In late July, the midsummer night in Beijing was sweltering and windless. Even inside the palace, it was still uncomfortable. There was a feeling of steaming everywhere. If you moved even slightly, you would be covered in sweat, which was extremely uncomfortable.
Emperor Chongzhen was wearing a Taoist robe as thin as cicada wings, and there were two copper basins beside him, filled with ice cubes. However, sitting in the imperial study, Emperor Chongzhen was still sweating profusely, and Wang Chengen stood anxiously. The fan kept shaking next to him.
At this time, Emperor Chongzhen was looking at the 800-mile expedited memorial sent by Sun Chuanting. The Ministry of War mobilized the border troops from six towns to rush to Tongguan, but only two armies from Xuanfu Town and Dongxie Town fought all the way to the outside of Tongguan. In the end, Xuanfu Town was The entire army outside Tongguan was wiped out, and the general Yang Guozhu was captured by the bandits. Dongxie Town was greatly damaged, and they entered Tongguan in embarrassment to help defend.
Such news made Emperor Chongzhen furious. The government and the public were very excited about the huge rescue operation, thinking that the Battle of Tongguan would be another great victory after the Battle of Jinzhou and the Battle of Kaifeng, and the situation in the world would be There will be a change as a result, and it may even completely wipe out Li Zicheng's bandit army and realize the renaissance!
But reality slapped Emperor Chongzhen hard in the face. Four of the six towns' reinforcements were frightened by Li Zicheng's million-strong army. How did the people of the world view the imperial court?
So Emperor Chongzhen immediately issued an edict to punish Wang Pu, Li Fuming, Ma Ke, and Tang Tong, and ordered people to call in the cabinet chief minister Hong Chengchou and the Minister of War Chen Xinjia overnight.
While waiting for the two of them, Emperor Chongzhen said worriedly: "Tongguan has been besieged by Li Zicheng for a long time, but Sun Chuanting can still send the news out. What does this mean? Li Zicheng made up his mind.
If you don't attack, you want to encircle the place and bring reinforcements, or you will consume the court's money and food, and you will bring down the court! "
Wang Chengen said: "Your Majesty, yesterday the Ministry of War also sent a message saying that several batches of money and food previously sent to Tongguan were actually delivered. There were rogue soldiers and horses following along the way, but no looting was seen. This shows that Li Chuang's The heart is sinister!"
"Li Zicheng did this deliberately, the emperor must be on guard against it."
Emperor Chongzhen said: "Now that Cao Bianjiao's tribe has arrived at Tongguan, Sun Chuanting already has tens of thousands of elite soldiers in his hands. If he is ordered to go out to attack the bandits, he should be able to defeat Li Zicheng..."
As Emperor Chongzhen talked, he felt that he was not confident enough. He had just killed a town's general military officer and wiped out tens of thousands of elites in Xuanfu Town. Is it really the right time to order Sun Chuanting to take the initiative to attack at this time?
But now that it is known that Tongguan is under siege, the imperial court has to send money and food continuously. The huge consumption of money and food has depleted the national treasury. Chen Xinjia, the Minister of War, has also made several reports, requesting that reinforcements be mobilized as soon as possible to help Tongguan, otherwise it will be delayed. The army's money and food will be cut off, and then the court will really have no chance of winning.
"Could it be that Li Zicheng knew that the court was in a difficult situation, so he deliberately surrounded and refused to fight, thus wasting the court's money and food?"
Emperor Chongzhen did not believe that Li Zicheng could have such a strategy, and Li Zicheng's subordinates did not have such visionary talents. He was just struggling in his heart whether to order Sun Chuanting to lead his troops to attack.
At this time, Hong Chengchou and Chen Xinjia rushed to the imperial study. Emperor Chongzhen did not bother to let the two of them salute, and directly handed Sun Chuanting's memorial to them for circulation, and then asked: "I want Sun Chuanting and Cao Bianjiao to lead their troops out of Tongguan. Take the initiative with Li Zicheng
They decided to fight in a decisive battle to decide the outcome. What do you think? "
Chen Xinjia said hurriedly: "Your Majesty must not do it. The morale of the Tongguan garrison is low now and they have just suffered a defeat. At this time, if you force Sun Chuanting's troops to attack, his army will be defeated!"
Emperor Chongzhen looked displeased and looked at Hong Chengchou.
Hong Chengchou said: "Your Majesty, I thought that Sun Chuanting and Cao Bianjiao were ordered to continue to defend Tongguan. With the tens of thousands of elites under their command, plus the money and food that had been delivered one after another, it would not be a problem to defend Tongguan."
"At the same time, the imperial court should mobilize reinforcements again. After the army is assembled, they will go to Tongguan for rescue. With this attack from inside and outside, and by gathering heavy troops to fight with Li Zicheng's troops in the Tongguan area, we can defeat millions of bandits!"
Emperor Chongzhen said: "Ma Ke, Tang Tong, Wang Pu, and Li Fuming kept changing orders, so that the entire army in Xuanfu Town was annihilated, and the commander-in-chief Yang Guozhu died. I have issued an edict to deprive the four of them of their titles and remove them from their jobs. The general sealed the title, ordered the four of them to return the general's seal, and ordered the four of them to return to their respective vassal towns to garrison, in order to see the consequences."
"Currently, we cannot count on the soldiers and horses in these four towns, and the slaves and traitors have been ready to make a move recently, so the elites of the towns in Liaodong cannot be mobilized. Although there are many soldiers and horses in the south of the Yangtze River, their combat power is sparse, and the troops and horses of each department are defending along the Yangtze River. , It is no longer easy to stop the bandit troops from crossing the Yangtze River south, what other troops can the imperial court send?"
Hong Chengchou lamented in his heart that now the general military officers in various places were in a state of separatism, but the court had to do its best to provide money and food to prevent them from defecting to the enemy and rebelling. What Wang Pu, Li Fuming, Ma Ke, and Tang Tong did was tantamount to rebellion, but the court could only use methods such as reducing their titles and titles.
Punishment has no substantive measures at all. In the long run, it will be more difficult to mobilize soldiers from various places.
Then Hong Chengchou suppressed the worries in his heart and said: "Your Majesty, I recommend Liu Yan, Governor of Shandong, to lead his troops to fight! Now Governor Liu Yan of Shandong has implemented new policies at the local level, reorganized all the soldiers and horses in Shandong, and added tens of thousands of elite garrison troops under his command. The army is strong and can definitely defeat the thieves of Li Zicheng's tribe."
Seeing Hong Chengchou's opening, Chen Xinjia also raised his hand and said: "I agree! Liu Yan's troops are well-prepared and have strong combat power, so they can definitely break the siege of Tongguan. As long as Li Zicheng's tribe is wiped out, all the civil wars in Guan will be quelled, and the court will be able to use it for several years. Time to recuperate, and then organize and train new armies across the country. When the military strength of the country and Korea is strong, Your Majesty can send a general to lead the army out of the border and completely regain Liaodong!"
When Emperor Chongzhen saw that the two men had jointly recommended Liu Yan to fight, he was still very dissatisfied even though the two men were talking nonsense. He said, "I haven't investigated the death of the King of Han thoroughly yet. Do you dare to say that Liu Yan can get away with it? Now you still want me to do it." Isn’t it child’s play to place such great trust in national affairs?”
"Liu Yan will annihilate Li Zicheng in the future. How will I reward him? Will you Chen Xinjia give up the post of Minister of War, or will you Hong Chengchou give up the position of chief minister of the cabinet? Are you going to let Liu Yan threaten me again outside Desheng Gate?"
Hong Chengchou also became worried at this time. There really was no one else available except Liu Yan at the moment, so he said: "Your Majesty, think twice. There is no basis for what happened to the King of Han. It is just the impeachment of the Shandong vassal king, which means nothing. Now Liu Yan is here The New Deal was implemented throughout Shandong, and the people benefited from it, but the vassal kings in Shandong suffered great losses, and they held grudges.
Heart, it is also possible to attach the death of King Han to Liu Yan. "
"Yeah?"
Emperor Chongzhen said: "What kind of new policy is Liu Yan implementing? He, the governor of Shandong, privately implemented the new policy in Shandong without asking the imperial court or reporting to me. What is his intention! Is Shandong his Liu Yan's Shandong? ?”
Hong Chengchou said: "Liu Yan's move is indeed inappropriate, but his heart is for the public good. I can vouch for this. The war in Tongguan is urgent now, and the court's money and food are tight. Your Majesty should make a decision as soon as possible and order Liu Yan to mobilize troops and horses as soon as possible. Go to the rescue, otherwise things will change if you wait too long."
Chen Xinjia said: "Your Majesty, I have calculated that Liu Yan's new army has eight battalions, and only six battalions are needed. The court can raise money and food for Liu Yan's tribe for three months. In my opinion, this is the last step. It's a chance. If Your Majesty hesitates and delays for more than a month, the court may not even be able to raise this small amount of money and food, and it will be unable to recruit Liu Yan's troops by then."
Although Hong Chengchou and Chen Xinjia both recommended Liu Yan's troops to fight, Emperor Chongzhen did not waver at all. At this time, in Emperor Chongzhen's view, Liu Yan was already a powerful being, and Shandong had become Liu Yan's world and was no longer owned by the imperial court. .
If Liu Yan makes new contributions in the future, what official position should the court grant Liu Yan? By then, the imperial court will probably have to rely on Liu Yan to survive!
At this time, Emperor Chongzhen already regretted promoting Liu Yan to the governor of Shandong. If Liu Yan had resisted outside Deshengmen and he, the emperor, had withstood the pressure, perhaps today's situation would not be like this!
So Emperor Chongzhen said coldly: "My Ming Dynasty is rich.
Sihai, without Liu Yan, wouldn't it be possible to quell the rebellion of the bandits? Could it be that Sun Chuanting was not as good as Liu Yan, and Cao Bianjiao was not as good as Liu Yan? "
"His Majesty!"
"enough!"
Emperor Chongzhen stood up and said: "The edict is being prepared: Order Sun Chuanting's troops to intensify their training. Within one month, they will rectify their troops and go out to annihilate Li Zicheng!"
After saying that, Emperor Chongzhen walked away directly, and Wang Chengen hurriedly followed.
Hong Chengchou sighed and stood there with his brows furrowed. And Chen Xinjia said anxiously: "What should I do, Mr. Ge? With this edict, Sun Baigu (Sun Chuanting's name is Baigu) and Cao Bianjiao will undoubtedly die. If Tongguan is lost, half of the country in the northwest will no longer be owned by the country. !”
Hong Chengchou said: "Now it seems that there is no other way!"
Chen Xinjia said: "Mr. Ge, I have an idea."
"Um?"
Hong Chengchou asked differently: "Tell me, what's your idea?"
Chen Xinjia looked around and determined that there were only two people left in the imperial study, so he leaned into Hong Chengchou's ear and whispered: "In the name of the Ministry of War, I gave Liu Yan an order to raise his own money and food to go to Tongguan for reinforcements. It will cost the court It will be reimbursed in the future. Then Mr. Ge will go through the process directly in the cabinet, and will stay in China for the time being. After Liu Yan leads his troops to Tongguan, he will report it to His Majesty Zhu for approval."
Hong Chengchou's eyes widened and he said angrily: "You are looking for death!"
Unexpectedly, Chen Xinjia suddenly said with great righteousness: "If Elder Ge is afraid, I will take full responsibility for this matter. When the time comes, whether it is to kill the nine tribes or to be exiled thousands of miles away, I will admit it!"
Hong Chengchou greeted all the women in Chen Xinjia's family in his heart. Chen Xinjia was the Minister of the Ministry of War. He lost Tongguan and lost his family.
In the northwest, Emperor Chongzhen will definitely accuse Chen Xinjia. Emperor Chongzhen will not care who is the reason for Sun Chuanting's defeat!
So Chen Xinjia came up with this desperate plan to drag Hong Chengchou and Liu Yan to die together.
If Hong Chengchou really wants to do this, not only will Liu Yan be held responsible for supporting his own troops and acting wantonly, but no matter how powerful he is, he will become a street rat. Hong Chengchou, the chief minister of the cabinet, will definitely do it. He will be imprisoned and beheaded in the worst case. Ransomware.
To put it bluntly, Chen Xinjia was betting that as long as Hong Chengchou and Liu Yan agreed, defeated Li Zicheng, and put down the bandit rebellion.
The bet was won, and Emperor Chongzhen was overjoyed. Chen Xinjia, the Minister of War, should be the chief contributor, and he would only be able to join the cabinet in the future.
The bet was lost. Anyway, with Hong Chengchou, the chief minister of the cabinet, and Liu Yan, the governor of Shandong, buried with him, Chen Xinjia's death was not unjust.
At this time, Hong Chengchou said coldly: "I don't think this matter needs to go through the cabinet. I can just do whatever I want to do. I pretend I didn't hear it. Don't inform the cabinet!"
After saying that, Hong Chengchou turned around and walked away, leaving Chen Xinjia standing there with a ferocious look on his face.
