In the Ming Dynasty, 500,000 troops collapsed across the civil fort, and the news reached Beijing. The Empress Dowager and Empress were so anxious that they picked up a lot of gold and silver treasures and silks and satins from the palace and secretly sent eunuchs to look for the Vara army with the treasure, hoping to redeem Yingzong. The result is of course hopeless.
The wounded soldiers who escaped from the civil fort, those with broken hands and feet, appeared on the streets of Beijing one by one. There was a panic in the capital, and no one knew the whereabouts of the emperor. Besides, there are not many people and horses in Beijing. The vara army is coming, how can we resist?
In order to reassure people, Empress Dowager Cixi announced that King Zhu Qiyu of Xi would supervise the country (that is, act as emperor) and called ministers to discuss how to deal with Vala. Ministers have their own opinions and don't know what to do. Minister Xu Youzhen said: "Warra soldiers are very strong, so they can't resist. When I see the astronomical phenomena, Beijing will be in big trouble. It is better to flee to the south, avoid for a while, and then make plans. "
Yu Qian, assistant minister of the Ministry of War, said seriously to the Queen Mother and He, "Anyone who advocates escape will be beheaded. The capital is the foundation of the country. If the imperial court withdraws its troops, the tide is gone. Have you forgotten the lesson of the Southern Song Dynasty? "
Yu Qian's idea was supported by many ministers, and the queen mother decided to let Yu Qian take charge of commanding the military and civilians to guard the city.
Yu Qian was a famous national hero in Ming Dynasty, a native of Qiantang (now Hangzhou), Zhejiang Province. He has great ambitions since he was a child. When he was a child, his grandfather collected a portrait of Wen Tianxiang. Yu Qian worships Wen Tianxiang very much. He hung the portrait on his desk and wrote an inscription saying that he must learn from Wen Tianxiang. When I grew up, I was admitted to the Jinshi and worked as a few local officials. I was strict in law enforcement and honest and clean; Later, he served as the governor of Henan, rewarding production, relieving famine, and paying more attention to people's sufferings.
When Wang Zhen was in power, corruption was rampant. When local officials go to Beijing to handle affairs, they always send money to bribe their superiors first. Only Yu Qian never gives gifts. Someone advised him: "If you can't send gold and silver treasures, can't you bring some local products?" Yu Qian shook his sleeves and smiled: "Only the breeze." He also wrote a poem to show his attitude. The last two sentences of the poem are: "The wind blows the sleeves to the sky, so don't be short." (The last sentence means to avoid being gossiped. Yan Lu is the alley. This is how the idiom "remain uncorrupted" comes from. )
Because of Yu Qian's integrity, he offended Wang Zhen. Wang Zhen instructed his colleagues to falsely accuse Yu Qian, put him in prison and sentenced him to death. When local officials and people in Henan and Shanxi heard that Yu Qian had been framed, thousands of people signed a letter to Ming Yingzong, demanding his release. When Wang Zhen and his gang saw that everyone was angry, Yu Qian had no choice but to let him go and restore his original position. Later, he was transferred to Beijing as an assistant minister of the Ministry of War.
This time, at the critical moment in Beijing, Yu Qian resolutely shouldered the heavy responsibility of guarding the city. While stepping up the dispatch of troops, he strengthened the defense forces in the capital and nearby passes; When cleaning up the mainland, they arrested a group of spies of the Vara army.
One day, the king of the prison, Zhu Qiyu, went to court, and the ministers demanded that Wang Zhen's crime be declared. Zhu Qiyu dare not decide. Eunuch Ma Shun is Wang Zhen's accomplice. Seeing that ministers refused to leave North Korea, he shouted to drive them away. This angered the minister. A minister rushed to catch Ma Shun, and everyone caught up. After punching and kicking, Ma Shun was killed.
Zhu Qiyu saw the chaos in the imperial court and wanted to hide in the inner palace. Yu Qian stopped him and said, "Wang Zhen is the chief culprit in the failure of this war. If you don't punish him, you can't make people angry. As long as your Majesty declares Wang Zhen guilty, the ministers will be relieved. "
Zhu Qiyu listened to Yu Qian, ordered to copy Wang Zhen's home, and punished several companions of Wang Zhen, and the people gradually settled down.
Walla leader also captured Ming Yingzong first, and instead of killing him, he took Yingzong hostage, constantly harassing the border. It seems that it is difficult for Beijing to do without an emperor. Yu Qian and other ministers asked the Empress Dowager to officially declare Zhu Qiyu emperor, and the captured Ming Yingzong was renamed the Emperor's Father. Zhu Qiyu acceded to the throne and proclaimed himself emperor. This is Ming Daizong (also called Jingdi).
Knowing that the Ming Dynasty was determined to resist Walla, it invaded Beijing on a large scale under the pretext of sending Ming Yingzong back to the DPRK.
This year 10, the Valla army quickly arrived at the gates of Beijing and camped outside Xizhimen. Yu Qian immediately called all the generals to discuss countermeasures. General Shi Heng thought that the Ming army was weak, and advocated withdrawing troops from the city, and then closed all the city gates for defense. After a long time, maybe Vara will quit automatically.
Yu Qian said: "The enemy is so arrogant. If we show weakness to them, it will only encourage their arrogance. We must take the initiative to send troops and give them a head-on blow. "
Then, he sent generals to lead the troops out of the city and arrayed themselves outside the nine gates of Beijing.
After arranging all kinds of troops outside the city, Yu Qian personally led a team to station outside Deshengmen, and told the garrison commander in the city to close all the gates, indicating his determination to only enter and not retreat. And a military order was issued: the generals will go into battle, and if they lose the team and retreat first, they will be beheaded; If you don't obey the general's command, the soldiers who flee the battlefield will be beheaded by the soldiers in the rear team.
The soldiers were moved by Yu Qian's brave and firm spirit, with high morale and high morale, and made up their minds to defend Beijing to the death with the Walla army.
At this time, the Ming armies all over the country received orders from the imperial court and also went to Beijing to support them. The Ming army outside the city increased to 220 thousand.
The Ming army was large and heavily guarded, and launched several attacks first, which were bravely blocked by the Ming army. The people outside the city also cooperated with the Ming army, jumped on the roof and threw bricks at the enemy. After five days of fierce fighting, the Walla army suffered heavy casualties.
First, they suffered heavy losses, but again afraid that their retreat would be cut off by the Ming army. They dared not fight again and retreated with Ming Yingzong and beaten army. Yu Qian and other Ming Yingzong walked away, so they bombarded with artillery and killed a group of Walla soldiers. Beijing won a brilliant victory in the defence war.
Yu Qian contributed a lot and was deeply loved by the soldiers and civilians in Beijing. Ming Daizong has great respect for him. Yu Qian's house is simple and can only shelter from the wind and rain. Ming Daizong built a mansion for him, but Yu Qian declined. He said: "Now is the time when the country is in danger. How can you covet enjoyment? "
After I failed first, I knew it was useless to detain Ming Yingzong. Put Ming Yingzong back in Beijing.
Yu Qian devoted himself to defending the country, but Xu Youzhen, who advocated running away when Beijing was in crisis, and Shi Heng, the general who was scolded by Yu Qian, all held a grudge against him and thought about revenge.
Ming Daizong was seriously ill seven years after Yingzong returned to Beijing, that is, in A.D. 1457. Xu Youzhen and Shi Heng colluded with eunuchs and entered the palace to welcome Ming Yingzong and Zhu Qizhen to reset. In history, this incident was called "the change of robbing the door". Soon, Ming Daizong died.
After Ming Yingzong was restored, he was angry with his brother for helping him become emperor when he was in exile. In addition, Xu Youzhen and Shi Heng said many framed words in front of him, so he brutally killed Yu Qian on charges of "rebellion".
When Beijingers heard that Yu Qian had been wronged and killed, men, women and children wept bitterly. People recite a poem Ode to a Lime written by Yu Qian when he was young:
"Hammer chisel mountain, if the fire is idle.
Not afraid of broken bones, leave innocence in the world! "
People think that this is a portrayal of Yu Qian's life.