On March 29 of the first year of Yongchang, after learning that Wu Sangui betrayed Dashun for the first time on the grounds that Concubine Chen was plundered, and returned to attack Shanhaiguan, Li Zicheng ordered Tang Tong to lead the soldiers and horses of Juyongguan who surrendered with him, and a reward of 40,000 silver, as well as Wu Sangui's father's handwritten letter to rush to Shanhaiguan, thus leading to the second surrender described by Gong Yan.

After Wu Sangui handed over Shanhaiguan to Tang Tong, he marched to Beijing with the envoys sent by Li Zicheng. After the second surrender, Wu Sangui posted a notice in Yongping, announcing that he was "the new lord of the Shuai Division, and he has not committed any crimes in the autumn, so the people need not be frightened." When Deng Ming heard this, he realized that he had confused Wu Sangui's two surrenders, and the rebellion on the grounds of Chen Yuanyuan turned out to have occurred before the second surrender.

"When he saw that the Wu thief handed over Shanhaiguan and posted a list along the way, the envoy thought that the big thing was decided, and when he saw that it was not far from Beijing, he hurried back to Beijing to report the good news to the emperor. On the night of 3 April, the envoy left his camp after Wu Sangui had set up camp in Shahe, and returned to Beijing on the morning of 4 April. At that time, the old man was also on his side, and the emperor rewarded the messenger after hearing the news, thinking that the affairs of the mountains and seas had been completely secured. Although Gong Yan didn't say it explicitly, Deng Ming could already hear that at this time, Dashun Junchen's contempt for Wu Sangui had reached its peak, and he thought that he had eliminated all Wu Sangui's worries, and as long as Chen Yuanyuan was in hand, he could be forced to surrender - because at this time, the people of Li Zicheng's group believed that Wu Sangui was a vulgar martial artist who had no ambitions and coveted women to the extreme.

"On 5 April, when it was reported that Emperor Wu Sangui had rebelled back to Shanhaiguan again, the Emperor also rebuked the messengers, saying that they were confused and had reported the events of 25 March as what had just happened. What made the emperor even more angry was that the local response was slow, and the military aircraft event would be delayed for so long - until the imperial court reacted and persuaded Wu Sangui to surrender again. At that time, the emperor reprimanded Niu Pingzhang and asked if his subordinates felt that the world had been decided, so they could be negligent and negligent. At that time, Niu Pingzhang could only confess, saying that he would severely punish his subordinates and let them not neglect the king's affairs. Gong Yan recounted this, and he was already sighing again and again.

"No one thought that Wu Sangui would mutiny again, and it was exactly the same action as a few days ago." Deng Ming asked.

"Who would have thought?" Gong Yan smiled bitterly. Li Zicheng's envoy left on the front foot, and Wu Sangui plundered Shahe on the 4th, and then returned to Shanhaiguan in the starry night, defeated the defenseless Tang Tong, and completely annihilated Dashun's army stationed in Shanhaiguan for the second time.

After this rebellion, Wu Sangui sent out the famous inscription: "My father is a prince and a minister, but he is ashamed of a woman, my father can not be a loyal minister, and my son can be a filial son, Gui and my father will decide, please from today." It was this article that won Wu Sangui wide praise from Nanming. Deng Ming couldn't help but think of the letter that Zheng Chenggong and Zheng Zhilong decided, and there were also signs of imitating Wu Sangui's essay, because until that time, Nan Mingshilin actually generally believed that Wu Sangui had a lot of hardships and was forced to do so.

"It wasn't until April 6 that the news that Shanhaiguan was attacked by Wu thieves again came that the emperor was shocked." Gong Yan told Deng Ming that when Li Zicheng found out that he had been deceived twice by Wu Sangui in the same way, causing the Dashun army that went to accept Shanhaiguan to be eliminated by Wu Sangui twice due to loss of vigilance, he sent Wu Xiang to prison in anger: "The emperor decided not to persuade him to surrender, but to raise a division to crusade against Wu Sangui and completely defeat this capricious villain." ”

"Of course," Deng Ming asked himself if he was deceived twice, then he would not try a third time anyway, and he must avenge the soldiers who were attacked, but he heard clearly just now, Gong Yan said that there was a third time: "What happened later?" ”

"After the emperor put Wu Xiang in prison on the 6th, he immediately sent an order to all the generals around Beijing, ordering the assembly of troops and horses, the reserve of grain and grass, and the preparation of the expedition in Shanhaiguan, and the date of the expedition was on the 13th seven days later." Speaking of this, Gong Yan sighed again: "But on the 12th, the emergency military situation in Liaodong was sent to Beijing. ”

"What is it?"

"Espionage, the Tartars raised troops from Shenyang on the eighth day of the first month, intending to enter the Kou from Juyong Pass." This information changed everything, and half an hour after receiving the report, Li Zicheng ordered the release of Wu Xiang again, and sent troops one day earlier: "In addition to Wu Xiang, the emperor also ordered Chongzhen's crown prince and Wu Sangui's concubine Chen to be brought into the army. ”

"King Chuang regards the Tartars as the first enemy, so he hesitated again, and once again moved the idea of persuading Wu Sangui to surrender." Hearing this, Deng Ming didn't understand, but when he sent out the troops, Li Zicheng was not sure how the situation would evolve next, so he brought all the people he thought were important to Wu Sangui in the army. Gong Yan and others believe that the situation may have four development directions: the Qing soldiers entered Kou from Juyong Pass, and Wu Sangui was neutral, so that after blocking the Qing army, they could coerce Wu Sangui who was trapped in Shanhaiguan; Or, Wu Sangui borrowed troops from Dolgon and raised troops to join the Qing army when Juyongguan and Qingshun were confronted, in which case he needed to use the hostages that Wu Sangui valued to threaten him; The third possibility is that Wu Sangui returned to Beijing when the main force of the Shun army was heading for Shanhaiguan, and in this case, these people were also needed to make Wu Sangui throw a mouse; The worst-case scenario is that Wu Sangui and the Qing army reached an agreement to lead the Qing army into the interior from Shanhaiguan. And no matter what the situation is, Wu Sangui is the most critical figure.

"Yes." Gong Yan nodded.

Li Zicheng left Beijing ahead of schedule on the 12th, not going straight to Shanhaiguan, but first to Tongzhou, and then sending troops to Miyun, pointing to Juyong Pass instead of Shanhaiguan! Because after Dolgon set off from Shenyang on the 9th, he did not take the western Liaoning corridor of Jinzhou and Ningyuan, but went west into the Mongol-controlled area of Monan, and also used Juyong Pass as a breakthrough.

"On the 16th, the emperor arrived in Miyun, and at this time, there was an urgent report, and the Tartars seemed to have an attempt to turn to the Liaoxi Corridor and go straight to Shanhaiguan." Gong Yan's beard trembled slightly. Even after 20 years, he still remembers it vividly, and he remembers the days exactly the same: "The situation is developing to the worst side, the emperor judged that Wu Sangui may have reached an agreement with the Tartars, once he sacrifices Shanhaiguan, he will join forces with the Tartars, so the emperor immediately ordered the whole army to turn, day and night from Miyun to Sanhe, straight to Shanhaiguan, no matter what, to cut off the Tartars' passage into Shanhaiguan in front of the Tartars." But because of the detour to Miyun, we were delayed for two whole days. ”

"King Chuang has long known that the Tartars are the enemy." At this point, Deng Ming finally confirmed that Li Zicheng not only knew the Qing army's offensive intentions, but was also very vigilant. In many books that Deng Ming has read, it is said that the appearance of the Qing army in Shanhaiguan is completely unexpected by Li Zicheng, for example, Mr. Jin Yong's famous description is: When the Qing army suddenly appeared in the field of vision of the Shun army, the completely unprepared Shun army shouted "The pigtail soldiers are coming", and then dispersed in a hurry. Master Jin Yong even praised that the pigtail soldiers were a symbol of invincibility in the world at that time, and they scared the Shun army into scattering and fleeing just by showing their faces.

However, both Gong Yan's description and Li Zicheng's marching route show that the Shun army has taken the Qing army as the primary imaginary enemy from beginning to end, and even turning to Shanhaiguan to deal with Wu Sangui is a military adjustment in response to the military operations of the Qing army. If it weren't for Dolgon's turn at Wu Sangui's request, Li Zicheng would have changed his strategy against Wu Sangui again because of the threat of the Qing army.

On the 17th, the vanguard of the Shun army arrived in Yongping, and Wu Sangui again asked for negotiations, and Li Zicheng judged that this was Wu Sangui's strategy to delay the army, and ordered to detain Wu Sangui's envoy Li Chixian and attack Yongping's Wu army. Although the Shun army did not sleep all night, after half a day of fierce fighting, they still conquered the camp of the Wu army; On the 19th, the vanguard of the Shun army arrived at the periphery of Shanhaiguan; On the 20th, the Shun army began to attack the north and south wings of the Shanhaiguan periphery.

"On the 21st, the emperor arrived at Shanhaiguan and immediately ordered his army to go around the Great Wall and attack Dongluo City from a piece of stone. Dongluo City is the Acropolis on the road leading from Shanhaiguan to Ningyuan, and if Tatars want to get close to Shanhaiguan, they must pass through it. At that time, Tanma reported that there was no trace of the Tartar outside Dongluo City, and the emperor breathed a sigh of relief. I remember very well that the emperor's face slowed down after two days and two nights, and he said to us: 'I have arrived in time. At that time, we all thought we had arrived in time. ”

It was not until the evening of the 21st that Dolgon's vanguard arrived fifteen miles outside the city of Dongluo, and after learning that the vanguard of the Qing army had appeared, Li Zicheng once again ordered that no rest should be allowed, and the whole army should attack the city of Dongluo, and it was necessary to cut off the possible passage between the Qing army and Wu Sangui.

From the night of the 21st to the early morning of the 22nd, the Shun army, which launched an attack on Dongluo City from a piece of stone, broke through the outer defenses of the city. It was night when the Qing army heard the sound of artillery in Dongluo City all day, but the Qing army that had just arrived did not know the truth and did not take any action, but further asked for instructions from Dolgon, who was coming.

Dolgon, on the other hand, did not know the situation at Shanhaiguan, and at this moment he did not even know whether the Shun army had already invaded Shanhaiguan, nor did he know whether the battle of Dongluo City was the end or prelude to the battle of Shanhaiguan. Therefore, until this time, the situation was still weak in favor of the Shun army. Wu Sangui's messenger for help was trapped in Dongluo City, and although he was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, he was unable to get in touch with Dorgon.

In Deng Ming's previous life, the record of the defensive battle of Dongluo City is as follows: the offensive of the Shun army, which had already attacked the city wall in the early morning of the 22nd, suddenly stopped, and retreated a stone, and Leng Yundeng, the immortal defender, immediately sent someone to contact Dolgon, and the explanation for defending the castle was that the thieves suddenly fell into the city, and it was the heavens that helped Wu Jun and the "Wang Shi"; After the Stone War, when the military department formed by the Qing court in Beijing asked Wu Sangui to recount the merits of his subordinates, Wu Sangui was vague, and finally under the repeated urging of the military department, Wu Sangui wrote back that Dolgon knew the story of the battle, and he did not need to repeat it.

"I don't understand, I don't understand at all." When Gong Yan recounted this, Deng Ming was completely confused.

Gong Yan did not explain immediately, but asked Deng Ming if Liu Tichun had said anything about what happened to Shanhaiguan.

"I knew that General Liu's army discipline was strict, and the whole division was returned, and there were almost no losses in men and horses." In the fiasco, the vast majority of troops were saved, which was of course a very remarkable ability, and later Huaiqing and others counterattacked, relying on Liu Tichun's complete troops and Yuan Zong's younger troops urgently transferred from Huguang. Deng Ming greatly appreciated Liu Tichun's performance in the Battle of Shanhaiguan and thought it was worth writing about, but Liu Tichun himself never talked about it in detail, and Deng Ming privately believed that it was probably because Liu Tichun was unwilling to talk about the fiasco.

"The general is not a man with almost no losses, but no loss of a man or a horse." Gong Yan said meaningfully.

Deng Ming's face changed suddenly, because these words completely subverted Liu Tichun's performance in the battle of Shanhaiguan, but he couldn't believe that Liu Tichun would be the one who escaped from the battle, if he really did this, he would never continue to gain Li Zicheng's trust, which was completely inconsistent with Liu Tichun's performance before and after, and even if he escaped from the battle, how could he not lose a single person or a horse?

"Because this is Wu Sangui's third surrender, well, it's wrong to use the word surrender, it should be more accurate to use 'contract'." Gong Yan's face was already completely painful: "The emperor believed in Wu Sangui for the last time, and the result was the fiasco of our army, and before the fiasco, General Zhi had been ordered to stop advancing and return to Beijing......"

"You, King Chuang, have you actually made peace with Wu Sangui?" Deng Ming's surprise now cannot be described in words.

"Yes, Wu Sangui said that as long as the crown prince is returned to him, as well as Beijing, let him be the regent of the Ming Dynasty, and he will deal with the Tartars side by side with us. By the way, there is also his concubine. ”

"Prince, Beijing!" Deng Ming stood up and shouted incredulously: "How is this possible? ”

"King Chuang agreed." Gong Yan's voice was low: "We handed over Concubine Chen and the crown prince to Wu Sangui, and even Wu Xiang was willing to hand them over to him." And Wu Sangui said that in order to prove his sincerity, he could first let his father stay in our army, and he only left the crown prince and Concubine Chen. and Beijing, King Chuang agreed to return it to him. ”

The most detailed record of this alliance under the city that took place on the 22nd is found in the "Guoyu", "Ming Ji Beiluo", and "Pingkou Zhi", and the most detailed record is left by Wang Yongzhang, as the eunuch who escorted the crown prince and Chen Concubine in the Shun army, he left the full text of the oath between Li Zicheng and Wu Sangui.

"It's your alliance under the city, you have attacked the city, how can the conditions be all favorable to Wu Sangui?" Deng Ming asked loudly, but after a moment he reacted: "King Chuang knows that it is impossible for him to deal with Wu Sangui and Tartar at the same time, even if he storms Shanhaiguan, he will be exhausted and unable to deal with Dolgon, who is close at hand. Therefore, the attack on Dongluo City is already a bluff and a war to force peace. ”

Gong Yan silently acquiesced, Shanhaiguan's external defense capability is far stronger than the internal, Li Zicheng chose to take out a stone and attack Dongluo City, instead of taking the north and south wing cities and attacking Shanhaiguan City, which has already exposed the enemy he is really worried about, because even if Dongluo City is taken, he still has to face Shanhaiguan, and this is the most indestructible side of Shanhaiguan. Even Deng Ming, who had never been to Shanhaiguan, could figure out the truth in a short period of time, and Wu Sangui must have realized that he still had an important bargaining chip, and he used this to achieve the results he wanted when Li Zicheng needed it most.

"But Wu Sangui immediately broke the contract, you weren't sneak attacked, you were pursued by Wu Sangui by 'win' when you were retreating, or when you were adjusting the deployment of the army!" ——

Author's note: The battle of Shanhaiguan, there are many doubts, the process is confusing, such as the mentioned Li Zicheng determined that the 13th swore to attack Shanhaiguan but suddenly rushed to Miyun on the 12th, and then Li Zicheng's march route, and Li Zicheng's choice to attack the direction of Shanhaiguan, a stone to the strange changes in the offensive and defensive battle of Dongluo City, as well as the 22nd oath of Wu Sangui and Li Zicheng mentioned by many people and its original text, etc., the author lists these doubts one by one, and then strings them together according to the speculation of this book, The upper and lower parts of this section are used to tell this speculative line through Gong Yan's mouth. Because I feel that this speculation seems to make all kinds of incomprehensible doubts understandable. As for Wu Sangui's first fraudulent surrender, Chen Yuanyuan was a concentrated excuse, and the real purpose was to gain more time for the second fraudulent surrender, this is also the author's understanding, and I think it is more credible than Wu Sangui is a love saint. This section will also involve some doubts about Li Zicheng before and after this period, if according to the Qing Dynasty historians, there are too many doubts that are simply incomprehensible, especially after Li Zicheng returned to Beijing, he released Wu Xiang again, and arrested and executed him again in two days, which is too incredible; The author thinks that if the speculation of this book is true, then Li Zicheng's strategy is clearly visible, and the various choices and reactions, including the release and execution of Wu Xiang mentioned above, are also taken for granted - if readers have different opinions, they are welcome to discuss them in the book review area, and the book is just a family statement, because this history is too vague.