Chapter 837: The establishment of the Dashun Dynasty
Before Li Zicheng crossed the Yellow River with his camp, his propaganda work had already reached Shanxi. It was widely rumored among the people that there would be no killing or sexual intercourse in the camp, and no taxes on the proceeds. This made the people of Shanxi look forward to the arrival of the camp.
In order to counter this public opinion offensive, Shanxi Governor Cai Maode concocted a post under the name "Qin Min Guotai, Li Da'an" "talking about the misery of thieves who tortured and tortured", and posted it everywhere inside and outside the Taiyuan provincial capital. He also made up privately:
The nursery rhyme "It's hard for a horse to walk inside the gate, and this year it's time to beat the horse again", which deceives the masses.
However, no matter how well the propaganda war is carried out, it ultimately depends on the strength of the army.
When the Chuang camp was heading to Henan Prefecture and Shaanxi Province, in order to prevent the Chuang camp from crossing the river, Cai Maode, as a provincial governor, went to Pingyang to deploy river defense matters in an attempt to guard the Yellow River ferry. Since he had no food and salary, he requested
The two Jin vassal princes who were entrusted in Pingyang, King Xihe and King Jiaocheng, took the lead in persuading Jin gentry and people to donate money, but no one agreed to donate money. So the river prevention plan completely failed.
At this time, the King of Jin in Taiyuan sent people to urge Cai Maode to return to Taiyuan to defend the city. But Cai Maode could only return without success, and watched helplessly as he broke into the camp and entered Shanxi. Then, Cai Maode was stabbed in the back by one of his own men
.
As soon as Cai Maode returned to Taiyuan, the censor Wang Zongyou impeached him for abandoning Pingyang without authorization. Emperor Chongzhen immediately ordered his dismissal without asking the reason, and appointed Guo Jingchang to take over as governor of Shanxi.
In order to maintain the Yellow River defense line, Cai Maode had no credit but hard work, and the official was indeed unjustly dismissed. But from another perspective, it was a blessing in disguise. Cai Maode finally no longer sits in the furnace-like position of governor of Shanxi.
It's better to lose your official position than your life! So Cai Maode didn't end up in the worst possible outcome.
Unexpectedly, Cai Maode was having a bad time, and his bad luck has not passed yet.
As soon as Guo Jingchang arrived at Guguan, he received the news of breaking into the camp and occupying Fenzhou, so he did not dare to go to Taiyuan to take up his post. Although Cai Maode had been dismissed, his replacement had not yet arrived, so he had to bite the bullet and patrol with Zhao Jianji, the left-wing envoy.
Dao Bi Gongchen and others planned to defend Taiyuan.
At this time, the famous Shanxi literati Fu Shan and Han Lin were hired to paint pre-military tributes to the commander-in-chief Li Jiantai. Fu Shan, with an eye on protecting his hometown from being occupied by invading camps, personally rushed to Hebei and asked Li Jiantai to rescue Taiyuan. He said:
Only by protecting Taiyuan can the southern Shanxi region hope to recover. Only in Jifu can there be a barrier. This is the responsibility of the governor.
However, Li Jiantai had his own considerations. When he was ordered to supervise the division, he originally planned to use the property of his hometown in Quwo to recruit troops and assemble a local armed force to stop the peasant army in Shanxi. However, now that Quwo has been occupied by the camp, the plan has no basis.
There is no way to achieve it.
Seeing that the situation was bad, the 30,000 forbidden troops from Beijing had already fled. It was not easy to rescue Taiyuan under such circumstances. Therefore, he flatly rejected Fu Shan's request and returned to Baoding.
Under such circumstances, Taiyuan became an isolated city.
On the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month, he broke into the camp and arrived at Taiyuan City. Jin Wang Zhu Qiugui took out three thousand taels of silver and sent it to the city to "recruit dead soldiers to kill thieves." However, Shanxi Tixue Li Zhisheng deducted the money and replaced the cash with paper notes for meritorious service.
, the morale of the officers and soldiers was even lower. In the early morning of the 12th, Zhang Xiong, the governor of Biaoying Pi, opened the new south gate and surrendered, and the Dashun army occupied Taiyuan. Taiyuan, a strong city in the northwest, held on for less than two days from beginning to end.
King Zhu Qiugui of the Jin Dynasty was captured alive, Cai Maode committed suicide, the chief envoy Zhao Jianji, Xunning Dao Bi Gongchen, Shouning Dao Mao Bingyi, Superintendent of Grain Dao Lin Gangzhong, and Taiyuan magistrate Sun Kangzhou were all executed. The funniest thing is the best pig The fate of his teammate Li Zhisheng, a Shanxi Tixue Taoist. After he was captured, he knelt in front of the general who broke into the camp and said: "I have been in this Tao for three months and have not yet entered the examination shed." He tried his best to clean himself up. Han Lin, a scribe who had surrendered to the camp, also He boasted that he was "the most literary scholar in the world." So Chuangying immediately hired him and asked him to preside over the examination and select civil servants.
Then, Chuangying rested in Taiyuan for eight days. During these eight days, Chuangying felt that the time was ripe to completely overthrow the Ming Dynasty. In order to effectively promote the change of dynasty and expand political influence, Li Zicheng and others People decided to formally establish the country and change the Yuan Dynasty to further formalize the central government of Chuangying.
Li Zicheng and others decided that on the first day of the first lunar month in 1643 AD (the 16th year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty), the country was officially established, and its name was changed to Dashun and its name was changed to Yongchang. The measures taken at that time can be summarized as follows:
First of all, Taiyuan was tentatively designated as Xijing; the palace of the Ming and Jin Dynasties was used as the palace. His great-grandfather and his descendants were honored as emperors, and his mother Lu was the queen mother. Gao was canonized as queen and Chen as noble concubine. It was promulgated that Li Zicheng and his father and ancestors should avoid taboos. Wait for regulations and draw up an almanac.
All this shows that Li Zicheng began to officially proclaim himself emperor.
Secondly, the meritorious officials were awarded fifth-level titles. General Quan, the general was granted the title of marquis; General Guoyi, general Weiwei were granted the title of uncle, son, and male. This also gave the civil and military officials who followed Li Zicheng a regular official title reward.
Third, change the official system. The cabinet is renamed Tianyou Hall, and the academician Pingzhang is appointed to serve as the military and state affairs officer, headed by Niu Jinxing. Song Xiance is the military advisor. The central administrative body is divided into six governments, with ministers and ministers as heads of government; subordinate staff are changed The doctor is called Zhonglang, and the person in charge is engaged. The Hanlin Academy is called Hongwen Hall, the Six Sections are admonished by the officials, the censor is called the direct commander, Shangbao Temple is called Shangqisi, Taipu Temple is called Ma Temple, and the General Affairs Department is called Zhizhengshi. .While appointing officials, the Dashun regime also confiscated the Ming Dynasty seals from various places and issued new seals.
The local officials were added to the provincial level, and Jiedushi was set up, which was equivalent to the governor in the Ming Dynasty. Soon, the system of patrolling and censorship was imitated in the Ming Dynasty, and additional patrolling and direct-instructing envoys were assigned to each province to represent the supervision responsibilities of the central department. Others Roads, prefectures, prefectures, and counties have officials such as defense envoys, prefectural governors, prefecture shepherds, and county magistrates.
In fact, this kind of official position formulation was the same as that of the Ming Dynasty. At most, it only changed an official name. The content and official authority were also changed. Therefore, the political results of the entire society were not changed at all. It was nothing more than a simple change of dynasty.
Fourth, in terms of the military system, the names of the five battalions are determined to be Zhongji, left flank (auxiliary), right wing, forward, and back force; the flags for the front camp are black, the rear camp is yellow, the left camp is white, the right camp is red, and the middle camp Cyan. The military positions are set as General Quan, General Zhi, General Guoyi, General Weiwei, Captain, Brigade Commander, Department Commander, Sentry Commander and other officers.
The army has also strengthened military training and discipline. It stipulates that horse soldiers who cross the line in disorder will be beheaded. Horses that "leave into the fields and seedlings will be beheaded," etc. The latter discipline is obviously to protect agricultural production.
Fifth, in terms of economics, in addition to continuing to adhere to the policy of "three-year exemption from taxation", the Ming Dynasty officials and gentry were also implemented to recover stolen money and provide salary support, that is, the money gained from corruption by bureaucrats was confiscated and used as government funds and military pay.
In order to stabilize prices and facilitate private trade, the evil small coins minted by officials and private parties during the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty were abolished, and Yongchang Tongbao was minted in the furnace. A large coin was worth one tael of silver, and another was minted as ten or five cents.
The policy of chasing stolen goods and subsidizing wages has completely pushed the official and gentry class into the opposite direction of the camp. Although some knowledgeable people in the camp also objected to this, people like Li Zicheng had a particularly strong will to rebel.
The hatred of the Ming Dynasty is unforgettable. For example: King Chuang Li Zicheng refused to surrender to the court no matter what, and would rather go into the ravine than surrender in a symbolic sense. Moreover, he was willing to kill his wife and children in order to rebel. And the civil servant representative Song Xiance
Although he was a civil servant, he was also oppressed by the Ming government and was incompatible with the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, under this background, the civil and military personnel who broke into the camp unanimously agreed on the policy of recovering stolen goods and subsidizing wages. Of course, this can also solve the current problem of military pay, food and grass supply for the soldiers who broke into the camp.
But there is no doubt that Chuangying essentially established a feudal dynasty, but he also pushed the backbone of the feudal dynasty, the official gentry and landlord class, into the opposite direction, which destined that his policy would not continue.
Although the Chuang camp was powerful at this time and controlled a large area, the landlord armed forces also used their local clan power to launch fierce guerrilla warfare against the Chuang camp in weak locations such as remote mountainous areas. Although such battles have great impact on the current Chuang camp.
The impact on the camp is not great, but as long as the camp is in trouble, the landlords and armed forces will definitely add insult to injury. Therefore, this policy is just a policy that only has the function of venting anger, but it has brought many evil methods to the camp.
Finally, it is to open subjects to obtain scholars. In order to recruit talents to serve as officials at all levels, the ceremonial government will set questions and select officials through imperial examinations. Those in the Chinese style will be awarded prefecture, state, and county officials.
The founding of Taiyuan by Li Zicheng marked the beginning of the "Three Kingdoms Struggle for Hegemony" period at the end of the Ming Dynasty. This also meant that the strength of the Shun Army at this time was no less than that of the Ming Dynasty.
At this time, in order to prevent Qing troops from entering the customs, the Ming Dynasty set up four governors of Liaodong, Shanhai, Changping, and Baoding, and six governors of Ningyuan, Yongping, Shuntian, Miyun, Tianjin, and Baoding on the line from Shanhaiguan to Beijing.
, Shanhai, Zhongxie, Xixie, Changping, Tongzhou, Tianjin, and Baoding have eight general military officers. It can be said that they are like a cloud of commanders and can defend their troops like ants.
However, due to the uneven power, the cowardice of the generals, and low morale, the Ming armies belonging to the Supervisory Biao, Fu Biao, and Zhen Biao were unable to effectively mobilize to deal with the Qing army. The soldiers and horses from all walks of life fled before encountering the enemy;
Either they deliberately avoided the enemy's frontal offensive and stayed to watch from a distance; or they kept a distance and followed behind the enemy, acting as a reception team for the Qing army.
But in this way, the Qing army entered the pass very easily and almost never encountered any resistance. And the Ming army near Jifu was even less likely to go west to encircle and suppress the Shun army that had already founded the country.
However, Jianguo, who broke into the camp, had also touched the bottom line of the Ming Dynasty. No matter what, this peasant army, which was the most powerful, closest to the capital, and the first to propose a change of dynasty, must be surrounded and wiped out.
However, it was impossible to mobilize the Ming army near Jifu. The Runing army and the Heiyun army in Henan were both obedient and secretly disobeying the imperial orders and remained stationary. The only one who had any hope of fighting against the Shun army was the Trilateral Governor of Shaanxi, Sun Chuanting.
The Qin army.
PS: Since we have now reached the "gaochao" of this book, several battlefields are being fought at the same time. In order to ensure that things can be explained clearly, there may be some overlap in the timeline. Readers, please pay attention. I will also try to describe it as clearly as possible.
Also: Regarding the "best" replies to book reviews, I didn't really care at all. As long as there are book reviews, I will give the best, but I found that this is very unfair to those who have subscribed. For this reason, I will not give the "best" to those who have not subscribed.