This time the cabinet reacted very quickly. Within three days, they came up with a complete set of responses, such as how to bargain if the intruder is sincerely negotiating for peace, how to separate and divide his power without leaving a trace, and what if the intruder is pretending to negotiate for peace. It’s really procrastinating, how can I change it and so on.
A negotiation team was also selected, headed by Shi Kefa, Minister of War, and Wu Xuan, Second Assistant, and went to Puzhou to meet with Li Zicheng to find out whether it was true or not.
The reason for reacting so quickly was, of course, the influence of the Yunnan rebellion a year ago. That incident made the cabinet and court officials feel unprecedentedly humiliated, so they had to quickly prove that they were not useless, and that the court could survive without the eunuch.
The countermeasures and candidates have been determined. When everything is ready, when the emperor gives the order, they will immediately leave the capital and go to Puzhou to contact Li Zicheng. Of course, before doing so, they must reply to Li Zicheng with a letter to inform him of the meeting.
Just when the bow was ready to be fired, a thunder exploded in the sky, "Wait a minute!"
Chang Yu returned to Beijing.
Chang Yu was actually very surprised from the moment he learned that Li Zicheng wanted to negotiate peace, but Chang Yu himself was a sinister guy. He did not believe that Li Zicheng would sincerely negotiate for peace and would not accept it.
Even the initial surprise gradually turned into admiration. This old thief is really cunning, using retreat to advance. I should have used this trick first.
Then he remembered that he had faked the surrender of Yin Li Zicheng before the Taiyuan battle. Could this old thief be thinking about it and want to retaliate in kind?
But no matter what, this was a big deal. Emperor Chongzhen rushed to find him, which showed that the court was already in trouble.
So he left the three guards behind and marched slowly. He took dozens of guards and traveled day and night, going to Fengyang Prefecture to change horses, going to Xuzhou Prefecture to change horses, and going to Jinan to change horses, and rushed all the way to the capital.
At this time, the sky that had just cleared up for a few days suddenly started to snow again.
After entering the city, Chang Yu didn't even have time to wash up and change clothes and went straight to the palace. After hearing the news, Emperor Chongzhen in the Qianqing Palace personally went outside the palace to greet him.
Outside the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Chongzhen stepped forward quickly to help Chang Yu up. Seeing his tired face, he suddenly felt pity in his heart: "I'm sorry for you." He held Chang Yu's hand and walked into the palace: "Wang Cheng'en, give me a quick lift." "He makes a pot of hot tea" and said to Chang Yu: "If it wasn't an emergency, I wouldn't urge you to be in such a hurry..."
"State affairs are the most important thing." Chang Yu smiled and said, "There must be a lot of noise in the court."
"It should be extremely happy!" Emperor Chongzhen snorted coldly: "Nine times out of ten, he is thinking about peace." He pointed to the dragon case and said: "Here, you can take a look at the memorial issued by the cabinet over there."
Chang Yu walked over and looked through it. It was a set of implementation suggestions that the cabinet had come up with in the past few days. There were a lot of things that were acceptable.
"Ci Fu and Mr. Shi haven't left the capital yet, right?" Chang Yu looked at it for a while and then asked. Emperor Chongzhen asked Wang Chengen to move a chair for him to sit down: "Not yet, we are preparing to send someone to inform Li Yan. He communicated with the intruder and agreed to meet."
Chang Yu smiled, and Emperor Chongzhen asked sincerely: "Do you also think that Wu Xuan and the others are useless? You and the intruders are old rivals. Of course, it is best for you to go to this kind of thing. Their gang How can people talk on paper and only talk nonsense? How can they test out the ugly Yinmao?"
"Your Majesty, have you ever heard that professional things need to be done by professional people?" Chang Yu chuckled, and Emperor Chongzhen was startled and said: "You have heard it now. This is true. No one can help you when marching and fighting in the Ming Dynasty. Right, you are the most professional! This matter belongs to you, they are just stirring up trouble." He said for a moment: "You are going to be beaten, do you think it is necessary to do this with the intruders? "
"Yes." Chang Yu answered affirmatively: "No matter whether the peace talks between the thieves are true or not, we will talk to him. He wants to take the opportunity to delay us, so why don't we use his tricks, so we must talk, and the emperor also said just now that I am a professional in fighting. So I can’t go there."
Um... Emperor Chongzhen was startled and couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, but he reacted instantly.
Chang Yu said that marching and fighting was his specialty, so he was only responsible for marching and fighting. But when it came to wrangling and warring, then anyone in the court would be a master-level boss.
And this time they went to negotiate peace with the intruder. The real purpose of Emperor Chongzhen and Chang Yu was to bullshit him, so naturally they had to send bullshit experts there.
Therefore, Wu Xuan and other court officials are the most suitable.
They were talking about their own business, while Chang Yu was busy with what he should be busy with.
After reacting, Emperor Chongzhen laughed heartily: "This matter has bothered me for more than half a month, and I am angry about it every day. You have only been back for half a moment, and I feel extremely relaxed. I am really a professional doing professional things, and you are Someone who is professional in resolving my worries."
Then he asked Chang Yu for his comprehensive analysis of the matter. Chang Yu also told a lot of facts, but in the end he had one main idea. Regardless of whether he really surrendered or pretended to surrender, he must be killed. He can't still want to be the vassal king even if he is alive. , that is a dream.
This played into Emperor Chongzhen's wish, and he felt that Chang Yu was the only one in the world who understood him best.
While they were talking, the prince was notified outside to ask for an audience. It turned out that it was Zhu Cihong who had learned that Chang Yu had entered the palace. After struggling for a long time in Duanben Palace, he finally couldn't bear it and asked someone to inform him.
Emperor Chongzhen was in a good mood because Chang Yu came back. In addition, he also knew the relationship between the prince and Chang Yu, and wanted him to listen and learn more, so he let Zhu Cihong in.
"Your Majesty, please give your regards." As soon as Zhu Cixiang entered the palace, Chang Yu saluted forward. Zhu Cixiang was very excited when he saw Chang Yu, but he was also very restrained. He just nodded slightly and hurried to say goodbye to Emperor Chongzhen.
Emperor Chongzhen nodded, then motioned for him to sit aside, and asked Chang Yu how to pull off the trick.
Chang Yu shook his head lightly: "It is the severe winter at this time and there is a shortage of food and grass. It is not the best time to start a war, and it will take at least two months to start the war. At the moment, we can only put on a peace talk posture openly and step up preparations secretly."
Emperor Chongzhen thought for a while and nodded slightly: "In that case, let Wu Xuan and others go out of the capital to argue with the intruders."
Chang Yu hummed and suddenly said: "Wait a minute, why do we have to let Cifu and others go to Puzhou?"
Emperor Chongzhen was startled: "What do you mean?"
"Why not let the intruder come over? If he really wants to negotiate peace, he must show his sincerity first. It is absolutely impossible to let him abandon the defense, but if he is allowed to come to Beijing for talks, it is not a force. Furthermore, it It's just a grassroots bandit, how can the court bow its knees?"
Emperor Chongzhen suddenly realized: "You want to take the initiative and give him a counteroffer from the beginning, right? And you can tell whether it is genuine or not. If the intruder refuses, he has a guilty conscience."
Chang Yu nodded slightly. Zhu Cixiang, who was sitting next to him and was silent, couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth. Idols are so powerful and their minds work so fast.
"The civil and military officials in the court have been clamoring for half a month, and all they can think about is peace and talks, but no one has ever thought about this matter. The dignified court should bend its knees and go thousands of miles away to conspire with thieves. It is really an insult to the country!" Emperor Chongzhen Leng! Huh, his face turned livid instantly.
"Some people get used to it after kneeling for a long time, and their knees become weak!" Chang Yu smiled bitterly and sighed. Emperor Chongzhen was filled with admiration after hearing these words: "The intruders have been wreaking havoc for a long time, and many people in the government and the public are afraid. Over time, people like you have become As he said, his knees are weak after kneeling for a long time, but he forgets that he is just a thief, but he is willing to lower his status to cater to the thief and do things that are disgraceful to the country."
People are so infuriating. Chang Yu already has to be appreciated and trusted by Chongzhen. In addition, most of the courtiers in the past half month have been very disliked by him. Now he sees that Chang Yu not only unites with him, but also has such a strong character in his bones. He makes judgments about high and low. To some The courtiers hated Chang Yu more and more, but they liked Chang Yu more and more.
