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Juyongguan is located in Changping, about a hundred miles away from the capital. Together with Zijingguan and Daomaguan, they are known as the Three Inner Passes.
Juyongguan is strategically located, with the momentum of "one man guarding the pass, ten thousand men cannot open it", and has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times. It has two passes, the southern one is called "Nankou" and the northern one is called "Juyongguan". The existing pass was built by General Xu Da, sent by Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang. It is the gateway to the northwest of Beijing.
On both sides of Juyongguan, there are magnificent mountains, and in the middle there is a valley more than 30 miles long, commonly known as "Guan Gou". Here, clear streams linger, green peaks overlap, flowers and trees are lush, and the scenery is beautiful.
Li Zicheng was wearing a pale blue hat and a light blue robe, riding a black horse, looking at the beautiful scenery of Guangou, feeling very happy. Since the Eastern Expedition, the Dashun Army has been advancing rapidly and invincible. In a short period of time, it has swept across the three borders and the entire Shanxi Province.
Xinzhou, Daizhou and other important towns in Shanxi were captured in one blow. Only Ningwu General Zhou Yuji put up a tenacious resistance, and the Dashun Army went through a fierce battle.
After the Ningwu Campaign, a large number of Ming court officials and soldiers defected to the Dashun Army, including even high-ranking officials such as Jiang Ge, the general of Datong, and Wang Chengyun, the general of Xuancheng.
At this moment, Juyongguan, the last gate to the northwest of the capital, slowly opened in front of Li Zicheng. Tang Tong, the general commander in charge of defending Juyongguan, and Du Zhizhi, the eunuch in charge of supervising the army, both came out of the pass, knelt in front of Li Zicheng, and handed over the last barrier of the capital to Li Zicheng.
Li Zicheng was already a strong and sturdy man. After years of fighting, he had a strong and aggressive aura. In addition, he was blind in one eye and wore a black eye patch, which made him look even more like a bandit. Tang Tong and Du Zhizhi, who were kneeling in front of his horse, were so frightened that they dared not even breathe.
Emperor Chongzhen entrusted Juyongguan, a dangerous pass that was crucial to the survival of the capital, to Tang Tong, and placed extremely high hopes on him. Before Tang Tong came, Chongzhen summoned him and gave him Mangyu, showing great favor to him.
But no one expected that the Changping general, who guarded the last gate of the capital, would surrender just like that.
For Li Zicheng, who had fought for many years and survived many life-and-death situations, he looked down upon cowards like Tang Tong from the bottom of his heart.
Niu Jinxing had followed Li Zicheng for many years and knew his temper very well. When he saw that he was silent for a long time, he knew that his bad habits had come back. Previously, Datong General Jiang Ge surrendered on his own initiative. Li Zicheng also looked down on Jiang Ge and intended to kill him. It was his general Zhang Tianlin who dissuaded him in time. Li Zicheng spared Jiang Ge's life, but still deprived him of his military power.
Niu Jinxing quickly leaned over to Li Zicheng's ear and whispered, "Your Majesty, when King Zhao of Yan wanted to recruit talented people, one of his advisers, Guo Kui, told him a story about buying horse bones for a thousand gold coins. I'm sure Your Majesty has heard of this story. Your Majesty, although people despise people like Tang Tong, who betrayed his master, in order to capture Yanjing as soon as possible and conquer the world, he cannot be killed now."
Niu Jinxing, also known by his courtesy name Juming, is 49 years old this year. He was born in a Juren family. He likes reading and is well versed in Tianguan, Fengjiao, and the military strategies of Sun and Wu. After Li Zicheng founded the country in Xi'an, he served as the prime minister of the Dashun Kingdom. He is one of the people Li Zicheng relies on the most.
He has always advocated forcing surrender through war, employing surrendered officials, and further undermining the resistance of Ming officials and generals, so as to achieve the goal of quickly sweeping the world.
After his reminder, Li Zicheng concealed his murderous intention, praised Tang Tong and Du Zhizhi with a few words, and let the two leave.
Li Zicheng's cold treatment made Tang Tong feel uneasy and unhappy. Perhaps this was the cause of his later betrayal of Li Zicheng and surrender to the Qing Dynasty.
After taking Juyongguan, the gate to Yanjing was wide open. It seemed that taking Yanjing and conquering the world was just around the corner. Li Zicheng was full of confidence and didn't care about how Tang Tong felt at this time.
After sending Tang Tong and Du Zhizhi away, Li Zicheng convened a high-level strategic meeting in Guancheng. Participants included Prime Minister Niu Jinxing, founding military advisor Song Xiance, Minister of the Personnel Government Song Qijiao, Acting General Liu Zongmin, and Right Vice Minister of the Personnel Government Gu Junen.
Li Zicheng got straight to the point and said, "Let's discuss how to attack Yanjing next."
Song Xiance first said: "Xuancheng and Datong have surrendered, the Ming court's three border troops have all left, Shandong General Liu Zeqing led his troops to plunder Linqing and turned south. At present, the only Ming army that can return to Yanjing is the Liaodong army.
The Liaodong Ming army has been fighting the Tatars outside the Great Wall for many years, and its combat power should not be underestimated. In order to prevent the Liaodong Ming army from returning to support, our army must focus on the word "quickly". In order to take the capital as soon as possible, I suggest sending people to infiltrate the city to spread rumors and bribe the officials and generals, so that our army can arrive, cooperate inside and outside, and quickly take Yanjing."
Gu Jun'en immediately agreed, "What the Grand Military Advisor said is absolutely right. The walls of the capital are high and thick, and there are a large number of artillery. The Tartars outside the Great Wall have besieged the city several times but failed to break through. This shows how difficult it is to attack the capital. Although two-fifths of the population of the capital has been lost since the epidemic last year, and people are even more panicked now, if Chongzhen fights to the death and personally goes to the city to boost morale, even if our army can break through the city, I'm afraid it will suffer heavy losses. The best strategy is to cooperate with the outside world."
Niu Jinxing and others had no objection to this point, but as the fruits of victory were about to be obtained, everyone's little calculations began to click in their hearts. Song Xiance was originally recommended to Li Zicheng by Niu Jinxing, but the two had different political strategies.
Especially after the founding of the country in Xi'an, Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance had actually become the main competitors. One was the founding prime minister, and the other was the founding great master, both of whom were people that Li Zicheng relied on very much.
Niu Jinxing did not openly oppose Song Xiance, but instead said: "Your Majesty, our army suffered heavy losses in the Ningwu battle, and our forces are somewhat weak. If we want to attack the capital, we must first join forces with the southern army and then encircle the capital.
At the same time, I suggest that you reuse Tang Tong and other surrendered generals and let them lead their troops to attack as the vanguard. On the one hand, this can reduce the loss of our troops. On the other hand, reusing these surrendered generals can also set an example for other Ming generals and weaken their will to resist... "
"No!" Song Xiance retorted before he could finish, "Your Majesty, it is precisely because our army suffered heavy losses in Ningwu that we cannot reuse Tang Tong and other surrendered generals at this time. Your Majesty, please think about it. If you want to reuse these surrendered generals, you must give them great power. These people have only been in the Ming court for a short time and their minds are unpredictable. If they can betray the Ming court today, they may betray you tomorrow. If our army has not suffered any losses, it would be fine. But now that our army has lost a lot of elite soldiers in Ningwu, giving these surrendered generals great power is like strengthening the branches and weakening the trunk. This is what a wise man would not do."
Li Zicheng's top general Liu Zongmin also opposed the use of surrendered generals. He said: "Your Majesty, there are only a few old, weak and sick people left in Yanjing now. They are not vulnerable at all. There is no need to hand over power to those surrendered generals who are fickle. We only need to lead our troops to attack fiercely, and the capital will be captured in no time. Please give the order, Your Majesty. I am willing to lead the vanguard and help you capture the capital."
The Minister of Personnel, Song Qijiao, also opposed the reuse of surrendered generals, but he only expressed his attitude without making too many harsh words.
At this time, Gu Jun'en, who had proposed the strategy of taking control of Guanzhong and was highly valued by Li Zicheng, turned to support Niu Jinxing and said, "Your Majesty is the common ruler of the world. Your heart can accommodate the world, so why not tolerate a few surrendered generals? Although our Dashun Dynasty is full of talents, since ancient times, rulers have never complained about having too many talents.
Your Majesty, although it is just around the corner to capture the capital, the Ming court's Liaodong strong army is still there, and Qin Mu, who dominates Huguang and Jiangxi, is also very worrying. Liu Zeqing, Zuo Liangyu, Zhang Xianzhong and others each occupy a region and have their own troops. Even if Your Majesty captures the capital, it will probably take some effort to further conquer the world.
Just as Prime Minister Niu said, making use of surrendered generals can show the world your broad mind and magnanimity, and lay a good foundation for surrendering separatist forces in various places and pacifying the world in the future."
By this time in the war, a large number of Ming officials and generals had surrendered to the Dashun Army. People like Bai Guangen, Xu Yongfu, Tang Tong, Wang Chengyun, Jiang Ge and others were all former generals of the Ming court.
The emergence of a large number of surrendered officials and generals has actually become a thorny problem that Li Zicheng has to deal with carefully, even more thorny than attacking the capital.
Over-employing these surrendered officials and generals would inevitably lead to dissatisfaction among the original team members. However, blindly suppressing and marginalizing these surrendered officials and generals would also bring extremely serious negative impacts. First, it might lead to internal divisions. Second, it might result in no one being willing to surrender in the future, and it might even affect the survival of the Dashun regime.
At present, several of his most trusted subordinates had two completely different opinions on this issue, which made Li Zicheng very embarrassed.
Li Zicheng has always been very confident in military affairs, but when it comes to such complicated personnel issues, Li Zicheng feels quite overwhelmed.
The reasons for the years of roving warfare were, firstly, that they had not yet gotten rid of their bandit habits, and secondly, that they lacked a global strategic vision. In the past, wherever the Dashun Army went, they only destroyed but did not build, which was the main reason why they could not establish a stable base.
The main reason for all this was that Li Zicheng lacked the vision to rule the world. He was good at stirring up trouble by taking advantage of chaos, but he definitely did not have the talent to rule the world.
His methods were too direct and brutal, and apart from military means, he lacked the corresponding talents in politics, economy, and people's livelihood. From his intention to kill Jiang Ge and Tang Tong, the surrendered generals, it can be seen that he was too narrow-minded and short-sighted.
It can be said that the main reason for his failure lies with himself, and other external factors are secondary factors.
Niu Jinxing was secretly disappointed when he saw that Li Zicheng remained silent for a long time. He knew very well that if the issue of surrendered officials and generals was not handled properly, it would not be a blessing for the Dashun Army to capture Yanjing, but would be a disaster.
Yanjing is the pillar of the world. Even if it is already shaky, as long as it exists, it will support the dilapidated house of the Ming Dynasty. If anyone were to remove this pillar now without being prepared to replace it, the collapsed house would be enough to crush him to death or injure him.
Is Dashun really ready to conquer the world
Will Juyongguan become the gate of hell
"Please think twice, Your Majesty."
Niu Jinxing had already said what he needed to say to Li Zicheng many times, and now all he could say were these five words.
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.(To be continued..)
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