Hong Chengchou's heart shuddered, he thought thousands of times that because he did not die from hunger strike, he surrendered to Manchuria, and he would be infamous for eternity, if he followed Dolgon to break through Beijing, so that Emperor Chongzhen was martyred when the city was broken, he would be scolded by all generations.

He read the book of Confucius and Mencius since he was a child, and knew the word loyalty and filial piety in his mother's arms. ”

However, at this moment, it was important not to make Dorgon doubt his loyalty to the Qing after his surrender. He said to Dolgon with a grateful expression: "I only want to protect my mother when I break through Beijing, and even if my ministers are broken, they must work for the Qing Dynasty to repay the favor of the emperor and the prince." ”

Dolgon smiled and said: "You have an empty stomach of learning ability, which was useless in the Southern Dynasty, and today as an official in my Qing Dynasty, it is the time for you to make a name for yourself in future generations." ”

Fan Wencheng also said to Hong Chengchou: "Lord Rui said very much, Nine Elders, you have an empty stomach and a full strategy, and it is a pity that you are like a pearl in the Southern Dynasty." The ancients had a saying: good ministers choose their masters to do things, and good birds choose trees to perch. Prince Rui is about to break through Beijing and seize the world of the Ming Dynasty, you must not miss this good opportunity to make meritorious contributions. ”

Hong Chengchou was about to answer, when a confidant of the Rui Palace, Bao Yi, led Zhang Jing, who was on duty in the Rui Palace, to come in. Zhang Jing on duty first curtsy to Prince Rui, then to Prince Zheng, and then presented a document clip with a red silk cover to Prince Rui with both hands. Dorgon whispered, "Go down and rest, and call you when we see it." ”

After Zhang Jing, who was on duty, withdrew, Dolgon opened the folder and took out the document written clearly in Chinese script, which was a letter written to Li Zicheng in the name of Emperor Shunzhi of the Great Qing Dynasty, and carefully read it from beginning to end. In particular, after a moment of scrutiny of the beginning of the letter, he felt that there seemed to be something wrong, but for a moment he could not say it, so he forwarded the letter to Zilharan.

Prince Zheng is not as gifted and enlightened as Prince Rui, has a strong memory, and has read many Chinese books, but in recent years, under the supervision of Huang Taiji, he can also read and understand ordinary Chinese characters and documents, and can speak ordinary Chinese. After reading the letter to Li Zicheng, he understood that it was all written according to the meaning of Prince Rui's instructions at lunch, and he couldn't see anything wrong, so he followed the old habit and forwarded the letter to Fan Wencheng to read.

After Fan Wencheng read the manuscript, he hesitated on the question of how Li Zicheng should be called, but he swallowed his words and did not dare to rashly put forward his opinion. He remembered that Prince Rui had sent a letter to the scholar on duty at lunchtime, and this letter was addressed to Li Zicheng, the king of Dashun, and the main meaning of the book was understood. If he now opposes some key points of this letter, won't he embarrass Prince Rui? His hesitation was only a matter of moments, and he immediately handed the draft of the letter to Hong Chengchou.

"Nine Elders, you have the most insight into the affairs of the Southern Dynasty, and you are ten times better than your brother. Can this book be written like this?"

Hong Chengchou's attitude towards Li Zicheng was completely different from that of the princes and ministers of the Qing Dynasty, and the relationship between the Qing Dynasty's powerful figures and the so-called thieves such as Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong had been for many years. Hong Chengchou has been on the side of the Ming court for decades, becoming the sworn enemy of the thieves and the most politically sensitive. When Hong Chengchou began to read the first line of the manuscript of this letter, he shook his head frequently, which attracted the attention of the two auxiliary princes and the scholars of the Inner Court, and everyone looked at his expression, waiting for him to give his opinion.

After reading the manuscript, Hong Chengchou said to the two princes: "Please forgive the minister for taking the liberty of saying that Li Zicheng is just a thief in troubled times, and he should not be called the king of Dashun." Our country will soon march into the Central Plains, move the capital to Beijing, and survey the four seas, in this letter, Li Zicheng will be called the king of Dashun, and my Qing soldiers will go to exterminate the thieves, it will be unjustifiable, how will the people of the world treat our emperor?"

Zierharang half didn't understand Hong Chengchou's deep meaning, and half of it was joking, and said deliberately: "But Li Zicheng has established the national name Dashun in Xi'an and changed the Yuan Yongchang, is he still a thief?"

Hong Chengchou replied: "Don't say that he occupied Xi'an and changed his name, he is not a thief in troubled times." Even though he captured Beijing, he was still a thief in the eyes of his ministers. ”

"Why is that?"

Hong Chengchou said: "Since Li Zicheng conquered Luoyang, he has been fighting wars constantly, refusing to set up officials to manage the people, and refusing to love and support the people, which has greatly disappointed the people of the people.

"But I heard that he fought many defeats three or four years ago, and was almost wiped out by the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. From the autumn of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen to Henan, it has been smooth sailing since then, and it has been very popular, until a few months ago he broke Xi'an and established a false number in Xi'an, which is indeed not comparable to ordinary thieves. Why, you say?"

Hong Chengchou said: "The minister knows that the thieves have now occupied the whole province of Henan, and have occupied half of Huguang, and the entire province of Shaanxi, from Xining and Gansu in the west to Yulin in the north. In this situation, everyone thought that the arrogance of the thief was very strong and he would win the world, but in Yichen's view, this was the way for the thief to perish, and his weakness of defeat had been revealed. ”

"At present, when discussing the general trend of China, it should no longer be the battle between the thieves and the Ming Dynasty, but the battle between the Qing soldiers and the thieves in the Central Plains. China's luck is not determined by the arrogance of the thieves, the wolf rushes all the way, and the momentum is like a bamboo, and it will break through Beijing, but how our Qing troops make good use of the opportunity, make good use of the Chinese people's will, and make good use of the troops. Today, the future of China is dominated by the Qing Dynasty, and the decision of success or failure lies with me, not with the thieves. In short, it depends on how I will fight the thieves in Beijing. ”

Zilharang believed that the number of Qing soldiers was only about 100,000, and that no more than 200,000 soldiers from the Lianmeng and Han Eight Banners could enter the Central Plains at one time, and he felt that he had no confidence in defeating and eliminating Li Zicheng.

Dolgon turned his gaze to Hong Chengchou's face, and Zilharang and Fan Wencheng also looked at Hong Chengchou in unison. But in this moment, Dolgon's thinking changed, first of all, he didn't believe that Li Zicheng's troops were rumored to be strong, he thought that it would not be long before Li Zicheng's troops would be clear, he had several important things to do before leading his troops to the south, and these things were currently in his heart. He refused to say it at this time, and he did not want to discuss it with Zilharan.

So he took two puffs of dry tobacco slowly, and said to Hong Chengchou: "What is your opinion on the letter to Li Zicheng?"

"Foolish to the Minister......"

The Manchurians have always been indifferent to the many years of war between the thieves and the Ming Dynasty, but believe that the rebellion of the thieves made the Ming Dynasty unable to cope, and it was precisely for the Manchurian soldiers to enter the Central Plains that they created a great opportunity. The letter that Dolgon dictated to Li Zicheng at lunch was commensurate with courtesy, because the Qing Kingdom had no vendetta against Li Zicheng, and Dolgon could not help but consider that if Li Zicheng did lead an army of 500,000 troops north and establish the Great Shun Dynasty in Beijing, he would inevitably become a fierce rival to the Great Qing State in Liaodong, and it would not be beneficial for the Great Qing State to anger Li Zicheng prematurely.

Thinking about it again at this moment, he began to feel that it seemed inappropriate to write a letter in the name of the Qing Emperor to say that Li Zicheng, the leader of the thieves, was the king of Dashun, but why was it inappropriate, he didn't have time to think deeply, and saw that Hong Chengchou was hesitating, Dolgon said: "You are most familiar with the affairs of the Southern Dynasty, what should you call Li Zicheng?"

Hong Chengchou was a little indignant at the fact that he disagreed with Li Zi as the king of Dashun in his heart, but he did not dare to express his opinion to Dolgon directly, and after a little hesitation, he replied respectfully to Dolgon: "This letter was drafted by the scholars of the Inner Academy in accordance with the edict of the prince, and the minister did not dare to say whether it was okay or not. ”

He turned to Fan Wencheng and asked, "Bachelor Fan, you also know the situation in the Southern Dynasty, how do you think Li Zicheng should be addressed at present?"

Fan Wencheng said: "At present, the subjects of the Ming Dynasty regard Li Zi as a thief, and the emperor of our dynasty prematurely called him the king of Dashun in his letters, which is probably inappropriate and will lose the hearts of the subjects of the Southern Dynasty." ”

"What should I call it?" asked Dolgon.

Fan Wencheng said: "The minister thought that he should be called General Li Zicheng, and there was no need to give him the honorific title of king. ”

Dolgon groaned, "Then the beginning of this letter is changed to a letter from the Emperor of the Great Qing Kingdom to General Li Zicheng in Xi'an Mansion, is that so?"

Fan Wencheng didn't dare to answer rashly, and asked Hong Chengchou: "Please think about it, how about the book credit starts like this?"

Hong Chengchou felt that this extremely important letter, which was sent under the name of the emperor of the Great Qing Dynasty, only satisfied Li Zicheng with the title of king, but only general, only satisfied him, but not completely. He had a deeper heart for this title than the average person, but he didn't want to say it right away. In order not to snub the other auxiliary prince, Zilharang, when respecting Prince Rui, he turned to Zilharang and asked, "Lord, how is your respect?"

Prince Zheng smiled and said, "It's your Wenchen's business to have such a heart, why bother asking me?"

Dolgon guessed that Hong Chengchou must have a brilliant idea, and said to Hong Chengchou: "If you have a good opinion, you can say it, hurry up." ”

Hong Chengchou said: "In the ignorance of the ministers, there are many thieves among the thieves, who were forced by hunger and gathered to plunder, and there is no loyalty at all. Therefore, today, our emperor sent a letter to the thieves, not to make Li Zi the main thing, to increase his prestige, and the wording of the book should imply the intention of dividing the party, so that in the future, except for the culprits of the most heinous crimes, they can be recruited separately. I also heard that the traitor has been under the false name of Xi'an, restored the old name of Chang'an, and designated as a pseudo-Beijing, so there is no need to mention this place in Xi'an in the letter to show my contempt. The ministers treat the sinful body and be loyal to the Holy Dynasty, and they are shallow in their learning, and what they say may not be appropriate, so please ask the two auxiliary princes to judge. ”

Zilharang hurriedly said: "Prince Rui and I are both auxiliary princes, and we cannot be called kings. ”

Dolgon, who had a high level of Han education, knew that Prince Zheng couldn't understand the word Jun, but he didn't have time to correct it, and hurriedly asked Fan Wencheng: "What do you think of Bachelor Hong's opinion?"

"Master Hong's vision is extremely high, his intentions are very profound, and his strategy is ten times better than that of his ministers, and he really lives up to the wisdom of the previous emperor. ”

Dolgon smiled at Hong Chengchou and said, "You can revise it yourself here, and the correction will be handed over to the official on duty to transcribe." ”

Hong Chengchou immediately complied with the order and came to the table by the south window, not daring to sit on the vermilion lacquer carved Taishi chair covered with tiger skin that Prince Rui usually sits, but pulled another ordinary chair with cushions and placed it on the side of the table. After he sat down, he opened the large copper ink cartridge produced in Beijing, pasted the pen in the ink cartridge, and then quickly revised the title of the letter, revised several places in the letter, read it again for himself, and then returned to the low chair next to the brazier, and read the revised manuscript in the official dialect with a strong Fujian accent.

After he had read it, Dolgon took the manuscript, read it word for word, nodded, and then transferred it to Prince Zheng, who was sitting on his right. Seeing that Dolgon had already nodded with a smile, Prince Zheng didn't want to worry about it anymore, so he casually turned it to Fan Wencheng, who was sitting on the low chair opposite from the brazier.

"Old Fan, Prince Rui has nodded, you take a look again, if there is no major problem, hand it over and copy it to Yu Jing, and the yamen of the Ministry of War will write it separately, cover it with the emperor's jade seal, and take advantage of Li Zicheng's invasion of Beijing on the way, don't delay time, and immediately send a messenger to Li Zicheng. ”

Fan Wencheng has a wealth of knowledge and many years of political experience; he is not only a powerful minister of the founding of the country, but also a bureaucrat who understands the world very well. It was easy for him to see that this manuscript had many loopholes, and as the national letter of the Qing Emperor, it was simply unreasonable and ridiculous. For example, Li Zicheng led hundreds of thousands of thieves to fight against the Ming Dynasty for many years, occupied several provinces, and had already established a name in Xi'an to change the Yuan, how can he say that he does not know that he is the head of many thieves? How can it be said that Qukui is unknown to many thieves?

How can it be said that he does not know that Li Zicheng has already occupied Xi'an, renamed it Chang'an, and designated it as the capital, and generally said that he is the commander of the western according to the Ming Land? However, as soon as he knew that Hong Chengchou had the profound intention of contempt and discord with the thief leader in this revision, Prince Rui had already nodded, so he put aside some contradictions in the letter, pondered for a moment, and said to the two auxiliary princes in his own way.

"This book is famous by the emperor of my dynasty, and it is stamped with the royal seal, although it does not have the name of the national letter, it is actually the national letter. Naturally, they should not be carried by secret agents, but should be sent to send officials to deliver them in a dignified manner, and be sure to deliver them to the thieves on their way east. ”

Dolgon was also anxious to find out Li Zicheng's strength and true attitude towards the Qing Dynasty, and immediately summoned a Baoyi and ordered him to send the manuscript to the secretary of the Inner Secretary Academy who was on duty in the side courtyard, and instructed him to say a few words.

After this was done, there was a brief discussion, and because Dorgon felt unwell, the meeting ended for today. One day later, the book written to Li Zicheng in the name of the Qing Emperor was clearly transcribed on yellow paper, covered with a jade seal, and sent an envoy from the Yamen of the Ministry of War to Shengjing in the starry night. Fan Wencheng was fine for a while, and came to Hong Chengchou to play chess and chat, just set up the chessboard, and mentioned the book for Li Zicheng.

Fan Wencheng said with a smile: "Nine Elders, there is a story of two peaches killing three soldiers in the Spring and Autumn Period, which shows that Yan Ying's resourcefulness is outstanding. According to you, Prince Rui wants to try to conspire with Li Zicheng and other thieves and take the Central Plains, can he do it?"

Hong Chengchou understands very well that at present, Li Zicheng has already established a name in Xi'an to change the yuan, and this letter is written to the commanders of the Ming Dynasty in the West, and he is extremely disrespectful to Li Zicheng, Li Zicheng must be very annoyed, and he will not reply to the letter, let alone work with the Manchurians to extinguish the Ming. But Hong Chengchou didn't dare to say his intentions, he just smiled indifferently: "In today's situation, fighting is more important than jade silk, and he is not known to his foolish brother." ”

Fan Wencheng didn't speak again, replied with a smile, and started playing chess.