According to the rules of the Ming Dynasty, Zhou Yanru, who was the superintendent of the edict, was going to leave Beijing on the day he received the edict, and he couldn't stay in the palace to live] He came out of the Forbidden City early in the morning, and returned to the house to clean up briefly, and within an hour, he hurriedly entered the palace to "resign".

What Zhou Yanru didn't expect was that Emperor Chongzhen was already waiting for him at the noon gate. Not only the emperor, but also the civil and military officials also waited here for a long time, and the Ministry of Rites also prepared a guard of honor and gave him a beautiful ceremony. Although Zhou Yanru went to replace Lu Xiangsheng and did not have thousands of troops and horses around him, Chongzhen still allocated 100 cavalry and 300 infantry troops from the Beijing camp as Zhou Yanru's personal guards and escorted them all the way to the army. Such a courtesy moved Zhou Yanru to tears, and when he knelt three times and bowed nine times to Chongzhen, his head knocked loudly.

After the ceremony, Zhu Youzhen encouraged Zhou Yanru a few words, and personally served Zhuangxing wine. Zhou Yanru usually doesn't drink alcohol, but the emperor gave him the wine to drink it all at once. At this time, he was "proud of the spring breeze", and with the stimulation of alcohol, he jumped on his mount, with a proud smile, and waved to the officials and onlookers while slowly leaving the city.

Zhou Yanru was so arrogant that he made many officials angry, especially the Donglin Party. In their opinion, Zhou Yanru was not qualified to be a supervisor, but he was only favored by the emperor because he was good at flattery. If you do it, you will do it, and you are so empty-eyed, it is really "rampant when you have ambition", and it breaks the rules of officialdom.

Among them, an official of the same nationality as Zhou Yanru sneered and said: "Zhou Yuxian has been so arrogant since he was a child, and everyone in Yixing knows it. When he was just four years old, one day he rode on his grandfather's neck and went to the street to play, and saw a stone pillar archway on the south side of the long bridge, which was built in a grand manner. Others were just amazed when they saw it, but Zhou Yusheng sank his little face and asked his grandfather: "Whose archway is this?" His grandfather told him that it was the archway of Xu Pu and Xu Ge who had been given to him, and the official did enter the cabinet to worship the prime minister, so he could naturally set up the archway in his hometown.

"What did you say about Zhou Yuxian? He actually said, Xu Ge Lao entered the pavilion to worship the prime minister, and erected the archway here, so I will enter the pavilion to worship the prime minister in the future, where is the archway erected? Naturally, his grandfather accused him of being young and ignorant and talking nonsense, and the people around him laughed when they heard it. Zhou Yusheng remembered this incident, and since then, he has never been down from this archway. Tell me how crazy this man must be! ”

"And let him be arrogant for a while." Another person sneered, "He can't compare to Lu Xiangsheng, he was killed with real knives and real guns, he is a white-faced scholar, what counterinsurgency strategy can he have?" The saint is now sick and rushed to the doctor, and he Zhou Yusheng can quell the rebellion and destroy the thief, if he can't do it, don't talk about us, the saint can't spare him. According to my brother's opinion, he is very bad at obtaining this word. Jade rope, isn't it white silk? Unlucky, really unlucky, hahahaha..."

The two of them only cared about sneering, but they didn't notice that an official behind them was listening quietly, while looking at the triumphant Zhou Yanru coldly, with an imperceptible smile on the corner of his mouth. This is none other than Wen Tiren, who has just vigorously recommended Zhou Yanru! ...

To the great surprise of the officials in Beijing, early the next morning, Zhou Yanru's recital was handed to the cabinet, in which he detailed his counterinsurgency strategy, and he could be regarded as a response to the Donglin Party members who questioned his empty stomach. In fact, Zhou Yanru had only come to Wanping at this time, and strictly speaking, he had not left Jingshi yet.

The first thing to say is the "first reverse" Zhu Yousong. Obviously, after Qi Xianzong and Sun Chuanting defeated the rebels at the same time, apart from the thieves, Zhu Yousong had no other troops in his hands, and he could not gain a foothold in the mainland, and the only thing he could rely on was the mysterious fleet. The fleet lost its track after leaving the mouth of the Yangtze River, and there were not many places to go; There are also only a handful of forces that can have such a powerful fleet. The immediate task at the moment is to let the North Sea Fleet move to the mouth of the Yangtze River, and at the same time make every effort to investigate the identity and whereabouts of the fleet, and then make a plan after figuring out the ins and outs.

At the same time, he pointed out that although Zhu Yousong is the "first rebel", the biggest threat to the imperial court now is actually the thief who is no longer controlled by Zhu Yousong. The thieves are divided into two parts, one is near Nanjing, and has just been defeated by Lu Xiangsheng and begged to surrender to the "Cao Xiang", Wang Guangen, He Jin, He Yilong and other departments, and the other part is Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, who are swinging westward.

As for the thieves near Nanjing, Zhou Yanru believed that although they had surrendered, it was not uncommon for thieves to surrender by fraud or rebellion in the past, and they must not be trusted. Although Lu Xiangsheng had been ordered to return to Beijing, Li Laiheng, Hao Yongzhong, Cao Wenzhao, Meng Gong, Liu Quanzhong, and other troops should continue to defend Nanjing, waiting for an opportunity to continue to attack, in order to completely wipe out the remnants of the thieves, or force them to surrender.

As for the strongest and most threatening Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, Zhou Yanru's method was to let Li Dingguo and Xie Yong, who were originally under the command of Sun Chuanting, lead the army to chase after them. He believed that the two thieves had either entered Shaanxi or were about to enter Shaanxi, which showed that the thieves had always attached importance to Shaanxi, and the officials and soldiers should fight the thieves here. Of course, it will take time to transfer Li Dingguo and reconcile Yong to Shaanxi, and the officers and troops who remain in Shaanxi must defend Tongguan and Xi'an at present. In addition, Zuo Liangyu in Nanyang and the First Division of the Ming Army in Luoyang and Kaifeng can be pursued separately, but they must not fight in waves, and they must wait for him to arrive in Shaanxi, and then command the operation in a unified manner.

Because the folds were handed to the cabinet in clear folds, most officials quickly understood Zhou Yanru's counterinsurgency strategy. There are many people who think that this strategy is not outstanding, and even have some headaches and foot pains, and feel like being led by the nose by thieves. Wang Qia, Yang Sichang and others immediately pointed out that after the thieves entered Shaanxi, the target may not be Tongguan, Xi'an or northern Shaanxi, but they may also enter Sichuan in the south, but Zhou Yanru did not mention anything about this, which is really worrying.

But Zhou Yanru's twists and turns do have some new ideas. He believes that whether it is the "Four Positives" or the "Six Corners", the biggest problem is that there are no soldiers available, or there are soldiers that cannot be used. As a result, the counterinsurgency could only be pursued by the army led by the governor, and it was difficult to succeed. Therefore, he suggested that the "four positive and six corners" have a total of 10 provinces, which can imitate the first division of the Ming Army in Henan and temporarily disrupt the military establishment of the guards, and at the same time can also recruit troops, and each province can set up a mobile force, and set up a general officer and deputy chief officer to lead the troops, all under the command of the superintendent. If the officials and troops of these ten provinces are available, the extermination of the thieves will be just around the corner.

The first reaction of most officials to this suggestion was to oppose it, because the military system of the guard station is an ancestral system, and it cannot be changed at will. Henan's "First Division of the Ming Army" has been regarded as a thorn in their eyes, how can they imitate it more?

But what made them depressed was that Zhou Yanru had the emperor's support. Zhu Youzhen looked at the dismissal and immediately issued an order: "Now the suppression of rebellion and thieves is the first priority, and it is urgent to follow power. Since I use Zhou Yanru as the supervisor, I must use people without doubt. All the edicts are approved, and I here! ”