Father-in-law Zhu Di, I am so happy to marry the disfigured princess

The weather at the end of November, coupled with the arrival of the Little Ice Age, was very cold.

The Ming army had orders not to attack the peasant rebels, so the officers and soldiers of the Ming court also became lazy.

In such cold weather, it was really uncomfortable for them to keep an eye on the movements of the peasant rebels.

Just when the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty relaxed their vigilance and lost military discipline.

The peasant rebels had already begun to cross the Yellow River quietly using the ice.

By the time the officers and soldiers of the Ming court reacted, it was already too late.

The peasant rebels who were originally besieged by them had already left, leaving behind only the wounded or the old, weak, sick and disabled.

The real main force of the peasant uprising army had already crossed the Yellow River and entered the hinterland of the Central Plains.

A tight encirclement and suppression campaign had already been carried out, and these peasant rebels could not escape.

Even if they cannot be completely wiped out, most of these peasant rebels will be wiped out.

The rest are probably just some fish that slipped through the net, and they won't cause much waves.

Moreover, these peasant rebel armies surrounded by them are the largest groups. It can even be said that almost all the core troops of the peasant rebel army in the northwest are here.

As long as the peasant rebels here are annihilated, the situation in the northwest can be alleviated.

Let’s talk about the current Ming Dynasty, civil unrest is happening all over the country.

As long as the peasant uprising army in the northwest, which is the most violent, is defeated, it will definitely be able to powerfully deter the people in other places.

It can also greatly enhance the reputation of the Ming Dynasty and boost the morale of its officers and soldiers.

Therefore, the Ming court could not say that it did not pay attention to these peasant rebels.

But I didn't expect that these peasant rebels would actually surrender.

And what a coincidence, the Yellow River actually froze at this time, giving these peasant rebels a chance to escape.

First, they, the peasant rebel army, pretended to surrender, and then the Yellow River froze.

This is simply God helping these peasant rebels.

The troops of the Ming Dynasty knew very well that if these peasant rebels were allowed to run away, their previous efforts would be in vain.

As long as they cross the Yellow River, it will be smooth sailing.

There will no longer be hills or rivers to draw from in the surrounding terrain, and it will be extremely difficult to encircle and suppress these peasant rebels.

The most important thing is that the other side of the Yellow River is the hinterland of the Central Plains.

Compared to the barrenness of the northwest, the hinterland of the Central Plains was definitely the core of the Ming Dynasty.

Those who win the Central Plains win the world, this saying is definitely not groundless.

Otherwise, the word “Zhulu Zhongyuan” would not have appeared.

The hinterland of the Central Plains has always been a battleground for military strategists.

This is the core of the Ming Dynasty. If this place is lost, the Ming Dynasty will be overthrown at any time.

In short, no matter what, those peasant rebels entered the hinterland of the Central Plains.

This was the last thing the Ming court wanted to see.

If the court knew about it, they would definitely be punished.

However, precisely because of the cold weather, there was no order from above to attack the peasant rebels.

Therefore, the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty also neglected to monitor, which gave the peasant rebels an opportunity to take advantage of.

By the time they discovered it, most of the peasant rebels had already crossed the Yellow River.

Once I left, it was out of control.

Although they quickly chased after him, it had no effect.

After these peasant rebels entered the hinterland of the Central Plains, they had no way to carry out encirclement and suppression.

Although the Ming Dynasty later increased its efforts and deployed additional troops, it still failed.

Only then did the Ming court begin to become truly worried about these peasant rebels who had entered the hinterland of the Central Plains.

This was the first time the Ming court missed a good opportunity for people like Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong.

They had already been surrounded, and as long as Thunder took action, they would definitely be able to wipe out these peasant rebels.

At least they can be completely dispersed so that they no longer form a climate and pose no threat to the Ming court.

However, the Ming army's generals and eunuchs underestimated the enemy again.

When Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and others accepted the recruitment, they actually stopped attacking and instead went to ask the court for instructions.

The delayed fighter planes in the middle had a great impact on the Ming Dynasty later.

Having said that, this must also be blamed on the Ming army chief general and the eunuch who oversaw the army.

Surprisingly, the first thing that came to mind was to surrender, and even so with a huge advantage, rather than annihilation.

I don’t know if this is Zhu Youjian’s intention or the Donglin Party’s intention.

If the original order was to kill without mercy, it is estimated that Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and others would have directly received boxed meals during this siege.

How could there be so many bad things later?

This is almost the same as when Zhu Yunwen asked people not to kill Zhu Di and let him take on the reputation of killing his uncle.

This kind of low-level mistake in command, once made once, there will be no chance to correct it in the future.

Because after the peasant uprising army entered the hinterland of the Central Plains, it became difficult for the Ming Dynasty to control it.

After entering the hinterland of the Central Plains, these peasant rebels continued to move around.

Because the hinterland of the Central Plains is relatively rich, the peasant rebels quickly recovered their strength.

It even strengthened a lot of its own power.

Along the way, these peasant rebels continued to conquer cities and used the food and weapons in the cities to strengthen their own strength.

Soon a more powerful fighting force was formed, making it even more difficult for the Ming court to deal with.

Because these peasant rebels began to sweep across the hinterland of the Central Plains, the Ming court and the Donglin Party were truly aware of the crisis and felt scared.

In the next few years, the Ming court increasingly cracked down on these peasant rebels.

A large amount of troops and energy were continuously invested in the encirclement and suppression of these peasant rebels.

In the past few years when Zhu Youjian first came to the throne, except for killing Wei Zhongxian, almost all his energy was devoted to dealing with these peasant rebels.

Under the pressure of the Ming court regardless of the cost, almost all the resources of the court were used to encircle and suppress these peasant rebels.

Although these peasant rebels were difficult to deal with, the Ming court still seized the opportunity.

In May and June of the seventh year of Chongzhen.

Several groups of peasant armies headed by Zhang Xianzhong, about [-] strong, were surrounded by officers and soldiers led by Ming army general Chen Qiyu in the mountainous area east of Hanzhong Prefecture.

Because it is a mountainous area and the terrain is narrow, it is not suitable for large force operations at all.

Moreover, in terms of terrain, it was the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty who had the upper hand.

Relying on the advantage of the terrain, they almost surrounded the peasant uprising army led by Zhang Xianzhong.

Under such siege, the peasant uprising army led by Zhang Xianzhong faced annihilation.

Just when these peasant rebels were unable to escape, history repeated itself again.

Zhang Xianzhong sent someone to negotiate and offered to accept the imperial court's offer.

As long as the court lets them go this time, he will disband all the peasant rebels.

Let them go home and work hard in the fields.

I don’t know what Zhang Xianzhong thinks.

Not long ago they, the peasant rebels, had feinted to surrender, and now they are saying they want to surrender.Even if they are really willing to surrender, they have to accept it from the Ming court.

As for the Ming Dynasty court, because they had already been fooled once, they were also more vigilant about Zhang Xianzhong's recruitment.

They suspected that Zhang Xianzhong was pretending to surrender again this time and that he might betray him again when he got the chance.

Therefore, Chen Qiyu, the coach of the Ming Army at the time, did not relax his vigilance.

Instead, the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were still ordered to strictly monitor these peasant rebels, surrounding them in the hills and preventing them from moving.

Faced with Zhang Xianzhong's surrender and recruitment, Chen Qiyu could not make the decision.

Immediately, he wrote a memorial and sent it to the capital quickly, asking Zhu Youjian to seize it.

After Zhu Youjian saw that Zhang Xianzhong wanted to recruit An, he actually approved it.

Zhu Youjian completely forgot about the first false surrender of the peasant rebels in front.

Only less than two years have passed.

Zhu Youjian still naively believed that these peasant rebels would really accept the imperial court's recruitment.

After receiving Zhu Youjian's edict, Chen Qiyu had no choice.

Don't open the encirclement and let out the peasant rebels led by Zhang Xianzhong.

Sure enough, Zhang Xianzhong still had no intention of actually surrendering to the court this time.

After he led the peasant rebel army out of the encirclement, he directly killed the pacifier sent by the Ming Dynasty and continued his journey of rebellion.

Subsequently, Zhang Xianzhong led his troops to conquer Fengxian and Baoji one after another, and moved to Gansu.

Because the northwest is the base camp of these peasant rebels.

In this way, Zhang Xianzhong once again escaped the encirclement and suppression of the Ming Dynasty.

After Zhang Xianzhong left this time, it was like letting a tiger return to the mountain.

In the days that followed, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong became more and more powerful, even directly shaking the foundation of the Ming Dynasty.

Until Li Zicheng broke through Beijing and forced Zhu Youjian to go to Diaomeishan.

The Ming Dynasty, which lasted for nearly 300 years, completely became history after Li Zicheng captured Beijing due to internal and external troubles.

now think of it.

Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, the two most important leaders of the peasant army, were both driven into despair by the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty.

It even had to be completely wiped out at one point.

However, they escaped again and again, and continued to make trouble under the eyes of the Ming court.

For all this, it has to be said that the decision-makers of the Ming Dynasty bear a great responsibility.

It was completely possible to strangle the two largest rebel forces, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, in the cradle.

But the Ming court just missed opportunities again and again, allowing the two of them to grow bigger day by day.

The most important of them is the order of the emperor Zhu Youjian.

It's because Zhu Youjian is indecisive and too naive.

Facing these rebellious peasant uprising leaders, they naively imagined that they could surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

He was given the chance again and again to let them escape.

Zhu Youjian lacked the decisiveness to kill that an emperor should have.

Under such circumstances, the Zhu You family should directly order the annihilation of all the peasant rebels.

Instead of fantasizing about letting them surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Youjian was not wary of rebellious people like Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong.

When they proposed to surrender to the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youjian didn't have the slightest suspicion.

Instead, he believed them directly.

The opportunity given by the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty was wasted.

If he could have a good insight into the minds of these people at that time, he would have thought more decisively.

Directly order the annihilation of all the peasant uprisings led by Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, and there will be so many things going on later.

Later, the Ming court could muster all its energy to deal with Hou Jin in Liaodong.

In the absence of civil strife, Hou Jin's attempt to break through the city gates of the Ming Dynasty was probably wishful thinking.

Letting go of the two most important leaders of the peasant rebel army twice was also one of Zhu Youjian's fatal mistakes.

It was also in the early days of his succession that he missed the first very important opportunity in the face of the peasant uprising.

Li Xiao looked at Zhu Youjian calmly.

Zhu Youjian not only lacked political experience and ability, but also lacked the most basic decisiveness of an emperor.

He was actually so kind in the face of the peasant rebels.

If it were Zhu Yuanzhang, he would have killed every one of them long ago.

"Zhu Youjian, this is your second fatal mistake."

"Not decisive enough to kill, too naive."

"I really believe that Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong are really willing to surrender to the Ming Dynasty."

"As a result, you missed two opportunities to annihilate those peasant rebels, and then they became the climate."

"If you could handle Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong well at that time, there wouldn't be so much trouble within the Ming court later."

"Facing the Hou Jin Dynasty in Liaodong, the Ming court will not be so strenuous."

Li Xiao looked at Zhu Youjian and said calmly.

Zhu Yuanzhang on the side also frowned.

He did not expect that his descendants would not even dare to kill anyone.

Those are all rebels, so why should they be so soft?

If they surrender, they will be killed by the nine tribes.

"Zhu Youjian, you really disgrace our old Zhu family." Zhu Yuanzhang said dissatisfied: "It's okay if you can't defeat the Donglin Party."

"I didn't expect you wouldn't even dare to kill anyone."

"There is nothing to hesitate about those rebels. Just kill them all and leave no one behind!"

"What do you want these rebels to do if you still want to recruit people and surrender?"

After hearing what Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Xiao said, Zhu Youjian fell into memories.

Everything Li Xiao said was true, and Zhu Youjian had no way to refute it.

In fact, he already regretted letting Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong run away at that time.

But the person had already run away, and there was nothing he could do.

Looking back now, I really made a huge mistake at that time.

If Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong could be killed directly at that time, then he would not hang himself in Meishan later.

Don’t you have to talk about forcing your queen, concubine, and daughter to death with your own hands?
Zhu Youjian asked himself silently in his heart.

It's a pity that all this is impossible.

The only thing to blame was Zhu Youjian's wrong decision.

(End of this chapter)