The border continued to shake, but Ma Shilong did not dare to delay for too long, fortunately, there were still five or six general troops stationed along the line from Jinzhou to Youtun, and the Jurchens would not attack unless they mobilized the entire Eight Banners.

It is estimated that the rest of the time is to have all kinds of lawsuits, Ma Shilong did not dare to delay for too long, before he had sent Tang Ma to Shanhaiguan to report the news, Mao Yuanyi wrote a short letter and asked Tang Ma to take it back, and the bad news had to be known to the cabinet as soon as possible, so that his old man could know the news early and come up with a way to deal with it.

At seven o'clock in the seventh month of July, Ma Shilong returned all the way to Guancheng, and went to Jingluo's mansion to meet him as soon as possible, and Sun Chengzong also met him for the first time.

"Cabinet-sama." Ma Shilong's armor has not been removed, his body is full of dust and sweat, and the lice in the armor are born, the more this is the case, he feels a lot more comfortable in his heart, and he knelt down at the moment to ask for sin: "The humble general really has no face to come to see your old man, but if you don't come, it won't work, the defeat of this battle is completely the fault of the humble general, and the humble general has already ordered the curtain friend to draw up a recital, and after the cabinet lord has seen it, he will send it to the court at any time to ask for guilt." ”

Sun Chengzong helped Ma Shilong up with one hand, and said warmly: "General Cangyuan doesn't have to be like this, how can there be a famous general in the world who can't defeat the battle, and when the martial saint still walks to the wheat city, a defeat is not worth blaming yourself so much." ”

Ma Shilong was ashamed, got up and said: "Don't worry, the Cabinet Lord, the humble general has already explained in the compromises that the dispatch of troops to command the battle is his own doing, and it has nothing to do with the Cabinet Lord. The cabinet lord made no mistake in his strategy, but he was incompetent and failed to lead his subordinates to defeat the enemy. ”

"Saying this shows General Cangyuan's kindness, and the old man understands it." Sun Chengzong stroked his beautiful beard and said with a smile: "But how can the political enemies of the DPRK and China let go of such a great opportunity?" The general is a general, and the old man is convinced of this, so this time no matter what, the old man will still try his best to protect it. Of course, the dismissal of officials and the suffering of a temporary prison sentence are inevitable, but if the saint relieves the old man from the post of Jingluo, I am afraid that he will feel guilty, so Cangyuan you will still have the opportunity to release and recover, if you really miss the old man in the future, kill a few more Tartars for the old man. ”

Ma Shilong mourned, at this time he felt that this old man was the real Dinghai Shenzhu in Liaodong, and he had been sheltered under his wings, so he had such a comfortable Liaozhen general soldier, before that, he laughed at himself for thinking too high, and thought that he could press the Liaoxi generals with his military exploits.

Sun Chengzong encouraged Ma Shilong a few more words, and then he picked up the bowl, and the head of the house sent Ma Shilong out at the moment.

Seeing Ma Shilong kowtowing and weeping in front of the door of the study, Sun Chengzong smiled and said: "Ma Cangyuan is still a conscientious person, the old man doesn't know how many generals he treats sincerely in Liaoxi, and he is gracious, but he really admires the old man's affection and righteousness, and he will definitely obey the command on the battlefield, and the old man only has Ma Cangyuan in his heart." ”

Mao Yuanyi said: "Zu Dashou has always been respectful to the Cabinet Lord. ”

"Oh?" Sun Chengzong said with a smile: "Zu Fuyu, he has always been really respectful to me, but that was after the rebuilding of Ningyuan City, at the beginning he wanted to return to the pass to save his life, Ningyuan Foundation also did not want, followed Wang Zaijin against my strategy of rebuilding the fortress outside the Guan, and then Wang Zaijin was defeated, he saw that the opportunity was not good and immediately served the old man, in the past few years, he has conscientiously obeyed the order, looks good, but you think about it, if he really has a little gratitude to the old man, this time the right tun sent troops, from the forward, Dingwu, The third battalion of Chongwu transferred the iron cavalry battalion to fight, and none of the many sons and nephews of the ancestral family sent troops, which means that the ancestral family's inner ding did not send one. is so loyal, the old man is still grateful. ”

Mao Yuanyi is also a smart person, so he understood it when he mentioned it, and said hatefully at the moment: "Not only the ancestral family, Man Gui, Zhao Shujiao, but also Yuan Manzi, their scheming is suspicious." ”

"Well, you're too much of a blame." Sun Chengzong shook his head and said: "If the water is clear, there will be no fish, and if people are observed, there will be no disciples." You think, people have done their duty, but they don't do more and complain, who would dare to work with you? To be honest, even before the defeat of Liuhe, I didn't expect that the elite of the 800 Iron Cavalry Battalion was actually not the opponent of the 50 soldiers and the 50 banners? From then on, the strategy against the eastern captives should still be based on defense, otherwise it will be a big mistake. Now that I think about it, the loss of Shenyang and Liaoyang, and the defeat of Shaling, these defeats were not due to the incompetence of the feudal territory and military generals at that time, but the combat power of Dongyu was really above us. In the future, if this point is not remembered, the imperial court will have to suffer another big loss sooner or later. Stop living, the soldiers are all lives, not only the soldiers raised by the rice grain of the imperial court, but the families raised from swaddling children to the elderly, as well as parents, wives and children, and they are also living lives, no different from you and me. This time, 800 soldiers were killed in the battle, including a deputy general and a staff general, many capital divisions, garrisons, thousands of generals, and the imperial court held accountable, how can the old man resign, and what face does he have to stay in the post of Liaodong Economic Strategy......"

Mao Yuanyi knew that Sun Chengzong had already explained the war, and he took most of the responsibility on himself, Mao Yuanyi remembered that it was the university scholar Sun Chengzong: "The sentry outside the gate patrolled the river and fell, the general was ordered by the holy order, Ma Shilong was inappropriately dispatched, the light advance was defeated, and the military law was there, so he was ordered to make meritorious contributions, and the minister was the pivotal assistant, and he had a heavy responsibility, and he took on a strong responsibility, and the superintendent and the Taoist general were strictly guarded, so that everything was perfect, and the ministers were old and ......sick."

Mao Yuanyi didn't take a closer look, but most of it was Sun Chengzong's statement of asking for guilt and resigning due to old illness.

"The old man has passed through Liao Town for several years, from a dilapidated place with only two places in Guanmen and Ningyuan, to now rebuilding Jinzhou and Youtun, Linghe Fort, Forte hundreds of miles, placing 500,000 Liao people, 40 camps in Liao Town, up to 140,000 soldiers, and there are 110,000 people after the retrenchment, armor, weapons, horses, and food are complete, although it costs the country tens of millions, but at least the old man can say a sentence worthy of the Son of Heaven and the common people......"

Sun Chengzong's eyes showed a look of confusion: "It's just that the old man doesn't know, the battalion is Xinli has no combat power, if the old man goes, when the Donglu enters the peep, whether the top and bottom of Liaozhen can withstand the pressure and drive the Dongyu back." ”

Mao Yuanyi was actually quite confused in his heart, before the Battle of Liuhe, because Liaozhen was now strong and strong, and the food was sufficient, armor and ordnance were pleased, Mao Yuanyi and others privately felt that they had achieved the advantages of the armor and soldiers, and the drill of the battalion soldiers was personally grasped by Sun Chengzong, so he felt that the generals were also more attentive to the drills, at least much stronger than the battalion soldiers as pure cannon fodder a few years ago.

Liaozhen soldiers became the top strong soldiers of the Ming Dynasty after a few years, on the one hand, it was the experience of the Dongyu battlefield, on the other hand, it was indeed due to the abundant salaries, and the generals were also more concerned about the ordinary battalion soldiers, unlike other military towns that did not care about the battalion soldiers at all, so in the early years of Chongzhen, whether it was the war against the peasant army or the pacification of the Wuqiao mutiny, the Liaozhen Iron Cavalry was the main force to quell the chaos, and the prestige of the so-called Guanning Iron Cavalry was also broken down in this way.

At this time, Mao Yuanyi and others felt that the gap between the combat power of the Donglu and the Donglu was so big that it made people desperate, including Sun Chengzong, they didn't quite understand why the Ming Dynasty was so weak, but there was one thing to be thankful about, fortunately, this time it was a tentative small-scale attack, if it was a decisive battle with the Dongyu as those scholars in the court said, I am afraid that the hundreds of thousands of troops would be like the Ming soldiers in the battle of Salhu and Shaling, more than 100,000 people were killed on the battlefield, and the overall situation of Liaoxi would collapse in an instant.

……

A group of people wearing green skirts walked by with bells, the sky was dark, but it was far from the point of darkness, all parts of the palace were still very bright, the red Yongxiang high wall and the yellow temple roof were bathed in the brilliance of dusk, and the girls in green skirts were put together, it was really gorgeous.

Everywhere are eunuchs wearing light yellow or off-white clothes, wearing three mountain hats, everywhere is the sound of the palace door locking, the whole palace city including the three seas a total of fifty or sixty thousand people, including eunuchs and eunuchs and a large number of palace maids, the whole palace city is not the museum of later generations, there are busy figures everywhere, the people who live in it are almost the end of the day's work at this time, except for the night watch, most of the people will return to their residences before dark, and then they can go to bed soon.

It's just that it's not easy to sleep early in this kind of weather, the weather is very hot, the palace city is full of brick palace buildings, the heat dispersion is very slow, compared to the three seas and Banzai Mountain all over the garden water pavilion is much more sultry, when today's son is young, but he doesn't like to toss, and his grandfather Wanli Emperor is very similar, not very good women, and don't like tossing very much, and energetic, in the three seal room to bring back and toss Emperor Wuzong is far behind.

Emperor Apocalypse loves his own carpenter work, Qianqing Palace is not only a big hall, the whole palace includes the main hall and the East and West Warm Pavilion, as well as many supporting courtyards behind the palace, the Emperor of the Apocalypse not only has a palace dedicated to building wood, but also has his own set of things in the supporting courtyard of the Qianqing Palace.

Due to the heat, the emperor moved the time of dinner, usually four o'clock in the afternoon with dinner, which is also the inheritance of the Han nation under the millennium, the previous Han people only ate two meals, breakfast is enjoyed after getting up early and finishing farm work, about ten o'clock in the morning, and then eat another meal at four o'clock in the afternoon, the day is over, to the Ming Dynasty has been generally changed to three meals, but the time of the royal family with dinner is still quite early, and ordinary people are not the same.

About before the door key of the lower palace, the apocalypse will finish dinner, the day is hot, the top of the hall is high and breathable, the emperor who eats in the main hall is still hot and sweaty, the emperor only used wild duck soup to soak half a bowl of jasper porridge, ate a few pieces of exquisite palace points, and the usual swallow vegetables did not eat a bite.

Because of the fear that the emperor's meal is not fragrant, he has been getting thinner and thinner recently, and often coughing and wheezing, Empress Zhang sent a bowl of chilled bird's nest white fungus porridge to the people in her palace, to eliminate the fire and clear the heat and nourish, the emperor is not interested in this, but after the ice is cold, the porridge is cold and delicious, the emperor of the apocalypse will eat up a bowl of porridge, and the people who sent the porridge are very happy, because she knows that after she goes back, the queen will be happy when she hears about it, and will give her a very generous reward.