The White Lotus Sect is in the matter.

Li Yan's copy of the piece for Ji Qingwen was sent by Li Yuanyin through the channel of Jinyiwei, but it was delivered to Emperor Chongzhen, who was far away in Beijing, in three days.

But what Ji Qingwen was waiting for in Suzhou was not the holy decree of Emperor Chongzhen, but the handwritten letter of his master Sun Chengzong.

It turned out that the current internal and external difficulties of the Ming Dynasty, and at the same time to deal with the Manchurian Emperor Taiji outside the Guan, and the surging peasant uprising in Shanxi, Shaanxi Province, were still overstretched, and the White Lotus Sect in Jiangnan could no longer be involved in the energy of the imperial court.

If Emperor Chongzhen issued an edict to suppress the army, it would be necessary to go through the cabinet drafting, the celebrant and the celebrant using the seal, and the military department planning before the army could really be mobilized. In this way, I am afraid that the Holy Decree has not yet left Beijing, and the city has already been full of turmoil.

The rumors of leakage are secondary, but the tax revenue in Jiangnan accounts for more than two-thirds of the Ming Dynasty's wealth, and if the incident in Jiangnan spreads all over the government and the opposition, it will inevitably cause people's hearts to fluctuate, and it will be unfavorable to the people's hearts and morale.

Therefore, Chongzhen thought about it and still invited Sun Chengzong, who was busy rebuilding the defense of Shanhaiguan, and asked him to come over to discuss countermeasures.

Sun Chengzong thought about it for a while, and the suggestion he put forward was very simple and clear: it was to put down this rebellion of the White Lotus Sect within the smallest scope, at the lowest cost, and in the shortest time.

It's easy to say, but it's extremely difficult to do.

You must know that according to reliable information from Ji Qingwen's Chen Zuo, the White Lotus Sect bandits in the place where Zhejiang and Fujian meet are the same group as the White Lotus Sect bandits who made a big fuss in Nanjing City a few months ago. This group of people is bold, strong, and quite prestigious in the rivers and lakes, and they are really a group of opponents who are difficult to deal with.

In this regard, Sun Chengzong's countermeasures were: to transfer 2,000 Liaodong iron cavalry from Liaodong to the south of Zhejiang and Fujian, and then launch the "Ming Wu Army" under Ji Qingwen, and attack together with the defenders of Jiangnan, which will definitely succeed in one fell swoop; And the candidate for the commander of this army is Yuan Chonghuan, the former Jiliao Governor who is still imprisoned in the prison of the Criminal Department.

Regarding military deployment, Emperor Chongzhen has always been obedient to Sun Chengzong.

In fact, on the premise of ensuring that the White Lotus Sect rebellion can be quickly quelled, Sun Chengzong may not have any selfish intentions: Yuan Chonghuan is his proud disciple after all, and he is indeed a real talent.

However, for Sun Chengzong's deployment, Emperor Chongzhen refused without hesitation, and the reason for his refusal was also very sufficient.

The first is the issue of Liaodong Iron Cavalry. First, Liaodong and Jiangnan are separated by thousands of mountains and rivers, and it takes too long to mobilize troops and horses from such a distance, the cost is too great, and there are too many variables; Second, although the Manchurian Emperor Taiji was hit hard, but the vitality was still there, if he rashly withdrew more than 1,000 Liaodong elite soldiers, the Emperor Taiji may not take the opportunity to attack; Third, the military discipline of the soldiers and horses in Liaodong is notoriously poor, and last year, outside the city of Beijing, under the emperor's nose, there was still a scandal of escape, and if they were allowed to go to Jiangnan, which was full of oil, maybe there would be some kind of chaos.

As for the commander-in-chief, Yuan Chonghuan, Emperor Chongzhen's anger against him has not subsided, and it is impossible to reactivate him to use troops in Jiangnan at this juncture.

Sun Chengzong has always known the temper of Emperor Chongzhen's disciple, if he continues to dwell on this issue, maybe this irascible and irritable emperor will order Yuan Chonghuan to be executed on the spot.

So Sun Chengzong came up with his own alternative plan: on the basis of still mobilizing Ji Qingwen's "Ming Wu Army" and the Jiangnan Ming Army, he recruited 2,000 Beijing battalion soldiers brought by Shen Liangzuo to Songjiang City, and 3,000 men and horses from Sichuan Tusi to attack the White Lotus Sect bandits together.

However, there is an obvious problem with this kind of deployment: there are four sides of the people, and there is no subordinate relationship with each other, who will give the order to unify and control?

After thinking about it for a while, Emperor Chongzhen still decided to give priority to safety, and issued a secret decree that Liu Kongzhao, the commander of the Nanjing garrison, and Han Zanzhou, the eunuch of the Nanjing garrison, would be the supervisor of the army, and he would command the operation together.

Liu Kongzhao is the descendant of the first generation of sincere Bo Liu Ji, and Liu Ji is the military advisor Liu Bowen who helped Zhu Yuanzhang sweep away the heroes and expel the Tartar slaves. Therefore, with Liu Kongzhao's identity alone, he can suppress the generals of the army.

And Han Zanzhou is an old eunuch who has served Emperor Chongzhen since he was a child, and he has always been quite stable in his work, and he doesn't like to be in the limelight very much, so he is the best candidate for supervising the army.

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen was quite proud of what he thought was a proper deployment, but unexpectedly, when the battle began, the combination of Liu Kongzhao and Han Zanzhou almost caused irreparable consequences.

What avoided this consequence was Sun Chengzong's unintentional question: "Your Majesty, I remember that Ji Qingwen still has a 'Son of Heaven Sword' given by the Holy Lord in his hand, I don't know if I can restrain the generals accordingly?" ”

Emperor Chongzhen frowned and said: "Ji Qingwen, this dog talent, took my sword of the Son of Heaven, I only heard that when he entered Nanjing City, the fox and the tiger were powerful, and I didn't see him use it to do any practical things, which really insulted my trust." In this way, please thank Mr. Sun for a few words in his letter to Ji Qingwen, so that he can meet Liu and Han where they are not right, even if they come out to speak. Ji Qingwen's guy is half a bucket of water, but he has a lot of capable people, he is willing to work hard for me, and he will definitely be able to win. ”

In this way, the holy decree to Liu Kongzhao, Han Zanzhou, Shen Liangzuo, Ji Qingwen and others was passed down by Emperor Chongzhen in the form of secret letters.

In the Ming officialdom, the emperor's secret letter is more effective than the holy decree issued by the Ming Dynasty.

First of all, Liu Kongzhao and Han Zanzhou in Nanjing City.

Because Xiong Mingyu, the former secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, was killed by Emperor Chongzhen by order of the White Lotus Sect, and the candidate for the new Nanjing Military Department Shangshu has not yet been determined, so these two people are the only two highest military commanders in Nanjing City.

The two of them discussed with each other, and felt that the army that could be mobilized in Nanjing City now and could immediately go into battle was about 8,000 people, plus the Jiangnan Guards army in the rest of the place, a total of 13,400 people could be gathered, and it could be regarded as being able to handle it.

It's just that in recent years, Jiangnan has handed over more and more silver to the imperial court, and the money originally used to distribute to the Jiangnan army has become more and more tight, and it can only barely maintain no arrears.

However, fortunately, there were many wealthy businessmen in Nanjing, and Liu Kongzhao and Han Zanzhou did not spend much effort to let these wealthy businessmen donate tens of thousands of taels of silver as military salaries, which can be regarded as a solution to the urgent need.

Shen Liangzuo, who was stationed outside Dianshan Port in Songjiang, was cleaned up by Ji Qingwen, obviously learning to be obedient.

After receiving the emperor's secret order, he did not immediately obey the order to send troops, but personally went to Suzhou City to inquire about Ji Qingwen's opinion.

Ji Qingwen not only received the emperor's will, but also received a letter from his master Sun Chengzong, and he already had confidence in his heart, so he said to Shen Liangzuo directly: "Gonggong Shen, what's wrong with you?" The emperor has decreed that you should send troops, do you still want to stand still? This is a great crime of deception against the will! ”

Shen Liangzuo hurriedly said: "I'm not afraid of Lord Ji's jokes, although the name of the chief eunuch is pasted on the head of the miscellaneous family, he has never led the army to fight alone, I don't know what preparations to make?" ”

Shen Liangzuo's voice fell, but when he saw Li Yan pushing the door in, he laughed loudly: "Hahaha, Gonggong Shen is a eunuch and has no masculinity, it's not a joke that the court doesn't need you to lead troops, it's a joke to use you to lead the army alone, right?" ”

Li Yan's words touched Shen Liangzuo's sore spot and made him a little embarrassed.

Shen Liangzuo knew that Li Yan was Ji Qingwen's confidant, but he didn't dare to vent at will, so he could only smile and say: "Mr. Li is right, the miscellaneous family is useless." However, the emperor's errand must be done well, Mr. Li is resourceful, and he must have a clever plan to teach me, and please ask Mr. to give me advice. ”