In order to make his words more convincing, Yang Sichang added: "Your Majesty, it has almost become customary for nomads to invade the Central Plains when they encounter natural disasters. They don't care if they can really beat the Central Plains, they just want to grab some food, and even if they can't grab food, they can fight with the Central Plains, kill enough people, and the rest of them will have more food distribution.

"Back then, the White Horse General Gongsun Zan shook Liaodong, and the White Horse Yicong also killed Wuhuan in fear. However, once there was a shortage of food in a disaster year, they immediately gathered the tribes, whether they were Wuhuan or Xianbei, gathered or dispersed, and raised troops to the south. If we can't beat it, as long as the population is reduced, the grain will be able to last for a little longer, and if we can grab the grain, it will be even more profitable. This is the consistent style of nomads.

"At the end of the Tang Dynasty, there was Shatuo to the south to herd horses, and then there was a Khitan invasion of Youyun, until I rose up, Youyun Sixteen Prefectures returned to my Huaxia Zhengshuo.

Therefore, the minister thought that the wild boar skin was able to entangle many tribes to go south, precisely because of the lack of food caused by natural disasters. At that time, I am afraid that in addition to grabbing food, they still need to reduce the pressure on the population. It was only later that it was too easy to win too much, which caused the wild boar skin to become more and more bold and have a bigger appetite, and now it has become a big problem for my Ming henchmen. And next year, once the natural disaster appears again, and the Jianyu who has tasted the sweetness will probably raise troops to attack. ”

Chongzhen and other important ministers looked at each other, for the Ming monarchs and ministers, natural disasters are tempering, chaotic people are scabies, and Jianyu is an external trouble, a great enemy of life and death.

When the wild boar skin invaded the border, it was only a disease of scabies, after all, their population was too small. However, over the years, the repeated failures of the army have increased a lot of population and materials to the Jianyu, and the expansion of the Jianyu is clearly the Ming Dynasty's historical loss of soldiers and feeding. Therefore, Yang Sichang said that at the beginning, the wild boar skin was willing to take risks, which is not an exaggeration at all, and Li Chengliang was a warlord who suppressed the entire Liaodong. And now that Daming is fighting against Jianyu, he has been defeated repeatedly, and he has even been beaten to the capital, and Daming's prestige and self-confidence have all been lost. Therefore, when I heard Yang Sichang say that Jianyu would attack on a large scale next year, everyone's hearts were inexplicably heavy.

Chongzhen asked: "Jianyu has now set the capital of Shenyang, not like the previous safari, there must be food in stock." Chen Hongmi said that this year is a normal year, and Jianyu will have enough grain for next year, and he will not raise troops to attack the disaster as soon as he sees it, right? ”

Yang Sichang shook his head: "Your Majesty, Jianyu has now entangled many tribes, although the wild boar skin headquarters is not short of food, but the affiliated tribes will definitely lack food." After the death of the wild boar skin, he has passed the throne to his son Huang Taiji, this person is not stupid, rather than distributing the grain to the affiliated tribes, he will definitely choose to entangle those tribes to come to my Ming to grab grain. After all, in this way, it is my Daming and those affiliated tribes who lose their troops, which is beneficial and harmless to Jianyu itself. It can not only weaken my Ming Dynasty, but also weaken those affiliated tribes to facilitate his rule, and it is even more unexpected if he can take advantage of it. If it was before my Da Ming repeatedly lost, maybe he would have felt that it was not worth fighting, but now that Jianyu is ambitious, he still wants to come to the Central Plains to make trouble, not to mention that there is such a suitable reason to entangle the tribe next year. ”

After thinking about it again, Yang Sichang added: "In fact, the minister originally wanted to make peace with Jianyu temporarily. ”

Everyone was shocked: "Peace? ”

Yang Sichang knew that this move was difficult for everyone to accept, and explained: "Yes. Originally, the minister wanted to make peace with Jian Yu for the time being. The general trend of the world is just like the human body, with the Jingshi as the head, the towns of Xuan and Jiji as the shoulders and arms, and the Central Plains south of the Yellow River and north of the Great River as the heart. Now the situation is that the beacon fire appears outside the shoulder and arm, and it is very urgent; The plague is in the heart, and it is very deep. Of course, external troubles cannot be alleviated, but internal worries cannot be ignored, because they are poisonous in the heart. If you allow 'the heart to flow poison, the internal organs to ulcerate, and the essence and blood will dry up in the day', what is the use of having only shoulders and arms? Therefore, the minister originally planned to negotiate peace with Jianyu first, stabilize the situation near Jingshi, and concentrate on exterminating the Liukou in one go. ”

"Qing said, 'Originally'?"

"It was intended. At that time, the minister did not think that Jianlu had the determination to start a war with my Central Plains, after all, if he only relied on Jianlu's headquarters, fighting with the Central Plains would be a defeat for both sides, and if it was taken advantage of by other tribes, wouldn't Jianguo himself die? Therefore, as long as the envoy is sent to negotiate peace, there is no reason for the Jianyu to disagree, and they also need to stabilize internally. But if the natural disaster is serious next year, Jianyu can transfer the contradiction to my Daming, and instead of the headquarters to fight with the Daming, the other ministries have reasons to have to go to war with my Daming. In this way, instead of the hope of success, the matter of peace negotiation made Jian Yu realize the weakness of my Ming Dynasty, and his heart to attack was stronger. ”

"Then how about I make peace with those small tribes and give them food?"

Yang Sichang hesitated for a moment, and glanced at the Hubu Shangshu: "It is difficult for the Hubu to even raise the military salary for the bandits, and I am afraid that there will be no surplus food to help those small tribes." "It is not an exaggeration for Yang Sichang to say that the hatred with the household department is as deep as the sea, but the household department is also an iron-clad official of the yamen flowing water, and it is not easy for him to vent to the current household officials. When his father Yang He suppressed the bandits, he had already recruited a group of robbers, but because the household department did not allocate enough relief food, the result was that the rogues who had been recruited surrendered and rebelled, and finally Yang He was imprisoned for the failure to suppress the bandits, in the final analysis, it was the responsibility of the household department.

The household department has always been able to save a penny is a point, and can not spend money without spending money, and now since Yang Sichang, who came up with the idea, said so, the household department Shangshu naturally agreed: "The treasury is really empty, and there are not many bandits in the year, and there are not many granary reserves." In the next few years, we will have to give relief to the victims, but there is really no surplus food to help those tribes. ”

Chongzhen thought for a while and said, "In this way, the most important thing is to determine whether there will be a disaster next year, and whether the disaster is serious." ”

The retainers chimed in.

At this time, a thought suddenly rose in Chongzhen's heart, since this matter is so important, although Wang Chengen is loyal and credible, whether he can really understand the theory of the alien, and whether he can relay it clearly, is really unknown, why don't he go there himself? From this thought, Chongzhen's idea of going to see this stranger in person couldn't be suppressed, so he asked: "What do you think, how about I go there in person?" ”

The ministers were shocked.

Kong Zhenyun was old-fashioned, and first objected: "Your Majesty, the king of a country, how can you move lightly? ”

Before the others could speak, Chongzhen had already made up his mind: "You don't need to persuade you anymore, I have made up my mind." The stakes are high, and I am not going to do it lightly, and this is not a royal expedition, so there will be no danger. And I went there in person, so I even more appeared to be a corporal of the court. ”