There is a space for passenger planes in the late Ming Dynasty

Datong City, General Military Mansion.

Zhou Rui, the commander of the 1st Shanxi Combat Division, rode over with several guards. After tying up his horse, he walked into Lu Xiangsheng's apartment.

"Master Zhou is here, how are you? Has the sweep of the prefectures and counties in Datong Prefecture gone smoothly these days?" Lu Xiangsheng, who was reviewing documents, put down his brush and raised his head and asked.

"Director Lu, the sweep of the prefectures and counties went very smoothly. They basically surrendered upon orders. The people of Datong Prefecture are very supportive of our Zhenming Army." Zhou Rui replied.

"That's good. I was just about to discuss it with you, and you just came over."

"What is the order from the Superintendent?"

"Instructions are out of the question. Your Majesty has already told us that we need to discuss things more. We have retaken Datong City this time, and we need to discuss the next step together." Lu Xiangsheng said.

"Yes, Datong borders the Mongolian grassland and the Xuanfu and Beizhili of the Ming Dynasty. It is very close to the capital of the Ming Dynasty. We have recaptured Datong. It is impossible for them to not react. Yes, let's discuss the deployment of troops." Zhou Rui pointed at the map and said.

"Judging from the current investigation situation, the Ming army in Xuanfu can only protect itself at best and dare not take the initiative to attack. I heard that the Ming army has organized a new army of 100,000 people in the capital. If the imperial court wants to respond, it is estimated that Just send this new army back.

The closest place between us and the capital is the Yuzhou and Guangchang area to the east of Datong Prefecture. After Zhou Rui and you captured the state capital, how many troops did you leave behind in this area? Lu Xiangsheng asked.

"I asked Brigade General Zhang Yan to lead a brigade to stay in that area to guard against a surprise attack by the imperial army." Zhou Rui replied.

Lu Xiangsheng got up and walked around the room, then came to the hanging map of Datong and said: "The prince has entrusted northern Shanxi to us. We must deal with it carefully and never make the mistake of losing Datong last time.

At present, no enemy situation has been found in the direction of the grassland. The main threat to Datong is the direction of the capital of the Ming Dynasty. Whether it is to resist the attack of the imperial court or to initiate an attack on the capital in the future, Yuzhou and Guangchang are the bridgeheads.

Therefore, the deployment of troops in this area cannot be too small. Only one brigade there is not enough.

Currently, the 1st Mobile Division is in and around Datong, and Zhou Zhiwei's Longquanguan Combat Division is on the southern border of Datong, responsible for resisting the Ming army directly under Zhili in the northeast of Shanxi.

South of Datong Prefecture is connected to Taiyuan Prefecture, which is also the territory of our Zhenming Army.

So I'm considering having all of your Shanxi Combat Division deployed to the Yuzhou and Guangchang areas in the east of Datong Prefecture. What do you think? "

"The Superintendent has considered it very carefully. I have no objection to this arrangement. However, do we need to report to the prince in advance before moving our entire defense system?" Zhou Rui replied.

"That's natural. I have already asked the prince for instructions in the military report sent to Xi'an. We can't just wait until the prince replies. You can move two brigades over first and leave one brigade on standby in the Daizhou area." Lu Xiangsheng explained.

"This is the most appropriate thing. I will go immediately and transfer Lu Biao's brigade to the Weizhou area." Zhou Rui took the order and left.

Beijing Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

Emperor Chongzhen was listening to the great eunuch Wang Chengen reading memorials from various places with a sad look on his face. Most of them were bad news. He was unwilling to listen and was afraid of missing something urgent, so he could only listen patiently.

In the direction of Henan, the whole of Henan was lost. Even the King of Zhou surrendered to the Zhenming Army and published a sharp statement, attacking him for his poor governance and the people's livelihood, and that he should have abdicated in favor of others.

If Chongzhen could really give up his position, review memorials all day long, get up earlier than chickens, eat very mediocre food, don’t have a few taels of silver in the inner treasury, and even wear a dragon robe, he has to patch it up, what else in the world would he do? Is there a worse king than him?
The key is to accept bad news every three days. Either the Tatars invade, or civil unrest breaks out somewhere, or there is a drought or famine, or the imperial army is defeated somewhere. In short, there is no worst, only worse, heart If I can't bear it, I'll probably have to burp. Alas, the prince is still young, so he is even more worried about handing over this responsibility. There is no one in the civil and military circles who can be trusted.

I originally thought that Yang Sichang was pretty good, so I asked him to lead an army of 100,000 to chase the rogue bandits, but he ended up losing the battle in two days.

Recently, he reported a defeat in the Guanyin Mountain area of ​​Sichuan. He killed Dachang guard Shao Zhongguang on the spot, arrested Sichuan governor Shao Jiechun, and requested that Shao Jiechun be punished.

It doesn't matter if you kill some generals and governors, the key is to defeat the rogue bandits. Now we are killing more of our own people than the bandit leaders!
But the few cards in his hand were given to Yang Sichang, and Chongzhen had no choice but to believe it to the end, and issued an edict and agreed to execute Shao Jiechun.

While Chongzhen was worrying, a eunuch hurried in and reported: "Your Majesty, Chen Shangshu of the Ministry of War requests an audience."

When Chongzhen heard this, his heart skipped a beat. Could it be another bad news? He also had a slight fantasy in his heart. Could it be good news from Hubei? If it was bad news, none of the ministers would come to report it. Afraid of getting slapped.

Soon, Chen Xinjia came in with an anxious look. When he saw Chongzhen, he immediately knelt down and said: "Your Majesty, there is an urgent report from Shanxi. The Zhenming Army Lu Xiangsheng's troops reoccupied Datong City three days ago and executed Datong's general Jiang Xiang."

Datong is only four to five hundred miles away from the capital, and the cavalry can arrive in two or three days. If it is lost in other places, the Ministry of War can delay it for a while and report it through memorials and reports. If it is lost in Datong, it must be reported immediately in person.

"What!" Chongzhen stood up in confusion when he heard the words, the memorial in his hand fell to the ground, and then sat down weakly again.

"Your Majesty, Datong is only four to five hundred miles away from the capital. We must send troops to deal with it immediately." Chen Xinjia could only bite the bullet and continue.

"Sending troops, what kind of troops do you think we should send? Do you have money to send troops?" Chongzhen asked continuously.

"Your Majesty, the 100,000 new recruits in the capital are almost fully trained, but they lack combat experience, so some veterans need to be dispatched to lead the area.

The subordinate suggested that Wu Sangui, the commander-in-chief of Shanhaiguan Pass, lead 10,000 Guan Ning cavalry to Beijing, join 100,000 new troops, and go to the Datong border to respond. "

"Where are the military expenses for sending troops?"

"There are still 100,000 taels of the one million allocated by the Emperor to the Ministry of War to train the new army. This year's new tariffs should also be part of it. It should be no problem to scrape together 150,000 taels for military expenses first." At this time, Chen Xinjia did not Dare to hide it and dig out all the old secrets of the Ministry of War.

"This suggestion is feasible. Then immediately give an order to Governor Hong and ask him to quickly send Wu Sangui to the capital to lead troops and lead an army of 110,000 to Shanxi to quell the chaos. Don't betray my trust." Chongzhen pondered for a while and then went down. The decree.

"According to the order!" Chen Xinjia replied, and then pretended to be calm and composed and left the palace.

In fact, only he himself knows that the 100,000 new troops organized and trained by the Ministry of War are very short of weapons and food, and the training intensity is not enough. It may not be possible to fight a difficult and difficult battle, let alone defeat the Ming Army.

But at this point, the imperial court no longer has any troops to send, and the people in the Beijing camp have no hope. Shandong's Liu Zeqing still has some troops, but they are not important.

Not to mention Southern Zhili. Lin Feng led a personal guard division to conquer Nanjing City last time. Although Lin Feng later voluntarily withdrew and was reported by the Nanjing gang as defeating the Zhenming Army's offensive plan, Chen Xinjia was not a fool. , still knows the truth, just hiding it from Emperor Chongzhen.

(End of this chapter)