After Zhu Shuren's troops officially set off from Hanzhong, the journey down the Han River was quite fast.
Six days later, on November 22, the vanguard arrived in Xiangyang.
Then, Zhu Shuren immediately sent an urgent courier six hundred miles away to deliver his memorial to Beijing on November 28th.
In this final memorial to Chongzhen from Zhu Shuren, it was stated that his leading troops had arrived in Xiangyang and that the rescue road was already less than half way.
He would wait in Xiangyang for the rear army and the ordnance shipped from Wuchang (Zhu Shuren said that the troops in Hanzhong suffered heavy equipment losses and needed to be replenished from the rear base camp before they could enter the battle), no more than ten days at most.
By the way, he was waiting for His Majesty's official edict to ratify all the imperial edicts. He also apologized and said that he had acted urgently and pardoned Sun Kewang on his own initiative. He also received a reply from Sun Kewang. As expected, he would be able to completely edict and destroy Sun Kewang.
Finally, of course, it is inevitable to write some words to absolve oneself of responsibility, such as explaining why it took him so long to arrive in Xiangyang, how much difficulties he suffered due to the plague in Hanzhong, how much the troops suffered, and why the march was not peaceful along the way.
, but came here by negotiating and fighting all the way with the scattered bandits, half-suppressing, half-approving and applying talents.
When this memorial was delivered, there were still twelve days before Li Zicheng entered Shuntian Mansion.
There are still sixteen days until Li Zicheng arrives in the suburbs of Beijing.
At that time, Li Zicheng was probably still having his final entanglement with Bai Guangen and Gao Jiejie on the border between Zhending Mansion and Baoding Mansion.
Even if Zhang Guowei is officially demoted to governor of Zhejiang and ordered to leave Beijing, there are still nine days.
At this critical juncture, Chongzhen received the last report from Zhu Shuren. Seeing that the other party was sincere, he also said that he had rushed from Hanzhong to Xiangyang without stopping. He had indeed walked a long way, what else could he say?
At least Zhu Shuren's attitude is not blameworthy at all.
Chongzhen found Zhang Guowei, who was already under investigation at the time, and after a brief discussion, he had no choice but to seek medical treatment in a desperate condition, and issued his last decree to Zhu Shuren before his death:
After replenishing the weapons and assembling the personnel, head north immediately! Please approve everything else! It is absolutely right to pardon Sun Kewang and the other remaining thieves on your own initiative! And it is meritorious!
In addition, Zhaoan Sun Kewang can also be regarded as "fulfilling the complete elimination of Zhang Xianzhong as stated in the oath of the Ancestral Temple Alliance".
Therefore, Chongzhen also abided by the oath of the Ancestral Temple and further promoted his title of Zhu Shuren from Marquis of Kru to E Duke! I hope he will imitate the king of E, Yue Fei, and serve the country loyally! Come and save the city of Beijing!
…
Chongzhen's decree can be said to be unprecedentedly generous. Originally, Chongzhen would never have given rewards so neatly.
It can only be said that when it comes to life and death, the price offered will be relatively high.
Seven days later, Zhou Yanru, the chief minister, was forced to hang himself. Chongzhen directly gave the title of chief minister of the cabinet to a rookie like Wei Zaode, who had only been in office for three or four years.
After all, Zhu Shuren was in the same class as Wei Zaode, and his official qualifications were half a year younger than Wei Zaode's. It was just that Wei Zaode was the number one scholar in the examination and Zhu Shuren was the last one, and Zhu Shuren was too young. But in recent years, Zhu Shuren had established so many people to protect the Ming Dynasty.
After all the great contributions, it’s not too much to be granted the title of Duke, right? He deserves it all!
In addition, some people may think that it is too slow to allow Zhu Shuren to stay in Xiangyang for ten days to replenish equipment and rendezvous with the rear army to assemble troops even though Chongzhen has reached this stage.
But this matter is really reasonable, because historically, Chongzhen sent Wu Sangui less than ten days before the siege of Beijing. What he said at that time was "Let Wu Sangui abandon Guan Ning and move the entire army to the west.
"Defend the capital" instead of letting Wu Sangui rush in with an elite and quick-response force.
This shows that on the one hand, Chongzhen really didn’t know much about soldiers, and didn’t quite understand the difference between the speed of elite troops returning without their supplies and the whole army dragging their families back to defend. It was precisely because Wu Sangui had an excuse that he wanted to retreat with the people.
Only then could it be slowed down to the point where it could only travel forty miles a day in the initial defensive stage.
On the other hand, this also shows that Chongzhen was actually overconfident in the defense of Beijing until the last moment.
After all, the Tatars had broken through the border and plundered the territory of Beizhili many times before, and they had also attacked the city of Beijing, but they had never conquered the city.
The record of a large-scale and sustained attack on Beijing City can be traced back to more than a hundred years ago. After Ming Yingzong was captured in the Tumu Fort Incident, Grand Master Wala also led the Tatar cavalry to invade. That time Yu Qian was also determined.
Defended the city of Beijing.
This made Chongzhen feel that relying on the strength of the city, it should be no problem to last for a few months - and for this reason, he released Zhang Guowei as governor of Zhejiang. It was not that Chongzhen was kind-hearted in letting Zhang Guowei escape first, but he still felt in his heart
I really felt that Zhang Guowei might bring Jiangnan soldiers to rescue him, and I also felt that I could hold on until Zhang Guowei came back.
It can only be said that everything is caused by overconfidence.
…
Chongzhen's self-confidence allowed him to grant all Zhu Shuren's requests, and the reply was sent back to Zhu Shuren in Xiangyang on the fourth day of December.
This last reply was still brought by Jiang Ruolai from the Ministry of War, and when Jiang Ruolai left the capital this time, he had already got another errand, so after the decree was sent, he did not need to return to the capital, he only had to let his servants recover.
Before Jiang Ruolai left the capital, his old boss Zhang Guowei already knew Chongzhen's opinions on how to deal with him. He knew that he would be demoted to the governor of Zhejiang, so while he was still the Minister of War, he used his last bit of power and opportunity to speak to Chongzhen.
It is strongly recommended to transfer Jiang Ruolai to the post of Commander-in-Chief of Zhejiang Province.
Although Chongzhen was not familiar with this general named Jiang, he had just successfully completed two dangerous tasks. He helped Chongzhen deliver the decree to Zhu Shuren, and also successfully invited Zhu Shuren's reinforcements. They were already halfway there.
Therefore, Chongzhen firmly believed that Jiang Ruolai's loyalty must be no problem, and he was diligent and not procrastinating in his work. Since he could get Zhu Shuren to send troops in time by going to Sichuan, then sending this Jiang Ruolai to be the commander-in-chief of Zhejiang Province would definitely be helpful.
Zhang Guowei should pull up reinforcements in the Jiangnan area as soon as possible to prepare for any danger.
Based on this consideration, Jiang Ruolai's new appointment was approved without any obstruction. After sending Chongzhen's final decree to Zhu Shuren, he was about to go to Hangzhou to take office.
Although Zhu Shuren had just received the final decree on the fourth day of December, he had to wait for the decree for ten days. Therefore, the moment the decree was delivered, Chongzhen promised to allow him to assemble his troops, and the time to wait for equipment replenishment was also lost.
Already passed.
Therefore, Zhu Shuren set off from Xiangyang again just over a day later, early on the sixth day of December, leading the main force of the Huguang Army of more than 100,000 people to the north.
It must be mentioned here: the mobilization of the main force of 100,000 people will not affect the current defense of Huguang and Sichuan. This is because Zhu Shuren's military strength is no longer what it used to be when he did not enter Sichuan more than a year ago.
Before he entered Sichuan, there were 140,000 Huguang troops, including some defensive troops. Later, some of the prisoners from the Chenxian battle were digested, and the prisoners of Zhang Xianzhong's army in the Huguang area were slowly transformed, and more than 10,000 soldiers were added to complete the supplement.
After the battle, there were approximately 150,000 to 60,000 people.
After entering Sichuan, although there were losses in the campaign, more were added. The number of troops in the headquarters could always be maintained at about 150,000, but Qin Liangyu's 20,000 to 30,000 people, Fang Guoan's more than 10,000 people, and brothers Wang Guangchang, Tan Wen, etc.
In later generations, there were nearly 20,000 local Sichuan armed forces in the "Thirteen Families of Kuidong".
After the Sichuan Campaign, Zhu Shuren effectively turned a considerable part of the Ming Dynasty's wealth into his own.
He also generously gradually upgraded a certain amount of equipment to Qin Liangyu, Fang Guoan, Tan Wen and others, replacing the equipment eliminated by the second line to win over people's hearts, and by the way, he also improved the combat effectiveness of these troops.
After the transformation, the 60,000 Ming Dynasty Sichuan Army became half direct descendants. With these people added, Zhu Shuren's main force has expanded to 212,000 people.
Cao Bianjiao's troops who were transferred to Hanzhong numbered more than 10,000 people. Including the original garrison officers and soldiers in Hanzhong, the total number was 20,000. After counting these, the number of Zhu Shuren's combat troops had reached 240,000. This was still a small number.
In addition to the temporary armed forces that can only defend the local city, Minzhuang and the 240,000 troops are all troops that can be mobilized for mobile operations.
The last replenishment of his troops came from the surrender of Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu after the complete annihilation of Zhang Xianzhong. After these people were reformed for a few months, there were a total of 30,000 to 40,000 people who could be sent to the army. About half of them were old battalions who had been in the army for many years.
The remaining two-thirds have been in the army for at least two or three years and have combat effectiveness.
As for the newly captured cannon fodder after Zhang Xianzhong entered Sichuan, Zhu Shuren was almost useless, and 80% of them were released to work in agriculture. These people had only served as soldiers for a few months when they were captured. They were okay for temporarily guarding the place. Taking them out for an expedition was a complete waste of food and human lives.
In addition, there are still 20,000 people with Sun Kewang. After Zhu Shuren offered generous terms, Sun Kewang has seized the opportunity and responded in writing that he is willing to surrender and accept the adaptation. But in fact, he has not had time to implement it. He just asked Sun Kewang not to wander around anymore and stay on the spot.
Wait for the imperial court to be free to receive it.
Therefore, not counting Sun Kewang, Zhu Shuren could raise an army of 280,000 people. Counting Sun Kewang, he could raise a total of 300,000 troops.
After taking over Sichuan and Hanzhong, Zhu Shuren's military strength had doubled compared to when he had only Huguang province. It only took Zhu Shuren more than a year to increase from 140,000 to 300,000.
With such a huge force, it is not surprising that hundreds of thousands of people were immediately mobilized to rescue Chongzhen in a short period of time.
…
The first batch of reinforcements numbered more than 100,000 people. If they had arrived in Beijing, Chongzhen would have survived.
But Zhu Shuren had his own way to maintain his upright image until the last moment.
After setting off from Xiangyang on the sixth day of December, the first problem and delay they encountered was the marching route and food roads - Zhu Shuren deliberately pretended that he had not made any arrangements in advance, defaulting to "Zuo Liangyu of Nanyang will maintain the roads and provide transportation."
grain".
As a result, the troops crossed the Han River from Xiangyang, passed through Fancheng and Xinye, and went to Zuo Liangyu's envoy to ask for food, only to bring back Zuo Liangyu's prevarication.
Of course, Zuo Liangyu complained desperately, saying that he really couldn't raise food to supply the army of the surnamed Guo, but he was loyal to the Ming Dynasty. As long as His Majesty needed it, he was willing to work for the king and make all kinds of nonsense.
The reason why Zuo Liangyu did this was that, on the one hand, he had become accustomed to separatism and self-reliance for more than a year and a half. Secondly, he was certainly more afraid of Chongzhen's survival than Zhu Shuren, and would even settle accounts with him after the bandits were put down in the future.
Chongzhen's temper was headstrong and his eyes were filled with dirt, which was known to all the world. Anyone who was not absolutely loyal to Chongzhen would be regarded as absolutely disloyal.
Zuo Liangyu's previous separatist rule was self-defeating, and the reason why Chongzhen endured it was because he did not have time to deal with him, and there were more terrifying enemies to deal with. If Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were already dead, look at Chongzhen
Will it settle old scores?
He Renlong was killed, which is irrefutable proof!
Therefore, although Zuo Liangyu does not completely betray the Ming Dynasty now, it is inevitable that he does not want Chongzhen to live. The best solution he fantasizes about is that after Chongzhen's death, he can be replaced by a weak and easy-going monarch who will not settle old scores.
Maybe he could still pass out with Xi Ni, and it wouldn't be impossible for him to continue to be a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty.
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When the world has reached this stage, many civil and military officials are willing to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty out of fear of liquidation, but are unwilling to be loyal to Chongzhen.
Some people may also think: Zhu Shuren, can't you say hello to Zuo Liangyu in advance? Why do you give people tasks just before departure?
But it's really not Zhu Shuren's fault, because the imperial edict he received before only asked him to serve the king, and it didn't say that he would be promoted. At most, it only gave him a title, but a title does not bring power or errands.
Nanyang belongs to Henan Province. Zuo Liangyu is now theoretically one of the defenders of the Henan region in the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Shuren is only the governor of Huguang and also supervises the military affairs of Sichuan. He is not the "governor of military affairs of six provinces" like Yang Sichang in the past, so he can't
When things come to a close, it makes sense that Zuo Liangyu can't be taken care of.
The Ming Dynasty restrained local officials and the ancestral laws were there. Can Zhu Shuren be blamed?
Of course, it is not that all the prefectures in Henan are not under the control of Zhu Shuren. After all, before he became the governor of Huguang, the imperial court specially designated his jurisdiction, which also included Xinyang Prefecture in the Dabie Mountains, plus Anlu in South Zhili.
Region, Jiujiang Prefecture, Jiangxi Province.
Nanyang Prefecture refused to provide military rations, and the road conditions were not good. Baihe and other places lacked the ships needed for the march, so the Zhushu people had no choice but to change their route and cross Tongbai Mountain from another direction.
He detoured from Fancheng back to Suizhou Prefecture, then crossed Tongbai Mountain from Xinyang Road and entered Xinyang Prefecture under his own jurisdiction. He then used the military rations stored in Xinyang to supply the army and continued northward.
There were no twists and turns in all this, but it did take time. It took nine days to travel from Xiangyang to Suizhou and then to Xinyang, and most of the time was wasted on the road crossing the Tongbai Valley.
Considering the difficulty of marching in mountainous areas, this speed is really worthy of Chongzhen.
On December 14, Zhu Shuren's entire army arrived at Xinyang Mansion, and then learned about the enemy's situation in Henan.
Knowing that the intruders had left certain garrisons in Kaifeng Prefecture, Guide Prefecture and other places, Zhu Shuren discussed with his subordinates and felt that it was too slow to fight all the way, so he went a little further downstream along the Huaihe River, and then started from Fengyang
The Bozhou area of the Prefecture went north through the eastern part of Guide Prefecture, bypassing the fortified Shangqiu City.
Everything showed that he was so focused on the overall situation and devoted himself to saving people. But at this time, it was actually the eve of Li Zicheng's siege of Beijing.
Chongzhen had no chance to send any further instructions to Zhu Shuren. Before internal and external news was completely cut off, the last news Chongzhen received about Huguang's reinforcements was that Zhu Shuren had arrived in Xinyang Prefecture (it took three days to travel from Xinyang to Beijing).
, and from now on, the city of Beijing will be completely besieged.