golden scales

In February of the 17th year of Chongzhen, the spring breeze had not had time to blow the green shoots.There were no tall trees planted in the palace, so it looked even more bleak at this time.

In the Hall of Dezheng, Emperor Chongzhen summoned Zuo Zhongyun and Li Mingrui to inquire about the urgent affairs of the imperial bandits.As long as this kind of summons is a **, there is a high probability of being called.Now the emperor has no master, and he will ask "Yu Kou" whoever he catches, and he will be scolded if he doesn't answer seriously.Seriously answering but not being able to listen, people feel that this emperor is even more difficult to serve than the Shimiao master.

Zuo Zhongyun and Li Mingrui have been waiting for this opportunity for a long time.He wanted to speak about the emperor's southward move early in the morning, but the mainstream officials in the outer court held negative opinions on the southward move.

"Therefore, Your Majesty, please turn away from the left and right sides." Li Mingrui said cautiously.

Emperor Chongzhen knew that Li Mingrui really had something to say from his heart, and he didn't want to spread it, so he understood that he would order his servants to go out, leaving only Wang Chengen as a pillar.

Li Mingrui approached the case, and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, I have been summoned. I heard that the atmosphere of bandits is quite evil, and they are approaching Jidian. This is really a critical autumn, so don't worry about it? Only moving to the south can delay the present." What is urgent is Xu Tu's conquest and suppression."

This can be said to have reached Chongzhen's heart.As early as 15 years in Chongzhen, Chongzhen had already moved to the south.However, after he "secretly negotiated" with Zhou Yanru, not only did it leak to the outer court, but even Queen Zhang in the deep palace knew about it.At that time, Empress Zhang found Zhou Hou, and asked sternly: "The ancestral temple mausoleum is here, where will it be moved!" Let it go.

In the 15th year of Chongzhen, the current situation was not as corrupt as it is now, and the emperor already had the heart to move south, let alone the robbers approaching Jidian?

"This matter is so important that it cannot be easily said, and I don't know what God's will is?" Chongzhen was very cautious after learning the lesson from the previous time.

Li Mingrui said: "Life is not always the same. If you are good, you will get it, and if you are not good, you will lose it. The fate of fate is insignificant, and it all depends on human affairs. The emperor's move is just in line with God's will. The difference is a thousand miles away. Knowing how much it is, it depends on the situation. To this end, you can ignore the follow-through, if you don’t make a quick decision, you will worry about eating your navel. The authorities are confused, but the onlookers are clear. The emperor’s sacred heart can be broken, and the situation of the outside world must not be delayed for a moment!"

Chongzhen looked around and there was no one around, so he confided to Li Mingrui: "I have had this ambition for a long time, and no one has praised me, so it has been delayed until now. Your intention is to agree with me, but the ministers outside do not follow. Secret, don't let it go lightly!"

To move the entire palace and imperial court to Nanjing, traveling thousands of miles is not a child's play.Chongzhen also asked about specific matters such as midway relief.Li Mingrui had a well-thought-out plan, and immediately proposed to set up five routes to set up troops in Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, Tongzhou Canal and Denglai Haichuan, so he set up a suspicious formation.The emperor traveled southward with a light car on a small road, and he could reach Huaishang in up to [-] days.

"King Wen is docile and Confucius submissive, that's what it means!" Li Mingrui said resolutely, "Your Majesty, if you step out of the door, you will be able to fly like a dragon and a tiger, and you will be in the hands of the world's fortune without hesitation. If you sit in Yanjing and stick to the dangerous city, it will be useless!"

Hearing this, Chongzhen's blood boiled with enthusiasm, and he felt quite a bosom friend, so he ordered a banquet in Wenzhao Pavilion to entertain Li Mingrui.After lunch, Chongzhen summoned Mingrui again in the inner hall, apparently feeling that moving south was urgent.Talking like this until the evening, Chongzhen still did not let Li Mingrui leave, and sat with him across the table, having a long talk.By the time Li Mingrui left the palace, it was already the second watch of the night.

Li Mingrui's unusual meeting spread quickly in Yanjing official circles, and everyone wanted to find out about it.Li Mingrui had no choice but to thank the guests behind closed doors.He also thought about whether to secretly report the content of this recall to the crown prince, anyway, he is also a person who voted for the East Palace.But after much deliberation, Li Mingrui finally couldn't pass the hurdle of "minister of the country".Now that he has gained the trust of the emperor, how can he step on two boats?

But he didn't know that just half an hour after he left the palace, a little fireman in casual clothes sneaked out of the palace, copied every word of the monarch and his ministers, and sent them to the East Palace. In the hands of Liu Ruoyu, the foreign residence.Without any delay, Liu Ruoyu ordered people to send them out overnight, and let them out of Yanjing City in a hanging basket.Wang Chengen is the admiral of Dongchang, and the sender naturally has the badge of Dongchang in his hand, who dares to stop him?

……

"Li Mingrui is a scholar's opinion." Zhu Cihong didn't take it seriously when he got the secret report.After Sun Chuanting and Wu Tong circulated the review, Zhu Cihong said: "He can figure it out, there are five suspicious soldiers, and the father's light chariot Jian went to the Huai River from the small road. Hehe, where did the soldiers come from? Along the way, there are two hall officials from the household soldiers to guard against them. , How many soldiers and horses can those people drive?"

Wu Xuan shook his head when he saw it: "It's really taken for granted."

"Since you want to leave, you must have the determination of a strong man to sever your wrists." Zhu Cihong said: "I'm not willing to do this, but I have to take care of myself. Can I still make it?"

Sun Chuanting said: "Li Mingrui is also ignorant of common affairs, but he said: 'Those who do not perform frontier merits are not allowed to make predictions, and are not allowed to be selected', but there is some truth in it."

"This reasoning is correct, but he still has limited talents." Zhu Cihong sighed, "You see, Li Banghua is much more sophisticated. He wanted to suggest that I go to Nanjing to supervise the country, so he went to the Qiben to ask for my opinion beforehand. In this way, whether I agree or not, let’s get in touch! Li Mingrui acted rashly, and I can’t even save him when he is criticized.” Zhu Cihong has no special control over the Donggong Party, and there is no close relationship between the officials of the Donggong Clan. contact.What Li Mingrui was willing to say was his own business, but Zhu Cihong was a little concerned about the lack of communication between the two parties.

"It's all trivial matters. No matter how violent the capital is, it will be imprisoned at most. It will not be beheaded easily." Sun Chuanting looked at Wu Zhen, laughed at himself, and said: "Your Highness, we will go to Hebei when we leave the Taihang Mountains. Yes Whether to go north to Shenjing or east to Shandong, the army has to make a decision."

The East Palace brigade has already passed Yangquan, and will soon enter the Taihang Mountains, pass through Guguan and leave Shanxi.

After Li Zicheng occupied Pingyang, he did not attack Taiyuan immediately. Instead, he waited for Li Guo's troops in northern Shaanxi to cross the river from Jiazhou, and invited Xiong Tong's troops to fight along the river to cut off Taiyuan's aid.At the same time, Liu Fangliang was dispatched to lead the army to march eastward along the north bank of the Yellow River, occupying Huaiqing Mansion (Qinyang) in Henan Province, Lu'an Mansion (Changzhi) in Shanxi Province, and then went eastward to Weihui (Jixian County) in Henan Province, Zhangde (Anyang) Second Mansion, North Zhili Daming Mansion, then went to Handan, Xingtai, and Hejian to attack Baoding until the capital.

Liu Fangliang's established marching route bypassed the Taihang Mountains from the south, forming a strategic encirclement.If Yanjing's proposal to move to the south is not implemented immediately, then even if you want to leave, you won't be able to leave.Zhu Cihong was able to obtain such confidential military information, but unfortunately he had no troops to deploy.It's like watching a thief evacuate your home on camera and there's nothing you can do about it.

With Liu Fangliang's road map, Li Zicheng's own marching route can also be launched.It must be to lead the army to the north, go to Taiyuan, Ningwu, Datong, Yanghe, Xuanhua, pass Juyongguan and go straight to the capital.This is coming from the north of the Taihang Mountains, forming a flanking situation with the southern line.

Maybe, there will be another large army that divides troops from Taiyuan, goes directly east to Guguan, and goes northeast from Zhending to Baoding.This is exactly the way Zhu Cihong went east.

"I'll just lead the Chinese Army Thousand Headquarters back to Beijing," Zhu Cihong said. "The rest of the troops will be handed over to Xiao Donglou to take them to Shandong. The attendants will also go directly to Shandong to recover Yanzhou." Zhu Cihong couldn't help laughing when he mentioned Shandong.

Xu Dun and Luo Yukun actually led the "Dashun Army" with five thousand Sichuan soldiers, and captured Yanggu County without bloodshed.

Yanggu County is under the jurisdiction of Yanzhou, but I don't know how Yanzhou will react to this gang of thieves.Zhu Cihong decided to send Xu Dun to Yanzhou first, ordering him to surrender.If Yanzhou is determined to resist, then the only option is to let the Donggong guard battalion serve as a backing, and let the "thieves" attack the city.

Yanzhou is the fiefdom of King Lu's family. Since the founding of the country, I don't know how much wealth I have accumulated. This must not be handed over to others.The "thief soldier" fought first, and then the crown prince recovered, who can say anything?The only thing that is more troublesome is the land, but it can also be "donated" by the King of Lu. If you want to survive, you can still discard the things outside your body.

But Zhu Cihong didn't know that Xu Dun and Luo Yukun's team in Yanggu County was expanding every hour.Many peasant households who lost their land and went bankrupt, heard that King Chuang was coming, and came here with their families, just asking for a bite of food.Many nearby states and counties also sent people to contact them, wanting to surrender to Dashun.Luo Yukun could only be "very dizzy" all day long looking at the surrender letters that said Li Zicheng was like "Pei Gong is reborn, Prince Taiyuan". (To be continued.)