In the courtyard next door, after listening to the reports from the scouts stationed outside, Song Xiance put down his tea cup and said to Yang Boxian: "It seems that Song's guess is right. This general named Jiang is nothing."
After Song Xiance surrendered to Chongzhen, he asked people privately about what happened in the city before, and he learned that Jiang Yu led the troops to kill Zhang Tianlin and Ke Tianxiang.
He was originally Li Zicheng's trusted military advisor. He had been with the army for a long time and naturally knew many secrets in the army.
Li Zicheng once faced off against the late Shanxi general Zhou Yuji in Daizhou. He encountered strong resistance from the Ming army led by him, and the war was ruined for a time. After the Shun army fought desperately and suffered heavy casualties, they finally broke through Ningwuguan, but Zhou Yuji still led the army with
The remaining followers continued to fight with the Shun army in the streets, vowing to fight to the death.
Even though he was heavy with arrows and was captured, he still cursed Li Zicheng. Li Zicheng was so angry that he ordered his soldiers to hang Zhou Yuji on a high pole and shoot him to death with random arrows, and then cut his body into pieces and fed them to wild dogs. Zhou Yuji's wife was guarding the official office.
Liu and dozens of women were set on fire and burned to death.
As this was not enough, Li Zicheng said, "Then Ningwu was slaughtered, leaving all the infants and children alive", and the Shun army began to massacre the city. Many people were killed, and not one of the ten households was left alive.
Zhou Yuji's incident made Li Zicheng murderous. Even though the later Datong general Jiang Yu did not resist and chose to surrender, Li Zicheng still wanted to kill him.
The strange thing is that the person who persuaded Li Zicheng to save Jiang Yu's life was actually Zhang Tianlin. Song Xiance was present at the time and knew everything about what happened.
Regardless of whether Zhang, Ke and Jiang Quan were at odds with each other during their stay in Datong, or whether they openly suppressed him, Zhang was always benevolent to Jiang.
Song Xiance, who knew this, had a very low opinion of Jiang Quan. He was "unfaithful, unjust, unfilial and unkind", and he was indeed a villain in the world. Fortunately, Long Live Lord has a great mind and eyes like a mirror, otherwise he would still be a traitor.
I really need to find a way to give a verbal reminder.
"Commander Yang, something has happened here. Let's hurry up and return to the Lord Long Live."
"good."
....
On the east gate tower, Chongzhen had put on his armor and stood side by side with Wang Jinchao by the city wall.
Since he chose to head towards Shanxi and finally settled in Xuanda according to the situation, he has calculated numerous strategies during this period.
No matter which one he chooses, the first step is to monopolize the military power and strengthen the Central Forbidden Army. Otherwise, he will be played by warlords and civilian officials wherever he goes. This is why he is determined not to return south first.
.
Even though his memory of later generations was not clear about the historical development of the south, it is not difficult for a discerning person to see that the governor and general soldiers who still have more than 200,000 officers and soldiers, as well as the Donglin Party members in the Jiangnan base camp, are already in great difficulty.
Those who work together can easily evade the imperial power.
It would be foolish to distinguish between loyal and traitorous people and rely on them. Chongzhen did not want to. The memory of later generations taught him a truth, "The truth is only within the range of a cannon."
Just now, the sentry scouts came to report that Qing troops were found stationed near Baishan Mountain. Judging from the size of the camp, there were about three thousand people.
Combining the information provided by the Imperial Detective Division, it can be seen that Jiang Quan had secretly communicated with the Qing army. This group of about 3,000 Qing troops was the frontline force and wanted to recruit and surrender.
Chongzhen raised his hand and pointed toward the outside of the city wall, and asked: "When the king enters the dynasty, if he divides his troops to attack the enemy camp at night, is there any chance of victory?"
Wang Jinchao said bluntly: "Your Majesty, the enemy camp is well-defended and a night attack may not be effective." After saying this, he quickly looked at Chongzhen's expression.
After hearing this, Chongzhen was not satisfied with this. In the past, Wang Jinchao's outspokenness would have been accused of being passive and lazy in fighting. He himself often offended his superiors for this.
However, as Chongzhen "talked about war on paper" for a long time, through comparison and comparison in this and later generations, the current Ming Emperor has his own understanding of war.
In fact, a night attack is a military operation that is very demanding on our own soldiers. It not only tests the military literacy of the lower-level soldiers and the organizational skills of the non-commissioned officers, but also requires the general to understand the right time and place. Even if the above requirements are met, the enemy's cooperation is still required. It just so happens that
In a state of lightness and unpreparedness.
Wang Jinchao was worried that His Majesty might misunderstand him, and was just about to say something to smooth things over, when he heard Chongzhen explain his views on the night attack. Although some of the words were unfamiliar, the general meaning was clear.
It seems that Your Majesty has worked hard on the matter of commanding troops.
Emperors who have always known military skills are all heroes. Wang Jinchao couldn't help but feel a little strange to the majesty in front of him. When did your majesty learn this?
"From now on, when it comes to war, I will be as outspoken as I am now. I don't need empty words or nice words, I just want the truth."
"Yes." Wang Jinchao nodded in agreement, feeling filled with emotion.
"I don't know what price Jiang Quan sold me for. Wang Jinchao, will you have the guts to accompany me out of the city later?"
Although Wang Jinchao did not know why he left the city, His Majesty planned to go there in person, how could he be a cowardless person?
"This subordinate is sworn to protect Long Live Master Zhou Quan to the death."
.....
Half an hour later, Wang Chengen hurried to the city gate. After being informed by the guards, he was able to meet Chongzhen and handed over the note in his hand.
A few drops of blood were stained on the note, and the writing was blurred. It seemed that Yang Zhenwei and Jiang Quan had revealed all the details of the conspiracy with the Qing army.
Chongzhen put the note away and noticed that Wang Chengen also had blood stains on his body. He smiled and said: "I can just leave these dirty jobs to my subordinates. Why do I need my Wang Daban to do it himself?"
The life-and-death relationship between master and slave is unusual, and Chongzhen's jokes are actually out of concern.
Wang Cheng'en saluted gratefully and replied: "If the affairs of the Long Live Lord are in the hands of slaves, they will be big things. We can't rest assured if they are left to the servants."
Although Wang Chengen was nowhere to be seen on weekdays, he did a lot of things, and the dark circles appeared on his face. Chongzhen saw it in his eyes and remembered it in his heart.
"Look at your haggard look, go home and go to bed. I order you to dry your butt in the sun tomorrow before going out." Chongzhen scolded with a smile, and got on a fast horse.
"Long live the Lord said, this slave must accept his punishment." Wang Chengen hurriedly accepted the punishment, and in the blink of an eye he saw Chongzhen riding a horse, followed by only ten cavalry, leaving the city lightly.
"Alas..." Wang Cheng'en sighed. It was not uncommon for Long Live Lord to be personally involved in danger. There was no way he could be persuaded. The only thing our family could do was to pray for God's blessing.
.......
At Hai hour, it will be dusk.
On a slope ten miles east of Datong Fucheng, Wu Weihua was waiting on horseback. Next to him stood a military general with an extremely impatient expression. Judging from his dress and iconic pigtails, he was undoubtedly a Jurchen from Jianzhou.
Wu Weihua was ostensibly the leader of this group of vanguard troops, but in fact he was just a Han translator. The real master was the Manchu next to him.
This man's name was Manba. He was originally a Goshiha (Manchu personal guard) under Azig, and was later promoted to Melezhangjing (deputy general) in the Hedu Army.
Manba didn't speak Chinese very well, so he was a little impatient after waiting for a long time, but due to the inconvenience of communication, he endured it.
After a while, Manba slapped the flying insect lying on his face to death and put it into his mouth, and asked in broken Chinese: "Wu, when is the emperor?"
Wu Weihua knew what he meant. Suddenly his eyes flashed, and he pointed to the light ahead and said excitedly: "Commander Eight, look!"
Manba had excellent night vision. He looked in the direction and counted ten people on horseback coming from the opposite direction.
"Ready...be prepared." Manba immediately ordered the Han banner soldiers nearby to be on guard and disperse in all directions. Manba carefully led a hundred people here, just in case.
Seeing that the person was getting closer, Wu Weihua shouted: "If you come, stay."
So the Qingqi on the opposite side slowly stopped on the other side of the slope, with ten steps between them.
Everyone was holding torches, and their faces could be seen clearly. Wu Weihua looked left and right, but he could not see his acquaintance Yang Zhenwei, so he asked anxiously: "Where is General Yang? Why didn't he come?"
Chongzhen took a step forward and said, "Isn't it enough for Jiang to come in person?"
When Wu Weihua heard that this person turned out to be Jiang Yu, he felt relieved. Yang Zhenwei might have other things, so he continued: "It turns out to be Mr. Jiang. Wu has admired him for a long time, but he didn't know what Mr. Jiang promised us..." Wu Weihua
Deliberately dragging on and not finishing the sentence.
Chongzhen said "Oh", touched his forehead, and said with a forgotten expression: "You said Emperor Chongzhen is being locked up in the camp."
"Why didn't Mr. Jiang bring him here?" Wu Weihua asked doubtfully.
"Yang Zhenwei didn't speak clearly before, so I agreed in a daze. It's not appropriate."
"Master Jiang, do you mean to regret?" Although Manba's Chinese is not good, he understands what "regret" means. He carefully observed the person speaking opposite and felt that there was something familiar about him.
"Reverse...will you?" Manba repeated the word "repent" and asked Wu Weihua.
Before Wu Weihua could speak, Chongzhen put his elbow on the horse's back, leaned forward and stared at Manba with squinted eyes, and asked: "Hey! Are you a Tatar?"
Manba knew that the person opposite was belittling him but didn't take it seriously. The hunter's intuition told him that this person was not simple. He was wondering who else had given him this feeling.
When Wu Weihua heard Jiang Yu's rude words, he quickly tried to smooth things over.
"This is the eighth commander of the Barbarians."
Chongzhen and Manba looked at each other for a while, then waved their hands in disappointment, turned their horses' heads and said, "I regret it. The official title is not enough, so I have to give you money."
"How much does Master Jiang want?"
"One million taels."
"Jiang Quan! Are you kidding me?" Wu Weihua saw that Jiang Quan clearly didn't want to talk and became anxious.
Chongzhen had already set off with his entourage. When he heard the scolding, he replied loudly: "If you don't have money, just use cannons or horses, as long as there are enough." After saying that, Juechen left.
"This...Commander Manba..." When things went wrong, Wu Weihua's face turned ugly and he anxiously asked Manba what to do.
"He, Commander-in-Chief?"
"He is Jiang Yu, the commander-in-chief of Datong."
Manba knew that the total number of soldiers of the Han people was comparable to that of his own Lord Gushan'erzhen, but Gushan'erzhen didn't feel that way.
"Chase! Chase!" Manba suddenly realized what he was doing, and he galloped his horse forward, shouting for his men to pursue him immediately.
Manba recalled the scene when he followed Azige to meet Huang Taiji Khan. Yes, that feeling was the same as that of the Great Khan!