Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 54
The time soon came to the middle of May in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen.

At this time, Zhang Xianzhong's Great Western Army was blocked by Chongqing, an important town in eastern Sichuan, and was digging tunnels, preparing to use gunpowder to blow up the city walls of Chongqing.

Chen Shiqi, governor of Daming Sichuan, is struggling to support.

Zhu Zhishu, King of Shu, is still drunk and dreaming of death, not knowing that his death is approaching.

Li Zicheng has retreated to Shanxi from Jingxing, one of the Eight Xings of Taihang.

Unfortunately, less than [-] of the more than [-] veterans who followed Li Zicheng out of Shaanxi had remained, and the [-] cavalry among them were all wiped out.

In fact, the Dashun Army was still able to fight, and these cavalrymen fought to the end.

For Li Zicheng, the only good news is that relying on the natural danger of Guguan, the Dashun Army finally stopped the pursuers. Wu Sangui's Guan Ning Army had been attacking Guguan for several days, with thousands of casualties but still unable to advance an inch.

Li Yan suggested that Li Zicheng transfer the army from Shaanxi to Shanxi to strengthen the defense of Shanxi and Datong.

Li Yan believes that Shanxi and Shaanxi are closely related, and if the lips are lost, the teeth will be cold. Therefore, only by sticking to Shanxi can the Dashun Army ensure that the hinterland of Shaanxi will not be attacked and have a chance to recuperate.

But Li Zicheng was eager to go home and rejected Li Yan's suggestion.

After leaving behind a small army, Li Zicheng set off for Xi'an.

As a result, as soon as Li Zicheng left, Jiang Yu, the general of Datong, and Wang Daye, the deputy general of Tianchengwei, turned their backs.

Zhang Tianlin, the general who Li Zicheng left behind to guard Datong, and the [-] Dashun Army were all slaughtered.

On Jiannu's side, facing the sharp butcher knives of the Eight Banners soldiers, the officials, gentry and common people in various prefectures and counties in Gyeonggi did not give in, but set off a larger scale of resistance, not only in Gyeonggi, but almost the whole of Beizhili.

For the Han officials, gentry and common people, it is okay to change the court, but not to change the clothes!Risk your life and don't change it!
Seeing that the situation was not right, Dorgon quickly transferred Wu Sangui's Guanning Army and the main force of slavery led by Duoduo back from Guguan, and carried out more bloody suppression and massacres of the rebellious officials, gentry and common people.

On Daming's side, Chongzhen had successfully arrived in Xuzhou with one thousand Yiding and Wang Zuntan and other ten town commanders, and joined up with Li Chengdong, Hu Maozhen and other eight town commanders who arrived in Xuzhou first.

At this time, the Ming army gathered in Xuzhou had a total of [-] frontier troops.

Huang Degong also sent flying cavalry to report that Liu Liangzuo had been killed and incorporated into Liu Liangzuo's troops.

Ten days at most, and five days at least, the [-] people led by Huang Degong will also arrive in Xuzhou. By then, there is a high probability that twenty-eight towns can be assembled.

Twenty-eight towns may sound like a huge lineup, but in fact there are only [-] people.

There were a total of [-] people in the four Jiangbei towns in the history of Nanming, and Agou and Mao were basically here.

In addition, there are more than [-] guard troops under the command of Xuzhou Guard Wang Wenming, and the brave and strong villagers of nearby counties such as Xiao County, Pei County, Feng County, and Dangshan County, all adding up to about [-] people.

With [-] people, the combat power is really hard to describe.

Of course, the [-] horses in the four towns of Jiangbei are not much stronger.

To deal with bandits and bandits, these [-] people are still enough.

But for the Dashun Army or the Daxi Army, basically there is only one word - run!

If it is even more unfortunate to meet Jiannu, there is no chance to escape, only to surrender.

In history, the armies of Gao Jie, Liu Zeqing, Liu Liangzuo, and Zuo Liangyu were basically in this vein. When the Dashun army came to fight, they could run for a while. When Jiannu came to fight, they had no chance to escape. They could only kneel and beg , Then after surrendering to build slaves, he suddenly became very capable of fighting, and he fought across most of China like a gust of wind sweeping fallen leaves.

Therefore, with the current [-] people, the only way to face the Dashun Army in the field is to flee, and if they face the Jiannu, there is a high probability that they will end up kneeling and begging for surrender, and there will be no other possibility.

Even defending the city or sticking to the camp can still be barely competent.

Regarding this point, Chongzhen still had a clear understanding.

Chongzhen would not naively think that because he, the emperor, sits in charge in person, this group of mobs can immediately become elites, this is a dream.

Of course, the fact that this army is hopeless does not mean that Daming is hopeless.

Daming is worth rescuing. The prescription is to imitate Marshal Qi to train Zhejiang soldiers, start a new army to train a new army, and create a new army that has nothing to do with the frontier army of the twenty-eight towns.

Of course Chongzhen also wanted to train a new army from scratch.

But unfortunately, firstly, there is no money, secondly, the time does not allow, because Jiannu will go south soon, and thirdly, there is a lack of excellent officers. There must be a large group of outstanding military officers who have experienced many battles or have received higher education.

Marshal Qi's Zhejiang army has a group of iron-blooded veterans who fought on the anti-Japanese battlefield as officers.

Yuan Gongbao's Beiyang new army also has a large group of new-style student soldiers who graduated from the Tianjin Armed Forces Academy.

Not to mention the Northern Expeditionary Army, without the thousands of students from the Whampoa Military Academy, there would be no Northern Expeditionary Army.

Before training such a group of high-quality officers, training the new army is purely a dream in the mirror.

Then, can a group of veterans who have fought wars be transferred from the frontier army of the twenty-eight towns to serve as officers of the new army?

The answer is still no, the so-called soldier is the courage, the general is the soul of the soldier. Find such a group of psychologically "unprofessional" veterans of the frontier army to serve as officers of the new army. What kind of good soldiers can be trained?
It is nothing more than another fleeing army that is about to collapse.

Therefore, there is no need to consider the matter of training the new army for the time being.

Having said so much, I can sum it up in four points.

First, the current situation is extremely serious, but there is still time.

Second, there are currently no conditions for training a new army.

Thirdly, Xuzhou's twenty-eight town frontier troops are rubbish, but right now we can only rely on them to support national defense.

Fourth, Xuzhou's twenty-eighth town frontier army field battle is basically on the verge of collapse, so it is necessary to rush to repair the fortifications to provide them with a sense of security, otherwise the Huanghuai defense line can only be a dream in the mirror.

However, before Chongzhen could drive these arrogant soldiers to build fortifications, a pay incident suddenly broke out.

At first, it was Li Chengdong Township of Gao Jie's old department, and then quickly spread to the remaining seven towns and the ten town commanders of Liu Zeqing's old department, and finally turned into a large-scale mass incident.

The Ming Dynasty can be said to be the poorest of the twenty-four dynasties, none of them, so they often defaulted on their military salaries. The Zhejiang soldiers built by Marshal Qi are the afterglow that fell during the payment incident.

As for the Guan Ning Army, making wages is a traditional craft.

Facing the menacing border guards, Chongzhen instantly became alert.

It's not a big deal to say that it's not a big deal, but it's just money, and what you want is money for your life. It sounds like there's nothing wrong with it.

In fact, it is absurd, because this is a threat to the court. Once this end is opened, there will be no way to manage it in the future. Whenever there is something unsatisfactory, there will be riots.

If you compromise this time, you will make progress next time.

When Jiannu went south, these arrogant soldiers dared to clamor for the southern expedition.

So how to deal with this trouble has become a problem, really tricky.

A comprehensive compromise is definitely not possible. If there is a compromise, these arrogant soldiers will only go too far if they taste the sweetness. The emperor's authority will be fatally weakened, and the Huanghuai defense line will still be guarded.

But no compromise at all, otherwise the wage dispute would turn into a mutiny.

The measure in the middle must be just right. It is necessary to severely deter these arrogant soldiers, but it must not let the rioting turn into a mutiny. Time cannot be delayed, and it must be fast and precise!
First of all, calmly analyze, is there any intervention from the Dashun Army and Jiannu behind this incident?
It was impossible for the Dashun army. Li Zicheng had already been beaten into a dog by Jiannu, and he could not protect himself. At this time, it was impossible for him to have the energy to infiltrate the Ming army.

It is impossible to build slaves.

Because according to the historical process, Jiannu had already been devastated by Beizhi's rebellion at this time, and even the main force of Duduo's slave establishment and Wu Sangui's Guanning Army were transferred back.

Moreover, Jiannu's tentacles have not extended far to Xuzhou.

After confirming this point, Chongzhen had a bottom line in his heart.

As long as the commanders of the towns don't want to rebel, it's easy to handle.

This is a crisis, but why not an opportunity?

Crisis and crisis are always opportunities in danger, it depends on whether you can grasp it!
At that moment, Chongzhen ordered Gao Qiqian and Lu Jiude to say: "Gao Banban, Lu Banban, prepare [-] taels of silver and follow me to Li Chengdong's camp."

(End of this chapter)