"Your Majesty, are you going to the city gate tower today? The bandits failed in their sneak attack last night and lost three thousand soldiers. I guess Li Chuang was so angry that he attacked the city two quarters of an hour earlier than yesterday."
In the Qianqing Palace, Wang Chengen, who was helping Chongzhen get up, had a smile on his face as he spoke.
The bandits have basically not gained any advantage since they besieged the city.
Every day we either suffered heavy casualties or returned empty-handed.
The entire capital, including Wang Chengen, has recovered from the initial panic.
The bandits are nothing more than this, nothing to be afraid of.
Chongzhen shook his head. "I have done enough to defend the city. The rest will be left to the soldiers. I will go to Wenyuan Pavilion later. I have something to discuss with the cabinet."
"I will arrange the imperial carriage right away!" Wang Chengen went out and came back soon with a red account book in his hand.
He went straight to Chongzhen, knelt down and held the account book above his head: "Your Majesty, Jinyiwei Commander Li Ruolian sent someone to deliver news that last night Jinyiwei and Yongwei Battalion wiped out thousands of bandits and spies in the city and seized 2.16 million taels of silver. Here is the account book."
"What are the casualties in the Brave Guard Battalion?"
"There were no casualties. Commander Li had a red cannon set up at the door. Those who saw it surrendered without any resistance!"
"Not bad, not bad!" Chongzhen was very satisfied with Li Ruolian's growth.
Li Ruolian actually thought of a method that he had never thought of, which was much better than Wang Zhixin's.
Wang Zhixin was unworthy of being the governor of the East Factory. Last night, he and the Five Cities Army were besieging the bandits and spies' den and suffered more than a hundred casualties. If it weren't for the fact that he was still useful, I would have wanted to destroy him last night.
After breakfast, the imperial carriage arrived at Wenyuan Pavilion.
Fang Yuegong, Fan Jingwen, and Qiu Yu were all there. When they saw the emperor coming, they all knelt down and saluted.
Li Banghua, who was lying inside, also got the news. He was about to struggle to get up but was stopped by Chongzhen.
My fellow ministers, look at me. I see that you don’t know what the emperor is doing here.
Li Banghua said weakly while lying on the bed: "Your Majesty seems unhappy. I wonder if it is convenient for Your Majesty to say it out loud!"
"I am considering whether to move the capital..."
Move the capital?
These two words stunned everyone present.
Before the bandits besieged the city, the court was in chaos, the people were frightened, and the military morale was unstable, the emperor never considered moving the capital.
Now the capital city is strong and its artillery is powerful, the military and civilians are united as one, and there are also various armies rushing here to support the king.
It is really puzzling to talk about moving the capital at this moment.
Seeing that Li Banghua was about to speak, the governor of the Beijing Camp, Fan Jingwen, hurriedly spoke for him: "Your Majesty, the bandits have attacked the city for several days and have gained nothing except a pile of corpses. I dare not say more, but with the weapons we have now and the soldiers and civilians in the city, there will be no problem in holding out for ten days or half a month."
"When the time comes, the troops from all over the country will arrive and the bandits will be defeated!"
Fang Yuegong blinked and said, "Your Majesty should not be worried about the bandits."
"Not bandits?" Qiu Yu and Fan Jingwen looked at Fang Yuegong at the same time.
Fang Yuegong looked at Li Banghua mysteriously, feeling very proud of his guess.
After a moment, Fan Jingwen was shocked. He slapped his forehead and said, "Your Majesty, are you referring to... the Jiannu?"
Chongzhen nodded, "If the bandits can't capture Beijing, where will they go?"
Fan Jingwen reached out and took out a map, placed it on the table, and examined it carefully.
After a moment, he said, "I thought it was Xuanfu!"
Xuanfu was one of the nine important border towns in the Ming Dynasty.
The nine important border towns from east to west are Liaodong Town, Jizhou Town, Xuanfu Town, Datong Town, Shanxi Town, Yansui Town, Ningxia Town, Shaanxi Town, and Gansu Town.
Of these nine important border towns, except Liaodong which had just been abandoned, the other eight were in the hands of Li Zicheng.
"If we are more cautious, we might return to Datong!" Fan Jingwen added.
"This is what I am worried about! Once Li Zicheng withdraws his troops, the Jiannu in Liaodong will probably go through Mongolia and surround the capital like they did in the second year of Chongzhen. They are no longer the Eight Banners soldiers of more than ten years ago. With the artillery technology brought by Kong Youde, a strong city alone can no longer stop them."
Fan Jingwen pointed to Shanhaiguan on the map and said, "Your Majesty, Shanhaiguan is only 600 miles away from the capital. Even if the Jiannu surrounded the capital, Wu Sangui's Guanning Army would be able to rush to the capital in the first place. The Guanning Army is the elite of our Ming army and will definitely be able to stop the Jiannu."
Chongzhen didn't say anything, but just stared at him fiercely.
It seemed to be asking: The bandits have surrounded the capital for so long, where is Wu Sangui? Where is the shadow of the Guanning Army?
The Guanning Army is indeed capable of fighting, but not as capable as Fan Jingwen said.
According to official history, after Li Zicheng captured Beijing, he led his troops to the Shanhaiguan area and fought fiercely with Wu Sangui's Guanning Army at Yipanshi.
Without the help of the Eight Banners Army, Wu Sangui's Guanning Army would have no chance of defeating Li Zicheng.
In the Battle of Yipanshi, Li Zicheng had a total of 80,000 troops, including 20,000 troops led by Tang Tong and Bai Guangen, who made a detour to cut off Wu Sangui's retreat.
There were only 40,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry on the front battlefield, most of whom were from the northwest border of the Ming army.
How many troops did Wu Sangui have?
There were 50,000 Guanning troops, plus 10,000 troops led by Gao Di, the general of Shanhaiguan, and 30,000 temporarily recruited militiamen.
Sixty thousand against ninety thousand, the Guanning Army was defeated, some died and some surrendered.
Is the Guanning Army very strong?
Fan Jingwen knew that he had said the wrong thing and did not dare to continue.
Li Banghua was silent for a long time, then slowly said: "I think your majesty is considering this, but the matter of moving the capital is of great importance and needs to be considered carefully."
"In fact... the Jian Nu may not dare to go through Mongolia to besiege the capital because the current situation is too complicated."
"Li Zicheng occupies the northwest, Wu Sangui guards Shanhaiguan, and other armies are on the way. It is not wise to besiege the capital at this time."
Chongzhen looked at Li Banghua and smiled faintly: "Lord Li, why do you think Wu Sangui hasn't come yet? Is it because their horses can't run fast enough, or did they encounter an obstacle on the way?"
Li Banghua stopped talking too.
Chongzhen's implication was very clear: if Wu Sangui really wanted to come, he would have come long ago.
It's impossible that he hasn't come yet.
"On the surface, this Guanning Army is my Guanning Army, the Guanning Army of the Ming Dynasty, but in fact it has long been Wu Sangui's private army. The reason they haven't come yet is simply because they are afraid that if they come too early there will be a war, and that people will die in the war, so they want to preserve their strength!" Chongzhen pointed out.
"Wu Sangui behaved like this when he encountered bandits. Would he behave better when he encountered the Jian Nu? I don't think so!"
"So I won't count on them, but I won't give up on them either."
"So I have been thinking these days...If Li Zicheng retreats, what should I and the capital do?"
Li Banghua, Fan Jingwen, Qiu Yu, and Fang Yuegong were stunned by Chongzhen's analysis.
The four of them stayed where they were, unable to calm down their inner shock for a long time.
yes!
Your Majesty's analysis is well-reasoned, and each sentence has its own logic when taken apart.
Especially the analysis of the current situation is so thorough.
Especially the Jiannu, if they really march straight in and besiege the capital, what should we do then?
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