Chapter six hundred and forty-third party disputes
And what was the Ming court doing at this time? They were still unaware of the Qing army's military operations, and they were still deeply involved in the party struggle over Yang Sichang's entry into the cabinet. This party struggle made Emperor Chongzhen miserable. In the end, Chongzhen
In a rage, the emperor demoted Huang Daozhou, the flag bearer of the Donglin Party who attacked Yang Sichang, by six levels and was transferred to the Ministry of External Affairs. He was sent to Jiangxi Province to serve as a minor ninth-level minister, and he secretly kept this hatred in his heart.
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As for Yang Sichang, he is still dreaming of making peace with the Qing Dynasty. But he will wake up from his dream soon. Lu Xiangsheng, who is in charge of the Xuanda Defense Line, is hands-off in government affairs and wants to show his power.
Filial piety and noble character came. However, the leaderless Xuanda defense line of the Ming Dynasty suddenly became a mess.
First of all, Yue Tuo's right-wing Qing army entered Qiangziling and approached Miyun. But by chance, Wu Aheng, the governor of Jiliao in Ming Dynasty, was leading his subordinates to celebrate the birthday of Deng Xizhao, the eunuch of the supervisory army. Everyone was very drunk.
After receiving the alarm, they hurriedly responded to the battle and were defeated! Wu Aheng and the commander-in-chief Wu Guojun both died drunkenly in the battle. It was really a standard death of drunkenness and dreams!
It was not until the right-wing army of the Qing Dynasty was waiting for the left-wing army to converge from the direction of Qian'an in the Jingdong area that the Ming court heard the alarm, and the capital once again entered a state of martial law.
However, the Ming Dynasty has become a skilled worker when it comes to the Qing army's re-entry. Emperor Chongzhen and his ministers have experienced several crises when the Qing army approaches the city in recent years. They always have some experience and are not as panicked as they were at the beginning.
At a loss.
As for Yang Sichang, although he secretly complained that the court could not adopt his peace proposal early and was attacked like this again, as a soldier, he had to mobilize his troops and generals to support them to at least drive out the Qing army.
Outside the customs.
To be honest, Emperor Chongzhen at this time had high expectations for this capable Minister of War. He dreamed of achieving much better results than the previous ones, and even annihilating the invading enemies, so he approved all Yang Sichang's arrangements in accordance with the regulations.
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Yang Sichang's arrangements were as follows: Quickly mobilize Liaodong forward commander Zu Dashou to lead his troops into the defense. Gao Qiqian, the eunuch of Shanhaiguan Supervisory Army, would lead the pass, and the Ningbing First Department would provide support; he ordered Lu Xiang, the governor-general of Xuanda, to be promoted to the supervisor to take charge of all the troops.
Ma, and led the armies of Xuanfu, Datong, and Shanxi on the left, and the armies of Tianjin, Qingzhou, Dengzhou, and Laizhou on the right to flank the Qing army; with Shandong General Liu Zeqing's troops, Yu Shi Yu Zilian's troops, and General Runing's troops
Wu Shigong's troops and Li Lu's troops from Nanyang stopped the Qing army from the front; while the troops in the Beijing camp strengthened the defense of the capital.
This kind of combat defense arrangement should be said to be quite satisfactory, but it did not take into account the fierce combat effectiveness of the Qing army's cavalry, which was simply not something that the powerful Ming army could withstand, nor did it take into account that the Ming army commanders had their own ideas.
Moreover, the Qing army was extremely arrogant. After entering the plains, they often divided into several groups at high speed, attacked cities and territories, and plundered wantonly. The Ming army's strategic response, which focused on steady and slow defense, was actually impossible to guard against.
Let’s not talk about the other Ming armies. Let’s talk about Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of Xuanda! Immediately after receiving the military order, Lu Xiangsheng rushed to the capital at night, stationed troops in Changping, and then went to the capital to see the emperor. Emperor Chongzhen had always had a very good impression of Lu Xiangsheng.
, he was of great use at this time, so when he summoned the ministers on the fourth day of October, he was specially summoned.
Unsurprisingly, when he saw Lu Xiangsheng, Emperor Chongzhen asked him what strategy he had for the Qing army's war. So Lu Xiangsheng replied: "Your Majesty has ordered me to be the governor, and I only know that there is a war." The implication was that he opposed peace talks with the Qing army.
But Emperor Chongzhen was baffled by what he said. Since Yang Sichang had been whispering in Emperor Chongzhen's ears to "make peace with the Manchus!", although Emperor Chongzhen never agreed, when the Qing soldiers invaded again this time, he did regret it.
Did not follow Yang Sichang's advice.
However, after the Qing army entered the fortress, they showed no intention to use the threat of force to negotiate. At this time, even if they wanted to contact the Qing army, they could not find a way to negotiate peace talks.
It seems that Lu Xiangsheng is still immersed in the party struggle with Yang Sichang.
Emperor Chongzhen pondered for a moment, and then said to Lu Xiangsheng very unhappily: "The imperial court did not ask for a settlement in the first place. It was just an unwarranted discussion from outside the court."
Although the topic was over, Emperor Chongzhen's impression of Lu Xiangsheng immediately took a 180-degree turn. In Emperor Chongzhen's eyes, Lu Xiangsheng didn't want to turn the tide when the country was in crisis, so he just
Considering the party struggle, such a character is too bad. Of course, there are some misunderstandings here, but in future operations, it will bring extremely bad consequences to the Ming army's operations, especially Lu Xiangsheng's own operations.
Influence.
Maybe Lu Xiangsheng didn't believe what Emperor Chongzhen said, but he didn't want to delve into the matter; maybe Lu Xiangsheng saw Emperor Chongzhen's displeasure. Anyway, he was sensible and did not continue this topic.
Lu Xiangsheng went on to say: "The enemy's most important thing is to be on guard against everything. It's okay to force the mausoleum to shake people's hearts. It's okay to approach Shenjing to shake the foundation. Divide your troops out to the south of the capital and plunder the surrounding counties to cut us off.
Food routes can be taken into consideration. If you concentrate your troops for defense, you will lose many cities and sink the ground; if you divide your troops to respond in various places, and your strength is too weak, it will be difficult to win. If you have few troops, your defense will be lax, and if your army and food supplies are insufficient, chaos will occur. These are all ways to defend against the enemy.
difficulty."
Lu Xiangsheng was indeed an outstanding commander. What he was talking about was the dilemma of dividing and reuniting the Ming army. He also accurately estimated the tactics used by the Qing army. He indeed pointed out the key to fighting the Qing army. Emperor Chongzhen also felt that it was very reasonable.
, then one person is short-term and two are long-term, so Emperor Chongzhen ordered him to discuss with Yang Sichang to formulate a feasible combat plan.
In fact, it can be seen from this point that Yang Sichang and Lu Xiangsheng can be regarded as the two most outstanding military talents in the Ming Dynasty, but they also have their own strengths. Yang Sichang is good at strategic planning, while Lu Xiangsheng is good at campaign command.
If these two people can learn from each other's strengths, cooperate sincerely, and make careful arrangements, then facing the Qing army's entry, despite the difficulties, it is still possible to achieve better results in this battle against the Qing than the previous ones.
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It is a pity that both of them were limited by their clique views and were deeply suspicious of each other from the beginning. They only tried to undermine each other and there was no cooperation at all.
When Lu Xiangsheng saw Yang Sichang, he did not first discuss how to face the Qing army, but first criticized Yang Sichang's payment. He said: "The public is determined to provide money, haven't you heard of: alliance under the city? Confucius also believed in "Spring and Autumn"
Is it shameful? Xiang Sheng was ordered to supervise the division. If he had only obeyed his orders, Yuan Chonghuan's fate would be a warning to others. If you don't think about it, you are bound by filial piety, but you cannot change your filial piety and be loyal. If you devote yourself to serving the country, you will lose both loyalty and filial piety. How can you still have dignity?
What about living in this world?”
This suddenly made the conversation between the two full of gunpowder.