On the second day of December in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

The capital division of Layue is very cold, and the wind is howling all day long, and it is extremely cold to the bone.

What is colder than the weather is the hearts of the people, Sun Chuanting's defeat has not cooled down, and soon the news of Kaifeng being flooded spread again, and the Beijing division was in an uproar, and the discussion was boiling. In addition to accusing the thieves of madness and extermination, there are also many people who are afraid.

The officers and soldiers were destroyed, the states and counties were destroyed, was Daming really terminally ill?

Entering the lunar month, the people of the capital should have been preparing for the New Year, preparing for the New Year, the New Year, the New Year, the Laba Festival, the New Year, sweeping the house, grinding tofu, cutting meat, and pasting New Year's pictures. The people of Layue should be very busy, they have to be busy buying New Year's goods, making various preparations for the New Year, and those who are in other places should also be busy rushing home.

But at this time, the entire Jingshi did not prepare for the celebration of the New Year, the weather was cold, the weather was dry and cold, and the plague that raged some time ago finally died down. This was due to the weather and the large number of doctors from the Metropolitan Government, but there were still many victims who poured into the capital.

This year's weather is very strange, the drought is followed by a flood, and this drought and flood are combined, resulting in a very large number of displaced people. A large number of refugees were crowded near Beijing, and it was difficult for the government to provide relief, and a large number of people died of freezing and starvation every day in the cold weather.

The year is getting worse and worse, and in recent years, there has been a lot of bad news, and all the bad news has shaken the whole country, even the most insensitive people have a feeling that the building is about to collapse and a catastrophe is coming.

In the Dongnuan Pavilion, Emperor Chongzhen looked at the fold in his hand blankly, he didn't move his eyes for a long time, and below him, Zhou Yanru, the first assistant of the cabinet, and Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the military department, also stood in a daze, and the depressing atmosphere made people extremely uneasy.

Compared with the past, Emperor Chongzhen had more wrinkles and white hair on his face, and his face was terrifyingly pale.

After a long time, he asked weakly: "Has Sun Chuanting's nickname been agreed?" ”

Zhou Yanru froze and replied: "Back to Your Majesty, the Ministry of Rites has agreed that Sun Chuanting will be posthumously named a 'loyal martyr', and his loyal servant Ma Weizhong will be crowned with a general flag. ”

He spoke cautiously, and after he asked to weaken the power of the factory guard to investigate matters last year, he was targeted by the Jinyi guard, constantly spying on his private affairs, and then kept complaining in front of the emperor, which made the emperor have a bad impression of him.

Although he is still in charge of the cabinet, he is no longer as glorious in the emperor's heart as he used to be, and there is a tendency for the saint to gradually lose, so he is careful when he speaks.

Emperor Chongzhen snorted, he sat exhausted, there was a deep weakness in his eyes, and at the same time there was a trace of imperceptible remorse.

He regretted that he shouldn't have urged Sun Chuanting to go south, the situation was already very good at that time, but he was too anxious, otherwise, he would ......

When the news of Sun Chuanting's defeat came, Emperor Chongzhen was furious and vented all his anger on his people. But now that he thinks about it, he has deep regret in his heart, but he will not say these words to his courtiers anyway.

At the same time, Kaifeng has fallen again, what are you really afraid of, but what is coming.

To this day, he still had a feeling of disbelief, and he muttered, "Is Kaifeng really flooded?" ”

Zhou Yanru replied: "Back to Your Majesty, what Tangma reported that Biancheng was flooded is indeed true. Thieves drive tens of thousands of refugees to the Yellow River, the river water enters the southeast gate from the north gate, the sound of the water rushes like thunder, and the momentum is like a mountain. Hundreds of thousands of people drowned, but less than 20,000 people under the king of Zhou and his concubines, princes and patrols were able to escape. After the palace of the king of Zhou was lost, he led the officials and the kings to luqi the city for several days and nights, and the governor Hou Sui greeted the king with a boat and fled to the north bank of the Yellow River. ”

Emperor Chongzhen said in a deep voice: "The people have teeth, all belong to Bochen, and I have hundreds of thousands of people......

There was indescribable pain in his words, and the pavilion was quiet, and Zhou Yanru and Chen Xinjia were silent and weeping.

After a long time, Emperor Chongzhen lifted his spirits: "Fortunately, the uncle of the vassal king is not lost, this is a great luck in misfortune, and Hou Sui can redeem his credit." ”

He said: "Shaanxi cannot afford to lose, although the thieves have not entered Tongguan in the west, but they should not be taken lightly. Sun Chuanting did not, but with the governor of Hou Sui's military department to aid Shaanxi, Chen Yongfu went with him, and protected the king of Zhou to Qin. He was ordered to be the commander of the army and hung the seal of General Kou. The two of them need to do their best to guard the pass, try to redeem themselves, if the thieves enter Qin, they will be counted as several crimes! ”

Speaking of this, he accentuated his tone, and Zhou Yanru hurriedly responded respectfully.

After thinking about it, Emperor Chongzhen said again: "Gao Mingheng lost the city and broke the siege, the crime is unforgivable, read his defense and hard work, do not sin deeply, remove the name of Hengguan, let him return to his hometown." ”

Zhou Yanru responded respectfully again.

In the end, Emperor Chongzhen picked up a copy of the notebook and said hatefully: "The thieves are going east again, they are intending to Xuzhou, and even cut off my luck!" ”

Chen Xinjia spoke at this time, and his face was full of worry: "Liu Liangzuo has more than 10,000 soldiers, but hundreds of thousands of thieves are attacking, and I am afraid that he will not be able to hold Xuzhou." ”

At the end of last year, Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo led 60,000 troops to surrender to Ma Shiying, the governor of Fengyang, and Emperor Chongzhen was overjoyed when he heard the news.

Although Liu Liangzuo is known as brave, he has been commanding troops to fight against thieves in Susong, Luzhou, and Lu'an all the year round, and has accumulated merit and been promoted to the chief military officer. When Chongzhen was ten years old, he also defeated Luo Rucai's subordinates with the general soldier Mu Wenshou and shook the sky to more than 200,000 people.

He has rich experience in fighting with thieves, and he has accumulated a lot of merits, but one by one famous generals and important ministers have been destroyed, and Liu Liangzuo cannot be said to be a famous general, and no one is sure whether he can hold Xuzhou.

And if Xuzhou goes down, it may threaten Caoyun.

Cao Yun is known as the Ming Dynasty military recalculation, all the southern goods needed in the capital depend on the Jiangnan Cao ship to bring it, and the Jiangnan needs the northern goods, also rely on the Cao ship to bring back. Every year, up to 11,000 ships go north through the canal, transporting more than 4 million stones of grain.

And the Ming Dynasty's Cao Yun, generally after November of the lunar calendar and before March of the second year, the Cao boat should first go to Huai'an, and then the Governor of Cao Yun personally checked, issued a signature, and entered the Huai into the Yellow River from the four gates near Qingjiangpu.

In March and April every year, it is also the time when the tail of the Cao boat goes north, until the beginning of June when the Huai'an Tongji Gate is dammed to stop the Yellow River. This is to avoid the outbreak of submerged water, and the yellow water backs up, making the Li River silt and inconvenient to dredge, so after June, Huai'an's boats generally do not go.

The canal to the southeast of Shandong, Linqing, the area of the dam, October 15 of every year, also to build a dam, used for the river channel, small pick, once to the first day of February of the following year to open the dam. In the event that the tribute ships arrived here, they had to try to move forward, and the rest of the official and civilian ships could only suspend their passage and wait for the dam to be opened.

Therefore, when Ming officials went north to take office, they generally rarely took boats, and most of them took post roads.

At this time, although it is not yet time to deliver grain, many ships have gathered in Huai'an, waiting for March and April of the next year to go north.

Although in the 32nd year of Wanli, Li Hualong opened the Lu River and avoided the danger of Xuzhou Erhong for more than 200 miles, and the Cao boat no longer passed through Xu and Lu Erhong to the north to transport grain, but went from Pizhou.

However, Xuzhou City is not far from the canal, and occupying Xuzhou City is equivalent to occupying the canal and cutting off grain.

Even if the thieves did not capture Xuzhou in the end, most of them gathered and looted everywhere, and the Cao ships could not move forward in Huai'an, which would also delay the transportation.

Emperor Chongzhen didn't dare to imagine what would happen to the Jingshi in the coming year without the four million stone grain and rice shipped from the south.

He said categorically: "Xuzhou will be saved, I heard that Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo, under the command of Ma Shiying, the governor of Fengyang, have a lot of strong soldiers, there are 10,000 horses and mules, and 50,000 foot soldiers, so they can be rescued." Huang Degong, the chief soldier of Luzhou, was also called brave and rescued. Governor of Ezmas, overseer of the army of Lu Jiude. There is also Liu Zeqing in Shandong, and the military department told him to go south together. ”

Chen Xinjia hesitated and said: "I'm afraid it's a thief's encirclement and reinforcement technique." ”

Emperor Chongzhen said sharply: "Could it be that I watched Xuzhou fall? ”

Chen Xinjia was silent, and Zhou Yanru also looked at his upper and was silent.

Emperor Chongzhen thought about it, worried that if the thieves ignored Xuzhou and went east to take the Shandong Division, he said heavily: "The military department needs to tell the Jin, Henan, Bao, and Dongsi Fu, so that they can organize their troops and horses, personally stationed in the river, and work together to block the emperor, and not allow a thief to sneak into the crossing, otherwise it will be strictly governed." ”

"Also, order the governor Huaiyang and the governor Caoyun Lu Zhenfei to guard the two rivers, and not let the thieves go down the Yellow River and the canal and take Huai'an directly!"

In July of this year, Shi Kefa was promoted to the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, and the imperial court promoted Lu Zhenfei to be the imperial envoy of the right capital and the governor of Caoyun, stationed in Huai'an.

When Emperor Chongzhen summoned him, Lu Zhenfei faced the matter, and Emperor Chongzhen felt that he was a solid man, and sure enough, as soon as Lu Zhenfei arrived in Huai'an, he exterminated the local thieves Cheng Jikong, Wang Daoshan, and Zhang Fangzao, and it should be no problem to guard Huai'an.

After Chen Xinjia and Zhou Yanru went, Emperor Chongzhen sat on the seat weakly, he didn't understand why he worked hard and lonely, but Daming was getting worse.

……

Three days later, on the fifth day of the twelfth month, Dolgon carefully looked at a piece of information from the Barbarian City, which recorded the defeat of Sun Chuanting, the flooding of Kaifeng, and Li Zicheng's eastward advance.

This "barbarian city" was a spy factory that spared no expense during the Nurhachi period, specializing in reconnaissance of Ming intelligence, spreading rumors, and arranging spies. Later Jin Manqing was very willing to spend money in this regard, and only on the head of Wang Maofang, a spy worker who was arrested that year, the Ming court confiscated 2,530 taels of silver from each shop in Jitun.

However, after the Jin Manchu Qing Dynasty trained spies and established a spy network, the harvest was also very large, the fall of the cities in Liaodong, the Ming generals Zhang Pan, Zhu Guochang, and even the chief soldier Ma Shilong who died in the middle of the plan are all one of their achievements.

The king of the time said in Jin: "The person who is Liu Bao in Chang'an today does not know the geometry, and the person who arrests the traitor is a spy." ”

It's creepy to say.

Through the deployment of spy workers, the Later Jin Manqing Dynasty knew everything about the movements in the Ming Dynasty, of course, except for Xuanfu Town and Duhufu, the spy workers arranged were to die one by one. And he died a miserable death, either skinning, or beheading, and Ling Chi.

The prestige of the Minister of Intelligence, Wen Daxing, is the prestige of the Barbarian City.

At the beginning of November, the Manchus had withdrawn their troops from Japan, and although Zheng Zhilong formed a combined fleet with European countries, he was unable to defeat the Manchu army on land. Japan's castle town system allowed the Qing army to capture everywhere, but it was impossible to cut off their grain and grass assistance, and the two sides were at a stalemate.

Moreover, there was an outbreak of plague in Japan, and the shogunate was even more reluctant to fight, and the two sides began to negotiate peace.

In the end, the Qing agreed to release some of the captured Nagasaki people, and were willing to trade with the Zheng clan and other countries, which was also a large market to make up for the losses in Nagasaki, so the greedy Europeans gave up.

The shogunate also had a step down, so it signed a peace agreement with the Qing state, and the two sides called each other brotherly states and did not offend each other. Before leaving, the Qing army took away the Japanese army of the Eight Banners, and some of the daimyo of the Southwest Domain, who felt that they would be liquidated, went to the Tokugawa shogunate for a heart disease, and the matter of Japan was over.

Although there was a small setback in the Japanese attack, it gained more than 100,000 people, a large amount of money and materials, and knew that the world was huge, and the gain was still great for the Qing side.

However, it was no longer possible to look eastward, and Dolgon put his greedy gaze back on the Ming Dynasty.

The spies everywhere allowed the Qing State to obtain intelligence faster than that of the Ming Dynasty, but because of the long distance, it would be a few days shorter. Therefore, Dolgon soon learned that Sun Chuanting was defeated, Kaifeng City was flooded, and Li Zicheng's army rolled east to Xuzhou City.

He looked at the information in his hand, and then looked at the map on the case, and looked at it for a long, long time......

On the 6th day of the first month of December, after a day of fierce quarrels with the Manchu and Han ministers, an envoy left Shengjing with a letter written by Dolgon, and he was to go to Xuzhou to contact the Chuang army.

In the letter, he wrote: "The emperor of the Great Qing Dynasty sent a letter to the commanders of the southern Ming land: I hereby send a letter to the princes, I want to work together with the princes, and take the Central Plains. I don't know what it means to be respectful. But the speedy book envoy, pouring out his heart, is sincere and ...... wish" (to be continued.) )