"What? The Tatars were defeated at the gate of Datong? Is it true or false?"
In the Imperial City of Chang'an, in the Wuying Hall, Emperor Dashun Li Zicheng was looking suspiciously at an envoy from the Ming army of Datong who had slipped into Chang'an disguised as a Shanxi merchant.
The messenger's name was Chen Yongxi. He was twenty-four or five years old. He had handsome features and looked like a white-faced scholar. He is a scholar from Dingxiang County under Taiyuan Prefecture, and his family is of course a big landowner. Because Li Zicheng made them very dissatisfied by the free grain and rent exemption in Taiyuan Prefecture (the rent exemption was not initiated by Li Zicheng, but the farmers refused to pay the gentry for the grain), so he and his two brothers took some family property to Datong under the rule of the Ming Dynasty. He joined Wang Yongji's shogunate and experienced the first siege of Datong.
Although the first siege of Datong ended with the "victory" of the Ming army, Chen Yongxi was not optimistic about the future of Datong Mansion at all.
Although the Qing army has now retreated as agreed, there are hundreds of miles outside Datong City. There are villages, towns, forts and cities everywhere that were looted and burned by the Qing soldiers. Only Datong Youwei and Weiyuanwei are remote and have special city defenses. The solid acropolis was not breached by the Qing army. But even if they were not breached, all the farmland around Datong Right Guard and Weiyuan Guard were abandoned!
When Chen Yongxi came out of Datong City and entered the Luliang Mountains, the place he passed was deserted. On both sides of the official road, you can only see the dilapidated villages, towns, forts and the withered bones of people and animals that have been burned, but not a single field where seeds have been sown.
The farming season this spring has been delayed, and naturally there will be no harvest in the fall!
When the Tatars come again to besiege the city, how long can Datong hold on?
Although he knew that the situation in Datong Mansion was precarious, the object of Chen Yongxi's hatred was still Li Zicheng!
Because after the rescue of Datong, he had already contacted the Dingxiang family - now the Dingxiang family can happily collect land rent again! One of his cousins defected to the Tatars and served as an official in the shogunate of the Tatar Prince Yu. With this background, the land and house of the Chen family in Dingxiang were insured.
Therefore, we must not only continue to collect rent and debt from tenants, but also intensify it!
What? Can the landlords in Shanxi become more aggressive now?
Of course!
This matter is attributed to Dorgon. He encircled the city, occupied houses, and sold them for cash, driving away many Han people. A considerable number of these people went to join the Dashun Dynasty, which had been exempted from paying taxes for three years. As a result, when they arrived in Shanxi, they became citizens of the Qing Dynasty again.
These people who came from Beizhili with their families could not become self-cultivated farmers, so they had to rent land and become tenants. When there are more tenants from outside, Shanxi’s tenant rent will naturally rise.
In addition, the Qing Dynasty also had to collect taxes - now there is no saying that officials and gentry are exempt from grain, they all have to collect taxes! Of course, this land tax was passed on to the tenants.
Shanxi's tenants finally took a breather under Li Zicheng's rule, and now they have become the fat pigs of the powerful landlords and continue to be slaughtered!
By the way, it needs to be mentioned that because nine major Shanxi merchants invested in the Qing Dynasty, they did a lot of things for the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, the Qing Dynasty treated the gentry in Shanxi with care, which also made many Shanxi gentry have a good impression of the Qing Dynasty.
Of course, Chen Yongxi was a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty. This time he was on a mission with his wife and children, and planned to take them to Jiangnan. He would not return to Shanxi from now on, but would seek an official position with the prince. The Chen family couldn't just hang themselves from a tree in the Qing Dynasty, they had to bet on both ends.
However, Li Zicheng still had to trap him - although Zhu Cixiang wanted to join forces with Li Zicheng to fight against the Qing Dynasty, his group of landlord class bureaucrats all regarded Li Zicheng as a more vicious enemy than the Tatars!
So when he heard Li Zicheng's question, he said with a smile: "Your Majesty, there is no way to deceive this matter. If Datong's siege is confused, can I drag my family and family to Chang'an? Besides, Your Majesty, you can send You know, you can’t see anyone when you go to Datong? The Qing troops have all withdrawn southward across the Sanggan River! If they hadn’t been defeated at Datong City, would they have been willing to withdraw so far?"
Li Zicheng thought about it and felt that this was the case! Can the Tatars retreat from Datong City without suffering any blood loss? It seems that this Jiang Yu is really good at fighting! If I had known earlier, I should have won over him and taken his Datong Army to Shanhaiguan together.
However, it is always a good thing that the Tatars suffered a heavy loss in Datong. The front lines of Yulin and Yan'an should be safe, and Datong should be able to contain more Tatar forces.
After sending Chen Yongxi away, Li Zicheng immediately summoned his generals and ministers to Wuying Hall for a military meeting.
"Finally some good news!" Li Zicheng looked at a group of his subordinates with a smile, "The Tatars suffered a bloody loss in Datong. They were defeated by Jiang Yu and lost thousands of people!"
"Really?"
"Is the person named Jiang that powerful?"
"It shouldn't be wrong. Didn't the Yulin Guards report that the Tatars had lifted the siege of Datong?"
"That might be true!"
"This Jiang Yu is still promising!"
Li Zicheng coughed, and everyone stopped talking. Li Zicheng smiled and said: "The defeat of the Tatars in Datong is also good for us. At least the Tatars in Beijing will not be able to reinforce the Tatars east of Fenglingdu and Tongguan.
In addition, it would be better for that thief Wu Sangui to go to Ningxia, otherwise the Tatars on the other side of Tongguan would have tens of thousands more accomplices! "
"Your Majesty, do we really not care about Wu Sangui anymore?" Liu Zongmin asked bitterly.
"Leave him alone, he won't be able to capture Chang'an anyway!" Li Zicheng gritted his teeth and said to Gao Yigong, "Yigong, you lead the new attached battalion to guard Chang'an!"
"Your Majesty, don't worry, I will definitely not let that thief Wu Sangui take Chang'an!"
Gao Yigong's new attached camp has 15,000 people, and it is indeed not easy to break if it is used to guard Chang'an Fort. And there is no need for Wu Sangui to fight against Chang'an City. If he has exhausted all his strength, will the Tatars let him become the king among officials?
Li Zicheng nodded and said: "Send a message to Bohou in Xiangjing and tell him to station troops in Nanyang and wait for an opportunity to march to Kaifeng Prefecture and steal the Tatars' retreat!"
It's still a trick to steal someone else's back! Last time Huaiqing counterattacked well and almost overturned the set, so Li Zicheng wanted to repeat his old trick.
"Your Majesty," Song Xiance offered advice at this time, "should we contact the Ming Dynasty again? These days, the Ming Dynasty's crown prince Zhu Cixiang has been reorganizing his army and military affairs, and he is showing signs of revitalization."
Li Zicheng snorted: "The young prince of the Ming Dynasty was treacherous and cruel. I'm afraid we, who are not so easy to get along with, fell into his trap last time and lost Shanxi in vain!"
He was tricked by Wang Yongji and Jiang Yu last time, and he really had nothing to do with Zhu Cixiang. But who gave Zhu Cixiang such a bad reputation that everyone knew he was treacherous and cruel? So the treacherous bad things must be done by him!
Song Xiance smiled, looking confident, "This time he will not dare to deceive the emperor again!"
"Why?" Li Zicheng asked.
"Because Zhu Cihuan, the fifth son of Emperor Chongzhen, is still in the hands of the emperor!"
"What's the use of this doll?"
"It's very useful!" Song Xiance said with a smile, "Your Majesty, do you still remember Zhu Cizhao who was sent to Zuo Liangyu's army by us?"
"Remember, how is this kid doing now?"
Song Xiance said: "I just got the news that Zhu Cizhao is asking for a wife."
"What? Asking for a wife? How old is this guy?" Li Zicheng was stunned, "Whose daughter is he asking for?"
Song Xiance smiled and said: "Zhu Cizhao's fiancée, the Emperor, you know is Zuo Mengmei!"
"Zuo Mengmei?" Li Zicheng laughed, "Fortunately Zuo Liangyu figured out that little brat Zhu Cixiang wouldn't be able to sleep now."
Song Xiance smiled again and said: "Zhu Cixiang now holds great power in the southeast. He has money, soldiers, land and population, but he has not dared to usurp the throne. He must be worried that Zuo Liangyu will establish another court in Wuchang. But compared to Zuo Liangyu's In terms of strength, the Tatars are what worries him the most! If Zhu Cihuan falls into the hands of the Tatars, is made emperor, and uses his name to invade Shandong, will Zhu Cihuan still be able to rest in Nanjing?"
"Wonderful! Wonderful!" Li Zicheng clapped his hands and laughed, "The military advisor has come up with a plan! If Zhu Cixiang dares to bully me again, I will send Zhu Cihuan to Dorgon in Beijing!"
