The end of the Ming Dynasty swept the world

Chapter 714
Huang Taiji wanted to seek peace because the domestic situation was not good and life became more and more difficult.

But Emperor Chongzhen wanted to seek peace, so why not.

The 15th year of Chongzhen was the highlight of the Peasant Army. Both Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong won consecutive battles, and the soldiers and horses became bigger and bigger like a snowball.

On rainy days with house leaks and partial cracks, there were many natural disasters in the Ming Dynasty, and the people couldn't go on happily.

In the spring of the 15th year of Chongzhen (1642), there was a severe drought in Taicang Prefecture, and countless grain fields lost their harvest. , can be described as a human tragedy.

Yihui Temple and Longfu Temple gathered more than a thousand hungry people, who died every day without stalks, and taxes and food were urgent.After the autumn grain, the winter rice reached four taels per stone. With the high grain price, the local people starved to death, and corpses rolled in the river.

Hundreds of children abandoned at the city gates and alleys formed a group, or were lured away by someone, or those who were regarded as dead were abandoned in clusters, gathered and burned, or dug and buried.For those who survived, the elm bark was peeled to make cakes, and the chaff to make porridge. Looking at the village, the bark was peeled off, which was a famine that had not been experienced in decades.

Similarly, in the 15th year of Chongzhen, there was a severe drought in Huzhou Gui'an, and locusts covered the sky. Wherever they gathered, the seedlings and reeds stood up. pink.The place on the left side of Hanshan Mountain is called Liangcun. Hundreds of gangsters gathered to rebel. Fortunately, they were wiped out in a few days.The price of rice in Wu County, Suzhou Prefecture is as high as three taels of silver per stone, and two taels of silver per stone.The people are struggling to eat, wandering and fleeing, the old and childish abandon the roadside, the urban and rural houses are dumped in mid-empty, and the dead bodies are lying on the pillow.

On the third day of June of the same year, there was a huge earthquake in Xi'an, Shanxi Province day and night.The city walls and dwellings were destroyed, and the cliffs collapsed.On the fourth day of the lunar new year, an earthquake occurred in Anyi, Shanxi (now northeast of Yuncheng). Starting from the northwest, the sound was like thunder, and all the houses of officials and people collapsed.There are people who crush the dead.Puzhou and Ronghe were overwhelmed to death.

Linjin, Yuanqu, Jiezhou, Qinyuan, Yangcheng, Huguan, Xiaxian, Yuanqu in Shanxi Province; Tongguanwei in Shaanxi Province; Hanoi, Wuzhi, Shengchi, Shanzhou, Yanxiang and other counties in Henan Province, were all affected.This earthquake spanned dozens of prefectures and counties in three provinces, and the earthquake continued continuously. It struck again on the ninth day of the first month, and then again on the thirteenth day, and it lasted for dozens of days.The epicentral intensity (Io) is VIII, and the magnitude (M) is six.

Huzhou, Suzhou, Taicang and other places are all counted as lands of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River, but disasters followed one after another, and the price of food rose to two or four, which shows how short of food was already in the Ming Dynasty at that time.

It can be said that in the entire Ming Dynasty at this time, only Ding Yi in Dongjiang Town and Dengzhou was the least short of food.

Not only was Ding Yi not short of grain, but Du Ruhai in Dengzhou saw that the price of grain in Shandong had suddenly risen to three taels, so he didn't come in time to ask Ding Yi for instructions. He first sold 30 stones of grain and made a fortune.

But in July, the price of food rose to four taels again, and Du Ruhai regretted it too late.

Only then did Ding Yi return to Dengzhou, angrily scolding him for being a prodigal.

Only Ding Yi knew that the price of grain would get higher towards the end of the Ming Dynasty. Now, of course, he was hoarding grain and watching the changes.

As for being a virgin to distribute food to the people of the world, this is really not something Ding Yi can do.

With his food, how many people can he save?

He himself ruled millions of people not to live?
But Ding Yi still ordered to increase porridge distribution in Shandong to help the victims, which was the only thing he could do.

Because Shandong has been getting better and better in the past few years under Ding Yi's rule, and Ding Yi has been draining victims for ten years, it has been heard all over the country that a large number of refugees are coming to Shandong.

During the 15 years of Ding Yi's rule in Chongzhen, he was extremely busy. Ships departed from Qingdao, Laizhou and Dengzhou every day.

Ships boarded in Qingdao are transported to Dayuan, those boarded in Laizhou are shipped to Lushun, and those boarded in Dengzhou are shipped to Jeju.

In the past few years, except for the normal merchant ships and a few sailor ships, Ding Yi's other ships are almost used to transport victims.

The 15 years of natural disasters in Chongzhen caused Chongzhen to be devastated, and the domestic battlefield suffered a crushing defeat.

There was no one around Chongzhen, and he finally thought of Sun Chuanting who had been imprisoned by him for several years.

In February of that year, Chongzhen released Sun Chuanting and summoned him in the Wenhua Palace to inquire about major affairs in the world. Sun Chuanting said that as long as there are [-] elites, the peasant army can be wiped out.

To be honest, Sun Chuanting probably stayed in prison for too long and didn't know the market outside. Now that Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong are full-fledged, let alone five thousand, it's not easy to beat him with fifty thousand elites. (Unless Ding Yi has 5 horses)
But Emperor Chongzhen was very happy to hear that, and he didn't even think about the difference between this and Yuan Chongzhen's five-year Ping Liao.

So Emperor Chongzhen appointed him as the right servant of the Ministry of War, and led the officers and soldiers of the Beijing camp to rescue Kaifeng, the capital of Henan Province, which was besieged by Li Zicheng.

When Sun Chuanting took office, he also had a secret mission to execute He Renlong, the general of the Qin army who was suspected of being a "thief".

Because not long ago, Li Zicheng gave up attacking Kaifeng, captured Xiangcheng on February [-], and killed Wang Qiaonian, the governor of the three sides of Shaanxi. Emperor Chongzhen then appointed Sun Chuanting as the governor of the three sides of Shaanxi, actually including (Yan, Ning, Su, Gu) , Tao).

In April, Sun Chuanting summoned Zheng Jiadong, Niu Chenghu, and He Renlong to Xi'an. At the end of the banquet, he suddenly ordered He Renlong to be taken down with a knife and axe. During the Battle of Chengcheng and the Battle of Xiangcheng, Li Zicheng killed Zhang Xianzhong and the two governors of three sides of Shaanxi (Fu Zonglong and Wang Qiaonian), and he beheaded He Renlong.

After beheading He Renlong, Sun Chuanting planned to stay in Shaanxi and train first.

From the ninth year of Chongzhen to the 11th year of Chongzhen, he was the governor of Shaanxi for two years, trained a wave of elite Qin soldiers, and finally killed Gao Yingxiang.

If Sun Chuanting's own plan is followed step by step, Chongzhen and the Ming Dynasty may live another year or two.

After Sun Chuanting arrived in Shaanxi, he still planned to work slowly in the same way as before, "opening up farmland, repairing utensils and accumulating millet, and three families have a strong man and one".

This is also Ding Yi's ability to start a business. Simply put, don't worry, clear the village first, and then train soldiers.

How much does the Ming court cost to train a soldier at this time? When Yang Sichang was there, he had planned to train 12 soldiers, and the horse soldiers and infantry were divided into three to seven. At that time, he made an account for Chongzhen.

明廷步兵一名每天给五分银钱，八万4000人是133万2000两，马兵连草料一天给一钱，三万6000人是129万6000两，合计268万8000两。这是一年的价钱。按这个价钱算，一万兵大概需要22万2千两左右的银钱。

In this way, is Ming Ting more willing to spend money than Ding Yi?

Ding Yi trained 20 soldiers and horses, averaging only [-] taels a year.

Yang Sichang counted 22.

However, Ding Yi's 20 yuan was paid for, and it did not include food, horses, and fodder.

And after Yang Sichang's 22 was calculated, not to mention that Daming didn't have that much money, even if he had so much money, if he came out of the capital, then went to the local area, and then went to the garrison after passing through the local area, it would be considered good to have [-] remaining.

Of course Sun Chuanting didn't have that much money, and the Ming Dynasty didn't even have that much money, let alone 268 million, he might not even have 68.How much money does Sun Chuanting have?
"For the Qingtun project, a total of more than 45 taels of folded silver and about [-] shi of natural color rice, wheat and beans were obtained in three years."

After he arrived in Shaanxi, he realized that in three years, he had only received more than 45 taels of Zheshen silver and [-] shi of rice, wheat and beans. This is not as good as Ding Yi's next Dengzhou prefecture, let alone Laizhou and other prefectures.

In the first year of Chongzhen, Bi Ziyan cleared the land at that time. In Shaanxi, there were 46 hectares and 73 mu. According to the Ming Dynasty's "Nongzheng Quanshu", one hectare is 4000 mu. , There are more than [-] million mu of fields in Shaanxi.

This is much more farmland than Ding Yi's in Shandong Province.

If Ding Yi were to hoard the fields, he would definitely have a lot of food.

The Ming Dynasty's summer tax and autumn grain rice and wheat in Shaanxi totaled only 170 million shi.

According to the heavy taxes at that time, at this time, the whole province of Shaanxi did not have about 1000 million shi of summer and autumn grain a year.

There were millions of people in Shaanxi who didn't know about it at the time, but they definitely didn't have enough to eat. How could they raise soldiers again?

What's more, there were so many grain harvests in Shaanxi at that time when there were years of military disasters and natural disasters.

How to train soldiers without money and food?

Moreover, the officers and soldiers of the Beijing camp brought by Sun Chuanting were corrupt and incompetent. Most of the officers and soldiers of the original Qin army were lost in the battles of Xiangcheng, Xiangcheng, Songjin and other battles. Therefore, Sun Chuanting clapped his hands and sighed: "I want to use Qin people!"

In addition, he finally discovered that Li Zicheng had hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and his strength was beyond comparison. He took it for granted that he said five thousand elites before, so he proposed to Emperor Chongzhen to train [-] troops and pay one million.

Emperor Chongzhen was not happy when he heard it, Niang, you said last time that you only need [-] elites, and now you want [-]?How to have the same virtue as Yuan Chonghuan?
However, being unhappy is not a good thing, Emperor Chongzhen gritted his teeth and agreed, but he asked Sun to lead his troops out of Tongguan to encircle and suppress Li Zicheng one month after receiving the military salary.

At this time, Li Zicheng besieged Kaifeng for the third time. Emperor Chongzhen appointed Su Jing as the supervising army on June 24 and urged Sun Chuanting to go out to rescue Kaifeng.Sun Chuanting said that these recruits were untrained and should not go into battle easily. Chongzhen refused to listen, so Sun Chuanting had no choice but to leave the army and lead the army across the Yellow River to rescue Kaifeng, but was defeated by the peasant army for a while.

Emperor Chongzhen then ordered Ding Qirui, governor of Baoding, Yang Wenyue, governor of Baoding, and Zuo Liangyu, commander-in-chief, to lead 18 troops, claiming 40 to rush to help, and join forces in Zhuxian Town (now southwest of Kaifeng) to break the siege of Kaifeng.Upon hearing the news, Li Zicheng left Wang Weiguo to continue to besiege Kaifeng, and moved the main force to favorable terrain southwest of Zhuxian Town.

On the first day of July, when Kaifeng was in an emergency, Zuo Liangyu, Yang Wenyue, Hu Dawei, Yang Dezheng, and Fang Guoan stationed in Zhuxian Town to fight the peasant army.

However, Li Zicheng's army was numerous and vast, and Zuo Liangyu saw that the enemy was powerful, so he pulled out his camp and fled first, and all the troops in Xiangyang were defeated.Zuo Liangyu's army fled halfway and met Li Zicheng's ambush army. Zuo Liangyu's army was in chaos and abandoned thousands of horses and mules. Ren Dong, the supervisor of the army, died in the battle, and Zuo Liangyu fled to Xiangyang.Governor Yang Wenyue was dismissed due to the defeat of Zhuxian Town, and Governor Ding Qirui was arrested and imprisoned.

The Battle of Zhuxian Town was almost a replica of the Battle of Songjin. Several groups of soldiers from the imperial court converged, and Zuo Liangyu fled before the battle, which immediately caused everyone to flee for their lives. Li Zicheng won easily, and more than 1 troops were surrendered. .

(End of this chapter)