Nothing has been accomplished militarily, but military expenditures have been extremely inflated. The finances cannot make ends meet, so the Ministry of Household Affairs' countermeasure is to impose additional taxes in disguise. In order to supply troops and horses for various towns, the people of Jiangnan were squeezed almost to the point of dryness. But that's it, the emperors and ministers of the Hongguang court Still showing their greedy faces, they tried their best to "take it from the people".
Before Zhu Yousong was enthroned, he wandered around, cut off his source of livelihood, and begged for mercy from the more prosperous vassals and officials. But as soon as he ascended the throne, he immediately wanted to live on par with the emperors of the peace period. He ordered that for himself and the Queen Mother He built a palace, bought jewelry in preparation for his wedding, and hired singers and dancers for his pleasure; some people who had helped him when he was unlucky also flocked to share the wealth.
In a word, Nan Ming was already rotten to the core. With just a slight push, this seemingly behemoth would fall to the ground.
However, at the beginning, Wu Shigong's Daping Dynasty did not regard the Hongguang Dynasty of the Southern Ming Dynasty as the primary goal. In order to paralyze the Hongguang monarch and his ministers, Wu Shigong even received the envoys from the Nanming Dynasty and instructed officials to start peace talks with the Nanming envoys. Of course, in the end, because in the founding of the country If the envoy refused to kneel down and salute during the ceremony, the envoy would be sent out of the country.
However, this behavior misled the emperor and ministers of Hongguang Dynasty even more. They all thought that the breakdown of the negotiations was only due to etiquette issues. The bottom line of the Nanming peace talks was actually to surrender, and in fact, this clause was not unacceptable. Therefore, Hongguang The monarchs and ministers of the court may still have complaints in their hearts: The Daping Dynasty's behavior of driving away the envoys was a bit "too impatient"!
Another point is that Wu Shigong's scolding of the Korean envoys was also spread to the Southern Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the emperor and ministers of the Hongguang Dynasty judged that Wu Shigong still treated the two groups of envoys differently, and still respected Emperor Hongguang, which was the gateway to negotiations. It was still not closed. For this reason, they began to prepare for the second batch of envoys in full swing, and they must negotiate an outcome for the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
At this time, there was also a rumor among the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River, saying: Wu Shigong was after the Yuan people, and the Great Ping Dynasty was also the dynasty of the Tartars. The so-called restoration of the Yuan people...
In order to reduce the disharmony during the negotiations, Hongguang Chao went so far as to arrest the scholars who spread those rumors. They even publicized that Wu Shigong was a disciple of the saint and had the reputation of being a member. He was a member of the "Jiangnan Scholars" (that is, the Donglin Party) "Friends of )" and so on and so forth.
Wu Shigong never expected that the personal image issue that he was most worried about would be defended by one of his enemies, Nan Ming. He really could wake up from his dream with laughter!
But soon, the situation in the world suddenly changed. The Western Expeditionary Army of the Daping Dynasty swept across the northwest one after another. Sichuan, Dashun and Daxi were also swept away like a whirlwind. Even Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were awarded the heads one after another. Seeing such a strong military power of the Daping Dynasty. The emperor and ministers of the Hongguang Dynasty became anxious. They couldn't wait to send envoys and wanted to succeed in peace talks with the Daping Dynasty as soon as possible.
But even at this time, the Daping Dynasty still did not want to launch the Nanming strategy. Because the strategy of the Daping Dynasty was very clear, which was to first Qing Dynasty and then Ming Dynasty. However, a series of emergencies, coupled with the excellent strategic vision and bold strategy of the Daping Army generals, This action allowed the Nanming strategy to be launched without the consent of Wu Shigong and the Daping court.
The first was the 30,000 Shandong Army led by Chi Ming, who deployed troops in southern Shandong.
Starting from March of the first year of Qiongyuan, in order to cover the Marine Corps' conquest strategy, Chi Ming's troops began to conduct exercises with great fanfare at the junction with the Nanming Army. They declared that they would attack south across the river and capture Nanjing.
Although this action caused the Nanming Army to panic, the Shandong Army still did not cross the border between the two armies, because the exercise was just a show, and the Shandong Army could not undermine the general strategy of the Ping Dynasty.
However, after such "wolf is coming" several times, the Nanming Army gradually stabilized. Even when the news reached the ears of the Hongguang Dynasty monarchs, they thought: This was just an act of intimidation by the Daping Dynasty.
It was to make Nanming make greater concessions in the peace talks. It also shows that the Daping Dynasty was strong on the outside and cadre on the inside.
The "Ah Q spirit" of the emperors and ministers of the Hongguang Dynasty was very smooth, but the gentry in the Huaiyang area believed the claims of the Shandong Army. Since various towns in the Southern Ming Dynasty stationed heavy troops in the Huaiyang area, the local people suffered.
It's unspeakable. In addition, the officials and gentry in Yangzhou City had a good relationship with Wu Shigong, and even had business cooperation. Therefore, they sent secret envoys to Chi Ming's army to secretly discuss: dedicating Huaiyang City
——Yangzhou.
Chi Ming would definitely welcome such a good thing that would bring pie to the world. However, as a member of Wu Shigong's "Young Guards" and having once been the commander of Wu Shigong's personal army, Chi Ming would definitely be happy for it.
Wu Shigong admired Wu Shigong extremely and obeyed his advice. Therefore, he hurriedly reported to Wu Shigong to get the order to send troops.
However, the eight-hundred-mile emergency report only brought back a strict order. There were only two words - No!
In the military, the most taboo military battle is a two-front battle. It can be said that one of the main reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty was that it fell into a two-front battle with the peasant army and the Qing army. In the end, Ming Dynasty
The army lost ground and was exhausted, and its effective forces were wiped out one by one. In the end, the entire central and northern region was left empty of troops, and even the emperor was buried with him in the fallen city of Beijing.
Although the military situation of the Great Ping Dynasty was indeed surrounded by enemies on all sides, Wu Shigong and others would never make stupid mistakes and proactively conduct a two-front battle.
Therefore, the Daping army will definitely choose a main battlefield, and the Qing army, which poses the greatest threat, is the closest, and has the strongest troops, will undoubtedly be the first target. Besides, the Daping Dynasty has already occupied five or six provinces.
In their own territory, there is a shortage of officials, production has not yet been restored, and even public security has not been stable.
In a word, the territory you own has not been digested, so how can you still have the energy to seize other territories?
To be honest, the initial strategic goal of the New Year's Offensive launched by Xue Yong's Western Expeditionary Army was only to annihilate the effective forces of the Dashun Army, making it impossible for the Dashun Army to cross the Yellow River, leave Tongguan, and enter Shanxi and Henan. I just didn't expect it.
After the defeat, the Dashun Army was so vulnerable, and Zhang Xianzhong's Daxi Army was even less worth mentioning. This allowed the Zhengxi Army to fly smoothly and quickly occupy several northwest provinces and half of Sichuan.
Of course, if Xue Yong, Quan Dashan and others really achieved this great victory, Wu Shigong and others would never blame them, because after all, they eliminated the two great enemies of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong for the sake of the Ping Dynasty. (To be continued...