At dusk on the second day of July in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen,
Chongzhen took a naval warship and sailed south from Xia Town.
In addition to more than a thousand prisoners of war, he was accompanied by about a hundred eunuchs such as Zhu Cihong, Zhu Cijiong, and Wang Chengen, four nobles including Gong Yonggu, and more than a dozen generals of the guard including Wang Yinglong.
In addition, there were a group of officials and scholars who fled south.
Among them, the one with the highest position is Wang Yongji, the former governor of Jiliao.
This Wang Butang originally planned to borrow help from Wu Sangui to suppress the enemy.
But when things came to pass, it was discovered that this was not the case at all.
So Wang Yongji decisively abandoned Wu Sangui and quietly fled south with only dozens of servants. Then he ran into Jiannu for some reason and became a prisoner.
Then he was rescued by Zheng Hongkui's navy.
Also rescued were several scholars who fled south through the canal.
Ever since he was rescued, Wang Yongji had been clamoring to meet the saint, but Chongzhen ignored him.
First, because I have been very busy these days, and second, I am too lazy to see Wang Yongji, who is just a second minister.
Historically, this king did not surrender to the Qing Dynasty at the first time, but in the end he still became a second minister. He just became the second minister himself, and also coerced thousands of people to follow him and surrender to the Qing Dynasty.
So Chongzhen didn't bother to pay attention to this guy at all.
On the contrary, he was very interested in the few scholars who were rescued.
At that time, Chongzhen asked Wang Chengen to invite these scholars.
After a while, four men wearing t-shirts were brought into the cabin.
Seeing Chongzhen sitting in the cabin facing south, the four scholars immediately paid homage to him.
"Fu Shan from Taiyuan, Zhu Yanzuo from Zhuozhou, Sun Fanzhi from Changping, Ji Yunhong from Quzhou came to see the Holy One, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and His Highness Prince Ding."
"Sit down." Chongzhen raised his hands.
Chongzhen's attitude towards scholars was much friendlier.
In any case, the fact that these scholars were willing to abandon their families and careers and risk being beheaded by slaves to flee to the south of the Yangtze River to serve the Ming Dynasty is enough to prove that they still retain their innocent hearts.
Unlike bureaucrats like Wang Yongji, who only care about interests and mediocrity.
Among the four scholars, the one Chongzhen was most interested in was Fu Shan.
In the martial arts novels about the rebellion against the Qing Dynasty and the restoration of the Ming Dynasty during the Republic of China, this man was a master-level figure. Not only was he highly skilled in martial arts, but his medical skills were so extraordinary that he was even called a gynecological master.
In the memory of Chongzhen in the original version, there is actually Fu Shan's deeds.
"Fu Qingzhu, I remember you." Chongzhen said with a half-smile, "Back then, when you were your teacher Yuan Jixian, you once united more than a hundred Shanxi students to make a big fuss in Dali Temple. The commotion was quite big."
Fu Shan responded with some embarrassment: "The common people are ashamed and helpless at the time."
"Master Fu Qing, you don't have to be ashamed of this, because you are redressing the injustice of the teacher." Chongzhen said, "You did the right thing. I hope you can maintain this enthusiasm forever."
"Return to the Holy Spirit, the common people will definitely live up to their destiny."
Fu Shan felt an inexplicable emotion surging in his heart.
The Emperor Chongzhen in front of us seems to be different from the legend?
The legendary Emperor Chongzhen was mean, ungrateful, self-willed and suspicious by nature, which can be described as a shortcoming.
However, his first impression of the Emperor Chongzhen in front of him was that he was like the Master Yuan who had studied in Shanxi. He was gentle, refined and elder-like, and he was very encouraging to these students.
But in fact, the current Holy Emperor seems to be how much younger than him?
After exchanging pleasantries with Fu Shan, Chongzhen turned his attention to Sun Fanzhi: "Are you a member of Changping Prefecture?"
"Back to the Holy Spirit, Cao Min is a Linshan student at Changping Prefecture School." Sun Fanzhi said hurriedly, "I entered the school in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen."
Chongzhen smiled and said: "On March 20th of the first lunar month, I passed through Changping Prefecture after defeating the siege of the capital."
"The common people knew about this." Sun Fanzhi sighed sadly, "It's a pity that the common people were ill in bed at the time and were not in the city, otherwise they would have followed the Holy Master."
Gao Qiqian, who was standing by the side, couldn't help but glance at Sun Fanzhi.
I said in my heart that if you had followed the Holy Emperor back then, you would be a minister of the Dragon now. Although you cannot compare with the Nine Ministers who went to disaster, your rapid rise is certain.
Chongzhen said again: "After Jiannu issued the order to shave his hair, Changping Prefecture should have rebelled against it, right?"
"Go back to the Holy Spirit, you rebelled." Sun Fanzhi said, "Almost all the officials and gentry in the state rebelled, and the grassroots and more than ten classmates also participated in the uprising. Presumably, the portraits of the grassroots are still posted at the gates of cities in Beizhi.
.”
Chongzhen sighed softly and said: "Jiannu must have committed a lot of murders in Changping Prefecture, right?"
"It's so murderous." Sun Fanzhi said sadly, "Jian slaves really killed everyone they saw. Even the elderly and infant babies were not spared. The entire family of the grassroots, including sixteen, young and old, was also killed by the Jian slaves.
Slave poisonous hands."
Chongzhen turned his attention to the other two people: "Jiannu killed many people in Zhuozhou and Quzhou, right?"
"The murders committed by the slaves in Zhuozhou were much more than those in Changping Prefecture." said Zhu Yanzuo, a member of the Zhuozhou government. "In many villages, the entire village was wiped out. Only one grassroots person escaped from a family of thirty-six."
At the end of the sentence, Zhu Yanzuo's eyes were red, revealing a look of deep-seated hatred.
Ji Yunhong, the health officer of Quzhou County, finally said: "Jiannu slaves were particularly cruel in Quzhou County. They not only killed people, but also took pleasure in killing people. They would cut open pregnant women to take out their fetuses, cook young children, or make their wives watch in front of them.
His son committed incest, or he made the villagers run away and then shot them with arrows. All kinds of barbaric behavior are simply too numerous to describe."
"It's all my fault." Chongzhen said with a sad expression, "It is the emperor's greatest dereliction of duty to let his people suffer."
Zhu Yanzuo and others couldn't help but sigh a little when they heard this. They had also complained about the Holy One in their hearts, but they couldn't bear it when they saw the Holy One admitting his guilt in front of them. How could the Holy One be wronged? Party disputes among the high officials in the DPRK were constantly prohibited, and various ministries were involved.
The corpses of the monastery and monastery officials were vegetarian, and it was very difficult for the Holy Father. I really can’t blame him.
What's more, the Holy Father has repeatedly issued edicts to sin against oneself.
"Please remember this blood debt."
Chongzhen adjusted his mood and said with gritted teeth: "You all remember, the dignity of the Ming Dynasty cannot be desecrated. The atrocities committed by the slaves on my people today will be repaid in the future!"
"One day, our Ming Dynasty will also conquer Youyan in the north and regain the capital."
"One day, we will have to fight back to western Liaoning and eastern Liaoning, and even more, we will have to conquer the white mountains and black waters."
"At that time, no matter how the slaves treated us today, we will have to retaliate tenfold and a hundredfold!"
Hearing these words, the blood of Fu Shan and the other four scholars boiled. The emperor is like this and has the heart to avenge his shame. Why worry about not avenging family hatred, and why worry about not being able to avenge the country's hatred? There is hope for the Ming Dynasty to be revived!
After seeing off Fu Shan and the other four people, Chongzhen fell into deep thought facing the dim light.
After setting off from Xia Town, Chongzhen has been thinking about a question, how to go in the future?
The current situation has gradually become clearer. Li Zicheng was short-sighted and wasted all his efforts. He was left with Li Yan, a general who was still unusable. The fall of Shanxi was inevitable.
However, there are still many old camps of the Dashun Army, so it should not be a problem to defend Shaanxi and Gansu.
With Dorgon's skill, it would be no problem to win over Jiang Xiang, Wu Sangui and other demoted generals.
As for the Jin gentry in Beizhi and Shanxi provinces, it was only a matter of time before they succumbed to Dorgon's kindness and power.
Therefore, the next situation will most likely form a three-legged confrontation. Li Zicheng's Dashun army will occupy Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningqing, Jiannu will occupy Shanxi, Beizhi and beyond the pass, and the Ming Dynasty will retreat to the area south of the Yellow River.
Oh, and there is Zhang Xianzhong. Zhang Xianzhong should be about to capture Sichuan, so it can also be said to be a four-nation war.
At this stage, Jiannu's strength is undoubtedly stronger than that of Ming and Dashun, but it may be difficult to fight one-on-two. In one-on-one, neither Daming nor Dashun is a match for Jiannu.
Therefore, the best choice is of course for the Ming Dynasty and Dashun to join forces to fight against the invaders and to unite with the outside world.
But Chongzhen was very sure that Li Zicheng would not sincerely cooperate with the Ming Dynasty. The most likely way was to divert the trouble to the south, and then sit on the mountain in Guanzhong and watch the tigers fight, and wait until the Ming Dynasty and Jiannu were both injured in the fight before taking advantage.
In other words, if Jiannu attacked the Ming Dynasty first, the Dashun army would definitely not rescue them.
As for Jiannu, he will definitely try to alienate the alliance between Ming and Dashun, and then concentrate his forces to destroy one first, and then concentrate all his efforts to deal with the other.
Not surprisingly, Jiannu still plays Dashun first.
At this time, Ming Dynasty could only send troops to contain it.
Chongzhen is not Li Zicheng. He deeply understands the principle of lip death and tooth coldness.
But the problem is that once the Ming Dynasty sends troops, it will definitely attract the firepower of the slaves.
At this time, the Huanghuai defense line built by Chongzhen will withstand the real test.
At this time, the 140,000 border troops in Xuzhou's 28 towns alone may not be enough.
Therefore, it is necessary to mobilize more rural warriors to go north to strengthen the Yellow-Huai defense line and defend the thousands of Western gun platforms lined up along the north and south banks of the Yellow River.
In addition to the local braves, we also need to mobilize the soldiers to go north.
Without scholars, the Huanghuai defense line can be defended by recruiting soldiers and local bravery alone. However, if you want to conquer Youyan in the north and regain the capital, you really have no strength and no money!
To put it bluntly, recruiting soldiers is mercenaries.
Mercenaries fight for money.
To rely on mercenaries to conquer Youyan in the north, how much reward and salary should be paid?
The salary is twice as much, and the war salary is three times as much. If you kill a real slave, you will get 50 taels of silver. If you kill a Han army, you will also be rewarded with 5 taels of silver as a slave or as a slave. If the Northern Expedition to Youyan is successful, how much silver will you have to pay?
?
The Ming Dynasty could not survive even if it had gold and silver, and its finances simply could not afford it.
Someone said, can you reduce the amount? At least reduce the reward amount.
I'm really sorry. This matter is absolutely non-negotiable. If you really dare to reduce the reward, you will start a mutiny in a minute.
Therefore, the border troops in the 28th Town are already at their limit. Instead of increasing them in the later period, they can only be reduced. It is best to let these recruited soldiers become small landowners on both sides of the Yellow River and become a natural barrier.
Moreover, we absolutely cannot count on recruiting troops for the Northern Expedition.
So the question is, who can we rely on for the Northern Expedition?
The answer is a new army. It’s time to consider organizing and training a new army.
Well, it's too early to talk about training a new army.
However, it is still possible to reserve a group of officers for the future new army who have knowledge, faith, loyalty to the Ming Dynasty and do not need to pay salaries.