned 50 shi of food and grass when he presented the memorial, but this is only [-] shi, not even half of it.

"Hey! I guess Your Majesty also has your Majesty's difficulties! Let's wait and see in a few days!"

Lu Xiangsheng also waved his hand helplessly. Although he knew that he should report immediately and ask your Majesty to transfer the second batch of food and grass, he didn't need to ask. He also knew that this matter must have made His Majesty dissatisfied.

However, he is not worried. With His Majesty's temperament, as long as he defeats the Jiannu and unites with the Lin family army to prevent the Jiannu from bypassing the grassland in the future, His Majesty will naturally not care about it.

When the Ming army received rations, their morale soared, and Huang Taiji could no longer sit still.

Because for this expedition, he had almost emptied the savings of the Qing Dynasty in the past few years. However, even so, the food and grass he brought was only enough to sustain the army for two months, and now it was only enough for one month.

This is on the premise that the war horses can graze nearby, otherwise the 30 stone grain will not be able to last for two months.

As for adjusting grain from Liaodong, let alone there was no grain to adjust, even if there was, he would not transfer it, because the consumption in the middle was definitely not something that the Qing Dynasty could afford.

Originally, he planned to arrive in Hetao within a month, spend another half month to surround and suppress the horse bandits and flee to Datong, and then lead the army directly to Datong for food. Before winter, he would completely eliminate the horse bandits and return.

But looking at the current posture, Lu Xiangsheng obviously wanted to fight him and consume them alive.

As the saying goes, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse. If he competes with the Ming Dynasty, he is seeking death. How could he, Huang Taiji, do such a stupid thing?

"Your Majesty, if the Ming army has the first batch of food and grass shipped, there will definitely be a second batch. If this stalemate continues, I'm afraid it's not an option. How about retreating?"

Abatai was already a little shaken and stood up to persuade.

The other princes of the Eight Banners, Beile, also nodded in agreement, and even Azig agreed with Abatai's suggestion.

"We must not retreat. Once our army retreats at this time, the entire Hetao will be in the hands of the Ming army. The 20 Tumut people will definitely fall to the Ming Dynasty. Our ten years of hard work in the Qing Dynasty will also be in vain. .”

Huang Taiji stood up and said firmly.If the governor of Xuanda were replaced, the bandit leader Lin Rui would be just an ordinary horse bandit. He might choose to withdraw his troops and plan for success later.

But neither Lu Xiangsheng nor Lin Rui are simple people, and the two are now obviously joining forces.

If we don't take advantage of this opportunity to defeat the two of them, it will be impossible for the Qing Dynasty to take a detour to the Ming Dynasty to plunder, let alone recapture the Hetao.

After all, if Lin Rui and his army block the Great Wall at that time, and Lu Xiangsheng leads the Ming army in pursuit, I am afraid that none of the soldiers who entered the pass will come back.

"But Your Majesty, if you don't retreat, we can only attack by force. Even if we break through the Ming army camp in the end, our own casualties may be..."

Abata reminded carefully.

"A strong attack is absolutely impossible. We still have to lure the snake out of its hole." Huang Taiji waved his hand.

"But how to induce it? Unless we invade Datong, but my twelfth brother has already tried it, and it won't work at all."

"Yes, a small group of people may be able to cross the Great Wall, but it is simply impossible for a large group of people to break through." Azig also nodded in agreement.

It's not that he is incompetent, but that as long as large groups of cavalry can pass through, the Ming army has basically built pass walls. Now that the Ming army has defenses, they can only attack by force if they want to enter the pass.

"The Xuanfu side of Datong is tightly defended and cannot be attacked. Then we will change places and break through the gate directly from Ji Town. We will surround the capital. We will see if Chongzhen can still sit still!"

Huang Taiji glanced at the two of them, and then said slowly that if they want to break the situation now, they can only surround Wei and rescue Zhao. Even if Emperor Chongzhen does not allow Lu Xiangsheng to return to rescue the capital, they can collect some food from near the capital and transport it, and continue Spend it.

Everyone's eyes lit up when they heard this, and Azige immediately stood up and said: "The emperor's plan is very clever. I am willing to lead the army there. This time I will scare the shit out of Chongzhen's kid again."

"Ha ha…"

When everyone recalled the scenes of the previous two sieges of the Ming capital, they burst into laughter. After laughing, Abatai, Yue Tuo and others also asked for a fight.

However, among the princes and princes of the Eight Banners, except for Dorgon and the two Azig brothers, they were all lagging behind.

This is why Huang Taiji was trying to win over the three Dorgon brothers and be on guard at the same time.

So this time Huang Taiji still chose to make Aqige the main general and Yue Tuo the deputy general. He led [-] cavalry and [-] infantry to Jizhen to look for opportunities to break through.

In fact, this time Huang Taiji went to great lengths to completely eradicate Namuzhong and Lin Rui. Not only did he bring [-]% of the troops of the Qing Dynasty, he also recruited [-] warriors from the Horqin tribe and [-] Mongolians from various tribes in the Liaohetao tribe.

Therefore, among the [-] cavalry, there are only [-] real Jurchen cavalry. On the contrary, Dorgon has [-] Jurchen cavalry, and the remaining [-] are all Mongolian Eight Banners.

Although [-] infantry and cavalry were taken away at once, Huang Taiji was still not worried that the Ming army would take the opportunity to counterattack, nor did he plan to take away the cavalry from Dorgon.

Because Huang Taiji had already tested the depth of the Ming army at this time. Except for more than 1 cavalry and more than 1 Tianxiong troops, the rest were all a mob.

After dividing [-] infantry and cavalry, they still have [-] cavalry, [-] infantry, and [-] Korean servants and young Han people, still occupying an absolute advantage.

The two armies were so close to each other that Jiannu suddenly divided his troops. Naturally, he could not hide it from the Ming army. When he learned that Jiannu had divided [-] troops, Lu Xiangsheng immediately became alert.

"Sir, could it be that the pseudo-emperor Tai Chi saw that our army was not easy to fight and wanted to divide his troops to join the Lin family army first?" Zhang Han guessed.

"It's impossible. With Huang Taiji's knowledge, he would never do something like this. It's hard to fight on our side. How can we fight on the naturalized side? Such tossing back and forth will only be in vain and a waste of food and grass. !”

Lu Xiangsheng shook his head. The Lin family army not only occupied Guihua City, but also had a large camp outside the city. There were also 20 cavalry, which meant there was a lack of food and grass. Otherwise, even if all [-] slaves were attacked, would they be able to attack in the end? There are two things to say about defeating it.

"Then why the sudden division of troops? Could it be...do they want to go to Ji Town?" Zhang Han's eyes suddenly opened.

"We are close to ten. Only within the territory of the Ming Dynasty can we have food and grass. If Jiannu does not want to retreat, he will definitely try his best to break through the Great Wall and go south."

Lu Xiangsheng nodded, obviously he had expected this, and the memorial to Emperor Chongzhen also stated this, asking Jizhen to strengthen its defenses to prevent Jiannu from sneak attacks.

Sure enough, it didn't take long for Tan Ma to report, and Jian Nu's troops galloped eastward.

After confirming the situation, Lu Xiangsheng did not waste any time and hurriedly called the police to Emperor Chongzhen again. He also mentioned the matter of food and grass.

However, although the Ming army's [-]-mile rush was fast, Azige's speed was not slow either. In order to make a surprise attack, Azige personally led five thousand cavalry to Ji Town day and night.

As a result, when Emperor Chongzhen received Lu Xiangsheng's letter and sent people to Jizhen to convey the order, he was still a step too late. Azig had already broken through a pass in the north of Miyun.

Obviously, the Ming army in Ji Town turned a deaf ear to Lu Xiangsheng's reminder and ignored it at all.

In fact, the ordinary soldiers were in arrears with pay and food all year round. They were already full of resentment and dissatisfaction. They didn't want to focus on defense at all, and no one was willing to work hard for the officials in the imperial court.

(End of this chapter)