Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

It took almost a whole day for Emperor Chongzhen to summon this time, until an eunuch sent in a secret document. After Emperor Chongzhen read it, his color changed drastically, and he left the summoned officials and hurried away.

Some people said that the secret letter reported that Changping had fallen, but Changping had not actually fallen that day. It was just that after passing Juyongguan, it was Pingchuan, and the way to the capital did not necessarily have to go through Changping. The vanguard of the Dashun Army had already arrived in the suburbs of Beijing on the [-]th. .It is estimated that what the secret report said was the news that the Dashun Army was found near the capital.

That night, Emperor Chongzhen stayed up all night.He ran the trombone wildly around the palace, stomped his feet and beat his chest, wept and sighed, and yelled: "All the ministers inside and outside misled me, mistook me!" He had already fallen into a semi-crazy state.At this time, most of the ministers inside and outside were already ready to surrender in Kaesong.Cao Huachun, the eunuch of Li, Zhang Jinyan, Minister of the Ministry of War, and others drew up a treaty to surrender in Kaesong, and many eunuchs and bureaucrats in the palace and court signed the word "knowledge" on it.Of course, only Emperor Chongzhen didn't know.

On the morning of the [-]th, Emperor Chongzhen once again discussed with his ministers how to deal with the crisis, and once again shed tears in public, and the ministers wiped away their tears once again.Some people proposed to use Feng Quan, Huo Weihua, Yang Weiyuan and others from the eunuch party.Not to mention whether it can be used or not, several people are far away from other places, and it is useless for defending the city if it is used.

But Emperor Chongzhen was really annoyed hearing these nonsense, he didn't bother to talk, he wrote the words "Every civil servant can be killed" on the table with his finger, and let the eunuch Wang Zhixin look at it, and then erased it .He really wanted to kill these cowardly and cowardly courtiers to his heart's content, but at this moment when he was about to perish, he actually didn't even have the ability to kill, so he could only wait for the Dashun Army to fulfill his last wish.

In the morning, a few ministers waited anxiously outside the palace gate for news, discussing the situation at the same time.Some people say that we can only resign ourselves to fate.There are also people who say that the city is strong and there is no problem in keeping it for a few months.

Suddenly, Li Guozhen, the uncle of Xiangcheng who was in charge of guarding the city, came riding alone, disheveled and panicked.Emperor Chongzhen hurriedly announced him into the palace and asked him how he was defending the city.But Li Guozhen lay on the ground crying and said: "The army guarding the city doesn't obey orders! They are all lying on the wall, one is beaten up with a whip, and the other is lying down again. What should I do?"

Emperor Chongzhen also cried together: "All the ministers have misunderstood me to such an extent!" So the civil and military ministers and eunuchs in the palace all cried together, and the sound filled the palace and could be heard clearly outside.

When Emperor Chongzhen sent away the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs, he summoned the eunuchs again.Ask the eunuchs to defend the city with arms.The eunuchs were in a commotion, and it was not until evening that a team of several thousand people was organized, and they distributed the 20 taels of silver temporarily provided by the emperor, and went to various cities in a panic.

At this time, the Dashun Army had already surrounded the city of Beijing.The "Three Great Battalions" outside Qihuamen collapsed without a fight, and Pingzemen (now Fuchengmen) and Zhangyimen (now Guang'anmen) were attacked fiercely.There were flames everywhere.The sound of the cannon moved the ground.

In another sleepless night.Emperor Chongzhen clearly thought of death.Since ancient times, who has never died?But as a generation of "British Lords", it is really unwilling to "die for the country" in such embarrassment.It's just that there is no way to escape, and there is no way to defend, so what can we do?

On the morning of the [-]th, he summoned his cabinet ministers for the last time.He said dejectedly: "It's better for everyone to finish the work (suicide) in Fengxian Hall together." None of the cabinet ministers responded.Fengxian Hall is the place where the ancestral tablets are enshrined in the palace. Facing the ancestors and ancestors, they resolutely threw themselves into the ring, which is quite tragic.But this last plan did not materialize.But even at this time, Emperor Chongzhen still imagined that there would be a last chance of life.

It seems that God heard the prayer of Emperor Chongzhen.This morning, something unexpected happened.Du Xun, the chief eunuch who surrendered to the Dashun Army in Datong, was sent by Li Zicheng to be hoisted into the city in a big basket to negotiate with Emperor Chongzhen.

Hearing that there was this last ray of life, Emperor Chongzhen hurriedly summoned him.But what Du Xun conveyed was simple: Li Zicheng's army was so powerful that it was irresistible, and the only way out was for Emperor Chongzhen to "abdicate" automatically.

But this kind of vitality is a bit too embarrassing for Emperor Chongzhen, but it is a choice after all.He was still hesitating, hoping to have a more decent way of surrender, so the negotiations dragged on until night.

However, Li Zicheng was unwilling to procrastinate any longer, and launched a large-scale attack on various gates that night. The eunuch Cao Huachun, who was in charge of guarding Zhangyi Gate, opened the gate to welcome the surrender. in sight.

At the last moment, Emperor Chongzhen still decided not to surrender or "martyrdom", but to take a risk and try to escape from the encirclement.He promulgated the edict of personal conquest, claiming that he would personally conquest and wipe out the rebels, which actually meant to lead the army to flee.

But at this time, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't even organize an army. He asked the inner supervisor to call the Beijing camp to escort him, but the inner supervisor said to him: "The Beijing camp has collapsed, and there are no soldiers left! The emperor figured out a way for himself." escape."

In the middle of the night, Emperor Chongzhen found Gong Yonggu, the prince's son-in-law, and Liu Wenbing, Marquis of Xinle, and asked them to summon their servants to escort them to flee.But Gong Yonggu cried and said: "The family of the ancestral relatives can't hide a piece of armor. Where can I have any servants! All the family members don't know how to fight, so how can they defend against the enemy!" He rushed out of the Forbidden City like headless chickens with a group of eunuchs, went to Qihua Gate and Anding Gate successively, seeing that there was no possibility of breaking through, and then returned to the palace in frustration.

To be honest, the Emperor Chongzhen at this time had already become a frightened bird. Whenever he encountered soldiers suspected of being from the Dashun Army in the city, he would turn around and run away.In fact, at this time, there were not many troops from the Dashun Army entering the city. As long as Emperor Chongzhen gritted his teeth and rushed to the outer city of Nancheng, he would be protected by the guards led by Li Lu.

Emperor Chongzhen didn't even know that at this time, the You'anmen, Guangdingmen and Zuo'anmen in the outer city of Beijing's south city had already been opened wide, and an army of more than 7000 horses had already entered the city. Yes, the reinforcements of the Runing Army led by Yang Rusong.And no one passed the news to Emperor Chongzhen to hear it.

In late May, when Yang Rusong led an army of [-] troops across the Yellow River to Puyang, he encountered the vanguard of the Qing army returning north.So Yang Rusong immediately gave way according to Xue Yongli's order, but it aroused the Qing army's strong fighting spirit, and gathered more than [-] cavalry to chase after him.

Seeing that the chasing Qing army was getting closer and closer, Yang Rusong was furious. He simply turned around and deployed his troops, fighting to the death with the chasing Qing army.After a fierce battle, Runing's army won a big victory, beheading more than a thousand Qing soldiers, and the rest of the Qing army also turned around and fled.But at this time, Yang Rusong found that he had deviated from the road to Beijing, and the whole army was already in Anyang.

There is nothing to say, only take Shimen (now Shijiazhuang), Baoding this way.Although this is the most commonly used road to enter Beijing by land from the south, it is also the easiest way for the enemy to block in this time of chaos.Therefore, the Runing army going north was cautious, for fear of encountering a large number of enemy troops.

I didn't expect what to be afraid of or what to come.When Yang Rusong went to Xingtai, he encountered a peasant army of more than [-] people.This time, Yang Rusong learned a lot from his mistakes. He didn't dare to evade any more, but carefully led the army around, and sent a large number of scouts around to find out if there was any main force of the peasant army nearby.

Unexpectedly, the peasant army on the opposite side was also cautious. They were also dealing with the Runing army. After four or five days, when Yang Rusong found out that there was no main force of the peasant army in the surrounding area, he wanted to press the troops and wipe out Zhou Xuan in one fell swoop. When they joined the Peasant Army, they did not expect that the other party would send several envoys, and they proposed to surrender to the Runing Army.

That peasant army was led by Yang Chengzu, the remnant of Cao Cao Luo Rucai.After they broke with Li Zicheng, they immediately fled outwards to escape the pursuit of the Dashun army.

Fortunately, the Dashun Army was about to launch a northwest offensive at that time, so the focus of the battle was not the rebels.So after a lot of maneuvering, Yang Chengzu successfully escaped from the pursuit of the Dashun Army.

After a little stability, Yang Chengzu also revealed his ambition.The long years of rogue career has been deeply imprinted in their bones, and Yang Chengzu and the others also look down on those officers and soldiers who were once defeated by them, so they want to set up another mountain.

Unexpectedly, the good times didn't last long. In just a few months, the Dashun Army swept across the entire Northwest region, and then launched the Eastern offensive without stopping, pointing directly at the city of Beijing.Fortunately, Yang Chengzu happened to be on the route of Tian Jianxiu's army on South Road.And when Tian Jianxiu learned that Yang Chengzu, a traitor, was in front of him, the Dashun Army also gathered superior forces to surround him.

Fortunately, Yang Chengzu has rich experience in escaping. After several hard battles, he finally fled away with the remnant army.But by this time, there were only nearly four thousand of his men and horses left, and he had lost all his luggage, lacked clothing and food, and could not even guarantee his own rations and fodder.

But at this moment, they encountered the Runing Army led by Yang Rusong.This made Yang Chengzu very nervous, but after some dealings, they were surprised to find that this officer army was Wu Butcher's army.

So Yang Chengzu called his men to discuss countermeasures. After some discussions, they finally decided to surrender to the Runing Army.Now it is impossible for Yang Chengzu to stand on another mountain, and it is not a shame to surrender to the Runing Army. After all, Butcher Wu has a complete victory record against the Peasant Army.

But this surrender made Yang Rusong dumbfounded.Since he came to surrender, it wouldn't be good if he didn't accept it, but Yang Rusong had to go to the capital in a hurry, and it would be a burden to bring so many peasant soldiers who surrendered! (To be continued..)