In February of the third year of Taichang, wars continued frequently in western Liaoning.
After the Battle of Guangning, Kaiyuan's army marched straight into the cities of Yizhou and Jinzhou, and their troops advanced towards Ningyuan.
The border troops from all over the Liao Dynasty gathered in Shanhaiguan to assist the Liao Dynasty. The Ming army retreated. The generals of Shaanxi Town clamored for military pay every day. The border troops of Ji Town even looted Shanhaiguan directly.
The other border troops from various places also complained and went to Zu Dashou every day to ask for the food and grass needed by the guest troops.
Zu Dashou was miserable. On the one hand, he had to deal with the approaching Kaiyuan army, and on the other hand, he had to tangle with these border town generals and satisfy the various unreasonable demands of these military leaders.
Equally miserable was the imperial court.
Wang Huazhen surrendered to Kaiyuan, which shocked the government and the public. There was a fight between the cabinet and the Supervisor of Ceremonies, and finally a new candidate for the Liaodong manager was introduced.
At the end of the first month, the cabinet vote proposed that Wang Zaijin, the Minister of War, should replace Wang Huazhen. After passing through Liaodong, Wang Zaijin ordered Wang Zaijin to lead border troops in Jizhen, Xuanda, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi and other places to rush to the aid of Ningyuan, carry out a large-scale crusade, and wipe out the Liu thieves.
On February 1st, in the Jin Dynasty, Wang Huazhen became the Minister of the Ministry of War and the right deputy censor of the capital. He passed through Liaodong, Jizhen, Tianjin, Deng (prefecture), and Lai (prefecture). The emperor specially gave him a mango jade, a belt, and a sword.
When the new Liaodong governor left the capital, he was ordered to enter the palace and analyze the situation outside the customs to Emperor Taichang who was on his sick bed:
"Liu thieves destroyed Liaodong and Western Liao. The first was in Kaiyuan, the second was in Hunhe, the third was in Liao and Shen, and the fourth was in Guangning. The first damage was a crisis, the second was a defeat, the third was an endgame, and the fourth Bad - if you abandon the whole Liao, there will be no way to defeat the enemy!"
At this time, the emperor was seriously ill in bed and dying. After hearing Wang Zaijin's words, he quickly waved his hands, struggled to sit up, and looked at his ministers with floating eyes:
"The late emperor was merciful and treated Kaiyuan favorably, so that the traitor Liu became powerful. The traitor Liu was ambitious, and both humans and gods were angry. The matter in Liaodong has come to this, and you cannot refuse. Food, grass, and reinforcements will be prepared for you. The country is in chaos and you are thinking of a good prime minister. When you arrive in Liaodong, you should Work together with Ancestor Dashou to eliminate this national traitor for the Ming Dynasty and achieve unparalleled feats! Remember this."
Wang Zai Jin served as the right deputy censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. He knew that this time the guest army was in great difficulty in aiding the Liao Dynasty, and it was impossible to prepare all the food and grass.
The Ming Dynasty has been in arrears with military pay for a long time. Xuanda is in arrears for half a year, and Shaanxi is in arrears for ten months. Soldiers from all over the country are like beggars, and there are many people who sell their children and women. It is common for them to sell their swords and armor to foreigners.
Last year, Xu Guangqi Shangshu carried out reforms to the border army, requiring that the salary of each frontier soldier be increased to two taels, the equipment be replaced, the Capital Firearms Bureau be abolished, and reliable firearms be purchased directly from the Macau Arsenal... As a result, Xu Guangqi naturally He was violently attacked and impeached by the imperial censor and the general soldiers, and then the matter went nowhere.
Xu Guangqi's recent whereabouts are unknown, and he seems to have been kidnapped by Kaihara Hosaku.
In short, on the current battlefield in western Liaoning, there is no supply of food and grass, and there is no hope of reinforcements.
Wang Zaijin knew that the emperor had no one else available. Who else would be willing to go to the muddy waters of western Liaoning except himself?
Wang Zaijin comforted the emperor with a few words, prayed for the emperor's speedy recovery, and then walked out of the Forbidden City alone.
Under the reflection of Jinshui River, the sun gradually sinks into the Western Mountains.
Early spring in the capital city under the Little Glacier climate.
There is no cold willow wind blowing on my face.
Some are just bloody storms in Liaodong.
Wang Zaijin wrapped himself tightly in his leather bean robe, walked out of the palace gate quickly, and sat in his sedan chair.
The official sedan walked all the way to his mansion.
People were running on the streets rushing to buy rice and noodles. Some grain stores had sold out the grain. Shopkeepers were grabbed by their clothes by people who came late and asked them to sell grain.
"Is it still there? The price will increase again tomorrow!"
"God damn Liu Zhaosun, he fights every day! I can't even eat!"
The war in western Liaoning is affecting the capital.
Wang Zaijin sighed and shook his head helplessly.
~~~~
In February of the third year of Taichang, Zhu Changluo lost control of Wei Zhongxian. Under the instigation of Xinchang Gongxu Xianchun, he played and sang every night with no restraint. Historical records record:
"In February of the third year, the factory officials brought in a beautiful woman to serve the emperor. Within ten days, the emperor fell ill."
On the eighth day of February, Emperor Taichang was seriously ill and summoned his internal official Cui Wensheng for treatment.
Cui Wensheng was originally a trusted eunuch in the palace of Concubine Zheng.
After Zhu Changluo fell ill, Concubine Zheng instructed Cui Wensheng, as the eunuch in charge of the royal pharmacy, to supply "tongli medicine" to the emperor.
Over the next day and night, Zhu Changluo had diarrhea thirty or forty times in a row. His body was extremely weak and in a state of exhaustion.
On February 10, the third year of Taichang, Zhu Changluo summoned thirteen people including the British Duke Zhang Weixian and the chief minister of the cabinet Fang Congzhe to the palace. He ordered the emperor's eldest son Zhu Youxiao to have an audience, and Cui Wensheng was expelled from the palace.
On the 12th, Li Kezhuo, the Prime Minister of Honglu Temple, presented the elixir. After Zhu Changluo took it, he felt fine and asked his chamberlain to tell him:
"After taking the medicine, the body feels warm, moist and comfortable, and makes you want to drink and eat."
At five o'clock that night, Zhu Changluo died.
On February 15th of the third year of Taichang, the emperor's eldest son Zhu Youxiao succeeded to the throne, changed his reign name to Chongzhen, and was known as Emperor Chongzhen in history.
~~~~~
On the same day, Wang Zaijin arrived in Ningyuan.
Outside Ningyuan City, there was a wave of chaos.
Tens of thousands of Liao people in Yizhou Qijiabao, Jinzhou Chengnan Shuangbao, Shiguan'ertun and other places formed strongholds to protect themselves. There were also thousands of Liao people in Da and Xiao Ling rivers who refused to follow their ancestor Dashou.
One hundred thousand refugees gathered in Shisan Mountain, Qiansi Mountain, and Chajiao Mountain, led by Yizhou hero Yang San. Yang San adopted a neutral strategy and neither retreated into Ningyuan with Liao Town nor surrendered to the Kaiyuan Army.
Liu Zhaosun sent officials such as Ma Shiying and Sen Ti to appease more than 100,000 refugees.
The Marquis of Ping Liao promised the refugees that after they defeated Zu Dashou, he would allocate land to them.
The people in western Liaoning will not be blamed as long as they do not kill innocent people indiscriminately during the war.
However, Yang San, the leader of Thirteen Mountains, had other ideas.
He sent people to Ningyuan to ask for money and food from Liaodong Governor. He said that after the money and food were in place, he would personally lead the righteous soldiers of western Liaoning to fight the "Liu thieves" to the end and serve the imperial court.
Wang Zaijin naturally didn't listen to this.
At present, the defense of Ningyuan and Shanhaiguan is not yet stable, so we should not act rashly. If the refugees are rescued, they will have nowhere to resettle and no food and grass to support them. Moreover, there will definitely be many Kaiyuan spies among the refugees.
Wang Zaijin said to the envoy from Thirteen Mountains:
"The Liu thief is only annexing Jinzhou now and has not immediately attacked Ningyuan and Shanhaiguan. If the imperial court takes you in easily, it will definitely give the Liu thief a reason to start a war. So, you wish yourselves the best of luck."
In February of the first year of Chongzhen, after the Guangning War, the guards of Youtunwei, Jinzhou, Dalinghe City, Xiaolinghe City, Songshan, Xingshan, Lianshan, and Tashan, on the orders of the king in Jin, burned down their houses, grain stores, and withdrew their troops. The people are in the pass.
The king in Jin general entrusted the military affairs in western Liaoning to Zu Dashou.
When Zu Dashou heard that Kaiyuan's army had crossed the Liao River, he immediately made military deployments and dispatched troops and generals everywhere.
Ningyuan City was defended by the infantry of the Guangwu Camp. Chen Zhaolan, the commander-in-chief of the center left, led the infantry of the battalion into the city and assisted the defense with the commander-in-chief Xu Fuzuo. The general's servants were on the city and at the four gates for reinforcements.
The Chinese army's Sun Shaozu, He Kegang, Li Guofu, Huang Weizheng, Peng Haogu and others supervised the formation. Zu Dashou personally led his servants to arrest the spies in the city. Zu Dabi, the commander-in-chief, led the elite troops from the base camp to Xingshui County Fort and Wayaochong as reinforcements.
Deputy generals Zhu Mei, guerrillas Ma Guang and Deng Maolin each led their elite troops to join forces with Zu Dabi as foreign aid to the north of Ningyuan.
Zu Dashou also ordered Meng Jikong, Sun Chenghui, Zhang Cunren, Jin Guofeng, Sun Dingliao and Zhao Bangning from the small forts in Ningyuan and Jinzhou to lead their cavalry to meet Zu Dabi.
Longwu Shuiying guerrillas Yao Yuxian, Qiao Heng, Ji Shideng, Dusi Wang Xifu and others simply selected elite soldiers from each ship to stand by on Juehua Island to provide foreign aid to the south of Ningyuan.
The center right post was guarded by Liu Yongchang and You Dai, and the former garrison commander Zhao led the infantry of the three-car battalion to defend the center Qian post, the former garrison post, and the middle rear post as Ningyuan's back-up.
In this way, a defense system with Ningyuan as the center and echoing in the east, west, south and surrounding areas was established.
Zu Dashou learned about the fall of Liaoshen, Guangning and other places from Zu Dabi and the defeated troops. He called on the soldiers and civilians in Ningyuan to defend the city together. He asked his servants to post notices everywhere in the city. The text is as follows:
"I am determined to live and die with this city. Every general in the city, whether guarding or assisting, must live or die with this city. If we stay together and work with each other, we will survive in death. If we retreat in the face of battle, we will definitely die. Kill them in front of the army, kill anyone who acts indiscriminately, and kill anyone on the city who comes out of the city!"
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