Knowing the contradictions and weakness within the Qing court, Zhu Cihong played a concert to gather all the elites of the Ming Dynasty, went out of the customs to recover the lost territory in Liaodong, and leveled Shengjing in one fell swoop.

In history, in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, Huang Taiji launched the Battle of Songjin, wanting to break the defense line of Guanningjin and make final preparations for entering the Central Plains.

Although the Qing army entered the pass many times, and even penetrated deep into Henan and northern Jiangsu, they all crossed the mountains and mountains to break through the Great Wall pass, and the flat route from Liaodong to Jingshi could only be taken from Shanhaiguan.

The Songjin War lasted from the thirteenth year of Chongzhen to the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, which was a battle of national fortune between the Ming and Qing dynasties, and each side invested more than 100,000 elites, and Chongzhen transferred almost all the elites of the Ming Dynasty, and the fight was extremely fierce.

It was so tragic that the Ming army lost more than 50,000 elites, and the Qing army was unknown, and even the history books did not dare to write how many people died, and it was estimated that it would not be less than 30,000!

In the early stage, the Ming army was in the upper hand, and three large battalions with two red flags and blue flags were lowered, and some banner owners of the Qing army were so frightened that they ran away on the spot when they saw the banner of Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao.

The commander-in-chief of the Qing army's front, Dolgon, was defeated and retreated, and repeatedly asked for help from Huang Taiji in Shengjing, and finally Huang Taiji sent people to attack 500 li, cutting off Hong Chengchou's grain route, and the Ming army finally fell behind and finally suffered a heavy defeat.

During the Songjin War in history, Li Zicheng took advantage of the bloody battle of the Ming elite in Liaodong, and grew rapidly, several times more prosperous than before, sweeping many places in the Central Plains, and even Luoyang was captured.

The daimyo was in internal and external difficulties, financial difficulties, and the logistics of Liaodong were not continued, and the imperial court repeatedly put pressure on Hong Chengchou to make a quick decision, which led to the complete defeat of the Songjin War.

After the defeat of Liaodong, the elite of the nine sides built by the Ming Dynasty with all its national strength was lost, and it was no longer able to resist the enemy, and the prestige of the imperial court also declined sharply, and it was no longer able to control the armies of various places.

Zhu Cihong's preparation to fight the Songjin War in advance was deliberate, and now the internal rogues of the Ming Dynasty have basically been extinguished, and the situation is relatively stable, and the most important thing is that Huang Taiji cannot be allowed to take the initiative.

After the war, the Ming Dynasty is certainly not as good as the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty has been through perennial wars, and often this time the Qing army entered the customs, it has already been messed up, coupled with frequent natural disasters, it will not be able to recover in a few years.

Like the slaughtered city of Jinan, it was not until the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty that the population and economy of the late Ming Dynasty were restored to the end of the Ming Dynasty, and there was Rong Mama on the shore of Daming Lake........

There are few places in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, although it is the Xiaoice River period, there is almost no drought, and the living environment is slightly better than in the Daming Pass (see the paper on the drought distribution map at the end of the Ming Dynasty in the comment area, top post).

The Xiaoice River period is not the more severe the disaster in the north of the place, its main destructive force is the natural disasters produced in extremely cold weather, such as: summer drought and flooding one after another, winter is extremely cold, not only in the north of the country, but also in the south of the country, Fujian, Guangdong and other places have fallen blizzard.

In terms of short-term recovery, the Ming Dynasty will be at a disadvantage, and this battle has to be fought in advance, and Zhu Cihong is also very confident that the pressure on the Qing army from the 70,000 Tianwu army will be huge (nearly 10,000 people killed and injured in the battle cannot be played).

Zhu Cihong's proposal caused an uproar among the ministers, and Chongzhen felt justified and quickly convened a court meeting.

In the court, Xue Guoguan, the first assistant of the cabinet, and others expressed their support for sending troops to Liaodong and changing the original defensive policy to an active offensive.

Pivotal assistant Yang Sichang felt that it was inappropriate, he said: "Gyeonggi and Shandong were sacked by the Qing army, and it is difficult to recover in a few years. ”

Everyone knows that without food and grass support, the army will be unstable and collapse without a fight.

Zhu Cihong said: "You can resume the transportation first, transport grain from the south of the Yangtze River, and there are a large amount of grain stocks in Nanzhili and Huguang, which is enough to support the consumption of 100,000 troops for a year." ”

Yang Sichang said: "Even if there is a grain in the south of the Yangtze River, it will take several months to raise grain and grass, and it will take nearly a year to transport it to Liaodong, and it will take half a year at the earliest, how can we catch up with the war?" ”

Zhu Cihong swore and said: "It only takes three months!" ”

Yang Sichang was puzzled, and the ministers were also curious, how could the crown prince improve the efficiency of grain transportation?

Zhu Cihong is very confident, he built many grain stores in the south of the Yangtze River, and stockpiled a large amount of grain and grass for war, just to deal with sudden wars.

Chen Xinjia also said: "Your Highness, even if the grain and grass in the south of the Yangtze River can be transported to Liaodong within three months, what will the army eat within three months?" ”

Zhu Cihong said: "The Qing army took away a large number of people and grain and grass from the Ming Dynasty, they have too much baggage, stretching for dozens of miles, they will definitely not go fast, as long as all the cavalry is concentrated to pursue, intercepted before it leaves the customs, those grain and grass are enough for 100,000 troops to eat for two months." ”

Zhu Cihong said: "At that time, the imperial court only needs to raise a month's worth of grain and grass within two months to transport it to the front line, and the subsequent grain and grass will be provided by Jiangnan." ”

The Qingshan Pass where the Qing army went was a pass of the Great Wall, and tens of thousands of Qing troops wanted to take hundreds of thousands of captured civilians and grain and grass out of the pass, not to mention that they would have to walk for a few days, and they could be cut off at the pass.

Hong Chengchou, who had been silent, couldn't help but remind: "Your Highness, Fengrun is only two hundred miles away from Qingshankou, and at this time, I am afraid that it will be a little late to send troops from Beijing to pursue the slaves." ”

Zhu Cihong said with a smile: "The palace has already ordered all the departments of the Tianwu Army to concentrate all the cavalry to pursue it three days ago, and it should be successful at this time........

Some ministers in the hall raised their eyebrows slightly, looking at Emperor Chongzhen on the dragon chair, but saw that the saint seemed to be an old monk in a fixed position, his face was expressionless, and he didn't say a word.

Chen Xinjia said: "Dare to ask Your Highness, how many cavalry will you send?" ”

"20,000 fine riders!" Zhu Cihong said that this time he went north, he brought almost all the cavalry of the Tianwu Army.

"It's ....... I'm afraid it's a little lacking! Chen Xinjia frowned.

With only 20,000 cavalry, they want to take food from the mouths of tens of thousands of Qing troops, and I am afraid that it will be difficult to act.

There are also many cavalry in the Qing army, and their strength cannot be underestimated, and there are few cavalry troops in the Ming Dynasty who can match them.

Zhu Cihong was silent, he was very confident in the cavalry of the Tianwu Army, they not only used wolf tactics, but also fought alternately on foot and horse, when encountering a strong enemy, they could dismount and form a formation of guns, the enemy broke and fled, and they could get on their horses and wave their knives to chase directly.

Yang Sichang said again: "Your Royal Highness, these are your plans, the minister thinks that it is quite difficult to implement, it is better to let it go first, what the Ming Dynasty needs at present is to restore development and appease the people......"

Zhu Cihong interrupted his tirade and said in an unobstructive tone: "Develop after the fight!" ”

Yang Sichang looked up, and thought about making Chongzhen clap.

Although Chongzhen was dissatisfied with Zhu Cihong's private deployment of troops, he rarely did not reprimand angrily, he knew very well that at the moment of the great enemy, the court must work together, and he is the example of the court.

Seeing the views of the ministers, he slowly spoke: "This matter, let's see what the results of the front line are, after recapturing the grain and grass, we will send troops to Liaodong, if not, we will stop the army!" ”

Long live the ministers........