On the morning of the 26th, the conference room was filled with smoke. Emperor Guangwu sat alone on a sofa, staring at the map on the wall with bloodshot eyes. The cigarette in his mouth was still emitting strong smoke and ashes.
It's already hanging down.
The conference room has not been cleaned up yet. It is obvious that after the meeting, Guangwu wants to stay alone for a while. There is an ashtray in front of each seat at the long table. Some have no cigarette butts in them, and some only have one or two cigarette butts. But Guangwu
The ashtray in front of me has a pile of cigarette butts.
The thick smoke in the conference room would make people who had just entered and did not know the inside story think that the meeting had just ended. However, this conference room was opened last night. It was opened urgently after Beijing learned that the Ming army had seized the pontoon bridge and entered Shanxi.
From the end of the meeting to now, Guangwu has been smoking here all night. No one dared to persuade him. Everyone below knows the emperor's temper. Anyone who tries to persuade him at this time will definitely be in bad luck. In the past,
Happened several times.
All night long, Guangwu kept smoking, staring at the map of western Henan, Shaanxi, and Shanxi. He would stand up and pace, kicking over a few chairs to vent his anger, and then calm down and continue to sit down, smoke, and look at the map. The map.
A large area in the west of Upper Henan has been filled with red little people, cars, and small tanks. The density is so high that it forms a sharp contrast with the blue little people to the north and west.
Red represents danger, warning, and radicality, and often represents the color of the enemy on military maps. Blue represents safety and trustworthiness, and is generally used to represent one's own side.
But now, the enemy's colors have been densely distributed on the gateways of Guanzhong and Shanxi. What's even more terrible is that these two most important "portals" - Hangu Pass and Longmen Floating Bridge, have also fallen into the hands of the enemy. Now they only have
One thing needs to be done: just increase the number of troops. Maybe we can easily win over Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces without even having to fight a big battle.
And all he can do is watch.
He first spent two hours thinking through all the possibilities to save Shanxi... Unfortunately, none of them could be realized.
Then, he spent another two hours, forcing himself to admit that southern Shanxi was irreversible, forcing himself to be realistic, and consider how to deploy the situation after losing southern Shanxi.
Protect northern Shanxi at all costs.
If you lose southern Shanxi, only the North China Plain will be threatened at any time. But if you lose northern Shanxi, even Beijing will be threatened at any time. Also, Zhangjiakou Tank City and the Hetao Railway connecting the west will also be threatened at any time.
Wutai Mountain, Hengshan Mountain, and Xishan Mountain at the northern end of the Taihang Mountains are very close to Beijing. They are equal to the mountains and the mountains. Once it falls into the hands of the Ming army, the Qing Dynasty will have to consider moving the capital. At that point, Guangwu is almost certain that his
Dominance will be overturned.
Guangwu slowly put the cigarette in the ashtray and pressed the bell.
A staff officer immediately came in to say hello. Guangwu asked:
"How are the troops on Shilu Highway doing?"
The staff officer immediately went out to ask questions. After a while, several generals came in. After saying hello, they immediately marked on the map in the conference room and reported.
On the map, Guangwu could clearly see that the Shanxi reinforcements, composed of 5 Eight Banners Divisions and 15 Han Military Divisions, were repeatedly blocked on the Shilu Highway across the Taihang Mountains. On this night, only
On the mountain road of more than ten kilometers, we encountered more than five blocking battles, with nearly a thousand casualties.
Moreover, judging from the marks on the map, from the time we got off the train from Shijiazhuang to the present day, not even one-third of the first stage of the mountain road has been traversed.
These generals only dared to say this, and they hesitated to say more. Guangwu knew what else they wanted to say.
He asked coldly:
"Will we still be attacked by the Ming army in the air during the day?"
Several generals breathed a sigh of relief, looked at each other, and nodded.
"Password," Guang Wu said, tapping his fingers on the table, "immediately have the troops withdraw along the same route and reboard the train in Shijiazhuang to head north."
Several generals stared at each other, wondering what the emperor meant.
Guangwu got up and came to the map, took a pencil and drew on it while saying:
"Don't stop in Beijing, continue northwest, follow the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway through Juyongguan to Zhangjiakou, get off the train at Zhangjiakou, then take the highway and enter Shanxi from the north."
Several generals looked at each other and said slowly:
"This... 廻."
A young staff officer boldly asked:
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty, this servant is so bold that I dare to ask Your Majesty to clarify my doubts... The army will withdraw to the north, then... to the southwest of Shanxi, Taiyuan or something... shouldn't we give it up?"
Several generals glared at him. Guangwu also slowly moved his eyes to his face.
The young staff officer immediately turned pale with fright, lowered his head, trembled, and said in a dry voice:
"Your Majesty... this slave deserves to die..."
Guangwu suppressed his attack, smiled, and said as kindly as possible:
"What's your name?"
"Slave... my name is... Heli..."
"Well, Heli, which flag is it?"
"Go back...back to the emperor, I am raising a white flag..."
Guangwu nodded and smiled:
"Zhengbai Banner, okay...Heli, and you guys...you have to know that our Qing Dynasty is now in a troubled time, with both internal and external troubles. It is up to us men in the banner to work together to keep the flag."
Our country...
...Nanming in the south, as well as the Han people and common people below, they all want to pull us down, liquidate us, and let us die without a place to die... At this time, we bannermen must be more united.
Just like a person...
"When Emperor Tianming (Nurhaci) and Emperor Tiancong (Huang Taiji) raised troops to resist the Ming Dynasty, the situation was a hundred times more serious than ours now. At the time of Emperor Guangxu, the situation in the Qing Dynasty was also ten times more serious than it is now. Haven't they all come here?
?As long as our banner people are still as united as we were then, what does this little difficulty mean now? Can it really destroy our Qing Dynasty?
"Heli, if you want me to clear up your doubts, I will come and answer your questions. It's not that I don't want southern Shanxi anymore, but now the air control in southern Shanxi is in the hands of Nanming, and the control of the Taihang Mountains in the south is also in the hands of the guerrillas. We
Then from the south
It is no longer possible to mobilize troops into Shanxi. I will teach you that when a road is obviously unworkable, you must give up decisively and find another road that works. Now, the only road that works is
Enter Shanxi from the north.
"Of course, the Ming army has good mobility, so they will definitely occupy southern Shanxi first. But when they occupied southern Shanxi, we also bought time in the north, and had time to guard some important mountain passes and ensure Shanxi
The northern part will not be lost. Ensuring the northern part of Shanxi will also ensure the sides of the Beijing-Tianjin defense circle.
It also ensured that the Hetao Railway was not threatened, and that the connection between the eastern and western parts of the Qing Dynasty was not cut off. In this way, as long as our Qing Dynasty wins a great victory in the Central Plains, we can turn defeat into victory and defeat the Southern Ming Dynasty.
Rush back again. Only southern Shanxi, Shaanxi, Guanzhong, western Henan, and Jianghuai can be recaptured. Do you understand?"
The young staff officer never expected that not only would he not be punished, but he would actually hear the emperor say these words to him with his own ears. He was so excited that tears filled his eyes, and his throat was rolling. He could only say intermittently:
Several other generals were also surprised. They immediately burst into tears of gratitude and swore to show their loyalty.
Guangwu also smiled, looked at everyone kindly, nodded, indicating that he understood, and let everyone go about their business.
Guangwu knew that as the war situation continued to worsen, his position in the clan was also shaking little by little. I am afraid that he will no longer be as arrogant and domineering as before. From now on, he will use all means to unite the majority as much as possible.
People.
But those generals have their own agendas. At least two or three of them are thinking: What you say now sounds nice, "the bannermen are united as one person." Why didn't you say this when you took power in the coup?
There was a killing spree in the clan, and you killed all the iron hat kings.
, even the Fourteenth Gege was not spared, forcing him to flee to Nanming. The Fourteenth Gege is a rare talent in the clan, and now he is fine. He spends all day in the south advising Nanming and giving advice to everyone.
Cleaning up and doing things that make relatives hate and enemies please...Who is to blame?
...You are moody all day long, just killing and arresting people, so that no one in the headquarters dares to speak, it is all your decision-making...The Eight Banners Division and the Guards Division, in order to prevent others from getting involved, actually let you have two mouths
The hairless brother is in charge... The stick-on part is even more outrageous. You actually let your youngest son, who is only a few years old, be the chief?
Newspapers in Western countries are making fun of this, making the Qing Dynasty almost a laughing stock around the world... The sticky rod used to be a tiger when it was in the hands of Shi Shigege, but now it has only been a few days? It has almost become a pig.
...If Fourteen Gege was still in charge of the sticky pole, there would be no way the Qing Dynasty would have allowed Nan Ming to successfully attack like this...
…
Guangwu sent away a number of generals, and asked people to find the two deputy commanders at Sticky Post.
"Listen up, you two," Guangwu lowered his voice and stared at them sternly, "What I am telling you now is something that must be kept secret. This involves the Qing Dynasty, the country, and the country, as well as our banner people.
Wealth and life. I found you just because no one else could trust you, so I found you... Do you hear me clearly?"
The two deputy commanders looked at each other, nodded with sacred expressions, and said in unison:
"Your Majesty, don't worry!"
Deputy Chief Zuo said again:
"I risk my life to keep it a secret!"
The deputy commander on the right immediately followed suit:
"This slave must keep the secret even if he dies without a burial place!"
Guangwu smiled, waved his hand and said:
"Okay, okay, don't say such depressing words. If I couldn't trust you, I wouldn't have brought you here... Listen carefully, I'm going to give you a top-secret task, that is - to arrange and
The Nanming side made secret contacts to test the possibility of peace talks and a truce."