Chapter 41 5.critical day

The Shanhaiguan Pass is now covered in clouds of war. Shanhaiguan, also known as Yuguan, is backed by mountains and facing the sea. It is about 700 miles away from Beijing and only 800 miles away from Shengjing. It is the throat of Liaodong. In the Yuan Dynasty, it belonged to Pingluan Road. The territory was called Qianmin Town at that time, and the Guancheng was built in the 14th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty. At that time, Xu Da, the Duke of Wei, defeated the Mongolian Pingzhang Wanzhebuhua here, and captured him alive. To protect the border, Xu Da sent more than 15,000 troops. Thirty-two passes, such as Yongping and Jieling, were built against the mountains and the sea, and Shanhaiguan finally became a military center.

Over the years, the Shanhaiguan Pass has been constantly reinforced by military use. At present, the city is about five feet high and two feet thick. It is divided into four gates: Zhendong, Yingen, Wangyang, and Weiyuan. At the end, there was a small guard city named Dongluo City. Last year, Xiluo City was built on the west side to prevent the Qing soldiers from attacking from within.But almost like all the fortresses, it only has the function of defending the front. If you attack from inside the pass, even though there are east and west Luocheng guards, the defense is still very weak. Fortunately, there is a small river named Shihe in front of the pass. Although the water is not deep, But it can play a role in delaying the action of the army.

After Wu Sangui beheaded the envoy to sacrifice the flag, he called for reinforcements from the Qing Dynasty, and at the same time strengthened his defenses, encouraged the soldiers, and prepared to fight to the death with the bandits. On the avenue to the west, there finally appeared the Rangers of the Dashun Army. The first to arrive were the left and right pioneers Li Jin and Liu Fangliang. They led 40,000 horses and set up camp in the Hongwadian area to the west.This place is located on the west bank of the Shihe River, facing Shanhaiguan across the river. There are very few villages, and the people have already fled, and Wu Sangui sent troops to fill the wells, demolish the houses, and even dig the earthen stove. Therefore, Li Jin’s After the army arrived, they couldn't find any water source for a while, and they couldn't know anything about Shanhaiguan. They could only camp in the open air, search for water far away, and bury pots in the wilderness to make food.

As soon as the camp was set up, before the army settled down, there was the rumbling sound of the red cannons when they were closed. Li Jin climbed to Gaofu to wait and see, and saw the flashes of the closed fire, and the continuous echoes from the Yanshan Mountain winding eastward. Come, for a while, the sound of mountains and valleys is very lively.He knew that the enemy's purpose was only to harass, and Wu Sangui would never dare to send troops without knowing the truth. So, he told the soldiers to rest and eat at ease, but wait until tomorrow to make a decision. But Wu Sangui didn't seem to let them rest on purpose, the intermittent cannon fire kept going all night, making all the soldiers of the Dashun Army stay up all night.

But after waiting for a whole day, there was still no news from the rear troops. It was not until the third day after the forward arrived that the main force of the Chinese army and the imperial battalion arrived. According to Li Zicheng's arrangement the day before, the soldiers and horses of the rear battalions left Chaoyangmen in the early morning of April 12, headed straight to Tongzhou, and then went to Fengrun from Tongzhou, and then went straight to Bo Yongping Mansion after crossing Qian'an. Li Zicheng had decided to set up the camp In Yongping Mansion, there used to be the yamen of the governor of Jiliao in the Ming Dynasty. Now the governor Wang Yongji has fled to Shanhaiguan. The small Yongping City is empty and there is no one there. It became the residence of Emperor Dashun.

Before leaving, Li Zicheng decreed to behead eight people, including Li Guozhen, a former Ming Xun Qi, Wei Zaode, a university scholar, and then set off. He didn't want the main force to arrive in Tongzhou. Yuan Zongdi of the former army suddenly sent six well-dressed men People said that they claimed to be officials from Shanhaiguan, and they came to ask for surrender.Li Zicheng couldn't help being puzzled when he heard this, so he ordered the troops to stop advancing and brought them to his horse. This group, led by Liu Yingdong, a former Ming Juren, knelt down in front of Li Zicheng's horse and shouted long live.Li Zicheng thought to himself, saying that Wu Sangui didn't know about the news of Yujia's personal conquest, but he has already killed my envoy and made a funeral for Chongzhen, so what is he asking for surrender now?Thinking of this, he immediately asked:

"You guys are so bold, how dare you take the tactic of slowing down the army at this time, do you know that my precious sword is extremely sharp?" When Liu Yingdong and the others heard this, they immediately knelt down like pounding garlic. They didn't even dare to say anything, and Liu Yingdong calmly played: "My Majesty, Xiaomin and others lived in Shanhaiguan. , will burn, kill, prostitute and plunder, do all kinds of evil, now Chongzhen is dead, Wu Sangui put the majestic Dashun Dynasty and will not surrender, but conspired to sacrifice the customs and surrender to the Manchus. It is common practice to shave your hair and change your clothes. Isn’t that a serious crime of bullying and destroying your ancestors? We don’t want to suffer such shame and humiliation, and we don’t want to be a barbarian, so we discussed with you and secretly contacted many people. Prepare, kill him, and submit to my emperor."

What Li Zicheng was eager to know at this moment was whether Wu Sangui had surrendered to the Tartars or not. Hearing from this person's tone, he only had this plan and hadn't put it into practice. How can it be clear? While hesitating, Song Xiance on the side said: "Your Majesty, I see that they are eloquent and sharp-tongued, they don't seem to be idle people, and they appear at this time, not too early or too late, I'm afraid it's Wu Sangui who sent us to slow down our army's actions." Yes, it's better to kill Wendu." Li Zicheng pondered for a while, then said: "Aren't there only six Confucian scholars? I'm afraid he will do something, and it won't be too late to kill him after he finds out his flaws."

Therefore, an edict was passed down, the team stopped advancing, and then the six people were taken to a private house on the side of the road for detailed interrogation. According to Liu Yingdong, his family has been a scholar for generations, and he himself is a juren, so he is very prestigious in the local area. Several staff members around Wu Sangui are his students. This group of people come to ask him for advice when they encounter problems. This time Wu Sangui wants to surrender. At first, he discussed with one of his students. This student advised Wu Sangui not to surrender, but Wu Sangui refused, so the student contacted Wu Sangui's general Guo Yunlong and guerrilla Yang Kun, and the three formed an alliance with blood. Anyway, he wanted to kill Wu, but Wu Sangui was well guarded and he couldn't succeed for a while, so he sent Xiaomin to report to Emperor Dashun that as long as the army postponed the march, Wu Sangui would relax, and they could attack at that time.

When Song Xiance heard this, he couldn't help sneering: "Wu Sangui wants to surrender to the Tartars, so he must be careful to guard against the inside, for fear of leaking the news. Can the small Shanhaiguan pass be leak-proof? How did you slip out?" Liu Yingdong said: "These days, Wu Sangui is really on guard. Without his command arrow, no one is allowed to leave the customs. However, because he is perverse and unpopular, and Guo Yunlong and Yang Kun are people he trusts, he will close the gate. People are in control, so Xiaomin has to take the time to leave the city."

Song Xiance said sharply again: "Since there are internal changes and the soldiers are pressing down on the border, it happens to form a solidarity, why do you want our army to advance slowly?" Liu Yingdong still said calmly: "I don't know the military commander. Although Wu Sangui is unpopular, he still has many followers. In addition, he usually raises a lot of dead soldiers. It is difficult for others to get close. The closer the army is, the stricter his precautions will be, and he may escape. Going outside the pass to seek refuge with the Manchus, only by giving them time and relying on their slack can we make a move." Song Xiance cross-examined several questions again, but Liu Yingdong came prepared, he said the left was right, and the right said the right was right.Seeing this situation, Li Zicheng waved him back. Looking at Liu Yingdong's back, Li Zicheng seemed to be talking to himself: "We can't recruit Wu Sangui, if we can win over their internal strife, it would be good to recruit some soldiers, but this group of people is really suspicious. I am here to serve as an army, and they will respond." And coming out, it's like drilling out of the ground, what a coincidence." Song Xiance said: "The most unbelievable thing is Wu Sangui, who they say, who just wants to collude with the Manchus and hasn't acted yet. How is this possible? Killing envoys and writing unfeeling letters will obviously lead to crusade. Will the Manchurians take the bait and get their promises?" This statement made Emperor Dashun worry again, but Liu Zongmin disagreed with this judgment. He said: "It is really unpopular to betray one's ancestors and surrender to the barbarians. Just say that Wu Sangui hates us, and his The left and right and the generals may not be in agreement, can he convince everyone in a short period of time?" Gao Yigong also said: "There is some truth in what Liu Yingdong said, because once you surrender to the barbarians, you will have to change your clothes and shave your hair. Big Han Zimin, who wants to be human or ghost? I think this is also true. letter." Yuan Zongdi said: "Didn't Zihou lead the team ahead? At present, they should have crossed Sanhe. If you want to postpone the march, you should also inform them." Li Zicheng thought for a while and said: "Don't tell the front, the effort should be put on these six people. I don't believe that they can all keep their mouths shut and have no flaws. How about you question the six people separately and see what they say?" Whether it is consistent or not will be decided at that time.” Everyone heard that this was a good idea, so Song Xiance, Liu Zongmin and others interrogated the six people separately, and the brigade naturally stopped.I didn't want them to ask around, but they didn't find any clues - all six of them said the same thing, one day passed like this, Li Zicheng had no choice but to make a decision to camp here. That night, Li Zicheng tossed and turned, unable to sleep on his pillow.As of today, it has been almost a month since I entered Beijing. These days, everyone is only busy making money and playing with women. The team is neglected and morale is low.He originally wanted to use the imperial conquest to revive his morale, but according to what he saw along the way today, this hope is very slim—it has been a long time since he marched with a large group of soldiers. As Li Yan said, the troops were scattered and depressed. In addition to the luggage that everyone should bring, the cavalry almost had a few saddlebags; the infantry also carried them on their backs and shoulders.He understood that apart from the rewards he gave—at least ten taels of silver and ten feet of fine cloth for each person—there must also be looting. These people have no fixed homes, and the silver and valuables can only go with others. Even his Royal Guards were the same.That's all, what's even more intolerable is that there are women in the army. This time, the Dashun army entered the city and turned the world upside down. Many officials' homes were robbed, and many of them were women and maidservants who fell into the hands of the Dashun army. Some lovers they met from the brothel, because they couldn't bear to be separated for a while, they also followed. Now, these women have become the retinue of the army. They either share the same horse with the man, or are pulled by the man, mixed with the infantry, staggering Staggering, weeping forward. He originally wanted to decree that all women should be expelled, but firstly, there were a large number of them, and the law would not punish everyone; secondly, he was afraid that this would make the morale of the army even more unstable-these soldiers who rarely had women, there were already many People are clamoring to go back to their hometown. After fighting for so many years, homesickness is inevitable. I can choose at will from the three thousand powder and eight hundred rouge left by Chongzhen, so how can I criticize them? Seeing this situation, he couldn't help but think of the Ming army that he had repeatedly defeated.This kind of phenomenon has never happened in the Dashun army, but it is not uncommon in the Ming army. Because of this, millions of Ming troops were defeated by him. This phenomenon is like a ghost, possessing the soldiers of the Dashun Army. For this reason, he has an ominous premonition, and based on the experience of these years, he also understands that such an army is not good at fighting. I was in a trance all night, restless in sitting and lying, and fell asleep dimly at dawn, but at this time, someone outside the tent suddenly yelled: "Run, run, catch them, come and catch them!" He turned over involuntarily, walked out of the tent slowly, and asked loudly, "Who are you arresting?" A soldier came to report to him, "Report to the emperor, it is the man who came from Shanhaiguan." As soon as he heard it, he immediately remembered the gentlemen from Shanhaiguan—in fact, these people were sent by Wu Sangui to delay the troops.Here, the emperor of Dashun personally marched, and Wu Sangui also got the news that Dorgon led the army westward. In order to get the Qing soldiers to arrive at the same time when the Dashun army arrived at Shanhaiguan, he sent Liu Yingdong and his group. Welcome, just wait for Li Zicheng's army to arrive, and then come out to offer advice, even if he can delay his teaching period for a day, he can still win the initiative for himself for a day, but Li Zicheng still has some hope of recruiting surrender in his heart, so he fell into the trick. But Liu Yingdong also knew that tricks could not be played for a long time. After the Dashun Army settled down, they thought about ways to get out. At night, they slept in the big tent of the Chinese Army. Special monitoring.Liu Yingdong then called the other five people and slipped out of the tent one by one, only to see the campfires everywhere, the sound of drums and horns, and the camp was very peaceful. So they bypassed Li Zicheng's big tent, trying to find a path to escape from the barracks.I didn't want Song Xiance to be more concerned, and secretly sent someone to monitor them.Liu Yingdong and others had only walked a few zhang away when they suddenly heard shouts. In the darkness, there were countless ambush soldiers. Liu Yingdong yelled to run, but the ambush soldiers blocked their way. Among the six people who went with them, only Liu Yingdong walked in front. , he ran out indiscriminately, and the other five people were all killed. The vigorous personal conquest of the royal family was caught by others' plan to slow down the army the day before, and Li Zicheng couldn't help being furious, so he had to pull out the camp and move on the next day. He walked for eight days, and what's more, he was delayed by those six spies for a day. You must know that the delayed day, in the eyes of later historians, is the most critical day to determine the fate of the Dashun Dynasty.