Yanzhou Fucheng is located above the original main hall of Prince Lu's Mansion.
Shi Kefa led the civil and military officials who gathered in Yanzhou to kowtow to Zhu Cixiang, the prince of Fujun who had just arrived with his troops. Zhu Cixiang said with a smile: "Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, Qian Qianyi, Gao Jie, Liu Liangzuo, and Liu Zeqing are staying. I have something to say to you. Everyone else should leave."
Seeing that the officials were dejected and left, leaving only the six people whose names were called, Zhu Cihong smiled and ordered: "Give me a seat, give me a seat, sit down and talk. This is called sitting and talking!"
Zhu Cixiang was acting separately from Xing Chao this time, so there were no palace maids or eunuchs around to serve him, only the guards from the East Palace Guard Battalion. After hearing Zhu Cixiang's instructions, Feng Sizhong, the newly appointed head guard of the East Palace, immediately called on a few powerful guards to move a few chairs to the six senior officials in the palace.
By the way, Zhu Cixiang's head guards are changing like a revolving door. The first was Zhu Chunjie, then Wang Qi, then Chen Yidao, and now it is Feng Sizhong, the former East Palace guard who came from the Tianshou Mountain garrison (Lingwei) system.
And every head guard has been put to great use after leaving office. Zhu Chunjie served as the commander of the Jinyi Guards, and Wang Qi and Chen Yidao are now brigade commanders. And Feng Sizhong, who comes from the Lingwei family, will soon be entrusted with important tasks!
"Gao Shangshu, in the twelfth year of Chongzhen, the Tatars invaded Shandong and once attacked Jiaozhou. At that time, you were living idle in your hometown, but you still did not forget your loyalty. You sold your property to raise funds to recruit volunteers to fight against the Tatars. You also assisted the prefect Guo Wenxiang to climb the city and defend it. Regardless of day and night, I will try my best to protect the city, is this possible?"
Zhu Cixiang had no intention of asking for guilt. As soon as he opened his mouth, he asked about Gao Hongtu's defense of the city in Jiaozhou against the Qing Dynasty. He didn't seem to know what Shi Kefa and Gao Hongtu wanted to do when they gathered the army and ministers in Yanzhou?
"The old minister did help defend the city in Jiaozhou," Gao Hongtu said with a frown, "but the reason why the city was not lost was not only the efforts of the soldiers and civilians of Jiaozhou, but also because Jiaozhou was too far away from Liaodong, and the Tatars penetrated too deep, and they were at the end of their strength."
Zhu Cixiang nodded and said: "In the past, when the Tatars did not capture Beizhili, they even took a detour to Shandong to plunder. Now the Tatars' troops have arrived in Dezhou, and they will soon march into Shandong to destroy Confucius Forest and demolish the Confucian Temple. , swept away thousands of years of Chinese etiquette, human relations, poetry and books in one fell swoop. Gao Shangshu, Shi Shangshu, dare to stand up, protect the famous religion, and defend Confucius?"
Shi Kefa and Gao Hongtu turned pale after hearing this.
The prince is forcing them to express their support for the defense of Confucius!
Defending Confucius is the banner held high by Zhu Cixiang. If Shi Kefa and Gao Hongtu support it, then the issue of restoring Chongzhen's power will have to be temporarily put aside...
"Your Highness, Qian Qianyi is willing to stand up and fight the traitors to the end to protect the famous religion and defend Confucius!"
The two ministers did not express their opinions, but Qian Qianyi stood up first and called for a fight loudly. His face was so tight that he looked very thin and iron-blooded. There is no sign of the water being too cold or the scalp being itchy...
Zhu Cixiang also had a sullen face and nodded heavily: "Mr. Qian is truly worthy of being the leader of Donglin and the leader of Shilin. I admire him! When the court arrives, I will immediately issue an order to rehabilitate Mr. Qian and ask him to be a lecturer. Be a cabinet minister!”
"My minister Qian Qianyi thanks His Royal Highness the Prince of Fujun for his kindness..."
"Please get up, please get up. Mr. Qian will soon be the official of this palace. There is no need to kowtow frequently."
This is truly loyal and gracious! Shi Kefa and Gao Hongtu were almost sweating when they saw this.
"Old ministers are also willing to come forward..." Gao Hongtu, the Minister of Household Affairs in Nanjing, was too shy to sit still, so he had no choice but to stand up.
"Okay, Gao Shang Shuzhen is a Confucian sage and a pillar of the country! Shi Budang, what about you? Are you afraid of the Tatars?"
"No, no, I am not afraid of the Tatars. If the Tatars dare to enter Yanzhou, even though I am a scholar, I will fight them to the end!"
Shi Kefa couldn't stand it any longer. He was the Minister of War in Nanjing and led a hundred thousand troops north to King Qin. How dare he say he was afraid of the Tatars?
And in front of Qian Qianyi - Qian Qianyi is the leader of Donglin and controls the direction of public opinion in Jiangnan. When the time comes to criticize Shi Kefa for being afraid of the Tatars, it will not be a matter of lack of officials.
It will be infamy for eternity!
"Okay! Okay!" Zhu Cixiang clapped his hands, "Shibu Tang, Gaobu Tang, I really did not misjudge you. You are all Confucian sages and pillars of the country! Confucius relies on you to protect him!"
What? On us? What about Qian Qianyi? He screamed the most fiercely, why didn't he go to the front line to defend Confucius' tomb?
Shi Kefa and Gao Hongtu both turned to look at Qian Qianyi, their eyes full of anger!
They already understood that Qian Qianyi had already taken refuge with Zhu Cihong! No wonder he followed the heckles to protect the famous religion and defend Kong Lin... It turned out that he was only responsible for the heckles, not the defense!
Zhu Cixiang seized the opportunity, and of course he would not let Shi Kefa and Gao Hongtu go... Without clearing them out, Nanzhili would not be able to fully control it!
And he can't kill them now, because there are still a bunch of nobles in charge of soldiers in Nandu! If we kill them now, those nobles will be afraid and will not dare to rebel! Although Prince Zhu has the Imperial Guards who can investigate the crimes of those people, it is not good to catch them all in one go, so he has to act a little softer now.
"Shibutang, you are the Minister of the Ministry of War, and you must be proficient in military strategy." Zhu Cihong said, "So the military affairs of the seven provinces of Shandong, Henan, Hebei (North Zhili), Shaanxi, Shanxi, Huguang, and Sichuan must be held by the Ministry of Military Affairs. !
I will also give you the title of Minister of the Ministry of War, and establish the post of Associate Academician, which will also be held by the Ministry of Finance. Shibutang is the Governor's Pavilion, which oversees the military affairs of the seven provinces! "
Shi Kefa stood there blankly, his head buzzing. Governor of the military affairs of the seven provinces... Why the governor? What to take to the Governor? It's a rogue bandit and it's a Donglu bandit. How to fight?
"Your Highness the Crown Prince, I..." Of course Shi Kefa had to refuse. How could he accept this errand?
"You can't be the governor of seven provinces?" Zhu Cixi said it before him, "I know! But your governor of seven provinces is different from the previous governors of five and seven provinces. In name, you are the governor of seven provinces. , but in fact there is only one city where you need to go to the governor! It’s Qufu City!”
Well, he is nominally the governor of seven provinces, and he is in charge of half of China. In fact, I only manage the small city of Qufu...
"Can you defend Qufu City?" Zhu Cixiang lowered his voice.
"This..." Shi Kefa had the idea of just leaving.
But Qian Qianyi said angrily next to him: "Shibutang sent 100,000 troops north to fight against King Qin, why didn't he dare to defend the city of Qufu?"
Shi Kefa took a deep breath: "As long as there are enough food and wages, and a good army, I can definitely defend Qufu!"
"It's not easy to defend Qufu!" Zhu Cixiang said in a deep tone, looking at Shi Kefa, "Shibutang, don't think that just because you are the Minister of the Ministry of War, you are really good at fighting! I don't let you command the military affairs of the seven provinces because I know your Ability. Guarding Qufu is your limit!
We will prepare enough food, grass and salary for you, enough for you to hold on to Qufu for more than two years. You can find elite soldiers yourself, and select 5,000 from King Qin’s army you brought. Give some of the rest to Gao Shangshu, and I will help you dispatch the rest. In addition, Kong Yinzhi will also defend the city with you. With his name, the young men in Qufu can always recruit another 5,000 people. It is somewhat feasible for 10,000 people to guard a small city of Qufu. Shi Kefa, do you dare to go now? "
Shi Kefa had no choice but to say: "I dare you to go!"
Zhu Cixiang nodded and looked at Shi Dacannon fodder with approval and encouragement.
Then he looked at Gao Hongtu and said, "Gao Butang is from Shandong. In these extraordinary times, there is no need to avoid your place of origin. You can be the governor of Shandong!"
But you, the governor of Shandong, will definitely not be able to defend the entire province of Shandong, not even the provincial capital... So I only need you to defend the Taiyi Mountains! As long as there is a Shandong governor's office on Mount Tai, the Manchu Tatars cannot be said to have pacified the entire province of Shandong.
The mountains in Taiyi stretch for hundreds of miles, with countless peaks and peaks. It is a place with great potential. The palace has sent envoys to recruit the bandits from Antaiyi, and they will all be controlled by Bu Tang. Later, one hundred thousand taels of silver will be allocated to Gao Bu Tang to recruit troops and build forts, and a batch of grain will be mobilized to be sent to the mountains. Gao Butang can also recruit troops and powerful men on his own. He hopes that Budang can work with Shi Butang to resist the invaders in Shandong.
The way of Confucius and Mencius depends on you two great Confucians to defend it! "
