"Is there still no news from Jingshi?"

The person who spoke was a middle-aged man in his forties, of medium stature, with an extraordinary face, although he sat on the top of the high hall, and was wearing the red regular clothes of a second-class civil official, but in addition to being noble, there was also an obvious elegant atmosphere on his face.

This is the yamen of Nanjing's military department, and the person who speaks is asking questions in the public hall of the side hall, and there are rows of blue-robed and green-robed officials standing around, and there are also some blue-robed officials serving left and right.

Everyone stood with their hands crossed, and it was obvious that the person sitting in the middle was not only a high-grade official, but also held real power, which made people dare not offend in the slightest.

The person who questioned was the current Nanjing Military Department Shangshu, Shi Kefa.

If you can understand the military and political situation at that time, you can also understand why Shi Kefa's status and identity are so important.

In addition to the local government, that is, the military department, the entire southern capital has real power.

The six ministries of Nanjing all needed to add Nanjing at the time of writing, but all the ministries of ceremonial workers and criminal officials had no real power, and Shangshu Shilang was either an old official who retired here for retirement, or he lost his position in the partisan struggle in Beijing and was denounced here.

Due to the fiasco of the Donglin Party in the Apocalypse and the unwillingness in the Chongzhen period, a large number of Donglin officials, gentry, and students all served or lived in Nanjing, and many Zhejiang and Jiangnan students and celebrities were also active in Nanjing.

It is easy to become famous all over the world here, and become a famous person admired by scholars, even the younger generations can make a name for themselves through associations and other methods.

Jiangnan Shifeng has a special feature, that is, it is easy to resist in a group, hundreds of talented students are huddled together, and there is no way to do it in the main halls of local governments and counties, and there are even records of association students driving away local officials.

Even if it is a high-ranking official in the ministry, it is necessary to treat the more than 10,000 students and celebrities in Nanjing with courtesy, even if it is a nobleman such as the prince and the marquis, there is no one to control in Beijing, in a place like Nanjing, considering the family reputation and actual trouble, the students and celebrities should also be treated with courtesy.

The combination of various reasons has formed a unique and completely different political landscape of the two capitals.

In Nanjing, the power of the gentry was particularly strong, so great that it could suppress the eunuchs and nobles. Of course, there was no class of eunuchs and nobles in Nanjing, and the real top-level nobles and eunuchs were naturally in Beijing.

Because of this, the Donglin Party and the Fushe are the most powerful in Nanjing, and most of the officials who are pensioned or forced to go to Nanjing are in the Donglin lineage, or they are inextricably linked with Donglin.

Even if you are not Donglin, if you are an official in Nanjing and Jiangnan, you need to have a good relationship with Donglin, otherwise even if you will not have an unstable status, there will be a lot of inconvenience in daily communication.

Even a warlord like Liu Zeqing who dared to slaughter and loot the city in his hometown, he didn't even pay attention to the emperor's edict, and after arriving in the south, the first thing he did was to want to marry Donglin.

The power of Donglin is in the court, plus a large number of scholars on the periphery of Donglin, such as the Fushe Society, in terms of actual power, local prestige and control, Donglin is the undisputed overlord in the Jiangnan and Jiangbei areas.

And Shi Kefa is not only the secretary of the military department who holds real power, but also the out-and-out leader of Donglin and the Fushe parties at this moment......

……

It's already April, and the weather is obviously warmer, especially in places like Nanjing, where the climate at this time is almost the same as in later generations, but there is no urban heat island effect. The winter is long, cold and damp, spring and autumn are very short, almost instantaneous, in April, when other places are still lukewarm, Nanjing is already quite hot, even in this tall and spacious public hall, people are also stuffy and full of sweat, especially when they are anxious, the sweat on people's heads is constantly flowing down, some officials are too nervous, their robes and chests are obviously wet with sweat.

"There are a few more officials who have fled south." A blue-robed official leaned over and replied: "The word of the people, the rebellion has broken the capital, my emperor was martyred in Jingshan, and the whereabouts of the prince and the kings are unknown." It is also said that the crown prince and the kings were captured by the rebellion, and the news is uncertain. Later, he led the army to Shanhaiguan and fought with the chief military officer Wu Sanguijun, and some people said that the Wu army had surrendered to the rebellion and surrendered to the east, and the subsequent situation is not very clear. ”

When the official replied, he was ambiguous and vague when he mentioned "Dongyu", as if he was considering his own words.

Because many officials who fled south can be sure that Jingshi fell and the emperor was martyred, but Li Zicheng went to Shanhaiguan to fight Wu Sangui, and there are rumors that Wu Sangui borrowed troops from the Qing army to suppress thieves, which is vague and no one can say clearly.

Regarding the Qing army's entry into the customs to suppress thieves, the mentality of the Ming officials in the south is quite complicated.

After all, many people who fled south did not have the hatred and disdain of previous years when they mentioned the Qing soldiers, because the Ming and Qing dynasties had been fighting each other for decades, although the Qing army had entered the customs and looted many times, causing serious losses to the northern part of the Ming Dynasty, and also making the Ming army have a deep fear of the Qing army after repeated defeats.

However, in the eyes of many civilian officials who claim to know the general trend of history, the Qing army, that is, the Eastern Captives, is not a climate.

As long as there is a Shanhaiguan Pass, it will have to make a detour from the entrance of Miyun and other places, and march on the grassland, without a stable city and a large agricultural area as a logistics base, its army can only be the same as the Beiyu cavalry, and sooner or later it will retreat.

No matter how strong the soldiers and horses are, as long as they can't form a foundation in the Ming Dynasty, then sooner or later they still have to retreat, because there is no stable logistical supply, and there is no way to establish local power.

If you want to storm Shanhaiguan, it is impossible to do it with the main force of tens of thousands of Qing troops.

In this case, although the Manchu Qing Dynasty brought great trauma to the Ming Dynasty, in the eyes of civil officials, this generation will toss for another decade or two at most, and after the death of the older generation, it will be like the northern captives behind Yexian, Dayan Khan, and Altan Khan, and will fall into a sharp decline after falling into civil strife.

At least at this moment, in the hearts of Nanming officials, borrowing teachers to help suppress is actually a good choice.

At this time, of course, Shi Kefa would not know what would happen after that, and after hearing the report that the official was not sure of his lack of self-confidence, he did not blame his subordinates, who had always acted kindly, but waved his hand with an ugly face, and said: "Such officials must be screened and guarded first, and they must not be allowed to talk at will in the market and disturb the morale and public opinion of the army." ”

"Yes, Lord Ministry."

The official obviously knew that many officials who had fled south had taken refuge in Nanjing, Yangzhou, and Suzhou at will, and that the news of the tragic change in Beijing had spread widely, but since Shi Kefa said so, he had no choice but to bow down and agree.

"The disappearance of the Jingshi is not completely certain...... Shi Kefa hesitated for a moment, and finally said: "I have been preparing for many days, but I can't end up without a problem." On April 7, I swore an oath in Pukou and led a large army north to King Qin! ”

"Yes, Lord Ministry."

The officials around all bowed down and agreed, although everyone could be completely sure that what some of the officials who fled south said was completely true, but since Shi Kefa said so, of course everyone would not object.

There are even people who have a clear understanding and know the intentions of the Shi Butang in front of them.

Due to his weak personality and lack of means to control him, although the Shi Butang in front of him has great power, his actions are far from being able to change his skills.

For such a big man, the lack of control can be seen from the handling of various things.

The number of soldiers, the response of the generals of all parties, the actions of the guards, and the preparations of local officials in Nanjing and other places, etc., in the past two months, not many people have seriously prepared for the Northern Expedition.

It can even be said that due to Emperor Chongzhen's various administrative measures in the past 17 years, people are not too concerned about the safety of the Jingshi and the safety of the emperor personally, and they don't even take it seriously at all.

As far as Shi Kefa himself is concerned, his mentor Zuo Guangdou was killed by Wei Gelding, and now he just took the throne to get rid of Wei Gelding, and then reused and promoted all the way, Emperor Chongzhen himself has a great favor to Shi Kefa, but judging from Shi Kefa's performance, even from the perspective of personal favor, it is actually not qualified.

Even if it is the Pukou oath army, in fact, the money, food, soldiers and horses are not enough, and the most people who can go to the road are a small number of soldiers from the Beijing camp and the officers and soldiers of the Caojiang battalion, adding up to less than 10,000 people.

With such a small number of soldiers and horses, what is the help of going north? Vowing to go north is mostly perfunctory.

Shi Kefa was anxious and worried in his heart, he was actually a person who had no flexibility and quick wisdom, and it was really beyond his ability to sit in the current position.

Moreover, not only military and political affairs, but also Lu Daqi, Zhang Shenyan, Gao Hongtu, Jiang Yueguang and others from the same party often go to his mansion to discuss with the secret council, which is nothing more than the drastic changes in Jingshi, and how to deal with the affairs underneath.

If the emperor goes south, there is no need to say much, now in the seventeenth year of the imperial power, Yan Wei is resolute and decisive, and the ministers are trembling when they play the right game, but they are afraid of making mistakes.

Even a minister with a strong and resolute personality like Sun Chuanting was too nervous when playing the right game, which actually led to deafness.

As long as the emperor goes south, there is nothing to say about the overall situation, there are indeed treacherous and evil people in the Donglin Party, and there are hypocrites who claim to be upright, but after all, this party was built in the Wanli period, when the morale was decadent, the officials had no integrity, and the Donglin Party was established with the feeling of caring about state affairs and taking the world as its responsibility, and most of the people attracted were honest and honest ministers with good reputations, and the integrity was still above the passing line in general.

Nanming's incident was defeated by Donglin, but these people were not a group of people who mistakenly thought because of party strife and the so-called righteousness. Wicked villain.

If Chongzhen arrives, the ministers are only effective and loyal, and there is no possibility of any unusual thoughts.

Even if it is the crown prince and the kings, the princes born to the Son of Heaven, any one of them is the undisputed prince of the prison state.

It's a pity that most of the Emperor Chongzhen has been martyred, and the prince and the kings were not sent to Nanjing in advance, and most of them fell into the capital at this time.

This is the most headache for Shi Kefa, and the overall situation is even more confusing, once it is determined that there is a collapse of the heavens and the earth, the establishment of the prison country, the welcome of the new monarch, no matter how to sort out the finances, the formation and training of soldiers and horses, whether it is an active northern expedition or passive defense, there is still a part of the main force of the army in Jingxiang in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and Zuo Liangyu is helpless against this army and horses.

The Great Western Army occupied almost the entire territory of Sichuan, and once it left Sichuan, it was also an extremely difficult opponent to deal with.

The internal controversy over the support, and the various external troubles, all of which made Shi Kefa upset, and the various troubles of King Qin in the north have already caused Shi Kefa a headache {the fastest}, thinking of the future, the minister who holds the real power, is even more confused.