In late March of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the Battle of Liaojin began. Huang Taiji ordered Duoduo to command a total of 150,000 horses in the Manchu and Han Eight Banners, and raided the Ming army in Liaoxi in three ways. Dolgon's 50,000 iron cavalry under the command of the Manchu and Mongolian coalition forces made a detour from the west to Mongolia to reach Songshan, cut off the passage from Jinzhou to Guannei, and forced Shanhaiguan, directly threatening the safety of Zhili and the capital.

The commander of the Ming army, Hong Chengchou, had long been prepared for the attack of the Qing army, after all, he was a veteran commander who had been on the battlefield for many years, and since returning to Jinzhou, he had insight into the strategic intention of the Qing army to give up Liaoxi on its own initiative, as the imperial court continued to send troops and horses from the northeast to fight in the northwest, the Ming army in Liaoxi and Jinzhou was only 100,000 people, and the strength was at a disadvantage. The Ming army in Jinxi quickly retreated to Jinzhou, stuck to the isolated city, waited for reinforcements from the imperial court, and if necessary, could abandon Jinzhou and retreat to the Guannai under the response of the defenders of Shanhaiguan, so that although a large area of territory outside the Guanxi was lost, it could preserve its strength and ensure the safety of Gyeonggi. This is actually a copy of his original strategy of "concentrating troops and holding on to the city", but with the existing troops, he can only stick to such a lonely city as Jinzhou.

After the Qing army launched an attack, the Ming army in western Liaoning and Jinxi quickly retreated to Jinzhou according to the plan, and the Qing army occupied a large area of western Liaoning in less than a month.

The city wall of Jinzhou is tall, and there is artillery to help the battle, 100,000 Ming troops are more than enough to defend, the Qing army has been storming for three days in a row, the loss of troops is broken, there is no progress, so the strategy is changed, digging trenches outside Jinzhou city to build a fortress, and began to besiege Jinzhou.

Sticking to Jinzhou, the biggest problem Hong Chengchou faced was food. Since formulating the plan to hold Jinzhou, he has actively raised grain and grass to prepare for the defense of the city, but since the second half of last year, the grain and salary of the imperial court have begun to be unable to supply, and even the normal expenses are not enough, so he had to sell some forest farms and mines received in western Liaoning to the Tashan Military Academy, and use the trading firm of Zhang Xiaoping and Cai Ling'er to purchase grain, which has only saved some, but this little grain is only enough to support a month, and the grain in the homes of the people in the city is even less, and it cannot last for a month.

On the one hand, Hong Chengchou urgently sent a letter to the imperial court, asking the imperial court to send reinforcements, and at the same time ordered Wu Sangui to attack the Qing army stationed in Songshan and restore the grain route in Jinzhou. This move is the most timely approach in the current situation in the Northeast. But he didn't expect that Emperor Chongzhen, who was far away in the capital, didn't think like this.

In the Wenhua Hall of the Forbidden City, Chongzhen sat high on the throne, his face was pale, he was looking at Hong Chengchou's request to send troops for reinforcements, and the ministers of civil and military affairs stood in shifts below nervously, and they didn't dare to come out, and the hall was silent.

"Bang"! A teacup was slammed to the ground, splintering in all directions. The ministers bowed in fright.

"Incompetent, shameless, stupid!" Chongzhen squeezed out these words from between his teeth, and then threw the fold in his hand to the ground, seeing Hong Chengchou's report, he was simply mad, he stood up, walked down the imperial steps quickly, and walked in the hall manically, a eunuch was squatting on the ground to clean up the pieces of the teacup, couldn't dodge, was kicked on the shoulder by Chongzhen, rolled three times, Chongzhen roared angrily: "Get out!" Then he shouted at the ministers: "In less than a month's work, a large area of territory outside the pass has been lost, and only the lonely city of Jinzhou remains, Hong Chengchou still has the face to ask the court for help, how can he be so incompetent!" At the beginning, Wang Qiang only temporarily took over the troops, and recovered Liaoxi in less than a month, and the Qing army fled in despair, but as soon as the army returned to Hong Chengchou's hands, why did it become so vulnerable. Is Hong Chengchou really old, or is Wang Qiang a genius who commands the army! I also want the imperial court to send reinforcements, where are the reinforcements? Where is it! Yes! ”

All the ministers hung their heads and were silent, in the past six months, Chongzhen often did this, once the state encountered a setback, he would fall into madness, scold and punish the ministers at will, so that everyone was in danger, and no one dared to touch his moldy head.

Chongzhen pointed at Yang Sichang and asked, "You tell me, where are the reinforcements?" ”

Yang Sichang frowned tightly, and said with a bitter face: "Long live, at present, the imperial court is in a tight military situation in the northwest, and it is really unable to send troops and horses to support the northeast, so for this time, I can only order Hong Chengchou to defend Jinzhou, or retreat to Guannei." ”

"Retreat! Withdraw! Do you want to let the whole of the Northeast be occupied by the Manchus, you say, ah! Chongzhen said angrily.

"Your Majesty." The ministers had nothing to say, so they could only use this perfunctory sentence.

"Shengming, Shengming, you will say this, what I want is a way, a countermeasure! You bunch of shit, mediocre people! Chongzhen scolded. He suddenly remembered Wang Qianglai, and said in frustration: "If Wang Qiang is here, why would I be so embarrassed, and why would I be so rampant!" ”

When the ministers were scolded, they were not convinced, and said in their hearts: "You are wise and martial, don't you have no ideas?" Wang Qiang is capable, so why didn't you transfer him back in the first place. "Now that the general trend of the Ming Court has gone, everyone can see it clearly, and they are all looking for a way out and a backer for themselves in private, and they no longer have any hope for Chongzhen.

Chongzhen scolded for a while, his anger calmed down a little, and he asked in a soothing tone: "Rank minister, if the situation in the Northeast is like this, how should we deal with it?" ”

Several cabinet scholars had seen Hong Chengchou's recital in advance and knew that he was in a difficult situation, but Chongzhen had already said it to death, and everyone could only follow his train of thought with a clear conscience.

Chen Shaoliang came out of the class and said: "Your Majesty, Hong Chengchou is afraid of the enemy's cowardice, loses power and land, and supports the army to protect himself, which is really disloyal and unbrave, and he should be severely punished and ordered to go to war, kill and retreat the Qing army, and recover the lost territory." ”

Yang Sichang also came out of the class and said: "Long live Qizuo, the military department received a report from Wu Sangui, saying that Hong Chengchou ordered him to send troops to respond, open up the grain road, and reinforce Jinzhou, but at present, the Qing army brigade is stationed in Songshan, and may attack the Beijing division at any time, Wu Sangui believes that Shanhaiguan is the gateway of the Beijing division, and the defenders are responsible for the security of Beijing, and it is not appropriate to leave without permission, otherwise the security of the capital will be affected, please make a clear decision. ”

Chongzhen said: "Well, the defenders of Shanhaiguan can't be transferred without orders. ”

Zhang Bingkun said: "Long live, at present, Hong Chengchou is trapped in Jinzhou and is no longer able to command the overall situation in the Northeast. ”

Chongzhen remembered a report from Dongchang that there were rumors in the city that Hong Chengchou saw that the Ming court was no longer good and intended to surrender to the Manchus, so he gave up Liaoxi without a fight, and used Liaoxi as a meeting gift to the Manchus. How could such a person continue to lead the defenders of the Northeast? He thought for a while and then said: "The cabinet intends to assign all the soldiers and horses in the northeast towns other than Jinzhou to the command of Wu Sangui, and the other draft is to severely reprimand Hong Chengchou for passively avoiding the war and not thinking of making progress, and strictly ordering him to stick to Jinzhou and counterattack the Qing army. Please be exempt from the transfer of reinforcements or the return to the customs! ”

Chongzhen's two wills fell, and the defenders of Jinzhou fell into a desperate situation. Three months later, Zu Dashou, the chief soldier of Jinzhou, couldn't bear to see the people in the city being starved to death, so he led the already hungry officers and soldiers to open the city gate and surrender to the Qing army. Hong Chengchou refused to surrender, and wanted to draw his sword to cut himself, but was stopped by his subordinates, became a prisoner of the Qing army, and Jinzhou fell. Later, Hong Chengchou was persuaded by Huang Taiji to surrender and became an important member of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which is a later story.

In the summer of this year, Li Zicheng returned to Shaanxi, broke the Ming army in Tongguan, annihilated the main force of the northwest official army of nearly 100,000 people, killed Sun Chuanting, the minister of the northwest economic strategy, captured Xi'an and Luoyang, killed the Fu King Zhu Changxun, and then divided the army into three routes, attacked Gansu in the west, and quickly captured the whole territory of Qinlong and most of Shanxi. At this point, Li Zicheng's rebel army had controlled most of Henan, Hubei, and several northwestern provinces, and had an absolute military advantage. The Ming Dynasty is in the vast Central Plains north of the Yangtze River and south of Shanhaiguan, and there is no military force that can be mobilized, and the Ming Dynasty is already in turmoil.

In September of this year, there was also a major event, Huang Taiji overworked, heart attack, died suddenly, and even the will did not have time to stay, after a battle within the Qing court, the young son of Huang Taiji was established as the emperor, known as the Shunzhi Emperor, and Concubine Zhuang Yuer was respected as the queen mother. Prince Dolgon, who was in military power, served as regent and prime minister of state affairs, and actually ruled the Qing Dynasty.