Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 174 Who Will Be the Dog When Xianzhong Walks His Dog (Part 2)

Was Zhang Xianzhong's invasion of Southern Zhili intended to lure a large army to encircle and annihilate him?

This seems a bit unreasonable.

Was Zhang Xianzhong seeking death?

Why would he lead a large army to besiege and kill himself?

From his own perspective, doing so is indeed as illogical as being mentally ill.

So why did he do that?
Is he really mentally unstable, as some unofficial historical accounts suggest?

of course not.

Many things look different when viewed from a different perspective.

If it's from the perspective of overthrowing the Ming Dynasty, then it makes sense; he did this to cooperate with Huang Taiji's feint attack!
His intention was to lure Emperor Chongzhen into mobilizing a large army to besiege him, thereby allowing Huang Taiji to easily invade the capital region and other areas.

Some might say that he later opposed the Qing dynasty, so this statement is quite absurd.

There is actually a process of change. People's thoughts can change with the environment, especially after people become powerful or rich.

Zhang Xianzhong did not initially rebel against the Qing Dynasty; he didn't even touch a finger of the Qing army.

His anti-Qing sentiments began after Li Zicheng's death.

The three powerful clans, the eight imperial merchants, and the Qing court of Puzhou went too far.

The saying goes, "When the birds are all gone, the good bow is put away; when the cunning rabbit is dead, the hunting dog is cooked." These people treat them like hunting dogs and want to cook them!
He walks the dog, he's not the dog!
Now that you've achieved your goal of changing dynasties, are you going to exterminate everyone?
He didn't want to end up like Li Zicheng, being chased around like a stray dog, dying without even knowing how he died. He had hundreds of thousands of troops under his command, and that wasn't a joke.

The example of Li Zicheng is right there; if he doesn't resist, he's doomed!
He wasn't powerless to resist, so why didn't he resist?
Therefore, he began to rebel after Li Zicheng's death.

At first, he was genuinely cooperating with the Jurchens, whether for survival or something else; he was simply helping them walk their dogs.

Historically, he was also one of the people who loved walking dogs the most.

This is also based on historical facts.

He himself left behind a limerick.

Governor Shao used to come and dance around the troupe.
Later came Military Advisor Liao, who followed me without a fight;
That Minister Yang is a fine man; he's three days away from me.

This poem proves just how enthusiastic and proud he was of walking his dog!

He deliberately walked his dog to lure a large army to surround and kill him. Even as the three armies pursued and intercepted him, he was still laughing triumphantly, and he even had the mood to compose doggerel.

Zhu Jue naturally wouldn't fall for such a trick.

He went straight back to the main hall of Yuxi Palace, took out a map of Southern Zhili, stared at the Luzhou Prefecture area, and remained silent.

After an unknown amount of time, Lu Xiang-sheng finally strode in, cupped his hands, and bowed, saying, "Your humble servant greets Your Majesty."

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then asked, "How many musketeers are there in the Beijing Garrison? I mean the infantry of the Beijing Garrison in the capital."

There are many more.

The musket factories have been producing them non-stop, and apart from the Liaodong Army being equipped with 30,000 muskets, the rest have been issued to the Beijing Garrison.

At this point, the 80,000 chariot soldiers of the Beijing garrison were equipped with 40,000 muskets, and the remaining 60,000 were equipped to the infantry of the Beijing garrison. Apart from the 30,000 muskets equipped to the 100,000 infantrymen guarding Jizhou Town, the 200,000 new recruits in the capital were all equipped with more than 30,000 muskets.

There were also chariots, so many that they could barely fit in two large training grounds.

Is Your Majesty planning to equip infantrymen as chariot soldiers?
The problem is, they don't have enough warhorses yet.

If infantry were equipped as chariot soldiers without warhorses, they could only be used for training. Even if they couldn't actually be deployed, pushing the chariots by manpower alone would be considered good if they could push them thirty or forty miles a day.

He has been pondering this question for the past few days.

Therefore, when the current emperor asked about it, these were the first things that came to mind.

He thought for a moment, then cautiously said, “Your Majesty, the infantry remaining in the capital are already equipped with over 30,000 muskets, and there are enough chariots to equip nearly 100,000 chariot soldiers. What we lack now is warhorses. If we could gather 5,000 warhorses, we could equip 100,000 chariot soldiers within two months.” Chariot soldiers?

That's not what I meant.

Zhu Jue shook his head slightly, then solemnly said, "Jian Dou, Zhang Xianzhong has already reached Luzhou Prefecture. This guy has over 100,000 troops under his command. If we don't stop him, the Southern Zhili region will probably be thrown into chaos by this guy."

Ah!
It turns out that Zhang Xianzhong has invaded Southern Zhili!

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng asked anxiously, "Your Majesty, how many troops should I lead to intercept them?"

What are you going to do?

Don't go and walk him like a dog.

Zhu Jue shook his head slightly and said, "You don't need to go, and we don't need to mobilize many troops to intercept him. Zhang Xianzhong is very slippery. No matter how many troops we send, we can't surround him. He will still run around everywhere."

what?
Lu Xiang-sheng asked, somewhat puzzled, "Your Majesty, what do you think we should do?"

Zhu Jue pointed to the map and explained in detail: "Look, Luzhou Prefecture is bordered by the Huai River to the north, the Yangtze River and Mount Huo to the south, and Chaohu Lake in the middle. It has a well-developed river system."

Therefore, we don't need to mobilize a large army to surround and intercept you at all. You don't even need to go there. We only need to send forty 800-ton wheeled boats with 10,000 musketeers.

We can send ten 800-ton wheeled boats to patrol back and forth along the Huai River and the Yangtze River. With such a wide river, it's unlikely that Zhang Xianzhong could build a pontoon bridge to cross. If he wanted to cross, he would have to seize countless boats to ferry him across.

Ten wheeled boats, which is equivalent to 2,500 musketeers, would be enough to stop them from seizing civilian boats to cross the Huai and Yangtze Rivers. This would make it unlikely that they could flee south or north.

We also have twenty 800-ton wheeled boats, which we will send to Chaohu Lake to use the lake's waterways to block him from building a pontoon bridge and fleeing eastward. As for his wanderings around the Liuan Prefecture area, let him wander as he pleases.

Your Majesty, you have been far too lenient with the rebels!

Lu Xiang-sheng initially wanted to offer some advice, but after thinking about it, he decided against it.

The Emperor's decisions are beyond question; this is something that all his close confidants know.

He hesitated for a moment, then simply asked, "Your Majesty, who do you think would be suitable to lead the army there?"

Zhu Jue pondered, "Isn't Wang Laipin from Anqing Prefecture? Anqing Prefecture is just south of Luzhou Prefecture. He should be quite familiar with that area. Let's send him to lead the troops there."

"Have him gather ten thousand musketeers and wait in Tongzhou City. Lü Zhi should be back this afternoon. Then he can borrow forty 800-ton wheeled boats from Lü Zhi."

Alright, since you've thought it through, I won't say anything more.

Lu Xiang-sheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand."

Zhu Jue thought for a moment and then asked, "How is the construction of the dock waterway on the north bank of the Tonghui River progressing? When do you think it will be completed?"

Uh, Zhang Xianzhong has already conquered as far as Southern Zhili, and you still have the mind to ask this?

Lu Xiang-sheng explained in detail: "Your Majesty, we need to build too many docks and waterways, more than two hundred in total. If we divide the work among the Beijing garrison infantry and the craftsmen under Liang Fu, each dock and waterway will have less than two thousand people."

"This waterway is relatively easy to dig; a few zhang wide and over forty zhang long should be enough. I estimate it should be finished in another month or so. The shipyard, however, is a bit more difficult to build. I estimate it will take at least another two months."

Two months? That'll be July by then. We'll need to equip ourselves with enough saws and craftsmen. I don't even know if we'll be able to make two batches of these giant, assembled ships this year.

Zhu Jue nodded slowly, then waved his hand and said, "Alright, hurry up and tell Wang Laipin to prepare. Have them bring iron shields so they can defend against the enemy's crazy approach and arrows."

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng quickly bowed and took his leave.

Zhu Jue looked down at the map again, a cold smile creeping onto his face.

Zhang Xianzhong, you want to walk your dog, don't you?

You still have over 100,000 troops. Do you want me to send over 100,000 or 200,000 troops to besiege and suppress you?
I'll send ten thousand musketeers over there to play with you.

Even warhorses can't outrun ships; no matter which river you rush to, you'll get shot!

You better tuck your tail between your legs and run back to the Northwest.

(End of this chapter)