In one night of fierce fighting, more than 7,000 enemies were killed, and a few days of peace were obtained. Due to the heavy damage, the Yan army and the Tatar army reached a tacit agreement to temporarily stop attacking the city and instead besiege the city. At the same time, they sent troops to disperse and attack.
Yongping, Baoding, Zhending and other prefectures near Peiping plundered supplies and people to expand their military strength.
Even if the enemy did not attack the city, Wan Lei did not relax his vigilance. The army still took the time to train to improve its combat effectiveness and make adequate preparations for the next war.
Since the beginning of the war, although more than 10,000 enemies have been wiped out, the battle losses on our side have also been very serious. Nearly 10,000 people were killed or seriously injured and died, and nearly 5,000 people were seriously injured and disabled and could no longer fight. After excluding these 50,000 troops,
, the current strength of the defenders is just over 140,000, and this is already the limit of military expansion. Almost all the strong men in Beiping City have become armored men, and truly all the people are soldiers.
Different from the death of the defenders one by one, the enemy troops are outside the city and have the initiative. They can continuously recruit more men and even more Tatars to join the army. In short, the longer the battle drags on, the harder it will be for the defenders.
The army is getting worse and worse. The only thing we can hope for now is for the imperial court to send reinforcements north as soon as possible.
However, due to the cold air moving southward, heavy snow fell in the north. In this cold and freezing situation, even if reinforcements were sent out, they would not be able to arrive quickly. No, Tie Xuan wrote a victory report early and planned to report to the court
While reporting the victory, he also urged the court to send reinforcements quickly.
Due to the victory of the Peking Defense Battle, Wan Lei took great credit. Tie Xuan had already brought a seemingly good report to Wan Lei to avoid the uneven distribution of credit and cause the morale of the army to be disorganized. After yesterday's turmoil, he knew that Peking City
If you want to prevent chaos, you have to rely on thousands of "city lords" to hold the battle together, so you have to give them enough face, otherwise the entire city's soldiers and civilians will not be able to pass the test.
At this time, Wan Lei was discussing some future development blueprints with Taoist Sloppy. Seeing Tie Xuan coming, he had to take the time to see him. Tie Xuan didn't waste any time and directly handed over the prepared news and asked for Wan Lei's opinion.
, if you have an opinion, you should do it, if you don’t, just report it as such.
Is it worth writing a victory report after fighting a tragic victory? Wan Lei was a little stunned, but what he didn't know was that from an economic point of view, the Ming army did not gain any advantage by accompanying each other; but from a sociological point of view,
To put it bluntly, the defenders won because the Central Plains Dynasty had a large number of people. As long as they did not lose the city or territory, they could afford to accompany them not only with one, but also with five.
"Well, I don't need to remember my contribution. It's useless anyway. Let's share it among the soldiers who participated in the war. By the way, the victory of this war is inseparable from the support of many people in the city, such as
Speaking of Zhao Lichang of Zhaozhuang, he provided the kerosene for free, and this credit should be recorded. There are also the elders in each township who actively encouraged their sons and nephews to join the army, and also took the initiative to help build the city. These credits should be recorded.
If the court gives a reward, it should be given to them first. After all, their home was destroyed and they need more help from the court." Wan Lei said this and gave up the first credit to himself.
"This is natural, but it is obvious to all that my nephew worked hard to defend the city. If he does not report the truth, I am afraid that the entire city's soldiers and civilians will not be convinced." Tie Xuan said again.
"Master Tie, I know my own affairs. If you write my name, this good news will definitely not be rewarded by the court, but will attract more criticism." Wan Lei shook his head and smiled bitterly. He was not willing to give up the credit.
So what if you don't give it up to others? The last few times you performed great merits, you were punished but not rewarded. It must be the same this time. There are merits but no rewards, only punishment.
Since you can't get something yourself, just be generous and sell it to others as a favor. In the end, you can get a good reputation for being honest and upright, so that you won't get nothing in vain.
Of course, Wan Lei knew that the more meritorious he was without reward, the higher his popularity would be, and the more people who had no good impressions of the emperor would sympathize with him and move closer to him, represented by the sloppy Taoist priest. If he could get rid of those who were dismissed
The forces that the emperor had suppressed were gathered together, and it was a force that shook the world. At that time, the emperor was just a bird.
"My dear nephew, you are worrying too much. Your Majesty is wise, and you will never go unrewarded." Tie Xuan also tried to persuade him. In fact, the reason why he insisted on letting Wan Lei take the lead was to win people's hearts. After all, he is still facing a formidable enemy.
, the human heart cannot be chaotic.
"Holy Majesty?" Wan Lei smiled slightly and said without comment, "This matter has been settled. As for the military and civilians who have any objections, I will come forward to clarify. You don't have to worry."
Since Wan Lei had promised to come forward to clarify the facts, Tie Xuan said no more and went back with the good news to revise it. However, the sloppy Taoist priest looked at Wan Lei in silence, seeming very puzzled.
"If you want to establish yourself, you can establish others; if you want to achieve yourself, you can reach others. What Confucius said is very reasonable." Wan Lei made a pun, and then said: "I have said that the reform of Taoism is to make Taoism more relevant.
People, of course, if you want more people to accept it, you have to bring tangible benefits to them."
"What's the benefit? Is it possible for me to teach people to pretend to be gods and ghosts like Buddhism to create such false things to deceive the people?" The sloppy Taoist frowned.
"Although it is said that everything will be empty after death, the world is difficult and living is not easy. People need a kind of sustenance, hoping to live in a world without hunger, cold and oppression after death. This world is paradise. Of course, there are
Some evil people specialize in bullying men and dominating women. People hope that such people will not die well, so people hope that there will be a hell to imprison these evil people."
"Therefore, the two extremes of heaven and hell appear in people's consciousness. We should cater to this consciousness and construct the heaven and hell that people think of, so that good people who do good deeds can go to heaven, and evil people who do evil can go to hell.
hell."
Wan Lei glanced meaningfully at the sloppy Taoist Priest, and saw that his brows were still not relaxed, and then said: "There are many kinds of benefits, one is spiritual benefits, and the other is material benefits. The spiritual benefit is death.
The sorrow and glory in the future. As for the material things, they are the blessings and blessings in this life. If we have the ability to make people's lives better, the people will naturally be willing to believe in us."
"Cultivation of Taoism can cure diseases and reduce disasters, and it can also prolong life. If you attain Taoism, you can live forever and become immortals. Doesn't this also make people's lives better?" the sloppy Taoist priest said again.
"Well, although what you say is true, Taoism seems beautiful, but the threshold is too high. Ordinary people can't even eat enough, so why bother to practice it? So, if you want to expand the influence of Taoism, you must
Lower the threshold appropriately."
“If we lower the threshold, wouldn’t it mean that there is a mixed bag of good and bad things, and chaos abounds?”
"Sometimes it is better to have problems than no problems. Now that Taoism is in decline, it has reached a critical juncture of survival. If you continue to hold on to the old rules and refuse to let them go, you will only die. In addition, lowering the threshold does not mean that there are no rules. To the outside world,
Open up, and set up a strict hierarchy internally, with one layer of management and one layer at a time, so that a stable pyramid-like structure can be formed. The more people who believe in Taoism, the bigger and more indestructible the pyramid of Taoism will be."
"Is this really possible?"
"Whether it is a mule or a horse, we will know if we take it out for a walk. However, the most important thing now is to establish rules. The old Taoist classics are too difficult to understand, and people who have just joined the religion cannot understand them at all, so they must be simplified
and popularization. The new teachings only need to explain simple issues such as the Tao of everything in heaven and earth, the Tao of human beings, and the fact that the Tao can promote the progress of human society."
"Isn't this too simple? I teach countless scriptures. If I don't quote the old scriptures, I'm afraid my fellow practitioners will accuse me of slandering the Tao."
"Tao can be Tao, but Tao is very Tao. Even the sages could not explain what Tao is. Who among today's people can say that what they have in their heart is Tao and what others have is not?" Wan Lei said nonchalantly. In fact, when the sloppy Taoist came to see him,
He, he wanted to take this opportunity to turn Taoism into an organization similar to Freemasonry, so he was so active in giving advice to the sloppy Taoist priest.
Freemasonry is not actually a religious organization, but a community of interests formed by the so-called "human elites". Therefore, on the one hand, Wan Lei wants to change the rules of Taoism and expand its mass base; on the other hand, he also needs to change its teachings
, downplaying its religious nature, and linking respect for Taoism and virtue with the research of science and technology to improve people's livelihood; in the future, Taoist priests who join the religion will no longer be liars who set up stalls and tell fortunes, but researchers.
In fact, Taoism has always taken Tao as its research object. The changes Wan Lei is making now are not to subvert Taoism, but to bring Taoism onto the right track of studying "Tao", such as astronomy, geography, chemistry, physics, and biology.
, medicine, these are all branches of "Tao", and studying these is the study of "Tao".
Wan Lei also thought about popularizing science and technology education among the common people, but after thinking about it carefully, he rejected it. Because in the Ming Dynasty, not many people could afford to study, and those who could afford to study took the imperial examination as their main job.
Their Golden House and Yan Ruyu can only be found in the Four Books and Five Classics.
Physics and Chemistry? What is it and can it be eaten?
The Taoist priests are different. These people have nothing to do all day long. Instead of letting them meditate and chant sutras all day long, it is better to let them use their good life to study various science and technology that are closely related to human beings. Once the research results are produced, they can be transformed into productivity.
, and can also be converted into wealth.
When Taoism has mastered enough technologies and "patents", is it still afraid that social wealth will not flow to it, and that ordinary people will not follow suit? In this way, Taoism has entered a virtuous cycle and can expand rapidly like a snowball.
, anyone who dares to block the "road" will either be coerced into one of the "rivers of decline", or be crushed into pieces like a mantis in a chariot, and the supreme imperial power is no exception.
Of course, everything is difficult at the beginning. Adhering to the idea of establishing oneself and others, Wan Lei not only makes suggestions for the reform of Taoism, but is also prepared to inject capital for early investment, and even transfer certain "technologies" for free.
Let New Taoism grow bigger and stronger quickly.
Seeing that Wan Lei's chest was full of bamboos, the sloppy Taoist priest still had many opinions, but in the end he had nothing to say when he finally heard that Wan Lei said that he would try to promote the new religion in Shuntianfu area first and see the situation before spreading it more widely.
Well, anyway, he only needs to be the "leader" in name, and Wan Lei is the one who really does the work.