Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 163 Chen Erfa's "Smartness"

The war in southern Mongolia is imminent.

At this moment, on the official road more than a hundred miles away from the capital, a fat, big-eared guy got out of the carriage from time to time and asked a few soldiers, "How many miles are there?"

"Report to the Governor-General, there are still two hundred miles to go."

"Hurry up! If you delay, I won't forgive you." Chen Erfa didn't get into the carriage again. He fanned himself and cursed, "Why is it so hot?"

The weather in early July is the hottest time of the year, but Chen Erfa had to make this trip because his son-in-law said that he would be demoted one level, but he had to do the job. If he failed, he would be promoted three levels.

Doesn't this mean he's going to die?

If he is promoted three levels, he will be the Grand Commander of the Five Cities Military Command. By then, all the eyes of the emperor will be on him, and he will have to die.

So, here he comes.

Chen Erfa arrived with ammunition and food supplies.

Along the way, he didn't dare sleep at night and got up to check every now and then, for fear of any mistakes.

He even put marks on all the boxes to make it easier for him to count, just like when he sold meat in the past, he would carve marks on each pig leg, so that he could know which ones were the freshest, which ones were from yesterday, or even the day before yesterday...

The capital city is more than 300 miles away from Xuanfu. As long as he can transport the ammunition to Xuanfu, the mission will be accomplished.

"Uncle, are you so afraid of my brother-in-law?" Chen Erfa's nephew also came this time. He is also working in the Wucheng Bingmasi.

As the saying goes, brothers fight together in war, and fathers and sons fight together in battle. Chen Erfa's son was fatter than him and could not walk at all, so he had to let his nephew follow him.

"You are still too young to understand the intricacies of this. Your brother-in-law..." Chen Erfa looked around, "There is a saying that goes, 'Use bronze as a mirror to correct your clothes and hats'... What's the next saying?"

"Learning from people can help us understand our gains and losses. Learning from history can help us understand the rise and fall of nations."

"Yes, that is, learn from others. How are Zhou Kui, Tian Hongyu, and Yuan You smarter than you and me?" Chen Erfa lifted his clothes, fanned himself inside, and felt refreshed.

"Those guys are all very experienced and cunning."

"That's it. Our Chen family has been butchers for generations. If we play tricks on others, isn't that like an old man hanging himself because his life is too long?" Chen Erfa leaned against the carriage. "Why don't we just let it go and not fight or compete. His Majesty can't catch us, and those civil servants and nobles won't think of framing us for everything."

"The worse it gets, the longer it lasts... You can figure this out yourself."

The nephew was stunned for a long time after listening to Chen Erfa's words, and suddenly realized that his uncle's brain was not as terrible as those people from the South City Military Department said.

He sees things more clearly than anyone else!
The nephew quickly took a fan and fanned Chen Erfa, "Uncle San, if you want to give up, why do you have to come on this mission? Can't you push it to someone else?"

"You don't understand this, do you?" Chen Erfa put down the fan in his hand. "For example, if I want to send a piece of meat to the rich man Liu's family, should I let you send it or the old leper?"

"Of course I will deliver it. Who knows, that old bastard might have lost a lot of money on the way."

"That's right. These things are His Majesty's meat. Apart from me, his father-in-law, can he trust anyone else?"

The nephew couldn't help but nodded, "Uncle San, I suddenly feel that you should be the head of our Chen family. When the time comes, I will discuss with my father and ask him to give up the position of head..."

"Not really, not really... When are you going to tell your father?"

nephew:"……"

Chen Erfa stood up and shouted to the back: "Everyone, work harder. The post station is fifteen miles ahead. We can take a rest then and let the horses eat some grass and drink some water."

……

Sixty miles away from Yinghuo Mountain, Chongzhen was summoned by Sun Kewang.

Among the group of people who had just been gathered, Sun Kewang had been observing and discovered that this man named Zhu Yonggan had natural leadership abilities.

There are always people around him who ask for his opinion, and this person seems to be well-educated, and the way he speaks and does things is naturally different from those of the peasants.

And his father seemed to know some medical skills, which were more precious to the bandits than gold and silver.

As a result, Chongzhen was once again taken seriously.

When Chongzhen came back, the captain of the Imperial Guard came over and asked, "How is it? Why did he look for you?"

The muscles on Chongzhen's face twitched a few times, "He...he insisted on appointing me as a logistics flag officer."

"Xiaoqi..." The captain of the Imperial Guard looked at Chongzhen and his face changed. "You agree?"

"I didn't agree, but the knife was at my neck."

The captain of the Imperial Guards held his forehead with his hand, and the muscles at the corners of his mouth twitched. "What do you want me to say about you? If this matter gets to the ears of His Majesty, how can you expect good consequences?"

"It's okay, just tell the truth." Chongzhen was also helpless. Things did not always develop according to his ideas, and he had no choice.

He didn't care, but Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming was anxious, "You can't say that. It's okay if it happens once, but if it happens again and again, will His Majesty forgive you?"

Chongzhen said in a resolute voice: "Don't worry, Your Majesty will not punish me."

"??"

The Jinyiwei Qianhu and the King of Xiang looked at his affirmative gaze and were stunned for two or three seconds. It was the King of Xiang who reacted first, "No, what makes you think you can do that?"

"Just because..." Chongzhen's face turned red, and he said, "I can't explain it to you clearly."

Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming was unwilling to do so and held Chongzhen back, "Why can't you explain it clearly? Last time I asked you this, you said this, and this time you said this again. Is there anything in this world that you can't explain clearly?"

Chongzhen looked at Prince Xiang with red eyes, his Adam's apple rolling, "If I say I can hear your majesty's voice, would you believe it?"

"Of course I don't believe it."

"That's right..." Chongzhen turned and left, leaving Prince Xiang and the captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard looking at each other.

Zhu Yiming was stunned for a long time, his eyes rolled, as if he had found something important, and he pulled the captain of the Jinyiwei again, "Lord Han, you have also seen that the prince has some brain problems. I hope you can help to say a few good words for him. I, Zhu Yiming, keep my words. When we arrive in Kyoto, I will definitely reward you generously."

The captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard gave Zhu Yiming a displeased look, then turned and left.

Seeing this, Zhu Yiming chased after him again.

Before the day was over, the news that Zhu Yonggan had become a small logistics flag officer in Sun Kewang's army spread quickly.

Many wounded soldiers came over first, and Chongzhen, Prince Xiang, a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and others were also forced to start bandaging the wounded and boiling medicine for them.

During this period, Sun Kewang came to see it once. Seeing this scene, he nodded and left.

He was busy until it got dark, and Zhu Changgan returned to himself again.

"Mr. Zhu!" "Mr. Zhu..."

People kept greeting him, and Zhu Changgan's eyelids twitched.

"Wow, this old guy doesn't have the physique to attract bandits, right? He has become so familiar with him so quickly?"

This made Zhu Changgan speechless. As for the fact that Chongzhen knew medical skills and had only read a few medical books at most, he did not expect that he would be so respected.

Zhu Changgan didn't have much idea about how to cure diseases and save lives, but he was somewhat interested in one person.

Sun Kewang!
As the head of Zhang Xianzhong's adopted sons, at the critical moment when Zhang Xianzhong was killed and people were in panic, he formed a four-general system together with Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu and Ai Nengqi, maintaining the basic unity within the Dashi Group and avoiding the self-collapse of the Dashun Group after the death of Li Zicheng.

Moreover, at the subsequent Zunyi Conference, he led the meeting to promptly correct Zhang Xianzhong's strategy of indiscriminate killing in his later years, and stopped Wang Zhaoling's attempt to control the Daxi Group by continuing this policy.

To be fair, Sun Kewang made outstanding contributions in the early stage, whether to the development of the Dashi Army after the death of Zhang Xianzhong, to the defeat of the separatist forces in Yunnan and the promotion of the development of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, or to the national anti-Qing cause.

So Zhu Changgan had an idea in his mind: the rebel should be killed, but Sun Kewang's head could be spared.

From this perspective, Chongzhen was not entirely the troublemaker. By chance, he did gain some benefits.

……

The next day, when Zhu Changgan woke up again, he found himself in a court meeting again.

The issue being discussed at this time was the issue of tax silver in Southern Zhili and the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas.

"How much did you collect?" Zhu Changgan asked calmly.

All the ministers looked at the Minister of Revenue.

"Your Majesty, 30%..." The Minister of Revenue Bi Ziyan had an unpleasant look on his face. Not to mention the apportionment of taxes from Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan provinces, he had not even recovered half of the original amount.

Zhu Changgan took a breath, and a cold light flashed in his eyes.

He had thought about this result a long time ago, and he knew that this was a trick by the civil service group.

Nanzhili, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, these areas were indeed the richest places in the Ming Dynasty.

But this kind of wealth does not belong to the country, nor does it belong to the people.

Zhu Changgan remained calm and continued, "I understand. Next topic."

Let’s see who gets anxious first!
Minister of War Yang Sichang stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, Xiong Wencan has submitted a petition stating that several bandits are willing to be pacified."

"How many?"

Wang Chengen quickly took the list from Yang Sichang and handed it to the emperor.

The above is the list of each camp drawn up by Xiong Wencan:

"The Eight Great Kings have more than 13000 people, the Scorpion Block has more than 10500 people, the Zhang Miaoshou has more than 9100 people, and the Eight Great Kings have more than 8300 people, a total of more than 38000 people."

Zhu Changgan almost laughed when he saw it, "Why did I hear that Zhang Xianzhong did not accept the surrender, but attacked Guangzhou County instead?"

“Moreover, it seems that these people surrendered in Hebei two years ago, but then rebelled again.

The following year, they again asked Chen Qiyu for surrender, and their surrender was approved at that time. However, they still pretended to surrender, and as soon as they escaped from danger, they killed or tied up the so-called appeasement officials who led the team, successively captured Feng County, and burned down our imperial mausoleum. "

This group of people have surrendered more than once or twice, and I have seen it more than once in the documents approved by Chongzhen before.

I don't believe that these civil servants have never seen it.

The so-called appeasement is nothing more than a stopgap measure to avoid the current disaster by repeating the old trick.

"How can you make me believe that they really surrendered?" Zhu Changgan stared at Yang Sichang with a piercing gaze, "I can approve the proposal of the Ministry of War, but if they surrender again, I don't mind replacing another Minister of War."

"This..." A thin layer of sweat suddenly appeared on Yang Sichang's forehead. Obviously, he knew that Zhang Xianzhong, Scorpion Block and others who requested for amnesty had surrendered to the government army a few years ago. However, he did not expect that the emperor had not forgotten these details at all.

……

"If you have something to report, please do so. If not, please dismiss the court!" Zhu Changgan left the court amid Wang Chengen's shouts.

On the one hand, his move was to warn Yang Sichang and Xiong Wencan, and on the other hand, it was also to prepare for Zhang Xianzhong's surrender. It seems that Zhang Xianzhong was persuaded to surrender again, but then rebelled again.

So this time he had to give Yang Sichang and Xiong Wencan a patch up.

"Your Majesty, an urgent report from Sun Chuanting, the governor of Sanbian."

"Quick, bring it here!"

Zhu Changgan opened it and looked at it. He was overjoyed. "Well, now the scorpion block doesn't need to be surrendered. It will be destroyed directly..."

In addition, Sun Chuanting also said that Sun Yingyuan had recruited more than 10,000 soldiers in Sichuan, and now had nearly 20,000 soldiers. They began to cooperate with Sun Chuanting's troops from several provinces such as Shaanxi, Shaanxi, and Sichuan to start clearing out the bandits to the east.

Sun Chuanting also added some information about the situation of the people after the tax burden was reduced.

But at the end, he mentioned one thing: He Renlong died. This general who came to support the suppression eventually died because of his own arrogance.

Sun Chuanting ordered him to go and join the battle, and issued three imperial edicts to urge him to go. In the battle with Scorpion Block, he abandoned his friendly forces and retreated without authorization. If it weren't for the firearm battalion's powerful performance, the outcome of this battle would have been unpredictable.

Before this, when Sun Chuanting came to Beijing, Zhu Changgan told him to keep an eye on He Renlong, and if anyone deserted the battlefield, he would be executed.

Sun Chuanting sincerely pleaded for He Renlong, "Renlong is an old general of mine. I am willing to pardon his crime. He is still useful."

Now, only a month has passed, and it has come to the point where Sun Chuanting has to use He Renlong's head to rectify military discipline. It is really sad.

Zhu Changgan stared at the map of the Ming Dynasty and asked with a smile: "Wang Chengen, if you were Li Zicheng or Zhang Xianzhong, would you conquer Nanjing first and then march north to conquer the capital, or would you conquer the capital first and then march south to conquer the world?"

"Uh..." Wang Chengen didn't react for a moment, and his face turned green in an instant, "Your Majesty, please spare this eunuch!"

How dare he answer this question?
As a eunuch, Wang Chengen didn't dare to think about it, but Zhu Changgan, who was sitting on the throne, had to think about it.

Jiangnan had money and food, but Li Zicheng did not go south to Jiangnan. Instead, he launched a fierce attack on Shaanxi, Gansu, Shanxi and Hebei, and even led his troops north to attack the capital directly. The key is that he succeeded.

Putting aside God's perspective, is this accidental or inevitable?
Of course, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom gave an almost perfect answer and occupied Nanjing, but was still surrounded and defeated.

But it is impossible for Li Zicheng to have eyes in the back of his head, and it is impossible for him to know the outcome of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Why was it that not only Li Yan, Song Xiance and other advisers, but even Niu Jinxing, a poor person beside Li Zicheng, did not suggest the plan of moving south?
……

(End of this chapter)