national surname chiming

Chapter 313 Who told Chongzhen not to open his eyes?

Sun Chuanting's death seemed a little sudden.Obviously Li Zicheng was weakened a wave last year, why did Sun Chuanting be completely wiped out in the end.

But it can only be said that his life is not good. The factors that led to the collapse of the morale of the army have all been stepped on together. Historically, Chen Xinjia died in the late autumn and early winter of last year, and it did not delay until April of the 16th year of Chongzhen.

Therefore, in history, the death of Chen Xinjia caused the high-ranking members of the Ming army to dissociate themselves from morality, and did not step on the moment of Sun Chuanting and Li Zicheng's decisive battle. The cooperation between Huang Taiji and Li Zicheng was not as perfect as it is now.

In actual combat, the key to the blow effect on morale lies in a dense, concentrated, frequent outbreak of bad news in a short period of time, directly hitting the enemy's morale to zero, and the army collapsed instantly.

If the news that hit morale is not intensive enough, give the other party time to react, whether it is sending money or urgently talking to the generals to talk to win over, it is possible to get milk back.In this case, most morale blows become invalid output.

On the other hand, although Zhu Shuren severely damaged Li Zicheng's unit around Kaifeng last year, in order to expand his own strength, Zhu Shuren is also poaching Daming's corner,

The remaining backbone of Kaifeng general Chen Yongfu, together with King Zhou and others, withdrew south along Bianshui and Yingchuan to Xinyang, Fengyang, and Hefei.

You know, Li Zicheng's three attacks on Kaifeng in history, although it lasted until September of the 15th year of Chongzhen, he failed to break through the city, and finally flooded the city by digging the Yellow River.However, Chen Yongfu still moved to other areas in Henan after Kaifeng became undefendable, and continued to support Sun Chuanting.
And in the decisive battle of Sun Chuanting and Li Zicheng in the 16th year of Chongzhen in history, he helped Sun Chuanting fight to the end until the Ming army in Henan completely collapsed.

Now because of Zhu Shuren's poaching, the main force of Chen Yongfu's Henan Ming army was abducted to the rear to rest in advance, and indirectly fell into Zhu Shuren's sphere of influence, and did not fight side by side with Sun Chuanting.

Therefore, in the final battle between Sun Chuanting and Li Zicheng, a large part of the Henan Ming Army's combat power was actually removed, and Sun Chuanting's own Shaanxi Ming Army could only fight alone. It is not so strange to be defeated and die.

To put it bluntly, Zhu Shuren's operation in Henan last year weakened both the Henan official army and the bandits.

On Li Zicheng's side, Zhu Shuren took away the combat power of Li Jiyu, Yuan Shizhong and other Henan Xinfu thieves, and the official army also poached away the most elite backbone of the local defenders in Henan. Sun Chuanting's combat power in the final battle In fact, there is nothing cheaper than the same period in history.

At this point, Zhu Shuren also knew that Chongzhen would die, and he didn't want too much mutual killing between the Han rulers and thieves before Chongzhen's death. Wouldn't it be good to save lives and fight Tartars in the future?

So when Chongzhen died early, he put Li Zicheng in that dilemma, and let the world see Li Zicheng's true face as soon as possible.

As for Sun Chuanting, there is no way, he has been in a high position for too long, his status is higher than that of Zhu Shuren, he was the one who killed Gao Yingxiang back then.Even if Zhu Shuren killed Zhang Xianzhong later, the credit would be on the same level as Sun Chuanting's credit for killing Gao Yingxiang.

In addition, Sun Chuanting was too loyal and loyal to Chongzhen, and Chongzhen would not die if he did not die, so Zhu Shuren had to let nature take its course.And other generals, such as Chen Yongfu, as long as their status is lower than Zhu Shuren's and can be controlled in the future, of course, they can get one if they can.

From now on, the power of the Ming court no longer needs to be sandwiched between the bandits and the Tartars. All the enemies are in the north, and there is no such thing as an enemy from both the north and the south.

……

Chen Xinjia died in April, and Huang Taiji's invasion lasted for one and a half months, from the end of April to the beginning of June.Sun Chuanting's death also happened in June, and it almost overlaps with the end stage of Huang Taiji's entry into the bandits.

After sorting out this timeline, it is not difficult to understand. On June [-]th, Zhu Shuren took Zhang Xianzhong’s lime-marinated head and a thousand slices of meat, plus a memorial to the victory, as well as Sichuan governor Fang Kongzhang, Sichuan military equipment Zhang Huangyan, etc. What kind of mentality did Chongzhen have when all the memorials were sent to the capital?

This point in time was only about ten days after Sun Chuanting's death.

Considering the distance from Xi'an to Beijing, the news of Sun Chuanting's defeat and death was urgently sent to Beijing by [-] miles, and it took four days to travel.

So Chongzhen also just received the good news five days after the news of Sun Chuanting's death.

The one who reported the good news to Chongzhen was Zhang Guowei, the newly appointed minister of the Ministry of War—that is, the Zhang Guowei who had met Zhu Shuren when he was in Nanjing two and a half years ago, in the 13th year of Chongzhen.

At that time, in order to implement the lijin policy, Zhu Shuren had to find an ally with real power to help push it together on the southern Zhili border, so as to show the emperor that "all the pilot provinces in the south support the collection of lijin".So naturally I found Zhang Guowei, who was still serving as the servant of the Nanjing household department at that time.

Later, Zhang Guowei contributed a lot to the promotion of Lijin reform, and Zhu Shuren also secretly stuffed him with a lot of money. After the matter was completed, he helped him operate, and Zhang Guowei was transferred to Beijing as the servant of the household department.

At the same time, Zhu Shuren's father, Shen Tingyang, was also working as a carrier secretary in the Beijing household department at that time. Because of his meritorious service, he could be promoted, but there was no suitable position, so he went to Nanjing to fill the vacancy vacated by Zhang Guowei and became the Nanjing household department servant. Taking this as a springboard for the promotion of Nanjing Hubu Shangshu.

This set of personnel operations can be said to be more slippery than the revolving doors of the three worlds in Washington in later generations, so the friendship between Zhang Guowei and the Shen family is very intertwined.

As early as more than ten years ago when he was the governor of Su Song, he had a good relationship with Shen Tingyang. Whether or not the official exchanges have been established for more than ten years, he has already become a hardcore.

In addition, as a digression, Zhang Guowei's succession as Minister of the Ministry of War in Beijing this time is purely a historical inertia. In history, Zhang Guowei took over after Chen Xinjia's death.Zhu Shuren did not have any operation or involvement in it.

And the reason why the historical inertia is so great is also because Zhang Guowei is a rare loyal minister.

In history, after the death of Chongzhen, he was still loyal to Nanming. After Hongguang destroyed him, he took Fang Guoan and continued to serve King Lu who supervised the country. After Fang Guoan rebelled, he felt that the situation was over. .

After Chen Xinjia's death this time, everyone in the court regarded the position of minister of the Ministry of War as daunting, even if they were originally ministers or even officials at the rank of doctor, no one wanted to be promoted to this vacancy.

Chongzhen also left this position vacant for more than half a month. Originally, he wanted to make a decision and see who was willing to show loyalty and perform well, so he would let him do it.Unexpectedly, after half a month, there was a cold spot, so I had no choice but to put down my face and take the initiative to ask who would be willing to take on this important task.

It was under such circumstances that Zhang Guowei took the initiative to plead for his life, because Chongzhen couldn’t play tricks like “Civil servants must choose one of three for promotion, and get a few more spare tires for me to pick and choose”.
At this juncture, the process is decent. It's simply equal bids. Whoever comes will win.

So Zhang Guowei became the No.13 Minister of the Ministry of War in the Chongzhen Dynasty,

Of the 12 people in front of him, eight were dead, and four were dismissed for investigation.

If there is no accident, Zhang Guowei will also be the last one who volunteered to be the Minister of the Ministry of War, and he will also be the last Minister of the Ministry of War who has worked hard after taking office.

(Note: In history, after Zhang Guowei, there were Feng Yuanbiao and Zhang Jinyan who served as ministers of the Ministry of War, but their terms of office were less than three months, and Chongzhen had been randomly replaced before his death.

Neither of them did anything after taking office, they just kept going as usual without making any decisions, and they survived successfully.In fact, after Chen Xinjia was killed, more than [-]% of the courtiers had entered a state of inaction, and Zhang Guowei was considered to be very rare in disregarding personal safety.

One of the biggest political characteristics of the Chongzhen Dynasty is: do more and make mistakes, do not do well, do more without rewards, and do wrong will be killed. )
Perhaps, it is also God's will that occasionally rewards loyalty and kindness. This time Zhang Guowei has only been in office for more than a month, and he has received such a big credit.Even if it was Zhu Shuren who made the direct contribution, as Minister of the Ministry of War, he could also shine.

When entering the palace, Zhang Guowei was still feeling emotional: If Chen Xinjia's case was delayed for another two months, would Chen Xinjia not have to die?After all, the good news of Zhang Xianzhong's pacification came back, and with the decision-making and dispatch of the Ministry of War, how could his death penalty be redeemed?

What a trick.

……

After seeing the emperor, Zhang Guowei was full of excitement, and explained the cause and effect to the emperor in a confident manner.

Chongzhen was depressed at first, and hadn't recovered from Sun Chuanting's death.

Hearing Zhang Guowei's words, his whole body was different, his eyes were rounded, and he was even more neurotic than a hyperthyroid patient.

Knowing that Zhang Xianzhong has been awarded the head, the main force of Zhang Xianzhong's troops has been wiped out, and only about one-third of the troops are left. Led by Sun Kewang, they continue to roam and resist in the mountainous areas of western Sichuan and southern Sichuan. Chongzhen's nerves can be described as a roller coaster. Much bigger than falling.

This is the biggest victory since Gao Yingxiang was hacked seven years ago!
The only flaw in Xiaoxiao's beauty is that Sun Kewang still ran away, and led tens of thousands of people to resist stubbornly. It is estimated that the harm is not small.It is a bit of a pity that Zhang Xianzhong was not able to escort the capital alive.

Chongzhen could only unwillingly ask Zhang Guowei to present Zhang Xianzhong's head up, and asked Wang Chengen to lift the cover. Chongzhen stared at the head from a distance, looked at it for a long time, pulled out his sword and chopped seven or eight swords indiscriminately. It can be regarded as a little venting of the resentment in the chest.

Chopping and chopping, Chongzhen suddenly lost control of his emotions and fell to the ground, crying again:

"My ancestors, my ancestors! The rebels who took the lead in destroying Fengyang's ancestral mausoleum are finally all conferred! Please ancestors and ancestors in the spirit of heaven, calm down the resentment, and continue to bless my descendants of Ming Dynasty with peace!"

When Wang Chengen and Zhang Guowei saw this scene, they also looked at each other in blank dismay, feeling cold behind their backs.They all knew that His Majesty's temperament was very strong and indomitable, and they were very afraid of being seen by outsiders as his weak side.

Wang Chengen was especially aware that if any eunuch in the palace accidentally saw the situation where His Majesty was crying when he shouldn't, he would probably die badly.

But after the two calmed down a bit, they soon realized that this time the situation was special, so there was no need to worry——

Ming Dynasty ruled the world with filial piety, crying for filial piety is not only a weakness, but also an act of great benevolence.When the Fengyang ancestral mausoleum was destroyed, Chongzhen generously ran to the Taimiao Temple and cried for several days. It is not shameful to cry because of the ancestors.

After Chongzhen finished crying this time, he would have to go to Taimiao to burn a few sticks of incense and go through the process again in two days.

The two waited for Chongzhen to vent his anger, and then Zhang Guowei carefully asked how to deal with this incident initially.

The specific handling opinions will definitely be decided in a few days at the court meeting. Of course, it is also possible to get such great news that Chongzhen will call an extra court meeting early tomorrow morning.But today at least we can set the tone first.

After Chongzhen thought about it, his first reaction was to further treat Zhu Shuren as a firefighter, so that he could be enslaved, and he would throw him wherever the situation was critical.So he took back the memorial and looked at it again and again, and asked unwillingly:

"This Sun Kewang has escaped. Is it really as serious as Zhu Shuren said? Do you still need to occupy so much force from Huguang and Sichuan officials to continue the pursuit?"

It turned out that Zhu Shuren's memorial, of course, exaggerated Sun Kewang's threat as much as he could, and even exaggerated the size of Zhang Xianzhong's remnants that Sun Kewang took away, so that Zhu Shuren could continue to delay time.

Zhang Guowei has a good relationship with Zhu Shuren, and also understands Zhu Shuren's loyal character, so he chose to trust him completely, and at this moment he also helped to say good things:
"Your Majesty, getting rid of evil is the best way to save the country's money and people's resources. Last year, Zhu Shuren was only halfway through chasing and suppressing Zhang Xianzhong. Chen Xinjia forcibly transferred him to Henan in order to relieve the siege of Kaifeng. This is how Zhang Ni revived and has been entangled to this day.

As the saying goes, raising soup to stop boiling is better than removing salary. Even though carbuncle is painful, it is better than nourishing poison.Once the sores are on the body, once they are pierced, the pus and blood should be squeezed out thoroughly and cleaned.As long as a little is left, the body will be eroded again in the future.

Has Your Majesty forgotten that Li Zicheng quickly took over the title of thief in just a year or two after Gao Yingxiang, the former thief, took over the title.If Sun Kewang didn't take this opportunity to pursue him, he might not become the second Zhang Ni. "

Zhang Guowei's words hit the mark and gave Zhu Shuren enough face.

There is absolutely no need to doubt Zhang Guowei's loyalty to Chongzhen and Daming. He also sincerely thinks that this is the best for Daming, and the cost is the cheapest when calculated comprehensively, so as to avoid multiple twists and turns in the future.

Of course, the reason why he said that was also because he had an estimate in his heart of the time it would take to "chasing and killing Sun Kewang", and this estimate was actually far shorter than Zhu Shuren's actual execution at that time. time, there will be a delay.

Before Zhang Guowei confronted the king, he made an estimate in private. At the beginning, Zhu Shuren promised to kill Zhang Xianzhong completely in a year or so.That is to say, more than half a year if it is fast, and a little more than a year if it is slow.

In fact, it only took more than half a year to at least wipe out Zhang Xianzhong himself.That shows that Zhu Shuren's promise is very reliable and trustworthy.

Now that there is still a little bit of ending left, let's cut the time in half and promise Zhu Shuren to finish Sun Kewang in three months, half a year at the latest.

If Chongzhen couldn't stand it for half a year, and then bargained again, it would be to add one or two months to the three months, and the slowest should not exceed four or five months.

That is to say, in October of the 16th year of Chongzhen, or November at the latest, all the remaining thieves in the south will be completely wiped out.Zhang Guowei thinks this rhythm is no problem.

After all, the current Li Zicheng has just killed Sun Chuanting, and has not yet revealed his greater ambitions.Zhang Guowei was not a time traveler, how could he have expected that within two or three months after Li Zicheng killed Sun Chuanting, his ambition would swell to the point where he dared to head all the way to Beijing.

At this point, the cognition of many people in the Ming Dynasty is still in the "Li Zicheng's victory this time is indeed a major setback for the court, but the loss of the court is limited to the temporary loss of one or two provinces" To a certain extent, I didn't think this kind of loss would spread to the whole world.

If Li Zicheng does not have greater and more radical harm in a short period of time, he will not attack the court if the court does not attack him.It would definitely be a good deal for Zhu Shuren to completely clean up the chaos in the Southwest, so as not to suffer twice in the future.

Sichuan is far away, the road is difficult and dangerous, and it is not easy for a large army to enter Sichuan.

Chongzhen always felt that something was wrong, but then he thought about it, and now he really hadn't heard of any more actions by the intruders, and Shaanxi Diu had already been lost, not less than a month or two away.

Considering that Zhang Guowei has just taken up his new post, he is a loyal minister who is brave enough to do things, and today's decision can be regarded as Zhang Guowei's first major decision after taking over, Chongzhen still decided to give him a little more trust and listen to him.

Although Chongzhen's employing people are self-willed, there is still one advantage, that is, as long as he is willing to employ anyone, when the other party has just taken office as a new official, Chongzhen will basically listen to him and give the other party a chance to perform.

Even if Yuan Chonghuan boasted that the five-year Ping Liao was so unreliable, as long as Yuan Chonghuan dared to issue a military order, Chongzhen would dare to believe it.

The big deal is that it will fail in the end, and it will not be too late.

Moreover, what Zhang Guowei said just now has the last ingenious point, which just happened to pinch Chongzhen——Zhang Guowei said that "Last year, Chen Xinjia forcibly transferred Zhu Shuren to Henan in order to relieve the siege of Kaifeng", and then it led to some bad results.

But in fact, the decision last year was of course not made by Chen Xinjia. In fact, it was Chongzhen himself who forced him to do so.It's just that Chen Xinjia is dead, and Zhang Guowei also understands the truth that being with a king is like a tiger. He pushed all the problems on the dead, pretended that he didn't know, and muddled through.

When Chongzhen heard this, he felt a little guilty. For a moment, he felt a little guilty for the dead Chen Xinjia: Chen Qing helped me take the blame again.

Under the influence of this guilt, he chose to accept advice temporarily.

Of course, if Li Zicheng made more moves and threats in the future and was not satisfied with occupying Shaanxi, Hedong, and Heluo, then Chongzhen would definitely change the order immediately and force Zhang Guowei to send an order to summon Zhu Shuren to the north.

After figuring out all these twists and turns, Chongzhen said: "Forget it, at this time of national calamity, last month I still expected someone to recommend himself to take over the position of Minister of the Ministry of War. In the end, only Zhang Qing and you have the courage to do things. It's a pity. .

Since this is Zhang Qing's first major remonstrance after taking office, how could I not accept the remonstrance?It's limited to March, and in the reply to Zhu Shuren's will, he must be reminded to be on guard against any new changes by the Shaanxi thieves at any time.

The imperial court should also pay close attention to it. Once the intruders are found to be actively attacking and corrupting, they should immediately supplement the decree and ask Zhu Shuren to drop the matter at hand and go to the north immediately to serve as the king! "

Zhang Guowei first wrote down the emperor's guiding ideology one by one, and then asked: "Your Majesty, I don't know if His Majesty has extrajudicial favor for Zhu Shuren's reward?"

Chongzhen was taken aback for a moment, and felt a little ashamed.He was also shocked by Sun Chuanting's death, so that after receiving the good news today, the first thing he thought of was how to continue to squeeze Zhu Shuren, and he ignored the reward.

(End of this chapter)