Traveling through the Ming Dynasty, as soon as you open your eyes, you will die

Chapter 122 Zu Dashou’s Thoughts

The two brothers, Lu Mou and Prince Brother, stood at the top of the city and looked outside the pass. Soon, thick smoke and fire rose up from the land in western Liaoning, and continued to extend eastward.

In Jinzhou City, after Zu Dashou surrendered to the Manchus, he nominally led the Han army's Zhenghuang Banner commander, but the real power was in the hands of his cousin, the deputy commander Zu Dale, who truly served the Manchus wholeheartedly. Zu Dashou is actually under house arrest and surveillance.

Zu Dashou is not a real traitor. He was forced to surrender, but he was not sincere at all and still remembered the old kindness of the Ming Dynasty.

In history, when the envoys of the Southern Ming Dynasty Zuo Maodi and Chen Hongfan came to Beijing, he asked his son Zu Zepu to bring him a message: "If there is a slight chance, I will serve you."

When Huang Taiji recruited Zu Dashou to surrender, the real purpose was actually to recruit Wu Sangui to surrender. However, Zu Dashou wrote several letters to persuade Wu Sangui to surrender, but Wu Sangui firmly rejected them.

This time Wu Sangui received the edict from King Qin of Chongzhen and immediately abandoned Ningyuan and ran back to King Qin of Jing. Zu Dashou secretly dissuaded his cousin Zu Dale not to take the opportunity to occupy Ningyuan, so as to leave the last barrier for Shanhaiguan.

But Zu Dale was determined to follow the Manchus. He rejected Zu Dashou's opinion. As soon as Wu Sangui retreated, he immediately occupied Ningyuan, pushed his troops directly to Shanhaiguan, and began to plant crops outside Shanhaiguan.

Facing the increasingly dangerous Ming Dynasty, Zu Dashou, a veteran who had been in the army for fifty years and fought against the Jin and the Qing Dynasty for more than twenty years, could only sigh helplessly.

Facing his own veteran Guan Ning who could only huddle in Shanhaiguan, he could only give a long sigh when he hated him for not fighting.

On this day, I was sitting boredly in the yard. Suddenly, my adopted son Zukefa hurried in with a strange expression: "Father, something big happened outside."

In Zu Dashou's heart, he was closer to this adopted son than his own son, and he valued and appreciated him more.

Zu Dashou's face was expressionless and calm. He lay on the rocking chair and sipped tea. He said halfheartedly: "If something big happens outside, Zu Dalue, who has forgotten his ancestors, can take care of it. What does it have to do with me?"

Zuk Kefa was slightly excited. He walked a few steps and whispered in Zu Dashou's ear: "Guan Ning is counterattacking."

His already cloudy eyes suddenly lit up: "What? Guan Ning counterattack? What's going on?"

The changes in the Ming Dynasty were always paid attention to by Zu Dashou.

Especially this time, when the Qing soldiers were completely wiped out, Duozhi was devastated. Zu Dashou secretly held a banquet, saying that his most cherished cat had given birth to a kitten and wanted to celebrate with him. He invited all the descendants of the ancestors in the army to have a banquet, and finally got drunk. Drunk.

For this reason, the regent Dorgon also issued an urgent edict reprimanding the "incompatible times" for eight hundred miles.

Also, they lost 20,000 True Eight Banners and 40,000 Han Eight Banners, and the whole country was grieving, but here you are celebrating the full moon for a cat and getting drunk happily. What do you mean? I just think your old guy's insinuations are untrue.

Zukefa looked around cautiously, and then whispered again: "It is said that King Ding of the Ming Dynasty inspected Shanhaiguan and was very dissatisfied with Guan Ning's actions. At that time, he called Guan Ning a pussy."

Zu Dashou smiled bitterly: "To the point."

"As a result, Zhao Youhu was angered at that time."

"Zhao Youhu wouldn't have beaten that Prince Ding rashly, would he?"

"He didn't have the guts yet, but in order to prove that his Guan Ning was not a pussy, Zhao Youhu led 5,000 cavalry out of seclusion and went straight into western Liaoning."

Hearing this, Zu Dashou said softly but with excitement in his tone: "Zhao Youhu, indeed he has the teaching style of my old brother Zhao Lide." Then he asked: "Is he here to seize Ningyuan?"

Zukefa shook his head in disappointment: "No. Zhao Youhu led five thousand cavalry, just plundering the countryside, and had no intention of attacking the city."

Zu Dashou closed his eyes and said nothing, but a smile appeared on his lips.

Zukefa was a little disappointed: "Oh, Guan Ning is still a sick cat. It is a pity to leave Ning Yuan, who has no troops, to not attack, but to burn the defenseless people and loot their property."

Zu Dashou said leisurely: "Zhao Youhu burned and killed Liaoxi, what was the result?"

Zu Kefa replied: "They all burned and killed them, crossed Jinzhou, and reached the Daling River. During this period, my uncle Zu Dale sent troops to intercept them. As a result, Zhao Youhu ran back to Shanhaiguan without a fight."

"What's the damage?"

"Zhao Youhu's Guan Ning——"

"I'm asking about the losses suffered by the people in western Liaoning."

Zu Kefa was stunned for a moment, but he still answered truthfully: "Everywhere Zhao Youhu went, the people were killed, and all the houses and villages were burned. Western Liaoning suffered heavy losses."

Zu Dashou smiled. It was the first time since he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty that he laughed so heartily.

"Okay, this little King Ding has caused trouble as soon as he came. Isn't that good? By the way, how did your uncle deal with it?" "My uncle has ordered the Han army under the Zhenghuang Banner to be on alert and ready to respond to the enemy at any time."

Zu Dashou turned his head and ordered very seriously: "I order you, the two Mongolian regiments you lead must not act rashly. Don't act rashly. Do you understand?"

When Zu Dashou became the commander-in-chief of Jinzhou, the most powerful troops under his command were mainly composed of Mongolian fugitive slaves, the left and right battalions of Jiangyi, with a total of 1,000 men. ), led by Namuqi (clearly translated as Nomuqi).

Zu Dashou has always relied on it to fight. It is said that after the Battle of Dalinghe, Emperor Chongzhen believed that these Mongols "killed and ate, and fled first when defeated", which was useless, and twice asked Zu Dashou to kill them.

Zu Dashou's adopted son, Zu Kefa, heard about it and wrote a private letter to persuade his father not to kill the Mongols.

After the Mongols heard about this order, they prepared to launch a mutiny and capture Zu Dashou alive. When the incident was revealed, Zu Dashou said to Sang Ang: "I treat you like brothers, why are you like this?"

Sang Ang replied that he was saving himself, so Zu Dashou made an oath with him. The Mongolian and Han officers and soldiers in his army no longer had any suspicion, and the Gongtu disciples of the Chahar tribe under his command also participated in the oath.

When the later ancestor Dashou surrendered, Huang Taiji believed that the Mongolian soldiers who had not surrendered in Jinzhou were determined not to return to the Qing Dynasty, so he ordered them all to be killed (one theory is that they died in a fierce battle with the Qing army).

Prince Li of North Korea lamented: "Such loyalty and bravery are rare among the Chinese, and the bones are still piled up beside Dongchuan in Jinzhou." He also thought that Zu Dashou was ashamed of these Mongolian soldiers by sitting back and doing nothing.

However, Zu Dashou was not like this. Instead, he wrote to Huang Taiji, saying that the Mongolian tribes had surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and killing the Mongols again would arouse the hatred of the Mongolians such as Aohan in Liaoxi. Your disciples are raised in Guangning, the clan base of Zu Dashou, with a total of three thousand people, led by his adopted son Zu Kefa. He used his own private wealth to support him and became Zu Dashou's most die-hard follower.

This is also the reason why Zu Dashou has no use value and once betrayed Huang Taiji, but Huang Taiji could only place Zu Dashou under house arrest and did not dare to kill him.

When Zu Kefa heard his adoptive father's arrangement, he understood it and immediately promised: "My son will never act rashly."

Then he stood up and walked to the porch to tease a pair of beloved starlings.

After being admonished by Dorgon, Zu Dashou immediately stopped raising cats and started raising starlings instead. Myna can speak human language.

Zukefa followed. It was far away from the servants. Pretend to be funny and speak in a low voice, so that the people watching will not notice.

Zu Dashou fed Bage and whispered: "This little King Ding is a bit interesting. He captured Li Yan and fought back Li Guo. He eliminated the threat from the south of the Ming Dynasty and at Zijin Pass, he forced Li Chuang not to enter Zhili. . And recently, I don’t know what method was used to make Li Chuang leave the northwest and go to the south of the Yangtze River to cause trouble. There is a good show in Jiangnan. In this way, the entire crisis in Zhili has been completely resolved. Well, what a good method. .”

Zukefa also followed: "The greatest ability is to take advantage of crises. He actually changed Emperor Chongzhen's temperament and forced the court to implement the most beneficial reforms. Fundamentally, he changed the situation of the court."

Zu Dashou nodded: "And when he swept across the coast of Shandong and obtained Shouguang salt, it seemed that he was fighting for salt, but he extended his hand into Shandong and had his back to the sea, avoiding being attacked on both sides. He was really making a steady military move. ah."

After Zu Kefa whistled to amuse the birds, he whispered: "What I'm most optimistic about is that he actually persuaded the emperor to pretend to negotiate peace with the Qing Dynasty, which greatly delayed the Qing Dynasty and helped him continue to stabilize the entire Zhili. time."

Zu Dashou just said something human to Bage, and laughed deliberately, but he whispered: "This time, 60,000 Qing soldiers were wiped out, and it was even more obvious that the Ming Dynasty was brought back to life in his hands."

Zukefa smiled: "And when he first came to Shanhaiguan, he provoked Guan Ning to send troops to Liaoxi. Isn't he practicing Huang Taiji's method of exhausting the Ming Dynasty?"

Zu Dashou took out a bird and said loudly: "Since you like this bird, I will give it to you. But remember, this is a pair. They cannot be separated for a long time. They must be brought back from time to time to reunite them."

Zukefa saluted repeatedly: "I understand, I will play for two days and then send my adoptive father home."

Zu Dashou stroked his beard and said: "Ningyuan is the foundation of my ancestral family. Wu Sangui retreats and my ancestral tombs cannot be taken care of. Guan Ning suddenly attacks. I'm afraid that bastard prince will hate me for returning to the Qing Dynasty, thus disturbing my ancestral tombs to vent his anger. I will write to the regent." King, please allow me to take you back to Ningyuan. Firstly, even if my good nephew returns to Liaoxi and I guard Ningyuan, he will be embarrassed to attack me and let me help the Qing Dynasty. Secondly, I can protect our ancestors. The tomb is in peace.”

Zu Kefa repeatedly said: "I can still use my two battalions of Mongolians to stop Guan Ning from invading Liaoxi again. That will really kill two birds with one stone."

"Okay, then I will write to the regent now. I hope the regent will consider the favor of an old man who has returned home after his death."

He was writing a memorial here, but a carrier pigeon had already taken off in Jinzhou City, circled around, and flew directly to Shengjing.

When Zu Dashou slowly sealed the carefully worded letter, the Regent's 800-mile rush arrived.

"Zu Dashou, the commander-in-chief of the Zhenghuang Banner, led two battalions of his own soldiers and moved to Ningyuan to defend Guanning from invading Liaoxi."

Zu Dashou smiled, who said having spies around is a bad thing? Look at this, is it a good thing?

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(End of this chapter)