The summer of the fifteenth year of Yongli, for any people with a great mind, is a very good year, the summer of this year, the Northern Expedition that once seemed to be out of reach, finally became true, hundreds of thousands of troops waved the Northern Expedition, a war to Henan, and in the south of the Yangtze River, it seemed that there would be internal strife at any time between Zheng and Zhu, with Zhu Mingzhong's Northern Expedition, and then Zheng Chenggong supervised the troops in Fujian, the smoke and clouds of internal strife disappeared.

And just when people breathed a sigh of relief, the news that Liu Qingtai, the governor of Henan in Kaifeng, had returned to the Ming Dynasty, but few people could laugh, because Liu Qingtai was Li Ziyuan of Luoyang, and Zhu Mingzhong, who was not in the city.

"What a traitor!"

Almost everyone, when they learned the news, probably said the same thing, but when they commented on Liu Qingtai like this, people were also looking at Jiangbei and staring at Qinghe, waiting for Zhu Mingzhong's reaction.

At this moment, Zhu Mingzhong, who was in the public house of the Huai Wang's Mansion, was looking at the garden outside through the glass window with his arms crossed, although his eyes were bloodshot despite the fact that he had not rested well for several days, his eyes were still bright.

Destroyed!

Thinking of the attempt of tens of thousands of people in the Northern Expedition, with Xu Yuncheng's strategy, it was ruined, although this was just a small test, but thinking of spending hundreds of thousands of military dollars, but without the slightest gain, Zhu Mingzhong's hand still couldn't help but clench into a fist.

A complex feeling of remorse and unwillingness arises spontaneously!

Resort to arms!

Almost subconsciously, he had only one thought in his heart, that is, to use troops against Kaifeng and take Kaifeng City!

But in his heart, reason was telling him that he couldn't raise an army, and he couldn't raise an army no matter what!

He even knew he had lost this time!

And it failed badly!

Not only did he lose Kaifeng, but he also let Li Ziyuan lead the Northern Expedition!

Although through this chess game, he got the recognition and self-reliance of Zheng Chenggong that he needed, but, judging from the current situation, it can be said that the gains outweigh the losses.

Not to mention anything else, the Northern Expedition led by Li Ziyuan will bring about unknown variables, and the changes in them have far exceeded his expectations.

What if a large army is dispatched to the north now?

Zhu Mingzhong thought of the plan he had been planning all along—to launch the Northern Expedition by sea. However, the main force of the navy has not yet returned to China, and it will take at least half a year for them to return to Haizhou, and the sailors after the long expedition also need to rest, which means that it is impossible to launch a northern expedition by sea for at least ten months. As for the Northern Expedition by land, this means that he or Li Ziyuan may make a wedding dress for the other party, and when the time comes, one side will inevitably face the main force of the Qing army, and after a tear with the Qing army, who will benefit from it?

Sea route...... It takes ten months to wait! But in the next ten months, a lot is likely to happen. Li Ziyuan's leadership of the Northern Expedition was an unprecedented heavy blow to Zhu Mingzhong, and it was undoubtedly an extremely severe test.

Despite the fact that all this was his plan, the situation has developed beyond the original plan!

For Zhu Mingzhong, who has opened up the shogunate as the king of Huai, he knows very well in his heart that now is not the time to complain. As the King of Huai, he must not show the slightest uneasiness and confusion in front of anyone, after all, he is the King of Huai of the Ming Dynasty, and there are countless pairs of eyes staring at him by his side.

Today, the most dangerous enemy for Zhu Mingzhong was not the Manchu Qing north of the Yellow River. It's from within – and now, the threat posed by the enemy from within is surpassing the threat from within!

Li Ziyuan is not a threat! The problem is that people like Xu Yuncheng who will do whatever it takes for their personal future are sometimes more dangerous than millions of enemies. Who knows where they're going to attack next?

Especially now!

Kaifeng!

If it is not handled well, it will not only lead to internal resentment, but may even lead to the collapse of the country. And in the northern part of the Yellow River, the Manchus are now probably like a wild wolf, where their blood-red eyes flash, waiting for an opportunity. What kind of opportunities are they waiting for?

Waiting for them to make mistakes, for them to fight among themselves, and as soon as they wish, they will immediately turn back, and they will enslave the country again, and the nation will fall into darkness again.

Be sure to calm down!

Zhu Mingzhong said to himself in his heart, he knew that the more difficult times he was, the more he needed to remain calm and composed, and only in this way could the ministers in this palace be able to face all this calmly and be inspired to get through this hurdle, as for the Manchu Qing ...... That's what they're really afraid of.

"Why was the Manchu Qing Dynasty able to decide Jiangnan in one year?"

Zhu Mingzhong didn't reply, just looked at the garden outside the window and seemed to say to himself.

"It's all because my Ming Dynasty was constantly fighting at that time, if it weren't for the infighting, how could Qing Lu win the world so quickly?"

When such words that seemed to reflect and review came out of Zhu Mingzhong's mouth, Gu Yanwu, Zhu Daxian, and Qian Lei, who were standing there, just hung their heads,

"And why is my Da Ming constantly infighting?"

Such a rhetorical question reversed, and Zhu Mingzhong's voice became fierce.

"It's all despicable people like Xu Yuncheng who are selfish and ignore national affairs, this kind of person is simply the scum of the nation, and his people are more hateful than traitors, if it weren't for his promotion, how would Li Ziyuan dare to steal food, if it wasn't for his promotion, how could he be so gambled!"

gritted his teeth and said that he hated Xu Yuncheng, and Zhu Mingzhong even put the responsibility for the demise of the Ming Dynasty on him.

"This kind of scum, if you don't kill it, it's not enough to calm the fire in your lonely heart!"

After saying this sentence angrily, Zhu Mingzhong turned around and walked to the front of the case, picked up a pen and wrote three words on the paper.

"Xu Yuncheng!"

After writing these three words, just when Zhu Mingzhong wanted to order someone to give these three words to Li Ziyuan, when the words came to his mouth, he took them back, even if Li Ziyuan sent Xu Yuncheng's head over, what was the use?

"King, from the courtier's point of view, if Li Ziyuan is not returned to Kaifeng, I am afraid that the morale of my loyal and righteous army will be damaged!"

As the oldest old man among the crowd, Qian Lei naturally knows very well what the root of the loyal and righteous army is, which is morale!

It can be said that the ability of the loyal army to win all battles depends on morale!

It depends on the morale!

"What Qian said in the army is very true, Kaifeng is a small matter, morale is a big matter, Xu Yuncheng deceived me with a party, deceived Kaifeng, and put my loyal and righteous soldiers where to be? If you don't vent this anger, how can you be right! ”

"Exactly, thinking that my loyal army is going on an expedition, and when it will be successful, the results of the battle are defrauded by others, how can people endure such a despicable trip?"

Everyone, you say what you say, one thing is for sure, everyone is on fire, it's no wonder, maybe they know very well that they sent troops to Kaifeng, but just to take the name of a "Northern Expedition", as for Kaifeng...... For them, it doesn't matter.

But the heart is not important, but now that the fruit has been picked like this, it is equivalent to a slap in the face, how can they not care, and anger is naturally a matter of course. It can even be said that the reason why they can still "hold their anger" and do not advocate the use of troops in Luoyang is that they already understand the righteousness.

"Kaifeng ......"

Talking about this place name, he didn't think there was anything about the ownership of Kaifeng, at most it was just a nail buried in the Central Plains, just to limit the development of Li Ziyuan's power, and now, this Kaifeng, he has to take it down no matter what.

It's just that how to take it down is a question that needs to be considered at the moment.

Kaifeng!

Liu Qingtai!

Xu Yuncheng......

Thinking about the city of Kaifeng, he repeatedly recited the two names in his heart, Zhu Mingzhong's heart was eager to pull these two people to his side, and then clean up well, it was these two things that made the good situation so delicate.

The latter calculates the mind of the former, and the submission of the former does not taste the slightest disagreement.

With these people, is it possible for this Northern Expedition to succeed?

Moreover, now that the matter of Kaifeng is directly related to the morale of the loyal army, no matter what, he has to let Li Ziyuan give an explanation!

If he doesn't give it...... How can you get him!

Suddenly, Zhu Mingzhong was a little depressed, this would make him even hope that Yongli was in Qinghe now, if he was in Qinghe, he could reprimand Li Ziyuan in the name of the imperial court, but now, even if he was the king of Huai, he had no power to do so.

Frowning with some annoyance in his heart, Zhu Mingzhong suddenly found that it seemed that there was no other way to restrain Li Ziyuan except for Xingbing, after all, Li Ziyuan was not his subordinate, but he was also independent, even if he brought the lawsuit to Zheng Chenggong, the result would be muddy.

What to do?

How can this be resolved peacefully?

Weapons?

This idea was just a move, and Zhu Mingzhong dispelled this idea, after all, to a certain extent, he still needed to rely on Li Ziyuan's Northern Expedition, although he didn't want Li Ziyuan to lead the Northern Expedition, if the weapons originally agreed to give him were deducted, would it lead to the intensification of the conflict?

Perhaps, he should use this reason to detain the weapon, after all, he didn't want Li Ziyuan to lead the Northern Expedition.

That's really the reason to send it to your door!

Zhu Mingzhong secretly thought to himself, if his weapons were deducted, then it would very likely cause Li Ziyuan to not be able to continue the Northern Expedition, so that he could buy time, ten months, ten months later, Jiangbei could naturally leave Li Ziyuan aside and go on his own Northern Expedition.

Just when Zhu Mingzhong made up his mind about this thought, someone over there suddenly told him that "Li Ziyuan, the general soldier of Huguang, is in a hurry."

Li Ziyuan's letter?

Unfolding the letter was just a glance, Zhu Mingzhong's face couldn't help but change slightly, and he said after a while.

"This Li Linchuan is really ...... Can bend and stretch! ”