According to the oath between Li Zicheng and Wu Sangui, Li Zicheng not only immediately returned the crown prince to him, but also promised to give up the city of Beijing and let Wu Sangui go to assist the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty. And the last sentence of the oath is: "If the northern army invades and plunders, they will fight together, and we will share weal and woe." If this oath is violated, heaven and earth are in urgent need. ”

"Return to Beijing and be the regent, the conditions offered by King Chuang are really good." If it weren't for the experience of his previous life, Deng Ming estimated that most of them would be moved when they heard this condition, after all, the Qing army had not successfully gained a foothold in the pass at that time, and if Wu Sangui did not sacrifice Shanhaiguan, it was estimated that he would still not be able to; And with such merits, Wu Sangui is likely to become a figure like Cao Cao, coercing the Son of Heaven to order the princes. Although Gong Yan didn't say it, Deng Ming felt that when Li Zicheng made this condition, he would definitely think that he could at least appease Wu Sangui for a while, but he didn't expect that Wu Sangui would not hesitate to fall to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, give up the right to independence, the opportunity to control the government, and the merits of rebuilding the court, shaved his hair and surrendered to Dolgon, without even a trace of hesitation.

Wu Sangui knew that he couldn't hold so many things at all, even if he was greedy to take it down, he would have to be taken away by others in the end, and he would also build enemies on many sides to exhaust his troops. However, the so-called people die for money, birds die for food, King Pingxi is not moved at all in the face of such a big temptation, or even if he is moved, he will never act recklessly for this, he is really a hero. Speaking of which, Deng Ming couldn't help but use the title of King Pingxi for Wu Sangui, and if he was a little less sober-minded, he would probably take a gamble with the psychology of "seeking wealth and danger" or "how to know if you can't do it", block Dolgon for Li Zicheng, or continue to be neutral for the time being, and will not let the balance between Qing and Shun be broken immediately.

For Wu Sangui, this is undoubtedly an extremely wise and advantageous choice, but for China, it is a great misfortune. After putting away all his contempt for Wu Sangui, Deng Ming began to ponder Li Zicheng's strategy again, and found that the calculation was also quite good: "Beijing has just taken it, and King Chuang said that he would return it, if he can not break the contract, then King Chuang can really afford to take it and let it go." ”

"The emperor's difficulties at that time were the same as those of Wu thieves, and even much greater than those of Wu thieves," Gong Yan smiled bitterly again: "And it has long been difficult to ride a tiger, Guogong probably can't imagine it, when he was in Shanxi, the emperor and Pingzhang didn't want to fight Beijing, but the situation was stronger than people, forcing the emperor to walk to the city of Beijing step by step. ”

In the first year of Yongchang, Li Zicheng had just obtained Shaanxi, and at the same time ordered Yuan Zongdi to run Huguang, and the base area of Henan had become a Ze country because of the Donglin boss Hou Xun digging the river in Kaifeng. Zhang Xianzhong in Sichuan had an ambiguous attitude, the north was already bordering the Qing army, and the strategic situation in Dashun was still quite grim.

At the beginning, the attack on Shanxi was also intended to be a sweeping war launched for the safety of Xi'an. At that time, the Ming court judged that if Li Zicheng intended to attack the Beijing division, he would definitely not take the road of Shanxi, because it was densely packed with troops; But he didn't expect Li Zicheng to take this road, because Li Zicheng's target was originally these heavy troops of the Ming Dynasty that seriously threatened the security of Xi'an, not Beijing. But to everyone's expectations, the Shanxi Ming army surrendered when they heard the wind, and more than 100,000 troops handed over the fortified fortress to the 60,000 Shun army.

"The only battle of the Eastern Expedition was the Battle of Ningwu, which may not be anything in Henan, because Zhou Yuji held it for a day before and after, and then was defeated by our army. When I was in Henan, it is estimated that no one will remember this kind of battle in one day, but the battle of Ningwu in the Eastern Crusade has been mentioned repeatedly, just because there is really nothing else to mention. And it's Zhou Yuji, in fact, it's all a misunderstanding. "The Eastern Expedition in the first year of Yongchang was a brilliant victory for Dashun, but Gong Yan was not happy when he said it.

"Misunderstanding?"

"Yes, when we set out from Xi'an, we had 60,000 troops, General Quan (Liu Zongmin) brought 20,000 forwards, known as 500,000, and the emperor brought 40,000 troops, known as one million. We announced that we were going to overthrow the Ming court, and called on the local officials to surrender their land - when we went on the expedition, we had to have a little momentum and make the goal bigger. But I didn't expect it to be so easy, and after sending out the troops, I took most of Shanxi without a knife or a shot, and surrendered more than 100,000 Ming troops. And Zhou Yuji thought that our letter was true, and misunderstood that we were indeed going to Beijing, so he abandoned the city and fled, let go of the road to Beijing and fled to Ning Buguan, which was in the northwest, and mostly pondered in his heart: Aren't you going to Beijing, then you can go over, let me stay here and see the limelight. But Li Zicheng's real purpose in this battle was to ensure the safety of Xi'an, of course, he couldn't let General Zhou watch the limelight behind him, so he left the mainland and chased after him, rushed to Ningwu City and eliminated him: "It took a day to fight Ningwu, and after the battle, the emperor wanted to return to the division, because even Jiang Jian had surrendered, the entire Shanxi had been pacified, and the heavy troops that the Ming court could use to threaten Xi'an no longer existed." ”

"But you didn't return to the division," Deng Ming vaguely guessed Li Zicheng's difficulty: "Because there are too many Ming troops who surrendered, can't King Chuang afford to raise them?" ”

"Exactly, the three sides of Shaanxi originally needed the support of foreign taxes, but we could still support it by rectifying the rule of officials and the confiscated property of the Qin Wangfu; But Shanxi is the same, every year has to pay millions of taels of military salary, it used to be given by the Ming court, but now that it has surrendered to us, the Ming court will definitely not give it. These hundreds of thousands of soldiers and generals should be dismissed, then I am afraid that no one will be willing to surrender Dashun in the future, but if they are not dismissed, Pingzhang said that they will not be able to raise them. ”

Therefore, after Jiang Zhuo surrendered, Li Zicheng's Eastern Crusade not only could not end victoriously, but had to fight to find new sources of wealth. However, after the unprecedented victory of Dashun, the text looks like it has suffered a big defeat, in this new article, Li Zicheng reversed the previous statement that Chongzhen was called a faint monarch without a way, but praised Chongzhen "Jun is not very dark"; After helping Chongzhen shirk a lot of responsibilities, Li Zicheng also publicly called on the ministers of the Ming Dynasty to remain loyal to Emperor Chongzhen. Whether it is to clear the charge of the emperor of the enemy country, or to stand on the other side's position and call on the courtiers of the enemy country to fulfill their duties, be loyal to the monarch and love the country, this is the first in the past.

However, at this time, Li Zicheng's text was still quite imposing, and he asked Emperor Chongzhen to surrender himself to the vassal king, and the Zen throne was given to Li Zicheng, the king of Shun. Gong Yan explained to Deng Ming: "If the Ming Dynasty becomes a vassal state of Dashun, then it is always okay to let it pay some military salaries, right?" ”

But Li Zicheng's call obviously did not work, in the Chongzhen Emperor refused to give in at the same time, the Bauhinia Pass and other places of the Beizhili soldiers and horses also began to surrender to the Shun army one after another, and soon even the emperor went on an expedition of the bachelor Li Jiantai led Chongzhen's 40,000 Janissaries to surrender to Li Zicheng.

"Not only did it not force Chongzhen to pay tribute willingly, but there were more than 100,000 more troops, which is another large amount of military salary." Gong Yan looked helpless, by this time, Li Zicheng didn't even dare to dismiss the surrendered Ming army, because the strength of the surrendered Ming army had exceeded the main force of the Shun army several times, if there was a sudden rebellion, Li Zicheng would have to work hard to go back to Shaanxi.

When approaching the Jingshi, Li Zicheng issued the third letter after the Eastern Crusade, suggesting that Chongzhen accept his surrender, as long as he recognized Li Zicheng's status as the king of Shun, and gave him Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places as vassal states, and provided military salaries, then Li Zicheng surrendered to the Ming court.

"Hmm." Deng Ming strung together the things narrated by Gong Yan:

At the beginning, Li Zicheng took the soldiers and horses out of Xi'an, and shouted at Chongzhen: Duanjun, I have come to overthrow you! Chongzhen is not to be outdone: I have more soldiers and horses than you, you are here to die!

After the Shun army captured Shanxi almost bloodlessly, Li Zicheng's tone softened: I found that you are not a very faint emperor, let's still have something to say. And Chongzhen is as tough as ever.

Then the Shun army drove all the way to the front of Beijing City, and at this time Li Zicheng already faintly begged for mercy: Mingjun, just take me in as your courtier, as long as you are willing to pay the military salary. But Chongzhen still didn't let go: if you don't want money, you have to die!

"As early as the 3rd of March, the messenger of the Tartars sent a letter to Yulin." The letter mentioned by Gong Yan is the letter from Dolgon to Li Zicheng, asking Li Zicheng to jointly crusade against the Ming Dynasty, and Chi Qilong made a special trip to the hands of Wang Dadu, the general of Yulin: "General Wang entertained the messenger of the Tartars, saying that because this letter was not written to the emperor, General Wang accidentally opened it without authorization. General Wang said that he would convey the contents of this letter to the emperor, and asked Dolgon to write another letter indicating that it was to the emperor, and then send it as soon as possible, so that he could hand it to the emperor to prove that he was not talking nonsense. ”

"This is a delaying tactic, isn't it?" Deng Ming asked.

"Yes. When he saw this letter, the emperor and the peace chapter attached great importance to it, because the Tartars had officially inquired about our attitude towards the Qing Kingdom, and it was impossible for us to agree with the Tartars to divide the land and people of China equally, but if they refused, the Tartars would become the enemy of Dashun. At that time, everyone thought that General Wang's plan would only buy us two to three months, and when Dolgon sent the letter for the second time, the emperor could not help but express his attitude. Therefore, we must stop the crusade as soon as possible, return to Xi'an, and deploy the defense of the passes in Shanxi and Shaanxi. ”

On March 17, the Ming army outside Beijing surrendered to Li Zicheng, and on the 18th, the Shun army occupied the city walls on both sides of the Changyi Gate, at this time Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin came to the city of Changyi Gate together and asked to negotiate with Chongzhen again. After getting the permission of the defenders, Li Zicheng sent the eunuch Du Xun in, this time Li Zicheng listed very specific terms, and explained to Chongzhen the benefits of peace: Li Zicheng will not only immediately return the land and troops in Beizhili and other places to Chongzhen, but also willing to help Chongzhen resist the Manchu invasion, and can help Chongzhen suppress other peasant armies if necessary.

This clause made Deng Ming very surprised, because Li Zicheng scolded himself as a "group of cowards", and this was the only time that Li Zicheng changed the name of the peasant army, and overturned the justice of breaking into the camp. Li Zicheng's position in this peace clause has taken a 180-degree turn from that when he left Xi'an, and he is almost refuting the letter he wrote when he sent troops, and from the wording of this clause, Deng Mingneng can feel that Li Zicheng's eagerness to end the Eastern Crusade at all costs has reached the point where he does not choose his words.

That night, Du Xun came out and said that Chongzhen still didn't agree. But there was silence in the emperor's tent, and finally General Quan (Liu Zongmin) jumped up and shouted: "This dog emperor, he doesn't cry when he doesn't see the coffin." ', take Beijing! We have taken out all his money, and he can keep the wall, and we can keep it. The next one doesn't need Gong Yan to say more, Deng Ming also knows that an hour after Emperor Chongzhen rejected Li Zicheng's last request for recruitment, the Shun army marched into Beijing. But to Li Zicheng's surprise, Chongzhen had no silver at all, but Chongzhen's legacy—hundreds of thousands of troops along the entire northern border, and countless fortresses that needed to be maintained and repaired—were all reluctantly inherited by Li Zicheng.

At that time, the main force in the hands of the emperor was 60,000 when he left Xi'an, but from Tongguan to Beijing, the army that surrendered to the emperor had nearly 400,000, and Wu Sangui did not dare not recruit at all. Because if it is a hard fight, the emperor's main force will immediately lose a lot; And if the other side does not surrender and we do not go to the conquest, then hundreds of thousands of surrendered troops will immediately see through the truth, and if they swarm into chaos, we will not be able to suppress it with 60,000 people, not to mention that we will not be able to pay the military salaries. It seems that the fundamental way is to go down to the south of the Yangtze River and take the wealth of the southeast to raise the troops in the northwest, but the Tartars are still eyeing the outside of the pass, and hundreds of thousands of newly surrendered troops still need military salaries to appease and deter troops. ”

Therefore, Li Zicheng adopted the method of recovering stolen goods and subsidies to obtain military expenses as soon as possible, and tried to recruit Wu Sangui and other generals who held military power.

However, for this situation, no one can come up with a good way, after hearing that the Qing army has the possibility of breaking through the customs, Li Zicheng has no choice and must try to resist the enemy outside the country, because now Dashun is already on the edge of the cliff, relying on the prestige of the Ming Dynasty to barely maintain the stability of the situation; And once the Qing army enters the customs and causes chaos, the situation may collapse on all fronts.

"So since Wu Sangui is willing to make an oath with us, he has to agree." Gong Yan said.

"Not only that, if Wu Sangui wants to be the regent of the Ming Dynasty, then Beizhili will be thrown to him, King Chuang not only left a big burden, but also got an ally, and most importantly, the strength of this ally will continue to weaken, and in the end it may become more and more dependent on King Chuang." Deng Ming broke the calculation that Gong Yan didn't say: "But Wu Sangui is too shrewd, he knows that although things look good, it is useless to take them without strength, it is better to completely fall to one side, and the Tartars have been operating outside the customs for thirty years, and the army of the descendants is about three times that of Dashun, and there is a solid territory and financial resources, and there is no threat from the enemy on both sides." Therefore, Wu Sangui chose Tartar, and he was not shaken because of the conditions of King Chuang. ”

According to Gong Yan's statement, although the Qing army was very important in the battle of a stone, the most critical figure was by no means Dolgon but Wu Sangui, although he was the weakest of the three parties, but Wu Sangui was the director of this big drama. And this was the first battle since Dolgon took power, and the wise Wu Sangui also settled behind the scenes, and gave all the glory to Dolgon. Therefore, when the Ministry of War asked Wu Sangui about the specific battle situation, Wu Sangui would ask the other party to ask Dolgon directly, and Dolgon's report to Shengjing was also quite vague and even inconsistent about the battle of a stone.

"After returning to Beijing, the emperor released Wu Xiang's family, and when Wu Sangui made an oath with us, the emperor intended to release his Laozi, but Wu Sangui said that as long as the prince and Concubine Chen were fine, his parents could be used as hostages. Therefore, the emperor told us that Wu Sangui is really a hero, and it seems that it is useless to kill his parents, so it is better to stay. It wasn't until after the defeat and retreat to Beijing that Li Zicheng and Niu Jinxing Junchen realized that their judgment of Wu Sangui was completely wrong, but even after suffering such a big loss, Li Zicheng's first reaction was still to release Wu Sangui's relatives instead of killing them to vent their anger.

"Does the prince know why?" Gong Yan did not solve the mystery this time, but used it as a question to test Deng Ming.

Deng Ming pondered for a long time, and finally asked slowly: "Is it that King Chuang still wants to separate Dolgon and Wu Sangui until the whole time?" ”

Prior to this, Wu Sangui said in the text that he wanted to be a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty, and after the Battle of a Stone, Wu Sangui still posted a list saying that he was just borrowing troops from the Qing State.

"Exactly," Gong Yan said: "On the 26th, 27th, Pingzhang presented two copies of Wu Sangui's unveiling post to the emperor, and the following payment was made by Wang Wu of Pingxi, a scholar of Jianguo University. When the emperor saw it, there was joy in his eyebrows, urging the generals to hurry up and evacuate Beijing. But on the 28th, a new letter was delivered, which had been changed to Wu, the Prince of Pingxi, and the next letter was written on April 26 of the first year of Shunzhi. ”

"So King Chuang killed Wu Sangui's family on the same day, because King Chuang knew that it was useless to keep them." Deng Ming sighed, at that time Wu Sangui claimed to borrow troops, Dolgon also acquiesced to this, and the people of Beijing also thought that the regent was Wu Sangui, the king of Pingxi, and the Qing army was a friendly army invited. As long as this happens, then Wu Sangui and Dolgon still have contradictions to exploit, Li Zicheng does not kill Wu Sangui's family to avoid the formation of a common enmity between the two sides, and gives up Beijing to Dolgon and Wu Sangui to have contradictions, and there is still a chance to jump out of the situation of being attacked by the two families: "King Chuang's strength is insufficient, so he can only hope for the enemy's internal strife, but as long as Wu Sangui is not dizzy, King Chuang will be helpless." ”

However, Wu Sangui did not give Li Zicheng this opportunity, he chose to surrender completely, and of course Dolgon couldn't ask for this, if Wu Sangui, Gao Di, Tang Tong and other Ming army leaders had a tough attitude, then he could also accept the name of a reinforcement, just like his acquiescence to Wu Sangui's list when he first entered the customs; But since the powerful factions of the Ming army did not intend to maintain a nominal Ming court, but did their best to help the Qing army establish rule, Dolgon naturally did not push the benefits outward.

On April 26 of the first year of Yongchang, when Wu Sangui changed his payment from Wu of Pingxi, the king of Pingxi, a scholar of Jianguo University, to Wu the prince of Pingxi, the situation of the Qing troops entering the customs was already unchangeable, and the fate of Lu Shen of Shenzhou in Deng Ming's previous life was also determined on April 26, instead of April 22, when the previous stone battle took place.

"Mr. Gong has been talking to me about the past for so long, it shouldn't be just to tell me that Wu Sangui is not easy to match, right?"