Dashun Yongchang

Li Zicheng regained three towns, suppressed one town of Huang Degong, and after completely controlling Jiangnan, he ordered Emperor Hongguang to resign. The reason why the gentry in Jiangnan did not strongly oppose it was because Li Zicheng had no intention of crossing the river. These Jiangnan gentry naturally acquiesced.

After the newspapers created by the Marshal's Mansion widely publicized the deeds of the Manchus slaughtering Han people outside the customs and entering the customs to loot the people and enclose land, the people in the south became even more afraid of the war.Because they suddenly realized that in the face of the Manchurian

There is no reason for foreign races to speak of. It is a crime for thieves like Li Zicheng to slaughter common people, but is it a crime for foreign races to slaughter Han people?The condemnation of public opinion is of no use to the Manchus and Mongols, because the other party does not need the support of the Han people at all.

As a result, differences of opinion emerged between the gentry class and the bourgeoisie in the south.Many people in the gentry class still think that the Manchus' entry into the customs is at best a plunder for a while, but the Manchus are not capable of ruling China, so the thieves are the confidant of Ming Dynasty.But the citizens believed that Li Zicheng's rebellion against the imperial court was just a different surname, and the Manchus' invasion of the Central Plains was the same as the Jin and Yuan invasions of China.

In the more than 200 years of the Ming Dynasty, Jiangnan was prosperous, and the highly prosperous Jiangnan also brought a social atmosphere of relative freedom of speech. Even the gentry in the local area could not completely suppress the bourgeoisie. It's the same thing.

Therefore, Hai Rui was able to use public opinion to force Xu Ge's hometown to withdraw his land, and the gentry could incite Suzhou citizens to besiege the factory guards, and some citizens united to burn down Dong Qichang's house.The strength of the burgher class in the south of the Yangtze River in the late Ming Dynasty had already exerted a certain influence on the gentry class. Of course, the leaders of these burgher class were those scholars who had not entered official positions, that is, the so-called students.

The economy in the south of the Yangtze River is developed, so there are dozens of students in a county, but a few in a county in the north is good, so the county officials in the north are often worried about the small number of children who come to take the exam every year. In the south, the boy's test is as spectacular as the rural test.The difference between a student student and a child student is the difference between ordinary people and the ruling class, because after being admitted as a student member, you have certain privileges.

But in the north, as long as you can pass the entrance examination, you can almost continue to go up, because the number of people competing is too small.In the south, some people can hardly go any further after being admitted to the middle school because there are too many scholars.After these people are admitted to the college entrance examination, they can neither work nor do business, otherwise they will lose their official career, but there is almost no hope for this official career.

Therefore, the students in Jiangnan are very fond of two things, helping people with lawsuits and holding rallies. In fact, they use their privileged status to express their political views, thereby gaining economic or political benefits.

Whether it is helping others to file a lawsuit or gathering for a meeting, the essence is to compete with the gentry for interests. Therefore, although the citizens will stand with the gentry in safeguarding local interests, most of the time the citizens like to slander the family tradition and illegal behavior of the gentry.

The four towns intend to go south to cross the river, and when the soldiers of the Shun army approach the Yangtze River, the southern citizens will naturally stand with the gentry to oppose the army going south, no matter whose army it is.But when things like the national war were discussed, the bourgeoisie immediately parted ways with the gentry, because the gentry advocated that the Manchus would enter the customs at most to plunder for a while, and they would eventually retreat outside the customs, in fact, they were taken as victims.

After all, the Manchus in the north also mainly enclose the land of the common people instead of the land of the gentry, and even returned the land taken from the gentry by the peasant army to the gentry, so who did the Manchus plunder when they entered the customs?Could it only be ordinary people like them who have some property but not enough to contribute to the Manchus?Therefore, the burghers began to criticize the proposition of uniting the captives and suppressing the bandits.

Chapter 455 Yangzhou Five

Even Liu Rushi had to admit the fact that although Shun's army did not cross the river, Dashun's influence had spread to Jiangnan with the newspapers, and the originally scattered citizens in various places in Jiangnan were also reading the same newspaper. Newspapers support or oppose certain articles in newspapers, gradually forming a unified cognitive whole, and no longer only express opinions against local gentry or officials as before.

Moreover, the newspaper, a new tool of public opinion, is depriving the gentry and the imperial court of the last bit of control over the public opinion of the burghers.Although scholars in the south guide the public opinion of the civic class, their voices still come from their own special identities. Therefore, once their student titles are deprived, they lose their right to speak.

Therefore, although these scholars were not afraid of officials and gentry, even factory guards and emperors dared to criticize them openly, they did not dare to criticize the great masters who had the power to deprive them of their status as students.And this is also the most powerful weapon used by gentry and officials to deter scholars, but the emergence of newspapers has greatly weakened this threat, because even the great masters dare not easily offend a scholar who often publishes articles in newspapers, because This newspaper is run by Marshal Du's Mansion, which can not only veto his decision, but also remove him from office.

So when the war between the Shun army and the Manchus in the north was in full swing, a battle for public opinion broke out in the south. After realizing the timely influence of newspapers on public opinion, scholars in some places immediately tried to establish themselves in newspapers. This is much faster and more effective than holding a paper meeting to boast to each other, and it also saves a lot of money.

In the past, the reason why the citizens in the south of the Yangtze River were often led by the gentry was that they lacked a channel of their own to speak out. Without a large-scale gathering or literary meeting, your ideas could not be spread at all, but if you have money to hold such gatherings and cultural Yes, of course, those big businessmen and gentry, who pay for such gatherings and cultural conferences, will naturally choose scholars who agree with and help them, instead of finding a few opponents to come over.

However, such gatherings and cultural gatherings are mainly to help some people spread their fame, or to speak out for their own interests, rather than to truly solve the concerns of the citizen class.In an era like the end of the Ming Dynasty, the gentry were still doing romantic literary events, what did the four princes of the Fushe and the famous prostitutes in the south of the Yangtze River do, and wrote elegant stories like poems and articles, or criticized the famous people in power. The incompetence of the public should let XX be the chief assistant, and the real practical issue is never mentioned.

What is the concern of the burghers?Can food prices be controlled?After the northern war cut off the trade route to the north, what should the merchants in the south do?After the price of silver rises, how can helpers denominated in copper coins survive?And these things can only be seen in the newspapers of the Marshal's Mansion. The newspapers even evaluate the war in the north and the climate in various places to judge whether the food price will rise or rise this year, so as to persuade the Marshal's Mansion to develop it as soon as possible. Overseas land, or import grain from overseas to avoid the problem of high grain prices in the south of the Yangtze River.

Faced with such practical issues of people's livelihood, the bourgeoisie naturally abandoned the gentlemen who talked about benevolence, righteousness and morality, and tended to pay attention to the practical Marshal's Mansion.After all, you can't let a group of citizens who live on their wages not think about the soaring price of food and the depreciation of copper coins, but care about the gathering of a certain cultural society. Hundreds of people participated, two people, one sheep, two bottles of wine, and a prostitute to accompany them grand occasion.

Of course, if it is placed in later generations, the newspaper will say that after an average calculation, our country has broken through the gross national product of [-] U.S. dollars, officially entered the developed country, and the Chinese have finally become rich. Go wipe your ass.

It was through the means of public opinion such as newspapers that the burghers began to make their own voices. They not only refuted the claims of Lianlu and Pingkou, but also began to oppose the statement that the world was messed up by Li Zicheng and other thieves, claiming that : "If there are so-called thieves who are causing trouble in the world, then people like Wang Er and Gao Yingxiang are much earlier than Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong. They are good people who cannot survive.”

When discussing who messed up the world, the extravagant life of the Ming emperor and the clan was first identified as the original sin. It is not surprising that the citizens have such a cognition, because this is what the The gentry in the south of the Yangtze River have been propagating things against the imperial court for many years. If the emperor is not insane, why would these gentry retreat in the countryside?

However, the discussions among the citizens were not limited to the emperor, but also brought up issues such as land annexation that resulted in good people having no land to grow, and gentry relying on their privileged status to exempt them from taxes and forcing good people to invest in land. and this was where the greatest contradiction between the bourgeoisie and the gentry lay in the past.

Because the burghers who rely on industry and commerce to survive need a village that can provide cheap food and a market that can buy the goods they produce, but the gentry rely on their privileges to annex land in the countryside, which has two consequences. One is to control Food is hoarded, and the second is that the manor-style economy hardly needs to buy things from outside.

In other words, the big landlords represented by these gentry can obtain a lot of wealth from the citizens through the manipulation of food prices, but they themselves do not consume much of the goods produced by the citizens, so these big landlords hoard their wealth at home, or It is to build gardens and buy divas for pleasure consumption.

Scholars who were able to speak out for the citizens in the past were also one of the gentry's backup forces, so they would criticize the behavior of some evil gentry, but they would not touch the fundamental nature of the gentry's privileges. After all, they themselves were also beneficiaries.However, with the spread of newspapers, not only scholars, but also those citizens who have read books can make their voices heard. Their anger at the privileges of the gentry is actually greater than their anger at Li Zicheng's change of dynasty, because they are such Li Zicheng's army has not yet crossed the Yangtze River.

The war of public opinion between the awakened citizens and the gentry has yet to see a winner, but some gentry have begun to panic because they find that they are gradually losing their local voice.In Jiangnan alone, there are more than 200 cities and towns in Susong, Changjiahu, and five prefectures, with a population of about several million. The number of citizens in this area completely suppresses the rural population.

And the gentry in the countryside can't fully control the right to speak now, because the slave change has caused tension between the tenants and the master's family. It's just that the citizens didn't understand these slaves in the past. Based on a simple ethics of superiority and inferiority, they felt that If the servant feels dissatisfied, he should go to the government to file a complaint instead of rebelling by himself, so he does not support the servant's armed resistance against the master's house.

However, following the revelations of the inhuman treatment of slaves by the Marshal's Mansion in the newspapers, the citizens believed that the gentry should not have full power to dispose of slaves, let alone kill or maim them.The citizens' sympathy for the slaves' situation and their voices also made some slaves who were dissatisfied with the master's house begin to lean towards the citizens' views.

As a result, the gentry began to lose their influence in controlling public opinion in both the city and the countryside, and what frightened the gentry even more was that they had no way to deal with this kind of integration of citizens and villagers, because the government had already lost the influence of public opinion. The ability to suppress, or the government representing Ming Dynasty is losing its authority, but a new power system has not been established.

The gentry can now control the situation by relying on two things, the force organized by the domestic slaves in their hands and the family popularity gathered locally in the past.But these two things can only work against unarmed villagers. Once the Marshal's Mansion sends troops across the river, the gentry who have lost the support of the local people will set themselves on fire.

Therefore, although the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River kept saying that they would not eat Zhou Su, they had already taken a step back from the previous confrontation with the trespassers.For example, the people around her family, Qian Xianggong, also believed that if the Shun Army could resist the Manchus going south, then there should be a communication channel with the Marshal's Mansion, which is why she made this trip to Yangzhou.

After all, these Jiangnan gentry still put the preservation of their family business first. After seeing that it is really difficult for Ming Dynasty to recover, what they are thinking now is to establish the new dynasty system as soon as possible, and they cannot continue to be in such chaos.If the privileges of the gentry were the object of all attacks, how could the gentry keep their fortunes?

The gentry rely on these privileges to maintain the normal life of the family. Liu Rushi is very clear about this. After all, the Qian family is also a big landlord in Changshu, but the Qian family has almost no management talents. The rent of the land is used to live on, and the reason why the Qian family has so much land is because of the investment from a large number of farmers obtained by Qian Qianyi's preferential treatment. It can be said that if there is no one after Qian Qianyi, the Qian family will decline. .

In the south of the Yangtze River, there are tens of hundreds of big families like the Qian family. Except for a few families that specialize in business, the others strictly rely on the court's grace to maintain a decent life.According to an article in a newspaper, "This Daming is the Daming of the gentry, and the privileges they enjoy are derived from the oppression of ordinary people by relying on Daming.

But it is such a group that depends on Daming to survive, but they are the most unwilling to be responsible to Daming. They are unwilling to pay taxes, and they are unwilling to serve as soldiers. Enjoy your own luxurious life on the blood and tears of the people.

To put it simply, the Ming Dynasty is to the gentry what cattle are to the landlord. They eat grass and work when they are alive, but they are skinned and eaten when they are dead. Is there a more cruel fact in the world than this? "

It can be said that in the face of the citizens' increasingly fierce criticism of the gentry's privileges, the gentry no longer cared about the nostalgia for Daming. What they want now is a new court that can maintain stability, rather than letting these gentry My father's Xiaomin was completely turned upside down.

Liu Rushi suddenly thought that this meeting might be controlled by the gentry in other places, but in Jiangnan, it might not be so, because it is impossible for the citizens to elect those gentry to represent them.If you think about it this way, although Li Zicheng apparently gave up power, he actually gave up nothing.

Chapter 456 Yangzhou VI

Liu Rushi's judgment was still accurate. After losing Beijing, Dashun could no longer take over the remnants of Ming Dynasty's system logically, because the entry of the Manchus made the Shun army encounter a challenger in terms of force, which made the original preparations to meet The gentry of the new dynasty once again waited and watched.

Li Zicheng's title of Emperor Dashun can only give orders to the areas controlled by the Shun army. As for the places where the Shun army is out of reach, it is impossible for everyone to obey.It's just that he is holding on to the righteousness of the prince and forcing Emperor Hongguang to abdicate and return to the vassal, so that the north and the south have temporarily maintained a state of division, and this kind of division is also because the local forces are unable to challenge the Marshal's Mansion, which has the title of righteousness, and it is not really obedient. Li Zicheng.

After all, the southern provinces are still unified under the banner of Ming Dynasty. Once they break away from the banner of Ming Dynasty, there is no need for Li Zicheng to send troops to fight. The surrounding forces will destroy this alien first, because the gentry in the southern provinces are all There are local forces in a group, but no one can suppress everyone in terms of strength and fame, and thus become the common leader of the South.

In this way, the existence of the flag of Ming Dynasty is very necessary. Only this flag can make the people obey him, and it can also temporarily give them the righteousness to resist the Shun army going south.Therefore, when Li Zicheng said that power should be handed over to the councils representing the people in various places, he was actually acknowledging the semi-independent state that currently exists in various places.

However, the other provinces in the south did not have the power to challenge the gentry, but the Jiangnan area was different. There was a self-awakened citizen class. The bourgeoisie must seize the power that originally belonged to the gentry.

But without the support of the Marshal's Mansion, the gentry cannot really fight against the gentry. Although the power of the gentry in the Jiangnan area is not small, from the perspective of the whole world, the power of the gentry can always suppress these things that have not yet been organized. of the civic class.Therefore, the citizens in Jiangnan will definitely fall to Li Zicheng in the end, because only Li Zicheng can protect their interests.

Liu Rushi was not given the title of this talented woman for nothing. In a blink of an eye, she realized that this was Guo Jia's legacy in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Xi then surrendered to Cao Cao.

The same is true in Jiangnan now. When faced with the pressure of soldiers, the citizens can still stand together with the gentry to resist the Shun army going south, but after the Shun army crosses the river, they cannot maintain this temporary unity within themselves.After all, the gentry would only let them be loyal ministers of Ming Dynasty, but the Marshal's Mansion gave them orders and cheap food.

Liu Rushi thought about it, and felt that the countermeasures discussed with Qian Qianyi and his friends before coming to Yangzhou were pale and powerless in front of Chen Yuanyuan, and could not impress him at all.Because the starting point of their discussion was based on the fact that Li Zicheng needed the gentry to help him stabilize the south, so as to provide him with supplies and strong men continuously.

But now that Chen Yuanyuan has talked to her so much, in fact, he is telling her that Dashun really needs to stabilize the south, but it doesn’t have to be Donglin party members or rehabilitating the society. Through the new thing of the council, Dashun can definitely seek to get closer to the bottom representatives of the people.After realizing that the citizens in Jiangnan might fall to the Marshal's Mansion, Liu Rushi knew that she needed to make changes to Qian Qianyi's plan, otherwise she would be in vain this time.

Liu Rushi looked around and found that everyone was far away from the pavilion, so he whispered to Chen Yuanyuan, "What kind of plan do you think His Majesty is interested in? In fact, my husband is still very willing to come out and do something for the people of the world. The thing is, he stayed at home in the Chongzhen Dynasty for more than ten years, and he won some false fame in the literary world. If he retired like this, he would be criticized by future generations. I don't want him to end up like this. "

Chen Yuanyuan was silent for a moment before she said: "Actually, I shouldn't say some things, because I don't want His Majesty to think that I want to interfere in everything. This is not good for me or Mr. Qian."

Liu Rushi hurriedly said: "After all, my husband is not familiar with His Majesty. I just don't want him to violate His Majesty's taboo, so I thought of asking in private. If it's really inconvenient for you, you don't need to talk about it, but our sister's friendship, I love you. I will always remember it. However, my sister is probably quite envied in her current position, and there must always be someone who can speak up and help her in the foreign court, so that my sister will not be alone and helpless."

Chen Yuanyuan couldn't refuse Liu Rushi's soft words for her.For girls like them, the relationship between their parents and relatives has long been broken, and the relationship between men and women is just that. Only the friendship between these sisters is really reliable, because there is no mutual help between these sisters It is impossible for these weak women to get rid of the entanglement of some people.

Fortunately, what Li Zicheng said to her was not a conspiracy, or this Chuang Wang who was born at the bottom seemed not very interested in conspiracy. He once said to her, "Conspiracy may change a certain historical event. , but cannot push history forward, especially people like me who have no background, we should treat people with sincerity, because dishonesty will not win the trust of the people, without the support of the people, then I will still be a laid-off postman in the eyes of the people That's all."

Chen Yuanyuan then said to Liu Rushi: "Since my sister has spoken like this, then I can't say I don't know. But I can only tell my sister that there are actually two things that His Majesty cares most about at present. ;The second thing is to develop overseas wasteland. Only those who can help His Majesty handle these two things well are the right candidates for the chief assistant in His Majesty's mind."

Liu Rushi's heart sank when she heard this, and she said subconsciously: "Is it really necessary to integrate officials and gentry into one system? This is a big event that will cause opposition from gentry."

Chen Yuanyuan looked at her and replied: "I have told my sister before that money and food are essential for a country to run well. But today almost all the land is in the hands of the gentry, and the wealth is also in their hands. But the bulk of the tax revenue is on the common people. If we don’t make changes to this, then Dashun won’t be able to live for long. The Ming Dynasty who refused to collect taxes from the gentry is dead, and we have to make some changes..."

When Chen Yuanyuan communicated with her ex-sisters, the Tianning Temple, which was separated from them by a protection lake, which is also the left-behind department of the Marshal's Mansion in Yangzhou, was full of joyful songs and laughter. This kind of bad news once let the

The generals of the Shun Army headed by Zhang Nai were quite nervous, which directly caused the newly descended generals of the two towns of Daming to be cautious in their words and deeds, for fear that Zhang Nai would treat them as someone with a different heart.

However, although these new generals did not join forces in private, after all, they have worked together for many years, so they understand the nature of their colleagues very well. To live in troubled times for so long, at least one quality everyone possesses is endurance. After all, people who are too impatient will not live long.

But as Li Zicheng went north, good news came one after another. At first, everyone thought that these news were the same as the Ming Dynasty, but they were just unproven news fabricated to whitewash the failure of the army. Qingzhou went to find out if there was such a great victory.

But the series of victories from Cao County to Kaocheng, the fall of the Shang Kexi tribe, the Manchu clans were captured one after another, one was tried by the people of Cao County, the other surrendered to Dashun and wrote an article exposing the internal situation of the Manchus, and finally made these new surrenders The generals of the Ming Dynasty believed that perhaps these news of victory were not false, at least the route of the Shun army marching northward was never wrong.

After realizing that the Shun Army might really repel the Manchurian army going south, these newly surrendered Ming generals finally began to feel at ease, and began to review and deduce the actions of the Shun Army.Of course, this kind of replay and deduction is essentially a way for Zhang Nai to observe the abilities of these new surrendered Ming army generals and the degree of loyalty to Dashun, and it is also a way for some young generals to exercise their abilities.

However, Zhang Nai soon discovered that calling the generals to review and deduce the Shunqing battle brought two additional benefits.The first one is that because the middle-level generals are not divorced from actual combat, they are more concerned about this way of collectively discussing the war, which saves a lot of time for wild thinking and greatly stabilizes the morale of Yangzhou's army.

The second is to reduce the army's fear of the Manchus. The Manchus' nearly complete victory record outside and inside the customs made everyone in Ming Dynasty firmly believe in the saying "Manchus are invincible".This kind of superstitious belief in the combat power of the Manchus made the Ming army feel that they could not be opponents of the Manchus with the same strength before they faced the Manchus. There is no hope of victory.

Based on this premise, the decision made by the generals of the Ming army is either to withdraw, or to stop and wait and see how the friendly troops and the Manchus are fighting. From the psychological point of view of the generals, this kind of combat command is no longer fighting for victory, but It is to consider how to preserve themselves first. In the face of the aggressive Manchus, the ministries of the Ming army will lose the foundation to unite against the enemy. In the end, the Manchus can concentrate their efforts to destroy the most resistant Ming army first, thereby intimidating others. The Ming army, who had no will to fight, forced them to retreat.

However, the series of wars in Shunqing from Cao County to Kaocheng, and the battle of Qingzhou were ignored by these generals, because they couldn't imagine taking a small army deep into the enemy's rear to take risks. People like Yang Yufan were in the Ming army. Otherwise, they would not be suppressed by Liu Zeqing. After all, the generals of the Ming Dynasty basically focused their energy on the officialdom rather than the battlefield.

In addition, the battle of Qingzhou did not involve the generals of the rebel army. Even Zhang Nai was unwilling to publicize this battle too much in the army. However, the series of battles from Cao County to Kaocheng were personally commanded by Li Zicheng. no risk.Generals like Liu Zeqing were also unwilling to flatter Yang Yufan too much, as this would only give the former subordinates the illusion that the reason why they did not fight in Yangzhou was because they were afraid of death.

Therefore, the generals of the Yangzhou Left-behind Division of the Marshal's Mansion focused their energy on a series of battles commanded by Emperor Yongchang himself.After confirming that the battle victories in Cao County and Kaocheng were indeed true, Liu Zeqing and others began to praise Li Zicheng's bravery, while actively suggesting to Zhang Nai that he should advise Li Zicheng in the name of the Yangzhou Left-behind Division: Azig Army There is also a powerful cavalry group, so you must not fight with it in the wild.

Chapter 457 Yangzhou Seven

In the eyes of Liu Zeqing and others, Li Zicheng attracted the main force of Azig to the vicinity of Chenzhou, and then mobilized the main force to go north to eat the Qing army in Cao County and Kaocheng. This is indeed the biggest failure since the founding of the Manchus. This defeat It will definitely cause the Ming army that has already surrendered to the Manchus to repeat itself, so as long as the Shun army waits until then, the Manchus will have to retreat voluntarily.

But a series of actions by Li Zicheng later made them realize that His Majesty Yongchang's ambitions were not limited to this. After the Battle of Kaocheng, the Shun army immediately went south to Suizhou, trying to eat a part of the Qing army in Suizhou, thus completely laying a solid foundation for Henan. A side victory.And the development of the situation was not unexpected. The main force of the Manchus in Chenzhou finally came to their senses and quickly gathered cavalry to go north to join the Qing army in Suizhou. In this way, Li Zicheng was in danger of directly confronting the Qing army. At this time, the Qing army on the East Road is attacking in the direction of Guide, and the situation will become unclear again.

It's just that the Yangzhou generals didn't expect it. When the Qing cavalry group arrived in Suizhou, Li Zicheng dared to take [-] infantry out of the city to invite battle, and resisted the charge of the Qing cavalry in the field, thus destroying the Manchus Last confidence.Afterwards, everything was very logical. Even Liu Zeqing believed that the Manchu cavalry who failed to eat the infantry of the Shun army in the field had no other way out except to escape.

Because the Manchus did not have a stable rear in Henan, all the supplies they obtained in Henan came from the local tyrants.Since the Manchu cavalry, which has an advantage in numbers, can't even eat the thousands of infantry led by Li Zicheng, then who will accompany the Manchus to die?

The fear of the Manchu force will immediately turn into the fear of the Shun Army, and once these local tyrants join the ranks of the Shun Army to encircle the Manchus, then there is no way to solve the problem of food and drink for the Manchus. If you run back to the north of the Yellow River as soon as possible, Azig's troops will be dragged down by hunger, and it doesn't take much effort to follow the army. Liu Zeqing thinks that if he is in Henan, he will definitely not let go of such a good opportunity to beat the dog in the water.

However, compared with the victory of the Shun Army in Henan, the generals of Yangzhou were actually more interested in the cavalry battle outside Suizhou City, because they could not recover the victory of this battle anyway.No matter how they calculated, the result they got was that the infantry was overwhelmed by the heavy cavalry full of people, and then the infantry scattered and fled in all directions. Li Zicheng could only flee back to the city.

Because under the city of Beijing, the Ming army fought against the Manchus. At that time, the Ming army not only had a numerical advantage, but also had a large number of cavalry. The generals leading the troops were not inferior, such as Man Gui and Zu Dashou. Yu Zuo Guangxian's general, in fact, compared with these two generals, Zuo Guangxian can't stand side by side with them, because Zuo Guangxian's servants are much smaller than these two.

In the eyes of these great Ming generals, ordinary soldiers in an army can only be regarded as gathering the number of people and cleaning the battlefield. Those who are really reliable are these servants around the general. The reason why the Li family in Liaodong was able to deter Liaodong for decades was because of the number of troops There are nearly [-] servants, and even Nurhachi is a servant of the Li family.

Therefore, in the face of the siege of tens of thousands of cavalry, unless the [-] infantry were Zuo Guangxian's servants, they would not be able to withstand a charge of the Manchu cavalry, and the Manchu cavalry launched more than one charge. Judging from the number of generals lost, we know that the Manchus did their best to attack the infantry phalanx led by Li Zicheng, rather than responding to the story.Of course, in the face of the temptation to capture Li Zicheng, there will be no one who will not do his best.

Liu Zeqing and others who couldn't understand this battle could only attribute the victory to destiny. For example, Liu Zeqing told his former colleagues and subordinates in private, "The so-called holy emperor has a hundred spirits to protect him. In the past, I thought it was a story in a drama, but Now it seems that this destiny does exist, otherwise the same army could not beat the Manchus in the hands of others, but after His Majesty went north, it was like a broken army, just like a different army."

When Liu Zeqing said these words, it was not all flattery, but also a bit of awe. In the past, they thought that even Li Zicheng, who was born at the bottom, could be the emperor, so why can't they take a look at that position, especially when Li Zicheng lost it? After Beijing, Ming generals like Liu Zeqing felt that since the peasant army was not much better than the official army in front of the Manchus, at least everyone was equal in front of the Manchus, and there was no distinction between high and low.

However, when Li Zicheng used infantry to resist the Manchu cavalry under the city of Suizhou, and drove Azig back to the north bank of the Yellow River, Li Zicheng's status immediately rose in their hearts, because they felt that such a thing would definitely happen to them. It is impossible, not to mention seven thousand infantry against tens of thousands of cavalry, even if it is reversed, tens of thousands of infantry against thousands of cavalry, the soldiers below will have already run away.

This battle also greatly enhanced the deterrent power of the Shun army in the south. In the past, the officers and soldiers in the south of the Yangtze River thought that although they could not defeat Li Zicheng, at least there was a Manchu in the north who could suppress the Shun army. Therefore, it was impossible for Li Zicheng When fighting the Manchus, another war was provoked in the south. This is also the confidence that the southerners feel that they can bargain with the Marshal's Mansion.

However, after Li Zicheng fought such an incredible battle, he immediately frightened the southern officials and soldiers. They felt that since even the Manchus could not defeat the Shun army, why should they fight against the Shun army?Although the treatment of the Ming army in the south is better than that of the frontier army in the north, and the frontier army in the north is underpaid, the biggest problem of the southern army is the lack of personnel.

The reason why the northern frontier army is still serving as a soldier owing to their salary is because the economy in the north is underdeveloped, and there is no way out if they don't serve as soldiers and eat food, or they have to become bandits.But the difference in the south is that the economy in the south is developed, and it is better to do something casually than to be a soldier.Because the guards in the south do not practice or prepare for war on weekdays. Apart from doing private work for the generals, they just gamble in the barracks or play outside.

Therefore, what military households in the south are most afraid of is not owed wages, but that the army will take them back to serve as soldiers. Therefore, some military households have to pay the generals to hire someone to replace them during the parade. Almost all of the military camps in China are ruffians, because only those who are idle and have no real business will need the protection of a general, so the southerners say "good men don't serve as soldiers".

It is no problem for such an army to suppress the resistance of street citizens and rural farmers, because the south is not as chaotic as the north. There are so many bandits and horse thieves in the north that almost all the villages in the north have experience in small-scale battles, while the south There are only clan fights, and only in places like Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, and Yunnan. Because the Han people live together and fight a lot, the Han people still maintain basic force.

When these southern officers and soldiers realized that the force of the Shun army exceeded their imagination, the number of southern troops who obeyed the Marshal's Mansion immediately increased, especially the officers and soldiers in Jiangnan and other places. It is very in line with my own wishes, because the Marshal's Mansion ordered the army to adopt a conscription system and retire them regularly. If a few veterans need to stay in their posts, they will adjust their military pay according to the living standards of the civilians, and provide work arrangements or subsidies for the family members of the army.

The most affected by this policy is actually the Huang Degong Department located in Jiangbei. The status of the Huang Degong Department is actually quite embarrassing. Well, Shi Kefa or Shi Kefa, both of them attach great importance to this single seedling, because after the surrender of Dashun in the three towns, Huang Degong's troops have actually become the most capable Ming army around Nanjing.

However, although Ma Shiying and Shi Kefa attached great importance to Huang Degong's ministry, what they were most worried about was not Huang Degong's defection to Li Zicheng, but his embrace of the other party.Therefore, both Ma Shiying and Shi Kefa tried to win over Huang Degong's subordinates. Ma Shiying was also stuck with Huang's money and food, trying to force Huang Degong to bow his head to him.

The infighting between these two factions in Nanjing made the officers and soldiers of Huang Degong's department, who were already low in morale, even more resentful. Originally, they were the first to respond to the prince's southward move, but they fell out with Li Zicheng because Huang Degong tried to maintain the independent status of the headquarters. Li Zicheng did not do anything to Huang Degong's department. Instead, he admitted Huang Degong's current residence, but also demanded that Huang Degong's department must hand over the army roster to the Marshal's Mansion, and then the Marshal's Mansion would send people to distribute money and food.

Naturally, Huang Degong refused to do it. He had sacrificed his life for more than ten years to gather such an army for Daming. How could he hand it over to Li Zicheng so easily, so the Marshal's Mansion used the excuse that Huang Degong's department refused to hand in the roster Ask the Marshal's Mansion to count and distribute the money and food in half.This is actually not a big deal, after all, with Nanjing's wooing, both Ma Shiying and Shi Kefa said they would make up for Huang Degong's vacancy.

However, Huang Degong refused to vote for any of Ma Shiying and Shi Kefa, because he is now declaring his allegiance to the prince, and if he votes for one of these two, his status will plummet. In that case, he might as well directly Vote for Li Zicheng.Huang Degong refused to make a statement, and Ma Shiying and Shi Kefa naturally refused to pay first, so Huang Degong's subordinates became angry.

Because the current feudal town is completely different from the feudal town before Li Zicheng went south. Before Li Zicheng went south, the interior of the feudal town was similar to that of an independent kingdom. Yangzhou is desperate, because Yangzhou is rich.

But under the framework of the Marshal's Mansion, they are now the army guarding the place, and they can't even leave the station without the order of the Marshal's Mansion, and sending troops without a reason is regarded as treason.As for the local taxation power and judicial power, in name Huang Degong has the power to intervene, but he cannot go against the decree issued by the Marshal's Mansion, and these officials are all from the Marshal's Mansion's order, so they naturally obey the Marshal's Mansion. It's not Huang Degong's.

Therefore, Huang Degong fought for a long time. In fact, he won nothing except a short name. He even won preferential treatment for veterans and other welfare policies for the army. on the head.

Ma Degong, Huang Degong's subordinate, complained privately to his colleague Tian Xiong, "A feudal town, a feudal town, a feudal town that acts according to the rules set by others is a bird feudal town. It's better to vote for it as soon as possible, otherwise we can at least be in the big city now." Shun is a minister of the Dragon, what is this now? It is said that he is loyal to the Crown Prince of Ming Dynasty, but the Crown Prince dare not see us, saying that the courtiers should not make friends with the generals of the frontier army, how can he be regarded as a courtier of Dashun as the Crown Prince of Ming Dynasty?"

Even more dissatisfied than Ma Degong and Tian Xiong were the veterans, because Huang Degong was unable to arrange for them and their families according to the conditions given by the Marshal's Mansion. These veterans suddenly felt a little discouraged. After serving Daming for so many years, the result is not as good as a refugee who followed the robbers and rebelled.After the news of the great victory in Henan reached Yangzhou, the officers and soldiers of Huang Degong's department seemed even more unbearable.

Chapter 458 Yangzhou Eight

At the end of the daily military meeting of the Left Behind Division in Yangzhou that day, Liu Zeqing and Liu Liangzuo took the lead to express to Zhang Nai that they wanted to donate some supplies to the frontline soldiers.This kind of icing on the cake, Zhang Nai has seen a lot in the past two days, so he just took it all, and asked these generals to write down the materials and food to be donated and hand them over to him, and he would send the list to him. Show it to His Majesty.

When Zhang Nai accepted the donations from these generals, they felt that they were now truly accepted by the Marshal's Mansion, and Li Zicheng's victory was also their victory.After the meeting, both Liu Zeqing and Liu Liangzuo had an excuse to have a private conversation with Zhang Nai. What they said to Zhang Nai actually meant the same thing, that is, it is time to solve Huang Degong's trouble.

Liu Zeqing and Huang Degong had been at odds with each other, so he directly suggested to Zhang Nai to get rid of Huang Degong and his subordinates together, while Liu Liangzuo thought that Huang Degong might still be stubborn, but the officers and soldiers under him could not bear it anymore, so now it is It's time to solve Huang Degong's problem and completely control the vicinity of Yangzhou in Dashun's hands.

The opinions of both of them are based on one judgment, that is, Song Taizu said "how can others snore on the side of the couch".After His Majesty Yongchang had the possibility to repel the Qing army and establish a unified regime in the south, both Liu Zeqing and Liu Liangzuo believed that they had an opportunity to make contributions, and there were actually only two military groups that could prevent the Shun army from unifying the south, Huang Degong and Zuo It's just good jade.

As for Zhang Xianzhong in Sichuan, to be honest, Sichuan without Hanzhong would have lost its natural dangers, and Sichuan without Jingzhou would have lost its way to enter the world. These two places are not in Zhang Xianzhong's hands now, so Zhang Xianzhong even separatized Sichuan as a local emperor. can't do it.

Compared with the powerful Zuo Liangyu, Huang Degong's power is actually limited, so Liu Zeqing and Liu Liangzuo believe that taking Huang Degong down while His Majesty Yongchang defeated the Qing army in the north is the best solution to this problem opportunity.

After winning Huang Degong, Nanjing completely lost the basis for bargaining with Yangzhou. The two believed that as long as a paper was passed, all parts of the south of the Yangtze River would surrender.Without Nanjing as the center to command the south, Zuo Liangyu would not be able to unite the forces of the southern provinces to fight against the Marshal's Mansion.

If it weren't for the news about Huang Degong's Ministry and various places in the south of the Yangtze River that the Statistics Department kept sending Zhang Nai, Zhang Nai would have felt that what these two people said was indeed a good idea. I feel that the way of using force to solve Huang Degong is simply stupid.

As a general who survived from the refugees and became the only general in the rebel army, Zhang Nai's IQ is naturally online, but in the past he mainly considered combat and army management, so he didn't know much about political issues. .But after Li Zicheng put him in this position, he began to learn to change from a soldier to an official.

The top priority for soldiers to deal with all problems is always a frontal attack, because breaking through the enemy's defense line from the front can destroy the enemy's will to fight, so as to solve the war at the lowest possible cost.Trying to bypass the enemy's fortified city to attack the enemy's rear can easily make the war spiral out of control.