The deception just now not only deceived Li Yan, but also strengthened his image as a "knowledge of soldiers", so he just took this opportunity to propose the next plan to his group of distinguished officials.
Chongzhen said while riding his horse slowly: "When it comes to using troops, there is an issue we must consider."
Wang Jiayan said: "Are your Majesty worried about the rogue garrison and Ming rebels along the way from the north to the south?"
"Yes." Chongzhen nodded and said, "Now Henan, Shanxi and Shandong have basically fallen, and some bandits are marching towards the Huaihe River. It is inevitable that we will encounter narrow roads with bandits from various places on our way south."
The expressions of Jin Xuan, Wu Linzheng and other officials immediately became serious. This is a very real problem.
Chongzhen added: "There are just other bandits. We are not necessarily afraid of them, but the bandits of Liu Fangliang's tribe in Baoding and Yuan Zongdi's tribe in Henan not only have a large number of soldiers, but also veterans who have experienced hundreds of battles. The number of cavalry
There are not a few of them. If we meet on a narrow road, our army really has no chance of winning."
Wang Jiayan frowned and said: "However, Beizhi, Henan and Shandong are vast areas, and there are many routes to choose from. Our army may not necessarily meet these two groups of thieves on a narrow road."
"No, it is predicted in the art of war that the enemy is wide, so we cannot make such optimistic assumptions." Chongzhen waved his hand and said, "What's more, in the past few decades, our Ming Dynasty has imposed three additional taxes, which has imposed huge demands on the people of the world, so much so that
The people's moral support is almost gone, so instead of helping each other, people along the way will rush to leak our whereabouts to the bandits."
Wang Jiayan was speechless for a moment, because what Chongzhen said were objective facts.
Jin Xuan had already heard the hidden meaning and said solemnly: "So your Majesty means to divide the troops?"
"Yes, divide the troops." Chongzhen said directly to Wang Jiayan without any cover-up, "Wang Aiqing, you will lead three thousand cavalry all the way south along the canal, with great fanfare to think that the troops are suspicious."
Wang Jiayan asked: "Where are you, Your Majesty?"
Chongzhen said: "I personally led a thousand barbarians to go south by other roads day and night!"
Well, it was said that the troops were divided, but it was actually a matter of survival, which meant sacrificing Wang Jiayan and three thousand other cavalrymen in order for Chongzhen and a thousand Yiding to reach Nanjing safely.
This was actually planned by Chongzhen a long time ago.
However, when the siege was just broken from Chaoyang Gate, Chongzhen planned to use a cavalry of about 500 people as a false target, and he himself took about 100 servants to escape southward at night.
Now the false target has become three thousand cavalry.
The accompanying servants also expanded to a thousand barbarians.
This undoubtedly greatly improved the success rate of escaping south.
"This is the best policy!" Wang Jiayan agreed without hesitation.
As the right minister of the Ministry of War, Wang Jiayan felt that it was his duty to cover the emperor's escape from Nanjing.
Chongzhen turned his attention to Hu Xinshui again and said: "Hu Qing, although Wang Qing knows the military, he is still a civil servant, so he still needs a military general to assist him. I leave this important task to you."
"The general will obey the order." Hu Xinshui's face was filled with bitterness.
Do I dare to resist? A thousand Yiding have been abducted by you.
Not only did Hu Xinshui dare not resist the order, he even had to help Wang Jiayan honestly, because his eldest son Hu Guozhu was also taken away by Chongzhen. If he dared to defect midway, wouldn't he be harming his son?
Chongzhen turned his eyes to Wu Linzheng and other officials and nobles: "Follow me."
"Lie down and wait for the order." Wu Linzheng and other officials responded respectfully and followed Chongzhen honestly.
It must be admitted that Chongzhen played the tail-cutting survival skill really well, and he directly fooled both Liu Fangliang, the commander of the left camp, and Yuan Zongdi, the commander of the right camp of the Dashun Army.
…
Nine days later, the time came to April 28th.
Four major events happened in China on this day.
The first major event was that Chongzhen led a thousand barbarians to march more than a thousand miles in nine days, averaging more than a hundred miles a day. They lost weight on their horses, and finally entered Henan and attacked Guide Mansion.
The second major event was that Fengyang garrison eunuch Lu Jiude secretly contacted Gao Jie, Huang Degong and Liu Liangzuo, and then persuaded Fengyang Governor Ma Shiying. Ma Shiying led troops to protect Prince Fu Zhu Yousong and came to Jiangpu to formally confront the Donglin Party headed by Shi Kefa. Showdown, demanding that Zhu Changzi, who was supported by the Donglin Party, be replaced and replaced by Zhu Yousong to supervise the country.
As expected, the inertia of history is still extremely huge, and Zhu Yousong is still supervising the country.
The third major event was that Gao Jie robbed all the way from Shanxi to Henan, and then from Henan to Nanzhi. Still not satisfied, he turned his greedy eyes to Yangzhou and surrounded Yangzhou with his army.
The fourth major event, and the major event with the greatest impact, was that Li Zicheng fled back to Beijing.
However, more than half of the 100,000 old soldiers who followed Li Zicheng in the Shanhaiguan expedition were lost. The tens of thousands of Ming Dynasty surrender troops who accompanied Li Zicheng in the eastern expedition were even more scattered. The Dashun Army suffered a decisive military defeat.
This is not the worst. The worst thing is that the 50,000 cavalry led by Wu Sangui's Guan Ning Army and Jiannu Heshuo Yu Prince Duduo are like maggots attached to the bones, biting the Dashun Army and chasing them to Xianghe, which is only a distance from Beijing. For more than a hundred miles, although the troops in the rear were relying on the canal to resist desperately, everyone knew that they would not be able to hold on for long.
Sitting on the throne of Qianqing Palace, Li Zicheng's eyes were a little blurred.
Do you regret it? Of course you regret it. Li Zicheng even felt like his intestines would fall out of regret.
If we had known that Jiannu would send troops, we should have been more prepared at the beginning. Not to mention anything else, we should have at least brought Liu Fangliang's 20,000 elite troops with us. We should not have given Wu Sangui such a long time to think about arriving on the 18th. Shanhaiguan should have annihilated them with lightning speed on the same day.
If Wu Sangui is dealt with first, Dashun's army will not only gain three days of rest and recuperation, so that they can attack Jiannu while waiting for work, but they can also avoid the dilemma of one versus two and gain a military advantage over Jiannu. Even if they lose the field battle, they will still be able to defeat Jiannu. We can rely on Shanhaiguan's strong fortress to fight a protracted war.
It should be said that God still gave the Dashun Army a chance to win.
It's a pity that Dashun Army failed to seize this precious opportunity. It's too late to say anything now.
Li Zicheng was heartbroken when he thought of the 60,000 old soldiers who were killed in the Shanhaiguan battlefield. These were all old soldiers who had followed him all the way from Henan, and they were all elites from hundreds of battles!
Liu Zongmin, Niu Jinxing and other civil and military officials also lost their energy and spirit when they went to war.
Liu Zongmin even exposed his right shoulder, and the white cloth wrapped on it was leaking blood.
During the stone battle seven days ago, Liu Zongmin was wounded by an arrow. He didn't even have time to bandage him properly along the way. It wasn't until he fled back to Beijing this evening that he was finally bandaged properly.
When Li Yan walked into the Qianqing Palace, he saw roughly this scene.
"Your Majesty..." Li Yan saluted and was about to ask what was going on. Li Zicheng glanced at him with a complicated look, and Li Yan swallowed back the words he spat out.
Li Yan couldn't help but think of Tian Feng's story.
At that moment, I didn’t dare to ask about the battle of Shanhaiguan anymore.
In order to avoid misunderstanding Li Zicheng, he thought it was a joke on him.
Li Yan turned to report on the pursuit of Chongzhen: "I report to the Lord that my subordinates are incompetent, Chongzhen him..."
However, Li Zicheng was no longer interested in asking about Chongzhen's news. He waved his hand and said: "Let's not talk about Chongzhen for now. Since you are back, Army Master You, let's join in the discussion about what to do next."
"May I ask, Your Majesty, how many troops are left to withdraw to Beijing?" Li Yan asked.
"More than thirty thousand," Li Zicheng said. "There are still more than five thousand people on the east bank of the canal to block the pursuers."
Song Xiance sighed softly and continued: "They are all infantry. The cavalry has been exhausted in order to cover the retreat of the main force."
Liu Zongmin said bitterly: "If you ask me, we still have 50,000 people, including 20,000 elite soldiers from Laogu. With the strong city of Beijing, we can definitely fight against Jiannu and Guan Ning's army."
"No, absolutely no." Song Xiance hurriedly dissuaded him.
"The people in Beijing are currently in turmoil, and all the officials and gentry of the Ming Dynasty have different aspirations. Once the news of our army's defeat at Shanhaiguan spreads secretly, the situation may become even more turbulent, so the city of Beijing cannot be defended!"
"Not only the city of Beijing," Li Yan said, "the entire Gyeonggi region has rebelled."
"The entire capital has rebelled?" Li Zicheng asked, "What's going on?"
Li Yan said: "My subordinates have just returned from Daxing. They went to Daxing to suppress the rebellion of the puppet Ming surrender troops. As a result, as soon as the rebellion in Daxing was suppressed, the puppet Ming surrender troops in Changping, Zhuozhou, Shunyi, Wuqing and other places launched successively.
The rebellion is now in flames throughout the entire Gyeonggi region and cannot be suppressed at all."
"These damn repetitive villains." Li Zicheng said bitterly.
After a pause, he sighed again and said: "It seems that Beijing really can't hold on anymore, so give up."
"The city of Beijing can be given up, but what about the treasures in the treasury?" Liu Zongmin said with a dark face, "Throw it away too?"
There are more than 70 million taels of silver, as well as gold, jewelry and a large number of rare antiques. Thousands of large cars cannot load them all. It would be a pity to throw away such a large amount of wealth and have to take it away.
"Of course you can't throw away the treasure." Li Zicheng said dullly.
Liu Zongmin breathed a sigh of relief, and Li Yan opened his mouth to speak, but in the end, nothing came out.
Because whenever he wanted to give advice, Chongzhen's words would ring in his ears. Li Zicheng is not a big-minded person, so you need to be cautious in what you say and do.
Song Xiance said: "In this case, we must leave an army behind to buy time."
Li Yanxin said, see the story of survival by cutting off one's tail again. Chongzhen had just escaped to Henan by cutting off one's tail. Will the Lord also stage a story about survival by cutting one's tail? However, this tail cutting is not that tail cutting.
Chongzhen cut off its tail to survive in order to preserve precious elite troops.
The Lord cut off his tail to survive, but he sacrificed his precious elite troops to protect the treasure.
Comparing the two and making a judgment, Li Yan couldn't help but feel depressed.
"Let Gu Kecheng stay behind." After Li Zicheng finished speaking, he said to Liu Zongmin, "Ruhou, hurry up and pack your bags, load everything you can take away with you, and burn everything you can't take away. You must not
Leave it to the Jiannu."
"Okay, I promise not to leave any big boys behind." Liu Zongmin turned and left.
Li Zicheng turned to Li Yan again and asked: "Right Military Advisor, are you ready for the enthronement ceremony?"
Li Yan hurriedly said: "Go back to the Lord, everything is ready."
"Okay." Li Zicheng nodded, "I will be crowned tomorrow."
At this time, Li Zicheng still wanted to be the emperor.
