Chapter 11 Chapter 10: The Northern Expedition

The Qing court staged a play called "Turn Left and Release Chen". The producer was Comrade Dorgon, but the director was Chen Hongfan, a senior hidden agent. The reason why agent Chen wrote and directed in this way was to squeeze the head of the left group out of the Nanming mission, so that he could let go of his hands and feet and carry out the spy work to the end. Now, Agent Chen, who has got his wish, is determined to carry out his first espionage job-instigating against Commander Gao Jiegao. In Gao Jie's barracks, Commander Gao graciously served wine to greet the honored envoy. After three rounds of food and five flavors of wine, Agent Chen's spy activities began:

"The country is declining, the Qing is strong and the Ming is weak." Agent Chen began to guide consciously. "That's not bad!" Commander Gao voted in favor. The start was good, and Chen Chigong continued to work hard. "The general should make arrangements early." Agent Chen continued his psychological counseling. "Yes" Commander Gao voted again. "I have a set of wealth to give to the general." Agent Chen was impatient. "The Ming court asked the general to manage Henan. The general might as well use the land of Henan to exchange a set of wealth with the Qing court." Agent Chen finally showed his trump card !

"Haha! If the Qing government wants Henan, it's not difficult, just exchange it with Beijing!" Commander Gao, who was already grateful to Daming, has recently improved his political awareness under the guidance of Master Shidu. In terms of small details, you can be sloppy, but in front of major events, you must be unambiguous. The first espionage operation failed. Agent Chen, who suffered a major psychological setback, hurriedly used "I am drunk today, and I am here to test the general's heart." On December 15th, after more than a month of unhurried "travel", Deputy Head Chen and his party finally "gloriously" returned to Nanjing to return to command.

In the summary report submitted to Emperor Hongguang, he kept silent about the breakdown of the peace talks and the important situation that the Qing army was about to go south. On the one hand, he talked about the Qing court's respect for Wanli, the burial of Chongzhen, and the hope of peace; Secret contacts, ulterior motives, and the detention of Zuo Ma's second regiment leader is also not ominous. The logic of the whole report is chaotic and contradictory, making people confused. Emperor Hongguang and Ma Geshou also felt that something was wrong, but there was no evidence to prove that Deputy Head Chen "surrendered the enemy and betrayed the country", so they had to let him go home temporarily to recuperate.

But the return of the northern envoy without success immediately became the "No. 1 news" of Nanming. It declared the bankruptcy of Nanming's national policy of "borrowing captives to suppress the bandits". All parties speculated that the Qing army would immediately go south to the south of the Yangtze River. But the information obtained from the reconnaissance is that the Qing army is launching large-scale attacks in two directions towards Henan and Shaanxi where Li Zicheng is entrenched, and the current border is still "the dawn here is quiet." When Nanming monarchs and ministers breathed a sigh of relief and wanted to watch another wonderful "Wolf and Tiger Fight" for free, Comrade Shi Kefa, the nominal cabinet chief of the Nanming government, jumped out at the first time and wrote a letter stating that "Ming and Qing must have a war!".

Shi Kefa's judgment comes from a letter, a letter written to him by Comrade Dorgon, the "actual authority" in the Qing Dynasty. When he received this letter, it was July 28 this year. At that time, the Nanming mission had just left slowly towards the north with a dove of peace, an olive branch, full of hope and longing. The letter sent by Comrade Dorgon is divided into four parts: The first part is the compliment. The compliment Shi Kefa is the true leader of Nanming, and Daqing is willing to cooperate with such a person to create a better future. The second part is the eulogy. It first praised Comrade Wu Sangui, the traitor who "abandoned the dark and turned to the bright", and then "the king's mother-in-law sells melons, sells melons, sells her own boast" to praise the Qing Dynasty's expulsion of intruders, burial of Chongzhen, kindness to the royal family, reuse of Ming officials, and blessings to the people. Great achievements.

The first and second parts are amiable, like a spring breeze, but in the third part, they change their face and become aggressive, like a thunderbolt! The third part is full of accusations, accusing the Nanming subjects of not saving the former lord, second not avenging the king, and third being good at establishing a new lord. The final fourth part is even more blatant coercion and temptation. After severely condemning the ugly act of splitting the country in Nanming, he turned to persuade Shi Kefa to use his influence and persuade King Fu to "reduce his title and return to the vassal, and Yongsui Fulu", otherwise he will be with Li Zicheng. Unite and conquer Nanming.

As the peace talks were about to start, Comrade Shi Kefa who received the letter immediately replied to Comrade Dorgon in a soothing and peaceful tone. The legitimacy of the emperor, and hope that the Ming and Qing Dynasties will inherit the traditional friendship, eliminate common class enemies, and continue to be friendly from generation to generation! After this letter was sent, it was like a stone sinking into the sea, and there was no more text. Now, the return of the northern envoys without success further confirms that "the Qing imperialism will never die", and after the destruction of Shun, it will inevitably go south to conquer Ming.

He called on the government to throw away its illusions, take up arms, fight quickly, and make an immediate northern expedition. However, what is surprising is that Shi Kefa set the target of the Northern Expedition on Li Zicheng, who "looks like a dog in the water", instead of the Qing Dynasty who shouted all day to "destroy the Ming Dynasty". This has also become the main reason why later generations reviled Mr. Shi Lao as an "unrepentant reactionary who suppressed peasant uprisings". Is Mr. Shi "watery in his head" or "bullying the weak and afraid of the hard", thinking that the peasant brothers are easy to bully?

In fact, it is not. If we open the map of China and look at the regional map of Henan Province, we can understand Mr. Shi's intentions - under the banner of attacking the peasant army, first occupy the Xingyang, Luoyang and Lingbao lines currently occupied by Li Zicheng , connected with the previously occupied Kaifeng area, formed the first "defense line" of Nanming south of the Yellow River, and used the natural danger of the Yellow River to prevent the Qing army from the north of the Yellow River from going south. It is pitiful to say that Comrade Shi Kefa, the head of the government, the commander-in-chief of the Great Ming Dynasty, and the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition, now the only person to rely on in the Northern Expedition is that all Nanming people who "don't love my grandma, don't love my uncle, can't understand my hatred if I scold him a thousand times, and can't be cut by a thousand swords." "Revenge" warlord leader - Comrade Gao Jie.

In order to achieve the strategic goal of not angering the Qing court, but also successfully realizing the complete restoration of the territory south of the Yellow River, Shi Kefa wrote a letter in the name of Gao Jie to Prince Haoge of Qingsu who was stationed on the north bank of the Yellow River. The letter, hoping to "separate paths into Qin with the Qing army, and join forces to suppress the invasion", can be regarded as a smoke bomb. After completing this work, Shi Kefa actively prepared food and gathered supplies to provide sufficient logistical support for Commander Gao's Northern Expedition. "It's up to people to plan things, and it's up to God to make things happen." Comrade Shi Kefa's good wish of using one warlord to fight another warlord can be successfully realized? In January 1645, the smoke of the Spring Festival celebrations had not yet cleared, and Li Zicheng and Duoduo were still fighting bloody battles in Tongguan. Under the arrangement of Shi Dushi, about 30,000 people from Gao Jie's department began the Northern Expedition. The Northern Expedition route formulated by Shi Gao was Xuzhou-Guide (now Shangqiu)-Suizhou-Kaifeng-Luoyang-Lingbao. If the Northern Expedition was successful, the territory of Nanming south of the Yellow River would be united. Among them, Xu Dingguo, the commander in chief of Suizhou, the nominal subordinate of Commander Gao, his attitude will play a key role in the success or failure of the Northern Expedition. Because according to the information obtained, Xu Dingguo is currently hooking up with Prince Su Haoge on the north bank of the Yellow River, and sent his two sons to Haoge to "study and train". Commander Gao was dubious about this information, and he continued to advance from Guide to Suiyang! But this intelligence is true! Let's review Comrade Xu Dingguo's life experience and think about how he embarked on the road of being a traitor. Xu Dingguo, male, Han nationality, 71 years old, from Taikang, Henan, his family status is extremely poor, his only specialty in childhood was weightlifting, he could lift a thousand catty bell with both hands, he was nicknamed "Xu Qianjin". In order to survive, "Xu Qianjin", who is poor and has weightlifting expertise, went to the big furnace of the Ming army to train and grow up when he was a teenager. After more than 50 years of long experience, relying on his great achievements in suppressing his own class brothers At the age of sixty-nine, "Xu Qianjin" was promoted to the commander of the Shanxi Provincial Military Region (Shanxi General Soldier), and finally completed the transformation from a soldier to a general. On the occasion of his 70th birthday, Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, in order to express his "respect" to this veteran general who dedicated his life to the Ming army, sent Jin Yiwei to send him a unique and rare birthday gift - free stay in prison coupon. In the edict prison, Emperor Chongzhen convicted him of "not actively rescuing Kaifeng and instigating his subordinates to mutiny", and sentenced him to "beheaded and wait for execution after autumn". Just when Old General Xu was about to drift away like a dead leaf in the wind in this cold late autumn, his former class brother, the famous Li Zicheng, saved his life. Li Zicheng wiped out the fierce Sun Chuanting on the Shaanxi-Henan battlefield, which made Emperor Chongzhen sigh "There is no general in Shu"! Emperor Chongzhen, who felt that his human resources were severely depleted, thought of Xu Dingguo, the "Liao Hua" who was on the verge of life and death in the imperial prison, so he waved his hand and pulled back General Xu who was about to march on Huangquan Road, and immediately sent him off. Arrived on the Henan battlefield. Although the old general Xu Shujun who returned to Yangjie was consolingly put on the top hat of "Henan Aid and Suppression Commander-in-Chief", but at this time he was "full of scars in his heart". From then on, the old general who committed himself to the country and worked hard disappeared, and was replaced by an "old fox" who preserved his strength everywhere and cultivated his personal power from time to time. When the city of Beijing was captured by Li Zicheng, Xu Laohu fled to Suizhou near his hometown. Under the banner of "protecting the environment and the people", he even cobbled together an "illegal armed force" of 10,000 people. In order to legalize this illegal armed force, when the situation was unclear, Xu Laohu temporarily took refuge in the Nanming government, was named "Zhenbei General" by Emperor Hongguang, and was nominally under the leadership of Gao Jie. However, what the Nanming government did quickly disappointed Mr. Xu. Based on the ups and downs he had experienced in the past seventy years, he felt that Nanming was "unstoppable when the sun sets in the west", while the Qing Dynasty was "unstoppable from the rising sun". Under the old hatred and new resentment, he decided to actively move closer to the Qing Dynasty. So the scene mentioned above happened. But Xu Laohu chose the wrong time and found the wrong partner. Hauge is now "a maid who takes the key and is not in charge of the house". Besides, the main force of the Qing army has been transferred by Dorgon to beat Li Zicheng. Haoge proposed to Xu Laohu The suggestion of sending troops to the south is that he has more than enough energy but not enough energy, so he has to "be patient and patient, and persist and persist." Just when Xu Laohu was suffering in his heart, Commander Gao had already "arrogantly and vigorously" brought a large group of people to camp at a distance of 20 miles near Suizhou, and issued him a stern military order to "move troops northward" within a time limit. . Facing Commander Gao's aggressive military orders, Xu Laohu, who had a ghost in his heart, couldn't sit still any longer. With the support of his subordinates, a villain-style "beheading" operation began! On the twelfth day of the first lunar month, Old Fox Xu came to Commander Gao’s barracks in person, and warmly invited Gao Jie, Yue Qijie, Chen Qianfu, etc. to attend the welcome reception held by representatives from all walks of life in Suizhou for the Northern Expedition Army, in order to connect the military and the people and advance the great cause of the Northern Expedition. Yue Qijie, the governor of Henan Province, suspected fraud, and tried his best to prevent Commander Gao from participating. However, Commander Gao felt that this was an opportunity to clear up misunderstandings and connect feelings. In addition, he was "a man of high skill and boldness", so he didn't pay attention to the old fox Xu who had passed his seventies. Going, Yue and Chen had to accompany them. The welcome reception was held in the former residence of Yuan Keli, a famous minister of the Ming Dynasty. In a friendly atmosphere with beautiful scenery outside the window, beauties around, and fine wine on the table, both the host and the guest talked happily over wine, and they would not rest until they were drunk. After the reception, Old Fox Xu continued his friendship as a landlord by arranging the "intoxicated and knowing where to go" Commander Gao and his party to live in various high-end residences in Suizhou City. Dark tricks are always carried out under the cover of darkness. In the middle of the night, Xu Laohu, who had been preparing for a long time, led an ambush to fight out. Xu Jun hacked to death.Most of Commander Gao's more than 300 soldiers scattered in various places were also killed. Under the desperate cover of his subordinates, Yue and Chen fled back to the barracks in embarrassment. Old fox Xu knew that he had lost his way, so he immediately took the precious head of Commander Gao as a "certificate of nomination", led his troops across the Yellow River overnight, and rushed to Hauge's tent to "sign up" voluntarily. Gao Jie I, a hero, did not die on the battlefield of serving the country in the end, but died at the hands of a villain. It is sad and painful! Old fox Xu got into trouble and ran away, but the disaster fell on the people of Suizhou for no reason. When he learned that Commander Gao's dead subordinates immediately "turned grief into strength", they were unable to cross the river to find the culprit for revenge. Next, he immediately executed the unprecedented "Super Combination Method", killing almost all the people in Suizhou with a radius of more than 200 miles! This incident was called "Suizhou Change" in history, and its occurrence directly led to the premature death of the Southern Ming and Northern Expeditions. Shi Kefa, who heard the news of Commander Gao's death in Xuzhou, looked up to the sky and sighed, "You can't do anything about the Central Plains!" After that, a bigger test was still in front of him. Because of the death of Commander Gao, there was no leader in the army, and the troops were in chaos. This provided a good "development opportunity" for the nearby garrison Huang Degong, Liu Liangzuo, and Liu Zeqing. They jointly signed a letter to the central government of Nanming, requesting the "reorganization" of Commander Gao's remaining troops. , Serve the country.The subordinates of the high command who were unwilling to accept the "reorganization" were ready to fight to the death with the invaders. Shi Kefa once again played the honorable role of "old matchmaker". After he invited Emperor Hongguang, he made an alliance with the generals of the high department, made Gao Jiezi the son of Xingping Prince, his nephew Li Benshen the admiral, and Li Chengdong the general of Xuzhou. This approach immediately aroused serious dissatisfaction with Huang Degong and other three generals who wanted to "take advantage of the fire" and jointly sued Shi Kefa for favoring the high-ranking officials with bad intentions. However, Comrade Ma Shiying, the actual decision-maker who owed the central government this time, stood firmly on Shi Kefa's side this time, saying: "Gao Jie has so many officers and men, how could they be easily reorganized by others." Commander Gao's Mrs. Xing was afraid that her son would not be able to convince the public when she was too young, and that the old comrade Shi Kefa had no son, so she proposed to let her son worship Shi Kefa as a "foster father". Unexpectedly, this idea of ​​"self-promotion" made Shi Kefa, who had been educated in Confucianism since childhood, restless. It is true that Shi Kefa has a good relationship with Commander Gao, but this does not mean that he admires Commander Gao and is close to Commander Gao. For this soldier who has "significant political stains" in the past and now often maintains the work style of "burning, killing and looting", he has deep feelings for him. Filled with deep disgust.Tolerance of all this is only for one purpose, using Commander Gao and the gang of "thugs" under his command to realize his political ideal of recovering the country and saving the country and the world. What will the common people say when they hear about the "son of a thief" who has taken Commander Gao, and what will colleagues think when they hear about it?Excessive love for one's own feathers and self-purification are common problems of most intellectuals in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and Master Shi Kefa has no such "immunity". He does not have the pragmatism of the most holy Confucian Wang Yangming's "integration of knowledge and action", nor the flexibility of Zhang Juzheng, the prime minister who saved the time. people. Under the domination of this standard of value, he would not accept someone like Gao Siling's son as his "adopted son", absolutely not. But Mrs. Xing had already mentioned it, and it was obviously inappropriate to directly refuse. In a tight situation, he came up with a method that he thought was "the best of both worlds". He invited out Mr. Gao Qiqian, who was in charge of the army, and asked him to accept the offspring of this martyr as his godson for the country and the people. Although the same surname is Gao and his official position is not low, compared with Shi Kefa, Gao Qiqian not only has a bad reputation, but also, he is an eunuch. Shi Kefa's practice of "Li Daitao stiff" made Gao Siling's son very depressed, Gao Siling's wife was very disappointed, and Gao Siling's subordinates were very chilled. When Shi Kefa's eyes met them again, what was revealed in their eyes was no longer kindness and respect, but only distance and indifference. Shi Kefa, who still wanted to continue the Northern Expedition, found that he had left the "remote control" of Commander Gao, and his command of this army had completely failed. At this time, Comrade Lao Ma came to "help add chaos" and sent his confidant Wei Yinwen to Commander Gao's army to seize Li Benshen's military power.However, Huang Degong, who has always had a grudge against the high commander, has changed from "heartbeat" to "action", and sent troops to directly attack the "old battalion" of the high department. Gao Bu was anxious to go back to the rear to protect his family, so they withdrew one after another. Shi Kefa, who had no soldiers to use, had to order the stop of the Northern Expedition, and the whole army returned south. Yan Ermei, a well-known literati in Peixian County, is serving as a staff officer under Shi Kefa's account. He made a suggestion to Master Shi: learn from Zu Ti in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, recruit volunteers from Henan and Shandong, and set up a "volunteer army" to carry out the Northern Expedition. But Mr. Shi, who was afraid of having private armed forces and being suspected by the court, flatly refused. At this time, he seemed to be suffering from a serious illness. He became distraught and worried about gains and losses. The Southern Ming’s Northern Expedition came to an end amidst the hustle and bustle. Instead of advancing northward to the Yellow River, Nanming’s defense frontier retreated back to the Huaihe River Basin; instead of gaining unity in the battle, the army became more fragmented; Shi Kefa Instead of increasing your prestige, your lord's prestige has dropped again and again! On the surface, the sudden death of Commander Gao Jie was the main reason for the premature death of the Northern Expedition.However, if we jump out of this small circle and conduct a rational analysis in a large frame, we will find that even if Commander Gao was not killed, Nanming’s Northern Expedition would definitely be difficult to succeed. The reasons are as follows: First of all, the Gaobu is an army with no ideals and no discipline. Because of these two points, they don't know what to fight for. Behind every battle, there is a bad record of killing civilians and plundering wealth. Having lofty ideals and beliefs and strict military discipline are the guarantees of an army's long-lasting combat effectiveness. Whether it is the Han Army, Tang Army of the national army, or the Yue Family Army, Qi Family Army, and Hunan Army armed privately, they have all proved irrefutable. at this point. But in the "Gao Family Army", we can't see any trace of these two points at all.They are more like a "robber in uniform". Using such an army to accomplish the great cause of the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains and the rejuvenation of the nation is undoubtedly a matter of looking for fish while relying on wood, and fighting fire with salary. Secondly, the Northern Expedition, relying solely on a high-ranking army, had hidden factors of failure from the beginning, because even if this army could temporarily gain a foothold on the south bank of the Yellow River, when the Qing army defeated Li Zicheng and went south with all its strength.Lonely in-depth, in prominent positions on the front line, and without the cooperation of friendly and neighboring troops, they may not escape the fate of failure in the end. Finally, "the deepest root of the mighty power of war lies among the people." Shi Kefa arranged for Commander Gao's Northern Expedition, because of his class position and poor military discipline, it must be a "one-sided war" solely relying on the army. Without the will to mobilize the people, nor the ability to mobilize the people, it is naturally impossible to gain widespread support from the people.No matter how lofty and great the political ideal of "Northern Expedition to the Central Plains and Restoration of Ming Dynasty" is, and it is separated from the love and cooperation of the people, this army will eventually become a stream that has no "source" to replenish, and slowly become dry up. Nanming's large-scale military operation ended in such a helpless and anticlimactic manner.Next, what awaits this government will be such a tomorrow?