Chapter 678: Hong Chengchou wants to rise up

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"Hong Chengchou ......"

Zhang Zhun stood on the West Gate Tower Mountain in Dezhou City,.

The grain on the Linqing Cao ship was prepared to supply Hong Chengchou, and if the Tiger Ben Army robbed it, it would be tantamount to fighting with Hong Chengchou. This was not directed at the imperial court, but specifically at Hong Chengchou himself. It is conceivable that after Hong Chengchou learns the news, he will definitely hate himself.

Hong Chengchou was still very famous in the history of the late Ming Dynasty. Let's not talk about the relationship between him and the Empress Dowager of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, this person's strategy and courage are actually quite good. His human performance is actually very complicated. The responsibility for the defeat in the Battle of Matsuyama does not lie with him. Therefore, it is inappropriate and unfair to criticize Hong Chengchou in the Battle of Songshan.

After he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, Huang Taiji has always been uneasy about him, did not give him any official position, and even sent people to monitor his residence. It was not until Dolgon came to power that Hong Chengchou had the opportunity to hold an official position and became the first Han prime minister of the Qing Dynasty. After assuming an official position, Hong Chengchou used his power to do a lot of things that were conducive to the stability of the country. This point is worthy of recognition.

For example, when Hong Chengchou was passing through the five provinces of Huguang, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou, he adopted a people-oriented policy and actively tried ways to lighten the people's burdens and promote the development of productive forces. Compared with Wu Sangui, Hong Chengchou has done much more things that are beneficial to the people.

In essence, there is a slight difference between Hong Chengchou and Kong Youde, Shang Kexi, Geng Zhongming, Wu Sangui and other big traitors. It's just that the stain of a traitor, once it is stained, can never be washed away. As a result, Sun Cannon will have the saying that "the living soul is not ruined, and the merit is high, who does not know". As for the meaning, I will leave it to everyone to ponder slowly.

"Now Hong Chengchou, I don't know what it looks like?"

Zhang Zhun muttered to himself softly.

To deal with the imperial court, you must first deal with several powerful figures, one is Hong Chengchou, one is Sun Chuanting, and the other is Yang Sichang. As for Wang Kun and Gao Qiqian and other wastes, they are not in Zhang Zhun's eyes at all. Originally, there was also a Lu Xiangsheng, this person was definitely a great power in the military, but he had been killed by Emperor Chongzhen himself. As for Shi Kefa, it hasn't taken shape yet, so it's not enough to see at all.

Hong Chengchou's current situation is actually not very good. He was encircling and suppressing Li Zicheng in Shaanxi, and when he was about to succeed, the Tartars came in. As a result, he hurriedly led his army north to King Qin. Not to mention that Li Zicheng and the others escaped from this, after Hong Chengchou arrived in Zhending City, he fell into the siege of the Tartars and could no longer move.

The current Zhending City can be described as a large army, and the security is stricter than in the past. The four gates of Zhending City have all been closed a long time ago. Standing on the head of Zhending City, you can see a large number of Mongol cavalry scouts wandering outside. Since he learned that Hong Chengchou was in Zhending City, Huang Taiji specially sent cavalry from the Mongolian Horqin tribe to deal with Hong Chengchou, obviously he still attached great importance to this person.

At this moment, Hong Chengchou, the military secretary of the crown prince and the imperial history of the right capital, and the military governor of Shaanxi, the trilateral governor and the military of Henan and other five provinces, is now standing on the top of the city tower silently, like Zhang Zhun, looking at the movement outside the city. It's his daily habit. I always hold back my body to have a problem, and walking along the city wall every day is considered to be exercise.

Hong Chengchou was born as a Jinshi in the Wanli period, he was very young when he ascended to the top, and since then he has been rising step by step, smooth sailing, and he became the governor of Shaanxi and the three sides a few years ago, and he was the secretary of the military department, but in fact he was only in his early fifties. Years of life in Rongma have stained his plump and fair face with the color of wind and dust, and he looks a little old.

The strange thing is that on the one hand, he led the army and the peasants to revolt, and on the other hand, he maintained the neat clothes and elegant demeanor of camouflage. The more experienced he is, the more he sharpens off the edges and corners, hides the viciousness and treachery in his heart, and is able to be arrogant or impatient in the face of things, and has a far-sighted plan.

It is precisely because of his strengths that his generals are willing to serve him, Liang Tingdong, Zhang Fengyi and others are not jealous of him, and the jealous and suspicious Emperor Chongzhen also relies on him very much. In the war to encircle and suppress the rebellious people in Shaanxi, he was basically the commander-in-chief, and Lu Xiangsheng also gave him a hand. Lu Xiangsheng was also willing. If it weren't for the Tartar Henglai to intervene, Hong Chengchou was confident that in two or three years, he would completely exterminate Li Zicheng and them.

The Mongolian Tatars outside the city were still cruising, I don't know if they found Hong Chengchou and quietly tried to get over, but as a result, Zhending City immediately opened artillery bombardment and drove them away from afar. The fighting is at a stalemate. The Ming army in Zhending City wanted to get out, and it was a little difficult. However, the Mongol cavalry outside the city wanted to enter Zhending City, which was equally difficult.

In fact, the word Tatar was first used to refer to the Mongols, and then it was transferred to the Jurchens. This time when he went north, Hong Chengchou basically didn't see the real Tartars, but only saw these Mongolian cavalry. This made Hong Chengchou feel weird, as if he had been neglected. Whether it is ignored by one's own superiors or by the slave chieftains of the Tartars, it is a bad thing.

Lu Xiangsheng's accident made Hong Chengchou feel somewhat surprised. The emperor actually directly arrested Lu Xiangsheng and sent him to prison, which is indeed a bit too heavy. The decision to let Lu Xiangsheng go far to reinforce Gaoyang City was made by the Ministry of War, and it should be the people of the Ministry of War who should take responsibility. Lu Xiangsheng has done his best and does not deserve such an end.

However, of course, those who are courtiers cannot slander the emperor. Therefore, Hong Chengchou could only sigh silently for Lu Xiangsheng. Yang Sichang, who succeeded Hong Chengchou, has not met with him for the time being, and Hong Chengchou does not know if this Yang Sichang is easy to deal with. The cooperation between him and Lu Xiangsheng is quite tacit, in case Yang Sichang wants to be on top, things will be in trouble.

Dongjiabao's battle report, Hong Chengchou has known it for a long time. However, Hong Chengchou is not very convinced by the so-called casualties of the Tatars. According to his general concept, it is necessary to subtract eighty percent of this number. Subtracting eighty percent is actually good, and some even need to subtract ninety.

For Zhang Zhun as a person, Hong Chengchou's feelings are very complicated. This person is a general, but he can't be used by the court, this is Hong Chengchou's most basic judgment. He subconsciously felt that one day, he would face Zhang Zhun directly. I don't know how much stronger this Zhang Zhun is than Li Zicheng and others?

The footsteps behind him sounded, but it was Sun Chuanting who came. Sun Chuanting is younger than Hong Chengchou and looks very capable, not like he was born as a civil official. Compared with Hong Chengchou, Sun Chuanting's handling methods are more direct and ruthless. The Shaanxi rebels originally felt that Hong Chengchou's killing methods were already very fierce, but when they saw Sun Chuanting's skills, they realized that Hong Chengchou was not as good as Sun Chuanting.

"Is the news true?"

Hong Chengchou asked quietly.

"Master, the news is true. The Mongolian Tartars from Luancheng, Zhaozhou, Ningjin and other places all went to Hejian Mansion. I don't know what's going on over there, it may be that the Dongyu is going to war with the Tiger Ben Army again. ”

Sun Chuanting said respectfully and cautiously.

He is a student of Hong Chengchou, and Hong Chengchou's official position is above him, so he calls Hong Chengchou his teacher. Hong Chengchou fought in the south and in the north, almost all of them took Sun Chuanting with him. It can be said that Sun Chuanting is Hong Chengchou's right-hand man and his right-hand man. If Hong Chengchou could not be on the scene to command, he would be replaced by Sun Chuanting.

"What do you think about this?"

Hong Chengchou asked slowly.

"It should be a good thing. The Mongol Tatars in Luancheng and other places withdrew, and our army just made an attack to open up the road between Linqing and Linqing, so as to facilitate the logistics supply of our army. If all the grain is transported from Shanxi, the road is long and the road is not safe. In the southwestern part of Shanxi, there are a lot of victims, and they are all over the mountains and fields, and they are endlessly killed. ”

Sun Chuanting said competently.

"What if it's a trap laid by the Easterners?"

Hong Chengchou thought slowly and asked a little worriedly.

"Master Teacher, according to the late life, it shouldn't be. At present, the slave chieftain Huang Taiji is also fighting on two fronts, not only to deal with the Tiger Ben army, but also to prevent our attack. Intelligence shows that the Tiger Army is putting a lot of pressure on him. When he transferred the Mongol Tartars back, something must have happened to him. ”

Sun Chuanting said confidently.

"Yue Tuo's matter, is it exact?"

Hong Chengchou asked cautiously.

"The intelligence has been verified, and it is said that Yue Tuo did indeed go north with the main force of the Dongyu Zhenglan Banner. Some Tanma personally witnessed them crossing Xiongxian and Xincheng to the north. ”

Sun Chuanting replied competently again.

"Yue Tuo went north...... What do you think? ”

Hong Chengchou still looked very cautious and asked slowly.

Fighting with the Tartars, no one dared to be cautious. Because, the consequence of carelessness is the total annihilation. With Yang Hao's lesson in front of him, who dares to take it lightly? What's more, even if you are cautious, you are not necessarily an opponent of the Tartars. Hong Chengchou knows very well that his military strength is obviously inferior to Wang Kun and Gao Qiqian, and at most it is slightly stronger than Yang Sichang, who succeeded Lu Xiangsheng. However, Yang Sichang won the trust of the emperor, and if something happened, he would definitely get more assistance than him, Hong Chengchou. Therefore, when going out, for his own safety, Hong Chengchou must be careful and careful.

Sun Chuanting pondered and said: "It is estimated that Huang Taiji is not at ease about his future. ”

Hong Chengchou nodded, agreed with Sun Chuanting's proposal, and then said with a little emotion: "The casualties of Dongyu in Dongjiabao may really be not small, otherwise Huang Taiji would not consider retreating." ”

Sun Chuanting had some objections, shook his head and said: "Teacher, this habit of falsely reporting the results of the battle has always existed, and the Tiger Ben Army should be no exception. The losses suffered by Huang Taiji are inevitably not as great as the outside world knows. ”

Hong Chengchou shook his head and said: "The Tiger Ben Army doesn't need to invite merit to receive rewards, there is no need for them to falsely report their military exploits. But Wu Sangui's exploits there are debatable. Wu Sangui only had 4,000 cavalrymen, and he actually killed a thousand Tartar heads, no matter how weird you looked. ”

Sun Chuanting pondered for a moment, and then asked, "Master Teacher, then our plan ......"

Hong Chengchou said categorically: "Execute it immediately!" ”

After a pause, he raised his tone and said, "Order!" Late Rise Tent! Discuss military affairs! ”

Sun Chuanting immediately gave the order.

Because it was a secret, the pomp and circumstance of the governor's promotion on weekdays, such as the firing of cannons, the beating of drums and music, and the loud registration of civil and military officials, were all discarded, and only the Shang Fang sword given by the emperor two years ago was packed in a yellow satin embroidered dragon sleeve, and placed on the wood-catching table in the middle of the hall, leaning on the black lacquer screen.

Hong Chengchou changed into a second-grade brocade chicken complement big red silk python suit, wearing a six-beam crown and a jade belt around his waist. When he accompanied Sun Chuanting from the signing room to the lobby, the civilian and military generals who were summoned had already stood and waited on the left and right, silently, although there were two lines of warriors standing in the courtyard, but they were also silent. Hong Chengchou sat down in the middle, coughed habitually and gently, and swept his eyes to all the civil and military officials.

The civil and military officials below the military commander and the general soldier all felt the majesty of the governor from this light cough, and they held their breath more and more, not daring to look up, and then, Sun Chuanting, Ding Qirui and other civil officials saluted in turn according to their ranks, and then the military generals saluted in turn. Ding Qirui turned out to be a soldier in Tongguan, but the emperor had an edict asking him to follow Hong Chengchou to the north to King Qin. As a result, he was also pulled over.

Although tonight is not an official promotion, the etiquette is simple, but because Shang Fang's sword is offered in the middle, and Hong Chengchou is neatly dressed, only Sun Chuanting, Ding Qirui, several commanders, adjutant generals and several senior staff members of the governor's cronies have seats, and dozens of generals all stand solemnly after paying homage. The gentle and elegant and amiable attitude of Hong Chengchou when he met Sun Chuanting on the city wall before became very majestic and reserved at this moment.

In a solemn atmosphere, Hong Chengchou was thinking about his thoughts while being visited by the last few generals. As he was about to speak, a bit of dust fell from the waste bird's nest on the roof beam and landed on the sleeve of his left robe. Years of life on the horse did not change his old habit of cleaning, so he gently dusted off with his right hand. Then he stroked his long beard and began to speak.

He first praised the hard work and military exploits of the generals over the past year, and repeatedly praised Sun Chuanting for being "adept at strategy" and "repeatedly accomplishing special honors" in the past six months. Although his official speech is not very good, and there are many local accents in Quanzhou, Fujian, he is very good at rhetoric. His words made Sun Chuanting and the generals sound very happy and excited. After saying these words of reward, he continued, in a heavy tone and polished words:

"Since the end of the apocalypse, internal and external troubles have been tormented and persecuted, and there has been no peace. The thieves are more and more numerous, and the catastrophe is more and more intense. In recent years, the people have died and been displaced, like the deeper the water, the hotter the fire, often thousands of miles away, the smoke of the cooking is cut off, and the children are eaten, which is unbearable. For the past 300 years, the people of Japan have never been exhausted. And the East is waiting for an opportunity to invade and become more and more arrogant. Since the ascension to the pole today, it has been entered three times so far, and the Beijing division has been surrounded by three times! ”

All the generals couldn't help but sneak a glance at his face. Hong Chengchou's face became very grim, and he stood up from the Taishi chair covered with tiger skin. The civil and military officials who were sitting also quickly stood up. He looked at all the generals and said, "Tomorrow's battle will be under the command of Lord Sun, and the headquarters will also come to supervise the battle." Generals of all sizes, who are ineffective in combat and cower in battle, will not be tolerated if there is Shang Fangjian in the headquarters and courtyard! ”

Some of the generals couldn't help but glance at the Shang Fang sword leaning in the middle of the screen, from the time when Hong Chengchou hung the title of Shangshu in the military department in the spring of the eighth year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen gave him this Shang Fang sword, listen to him act cheaply, and take the lead in the general army, but in the past few years, he has only twice asked Shang Fang Sword to supervise the battle, the first time was in July last year in Zhouzhi County, Shaanxi Province against Gao Yingxiang battle, the second time is now. And this time, his face was grim and his tone was resolute, which he hadn't had in a few years, so this time it shook everyone's hearts a lot.

Hong Chengchou swept over the faces of each general with a blazing gaze, and saw that everyone had a dignified and fearful look, and was secretly satisfied, so he slowly sat down, and waved his hand to call the civil and military officials to sit down again. He turned to Sun Chuanting and asked with a smile, "Lord Sun, what instructions do you have for the generals?" ”

Sun Chuanting was not humble either, and turned his eyes to the group of generals on the right. The commanders-in-chief, knowing that he was much more harsh with his subordinates than the governor, saw that he was about to speak, and all of them stood up. Sun Chuanting smiled and asked the general soldiers to sit down, but no one dared to sit down. In a calm and majestic tone, he said:

"I hope you will take every word to heart for the instructions of the Lord of the Army. Today, he is an immortal hero, and his power is unpredictable. If the princes are ineffective in fighting and the traitors slip through the net, not only will the princes not be tolerated by the military law, but even the Fuyuan will not escape the punishment. In short, there is only one sentence: tomorrow we must move forward bravely and fight to the death! ”

The commander-in-chief, adjutant general and staff general replied in unison: "Obey Jun's orders!" ”

Sun Chuanting then issued a combat order.

The Qin army commanded by Hong Chengchou had a total of about 35,000 people, including about 5,000 cavalry. Hong Chengchou's battle plan was to use the cavalry as the vanguard and attack in the direction of Luancheng. If the battle goes well, it will continue to attack and advance to Zhaozhou, Ningjin and other counties. If the battle situation is unfavorable, they will quickly retreat to Zhending City.

After the order was issued, Sun Chuanting glanced at all the generals with a cold gaze, and said coldly: "I believe everyone knows about Zhang Zhun's military exploits. I believe that Wu Sangui's exploits, everyone knows it. This time, King Qin gathered all the elites of our army. At present, all the other armies have made great achievements, but we alone have not yet achieved the slightest success. I believe this is not what everyone wants to see. In tomorrow's battle, we will wash our swords with the blood of the enemy. Everyone, fight! ”

……

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