"Then let Li Shoufu be transferred to Jizhou as the general, and at the same time transfer the 10,000 garrisons at Shanhaiguan to Jizhou. As for Gao Di... let me think about it."
Between Li Shouqi, Wang Aoyong and Gao Di, he chose Li Shouqi.
Among these three, only Li Shouqi was relatively loyal. In history, when Li Zicheng attacked Beijing, he served as the general of Changping. Because he had few men under his command, he committed suicide after being defeated.
Wang Aoyong is a "big man" in the Biography of Traitors. After surrendering, he became a die-hard Qing Dynasty loyalist. However, his end was very satisfying. He was beheaded by Zhao Yingyuan, a subordinate of Li Zicheng who pretended to surrender, in Qingzhou.
Not to mention Gao Di, in official history, he and Wu Sangui let the Eight Banners soldiers enter the pass together. Because Wu Sangui was too famous, the name Gao Di is not known to later generations.
Chongzhen had already handed over Shanhaiguan to Wu Sangui. If he handed over Jizhou to Gao Di, he could only be described as stubborn.
After some discussion, the personnel adjustment was quickly decided.
Li Shoufu was appointed as the general of Jizhou, Gao Di continued to serve as the general of Shanhaiguan, Wang Yongji and Wu Sangui retained their original positions, but their base was changed from Ningyuan to Shanhaiguan.
There is no way. Even though Liao was lost, we still have to have the desire to recover it.
"Your Majesty, since the bandits have retreated, why not issue an imperial decree to allow the troops from all over the country to return along the same route and continue to suppress the bandits!" Zeng Yinglin, the military official, suggested.
This proposal was supported by most officials in the court.
After all, Huang Degong, Zuo Liangyu, Gao Jie and others were chasing and suppressing the bandits. Now that the siege of the capital has been lifted, it is a good opportunity for them to continue suppressing the bandits.
Chongzhen nodded first, then shook his head slightly.
"I wonder what your majesty is concerned about?" Li Banghua asked.
"Jiannu!"
"The Jiannu?" Li Banghua narrowed his eyes and thought for a while, "Does Your Majesty think that the Jiannu will enter the pass and plunder in the near future?"
"No... not in the near future. If my prediction is correct, it will take another two months before the Jiannu invade the country."
When these words were spoken, all the civil and military officials in the court widened their eyes and looked at Chongzhen in disbelief.
In their view, the Jiannu could either enter the pass when the bandits had just retreated and the imperial court was in a state of disarray; or they could wait and enter the pass after they had settled the military and civilians in Liaodong and gained a firm foothold.
Where did the two months mentioned by the emperor come from?
Seeing the disbelieving eyes of the civil and military officials in the court, Chongzhen asked back: "Master Li, tell me, why did the Jiannu invade the pass so many times?"
Li Banghua answered without hesitation: "Your Majesty, there are three reasons!"
"One is to take advantage of the opportunity to rob the people and solve the problem of insufficient population in Liaodong and no one cultivating the land."
"The second is to plunder supplies, gold and silver, and then exchange them for what we need through border trade."
"Third, find out the strength of our army and seize the opportunity to destroy our effective forces."
Chongzhen nodded and said, "Mr. Li is right. The Jiannu invaders robbed two things. The first was people. The second was supplies. Supplies included gold, silver, ironware, cotton, linen, and food."
"It's the end of March now, and there are only two months left until mid-to-late May. Do you know what day mid-to-late May is?"
Shuntian Governor Wang Tingmei was startled at first, then he said, "Summer harvest!"
Chongzhen nodded, frowning.
In the north, crops are harvested three times every two years. Millet, sorghum, corn, soybeans and other crops are planted every summer, and wheat is planted after the autumn harvest.
Only after being induced by low temperatures in winter can it continue to grow in spring and be harvested in April or May of the lunar calendar.
The further north you go, the later the harvest time.
In the North China Plain, where Beijing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, is located, the summer harvest time is basically in mid-to-late May.
"If I were Fan Wencheng or Dorgon, I would definitely choose to dig through the Great Wall and enter the pass during this period. One is to rob food, and the other is to test the strength of our Ming army inside the pass."
"Or... imitate Li Zicheng's siege of Beijing!"
"As for Wu Sangui who is stationed at Shanhaiguan, Dorgon only needs to send troops to contain him so that he will have no time to look west."
Chongzhen expressed his concerns.
His worries were not without reason, as Dorgon and Fan Wencheng were not short-sighted people. Especially Fan Wencheng, the chief civil official had made an indelible contribution to the development of the Jiannu.
Who is Fan Wencheng?
Fan Wencheng, whose courtesy name is Xiandou, may not be known to many people, but his ancestor was a well-known figure.
Fan Zhongyan!
Yes, Fan Wencheng is the seventeenth generation grandson of Fan Zhongyan!
Fan Zhongyan fought against the Tartars all his life, but he would have thought that more than 500 years later, his 17th generation grandson would surrender to the Tartars.
If Fan Zhongyan knew about this, he would probably be so angry that he would open the coffin and slap him in the face.
Li Banghua's frown was even darker than Chongzhen's.
The emperor's concerns were not without reason. With the strategies of Dorgon and Fan Wencheng, they would definitely not miss this opportunity.
In other words, at the latest in two months, there will be a decisive battle between the Ming army and the Jiannu!
"The imperial edict to support the king cannot be withdrawn!" Li Banghua looked a little tired.
He had a feeling that there was no hope in life.
The Ming Dynasty had just defeated the bandits and now had to face the Jian Nu. It was really like a rainy day when it rained!
"We must first stabilize the country before we can resist foreign aggression! If we allow the armies to continue to march into the capital to defend the emperor, Zhang Xianzhong, Li Zicheng and their ilk will get a respite and become a serious threat to our dynasty!" Right Censor-in-Chief Fang Kezhuang could not help but say.
"Yes, Your Majesty, to fight against foreign enemies, we must first stabilize the country, otherwise we will be trapped both inside and outside!"
"Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng are the biggest threats to our dynasty. Although the Jiannu occupy Liaodong, they are blocked by Shanhaiguan and the Great Wall and cannot enter for a while."
Civil and military officials in the court all discovered this and expressed their opinions.
As expected, most people believe that before they can resist foreign aggression, they must first stabilize the domestic situation.
After all, if the problem of internal bandits is not resolved, external threats will be even more difficult to resolve under internal troubles.
This sentence sounds fine, but Chongzhen does not agree with it.
He traveled through time with his memories, and based on the two pieces of history in his memories, this statement does not hold water.
The first paragraph is about the late Qing Dynasty. The Eight Banners Army was unable to repel foreign aggressors and could not maintain domestic stability, so the Qing government ceded various territories and paid various indemnities, becoming a world-famous spendthrift.
The second period of history is the Republic of China. As we all know, the person who put forward this statement was beaten to Taiwan.
Practice is the only criterion for testing truth.
Two groups of people had examined him, and Chongzhen could not be so stubborn as to continue the examination.
In order to save time, he asked Gao Shiming to set off early, and the civil and military officials were still unaware of this.
Therefore, he had to propose the surrender of Zhang Xianzhong in the court, and then he could proceed openly.
Chongzhen glanced at Li Banghua and frowned slightly: "Everyone, do you think we can wipe out the bandits in two months?"
"It will take nearly two months for the army to go back and forth. If we withdraw the army now, what will happen if the Jiannu army sieges the city?"
"They are not Li Chuang! The Jiannu now has both the men and the cannons. Can the walls of the capital withstand the Jiannu's red cannons?"
"So I think the most urgent task is to appease the bandits, also known as uniting with the bandits to control the barbarians!"
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