national surname chiming

Chapter 327 King Killer Liu Zongmin
Zhu Shuren wanted to show that he was all about saving him, and he didn't want to fight those small groups of Shunjun troops along the way.

However, the fact that the tree wants to be quiet but the wind doesn't stop does not mean that Li Zicheng will let him go north quickly.

Li Zicheng has always been paying attention to this important opponent, and wants to delay the opponent to prevent his beheading action.If Chongzhen is not held hostage in the end, everything will be over for Li Zicheng, and it will be difficult for him to even go back to his hometown.

Therefore, every move of Zhu Shu's army had been reported in time by the scouts of the Shun army.

Zhu Shuren bypassed Shangqiu from Bozhou County, Fengyang Prefecture, and headed northward. The Shun army defenders in Shangqiu City actually got Li Zicheng's order to go out of the city to harass Zhu Shuren after the main force of Zhu Shuren's former army had passed, and tried to cut off Zhu Shuren's food supply.

Because of the sneak attack, the Chuangjun still managed to burn hundreds of carts of grain and grass, and also caused some other material losses.

Zhu Shuren got this excuse, how could he hold back?
Of course, he told the generals, "If you don't destroy the thieves in Shangqiu, our army's food supply is unstable, and the rescue troops may fall into crisis halfway."
Then, Zhu Shu's army not only severely damaged the Shun army who attacked and harassed the food in the field counterattack, but also turned back and counterattacked, taking five or six days to take down the dilapidated Shangqiu.

The defender in Shangqiu City is just a captain under Liu Fangliang's command. There are thousands of people in total. Shangqiu's city defense facilities were breached just two months ago, and they were almost completely destroyed without manpower to repair them.

Zhu Shuren's army had Hongyi cannons bombarding the city, and it was only logical to take it in five days.

Because this group of Shunjun troops obstructed the rescue, the crime was unforgivable, and they did not voluntarily surrender before the city gates and walls were breached.

Zhu Shuren also needs to stand up. After breaking the city, of course, he will not allow the enemy to surrender because of fear of death in street battles.Even if some troops accepted the surrender, after the battle, Zhu Shuren directly beheaded all the 2000 or so bandits who had laid down their weapons alive.

Some civil servants felt that the killing of prisoners was unknown, but there were not many of them, and this army took the initiative to go out of the city to provoke the food supply road to obstruct rescue, so no one dared to speak.

Killing like this once can also deter the Shun army in other cities along the way, so that they dare not move.At the same time, it has further strengthened the utter loyalty of Guo Xing Ye in the hearts of the people of the world:

Look at how lenient and benevolent Guo Xing is usually, how could he kill all the bandits who were defeated?This time, it was these people who were blind and obstructed the rescue, and were completely wiped out by Thunder's means!
With such a delay in Shangqiu, Zhu Shuren passed through Guide Mansion on the 26th of the twelfth lunar month, and six days later, on the second day of the first month of the 17th year of Chongzhen, he passed through most of Yanzhou Mansion in Shandong.

The troops didn't even rest during the Chinese New Year. They just walked a little less on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, and only marched forty miles a day.After the second day of the new year, the speed was increased to at least sixty or seventy miles a day.

Even the speed of traveling forty miles a day was acceptable in ancient times—before the Chen Qiao Mutiny, when Zhao Kuangyin left Kaifeng, he was traveling forty miles a day.Obviously, he knew he would come back tomorrow, and if he walked too far, it would be troublesome the next day, so he only walked forty miles in order to get a passing mark, so as not to fall into the trap of reality.

Anyway, Zhao Kuangyin sent troops to walk forty miles on the third day of the new year, and Zhu Shuren walked forty miles on New Year's Eve and the first day of the new year. Is there a problem?

After crossing most of Yanzhou Prefecture, Zhu Shuren faced a new problem: to cross Jishui and Qingshui (Daqing River) and continue northward, there must be enough boats!
Jishui and Daqing River are actually the old course of the Yellow River before it was diverted from the Huaihe River to the sea.After the main stream of the Yellow River moves southward, the local precipitation on the North China Plain will still converge into a river and need a vent outlet.

It's just that the water source of Jishui mainly comes from Shandong area and a small part of Henan and Hebei.

But Zhu Shuren went north by detour by land, not by water, and this area was not directly connected by water to his own Huguang defense zone. Where would he get enough boats?

In fact, if Zhu Shuren wanted to do it, of course he could.

When the water transport was first changed to the sea, the Shen family had no less than 17 large sand ships for sea transport. In the past four or five years, it has increased at an average rate of about [-] per year, and the imperial court's water transport funds have been continuously used to build new ships.Now there are more than [-] large sand ships for shipping. If Chongzhen’s [-]-year shipbuilding plan can still be implemented, thousands of ships will eventually be made.

However, laymen are not professional. The Shen family said that "it is not safe for small sand ships to go north along the coast, and large sand ships cannot enter the upper reaches of Jishui River."

This responsibility, of course, must fall on Liu Zeqing, the Shandong general who had been reprimanded by Chongzhen before Beijing was besieged!
When Liu Zeqing was passing through the border with the Shun army, he did not dare to intercept and fight, and let the thieves cross the border. At that time, Chongzhen wanted to punish him severely.Later, it was also found out that Zhou Yanru, the chief assistant, had received 4 taels of gold from him, helped him keep his position as the general soldier in Shandong for a long time, and had the power to raid the Linqing customs on the Grand Canal.

These crimes are placed on Liu Zeqing's head. If Chongzhen can survive and settle the case in the future, Liu Zeqing will definitely be given a felony!

Now, he has added another charge to his charge: "When other friendly troops were ordered to rescue and transit through Shandong, his troops were unable to provide ferries in time to cross the old course of the Yellow River."

Cowardly fighting and avoiding the enemy, bribing the chief assistant, doing things unfavorably and delaying the rescue of the friendly army... How many heads does Liu Zeqing have to chop off?
Liu Zeqing's mood was extremely complicated. His fear was probably second only to Zuo Liangyu's, but he had to help raise the warship.

In order to prove his wholeheartedness, Zhu Shuren also sent a courier to go back to the rear of the south of the Yangtze River after confirming that Liu Zeqing could not quickly produce enough ships.
Take the old road of transporting grain by sea over the years, and see if you can go to Tianjinwei or Shanhaiguan. If you can rescue some of the royal relatives near Gyeonggi, leave a way out, or help the Shanhaiguan officers and soldiers to speed up their return to Tianjinwei and then enter Beijing. , all of which can be adapted accordingly.

It also takes three or four days for this order to be conveyed to Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Mingzhen, and it takes time for the navy to set sail, so even if it is to find the nearest port to set sail, it will take at least half a month to arrive.

And Zhu Shuren did not directly exceed his authority to ask the navy to rescue Beijing in the early stage. This cannot be blamed on him, because the authority of the navy is indeed not in his hands.
The Haidao Zongbing is the sea road guarding army under the supervision of his father, Shen Tingyang, Minister of the Nanjing Household Department.Even if it is a father and son, the authority in the officialdom must be clearly defined.

As for the naval power owned by Zheng Chenggong's family, it has nothing to do with Zhu Shuren legally. It is human favor for Zhu Shuren to ask them to help, even if they can't ask them, it should be.

Previously, Zhu Shuren's own main force was still too far away from the North China battlefield. If Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Mingzhen had been allowed to fight in advance, then with the strength of Zheng and Zhang, they would definitely not be able to defeat Li Zicheng when they landed.

If only this naval force had been allowed to fight in depth at that time, if it wanted to be successful, unless it was to directly respond to Chongzhen's evacuation of Beijing and flee south by sea—but Chongzhen was too resolute, and he never mentioned the southern tour. None of the courtiers persuaded him to give up Beijing, and he was too embarrassed to take the initiative to say so, so he missed the window period for ordering.

Since Chongzhen did not order the officers and soldiers on the sea route to escort him to escape, Zhang Mingzhen couldn't make up his own mind to resist the order and hijack him in advance, right?

……

However, whether it is Liu Zeqing or Zheng Chenggong's financing, it will eventually be useless.

Eight days after Zhu Shuren entered the boundary of Yanzhou Prefecture, it was the tenth day of the first month of the 17th year of Chongzhen.The army had just crossed more than half of the troops across the old course of the Yellow River in batches with insufficient ships, but more bad news came from the north, saying that Li Zicheng had already entered Beijing.

There was a sudden panic, and many people said that the city of Beijing must be hopeless. Since the city had been breached by the Chuang army, even if it was still in chaos for a while, it was impossible for street fighting to last for several days.Moreover, when the news reached the border of Shandong, it had been two days since the vanguard broke the door. Who knows how much the situation will get worse in these two days?
As for His Majesty's life and death, no one knows at present.

Zhu Shuren's army was frightened all night, and the generals and staff from all walks of life needed his advice.

"Your Majesty! It's my minister who came a step late!" Zhu Shuren cried bitterly at first, very sincerely,

Then Gu Yanwu persuaded him to focus on the overall situation. Now the situation is still unclear, so don't despair.

Zhu Shuren calmed down his emotions, and then made two preparations persuadingly:

"The rear army stopped crossing the river! In order not to lose ground, we don't have enough ships! Let Cao Bianjiao, Huang Degong, and Zhu Wenzhen lead all the cavalry in our army to quickly intersect with Shuntianfu, and take the food with us without thinking about the food road. Yes, ask for more accurate information along the way!
If it's just that Beijing fell, and His Majesty may still be alive, then for the purpose of saving him, at least try to save people, and make a southern tour of Nanjing or Fengyang!If it is confirmed that His Majesty is unlucky, then it is meaningless, the army will turn around immediately!
Beijing City should not be able to quickly counterattack and get it back!The city of Beijing is so strong that it didn't even survive the 20-day defense of the city?Your Majesty, the minister is late!But the minister has tried his best! "

All the generals were also in a heavy heart, each had their own worries, and after sighing for a while, they obeyed.

If His Majesty is really gone, there are obviously more important things to do than to take back Beijing City immediately-the world cannot be left without a master for a day.To discuss the recovery of Beijing, it has to be based on the possession of the new monarch, and the recovery is under the leadership and orders of the new monarch.

If the name is not correct, the words will not go well, and if the words are not right, nothing will be accomplished. The righteous name always needs to be finalized more than force.

……

How Zhu Shuren sent Cao Bianjiao, Huang Degong, and Zhu Wenzhen to try to approach Beijing with pure cavalry troops to confirm the situation is no longer important.

The timeline goes back three days, back to the day before the Chuangjun broke through the inner city of Beijing.

Perhaps because of the butterfly effect, Chongzhen in this life was still very determined to resist until the last moment.After the outer city of Beijing was breached on the eighth day of the first month, although most areas of Beijing had entered into street fighting, chaos, burning, killing and looting, the inner city could still hold on a bit.

Chongzhen was also not like the same period in history, where he just played badly and ignored defense, and only wanted to hang himself from a tree with a crooked neck.

Instead, he personally patrolled the city, checked the defense of the inner city, and then summoned a few confidant eunuchs who supervised the army, trying to personally supervise the defense of an army in the name of "Yujia's personal conquest". Being completely controlled, try to break out.

Chongzhen's mentality has changed so much, of course, because he saw hope in this life——

It's not that Daming can't completely defeat Li Zicheng. In the south, the country's situation is improving. I only regret that this improvement came too late!It's too late to spread to the north!

I didn't escape before, one is because of face, no minister is willing to take the blame and propose this plan,
The second reason is that I am too confident in Beijing's city defense. I feel that it can last at least a few months, and it is not too risky to stick to it and wait for help.

But it's different now, the face issue, at the last moment of life and death, can be flexibly loosened, the worst is to say that the emperor's personal conquest is a roundabout counterattack!They all led the army directly, and even discussed with those civil and military ministers!

He also rang the bell on the bell tower in the Forbidden City, and no one came to escort him when he tried to summon civil and military officials. Those civil and military officials were unfaithful and unrighteous first!

As for the problem of "overconfidence", at the moment when the outer city has been destroyed, Chongzhen's overconfidence is of course cured without medicine, and he has fully recognized the reality.

It's a pity that wanting to break through does not mean having the ability to break through.

At the last moment, Chongzhen only gathered a few hundred people from Jinyiwei and Dongchang, led by Wang Chengen and Luo Yangxing, changed their clothes, tried to escape from the north gate, and turned east to see if they could escape to the seaside of Tianjinwei. Or rendezvous with Wu Sangui who came to support from the east.

Because he has not planned to commit suicide and die for the country, he certainly will not kill his wife, Queen Zhou, nor will he kill Concubine Yuan Gui, his two daughters, and his widowed sister-in-law, Queen Zhang (the queen of Emperor Tianqi). The simple but sturdy carriage was driven by the eunuchs of Dongchang and Yumajian, trying to break out of the encirclement.

Even his three sons, he chose the three caves of the cunning rabbit. The prince Zhu Cihong was already 15 years old and could bear a little fatigue, so he took him with him personally, trying to break out and escape.

Ding Wang Zhu Cijiong and Yong Wang Zhu Cizhen were still young, only 11 years old and [-] years old respectively. They were thrown into the house of Zhou Kui, the head of the state, and Zhou Kui was hidden.

In this way, whether there is an accident on the way to break through or the way to hide on the spot, there will be another spare tire.

In the same way, the two daughters who were not killed by him were also dealt with separately by Chongzhen. Princess Kunxing was sixteen years old and could be transferred with the younger brother of the prince. Princess Zhaoren was only six years old and could not be transferred, so she hid with the third and fourth brothers. To the grandfather's house (Chongzhen's second son died early, and the two youngest sons who survived were ranked third and fourth).

Chongzhen just asked the old man to give an extra order: If he is found out and cannot keep it, he will kill his six-year-old granddaughter to avoid humiliation.

……

Chongzhen made all the arrangements that could be made. In the middle of the night, he climbed over the Meishan Mountain and broke out of the inner city from the north via Jishuitan (Shichahai).

The street fighting in the outer city was not over yet, and the Chuangjun was still looting frantically.

The soldiers and civilians of the Ming Dynasty did not have much will to resist. It was purely to prevent being robbed and killed. For their own interests and safety, they did not dare to put down their weapons for the time being.Only after Li Zicheng restrained the military discipline did these Ming officials dare to completely lay down their weapons.

This kind of confusion allowed Chongzhen to be confused for a while. In addition, Jishuitan was the northernmost unloading dock of the ancient Grand Canal, and the Tonghui River connected the canals from Tongzhou and Tianjin.

So after arriving at Jishuitan, you can break through the siege through the waterway of the boat.Shuimen was seldom blocked by rebels. After some chaos, Chongzhen really got out of the city.

However, Chongzhen's good luck ended here. It was impossible to hide the fact that hundreds of people went out of the city by boat. At that time, the thieves had no time to stop them, but there were also rogue soldiers on both sides of the Tonghui River. After witnessing all this, Report immediately.

In less than a quarter of an hour, Li Zicheng personally led the elite cavalry of his lineage and concentrated all his strength to chase after him.

Chongzhen and his party first fled downstream on the Tonghui River for a while. Seeing the dust behind them, Chongzhen also knew that he had been discovered. He thought the boat was slow, so he immediately abandoned the boat and went ashore, unloaded the horses and carriages, and galloped away.

After escaping for dozens of miles, after all, because these Jinyiwei and Dongchang people were not skilled in martial arts and slow, and Chongzhen himself was not used to riding horses, he could only ride in a carriage. He was overtaken by Li Zicheng's cavalry outside Tongzhou City and surrounded by groups.

"The survivors will not be killed! Put down your weapons quickly!"

Of course Chongzhen refused to surrender, and a bloody battle broke out between the two sides. The last few hundred royal guards and eunuchs were quickly killed more than a hundred people. It's quite a face.

"I am the Son of Heaven! Who dares to kill me!" Chongzhen was full of unwillingness, and stood on the carriage, waving the sword himself, waving it left and right, but he was caught by him and killed two or three thieves.

The dead were not weak in martial arts, but they were also caught off guard for a while. They didn't expect the emperor to fight in person. They wanted to capture him alive, but they were killed by Chongzhen suddenly.After all, the people around were frightened by the emperor's prestige, and stared at him curiously and nervously, not daring to step forward for a while.

Even though he has killed officials and rebelled, and has lived a life of licking blood for many years, the identity of the emperor is still very sacred and mysterious in the eyes of ordinary soldiers in ancient times.

Li Zicheng in the distance heard the movement here, but he was overjoyed: the emperor is indeed here!

With one eye on his head, he hurried forward on his horse with a strange shape, surrounded by elite guards on both sides: "Gu is Li Zicheng, King of Dashun! Chongzhen, you are not convinced now! Two months ago, Gu returned a letter to you, as long as you admit it I am in the northwest of Dashun Yongzhen, and I will not offend each other, so I will continue to recognize you as Zhengshuo, it is all right!

You have to overestimate your strength and kill more than [-] soldiers before you end up today!If you are willing to surrender now, Gu can still save your life, as long as you make an order to prevent Zhu Shuren from going north to invade! "

"Daydreaming! Thieves! You are a dog-like thing, and you are also worthy of being a widow? I will guard the gate of the country, and the king will die. If I die today, within ten months, Zhu Aiqing will kill you to avenge me! I expect me to be as spineless and delusional as Emperor Yingzong!"

Chongzhen was covered in blood (other people's blood), and cursed with a sword.

Li Zicheng was furious and wanted to surrender, but Song Xiance next to him said in a breathless voice, "My lord! The matter has come to this point, this is completely ruined, expecting to control Chongzhen to check and balance Zhu Shuren, I am afraid it will be difficult to control.

Fortunately, their group has been surrounded by our army. How will outsiders know what will happen here in the future?It's better to take the opportunity...and then only declare to the outside world that Chongzhen committed suicide, and then we choose a cowardly young son of Chongzhen to coerce Zhu Shuren, it's all right! "

Li Zicheng raised his eyebrows, thinking that this method is good.

In fact, in history, he also kept Zhu Cihong, the prince of Chongzhen, and kept it with him when he went to Shanhaiguan to fight Wu Sangui, trying to use Zhu Cihong's name to trick Wu Sangui into giving up resistance.

It's just that Wu Sangui had already joined forces with the Tartars at that time, and a kidnapped son of Chongzhen was useless at all.

But today's Zhu Shuren is different. Zhu Shuren is in the south, and it is impossible for him to seek refuge with the Tartars. He needs to establish a new identity.

Wouldn't it be easier to control Chongzhen's stubborn underage son than Chongzhen?

A stern look flashed in Li Zicheng's eyes, and he ordered Liu Zongmin beside him: "Go, capture Chongzhen alive, if you are afraid that he will resist, you can knock him out and capture him alive.

Then take everyone down, and ask where the Chongzhen masters are.If all the sons are there, then they cannot be killed indiscriminately. If there are still sons who are not there, then the present ones will be detained first and placed under house arrest in secret. After the other sons are found, the ones under house arrest today can be killed!If you can't find other scholars, you have to use what you caught today. "

Li Zicheng has already figured it out, if there is Chongzhen's son among the hundreds of people present today, then the other party will witness the death of his father, and it will be difficult to control in the future, at least there is a risk of leaking secrets.

But if Chongzhen's son is not here and can be found again in the future, things will be much easier - as long as the other sons of Chongzhen are found, all the royal relatives, eunuchs, and guards who are present today can be wiped out, and there is no proof.

At that time, it will be announced that Chongzhen committed suicide before the city was destroyed, and that the crown prince is Dashun who surrendered voluntarily, and no one can find evidence to the contrary.

After Liu Zongmin got the order, he didn't say a word, and rode his horse straight to Chongzhen with a mace in his hand.

"Where is the nameless thief! I am the Son of Heaven! Who dares to kill me! Uh..."

When Liu Zongmin attacked Chongzhen with a mace, Chongzhen swung his sword to resist. He didn't know martial arts, didn't know how to defend, and just stabbed the opponent's vitals.

Because Chongzhen never thought of the need to "defend" in his whole life, as the emperor, only he wanted to kill, how could anyone dare to resist?Those who know a little bit about martial arts will definitely have to dodge and block at this time, and will judge that "before I stab Liu Zongmin, Liu Zongmin's mace can kill me first."

Liu Zongmin originally planned that the opponent would block, and then he could change his moves to knock the opponent's weapon into the air and then knock him unconscious. Who knew that Chongzhen would change his life with him in a daze. If Liu Zongmin stopped, he would be beaten by Chongzhen instead. Hit the nail.

Liu Zongmin was immediately irritated, his head became hot, and he didn't have time to change his tactics. The mace stepped up and covered his head with a "poof", smashing Chongzhen's head like a watermelon burst.

Chongzhen's body fell straight, and there was nothing to rest his eyes on - his two eyeballs had already been splashed far away when his head was smashed and exploded.

Li Zicheng frowned, but he didn't blame Liu Zongmin too much: "What happened? Forget it, kill all these eunuchs and Jin Yiwei! Only say that Chongzhen committed suicide and died for the country!"

(End of this chapter)