In mid-November, just when Gao Heng was forming the Xinghua Army and carrying out combat training step by step, the messenger sent by Fang Zhenru finally arrived in the capital. At the end of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen's reign, Ming Dynasty was already as ill as a seriously ill patient.
If he had followed the previous 800-mile rush, the courier should have been able to reach the capital in a very short time. However, due to the intense war in the Central Plains, Hu, Guang, and Sichuan were greatly affected, so the courier could only go north from the coastal areas such as Guangdong and Fujian. , and had to avoid possible bandits and captives on the way, so it took more than a month to get to the capital.
"Great victory, great victory!" According to past practice, the messenger waved the battle report in his hand when he rushed into the city gate, reporting victory along the way. This was an exciting moment. In the dark clouds of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, a A good news report can definitely be inspiring.
"What? A great victory? Where is the great victory?" The sky in the capital was gray, and there was no life on the streets. In mid-to-late November, the weather was cold, and refugees pouring in from all over the Central Plains and outside the customs continued to gather in the capital. At this moment, the capital, It is no longer as prosperous as it used to be, but lifeless. People on the street have sad faces, and there are a large number of homeless people who look like beggars, or even more miserable than beggars, huddled in a corner.
When they heard that someone reported victory, the people seemed to have a glimmer of hope. They stretched their necks and looked in the direction of the messenger, wanting to hear what he would say next.
Immediately, a soldier patrolling the street asked at the top of his voice: "Where is the great victory?"
The messenger shouted while beating his horse: "Great victory in the southwest, great victory in the southwest, Zhennanguan Ming army took the initiative to attack, thwarted the Annan army's offensive, and wiped out three thousand enemies!"
"What? Where?" "Annan?" The people and soldiers asked a series of questions.
The people in the teahouse who were about to stand up and watch the fun retracted their bodies and sat down. A middle-aged man shook his head and said: "What the hell is Annan? It's just a barren land. I heard that the people there speak in the language of birds, and the upper class people use The words are still Chinese characters. If a small country like this comes to attack us, there is no reason why it should not suffer defeat."
Another person at the table said: "Hey! It's not a big deal to defeat Annan. If the officers and soldiers are so powerful, why don't they go to the Central Plains to fight the bandits and the outsiders to fight the rebels? No matter how bad the officers and soldiers in the southwest are, they can still go north to Sichuan. ah."
Another person said: "Hey, this year is really unlucky. Kaifeng was finished in September. Not only did the bandit army capture Kaifeng, I heard that Zhang Xianzhong also entered Tongcheng. Sun Chuanting and Governor Sun led the army to win first and then later. We were defeated, and the whole army was almost wiped out in the battle of Jiaxian. This is what happened twenty days ago. And the commander-in-chief Liu Chao rebelled. This guy is more lethal than a bandit."
A young man came over and whispered: "Do you know, I have a relative who is an official in the Ministry of War. The court has blocked the news, but it is impossible for the people in the Ministry of War not to know. Do you know? The Qing army has already invaded Jizhou."
"What?" Everyone was shocked when they heard this. If it was a bandit, it can be said that the people in the capital didn't have a deep idea. Although the city was crowded with a large number of refugees and brought all kinds of news about bandits, everyone still There is a general consensus that the bandits are nothing more than an armed force composed of ordinary people who can't survive. It's just that there are too many people for the officers and soldiers to cope with.
But the people of the capital have unforgettable memories of Jianlu. Since the first year of Chongzhen, the Qing army entered the pass several times. Because the capital of the Ming Dynasty was in Shuntian Mansion, following the principle of the emperor guarding the country, the capital was actually very close to the Great Wall defense line. , it can be said that once the Qing army breaks through the Great Wall, it will soon threaten the capital. Who would have thought that when the house leaked, it rained all night. Commander Hong had just lost Liaodong at the beginning of the year, and at the end of the year, the Qing army entered the pass. This time, he didn't know where the target was.
"Do you know where they are now?" someone asked immediately.
The man shook his head and said: "I don't know where it is specifically, but I heard from my relatives that the imperial court established two governors inside and outside the palace, and added two more governors in Changping, Baoding, Ningyuan, Yongping, Shuntian, and Baoding. The six governors of , Miyun, and Tianjin, as well as the eight general soldiers of Ningyuan, Shanhai, Zhongxie, Xixie, Changping, Tongzhou, Tianjin, and Baoding, in short, are scattered all over the place, and there is no place to defend, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses guarding various places. Be on guard against death."
"Alas! What's the use of such a tight defense? The key to the Jianlu war is to move quickly. A large number of cavalry go out to fight, coming and going without a trace. If we defend one city after another, the enemy can defeat them one by one. If we want to If it weren't for the disastrous defeat of Saerhu, why would Jianlu have become so powerful?" sighed an old man who was standing nearby and listening to their conversation.
Everyone shook their heads and sighed. Everyone was in an extremely low mood. Who would have thought that the war was so close to them. What everyone was more worried about was that there were Jianlu in the north and rogues in the south. They were now caught in the middle. The capital. Where will the future go?
"Your Majesty! Good news has arrived outside the palace!" a guard reported. In the morning, the emperor was summoning ministers to hold a court meeting. Since entering Chongzhen fifteen years ago, the court meeting must be held almost every day, because all kinds of bad news come every month. Chongzhen was only more than thirty years old, and he had already died. His temples were gray and he looked old, as if he was fifty years old.
If we talk about diligence, then Chongzhen can be said to be a very diligent emperor since ancient times. He corrects memorials until late at night every day. It can be said that he has to interfere with the appointment of a guerrilla general. If anyone said that Chongzhen was not diligent, he would be wronged. But diligence was due to diligence, but there was no sign of improvement in state affairs. Every day, memorials like snowflakes flew to the capital, making Chongzhen breathless.
Since the Qing soldiers entered the pass on the sixth day of November, the court meeting has been going on for many days. Chongzhen basically had one question every day, what to do with the war ahead. In the middle of the year, Chen Xinjia, Secretary of the Ministry of War, was executed. His successor, Feng Yuanbiao, was an old minister promoted from Nanjing. He was old, capable of maintaining success, but not aggressive enough. He was also helpless against the sudden invasion of the Qing army.
"You guys say it, you guys say it, why did everyone keep silent when I asked you to say it?" In the Huangji Hall, Chongzhen stood up from the dragon chair. In the past few days, the court meeting has been focused on the Qing troops entering the Pass and Kaifeng. After losing the defense, he wanted to ask the ministers how to deal with the current situation, but no one could tell the reason.
The Huangji Hall is also known as the Jinluan Hall in later secular terms. It is also the place where the emperor holds major court meetings. At this moment, officials of the fifth rank and above in the capital are gathered together. The chief minister Zhou Yanru leads a group of cabinet members and stands at the front of the team holding a wat tablet. .
Zhou Yanru swallowed and spit. He was usually very eloquent when it came to handling internal affairs, and it was not that he didn't understand military matters at all. It was just that everyone knew that the current situation was a dead end, but no one dared to tell the truth.
Chongzhen asked everyone to speak, and Zhou Yanru glanced left and right. Feng Yuanbiao was like an old monk in trance, his eyes were slightly closed, and he didn't know if he was asleep. Zhou Yanru snorted coldly in his heart, "Damn old guy."
Look at Chen Yan, Zhang Sizhi, Jiang Dejing and others behind them. They all have their heads lowered, as if there is something wonderful and beautiful on their feet, and they are all looking at each other.
Zhou Yanru secretly cursed in his heart that these ghosts and ghosts finally let him, the chief assistant, take the lead. Who said he was the leader of hundreds of officials? But Zhou Yanru's heart was blank. All the defenses that needed to be done had been done. The imperial court was now in a state of panic and was in a tight situation. There was no spare force to launch an attack, so it could only recruit troops to defend on the spot.
Even if it was an attack, which army would dare to go head-to-head with the Qing soldiers? Even the most elite Liaodong Army was completely wiped out. Wu Sangui's Guan Ning Cavalry was also huddled in the city. No one around the capital dared to take the initiative to fight. Besides, Henan had just been occupied by Li Zicheng. Who knows if he would go crazy and turn around to attack. Capital? Zhou Yanru wanted to break his head but had no good plan, but Chongzhen asked a question and had to speak. Zhou Yanru bit the bullet, cleared his throat, and was about to speak when he was interrupted by a voice outside.
The sudden news about the victory suddenly broke the awkward atmosphere in the Huangji Palace. A little Huangmen said a few words to the guards outside the door, then hurried into the hall, knelt down and kowtowed: "Your Majesty, this morning, There is a horse flying outside Desheng Gate to report to the capital, which is a good news."
"What? Good news? Where is Tang Ma now?" Chongzhen's eyes lit up, and he couldn't hold back the excitement in his heart. He hadn't heard the word good news for a long time, and he couldn't say it for a long time. Not long ago, Sun Chuanting He also wrote a letter of success, saying that Li Zicheng was defeated in Henan. Chongzhen was happy for several days and prepared to draft a decree to reward Sun Chuanting.
But who would have thought that before the award was sent out, news of Jiaxian's defeat would be sent back to the capital. After Li Zicheng was defeated, he discarded supplies along the way. When the officers and soldiers were collecting the supplies, he returned with a carbine and beat the officers and soldiers. The meaning of defeat first and then victory is completely different from that of victory first and defeat later. Judging from the final result, the officers and soldiers were defeated and the thieves won.
When Chongzhen heard the news, he almost vomited blood and cursed Sun Chuanting as a waste. If he hadn't been leading troops to confront Li Zicheng, Chongzhen would have taken Sun Chuanting back to the capital and imprisoned him again.
Now that I heard the good news, although I don't know which group of people did it, it is still good news.
Wang Chengen, who was beside him, quickly walked down the steps and came to Xiao Huangmen. He whispered a few words. Xiao Huangmen went out and came back, handing over an envelope. Wang Chengen got the envelope and said, "Your Majesty, this is the letter sent by Tang Ma. It was sent directly to the Imperial City without going through the Ministry of War."
"Quick! Read!" Chongzhen paced back and forth excitedly, signaling Wang Chengen to quickly open the read.
Wang Chengen immediately opened the letter, "Your Majesty, this is a good news from Fang Zhenru, the governor of Guangxi. It said that the Annan army raided the border and attacked Zhennanguan. The Zhennanguan officers and soldiers were brave and went out of the city to counterattack. They killed the enemy general Zheng Guang and wiped out the enemy. There are more than 3,000 elite men, but the materials seized are useless."
"Ah, this." Chongzhen was stunned. Obviously this was not the news he wanted to hear. As an emperor, Chongzhen was not an unlearned person. He was very familiar with the geography around the Ming Dynasty. He knew where Annan was. But what does Annan's victory have to do with him here? The capital is in danger, so what's the use of winning Zhennanguan?
Chongzhen sat down a little dejectedly. This kind of news was insignificant to the current situation. He said a little tiredly: "I understand."
"Your Majesty." Just as Wang Chengen was about to put away the envelope, Zhou Yanru suddenly spoke up.
"What's the matter with the chief minister?" Chongzhen asked.
Zhou Yanru said: "Your Majesty, although the southwest direction is not the main battlefield, under the current circumstances, it is indeed a hard-won victory. It has no impact on the war between the Jianlu and the bandits. However, this does not commend the bravery of our Ming soldiers. Fighting is not a conflict. The war inside and outside the pass is like this, but there are still Ming troops in the southwest who dare to take the initiative. Annan Xiaoxiao was defeated by our army. This incident can be publicized, and it also encourages our soldiers to fight bravely. "
"I second the proposal, I second the proposal, I second the proposal." Chen Yan and others immediately stood up and expressed their support for Zhou Yanru.
Zhou Yanru sneered. These guys had just shrank their heads and said nothing, as if they were asleep. Now the topic has changed, and they are all acting pretentious again.
Chongzhen nodded and said: "What the chief assistant said makes sense. Anyway, it is a victory. It can play a certain inspiring role. It shows that our Ming Dynasty still has an army that can fight and dare to fight. Then I can trouble the chief assistant to draft one. Make a plan."
Zhou Yanru was a little puzzled: "Your Majesty, there is a problem. Not to mention the emptiness of the national treasury, there is no extra gold and silver to reward meritorious soldiers. Even if there is, Zhennan Pass is a long way away and we can't transport it. So, so."
Chongzhen frowned, "Just tell me."
Zhou Yanru knelt down and said: "So this time, I'm afraid I can only verbally reward him, or let Fang Zhenru squeeze funds from Guangxi. The meritorious officers and soldiers should be promoted."
Chongzhen sighed and said: "Let's do it like this." As an emperor, Zhou Yanru's plan made him very embarrassed. You know, the emperor is not short of hungry soldiers. He won the battle ahead and couldn't get anything out of him. Only verbal commendations can be given, which will undoubtedly demoralize the soldiers at the front.
Chongzhen shook his head with some self-mockery, but now, this is the only way to do it. Now his attention is focused on the surrounding areas of the capital. As long as Jianlu doesn't attack, everything will be easy, but how can this dangerous situation be resolved? ?
"Let's leave it like this. Let's go back to the topic just now. What are your countermeasures when Jianlu enters the pass?" Chongzhen repeated his old tune. Jianlu's offensive was imminent, and Chongzhen's heart was on fire.
Silence, deathly silence, Zhou Yanru also lowered his head, the ministers didn't know what to say. Chongzhen's face turned livid in an instant.
