The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 249
Chongzhen 11th year, December 25th, evening.

The land in the north is mostly covered with white snow, and the sky is vast and white, forming an endless expanse.

The cold wind howled, and the capital was rainy and windy for more than ten days in a row, and there was not even a single day of sunshine.

The biting and violent northwest wind blows bone-chilling snowflakes endlessly.

It will be New Years Eve in a few days, and it will be No.12 year soon.

But the entire capital is not festive at all.

The huge city of Beijing is full of desolation and desolation.

In the streets and alleys, the flow of people is sparse, very deserted, and there is no joy.

Since the 19th year of Yongle, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di moved the capital to Beijing.

Beijing has been the capital of the Ming Empire for seven years in 210, and it will soon enter 218.

The high bank is the valley, and the deep valley is the mausoleum;

More than 200 years have changed too much...

Today's Ming Dynasty is no longer the old Ming Empire that chased the Mongolian Yuan from the north, became famous in the West, and overwhelmed all nations like a dragon.

Today's Daming is full of twilight, full of holes, and rotten. It is like a red tiger lying on the ground and entering its twilight years.

Its claws and teeth are no longer sharp, its fangs are no longer sharp, and the strength in its body is almost gone, and the pain inside its body is tormenting it.

It is at a crucial juncture, a life-or-death juncture.

If it can step over and overcome the difficulties, then it will be rejuvenated, regain its strength, and gain new life.

But if you can't make it through and are overwhelmed by illness, then what awaits it is death...

Countless vultures were circling in the sky, surrounded by packs of wolves with green eyes, and hyenas wandering back and forth.

They are all waiting, waiting for Chihu to reach the end of his life.

Chihu's body was covered with blood and scars. Because of his weakness, gray wolves and hyenas stepped forward to provoke him from time to time, and even challenged him.

The long-standing pride and the humiliation suffered by its ancestors made it difficult for it to bow its head. It could have survived this difficult period by bowing its head.

Among the surrounding beasts, there is a hyena that is the most insidious and the strongest. Many scars and bloodstains on the red tiger's body are caused by it.

That hyena used to be very weak, and it even survived because it relied on the protection of the red tiger.

Following behind the red tiger, it grew up slowly. In the process of growing up, it learned the walking posture of the red tiger, learned the roar of the red tiger, and learned the hunting skills of the red tiger.

Time passed quietly, and the once weak hyena had become the hero of one party, and the ambition continued to expand in the hyena's heart along with the expanding strength.

Although the red tiger is strong, it is already old and weak, but it is young and strong. At that time, a very crazy idea came to its heart.

It wants to defeat the red tiger, kill the red tiger, it wants to eliminate all traces of the red tiger, replace it with a new red tiger, and finally become the Tenglong soaring above the nine heavens.

After being dormant for several years, the hyena stepped forward again, and when the red tiger was fighting the disease, he suddenly jumped forward and bit the red tiger's neck.

The red tiger roared and wanted to fight back, but it couldn't fight back. Once it fought back, the injuries on its body would get worse, and it might never recover.

It was too sick, it was too old, it had too many thoughts in its mind, and the pride hidden in its body made it finally wave its claws and slapped the attacking hyena fiercely.

In the Forbidden City, candles are brightly lit in the Xinuang Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace.

Emperor Chongzhen lowered his eyes, sat behind the copybook, and read the memorials from various places in recent times.

It has been nearly four months since the establishment of slaves and the invasion of the bandits.

In the past four months, among the memorials and news sent from various places every day, there is hardly a single piece of good news.

Chongzhen's face was terribly pale, under the light, there was not even a trace of blood.

It has been eleven years since he succeeded his elder brother, but he is only 28 years old now.

At the age of 28, he should be a high-spirited age, but Chongzhen's face is full of melancholy and sorrow, and he can even faintly see gray hair emerging between his temples.

Chongzhen wears a black gauze winged crown on his head, which is adorned with gold dots and emerald two dragons playing with beads.

Wearing a red straight body, the chest and back of the straight body are decorated with cloud shoulders, and the inside is embroidered with patterns of happy encounters with clouds and dragons, longevity mountains, blessings and seas, and colorful cloud patterns.

From the shoulders to the cuffs, there are full-length sleeves, and the front and back hem of the robe is covered with knees, and extends to the hems on both sides. The sleeves and the collar are all patterned with clouds, dragons and seas.

On Chongzhen's side, Wang Chengen, wearing a beam crown on his head and a red sticker, stood by.

Usually the person standing the most in the warm pavilion is not Wang Chengen, but Cao Huachun.

When Chongzhen was young, Cao Huachun followed Chongzhen in Xinwang Mansion.

In the early years of Apocalypse, Wei Zhongxian was favored and took power, killing Wang An.

Cao Huachun was implicated and expelled from Beijing, and sent to his capital Nanjing to be punished.

After Zhu Youjian succeeded to the throne, Cao Huachun was immediately called back and entrusted with the important task of rehabilitating the unjust case.

For Cao Huachun, Chongzhen can be said to have given him great trust.

Now he is the eunuch of Ren Si Li Jian Bing Bi, the admiral of Dongchang, and the general admiral of Jingying Rongzheng.

It is enough to see Chongzhen's trust in him, but now Cao Huachun has no way to repay Chongzhen's trust.

Cao Huachun has been lying in bed for more than a few months, unable to be a member of the board of directors, and the memorial to beg for permission to ask for leave has already been linked to three books.

But Chongzhen did not agree for a long time, and still let the imperial physician treat him with all his heart.

State affairs are already difficult, Cao Huachun is well versed in political affairs, and can solve many problems. If Cao Huachun leaves, many things will be difficult to deal with.

"Where are the soldiers from the East?"

The more memorials he read, the worse Chongzhen's complexion became.

Chongzhen raised his head and asked Wang Chengen who was nearby.

Hearing Chongzhen's inquiry, Wang Chengen, who was standing by the side, hastily stepped forward, bowed his head and answered.

"Returning to the emperor, the Ministry of War gathered yesterday that most of the eastern captives have already crossed the Qi River and Yu City in Jinan Prefecture, and are approaching... Jinan City..."

Wang Chengen bowed his waist and did not dare to lift it up, and he did not dare to speak too loudly, he really did not have the slightest confidence.

Chongzhen's already pale face became even paler, and his eyes were full of resentment and humiliation.

The war situation is critical, wars are everywhere, Jiannu enters Shandong, it is like entering a land without people, and the news received in the past few days is that a certain place has been looted, or some prefecture or county has fallen.

Although he was already prepared when he heard that Gao Qiqian was defeated in Linqing and Donglu broke into Gaotang Prefecture, but he still couldn't accept the exact news for a while.

After a long silence, Chongzhen asked again.

"In Jinan City, there are...how many defenders..."

Chongzhen really didn't dare to ask about the situation in Jinan. Before that, in order to prevent the canal from being cut off by the Eastern captives, Yan Jizu, the governor of Shandong, led his troops to defend Dezhou. He also knew the arrangement of the Ministry of War.

Today's Jinan is probably...

"Most of the soldiers and horses in Jinan City moved to Dezhou with Yan Jizu, governor of Shandong Province. There were only 2000 rural soldiers left in the city. Seven hundred reinforcements from Laizhou entered the city seven days ago, and a thousand reinforcements from Qingzhou entered the city five days ago. The total number of troops is [-]. ..."

"I see……"

Chongzhen raised his hand and stopped Wang Chengen's words.

There are only 2000 or more than [-] soldiers in the entire Jinan city to rely on, even if the city is solid, but the number of Eastern captives gathered in Jinan Mansion this time is as large as [-].

The difference in military strength is huge, and the purpose of Donglu's rush all the way is obvious. Sun Chuanting also wrote a letter not long after the battle in Jiazhuang, claiming that Donglu has a high probability of attacking Jinan.

More than ten days ago, Xuan Da's army fought a fierce battle between Jiazhuang and Jiannu. If it wasn't for the Shaanxi Army's starry night rushing to rescue in time, Xuan Da's army would have been completely annihilated.

But even though the Shaanxi army arrived and temporarily forced the Qing army back, Xuanda's army still suffered heavy losses, losing more than [-] people and nearly half of the wounded. Datong general Du Wenhuan died in battle, and Lu Xiangsheng was seriously injured.

Shanxi General Soldier Hu Dawei and Xuanfu General Soldier Yang Guozhu were both wounded, and nearly half of their generals were lost, unable to fight any more.

Guan Ning's army was defeated in Linqing, and they hid in the west of Jinan Fuxi, doing nothing but useless work.

The memorial that Chongzhen is holding now is exactly the memorial presented by Sun Chuanting.

Chongzhen had a very good impression of Sun Chuanting.

When they first met on the platform, Sun Chuanting was full of vigor, and even Gu Pan couldn't hide his sharpness.

However, although he was very sharp, he did not boast like Yuan Chonghuan, saying that he had suppressed the Liao Dynasty for a few years and the rebellion for a few years.

And Sun Chuanting did not disappoint him. After entering Shaanxi, he actively rectified the military affairs of Shaanxi, and cleaned up the problems that Gan Xuekuo had not solved for many years.

Less than a month after taking office, he beheaded Zhang Xian, the neat king who was guarding the Shangluo area.

Another three months later, in the Forbidden City, he received a document from Sun Chuanting to report his victory - the victory of Heishuiyu, Gao Yingxiang was killed!

When Sun Chuanting left the capital, he gave Sun Chuanting 6 taels of silver, a government office, and a sealed letter.

The reward Sun Chuanting brought to him was six thousand soldiers who dared to fight, self-sufficiency in payment and money, a surplus of food and grass, and the disappearance of the rebellion.

This time when the slaves were established and invaded by the bandits, Sun Chuanting was ordered by King Qin to go all the way north. He had just entered Beizhili so that Zhending could defeat the Qing army. The encirclement greatly increased the morale of the camp soldiers in the towns.

When the good news came to the Forbidden City, Chongzhen couldn't even believe his eyes and ears.

At first he didn't believe it at all, not because he really didn't believe it, but because he couldn't believe it.

The situation in Liaodong has been so corrupt that the establishment of slaves is already a big problem, just like the old days, and even more famous.

It wasn't until he saw Sun Chuanting's name that Chongzhen dared to believe it.

It was not until the 460 third-level heads were sent to the capital, and the captured banners were sent to the Qianqing Palace, that Chongzhen completely believed that everything was not false.

The battle at Jiazhuang was also the same, if Sun Chuanting hadn't led the troops to arrive in time, Xuan Dajun would have been in danger.

In these days, Chongzhen's complexion will be better only after seeing Sun Chuanting's memorial.

It's just that Sun Chuanting's memorial today did not relax Chongzhen's frowning brows.

Even Sun Chuanting could not save Jinan...

Sun Chuanting's soldiers fought twice in a row and marched all the way. Because of the snowstorm and many people fell ill, the army arrived in Dezhou, but there were only 4000 people left to fight.

With 4000 men against 6, although the Shanxi soldiers under Sun Chuanting's command were capable of fighting, after all, their strength was too disparate.

Since Donglu defeated Mongolia, there have been a large number of Mongolian cavalry in the army since then.

There are many cavalry in the East, and they were defeated in the field battle. Let alone retreat, it would be difficult to even escape.

The soldiers of the towns in Shandong have the power to defend the city, but they have no ability to fight in the field.

It is true that Chongzhen will not be able to march and fight, but the combat power of Donglu can be seen from the battle report.

What are the soldiers in the camp below? When he first ascended the throne, he thought everything was fine, and it was as beautiful as it said on paper.

It has been nearly 12 years since he was in charge of politics, how could Chongzhen Zao still be the boy who was easy to be fooled at that time.

There are tens of thousands of soldiers from Shandong on paper in Dezhou. I really don't know how many Chongzhen there are.

The numbers reported below are basically unreliable. The soldiers say that there are only half of the 1 people, or even less than half.

The deficit of the battalion is slightly lighter, but the deficit of the guards is extremely serious. One guard actually only has a thousand people, which is outrageous.

Letting the battalions from the towns in Shandong go into battle and go out to fight in the field, I am afraid that not only will it not be a help, but it will become a drag.

Chongzhen stood up and looked away from the case, feeling like a knife was being cut in his heart.

Donglu went all the way south, causing people to live in misery, and the people were in dire straits.

This time, he re-entered Jinan and corrupted several prefectures.

There is still King De in Jinan Mansion, and now Jinan City is hard to protect, and it is almost a lost situation.

The fall of the pro-vassal clan and the fall of the Fucheng is really a national disgrace.

Chongzhen strode back and forth, sighing uncontrollably, the more he thought about it, the more he felt the situation was in danger, he thought for a long time, and finally informed Wang Chengen to send someone to invite the great scholar, Minister of Rites Yang Sichang to come.

Yang Sichang did not go to bed, nor did he, like Chongzhen.

The evolution of the battle situation is faster and worse than other expectations.

He also knew the news that Jinan was besieged, but he had no soldiers to help.

The Qing army rushed all the way, advancing in two directions.

There are only three soldiers and horses closest to Jinan Mansion.

The first one is the Zu Kuan Department which is currently in Hejian Prefecture.

There are many cavalry under Zu Kuan's command, and they were asked to assist the capital before, so they stayed in Hejian Mansion.

However, Jinan was in a hurry and ordered him to come to his rescue. Zu Kuan kept looking for excuses and delayed responding.

The second part is about the Guan Ning Army stationed in Linqing Prefecture, but how can Gao Qiqian be counted on.

Thinking of Gao Qiqian, Yang Sichang couldn't help feeling angry. In the situation of Jiazhuang's first battle, Gao Qiqian actually fled without fighting.

Although Yang Sichang did not agree with the decisive battle, how could he sit back and watch the elite fighters under Lu Xiangsheng's command be destroyed.

Fortunately, Sun Chuanting was still there, and most of the soldiers who could fight were finally preserved.

Originally, Sun Chuanting's words were extremely sharp every time he made a statement, and he was critical of his government orders in every possible way.

Yang Sichang was actually quite hostile to Sun Chuanting, but this time Sun Chuanting's rescue made Yang Sichang feel a little better.

The last one is Sun Chuanting who just arrived in Texas not long ago.

(End of this chapter)