Emperor Chongzhen, who returned to the Qianqing Palace, sat on the dragon chair in a daze, and two hours had passed, but his face was still gloomy and he didn't say a word.

Today's counterattack of the ministers caught him off guard; Jin Yiwei's eating inside and outside made him even more powerless to fight back, and he had completely lost control of the outer court and the inner court. At present, the only one who can rely on may be Wang Chengen, and hundreds of armed eunuchs in the harem.

At this point, the soldiers and horses of the inner court want to deter the ministers, it is simply a fool's dream, and even ensuring the safety of Chongzhen himself is a drop in the bucket.

Chongzhen looked at the flowers and grasses, tables and chairs in the Dongnuan Pavilion, and thought that when he took the throne at the beginning of seventeen years ago, he eliminated Wei Zhongxian while talking and laughing, and thought that he was wise and martial at that time. In fact, it is not he Chongzhen who is really in power, but the Donglin Party supported by the gentry and wealthy businessmen in the south of the Yangtze River.

Wei Zhongxian, who did not have the protection of imperial power, did not have the Jinyi Guard and the Dongchang Guard, was vulnerable to the counterattack of the Donglin Party, and it had nothing to do with his Chongzhen's wisdom or not.

Now, history is reincarnated again, but the protagonist who was brought down by the Donglin Party is no longer Wei Zhongxian, but Chongzhen, who tried to support Fang Yuan to fight the Donglin Party.

Chongzhen was deeply remorseful, and did not take advantage of Fang Yuan's return from Liaodong and the Xuanjia Army stationed in Tianjinwei to completely rectify the government, abolish the Empress of Zhou and the crown prince Zhu Cihong, and uproot the Donglin Party in the court. also played with checks and balances as clever, and scolded Fang Yuan for returning to Jiangnan, now it is clear who is loyal and who is traitorous, he is playing with fire and self-immolation, but it is too late to regret it.

Chongzhen's eyes were full of tears, tears crossed his cheeks again, and he muttered, "Cheng'en, I'm useless, I can't protect you." ”

Wang Chengen knelt in front of him and wept, "Your Majesty, it's not a pity for the old slave to die, I can't take care of Your Majesty in the future, Your Majesty must take care!" ”

He said goodbye to Chongzhen, picked up a glass of poisonous wine that had been prepared earlier, and drank it all. Now that the overall situation has been decided, it is also self-inflicted humiliation to degrade Nanjing, so why not simply commit suicide neatly, so as not to be ridiculed by others.

Chongzhen flicked his sleeves and overturned the poisonous wine in his hand, and said in a deep voice, "Chengen, keep your useful body, and go to Jiangnan to find a horse!" ”

Wang Chengen was stunned and said, "The old slave must stay in the Forbidden City if he dies, and he must protect His Majesty if he is a ghost, and he doesn't want to go to Jiangnan!" ”

Chongzhen said slowly, "This is my edict, do you dare to resist the decree?" My words don't work for you? ”

Wang Chengen cried and said, "Your Majesty! Your Majesty! ”

Chongzhen took out a piece of paper edict, wrote the dragon case, after writing, took out the jade seal on the dragon case, thought about it, and used a delicate small dagger to draw a horizontal and vertical line on the jade seal, and then covered the jade seal on the edict.

Chongzhen handed the edict into Wang Chengen's hands, and said with tears in his eyes, "Chengen, this may be the last time I will issue an edict, you have taken it!" ”

Wang Chengen opened the edict and looked at it, and the content of the edict was, 'Governor Fang Yuan, King Yong, and King Wu Yue: In the future, if there is an edict from the capital, it is my will that the impression on this edict is the same, otherwise it is an edict, and the edict must not be obeyed. ’

Only then did Wang Chengen know that Chongzhen estimated the intention of drawing horizontal and vertical lines on the jade seal, which was to prevent the prince and the Donglin Party from pretending to be Chongzhen's edict in the future, and deceiving Fang Yuan, King Yong, and King Wu Yue, who were far away in the south of the Yangtze River, to enter the game. It turned out that when the matter came to an end, instead of compromising with the disobedient prince and the Donglin Party, Chongzhen was worried about the safety of Fang Yuan, King Yong, and King Wu Yue in Jiangnan, and left an edict as evidence.

Wang Chengen cherished it and put it in his arms, Chongzhen leaned down, took Wang Chengen's hand, and whispered in his ear, "Chengen, I will personally send you out of the capital." After leaving the capital, you disguise yourself as a common man and go south by land, not by water. ”

Wang Chengen cried loudly again, "Your Majesty! ”

East Palace

The crown prince Zhu Cihong, who won a big victory in the court today, was smiling, laughing in the palace, and his voice was like a bell, "The teacher is Zhuge reincarnated, and he will reverse the court situation with a little move, haha!" ”

Hong Chengchou didn't get carried away with the prince, Zhengrong said, "Prince, don't be too happy, Wang Chengen of the inner court has been overthrown?" ”

Zhu Cihong said triumphantly, "Teacher, Wang Chengen is finished!" His father had decreed that he should be stripped of his position as a celebrant and eunuch and demoted to Nanjing. ”

Hong Chengchou frowned and said, "Degraded to Nanjing? This is to let the tiger return to the mountain, why didn't the prince kill it on the spot? If Wang Chengen took the holy decree from His Majesty's Qingjun side to Jiangnan and colluded with Fang Yuan, this is a real thing, and Fang Yuan will rebel immediately after receiving the holy decree! ”

Zhu Cihong suddenly realized that he had been carried away by the big victory before, and in the court, he was still thinking of Wang Chengen's loyalty to Chongzhen in the past, and his careful care for the prince and Princess Kunxing, so he was moved by compassion and left his life.

Now that Hong Chengchou clarified the powerful relationship, Zhu Cihong suddenly came over, leaving Wang Chengen alive, it is indeed a big trouble, and Wang Chengen must not be allowed to return to Jiangnan and collude with Fang Yuan.

Zhu Cihong hurriedly ordered the eunuchs of the East Palace to go to the Qianqing Palace to monitor Wang Chengen's every move, and once Wang Chengen left the Qianqing Palace, he immediately found an opportunity to execute him.

As soon as Zhu Cihong thought of Fang Yuan's rebellion, he was terrified, and hurriedly asked, "Teacher, if Fang Yuan rebels, how should I deal with it?" The combat power of the Xuanjia Army is not to be underestimated, and no Ming army can compete with it! ”

Hong Chengchou squinted slightly, silent in thought.

Zhu Cihong asked again, "Should I be overbearing, lie that my father is seriously ill, Xuan Fangyuan and the princess will return to the capital, and then arrest Fang Yuan and execute him on the spot?!" ”

Hong Chengchou shook his head and said, "No, as soon as the edict comes out, if Fang Yuan finds out, he will go directly north to King Qin, and the consequences will be unimaginable." ”

Zhu Cihong rubbed his hands and said anxiously, "There is such a big movement in the court, Fang Yuan will always know one day, and it will be a matter of time before King Qin goes north, if you can't resist the Xuanjia Army, you and I will all die without a place to bury at that time!" ”

Hong Chengchou said slowly, "The prince doesn't need to panic, although the Xuanjia Army is fierce, but after all, the number is limited, we only need to arrange two encirclements against Fang Yuan and the Xuanjia Army, and we can sit back and watch its victory or defeat." This is also the fourth plan offered by the minister to the prince, watching the fire from the other side. ”

Zhu Cihong hurriedly asked, "What are the two encirclements?" ”

Hong Chengchou pulled Zhu Cihong to the map of the Ming Dynasty hanging in the East Palace, and compared it on the map, "One of its encirclements is the Nanzhili Encirclement, including Shi Kefa in Nanjing, Ma Shiying in Fengyang, Anqing, and Luzhou, Huang Degong in Chizhou, and Liu Liangzuo in Huizhou. The total strength of these four parties is 150,000, which is enough to make Fang Yuan and the other run for their lives, and take care of one and lose the other. ”

Zhu Cihong was still deeply afraid of the combat power of the Xuanjia Army, whether the 150,000 Ming army could trap Fang Yuan, he was at a bottom in his heart, "What if the encirclement of Nanzhili can't trap Fang Yuan?" ”

Hong Chengchou pointed to the map and said, "If the first encirclement can't trap Fang Yuan, then Fang Yuan already owns the entire Nanzhili. The second encirclement is the five provinces of Shandong, Zhejiang, Huguang, Jiangxi, and Henan, which are adjacent to Nanzhili. Liu Zeqing in Shandong, Zheng Zhilong in Fujian, and Zuo Liangyu in Jiangxi were all big warlords with 100,000 or 200,000 armor, and they all had the strength to fight with Fang Yuan. ”

Zhu Cihong looked at the map and asked, "What about Henan and Huguang?" ”

Hong Chengchou said lightly, "Henan is Li Zicheng, and Huguang is Zhang Xianzhong." ”

Zhu Cihong said in a lost voice, "These two are giants, how can they participate in this encirclement?" ”

Hong Chengchou said, "For example, the situation has improved greatly today, Li Zicheng has been attacking Xi'an for a long time, and he is willing to negotiate peace with the imperial court, so he has returned to Henan to rest; Zhang Xianzhong failed in the attack on Shuzhong and also retreated to Huguang. The crown prince only needs to send someone to knight the two, so that Li Zicheng Yongzhen Henan and Zhang Xianzhong Yongzhen Huguang. These two giants rebelled just to get a wife and a son, and they could become the overlords of Henan and Huguang, where would they go against the prince? At least His Majesty and Fang Yuan would never give Erkou such generous conditions. ”

Zhu Cihong nodded again and again when he heard this.

Hong Chengchou continued, "Even if the two giants don't take the initiative to send troops, they can also form a huge pressure on Nan Zhili, and Fang Yuan must not take it lightly. In this way, the total strength of the second encirclement is already more than 1.2 million, plus the 120,000 elites of Sun Chuanting in Gyeonggi and the 100,000 Jin army of Zhou Yuji in Shanxi. What else does the prince have to worry about? ”

Zhu Cihong was overjoyed when he heard this, and said in a deep voice, "But knighting Liukou is afraid that it will damage Daming and my reputation!" ”

Hong Chengchou twisted his beard, smiled and said, "The prince doesn't want to be responsible, so he can find two scapegoats!" Aren't there two ready-made scapegoats in the cabinet? ”

Zhu Cihong suddenly said, "It's the first assistant Wei Dezao, and the second assistant Chen Yan!" ”

Wei Dezao and Chen Yannai are Chongzhen's henchmen, not Zhu Cihong's henchmen, and sending the two to recruit Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, and then kill them to calm public opinion, is a strategy to kill two birds with one stone.

Empress Zhou's insight was higher than that of Zhu Cihong, and she suddenly asked, "Mr. Hong, the five prefectures under Fang Yuan's jurisdiction control fifty percent of the world's grain supply, eighty percent of the silk cloth supply, and seventy percent of the imperial court's taxes. If Fang Yuan cut off these supplies, the capital's economy would collapse immediately. ”

Hong Chengchou smiled incomprehensibly and said, "The queen mother relaxes, if Fang Yuan really dares to cut off the supply of grain, silver, and cloth from the north, it will be Tianzhu Niangniang and the crown prince." ”

Empress Zhou was stunned and asked, "Mr. Hong, what do you mean by this?" ”

Hong Chengchou laughed and said, "That Fang Yuan will immediately become the public enemy of the warlords of all parties, Niang Niang and the crown prince can immediately organize the warlords from all over the country to jointly crusade against Fang Yuan, just the land of the five mansions, how long can the 20,000 or 30,000 Xuanjia troops hold out?" ”

After Hong Chengchou's strategic planning, Queen Zhou and the crown prince were already full of confidence, and they couldn't stop laughing.