It has snowed, but this is not the first snow in Ningyuan this year. It has snowed several times in the mountains. Although it is not heavy, it is earlier than in previous years. This also indicates that this year there will be more snow and wind and the weather will be colder.
The bitter cold in the North is not just literal, it is really freezing to the bone and unbearable.
Some people can't stand it, but some people get used to it and even enjoy it.
This man was standing under a row of archways, watching the snowflakes dancing in the sky.
He is the current Liaodong Commander-in-Chief, Zu Dashou, and the archway he is in is the Jinggongfang built by the imperial court, which is what the local people call the ancestral stone archway. The ancestral family is a large family in Liaodong and is the largest in Liaodong after the Li family.
The aristocratic family, and Ningyuan City is the place of prosperity of the ancestral family. Starting from Zu Dashou’s grandfather Zu Ren, Ningyuan has become the root of the ancestral family. Four generations of ancestors and grandchildren have been stationed in Liaodong. Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen built Ningyuan twice.
Commendation.
Zu Dashou has come to stand under the Jinggongfang every day since he was exchanged. He laments that things have changed and people have no choice but to stop everything. The archway is still there, and the ancestral home is still there, but the brothers and sisters who defended Jinzhou with him back then are still there.
There are only a few subordinates left, and one general's achievements have caused thousands of bones to wither. This Jinggongfang is made up of the bones of these subordinates.
Some people may be curious, after Zu Dashou surrendered to the Tatars, didn’t the imperial court confiscate his house and exterminate his clan? Why hasn’t he destroyed the Jinggongfang?
So here comes the question. If the court really does this, whose house will be confiscated and whose clan will be destroyed? That is digging your own grave. As mentioned above, the ancestral family is a Liaodong family, and the descendants and nephews of the ancestral family are all over the Liaodong Army.
Fang, the forces are complex. Even Wu Sangui is under the shelter of his ancestral family. If you take over the ancestral house, it is equivalent to taking over the Liaodong Guanning Army who is guarding the gate.
So let alone confiscation of the family and annihilation of the ancestors, even the eldest son of Zu Dashou, who was the governor of the left in Beijing, was not implicated. The eldest son mentioned here is his biological son, not Zu Zerun. The ancients had a short life span and were particular about being established at thirty. If you don't have any descendants at this age,
I began to consider adoptive adoption. Zu Dashou was a late child, so he adopted his nephew Zu Zerun as his stepson and trained him as his successor. Then he gave birth to three sons, the eldest son Zu Zepu, the second son Zu Zechun, and the third son.
Zu Zeqing, the three biological sons, when Zu Dashou surrendered for the second time, the eldest was an official in Beijing, and the third was only ten years old and was under the supervision of his cousin Wu Sangui in Ningyuan.
In fact, not to mention Zu Dashou, who surrendered twice when he was desperate, even the governor Hong Chengchou, the court did not confiscate his family and exterminate his clan. At first, they thought he died in a righteous cause.
Let’s talk about that stuff later, and celebrate my ancestor’s birthday.
After Zu Dashou came to the Qing Dynasty, he was actually very depressed. He knew that he would never have the chance to return to the Ming Dynasty. He also lost Huang Taiji's trust twice and could not reuse him. From now on, he would just hang around and wait for death. But the fact is
In real history, after he surrendered, he was thrown aside and did nothing else.
But who knew that Ming Ting would suddenly and inexplicably exchange Azig for him.
He simply couldn't understand why the court wanted to exchange him back. Did Emperor Chongzhen have to kill himself to be willing to do so? After all, Chongzhen wanted to kill Yuan Chonghuan after he killed him. Zu Dashou was so scared that he could not leave Liaodong and stayed in the army all the time.
Emperor Chongzhen was helpless, so he surrendered twice. Even though Emperor Chongzhen did not dare to touch his family, he was very determined to kill him!
However, after being replaced, Mi Li Hu Tu was immediately reinstated!
Everything feels like a dream!
Then a young eunuch came and pulled him out of his dream and told him, don't ask, don't ask, you only need to do one thing, get Jinzhou back!
Get up wherever you fall. Jinzhou City has always been a pain in Zu Dashou's heart and a regret in his life. He has defended it and betrayed it. He has guarded the soldiers and civilians in the city, and he has also killed them with his own hands.
Eat meat. He once fought side by side with his subordinates here, and he also betrayed them and killed them for meritorious deeds!
Here is his glory, but even more shame.
Thinking about it now, everything suddenly seemed like a dream. What he did at that time could no longer distinguish between right and wrong. This caused him to suffer from mental breakdown for a while, and his life was worse than death.
It was the young eunuch who enlightened him, you are right if you get it back. If you can't get it back, you will be sorry to heaven, and sorry to those lost brothers and soldiers and the common people of Dawn. You will be a sinner and a wicked person for the ages!
Zu Dashou woke up from a dream and was reincarnated as a human being. He should make up for what should be made up for, atone for what should be atonement, and take back what should be taken back. Although he did not owe the court anything, he did owe the brothers and soldiers who died in Jinzhou City and the innocent people
of the common people.
Several ancestral memorial archways stand tall in the snowy sky. This is the glory of the ancestral family and the backbone of the ancestral family.
After being reincarnated as a human being, Zu Dashou no longer had any worries or constraints, because he had someone behind him to protect him from the wind and rain. He didn't care about the various abuses hurled at him in the court, and he didn't have to worry about Dongchang and Jinyiwei coming.
When it comes to arresting him, there aren't even any military eunuchs to tell him what to do.
Now he is the biggest talker in Liaodong!
But after all, he has been away for two years, everything has changed, and everything has to start from scratch.
The first one to bear the brunt is the military power of Liaodong!
You must know that Zu Dashou is almost a loner now. Why do you say that? Just because the old capital has been exhausted long ago. In the Battle of Daling River in the fourth year of Chongzhen, Zu Dashou killed the deputy general He Kegang and took the deputy general Zhang Cunren
There were also three adopted nephews, more than ten generals, and more than ten thousand soldiers and horses who surrendered to Huang Taiji for the first time.
Then he planned to escape back to Jinzhou alone, but all the adopted sons' soldiers and horses were surrendered.
Ten years later, in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, the Ming army was defeated in the Songjin War. Zu Dashou had no choice but to surrender again. The soldiers and civilians in Jinzhou City were massacred. Only some surrendered generals and their servants survived. According to records, there were only more than 700
people, including several of Zu Dashou’s brothers and nephews as well as other generals’ servants.
At this point, his old capital has been exhausted.
Years ago, the Ming Dynasty exchanged prisoners with the Tatars and exchanged Azig for the Zu Dashou family. In other words, in addition to Zu Dashou himself, more than ten of his brothers and nephews were also exchanged, but that was all!
Then the problem comes, there are empty generals but no soldiers!
Although there are tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in Ningyuan City, many of them are thousands of elite Guan Ning cavalry.
However, these soldiers and horses belong to Wu Sangui, and this Guan Ning cavalry is not the original Guan Ning army under Zu Dashou. To be precise, it is a continuation of his branch, which can also be said to be a new generation of Guan Ning cavalry.
Whoever's soldiers obeyed his orders, even if Zu Dashou was Wu Sangui's uncle, he would not be able to use them.
So when Zu Dashou returned to Ningyuan, the atmosphere was rather awkward.
But then, Wu Sangui was deceived by Chang Yu. It seemed that he wanted to tame this unruly and sharp young man, but in fact he was helping Zu Dashou quickly seize the military power.
But regaining military power is not that easy. Although most of the generals in Ningyuan's army are Zu Dashou's old tribe, some are members of Zu's family, and they are relatives of the general Wu Sangui, there are also many scornful ones among them, which makes Ningyuan's army feel unhappy the most.
What's more comfortable is that Zu Dashou once surrendered to the Tatars!
The Guan Ning army, which had regarded the Tatars as its mortal enemy all its life, was to be commanded by a surrendered general?
Oh no, it’s not a surrendered general, it’s a family of descended generals!
Moreover, several of Zu Dashou's adopted sons, Zu Zerun, Zu Kefa, Zu Zehong and others have been surrendered to the Qing Dynasty for ten years. They are all generals in the Tatar army and have contributed to the Tatars for ten years.
, and now he wants to command us?
Why?
nausea!
Ning Yuan's army was unstable and felt disgusted with them. This was the first difficult problem Zu Dashou faced.
Trouble does not mean there is no solution, and Chang Yu believed that Zu Dashou was capable of handling this problem. In fact, Zu Dashou did not disappoint him. After Chang Yu removed the biggest stone for him, everything else fell into place.
Don't forget, no matter how disgusted the military is, Ningyuan is the root of the ancestral family. There are countless members of the ancestral family serving as officers of various sizes in the Ningyuan army, and brother Zu Dashou is the patriarch!
In addition to the power of the family, there is no need to question the means and ability of Zu Dashou, who spent half his life in the military, to manage the army. Otherwise, how could Huang Taiji be so thirsty for talents and seek for them?
In just three months, Zu Dashou saw that Ningyuan was firmly in control of the military, and his brothers and nephews all performed their duties, and no one disobeyed orders!
After taking control of the military, it is time to rectify military discipline and military affairs. Daily drills come rain or shine, which is bound to revive the prestige of the Guan Ning cavalry. Nowadays, it is said that the Dongchang Guards are the most capable fighters in the Ming Dynasty. Is this true?
Zu Dashou expressed his dissatisfaction. When Guan Ning's cavalry became famous all over the world, the little eunuch hadn't even sprouted yet. There really were no tigers in the mountains, so he was a monkey. Of course, although Zu Dashou was not convinced, he felt sorry for the eunuch in his heart.
I admire him very much. When the imperial court was about to collapse and there was no one available, he was still able to turn the tide and reverse the situation. Who can do that in the world today?
We ask ourselves, we don’t have the ability to change things drastically.
In the blink of an eye, Zu Dashou has been back for more than a year. During this period, Chang Yu was changing things elsewhere, and his garrison in Ningyuan seemed to be in vain, which made the ministers in the court yell at him. They scolded him for eating but not eating, and for opening his mouth every day.
I want money, food, this or that, but I just don’t do anything!
Did Zu Dashou really do nothing?
Obviously not, he only did three things when he came back to Ningyuan, training troops, collecting grain, and conducting military operations!
As mentioned before, the training was carried out after taking over the military power. Rain or shine, the spirit of the Ningyuan Army was raised to a higher level in just a short period of time. As for the grain harvesting, it was done with two hands, cultivating military fields with one hand to provide enough food and clothing, and the other hand.
He just kept asking the court for it! Even when there was a famine in the capital, he kept asking for it.
The reason for this is that no one knows the sense of peace of mind that there is food in the barn better than him, and no one knows the feeling of eating human flesh better than him!
There must be food in the warehouse. No matter whether there is a good year or a bad year, whether there is a war or not, the food reserves must be sufficient!
As for military operations, over the past year or so, there have been not a hundred but ninety-nine conflicts, large and small.
Zu Dashou's purpose is very clear, to regain Jinzhou!
But the current strength and opportunity do not allow for a quick victory, so we can only plan for it slowly.
As a result, they conducted various reconnaissances in the Jinzhou area during the day and night, and then began to rebuild the Tashan Fort military fortifications. This action soon attracted a counterattack from the Tatars. The two sides first engaged in small-scale reconnaissance.
Fighting, followed by various ambushes, sneak attacks and other relatively large-scale battles, and finally the Tatars directly sent troops to Tashan Fort in an attempt to destroy this newly repaired fortification.
The number and scale of conflicts between the two sides are increasing and growing, which makes Zu Dashou feel confident that the Tatars are anxious!