When the news of Sun Wei's defeat came, the emperor was so angry that he stomped his feet again and again, this Lu Xiangsheng disappointed him more and more, and it seemed that he was definitely not a minister of Kuang Shiji. Yang Sichang plucked up the courage to suggest the recruitment of the naturalized army Qin Wang, and now the Ming Dynasty is the only army that can compete with the Qing army, and the emperor hesitated for a long time before agreeing.

Only then did the courtiers remember that there was also a naturalized general soldier in the peace conference, this guy was bold and reckless, did all the bad things, and had horns on his head and thorns on his body, which could not be touched, this kind of person would kill himself sooner or later, everyone was too lazy to say that he was too lazy to say that he was not good at coming to Beijing, who dared to guarantee that this northern captive would not do bad things, the ministers immediately opened the old accounts, and tried hard to dissuade the emperor from leading the wolf into the room.

"You say that the naturalized general soldier is a northern captive, then good, I will let the northern captives fight the eastern captives, and you should be satisfied with the two captives," the emperor said coldly with a gloomy face, pointing at the ministers and saying coldly, "No matter how bad the naturalized general soldier is, there are labels on his face, I know how to treat him, but I just can't understand some people, whether they are loyal or traitorous?" ”

At the moment of the great enemy, the Ming court was suspicious of each other, Lu Xiangsheng was angry with Gao Qiqian because of Sun Wei's defeat, and heard the rumors that the Guanning army collaborated with the enemy, and became more and more suspicious of the other party's intentions. Of course, the emperor did not agree, the troops guarding Gyeonggi were insufficient, and the division of the two main forces was simply ridiculous, insisting that Lu Xiangsheng and Gao Qi's potential Tongzhou join forces to defend against the enemy, but Lu Xiangsheng thought that Yang Sichang wanted Gao Qiqian to contain him, and he did something behind his back. Yang Sichang is difficult to be a man inside and outside, in order to avoid misunderstanding, he suggested to the emperor to maintain the situation of dividing troops, Lu Xiangsheng temporarily lived outside the Desheng Gate, and it was not suitable to go to Tongzhou, and he deliberately went out of the city to explain to Lu Xiangsheng in person, but Lu Xiangsheng grabbed him and Fang Yizao, Gao Qi and the old account of the submersible master, and angrily reprimanded him for wanting to engage in an alliance under the city.

Jingshi is not calm, rumors spread among the courtiers - the emperor agreed with Yang Sichang, Fang Yizao, Gao Qianqian Bian, secretly sent gold millions, silver more than 100,000 to Dongyu, this kind of false speculation made Yang Sichang become the target of public criticism again, although he tried every means to justify and the emperor also proved that nothing happened, but this kind of thing became more and more black, the courtiers decided that someone wanted to engage in an alliance under the city, and once again set off an anti-Yang upsurge, and Yang Tinglin, the editor of the Hanlin Academy, even shouted "Including Nanzhong, Li Gang is useless; Qianshan Bingcheng, Zong Ze hated", he wanted to go to Yang Sichang and then quickly, the emperor couldn't bear it, and changed this troublesome guy to the head of the military department, and transferred Lu Xiangsheng to the staff of the army.

A bunch of bastards, except for infighting, they can't come up with any strategy to defend themselves against the enemy - the emperor is very sad, and his face is becoming more and more ugly for the ministers, and the first assistant Liu Yuliang can't sit still, and asks to go out of Beijing to supervise the military situation. Some people are willing to share worries for the country, and the emperor can't ask for it, so he immediately wants to promote Lu Xiang to his post and listen to the investigation, and Liu Yuliang will act as the governor of the governor's various ways, and Chen Xinjia will take over the post of governor of Xuanda. Liu Yuliang was frightened and ran to Yang Sichang for help, Yang Sichang persuaded the emperor not to change generals in battle, the emperor reluctantly retracted his order, and issued an edict to deprive Lu Xiangsheng of the title of Shangshu to the rank of squire and still serve as the governor, and he made meritorious service for his crimes, and Liu Yuliang was the first assistant to supervise the reinforcements of various towns - the emperor was completely disappointed in Lu Xiangsheng, this person had a false name, and he had no merit in defending Gyeonggi, but he provoked an incident to disrupt the government, and the transfer of troops was really decided, and the prefecture and county were broken in twelve or thirteen places, how could it be reused? In the edict, he condemned Lu Xiangsheng "The day before yesterday, he dared to fight in the name of selling his name and bullying the public!" ”

The Qing army did not attack the Beijing division, but from Tongzhou to the south to plunder, the main force of the Ming army moved to Zhending, Lu Xiangsheng desperately ordered the Ming army to attack continuously, blocking the Qing army everywhere, but the lack of food and salary, the military spirit floated, and the courage of the Qing army was also beyond imagination, the Ming army of Xuanda was defeated in successive battles, and the 20,000 army fought to only 5,000 people. At this time, the emperor's edict arrived in Zhending, Lu Xiangsheng was disheartened and had the heart of death, desperately led the remnants of Xuanda into Baoding, the Qing army soldiers and horses quickly killed, Lu Xiangsheng knew that he was invincible, and sent Yang Tinglin to Gao Qiqian for help, Gao Qiqian immediately ordered the whole army to withdraw to Linqing without saying a word, and left Lu Xiangsheng to fight alone.

On December 11, the two armies of the Ming and Qing dynasties started fighting in Julu Jiazhuang, the battle was without suspense, Lu Xiangsheng met the right-wing Qing army commanded by Yue Tuo, the two were not the same level of commander at all, Yue Tuo easily suppressed the Ming army, and hit the opponent fiercely with a rain of arrows, Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei no longer hesitated this time, rushed out of a bloody road and ran away, the Ming army suddenly fell into chaos, Lu Xiangsheng became the first soldier to fight desperately, and finally died of defeat, and Yue Tuo disdained this small victory, and a few strokes passed by lightly in the battle report.

Lu Xiangsheng fell, Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting came all the way, the emperor issued an edict to Hong Chengchou as the governor of Jiliao, Sun Chuanting was the governor of Baoding, Shandong, Hebei military affairs, and gave Shang Fang sword, the situation in Gyeonggi was a little more peaceful - the Qin army also fought a beautiful battle before setting off for King Qin, and ambushed the giant Kou Li Zicheng in the south of Tongguan, and the thief only fled into Shangluo Mountain with more than ten horses, but the emperor was not interested, and it can be seen from Lu Xiangsheng that fighting the thief and fighting the Dongyu are two different things, and he no longer believes that someone can bring amazing joy.

The emperor is thinking about another person, the letter on the imperial case was written by the naturalized general soldier to Yang Sichang - Li Yu did not dare to mention the money again, but claimed that he was absolutely loyal to the Ming Emperor, but he did not trust the court, because those Wenchen had too many eyes, and if they didn't do it, they would be played to death, so the will of the court would not obey his fate, but if it was the emperor, he still planned to listen to it.

The emperor thought it was funny, this guy's tone was more like a gangster in the market bargaining, but the emperor felt the same way about his distrust of Wenchen, and after a long silence, he asked Yang Sichang, who was kneeling on the ground: "Yang Aiqing, tell me again, is this person trustworthy?" ”

"Your Majesty, the naturalized general soldier is like a Hu person, and the righteousness of the monarch and the minister has no effect on him, but he is in awe of God, and he will never dare to repent, the minister thinks that this person can still be used, and he also recognizes people, who treats him well, he will definitely be grateful to Dade, if Your Majesty puts his heart into him, he will not have a negative Majesty." Yang Sichang replied cautiously.

The emperor stood up and walked a few steps in front of the throne, then stopped and said to the eunuch beside him: "Send a decree to the Naturalized General Army, ask him to lead the army into the King of Weiqin, and tell him that I will never fail him, and that the Naturalized Army is my own army and is not subject to the control of the civil ministers." ”

Fengzhou began preparations for war in early September, and the Commander's Office knew that it was difficult to stay out of the Ming and Qing wars, so it did not hesitate to spend a lot of money, not only recruiting reserve soldiers into the camp for training in advance, but also comprehensively updating the weapons, and equipping the troops with a large number of new 800-pound camp guns, lifting guns for hitting two or two guns, and infantry guns, horse guns, and plate armor. The barracks at the foot of the Barbarian Mountain and on the Wild Horse River can be seen everywhere, and more than 50,000 Fengzhou soldiers armed to the teeth gather here to hold drills and drills continuously, and the sound of trumpets and shouts of killing is constant every day.

Obviously, the last expansion of the Fengzhou Army was unsuccessful, and the old units were full of talents, but the commanders refused to let them go, and many old qualified officers were not promoted, and there were many complaints, while the new troops were extremely short of qualified officers, and military affairs were in a mess, and when they were in a hurry, they would dig into the corners of others, and many contradictions arose between the new and old units. The war is imminent, the Great Commander's Office is determined to break the rules and regulations, and readjust the officers of all departments of the battalion, Li Yu first announced that all officers will be given a first-class rank, and everyone will have a share of the children's deception, and then Du Wenhuan announced the order for the appointment and dismissal of officers - Flying Tiger Battalion: battalion officer Hadari, deputy battalion officer Rabudu; Cavalry Former Assistant: Co-Commander Kubai, Deputy Co-Commander Chaolu, Battalion Officers Tu Lichen, Fei Yangwu, Dehun An; Cavalry Rear Association: Co-Commander Sun Fuhu, Deputy Co-Commander Qiu Xian, Battalion Officer Borshu, Sun Erkui, Snow Wolf; Cavalry Left Association: Co-Commander Zhang Ding, Deputy Co-Commander Ma Jinzhong, Battalion Officers Xiao Sigui, Bao Rongge, Su Hai; Right Cavalry Association: Co-Commander Meng Ke, Deputy Co-Commander Jida, Battalion Officers Li Xuan, Li Chage, Guo Xiu; Infantry Front Assistant: Co-Commander Hou Shijie, Deputy Co-Commander Tie Biao, Battalion Officers Zhang Yichuan, Hao Shaoqi, Feng Shujie; Infantry Rear Cooperation: Co-Commander Zhou Yuji, Deputy Co-Commander Haishan, Battalion Officers Ren Shouzhong, Taqibu, Ye Dewei; Infantry Left Association: Co-Commander Sun Shoufa, Deputy Co-Commander Qin Hu, Battalion Officers Yuan Lie, Liu Tichun, He Jinlong; Infantry Right Association: Assistant Commander Zhang Chuanjie, Deputy Assistant Commander Liu Qian, Battalion Officers Xu Jinxian, Gao Baozhu, Liang Ying; Artillery Left Association: Assistant Commander Ding Qiming, Deputy Assistant Commander Yan Qi, Artillery Battalion Officer Wu Zhili, Infantry Battalion Officers Ma Shizhong and Bai Chengzu; Artillery Right Association: Assistant Commander Jin Guoding, Deputy Assistant Commander Wang Zongjie, Artillery Battalion Officer He Shijun, Infantry Battalion Officers Liu Shuangxi and Zhou Wang.

When the appointment was issued, everyone's hearts were balanced, including the demoted deputy co-commander of the Jida was also satisfied - the senior officers of the cavalry right association were all from the Flying Tiger Battalion, and all of them were equipped with horses from the Western Regions, which could be regarded as the trump card among the trump cards, and he did not suffer at all.

In mid-October, the Fengzhou army began to mobilize, since Lu Xiangsheng led the army to the king, Shanxi was empty to the extreme, the miscellaneous army in the hands of the Shanxi Thief Joint Defense General Bureau - the Shanxi People's Army claimed to be 30,000, but it could be used less than 2,000, and the others were pulled by the landlord Lao Cai to go to the home care home, this strength to maintain local law and order has become a problem, the bosses of the Joint Defense Bureau are anxious, and they are determined to rectify the team, and specially ask the Grand Commander's Office to transfer their old friend Bai Xianzhi to be the commander of the Shanxi People's Army, and at the same time encourage Zhang Daojun to go to Fengzhou to entangle Li Yu, In case something drags on, the Fengzhou army must be dragged into Shanxi. After Bai Xianzhi entered Shanxi, he began to reorganize and train the team, and at the same time built two fortress groups in Taiyuan and Pingding, which were used as grain platforms and garrison strongholds, in case of future emergencies, the Great Commander's Office was very supportive of this, and sent Zhang Mengcun and Tuoyangkun to lead 10,000 armed auxiliaries into Shanxi to assist Shanxi in building fortresses and dredging roads to strengthen Shanxi's eastern defense.

In late October, Wang Pu led 10,000 Datong troops to suddenly flee to Duolunor, and the commander's office was afraid that this guy would lead the war to Fengzhou, so he immediately coordinated the cavalry and infantry to Dushikou, so that Liu Xingzuo had 10,000 elite battalions and 10,000 Datong soldiers in his hands, plus more than 30,000 garrisons of Xinghewei, Kaipingwei and Chahar, Fengzhou's eastern defense force should be enough - Li Yu also wrote a letter to Wang Pu, asking him to obey Liu Xingzuo's command, Wang Pu agreed very happily, Make sure to follow orders and never take a step back. Although Wang Pu likes to make small calculations, he is righteous, trustworthy, and willing to stick a knife in the ribs for his friends, Fengzhou has his concubines, savings and property, Li Yu believes that he will muster up the courage to defend Fengzhou.

The commander's hall was brightly lit, Li Yu and several praisers from the Military Affairs Department of Zanhua were sitting in a precarious position, Sun Tingyao and Zhang Daojun also learned from them to put on a serious appearance, a huge map was hung on the wall, and Ge Curi stood in front of the map and talked eloquently.

"According to the information sent by Shengjing and Ulan Hada two Titang, the Qing army went south this time with Dolgon as the general under order, Abatai and Haoge as the deputy generals, and led the left wing army to enter the pass from Qingshankou, with Yue Tuo as the general of Yangwu and Du Du as the deputy general, led the right wing army to enter the pass from the wall ridge, and invested more than 100,000 manpower, I mean manpower rather than troops, in my understanding of them, the eight banners are at most 20,000 in armor, and there are more than 10,000 Mongols and Aha in the banner, and their total strength will never exceed 40,000, and the others should be Han Min and Eight Banners Xianding, What is strange is that there are a small number of women, children, and a lot of broken things in the middle, are they here to rob or to live? ”

Everyone couldn't help laughing, and Ge Curi also smiled and continued: "I estimate that the Qing Kingdom will not be light this year, entering the customs is not only robbery but also food, they are all fighting for survival, this force is definitely not something the Ming army can resist. With the combat strength of the Ming army, the smartest way is to assemble heavy troops without fighting or retreating, hugging into a group and slowly squeezing the scope of activities of the Qing army, the Qing army has no supplies and can only fight to support the war, if you can't let go of the hands and feet to loot, it can't support for long, and finally you can only withdraw from the pass. According to the report of the Beijing Division Titang, the current Beijing Division is safe and sound, after the defeat of Sun Wei, the Ming army also learned to be smart, Gao Qiqian, Lu Xiangsheng two main forces of the Ming army gathered near Zhending, blocking the road of the Qing army to the south, Liu Yuliang and Chen Xinjia followed the Qing army slowly, but the Jinggi Ming army was too weak to pose a threat to the Qing army, two days ago Hong Chengchou, Sun Chuanting's Qin army passed through Shanxi to Zhili, this strong army may bring good luck to the Ming army. It is worth noting that after the Qing army fought Yizhou, Xiongxian, and Ansu to the west, the main force decisively returned to the vicinity of the canal, if they insisted on advancing southward, and Gao Qiqian and Lu Xiangsheng were broken again, then the gate of Shandong would be opened, and we would probably have to send troops. ”

"We can't take care of others, Shanxi is fine." Zhang Daojun said with a long sigh of relief.

"Brother Zixuan, don't be too complacent, the Qing army's marching speed is amazing, if you want to fight Shanxi, you can reach Niangzi Pass in three days at most." Li Yu said deliberately.

"That's also your business, we are allies who have sworn to the sky, and you will have to fight if there is something in Shanxi." Zhang Daojun shook his head and replied.

Li Yu turned his face to look at Bai Xianzhi and asked, "How are you prepared there?" ”

"It seems that the Qing army has no intention of crossing the Taihang Mountain into Shanxi, I will use the main force to pacify, the fortress is still very early, at least in the second half of next year, the grain is stored 5,000 stones, the main thing is the lack of money, this year Lianggi, Shandong, Henan locust plague, food is amazingly expensive, if we enter Shandong to prepare in advance, that place does not recognize our silver money." Bai Xianzhi glanced at Sun Tingyao and said.

"We don't have any extra silver, this year we have to fight disasters and prepare for war, we have printed a lot of silver banknotes, the silver banknote bureau only has more than two million silver coins in stock but supports the three million taels of silver banknotes on the market, and it is too dangerous to use the silver deposits," Sun Tingyao pondered for a while, shook his head and said in a low voice, "After our tax reform last year, the annual tax revenue increased to 800,000 taels, but half of it was used for military spending, so it is not a way to go on like this, and if we want to raise military expenses for expeditions, we can only issue cash silver bonds, at least 300,000 taels, and the Fengzhou Chamber of Commerce cannot afford it." , the House of Representatives has been meeting for a month, and no one dares to express their position. ”

There was silence in the lobby for a while, and Du Wenhuan burst out laughing: "Strange news through the ages, the army has to look at the face of your Chamber of Commerce when it goes to war, Sun Boxi, do you feel very proud?" ”

Sun Tingyao's face turned red all of a sudden, and he pretended to be confused, Ma Guangyuan turned his eyes to Zhang Daojun and said: "Zhang Zixuan, the people of Fengzhou shed blood for the Ming Kingdom, and you are also from the Ming Kingdom, you can always give some money, don't pick the door, Shanxi will bear at least half of the current silver bonds." ”

"Why, Shanxi belongs to the Naturalization League," Zhang Daojun turned his face and didn't admit it, but he felt that it was unreasonable, and said with a sad face, "We have a plate of scattered sand there, it's easy to make money together, but it's difficult to ask someone to pay for it, I can't tell you!" ”

At this time, Gao Heizi quietly came in and handed Li Yu a letter, Li Yu was furious when he saw the case, "Gao Qiqian is shameless, Lu Xiangsheng misunderstands the country", handed the letter to Du Wenhuan casually, and walked to the map to take a closer look.

"Lu Xiangsheng is a stupid person, he is not strong enough and attacks from all sides, and he consumes 30,000 elites, he is simply innocent, why didn't Gao Qiqian, this bastard, retreat to Texas and run to Linqing to do what?" Du Wenhuan threw the letter on the table after reading it, walked to Li Yu's side and said, "The door of Shandong is wide open, and it is impossible for the Qing army to stop at Zhili, so let's prepare to send troops." ”

"Brother Zixuan, Fengzhou sent troops, Shanxi Don't want to stand by and watch, tell your people, if you don't make a contribution at this time, you are not worthy of being our allies, let them think carefully," Li Yu turned around and pointed at Zhang Daojun, and said to Ge Kuli, "You bring my letter to Yue Tuo and Dolgon, and say that I will never allow them to take half a step out of Zhili, otherwise they will speak with a knife." ”

"They're getting right, you can't scare them." Gherry shook his head vigorously.

"Delay time, what I need most now is time, even if they hesitate for a day or two, I will return to the council immediately." Li Yu replied as he wrote a letter on the table.

Before dusk the next day, Li Yu arrived at naturalization, and Liu Zhilun immediately came to see him, and told him in a low voice that the emperor had sent a special envoy to deliver a letter, and then took him to the pavilion, where the envoy was waiting, and when he saw Li Yu, he cried and fell to his knees.

"Li Shuai, my brother really didn't expect to see you again in this life, good man, these three heads must be knocked!" The envoy turned out to be Liu Wenzhong, the former eunuch of Datong, who had not seen him look much older for several years, his face was full of wrinkles, and his hair was all white.

"Father-in-law Liu, get up quickly and tell me how you have spent all these years." Li Yu hurriedly helped Liu Wenzhong up.