Great time travel

Chapter 87. The Despair of Emperor Chongzhen

PS: Let me explain the basis for the fact that 15 Ming troops were annihilated in the Battle of Dalinghe on this plane—first of all, due to changes in this time and space, Zu Dashou had sufficient food in Dalinghe City, so the battle lasted longer , For more than half a year, the imperial court could organize more waves of reinforcements to fill in the pits, and the casualties would naturally be more severe.Secondly, there are two calculations for the loss of troops. One is to count only soldiers, and the other is to count all coolies, slaves and miscellaneous soldiers. Huge.The figures reported to Emperor Chongzhen are obviously exaggerated.

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Finally, at the end, there is another small trouble that needs to be dealt with urgently, that is, the Xuanfu and the Datong frontier army broke out in internal strife for the silver mine in Baoanzhou. For a while, it is really hard to tell who is right and who is wrong, who is right and who is wrong, who is true and who is false, and the current situation cannot allow for a slow review... So Emperor Chongzhen decided to cut the mess quickly, and punish the martial arts involved in this matter. They each hit [-] big boards, each reprimanded and settled the matter, and at the same time brought the silver mines in Baoanzhou into the inner prison-there is also a shortage of silver in the palace now!
In addition, another decree was issued in the past, urging the Xuanda Bian Army to mobilize a strong army to go south as soon as possible, responsible for assisting the local government in Beizhili to suppress the bandits in Shaanxi and suppress local riots, so as to take the blame for the previous internal strife, etc. .

Seeing that all the troubles had been dealt with, Emperor Chongzhen felt a little more relaxed.At this time, Cao Huachun had already assigned a few eunuchs to clean the hall, so he leaned over and whispered to Chongzhen, "... Your Majesty, do you want your slaves to deliver some meals..."

Because he was in a good mood, Emperor Chongzhen also felt that he had an appetite, so he nodded slightly, "...Well, let's pass on the meal!"

In the next month, the situation in the capital remained the same, except that the price of grain was soaring day by day, it had already risen to 15 taels of silver per stone for brown rice, causing the poor people in the city to starve to death or commit suicide Other than that, the rest is no big deal.

As for the wars around Gyeonggi, it was neither bland nor hot, with good and bad news mixed in.First, Lu Xiangsheng's Tianxiong Army won many battles in Daming Mansion, and defeated more than ten bandits within 20 days, but forced them to rush north into Shuntian Mansion where the capital is located, and even ran to the city of Beijing at one point, causing the city to be in danger. archenemy.Later, Hong Chengchou, the governor of the three sides, led [-] Qin troops to the capital Qinwang, and finally temporarily eliminated the banditry in Gyeonggi, allowing the imperial court to celebrate with each other. After rewarding a group of Shaanxi and Shanxi generals, they had no choice but to let them go south to meet Lu Xiangsheng for dinner, or go to Shandong for dinner, and help Zhu Dadian eliminate the demons of Wenxiang Sect.

Next, the situation of the Xuanfu and the Datong Frontier Army made Emperor Chongzhen feel a little unhappy-after learning that all the ministries participating in the silver mine competition were beaten fifty by the court, everyone was unlucky, and the winner After the silver mine in Bao'an Prefecture was taken back to the palace, the troops of the Xuan Mansion were in an uproar immediately after the bloody fight, and immediately someone beat up the eunuch who passed the decree and drove them out, even the general soldiers of the Xuan Mansion couldn't suppress .As for the matter of letting Xuanfu Town send troops to Gyeonggi to clear up the rogues, naturally there is no further information. On the contrary, the official documents of the Xuanfu troops asking the Ministry of Households to ask for the food and salaries owed over the years came like snow... This kind of lawless chaos must be severely punished and rectified, but at this troubled time in the world, Emperor Chongzhen had no choice but to hold his nose and bear it from a realistic point of view. !
Then on the battlefield in Shandong, after Xu Guangqi, a veteran of the three dynasties, went to appease the Dengzhou army due to illness, the situation of the Shandong army improved a little. The Dengzhou Navy's blockade of the Tianjin coast was not lifted, but the land offensive on the other side of Dengzhou was at least eased: the main force of the rebels stopped in Pingdu Prefecture and did not continue to commit crimes westward.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Zhu Dadian, governor of Shandong, was able to adjust his deployment and concentrate his forces. After receiving reinforcements from the capital, he went south to fight the bandits and regained Jining, the water transportation hub.It's a pity that Yutai County and Xuzhou in the south are still in the hands of demons, and the canal is still blocked.

As for the news from the south, because a large number of bandits and rioters ravaged the Central Plains and looted prefectures and counties, resulting in impassable post roads, it has not been sent to Beijing for many days. Talking nonsense in the memorial, pointing fingers at the war in the south, people are not even interested in watching... Just as Emperor Chongzhen was anxiously waiting, finally a team of cavalry from the south risked their lives across the Central Plains war zone to send the memorial of the Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing Entering the city of Beijing, a bolt from the blue was given to Emperor Chongzhen who was full of expectations: Fengyang, the central capital, was captured by bandits! ! !
Well, what's more, the ancestral grave of Old Zhu's family in Fengyang was also dug up by Zhang Xianzhong, the bandit leader who killed a thousand swords.

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In this era of turmoil, strange flowers, and wars, there is not only competition between the traversers and the traversers, but also between countries, and even between rogues and rogues. Pay more attention to visibility.

After all, being a rogue is a bit like being a gangster. It is very important to have a strong reputation. Sometimes you can even make a fortune just by relying on a name.Otherwise, why when Li Zicheng left Shangluo Mountain, there were only thirteen cavalry soldiers around him, and he had no money or grain savings, but after he left the mountain, there were tens of thousands of younger brothers who brought their own dry food to join him , is the overlord of the Central Plains again in the blink of an eye?Without him, the popularity is loud enough.

(At this time, Li Zicheng was only a Chuang general, and Gao Yingxiang was the king of Chuang.)
As the leader of the bandits in Shaanxi, "Eight Great Kings" Zhang Xianzhong also naturally wanted to be famous.When the two armies were divided before, he did not attack Taiyuan, but followed the leader "Zijinliang" Wang Ziyong to Henan, and then developed separately.

In the past two months, Zhang Xianzhong worked as a landlord and young man in the densely populated Central Plains, and his development was quite smooth. He also established a relationship with the Wenxiang Sect. Very complacent... However, at this moment, he suddenly heard that Chuang Wang Gao Yingxiang had successfully conquered Taiyuan City, the provincial capital of Shanxi!Let this achievement of yourself become eclipsed by comparison.

Therefore, Zhang Xianzhong resolutely decided that in order to overshadow Gao Yingxiang's name, he would do a major event that would cause a sensation in the world-attack the capital of Ming Dynasty!

Of course, the target capital of Ming Dynasty is not Beijing.In fact, there were three capitals in the Ming Dynasty: Beijing, Nanjing, and Fengyang, the central capital.

——With Zhang Xianzhong's power at hand, it is a joke to want to fight Beijing and Nanjing, but he can still try to fight Fengyang.

Fengyang, located in Nanzhili (now Anhui), has been a poor place famous for its rich beggars since ancient times.Such a poor place is called the capital only because it is Zhu Yuanzhang's hometown.But even in the Ming Dynasty, the only things in Fengyang that were related to the Ming imperial family were the clan prisons dedicated to the imperial relatives and relatives, and the tomb of Zhu Yuanzhang's ancestors (not Zhu Yuanzhang's tomb, Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum is in Nanjing). .

What is more beneficial to the bandits is that the garrison in Fengyang, the central capital, has been mobilized to Huai'an to resist the southward invasion of the Wenxiangjiao army, so Fengyang's defense force should be very empty.Even if Fengyang City cannot be conquered, it is estimated that the Zhu family's ancestral tomb outside the city can be dug, which will cause a sensation in the world in one fell swoop!So, Zhang Xianzhong went south with his troops in this way, and when he arrived in Fengyang, he was even more overjoyed: Fengyang, the central capital, has no city walls!

——It turned out that when the central capital was first built, firstly, the imperial court had financial difficulties, insufficient allocations, and nowhere to raise funds in the local area (again, Fengyang is very poor), and secondly, it was because the imperial court invited Feng Shui to learn the truth Gao Shi declared that if the city wall was built, it would destroy the Fengshui of Fengyang Imperial Mausoleum.

Therefore, Fengyang, like Kyoto in Japan, has no city walls, and now even the garrison and the chief officer have been transferred away.

In this way, Zhang Xianzhong led a group of refugees, without even climbing the wall, he entered Fengyang smoothly and occupied the Longxing land of Lao Zhu's house.

What happened afterwards was even more logical. Zhang Xianzhong led his minions to easily annihilate more than 1000 old and weak soldiers in the city.In addition, as the most important task, Zhang Xianzhong also dug Zhu Yuanzhang's ancestral grave, demolished the Huangjue Temple where he once became a monk, and humiliated the Zhu Ming royal family in various ways. Go away with ease.

This is a serious matter—from ancient times to the present, digging up people's ancestral graves is the most vicious and wicked tactic, and being dug up is the most unforgettable shame.In the past dynasties of China, apart from the fact that Dong Zhuo in the late Eastern Han Dynasty seemed to have been a "General of Faqiu Zhonglang" and stole the Luoyang Emperor's Mausoleum, there was basically no such scandal that the ancestral grave was dug up while the dynasty was still alive ( After the subjugation of the country, many graves were dug up, for example, the tombs of the Southern Song Dynasty were all dug up by the Mongols). The "Eight Great Kings" Zhang Xianzhong really shocked the world with one action, surpassing the name of Chuang Wang Gao Yingxiang.

What's more terrible is that after learning that such a big mess had been made in the rear, the Fengyang governor and guarding eunuch who were supervising the battle at the Huai'an front line were so scared that one fled and the other committed suicide. Fengyang soldiers immediately bombed the camp and collapsed in an uproar.The leader of Wenxiang, Wang Ke, took the opportunity to attack fiercely, quickly crossed the Huaihe River, and then successfully defeated the Nanjing soldiers and horses who were in chaos due to the collapse of friendly forces.As a result, the entire front collapsed, and [-] officers and soldiers were beaten to only a few thousand. Lu Weiqi, Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing, fled to Yangzhou in one breath. He even wrote his suicide note and was waiting to be dismissed by the court. He was also extremely terrified, he had no intention of fighting, and just watched the Shaanxi rogues and Wenxiang Sect demons go south in batches, and the situation in the Jianghuai war was in disarray...

Therefore, after Emperor Chongzhen heard the news, he was so angry that he almost fainted immediately, and even shouted loudly that he wanted to kill someone.

But when he woke up, he didn't punish anyone, but sighed, ordered someone to send the Four Treasures of the Study, and prepared to write an edict of guilt, that is, he took on this responsibility himself-Emperor Chongzhen is so big at this moment. It doesn't mean that he has a good temper, but any individual, as long as he digs his ancestral grave, can fight with you, let alone the most face-saving emperor in the world.

But there is no way, the tomb of the royal ancestor was dug, the impact of this matter is too great, no official can afford such a crime.If the emperor insisted on serious treatment, the entire court team in Nanzhili would have to be bloodbathed, and a few hundred heads would not be enough to chop off.However, the situation in Nanzhili is now in a precarious situation. If there is another bloody cleansing before the battle, several local officials who are capable of integrating various troops and horses to fight against the rebels will be killed, and the military and political institutions in Nanjing will be paralyzed and unable to deal with the bandits. And the religious bandits attack, then the next thing that will be lost is probably not the central capital Fengyang, but the remaining capital Nanjing!The value of the two is more important than others, which is clear at a glance, without asking.

As an emperor who already had a certain degree of reason, Emperor Chongzhen would make the only correct choice no matter how angry he was.

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Therefore, facing the embarrassing situation where the law does not blame the public, Emperor Chongzhen could only reluctantly write an edict of guilt, and he himself assumed the responsibility for the fall of Fengyang, the central capital, and the excavation of the royal tomb of the Zhu family. To appease the morale of the Southern Zhili army and prevent further disturbances that would be more detrimental to the imperial court.

The Edict of Guilt had not yet been drawn up, and there was another sound of footsteps outside, and an eunuch rushed to report, saying that Zhang Fengyi, Minister of the Ministry of War, asked to see him, and there was an urgent report from Liaodong.

When Emperor Chongzhen heard the words, his heart trembled again—everything urgently reported from Liaodong since he ascended the throne was almost bad news, which made him hardly want to read their memorials.But he is the emperor, the most noble ruler in the world, and he has no room to shirk any bad things.

So, after hesitating for a moment, Emperor Chongzhen had no choice but to sigh: "...let him come in."

Then, Zhang Fengyi hurried in, with an extremely gloomy complexion, kneeling on the ground and said: "... Your Majesty, the Governor of Liaodong, Qiu Jiahe, hastened to report..."

Seeing this, Emperor Chongzhen frowned, hiding the tension and frustration in his heart, and said as calmly as possible: "...cough cough, you choose what is important."

But Zhang Fengyi hesitated for a moment, before saying in a harsh voice, "... Your Majesty Qi Zuo, the Jinzhou mutiny, the Guan Ning army has mutinied and surrendered!"

"...Is that so? After all, the Liaoxi general has defected to the enemy? Sigh, what a bunch of unfamiliar wolf cubs!"

After being silent for a long time, Emperor Chongzhen closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. He felt that he had no energy left to get angry. The annual salary of 500 million taels of Liao was paid in exchange for the successive defeats of the Guanning Army and Rebellious and unruly, now they simply turned against each other collectively.

We and the first emperor have searched the world for fat and fat over the years, and tried our best to provide the world's first-class luxurious and elite soldiers. Was it originally raised for Jian slaves?

But even though the reality betrayed him again and again, he still had to forcefully open his eyes and continue to face this cruel world.

"...Since Jinzhou is already owned by the enemy bandits, what countermeasures does Qiu Jiahe, the governor of Liaodong, have to come up with?" Chongzhen Emperor Qiang asked with vigor.

"...Your Majesty, the Guan Ning Army's plan to join the enemy this time is very deep. The Liaodong Governor's plan was improper, and he didn't have many soldiers at hand. They designed and captured Shanhaiguan! Qiu Jiahe just escaped alone." Zhang Fengyi said with hatred. He replied, "...Now the vanguard of the slave building army has entered Yongping Mansion, and it only takes three to five days to reach Gyeonggi. He took medicine and committed suicide..."

Emperor Chongzhen didn't hear what Zhang Fengyi said next—all he thought was despair, he just felt a pain in his heart, his eyes went dark, he immediately spewed out a mouthful of dirty blood, fell on his back, and imprisoned the palace ladies Amidst the exclamation, he rolled down from the Danchi...