On the eighth day of the first lunar month, Li Zicheng, who had just ascended the throne as the emperor of the Dashun Dynasty, set out from Xi'an with his troops to conquer Beijing. The net is worth your collection. It was Tian Jianxiu who stayed in Xi'an, and it seems that Li Zicheng was determined to let Tian Jianxiu deal with Li Yan all the time.

The million-strong army crossed the Yellow River and did not go straight to Taiyuan, but attacked north and south along the river, and solved all the officers and troops around Taiyuan before marching to Taiyuan. At the same time, let Liu Fangliang lead his troops south to recover the land of southern Jin. Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin led the main force to attack Taiyuan.

Cai Maode, the governor of Shanxi, originally planned to rectify the river defense in Pingyang, and wanted to block Li Zicheng along the Yellow River. However, when they went, they found that the soldiers had no food and their morale was low. So he asked the two county kings to donate some food, but naturally they didn't get a penny.

Since the river defense could not be defended, and the king of Jin was anxious to let him go back to Taiyuan, he had to return to Taiyuan. However, he was impeached by the Imperial History, saying that he gave up Pingyang without authorization, and was dismissed by Chongzhen. It's really better to do things than to move your mouth, which greatly disappointed the Shanxi officials.

However, Cai Maode was still loyal, and the new governor did not come, but he still tried his best to defend the city. When Li Zicheng's army arrived at the city of Taiyuan, the king of Jin finally took out three thousand taels of silver to recruit dead soldiers to kill thieves, but this money was intercepted by Shanxi Tixue, and the defenders were even more reluctant to defend it. Finally, on the 8th day of the first month of February, the defenders opened the door and surrendered, and Taiyuan went down without a fight.

The people of Shanxi have long known that Li Zicheng does not kill, plunder, commit adultery, or levy taxes, so they all warmly welcome Li Zicheng. However, the troops always had to eat, and if they did not collect it from the people, they could only stretch out their hands to the gentry.

When I was in Shaanxi, those officials and gentry did not cooperate, and let them repay the donation and lose by themselves, and they were very stingy. But as soon as the punishment was given, they slowly vomited out one by one, and after being punished, they handed over more. Therefore, they were not polite when they came to Shanxi, directly appointed local officials, and then asked them to raise food and wages from the rich gentry. All of a sudden, all the yamen in Taiyuan were howling miserably, and those rich gentry sent money, grain, and rice to the barracks every day.

Li Zicheng waited for enough food and salary, and rested his troops at the same time, so he stopped in Taiyuan first.

Chongzhen in Beijing finally received the news that Li Zicheng had proclaimed himself emperor and crossed the river to attack Shanxi, which was angry and anxious. Zhang Xianzhong is just a king, and Li Zicheng actually called the emperor directly, which is really unbearable. But he can't bear it, and he has no other way.

Counting the generals in his hands, there are only the border town generals of Datong, Xuanfu, and Shanhaiguan. In Datong, the Xuanfu wanted to block Li Zicheng, so naturally it couldn't be mobilized, so Wu Sangui outside the gate was left. However, there are still several newly built cities south of Ningyuan, and there are still hundreds of thousands of people in them. What's more, as soon as Wu Sangui withdrew, it was equivalent to giving all the land outside the customs to the Qing State, and Chongzhen did not dare to bear this historical responsibility.

So he came up with another solution. On the morning of the thirteenth day of the first lunar month, he sighed that the situation was difficult, he was sorry for the ancestors and ancestors, and prepared to drive the expedition in person, fight a decisive battle with the thieves, and stabilize the society. Even if you die on the battlefield, there is no resentment, but you don't see it.

As soon as the ministers of the court and the central government heard this, they hurriedly said one by one that they were willing to replace the emperor's supervisor and share his majesty's worries. However, the courtiers' requests were not agreed to by Chongzhen, and when Li Jiantai stepped forward to request, Chongzhen agreed.

Chongzhen also has no choice, needless to say, whether Li Jiantai has the ability to lead the army for the time being, he doesn't even consider this. The key is that Li Jiantai is a native of Quwo, Shanxi, and is a wealthy family. He now has no money and no food, and he has finally put his mind on the big family.

Li Jiantai also figured out that since the thieves had arrived in Shanxi, it was better to use the money in his hometown as military funds than to let the thieves rob them, so as to gain a reputation for being anxious for justice and righteousness, and ruining his family and relieving difficulties. So he generously made a statement and readily agreed.

On the twenty-sixth day of the first month, Chongzhen personally saw Li Jiantai off, and issued an edict and gave Shang Fang a sword, so that Li Jiantai could act cheaply, and he was not in the middle of the system. This right is much greater than that of Yang Sichang and others, and at most it was able to kill a deputy general, a military general below the rank of general. Now it is forced by the form, giving Li Jiantai full power, not only the generals, but also the governor and the governor, can also be cut with a knife.

If it had been ten years ago, even five years ago, it would have been a great deterrent. At that time, Wenchen could still command military generals, but now, Wenchen didn't even have a personal general, and he couldn't send food and salary to the soldiers, so no one listened to them at all. Even if all the governors were cut down, it would be useless. It's just that Chongzhen hasn't realized it yet, or doesn't want to believe it.

When Li Jiantai left Beijing, he took 3,000 Beijing camps south to Baoding. The opinion of the courtiers was that there were passes and heavy troops such as Ningwu, Datong, Xuanfu, and Juyong in the north, and the thieves would definitely not dare to take this road. Therefore, the direction of the thief's attack can only be from Zhending to the north, so Baoding has become the key point.

Because of the plague, the strength of the Beijing camp was greatly reduced, so Chongzhen could only allocate 3,000 men and horses to Li Jiantai. At the same time, he promised that if the thieves were strong, they could mobilize border soldiers to support, so that Li Jiantai could quickly recruit and train new troops to strengthen Baoding's defense.

This is the wishful thinking of civil officials, they only know what strategy to avoid the real and attack the false, but they do not know the specific circumstances to use it. Now that Li Zicheng is strong and the imperial court is weak, he will naturally not avoid the real and attack the weak, but will take the initiative to seek a decisive battle, destroy the imperial army, and then attack the lonely city of Beijing.

But unfortunately, Li Jiantai is still in Beijing, and Quwo was occupied by Liu Fangliang, but the news of the imperial court is closed, and I don't know.

As soon as Li Jiantai left, Chongzhen proposed to let Wu Sangui come to the customs to suppress the thieves. He mentioned it a few days ago, but he proposed to let Wu Sangui bring 5,000 elite soldiers over, and the other generals would stay outside the pass. However, he did not give an order, but let the courtiers consult.

And the ministers under Chongzhen also know his style. But if there is a little risk, the emperor will clear it up. From Chen Xinjia's peace negotiation to Sun Chuanting's defeat, all the sins were borne by his subordinates, who would dare to come forward?

The ministers fully carry forward the power of procrastination, anyway, it is a discussion, the public says that the public is reasonable, the mother-in-law says that the mother-in-law is reasonable, and it is just dragged. The emperor did not make a decision, and they did not have a conclusion. They are all people who cherish feathers, and the ultimate goal is not to let the crime of "giving up the land to the enemy country" fall on their heads.

This delay, Chongzhen can't wait, if he waits any longer, Shanxi will all fall. So he had to make his own decision and let Wu Sangui withdraw to Guannei and come to Shanxi to help suppress.

But giving up Ning Yuan is not a matter of words. Many of the troops are from Liaodong, so they must be appeased. The people outside the customs can't all be lost to the Qing State, and they must also have a resettlement strategy. After giving up Ningyuan, there will be only one Shanhaiguan left, and the redeployment of troops also needs to be considered. In short, these problems have always been in the plan to make Wu Sangui abandon Ningyuan, and he has not taken action.

...