On the third day, the major changes on the northern battlefield were finally reported to the Beijing division through a thousand-mile expedited battle, and a huge thunder hit the head of the Manchu Dynasty civil and military and the Son of Heaven Zhu Yunwen.

Actually, it's not a big deal; At least, after Shen Ruoyu heard the battle report, he felt that everything was actually expected, and it couldn't be more natural. Here's what happened:

On the 17th day of the seventh month, King Yan's army conquered Huailai, and Song Zhong, the governor of Huailai, was defeated and killed by King Yan. Both commanded Peng Ju and Sun Taili to die in battle, and Yu Yao and Song Zhong, commanders who fled from Juyong Pass to Huailai, were killed at the same time. The Yan army then attacked Yongping; Yongpingwei commanded Zhao Yi and Qianhu Guo Liang, who were originally the old subordinates of King Yan, of course, they gathered all the brothers to surrender to King Yan, and from then on sent the entire Yongping City and Yongpingwei to King Yan.

Huai came to fight, but the specific experience was such a funny scene:

In order to prevent the rebellion of the king of Yan, the imperial court granted Song Zhong the privilege of selecting men and horses from the Yanshan guards to accompany him. Song Zhong was unceremoniously selected and took away 30,000 elite soldiers from King Yan's men, of which in addition to the part originally agreed between King Yan and the Duke of Wei, a considerable part of the soldiers and horses were picked up by Song Zhong on his own initiative. And since the day when the governor of Song was forced to retreat to Huailai because of King Yan's army, he was determined to kill back to Beiping and strangle King Yan's rebels in infancy. Therefore, Song Zhong has been constantly telling his subordinates the 30,000 elite soldiers he took away from King Yan for ten days, and when King Yan raised his army, he slaughtered all the families and relatives of the 30,000 brothers in Beiping to vent his anger; He called on these 30,000 soldiers to fight back to Beiping with him, eliminate the anti-king, and avenge his dead relatives, so as to repay the kindness of the Son of Heaven. The 30,000 Yanshan guards fell into Song Zhong's dang, all of them wept bitterly, gritted their teeth with hatred for King Yan, and for ten days, they continued to rub their fists, collectively swore allegiance to the imperial court, and must find King Yan to repay the blood debt. Song Zhong saw that the time was ripe, so he deployed a plan to capture Juyong Pass. However, Zhu Di, the long-experienced and veteran Yan King, had already expected Song Dudu's wishful thinking, and just when Song Zhong was about to send troops to open Juyong Pass, he personally led all the way down from the sky and blocked the outside of Huailai City. Song Zhong hurriedly responded to the battle, but he never expected that the heavenly soldiers and generals of the King of Yan would not only come quickly, but also that the forward troops were completely composed of the families of the 30,000 Yanshan guards, carrying the familiar old banners, the father, son and brother looked at each other from each other, and they all called out loudly to their relatives and ask for warmth. The 30,000 Yan soldiers who came to Huai found that their relatives were alive and sound, and they were overjoyed for a while, and at the same time they were angry that Song Zhong had deceived them, and immediately shouted in the formation, "Song Zongbing deceived me", and they all turned against each other. Song Zhong lifted a stone and hit himself in the foot, and the 30,000 elite soldiers under his command easily reversed under his efforts, not only immediately causing the 60,000 defenders of Huailai to collapse without a fight, giving away their lives in vain, but also sending 30,000 troops who were happy to be grateful to King Yan for Zhu Di for free.

It is true that Shen Ruoyu has long been familiar with King Yan's tricks to win people's hearts. Song Zhong sowed the seeds of deception, and of course he reaped the bitter fruits; The shrewd King Yan has always been honest with his subordinates, so Zhu Di has worked hard in Beiping for nearly 20 years, and now he is fruitful as he wishes. Judging from the current situation of the development of the war, if the situation continues like this, I am afraid that in a few months, the Yan soldiers will have to cross the river and enter the capital.

When such a war report was sent to the Beijing Division, it was naturally an uproar. At the beginning, the civil and military officials all believed that Song Zhong was still besieged by heavy troops around Beiping, and the rebels of King Yan could not break through Song Zhong's garrison. Unexpectedly, King Yan took Song Zhong's head in just one battle, and the 60,000 army that came from Huailai was crushed by the Yan army. The hundreds of thousands of defenders in the area of Beiping were so vulnerable, in just ten days, some of them were killed in battle, most of them were the old subordinates of King Yan, Wangfeng surrendered, and the rest fled in all directions, such as Datong and Shanhaiguan. And Zhu Di, the king of Yan, started with 800 elite soldiers, and in ten days, he had expanded the Yan army in his hands to 150,000 soldiers and horses, excluding the soldiers who defended the city, and the number of active troops who could go out to fight reached 80,000.

At the same time, the text of Zhu Di, the king of Yan, was also sent to the Beijing Division and sent to all parts of the country along with the war report. Zhu Di impassionedly accused Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen of the seven major crimes in his essay:

"Emperor Taizu Gao did not think about any illness at the beginning, and he did not let the sons know about it;

"and ascend, and let the sons not run to mourn;

"On the tenth day of the fifth month of the leap month, he died, and he was buried on the seventh day, and the kings were called to know it after the month;

"Destroy the palace, dig five feet into the ground, and change the ancestral law;

"With treacherous deeds, wanting to slaughter the prince and endangering the society, the kings are really innocent, and they suffer from it, and before the deadline, they destroy the five kings;

"My bereaved deeds were carried out, and they were prepared for five extreme punishments, and they were trained into prison;

"Appoint the evil less, transfer the officers of the world, and kill in four episodes."

In a word, Emperor Jianwen not only wantonly changed the ancestral law and killed the prince, but it may even be that he killed Emperor Taizu Gao. And he, King Yan, was naturally forced to raise troops, and it was absolutely upright and high-sounding:

"I am afraid of being killed, and I want to save the trouble, so I have to raise troops to resist the difficulties, and swear to be a traitor to avenge my imperial examination."

King Yan raised his army for ten days, and the court has been inactive, and he has not even drafted half a word of the text of the rebellion, but he was bitten back by King Yan; At this point, if the court doesn't act, it's really better to surrender. For this reason, Zhu Yunwen swept around a group of ministers with almost resentful eyes throughout the early dynasty; He ordered the ministers to discuss the candidates for the generals to go on the expedition, and after Qi Tai, Huang Zicheng, Fang Xiaoru, Zhuo Jing and other elites discussed a few words, the entire hall fell into silence for a long time, and none of the civil and military officials had an idea of who should lead the troops. In desperation, Emperor Jianwen announced his retirement from the dynasty and walked out of the Wenhua Hall angrily.

Shen Ruoyu thought that the Son of Heaven was in a bad mood to the extreme, so naturally he couldn't do anything, and he was going back to the Qianqing Palace to rest. However, what surprised him was that Emperor Jianwen walked out of the Wenhua Palace, and then went into the Wenyuan Pavilion and looked at the ancient books without distraction. Fang Xiaoru was ordered to follow, and the two of them fell into the discussion of the implementation rules of the Jingtian system again, and their concentration reached a heated level, which made Shen Ruoyu even begin to wonder if the ongoing civil war in the north was purely out of his own hallucination, otherwise, how could the Son of Heaven and Mr. Fang, whom he respected the most, be indifferent to this.

After lunch, Zhu Yunwen probably finally felt a little tired, so he drove back to the Qianqing Palace, and as soon as he entered the palace, he blasted out all the eunuchs and palace maids, leaving only one Shen Ruoyu beside him, and knelt down in front of the statue of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, and began to cry bitterly. Shen Ruoyu was frightened on the side, not persuading, not persuading, uncomfortable, so he could only stand motionless and watch. Zhu Yunwen cried for a while, finally quieted down, and knelt in front of the statue for a long time, without saying a word, just letting out an extremely bitter sigh from time to time. Then, he got up and went into the East Warm Pavilion and lay down for a lunch break.

As soon as he fell asleep, a guard came in to report to Shen Ruoliao, saying that Wei Guogong asked to see Long live.

Shen Ruoyu hesitated, not knowing whether to wake up the Son of Heaven. Then, he asked the guard to lure Lord Wei Guogong in, and he ran to the warm pavilion to wake up Zhu Yunwen, urging him to wash his face, cheer up, and walk out of the warm pavilion.

Xu Huizu's face was full of solemnity and worry, and when he saw the Son of Heaven, he knelt down and bowed to the mountain, and then got up and said:

"It has been more than ten years since King Yan raised his army, why didn't His Majesty react? It is necessary to quickly order all the capitals to gather their troops, issue a proclamation, and send out to fight against the rebels. ”

Zhu Yunwen said coldly: "Of course I know; Lord Wei Guogong has worked very hard to supervise the soldiers in the past ten days, Beiping can have today's results, Xu Aiqing has worked hard. ”

Xu Huizu said in a panic: "The crime of the minister deserves death." Zhang Yu and Xie Gui attacked the enemy lightly, and the micro-ministers were ineffective, and they didn't want Zhang Xin to take refuge in the anti-king, which ruined the court's plan and led to the fall of Beiping; Song Zhong was stubborn and self-serving, and refused to listen to the persuasion of Weichen, and was finally destroyed by the anti-king. The defeat of Beiping, Weichen is to blame for his death, and he also asks His Majesty to punish him. ”

Zhu Yunwen eased slightly: "Xu Aiqing's words are serious, I don't mean to blame Aiqing." I know that there are many accidents in Beiping, Zhang Xin is treacherous and takes refuge in King Yan, since Zhang Yu and Xie Gui, who he gets along with day and night, have no knowledge, Xu Aiqing is naturally even more likely to be prepared. Aiqing's trip must also be a sorrowful and labor-infringing relationship, I should be comforted, and I will never condemn you, you can relax. ”

Xu Huizu said: "The ministers thank the holy grace, but do their duty." It's just that what the minister didn't expect was that the minister rushed back to Beijing to obey the order, but the court did not see any signs of preparing to send troops, and there was no news of the joint army in the Governor's Mansion; Ten days have passed since King Yan raised his army, but we have not even selected a general to lead the army. At this moment, King Yan has cleared the surrounding imperial court siege army in Beiping, as if entering a no-man's land. Your Majesty, you can't delay it like this any longer! I don't know how His Majesty can sit in peace so far. The war is like fire, and there is no delay. ”

Zhu Yunwen let Xu Huizu's words hit the point, he was unhappy in his heart, and he was even more distressed, and sighed:

"Xu Aiqing, how can I not be in a hurry? It's just a rush. But how easy is it to transfer troops and select generals? For more than ten days, I have asked the ministers to discuss the plan for the transfer of troops and the selection of the general every day, but Xu Aiqing is not there, and the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty are like missing the backbone, and no one can say a word of insight. Now that Aiqing is finally back, I can't wait for Aiqing to give me an idea. ”

Xu Huizu said: "Your Majesty attaches so much importance to the micro-ministers, and the micro-ministers dare not die to repay them." When the minister was supervising the troops in Hebei, in order to save His Majesty's efforts and worries, he had already formulated a set of practical plans for the selection and dispatch of the army, which was only for His Majesty's and hundreds of officials to refer to when he returned to Beijing. The complete set of troop transfer plans has been written here, please take a look at it. ”

He took out the recital book and presented it, and while the Son of Heaven was reading, he explained unhurriedly:

"At this time, the rebels had 80,000 mobile men, plus all the soldiers defending the city, a total of 150,000. The minister thought that time was pressing, so he ordered the soldiers and horses from all over the country to assemble and go to Beiping at the same time. All the way to Liaodong soldiers, led by Wu Gao, Marquis of Jiangyin, and Geng Rong, the governor of Jiangyin, marched west from Shanhaiguan; All the way to Shanxi, led by the commanders Sheng Yong, Pan Zhong, Yang Song, and Gu Cheng, marched eastward; All the way to the Qing army, led by the governor Ping'an, the commander Xu Kai, Li You, and Chen Hui, together with the Hejian soldiers led by Wu Jie, the Marquis of Anlu, marched north. 300,000 combined troops; The soldiers are noble, not the nobles, but the army of the Son of Heaven will gain momentum and suppress the 150,000 rebels against the king, no more than 300,000. And that's just for now; If the Yan army continues to expand at the current rate, soon the imperial court will need far more than 300,000, but 500,000. Therefore, Your Majesty must make up your mind as soon as possible. ”

Zhu Yunwen carefully read Wei Guogong's recital, and sighed:

"I am deeply touched by Aiqing's dedication and loyalty. It's just that this commander is really difficult to determine, I don't know if Aiqing has a suitable candidate? ”

Xu Huizu was obviously prepared, and immediately replied: "The minister thinks that Geng Bingwen, the Marquis of Changxing, can be so handsome." ”

Zhu Yunwen heard a different name for the first time in ten days, and was slightly stunned and a little excited.

"Changxing Hou Geng Bingwen? The old general? ”

Xu Huizu responded: "Yes, General Geng is fifty in his sixties this year, although he is old, he is the only remaining meritorious general in the DPRK." Emperor Taizu Gao and Zhang Shicheng competed for the south of the Yangtze River, and General Geng was stationed alone to rush to Changxing, fighting dozens of battles of all sizes without defeat; Zhang Shicheng launched many attacks on Changxing, and General Geng defended the infant city with a large number of people, and he was stunned for ten years, and did not give Zhang Shicheng the slightest opportunity. It is to list the meritorious heroes of Emperor Gao, and rank General Geng and his father King Zhongshan as first-class meritorious service. General Geng's generals are now unmatched in the DPRK and China. With him in command, long live can rest assured. ”

Zhu Yunwen asked hesitantly: "However, being able to defend may not necessarily be able to attack." ”

Xu Huizu said: "Offense and defense are the same thing; Those who truly know how to defend the city must be equally good at attacking. What's more, Changxing City was originally defeated by General Geng from Zhang Shicheng. Therefore, in the whole world, there is no second person more suitable for the glory of Changxinghou than him. In addition, General Geng also served as a general to conquer the Central Plains from the Northern Expeditionary Army, assisted his father in conquering Shandong and Henan, and assisted Kaiping Wang Changyu Chunke Datong to take Jinji. Later, he went west with his father, defeated Li Siqi and Zhang Sidao's army, and defended his place. In the fourteenth year, he went north with his father, and defeated Nell Buhua; In 19 years, he conquered Yunnan from Fu Youde and pacified Qujing; Twenty-one years from the blue jade north expedition, won the victory of fishing in the sea; In the last years of Hongwu, he led the army to level the Kou many times, and all of them won a complete victory. Therefore, General Geng is definitely a top general who can attack and defend well, and it will not be wrong for the Yan army to be led by him. ”

Zhu Yunwen nodded again and again, and kept saying: "That's really good, with such an old general with great achievements, what do I have to worry about." ”

Shen Ruoyu finally couldn't help but interject on the side:

"Grandpa, General Geng is sixty-five years old after all, can he still do it?"

Xu Huizu said: "In the thirtieth year of Hongwu the year before last, General Geng also commanded the general of the expedition to the west, exterminated the robbers in Sichuan, captured the head of the robbers, and captured more than 3,000 people. ”

Shen Ruoyu said: "Can the bandit grass who occupies the mountain as the king be compared with the army of King Yan?" A rabble of thousands of people, and the hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers brought out by King Yan over the years, can it be a level? The years are unforgiving, and no matter how brilliant General Geng's past is, it is all in the past. He is going out with Gao Geng as he is now, I'm afraid this matter is a bit hanging, right? ”

Zhu Yunwen was stunned for a moment and asked, "Xu Aiqing, what do you think if I order you to be the general of the army?" ”

Xu Huizu obviously didn't think about this problem. He immediately replied:

"I don't think so. Although the minister has been leading the troops, he has also gone out with his father, King Kaiping, Duke Yingguo and Duke Liangguo many times, but they are all deputy generals of the partial army, and have no experience as the chief general to lead the army. His Majesty has entrusted such a heavy task to Weichen, but he is afraid that he will not be able to serve the public. ”

Zhu Yunwen hesitated, looked back at Shen Ruoxiao, and asked:

"Ruoxiao, what do you think?"

Shen Ruoyu was slightly stunned. "Me?"

"It's okay, you're also the commander of Zhengsanpin, tell me your opinion."

Shen Ruoyu hesitated for a moment, and said cautiously: "The minister thinks that although Wei Guogong has not been a commander during the war, he has been leading the army to train in peacetime, and he has a high prestige in the army. Moreover, the military affairs of Shaanxi, Beiping, Shandong, and Henan provinces have always been in charge of the Duke of Wei, and he is very familiar with the situation in the northern battlefield. Moreover, he was also ordered to lead the army to arrest the former Yuan general Aru Timur, and the king of Yan was also afraid of Wei Guogong. As for the experience of being a general, every general will have his first time, and as long as he has this ability, His Majesty should give this opportunity. The minister is foolish, and His Majesty and Grandpa advise. ”

Zhu Yunwen nodded: "Ruo Xiao is right, as long as you have this talent, I should give you this opportunity." Besides, from the very beginning, the civil and military officials recommended the Duke of Wei to be the commander of the expedition, but Aiqing was not in Beijing, and I had no way to ask for your opinion, so the matter had to be delayed again and again. ”

Xu Huizu was terrified when he heard this, and knelt down and said: "The minister has delayed His Majesty's major affairs, and the crime deserves death!" His Majesty asked the ministers to surrender to the crime, and took Geng Bingwen, the Marquis of Changxing, as the commander of the army; Without further ado, please give your Majesty a decree. ”

Zhu Yunwen sighed: "Xu Aiqing, I don't mean to blame Aiqing. I'm just asking Aiqing, if I let you be in charge, would you be willing? ”

Xu Huizu kowtowed and said, "Why did Your Majesty say this?" As long as it is His Majesty's intention, it is to let the ministers go up the sword mountain and go down to the sea of fire, and the ministers will be willing to die as much as they want. It's just that if His Majesty asks the minister's advice, the minister thinks that in terms of ability, prestige, and experience, in any aspect, the minister is far inferior to the Marquis of Changxing. If the Marquis of Changxing is not there, it will not be persuaded by His Majesty, and the minister will also take the initiative to ask Ying to take command, and he will never give in modesty. The minister is self-aware, and he also asks His Majesty to believe in the minister and adopt the minister's opinion. ”

Zhu Yunwen thought about it for a long time, and said hesitantly:

"In this case, tomorrow in the court, I will let the courtiers discuss Aiqing's suggestion to see if the Marquis of Changxing is suitable."

Hearing that the emperor couldn't make up his mind and would discuss it again tomorrow, Xu Huizu couldn't help but be stunned, and immediately said:

"Your Majesty, things can't be delayed any longer! If Your Majesty wants to listen to the wishes of the ministers, please immediately convene the civil and military officials to the court of Wuying Palace. In any case, the division to be sent out must be determined today, because the follow-up army scheduling, galloping and dispatching troop transfer documents, and requisitioning and transferring military materials, grain and grass are complicated, and it will take up several days of work. Your Majesty, please decree now! ”

Shen Ruoyu said softly on the side: "Your Majesty, it really can't be delayed any longer, it has to be decided today." ”

Zhu Yunwen thought about it, hesitated for a while, and finally nodded and sighed:

"Okay, according to what Aiqing said. Spread my will, and all the officials in Beijing from the fifth rank and above immediately went to the Wuying Hall to discuss the decree. ”

Changxing Marquis Geng Bingwen regardless of whether the sword is not old, in short, it seems that people are indeed old, when the Manchu Dynasty civil and military promoted the general, no one thought of this veteran who had great military achievements, and even after the Son of Heaven announced to them the suggestion of Wei Guogong, everyone couldn't help but be surprised. However, Wei Guogong is Wei Guogong after all, and after a short discussion of the civil and military officials, they unanimously agreed with Wei Guogong's proposal, and they all thought that under the current situation, there was no second person more suitable than Geng Bingwen.

The selection of the general was finally decided, and the 65-year-old veteran Geng Bingwen took command of the expedition. The left and right lieutenant generals were also proposed by Wei Guogong to be Li Jian, the princess of the daimyo princess, and Ning Zhong, the governor of the capital. Naturally, there is no need to say anything about the troop transfer plan, and Wei Guogong's recital was unanimously approved by the ministers without changing a word. So Zhu Yunwen ordered the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies to gallop overnight to send troops to Rune Mu, and in full accordance with Xu Huizu's plan, mobilize soldiers and horses from Liaodong, Shanxi, Linqing, and Hejian, and join the Central Army along the way. ordered the household department to budget and transfer military rations from all over the country, allocate money and military funds, and do not spend extravagantly; The Ministry of Engineering added chariots and artillery overnight; The Ministry of War, together with the Governor's Office of the Five Armies, is in charge of the transfer of troops and officers at all levels, and submits war reports in the morning and evening; The Ministry of Rites formulated the banner of the army to raise the prestige of the Son of Heaven; In addition, he ordered Taichang Temple to prepare an oath to the temple ceremony, and designated Fang Xiaoru to draft an edict against rebellion.

In the evening of the same day, the Son of Heaven adopted the suggestions of Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng, and issued an edict to set up the Pingyan Bu Political Envoy in Zhending, south of Beiping, with the Beiping interview envoy Shang Shu Bangzhao as the political envoy of Pingyan Bu, and under the reminder of Fang Xiaoru, he released Cheng Ji, the Yuechi Sect in the prison of the Criminal Department who had been unobtrusive a year ago, and promoted him to Hanlin on the spot to serve by the Son of Heaven's side.

After a delay of ten days, it was finally determined with the return of Wei Guogong to Beijing. As for Xu Huizu himself, he persuaded the Son of Heaven to let him stay in Jingshi and grasp the overall battle situation in the rear, so that Jingshi could have a capable person to deal with various problems at any time. In order to reward and commend his resourcefulness and loyalty, Zhu Yunwen added him as the crown prince and concubine, with the same status as Lan Yu when he was still alive.