After Dorgon's army entered the Ming Dynasty from Qingshankou, it successively captured several county towns, captured tens of thousands of people, and robbed countless food and animals.

At this time, Dorgon's army plundered in the eastern suburbs of the capital. Dorgon sat in the central army camp, and there were often Qing troops returning from the outside.

"Remember, go deep into the heart of the Ming Dynasty, but you can't contact the bandits!" Dorgon recalled what Huang Taiji had told them before leaving. Thinking of this sentence, Dorgon admired Huang Taiji, and asked the Qing and the bandits to take turns to bleed the Ming Dynasty, so that the giant Ming Dynasty would fall down with a bang! The Qing army invaded this time, the time for choosing a very good choice. The bandit leader Gao Yingxiang was killed, Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai surrendered, and only Li Zicheng and Ma Shouying were left to persist. If Sun Chuanting encircled and suppressed him, Li Zicheng and Ma Shouying would inevitably be destroyed.

After the Ming Dynasty cleared the civil strife, there would be no worries. If we could turn back and deal with the Qing Dynasty, even the bandits who were recruited and captured could transform into Ming army and devote themselves to the battlefield against the Qing Dynasty!

Therefore, Huang Taiji must save the thieves and must not let the Ming Dynasty wipe out the thieves.

In the Forbidden City, Emperor Chongzhen was summoning Yang Sichang.

Emperor Chongzhen cut Yang Sichang into his own minister and had the ability to plan the country. After meeting Yang Sichang, he felt that he had "hate to use you late" after a question and answer. At that time, Yang Sichang was appointed as the governor of Xuanda, in charge of Xuanda's resistance to the enemy and the extermination of the thieves.

Yang Sichang did not disappoint Emperor Chongzhen. He first reused Li Guodong, who was left outside the Great Wall by Emperor Chongzhen, and won the victory of the Mongolians against the Jin Dynasty, destroying the strategic plan of the Later Jin annexation of Mongolia. However, at a critical moment, Yang Sichang's father Yang He died, and soon his stepmother Ding died, and Yang Sichang was forced to go home to mourn. But soon after, the bandits broke into Fengyang and burned the Fengyang imperial tomb. Zhang Fengyi, the Minister of War, committed suicide due to crime. Emperor Chongzhen decided to re-activate Yang Sichang, issued an order to seize the relationship, summon Yang Sichang to the capital, and be appointed as the Minister of War.

Yang Sichang was grateful for Emperor Chongzhen's favor and did his best to play a significant role in the war to eliminate the thieves.

In order to eliminate the peasant army, Yang Sichang proposed a strategic plan of four main and six corners and ten sides. With Shaanxi, Henan, Huguang and Jiangbei as the four main commanders, the four governors were divided into suppression, and the defense was specifically for Yansui, Shanxi, Shandong, Jiangnan, Jiangxi, and Sichuan. For the six corners, the six governors were divided into suppression and suppression, blocking and surrounding the peasant army, and then eliminating it. This plan was certainly successful. If it weren't for the invasion of the Ming army at the critical moment of the Ming army's suppression of the peasant army, Li Zicheng and Ma Shouying might have been wiped out. Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai and others who had surrendered would have no chance to revive. As long as Li Zicheng and Ma Shouying were destroyed, Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai would have to obey the arrangements of the court and be transferred to deal with the Qing army.

The reason why Zhang Xianzhong surrendered and rebelled again was that the northwest was a severe drought, and the court had no money, and the second was that Li Zicheng and Ma Shouying's activities were not allowed. If there were no external causes, Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai would have lost the conditions for surrender and rebellion again.

Moreover, Zhang Xianzhong actually proposed that he was willing to arrive at Jiannu for the court, but Chongzhen had no money and could not reach an agreement at all. In fact, Li Zicheng also proposed that he was willing to accept the court's pacification and deal with Jiannu, but Chongzhen could not stand it.

In fact, in some aspects, the weak Song Dynasty was better than the Ming Dynasty. At least in terms of finance, the Song Dynasty was much stronger than the Ming Dynasty. Every time there were bandits rebelling in the Song Dynasty, and when they could not be wiped out, they could basically use silver to settle it. However, the Ming Dynasty could not do this at all.

The encirclement and suppression of peasant army was quite effective. Emperor Chongzhen valued Yang Yinchang even more, and all the proposals he proposed were allowed. In June this year, Yang Mengchang was appointed as the Minister of Rites and the Grand Secretary of the Dongge, and participated in the maintenance service. He was still in charge of the Ministry of War, and became a prime minister-like figure in the late Ming Dynasty. His hometown in Wuling, he called him "Yang Ge Lao" and "Yang Xiang", etc., which shows that Yang Sichang was powerful and powerful.

At the beginning of this year, Tumot Mongolia surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and Huang Taiji led his army to personally expedition the Khalkha Mongolia, forcing the Khalkha Mongolia to surrender. Ezhe led the Chahar people to flee west to the territory of the Turks, and the land in the northern border had completely fallen into the hands of the Qing Dynasty.

Faced with an increasingly harsh situation, Yang Sichang, who originally advocated the alliance with the Mongolians to resist the Jin Dynasty, proposed to simply propose peace with Jiannu and oppose the war. He believed that there were only a few people in the Ming army who could not deal with Jiannu and the bandits at the same time. If they could first discuss peace with Jiannu, they could do their best to suppress the bandits. If the bandits were immortal, the Ming Dynasty would be attacked from both sides and the situation was critical.

Yang Sichang told Emperor Chongzhen: "We must first calm the internal situation when fighting foreign countries. Since ancient times, there has never been a person who can win the outside world without stopping civil strife."

He believed that although the Qing soldiers invaded several times, the big troubles were still those bandits. After destroying the bandits, the country could reorganize their arms and prepare for military affairs without any worries, and could also use the captured bandits and the recruited bandit generals to invest in Liaodong to attack the Qing soldiers, so as to save the shame of many years and eliminate border troubles forever. If the bandits were not destroyed, all this was empty talk.

However, all the ministers in the court opposed the peace talks with Jiannu. Huang Taiji thought that the Ming Dynasty had fooled him, so when he received news that the peasant army was in a low position, he sent troops to invade the Ming Dynasty, forcing the Ming Dynasty to dispatch elite troops to suppress the thieves to return to Beijing to serve the king, which saved the already dying peasant army.

"Yang Aiqing, Jiannu has entered the eastern suburbs. In your opinion, how should we defend against the enemy?" asked Emperor Chongzhen.

Yang Sichang replied: "Our army is good at defending the city, but short of war. If we rely on the advantages of the city, we cannot leave the city and fight in a wave. Wherever the thief slaves go, we can transfer troops into the city to defend. Send all the people into the city as much as possible, so that the people can be protected and the strength to defend the city can be strengthened. The thief slaves invade only plunder property and plunder the people. They will definitely withdraw their troops before spring plowing. As long as our army cannot defend, the thief slaves will naturally retreat."

According to historical books, Yang Sichang was determined to negotiate peace and deliberately cheated Lu Xiangsheng. In fact, this statement was not correct. The Qing army was at the city, and it was impossible for the Qing Dynasty to negotiate with the Ming Dynasty. If you want to get the Qing army to withdraw through negotiations, even those who were kicked by donkeys would not think that doing so would be feasible. Only after the Qing army retreated can the peace talks be restarted.

"That's all?" Emperor Chongzhen's face changed slightly.

Yang Sichang suddenly remembered Zhang Fengyi's suicide fearing guilt, and was scared and sweated. He quickly added: "We should guard Changping well to prevent the thief slaves from destroying the imperial tomb!"

Seeing that Emperor Chongzhen's face gradually calmed down, Yang Sichang secretly felt fortunate: Fortunately, he added, otherwise, once the Changping Imperial Tomb fell into the hands of the slave, even if Emperor Chongzhen favored him, he would not fail to pursue the destruction of the imperial tomb, and he would really lose his head. The bloody lesson of the Minister of War Zhang Fengyi in front of him was there.

Emperor Chongzhen asked the Changping defenders to hold on to the imperial edict to Yong'an City. After receiving the imperial edict, Lu Xiangsheng sighed in grief and anger: "Yang Wenluo (Sichang) agreed to negotiate with Jiannu, but he actually ignored the Jiannu's invasion and harmed the people of our Ming Dynasty. What else can he say to hold on to him? I heard that Your Majesty was quite willing. Can we hold on to him and let Jiannu harm the people of our Ming Dynasty? If you can't hold on to him, you can't hold on to him? Jiannu has destroyed many prefectures and counties!"

At this moment, one night he didn't receive a report: "I reported to the governor, Jiannu was robbing in Tongzhou area, and hundreds of thousands of people were tragically poisoned."

"I will go to the eastern suburbs to meet Jiannu for a while!" Li Guodong stood up.

Lu Xiangsheng was overjoyed: "Guodong, all the soldiers under your command are cavalry, and they come and go freely. This is the best! If you win, you can annihilate Jiannu's unit, and if you lose, you can escape unscathed."

On October 9, the eleventh year of Chongzhen, Li Guodong led more than 7,000 troops out of Yong'an City and headed straight to the eastern suburbs of the capital.

The entire cavalryman Li Guodong's army marched very fast, and in just one day he arrived outside Guangqu Gate in the capital.
Chapter completed!