In Youzhou in May, the severe cold of the previous months has disappeared. It has been getting warmer as early as March. Now in May, although it has not yet entered midsummer, it is still relatively comfortable.
However, in the Forbidden City today, a group of ministers felt the cool midsummer weather in advance.
Emperor Chongzhen had been talking to the ministers for more than half an hour, saying countless trashy things.
He completely disregarded his dignity as an emperor.
While he was cursing, Chongzhen looked at the ministers below who were pretending to be dead fish, but for a moment he suddenly lost the intention to continue cursing.
They were like roly-polys, letting Chongzhen spit on their faces, but they didn't even wipe them off, and they just spit on their faces.
Scolding them is like scolding into the air.
After a long pause, Chongzhen took a deep breath and said to the ministers: "Do you really want to be the ministers of the country's subjugation?"
Still no one spoke among the ministers below!
Anyone who speaks at this time would be foolish...
Emperor Chongzhen is furious right now and doesn't say anything, and what are you going to say now? If Chongzhen comes and says: What do you think we should do to stop the Chu thieves, wouldn't it be like being blinded?
If there was a way to do this, they wouldn't be sprayed here today, and the situation wouldn't evolve into the bad situation it is today.
Yesterday, bad news came from Shandong. It was said that the Chu pirate fleet made a large-scale landing at Changshan Eight Islands along the coast of Dengzhou. Hundreds of local guardsmen faced the Chu pirate fleet with hundreds of large ships. Without the slightest courage to resist, the Chu thieves had already raised the white flag and surrendered before they even landed.
The few naval warships in the direction of Dengzhou lacked the courage to take the initiative.
As a result, the Ming army stationed in the direction of Dengzhou could only watch helplessly as the Chu bandits successfully landed on Changshan Island, one of the eight Changshan Islands, without firing a single shot.
Chu thieves landed on Changshan Island in large numbers. What did they want to do?
A casual guess would tell that it must be preparations for landing in Shandong, which also means that the Chu army is preparing to capture Shandong.
Once Shandong is captured, Beizhili will not be far away.
Combined with the previous series of bad news from Jiangbei, it is not difficult to make people feel that the situation has become extremely corrupt.
This spring, the Ming court officials have become numb to all kinds of bad news!
In March, Yangzhou, Huai'an and other strategic places fell one after another, and that bastard Song Zushun even took the initiative to join the bandits.
Yang Sichang, who had once placed high hopes on Chongzhen, also failed to live up to Chongzhen's expectations. He lost many troops and generals, and finally died in Huai'an. Even though Yang Sichang had already died on the front line, Chongzhen was still aggrieved by this. At that time, he repeatedly said in the court Saying that Yang Sichang deceived the emperor and harmed the country not only failed to give Yang Sichang a posthumous honor, but also deprived Yang Sichang of all his previous honors.
If Yang Sichang hadn't been dead, Chongzhen would have been imprisoned again and executed.
If it weren't for the fact that the Yang family's hometown was Chu Nan, which was under the control of the Great Chu Empire, it is estimated that the entire Yang family would not have been able to escape the fate of being executed.
In April, reports came one after another that many officers and soldiers defected to the enemy on the Jiangbei front line. Fengyang city was destroyed. Thousands of the remaining Fengyang New Biao Army in Jiangbei were wiped out. Zhu Dadian, the governor of Fengyang, set himself on fire and died.
Jiangbei is completely finished!
How could Chongzhen not be angry in such a situation.
He thought that he had done everything he should do. He ignored the past grievances and re-appointed Yang Sichang, a capable minister. He also tried his best to mobilize the border troops from Xuanda and Jiliao to go south, and also transferred central and southern Zhili, Shandong and even Shanxi. The troops from other places were mobilized southward.
Finally, an army of 60,000 to 70,000 people was gathered in Jiangbei.
As for money and food, he also scrimped on food and clothing and squeezed out 200,000 taels of silver to give to various ministries on the southern front.
But what does all this bring?
The army of 60,000 to 70,000 was completely destroyed, Yang Sichang died of illness, Zhu Dadian committed suicide, and Song Zushun surrendered to the thieves.
The huge Jiangbei and Fengyang, the ancestral land, were all robbed by Chu thieves.
What's the problem here?
Is it his own problem?
No, no, he, Chongzhen, worked hard every day to deal with military and state affairs, and tried his best to mobilize troops and generals to collect money and food. He had done everything he could. Even looking at the entire Ming Dynasty, there was no one else who worked as hard as him. A diligent emperor.
So he is a minister?
Without a doubt yes!
These bastards only served as officials but did not do anything, and they all betrayed his trust.
This group of guys who failed to achieve anything but failed more than failed, were unable to do anything in the face of the Chu thieves who continued to move north.
In the end, no one answered Chongzhen's question. Dozens of Ming court officials in the hall unanimously remained silent, not even daring to say a word.
Chongzhen looked at them, sighed and turned around to leave.
He was completely disappointed with them.
After returning to the harem, Chongzhen ordered a number of eunuchs to go out to supervise the army, dispatched various border army units to prepare for fighting southward in Shandong and other places, and at the same time asked the eunuchs to organize the training of eunuchs in the palace and prepare to organize an army of eunuchs...
At this time, Chongzhen still did not give up the struggle. He was still thinking of ways to save the situation...
But how meaningful is this struggle?
——
On May 9, the Eighth Division of the Second Army of the Chu Army captured Xinyang, and cooperated with the Third Division to annihilate the local Ming armies. The Third Division was fully equipped with troops and sufficient logistics. The Third Division had been preparing for this battle for a long time. , as soon as they passed the three passes of Yiyang, they pounced on various places in Ruzhou Prefecture.
Immediately, it quickly advanced to Ruyang in the north. The strategic direction of the Third Division was very clear, which was to capture Ruyang and Xiping, and then cooperated with the Second Division and the 16th Division of the Fourth Army to advance to the Ye County area.
There is Zuo Liangyu's army there!
In the past two years, Zuo Liangyu has been based in Ye County and has been practicing the art of supporting troops and respecting himself. Not only has he earned himself the title of Henan's general, he has also earned himself the title of general who defeats thieves.
What kind of governor? The governor-general has to be polite to him.
Even the important officials in the imperial court in the capital coaxed him to give in.
Who allowed him to control an army of 60,000 to 70,000 people, single-handedly supported the defense of Henan, and powerfully blocked the tens of thousands of Chu bandits in the Ye County area.
Without Zuo Liangyu, the Chu thieves would have come out of Nanyang to torture the Central Plains.
In addition to his important role, Zuo Liangyu's domineering behavior was also the reason why Chongzhen's emperor and ministers followed him.
How should I put it, they are afraid!
What are you afraid of?
Zuo Liangyu behaves so domineeringly. Sometimes he is the boss who clearly threatens Chongzhen and his ministers. If you make me unhappy, if you make me unhappy, I will not be able to suppress the brothers under me. When the time comes, the brothers under me will If my brother can't stand it and insists on surrendering to Chu or even going to Youzhou to seek justice for me, then I won't be able to stop him...
Then, both Chongzhen and the cabinet ministers conscientiously chose to follow Zuo Liangyu's temper. Basically, apart from money and food, they gave him everything he asked for, even if he didn't ask for anything!
As for money and food, the court really couldn't afford it, otherwise it would have been given.
Such Zuo Liangyu has actually been a local emperor in Henan in the past two years, so that in the past two years, the world only knows that there is Zuo Liangyu in Henan, but even the governor of Henan does not know who he is.
As for Zuo Liangyu, when he saw the Chu bandits' arrogant army coming out, several main divisions were heading towards Ye County, where his main force was located.
Without even saying harsh words, he took the main force of more than 50,000 people and fled north in a flash. This escape meant directly fleeing to Luoyang.
Moreover, Luoyang did not seem to be his focus. As soon as he led the main force to enter Luoyang, he had already sent more than 10,000 partial troops to cross the Yellow River and directly stationed in Meng County, Wen County and other places on the north bank of the Yellow River.
Not only that, some people also discovered that Zuo Liangyu's troops were still heading north, and it seemed that they were heading directly to Yangcheng in Shanxi...
When Zuo Liangyu retreated to the north, he did not forget to display his usual tradition of military prowess, plundering all kinds of things, and even extorting a lot of money from the local clan king.
Zuo Liangyu's operation of robbing and running away not only shocked a group of officials in the Ming court, but also the generals of the Chu army.
You know, in order to kill Zuo Liangyu and capture Ye County, the Chu army planned for several years, especially the Second Division, the Sixteenth Division and the Third Division of the Fourth Army. They were thinking about how to do it every day. Fight against Zuo Liangyu's troops, especially in the open areas of the Central Plains despite the lack of cavalry support.
In this Henan war, the Chu army also attached great importance to Zuo Liangyu's unit. They established a Fourth Army specifically for him and sent the Eighth Division and the Third Cavalry Brigade to help.
This is preparation for a grand battle with Zuo Liangyu in the Ye County area, striving to defeat Zuo Liangyu's troops in one fell swoop.
In the end, Zuo Liangyu didn’t even get a beating...
No, when the main force of the Chu army was still dozens of kilometers away from Ye County, they directly applied oil to the soles of their feet.
This man had no intention of fighting the Chu army in the Central Plains.
When the generals of the Chu army were stunned, Zuo Liangyu, who was already crossing the river with his army, showed a look of disdain: "You all want to let me fight the Chu thieves. How can you do such a good thing? Don’t go!”
Zuo Liangyu muttered a few words to himself, then looked at the large number of ships and soldiers crossing the river, and smiled!
He led troops to Luoyang before, not to use Luoyang as a strategic location to resist the Chu thieves. He just wanted to pass by and grab some supplies, get some money, grain, iron, cloth and other materials, and then take away a large number of craftsmen in the city. .
He never planned to be in Ruzhou, nor in Luoyang, nor even in the Central Plains to fight the Chu thieves!
From the beginning to the end, Zuo Liangyu actually had no idea of fighting with the Chu army.
When I first went south to Yuzhou to fight against the Chu army, I also ran away when the opportunity came my way. I was stationed in Yexian and other Henan stations for many years. Although I fought many small battles with the Chu army, I really never had a fatal fight with the Chu army. !
Now, he won't have such thoughts!
