When Zhu Yuanzhang returned to Dongnuan Pavilion, night had fallen.
Although the night made the entire imperial city look dark, it did not affect his happy mood at all.
Because just now, Li Mou finally spoke under his pressure.
According to Li Mou's account, Li Zicheng brought only more than 100,000 troops this time, and one-third of them were Ming soldiers who had recently surrendered.
Half of the remaining people were refugees and had not fought many battles.
The only ones who can really fight are the 50,000 people developed by the Laoba Battalion, now divided into two teams.
A team of 30,000 people, led by General Sentinel Liu Zongmin, should now be stationed at Changui Gate.
Another team of 20,000 people, commanded by Li Zicheng's nephew Li Guo, should have lurked near Deshengmen at Shenshi today.
The reason why Li Mou even knew the time was because Li Zicheng's military advisor Song Xiance had divined it before.
Not only did he say that it would be best for Li Zicheng to arrive outside the capital at Shenshi, he also suggested that it would be most auspicious to break through the city in the light rain at dawn on the 25th.
If you miss this time, you have to wait another three days for the auspicious time.
Li Yan originally raised objections to this, believing that marching and fighting should be adapted to local conditions and should not be so rigid.
However, Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance immediately refuted him, saying that they must comply with God's will, otherwise it would affect Dashun's national destiny.
Li Yan argued hard and refuted Niu and Song, but Li Zicheng did not adopt his opinions.
Li Yan originally thought of persuading him later, but he didn't expect that the next day Li Mou received an appointment to go to Beijing to instigate rebellion.
After this incident, Li Yan became more determined to leave. However, he was worried that the rebels would be frustrated and the people would experience war again, so he persuaded Li Mou to enter the city.
"The so-called destiny and miracles are just tricks to deceive the people. I didn't expect that Thief Li would follow him as a guide. How could he be undefeated!"
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the rebel information written by Li Mou, shook his head slightly, and murmured to himself: "According to Li Mou, Tang Tong, Bai Guangen and other surrender generals are very dissatisfied with the rebels, so they should still be able to fight for it. I wonder if Wu Mengming and Gao Wencai can persuade them?"
"And Li Yan, according to Li Mou's story, he is a talented person, but I'm afraid that with Li Mou's ability, he may not be able to convince him, and Li Mou may not sincerely persuade us to surrender."
"In this case, we can't waste this move..."
"boom!"
"boom!"
Suddenly, there were two loud noises in the silent night, and then Wang Chengen and Li Ruolian were seen running in quickly.
Seeing that the two of them looked nervous, Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly: "Don't worry, the rebels will not attack the city now."
The two of them were stunned when they heard this and looked at him in surprise.
Zhu Yuanzhang did not explain, but looked at Li Ruolian and said: "Li Qing, send all the Jinyi guards out immediately."
"One is to maintain order and stabilize people's hearts, and the other is to pay attention to the movements in various governments. I'm afraid it won't be too peaceful tonight."
After Li Ruolian accepted the order, he immediately hurried out.
Zhu Yuanzhang was silent for a while, and then said to Wang Chengen: "Go and call Shen Zhanran. Then go outside the palace and say that the key will be postponed for an hour today."
Although Wang Chengen was confused, he didn't dare to ask any more questions. After he respectfully agreed, he slowly withdrew.
After Wang Chengen left, Zhu Yuanzhang picked up another memorial, which was written by Li Jing to him.
Li Jing said in the memorial that the total amount of money obtained from the raids on wealthy households was 4.5 million taels of silver, 5,600 jins of gold, and hundreds of antique calligraphy and paintings, with an estimated value of about 2.8 million taels.
In addition, three-eyed blunderbuss, armor and other objects were found in the homes of more than a dozen wealthy households, and the quantity found far exceeded normal defense needs.
Therefore, he suspected that these wealthy households were not simply surrendering, but were likely to assist the rebels in attacking the city.
In order to ensure the safety of the capital, he suggested that the Jinyi Guards conduct raids on suspicious wealthy households in the name of arresting rebels to prevent rebellion in the city.
At the end of the memorial, he made another change of direction, strongly recommending Shen Zhanran, saying that he had great talents and told Zhu Yuanzhang that he must reuse him.
"A talented person from all over the world?"
Zhu Yuanzhang murmured to himself, and couldn't help but think of the man in the past who was said to have great talents.
At this time, a young eunuch came in with Shen Zhanran.
Zhu Yuanzhang signaled the young eunuch to leave, then personally helped Shen Zhanran up, and then handed over the rebel information confessed by Li Mou.
After Shen Zhanran took it respectfully, he only glanced at it a few times before congratulating Zhu Yuanzhang and saying, "Congratulations, Your Majesty. With this information, the rebels will definitely be defeated."
Zhu Yuanzhang was quite surprised when he saw that he had read Li Mou's confession so quickly.
Although what he just showed Shen Zhanran was a simplified version of the information, the information in it was also very complicated and could not be digested in a hurry.
So he deliberately tried to test: "Are you sure what Li Mou said is true?"
Shen Zhanran saw Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes and smiled slightly: "Judging from Li Mou's confession, he also knows that he is an abandoned son. Since he is willing to speak, he will not cover up for Li Thief."
"And what he said is roughly consistent with what Mr. Li said, but it is more specific in terms of numbers, so it should be credible."
"What's more, he is willing to go with His Majesty's people to persuade the rebellious general. This shows that he is not afraid of confrontation, and it proves that everything he said is true."
"On the matter of persuading Li Yan, I feel that he may not be fully committed, because although he no longer has a good impression of the rebels, it is unlikely that he will surrender to the imperial court. After all, the rebels feel that Your Majesty is ruling the world with the scholar-bureaucrats. of."
After Shen Zhanran finished speaking, he looked at Zhu Yuanzhang respectfully.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Shen Zhanran coldly, was silent for a while, and then handed over Li Jing's memorial.
Shen Zhanran took the memorial with some surprise, glanced at it quickly, and a trace of hesitation flashed across his face.
Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang asked in a deep voice: "Do you have any strategy to retreat from the enemy?"
When Shen Zhanran heard this, his body trembled slightly, and then he knelt down and said, "I am guilty, Your Majesty, please forgive me!"
Zhu Yuanzhang did not help him up this time, but pretended to be puzzled and said: "What are you doing? We just asked you about your strategy to retreat from the enemy and did not blame you. Why do you apologize?"
Shen Zhanran's body trembled uncontrollably again and said: "Because of my humble status, I am often bullied by villains, and I have developed a tendency to be cautious."
"Today, when His Majesty asked about the strategy of retreating from the enemy in the Hongde Hall, I wanted to report it, but because I was afraid of Tianyan, I hesitated for a moment and failed to relieve my father's worries in time, so I apologize!"
Zhu Yuanzhang saw that he was so alert and remembered that Chongzhen's previous actions were really difficult for people to surrender, so he said again: "Well, I don't blame you for this. Get up!"
After hearing this, Shen Zhanran stood up slowly and said respectfully: "In my humble opinion, Mr. Li's plan in Hongde Hall today is generally feasible. There are only two things that need to be perfected."
"The first is the morale problem of the soldiers. Since the decline of the guard system established by Taizu, the combat effectiveness of our soldiers has been getting worse day by day."
"In order to solve this problem, most famous generals in the previous dynasty used money to motivate soldiers, and Lord Li also used this method."
"On normal days, this method is also feasible, but now we have troops approaching the city. No matter how much money we have, we cannot buy a well-trained army."
"What's more, I heard that most of the registered soldiers in the capital are the children of petty officials. They join the army just to find a career, so it's very difficult to use money to make them work hard!"
As Shen Zhanran spoke, he silently observed Zhu Yuanzhang's expression. When he saw that he seemed to have something to say, he stopped at the right time.
Seeing that he was so aware of the opportunity, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly and said, "You are right. These young soldiers cannot be moved by money. After all, whoever becomes the emperor will not have much influence on them."
After saying that, he looked at Shen Zhanran and said, "Do you have a way to crack it?"
Shen Zhanran nodded and said: "I have a way to deal with it, and only Your Majesty today can crack it!"
Zhu Yuanzhang knew that he was referring to the fact that the previous Chongzhen was too conceited, not decisive enough in killing, too stingy with officials, and could not listen to offensive words, so he became a loner.
So he nodded and continued to test: "We know what you mean, but this alone may not be enough to make those young soldiers fight hard."
Shen Zhanran said: "As long as your majesty can truly combine kindness and power, I believe that 70% of the soldiers will sacrifice their lives for your majesty."
"As for the remaining 30%, it's not that they are not interested in money and official titles, but that they have no confidence. As long as we defend the city, they will also invest in it."
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he shook his head and said, "No, this is too passive, and this negative emotion is contagious very quickly. We cannot passively wait for them to wake up."
"Besides, there will be a war soon. There are not enough soldiers in Beijing. The first wave of defense is the most important. We must work together."
Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang had seen through Li Mou's role, Shen Zhanran couldn't help but admire him.
So he bowed and saluted and said: "Your Majesty, although Thief Li is cunning, seeing that he re-employs Song Xiance and others, you should know that he should also believe in the destiny of heaven. As long as we are ready, we will definitely make him come back defeated."
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and nodded, and said: "Yes, Shen Qing, what you said is exactly what we want. We have something we want to hear your opinion on."
Shen Zhanran saw that although Zhu Yuanzhang was smiling, his words were serious, so he bowed respectfully and said, "Your Majesty, please enlighten me!"
Zhu Yuanzhang chuckled and said: "We know that you literati don't like things that involve strange forces and chaos, but military affairs are deceitful. Today we want you to do this, are you willing?"
Shen Zhanran was stunned for a moment, and then said respectfully: "Your Majesty is wise, I am willing to use the power of dogs and horses!"
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded with satisfaction and said, "Okay, then you can talk about the second thing."
