Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 515 Going back on one's word
It was only then that Emperor Chongzhen realized his previous mistake. Because he was too worried about the safety of the capital, he concentrated all the troops in the capital, but did not provide enough food or properly accommodate the troops. He was also smart enough to be afraid that these troops would cause trouble, so he came up with the bad idea of ​​constantly changing the defenses.

Now the bad consequences appeared. Shanxi Army and Yansui Army mutinied one after another. Apart from these two armies, other armies also had similar situations. What was even more frightening was that the Gansu Border Army, which had not yet arrived at the capital, mutinied and killed officials on the way. They first killed the leading general, then occupied the county town and killed the county magistrate and officials in the city. Finally, those chaotic soldiers even went so far as to rebel. This was something that had never been heard of since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

How could Emperor Chongzhen sit still in the face of such a situation? If he was worried before that there were too few troops to support the emperor, and he was not safe in the capital, then now he began to worry that there were too many troops to support the emperor, and he was also not safe in the capital.

What if the troops outside the city all mutinied and rebelled like the Gansu troops, and turned around and attacked the capital? You have to know that the troops outside the city still have more than 80,000 people, including the Shanxi and Yansui troops that have already fled. Moreover, most of these troops are elite frontier troops, and even the garrison troops are the most capable among the garrison troops. If these troops unite to rebel, the power of the Beijing camp in the capital will not be able to stop them. If this really happens, how can he, the emperor, keep his throne?
The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became. Emperor Chongzhen quickly called together the cabinet elders and the Minister of War to discuss the matter. Everyone rushed to the palace to meet. Faced with such a situation, everyone was secretly grumbling in their hearts, but they had different opinions on how to deal with it.

Some people suggested that the food problem of the troops outside the city should be solved as soon as possible, and the court should first meet the food and fodder needs of various departments.

Others suggested sending officials out of the city to appease the various tribes. If there is not enough food, give them some silver first. No matter what, stability is the top priority.

Some people also suggested that the capital did not need so many troops to support the king at the moment. It was heard that several troops were still on the way. It would be even more troublesome to wait for them to arrive. It would be better to order the troops that had not yet arrived to go back. Anyway, Huang Taiji had already left the capital and was attacking Shanhaiguan. The most critical time for the capital had passed. Why should so many troops continue to stay in the capital?
This statement was agreed by most people, and the Ministry of War also agreed, suggesting that Emperor Chongzhen disband part of the troops to support the emperor in order to reduce the instability outside the city. In addition, didn't Sun Chengzong say before that he hoped that part of the troops in the capital would be mobilized to the north? It would be better to give the part of them to Sun Chengzong and let them go to the north to fight the Jiannu.

As long as these troops were given to Sun Chengzong, it would be Sun Chengzong's responsibility to decide how to place them, and the capital would also be able to get rid of this burden.

After listening to everyone's words, Emperor Chongzhen felt that there was some truth in them. He thought about it and decided that all these suggestions could be adopted. Emperor Chongzhen immediately ordered three things to be done.

The first thing he did was to send an order to the troops that were heading to the capital to defend the king, telling them that they no longer needed to come to the capital and should turn around and return to their original base.

The second thing was to let some of the troops that were already in the capital move north quickly, either to Tongzhou or Jizhou, and hand them over to Sun Chengzong's command.

As for the last thing, it is about the remaining troops. Except for the remnants of Hei Yunlong's Xuanda Army and the Guanning Army and two troops in better condition stationed in the capital, the remaining troops will be allowed to go back. In this way, the current problem can be solved.

When these three decisions were made, everyone expressed admiration and said that Your Majesty was wise. Hearing the approval of his ministers, Emperor Chongzhen could not help but feel proud and satisfied with his actions. He also thought of a more important point, that is, after sending most of the troops away, the capital would no longer need to allocate food to them, and even the promised military pay and rewards could be evaded completely.

In this way, wouldn't the court save money and grain? Emperor Chongzhen was really smart. Only he could come up with such a good idea.

Was there a problem with Emperor Chongzhen's decision? Was there any deficiency? Officials in the cabinet and the Ministry of War knew it very well, but no one reminded him. Everyone knew what kind of person this emperor was. He was arrogant and self-willed, suspicious and liked to be smart.

The troops outside were indeed a problem. It was not easy to properly solve these problems. The emperor had already made his decision, so why bother trying to dissuade and remind him? If one accidentally angered Emperor Chongzhen, he would not only be angry, but he might even take the opportunity to throw the job to him. Wouldn't that be life-threatening?

This is not an easy job! If the court had enough money and the emperor was clear-headed, the problem would not be too big, but now that Emperor Chongzhen has shown this attitude, why should I waste my time and energy? We are all experienced officials who have studied hard for ten years and have made our way to where we are today. It is absolutely impossible for us to force ourselves to stand out in this situation. Why bother? Why bother?
In this way, the court determined its opinion on the various departments that were supporting the king in just half a day. As the edict from the capital was issued, the various departments outside the city that were supporting the king soon received orders.

When these orders were delivered to the commanders of various divisions, everyone was dumbfounded. They had never expected the court to be like this, and they had never expected that they would get such a result after leading troops from thousands of miles to rescue the emperor. No matter how much merit they had, they had worked hard, right? Now they were sent away without any benefits? It was easy to come, but difficult to go back. Most of the troops were short of food. Not to mention the distance they had to walk back on their own, the problem was how could they go back without food?

As for going north to join forces with Sun Chengzong? That's even more ridiculous! Who doesn't know that Sun Chengzong is leading his troops to fight the Jiannu? The imperial court doesn't provide them with food or money, but just relies on words to make them go north to fight? They simply don't treat these soldiers as human beings!

For a time, all the tribes were filled with resentment, and everyone from top to bottom was extremely dissatisfied with the court. However, the emperor's edict was there, and many people had no choice. After continuing to ask for food and silver to no avail, they had no choice but to do as the edict required. However, the court, including Emperor Chongzhen, could never have imagined that it was their actions that would lead to even more serious consequences.

A few days later, some troops left the capital, some went north, and some returned the way they came. But not long after, bad news kept coming. Except for some troops that returned safely or went to Sun Chengzong's side, many troops mutinied on the way. The consequences of the mutiny were very serious. Not only did the mutinous soldiers kill the commander and plunder the place, they also dispersed like the Shanxi army at the beginning, and some even gathered troops to rebel.

These troops suddenly turned from Ming troops into rebels of the Ming Dynasty, causing great damage to the local areas. Although the local areas sent troops to suppress them after learning the news, the effect was not good. After these rebellious troops were defeated and fled, they left a deep hidden danger for the Ming Dynasty.

A month later, the troops surrounding the capital were reduced from the original 100,000 to more than 40,000. The remaining troops included Hei Yunlong's Xuanda Army and Guanning Army, as well as Wang Rong's Luzhou Guard Army.

However, Wang Rong's Luzhou Guards also planned to leave. It seemed meaningless to stay there according to the court's opinion. Moreover, the fighting in the north was getting more and more intense. Sun Chengzong led his troops to defend Shanhaiguan to the death. Huang Taiji attacked Shanhaiguan many times but failed to break through the city.

At the same time, Sun Chengzong did not sit idly by. He ordered Ma Shilong and other troops to join forces with the troops heading north to attack Zunhua and several important places near Zunhua. The line from Jizhou to Zunhua was the passage when Huang Taiji came. Now Jizhou is under the control of the Ming army, while Zunhua is in the hands of Huang Taiji. Since you, Huang Taiji, plan to break through Shanhaiguan and return from Shanhaiguan, Sun Chengzong will not let you do as you wish. He will defend Shanhaiguan to the death while letting other troops attack Zunhua to give Huang Taiji a hard time.

In other words, you hit yours and I hit mine.

Sun Chengzong wanted to see who could hold back. It would be fine if you, Huang Taiji, took Shanhaiguan first. But if Shanhaiguan was broken, the Liaodong defense line would collapse instantly. Sun Chengzong at Shanhaiguan had already made up his mind to live and die with Shanhaiguan.

But if Huang Taiji failed to take Shanhaiguan and let Sun Chengzong's troops take Zunhua first, then Huang Taiji's situation would be very dangerous. Because without Zunhua, Huang Taiji would lose his retreat, and Shanhaiguan was in Sun Chengzong's hands, Huang Taiji's Eight Banners Army would be attacked from both sides by Sun Chengzong, and the situation would change completely.

So both sides had no choice at this time, it was nothing more than seeing who would take down the target first. As time went on, both sides were attacking and defending, fighting very hard. Huang Taiji failed to take down Shanhaiguan after many attacks, and Ma Shilong's troops also failed to take down Zunhua where the Eight Banners were stationed.

However, compared with Huang Taiji, the Ming army had the advantage of fighting on its home ground. Although Ma Shilong failed to capture Zunhua, he captured several important places near Zunhua while fighting Zunhua, including the pass near the Great Wall. If Huang Taiji continued to fight with Sun Chengzong like this, then the balance of victory would gradually shift from Huang Taiji to Sun Chengzong, which would be extremely unfavorable for Huang Taiji.

At this time, Huang Taiji had to consider follow-up plans, because Shanhaiguan could not be captured, and his retreat in Zunhua was precarious. In addition, the Ming army that had been dispersed in Zhili before had gradually been organized. In order to protect their homeland and the Eight Banners guerrilla warfare, they constantly harassed the rear of the Eight Banners, which also brought great pressure to Huang Taiji.

Faced with this situation, Huang Taiji finally made up his mind to return from Shanhaiguan and withdraw the entire army to Zunhua. When Sun Chengzong, who was guarding Shanhaiguan, learned the direction of Huang Taiji's army's return, he laughed loudly. Although he looked tired and haggard, his laughter was real, because he knew that since the war would soon be over, Huang Taiji finally couldn't help but withdraw his troops.

(End of this chapter)