Chongzhen's will to denounce Liu Neng reached the Jinyi Wei Yamen, and the command of the Jinyi Wei made Chen Jianghe frightened inexplicably. Although the holy decree only reprimanded Liu Neng and demoted him to Wuchang, and did not mention Jinyiwei and himself, Chen Jianghe heard Chongzhen's dissatisfaction from it.

Privately pulled Liu Neng, Chen Jianghe forced him to ask him what he had done without concealing it. Liu Neng didn't hide it, and told him about the news to Chen Yue. Only then did Chen Jianghe know that Liu Neng had colluded with Chen Yue behind his back, and reported all the information about the movements of the imperial court and even Chongzhen's joy and anger to Chen Yue.

"How dare you ask Concubine Zhang to deliver the news to you?" Chen Jianghe said angrily.

Colluding with the concubines of the inner palace to probe the king's privacy, what a dare to do!

"The subordinates only learned a little bit about the palace news through the palace maids around Concubine Zhang, and they didn't deliberately inquire. Concubine Zhang, she and Hou Ye are childhood sweethearts, everyone is their own people, so they naturally have to support each other. ”

Liu Neng explained. Concubine Zhang is naturally Zhang Xiu, because she served Chongzhen at sea and was accepted as a concubine by Chongzhen and named a virtuous concubine. But after Chongzhen arrived in Nanjing, he successively accepted several concubines. Afraid of falling out of favor, Zhang Xiuer could only use Chen Yue's power to consolidate her position.

"Our Jinyiwei is the emperor's minions, we can only do things for the emperor alone, what you have done has exceeded your duty, Your Majesty Longen has not punished you excessively because of the old feelings, you should be cautious in your words and deeds in the future, and you must not do anything beyond your duty."

Chen Jianghe admonished again. At the same time, Chen Jianghe summoned his henchmen and asked everyone to take Liu Neng as a warning and do things in a measured way in the future.

Unlike Chen Jianghe's sincere fear, Liu Neng didn't think so. I don't think I've done anything wrong.

Liu Neng was originally a rural scoundrel in Xishan Town, but he was appreciated by Chen Yue to get to where he is today. In Liu Neng's heart, his benefactor is naturally Chen Yue, Marquis of Pingnan, and Emperor Chongzhen must be ranked behind.

In fact, in the Ming Dynasty, there was no concept of a unified country, and the soldiers were more loyal to their own generals than the kings who could not be seen from above, as for the country, what was it? This is also the reason why so many armies followed the generals to surrender to the Manchu Qing at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

And in Liu Neng's heart, Chen Yue, who promoted him and appreciated him and reused him, was his benefactor and the object of his loyalty. In the Pingnan Army, there are even more such people.

was dismissed from the official position of the pacification envoy and reduced to a thousand households, Liu Neng was not annoyed, but packed up his salute, took a few Jinyi Wei cronies, and escorted the eunuch Huang Shu to Wuchang to announce the decree.

From the wharf outside the city, I got on the official boat, went all the way up the river, and arrived in Wuchang through Wuhu Jiujiang.

When the crown prince Fu Ningnan Hou Ping's thief general Zuo Liangyu heard that the angel was coming, he sent his son Zuo Mengeng to greet the angel in person, and welcomed the group into Wuchang City for twenty miles.

Huang Shu read the holy decree to Zuo Liangyu, in which he ordered Zuo Liangyu to immediately supervise the army to attack Xiangyang and restore the entire Huguang.

It's a pity that the current Zuo Liangyu is no longer the brave and invincible general he was back then, he is too old and sick. In fact, only after the defeat of Zhu Xianzhen in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, the elite in Zuo Liangyu's hands was seriously damaged, and now although he nominally has hundreds of thousands of soldiers, in fact, most of the army is a coercive farmer, and there are not many elite soldiers.

Therefore, in recent years, Zuo Liangyu has almost been defeated repeatedly in the face of thieves, and in order to escape the punishment of the imperial court, he has plundered places, coerced the people to join the army, and blackmailed the cowards to gain self-respect.

In the face of such a warlord, the court was helpless, afraid that forcing him to rebel would make the thief even stronger, so Chongzhen had to keep giving him a promotion. After arriving in Nanjing, he was named a high-ranking official such as the prince and prince of Ningnan. It is expected that he can obey the orders of the imperial court and be a barrier to the upper reaches of Nanjing.

Now, the thieves have just experienced a big defeat, and are shrinking their forces in Xi'an, trying to fight a decisive battle with the Manchurians, and the thieves occupy Jingzhou, Chengtian, De'an, and Xiangyang, which are weak in strength, is a good time to seize.

After recovering these four prefectures, the entire Huguang will return to the rule of the imperial court, and with Huguang as the foundation, they can go all out to deal with the thieves in Sichuan.

Unlike another time and space facing the Hongguang Imperial Court, Zuo Liangyu is still a little in awe of Chongzhen, after all, he has been the Ming Emperor for seventeen years. After receiving the holy decree, he himself was unable to lead the army into battle due to illness, so he ordered his commander-in-chief Li Guoying to lead an army of 50,000 to attack De'an Mansion.

When Li Zicheng led his army to attack Beijing, he did not bring all the main forces, and only brought about one-third of his men. Among them, 70,000 troops were left in Henan and Jingxiang to confront Zuo Liangyu in Wuchang.

The right battalion under the command of Yuan Zongdi remained in Xiangyang, and the De'an Mansion directly facing Wuchang was guarded by Bai Wang, the general of the Chuang army, with about 30,000 troops.

Li Guoying led an army of 50,000 to plunder all the way to De'an Mansion, and fought with Bai Wang's army between Yunshui and Chushui, and was in a state of anxiety after repeated battles.

Liu Neng, as a Jinyi Wei Qianhu, also watched the battle with the army.

When the two sides were fighting fiercely, suddenly an invading army came from the direction of Xiangyang and attacked the flank of Li Guoying's army. The number of this army was only more than 3,000, and Li Guoying didn't care about it at first, but just sent an adjutant general to lead 5,000 troops to meet it.

Even with the addition of these 3,000 reinforcements, the strength of Li Guoying's troops is far above the breaking army.

But who would have thought that this army was extremely brave, and with just one round of impact, it crushed the army led by the deputy general and hit Li Guoying's Chinese army.

The rout soldiers who fled back rushed to the Chinese army and were defeated, and Li Guoying's Chinese army was displayed in front of the breaking army.

In desperation, Li Guoying had to send more than 1,000 of his family members to block it. But under the impact of the defeated army, it was difficult for the family to stand on their feet. What's more, after the defeat of the army, they followed the wolf-like invasion of the army.

The guns and projectiles rained down, Li Guoying's family members fell down one after another, and a lion-like general took the lead and entered the family team, with a huge mace slashing left and right, and the blockers were invincible.

It didn't take long for the family members to retreat, and Li Guoying's banner of the Chinese army was exposed in front of the breaking army. Although there are still tens of thousands of soldiers fighting with Bai Wangbu in front, and have achieved a certain advantage. However, his own Chinese army let the partial division of the intruding army attack, and Li Guoying did not dare to fight anymore and fled in embarrassment.

As soon as the main general fled, the handsome banner was cut down, and the entire Ming army was completely in chaos, and it was defeated and retreated at once, and countless people cried or fled in embarrassment, or knelt on the ground to ask for surrender.

Liu Neng was wrapped in embarrassment by the defeated soldiers and fled, not escaping far, suddenly a breaking army blocked the way, and the Ming army around him saw that there was no way out, so they knelt down and surrendered, leaving only Liu Neng to stand alone on the battlefield with a few personal guards.