national surname chiming

Chapter 326
After Zhu Shuren's troops officially set off from Hanzhong, the voyage along the Han River downstream was quite fast.
Six days later, on November 22, the vanguard arrived in Xiangyang.
Then, Zhu Shuren also immediately dispatched an urgent courier six hundred miles away to deliver his memorial to Beijing on November 28.

In this last memorial to Chongzhen from Zhu Shuren, it is stated that his vanguard troops have arrived in Xiangyang, and the road to rescue has been less than half gone.

He will wait in Xiangyang for the rear army and the ordnance brought from Wuchang (Zhu Shuren said that the equipment loss of Hanzhong troops is relatively large, and they need to be replenished from the rear base camp before they can go into battle), and it will not exceed ten days at most.

By the way, wait for His Majesty's official edict to ratify all matters related to the edict.He also pleaded guilty and said that he had acted in a hurry and pardoned Sun Kewang on his own initiative, and got a reply from Sun Kewang.

Finally, of course, it is unavoidable to write some words to wash away one's responsibility, such as explaining why it took so long to arrive in Xiangyang, how difficult it was because of the plague in Hanzhong before, how much the troops were attrition, and how the march was not safe and sound along the way. , but came here after negotiating with the scattered thieves all the way, fighting all the way, half suppressing and half appeasing Enwei.

The time when this memorial was delivered was twelve days before Li Zicheng entered Shuntian Mansion.

There were still sixteen days left before Li Zicheng arrived in the suburbs of Beijing.

At that time, Li Zicheng was probably still on the border between Zhending Mansion and Baoding Mansion, and had his final entanglement with Bai Guangen and Gao Jiezuo.

Even if Zhang Guowei was officially demoted to governor of Zhejiang and ordered to leave Beijing, there were still nine days left.

Chongzhen received the last report from Zhu Shuren at such a critical moment. Seeing the sincerity of the other party, he also said that he had rushed from Hanzhong to Xiangyang non-stop. He had indeed walked a long way.
At least Zhu Shuren's attitude was beyond reproach.

Chongzhen found Zhang Guowei, who was already under censorship at the time, and after a brief discussion, he had no choice but to go to the doctor indiscriminately, and issued his last order to Zhu Shuren during his lifetime:

After replenishing the weapons and gathering the personnel, go north immediately!Please approve everything else!It is absolutely right to make up your own mind to pardon Sun Kewang and the other thieves and thieves!And merit!

In addition, Zhao'an Sun Kewang can also be regarded as "realizing the complete elimination of Zhang Xianzhong as stated in the Taimiao Alliance oath",
So Chongzhen also abided by the Taimiao oath, and further promoted his Zhu Shuren's title from Kruhou to Duke E!I hope he can imitate E Wang Yuefei and serve the country faithfully!Hurry up to save the city of Beijing!
……

Chongzhen's will can be said to be unprecedentedly generous. Originally, Chongzhen was definitely not so straightforward in giving rewards.

It can only be said that when it comes to life and death, the price offered will be relatively high,
Seven days later, the first assistant Zhou Yanru was forced to hang himself, and Chongzhen directly took the title of cabinet chief assistant to Wei Zaode, a rookie who had only been an official for three or four years.

At least Zhu Shuren was in the same class as Wei Zaode, and his official qualifications were half a year younger than Wei Zaode's. It's just that Wei Zaode was the champion and Zhu Shuren was the bottom of the crane, and Zhu Shuren was too young.But with Zhu Shuren's many contributions to protecting Daming in the past few years, it's not too much to be named a duke, right?He deserves it all!
In addition, some people may think that Chongzhen has reached this point, and it is too slow to allow Zhu Shuren to stay in Xiangyang for ten days to wait for the replenishment of equipment and the assembly of troops after the rendezvous?
But this matter is really reasonable, because in history, Chongzhen sent a decree to Wu Sangui less than ten days before the siege of Beijing. Gongwei Gyeonggi", instead of letting Wu Sangui rush with an elite and quick-response force.

This shows that on the one hand, Chongzhen really didn't know much about soldiers, and didn't know much about the speed gap between elite troops returning to aid without luggage and the whole army returning to defense with their families and mouths.It was precisely because Wu Sangui had an excuse to retreat with the people that he was able to slow down to the initial stage of returning to defense and only traveled forty miles a day.

On the other hand, this also shows that Chongzhen was still overconfident in Beijing's city defense until the last moment.

After all, the Tartars had broken through the barrier many times before and plundered in the territory of Beizhili, and they had also approached the city of Beijing, but they had never breached the city of Beijing.

The record of Beijing being attacked on a large scale can be traced back to more than 100 years ago. After Ming Yingzong was captured in the Tumu Fortress, Grand Master Wala first brought Tatar cavalry to attack, and that time Yu Qian also firmly defended Beijing. city.

This made Chongzhen feel that relying on the city's solidity, it should be no problem to last for a few months-and because of this, he released Zhang Guowei to be the governor of Zhejiang. I really feel that Zhang Guowei may bring Jiangnan soldiers to rescue him, and I also feel that I can last until Zhang Guowei comes back.

It can only be said that everything is a pot of overconfidence.

……

Chongzhen's self-confidence allowed him to grant all Zhu Shuren's requests, and the reply was sent back to Zhu Shuren in Xiangyang on the fourth day of December.

This last order was still brought by Jiang Ruolai from the Ministry of War, and when Jiang Ruolai left Beijing this time, he had already got another errand, so after the order was delivered, he didn't need to return to Beijing himself, he just had to ask his servant to return.

Before Jiang Ruolai left Beijing, his old boss, Zhang Guowei, already knew Chongzhen's opinion on him, and knew that he would be relegated to the governor of Zhejiang Province, so he used the last bit of power and the opportunity to speak to Chongzhen while he was still the minister of the Ministry of War. It is strongly recommended to transfer Jiang Ruolai as the chief soldier of Zhejiang.

Although Chongzhen was not familiar with this general surnamed Jiang, after all, the other party had just successfully completed two dangerous errands, helping Chongzhen send the decree to Zhu Shuren, and successfully invited Zhu Shuren's reinforcements, and they were already on the way.

So Chongzhen also firmly believed that Jiang Ruolai's loyalty must be no problem, and he was diligent and not procrastinating.Since he can get Zhu Shuren to send troops in time when he goes to Sichuan, then sending this man surnamed Jiang to be the general soldier in Zhejiang will definitely help Zhang Guowei to get reinforcements in the Jiangnan area as soon as possible, just in case.

Based on this consideration, Jiang Ruolai's new appointment was passed without any obstruction.After he delivered Chongzhen's last will to Zhu Shuren, he was about to go to Hangzhou to take office.

Although Zhu Shuren had just received the final decree on the fourth day of December, he had to wait for the decree to go back and forth for ten days, so the moment the decree was delivered, the time Chongzhen promised to allow him to gather troops and wait for the replenishment of equipment was not enough. It's over.

Therefore, just over a day later, on the morning of the sixth day of December, Zhu Shuren set off from Xiangyang again, leading the main force of the Huguang Army with more than 10 people northward.

One thing must be mentioned here: the mobilization of the main force of 10 people will not affect the defense of Huguang and Sichuan today.Because Zhu Shuren's military strength is not what it used to be when he didn't enter Sichuan more than a year ago.

Before he entered Sichuan, there were 14 Huguang troops, including some defensive troops. Later, some of the prisoners from the Chen County War were digested, and the prisoners of Zhang Xianzhong's army in the Huguang area were slowly reformed, and more than 1 soldiers were added to supplement the war. After the loss, there were about 6 people.

After entering Sichuan, although there were also losses in the battle, more people were added. The headquarters has always been able to maintain around 15 people, but Qin Liangyu's 3 people, Fang Guoan's 1 people, and Wang Guangchang, Tan Wen brothers and other descendants There are nearly 2 local armed forces in Sichuan in the "Kuidong Thirteen Households".

After the Sichuan campaign ended, Zhu Shuren directly took a considerable part of Daming's family property and gradually bought it into his own.
He also generously upgraded a certain amount of equipment for Qin Liangyu, Fang Guoan, Tan Wen and the others step by step, replacing the items eliminated by the second line to buy people's hearts, and by the way, also improve the combat effectiveness of these troops.

After the transformation, the 21 Great Mingchuan Army has also become a semi-direct line. With these people added, the main force of Zhu Shuren has expanded to [-] people.

The Cao Bianjiao Department transferred to Hanzhong has more than 1 people, plus the original garrison troops in Hanzhong, the total number is 24. After counting these, Zhu Shuren's combat troops have reached 24.This still excludes those temporary armed forces and civilians who can only guard the local city. The [-] people are all troops that can be mobilized for mobile operations.

And his last supplementary force came from the surrender of Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu after the complete annihilation of Zhang Xianzhong. After these people were reformed for several months, a total of 4 to [-] people could be recruited into the army. About half of them were old battalions who had been in the army for many years. The remaining two-thirds have been in the army for at least two or three years and have combat effectiveness.

As for the cannon fodder newly captured by Zhang Xianzhong after he entered Sichuan, Zhu Shuren was almost useless, and almost all of them were released to work in agriculture.

In addition, there were 2 people on Sun Kewang's side. After Zhu Shuren offered generous terms this time, Sun Kewang had already seized the opportunity and replied in writing that he was willing to surrender and accept the adaptation.But in fact, it has not been implemented in time, but Sun Kewang is only required to stop wandering around and stick to the spot until the court is free to accept it.

Therefore, without counting Sun Kewang, Zhu Shuren could pull up 28 people, and counting Sun Kewang, he could pull up a full 30 troops.

After occupying Sichuan and Hanzhong, Zhu Shuren's army strength has directly doubled compared to when he only had Huguang province.It took Zhu Shuren just over a year to increase from 14 to 30.

With such a huge force, it is not surprising that 10,000+ people were immediately gathered to rescue Chongzhen in a short period of time.

……

There were 10,000+ people in the first batch of reinforcements. If this really rushed to Beijing, then Chongzhen would really be alive.

But Zhu Shuren has his own way to keep his image of Guangwei upright until the last moment.

After setting off from Xiangyang on the sixth day of December, the first problems and delays encountered were the marching route and grain road——Zhu Shuren deliberately pretended that he had not made any arrangements in advance, acquiescing that "Zuo Liangyu of Nanyang will maintain the road and provide transportation. grain".

As a result, the troops crossed the Hanshui River from Xiangyang, and after passing through Fancheng and Xinye, they went to Zuo Liangyu's envoy who asked for food, and only brought back Zuo Liangyu's prevarication.

Zuo Liangyu, of course, complained desperately, saying that he really couldn't raise food to supply the army of the country's surname, but he was loyal to Daming, and as long as His Majesty needed him, he was also willing to work hard for the king, all kinds of nonsense.

The reason why Zuo Liangyu did this was because he had become used to being self-reliant over the past year and a half.Secondly, he is of course more afraid than Zhu Shuren that Chongzhen is alive, and even after the gang of thieves are put down in the future, they will find him to settle accounts.

Chongzhen's temper is self-willed, and he can't rub the sand in his eyes, which is well known in the world.Those who are not absolutely loyal to Chongzhen will be regarded as absolutely disloyal.

Zuo Liangyu's previous separatist self-government, he listened to the tune and did not listen to the announcement. The reason why Chongzhen endured it was because he hadn't freed up his hands to deal with him for the time being, and there were more terrifying enemies to deal with.If Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong are all dead, do you think Chongzhen will settle the old score?
The fact that He Renlong was killed is ironclad proof!
Therefore, although Zuo Liangyu will not completely betray Daming now, it is inevitable that he does not want Chongzhen to live.The best solution he fantasizes is that after Chongzhen's death, he can be replaced by a weak and easy-to-fool monarch who doesn't turn over old scores. Then maybe he can pass out with the mud, and it is not impossible to continue to be a loyal minister of Ming Dynasty.

At this point in the world, there are already many civil and military people who are willing to be loyal to Ming Dynasty out of fear of liquidation, but they are unwilling to be loyal to Chongzhen.

Some people may think: Zhu Shuren, can't you say hello to Zuo Liangyu in advance?Why do you have to give tasks to people before you leave?
But Zhu Shuren couldn't be blamed for this, because the edict he got before was only to let him serve as the king, and he didn't say to promote him, at most it just added a title, but a title didn't bring power or dispatch.

Nanyang now belongs to Henan Province. Zuo Liangyu is theoretically one of the guards in the Henan area of ​​the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Shuren is only the governor of Huguang and the military affairs of Sichuan. When things come to an end, it's reasonable that Zuo Liangyu can't be controlled.

Daming's restrictions on local officials and the laws of the ancestors are there, can Zhu Shuren be blamed?

Of course, all the mansions in Henan are not under Zhu Shuren's management. After all, before he became the governor of Huguang, the imperial court specially designated his jurisdiction, including Xinyang Mansion in the Dabie Mountains, and Anlu in Nanzhili Region, Jiujiang Prefecture in Jiangxi Province.

Nanyang Mansion refused to provide military rations, and the road conditions were not good. Baihe and other places lacked the ships needed for the march, so Zhu Shuren had to change the road and cross Tongbai Mountain from another direction.

He detoured from Fancheng to the territory of Suizhou Mansion, then crossed Tongbai Mountain from Xinyang Road, entered Xinyang Mansion under his jurisdiction, and then used the military rations hoarded in Xinyang to supply the army and continued northward.

All of this did not have any setbacks, but it took time. From Xiangyang to Suizhou and then to Xinyang, it took a full nine days, and most of the time was wasted on crossing the Tongbai Valley Road.

Considering the difficulty of marching in the mountains, this speed is really worthy of Chongzhen.

On December [-]th, Zhu Shuren's entire army arrived at Xinyang Mansion, and then learned about the enemy's situation in Henan.

Knowing that the intruders had left certain garrisons in Kaifeng Mansion, Guide Mansion and other places, Zhu Shuren discussed with his subordinates and felt that it was too slow to fight all the way, so he walked a little further downstream along the Huai River, and then went to Fengyang The Bozhou area of ​​the prefecture went north through the eastern part of Guide Mansion and bypassed the fortified city of Shangqiu.

All in all, it seems that he is so focused on the overall situation, and he is dedicated to saving her.At this time, it was actually the eve of Li Zicheng's siege of Beijing.

Chongzhen had no chance to send any more instructions to Zhu Shuren. Before the internal and external news were completely cut off, the last news Chongzhen received about Huguang rescue soldiers was that Zhu Shuren had arrived in Xinyang Mansion (it would take three days to travel from Xinyang to Beijing). After that, the city of Beijing will be completely besieged.

(End of this chapter)