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

Zu Dashou knew in his heart that only by handing this over would he show his greatest sincerity.

He knew very well that once he handed this over, it would be equivalent to handing his life and all his honor into the hands of Zhang Shikang.

Collaborating with the enemy is a crime of treason. Regardless of whether he replied to those letters or not, Zhang Shikang could use this as a reason to send him to hell.

But he had thought it over last night. Since he had decided to surrender and take a gamble for his old age, he had to show all his sincerity. After all, this was the only chance.

Zhang Shikang became interested immediately after hearing this. He opened the wooden box and found a letter that was two or three inches thick inside.

He immediately picked up a letter at random and opened it. He only glanced at it and found the general meaning was as follows:

"I, Huang Taiji, love General Zu very much. I am a rough man who can only lead troops to fight, but I cannot educate the people, comfort the soldiers, or understand the terrain of mountains and rivers. I hope that the general and I can form a life and death alliance, and we can share wealth and glory together."

There is another letter, which should have been written after the Jianlu general Zu Dashou was surrounded during the Battle of Dalinghhe.

“General Zu, Dalinghe is already a dead city. I have forty red-coated cannons under my command, and we can break into the city in an instant.

But I thought that all the brave men east of Shanhaiguan were in the city, and I couldn't bear to see so many talented people die in such an unequal war.

Because what good would it do me to kill you?

As long as the general surrenders to me, Huang Taiji, I promise not to kill the surrendered soldiers."

Zu Dashou arranged all the letters in chronological order. The next letter was probably the one Zu Dashou wrote after he surrendered and ran back to Jinzhou.

"The general has not replied to my letter since he entered Jinzhou City. I think the general must have encountered some unspeakable difficulties.

My ministers all said that I was deceived and that the general was deliberately pretending to surrender. They advised me to kill your sons and nephews, but I did not do so.

The general's children and nephews need not worry. I will treat them like my own and will not let them be bullied.

I believe the general must have his own difficulties, and I will wait for good news from the general in Shenyang.

Don’t read it. "

Damn it, when Zhang Shikang saw this, he just felt goosebumps all over his body.

He thought he was thick-skinned enough, but he didn't expect there was another master.

The shamelessness of Huang Taiji and the disgusting words he used were truly unprecedented in Zhang Shikang's life.

He flipped through a few more letters and found that they were all Huang Taiji's corny words, mostly complimenting Zu Dashou, saying that Zu Dashou was loyal and brave and hoped to join him in great events.

He said that he would never be angry because Zu Dashou did not offer Jinzhou City, and he would wait for this day until the end of time.

It is really unparalleled that the ruler of a country would go to such lengths just to protect Guan Ningjin.

It was not until this moment that Zhang Shikang truly believed that Zu Dashou had really shown the sincerity he deserved.

So, when he saw these letters, he did not get angry, but helped Zu Dashou up.

"I am still surprised that you can take out these letters. I understand your intentions.

Don't worry, I will give you a decent old age." Zhang Shikang said after throwing the letter back into the wooden box.

In fact, Zhang Shikang already knew that Huang Taiji had written a disgusting letter to Zu Dashou to persuade him to surrender, but he was still very surprised when he actually saw the letter.

In any case, the Qing Dynasty is still in its start-up period. People always remember the glory when they are successful, but rarely stop to think about the hardships that entrepreneurs experienced before they became successful.

Both Huang Taiji and Nurhaci had shameful pasts.

"I'm very curious about how you replied to Huang Taiji?" Zhang Shikang said with a smile on his face.

Such a disgusting letter was written to a rough man like Zu Dashou. Zhang Shikang has always been fond of gossip.

Zu Dashou didn't think there was anything wrong. After thinking for a while, he said:

"Replying to the Marshal, I usually don't reply to your letters. In the past nine years, I have only replied three times, all of which were because I was concerned about my nephews and former subordinates.

I have never thought of surrendering to the enemy."

I understand. You’ve read it but you’re not replying, right? Zhang Shikang thought to himself.

"Oh, can you tell me about the Battle of Daling River? I heard that a lot of people were killed at that time. Is this true?"

Once Zhang Shikang started to gossip, he couldn't stop. He liked to tell stories to Chen Yuanyuan and others. He himself also liked to listen to stories, especially the mysteries in history.

Zu Dashou's eyes grew solemn upon hearing this, as if he did not want to recall that past event, but he still continued:

"At that time, I and He Kegang, under the order of General Sun, led 14,000 soldiers and more than 10,000 civilians to rebuild Dalinghe City.

The project lasted only half a month before Huang Taiji led tens of thousands of troops to surround the half-built isolated city of Dalinghhe.

General Sun sent reinforcements several times, but they were all defeated by Huang Taiji.

Since Dalinghhe City was just being rebuilt, there was not much food and fodder in the city, and it was exhausted in less than half a month.

Huang Taiji wrote to me to persuade me to surrender, but I did not want to surrender.

There is no reinforcement and food and fodder are in short supply. In order to maintain combat effectiveness, I can only resort to the worst strategy and order the soldiers to kill their horses.

But later, all the war horses were eaten up, and the civilians in the city had begun to starve to death. Some soldiers disobeyed military orders and secretly ate the starving civilians.

The morale of the soldiers at that time was on the verge of collapse. In order to prevent mutiny, I had no choice but to let them go.

But by September, the civilians had almost all died and were eaten. Some weak soldiers fell one after another and were eventually eaten.

They held out like this until October, when there was nothing left to eat in the city except the remaining 10,000 soldiers.

Huang Taiji then wrote another letter of persuasion for surrender. I knew in my heart that the imperial court's reinforcements would not come again, and they would all die if they stayed here.

So I wanted to escape by pretending to surrender, but Lieutenant General He disagreed. I couldn't bear to see 10,000 elite soldiers starve to death in the city, so I killed Lieutenant General He and surrendered to Huang Taiji. "

At this point, the 62-year-old Zu Dashou's eyes were already filled with turbid tears, and he could hardly hide his excitement.

"Marshal, do you believe me? I really don't want to kill him!

But if we don't do this, everyone will die. I took his head to see Huang Taiji.

I thought Huang Taiji would trust me very much, so I proposed to take the soldiers in the city to help Huang Taiji to open Jinzhou City.

But Huang Taiji only trusted me on the surface and only allowed me to go by myself.

I...I killed He Kegang, but I did not bring the soldiers in the city back to Jinzhou!

Therefore, over the years, whenever I see Huang Taiji's letters, I think of those things and feel heartbroken.

"I...I feel guilty! I feel guilty!"

Thinking of those past events, Zu Dashou finally couldn't bear it anymore, and the veteran in his sixties burst into tears.

……