In November, the Forbidden City was already covered with thick snow.
The thick white snow not only brings coldness, but also buries a lot of filth in the Forbidden City.
In the main hall, a group of ministers lowered their heads, and above them, Chongzhen was roaring.
"Trash, they are all a bunch of trash!"
"Last year, you told me that although Chu thieves can be arrogant for a while, they will be wiped out sooner or later, and they can be controlled in the land of northern Chu!"
"But at the beginning of the year, Chunan was lost, Jiujiang was lost, and Anqing was also lost!"
"Okay, even if we lose Jiujiang and Anqing, I still trust you."
"But now, the city of Jinling has been lost. That is where our ancestors' foundations were built and where Taizu's mausoleum is. Now it is all in the hands of Chu thieves. How do you want me to see my ancestors in the future?"
"And Fan Jingwen, did he think he could just die? I asked him to guard Jinling and defend Jiangnan, but Chu thieves attacked and he died immediately."
"Does he think that committing suicide means he is loyal? It's a big joke. To pass the decree, Fan Jingwen lost his city and territory. He committed suicide out of fear of crime, which is a crime worthy of genocide!"
"And that bastard Li Yuankui, with his dignity as the right minister of the Ministry of Industry, dared to turn himself into a traitor and pass on the decree to destroy his clan."
"Yu Sixun, the governor of Zhejiang, held back his troops and watched the situation in Jiangnan deteriorate. He was demoted to the third level!"
After finishing speaking, Chongzhen, who still retained the last trace of reason, finally knew that under this situation, it would be difficult to replace the governor of Zhejiang, so he immediately added: "Order him to make meritorious service, otherwise he will be executed without mercy!"
Chongzhen was roaring alone above!
The ministers below all lowered their heads and dared not speak.
As for what is going on in my heart, no one knows.
And there must be more than one person complaining about Chongzhen: It's not all your stupid fool. Although Wang Jiazhen lost Jiujiang and Hukou, under the circumstances, why did you withdraw Wang Jiazhen? If Wang Jiazhen was allowed to perform meritorious service, he might even be able to dance around for a while.
With the situation so turbulent, Wang Jiazhen was killed and temporarily replaced by Fan Jingwen, who couldn't even hold the scene...
Isn’t this completely pushing the already corrupt situation in Jiangnan into a pit of fire?
And they who think this way never think about why the huge Ming Dynasty fell to this point.
Chongzhen lived frugally and used it to fight against the Eastern invaders and to encircle and suppress the Chu bandits. How much money and food were deducted by them through corruption.
How much of the millions of taels of silver a year in the Ministry of Household Affairs went into the private pockets of many ministers in the court, and how much actually went into the frontline soldiers.
Many shameless people always put the blame on others and feel that they are innocent.
And now this group of officials in the court are definitely the best among the shameless group.
Therefore, they were right, and Chongzhen was wrong.
Chongzhen was furious because of the news of the fall of Jinling City, and naturally many officials were implicated.
Fan Jingwen who had committed suicide was pulled out and whipped to death by Chongzhen, who ordered the Fan family to be confiscated and exterminated.
The governor of Zhejiang was also implicated and was demoted to the third level for meritorious service. He was ordered to quickly send troops to Yingtianfu and counterattack Jinling City.
Even Zhu Dadian, the governor of Fengyang, was once again scolded by an edict, ordering him to quickly send troops south to destroy the thieves.
Many ministers in the capital were also implicated.
But these actually have no effect on the corrupt situation in Jiangnan.
What was really useful was that Chongzhen ordered the governor of Shandong, the governor of water transportation, and even some of the Jiliao border troops to rush south to participate in the encirclement and suppression of the Chu bandits.
They also asked Sun Chuanting, who had performed fairly well recently, and Zuo Liangyu, who was located in Henan, to lead troops to counterattack various places in northern Chu.
However, it is difficult to see any results from these measures in a short period of time, and they cannot even have any practical impact on the Chu army.
For example, on Sun Chuanting's side, although Sun Chuanting is very capable and has trained a new standard army with good combat effectiveness, it is very difficult to break into Yunyang Mansion from the front line of Guanzhong Prefecture and then counterattack Chubei.
The Chu army deployed a mixed regiment on the front lines of Guanzhong Prefecture and Yunyang Prefecture, a garrison division with a total strength of more than 15,000 troops, and nearly twenty two-and-a-half-pound field cannons and six five-pound field cannons.
Although the attack on Guanzhong Mansion was a bit reluctant, Sun Chuanting would be unlikely to be able to defeat him if he relied on the complex terrain of the eastern part of Guanzhong Mansion and Yunyang Mansion for defensive operations.
Not to mention the northern line such as Nanyang Prefecture. Although Zuo Liangyu has a lot of troops, the Chu army has been operating the northern defense line for more than a year. Among them, the three passes of Yalu and the ancient Fangcheng Road go south. The strategic announcement was even more heavily garrisoned, and it was built by the Chu army just like Tietong.
Among them, Luyang Pass has a garrison brigade and a main regiment stationed all year round, with a total force of more than 9,000 people. There are also more than 20 field guns and more than 30 old traditional general guns and Franco machine guns stationed here.
If Zuo Liangyu wants to defeat Luyang Pass, he may not be able to defeat him even after tossing all his tens of thousands of people.
Not to mention the Fangcheng Ancient Road. The Chu army relied on Yuzhou City and built dozens of fortresses of various sizes. The main force of the Second Division was stationed here all year round. In addition, there were about 15,000 garrison divisions. Assist in defensive operations.
There are also many kinds of artillery.
There are also a lot of ammunition reserves, and there is a Xiangyang Arsenal behind them that can replenish a large amount of weapons and ammunition at any time.
Although most of the Xiangyang Arsenal's current production capacity is transported thousands of miles to the Eastern Front, if necessary, this part of the production capacity can be used for the Northern or Western Front at any time.
I dare not say that the Western Front and the Northern Front are as stable as Mount Tai, but trying to win them based on the strength of the Ming army on the opposite side is simply a dream.
If the Chu army cannot be threatened in these two directions, it will be even more difficult in other directions.
In the eastern Sichuan area, due to the complex terrain and the characteristics of being easy to defend and difficult to attack, it is not easy for the Chu army to break in. However, if the chieftain soldiers led by Qin Liangyu want to break out, it is just a dream.
The terrain on the Chunan frontline is also complex, and the Chu army on the Chunan frontline is quite strong. There are several garrison divisions. It is impossible for the troops in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou to cross the mountains and launch a counterattack.
Let alone counterattack, now they can't even protect themselves.
In the past six months, although the Chu army in the southern Chu area has not launched any large-scale strategic offensives, it has not listened to small and medium-sized offensives.
In October, they had just captured Quanzhou in Guangxi, which is adjacent to Chunan, and had already opened the door to Guilin.
Further south, He County was captured.
Along these two directions, the Chu army has brought the war to Guangxi, threatening the two strategic locations of Guilin and Wuzhou.
Xiong Wencan, the governor of the southwest, has been continuously dispatching troops to Guilin Prefecture, Pingle Prefecture and other places to stop the Chu army from going south. He is even mentally prepared to retreat to Liuzhou and Wuzhou.
Counterattack can only be paid lip service to.
On the Jiangxi front line, the Chu army swept through the central and northern areas of Jiangxi with thunderous momentum in the eastward campaign, and the troops reached the Longquan and Wan'an front lines.
Although the army will move eastward in the future, resource supplies will also be given priority to the eastward troops. The 7th Division and the two garrison divisions that stayed in Jiangxi will not receive many resources, but they can still continue to launch the offensive.
With the cooperation of the Navy's Xiangjiang Fleet, the 7th Division went south along the Xiangjiang River and reached Ganzhou directly, and strategically surrounded Ganzhou City.
It was just because supplies were unusual and artillery shells were insufficient, and Pan Zenghong, the governor of Southern Gansu, had been prepared early, deployed a large number of troops to garrison Ganzhou City, and also obtained a batch of guns and artillery from Guangdong.
Therefore, the Seventh Division's attempt to capture Ganzhou is not going too smoothly, and it is estimated that it will take some time.
In addition, another problem is that the leader of the southern Jiangxi region, Governor Pan Zenghong, was already seriously ill and was bedridden before the Chu army arrived.
After the Chu army reached the gates of Ganzhou City, and faced internal and external embarrassment, Pan Zenghong, the governor of Southern Gansu, finally couldn't bear it and died of illness in the army. However, due to the long distance and the fact that the north had been occupied and blocked by Chu thieves, the news was difficult to deliver and If it is not timely, the Chongzhen monarchs and ministers in the capital of the Ming Dynasty will not know it yet.
Now, the defenders on the Ganzhou City side, led by the governor of Ganzhou Prefecture and others, can barely maintain the situation, but if they want to counterattack, that is nonsense.
On many fronts such as the north, west, and south, the local Ming army was either unable to counterattack, or it was difficult to protect itself, and it was impossible to pose any actual threat to the country.
And in Jiangbei and Jiangnan.
Needless to say, the Ming troops in Jiangnan are now trembling in fear. When many officials and defenders in the city saw the Chu army coming, they didn't even have the courage to resist. They either fled or surrendered on the spot.
On the Jiangbei side, although the Fengyang governor's troops led by Zhu Dadian and Wang Jiazhen's remaining Jiangbei New Standard Army and other front-line troops in Jiangbei are struggling to support it, they can only barely hold on to the Hefei front line. Even Hezhou may not be able to hold it. Live.
Looking at the entire battle situation, in fact, the Ming court had completely lost the possibility of controlling the Chu army from conquering Jiangnan and separatizing half of Jiangnan.
It's just that neither Chongzhen nor the other ministers were willing to accept it.
But their reluctance won't change anything.
In early November, after the wind and snow in the Jiangnan area first subsided, the Chu army's two main divisions, two garrison divisions and two mortar regiments launched a fierce offensive to the east and southeast at the same time.
On the eastern front, although the Zhenjiang garrison resisted for a time, they were still cleanly dealt with by the Chu army advancing eastward. Moreover, the main force in the attack was not the First Division, but the newly reorganized 15th garrison. division.
After taking Zhenjiang, this led to a very important and extremely bad consequence for the Ming court, which could even use its rule in the north.
That is, the important lifeline of the Ming Dynasty, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, was cut off by the Chu army. After the Chu army took control of Zhenjiang, a large amount of rice grains from the south of the Yangtze River could no longer be transported northward through the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.
I'm afraid it won't be long before the capital will be short of food.
