Liu Zeqing had no naval support from the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and knew that the end had come, so he reluctantly gathered the only remaining 80,000 troops to counterattack Sun Chuanting. It is hoped that the 20,000 new Ming troops under Sun Chuanting will be severely damaged first, and then negotiate with the imperial court.

The final decisive battle between the two sides broke out in Laizhou Prefecture.

Sun Chuanting's new-style Ming army has recently become an army, and the morale and morale of the army are at their peak, although the weapons and equipment are not as good as the Xuanjia army, but compared with Liu Zeqing's army, it is like a hungry tiger pounceing on a scalper.

As soon as the battle began, Liu Zeqing was defeated in five battles. Liu's army lost 10,000 killed, surrendered 50,000, and was completely defeated.

Liu Zeqing reluctantly fled back to Dengzhou Mansion with 3,000 people, but before he entered the city, he was tied up by his subordinate officers and sent directly to Laizhou City, where Sun Chuanting was located.

Sun Chuanting, who won a complete victory, ordered the captured Liu Zeqing to be sent to the capital for questioning, and confiscated all the four million taels of silver that Liu Zeqing had looted, and gave Shi Lang one million taels as the silver for the army as promised. Shi Lang was also allowed to select 20,000 men and women who were willing to go to Jiangnan among the 100,000 men and women who had been packed by Liu Zeqing before Liu Zeqing and brought them back to Jiangnan together.

After Shi Lang returned to Jiangnan with the silver and the people, the resolute Sun Chuanting immediately occupied the northern Lubei Mansions.

Because of the wait-and-see of Zhu Yihai, the king of Lu, and did not send troops to aid the first time, Sun Chuanting's troops went south again, and by the way, Zhu Yihai's Yanzhou Mansion was returned to the imperial court. Even the fight rose, and the Xuzhou and Huai'an Mansions belonging to Nanzhili were also included in the bag, and stopped in front of the Yangzhou Mansion under the jurisdiction of Fang Yuan.

At this point, the power of the imperial court had penetrated deep into Huainan and was adjacent to Fang Yuan's territory, Yangzhou Mansion.

Sun Chuanting's campaign to recover Shandong this time was fought vigorously, and the Ming army was depressed and defeated in successive battles regardless of whether it was facing the Liukou or the Manchu Qing Dynasty. After the war, Liu Zeqing's 50,000 soldiers were also recruited, which greatly enriched the establishment of the Ming army.

Although Sun Chuanting had the behavior of privately contacting Fang Yuan behind the back of the imperial court, he did not hide his flaws after all. The imperial court immediately rewarded Liu Zeqing of the Earl of Ningnan, transferred it to Sun Chuanting, hereditary replacement, and rewarded 5,000 acres of fertile land in Jinan Prefecture.

Empress Zhou even invited Emperor Chongzhen, which greatly expressed Sun Chuanting's great achievements. Emperor Chongzhen personally wrote the six characters of "The Pillar of the Ming Dynasty", framed it into a gold plaque, rewarded it to Sun Chuanting, and promised to pass it on to future generations.

As for Fang Yuan's great contribution to the north, Queen Zhou also issued an edict to praise it, and the 5,000 acres of fertile land rewarded were not Fang Yuan's share, and were directly rewarded to the name of Princess Kunxing.

Liu Zeqing, who colluded with the Manchu Qing Dynasty to raise troops and resisted, was escorted to the noon gate and Ling Chi. At the same time, more than 50 people from 1,000 households and 100 households under Liu Zeqing were executed.

Liu Zeqing's favorite two giant chimpanzees were sent directly to the royal garden.

Zhu Yihai, the king of Lu, although the first rat at the beginning of the war, was at both ends. But he was in the Zhu Ming clan, and then he also sent troops to help him in time to avoid death, but he deprived Yanzhou Mansion of the feudal state and transferred it to Huai'an Mansion. Anyway, Zhu Yihai had an old friendship with Fang Yuan, so he was ordered to go to neighbor Fang Yuan as a buffer zone between the imperial court and Fang Yuan.

The imperial court completely recovered Shandong Province and made a series of personnel changes.

Shi Kefa, the loyal secretary of the military department of Nanzhili, was transferred to the governor of Shandong, in charge of Shandong's military and political affairs, and served as a barrier against Nanzhili.

Ma Shiying, the governor of Fengyang Prefecture, was transferred to the city of Nanjing to take charge of the military and political affairs of the city.

Huang Degong, deputy commander-in-chief of Huizhou, was transferred to Fengyang Mansion as the commander-in-chief, and led 30,000 Hui troops north to resist Zuo Liangyu's offensive.

Liu Liangzuo concurrently served as the commander-in-chief of Chizhou, Hezhou, and Chuzhou, as long as he could withstand Zuo Liangyu's pressure, Hezhou and Chuzhou would be Liu Liangzuo's territory.

Shi Lang returned to Jiangnan with the silver and people, and Fang Yuan generously took out 300,000 taels and rewarded Shi Lang, Shi Fu, and the sailor camp. Of the 40,000 people, there are 8,000 people who are willing to join the army, Fang Yuan ordered Jingjie to be incorporated into the Xuanjia Army, and married the 8,000 women who came back with him.

The rest were unwilling to join the army, and those who were willing to work in agriculture were handed over to the cabinet in Nanzhili, and the Zhejiang provinces were properly resettled.

Just sent Shi Lang away here, Shi Kefa, who was in charge of Nanjing City over there, came to the door again.

Fang Yuan didn't talk to him, and he couldn't think of what this stubborn old man would do when he came to the door, so he still received him in Canglang Pavilion.

When Shi Kefa saw Fang Yuan, he didn't say a word, he didn't even save his politeness, and directly asked to see Zhu Cizhi and Zhu Cihuan, the two princes of Chongzhen.

Shi Kefa wanted to see the two princes obviously with bad intentions, but the two princes were not prisoners in Canglang Pavilion, and Fang Yuan had no legitimate reason to refuse Shi Kefa's visit to the two princes, so he ordered the maid to bring Zhu Cizhi and Zhu Cihuan out to meet Shi Kefa.

Shi Kefa was respectful to the two princes, and he bowed to the courtiers with a glance.

Fang Yuan suddenly discovered that this stubborn old man's foolish loyalty was actually quite respectable and cute. He is actually the same kind of person as Huang Daozhou, and he really doesn't have much ability, but his loyalty to the Ming Dynasty makes Fang Yuan also awe-inspiring.

Shi Kefa saluted, and then explained to Fang Yuan straight to the point, he was going to be transferred to Shandong as the governor of Shandong, and he came to resign to the two princes, Fang Yuan.

When Fang Yuan heard this, he knew the abacus of the imperial court, and as soon as Shi Kefa left like this, it meant that the imperial court almost gave up Nanjing, which was impossible to hold, and let Fang Yuan and Zuo Liangyu go to the fire around Nanjing City and the surrounding state capitals, and the imperial court was happy to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight.

Shi Kefa said again, "Before the old minister left, he had a few words to confide in with the two princes. ”

He looked at Zhu Cizhi and Zhu Cihuan and said respectfully, "The two highnesses, the ancients had clouds, and the relatives were different. Your Majesty is your father after all, and Empress Zhou and the crown prince are your mother and brother after all. Now that the Ming Dynasty is in jeopardy, the bloodline of the Zhu family should be united, rather than greedy and greedy. The two highnesses must not take advantage of the wisdom of the blind, and be used by others to deal with the court of the capital, and do things that are painful to relatives and quick to enemies. ”

Although he didn't specify who the other person who was using the two princes was, the hint in and out of his words had already shown that it was Fang Yuan in front of him.

Yongwang Zhu Cizhi was silent, but his eyes were flickering, secretly speculating about Shi Kefa's thoughts. Besides, Shi Kefa's words were aimed at Fang Yuan, and in front of Fang Yuan, he couldn't easily show his attitude.

Zhu Cihuan, the younger king of Wuyue, was more innocent and asked rhetorically, "Shi Shangshu, what do you mean?" ”

Shi Kefa said loudly, "Your Majesty has been sick in the harem for more than a year, and the two princes will go back to the court with the old ministers to visit Your Majesty's illness!" ”

He did not shy away from proposing in front of Fang Yuan that the two princes return to the imperial court, which was also the bottom of Fang Yuan's salary, breaking his attempt to use the two little princes to achieve the purpose of confrontation with the imperial court. Moreover, in Fang Yuan's opinion, the trick he publicly shouted was not only impulsive, but also extremely clever. If Shi Kefa had a private meeting with the two princes, Fang Yuan could have used a strategy to delay the army and drag the two princes to prevent them from leaving. openly shouting, on the contrary, can block Fang Yuan's mouth and directly take the two princes away.

This method is the same as Huang Daozhou's desire to take away the princess before, if the two princes Zhu Cizhi and Zhu Cihuan leave voluntarily, unless Fang Yuan really immediately reversed and forcibly detained him, it would be reasonable and unstoppable.

Zhu Cizhi and Zhu Cihuan suddenly heard that Shi Kefa was going to bring the two back to the court, and they all looked at Fang Yuan, the teacher of their mother Tuogu, and waited for Fang Yuan's statement.

"Since it is a matter of His Majesty's illness, I would like to ask Shi Shangshu to bring my concern to His Majesty. As for the two princes, it's up to them to decide whether to go or not! ”

After Fang Yuan said that, his face was calm, and he drank the tea one by one. Now is not the time for him to express his position, but for Zhu Cizhi and Zhu Cihuan to make a statement.

Fang Yuan actually wanted to see what these two princes who were gradually growing up were thinking. The twisted melon is not sweet, and he barely supports a prince who always wants to take refuge in the northern court, and the other party is doing all kinds of harm but no benefit.