Chapter Ninety-Six, The Death Knell of the Ming Empire (II)

However, although he had already entered Shanhaiguan, Huang Taiji's tactical command was still very conservative and did not go straight to Beijing in one go.

On the one hand, this is because the battle of the Daling River, which lasted for nearly a year, has just been fought, and although the Ming army has been defeated and lost, the Jurchen soldiers have also been dragged to exhaustion, and even their horses have lost fat. Now I haven't prepared much, I suddenly want to enter the customs again, and I was a little caught off guard, and the troops, ordnance, and baggage are not ready, especially those Mongol allied troops, who have already returned home after the Battle of Dalinghe, and now they have to quickly send envoys to the grassland to transfer troops - Huang Taiji originally brought into the Shanhaiguan Eight Banners soldiers and horses, but there are only thousands of people from the two yellow banners, and the follow-up troops are still slowly rushing over.

On the other hand, Huang Taiji was also not very at ease with the Guanning army that had just returned to Shun, and had the idea of sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight on a certain Cheng dù -- the Guanning army that had defected and surrendered this time, plus the prisoners of war of the Guanning army in the previous battle of Dalinghe and the miscellaneous Ming army that had been coerced into surrendering, the total number had reached 40,000 or 50,000 people. Later, even if Jin used all the troops of the country, plus the Horqin tribe and other Mongol alliance tribes, he could only make up seventy or eighty thousand soldiers and horses.

Obviously, if such a huge uncontrollable military group is placed around or behind it, no king will be at ease.

Therefore, under the pretext of waiting for the follow-up troops and the newly cast heavy artillery, Huang Taiji set up a large camp in Changli County soon after entering the customs as the front-line headquarters of the Ming War. Then he grabbed the elite soldiers of the Eight Banners and sat still, and only sent Zu Dashou and Wu Xiang to surrender to the generals, and led 40,000 Guanning troops to divide the troops into two routes, and pounced on Jingshi and Tianjin - according to Huang Taiji's wishful thinking, if Zu Dashou and Wu Xiang could win the battle, it would be very good; If this Guanning surrender army is defeated by the Ming court of the Jedi counterattack, then it is equivalent to helping the Houjin State remove a potential hidden danger.

Anyway, no matter how victorious that side is, the people who die are all Han people, and they are all consuming the vitality of the Ming Kingdom, and Huang Taiji is not distressed at all.

In this regard, the Liaoxi generals headed by Zu Dashou and Wu Xiang had nothing to say -- this was basically a vote.

As for whether he could capture the Jingshi this time, Huang Taiji did not have any idea of what he was determined to win -- according to what he said to the Eight Banners, the guiding ideology of this entry is that "every inch is an inch, and a ruler is a ruler," and everything cannot be forced. It is certainly good to be able to enter the Forbidden City and sit in the Dragon Court in one go. If you can't put Ming Ting to death for a while, then there is no need to put all your old books together.

Therefore, he initially stood still in Changli and sat and watched the battle, with the idea of retreating to Shanhaiguan in case the situation was unfavorable.

I don't want to do it after this mutation, even in the face of the disaster of the destruction of the country, the resistance of the Ming army can only be described as "weak and powerless", and there is no crazy momentum of dying resistance at all - in the case of the Jurchen Eight Banners standing still, relying only on the Guanning army, which had just defected, Zu Dashou smashed straight into Gyeonggi and defeated Lu Xiangsheng's Tianxiong Army, one of the only two field armies of the Ming court in Beizhili. And Wu Xiang on the other side is also a triumphant song, from Shanhaiguan all the way to the city of Tianjin, if it were not for Hong Chengchou's Qin army to arrive, maybe he would have taken this Beijing gateway.

Seeing that Guan Ningjun, his own subordinates, was defeated, he actually fought so smoothly and devastating in Guannei. Now the Jurchen Eight Banners of Changli are also very hot-eyed, and for a while they are all gearing up and eager to try, and they can't hold back anymore, and they want to show their skills urgently.

And Huang Taiji, who originally planned to continue to wait and see for a while, couldn't stand the crowd of people below, and saw that the soldiers and horses of the Eight Banners had almost been assembled, and the Mongolian cavalry of the Horqin Department had also arrived, so he set out from the camp of Changli and continued to advance towards the Jingshi of the Ming Kingdom.

Perhaps this time it was really because of the good fortune, and the Jurchen army had just arrived in Leting County, and received another piece of good news.

“…… Great joy! Sweat! The Ming army in Tianjin has mutinied! God bless me with a lot of gold! ”

In the rolling dust, the chubby Mang Gurtai squinted a pair of beanie eyes, happily rode a jujube red horse from the front, and before he could get close to Huang Taiji's royal car, he shouted from afar, "...... As long as Hong Chengchou is defeated, then Chongzhen Xiao'er will die! ”

Looking at Mang Gurtai's rude demeanor that was completely unrespectful, Huang Taiji couldn't help frowning slightly for a while, but after listening to his words, he was suddenly overjoyed, "...... Did the Ming army in Tianjin really mutiny? It can't be a rumor, right? ”

“…… Absolutely true! According to the Tanmalay newspaper, the city of Tianjin is on fire! The fireworks could be seen from four or five miles away! ”

Mang Gurtai said with a happy face, "...... Wu Xiang also sent a messenger to talk about this, and it will be there in a while! ”

“…… Very good! Very good! God bless me Dajin! Huang Taiji took a deep breath, then turned his head and shouted, "...... Quickly pass the order, and the Eight Banners Army immediately selected elite cavalry, one person and two horses, carrying three days of dry food, and rushed with me to Tianjin! ”

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North Zhili, Shuntianfu, Tianjin Acropolis

A cruel drama of plundering, burning, killing, and adultery ♂ is being staged in this city, known as the "Gateway of the Son of Heaven".

Inside and outside the mottled and dilapidated city wall of Tianjin, the sound of Shaanxi accent shouting and killing was earth-shattering, clouds of black smoke fluttered over the city, the streets and alleys were filled with the cries of soldiers and civilians in the city, and groups of chaotic soldiers were still coming from all over the barracks, pouring into the city in a steady stream.

These days, the Shanxi rebels, who have been starving and full of resentment, armed with all kinds of weapons, smashed open the doors of every household in Tianjin, robbed them of their property, humiliated their wives and daughters, and even deprived them of their lives and set fire to their houses......

The Shaanxi rescuers, who had just relieved the siege of Tianjin, had now become robbers and butchers who ravaged the city.

Yiqiē's discipline and morality were all wiped out at this moment, leaving only the most primitive cruelty and violence.

When Hong Chengchou, who was preparing for military rations at Dagukou, learned that there was bad news in the rear, and hurried back to Tianjin with the Chinese army superintendent battalion, the city of Tianjin was already full of flames, thick smoke, and mourning all over the wilderness -- both sides of every street and alley were full of mutilated corpses, and the blood that flowed out of the streets extended along the cracks in the bluestone pavement, and people kept rushing out of the house carrying packages in a panic, but they were caught up by the chaotic army chasing behind, hacked to death, and then snatched away his belongings. And the woman's crying and screaming came from every house......

When he saw the body of the Tianjin governor, which was also hung on the beam of the yamen, Hong Chengchou finally couldn't help but have black eyes and fainted.

-- Half a day after Hong Chengchou left the barracks, Qian Shisheng, the second assistant of the cabinet of the Beijing imperial court, came over to inspect the barracks. As soon as this benevolent brother arrived in Tianjin, he swaggered into the barracks, summoned the generals of the Qinwang army, mainly the Qin army, and scolded them for being greedy for life and afraid of death...... But for the most critical issue of grain and grass supply, Qian Shisheng did not mention a word, obviously thinking that these lowly warriors are all immortals who eat and drink dew, even if they only drink the northwest wind, they should be able to fight.

(The Beijing court at the end of the Ming Dynasty has always had this problem, once it encountered a crisis, it desperately mobilized soldiers and horses from other places to the Beijing division, thinking that the more troops, the more peace of mind, but it was not prepared for logistics supplies at all, as if it did not consider that these soldiers and horses also had to eat, and the result was that the reinforcements mutinied, and the loyal ministers were frightened.) ）

What made King Qin's army even more indignant was that after reprimanding these sergeants who were bleeding and sweating with white stripes, Qian Shisheng would go to the Tianjin Acropolis again to commend the Tianjin governor for his "meritorious service in defending the city" -- it is said that the governor threw money in the court and paid heavy bribes to several cabinet elders. As a result, all the troops outside the city suddenly became furious: If we hadn't rushed to the rescue to relieve the siege, your broken city would have fallen long ago!

Moreover, you, a dog official, clearly have the money to bribe important ministers in the court, why do you sit back and watch us, the life-savers, starve to death outside the city? Lost conscience!

As a result, hungry, angry, and resentful, several middle- and low-level officers of the Qin army, such as Qianhu and Baihu, actually took advantage of the opportunity of the Tianjin government to open the city gate and welcome the chariot of Lord Shilang, and rushed up with their cronies, killed the defenders, and captured a city gate. Immediately afterwards, the Qin Wang Army, who was also angry, made an uproar and rushed into Tianjin in a chaotic manner, plundering the army, killing people and setting fires. Due to the absence of the prestigious Governor Hong Chengchou, the generals of the various ministries could not restrain the enthusiastic officers and soldiers at all, and soon the uproar became even bigger.

-- The soldiers knew very well in their hearts that due to the harsh treatment of the previous series of bullshit, the anger of the soldiers had now exploded like a powder keg, and could no longer be suppressed. Even their superiors can only follow the soldiers' thoughts and simply make a big fuss, otherwise they will be the first to be killed. Anyway, it is now a turbulent and troubled era, although according to the system it is still noble and lowly, but as long as the generals who control the soldiers and horses are not rebelling, after causing chaos such as mutiny, even the imperial court can only try to appease them, and dare not strictly investigate them.

As early as the Wanli and Apocalypse years, the border troops on the nine sides of the north played such a trick from time to time because they were in arrears of military salaries all year round, either beating civilian officials to get angry or plundering residential businesses in order to make some profits. Anyway, the law does not blame the public, as long as a few people are pushed out in the end to make errands for the dead ghosts, any crime of mutiny and looting can be completed.

Therefore, when Governor Hong Chengchou rushed back, the shape of Tianjin was already rotten and out of control, and the frenzied rebels were wantonly in the city, not only robbing the merchants and big households in Tianjin, but also setting fire to the yamen and killing the officials - Qian Shisheng, the deputy assistant of the cabinet who came to inspect and urge the troops, was overturned by the rebels at the gate of the city, and he did not know where he had fled; The civil and military officials of Tianjin, who suffered a great loss, carried the corpses of their colleagues and relatives, knelt in front of Hong Chengchou's horse and cried, demanding justice from the governor; Immediately afterwards, the gentry and merchants in Tianjin also came up collectively and demanded that Governor Hong severely punish those rebellious officers and soldiers who dared to wantonly kill and plunder in Tianjin......

However, the generals and colonels of King Qin's army also came together to complain to the governor of their wishes, crying that the court was unfair and mistreated their meritorious officials, which provoked the mutiny...... So Hong Chengchou was in a panic for a while, and he was almost ten years old - the rebels collided with the car of the cabinet deputy assistant, and it was indeed a crime that deserved death; But then I have to rely on these people to fight with Liaodong Jiannu, and I really don't dare to punish them ruthlessly: what if people are not angry, they simply flee from the battle or even defect to the enemy? Liaoxi Jiangmen is sending persuasion letters everywhere this time?

As a result, Governor Hong Chengchou had to find a way to reconcile with the mud and try to adjust the contradictions, and maintain stability. But no matter how much he and the mud he is, both sides are also fighting against each other, wanting revenge and revenge on the other, tossing back and forth for a long time, but he has not been able to calm things down.

Then, Governor Hong Chengchou soon found that he no longer had to worry about the mess that had followed the Tianjin Mutiny.

Because, just when the city of Tianjin was still full of smoke and corpses, the officials were still spitting at each other, and the rebels were still busy killing people and goods, at the end of the distant horizon, a piece of flying dust had risen impressively, and there were countless banners of hunting and waving in the wind......

“…… It's amazing! It's a tartar! It's the Jurchen Tartars who have killed it! ”

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On the first day of October in the fifth year of Chongzhen, Qian Shisheng, the second assistant of the cabinet, went out to inspect Tianjin, urging the soldiers and horses of the Qin Wang of all ministries to enter Beijing to rescue the driver. At that time, the governor of the three sides, Hong Chengchou, went out to raise food, and Qian Shisheng summoned the generals to give lectures, and the words were quite contemptuous, there were many insulting words, and there was no money or reward. The generals were angry, thinking that the imperial court was mistreating the heroes, and immediately made a noise, causing the armies to mutiny, raising troops to attack the city of Tianjin, wantonly setting fire and looting, and Du Sance, the governor of Tianjin, was killed.

On the third day of October, Hong Chengchou rushed back to Tianjin after hearing the news and tried to suppress the mutiny, but it was too late. The rebellion of the officials and troops in Tianjin was undecided, and the slave chief Huang Taiji personally led the Jurchen elite cavalry and the Guanning rebels, totaling more than 20,000 people, and had already made a long-distance attack to the city of Tianjin in the afternoon of the fourth day of the first lunar month.

Due to the haste of the incident, tens of thousands of Qinwang's officers and troops were completely unprepared, so they collapsed without a fight, and Tianjin Wei fell immediately. Hong Chengchou, the governor of the three sides, led the standard battalion to kill the guards from the chaos, first fled to Jinghai County, was rejected by the county order, and then fled to Cangzhou, exhausted his horsepower, and captured Wu Xiang by the Guanning rebel general on the way.

At this point, the officials and armies of the two roads of Kifu were scattered, and there was not one of the remnants of the army, and the Jiannu vanguard had entered Hejian Mansion, and the Beijing division became a lonely city, and the army and the people were all terrified...... R1148