Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 239
On the fourth day after Hong Chengchou arrived in Beijing, after visiting several friends who were officials in Beijing, he finally received the emperor's decree, allowing him to have an audience immediately.

Hong Chengchou was naturally very clear about the emperor's intention of ordering him to succeed Wu Aheng as the supervisor of Ji Liao: to purge the Liaodong generals, divide and disintegrate the Guanning Army, and reduce Liao's salary expenditures to prepare for the future attack on Jianzhou.

Hong Chengchou had been in charge of the army for ten years as a civil servant, and had dealt with countless generals of the Ming Dynasty, so he already had a lot of experience in how to control these rough men.

In his eyes, the generals of Ming Dynasty can be roughly divided into several categories.

The first category is loyal generals who are loyal to the emperor and the court, never disobey orders, and do not regard their soldiers as private soldiers, such as Cao Wenzhao, Cao Bianjiao, Bai Guangen, Ai Wannian, etc. Appreciated, but too few in number.

The second type is the one with the largest number of people. Most of them obey the orders of the superiors, but they will take the opportunity to make corresponding demands for personal gain, such as asking for official positions, money, food, weapons and armor, etc., to expand their own strength; He Renlong, Zuo Liangyu, Yang Guozhu and others were the representatives, and Hong Chengchou was confident that he could restrain them.

The third category is the generals like Zu Dashou of Liaodong. They use the money and grain of the court to support their own private soldiers, treat the emperor and the court as nothing, and only care about their own interests. Although they will fight against Jiannu, this kind of behavior is more common. He wanted to maintain the balance between Daming and Jianzhou so that he could gain more long-term benefits from it.

For warlords such as Zu Dashou who disregarded the righteousness of the country, the scheming Hong Chengchou could not think of a good way to deal with them for a while. After he arrived in Jiliao, he could only come up with a corresponding plan according to the actual situation.

In the Qianqing Palace, after paying homage and offering a seat, Zhu Youjian looked at Hong Hengjiu sitting on the brocade pier with a slightly complicated mood.

For this famous person who was included in the biography of the second minister in history, Zhu Youjian did not have the kind of intimacy when he saw Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting in his heart, but more of a kind of indifference between superiors and subordinates.

Although he knew that Hong Chengchou's surrender was a kind of helpless life-saving behavior in history, and he could understand it, but subconsciously, he still couldn't accept this behavior of betraying Daming.

Zhu Youjian knows that one should not deny everything about a person with things that have never happened.Over the past ten years, Hong Chengchou has made great contributions to the suppression of thieves and the peace of the people. If he hadn't been struggling to fight fires everywhere, Daming would have died early.Now he can only secretly convince himself to treat him as a hero.

"Hong Qing, if I remember correctly, this is the first time since I ascended the throne ten years ago, and I have met Qing and my ministers for the first time? Hong Qing is well-known in the court of the Ming Dynasty. Although I have never met Qing, we have been friends for a long time; I will always keep in mind the great contributions Hong Qing has made to the Ming Dynasty over the years! You are about to go to Jiliao to take office, and I hope that you will be brave enough to do things and make new achievements! I will definitely reward him with great rewards!"

Zhu Youjian said warmly.

Hong Chengchou took the pilot test in the 44th year of the Wanli period. In the second year of Tianqi, he left the capital to take up the post of Zhejiang Tixue. In the first year of Chongzhen, Hong Chengchou was transferred to Shaanxi Governor Liangdao. Since then, he has been holding important positions in Shaanxi, Yansui and other places until today Only when the monarch and minister meet each other.

"How dare you worry about your majesty's concern! Although you have been traveling in the northwest for many years, you have made little contribution. It is really shameless to be praised by your majesty! This trip to Jiliao, although the future is difficult, but I will do my best to solve the state affairs This difficulty will make my emperor feel at ease!"

Hong Chengchou got up to salute, and replied in a respectful tone.

Although it was the first time for Hong Chengchou, who had faced countless difficulties and dangers in the past ten years, to meet the saint, he was not as timid and nervous because of seeing the sky like others.

"You don't need to be overly humble, Hong Qing. I know what you have done. You should know my intentions when you go to Jiliao. Now that the territory is stable, the problem of building a state has become a problem that must be solved. Tigers have been raised in Liaodong for a long time. Also, if he is allowed to sit on the throne again, he will definitely be backlashed by him! If you want to get rid of this disease, you must first settle down in Liaodong; the former governor of Liao Dynasty sits on a vegetarian meal and sits and sees the corruption of the border affairs. , so I sent you to take over; I want to know what you think about the affairs of Liaodong?"

"I dare not be praised by the sage! Since the day I received the decree, I have often thought about it in my spare time: If you want to destroy Jianzhou and jump over the beam, Liaodong will be the key to victory, and the Liaodong army's disregard of the imperial court's military order must be changed! Ning Jin's soldiers eat the royal salary, they should be the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, not the private soldiers of one family and one surname! The ministers of Ning Jin's army only know the ancestors and Wu but not the sages, which is intolerable! But the ancestors, Wu The two have been operating in Liaodong for a long time, and the forces in the army are deeply intertwined. How difficult it is to solve this disease! I thought hard for a long time, and realized that the only way to solve this problem is to divide their hearts, lure them with profit, and force them with heavy troops. It works!"

Hong Chengchou talked calmly and eloquently. On the surface, he seemed to have the wisdom in his hands, but in fact, he didn't have the slightest confidence in his heart.

According to the number of officers and soldiers reported by Liaodong, there are 20 officers and soldiers on the Ningjin line; but Hong Chengchou speculates that the actual number is around 15, and among the 10,000+ officers and soldiers, only one can fight the most. In addition, these more than [-] people were scattered under the names of dozens of generals and became the servants of these generals.

Among Ning Jin's officers and soldiers, Zu Kuan, Wu Sangui, Li Chongjin and others were more able to fight. These three men each had 2000 to [-] men.When they were assigned to suppress thieves in the mainland, the cavalry under these men performed well.The rest of the generals had only a few hundred well-equipped servants who were relatively good at fighting.

Most of the millions of food and salaries allocated by the imperial court every year were deducted by these generals, and they were used to support their own servants while satisfying their own desires, while the remaining 10,000+ soldiers received very little food and salaries.

"Does Hong Qing have a specific plan? Such a major event cannot be discussed in a sit-down manner. It must be followed by a strategy, otherwise it will be difficult!"

Zhu Youjian asked.

Hong Chengchou's words sound simple, but they must be implemented with a complete plan.Guan Ning's army is like a monolith from top to bottom, and it's not so easy to divide.

"When I was suppressing bandits in northern Shaanxi, Wu, the deputy general of Guangning, had listened to orders under my tent for nearly two years; he was a heroic man, and he often took the lead in the battle when encountering the enemy. In words and deeds, he has a heart of loyalty to the emperor, and his heart is very serious. Now that the sage has a magical pen, he moved the father and son of the Wu family to Jizhou, isolating the ancestors and Wu, making it inconvenient for transportation. Starting it will cause discord between the two families; this strategy still needs to be lured by the Holy One with fame and profit, how to choose, I respectfully ask the Holy One to make a decision!"

In history, Wu Sangui had no intention of surrendering to the Qing Dynasty even when the Ming Dynasty was on the verge of collapse.

In the 15th year of Chongzhen, Zu Dashou ran out of food and surrendered after being trapped in Jinzhou for a year. Wu Sangui was the commander-in-chief of Guangning at that time, admiral of the Ming army outside Guanwai.In the end, the emperor committed suicide for his country and was forced to return to the Qing Dynasty under internal and external pressure.

Zhu Youjian's attitude towards Wu Sangui was the same as towards Hong Chengchou. Although he felt uncomfortable psychologically, his rationality told him that both of them were outstanding talents in the Ming Dynasty, but driven by the wheel of fate, they both ended up notorious.

Hong Chengchou's strategy cannot be said to be unfeasible, but it is quite difficult, and the hope of success is very slim; but Zhu Youjian also knows that if even a master like Hong Chengchou has no good way, then other people will be like that.

"It's good for Hong Qing to let go and do whatever he can. Do your best and obey the destiny. Let's see what the outcome will be! Fame and fortune are loved by everyone. As long as they have made contributions to the society, I will not hesitate to reward them. It is not unreasonable to be a minister of the world, even the position of Lord Hou. ! Hong Qing remember!"

Zhu Youjian said with emotion.

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　　Chinese New Year is coming soon, everyone is full of mundane affairs, please pay attention to safety when driving out, try not to drive fast, and winter is the season with high incidence of car accidents, if the road is long, don’t drive or take a long-distance bus, try to avoid high speed, High-speed trains and airplanes are the best long-distance choices. I wish you and your family safe.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)