Begging in late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 278

The weather is getting colder and colder, not to mention that the north side of Shanxi has to wear cotton coats and leather jackets, even the Henan side is dripping into ice, but on this day, there is no snow, and it is so dry and cold that people's bones are frozen Voted.

The situation on the Central Plains battlefield has also slowed down with the severe winter and the twelfth lunar month. In Shanxi, the begging army was like a ghost, and disappeared in a flash. Thousands of people evaporated half of the world. Up to now, no reinforcements have come. Taiyuan Mansion Up and down are still in fear. To the south, in Wu'an, although the peasant army has surrendered, more than 6 officers and soldiers are still carefully blocking the north of the Yellow River. Before, no one was worried.

But the negotiations have reached a stalemate. The Peasant Army is enough to lower their stance. Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong don’t even want an official. As long as the court can give you a piece of land, let our brothers have land to cultivate. As for starving to death, this reasonable request is the most embarrassing for the court.

When Shenzong enfeoffed King Fu, there was not even enough land in Henan, and he had to go to Huguang and Sichuan to share the share. It was unnecessary to settle in Henan, and Shaanxi was too far away. I can’t afford it. As for Shanxi, there are eight mountains, one water and one field. The contradiction between people and land there is even more serious. In order to kick the peasant army to each other, the heads of the three provinces are about to break their heads in the court. The memorial is a The bundled ones were sent to the capital.

On the contrary, no one paid attention to the peasant army itself.

On November 24, the sixth year of Chongzhen, Mianchi.

Among the more than 7 encircling troops, Henan is the weakest. Although Henan is the hinterland of the Central Plains and the site of the Fourth World War, it is also in the rear. The army has not been on the battlefield for decades. The army is also the worst equipped. Many Ming soldiers still wear military uniforms issued by Zhang Juzheng. Since it is not important, the Ministry of War is naturally stingy in terms of salary. The artillery and firecrackers are all old things from decades ago. They owed their wages for as much as nine months, and the morale of such a group was low, and the outdated army was blocked on the way to the south of the rebel army.

It's not that the Yellow River cuts them off. It is estimated that a random battalion can knock down the eight or nine thousand Henan army.

However, because of the isolation of the big river, the Henan main army is the easiest one.

In the big camp by the river, there was a solid layer of frost, but there was no one in sight. If it weren't for the fireworks coming out of the tents, people would think it was a dead camp.

The dilapidated canvas curtains of the tents of the Tianziding team were thrown open abruptly, and a gust of cold wind immediately made everyone inside tremble, with frost on their eyebrows and beards, but the veterans who came in took off their cotton coats impatiently.

"Little Bozi, it's your turn!"

"Just fuck me, how long will it be?" The soldier who was called out was obviously unhappy and muttered reluctantly, but the veteran kicked him unceremoniously.

"Where is so much nonsense?"

Reluctantly, he took the padded coat that had been hardened by the cold, and his mouth was not clean. The soldier can be said to have left the camp in a dawdling manner.

According to military law, there must be at least 2000 teams of [-] scouts patrolling the river at night, but these [-] river soldiers are not enough for even [-] patrol soldiers.

If you don't wear more clothes in this cold weather, you will freeze to death, but the general doesn't have a cotton coat in his hands. If you don't give it to me, I will have to cut corners. No wonder, this cotton coat is the only one for more than 20 people in the entire tent. One piece, the patrol can only wear it in turn, which is really pitiful.

The wind of knives on the big river was not so strong. Wrapped in the hard torn padded jacket, he was frozen through after walking a few steps. Even more reluctantly, the soldier climbed up the Yellow River embankment on the river bank, yawned, and planned to go straight to the river. Find a place sheltered from the wind and just take a nap. Mianchi is already outside the battlefield, and even those rogues can't fly over.

However, before he finished yawning and opened his mouth, the little soldier's eyes were wide open, and he saw countless stars coming towards him on the other side of the Yellow River. He was dumbfounded for a few seconds. Ji Ling woke up.

It's all fucking torches!
His legs were weak, and the little soldier turned his head and ran away.

In the severe cold of the twelfth lunar month, the Yellow River, which has not been frozen for decades, was completely frozen this night. On the river, countless peasant soldiers spread straw on the river surface, immediately poured the soil on, and were busy with torches. , the well-known strongman of the Rebel Army, general Hao Yaoqi swung a big ax and slammed it on the ice, but except for the broken ice that jumped up, the whole ice didn't even tremble.

"Good guy, the ice is several feet deep, King Chuang, it's alright!" Holding the axe, Hao Yaoqi clenched his fists excitedly.

Also squinting his slender eyes, looking at the dark other side of the Yellow River, Chuang Wang Gao Yingxiang also nodded in satisfaction.

The front army, under the command of Dazhu suddenly, led by Li Zicheng himself, the innumerable rebel cavalry led the horses, and formed six long rows, like six fire dragons piercing to the opposite bank. Sun Chuanting, who was playing with a ball, couldn't help shaking his head as he stepped on the ice under his feet.

Is Daming really exhausted?Even God helped these rogues.

If these 2000 patrolling soldiers had been dedicated to their duties, maybe the end would have been better, but when Li Zicheng, Hao Yaoqi, Liu Fangliang and other rebel generals stepped on the embankment where the little soldier yawned just now, the more than [-] river soldiers guarding behind the Yellow River embankment Still huddled in the dead tent without moving, against the backdrop of the moonlight, in Hao Yaoqi's big grinning mouth, an incomparably cold light flashed from his two rows of big yellow teeth, as terrifying as a wolf about to hunt .

…………

It was already the fourth day of December when the capital received the report. Emperor Chongzhen was in the morning court at that time. When he heard the news, his face turned pale and he sat on the dragon chair without making a sound for a long time. The officials below were also completely silent. It's like being silent like a cicada, everyone is afraid that the emperor will vent his anger on himself.

This kind of dead silence lasted for five or six minutes, and the angry and trembling voice came from the alchemy hall.

"The thief has escaped from the Yellow River, what do you think should be done?"

"The guarding eunuch Lu Jiude and Yang Jinchao's guards are unknown. Wang Pu, the commander-in-chief of the Beijing camp, is negligent in his duties. These four should be killed! However, Zhang Jie, the left servant of the official department, accepted the bribes of the thieves and opened his eyes for the thieves. Most deserve to be killed! Your Majesty impeaches Zhang Jie, please take this man down with the Jin Yiwei!"

The first one to jump out was the speaker, Zhang Sanmo, who was politically inclined to the Donglin Party. Although he pointed his finger at Zhang Jie, the right servant of the Ministry of officials, Zhang Jie was a person who was warm and benevolent in the capital, and hitting Zhang was hitting warm.

Afterwards, a large group of officials also knelt down one after another, denouncing Zhang Jie's crimes in one voice, which was really amazing. Zhang Jie, who was so eager to write a letter agreeing to appease, was sweating coldly on his forehead, and looked at his boss frequently. Wen Tiren, a bachelor of the Fuda University.

Who would have thought that this handsome bachelor from Wucheng, Zhejiang also nodded his head filled with righteous indignation: "Your Majesty, what Mr. Zhang said is very true. Zhang Jie opened his eyes for the thieves, and he didn't know who he was, which led to his Majesty being forced. Several letters were written by the official department to Lu Zhaolong, Zuodu censor Tang Shiji of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and more than 50 people including Chen Zhan from the criminal department wrote letters to Zhang Mu for the culprit, and the veterans believed that they should be dealt with together."

As soon as Wen Tiren's words came out, it caused a turmoil in the government and the public. He said that these five people were mostly from the Qingliu faction of the Donglin Party, and there were more than 50 people left, but there were all kinds of people. We all saw that the emperor was obviously moved, so naturally he followed suit and agreed. 50 people are still too small. I guess Wen Tiren remembered it. Hundreds of ministers have written letters. If Zhang Sanmo said that everyone should be killed, then the courtiers will be cut in half up.

The matter has nothing to do with oneself, it becomes a cockfight, and the ministers involved are in a mess, pleading guilty, defending, or criticizing Zhang Sanmo. Soon, the court has become a battlefield where two groups of cultural people scold each other in classical Chinese. With his head bowed and his back facing the chaotic imperial court, Wen Tiren's mouth was full of sneers, once again he easily turned the point of attacking himself into a pot of mud.

This is also the sad part of the party struggle in the late Ming Dynasty. When something happened, the ministers didn't think about how to deal with it, but they were busy shirking responsibility, and then the disaster hit the political opponents. This is how Liaodong was raised!
On the dragon chair, Emperor Chongzhen's young but aging face became paler and paler. He was also a frugal emperor. The sleeves inside the dragon robe were all patched, and the hands on the sleeves were tightly locked for a while. Clenched into fists, trembling uncontrollably, after a while, finally a furious dragon's roar resounded suddenly in the hall.

"enough!"

"The thief ran away, I need to know what to do! I didn't listen to you criticizing each other! Where is Jin Yiwei?"

Hula, the figure of Jingua Warrior and General Zhandian finally appeared at the gate of the court. Finally, the entire court was silent. Under the rage, Chongzhen pointed at Wen Tiren and began to drink loudly.

"Shoufu, tell me!"

Wen body Rendang is scalp numb, Henan is a large plain, there is no danger to defend, and the next step is Huguang, Sichuan, where the thieves can advance and retreat freely, the thieves who come out of the mountains of Shanxi can be said to be as wide as the sea, and the sky is as high as the birds Fly away, with the little possessions at hand, it is extremely difficult to deal with the thieves, what's his idea?
Looking at the lessons learned from the past, Yuan Chonghuan and Yang He, aren't they all so unlucky?At that time, when the emperor turns his face, everything will be closed!
But just when Wen Tiren was organizing words in his heart, how to say a lot of empty words, and still convince the emperor, outside, the left servant of the military department who was in charge of the ministry tremblingly notified him to come to the palace. shouted.

"Your Majesty, something is not right. Governor Zhang Zongheng of the Xuan Dynasty came to report that the Eastern Captives brought the Eight Banners of Jurchen and the newly attached Mongolian tribes, claiming to be 15. They are already approaching outside the wall of the Xuan Mansion! Please send reinforcements as soon as possible! Your Majesty!"

This time, the court became silent again, including the emperor...

(End of this chapter)