Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

Kong Youde's statement generally conforms to Zhang Shikang's speculation.

Although he only had a general knowledge of the history of this era, he remembered it very clearly that when the Qing Dynasty entered the Pass, the emperor was named Fulin, and he seemed to be a child of a few years old.

In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, which was 1644 AD, although I can't remember the exact year, Huang Taiji did not have many years left to live.

As for the seizure of power by princes such as Dorgon after Huang Taiji's death, this is even less surprising.

Although the primitive tribal system also had the concept of primogeniture, it was different from the Central Plains dynasties. Whether it was the Mongolian or Jurchen tribes, in addition to bloodline, they valued strength more.

Of course, there is also an element of luck.

For example, Huang Taiji was the eighth among Yezhupi’s many sons. If we counted by the ranking, it would not be his turn to be the Great Khan.

Yezhupi's eldest son Chu Ying died early. At that time, the most powerful people competing for the Khan position were his second son Daishan and Manggurtai and several other people who were ranked high.

Huang Taiji was actually the result of a compromise between the two sides. At that time, the Later Jin Dynasty regarded the Ming Dynasty as an imaginary enemy, and internal strife would only make the situation worse, so the eighth Huang Taiji got a great advantage.

But now the situation is different. Zhang Shikang has met Dorgon and he can see his ambition just from his eyes.

If he had not interfered with this history, Dorgon would have supported Fulin to succeed the throne after many compromises. But now the situation is very different, and even Zhang Shikang could not guess the outcome.

However, another thing Kong Youde mentioned was a breakthrough, the Mongolian tribes.

In contrast to the Ming Dynasty's practice of not marrying off members of the Mongolian clan, Yezhupi gave away almost all of his daughters in order to win over the Mongolian tribes.

In addition, he also allowed his sons and grandsons to marry women from various Mongolian tribes to establish a strong blood bond.

If this kind of binding lasts for a long time, it will naturally have an effect, but it has only been a few years. In addition, the Qing Dynasty has not yet entered the pass. It is still unknown whether it can instigate some Mongolian tribes to rebel.

Whether it is between countries or between tribes, there is no such thing as a strong bond. It's just that what is given is not enough.

Zhang Shikang shook his head and continued to watch the execution.

After being cheated by him, Kong Youde was so angry that bleeding came out of all his seven orifices. He even forgot the pain and just stared at Zhang Shikang with bloodshot eyes.

Liu Sanbao's skills were indeed not that good. After only cutting more than a hundred times, there was almost no meat left on Kong Youde's legs.

He wanted to try harder, but accidentally cut Kong Youde's aorta.

So after a short while, Kong Youde became depressed.

Zhang Shikang did not punish Liu Sanbao. He had just acted on impulse, and when he saw that Kong Youde had stopped moving, he muttered something to Sun Weifan.

Sun Weifan strode over and chopped off Kong Youde's head with one knife.

He picked up Kong Youde's head and placed it solemnly in front of the soldiers who died in the battle.

"Have a safe journey, brothers!"

Sun Weifan was also in a heavy mood. He participated in the training and selection of the Beijing Camp throughout the whole process. Many familiar figures were never seen again in this battle.

Shaoqing, a group of soldiers carried buckets and poured kerosene on the corpse. They threw a torch on it, and immediately flames shot up into the sky.

After a while, the air was filled with a strong smell of barbecue. Zhang Shikang pinched his nose and assured those who died in the battle that he was indeed in a heavy heart.

But...when he smelled the barbecue, he actually felt hungry.

Seeing that Brother Chongzhen was still concentrating on paying tribute to the dead soldiers, he did not disturb him and walked towards the central military tent alone.

He remembered that before he came out, Sun Dasheng had sent him a pot of stewed horse meat.

The weather was cold. Except for the soldiers who were paying tribute outside the military camp, most of the soldiers had gone into their tents. The camp seemed a bit deserted.

Brother promoted so many meritorious soldiers today, but did not make any military arrangements. Zhang Shikang knew that this was the task left for him by his brother.

The title of Grand Marshal of the Army sounds impressive, but the burden on him is heavy.

If it were according to his idea, he would certainly like to exchange the generals and deputy generals on the Guanningjin front with other border towns, and it would be best if they were directly transferred to the inland areas to suppress the bandits.

This time, the Jiannu invaded, as well as the last time, almost all of them broke in from the left and right sides of Xifengkou. Zhang Shikang had reason to suspect that some military generals did it on purpose.

War involves not only the interests between countries, but also family and even personal interests.

For example, there are many merchants in the military camp nowadays. Lu Xiangsheng even set aside an area in the military camp specifically for these merchants.

In addition to eating, the soldiers also needed to buy bedding, daily necessities and other sundries, or send letters, etc., all of which were done through this group of merchants.

This is still the most common situation. The situation is even more exaggerated on the Jiannu side. In the battle the day before yesterday, Zhang Shikang captured many merchants who followed the Jiannu.

The Jian Nu looted everywhere in the interior of the country. Apart from money and food, they would of course not take back valuable items such as jade, calligraphy and paintings that they had looted, but would generally sell them on the spot.

These Han people followed the Jiannu army just to do this kind of business.

The Jiannu looted the Han people, and this group of Han people were not only responsible for selling the stolen goods, but also provided the Jiannu with necessary information.

Before Zhang Shikang ordered the killing, he specifically interrogated them and found out that the bosses behind many of them were from several major families in the border towns, and some were from Zhangjiakou.

He hated these traitors and had reason to suspect that some of the generals were cooperating with these families.

But at the same time, he also knew that if his guess was true, he really couldn't arrest people in a high-profile manner, as that would undoubtedly push these people to the opposite side.

After careful consideration, the generals stationed in the border towns could not be moved. Hong Chengchou was stationed in the three borders of Shaanxi, and Lu Xiangsheng was stationed in the three towns of Shanxi.

Although the case of Guan Ningjin is confusing, according to the original history, the accident happened after his elder brother hanged himself. As long as he doesn't push them too hard, Guan Ningjin's ancestral home and the Wu family should be fine for the time being.

The Jiannu incident has come to a temporary end, but there are still many things to face next. The most difficult one is the bandits such as Li Zicheng who are entrenched in Sichuan.

Lu Xiangsheng and Hong Chengchou cannot move, Guan Ningjin cannot move either, the only one who can move is Sun Chuanting.

Zhang Shikang planned to transfer Sun Chuanting to guard Hanzhong to prevent bandits from entering Shaanxi from Sichuan.

There are several conventional routes out of Sichuan. In the north there are Sun Chuanting, and in the west there are Qin Liangyu and Zuo Liangyu. Although the troops and military pay are limited, this is the only way for the time being.

In addition to these troublesome things, there is also the issue of pensions for soldiers who died in battle. Alas, Zhang Shikang gets a headache just thinking about this.

He was thinking secretly when he suddenly felt a dark shadow rushing out from the right rear. When he turned his head, he saw the dark shadow rushing towards him like a ghost.

In a flash, the steel knife stabbed towards his ribs.

"Fuck!" Zhang Shikang was shocked and drew out the Emperor's Sword to block.

He had asked many skilled generals in the barracks to teach him martial arts, but martial arts were something that only required initial training, and he had only learned the basics in more than half a year.

Who could have thought that an assassin would suddenly appear? Zhang Shikang blocked the attack in a panic while shouting to the people around him:

"Someone come! There's an assassin!"

In the midst of the clanging, Zhang Shikang felt a chill on his left arm, his clothes had been cut, and blood was flowing.

He ignored the pain and rolled on the ground to avoid the assassin's pursuit.

At this time, a man rushed over from the gate of the camp like a leopard. It was Zhang Xiuqing, a Taoist priest from Dongyue Temple.

At this moment, Zhang Xiuqing's face was no longer as peaceful as usual. He swung the dragon and tiger swords in his hands and fought with the assassin.

In just a few moments, the assassin was chopped to the ground by Zhang Xiuqing.

After ensuring that the assassin was seriously injured, Zhang Xiuqing hurried to help Zhang Shikang.

"Master Hou, are you okay?"

……