national surname chiming

Chapter 324 Luck is determined by God
At this point in time, the courtiers who can still survive in Beijing are of course more able to hide from things and avoid taking responsibility.

Otherwise, anyone who is a little bit responsible will be pushed out by Chongzhen to be beheaded and blamed like Chen Xinjia.

So Chongzhen asked them to make up their minds to fight the plague, and these people would only use the method of their ancestors to prevaricate.

Fortunately, people in the Ming Dynasty already had a bit of simple medical knowledge, and they could more or less realize that burning corpses was helpful in blocking plague.In the end, under the balance of "ancestral system", "filial piety" and anti-drug three parties, they came up with a peaceful plan:

As for the uncontained corpses, the government can burn them all at once.Ordinary people who clearly died of the plague, and without fame, also turned a blind eye to execute it.

But for officials and gentry, Wucheng Bingmasi or other yamen can't control so much, without that energy, they can only turn a blind eye and close one eye.

In the city of Beijing, there are hidden dragons and crouching tigers, and there are a lot of dignitaries and relatives of the emperor. Who dares to really enforce the law seriously?

In the end, when it came to the specific implementation stage, the plague victims of the merchant's house were not all cremated and burned.

Even at this moment, the soldiers and officers who dealt with them have not forgotten to use their power to be more greedy: if there is a deceased from a rich family with no background, it is obviously highly suspected of plague, but as long as enough money is given, direct burial is allowed. According to the law, it is not plague And die reported.

And for those families with no background who obviously did not die from the plague, the relevant law enforcement officers and soldiers will also come to the door to blackmail them, asking for some money to be buried as if they were not plagued, otherwise they will be burned as long as there is no money.Fully squeeze out the last remaining value of ordinary ignorant people who want to be buried in burial because of feudal superstition and filial piety.

Chongzhen wanted to fight against the plague, but the end result was that the city of Beijing became more and more chaotic, and the people were full of complaints.

It can only be said that Ming Dynasty's high-level ruling model has decayed to the core, and unspoken rules have been rampant for a hundred years. Any power released, no matter in which direction it is changed, will be used as a tool for making money by the officials, which will further expand the man-made disaster.

The chaos in the city of Beijing continued like this for more than ten days, and the plague got worse and worse. The dignitaries were also frequently infected, and the defenders of the city also lost their combat effectiveness in batches.

And at this juncture, when the time came to the end of early October, the imperial court in the capital was once again shocked by a series of news of military defeats, and was shocked overnight—the news that Taiyuan and Shangqiu fell, and the bandits broke out of Henan and entered Shandong. , and finally reached the capital.

When Chongzhen heard it for the first time, he was shocked and angry: "Liu Zeqing is a waste! Isn't he the general soldier of Shandong! When the bandits arrived in Shandong, he didn't go to Yanzhou to fight against the enemy. Instead, he stayed in Jining, and he was ashamed to report the emergency to the imperial court." !
Look at what Zhou Yuji did!At any rate, I vowed to defend Ningwu Pass to the death!Who recommended Liu Zeqing to stay in the post! "

It turned out that the reason why Chongzhen was so angry was because when Chen Xinjia took over the Ministry of War at the end of the 14th year of Chongzhen, he had selected a group of local generals and wanted to eliminate some incompetent generals.

This Shandong Liu Zeqing was questioned by Chen Xinjia at that time.

But within a few months, Zhou Yanru was recalled from his hometown in Changzhou in time to catch up with Zhou Yanru, and once again served as Minister of the Ministry of Officials and Chief Assistant of the Cabinet.

Zhou Yanru collected money all the way along the Grand Canal. When passing through Linqing, Shandong, he accepted 4 taels of gold from Liu Zeqing to keep him guarding in Shandong, so that he could continue to be stuck on the Grand Canal and eat the money from the passing business travelers along the way. filial piety.

In peaceful times, Liu Zeqing's dereliction of duty as a general in a non-frontline defense area is nothing, Zhou Yanru can feel at ease to receive his golden tribute.Unexpectedly, now Liu Zeqing finally had to fight head-on on a large scale with the main force of the intruders for the first time, but he directly admitted to letting the intruders cross the border, which made the situation bigger.

And one of Zhou Yanru's confidants, Wu Changshi, a doctor of Wenxuan Division, had been imprisoned for corruption before, but the crime was not cleared and dealt with.

This time Liu Zeqing acted like a thief, causing Chongzhen to go to the doctor indiscriminately, and finally Zhou Yanru's political opponents jumped out, saying that Liu Zeqing had given tens of thousands of taels of gold to Zhou Yanru in order to keep his position.Chongzhen was furious and finally lost his trust in Zhou Yanru.

Zhou Yanru desperately defended himself in order to save his life, so Chongzhen did not immediately take him to the knife, but only said that he would be given a chance to redeem his crimes, and let Zhou Yanru and Zhang Guowei immediately discuss a strategy, how to retreat from the enemy.

Zhang Guowei is not guilty, he is just because he is an official in the Ministry of War, this is his duty, and he does his part.After being urged by the emperor, Zhang Guowei could only recruit in a formal manner:
"Your Majesty, why don't you let Xiong Tong stationed in Changshan immediately reinforce Zhou Yuji from the south line, and let Bai Guangen stationed in Daidi and his subordinate Gao Jie go south to reinforce Zhou Yuji from the north line and divide the bandit force.

Although Bai Guangen was guilty and demoted in the Battle of Songjin at the beginning, it was hard work to fight against the bandits in northern Shanxi afterwards. Dare to return to the intruders again, let them detour from the enemy's rear on the north side, and they will not be swallowed by the intruders.

As for the direction of Liu Zeqing in Shandong, Liu Liangzuo can be transferred from Bozhou and Fengyang to the north and join forces with Liu Zeqing to resist the war.Finally, considering that the thieves might pass through Shandong and threaten the capital, Tang Tong and Ma Ke from Jimen, Miyun and other places can be sent back for help.If the thieves become more rampant, you can call Wu Sangui and Li Fuming from Shanhaiguan to help! "

Zhang Guowei was like a treasure, and quickly reported the designations of at least six generals and two lieutenants. It can be seen that even at this moment in Ming Dynasty, there are still at least seven generals in Beizhili and even in the several mansions directly bordering Beizhili. The soldier's number and combat strength.

This is not counting the three major battalions of the capital and other local garrisons in Beijing. If these troops can be fully staffed and their morale is high, even if Li Zicheng brings more than 40 mobs to kill him, Daming will not be unable to resist.

It's a pity that the number of the seven general soldiers, how many soldiers can actually be left, and how many people will die for Daming, is already very pessimistic.

Chongzhen impatiently went through what Zhang Guowei said in his head, and finally got his train of thought straight, and then asked: "Where is Zhu Shuren! Why didn't the Huguang army see Zhang Qing's transfer?!"

Zhang Guowei was stunned: "Your Majesty, far away water can't quench your thirst! Of course, the armies of Huguang and Sichuan have to be mobilized, but the most urgent blockers right now are the armies around Beizhili. Your Majesty agreed to the above dispatch, Naturally, I will plan the deployment of troops further away."

After Zhang Guowei finished speaking, Zhou Yanru also quickly wanted to find an opportunity to make up for his lost trust, and quickly helped Chongzhen with an idea:

"Your Majesty, the transfer of troops from Huguang to Sichuan really needs to be done urgently, but Your Majesty can't expect Zhu Shuren to come quickly - the imperial court's road from Yunyang to Hanzhong has not been completely opened up to now. If the angels count on this road Passing the decree against the Han River, maybe it will be harmed by scattered thieves instead, and the big event will be missed.

And to go to Jiangling and Chongqing to pass the decree, even if it is urgent, it will take at least half a month to arrive.Now the soldiers and horses of all the ministries are not moving fast. When Huang Taiji entered the bandits, His Majesty recruited Bai Guangen, Tang Tong, and Wu Sangui to guard the capital, but how long did it take for them to arrive?

Zhu Shuren just gave a report more than ten days ago, saying that his soldiers and horses were infected with the plague by Cao Bianjiao's Shanxi army. If the troops had to be screened, treated, and reorganized before they left, it would take even longer.

Therefore, the order to recruit Zhu Shuren can be sent out as soon as possible, but the court can't just rely on him, it has to rely on other soldiers and horses, at least for a few months! "

Chongzhen was taken aback for a moment, and then he remembered that Zhu Shuren had indeed just sent a memorial more than ten days ago, saying that the plague brought by the Shanxi army had broken out in the Hanzhong garrison.

When Zhu Shuren wrote this memorial, Li Zicheng hadn't left Henan yet. Of course, he couldn't have ulterior motives, so it happened that the Sichuan army happened to be in trouble at this juncture.

Daming's national fortune is really bad!

But things have already happened, what else can Chongzhen do?It can only be that the sickness went to the doctor indiscriminately, and they listened to the arrangements of Zhang Guowei and Zhou Yanru and asked them to dispatch various ministries to resist.First arrange the troops in front of you, and then find a way to send out the orders to recruit Huguang and Sichuan troops.

……

Chongzhen's order to enlist the surrounding towns was issued within two or three days after the tenth day of October, and the order to Zhu Shuren was issued on October [-]th.

The decree still needs time on the road, and after arriving at the place, we must allow time for the troops to dispatch, prepare, and move out.

Among all the troops, Xiong Tong from Changshan was the one who responded the fastest. He set off in late October and arrived at Zhou Yuji's defense area within seven or eight days.

(Note: Historically, the Ming army fought against the Chuang army in Pingyang Mansion for a while before the fall of Taiyuan on the Shanxi battlefield. Now because of the butterfly effect, there is no need to fight in Pingyang, and the Chuang army quickly arrived in Taiyuan once they attacked. Therefore, Xiong Tong, Bai Guangen, and Gao Jie did not participate in the Battle of Pingyang, and only went to reinforce it now. I won’t expand on the specific butterfly effect, after all, it has nothing to do with the protagonist)
However, just like Xiong Tong's unreliability on the Pingyang Mansion battlefield in history, his unreliability has not changed now that he has changed places. After fighting side by side with Zhou Yuji, but seven or eight days later, with the news from all sides The morale of the army became more and more unstable,
Many soldiers of the Xiong Tong Department have heard that Liu Fangliang's Shun army behind them has already penetrated Shandong and entered Beizhili, so even if they stick to Ningwuguan, they have no hope, and may be attacked by another army. Outflanking cut off the rear.

As for Liu Zeqing and Liu Liangzuo, they didn't try to stop Liu Fangliang at all. The two mansions in Shandong were basically passed by the Shun army!
Under such a bad situation, coupled with more pig teammates, Xiong Tong's defense area was finally the first to be attacked by Li Zicheng at all costs. There were more than 1 people in Ning military officer and Ming army, and most of Zhou Yuji's direct troops were wiped out. Kuma Tsubu surrendered——

This can't be blamed on Zhou Yuji's inability to fight, because the Battle of Ningwuguan lasted about ten days at most in history.Xiong Tong's reinforcements now only lasted three to five days longer than the same period in history.

However, the losses of Li Zicheng's army at Ningwuguan were also very considerable. The number of people who were directly killed or died of serious injuries reached more than 2, which is more than that of the same period in history.It's also thanks to the fact that the lives of Li Zicheng's subordinates are worthless, and they are filled with piles of lives, digging walls and blowing up walls, trampling corpses to attack the city, all operations are performed together, and finally piles of lives are piled up.

On the sixth day of November, Li Zicheng finally entered the Hebei Plain.

On November 40th, the East and West Routes of the Shun Army met in Zhending Mansion.When the troops were dispatched, the total strength was less than [-]. Over the past few months, at least [-] to [-] people died in battle, but the total strength was actually more, because there were more hungry and displaced people along the way.

Zhou Yuji was killed in battle, Xiong Tong surrendered, Liu Zeqing and Liu Liangzuo only shouted and shouted but did not dare to stop the attacking thieves. Several consecutive bad news spread to Beijing. Chongzhen was also shocked and inexplicable. He couldn't figure out why the situation could deteriorate so much in just over 20 days. So fast.

He quickly brought Zhang Guowei and Zhou Yanru to account, scolded his head and face, and beheaded Wu Changshi, Zhou Yanru's right-hand student who was suspected of corruption, and killed a group of other responsible officials. The problem of Confucianism and Zhang Guowei.

It's just because the soldiers are fierce and the war is dangerous, these two people can only be suspected of being investigated for crimes, and they are being investigated while handling military affairs, which can be regarded as a strange scene when the situation is extremely embarrassing.

However, the investigation did not last even half a month.

As the time entered late November, the Shun Army moved further from Zhending Mansion to Baoding Mansion, and there was only the last mansion left from the capital.Bai Guangen and Gao Jie on the North Road were unable to contain Li Zicheng. After losing thousands of direct line troops, Bai Guangen also directly surrendered——

Zhang Guowei previously felt that Bai Guangen was one of the Eight Generals in the Songjin War. He followed Hong Chengchou back then, and Hong Chengchou voted for him but didn't vote, so he should be reliable enough.As for Gao Jie and Li Zicheng's hatred for taking his wife, he must be afraid of being killed and dare not vote.

In the end it was Bai Guangen who voted, Gao Jie really didn't dare to vote, a lieutenant pulled out alone and fled around the road.

Mistakes this time became the last straw for Chongzhen's distrust of Zhou Yanru and Zhang Guowei: After all, all the generals you recommended to stop the enemy have defected to the enemy.

Zhou Yanru's previous case of accepting Liu Zeqing's 4 taels of gold, although he has never found any real evidence, but at this moment, the hard evidence is not important anymore, and the new account and the old account will be settled together.

Chongzhen directly believed that these people chose these people to fight against the enemy because they had received money from generals and deceived the emperor.

Chongzhen sent his thoughts to Xu Shiqi, Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, Xu Shiqi felt that the reasons for the conviction were too unimaginable, so he wrote a letter to defend him.In the end, Chongzhen was as insane as he was before he died. He delayed for more than ten days, and the last litter disposed of all three ministers:

Xu Shiqi, Minister of the Criminal Ministry, was not guilty, but because of his "unfavorable handling of affairs", he refused to help the emperor convict other court elders and ministers, so he was dismissed from office for the people and ordered to return to his hometown to live idle.

Minister of the Ministry of War, Zhang Guowei, was charged with "negligence of supervision". He was indeed guilty of dispatching troops and using inhumane generals, but it was not found that he was corrupt and took advantage of military generals, so he was just inaccurate in judging people.
Considering his previous contribution to water control in Wuzhong (this is a historical reason), and the fact that he promoted the lijin policy in the years when he was the minister of the household department in Nanjing, it has a certain effect on promoting the self-raising funds for the suppression of bandits in the southern provinces and pacifying the south. Credit (this is the extra credit brought by the Butterfly Effect)

Chongzhen finally decided to deprive Zhang Guowei of the post of minister of the Ministry of War, and relegated him to the censor of Youqian capital, governor of Zhejiang, and supervised the payment of troops in the south of the Yangtze River.

The reason why Chongzhen made such a decision was also because Zhang Guowei had been the servant of the transfer department in Nanjing for many years, and he was afraid that the situation is now so critical that the south tends not to obey orders.If Zhang Guowei is killed, maybe the three salaries of Nanzhili and Zhejiang will not be able to be collected, and no one will transport them to Beijing if they are collected.

So give him a chance to commit crimes and make meritorious deeds, let him go to be the governor of Zhejiang to collect money-although even if he goes, I don't know if Chongzhen has time to spend this money.

Zhou Yanru, the last chief assistant of the cabinet and Minister of the Ministry of Officials, was found to have received tens of thousands of taels of gold from Liu Zeqing (in fact, the evidence is not sufficient, but Chongzhen decided so), so his problem must be much more serious than that of Zhang Guowei. He committed suicide in prison.

Zhou Yanru was forced to be helpless and kept trying to procrastinate. In the end, Luo Yangxing, the commander of Jinyiwei sent by Chongzhen to supervise, asked his subordinates to "help" Zhou Yanru "hang himself".

Three ministers, one hanged himself, one was demoted and the other was dismissed.

After all this was done, Chongzhen replaced the number one scholar in the same class as Zhu Shuren three and a half years ago, Wei Zaode, who succeeded the deceased Zhou Yanru as the chief assistant of the cabinet and minister of the Ministry of officials.

A newcomer who has only been an official for three and a half years can be the chief assistant, and he can be regarded as the fastest promoted in the Ming Dynasty.

Although Wei Zaode knew that he was responsible for coming up, he was not nervous at all, and he was even a little happy: although Chongzhen's first assistant was worthless.But when the time comes to surrender Li Zicheng himself, but he can surrender as the "chief minister of the former cabinet" and lead the ministers to surrender, the gold content will be different!
Li Zicheng will definitely pay more attention to himself, a literary star, several times because of this!In this way, I still made a profit!

In addition to Wei Zaode, because the position of Minister of the Ministry of War also needed to be replaced, Chongzhen replaced Zhang Guowei with Zhang Jinyan.

But Zhang Jinyan's attitude is similar to Wei Zaode's. He has made up his mind to do nothing and make no decisions as soon as he takes office, so that he will not be killed and can survive until Chongzhen dies first.

And when all these personnel transfers were completed, it was only mid-December in the 16th year of Chongzhen.

On the fourth day of December, Xu Shiqi was dismissed and returned to his hometown. On the sixth day of December, Zhou Yanru hanged himself. On the eighth day of December, Zhang Guowei was demoted to the south and became the governor of Zhejiang.

Only three days after Zhang Guowei left Beijing, on the [-]th of December, the Dashun army had penetrated the entire Baoding Prefecture, and four days later, they passed through Zhuo County and Fangshan in Shuntian Prefecture, and arrived outside Beijing on the [-]th.

Zhang Guowei was lucky. On the day when the Dashun Army arrived in Fangshan County, he had already arrived at Tianjin Wei. When the Dashun Army approached the city of Beijing, he had just boarded a boat at Dagukou, where Shen’s daily business of north-south cargo yellow sea sand boat.

The ship was originally going to sell goods in Suzhou, but after hearing Zhang Guowei's self-identification, the captain and shopkeepers of the Shen family also knew the old Shangshu's friendship with their master, so they sold their favors and diverted to Hangzhou to send Zhang Guowei directly. He took office as the governor of Zhejiang.

The captain and shopkeeper didn't have much experience. After hearing the former Zhang Butang and the current governor Zhang say that the intruders have all arrived in Beijing, they couldn't help asking while sailing:
"Lord Futai, since the intruder is so arrogant and you can escape, why doesn't Your Majesty avoid the edge for now?"

Zhang Guowei was also speechless for a while, yes, why did Chongzhen try to defend Beijing?Maybe the city of Beijing is so strong that it can really hold for a few months?

But he could only answer in a business-like manner: "How can the country be moved lightly! What do you know! I didn't run away! I was demoted by His Majesty to be the governor of Zhejiang! This is the emperor's order!"

Beijing is strong, Your Majesty will definitely be able to boost morale, stick to Shanhaiguan General Wu, or the arrival of reinforcements from Governor Zhu of Sichuan! "

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(PS: Zhang Guowei was lucky in history. After he was demoted by Chongzhen to become the governor of Zhejiang, Beijing was captured by the Chuangjun just ten days after he left Beijing.)
(End of this chapter)