Gao Qiqian, who was tied into the Dongnuan Pavilion by Cao Huachun, was still wearing a gold-inlaid three-mountain hat, a tufted brocade robe, and a delicate jade belt around his waist. It's just that the description is quite haggard. In his forties, he was originally very burly, and he walked with a tiger's style, if it weren't for his white face and beard, outsiders would definitely think that he was a fierce general.

Yang Sichang peeked at it, Gao Qiqian's expression was extremely haggard, and he had long lost the demeanor when he boasted loudly in front of him that day how to ask Lu Xiangsheng for his horse and asked for Xuanda and Guanning, and the gold-inlaid three-mountain hat on his head was broken with a big hole, and several places were dented. The brocade robe on his body was covered with mud and stains, and there were a few holes burned by the smoke and fire.

Behind him, Wang Tingchen, the former commander of the Tun Guard, Cao Bianjiao, the chief soldier of Yutian, Ma Ke, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan, and Bai Guangen, the chief soldier of Jizhen, the four generals of the Guanning army, although they did not tie the rope, they were also mentally exhausted, and their armor was stained and tattered.

As soon as he saw Chongzhen, before Chongzhen had a seizure, Gao Qiqian knelt down in front of Chongzhen's knee with a puff and let out a loud cry of sorrow.

"Emperor! The slave didn't expect to see the emperor again in this life and this life! Seeing the emperor today, the slave and maid died under the fire of swords and cannons, and they died without regrets! ”

Seeing Gao Qiqian's pretentiousness, Yang Sichang was greatly relieved. With his understanding of Chongzhen's temperament, most of the people he trusts will be fine. Of course, except for people like Yuan Chonghuan who made him lose face as an emperor. Gao Qiqian was originally a celebrant eunuch, but was squeezed out by the great eunuch Wei Zhongxian and transferred to the direct palace eunuch to sprinkle and sweep. After Wei Zhongxian was eliminated by Chongzhen, who had just ascended the throne, Gao Qiqian, Cao Huachun, Wang Dehua and others were deeply favored by Emperor Chongzhen. Served as the eunuch of the palm print, Chongzhen began to supervise the army in Dengzhou in the fifth year, and then went to Ning and Jin to supervise the army. Gao Qiqian claims to know the soldiers and knows the military, but in fact, he is cowardly and ugly and does not dare to fight, but he only takes the risk of cutting off the dead.

But there is a little benefit, which is to make Chongzhen think that he is a loyal house slave.

With such a cry, Gao Qiqian can't die.

"You minion! How can we defeat tens of thousands of our army!? ”

"Emperor! The defeat of the slave and the maid is not because the soldiers under the command of the slave and the maid do not work hard and kill the enemy bravely. But. But. The slave didn't dare to say it! ”

If you are high and dive, you can attract Chongzhen's attention very skillfully.

"Your Majesty, our army is only more than 30,000, and the armor and weapons are not complete. How to face the bombardment of 200,000 Dongnu iron cavalry with hundreds of artillery pieces day and night? ”

Yang Sichang heard this. I can't help but jump in my pretty eyes. This gelding is really telling the truth!

As the chief army of the reinforcements, Gao Qiqian is responsible for the record of military achievements on the battlefield and the supply of food and equipment for various armies. He supervised the army in various parts of Guanning for many years. The grain and grass given by the Beijing division to the reinforcements, he gave priority to supplying the various armies in Guanning, and the officers and soldiers of the three towns of Xuanda only got a small amount of grain and grass, and they were all indignant.

How did Yang Sichang, who is also in charge of the military department, not know about these things?

It is understandable to say that Lu Xiangsheng's troops were defeated because of hunger and cold, is there still less grain and grass lost by him and the generals of Guan Ning? Before Wang Chengen left Beijing that day, he told him with a blushing face that tens of thousands of stones, grains and grass, and more than 100 cannons bought from Nanzhong at a great cost, all became the trophies of Jiannu.

None of this cares about him, and it depends on how he ends.

"Emperor! The slave and maid are guilty, and the defeated division naturally deserves to die! However, the slave and maid are fighting to the death, and they also have to join a traitor and tear off his mask! lest this man continue to bring calamity to the country and the people1"

Yang Sichang's heart jumped suddenly, and he instinctively felt that something big was going to happen!

Over there, Gao Qiqian is still kowtowing like pounding garlic, and his mouth is chattering.

"Emperor, the slave maid led the army to Jibo, and should have rescued Lord Lu quickly, but it was only a few dozen miles away from Lord Lu, and it was besieged by Jiannu who was nearly ten times larger than mine. The Jiannu were all dressed in iron armor, and the weapons were also excellent, and hundreds of artillery pieces bombarded our army camp day and night. Projectiles are raining down, and our soldiers' flesh and blood are flying! ”

"Emperor! You only know that the person in Lu Dao uses grain, rice and silver money to worship every year, but you don't know that this person also sells a large number of weapons and artillery to Jiannu, collaborating with the enemy to fund the enemy! Emperor! ”

"It's over, this eunuch is dead!" Yang Sichang lamented in his heart that he decided to quickly abandon this ally of the peace faction.

What is not good, saying that Li Shouhan is colluded with Jiannu? Or the enemy, collaborating with the enemy? You eunuch! Could it be that when I cut off the little head under you, I cut off the head above you too? Use your brain to think about it, and make up some nonsense!

Chongzhen's face was blue, red, and white, and his voice became more and more heavy. Tang Tong and the others, who were kneeling behind Gao Qiqian, had already repented of their intestines, and they shouldn't have come to this troubled water with Gao Qiqian.

"You four general soldiers, all of them are my minions and eagle dogs, after returning from the bloody battle, I won't blame you for the time being, let's get up and speak first!"

Tang Tong, Cao Bianjiao and others suddenly fell to the ground with a stone, knowing that Emperor Dao would not deal with them. At most, it is a reprimand and a fine. The rest of the matter, how the emperor disposes of Director Gao has nothing to do with them.

Seeing Chongzhen distinguishing the four general soldiers from Gao Qiqian, Yang Sichang was secretly frightened, and hurriedly left his seat and kowtowed: "Your Majesty, Weichen thinks that although the generals of the Guanning army have lost their divisions and lost their land, it is good to be able to save some soldiers and horses when the country is in danger. Therefore, Weichen thinks that it is better for the court to issue a holy decree. Forgive the mistakes of the generals of the towns, and they will do their best to serve the court under gratitude. ”

Listening to Yang Sichang's words, the four commanders became more and more determined. There is no responsibility for defeating the battle this time!

"How many men did you bring back?"

"Returning to the elders, although the inferior people were surrounded by Jiannu and bombarded by artillery, the subordinates used their lives to rush to the death, although there were many losses, but still more than half of the soldiers broke through. However, there was a lot of loss of armor, horses, and weapons, and the casualties of the soldiers in the battalion needed to be compensated and treated. ”

Ma Ke's words are not true, in the barracks of his department, there are only more than 1,000 people who escaped, and the rest of the people are in a similar situation, and the total number of people who escaped back is only more than 6,000 people, where to find more than half of the soldiers? But. These things are naturally difficult for these old fritters, and now in this troubled era, there are people who have their own food eaters when they erect recruitment flags. It's really not good, just catch the strong man!

"Emperor, this slave and maid will lead the soldiers to transfer in time after the bloody battle, so that this army can be saved!" Gao Qiqian found that there was something wrong with the atmosphere, and the situation was obviously unfavorable to him, so he hurriedly asked for credit.

"Bastard thing! You minion! Not to mention his defeat, he also framed the minister in vain, and the rumors went out. Doesn't it chill the hearts of loyal soldiers?! Come! ”

Cao Huaol on the side hurriedly agreed. "Slaves and maidservants serve."

"This dog slave wantonly framed the minister of my shares, provoked the relationship between the monarch's father and the minister, and pulled out the son! Fifty rods! Then send it to Tianshou Mountain Kangling to act as a sprinkler eunuch! ”

A series of screams were blown into the warm chamber by the dull sound of the cold wind mixed with the torture rod falling on the flesh. Hearing this voice, Tang Tong and the others' faces turned blue and white for a while. Emperor Chongzhen snorted. Zhang Qiping gave up Baoding Jiancheng without authorization. As a result, the southern barrier of the capital division was lost. Where is this man hiding now? ”

Yang Sichang hurriedly replied: "This person is now in the Tianjin army with Liu Yuliang. ”

"Wearing a brocade banner to go out of Beijing and take it to Beijing for questioning!"

"Ordered someone to quickly pass the decree with Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting, if they can't lead the army out of Niangzi Pass within ten days, and do a move to recover Baoding. Liang Tingdong the year before last was a lesson for the two of them! ”

That Liang Tingdong avoided the war because of his fear, and was respected by Lu Xiangsheng and Li Shouhan in front of the law, and this matter was shocked by the government and the opposition army and the people.

And Chongzhen's dissatisfaction with Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting has not stopped.

After Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting defeated Li Zicheng in Tongguan that day, he eagerly hoped that the two could behead Li Zicheng and others, and it was best to capture them and sacrifice them as prisoners. After the last two of them, the two people came to the news, the officers and soldiers won a great victory, and the rogue army was wiped out, but the bodies of Li Zicheng and others were not found. Regarding the extermination of thieves, the court also has a consensus. That is, the thief must destroy the leader. Either captured alive or beheaded. Otherwise, as long as the leaders and old battalions are still there, no matter how many thieves are killed, over time, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of hungry people can be entangled and become new thieves.

And just as Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting were on the way to lead the Qin soldiers out of Guanqin Wang, another extremely unfavorable news came to them, Li Zicheng, who had died in their report, and the camp that had been wiped out by the whole army, appeared again in the area of Deng County and Lingbao. At that time, Chongzhen was furious and almost ordered Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting to be arrested and sent to Beijing for punishment. He was most worried that such an action might disintegrate the army of 50,000 Qin kings and even cause a mutiny. It added fuel to the fire of the already difficult situation of suppressing thieves. That's why I accepted the anger in my heart and continued to be false and wronged with him. Hong Chengchou is outstanding, Chongzhen has already made arrangements in his heart, and he will have to be of great use in the future, but for Sun Chuanting, Emperor Chongzhen will not easily forgive.

Of course, Yang Sichang knew the emperor's thoughts, and there were deep contradictions between him and Sun Chuanting because of the punishment of thieves, military salaries, and strategies.

When Yang Sichang first served as the secretary of the military department, in order to implement his "four positive and six corners" comprehensive encirclement and suppression strategy, he increased his troops by 120,000 and sent nearly 3 million taels of military salaries and silver. Sun Chuanting disagreed, believing that the people were exhausted due to years of war, and this move might not achieve the expected results. This is tantamount to driving fish from the abyss and birds from the bushes, forcing the good people into homeless people and providing soldiers for the thieves. At that time, when the Ming Dynasty gathered the amount of recruitment and horse recruitment reported by the governors of various places, only Sun Chuanting's performance was not delivered, Yang Sichang took the opportunity to make trouble, and Sun Chuanting pleaded out.

At this time, Yang Sichang was keenly aware of the emperor's dissatisfaction with Sun Chuanting, and he was secretly happy in his heart, perhaps after Lu Xiangsheng, Sun Chuanting was the next target he dealt with.

"Aiqing still has to urge the armies a lot and work hard to kill the enemy."

Although Chongzhen was harsh to others, he was still very polite to Yang Sichang.

In the city of Baoding, the various flags of the Eight Banners have decreased a lot, and the Eight Banners of Manchuria and the Mongolian Red Banner and the Red Flag of Mongolia have set out to escort a large number of looted property, population, and captured weapons, armor and horses, and went to Shengjing to present to Huang Taiji.

In front of the Baoding governor's yamen, there are four huge woven gold dragons, the owner of the dragons, one is the white flag owner, the general Rui Prince Dolgon, one is his younger brother inlaid with the white flag master Duoduo, and the other two are the Baya Laxu Zhangjing who belong to the two white flags respectively.

In the study that originally belonged to the governor, the calligraphy, paintings, rare books, antiques and other items collected by the governor before were carefully packed up and packed into boxes under the supervision of a dozen or so coats under the supervision of several Baya soldiers.

"Second brother. What's the use of these things? Still packing up? If you have that time, you might as well grab some people and gold and silver! ”

Dodor was a little unimpressed by the fact that Dorgon attached so much importance to the worn writing and yellowed paintings, as well as the patina bottles and jars. In his opinion, these are rags.

"These things are useless to us, but, in Shengjing, someone will take them from us at a high price!"

"Second brother, are you talking about him?!"

It dawned on Dodor at this point.

"Yes, the day before we set out, his shopkeeper in Shengjing came to my mansion to say. This time. If there are books, calligraphy, paintings, antiques and the like, they can be purchased at a high price! ”

"Ahem! My second brother! Why didn't you tell me sooner?! Those minions under my command are afraid that they are using these good things to light a fire for heating and cooking! These dog minions! ”

"Master, the day after we broke the wall entrance. The white flag of Baya Lama Zhangjing was ordered to inform the minions. The minions had already quietly greeted the minions of the various Jiala and Niu Lu below. It is forbidden to use paper to light a fire for heating and cooking, and not to destroy things that you do not know. ”

"Hey, hey!"

I heard that the second brother was so considerate of himself and so sympathetic. Quietly arranged everything for himself, and Duoduo couldn't help but grin loudly.

"I also took a rough look at the number reported by the minions below, and asked a few barbarians accompanying the army to calculate it in a pen and paper. If you calculate according to the quotation given to me by the second brother of the Li family, the harvest on my side alone can change the people with the full white flag into three new clothes of cloth! ”

"Second brother, can you put on three new clothes for the entire flag-bearer?"

Duoduo was a little surprised, he didn't think that those rags that could only be used to ignite fires before were so valuable!

"Fifteenth brother, you have listened. It is the entire person who is in the white flag, not only the flag ding, but also the family members of Yu Ding, as well as those coated Ahabs. ”

"This!?" Dodor gasped.

He looked out vigilantly, and in the courtyard, the guards were all his and his second brother's Baya soldiers.

"You're not mistaken? Even the newly attached minions? ”

He was talking about those who were born in the Guan Ning Army. They were divided into fifty-seven oxen, and Dolgon generously gave his brother twenty oxen.

"Not bad. Count them in. ”

Duoduo was more and more amazed, and he hid his gaffe.

"Master, the banquet is ready."

The four of them sat down around a rosewood dining table. There are cups and plates on the table, and a round table is full of more than a dozen dishes.

However, despite the abundant seizures after entering the customs, these Manchurian nobles still liked dishes made of beef and mutton. Dorgon's stewards ordered a few fat sheep to be slaughtered to cook for their masters.

The flames happily licked the bottom of the pot made of stainless steel, the soup in the pot was boiling, and the tender and fatty mutton was floating against the background of chili peppers and peppercorns.

"Don't say it, although the Guanning army can't fight, the daily marching and living utensils are really good!" Dodor exclaimed. Hit the edge of the pot with the chopsticks in your hand. "This set of guys, whether it's marching and fighting, hunting or in the house, can be used! I'll meet it next time, but I'll have to grab a few sets for the minions below! ”

"This time, we have indeed seized a lot of good things from Lu Xiangsheng and Gao Qiqian in Julu." The white flag of Baya Lama Zhangjing made fun for the master.

"Second brother, yesterday the minions came to tell me that when the minions of Zilharang with the blue flag returned to the north, they took a lot of seizures with them. The minions said that even the second brother, you ordered him to bring back the bores of dozens of cannons that Shengjing presented to our emperor starling, and on the gun carts, in order to hide people's eyes, gold and silver ingots were stuffed in! Second brother, why are you so kind, and handed over all the booty captured by our two white flag soldiers from the Xuanda Army and the Guanning Army?! Especially those cannons?! What a cannon! I dare to assert that the fat black man had never seen such a good cannon! ”

Jierharang, who was inlaid with the blue flag, brought back and captured 80 big Buddha Lang machines and 150 small Buddha Lang machines from the camp of the Xuanda army and the Guanning army, all of which were of the same color as Nanzhong. In addition, there were 100 general cannons, 24 12-pounder cannons, and 4 24-pounder cannons, most of which were captured in various cities.

In this regard, Duoduo, as the prince of Yu, was very dissatisfied with the selflessness of the second brother Dorgon.

It is important to know that it is an open secret in the Qing army to hide the spoils of war and privately lead the domestic slaves to the expedition to obtain more property. For this reason, Huang Taiji issued many orders to reprimand, and even threatened Qing officers and soldiers and Manchurian relatives and nobles with dismissal and beheading, but in the face of interests, his measures pale in comparison.

Even the Qing soldiers had the habit of hiding silver taels, and after they were captured in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, each of them had at least a dozen or twenty taels of silver on their bodies, which they used to enjoy after returning to Shengjing.

The soldiers kept gold and silver privately, while the officers and generals and nobles accompanied their domestic slaves on the expedition, ordering them to plunder their own goods so that they could squander them when they returned to Shengjing.

And Zilharang himself, in addition to carrying a large number of domestic slaves out on the expedition, was full of large-scale corruption, from which he intercepted the looted property with the blue flag. This is also the reason why the spies who put white flags for what is going on found that gold and silver bills were stuffed into the barrels of the cannons.

By comparison, Dorgon's impartiality and selflessness seemed a bit silly. (To be continued......)