Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 28 Recruiting Grounds

Li Zicheng had always attached great importance to Wu Sangui and the Liaozhen, and the conditions he offered to them to surrender were very generous. Not only would both Wu Sangui and his son be granted the title of marquis, but each member of the army would be rewarded with one tael of silver and four months' rations. He also awarded the Wu family tens of thousands of taels of gold and silver and a thousand rolls of silk.

You have to know that Li Zicheng's confidants such as Tian Jianxiu and Liu Zongmin were only marquises. Previously, the surrendered generals in Shanxi and Northern Zhili were only given three months' rations.

Li Zicheng had fought many battles with the Liaozhen troops and was well aware of the strength of the other side. The troops under Wu Sangui were far from comparable to the remnants of Zuo Liangyu, Liu Zeqing, Gao Jie and other defeated generals in the south.

Moreover, if Wu Sangui's troops retreated to Shanhaiguan at this time, any change would directly threaten Beijing. For Li Zicheng, this was an imminent problem that had to be dealt with immediately.

"Could it be that Wu Sangui knew about the news that Crown Prince Chongzhen had fled south?"

Song Xiance cupped his hands and folded his sleeves, then narrowed his eyes and further analyzed:

"Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone back on his word like this! His troops arrived in Yutian County early this morning, only two days' journey from the capital."

"If the whole thing was really planned by Li Banghua, with his skills, it is absolutely possible." Niu Jinxing said immediately when he thought of Hao Yaoqi being killed by Li Banghua in a battle with more than a hundred cavalrymen:
"Wu Sangui still has 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers, including several thousand elite cavalry. If they retreat to Shanhaiguan and defend the fortified city, they will be difficult to deal with."

Both Song Xiance and Niu Jinxing had too short-sighted vision and did not consider the possible impact of the powerful Qing Dynasty on the situation.

"I'm afraid this is the only explanation." Li Zicheng nodded and agreed:

"Otherwise, who else can Wu Sangui, with his lone army without food or pay, turn to besides me? Could he possibly march eastward and surrender to the Tartars outside the Great Wall? Isn't he afraid of being cursed for eternity?"

Niu Jinxing heard Li Zicheng's tone and knew that he was angry, so he quickly offered another suggestion:
"Your Majesty, if that's the case, then Wu Sangui must not be allowed to stay. Dozens of his family members are still in our hands. I think we can have Wu Xiang write another letter to confuse Wu Sangui, and then send a large army to lead the army to destroy him!"

In the original history, Dorgon did not launch his rebellion until April 6th. Chongzhen's body and Zhu Cilang were captured by the Dashun Army. In addition, dozens of members of the Wu family were in his hands. Li Zicheng never expected that Wu Sangui would have any rebellious thoughts. He only thought that the other party was going back on his words and being vague because he wanted better conditions.

Little did he know that the problem lies in Wu Xiang's letter of surrender, which was a mixture of praise and criticism. After reading it, Wu Sangui did not believe any promise made by Li Zicheng, who started out as a bandit.

You know, the Wu family and the Zu family have become the actual controllers of Liaozhen in the past ten years.

By now, Zu Dashou had defected to the Qing Dynasty. Although he no longer fought on the battlefield due to his old age, his sons and nephews, that is, Wu Sangui's cousins, were more active than each other in serving the Qing Dynasty.

Wu Sangui and his son had always been in correspondence with Zu Dashou. If the Ming Dynasty had not fallen, they would naturally not be willing to surrender to the Qing Dynasty. But now the situation has changed drastically, and the powerful military force of the Qing Dynasty makes them extremely afraid, so surrendering to the Qing Dynasty has become a good choice.

After all, in Wu Sangui's view, as a defeated general under Hong Chengchou, Li Zicheng's army could not defeat the Tartars. Even if he was granted the title of Marquis of Dashun, it would be in vain.

At the same time, although Li Zicheng knew that the Liaozhen troops were difficult to deal with, with Wu Sangui's current strength, it would be easy for him to defeat them.

Moreover, now that the Crown Prince Zhu Ming has successfully broken through and headed south, it is no longer certain that Wu Sangui can be persuaded to surrender by Li Zicheng.

"The Prime Minister is right." Li Zicheng's eyes suddenly became fierce. "If Wu Sangui continues to bargain, I will not let him off."

"Since the Eastern Expedition, the war has been going too smoothly. It seems that we still have to fight a big battle, otherwise the villains in this world will really not know their will." Song Xiance then complimented.

"Your Majesty, if Wu Sangui refuses to surrender, I will lead my army to kill all of those so-called Liao soldiers and bring that damned Wu Sangui before Your Majesty."

At this time, Liu Zongmin did not take Wu Sangui seriously at all. The enemy's real elite were only a few thousand cavalry, but the Dashun Army currently had tens of thousands of cavalry.

After hearing this, the anger on Li Zicheng's face eased a little, and then he said to Liu Zongmin:

"Wu Sangui is nothing to be feared. Tell Tang Tong to be vigilant and defend Shanhaiguan. The most important thing now is to conquer the southern provinces, especially the money and grain from Jiangnan. We must obtain them as soon as possible."

Shandong must be taken over immediately. Pass on my order: have Guo Sheng, Zhao Yingyuan, and Dong Xueli continue their march southward along the Grand Canal. Reclaim Shandong as quickly as possible, and ideally, control Xuzhou."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Liu Zongmin responded immediately after hearing this.

"Also, when we start the matter of recovering stolen goods and raising funds tomorrow, we must be gentle. Don't act too hastily, don't kill innocent people indiscriminately, and be cautious when using torture to avoid wrongful convictions and causing public outrage." Li Zicheng sat back on the dragon throne, looked at the memorial in his hand, and sighed.

"I obey your order!" Liu Zongmin responded by bowing and clasping his hands.

Although the Dashun regime quickly took over all of Shanxi, northern Henan, and most of the prefectures and counties in northern Zhili, its lack of grassroots strength was also obvious. Each prefecture and county had only a few hundred soldiers led by the newly appointed county magistrate, and such a weak force was simply not enough to suppress the local gentry.

Now, Li Zicheng has also realized this and is thinking about adjusting policies and stabilizing the internal situation, but the affairs of Shanhaiguan and Zhu Cilang make him unable to get away.

"His Majesty!"

At this time, Niu Jinxing suddenly stepped out and shocked everyone as soon as he spoke:
"I believe it is time to hold a grand funeral for Emperor Chongzhen, the former Empress, and the former Crown Prince, and announce this news to the world!"

Although the Ming Dynasty surrendered soldiers including Guo Sheng, Zhao Yingyuan, and Dong Xueli who were sent by Li Zicheng to take over Shandong had set out from Beijing and headed south earlier than originally planned, with only several thousand soldiers and a lack of ships, their speed was still slow.

At this time, Shandong was in a power vacuum because Liu Zeqing and officials from various prefectures and counties fled south, and most places were operating by inertia.

Moreover, the vast majority of Shandong's prefectures and counties were still nominally under Ming rule. Although many local gentry were constantly seeking information from the north, in such a chaotic situation, the reports from those fleeing from northern Zhili were all sorts of bizarre and confusing. No one knew what was true, what was happening in the capital, whether the rebels had entered the city, or whether Emperor Chongzhen had been in danger.
Outside Linqing City, on the deck of a large ship, the clinking sound of anchor chains suddenly rang out. The ship shook for a moment, but soon came to a stop. Zhou Shixian, who came from the bow, knocked lightly on the cabin door and said, "Come out, sir, and let's go!"

"Your Highness, we have arrived at Linqing."

Linqing was Zhu Cilang's third stop for rest and recuperation after Dongguang and Dezhou. It was also the place where he planned to recruit accompanying trackers and reorganize the troops.

After entering Shandong and arriving at Linqing City, the entire journey south was almost halfway completed. At this time, the main force of the Shun army in Beijing had basically no chance of catching up.

Linqing is the location of the canal's currency exchange office. Almost all goods and commodities shipped from all over Jiangnan to Beijing have to pass through it. In normal years, Linqing's annual currency exchange revenue is ten times that of Shandong's land tax. The title of "more prosperous than the two capitals and richer than Qi County" is well-deserved.

Zhu Cilang planned to recruit soldiers, expand the army and supply it here, taking this into consideration.

Naturally, he would not leave the money, food and supplies stranded in Linqing to the Shun army, so before ordering the fleet to dock in Linqing, he had already let Chen Fu lead the cavalry to take control of the officials who were still on duty at the Linqing Banknote Customs, and then began to search the warehouse of the Linqing Banknote Customs.

At the same time, the only twenty or so official ships remaining in Linqing City were also requisitioned. Together with the ships from various prefectures collected along the way and the return of the ships heading south from Linjiazhai, Zhu Cilang's transportation capacity had more than doubled.

The Chaoguan warehouse and the Linqing County warehouse still contained tens of thousands of taels of newly looted silver, as well as a considerable amount of grain and fodder originally destined for the capital, and even some cloth, tea, and tobacco.
If Shandong had not experienced the "Wuqiao Mutiny" and had not been affected by bandits and rebel soldiers in recent years, the population had dropped sharply and the economy had suffered huge damage. In addition, Liu Zeqing and officials from all over the country had looted before fleeing south. There would be even more money and grain in the Linqing Chaoguan warehouse.

You must know that the financial system of the Ming Dynasty was very complicated, and it could even be said to be a mess. Coupled with bureaucratic corruption, the annual banknote tax of Linqing was shown in the account books as 50,000 to 600,000 taels, but in reality it might be as high as 500,000 to 600,000 taels of silver.

This was one of the most important currency exchange points in the Ming Dynasty, and countless commercial goods and wealth transported from Jiangnan to the capital would pass through it.

Zhu Cilang would not be stingy with the confiscated materials. Whether it was silver, food, tobacco, or cloth, he planned to use them all to reward the soldiers after recruiting them.

However, these rewards must be concentrated and distributed uniformly at an appropriate time, otherwise it will be impossible to control military discipline and establish prestige.

Lin Yongan used the connections he had accumulated all the way and sent dozens of young men from the village to contact the boat trackers' leaders along the way. Now, near the dock outside Linqing City, there are nearly 5,000 boat trackers and their families who have gathered one after another.

Most of these trackers have followed the fleet for hundreds of miles, covering over a hundred miles a day. They are all physically strong and have the strongest organization. The leaders of each team also have extremely strong prestige in their respective teams.

You have to know that when Lin Yongan contacted them, he only provided them with enough food to reach Linqing based on their family members. From the beginning until now, probably less than 30% of them have been able to keep up with the fleet, and most of them have no family members.

Along the canal, with the arrival of these trackers, a large number of simple shacks were soon erected, making this once extremely prosperous canal hub now a mess.

"Dock and lower the sampan."

Twenty large ships dropped anchor first. Li Banghua and Zhou Shixian, together with their Jinyiwei and Beijing camp soldiers, were the first to go ashore to deploy. On the one hand, they took over the original officials and clerks of the banknote customs, and on the other hand, they sent people to notify Lin Yongan to prepare for the specific matters of conscription.

As soon as Zhu Cilang walked out of the cabin, he heard a shout, and then walked directly to the deck, surrounded by Lin Changping and a group of fully armed guards.

Under the azure sky, he looked around at the trackers who were building shacks on the shore, and the team of trackers who were still following the fleet. The corners of his mouth curled up slightly and he smiled with satisfaction.

　Thanks to my book friend Yuekenlu Dazhuang, Fenglin Volcano, an ordinary handsome guy, for the reward of tens of millions.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)