Nanjing Imperial Palace Qianqing Palace

On the case, the folds were piled up, Chongzhen sat with his eyebrows condensed, watched the folds carefully, and made a few strokes with a red pen from time to time.

The great eunuch Han Zanzhou waited carefully on the side, helping to grind and deliver the folds.

"Your Majesty, let's take a rest, it's time for lunch." Looking at the chiming bell placed in the hall, it was already past noon, and Han Zanzhou carefully reminded him.

Chongzhen stretched his waist and kept reviewing the recitals all morning, and his stomach was indeed a little hungry.

Seeing Chongzhen stop, Han Zanzhou waved his hand, and a little eunuch came in silently with a golden basin and asked Chongzhen to clean his hands. At the same time, four palace maids dressed in palace clothes entered with trays and brought the prepared dishes.

Eight dishes and two soups, meat and vegetarian combinations, I have to say that Chongzhen's food now has been greatly improved compared with when he was in Beijing. Thanks to Chen Yue's raiding of the homes of Wei Guogong and other nobles, many of them were seized into the treasury and also entered Chongzhen's inner treasury, and Chongzhen is now rich!

If you have money, you will naturally have a better life, as an emperor, there is no need to treat yourself too badly, think about the gentry and rich businessmen in Yangzhou who were even more luxurious than their own emperor, Chongzhen is not a taste in his heart. But in the end, he is used to frugality, and he can't cook thirty or forty dishes for a meal, and he spends a lot of money.

After lunch, Chongzhen did not immediately review and recital, but walked in the hall to eat, while thinking about it.

"Han Daban, how are things planned in the East Factory?" Chongzhen asked suddenly.

"The minions have already done this, the site has been chosen, and now the following little cubs are in charge of recruiting people." Han Zanzhou replied respectfully.

"Don't transfer people from Jinyiwei, on the contrary, you will install people into Jinyiwei in the future, and I will allocate funds from the inner treasury to you, don't let me down." Chongzhen said lightly.

"The slave will do his best to live up to His Majesty's trust!" Han Zanzhou hurriedly assured.

Chongzhen nodded and did not speak again. Under the pressure of the courtiers, he ignored the opposition of the cabinet, expanded the authority of Jinyiwei, and reestablished the East Factory, which naturally had to have a corresponding effect.

The fall of Beijing and the deterioration of the situation in the Ming Dynasty made Chongzhen reflect on his past behavior, and he no longer trusted any civilian officials, nor did he care about his reputation, and was determined to firmly control power in his own hands.

When he first ascended the throne, he was fooled by the Donglin Party, Chongzhen abolished his martial arts and canceled the East Factory, and reduced the authority of Jinyiwei, which made the factory guard have no sense of existence for 17 years, and the result of the matter is that Chongzhen can only rely on his own strength to fight with the entire civil official group, without eyes and ears, he can only be blinded by others, and he is in the Ninefold Palace like a deaf and blind man, all of whom rely on those civil officials, which is also an important reason why he has not believed in civil officials.

Now, Chongzhen has long given up the idea of aspiring to be a generation of Ming Jun when he first ascended the throne, and I will never be fooled by you again!

Therefore, even if the courtiers fully opposed the re-establishment of the East Factory, Chongzhen gritted his teeth and did not let go, he just wanted to set up the East Factory again.

Of course, the purpose of Lidong Factory is to monitor Jinyiwei, Jinyiwei and Dongchang are both minions of the emperor, but only one is not good, and the two minions will be balanced. Although Chongzhen trusts Chen Jianghe, who is brave and loyal and has made great efforts to save the driver and overcome the hardships together, after all, the Chen family's father and son have too much power, and in order to have a good result between the monarch and the minister, it is also the right thing to take some measures.

"Your Majesty, Lu Ge Lao asks to see you." Just as Chongzhen was about to continue to review the recital, a little eunuch said outside the hall.

Chongzhen thought about it and ordered Lu Zhenfei to come in. Lu Zhenfei is the second assistant of the cabinet, and he is busy with affairs, and he will definitely not come to see him if he has no important things.

"Your Majesty, the General Administration Department sent Chen Yue, the governor of Jiangbei, and it happened that the minister was on duty in the cabinet, which was related to the defense of Jiangbei, and the minister did not dare to slack off, so he personally sent it to His Majesty."

Lu Zhenfei took out a roll of folds from his sleeve, bent down and raised his hands above his head, and Han Zanzhou, who was waiting on the side, took it and handed it to Chongzhen.

According to the rules, the performance of officials at all levels should be sent to the cabinet by the secretary of general affairs, and after being reviewed by the cabinet scholars, they should be sent to Ouchi for the emperor's decision. After all, there are so many major events in the country, if everything has to be handled by the emperor, he will be tired and tired, even if the emperor is diligent in government, he can't deal with it at all.

These have also led to the extreme power of the cabinet and the celebrant and the celebrant to be both external and internal. But Chongzhen himself is a suspicious person, he doesn't believe in his ministers, let alone his eunuchs, but is determined to learn from Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of Taizu, and do everything himself, making his own decisions about big and small things. Therefore, Chongzhen has to spend seven or eight hours from morning to night every day to review the folds, and he also has to fight with the ministers who play with the words in the folds.

Chen Yue has a heavy responsibility in Jiangbei, Chongzhen attaches great importance to it, and has long ordered the cabinet to send it to the inner palace as soon as there is Chen Yue's play, and Han Zanzhou personally sent it.

However, generally speaking, only one servant needs to be sent, and Lu Zhenfei, the second assistant, sent it in person, which shows that the things in the fold are not trivial.

Chongzhen read it carefully with mixed feelings, and soon his face sank.

"Lu Qing, Chen Yue just asked the imperial court to send some craftsmen over to help make weapons and armor, and then asked the imperial court for some officers from the guards, such a trivial matter is allowed, why don't you come here in person."

"Your Majesty, although the matter is a small matter, there are quite irregularities. According to the practice of the imperial court, the weapons of the local garrison were generally made by special ordnance institutes or workshops under the Ministry of War, and the local military generals had no right to control them privately.

And the officers in the army naturally have to be appointed by the Military Selection Department of the Ministry of War, so how can there be any reason for the local governors to select officers throughout the country! Chen Yue's performance was clearly to ask the officers of the world's guards to gather in Yangzhou and be selected and assessed by him, which was really a bit appalling. ”

Lu Zhenfei said hurriedly, if Chen Yue's twist and turn is known by the imperial history, it will inevitably trigger a wave of impeachment, and those who understand will say that Chen Yue does not understand the rules, and those who are malicious will even put the charge of ill-intentioned evil on Chen Yue. However, Chen Yue's relationship with the Korean Chinese officials was not good. So Lu Zhenfei, who was on duty, saw this twist and turn, so he hurriedly sent it to Chongzhen.

"With Lu Qing's opinion, what should I do?" Although Chongzhen was a little disappreciative in his heart, he thought about those difficult officials and understood Lu Zhenfei's actions.

"Pingnanhou's request, although it is not in accordance with the rules, is reasonable and should be supported. After all, Jiangbei wants to expand the army, and according to Pingnanhou's plan, it is necessary to train 100,000 elite soldiers in Jiangbei. With so many armies and a lot of armor and weapons, we can't let the soldiers fight the enemy with their bare hands.

At present, with the production capacity of the ordnance workshop under the jurisdiction of the Nanjing Military Department, it is simply not enough to produce so many ordnance. And His Majesty also knows that the quality of the weapons produced in the workshops of the Ministry of War is really worrying. Therefore, it is natural for Yunping Nanhou to make weapons and armor by himself. Of course, this matter is too important, and the imperial court must also send officials to Yangzhou to supervise.

And to expand so many troops, naturally need a large number of officers, Pingnanhou did not use all his own people, but was ordered by the imperial court to select officers from the world's guards, which is enough to witness that he has no selfish intentions, and this article naturally has to be agreed. ”

Lu Zhenfei had already thought of countermeasures on the road, so he explained his thoughts to Chongzhen and Pan.

"However, after the approval of the fold is carried out, what should the courtiers do if they see the uproar and impeach Chen Yue?"

Chongzhen was very satisfied with Lu Zhenfei's countermeasures, but he still had doubts in his heart.

Weichen thought that the major affairs of the military state were confidential, and there was no need to announce everything to the courtiers, and there was no need to spread it to the world through the Di Bao. You must know that maybe the Mantars and thieves have a detailed work in the Daming faction, and they can know the inside story of my Daming through the Di Bao.

Therefore, the ministers thought that there were some things that did not need to be known to the courtiers, so there was no need to announce them. ”

Lu Zhenfei slowly said his thoughts.

Chongzhen suddenly realized that Lu Zhenfei represented the cabinet, as long as he approved it and covered it with the jade seal, this matter would be done, and there was no need to make it known to everyone. After all, Chen Yue's request was just a trivial matter.

Therefore, Lu Zhenfei drafted an order on behalf of the cabinet, and with the approval of the celebrant and supervisor, it was sent to the Ministry of War, ordering the Ministry of War to issue a document to the local health offices to publicize the fact that the Yangzhou Pingnan Army wanted to select and evaluate officers.

As for the matter of selecting the craftsmen who make weapons and armor, this matter is too small, Chongzhen did not go through the military department at all, and directly handed it over to Jinyiwei, so that Jinyiwei was responsible for selecting among the craftsmen in Nanjing.

Of course, these two things cannot hide everyone's ears and eyes, after all, the craftsman's register is in the Ministry of War, and finally it must be filed in the Ministry of War.

But now there are other things in the imperial court that have attracted the attention of all the officials, and no one cares about such a small matter at all.

Now the biggest thing in the imperial court is to discuss whether it should send officials to the north to recover the lost territory.

The Manchus defeated the thieves and occupied Beijing, and were busy moving the nest from outside the border to Beijing, and had no time to conquer the city. The thieves retreated across the Yellow River in a hurry, and they had no time to take care of Hebei and Shandong.

After the thieves attacked Beijing, they also sent local officials to Hebei and Shandong provinces to try to occupy these territories. Under the coercion of the thieves, most of these places surrendered to the thieves without a fight. But now, the thieves have failed, and the gentry in these places who are interested in the Ming Dynasty naturally do not want to be enslaved by the thieves anymore, and they have killed officials and rebelled, announcing their return to the Ming Dynasty.

On April 27, Lu Shizhan, Zhao Jiding, Cheng Xianzhen, the younger brother of Xie Sheng, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, a squire from Dezhou, Shandong, launched an uprising, and elected Zhu Shuaijian, the lieutenant of Fengguo of the Qing Clan of the Ming Dynasty and the governor of Xianghe, who had fled to the place, as the leader of the alliance.

Many local gentry in Shandong and Northern Zhili responded en masse, occupying Dezhou, the provincial capital Jinan, Dongchang, Qingzhou, Linqingzhou, and Wuding in less than a month; Hejian Prefecture, Daimyo Mansion, Jingzhou, Jizhou, Cangzhou, and forty-three prefectures and counties in Beizhili.

Large areas of Shandong and Northern Zhili returned to the Ming Dynasty, while the Kaifeng Guide area of Henan was now also controlled by the Ming army. The situation in the north is now very good.

Zhu Shuaiyan is just a clan of the Ming Dynasty, so naturally he can't let him occupy so much territory, otherwise he may be the next Fu King and pose a threat to the imperial court.

Therefore, the imperial court had to send officials to the north and to Shandong and Henan to control these areas.

Now that the thieves have been defeated, it is time for the imperial court to send troops to recover the country. As a result, many officials came up one after another, asking the imperial court to send a large army to the Northern Expedition to completely occupy these areas.

Li Ke gave Ma Jiazhi a performance in the matter, suggesting that the imperial court send a large army to attack the thieves, with Zuo Liangyu, the general of the thieves, as the commander, to lead the troops to attack Xiangyang, completely eliminate the thieves entrenched in the area of Xiangyang Nanyang, and recover Henan. Then Chen Yue, Marquis of Pingnan, led an army to Shandong, and the left and right armies flanked the left and right, pushing the defense line to the line of Beizhili Shandong, threatening the Manchu Tartars who occupied Beijing, and trying to recapture Kyoto.

Ma Jiazhi's performance has been recognized by many people, and Donglin Party officials have responded, believing that now is the best opportunity to eliminate the thieves and restore the country. The crowd in the court was excited, and the voice of the main battle was noisy.

If it was in the past, seeing this situation, Chongzhen would naturally be extremely excited, and would immediately order the dispatch of troops. At the beginning, whether it was against the Manchu Tartars or against the thieves, Chongzhen urged the front-line generals to send troops countless times, and of course led to the rout of the battlefield countless times.

And now, after experiencing the battle of Beijing and seeing the elite troops of the Ming army defeated or surrendered, Chongzhen's thinking has changed dramatically. He had already recognized the strength of the enemy, the weakness of the fighting power of the Ming army. The elite of the nine sides is exhausted, and only the Pingnan army, which now has more than 10,000 people, and the Zuo Liangyu department, which has been defeated repeatedly, want to defeat the thieves and recover the country, isn't that a joke? Not to mention the fact that there is an even more powerful Manchu army in Beijing!

Therefore, for the officials' invitations to war, Chongzhen did not send them, but issued an order to discuss them in detail. And several cabinet elders in the cabinet are also old and serious, not those young and enthusiastic imperial history, so the matter of sending troops has been suppressed, and it is only in the discussion stage.

However, since the gentry of Beizhili and Shandong had killed the thieves and occupied a large number of chassis, the imperial court naturally could not turn a deaf ear to these places, and had to send people to take up posts.

But after all, these places are at the forefront of the front, and it is too dangerous to go to such places to be officials, and these officials who were still clamoring for the Northern Expedition a moment ago, but no one wants to go to those places.

Finally, after discussion and discussion, the imperial court issued an edict appointing Wang Yongji as the governor of Shandong, Yue Qijie as the governor of Henan, Xu Dingguo, a general of the Guide Counselor, as the general of Henan, and Huang Fei as the general of Denglai, responsible for receiving the recovered areas.

In the area of Beizhili, which is closer to Gyeonggi, considering the reaction of the Manchu Tartars entrenched in Beijing, no one was sent to take up the post for the time being.