Li Zicheng arrived at Diaoyutai in the western suburbs of the capital on the afternoon of the 17th. According to the plan formulated by Song Xiance, he was supposed to rest at Diaoyutai Palace for one night and then send troops to attack the city tomorrow morning.
But at this time, Li Zicheng was in extreme excitement. The final victory seems to be within reach! But if you think about it carefully, this final victory happens to be under the protection of the strongest city in the world...
So the excited but anxious Li Zicheng changed his plan and launched a "war for the heart" of Beijing in advance.
On the way to Diaoyutai, he ordered Liu Zongmin, who came to greet him, to go to the west of the capital city to find a suitable place to set up the formation, and at the same time set up a huge yellow felt tent.
After Liu Zongmin took the order and rushed back to the west of Beijing, he first made some observations and then set up a formation in the open space outside Fucheng Gate.
The reason why he chose Fuchengmen was because he found six dragon flags and a three-army command flag on the tower of Fuchengmen. The six dragon flags belong to Zhu Cixi's crown prince's guard of honor, while the three-army commander's flag is the chief general's flag, symbolizing the location of the Chinese army's commander's tent.
Zhu Cixiang originally wanted to station the Chinese army at Xizhimen, but after discovering that Li Zicheng would use Diaoyutai as his base, he moved the Chinese army to Fuchengmen, opposite Diaoyutai.
When Liu Zongmin saw the Dragon Banner and the Commander-in-Chief Banner of the Three Armies, he thought Emperor Chongzhen was at Fuchengmen, so he launched a "king vs. king" campaign and placed Li Zicheng's Chinese army outside the Diaoyutai, facing Fuchengmen. On the open ground.
Just after midnight on the 17th, Emperor Li Zicheng of Dashun, who had finished his lunch, was surrounded by the royal guards led by his adopted son Li Shuangxi amid the shouts of thirty to forty thousand Dashun soldiers. , arrived at the huge yellow felt tent.
In addition to Liu Zongmin, Tian Jianxiu, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, Gu Chengen and other civil and military generals from the Dashun Dynasty who arrived with him, there were also Tang Tong, Wang Chengyun, Du Xun, Du Zhizhi and other surrendered generals and ministers who had surrendered to Dashun before. , in addition to Zhu Cunji, the king of Qin in the Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Shenxuan, the king of Jin in the Ming Dynasty, who surrendered after being captured.
Li Zicheng himself sat in front of the felt tent, with his civil and military ministers and a group of surrendered ministers lined up on the left and right. He also asked the two kings of Qin and Jin to sit on the ground in front of him on his left and right. He was so unhappy!
When Li Zicheng was feeling proud, Du Xun and Du Zhizhi, two Ming Dynasty eunuchs who had surrendered to him at Xuanhua and Juyongguan, trotted over one after the other. The two eunuchs each held a monocular telescope, which was used to observe the situation on the Fuchengmen Gate Tower.
After taking a look, the two eunuchs thought there was something wrong with their eyes!
Because what they saw was the crown prince's dragon flag and the three-army commander's flag placed together! What does it mean? The crown prince left the palace to support the army? impossible? The Ming Dynasty had princes who oversaw armies, but never princes who oversaw armies. Moreover, the current prince is only sixteen years old and a child. How can he possibly support the army? Even if Emperor Chongzhen had a whim and asked his son to lead troops to defend the city, the civil and military officials of the entire court would not agree! Before, there was a lot of opposition to the suggestion that the prince go to Nanjing to supervise the country. Now that the prince is asked to supervise the army, is there a huge quarrel?
But the problem is that the two eunuchs looked at it again and again, and it was clear that the six dragon flags of the prince and the command flag of the three armies were together!
Isn't this Prince Fujun? Moreover, the prince not only left the palace to support the army, but also went to the tower of Fuchengmen!
Isn't this prince too brave?
"Your Majesty, I looked at it with a telescope and found... I found the six dragon flags of Prince Ming and the flags of the three armed forces on the tower of Fuchengmen."
Du Xun first reported to Li Zicheng.
Li Zicheng looked at this majestic-looking Dajuan who had gone thirty miles out of the city to meet the surrender with Wang Chengyun, the commander-in-chief of the Xuanfu, and frowned slightly: "Could it be that the prince of the Ming Dynasty went up to the tower?"
Du Zhizhi, who surrendered with Tang Tong at Juyongguan, interjected: "Your Majesty, Zhu Ming's prince is only sixteen years old this year. He will not dare to go up to the city tower to face our Dashun army. Hanging the prince's flag on the city tower may be a bluff. .”
Li Zicheng squinted his right eye and chuckled: "You can kill people at the age of sixteen. My godson Li Shuangxi started killing people with me at the age of fifteen!"
Du Zhizhi said: "Your Highness Qian is a brave young man, how can the crown prince of the Zhu family compare to him?"
Du Xun also said: "Yes, the prince of the Zhu family was raised in a deep palace, so he only knows how to eat, drink and have fun, which is of no use at all."
At this time, Gu Junen went out to the class and said: "Since the prince of the Zhu family is a useless person, your majesty just uses a tactic to attack his heart... But at the same time, he told the soldiers and civilians defending the city to open the city gates and surrender as soon as possible, and at the same time, he sent envoys into the city for peace talks."
After a night of thinking, Gu Junen's "scheming plan" became much more detailed. Not only must they use tactics against the Ming Dynasty officials in the capital city, but they must also use tactics against the generals guarding the city.
Therefore, when the envoys entered the city to negotiate with Chongzhen, they had to send people to the city to shout and persuade them to surrender.
"What are the terms for peace talks?" Li Zicheng asked.
Gu Junen glanced at the two eunuchs kneeling in front of Li Zicheng, smiled and said: "Any conditions are lies. What matters is that the envoy can be allowed in and come out safe and sound, and it will be delayed for a few hours. Okay. Let our soldiers have enough time to shout to the city!"
Li Zicheng nodded. Now that the army is on the verge of defeat, what nonsense are you still talking about? It's just a tactic to attack people's hearts.
And if you want to use peace talks to attack people's hearts, you can't put forward conditions that the other party will definitely reject. Otherwise, if the negotiating envoys were to be slaughtered as soon as they came up, how could there be any use of tricks?
"Then..." Li Zicheng thought for a while and said with a smile, "Then tell the emperor of the Zhu family that I have no intention of taking over the world from the Zhu family. I only want to split the earth and divide the king. If I can protect Qin and Jin for the rest of the world, I will not enter." Beijing can also lead a large army to conquer Liaodong. If the emperor of the Zhu family likes it, he will send a few high-ranking officials out of the city to discuss it in detail. After the agreement, the emperor of the Zhu family will swear an oath to the heavenly alliance, and the emperor of the Zhu family will issue an imperial edict to the whole world, and the world will hear it. .”
After saying that, he glanced at the two kneeling eunuchs below with one eye, "Which one of you will go?"
"Your Majesty Du Xun is willing to do this!" Du Xun spoke quickly.
"Your Majesty, Du Zhizhi, is also willing to go into the city and use his plans for His Majesty!" Du Zhizhi reacted a little slower, but he was no less dedicated to making contributions to Dashun than Du Xun.
Li Zicheng laughed loudly, "You both want to go, but you only need one. Jun En, who do you want to ask?"
Gu Jun'en said: "Rong Chen asked them a question."
"Okay." Li Zicheng nodded, "Ask."
Gu Junen asked: "How can you two ensure that you can reach the top of the city? Don't let the defenders on the city shoot you with an arrow."
This question confused Du Zhizhi, but Du Xun's brain was relatively easy to use and he immediately had a countermeasure.
He pointed at the two kings of Qin and Jin who were sitting on the ground and said, "These two kings can be used as hostages! The emperor of the Zhu family likes to fish for fame, so he always attaches great importance to the vassal king. Trapping the vassal is an unforgivable crime. As long as there are two kings as hostages, the defenders on the city will definitely Don’t dare to kill me.”
"What a plan!" Li Zicheng nodded with satisfaction and said to Du Xun, "You are quite clever, you eggless eunuch... When you enter Beijing City, I will let you be... the Chief Supervisor of Ceremonies! It's just a smear job. Um, I said it at the front, but eunuchs are not allowed to interfere in politics here, do you understand?"
Du Xun was overjoyed when he heard this and kowtowed repeatedly: "I obey your order. I will serve your Majesty honestly from now on!"
"Go, go." Li Zicheng waved his hand, and then asked his adopted son Li Shuangxi to bring two hundred soldiers, and escorted the king of Qin and Jin, who was as scared as a puddle of mud, and the arrogant Du Xun, to go Fuchengmen left.
…
"You artillerymen, please listen to me. The man standing next to me is the artillery instructor invited by the imperial court from Western Rome. You all must obey his command and make no mistake! Who dares to cheat? If you let this palace know about your trick, you will be killed without mercy!"
Zhu Cixiang was already on the front line in person at this time, standing under the archery tower of Fuchengmen, which was the tower outside Wengcheng, lecturing a group of Beijing artillerymen. Next to him stood an old foreigner with blond hair and blue eyes, wearing an official uniform of the Ming Dynasty and a black gauze hat. It was Tang Ruowang, the eunuch of Qintian Prison.
Tang Ruowang is not an ordinary missionary, but a very knowledgeable scholar missionary. Proficient in mathematical astronomy, he was also keen on introducing Western science and technology to China. He has successively written or translated "Telescope Theory" (an introduction to Galileo's telescope), "Kun Yu Ge Zhi" (translated from the "Encyclopedia of Mining and Metallurgy" by the German mining and metallurgist Agricola), and also participated in the compilation of "The Encyclopedia of Mining and Metallurgy" Chongzhen Almanac.
In addition, he also knew a lot about cannon casting, cannon handling, and gun handling, and helped the firearms expert Jiao Xu compile the book "Zekulu", also known as "Fire Attack and Key Points", which specifically introduced artillery, muskets, and gunpowder. - This book was later buried due to the fall of the Ming Dynasty. 200 years later, it was taken seriously again because of the Opium War, and a "Supplementary Zikelu" was published. After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom broke out, it aroused the great attention of Emperor Xianfeng. He attached great importance to this book and published it, which was published in the late Ming Dynasty, and sent it to the Heavenly Soldiers of the Eight Banners for study...
This number one international friend and foreign expert in Beijing who can still shine 200 years later has been promoted by Zhu Cixiang to help command the red cannon under the arrow tower of Fuchengmen.
