Dashun Yongchang

Han Lin and the other three looked at Li Zicheng in surprise, and then realized that they had also been educated by Li Zicheng.Han Lin sighed in his heart, and sat down according to Li Zicheng's wishes. Wu Erxun and Wei Xuelian beside him also sat down silently when they saw this.

Only then did Li Zicheng ask Han Lin about the topographic survey results inside and outside Tianjin City with satisfaction, and Han Lin then took out a folded blueprint from his sleeve pocket, unfolded it on the table, pointed to the lines on it, and said, "North distance from the Acropolis." The south canal is 300 steps away, and the east is 220 steps away from the Haihe River. There are many puddles and reeds in the south, and the west is relatively flat and open.

The width of the South Canal and the Haihe River ranges from about 20 steps to 5 or 60 steps, and they all need to be ferried by boats, and there is no bridge connection.When General Zhang came to Tianjin before, he built a pontoon bridge near Beiguan. Later, when His Majesty decided to evacuate Tianjin and go south, he ordered General Zhang and Bai to build two more pontoon bridges nearby. Now there are two pontoon bridges across the South Canal. There is a pontoon bridge on the Haihe River.

Therefore, the north, west, and east sides of the Acropolis were divided into several blocks by the South Canal, Hun River, North Canal, and Hai River.To the west and south of the Acropolis, there are many rivers, which are not conducive to the march of the army. The Haihe River to the east of the Acropolis is too wide, so it is suitable for the marching route of the Jiannu and Sangui troops. There is only the official road to the north of the Acropolis.

In the past, Emperor Yong Le crossed the south of the river from here, precisely because crossing the south of the river from here is a suitable route for the army to march.Otherwise, it is necessary to take Huaiqing from Baoding and cross the Yellow River to enter Henan. "

Li Zicheng pressed his hand on the map to distinguish the terrain. The map is indeed quite detailed, but the scale is really hard to describe. For a soul who is used to modern cartography standards, this map is really rough. .

However, Li Zicheng gave up complaining about the standards of map drawing, and turned to Han Lin and said: "Perhaps when Emperor Yongle built the Acropolis here, he regarded it as an important military town, but with the current status of the Acropolis, we can't I feel that this city has lost most of its role as a military fortress.

Although the interior of the Acropolis is still not open to the public, apart from the soldiers and their families living in the city, only officials are left.The area surrounded by the city wall with a circumference of nine miles is not that big, but most of the city has been abandoned.The only thing worthy of praise is the strong granary in the northeast of the city.

I also walked around the city wall before, and found that many places had collapsed, and most of the moats outside the city were buried by siltation. Except for the moats on the west and south sides, some of the moats on the east and north sides were destroyed. It was filled, and some people even stuck their houses to the edge of the city wall.

The Acropolis is separated from the Haihe River in the east, the South Canal in the north, and the north bank of the South Canal at the mouth of the Sancha River. The area is densely populated and row upon row of buildings.In my opinion, if we really want to establish a line of defense, the key lies in defending the South Canal and the Haihe River. "

Han Lin nodded in agreement and said, "Your Majesty is right. The warehouses, shops, and houses built of bricks and stones on both sides of the South Canal on the north side of the Acropolis are indeed more suitable for defensive operations than the low walls of the Acropolis that have been in disrepair for a long time. In addition, relying on the front line of the canal to fight, you can also use ships to evacuate, so you don't have to worry about having no retreat.

I surveyed the north bank of the South Canal, and found that the Yamen of the Ministry of Finance is the most suitable for building a defense line on the north bank as the core..."

On May [-], when Dorgon led his troops into Beijing, Wu Sangui's troops also rushed from Tongzhou to Zhangjiawan under the supervision of the Duoduo Army.Zhangjiawan is a famous canal wharf in Tongzhou, and it is also the location of Beijing's Huangmu Factory. The large timber used in the palace will be transported here for storage first, and then transported to Beijing according to the needs of the project.

Therefore, although Zhangjiawan is only a town that prospered because of the pier, it has an extremely strong city wall. The thousands of soldiers of the Dashun Army stationed in Zhangjiawan held on until the afternoon under the attack of several times the enemy.At this time, the red cannons of the Qing army were finally placed under the city, and then they continued to bombard the northwest corner of the city.

The generals of the Shun army defending the city finally gave up the idea of ​​holding on seeing the fierce bombardment of the red cannons of the Qing army, and retreated towards Tianjin at night through the east gate and south gate across the river.

Li Guo, who was stationed in Hexiwu, received the news that the Qing army was attacking Zhangjiawan that night, and sent the collected intelligence on the Qing army's movements to Tianjin.

At [-] a.m. on May [-]th, Li Zicheng, who was sitting with Song Xiance, Han Lin, Yuan Yuzong, and Zuo Yi to discuss Tianjin defense affairs, received information from Li Guo.

After reading the information from Li Guo, he handed Li Guo's report to everyone present. After everyone read it, Li Zicheng said, "It seems that we don't have much time to prepare. Yes, the Qing army and Sangui are indeed chasing down in our direction. Now we are left with a choice, to teach them a good lesson in Tianjin, and then let the Qing army mobilize the main force, so that Shanxi It's safe."

Han Lin, whose hometown is in Hedong, naturally supported Li Zicheng's views, and he was unwilling to let the Qing army attack his hometown, so he got up quickly and said to Li Zicheng: "The terrain around Tianjin has basically been surveyed. Because of His Majesty's suggestion, the residents inside and outside Tianjin Acropolis have almost moved.

Next, it is nothing more than to transform the buildings outside the city and then set up a camp.As long as General Li can hold the army for three days, I guarantee that the first fort on the north bank of the South Canal will be built, and then there will be time to renovate the fort on the south bank and repair the gap at the north gate of the Acropolis. "

It was not the first time that the Tianjin defense discussion meeting was held. What was actually going to be discussed today was how to implement various defense measures, so no one had any opinion on Han Lin's statement.It is not difficult to build a camp relying on those warehouses and yamen on the north bank.

However, after thinking for a long time, Li Zicheng said to Han Lin: "Han Canzheng and General Zuo are responsible for building the camp first, but I still have some new ideas, which have not yet matured. In this way, I will go to the firearms camp in the southern suburbs to have a look. Look, come back this afternoon and we will discuss..."

There are many ponds and few human settlements in the southern suburbs, so testing cannons and firearms here will not cause local shocks.When evacuating from the capital, the Dashun Army emptied the capital's firearms and gunpowder reserves. Although the firearms and gunpowder reserves in the last years of Chongzhen were not as large as those in the Wanli and Tianqi eras, they were still quite amazing for the Dashun Army. Numbers are up.

It's just that, in someone's opinion, although there are a lot of these firearms and gunpowder, it still needs to be selected for the real use.To put it bluntly, the firearms of this era are equivalent to the self-made firearms of later generations, and the quality is not as good as the self-made firearms of later generations, because the steel raw materials of later generations are at least qualified, but the iron materials used to make firearms in Ming Dynasty may not be all is qualified.

In fact, only muskets made of Fujian pig iron and Guangdong pig iron after refining are qualified, because the iron ore in these two places contains less impurities and is still smelted with charcoal.However, the pig iron in other regions contains a lot of impurities, so except for firearms with a lower chamber such as three-eyed blunderbuss and quick guns, other firearms may explode at any time.If these unqualified products are not sorted out, no one will dare to use such firearms.

Chapter 71 Firearms Battalion

Going out of the south gate of Tianjin Acropolis, you can see a river flowing from the south into the moat and then flowing eastward around the city into the Haihe River. To the east of this river is an official road leading to Jinghai, which can accommodate two carriages side by side. Okay, further east along the official road, you can see a large lake, which looks similar in size to the three seas in the capital.

The Dashun Army was stationed in the Firearms Camp in the southern outskirts of the city, on the east side of the official road three miles away from the city. Not only did the view here have a wide view, the lotus leaf fields on the lake, and the neat rice fields beside the lake were also a field scenery. Not only did he stand on the side of the road enjoying the scenery for a long time, but he walked to the artillery range of the Firearms Camp accompanied by Tang Ruowang and Xie Yinglong.

According to Li Zicheng's order, the firearms battalion is very busy these days. More than 3000 officers and soldiers who are familiar with firearms and 5 to 6 firearms and gunpowder craftsmen selected from various armies are inspecting the weapons collected from the capital and various places day and night. The quality of incoming gunpowder, artillery, and various firearms.

Tang Ruowang and Jiao Xu are in charge of the firearms camp craftsman camp, while Xie Yinglong and Zhao Zhong are in charge of firearms drills.Just last year, Tang Ruowang and Jiao Xu co-authored a book "Fire Attack", a book introducing Western artillery. Zhao Zhong, as a Catholic in Hebei, paid for the printing of this book, and Jiao Xu was in Beijing at the time. Worked in the Ministry of Industry.

Li Zicheng returned to the capital from Shanhaiguan and controlled the Jesuit missionaries, and Jiao Xu and Zhao Zhong were drafted into the Dashun Army.At first, Jiao Xu and Zhao Zhong were unwilling to serve in the Dashun Army, but when Li Zicheng gave the order through the prince, they finally accepted the appointment of the Dashun Army.

While walking towards the cannon shooting range, Xie Yinglong also introduced to Li Zicheng some of the achievements of the firearms battalion in these days, "...A total of 380 million catties of various types of gunpowder were collected from the capital and various places in Hebei, but according to His Majesty's It is suggested that the various performances of the gunpowder be determined and then selected according to these values, then the gunpowder that meets the standard is only 160 million catties..."

While listening to Xie Yinglong's introduction, someone recalled what he read and asked about Daming gunpowder and its production situation these days.According to the information he has read and inquired about, Daming’s gunpowder production technology should now be on par with Europe’s. However, in the Jiajing era 100 years ago, in order to eliminate pirates in the southeast, the Qi’s army used a large number of firearms and bought them from European merchants. Obtained the European gunpowder formula and adjusted the Ming's gunpowder formula.

However, the way of extracting pure nitrate in Ming Dynasty is no longer simply boiling and then cooling and crystallizing. It has already appeared to use preliminary chemical reactions to remove impurities, such as adding plant ash water, egg white, radish, etc.And granular gunpowder also appeared. For every three catties of gunpowder, one catty of shochu was used to make mud, and then mixed into granules the size of yellow rice and mung beans.

Some people think that there is nothing to improve in Ming's black powder manufacturing technology. Of course, this is for an agricultural country. For the soul from the industrial age, there are still many things that can be changed in Daming's black powder manufacturing technology.

However, the biggest problem now is that the corruption of feudal bureaucrats and the protection of technology by feudal handicrafts made the gunpowder manufacturing capacity of the Chongzhen period regressed compared with that of the Jiajing period 100 years ago.Officials' embezzlement of gunpowder manufacturing funds and craftsmen's cutting corners in the production process made the quality of each batch of gunpowder uneven.

The most important thing about firearms is standardization. The so-called standard is: 20-step shooting can penetrate armor leaves, and 30-step or 10-step shooting cannot occur. Otherwise, soldiers will lose the time to shoot correctly. After that, the soldiers will lose their trust in the firearms in their hands, and it will be difficult for the firearms soldiers to fight in formation.

And these gunpowder whose quality fluctuated up and down, coupled with the guns and artillery of the same uneven quality, it is not difficult to understand that the combat capabilities of Ming's firearms soldiers are getting lower and lower.Li Zicheng gathered these firearms soldiers and craftsmen together to classify the collected firearms and gunpowder. In fact, he wanted to restore these people's confidence in firearms and let them understand that it is not that the firearms are not easy to use, but that the quality of the firearms is substandard. hard to use.

"...Since the firearms battalion arrived in Tianjin, 1500-2000 catties of gunpowder were used for training every day, and nearly 10000 catties of gunpowder have been used so far. Such training has greatly enhanced the officers and soldiers' familiarity with firearms. Some people spent a day in the firearms battalion. The amount of gunpowder knocked out is already equal to the amount of gunpowder used in the past year..."

Looking at the row of cannons in front of him, Li Zicheng interrupted Xie Yinglong and said, "Don't be stingy with gunpowder, the supply of gunpowder is not something you have to think about, you just need to think about how to make the firearms battalion exert the greatest combat effectiveness in the battle.

In the future, there will be a rotation between the firearms of each regiment and the firearms battalion to ensure that the firearms companies of each regiment can also be familiar with the tactics of the firearms battalion, instead of just conducting scattered shooting under the protection of infantry. "

Xie Yinglong could only agree, and then followed Li Zicheng to a cannon. Tang Ruowang glanced at the standard of the cannon, and immediately introduced to Li Zicheng: "This is a western iron made by the Beijing Ministry of Industry in Chongzhen for ten years. The gun weighs about 7000 pounds, has a caliber of about 3.5 inches, and a length of 81.5 inches. It uses 4-pound shells and charges 3 pounds. The range can reach more than 4 miles, and double the charge can hit [-] miles away..."

Jiao Xu on the side couldn't help interrupting Tang Ruowang's words and said: "It's meaningless to blindly go too far away. It's impossible to aim at the target 3 miles away, and the power of the shells has also been greatly weakened. We should shorten the shooting distance with the enemy soldiers." , the closer the distance, the greater the power of the shells, and they are also more accurate. Therefore, a cannon that can hit three miles away should only be allowed to shoot within one and a half miles, and the same goes for other firearms. Human firearms can deter the enemy, otherwise it is just setting off fireworks for the enemy to see..."

Tang Ruowang opened his mouth and didn't know what to say. He was not a professional artillery officer, so he couldn't explain how to use artillery.Although the hierarchical order in Europe is not as strict as in the East, there is still a gap between nobles and commoners. The missionaries who join the Jesuits are basically of noble blood. Missionaries without noble blood are unable to study beyond the Bible. of knowledge.

Therefore, after Tang Ruowang came to China, he could use his knowledge of physics and mathematics to help Daming make cannons, but how to use these cannons was not his specialty.Based on his past contact with Ming Dynasty scholar-bureaucrats, those scholar-bureaucrats are not resistant to learning new knowledge, but it is not much for them to personally verify the application of new knowledge in reality.

For example, as for the artillery, the scholars and bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty felt that it was a good thing after contacting it, and it could be used to make up for the shortcomings of the Ming army's field combat capabilities, so there was a proposal of "using cannons with a strong city" to resist the barbarians outside the pass.However, except for people like Xu Guangqi and Sun Yuanhua, most literati and bureaucrats completely regarded cannons as a kind of fetish, and the description of cannons was often such as "one cannon corrupts dozens of miles" and other words.

In this kind of communication environment, Tang Ruowang also developed the habit of saying exaggerated words in exchange for the support of powerful people in China.Tang Ruowang was not used to Jiao Xu's honest statement.

Just when Tang Ruowang was thinking and observing Li Zicheng's face, he saw the Emperor Yongchang nodded happily, and praised Jiao Xu: "Jiao, um, what you just said is very good. Military manufacturing should not only be excellent, It is also necessary to standardize as much as possible, so that the soldiers know how to best use the ordnance in their hands when they go to the battlefield.

The Marshal's Mansion is about to set up a Military Weapons Supervision. I haven't decided who to manage it before. Jiao Xu, I order you to be the left deputy supervisor of the Military Weapons Supervision. Let's take charge of the work of the Military Weapons Supervision first. "

Jiao Xu just spoke not because he wanted to show it in front of Li Zicheng, but because he subconsciously opposed Tang Ruowang's erroneous idea of ​​using artillery, so he declined to Li Zicheng with some hesitation: "I just saw it at first sight. The relationship between supervision and supervision is very important, and it is not something that I can afford."

Li Zicheng said disapprovingly: "I didn't ask you to take care of it, but I just let you be in charge temporarily. I will let people send the materials for the manufacture of weapons to you. You can list a simple management method for me. I will make the decision for you. Alright, General Xie, show me these cannons, and then introduce their performance..."

Xie Yinglong hurriedly put Jiao Xu behind him, and introduced to Li Zicheng the performance of this artillery.To one, these cannons are high-class handicrafts, and without the aid of modern machinery, these artillery pieces are hardly the same.

Not only does the caliber vary from 3.3-4 inches, but the weight of the gun, the length of the gun body and the wall thickness all have deviations.This means that the shooting angle of each artillery will not bring the same landing point, and even to achieve the best shooting effect, the shells must be reprocessed to ensure that the shells fit the bore as closely as possible.

The repeated tests of these cannons these days have finally determined that under the qualified gunpowder and charge, the optimal shooting distance of these cannons should be 300-500 steps.These cannons refer to Hongyi cannons weighing 3000 to 5000 jin. They include copper cannons produced in Macau and iron cannons produced in Ming Dynasty. The former is light while the latter is heavy.

After seeing these cannons, Li Zicheng said to the people around him: "The power of these cannons is indeed impressive, but we still need to continue to develop new cannons.

In the past, the number of cavalry was the key to victory on the battlefield, but in the future, the battle should be based on the number of cannons. Whoever can manufacture more and better cannons will have an advantage in the war.The Manchus occupy the horse breeding land outside the pass. It is impossible for us to defeat them on the scale of cavalry, but our Han people have a large population and all kinds of industries are prosperous. It is unreasonable if we cannot even build artillery.

The grassland outside the pass is vast, so it is good for cavalry and not good for infantry. However, the farther south you go inside the pass, the denser the population. If you rely on the city wall and use cannons, the infantry will definitely outperform the cavalry.Therefore, when our army goes south, the first thing is to establish a base area, and then use the population and resources in the south to manufacture a large number of firearms. At that time, the Manchu and Sangui armies will be unable to move forward..."

When Li Zicheng finished watching the firearms battalion and was about to return to the city, Tang Ruowang couldn't help but said to Li Zicheng in order to restore the image of a firearms expert in front of Li Zicheng: "Speaking of talents who can make artillery, I remember that Zhang Tao, a disciple of Sun Yuanhua, once supervised the construction of artillery in Macao and Guangdong. Artillery, he knows the art of making cannons better than anyone else."

Li Zicheng then asked him, "Oh, where is this man?"

Tang Ruowang thought for a while and said, "I was transferred to Dengzhou by the imperial court..."

Chapter 72 High Terrace

Li Zicheng stayed in the firearms camp in the southern suburbs for nearly an hour and a half, and the sun had already set when he returned to the city. He did not rush back to the Governor's Yamen, but went to the Tianjin Wei Yamen in the west of the South Gate.

The chief official here was originally Cao Youyi, who was expelled by Yuan Yuzong and other Tianjin officials because he refused to surrender, so it became the government office of the generals of the Dashun Army stationed in Tianjin. The office of the army's logistics management.In the past, the army only had a supply battalion. After Li Zicheng returned from Shanhaiguan, he established the Military Supplies Director's Department, which unified the manufacturing, distribution and logistics of the army in the Military Supply Director's Department.

The person in charge of this department is the military advisor Song Xiance. Although Song Xiance had a high status in the Dashun Army in the past, he had no real affairs in charge, because he only had one title and did not have a fixed office, even if he assisted in the management of some intelligence affairs. , the people below also have no status, and can only be regarded as temporarily seconded to him.

After Li Zicheng asked him to establish the military director department, Song Xiance's position in the army was truly stabilized, because after the establishment of a fixed yamen, there would be a fixed manpower below him, and he would naturally have fixed power. Instead of relying entirely on Li Zicheng's deterrence to manage his subordinates as before.

Seeing Li Zicheng's arrival, Song Xiance hurried out with his subordinate officials, who were also members of the General Staff Headquarters under the Marshal's Mansion, such as Yuan Yuzong, Zuo Yan, Guan Fumin, Zhou Fengwu and so on.

After meeting Li Zicheng, Song Xiance was about to invite him into the living room to serve tea, but Li Zicheng, who was standing in the yard, looked around and said, "No hurry, is there a place to climb up and observe the whole city?"

Song Xiance immediately replied: "Yes, Your Majesty, please follow me this way."

Li Zicheng was about to follow, but he turned his head and said to the people behind him, "People from the General Staff Headquarters will follow, and everyone else can go back to work on their own."

The officials in the yard looked at each other, and saw several people came out to follow behind Emperor Yongchang, silently watching Li Zicheng and his party disappear at the corner gate, these officials scattered back to the room, but some people began to realize Well, the General Staff Headquarters of the Marshal's Mansion turned out to be a shortcut to the Lord.

I walked to a high platform in the back garden of the Tianjin Wei Ya Office. This is a two-story building made of brick and wood. It is about the same height as the Bell and Drum Tower in the city center. There is a wooden pavilion built on the second-floor platform to block the sun. Wind and rain, standing on the second-floor platform happened to be at the same level as the surrounding city walls, and the situation in the city was naturally at hand.

Li Zicheng also noticed that there is not only this one high platform in the city, there are at least 20 high platforms erected all over the city. Obviously, a place with a high platform must be a military important place, but the height of the high platforms is uneven, except for the three guards. The height of the high platform where the government office is located is similar, and the other high platforms are much lower.

After patrolling the high platform for a week, he finally turned around and said to the people behind him: "Although the results of the military discussion in the morning are mature and stable, I don't think it is suitable for our current situation.

Because Tianjin is not a place where we are confronted with Jiannu and Sangui, and there is no solid foundation behind us. Therefore, no matter how strong our defense line is, we cannot stop Jiannu and Sangui from advancing, and we cannot stop the area behind us. The rebellion responded to Jiannu and Sangui.In this way, we have instead become a lone army sitting in one place.

Therefore, if we really want to fight Jiannu and Sangui in Tianjin, then we should see the outcome quickly.After the enemy's spirit has been severely frustrated, they can calmly go south. This can not only prevent the enemy from taking too many risks in pursuit, but also deter the gentry at both ends of the first mouse in Hebei and Shandong.

Therefore, I have an idea, the defense line outside the city should not be too complete, to give the enemy a chance to break into the city, and then set fire to the enemy vanguard who broke into the acropolis. "

Hearing Li Zicheng's words, Guan Fumin first blurted out in shock, "What about the soldiers and civilians in the city?"

Although the other officials did not make a sound, they all looked up at Li Zicheng. Li Zicheng glanced at these officials. Most of the staff headquarters were surrendered generals and officials of Ming Dynasty. After all, these people were all knowledgeable. After separating them from the army, On the contrary, it can be used with confidence.

Li Zicheng said flatly: "There are no civilians in the city, they are all members of the military. Didn't they already move out a lot before, and then the rest of the people will also be moved out. Let them go to Tangtouzhai through Haidao, It’s good to settle in Denglai, let them clean it up tonight, and send it away by boat tomorrow morning.”

Yuan Yuzong hesitated for a moment, and finally said aloud: "It is not difficult to lure Jiannu and the Sangui army into the city, but as long as they control the city gate, we can only force them out of the city by setting fire to them, and we cannot let them be buried in the city." In the city. Then this fire may only irritate them, not dampen their spirit..."

Li Zicheng interrupted him and said: "Use cannons. I just inspected the firearms battalion. There are enough cannons, gunners, and enough gunpowder. Therefore, we only need to build a high platform in the south of the city, or use the existing high platform to set up a battery, measure and shoot well." For the angle of the north gate, it is enough to block the north gate with cannons. Jiannu and Sangui thought that as long as the city gate was captured, the city would be broken, and we just taught them a lesson, and the times have changed."

Yuan Yuzong was terrified, and lured the enemy into the city to ambush him. Anyone who has a little understanding of history will be familiar with it. Even the storybook Romance of the Three Kingdoms has described many stories of luring the enemy into the city to ambush him. Among them, Cao Cao experienced the most .But if you want to use this strategy, you must first control the city gate. If you don't control the city gate, the ambush will not be successful.

Yuan Yuzong could think of more than a dozen ways to control the city gate, but he never thought of using cannons to block it, because there were no cannons in ancient times.Given the size of Tianjin Acropolis and the narrow passage of the North City Gate, even if it can accommodate 4 cavalry in parallel, it is still narrow for the army. If the shells are aimed at this passage and bombarded fiercely, then it is almost impossible for the troops entering the city to maintain discipline. And the army that has lost the restraint of military discipline will undoubtedly be defeated.

When the others lost their voices, Zuo Xi happily echoed Li Zicheng: "Your Majesty's plan is great, but just in case, I think that fire starters should also be placed in the houses outside the city, and woods should be placed in the upper reaches of the South Canal." Once the fire breaks out in the city, put a wooden platoon upstream to break through the pontoon bridge, and the enemy troops entering the city will really have no way to escape."

Li Zicheng nodded to Zuo Ye, and then said: "Then it's settled, you are in charge of the evacuation of the soldiers and civilians in the city, Zuo Ye, Guan Fumin, Zhou Fengwu, the three of you are connected with the firearms battalion, first make sure." The location where the artillery is set, and then formulate the fire area, the isolation area and the evacuation route of our army..."

Holding on to the railing with one hand, while watching the officials of the General Staff Headquarters walk down the steps, Li Zicheng casually asked Song Xiance who was behind him: "Military division, what's going on with you?"

Although Li Zicheng's question was endless, Song Xiance replied without hesitation: "Since His Majesty announced the withdrawal of the left and right guards and the coastal defense battalion in Tianjin, and the distribution of the farmland to the soldiers, the officers who surrendered in Tianjin have indeed done so in private. in series.

The left guard Li Zhifan, the right guard Li Zhongzhong, and some officers from the three guards and the coastal defense battalion are inciting Lou Guangxian, Jin Bin, and Yang Weihan to abandon the dark side and turn to the bright side, saying that I, Dashun, are not the masters of peace and prosperity.There are about 3 horses in these people's hands, and they are placed in the east of the city and the north of Haihe River. "

After pondering for a few seconds, Li Zicheng nodded and said: "Just right, I was thinking about how to give the wooden bridge over the North Canal to Jiannu and Sangui. Why don't you keep it? The traces of luring the enemy are too obvious; keep it Breaking down the wooden bridge just gave them time to think. In this way, you will transfer these troops in Tianjin to defend the Hongqiao on the north bank of the North Canal tonight, as the first line of defense outside Tianjin. Who is responsible for monitoring the Tianjin Guards? ? I want to meet."

After looking around, Song Xiance said to Li Zicheng: "It seems that this place is not suitable. Can your Majesty move to the small courtyard in the east? I don't want them to be exposed to outsiders."

Li Zicheng nodded in agreement, followed Song Xiance down the high platform, walked along a path among flowers and trees to a small courtyard in the corner, and there were two soldiers guarding the door.After entering the small courtyard, Li Zicheng saw a row of three main rooms. Following Song Xiance into the room, several people came out to meet Li Zicheng soon.

Song Xiance pointed to a few people and introduced Li Zicheng: "This is Wang Chengzeng, whose name is Jie'an, a Jinshi in the seventh year of Chongzhen; this is Fei Yun, a hereditary thousand household of Zuowei in Tianjin; The son of Zhang Keda, the former general of Denglei..."

Li Zicheng talked with several people one by one, asked about the situation in each family, and just now asked about Tianjin's surrender to the Ming army, Fei Yun went out and said to Li Zicheng: "I am going to report to Your Majesty. This afternoon, Jin Bin After discussing with Li Zhifan and others, Li Xiaozhong and Li Yingpin left home with more than 30 people, but the sentries stationed in the south did not see their whereabouts. The minister thought that they should have gone to Jiannu and Sangui."

Li Zicheng pondered for a while, but did not make any decision on Fei Yun's report, and soon he said to Song Xiance: "The work here is quite good, I think they should take on more responsibilities Come.

The General Staff Headquarters of the Marshal's Mansion assists me, and I always have to figure out the internal situation of the enemy and myself first, so I can't make decisions on my own.Then put them under the staff headquarters, with a total of 150 people, who are responsible for collecting all kinds of information for the staff headquarters to make decisions.Also, Zhao Lan, come over here. "

Li Zicheng called in a guard next to him, and then said to Song Xiance: "Zhao Lan is someone close to me, so let him run an errand for me and place him here. After collecting your daily intelligence , send him to the Statistics Department."

Song Xiance looked at Li Zicheng in astonishment and said, "What is the Statistics Department?"

Li Zicheng replied casually: "It's the one who organizes the documents and files by my side. I don't want to use eunuchs, so I asked Chen Yuanyuan to pick a few literate women to handle the paper work for me..."

Chapter 73 Confusion

On the afternoon of May [-]th, Zhu Sheng Xie Bi rode from the city back to Xiezhuang in the south of Dezhou City with four or five servants on horseback. where?"

The steward immediately stopped and replied, "I'm waiting for the second master in Huaiyuan."

Xie Bi didn't say much, and walked straight to the northwest corner gate. After passing through two corner gates and a narrow passage, a small green courtyard appeared in front of him. Several big locust trees surrounded the small courtyard. The shade is tight, and even in summer, the courtyard is extremely cool and suitable for reading, so it is also called Huaiyuan by the Xie family.

Xie Bi walked into the courtyard and saw his eldest brother standing under a big locust tree with his hands behind his back and looking up, he subconsciously slowed down and began to straighten his clothes.He is more than ten years younger than his elder brother. Because of his father's early death, he has been strictly controlled by his elder brother since he was a child, but he regards this elder brother as his father. Although he is in his early 40s now, his awe of his elder brother has not diminished.

Hearing the sound of footsteps, Xie Sheng also turned around. After seeing Xie Bi, he also breathed a sigh of relief, beckoned to him and said, "Come on, sit down and talk. If you want to drink water, pour it yourself."

Xie Bi walked quickly to the square table under the locust tree and sat down. Holding a porcelain pot, he first poured himself a bowl of cold tea and drank most of the bowl in one go. Only then did he feel at ease.He put down the tea bowl, and asked his elder brother, "Why is elder brother calling me back in such a hurry? Right now the city is tense, and I can't stay at home for long."

Xie Sheng looked at his younger brother and was silent for a moment, then he said, "The reason I called you back is to keep you out of trouble, so you don't have to worry about the affairs of the city."

Xie Bi looked at his brother in astonishment, and it took him a long time to react and said: "Don't worry about it? But we have been planning this matter for almost a month. Yan Jie and Wu Zhengwen, two thieves, are making a fuss in Dezhou. About our family, if my family withdraws now, I am afraid it will be difficult to see the neighbors in the future."

Xie Sheng sneered and said, "Luo Guoshi and Li Yuan have already sent people to Tianjin to greet the prince. If my family doesn't withdraw, I'm afraid we won't have to see any neighbors in the future."

Hearing this, Xie Bi felt as if he had been shot in the back of the head. He quickly reacted, and hurriedly asked his brother: "So the rumors are true? Li Zicheng really wants to let the prince go south to restore the country?"

Xie Sheng sighed and said: "Exactly. Since the crown prince has gone south, you are not fighting Dashun by supporting the clan, but plotting rebellion. The surrounding villages will not support you to fight against the crown prince, and everyone will arrest you at that time." You have gone to ask the prince for credit."

Hearing his elder brother talking about you, he felt that this matter had nothing to do with him. Xie Bi felt very uncomfortable. Although he was willing to take this matter on his own head for the sake of the family, when the two brothers were alone, should they leave the matter alone? Clear the relationship?

However, thinking that this might be an act of copying the family and exterminating the clan, Xie Bi suppressed this point of displeasure, and turned to his elder brother and said, "Since this is the case, shouldn't we speak to Yunyu? We swore that day to work together." Advance and retreat, you can’t just retreat on your own, can you?”

Xie Sheng sighed again and said: "The crown prince is not going south alone this time, Li Zicheng is with a large army of guards. Since someone has withdrawn, it may not be possible that someone will not disclose your plan to the Shun army. At this time, the Shun army Will he still be merciful? Someone must take responsibility for this matter, so that others can get away.

Nan Li has been thriving in recent years, and Li Sicheng came up with the plan to elect the clan. They should be able to quell Shun Jun's anger by taking on this responsibility, otherwise everyone will be in bad luck.The striker who went south with the army has already arrived in Cangzhou, and it is only two days away from us at most. It is too late to eliminate all traces, so the only way to do it is to cut off the gecko's tail. "