There was no snow in the capital, and the wind was strong in the cold night. A few carriages were rarely parked outside Chengtian Gate. A few people were whispering beside the carriages, hunching their necks and stamping their feet from time to time.
At this time, a carriage came from the east. The carriage stopped on the east side of Chengtian Gate. A trembling old man got out of the carriage with the help of the carriage driver. Several people who were waiting hurried forward and saluted, "Here comes Mr. Ge."
This old man was none other than Li Banghua, the 70-year-old chief minister of the cabinet. At this time, there were several people around him who were not young, including Li Mingrui of the East Palace, Wang Jiayan, the governor of the capital, Ni Yuanlu, the minister of household affairs, Shi Bangzhao, the royal censor, and Gong Yonggu, the consort.
Chongzhen was diligent in his administration, and it was not accidental to summon important ministers to the palace at night to discuss important matters, but it was rare to summon so many people at once.
Several eunuchs were holding lamps to lead the way. Li Banghua and others hurried to the Qianqing Gate. When they came back from the mansion, he had already inquired about some news from the eunuch who had delivered the message, saying that the emperor had received a secret letter from the north. After that, he immediately became restless and asked people to summon him to the palace.
To the north, it was definitely the Qing army's entry into the pass. Li Banghua felt uneasy when he mentioned this. At this time, the thieves were making trouble in the south, but the Qing army took the opportunity to attempt to enter the pass. This was undoubtedly a source of anger. Pour oil.
The Ming court was already unable to deal with the intruders, and now the Qing army's mass gathering caught the officials even more unprepared and at a loss. How could they stop them without soldiers, food, money, and generals?
But we can't just let the Qing army seize Ningyuan City and break through Shanhaiguan into the Central Plains in such a arrogant manner.
So at this juncture, the courtiers who had been scolding the young eunuch of Dongchang collectively stopped and fully recommended him to supervise the army Ning Yuan.
Li Banghua didn't know Chang Yu very well and had no actual contact with him, but because the prince, Gong Yonggu, and his protégé Li Mingrui had always praised him, and the little eunuch had no proven evil deeds, he instead thwarted the intruders in Taiyuan. His fame in the first battle made him look at him differently, and he was one of the few courtiers who had an objective attitude towards Chang Yu.
He was brave and resourceful, and he had nothing to lose. He gathered a large army in Taiyuan and collected food and wages. No one in the court dared to boast that he could do this.
At this time, the border was tight, and the situation was similar to that in Taiyuan. People, horses, money and food were all insufficient, so the best candidate was the young eunuch. There was no one to send anyway!
Since the little eunuch has such power, it may be a big surprise. So when Chongzhen proposed that he supervise the army, there was little unanimous approval from the cabinet, and even no one in the court objected!
The reasons are simple! Some people agree with Chang Yu's ability and feel that he is the only one who can give it a try. Some people know that it is a place of death and it is best to die!
But now a secret message came from there, and the emperor was restless. It was obviously the little eunuch who messed up. After all, he was not a god. It had only been a few days, and the Qing army had already arrived at Ningyuan City or had captured Ningyuan? Or did Wu Sangui surrender?
Li Banghua and others were frightened and went straight to Qianqing Gate with random thoughts.
Chongzhen was still pacing back and forth, rubbing his hands constantly, and the expression on his face was changing repeatedly. He was solemn for a while, smiled bitterly for a while, lost for a while, and sighed for a while. Wang Chengen said several times next to him. "Your Majesty, don't be anxious, don't be anxious, take a break first, the adults will be here soon..." He ignored all of them.
As soon as Li Banghua and others entered the palace, Chongzhen rushed forward and said without waiting for them to salute: "Mr. Ge, something big has happened."
"Your Majesty, it's Qing Gou..." Li Banghua's heart sank. Halfway through his words, the secret letter in Chongzhen's hand was handed to him. He was a little startled and reached out to take it, opened it and read it. Then his face changed drastically, and he beckoned to several people around him to read it together.
If not, everyone would look shocked
"It's a pity that I and you are so confused. When we heard that the Qing army was gathering, we thought they were heading for the distant city of Ning. But we didn't know that they wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and go straight to the capital. If Fei Feiyu had discovered and analyzed their intentions in time,
, When the Qing army comes to the city and the capital is empty, what can I do to resist it? The princes outside the capital, King Qin, will undoubtedly sit back and wait to die." Chongzhen glared angrily.
Li Banghua and others all frowned and were speechless. They were frightened and said to themselves that they were lucky. If the eunuch hadn't been clever and the Qing army had entered the capital without any obstructions, they would have been in trouble.
In addition to luck, Chongzhen was more shocked. When the bandits marched eastward from Xi'an, the imperial court misjudged their offensive route, leading to repeated defeats, eventually leading to an irreversible situation. This prince's dream once confirmed that, fortunately,
After being turned around by Chang Yu, he didn't expect that he would misjudge the Qing army's offensive route this time. It was really unforgivable and unforgivable carelessness.
Of course, there is a prerequisite for this kind of carelessness. The intruders were making a huge fuss in the Central Plains. They were unstoppable and had the momentum to take advantage of the opportunity to go north to attack the capital. The court's attention was focused on this. At this time, they heard that the Qing army was again
Assembling an army, he hastily decided to go to Ningyuan, and then entered the customs through Shanhaiguan. Unknown to him, he made another mistake, and it was the kind of mistake that was extremely likely to be fatal. However, it happened that the little eunuch discovered it and was setting up a trap to prevent him from entering.
set.
If the Qing army marches from the west and enters the pass from Miyun due north, the only troops that can be mobilized now, apart from Xuanda, are Wu Sangui's Ningyuan troops. At that time, Ningyuan City will have to be abandoned, and the army will have to run thousands of miles back to meet them.
The enemy was in a hurry without any preparation, and the logistics and equipment were not in place in time. It was simply a loss of life.
Instead of doing this, it would be better to let the Qing army go far away. The little eunuch is now letting the court cooperate with him to put on a show, creating false news and releasing smoke bombs to attract Dorgon into the situation.
After sorting out the cause and effect, Li Banghua smiled bitterly and lamented that he was not as good as the little eunuch. He almost made an irreversible mistake. Fortunately, he discovered it early.
Seeing Chang Yu's secret plan again, I couldn't help but sigh, what a big game!
"So is the imperial court now going to cooperate with Eunuch Chang to let Gao Di from Shanhaiguan rebel?"
"Do you, Mr. Ge, have any other good ideas besides this?" Chongzhen asked rhetorically.
Everyone smiled bitterly and shook their heads.
Then Gao Di rebelled, and the intruders approached the capital. Hero Wu Sangui was short of breath. He just led the Qing army to Ningyuan, which could temporarily relieve the danger of the capital. But could the little eunuch resist the Qing army's cavalry in Ningyuan? Hong Chengchou led the
The Eighth General Soldier's 130,000 troops only failed to rescue Zu Dashoudu and the entire army was wiped out. But now, what can the small town of Ningyuan and tens of thousands of troops do?
Chongzhen, Li Banghua and others were worried. Fortunately, if Ningyuan was not safe, they could retreat to Shanhaiguan and defend Xiongguan. The Qing army wanted to enter, but it was not as easy as entering from the north of the capital.
Let’s deal with the immediate needs now. As for the future, let’s take it one step at a time.
The lights at Qianqingmen stayed on all night.
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Dear friends, please vote, please vote! (To be continued)