In the twelfth year of Chongzhen, on the tenth day of March, in the Palace of Qianqing, the Forbidden City in Beijing.
Emperor Chongzhen was angry, so the Qing army turned from Jinan to plunder Shandong, and even attacked Jinan Prefecture. The king of virtue Zhu Youshu, the prince of the county Zhu Cizhen, the general of Fengguo Zhu Cishang and other royal family members were all captured.
The situation was so rotten that the Qing army seemed to be in an uninhabited land during the great Ming Dynasty. Could it be that none of the Ming officials and generals could stop the Qing army?
When the military situation in Shandong was critical, the imperial court dispatched Zu Kuan as the commander-in-chief of the Suppression Campaign, with orders to support Shandong operations. Unexpectedly, he was also afraid of the Qing army's strength, so he stayed behind and followed the Qing army, going round and round, without success. Not seen!
At this time, Emperor Chongzhen was filled with resentment. The Qing army had plundered hundreds of thousands of Ming people, including cattle, sheep, grain, gold, silver and silk.
Sun Chuanting, Chen Xinjia, and Liu Yuliang led more than 100,000 troops, but they could not stop him. Emperor Chongzhen had nowhere to vent his anger.
The emperor was furious with thunder, and all the maids around him were trembling with fear. No one dared to express their anger, for fear of harming the fish in the pond.
At this moment, Emperor Chongzhen suddenly listened carefully, and bursts of cheers and cheers came from outside the palace. The sounds became louder and louder, getting closer, and it seemed that the people in the entire capital were cheering.
He listened carefully again, but he couldn't hear the content clearly.
I was wondering in my heart, since the battle of Julu, there have been endless defeats and defeats. Now that the Qing army has returned north, it is still unstoppable. Even if there is a small victory occasionally, it will only kill hundreds of slaves and will not help the big issue.
Not long ago, a good news was reported from the north. When they arrived at Xuanzang Town, Zhang Cheng killed the slave traitor and auxiliary Duke Ma Zhan, but the body was not recovered, and I don't know if he was greedy for merit and falsely reported.
What happened today that made the people in the capital excited, and why did the palace dare to make such a noise?
When Emperor Chongzhen was about to send someone to take a look, Wang Dehua, the eunuch in charge of the ceremonial department, rushed over. He held a letter of victory in his hand and shouted: "Your Majesty, a great victory...a great victory..."
Seeing Wang Dehua running towards him, Emperor Chongzhen suddenly panicked and asked eagerly: "What... a great victory...?"
"What a great victory! Your Majesty..."
"What great victory?"
Wang Dehua was panting and his words were a little incoherent. Finally, he shouted: "The latest report from Chen Xinjia, Governor of Xuanda, Sun Chuanting, Chen Xinjia, and Zu Dashou joined forces to attack the Dongnu camp at night.
He killed more than 3,000 slave thieves and rescued more than 100,000 captive people. Zhang Cheng, the guerrilla guerrilla in Xuanzang, even killed the commander of the Dongnu right-wing army. General Yang Wu set a red flag to secure the mountains and Zhenbeile Yuetuo...
Now... now... the whole city is shaking... Your Majesty!"
Emperor Chongzhen shivered and took the Jiewen from Wang Dehua's hand. He read Chen Xinjia's memorials over and over again, and he was also out of breath.
"This, this...that's right...quickly...quickly send word to Yang Aiqing to come see me."
After Wang Dehua ran away, Emperor Chongzhen held Jiewen and walked back and forth in the pavilion, restless. Sometimes he stopped in front of the window and looked at the sky, with tears streaming down his face. Sometimes he shouted loudly, showing that he was extremely excited.
Soon, Yang Sichang hurried over. Before dawn today, he received a letter reporting victory from Chen Xinjia. The content was more detailed than the letter in the hand of Emperor Chongzhen. After hearing the emperor's summons, Yang Sichang Knowing what was going on, he rushed over without daring to delay.
After Yang Sichang kowtowed, Emperor Chongzhen asked him to get up and talk, and gave him a chair to sit on.
Emperor Chongzhen had unconditional trust in Yang Sichang. The Qing army invaded Jinan and captured the king of virtue Zhu Youshu, the prince of the county Zhu Cizheng, the general of Fengguo Zhu Cishang and other royal families. In fact, Yang Sichang made some omissions.
It was he who judged that Dezhou was the route for the Qing army to go south, and sent word to Shandong Governor Yan Jizu to lead his troops to guard it. As a result, the Qing army bypassed Dezhou and crossed the river from Linqing to cross the river and plunged directly into Jinan City.
At that time, there were only 500 rural soldiers in Jinan City and 700 reinforcements from Laizhou. Although the defenders resisted the city and fought to the death, the city quickly fell under the fierce attack of tens of thousands of Qing soldiers. Many people died in street fighting. Finally, King De and all the people were captured.
captured.
But even so, Emperor Chongzhen's trust in Yang Sichang's favor did not change at all, which made Yang Sichang burst into tears of gratitude and became even more respectful in front of the emperor.
After seeing Yang Sichang sit down, Emperor Chongzhen handed Chen Xinjia's victory report to Yang Sichang and asked anxiously: "My dear, do you think Chen Xinjia's victory report is true?"
Yang Sichang thought and telegraphed. In fact, Chen Xinjia had already given him a more detailed report of his success. A few days ago, he raided the slave bandits and killed the auxiliary Duke Ma Zhan. This was also the first time the letter was passed to Yang Sichang.
Therefore, Yang Sichang received far more information than Emperor Chongzhen, and it was more true, but he still stood up with a respectful expression on his face and said: "Your Majesty, Chen Xinjia is thinking of your Majesty. He has such special merits, so he must report it urgently."
Come, I think there is nothing wrong with coming. I estimate that there will be good news from Sun Chuanting in the near future.
The good news from various places, including the number of heads captured by Dongnu, may occasionally be fictitious. However, the fact that the formation killed the commander of Dongnu's right-wing army, Nu Chief Yuetuo, was of great importance. Chen Xinjia and the others absolutely did not dare to fake it.
And as Jie Wen said, Zhang Cheng even captured the body of the slave chief Yue Tuo, and when the Ministry of War examines it, it will know whether it is true or false!"
Emperor Chongzhen walked back and forth in the pavilion with a smile on his face: "What a Zhang Cheng, what a Zhang Cheng! This time I entered the defense, and even reported victory. If I remember correctly, we fought consecutively in Mafang, Shiqiao, and Gaoyang.
According to what Ai Qing said, the defeat of Julu was due to the slaves and thieves being too powerful, not a crime of war. Moreover, this Julu was also the heaviest slave to behead, and Paul Lu Xiangsheng broke through the encirclement. He was actually loyal and brave.
Now, we have killed Ma Zhan, the auxiliary duke of Dongnu, and Yue Tuo, the leader of the army, and especially Yue Tuo's body has been captured. Hum, a great victory, the morale of the army and the people is boiling, which is enough to comfort our second ancestors!"
Yang Sichang adjusted his clothes and prostrated himself on the ground: "It is thanks to the power of God and the dedication of the soldiers that we can achieve such a great victory. I would like to congratulate the emperor and congratulate the Ming Dynasty!"
Tears rolled down his face and he burst into tears.
Emperor Chongzhen was moved and said softly: "My beloved, please rise!"
Yang Sichang burst into tears. Seeing him like this, Emperor Chongzhen was very satisfied. He said: "Chen Xinjia, Sun Chuanting and others have achieved great success, especially Zhang Chenggang for such extraordinary achievements. In your opinion, how should we commend him?"
Yang Sichang said: "Chen Xinjia and Sun Chuanting served the country loyally, and General Zhang Cheng killed the slave chiefs. We need to commend them so that they can make new contributions to the emperor!"
He added: "However, the good news is coming, and the military achievements have not yet been verified. I think it needs to be carefully verified before making a decision."
After Yang Sichang exited the Qianqing Palace, he walked far away and still heard the cheerful laughter of the emperor in the palace.
As soon as he returned to the cabinet, he received a document reporting victory from Sun Chuanting. Yang Sichang took the document in his hand, thought about it for a while, reached out and lifted up a pile of official documents on the table, inserted it, and kept it underneath.