On December 6, the eleventh year of Chongzhen, just after the winter solstice, there are two days before the Laba Festival.

The whole Jingshi was wrapped in the cold wind, and with the continuous influx of refugees from Beizhili, a large number of people in the Beijing Division froze to death and starved to death every day, and there was no festive celebration in the whole city.

In the warm pavilion of the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Chongzhen wrapped it like a zongzi, and in the face of the concerts presented from all over the country, he looked anxious.

More than 40 members of Sun Chengzong's family died in battle, the government and the opposition were shaken, and the ministers were frightened in their hearts.

Not long after, the news of the Tianwu Army's victory came, and the government and the opposition became festive again, but Chongzhen became more and more worried in his heart.

When the battle situation turned down, the Ming armies were powerless to stop the offensive of the Qing army, and watched the cities fall one after another, and only the prince's Tianwu army could turn the tide.......

In the middle of his thoughts, Yang Sichang came to meet him, he respectfully bowed to the emperor, and then honestly lay on the ground and waited for the saint to show down.

Although Yang Sichang is gracious, he is never arrogant, not only cautious, but also quite capable, and he is extremely respectful to the emperor, how can such a courtier Chongzhen not like it?

"Aiqing is exempt!" Chongzhen will be inexplicably much better when he sees Yang Sichang, as if Yang Sichang is his superhero.

Yang Sichang kowtowed again, then got up, and stood aside respectfully with his hands down, his standing posture was more standard than that of the little eunuch in the Qianqing Palace.

Chongzhen asked, "Has Sun Ge Lao's posthumous gift and the Rite Department discussed it?" ”

Hearing this, Yang Sichang's body trembled, and said: "Back to Your Majesty, the initial discussion of the Ministry of Rites is to posthumously present Sun Ge Lao as the Grand Master, as for the name, the minister feels that there is no need to posthumously admonish." ”

Seeing Chongzhen's suspicious face, Yang Sichang continued: "Those who are slanderers, the traces of deeds are also; The number is also the work of the table; The person who serves the car, the chapter of the position, is to receive the name of the big line, the fine line is the name of the name, the line is out of oneself, the name is born in the person, the warp and the weft of heaven and earth are said to be written, the danger is offered to be loyal, and the internal and external guests are said to be right, Sun Ge Lao died during the Zhishi period, and the court should not give the nickname......."

When Chongzhen heard this, he sighed and said: "This matter will be handled by the Ministry of Rites, where is Jiannu now?" ”

Yang Sichang replied: "The 30,000 troops of Jiannu with the blue flag and the red flag are confronting tens of thousands of horses with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in Anzhou, Baoding Prefecture. ”

Chongzhen said: "Shandong must not lose important land, no matter what, we must hold it, and block the army of slaves and thieves north of the Yellow River!" ”

Yang Sichang immediately bowed down to receive the order.

Chongzhen suddenly said, "What did you just say?" How many centaurs does the prince have? ”

Yang Sichang said seriously: "Tens of thousands of horses, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince personally received 30,000, and he is confronting the slave chief Zierharang in Anzhou. ”

Chongzhen frowned and said, "I have never decreed that the crown prince and governor should have all the soldiers and horses, right?" Why did he have 30,000 horses? Is Lu Xiangsheng or Chen Xinjia's soldiers and horses under his control? Or is it Guan Ningjun? ”

Yang Sichang said: "Back to Your Majesty, it's not, the 30,000 horses are the prince's Tianwu army, and the ........ from the north of Fengyang Mansion are the ."

"He has 30,000 horses now?" Chongzhen's brows furrowed even deeper.

Yang Sichang stubbornly said: "Your Majesty, there are more than 30,000, Mao Yuanyi led 10,000 horses in Gaoyang, Sun Yingyuan led 40,000 horses to encircle and suppress Jiannu in Zhending Mansion, and the crown prince brought a total of 80,000 horses to the north this time!" ”

"What! Eighty thousand!! Chongzhen was shocked, and suddenly became a little abnormal, he panicked: "Where did he come from so many people?" Yes! ”

Yang Sichang said: "It should be that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has been trained in Jiangnan in the past two years, and the specific situation is not known ........"

Chongzhen's mood was a little chaotic at the moment, although he had heard the news of the prince's training in Jiangnan, he had always thought that the newly built Tianwu Army only had a few thousand people, plus the previous Yongwei Battalion, at most 10,000 people.

Chongzhen kept turning a blind eye out of wanting to completely exterminate the thieves in Jiangnan, but he never expected that this rebel would actually train an army of 80,000!

Chongzhen stood up from the dragon chair, he really couldn't sit still, tens of thousands of Ming officers and soldiers were beaten by Jiannu to dodge everywhere, and the prince's Tianwu army of 10,000 people could kill all the 8,000 men and horses with red flags, and the difference between them could be seen by fools.

Now there are 80,000 people in the Tianwu Army, and it is only three hundred miles away from the Jingshi, if the prince wants to take the throne in advance, he is afraid that it can be solved with just one look.

Chongzhen was very worried in his heart, he hadn't seen that rebel for two years, and he didn't know if he was wild in his heart?

Looking at the somewhat uneasy emperor, Yang Sichang didn't make a sound, just stood quietly aside.

After a long time, Chongzhen's pace gradually slowed down, and he said: "There are too few elite soldiers and strong generals in my Ming Dynasty, and the Eight Banners Army against Shangjiannu is outnumbered after all, and it still needs to train elite soldiers extensively. ”

Yang Sichang immediately understood the meaning of the emperor's words when he heard it, and he immediately said: "What Your Majesty said is extremely true, I have many soldiers but not fine, and it is really difficult to compete with slaves and thieves. ”

Regarding Yang Sichang's thoughtfulness and sensibility, the more Chongzhen looked at it, the more pleasing it became, and he felt that he had not seen the wrong person this time.

Chongzhen said: "Aiqing has planned this matter well, and will discuss it in detail after defeating Jiannu, where are Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting now?" ”

Yang Sichang replied: "I have already arrived at Ningwuguan in Shanxi, and I should be able to go to Beijing before the year." ”

"Just arrived at Ningwu Pass? is also King Qin's guard, why did the prince's men and horses arrive at the battlefield in less than twenty days, and he Hong Chengchou has only walked less than half of the distance in a month? Chongzhen's tone contained intense anger.

Yang Sichang immediately said: "It should be that there are some rugged mountain roads on the way to Shaanxi to enter, and then there is Shaanxi a little far away from Baoding........

When he said this, Yang Sichang himself didn't believe it, from Shaanxi to Baoding Mansion compared to from Fengyang to Baoding Mansion, there are two hundred miles more, and the Tianwu Army can reach it in twenty days, while Hong Bing and Qin Bing are expected to spend two months, to put it bluntly, this is the gap.

Fortunately, the emperor didn't understand the map and didn't know how far Shaanxi was from Beijing.

Sure enough, Chongzhen's face softened a lot, and he nodded with deep understanding, making him feel as if he had been to Shaanxi.

Seeing that the emperor's face softened, Yang Sichang asked tentatively: "Your Majesty, may I ask, how should the crown prince's men and horses be distributed?" ”

Yang Sichang did not mean to hand over the Tianwu Army to someone else, but to ask who was in command of the front line? Let Gao Qiqian, Chen Xinjia, and Lu Xiangsheng fight their own three ways, and the military department will be in the center of the united front or will it be directly commanded by the crown prince?

Everyone knows that it is not easy to take military power from the crown prince now, and it is impossible for others to command him to be the crown prince.

After Chongzhen pondered for a moment, he said: "The front line is supervised by Chen Xinjia, and the hidden supervision army is raised, and the prince's side is ........ I will send a decree to him back to Beijing. ”

Chongzhen has already made up his mind in his heart, and recalled the crown prince Zhu Cihong on the occasion of the New Year on the grounds that his father and queen mother miss him, believing that this filial son should not refuse, as the saying goes, filial piety comes first........

Yang Sichang once again realized the emperor's unpredictability, and he continued: "Your Majesty, how do you think Mao Yuanyi's merits should be rewarded?" ”

Chongzhen frowned and said, "You can do it yourself!" ”

Seeing that the Son of Heaven was angry, Yang Sichang was secretly frightened, so he had to bow down and retire.

After leaving the Qianqing Palace, although Yang Sichang's face was flat, his heart was already happy, and invisibly, the two things he wanted to do were already in place.