Chongzhen didn't know how the Guan Ning Army's salary was paid out in the past, nor did he know the payment patterns in other border towns, but starting from today, the Ming Army's salary payment must be unified.
That is, it is no longer distributed through the border town generals, but directly by the emperor or the imperial envoy appointed by the emperor.
This would not only prevent the generals from the border towns from deducting military pay, but also prevent the generals from the border towns from using this as a favor. Over time, the stereotype of fighting for the country and being loyal to the emperor would be formed in the minds of the Ming army officers.
Whose soldier do you want to be? Be a soldier of the Ming Dynasty!
Whose food are you eating? Whose food are you eating?
These two slogans are also intended to strengthen this stereotype.
Don't underestimate these two sentences. Under the mechanical repeated declaration day after day, year after year, once the stereotype of fighting for the country and being loyal to the emperor is formed, it will be supplemented by full payment of food and salary and strict regulations.
The military regulations and rules are enough to create an elite division capable of fighting well!
More than two hundred years later, there really was such an army.
This army is the Beiyang New Army compiled and trained by Yuan Shikai.
Before the Beiyang Army was divided, it was definitely an elite division.
The payment of salary and silver continued, and Chongzhen called Huang Degong, Wu Linzheng and other civil officials and nobles to him.
Chongzhen first said to Meng Zhaoxiang: "Meng Aiqing, I will not cross the river for now. The Prince Consort and Xin Lehou will not cross the river for the time being. You and several colleagues will cross the river first to inform the officials and gentry in the capital.
It is said that I have broken the siege from Beijing and moved south, and am reorganizing the army and horses in the north of the Yangtze River in preparation for the Northern Expedition."
Meng Guangxiang responded and then asked: "What do you need to do?"
"That's enough to calm the people." Chongzhen said, "Let the Nanjing Ministry of Household Affairs raise 5 million taels of silver to send to Yangzhou."
"I am waiting for the edict." Meng Zhaoxiang received the edict and took Wu Linzheng and other colleagues across the river without a moment's delay, because they had already heard about Zhu Yousong's supervision of the country.
So the most important thing now is to solve this matter.
A country cannot be without a king for a day, but a country cannot have two masters either.
Chongzhen asked Huang Degong again: "Huang Qing, do you have more than a thousand war horses in your army?"
You have decided on the number. This is a must. Huang Degong responded: "I still have more than a thousand surplus war horses in my army."
"Okay, I have requisitioned these more than a thousand war horses." Chongzhen said, "I have also requisitioned your seven thousand cavalry. Huang Aiqing, don't you have any objections?"
"Why did the Holy One say this?"
Huang Degong said quickly: "This is the Ming Dynasty's army, not the minister's private army."
"Okay, I have engraved in my heart my love for you and your loyalty to the country." Chongzhen said again, "After I lead the cavalry to march out first, my love will also immediately break camp to follow."
Huang Degong asked: "Where to go?"
"Jiangdu!" Chongzhen said, "Lift the siege of Yangzhou!"
Are you going to deal with Gao Jie's traitors? Huang Degong's eyes flashed instantly and he said: "I accept the order!"
In less than an hour, nearly a thousand barbarians had all received their pay. After receiving the money, the sleepiness caused by the long and urgent march was relieved, and the entire army became energetic again.
Chongzhen asked the Yiding people to change their horses and embark on the journey again.
Only this time, Chongzhen had 7,000 more cavalry under his command.
Of course, the quality of these seven thousand cavalrymen varied greatly.
The mule cavalry is pretty good, and there are even donkey cavalry.
There are probably only more than 2,000 real war horses.
…
At the same time, in Beizhi.
Li Zicheng's "big army" has retreated to Dingzhou.
There were only 50,000 veterans of the Dashun Army who evacuated from Beijing, plus Liu Fangliang's 20,000, a total of only 70,000. However, at this moment, there were more than 500,000 people crowding the official road.
Among these more than 500,000 people, in addition to family members and civilians accompanying the army,
There are also many women snatched by the Dashun Army from Beijing and the prefectures and counties in Gyeonggi Province.
When the Dashun Army withdrew from Beijing, not only the maids and wives of wealthy families, but also the maids and wives of ordinary people were also plundered.
There is also a large amount of property.
Tens of thousands of vehicles of all kinds completely blocked the road.
The march could not cover more than ten miles in one day, and the speed was appallingly slow.
Li Zicheng felt like he was going crazy. At this rate, he wouldn't be able to reach Shanxi in a month, and he didn't know how long it would take to return to Xi'an. Will Jiannu give them time?
Because Liu Fangliang's 20,000-strong army suddenly joined the army, Dashun's army finally won a victory in Baoding the day before yesterday. They defeated Jiannu's cavalry and beheaded more than 800 people.
But Li Zicheng knew very well that this victory would not be able to turn the overall situation around.
Before sending troops to Shanhaiguan, Li Zicheng didn't care about Jiannu at all, but after fighting in Shanhaiguan, he already knew how powerful Jiannu was.
The Jiannu were indeed much stronger than the Ming army.
The Dashun Army's defeat of the Ming Army was like chopping melons and vegetables, but it was extremely difficult to defeat the Jiannu.
In the Battle of Yishi, the Dashun Army dispatched the most elite cavalry veterans of the Zhongquan pro-army and used the three-wall tactic to attack the infantry phalanx of Jiannu. As a result, the phalanx of Jiannu did not move at all.
Li Zicheng had never seen such an army before.
At this time, Li Yan also found Li Zicheng.
"Your Majesty." Li Yan cupped his hands and said, "This cannot continue."
Li Zicheng has officially ascended the throne, so Li Yan and others changed their titles to Holy Emperor.
"What do you think the military advisor should do?" Looking at the heroic Li Yan, Li Zicheng looked a little gloomy.
"All baggage must be abandoned, including property!" Li Yan said solemnly, "In addition, we must prepare for a rainy day and make arrangements for the future situation in advance to avoid complete collapse."
Li Zicheng's face became even more gloomy.
A slight sneer appeared at the corner of Niu Jinxing's mouth.
Li Zicheng asked patiently: "How to arrange it?"
"I condemned an important minister to guard Henan." Li Yan said solemnly, "The land of the Central Plains has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times. It is also said that those who win the Central Plains will win the world, so Henan must not be lost."
When Li Zicheng heard this, he couldn't help but turn his head and look at Niu Jinxing.
Just now, Niu Jinxing informed him that Li Yan wanted to lead his troops out of Henan alone and then support his troops to stand on his own. Li Zicheng didn't believe it at first, but now he couldn't help but not believe it.
Li Yan, you don't want to defend Henan separately, you want to rebel.
Li Zicheng looked into Li Yan's eyes and asked, "Who can defend Henan?"
If Li Yan dared to recommend himself, Li Zicheng would kill him without hesitation.
As a result, Li Yan said: "It must be the Prime Minister, no one else can shoulder this burden."
"Ah?" Li Zicheng was stunned when he heard this. Don't you want to leave Henan?
Niu Jinxing was also dumbfounded. Li Yan, what he said to you last night were all in vain? I didn't ask you to take the initiative to ask the Holy Lord to leave Henan. Who asked you to recommend me?
I have never led troops, so you want me to defend Henan? You are pushing me into a pit of fire.
After a long while, Li Zicheng said: "The Prime Minister and the Right Military Advisor are my right and left arms and are indispensable. For the important task of guarding Henan, I have to choose another person. Let Yuan Zongdi go to Henan."
"The Holy Spirit has a clear vision." Li Yan said again, "I have one more thing to do."
"What's the matter?" Li Zicheng's face looked much better now.
Li Yan said: "The residual Ming Dynasty has shrunk to half of the south of the Yangtze River, which is no longer a cause for concern. Therefore, the main concern of my Dashun Dynasty has changed from the Nan Ming Dynasty to the Jian Nu. In order to share the military front of the Jian Nu, I think we should make peace with the Nan Ming."
"Well, that makes sense." Li Zicheng nodded, "It seems that we should really make amends with Nan Ming."
Li Yan added: "So I think that the captured prisoners of war of the Ming army, such as Wang Jiayan and Hu Xinshui, should be released. It would be best if the three brothers Zhu Cixiang, the crown prince of the Southern Ming Dynasty, should also be released."
Song Xiance immediately agreed: "I agree."
Li Zicheng asked Niu Jinxing, "What do you think, Prime Minister?"
For Li Zicheng, this is not a difficult multiple-choice question.
It is definitely easier to defeat the Ming army than to defeat the Jian slaves, so the Jian slaves are the number one enemy.
Therefore, unless Nan Ming can be destroyed quickly before the Jian slaves can react, they must unite with Nan Ming to fight against the Jian slaves.
So, is it possible for the Dashun Dynasty to quickly destroy Nanming before Jiannu could react? It is obviously impossible.
Therefore, the final answer is self-evident. Uniting with Nanming to fight against the slave establishment is the best and only choice.
Niu Jinxing frowned and said: "There is no problem in releasing Wang Jiayan, Hu Xinshui and the captured Ming army prisoners of war, but is it a bit hasty to release the three brothers Zhu Cihong like this?"
Liu Zongmin also said: "Yes, these three people are the emperor's heirs and are valuable."
Li Yan further advised: "Your Majesty, if it were normal times, of course the three brothers Zhu Cihong would not be released easily, but right now our Dashun Army is being hunted down by Jiannu. We already have insufficient troops, but we still have to divide them quite a bit."
A large number of elites protect the three Zhu Cixi brothers. If the war goes unfavorably and they are separated or die in the rebellion, they will not only miss the opportunity to show favor to Nan Ming, but will even anger Nan Ming in turn. This will be extremely detrimental to our Dashun.
.”
As soon as Li Yan finished speaking, Li Shuangxi hurriedly caught up with him.
"Father," Li Shuangxi said in panic, "Guan Ningjun and Jiannu are chasing us again!"
"Wu Sangui, you bitch slave!" Li Zicheng's face immediately fell, and he immediately said to Li Yan, "Right Military Advisor, just as you said just now, let Zhu Cixiang, three brothers, Wang Jiayan, Hu Xinshui and others go free."
At the moment, we must concentrate all our forces to deal with the Jiannu, and we really cannot take care of the three Zhu Cixi brothers.
Li Yan said: "You can also ask Zhu Cixi to send a message to Chongzhen. People who are not of my race must have different hearts. Nanming and Dashun are brothers fighting, but when facing barbarian brothers like Jiannu, the two brothers should join forces."
, fight against the foreign invaders together!”
"That's right." Li Zicheng said happily, "Just tell Chongzhen that we will fight against the foreign invaders together."