Chapter 2 Chapter 1 Going to Beijing to Catch the Exam

1644 AD, the year of Jiashen in the lunar calendar. On the morning of March 19 this year, the city of Beijing, after a night of fighting, was exceptionally quiet and refreshing. The common people in the city walked out of their homes in groups, and with a heart full of trepidation, they welcomed a division of kings and divisions of benevolence and righteousness from the Northwest—the Dashun Army into the city. With the rising sun, the Dashun Army officially entered the city. Amidst the sound of majestic gongs and drums, the experienced Dashun Army marched neatly across the Desheng Gate, the Temple of Heaven and the Temple of Earth, marching toward the The holy place in my heart - Zijin City marched forward.

Surrounded by a burly man from northern Shaanxi wearing a white felt hat, a red coir raincoat, and riding a black barge horse, he was frequently welcoming the enthusiastic citizens and waving their hands. He is the outstanding leader of the "rebel faction" in the late Ming Dynasty, the first gravedigger of the Ming Dynasty - His Excellency Li Zicheng.Today, he did not appear on the streets of Beijing as a "rogue".According to the traditional Chinese election rule of "the winner and the loser", he already has a glorious and arduous title-the real dragon emperor.

Facing the mountains and seas of "voters" and the supreme glory, Li Zicheng immediately felt deeply moved. Recalling the past, the years are thick: In 1606, he was born, family composition - generations of poor peasants. In 1612, he was lucky enough to go to school and became a "five good students" with comprehensive development of morality, intelligence, physique, art and labor. In 1613, due to his excellent grades and poor family, he graduated ahead of schedule and became a half-educated youth in the village. In 1626, at the age of 20, he took over his father's horsewhip and became an in-service employee of a small government guest house (Yinchuanyi). Although he was only a small full-time driver (groom), he finally managed to solve the employment problem , and had the honor to be a member of the Ming government system.

In 1628, during the institutional reform of the downsizing and annexation of post stations by the Ming government, he was honorably and helplessly "laid off". In the social torrent of "employment". In 1629, his re-employment plan was frustrated, and he was paraded under the shackles of the former government for borrowing usury.In the face of a life that is worse than death, the fire of revolution burns fiercely in his heart. In 1630, he was employed for the second time. It was not the government that solved the employment problem, but the anti-government armed forces composed of tens of thousands of unemployed troops.

In 1635, the anti-government armed forces he employed snowballed and did a major event-throwing the ancestral grave of the current emperor in Fengyang. In 1637, he was chosen by the rebels as "Chuang Wang", but this did not bring good luck.In the second year, the revolutionary situation was not good. He was beaten by his old opponent Sun Chuanting until only 18 brothers remained. In 1640, after being re-educated, he finished his advanced studies in a social university. After his comeback, he put forward the campaign slogan of "no killing, no payment of food, and no taxation". A "revolutionary army" of 200,000 people and millions of voters.

In 1641, with great ambition, he led his troops to conquer a large city - Luoyang.There, he tasted the "Fu Lu Banquet" cooked by Fu Wang and deer with the revolutionary army, and then called himself "Feng Tian Advocating Justice Marshal of Civil and Military Affairs". In 1643, he finally established a mansion in Xiangyang, called "Xin Shun Wang". In the same year, he wiped out the main force of the Ming army, occupied the whole of Shaanxi, and the anti-government forces began to transform into government forces. In 1644, he occupied Xi'an, the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, and registered himself as the "Dashun" Empire.On the eighth day of the first lunar month, a New Year's proclamation was issued, announcing to the world, "Your Ming Dynasty, the climate is over", and vowed to march eastward.

In less than three months, under the offensive of Dashun Army Lei Ting Wanyun, "countless famous cities are falling, and endless surrenders will roll in."Taiyuan, Datong, Xuanhua, and Baoding all returned to their hands, while Jiang Rang, Tang Tong, Bai Guangen and other Ming generals surrendered without a fight. Today, isn't the imperial capital of Ming Dynasty also warmly welcoming him, the "eighteen sons of this artifact", with warm arms? Victory must not be so quick and so violent! Is he at ease?No, the heights are extremely cold, and at this moment, he suddenly felt uneasy.

While riding through Chengtian Gate, he suddenly wanted to do a fortune telling while he was restless. The way of fortune-telling is very special. He raised the bow in his hand, and aimed the arrow at the four words "Chengtian Gate" on the forehead of Chengtian Gate in gold-plated characters.Then he said to Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance who were closely behind him: "If I can be the master of the world, I will hit the center of the four characters with one arrow." After finishing speaking, the arrow in his hand came out of the string. When everyone looked up, they messed up. The arrow did not hit the center of the four characters as expected, but shot under the word Tian.

Unhappy, he put away his bow, lowered his head, looking around in a daze... Niu Jinxing hurried up to explain the hexagram and said: "You hit the bottom of the word Tian. This is God's hint that we can at least divide the world." "Let's get a half score, it's better than no share." He also comforted himself in this way, but an ominous premonition filled his heart again. Li Zicheng finally stepped into the Zijin City that he yearned for.In front of the resplendent Jinluan Palace and the harem where beauties gather, he shows no interest at all. Instead, he rushes to do a big job—to search for "Jian Shang" Chongzhen and his three precious sons.

Li Zicheng understood that although he had entered Beijing, as long as one of the Emperor Chongzhen and Feng's precious son escaped from the capital, he raised his arms and shouted. , which brought him endless distress.Therefore, the four difficult fathers and sons must be found-one must not be missing. After tortured court ladies and eunuchs, no one knew where his Majesty the Emperor had gone. Chongzhen went missing, which was fine, so Li Zicheng gritted his teeth and ordered: "Those who offer the emperor will be rewarded with ten thousand gold, and they will be made earls, and those who hide from the Yi family will be rewarded."

But God will not let Li Zicheng wait for a long time, and the god of luck descends on Li Zicheng again. After two days of looking for him in the crowd, a young eunuch in the palace found the "imperial horse" of Emperor Chongzhen at the foot of Meishan Mountain. The Dashun sergeant tracked it down and finally found him hanging himself on a tree with a crooked neck on the mountain. The dead Chongzhen Emperor. On the messy hanging sleeves of the thirty-six-year-old emperor, the Dashun sergeant found two lines of Emperor Chongzhen's last words.Another line is: "all officials are going to the East Palace." Not far from where Emperor Chongzhen was hanged, there was also a chief eunuch who accompanied him to Huangquan——Wang Chengen. As the sun set, it reflected the distressed face of Emperor Chongzhen and the white-haired head of Wang Chengen; the cold wind blew past, telling the tragic past that happened that night. Under an autocratic system, when a dictator’s political life ends, his natural life will also end. In the 21st century, the fate of Saddam and Gaddafi still proves this winnowing again unbreakable truth. When Li Zicheng heard that Emperor Chongzhen died and reported his death, the feeling of "joy and hate" came to his heart. Li Zicheng did not come to Beijing this time to carry out the "beheading" operation. His best strategy was to capture Chongzhen alive, and then force him to "abide" the throne and take over the Ming government peacefully; Divide the world; the worst strategy is to get rid of Chongzhen and take Daming by force. The current result has just become the worst policy. Not only will he bear the notoriety of forcing "Jin Shang" to death, but he will also have to eat the remaining half of Daming's land, tooth by tooth. For Chongzhen, a former leader of the country who "loves his job and works hard", "hardworking and frugal", and "loyal to his duty", Li Zicheng can't talk about respect, let alone love. For many years, he believes that his suffering life has caused millions of people His hunger and thirst are all thanks to him! Therefore, his more plots are hatred and hatred. But as he approached the core of this "first family" step by step, this hatred was weakening and disappearing step by step! The first member of the "First Family" that Li Zicheng met was Princess Le'an, the daughter of Emperor Chongzhen. At that time, Princess Le'an was neither happy nor disturbed, but her right arm was cut off by the extremely crazy Emperor Chongzhen, and she passed out on the ground, her life was dying. Li Zicheng sighed: "The emperor is too cruel."He was ordered to be healed. After the waiter's injury stabilized, Li Zicheng ordered someone to send her to her grandfather Zhou Kui's house to recuperate, which was considered to have found a suitable home for the princess temporarily. Then, the three precious sons of Emperor Chongzhen were also "arrested" smoothly. Of these three children, the eldest, Zhu Cihong, had already been established as the crown prince, but at this time the three "golden branches and jade leaves" were all wearing tattered clothes and hats, like most Beijing citizens, with the word "obedient people" pasted on them. After seeing the three handsome children of Emperor Chongzhen, Li Zicheng's sympathy was tapped out again. Although the three children stood stubbornly and did not kneel at this time, he was not angry, but comforted him with a pleasant face: "You are just like my son today, without losing your wealth and honor", and immediately called someone to put on new clothes and hats for them , and each named "King". Then Li Zicheng asked the prince in a chatty tone: "Do you know about your father?" Prince: "I know, father died in Shouning Palace". Li Zicheng: "Why do you always lose your home and lose the world?" Prince: "Father and emperor misused mediocre ministers". Li Zicheng was noncommittal, but also replied with a smile: "You also understand this truth." The prince suddenly turned to say angrily: "The civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty are ruthless and will come to you to congratulate you and beg for an official soon." Li Zicheng nodded thoughtfully. Born as a "grassroots" and "post soldier", he naturally understood the corruption and shamelessness of Ming officials better and more comprehensively than the prince. After letting the prince back down, Li Zicheng suddenly felt an unprecedented sense of relief: "What should be done should be done naturally. The past belongs to the god of death, and the future belongs to me."He held the universe in his palm, sang "The Story of Spring", and opened up a new era for himself. After dealing with the issues of the former leader and the potential leader, Li Zicheng felt as if a stone had fallen from his heavy heart, and he started his day's work refreshed. Today, this is the first meeting of the Dashun Dynasty to "open for business" after it entered Beijing. Amidst the saliva of all the lovers, the Dashun State Council has confirmed four important events: 1. Reorganize the troops of the Ming Dynasty, rectify the discipline of the troops stationed in Beijing, and create a glorious image of a "mighty and civilized division". 2. Carry forward the fighting spirit of "It is advisable to chase the poor with the remaining bravery, not to be famous for being a king", and send a large number of main troops southward, striving to "fight across the Yangtze River and save the whole of China". 3. Fight for Wu Sangui, the commander-in-chief of Shanhaiguan, so that he can change his flag, support the central government, and solve the worries of the Dashun Dynasty. 4. Set up a preparatory group for ascension to the throne. Although Li Zicheng had been enthroned once in Xi'an at the beginning of the year, it was a "local food stamp" after all. ticket". As soon as the decree was issued, the vigorous Dashun cadres at all levels immediately "patted the dust off their bodies to cheer up their tired spirits" and threw themselves into the raging wave of revolution. The commander-in-chief of the Dashun Army took the lead in setting an example, and posted notices all over the capital. The notice clearly stated: "The army is approaching the city, and there will be no crime in autumn. Anyone who dares to plunder the people's property will be executed immediately." After the notice was promulgated, two unbelieving soldiers robbed a silk forging shop. Liu Zongmin was merciless to these two guys who dared to kill them, and ordered them to be hanged on Qipan Street. This method of killing chickens to scare monkeys has immediate results. All social classes in the capital who had been on the sidelines and feared the Dashun Army were greatly relieved. So workers went to work, merchants opened businesses, farmers went to the fields, and citizens went shopping. The discipline rectification of the Dashun Army achieved initial results. Beijing has regained its former tranquility and harmony. The work in the south also went smoothly. Yuan Zongdi, Mianhou of the Dashun Dynasty, led a field ace army of 70,000 people to march south, and first defeated the main force of the southern Ming army in the Huguang area-Zuo Liangyu's tribe with 500,000 troops. Kefu Chengtian and De'an, then went north to Henan to quell the rebellion of Liu Hong, the leader of the big landlord's armed forces.Other troops also poured down the ground like mercury, attacking and plundering everywhere. Looking around the world, the Dashun government has successfully taken over Shaanxi, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shanxi, Henan, Hebei, Shandong and parts of Hubei, Jiangsu, and Anhui. The revolutionary situation is not a small one, but a great one.Except for one point in Shanhaiguan, the Yellow River Basin is already full of red mountains and rivers. To fight for Wu Sangui's job, Tang Tong, the former commander of Juyongguan of the Ming Dynasty, took the edict of Emperor Dashun to comfort 40,000 taels of silver and his father Wu Xiang's letter of persuasion and set off for Shanhaiguan. Clear the situation, and will not do stupid things like hitting an egg against a rock. As for the preparatory activities for enthronement, Comrade Niu Jinxing, the future prime minister of Dashun Dynasty, was citing scriptures there, and he was extremely busy!However, this matter is not urgent, take your time, now, he has a very urgent matter to deal with. This urgent matter is very simple to say, but very troublesome to do, it is - short of money. Big surplus money?Li Zicheng can tell you clearly: the Dashun government does not collect taxes. If you say that a government that does not collect taxes, can it not be short of money? No tax!This is a revolutionary truth that Li Zicheng realized when he accepted the "re-education of the poor and lower-middle peasants" in Shangluo Mountain. Yes, the high tax policy of the Ming government has driven 90% of the population of the Ming Dynasty to a dead end. Obtaining their heartfelt support through tax exemption is the foundation of Dashun's development and the source of victory. Today's glory is the fruitful result of this revolutionary theory and practice. Then there is no tax, and there are so many people in Dashun Dynasty, what do they eat and use? Don't worry, there is no limit to the road, the way of the Dashun Dynasty is to "pursue stolen goods and pay" from the big and small officials and rich men of the Ming Dynasty, so that these exploiting class evil spirits eat as much as they used to eat, and then spit out as much as they want.Therefore, the Dashun government was honorably honored by the landlord class as the "rogue government". Now, entering the capital, the "first benevolent area", Li Zicheng decided to "reform with the people", no longer "chasing stolen goods and subsidizing wages" with the rich and small in the capital, and changed the "thief government" into a "government of the whole people" in order to achieve the long-term stability of the country. He has considerable confidence that he can solve the problem. This source of self-confidence is widely publicized by "Lubian Society": According to authoritative sources, there is a large amount of real money in the imperial palace and treasury in the capital. Li Zicheng is now like "Alibaba" chanting a spell, waiting for these two treasure houses to open the door of wealth to him. When the flowers he was waiting for were about to bloom, Dashun Statistics Department asked him the numbers that broke his heart: the palace had 170,000 gold, 130,000 silver, and 200,000 silver in the treasury. Li Zicheng looked up to the sky and sighed: "Oh, the country is so poor, it will not perish!" Disappointed and depressed, Li Zicheng quickly held an imperial meeting to discuss how to deal with the current severe economic situation. In his speech, he said sadly: "At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was reasonable to reward soldiers and strictly enforce military discipline. Now gold and silver are scarce, what should we do?" Money is not everything, but nothing is impossible without money.Everyone understands the truth, but everyone has no solution. After so many years, everyone has no way to make money except for fighting for money.It is unheard of for them to promote production and breeding, increase income and reduce expenditure. Silence, Dashun executives chose unprecedented collective silence. Either die in silence, or explode in silence! The "second in command" of the Dashun Dynasty, Liu Zongmin, finally broke the silence and expressed his opinion. 1. It is impossible to collect agricultural taxes from the common people, which violates the government policy of no taxation for three years. 2. It is also unrealistic to collect other taxes. Taxation is a social system project. The grassroots regime of the Dashun Dynasty has not yet been established, and there is no organization and personnel to collect taxes. 3. Therefore, we can only implement the old method - "recovering stolen goods and subsidizing payment".Pursue the stolen goods from the corrupt officials of the Ming Dynasty, large and small, in the capital, and rely on the proceeds from the recovery to maintain the three-year operation of the tax-free government of the dynasty. Niu Jinxing immediately followed suit. In order to ensure that the action of recovering stolen goods is open, just, and fair, the amount of stolen goods will be determined according to the size of the officials' positions in the Ming Dynasty, and it is stipulated that: those who are active in donating stolen goods will be given priority to be hired as national civil servants in this dynasty; be repaired by violent means. Li Zicheng, who had nothing to do at the moment, had no choice but to say: "According to what Qing said!" Liu Zongmin and Niu Jinxing acted as soon as they got the order. In order to ensure the confidentiality and thoroughness of this operation, they jointly played a small trick. Niu Jinxing first issued a decree in the name of the prime minister of this dynasty: "All officials of the Ming Dynasty will meet in court the next day. After the meeting, those who are willing to go will listen to them; those who dare to violate the order will be executed!" The interpretation of the decree by various Ming officials is: Dashun Dynasty opened its business and wanted to recruit civil servants. For the laid-off officials who lived at home, it was like giving a pillow from sleepiness, so they signed up one after another. The next day, Li Zicheng and other upstarts from Dashun sat in the court hall, and all the officials came in one by one. Niu Jinxing held the roster in his hand and called them one by one. mood.When Jin saw Ming officials obeying orders obediently, no one dared to say a word.Li Zicheng sneered: "This generation's injustice is so unjust, and the world will not be chaotic." The little sympathy he had for Ming officials disappeared, only contempt and disgust remained. After the roll call, all the Ming officials were escorted by two cavalrymen from Dashun, and all of them were driven to Sipailou Street outside Xihuamen.All the officials couldn't help but lose their souls, and some timid officials burst into tears. However, it was not as miserable as imagined. The place they came to was a new work organization established by the Dashun Dynasty, called "Bi Xing Town Fusi", the director Liu Zongmin, and the deputy director Li Guo. In the "Zhenfu Division", Sergeant Dashun calmed down the emotions of all Ming officials, and kindly asked everyone to cooperate in doing three things. 1. Changing clothes, but the prison clothes that people all over the world don't like to wear. 2. Eating zongzi, but this zongzi is not that zongzi, and all the officials were tied up tightly, and all of them became "zongzi". 3. Enter the stables and experience in advance what it would be like for "rightists" to enter the cowsheds more than three hundred years later. After a day of "dancing with the horses" without eating or drinking in the stables, the officials finally got the highest instruction: "If you donate silver with your official position, you will get tens of thousands of dollars if you donate one rank, and thousands of dollars if you donate it below. Let them go immediately; those who don't donate money will be tortured and served." Before all the Ming officials reflected, someone offered money. However, it is not an official, but a big Tailan——Cao Huachun, who has been with the leader, has a strong ability to observe the situation. Before the leader let go, he made a move, donated 50,000 yuan, and was immediately appointed by Li Zicheng For the new general manager. The role of role models is inexhaustible. When Grand Duke Cao revealed his head, other officials in custody "generously donated" and "donated" silver in varying amounts according to their official ranks, just to escape from the "Da Shun Dynasty" quickly. living hell". The one who "donated" the most silver was the old patriarch Zhou Kui, who "donated" 500,000 taels of silver at once. You must know that when his son-in-law Chongzhen mobilized him to donate three months ago, he only donated 10,000 taels. According to everyone's "scrambling to be the first" to donate money, General Liu, who should be called "Liu Si" now. But then things came to a "turning point". After Chen Yan, a scholar of Ming University and former chief assistant, "donated" 40,000 taels of silver according to the standard, General Liu liked his "generosity" and was about to release it home. His family servant reported to his class brothers that there was a lot of silver hidden in the home of Dashi Chen, and the 40,000 taels he donated was just "the tip of the iceberg."Director Liu asked someone to dig it up, and it turned out that silver was everywhere. Director Liu was outraged. He only knew that "if you don't come to Beijing, you don't know that you are an official", but he didn't know that "you don't know that you are small if you don't come to Beijing".I was fooled by Ming officials and the gang of Wang Badan. "The world is as black as crows", a Chen Yan can have such a huge amount of property, so how can other Ming officials be so good? Director Liu is determined to expand the "class struggle", and the amount of donations from various officials has doubled. Those officials with "excellent corruption records" have become the focus of the general's attention. The first person to be taken care of by the general turned out to be a military person who was engaged in the same profession as the general——Li Guozhen, the uncle of Xiangcheng who led the soldiers of the three major battalions of the Beijing camp to revolt and surrender.His surrender enabled the Dashun Army to successfully enter the land of Beijing. However, Dashun did not give preferential treatment to traitors and had a united front policy. When Li Zicheng saw Li Guozhen, he scolded: "You are entrusted by the emperor, and the emperor treats you with great kindness. You are supposed to die for the country, and you have the cheek to surrender. It is extremely shameless." .” "What is good at the top, the bottom must be worse", on the contrary, "what is evil at the top, the bottom will be worse."Congratulations to Li Guozhen, congratulations to Li Guozhen, Director Liu, who understands the "evil in today's world", immediately uses Li Guozhen as the number one male "dictatorship forced donation". First it was torture, then it was burnt with a small fire, and the big board was smashed. After a night of torture, this master Li finally "donated the silver and lost his life" and died of extreme pain. This is the beginning. Confiscated his home, confiscated his property, and distributed his wife and children as slaves. The last chief assistant of the Chongzhen Dynasty, Wei Zaode, a great character, never dreamed that he would become the "male number two" forced by General Liu to donate. His wishful thinking is: "With his high academic qualifications of the number one scholar and the career experience of the first assistant, he can still be a high-ranking official and ride a horse when he jumps to the newly opened Dashun Company", but he did not expect to be thrown into a dark room alone. In custody, Wei Shoufu, whose self-esteem was severely frustrated, protested loudly through the window: "If you use me, let me go; if you don't use me, let me go." The guard of the Dashun Dynasty said to this "innocent and lovely" Mr. Wei unhurriedly: "Everyone is equal before the law in this dynasty. According to your official position, you can release him after paying 100,000 yuan in silver." Mr. Wei knows that he has been harmed by Chen Yan, and he really suffers so much that he can't tell. Being a high-ranking official is a realization, but he is working hard to become a big and corrupt official. After ten thousand taels, it can no longer be handed over. The former Chen Shoufu embezzled countless money, and the current Wei Shoufu is able to keep his hands clean. No one would believe it. Director Liu played the role of a judge and brought Wei Shoufu to court for interrogation in person.First use pinching, and ask while pinching: "You are the chief assistant, how did you mess up the country?" Master Wei displayed his usual honorable style of submissiveness, and howled: "It's not my fault, everything is caused by Chongzhen." The current Judge Liu was furious: "You bastard, you were originally a poor Confucian. Chongzhen appointed you as the number one scholar, and in less than three years, he promoted you as the first assistant. Chongzhen has nothing to do with you. How dare you frame me? He really has no work ethics." Judge Liu, who couldn't get over it, went down in person and slapped Wei Shoufu ten times in the face. He was still angry and let his subordinates yank him with sticks, causing Shoufu's ten fingers to be broken.Under the pain, the brain short-circuited, and he shouted in a panic: "I have a daughter, and I would like to offer the general as my concubine." After appointing the boss and betraying his daughter, Wei Shoufu really lived to the end.Judge Liu continued to focus on him. After being tortured and served for six days and nights, Mr. Shoufu finally died of his brain cracking and became the most unlucky number one scholar in the history of Ming Dynasty. The person is dead, and the money has not been paid yet!Don't worry, the monk can't run away from the temple, Wei Shoufu's son Xiaowei was arrested to take the blame.Xiao Wei kowtowed and said, "My family really has no money. If my father is still alive, he can still borrow money from his disciples and old officials. Now that he is dead, where can he borrow money?" Hearing what he said, Judge Liu didn't bother to talk to him, so he raised his hand and chopped off Xiao Wei's head. The Dashun Dynasty's "pursuing stolen goods and subsidizing payment" activities continued to surge like fire and tea. On one side of the entire capital, the Dashun Dynasty's "red flag rolled up the serf's halberd, and the bare hand hung the king's whip", and on the other side, the officials of the Ming Dynasty were gouged out and cut their intestines. The house was ransacked and the family was wiped out.And following the miserable howls of the officials of the Ming Dynasty, the amount of silver "donations" received by Dashun rose steadily, approaching the mark of 70 million taels. Seventy million, this is the total of the five-year fiscal revenue of the Chongzhen Dynasty. The "three payments" that Chongzhen made the families of the Ming Dynasty ruined and the people complained boiled over. After a few years, they only collected 27 million taels. "Hiding gold and lying silver" ah!Daming really has a disparity between the rich and the poor! When he was rich, Li Zicheng could finally "spend it in style". He first rewarded the entire army, and all the more than 100,000 Dashun soldiers stationed in Beijing were rewarded according to their merits. Two or three hundred taels of silver, as for middle and senior generals, there are countless rewards. According to the revolutionary practice of "the one who wins the army wins the world" for many years, Li Zicheng is determined to make persistent efforts to solve the life problems of some Dashun soldiers, so that these brothers who have followed him for many years in bloody battles can have a "warm and sweet home" ". Li Zicheng first set his sights on the numerous court ladies in Zijin City. In his opinion, letting these young and beautiful "beautiful girls" stay in this deep palace compound is really a violation of human rights and against humanity, so he decided Be the "Old Man of the Moon" once, and betroth these maids to the soldiers who made special contributions to the establishment of the Dashun Dynasty. He first sent Liu Zongmin, Li Guo, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance and other heroes with various beautiful court ladies, and then compiled most of the remaining court ladies, regardless of age, into a roster and distributed them according to lottery. These are lively, and the entire Dashun military camp is full of joy and resentment.Those who were assigned young and beautiful court ladies were overjoyed, hugged them immediately, and galloped back and forth on the street, showing off to their comrades in arms; those who were assigned ugly or old court ladies had to hang their heads down, complaining about their bad luck, and could not share anything. Don't worry if you arrive, the Dashun government stipulates that unmarried women among Beijing citizens will be forcibly assigned to Dashun revolutionary soldiers as wives. It stands to reason that Li Zicheng also paid money and helped build his family. Dashun soldiers should become a "people's army" with strict military discipline and live and work in peace and contentment. . " The iron and steel regime presents a stable situation of peace between the top and bottom, and social harmony. However, on the contrary, the Dashun Dynasty entered an unprecedented "chaos". The chaos first started among the middle and senior cadres of the Dashun Dynasty. This group of "executives" who have endured hardships and rewards have always set the ultimate goal of overthrowing the decadent and declining Ming Dynasty. Now this lofty ideal has been realized, and they believe that "the revolution has been successful." , Comrades can enjoy it.” As a result, they have lived a happy and corrupt life of “drinking today”. Under the example of leading comrades, middle-level cadres and ordinary soldiers in Dashun followed suit.In the case of insufficient rewards, everyone used the name of "revolution" to extort officials, landlords and wealthy businessmen to "pursue stolen goods and subsidize payment". Later, ordinary Beijing citizens also became the targets of "revolution".What's more, some of the Dashun soldiers who were singled out in the "separation of wives" ran to the residents' homes and faced each other with swords, wanting to "borrow their wives, daughters and sisters as companions", and the "storm of revolution" was blowing away It fulfilled the ordinary people's good expectations for the Dashun Dynasty! In Beijing at that time, the original social administrators - Ming officials at all levels, became the targets of the "revolutionary dictatorship". Those who were lucky were laid off at home, and those who were unlucky were sitting in prison; and the current social managers— Dashun officials at all levels are at a loss and don't know what to do.The result is that Beijing quickly entered a "state of anarchy", and the people lived a life of fear of "today, but no tomorrow"! Not only in Beijing, but in the entire "liberated area" of Dashun, the administrative actions of the Dashun government are in the same line as Beijing - "There is a government, but no management; there is organization, but no discipline; there is destruction, but no construction."! The entire Dashun Dynasty spent more than a month of wonderful time in this "feast of revolutionary carnival", until one day, someone awakened everyone from their dreams. The person who awakened the dream of Dashun Dynasty is Wu Sangui, and his current position is the commander-in-chief of Shanhaiguan in the Ming Dynasty.The process of Wu Sangui waking up Da Shun Chao's dream is a long story. As early as the beginning of March, Wu Sangui suddenly received an imperial decree from Emperor Chongzhen: 1. Make Wu Sangui Ping Xibo; This sudden edict made Wu Sangui both happy and worried.The joy is that the long-cherished wish of ennobling Yaozu for many years has finally come true, and the worry is that he gave up Ningyuan and entered the pass to enter Beijing as the "king of Qin". Abandoning Ningyuan means that Wu Sangui and his subordinates will give up all the land in Ningyuan, and everyone will change from "proprietorship class" to "proletarian class". Entering Beijing to "King Qin" means that 50,000 Ningyuan iron cavalry will fight to the death with a million Dashun troops, and the risks involved are self-evident. But Daming Company has not yet gone bankrupt, and the boss of Chongzhen still has to listen to it.Wu Sangui didn't dare to hesitate anymore. After a simple mobilization, he led the army, military dependents, and Ningyuan people, a total of 500,000 people, to support the old and the young, lead sheep and cows, and waved goodbye to his warm home with tears in his eyes. Row.Along the way, this dejected "fleeing army" turned around every step and could only walk more than 30 miles a day, and did not arrive at Shanhaiguan until March 16. In the next five days, Wu Sangui settled the military and civilians he had brought with him in several counties near Shanhaiguan, and only after he settled his worries, he led his troops towards the capital.Arrived in Fengrun on March 20, but heard that Li Zicheng had broken through the capital three days before, and Chongzhen died. Wu Sangui and his subordinates can only express their feelings with "sudden loss of support, want to cry but no tears", yes!The emperor is dead, and Daming is dead, where is their lone army going? Now in front of Wu Sangui, there are two ways to go: The first way is to rush into the capital with the current 50,000 Guanning iron cavalry, fight with Li Zicheng with swords, sacrifice their lives to go to the national disaster, die a heroic bone, and become the famous Yue Fei and Yu Qian today.But Wu Sangui, who is already thirty-three years old, is no longer the "angry youth" who went into tens of thousands of troops and sacrificed his life to save his father.The wind and frost of the years, the sword in the battlefield, and the tribulations in the officialdom have made him mature and smooth step by step.He believes that his life exists not only for himself, but also for the brothers behind him and the people of Ningyuan.If he led the gang of brothers under him to die, then where would their wives, children, and children go in this war-torn troubled world? The second way is to temporarily pull the team back to Shanhaiguan, guard the pass, and move according to the situation. Whether to "surrender" or "reverse" depends on the situation becoming clearer before making a decision.He wants to choose the most suitable path for himself and his subordinates at this fork in the road of changing dynasties. He turned the marching team, the rear team changed to the front team, and marched back to Shanhaiguan in a hurry. After he lingered for five days, an unexpected visitor came to Shanhaiguan, which brought him an unexpected touch. The person who came was Wu Sangui’s old colleague, Tang Tong, the former commander-in-chief of Juyongguan in the Ming Dynasty. He is now Li Zicheng’s special envoy and brought 8,000 people to "peacefully take over" Shanhaiguan. In exchange, he gave Wu Sangui, the current commander-in-chief of Shanhaiguan The conditions offered must be considered favorable: 1. Li Zicheng's "recruitment notice", which stated that if Wu surrendered, he would not lose the position of "waiting"; 2. The salary advance is 40,000 taels of silver, and Wu is asked to "express" to his subordinates who have not paid for it for a long time; 3. His father, Wu Xiang, wrote a "sentimental and earnest" letter persuading him to surrender, asking him to consider the lives of the thirty-four members of his family and his personal future, and not hesitate to surrender Li Zicheng. The core thing that affects the decision-making of a person without loyalty and ideals is always inseparable from the word "interest". Under the double offensive of Li Zicheng's "big stick and gourd", Wu Sangui is determined to know current affairs as a hero and surrender to Li Zicheng. After handing over the defense of Shanhaiguan to Tang Tong, Wu Sangui and his 50,000 Guanning cavalry set foot on the road back to Beijing again.This time, they did not enter Beijing with the mission of "king Qin", but returned to Beijing in the name of "meeting the new lord".Along the way, the bright mood of "the good wind sent me to the blue sky with its strength" was rippling in Wu Sangui's chest.He believed that after he met Li Zicheng, under the "meticulous" care of the new court, he would not only find a good future for himself, but also provide a suitable arrangement for his brothers and the many Ningyuan people who brought him back to Guan. In order not to cause unnecessary trouble, Wu Sangui widely posted marching proclamations along the way: "This town will lead the troops to meet the new lord, and there will be no crime during the autumn. Don't panic." But the facts will irrefutably tell Wu Sangui that there is no limit to joy, and sorrow comes from extreme joy! When the army marched to Yutian, Hebei, they met batch after batch of refugees from Beijing. They were all unkempt and panic-stricken. Wu Sangui, who was eager to learn the "latest information about Beijing", immediately summoned these grassroots people from all walks of life A small "on-site symposium" was held. The military representative made a statement: The Dashun Army did not treat the prisoners preferentially, robbed them of their personal belongings at will, and was even more mean to the officers. Li Guozhen, the commander of the three major battalions who had surrendered, was tortured to death, and his family was destroyed; A civil representative spoke: The Dashun army "changed its face" really quickly. When it entered Beijing, it was still disciplined, but now it burns, kills, loots, and does everything. A representative of civil servants made a statement: Dashun Dynasty did not change its nature, tortured and recovered stolen goods, and abused the vast number of civil servants. In the end, everyone agreed that the Dashun government is an out-and-out "anti-government, anti-society, and anti-humanity" terrorist organization, which cannot bring normal production and living order to the people. Such a government is destined to not last long. existing. Wu Sangui immediately felt the seriousness and complexity of the situation, so he immediately ordered the team to station on the spot, and sent a number of trusted personnel to the capital to inquire about the news. 一位亲信不到一天就返驻地了，他给吴三桂带来了一个从京城逃出来的吴府家仆，这个风仆尘尘的家仆一席话，改变了三桂同志的后半生，也改变了明清历史的轨迹。 吴问家仆：“吾家可好？” 家仆答：“被大顺政府抄了。” 吴强装淡定，不露声色地继续问：“家父可好？” 家仆答：“不好，被抓了。” 吴依然装淡：“大水冲了龙王庙，一家人不识一家人了，待我回京后，家产会完好无缺地返还的，家父也会安然无恙回家的。还有，我的小妾陈圆圆呢？” 家仆吱吱晤唔：“被、被大顺军的权将军刘宗敏抢击了。” 淡定的吴三桂顿时血压急骤升高，脸色忧如被扔进铁锅中的蕃茄，先是红色，接着变紫色，最后就像是被大火炒成一团焦味十足的黑茄。 如果非要找个词语形容吴三桂此时的心情，那就是耻辱，再加一个词语，那就是愤怒。 “李自成啊！李自成！你们也太不把豆包当干粮了，家产抢了、老爹抓了，是能还回来的，这在男人心里，可以不算个事。但老婆被抢了，即使还回来，作为一个顶天立地的男人，一个带兵打仗的统帅，威望何在？脸面何存？” 面对家仆复杂的表情，吴三桂仰望苍天，拔剑乱砍，尔后发疯似的狂呼：“大丈夫立于天地间，上不能保存社稷，下不能保存妻小，生者何用！生者何用？” 聊发了一阵少年狂后，吴三桂开始冷静下来，此时此刻，在这个战乱纷扰的世界上，“尊严诚可贵，前途价更高；投降李自成，两者皆得抛！”。他仿佛看见血肉模糊的李国祯正向他招手！ 现在，要把尊严和前途找回来，唯一可以依靠的，就是这些朝夕与共、同生共死的部下了，而此时他唯一能做的，就是安抚部下这些也同样神情不定的心灵，让他们看到光明和希望，还让他们懂得，未来的流血和牺牲，决不仅仅为了我吴三桂一家的私恨家仇。 他揣着一颗流血的心，将几个重要的部下召来，以坚定而平静的口吻说：“我之所以降顺，不是为别的，就是想让我和各位能在这改朝换代、天崩地裂的时刻，能有一个坚实的依靠，上使国家重归太平、下让父母妻儿各有所养，然而，大顺朝现在在北京的所作所为，只能说明，这是个贼性不改的政府！这是个不能托靠的政府！因此我们，不能将自己的前途命运交给这样一个毫无希望的政府。” 隔着四百年的层层迷雾，我们今天不能只凭一句“冲冠一怒为红颜”来诠释吴三桂那时的抉择。但是，他的威信、他的魅力、他的成功，使他的众多部下多年来产生了一种无可替代的信赖。大家此时，更明白风雨同舟、相濡以沫的内涵，众部下异口同声地说：“我等一切听将军号令！” 吴三桂决定和部下树起“扶明灭顺”的大旗，马蹄声碎、军号声咽，他们再次拔营返回山海关了。一路的奔波，是“孤村落日残霞，古道西风瘦马，夕阳西下，断肠人在天涯。”的凄凉。 回望北京，吴三桂不胜感叹！“父亲，家人，原谅我吧！在这个世上，想要赢得他人的敬重，生命、财产、尊严、家庭等都是可以放弃的，但却有一样东西是永不能放弃的，那就是——功名前途。”