Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 99
At dusk on the second day of July in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen,
Chongzhen went south from Xiazhen on a naval warship.

In addition to more than a thousand prisoners of war, the entourage included Zhu Cihong, Zhu Cijiong, Wang Chengen and other hundreds of eunuchs, Gong Yonggu and other four nobles, and Wang Yinglong and other more than a dozen guard generals.

In addition, there are a group of officials and scholars who fled south.

Among them, Wang Yongji, the former governor of Jiliao, held the highest position.

This Wang Butang originally planned to borrow a teacher from Wu Sangui to assist in the suppression.

But when things came to an end, it was discovered that this was not the case at all.

So Wang Yongji resolutely abandoned Wu Sangui, and fled south quietly with only a few dozen servants, and then bumped into Jiannu somehow and became a prisoner.

Then he was rescued by Zheng Hongkui's navy.

Along with them were rescued several scholars who fled south via the canal.

Ever since he was rescued, Wang Yongji had been arguing to face the saint, but Chongzhen ignored him.

One is because he is very busy these days, and the other is that he is too lazy to see Wang Yongji, just a second minister.

In history, this king did not surrender to the Qing Dynasty at the first time, but in the end he still became a second minister. He was just a second minister, and he coerced thousands of people to surrender to the Qing Dynasty with him.

So Chongzhen didn't bother to pay attention to this guy at all.

I am very interested in the few scholars who were rescued.

At present, Chongzhen asked Wang Chengen to invite these scholars.

After a while, four scholars in shirts were brought into the cabin.

Seeing Chongzhen sitting facing south in the cabin, the four scholars immediately paid respects.

"Fu Shan from Taiyuan, Zhu Yanzuo from Zhuozhou, Sun Fanzhi from Changping, and Ji Yunhong from Quzhou kowtow to the Holy One, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and His Royal Highness King Ding."

"Stay flat." Chongzhen lifted his hands up.

Chongzhen's attitude towards scholars was much more friendly.

In any case, the fact that these scholars were willing to abandon their families and careers and escape to the south of the Yangtze River to serve the Ming Dynasty at the risk of being beheaded by Jiannu was enough to prove that they still had a heart of innocence.

Unlike bureaucrats like Wang Yongji, who only have interests and carelessness in their eyes.

Among the four scholars, Chongzhen was most interested in Fu Shan.

In the martial arts novels of anti-Qing and Fuming themes during the Republic of China, he was a master-level figure. Not only was he highly skilled in martial arts, but his first-hand medical skills were even more extraordinary, and he was even called a master of gynecology.

In the memory of the original version of Chongzhen, there is actually Fu Shan's deeds.

"Fu Qingzhu, I remember you." Chongzhen said with a smile that was not a smile, "Because of your teacher Yuan Jixian, you once united more than a hundred students from Shanxi to make a big disturbance in Dali Temple, and the commotion was not small."

Fu Shan replied with some embarrassment: "Cao Min is ashamed, and he was helpless at the time."

"Fu Qingzhu, you don't have to be ashamed of this, because you are avenging the teacher." Chongzhen said, "You are right, I hope you can keep this enthusiasm forever."

"Return to the Holy Lord, the grass people will not disgrace their orders."

Fu Shan felt an inexplicable emotion surging in his heart.

The Emperor Chongzhen in front of him seems to be different from the legend?
The legendary Emperor Chongzhen was mean, ungrateful, self-willed and suspicious by nature, which can be described as a shortcoming.

But the first impression he had of the Emperor Chongzhen in front of him was that he was like Master Yuan who was studying in Shanxi back then. He was gentle and refined without losing the style of an elder.

But in fact, how old is the current Holy Majesty younger than him?
After exchanging greetings with Fu Shan, Chongzhen turned his attention to Sun Fanzhi again: "Are you a student in Changping Prefecture?"

"Returning to the Holy One, Caomin is a shanshan student of Changping Prefecture School." Sun Fanzhi hurriedly said, "Chongzhen entered school in fifteen years."

Chongzhen smiled, and said again: "On the [-]th day of the first month of March, I passed through Changping Prefecture after I was defeated by the capital."

"Caomin knew about this." Sun Fanzhi sighed wistfully, "It's a pity that Caomin was ill at the time, and he was not in the city, otherwise he would have followed the Holy Majesty."

Gao Qiqian, who was standing by, couldn't help but glance at Sun Fanzhi.

I said in my heart that if you had followed the Holy Master at that time, you would be a minister of the dragon now. Although it cannot be compared with Jiuqing who went to the disaster, you are sure to be prosperous.

Chongzhen said again: "After Jiannu issued the order to shave hair, Changping Prefecture should have reversed it, right?"

"Returning to the emperor, rebellion." Sun Fanzhi said, "Almost all the officials and gentry in the state have rebelled, and Caomin and a dozen classmates also participated in the righteousness. Presumably at this moment, the portraits of Caomin are still posted beside the gates of the cities in Beizhi. .”

Chongzhen sighed lightly and said, "Jiannu must have committed a lot of murders in Changping Prefecture, right?"

"It's like killing people." Sun Fanzhi said sadly, "Jianu really kills anyone at sight, even the elderly and infants are not willing to let go. Slave hands."

Chongzhen turned his attention to the other two: "Jiannu did not kill less people in Zhuozhou and Quzhou, right?"

"The killings committed by Jiannu in Zhuozhou were much more than those in Changping Prefecture." said Zhu Yanzuo, a student in Zhuozhou.

At the end, Zhu Yanzuo's eyes were red, showing deep hatred.

Ji Yunhong, a student in Quzhou County, finally said: "Jian slaves are especially cruel in Quzhou County. They not only kill people, but also take pleasure in killing people. They cut open pregnant women to take out the fetus, or cook young children, or make Weng's daughter-in-law His son committed incest, or made villagers flee and then shot them with arrows, all kinds of barbaric acts are simply beyond description."

"It's all my fault." Chongzhen said sadly, "It is the greatest dereliction of duty for the emperor to let the people suffer."

Zhu Yanzuo and others couldn't help but feel a little bit embarrassed when they heard the words. They also resented the Holy Majesty in their hearts, but they couldn't bear to see the Holy Majesty admitting the guilt in front of them.The party disputes among the high officials in the court have been repeatedly banned, and the corpses of officials in various ministries and temples have vegetarian meals. It is not easy for the Holy One. I really can't blame him for this.

What's more, the holy majesty has issued an imperial edict many times.

"Please remember this blood debt."

Chongzhen adjusted his mood, and said through gnashing teeth: "You all remember that the dignity of Ming Dynasty cannot be desecrated. The atrocities committed by Jiannu on my people today will be paid back in the future!"

"One day, our Daming will attack Youyan in the north and restore the capital."

"One day, we will fight back to Liaoxi and Liaodong, and even more so, we will flatten the white mountains and black waters."

"At that time, no matter how Jiannu treats us today, we will have to retaliate ten times and a hundred times!"

Hearing these words, the blood of Fu Shan and the other four scholars boiled immediately. If the emperor is like this, and even has the heart of revenge and shame, why worry about not avenging his family, and why worrying about the hatred of the country?Daming ZTE is expected!

After sending Fu Shan and the other four away, Chongzhen fell into deep thought in front of the faint lights.

After setting off from Xia Town, Chongzhen has been thinking about a question, what should he do in the future?
The current situation has gradually become clear. Li Zicheng was short-sighted and wasted all his painstaking efforts, leaving him with Li Yan, a general who is still unusable. The fall of Shanxi is inevitable.

However, there are still many old battalions of the Dashun Army left, and it should not be a problem to defend Shaanxi and Gansu.

With Dorgon's skills, it is no problem to win Jiang Yu, Wu Sangui and other surrendered generals.

There are also gentry in Beizhi and Shanxi provinces, and it is only a matter of time before they surrender under Dorgon's Enwei.

Therefore, there is a high probability that the following situation will form a three-legged confrontation. Li Zicheng's Dashun Army occupies Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningqing, Jiannu occupies Shanxi, Beizhi and outside the customs, and the Ming Dynasty retreats to the area south of the Yellow River.

Oh, and Zhang Xianzhong, Zhang Xianzhong should be about to capture Sichuan, so it can also be said to be a four-nation war.

As far as the current stage alone is concerned, Jiannu's strength is undoubtedly stronger than that of Daming and Dashun, but it may be a bit difficult to play one-on-one. In terms of one-on-one, neither Daming nor Dashun are opponents of Jiannu.

So the best choice, of course, is for Daming and Dashun to join forces to resist the captives and unite with the outside world.

But Chongzhen was very sure that Li Zicheng would not sincerely cooperate with Daming. The most likely thing was to divert the disaster to the south, and then sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight in Guanzhong, and wait until Daming and Jiannu were both injured in the fight before taking advantage of it.

In other words, if Jiannu attacked Daming first, the Dashun army would definitely not rescue them.

As for Jiannu, they will definitely try to drive a wedge between Da Ming and Da Shun's alliance, and then concentrate their forces to destroy one first, and then focus on solving the other.

Not surprisingly, Jiannu still fought Dashun first.

At this time, Daming can only send troops to contain it.

Chongzhen is not Li Zicheng, he deeply understands the truth of the cold lips and teeth.

But the problem is, once Daming sends troops, he will definitely attract Jiannu's firepower.

At this time, the Huanghuai line of defense built by Chongzhen will undergo a real test.

At this time, the 14 frontier troops in the twenty-eight towns of Xuzhou alone may not be enough.

Therefore, it is necessary to mobilize more Xiangyong to go north to enrich the Huanghuai defense line and defend the thousands of Western artillery platforms lined up along the north and south banks of the Yellow River.

In addition to Xiangyong, scholars must also be mobilized to go north.

Without scholars, the Huanghuai defense line can be defended only by recruiting soldiers and local bravery, but if you want to conquer Youyan in the north and recover the capital, you really have no strength and no money!

To put it bluntly, recruiting soldiers are mercenaries.

Mercenaries fight for money.

Relying on mercenaries to attack Youyan in the north, how much reward and salary do you have to pay?
Twice the wages for travel and three times the wages for war, 50 taels of silver for killing a real slave, and 5 taels of silver for killing a Han army, surrendered pawn, or coated slave. ?
Even if the Ming Dynasty had mountains of gold and silver, it couldn't bear it, and the finances simply couldn't afford it.

Someone said, can you reduce the amount by one?At least drop the bounty.

I'm really sorry, this matter is absolutely not discussed, if you really dare to reduce the reward, you will mutiny every minute.

Therefore, the frontier army in the twenty-eighth town is already the limit, and instead of increasing in the later stage, it can only be reduced. It is best to let these recruits become small landlords on both sides of the Yellow River and become a natural barrier.

And the Northern Expedition absolutely cannot count on recruiting troops.

So here comes the question, who else can the Northern Expedition rely on?
The answer is the new army, and it is time to consider training the new army.

Well, it's too early to say we're training a new army.

However, it is still possible to reserve a group of officers who have knowledge and faith, are loyal to Daming and do not need to pay for the new army in the future.

(End of this chapter)