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The Ming Dynasty's emperor and ministers in Beijing seemed a little unreasonable, or they were too confident in the "elite" of Xuanfu and Datong.
In short, Li Zicheng's main force was in Shanxi, but the Ming court focused on the defense line from Beijing to Baoding, mainly to guard against Liu Fangliang's part of the Dashun Army attacking from the south. Li Jiantai, the Dongke Grand Secretary who went to war for the emperor, was stationed in Baoding.
As a result, General Xuan and General Da surrendered one after another, and even the defenders of Juyongguan, the western gateway to the capital, surrendered.
The western gate of Beijing was suddenly lost, and the emperor and his ministers in the capital were still unaware of it. When they received the news, Li Zicheng had already led his troops to sweep through Changping, Shahe and other places, and was heading straight for the capital.
The capital city was caught off guard and fell into endless panic.
What was even more terrifying was that the Dashun Army had already sent a large number of people to pretend to be merchants, and spread the word in and outside the capital that the Dashun Army did not kill, did not love money, did not commit adultery, did not rob, bought and sold at fair prices, exempted taxes and grain, and used the money of the rich to help the poor. They loved culture, and those who welcomed scholars were first rewarded with silver, and then they were tested. The first-class ones could become prefects, and the second-class ones could become county magistrates.
When everyone heard that most of the fake officials selected for the prefectures and counties were scholars from Shanxi and Shaanxi, they believed it to be true. Therefore, even those who were not scholars hoped to become officials, and the ignorant poor hoped to get money. Those who owed the court money and grain hoped to be exempted.
The saying "Open the gate to welcome the King of Rebellion, and no grain will be collected when the King of Rebellion comes" was widely spread among the people. People called welcoming Li Zicheng "welcoming the true Lord", and the poor people who were in dire straits were eagerly looking forward to the arrival of the Dashun Army.
On March 13, after the Dashun Army set fire to the Ming imperial mausoleum in Changping, they quickly marched towards the capital. The Ministry of War hastily sent scouts to Changping to spy on the enemy, but these scouts surrendered directly to the Dashun Army, and no one reported back.
The vanguard cavalry of the Dashun Army had already reached the Pingze Gate of the capital, but the emperor and his ministers in the city knew nothing about the enemy's situation.
On March 17, the Dashun Army completed the encirclement of the capital and began to besiege the nine gates, focusing on the Zhangyi Gate. The three camps originally set up outside the gate all surrendered to the Dashun Army.
The capital was short of food and money, and many soldiers had deserted. At this time, there were only a few soldiers left to defend the city walls. Chongzhen had no choice but to use eunuchs to fill the gap.
Strong winds reveal strong grass, and turbulent times reveal loyal ministers.
At this last moment, eunuchs actually became the main force to defend the capital, which was a great irony for those literati who were passionate and cursed the eunuch party all day long.
In the Golden Palace, Chongzhen summoned all the ministers to ask for countermeasures, but no one spoke, including Wei Zaode, who had just replaced Chen Yanyan as the Prime Minister of the Cabinet in February and was always eloquent.
Chongzhen suppressed his anger and glanced at the ministers who hung their heads. There were rumbling sounds of cannon outside the city, but the hall was dead silent. Chongzhen asked again and again, but still no one answered. He felt extremely sad, and without saying a word, he left the dragon throne with the golden dragon coiled around it, and did not say to adjourn the court. He walked straight into the screen behind the dragon throne.
At this time, some ministers in the hall finally began to wipe their noses and tears, sobbing softly, making the entire Jinluan Hall sad and miserable, as if everyone's parents had died. The doomsday sadness was unbearable to watch.
In stark contrast to the dead silence in the Golden Throne Hall in the city, a heated debate was taking place in Li Zicheng's tent outside the city. Only Li Zicheng, Prime Minister Niu Jinxing, and Grand Master Song Xiance were present in the tent.
I only heard Niu Jinxing say: "Grand Master, have you ever thought about the powerful Ming army and the Manchu Tartars in Liaodong? Grand Master Yin, do you know that those who want to gain the world must not lose the great cause?"
Song Xian Ce immediately refuted: "Your Majesty is following the will of Heaven and the will of the people. How can you be unrighteous?"
"Your Majesty has just issued an edict in Taiyuan, saying that a wise ruler is not a fool. Wouldn't it be a violation of righteousness to destroy the city and kill the ruler at this time?"
Song Xiance was speechless after being refuted. Niu Jinxing struck while the iron was hot and turned to Li Zicheng and said, "Your Majesty, our army has lost a lot of elite soldiers in Shanxi. It is not difficult to break the city now, but breaking the city and killing the king will first lose the righteousness and then become the target of public criticism. Now Qin Mu who lives in Huguang and Jiangxi has become a strong enemy, Zhang Xianzhong in Sichuan has also become a separatist, and what is more worrying is the Tartar outside the Great Wall;
The Tartars have been knocking on the borders every year in recent years. Once the king enters Yanjing, the first thing he will face will probably be the Tartar cavalry. When that happens, the attack and defense will be reversed, and the king will immediately fall into the current dilemma of Chongzhen. It may be that he is not strong enough to deal with the Tartars with all his strength, let alone how to pacify the south
While we had to fight the Tartars with all our strength, Qin Mu and Zhang Xianzhong were developing peacefully and becoming more powerful day by day. The Ming court gathered all the power in the world, but it was still difficult to deal with the Tartars outside the Great Wall. Now the king only occupies the land north of the Yangtze River, and the Central Plains is in ruins, with thousands of miles of barren land. Guanzhong has just been recovered and has not been governed yet. What can the king use to fight the Tartars outside the Great Wall?"
Niu Jinxing's words made Li Zicheng feel a chill down his spine. As Niu Jinxing said, once Beijing was captured, he would have to take over Chongzhen's mess. How could it be easy to deal with the Tartars outside the Great Wall
While he was fighting the Tartars with the devastated land north of the Yangtze River, Qin Mu and Zhang Xianzhong were reaping the benefits in the south, constantly strengthening themselves. In the future, they would attack him for the crime of regicide, and even take away the name of righteousness.
While others have gained both the substance and the face, you are fighting against the Tartars outside the Great Wall at the cost of the crime of regicide. What does this mean
Song Xiance sneered and said, "Prime Minister, there is no need to exaggerate. Your Majesty, I heard that Wu Sangui's family members are all in Beijing. After the city is captured, we will first hold his family members hostage, and then send people to persuade Wu Sangui to surrender. We are not afraid that Wu Sangui will not surrender to Your Majesty. By then, we will have his Guanning Iron Cavalry at Shanhaiguan to resist, and we can still draw troops to conquer the world."
"Can the Grand Master guarantee that he can persuade Wu Sangui to surrender? What will the Grand Master do if Wu Sangui refuses to surrender?" Niu Jinxing retorted without giving in.
Song Xiance was also not vague, and immediately sarcastically said: "Prime Minister, you know Wanli, why didn't you dissuade us before we set out? Now that we have mobilized a large army and spent countless money, we have finally reached the city. It seems that Yanjing can be captured in one blow, but the Prime Minister wants to give up. May I ask what is Prime Minister Niu's intention? Let me ask Prime Minister Niu again, will my hundreds of thousands of Dashun soldiers agree? Your Majesty, if the capital is gone, Wu Sangui will retreat to Shanhaiguan, and his supply will be cut off. He has no choice but to submit to Your Majesty. Your Majesty, don't worry about this."
After listening to Song Xiance's words, Li Zicheng couldn't help but cast a suspicious look at Niu Jinxing. When they first went to the expedition, Niu Jinxing, as the prime minister, not only did not oppose it, but also expressed his support. Now at this critical juncture, you want the army to give up the siege in disgrace. This is really unreasonable.
Niu Jinxing quickly explained, "Your Majesty, the original decision to send troops to the east is not contradictory to the current decision to stop. Your Majesty, if you send troops to the east to sweep the three borders and completely pacify Shanxi, you can eliminate the forces of the Ming court that can threaten our Dashun Dynasty. Moreover, if you occupy Shanxi and Henan, you can strategically form a siege on the capital. Once this situation is established, Your Majesty will have the initiative.
Furthermore, now that Your Majesty has your troops at the gates of the city, but you are not ready to launch an attack, forcing Chongzhen to sign a surrender treaty, Your Majesty can both preserve the reputation of righteousness and allow the Ming court to continue to hold Liaodong. Your Majesty can then withdraw, use the emperor to command the princes, send troops south, and calmly sweep away all forces in the world. When the world is pacified, you can let Chongzhen abdicate. This is much better than immediately breaking into the city and killing the king. Please think twice."
Niu Jinxing's words made Li Zicheng feel enlightened, but Song Xiance immediately refuted: "Your Majesty, Guanzhong has just been settled, and the Central Plains is in ruins. It is extremely difficult to supply food and grass for our million-strong army. Looking north of the Yangtze River, only the capital has money and food now;
Your Majesty, the capital is full of high-ranking officials and dignitaries, and has stored countless money and grain. Now we can take it down in one fell swoop. If we give up, the soldiers in the army will surely be dissatisfied. Moreover, without the money and grain in the capital, our army will be short of food and wages, and the morale of the army will be in chaos. How can we talk about sweeping the world?"
Song's proposal hit the nail on the head. War requires money and food, but whether it is Guanzhong or Shanxi, not to mention Henan, the regions have been extremely devastated by constant wars, famines and plagues over the years, and the money and food that can be raised are extremely limited.
Although he won victory after victory, he still had to reward his soldiers and provide compensation for the dead. These alone would cost countless.
The little money and food he had robbed along the way was not enough for the soldiers to eat and feed their horses. If he could not get the money and food from the capital, his army would not be able to survive.
Niu Jinxing’s words make sense, but the practical problems mentioned by Song Xiance cannot be avoided. What should we do
Niu Jinxing then said, "Your Majesty, when you force Chongzhen to sign the city humiliation treaty, you can also ask him to pay me money and food at the same time."
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ps: The spring rain is continuous, and the sun has not been seen for half a month. Well, I hope happiness is like drizzle, and the original money is also like drizzle, falling continuously. (To be continued...)
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