"Your Majesty, Zuo Menggeng is still suppressing bandits in Yimeng Mountain. He has trapped the remnants of Bailian in Nishan. He is preparing for the final battle once and for all. He is really at his wits' end."
Zhang Zhenxiu stood up and dealt with Chongzhen's problem.
"Hmph, the remnant of White Lotus has not been exterminated after nearly two years of fighting. Fortunately, he is still known as a famous general in the world."
Chongzhen became so angry that he began to blame others randomly, even Zuo Mengeng, who had nothing to do with him.
Zhang Zhenxiu's head is full of black lines, and he really doesn't know how to complain about this king.
"Your Majesty, the left army is only a coalition, and its troops are limited. It is inconvenient to encircle and suppress it in the vast mountains. For this reason, Zuo Menggeng even asked Linqing to assist him, which is why he achieved today's achievements."
The subtext is telling Chongzhen that Zuo Menggeng's Dongchang Association only has a few thousand people, so it is already very good to be able to fight like this.
At the same time, he was also reminding Chongzhen not to rely on Zuo Mengeng to deal with the rebels.
The rebels numbered in the tens of thousands. Previously, so many governors, governors, and generals could not handle the situation. How could we expect a single general now?
Chongzhen was just furious, but he still had reason, and he knew that his thoughts were a bit excessive.
"Dear dear friends, Shandong is in dire straits. Is there any good strategy on how to solve the problem?"
Zhou Yanru trembled and said nothing.
Liu Yulie's defeat had caused him to lose the initiative in this matter. Although he has the title of chief assistant, he cannot move.
Wen Tiren was extremely active, seizing the opportunity and saying with all his strength: "Your Majesty, the current plan is to quickly mobilize the world's elite Guan Ning cavalry to conquer Shandong and ensure peace."
His suggestion was supported by many courtiers.
Not only his party members, but also Wang Wanxiang and others jumped out to strongly agree.
Just because Wang Wanxiang and others were from Shandong, they couldn't stand it when they saw their hometown being beaten to pieces.
This Wang Wanxiang was the guy who held a grudge because he was impeached by Jiang Cai, and later almost forced the Jiang brothers to death in the Nanming court.
However, in the face of the turbulent public sentiment, Chongzhen remained silent.
Chongzhen was a man who was very good at playing with the emperor's mind. When he saw so many people supporting the mobilization of Guan Ning's army, he felt uneasy.
One is that there is some conspiracy behind it, and the other is that once Guan Ning's army is transferred to quell the rebellion, the situation in Liaodong will be unstable.
And his undecided look was immediately caught by Zhou Yanru.
Zhou Yanru did not dare to come forward on his own, but winked at a close confidant.
Li Chunwang from the Engineering Department immediately jumped out and changed the subject.
"Your Majesty, the conflict between Deng Xizhao, the supervisory eunuch of the Western Association, and Cao Wenheng, the governor of Jiliao, is getting deeper and deeper, and they are attacking each other. Jizhen is the gateway to the capital, and it is important, so we must not be careless. Furthermore, if the eunuch goes overboard, the officials are frightened, so we must not ignore it. . I believe that this is not a blessing to the imperial court. In order to ensure the stability of Ji Town and your Majesty’s peace of mind, Cao Wenheng should be removed from the post of governor, and the person who recommended him should also be investigated."
Everyone's eyes were once again focused on Zhou Yanru.
Because he was the one who recommended Cao Wenheng as governor of Jiliao.
Why did Zhou Yanru instruct his men to attack him?
Just because he has grasped the context of Chongzhen so well.
This was a suspicious emperor, and the more his ministers worked together to pursue something, the more nervous he became.
Because of Liu Yulie's defeat just now, Zhou Yanru had already stepped on the edge of the cliff and was in danger. But now, if Li Chunwang attacks him with the contradiction between Deng Xizhao and Cao Wenheng, Chongzhen will immediately become suspicious.
He would wonder if there was a certain force among the officials below who wanted to replace Zhou Yanru and influence the government?
In this case, Zhou Yanru could not move lightly.
"Ai Qing's words are reasonable, and he issued an order to remove Cao Wenheng from the post of governor of Liao Dynasty and ordered Fu Zonglong to take his place."
From beginning to end, he never mentioned how to deal with Deng Xizhao.
Because Chongzhen trusted eunuchs more than foreign ministers.
Fortunately this time, in the eleventh year of Chongzhen, Zhao Guang, the censor of Youqiandu, visited Miyun and exposed Deng Xi's charges. After Chongzhen was recalled, Sun Maolin, the commander of the division guard, was asked to verify.
Of course the eunuch would protect the eunuch, but Sun Maolin deliberately covered it up and bit back, which resulted in Zhao Guang being exiled to Guangdong.
It can be said that Chongzhen was actually even better than his brother in the appointment of eunuchs.
It was obviously a discussion about how to deal with the Wuqiao mutiny, but in the end, the innocent Cao Wenheng was dismissed from his post.
As for Wen Tiren, Wang Wanxiang and others' proposal to mobilize the Guanning Army to counter the rebellion, Chongzhen did not give any reply.
When Cao Wenheng received the news, he didn't feel any anger. He laughed and handed over the errand neatly.
He did not return to the capital, Dianmao, and went directly south to Shandong.
From then on, the sea was wide enough for fish to leap and the sky high enough for birds to fly. He could finally do what he liked.
Just when he was heading south to Shandong, Zhang Zhenxiu also walked out of Guangqumen and embarked on his way home.
Both of them received Zuo Mengeng's notice and knew that big changes were about to happen in the future. It would be dangerous for them to stay in the court, so they simply took advantage of the chaos in the government to retreat.
On April 15th, the court received news of Liu Yulie's defeat. Since then, there has been no movement.
The two forces were still in Chongzhen's hesitation, arguing endlessly over whether to be the main pacifier or the main battler.
Both sides made moves in turn, hoping to dominate the situation.
First, Wen Tiren ordered the officers and soldiers of Ninghai Prefecture, Dasong Guard, and Chengshan Guard to attack Deng Prefecture, hoping to take the rebels' retreat.
However, the rebels had been on guard for a long time, and Li Jiucheng personally took charge of Dengzhou.
Dongjiang Town, an elite force that has fought countless battles, defeated these rotten guardsmen, destroying them like nothing.
The reinforcements from the three places in Ninghai not only failed to counteract Liu Yulie's east-west advance and lift the siege of Denglai, but instead destroyed the already weak defense force.
The second move of Wen Tiren's side was to order Pi Dao's deputy general Huang Long to attack Dengzhou from the sea.
Huang Long tried it but failed.
The main combatant's two consecutive actions all ended in failure, and Zhou Yanru felt that he had another chance.
After he asked Liu Yulie to stabilize the situation, he negotiated with the rebels again to recruit them.
At this time, Liu Yulie had learned that Xu Congzhi had died in rebel shelling, and also learned that the officials in Laizhou City wanted to appease him, so he sent Zhang Guochen to negotiate with Kong Youde, Li Jiucheng and others.
Qu Yiyang had tried several times before with no results, but Zhang Guochen felt that he could.
Because Qu Yiyang is from Shaanxi, and he is from Liaodong, and he has the same hometown friendship with Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming and others.
After meeting Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming and others, Zhang Guochen tried his best to persuade the rebels by using his connections with fellow villagers, hoping that the rebels would agree to recruit them.
As everyone knows, what Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming and others hate the most is the Liao people, especially the people in western Liaoning.
But since someone is willing to deliver food, why wouldn't they?
So Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming once again pretended to agree to be cared for.
Zhang Guochen was overjoyed.
This guy foolishly wanted to monopolize the credit, so he did not return to Laizhou to inform everyone. Instead, he returned to Tianjin alone and summoned the Tianjin navy to recruit troops in Dengzhou.
It is conceivable that when Zhang Guochen led the Tianjin Navy into Dengzhou Water City, he was immediately caught in a jar by Li Jiucheng.
After failing to recruit them, more than 300 ships of various kinds were given to the rebels in vain.
When news of Xu Congzhi's death came back to the court, Chongzhen appointed Tianjin Bingbei Dao Zhu Dadian as governor of Shandong.
Compared with the previous two governors of Shandong, Zhu Dadian was a ruthless man and a capable minister.
After Zhu Dadian took office, he did not go to Jinan, but came directly to Qingzhou.
Here he began to conduct dispatch and review, and the results were very unhappy.
Zhu Dadian made it clear in his memorial to Chongzhen that among the troops in Shandong, only Deng Qi's tribe still has an organizational structure, but its combat effectiveness is worrying.
If you want to quell the rebellion, you must dispatch elite soldiers.
After losing so many men and horses, Chongzhen finally realized that the Denglai War could no longer be delayed.
Under the pleading and urging of Bi Ziyan, Wang Wanxiang and other officials, on the fifth day of June, Chongzhen finally announced in the court that he would dispatch Guan Ning's army to Shandong to quell the rebellion.
Four thousand Han officials were sent to the outside of the pass, and one thousand cavalry were sent to the pass. Jin Guoqi was the commander-in-chief, and Gao Qiqian was the supervisor to lead the troops of each department.
When the news reached Liaodong, a young man couldn't sit still and ran straight to Jin Guoqi's handsome tent, kneeling down and begging.
"Commander, in the previous battle at Changshan, my father was incompetent in the battle. He is guilty of incompetence and has failed the emperor's favor. But my Wu family has been loyal for generations, and the world can learn from it. I sincerely ask the commander to give this junior a chance. I am willing to be a pawn in front of the horse. , to atone for my father’s sins.”
Looking at the tall and heroic young man, Jin Guoqi admired him greatly.
"Chang Bo, get up quickly. No one in Liaodong knows your bravery. With you as general, I feel very at ease. However, this matter is not a trivial matter, and my uncle cannot take on it alone."
Wu Sangui understood and went to visit Gao Qiqian that night with a large sum of money.
Gao Qiqian looked at the shining gold with great joy and pointed out: "If you want to atone for your father's sins, it all depends on the emperor's heart. You have a reputation of loyalty and bravery, and you should be known to the emperor."
Through Gao Qiqian's writing, Wu Sangui's petition for war was sent to Chongzhen.
When the rebels were arrogant and thousands of horses were silent, someone actually took the initiative to ask for war. Chongzhen... was moved.
He personally gave the approval, allowing Wu Sangui to accompany the army on the expedition, and ordered Wu Xiang to go to the battle together as the meritorious general.
What is a meritorious service?
It is also a crime to make meritorious deeds.
After more than half a year of struggle, the loss of countless troops and civilians, and the destruction of half of Shandong, the Ming Dynasty finally made up its mind and sent its most elite troops to quell the rebellion.
And this is the last wealth that Chongzhen can obtain.
