Chapter seven hundred and eighty sixth fatal paragraph and
Of course, the Ming army in Songshan and Jinzhou did not know that the Runing army was planning a rescue operation at this time. Although the imperial court did not give the Runing army support in terms of soldiers, it could still completely let the Runing army do its actions. After all, this was
The only chance to rescue Songshan and the Jinzhou Ming Army should be given to the Runing Army no matter what!
However, Chen Xinjia's suggestions killed the last chance of survival of the Ming army in Songshan, Jinzhou and other cities.
At this time, others could delay the solution of Liaodong's dilemma, while Chen Xinjia, the Secretary of the Ministry of War who had the main responsibility for military affairs, was desperate. In desperation, he finally remembered that he had tried several times but never succeeded.
The successful "payment and harmony" policy.
At exactly this time, Yang Shengwu, the governor in Liaodong, sent a battle report back to the court in order to perfunctory the imperial court's order to send troops for rescue. The battle report said: The snow in Liaodong was more than ten feet deep, the Qing army was cold and short of food, and they wanted to negotiate for peace.
.In fact, now that the Qing army has completely taken the initiative in the Liaodong war, how can it release the Ming army in Jinzhou, Songshan and other cities and let the tiger return to the mountain? So this is completely a misinformation of the Ming Dynasty's wish.
But this misinformation fell into the hands of Chen Xinjia, and he immediately felt like a treasure. Moreover, the battle report also reminded Chen Xinjia: Although Yuan Chonghuan and Yang Sichang had previously proposed the strategy of using "money" against the Qing Dynasty, they were both opposed by the emperor and courtiers.
It was unanimously rejected, but in the face of such a serious military crisis, there is no way to mobilize troops and generals. The only way to try is peace talks.
In fact, before this, some knowledgeable people in the imperial court had once again discussed the issue of "harmony". When Fu Zonglong, the former Minister of War, was just released from prison and became the governor of Shaanxi, he discussed it with Chen Xinjia before leaving.
Fu Zonglong also discussed the matter with Xie Sheng, a bachelor, before leaving Beijing.
After that, Xie Sheng felt that there was no hope of sweeping Liaodong, so he secretly reported Chen Xinjia's proposal to Emperor Chongzhen during the meeting. Since Yuan Chonghuan was killed on charges of passing money, Yang Sichang was scolded by both the government and the public for advocating negotiation.
After that, the peace talks with the Qing Dynasty became a restricted area for discussing state affairs in the Chongzhen Dynasty. The main war faction held high the banner of separation between Yi and Xia, and they were impassioned but could not come up with any feasible countermeasures; while some people who had a relatively clear understanding of the national situation knew that
Negotiating peace with the Qing side as much as possible was a way to temporarily get out of the crisis, but they did not dare to bring it up openly for fear of being accused of being a traitor who collaborated with the enemy.
Emperor Chongzhen himself was also deeply restricted by public opinion and traditional concepts. He was afraid of being charged with the eternal crime of surrendering to the Yi and Di. But at this time, the dangerous situation forced him to consider this "last resort".
Emperor Chongzhen immediately summoned Chen Xinjia for this matter, and on the surface, he showed that he would never surrender to the "Tatars" and blamed Chen Xinjia. However, both Chen Xinjia and Xie Sheng understood that the emperor conducted this secret summons
This in itself means that he is already interested in negotiating peace.
Therefore, while Chen Xinjia apologized, he stated his reasons. Xie Sheng also tried his best to persuade him: "If the other party is really willing to negotiate for peace, the peace situation will still be beneficial." Emperor Chongzhen thought for a long time before finally agreeing with Chen Xinjia's suggestion, but asked Chen Xinjia
Everything must be done in secret, everything must be done secretly, and the courtiers must not get wind of it.
But the omniscient officials still heard the news. Several censors went to ask Xie Sheng about the situation. Xie Sheng said to them: "The emperor strongly advocates peace. Please don't say more."
However, they immediately impeached Xie Sheng for these words, saying that he "spoke loudly to the public to expose the emperor's faults, which is extremely disrespectful and has no respect."
Emperor Chongzhen was also very angry about this. He was shy about peace talks with the Qing Dynasty. He was very reluctant to let people know about it and was afraid of being said to be a coward and harming the country. However, Xie Sheng suddenly caused a stir in the city. According to his usual
Xie Sheng's temper could lead to unexpected disasters. Fortunately, at that time, he was bent on reform and his attitude towards the courtiers had been surprisingly gentle. This time, he only scolded Xie Sheng, and in the end he only reduced his temper.
He wanted to solve the problem for the people. However, he kept hesitating and hesitating about the peace negotiation issues involved in the incident, and he never expressed his attitude.
As the king of a country, being so secretive about such a major issue related to national security reflects the fatal weakness of Emperor Chongzhen's character. And this attitude towards this important decision fundamentally determines whether or not peace talks will take place.
It may be successful. However, starting from the beginning of the 15th year of Chongzhen, the peace talks with the Qing Dynasty were still conducted in extremely secretive manner. All major matters were planned and decided by Emperor Chongzhen personally, and it was Chen Xinjia who made the specific arrangements and implementation.
Therefore, in order to prevent the peace talks from being affected, Chen Xinjia issued an order to Wu Shigong through the Ministry of War to stop the expedition. To be honest, Wu Shigong was originally half-hearted about the rescue, but when the imperial court actually prevented the Runing army from going out for the rescue,
Wu Shigong couldn't help but feel a sense of powerlessness, and then a sense of relief. He realized that he had fulfilled all his obligations to the Ming Dynasty. And in the future of the Ming Dynasty, if you don't commit suicide, you won't die!
Therefore, Chen Xinjia and others' proposal of "harmony" may be wise, but it is fatal to propose it at this time. From a small aspect, this ruined the Ming army in Jinzhou, Songshan and other places; from a large aspect
In other words, this caused the Ming Dynasty to slide a long way further into the abyss of national subjugation.
Then, Wu Shigong stayed in Zhenyuan City, presiding over the army to speed up the construction of the city, while coldly watching the changes in the overall situation of the world.
On the 13th day of the first lunar month of the 15th year of Chongzhen, the peasant army decided to use gunpowder to blow open the city wall of Kaifeng City, so they sent warriors to take arrows and stones to dig out the bricks of the city wall at a pre-selected location, and then dug it into a tunnel that was more than ten feet deep and ten feet wide.
The large hole was filled with dozens of stones filled with gunpowder in cloth bags, and a lead wire was pulled out. Cavalry and infantry were also deployed at the entrance of the hole, preparing to attack the city in one fell swoop when the city wall collapsed.
Unexpectedly, the city wall of Kaifeng was extremely strong. After the gunpowder was detonated, the mountains collapsed and the ground cracked, but the city wall did not collapse. Instead, many soldiers of the peasant army outside the city were injured by the flying earth and rocks.
Later, when Li Zicheng was inspecting under the city wall of Kaifeng City, he was shot with a cold arrow by Chen De, the son of Chen Yongfu. Li Zicheng blocked the arrow with his right arm and returned with minor injuries. Later, it was rumored that Chen De shot Li Zicheng in the left eye, and Li Zicheng also died gloriously.
He earned the nickname "The Blind Man", and Chen De was promoted to a guerrilla general with this arrow.
After Li Zicheng was injured, because the city of Kaifeng was too strong to be conquered in a short period of time, and Zuo Liangyu had already led his troops to follow, the coalition forces of Li and Luo stopped attacking the city and withdrew from Kaifeng.
In the first month of the first month, Emperor Chongzhen secretly appointed Ma Shaoyu, who was in charge of military affairs in front of the Liaodong Army, as the special envoy for peace talks with the Qing Dynasty. He was promoted to a doctor in the Ministry of War, and was given second-grade clothing (the doctor was only a fourth-grade official) to negotiate outside the customs.
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Ma Shaoyu's main assistants were the blind fortune teller Zhou Yuanzhong, who had no official position but had dealt with the Qing Dynasty many times in the past, an expelled Juren named Zhu Liangcai, and a small team led by generals Li Yulan and Zhou Weiyong.
The small security force quietly left Shanhaiguan.
At that time, Song and Jinzhu cities were besieged, and only Tashan was close to Ningyuan, and the access to the rear had not been completely cut off. Ma Shaoyu and his party stationed at Tashan and informed the Qing side that angels had come to negotiate. The Qing Dynasty had always attached great importance to using negotiations to achieve political results.
However, when the siege was about to be effective, he was unwilling to delay the military plane due to negotiations, so he was just a hypocrite to Ma Shaoyu's mission. One of the representatives sent was a young man in brocade and the other was an old man with white hair and beard. Compared with the lineup of the Ming Dynasty delegation,
It's not much stronger.
The two delegations met at Gaotaibao near Tashan. Both sides were polite on the surface. Ma Shaoyu also entertained the Qing envoys with a banquet as the host. However, after eating and drinking, the Qing envoys were unwilling to discuss practical issues.
First of all, I hope to see the imperial edict from the Ming Dynasty emperor to prove the Ming Dynasty's sincerity.
Since the Ming Dynasty had never negotiated with the Yi and Di vassals and had no experience, Ma Shaoyu did not bring an imperial edict with him when he left the capital, so he had to quickly ask for instructions from the capital. Emperor Chongzhen was determined to negotiate peace, so he made an exception and wrote an imperial edict to the Qing Dynasty, but he still could not let go.
The airs of the Celestial Dynasty. The imperial edict said: "I heard that Shenyang had a good intention to stop the troops and pacify the people, but the governors along the border have never reported it...so that I cannot be sincere and show kindness to people who are far away, as my ancestors showed kindness and kindness.
"Contact the Old Testament." In short, it shows tolerance for a barbaric vassal nation.
As for the so-called "support reward", which is the economic redemption of the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Chongzhen agreed to pay 470,000 taels of silver every year, just like the "yearly coins" of the Song Dynasty. It can be regarded as a heart-breaking and cruel act.
The Qing representative sent Emperor Chongzhen's imperial edict back to Shengjing for Huang Taiji to review. Soon someone came back and said that the imperial edict was in a different style from the imperial edicts issued by emperors of the Ming Dynasty to the heads of Jurchen tribes in the early years.
The minister forged it and was very dissatisfied with the terms used in the edict.
The negotiations were temporarily suspended for this reason, and Ma Shaoyu had to report the truth to Emperor Chongzhen. In fact, this was just a deliberate delaying trick by the Qing side, because it was already February, the weather was warm, and the Qing army was already preparing to launch a general attack on Song and Jin Zhucheng.
, reaping the fruits of victory.
Because it was February, Wu Shigong was ready to return to Runing. Taking advantage of this more than a month, 37,000 Runing troops worked together to build a Zhenyuan on the flat land with a length of about 200 steps and a width of about 200 steps.
City. Because this city was built roughly, the height was not high, only about two feet, but its thickness was very thick, reaching more than two feet. Therefore, it was easy to heighten the city wall on this foundation. In addition, other buildings were built outside the city.
There is a moat about three feet wide.
Then, Wu Shigong had to do the finishing work before returning. First, he had to determine the troops to stay behind. So, he called Yu Ji, Fu Sheng, Ye Chao and Hardan Battelle who had arranged to stay behind into his army