In the Forbidden City, Emperor Chongzhen had just left the morning court. When he saw Chang Yu, he said: "I heard that you captured the assassin. Who was behind it?" Chang Yu was shocked. He captured Zhongchuan outside the city last night and entered the city early in the morning. The emperor How could he not be surprised to know this so quickly? This also sounded the alarm for him. Don't be too arrogant. The emperor is still the emperor after all, and your uncle is still your uncle.
Chang Yu shook his head and said, "He is a wanderer from the Japanese country, and he even found out the mastermind behind it."
When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he was startled and became furious: "Who actually colluded with the Japanese pirates to assassinate the admiral of Dongchang? It's not enough to collude with the Tatars, but they also collaborated with the Japanese pirates. It's really hateful. I will investigate this matter thoroughly. No matter who it is, I will We want to kill all nine of his tribes!”
"I will investigate it carefully." Chang Yu bowed and said. He glanced at Emperor Chongzhen secretly and saw that his expression was solemn and a little irritable, but it was definitely not because of who colluded with the Japanese pirates to assassinate him: "Your Majesty, could it be that today? Don…?”
Emperor Chongzhen snorted coldly: "These people who are full of food and have nothing to do and are not doing anything serious have started to get angry again not long after they stopped. Whenever they get the opportunity, they will keep scolding me. They will really make me angry to death." ..." As he said that, he spat at Chang Yu. Sure enough, it was because of things in the court. There have been a lot of things in the court recently, such as negotiations with the bandit army, what should be the next step after capturing Li Zicheng, and the Yellow River. How should border defense be adjusted? How should Zheng Zhilong contact with the reward when he comes to Beijing? What tactics should Zuo Liangyu use? Who can recommend the most suitable officials to fill a vacancy? As well as the military affairs of Ningyuan...
It can be said that there is a lot of noise in the court every day. Although most of the responses to state affairs were discussed by Chongzhen and Chang Yu and communicated with the cabinet, there are always other voices among the officials. , and shouting loudly, "This is not okay, that is inappropriate, it is impractical to accept him. If you do not respond to him, he will jump up and scold you, saying that you are dictatorial and unable to listen to advice."
You have to listen when he scolds you, but you can't retaliate. If you don't retaliate, he will scold you even more vigorously.
Do you think it's annoying?
Don’t believe it, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty was indeed often scolded. This was because the Ming Dynasty implemented the system of speaking officials. The Ming Dynasty also emphasized freedom of speech. From national affairs to trivial matters in the harem, ministers were free to mention them. Opinions, as long as you have ideas and opinions, you can freely speak and scold without fear of offending the emperor at all, because the emperor is not willing to bear the reputation of "foolish king" and "killing admonishers". It is really the best to be criticized. Just a meal of the royal stick.
To scold the emperor directly, scold without mercy, the Ming Dynasty was the most prominent in the entire history of China. For example, during the Wanli Period, Luo Yuren, the Zuo Pingshi of Dali Temple, wrote "Four Admonitions of Wine, Sex, Wealth and Qi" and pointed at Wanli's nose and scolded, He was said to be lustful, greedy, cruel, lazy, stupid, and incompetent. In short, he had all five evils and was useless.
Emperor Wanli was directly scolded by him for being autistic. He suffered from depression and did not go to court for nearly thirty years. However, Luo Yuren was only dismissed from his post to serve the people.
In the early days of the Chongzhen Dynasty, because of the fall of Wei Zhongxian, the civil service group was in the limelight and lost its rivals. They became even more unscrupulous. They scolded the emperor three times a day and one day every three days, and almost stopped taking action. The "Edict of Sin" was also As a result, Chongzhen was sprayed with more saliva than Wanli at that time. It was not until Chang Yu was born that Dongchang skyrocketed overnight. With his illustrious military exploits as the foundation, the civil servant group cowered down, and Emperor Chongzhen's life became slightly easier. A little more.
However, because Chang Yu did not act as cruelly as Wei Zhongxian, and attacked officials directly, gradually, these officials began to act recklessly again. Although they were not as bottomless as before, they already made Emperor Chongzhen angry.
"The duty of the Yanguan Yushi is to spit. If he keeps his mouth shut, he will have nothing to do. Now that the Ming Dynasty is in ruins and waiting to be revived, the emperor should give top priority to state affairs. As for the Yanguan Yushi, he will let them spit. I really can't turn back with anger. Go and beat him up." Chang Yu comforted him. After Emperor Chongzhen vomited his bitterness, he felt a little better and sighed: "You can't scold him, you can't hit him, and Dongchang can't even reach out. If you reach out, it will be terrible. Then it will happen. More saliva is coming, I can't resist it."
Chang Yu smiled: "You can't beat them or scold them, but you can't let them too much. You have to teach them some lessons at the right time. A king is a king, and a minister is a minister. If you have opinions, you can raise them and you can scold them, but you can't overdo it. The line. A minister must know how to measure, otherwise he will commit a crime."
This was very useful to Chongzhen. After Chang Yu came to power, the other thing he did besides conquering everywhere was to strengthen the imperial power and centralize the imperial power. This was especially his wish. After all, the emperor in the past ten years had been too cowardly.
"Why did you come to the palace today? But there is good news about the intruder." The only thing that Emperor Chongzhen could not forget was to capture and kill Li Zicheng who escaped to his door.
Chang Yu shook his head lightly: "We are still being hunted, but there is another good news." He handed over Li Yan's secret letter.
good! When Emperor Chongzhen saw the result, Long Yan was overjoyed. He looked at Chang Yu and said, "This Li Yan must be one of the truly blessed generals!"
The flowers bloomed on many branches. I turned back to express my gratitude to Li Yan.
A few days ago, when Chang Yu was shocked to discover that Li Zicheng had appeared in the capital, he quickly reported to Li Yan while conducting a large-scale search and ordered him to strengthen patrols and interceptions along the Yellow River. At the same time, he sent troops to seize Chaoyi County on the other side of the Yellow River, where the bandits were on the other side of the Yellow River. The bridgehead must use this to confuse the situation and put the rebel army in a completely passive situation whether it is fighting or negotiating peace.
After receiving the secret order, Li Yan immediately discussed military affairs with military advisor Gu Junen and a group of generals. In a very short period of time, he made a decision that coincided with Chang Yu's. He muddied the water first and then fished.
This way you can get twice the result with half the effort.
So they immediately sent people across the river to spread the news, saying that Li Zicheng secretly followed Song Xiance to the capital to negotiate peace with the court, but his whereabouts were exposed and he was captured. Without saying much else, just this sentence can set off huge waves on the other side, which will make the thieves There are countless different plots in the army's own mind, but the results are the same. The army is confused and the people are scattered.
At the same time, Li Yan also sent people to inform Wu Sangui on horseback. Ma Ke and others quickly sent troops to Tongguan to contain the bandit army there. After all, although the Yellow River where the two armies were facing each other was hundreds of miles long and there were five or six cities, they could contain one person. To mobilize your whole body, you must make a complete plan.
Last year, Chang Yu led tens of thousands of troops to march thousands of miles to the Yangtze River to pacify Baiwang. He ordered Huang Degong to guard Anqing, Liu Liangzuo to guard Luzhou, and Gao Jie to guard Xuzhou. In fact, he asked the three of them to train soldiers and horses. After all, they had followed the southern and northern wars for most of the year. The horse is tired early.
However, Wu Sangui, Ma Ke and others were asked to march west to garrison Luoyang, while Zhang Qingzhen, Liu Wenbing, and Wei Shichun, three nobles, led the Beijing camp and the personal guards to garrison Kaifeng.
There is a deep meaning behind this arrangement. Kaifeng and Luoyang are both along the Yellow River, and they can be stationed in both places to defend and advance. Wu Sangui and Ma Ke were in urgent need of military exploits, so they were arranged to garrison in Luoyang. They could go west to Tongguan City at any time along the river. That honorable man is Those who came to gild the battlefield had insufficient actual combat experience and could not use it on the tip of the knife. Therefore, Kaifeng, who was stationed behind, could assist Wu Sangui and Ma Ke regardless of whether they were advancing or retreating.
The original deployment was all aimed at Xi'an. In order to prepare for crossing the river in the spring this year, although the three places are hundreds of miles apart, they have established a rapid communication mechanism. If there is an emergency military situation, they can be reached in one day, and several generals will go there more than once. There is a meeting in Puzhou.
After Chang Yu came back from strolling across the bank two years ago, Li Yan held a military affairs seminar and based on the intelligence at hand, the generals formulated several attack plans as backup. Just a year ago, the generals had already set off and marched westward to Shaanzhou (today's Shaanxi Province). Sanmenxia) was stationed, which was only 200 miles away from Tongguan.
And among these soldiers, part of a special force moved directly to Puzhou City to join Li Yan years ago. Over there was the Shenji Camp.
The Shenji Battalion is a firepower unit with musketeers, cavalry, musketeers, infantry and artillery.
As one of the three major battalions of the Beijing Camp, the Shenji Battalion is famous, but it has never had the opportunity to exert its full strength. Until Chang Yu was pulled to the battlefield alone, its powerful fire suppression power was fully displayed, and on several occasions It played a decisive role in every battle.
For this reason, the Shenji Battalion has become more and more valued, and Chang Yu has invested more and more in it. In the past few months after Bai Wang was suppressed, Chang Yu used his power to replenish it with new firearms and ammunition from various places, such as ordering After Xu Hongji returned to Nanjing, he not only had to prepare food and fodder for the westward marching troops, but also sent Nanjing's firearms and ammunition there. He also recruited skilled craftsmen to develop new firearms.
The commander of the Shenji Camp is Wu Weiying, who was originally just a marquis who was just messing around. There were many nobles like him in various yamen in Beijing. Fuyin, the family leader, worked as a monk for a day and worked as a clock, so he had no ambitions. There is nothing to pursue. After all, no matter how hard you try, you can't surpass your ancestors and just be granted the title of Duke or something.
But the amazing thing is that after Wu Weiying followed Chang Yu to fight in several battles inside and outside the customs, this guy's passion was ignited, as if he had suddenly found his direction in life, and he became more and more proud.
He feels that he is different from those nobles with false titles in Beijing. I am a real commander who has been on the battlefield, and I have real military power! I have participated in more than ten battles, big and small, and played an important role. I have meritorious deeds, and the merits I have earned are not the blessings of my ancestors. Also, even if I can no longer be promoted, I can still help the next generation of the Wu family to carve out a bright future. .
So Wu Weiying is proud. After all, she is the most popular among the nobles of the Ming Dynasty and holds military power. Didn't you see that Wei Shichun and others came to imitate him? They looked for connections everywhere and went to the battlefield to gild. What, it’s not just that I can only do odd jobs and support, how can I compare myself to it, so Wu Weiying is not only proud but also proud.
Of course, Wu Weiying is also proud of being in charge of the Ming Dynasty's only firepower unit. Even Chang Yu looks up to him, at least that's what he thinks. Otherwise, why didn't he and Wei Shichun and others be allowed to garrison the rear a few years ago? Kaifeng is stationed with Wu Sangui and Ma Ke on the front line in Luoyang, which means that he and Wu Ma are on an equal footing!
In addition to his noble status, Wu Sangui and Ma Ke were very respectful to him, but Old Wu did not show off in front of them. He was an old man and knew that these two people would be unlimited figures in the future according to Chang Yu. One day, the Lord would step in and be equal to her, but there was only one person who really made Wu Weiying put down her stature.
Not Chang Yu.
But Li Yan!
This right-hand man who had a perfect tacit understanding with Chang Yu only surrendered within half a year and became one of the Eight Pillar Countries with military exploits. In the future... it's amazing. In addition to knowing that Li Yan has great potential in the future, Wu Weiying also admires Li Yan's talents from the bottom of her heart. Regarding Li Yan's His military talents are obvious to all in the army, and he can be both clever and tough. Therefore, he is deeply trusted by Chang Yu and the court. Otherwise, why would the governor of the Yellow River fall to him if there are so many strong men on the front line?
At the military intelligence seminar two years ago, Li Yan asked the Shenji Battalion to garrison Puzhou. If a fight started, it could provide firepower to suppress the troops on the other side and cover the troops crossing the river. However, Wu Sangui and Ma Ke were unwilling. If a fight started, the Tongguan side would undoubtedly be theirs. Life is a tough nut to crack, and they also need Wu Weiying's firepower assistance.
After some discussion, the generals decided to divide the Shenji Camp into two to prepare for the needs of both sides. Then Wu Weiying led some soldiers and horses to cross the Yellow River and stationed in Puzhou while the Yellow River was frozen.
How to conquer the imperial court?
This issue had been discussed repeatedly with his subordinates when Li Yan was stationed in Puzhou a few years ago. After all, this was the number one goal as soon as the war started, so how to conquer Chaoyi was not a new problem for Li Yan at all, and it had long been Be prepared.
"In a small place, in the words of Lord Du Gong, you don't need to put in any effort at all. Just be simple and rough, and it will work!" This is what Li Yan told his generals.
