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On March 10, although the weather was still cold, the Ming army in Quang Ninh City was still struggling to hold on, and the weather had shown signs of warming, and the ice pillars under the eaves had begun to slowly melt in the afternoon sun.

Huang Taiji knew that time had begun to turn in his favor for the enemy camp. Therefore, he must make full use of the surplus value of Jinzhou's surrender.

The edict ordered the court to make preparations and to go to the hall tomorrow to pay tribute and thank the heavens. On the 11th day, Huang Taiji led the Prince of Li, Daishan, Dorao Yubel Abatai, the prince of Joseon, the monarch and the civil and military ministers, out of the Fujin Gate, to a temple located next to the Qingyan Temple that was temporarily converted into a hall. Outside the gate of the hall, the Han ministers, the princes of the Joseon state, the maharaja and their attendants, as well as the general civil and military officials of the Manchu people, were not allowed to be inside, and only a few relatives and Manchu ministers who had been allowed by the emperor to go in to accompany the sacrifice. This is the place where the ancient customs and primitive religion of the Manchu people are preserved the most, because the Han people and ordinary subjects cannot go in to see it, so it is considered to be the most mysterious place in the religious life of Manchuria, and there are various speculations and legends about what god is worshipped.

In fact, there are only two buildings where Huang Taiji led a small number of Manchu relatives and nobles to enter, a square building in the north, called the Sacrificial Temple, facing south, which is the place where the emperor rests when he sacrifices to the temple, and stores all kinds of magic objects for worshipping the gods; The other building is on the south side, facing north, and is circular, called the Circle Hall, which is the so-called Tangzi. The sacrificial hall is in the temple, and there are no clay idols in it, nor are there any wall charts of those gods in Qingning Palace. In the south courtyard of the temple, there is a stone seat that erects a god pole in the middle, and then there are six rows of stone seats, which are used for the sacrifice of the prince, the king, and Baylor.

Huang Taiji stopped for a moment at the shrine. The ceremony of the shrine began. Manchurian and Mongolian conch and painted horns chirp in unison, and those musical instruments imported from the Han are not used. Huang Taiji entered the hall in the sound of conch and painted horns, praised by the praise officials, knelt three times and kowtowed nine times facing the south, and a small number of Manchu relatives and noble ministers who accompanied the sacrifice bowed their heads behind him in two rows on the left and right. Although the use of the official praise ceremony and the three kneeling and nine prostrations are influenced by the Han culture, the special customs of the Manchurian tribes in the Changbai Mountains are maintained by facing the southern gods. It is not only different from the Han people, but also different from the customs of the general Jurchen people. (So, those who say that the Manchurian tribe is a descendant of the Jurchens can rest, and in the matter of recognizing their ancestors, the wild boar skin family and their old landlords, the Koreans, have a fight.) ）

After his salute, four male shamans wore hats and robes, and wore brass bells around their waists, dancing as they danced. While singing ancient greetings in Manchurian, at the same time, or playing the three strings, or clapping the god board, or raising the knife to point to the painting, a string of small bells ringing on the back of the knife, very lively and the rhythm is not chaotic.

Huang Taiji is going to put on a good show today to show the Ming army in Guangning City, let Wang Tingchen, Cao Bianjiao and others take a look, your prince and young master, Zuo Dudu. The ancestor of the general soldier of Jinzhou has a great birthday, and the ancestral family of the core family in the Jiangmen Group in Liaoxi has been surrendered to me. Enjoy the official positions, titles, glory and wealth that I have given them, and the slaves of the fields, what are you waiting for in the small city of Quang Ninh?

After respectfully giving the salute, all the princes and ministers followed Huang Taiji out of the hall and came to the temple of sacrifice. Among the princes and ministers who sacrificed to the hall with Huang Taiji, there were no three Dolgon brothers.

The day before yesterday. Dolgon sent someone to send an urgent report, saying that the 40,000 men and horses under the command of Wu Sangui, the general army of Ningyuan, under the cover of ten gunboats, reoccupied Tayu Mountain, and spread out to the line of Baitai Mountain and Hongluo Mountain, intending to attack Tashan again.

Not only transferred Azig from Quang Ninh to the Jinzhou front. He also demanded that the 40 Eight Banners, Mongolian Niulu, 10,000 horses and 10,000 foreign Mongolian tribes that were resting between Quang Ninh and Jinzhou at this time, be transferred to the command of their brothers.

In desperation, Huang Taiji had to grit his teeth and agree to Dolgon's request.

The soldiers of the Ming garrison at the head of the city watched this complicated ritual performance under the city with a lively mentality.

No camp is pure and pure. Just a few days ago, when Huang Taiji ordered people to organize the ceremony, a foreign Mongolian army in charge of besieging the city secretly shot several arrow letters at the head of the city. In fact, there is no need to be so cautious at all, almost every day Huang Taiji's subordinates will shoot arrows into the city to persuade them to surrender. However, these arrow books have different meanings.

This was Li Peiting's great deal to buy off the generals of the Mongol army, and as long as he shot the arrow book into the city of Quang Ninh, he would have twenty arquebuses and ten sets of good armor.

The letter was written to Hong Chengchou in the name of Ning Yuanbo and Li Shouhan. In the letter, he briefly recalled the scene when Shouhan met with Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng in Beijing, and some details that only the three of them knew. Use this to dispel Hong Chengchou's doubts about the authenticity of this letter. In the letter, he informed Hong Chengchou and the generals of the defending army of Quang Ninh, "Ben Bo has ordered the whole army of Nanyue to mobilize, and 400,000 horses will go north in the near future to hunt Liao thieves in Guangning with the princes." At the same time, the sailors who were originally stationed in various places have already set sail to the north, with thousands of large and small artillery pieces and tens of thousands of elite soldiers. Wu Changbo and Shi Lang's burning of Liaoyang will also reappear in Liaozuo'er! Li Huayu, the little dog, recruited tens of thousands of young and strong people to form an army in Shandong, Denglai and other places, and will also go north with the boat division for driving. ”

Ning Yuanbo's army is coming! Moreover, not only the sailors and 400,000 troops from the south, but also tens of thousands of horses from Shandong and Denglai, this trick is enough for Huang Taiji to drink a pot!

After Hong Chengchou circulated these arrow books with Ma Ke, Cao Bianjiao, Wang Tingchen and others, everyone was smiling.

"Generals, a few days ago, when Cao Zhenyan was swaggering and clamoring under the city, this governor told the soldiers that with Li Weiru's temperament, how could he swallow this evil breath?! How is it today? When the army crossed the sea, the slave chief Huang Taiji had three heads and six arms, but he was afraid that he would not be able to resist the onslaught of hundreds of thousands of horses and thousands of cannons! ”

"That's it! It's March and April, and the spring famine is coming! More than 100,000 slaves and thieves are stationed here, where do they go to find so much grain, rice and fodder? Ma Ke also twisted his beard proudly, and sang and harmonized with the Supervisor with Hong Chengchou's words.

The generals agreed.

After the contents of the letter were conveyed to the whole army, the armies suddenly rejoiced.

A burst of drums and horns. Then from behind the Yiwu Lu Mountain, there came the music of the emperor going to the court. With the music, the Manchu and Han ministers, the Mongol princes in Shengjing, the two brothers of the Joseon prince and the maharaja who were hostages, and several of the prince's courtiers. All followed the guidance of the horse team to the front of Guangning City, saluted the Qing Emperor Huang Taiji who sat in the tent, and then returned to the place prescribed on weekdays, only the Manchu and Mongol princes and the Korean prince and the monarch could be seated, and the rest stood in two rows.

Around the tent, rope nets were erected to protect against stray arrows. Outside the rope net, the Kabush sages with tiger spears and eight banners spears in their hands, with swords hanging from their waists, and slanted with firearms on their backs, were dressed in three layers of armor, and their armor was bright and did not squint in two rows, and they were far away in the direction of Quang Ninh City. Outside the rope net, kneeling with the Ming Dynasty prince and young master, Zuo Du Governor, Jinzhou chief soldier Zu Dashou as the head of the ministers, there are the prince young master, Zuo Du Governor chief soldier Zu Dashou, Dong Xie, Zu Dale, and the chief soldier Zu Dabi. Wang Pu, the chief soldier of Datong, Li Fuming, the general of Shanxi, Gao Xun, Zu Zeyuan, and others lowered their heads and waited for the summons. At this time, the Honglu Temple Yamen of the Qing Dynasty had not yet been established, and there was a Han official of the Ministry of Rites who proclaimed loudly to the ministers of the Great Qing Gate: "Zu Dashou and other civil and military ministers will meet you!" ”

Zu Dashou kowtowed and said loudly: "The sinner ancestor Zu Dashou is respectful!" The minister deserves death for several crimes: in previous years, he was besieged by His Majesty in the Daling River, the army ran out of food, ate people, and was about to starve to death, and there was nothing to be done. had no choice but to beg the emperor. The emperor will not kill, but will raise the ministers. Ordered the ministers to recruit wives, brothers, and clans to surrender and send them to Jinzhou. After the minister arrived in Jinzhou, he not only turned his back on Hong'en, but also repeatedly confronted the enemy. Now it is besieged in Jinzhou, the food is exhausted, and the hardship is helpless. Only then did he go out of the city and return to obedience. The sin is so great that he deserves death! ”

Immediately, the official of the Ministry of Rites sent out the emperor's dictation: "Zu Dashou's statement can be regarded as reasonable." Er's back to me, one is for your lord, and the other is for Er's wife and clan. But I will not kill you after I get you. I've had this heart for a long time. I often said to the ministers of the inner court: 'Zu Dashou will not be killed, and when he is besieged again, he will still bow down and surrender.' As long as he is willing to surrender, I will always remain immortal. 'You can't regret what happened before, so forget it.' ”

Zu Zeyuan, the deputy general of the Ming Dynasty, also knelt outside the Daqing Gate and played: "The guilty minister Zu Zeyuan played the emperor's majesty: the minister was also released back by the emperor from the Daling River, and the minister's sin is the same as Zu Dashou, and he should die!" ”

The official of the Imperial Taiji Ministry of Rites and Rites said: "Zu Zeyuan, you are an uninformed person. The reason why you didn't come to surrender after you were let go was just to watch your lord act on your ancestor's birthday. In the past, when I went to inspect Xingshan, not only did you refuse to open the door to welcome the surrender, but you even knew that it was me, but you deliberately fired at me, isn't it a great betrayal? How many people can you injure with a cannon? Regardless of the fact that Xingshan City is very small and there are not many soldiers, let's just say Hong Chengchou, who brought 130,000 horses and repeatedly fired cannons, how many people were injured? Hum! …… I was so treacherous that I talked about it. I have seen people on weekdays, and I have told them clearly, and I will never remember their old evils, and I will investigate them afterwards. Shall you be alone? It's your ancestor who is respected in status, and he still keeps it, but he is a villain, why kill you! You are in the prime of life, and from now on, whenever you encounter a battle array, it is good to work hard for me. ”

Zu Zeyuan and his uncle Zu Dale were both grateful and wept, and said in unison: "The emperor's words are extremely true! ”

Immediately afterwards, Wang Pu, the chief soldier of Datong Town, and Li Fuming, the chief soldier of Shanxi Town, stepped forward to bow down and explain their crimes and their sincerity in surrendering to the Qing Dynasty. These two general soldiers, originally planned to sell Wu Biao and the Model Brigade, and were able to use the heads and blood of their comrades to pave a way to escape back to Ningyuan. However, he was forcibly disarmed by Dolgon, who entered the city, and gathered his soldiers and horses together. In desperation, he had to go north with Zu Dashou's father and son to see Huang Taiji.

However, Huang Taiji's army also has many acquaintances of these two. It is the shopkeepers of the eight Jin merchants in Liaodong. Many of them are still of the same clan as Wang Pu, and they have their own names when it comes to seniority. Under the persuasion of these people's efforts, Wang Pu and Li Fuming each made up their minds to surrender to the Qing!

After a ceremonial performance, Huang Taiji passed on his will and gave encouragement to the new people. All the ministers of the civil and military forces bowed their heads in thanksgiving, and then stood up, under the guidance of the officials of the Ministry of Rites, they went to the front of the tent and performed three kneels and nine kowtows in the drum music. Lezhi, Huang Taiji summoned Zu Dashou, Zu Dale, Zu Dabi, Wang Pu, Li Fuming and other five people into the hall. After they finished kowtowing again, Huang Taiji ordered them to sit on the left side, give tea, and then rely on an official of the Secretariat to translate, and asked Zu Dashou: "I see that you are the master, for the clan to be captured. Turn a deaf ear to; As for the generals who lead their troops to fight to the death, or are captured before the battle, or are exhausted, and submit to our court, they must kill their wives, or they will be confiscated into slavery. Why? Is this the old rule? Or is it an emerging approach? ”

Zu Dashou screamed bitterly in his heart. "How do you know how ruthless that Emperor Chongzhen is? If it weren't for the generals who led the troops to have this hand in order to be prepared, why would they raise so many families?! But he could not fail to answer, so he knelt down and replied, "There was no such thing in the past." Today, because there are many civil servants, Taiwan admonishes and disputes, and what Chen has seen and heard is above, so this is the case. "Threw the black cauldron to the heads of the group of civilian officials who could only talk and didn't know the difficulties of the battlefield.

Huang Taiji nodded and continued: "Today, there are many ministers in the Ming Kingdom, and they talk about things in trouble, but in the past, were there fewer ministers? The reason is only in the fact that the king is secretly in the background. So kill many people in vain. How can people who have been captured in such a desperate battle, and those who have been forced to surrender, kill their wives and children? Even if they are in an enemy country, they can redeem them with silver, which is also what the court should do, why not put their wives and children in prison and kill them to confiscate the army? The Ming court acted like this, and there were too many innocent people who were wrongfully killed. ”

Speaking of which. Huang Taiji tried to turn around and looked at Wang Pu and Li Fuming: "You two can repent in the Ming army array." Bringing people back shows faithfulness. I have made an order to Fan Yongdou and the others, and they must protect the peace of the family. As for the pastoral property, the gold and silver are soft and soft, and the Ming Kingdom is there, so you can take it at any time! ”

Wang Pu and the others were immediately moved by Huang Taiji's words. He kowtowed with tears and said, "Your Majesty's edict is really the most holy and benevolent words!" ”

On this day, the general Zu Dashou and others offered many precious items, including red and white coral trees, and various beads made of amber, coral, and pearls. There are also bead hoops, bead flowers, agarwood, jade belts, red gold jewelry, jade pots, as well as large and small cups and plates made of jade, rhinoceros horn, glass, agate, gold, and silver, and all kinds of fine silverware; There are sables, lynxes, leopards, heavenly horse skins, etc., as well as satin, satin, python clothes, all kinds of yarn, Luo, silk and satin clothing, gold and platinum, tare and felt carpets, red felt tents, horses, carved saddles, bows and carved arrows, tiger skins and leopard skins, delicate glass lamps and bright corner lamps, all kinds of precious porcelain, all kinds of fine fine wood furniture, gilded armor, Miao knives inlaid with precious stones, and so on.

After seeing the valuable things contributed, an official sent an edict: "All the things offered by Zu Dashou and others show loyalty." I don't accept any of them, so take them back with you. Zu Dashou Wang Pu and other generals quickly knelt on the ground and pleaded repeatedly: "The emperor will not accept anything, and the ministers are really uneasy." I hope to give you a little acceptance! The attitude is very sincere, it seems that if Huang Taiji does not accept these things, he will cut off these ways of self-renewal. However, Huang Taiji ordered the Internal Affairs Office to accept one or two pieces, and the rest were returned. Then there was a will to give a reward, and the original land, house, and pastoral of the ancestral family were not touched, and 1,000 stones of fine japonica rice were awarded. For Wang Pu and Li Fuming, they were rewarded with 50,000 silver dollars, 20 beauties, 1,000 hectares of land, 500 slaves, and 1,000 stones of the same fine japonica rice.

This pretentiousness was all taken into account by the defenders of the city.

To say that it was not touched by those Ming troops is nonsense. Many officers and soldiers of the Ming army, especially the Guanning military system, secretly calculated that if they surrendered the city, would they be the same as Zu Dashou and others? For Guan Ningjun, surrender and anyway are already a very normal thing, almost similar to a string of relatives. Each general had relatives or friends, sworn brothers, etc., who served as officials and did things in the opposite camp.

However, at this time, there were not many people who planned to surrender. It's just a handful of people out there. Most of them kept sneering at the city, insulting and ridiculing the thieves under the city with foul language from all over the city.

In the eyes of the defenders at the head of the city, the group of guys under the city is already a pile of dry bones in the mound, and they are just selling their heads one by one. As long as Ning Yuanbo's army arrives, we will have endured the hard days.

Now that the weather is getting warmer, the problem of lack of charcoal that plagues the defenders of Quang Ninh is no longer so acute, especially in recent days, a group of Mongolian soldiers from the outer domain have been replaced in the long trenches under the city to serve as a front line. This gave Wang Tingchen, Cao Bianjiao, and Ma Ke's subordinates to make meritorious contributions, and there were constantly soldiers who dared to die in battle to quietly descend the city at night and cut off a few Tartar heads in the long trenches. He came back with a few wooden stakes to light the fire.

In the distance, there is a faint sound of artillery from the direction of Jinzhou, after nightfall, the sound of artillery seems more and more clear and recognizable, looking south, in addition to the sound of cannons in the direction of Jinzhou, there are bursts of firelight flashing in the night sky.

"Master Overseer! There is another arrow book shot under the city! ”

The content of the same arrow book made Inspector Hong and Ma Ke and others who rushed over even more excited.

Wu Sangui, the commander of Ningyuan's army, led his subordinates with 40,000 soldiers and horses, divided into four teams, day and night, with the support of hundreds of artillery, stormed Tashan Fort, and tried to tear a hole from the flank of the Liao thieves and open up communication with Guangning.

The good news came one after another, which made several general soldiers gear up. The combat effectiveness of Wu Sangui's soldiers and horses, they have all seen it. Whether it is cavalry or infantry, it can be called the leader among the armies in western Liaoning. In particular, he fought side by side with Wu Biao several times at the beginning, and learned a lot of tricks from the model brigade to train the new army. Whether it is the attack on Tashan or the burning of Liaoyang, the credit is obvious to all. If he is willing to contribute and capture Tashan Fort, it will not be an empty word to threaten the flank of the Liao thieves.

Ma Ke grinned and twisted a big beard and continued to speak loudly: "In this way, it is almost time to prepare for the aftermath for the slave chieftain Hongtai!" In two days, Huang Taiji's future affairs will be handled by my old horse. ”

"Don't worry, my old man is benevolent and righteous, I have accepted all his beautiful wives, and I will guarantee to give birth to a few fat boys in two years. Although he had already fed wild dogs at that time, he believed that there were spirits in hell and could also look at them. ”

Wang Tingchen, the former guard general on the side, also smiled like a sawed gourd, and sang and harmonized with Ma Ke in his mouth: "I said old horse, why don't you settle accounts?" What's so interesting about this sassy tartar, it's better to sell them to Ning Yuanbo for money. This one tartar is calculated according to a silver dollar, and if you sell a few of them, you can buy a big girl with yellow flowers. When I enter Shenyang, I will sell a few more, go back and pick the best one to marry her ten, and that day will be called beautiful! ”

In the laughter of several general soldiers, Hong Chengchou also shared the good news with everyone with a smile on his face, but his heart was tumbling like an oil pot.

"That Uncle Wu is just a Ningyuan general soldier, and the original soldiers under his command are no more than 10,000. How can there be 40,000 soldiers and horses at the moment? Alas! The country is eventful! Seeing that the Liao thieves have not been eliminated, the feudal town has risen again. How can this be? (To be continued......)