On March 29, the first year of Yongchang, when he learned that Wu Sangui betrayed Dashun for the first time on the grounds that Chen concubine was looted. After returning to the army to attack Shanhaiguan, Li Zicheng ordered Tang Tong to lead the troops of Juyongguan who surrendered with him, and rewarded 40,000 silver, as well as Wu Sangui's father's handwritten letter to Shanhaiguan, which led to Gong Yong's second surrender narrated.

After Wu Sangui handed over Shanhaiguan to Tang Tong, he and the envoy sent by Li Zicheng headed to Beijing. After the second surrender, Wu Sangui posted an Anmin notice in Yongping and other places, declaring that he was "the commander's troops to meet the new lord, and he did not violate anything, so the people should not be frightened." Deng Ming heard this and realized that he had confused Wu Sangui's two surrenders. The rebellion on Chen Yuanyuan's grounds turned out to be before the second surrender.

"When I saw the thieves handing over the Shanhaiguan and posting the list along the way, the envoy thought that the major event was settled. Seeing that it was not far from Beijing, I hurried back to Beijing to report good news to the emperor. On the night of April 3, the envoy left his camp after camping in Shahe. It was already April 4th. At that time, I was also on his side. After hearing the report, the emperor rewarded the envoy heavily, thinking that the affairs of the mountains and seas were completely safe." Although Gong Yan did not say it clearly, Deng Ming could hear that at this time, the despise of the monarch and ministers of Dashun had reached its peak. He thought that all Wu Sangui's worries had been eliminated, and as long as Chen Yuanyuan was in hand, he could force him to surrender - because at this time, the people of Li Zicheng's group believed that Wu Sangui was just a vulgar martial man with no ambition and extremely greedy women.

"On April 5, when someone reported that Emperor Wu Sangui once again rebelled back to Shanhaiguan, the emperor also blamed the person who reported the news, saying that they were confused and actually reported the incident on March 25 as something that had just happened. What made the emperor even more angry was that the local response was slow, and the military affairs would be delayed for so long - it was not until the court responded and persuaded Wu Sangui to surrender again. At that time, the emperor denounced Niu Pingzhang and asked if his subordinates felt that the world had been settled and could neglect. If this was not the court's other capable and loyal officials, wouldn't it delay the major affairs? At that time, Niu Pingzhang had to sue the crime, saying that he would definitely punish his subordinates and not neglect the king's affairs." Gong Yan's remarks were already sighing.

"No one expected Wu Sangui to rebel again, and he acted exactly the same as a few days ago." Deng Ming asked.

"Who could have thought?" Gong Yan smiled bitterly. Li Zicheng's envoy left, and Wu Sangui plundered in Shahe for four days, and then returned to Shanhaiguan at night, defeated the unprepared Tang Tong, and wiped out Dashun's army stationed in Shanhaiguan for the second time.

After this rebellion, Wu Sangui issued the famous manifesto: "My father corrected the prince's ministers and was ashamed of a woman. Since his father could not be a loyal minister, how could his son be a filial son? Gui and his father decided to be a father. Please come today." It was this manifesto that won Wu Sangui's wide praise from the Southern Ming Dynasty. Deng Ming couldn't help but think of the letter that Zheng Chenggong and Zheng Zhilong made a decision, which also showed signs of imitating Wu Sangui's manifesto, because until then, the Shilin of the Southern Ming Dynasty generally believed that Wu Sangui had many difficulties and had no choice.

"It was not until April 6 that the news that Shanhaiguan was attacked by Wu thieves again came that the emperor was shocked." Gong Yong told Deng Ming that when Li Zicheng found that he was deceived twice by Wu Sangui using the same method, causing the Dashun army that went to accept Shanhaiguan to be eliminated by Wu Sangui twice because they lost their vigilance, they were imprisoned in anger: "The emperor decided not to persuade him to surrender, but to launch an army to attack Wu Sangui and completely defeat this capricious villain."

"It should be," Deng Ming asked himself that if he was cheated twice, he would never try the third time, and he must avenge the soldiers who were attacked. But he had just heard clearly that Gong Yong had said that there was a third time: "What happened later?"

"After the emperor imprisoned Wu Xiang on the sixth day, he immediately ordered the generals around Beijing to gather troops, reserve grain and grass, and prepare to personally conquer Shanhaiguan. The date of the expedition was seven days later." Gong Yong sighed again: "But on the 12th day, the emergency military information from Liaodong was sent to Beijing."

“What is it?”

"Intellect, the Tartars raised their troops from Chenyang on the eighth day of the lunar month, intending to invade from Juyong Pass." This information changed everything. Half an hour after receiving the report, Li Zicheng ordered the release of Wu Xiang again and sent troops a day in advance: "In addition to Wu Xiang, the emperor also ordered the crown prince of Chongzhen and Chen concubine of Wu Sangui to be brought into the army."

"The King of Chuang regards the Tartars as the leader of the enemy, so hesitates again and once again has the idea of ​​persuading Wu Sangui surrender." Hearing this, Deng Ming still doesn't understand, but when he sends troops, Li Zicheng is not sure how the next situation will evolve, so he brings all the important people he thinks are to Wu Sangui in the army. Gong Yong and others believe that the situation may have four directions of development: the Qing army invades from Juyong Pass, and Wu Sangui is neutral, so that after blocking the Qing army, he can use his victory to threaten Wu Sangui who is trapped in Shanhai Pass after blocking the Qing army. ; Or, Wu Sangui borrowed troops from Dorgon and raised troops to join the Qing army when Qingshun confronted Juyongguan. In that case, he needed to use the hostages that Wu Sangui valued to threaten him; the third possibility was that Wu Sangui returned to Beijing while the main force of the Shun army was heading to Shanhaiguan. In this case, these people were also needed to make Wu Sangui throw himself into a jealous weapon; the worst case was that Wu Sangui reached an agreement with the Qing army to lead the Qing army from Shanhaiguan to the mainland. No matter in any situation, Wu Sangui was the most critical figure.

"Yes." Gong Yong nodded.

Li Zicheng left Beijing early on the 12th, instead of going straight to Shanhaiguan, he went to Tongzhou first, and then sent troops to Miyun, pointing to Juyongguan instead of Shanhaiguan! Because after Dorgon set out from Chenyang on the 9th, he did not walk to Jinzhou, Ningyuan, the western Liaoning Corridor, but went west to enter the Mongolian controlled area in the south of the desert, and also used Juyongguan as a breakthrough.

"On the 16th, the emperor arrived in Miyun, and then another urgent report came. The Tartars seemed to have an attempt to turn to the Liaoxi Corridor and go straight to Shanhaiguan." Gong Yan's beard trembled slightly. Even after twenty years, he still remembered it freshly, and his days were not bad: "The situation is developing to the worst. The emperor judged that Wu Sangui might have reached an agreement with the Tartars. Once he gave up Shanhaiguan, he would join forces with the Tartars. Therefore, the emperor immediately ordered the entire army to turn around, and travel day and night from Miyun to Sanhe and go straight to Shanhaiguan. In any case, he had to cut off the passage of the Tartars into Shanhaiguan in front of the Tartars. But we delayed for two days because of detours through Miyun."

"The King of Chuang knew that the Tartars were a great enemy." At this point, Deng Ming finally confirmed that Li Zicheng not only knew the Qing army's intention to attack, but was also very vigilant. In many books that Deng Ming had read, it was said that the Qing army appeared in Shanhaiguan completely beyond Li Zicheng's expectations. For example, Mr. Jin Yong's famous description is: When the Qing army suddenly appeared in the vision of the Shun army, the Shun army, who were completely unprepared, shouted "The Braided Soldiers are here", and then they scattered. Master Jin Yong even more admired that the Braided Soldiers were a symbol of invincibility in the world at that time, and just showed their faces to scare the Shun army and fled.

But whether it was Gong Yan's description or Li Zicheng's marching route, it all showed that the Shun Army had the Qing army as the primary imaginary enemy from beginning to end, and even turning to Shanhaiguan to deal with Wu Sangui was a military adjustment to the Qing army's military operations. If Dorgon had not turned at Wu Sangui's request, Li Zicheng would have changed his strategy against Wu Sangui again due to the threat of the Qing army.

On the 17th, the vanguard of the Shun Army arrived in Yongping, and Wu Sangui asked for negotiation again. Li Zicheng judged that this was Wu Sangui's delayed strategy and ordered the detention of Wu Sangui's envoy Li Chixian to attack the Wu army in Yongping. Although the Shun Army did not sleep all night, after a long day of fierce fighting, it still conquered the Wu army's camp; on the 19th, the Shun Army vanguard arrived at the periphery of Shanhaiguan; on the 20th, the Shun Army began to attack the north and south wings outside Shanhaiguan.

"On the 21st, the emperor arrived at Shanhaiguan and immediately ordered the army to go around the Great Wall and attack Dongluo City from a stone. Dongluo City is the acropolis leading to Ningyuan Avenue. If the Tatars were to approach Shanhaiguan, they had to pass by. At that time, they were probing horses and reported that there was no trace of the Tatars outside Dongluo City. The emperor breathed a sigh of relief. I remember very clearly that the emperor's face, which had been tense for two days and two nights, suddenly slowed down. He said to us: 'I finally arrived in time.' At that time, we all thought we had arrived in time."

It was not until the evening of the 21st that Dorgon's vanguard arrived fifteen miles outside Dongluo City. After learning that the Qing army's vanguard appeared, Li Zicheng ordered again not to rest, and the entire army attacked Dongluo City, and it was necessary to cut off the possible channels between the Qing army and Wu Sangui.

From the night of the 21st to the early morning of the 22nd, the Shun Army, which launched an attack on Dongluo City from a stone, broke through the outer defense of the city. It was Ye Qing Army who heard the sound of cannons in Dongluo City all day long, but the Qing army who had just arrived did not know the truth and did not take any action. Instead, they further asked Dorgon who was rushing to ask.

Dorgon also did not understand the situation of Shanhaiguan. At this moment, he did not even know whether the Shun army had already attacked Shanhaiguan, nor did he know whether the battle in Dongluo City was the end of the Shanhaiguan battle or the prelude. Therefore, until this time, the situation was still weak, which was beneficial to the Shun army. Wu Sangui's envoy for help was trapped in Dongluo City. Although he was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, he could not contact Dorgon.

In Deng Ming's previous life, the record of the defense war in Dongluo City was as follows: the offensive of the Shun Army, which had already attacked the city wall in the early morning of the 22nd, suddenly stopped and retreated to a stone. The defender Leng Yundeng, who survived the disaster, immediately sent someone to contact Dorgon. The explanation for defending the castle was that the treacherous bandits suddenly fell into the city, which was God's help to the Wu army and the "king army"; and after the Yishui War, when the Qing court formed the Ministry of War formed by the Qing court in Beijing asked Wu Sangui to explain his merits as his subordinates, Wu Sangui was vague. Finally, after the Ministry of War repeatedly asked, Wu Sangui replied that the process of the battle was clearly understood, so he would not need to elaborate on it.

"I don't understand, I don't understand at all." When Gong Yong's narration came to this, Deng Ming was completely confused.

Gong Yong did not explain immediately, but asked Deng Ming whether Liu Tichun had said the story of Shanhaiguan.

"I knew that General Liu was strict in military discipline, and he returned the entire division and almost no loss of troops." He preserved most of the troops in the disastrous defeat, which was of course a very remarkable ability. Later, Huaiqing and others counterattacked by Liu Tichun's complete military strength and Yuan Zongjie's troops transferred from Huguang urgently. Deng Ming highly praised Liu Tichun's performance in the Battle of Shanhaiguan and believed that this was worthy of a special book, but Liu Tichun himself never discussed it in detail. Deng Ming privately believed that this was probably because Liu Tichun was unwilling to talk about this disastrous defeat.

"It is not that the generals have lost almost no loss, but that they have lost one person and one horse." Gong Yong said meaningfully.

Deng Ming's expression suddenly changed, because this statement completely overturned Liu Tichun's performance in the battle between Shanhaiguan, but he could not believe that Liu Tichun would be the one who escaped at the last moment. If he really did this, he would never continue to gain Li Zicheng's trust, which was completely inconsistent with Liu Tichun's previous and subsequent performances. And even if he escaped at the last moment, how could he do it without losing one person or one horse?

"Because this is Wu Sangui's third surrender. Well, the word surrender is wrong. It should be more accurate to use the 'contract'." Gong Yan's face was completely painful: "The emperor believed Wu Sangui for the last time, and the result was our army's defeat. Before the defeat, General Zheng had been ordered to stop advancing and returned to Beijing..."

"You, King of Chuang, have you actually negotiated peace with Wu Sangui?" Deng Ming's surprise now cannot be described in words.

"Yes, Wu Sangui said that as long as he returns the crown prince to him, and Beijing, and let him be the regent of the Ming Dynasty, he will fight the Tartars side by side. By the way, his concubine Chen."

"Prince, Beijing!" Deng Ming stood up and shouted incredibly: "How is this possible?"

"The King of Chuang agreed." Gong Yan said in a low voice: "We handed over Chen concubine and the prince to Wu Sangui, and even Wu Xiang was willing to hand over to him. Wu Sangui said that in order to prove his sincerity, he could let his father stay in our army first, and he left only the prince and Chen concubine. In addition, Beijing, the King of Chuang agreed to return it to him."

This alliance under the city that occurred on the 22nd was found in "Guoqi", "Mingji Beiluo" and "Pingkoo Zhi". The most detailed record was left by Wang Yongzhang. As the eunuch who escorted the prince and Chen concubine in the Shun army, he left behind the full text of the oath between Li Zicheng and Wu Sangui.

"It's your city alliance. When you attack the city, why are all in favor of Wu Sangui?" Deng Ming asked loudly, but after a moment he realized: "The King of Chuang knew that he could not deal with Wu Sangui and the Tartars at the same time. Even if he forced his capture of Shanhaiguan, he was exhausted and could not deal with Dorgon who was close to him. Therefore, the attack on Dongluo City was already a bluff, and he was forced to make peace by war."

Gong Yan silently agreed that Shanhaiguan's external defense ability is far stronger than that of the internal one. Li Zicheng chose to attack Dongluo City instead of taking down the north and south wings and attacking Shanhaiguan's city, which had already exposed the enemy he was really worried about, because even if he took down Dongluo City, he still had to face Shanhaiguan, and this was the most indestructible side of Shanhaiguan. Even Deng Ming, who had never been to Shanhaiguan, could figure out the truth in a short time. Wu Sangui must have realized that he was still holding important bargaining chips, and he used this to achieve the results he wanted when Li Zicheng needed it the most.

"But Wu Sangui immediately broke the contract. You were not being attacked by sneak attacks, you were retreating, or you were being pursued by Wu Sangui taking advantage of the 'victory' when adjusting the military deployment!"—

The author's note: There are many doubts in the battle of Shanhaiguan, and the process is confusing. For example, Li Zicheng mentioned that he decided to swear to attack Shanhaiguan on the 13th, but suddenly sent troops to Miyun on the 12th. Then Li Zicheng's march route, and Li Zicheng's choice to attack Shanhaiguan, the strange changes in the offensive and defensive battle of a stone to Dongluo City, as well as many people mentioned the 22nd oath and its original text, etc. The author lists these doubts one by one, and then strings them together according to the speculations of this book. The upper and lower parts of this section use Gong Yan's mouth to express this speculation route. Because the author thinks that this speculation seems to make various incomprehensible doubts understandable. As for Chen Yuanyuan as an excuse before Wu Sangui's first deceiving surrender

The real purpose is to gain more time for the second fraudulent surrender. This is also my understanding. I think it is more credible than Wu Sangui. This section will also involve some doubts about Li Zicheng around this period. If according to the Qing Dynasty historians, there are too many doubts that are simply incomprehensible. Especially after Li Zicheng returned to Beijing and released Wu Xiang again and arrested and executed again in two days, which is too incredible. The author thinks that if the speculation of this book is true, then Li Zicheng's strategy will be clearly visible. Each choice and reaction, including the release mentioned above, is natural to execute Wu Xiang. If readers have different opinions, please feel free to discuss it in the book review area. The book is just a one-on-one opinion, because this history is too vague.
Chapter completed!