Because according to Wu Di's idea, Sun Chuanting left seclusion and dealt with Li Zicheng independently. This was the result of Chen Yan's strong advocacy. Now that there has been a defeat, Chen Yan should naturally bear the responsibility. Then he is the chief minister of the cabinet. Naturally, he could not keep his position. After he left the capital to supervise the division, he defeated Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong in a row. Although he chased Zhang Xianzhong and let him run away, he still defeated Zhang Xianzhong and wiped out his entire army. Compared with Chen Yan, he was not If there is no difference between heaven and earth, then when the emperor orders him to lead his army north to deal with Li Zicheng and clean up the mess, I am afraid he will have no choice but to appoint himself as the chief minister of the cabinet.
At the same time, Wu Di was quite confident in fighting Li Zicheng, because Li Zicheng was defeated by Shang Yi a few days ago. Now that Shang Yi has obtained a batch of firecrackers and artillery from Nanjing, his natural strength has increased. On the first step, fighting Li Zicheng again was out of the question. Wu Zhizhi was planning whether he would not wait for the imperial edict to come down, first mobilize troops to attack Xiangyang and cut off Li Zicheng's return route, and wait for the imperial edict to come. Then he sent his troops north to face Li Zicheng's army. Putting down the rebellion in this way was his first achievement.
Thinking of this, Wu Di couldn't help but feel quite excited, so he immediately wrote to Shang Yi, asking him to end the war in Hangzhou as soon as possible and prepare to lead his army westward to attack Xiangyang Prefecture.
After receiving the letter, Shang Yi couldn't help but sneer. At this time, he had also received the news of Sun Chuanting's defeat in Jiaxian County. It seemed that Li Zicheng's journey north was very consistent with the history in another time and space. If this history really has nothing to do with it, Change, now Sun Chuanting has died in Tongguan a long time ago. Once Sun Chuanting is dead, there is no point in attacking westward to capture Xiangyang. This is no better than a few months ago. Li Zicheng can return to the army with all his strength without any worries. Face yourself. Although the Merchant Army has outstanding combat effectiveness, its number is too small after all. Once the Chuang Army launches multiple attacks and cuts off its own logistics line, it may be difficult to win. At most, it will require a long-term confrontation with Li Zicheng. Such a result will not be good for Li Zicheng. He is also at a disadvantage.
Not to mention that Shang Yi and Ben had no intention of marching westward. The Ming Dynasty would still perish as it did in another time and space. I had better seize this last moment and actively prepare for the war after the Qing army entered the pass.
Of course, Shang Yi couldn't take Wu Di's orders as seriously as Zuo Liangyu did. It was completely necessary to maintain a certain degree of etiquette respect for him.
Therefore, Shang Yi immediately wrote back to Wu Di. He first explained that the Zhejiang rebellion had not yet been completely suppressed and could not march immediately. At the same time, he warned Wu Di that Li Zicheng now had many soldiers and generals, and he had recently won a victory. His morale was strong and he could not win easily. The attack on Xiangyang failed, and there was a mistake in Nanjing, Zhejiang, and all the previous achievements were in vain. Sun Chuanting's lessons must be taken into account. It is best to wait for a formal imperial edict from the imperial court before making a decision.
Wu Di was not stupid. After receiving Shang Yi's letter, he immediately understood that Shang Yi did not want to send troops now. But the reasons Shang Yi said in the letter were also reasonable. What kind of personality did the emperor have? Wu Di Naturally, he knew very well that if he rashly sent troops to attack Xiangyang, it would be okay if the battle was defeated. But if he lost the battle or became deadlocked, something would happen in Zhejiang, Nanjing and Fengyang. , I couldn't bear to eat and walked around. As the saying goes, things are reversed when they are extreme, and when the moon is waxing, it is losing. After he went south to supervise the division, he made considerable contributions. Even if he captured Xiangyang and defeated Li Zicheng, it would be just the icing on the cake. On the contrary, if something unexpected happens, we may be thrown into the bottom of the cave, and there will be no recovery.
Therefore, the more Wu Di thought about it, the more he felt that what Shang Yi said made sense. He was still a little too aggressive. Now he must not do it. It is better to stand still and defend Nanjing, Zhejiang, and Fengyang first. He does not seek merit but seeks success.
It’s okay, I’ll wait until the imperial edict comes down. That way, I won’t have any responsibility.
While Wu Di was staying in Nanjing, waiting for the imperial court to issue an order, chaos broke out in the Forbidden City in Beijing.
When the news of Sun Chuanting's defeat in Jiaxian reached the court, it was no less than throwing a grenade on the Jinluan Palace. The whole palace was in an uproar. Chongzhen was also very angry, because at this time Sun Chuanting had retreated to Tongguan, so Chongzhen also temporarily
I didn’t consider changing generals and adding more troops. It’s just that
He ordered Sun Chuanting to be stripped of his positions as governor and minister, but still ordered him to collect the remaining troops and defend Tongguan as the governor of Shaanxi. Soon after, Bai Guangen was promoted to the chief military officer of the aid and suppression campaign, and he was given the seal of General Dang Kou, and was given 30,000 soldiers.
Together with Sun Chuanting, he guarded the pass to prevent Li Zicheng from entering Shaanxi.
At this time, someone suggested to the court that Wu Di and Shang Yi could be sent north to the Central Plains to block Li Zicheng's advance. At the same time, Zuo Liangyu was ordered to send troops to attack Xiangyang, forming a three-sided pincer attack on Li Zicheng.
But at this time, Chen Yan, the chief minister of the cabinet, was afraid that after he transferred Wu Zong to the north, he would take the credit and return to the court to replace his position as the chief minister, so he strongly opposed the transfer of Wu Zong to the north. The reason was that there was a rebellion in Zhejiang and Xiangcheng
Mutiny threatened Nanjing and Fengyang,
Wu Gang was in charge of the south of the Yangtze River and could not move lightly. If Nanjing or Fengyang were lost, who could afford it? Although Sun Chuanting was defeated, he could retreat to Tongguan, and Tongguan was naturally dangerous and easy to defend but difficult to attack, so the invading army might not be able to attack it.
Down, don't move Wu Di to the north easily.
At the same time, some ministers also suggested to the emperor that Wu Sangui, who was transferred to Shanhaiguan without visiting Shanhaiguan, would lead troops to break into the pass, guard Tongguan, and fight against Li Zicheng. Because the young emperor of the Qing Dynasty was newly established and the state was unstable, it might not be possible to easily send troops to invade the pass, and Wu Sangui's troops
Ma Shangduo, mobilize 10,000 horses,
The remaining troops could still support the situation at Shanhaiguan. Chongzhen was quite tempted by this suggestion. If Wu Zong could not be transferred to the north, it would be a feasible solution to transfer Wu Sangui into Shanhaiguan. However, he did not give a direct order.
Instead, he ordered the ministers to discuss it before deciding whether to implement it.
But Chen Yan once again raised objections, and Zhang Jinyan, the minister of war, also held this attitude. They were all worried that although the young ruler of the Qing Dynasty had ascended the throne, the regent Dorgon was not an easy ruler. If Wu Sangui led his elite troops to enter,
Guan, who dares to guarantee that the Qing army will not take advantage of the situation and invade?
Not only were Ningyuan and other places unprotected, but also whether Shanhaiguan could be defended became a problem. At first, Chen Yan strongly advocated that Sun Chuanting go out to fight against Li Zixu, but he returned in defeat. Now, how could he be able to handle such a major matter now?
Chen Yan was able to take responsibility, so Chen Yan still asked the emperor to consecrate him.
To put it bluntly, whether it is to adjust Wu Zong or Wu Sangui, we have no say. The emperor makes your own decision, but if something goes wrong, we will not be responsible.
As a result, Chongzhen did not dare to take this responsibility easily, so he ordered all ministers to gather together for discussion, hoping to achieve a result. However, after the ministers gathered together, they also expressed their opinions. At first, they were still discussing business matters, but soon
It turned into mutual attacks, and it also became a matter of natural principles, human desires, and a dispute between gentlemen and villains. Chongzhen was dizzy after hearing this, and it took him a long time to realize that he had gone off topic again.
As a result, the court spent several days in such a noisy atmosphere, debating over and over again and wrangling, but no result was ever reached. Moreover, no one even planned to transfer 30,000 soldiers to Bai Guangen's department. Got it.
However, the battle would not stop because of the quarrels and delays of the Ming Dynasty ministers. After entering October, after defeating Sun Chuanting and making some repairs, Li Zicheng immediately led the army with Liu Zongmin to attack Tongguan. Passing the Shangluo area, they attacked Shaanxi and agreed to meet at the gate of Xi'an.
At this time, Sun Chuanting's remnant troops in Tongguan only had more than 10,000 men, and the morale of the entire army was low. The soldiers promised by the imperial court had not yet arrived. Although Tongguan was dangerous, it was extremely difficult to hold it. First, Gao Jie and Bai Guangen were captured. Li Zicheng was defeated and fled, and Tongguan fell immediately. Sun Chuanting led the remaining troops and retreated to Weinan in an attempt to continue to hold on. Li Zicheng did not relax and led his army to continue the pursuit. Weinan city was broken and Sun Chuanting was killed on the spot. Bai Guangen and Chen Yongfu surrendered to Li Zicheng successively.
Gao Jie, another general of Sun Chuanting's army, knew that he would die if he surrendered because he abducted Li Zicheng's wife and cheated on Li Zicheng, so he first returned to northern Shaanxi from Tongguan, recruited Sun Chuanting's remaining troops, and then fled south to Huaihe River. The western region was later taken over by Fengyang Governor Ma Shiying as his own. However, Li Zicheng led a large army to attack Xi'an.
After the news reached Beijing, the central government was still arguing over whether to transfer Wu Di to the north or Wu Sangui to the south. This time, the whole court was speechless, and even Chongzhen was dumbfounded. It turned out that they all thought that although Sun Chuanting was in Jiaxian It was a huge defeat, but it was still possible to defend Tongguan. In that case, the situation was not too bad, but I didn't expect that even Tongguan would be lost this time.
However, although it was reported that Sun Chuanting had died in battle, the body was still not dead. Therefore, Chongzhen still held a trace of luck, thinking that Sun Chuanting might not be dead, and would gather his troops and reorganize the army to fight again, so Chongzhen ordered that Sun Chuanting not be given any shade and mourn. It was not until November that the news was finally confirmed, and Chongzhen could not help but feel extremely sad. But it was delayed for more than a month.
Chongzhen was angry with Chen Yan, the chief assistant, and blamed Chen Yan for all the failures in Jiaxian County. He ordered him to be dismissed and Wei Zaode was appointed as the chief assistant. At this time, another minister suggested that Wu Sangui or Wu Di be transferred to the rescue. Although Chongzhen also agreed to transfer one of them, he did not specify who to transfer, but asked Wei Zaode to lead the cabinet to make the decision. With Chen Yan's experience, Wei Zaode dared to make a decision. After several days of discussion, he suggested to Chongzhen that he send people outside the customs. , Nanjing and Nanjing, asked Wu Sangui and Wu Di in person for their opinions before making a decision. Chongzhen also ordered to comply.
During this period, Chongzhen appointed Yu Yinggui, a waiter in the Ministry of War, as the governor of Shaanxi. He also ordered the governor of Xuanda and the governor of Shanxi to assist in the suppression. At this time, Yu Yinggui still dared to take office in Shaanxi, but his face was as pale as earth and he refused to go. However, governor xuan, The governors of Shanxi also avoided it, saying that they were short of pay and horses, and refused to agree.
Time passed like this day by day, and the Ming Dynasty was almost exhausted.