After Jiannu captured Shanhaiguan, he conquered all the prefectures and counties in Yongping Prefecture in just ten days, including a large number of surrendered generals and soldiers in Ji Town.
At first, the various states, counties, and guards put up a desperate resistance. However, after the city of Yongping was conquered and massacred, and the Tatars spread rumors that the capital had been captured by the intruders, and with Hong Chengchou's personal persuasion and guarantee to surrender, the cities began to fight again.
Unable to bear it, they all opened the city and surrendered.
Even if some magistrates and magistrates were unwilling to surrender, they were eventually captured and bound by the gentry of their respective prefectures and counties.
Seeing that the situation was over, some officials did not want to surrender and harm the southern tribesmen, so they chose to commit suicide.
Dorgon also fully adopted Hong Chengchou's strategy, appeased the gentry everywhere, promised that everything would be business as usual, and then continued to march towards Shuntian Prefecture.
Compared with Yongping Prefecture, which was completely blocked by the Tatars from the capital, Shuntian Prefecture could not be blocked.
Therefore, even if there was an example of Yongping Prefecture surrendering, officials, soldiers, civilians and gentry from all over the country refused to surrender and immediately sent letters to the capital asking for help.
However, at this time, Zhu Cixiang was already aware of the true and false status of the Tatars. He did not dare to send troops to rescue them and was unable to rescue them. He had to tell the states and counties to act accordingly.
This caused several counties in the eastern part of Shuntian Prefecture to surrender one after another under the bombardment of red cannons.
At this time, outside Jizhou City, the Jiannu army gathered, and the neighing of war horses was everywhere. Looking around, the tents stretched to the sky.
"Haha, Mr. Hong really knew what was going to happen. The little emperor was really frightened and set up King Qin's camp in Tongzhou. In the past few days, various Ming troops have arrived one after another.
In addition to Wu Sangui, there are also Shandong generals Liu Zeqing, generals Huang Degong, Liu Liangzuo and Gao Jie, plus the rebels who surrendered, the total number of troops is close to 300,000. In your opinion, should our army continue to wait, or should we continue to wait?
March?"
In Jizhou City, Dorgon laughed excitedly with the detective report, and became more and more admirable and fearful of Hong Chengchou.
Hong Chengchou took the detective report calmly, and then said: "Your Majesty, the time has come. There is no need to wait any longer. At this time, Tongzhou has gathered almost all the capable soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. With all the available generals, if we can catch them all in one fell swoop this time,
, then the world can be settled in two years!"
"Okay! If this is really possible, Mr. Hong should be the first to do so!"
Now Dorgon had no doubts about Hong Chengchou. He stood up immediately after hearing the words, and all the generals on the left and right were also excited.
"Your Majesty, please drive those refugees to the capital first and see how the little emperor responds!" Hong Chengchou stroked his beard.
"Yes! Brother Twelve, immediately send an order to drive all the refugees towards the capital. No one should die on the way."
"yes!"
Azig quickly clasped his fists and replied.
"Fifteenth brother, I order you to capture the four counties of Sanhe, Pinggu, Shunyi, and Xianghe within ten days, and completely wipe out all the cities outside Tongzhou and east of Beijing!"
"yes!"
Duduo also stood up with excitement and replied.
"Everyone, this time the Ming army will be defeated and the Ming Dynasty will be destroyed. When the Qing Dynasty takes control of the Central Plains, I will definitely reward them based on their merits. Regardless of banner generals, Mongolian generals, and Han generals, they will all be treated equally and will be rewarded based on their merits!"
"Long live the Qing Dynasty, the Ming army will be defeated and the Ming Dynasty will perish!"
As Dorgon finished speaking, everyone stood up in unison, raised their fists and shouted, even Hong Chengchou was no exception.
Immediately, Azig and Duduo led their troops to separate operations. They were both Dorgon's brothers and could be said to be Dorgon's left and right arms.
During this period of time, although the Jiannu slaves did not invade the gentry and landowners in various places, they drove ordinary people from all over the country, including men, women, old and young, into one place.
Almost all the people in Yongping Prefecture and several counties in the eastern part of Shuntian Prefecture were wiped out, and nearly a million refugees gathered.
At this moment, following Dorgon's order, countless people with bare hands, carrying the old and supporting the young, were driven by the Jiannu cavalry and began to move slowly eastward.
He could only survive on two bowls of porridge every day.
…………
Beijing.
In the imperial study room of Qianqing Palace, Zhu Cixiang felt a headache for a while while looking at the two memorials on the table.
He had thought that the Red Lady might be at odds with Wu Sangui, but he never expected that the two would almost come to war.
I didn't expect that there would be so many soldiers and soldiers coming all at once. The total number of soldiers and horses from all walks of life was almost 300,000.
But it was a mixed bag of joy and sorrow. The good news was that the more people and horses there were, the stronger the strength would be, but the bad news was that those guys didn't bring much food and grass.
I never expected that the generals in the late Ming Dynasty would be so arrogant and domineering.
If his father Chongzhen had read the two memorials, he would definitely believe what Wu Sangui, Huang Degong and others said, but he believed in the Red Lady even more.
If what the Red Lady said is true, then the general soldiers in the late Ming Dynasty were no longer arrogant, but unscrupulous.
For some money, food, soldiers and horses, he dared to murder a general who was conferred by the emperor under the eyes of the capital. This is really terrible.
The reason why the military generals dared to act like this was because they were used to it by his father Chongzhen.
"Your Majesty, the armies in Tongzhou are at odds with each other. As time goes by, there is a risk of great chaos. We should quickly dispatch supervisors to control the towns and coordinate preparations for war. There must be no further delay!"
After reading the memorial, Zhou Yuji looked anxious, with cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.
The troops in Tongzhou were at odds, and the news had already reached the capital. However, His Majesty has not appointed a supervisor for a long time, which made people both inside and outside the court extremely anxious.
During this period, Zhang Jinyan, the Minister of War, Xu Yongzhen, the Duke of Dingguo, and Zhang Shize, the British Duke, all took the initiative to ask Ying to come out of the capital to supervise the division, but His Majesty refused to comment.
"Alas! Zhou Aiqing, it's not that I don't want to send a supervisor, but there is no one to send. Would you like to go?"
Zhu Cixiang sighed, with a look of helplessness on his face.
Since Sun Chuanting died in battle and Hong Chengchou surrendered, the Ming Dynasty no longer had a good commander with both civil and military skills to supervise its armies.
Not to mention that he didn't trust the civil officials in the capital at this time. Even if he did, no one could take on the important task of supervising the division.
Apart from the civil servants, only the two princes could barely subdue the commander-in-chief of each town by relying on the influence of their ancestors.
But after the Tatars are defeated, the two princes may immediately join forces with the commanders of the towns to submit a petition to the Emperor to restore his throne.
Therefore, he would never let the two of them leave the capital to command the army unless absolutely necessary.
It would be fine for him to go there himself, but regardless of his military level, without him in the capital, both Zhou Yuji and Li Ruolian would lose their backers.
At worst, the nobles and civil servants could join forces to capture the two men and restore the emperor to the throne; at worst, the capital might be directly attacked by the Tatars, so he must stay in charge of the capital.
"Your Majesty has an order, and it is your duty to smash your body to pieces. However, I am incompetent and may not be able to subdue the commanders of the towns. For the sake of the overall situation, I suggest that your Majesty can issue an order and let Wu Sangui, the general of the counter-thief, temporarily control the armies. He should be able to subdue all the troops." The town’s commander-in-chief!”
Zhou Yuji also knew about His Majesty's difficulties, as well as His Majesty's fear and distrust of the two princes and civil servants, but he knew his own affairs.
Not to mention Wu Sangui, I am afraid that Liu Zeqing, Liu Liangzuo, and Huang Degong will not buy his account, so it will only be worse if he goes. It is better to let Wu Sangui go directly.
"Wu Sangui?"
Zhu Cixiang smiled bitterly. He had been debating for a while whether he should let Wu Sangui supervise the division.
Because he was also afraid of that guy.
Now Wu Sangui is already a loyal and brave lord, a general who defeats thieves, and can be said to be the leader of all generals.
If he were allowed to control the general soldiers in each town, wouldn't he be able to soar into the sky?
People's structure and ambitions all change with strength and power. When Lao Zhu joined the rebel army, he just wanted to make a living. Lao Liu cut the snake and rebelled just to encourage everyone to follow him to the mountains and grass and live a happy life.
Fun days.
Wu Sangui may not have any desire to rebel now, but once he is given the opportunity to command the armies, who knows whether he will have second thoughts?
Want to be Cao Cao, Dong Zhuo, and finally the emperor?
Therefore, he would not let Wu Sangui have the opportunity to command the armies until the last step, which would be good for both of them.
After pondering for a long time, Zhu Cixiang suddenly asked: "Zhou Aiqing, what do you think of the Red Lady's level? Does she have the talent to command an army?"
"This time... Your Majesty, the red lady still has some military ability. As for whether she can command an army, I dare not say for sure.
It’s just that Your Majesty, the red lady has just surrendered and is a prostitute, so the generals will not obey her no matter what. I hope Your Majesty will think twice!”
When Zhou Yuji saw that His Majesty had such a crazy idea, he was so frightened that his scalp went numb.
How could a newly surrendered rebel and a woman subdue those arrogant and powerful generals?
"That's right! Even if I make her the Grand Marshal of the World's Arms and Horses, Minister of the Ministry of War, Censor of the Zuodu, or even the Duke of the Country, I'm afraid the generals won't buy her account."