In the Forbidden City of the capital, Emperor Chongzhen held a memorial that had just been delivered. It was sent by a speedboat sent by Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of Baoding, on an urgent basis.
This memorial is about Geng Zhongming's initiative to contact and express his intention to abandon darkness and embrace the light.
Of course, Lu Xiangsheng would not tell Chen Shaozong everything in the memorial, so he bullied him into not knowing how to read and only read out what he wanted him to know. What Chen Shaozong didn't know was that he reported another situation, that is, he learned from the news heard by Ye Bushou that Geng Zhongming was disgusted by Huang Taiji and found trouble to deprive him of the title of pseudo-king.
Lu Xiangsheng analyzed in the memorial that it was probably this incident that made Geng Zhongming make such a decision. Previously, Liu Xingzuo had abandoned his secret position and defected to the Ming Dynasty, but the Ming Dynasty accepted it. With such examples, it is not surprising that Geng Zhongming would do this.
He suggested that the imperial court could pardon people like Geng Zhongming to attack the Jianlu's strength, shake up more surrendered generals among the Jianlu, and also make the Jianlu internally suspicious of each other, which would help the Ming Dynasty regain Liaodong early.
At the end of the memorial, Lu Xiangsheng also elaborated on the causes and consequences of the Denglai mutiny. Although it was not stated explicitly, it somewhat meant that at least at the local level, the oppression of Liao generals such as Geng Zhongming and others was excessive. They were desperate and confused for a moment, so they made the wrong choice.
After reading this memorial, Emperor Chongzhen suddenly remembered a passage that later generations saw on the Internet:
If you feel that your motherland is not good, go and build it; if you feel that the government is not good, take the civil service examination and become an official; if you feel that the people have no quality, then start to become a high-quality citizen from yourself; If you think your compatriots are ignorant, start learning from you and change the people around you!
She has shortcomings, and we should correct them together instead of just criticizing, complaining, and running away. Thousand pointing fingers, head bowed as a willing ox.
The place you stand is your China; as you are, China will be; whatever you are, China will be; if you are bright, China will not be dark!
He had always believed in this passage and was deeply impressed by it.
In the case of Geng Zhongming, it can also be said that the Ming Dynasty was not good. Is that the reason why you surrendered to the Qing Dynasty and brought firearms technology to the Qing Dynasty? It can be seen that after the Manchu Qing Dynasty became more powerful, it brought many heavy sufferings to its mother country!
In other words, times are different. Today is still the period of the feudal dynasty, where one family has one surname. In this era, there is no concept of a country or nation. However, sometimes, the truths are interoperable. The term "forgetting one's ancestors" has been around for a long time.
I was lost for a while, recalling some things from later generations. After a long while, he came back to his senses, pondered for a moment, and then began to write a reply.
The general meaning is that there is no end to the sea of suffering. As long as Geng Zhongming truly abandons darkness and makes great contributions, he will not only be pardoned for his previous crimes, but he will also be rewarded based on his merits.
Although the communication channels of homing pigeons are almost there, the reply memorials and related content cannot be sent by homing pigeons. Therefore, it is still necessary to speed up the ship to Guanglu Island as soon as possible.
According to what Lu Xiangsheng said in the memorial, if Fenghuang Castle and Zhenjiang Fort were really captured by the Ming Dynasty, the importance of this geographical location would definitely lead to a crazy counterattack by the Jianlu.
Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen gave instructions in his reply that he did not recommend using the limited strength of the Dongjiang Army to defend the two castles. If it is surrounded and attacked by Jianlu's superior troops, it is very likely to fall. The goal of the Dongjiang Army has never been to have a head-on conflict with Jianlu.
If we can really capture Phoenix Castle and Zhenjiang Castle, it would be better to take away all the population and supplies and leave the empty city to the Jianlu. If Jianlu valued this place, he would definitely divide his troops to defend it, which would weaken Jianlu's strength in other places; if he didn't value this place, it would be okay to just take it back later.
People are in the city, and the city is gone when there are no people. People are the most important!
After sending the reply to Lu Xiangsheng, Emperor Chongzhen began to browse the seed feedback in the eavesdropping system.
There was nothing else, but the feedback message from the Class A eavesdropping seeds on Xilin Jueluo caught his attention.
This Xilinjueluo seemed to have had a conflict with Geng Zhongming's son over the slave girl at the inn. When he was humiliating Geng Zhongming's son, he had the following dialogue.
"Who are you? You dare to come and snatch women from me. It was okay in the past, but now, your fucking father has been deprived of his royal title. Who do you think you are!"
"Fart, that's a lie! As long as my father completes his errands, he will be the hereditary king from now on, and I will be the prince too!"
"You fucking lied to me, and you didn't take a piss to look after yourself, and you are hereditary. What can you do to be hereditary?"
"..."
From the subsequent words, Emperor Chongzhen probably inferred that Geng Zhongming's son seemed to know that he had spilled the beans, so he hesitated and was eventually severely humiliated by Xilin Jueluo.
If this conversation had happened in the past, he would not have paid attention to it. However, he had just read the memorial sent by Lu Xiangsheng, and happened to know that Geng Zhongming most likely wanted to return to the Ming Dynasty after the prince was taken away. Once this connection is made, the smell of conspiracy can be smelled without even using one's nose!
Huang Taiji defeated the Dongjiang Army and used such a sinister strategy! So treacherous!
If it weren't for the fact that Geng Zhongming's son couldn't hold up the wall, he might not be clear on his side, but Lu Xiangsheng would most likely believe it, and maybe something would really happen!
Huang Taiji, you grandma is so sinister! Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but cursed in his heart, and then began to think about it. Since Huang Taiji was planning to plot against the Dongjiang Army, how could he take advantage of this matter and reap huge benefits?
With this in mind, Emperor Chongzhen even specially found a map of Liaodong, and started to think about it based on a series of things he had recently received about Liaodong.
How about taking this opportunity to eat this place? Emperor Chongzhen lined up the place on the map with his hand and said to himself.
Lan Tianbao on the side was a little curious when he heard this. He rolled his eyes and glanced subconsciously. He recognized that the place the emperor photographed was called Jinzhou.
That's right, Emperor Chongzhen just wanted to capture Jinzhou. In this way, Lushun would be safer. It can then be expanded to become the real bridgehead of Ming Dynasty in Liaodong. By the way, isn't the old slave chief Daishan sitting in Jinzhou? If you kill him, you will get rid of another one.
Or, Emperor Chongzhen reached out again and tapped another place on the map with his finger.
When Lan Tianbao heard this, he looked subconsciously and found that the place the emperor was pointing to was Gaizhou.
That's right, another alternative place that Emperor Chongzhen considered was Gaizhou on the coast. If the Ming Dynasty occupied Gaizhou, it would threaten Haizhou. Above Haizhou are Anshan Yibao and the important town of Liaoyang.
After thinking for a long time, Emperor Chongzhen did not make a decision immediately. He also wanted to wait and see what Huang Taiji would do, and then take corresponding measures here.
However, no matter what choice is made, the strength of the Dongjiang Army alone is not enough. Ning Jin's army was more than capable of defending the city, but was unable to attack.
From this point of view, we still need to send out the three major battalions.
However, Emperor Chongzhen also had a problem, that is, he could not send out large-scale troops because all the accumulated food and grass were used for disaster relief.
Thinking like this, Emperor Chongzhen made a calculation in his mind and made a decision.
…………
On the Guanglu Island side, Lu Xiangsheng would not sit back and wait. Instead, he sent more troops to Liaodong to investigate Jianlu's activities. And he himself began to mobilize troops to prepare for the upcoming war.
On this day, he was busy. Suddenly, his bodyguard came to report that Chen Er wanted to see him and had a message.
When Lu Xiangsheng heard this, he was immediately overjoyed. I never thought homing pigeons could be used. So, he immediately asked his personal guards to bring people over.
"Your Majesty the Governor, the Emperor's will!" Chen Er saw Lu Xiangsheng and immediately offered a small roll of paper with both hands.
Lu Xiangsheng did not sit down, but immediately stepped forward and took the roll of paper himself. However, he did not rush to read it, but praised Chen Er and said: "I didn't expect that Fei Ge's letter could be used so quickly. You will be indispensable for future contributions." .”
When Chen Er heard this, he was filled with joy and quickly replied: "There are not enough carrier pigeons that carry messages over long distances now. Most of them are only used for short distances. Try your best!"
Lu Xiangsheng nodded, encouraged him a few more words, then returned to his seat, took out a thick book on the desk, unfolded the small roll of paper, and began to analyze the password.
That's right, all the numbers on the small scroll are numbers, and they are Arabic numerals, which are used for writing in books. In this way, if something unexpected happens and someone gets it, they won't be able to know what is written in the scroll.
As for Arabic numerals, they are easy to understand and there is no difficulty.
Soon, Lu Xiangsheng translated the contents of this scroll. Knowing what the emperor meant, his expression suddenly became serious. Although he had thought about whether Geng Zhongming's decision to abandon the dark side and turn to the bright side was a fraud, in general, he felt it was true. For this reason, he also put in a good word for Geng Zhongming in the memorial.
Fortunately, there were spies on the emperor's side who spied on the news. Otherwise, Geng Zhongming did this under Huang Taiji's secret order, and he might have been deceived.
Thinking of this, Lu Xiangsheng was very angry. But after all, he is not a simple military commander, and his brain is also one of the best. Thinking of Emperor Chongzhen's intention and telling him to use his plan to create a fighter for the Ming Dynasty, his mood calmed down again.
After thinking for a long time, he sent an order to summon Zheng Zhilong, the commander-in-chief of the navy.
Speaking of which, in the war against Jianlu, even if Jianlu's power was spread to the world, the one who had the least pressure was Zheng Zhilong. He is also the most leisurely one. Among the Dongjiang Army, he can be regarded as the kind of person who earns military merit while lying down.
After hearing Lu Xiangsheng's military order, he did not dare to neglect and immediately came to see him.
This was a meeting alone, without a second person. Zheng Zhilong, who received Lu Xiangsheng's military order, quickly received the military order and left Guanglu Island.
On the eighth day of September in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, Chen Shaozong secretly arrived at Guanglu Island again and asked to see Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of Baoding in the Ming Dynasty. He presented a map of the Jianlu troops in Liaodong. However, there was also an explanation that the Jianlu troops had been rotating and reorganizing their armaments. Therefore, Geng Zhongming explained in the letter that this was the most complete information he could find out, but he could not guarantee its effectiveness.
If not for Emperor Chongzhen's reminder, this military intelligence information must be consistent with at least what the Dongjiang Army had found out during the night. In this way, Lu Xiangsheng will probably put aside his doubts and choose to believe Geng Zhongming.
However, it is definitely different now.
However, Lu Xiangsheng remained calm and praised Geng Zhongming, and then said: "The reply from the capital has arrived. The emperor was overjoyed when he heard it. As long as Geng Zhongming has made great contributions, he will not be able to forgive his previous sins, but he can also be forgiven based on his merits." Get a reward. Bring this will to Geng Zhongming!"
After finishing speaking, he personally handed the imperial edict that had been sent by the Clippers into Chen Shaozong's hands.
Chen Shaozong was overjoyed when he heard this. He quickly knelt down and respectfully thanked the emperor for his great kindness, which gave them a chance to change their ways.
At this time, Lu Xiangsheng was also a little puzzled. He had been staring at Chen Shaozong, but he didn't find any flaws.
Chen Shaozong hid the imperial edict very carefully, and then asked Lu Xiangsheng for instructions: "Sir, I don't know how to deal with it next. Vice General Geng said that Jianlu is mobilizing troops, and he doesn't know when they may be mobilized to Phoenix Castle. Or here at Zhenjiang Fort. If he is transferred, all the previous efforts will be wasted!"
When Lu Xiangsheng heard this, he had a calm attitude and immediately shook his head and said: "This is a major military matter and cannot be decided at will. Go back and tell Geng Zhongming to find an opportunity to come to Guanglu Island. I will personally discuss the details of the war with him!" "
Hearing this, Chen Shaozong was slightly disappointed, but he could understand it. After all, this was a very large military operation, and caution was not exaggerated.
Therefore, he immediately agreed, but still reminded: "Sir, Vice General Geng is the commander of Phoenix Castle. If he doesn't show up for a long time, I'm afraid there will be problems. I don't know whether Vice General Geng can come, so I can't guarantee it. !”
"As long as you are willing, you can always find opportunities and reasons." After hearing this, Lu Xiangsheng said calmly, "If I act carelessly and Jianlu finds out, I don't want to lose my brother in the Dongjiang Army because of this, and I don't want him to be Geng Zhong." I understand that it takes a lot of effort and even hurts him!”
Having made it so clear, Chen Shaozong said nothing more, said goodbye to Lu Xiangsheng, and immediately rushed back to Phoenix Castle.
But this time, he saw more Ming troops on Guanglu Island. They were all troops mobilized from various islands by Lu Xiangsheng in preparation for the war.
After hurried back to Phoenix Castle, still in the study, with guards watching at the door and "foolproof", Chen Shaozong happily took out Emperor Chongzhen's imperial edict.
