Although all places from Gyeonggi to Shandong were messed up by the Manchu army, the local news could barely be transmitted, so at the end of October, Jinan fell, Denglai fell, and Guo Huaiyi's good news was sent to Beijing successively. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 Info of course came along with all the news, and there was a lot more bad news.

How to report these news to the emperor is actually very particular. Different rankings often have different effects on people's psychology. For example, if you want to make the emperor feel better, when there is a lot of bad news, then you should put the good news last, because people always have a deeper impact on what they see at the end. If the emperor is to be made aware of the seriousness of the situation, then the good news must be put in front and the back is all bad news. This is completely the same as the story of "repeated defeats" and "repeated defeats" in later generations.

On the issue of how to arrange the order of the news, several eunuchs in the celebrant had a conflict, and Wang Chengen felt that the good news should be put last, so that at least when Chongzhen went to bed, he could sleep a little better.

"Recently, there has been all kinds of bad news, and the emperor has been very worried, he eats less every day, and he can't sleep well. What's wrong with this? Wang Chengen said.

However, Cao Huachun felt that the situation was critical now, but the emperor still had the idea of luck, and wanted to complete the suppression of bandits first and then transfer troops back to help. Even until this time, he was still thinking with Yang Sichang about how to use the means of "peace" to deceive the Manchus back. In fact, at this time, people who have a little brain, and who know something about the court situation, also know that Emperor Chongzhen and Yang Sichang have fallen for Huang Taiji, and now Huang Taiji has taken the advantage, and it is the time to make a big profit, how can he make peace with Chongzhen at this time?

"Princess," Cao Huachun said, "our family also knows that the emperor needs a good mood too much now." It's just that our family is also thinking about the emperor. Wang Gonggong, you look at this recital, it is said that Jianyan attacked the city with a huge cannon, and the city wall of Jinan was only subjected to a few shells (this is definitely an exaggeration, the 24-pounder cannon has no such power. However, my Ming officials have always been highly literate, and they like to use rhetorical devices such as exaggeration and so on. and collapsed. Of course, Beijing's city walls are stronger than Jinan's, but what if it is hit by dozens of cannons, hundreds of cannons? How many troops are in this Beijing city, and how many of them can actually be fought, don't you know it? When the enemy army sweeps in all directions, the Beijing division will become more and more isolated, and at that time, it is not impossible for the Beijing division to be attacked again. Won't the emperor be more and more sad at that time? ”

"Aren't there three identical cannons in the Jingshi? I see that the cannons say that Jian Yan only carried two of these cannons. We've got one more. Wang Chengen said.

"Oh, my lord." Cao Huachun stomped his feet and said, "If three of you can beat two of you, where is today's thing?" Moreover...... Gao Gonggong, this cannon is in your charge, tell me, relying on these three cannons, can you deal with Jianyan's two cannons? ”

Gao Qiqian had a good relationship with Yang Sichang, and he was reluctant to demolish Yang Sichang's platform, so he didn't speak before. But now that Cao Huachun has come to the door, he is not very good at bragging and telling lies, because he is responsible. So he thought about it for a moment and said something like this:

"If the winner is determined by whose cannon hits whose cannon, then it is really uncertain. It's just that the cannon of the building gill will hit the city wall, and our artillery will hit the cannon of the building gill. After thousands of paces, the cannon was a little bigger, and it was impossible to see clearly. Hit with such a big iron ball. ”

Gao Qiqian said as he compared the size with his hand, and then said: "This cannonball must hit the cannon directly to be useful." At such a distance, even if you shoot hundreds of shots, you may not be able to hit it. But it's different on the Jianshen side, what they want to fight is our city wall, and if they hit such a big thing, it's almost a hundred shots, as long as the city wall is broken, Jianshen will win......"

Wang Chengen looked at Gao Qiqian, then at Cao Huachun, and then let out a long sigh, pulled out the piece that was originally placed at the bottom, and put it on the top.

……

Emperor Chongzhen happily put down the chapter and said to Cao Huachun, who was on the side: "Cao Daban, I didn't expect that this southern soldier would be very difficult to fight." Guo Huaiyi reported that they had beheaded one hundred and thirty-four bodies, including forty real Jianzhi, which is really rare! Looking at this recital, I am afraid that the soldiers in the hands of General Guo are only a few thousand, and they can achieve such results. That's good! I remember that Qi Shaobao's soldiers were also southerners, right? ”

Cao Huachun said: "Your Majesty, General Guo and Wang Zhixian's recital have all confirmed the results of this battle, and there is no problem in thinking about the outcome of the battle." However, the emperor, General Guo not only has thousands of his own men and horses, but also the Dutch have also participated in the war. ”

Emperor Chongzhen listened, read the two chapters carefully, and then nodded and said: "Cao Daban is still careful, and there are indeed Dutch people to help in the war." It seems that the Dutchman was also deferential. ”

After saying this, Emperor Chongzhen picked up a copy of the following chapters. Then his brow furrowed again.

"Jinan has fallen? The Qing army bombarded the city wall of Jinan with artillery? Chongzhen sighed, this damn cannon! Under the condition that Jianxuan has such a sharp weapon to help the war, with today's military conditions, it is very normal for Jinan to fall into place. It is impossible to have a fierce general like Guo Huaiyi everywhere. At present, the area around Gyeonggi is extremely empty, and there are hardly any mobile troops available, and even the garrisons in various places are not very sufficient. However, thinking that there were also cannons like He Jianxuan in Beijing, he was slightly relieved.

"By the way, this Guo Huaiyi is Zheng Zhihu's subordinate, right? It seems that this Zheng Zhihu is also famous for his bravery, right? Chongzhen asked.

"Your Majesty, Zheng Zhihu, the chief soldier of the Denglai Water Battalion, is the younger brother of Zheng Zhilong, the chief soldier of Fujian. It is also because of this that a lot of credit has been made. This time, it was also because he caught Jian's cannon at sea that he was promoted to the chief soldier of the Denglai Water Battalion because of his merits. After taking office, he defeated the Jianxuan Navy in a row, and he was indeed a tiger general. Cao Huachun hurriedly explained on the side.

"Well, I actually still have a lot of brave generals." Emperor Chongzhen nodded, his face looked a little better, "Jianzhen suffered a loss at sea, and now that he has hit Shandong, there must be no reason not to fight Denglai, right?" How is Denglai now? I'm too lazy to turn over the chapter, so tell me about it first. ”

"Your Majesty, Denglai has been conquered by Jianxuan." Cao Huachun replied.

Emperor Chongzhen listened and didn't speak for a long time, and only after a while did he ask, "What about the Denglai Water Camp?" ”

"Your Majesty, Zheng Zhihu, the chief soldier of the Denglai Water Battalion, led 3,000 soldiers and horses to fight with Jianshen on land, but unfortunately the Jianshen was strong, and the Zheng General Soldier couldn't resist it, and he lost more than 2,000 soldiers, so he had to retreat to the sea by boat, and as for the Denglai Water Battalion station and wharf, all of them were burned by Jianshen." Cao Huachun whispered while secretly looking at Emperor Chongzhen's face.

Chongzhen's face was pale and said, "Isn't Zheng Zhihu a tiger general?" Why did his subordinates stop Jianjian, but he couldn't stop it, and he still lost his troops like this? ”

"Your Majesty." Cao Huachun took a lot of money from the Zheng family, so of course he had to find a way to help Zheng Zhihu explain at this time, "Zheng Zhihu's previous credits were all obtained at sea, and the way to fight on the sea is not the same as on land." The slave maid listened to others talk about "Water Margin", and said that the black whirlwind Li Kui was beaten by Zhang Shun in the waves on the Xunyang River. But if Zhang Shun goes ashore, I am afraid that he will be far from Li Kui's opponent. The slave maid felt that Zheng Zhihu's battle had a bit of Zhang Shun's intention to come ashore to fight Li Kui. In addition, there are many Jianzhi people, and Zheng Zong's soldiers are also few, so it is not surprising that he was defeated. As for why his subordinates held on, the slave maid thought that this was probably because General Guo had to deal with only a partial division of Jianxuan, and then General Guo still had the Dutch to help. The Dutchman is also a barbarian, and he is very fierce, so I think it also played a role. ”

Chongzhen thought for a while and replied: "What the big companion said also makes sense, this Zheng Zhihu's previous achievements were indeed made on the sea, and this land battle does not seem to be his strength." However, Zheng Zhihu at least dared to fight with Jianxuan, but he was also courageous. What else does Jianshen do now? ”

"Long live, after Jianxuan plundered in Shandong, he transferred to Hebei, and Hebei is afraid that it will be difficult to resist." Cao Huachun replied.

"Hebei?" Chongzhen became nervous, and hurriedly turned to another little eunuch standing beside him and said, "Go get a map." ”

The little eunuch brought the map according to Yan and spread it out on Chongzhen's imperial case. Emperor Chongzhen lowered his head, stared at the map, and then asked, "Cao Daban, where are the places where it has been reported that Jianzhen has been found?" ”

"Subordinates, here, here, and ......" Cao Huachun marked the location of the Jianxuan army on the map.

Chongzhen stared at the map with a blue face.

From the map, it can be seen that the Manchu army has swept the area east of the Beijing Division, most of the prefectures and counties are completely destroyed, and the loss of personnel, wealth, and troops is difficult to calculate. At least for the time of the party chief, these places could not provide any help to the Beijing division, and now Jianxuan's Left Route Army began to turn to Hebei again. The emptiness of Hebei is even more than that of Gyeonggi and Shandong, and once Hebei is broken, the Beijing division will be completely isolated, and even if the order is issued to recall the main force that is exterminating the Liukou, due to the destruction of Hebei, both the speed of sending letters and the speed of the army's reinforcement will be greatly reduced, and the capital will become very dangerous.

It's just that now the bandits are at the most critical moment, gritting their teeth and withstanding this for a while, the rogues can be suppressed. If Hong Chengchou is allowed to teach at this time, the previous efforts and the price paid will all be wasted.

"Pass the decree, let Xuanda Governor Lu Xiangsheng command the army into Hebei, let the Guanning army Qin Wang, let Gao Qiqian be the supervisor of the army, and take the Guanning army to cooperate with Lu Xiangsheng, and be sure to block Jianxuan outside Hebei."