Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 197 Either die in battle or be reborn

No one expected that after Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian saw Lu Daqi, Governor of Henan Province, instead of encouraging Lu Daqi first, he directly taught Lu Daqi severely.

Lu Daqi himself did not expect that he was just expressing his determination to live and die with Henan, but was so reprimanded by His Majesty Zhu Youjian face to face, Lu Daqi didn't know how to speak for a while.

"I know that you are under a lot of pressure. Seeing that the land of several prefectures in Henan is lost in your hands, and the fierce offensive of the Duoduo tribe makes you unable to withstand it, which makes you very disheartened now, but as a minister of the land, the last thing you should do at this time Some of them are self-defeating and self-defeating, you can die and leave a reputation for death, but if you do this, you are abandoning the thousands of people in Henan after you, and where are you abandoning me and Daming!"

Zhu Youjian said earnestly that this is what he hates most about civil servants, especially the so-called loyal officials. There were really many such loyal officials in the late Ming Dynasty. It seems that the country will be defeated and the dynasty will change. Then use the full section name of death.

In this era, even if Zhu Youjian intends to raise the status of the military officer, it is not a matter of overnight. Basically, there are still many civil servants who control the military aircraft, which means that the civil servant group is still the most powerful group in the empire.

However, if even the civil servants who ruled the entire southern bloc, namely the Ming Empire, had no confidence in being able to repel the Tartars, and blindly dealt with the current situation with the idea that the worst would be suicide, then it was impossible for the Ming Dynasty to perish.

"As Your Majesty said, I really didn't expect Duoduo's offensive to be so fierce. The artillery of Geng Zhongming, Kong Youde and other traitors is very sharp. Ruzhou, Xingzhou and other fortified cities were destroyed overnight, and their cavalry is unnecessary. It is said that under the vertical and horizontal conditions, almost every village is slaughtered, and every house is burned. The soldiers under the subordinates can neither stick to the city nor go out to fight in the field. Up to now, the humble officials have no ambition to guard the land, but have no ability to guard the land. !Perhaps it is really difficult for a humble official to have the talent to help the world, Your Majesty can dismiss the humble official and choose another talented person!"

Lu Daqi cried bitterly and said that the continuous resistance of the Duduo Department of the Qing Army had destroyed his self-confidence. Now that Zhu Youjian would not let him commit suicide, he had no choice but to hope that Zhu Youjian would re-appoint and remove others on the grounds of his own incompetence. .

It has always been a taboo for military strategists to change generals before the battle, and Zhu Youjian knows this truth from the beginning.

Nowadays, there are few court officials who really understand the military. Yuan Jixian has to assist Huang Degong to defend Jiangxi, and Ma Shiying has to be in the middle. Appointed, and more clear about the defense of Jiangbei and Jiangnan, it is impossible for Zhu Youjian to transfer him to guard Henan.

Officials such as Li Banghua, Lu Zhenfei, and Li Mingrui could only display their political talents by following veterans such as Zhou Yuji, Liu Fangliang, and He Xin, the commander-in-chief of the Guards, and they had no experience in leading the army alone.

Therefore, now only Lu Daqi, a Sichuan guy who has led soldiers, can be said to be the most suitable person for desperate resistance to the Qing army in Henan.

It is not without reason that Zhu Youjian thought Lu Daqi was the governor of Henan and chief military officer even though he was a member of the Donglin Party.

As early as when Lu Daqi returned to his hometown for leave in the tenth year of Chongzhen, he had the achievements of assisting the county magistrate to guard the city of Suining. Later, he served in the border town for four years. In the 15th year of Chongzhen, under the decree of serving the king, many armies were defeated by Li Zicheng, but Lu Daqi's department had nothing to lose.

It can be seen from this that it is not that Lu Daqi has no military ability, perhaps if he is more confident and serious, his achievements should not be inferior to Lu Xiangsheng, Hong Chengchou and others.

But Lu Daqi's character is like this, he will shirk whenever he encounters a major event. In the 15th year of Chongzhen, he shirked the position of the right servant of the Ministry of War because he saw the chaos in the world, and he was afraid of taking responsibility.

Seeing that Henan is not safe now, and only thinks of committing suicide or quitting the picker, Zhu Youjian didn't know what to say for a while.

Of course, what Zhu Youjian had to admit was that he was also to blame for this. He, the emperor, killed many ministers back then, and even many of them were killed in vain. For example, Chen Xinjia made the officials not afraid of the Qing soldiers and Chongzhen.

Zhu Youjian couldn't help but took a long breath, and gave up the idea of ​​killing Lu Daqi because of anger, and didn't intend to change generals, but just patted Lu Daqi on the shoulder.

Then, Chongzhen Zhu Youjian waved to Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, He Xin and others:
"From now on, don't talk about whether you can do it yourself or whether you have the ability to hold the territory. Now that the big battle has come, it is a big taboo for military strategists to change generals. Since you are in your position, you need to plan your own affairs. No matter what you can do, no matter how wise you are, you need to have a lonely courage and swear to the end. You, Lu Daqi, have only two results now, either you die in battle, or you return to Beijing to be sealed!

Other ways to die are sorry to me, sorry to Daming's way of death!The same is true for you, regardless of whether Daming will perish in the future, we only have two outcomes, either die in battle or be reborn!The same is true for me, either die in battle or be reborn! "

After Zhu Youjian said that, he personally took the map from Li Ruolian, the commander of Jinyiwei, and said: "Your Lu Daqi is not so useless, at least the Duoduo Department has not entered Kaifeng City, and the Hulao Pass has not been lost. There is still something to defend, so you don't have to blame others anymore, let's think of a way together, how to defend better!"

After speaking, Zhu Youjian asked Lu Daqi to introduce the current specific situation. Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, He Xin, etc. also listened carefully. It seemed that because of the calmness and stability of Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian, all the officials present were calm. Quite a lot.

"It's all because your Majesty had the foresight to predict that Duoduo would attack Hulao Pass. Hulao Pass has been re-fortified since last year, according to His Majesty's orders. There are three lines of defense inside and outside, and there are many ditches. Therefore, even if Duoduo has the artillery assistance of Geng Zhongming, it will be difficult to conquer for a while, but at present, two lines of defense have been broken. It is only a matter of time before Hulao Pass is lost. After opening the seal, the city of Kaifeng has been severely damaged, and the fort has not been fully built, so it can only be filled with the lives of soldiers and civilians!"

As Lu Daqi spoke, he continued: "In addition, the Qing army on the south route has occupied Wuyang, and the Qing army on the central route has occupied Yuzhou. Once the Duoduo army captures Hulao Pass, there will be three routes to encircle Kaifeng. What I want now is to defend Kaifeng, but not to stick to it. When the three-way encirclement of Duoduo's army is about to happen, I will immediately abandon Kaifeng and then retreat to Guide. With the madness of the Qing army, I will not let go of the main force of our Henan officers and soldiers, and attack first. Runing."

"Then if Duoduo doesn't fall for the trap, what if he attacks Runing first, marches from Luzhou to Quzhou, and then enters Jiangnan?" Shi Kefa couldn't help asking.

"Luzhou has the Third Army of the Guards, and if Duoduo turns to attack Runing, it will make the journey to the south of the Yangtze River longer. In this way, there is no need to stick to Henan. What I am most worried about now is that he will march from Guide and go directly to the south of the Yangtze River. Fengyang, the central capital, and then go directly to Jiangnan!"

Zhu Youjian said to Lu Daqi: "It's wise for you to focus on Guide City, and now you have to immediately evacuate all manpower and material resources and concentrate on Guide. Yes, there is a foundation to defend. Now you need to estimate how long it will take to mobilize resources to Guide, then plan how long it will take to defend Kaifeng, and then how many days you will have to guard Hulao Pass. Don’t really want to go to Hulao Pass. Spell it out."

"Wei Chen is indeed making arrangements according to what His Majesty said. Most of the money and food have arrived in Kaifeng one after another, and most of the troops have also been concentrated here, and they have begun to transfer to Guide Mansion three days ago! The person guarding Hulao is the guerrilla Zhang Keliang, This minister is kind to this man, he has always been very obedient to this minister, I have ordered him to guard the Hulao pass, even if they all die in battle, he will never back down!"

When Lu Daqi said this, Zhu Youjian couldn't help saying: "It's broken!"

(End of this chapter)