Dashun Yongchang

The subordinate officials thought that whether the Shun army could fight or not was actually only on Li Zicheng alone.When Li Zicheng was not in Xuzhou before, our army suffered setbacks in several places in Jining, didn't other places also look forward to it?And at that time the morale of the thief army was also very low.

But after Li Zicheng returned to Xuzhou, the morale of the Shun thief changed.Inspiring thousands of troops with one person, this is an outstanding person.If we can't defeat Li Zicheng, then the officials think that it will be very difficult for us to defeat Shun Bandit. "

Shi Tingzhu glanced at Meng Qiaofang, then looked at the city, and suddenly said with emotion, "How can this great Ming survive? The mediocre people occupy the court, while the strong and powerful are either among the thieves or surrendered to the dynasty."

Shi Tingzhu suddenly stopped talking at this point, and Meng Qiaofang was speechless for a while, because he felt that what Shi Tingzhu said was indeed very reasonable, but he also knew that this matter could not be discussed, otherwise he would be dissatisfied with the dynasty.

Although they have surrendered to Manchuria for more than ten years, the Han people in front of the Manchus are still trembling and dare not stretch their ambitions.This is not because the Han people in Liaodong are self-serving, but because the Han people will be suppressed by the Manchus if they show any political achievements. Even Huang Taiji, who is considered by the Han people to be the closest to the Han people, will be severely punished when encountering Han people who provoke the Manchus. of.

This is also the motivation for the Han people in Liaodong to ask Huang Taiji to enter the customs. After realizing that it is impossible to resist the Manchus, the Liu Xingzuo brothers could not bear the oppression of the Manchus and fled Shengjing. Finally, after Liu Xingzuo died, the Liu brothers returned to Manchuria, so the Liaodong Han people began to tend to enter the customs as soon as possible.

Why do you want to enter the customs?Because the area outside the Guan was sparsely populated, the Manchus divided and ruled the Han people, making it impossible for the Han people to form a unified force.Moreover, the Manchus concentrated in Shengjing, and the Mongols who were close to the Manchus were placed between and around the farms of the Han people, so that the residential areas of the Han people were completely subject to the control of the Manchus.

Before Chongzhen appointed Yuan Chonghuan as the governor of Jiliao, don't say that the upper class Han people like Liu Xingzuo couldn't stand the oppression of the Manchus, even the Manchus themselves couldn't bear the years of war and went to Dongjiang Town and Jinzhou, but Mao Wenlong It can still accept the fugitive Manchurians, but the generals of the Ming army in Jinzhou regarded these surrendered Manchurians as military merits, which prevented Manchuria from collapsing immediately.

Afterwards, Yuan Chonghuan sold two years of grain to the Mongolian tribe in Liaodong. At the same time, Dongjiang Town was cut off by Yuan Chonghuan. This loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty finally saved Manchuria, and Huang Taiji made a detour to break through and enter the mainland. strategy implementation space.

The Han people in Liaodong completely despaired of Ming, and then everyone thought that since Ming would end sooner or later, it would be better to die in the hands of the Manchus. At least after the Manchus conquered China, they would not have to bear the oppression of the Manchus alone.What's more, with the population of Manchuria, if you want to rule China's trillions of creatures, you must rely on them, the Liaodong Han people.

Therefore, the essence of entering customs is not for the bottom class, but for those middle classes who feel that they still have room for advancement to have a chance to leapfrog.Wouldn't it be nice to go from a slave master's steward to a new slave master?As for the slaves at the bottom, if they want to become masters by entering the customs, don’t ask the masters whether they agree or not. Being a dog?

Because of the longing to escape from that ghostly place in Liaodong, the Han Army Banner, which was supposed to support the two yellow flags, turned to the two white flags. Entering the customs is a good master of the Han people. As for the first Khan who is said to have saved the Han people in Liaodong, everyone has ignored it.

So if Shi Tingzhu's words continue to be discussed, if Daming is not so bad, how can these strong and strong people become thieves and surrender to the Manchus?If this word reaches the ears of the Manchus, wouldn't it make the Manchus feel suspicious for no reason? After all, the Manchus have suffered several losses at the hands of Li Zicheng now, and some Manchus began to feel jealous of Li Zicheng, and no longer Every now and then, the weak words of the Han people are on the lips.

Chapter 445 Cheng Wu II

The Shun army stationed in the city fought fiercely with the Qing army after the city was broken, which dealt a severe blow to the Qing army who rushed into the city with the belief of victory at first.The reason why these Qing troops dared to fight separately after entering the city was because they thought that the Shun army, without the protection of the city wall, would not have much fighting will. Once they saw the sound of fighting behind them, they would definitely turn around and run away.

The first army to enter the city will naturally be given priority to looting the city, but these fanatical Qing army forwards were quickly disappointed, because there were hardly any people in the city, which meant that the city's valuables and women were gone. And Shunjun's performance was not as they imagined, they would collapse at once, but started a street fight with them that could not predict the outcome.

Rushing into the city could not loot the residents, but had to fight those crazy Shunjun troops, which made the Qing army, which was full of fighting spirit, quickly become decadent.If you can't get anything after fighting hard, then what's the use of effort?The rewards given by the Manchus are deducted from the loot. If there is no loot, it is just an empty official position. Who would lose their life for an empty official position in this troubled world?

Although the pensions given by the Manchus were high, the pension for cavalry soldiers killed in battle was 70 taels of gold and silver, and that for infantry soldiers was 50 taels.Although it was half as low as the pension of the Eight Banners, at least it was given in silver.

On the side of the Ming Dynasty's army, during the Jiajing period, it was ordered that the old guards give their mothers and daughters five stones of rice per month, and they will give two stones of natural rice, three stones of folded color, and two cents and five cents of silver for one stone. Forty coins folded with stones.The Ming court dared to use waste paper-like treasures to support the families of military officers who died in battle, not to mention the pensions of ordinary soldiers below.

It's just that although the pension silver is high, I don't need it after all. If the Heshun Army fights desperately in a battle where the victory or defeat is unknown, then everyone feels that it is worth dying.But now Chengwu City has been broken, it’s just a matter of when it will be taken down, it’s not worth dying at this time, so after the Qing army’s forwards who charged the most fiercely lost contact, the other Qing army teams immediately fell Became conservative, anyway, there is nothing to grab in the city, why rush to die so quickly?

The retreat of the Qing troops entering the city gave the Shun army the opportunity to readjust the defense line, and finally held the west and south gates before dark.When it was getting dark, Shi Tingzhu, who was standing on the east gate tower, ordered Mingjin to withdraw his troops, and withdrew the Qing army in the city to the east gate and north gate, and broke away from the Shun army.

At this time, a general standing behind Meng Qiaofang suddenly said: "The thieves in the city will definitely escape from the city tonight. The last general thought that an ambush should be set up outside the west gate and south gate. If we go out of the city, we can take the opportunity to attack."

Shi Tingzhu turned around and cast a glance at the general, then said affectionately to Meng Qiaofang beside him, "Xinting, what do you think of Zhang Zhangjing's suggestion?"

Meng Qiaofang took a careful look at the two, and smiled wryly in her heart. This kind of personnel struggle was unavoidable no matter in the Ming Dynasty or the Qing Dynasty.The person who spoke just now was Zhang Cunren, Merle Zhangjing, the Han Army of Xianglan Banner, who was also his deputy.Speaking of it, the relationship between Zhang Cunren and Shi Tingzhu is actually closer than him, because they are both from Liaodong Town.

But

However, Zhang Cunren was not recognized by some generals from Liaodong Town, including Shi Tingzhu.why?Because this man has sincerely joined the Manchus, except for his ancestors and his name, he cannot be changed. His every word and deed is on the side of the Manchus, and he has completely abandoned the group of Liaodong Town.

Although everyone surrendered to the Manchus, except for a few Sinicized families who were recognized by the Manchus as being of Manchu blood, most Han people still considered themselves Han people even though they had joined the banner.But there are also people like Zhang Cunren who, after entering the banner, regarded themselves as real Manchurians, and reported many small reports to Zu Dashou in front of Huang Taiji.

As a banner figure in Liaodong Town following the Li family, Zu Dashou is naturally a banner for the Han people in Liaodong. Zhang Cunren's attack on Zu Dashou hit Huang Taiji's hands.Huang Taiji needed Zu Dashou to surrender, but he couldn't create a new Liaodong Han military group in Manchuria, so he couldn't let Zu Dashou hold any official position. With the excuse given by Zhang Cunren, Zu Dashou also went to Shengjing to live in seclusion up.

However, this was undoubtedly a great blow to other Liaodong Han generals, because after the entire Liaodong town system was put into Manchuria, the Liaodong Han generals also needed a leader to represent them and safeguard their interests in Manchuria.But Zu Dashou's seclusion ruined their hopes. Without Zu Dashou's appealing banner, others could neither convince the crowd nor make the Manchus make certain concessions.

Therefore, not only the ancestral family had great opinions on Zhang Cunren, but even people like Shi Tingzhu were dissatisfied with this Han who was too Manchurian, thinking that he could no longer be regarded as a Han.And what they are even more worried about is that with the support of the Manchus, this person will become a saboteur within the Han army flag, and that would be a disaster. The political struggles among the Manchus are full of bloody storms.Regarding Zhang Cunren's isolation, it became the consensus of some generals of the Han army.

For Meng Qiaofang, he has always been on the fringes of the Liaodong Han people, and this is because he surrendered to the Manchus relatively early.Former Ming frontier generals like Bai Guangen, because they were not from Liaodong Han people, could hardly be accepted by the group of Liaodong Han generals. Therefore, he was not very interested in the regional concept of these Liaodong Han people, but he would not go there. Offend the forces in Manchuria that are second only to the Manchurians.

Meng Qiaofang then looked at the situation in the city. He suddenly felt that it was not a good thing to work too hard. After all, the news of Azig's failure had already spread to the army. The Manchu people get along well, so they got the news in advance.

As a general with above-average talent, Meng Qiaofang could still sense subtle changes in the world situation from Azig's defeat.Before Wu Sangui donated Shanhaiguan to the Manchus and seized the city of Beijing, both Manchus and Hans became optimistic for a while, thinking that the chance of the Qing Dynasty unifying the world was at least [-]%.

After all, the Shun army that destroyed the Ming Dynasty was all driven away by the Manchus. How difficult is it to expect those inland officers and soldiers who could not even defeat the Shun army to compete with the Qing army?It's just that the First World War in Tianjin made the Manchus and Han people sober up, and now Azig's retreat made Meng Qiaofang feel that the chances of the Manchus to unify the world are less than half.

At this time, it might not be a good thing for the Heshun Army to form too deep animosity.Meng Qiaofang felt that it was necessary to leave a way out for herself, so she followed Shi Tingzhu's tone and said: "Our army has been fighting for almost a year since it left the customs in April last year, and most of the soldiers are exhausted.

After finally breaking through the city, and then asking them to ambush outside the city, the night is still cold and tight, I am afraid that even if we can defeat the Shun army, the casualties of our army will not be small.The general thought that it is still necessary to be sympathetic to the soldiers and not to let them cause unnecessary casualties. "

But before Meng Qiaofang's words fell, Zhang Cunren had already objected: "It is because of his sympathy for the soldiers that the last general thought that an ambush should be set up outside the city. It will become our stronger enemy, and more people will die. Therefore, we should completely defeat them here, this is the real sympathy for the soldiers."

Shi Tingzhu didn't take Zhang Cunren's opinion seriously. For the Manchus, the more Han people died, the better. If the Han people couldn't fight evenly, how could the Manchus control them?

When Azig retreated, the Han people were too showy and wanted to die.

Shi Tingzhu didn't want to show off the limelight at all.In order not to have a relationship with the kings of the two white banners, he even refused to marry Duoduo, because he was not optimistic that the Dorgon brothers could beat Huang Taiji.Facts also proved that his idea was correct, and all the Manchus who tried to be matchmakers between Doduo and him were punished by Huang Taiji.

But the only thing Shi Tingzhu didn't expect was that Huang Taiji, who was in his prime, would die suddenly, which was really a bolt from the blue.The Shi family, who had always been on Huang Taiji's side, became enemies in the eyes of the Dorgon brothers in an instant.At this time, Shi Tingzhu was only afraid that he would be paid too much attention by the Dorgon brothers, and he had no idea of ​​making meritorious service.

As far as he is concerned, it is enough to complete the siege task assigned by Duoduo. As for whether the Shun army will become stronger in the future, is this a question he should consider?A slave who always thinks of himself as his master is hard to say what will end well.

With the support of Meng Qiaofang,

Shi Tingzhu also took advantage of the situation and said: "Meng Zhangjing is right, the soldiers have worked too hard, we generals can't order them to death for the sake of the crown on their heads.

Moreover, the soldiers who fled back will become stronger and stronger, which is an anecdote.If so, how did we get to Shanhaiguan?I don't read much, but I also know that the morale of the army depends on continuous victories. An army that often loses will always find a way out for itself after going to the battlefield, instead of thinking about fighting to the death.

Therefore, it will only be us who are getting stronger.What's more, even if we can't deal with the Shun army, we still have Manchurian soldiers as our backing.It's rare for Zhang Zhangjing not to have heard of: Is the Man Man invincible? "

Zhang Cunren looked at Shi Tingzhu with a look of astonishment. He knew that the Shi family and the ancestor's family did not like him, but everyone is now sitting on the boat of the Qing Dynasty, using such incomparably correct nonsense to prevaricate himself. Isn't this a typical party dispute? country?

However, Zhang Cunren did not dare to deny the words of Manchu force. Although he is a man of spirit, he is not mentally ill. How could he question the foundation of the Manchu state.He can only emphasize repeatedly that it doesn't take much troops to destroy this Shun army at night, because the opponent is already frightened.

Shi Tingzhu didn't want to entangle with Zhang Cunren any longer, so he seized on Zhang Cunren's big words and said: "Since Zhang Zhangjing thinks the other party is a frightened bird, then you should take your troops to ambush, and this matter will be discussed here."

Chapter 446 The Fall of Chengwu

Looking at the back of Shi Tingzhu walking down the tower, Zhang Cunren could only hold Meng Qiaofang and said, "Brother Meng, you know, I have gunners under my command, I'm afraid it won't work to let them lay an ambush. But tonight is The last chance to defeat this Shun army, if we let them go like this, it will undoubtedly be letting the tiger go back to the mountain."

Meng Qiaofang really didn't want to get involved in this matter, but he also didn't want to offend Zhang Cunren, because he knew that there were indeed a few Manchu relatives who admired him, because this was the pawn that the Manchus used to divide the Han people in Liaodong.He could only say to Zhang Cunren: "Brother Cunren, I still have a Niulu cavalry soldier who can be borrowed from you, but you can only persuade others by yourself. They continue to fight at night, and I can't bear the responsibility."

Zhang Cunren also wanted to try his best to persuade Meng Qiaofang to support him, because only a few hundred people set up an ambush to stop the Shun Army's brigade, but Meng Qiaofang still politely declined his request.In the end, Zhang Cunren just borrowed a good number of cavalry soldiers from Meng Qiaofang, which made him quite disappointed with Meng Qiaofang, because before that, he had always thought that Meng Qiaofang was the most knowledgeable person in the Liaodong Han army, and those generals in Liaodong town who had nothing but appearances Not the same thing.

Zhang Cunren, who came down from the city gate, was also in a bad mood. He felt that Meng Qiaofang was not as decisive as he imagined, and even wanted to give up such an opportunity.And Meng Qiaofang, who stood on the city wall and watched Zhang Cunren's back, also became less interested. He originally thought that Zhang Cunren was a person who could be handed over, but unexpectedly, the other party was so short-sighted and completely regarded Manchu as the ultimate victor. The thing is, if the Manchus did not win in the end, would it be so difficult for him to die with his family and those Manchus?

Zhang Cunren didn't know that he had dropped a level in Meng Qiaofang's eyes, but his ambush outside the west gate that night was quite successful. Nearly 3 soldiers of the Shun Army and [-] strong men were withdrawn from the city. Fewer than a hundred infantry were intercepted at the waist, and the Shun army in the night was finally in chaos under such an attack.

Generals such as Ma Ruqing and Zhang Wenbiao could only evacuate separately with their direct troops, and then agreed to meet at a temple more than 20 miles south of Chengwu.However, when the sky was bright, there were less than 2000 Shunjun soldiers arriving at the temple one after another. Seeing the dejected look of the soldiers surrounded by the fire in the courtyard of the temple, Zhang Wenbiao had no choice but to go back to the main hall to persuade Ma Ruqing.

"It's not safe here. The soldiers don't have much fighting spirit now, and we didn't carry much supplies. If the Qing army catches up, the whole army will be wiped out. We should withdraw to Shan County after breakfast. Just let the next team pick up those brothers who haven't arrived yet."

This time, Zhang Wenbiao's opinion was supported by many generals. After thinking for a long time, Ma Ruqing finally accepted Zhang Wenbiao's opinion, and left a team of 50 people to monitor the direction of Chengwu and respond to those latecomers.

Chengwu is about fifty or sixty miles away from Dingtao in the west, Shan County in the southeast, and Cao County in the southwest, which means that Dingtao's retreat may be cut off by the Qing army at any time.In the early morning of February [-], several groups of messengers sent by Ma Ruqing before retreating arrived in these three cities respectively, and Niu Wancai who was stationed in Dingtao had no choice but to consider retreating.

In the afternoon of the same day, Guide Mansion also received urgent information from Cao County, and Yuan Zongdi immediately convened a military meeting with his subordinates.The few people Yuan Zongdi relied on most in the military affairs of Guide were: his younger brother Yuan Zhongdao, one was his old subordinate Feng Qifeng, and the other was his deputy Liu Tichun.However, Yuan Zhongdao was following Li Zicheng at this time, so this military meeting became a tripartite confrontation.

After hearing the news from Cao County, Feng Qifeng lowered his head and studied the sand table on the desktop. Although the General Staff did not come up with more detailed geographical survey results, the sand table in front of him was enough for people to understand Guide, Xuzhou and Jining The geography of the region.

Feng Qifeng looked at the sand table for a while and said to Yuan Zongdi: "If Chengwu falls, then the Qing army will be able to go around to the rear of Dingtao City, and Dingtao obviously cannot hold it.

It seems that what your lord said before is right, the Dingtao-Chengwu line of defense is too weak, and a reserve line of defense should be built to connect Feng County and Guide, and now we really use this reserve line of defense. "

It's just that Yuan Zongdi was not as optimistic as his subordinates, so he said casually: "The time the Qing army left us is too short, so it is still a question whether this line of defense can stop the Qing army. The key now has become Shanxian County. , Feng County and Shangqiu were repaired before the war, but Shan County was not repaired, it is really quite fragile.

I plan to send someone to check the preparations for the war in Shan County, and contact Lu Yingbiao stationed in Feng County, so that they can strengthen their defense against Shan County, and the Qing army cannot break through here, and Xuzhou is next..."

Liu Tichun also agreed to abandon the Dingtao-Chengwu line of defense, retreating the line of defense to Cao County, Shan County, Feng County, and Yutai County, and using Guide and Xuzhou as the rear support points of this line of defense.

Liu Tichun commented on the current situation: "The sudden force of the East Qing army in Dingtao-Chengwu actually shows a problem, that is, they can't open the situation on the Wenshang-Jining line, while our army is farther than Mount Tai. The battlefield in the east entangled the Qing army entering the Jiaodong Peninsula again, so without the support of Azig all the way to the west, they could only make a final fight in the direction of the Dingtao-Chengwu line.

In other words, if the Qing army can't defeat us between Guide and Xuzhou, then the Qing army's southern expedition this time will come to an end.It can be seen from this that the follow-up troops of the Qing army will continue to press up, and we must prepare for a big battle with the Qing army.It's time to send a messenger to His Majesty, we need His Majesty to return with the main force..."

On the evening of February [-]th, Li Zicheng, who was still stationed in Zhengzhou, received a three-hundred-mile rush from Yuan Zongdi and Liu Tichun.When the urgent report was received, Li Zicheng was talking with Li Guo and Zhang Jinyan about appeasement in Henan.After reading the urgent report, Li Zicheng gave Li Guo a look, and then handed it to Zhang Jinyan.

Then Li Zicheng said in a calm tone: "It seems that it is time for me to leave. Since the entry of the Manchus last year to this year, we will put a comma on the battle with the Manchus this year."

Generals like Li Guo don't care much about the use of punctuation marks and pinyin promoted by the Marshal's Mansion, but Li Guo can still guess from Li Zicheng's daily words that the comma is the meaning of ending the Manchu Southern Expedition .

As for literati like Zhang Jinyan, although they don't know much about the military, they are still quite concerned about the various policies issued by the Marshal's Mansion.He knew that punctuation marks and pinyin were admired by Li Zicheng, because Li Zicheng was very impatient to read the vertically formatted documents without punctuation, so he called on military Chinese documents and government documents to be written from left to right with punctuation marks vernacular.

This change in the form of documents is actually not an outrageous move, because in the early years of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang also advocated the use of vernacular Chinese to write official documents and imperial edicts, but Zhu Yuanzhang still adopted stereotyped selection of scholars to select scholars.In other words, although Zhu Yuanzhang believed that vernacular Chinese was more convenient to use, in order to maintain imperial power, he finally adopted the literary method of stable rule.

But Li Zicheng was different. He advocated the use of vernacular, punctuation, and changing the habit of writing official documents, and even demanded that the carrier of writing imperial edicts be downgraded.In the eyes of civil officials like Zhang Jinyan, these measures are a bit like a king of the mountain, and they have not yet realized the dignity of imperial power.

Since the previous battle between the Shun Army and the Qing Dynasty has not yet been decided, everyone's attention is still focused on the result of this battle, because naturally no one will seriously accept these changes in official document habits. If you fail in this battle, this change will be readjusted soon, so why do you want to accommodate a grass-headed emperor and change the habits you have cultivated since childhood?

However, as the battle in Henan ended with Li Zicheng's victory, a situation emerged in which the Shun army could protect at least half of the country, so Zhang Jinyan made up for the use of vernacular and punctuation marks on the way north, so he listened to it. I understood the meaning of Li Zicheng's words.But for him, what was more exciting at this time was that Li Zicheng was able to hand him the expedited document instead of keeping it secret, which made him feel as if he had been accepted by Li Zicheng.

Therefore, after scanning the content of the emergency report at a glance, he immediately said to Li Zicheng: "Although Jiannu captured Chengwu, the Azig army has retreated to the north of the Yellow River, and even most of Huaiqing Mansion has been captured. We are under control, and our army has no worries. Your Majesty is going to fight, and our army has a great hope of victory, but..."

Li Guo, who was thinking, looked up at Zhang Jinyan. Although he felt that the former Minister of the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty was a layman in military affairs, he could not deny that the other party still had some insight in the means of appeasing the local people. The idiot who doesn't understand anything.

At least Zhang Jinyan did not encounter any wars during his journey northward. The local tyrants responded to his letters one after another, clearing out the surveillance personnel left by the Qing army one by one, thus quickly restoring the stability in central Henan. It is indeed a good thing for the Marshal's Mansion. Before the war is over, it is obviously not conducive to the Marshal's Mansion to put troops on suppressing the rebellion of the local tyrants in Henan.

Under Li Zicheng's signal, Zhang Jinyan immediately said: "I am from Henan, and I know that the most dangerous time for the Yellow River is actually the lingering flood at the beginning of spring. Even the levee that is properly maintained on weekdays will break in such a season.

The current Yellow River embankment has been in disrepair for many years because of natural disasters and wars.In addition, when the Kaifeng government army dug the Yellow River embankment, even in normal years, there would be floods. If ice floods are added, the danger will be even greater.

The period from the end of February to May is a dangerous period, if the flood below Kaifeng breaks the embankment, it is likely to be unfavorable to our army..."

Chapter 447 Zhengzhou One

After all, the General Staff Department of the Marshal's Mansion has just been established, and it is mainly composed of the children of the frontier army and the scholars in the south. They are not as clear-headed as the locals about the flood in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River.

Of course, when Kaifeng officers and soldiers decided to open the embankment of the Yellow River and wanted to replace soldiers with water, they ended up flooding Kaifeng City because of the wrong height. The generals of the rebel army have seen such tragic scenes.Therefore, when Zhang Jinyan mentioned the risk of flooding on the Yellow River, Li Guo immediately realized the unpredictable risk of this war.

Li Guo subconsciously said to Li Zicheng: "If the flood of the Yellow River this year really caused the lower reaches of Kaifeng to burst, then there may be problems with the defense lines set up by our army in Shangqiu and Shanxian County."

Zhang Jinyan suggested hesitantly: "Or we can take the initiative and send people to Zhengzhou, Kaifeng and other places to observe the thawing of the Yellow River, and then guide the Qing army into areas that may be flooded depending on the size of the river disaster. Maybe it can be won without a fight."

Although Li Guo frowned, he didn't refute the suggestion aloud.On the other hand, Li Zicheng shook his head and said, "We can't do such a thing like flooding our own land by the Yellow River. I raised troops in Dashun to protect the people. If I want to pursue a temporary victory, I will throw my morality into the Yellow River." , who will dare to believe in our Dashun's political philosophy in the future?"

Li Guo, who was not firm in his own attitude, immediately changed his position and said: "Yes, no matter how you look at it now, we are in a favorable momentum. At this time, thinking about using the Yellow River to resist the enemy will inevitably lower the morale of our army. The slaves, like the defenders in Kaifeng, slandered us for breaking the Yellow River embankment, we really can't explain it clearly."

Zhang Jinyan felt that Li Zicheng's insistence was a bit pedantic. If the main force of the Qing Army's East Road could be flooded with a flood, and the saved military expenses were used to compensate the farmers whose land was submerged, how could the farmers complain?What's more, the rebel army massacred the city in the past, and did not do less. Isn't it also a new dynasty now?It can be seen that the people are still very appeased, and there is really no need to worry about them.

But at this time, he would not say such disappointing words. He said to Li Zicheng with a smile on his face: "Your Majesty cares about the people on both sides of the Yellow River, but what I said just now is superficial. Wei Now I finally understand why this dynasty is better than the old one, because His Majesty puts the people in his heart, not his mouth..."

Although I think what Zhang Jinyan said is very pleasant, but this person is not the real Li Zicheng after all, so he won't be confused by such superficial remarks.He just smiled, then restrained his smile and said: "Let's not talk about fighting the Qing army beforehand, let's continue to finish what we just talked about. Now Henan has become our rear. If we can't let the rear settle down, we How can we fight in front with confidence?"

After Zhang Jinyan heard this, he quickly retracted the topic and said, "Your Majesty just talked about the personnel issues of the Henan Mansion. Li Jiyu has already expressed his willingness to hand over his troops and horses to go home for the elderly. I think that giving him a position of general judgment is already quite high."

Li Zicheng waved his hand and said: "Give it to a prefect. Although Li Jiyu is vacillating, he has a high reputation in Henan Prefecture. Heroes such as Shen Jing Gang, Ren Chen, and Zhang Ding are all headed by him. Give him a higher position, and other people will Really settle down.

The most important thing at present is to restore people's livelihood in the local area as soon as possible. As long as the common people can grow crops for a few seasons in peace, people's hearts will turn to the court.Otherwise, even if these local tyrants are wiped out, the common people will still rebel if they cannot afford food.

We can't keep thinking about making the common people bear it. We should kill the Jiannu first and then consider the issue of food. We can bear it because we are not afraid that we will not be able to eat, but how can the common people bear it?Miss a crop and they'll have to starve to death, and we can't count on the dead to pay us taxes and servitude.

Now I am not afraid that they are ambitious, I am only afraid that they do not have the ability to restore people's livelihood.If they can't do it, and invite them down again, I don't think the people will have any opinions. "

Zhang Jinyan nodded slightly. Although he tried his best to get closer to Li Zicheng, he didn't think that what he said was flattery. Judging from his achievements as emperor, he felt that Li Zicheng was indeed better than Chongzhen, because Li Zicheng has always been able to grasp the key points, instead of being led by the nose easily by the ministers like Chongzhen. For example, the Chongzhen Dynasty had several discussions about dealing with the Manchus, but in the end it turned into a war of words between Qingliu and those in power. Chongzhen couldn't control the situation at all, and even felt that such a court meeting was a sign that no one was forming a party.

However, as a dynasty that relied on loyalty and filial piety to govern the country, the subordinates' obedience to their superiors and the students' loyalty to their teachers were extremely consistent with Confucian morality. Chongzhen regarded himself as the apex of this set of etiquette, but opposed the formation of loyalty and filial piety within this set of etiquette.He wanted everyone to be loyal to himself only, but objected to any connection between others.

However, the system of the Ming Dynasty was based on the entire Confucian moral concept. If there were no private connections between other people, then the decisions made by the imperial court could not be carried out to the localities, and the local governments could not respond to the policies. When it reaches the ears of those in power, this presents a huge problem.

Those in power who have the power to make policy decisions in the empire do not understand the situation at the bottom, so they can only make decisions based on their heads, while the people-friendly officials at the grassroots level have no channels to reflect the real situation upwards. Some things are only suitable to be said in private and cannot be said publicly, otherwise it is tantamount to attacking decision makers.After all, any court decision must benefit some people and damage others. If no one suffers, it means that almost no one benefits.

Therefore, in the absence of channels to communicate with those in power, those whose interests have been damaged can easily form an anti-establishment faction, and those in power have to form cliques to defend their reputation, and finally form a party struggle for power .

However, in Dashun, Li Zicheng abolished the highest moral standard of loyalty to the ruler, and the final expression of the party struggle was to accuse each other of being disloyal to the ruler, and then avoided the essence of their struggle for interests. .Because the moral debate will not involve the interests of the respective groups to defend, so that the people have sympathy for themselves.

If the two sides are fighting over how to harm the interests of the people in order to nourish themselves, then the people will only support the emperor and hang them all.Therefore, party struggle seems to be a battle between traitorous officials and honest men, but in essence it is a battle of interests.Chongzhen hadn't figured out the root cause of the party struggle from the first day of his ascension to the throne. He really regarded the party struggle as a battle between a gentleman and a villain. As a result, the last people around him were hypocrites.

But Li Zicheng, or Li Zicheng after leaving Beijing, did not believe in any moral perfection, he only believed that interests were the root of all struggles.That's why two brand-new institutions, the military council and the council, were established to allow the generals in the army and representatives of the gentry from all over the country to sit down and discuss the distribution of benefits.

In front of such an immoral monarch, those who try to pretend to be morally perfect will only be abandoned by everyone in the end, because the people below cannot support a representative who does not protect their own interests.Therefore, although there are many political factions in Dashun, almost every province and even every class has its own interest representatives, but they can maintain restraint in the battle, because Li Zicheng doesn't care who is the party whose interests are damaged, he only cares about the other side many supporters.

In this way, each faction can only seek to compromise the interests of the greatest common denominator, otherwise, no matter how loudly the party in the minority shouts, it will not get any rewards.Of course, this new decision-making method is not very used to the gentry, because they need supporters who seek common interests in the council, and cannot use the concept of loyalty and filial piety to force others to obey themselves as before.

This made the high-ranking people in the past quite disgusted with such things as the council, because in the past they only needed an order to go on, and then there would be a group of disciples who would speak up for themselves, and it was the duty of these disciples to support themselves. If someone violated this rule, they would Morally condemned, it is impossible for a morally flawed person to progress.

But for those gentry in the middle and lower classes, they were not used to sitting together with businessmen and representatives of poor families to discuss local affairs at the beginning, but now they have begun to acquiesce in this way of decision-making in local affairs.Although the council reduced the power of the gentry, it also abolished the ranks among the gentry. In the past, the big gentry had the final say in the countryside, not the small gentry. You can only find someone to make peace, instead of trying to defend your own interests.

When the four major evils in Henan were rampant in Henan, the land, wives and daughters of small gentry were also not protected by law.But in the council meeting, these middle and lower gentry can unite businessmen and representatives of poor families to fight against the local big gentry.And their rights were protected by the Marshal's Mansion, which also established a relationship of interest between the two parties.

Zhang Jinyan is also very clear that during his journey northward, the reason why heroes from all over the world came to vote one after another was not only because of the threat of military force from the Shunjun, but more importantly, these local heroes felt that surrendering to the Shunjun would not harm themselves. interests because the Council is able to defend their interests.

Even Liu Hongqi, a powerful man in Henan who opposed the peasant army, could no longer maintain his semi-independent status.Because his strength also comes from the support of the small tyrants below, and with the local council, these small tyrants are unwilling to continue to provide him with food and soldiers.

Compared with the heavy burden that Liu Hongqi apportioned to them, joining the council would allow them to breathe a sigh of relief and decide how much tax they should pay to the Marshal's Mansion.After all, after the battle of Azig's south, everyone can see clearly that the world is not far away, because the strength of the Manchus and Dashun has exceeded the imagination of the local tycoons.

Under such circumstances, continuing to support Liu Hongqi to fight against these two behemoths would be an act of suicide.Therefore, if Liu Hongqi didn't know what to do, then Li Zicheng didn't need to do anything, and the tyrants below would hand over the leader first, in exchange for Li Zicheng's lenient treatment of them.