In order to show the so-called majesty, Xiao Mazi has only called for a total of two big rises since the defeat of Aobai, and has only called for a total of two big rises to convene all officials above the fourth rank in Beijing to participate in the early dynasty, the first is to hold a meeting to show off the power of the Aobai party when lightning is exterminated, and the second is to discuss whether to implement the peace meeting between the Qing court and the Pingxi royal palace.

But it's a pity that this second big rise is destined to become one of the most painful meetings in Xiao Mazi's life. - Attention, it's just one of them.

Finally ended this unhappy to the extreme, Xiao Mazi told the eunuch to notify a few absolute henchmen to go to the Heart Cultivation Palace to meet, and led a group of eunuchs and palace maids alone to return to the Heart Cultivation Palace first, and the result was not at all surprising that Xiao Mazi's grandmother, the old witch of Xiaozhuang, had already led Su Malagu and Li Yinzheng to wait in the Heart Cultivation Hall for a long time. Seeing this scene, Xiao Mazi inevitably muttered in her heart, "Why is grandmother always like this?" Do you always treat me like a child? Do I still need to be told everywhere? ”

Muttered quietly, but Xiao Mazi's respect and trust for the old witch of Xiaozhuang still did not dare to waver, and he walked quickly to Xiaozhuang, knelt down on his knees and kowtowed, and said respectfully: "Emperor Sun asks for his grandmother, and his grandmother is blessed with Jin'an." ”

"The emperor is flat, Su Ma, go and pick up the emperor." Xiaozhuang waved his hand lightly, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, when there are no outsiders, don't be formal, you don't need to be so polite according to the rules." ”

"Thank you, grandmother." Xiao Mazi kowtowed again, stood up with the support of Aunt Su Mala, and nodded to Aunt Su Mala's face to express her gratitude, and at the same time expressed her respect for Aunt Su Mala, the de facto adoptive mother. At the end, Xiao Mazi asked tentatively: "Grandmother, you came to the Heart Cultivation Hall today for the peace agreement signed between Curb Bilong and Wu Sangui's old thief, right?" ”

"Exactly." Xiaozhuang nodded while beckoning Xiao Mazi to sit down, "For such a big matter, grandmother estimates that the emperor will not be able to make up your mind for a while, so I came here to wait for you, but I didn't expect that today's dynasty would disperse so quickly." How's it going, has there been a result? ”

"There are results." Xiao Mazi replied weakly: "Although some courtiers objected, Sun Er still agreed to approve the peace treaty signed by Kubilong, but considering the bearing capacity of the treasury and the actual situation, Sun Er decided to send Wang Xu and Xiong Cixu as envoys to Wuchang to contact Wu Sangui and discuss the implementation of the peace treaty. ”

"Approved?" Xiaozhuang was slightly surprised, and said that he didn't expect his grandson to make up his mind so quickly, and begged to suffer the humiliation of the crotch? Originally, according to Xiaozhuang's estimate, with Xiao Mazi's age and surname, he would have to toss and turn for at least a few days in this matter before he could make up his mind.

"Don't blame my grandmother, my grandson doesn't want to ratify this peace treaty, but the situation forces it to be so." Xiao Mazi obviously misunderstood the reason for Xiaozhuang's surprise, and hurriedly explained: "Of the 650,000 troops of my Qing Dynasty, the number of killed, captured and mutinied has almost reached half. The remaining 300,000 troops, either guarding the local arch and guarding the frontier, can draw out a pitiful number of mobile troops to fight, or are poorly equipped and lacking in combat power, and basically have never been on the battlefield. ”

"In addition, I still have more than 40 princes in the Qing Dynasty, nearly 40,000 soldiers of the Eight Banners, and more than 30,000 Manchurian people who have fallen into the hands of Wu Sangui's old thief, and if my grandson refuses to approve this peace treaty, it will be tantamount to harming them. I am a thin member of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty, and I can't afford such a large loss of personnel at all. ”

"In addition, the grandson's meticulous eyeliner also reported to the grandson that Taiwan's Zheng Jing, Northwest Geldan and Fujian Geng Jingzhong, these rebel thieves and thieves have all shown signs of imminent action after hearing the destruction of our main force in the Qing Dynasty, and they have sent messengers to Wu Sangui to congratulate the old thief Wu Sangui openly or covertly, and they have the intention of joining forces with the old thief Wu Sangui to make trouble, if they don't temporarily pacify Wu Sangui, the thief, as soon as possible, I am afraid that the consequences will be unimaginable."

"So, there is no way, and my grandson has no choice but to approve this peace agreement." Xiao Mazi's voice became lower and lower, and he said dejectedly: "Sun Er now only wants to buy two to three years of preparation time, first redeem the captured soldiers of the Eight Banners of the Great Qing Dynasty, and then use them as the backbone core to form and build a new Great Qing Heroic Division, and then fight to the death with the old thief Wu Sangui to exterminate this traitor!" ”

"The emperor misunderstood." Xiaozhuang shook his head and said with a smile: "Grandmother didn't blame you for approving this peace treaty, grandmother just didn't expect that grandson, you would be able to make up your mind so quickly, endure what others can't bear, and approve and accept this peace treaty." It seems that the grandson of the mourning family has really grown up, matured and sophisticated, and the mourning family can have less heart in the future. ”

Hearing Xiaozhuang's heartfelt praise, Xiao Mazi just smiled bitterly, and his heart was even more like a knife, and his hatred for Wu Laohan and Lu Fatzi and others was even more bone-split. Xiaozhuang asked again: "Grandson, then what are your plans to send Wang Xu and Xiong Cixu as envoys to see Wu Sangui's old thief?" ”

"The main thing is to beg Wu Sangui to be an old thief and let him be more lenient." Xiao Mazi replied with a gloomy expression: "That old fool promised to give Wu Sangui's old thief 35 million taels of silver and 5 million stone military rations, but the annual income of my Qing treasury is only more than 20 million taels a year, and the grain is only about 5 million stones. So there was no way, so I had to let Wang Xu and Xiong Cixu go to explain the situation to Wu Sangui's old thief, and begged him for a few more years. ”

Speaking of this, Xiao Mazi paused and added: "In order to show sincerity, Sun Er also plans to let them bring Wu Sangui's little grandson Wu Shilin and daughter-in-law Princess Jianning to Wuchang by the way, and send Aobai's whole family to Wuchang to be handed over to Wu Sangui's old thief for disposal." ”

"Based on our actual situation, there is also the actual situation of Wu Sangui's old thief now." Xiaozhuang groaned: "Wang Xu and Xiong Cixu persuaded Wu Sangui to give grace to the old thief, I'm afraid there is still some hope, but if Wu Sangui old thief insists on not seeing rabbits and not scattering eagles, grandson, you don't release the prisoners if you don't pay the military salary, what can you do?" Grandson, isn't your plan to rebuild the Qing army with these Eight Banners soldiers as the backbone going to be completely disrupted? ”

"The grandson also takes this into account." Xiao Mazi explained: "Therefore, Sun Er plans to adopt Xiong Cixu's prison and bribe Wu Sangui's cronies with gold, silver and jewelry, so that they can persuade Wu Sangui to accept my request and release these important prisoners early. ”

"Don't do that!" Xiaozhuang's tone suddenly became serious, and he warned: "Grandson, although there have been ways to bribe the enemy's important ministers since ancient times, and there are many successful ones, but the internal situation of Wu Sangui's old thief is different, Wu Sangui's old thief governs the army with his son, niece and son-in-law, and shares the honor and disgrace between each other, and the possibility of being bought by my Qing court is very small!" ”

"And there is another point, several important henchmen around Wu Sangui's old thief are not something we can buy, whether it is Hu Guozhu, Fang Guangchen, Liu Xuanchu, Wang Shirong or Guo Zhuangtu, they are all shrewd and loyal to Wu Sangui's old thief. Grandson, if you send someone to buy them, not only will it be extremely difficult to succeed, but they may also report to Wu Sangui and the thief, completely angering the thief Wu Sangui, and at that time, I am afraid that the situation will be even more difficult to clean up. ”

"The few Wu Sangui lackeys that my grandmother said may be difficult to buy, but the inside of Wu Sangui's old thief is definitely not monolithic." Xiao Mazi retorted unconvinced: "As far as Sun Er knows, Wu Yingqi, the second son of Wu Sangui's old thief, is a famous straw bale two hundred and five!" and Wu Sangui's old thief's son-in-law Xia Guoxiang and his beloved generals Ma Bao and Wei Pu, who are also capricious and insatiable despicable villains! As long as they can be used by their grandchildren, there is great hope for convincing Wu Sangui to release our prisoners of war ahead of schedule! ”

"These people do have hope of being bribed, but they have always had limited influence on Wu Sangui's old thief." Xiaozhuang continued to shake his head and resolutely objected: "Grandson, according to what grandmother has seen, you'd better not take this risk. Wu Sangui's old thief and many people around him were already hostile to our Qing court, once Xiong Cixu's strategy failed and was exposed, it would give these people an excuse to continue to make trouble, grandson, you will also lose your trust in the world, self-defeating and fall into a laughing stock, and even give Wu Sangui an excuse for raising troops, and may tear up the peace treaty at any time and re-raise the army to rebel. ”

"Grandmother, do you think that the old thief Wu Sangui will seriously fulfill this so-called peace treaty?" Xiao Mazi smiled bitterly and asked: "The reason why Wu Sangui's old thief is willing to sit down and negotiate honestly now is because he has taken advantage of enough, the territory he has eaten is big enough, and it is not enough to expand the army, and he urgently needs time to solve these problems, so he agreed to negotiate an armistice." After he solves these problems, won't this battle have to continue? ”

"Besides, after this breath of relief, even if he Wu Sangui doesn't make a move, his grandson will not sit back and watch him occupy the southwest for a long time." Xiao Mazi's voice suddenly became extremely cold, and Yin Yin said: "The reason why Sun Er is now wronged and spends money to buy peace is just because Sun Er urgently needs time to reorganize his troops and fight again, and he never expected to demarcate the border across the river with Wu Sangui's old thief and never offend each other!" Since I and Wu Sangui's old thief will resume the war sooner or later, why should I care if he suddenly tears up the peace treaty and rebels again? Wouldn't it be better to save more money and food to rearm me for war? ”

"Grandson, it's not right for you to think so." Xiaozhuang hurriedly dissuaded: "The current situation of Wu Sangui's old thief is very similar to that of the Qing army before we entered the customs, they are more than self-preservation, and they are not enterprising. If you take the initiative to provoke a war and send troops to the south, then our Qing Dynasty will repeat the mistakes of Sarhu and Guangning in the former Ming Dynasty, and be gradually weakened by Wu Sangui's old thieves, hollowing out the national strength, giving other ambitious thieves an opportunity to take advantage of, and then shaking the entire Jiangshan Sheji. ”

"So grandson, with the current situation, grandson, you have only one way, that is, to prepare with both hands, while preventing Wu Sangui's old thief from suddenly attacking, while trying his best to appease this old thief, and use wine and wealth to consume the ambition of Wu Gou's army, and dissipate the fighting spirit of Wu Gou's army, until Wu Sangui's old thief kicks his legs, the world will inevitably return to your palm!"

"Your Majesty, please allow the slave to interject." Su Malagu also persuaded: "The slave maid thinks that what the Empress Dowager Lafayette said is right, the roots of Wu Sangui's old thief have now been cut off by us, and there is no successor, as long as he dies of old age, Wu Dog will have civil strife, and then it will be easy for the emperor to exterminate Wu Dog, so why risk reopening the war and fighting with the strong Wu Sangui thief on the battlefield?" ”

"Grandmother and Enie may be right, and I can do it, but is Wu Sangui the old thief willing to do it?" Xiao Mazi retorted strongly: "I have already said that Wu Sangui's old thief is ambitious, and now he has fought and fought like a rainbow of morale, but I am afraid that he has already given birth to a heart of usurpation, even if I have repeatedly tolerated him, I am afraid that not only will I not be able to stabilize this thief, but it will make this old thief think that I am weak and can be bullied, and I will strengthen my determination to go north and east." ”

"Your Majesty, on this point, you think too highly of Wu Sangui's old thief." Xiaozhuang laughed and said: "Wu Sangui, the old thief, knows that he is used to being cowardly and cowardly, and he will never rise up to resist if he is not forced into a corner, and he may have the ambition to say that the emperor may be there, but it is even more difficult for him to muster up the courage to go north and go eastward and compete with the emperor for the whole world." ”

"So Your Majesty, you must listen to your grandmother in this matter, give up the plan to buy Wu Sangui's old thief's henchmen, and also give up the plan to exterminate Wu Sangui's old thief in a short time, it's too dangerous, a slight accident, the consequences are unimaginable, and you can't bear it, Your Majesty."

"Didn't the old thief Wu Sangui ask for silver and food? Give it to him, smash the pot and sell the iron, and give it to him, if you can't take out so much in a short time, you can explain the situation to him, make an appointment to pay on time, and the old thief Wu Sangui will definitely agree. After this period of time, grandson, you can also consider continuing to pay Wu Sangui the old thief's army salary, continue to stabilize him, and continue to consume him! As long as Wu Sangui's henchman does not suffer from it, the other traitors are all scabies, and it is not enough to suffer! ”

"Didn't I become one of those weak and faint kings in the Southern Song Dynasty?" Xiao Mazi's voice was filled with some anger, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Buy peace with the New Year's Tribute Coins?" Let Wu Sangui be like our ancestor Dajin in the Qing Dynasty, because we pay tribute every year and pay money every year, and open up to us? ”

"So in the end, did the Song people destroy our ancestors of the Qing Dynasty, the Dajin Kingdom, or did the Dajin Kingdom destroy the Song people?" Xiaozhuang's question made Xiao Mazi speechless. Xiaozhuang said bitterly: "Your Majesty, for the sake of our society and the country of the Qing Dynasty, and for the sake of the emperor, your country will be forever, bear with it again." Even if the old thief Wu Sangui wants to cut off the southwest and call Yanjing Xing, you can admit that the old thief Wu Sangui is already sixty-one, how many days can he live? Grandson, you use a little silver money and food to stabilize him, and when he kicks his legs and there is no successor, and the people of the land he has encroached upon, will they not obediently return to your arms? Listen to my grandmother's words, since you have endured it once, let's endure it to the end. ”

"I just listened to your words at the beginning, grandmother, and used what to drive the tiger and devour the wolf to deliberately force Wu Sangui to rebel against the old thief, so the situation has become like this now!"

As soon as Xiao Mazi's words came out, not only Xiaozhuang, Su Malagu, and Li Yinzheng were stunned, but even Xiao Mazi himself was stunned - Xiao Mazi didn't expect that he would be able to say such a thing to contradict the old witch of Xiaozhuang! After the shock, Xiao Mazi hurriedly left the table, knelt down on his knees in front of Xiaozhuang, kowtowed and pleaded: "Grandmother forgive me, my grandson suddenly became obsessed with my mind and made such absurd words, my grandson deserves to die, please don't care about it." ”

Xiaozhuang didn't speak, a pair of slightly cloudy old eyes just stared at Xiao Mazi, as if he was in a daze. Seeing that the situation was not good, Su Malagu quickly knelt down on her knees, kowtowed and said: "Lafayette, the emperor lost his words for a while, and the slave believes that the emperor is definitely not out of intention, let alone blame and complain about Lafayette, please Lafayette do not take it to heart and forgive the emperor's unintentional mistakes." Over there, Li Yinzheng also quickly knelt down, his forehead pressed against the ground, and he didn't even dare to take a breath of air.

Xiaozhuang still didn't speak, just carefully looked at Kang Xiaomazi, who had reached the age of eighteen, and found that although Xiao Mazi was still ugly, the childishness on his body had already retreated, and in his place, he was already full of heroism, stubbornness and self-confidence, Xiaozhuang couldn't help but sigh in his heart, "My grandson is still growing up and honest, and has his own thoughts and practices, and I can't tell him about everything and everywhere, I should ask him to let his reading power be autonomous, otherwise, hinder his growth, not to mention, It may also cause him to resent the old woman, and hate me even more as an old woman. ”

"Grandmother, why don't you speak?" Seeing that Xiaozhuang didn't say a word for a long time, Xiao Mazi was also frightened, and hurriedly took two steps on his knees, hugged the legs of the old witch of Xiaozhuang, and cried loudly: "Grandmother, it's the grandson who is wrong, it's the grandson who is not filial, the grandmother can punish the grandson as much as she wants, just ask the grandmother not to be angry, if she is angry, the grandson will die even more!" Grandmother, grandson, please, you beat me, scold me, grandson, I am not filial, grandson, I should be damned, ......grandson! ”

"Your Majesty, get up." Xiaozhuang finally spoke, sighed, came to pick up the little pockmark in person, and said softly: "Your Majesty, the mourning family didn't blame you, you are right, if it wasn't for the grandmother's insistence on you to implement the strategy of driving the tiger and devouring the wolf, and let you force Ao Bai to fight with Wu Sangui'......s old thief, things would not have evolved like this." ”

"Grandmother, grandson nonsense, grandson nonsense." Xiao Mazi was so frightened that he quickly slapped himself, and cried while smoking his own numb face: "Grandson deserves death, grandson himself is ...... punish himself!" ”

"Your Majesty, there's no need for this." Xiaozhuang took Xiao Mazi's hand and said with a smile: "In fact, in the heart of the mourning family, it is already extremely regretful, because the mourning family never thought that after the mourning family said anything before, after getting the help of Lu Yifeng's dog thief, Wu Sangui's old thief will grow to this point in just a few years, not only is not even Ao Bai his opponent, but also let him fight big with a small fight, and snatch so many people of your land from your grandson in one go." It was the grandmother's miscalculation and self-defeating, which led to today's dangerous situation, and the grandmother is ashamed of the ancestors of the Qing Dynasty, and also ashamed of your grandson. ”

"Grandmother, don't say that." Xiao Mazi cried loudly, "My grandson suffered from smallpox when he was young, and it was my grandmother who took care of me in Cining Palace, chanted sutras and chanted Buddha for my grandson at night, and prayed for the blessing of the Buddha, which brought my grandson back from the palace of Hades." The grandson was eight years old when his parents died, and it was his grandmother who raised the grandson with his own hands. Grandmother's kindness to her grandson, the grandson is broken bones, and it is difficult to repay it in case ......! ”

"Let him pass the past." Xiaozhuang smiled bitterly, personally picked up Xiao Mazi, wiped away Xiao Mazi's tears with a handkerchief, and said with a smile and choked up: "Your Majesty, you have finally grown up and have your own ideas and practices, and your grandmother can no longer be like in the past, and she will tell you everything in her ears." In the future, the emperor can make up your own mind about the major affairs of the court, and grandmother will not interfere too much, if the emperor does not understand and can't make up his mind, it is not too late to ask his grandmother again. ”

"Grandson doesn't dare!"

Xiao Mazi was shocked and hurriedly wanted to kneel down again, but Xiaozhuang grabbed him, choked up and said: "Your Majesty, grandmother is not angry with you, but grandmother is indeed old, and many things are rotten and conservative." Wu Sangui's old thief, you do it according to your own ideas, grandmother believes that you will be able to do better than grandmother...... ”

"Grandson doesn't dare!" Xiao Mazi is crying even more, the old witch of Xiaozhuang is also in tears, the grandparents and grandchildren hugged their heads and cried together, and Su Malagu, Zhang Wanqiang and Li Yinzheng and others next to them all cried.

After making up her mind not to mention her life to the little Mazi who had grown up, the old witch of Xiaozhuang quickly wiped away her tears, leaned on her old body, led Su Malagu and Li Yin, and left the Heart Cultivation Hall with tears, leaving Xiao Mazi to cry alone in the Heart Cultivation Palace, regretting her unintentional gaffes. And it wasn't until Xiao Mazi's tears dried up and it was getting late that Zhang Wanqiang, the chief eunuch of the Yangxin Palace, kneeled in front of Xiao Mazi and said tremblingly: "Your Majesty, Lord Suo, Lord Ming, Lord Xiong and Kong Sigege have been kneeling outside the hall for more than two hours, waiting for the emperor to summon them. ”

Xiao Mazi, oh no, it should be called Kang Mazi now, Kang Mazi wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes, cleared his throat, and commanded: "Xuan." ”

"Cover." Zhang Wanqiang kowtowed and hurriedly went out to summon. After a while, Suo Etu, Mingzhu, Xiong Cilu and Kong Sizhen, who were kneeling outside and their legs were numb, entered the hall, and when they saw Xiao Mazi's eyes were red and swollen, they didn't dare to ask, but they just knelt down honestly and saluted, kowtowed and said, "Wait, minions, please give the emperor a farewell." ”

"Excuse me, flat." Kang Mazi agreed with great majesty. After a few absolute henchmen got up, Kang Mazi pointed to Mingzhu and ordered: "Caritas Qing, you are the Minister of the Interior of the Guard, and you are also in charge of the Internal Affairs Office. ”

"Cover." Mingzhu honestly kowtowed and agreed, not daring to ask more reasons.

"Bear Shoes." Kang Mazi pointed at Xiong Cizhi again, and shouted and ordered: "I asked you to go to the Internal Affairs Office to pick up more rare treasures, what is the specific use, I believe you already know it, and you don't need to give me too many orders." I only need you to remember two things, one is that treasures are not easy to come by, and every precious treasure must be spent on the blade, not wasted, and not stingy, so as not to miss my big thing! ”

"The second thing, Wu Yingqi, the second son of Wu Sangui's old thief, his son-in-law Xia Guoxiang, Ma Bao, Wei Pu and Han Daren, are all greedy and extremely favored by Wu Sangui's old thief, if Aiqing can let these people be used by me, and then buy a few more confidants of Wu Sangui's old thief, the matter can be determined!"

"Weichen remember my emperor's guidance." Xiong Cixu didn't dare to say a word, and muttered in his heart: "Regarding this point, I don't need your emperor's guidance, if it weren't for Weichen coming forward to buy it, the emperor would be so easy when you cleaned up the rest of the party?" ”

"Kong Sizhen." Kang Mazi's hand turned to Kong Sizhen, and he shouted in a strong voice: "Lu Yifeng's matter, you must have heard about it, right?" Back then, it was because of you, a dog slave, who worked hard to frame and persecute him, and forced him to the side of Wu Sangui's old thief, and I lost this pillar of both civil and military affairs, can you be guilty?! ”

"Slave, sin deserves death! Sin deserves death! Kong Sizhen was so frightened that she was sweating profusely, and hurriedly kowtowed, "Ask the emperor to spare his life, ask the emperor to spare his life." ”

"Whether or not to spare your dog life depends on your performance!" Kang Mazi shouted viciously: "I now give you a chance to make meritorious service and atone for your sins, this time you go south with Wang Xu and Xiong Cixu, no matter what means you use, you must persuade Lu Aiqing to return anyway, tell Lu Aiqing for me, as long as he is willing to come anyway, what official position he wants, what reward he wants, you can open your mouth casually!" ”

"Minion do their best." Kong Sizhen agreed with a sad face, not only to be worried but also to deal with Lu Fatzi's oiled fat loach, and secretly a little happy and nervous.

"Remember!" Kang Mazi added: "Even if I can't let Lu Aiqing return anyway, I have to get Wu Gou's new gunpowder recipe for me, as well as Wu Gou's flying boat construction blueprints!" No matter which of these two things is done, I can forgive you for your previous sins, and if you can't do it, you can come back and apologize for your sins. ”

"The minions obey." Kong Sizhen was even more sad, and kowtowed weakly to agree.

"Sigege, I know your preferences and abilities, don't let me down." Kang Mazi smiled gloomily, turned to the last Suo Etu, sighed first, and then ordered: "Suo Aiqing, report the conscription situation to me, and see how many troops you have recruited for me in the past few months." ”

(To be continued)