Yang Ming's tent is set up on the side of the M977 heavy truck, and the huge compartment of the heavy truck is like a wall, which can block the cold wind in one direction. There are several other tents set up around the M977 heavy truck, and there are a group of people such as Fan Tongzhou and Ding Yousan, who are either sergeants among the prisoners or healthy soldiers in Ding Zhuang's team, and being able to live in tents represents a qualification. Most of the captives could only sleep in the wilderness, wrapped tightly in bedding and oilcloth and everything that could keep out the wind and cold, shivering in the dark night on the land of North China.

After Yang Ming ordered to attack Shunyi County tomorrow, Fan Tongzhou and Ding Yousan and others were about to retire, and he suddenly found that only two people, himself and Wang Cheng, lived in Nuoda's tent.

Yang Ming felt a little annoyed by this arrangement, and he stopped Ding Yousan and instructed: "Mr. Ding Bai, go and call those women with children to sleep in my tent." ”

Ding Yousan was stunned and looked at Fan Tongzhou.

Fan Tongzhou had a calm face, coughed, and said to Ding Yousan: "The general's order, Ding Bai will do it quickly." ”

Ding Yousan sang and went out with someone.

"Bring as much as you can, and don't let those women get cold outside." Fan Tongzhou came back to his senses and hurriedly added, his voice drifting in the cold wind that swept the tent curtain.

The torches burning in the tent were about to burn out, and Xiao Wang Cheng fell asleep in the quilt, which was very thick, and it should be the best quilt that could be found in the captive team.

Yang Ming lit a cigarette and smoked it, the curtain of the tent was opened, and a gust of cold wind swept in, blowing away the smoke from his mouth without a trace.

A sergeant entered the tent with a woman holding a baby in her arms.

"Why is there only one?" Yang Ming asked the sergeant in surprise.

"General, this is the only one in our team who is holding a child. There are a few in front, and they are all thrown away on the road, and this little lady holds the child and refuses to let go, which is very ...... I suffered a lot. ”

Yang Ming waved his hand to let the sergeant out.

The little lady Yingying knelt on the ground, looking no more than eighteen or nineteen years old, she lowered her head and whispered to Yang Ming: "The general's grace to save his life and give food, the slave family will never dare to forget." ”

The torch flickered suddenly, and the flame of light reflected on the bridge of the woman's handsome nose, showing a bit of dignified beauty.

Yang Ming seemed to remember something at the mention of giving food, and he casually picked up a box of canned C-type battle rations and handed it to the woman. Inside the can is beef brisket and potatoes, rich in protein and calories, which have just been roasted and heated on the torch, and the beef inside is hot and wafting with an enticing aroma of food.

He had taken it from the back of the Humvee, in a marching bag, which also contained clothes, towels, cigarettes, bottled water, tissues, toothbrush, soap, socks, and a bunch of other things. A package of C-type combat rations is six cans, there are meat and vegetables, enough for a day of high exercise load, I ate some with Wang Cheng just now, and there are still a few cans left uneaten.

"Hurry up and eat and sleep."

The little lady lowered her head and smiled softly, her pretty face showed a hint of Qi Wan, she took the canned food handed over by Yang Ming and ate it in a hurry.

Nourished by food, the woman's face added a bit of delicate and charming color, the baby in her arms murmured, the woman gently called "Ning Xin'er", opened the placket, and the furrow on her chest swayed brightly and dimly in the firelight.

"General, today everyone says that you are a heavenly soldier and a heavenly general." While feeding the child, the woman raised her head and looked at Yang Ming and said softly.

"Oh, even if it's okay. I'm going to sleep, so go to bed early. ”

Yang Ming yawned, pointed to the futon on the ground on the side of the tent, pulled open the sleeping bag and covered his body and lay down.

I didn't dare to sleep in a sleeping bag, and if there was any movement, I wouldn't be able to get up, and I would fall big.

The woman was stunned, staring at Yang Ming with wide eyes, her lips twitching, but she didn't speak.

At night in the city of Beijing, wooden gates have been closed at street intersections, and under the eaves on both sides of the street, huddled up with piles of refugees from Gyeonggi, men, women and children huddled together, shivering in the cold night wind. A group of soldiers with spears patrolled by, the lanterns carried in the ranks flashed dimly, and the martial law notices posted on the walls of the street could be faintly seen, and the refugees looked up at these soldiers, their desperate faces were not angry, and the crowd burst into mourning.

In the Qianqing Palace of the Forbidden City, the nineteen-year-old young emperor wearing a green cloth round-necked regular dress and a winged crown was anxiously pacing back and forth, and several officials wearing purple robes and belts and black veils stood aside, and the atmosphere did not dare to make a sound, and the copper brazier burning charcoal in the hall was almost burned out, and the little heat emitted by the brazier could not resist the cold air of the room.

"Is there any news from Zu Dashou? Could it be that he really wants to rebel?! ”

Emperor Chongzhen stopped, looked up at one of the ministers and asked. Since the invasion of the captives, Chongzhen has been spending time in anger and anxiety, and the days of hard work have made his originally fair face look particularly haggard, and his eyes are also full of bloodshots.

A gray-bearded minister stepped forward, bowed slightly, and replied:

Zu Dashou said that the soldiers and horses were tired from afar, and they were temporarily ordered to feed and rest for a few days before they could be transferred. At present, 1,800 officers and men of Zheng Yiheng, the infantry commander, have been transferred to the customs on 15 May and join forces with Adjutant General Liu Xingzuo to wait for dispatch. The minister thought that the ancestor was obedient and had no intention of rebellion, so the emperor didn't have to worry about it. ”

The speaker was Sun Chengzong, a cabinet scholar, who was originally just a showman, and had successively worked as a teacher in the homes of court officials such as Jiang Bi, the right man of Dali Temple, and the guards of the military preparation and Taoist houses. Because Fang Shoushi was promoted to the governor of Datong, Sun Chengzong was able to accompany him, Datong was an important border town of the Ming Dynasty at that time, where Sun Chengzong learned some information and knowledge of the border military.

In the thirty-second year of Wanli (1604), Sun Chengzong ranked second in the Jinshi list and was awarded the Hanlin Academy for editing.

In the forty-eighth year of Wanli (1621), Sun Chengzong served as a Japanese lecturer as a left concubine, entered the Zhan Mansion to do things, and tutored the then crown prince Zhu Changluo to study, that is, the later Emperor Taichang of the Ming Dynasty. After the death of Emperor Wanli, Emperor Taichang succeeded to the throne for only one month, and went with Wanli because of taking "red pills" (a kind of elixir), and Emperor Taichang's 16-year-old son Emperor Zhu Youxiao succeeded to the throne, and Sun Chengzong then became the teacher of Emperor Tianqi.

In the first month of the second year of the Apocalypse, Nurhachi's army attacked Guangning, and the governor Wang Huazhen abandoned Guangning City and fled to Shanhaiguan, and hundreds of thousands of troops and people asked to enter the customs outside the gate, and the cry shook the sky and the court was shocked. On March 18, the second year of the Apocalypse (1622), the imperial court appointed Wang Zaijin as the secretary of the military department and the right deputy capital of the imperial history, passing through Liaodong, Jizhen, Tianjin, Deng, and Lai. Wang Zaijin analyzed the situation outside the pass at that time, and it was impossible to attack and achieve a military victory, so he decided to build a city in Bali outside the Shanhai Pass as the last line of defense against the Houjin.

This move was resolutely opposed by his subordinates Yuan Chonghuan, Sun Yuanhua and others, who believed that the construction of the city was "not a strategy", and tried their best to dissuade them, and appealed to Shoufuye Xianggao. Ye Xianggao could not determine whether it was possible or not, so Sun Chengzong proposed to go to the field to investigate and make a decision again. After arriving at Shanhaiguan, he argued with Wang Zaijin for seven days and nights, and finally repudiated Wang's strategy of holding Shanhaiguan in Jin.

In August of the second year of the Apocalypse, Sun Chengzong was appointed as the economic strategy of Liaodong, and began to implement the strategy of fortress attack, building Ningyuan City, deploying the Guanning defense line, and training 140,000 soldiers. As a result, in the Battle of Liuhe, tens of thousands of troops fought against hundreds or thousands of Houjin, and were defeated and suffered heavy losses, so Sun Zong resigned.

This time, the Jin army broke through the border and invaded the Beijing Division, and Chongzhen was in a hurry, so he summoned Sun Chengzong back, and the official was reinstated, and he was also the secretary of the military department, responsible for the defense of Beijing City.

Chongzhen's face was slightly better when he heard Sun Chengzong say this. After a pause, he asked again, "Has Yuan Chonghuan confessed?" ”

At that time, Yuan Chonghuan had been in prison for more than a month. In the first year of Chongzhen, the former Jiliao Governor made a heavy promise to Chongzhen before taking office, and pacified Liaodong with a five-year period. Therefore, Chongzhen gave Yuan Chonghuan full power, such as the transfer of military salaries from the household department, the supply of equipment from the Ministry of Industry, the employment of the Ministry of Officials, and the selection of generals by the Ministry of War, all of which were decided by Yuan Chonghuan alone. After Yuan Chonghuan took office, Ningyuan and Jinzhou were combined into one town, with Zu Dashou guarding Jinzhou, Zhao leading the sect to guard the gate, and Yuan Chonghuan led He Kegang to stationed in Ningyuan. He immediately killed Mao Wenlong, the anti-Jin general of Phidao and the general soldier of the Dongjiang River, and seemed to intend to make peace with the Later Jin. When Mao Wenlong was alive, Hou Jin had been harassed by his military, and he had no time to commit crimes, as soon as Mao Wenlong died, Hou Jin's henchmen were relieved, and a few months later, Huang Taiji led a large army to break through the border and invade Beijing.

After the Emperor Taiji's army broke the border, Yuan Chonghuan hurriedly led the Guanning Iron Cavalry back to defend Beijing, and Chongzhen immediately ordered Yuan Chonghuan to lead the troops of the Qin Wang to fight against Houjin and defend Beijing. However, Yuan Chonghuan's deployment of troops and generals had many flaws, so that the Houjin army attacked the city all the way, and the troops reached the city of Beijing. In the defense of the city of Beijing, Yuan Chonghuan's department and the Mangui department had many discords, and even when Mangui led the army to fight with the Houjin, there was an arrow in the back to injure Mangui. Therefore, Huang Taiji took advantage of his strength and skillfully used a strategy of discord, causing a rumor in Beijing that Yuan Chonghuan colluded with Houjin and led troops into the attack, and public opinion was in an uproar for a while.

Chongzhen then summoned Yuan Chonghuan into the city on the first day of December and asked Yuan Chonghuan in person: Why did you kill Mao Wenlong? Why did the enemy invade? Why are the arrows shot all over Gui?

Facing Chongzhen and Man Gui, who was hanging with arrow wounds on the side, Yuan Chonghuan was silent. Chongzhen was furious and ordered Yuan Chonghuan to be taken down on the spot and thrown into prison. Zu Dashou, who was accompanying him, trembled with fright, according to which Yu Dacheng, a staff member of the Ministry of War, thought that Zu Dashou would rebel, and said that he would rebel within three days. Sure enough, three days later, on the fourth day of the twelfth month, Zu Dashou fled the battlefield of the Beijing Division with 15,000 Guanning troops and went straight to Guanwai.

"In the case of Yuan Chonghuan, according to the order, Liu Qiao was commanded by Jinyi Weidu to be responsible for the investigation. Wang Qia, the former secretary of the Ministry of War, has been interrogated, and the correspondence between Wang Qia and Yuan Chonghuan has been examined, and there is no conspiration with Yuan Chonghuan to kill Mao Wenlong and the Tartars. Yuan Chonghuan has confessed that he did it all by himself......" Sun Chengzong lowered his head, pondered the words, and said slowly.

Yuan Chonghuan was a student of Sun Chengzong. In the second year of the Apocalypse, Wang in Jin Jingluo Liaodong, advocating to abandon Liaojin, retreat to the Shanhaiguan defense line with heavy troops, and Yuan Chonghuan stuck to the Liaojin defense line, waiting for the opportunity to restore Liao's proposition There were major strategic differences, at this time of the major strategic choice that determined the life and death of the Ming Dynasty, Sun Chengzong supported Yuan Chonghuan's proposition, personally went to Shanhaiguan to debate with Wang Zaijin, and finally got the support of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, dismissed Wang Zaijin's Liaodong Jingluo, and transferred Wang Zaijin to the idle post of the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department.

It was at this time that Chongzhen asked about Yuan Chonghuan's case, and Sun Chengzong had to be careful with every word, neither favoring Yuan Chonghuan, nor falling into the well with half a word, putting his students in a disadvantageous position.

"Why did he shoot arrows all over Gui?" Chongzhen continued to ask.

"Man Gui and the captives fought more than a dozen battles a day, and the troops were defeated and gradually retreated to the front of the Guanning army. Yuan Chonghuan confessed that in order to prevent the rout of the army, he had to release arrows to stop him. Sun Chengzong replied.

"How do you confess to the fact that the captives have sneaked through Jixi?" Chongzhen snorted coldly and continued to ask.

Yuan Chonghuan confessed that in the early morning of November 13, he took 200 captives and marched to the city of Jizhou in four queues. Yuan Chonghuan led the Guanning army out of the city to confront it, and the cavalry suddenly disappeared, and the captive army did not know when it had sneaked over Jixi and went to the Beijing division. Sun Chengzong replied in a low voice.

"The 20,000 Guanning army, guarding Jizhou, will not let the enemy pass Jimen by one step, this is what Yuan Chonghuan himself said, why was he frightened by 200 captives? Just let the Tartar army cross the Jizhou defense line unscathed? Chongzhen said hatefully.

Sun Chengzong bowed his head and was silent. This matter of "sneaking over Jixi" is indeed a hurdle that Yuan Chonghuan cannot bypass, and until the 21st century, there are still many opinions in the historical circles, and there is no consensus.

Chongzhen saw that Sun Chengzong was silent, and became more and more resentful, pacing back and forth a few steps with his hands behind his back, and said: "Jizhou originally had Liu Ce guarding, why did Yuan Chonghuan send Liu Ce back to Miyun as soon as he arrived?" If Liu Cebing is here, how can the captive army easily cross Jizhou? ”

Sun Chengzong naturally couldn't answer this question, so he could only sigh and bow his head silently.

Chongzhen saw Sun Chengzong's sigh and self-blame, and the anger in his heart disappeared a little, he stopped and asked again: "What happened to the matter of going out of the city to collect the fallen soldiers?" ”

Jingzhao Yin Liu Zongzhou, who was standing on the side, hurriedly bowed down and said: "The minister took people out of the city two days ago to clean up, and collected more than 30,000 corpses of soldiers......

Chongzhen's face twitched, he was silent for a long time, and said hatefully: "It's all Zu Dashou's mistake, if he hadn't escaped with more than 10,000 Guan Ning elites, how could this battle have fallen to such a point?" ”

Sun Chengzong glanced at Liu Zongzhou and asked, "Has Shen Fu found it?" ”

Liu Zongzhou nodded and said, "Shen's total army fought against the Tartars, and he was hit by more than 30 arrows in his body, and he sacrificed his life for the country. ”

Chongzhen bowed his head slightly expressionlessly.

This Shen Fu was originally a nomad in Jingshi, claiming to have obtained the secret ancient chariot book of Songshan Taoist priests, and he was good at words and spells, and no one believed it. This time, the captives invaded, Liu Zhilun and Jin Sheng, who were ill and rushed to the hospital, recommended Shen Fu to Chongzhen, who summoned Shen Fu in the palace and appointed him as the deputy chief soldier of the Beijing camp, and allocated 170,000 taels of silver to Shen Fu to recruit troops and horses and make chariots. On December 16, the 40,000-strong army of Mangui was annihilated, and the imperial court urgently ordered Shen Fu to go out of the city to fight. When the enemy was encountered, the Houjin soldiers attacked with fifty cavalry, and the Shenfu army was defeated, and thousands of people knelt down and were killed.

The soldiers recruited by Guy Shen Fu were all poor families or even beggars' children, a group of rabble who did not know how to march and fight, according to the notes of the contemporaries, even the young and ignorant "three-foot boys" in the capital at that time knew that Shen Fu would be defeated. After Shen Fu was defeated, the officials did not dare to say that Chongzhen used non-people, so they could only wantonly attack Liu Zhilun and Jin Sheng, saying that they did not understand military affairs and recommended non-people. Of course, Chongzhen didn't have a good face, but now that he heard that Shen Fu had indeed died in battle, he was still a man, and he could finally block everyone's mouth a little.

"How many days will King Qin's army come to Beijing?" Chongzhen asked Sun Chengzong.

"There are a few Qinwang troops who have arrived on the road, and they are about to arrive in Beijing." Sun Chengzong replied.

"Liu Zhilun has been given the position of the right attendant of the military department, and when the Qin Wang Division arrives, let him lead the army to fight." Chongzhen said expressionlessly.