When it was finally spoken, everyone was waiting for the emperor to speak, whether it was the wrath of thunder or the surrender of manna.

Chongzhen smiled and said approvingly: "Five thousand taels, that is, your family has 10,000 acres of land in Nanzhili, and there are so many cotton planted in the field, and the cotton merchants like your family's cotton the most." Five thousand taels, it can be regarded as difficult for you, I have been born in the world, and the ancestors have thanked you. ”

When Zuo Tongzheng heard this, a cold sweat broke out, and he said in a continuous voice: "The dynasty rules the world with filial piety, loyalty for the ministers, filial piety for the son, and the ministers donate money to the monarch's father, just as the son supports his father, it is a matter of course, where can he afford a thank you word from Your Majesty." ”

Chongzhen nodded approvingly, and then asked the ministers: "Zhong Aiqing, do you think Zuo Tongzheng's words are reasonable?" ”

"What Zuo Tongzheng said is right, and the ministers are also willing to donate 5,000 taels of silver."

Chongzhen smiled, but sighed secretly in his heart: "If Shi Zhongyi hadn't heard these news from Liu Renyu, where would these people be willing to pay." ”

After the courtiers went to the court, on the way back, they found that their clothes were actually soaked with several layers of sweat, which had never been felt since the first year of Chongzhen.

Now the emperor is becoming more and more unpredictable, and he does not trust the ministers as much as before, and even does not use officials to approve military salaries, but uses middle officials.

This time, the emperor asked the courtiers to donate money, it must be that the emperor has some information, and he has already held the evidence in his hands, so that kind of strong self-confidence forced the courtiers to make a move to donate money to avoid disaster.

When they walked to the left side of the Daming Gate with thousands of thoughts in their hearts, they suddenly found that there was already a brocade guard waiting there at this gate.

Seeing that the ministers had dispersed, the Jinyi guards walked to the officials' side in pairs, and smiled with a smile, but their tone was unquestionable: "Present the order, let's go to your house to get donations, the carriages and horses have been prepared, please go back with us, we will take the money and leave immediately." ”

The ministers never thought that the emperor would be so considerate, and Jinyiwei was by his side, and they didn't dare to talk about it.

On the same day, the officials in Beijing, except for those whose families were really poor and those who were really honest, all donated money, and the military salary was raised to 500,000 taels of silver at once.

The 500,000 taels of silver, together with the collected commercial taxes and salaries, totaling 2 million taels, were supervised by the lieutenant officials, and the military salaries were distributed when the border troops of the military towns came to the left of the Beijing Division.

This time, the distribution of military salaries was personally inquired by the emperor, monitored by the lieutenant officials, and how dare the generals withhold it, it was all full food and salaries, and distributed to the officers and soldiers.

The officers and men of all walks of life received such a generous military salary, and all of them were greatly boosted in morale and swore to go south.

*********************************************************************

Shaanxi, Yansui, Liujiabao, Yansui General Military Mansion, Liu Renyu sat in the hall, took the sealed wax pill from the hands of an agent of the Intelligence Section of the News Investigation Bureau, pinched it, took out a small note, he took a magnifying glass, and looked at it carefully.

Looking around, the generals said: "Your Majesty is really accurate, he knows that our army has pacified the northern captives, oppressed Jiannu, and there is no war on the nine sides, so he transferred Cao Wenzhao, the general in the army, to the south, and also made up enough military salaries, and wanted to pacify Li Zicheng, and then come to deal with us." ”

"Dashuai, why don't we make a fuss, have a mutiny, force the court, and relieve the pressure on Li Zicheng."

"It's not necessary," Liu Renyu waved his hand, negating Li Jiye's suggestion, "Li Zicheng has more than 400,000 troops, and if he can't win, he can retreat to Luoyang to hold on." And there are only 110,000 elite soldiers left in the imperial court, which can be said to be one less than one, if these 110,000 troops are wiped out, what do you say? ”

"Then it is needless to say," Zhang Tieniu slapped the table excitedly, "Li Zicheng's army will be unimpeded from now on, and the south of the Yangtze River can be included in the bag, and then go north to Beijing, and there will be no troops to stop." ”

"What Tie Niu said is that His Majesty is going to have a decisive battle with Li Zicheng, and it is a quick battle, Your Majesty only paid the arrears this time, as well as the opening silver, An Jiayin, and I don't know where next year's military salary is? Tell Li Zicheng that the whole army will go to battle first, and defeat the officers and soldiers in front of the Tiger Prison Pass, as long as they can kill as many as they can, as long as they defeat the officers and troops outside the Tiger Prison Pass,

When the imperial court could not withstand the attrition and forced the officials and troops to attack, they would first consume the sharp energy of the officials and soldiers, and when they were tired, the whole army would attack and decide the world in a battle. ”

"Yes, Marshal." Chen Danqing received the order.

"Gentlemen, the court and Li Zicheng are fighting a decisive battle, we are also going to fight the final decisive battle with Jiannu, the war of annihilation, it is estimated that 200,000 troops will be needed, and now Mongolia Province can send 80,000 troops, all of them are in control, our army needs to send 100,000 troops, in addition to 10,000 artillery, there are more than 50,000 people who need to be rationed with flintlock pistols, but our output has not kept up. Daddy Zhao, do you have a way? ”

"Dashuai, now we have let the masters accept apprentices, work three shifts day and night, and open many hydraulic workshops along the riverside, and also use parts to produce, and finally assemble the assembly line production, this year can achieve a monthly output of 5,000 flintlock guns, it is expected that the production task can be completed in November this year, and all of them will be distributed to the troops."

"It will be distributed to the troops in November, and the training will take three months, so it is estimated that the time when our army launched the war to destroy Jiannu should be in March of the ninth year of Chongzhen, and it will be set at this time, from now on, all military materials will begin to be deployed to Mawen Mountain, and they will be ready. Chongzhen for nine years, the bottom of the world. ”

"Yes." The generals responded in unison.

"Danqing."

"Yes."

"Have all the killers sent by your Investigation Bureau to the prefectures and counties of Shaanxi have been lurking?"

"All of them are lurking, and they are all placed near the local government offices."

"Did Li Zicheng say it over there?"

"Okay, they will send a partial division into Tongguan."

"How to respond, is everything arranged?"

"It's all in order."

"That's it, gentlemen, please prepare for the Storm Plan, as long as the victory and defeat are determined on the battlefield of Tiger Prison Pass, we will act."

*********************************************************************

Outside the Tiger Prison Pass, Zuo Liangyu, Deng Xi, Zuo Liangyu, Wu Sangui, Zu Kuan, You Shiwei and other generals looked at the towering wall and frowned.

"We have few people, and we can't break through this majestic pass after all, even if the 110,000 reinforcements from the imperial court are coming, and the Li thief doesn't fight, what can we do? I can't get around it, so what can I do? ”

Deng Xi watched the tiger prison close the hunting red flag, full of worry.

"The Shaanxi border army sent by the imperial court was also blocked by Li Thief at Hangu Pass, and they were not allowed to enter an inch, you say, why didn't the imperial court send Liu Renyu to fight, why didn't the imperial court use it?"

You Shiwei didn't know that the imperial court was already suspicious of Liu Renyu, and categorically refused to use the Jingbian Army anymore, so he asked this question, but no one answered his question, after all, he was also a martial artist, and he understood something in an instant.

"Is it going to attack or not today?" Zuo Liangyu asked the generals.

"Attack, there is a prison army, if you don't attack, the court thinks that we are deliberately delaying, it is not beautiful."

Zu Kuan nodded firmly.

Zuo Liangyu saw Zu Kuan's promise to torture Lisuo, so he smiled coldly and said: "You promised happily, you don't need your Guan Ning army to attack the city left and right, right?" ”

Zu Kuan, he saw that a small character dared to speak like this, so he sneered and replied: "Our Guanning army is a field army, even Jiannu doesn't dare to be careless when he sees us, attacking the city is not what our field army should do, like you, who sells his ass and rises up, he will only beat the inferior goods of the thieves, and he is only worthy of climbing the city wall." ”

Zuo Liangyu hated others for saying that he sold his ass the most in his life, and at this time, after listening to Zu Kuan's words, the resentment on weekdays finally broke out, his eyes breathed fire, he pulled out half of the knife, and asked sharply: "What did you say?" ”

Zu Kuan was not afraid at all, he continued to smile: "You heard it all. ”

"You ......" Zuo Liangyu was very angry, but he didn't dare to make any more moves, because the Guan Ning army looked at him coldly, if the fire rose together, the combat effectiveness of the Guan Ning army was not a joke.

Zuo Liangyu was difficult to ride a tiger for a while.

Fortunately, at this moment, the horn sounded when the tiger prison was closed, attracting the attention of all the generals.

"Alas, the door of the Tiger Prison has actually opened."

At this time, Wu Sangui's voice was full of surprise.

All the generals looked in amazement in the direction of the Tiger Prison Pass, and then, watching, watching, the surprise turned into horror.

I saw a group of sturdy soldiers wearing red armor Li Zicheng's troops, walking out of the city one after another, as if endless.