Ruan Dacheng never dreamed that one day Zhu Changhui would let him lead his troops to fight the Qi army to the death.
As the chief minister of the Hongguang Dynasty's cabinet, Ruan Dacheng had the same temperament as other Hongguang monarchs and ministers: living in a corner, living in an ignoble way, living life in a drunken lifestyle.
And the most important thing is that the party is united and opposed to those who are different.
Over the years, Ruan Dacheng has directly or indirectly helped Qi State get rid of a large number of enemies in the south. If these people are still alive, they will definitely cause trouble for Liu Zhaosun's cause of unifying the world.
For example, Liu Zongzhou, Shi Kefa, Huang Degong, Liu Zeqing...
Ruan Dacheng has reached a height that ordinary people cannot reach in terms of party struggle.
On the eve of Zuo Liangyu's army about to attack Nanjing City, he did not forget to throw dirty water on Yuan Linhou, who was stationed in Jiujiang. When the Qi army defeated Zuo Liangyu and had already arrived at Zhenjiang, Ruan Dacheng was still busy making accusations against Zheng Sen (specifically, Treason), although there has been no news from that group of pirates for a long time.
When the Qi army approached the city, Ruan Dacheng's expertise in party fighting was no longer useful. His enemies were dying and fleeing. Those who stayed in Nanjing were basically dead-headed and prepared to die for their country.
Ruan Dacheng didn't want to die, he wanted to live. However, Zhu Changhui got the essence of his relative Zhu Youjian in terms of employment. In a word, it is:
When you employ people, you must be suspicious, and when you are suspicious, you must use them.
On the eve of the collapse of the Hongguang court, Zhu Changhui decided to let Ruan Dacheng repel the Qi army. To put it bluntly, he wanted him to die on his behalf.
Ruan Ge Lao is about to create a record - the record of the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty personally attending the battle, although he has no intention of setting this record.
On the fifth day of May, before the Ming army officially sent troops, Ruan Shoufu secretly sent an envoy to exchange news with the Qi State, hoping that the Supreme Emperor would accept his surrender. It would be best if he surrendered and died for the Qi State. In other words, he would give He is an official.
It is still a mystery whether Liu Zhaosun received Ruan Dacheng's secret letter.
After Ma Shiying left the Qi cabinet, Ruan Dacheng's network of relationships in Qi was basically completely severed.
The new chief minister Lu Xiangsheng was not interested in the submissive chief minister of Nanming. Ruan Dacheng found Qiao Yiqi, hoping to gain the emperor's trust through Qiao Dazui's relationship. Unexpectedly, Qiao Yiqi ignored this person at all.
Kang Yingqian's death that year was inextricably linked to Zuo Liangyu's sneak attack on Xuzhou, although Ruan Dacheng had strongly opposed it when Zuo sent troops to the Northern Expedition. However, since Xuzhou was massacred and Kang Yingqian died violently, Qiao Yiqi naturally regarded the Nanming court as the culprit of all tragedies.
In fact, in recent years, Qi's internal political system has been undergoing earth-shaking changes. Polarism and retro ideological trends are intertwined, and conservatives and radicals are fighting each other. Under this situation, Daqi's foreign strategy is erratic, sometimes war and sometimes peace, sometimes left and sometimes right.
Ruan Dacheng was at a loss and uncertain.
Until he somehow ended up on the battlefield.
"In this western expedition, all troops and horses are under the control of Mr. Ruan. They should work together to protect our country and the country of the Ming Dynasty. If we can win, sir, you will be my Pei Du and Zhao Hu! You will be able to rebuild the Ming Dynasty!" I am in Nanjing, just waiting for the news of your success!"
On the second day of May, Nanjing West Gate Shicheng Gate.
Emperor Hongguang toasted with a toast, and the eunuch came forward to fill the wine glass. Zhu Changhuan handed the royal wine to Ruan Dacheng with his own hands. He also gave the chief minister's coat of arms, platinum, Wenqi and other treasures on the spot, as well as a large amount of gold and silver cloth, so that Ruan Dacheng could reward him. Soldiers of the Western Expedition Army. Ruan Dacheng was specially ordered to be granted the title of Grand Master. It should be noted that this position was not easily granted in the history of the Ming Dynasty. At most, it would only be granted to courtiers who had made great contributions to the country.
"The country is in trouble, and only loyal ministers can show their loyalty. I will not say those clichés. I pray that Grand Master Ruan will win the victory and kill the Qi captives! To consolidate the Ming Dynasty forever!"
After hearing the emperor's encouragement, Ruan Dacheng was so moved that tears and runny noses ran down his face. He knelt down in front of Zhu Changhuan and broke down in tears:
"Thanks to the love of the Holy Emperor, even if I die ten thousand times, it will not be enough to repay His Majesty. If this bloody battle with the Qi thieves does not succeed, I will be benevolent. I will die one day, but I can serve the Ming Dynasty and destroy this imperial food for the Ming Dynasty!"
Zhu Changhuan didn't know whether he was acting or was really moved by Ruan Dacheng, but he burst into tears on the spot.
The king and his ministers held their heads and cried.
"My dear!!"
"His Majesty!!"
The two men's hands finally held each other tightly.
The flags of the Western Expeditionary Army covered the sky, and groups passed by the stone city gate. The city walls were covered with crows, croaking and squawking.
On May 6, the Ming army stopped and camped in the east of Anqing City and confronted the Qi army from a distance.
Ruan Dacheng did not dare to fight any Qi army. During that time, he spent his time in Anqing like this:
Every day he wakes up to drink and entertain himself with his staff, and compose poems with the scribes. At night, he spends a long night drinking with two beautiful and thin horses;
Every two or three days, he asked his staff to write a letter and send it back to Nanjing to the emperor. The contents of the memorial were exactly the same:
Win, win, win! The king's army was victorious and the Qi army was defeated. The Qi army shot itself in the foot and began to flee westward.
Emperor Hongguang also had a tacit agreement to reply to Ruan Dacheng with an imperial edict every two days. The content was the same and boring, which was a bit like the secret exchanges between Yongzheng and Qianlong and the feudal officials.
The Qiancheng of the country!
With my chief assistant here, I feel at ease!
When will the chief assistant return to Beijing?
What is the weather like in Zhenjiang?
Are Zhenjiang bayberry ripe?
When can I drink plum wine with my first assistant...
In early June, due to the plum rains in the south, the miasma, humidity, and heat, and the lack of adaptability to the soil and water, the Qi army garrisoned under the city of Anqing and suspended its eastern expedition.
Ruan Dacheng was overjoyed after learning the news, thinking that the gods were helping him, and immediately sent an envoy to Qi to beg for peace.
It wasn't until three letters in a row that he received no response that he felt afraid.
Ruan Dacheng suspected that the Xuzhou Incident made Liu Zhaosun hate him. He did not dare to stay under the eyes of the Qi army anymore, so he announced that he had defeated the Qi captives and returned east in triumph.
After returning to Nanjing, Emperor Hongguang immediately gave Ruan Shoufu the title of Taishi, Yinzi Zhongshusheren, silver coins, and python clothes.
Someone with good intentions wrote a poem, mocking Ruan Dacheng for fearing the enemy like a tiger and harming the country and the people:
"The captives are afraid of the miasma and are thinking about it. All the gold and pink are gone. There is no news from Zhenjiang in June. Yesterday, Yuan Fu came to report his victory."
Ruan Dacheng had always been a Hanlin official, so he naturally did not understand military affairs. There were rumors among the people that he took bribes from the Qi army, including ten carts of jewels and dozens of beauties, so he allowed the enemy to advance eastward. This is, of course, nonsense.
In fact, Luo Yangxing, commander of Jinyiwei, and Wang Dehua, chief of etiquette, were the driving forces behind such rumors, because Ruan Dacheng had offended Zhongguan and Jinyiwei in the early reforms.
In short, people are constantly criticizing Ruan Dacheng.
The scholar Li Qing once summarized the different fates of the two chief ministers of the Southern Ming Dynasty and the Northern Qi Dynasty:
Those who are greedy for mediocrity and harm the country, but do not kill people, are scholars; those who are greedy for mediocrity and harm the country, but want to kill people, are Ruan Dayue.
Ruan Dacheng is not a traitor. Since the Song Dynasty, there have been no cruel emperors in China, only treacherous ministers who deceived their lords.
Traitor ministers are a panacea that can be used by emperors of any dynasty or generations to shirk their responsibilities.
Zhu Changying is just one example.
As the last emperor, he had been working hard for eighteen years and was even worse than Zhu Youjian. At the last moment, he was so thin that he was no longer human.
However, the other side of Zhu Changhui is hesitant, ambitious and lacking in talent. He has almost no qualities that a king should have.
Later generations gave him the character of the tragic last emperor, so people like Ruan Dacheng and Zuo Liangyu can only take the blame for all the blame for the Ming Dynasty...
In early June, Ruan Dacheng was sentenced to death by the extremely angry Emperor Hongguang.
However, at this time, Nan Ming was also finished.
On the sixth day of June in the first year of Guangde, the three major corps of the Qi army, together with the various departments in Jiangnan and Jiangxi, surrendered to the Ming army, totaling 130,000 people. They broke through Anqing and marched to the stone city.
At this time, the Ming court was besieged internally and externally, and reinforcements from all walks of life were either besieged or thousands of miles away.
Liu Zhaosun sent the demoted officials to the city and informed Emperor Hongguang, asking him to follow the example of the Southern Tang Dynasty's surrender to Song Taizu and surrender voluntarily.
You can be canonized as a disobedient prince to save your life.
In order to reassure Zhu Changhui, Liu Zhaosun also specially asked the envoy to bring an important person into the city.
That person was Zhu Youxiao, the former Ming Chongzhen Emperor.
Zhu Youxiao's current identity is the head of the Daqi Ministry of Industry, and he also has his own fief and title.
This was the last and best condition Qi offered to Zhu Changhui.
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