"I, Li Yongchang, the Governor of Jizhou, pay my respects to Your Majesty.”
"This subject, Yang Yuji of the Jizhou Military Logistics Department, greets Your Majesty.”
……
Li Daoxuan, who was covered in blood, looked at the fence-sitters kneeling on the ground with a gloomy face. It was obvious that letting the emperor die in front of the door was too exaggerated. These people were people who had read the books of the sages. They knew very well that if they really did this, they would be notorious for thousands of years. Moreover, no matter who became their new master, they would not use such officials again.
This was very important.
Therefore, the city gates of Ji Province were finally opened.
"My dear ministers, please rise. How many soldiers do we have left in the Ji Province?”
He took a deep breath and asked.
"Your Majesty, that's all.”
Yang Yuji said carefully.
"Is that all?"
Li Daoxuan looked at the two sides speechlessly. There were a total of four to five hundred people, and there were less than a hundred cavalrymen among them. Moreover, they were all old and weak. At least, they were not elite soldiers. If it were not for the cannons supporting the field, it was estimated that they would not be able to scare away the hundreds of Shun troops. Speaking of which, Jizhou was one of the top military strongholds in the north of the capital. Although such a terrifying and exaggerated thing like being infiltrated had happened in the place where Qi Jiguang was guarding, it was still a little too exaggerated to have only this number of soldiers.
"Reporting to Your Majesty, the soldiers of Ji Prefecture are all with Tang Tong.”
Yang Yuji said.
"Tang Tong, this traitor has wasted Zhen's grace.”
Li Daoxuan sneered.
Only now did he remember that Tang Tong was the commander of Ji Town. It was obvious that Yang Yuji also knew that Tang Tong had surrendered at Juyong Pass. However, if he had time, he could still gather a few thousand people around Jizhou. This area was a complete and huge defense system, and Jizhou was not the only place with troops stationed.
But now, he didn't have time.
"Immediately prepare the food and gather all the cavalry in Ji Province to escort me to Shanhai Pass!”
Then, he said.
"Your Majesty!"
Yang Yuji and the other two quickly said.
The two of them couldn't wait for him to leave. Everyone knew that he would have a lot of trouble here.
"Milord, more soldiers are coming from outside!”
At this moment, the soldiers on the city wall suddenly shouted.
Li Daoxuan hurriedly turned around and rushed up the city wall. There were indeed soldiers coming from outside, but the number was still not too many. There were only a few hundred cavalry. Soon, these people arrived at the city. The leading civil official urged his horse forward. Wang Chengen, who was standing beside Li Daoxuan, immediately shouted in surprise,""Your Majesty, it's Governor Song."
"Open the door!"
Li Daoxuan immediately shouted.
Governor Song was definitely Song Quan, the last governor of Shuntian. He was stationed in Miyun. After Tang Tong surrendered and Li Zicheng entered Juyong Pass, Song Quan's troops fled. He led a group of people to hide nearby. When the Qing army entered the pass, he surrendered and was very important. His son, Song Luo, was a famous official of Kang Mazi's court. Of course, this was not important. What was important was that Li Daoxuan knew that this person would not surrender to Li Zicheng.
That was enough.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I'm useless. I deserve to die!”
As soon as Song Quan entered the city, he laid at Li Daoxuan's feet and cried. He was the governor of Shuntian, the person in charge of the north of the capital second only to Wang Yongji. He was indeed directly responsible for letting Li Zicheng enter the pass from the north road.
"Get up. Zhen doesn't know people well and mistakenly used a group of rebels. What has it got to do with you?”
Li Daoxuan helped him up.
Song Quan looked at him in surprise. He clearly felt that the Emperor was a little different. He was not like these Zhizhou soldiers who rarely saw the Emperor in their lifetime. He knew that with Chongzhen's personality, it was not easy for him to say such words. Could it be that he had been too agitated in Beijing?
Wang Chengen gave him a look.
"Your Majesty, where do you plan to go?"
Song Quan hurriedly asked.
"You came at the right time. Eat first. After eating, follow me to Shanhaiguan Pass immediately. I reckon that the Guanning Army has already arrived. We will guard Shanhaiguan Pass first. I have already sent messengers to the south. It won't be long before the King's army arrives.”
Li Daoxuan said.
"Your Majesty."
Song Quan hurriedly said.
Li Daoxuan and the others had eaten at the provincial government office. Together with the 300 cavalrymen brought by Song Quan, the 150 cavalrymen gathered from Jizhou, the remaining 30 Jinyiwei, and the other 20 who had just died in battle, there were less than 500 cavalrymen in total. In addition to the Shuntian governor and General Chen, they left Jizhou and headed northeast to Zunhua. They knew very well that after the pursuing Shun army ran back, Li Zicheng's army would arrive very quickly. In fact, Song Quan had only found out that the Emperor had escaped when he ran into the retreating Shun army. However, he had originally wanted to go to Zunhua.
Their cavalry was fast, and they reached Zunhua by nightfall.
At this time, Wang Yongji had already gone to Fengrun. Song Quan, who was also a cunning old fox, knew very well that no one could be trusted at this time, including his immediate superior and old friend. Therefore, he also supported Li Daoxuan to go to Shanhaiguan to seize the army. After staying in Zunhua for a night, the next day, they, together with the former Xuanhua General Tang Yu, a deputy general, and three hundred cavalrymen, gathered some temporary ceremonial guards of the emperor according to Song Quan's instructions and headed straight for Shanhaiguan. He also washed Li Daoxuan's dragon robe. Song Quan had wanted to sew it up for him, but even though it was too late to make a new one, the dragon robe looked terrible apart from holes and holes.
However, Li Daoxuan rejected him.
"I want them to see that if I can bathe in blood on the battlefield, can't they?”
Li Daoxuan said.
At this moment, he was already sitting in a carriage with Huang Ying kneeling beside him. Song Quan was riding a horse outside, and there were a large number of cavalry guards in front, back, left, and right. It could be said that he was taking advantage of the situation. In fact, soldiers at this time were still very simple and honest. At least before the enemy arrived, they could still show enough loyalty to the Emperor, including those officials and generals. Especially since this was considered a meritorious service for protecting the Emperor. The soldiers who had been influenced by all kinds of legendary dramas were filled with passion!
"Your Majesty is wise."
Song Quan hurriedly said.
Of course, he wasn't one of those soldiers. He was a cunning old fox, and he knew very well that this trip wasn't that simple. What dignity did a subjugated monarch have? If Gao Di was really loyal to Shanhaiguan, it was still fine. If not, it was entirely possible for him to kidnap them and surrender to Li Zicheng. At that time, he didn't think that these 800 cavalrymen would fight for the sake of protecting the Emperor. The Emperor's behavior could be considered as a sign of affection.
"Your Majesty, this subject has a plan that I would like to make clear, but I need Your Majesty to pardon this subject's innocence.”
he said carefully.
"Borrow troops to suppress the bandits?"
Li Daoxuan said with a faint smile.
"Uh, Your Majesty is wise. Currently, Liu Zeqing is the closest army to the capital, and he is thousands of miles away from Shanhaiguan. The rebel army is less than 400 miles away from Shanhaiguan. In addition to the time it takes for the news to spread, even if Wu Sangui and the others are loyal, they will still need to defend Shanhaiguan for at least a month. Moreover, Liu Zeqing's troops will find it difficult to defeat the rebel army. I don't think there will be any hope of reinforcements within half a year. It's hard to say whether the Wu and Gao armies can defend Shanhaiguan for half a year. Moreover, there are still more than 100,000 people in the Wu troops who have moved inland. Hundreds of thousands of people are squeezed in Shanhaiguan.
From this, it seemed that Shanhai Pass was not safe.
The best plan for today is to imitate the story of Emperor Suzong of Tang Dynasty and borrow troops to suppress the bandits. Borrowing the Qing soldiers to go south and promising to make them enemies with the bandits, regardless of success or failure, they can delay until the army of King Qin gathers.”
Song Quan said.
"What if Slave Jian stays?"
Li Daoxuan said.
"Your Majesty, we can't care about these things now. Moreover, if he doesn't leave, we will gather our army and expel him. As long as he is not allowed to enter through Shanhaiguan, he will go through Zunhua and Jizhou. Our army will guard Shanhaiguan. Even if Slave Jian has disloyalty, he will at most plunder.”
Song Quan said.
"What if Slave Jian is in cahoots with Chuang Ni?”
Li Daoxuan said.
"Your Majesty, if they are in cahoots with Chuang Ni, they will still go south even if they don't borrow troops. However, I believe that they won't be like this. Chuang Ni has already occupied Guanzhong and Shanxi. If he obtains Zhili, he will have half of the world. At that time, Chuang Ni will not stop here. His next target might be Liaodong. If Slave Jian helps Chuang Ni, not only will he be helping others, but he will also be building a strong enemy for himself. On the contrary, if we control Shanhaiguan, Chuang Ni will not be able to go north. In this way, our survival is beneficial to Slave Jian.”
Song Quan said.
He was too embarrassed to say that he might as well give up now that things were like this. Anyway, he might as well take a gamble.
It was clear that he was still very clear-headed. He knew that there was no hope for the loyal army. If the troops in Jiangbei were useful, they would not have let Li Zicheng fight all the way from Guanzhong to Beijing. In other words, holding Shanhaiguan and waiting for reinforcements would be waiting for death. Of course, running south would also be suicide. At this time, the Tianjin area would probably have fallen into Li Zicheng's hands. In other words, it was a dead end. The only way to survive was to use the Qing army to suppress the bandits. As for what to do after the Qing army was done...
Then let's talk about it in the future!
His theory coincided with Wang Yongji's, so it could be seen that this was the inner voice of those civil officials who still had some integrity.
From Chongzhen's standpoint, this was the only choice at the moment. Theoretically, it was also feasible. Although Dorgon's army had already set off and was ready to attack Beijing with Li Zicheng, that was under the circumstance that Li Zicheng had not taken Beijing. If Li Zicheng had taken Beijing, it meant that he had become the new master of the Central Plains. In this way, he would become the biggest threat to the Qing army. Moreover, he would not allow the Qing army to enter the pass, even if it was under the banner of helping him.
In this way, Canming became Qing's ally.
However, Li Daoxuan was not Chongzhen. He had no irreconcilable hatred with Li Zicheng. The world could be given to Li Zicheng or Zhang Xianzhong, but it could never be given to the Tartars.
"This matter needs to be discussed at length."
he said with a deep expression.
"Your Majesty is wise."
Song Quan heaved a sigh of relief.
He knew that this meant that the Emperor was tempted. After all, there was no other choice now. It was completely unrealistic to expect reinforcements without borrowing troops to suppress the bandits. It was simply a matter of waiting for death. It was just a matter of dying sooner or later.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。