Chapter nine hundred and twentieth surprise change
Huaiyang is located in the north of the Yangtze River and is an important barrier for Nanming's Yangtze River defense line. Nanming also stationed heavy troops in various towns in this area. It is conceivable that once the late Ming's Shandong Army starts taking action, a full-scale war with Nanming will inevitably break out.
The Daping Dynasty would also immediately face the dilemma of fighting on two fronts. No matter the troops or supplies, it could not be arranged. Therefore, Wu Shigong strictly ordered Chi Ming not to act rashly.
After receiving this strict order, Chi Ming had no choice but to give up and take Yangzhou directly. But his young mind was undoubtedly full of depression. In order to vent, he could only increase the intensity of the exercises, which were supposed to be military training anyway! And he met Daping.
The army's exercises became more and more intense, and seeing that they did not dare to take a step further, the towns in the confrontation with Nanming became even more relieved.
This scene lasted until mid-May. When the Daping Army invaded Shaanxi, swept through several northwest provinces, and pursued Li Zicheng's remnant army, and came to the east, after the news came, Chi Ming and other Daping Army generals and the generals of various towns in Nanming
My heart suddenly clenched.
…
When the Zhou Dynasty patrol in June, the 130,000 Daping Army led by Xue Yong annihilated the main force of the Dashun Army near Jiujiang, and the tens of thousands of ships prepared by the Dashun Army for the eastward march to Nanjing were also captured by the Daping Army.
At this time, Zhou Xun, Xue Yong and others, who had strong soldiers and horses, ships and food, also began to have ideas. They wanted to go down the river in one go, go straight to Nanjing, and completely wipe out Nanming.
At this time, Wu Shigong, who was well aware of the temperament of the arrogant soldiers on the front line, was deeply afraid that they would disobey orders on the grounds that "the generals would be out", so he frequently issued strict orders and ordered not to fight with the Nanming Army. But he was preparing to use the excuse "the generals would be out".
Zhou Xun, Xue Yong and others had no choice but to stand still and temporarily stopped their military operations to the east.
…
Judging from the two battlefields of Shandong and Huguang, it seems that Nanming can take a breather for a while with the Daping Army standing still. But no one expected that these two battlefields would undergo surprising changes one after another, resulting in the Shandong Army and
The Huguang Army launched all-out military operations one after another.
Let’s talk about the Shandong battlefield first:
On June 2, at the junction of Shandong and northern Jiangsu, a small group of dozens of Nanming troops, led by a general, collectively surrendered to Chi Ming's Shandong Army in Yangji Town. At the same time, they also offered sacrifices to the Shandong Army.
He arrived at Yangji Town where he was stationed.
At that time, most of the Nanming Army in the towns in Jiangbei were stationed in the city, and this small group of soldiers was nothing more than the "eyes and ears" and cannon fodder placed at the front line. Of course, they were not direct members. Therefore, the main reason for their surrender was
The reason is self-evident. However, the news that the Daping Army of the Huguang Patrol Department was heading east was also a major reason that destroyed the confidence of these soldiers.
I don’t want to analyze the reasons why these soldiers surrendered, and in these days, there are not many soldiers from the Nanming Army who surrendered. But this time is an exception. Because this group of soldiers actually surrendered to Yangji Town where they were stationed
All were donated.
This situation embarrassed the two armies facing each other. For Chi Ming's Shandong Army, the meat was all delivered to their door, so it was definitely a waste of money.
But for the Nanming Army, Yangji Town is important, but not particularly important. If it really gives up, it doesn't mean anything. But the Shandong Army's move to take over Yangji Town set a very bad precedent - the Daping Army
For the first time, it broke the de facto ceasefire line tacitly agreed between the two armies and broke into the defense line of the Nanming Army.
However, the officials and military generals of Nanming were also miserable. After all, Yangji Town was not captured by the Daping Army, but was surrendered by its own soldiers. If you insist that the Daping Army broke the tacit understanding, it is somewhat unreasonable. Is it necessary to send
Should we go to the Daping Army to talk to them and ask them to return Yangji Town voluntarily? This is obviously impossible.
So the two armies remained silent for five days, not knowing how to deal with this unexpected situation. But on the seventh day of June, the second team of the Nanming Army saw that they had set an example, and they also surrendered, followed by the third team.
Team…….
Although Chi Ming obeyed Wu Shigong's words, he had his own little brains after all. This was sent to surrender, not taken by himself, so this was not considered a violation of the emperor's imperial edict! So he took advantage of the situation and commanded Shandong.
The army pressed forward and occupied the territory offered by the Nanming Army in these days.
But this made the Nanming Army even more panicked, because the Daping Army finally sent troops. On the tenth day of June, a Nanming Army staff general stationed in Suqian, with more than 3,000 troops, surrendered to the city. The situation changed.
The child is out of control.
…
The situation on the Huguang battlefield is even more bizarre:
In times of national calamity, all the little ghosts and monsters jump out.
In December of the 16th year of Chongzhen, Mu Hu, the servant of Gao Mengji, the young minister of Honglu Temple, was traveling from the north to the south. On the way, he met a young man and walked together. But when he went to bed at night, he was surprised to find that the young man's underwear was woven with dragons.
He was surprised and asked about his identity. The young man claimed to be the crown prince.
After arriving in Nanjing, Mu Hu sent the young man to Gao Mengji. It was difficult to tell the authenticity of Gao Mengji, so he hurriedly sent him to Suzhou and hid in Hangzhou. It should be said that Gao Mengji still had a conscience. At this time, Emperor Hongguang had just sat on the throne, and he would never
Others are allowed to peep. And the crown prince Zhu Cixi's identity is more qualified than Zhu Yousong's, so once the young man's identity is true, he will definitely be killed. Therefore, Gao Mengji actually gave the young man a
Way to survive.
However, this young man did not know how to hide, and often showed off to the public, showing his noble and arrogant appearance. This attracted people's attention, and they all whispered behind their backs. As a last resort, Gao Mengji could only report to the court secretly, so Emperor Hongguang sent an internal
The official held the imperial letter to announce the call.
On the first day of March in the first year of Qiongyuan, this young man arrived in Nanjing from Jinhua, Zhejiang, and was handed over to the custody of Feng Kezong, the Jinyi Guard. The next day, Emperor Hongguang told his ministers: "There is a young man in the East Palace of the late emperor. If he is the son of the late emperor, he is mine."
The son should be raised with good care and will not lose his place." He also went with the Linghou, Bo, Jiuqing, Hanlin, Ke, Tao and other officials to inspect him.
Wang Duo, a bachelor, had served as an instructor in the East Palace for three years, so he was naturally familiar with the prince's appearance, and he could tell at a glance that he was a traitor and a fake. When Hongguang was founded, many officials had served in the Chongzhen court, and not only those who had met the prince Zhu Cixiang were
Wang Duo is the only one. Others, such as Liu Zhengzong and Li Jinglian who once served as lecturers in the East Palace, and Qiu Zhizhong, the eunuch who served as the companion of the East Palace in the past, all deny it.
At that time, officials in the Hongguang court also knew that the "prince" coming from the north was purely fake, and no one raised any objections.
Originally, this fraud case just came to light, but this case was used to advantage by careerists.
Zuo Liangyu, who was in the upper echelon of Nanjing, controlled strategic areas and had relatively strong subordinates. When Zhu Yousong ascended to the throne and issued the imperial edict to Wuchang, he was unwilling to admit it at first. He only patrolled He Tengjiao in Huguang and Huang Shu and others.
After some persuasion, I agreed to start reading it to express my support.
Since Emperor Hongguang mainly relied on the support of Huang Degong, Gao Jie, Liu Liangzuo and other military generals in various towns, Zuo Liangyu did not participate and was not considered a hero in making decisions. Therefore, this became a worry for Zuo Liangyu. So he guarded
The land becomes even more unruly.
The imperial court regarded other generals as arrogant, which also aroused Zuo Liangyu's resentment. Huang Shu, the censor of Huguang Patrol, was originally a dirty villain. As the suspicion between Zuo Liangyu and the Hongguang court deepened, not only did he not
He tried to mediate in the middle, but relied on Zuo Liangyu's military strength in an attempt to improve his status in the Hongguang court.
At the end of May in the first year of Qiongyuan, when the remnants of Li Zicheng's Dashun Army entered the Jiangxi area under the pursuit of Xue Yong's troops who were patrolling by Daping Army, Zuo Liangyu did not dare to fight with the main force of Dashun Army, so he repeated his old tactics and led his troops
Run eastward along the river.
At that time, Nanjing was in turmoil over the fake prince, "child concubine" and other cases, and the powerful cabinet bachelor caused strong dissatisfaction among the officials and gentry. This provided Zuo Liangyu with an excuse to avoid the war and go east.
On the third day of June, Zuo Liangyu falsely claimed to have been entrusted with a secret order from the late emperor and crown prince to go to Nanjing for rescue. In the name of Qingjun, the entire army took a boat and sailed eastward along the Yangtze River. Before leaving, he ordered the massacre of all the people in Ezhou.
On the fifth day of June, Zuo Liangyu's soldiers arrived in Jiujiang and invited Jiang Governor Yuan Jixian to meet him in a boat. Zuo Liangyu took out the "Crown Prince's" secret edict from his sleeve, set up an altar to torture animals, and made an alliance with the generals.
Of course, the generals who followed Zuo Liangyu readily agreed, and Zuo Liangyu forced Yuan Jixian to go to Nanjing to "clear the emperor's side and save the prince."
However, Yuan Jixian believed that the authenticity of the "Crown Prince" was uncertain, and he did not know who had sent the secret edict. He said sternly: "The old virtues of the late emperor must not be forgotten, and the new kindness of the present emperor must not be ignored." He also bowed to the generals and begged them.
Cherish the people.
Zuo Liangyu replied: "The actions of my subordinates in plotting to trap the prince have nothing to do with the present. If you care for the people, everyone has your own heart, why should you worry about it?" Then he took out the "Oath and Memo" and showed it to Yuan Jixian.
How could Yuan Jixian believe such groundless evidence? After he returned to the city, he ordered his generals to defend Jiujiang and not allow Zuo soldiers to enter the city. Unexpectedly, Zhang Shixun, the general of the Ministry, had secretly colluded with the Zuo generals and set fire to the whole city at night, causing chaos.
, Yuan's generals could not survive, so they broke out of the door and joined forces with the Zuo army. Zuo Liangyu's troops took advantage of the situation and entered the city to kill, capture, and plunder. Yuan Jixian was desperate and prepared to die. Zuo Liangyu sent his general Zhang Yingyuan to take him into a boat.
, Yuan Jixian repeatedly drowned himself, but was rescued every time.
Zuo Liangyu tried his best to express to him that he had no intention of overthrowing Emperor Hongguang, and asked Yuan Jixian to go eastward to "transport the soldiers." The supervisor Li Youlong also repeatedly persuaded his disciples that it was useless to die, and it was better to act according to the opportunity. Yuan Jixian had no choice but to work with Zuo Liangyu and
The generals under his command have agreed to strictly prohibit burning, killing and looting.
However, just as the Zuo army was preparing to move eastward from Jiujiang, Zuo Liangyu suddenly fell ill and died on the seventh day of June, ending his life of committing crimes and crimes. Zuo Liangyu was a man who harmed the people of the Ming Dynasty more than he killed the rebels.
The Peasant Army's more powerful "famous general"! At this time, it was only three days before the Jiujiang Incident. (To be continued...)