The officials in the court were arguing endlessly over the matter of filling the vacancies in the cabinet, and the officials headed by the cabinet ministers and the officials headed by Wang Zhen all had their own preferred candidates, and they debated for more than half a month without a conclusion.

Zhao Yan didn't want to get involved in these things, so he hid in the Hanlin Academy every day to study history with businessmen, and occasionally wrote a few chapters of novels, and his life was quite leisurely.

On this day, Shang Yan frowned since he was on duty, and during the lunch break, Zhao Yan couldn't help but ask: "Brother Hongzai, what's the trouble?" Why is there so much sorrow today? ”

The relationship between the two has become increasingly close, and Shang Shi smiled bitterly, and did not hide it: "Recently, Wara came to the court, have you ever heard of Guomei?" ”

Zhao Yan nodded, Warat's strength was getting stronger and stronger, and the threat to Daming was also increasing day by day.

In the eleventh year of orthodoxy, the Taishi Warat also went to the border town of Datong to beg for grain from the Ming Dynasty, and under Wang Zhen's prodding, Zhu Qizhen signaled the local garrison eunuch Guo Jing not to meet with him, nor to give him food.

In the second year, that is, the twelfth year of orthodoxy, he also came to ask for supplies again, but this time it was replaced by the border town of Xuanfu. After Yang Hong, the guard of the Xuanfu, reported to the imperial court, many ministers wrote to Huairou, and Zhu Qizhen had to order Yang Hong to be courteous first, Xu is Yang Hong did not take this order seriously, and only casually got a few iron pots and sent them away.

Soon after, Yexian's subordinates surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, saying that Yexian had gathered other tribes to attack the Ming Dynasty together, and the ministers in the court panicked and unanimously asked to send envoys to negotiate with Yexian.

Just two days ago, the tributary mission sent by Warat had arrived outside the city, and it was said that the number of the mission was 3,000, but after the actual inspection, it was only about 2,000, and it was obvious that the number was falsely reported in order to ask for more rewards.

Shang Zhen frowned, and said worriedly: "In the tribute, my Ming Dynasty has suffered a loss, and if the subject country sends a load of grain, I will reward a load of tea, and the two are not equal at all, so the imperial court has repeatedly limited the number of envoys from various countries to pay tribute." Warat was the largest embassy among the countries, the most rewarding party, but now it has to gain an inch, not only the size of the mission exceeded 1,000 people, but also falsely reported the number of people, in a vain attempt to deceive the reward, if the court does not give punishment, I am afraid that other countries will see the same example, resulting in the loss of my Ming majesty. ”

Shang Yan's tone was painful, and his words were obviously from the bottom of his heart, Zhao Yan thought for a moment and comforted: "Brother Hongzai is too worried, Wara has to make inches, and all the princes in the court must have seen it in their eyes, and now they may be discussing countermeasures, and they will definitely not let Wara's plan succeed." ”

In fact, the Ming Dynasty really did not let the plan of the Wara Taishi succeed this time, but distributed rewards according to the actual number of people, and many requests from the envoys sent first only received 20%, but it is somewhat ironic that it was not the Hongru princes of the Manchu Dynasty who contributed to this matter, but Wang Zhen.

It's a little funny to say, the reason why Wang Zhen did this is not all because he is worried about the country and the people, one is because the first envoy did not give Wang Zhen a gift, Wang Zhen feels that he also looks down on himself first, so what else is there to say, you don't let us have a good time, we don't let you have a good time, and the other reason is that Wang Zhen has always looked down on foreign races, and thinks that I will go to the country tomorrow, and I must be tough on foreign races, so as to show the majesty of my Ming Dynasty.

At the end of April, the Warat mission in the Ming army "escort" out of the customs, and then all the way and go, more than a month later the envoy saw also first, and so he told the Ming State of Warat's "unfair" treatment, also first immediately angry, at the moment regardless of the Great Khan off the dissuasion, began to convene the tribes under his command, ready to gather people and horses after the south to the Ming border to a large demonstration, commonly known as 'grass valley', that is, looting and burning.

On June 5th, the right side of the door to the temple.

Zhu Qizhen didn't rest well last night, and yawned several times on the way to the court, and Wang Zhen persuaded him after seeing it next to him: "Your Majesty has all the opportunities, you should take care of the dragon's body." ”

Zhu Qizhen nodded with a smile and said, "I have written down what Mr. said." ”

"If there is something to do, it will be played early, and there will be nothing to retreat." After Wang Zhen finished shouting, he retreated to the edge of the dragon chair, his face expressionless.

After waiting for a while, seeing that no one of the ministers below came out, Wang Zhen was about to shout to retreat from the court, and he didn't want to see a brocade guard running outside the hall from afar, and after talking with Ma Shun, the commander on duty at the entrance of the palace, Ma Shun's face changed, and he snatched a book from the hand of the brocade guard and walked into the hall quickly.

"Your Majesty, Xuanfu Jinyi Wei 800 miles to expedite the report." Ma Shun knelt on the ground and raised his hands above his head.

A small eunuch stepped down to take the recital, and then came to the stage to hand it over to Wang Zhen.

Wang Zhen glanced at Zhu Qizhen, and when he saw that the emperor did not speak, he unfolded the recital and read: "Jinyi Wei Baihu Zeng Lu presented it to the Jinyi Wei Ma Commander to read it personally. The Taishi Wara was also dissatisfied with the court's handling of the tribute reward, and at the end of May, he gathered an army of 50,000 and marched towards our Ming Dynasty. The subordinates risked their lives to find out the news, and they also wanted to divide the troops into four routes, the east route was to attack Liaodong with the Wuliang Ha department, the west road faction would attack Ganzhou, and the middle road was divided into two branches, one led by the Arazhiyuan to attack Xuanfu to besiege Chicheng, and the other was led by Ye Xian to attack Datong, and Wangma commanded the envoy to report to the imperial court quickly, and made plans in advance. Zeng Lu is unique. ”

Hearing that the army had been assembled first, Zhu Qizhen was taken aback, but he was the Ninth Five-Year Emperor, and he could not be easily invisible, so he could only be forced to calm down, and when he finally heard the words 'Zeng Lu's masterpiece', Zhu Qizhen couldn't help but sigh softly, and said to Wang Zhen next to him in a low tone: "Loyal ministers and righteous people should be rewarded, and don't forget Mr. Hou of the next dynasty." ”

After speaking, Zhu Qizhen looked at the Manchu officials below and asked, "The ambition of the wolf son is also first, what do you think should be done with it?" ”

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the main thing should be to appease. The reason why he raised troops to commit my Ming Dynasty was that he felt that the reward for him was less, and the minister suggested that he should send an envoy to see him first, and give him more rewards, and Wara would naturally retreat. ”

"Xu Cheng, the old man is not dead yet, do you want to betray the country to seek glory?"

"Why did the British public say this? The subordinate officials are just making suggestions based on things. ”

"Hmph...... Your Majesty, since this brocade-clothed hundred-household martyred should be compensated, but the current military situation is unknown, the imperial court can not listen to the words of this brocade-clothed hundred-hundred-hundred-household, the old minister suggested that all border towns should be notified immediately to increase vigilance, and then release the probe horse to investigate, and then make a decision until the investigation is clear. ”

"The British elder is serious and thoughtful, and the minister seconded it."

"The minister seconded the proposal."

"Seconded ......"

The battle on weekdays is on weekdays, and once a major military event is encountered, most officials can still distinguish the importance of the matter.

"In that case, the Cabinet will deal with the matter according to the British Public, and order the guards to ascertain the situation of the enemy as soon as possible, and then deal with it. Come at noon in England. ”

"Obey."

The news of Warat's big move south spread quickly, and Zhao Yan was surprised to find that people didn't seem to be interested in the news, and it was clear after a little thought.

From Taizu to Taizong, and then to Xuanzong, the wars with the northern grassland peoples have won more and lost less, and even the invincible Yuan Dynasty was overthrown by Taizu, and I am afraid that he is not even a Vara who is not even orthodox in the Yuan Dynasty?

The news of Warat's southward movement was quickly confirmed, and the attack intentions and troop distribution of Warat that were transmitted back by Zeng Lu, a hundred households of Jinyi Wei, risked his death, were also confirmed, and all that remained was to discuss how to deal with it.

In the process of discussion, a bad news came, the Datong soldiers were defeated, and the surrounding small cities and fortresses were all broken first, and even Wu Hao, the general of Datong, was also killed in Maoerzhuang.

After getting this news, the imperial court immediately cut through the chaos and decided to send four generals led by Jing Yuan, the commander of the horses, to lead 10,000 people to Datong to meet the enemy.

In the Maoqin Palace, Zhu Qizhen looked at the manuscript in his hand with a sad face, and suddenly looked up at Wang Zhen and asked, "Sir, do you say that the horses are all Wei Jingyuan, can they be defeated first?" ”

Wang Zhen thought for a while, slowly shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, this one seems to be different from other Tartars, he is smarter, and he is more skilled in using soldiers. Although the people of the horse commander Jingyuan are also experienced in battle, it is the first time for them to go north to fight against the Tartars on horseback, I am afraid that it will ......."

"How's that for good?" Zhu Qizhen's face was even more sad, Taizu drove out the Tartars, recovered the great mountains and rivers of the Han people, Taizong ploughed the court three times, chased the north of the desert five times, and went to the West seven times, his father and emperor also reorganized the soldiers and horses, and attacked Hulu in the north, if the Ming Dynasty was bullied by Wara in his own hands, then what kind of face did he have to go to the temple to worship his ancestors?

Wang Zhen was overjoyed in his heart, and said: "In the past, the first emperor was worried that the Hu people would invade the frontier when the autumn was high and the horses were fat, so he reorganized the soldiers and horses, stationed at the Xifeng Pass to wait for the enemy, and then broke the Hulu, and there were countless surrenderers, all because the Hu people knew that His Majesty the Ming Emperor was frightened after the imperial expedition, and they didn't even have the courage to raise their weapons, so they achieved the first emperor's fame. Now that he is also in the past, His Majesty might as well come to the royal expedition in person. I also know that His Majesty will be terrified first, and then there will be a large army accompanying him to threaten, and this time he will definitely be able to defeat Warat and capture him alive. ”

The next morning, in front of the ministers, Zhu Qizhen counted the many incriminating evidences of the first master, and then swore that he would take the royal expedition three days later.

Kuang Yu, the secretary of the military department, and Yu Qian, the squire, said that the sixth division should not go out lightly, and the king of the secretary department was straightforward and persuaded the ministers, but Zhu Qizhen believed in Wang Zhen, insisted on going his own way, and insisted on conscripting in person.

Zhao Yan was stunned for a while after hearing the news in the Hanlin Courtyard, and said in his heart that he should have come, although he was soft-spoken, he still had to try again to see if he could stop Zhu Qizhen from confronting him.

Zhu Qizhen and Wang Zhen were looking at the map in the hall and pondering, Xi Ning tiptoed in and said softly: "Your Majesty, Zhao Yan sent a manuscript and a note. ”

"Oh?" Zhu Qizhen raised his eyebrows with interest and said, "What can he do as a gentleman?" Show it to me. ”