Beijing, Forbidden City.
The night was dark and the lights were flickering. Emperor Chongzhen sat in his imperial study, silently watching the memorial. The eunuchs serving around him did not dare to breathe. There was an indescribable weird atmosphere.
It snowed heavily in Mobei, Mobei Mongolia and Mobei Mongolia. Hundreds of thousands of troops invaded the Ming Dynasty. The Great Wall defense line stretching from Hexi to Hedong for two to three thousand miles was full of smoke. It can be said that it attracted the attention of the whole country.
Now the Mongolian army closest to the capital is the army of Tuxie Tuhan. Now it has entered Miyun County in Shuntian Prefecture, which is only more than a hundred miles away from the capital. Everyone is on tenterhooks, fearing that the Ming army will attack again if they are not careful. A big defeat.
Chongzhen was even more concerned and asked the Ministry of War to report the news as quickly as possible without delay. Any slightest disturbance on the Great Wall defense line would make him anxious.
Fortunately, Cheng Shijie was still able to live up to his expectations. When he first arrived at Jiubian Prime Minister, he helped Xuanfu East Road defeat the plot of Li Ying Wai to break the city in one fell swoop. Although Qiao Zhaolin abandoned the city and fled, this hole was blocked by Cheng Shijie. Cheng Shijie then showed Qiao Zhaolin to the public on all sides, and then took over the command of Xuanfu East Road and the Jiubian battlefield. Every time we lost troops and generals, a batch of heads were sent over every now and then, and every time there were many.
At first, after the fall of Jingan Fort, the Mongolian army rushed into Miyun County. Emperor Chongzhen was also very nervous. Fortunately, Cheng Shijie led the Ning Haijun to resist. More than 5,000 Ning Haijun infantry resisted the attack of tens of thousands of Mongolian troops. , and every now and then, decapitated heads were sent to the capital.
In just half a month, the Ministry of War received nearly 20,000 level heads. Needless to say, during this period, Chongzhen breathed a sigh of relief. Cheng Shijie was on the front line with ease!
But the ministers of the DPRK did not see it this way. They kept accusing Cheng Shijie of being afraid of the enemy and avoiding fighting. He had so many elite soldiers but only dared to defend passively and did not dare to go out to fight the Mongols. He wasted food and money in vain!
Those ministers recommended several generals at once, patting their chests and ensuring that all the people they recommended were brave enough to be worthy of any man's reputation. They were ten times stronger than Cheng Shijie, the humble turtle. As long as the people they recommended were used, , guaranteed to stop the Mongolian army from coming back!
These words are very beautiful. The problem is that Emperor Chongzhen is no longer the young boy who couldn't tell the difference between east, west, north and south when he first came to the throne. He has not forgotten how ugly the civil and military officials were when he learned that the Mongolian army of 400,000 men was heading south. They threatened to abandon the Great Wall defense line and march south to the capital. At that time, no one came out to give him advice and share some of the pressure?
Now, Cheng Shijie has stabilized the situation and made some small gains. Everyone immediately jumped out to grab the credit! Towards such people, Emperor Chongzhen's attitude was: accept the opinion and keep everything as usual!
Although he is suspicious by nature, once he trusts someone, it is 100% trust and will not be easily shaken, such as Yuan Chonghuan back then. Now he has no less trust in Cheng Shijie than Yuan Chonghuan. In fact, compared with the scholar who threatened to "restore the Liao Dynasty in five years", Cheng Shijie, who is honest, honest and willing to fight without his life, has more trust.
Although Emperor Chongzhen didn't know much about war, anyway, Wang Cheng'en brought back Cheng Shijie's words that it would be beneficial to the Ming Dynasty to waste it, so let's waste it.
However, something unexpected happened to Emperor Chongzhen.
Taiyuan Town has been lost, and hundreds of thousands of Mongolian troops are heading south along the various passes of Taiyuan...
With this news, the court was like pouring a ladle of water into boiling oil, and it exploded instantly.
Emperor Chongzhen was dumbfounded. He couldn't understand why he had lost control.
As the chief minister of the cabinet, Wen Tiren did not speak for a long time. He jumped up instantly like a cat stepping on its tail: "Your Majesty, Cheng Shijie has harmed the country. As the saying goes, one general is incompetent and the entire army is exhausted. Cheng Shijie There are nine prime ministers around him, and things go wrong, and he is not aware of himself. He loses his troops and humiliates the country, and the mistake is made by the prime minister. He does not know the timing, and immediately urges the war, but makes the mistake by his assistant ministers. He fails to coordinate, and is helpless, and makes the mistake by the central department. The minister is guilty. Please ask. Your Majesty will punish your ministers to death!"
Wen Tiren took the lead in acknowledging his responsibilities as a counselor and asked Emperor Chongzhen to punish him.
Now Emperor Chongzhen didn't know what to do.
However, Wu Zongda came out and said: "Your Majesty, please issue an order to remove Cheng Shijie from his post, hand over the military affairs of the Nine Borders to the Prime Minister of the five provinces, Lu Xiangsheng, mobilize the Tianxiong Army to go north, defend the border towns, and never go to war. Mongolia's hundreds of thousands of troops, They come and go like the wind, and fighting them in the wilderness is just a matter of death!"
The ministers knelt down one after another and kowtowed: "Your Majesty, please issue an order to remove Cheng Shijie from his post immediately!"
Chongzhen was also very panicked. Ning Haijun is the most reliable unit in his hands. If he loses, he will have nothing! What happened to Cheng Shijie?
How could Taiyuan be lost?
Emperor Chongzhen hesitated and turned his attention to Xu Guangqi.
In the eyes of Emperor Chongzhen, Xu Guangqi was the only pavilion elder in the Ming Dynasty who knew the military. After all, Xu Guangqi not only had Cheng Shijie, but also Sun Yuanhua, the governor of water transportation, who was also regarded as one of the most famous generals in the Ming Dynasty.
"What do Mr. Xu Ge think?"
Xu Guangqi now looked confused. In fact, he had not received any information about how Taiyuan was lost. He asked: "The three sixty-four forts in Taiyuan Town are impregnable. Why did they fall?"
Wu Zongda held the memorial in his hand and said: "Song Tong Yin of Fufu, Shanxi Province reported that Xie Zhiliang, the commander-in-chief of Taiyuan Town, was afraid of the enemy and fought cowardly. When he saw the fierce Mongolian army coming, he did not want to resist the enemy. He left hundreds of thousands of Taiyuan officers and fled, and now they are missing. Therefore, , Taiyuan fell..."
Wang Yingxiong looked at Emperor Chongzhen's hesitation and continued: "Your Majesty, please issue an order to remove Cheng Shijie from his post and select good generals to defend against the enemy, otherwise the consequences will be disastrous!"
Emperor Chongzhen breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this reason.
Because this was not the first time that a general at the general level of Taiyuan had escaped, let alone the only one. In fact, in the Battle of Daling River, if Wu Xiang had not escaped first, how could he have failed? You Shiwei, the former chief soldier of Changping Town, escaped and trapped Man Gui to death. Ma Shilong also escaped, Liu Ce of Baoding also escaped, and Zhang Fengyi, Minister of War, also escaped.
If there were no generals who abandoned the city and fled, Huang Taiji would not have been able to enter the pass in the second year of Chongzhen.
The most serious way to deal with this kind of thing is to dismiss from office, but the problem is that Cheng Shijie now only has leadership responsibilities. Normally, senior officials at the level of Prime Minister Jiubian and Sun Chengzong's Ji Liao Governor cannot be directly held accountable. How can it be said that Cheng Shijie has not Credit comes with hard work.
But the problem is that the ministers were so angry that they knelt all over the ground.
Emperor Chongzhen was silent for a long time, and said in desperation: "I have to think about it again... let's withdraw from the court first!"
After saying that, he walked out without waiting for the ministers to salute. He really had to think about it.
However, Wen Tiren, Wu Zongda and Wang Yingxiong were all smiling.
Xu Guangqi looked at the three old foxes and knew that there must be something fishy. But the problem was that he was in poor health. Everyone could tell that Xu Guangqi didn't have a few years to live. Moreover, he also advocated Western learning, so he only had kittens under his disciples. Two or three.
Emperor Chongzhen was a little timid, but he gave Wu Zongda and others confidence. They made an appointment and began to impeach Cheng Shijie. This time the bullets were connected. As soon as Emperor Chongzhen walked into the imperial study, two young eunuchs moved a large Basket memorial.
"This is……"
"Reporting to your Majesty, these are the memorials to impeach Duke Hai!"
Emperor Chongzhen looked at these memorials with a wry smile on his face.
It seems that there is no need to burn charcoal for heating.
…
At the Baihe defense line, looking at the Ning navy officers who were like a black torrent, Tuxie Tuhan Gunbu felt his hands and feet were cold, and he closed his eyes in pain.
Lost, completely lost.
He could still accept losing to the already formed Ming army. His ancestors had already taught him a lesson: "If you form a formation, don't fight." This was a lesson that the Central Plains dynasties had taught the nomads for thousands of years.
Because the Han people are good at infantry warfare, they have always had advanced technology and can crush nomads like them in terms of technology. While their ancestors were still using bones to make arrowheads, the ancestors of the Han people had already begun to use bronze vessels. When they finally managed to use bronze, the Han people used iron.
When they entered the Iron Age, the Han people had already entered the age of firearms. The Han people had indestructible armor, indestructible sabers, crossbows and firearms. As long as the Han people did not have food and were not timid in fighting, they had no chance.
However, as he watched Ning Haijun's cavalry of only more than 3,000 cavalry join the battlefield, he wanted to cry now. Is Mongolia's centuries-old glory really coming to an end? Has Changshengtian given up on his descendants? Otherwise, why would the Ming army have such terrible equipment?
"let's go!"
Gunbu squeezed out three words from his throat with difficulty.
Kyaktu wondered if he heard it wrong: "King Khan, let's go? The ministries are still fighting fiercely with the Ming army. What will they do if we leave!?"
Gunbu roared: "A fierce battle? A fierce battle is nothing. We are obviously being massacred by the Ming army! If we don't leave, the whole army will be annihilated! Let everyone withdraw as soon as possible. We can withdraw as much as we can. Let's leave here and go to Hulunbuir." Go find new pastures..."
Kyaktu looked helpless: "King Khan, where can we retreat?"
Gunbu opened his mouth. He wanted to shout, scream, and curse, but no sound came out. In the end, all the anger and contempt turned into a sad sigh.
What made him helpless and desperate was that when the originally brave Mongolian warriors looked at the Ming army rushing over, they no longer resisted, knelt down on their knees, threw their weapons on the ground, and raised their hands high.
Kyaktu's eyes were so red that he almost gushed blood, and he let out a shrill howl: "You cowards, I'm going to kill you. You don't deserve to be the descendants of Genghis Khan, and you don't deserve to be Mongolians!"
Gunbu's face was pale and he said in a weak voice: "It's useless... Run away quickly. If you can escape, you will count, otherwise we will all die here..."
Halfway through Gunbu's words, his throat felt sweet, his chest felt uneasy, and a mouthful of blood suddenly spurted out. Tuxie Tuhan, one of the three giants in Mobei, could no longer accept this reality and was so angry that he vomited blood. !
Originally, although the Mongolian army hit the iron plate, their strength was more than ten times that of the Ming army. However, the advantages of the Ming army's weapons and equipment made up for the lack of quantity.
Even if it is impossible to turn defeat into victory, if they deal with it calmly, at least half of the troops can be withdrawn. Even if the Ming army wants to pursue it, it is unlikely that the more than 3,000 cavalry will let go of the pursuit. There is still a lot of hope for them to return to the grassland. .
However, the back route of Jingan Fort they occupied was snatched away by a surprise attack by the Ning Navy. There were strong enemies in front and pursuers behind. Of course, the Ming Army took the opportunity to launch an overwhelming offensive, and the Baihe River Valley was filled with a sea of blood. …
More and more Mongolian cavalry were horrified to find that the Ming army was everywhere. As long as they formed a formation, the Ming army's artillery would hit them, and they would be killed and injured in one blast. They could not even see the shadow of the Ming army. .
In such a desperate situation, even the most tenacious and tenacious people were discouraged. They threw away their weapons and dismounted, sat down on the ground and gasped for air. They screamed at the Ning navy soldiers who were charging towards them: "We lost, we are going to fight." I'll kill you or chop you into pieces as you please!"
Having already won a complete victory, Ning Haijun soldiers were not interested in continuing to fight, and roared at the Mongolian army who were still weakly resisting: "If you don't want to die, dismount and surrender. I don't care about your fate!"
The Mongolian soldiers shouted in Mongolian: "Why are you still fighting so hard? Whoever surrenders will avoid death!"
Finally, the Mongolian army surrounded in the Baihe River Valley put down their weapons. They looked at the Ming army cavalry or infantry running back and forth with dull and confused expressions. They couldn't understand that since they became ancestors, they could only retreat behind the border wall and let them go. How come the Ming army, which was powerless after occupying the Hetao Plain, suddenly became so powerful, so powerful that tens of thousands of them could not do anything to a mere three or four thousand infantry!
This is a double crushing of military concepts and military technology. They may know a little bit about military concepts, but military technology... I'm afraid they really have no idea, so of course they can't understand why tens of thousands of them can't defeat three or four thousand Ning's navy. When it comes to infantry, it’s like the Chinese more than two hundred years later didn’t understand why the Qing Dynasty, which claimed to have an army of one million, couldn’t defeat a mere 20,000 British and French coalition forces, and then was defeated by the 37,000 pieced-together Eight-Nation Alliance Army. Same as Beijing.
Li Dingguo excitedly rushed to Cheng Shijie and said, "Commander, we won!"
Cheng Shijie smiled lightly and said: "Winning is inevitable, what is the result?"
Meng En smiled and said: "Preliminary statistics show that at least 20,000 people were beheaded, and more than 10,000 people surrendered! More than 15,000 war horses were captured alone, but it is a pity that these war horses are too thin, and there are many The war horses are all useless! The result of this battle is so brilliant..."
When Wang Chengen brought more than a hundred cavalry from the Jinyi Guards to the Baihe battlefield, what he saw was the Ning Navy's thousands of cavalry, guarding more than 10,000 Mongolian prisoners, and countless wounded Mongolian soldiers dying in pain. Wailed.
This time, Ning Haijun achieved brilliant results, but suffered very few casualties. However, it was very easy to relocate hundreds of wounded soldiers. It was not troublesome for Ning Haijun's medical personnel to treat Ning Haijun's soldiers, but the problem was that it was difficult to treat these Mongolian prisoners. It was very difficult. More than one-third of the more than 10,000 Mongolian soldiers who surrendered were wounded.
What's more critical is that there are nearly 10,000 wounded soldiers in their camp. It will definitely be beyond their capabilities to treat more than 10,000 wounded soldiers.
They graded the injured. Those with broken arms and legs, or broken stomachs and intestinal tracts did not need to be saved at first glance. The only thing they could do was to let them inhale ether, then fall asleep and enter the arms of death unknowingly. Concentrate all your efforts on treating those with sound limbs.
This is of course unfair, but it is humane. Those who are seriously injured cannot be saved, and it will only waste the already scarce manpower, medicine and other wounded treatment time. It is better to give up and let them die with less pain. .
Those who were injured by shrapnel or chopped by knives concentrated all their efforts on treatment, including hemostasis, anesthesia, cleaning, and suturing, all in one go, with extremely high efficiency.
However, it is very difficult to treat the wounded soldiers who were hit by shrapnel in the chest or abdominal cavity. Military doctors can only use them as experimental subjects by disembowelling them to remove the shrapnel and then suturing them. This operation is extremely difficult and the mortality rate is frighteningly high. There are only a dozen cases. There are always one or two cases that can be successful. For the wounded Mongolian soldiers, it is already a profit. It is natural to die, and being saved is the blessing of immortality.
The injuries were so severe that even Changshengtian might not be able to save them.
It was not until the Mongolian soldiers surrendered that they discovered that they were being treated according to the Ming army's schedule. Those who were not injured were digging pits and burying the dead under the supervision of the Ming army. Although the work was hard, they were able to eat well.
Showing mercy is actually the power of the strong. A team of fifty soldiers has the courage and confidence to watch thousands of Mongolian prisoners dispose of corpses and clean the battlefield.
When Wang Chengen came to Cheng Shijie, Cheng Shijie had already fallen asleep.
Cheng Shijie was also exhausted during this period. After all, the greater the official position, the greater the responsibility. He directed battles during the day and checked military intelligence reports from various places at night. There was a shortage of food here, a shortage of medicine there, and a shortage of cotton-padded clothes.
The emperor is not afraid of starving his soldiers to death, let alone this nine-border prime minister? Although Cheng Shijie did not summon the general soldiers of the nine towns, but for the more than 1,000 generals and guards, more than 3,000 guerrillas, the general soldiers of the nine towns, and dozens of deputy general soldiers, just looking at their information and resumes, Let Cheng Shijie spend a lot of energy.
Seeing Cheng Shijie wearing boots and sleeping on the soft bed, Wang Chengen stared at the soldiers in the tent with an unkind look on his face. His eyes were really incapable of doing anything.
Wang Chengen stepped forward and took off Cheng Shijie's boots very carefully. Cheng Shijie had sweaty feet and hadn't washed his feet for half a month. The smell was so sour.
But Wang Chengen seemed to have lost his sense of smell. He took off Cheng Shijie's socks, then asked someone to bring hot water, soak a towel, and wash Cheng Shijie's feet.
Wang Chengen's movements were very light. Cheng Shijie's sleep quality was good and he was not too dead. But the problem was that Wang Chengen never woke up Cheng Shijie.
After finishing all this, Wang Chengen tiptoed to the door and said, looking at the few soldiers: "Our family will serve by Long Live Lord's side. You should also learn from it..."
"Yes Yes……"
Cheng Shijie's personal soldiers were truly convinced now. Most people really couldn't do the job of eunuch.
When Cheng Shijie woke up, he found Wang Chengen sitting in front of the stove, carefully warming wine and making tea.
Cheng Shijie woke up and was a little thirsty. He picked up the tea cup next to him and drank. It was neither hot nor cold.
Of course, Cheng Shijie didn't know that while Cheng Shijie was sleeping, Wang Chengen had made tea nine times and heated rice five times.
Cheng Shijie found that his hands were now clean. Naturally, they had been carefully wiped by Wang Chengen with a towel.
Cheng Shijie asked: "Eunuch Wang, why are you here?"
"Mr. Gong Guo, this achievement is really brilliant! No one has beaten the Tatars so badly since General Lan Yu!"
Cheng Shijie did not answer the question and asked, "What happened in the capital?"
Wang Chengen told Cheng Shijie about the fall of Taiyuan, the impeachment of Cheng Shijie by civil and military officials, and the fact that Emperor Chongzhen was forced to hang himself by his ministers.
Cheng Shijie actually wanted to lead his troops south, go to the capital and kill all those bastards, but the problem was that he couldn't do that. Just like the bald man in the Xi'an Incident, Chongzhen is still the upright Son of Heaven.
He was still the emperor of the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty. Even if Cheng Shijie led his troops south and killed more efficiently, the problem still existed. Those gentry actually possessed powerful power, and this power was caged by the imperial power of the Ming Dynasty. But once this beast is released, it will really kill people and make rivers of blood flow.
Cheng Shijie thought very clearly that if he really dared to do this, those gentry would dare to defect to Huang Taiji immediately, and the entire world and all the remaining power of the entire Ming Dynasty would be directed at him.
This is just like Cao Cao during the Three Kingdoms period. Before Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty defeated the Liu family for more than four hundred years, whoever dared to claim the throne would be punished by the whole world.
What can Yuan Shu do? What can the Four Generations and Three Dukes do?
Now Cheng Shijie can only repel the Mongolian army first, and then settle the accounts with them.
Cheng Shijie said: "What did you say, Taiyuan was lost?"
"Reporting to the Duke, this matter has caused too much trouble. Long live the Lord, please come back to the capital!"
Cheng Shijie slapped his chopsticks on the table: "Here comes someone!"
Meng En said: "Commander, what are your orders?"
"You're here to deal with the aftermath!"
"yes!"
"When Shen Mingyu arrives here, let him lead the infantry of the Annan Army all the way west along Xuanfu East Road. With my commander's order, he will patrol the towns along the way. If he dares to fail to execute my commander's orders, he will be executed without mercy!"
Cheng Shijie continued: "The Sun Kewang and Liu Wenxiu troops of the Annan Army immediately deployed defenses from Datong to Yulin. I will make sure that the Mongolian Tatars never come back!"
Cheng Shijie said, picked up the pen and quickly wrote down the order. He issued three orders in a row, one to Shen Mingyu, Sun Kewang and Liu Wenxiu.
After Cheng Shijie finished writing the order, he raised his head and said: "Order the reconnaissance cavalry to prepare immediately!"
Wang Chengen was anxious: "My lord, what are you doing..."
"I am heading to Shanxi!"
"But Long Live Master's side..."
"The army of Tushetu Khan has been completely wiped out, and there are no Mongolian Tatars within a radius of three hundred miles! The capital can feel at ease!"
Cheng Shijie said: "But the people of Shanxi, I can't ignore them!"
Wang Chengen couldn't persuade Cheng Shijie, so he had to give up.
Cheng Shijie came outside the tent wearing a windbreaker.
At this time, the 3,000 reconnaissance cavalry of the Annan Corps of the Ning Navy, excluding 63 killed and 122 seriously injured, including Li Dingguo, a total of more than 2,800 people were riding horses and standing in formation.
"Report to the Commander-in-Chief, the reconnaissance cavalry of the Annan Army has been assembled, please give instructions!"
Cheng Shijie looked at Li Dingguo. At this time, Li Dingguo's face was also bloody and tired.
Cheng Shijie looked at the soldiers and said: "I am now the Prime Minister of Jiubian. The entire three thousand miles of country are in my hands. These three thousand miles of country are my country. Who wants to cause trouble here? Do you want to ask me, Commander, if I agree? I want to ask our Ning Haijun, if we agree."
"I am willing to die for the commander-in-chief!"
Li Dingguo and more than 2,800 scout cavalry roared in a low voice.
Cheng Shijie smiled faintly and said: "On a thousand-mile mountain road, I want you to wait two days and two nights to arrive in Taiyuan. I only want Taiyuan. I want the Mongolians to tremble and obey in front of my cavalry."
Now Cheng Shijie wants to repeat the miracle of Jingan Fort. If he captures Taiyuan first, the Mongols going south will definitely turn back. Even if they don't want to, they will turn back.
Of course, more importantly, Cheng Shijie can only trust Zhao Wencai now and believe that Zhao Wencai will not let him down.
Only by overcoming this difficulty can we truly have a bright future. (End of chapter)
