At the request of Hong Chengchou, the governor of the five provinces, former Changping Commander-in-Chief You Shiwei moved 5,000 Changping troops to Tongguan to assist in the defense of Zhuyang Pass to prevent rogue bandits from returning to Shaanxi and threatening Xi'an. Chao Pichang, the former Changping Commander-in-Chief, was promoted to Changping Commander-in-Chief.
On this day, Chao Pichang was hosting a banquet in honor of Wang Xizhong, the superintendent of the internal prison. Suddenly, his own soldiers came to report that there was a group of soldiers from the north outside the city clamoring to enter the city.
To the north of Changping is Juyongguan. How come the soldiers from Juyongguan came to Changping? Could it be that there was a mutiny?
Chao Pichang was surprised. He couldn't drink the wine no matter what. The admiral and internal supervisor Wang Xizhong was also knowledgeable and knew that the matter was of great importance, so he pulled Chao Pichang towards the city without any hesitation.
After the two of them went to the city, they saw that there were indeed thousands of Ming troops making a noise below the city. These soldiers were in tattered clothes, and many of them had bandages on them. They were obviously wounded, and most of the soldiers had no weapons in their hands. They saw the guards on the city.
The Ming army refused to open the city gates, and the Ming soldiers were furious and scolded their fathers and mothers.
Wang Xizhong couldn't help frowning when he heard these soldiers scolding him harshly, but Chao Pichang didn't care about the curses. Instead, he leaned out and asked loudly: "Where are you from?"
"Juyongguan!"
"Juyongguan?" Chao Pichang's heart skipped a beat, but he shouted: "Since we are from Juyongguan, why don't you see your General Wang? Why did you leave your station and come to Changping without authorization? You must be mutinous rebels.
, you want to trick me into opening this city gate and rob me, but you can’t do it!”
The commander-in-chief Wang mentioned by Chao Pichang was Wang Pu, the former commander-in-chief of the Beijing camp. In the fourth year of Chongzhen, he led the troops from the Beijing camp to Henan to quell the invaders. However, he was defeated and returned to Beijing to deal with his crimes. The family spent a lot of money to save the king.
Pu was in the official position, but could not gain a foothold in the Beijing camp, so he transferred to Juyongguan in the winter of last year. On the day Wang Pu was passing through Changping on his way to Juyongguan to take office, You Shiwei came out to entertain him.
joyous.
After hearing the shouts from the city, a Qian general from the city came out from the crowd and shouted: "We in the city are not rebels, we are indeed soldiers and horses from Juyong Pass, but the Tatars invaded the pass, and the general general ran away with his men.
"Brothers, if you can't hold it any longer, you'll retreat to Changping. Open the city gate quickly and let us in. Otherwise, when the Tatar soldiers come, there will be no one to help you defend the city!"
"Tatar Pass?!" Chao Pichang and Wang Xizhong were both shocked. The latter's legs went weak and he almost fell to the ground. Everyone in the city's garrison changed their colors after hearing this.
Chao Pichang was also panicked, but he was able to calm down. He quickly asked General Qian: "How many Tatars have come? Which Mongolian tribe are they from? Where did your General Wang flee to? The Tatars are now
where?"
"It's not the northern captives, it's the pigtailed eastern captives! I don't know where the commander-in-chief fled to. After the Tatars occupied Juyong Pass, we just fled for our lives. We dared to go back and inquire."
Donglu with pigtails?
Chao Pichang and Wang Xizhong looked at each other. Didn't they say that Donglu had suffered heavy losses from the Ming Dynasty outside the pass and was already in danger? Why did he come to Kouguan again now? Thinking of the tens of thousands of Donglu troops surrounding the capital six years ago, their expressions were ugly.
pole.
After a while, Chao Pichang asked again: "How many people are there among you?"
"There are more than a thousand people." Mr. Qian shouted again: "Let us enter the city quickly. If the Tatars come, at least we can still help defend the city."
"Chief Chao, can't we let these people in, what if there is a fraud?" Wang Xizhong was afraid that these broken troops would cause chaos after entering the city, and he was also afraid that there would be Tatar spies among them, in case they took advantage of the opportunity when the city was opened.
If he seizes the city, his wealth and life will be over.
Chao Pichang was also very hesitant and remained silent. The Ming army outside the city became anxious when they saw no response from the city. They were worried that the Tatars would come up, so they kept shouting and urging. The Changping soldiers guarding the city did not
Naturally, we dare not open the city under the orders of the Commander-in-Chief.
After pondering for a long time, Chao Pichang made up his mind, gritted his teeth and said to his subordinates: "Open the door and let them in."
Wang Xizhong asked anxiously: "General Chao, aren't you afraid that these defeated troops will cause chaos?"
Chao Pichang shook his head and said: "They are exhausted and scarred, and they are not as good as winning the city. Besides, do you still remember the fate of Zhu Guoyan and Wang Yuanya who refused Zhao's leadership to enter the city in the "Ji Si Change"? If they don't commit suicide, the emperor will have to kill them too.
Kill them!" He pointed down and said, "Look at their bear-like appearance, they have no fighting power." After saying this, he turned to his subordinates and ordered, "Treat them well, let them eat well, and give them food."
They heal the wounds. If the Tatars really come, at least there will be people helping us to defend them."
After the defeated troops who retreated from Juyong Pass entered the city and were resettled, Chao Pichang and Wang Xizhong hurriedly reported to the court the news of the invasion of Donglu. Afterwards, Chao Pichang sent people to Juyong Pass to inquire about it and began to deploy defenses. I originally thought that
The Tatars had just occupied Juyong Pass, and they would not be able to enter the pass immediately. They had to wait for the subsequent supplies of food and grass to arrive before they could take the next step. Therefore, there were still two or three days left for Changping. Who knew that they would attack the next day?
Tens of thousands of Eight Banners soldiers with blue flags came from the north.
After the Eight Banners troops arrived at the city, they did not start to attack the city immediately. Instead, they waited for another half day. In the afternoon, another 20,000 Korean firearms soldiers came and brought siege equipment. In the evening, the Donglu began to attack the city.
There are 8,000 soldiers in Changping Plain, but the former commander-in-chief You Shiwei took away 5,000 people when he was deployed to defend Tongguan. Chao Pichang only had 3,000 soldiers under his command. Although there were more than 1,000 defeated soldiers who retreated from Juyongguan, the total was not enough.
To five thousand people. Fortunately, they were defending the city. Changping city defenses were intact, with deep ravines and high ravines, and well-equipped weapons. In addition, Changping Mansion organized more than a thousand young men to assist in the defense. Although there were countless Dongbu who came to attack.
Thousands of people, but an urgent message to the capital has been sent out. Reinforcements will arrive in just two or three days, so there is no need to worry about Changping falling in a while. The morale of the soldiers and civilians in the city is also high. Everyone knows that once Donglu is called
After the city was broken, they were either killed or taken into slavery in the bitter cold outside the pass. Therefore, everyone must work hard to defend their homeland.
But what Chao Pichang never expected was that during the fierce battle, there was a sudden shouting in the city. Dozens of people lit fires everywhere in the city. Suddenly the flames shot into the sky. The wind helped the fire. The city was burned to ashes.
The army was immediately in chaos! In a short time, hundreds of rebel soldiers rushed to the city gate to seize the city. They killed the Changping soldiers who were guarding the city and stepped on their bodies to open the city gate. Then the Donglu cavalry who had been waiting outside the city waved
The army moves in!
Changping was lost like this?! Changping was lost like this!.... Chao Pichang was dumbfounded!
After Donglu rushed into the city, Wang Xizhong, the eunuch who had no power to restrain the chicken, was scared to death, but when the braided soldiers rushed towards him, he shouted: "Your Majesty, this servant is loyal to you!" Then he drew his sword and stood in front of him.
Use your hands and rush towards those braided soldiers bravely!
Wang Gui, Zhao Yue, the heads of the Household Department in Changping, and Wang Yuzuo, the judge, and Hu Weihong said to each other: "How can the minister be so loyal and brave, and we are not as good as him?" After saying this, they followed up and charged.
Although they were brave, they were civil servants and outnumbered after all, and they were all chopped into pieces by the braided soldiers in a matter of seconds! Wang Xizhong was hit with several knives, but he still fought hard with the braided soldiers. Although he tried hard to swing his sword to kill the braided soldiers, he could not be hurt.
When he saw a person, the braided soldier deliberately teased him, and when he was exhausted, he swarmed up and hacked him to death. Wang Xizhong's eyes were still wide-eyed when he died.
In less than half a stick of incense, the city was full of braided soldiers. The defenders had lost resistance. Seeing that the situation was over, Chao Pichang sighed and threw down the long sword in his hand, and then asked his guards to tie him up. Soon the braided soldiers came
Rushed to the city and captured him.
On the way out of the city, he saw on both sides the defeated Juyongguan troops who he had brought into the city yesterday. These defeated troops were all laughing and pointing at him, without any sense of shame at being captured.
Chao Pichang was greatly puzzled. He stopped and looked at them and asked, "Are you soldiers from the North?"
Mr. Qian, who was talking to him at the city gate yesterday, stepped forward and replied with a smile: "No, we are indeed the defenders of Juyongguan, but we are not retreating, we are surrendering! We surrendered the emperor in the north just to make money from you.
Broken city!"
Hearing this, Chao Pichang lowered his head and was speechless.
Outside the city, Prince Zheng Jierharang, the general of the Donglu Order, heard that Chao Pichang, the general in charge of Changping, was captured alive. At that moment, he came over with a group of princes, Beile, holding a knife in one hand and his hands on his hips, standing on the horse to face Chao Pichang.
Chang smiled and said: "Commander Chao, you can't think of that?"
Chao Pichang glanced at Jierharang and ignored him. Instead, he turned to the surrendering soldiers and couldn't help but ask them: "Since you can run out, why do you have to surrender? Since you have run out, why do you still have to surrender?"
Used by the enemy?"
After hearing this, Mr. Qian muttered: "The general's salary is full every month? What about us, we haven't been paid for several months? My wife is about to run away with someone else! Is it worth working for the emperor of the Zhu family?"
He took out two pieces of paper and handed them over, "Has the general read these two books?"
Chao Pichang glared at him, shrugged his bound arms, and said angrily: "Are you blind? Just read it!"
Mr. Qian snorted, but followed the instructions and shook out the paper and read: "When officials from the Ming Dynasty surrender, their descendants will inherit the father's position unchanged; when they kill officials and return, they will be granted official positions; when one person comes to surrender, the country will support him; when he leads everyone to surrender,
, conferring duties according to merit."
Then open another one: "When I see the people in Li are in ruins, I always think of harmony and write to the envoys many times. I don't know if the subordinates deceive and deceive the court, or the court knows that the people are in ruins and the people are dying and doesn't care.
Peace? I have repeatedly made peace, but your Ming Dynasty ministers did not reply. This is deliberately causing trouble! Therefore, the suffering and death of your people are not my responsibility, but the fault of your monarch and ministers. From now on, I will
When the army arrives, if anyone dares to resist me, we will kill them; if they escape from the mountains and forests, we will capture them; if they live in peace and surrender, we will not do anything wrong. This time we march, we will never withdraw our troops as easily as before!"
After Mr. Qian finished reading, Jierhalang chuckled twice: "What does General Chao want? Will you surrender or not? Even if you don't surrender, I won't make it difficult for you, but I can't let you go."
Chao Pichang thought for a while, then looked up to the sky and said: "Zhu Guoyan, Wang Yuanya died because he rejected his own people, and I died because I accepted my own people. God's will is clear! I surrender."