"The situation in the court has eroded to this extent today, some things, should not be said by the ministers, but Lord Liu is a loyal minister, I have a good conversation with you, so I will put my heart in my heart, today's emperor, clothes and food, is a rare diligent monarch, but although the emperor has the ambition of Zhongxing, but there is no talent for Zhongxing, since the ascending to the pole, the feudal officials, there are many dead, Yuan Chonghuan, Lu Xiangsheng, Xiong Wen, Liu Ce, Yang Yipeng, etc., the same is true of the six cabinets, Chen Xinjia, Xue Guoguan, Han Jisi, Zheng Sanjun, Liu Zhifeng, Li Juesi and so on, Shaanxi Heizong once said: "Now the emperor is among the two and three ministers, calling forward, for fear of not being fast, kneeling for a long time, ready to reprimand, and even as soon as he is accused, he will be charged with accepting bribes." Where is the heart of the minister? Ministers are afraid that they are accustomed to respecting and not knowing it! And Liu Zongzhou also said: 'Your Majesty's desire to seek treatment is too anxious. brewing for utilitarianism, utilitarianism is endless, and it is turned into a criminal name; The punishment is endless, and it is suspicious; Suspicion is endless, and the accumulation is overwhelming. ’”

"These things, in fact, how can I not know it, I have also served in Beijing for two years, and the emperor's problem is that he is too impatient to seek treatment, and he is stubborn and self-serving, alas! Daming has fallen to this, and we and other ministers are also responsible! Liu Xizuo did not avoid this question, this is not the emperor's mistake alone, but also the responsibility of the entire Ming court, civil ministers and military generals, no one can get out of it.

"Right now, Li Zicheng has gone to Shanxi, the capital is in danger, say a word that shouldn't be said, we should be prepared, in case the capital is broken by the rebels, what should we do, if something happens to the emperor, what should we do, although this is the worst situation, but we have to think about it!"

"General Cao, it's impossible, to say that the Manchu Qing Dynasty has repeatedly gone south over the years, but none of them have captured Beijing City, is it possible for him to become Li Zicheng?"

"It's hard to say! The Manchu Qing Dynasty has a limited number of troops, and the whole country is only 200,000 people, but Li Zicheng is already a million soldiers, how the combat power of the three major battalions is, you and I are well aware, weak and weak, these years of war inside and outside the court, almost all rely on the border army, if Li Zicheng hits Beijing City, it is difficult to guarantee that there will be no accidents, we are fighting here bloodily, it is for the court, if the court is gone, we will become an ownerless lonely soul, take a step and see a step! ”

Cao Bianjiao is very clear, whether it is Liu Xizuo, or the ministers of civil and military affairs in various places, they all have confidence in Beijing City, Beijing City has been repeatedly violated in history, but none of them have been breached, they believe that this time will not be an exception, as long as the soldiers and horses of King Qin on the periphery arrive, they will turn the danger into a disaster, at most it will be lost Shanxi.

But Cao Bianjiao knows very well that the Ming Dynasty has lost its vitality, and the people's hearts among the people are almost gone, especially after Li Zicheng Jianyuan became king, the people's minds have fallen to Dashun, and they are helping Dashun to tear down the old and rotten building of Daming, which will turn into powder at any time, and the time will definitely not be too long.

"I won't say these words anymore, let's talk about the war of the Northern Expedition, I will invite Zuo Liangyu of Wuchang to send troops to attack Hanchuan, and Fang Guoan's department will attack Canyang, and our troops will take Jiangling directly, Lord Liu, after you gather Hunan soldiers and horses, when you march into Yidu, you must cut off the reinforcements of Yiling, and respond to our army to capture Jiangling, as long as Jiangling is taken, the rest of the cities are exposed to our army's front, I can lead the army to capture Jingmen, threaten Xiangyang, the Dashun army is bound to shrink to Xiangyang, and then south of Hanshui, There is only one Xiangyang left, which can be captured by looking for an opportunity, what does Lord Liu think? ”

Cao Bianjiao can be regarded as giving the bottom of his life, his own deployment is basically said, Zuo Liangyu's side, Cao Bianjiao is not worried about anything, there are many people, even if it is a group of rabble, but the Dashun army is not an elite soldier, Zuo Liangyu also has hundreds of thousands of people, if he can't do this thing, he doesn't need to live, just hit it to death.

Cao Bianjiao is really worried about Liu Xizuo's side of the soldiers, I don't know if they can succeed, so Cao Bianjiao must also be prepared, he can't rely on them completely, he can only treat them as help, and he must have a psychological preparation that doesn't matter with them or not.

"That's the right strategy! General Cao, then I will go back, order the army and horses on the hour, and set out to Yidu within ten days, and plan for the general to capture Jiangling! ”

"If that's the case, then there's work!" Cao Bianjiao also thanked him.

After sending Liu Xizuo away, Cao Bianjiao also came to Zhu Yujian, this time on the expedition, Zhu Yujian naturally had to follow, but Zhu Yujian's interest was not very high, in fact, Cao Bianjiao could understand that the country was broken, and he was full of blood, but there was no place for it, and he could only watch the Daming Dynasty collapse and collapse, so Zhu Yujian would inevitably feel sad.

"You're here?" Cao Bianjiao just walked to the door of Zhu Yujian's room, and Zhu Yujian's voice came out, he also expected that Cao Bianjiao would come, although Zhu Yujian is the vassal king, but without Cao Bianjiao, Zhu Yujian is still in the dungeon that is no more than ten feet long, and he will still be carved like this, although there is no brocade clothes and jade food, but it is a hundred and ten times better than the life of the captivity, so his relationship with Cao Bianjiao is very peculiar, saying that he is a friend, but not all, if he says not, the two of them get along like friends, and Zhu Yujian does not put on a shelf, In fact, he can't put it up in front of Cao Bianjiao, his current identity is just a staff officer in Cao Bianjiao's army, Cao Bianjiao respects him and treats him very politely, but he will never take this courtesy as his Yang Wu prestige capital.

"Come and see you, the war is about to begin, you also have to go with the expedition, I need someone by my side to be able to mention me at any time, but seeing that your state today doesn't seem to be very good, and your interest is not high, are you worried about the inheritance of the Ming Dynasty?"

When Zhu Yujian heard this, he also smiled bitterly, which can be regarded as a kind of self-deprecation, and sighed helplessly: "Taizu Taizong has been overcoming obstacles for decades to create the Ming Dynasty, which has been inherited for more than two hundred and seventy years. ”

"Although the country is in danger of being tired, it does not mean that it cannot be put to death and reborn, the Ming Dynasty is the Ming Dynasty surnamed Zhu, the Ming Dynasty of my thousands of Ming people, not the Ming Dynasty of Chongzhen alone, the Ming Dynasty has such a predicament, he has a great responsibility, he can't shirk this, even if Chongzhen is dead, there are thousands of Ming descendants, and there are millions of Ming people, it is not considered a dead country, Li Zicheng is now a climate, but this is just luck, he can't become the ancestor of the Han Dynasty Liu Bang, Not to mention Emperor Taizu Hongwu, he is just a Wang Mang at most, you don't have to be like this, as long as the strength in our hands is strong, we will have the opportunity to revive the Ming Dynasty and reorganize the broken mountains and rivers, you have to restrain your mind, you can't be so low. ”

"I understand!" Zhu Yujian is a smart person, so he naturally understands what Cao Bianjiao means, they don't want to rebel, but they can't escape the suspicion of supporting the army and self-respect, but they support the army and self-respect not to divide one side, but to stand by, which Cao Bianjiao has already said very clearly when he rescued him from prison, which is why he was able to follow Cao Bianjiao here.