On April 17, there was an urgent military situation in Shandong in the north, and Liu Zongmin, a general under Li Zicheng, led an army of 80,000 troops to capture Hejian all the way, and surrounded Cangzhou, which was about to be lost, and Liu Zongmin's army was about to enter Shandong.

This is Zhu Cihong's second time in the early dynasty.

"Your Highness, there is an urgent military situation in Shandong, on April 15, the thief leader Li Zicheng sent 80,000 troops, led by his general Liu Zongmin out of Bazhou, attacking Hejian, Cangzhou and other places, now Hejian has been lost, Cangzhou is about to be lost, and the thieves will soon attack Shandong. However, Liu Zeqing, the general soldier of Shandong, was killed by His Royal Highness more than ten days ago, and there was no general in Shandong to defend it, and it was in danger. I also ask His Highness to appoint a new Shandong General Army this morning to defend against the thieves. Gao Hongtu said.

"What? When was Liu Zeqing, the chief soldier of Shandong, killed by His Royal Highness the Prince? Some courtiers were surprised.

Zhu Cihong's killing of Liu Liangzuo is known to the world, but the killing of Liu Zeqing was carried out in secret, and afterwards it was only mentioned to Ma Shiying, Gao Hongtu and others and the chief soldiers of several towns when they gathered troops in Huai'an, but at that time, Huai'an was about to be attacked, and Liu Zeqing was dead, so no one questioned it.

Now that Gao Hongtu has said it, many courtiers know about it.

"Your Highness, dare to ask Your Highness why he killed Liu Zeqing, the chief soldier of Shandong?" This is an imperial history, and the imperial history has the right to question the emperor, and there is nothing wrong with questioning Zhu Cihong at this moment.

"Liu Zeqing, like Liu Liangzuo, plotted to rebel, so he should naturally be punished." Zhu Cihong said expressionlessly. Anyway, Liu Liangzuo's rebellion was evidenced by his letter to Li Zicheng, and the crime of rebellion had already become a fact, as for Liu Zeqing, he was dead, and he and Liu Liangzuo's rebellion were taken out together, and no one would defend those who had died.

Sure enough, the imperial historian didn't question Zhu Cihong and retreated.

"Do you think it's better to appoint someone as the commander-in-chief of Shandong?" Zhu Cihong asked.

Everyone looked at their noses and noses, and their noses looked at their hearts, and finally Gao Hongtu thought about the person behind him and made a look, and suddenly that person came out of the line and said.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Qiqi, Weichen believes that Gao Jie, the chief soldier of Shaanxi, has the ability to transfer to the post of chief soldier of Shandong."

After saying this, Ma Shiying's eyes immediately jumped, and he said that the Donglin Party actually proposed Gao Jie, could it be that Gao Jie had secretly taken refuge in Gao Hongtu behind his back, otherwise why would Gao Hongtu and the Donglin Party help him.

Hateful! Ma Shiying's heart was a little gloomy, even Gao Jie betrayed him, it seems that he thinks that he Ma Shiying is about to decline, and he should not have taken this person in the first place.

"Gao Jie?" Zhu Cihong was a little moved.

Gao Jie was originally Li Zicheng's subordinate, but later surrendered to the imperial court, and when he left, he also kidnapped Li Zicheng's wife, and Li Zicheng can be said to be as deep as the sea, there is no possibility of surrendering to the enemy, plus his battlefield experience, it can be seen from the battle of Huai'an, the morale of his generals is only slightly weaker than Huang Degong, and he is also considered to have some talent, if he is allowed to be the general army of Shandong to resist Liu Zongmin, there will be no problem.

Suddenly, Zhu Cihong's heart moved, and he remembered something, and immediately frowned.

Zhu Cihong shook his head and said resolutely: "No, this prince remembers that when Gao Jie was defeated and retreated south in Shanxi, his subordinates had robbed the people, and this prince was still thinking about curing his crimes, and even his own subordinates couldn't manage it well, how could he be the general army of Shandong Province and take on the heavy responsibility of guarding the gateway to the south of the Yangtze River!" ”

is not only thinking of Gao Jie's character, but the most important thing is that Zhu Cihong is afraid that Gao Jie may defect to the Qing army in the future, after all, in history, Gao Jie has also supported the army like Zuo Liangyu, Liu Zeqing and others, and has a backbone, although it is impossible to defect to Li Zicheng if he has a grudge against Li Zicheng, but it is difficult to say about the Qing soldiers.

After all, according to the time, the Qing soldiers will enter the customs in about half a month, and the Qing soldiers will be the most threatening enemy of Shandong at that time.

Hearing Zhu Cihong's words, Gao Hongtu and the others were shocked, and they couldn't figure out how Zhu Cihong's news was so well-informed, even they inadvertently knew that Gao Jie had sent troops to rob the people when he went south, how did the prince know when he first arrived in Nanjing, didn't he hear about it on the way to Nanjing?

"In short, Gao Jie can't do it, since Shandong is the front line against Li Zicheng's thieves, it is necessary to send a minister who can be suppressed from the court to the governor's affairs in Shandong." Zhu Cihong said slowly, and he had a most suitable candidate in his heart.

"Your Highness is going to send the minister of the court to the governor's affairs in Shandong?" Gao Hongtu asked cautiously.

"Yes, this prince will select one of your cabinet scholars to go to Shandong to serve as the governor, and concurrently serve as the chief soldier, coordinate the affairs of resisting the thieves, and also prepare for the imperial court's future Northern Expedition."

Hearing Zhu Cihong say this, several cabinet elders couldn't help but chuckle in their hearts, this is a chore, and once you go to Shandong, it is equivalent to leaving the imperial court, and it may be promoted, but for the cabinet ministers, it is no different from exile, who will go, and it is still such a time when His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is about to ascend the throne, several cabinet scholars are nervous one by one, and secretly pray that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will never choose him, and he wants to stay to participate in the enthronement ceremony.

At this time, the cabinet consisted of six scholars, all of whom served as six scholars.

"Dare to ask His Highness if he wants to send that pavilion elder?" Ma Shiying came out at this time.

Gao Hongtu secretly scolded the old fox, because usually at this time, the first person to stand up and ask will hardly be selected, he wanted to be listed, but he didn't want to be preempted by Ma Shiying, the old fox.

Zhu Cihong glanced at several cabinet scholars, and suddenly fixed his eyes on Shi Kefa, the secretary of the Ministry of War, and said: "As the secretary of the Ministry of War, Shi Ge must know the military affairs well, so how about Shi Ge Lao go to Shandong to serve as the governor?" ”

"Minister, willingly! Thank you for the grace of His Royal Highness the Prince! Shi Kefa took a deep breath and thanked him. was named by Zhu Cihong personally, even if he didn't want to go, he couldn't go, after all, he couldn't use the trick of pretending to be sick or something.

Immediately, the matter of sending Shi Kefa to Shandong as governor was decided.

Seeing that it was Shi Kefa who was selected, Gao Hongtu and the others breathed a sigh of relief. However, his heart was also slightly tight, thinking that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was angry because Shi Kefa spoke too bluntly yesterday.

Out of the court, several bigwigs of the Donglin Party walked together.

"Elder Gao, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's heart doesn't seem to be very broad-minded, it seems that we should be careful when we speak in the future." Qian Qianyi is ranked as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and like Gao Hongtu, he is the boss of the Donglin Party and is also in the cabinet.

The six Shangshu are now Gao Hongtu, the secretary of the Ministry of Soldiers, Shi Kefa, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Qian Qianyi, the secretary of the Criminal Department, Jiang Yueguang, the secretary of the Ministry of Households, and Zhang Zongyi, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry. Among them, Gao Hongtu, Qian Qianyi, and Jiang Yueguang are the Donglin Party, and Ma Shiying and Zhang Zongyi are the remnants of the former eunuch party.

Gao Hongtu sighed and said: "Qian Lao is too worried, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, which one is broad-minded, think about the Chongzhen Dynasty, almost every month to change the ministers, even if I leave the cabinet one day, it is normal, just let people make up for it." ”

"Yes, as long as my Donglin Party occupies a high position, I can also assist His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Zhongxing Daming." Jiang Yueguang agreed.

The Donglin Party occupies most of the court, Gao Hongtu and others are not afraid, and it is really at a critical juncture, just calling on all the Donglin Party members to resign can suppress the emperor.

On the other hand, Ma Shiying and Zhang Zongyi walked together, the two of them were in a heavy mood, and they didn't say anything to each other, they were originally the main force supporting King Fu, plus Liu Liangzuo's rebellion, in fact, they were a little worried that the Donglin Party would attack the two of them in the future, although this may be after the crown prince ascended the throne and succeeded to the throne, but this was always a worry in their hearts.

"Brother Ma, Shi Kefa is about to go to Shandong to serve as the governor, and the post of secretary of the military department will be vacant, this position is greater than the current position of you and me, and now the Donglin Party has occupied the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Households, and the Ministry of Rites, which is equivalent to half of the cabinet, if the people of the Donglin Party are going up and occupying the Ministry of War, you and I will have no place in the court in the future." Zhang Zongyi said anxiously.

"Despite this, this matter must be considered in the long run, the day after tomorrow is the enthronement ceremony of His Royal Highness the Prince, the election of the new military department should be after the enthronement ceremony, if there is no suitable candidate, only one person from you and me can go up, in short, we must not let the people of the Donglin Party occupy the military department." Ma Shiying said.

Zhang Zongyi nodded approvingly.

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