Now that we need troops and money, Yang Sichang will start arranging his troops.
First of all, Yang Sichang set the date for this bandit suppression, which was from December of the 10th year of Chongzhen to February of the 11th year of Chongzhen, a total of three months.
After that, the main battlefields for suppressing bandits were determined. In addition to Fengsi and Chengtian Ancestral Tombs, which should be defended, Henan and Shaanxi were determined as the places to kill bandits.
Then, it was time to spread the net on all sides. Yang Sichang arranged: the governor of Shaanxi was to seize Shangzhou and Luonan; the governor of Yunyang was to seize Yunyang and Xiangyang; the governor of Huguang was to seize De'an (today's Anlu), Huangzhou (today's Huangzhou)
Huanggang); the governor of Anhui defeated Yingshan and Liu'an; the governor of Fengyang defeated Yingzhou (now Fuyang) and Bozhou; while the soldiers of the governor of Yingtian still blocked Qianshan and Taiping (now Dangtu); the soldiers of the governor of Jiangxi urgently blocked the
Huangmei and Guangji (to the west of today's Huangmei County, Hubei Province); the soldiers of the governor of Shandong directly blocked Xuzhou and Suzhou; the soldiers of the governor of Shanxi crossed Shaanxian County, Lingbao, and the soldiers of the governor of Baoding flew across the Yanjin area.
Then there is the main mobile force to suppress the bandits: Xiong Wencan, the prime minister of the five provinces, proposes border troops; the supervisors propose the forbidden brigade; the governor of Henan proposes Zuo Liangyu, Wu Shigong, Chen Yongfu, Li Lu and other soldiers; and Yu Zilian rushes to support from all directions. Everyone must work together as one
With all their strength, they unite to suppress the Central Plains, forming an unstoppable force.
If Chuang Wang Li Zicheng, Guo Tianxing, Zhang Tianlin and other bandit chiefs leave Guandong, the governor of Shaanxi, Hong Chengchou, will propose Zuo Guangxian, Cao Bianjiao, and the troops of Zu Dabi and other commanders will go out with them.
Finally, there is the combat goal: the local government and the army will mobilize to prepare for the next three months of hard work to end the situation that will not end in ten years. Therefore, Yang Sichang promised that it will take three months to defeat the thieves.
At this time, news of the great victory in Wuhu came, and the letters of surrender from Zhang Xianzhong and Liu Guoneng were also submitted to the court. It was a good start! So the emperor and his ministers in the court were optimistic.
Experts will know if they have it if they stretch out their hands. As soon as Yang Sichang established a grand strategy, he immediately achieved immediate results, which immediately reflected Yang Sichang's ability and Emperor Chongzhen's vision. Don't talk about luck. Luck is also a part of ability, so
Emperor Chongzhen is Longyan Dayue.
At this time, Emperor Chongzhen seemed to have such a beautiful scene before his eyes: as long as he could pacify the bandits in the near future, he would be free to deal with the Qing army outside the Pass. Once the military crisis was completely eliminated, the prosperous era of Zhongxing would not be too far away.
.
As for Yang Sichang, a pillar minister who could really serve his duties and arrange such a major military operation properly, his heart was full of gratitude. It was not until later that Yang Sichang's "ten-faced net" came to light.
The plan was ultimately aborted, but his feelings still did not disappear completely, because Yang Sichang was, after all, his most capable and most trusted minister during his entire reign.
So Emperor Chongzhen decided to use precious manpower and material resources to hold a big event to celebrate, to show the majesty of the central government of the Ming Dynasty, and to encourage the morale of the entire people to suppress bandits. Such large events have been similar throughout the ages. Emperor Chongzhen
The choice is the military parade.
In October of the tenth year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen held the only military parade in the city. On this day, the entire capital was under martial law and people were prohibited from traveling. Under the guidance of a majestic guard of honor, Emperor Chongzhen slowly left the palace on a horse. Civil and military
All the officials followed behind the emperor on horseback.
Accompanied by the "Music of Wucheng", this huge team first arrived at Zhengyang Gate, and then patrolled around the gates along the inner city. All the soldiers from the Beijing camp were already lined up on the city wall, with bright military flags.
As the golden wind fluttered, weapons and armor shone in the morning sun. Wherever the emperor appeared, the sound of "Long live" echoed like a roaring mountain and a tsunami.
Emperor Chongzhen was very happy to see the majestic and orderly appearance of the army, and specially rewarded Lu Wanxue, the Minister of Rongzheng who carried the four-character scripture "Doing Nothing". On this pleasant and refreshing day in autumn, he seemed to see his own
The great power of the empire and its own army.
That night, Emperor Chongzhen had another good dream. He seemed to see his name listed alongside Taizu and Chengzu, receiving cheers and admiration from all eternity.
But Emperor Chongzhen didn't know that among the hundreds of thousands of troops undergoing review, most of them were temporarily hired by the generals of each battalion to make up the number. The handymen, gangsters and even hooligans in the capital were all on the city wall for a while.
Working as temporary workers up and down has indeed boosted domestic demand in Beijing. But to rely on such a superficial force to maintain this dilapidated empire? Just dream!
Moreover, in order to realize Yang Sichang's grand strategy, there are still two pillars that need to be resolved: one is to pacify the internal situation before resisting foreign aggression; the other is to use war to promote pacification.
Let’s start by saying that we must first settle the domestic situation in order to resist foreign aggression! Putting aside emotional factors and giving up the distinction between Chinese and foreigners, there is no problem with Yang Sichang’s strategic thinking of first concentrating all national power and solving a major enemy. This can also be explained from the previous article in this article.
It can be seen from the description. In other words: within a period of time, one problem will be solved.
For this reason, Yang Sichang proposed that in order to completely solve the "heart and soul trouble" of the peasant army, he believed that the "shoulder and arm trouble" of the Qing army should be treated calmly, and it was best to temporarily negotiate first.
And this idea is not a wishful thinking. As early as October of the eighth year of Chongzhen and February of the ninth year of Chongzhen, Huang Taiji twice sent letters to the Ming Dynasty border defense generals and asked them to forward them to the Ming court.
The content above all talks about the issue of making peace.
Yang Sichang believed that since the Qing Dynasty was willing to negotiate peace, it would have the opportunity to exchange some kind of compromise for a period of peace to ensure the purification of the Central Plains and the restoration of national strength. In Yang Sichang's view, this was nothing more than an expedient measure and a normal behavior for both hostile parties.
It's just a delaying strategy.
It cannot be said that Yang Sichang was wrong, but he did not expect the national conditions and conservative stubborn forces of the Ming Dynasty.
The Ming Dynasty was the Central Plains dynasty established by expelling the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty. It was the most upright dynasty in history, and it indeed greatly increased the national pride of the Han nation. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty was also the most stubborn dynasty: it did not surrender, did not pay tribute, and did not
Make peace.
Also, the Ming Dynasty had always regarded itself as a central power, and had never looked down on the surrounding barbarians, nor did it have the idea of equal exchanges between modern countries. Therefore, letting them negotiate with the Manchus was more uncomfortable than killing them.
Isn’t it possible that the Ming court would call itself the emperor to the Manchus? Send several princesses to get married? Give them a large sum of coins every year? Because from Emperor Chongzhen to the ministers, there is no concept of equality between the two countries.
.For them, countries must be divided into upper and lower countries. (In fact, the Manchu and Qing Dynasties in Liaodong are already one country, so they can be said to be two countries here)
Therefore, as long as a minister proposed peace in the court, even if it was a temporary solution, he would be immediately pursued and beaten by a group of righteous people. There is no doubt about the conscience and motives of those righteous people, but their actions did delay the development of Yang Sichang.
The backbone of the strategy, it should be said that these righteous men are the legendary "patriotic thieves"!
Another point is that Huang Taiji's Manchu Qing Dynasty did not follow the baton of Ming Ting and Yang Sichang, nor did they resist foreigners just because they said they wanted to. Through spies all over the pass, they clearly knew every move in the pass.
As long as there is an opportunity, they will send troops into the pass to seize chestnuts from the fire. They will not allow the Ming court to safely annihilate the peasant army. This will also be described in detail later.
Let’s talk about using war to promote pacification. In fact, in essence, Yang Sichang was not a pacifier as described by so-called historians in later generations. He was a real war strategist and a radical
The reason why there is such a misunderstanding about the main war faction is that later generations were misled by the blind appeasement of Prime Minister Xiong Wencan and the expedient appeasement of Yang Sichang out of help.
This can also be seen from Yang Sichang's moral character. No matter how much you deny Yang Sichang's ability, no one can deny that Yang Sichang was a loyal minister and filial son. And his father Yang He died indirectly at the hands of the peasant army
Yes, so Yang Sichang had a grudge against the peasant army for killing his father. How could he be so merciful to the peasant army?
Therefore, after seeing the letter of surrender, Yang Sichang understood deeply that when the peasant army was in a disadvantageous situation, they would often surrender in the name of surrender and rarely have sincerity. However, Yang Sichang could not resist the holy will, so he had to propose
Zhang Xianzhong was asked to kill other peasant armies first, and then he could recruit troops. Otherwise, he should take the opportunity to sharpen his troops and suppress them severely. As for Liu Guoneng, because it was Wu Shigong who surrendered to him, Yang Sichang will not be mentioned here.
However, Emperor Chongzhen had been dazzled by the victory. Besides, the temptation to win a complete victory without increasing troops and paying was simply too great. Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen refuted Yang Sichang face to face and said: "How could he surrender?"
Are you talking about blind killing?"
So the Fu Bureau was decided, and Zhang Xianzhong was appointed deputy commander-in-chief and stationed troops in Gucheng west of Xiangyang. More than 18,000 of his troops were disbanded and returned to the countryside, while 11,000 elite soldiers remained at Xiong Wencan's disposal. However,
However, Zhang Xianzhong did not wait for orders. He only built houses, cultivated land, and trained troops in Gucheng. When he was asked to go out for the expedition, he delayed the expedition because of insufficient food and pay, and Xiong Wencan had no choice.
In addition, Liu Guoneng was also named a staff general and classified as Zuo Liangyu's subordinate. As for whether Liu Guoneng would go or not, the court had no control for the time being.
At this time, in October of the 10th year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng and his peasant army from Tianxing went south to invade Sichuan and began the Sichuan Strategy. They successively conquered thirty or forty prefectures and counties in northern Sichuan and the Chengdu Plain, and once reached Chengdu.
Suburbs.
This sudden military action frightened the local officials of Sichuan in the Ming Dynasty and panicked. Hong Chengchou, the governor of Shaanxi who was responsible for the Western Front Encirclement and Suppression, quickly led the two main forces of Guyuan General Zuo Guangxian and Lintao General Cao Bianjiao into Sichuan, from the east
The newly appointed governor of Sichuan, Fu Zonglong, mobilized tens of thousands of Sichuan troops from all walks of life to prevent the peasant army from moving south along the line from Chengdu to Langzhong.
Yang Sichang's grand strategy of "spreading a net from ten sides" finally began.
Let’s put aside these battle situations for the time being, and let’s return to the Runing Army and see the wonderful performance suddenly performed by the navy of the Runing Army!