Tongzhou is the gateway of Beijing since ancient times, with Yanshan Mountain in the north, Bohai Bay in the south, Beijing in the west, and Shanhaiguan in the east.

According to the normal way of playing, it is natural to push all the way from Jizhou and kill directly to Tongzhou.

However, Li Xianzhong was unwilling to follow the steps, and was led by You Shiwei.

He took the southern route, starting from Yutian to occupy Xianghe County, and then approaching Tongzhou.

In fact, it was only the vanguard cavalry of the Liaodong Army that arrived under the city of Tongzhou.

The infantry and artillery had just arrived at Xianghe, and there was still more than a day's journey from Tongzhou.

There were enough war horses in Liaodong, so even the infantry were dragoons on horseback.

However, the dragoons could only carry light 6-pounder Franc machine guns, and the 18-pounder Hongyi cannons used for siege still lagged behind.

According to the intelligence, Yuan Chonghuan's men and horses going north were not far from Jingshi, so he had to rush for time.

Yuan Chonghuan's cavalry was not much, and the main cavalry force in Shandong was taken to Huguang by Cao Wenzhao before, and according to intelligence, he only had seven or eight thousand cavalry.

Li Xianzhong's attack on Tongzhou was to create the illusion of coercing the capital, so that Chongzhen could urgently order Yuan Chonghuan to go north.

Therefore, the distance between his cavalry and soldiers must be stretched wide, so that he can eat his mobile cavalry first.

Sure enough, after the Liaodong Army approached Tongzhou, the cabinet and Chongzhen panicked.

When the sentinels of Liaodong appeared on the outskirts of Beijing, the capital was under martial law.

Chongzhen's face in the Qianqing Palace was pale, and he asked: "Now that Li Xianzhong is not fighting Jizhou, but is approaching Tongzhou, does the military department have a strategy to deal with it?" ”

Zhang Fengyi, the secretary of the military department with beads of sweat on his forehead, said: "The Liaodong Army dares to bypass Jizhou, and it will definitely not dare to bypass Tongzhou, Tongzhou is currently defended by the 10,000 Shenji Battalion led by Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo, and the Shenji Battalion has powerful firearms, which should be able to block the offensive of the Liaodong Army." ”

"The Ministry of War has urgently ordered Governor Yuan and General You to support Tongzhou!"

"Just."

Chongzhen glanced at Zhang Fengyi and said, "Zhang Benbing has something to say, but it's okay to say it!" ”

Zhang Fengyi said: "I heard that Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo, has a close relationship with Li Xianzhong, and the minister is worried that the Chengguo Guild will directly surrender to Li Xianzhong!" ”

Chongzhen said: "Zhang Aiqing's worries are not unreasonable, I will give you the sword of Shangfang, Qing will personally go to Tongzhou to supervise the war, if there is any misdeeds in Chengguo, you can be killed on the spot!" ”

After listening to Chongzhen's words, Zhang Fengyi was stunned on the spot.

Didn't he dig a hole for himself?

Seeing that Zhang Fengyi still didn't answer the order, Chongzhen raised his voice and said, "Does Zhang Qing have any objections?" ”

Zhang Fengyi said tremblingly: "Weichen is grateful!" ”

Although Zhang Fengyi kept asking for help from the first assistant Wen Tiren on the side with his eyes throughout the whole process, Wen Tiren was like an old monk in his meditation at this time, and he didn't react at all!

Soon after, the two withdrew from the Qianqing Palace together.

On the one hand, he refused to help because he had always regarded himself as a lonely minister and did not engage in partisanship; More importantly, he knew that His Majesty was not satisfied with Zhang Fengyi, the secretary of the military department, and he already had the intention of replacing him.

Soon Yang Sichang appeared in the Qianqing Palace.

Chongzhen's face also softened a lot, and he asked with concern: "Yang Qing went all the way north from Huguang, it's hard!" ”

Yang Sichang said: "Now that the war is critical, the minister can't wait to fly to His Majesty's side immediately, but fortunately, it's still too late?" ”

He also saw Chongzhen's worries at this time, and he said: "Your Majesty, don't worry, Chengguo Gong will not dare to surrender to Li Xianzhong!" ”

"The minister has long heard that Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo, is rich and rivals the country, and he is the richest man in the capital!"

"If he is in the capital, it is possible to put Li Xianzhong into the Beijing division in order to seek the so-called 'merit from the dragon'."

"Now that others are in Tongzhou, if they dare to rebel, Your Majesty can directly copy his family property as military salary! Therefore, Wei Chen suggested that His Majesty transfer him out of the Beijing Division to eliminate hidden dangers in advance! ”

Because Li Xianzhong sold his family property in advance before, Chongzhen also learned to be smart this time, and asked Jinyiwei to touch Zhu Chunchen's bottom in advance.

According to Jinyiwei's investigation, Zhu Chunchen has such industries as Jubao Zhai, Heaven and Earth, and Crystal Garden.

In fact, he also engaged in smuggling, usury, and owned a large number of pawnshops and granges, and even conservative estimates that he had a family property of 5 million taels of silver!

If Zhu Chunchen dares to rebel against the imperial court, the military salary for almost a year will be settled!

It is not a bad thing to use the 10,000 old soldiers under his command to exchange a year's military salary!

At this time, Chongzhen looked at Yang Sichang's eyes with a little more appreciation.

Yang Sichang was thoughtful, and he threw Zhang Fengyi to Tongzhou, just to pave the way for Yang Sichang's upper military department!

Of course, at this moment, Chongzhen is most concerned about how to retreat from the enemy, he said: "Yang Qing's "Anti-Liao Shu" to me the previous time was very insightful, but it is a pity that Li Xianzhong shot too quickly. Now that Yongping, Tongzunhua and other places have fallen into the hands of the enemy, and the defense line of Yanshan and Tongluanhe has been occupied by Li Xianzhong, what other strategies does the imperial court have to break the enemy? ”

Yang Sichang had long expected Chongzhen to ask these questions.

The situation did not deteriorate so much when he was on "Anti-Liaoshu".

First of all, Zhu Yousong did not claim the title of emperor, he said it from the perspective of preventing Li Xianzhong from rebelling.

At that time, all the gentry and people must have been towards the imperial court, and now there is an additional Hongguang Emperor, who will have a great influence on Li Xianzhong's identity as a thief, but now they can surrender to the Hongguang Emperor with peace of mind, anyway, they are all Ming.

And Qingzhou was not lost at that time.

Don't underestimate the gains and losses of Qingzhou, with Qingzhou, Haikou will be completely limited to the Jiaodong area, and will not affect the whole of Shandong.

Now that Qingzhou is lost, Li Xianzhong may occupy Shandong at any time to cut off the Cao Yun.

To be honest, it is impossible for Jingshi to hold at this time.

Even if Li Xianzhong can't break through the Jingshi for a while, as long as he cuts off the Caoyun, then the loss of the Jingshi and Zhili is a matter of time.

The four towns in the northwest took refuge in Emperor Hongguang is the best proof!

Of course, there is no way, that is, to move the capital to Nanjing and throw the mess in the north to Li Xianzhong.

The "apportionment into the mu" and the "integrated payment of grain by the gentry" he engaged in will definitely not be supported by the gentry.

For Li Xianzhong, Zhili is not only not an asset, but will become a burden.

Li Xianzhong's current territory simply can't support so many troops, and Yang Sichang can be sure that he must have purchased a large amount of grain from Tonghuguang in Jiangnan every year.

The Ming Dynasty was originally a two-capital system, and Nanjing's six departments, various management institutions and even palaces were ready-made.

As long as they arrive in Jiangnan, they can use Jiangnan's financial resources and grain to develop the new army.

When the time comes, the sea will be opened, and trade with the Dutch and Portuguese will be developed, and silver and firearms will be obtained.

As long as Li Xianzhong's food supply was cut off, he would not be able to jump.

When the imperial court was in full swing, it would go all out to exterminate Zhang Xianzhong and stabilize Huguang and Sichuan.

Then you can use Li Zicheng to deal with Li Xianzhong, and it won't take a few years for the imperial court to recover.

But Yang Sichang really didn't dare to say this.

Not to mention that with His Majesty's character, it is impossible to accept the abandonment of the north and run away.

There are still many northern officials and nobles in the Jingshi, and they must not accept the southward move of the imperial court.

Now that I bring it up, I will inevitably become the target of public criticism.

Unless His Majesty strongly supports it, he will definitely die an ugly death.

Let someone else be the first bird!

After some ideological struggle, Yang Sichang said: "For today's plan, we can only defend the Beijing division first and thwart the thief's edge, and then it is possible to turn defeat into victory!" ”

"And the key to the victory or defeat of the imperial court depends on Governor Yuan, if the 60,000 elites under his command can reach the capital division in time, then we can withstand Li Xianzhong's attack."

"Li Xianzhong was also a surprise attack with light troops, and the rear was not stable. As long as he can't take the Jingshi in one go, the situation will be more and more favorable to the imperial court. ”

In addition, Chen Qiyu could continue to lead the Huguang army to besiege Xiangyang; Ordered the 20,000 elites under the command of Cao Wenzhao to gather with the reinforcements of Nanzhili to go north to Yanzhou first, and use Jinan guarded by Zuo Liangyu as horns to ensure the smooth flow of Cao Yun. ”

To be honest, I was a little disappointed with what Yang Sichang said.

He originally thought that he would have some earth-shattering plan, and even pushed back the hinterland of Liaodong, but it turned out that he was just sticking to the Jingshi.

Chongzhen can play too few cards in his hand, tens of thousands of Mongolian cavalry Chen soldiers are in Xuanfu Datong, and the Xuanda soldiers and horses court dare not mobilize at all.

At this time, he could only hope for Yuan Chonghuan!

When Zhang Fengyi, the secretary of the military department, went to Tongzhou from Beijing, he had already explained the aftermath to his family in advance.

The shadow of a man, the name of a tree.

If you talk about who can fight the most in the Ming Dynasty, Xu Da, Chang Yuchun, Lan Yu, Fu Youde, Li Wenzhong, you can name a lot of names.

But if you want to ask who is the best among the living people today, then there is no doubt that it must be Li Xianzhong.

Since his debut, Li Xianzhong has often won more with less, and has played a casualty ratio against the sky.

Destroyed Jianzhou, conquered Monan, broke the White Lotus Sect, subdued the Korean Ryukyus, and was regarded as the "Mandate of Heaven Khan" by the Mongol Jurchen tribes.

It's enough to be comparable to any famous general of the Ming Dynasty.

With the 10,000 Shenji Battalion in Tongzhou against Li Xianzhong's Liaodong Army, how is this different from sending him to death?

Zhang Fengyi entered Tongzhou City tremblingly all the way under the protection of hundreds of families!

Fortunately, the Intelligence Department sent the news in advance, and Li Xianzhong ordered him to be released into the city, otherwise he would not be enough to fill the teeth of the Liaodong Iron Cavalry!

Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo, was depressed at the moment, this Chongzhen, who killed a thousand knives, actually sent himself to Tongzhou to die.

If he was in Beijing, as long as Li Xianzhong's soldiers were in the city, he would immediately open the city gate and let the Liaodong army enter the city.

But Tongzhou didn't dare to do this, otherwise he would be directly raided by Chongzhen.

Zhu Chunchen sent someone to contact Li Xianzhong early in the morning, and according to his wishes, Li Xianzhong bypassed Tongzhou and went straight to the Beijing Division, and his men and horses would not go out of the city anyway to interfere with the siege of the Liaodong army.

However, Li Xianzhong still wanted to use Tongzhou to make a fuss, so that Zhu Chunchen could cooperate well, and directly sent a liaison officer into the city.

It was not the first time that Zhu Chunchen had dealt with Li Xianzhong, and he quickly understood his intentions.

Try your best to cooperate with the Liaodong Army to "fish".

Anyway, Li Xianzhong has already reassured him, as long as Zhu Chunchen cooperates well this time and makes great contributions, he will still be the Duke of Chengguo in the Hongguang Dynasty!

Not only him, but also the old guys in the original Jingzhong Xungui circle, as long as they play an active role in this incident, they can keep their wealth.

If the performance is positive, it is not ruled out that it can go further.

After all, Emperor Hongguang had made an exception to Li Xianzhong and made him the king of the county.

After all, this is his old Zhu family's own business, who is the emperor or not?

Isn't Zhu Neng, the first generation of Chengguo Gong, a hero of the Jingjing?

In Zhu Chunchen's eyes, this is nothing more than another "battle of appeasement".

In fact, Zhu Yousong's legitimacy is still higher than Zhu Di's, after all, there is still the edict of Emperor Wanli, which belongs to the "Fengzhao Jingjing", which is more based on Zhu Di's "Fengtianjing difficulty".

When he learned that Zhang Fengyi had come to spy on him with Shang Fang's sword, he was even more angry.

scolded secretly: "Chongzhen Xiaoer, I, Zhu Chunchen, don't share the sky!" ”

Then he began to flicker at Zhang Fengyi.

He said: "Zhang Benbing, why did you bring a few hundred people here, isn't this compensating me for Lao Zhu to die together?" ”

Zhang Fengyi said: "Can the Liaodong Army attack the city? ”

Zhu Chunchen said: "The Hongyi artillery of the Liaodong Army has not yet arrived, so it has not yet attacked the city; Once the artillery is in place, it's time for us to die! ”

"My father has nothing to do and likes to complain, so he was hated by His Majesty and sent to this Tongzhou to wait for death. You, Zhang Benbing, are the celebrity in front of Wen Shoufu, why were you also sent here? ”

Zhang Fengyi was originally in a bad mood, and Zhu Chunchen didn't open any pot!

He said embarrassedly: "Tongzhou is a matter of safety in Beijing, Your Majesty attaches great importance to it, and the special soldiers personally came to supervise the battle!" ”

But I saw Zhu Chunchen laugh and said: "Your Majesty asked you to take Shang Fang's sword and watch Zhu die, aren't the two of us dying together?" ”

"Well, it's the same end of the world! Now Yang Sichang, the left attendant of the military department, is a saint. ”

"Let Zhu guard Tongzhou, that's Yang Sichang's idea, right?"

Zhang Fengyi only reacted at this time, Chongzhen let him come to Tongzhou, probably to make room for Yang Sichang.

He smiled wryly and said, "What's the point of talking about this now? ”

Zhu Chunchen saw that Zhang Fengyi had a reaction, so he began to fool and said: "Zhang Benbing, we can't sit still!" ”

"After all, you are still the secretary of the military department now, so hurry up and mobilize reinforcements from the surrounding areas to come to Tongzhou. I know Li Xianzhong, he has always avoided the real and attacked the false in war! ”

"As long as there are more soldiers in Tongzhou, he may not be able to go through Tongzhou."

Zhang Fengyi said: "No, Li Xianzhong is the best at 'encircling the point to send reinforcements', if I transfer the soldiers and horses of Jizhou to the south, I am afraid that I will be ambushed by Li Xianzhong." ”

Zhu Chunchen said with a smile: "Won't Jizhou be empty in that way, maybe Li Xianzhong will go to fight Jizhou, so that Tongzhou will not be safe for the time being?" ”

Zhang Fengyi shook his head and said: "That's not possible, there are only more than 10,000 people in Tongzhou, and Li Xianzhong must still open up the state." ”

Zhu Chunchen said: "I heard that Yuan Chonghuan's main force is not far from the Beijing Division, and Yuan Dudu's men and horses are quite elite, if you transfer his men and horses to Tongzhou, maybe we don't have to die!" ”

"Now that the soldiers and horses of Jizhou are heading south to attract the attention of the Liaodong Army, Yuan Dudu's men and horses will definitely be able to enter Tongzhou smoothly!"

Zhang Fengyi said: "But Yuan Chonghuan received an order to return to the defense division as soon as possible, I am afraid that he will not come to Tongzhou!" ”

Zhu Chunchen said with a smile: "Didn't Your Majesty give you the Shang Fang Sword?" ”

Under Zhu Chunchen's flickering, Zhang Fengyi finally decided to save himself.

After all, Tongzhou is the gateway to Beijing, and there is nothing wrong with transferring troops to protect Tongzhou.

Even if the men and horses going south from Jizhou were ambushed, it was to cover Yuan Chonghuan's main force to enter Tongzhou, and others couldn't say what they were.

Keep yourself, keep Tongzhou; Isn't it just to keep the Jingshi and your majesty?

So he did what he said, and he hastened to send messengers to give orders.

A few hours later, Zhang Fengyi's envoy arrived in Jizhou City.

You Shiwei, the general soldier of Jizhou, currently has 40,000 horses in his hands, 35,000 people are in Jizhou City, and 5,000 people are stationed in Pinggu, the rear of Jizhou.

To be honest, he was very resistant to this order.

But now the Beijing division is in danger, which is somewhat due to his misarrangement, and he really doesn't have the courage to ask him not to send reinforcements.

In the end, he sent his lieutenant general Shen Santong to lead 5,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantry south to support Tongzhou.

Shen Santong was not stupid, he knew that this trip was very dangerous, so he not only sent a lot of sentry horsemen to explore the road along the way, but also did not dare to let the cavalry advance.

Even marching in armor, he finally came to Sanhe County with trepidation along the way.

However, he never dreamed that the Liaodong Army would not ambush him in the wild, and the 30,000 Liaodong Army would directly trap him in Sanhe County.

After all, in the wilderness, you have to encircle 15,000 people, and if there is no special terrain, there will be at least 40,000 or 50,000 people, and it is difficult to wipe them all out.

Because the Liaodong Army only had infantry at this time (dragoons belonged to mounted infantry), the main force of cavalry was used to ambush Yuan Chonghuan.

Soon after, the artillery of the Liaodong Army began to attack the city.

In the face of the artillery of the Liaodong Army and Lu Mi, Shen Santong was almost only beaten.

In the field, you can also fight the enemy, although there is the protection of the city wall, but it is completely passively beaten.

So he decided to send cavalry to risk raiding the artillery positions of the Liaodong Army.

The sudden attack of the Ming army really caught the Liaodong army off guard.

After all, it was a temporary encirclement, and there was only one trench outside the artillery position.

And at this time, the main cavalry of Liaodong was not here.

They only had a few cavalry infantry, and they could not carry out cavalry charges at all.

"Bang, bang, bang"

Although the gunners in front of the position continued to fire, causing many of the charging cavalry to fall, they took advantage of the opportunity of the gunners to reload and rushed to the front of the position.

At the critical moment, the grenadiers on the position ignited the thunder.

The huge explosion of thunder frightened the charging horses and greatly reduced the impact force.

In the end, the shield bearers and spearmen of the Liaodong Army withstood the onslaught of the Ming cavalry.

The musketeers had already finished loading, and the sound of the muskets once again completely crushed the cavalry on the opposite side.

Seeing that there was no hope of breaking through, Shen Santong led the remaining more than 10,000 Ming troops to surrender.

Because he knew that there would be no more reinforcements to rescue him, and his bow and arrows and bird guns were completely suppressed by the Lu Mi guns of the Liaodong Army.

Originally, he wanted to resist through street fighting, but now the Liaodong Army has a big killing weapon like Thunder, even if you hide in the house, they can easily destroy you.

After all, it's just that you and his old Zhu family have changed someone to take the position of emperor, so why should they take their own lives?

After receiving the order, Yuan Chonghuan immediately led 60,000 horses north to Beijing to support.

He knew that the time advantage was not on his side.

Because Jinan is more than 800 miles away from Jingshi, and only 500 miles from Shanhaiguan to Beijing.

Moreover, the Liaodong Army had many cavalry, but he only had 8,000 cavalry.

So he decided to lead the cavalry to Beijing first.

When Zhang Fengyi's messenger found him, Yuan Chonghuan had already arrived in Zhuozhou, which was only 140 miles away from Beijing.

He never expected that Li Xianzhong's advance speed would be so fast.

The envoy said: "Once Tongzhou is lost, the generals of the Liaodong Army will be in Beijing, so Zhang Shangshu asked Governor Yuan to rush to Tongzhou quickly. ”

At this time, Yuan Chonghuan saw Shang Fang's sword behind the messenger, and he also had one of them.

Since Zhang Fengyi asked people to bring the sword above to give him an order, it seems that Tongzhou is already in great danger.

So he led 8,000 cavalry directly to Tongzhou.

His men and horses galloped all the way for 70 miles, just crossed the Yongding River, and before they could get out of the ten mile road, they encountered 10,000 Liaodong cavalry.

The person at the head is none other than their previous "old leader" Hong Chengchou.

After these cavalrymen of the Yulin Battalion saw Hong Chengchou, they were like ghosts.

Although Yuan Chonghuan had learned about Hong Chengchou's rebellion, he did not tell his soldiers the news for the sake of morale.

Isn't Governor Hong already dead in battle?

This is also what Li Xianzhong calculated a long time ago.

Just when Yuan Chonghuan and the others were stunned, the 10,000 cavalry each led by Zu Dashou and Li Huaizhong had secretly appeared behind their flanks.

Now the 30,000 cavalry of the Liaodong Army has surrounded their 8,000 people!

Hong Chengchou said: "The soldiers of the Yulin Battalion, Emperor Hongguang has the edict of Lord Wanli, which is the destiny of heaven, and now you have been surrounded by 80,000 Liaodong cavalry regiments, so don't do useless struggles!" ”

"Hongguang Tianzi Rende, I said that the soldiers of the Yulin Battalion are also the soldiers under his command, and you will only be treated better than before anyway. Your former robes have now been planted in Liaodong, and many of you have married daughters-in-law! ”

"I think you have all heard that the gentry and officials of Liaodong are not exempt from tax, and even the king of Liaodong himself has to pay field tax!"

"But the Governor tells you, meritorious soldiers, your fields are exempt from taxes!"

Liaodong knows that the Yulin Camp is engaged in "the gentry receive grain in one", after all, Denglai is next door to them.

Hong Chengchou's words soon caused a huge repercussion!

Yuan Chonghuan said secretly: It's not good, Hong Chengchou's heart-attacking technique is so powerful, if it goes on like this, the army's heart will be chaotic!

So he shouted: "Soldiers, Hong Chengchou in front of him has no more than 10,000 men and horses, where are the 80,000 cavalry?" ”

He himself was greedy for life and afraid of death, surrendered to Li Xianzhong, and deceived everyone with clever words here. My Yulin Battalion is the Son of Heaven's own army, you are all a strong force that has been reviewed by the Son of Heaven, and we will never be traitors to the Ming Dynasty. ”

"Yuan has heard for a long time that Liaodong Iron Cavalry is invincible in the world, and I don't know if I dare to fight with my Yulin Battalion!"

Zha Zhongwen said to Hong Chengchou: "The Liaodong Iron Cavalry is willing to fight!" ”

After the 3,000 Liaodong iron cavalry went into battle, Hong Chengchou directly ordered the 30,000 cavalry to attack on all fronts.

I don't need 30,000 people, but only 3,000 people fight with you, are you stupid to be the governor?

Originally, the morale of the Yulin battalion was not high, even if it faced 3,000 Liaodong iron cavalry alone, it had no chance of winning, but now it was surrounded by 30,000 cavalry, where was the chance of winning?

Soon, the Liaodong Iron Cavalry of the heavily armored cavalry broke the formation of the Yulin Battalion from the front.

And Wu Sangui, Zu Dashou's 18-year-old nephew, saw the opportunity to lead a team of cavalry to rush into the enemy formation, and captured Yuan Chonghuan who was watching the battle in the rear in one fell swoop!

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