Ming Empire

Chapter 57

In the Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace, Emperor Chongzhen was reviewing memorials leaning on the stove.

Under the influence of the continuous cold wave, Beijing also experienced continuous heavy snowfall. The weather was extremely cold, and stoves had been lit in the palace for a long time.Because of the large space of the Qianqing Palace, there are a lot of stoves.With so many stoves burning, the entire hall still couldn't be fully warmed up. Those palace people who stood far away from Emperor Chongzhen were still shivering from the cold even though they were wearing thick cotton clothes.

According to historical records, in those years at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the climate belonged to the "Little Ice River Season", and the winter was extremely cold, which was once in a thousand or ten thousand years.Historians have analyzed that the demise of the Ming Dynasty has a lot to do with climate anomalies.The extreme weather led to a sharp drop in food production, and the number of people without food and clothing increased, and the ranks of refugees grew accordingly.The common people were not fed enough to wear warm clothes, and could not survive, and civil uprisings also occurred.

If there were no extreme weather, the civil uprisings would not be so frequent and the scale would not be so large, and Daming's strength would not be weakened, and it would have the strength to resist the Jiannu invasion.Many of the elites of the Ming army were consumed in the battles against the bandits of Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, and Zhang Xianzhong. Even a fierce general like Cao Wenzhao died in the war with the rebels.

In many cases, the Ming army had to take care of both things and fight on both sides.War consumes wealth the most. Without civil uprisings and wars against slavery, the Ming treasury would not be extremely empty.If the treasury of the Ming Dynasty is not empty, it will have the financial resources to recruit troops to purchase military supplies, the strength of the army will not decline soon, the war with the Jiannu will not be lost in a mess, and the Ming Dynasty will not perish.

Therefore, the abnormal climate was a very important factor in the demise of the Ming Dynasty, which is the conclusion drawn by many historians.

Regardless of whether this conclusion is correct or not, it is absolutely true that extreme weather was frequent during the Chongzhen period, and the people of the world often suffered disasters and disasters because of abnormal weather.After several consecutive heavy snowfalls, disasters followed. Emperor Chongzhen's desk was filled with petitions for help from disasters.Emperor Chongzhen's brows were also tightly furrowed because he had read too many memorials in this regard.

Wang Chengen, the eunuch who held the pen, stood by, looking at the frowning Emperor Chongzhen anxiously, thinking about something in his heart.

At this moment, there was a commotion outside the hall, and Wang Chengen went out to check the situation immediately without waiting for Emperor Chongzhen's order.

"What happened?" After leaving the Qianqing Palace, Wang Chengen, with his hands clasped and his head shrunk, reprimanded the little eunuchs waiting outside the palace, "Your Majesty is in a bad mood these days, and the miscellaneous family has repeatedly told you to be careful. So much noise?"

"Eunuch Wang, there is an urgent report from Datong," the young eunuch who was being trained pointed to another eunuch who just got up from the ground next to him, and said aggrievedly: "Eunuch Li left because of the urgent report." Urgent, fell to the ground, the little one wants to go over and help!"

"Datong Urgent Report?" Wang Chengen couldn't help raising his brows when he heard this, his expression changed instantly, he ignored the little eunuch, and walked directly to the other eunuch surnamed Li who seemed to be in pain , lowered his voice and shouted: "Where is the urgent report?"

"Eunuch Wang, the urgent report is here," the eunuch surnamed Li, who slipped and fell because of ice on the ground, quickly handed over the report, "Eunuch Zhang, the supervisor of Datong Town, Mr. Wei, the magistrate of Datong, and Mr. Cao, the commander-in-chief of Datong The urgent report has just been sent in an expedited six hundred miles."

Wang Chengen's heart sank for the urgent military report of six hundred miles, and he immediately reached out to take it, "Give it to the miscellaneous family, you all stand down!"

"Yes, Eunuch Wang!" The other young eunuchs respectfully retreated after bowing.

After holding a few urgent reports that had been branded with wax, Wang Chengen quickly walked back to the hall. When he was walking back to the hall, he took out a copy from his arms while no one was paying attention, and put them together with these urgent reports. Together, they were presented to the case of Emperor Chongzhen.

"Long Live Lord, Datong Town Superintendent Zhang An, Datong Prefect Wei Daben, Master Wei, Datong Chief Soldier Cao Yue, Mr. Cao sent an urgent report on six hundred miles of urgent military information, and Datong Deputy Chief Soldier Wu Ming sent a secret report," Wang Chengen said. After the several memorials in his hand were presented, he took a step back and carefully observed the changes in Emperor Chongzhen's expression.

"The urgent military report sent by the Datong Mansion for six hundred miles?" Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but change his face when he heard it. the one presented.

After opening it and looking at it, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but change his face again.

"Long Live Lord, what happened?" Wang Chengen's heartbeat also accelerated following the change in Emperor Chongzhen's face, and he couldn't help asking in a low voice, "Did the bandits invade Datong?"

Emperor Chongzhen did not answer right away, but quickly opened two other urgent reports that were also branded with wax.

"Jiannu is coming. Jiannu actually sent a large army to march south in this weather," Emperor Chongzhen put aside several military reports in his hand, still frowning, and turned to look at Wang Chengen, who looked concerned. Changcheng said with a short sigh: "Tens of thousands of Jiannu have appeared a hundred miles north of Datong. Cao Yue has no way of judging whether Jiannu is planning to attack Datong by surprise or attack Beijing by detour."

Hearing that Jiannu was marching south in this weather, Wang Chengen was also taken aback, "Long live, Jiannu actually sent troops to march south on such a day? They... what are they trying to do?"

Wang Chengen was quite surprised that it was not the rogues, but the army of slaves who were attacking Datong.

In the second half of last year, the rogues led by Li Zicheng were active in the Henan area, and his general Li Yan pointed his troops at Shanxi.Wang Chengen thought that it was the peasant army led by Li Yan who was going to attack Datong, but he did not expect that it was Jiannu who marched south.

"Jiannu wants to catch us by surprise in this weather." Emperor Chongzhen's face turned greener and greener, he got up from his seat at once, walked back with his hands behind his back, walked for two steps, and then said to Wang Chengen: "Cao Yue, Wei Daben There is not much difference between Zhang An and Zhang An. The soldiers and civilians of Datong are already preparing for the invasion of Jiannu. In their urgent report, they asked the imperial court to order the military towns in Beijing and the nine borders. Jiannu can take advantage of this opportunity. Cao Yue also proposed in the urgent report that the Jiannu should be cleared of the walls and fields, and all the people and food should be transferred to Jiancheng. With strong walls and clear fields, in this kind of severe cold weather, if we don’t need to fight, Jiannu will lose their troops and retreat, and God will deal with them.”

After Wang Chengen heard this, he immediately echoed: "Long live, what Cao Zongbing said is true, as long as we don't give Jiannu a chance to plunder in such severe cold weather, they will definitely retreat without money, and they may be frozen and starved." And many people died, and the servants also agreed with Cao Zongbing's suggestion to fortify the wall and clear the country, although Cao Zongbing is young, he is quite resourceful!"

"I also think this proposal is good." Emperor Chongzhen relaxed his brows a little, and ordered decisively, "Cheng En, immediately announce the cabinet ministers and the generals of the five military commanders to the palace to discuss matters. You must not be careless."

"Yes, Lord Long Live, the slaves will go and give orders immediately!" Wang Chengen said, walked out of the Qianqing Palace quickly, and passed on the order of Emperor Chongzhen. See you all.

When Wang Chengen returned to Qianqing Palace again, Emperor Chongzhen was reading the secret memorial presented by Wu Ming, the deputy general of Datong.

Seeing Emperor Chongzhen watching Wu Ming's secret performance, Wang Chengen, who already knew the content of the secret performance, couldn't help but shudder.However, he had already thought of a countermeasure, and stood aside with his hands down, waiting for Emperor Chongzhen's statement.

(End of this chapter)