At the beginning of March, the Ming Dynasty was shrouded in the clouds brought by the approaching Shun army, and thousands of miles away, the heart of He Tengjiao, the governor of Huguang, was also cloudy.

Plug Yinxi, who was sitting across from him, also looked sad. When He Tengjiao first arrived in Huguang, he used Emperor Chongzhen's secret edict as an excuse, and said to Gu Yinxi and others that the holy car would soon move to the south, and if he could manage and stabilize the situation in Huguang in advance, it would be very beneficial for Emperor Chongzhen to settle down in the future. With this layer of encouragement in it, the civil and military forces such as Plug Yinxi and Li Guoying started to do things from the very hard. However, He Tengjiao recently received internal information from Beijing, saying that the possibility of Emperor Chongzhen and even the princes and princes going south is very small.

Plugging Yinxi is He Tengjiao's confidant and important helper, He Tengjiao did not hide it from him, according to what he heard, roughly described the treacherous situation in Beijing in the past two months about Emperor Chongzhen's southward migration.

In the first month of this year, Li Zicheng proclaimed himself emperor in Xi'an and issued a document on the Northern Expedition, which shook the Ming court. Li Mingrui, Zuo Zhongyun, Zuo Chunfang, Zhan Shifu, believed that "only by moving south can the current urgency be alleviated, and Xu Tu will conquer and suppress it", and suggested that Emperor Chongzhen make a decision as soon as possible and abandon Beijing to go south. Emperor Chongzhen saw that there was no one around, and he spit bitterness on him and said, "I have had this ambition for a long time, and no one praises it, so it is too late." Thou shalt and I are compatible, I am determined, and the ministers are not helpless", which means that the ministers are depressed and no one can understand the holy will.

In fact, since Chen Xinjia, who was the secretary of the military department at the time last year, was determined by Emperor Chongzhen to have leaked secrets and humiliated his face during the peace discussion with the Qing court, so he was imprisoned and executed under the pretext of asking for guilt. Especially after Zhou Yanru's death, no one dared to work with Emperor Chongzhen, lest once things change, Emperor Chongzhen would turn his face and deny people, and finally throw the black pot to himself. Li Mingrui is still a bold man, anyway, the matter of moving south has not yet been revealed, and the pressure is not so great, so he discussed relevant issues with Emperor Chongzhen.

As early as last year, Emperor Chongzhen was directly subordinate to Liaodong in Mongolia and other places in the north, and the border was intertwined, and Zhou Yanru, the first assistant at that time, secretly discussed the matter of moving the capital to the south. This matter was learned by Empress Yi'an Zhang, the widow of Emperor Tianqi, through Zhongguan, and then persuaded Emperor Chongzhen to move south as soon as possible with Empress Zhou, the main palace of Emperor Chongzhen. Emperor Chongzhen once secretly ordered Feng Yuanbiao, the governor of Tianjin, to gather 300 ships to be moored at the mouth of Zhigu to stand by, and instructed the cabinet ministers and household department Shangshu Chen to perform and lead hundreds of officials to be invited. But Chen Yan was also afraid of taking responsibility, so he was silent, Emperor Chongzhen was helpless, and because of the peace negotiations between the Ming and Qing dynasties, the external situation eased, so he dispelled the idea of moving south. But Chen Yan's disobedience, Emperor Chongzhen has always kept it in mind. In mid-to-late February, the Shun army invaded northern Jin, and the ministers discussed the urgent transfer of Wu Sangui into the customs to resist, and Chen Yanli overrode the public opinion, resulting in Wu Sangui failing to make the trip, and finally Taiyuan and Datong fell one after another, and it was too late to transfer Wu Sangui again. Emperor Chongzhen blamed Chen Yan, directly scolded him for his innocent death, and blasted out of the palace, and the first assistant was replaced by Wei Dezao.

At the end of February, Emperor Chongzhen, who was aware of the imminent military disaster, began to make some personnel adjustments, instructing the cabinet to appoint Wei Dezao as a scholar of the Ministry of Rites and a scholar of Wenyuange, and sent him to the governor of Tianjin Sanwei for river affairs. Ren Fang Yuegong was the secretary of the household department and the secretary of the military department, and the scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion, and was sent to Jining Prefecture to supervise the affairs of Caoyun. It seems that they began to secretly prepare for the southward migration in advance, in terms of food and transportation.

Soon after, the news that the Shun army had conquered Taiyuan Mansion and entered Datong Mansion reached Beijing, and Emperor Chongzhen convened his ministers to urgently discuss the response strategy, and naturally took this opportunity to officially put the matter of moving south on the table. But after all, Beijing is where the ancestral society is located, and if it is completely abandoned, it will inevitably disappoint the world, so even if you want to move south, you must choose one person between Emperor Chongzhen and the crown prince, who has the highest status in the Ming Dynasty, to show the heart of protection, so the core of the problem of this southward migration is to unfold on who is more suitable between Emperor Chongzhen and the crown prince.

Li Mingrui and Emperor Chongzhen have long been ventilated, first proposed that compared with the crown prince, Emperor Chongzhen is more suitable to move south to win the hearts of the Jiangnan scholars, and even used the word "pro-conquest" to guide the relocation, giving Emperor Chongzhen enough face. But after all, Li Mingrui is humble and light, and it is difficult to become a leader, Emperor Chongzhen's original intention is to use Li Mingrui to throw bricks and lead jade, and induce the important ministers of the Seven Qing Dynasties headed by the Six Shangshu and the Imperial History of Zuodu to figure out their own meaning, say what they want to say for themselves, and pretend to accept it passively, so that in the future, there will be a change in the autumn to settle accounts, and the responsibility can also be pushed away.

In the past, there must be a bird to meet Emperor Chongzhen. But the rivers are declining, after a series of political turmoil, the ministers have long been aware of Emperor Chongzhen's temperament, and the army is increasingly attacking, and there are many courtiers who have the idea of self-preservation first, and naturally no one carries out political speculation to jump into the trap circled by Emperor Chongzhen. Because everyone in the group had this thought, the scene that Emperor Chongzhen hoped for did not come as scheduled. What was even more surprising to him was that Li Banghua, the imperial historian of the left capital of the Imperial Procuratorate, even went the other way, advocating that "the emperor should naturally guard the society", and that the matter of moving south should be done by the crown prince, and it is better to divide the other two sons of Emperor Chongzhen at the same time, King Ding, and King Yong, who went out of Beijing to divide the feudal domains elsewhere, which is safer. Emperor Chongzhen was disappointed, and threw out a sentence "I have been running the world for more than ten years, and the children's family has done a lot of things", so he abandoned the proposal to move south. Emperor Chongzhen was very unhappy, and reprimanded him in person, saying that you are also heretical and attacking Li Mingrui in groups, and there is a suspicion of forming a party by attacking Li Mingrui. With the threat of buttoning the hat, he forcibly suppressed the matter.

A few days later, Datong Mansion was lost, and the situation deteriorated further. Emperor Chongzhen took advantage of the explanatory move of the superintendent Li Jiantai to pick up the topic of moving south, saying, "Li Jiantai is negligent, and he advises me to move south." The monarch is dead, where will I go", while taking care of the integrity, on the other hand, he actually semi-openly reminded the ministers to persuade him to move south. But when the people were panicked, the ministers had already made a plan, and Fan Jingwen, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Li Banghua, the left capital of the Imperial Palace, Li Banghua, the Shao Zhan Shiyu of the Zhan Shifu, and others once again asked Emperor Chongzhen to serve the prince to raise the army in Jiangnan. Seeing that there was no hope for him to move south, it was the last feasible plan to let the prince go to the south first, Emperor Chongzhen hesitated, or Guang Shiheng's political consciousness was worse, and he jumped out again, accusing Fan Jingwen and others of being ill-intentioned, "If the prince goes south, what do the ministers want?" will want to tell the story of Tang Suzong's spiritual martial arts", taking Tang Suzong, who once put Tang Xuanzong in the air, as an example, Fan Jingwen and others did not dare to answer.

At this point, Emperor Chongzhen's own idea of going south and letting the prince go south was opposed, and he was disheartened, and asked about the strategy of resisting the Shun army. There are many Qingliu celebrities among the ministers, but they just want to hold the idea of "talking about their hearts and minds when they have nothing to do, and repay the king when they die", so there is no way to deal with it. There must be a king, there must be a minister, which complements the arrogance of Emperor Chongzhen's previous saying that "the monarch dies and the righteousness is right". Emperor Chongzhen was helpless, and couldn't help but be furious, and came up angrily and reprimanded: "I am not the king of the country, and the ministers are the ministers of the country!" "Brushed his sleeves away, and never mentioned or mentioned the southward migration from then on

"Recently, I heard that the Shun army will enter the Jifu and Bojing divisions, if the military disaster is like this, I am afraid that the road to the south will be blocked, and the court has been discussing it so far, isn't it a good opportunity? The Holy Lord and the prince are trying to move south again, which is already an inevitable trend. He Tengjiao said this, sighing.

"The Holy Emperor Liao Town Wu Sangui, Ji Town Tang Tong, Qi Town Liu Zeqing entered the guard, Liao and Ji both moved and Liu Zeqing fled in the wind, and the saint also made up for it as Ping Dongbo a few days ago, but in exchange for such a greedy person who is afraid of death." Du Yinxi clenched his fists angrily, "There is also Xu Dingguo, the chief soldier of the reinforcement, the new official should have behaved well when he took office, but the thief Liu Fangliang led the thief soldiers to sweep through Jinnan, and he hid in Huaiqing Mansion and remained motionless as a shrinking turtle. The danger sees people's hearts, these two people, what is the need for the teacher to win over! ”

He Tengjiao was silent for a moment and said, "Didn't Zhong Mian hear the allusion of Tangerine Sheng Huainan?" Liu and Xu are fighting their own battles, and they are alone and lonely, and they are difficult to maneuver around by the situation, but if we are in the middle of the deployment and integration, and work together to make efforts, they may not be the current fatigue. ”

Du Yinxi nodded solemnly and said, "It's all up to the teacher's arrangement." ”

He Tengjiao suddenly asked: "Zhong Xuan, do you know that I am looking for you today, what is the reason for the incident?" ”

"It's not...... Isn't it about the Holy Driver's Luck in the South? ”

"This is true, this is the cause, but what is more important is the effect."

Du Yinxi asked, "What is the effect?" ”

He Tengjiao signaled to the left and right at this time, and the three or two maidservants who were standing all retreated, leaving only him and Du Yinxi in the hall. In the quiet environment, He Tengjiao leaned towards the table, and when he saw this, he also leaned over and listened. But listening to He Tengjiao's whisper: "The thieves committed Gyeonggi, and there were only two results. First, the towns of King Qin fought bloodily, killed and repelled the thieves, and regained the old mountains and rivers; Second......"

When Du Yinxi heard this, his heart was heavy, and he couldn't help swallowing his saliva.

"Second, Beijing has fallen into the hands of thieves, the Holy ...... The Holy One may ...... ...... misfortune suffered" He Tengjiao stopped abruptly and turned around to sit upright, "Zhong Xuan, do you know what I mean?" ”

Du Yinxi's heart was beating like a drum, his eyes widened, and he didn't say anything for a long time. He Tengjiao looked at him and said: "Although these words are disrespectful, I have to take precautions for the sake of the courtiers." It's just you and me, so there's no need to worry too much. ”

"Hmm......" Du Yinxi slowed down for a while before coming back to his senses, "Teacher, the student is not worried, the student is ...... It's really shocking. "After being a subject of the Ming Dynasty for decades, one day he may face the situation of the country's ruin and the death of the monarch, which is something that Du Yinxi never dared to think of in the first half of his life.

"Some things, even if they are not easy to talk about on the face, you and I must always be prepared to face them." He Tengjiao sighed, "You also said just now, the danger sees people's hearts. You also know the situation of my Ming Dynasty in Shanxi, and you can imagine that the thieves are coming to Beijing, which of the two outcomes I proposed is more likely to happen? ”

Plug Yinxi covered his face and let out a long sigh.

He Tengjiao said: "No matter what the situation is, we need to prepare for the worst. And said, "Once the second result comes true, and the saint, the crown prince and the two kings are all difficult to be lucky, will the plan be safe?" ”

Du Yinxi's voice trembled slightly, and said: "The thieves poison the north, but the south is still stable." Based on the wealth and manpower of the south, Xu Tu went north to recover his homeland, which was a desirable move to turn defeat into victory. But if the dragons are leaderless, when the thieves come, all towns and parts will fall apart, and they will repeat the mistakes of the north. Therefore, if you talk about the first priority, it should be...... When someone inherits the unification as soon as possible and commands the world. ”

"Yes, it's a big shame for us to say this now, but even so, we can only knowingly do it." He Tengjiao's eyes were firm, "Beijing must have three longs and two shorts, and someone in the south must preside over the overall situation." The country cannot be without a king for a day, and only by acting in the service of the king can we stabilize people's hearts, which is the most important thing for us to consider. ”

Du Yinxi groaned: "Really according to what the teacher said to plan for the worst, none of the saints and princes of Beijing City and the two princes have been able to come out, so who is qualified to inherit the unification of the emperor's relatives who are as many as cattle hair in the world?" ”

He Tengjiao responded: "I have thought about this matter, and you should also know that Emperor Taizu's "Emperor Ming Zu Xun" has clear regulations, and he should establish a successor and a brother. Guangzong only has two sons, and Xizong has no queen, if there is a change in Beijing and no one escapes, then in terms of royal relatives, it needs to be traced back to the line of Shenzong. ”

Du Yinxi said: "The four feudal clans of Fu, Rui, Hui, and Gui are all bloodlines of the Divine Sect, and they are the closest relatives of the Holy Sect today, and they are all qualified. ”

He Tengjiao nodded and said: "It stands to reason that the Fu Fan is the longest, and he is the best candidate, how can he break into the thieves and trouble Henan a few years ago, Luoyang City was broken, and the Fu Fan also suffered from the door, this is not good." Then Rui Fan heard that he fled from Hanzhong and did not know his whereabouts, and he did not know his life and death, even if he learned the traces in the future, but the decision needed to be fast, and if it was late, it would change, and we could only improvise. After the turn again, only Hui and Gui were left. Although King Hui is older than King Gui, and his fief is in Gangneung, which is not far from the left, he believes in Buddhism, and he worships Buddha and Zen all day long, and does not understand personnel and government affairs. In particular, Jiangling is a key defense area for the Huguang Admiral Yamen, and it is difficult for us to get close. In this way, it seems that the Gui Domain of Hengzhou is more supportable. ”

Du Yinxi agreed: "The student has visited King Hui, although the prince is familiar with Buddhism and understands the truth, but he is detached and has no ambition in the world. Although Hengzhou Mansion is located far north of the river, it is still the boundary of Huguang in the end, which is not too far, and the jurisdiction of the Huguang Admiral Yamen is not as strong as that of the north of the river. King Gui himself is in the prime of life, and he is the best candidate. ”

He Tengjiao stroked his palms and said: "You and I are single-minded, this thing is easy to do." "Diverted, "The north is in a hurry, you and I must handle the matter as soon as possible and be prepared." It is not up to the two of us to prepare for the establishment of King Gui as soon as possible, so it is better to do this, you and I are in charge of internal and external affairs. ”

"What do you say inside and outside?"

"In addition, I am responsible for seeking the support of civil and military officials from all over the world; Inside, you go to be responsible for the early ventilation with the Gui Domain. A two-pronged approach, quick action, can be safe. What do you think? ”

"The teacher has a perfect strategy, it is related to the national system, and the students will do it with blood!" Plug Yinxi arched his hand and said loudly.

"Okay." He Tengjiao nodded slightly, and the knot between his eyebrows knew that he had to be relieved at this moment.