The culprit of Matsuyama's defeat......

Zhang Ruoqi, the head of the military department, who was originally going to take a tone, after hearing this, seemed to have been hit on the head, and he was immediately stunned.

There are ups and downs in the officialdom, and no one knows what will happen in the future, so there is a three-point leeway between words and deeds, and they don't say anything about it.

What's more, this Zhang Ruoqi was sent by the Ministry of War to approve the number of soldiers and horses, which is equivalent to the representative of the Ministry of War, Zhang Ruoqi's joy and anger are directly related to the results of the verification and the amount of salary. So even if Zhang Ruoqi is a six-grade official, everyone can't treat it with the attitude of a six-grade official.

At least be a little polite, but also to please flattery, according to the officialdom routine is indeed the case, although Zhang Ruoqi felt that something was wrong inside and outside Jinan City, but when he entered this main hall, he was still thinking about how to make it difficult for the other party first, anyway, the emperor and the monk are all in Beijing, and it is convenient for Zhang Ruoqi to pull the banner as a tiger skin.

Thinking that when he was outside Shanhaiguan, Hong Chengchou was an important minister who lived in eight seats and was famous all over the world, and in front of him, the generals who had always been unruly were also obedient to orders.

But such a heroic figure, in front of himself, is still pressed by the righteousness of the loyal monarch and the will of the imperial court, this method is easy to use on Hong Chengchou's head, and it must also be easy to use on the governor and general soldier of Shandong.

Who would have thought that as soon as he entered the door, he would be uncovered by the other party, scolding people without revealing the shortcomings, the other party did not leave any affection, not to mention that there was no conclusion about the defeat of Songshan, and Zhang Ruoqi did not admit that he had to bear the main responsibility.

Zhang Ruoqi's demeanor and domineering demeanor of any Beijing official were all thrown aside, and he blushed and straightened up in an instant. There he said in a thick voice:

"How can you say that, Zhang is just a small supervising army, and the army out of the customs is under the command of Hong Chengchou, and the responsibility for this defeat is all on that Hong Hengjiu, what to do with Zhang, Zhang is at the behest of the imperial court this time, and Chen Shangshudi of the Ministry of War is sent to come to Shandong to count the soldiers and horses, and pay the silver...... As soon as the next official came, the adults spewed blood like this. Could it be that there is something ulterior about the soldiers and horses in Shandong! ”

talked eloquently, Zhang Ruoqi was not ambiguous, but in the end, he woke up in shock, your identity is here, and you replaced this Zhang with a lower official.

That's it. As soon as he entered the door, because of the change of light and darkness, he didn't see clearly who said this sentence at all.

Li Meng sat there without moving, but Yan Jizu turned his head to look at the man in the iron mask sitting behind Li Meng, this sentence should be said by the man in the iron mask, this voice was vaguely impressed, but he couldn't remember it in a hurry.

Listening to Zhang Ruoqi's words again, he was pulling the banner and threatening. Li Meng said indifferently to Yan Jizu on the side:

"Lord Yan, this is the sixth grade, how should I see you and me according to the rules of etiquette?"

As soon as Zhang Ruoqi entered the door, those styles made Governor Yan Jizu extremely disgusted, although Yan Jizu had no real power in Shandong, except for Li Meng, everyone else was polite to him. There is not the slightest faux pas, there is something rampant about this little principal.

Speaking of which, Yan Jizu was also a seven-grade official when he was in Beijing. But as long as this Qipin is filled with this position, there will immediately be a position waiting for the local governor and the squire of the sixth department, which belongs to the first-class characters in the Beijing Division, and he has been in the Beijing Division for a long time, so he naturally knows what is going on with characters like Zhang Ruoqi.

Hearing Li Meng's question, Yan Jizu said unceremoniously:

"The Ministry of Rites has a clear rule on this matter, and the principal should kneel down and kowtow to say goodbye before talking about official business, otherwise he will be punished for dereliction of manners."

Li Meng nodded, looking at the Ruoqi in front of him coldly. Spoken:

"Sure enough, it's a rude and rebellious villain. Let him kneel and kowtow"

As soon as he finished speaking, two pro-soldiers walked over. kicked sharply towards Zhang Ruoqi's leg, the head of the military department was caught off guard, and immediately knelt on the ground, and the hands of the soldiers behind him did not stop, and a personal soldier directly pressed Zhang Ruoqi's head and touched the blue brick ground.

When Zhang Ruoqi was defeated in Songshan, although his legs and feet were fast, he was still a weak scholar, how did he resist the strength of the pro-soldiers, he directly pressed on the ground, and knocked three heads, but fortunately, the pro-soldier strength in this hall was very measured, and the people were not injured.

But even so, this Zhang Ruoqi's forehead was still bruised, and the soldiers let go of their hands and stood behind him, and Zhang Ruoqi, who barely raised his head, finally felt scared.

"Lord Governor, Li has something to ask about this principal."

Li Meng opened his mouth politely, Yan Jizu arched his hand, and Li Meng asked coldly:

"Zhang Ruoqi, Inspector Hong led 130,000 soldiers and horses out of the pass, and the outside of the pass is a dangerous place, so it is unlikely to win, at most it is a defensive success, I don't understand, why do you still have to set up many obstacles, the defeat of Songshan, is there any benefit to you?"

Zhang Ruoqi's head was buzzing, and when he heard Li Meng's question, he wanted to refute a few words, but the two pro-soldiers behind him seemed to move, and the weapons and armor on his body collided.

Some of the literati's style and bones are willing to die unyieldingly, and some are given a little hardship, and the bones immediately softened, and this Zhang Ruoqi is obviously the queen.

The arrogance that began was gone, and he was now scared to death, for fear that the other party would kill him directly in this hall. Hearing Li Meng's question, no matter how taboo Li Mengdi's question was, he couldn't care about it, he lay there motionless and didn't dare to move, and said respectfully:

"What a character Inspector Hong, the small one has the courage of the world, how dare to do anything, the villain remembers, before leaving the customs, Chen Shangshu of the Ministry of War told the villain, saying that if Hong Hengjiu succeeds in the rescue this time, after returning, the position of the secretary of the Ministry of War will have to be done by him, so this credit must not be swallowed by Inspector Hong, and he must grab some, the small one has the courage to say irresponsible things, besides, since leaving Jizhen all the way north, the will of the saint has not been broken, if there is no Chen Shangshu, how can the villain have so much courage......"

This Ruoqi bamboo tube poured beans all the way through. The main hall was quiet, Li Meng looked back at Sun Chuanting who was sitting there, although Sun Chuanting sat there with an iron face and looked very calm, but his wrists trembled slightly, and his breathing was also heavy, obviously extremely excited.

Li Meng naturally knew why Sun Chuanting was excited, but above this main hall, many outsiders couldn't say much, but they turned to Yan Jizu, who was sitting on the side. Asked:

"Lord Yan, how many soldiers and horses are registered in my Shandong?"

Zhang Ruoqi replied respectfully, but in his heart, he had already scolded the eight generations of Shandong's civil and military ancestors dozens of times, thinking that I would endure it in Shandong for the time being, and wait until I returned to the capital. I must be looking for you to look good, but when I heard the above question, I was confused again.

Thinking that this Shandong is really weird, he first asked about this unrelated Songshan, and then the commander of Shandong didn't know how many soldiers and horses he had.

Over there, Yan Jizu pondered for a moment, and said with a bow:

"Shandong soldiers and horses, in the imperial court, have always been according to 25,000 soldiers. The 25,000 should be fixed at the military headquarters.

Li Meng stretched out his hand and patted his forehead, and said with a smile:

"I can't always remember this number, but Lord Lao Yan has bothered."

The two of them glanced at each other and laughed, the two of them joked so much, Sun Chuanting, who was sitting behind him, felt a little better, but Zhang Ruoqi below was confused. I don't know why, but he thinks that there are huge loopholes in this Shandong soldier and horse.

Otherwise, as the chief soldier of Shandong, how could he not even remember the number of soldiers and horses under his command. Perhaps this is the reason why Li Meng, the chief soldier of Shandong, disregarded the decent rules of the imperial court and gave himself a prestige.

Zhang Ruoqi, who was kneeling there, didn't pay attention to it at all, and Li Meng pondered a little after hearing Yan Jizu say that number, and then said:

"Master Zhang, this time I came to inspect my Shandong soldiers and horses, you have been delayed for so many days, tomorrow I will arrange for you to go outside the city to inspect, after finishing your errand, hurry up and go back to Beijing."

Twenty-five thousand soldiers and horses. Say point inspection, point inspection. Don't you even need to cheat, Zhang Ruoqi pondered. Li Meng, the general soldier of Shandong, also had about 10,000 soldiers and horses in his hands, and this was the reason for his extortion.

Who would have thought that the other party was full of indifference, and said with a big grin that he would let him check it, could it be that his brain was broken?

This day finally lived in the city, Zhang Ruoqi and his party were not as imposing as on the way here, thinking about how to knock out a sum of money, living in the inn in the city, no one slept well at night, there were soldiers outside the courtyard, and no one knew whether these people outside were guarding or preparing to come in in the middle of the night to kill.

But there was nothing to do overnight, and early the next morning, dozens of cavalry came to lead, in order to be a general, and there was no politeness when they came to the door, and directly said that they would come to lead Director Zhang to inspect the soldiers and horses.

Director Zhang's party has become numb to all kinds of actions in Shandong until now, anyway, this side is similar to Daming's clothes, and the rest of the place seems to be different.

There are also subordinates of Zhang Ruoqi, the director of the Ministry of War, who secretly went to Director Zhang and said, it's better not to go out of the city, don't go out of the city, take it to a secluded place, and slaughter everyone directly, this has always been Zhang Ruoqi's closest subordinate, after saying these loyal words, Zhang Ruoqi raised his hand and slapped his mouth, and scolded:

"Slaves with bad brains, look at today's situation, can't they kill us in the city, don't say more, what they tell you to do, just follow along!"

After leaving the city, these dozens of cavalry really had no malicious intent, but just led Zhang Ruoqi to check the military camp outside the city one by one, Shandong's soldiers and horses are off-duty soldiers, and most of the time they spend every day are in training, they go out of the city early in the morning, just when they rush to the old battalion soldiers outside Jinan City to line up for exercise.

It is also convenient and fast to count this team of horses and soldiers lined up in a neat line, this situation really makes Zhang Ruoqi and the others stunned, 25,000, this number is really not small, it will take a lot of time to count them one by one, not to mention counting 25,000 soldiers and horses.

After a whole day of tossing, Zhang Ruoqi, who returned to the city, was already as pale as earth, and he walked over to count one battalion after another, which was really exhaustive.

Twenty-five thousand people is a real number, and Zhang Ruoqi still saw that those cavalry led them around Jinan City clockwise, and there must be still military camps that have not been transferred.

There are more soldiers and horses in Shandong than there are in the records of the Ministry of War. It is impossible to take advantage of the gap in the Shandong army to reduce the strength of Li Mengdi, this face is like earth, and there are individual reasons, when inspecting the various military camps, the Shandong soldiers who are training in the formation are all murderous.

The eyes of staring at his own group of people are also extremely bad, when he checks it, he seems to feel that he has been thorned again, and his whole body is cold, and he has walked through the army, this Zhang Ruoqi is the supervisor of the army of more than 100,000 people. I've seen it outside the gate.,It's still possible to maintain a calm state.。

But with Zhang Ruoqi's companions and officials, when they were checked, some of them seemed to be trembling like chaff all over their bodies, and some walked a few places. They were paralyzed on the ground and couldn't get up again, and they were full of ugliness, and the Shandong soldiers looked at these Beijing officials with even more disdain in their eyes.

With such hostility and contemptuous eyes and attitude, even Zhang Ruoqi, who has been cheeky for many years, feels uncomfortable.

Shandong's efforts in this regard are not leaky, since there are 25,000 soldiers and horses, the inspection has been completed. The colonels and officials of the General Soldier's Yamen and the Governor's Office came over with the relevant documents, and Zhang Ruoqi, the head of the Ministry of War, signed and signed on them, and then the Shandong Governor and the General Soldier sealed them, put them into envelopes, presented them with fire paint, and then sent them to Beijing.

The reason for using the land is very high-sounding, saying that it is the current situation. Since the military horses are inspected, it must be necessary to make great use of Shandong soldiers, so the results of the inspection of the soldiers and horses are come out. It is necessary to send it to Jingshi as soon as possible, let Youji know, and don't delay things.

Zhang Ruoqi couldn't say any reason for refutation, not to mention that he was not qualified to refute here, so he had to accept it obediently.

He was so angry in his heart that he was about to vomit blood, and the other party first sent the results of this test to Jingshi as soon as possible, and even if he wanted to do something, he had no place to start.

The day after the soldiers and horses were checked, Zhang Ruoqi's gang was beaten on the road, but Shandong was not polite at all, and directly drove people away.

This time when I compared. It's a little different. It's just that there are dozens of more cavalry escorts, and they don't want to let them do anything along the way. Send them back to Jingshi safe and sound.

Zhang Ruoqi was in a daze before he left Beijing, and this time he went back from Shandong, his mental state was not much different, and he was also spiritless.

I didn't get any oil and water for the soldiers and horses, but I was humiliated by the other party, but I couldn't find a little reason to make things difficult for the other party, and the documents of the soldiers and horses were signed by myself, and when I went, how many people were safe and sound when I came back, and it could not be said that Shandong coerced and threatened him.

The whole thing seems to have a breath of anger in my heart, so humiliated and persecuted by the other party, but I can't find the slightest way to retaliate or frame the other party.

Thinking about it, at present, it can be said that this Shandong soldier has the opportunity to give eye medicine, that is to say, this Shandong general soldier Li Meng has bad intentions and wants to do a great rebellion.

But he only arrived in Beijing when he confirmed the local documents, and when he went back, he framed the other party with bad intentions, I am afraid that it is not Li Meng, the general soldier of Shandong, but himself, Nahe Renlong and Zuo Liangyu, where they are, the magistrate and the official Yushi do not know how many impeachment twists and turns, and that has a role.

Zhang Ruoqi knew in his heart, if he returned to Beijing, he would sue the other party for misdeeds, and do that rebellious deed, as long as Shandong came up with a rebuttal fold, then it must be himself who went to prison first to ask for the crime, and it is difficult to say whether Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the military department, will be so sheltered again, and it is possible to take this opportunity to make himself unable to turn over.

The more he thought about it, the more he gritted his teeth, there was no way to deal with the other party at present, he could only secretly say cruel words in his heart, a gentleman would take revenge, ten years is not too late.

On the 17th of February, he returned to the Beijing Division and went to Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the military department, to hand over his errand, but Chen Xinjia did not give him a good look.

Although it is to gag his mouth for the fat and beautiful cha, but this errand can not be done so badly, in advance has been told to "carefully and carefully", in the officialdom of the kind of conversation only said three points of the convention, this is almost equivalent to telling you clearly, you must find out some problems when you check the Shandong soldiers and horses.

As a result, you reported that the number of people was accurate, and the soldiers and horses in Shandong had never eaten a person's vacancy, isn't it a fantasy? For so many years, he didn't get a single salary, and none of his soldiers in Shandong were wooden people who didn't eat. How can you not eat a space and still stand there.

What kind of errand is this, how many silver taels did you Zhang Ruoqi take from Shandong, do you really think that you have the handle of Songshan in your hands to blackmail anyone, and the crime of Songshan's defeat, you should also be killed as a prison soldier.

At the time of the errand, Chen Xinjia's face was extremely cold, and he just said that Director Zhang had worked hard, go home and rest for a few days first, and then send someone to call you back when there was something in the department.

The matter has come to this, and Zhang Ruoqi has no way to redeem it. I had to leave the military headquarters and go back to "rest".

Chen Xinjia gave this Zhang Ruoqi a chance, if he received much benefit in Shandong, at least he had to send this big head over, so that there was still room for things to turn around.

But this Ruoqi didn't get anything in Shandong, and naturally he didn't have anything to give to Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the Ministry of War. This made Chen Xinjia even more disgusted.

On the third day of resting at home, he received a message from a small official in the Ministry of War, saying that Director Lin, who manages the archives, is busy with affairs, and Shangshu Chen Xinjia is ready to transfer you to assist.

For such a significant devaluation. Zhang Ruoqi also had nothing to say, he had always felt bad in his heart when he came back from Shandong, and after Songshan came back, he thought that the matter was in the past and no one would pursue it anymore. But there are still people who remember it.

After leaving Shandong, the humiliation and treatment received in the main hall of the Yamen of the Shandong General Army, and even those in Shandong have many strange things that are different from those of the Great Tomorrow. The memories are all vague, Zhang Ruoqi just remembers the iron-masked man sitting behind Li Meng, the general soldier of Shandong.

A pair of eyes that showed through the eyelets of the crudely made iron mask were filled with hatred in their eyes. The eyes were extremely cold, Zhang Ruoqi was still a little puzzled when he first left Jinan City, thinking that he was usually quite tactful and tactful, and he didn't remember offending anyone, how could anyone have such hatred for himself.

During the period from Shandong to Jingshi, those eyes with hatred became clearer and clearer in his memory, and gradually coincided with countless figures.

The image of these countless people, Zhang Ruoqi, was just a glimpse when he went out of the customs with the army. Nothing too impressive. But at this time, these may be trapped in Matsuyama. Perhaps it was the soldiers and officers who died in the rout, but the impressions that passed by became extremely clear.

The Battle of Songshan killed so many soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, and Zhang Ruoqi, who should bear a lot of responsibility, has always had a fear in his heart, he killed so many people, will those unjust souls come to him to ask for his life.

Now that people are declining, this thought is even more irrepressible, and the day after knowing that he was transferred to organize the documents, Zhang Ruoqi fell into this panic.

Since he was transferred to the idle ministry, and his mood was extremely poor, Zhang Ruoqi simply stayed at home for a few more days.

At present, he is in this situation, no one wants to associate with him, even his wife is back to her parents' house with the children, in the evening, the door of Zhang's house is very deserted, but on the evening of the third day of the transfer of Hou, a man who looks like a husband appears outside the door of his house.

The mansion of such a six-rank petty official was not too tightly guarded, and in the dead of night, the man dressed as a husband cautiously sneaked into Zhang Ruoqi's bedroom.

There was no suspense in this, but when the rope was around Zhang Ruoqi's neck, he struggled desperately, squeezed out of his throat and asked:

"It was Chen Xinjia who sent you to ......"

The "husband" put his arms together, leaned into Zhang Ruoqi's ear and said:

"My marshal came over with a message, Songshan has killed so many Ming officers and soldiers, and there is no reason to keep you alive."

I don't know why, when the husband said this, Zhang Ruoqi's strength to resist up and down disappeared without a trace, allowing the noose to tighten little by little.

The next day, Zhang Ruoqi's concierge found the body of his master, who was hung from a high place, it seemed that he had hanged himself, the news spread, no one cared, some people said it was retribution. As for Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the Ministry of War, he was relieved in his heart, this Zhang Ruoqi died, and he finally went to a hidden danger in his heart.

On February 21, the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, there was no food left in Songshan City, and the soldiers below were embarrassed and had no plan. Even Hong Chengchou, the superintendent who commanded these people, could only drink some gruel.

The Ming officers and soldiers who stayed in Songshan City have been intermittently fleeing since they were besieged last year, but the generals in the city are too lazy to take care of it, the grain road of this army has been cut off, and it has been surrounded by the Manchu Tartars digging trenches layer by layer, and this place is close to death, if you run, run away.

Hong Chengchou, Sun Chuanting, and Lu Xiangsheng are all examples of military generals among the Ming Dynasty's civil ministers, the so-called Wensheng and martial ministers, tall and powerful. Moreover, these three people are all strong and can ride horses and open bows, in addition to the soldiers and horses led by the commander-in-chief, they also have their own direct troops.

Of course, the generals under the command are more powerful than those who are literati and are in charge of the military and civil ministers. There are also many advantages.

In the city, where is the official office of Hong Chengchou, where are several personal soldiers to report, Hong Chengchou, who has always been mighty, has deep sunken cheeks, and he is already thin and out of shape, but he is still energetic.

"My lord, the son of the deputy general Xia Chengde ran out with a few people at the south gate where they were stationed yesterday, and no one asked. Looking at Vice General Xia, he already knew about it. ”

Hong Chengchou nodded, and a junior colonel standing below looked at him without replying, and couldn't help but step forward and report:

"My lord, as a deputy general, but he ran away privately, if he is not investigated, what do the soldiers below think, my lord. The last general led his troops to arrest Vice General Xia and listened to the adult's questioning and punishment. ”

Hong Chengchou waved his hand, sighed and said:

"Matsuyama is already in such a situation. Xia Chengde is such a son, let him go. ”

Seeing Hong Chengchou's gloomy tone, the little colonel opened his mouth, did not make a sound, and retreated silently.

Since being surrounded, Hong Chengchou organized several soldiers and horses to break through, but they were all beaten back by the Qing army without any suspense, and the entire Songshan City was dug by the Qing army with deep ditches, and the other party relied on this fortification. It's also very easy to fight. The combat effectiveness of the Ming army, which had no provisions, fell so much that it could not be defeated.

Fifteen years after entering Chongzhen. Supervisor Hong Chengchou, Governor Qiu Minyang, Chief Soldier Cao Bianjiao, and a group of generals have all given up on breaking through.

Originally, I was waiting for the imperial court to organize reinforcements to come to the rescue, in fact, under the organization of Emperor Chongzhen, it was indeed organized several reinforcements, but every time I just came out of Shanhaiguan, I was defeated by the Qing army's reinforcements.

In such a situation inside and outside, the Ming soldiers and horses in the interior of Songshan City slowly fell into despair, it was useless to break through, and the reinforcements could not be counted on, so they could only wait for death slowly. 、

Hong Chengchou and a cadre of civil and military officers knew that there was no life, so they tried their best to support it here, waiting for the time when Songshan City was broken, and they would be loyal and martyred and sacrifice their lives for the country.

On the night of February 23, when Hong Chengchou was about to fall asleep in the official office, he heard a sudden commotion and chaos outside, Hong Chengchou was awakened, sat up suddenly, and picked up the sword beside the bed.

The sound outside became louder and louder, as if the entire Songshan City was in chaos, Hong Chengchou was in a panic in his heart, thinking that it was the Qing army that entered the city, and it seemed that the martyrdom was today.

"My lord, the Tartars have come in at the north and west gates, and General Cao's soldiers and horses are resisting there to see if they can drive the Tartars out."

The leader of the pro-soldiers outside shouted loudly, but Hong Chengchou couldn't settle down in his heart, the Qing army had besieged the city for so long, since it was able to break through the city gate, the general trend was probably irreversible.

Although the noise of shouting and killing in the city is getting louder and louder, it is still quiet on the side of the Governor's Office, Hong Chengchou reluctantly calmed down, and prepared to order the mobilization of troops and horses from all over the place.

However, he was not ready on his side, and there was a sudden chaos around the Inspector's Office, and the noise was around this Office, and Hong Chengchou heard the guards and soldiers outside shouting:

"This is the important place of the superintendent's yamen, who dares to break in!"

After shouting this sentence, the shouting and killing around the room where Hong Chengchou was suddenly louder, and someone shouted angrily: "Xia Chengde, you wolf-hearted bastard, you want to rebel and treason, Lao Tzu fight......s with you."

The shouting and killing outside suddenly rose up, and you may hear this shouting and killing getting closer and closer to the room where you are, "My lord, I can't stand it......"

Hearing this, Hong Chengchou sighed, put the saber in his hand on his neck, and wanted to exert himself, but he always felt that he couldn't use his strength.