In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, in mid-July, Edo Castle.

Li Hongyu did not live in the castle tower of Tokugawa Iekai, but lived in the military camp, after all, Edo Castle had just taken the market, and the market was not very peaceful, and the military camp was the safest place.

In fact, the castle tower is also a good place, the high walls of the castle are thick and easy to defend and difficult to attack, but after all, it is the residence of the shogun, which is equivalent to the imperial palace of the Ming Dynasty, and Li Hongyu will undoubtedly commit a taboo if he lives in it.

Therefore, Li Hongyu chose the military camp, and let Tokugawa Iekai still live in the castle tower, which can be regarded as fulfilling his promise to treat him well.

On this day, when Li Hongyu was discussing with the generals in the barracks, a soldier hurriedly delivered an urgent report, and when he read it, his face suddenly changed, and a complicated look appeared on his face.

Although Li Hongyu had already prepared in his heart, he was still a little difficult to accept for a while when things really happened, this urgent report was sent by Emperor Chongzhen, and Li Hongyu was urgently recruited to lead the army back to King Qin.

It turned out that at the same time that Li Hongyu was preparing to attack the Japanese state, Li Zicheng, who established the Dashun State in Xi'an, swore to go east at the beginning of the fifth month, and captured the important town of Taiyuan City just over half a month later.

In mid-June, when Li Hongyu attacked Edo Bay, Li Zicheng conquered Ningwu Pass, and the general who guarded the pass, Zhou Yujili, was killed in battle, and all his family members were martyred.

Due to the heavy losses in Ningwuguan, Li Zicheng ordered the slaughter of the city, and Ningwuguan was killed without leaving chickens and dogs, and corpses were everywhere.

On the night of the massacre, Jiang Xuan, the commander of Datong, sent people to surrender to Li Zicheng, and the surrender table of Wang Chengyin, the commander of Xuanfu, also arrived.

When Li Zicheng led the Dashun army into Xuanfu, the people of Xuanfu City warmly welcomed the Dashun army after hearing the propaganda that "King Chuang came and did not pay food".

In the face of Li Zicheng's devastating and decaying trend of the Dashun army, the government and the opposition in the capital were shocked, and no one could have imagined that the progress of the Dashun army would be so smooth, let alone that the Ming army along the way would compete to surrender.

Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen urgently transferred Wu Sangui, the general soldier of Liaodong, Wang Yongji, the governor of Jiliao, Tang Tong, the general soldier of Changping, and Liu Zeqing, the general soldier of Shandong, to defend the capital, and called on the bureaucrats in Beijing to donate money.

At the same time, Emperor Chongzhen didn't care about Li Hongyu being in command of the war against the Japanese State, and issued an official document to transfer Li Hongyu to lead the water division into King Qin, at this time he could only count on the strong water division, Li Hongyu became the person he trusted and relied on the most.

Emperor Chongzhen believed that even if all the officials of the Ming Dynasty surrendered to the traitor Li Chuang, then Li Hongyu would never do that, and would definitely lead the army to fight Li Chuang to the end to defend the Ming Dynasty.

Li Hongyu knew very well that if it wasn't for the helpless situation, Emperor Chongzhen would definitely not transfer him back to Beijing to escort him, so he was ready to carry out Emperor Chongzhen's order and lead 20,000 sailors to Tianjin Port, and at the same time transfer troops from Korea into the Japanese State to strengthen deterrence.

"Lady, I'll leave the affairs here to you." When leaving, Yamashita Sakurako led the generals to see Li Hongyu off in Edo Bay, and Li Hongyu told Yamashita Sakurako in a deep voice, "If it is not necessary, don't use the sword again." ”

Li Hongyu has lived with Yamashita Sakurako for so many years, so he naturally knows Yamashita Sakurako's character, and Yamashita Sakurako is kind to those who are traitors or unwilling to submit, which is related to her childhood energy.

Although Yamashita Sakurako was not the supreme general of the Shui Shi in the Wa Kingdom, she was Li Hongyu's wife and represented Li Hongyu's authority, and was one of the elders of the Shui Shi, so those generals of the Shui Shi must have looked up to her.

Li Hongyu didn't just want to capture the Wa State, but also govern the Wa State and let it be used by him, so he couldn't kill indiscriminately, and at this time, he needed to gather the people's hearts.

"The concubine has written it down."

Yamashita Sakurako bowed slightly when she heard this, and then looked at Li Hongyu with concern and said, "Xianggong, the situation in the capital is critical, Xianggong should be more careful." ”

To tell the truth, Yamashita Sakurako did not want Li Hongyu to go to the capital to escort, Li Zicheng's Dashun army was like entering a no-man's land along the way, and the Ming army competed with each other along the way, and in a short period of time it reached Juyong Pass, which shows that the Ming court has been unpopular, and Li Hongyu will inevitably go to war with the Dashun army, which will not be done at all.

Yamashita Sakurako was not originally a person from the Ming Dynasty, so she did not have much loyalty to Emperor Chongzhen, and when she heard that the strength of the Dashun army exceeded 100,000, she was worried that Li Hongyu would be in danger this time.

There is a good saying, the building will be difficult to support, Daming has rotted to the bones, and it is difficult for Li Hongyu to bring it back to life even if he tries his best to bring it back to life.

"Lady, the bandit army is menacing this time, and the officers and soldiers along the way are shameless, so that people's minds have changed, I am afraid that they will fall before the prince arrives in Tianjin!"

Li Hongyu knew that Yamashita Sakurako was worried about him, so he sighed and said, The Ming army is obviously demoralized, plus those civil and military officials who want to save their lives secretly fornicate with Li Zicheng, don't look at the strong defense of the capital, I am afraid that it will not play the slightest role at that time.

"Xianggong, if the emperor is killed, what should you do?"

Yamashita Sakurako felt that Li Hongyu was reasonable, Li Zicheng's rapid advance and the surrender of the Ming army along the way would definitely have a huge impact on the officials and soldiers of Gyeonggi, and I was afraid that no one had the intention of fighting hard with the Dashun army, so she asked solemnly.

"If the emperor's heir can be found, the prime minister will support him to ascend the throne."

Li Hongyu pondered for a while and said, "If all the emperor's heirs are killed, then the prince can only wait and see what happens." ”

"My lord, at that time, my subordinates will support my lord to ascend the throne as the emperor and calm the troubled times." At this time, a general standing next to Sakurako at the foot of the mountain couldn't help but say in a deep voice.

"Yes, this world should be sat by adults." The rest of the generals opened their mouths to express their support when they heard this, they were all generals who were raised by Li Hongyu, and they were naturally loyal to Li Hongyu and hoped that Li Hongyu would become the Ninth Five-Year Honor.

Moreover, looking at the Ming Dynasty, in terms of merit and qualifications, who can compete with Li Hongyu.

"Don't talk nonsense, the emperor is still here, you are trapping your own officials for disloyalty and injustice." Li Hongyu frowned when he heard this, and opened his mouth to scold, but he was very relieved in his heart.

The attitude of these generals is naturally the mentality of the sailors and even the personnel of the Customs Department, which will make things much easier and smoother in the future.

"Okay, everyone is also thinking about the public." The generals were silent when they heard this, and no one dared to refute Li Hongyu, Yamashita Sakurako smiled when she saw this, and she could definitely see that although Li Hongyu scolded him, he didn't mean to blame.

"You guys......" Li Hongyu sighed, glanced at the generals on the scene, walked up to the Sea Dragon, and waved goodbye to Sakurako Yamashita and the others on the dock.

At the same time, the capital, the Qianqing Palace, the upper study.

"Back to the emperor, the military salary has been settled, and the housekeeper of the Taishi Mansion just donated 200,000 taels of property."

When Emperor Chongzhen was frowning and sitting behind the desk and falling into deep thought, Wang Chengen, the eunuch of the celebrant and the eunuch Bingbi, walked in quickly and said to Emperor Chongzhen with a happy expression.

"Two hundred thousand taels?" Emperor Chongzhen was slightly stunned when he heard this, and his expression was quite surprised, which was too much.

"Your Majesty, the valuable things of the entire Taishi Mansion have been sold out, and the housekeeper of the Taishi Mansion said that at this time, when the country is in danger, the Taishi Mansion should set an example and destroy the family to relieve the difficulties."

"Alas!"

Emperor Chongzhen's expression then became excited, and he looked at Wang Chengen and said with emotion, "If the courtiers can be as loyal to the country as Taishi Li, why is the Ming Dynasty like this?" ”

Wang Chengen suddenly fell silent when he heard this, since Li Zicheng's Dashun army entered Xuanfu, Emperor Chongzhen put down his body in order to ensure the safety of the capital, hoping that the civil and military officials in the capital could raise a sum of silver taels to make up for the arrears of the military salaries of the soldiers guarding the capital, boost morale, and wait for the arrival of the army of the king of Qin in various places.

The wars in recent years have emptied Chongzhen's inner treasury, and the treasury of the household department has already seen the bottom, and Emperor Chongzhen hopes that the courtiers can work together to overcome the current difficulties.

But the result made Emperor Chongzhen feel disappointed, although he lowered the emperor's noble head and hoped to raise donations, but in the face of his fundraising proposal, the imperial relatives in the capital were a dime, and the Manchu Dynasty was crazy and stupid.

In contrast to the indifference of the officials in the officialdom, the common people spontaneously made donations, although their money was small, but at least they showed a heart.

According to historical records, there is an old man who is over the age of sixtieth birthday to donate more than 400 taels of silver that he has accumulated in his life, and Emperor Chongzhen was quite emotional after learning about it, and rewarded the old man with a position of a thousand households in brocade clothes.

Compared with this old man who donated all his wealth, the behavior of the civil and military officials of the imperial court and the relatives of the emperor is quite unbearable.

Wei Zaode, the head of the cabinet, as the head of the hundred officials in the capital, only donated 500 taels of silver, while Emperor Chongzhen stipulated that the donation of 30,000 taels of silver was of the highest rank, and he would be personally rewarded by him, counting on the courtiers to donate as much as possible.

Compared with the perfunctory behavior of civil and military officials donating dozens of taels to hundreds of taels, the performance of eunuchs is much more loyal, the richest eunuch Wang Zhixin donated 10,000 taels, and Wang Chengen donated 20,000 taels, hanging the civil and military of the Manchu Dynasty on the total amount of donations.

Although a group of civil and military officials donated silver taels, more powerful people were crying poverty, cheating and evading, and did not want to pay a penny at all.

In order to show that they had no money, some officials went so far as to take their pots and pans to the street to sell them, putting on a posture that was not a good day, and even put up a notice on the door of their mansions to sell their houses.

In view of the unsatisfactory donation of officialdom, Emperor Chongzhen decided to set an example among the courtiers, and Zhou Kui, the ruler of the country, came into his sight.

Emperor Chongzhen knew that Zhou Kui was rich, and Zhou Kui had made a lot of money and water over the years by virtue of his status as the national ruler, and it was not an exaggeration to describe it as rich.

Originally, Emperor Chongzhen thought that Zhou Kui, as the head of the country, shared weal and woe with the imperial family of the Ming Dynasty, and would definitely lend a helping hand in such a time of crisis.

Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen sent the eunuch Xu Gao to visit Zhou Kui, first from earl to marquis, and then conveyed Emperor Chongzhen's dictation, hoping that Zhou Kui could take the lead among the civil and military officials and donate 100,000 taels of silver.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Kui immediately lay on the ground and rolled around, crying to death, claiming to be a thrifty and honest official, and finally it was Queen Zhou who persuaded her, so she reluctantly donated 13,000 taels.

It is worth mentioning that Queen Zhou originally gave Zhou Kui 5,000 taels of silver in the hope that he could donate it together, but Zhou Kui only donated 3,000 taels and put the other 2,000 taels into his pocket.

Therefore, the 200,000 taels of silver in the Taishi Mansion are really eye-catching, and it also makes Emperor Chongzhen feel very pleased, at least Daming still has Li Hongyu, a loyal and courageous courtier.

(End of chapter)