Chapter 18 Chapter 18 The Genius' Plan

The person who benefited most from Wen Tiren's resignation should be Yang Sichang.I checked and found that he became Minister of the Ministry of War in March of the tenth year of Chongzhen (1637), and Wen Tiren left in June. According to Mr. Wen's temper, it is very unlikely that someone like Yang Sichang would not step down. Wen Tiren is gone, Yang Sichang is here, and soon, he will enter the cabinet and implement his genius plan. According to Yang Sichang's plan, in order to spread the net on ten sides, the current number of people is not enough, and another 120,000 troops must be added.

If you want to increase your troops, you have to pay money. According to Yang Sichang's calculation, the salary must be increased by more than 2.8 million taels. This plan was extremely risky, because neither Yang Sichang nor Chongzhen would come out with the money, and the only source could only be obtained from the common people, specifically speaking, rent increases. For example, if you pay more than 100 catties of food a year, the whole family can still have enough food and clothing. When Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng call, you may go out to watch the excitement, and then go home for dinner.Then the government told you to increase the rent and pay 200 catties a year. As a result, the whole family could only eat chaff.

Later, the government told you to increase the rent and pay 400 catties a year. As a result, the whole family couldn’t even eat the chaff. In order to solve the civil uprising in the Northwest, Chongzhen had already increased the rent several times. If it was increased, the consequences would be disastrous.Therefore, many ministers firmly opposed it. But Chongzhen still agreed, because he believed that Yang Sichang's plan could save the crisis. In the end, Yang Sichang said, to realize this plan, I must use one person. Chongzhen agreed. The person Yang Sichang recommended was Xiong Wencan.

Xiong Wencan, a native of Yongningwei, Guizhou.Jinshi in the thirty-five year of Wanli.He successively served as the head of the Ministry of Rites, chief envoy, and governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. Yang Sichang recommended Xiong Wencan only because of a misunderstanding. Not long ago, Xiong Wencan, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, got the news that a trusted eunuch of Chongzhen came to visit Guangdong. He didn’t know why. Although the purpose of the visit was unknown, Governor Xiong knew something about this kind of special commissioner. Yes, please come over for dinner. Since it's a meal, you have to drink, eat and drink enough, and then give some gifts. This eunuch is also very good, very happy, and he will be familiar with him after coming and going.

Since they are acquaintances, it is easy to talk. The two sides can talk about everything, from the domestic situation to the international situation, but there is only one thing, and Governor Xiong has never set it out. What on earth are you here for? A few days later, the eunuch was about to leave, Governor Xiong decided to invite him to dinner again, as a last resort. The meal was very satisfying, and the two parties parted ways and drank a lot. While drinking, they began to talk about the civil uprising. Governor Xiong probably drank too much, and he was arrogant, so he slapped the table and shouted:

"The ministers are wronging the country, if I go, how can I let them make such a mess (it's a shame)!" He never expected that there was someone more excited than him. The eunuch immediately stood up, showing the expression of having finally found a comrade after being an undercover agent for many years, he warmly held Governor Xiong's hand, and said what Governor Xiong had been trying to do for many days, but he couldn't get it out: "I came here to investigate you! When I get back, I will report to the emperor and ask you to quell the chaos. Besides you, who else can wipe out the thieves (it's not enough for the public to deal with the thieves)!"

Sober up. After all, Governor Xiong is an old bureaucrat for many years. Hearing this, he was sober at that time. The so-called five difficulties and four musts are roughly nine conditions. That is to say, only when these conditions are met can Governor Xiong take office reluctantly. Roughly speaking, this is an official document. Even if it is written by a full-time secretary, it will take a day or two to write it. Governor Xiong can finish it in a blink of an eye. It is really well-intentioned. However, the eunuch is not an ordinary person, and with just one sentence, he shattered Governor Xiong's wishful thinking:

"Don't worry, I will report these things to the emperor when I go back, but if the emperor agrees, don't refuse." In this way, Governor Xiong's heart to serve the country traveled thousands of miles and came to the capital. Chongzhen knew it, and Yang Sichang knew it too. In the far south, there was a loyal man named Xiong Wencan who was willing to give everything for the country. Of course, those conditions of Governor Xiong are naturally out of the question. At the critical moment, if someone is willing to come up, it is very valuable. How can you be stingy with the conditions?

So at this critical moment, Yang Sichang proposed Xiong Wencan, and Chongzhen readily agreed. They all believed that he could successfully realize this genius plan. Therefore, Governor Xiong, who was thousands of miles away, received a transfer order, and he was about to go to the Central Plains to replace the incompetent former Governor Wang Jiazhen. Xiong Wencan's original jurisdiction was Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, but his current jurisdiction includes five provinces of Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Huguang, and Sichuan. Ordinarily, he should be very happy, and he was so happy that he bumped his head to death.

The governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, although he is in charge of underdeveloped areas and there are many thieves, but he wants to be safe, and no one comes to make trouble. Now in these five provinces, there are hundreds of thousands of armed parades at every turn, and they are all giant bandits, The fierce gangster, maybe he will be arrested someday, which is really exciting. But now that I’m here, let’s tell the emperor, I’m actually fooling you. I drank too much that day. Many people in later generations disdain Mr. Xiong, saying that he is incompetent and lacks courage, but in my opinion, Governor Xiong is not that miserable.He has studied since he was a child, has been a local official, has been to the capital, has also gone to sea (as an envoy to Ryukyu), and has seen the world. Generally speaking, there are only two things he doesn’t know-this and that. meeting.

Although Xiong Wencan's ability is relatively poor, he is more fearful, and he has less experience in fighting, but he was able to be promoted to governor of Guangdong and Guangxi because of a military merit. The specific content of this military exploit is that he managed a person that many people could not handle. This person's name is Zheng Zhilong. Zheng Zhilong, a famous pirate in Fujian, has a famous son——Zheng Chenggong. After Governor Xiong recruited Zheng Zhilong, he used Zheng Zhilong to kill other pirates, successfully took control of the coast of Fujian, and finally took care of himself and was promoted. But Governor Xiong's performance over the years is obvious to all, he can deceive his superiors, but not the masses, so when he took office, many people believed that Governor Xiong was a strong official and gone forever. In October of the tenth year of Chongzhen (1637), Xiong Wencan officially came to Huguang to take office, and his subordinate Zuo Liangyu greeted him. At the beginning, Zuo Liangyu was quite polite to Governor Xiong (didn't find out the details), but after a few days, he found that Governor Xiong Qian "Xiong" was poor and had nothing but meetings every day, so he simply disappeared.There's no way, Zuo Zongbing doesn't like bears like Governor Xiong. Governor Xiong was also in a hurry. He didn't want to come, but when he came, the generals didn't listen to orders. The total strength of his troops was less than 10,000, and he wanted to complete the performance. In desperation, he had to resort to the old trick—— soothe. At that time, in his jurisdiction, the two largest militias were Zhang Xianzhong and Liu Guoneng.Among them, Zhang Xianzhong has 90,000 people, and Liu Guoneng has 50,000 people. Xiong Wencan decided to appease these two people. Although he was doing well in the imperial court, but compared with Zhang Xianzhong and Liu Guoneng in terms of Jianghu experience, Governor Xiong is still very stupid and naive. It is less than one-tenth of others, so it is very difficult to recruit surrender. But Governor Xiong's most troublesome problem is not the above. The first thing he has to solve is another problem - sending notifications. Because Zhang Xianzhong and Liu Guoneng are engaged in special industries and do not usually live in the village, it seems difficult to find these two people with Governor Xiong's intelligence system. In desperation, in order to show his sincerity, Governor Xiong sent hundreds of people , with the determination to post advertisements for the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases today, notices were posted around the village and the village to inform the imperial court of its sincerity in recruiting security. Zuo Liangyu scoffed at this, and even Yang Sichang could only smile wryly after hearing about it. In short, at that time, Governor Xiong was probably a joke in the eyes of everyone, and when the laugh was over, it was time to get out. However, this joke continued in a way that no one could have predicted. Not long after, Governor Xiong got the news that comrades from the militia were here. It was Zhang Xianzhong who came to the door first. He said that although he was a strong soldier, he really wanted to surrender and serve the country. However, since the surrender procedure was cumbersome, he needed a few days to prepare. This is bullshit. Zhang Xianzhong said this kind of times, I guess he can't count it himself. This is because Chief Zhang saw that Governor Xiong was a stranger, so he made a special trip to fool around, and wanted to replace Hong Chengchou, Lu Xiangsheng and other acquaintances, and chopped them up when he pulled them out. But Zhang Xianzhong sent people to the door, in addition to amusing, there are also objective reasons. Since the nine-year encirclement and suppression storm in Chongzhen, the economic situation has deteriorated day by day. Gao Yingxiang has collapsed, and the environment of many leaders is not good. They may go bankrupt and lay off employees at any time, including Li Zicheng. After Gao Yingxiang's death, Sun Chuanting said that as long as Li Zicheng was dealt with, he would retire and go home. Li Zicheng had already had a hard time dealing with Hong Chengchou in northern Shaanxi, and now such an enemy came again, he attacked twice and lost consecutive battles. He had no choice but to stay in Shaanxi, so he had to turn around and enter Sichuan. However, the times were too bad, and Yang Sichang started the project of ambush from all sides, so he could only continue to run forward, with pursuers in front and interceptions in the back. With such an environment, Zhang Xianzhong was not doing well, and it was necessary to leave a way out, so he found Governor Xiong. Of course, surrendering would not be possible. First negotiate the conditions, and then surrender after a few years. But he never expected that in a few days, he would obediently surrender. Because a few days later, a news came that Liu Guoneng had surrendered. Liu Guoneng, nicknamed Chuang Tian Tian, ​​was probably ranked in the top five among the leaders at the time, and he was quite a difficult figure. After he learned the news of Governor Xiong's surrender, he also came to the door and said that although he was strong and strong, he wanted to surrender very much. Since the surrender procedure was very troublesome, he needed to prepare for a few days. In fact, Comrade Liu Guoneng's lines are similar to Zhang Xianzhong's, the difference is that he really surrendered after a few days of preparation. In November of the tenth year of Chongzhen (1637), Liu Guoneng led an army of 50,000 to 60,000 to surrender to Xiong Wencan, who had only 10,000 people, and obeyed the adaptation. When I was a child, when I read it, I hated Song Jiang quite a lot. I thought he acted for the heavens and started rebelling. He was a hero, but in the end he was recruited to conquer Fang La. ? Later I realized that the rebellious Song Jiang and the recruiting Song Jiang were always the same person. Why rebel? Rebellion is for the purpose of recruiting security. Back then, Song Jiang used to work for the government, and he also had a job. According to Shuihu, he lived a very good life. In addition to getting a salary, he also colluded with the underworld (such as Chao Gai and others), got some extra money, and often made friends with the world. Brother, you are never stingy in giving money (Song Jiang: You were given the title of Jiyu for nothing?), but just a moment of quickness. Before being reported, he killed his concubine, so he was forced to live in rebellion. Liu Guoneng's situation is quite similar, but unlike Zhang Xianzhong, he was educated and was said to be a scholar, but later he rebelled against him because of impulsiveness or ignorance. Didn't get killed, and did well. But in rebellion, doing well is not enough. After all, the job is unstable and dangerous, and Liu Guoneng is a relatively filial person. He hopes to honor his parents at home, so he took this opportunity to prepare to surrender and change jobs. Liu Guoneng's surrender scared Zhang Xianzhong into a daze: Surrender, and there are still people robbing business? Seeing that the problem was serious, he immediately sent an envoy to find Xiong Wencan, saying that he would surrender in the near future. But Governor Xiong was also hardened, and instead of being gracious to persuade him to stay, he said that he still needs to study and study the issue of surrender before deciding whether to accept it. Originally, the supply of surrender was in short supply, but now it has become an oversupply, and the seller's market has become a buyer's market, which is troublesome. But Zhang Xianzhong was worthy of being in the imperial court, he was very clever, he immediately changed his mind, decided to give gifts. Moreover, Zhang Xianzhong wisely realized that Governor Xiong is very knowledgeable (Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi is a fat job), and it would be useless to send money alone, so he made a special trip to find a few antique jades (looted anyway), and sent someone to send them over. , just ask for one thing, let me surrender. In addition to making money, there are political achievements. Such a good thing, for Governor Xiong, if he doesn't do it, he is not a human being.He immediately accepted the surrender and ordered Zhang Xianzhong and others to resettle on the spot. When Zhang Xianzhong surrendered, he had 70,000 to 80,000 people, and his base was in Gucheng (now Gucheng, Hubei). When the news came, Chongzhen was extremely happy, and he recognized Governor Xiong as a rare genius, and greatly appreciated it. Yang Sichang was also very happy. Besides being happy, he proposed an idea. Objectively speaking, this is a relatively insidious idea, so that many people later believed that if this idea was followed, the world would stop. The specific content of this idea is to ask Zhang Xianzhong to do one thing before surrendering - beat Li Zicheng. This is like a gangster. Whenever they recruit someone into the gang, they have to ask the newcomers to do some immoral things, such as beheading people and setting fire to them. But Comrade Chongzhen is very moral. He said that it seems a bit too much for people to do this kind of thing when they just came to surrender, so let it be. It is normal for Mr. Zhang Xianzhong of Gucheng not to be moved by Chongzhen's trust.As a professional surrenderer, what he has to consider is when to rebel and when to surrender after the rebellion. The actual situation seems to be the same. In October of the eleventh year of Chongzhen (1638), Comrade Zhang Xianzhong had already surrendered for ten months. Obviously, he did not intend to break his previous surrender record, and began to contact him privately, just around the corner.But with Governor Xiong's consciousness, it is estimated that only when Mr. Zhang's machete hits his pillow can he react. However, just as the previous scenes were about to be replayed, a piece of news completely disrupted Zhang Xianzhong's plan. Three months ago, Li Zicheng from Shaanxi couldn't stay longer, so he ran to Sichuan. When he first arrived in Sichuan, Li Zicheng was doing well. Later, Hong Chengchou mobilized heavy troops to encircle and suppress him, so he retreated to the mountains. The two sides were at a stalemate. Run back to Shaanxi. In the past, every time Li Zicheng ran away, Hong Chengchou would send him out of the country with courtesy, just to make sure he didn't come back, and not to send too much, but this time Li Zicheng found that Hong Chengchou began to be polite. When Li Zicheng came out of Sichuan, he was followed by a group of people who saw him off, such as Zu Dabi, Zuo Guangxian, the main generals of the Guanning Army, Cao Bianjiao, Cao Wenzhao's nephew, and so on. And this group of people is very sincere, has been following behind, and fought desperately. For example, Cao Bianjiao, with three thousand cavalry, followed for more than 20 days without even changing his clothes (without removing his armor), and defeated Li Zicheng consecutively. Drive people out of Shaanxi. The reason why Hong Chengchou worked so hard was because he was scolded.According to the delineation of the defense zone, Shaanxi was under the control of Sun Chuanting, and Sichuan was under the control of Hong Chengchou. According to Sun Chuanting's idea, Li Zicheng should not be allowed to go out after entering Sichuan, but Hong Chengchou somehow let Li Zicheng run away again. Sun Chuanting naturally refused to do it. He believed that Hong Chengchou was playing tricks and let himself be blamed. He was so angry that he sued him. This situation was quite ruthless, Chongzhen was very angry, and immediately approved a punishment, which means, if you want to do it, do it well, if you don't want to do it, I will do it for you, so that Hong Chengchou couldn't even sleep. Li Zicheng is serious. Li Zicheng was not mentally prepared for the opponent's sudden attack. He didn't even froze in Shaanxi, so he had to run outside. I ran all the way to the northwest for several days and nights, and when I arrived in Gansu, no one chased me. But after a few days, Li Zicheng realized that there was a reason for not chasing him. In the Ming Dynasty, the northwest was relatively desolate, and the situation in Shaanxi was not bad. If he ran outside, there would be almost no one left, so there was no need to chase him at all, just let him starve to death. Hong Chengchou's thinking was roughly the same, and things were exactly as he expected. Li Zicheng was in a terrible situation, with no one and no food. In more than a month, the loss was more than half, and he was at the end of the road. However, to Hong Chengchou's surprise, within a few days, Li Zicheng went through the tight seal and came back again—from under his nose. It is said that Master Hong was so frightened by this incident that he didn't fall asleep for several days. After all, he just had an inspection and such a big incident happened, so he immediately wrote a letter to plead guilty to Chongzhen. But Chongzhen's leadership level is really high, he didn't say a word, just let him take the blame and make meritorious service. Moved to tears, Mr. Hong was determined to repay the trust of the leader with actions, and immediately found Sun Chuanting, and wanted to work with him to completely solve Li Zicheng. Sun Chuanting was very interesting, and without saying anything, he immediately dispatched troops and launched a general offensive.In one month, he fought four battles with Li Zicheng. After four battles, Li Zicheng had only a thousand men left. Li Zicheng, who had only a thousand people left, hid in the deep mountains and old forests in Hanzhong. Originally tens of thousands of elite men were beaten to nothing, and even his most reliable confidant, General Manager Qi, led others to become traitors. Li Zicheng, who was freezing in the ravine, felt a biting chill. If it was Zhang Xianzhong, by this time, he would have surrendered and gone to bed long ago, but Li Zicheng still did not surrender, he was still firm. But no matter how determined he is, he must solve the problem. Li Zicheng understands that staying in the mountains all the time will not work after all, and he must go out. After analysis, he correctly realized that he could not go to Sichuan, nor could he go to Shaanxi. If he wanted to achieve something, the only destination was Henan. Henan has a population, a famine, and several former comrades in arms, so this is Li Zicheng's best and only choice. From Hanzhong to Henan, you must pass through Nanyuan. Nanyuan, located near Tongguan, is the only way to go here. For traffic safety, Li Zicheng conducted a long-term investigation before departure to find out the terrain. In order to paralyze the enemy, he squatted in the mountains for more than a month until all the officers and troops withdrew Let's go, we're officially on the road. Along the way, Li Zicheng was very clever and avoided the officers and soldiers several times, but finally arrived in Nanyuan without any danger. Nanyuan is his last stop, as long as he passes through here, his fate will be completely changed. A month ago, when Li Zicheng had only a thousand people left and hid in the mountains, Sun Chuanting believed that this was the best time to wipe out Li Zicheng, and he must go to the mountains immediately to encircle him, or at least encircle him. However, Hong Chengchou objected. He believed that neither siege nor siege was necessary. Sun Chuanting was very angry. He judged that Li Zicheng would come out again, and his attack direction must be Henan. This time, Hong Chengchou did not object, he said, it was indeed so. Since this is indeed the case, why not go all out to encircle and suppress it? Because the best place to encircle and suppress is Tongguan Nanyuan, no matter where he starts from, that is the only way he must pass. So when Li Zicheng's entire army entered Nanyuan, he realized that he had fallen into a trap. According to historical records, in order to ambush Li Zicheng, Sun Chuanting assembled more than 30,000 troops, ambush a group of people every few tens of miles, and filled the ravines and jungles as long as they could be filled with people. With such a posture, let alone break through, even if it is squeezed, it is estimated that they will not be able to squeeze out. So from the beginning of the battle, there was no suspense. The swarming Ming army began to attack fiercely. After being sap, Li Zicheng broke out and ran into the nearby mountains. However, when he ran in, he found that the Ming army had come in earlier than him. So I ran out again, and ran for a day, but failed to get out. The rest of Li Zicheng's more than 1,000 people are his elite troops. In the past nine years, they have steadfastly followed in Sichuan, Shaanxi, drilling ravines, and surrounding forests. When we arrived at Nanyuan, we couldn't walk anymore. Although they fought desperately, they failed to break out of the siege. From day to night, out of a thousand men, only eighteen remained. Li Zicheng was also one of the eighteen people. Taking advantage of the darkness, he led his general Liu Zongmin and escaped from the encirclement. His entire army was wiped out, and all his wives and children were captured. In the darkness, the lonely Li Zicheng fled into Shangluo Mountain, where he will start a difficult wait. So far, the civil uprising in the Northwest has basically subsided. Several famous leaders have basically been flattened. depressed. Zhang Xianzhong was honest. Now that the economic situation is so bad, it is hard to find a job. If he goes to rebel again, he will have problems eating. So he withdrew his re-employment plan and started to be a down-to-earth landlord. (Gucheng is basically under his control) It stopped. The civil uprising has basically subsided, the imperial court is basically stable, those who want to leave are gone, those who want to be killed are killed, and those who want to be recruited are also recruited. After ten years of chaos, Daming finally waited for the dawn. Chongzhen was very happy about the current situation. After ten years of hard work, he finally got a chance to breathe. He once told the ministers that in another ten years, the country will surely prosper and the world will be peaceful. ten years? Not a year. Chongzhen, who saw the light, did not know that what he saw was not the dawn, but the returning light, the returning light returning to light. Almost at the same time that Li Zicheng's entire army was wiped out, something happened that changed the fate of the Ming Empire once again. In the eleventh year of Chongzhen (1638), Huang Taiji decided to attack the Ming Dynasty. The Qing army was divided into two groups. Dorgon led the left-wing army, and Yue Tuo led the right-wing army. They crossed the Great Wall and launched a fierce attack. It should be said that for this attack, Huang Taiji took great pains. Instead of attacking Guan Ning's line of defense (it was really impossible), he actually made a big circle and ran to Miyun. There were very few defenders in Miyun, but almost no one thought that the Qing army would attack from here, because there are many mountains and dangers here, and there are many mountains to climb from here, and it is difficult to climb, and it takes a long time to climb.It is absolutely impossible to call in from here. It is said that people who often sell fake antiques like to hear the most, that is, a very knowledgeable customer who confidently expresses that certain characteristics of antiques can never be imitated. Whether Huang Taiji ever sold antiques is impossible to verify, but the place he chose is here, and his tactics are very simple, that is, to climb mountains. After the Qing army arrived here, they began to climb the mountains. Indeed, there were many mountains and it was difficult to climb. They climbed for three days. But after all, it crawled over. When the Qing army crawled over, Wu Aheng, governor of Jiliao, was drinking, and his head was dizzy after drinking too much. He didn't understand until the Qing army had arrived in Miyun. After a person gets drunk, there are two consequences, one is headache, and the other is courage. Governor Wu had both of these consequences. The final consequence was that Governor Wu, who had a headache, was so bold that he rushed to the Qing army with thousands of people. Drunk people, if they fight one by one, relying on their ability to resist and fight, there is still a chance of winning, but if they fight in groups, they can only be beaten. It didn't take long before Governor Wu was beaten to death, and the Qing army broke through the Great Wall Line of defense, invasion across the board, the situation is extremely critical. Miyun is far from Beijing. If there is no traffic jam today, it will take about two hours by car. Back then, if there was no traffic jam, it would take only a day or two to ride a horse. One or two days away from the capital, that is, one or two days away from Chongzhen, so when the news reached the capital, everyone panicked, only a few people did not panic, and one of them was Chongzhen. The reason why Chongzhen didn't panic was because he knew that the Qing army would invade six months ago, and he knew exactly when the invasion would take place. Six months ago, a person told him the time and method of the attack. This person was not a spy, nor was he an undercover agent. His name was Huang Taiji. One day half a year ago, Yang Sichang told Chongzhen a story in private. The story was relatively long, so thousands of words were reduced to one sentence: In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, made peace with the Xiongnu. The meaning of this story is very clear, it is to let Chongzhen go to peace talks with the Qing Dynasty. Objectively speaking, this is the only way. As far as military strength is concerned, although the Qing Dynasty had a small army at that time (the maximum strength was 200,000), its combat effectiveness was quite strong (some Western military experts followed suit and said that it was the strongest cavalry in the 17th century). The number of troops is roughly 600,000 to 800,000, but those capable of fighting (Liaodong faction, Hong soldiers, and Qin soldiers) are more than 200,000. It is estimated that they will not be able to fight. Fortunately, the terrain is reliable, and the Qing army can't fight against several mountain passes, so according to common sense, it can be maintained. But the fatal thing was that the backyard caught fire, and without Li Zicheng and other fierce people, they could only tear down the east wall to make up for the west wall all day long. Therefore, Yang Sichang suggested that the peace talks with the Qing Dynasty should be resolved first. In fact, the story of Yang Sichang has the second half: Liu Xiu had peace talks with the Xiongnu, and after the internal affairs were settled, not many years later, he sent the Han army out of the fortress, beating the Xiongnu and fleeing. The so-called settlement after autumn, although Yang Sichang didn't talk about it, Chongzhen understood it, so he decided to hold his breath first, negotiate peace with the Qing Dynasty, and settle domestic issues first. At that time, only three people knew about it, including Chongzhen, Yang Sichang, and eunuch Gao Qiqian. In order to ensure everything is safe, peace talks envoys cannot be sent, so Yang Sichang didn't know where to find a fortune teller, so he ran to Huang Taiji and said he wanted to negotiate. Huang Taiji's attitude was quite good, saying that he was willing to negotiate peace, and that if the peace talks were successful, he would immediately lead his troops back to the original place. Of course, this old man never gave anything in vain, and at the end he said that if the peace talks fail, I will call. The specific time is this fall. Chongzhen is willing to negotiate peace, because there is no other way. A few months later, under his secret instigation, Yang Sichang formally proposed peace talks with the Qing Dynasty. What happened after that, even if he was killed, he would never have thought of it. After the suggestion was put forward, according to historical data, there were very few people in favor and many people against it. In fact, there were only people who opposed it and no one in favor. The first to jump out were a few officials from the Sixth Ministry who scolded Yang Sichang, and then a group of officials said that Yang Sichang was traitorous and should be dragged out to death. But the one who messed up this matter in the end was the last person to appear on the stage, a person——Zhuang Daozhou. Comrade Huang Daozhou's resume, I won't say much, this man later had a nickname, "Huang Shengren", and later fought to the death with the Qing army, which is worthy of his name. In front of the emperor, Huang Shengren directly debated with Yang Sichang. He understood the principles of nature and human desires. He first confuses Yang Sichang, and then uses his expertise (his major is Neo-Confucianism), which proves from a theoretical point of view that Yang Sichang’s advocacy of peace is unacceptable. Violation of human ethics and so on. After talking for a long time, Yang Sichang basically had no strength to fight back. Although Chongzhen was not angry, but Mr. Huang's theoretical foundation was too solid, there was nothing he could do. Go to other places to engage in local construction. Although the emperor was angry, peace talks are absolutely impossible. Yang Sichang never mentioned it again. Everyone can wait, except for Huang Taiji. He waited outside the customs for several months. Called in again. For Chongzhen at that time, peace talks were the best way out. In fact, the problem was very simple. Back then, Han Gaozu was so heroic that he had to send someone to the Huns for marriage. That's it. But the reason why such a simple question is so complicated and so many people oppose it is actually because of one thing-mentality. I once studied the history of transportation (Chinese and foreign exchanges), and I was surprised to find that the relationship between countries is actually similar to that of people. If you are poor, you will look down on you and beat you; if you are rich, you will give you face and be obedient. For example, in the United States, whoever is said to be a gangster is a gangster, and whoever is said to be beaten is beaten. Allies are spread all over the world. But if you really believe in this, then you will be stupid. You know, it is all spent with money. If you are obedient, you are a friendly neighbor. Give dollars and aid. It is very humane. If you are not obedient, you are a rogue country. Give missiles , very violent. And Uncle Sam is really rich, missiles are expensive, a million dollars a piece, just throw it away, and dozens of them are too serious, I reckon, they should all be replaced with hand grenades, thrown down from the plane Can throw a month. In the final analysis, it is two words, strength. Whoever has the strength is the grandpa, and whoever has no strength is the grandson. The United States has strength, but in fact, it has only been more than a hundred years. In comparison, China has been a master for a relatively long time. Since the Han Dynasty, it has basically been an advanced country in the world. Although there was a disturbance in the middle, it rose again during the Tang Dynasty. Relatively speaking, in Europe, except for the Roman Empire, which lasted for a long time, most of the time, it was a group of professional illiterates in the feudal society who hacked and hacked. Until the middle of the Ming Dynasty, it was the world leader. In view of the long period of time, it is inevitable that there is a problem with the mentality. For example, after the British Industrial Revolution, he started to be a master, so he sent envoys to China to meet Qianlong.The original intention is roughly to do business with China. Then, Comrade Qianlong said to them, go back and send a letter to you George (the then King of England), saying that I know your filial piety, I have received your tribute (warship model), and I have everything in China. Don't worry, sending me these things will take a long time. Your place is a barren land, and life is very difficult. Farm the land well. I have a lot of things here. I will give you some rewards and use them well when you go home. Decades later, British farmers farming in the barren land drove in with warships. This problem has been around for a long time. After all, it has been around for too many years. Not to mention the nearest North Korea, Vietnam, and Japan, the farthest can reach Central Asia and Siberia. The minister came to visit, superficially entertained him with delicious food and drinks, and before leaving, he also brought a bunch of things, saying that the heavenly dynasty is rich in products and has everything, just take it, but secretly said that he is a barbarian, uneducated, and backward. bounty. When you are a bull, you can do whatever you want, but when you are no longer a bull, you can do whatever you want, then it will not work. The thinking of officials in the Ming Dynasty is roughly like this. In terms of military strength, negotiation is the best choice, but no one chooses. This kind of behavior, to put it nicely, is called adhering to principles, and to put it badly, it is called ignorance of current affairs. The Ming Dynasty's last chance to compromise was rejected by a group of people who did not understand current affairs. Ten years ago, when I read this, I hated Zodiac Zhou, this stubborn, ignorant person. I always believed that his decision-making was completely wrong. Until I found out how Zodiac Week ended. Seven years later, when the Qing army entered the customs, Huang Daozhou, who was idle at home, came out again to assist the king of Tang. Tang Wang's territory is roughly in the Fujian area. He is a relatively ambitious person and really wants to go back to his hometown. Unfortunately, he has a subordinate who is not very ambitious-Zheng Zhilong. Zheng Zhilong's plan was to mess around, regardless of the Qing and Ming dynasties, as long as he messed around on his own, Tang Wang planned to go to the north, and Zheng Zhilong said that you can go if you want, but I won't go anyway. All the troops of King Tang were in the hands of Zheng Zhilong, so after more than a year, there was only thunder but no rain. At this time, Huang Daozhou stood up and said, "If you fight, you will die, if you don't fight, you will die. Instead of sitting and waiting to die, how can we go out to meet the enemy." Tang Wang was very happy and said you should go to the Northern Expedition, and then he said, I have no soldiers for you. Huang Daozhou said, no, I will recruit troops myself. Then he returned home, found fellow villagers, classmates, and students, and recruited more than a thousand people, most of whom were ordinary people. In the first year of Longwu (Tang Wangnian, 1645), Huang Daozhou sent troops to the Northern Expedition. His army had no experience, had never been on the battlefield, and even had no weapons. The most lethal weapons they had were hoes and poles.Therefore, the name of this army in history is called "Piandan Army". Huang Daozhou's wife went out with her. She called many women and went to fight together. This army didn't even have a shoulder pole, so it was called "Lady's Army" in history. Even the most idiotic idiot can understand that this is asking for death. However, Huang Daozhou moved forward firmly, knowing that he would die.Just as he refused to negotiate peace back then, he would never compromise. Three months later, he encountered the Qing army in Wuyuan, Jiangxi Province, and fought the team's first and last battle. As a result, there was no suspense, the criticism of weapons failed to replace the weapons of criticism, and Zodiac Zhou's army was wiped out.Huang Daozhou was captured and sent to Nanjing. Countless people took turns to persuade him to surrender, but he sternly refused. Three months later, he died in Nanjing. After his death, there was a blood book in his clothes, which contained sixteen characters: signature: Zodiac Zhou Just like him back then, he was ignorant of current affairs and never compromised. Someone once told me that the extinction of civilization is normal, because there are too many troubles, natural disasters, man-made disasters, internal fighting and external fighting, so three of the four major civilizations have been wiped out, and only Chinese civilization has survived to this day. It is really not easy. When I think about it, it seems to be true. More recently, since the Opium War, powerful countries all over the world (even those who are not strong have come to join in the fun) bullied us, robbed, burned, and killed us, and spread a "measure of China" Cixi, who is coordinating with other people's messing around with "material resources", can't fight, can't do development (Westernization Affairs), and can't assimilate (they also have civilization). 然而我们终究没有亡，挺过英法联军，挺过甲午战争，挺过八国联军，挺过抗日，终究没有亡。 因为总有那么一群不识时务的人，无论时局形势如何，无论敌人有多强大，无论希望多么渺茫，坚持，绝不妥协。 所以我想说的是，当年的这场辩论，或许决定了大明的未来，或许黄道周并不明智，或许妥协能够挽回危局，但不妥协的人，应该得到尊重。 面对冷酷的世间、无奈的场景，遇事妥协，不坚持到底，是大多数人、大多数时间的选择，因为妥协，退让很现实，很有好处。 但我认为，在人的一生中，至少有那么一两件事，应该不妥协，至少一两件。因为不妥协、坚持虽然不现实，很没好处，却是正确的。 人，是要有一点精神的，至少有一点。