Li Zicheng said: "Why do the Manchus know more about the situation of our army?"

Song Xiance said: "In previous years, I heard that the Manchu Qing Dynasty not only sent Xizuo to Beijing to spy on the imperial court. I also heard that the Manchu Qing Dynasty had a heavy reward and bought the news. Our army marched from Chang'an to the east with 200,000 horses, falsely claiming to be 500,000 soldiers, also claiming that there were still a million troops behind. The 200,000 horses crossed the Yellow River into two routes, one was led by Liu Fangliang, crossed the Taihang Mountain, occupied the three prefectures in northern Henan, and then went north from Zhangde to Baoding. ”

"Your Majesty personally led 100,000 horses and horses, from Pingyang to the north, broke through Taiyuan, occupied Datong and Xuanfu, entered Juyong Pass, to Beijing only more than 70,000 people, every place, there is no official to manage the people, although there is territory but not defense, although there are people but not dependent. How could the Manchus not know all this?"

"If the Qing cavalry enters the fortress, he will attack, and I will defend. The art of war is cloudy: those who are good at defending hide under the nine earths, and those who are good at attacking move above the nine heavens. Within the Great Wall, Qianli Kifu, the plains and wilderness, the terrain is not conducive to the Tibetan army to set up ambushes, so the defenders are not hidden under the nine places. And the Qing soldiers are full of horses, can come to attack at any time, there are no mountains and rivers and dangers, take advantage of the gaps, gallop in the wilderness, is the so-called move above the nine heavens. ”

"Therefore, the current situation of the war is extremely unfavorable to our army. The great trouble of our army is not in a corner of Shanhaiguan and the tens of thousands of lonely troops of Wu Sangui, but in the division of the Eight Banners of Liao, Manchuria. Today, the minister weighed the situation, looked at the time, place, and people, and was worried, and he could not help but risk his life to speak. Please put an end to the proposal of the Eastern Crusade and prepare to gather all your strength to deal with the strong enemy in Manchuria. If he can defeat the spirit of the Qing soldiers in one battle, then Wu Sangui will be able to win without a fight. ”

Li Zicheng's heart was even more apprehensive, and he asked again: "Since the Manchurians are still mobilizing men, how about defeating Wu Sangui before they attack, in order to prevent Wu Sangui from colluding with the Manchus?"

Song Xiance said: "If you ......"

Suddenly, Li Shuangxi hurriedly came in, knelt down and said: "Father Qiqi, the Marquis of Ru led several generals such as Haohou, as well as Liu Tichun, the general who came from Tongzhou, has important military affairs, came to Wenhuamen, and asked to be summoned immediately. ”

Song Xiance and Li Yan were surprised when they heard that Liu Tichun came from Tongzhou and entered the palace with Liu Zongmin. Li Zicheng immediately said to Shuangxi: "Tell them to come in immediately!"

He said to Song Xiance and Li Yan: "You guys are flat, sit down!"

After a while, Li Zicheng heard that Liu Zongmin led the important generals to ascend to the Danqi of the Wenhua Palace. Generally, military generals walk lightly when they enter the palace, and they are afraid of being frightened; only Liu Zongmin, unlike others, usually has heavy steps, and he does not take it lightly when he arrives in the palace, and at this time he is heavy in his mind about state affairs, and he is angry, and his steps are naturally heavier than usual.

Because whenever the secrets were discussed in front of the palace, the eunuchs and palace maids avoided it, and even the propaganda officials were not allowed to stand on top of the Danqi, so Shuangxi led everyone into the palace and lifted the yellow satin soft curtain of the warm pavilion.

Song Xiance and Li Yan saw Liu Zongmin coming in, and they all quickly stood up. In order to be an exemplary general, Liu Zongmin first kowtowed in front of Li Zicheng, and then sat down. Li Guo and other generals kowtowed together, sat down solemnly, and waited for the chief general of the battalion to start the battle plan to the emperor. Song Xiance and Li Yan saw the grim look on Liu Zongmin's bony square face, and knew that things had changed, and at the same time thought in their hearts: "It's over, the hard advice just now will be in vain." ”

Li Zicheng glanced at the faces of the generals who were close to him, and first asked Liu Zongmin, "Marquis Ru, how do you discuss?"

Liu Zongmin said: "Everyone advocates a rapid dispatch of troops to eliminate Wu Sangui, and there should be no delay. After listening to Liu Tichun's report just now, everyone's intention to send troops was more resolute, so the ministers immediately entered the palace and played the emperor. ”

Li Zicheng turned to Liu Tichun and asked, "Tichun, you are in Tongzhou, what is the urgent report?"

Liu Tichun knelt down again and said: "The minister got a detailed report from Shanhaiguan in Tongzhou at dusk, and thought that the news was very important, so he hurried to have dinner and personally flew into Beijing. The minister went to the military division mansion first, knowing that the two military divisions had been ordered to enter the palace, and when the Chinese army from the first general's mansion came to invite the two military divisions to discuss the matter, the minister went to the first general's mansion and reported this major investigation to the marquis of you. ”

"What the hell is a major detective?"

In the past few days, Wu Sangui has consulted with his subordinates, and has recruited local gentlemen in Shanhaiguan to discuss, and decided to raise troops to restore his sight and avenge Chongzhen. Worried about the lack of troops, he decided to send people to Shenyang to borrow troops from Manchuria. ”

"Is he going to surrender Manchuria?"

"I heard that it's not a surrender, it's a loan. After Wu Sangui entered Beijing and recovered the Ming Dynasty, he ceded some land to Manchuria, and gave a large amount of gold, silver and silk to the Manchurians every year, just like the Southern Song Dynasty did to the Jin Dynasty. ”

"Damn it!"

Li Zicheng unconsciously scolded a foul word, and asked again: "Is your report reliable?"

"Back to Your Majesty, very reliable. The ministers sent to Shanhaiguan City to make a few detailed works, some of them got to know the people in Pingxibo's line, and some of them got to know the family members of the famous local gentlemen and the people of Yu Yiyuan, so the news they got was very true. According to the detailed report, Wu Sangui sent two cronies to Shenyang to borrow troops, and they had already set off. ”

Li Zicheng said angrily to Song Xiance and Li Yan: "Wu Sangui borrowed troops from Manchuria, the war has come at hand, and you just tried hard to prevent me from crusading against Wu Sangui, and almost missed a major event!"

Song Xiance and Li Yan originally had a lot to argue, but Li Zicheng was already the emperor, and there would be unforeseen disasters at this time. They were very aggrieved in their hearts, shocked and discolored, so they had to bow their heads.

Liu Zongmin said to Li Zicheng: "The saint doesn't have to be angry, Song Xiance and Li Yan are both loyal ministers, and it is also out of loyalty to discourage His Majesty's Eastern Crusade, but they have read too many military books, and the more they read, the more they are worried, and the less courage they read." Since the uprising in northern Shaanxi, we have said at any time that we will fight if we fight, and if you encounter officials and soldiers, you can't do it if you don't fight, so let's fight. ”

"Don't divinate hexagrams, don't check the military books, don't look at the yellow calendar to choose auspicious days, and don't discuss slowly. Your Majesty often jumps on the oolong horse as soon as he hears the news, swings the sword of the flower horse, and rushes at the enemy in the first place. He also said that the first strike is strong, and the second strike suffers. For so many years after our uprising, we have come from the edge of a knife. ”

"For many years, we didn't rely on yin and yang gossip, didn't talk about gold, wood, water, fire and earth, tasted hardships and hardships, and walked towards victory step by step, all relying on Your Majesty to dare to fight the enemy. His Majesty first called the general, and then the king, all relying on a rush of energy! Isn't that the case?"

Li Zicheng nodded frequently, and said in his heart: "I will no longer hesitate about the Eastern Crusade!"

Liu Zongmin also said: "Now that the Manchurians have not yet raised troops from Shenyang, our army quickly marched eastward and defeated Wu Sangui in a battle, so that he did not have time to hook up with the Manchurians against me. This is the best policy, and there is no room for error. From tonight onwards, preparations were made, and some of the men and horses moved out of the city first. All kinds of heavy military supplies must also be prepared overnight, and they should rush to Tongzhou within two days, and there must be no mistakes. ”

"The emperor drove the expedition in person, which minister in Beijing stayed, which general guarded, and how many soldiers and horses were left behind, all of which had to be decided by the emperor quickly. Since coming to Beijing, morale has not been as good as before. Since the emperor has made up his mind, from tonight onwards, all the civil and military ministers who have advised the emperor to obstruct the Eastern Crusade will interfere with the great plan of the Eastern Crusade, and His Majesty will not listen to them at all, so as to show that the emperor has made up his mind. Only in this way can the three armed forces be united and boost morale. ”

Li Zicheng nodded: "What you said is very true." ”

He also said to everyone: "How to mobilize men and horses, how to go east, is at the sole discretion of the general of the battalion. Prime Minister Niu Cheng and the ministers of the yamen naturally had to stay in Beijing. After you leave the palace tonight, I will summon Prime Minister Niu Cheng, the six government scholars and other ministers into the palace to discuss the affairs left behind. ”

Liu Zongmin asked: "Your Majesty, Beijing is an important military town in the north, and there must be a general leading 10,000 people to guard here, who is appropriate?"

Li Zicheng looked at the generals, pondered for a moment, and suddenly said: "Li Yan is both civil and military, he stayed, led 10,000 horses to guard Beijing, Li You, Li Yu and Wu Ruyi as deputy generals. Li Yan, what do you think?"

Li Yan quickly knelt down and said: "The ministers are mediocre, they bear heavy responsibilities, they dare not disobey orders, even if they are all brains, they must work hard to repay Your Majesty and wait for Your Majesty to triumph!"

"Good, good. Li Zicheng said: "You flatten and sit down." Advice, don't say anything more about advising me to go east, if you want to defeat Wu Sangui, a traitor, in a battle, what plan do you have?"

Although Song Xiance's proposal to block the Eastern Expedition was frustrated, knowing that the Eastern Expedition would be defeated, and the overall situation in the future was unpredictable, he was shocked in his heart, and his palms were secretly sweating, but after all, he had something extraordinary, he still thought carefully, his demeanor was calm, and he got up and played: "The terrain of Shanhaiguan is dangerous, the city is strong, it cannot be encircled, and it cannot be attacked hard. ”

"It's good if you can do this, please say quickly, how can you attack his vital point and make him collapse without a fight?"

"According to the careful investigation of our army's Xiao Liu Battalion, only a small part of the large amount of grain and baggage transported by Wu Sangui from Ningyuan Juehua Island by sea was transported into Shanhai City, and most of them were still moored on the shore of Jiang Numiao on more than 100 sea boats. Jiang Nu Temple is located in the east of Shanhaiguan, thirteen miles away. Nowadays, there is a lot of wind on the sea, and the sea ships are moored close to the coast to shelter from the wind, and they are easy to be burned by our army's surprise soldiers. ”

Li Zicheng's eyes lit up, remembering that when he summoned Liu Tichun last time, he had also thought about the burning of Wu Sangui's grain ship, and nodded again and again and said, "I have also thought of it, but ...... The Jiang Nu Temple is in the east of Shanhaiguan, how can our army make a surprise attack on the Jiang Nu Temple and burn the grain ship?"

Song Xiance once roamed eastern Hebei five or six years ago, visited the Acropolis of Mountains and Seas, and knew a little about the geographical situation in this area. When he came to Beijing this time, because Wu Sangui's troops were in Shanhaiguan and became a problem in the elbows and armpits of the Dashun Dynasty, he had to consult the maps hidden by the Ministry of War, and asked some people who were familiar with the geography near Shanhaiguan, so that he could be confident about this.

He said to Li Zicheng: "Of course, our army cannot cross the Acropolis of Mountains and Seas, but it is not impossible to reach it. More than 30 miles north of Shanhaiguan, there is a place called Jiumenmen, also known as a stone, it is a Xiongguan at the easternmost end of Yanshan Mountain Range. The Great Wall winds from the west to the east, and is about ten miles north of the Nine Gates and turns south with the mountain, so the Nine Gates face due east. ”

"The Ming army guarding the nine gates on weekdays is only four or five hundred people. If 5,000 cavalry were sent to take the nine gates by surprise in the middle of the night from the mountain road in Funing County, capture all the defenders, and prevent the news from leaking, then guard the nine gates with 500 men and 4,500 cavalry out of the nine gates, and go along the path to burn the grain ships. ”

"From the nine gates to the Jiang Nu Temple is a string line, about forty miles, there are no mountains, all shallow hills, hills, and flat land, between the Bohai Sea and the remaining veins of Yanshan, which is conducive to the cavalry galloping. When passing through Huanxi Ridge, a few miles outside the Shanhai Pass, he left 3,000 men and horses, facing the Shanhaiguan to set up a formation, with firearms and crossbows in front of them, in case Wu Sangui's men and horses went out of the customs to save food. ”

"Only 1,500 cavalrymen, carrying sulfur and other fire-igniting things prepared in Beijing, galloped to the seashore of the Jiang Numiao, so that the sea ships could not pull anchor and set fire to the ships. After burning the ship, quickly retreat, meet with the men and horses in front of Huanxi Ridge, quickly retreat to the nine gates, retreat into the Great Wall, and do not fight outside the Shanhai Pass, and wound the troops in vain. ”

Liu Zongmin forgot that he was in front of the emperor, slapped his thigh hard, and said loudly: "Clever plan! Wonderful plan! Sure enough, Emperor Dashun is a good military advisor who shakes a feather fan, a genius in the world!"

Li Zicheng nodded with a smile on his face, and asked Liu Zongmin, "Who can lead this group of men and horses to establish miraculous achievements?"

Liu Zongmin said: "This army wants to go out of the Great Wall, bypass the outside of Shanhaiguan, and rush to the seaside, once Wu Sangui cuts off the back road, they have to fight alone, not moving like a mountain, in order to kill a strong enemy and retreat to the Great Wall." In my opinion, this strange army is best led by the hand in person. ”

Li Zicheng shook his head slightly, turned to look at the military advisor, and asked for opinions with his eyes. Song Xiance had already sat down, thought for a while, and replied: "Supplement is the talent of a general, and he is facing the Guanning soldiers on the side of the Acropolis of Shanhai, and the decisive battle of the army is not good." Luo Hu is brave and alert, sharing weal and sorrow with the soldiers, like brothers. Ordered him to lead this strange army out of the nine gates to rush to the seashore and burn the grain ships, he will be competent, and there is no need to make up for it. ”

Song Xiance proposed to send Luo Hu to lead a group of strange soldiers to Jiang Numiao to burn the grain ship, and everyone agreed. Luo Hu's first battalion had only 3,000 men and horses, and it was immediately agreed that 2,000 elite cavalry would be transferred from Li Guo's camp to be temporarily under Luo Hu's command and returned to the formation afterwards.

Li Zicheng praised Song Xiance in his heart, his clever plan to burn grain, and the generals he selected, all coincided with himself.

He is an uprising leader who has a half-life career as a horseman, and he is not comparable to reckless heroes like Zhang Xianzhong, so although he listened to the advice of the Shaanxi generals headed by Liu Zongmin, and decided to go east to conquer Wu Sangui before the Manchurian soldiers went south, and no longer hesitated, but the Guanning elite soldiers led by Wu Sangui are estimated to have more than 40,000 people.