golden scales

In October of the 16th year of Chongzhen, the battle situation in Jia County became extremely strange.

The defeated Sun Chuanting did not return to Shaanxi immediately, and the victorious Li Zicheng did not advance quickly.After several days of rest, the two sides finally dispatched envoys from Chuangying.

This emissary was none other than Li Zhensheng, the censor who was captured in Chengtian Mansion.

When Zhu Cihong saw Li Zhensheng, he felt rejoicing but also a little regretful.

He thought Li Zicheng was a hero, but now it seems that he can't sacrifice his partner for the sake of the overall situation.Speaking carefully, if Li Zicheng ignored Liu Zongmin, he would only lose a general, but if he really wanted to return Liu Zongmin, if he said less, he would lose the initiative in this battle, and if he said more, he would slow down his pace of conquering the world.

"Your Highness!" Li Zhensheng burst into tears when he saw Zhu Cihuang: "The old minister wanted to die a few times, just to serve as an internal response to the army, so he lived in vain until now. Now that I see Your Highness, there is no reason to steal my life. I just invite Your Highness Rescue Qiu Zhitao, the old minister should go first!"

After Li Zhensheng finished speaking, he slammed into the pillar of the military tent.

Min Zhanlian's hands and eyes were quick, and he flicked his waist and legs to block Li Zhensheng's face. He drew an arc in his hand, relieved Li Zhensheng's forward force, and threw him to the ground.

"How can you do that, sir!" Zhu Cihong stood up quickly, with an unbelievable expression on his face, and said, "Now that the court is employing people, sir, you should leave a useful body to serve the court! How can you give up so lightly? ?”

Li Zhensheng was thrown inexplicably. Hearing Zhu Cihong's words, he just fell to the ground and howled.

Zhu Cilang glanced at Wu Zhen, and thought: How can this kind of old man be comforted?You go out and try it.

Wu Xuan had no choice but to bite the bullet and stepped forward: "Li Yinyuan is reckless! The name of the king has been passed down, how can he abandon his useful body because of a little suspicion? Now there are very few people in the crown prince's tent who can be used, and according to the courtyard. Take responsibility as one!"

Li Zhensheng had the experience of being captured, and consciously cut off his official career, so he had to plead guilty and return to his hometown to teach Meng Tong.Hearing what Wu Zhen said, he suddenly realized that he still had a future, and he couldn't help but feel hopeful about living again.

"According to the court," Zhu Cihong pressed on while the iron was hot, "Didn't Li Zicheng ask you to come back, did you ask for anything else?"

After Li Zhensheng entered the camp, he was crying all the time, but he hadn't told Li Zicheng's conditions.

Unexpectedly, when the prince asked such a question, Li Zhensheng even stopped sobbing.He was extremely conflicted in his heart, and finally said in a deep voice: "Li Chuang hopes that the imperial court can give him a name and order him to be the admiral of the four provinces of Shaanxi, Sichuan, Gansu, and Ningxia, and he will not be restrained by the imperial court. Your Highness! This is absolutely impossible. ! My Emperor Ming has established the country for nearly three hundred years, and I have never compromised with the rebels even in the time of Tumubao!"

——Yes, at that time, only the emperor was captured, and there was no calamity of national subjugation.Although the emperor is still safe now, the country is about to perish!

Looking at Li Zhensheng, Zhu Cihong felt a kind of virtue called "loyalty".It has to be said that in the era of his previous life, this kind of character was so rare that people could only look for it from history books.

"Li Zicheng really said that?" Zhu Cihong almost laughed.

Li Zhensheng nodded, afraid that Zhu Cihong would say: Then give it to him!

"Then give it to him!" Zhu Cihong really blurted out.

This time even Wu Zhen couldn't stand it anymore.The former cabinet elder stepped forward and said: "Your Highness, this is a big matter, don't be reckless!"

"Why? It's not that the imperial court has never called for security. Wouldn't it be better to let Li Zicheng conquer the western provinces?" Zhu Cihong couldn't help laughing, thinking that this was a big pie that fell from the sky.Originally, he only wanted to use Liu Zongmin to delay the attack. If he had known earlier that Li Zicheng had such a plan, what would there be to fight?It's time to sit down and negotiate.

Of course, with Li Zicheng's stubborn temper that he would rather ride eighteen horses into the mountains than surrender to the court, he would never make such a request unless he wins this battle.

"Liu thieves have no faith, your highness, if Li thief repeats, the crime of negligence will fall on your highness." Wu Zhen persuaded.

"Li Zicheng has never feigned surrender. He is not Zhang Xianzhong." Zhu Cihong said with a smile: "Besides, the traitors recruited by Yang He and Yang Sichang's father and son have surrendered and turned back not enough? I have not seen them being blamed by His Majesty."

"Those thieves never killed the feudal lord," Wu Sheng said.

Zhu Cihong choked.

Indeed, killing the vassal king is Li Zicheng's greatest crime, even greater than his private imperial examination and selection of officials.

The Zhu family is a family of big landlords, and even relatives whom they haven't seen in several lifetimes are treated like treasures.Especially the two generations of emperors——Tianqi and Chongzhen were very emotional people. With Yang Sichang's deep trust, Chongzhen tolerated even the biggest failures, but if a vassal king was killed, he could only hang himself to apologize.

Taking a ten thousand step back, even if Emperor Chongzhen was willing to endure the humiliation, he did not care about Li Zicheng killing the vassal.But in the patriarchal society of Ming Dynasty, "kissing" is the ethical cornerstone of the whole society.Even the ordinary people in the countryside know that all members of our clan are bullied by foreign surnames, so we must unite to fight against people with foreign surnames.If the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, a model of morality, tolerated the murder of his own family, and even conferred the title of official title to the murderer, wouldn't it be a complete loss of human relations?How to set an example for the world?

Based on this, absolutely no one from the emperor to the court, and even the common people can accept this reality.

"If Li Bandit surrenders and turns back, that's all." Wu Sheng said in a low voice, "If he really consolidates himself, like the story of Xixia, what should the court do?"

At that time, the imperial court can't let it break its promise and get fat.

Zhu Cihong didn't care about "going back on his word and gaining weight", anyway, there is nothing wrong with wanting to commit a crime.However, what Wu Tong said reminded him that if Li Zicheng did not rebel and only occupied Huguang, Sichuan, Shanxi, Ningxia, and Gansu...wouldn't Zhu Cihong himself have to return to the palace obediently?What excuse do you use to support yourself?

——By that time, the officials of the Eastern Palace Department, especially me, Wu Chen, wouldn’t they all have done nothing?

When Zhu Cihong looked at Wu Tong again, he read such a realistic sentence from his eyes.

"It's me, Meng Lang." Zhu Cihong lowered his voice: "Mr. Wu and Mr. Li are thoughtful, and they are indeed old-fashioned for seeking the country!"

"Your Highness accepts advice like a stream, a truly wise lord!" Li Zhensheng's spirit was greatly lifted, and he took advantage of the situation to express his determination, and it was regarded as worshiping under the tent of the East Palace.

Zhu Cihong nodded, and said, "He's asking for a lot of money, so let's pay back the money on the spot. Niu Jinxing can put it back first, let Li Zicheng go back to Xiangyang, and return the money to the officers and soldiers north of Nanyang!"

"Your Highness!" Li Zhensheng was stunned: "Isn't this trying to hide from a tiger? If you negotiate peace with the rebels, what will be the court's face?"

——You want face, but Li Zicheng may not agree to it!

"This is a strategy to slow down the troops." Zhu Cilang said: "The time between this and that is the time for us to build fortifications and gather the defeated troops! Pass down the order, and hold a military meeting in three quarters of an hour, inviting Governor Qin, Niu Chenghu, Chen De, Xiao Donglou attended."

The prince had already arranged the military meeting, so Li Zhensheng naturally couldn't say anything more, so he had to be led out by the eunuch, wash and rest first.He was still thinking about Qiu Zhitao's matter in his heart, wondering what kind of trouble this young man would have in the enemy camp, his face was still full of gloom, but since he had already said it once, he could only depend on the prince's will.In the end, Li Zhensheng could only let out a long sigh, and suddenly his mouth became pale, it was actually a glutton for wine.

……

Li Zicheng waited for two days in Jiaxian County, until he finally got Niu Jinxing.He squinted his one eye, looking at what he regarded as Zhuge Kongming's mastermind.At the beginning, it was Niu Jinxing who ignited his ambition to seize the world, but it was also this person who made him realize that the future was full of thorns, and he could not retreat even if he wanted to.

"Sir, you're shocked." Li Zicheng said.

"Marshal!" Niu Jinxing's voice was choked up, and he said, "It's Jin Xing who owes Marshal!"

"Victory or defeat is a common matter in military affairs, sir, don't take it to heart." Li Zicheng paused, and then said: "Is there any news about Zong Min?"

"General Liu was seriously injured, but luckily his life is safe." Niu Jinxing didn't dare to lie.Before releasing him, Prince Zhu specially asked him to meet Liu Zongmin, obviously out of intention to negotiate peace.If you lie now, you will always be exposed in the future.Seeing a look of joy flashing across Li Zicheng's face, he said quickly: "Marshal! No matter what, there is no time to delay. Let's hurry up and kill the Zhu thief!"

Li Zicheng's face was pale, but his voice became cold: "Do you care about Zong Min's life or death?"

"Marshal!" Niu Jinxing's voice was sharp, pointing at the ground with his hands and swords: "Dare to ask the Marshal: Is the marshal's personal affection more important, or the world's righteousness more important! Is it more important for General Liu, or this country and the billions of people! "(To be continued.)