In order to show that he was dedicated to rescuing the enemy, Zhu Shuren did not want to attack the small groups of troops along the way.
However, just because the trees were calm but the wind was still blowing, this did not mean that Li Zicheng would let him go north quickly.
Li Zicheng has been paying attention to this important opponent, hoping to delay the opponent's attempt to block his beheading. If Chongzhen cannot be captured in the end, everything will be over for Li Zicheng, and it will be difficult for him to even return to his hometown. He is likely to be attacked by the army.
On the Hebei Plain where there is no danger to defend.
Therefore, every move of Zhu Shuren's army has been reported in time by Shunjun scouts.
Zhu Shuren bypassed Shangqiu and headed north from Bozhou County, Fengyang Prefecture. The Shun army defenders in Shangqiu City actually received Li Zicheng's order. After the main force of Zhu Shuren's front army passed, they went out of the city to harass them in the field and tried to cut off Zhu Shuren's food route.
Because of the sneak attack, the Chuang army still managed to burn hundreds of carts of grain and grass, and also caused some other material losses.
How could Zhu Shuren hold back when he had this excuse?
Of course he told the generals, "If the thieves in Shangqiu are not destroyed, our army's food route will be unstable, and the rescue troops may fall into crisis halfway."
Then, Zhu Shuren's army not only severely damaged the Shun army who attacked to harass the grain-burning army in the field counterattack, but also turned back to counterattack, taking five or six days to capture the ruined Shangqiu.
The defender in Shangqiu City was just a captain under Liu Fangliang, with a total of several thousand people. Shangqiu's city defense facilities had just been breached two months ago, and were almost completely destroyed without manpower to repair them.
Zhu Shuren's troops had Hongyi artillery to bombard the city, so it was absolutely natural to capture it in five days.
Because this group of loyal troops obstructed the rescue effort, which was an unforgivable crime, and they did not surrender voluntarily before the city gate and wall were breached.
The Zhu Shu people also need to establish their authority. Of course, after the city is broken, they will not allow the enemy to surrender out of fear of death in street battles. Even if some troops accept the surrender, after the battle, the Zhu Shu people will directly put down their weapons alive with all about 2,000 people.
All the thieves were beheaded.
Some civil servants felt that the number of prisoners killed was unknown, but the number was not large, and the troops took the initiative to go out of the city to cut off food routes to obstruct rescue efforts, so no one dared to say anything.
Killing like this once can also deter the loyal troops in other cities along the way, so that they dare not move. At the same time, it also further strengthens the loyalty of Guo Xingye in the hearts of the people of the world:
Look at how merciful Mr. Guo Xing is in normal times, how could he kill all the bandits who were surrounded and defeated? This time it was really because these people were short-sighted and actually blocked the rescue, so they were completely destroyed by thunderous means!
After such a delay in Shangqiu, Zhu Shuren did not pass through Guide Prefecture until the 26th of the twelfth lunar month, and six days later, on the second day of the first lunar month in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, he passed through most of Yanzhou Prefecture in Shandong.
The troops did not even take a break during the New Year. They only traveled a little less distance on New Year's Eve and the first day of the new year, and only marched forty miles a day. After the second day of the new year, the pace increased again to at least sixty or seventy miles a day.
Even a speed of forty miles a day was acceptable in ancient times - before the Chenqiao mutiny, when Zhao Kuangyin left Kaifeng, he traveled forty miles a day. Obviously he knew that he would have to come back tomorrow. If he walked too far, he would have to travel the next day.
If it's still troublesome, then just walk forty miles to get a passing mark and not meet the actual requirements.
After all, Zhao Kuangyin sent out troops to march forty miles on the third day of the Lunar New Year. Zhu Shuren marched forty miles on New Year's Eve and the first day of the Lunar New Year. Is there any problem?
After passing through most areas of Yanzhou Prefecture, a new problem faced Zhu Shuren: to pass through Jishui and Qingshui (Daqing River) and continue northward, there must be enough boats!
The Jishui River and the Daqing River are actually the original paths of the Yellow River before it was diverted from the Huai River to the sea. After the main stream of the Yellow River moves south, the local precipitation on the North China Plain will still converge into rivers and need an outlet.
It's just that the water source of Jishui mainly comes from Shandong and a small part of Henan and Hebei. The water volume is not large, and the width and depth are only about one-quarter and five-fifths of the original main stream of the Yellow River.
Zhu Shuren, on the other hand, went northward by land, not by water. This area was not directly connected to his own Huguang Defense Area by water, so how could he get enough ships?
In fact, if Zhu Shuren wanted to do it, of course he could do it. The Shen family was engaged in shipping, and they also undertook the imperial court's reform of water transportation by sea.
When water transportation first began to be converted to sea transportation, the Shen family owned no less than 200 large sand ships. In the past four or five years, the average annual growth rate was about 150, and they continued to use the court's water transportation funds to build new ships. Now
There are more than 800 large sand ships for sea transport. If Chongzhen's seventeen-year shipbuilding plan can still be implemented, thousands of them will eventually be completed.
[In other words, currently the best app for reading and listening to books, change the source app and install the latest version. 】
However, laymen are not professional. The Shen family said that "it is not safe for small sand ships to go north along the coast, and large sand ships cannot enter the upper reaches of Jishui River."
This responsibility will of course fall on the head of Shandong General Liu Zeqing, who was already reprimanded by Chongzhen before Beijing was besieged!
When Liu Zeqing was crossing the border, he did not dare to intercept and engage the thieves, and Chongzhen wanted to punish him severely. Later, it was found out that the chief assistant Zhou Yanru had received 40,000 taels of gold from him to help him keep his position as Shandong general soldier for a long time.
and the power to control the Linqing customs clearance of the Grand Canal.
The blame for these crimes is placed on Liu Zeqing. If Chongzhen can survive and be free to deal with it in the future, Liu Zeqing will definitely be punished with a serious crime!
Now, he has been charged with another crime: "Other friendly troops were ordered to rescue him, but when he passed through Shandong, his troops were unable to provide a ferry in time to cross the old route of the Yellow River."
He timidly avoids the enemy, bribes his chief assistant, fails to do things well and delays the rescue of friendly troops... How many heads does Liu Zeqing have enough to chop off?
Liu Zeqing's mood was extremely complicated. His fear was probably second only to Zuo Liangyu's, but he had to help raise the warship.
In order to prove his wholeheartedness, Zhu Shuren also sent a messenger quickly back to the rear of Jiangnan after confirming that Liu Zeqing could not quickly bring out enough ships, and ordered Zheng Chenggong and the sea route commander Zhang Mingzhen to send troops by sea.
Take the old route of transporting grain by sea and see if you can go to Tianjin Wei or Shanhaiguan and other places. If you can rescue some of the royal relatives near Gyeonggi, leave more escape routes, or help Shanhaiguan officers and soldiers speed up their return to Tianjin Wei and then enter Beijing.
, can adapt to changing circumstances.
This order also took three or four days to be conveyed to Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Mingzhen, and it also took time for the navy to set sail, so even if it found the nearest port to set sail, it would take at least more than half a month to arrive.
In the early stage, Zhu Shuren did not directly exceed his authority and ask the navy to rescue Beijing. This cannot be blamed on him, because the authority of the navy is indeed not in his hands.
The commander-in-chief of the sea route was the sea route canal protection force under the control of his father, Shen Tingyang, the Minister of Household Affairs in Nanjing. Even if they were biological fathers and sons, their official duties and responsibilities must be clearly separated.
As for the naval power owned by the Zheng Chenggong family, it has nothing to do with Zhu Shuren legally. If Zhu Shuren can ask them to help, it is a favor. Even if they can't ask for help, it is still their due.
Previously, Zhu Shuren's own main force was still too far away from the North China battlefield. If Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Mingzhen had been sent to take action in advance, then with the strength of Zheng and Zhang's troops, they would definitely not be able to defeat Li Zicheng ashore, and they would only be in vain.
If this navy had been allowed to fight alone in depth at that time, and if it still wanted to succeed, it would have been unless it directly assisted Chongzhen in evacuating Beijing and escaping southward by sea - but Chongzhen was too resolute, and he never mentioned a southern patrol. At the last moment, Beijing
None of the courtiers advised him to abandon Beijing, and he was too embarrassed to take the initiative to do so, thus missing the window period for giving orders.
Since Chongzhen did not order the officers and soldiers to escort him to escape by sea, Zhang Mingzhen couldn't have made his own decision and resisted the order in advance, right?
…
However, neither Liu Zeqing nor Zheng Chenggong's efforts were used in the end.
Eight days after Zhu Shuren entered Yanzhou Prefecture, on the tenth day of the first lunar month of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen. The troops had just relied on insufficient boats to cross more than half of the troops across the old Yellow River route in batches. More bad news came from the north, saying that Li Zicheng had already died.
Entering Beijing city.
There was a tremor for a while, and many people said that the city of Beijing was definitely hopeless. Since the city had been captured by the invaders, even if it was still in chaos for the time being, street fighting would not last for several days. Moreover, the news spread to the border of Shandong, which was far away from the vanguard of the invaders.
It has been two days since the door was broken. Who knows how much the situation will worsen in these two days?
As for His Majesty's life or death, no one knows at this time.
Zhu Shuren's army was in shock overnight, and all the generals and staff needed him to make an idea.
"Your Majesty! I am a step too late!" Zhu Shuren cried bitterly at first, very sincerely.
Then he was persuaded by Gu Yanwu and asked him to focus on the overall situation. The situation is still unclear, so don't despair yet.
Zhu Shuren calmed down his emotions, and then he obeyed the advice and made two preparations:
"The rear army stopped crossing the river! To avoid losing ground in advance and retreat, we don't have enough ships to begin with! Let Cao Bianjiao and Huang Degong, Zhu Wenzhen lead all the cavalry in our army, quickly cross over to Shuntian Mansion, just take the food with you, don't worry about the food route
Okay, let’s get more accurate information along the way!
If it is just Beijing that has fallen, and His Majesty may still be alive, then with the purpose of rescuing the enemy, we can at least rescue the people and patrol south to Nanjing or Fengyang! If it is confirmed that His Majesty is unlucky, it is meaningless and the army will turn back immediately!
There should be no way to quickly counterattack and take back the city of Beijing! The city of Beijing is so strong that it didn’t even last twenty days of defending the city? Your Majesty, I’m late! But I’ve tried my best!”
The generals also felt heavy-hearted and had their own worries. After sighing for a while, they obeyed the order.
If His Majesty is really gone, there are obviously more important things that need to be done than taking back the city of Beijing right away - the world cannot be left without a master for a day. Discussions about regaining Beijing must also be based on having a new monarch and the new monarch.
Recovering is only possible under leadership and command.
If the name is not correct, the words will not go smoothly, and if the words are not right, the deeds will not be accomplished. Great justice and honor always need to be finalized more than force.
…
It is no longer important how Zhu Shuren sent Cao Bianjiao, Huang Degong, and Zhu Wenzhen to try to break into Beijing with pure cavalry troops to confirm the situation.
The timeline goes back three days to the day before the Chuang army captured the inner city of Beijing.
Perhaps because of the butterfly effect, Chongzhen in this life was still very determined to resist until the last moment. After the outer city of Beijing was breached on January 8th, although most areas of Beijing had entered street fighting, chaos
, burning, killing, raping, and looting, but the inner city can still hold on a little longer.
Chongzhen was not like the people at the same time in history who simply ignored defense and only wanted to hang themselves on a tree with a crooked neck.
Instead, he personally patrolled the city, checked the defenses of the inner city, and then summoned a few close eunuchs to supervise the army in an attempt to personally supervise an army to defend the war in the name of "conquering the army personally." In fact, he wanted to take advantage of the situation in the outer city.
Being completely controlled, trying to break out.
Chongzhen's mentality has changed so much, of course, because he saw hope in this life——
The Ming Dynasty was not completely unable to defeat Li Zicheng. In the south, the country's situation was improving. It's just a pity that this improvement came too late! It was too late to spread to the north!
I didn't escape before. First, because of face, no minister was willing to take the blame and propose this plan.
Secondly, I was overconfident in Beijing's city defense and felt that it would not be too risky to hold on for at least a few months and wait for reinforcements.
But things are different now. The issue of face can be flexibly relaxed at the last moment of life and death. The worst case scenario is that the emperor personally marches and counterattacks in a roundabout way! They all directly lead the troops, and they even negotiate with those civil and military ministers!
He also rang the bells at the bell tower in the Forbidden City. He tried to summon the civil and military officials, but no one came to escort him. Those civil and military officials were unfaithful and unjust!
As for the problem of "overconfidence", at this moment when the outer city was destroyed, Chongzhen's overconfidence was of course cured without medicine and he completely recognized the reality.
Unfortunately, just because you want to break through doesn't mean you have the ability to break through.
At the last moment, Chongzhen only gathered a few hundred people from Jinyiwei and Dongchang, led by Wang Chengen and Luo Yangxing. They changed their clothes and tried to escape from the north gate. They turned east to see if they could escape to the seaside of Tianjinwei.
Or he could join up with Wu Sangui who came from the east for support.
Because he had not yet planned to commit suicide and die for his country, he certainly would not kill his first wife, Queen Zhou, nor would he kill Concubine Yuan Guifei, his two daughters, and his widowed sister-in-law, Queen Zhang (the empress of Emperor Tianqi). These female scrolls were arranged by Chongzhen.
A simple but sturdy carriage was driven by the eunuchs from Dongchang and Yumajian, trying to break out of the encirclement.
Even his three sons, he chose to follow the cunning rabbit's three burrows. The prince Zhu Cixiang was already fifteen years old and could bear the fatigue of traveling, so he took him with him personally and tried to break out and escape.
Ding Wang Zhu Cijiong and Yong Wang Zhu Cijiong were still young, only eleven and ten years old respectively. Just like the original historical inertia, they were thrown into the home of Zhou Kui, the head of the country, and Zhou Kui hid them.
In this way, no matter there is an accident on the way to break through or there is an accident on the way to hide on the spot, there will still be a spare tire left.
In the same way, the two daughters who were not killed by him were also dealt with separately by Chongzhen. Princess Kunxing was sixteen years old and could be transferred with the prince's younger brother. Princess Zhaoren was only six years old and could not be transferred, so she was hidden with her third and fourth brothers.
Go to grandpa's house (Chongzhen's second son died young, and the two younger sons who survived were the third and fourth).
Chongzhen just asked his father-in-law to give an additional instruction: If he is discovered and cannot be saved, he will kill his six-year-old granddaughter to avoid humiliation.
…
Chongzhen made all possible arrangements, crossed Meishan Mountain in the middle of the night, and broke out of the inner city from the north via Jishuitan (Shichahai).
The street fighting in the outer city has not ended yet, and the intruders are still looting wildly.
The soldiers and civilians of the Ming Dynasty did not have much will to resist. They had no choice but to put down their weapons for the sake of their own interests and safety purely to prevent being robbed and killed. Only after Li Zicheng had restrained military discipline could these Ming officers and soldiers dare to completely put down their weapons.
arms.
This kind of confusion allowed Chongzhen to be confused for a while, and Jishuitan was the northernmost unloading dock of the ancient Grand Canal, a canal connected to Tongzhou and Tianjin by the Tonghui River.
Therefore, after arriving at Jishuitan, you can break out of the siege through the canoe waterway. Shuimen was rarely blocked by rebels, and after some chaos, Chongzhen actually got out of the city.
However, Chongzhen's good luck ended here. It was impossible to hide the fact that hundreds of people left the city by boat. The bandits had no time to stop them, but there were soldiers on both sides of the Tonghui River who witnessed all this.
Report it immediately.
Within half an hour, Li Zicheng personally led the elite cavalry from his direct line and concentrated all his strength to pursue them.
Chongzhen and his party first fled down the Tonghui River for a while. When they saw the dust rising behind them, Chongzhen also knew that they had been discovered. Feeling that the boat was slow, he immediately abandoned the boat and went ashore, unloaded the horses and carriages, and galloped away.
After escaping for dozens of miles, after all, because these Jin Yiwei and Dongchang men were not skilled in martial arts and not fast, and Chongzhen himself was not used to riding horses, he could only ride in a carriage. However, he was overtaken by Li Zicheng's cavalry outside Tongzhou City and surrounded.
"Those who surrender will not be killed! Put down your weapons quickly!"
Of course, Chongzhen refused to surrender, and a bloody battle broke out between the two sides. The last few hundred imperial guards and eunuchs were quickly killed, and more than a hundred of them were killed. The rest, seeing that the situation was over, surrendered after a beating. Until this moment, they have worked hard for Chongzhen.
It’s quite a face-saving gesture.
"I am the Son of Heaven! Who dares to kill me!" Chongzhen was so unwilling that he stood on the carriage and waved his sword from left to right, but he managed to kill two or three thieves.
Those who died were not weak in martial arts, but they were also unprepared. I didn't expect that the emperor could fight in person. I wanted to capture him alive, but Chongzhen suddenly attacked and killed him. After all, everyone around him was frightened by the emperor's reputation, and they were curious and nervous.
Staring at him, he didn't dare to step forward for a while.
Even though he had killed officials and rebelled, and lived a life of bloodshed for many years, the identity of the emperor was still very sacred and mysterious in the eyes of ordinary soldiers in ancient times.
Li Zicheng in the distance heard the movement here, but he was overjoyed: The emperor is indeed here!
He quickly put his one-eyed head on his head and rode a horse with a strange shape. He was surrounded by elite guards: "I am Li Zicheng, the king of Dashun! Chongzhen, you are not convinced now! Two months ago, I wrote a letter to you. As long as you admit it."
We, the northwest of Dashunyong Town, do not offend each other, so I will continue to recognize you as Zhengshuo, which is fine!
You must have overestimated your capabilities and killed more than 100,000 soldiers to end up today! If you are willing to surrender now, I can still spare your life, as long as you decree that the Zhushu people are not allowed to invade northward!"
"Daydreaming! Intruder! You are a dog-like thing, do you deserve to be called a loner? I will guard the gate of the country tomorrow, and the king will die. I will die today, and within ten months, Zhu Aiqing will definitely kill you to avenge me!
You expect me to be as spineless and delusional as the late Emperor Yingzong!"
Chongzhen was covered in dirty blood (other people's blood) and cursed with his sword.
Li Zicheng was furious and wanted to surrender, but Song Xiance next to him breathlessly said secretly: "Your Majesty! The matter has come to this, we are completely at odds. We hope to control Chongzhen to check and balance Zhu Shuren, but I'm afraid it will be difficult to control him.
Fortunately, their group has been surrounded by our legions. How will outsiders know what will happen here in the future? It is better to take advantage of the opportunity... and then only declare to the outside world that Chongzhen committed suicide, and then we select a cowardly young son of Chongzhen to use as intimidation.
Zhu Shuren is no exception!"
Li Zicheng raised his eyebrows and thought this was a good idea.
In fact, in history, he also kept Chongzhen's crown prince Zhu Cihong with him when he went to Shanhaiguan to fight Wu Sangui, trying to use Zhu Cihong's name to trick Wu Sangui into giving up resistance.
It's just that Wu Sangui had already joined forces with the Tatars at that time, and a kidnapped son of Chongzhen was completely useless.
But today's Zhu Shuren is different. Zhu Shuren is in the south and cannot take refuge with the Tatars. He needs to establish a new leader to establish a righteous name.
Wouldn't it be easier to control Chongzhen if he left behind a cowardly underage son than Chongzhen who was single-minded?
A stern look flashed in Li Zicheng's eyes, and he ordered Liu Zongmin beside him: "Go and capture Chongzhen alive. If you are afraid that he will resist, you can knock him out and capture him alive.
Then capture all the sons and ask them where the Chongzhen disciples are. If all the sons are there, then they cannot kill them indiscriminately. If there are still sons who are not there, then detain the ones who are there first and put them under house arrest secretly until the other disciples are found.
After that, we can kill those who are under house arrest today! If we can’t find other disciples, we will inevitably have to use those we caught today.”
Li Zicheng has already figured it out. If there is a son of Chongzhen among the hundreds of people present today, then the other party will witness his father's death. It will be difficult to control him in the future, or at least there will be a risk of leaking the secret.
But if Chongzhen's sons are not here and can be found in the future, things will be much easier to handle - as soon as Chongzhen's other sons are found, all the royal relatives and eunuchs and royal guards present today can be silenced without any evidence.
At that time, it was claimed that Chongzhen committed suicide before the city was destroyed and that the prince was a surrendered Da Shun. No one could find any evidence to the contrary.
After receiving the order, Liu Zongmin did not say a word. He picked up the mace and rode straight to Chongzhen.
"Where is the nameless thief! I am the Son of Heaven! Who dares to kill me! Uh-huh..."
When Liu Zongmin attacked Chongzhen with a mace, Chongzhen waved his sword to resist. He did not know martial arts, had no rules and no defense, and just stabbed the opponent's vitals.
Because Chongzhen had never thought about the need to "defend" in his life. As the emperor, he was the only one who wanted to kill people. How could anyone dare to resist? And people who knew a little bit about martial arts would definitely have to dodge and block at this time, and would judge "I haven't yet"
When I stabbed Liu Zongmin, Liu Zongmin’s mace could have killed me first.”
Liu Zongmin originally planned that the opponent would block, and then he would change his moves to knock the opponent's weapon away and then knock him unconscious. Unexpectedly, Chongzhen would stupidly trade lives with him. If Liu Zongmin had stopped, he would have been defeated by Chongzhen.
Hit the point.
Liu Zongmin was immediately irritated. When his brain became hot, he had no time to change his tactics. He applied more force to the mace and slapped his head and face with a "pop" sound, smashing Chongzhen's head until it exploded like a watermelon.
Chongzhen's body fell straight down, with no eyes left - his two eyeballs had already splashed far away when his head was smashed.
Li Zicheng frowned, but he didn't blame Liu Zongmin too much: "What happened? That's all, silence all these eunuchs and royal guards! The only external news is that Chongzhen committed suicide and died for his country!"