It is about more than three hundred miles from Daling River to Shanhaiguan.
Calculating the distance, if the army's fast horses arrived at Shanhaiguan on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, the court would be able to make a decision on the tenth day of the Lunar New Year.
Although Zu Dashou was already disappointed with the court, he still underestimated the limits of officials in the court.
On the seventh day of the lunar month, the only ones who appeared outside the Daling River were scouts sent by Qiu Hejia.
After seeing the real situation here, these scouts rushed back to Shanhaiguan to report. Come and go, it's already the tenth day of the Lunar New Year.
At this point, Sun Chengzong, Qiu Hejia and others who were in Shanhaiguan finally confirmed that Dalinghe City was besieged by tens of thousands of troops from the Hou Jin Dynasty.
This time Qiu Hejia and Gao Qiqian also panicked, knowing that something serious was going on.
I had no choice but to write to the court and ask for help.
On the 13th, eight hundred miles from Liaodong was rushed to Chongzhen, which quickly shocked the court.
"My dear friends, do you have any good ideas?"
In the palace, Chongzhen was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot.
But all the ministers below acted like cowards.
The king and his ministers have been working together for several years, and everyone has a little understanding of this young king. At the same time, he was even more critical of Chongzhen's style.
I said from the beginning that Daling River City should not be repaired, and you were not the one who forced it to be repaired.
Now that something happened, you are anxious and angry again.
How can you stand out at a time like this?
If one fails, Yuan Chonghuan will be second.
Seeing that no one said anything, Chongzhen's blood rushed into his head.
Okay, if you don't say anything, I will just give the order.
"Wen Qing, why do you teach me?"
Warm the body, look at the nose with eyes, look at the nose with the heart, and then open the mouth.
"Your Majesty, for the current plan, there is no other way. The only best strategy is to practice military preparation diligently and select talents."
Saying it means not saying it.
One of the secrets of being an official is that if you talk too much, you will be wrong, and if you don't say anything, it will be good.
As long as you don't do anything, everything will be fine.
Chongzhen had lost interest in such polite words, and turned around and asked again: "Zhou Qing, as the chief assistant, you must not disappoint me."
Zhou Yanru wanted to cry but had no tears, so he might as well not be the first assistant.
There is no other way. He is the leader of hundreds of officials and cannot retreat.
After thinking about it, he had no choice but to say: "Your Majesty, the tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in the Daling River must not be abandoned, otherwise the people's hearts will be shattered and the disaster will be over. For the current plan, the only way to solve the disaster in Liaodong is to send reinforcements quickly."
In fact, Chongzhen himself knew that the situation in Liaodong could only be solved by sending reinforcements.
"Where are the reinforcements coming from?"
Zhou Yanru knew nothing about military affairs. When he was in a dilemma, an idea flashed in his mind and he hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, Shandong Zuo Menggeng is a good general in the world, and he has a brilliant record against the Eastern captives. If he is sent to Liaodong, the Eastern captives will definitely be frightened. If you are afraid, you will be in chaos if you don’t fight.”
Hearing him mention Zuo Mengeng, Chongzhen's heart skipped a beat. Just as he was about to nod, a minister jumped out.
It was none other than Zhang Zhenxiu.
"Your Majesty, Zuo Menggeng is now in charge of slaying the White Lotus Demon and has trapped its remnants in the Mengshan Mountains. Given time, he will definitely be able to complete the battle. If he is sent away at this time, the White Lotus Demon will return to the world, and who knows how many Foolish men and foolish women are bewitched by it, and chaos will arise again without end.”
Zhang Zhenxiu had long been ventilated, and he was determined to prevent Zuo Mengeng from being transferred out of Shandong at all costs.
And the reasons he gave were something Chongzhen couldn't refuse.
It is true that the situation in Liaodong is extremely dangerous, but the harm caused by the White Lotus Sect cannot be ignored by Chongzhen.
This cult, which has been like a tarsal maggot since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, has always caused countless troubles to the Ming Dynasty.
Emperors of all dynasties have tried to cut them off but have never been able to do so. Now they have finally trapped them all in one place. If they are released again...
Chongzhen quickly woke up and said hurriedly: "Zuo Menggeng has an important responsibility, so there is no need to mention it again. Zhou Qing can choose another candidate."
Zhou Yanru looked calm on the surface, but felt quite regretful in his heart.
His intention to mobilize Zuo Mengeng to Liaodong was actually not a whim, but a deep calculation behind it.
The news of the Nanjing debate had reached him.
After learning that Zhang Cai and others were defeated, and that Liu Xue was now being discussed in the south of the Yangtze River, Zhou Yanru knew that the situation was quite dangerous.
Especially after Zhang Pu returned, he wrote a secret letter to him, bluntly saying that Master Liu Zongzhou and his disciples were a great harm to the world, and asked him to find a way to get rid of them in the court.
Zhou Yanru didn't think of how to deal with Liu Zongzhou for a moment, so he wanted to take this opportunity to attack Zuo Mengeng.
But he was protected by someone.
Thinking of this, Zhou Yanru couldn't help but look at Zhang Zhenxiu inquiringly. The other party had already retreated, as if nothing had happened.
Without the calculation, Zhou Yanru really had a dark eye on the military.
"Your Majesty, I have little knowledge in the military, and I am afraid that I will ruin military affairs by making false statements. It is better to rely on Liang Sima for all kinds of planning."
This excuse made Liang Tingdong inevitable. Who called him the Minister of the Ministry of War?
Fortunately, Liang Tingdong was prepared and came as soon as he opened his mouth.
"Your Majesty, now Shanhaiguan only has 2,500 soldiers and horses from Commander-in-Chief Wu Xiang. If Dalinghe City is to be saved, troops must be mobilized from all over. In my humble opinion, one from each of Gyeonggi, Shandong and Shanxi will be dispatched to join Shanhaiguan's soldiers and horses. , should be the best policy.”
This strategy is cheap and the only way to do it today.
Chongzhen just asked: "Who can lead the army?"
Liang Tingdong knew his thoughts and carefully considered the candidates he recommended.
"Zhang Chun is available to supervise the army and prepare the troops."
Chongzhen had a good impression of Zhang Chun. When the Jisi Revolution began, he even called Zhang Chun in to give a duel. In subsequent battles, Zhang Chun indeed made many meritorious deeds.
"That being the case, Aiqing must quickly draw up the charter without delay."
Liang Tingdong accepted the order and immediately began to mobilize troops and generals after returning.
In addition to appointing Zhang Chun, the Supervisor of the Army Bingbei Dao, as the Minister of Taipu Temple to command the reinforcements from all directions, he also sent dispatch orders to soldiers and horses from various places.
Among them, the largest number of soldiers and horses were dispatched from Shandong. In addition to the 5,000-car battalion of General Song Wei, there were also troops stationed in various places. Of course, Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai, also received the transfer order.
Sun Yuanhua did not dare to neglect and took action immediately.
In addition, Ming troops from various parts of the capital were also mobilized, asking them to go to Shanhaiguan and put them under Zhang Chun's command.
The one who was most dissatisfied with this transfer order was Zhang Zongheng, the governor of Xuanda.
It's not that Zhang Zongheng followed Zuo Mengeng's wishes and deliberately caused trouble, but that the battlefield in Shanxi was really at a critical moment.
In mid-July, the commander-in-chief Wang Guoliang underestimated the enemy's advance and was caught off guard by the rebels, causing the entire army to collapse. Wang Guoliang was also imprisoned and will be punished at a later date.
Because of Wang Guoliang's failure, all the Ming armies were frightened, and due to lack of troops, they were no longer able to pose a threat to the rebels in Shanxi.
Zhang Zongheng and Governor Xu Dingchen were so anxious that they could only hold on.
It took until early September. The imperial court's urging was so urgent that Zhang Zongheng had no choice but to ask Zuo Liangyu to lead an army of 3,500 people to come to the rescue.
As it turned out, Zuo Liangyu was also greedy for life and fearful of death. He didn't want to go to Liaodong at all, so he slowly and leisurely stalled for time along the way. After dragging him all the way to the Daling River, he had not yet reached Shanhaiguan.
So he was ordered by the imperial court to stop and garrison the capital.
It was not until the autumn of the fifth year of Chongzhen that the rebel army invaded Huaiqing Mansion in Henan Province, and Zuo Liangyu was sent to fight.
The court's efficiency was slow, but Sun Chengzong couldn't wait any longer.
He was too lazy to argue with Qiu Hejia and Gao Qiqian, so he personally rushed to Jinzhou to take charge and organized the first wave of rescue.
On August 16, Sun Chengzong sent more than 2,000 Songshan garrison troops to Daling River for reinforcements.
As you can imagine, this reinforcement force was defeated by the Hou Jin Army before it could even get close to the city. Not even one-tenth of the people who escaped returned.
Among all the reinforcements, Song Wei was the most loyal.
He was the first to arrive at Shanhaiguan.
Zhang Chun waited around at Shanhaiguan, but could not wait for reinforcements from all walks of life, and the military situation on the Daling River was so fierce that Zhang Chun had no choice but to lead Wu Xiang and Song Wei and six thousand troops to rescue.
Azig led his army to fight.
Because of the heavy fog, neither side made any moves and had to retreat from each other.
The Ming army's second reinforcement also failed.
And in the process, absurd things continue to happen.
For example, in Shandong, when they received an order to go to Liaodong for reinforcements, the officers and soldiers of Tai'an ran away and finally escaped into the sea from Lijin County.
In short, I would rather be a fugitive than go to Liaodong.
Things didn't go well for Sun Yuanhua either.
He received the order to mobilize troops on August 27th, and immediately summoned Pi Dao's deputy commander Zhang Tao, staff general Huang Fei, Kong Youde and others to join him.
As a result, except for Zhang Tao, both Huang Fei and Kong Youde were all dilly-dallying and trying their best to delay.
It took a full month, until September 27th, before the reinforcements sent by Dengzhou officially set off from the waterway and rushed to Sancha River.
With the smoke billowing from all directions, Zuo Menggeng could not stay in Linqing for a while, so he set off again to the Yimeng Mountain area and began to deploy the encirclement and suppression of the White Lotus Sect.
This time it was a real encirclement and suppression from all sides.
The three regiments of the First Division and the three regiments of the Second Division were all mobilized, and the huge Mengshan Mountains were surrounded by water.
Three regiments of the newly formed Third Division also joined the battle.
Combat-based training can better promote the growth of new troops.
For a time, several places on the land of China were filled with smoke at the same time.
Every victory or defeat affects people's hearts.
