Ma Cheng was in Nanjing, and the concubines received one after another, how happy and happy they were, but at the end of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the situation in the country was not optimistic.

The Manchus in the north took the opportunity to occupy Beijing after defeating Li Zicheng's 200,000 elite in a piece of stone. Dolgon's governing methods were much more clever than Li Zicheng's, and the first thing he did after entering Beijing was to gather the popular support that had been completely destroyed by Li Zicheng.

Dolgon reinstated all Han ministers, and at the same time invited Feng Quan, who had been dismissed from office due to the eunuch case, to return home, and made him a university scholar in charge of government affairs. Although Feng Quan's moral character is corrupt, but he is indeed very capable, under his governance, Beijing was locked up by Li Zicheng large and small officials have gone home, and at the same time exempted the northern provinces have been levied more than 10 years of three major salaries, ordinary people are very realistic, as soon as several policies come out, Beijing immediately restored stability.

After Li Zicheng became emperor on April 19, he abandoned Beijing and retreated from Shanxi to Shaanxi, and the Manchu Qing naturally could not let Li Zicheng live so comfortably, and the Qing army defeated the Liukou before Baoding and Dingzhou, and then attacked Shanxi. The Datong defender Jiang Huang surrendered, Pingyang Chen Yongfu was captured, and Shanxi fell into the hands of the Qing army. At the same time, most of Hebei and Shandong were also occupied by the Qing army.

At this time, Li Zicheng had been beaten and had no power to fight back, and the Manchu Qing were also ready to deal with Li Zicheng in a short time, and then pour out their hands to clean up the Hongguang regime in the south. Therefore, in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, that is, on October 19 of the first year of Shunzhi of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the Manchu Qing Dynasty took the British Prince Azig as the general of Jingyuan, and together with Wu Sangui, the king of Pingxi, and Shang Kexi, the king of Zhishun, the Manchu, Mongolian and Han coalition forces totaled more than 30,000 horsemen, and entered Shaanxi through Mongolia from Datong to attack the Dashun army. On October 25, with Duoduo, the prince of Yu, as the general of Dingguo, together with Kong Youde, the king of Gongshun, Geng Zhongming, the king of Huaishun, and other troops, the Manchu, Mongolian and Han coalition forces totaled more than 20,000 cavalry, and went south to attack the Hongguang regime of the Southern Ming Dynasty.

If, according to Dolgon's estimate, by the end of this year, the two major forces of Li Zicheng and Nanming could be resolved in one fell swoop, and the Manchu occupation of the whole of China would be a foregone conclusion. But what Dolgon didn't expect was that Li Zicheng's troops would return to the light at the moment of the great enemy and burst out with strong combat effectiveness.

Li Zicheng reversed the decline of Dashun in Shanxi and Henan, and began to counterattack Huaiqing in Henan on October 12, Lianke Jiyuan and Mengxian, defeated the Qing army in Baixiang Town, and beheaded the Manchu Qing Governor Jin Yuhe, his deputy general Chang Ding, and the general Chen Guocai, etc., and attacked Qinyang by victory.

Hearing that the military situation in Henan was urgent, Dolgon urgently ordered the Prince of Yu Duoduo to turn his troops westward in Jinan, first relieve the siege of Huaiqing, and then cross the Yellow River from Henan, and form a north-south attack with the British Prince Azig to attack Dashun. Li Zicheng personally led the elite troops such as Liu Zongmin and Liu Fangliang to the north, preparing for a decisive battle with the Qing army of the Azig Department in northern Shaanxi.

So far, Li Zicheng has become the end of the crossbow, and the combat power that broke out at the moment of death has disappeared, and his demise is a foregone conclusion. On December 15, the Duoduo Department began to besiege Tongguan, and if Tongguan was breached, it was only a matter of time before Li Zicheng's demise was over.

From the Manchu Qing Dynasty's occupation of Beijing in April to the siege of Tongguan in December, millions of troops in the entire north were fighting into a pot of porridge, but at this time, the millions of Southern Ming troops stationed in the Yellow River and Yangtze River valleys were actually watching the excitement.

If at the beginning, because of the unclear military situation, the various departments of the Ming army did not take action, but in December, the war situation in the north gradually became clear, and the various departments of the Ming army were still in a daze in the barracks, which is a bit too much.

In the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Zuo Liangyu's department, although the combat effectiveness is not very good, but after all, the number is amazing, if Zuo Liangyu leads his subordinates north out of Dabie Mountain, occupy the Nanyang area of Henan, and threaten Duoduo's army from the back, it will definitely make Duoduo throw a mouse, so that the time of Li Zicheng's demise can be delayed, and time is the most important thing to the Southern Ming court.

At this critical juncture, Zuo Liangyu's 800,000 army was watching the show, and he didn't even dare to go to the north bank of the Yangtze River, but was just entrenched in the Wuchang area. Ma Cheng was very anxious after receiving the information from the Military Intelligence Department, the war in the north is now very beneficial to the Ming army, if Ma Cheng is the commander-in-chief, he will definitely send a partial division to threaten Duoduo's grain route, and then personally lead a main force from Yangzhou to the north, making a posture of attacking Beijing.

You must know that at this time, most of the Manchu army was in the hands of Duoduo and Azig, and the guards in Beijing were only more than 10,000 people. No matter which two people withdraw their troops, it will greatly relieve Li Zicheng's pressure. In this way, a three-legged situation will be formed like in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, when the Southern Ming Dynasty occupies the economic center of Nanzhili, and Li Zicheng in the north contains the Manchu Qing Dynasty, they can calmly develop their own forces, and in the future, whether it is to divide the river and rule or the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, they will have absolute confidence.

This time, Ma Cheng returned to the city to persuade Ma Shiying and let him agree to lead his troops to Henan. Ma Cheng's new army has been organized and trained for half a year, although he may not be able to beat the Manchu Eight Banners in the field, but Ma Cheng feels that he still has the strength to fight with the Manchus.

Ma Cheng's strategic intention was to start from Fengyang, pass through Henan, and then occupy Luoyang, Zhongzhou. Luoyang city wall is located in the hinterland of Henan, but also in the only way for Duoduo to retreat, if Luoyang is occupied, Duoduo in order to avoid the enemy on the back of the enemy must return to help, then they can rely on the Luoyang city wall, with firearms to let these Manchu wild boar skins have a good understanding of what is the modern war.

Ma Cheng took Yun Niang to Song Yingxing's house, and placed Yun Niang and another concubine Zuo Shuying in Song Yingxing's house to live, anyway, there are many empty houses in the old Song family, which are used to hide Jiaojiao for Ma Cheng's golden house. 69 school bags

After leaving Song Yingxing's house, Ma Cheng returned home, he wanted to find his father Ma Shiying, and at the same time persuaded Ma Shiying to let him go to Henan.

It's the end of December, and there are still a few days to go before the New Year, so Ma Shiying has nothing to do, but even if there is something, he can't do it. Ma Shiying went to the cabinet in the morning to take a look, and went home to rest at noon, when he was reading in the study.

Ma Shiying saw Ma Cheng come in, and asked kindly, "Cheng'er, why are you free to enter the city today?" ”

Ma Cheng hugged his fists and sat down on the chair, he was not going to go around in any circle, the military situation on the front line was urgent, Ma Cheng decided to tell the truth.

"Dad, my son heard that Duoduo, the prince of Yu in the north, is leading a large army to besiege Tongguan, if Tongguan is breached, then Li Zicheng's back road will be copied, and Li Zicheng's demise will be a foregone conclusion. After the Beiyu eliminated Li Zicheng, the next target must be us, in this case, my son wants to lead the troops to Henan to contain Duoduo and relieve the pressure on Li Zicheng! ”

Ma Shiying groaned for a while when Ma Cheng said this, and then asked, "How are you going to Henan to contain Duoduo?" ”

"Dad, my son is going to set off from Fengyang, and then occupy Luoyang, Luoyang is located in the Central Plains, and it is the only way for Duoduo to retreat, so Duoduo must rescue Luoyang, and my son is ready to fight to the death with Duoduo here in Luoyang!"

Ma Shiying shook his head when he heard Ma Cheng finish speaking: "Cheng'er, Fengyang is thousands of miles away from Luoyang, do you dare to guarantee that you can take Luoyang if you go?" At the same time, Henan is chaotic, the situation in various prefectures and counties is unknown, you only have less than 30,000 people, and they are all newly recruited soldiers, you only think about cutting off Duoduo's grain route, what if your grain route is cut off? ”

Ma Shiying can be regarded as an army general, knows the importance of the grain road, and discovers the shortcomings of Ma Cheng's strategy at a glance. Henan here is different from Nanzhili, Nanzhili is a grain-producing area, you can get grain everywhere, Henan was plagued by the rogue from the early years of Chongzhen, in addition to this year's Manchu Qing and Li Zicheng in Henan repeated wars, the population of the entire Henan is less than one million, these people can't eat themselves, so there is still energy to supply your Ming army from afar?

Ma Cheng heard Ma Shiying say this, and he also knew that what he thought was a little simple, the army fighting is not a video game in later generations, as long as there is a lack of military food for one day in the army, the army will be unstable, if you can't eat for three days, you don't need to call the Manchu Dynasty, you will have disintegrated. But watching the only opportunity pass in front of him, Ma Cheng was still a little unwilling.

"Dad, now is the most critical time, if Li Zicheng is finished, the next one will be us? If we don't do something at this time, do we have to sit idly by? ”

Ma Cheng's words were a little heavy, and Ma Shiying said unhappily: "What bastard, can't you see clearly such bigwigs in the court?" What do you know about a little admiral, although the imperial court is not enterprising, it is more than enough to protect itself, Jiangbei is guarded by four towns, and Wuchang is defended by Zuo Liangyu, so that the southern capital can be foolproof here! ”

Ma Cheng saw that Ma Shiying was still dreaming of the Spring and Autumn Period, and hurriedly said: "Dad, the four towns in Jiangbei are unreliable, and the son of Beiyu is estimated to be the first to surrender to the enemy!" There is also Zuo Liangyu in Wuchang, this guy must listen to the Donglin Party, if the Donglin Party lets him go east to the side of the Qingjun, what can he do? ”

Ma Cheng said that the four towns of Jiangbei are unreliable, Ma Shiying does not believe it, Huang Degong and Gao Jie are both loyal and righteous, although Liu Liangzuo and Liu Zeqing are a little slippery, but their combat effectiveness is not good, the main force of the four towns in Jiangbei is Gao Jie and Huang Degong.

Although Zuo Liangyu accepted the title of the imperial court, Yuan Jixian, the governor of Huguang, Huang Shu and others are Donglin Party, and they have always been dissatisfied with themselves, and it is really difficult to deal with these people if these people encourage Zuo Liangyu to go east.

However, it is unlikely that Ma Shiying thought about it, after all, the Donglin Party has recognized that the new emperor is Zhu Yousong, and he has shown favor to the Donglin Party in the past few months, Ruan Dacheng wants to clean up the Donglin Party with the Great Compassion case, and he has not agreed, so it will not be risky for the Donglin Party.

Ma Cheng saw Ma Shiying groaning and knew that his father still had hope for the Donglin Party, Ma Cheng whispered on the side: "Dad, don't have hope for the Donglin Party, the political struggle has always been life-and-death, and now the Donglin Party is forced into a corner by Dad, and he must fight hard!" ”