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When Zhao Han expanded his military system, Huang Taiji was doing the same thing.

July.

After Wu Sangui surrendered at Songshan Fort, Huang Taiji personally led the army to bypass Jinzhou. Facing the heavy encirclement, the deputy general of Xingshan Castle surrendered to the enemy secretly, and cooperated inside and outside to help the Manchus occupy the castle.

At the same time, Haoge and Duoduo led 5,000 cavalry to cut off the passage between Ningyuan and Shanhaiguan.

Although there are more than 10,000 garrison troops in Ningyuan, most of them belong to the village brave regiment. There are troops recruited by Liaodong military officers, and there are also troops recruited by landlords and wealthy businessmen. The ranks are diverse and the orders are different.

Jin Guofeng and Wu Xiang are both the commander-in-chief of the Ningyuan Regiment.

Wu Sangui brought his servants to persuade him to surrender, and Wu Xiang was ready to move immediately.

Jin Guofeng is from Shanxi, and he was quite excluded in Liaodong. Although Ning Yuan took him as the main general, he could only command dozens of family cavalry.

Seeing that the situation is not good, Jin Guofeng flees with his family and is surrounded by cavalry led by Duoduo.

Jin Guofeng would rather die than surrender, and charged at more than 2,000 Manchu cavalry with only a few dozen family members. The entire family was wiped out, and Jin Guofeng, father and son died heroically.

After Jin Guofeng died, Wu Xiang surrendered and Ningyuan was captured by the Qing Dynasty.

Tashan Fort, sandwiched between Jinzhou and Ningyuan, also chose to surrender.

The news spread that from Ningyuan to Shanhaiguan, all the forts along the way either surrendered or fled collectively in the direction of Shanhaiguan.

Jinzhou.

Zu Dashou has held on for almost a year, the outer city was lost, and the inner city ran out of food.

Many buildings in the city were chopped into firewood and burned, and countless people in the city starved to death.

The personal guard rushed over with a letter, Zu Dashou opened it and looked at it carefully, and then let out a sigh of relief.

In the entire east of Shanhaiguan, only his ancestor Dashou is still defending the city, including his relatives and nephews, who have surrendered.

"Surrender, follow me out of the city." Zu Dashou had no other choice.

The entire Liaodong fell!

Due to the large number of Liaodong soldiers who surrendered, the combat effectiveness was uneven, and the command structure was extremely chaotic, Huang Taiji began to reorganize.

Select 10,000 Liaodong soldiers, plus the Han army who surrendered before, and compile them into the Han army banner.

The rest of the Liaodong soldiers were thrown away to farm.

In this reorganization, the Eight Banners system has been perfected. Under the Eight Banners are the Manchurian Banner, the Mongolian Banner, and the Han Army Banner.

Throughout the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the Eight Banners Army was about 100,000 people, and the number was not very large. And they usually have to farm, unlike Zhao Han's regular army, which is completely out of production.

The structure of each flag is as follows -

So-and-so Banner - Manchurian Banner (Mongolian Banner, Han Army Banner) - Jiala - Niulu.

Those pure Manchurian banners, like Zhao Han's troops, have about 7,500 troops per banner, and the total number of Manchurian banners is only about 60,000.

The banners are not directly divided by ethnicity. The Mongolian nobles entered the Manchurian banner, and the Mongolians and Manchurians with Han surnames were compiled into the Han army banner.

It is estimated that within half a year, Huang Taiji will not fight again. He must digest the newly occupied territory, and at the same time step up control of the reorganized Han army.

The Ming court has become numb to this.

Now there are three governors, Hong Chengchou is in charge of guarding Liaodong, Sun Chuanting is in charge of guarding Shanxi, and Chen Xinjia is in charge of guarding Henan.

Chongzhen's real real control sites are only Beizhili and Shandong.

Although the provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan were still under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, they had already lost contact with each other, and money, food and taxes could no longer be transported to the capital.

All the eunuchs in the various armies were recalled by Chongzhen, and eunuchs were not allowed to intervene in the military.

But the supervisory army still had to be dispatched, so civilian officials were selected as the supervisory army.

In history, Zhang Ruoqi, the key figure who led to the fall of Liaodong, had no chance to harm Liaodong and Hong Chengchou this time.

Well, he harmed Sun Chuanting.

Zhang Ruoqi's official position is as a doctor in the Ministry of War.

He doesn't look like a big official, but he is a powerful figure!

The evaluation of military exploits, rewards and punishments, the distribution of rations, the reorganization of the army, the training of soldiers, the conquest of towns and garrisons... are all under the direct jurisdiction of this guy!

Now, he was also sent to supervise Sun Chuanting's army.

It took only half a month for Zhang Ruoqi to take Sun Chuanting out of the picture, and generals like Yang Guozhu and Wang Pu had to listen to him.

This guy started his career by party struggle, and by ingratiating himself with Yang Sichang, he doesn't understand military affairs at all.

As soon as he arrived at the front line, he emptied the coach, and then eager to make contributions, ordered all departments to take the initiative to attack.

Yang Guozhu's grain road was cut off, so he surrendered directly to Li Zicheng.

Li Fuming's army was deeply surrounded and died in a fierce battle. The whole army was wiped out.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Wang Pu led his troops to run fast, and at least got stuck in the Jingxing passage, preventing Li Zichang from driving straight to Beijing.

Zhang Ruoqi, who caused all these messy things, originally stayed in Wang Pu's army, but Wang Pu left him when he ran for his life.

Seeing Li Zicheng's army approaching, Zhang Ruoqi led the disabled soldiers to surrender.

…

Qianqing Palace.

Chongzhen was shaking with anger as he held the battle report in his hand.

His confidant, Fang Silang, sent out to supervise the army, surrendered to the bandits after burying the army!

"Confiscate the house, Zhang Ruoqi and his family ransacked the house!"

Chongzhen's face was ferocious, and he looked crazy, tearing the battle report to pieces.

The next day, the court meeting.

"What else can Zhuqing do?" Chongzhen asked.

No one answered.

The party struggle was gone. With Zhao Han occupying Jiangnan, a large number of southern officials fled the capital, and the remaining Donglin Party has completely lost its right to speak.

Now Xue Guoguan's family dominates and sits firmly in the position of chief assistant.

In the hall, there was a dead silence.

Chongzhen waited impatiently, and asked, "What can Xue Qing do?"

Xue Guoguan's scalp was numb, and he replied: "We should train a new army, otherwise it will be difficult to resist the bandits."

"Where's the money?" Chongzhen asked.

Xue Guoguan said: "Li Shangshu still needs to find a way."

Li Daiwen, Minister of the Household Department, was a Cantonese. His whole family was killed, and he was jointly killed by Guangzhou merchants. His family was extinct, so he dared not return to his hometown, so he could only stay in Beijing as an official.

Li Daiwen came out and said: "Your Majesty, the household department has no silver taels. Even if there are silver taels, it is still not enough to buy food. After the summer harvest this year, the price of rice in the capital has barely dropped to two taels per stone, and countless people in the city have starved to death. Training the new army and forcibly purchasing food, I am afraid that half of the people in Beijing will starve to death. Moreover, there will be no money for the civil and military salaries of the Manchu Dynasty next month."

"What about the Changlu Salt Class?" Chongzhen asked.

Li Daiwen replied: "It has been deported to Beijing and sent out as military salary."

It was summer at this time, and Chongzhen sat in the palace, only feeling chills all over his body.

The emperor was silent, and the ministers were silent.

After a long time, Chongzhen said in an almost begging tone: "The current situation is indeed extremely dangerous. All the ministers are ministers of the country, and my internal funds are not enough. Can you donate to serve the country? I don't want too much. Donate three Wanliang is the best."

"His Majesty!"

"woo woo woo woo……"

The officials knelt down and wept bitterly.

It seems that they are crying for the great Ming Dynasty, but no one mentioned the matter of donating money to save the country.

Chongzhen was upset by the crying, and retreated back to the Qianqing Palace, and asked the factory guards to speed up the search of the house. Zhang Ruoqi, who surrendered to the bandits, bought a mansion in the capital even though his hometown was far away in Shandong.

That night, the factory guard came back and reported that Zhang Ruoqi was indeed a corrupt official, and more than 3,000 taels of silver were found in his home.

The powerful officials who are in charge of the distribution of military rations and rewards and punishments for military merits have only a little more than three thousand taels in their family.

Chongzhen had no choice but to believe it. Could it be that he ransacked the house himself?

More than three thousand taels was considered an income, and Chongzhen sent factory guards to urge officials to donate from door to door.

In the next few days, many stalls popped up in the streets and alleys of Beijing.

Honorable relatives, civil and military ministers, one by one set up stalls on the street, selling pots and pans in exchange for silver donations to serve the country.

This situation is so moving.

Those who hear it are sad, and those who see it weep.

Dozens of taels for you, hundreds of taels for me, honorable men and women donated enthusiastically, and their dedication to serve the country is well known throughout the world.

The eunuch came to Zhou Kui's house and said with a smile on his face, "Master, Your Majesty is going to grant you a marquis. Take a bath and fast, and the imperial decree will arrive in three days!"

Zhou Kui was overjoyed, pulled the eunuch to talk, and asked someone to seal the money as a thank you gift.

The eunuch suddenly said: "Master of the country, the donations from hundreds of officials are too little. Your Majesty wants to ask you to set an example. How about one hundred thousand taels of silver?"

Zhou Kui burst into tears instantly: "Corrupt old minister, how can I get so much money? Rice prices are so high now that the family can't even afford food, so they can only buy moldy rice and cook it..."

The eunuch quickly interrupted: "Master, please tell the truth. Our family is also following orders. If you make sure, I will go back and report to His Majesty."

Zhou Kui stopped crying again, and raised a finger: "The most I can give is 10,000 taels."

When the eunuch went back to report, Chongzhen was very aggrieved.

After all, he was his father-in-law, and Chongzhen didn't want to force him too much, so he said, "Go and tell the father-in-law that ten thousand taels is too little, why donate twenty thousand taels."

The eunuch went to send a message again, Zhou Kui saw that he couldn't make it through, so he hurried into the palace to find his daughter.

Empress Zhou persuaded: "Father, the Ming Dynasty is in dire straits. How can we train troops and suppress thieves without money? As the head of the country, my father should understand the righteousness and set an example for the rich and powerful in the city. The daughter still has some money for himself. Take them all, at least you have to collect 20,000 taels of silver."

Empress Zhou gave her father five thousand taels, and Zhou Kui made up another five thousand taels.

Back home, Zhou Kui thought about it, but was still reluctant to donate 20,000 yuan. The five thousand taels given by his daughter, he directly picked out two thousand taels, and took 13,000 taels of silver to donate.

Inside and out, I only paid 8,000 taels, which is a good deal no matter how you think about it.

After the father-in-law set an example, the honorable ministers should follow suit, so they all took out silver donations, ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of taels per person.

After donating, I felt that I had donated too much, and it spread like a corrupt official, so I posted a note on the door of my house: This house is for sale.

After a farce, Chongzhen had hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

Then, he didn't know what to do.

Shanxi, Henan, and Liaodong are full of bandits on three sides.

That bastard Zuo Liangyu was entrenched in Shandong, and he said all day long that he was hunting Cao Cao thieves, but he didn't listen to the court's transfer at all.

Hundreds of thousands of taels of silver are just lingering.

Chongzhen summoned Wang Tiaoding, and asked in a flat tone: "Will Zhao Han still take in the royal descendants?"

Wang Diaoding didn't bother to pretend anymore, so he changed his name directly: "Dudu Zhao said that the imperial family fell into the hands of thieves, not only the face of the Zhu family was lost, but he also felt shame."

Chongzhen backed away from the left and right sides, and said in a low voice: "You take the prince and princess out of Beijing, and leave the city at night, don't make a fuss. I will give you another imperial decree, canonize Zhao Han as king, and after you leave Beijing, this imperial decree will also let you go. The cabinet and the six ministries are aware."

Chongzhen thought about it carefully, and said: "Bring a few officials from the clan's mansion to the south, and I will marry my daughter to Zhao Han and let him be the son-in-law of Ming Dynasty. None of the nobles and relatives in Beijing are worthy of trust. I hope that Zhao Han can keep his promise. Be kind to my children!"

(Two updates today.)