Zhu Hongsan saw that the wine and food on the table were cold, so he called over to the guy and asked him to remove the banquet and make a few fresh stir-fried dishes.

After a while, the wine and food came up, Zhu Hongsan filled Feng Ruoshu with a wine glass, and asked, "Uncle, the north is like this." Is there any move on the Nanjing side? ”

Feng Ruoshu said: "On May 21, a few days after you left, Shi Kefa invited himself to be the governor of Yangzhou. His Majesty agreed. Ma Shiying recommended Ruan Dacheng to come out and serve as the squire of the military department. Ruan Dacheng went up and put forward the strategy of borrowing from Pingkou. In the early dynasty, everyone agreed. ”

Zhu Hongsan sighed and said, "It seems that these guys are really not afraid of death, can this kind of shit doctrine be mentioned?" ”

Feng Ruoshu asked, "Lord? Why do you think so highly of the Manchus? There are only more than 200,000 people in their whole clan, and they can't do great things. ”

Zhu Hongsan thought: "Do I want to tell you what I watched from the TV series in later generations?" Zhu Hongsan said: "Then what does my uncle think of this strategy of borrowing and capturing Pingkou?" ”

Feng Ruoshu said: "At that time, Ruan Dacheng said it very clearly, wait for me to give you a detailed explanation." ”

After hearing about it, Zhu Hongsan realized that the historical borrowing of Pingkou was a very successful strategy at that time, but he didn't expect Li Zicheng to fail so quickly.

At the beginning of the establishment of the Hongguang Dynasty, it had to face a complex and changeable external situation. Due to its own limited strength and serious internal infighting, the Hongguang Dynasty must have a set of clever foreign strategies if it wants to survive in the dangerous and abnormal troubled times.

The Hongguang Dynasty's foreign strategy, borrowing from Pingkou, has also been criticized by countless literati, scholars and historians. In the eyes of later generations, Nanming's strategy was negative, conservative, and seriously disadvantaged, but it should not be detached from the actual situation, blindly scolding Hongguang monarchs and ministers, but ignoring a series of complicated situations at that time.

The so-called "borrowing the capture of the Pingkou" of the Hongguang Dynasty was to make friends with the Manchu Qing Dynasty, borrow the power of the Qing army, pacify the "thief" Li Zicheng, and then choose whether to fight or make peace with the Qing side according to the situation.

Within the Hongguang Dynasty, both the Eunuch Party and the Donglin Party agreed with this strategy, and senior officials such as Shi Kefa, Liu Zongzhou, and Ma Shiying were all proposers and practitioners of this strategy.

From this point of view, it is clear that this policy should have been implemented with the consent of all the ministers at that time. When looking at history, we should not look at history from the perspective of later generations, but we should bring ourselves into the situation at that time, so that we can clear away the fog of history and see history as it is.

The emergence of the strategy of misleading the country by taking advantage of the capture of Pingkou is the result of the superposition of many factors, and it is actually very helpless. First of all, Hongguang Junchen did not know the specific situation in the north.

After Wu Sangui led the Qing troops into the pass and defeated Li Zicheng, all kinds of news flew all over the sky. At that time, it was rumored that Wu Sangui, the general of the Ming Dynasty, defeated Li Zicheng and returned to Beijing, and there was even a saying that Wu Sangui returned to Beijing to succeed to the throne by Prince Chongzhen.

The high-ranking officials of the Hongguang court only heard that Wu Sangui united with the Qing army to defeat the thief Li Zicheng, and they did not know that Wu Sangui had surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. They generally regarded Wu Sangui as their "own person", feeling that he was an alliance with the Qing Dynasty, not a subordinate relationship, and took it for granted that they could win over Wu Sangui and make friends with the Qing Dynasty through Wu Sangui.

Judging from the time at that time, Wu Sangui and the Qing army defeated Li Zicheng, which was a good thing for the Hongguang Dynasty. Since Li Zicheng defeated Sun Chuanting in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, his strength and prestige have increased greatly, and until the breakthrough of Beijing in March of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, he was the most important threat to the Ming Dynasty.

Judging from the scholars in Jiangnan, and after the birth of a new dynasty in history, they will definitely send elite soldiers to dominate the country. Therefore, they take it for granted that after Li Zicheng pacified the north, he would naturally not let go of Nanming.

In particular, Li Zicheng deployed 70,000 troops in the Jingxiang area, which not only gave Zuo Liangyu a headache, but also made the Ming officials in Nanjing deeply feel the threat from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Now that the thieves have been defeated, Li Zicheng is too busy to take care of himself, which really makes Hongguang Junchen breathe a sigh of relief.

There are also Hongguang monarchs who did not expect Li Zicheng to fall so quickly. Many Ming officials believed that the "Great Shun" and the "Great Qing" would fall into a state of long-term confrontation in the north, and eventually both would lose.

Therefore, Hongguang Junchen is very happy to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, hoping to collect the profits of the fishermen in the future. Historically, this was also right, both in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty, the north was in turmoil and had no time to look south, thus giving those who fled to the south a chance to breathe.

Unlike the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty, the internal party struggle and contradictions within the Hongguang Dynasty were fierce and full of contradictions. Not only did the civilian-bureaucratic clique fight against each other and fight incessantly, but the generals also supported their own troops, did not obey commands, formed vicious fights, and even fought against each other.

In order to annex Huang Degong's army and territory, Gao Jie once sent troops to attack Huang Degong and his subordinates, which almost caused a civil war, but it was barely quelled under the mediation of Shi Kefa.

Liu Zeqing was friendly with the Donglin Party in the early days and supported King Lu, but after learning that Gao Jie, Huang Degong, and Liu Liangzuo all supported King Fu, he immediately turned around and joined the "pro-Fu faction", which made the Donglin Party people hate him.

In his early years, Zuo Liangyu was promoted by Hou Sui, a member of the Donglin Party, and had a deep relationship with the Donglin Party, and the Donglin Party used Huang Shu as the intermediary to befriend Zuo Liangyu to put pressure on Ma Shiying and others.

Ma Shiying then ordered the construction of a military fortress on the Yangtze River to prevent Zuo Liangyu from going east. It is difficult for such a regime, which is full of factions and infighting, to be aggressive and make great progress, so it can be said that "borrowing from the puppeteers" has become the only feasible move.

At that time, the consensus of everyone in the Southern Ming Dynasty was to first use the borrowing of Pingkou to drag the two major military groups in the north, and then take the opportunity to clean up the interior first, and after completing the integration, they were looking at the situation of the Northern Expedition and restoring the old rivers and mountains.

Zhu Hongsan was also very novel when he heard Feng Ruoshu's explanation, but thinking about it would not lose a solution to the problem. If the Hongguang Dynasty was given enough time, say ten years, the Manchus would not necessarily be able to defeat the unanimous southern regime.

However, it is a pity that history cannot assume that Li Zicheng's incompetence, coupled with the super combat effectiveness of the Qing army, as well as the correct method of governance after Dolgon entered the customs, and finally the cruelty of the internal struggle of the Hongguang Dynasty.

The Hongguang Dynasty did not integrate the internal until its demise, resulting in internal chaos first, coupled with the Qing army going south, the Ming Dynasty lost the last chance to resurrect, and the remaining Yongli lasted for more than ten years, which was just a return to the light before the death of a dynasty.

Zhu Hongsan nodded after hearing this, and thought in his heart: "Don't look at history with colored eyes, all the parties involved are not fools, he must have made a very correct choice in the historical environment at that time." As for right and wrong, no one can grasp. ”

Now that the strategy of "borrowing and capturing the Koukou" has been decided, it is bound to be put into practice. The first step was to send officials to form a mission and go north to contact the Qing Dynasty.

But this first step is really a bit difficult for Hongguang Dynasty. As soon as they heard that they were going to the country of tigers and wolves and the state of Yidi, the previous rhetoric suddenly disappeared, and they all became shrunken turtles.

However, there are still those who volunteer, and Chen Hongfan, the former governor of the capital, took the initiative to ask to serve as an envoy. Another official, Zuo Maodi, also offered to act as an envoy because his mother's coffin was in Beijing. There is also a Ma Shaoyu who once sent an envoy to the Qing State during the Chongzhen period to negotiate with Huang Taiji, and the Hongguang Imperial Court brought him together, and finally formed a delegation of hundreds of people with Zuo Maodi, Chen Hongfan, and Ma Shaoyu as envoys.

This place must spoil the experience of these mission members, it is really tearful when you hear it.

The Nanming mission went through twists and turns all the way and arrived in Beijing on October 12, the 17th year of Chongzhen. The Qing Dynasty placed them in Honglu Temple and sent troops to guard them, which was like house arrest.

While the members of the mission were in Beijing, the Qing officials were arrogant and rude. Since Dolgon had no intention of making peace with Nanming, he did not receive the members of the mission at all, and after sending someone to collect the gold, silver and silk brought by the mission, he sent them away.

The Qing Dynasty originally sent troops to escort the members of the mission south, but not long after leaving, Dolgon suddenly repented and sent people to bring back Zuo Maodi, Ma Shaoyu and others, and only allowed Chen Hongfan to return to Nanming.

It is generally believed that Chen Hongfan secretly made a bad move, secretly reported to the Qing court, asked him to detain other members of the mission, and only let Chen Hongfan go back to "activities" to spy on intelligence for the Qing Dynasty and recruit officials from the Southern Ming Dynasty.

After Zuo Maodi and others were brought back to Beijing, they were imprisoned in the Tai Hospital of the Qing Dynasty. Dolgon sent Hong Chengchou, Li Jiantai and other former Ming Dynasty officials to persuade Zuo Maodi to surrender, but they were all scolded by Zuo Maodi. Since entering the customs, Dorgon has seen too many groveling and spineless officials, and when he heard of Zuo Maodi's loyalty and unyieldingness, his heart suddenly admired, so he kept the members of the mission imprisoned and did not kill them.

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, in May of the first year of Hongguang, the Qing army went down to the south of the Yangtze River and occupied Nanjing. Dolgon thought that the time had come, and informed the members of the mission: The Ming Dynasty is dead, and you should quickly surrender. When Zuo Maodi heard the news of the fall of Nanjing, he burst into tears and mentioned the poem Mingzhi: "The gorge nest is closed and the road back, what is the intention of the piece of Yunnan?" The cold spirit of Cundan is exhausted, and the cold smoke is always not grinding! ”

Zuo Maodi is righteous and awe-inspiring, but not everyone has as much backbone as him. Hearing that the Hongguang Imperial Court had collapsed, many members of the mission were moved to surrender.

One of them, Ai Daxuan, secretly shaved his hair and wanted to surrender to the Qing Dynasty. When Zuo Maodi learned of this, he immediately summoned the members of the mission and beat Ai to death in public. Now, Dolgon can't bear it anymore, even if you don't surrender yourself, you also prevent others from throwing themselves into the arms of "my Great Qing", and you want to anger me!

Dorgon soon sent troops into the hospital and forced the members of the mission to surrender or face death. Under the fear of death, those who are not afraid are often in the minority.

Most of the members of the mission surrendered under duress, but Zuo Maodi, Wang Yibin, Wang Tingzuo, Liu Tong, Zhang Liangzuo, and Chen Yongji resolutely refused to surrender. Dolgon then threw the six men into the water prison and tortured them, but these six people were really hard-boned, and they did not bow their heads after all the hardships.

While feeling their loyalty, Dolgon also hoped to recruit these six loyal men and set an example for the officials of the Ming Dynasty to surrender to the Qing Dynasty.

So Dolgon personally summoned them, gave them a feast, and praised them for their loyalty, saying that if they could surrender, they would be treated favorably! And let the former Ming Dynasty officials who had already surrendered to the Qing Dynasty take turns to persuade them. But the six of them were all determined and regarded death as home, and they were not moved by the high-ranking officials given by the Qing Dynasty. Dolgon had no choice but to order six men to be put to death.

On June 19 of the first year of Hongguang, Zuo Maodi, Wang Yibin, Wang Tingzuo, Liu Tong, Zhang Liangzuo, and Chen Yongji were escorted to the execution ground and beheaded. Before he was executed, Dorgon did not give up, saying that if anyone was willing to surrender, he would be crowned king. Zuo Maodi said his last words categorically: "I'd rather be a ghost in the south than the king of the north!" After that, Zuo Maodi and the other five people calmly went to their deaths, without fear before the execution.