"Your Majesty, General Hong is very loyal to the Ming Dynasty and must not collude with the establishment of slaves. Your Majesty, please be careful!"
"Your Majesty, please take a closer look!"
The chief minister and his party all knelt on the ground. Hong Chengchou was their last protection. If Hong Chengchou was deprived of military power, they would not be able to survive for a few days.
"The evidence of Hong Chengchou's collaboration with the enemy is conclusive. Does your intercession for him have anything to do with this matter?"
Chongzhen finally understood why he wanted to capture Hong Chengchou. If the other party developed like this, he would have less and less say in the court.
"Your Majesty, I think it is impossible for the slaves to go south due to civil strife now. Yuan Chonghuan, who is guarding Shanhaiguan, can take on this important task."
Chongzhen didn't want to listen to the chatter of these civil servants, so he looked at Xu Wei, who was standing in the first place behind him.
After Xu Wei met Chongzhen's eyes, he knew that he wanted to hear his own thoughts, so he quickly spoke out his thoughts.
"Hmph! Let's go to Yuan Chonghuan! Where should we lead the army? Are we going to take all the troops from Shanhaiguan?"
When the Minister of War heard that Yuan Chonghuan was asked to go, he was his mortal enemy, so he quickly stood up and refuted.
"It's okay. I have already sent ten thousand soldiers to guard the north. It should not be very far from Gansu."
Faced with the question from the Minister of War, Chongzhen answered.
The chief minister and his party were once again shocked. They did not expect that the emperor, whom they thought was cowardly, had already planned everything.
"Then even if there is an army, who should guard Shanhaiguan? If Huang Taiji attacks, how can it be done without a general?"
The Minister of War of the Ministry of War briefly passed the pass, and continued to raise doubts.
"Your Majesty, General Yuan Chonghuan's deputy general Wu Sangui, I think is fully qualified for the duty of guarding Shanhaiguan."
"That's right! I actually forgot about him. When Yuan Chonghuan killed Dorgon last time, he reported his name and said that Wu Sangui was a brave and strategic general."
After listening to Xu Wei's words, Chongzhen remembered the name Wu Sangui.
"Okay, as General Xu said, does anyone have any opinions?"
After thinking about it for a while, he decided, glanced in the direction of the chief assistant and asked.
Before anyone could answer, he stood up and came to the chief assistant.
"Hong Chengchou will return to Beijing soon, and many letters were copied from his home. There is a lot of evidence of collaborating with the enemy. I hope those who wrote the letters will submit their resignations someday and return home in glory."
He deliberately walked up to the chief minister and said these words, then strode out of the hall.
Xu Wei and the neutral ministers were all feeling proud at this moment that they were on the right team, and they left with secret joy in their hearts.
Everyone in the chief minister's party looked ugly. Now all the support was gone, and it was impossible to rebel.
As soon as he left the palace, the royal guards followed him, and followed the chief ministers and ministers back to the house.
"General Xu, Your Majesty invites you."
Just as Xu Wei was about to mount his horse and leave, he was stopped by a eunuch.
Xu Wei followed the eunuch to the minister's study room.
"See Your Majesty."
"Interesting, how did you know today that I wanted you to say it? And you said it so thoughtfully, tell me how you came up with it?"
Chongzhen called Xu Wei here mainly because he didn't expect Xu Wei to be brave and resourceful, which really shocked him.
"Your Majesty, yes."
Xu Wei hesitated a little, not knowing whether he should say anything.
"Naughty, it's okay to just say whatever you have to say."
"It was written in the tip bag that Mr. Hu gave me when I was having dinner at Mr. Hu's place that day. It said that I could speak out at critical moments to help His Majesty solve his problems."
After Xu Wei finished speaking, Chongzhen was stunned. He originally didn't want to rely on Hu Yunqing, but he didn't expect that Hu Yunqing still secretly helped him.
"Your Majesty, I think Mr. Hu is suitable to serve as an official in the court. With Mr. Hu joining us, why should the Ming Dynasty not be able to live forever!"
Xu Wei also heard about it from Xiao Shangzi, who also wanted Xu Wei to persuade him. At this time, we should not act on impulse, we should still take the country as our responsibility.
"Go down."
"His Majesty!"
Seeing that Chongzhen didn't say anything, Xu Wei wanted to say something else and asked Chongzhen to drive him out.
Several guards dragged the person out directly.
"What are you doing? Let go!"
Xiao Shangzi, who was waiting outside the door, saw Xu Wei being dragged out and quickly ordered the guards to let go.
"General Xu, are you okay?"
Xiao Shangzi quickly stepped forward to see if Xu Wei was okay.
"It's okay. I've done what I should do, so I'll leave first."
"Xiao Shangzi!"
Just when Xiao Shangzi wanted to send Xu Wei off, the emperor's voice came from the Shang study room calling him.
"His Majesty."
"What happened over there recently?"
Chongzhen asked Xiao Shangzi pretending to look at the booklet.
"Is that what Your Majesty is talking about?"
Xiao Shangzi pretended not to know anything and asked Chongzhen doubtfully.
"It's the place I always went to!"
Seeing Xiao Shangzi's mean smile, Chongzhen threw the booklet in his hand at Xiao Shangzi angrily and said.
"I've been looking for someone to keep an eye on Mr. Hu. Nothing happened. Mr. Hu is just distributing food to the refugees."
After listening to this, Chongzhen was thoughtful, and then he picked up a pen and wrote some words on the paper.
"Xiao Shangzi, come here."
After finishing writing, he waved to Xiao Shangzi, who walked to Chongzhen's side.
"Send this letter to Hu Yunqing, and also send him a banknote of 30,000 taels from the Ministry of Household Affairs."
He put the paper in the envelope and handed it to Xiao Shangzi. After thinking about it, he still felt that it was not enough. Hu Yunqing had helped him so much. Now he knew his identity. If he was still stingy, he might start nagging.
"Slave, go now."
This time, Xiao Shangzi came out of the palace without changing his clothes. He directly wore eunuch clothes and led a team of royal guards outside the palace.
"Prick up your ears, no one is allowed to disturb the people."
When he arrived outside the village, he saw that the people here were still living as usual. Knowing that Hu Yunqing thought these people were important, he turned his head and gave instructions to the Jin Yiwei behind him.
When a group of people entered Zhuangzi, they also received the attention of the villagers, who didn't know what happened.
"Master Hu! The Emperor ordered me to bring you a letter."
After entering the village, I saw Hu Yunqing handing out food from afar. After Hu Yunqing finished handing out food, he came over and said to Hu Yunqing respectfully.
"dont see!"
Hu Yunqing looked at the clothes Xiao Shangzi was wearing and the Jin Yiwei behind him, and turned around and left.
"Your Majesty, you also asked me to bring fifty thousand taels of silver notes."
Seeing Hu Yunqing leaving immediately, Xiao Shangzi remembered that the emperor was holding a banknote, and quickly took it out and shouted to Hu Yunqing.
"I told you earlier! It made me walk so far!"
Hu Yunqing, who had walked five or six meters, ran back, snatched the banknote, and began to count the money while complaining about Xiao Shangzi's slow speech.
