"The last general, Zhuang Zigu, meet the general!"

Today, Cao Bianjiao met a person in Fengyang, Zhuang Zigu, he is not a person with much prestige, he used to be just a small general in Shanxi, when he followed the Shanxi general Xu Dingguo to rescue Kaifeng, I didn't expect the military horses to march to the middle of the mutiny, and tens of thousands of horses were dispersed overnight, Xu Dingguo was convicted and dismissed, and Zhuang Zigu tightly controlled the soldiers under his command, and did not let them follow them, and was also exempted from the crime, and later Li Zicheng captured the whole territory of Henan, Zhuang Zigu lived in Henan to watch the situation, Intending to regain the lost territory, he has been wandering around the territory of Guide with hundreds of men and horses.

Half a month ago, Zhuang Zigu learned that the Ming Dynasty had re-established the capital in Nanjing, and the king succeeded to the throne, so Zhuang Zigu recruited hundreds of warriors in the border area of Shandong and Henan, and went south to prepare to defect to the imperial court.

"General Zhuang is exempt from courtesy, they are all people in the army, you don't have to stick to those vulgar etiquette, sit down and talk!"

"Thank you, General!"

"I know that you have been fighting in Henan, Shandong border area all these years, but also played the banner of serving the country with a red heart, to be honest, I Cao Bianjiao is deeply gratified, since the country of Jiashen is difficult to come, the first emperor was martyred, scholars and doctors surrendered everywhere, for their own interests, completely ignoring the hatred of the country, etiquette, righteousness and shame, I didn't expect that in the land of Henan, there is General Zhuang in the hard work, fighting for the righteousness of the country, is really a model for the world's courtiers, if I can be as loyal as General Zhuang, It didn't come to this day! ”

Cao Bianjiao said the truth, it is easy to be a man and it is difficult to be an official, to be a responsible, clean official for the country and the people, it is even more difficult, Cao Bianjiao divided the people who are officials into four classes, the first class is public and forgetful, the second class is both public and private, the third class is not distinguished, the fourth class is public for private purposes, the first class is a rare honest official, for the country and the people, completely ignoring himself, the second class is the public heart, selfishness, while doing things for the people, do not forget to get a little welfare for themselves, the third class is public and private, dare to do anything, When doing things for the imperial court, I take care of the furniture, and the first thing that comes to mind is to transform the public into a private one, and the fourth class is needless to say, it is a real one, who does nothing for his own selfish interests, and only thinks about taking power and making money, and dares to do anything except good things.

Cao Bianjiao admires the first class, tolerates the second class, criticizes the third class, and is merciless to the fourth class. So he admires Zhuang Zigu, there are really not many people who can have this heart, there are really not many people in the Ming Dynasty, even if they are around him, they are no longer rare, what problems are there with those people under him, Cao Bianjiao actually knows it, but he doesn't violate his bottom line, and he doesn't want to find out.

"The general has an overreputation, this is the duty of the minister, how dare he get the general's praise!" Zhuang Zigu was also a little embarrassed to be praised by Cao Bianjiao, he relied on a pure heart, he had thought a lot before coming here, and he had worried, the virtues of those people who were officials of the Ming Dynasty, he didn't know, but he still chose to return to the south, he didn't expect to get such courtesy from Cao Bianjiao, he was really flattered.

"This is my sincere words, the current atmosphere in the court is not good, some people for their own selfishness, do not care about the people of the country, in fact, to put it bluntly, that is, they don't care about what loyalty, filial piety and righteousness, that is just a sentence above their mouths, whether it is Dashun or Daming, they feel that it doesn't matter, because they can still be officials, but just a change of master, so they don't care about these at all, only think about their own reputation, their own interests, I am also very sad! There is no way, if you want to change, it is not an overnight thing, it may take ten years, or even twenty years, and we all need to work together, I look forward to working with General Zhuang to build a new Ming! ”

Hearing Cao Bianjiao's such proud and frank words, Zhuang Zigu was also very excited at the moment, knowing that he was not wrong, and he also bowed at the moment: "Thank you for the general's support, the last general will smear his liver and brain to the newspaper, and he will die without regrets!" ”

"Okay, it's not that I'm promoting you, it's that the court doesn't bury talents, I will show you as the deputy chief military officer, from now on you will follow me to serve, I will transfer 5,000 soldiers and horses with you, and another deputy general will be assigned to you, you will lead the army and garrison in Guide Mansion, first stand firm, train the soldiers and horses, and then wait for my military orders to act."

"The last general obeys!" Zhuang Zigu replied very excitedly, he was finally able to lead the troops alone, sitting on one side, for him, this is an opportunity, an opportunity to show his ability, it was given to him by Cao Bianjiao, he is grateful to Cao Bianjiao from the bottom of his heart, Cao Bianjiao's public heart, but also made him very respectful.

"Your Majesty! After breaking Beijing, hundreds of thousands of soldiers of my Dashun army were stationed in the city, entered the city for ten days, and did not commit any crimes in the autumn, and after ten days, they began to corrupt military discipline, burning, killing and looting, causing dissatisfaction among the people, and re-missing the Ming Dynasty, the overall situation was undecided, and it should have been necessary to implement benevolent government and win the hearts of the people, but at that time everyone wanted to return to their hometowns with brocade clothes, and no one expected that the Manchurians would raise troops to invade the south, and no one expected that Wu Sangui would dare not surrender, and would send people to borrow troops from Manchuria, and the Manchu civil and military officers had nothing else to think about except looting money, The emperor fought for more than ten years, and won the world, Henan, Shandong and other places were decided with a snap of his fingers, and it was precisely because of this that he also bred the heart of peace and lightness of the enemy, the generals were knighted, and the soldiers were divided into gold and silver beauties, and everyone had nothing back then, so they dared to work hard, and after breaking Beijing, they had everything, and our army of 200,000 went east, but they returned with a feather, because from top to bottom they just wanted to preserve what they got now, and they lacked enterprising spirit......"

Zhendingfu, Dingzhou, Li Zicheng's soldiers and horses have just arrived in Dingzhou, Li Zicheng also summoned everyone to come to the meeting, summarize the experience of this failure, and plan the next way out.

Li Zicheng listened to Li Yan's words, although there were thorns in the language, but in the current situation, he was not angry, but was afraid to praise Li Yan's frankness, he also knew that Li Yan had a high prestige in the army, if Li Yan was disposed of at this time, it would not be conducive to concentrating on the enemy, the soldiers and horses of the Manchu Qing and Wu Sangui would chase after him at any time, and the army's morale should not be disturbed.

At that moment, Li Zicheng also showed a wry smile, nodded lightly, and said in a gentle tone: "What Mr. said is very true, I also have an understanding of these situations, since the break of Xiangyang, and then captured Chengtian, Jingzhou, Huguang and the north of the Yangtze River are all returned to us, and then in Xiangyang to establish the Xinshun court, at this time the climate has become, and then defeated Sun Chuanting, into Guanzhong, the Ming Dynasty Wenchen military generals surrendered one after another, at the beginning of the year through Pingyang, break Taiyuan, although there is a small setback in Ningwu Pass, but it is also a victory all the way to Beijing. So after entering Beijing, the old ministers of the Ming Dynasty surrendered one after another, which is the trend of the times. The most important thing at the moment is to withdraw from the army, and other things can be talked about slowly later. I don't know what your plan is for the matter of retiring from the army, sir? ”