Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

"What about Yingtian and Fengyang?" Emperor Chongzhen then asked.

Yang Sichang did not answer directly, he analyzed: "Yingtian and Fengyang are important places, and officials close to the people here should not act rashly. I know what the emperor thinks, and I also know that Yu Shilang is a rare talent. But now it is difficult to arrange Yu Shilang Official position, boldly guess: the emperor is worrying about this matter!"

"Exactly!" Emperor Chongzhen nodded and said, "Aiqing is expressing my concerns."

"This man, Yu Shilang, builds a strong army with nothing, it is not impossible; he leads his troops to fight bravely, it is not brave; It can be said to be unwise. But he has lived in the place for a long time, does not know how to manage the temple, and suddenly rises to a high position without knowing what to do. The emperor should make use of his strengths and avoid his weaknesses!"

These words immediately aroused the interest of Emperor Chongzhen, he immediately straightened his body forward and asked eagerly, "Speak quickly, Yang Aiqing!"

"Why is it short? The foundation is too shallow, and his merits are not obvious. Yu Shilang has been in the officialdom for more than ten years, and for six years he was a magistrate of the local county. Except for his Shangguan in Henan, he has no friends in the officialdom. In just three or four years, a county magistrate was suddenly promoted to be an official of the ministry. To be honest, many officials in the court only knew their names but not their people, so how could they obey orders in awe? The uploading and issuing will definitely be discounted, and their work will also be difficult. If you can’t go your way, it’s a big fallacy.”

After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen nodded repeatedly, signaling Yang Sichang to continue.

"As for Yu Shilang's achievements, it is rumored that the court and the public are nothing more than this time King Qin beheaded more than 500 Tartars. Most of the other achievements are unknown to outsiders, and it is difficult to convince the public. But the emperor and the humble ministers know why Yu Shilang is so difficult. Also. With no pay and no soldiers, he trained a strong army of more than [-] people. He fought repeatedly and remained undefeated. He has counted the ministers of the government and the opposition, and no one can beat him. Yu Shilang is really an outstanding minister in the court. .”

"Therefore, the director of Yu Shilang is to train and fight in the local area, such as leaving him in Yingtian and Fengyang. It is difficult to make use of his strengths if he is vacant, but it is not beautiful. It is like a tiger in a cage. It is a pity."

Hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen immediately asked: "Could it be that Yang Aiqing wants me to use Yu Aiqing? How can I use Yu Aiqing if he is vacant?"

"Of course! This minister is very optimistic about Yu Shilang and wants the emperor to make use of him." Yang Sichang said with a smile, "According to what I see, the Nanjing Military Department is the place where he is good. Because Yu Shilang's department has been left." The capital, it is difficult to go out of the capital with bare hands, and it is necessary to give it a strong army. And Nanjing has two generals, Huang and Liu. It also needs civil servants to lead the army. In the future, there is no need for Nanjing to guard Lu Gonggong to rescue the emergency, as the saying goes. Use it."

"Also, the head of Xiangyang Xiongdu Division is only recruiting, and the military affairs are beyond his capabilities. In case of a loss in the war, there will be Yu Shilang in Nanjing to make up for it. It will not make the situation difficult to deal with."

Hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen felt quite comfortable.There is a feeling of enlightenment.He smiled and asked: "What Yang Aiqing said: Is it necessary to make great use of Yu Aiqing, but not in a hurry to make great use of it?"

"Your majesty is wise!" Yang Sichang saluted immediately.

"But...but..." Emperor Chongzhen frowned again, uttered a few words hesitatingly, and subconsciously looked at the curtain behind him.

Wang Chengen, who was behind Emperor Chongzhen, was quite familiar with Emperor Chongzhen's habitual movements.Behind the curtain is the Hanlin where the "Liuju Zhu" is recorded, so the current Emperor Chongzhen must have something unspeakable to say.

So Wang Chengen rolled his eyes, and immediately asked Emperor Chongzhen's embarrassing words: "I'm afraid that Yu Shilang will not know the painstaking efforts of the emperor's grandfather. I feel resentful!"

"Presumptuous! How can you talk about my humerus behind your back?" Emperor Chongzhen immediately scolded loudly.

Wang Chengen shrank his head, he had fulfilled his mission anyway, he could be scolded by Emperor Chongzhen for a few words, as long as Emperor Chongzhen knew it well.And Yang Sichang also understood Emperor Chongzhen's petty tricks very well.As if he didn't hear the scolding, he replied unhurriedly: "Tomorrow, I will visit Yu Shilang in person, so that Yu Shilang can understand the emperor's good intentions."

Hearing that Yang Sichang personally agreed to be this villain, Emperor Chongzhen was relieved that the matter could be resolved and his reputation could be guaranteed, which made Emperor Chongzhen quite satisfied.And today's matter was finally resolved.

Emperor Chongzhen and Yang Sichang had really good ideas, and their opinions seemed to be unified.But in fact, the two of them had very different arrangements for Yu Zilian.Emperor Chongzhen wanted to use Yu Zilian as Xiong Wencan's replacement for governor of the five provinces, while Yang Sichang wanted to use Yu Zilian as Xiong Wencan's tinkerer.Although on the surface, there is no difference between the two, in fact, Yu Zilian's future status will be very different.After all, Yang Sichang didn't want Yu Zilian to take over as governor of the five provinces.

As for Yu Zilian, after he went to Nanjing, can he successfully master the two Ming armies of Huang Degong and Liu Liangzuo?Would Lu Jiude, the eunuch guarding Nanjing, and Minister of the Ministry of War, Nanjing, be willing to share their rights with Yu Zilian?That's even more of a hassle.

After taking a sip of tea, Emperor Chongzhen then asked, "Yang Aiqing! Are you fully prepared for the Huguang incident?"

Yang Sichang immediately bowed and reported: "The Ministry of War has issued a document: Gansu General Soldier Chai Shihua Department and Ningyuan General Soldier Zu Dabi Department have gone south from the capital to Huguang, Shaanxi Governor Zheng Chongjian led the Shaanxi Army out of Tongguan to Xiangyang and Yunyang, and Sichuan Governor Fu Zonglong led the The Sichuan army entered Yunyang, together with Governor Xiong's Huguang army, they had encircled and suppressed Gucheng and Fangxian on all sides. This time, Li Lu's troops from Nanyang and Wu Shigong's troops from Runing were sent to fight for a thunderous blow. The matter of the people and the thieves is determined by the war."

As the main force of the Ming army in the interior was transferred to Qinwang in the north, in addition to the small peasant army from all over the Central Plains still moving around, the two major peasant army main forces, Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai, who had already been appeased, were also ready to move.

The local officials in charge of Gucheng and Fangxian constantly reported the ulterior motives of the two armies, saying, "Zhang Xianzhong entered Gucheng and repeatedly refused to listen to his orders. He was about to wait for the folks to ripen the fields and divide his summer and autumn grain. It was a little disappointing. There will be sword soldiers again"; "Luo Rucai falsely claimed that he used his troops to farm the land, but did not let the troops farm the land. If he was so dissatisfied with farming with swords, he would start another incident and take risks."

Therefore, Yang Sichang, who has always been the backbone of the main combat faction and adhered to the strategy of "resisting the outside world first", proposed: take the opportunity to mobilize a large army to preemptively strike, and completely wipe out the main force of the peasant army of Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai stationed in Gucheng and Fangxian.

Emperor Chongzhen originally wanted to appease him, and he had no idea about carrying out such a large-scale military operation, but he also felt that he could not feel at ease if the serious trouble was not eliminated, so he finally agreed to Yang Sichang's plan.

In fact, the court's plan this time makes a lot of sense.Because Chuang Wang Li Zi grew up in the deep mountains and old forests and hadn't shown up to the outside world for a long time, the court thought that Li Zicheng might have died and he was no longer a threat.But now, as long as Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai are completely wiped out, the three giants of the Peasant Army will be completely wiped out, and the rebellion of the people in the pass will also be wiped out in one fell swoop.

If the war goes well, the imperial court will save a lot of food and pay, and will also dispatch a large number of main forces of the Ming army to fight against the peasant army to Liaodong. The Manchu Qing Dynasty was settled.

"Runing Wu Changjing?" Hearing Wu Shigong's name, Emperor Chongzhen was a little surprised, "Then Wu Changjing has been asked by Master Hong to go outside the pass to fight against the Tartars?"

When Wu Shigong killed Qiu Lei, the general of Shandong, there was an uproar in the court, which was a naked challenge to the authority of the court.But what crime should Wu Shigong be punished in public?The court has been indecisive.

It stands to reason that killing an official ordered by the court without authorization is a capital offense.In the Ming Dynasty, it was only the emperor who had the right to fight against ordinary people, let alone order officials, so the power of life and death would never be encroached on by a military officer.

However, Wu Shigong just made great military exploits and caused tens of thousands of casualties to foreign enemy troops. This was only a few times in the 300-year history of the Ming Dynasty, so Wu Shigong's merits and demerits can be completely offset.So what reward should the imperial court give Wu Shigong?

At this time, Hong Chengchou, who had just taken over as governor of Jiliao, solved this problem for the court.Because Hong Chengchou knew the combat effectiveness of Wu Shigong's Runing Army very well, he also wanted to transfer the Runing Army to Shaanxi to encircle and suppress the peasant army before, but due to various reasons, this idea was not realized.And this time Hong Chengchou wanted to mobilize the elite of the Ming army to fight in Liaodong, of course he would not let go of the Runing Army who had just made great achievements in the battle with the Qing army.

So the imperial court agreed to Hong Chengchou's request smoothly, and Emperor Chongzhen also approved the transfer order of the Ministry of War.But now Emperor Chongzhen heard that the Runing Army was going to participate in the encirclement and suppression of the Peasant Army, which surprised him.

"Although Wu Zongbing and Li Zongbing made great achievements in Hejian, their casualties were not small. They are returning to Runing and Nanyang to reorganize the army. Now the imperial court is also concentrating on the militias and the officers and soldiers around the bandits. There are these two The addition of a powerful force will also add three points of confidence. Once this battle is over, General Wu will be transferred to Liaodong. Although General Wu's morality is lacking, his army is still very strong. After the two battles are over, the court will judge the merits afterwards Rewards. And Wu Zongbing's Runing Camp is not worried." Yang Sichang replied.

Yang Sichang's meaning is very clear.At that time, the reason why the imperial court wanted to transfer Wu Shigong's Runing Army to Liaodong was that it hoped that the Runing Army could continue to consume strength with the Qing Army.But now that there is an opportunity for the Runing Army and the Peasant Army to consume their strength, it will be much better to consume it twice than once.

"Good!" Emperor Chongzhen was really satisfied with Yang Sichang's arrangement.

Seeing the tiredness on Emperor Chongzhen's face, and wanting to end the conversation, Yang Sichang hurriedly reported about Sun Chuanting: "Your Majesty! Governor Sun begged for the bones again, saying that he was deaf and could not be the governor of Baoding. The Tatars of Liaodong have entered the customs again within their defense line! Your Majesty! How should I reply to this proposal?" (To be continued..)