"Your Majesty has a good memory, and Lord Wanli also asked so, and the old gentleman replied like this: 'What the imperial dining room does is so raw and cold, it's really hard to swallow!' ”

Wang Chengen's answer immediately caused laughter in the room, only Chongzhen shook his head with a wry smile, he knew that what Wang Chengen said just now sounded very funny, but in fact it was probably true. Because the most important work of the imperial dining room was actually to undertake sacrifices, diplomatic banquets, and catering services for the emperor and concubines were just his side jobs. The result is naturally that although there are many patterns and materials in the meals, the meals are not flattering, especially in ancient times when there were no refrigerators and other modern food preservation technology, often making half-cooked things, anyway, no one may actually eat them. Like Chongzhen, Zhou Hou, and Concubine Tian, they are fine, but they will eat reheated meals, and those cabinet ministers eat half-baked, and it is normal for cold meals and cold dishes. Which of these adults and men is not a brocade and jade food at home, so it is better to let them eat these cold meals and cold dishes, and it is better to bring a few Hu Biscuits in their sleeves and lose their stomachs.

Zhou Hou and Concubine Tian smiled while casting grateful glances at Wang Chengen. Both of them understood that Wang Chengen came out to tell this joke at this time to divert Chongzhen's attention, after all, the imperial dining room was so poor, it was natural for Concubine Tian to borrow two cooks from home, and she would not let the Son of Heaven have other ideas. But Wang Chengen lowered his eyes and regained his usual dull appearance, as if it was not himself who told the joke just now, but another person.

After lunch, the palace maid removed the table and brought the chess, and Chongzhen played against Concubine Tian, and Zhou Hou was gossiping on the side. Concubine Tian's mother was a famous prostitute in Yangzhou, and she was very proficient in chess, piano, calligraphy and painting. It's just that today is to coax him to be happy, where to dare to win him, it is that Concubine Tian quietly made the wrong three sons soon after the start, and let Chongzhen eat a few sons, so that he got up seriously, and after a while, Chongzhen's offensive turned to a defensive position, and gradually could not support. Zhou Hou, who was watching the game from the sidelines, was a little anxious, and secretly blamed Concubine Tian for being so uninteresting, she wanted to make a few clever moves for Chongzhen on the side, so that he could turn defeat into victory, but her chess skills were far less superb than Concubine Tian's, and even if she spoke, she might not be useful; Second, she has been married to Chongzhen for many years, and she knows that although her husband always pretends to be magnanimous and humble on the surface, he is actually a person who thinks highly of himself and is self-serving.

Seeing that the chess game was approaching the end of the game, Chongzhen's situation still did not improve, and his own face became more and more ugly. Zhou Hou, who was standing on the side, was even more anxious, and in a hurry, she stretched out her right leg and gently kicked Concubine Tian twice under the table, but Concubine Tian was still like that, as if she didn't feel it at all. Zhou Houzheng was helpless, but Concubine Tian accidentally made a mistake, and let Chongzhen eat one of her horses, the situation on the chess game suddenly changed greatly, and a layer of sweat oozed from Concubine Tian's forehead, and after a while, she let Chongzhen eat a cannon, and then let Chongzhen redeem a pawn who crossed the river. Concubine Tian was no longer able to support it, so she had to admit defeat. Zhou Hou looked at it from the sidelines, and couldn't help but secretly applaud: "Concubine Tian is really smart!" She wiped the sweat from her forehead and smiled at Concubine Tian.

After a hard battle and defeat, Chongzhen was also very happy, and he rarely laughed: "Aifei's chess strength has really grown greatly, and after a while, I'm afraid that I will not be Aifei's opponent!" ”

Concubine Tian blessed Chongzhen with a blessing, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty is the lord of Zhongxing, and the sky is wise, how can the concubines be able to do it." The concubine can support it for so long today, in fact, His Majesty is worried about state affairs on weekdays, and his chess skills are unfamiliar, if he is prosperous in the Ming Dynasty, His Majesty pays a little attention to the path, that is, let the concubine have a car and a horse, and the concubine is not an opponent! ”

Chongzhen listened to Concubine Tian's answer, and became more and more happy, he was about to ask the palace maids to serve some tea and snacks, but when he saw Hu Kejian standing at the door, he couldn't help but be suspicious.

"Hu Daban, is there something wrong? Come in and talk! ”

"Slaves obey!" Hu Kejian kowtowed and walked into the house with a bow, he knew that the messenger who brought bad news was never welcome, but he had no choice.

"Emperor, there is an emergency military situation in Datong Town!" He took a copy of the newspaper from his sleeve and presented it with both hands.

"Urgent military intelligence? Datong Town? Chongzhen glanced at Hu Kejian suspiciously, and took the Tang newspaper from Wang Chengen's hand, the source of this military intelligence was completely unexpected by him, wasn't it that at the beginning of the year, the general army of Ningxia Town had already solved the two departments of Chahar and Tumut, and rebuilt the Naturalization City? Why is there any military situation on the Datong side? As soon as he saw the Tang Bao, his face turned pale, and he got up and walked out, and Wang Chengen hurriedly followed. Only Hu Kejian was left in the house, Zhou Hou and Concubine Tian.

"Hu Daban, thank you for a good errand!"

"The queen mother forgives her sins, and Concubine Tian forgives her sins!" Hu Kejian trembled and knelt on the ground, he could feel two murderous gazes penetrating his body: Zhou Hou and Concubine Tian. He knelt on the ground and kowtowed four or five times, blood flowed from his forehead, and he pleaded with a crying voice: "Datong has broken the gap, such an urgent military situation, if the slave delays, the emperor will not spare the slave!" ”

"Shut up!" Zhou Hou said coldly, she walked to Hu Kejian's side, lowered her voice and said, "Grandpa Hu, you are afraid that Your Majesty will kill you, why can't I kill you?" ”

In the public opinion, Chongzhen's face was full of gloom, the Tang newspaper had been kneaded, but the content had already been deeply imprinted into his mind. "Emperor Taiji united with the Mongolian tribes, called himself Bogda Chechen Khan, broke through by the right guard of Datong, broke through more than 40 of my fortresses, and killed and plundered a lot." Chongzhen closed his eyes, and the images that appeared in his mind: the Mongols cheering loudly around Huang Taiji, the puffs of wolf smoke rising from the side walls, the fierce Houjin iron horses, the burned towns, the plundered livestock and population, and finally the closed Beijing city gate and the rumbling cannons, which were the impressions left by the Houjin breach not long after his accession to the throne, which will be unforgettable for a lifetime.

"Bastard thing!" Chongzhen scolded hatefully, but even he didn't know who he was scolding just now, whether it was the incompetent border guard, the cabinet minister who spoke empty words, the queen and concubine who let himself drink and have fun and put political affairs aside, or Hu Kejian who brought bad news to himself. For a while, he felt that everyone was hateful, but when he thought about it carefully, he felt that there was someone else who was really evil. In the end, a thought suddenly flashed in Chongzhen's heart: "Could it be that God used this to punish himself because he was slacking off on political affairs and being drunk with wine?" ”

As soon as he thought of this, Chongzhen was in pain, since he ascended the throne, he has always demanded himself according to the standard of the lord of Zhongxing, eating and drinking, staying away from wine, and concentrating on political affairs, but the country's situation has deteriorated. Why is that? This question always echoed in Chongzhen's mind, and he never dared to think about this question in detail, and could only attribute it to the fact that the Chinese officials of the DPRK formed a party for personal gain, and the military generals feared thieves and did not fight, resulting in repeated defeats. If there are a few talents who work hard, coupled with their own talents and arbitrariness, they will definitely be able to turn the tide of the country. And with whom he already has an answer in his mind.

"Now it seems that only by sending Yang Sichang out of Beijing to supervise the division can the situation be reversed!"

Wanping County, outside the East Gate.

The official road was densely packed with kneeling people, and under the flying dust, it was impossible to see clearly. Yang Sichang looked out through the screen window, and could only see that the person headed by him was wearing a cyan official robe and a black gauze hat, which was the local magistrate, who was leading the local gentry to greet himself who had just been promoted to the right squire of the military department, the left capital of the imperial history, and the governor of Shanxi Xuanda military. All the people are prostrate on the ground, not daring to look up, if it is in the past, Yang Sichang will definitely get off the sedan chair, drink a glass of Zhuangxing wine, write a poem, and at least have a few words with the local gentry. But at this time, he was not in the mood, but just slapped the handrail by the window twice and signaled the sedan chair drivers to pass quickly. After his escort and staff had passed, the gentry got up from the ground and began to talk nonsense.

"What a Yang Wenweak, big shelf!" A middle-aged man in his forties complained with some dissatisfaction: "It's just a squire in the military department, I have seen more big officials in Wanping, but I haven't seen him with such a big shelf!" "Gong Chen, you don't know this!" The county magistrate showed a smug smile on his face: "Do you know where Lord Yang went to Beijing this time and why?" ”

"He's a squire in the military department, so naturally it's for the sake of the military, right?" The middle-aged man replied in an uncertain tone, and the people next to him hurriedly gathered around him when they saw that there was news to hear.

"Not bad!" Zhixian sneered: "But do you know where the military is and who to fight?" ”

"I heard it's Xilu!" Someone next to him said.

"Xiyu, you are big, you are Dongyu!" Zhixian looked around, and everyone's faces showed a look of fear, and he continued: "Do you know, just two days ago, Dongyu broke the hole on the side of the right guard of Datong, and the beacon tower within a radius of hundreds of miles was lit, and Lord Yang went to Datong this time. This Lord Yang is the emperor's most trusted person, if he does a good job this time, he will enter the cabinet to pay respects to the prime minister one day! The magistrate's voice was not loud, but everyone could clearly hear the half of the sentence he had not finished - "If you don't do it well, I'm afraid you won't be able to come back." ”

Surrounded by staff, family members and soldiers, Yang Sichang's sedan chair quickly passed through Wanping County and came to the Lugou Bridge. Here, Yang Sichang instructed the palanquin man to stop. A servant had already lifted the curtain for him, Yang Sichang walked out of the sedan chair, came to the bridge, held the stone lion head above, looked at the Yongding River under the bridge, and looked at Xishan. I saw that the Yanshan Mountains were like a giant dragon, rushing from the west direction of the mountain, until the sea, lush and green, like a place where the king's spirit gathered. To the north, in the trees and dust, it seems that you can faintly see the head of Beijing, the majestic shadow that rises high, probably the tower of Guangning Gate, behind which should be the Forbidden City, the residence of the Son of Heaven. Thinking that he didn't know if he would be able to come back safely this time, and see Jingshi and Chongzhen again, Yang Sichang's heart felt a burst of sadness, and he turned his head so as not to let the servants see the tears in the corners of his eyes, and ordered: "Wait for the sedan chair!" ”

Yang Sichang passed Wanping City all the way to the west, along the way easy place to take a sedan chair, the precipitous place to change horses, the sunrise on the departure, the sunset star before resting, only took seven days to Taiyuan, stayed in the local area for half a day, and the local officials and generals will meet, after understanding the military situation, only to continue to the north, arrived in Datong. Because he issued an urgent document on the way to order the governor, the soldier, the general and the deputy general in the jurisdiction to go to Datong, so when Yang Sichang arrived at Datong, except for a few people who could not arrive because of the long distance, the rest of the people were already in the suburbs to meet him.

"So the situation is getting better?" Yang Sichang asked Chen Chunde, the governor of Shanxi.

"Not bad!" Chen Chunde is a native of Hunan, and Yang Sichang is a fellow villager, and Yang Sichang is quite cordial to hear the Hunan official dialect: "According to the spies' instructions, two days ago, the captives and cavalry were no longer deep, and the military camp began to move north, presumably because he had heard the prestige of the Inspector, and he did not dare to be the head of the king's division!" ”

"Huh!" Yang Sichang laughed dryly, he naturally didn't believe his little fellow's words, but he had also inspected many military towns near Beijing, and he still knew the difference in combat effectiveness between the border army of the Ming Dynasty and the Houjin army at that time. If he comes with an army of 100,000, he will bring a few hundred soldiers now, but he is responsible for coordinating and commanding, I am afraid that the captive chief Taiji will also make a haha when he knows about it, and it is just a matter of listening to this kind of scene, if it is true, he will be stupid.

"I heard that in the captives who broke the border this time, in addition to the eastern captives, there were also many western captives (the Jurchens were called the eastern captives at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and Mongolia was called the western captives), I don't know if it's true or not?"

Hearing Yang Sichang's question, Chen Chunde couldn't help but chuckle in his heart, and he forced a smile: "Master Inspector, in the past few years, there has been a drought outside the Saiwai for many years, and many Mongolian Tatars have no place to live and are forced to move south. ”

"Really?" Yang Sichang sneered: "How come I heard that it was the various ministries of Outer Mongolia who elected the Emperor Taiji as the Great Khan and followed him to break the mouth, such a big thing, could it be that the governor didn't know anything about it?" ”

"This, this—" Beads of sweat immediately broke out on Chen Chunde's forehead, he naturally knew the seriousness of this matter. The rise of the Jianzhou Jurchen itself is related to the eastward migration of the Chahar tribe led by Kuden Khan (the grandson of Dayan Khan and the great-grandfather of Lin Dan Khan). But until Nurhachi's death, most of the Mongol tribes sided with the Houjin. (To be continued.) )