Chapter 218: The Significance of the Battle of Changli
Zhong Jinwei met Emperor Chongzhen in the Wenhua Hall, and Wen Tiren, the chief minister of the cabinet, was also present.
He found that Emperor Chongzhen and Wen Tiren were not in very good spirits, due to lack of sleep, and there was also anxiety and worry in their expressions.
Emperor Chongzhen saw Zhong Jinwei entering the palace and wanted to salute, so he quickly stopped him and said, "Master Zhong, there is no need to be polite."
Then he saw that Zhong Jinwei had not been seen for a few days and had lost a lot of weight, but was in good spirits, so he said to Zhong Jinwei: "Master Zhong, don't take risks next time, I can't live without you!"
"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty, but to be honest, I learned a lot during this trip." Zhong Jinwei said with a smile.[
Zhong Jinwei's smile infected the people in the palace. Wen Tiren smiled and asked him: "Why, Zhongxing Bo is still so humble after he has made great achievements?"
"Mr. Wen, are you talking about the annihilation of four thousand Mongolian Tatars? This is all the result of the good command of the leaders He Kegang and Cao Wenzhao and the sacrifice of their lives by the soldiers. I am just watching. Regarding this war, there is no difference between words and reality.
It’s really different to do it!” Zhong Jinwei turned to Wen Tiren to explain, and then sighed.
Wen Tiren looked at Zhong Jinwei who was full of sunshine, and while stroking his long beard, he thought in his heart: "People in the future will be as humble and open-minded as Uncle Zhongxing. It is rare to see a general who does not take credit now."
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Zhong Jinwei didn't know that Wen Tiren was secretly praising him, so he turned to Emperor Chongzhen and said, "Your Majesty, I have one more thing to do. I must congratulate Your Majesty!"
"Oh, where does the joy come from?" Emperor Chongzhen has been annoyed to death recently. Except for the fact that he just heard that Zhong Jinwei's cavalry army annihilated four thousand Mongolian Tatars, he has never been happy.
"Changli, with a group of rural soldiers, withstood the siege of tens of thousands of Tatars. I have a detailed report of the victory and a list of meritorious service personnel. Please see it for your Majesty." Zhong Jinwei said, taking out the report of victory given to him by Zuo Yingxuan and asking the chamberlain.
Forwarded to Emperor Chongzhen.
When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he thought it was a happy event, but it turned out that it was a Changli incident. Isn't this something already known?
He didn't have the time to read the good news carefully now, so he flipped through it and put it aside temporarily, thinking about the court situation and preparing to let Master Zhong talk about this important matter.
Zhong Jinwei kept looking at Emperor Chongzhen. He seemed to be absent-minded and did not pay attention to it, so he knew that he was worried about the anti-corruption matter.
Therefore, Zhong Jinwei said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, I believe that this battle of Changli will be a turning point in the battle with Jianlu in the capital. Therefore, I congratulate your Majesty!"
Jianlu was also a concern of Emperor Chongzhen. Now when he heard what Zhong Jinwei said, he became interested and asked Zhong Jinwei: "Master Zhong, how do you say this?"
Wen Tiren was also very concerned and looked at Zhong Jinwei, waiting for his explanation.
"Your Majesty, when Jianlu just broke through the pass, they were unstoppable. Our important towns such as Zunhua and Yongping fell in one day. If at that time, someone told you that Jianlu's tens of thousands of troops could not capture a single city but only one.
In a county town defended by rural soldiers, the leading county magistrate has only been in office for three days. Will you believe it after hearing this?" Zhong Jinwei began to explain his reasons in a guiding manner.
"I don't believe it." Emperor Chongzhen shook his head.
"But the fact now is that Changli was defended, but Jianlu had no choice but to lose his troops and generals in the attack on Changli. This is enough to show that Jianlu's spirit has lost and he no longer has the courage to enter the pass."
When Zhong Jinwei said this, he remembered the German army's attack on Stalingrad during World War II. The process was very similar.
"The final strength of the strong crossbow cannot penetrate Lu Zhen. Now the Tatar soldiers dare not fight to the death, and the generals cherish their feathers, so morale will not be high. Morale in this era of cold weapons is the most important." Zhong Jinwei explained.
"Cold weapon?" Wen Tiren doesn't know much about military affairs. He doesn't understand it when he hears a new term.[
Zhong Jinwei saw that Emperor Chongzhen and Wen Tiren in the palace knew his origin, so he explained: "In my hometown, all weapons are used for fighting. Compared with the era of swords, guns, swords and halberds, the former is called the hot weapon era, and the latter is called the cold weapon era.
The age of weapons."
After explaining this concept, Zhong Jinwei said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, the impression of building an enemy is probably engraved in the bones of all the soldiers and civilians in the northern theater. Since many years ago, all the campaigns we initiated have failed. Facing the
The Jianlu could only defend the city. The soldiers faced the Jianlu. Before the battle started, they were a little afraid. This battle would not be easy. But now, we have been given a chance."
When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he quickly asked: "What opportunity?"
"This is an opportunity to boost morale. We must vigorously publicize the victory of Changli and let everyone know that Jianlu couldn't even defeat a small town guarded by a group of rural soldiers. What else is there to fear about Jianlu?" Zhong Jinwei raised his voice and said in a tone of voice.
Firmness and force underpinned his conclusion.
The victory in the Battle of Changli was the result of influences from many aspects, and there was a certain element of luck, but a victory is a victory. This is an ironclad fact and cannot be doubted!
Emperor Chongzhen had always believed that Jianlu was a very formidable enemy, one against ten, because Jianlu often defeated the Ming army several times and fled in panic or was completely wiped out. Now I heard what Zhong Jinwei said.
, I feel that Jianlu is nothing more than that.
"Okay, let the soldiers and civilians of the Ming Dynasty know the true face of Jianlu. Master Zhong, how should we do this?" Emperor Chongzhen's emotions were aroused, and he asked Zhong Jin Wei Dao.
"First, those who have meritorious service will be rewarded heavily; second, special people will be sent to interview the heroic deeds of the Battle of Changli, compiled into operas, storytelling and other popular forms to be widely publicized among the military and civilians." Zhong Jinwei said without hesitation, these
Cases will be available in later generations, just use them as you like.
"Okay, Qing Wen, the matter of merit and reward will be decided by the cabinet and the Ministry of War." Emperor Chongzhen ordered Wen Tirendao.
Wen Tiren remembered the current situation of the imperial court, smiled bitterly, and replied: "Yes, Your Majesty."
Then Emperor Chongzhen turned to Zhong Jinwei and said: "I know that Master Zhong is very concerned about the guidance of public opinion, and this matter is related to the morale of the enemy, so I will trouble Master Zhong to worry about this matter."
"Okay, no problem." Zhong Jinwei remembered what happened when he went to Jiaofang Division last time. He didn't know how their previous publicity mission went, so he happened to go over to take a look.
Then Zhong Jinwei remembered that he should remind Emperor Chongzhen, and said: "Your Majesty, Jianlu's military strength is still very strong. The soldiers can despise Jianlu, but senior generals and ministers of the court should still have a clear understanding."
Emperor Chongzhen was stunned for a moment before agreeing: "Okay, I understand."
After he finished speaking, when Zhong Jinwei stopped talking, he knew that the matter was over.
At this time, after Zhong Jinwei's intervention, Emperor Chongzhen felt less heavy and felt hungry.
He looked at the sky and said to Zhong Jinwei and Wen Tiren: "It's past noon, so you two dear friends will have dinner with me. There are still things to discuss later."
As soon as they heard this, they knew what was going on, and they said to Emperor Chongzhen together: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for the banquet."
As before, Emperor Chongzhen asked people to prepare meals directly in the Wenhua Hall. Because they were worried about the court affairs, they all finished the meals in a hurry.
After the chamberlain who had packed lunch left, Emperor Chongzhen turned the topic to the current court situation and said to Zhong Jinwei: "Master Zhong, I hurriedly sent someone to summon you back. Do you know what happened?"
When Zhong Jinwei heard this, he thought that he had finally come to the point. This matter was not easy to deal with. He originally wanted to think about it carefully last night, but ended up falling asleep like a dead pig.
The first reason why he talked about Changli's affairs first was because he was afraid that the anti-corruption issue would be too heavy to discuss and difficult to resolve, so he talked about Changli's affairs first.[
Second, you can take this opportunity to liven up the atmosphere and give yourself more time to think about it.
But now my mind is not very clear, so I can only analyze it step by step. This is one of the things that Zhong Jinwei is good at in later generations. Business needs often need to be sorted out, and it will become clear after sorting it out.
Zhong Jinwei looked at Wen Tiren, and then replied to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, after I returned to King Qin's camp last night, Lord Sun told me something, but it was not very detailed."
When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he said to Wen Tiren: "Wen Qing, first show Master Zhong the corruption memorial that you compiled."
This memorial was just compiled by Wen Tiren. Because there were too many people involved, some in high positions, and even people in the palace, in order to prevent the contents of the confession from spreading, Emperor Chongzhen asked Wen Tiren to collect them all by himself.
The confessions that came over were reorganized into this memorial.
In the past two days, all the government offices were paralyzed and nothing could be done. The first one in the Ming Dynasty and the second one were so anxious that they remembered that Zhong Jinwei came from a later generation and might have a method, so they hurriedly passed it back.
Before Zhong Jinwei came, Emperor Chongzhen and Wen Tiren were still discussing the contents of this memorial, but they still didn't know how to deal with these people.
Zhong Jinwei took it from Wen Tiren and saw a long list with names, official positions, brief details of corruption and the amount.
He looked at the list carefully and was surprised to see that some people he was familiar with were also included.