Chapter 95, The Death Knell of the Ming Empire (Part 2)
North Zhili, Shuntianfu, Tianjin Wei
As the Grand Canal connected the north and the south, it became the country's economic lifeline. After Yongle Emperor Zhu Di moved the capital to Beijing, Tianjin gradually became the southeastern gateway to Beijing and an important shipping hub. From then on, the defense of the capital and economic prosperity were closely linked.
In the second year of Yongle, the construction of Tianjin Acropolis began. Because the city wall is long from east to west and short from north to south, it is commonly known as "Abacus City". In the fourth year of Hongzhi's reign, the imperial court carried out large-scale renovations on Tianjin Tucheng. The city walls were covered with bricks and stones, and urns and towers were built on each city gate. Plaques were inscribed on the east, south, west and north gates respectively. They are named "Zhendong", "Dingnan", "Anxi" and "Gongbei". According to the architectural standards of the Ming Dynasty, they are absolutely majestic, tall and indestructible.
But at this moment, under the city wall of Tianjin, there are piles of corpses that have not yet been buried everywhere. In the wasteland not far from the city, there are still many destroyed chariots and long ladders abandoned. Even the blue brick city wall was covered with scars, and the brick and wood structure of the city tower and the houses outside the wall were all burned down. It turns out that many satellite villages and towns around the city were also burned to the ground by the war. The residents either filled in the trenches or fled to other places.
Two miles south of Tianjin City, the deserted fields next to the canal were filled with various camps. Outside one of the most luxurious Chinese military tents, Hong Chengchou, the governor of the three sides of Shaanxi Province, pressed his sword with his right hand and looked at the towering Tianjin Acropolis on the horizon, with an unknown fire in his heart that was about to burst out.
——Starting from the spring of this year, Hong Chengchou led 50,000 Qin troops to pursue the rogue bandits from Shaanxi across Shanxi to Beizhili. Then, because of the food shortage in the capital, he was ordered to go south to Shandong to "eat" and support Shandong Governor Zhu Dadianqing. They suppressed the demons of the Wenxiang Sect, and once crossed the border and invaded the Xuzhou Prefecture in southern Zhili... Along the way, they fought in five provinces, almost penetrating the entire northern China from west to east, which can be said to be the ultimate hardship...
When the generals in western Liaoning defected to captivity, the Jurchen cavalry entered the pass in large numbers, and the key areas in the capital were in a state of emergency, Hong Chengchou, who received the letter for help, ignored the fact that his troops had to fight long distances and their soldiers were tired, so he once again led the Qin army to turn around and go north along the canal in an attempt to The King of Diligence in Beijing... If one were to select "the top ten model workers who moved the Ming Dynasty this year", Hong Chengchou and his hard-working Qin army would definitely be on the list.
However, how did the ruling and opposition parties of the Ming Empire treat this loyal and brave army that broke through the dangers of the mountains and rushed thousands of miles to face the national calamity?
After the previous victory in the suppression of bandits in the capital, the imperial court refused to give the Qin army the rewards they deserved. They just talked about it and promised a lot of awards in vain, but they even refused to provide food and fodder. Instead, officials of all sizes came to ask for bribes. One after another. After moving to Shandong, although he scraped a little profit from the wealthy Jin gentry and seized some trophies, compared with the huge expenses of the army's campaign, Hong Chengchou still felt that it was a waste of money and could not make ends meet... And what he is experiencing outside Tianjin now, This made Hong Chengchou and his men almost furious.
——Before the Qin army arrived, Wu Xiang, the rebel general from western Liaoning, had already led 20,000 soldiers and horses and marched straight into the city of Tianjin. Not only did he plunder the countryside wantonly, but he also hijacked tens of thousands of nearby villagers and attacked the city in large numbers. Soon the Tianjin Acropolis, which had few soldiers and generals, was crumbling.
When Hong Chengchou, who was slowly heading north, heard the news, he immediately led an army to march to Tianjin for reinforcements. After a fierce battle, he successfully repelled Guan Ning's army and temporarily lifted the siege of Tianjin. Unexpectedly, after Guan Ning's army retreated, Du Sance, the governor of Tianjin, ordered the city gates to be closed tightly and not allow anyone from the Qin army to enter the city. Then he refused to provide food and grass on the grounds that there was no food in the city, and ordered people to throw it from the city. He left a thousand taels of silver and asked Hong Chengchou to buy food by himself.
This is really the most ridiculous thing in the world - after such a tragic military disaster, almost all the villages and towns around Tianjin City have been reduced to ruins. If you are unwilling to open the public treasury, let Hong Chengchou go. Where to buy food?
What's more, even if Hong Chengchou had a place to buy grain outside the city, the price of rice in Jinan, Shandong Province has risen to forty taels of silver per stone due to the Wenxiang Cult's uprising and the blockage of the canal. The price of food in Beizhili will only become more expensive. It is said that the price of rice in Beijing has reached eighty taels per stone... How much rice and wheat can be bought with a mere thousand taels of silver? I'm afraid it's not enough for the 50,000 Qin troops to have a full meal!
Hong Chengchou led the army back to King Qin from Shandong this time. The food and grass he brought with the army was not enough. The soldiers were hungry and wanted to have a full meal after winning the battle in Tianjin. Who knew that they would have a full meal after winning the battle in Tianjin? Even this little wish cannot be fulfilled! Now the remaining food and grass in the army can only allow the soldiers to eat one meal of porridge every day. Even so, it is only enough to last for only five days, and then you can only dig bark and grass roots everywhere!
Seeing that the Tianjin Acropolis was unable to get food and oil and salt, Hong Chengchou had no choice but to order his trusted staff to bring his handwriting and tokens to Jinghai County to mobilize food. Unexpectedly, the magistrate of Jinghai County also claimed that there was no food in the city. , refused to provide food and grass, and even beat out Hong Chengchou's envoy with sticks!
Unexpectedly, he devoted himself to serving the country loyally and being eager for justice, but in the end he ended up with this result. Hong Chengchou, who was not very good-tempered to begin with, became even more angry these days. In recent days, he has begun to send troops to "graze the valleys". Unexpectedly, Beizhili has been experiencing constant wars and famines in recent years. The wealthy families have either hid in cities protected by city walls or moved to the south of the Yangtze River to "escape the noise", which made Qin Even if the army wants to grab food, there is nowhere to grab it.
In addition, Hong Chengchou also did not forget to write to the Ministry of War, asking the court to solve the problem of food and grass, but nothing happened, and there was no response.
This attitude of "both wanting the horse to run but refusing to let the horse eat grass" made Hong Chengchou very sad. Since he was ordered to serve the king, he was not afraid to fight with all kinds of bandits, bandits, rebels and even slaves in Liaodong. Fighting, but the constraints from within the imperial court made him exhausted mentally and physically.
Even the storytellers in the teahouse knew this truth, but everyone in the imperial court always liked to pretend not to know.
As food and grass were running out and their pay and silver were not available, the 50,000 Qin army had to be trapped in the south of Tianjin and could not continue to advance towards the capital. As a veteran and capable minister, Hong Chengchou knew very well that after more than half a year of fighting, the Qin army Already extremely exhausted. Next, we have to face the Jurchen Eight Banners, an unprecedentedly powerful enemy. No matter what, we have to let them eat and drink enough to rest before they can cheer up and go into battle to kill the enemy.
If soldiers cannot have enough to eat before going into battle, they are not fighting, but dying.
But in the face of the lack of cooperation from the local government, it is really impossible to raise food and grass... Are we going to move our troops to the three prefectures in southern Jinan to fight the autumn wind in Lu Xiangsheng's hometown?
But what should the capital do? Can Lu Xiangsheng's remnant troops and defeated generals, as well as the rubbish from the Beijing camp, be able to defend the city?
Also, I heard that there was a plague in the capital recently, and the soldiers in the army were very worried about it, and they were very reluctant to go further into Jifu.
Just when Hong Chengchou was at a loss what to do and was in a dilemma, Hu Dawei, the commander-in-chief of Shanxi Province who had followed the Qin army to fight, came over mysteriously and asked for an audience: "... Sir Superintendent, although Tianjin is dilapidated, if we want to There is no way to prepare food.”
"...Oh? I wonder what you have to say?"
Although he didn't believe that this vulgar warrior could come up with a solution, Hong Chengchou still signaled Hu Dawei to continue talking after he was in a hurry and sought medical treatment.
Hu Dawei, the commander-in-chief of Shanxi Province, actually found a way out at this time: "...Xiaguan recently sent scouts to investigate, and found that there was a sea ship doing business in Dagukou (Tanggu), from Shandong I brought grain here to sell it, and the price was pretty good. One stone of wheat only cost five taels of silver.”
"...Sounds good! Then why don't you buy it?" Hong Chengchou's eyes suddenly lit up and he asked quickly.
"...No money!" Hu Dawei replied with an embarrassed look on his face, "...I haven't been paid for five months, and I still owe the reward from the Ministry of War."
——Hu Dawei’s words are half true and half false: The Qin army’s various ministries have indeed been in arrears with their pay and silver for a long time, and the Ministry of War has also delayed the payment of rewards for previous military achievements. However, with the plunder on the battlefield and the filial piety of the local gentry, everyone officer Their private pockets are still quite sufficient... However, although the officers' embezzlement skills are full of tricks, they can only get in but not get out. It is extremely difficult for them to pay for military rations out of their own pockets.
For the same reason, Hong Chengchou was not willing to pay, "...Since it is a sea ship from Shandong, it must have some involvement with the Dengzhou rebels - last month, the Dengzhou Navy was still intercepting Tianjin merchant ships! You can just requisition the grain, why do you need to give them money?”
Hu Dawei smiled bitterly and said: "...Master Supervisor, it would be great if this is really the case. Those maritime merchants are smart. They built a stockade on the seaside, leading directly to the dock. The food they sold was all on the big ship, and the buyers gave it to them. Willing to unload money Come down. If we send less troops to rob, we may not be able to break the stronghold - the stronghold is guarded by thieves from Dengzhou Town. If we send more troops, they will just get on the boat and run away..."
——Obviously, after Hu Dawei learned about this, he must have planned to take the food for free without giving any money, but unfortunately he failed to do so.
After learning that this group of merchants selling grain seemed unable to rob them by force, and that they were indeed related to the Dengzhou rebels, Hong Chengchou hesitated for a while, fearing that he would be impeached by the censor for being related to the rebels. But now the Qin army's food shortage problem has become urgent. If it is delayed any longer, there will be a mutiny, and the capital is also shaky and in danger... The court should no longer be picky! Hong Chengchou thought this unconfidently.
In short, in order to solve the urgent problem of lack of food for the army, Hong Chengchou finally decided to go to Dagukou to find merchants to buy food. Then, because the Qin army was about to run out of food and its morale was unstable, and there was really no time to delay, Hong Chengchou was afraid of wasting time in the exchange of envoys and bargaining, so he simply took the Chinese Army Supervisor Biao Camp and rushed to Dagukou to collect food in person. Regardless of dignity or dignity, they just want to get the food as quickly as possible.
However, what Hong Chengchou never expected was that as soon as his front foot left, a catastrophic disaster immediately broke out in Tianjin...
※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※
North Zhili, Yongping Prefecture, Leting County
Accompanied by the whining of bull horns and the thunderous rumbling of war drums, tens of thousands of troops were like a long winding dragon, slowly advancing toward the southwest along the official road leading to the capital. Regardless of whether they are cavalry or infantry, most of the soldiers look like ordinary tiger-backed men with a thin golden rat tail hanging on the back of their bare heads. Many of them also have scars on their faces, and their eyes always reveal ferocity. and the aura of violence.
Under the warm autumn sun, the endless fields on both sides of the official road were overgrown with grass. From time to time, white bones and burnt black ruins could be seen. And this long-disrepaired road is also full of potholes, so that fine dust flies up, then spreads and dances, pouring into the eyes, ears, and nostrils of soldiers and animals. The soldiers walking in front can still Barely able to endure it, the soldiers in the rear group were completely covered in dust and had to either leave the road and walk on both sides to avoid the dust. Or cover your mouth and nose with your clothes, squint your eyes and move forward.
However, despite the disgrace along the way, the entire Jurchen soldiers were still extremely happy. From the Eight Banners Banner Commander and Commander Baylor to the Han Army, they were all excited about the unprecedented victory and even looked forward to peace. Looking forward to the rich loot after breaking into Beijing city.
Huang Taiji, the monarch of the Later Jin Dynasty who led this army, was even more proud, as if he saw the throne of the world's supreme being waving to him in front:
"...Although the Ming Dynasty is large, it has become a rotten tree. Now that it has suffered such a fatal blow, I think it may be the end of its life!"
——In fact, the current good situation is also a complete surprise for Huang Taiji. Until Guan Ning's army suddenly turned against him en masse, he had never expected that the Ming Empire would collapse so suddenly!
After winning the Battle of Daling River this spring, although Huang Taiji used the captured generals Wu Xiang, Zu Dashou and other Guan Ning surrenders to send many letters of persuasion to surrender to the remaining Liaoxi generals in Jinzhou and Ningyuan, he still had no idea in his heart. There was no hope of success - after all, the gap in treatment between the two sides was too great. The Ming court could allocate five million taels of silver per year to the generals of Liaoxi, but Houjin could only give them a few pieces of land outside the customs that had suffered from years of famine.
Therefore, when the general of Liaoxi actually switched sides and surrendered, in the confused Huang Taiji's heart, it was definitely more of a shock than a surprise.
It wasn't until Guan Ning's army actually shaved its head and changed its banner, and offered the Shanhaiguan and other pass fortresses to the Jurchen Eight Banners, and opened up a shortcut to the Central Plains, that Huang Taiji finally determined that this was not a trap set by the Ming Dynasty. , but an unprecedented gift package falling from the sky!
However, although the gift package from "Shanhaiguan + Guan Ning Army" was good, it also completely disrupted Huang Taiji's original strategic plan: he had planned to finish the Battle of Daling River before stationing troops and resting for a few days. Months later, he personally led a group of elite troops to go north to Ninggu Pagoda to attack the "short-haired pirates" entrenched in Vladivostok, in order to relieve the back of the Jurchen Eight Banners. But with the sudden opening of Shanhaiguan, the gateway to the Central Plains, all the above-mentioned ideas were in vain - from the Eight Banners banner masters to ordinary bannermen, they have long been fascinated by the colorful world of the Central Plains. As the Western Liaoning Corridor becomes a smooth road, I have long been red-eyed and want to enter the customs to grab a ticket. How can I go to the deep mountains and forests over Ninggu Pagoda to suffer hardships?
Although Huang Taiji is relatively calm and steady, he also knows the principle of "If you don't take what God gives, you will suffer the consequences" - Guan Ningjun's defection to offer Guan was a great opportunity for the Aixinjueluo family to take over the Central Plains. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If because of his hesitation, he missed this short-term opportunity and allowed Mingting to seize the time to retake Shanhaiguan... then Huang Taiji would probably regret it to the point of vomiting blood for the rest of his life... Therefore, without much hesitation, Huang Taiji overturned his previous battle plans, once again assembled an overwhelming army, and marched southward in large numbers.