In the early morning of the next day, the news of the great victory of the Ming army spread, and the city of Jinzhou immediately boiled, and the common people poured into the streets, beating gongs and drums, cheering, and welcoming the soldiers who returned triumphantly. Wang Qiang was enthusiastic to meet with the generals who returned to the city to pay the order in the marshal's mansion, while ordering to kill pigs and sheep, reward the three armies, while counting the results of the battle, busy for a morning, the results were counted, the battle was a total of 20,000 enemies (the actual enemy was less than 10,000, and it was the consistent practice of the Ming army to falsely report the results), countless horses, weapons and other military materials were captured, 2,000 enemies were captured, and three generals and above were killed by the Qing army, and the results were brilliant!

The Ming army has never won a battle so happily for so many years, and all the generals were very excited, and unanimously suggested taking advantage of the defeat of the Qing army to wave the army to attack Liaoxi, recover Liaoyang, and expand the results of the war. Wang Qiang was so encouraged by the generals that he couldn't bear it, and he felt that he should not miss this excellent opportunity to strike at the Qing army and regain the lost territory, so he immediately ordered that the main force of the Ming army should be divided into two routes, and each other should tentatively attack Liaoxi, recover Liaoyang and the surrounding prefectures and counties, and immediately retreat if a large number of Qing reinforcements were found.

In the afternoon of the same day, Wang Qiang asked the army to write a red flag report, played it to the imperial court, and at the same time reported the victory to Hong Chengchou.

Hong Chengchou, who was far away in the capital, had to pretend to be sick and recuperate in Beijing in order to escape the envoy who went to the northwest to lead the troops. After he received the report that the Qing army in western Liaoning was pouring out to attack Jinzhou, he was very worried, afraid that something would go wrong, but he had just pretended to be sick and weak in front of Chongzhen, and it was not good to leave for the northeast immediately, so he had to write a letter asking Wang Qiang to hold out. When he received the report that the Qing army was killing the people outside the city to provoke the Ming army to fight, he felt bad, he could understand Wang Qiang's dilemma, and he was worried that he would not be able to suppress the generals, and he would take the risk of attacking, which might cause a catastrophe, so he decided to immediately ask for a decree to return to Jinzhou.

Early the next morning, Hong Chengchou hurriedly entered the palace to see Chongzhen, Chongzhen summoned him in the south study, Hong Chengchou told the situation faced by Jinzhou, and said that his health had improved, and he was afraid that something would happen to the northeast border, and he wanted to ask for an order to return to the northeast front line and command the battle. I didn't want Chongzhen to look at him with a smile and said, "Hehe, Hong Aiqing, it seems that your news is not well-informed, look at what this is?" After speaking, he handed a good news to Hong Chengchou, and Hong Chengchou took it and saw that it was the military report of the Ming army's victory in Jinzhou.

It turned out that Wang Qiang's good news to Chongzhen and the report to Hong Chengchou were delivered to the capital at the same time this morning, because Hong Chengchou left the palace and entered the palace early in the morning, so he did not receive the military report, but Chongzhen got the news first.

The good news was written in great detail, Wang Qiang scolded the generals, designed to paralyze the Qing army, the Ming army took advantage of the night to set foot in the camp, chased and annihilated the Qing army, won a complete victory, and annihilated tens of thousands of enemies The situation was described in detail, Hong Chengchou saw it, and was surprised and happy in his heart, and there was a trace of jealousy, and he couldn't help but secretly praise: "This little eunuch is really not simple, even if the old man is changed, I am afraid it is difficult to have such a whimsy, but if the old man is there, the Qing army may not dare to be so big, and neglect the defense, this little eunuch is really lucky." At the end of the good news, the Ming army's next plan to prepare to divide the troops into two routes, attack Liaoxi, and recover the lost territory, Hong Chengchou saw this, and couldn't help but chuckle in his heart, thinking: "It's bad, such a division of troops to attack, has completely violated the principle of 'concentrating troops and holding on to the city' formulated by himself, in fact, it was transferred out of the fortified city by the Qing army, and it was easy to be broken by each in the field battle, which is already a taboo for soldiers!" ”

Hong Chengchou closed the good news, and Chong Chongzhen, who was worried, said: "Your Majesty, Lord Wang led the Jinzhou defenders to kill and retreat the Qing army, which is really gratifying. However, it seems inappropriate for the minister to send troops to attack Liaoxi, so leaving the fortified city without permission and dividing the troops into field battles is really the disadvantage of our army, I am afraid that I will fall into the tricks of the Qing army, and our army will be in danger. Therefore, Weichen asked for an immediate return to the front line in Jinzhou to coordinate the overall situation. ”

Chongzhen looked at Hong Chengchou with a little mockery, and thought: "This person is really old and faint, he has been in the northeast for a few months, and he has no size merit, he will only shrink in the city. Now that you see Wang Qiang's meritorious service, you are jealous and want to go back to grab the merit quickly! It's really a small belly chicken intestine. Thinking of this, Chongzhen said with a smile: "Eh, Hong Aiqing doesn't have to be anxious, you still have peace of mind to recuperate in the capital, Wang Qiang defeated the Qing army twice, it seems that he seems to have a way to restrain the Qing army, now our army's morale is flourishing, the main force of the Qing army in western Liaoning has been defeated, it is a good time to recover the country, the Northeast Army will have this heart to serve the country, its ambition is commendable, I decided to give an order to praise." Once the situation at the northeast border is stabilized, the imperial court can go all out to deal with the bandits in the northwest, in fact, dealing with the bandits is what you are good at. ”

Hong Chengchou understood Chongzhen's words, and his heart suddenly cooled, it seemed that the emperor was blaming himself for being cowardly and avoiding the battle, and he was not effective in commanding the troops, but he still wanted to send himself to the northwest. He thought that tens of thousands of Ming soldiers outside the gate were worried about their lives, and he was anxious, and said eagerly: "Your Majesty, forgive the minister, according to the current measures of Lord Wang, tens of thousands of Ming soldiers are in danger, and the border is in danger, so please ask the emperor to ------."

Chongzhen impatiently interrupted Hong Chengchou's words and said, "You don't have to say it, I have made up my mind, you better go back to the house to recuperate!" ”

Hong Chengchou was disheartened, kowtowed goodbye to Chongzhen, staggered out of the hall, and went back to the house, since the emperor didn't let him take care of it, he simply let go, and didn't even give Wang Qiang a letter to them back, he estimated that in a few days, the news of the Ming army's fiasco would come back.

But the progress of the war in the northeast completely exceeded Hong Chengchou's expectations, the Jinzhou base camp sent military newspapers every day as usual, it was the news of the victory of the Ming army, in just ten days, the Ming army swept through western Liaoning like the autumn wind sweeping the leaves, everywhere it went, the Qing army fled from the wind, the Ming army successively recovered more than 20 county towns, captured Liaoyang, and recovered a large area of western Liaoning! Hong Chengchou studied these military reports suspiciously, and the more he looked at it, the more he didn't understand, when did the Ming army become so strong? And why did the Qing army become so vulnerable? Does this little eunuch really have the ability to turn decay into magic!

The news of the Ming army's victory in the northeast soon spread throughout the country, and the government and the opposition were excited for a while, the whole country rejoiced, and Wang Qiang became a national hero in the eyes of the people. But people of insight who are well versed in Chongzhen's temperament have a faint uneasiness in their hearts.

On this day, Chongzhen received several reports, one was a cabinet report, indicating that the army's military offensive in the northeast had a great shock to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the Qing court was in a panic, and Huang Taiji had no choice but to sue for peace, and the Qing court's envoys were already on their way to Beijing.

The other is Wang Qiang's recital, in which it shows that although the army has recovered a large area of western Liao, due to the dispersion of troops, it is no longer able to continue to launch a large-scale offensive against the Manchus, and even the defense is slightly weak, and the court is asked to increase troops in the northeast.

The two reports were combined, Chongzhen believed that the war against the Qing court should be stopped, and now that the war in the northwest of the imperial court was tight, and it was simply unable to reinforce the northeast, he should take the opportunity to negotiate peace with the Qing court, and transfer troops from the northeast to reinforce the northwest, and make every effort to exterminate the rebel army of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong.

There is also a report is a summary report of the relevant situation collected by the secret agents of the East Factory in various places, the report is very long, but there are two paragraphs in it that cause Chongzhen's strong uneasiness, and the content of one paragraph is like this: "The official army is invincible in western Liaoning, and the Qing army is frightened. ’------ 。 Everywhere the officials and soldiers went, the people all ate pot pulp to welcome him, and Wang Qiang had a very high prestige among the military and civilians in the northeast. ”

Another paragraph: "In Zhili, Shandong and other places, the folk divergence of leaflets was found, saying that Wang Qiang was wise and martial, and he was the god of the world, and some people of the folk worshiped Wang Qiang's tablet in their own homes to ward off evil spirits!" ”

Chongzhen slammed the report on the bookcase, and thought angrily: "In just one month, how can tens of thousands of Northeast officials and soldiers become the Wang Family's army!" You are the god of the world, so who am I! This Wang Qiang is really strange, he always looks honest and honest around me, why did he become wise and martial as soon as he left me? ”

Chongzhen calmed down for a while, remembered Yuan Chonghuan, his heart moved, and he couldn't help but think suspiciously: "No, this Wang Qiang is very loyal to me, there should be no rebellion, it is estimated that this is another discordant plan of the Qing people, they are afraid of Wang Qiang, and they want to repeat the old tricks, but I am no longer the reckless and reckless teenager ten years ago, how can I be easily fooled." But even if Wang Qiang has no objection, the arrogant soldiers and fierce generals under him can't be sure, Wang Qiang is too young after all, if he is instigated by others, it is possible to be used, no matter what, it is definitely inappropriate to put 200,000 elite soldiers at the border pass in the hands of a small eunuch, and he has to be replaced quickly. ”

After thinking about it, he ordered with a gloomy face: "Someone come, it is rumored that the cabinet minister and Hong Chengchou will enter the palace to see me immediately!" ”