Dashun Yongchang

Listening to the crackling of the branches in the bonfire, except for the faint laughter from the soldiers in the distance, no one on my side spoke.Liu Zongmin finally couldn't hold back the dull atmosphere and said: "Let's go then. We will go back to Xi'an when my brother goes back to Beijing and becomes emperor. I don't believe that when we get to our hometown in Shaanxi, we won't be able to defeat these Jian slaves. "

Although Liu Zongmin's tone unconsciously revealed the meaning of avoiding the battle, several generals nodded in agreement.What they thought was very simple. Since the Dashun Army was isolated and helpless in Hebei, after returning to Shaanxi, wouldn't they be able to fight to the death with the coalition forces of Jiannu Sangui based on their hometown?

Song Xiance also agreed with the plan of withdrawing from Shaanxi, because this plan is the safest.After all, the rebel army has fought in Shaanxi and Henan for more than ten years, and they are most familiar with the local geography. Even if they lose one or two times, they can regroup, and there is no need to worry about the problem of dispersing if the army is scattered.The situation he analyzed for everyone before was not thought up by himself, but the conclusion he reached after discussing with Li Zicheng these two days.

Therefore, Song Xiance felt that Li Zicheng should choose the safest solution.However, Li Zicheng didn't think so.After several analyzes with Song Xiance, someone realized that Shandong, which was still relatively intact, must not be thrown to the Qing army.Although Song Xiance was quite resourceful, due to historical limitations, he still focused more on the appeal of the orthodoxy of the Ming Dynasty, and regarded the Manchu Qing as a secondary enemy.

In Song Xiance's view, it was impossible for the Manchus to abandon their foundations outside the pass and move their entire clan to the pass. As long as the Manchus did not move their clans, it would be impossible for them to have a base in the pass. No matter how powerful the Qing army was, they would eventually withdraw their troops. home.As long as the Qing army returns to the outside of the pass, the Dashun army can once again launch an eastern expedition against the Ming Dynasty and completely defeat this broken army that lacks confidence.

But someone clearly remembered the history. After the Qing army occupied Beijing this time, they would move all the population outside the pass to Hebei. Then the Manchu Qing would establish a new stronghold in the pass.Once the Qing army acquired Shandong, which had a population of tens of millions, the Qing army would have the population and resources to unify the north, and the Dashun army who had retreated to Shaanxi lost the population and resource advantages to compete with the Manchus.

Thinking of this, Li Zicheng interrupted the whispers of the generals and said: "I don't think it's a good idea for everyone to go back to Shaanxi. Like Henan, Shaanxi has not only experienced natural disasters many times, but also wars for many years. We just won Shaanxi not long ago. It has not had time to restore Shaanxi's vitality. At this time, the flames of war have been introduced to Shaanxi, how can we face the elders in our hometown?"

Li Zicheng's questioning made the generals of Shaanxi native place speechless, and even Liu Zongmin became quiet.Li Zicheng glanced at the generals and said: "The largest number of people in our army are actually Henan people. They followed us to fight the world in order to create a peaceful and prosperous world, and then go home to live a stable life.

It's okay for us to abandon Beijing, but I think many Henan soldiers have ideas in their hearts if they want to let them follow us back to Shaanxi.If we can't create a peaceful and prosperous world, some soldiers in Henan may want to go back to their hometown to protect themselves instead of continuing to walk with us. "

The generals continued to remain silent. Li Zicheng looked at the flickering and deforming bonfire, took a sip of light wine, and then said: "I see, those newly acquired families in Hebei by the army, the classics of the capital, civil officials and craftsmen transported Back in Shaanxi, let Liu Fangliang's army retreat to Taiyuan. We took the remains of the main force, Prince Daming and Emperor Lie and his wife down the canal, and set up a banner to send Prince Daming to the southern capital to restore the country and bury Emperor Lie.

In this way, the main force of the Qing army can be attracted, and the loyal ministers of the Ming Dynasty can be coerced to come to protect the king.As long as we can take advantage of the supplies from the south and the Qing army and Wu Sangui's troops for a year and a half to drag down the spirit of the Qing army, then we can make a big counterattack and regain Hebei..."

Chapter 29 Withdrawal

Compared with others who just want to go back to Shaanxi, Li Zicheng's plan is obviously more aggressive.Although Song Xiance felt that the strategy of going south was a bit risky, after all, the area south of Huai'an was not yet under the rule of Dashun, and from Jining to Huai'an, the Dashun army only occupied a few county towns, and the surrounding villages were either ruled by disobedient Dashun. Shun's rebel army may be occupied by Ming army officials who have not yet surrendered.

If the Qing army pursued in the rear and the Ming army blocked it in front, the Dashun army might be trapped in the Xuzhou area.However, he also admitted that Li Zicheng's daring to transport the remains of Lie Huang and his wife to the south was indeed a terrifying strategy.

If the Dashun army only went south in the name of protecting the crown prince and restoring the Ming Dynasty, the officials of the Ming army in the south could still say that the crown prince was fake, but Emperor Lie's body would never be fake.However, this strategy is too shameless, even he is too embarrassed to say it.In fact, it is difficult for anyone except Li Zicheng to talk about it, because this will definitely be settled afterwards.

Liu Zongmin and other generals finally accepted Li Zicheng's suggestion. After all, they could not take the risk of being invaded by the Qing army into Shaanxi.And they also knew very well that if the Dashun army retreated to Shaanxi, the areas in Shandong and eastern Henan that were nominally attached to the Dashun regime would inevitably be lost, and the Dashun soldiers sent to these areas before would be finished.

After deciding to abandon Beijing, divide the Dashun army into two, return to Shaanxi via Shanxi, and go south to Nanjing via the canal, the generals really settled down.Ever since Wu Sangui surrendered and rebelled, there was a shadow in everyone's mind, and after hearing that the Qing army went south to help Wu, the shadow became even heavier. Everyone inexplicably felt that the battle with Wu Sangui's Qing army would be decisive. Dashun's luck.

Liu Zongmin was first unwilling to lead the army alone in the Eastern Expedition, then he was unwilling to give up the city of Beijing, and then he thought about simply withdrawing to Shaanxi, which is actually a manifestation of this mentality.Worried that Dashun will stay in Beijing soon, worried that the fate is not in Dashun, and finally accept his fate and go back to his hometown to feel comfortable for a few days before talking.The psychology of other people is not much different from that of Liu Zongmin.

But now Li Zicheng put forward a new strategy, it seems that there is still a place to go after losing Beijing, the generals naturally let go of their hearts, and began to drink happily, let's talk about it after tonight's fun.

While the generals were drinking, Li Zicheng got up and took Song Xiance and Li Laiheng to inspect the battalions.During the tour, Li Zicheng said to Song Xiance: "Tell the generals the general strategy, which can calm their hearts. However, it may not be enough to appease the soldiers with such a strategy, because they may not be able to see so far. We only saw us running away. Have all the money on the soldiers of the battalions been recovered? If they have too much property on them, I’m afraid they will be scattered as soon as they run away.”

Song Xiance said immediately: "Most of them have been taken back. Your Majesty is willing to transport their property back to Xi'an for free. Naturally, the soldiers will not carry these burdens on them again. The large ingots of gold and silver jewelry have been registered in the warehouse. It seems that there are more than 150 million taels. Even if there are some belongings left by the soldiers, it should not be a lot. These gold and silver jewelry have been temporarily put into wooden boxes, and they need to find a suitable place to be smelted into large ingots. Then I will be lucky enough to go to Xi'an."

Li Zicheng shook his head and said: "Just send the registered account books back to Xi'an. This batch of gold and silver should be placed in the army first, and it may be used after going south. The silver that Luo Danen brought back to Xi'an should be enough to pay the families of the soldiers. , there is no need to ship it back.

Next, you arrange for the captains of each battalion to come and see me one by one, and I want them to convey the order that our army will go to Jizhou to set up an ambush tomorrow..."

Early in the morning of the second day, the soldiers of the Dashun Army wrapped in clothes, leather jackets or cotton blankets were called out by their own whistle, and then they lined up in the battalion. Li Zicheng then said to the whole battalion: " Our army's Eastern Expedition originally intended to capture Niwu and take Shanhaiguan, and had no intention of fighting the Qing Dynasty.

However, Ni Wu actually colluded with the Qing Dynasty and went south, trying to ambush our army in Shanhaiguan.Regardless of whether it is against Wu or the Qing army, our Dashun army will not be afraid, because those generations are either defeated soldiers or bandits.

Some people may think that Nurhachi raised troops against the Ming Dynasty with the Seven Great Hatreds, and we fought against the Ming Dynasty. Everyone's goal is the same, so there is no enmity.But I want to say that this is a big mistake. We rebelled against the Ming Dynasty because we could no longer survive under the oppression of corrupt officials. Look at the officials in the capital who are well-clothed and well-fed, and think about Shaanxi and Henan eating Guanyin soil And the ordinary people who starved to death because they didn't even have the Avalokitesvara soil to eat, can we not rebel?

But what is Nurhachi? After he claimed to be a Jurchen, in fact, his ancestors went south from the Tunguska Plateau to join the Ming Dynasty, and were placed between the white mountains and the black waters by the Ming Dynasty.When the tribe multiplied a bit, they boasted that they were also part of the Jurchen tribe, annexed the Jurchen tribe everywhere, invaded South Korea, and rebelled in the territory.

It can be seen that the Aixinjue Luo family is wolf ambition. They just want to occupy other people's land and seize other people's children.They rebelled against the Ming Dynasty, not because they were oppressed by corrupt officials, but because they wanted to seize the empire of the Ming Dynasty and turn China into a land of Tunguska savages..."

After criticizing Aixinjue Luo and drawing a clear line with him, Li Zicheng finally got to the point: "...in order to prevent the Qing army and Ni Wu from ambushing our army in front of Shanhaiguan, I decided to pretend to retreat, but actually ambushed in Jizhou Set up an ambush and counterattack the Qing army and the anti-Wu coalition army that are following. I have ordered Huaihou to prepare in Jizhou. "

Of course, Li Zicheng did not speak directly to the 9 troops, but to the generals standing in front of his tent.Then officers at all levels of the army will follow his order and explain to their subordinates the reasons for withdrawing to Jizhou.As for his speech today, Song Xiance had already written it, and then ordered the scribes to transcribe it and distribute it to all the troops for reading.

Of course, in the past Li Zicheng never made such long speeches, so the work of the writers was relatively easy, but now it has become a tiring job.But Li Zicheng didn't care about this. When he got on his horse and retreated, he grabbed Zhang Nai and asked him about the preparations for the examination department.

Zhang Nai said to him with some difficulty: "there are not many literate generals and schools in the army. I tried my best to search, and there were only more than 300 people who were proficient in writing and ink. However, there were quite a few literate soldiers among those who surrendered to the Ming army and the miscellaneous servants. The problem is They may not be reliable."

After thinking for a while, Li Zicheng said: "First, build the framework of the examination department based on these more than 300 people. As for those you think are unreliable, you can first let them teach the soldiers of each team to read and read in the name of missionaries." The military order will not grant other powers for the time being. If you do well, you will be promoted to the examination department, and if you do not do well, you will be cut down.

In addition, military schools can be established in each battalion, and all the clever and meritorious soldiers at the grassroots level can be included in the military school to teach writing, camping, marching, and combat.Those who pass can be promoted.Those department chiefs and sentry chiefs will also be assessed, and those who lack leadership skills will be allowed to enter the military academy to make up lessons, and those who fail to pass the make-up lessons will not be promoted to military ranks.

This military school is under the management of your merit examination department.If you need anything, just talk to Song Junshi. If Song Junshi can't solve it, come to me again.In addition, I read the list of the left and right vice-principals that you submitted, so let Zhou Shigui be the left vice-principal, and He Jinming be the right vice-principal, and the following people will report to me after you discuss it..."

On the evening of the 25th, Li Xi led 1500 horse infantry to escort Prince Ming, the Ming clan and the ministers who accompanied Li Zicheng to the gate of Desheng.Seeing the tall city wall of Beijing, Li Xi finally breathed a sigh of relief.He was still quite vigilant during this journey, he didn't care about letting him go into battle, and it didn't matter to guard Chuang Wang, because Chuang Wang himself was a fierce general who charged into the battle, but guarding such a group of veterans who were helpless Young, it's really hard to embarrass him.

Fortunately, there was no bad news from Shanhaiguan at this time, and the prestige of the Dashun Army was still there, so the officials and gentry along the way and the accompanying clan and civil officials did not make any trouble for him. He came here honestly to pay homage to Emperor Lie.After Li Zicheng expressed his respect for Chongzhen and asked all the gentry officials along the road to worship Emperor Lie, the gentry along the road continued to worship Emperor Lie on the side of the road to show their respect for the old emperor of Ming Dynasty and Emperor Dashun. Respect.

Li Xi allowed these country gentry and officials to visit Zhu Cihong except when he was resting and camping, but at other times he resolutely refused them, only focusing on traveling.After all, they were a small team. Li Zicheng gave him a lot of mules and horses to carry the old and weak who could not walk. The speed exceeded more than a hundred miles, and it took 5 and a half days to rush to the outside of Beijing.

But even though he was in a hurry to return to Beijing, Li Xi did not rush in at night, but commanded the army to stay at Taiping Village in the north of the city.Early the next morning, Cai tidied up his army and slowly entered through Desheng Gate.At this time, there were still large fields inside and outside Deshengmen, but most of them were barren, and naturally there were not many people watching their army enter the city.

With the gold medal and handwriting issued by Li Zicheng, Li Xi directly led the army to the Imperial City West Garden, took over the defense of the Imperial City, and placed Zhu Cihong and other Ming Dynasty clans in Ziguang Pavilion on the west side of Zhonghai.

Ming Wuzong Zhu Houzhao built a platform here for horse racing, archery and military training. The platform was originally a small hall with yellow tiles.

Every May, the emperor watches dragon boats and eats rice dumplings here, and watches the warriors of the Imperial Horse Supervisor bend their bows and ride and shoot.However, in the Jiajing period, Taiwan was abolished and a pavilion was built, which was named Ziguang Pavilion.Everywhere in Xiyuan looks dilapidated, except for Ziguang Pavilion, "the pavilion is very tall and open, shaded by trees and pools, lush and verdant, it is a beautiful scene."

Niu Jinxing didn't know that returning to the city was not an ordinary army until Li Xi took over the defense of the imperial city, but Li Zicheng's confidant of the army who brought the prince of Ming Dynasty back to the city.And Yu Shangyou, who was already at odds with Niu Jinxing, first notified Song Qijiao and Gong Xuan to go to Ziguang Pavilion, and then sent someone to notify Niu Jinxing, and came back with Emperor Yongchang's will.

Chapter 30 Ziguang Pavilion

Under several big trees beside Ziguang Pavilion, seven people, Yu Shangyou, Song Qijiao, Gong Xuan, Chen Mingxia, Niu Jinxing, Li Xi, and Gu Junen sat in a circle.At this time, the temperature in Beijing has gradually risen, and it is quite summer.

However, under the shade of the tree, it is very cool when blown by the breeze. Niu Jinxing was sweating profusely when he just ran here, but now it is gradually disappearing.When he arrived, everyone except Gu Junen had already sat down.

Although Niu Jinxing was annoyed, he still suppressed his dissatisfaction and said to Yu Shangyou and Li Xi: "Since the Lord has a will, why don't you go to the Hall of Martial Arts to read it out? Aren't the officials of all ministries working in the Hall of Martial Arts now?"

Li Xi stopped Yu Shangyou, and said bluntly: "It is the Lord's intention. Let everyone unify the understanding first, and then send a message to convey it to the lower level. Don't be suspicious, the master. This is what the Lord explained in front of me. I am here only In order to carry out the tasks entrusted by the Lord, I will see everyone come to a conclusion, and then follow the public opinion to implement the order of the Lord."

Seeing Li Xi who treated him honestly, Niu Jinxing fell silent immediately. Li Xi's attitude must actually represent Li Zicheng's attitude.If Li Zicheng maintained enough trust in him, then Li Xi would not talk to him like this, obviously Li Zicheng was dissatisfied with him.

Niu Jinxing subconsciously began to reflect on himself, what exactly did he do that made Li Zicheng dissatisfied.Just thinking about it like this made him break out in a cold sweat. Li Zicheng had told him before he marched eastward that he should call the nearby available troops to Beijing as soon as possible in case of emergency.However, these days he was busy preparing for Li Zicheng's enthronement ceremony and wooing those Ming Dynasty surrenders who were willing to take refuge in him, so he didn't pay much attention to this matter.

Seeing that Li Zicheng sent his confidant Li Xi back to Beijing, it was obvious that the situation in Shanhaiguan was not good.Niu Jinxing thought about it a little more, and then he understood that the southward march of the Qing soldiers, which they hadn't considered before, might have become a reality.Thinking of this, he immediately became worried for Li Zicheng. If Li Zicheng made a mistake in front of Shanhaiguan, he, a great scholar of Dashun, might not end well.

The thoughtful Niu Jinxing remained silent, and naturally the others would not speak either, in order to avoid holding grudges against the Prime Minister of Dashun.When several civil servants closed their eyes and rested their minds, Li Xi suddenly said: "President Gu is also here, then Yu Shangshu, please convey the Lord's will to the adults."

As a middle-aged scribe sat down panting and filled the last chair, Yu Shangyou finally took out a volume of documents from his sleeve, and then read: "The purpose of writing this letter to all ministers is to The purpose is to prepare everyone; the second is to evacuate some people out of the capital in advance, so as not to be chased by the Qing army and the anti-Wu coalition forces to the city, and some people in the city will become a burden when the army retreats.

You are all my ministers, so I will not lie to you with false words. Rebelling against Wu and the Qing army joined forces, and our army was at a disadvantage in Shanhaiguan, so we had to withdraw our troops.I have also thought about it, although the city of Beijing is strong enough to reach the siege of Jiannu, but last year there was a severe epidemic in the north and a severe drought in the south, the manpower in the capital was exhausted, and the reserves were not enough.

If our army is trapped in the city of Beijing, the hearts of the people who are not attached to it will be confused by the rebellion against Wu and the establishment of slaves.Therefore, if the rebellious Wu and the Qing army jointly go south, Beijing must not be defended.In order to deal with this worst situation, I ordered that the officials and their families who have surrendered, the families of our soldiers in the capital, the skilled craftsmen and their families in the capital, and the catalogs of various classics in the capital , Withdrew to Baoding in batches as soon as possible, and ordered Liu Fangliang's army to escort him into Shanxi and return to Xi'an.

In addition, officials and scholars of the former dynasty who have no positions in the capital are asked to choose by themselves. If they are willing to use them for me, they can be brought to Shaanxi. If they want to be loyal to the former dynasty, they can be handed over to Chen Mingxia.If anyone refuses to help me and is unwilling to be loyal to the old master, they should be charged with ulterior motives and imprisoned together, and they will be dealt with after I return to Beijing.

In addition, the coffins of Emperor Lie and the Empress were moved to Duanmen, and Niu Jinxing and Chen Mingxia Xie’s former princes held a three-day sacrifice, and the people of the capital were allowed to come to worship. Those who commit crimes shall be punished with disrespect.

Also, against Wu and the Qing army going south, if our army suffers setbacks, the Shunming dispute will be a trivial matter, and resisting foreign captives is the top priority at the moment.Therefore, I intend to order the former prince Zhu Cihong to escort the coffin of the Lie Huang couple to the south for burial, and to restore the Ming Dynasty in the southern capital.

I, Dashun and Daming, should be the kingdoms of uncles and nephews, inherit the behest of the great ancestor of Ming Dynasty and Emperor Lie, and expel the Tartars to defend China.I, Dashun, fought against Jiannu in the north, while Daming prepared military supplies and fodder for me in the south. The two families will always agree.Therefore, anyone in the north who is willing to go south to track down the prince can be ordered to sell the land under his name in Dashun, and pay the bills one by one after the prince goes south to establish a country.

In addition, the lands of Huangzhuang, Wangzhuang, eunuchs and corrupt officials in various places in the north, as well as those purchased from the gentry who went south, all ordered the military government to distribute them as soon as possible to the surrendering officers and soldiers who were willing to go home and work in agriculture.

All of the above tasks are urgent.It is hoped that the ministers will follow the implementation without delay. "

After listening to Yu Shangyou's enunciation, the first one to jump up was Gong Xuan, who trembled angrily and said, "Cuipu, are you confused? How can this dead ashes be revived, how can the dead light be reborn. Jian Slaves are nothing more than clowns who run rampant outside the customs to take advantage of the decline of our country. As long as the Lord flattens the world, how can clowns mess with China?

But Ming has occupied China for 270 years, how can Chinese people have no feelings for Ming?If the former crown prince were ordered to go south to restore the country, then there would be a loyal monarch in the south, which was originally a place that could only be passed on, but now it has become a foreign land.How can our dynasty still level the world and unify China?This is a stupid act of cutting off your arm to treat the wound on your hand. How can you not persuade the Lord in the army? "

Yu Shangyou's face was a little embarrassed, but he had to respond: "I have persuaded the Lord, but the Lord is determined, how can I, a subject, not write for him? Every word in this edict is What the Lord said personally, I just recorded the truth. General Li Xi was listening at the time, if you don't believe me, you can ask him."

Of course everyone believed that Li Zicheng said it himself, otherwise the Shangyu would not have been so straightforward.In the past, the proclamations issued by Chuangjun were all written by Song Xiance and Niu Jinxing, and the language was all plain and straightforward.However, after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in Xi’an, civil officials from all over the country surrendered one after another. At this time, the proclamations became more and more literary and artistic. Except for scholars, it became increasingly difficult for ordinary people to understand the words and allusions in the proclamations.

Seeing Gong Xuan and Yu Shangyou arguing, Niu Jinxing on the side raised the corners of his mouth and showed a mocking smile.He knew why Gong Xuan was so furious, because unlike him, these people had all been officials of the Ming Dynasty, and if the Ming Dynasty was restored, they would really become second ministers.Those like him who just got a job title but never served as a great Ming official can still say "Chu Cai is promoted to use" in the future, but these scholars who have been high-ranking officials in the Ming Dynasty have no words to justify.

If it wasn't at this time, he would actually be quite happy to see these Ming scholars attacking each other.Although he is now a scholar of Tianyou Temple in Dashun, which is equivalent to the prime minister of Ming Dynasty, he always feels inferior in front of these Jinshi scholars of Ming Dynasty. The subject names of the students are all higher than him, which makes it difficult for him to manage them confidently.

In addition, these officials of the Ming Dynasty had already formed gangs, even after surrendering to Dashun, such small groups still existed.However, although Niu Jinxing took refuge in Dashun earlier, the Dashun army developed too quickly after that, and did not give him time to train his own manpower. It is difficult to maintain the position.

However, even though Niu Jinxing tried his best to support and consider his own civil service power, and restricted the surrender of Ming officials, after the Dashun army captured Shaanxi and occupied Shanxi and Beijing, several factions appeared in the civil service system of Dashun.One is the orthodox faction formed by the Dashun Army during the campaign, represented by Niu Jinxing and scholars from various places who volunteered to join the Dashun Army. These people are loyal to the Dashun regime, but their numbers are too small and their knowledge is relatively insufficient.

On the other side are the Ming officials who surrendered to Dashun. This faction expanded rapidly with the development of the Dashun Army. After arriving in Beijing, there were more than 3000 Ming officials waiting to join the Dashun regime.And this faction is divided into two categories, the Ming officials who were native of Shaanxi or surrendered to Dashun in Shaanxi, and the officials who surrendered to Dashun after Li Zicheng occupied Beijing.If it is further subdivided, the latter includes the Northern Party and the Southern Party. For example, Chen Mingxia is a representative of southern officials.

Just when Niu Jinxing was thinking about how to understand the meaning of Li Zicheng's edict, Gu Junen, the dean of the Academy of Wenyu, interrupted the dispute between Gong Xuan and Yu Shangyou and said: "You two adults don't need to argue, my lord In my opinion, this edict is quite meaningful.

Today, after more than ten years of natural disasters and wars in the north, it is already difficult to support millions of troops who are not engaged in production.This time when they marched from Shaanxi, all the Ming troops on the road surrendered one after another, because Daming could no longer pay their military salaries.

Therefore, it is inevitable to collect the northern fields and distribute them to the soldiers of the army, and turn part of the army into civilians so that they can support themselves.Now the number of surrendered Ming soldiers following us to Hebei exceeds 30, but only one or two out of ten of them can go to the battlefield. Although they cannot fight, once they disperse, they are more than enough to disturb the civilians.

If most of these people can be resettled to other places and become self-reliant civilians, our army will have less pressure to prepare food and pay.But how can there be so much land distributed to these soldiers in Beizhi?After all, we still have to start with the country gentry everywhere.If they are willing to go south with the crown prince, many fields will be vacated.In my opinion, this is the deep meaning of the Lord.

If you adults feel that the master's plan is not good, why not come up with an idea on how to disband the hundreds of thousands of uneasy Ming troops in Beizhi without causing harm to the place, then we can go to the master again at that time. .

In addition, as far as the current situation is concerned, if the prince does not go south to restore the country, will the southern provinces take the initiative to send us grain? "

Chapter 31 Defense is essential

Among the seven people under the shade of the tree, except for Li Xi who did not speak, the remaining six people spoke in turn and formed three opinions.Gong Xuan insisted that the prince of the former dynasty should not be sent south to restore the country; Gu Junen believed that this was an expedient policy of the Lord and should be followed; Niu Jinxing advocated that we should wait for the outcome of the Battle of Shanhaiguan before acting.

The three parties were still unable to persuade others to support themselves, because they were the only ones here, and without the support of their subordinates, disciples, and colleagues, everyone lacked a little bit of will to fight.After all, there is always a difference between asking the people below to fight and arguing in person.

Seeing that the situation was at a stalemate, Niu Jinxing simply asked Li Xi who was sitting on the side with his eyes closed and meditating: "General Li, you are the person next to the Lord, please tell me what the Lord's will really means."

In fact, Li Xi was getting impatient. He felt that His Majesty had made it so clear. These civil officials were still arguing, but they didn't want to do what His Majesty wanted. Sure enough, what Emperor Chongzhen said was right. The civil officials They are all ministers of subjugation.

However, he thought of Li Zicheng's exhortation before departure, and finally endured the thoughts in his heart, but said with a stern face: "The task assigned to me by the Lord is to supervise Master Yu to tell you the truth. To convey the edict, the second is to supervise the unification of the minds of the adults. The Lord told me that the adults must come to a unified understanding and implementation plan before allowing everyone to disperse. Therefore, Lord Niu does not need to ask me, I just I ask all the adults if they have a unified understanding of the Shangyu, and how they plan to implement the Shangyu, other things are beyond my control."

Niu Jinxing was quite surprised by Li Xi's answer. He originally wanted to use Li Xi's mouth to take the initiative of this meeting.With his current position as Prime Minister of Dashun and Li Zicheng's position represented by Li Xi, he is absolutely sure to suppress the other two parties.But now Li Xi actually refused to express his opinion, which made him speechless.

Although the edict brought back by Yu Shangyou was Li Zicheng's idea, how to interpret this edict is the responsibility of civil servants.If Li Zicheng was present, Niu Jinxing would not dare to go against his ideas. After all, Li Zicheng was not Chongzhen, and his power did not come from Dashun's system, but from himself.

If Niu Jinxing dared to use the current Dashun system to fight against Li Zicheng's power, then Li Zicheng would be able to abandon this system and establish a new one in a few words, and the Dashun army would not raise any doubts.But Chongzhen is different. The Ming Dynasty was built on the system created by Taizu and Chengzu. Without this system, Chongzhen could not even command a soldier.

This is also the root cause of the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty daring to argue with Chongzhen without any regard for the safety of the Ming Dynasty.Because they feel that only the system they maintain is the real Ming Dynasty, and those Ming people who were starved to death and killed are not the foundation of Ming Dynasty.

Without borrowing Li Zicheng's power, Niu Jinxing would not be able to suppress the other two parties, and he obviously couldn't keep arguing here, because Li Xi asked them to come up with a conclusion, and the meeting could not be adjourned without a conclusion.

Faced with such a situation, Niu Jinxing could only choose to compromise with the other two parties. He first put aside the question of whether to send Prince Ming to the south to restore the country, but said: "The Lord has already set the capital in Xijing before sending troops, so send ministers and I don't think there is a problem with the soldiers' homes, albums and classics going to Xijing.

It is not a problem to re-offer sacrifices for Emperor Lie, read out the sacrificial oration appointed by the Lord, and call the people, gentry, and officials inside and outside the capital to see Emperor Lie off.I, Dashun Daiming, was born out of the mandate of heaven, and I should have told the subjects of the world to show the magnanimity of the Lord.Moreover, it is indeed pitiful for Emperor Lie to lose his country. He cannot blame all the crimes on Emperor Lie, but instead let those ministers who have lost their country escape the condemnation.

I thought that these two items were both urgent and necessary, so you wouldn't object, would you? "

Indeed, no one objected to these two items. The Shaanxi faction definitely wanted Dashun to be the capital in Xi’an instead of staying in Beijing. Chen Mingxia wanted to go south, so he didn’t care whether Dashun should be capitalized in Beijing. He cared more about being the Lie Huang. The rectification of the name will allow the prince who is carrying the coffin to go south to have a higher reputation, so as to ensure that there will be no disputes about going south to restore the country.

Seeing that no one objected, Niu Jinxing went on to say: "It is impossible for the lord to stay in Shanhaiguan for a long time, and I am afraid that Niwu's invitation to build slaves to go south is also eager to fight our army. Therefore, what will be the outcome of the battle of Shanhaiguan? Should be back soon.

Then let's do some preparatory work first, wait until the results of the Battle of Shanhaiguan come back, and then follow the Lord's wishes or persuade the Lord to revise the previous decision, isn't it too late? "

Gu Junen immediately voiced his support for Niu Jinxing's gradual implementation of the strategy, but Gong Xuan accepted it after hesitating for a while.After all, in terms of military affairs, no one can say that his judgment is more accurate than that of Li Zicheng who is on the front line. Since Li Zicheng said that this battle is very risky, it seems that this battle is indeed difficult to fight.Gong Xuan can't always say that Li Zicheng's words are to shake the morale of the army, and then do nothing, which will not benefit him at all.

After two consecutive proposals were accepted by everyone, Niu Jinxing couldn't help but heaved a sigh of relief, and finally asked a more controversial question, "We will talk about it next, who will be the first group to withdraw to Xi'an, and when Departure? Also, what is the standard for dividing the fields among the soldiers, and who will preside over it?"

At this time, Li Xi suddenly said: "The Lord has already explained these two issues to me. On the second day after I arrived in the capital, I asked Empress Dou to take King Ding, King Yong, and the family members above the military commander to the west. They have already been notified to their respective families. As for King Qin and King Jin, they accompanied the prince to the south to help the spirit.

As for the allocation of land to the lieutenant officers and soldiers, His Majesty has ordered Wang Zeyao, Zhang Ruoqi, and Zuo Maotai to be responsible. What your lords need to discuss is which land can be handed over to them for distribution. "

Several civil servants looked at each other, feeling that this way of deliberation was really uncomfortable, but they could only sigh in their hearts. Although Dashun took away Daming's destiny, he was born recklessly in the end, and he wanted them to get rid of this. After all, it will take some time to develop the habits of the world and become obedient.

Thinking of this, the few people temporarily extinguished the mood to continue the dispute, and decided to do what can be done first, and then they still have to see how the battle ahead is going to be before they can revise their views.

Under Niu Jinxing's peace, other people also made concessions or reserved their views first, and finally reached a consensus on Li Zicheng's edict before noon, and decided what everyone should do next.

After the meeting was over, Li Xi got up and said: "The content of today's meeting, please sort out the contents of the meeting, and then wait for the Lord to return to Beijing to hand over to the Lord for review. The Lord said: From now on, whenever discussing military affairs, The Court of Mandates must send someone to record the speeches of each person for future reference. When such a meeting reaches a conclusion and it is necessary to issue a decree, it should also use the Yuan as the final draft and then issue it to the ministries. Anything that is not recorded at the meeting , shall not be added or deleted without authorization.”

Niu Jinxing was obviously taken aback when he heard this, but Gong Xuan immediately frowned and said: "The lord is holy, if everything is put into public opinion, people in the world will naturally be convinced."

Yu Shangyou and Song Qijiao also reacted immediately and expressed their approval of the edict.At this time, the Dashun regime established the left and right prime ministers, and then set up six governments. Although the prime ministers had a lot of power, the civil servants could hardly interfere in the military, and their decision-making power in government affairs was quite uncertain.Whoever Li Zicheng trusts can deal with major issues beyond the hierarchy, and whoever he doesn't trust, even if he has the name tag of the right minister, he can make decisions.

Now Li Zicheng has adjusted his decision-making power in government affairs. Although it is not as mature as the Ming cabinet, it at least gives them a chance to participate in decision-making without having to revolve around Li Zicheng.Several ministers can form a policy by reaching a resolution at the meeting, so at least part of the executive power has been taken back.These former Ming officials were naturally willing to support this order.

Niu Jinxing looked at the people around him, and finally lowered his head and cupped his hands to the east and said, "I take orders."

After Niu Jinxing finished speaking, he said to Li Xi: "If there is nothing else, then I will go back to the Hall of Martial Heroes first."

Li Xi also cupped his hands to him and said: "Bachelor, please do yourself a favor, I also want to have a few words with Dean Gu."

Niu Jinxing sized up Gu Junen who was silent at the side, then nodded to Li Xi, then turned around and left without haste.Several other ministers also left one after another, so Li Xi and Gu Junen were left under the shade of the tree.

Only then did Li Xi say to Gu Junen: "My lord asked me to entrust Dean Gu with a task. My lord heard that there were Western monks in Chongzhen who calculated astronomical calendars and cast cannons for Daming. Therefore, please ask Dean Gu to share these Western monks with colleagues. The scholars they interacted with were all invited to the Wenyu Academy, and the astronomy, calendar and other books they studied were also protected.

In addition, look up the books brought by these Western monks and sort out a catalog of books. After returning to Beijing, His Majesty will check the catalog and select books that are beneficial to the national economy and people's livelihood for translation.These tasks will be assigned to the Wenyu Yuan from now on. "

Gu Junen was a little surprised. He knew that Li Zicheng was determined to learn, but his reading was limited to the Four Books and Five Classics and military classics, which were basically recommended by the scholars around him. In fact, he himself rarely took the initiative to find books. look.

But he quickly sorted out his mood, and said to Li Xi seriously: "I will protect these people and books as soon as possible, but are these people going to Xi'an too?"

In Ziguang Pavilion, Chen Mingxia was persuading Zhu Cihong to let his two younger brothers go to Xi'an with the Dashun Army. Zhu Cihong said with some reluctance: "Why? Since the emperor has allowed me to go south to restore the country, why should I send my younger brothers to Xi'an? No way. Shall we go south together?"

Chen Mingxia was silent for a few seconds and then said: "Your Majesty Yongchang has a kind heart. I'm afraid it may not be smooth sailing for His Highness to go south to restore the country. Those ministers in the Southern Capital may not all be pure ministers. The two princes are away, but it will give His Highness a protective talisman..."