Forbidden city

Qianqing Palace

In the past month, Chongzhen has received two pieces of information, all of which are bad news.

One is that Li Yan, the governor of Henan, sent He Jin to lead 20,000 soldiers from Nanyang Mansion to Kaifeng Mansion in the north, and the Kaifeng Mansion sent an urgent letter of help to the imperial court, asking the imperial court to immediately send troops to the rescue. Kaifeng Mansion belongs to Zhou Yuji's defense area, and after Zhou Yuji got the military report, he immediately came to the capital to report the emergency military situation.

One is that Wu Sangui also responded to the Xuanjia Army's desire to use the Daoshan Customs Pass to exit the customs, Guan Ningjun thought that Fang Yuan wanted to destroy the Dao and take the opportunity to capture Shanhaiguan, but the Guan Ning Army refused to let it go. Even, Wu Sangui himself did not come, but sent Gao Dihui, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan, to report the news on his behalf.

Although Wu Sangui's reply was respectful, his attitude was clear at a glance, no matter whether Chongzhen should allow Fang Yuan to borrow the way or not, Wu Sangui and Guan Ningjun would not let him go.

The two military reports were all related to the conflict with Fang Yuan, and Chongzhen was forced to have no choice but to find the princess who was nominally coming to the capital to visit relatives, but was actually negotiating peace for Fang Yuan.

This time, the dialogue between father and daughter was only Empress Zhou, Zhou Kui, the national abbot, and Zhou Yuji were listening on one side, and did not convene the ministers of the other cabinets and the Governor's Office of the Five Armies.

Hong Chengchou, the current cabinet chief, although he didn't say it explicitly, was actually looking forward to cooperating with the Manchus to deal with Fang Yuan; Wu Sangui had in fact disobeyed the orders of the imperial court; The water division of Zheng Sen District is also in Tianjin.

The only thing Chongzhen can count on is Zhou Kui's 80,000 Ming army and Zhou Yuji's 70,000 Jin army.

Chongzhen first put the military report of Fang Yuan's army sent north in front of Princess Kunxing, and said with a cold expression, "Jiao'er, this is the sincerity of the peace talks, the fox's tail was finally revealed, and the Henan Buzheng Division who sent the army to capture the imperial court." ”

The princess read the military report, and returned the military report to Chongzhen, "Father, if the horse is really an enemy of the imperial court, south of Gyeonggi to Shandong is a horse Pingchuan, why don't you attack the capital directly, but send troops from Henan?" This is just a peace negotiation strategy of the colt! ”

Zhou Yujilang said, "Fang Yuan didn't attack Gyeonggi, it was just because he was afraid of the 70,000 Jin troops in Hejian Province. ”

The princess looked at Zhou Yuji with a smile and said, "Governor Zhou, the 50,000 Jin army can't even take a few thousand Gao Youwei, can you stop the 200,000 Xuanjia army from going north?!" ”

She ridiculed Zhou Yuji, and then looked at Chongzhen and said, "Father, now in the Gyeonggi region, the only people who are willing to obey his father's orders are 80,000 Gyeonggi Ming troops and 70,000 Jin troops. Compared with Sun Chuanting's 200,000 Shandong troops and Li Zicheng's 300,000 invasion troops, which is stronger and weaker? Even Sun Chuanting was defeated and martyred, Li fled from Chengdu in embarrassment, and Ma Yan would be afraid of this bit of soldiers and horses in Gyeonggi? The horse did not march to Gyeonggi, but attacked in the direction of Henan, and he still didn't want to really tear his face with his father! ”

Chongzhen fell into contemplation again, if Fang Yuan really marched into Gyeonggi, Zhou Yuji's 70,000 Jin army might be able to cause a lot of trouble for the Xuanjia Army, but if it was said that the Xuanjia Army could be kept out of the capital, Chongzhen would not believe it.

Zhou Kui came out and said, "Your Majesty, the top priority is not a dispute of words, nor is it to judge whether Fang Yuan is a rebellious minister and thief, but how to solve the siege of Henan!" ”

Shanxi and Henan are all Zhou Yuji's defense areas, and Zhou Yuji's main force is in Hejian Mansion, guarding against the Xuanjia Army going north, what other way can resist the expansion of the Xuanjia Army in Henan? Chongzhen looked at Zhou Kui and asked, "Zhou Guozhang, do you have a good plan?" ”

Zhou Kuiyi said in a rhetorical manner, "According to the old minister's estimate, Fang Yuan is a person who cherishes his reputation, and he is quite a chaotic minister and thief and does not dare to openly turn his face, so he thinks about cutting off Jinggi's right-hand man, isolating the capital, and forcing the imperial court." ”

"If the imperial court does not defend Henan, Fang Yuan will inevitably continue to advance north and attack Shanxi. If Shanxi loses, Gyeonggi will be a dead land, and there will be nothing to be done! If the imperial court holds Henan and Shanxi, even if the capital is lost, it can retreat to Shanxi, rely on the danger of Taihang Mountain, and continue to hold on. Even if Fang Yuan captured Gyeonggi, he would immediately face an all-out war with the Manchus. We can just sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, or go south to Shaanxi, defeat the king of Qin, and seize Guanzhong to expand our power. ”

Chongzhen listened to his analysis of the situation, and nodded again and again, "Guozhang is right, Zhou Dudu, what do you say?!" ”

Zhou Yuji led all the Jin troops from Shanxi, if the Xuanjia army captured Henan and then went north to Shanxi, where would these Shanxi soldiers be willing to stay in Hejian Mansion, which was thousands of miles away? From the point of view of military morale and morale, Shanxi should also be returned.

Zhou Yukedah agreed with Zhou Kui's statement in his heart, but he was still embarrassed, "Your Majesty, if the Jin army withdraws, once Fang Yuan goes to Gyeonggi from the northeast of the mountain, who will protect the safety of Gyeonggi?" ”

Zhou Kuichong Chongzhen knelt on the ground and said solemnly, "Your Majesty, the dog Zhou Jian will personally lead 40,000 Jinggi Ming troops to garrison Hejian Mansion to resist Fang Yuan, and if it is unsuccessful, it will become benevolent." The old minister is deeply favored by His Majesty, and he will repay him with death. ”

If Zhou Yuji withdrew, the only thing Chongzhen could count on was Zhou Kui, seeing that Zhou Kui was still willing to come out to take on the important responsibility at the time of the national disaster, whether it was true or not, loyal or foolish, he was moved to tears, "Zhou Guozhang, the safety of Gyeonggi is all up to you!" ”

The princess silently looked at Zhou Kui, who was loyal in front of her father, and felt a deep disgust from her heart. Fang Yuan had already sent a secret envoy to deliver a message to the princess, and Zhou Kui secretly sent his son Zhou Jian to surrender to Fang Yuan a few days ago, and made an appointment to transfer Zhou Yuji's Jin army out of Gyeonggi to clear the last obstacle to entering Beijing.

After a series of high-profile loyal performances by Zhou Kui, Chongzhen really fell for the trick and transferred Zhou Yuji out of Gyeonggi and returned to Shanxi, and handed over the defense of Gyeonggi to Zhou Kui.

This is a typical open-door thief!

The princess looked at her father, emperor and queen mother, who regarded Zhou Kui as the last straw, and gave birth to a burst of irrepressible sadness.

Until this moment, the father and the queen mother have not seen that the real chaotic ministers and thieves of the Ming Dynasty are actually not Fang Yuan who fought in the south and the north, nor is it the Donglin Party or the Eunuch Party, but the group of bureaucrats who have milk and mothers, only selfish interests, and no justice at all!

Hong Chengchou and Wu Sangui were busy pressuring the imperial court to submit to the Manchus; Zhou Kui, the abbot, was busy surrendering to Fang Yuan; The most neutral Zheng Sen also has nothing to do with himself. The only loyal Sun Chuanting and Zhou Yuji are just lonely loyal ministers, and the Ming Dynasty returned to the light before his death.

The Ming Dynasty is at the helm of this group of bureaucrats, and it is really intolerable that it will not die!

The princess suddenly wanted to open her mouth to remind her father and queen mother, would this be Fang Yuan's plan to divert the tiger from the mountain, so that her father and queen mother would consider and consider it again, but she couldn't say anything when the words came to her mouth.

Fang Yuan trusted her wholeheartedly, so he would tell her about the entire plan, and even the confidential news of Zhou Kui's secret surrender. If she betrayed Fang Yuan and ruined Fang Yuan's plan, would she still have the face to see Fang Yuan again?

What's more, this is also the only plan to liberate the capital peacefully, if once leaked, Chongzhen ordered Zhou Yuji to take over Zhou Kui's Gyeonggi Ming army, and a bloody battle between the two sides could not be avoided. Gyeonggi will surely have a series of battles and devastated lives.

Whether in public or private, she didn't open her mouth to expose this big conspiracy, and in a dilemma, her nose was sore, and tears rolled down her cheeks.

When Queen Zhou saw her crying suddenly, she hurriedly asked, "Jiao'er, who are you?" ”

The princess sighed deeply, wiped away her tears, swallowed all the previous words into her stomach, and said lightly, "Father, queen mother, how do you plan to reply to the matter of borrowing the horse?" ”

Chongzhen spread out the letter sent by Wu Sangui and handed it to the princess, "Jiao'er, you can take a look for yourself, it's not that I want to refuse the horse, but that Wu Sangui won't let me go!" ”

The princess reviewed Wu Sangui's letter in detail, looked at Chongzhen and said, "What my father means is that my father is willing to borrow the Tao, but Wu Sangui is unwilling to borrow the Tao, right?" ”

Chongzhen groaned, "Horses and prostitutes can be understood in this way. ”

The princess accepted Wu Sangui's letter and put it in her arms, "Father, if you lend me the letter, I will immediately reply to the horse, and then send Wu Sangui's letter to support it." ”

Chongzhen still didn't want to borrow the Tao in his heart, since there was Wu Sangui to take this pot, and there was a princess to reply to Fang Yuan, it was the best, so he nodded again and again, "Everything depends on Jiao'er!" ”