Chapter 174
If Cheng Shijie is not a quasi-consort, it is not important to the court whether he can walk on the road of humanity.
However, he is now the quasi-consort, and even Najib has accepted it. There are only two procedures left to ask for a date and welcome the bride. This matter is a major matter for the court.
No matter what the relationship between Emperor Chongzhen and Princess Le'an was, he could never find a consort for his sister who could not behave in a humane way. Such a tragedy once happened in the Ming Dynasty, that is, Princess Yongning was the fourth daughter of Emperor Mu Zong of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Zaihe, and her mother was Empress Dowager Li of Xiaoding. In other words, Princess Yongning was the half-sister of Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty, so she naturally won the favor of Empress Dowager Li. , the favor of Emperor Wanli.
However, when Princess Yongning was worshiping, the consort suddenly vomited blood and fainted on the spot. Not long after, the consort died. Princess Yongning is also pitiful. He and the consort have only been named husband and wife for a month, but they have no real relationship with each other, let alone having children. Although she is a princess, the idea of "keeping integrity for her husband" is still deeply rooted in the Ming Dynasty, and it is impossible to remarry.
So after twelve years of living alone as a widow, he passed away at the age of only 27. It is said that Princess Yongning was a virgin until her death.
At first, Emperor Chongzhen thought that this kind of impeachment was based on suspicion. After all, no one could provide solid evidence, and Cheng Shijie was different from Princess Yongning's consort. Cheng Shijie was physically strong and had strong martial arts skills. He also had a son and a daughter. If Cheng Shijie's eldest son can be found, and his son is already twelve years old.
Although Emperor Chongzhen didn't believe it, this matter reached Concubine Li Kang's ears. Concubine Li Kang asked someone to summon Emperor Chongzhen. Although Emperor Chongzhen hated Concubine Li Kang very much, he had to see Concubine Li Kang because he had been raised by Concubine Li Kang since he was a child. He, Emperor Chongzhen My name is Li Kangfei’s mother.
It's okay to avoid Concubine Li Kang once or twice, but over time there will be no excuses. After all, Emperor Chongzhen cannot bear the name of being unfilial. Being annoyed by Concubine Li Kang, her head was as big as a bucket. In desperation, she just summoned Gao Qiqian to ask.
If anyone in the entire court knew Cheng Shijie best, it was Gao Qiqian.
"Gao Banban, you are familiar with Cheng Qing..."
Gao Qiqian was very clear about Emperor Chongzhen's concerns. He was actually the one responsible for impeaching Emperor Chongzhen, and it was spread with both nose and eyes. Cheng Shijie was surrounded by Yang Yunniang, Jin Qiaoer, Jiang Xueer, Wang Wei, Feng Sanniang, and a total of six Luo family members. Women come in all ages and shapes.
However, the problem is that none of the six daughters has ever slept with Cheng Shijie, especially the three daughters Yang Yunniang, Jin Qiaoer, and Jiang Xueer, who are still virgins.
This situation has to make people think, is Cheng Shijie really bad?
Regarding the question of whether Cheng Shijie can or cannot do it, Gao Qiqian actually has a lot of say. He once reported directly to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, I have already reported this matter!"
Emperor Chongzhen was slightly startled: "Have you reported it?"
Gao Qiqian hurriedly asked someone to look for the previous memorial. It took him half a day to finally find it. Gao Qiqian once reported to Emperor Chongzhen: "This slave... took a bath with Shijie... quite majestic!"
Emperor Chongzhen firmly believed in Gao Qiqian's words.
He asked curiously: "What about impeachment in the DPRK..."
"He who is not envied by others is a mediocre person. Your Majesty, you don't know something. I have received a report from the Jin Yiwei detective. The cavalry from Liaonan and Dengzhou have entered the capital. I wonder if they have brought good news!"
Emperor Chongzhen was stunned: "What's going on? Wang Banban, go check it out!"
This is the brilliance of Gao Qiqian. The good news in Liaonan was suppressed by Gao Qiqian. Apart from him, only Xu Guangqi could get a few words of news from Sun Yuanhua. However, Xu Guangqi also vaguely felt Gao Qiqian's The layout of the dive.
Xu Guangqi has been trying his best to defend Cheng Shijie. When he learned that Gao Qi was potentially digging a hole, he followed the trend and started to add fuel to the fire. Now there are nearly two hundred memorials to impeach Cheng Shijie, which is a full basket.
Emperor Chongzhen thought about the recent trend in the court. The memorial to impeach Cheng Shijie mainly focuses on three aspects. First, Cheng Shijie ignored the overall situation and was determined to fight to the death with Jiannu! Cheng Shijie wanted to use the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers to pave the way for his own official career, which was completely unscrupulous.
Second, Cheng Shijie did not understand Emperor Chongzhen's good intentions, and did not care about the empty treasury. He went his own way and used military force to defeat him.
Third, Cheng Shijie has a hidden body, but he deceived the royal family into marrying him, and his intentions are terrible.
The current headache for Emperor Chongzhen is rogue bandits. Among the former Governor of the Three Borders, Yang He, who was the main recruiter, the Ming court was unable to feed a large number of hungry people, and those who had surrendered were resurrected one after another. Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong pretended to surrender many times and recharged their batteries for a period of time before rebelling. The Ming Dynasty defeated the "thieves" many times without dying because of this false surrender.
In fact, this problem is not to blame on Yang He. If Yang He were Cheng Shijie, as long as the hundreds of thousands of rebels surrendered, Cheng Shijie would organize these bandits into a hundred households in the field, and they would not rebel. But the problem is that Yang He has no food or money, so these bandits can only rebel again.
Emperor Chongzhen promoted Hong Chengchou as the new governor of the three sides. To be fair, Hong Chengchou changed Yang He's policy of "suppressing and pacifying on both sides (inducing surrender)" to "all-out suppression" and "suppressing the strong and pacifying first, first suppressing and then pacifying", and concentrated his forces to attack Shaanxi. Peasant Army. The peasant army suffered heavy losses, their leader Ke Tianfei was beheaded, and his general Bai Guangen surrendered. Cao Wenzhao also encircled and suppressed the peasant army at Zhuizi Mountain in Yaozhou. The leader of the peasant army, Lone Wolf, surrendered after waiting for him. Hong Chengchou ordered the massacre of 400 people and the rest were dismissed.
It is a pity that these refugee troops took the opportunity to join Gao Yingxiang. Gao Yingxiang reorganized the refugee army into thirty-six battalions, with a total of more than 200,000 soldiers.
In August of the fifth year of Chongzhen, Gao Yingxiang conquered Daning, Xizhou, Zezhou and Shouyang, shaking the whole Jin Dynasty. Inspired by Gao Yingxiang, the refugee grass bandits from South Zhili, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Huguang and even Fujian were greatly encouraged. They took advantage of the moment when the officers and soldiers were focusing on one thing and the other, and rose up to attack the state!
They did not have as strong a fighting force as Gao Yingxiang's rebels, but they were enough to make the officers and soldiers miserable. For a time, smoke and fire broke out in Huguang, Sichuan, and Jiangxi, and the sound of the rebels' hooves resounded in the barren mountains and rivers.
Such a critical situation shocked both the government and the public. Under this circumstance, Xu Guangqi, the deputy minister of the cabinet, proposed to mobilize the Ning navy to enter the pass to quell the rebellion.
It happened that at this juncture, Cheng Shijie was impeached by the ministers and turned into a sieve.
Emperor Chongzhen now understands the real reason for impeaching Cheng Shijie. It is not that Cheng Shijie did anything outrageous, but that Cheng Shijie worshiped Sun Chengzong as his disciple and prepared to use Sun Chengzong's political legacy.
Sun Chengzong can also be regarded as a member of the Donglin Party, but the Donglin Party is actually just a loose political alliance. The Donglin Party actually does not hinder Sun Chengzong. In fact, Sun Chengzong himself is also the leader of the Beizhili Party and can be said to be the leader of the Hebei Party.
Since the collapse of the Donglin Party cabinet, cabinet minister Wen Tiren has been controlling the government. He naturally does not want a highly respected person like Sun Chengzong to come out. Once Sun Chengzong, a veteran of the four dynasties, is still on stage, they will all have to step aside.
As Wang Chengen investigated, it turned out that the good news sent by Liaonan's riders had been withheld.
Gao Qiqian took the victory report and shouted excitedly: "Your Majesty, great victory!"
"Did you win?"
Emperor Chongzhen was in a very excited mood.
Gao Qiqian pretended to be even more excited: "Your Majesty, not only did we win the battle, but General Cheng also severely defeated Jiannu. General Cheng killed Beile Manggultai, Degerei, and captured Abatai and others. There were more than 3,000 Jian slaves, more than 8,000 Mongolians, more than 5,000 Han troops, more than 16,000 prisoners alone, and seven or eight thousand beheaded!"
Emperor Chongzhen just didn't read it. He read it again, read it again, clapped his hands together, laughed, and said: "Hey! Okay! Win, Ming Dynasty wins!"
As Emperor Chongzhen spoke, he stumbled back, clenched his teeth, and fell unconscious.
Emperor Chongzhen was unconscious, but Gao Qiqian was frightened: "Come here, come here, call the imperial doctor!"
The imperial doctor came over, pinched the person, and inserted needles. After a while, Emperor Chongzhen woke up. He jumped up from the imperial couch, without even wearing shoes, and ran towards the outside of the palace: "I, the Ming Dynasty, won. Ming Dynasty won!"
Emperor Chongzhen became insane, which frightened the ministers.
Wen Tiren, Zhou Yanru, Xu Guangqi, and Wu Zongda came over one after another. At this time, Emperor Chongzhen drank the medicine and prescribed it. It was a medicine that calmed the mind and calmed the mind. Emperor Chongzhen had already fallen asleep.
Wu Zongda asked in confusion: "What happened?"
Gao Qiqian said: "Your Majesty has received good news from General Cheng!"
"Good news?"
Xu Guangqi was not surprised. He had received it from Sun Yuanhua a day ago. He was just curious why the court did not announce it.
Wu Zongda asked: "What good news?"
"The great victory at Bali Bay in Haizhou, General Cheng beheaded more than 8,000 slaves, killed the two great Beile Mang Gurtai and Dege Lei, and captured Beile Abatai alive..."
"What a joke!"
"How dare we make a joke!"
Wen Tiren hurriedly received the good news, read it ten lines at a time, and then went back to read it sentence by sentence. He still didn't believe his eyes. After reading it, he read it word by word.
This is not Cheng Shijie's vernacular victory report, but Sun Zhilan's own handwriting. The words are extremely gorgeous and exaggerated...
Wen Tiren read ten lines at a glance, his expression changed unpredictably, and finally turned into a sigh.
Cheng Shijie actually won the fight and beat Jian Nu so badly! He didn't need to personally count the heads one by one. He knew that the Ming army really won a great victory in this battle, because there was a skill in falsely reporting military achievements. If you wanted to pour water into the results, no one would beheadings and beheadings. The number of prisoners was written so clearly, with some being complete and some scattered. Just looking at the number of beheadings and the number of prisoners, he knew that that boy really led the Ming army to a great victory that had not been seen in decades.
Is Cheng Shijie really the reincarnation of Wu Qi and Huo Qubing? He is so good at fighting!
While he was confused and confused, Wen Tiren also felt a little relieved. This time, Jiannu was really beaten to the point of breaking his muscles and bones. He should have stopped for a few years, right? He, the first assistant, can relax a little more.
However, as soon as this thought passed by, a sense of crisis enveloped him like dark clouds in June. He did not forget that behind Cheng Shijie was not only Xu Guangqi, the second minister of the cabinet, but also Sun Chengzong, the former chief minister of the cabinet.
Now that he has achieved an unprecedented victory, this victory will push the reputations of Xu Guangqi and Sun Chengzong to the top. He cannot be allowed to continue to win!
What Cheng Shijie didn't know was that he was being targeted by the chief minister of the cabinet at this time. Of course, he was not a follower. Wen Tiren also had a headache now. It was no longer easy to move Cheng Shijie, unless Xu Guangqi was moved first. If Sun Chengzong is stopped again, the key is that Cheng Shijie will immediately become the consort.
Xu Guangqi's face was red and proud.
Emperor Chongzhen woke up in the middle of the night. When he woke up, he found that Queen Zhou was crying in tears.
"Queen, why are you crying!"
"Your Majesty, just in case... I am afraid!"
Emperor Chongzhen rubbed his heart: "I'm just so happy. I didn't expect Cheng Qing to be so powerful. All of a sudden..."
Queen Zhou looked at Emperor Chongzhen's face flushed and said worriedly: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"
"I'm fine!"
Emperor Chongzhen waved his hand and said: "I am so happy. Now I can finally feel at ease for a few years."
"General Cheng is truly a blessed general of the Ming Dynasty."
Empress Zhou smiled and said: "Everyone was afraid of Jiannu before. Our army was invincible in every battle against Jiannu. But since he appeared, one big victory after another, Jiannu almost lost his temper." Got it!"
Emperor Chongzhen said proudly: "Yes, if we can achieve such a great victory one or two more times, I'm afraid Jiannu will kneel down and beg for mercy! Unfortunately, his soldiers are still too few. If he doesn't command thirty-seven thousand soldiers this time, The mixed army that Ba Min put together is the 50,000 Ning navy, and at least more than half of Jiannu's 100,000 army must be left behind."
Queen Zhou's beautiful eyes turned and she said with a smile: "That's not easy, just give him an army of 10,000 soldiers, isn't it? If 50,000 is not enough, give him another 80,000! His Ning Navy is so powerful, if he can have There are 80,000 people. I'm afraid that Jiannu will be frightened by the news and retreat immediately!"
Emperor Chongzhen thought for a while and said: "That's right. The imperial court also pays the Dongjiang Army every year. It cancels the Dongjiang Army, merges the Dongjiang Army into the Ninghai Navy, and then merges the Dengzhou Army into the Ninghai Navy!"
"Ah sneeze, ah sneeze!"
Cheng Shijie sneezed twice in a row, and mucus bubbles came out of his nose. He rubbed his nose and took a thermometer to measure his temperature. He found that he had no fever and murmured to himself: "I don't have a cold. Why do I keep sneezing? Could it be that my wife misses me?"
During this period, Cheng Shijie's attention has been on the Ming Dynasty and rarely paid attention to later generations. Xiang Hui has done a very good job. Her five Longyue companies have developed very well. Longyue Catering successfully won the sixth place. The junior high school student canteen and the community convenience canteen have also successfully opened a second branch. This is a canteen located in the Baihua Road community. The business model is the same as the first store, mainly to conveniently serve middle-aged people.
Longyue Catering Company now owns two community canteens and one student canteen, and has a certain scale. It can directly purchase goods from the agricultural planting company in Hanhai City, bypassing the second-hand dealers to make the difference, and can obtain fresh food at extremely low prices. fruits and vegetables.
Only then did Cheng Shijie realize how profitable the fruit and vegetable supermarket was. Watermelon out of season only cost 80 cents per pound, cabbage and potatoes only cost 70 cents, and vegetables such as water spinach and lettuce did not cost more than one yuan. But these vegetables In the supermarket, it costs two or three yuan per catty, and the cheapest cabbage only costs two cents per catty.
In order to facilitate the transportation of vegetables, Xiang Hui purchased twelve vans at one time, specializing in the transportation of vegetables, grain and oil.
Cheng Shijie barely interfered with these matters. Could it be that Xiang Hui was talking about him?
At this time, the news of the victory at Bali Bay in Haizhou reached Jinzhou at the same time as it reached the capital. Although Jinzhou is closer to the capital, the news came later.
What was most difficult for Wu Sangui to accept was not the fact that Cheng Shijie killed Mang Gurtai and Dege Lei in formation, nor was it the fact that Cheng Shijie beheaded more than 8,000 Jiannu slaves and achieved a great victory.
The most critical issue is that in this battle, Guan Ning's army dispatched 6,000 elite cavalry. Brothers Zu Dabi and Zu Dale jointly dispatched, but they bypassed Wu Xiang and did not allow the Wu family to participate.
This almost brought the conflict between the Wu and Zu families into the open, which was the most fatal thing.
Wu Xiang smiled bitterly and said, "Am I wrong?"
In fact, there are obvious differences between Guan Ningjun Wu Xiang and Zu Dashou. Zu Dashou was also corrupt and made money. He would fight when it was time to fight.
But Wu Xiang was different. He stood still, obeyed and disobeyed the orders of the Ministry of War, and concentrated on preserving his strength. He was completely wrong! The foolish way of conserving his strength not only caused him to miss a great achievement that was as big as the sky, but also made Chongzhen lose his last trace of goodwill towards him.
In the past, the Ming Dynasty did not have elites who could fight against Jian Nu. Chongzhen was naturally accommodating to Wu Xiang in every possible way. He could tolerate Wu Xiang's empty salary, his rejection of dissidents, and his selling grain, iron and other military and national weapons to Jian Nu. Because Chongzhen except Wu Xiang Guan Ning's army no longer has any troops that can be used.
It's better now. In the battle of Haizhou, the Ning navy showed its prominence. Now in the battle of Baliwan, the Guan Ning army of the Zu clan and the Dongjiang army also stole the show. In contrast, the Guan Ning army of the Wu clan passively avoided the battle. It seemed extremely unbearable.
With so many powerful and loyal Iron Army warriors, will Chongzhen still tolerate the Wu family's Guan Ning Army's passive avoidance of war and insatiable greed as before?
The Ningyuan victory was the strong rise of the Guan Ning army. Now the Ning navy has established their position in Chongzhen and in the hearts of the people of the Ming Dynasty with a victory that is more brilliant and more brilliant than the Ningyuan victory and the Ningjin victory. The Guan Ning army is the only one. The pattern was completely broken.
And what's even worse is that Zu Dashou doesn't want to play with them anymore.
Wu Xiang was not afraid of the imperial court. He instinctively acted to preserve his strength, but the consequences were so serious!
I had known this...
Wu Xiang regrets it very much now.
But Zu Dashou felt a little distressed. After all, he could take advantage of the six thousand elite cavalry. Zu's family was no longer what it used to be. In the past, the Zu's family had a great business and wealth, but now it is not what it used to be.
But the problem is, the loss is not small.
Correspondingly, Zu Dashou also won the bet and won the battle with Cheng Shijie, and the gain was greater than the effort.
"send troops!"
Zu Dashou looked at Zuk Kefa beside him and said, "Ke Fa!"
"exist!"
"You are heading to Liaodong with two thousand cavalry!"
"yes!"
Just when Zu Dashou decided to send troops, Wu Xiang also made up his mind: "Send troops!"
"father!"
Wu Sangui smiled bitterly: "We only send troops after the battle is over. Isn't that just inviting ridicule from the world?"
"The battle is not over yet! Although Jiannu has been defeated, the battle is not over yet!"
Wu Xiang said: "With Cheng Shijie's character, he will definitely not let Jiannu evacuate so easily. He will lead the victorious army to follow Jiannu like hungry wolves, biting and biting until Jiannu is driven away." Go back! It’s still too late for us to send troops now!”
"But……"
Wu Xiang knew Wu Sangui's concern, which was that he couldn't keep his face down.
Wu Xiang looked at Wu Sangui and said: "Chang Bo, you have to remember that if you want to be the winner, you must stand by the side with the greatest chance of winning, not against it, no matter the side with the greatest chance of winning is Jiannu or the Ming Dynasty. , or Cheng Shijie! All honors and disgrace are not important, only the longevity, glory and wealth of the Wu family is the most important!"
"All right!"
Wu Sangui said softly: "I listen to you!"
"Actually, it's still too late. As long as we send troops, join the pursuit, and win a few battles! If Cheng Shijie can say a few good words to us, all this can be smoothed over."
Wu Sangui said in confusion: "He will say good things to us? We have no friendship with Ning Haijun!"
"Friendship is a thing that you don't have enough money to collect!"
Wu Xiang smiled disapprovingly and said: "Cheng Shijie may not give me face, but he has to give me face! Six hundred thousand taels of silver, in exchange for a few kind words from Cheng Shijie, he will definitely say it!"
In fact, Wu Xiang was not so confident. He originally wanted to pay 300,000 taels of silver, but he was just worried that Cheng Shijie would not appreciate it. Just doubled.
In Wu Xiang's eyes, Cheng Shijie, who had to live with money and face, was actually counting his money and spending it in vain.
If you want to outrun a long-distance runner, it's actually very simple. You don't have to be a better runner than him. You just need to starve him for a few days and you can easily outrun him.
Now the Jiannu army is acting as the starving long-distance runner, although they have tried their best to withdraw to the Liaozhong Acropolis and to Shenyang as soon as possible.
But because the damn Ming cavalry kept biting them and refused to let go, especially the despicable Mongolian cavalry, they were definitely not willing to let them fight Jian Nu, but if they let him harass Jian Nu, they could complete the task brilliantly. Under the harassment of the Mongolian cavalry like a pack of wolves, the slave army was unable to eat well and could not even sleep peacefully.
However, the Ning Haijun infantry led by Cheng Shijie ate well and slept well. They traveled sixty miles a day and fought a few small battles just to eat! The Jiannu who were not even able to eat enough to eat ran desperately in front, while the well-fed slaves chased after them like a pack of jackals smelling the smell of blood. When they encountered those who were lagging behind, they swarmed up and devoured them alive, and so on. , who the hell can stand it!
Huang Taiji couldn't care less about how many Korean and Han servants had deserted. They didn't have the extra energy to care about it anymore and just rushed to Liao Zhongwei.
When they arrived at Liao Zhongwei, they could take a good breath, eat a few full meals, and have a long sleep. Once they had enough energy, they would be much more relaxed whether they held on or continued to retreat.
Cheng Shijie didn't know what Huang Taiji was thinking. He only had one thought: "Liao Zhongwei must be mine!"
PS: I’m very sorry. I got stuck yesterday and couldn’t write anymore.
(End of chapter)
