sovbooks Chapter 114 Turning Point
Chapter 114 Turning Point
After Li Zicheng's wedding was over, Zhao Sheng quickly took his leave and returned to Baode.
A few days later, just as Zhao Sheng had predicted, Gao Yingxiang directly promoted Xing Shouren, making him the leader of the rebel army, second only to Liu Zhe, Huang Long, and Li Zicheng, and also entrusting him with command of a portion of the troops in Baode.
In this way, Xing Shouren's strength expanded instantly.
Originally, Xing Shouren, who was Zhao Sheng's subordinate and only had nearly a thousand soldiers under his command, was nothing special. But now that several units were under his command, his army suddenly grew to nearly three thousand men.
Although he was still far from matching Zhao Sheng's strength, with his increased troop numbers, Zhao Sheng was beginning to find it increasingly difficult to suppress him. Moreover, he was now not only Li Zicheng's father-in-law but also Gao Yingxiang's in-law, a position that was different from before.
Zhou Lun was fully aware of these circumstances in Hequ, but he was powerless to do anything about it.
He had previously paid a heavy price to ease tensions with Gao Yingxiang. However, with Li Zicheng's rise in the rebel army, Zhou Lun's status declined further, which greatly worried him.
Although he had long planned to leave and understood that going to Baode was the best way out, he dared not mention it or make any arrangements to leave under Gao Yingxiang's watchful eye.
Having spent over a year with Gao Yingxiang, he had come to understand him quite well. Gao Yingxiang was decisive, shrewd, and appeared fair and just on the surface, but was actually extremely calculating.
Gao Yingxiang already had a negative opinion of him, and was not only wary of him but also gave him warnings in various ways. Once he made a move to break away, based on his understanding of Gao Yingxiang, Gao Yingxiang would harden his heart and wouldn't care whether he was his nephew-in-law or not, not even if he was his own son-in-law.
Helpless, Zhou Lun could only continue to patiently wait for an opportunity. Moreover, Gao Guiying's belly was quite large at this time, and she was due to give birth in just over a month. Leaving now meant he couldn't take her with him.
The journey was bumpy, and both the mother and the unborn child were exhausted. Under these circumstances, the only thing he could do was to keep a low profile and hope that things would turn around.
Just as Zhou Lun was thinking this, he didn't expect the turning point to come so quickly.
Huang Taiji led the Eight Banners troops to besiege the capital.
The Ming Dynasty first lost its general Zhao Shuaijiao in the battle of Jizhou. Then, Yuan Chonghuan, the supervising general of Jiliao, not only failed to stop the Eight Banners from entering the pass, but also played no role at all in Huang Taiji's southward march after he broke through the Great Wall. He even watched as his allies fought against the Eight Banners without providing support.
Such outrageous behavior finally angered Emperor Chongzhen. When Yuan Chonghuan was stationed in the capital and even demanded to bring troops into the city, Chongzhen could no longer hold back. He summoned him to the palace and asked him several questions in front of everyone, demanding that he answer truthfully.
Faced with the emperor's questioning, Yuan Chonghuan was speechless and unable to defend himself.
Emperor Chongzhen was furious and immediately ordered the arrest of Yuan Chonghuan. This action led to a mutiny among the Liaodong army, led by Zu Dashou. Zu Dashou, disregarding the crisis in the capital, abandoned his post and led his troops away, preparing to return to Liaodong. This caused an uproar among Emperor Chongzhen and his court officials, who could hardly believe it was true.
Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, nothing like this has ever happened.
As the commander-in-chief of the imperial army, he not only watched helplessly as the enemy broke through the walls and entered the pass, directly attacking the capital, but when the emperor punished him, his troops actually mutinied and disobeyed the imperial orders? Isn't such behavior equivalent to the separatist warlordism at the end of the Tang Dynasty?
When Emperor Chongzhen learned of this, he was terrified and could only send someone to ask Yuan Chonghuan to write a letter to persuade Zu Dashou. Later, Yuan Chonghuan persuaded Zu Dashou, who had already fled far away, to return with just one letter, which made Emperor Chongzhen even more suspicious of Yuan Chonghuan.
In addition to Yuan Chonghuan's previous actions, including the unauthorized killing of Mao Wenlong, the commander of Pi Island, Emperor Chongzhen deeply suspected that Yuan had secretly defected to the enemy, or at least that he was effectively establishing a separatist regime and harboring rebellious intentions. Therefore, he ordered the Three Judicial Offices to thoroughly investigate and interrogate Yuan Chonghuan.
But with the war in the capital looming, they couldn't ignore it.
On the advice of some officials, Emperor Chongzhen decided to temporarily reinstate Sun Chengzong, the former imperial tutor and Grand Secretary who had long since retired to his hometown, to lead various departments and resolve the crisis in the capital.
Although General Man Gui had already died in battle when Sun Chengzong received the imperial decree to come out of seclusion, Zu Dashou's Liaodong army was ambiguous in its attitude and did not put in any real effort, and the troops that came from afar to support the emperor were like a pile of loose sand with extremely poor combat effectiveness, Sun Chengzong was still Sun Chengzong after all.
His experience and prestige were unmatched by ordinary people, especially given his years of fighting against the Later Jin and his exceptional understanding of the Eight Banners. Under his arrangements, the Ming army quickly developed discipline, transforming from initial chaos into order.
Sun Chengzong directed his troops to adjust their tactics, advance steadily and cautiously, and suppress Huang Taiji's activities in the capital region. He sought no merit but only to avoid mistakes, and did not give Huang Taiji any opportunity to defeat them one by one.
At this time, Huang Taiji had been besieging the capital for more than a month and fighting along the Great Wall for nearly three months. As the Ming army began to operate in an orderly manner under the command of Sun Chengzong, he inevitably felt the pressure.
Moreover, after entering the pass, the Eight Banners marched south, committing atrocities of burning, killing, looting, and plundering, seizing a large number of people and supplies, which were subsequently transported back to Liaodong, alleviating the local famine. Seeing that continuing the attack on the capital was no longer feasible, and with Sun Chengzong's tactics gradually proving effective, Huang Taiji realized that if the campaign continued in the capital, the Eight Banners might face peril if the main Ming army surrounded them. Therefore, Huang Taiji completely abandoned the idea of continuing the attack and decided to lead his troops back to Liaodong.
As soon as the Eight Banners retreated, Sun Chengzong saw an opportunity. He ordered his troops to pursue and chase them, and personally led the main force on horseback to encircle them, arriving at Jizhou ahead of them to fight a major battle with a part of the Eight Banners.
Although the battle failed to annihilate the enemy, it resulted in the capture of some of the plundered people and supplies from the Eight Banners, thus achieving victory.
Forced by Sun Chengzong's flexible tactics and the Ming army's counterattack, Huang Taiji avoided battle to minimize losses and escaped the encirclement before the Ming army could close in, fleeing the Great Wall.
Although Sun Chengzong was very disappointed with the result, he had done a pretty good job considering the current situation.
After all, the combat effectiveness of the various units he commanded was uneven, and after the deaths of Zhao Shuaijiao and Man Gui, he had no capable generals under his command. In addition, he had been retired for many years, and his influence in the army was not what it used to be. The fact that the battle could be fought to this extent was already the limit.
After the war, Sun Chengzong planned to integrate the various forces, especially to reorganize the Liaodong army and further strengthen the Jiliao defense line to prevent the Eight Banners from repeating their old tricks of breaching the Great Wall. At the same time, he also planned to make comprehensive adjustments to the Ming army, launching a counterattack against Liaodong from Shanhaiguan as a base, to teach Huang Taiji a lesson.
But at this moment, Emperor Chongzhen suddenly changed his mind. Perhaps feeling that Huang Taiji had retreated, the siege of the capital had been lifted, and his safety was no longer a problem, the ever-suspicious and distrustful Chongzhen worried that Sun Chengzong was becoming too powerful and threatening his throne and the Ming Dynasty. So he directly sent people to seize Sun Chengzong's military power.
In his view, Sun Chengzong's prestige was too high. He had no choice but to use him in the first place. Now that the Eight Banners had withdrawn, he was really not at ease continuing to use this old man.
If he were to refuse to leave, controlling the Ji-Liao army and all the troops sent to defend the emperor, his power would be immense. With such a powerful minister in his presence, Emperor Chongzhen would likely not sleep soundly at night.
As a result, Chongzhen issued several decrees, not only rejecting Sun Chengzong's suggestion to reorganize the army, but also sending eunuchs and officials to the front line as military supervisors, governors, and inspectors to divide Sun Chengzong's military power, and even finding several reasons to directly sideline him.
Sun Chengzong's fervent patriotism was met with such suspicion, which chilled the old man to the bone. At that moment, he finally understood that the Chongzhen Emperor and his disciple, the Tianqi Emperor, were two different kinds of people.
If Emperor Tianqi, his disciple, was an exceptionally intelligent emperor who was good at employing people and dared to delegate power, then Emperor Chongzhen was a self-righteous, distrustful, stubborn, and short-sighted ruler.
Serving under such an emperor is by no means a good thing, especially since he is now feared by Chongzhen. If he continues to cling to his position, he will surely meet a bad end.
The shrewd and experienced Sun Chengzong saw through the situation clearly and was disheartened. Just as Chongzhen was making these arrangements, he seized the opportunity to submit a memorial, stating that he was old and frail, and that his previous service had exhausted his energy. Now that the enemy had retreated, he had no intention of continuing to serve and voluntarily requested to retire to his hometown, pleading with the emperor to grant his request.
Upon receiving the memorial, Emperor Chongzhen was overjoyed. Sun Chengzong's tact and understanding were naturally the best possible outcome.
He didn't want to use harsh methods against this old man, after all, Sun Chengzong's reputation, status, and identity were completely different from other officials, and he couldn't just dismiss and investigate him casually. Now that Sun Chengzong had taken the initiative to back down, he couldn't be happier. He immediately agreed to the request, even going so far as to give him the due recognition and a considerable amount of gold and silver, before sending him back to retire.
After dealing with Sun Chengzong, Chongzhen sent someone to replace him, and then he remembered the situation in Shaanxi.
With the crisis of Huang Taiji's siege over gone, he began to settle scores. Previously, he hadn't been able to attend to the chaos in Shaanxi, but now things were different. After understanding Yang He's actions in Shaanxi, Chongzhen was furious, immediately stripping him of his post as Governor-General of the Three Border Regions and sending men to arrest him and bring him to the capital for imprisonment and trial.
As for the position of Governor-General of the Three Border Regions, he decided to appoint Hong Chengchou, who had performed well in Hancheng, to take over.
Upon receiving the imperial decree, Hong Chengchou was saddened by the tragic end of his former superior, Yang He, and also worried about the situation in Shaanxi. He wrote a lengthy memorial and sent it to the capital, carefully explaining the dire situation in Shaanxi and the reasons for it. He also told Emperor Chongzhen that the reason why the rebels were difficult to suppress was mainly due to insufficient military strength, in addition to the lack of money and food.
Although the Governor-General of the Three Border Regions wielded considerable power and could mobilize border troops, he was currently facing a predicament: in addition to local garrisons, he also had to guard against Mongol raids along the Great Wall. The local garrisons and border troops were unreliable, and he lacked a single elite and capable force. He hoped that Emperor Chongzhen would consider the actual situation and provide support, ideally by sending an elite force, especially elite cavalry, to support Shaanxi. This would give him a better chance of dealing with the rebel army.
After reading the memorial, Emperor Chongzhen agreed with it, and Hong Chengchou's words were exactly what he wanted to hear.
As for the cavalry issue, he immediately thought of Zu Dashou's Liaodong army.
Because of Zu Dashou's actions, he sensed that Yuan Chonghuan's command of the Ji-Liao region had created a risk of the Liaodong army slipping out of central control. Therefore, he reasoned that it would be better to use the Shaanxi incident as an opportunity to issue an edict to transfer a portion of the Liaodong cavalry into the pass to suppress bandits. This would not only weaken the threat posed by the Liaodong army but also solve the problem of insufficient troop strength and combat effectiveness in Shaanxi.
The wise Emperor Chongzhen thought it over and over and found it to be a good idea. He immediately issued an edict to transfer Cao Wenzhao, the Liaodong general who had just won the battle to defend the capital and was promoted to the rank of deputy general, and his cavalry troops. He transferred them from the Liaodong army to the Yansui East Route Army and appointed them as deputy commanders-in-chief. At the same time, he appointed Hong Chengchou as the governor of the three border regions to temporarily take charge of the military affairs in Shanxi, and Cao Wenzhao led his troops into Shanxi to cooperate in the encirclement and suppression of Gao Yingxiang's forces.