In February of the fourteenth year of Yongli, although the weather is still a little chilly, but the ice and snow have begun to melt, these years, even the south of the Yangtze River is as cold as Liaodong, at this time in previous years, Nanchang is afraid that it has seen spring, that is, the branches may have sprouted buds. But it was a previous year, and now, it seems that this day is getting colder and colder every year.

When the ice ridge hanging on the eaves was dripping with water, in the big signing hall of the governor's yamen, the atmosphere seemed a little strange, and Zhang Huangyan, who was sitting at the head of the hall, the soldier of the Ming Dynasty, looked solemn, with a little dissatisfaction between his eyebrows.

Seeing that the crowd had arrived, he unfolded the letter on the table and said:

"Shao Sima Dajian: I heard that Jiangxi Province is Ke, Ming Zhong congratulated Mr. Yu Xian in Jiangxi for my Ming Dynasty to make this miraculous feat, now Jiangnan, Jiangnan and Zhejiang provinces are all Ke, the situation in the world has been decided, my Ming has been re-based on half of the world, so, should consider the Northern Expedition...... Otherwise, we can't cut off the tax source of the Qing Dynasty, we can't fall into the occupied area, and we can't restore our Ming Dynasty, so Ming Zhong can only make this decision categorically, in order to plan for the great cause of Zhongxing in the future...... Zhu Mingzhong paused. ”

The letter was sent from Qinghe, yesterday, all night, Zhang Huangyan was looking at the letter, the content of the letter was completely beyond his expectations, and even yesterday, when he got the news, he also arbitrarily said that this is impossible, but now, this letter is telling him a fact - Zhu Mingzhong did it! Not only did he do it, but he also hoped to get his understanding.

"Hmph, a good Ming Zhong's move is a Ming Dynasty, is it true that he is the only one in the world, Zhu Mingzhong, and he has a Ming in his heart?"

Lu Liuliang sneered:

"From the point of view of the following officials, this person is just relying on this fame and reputation, and how many of the people who are out of the government are forced by the pressure of the Qingqing? As a last resort! Even if he went to the Qing Imperial Examination, did he intend to be a traitor? Lu Mou is also a student of the Qing Imperial Examination, and he also asked Shao Sima to abolish the fame of the lower officials, and the lower officials will return the arrears of money and food for several years to help me with the Ming military supplies! ”

No wonder Lu Liuliang was so angry, when the Qing captives went south to the south of the Yangtze River, he had scattered his wealth to recruit volunteers and brave people to compete with the Qing army in Zhejiang. After the defeat of the army, he practiced medicine in seclusion, although he changed his name to Guanglun in the tenth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, and he should pass the examination, but he has always kept in touch with Zhang Huangyan and others who insisted on resisting the Qing Dynasty.

It is precisely because of this that after the restoration of Nanjing, he immediately came to seek refuge in Zhang Huangyan, and gave advice to him in the curtain, during which he made many meritorious contributions, and now, seeing Zhu Mingzhong's official letter, he has always promised to be loyal to Daming, how can he not be angry when he sees that he is called a "traitor".

"Everyone in the world is a traitor, but he Zhu Mingzhong is not a traitor!"

"Even if he didn't shave his head, too!"

Another person said with a bit of yin and yang.

Even Luo Lun, who had a good impression of Zhu Mingzhong in the past, said on the side:

"People in the officialdom are like this, they only recognize yarn hats and don't recognize people, they only thought that he Zhu Ming was loyal to Daming, but he never thought that today he wanted to make this decision for the sake of the black yarn on his head!"

The reason why he said this is because when he got the news yesterday, he had said that Zhu Mingzhong's move was suspected of befriending Yanping, after all, as we all know, Yanping has always been disliked by Jiangnan Shilin, and even Zhu Mingzhong is the same.

Luo Lun's words made Zhang Huangyan's brows furrow slightly and said:

"Don't say this, Chengren is by no means a person who only recognizes Wusha and does not recognize people, and his move is also a last resort."

Looking at the letter, Zhang Huangyan sighed.

"He's in Jiangbei, it's not easy!"

"Young Sima, the lower official is telling the truth."

Luo Lun insisted on his own opinion,

"In the officialdom, men all want to squeeze in. In fact, there are advantages and disadvantages to being an official. Before becoming an official, he was a good man, but once he became an official, he had many scruples! Think at the beginning, Chengren in front of Yanping, when the blade, what a happy enmity and hatred, people in the world, who doesn't know Chengren's loyalty, don't know Chengren's righteousness, even in Suqian, Chengren is also the first soldier, in the Daming fist is brave, who knows, when he heard that he was wounded in dozens of places, Shao Sima Bu also admired, the world is really rare like Chengren's strange man, but today, what has he become today? ”

Maybe it's because he had too much good impression of him before, so that now Luo Lun is so disappointed, after all, he never thought that one day, sharpening his knife to Shao Sima Huo Huo Di is no one else, it is Zhu Mingzhong, who Shao Sima has always admired and trusted

Luo Lun's words made Zhang Huangyan shake his head and say:

"You can't generalize, some people will change, some people won't. I think Chengren will not change, he, he just has his unspeakable secrets! ”

What is it that is hard to say?

With the letter in hand, Zhang Huangyan looked towards the north.

"The current situation in the world, my Ming and Qing prisoners can be said to be divided into two worlds, evenly matched, Chengren is different from me and Yanping in Jiangbei, his last year with less than 80,000 new soldiers against 100,000 Qing elite soldiers, although the Qing prisoner Annan elite was severely damaged, but it was also a thousand enemies, and 800 self-losses! And now, the chief of the Qing Dynasty has led more than 200,000 elite soldiers of the Eight Banners, all the way south, Chengren must be the first to bear the brunt of Jiangbei, so, all he thinks and thinks must be how to resist the Qing captives to the south, and he must be a heavy blow to the Qing captives at any cost, as for the rest, I am afraid it is definitely not what Chengren thinks! ”

Although he did not agree with Zhu Mingzhong's approach, and was even very angry, Zhang Huangyan could still understand his distress, after all, the two were in different environments.

"Isn't this exactly the case, I am equal to Jiangxi, the reason why I can slowly figure it out is precisely because Zhu Jingluo blocked the Qing army in Jiangbei, so that it did not go south, but it was slightly in Jiangbei, but it was a single support for half of the Ming Dynasty, and in order to defeat the Qing Dynasty, I am afraid that I can only go sideways!"

Zhang Liang echoed on the side, although he is a scholar, but as a military general in the army, he naturally knows that the thinking of a military general is different from that of a civilian official, and the first thing that comes to mind as a military general is how to defeat the enemy, and the others will not think too much.

And in many cases, in addition to his admiration for Zhu Mingzhong, he also has some sympathy, after all, although Jiangnan now claims to have 400,000 Ming troops, neither Yanping nor Shao Sima has ever sent him a single soldier or a single reinforcement, and in contrast, he is only a few tens of thousands of soldiers against the elite of the Qing Dynasty, in the face of such pressure, he naturally racked his brains and tried all means.

"Otherwise, we can't cut off the source of tax revenue, and we can't fall into the occupied area! If the Han officials in the world were so coerced and abandoned the seal and fled, when the time came, it would naturally be difficult for the Qing to collect taxes, and their rule would inevitably fall into civil strife. ”

"Exactly!"

Zhang Huangyan nodded and sighed,

"He's in Jiangbei, it's really not easy!"

"Yes...... Even if it's not easy, you can't make this decision! ”

Thinking of Zhu Mingzhong's repeated miraculous contributions to the country since last year, Lu Liuliang put away the dissatisfaction in his heart and said:

"If he does this, I don't know how many people he will offend, I don't know how many scholars' families will be ruined, and the poor scholar will be dismissed from his reputation, and he will be ordered to return the accumulated money and food, isn't it forcing people to go to a dead end?"

Lu Liuliang, who still had some complaints in his heart, said to Zhang Huangyan:

"Moreover, as we all know, Jiangnan Shilin is only a young Sima from it, Zhu Jingluo's move is clearly to trap Shao Sima in injustice, if Shao Sima decides this method, it will definitely make Jiangnan Shilin's heart cold, so isn't it just to invite Yanping?"

Trap the young Sima in injustice!

It makes Jiangnan Shilin's heart cold!

Invite Yanping!

In the face of such words, Zhang Huangyan only felt tired, he was indeed a little tired, although he could understand Zhu Mingzhong, but he also couldn't accept the blow caused to him by the other party's method, it can be said that he was also extremely disappointed.

Because he never thought that one day, Zhu Mingzhong would choose him as the target of the attack in order to invite Yanping.

Could it be that Chengren has really changed?

The turmoil caused by the liquidation made Zhang Huangyan haunted him all the time, and what made him even more helpless was that Zhu Mingzhong still occupied the righteousness, which made him even more dumb and unspeakable.

"Alas!"

In the courtyard where there was no one in the government office, Zhang Huangyan looked up at the clouds in the sky, with this melancholy in his eyebrows. How should this matter be handled?

"Young Sima!"

Listening to the words with a slight Cantonese accent behind him, Zhang Huangyan knew that it was Chen Gongyin, who was the son of Chen Bangyan, a man who resisted the Qing Dynasty in Guangdong. After learning of the Northern Expedition of the army, he immediately defected to Wuhu. Although he is still young, he is also quite talented. And he also had a deep friendship with Qu Dajun in Zhu Mingzhong's curtain.

"Young Sima, but you are still worried about what Zhu Jingluo mentioned?"

Zhang Huangyan nodded, looked into the distance and said.

"The heart of benevolence, which means the Ming Dynasty, can be ......"

Shaking his head, the phrase "it is inevitable that there will be selfishness" was finally not said.

"Actually, since Shao Sima knows that Zhu Jing's method is to make the Qing Dynasty fall into civil strife, why not make a fuss about this matter?"

Looking back at Chen Gongyin, Zhang Huangyan motioned for him to continue.

"Shao Sima, in the opinion of the following officials, the target of this matter is not an ordinary scholar, but an official who eats the Qinglu captivity, and it is also aimed at a very small number of people who die without repentance, if they can abandon India and return to the south, it is naturally the Ming Dynasty loyalty, if they have no intention of abandoning the official, it is a traitor, such a traitor, even if it is his family, what does it matter? As for ordinary scholars, it seems that this fame cannot be preserved, and Shao Sima can ask King Yanping to be extrajudicial and exempt from compensating for the accumulation of money and grain......"

Listening to Chen Gongyin's explanation, Zhang Huangyan's face showed a rare smile:

"Yuan Xiao, you are also an old man! If...... I'm afraid that's all it can be."

"But, young Sima."

Chen Gongyin saw that he agreed with his suggestion and said again.

"Young Sima knows, why did Jing Luo invite King Yanping?"