More than a dozen candles illuminated the room, and a singer sat in the corner of the room, talking about the pipa and singing a little song. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info Hou Fangyu and several scholars sat around the table, drinking and rewarding. At this time, a scholar came in from outside and whispered a few words in his ear beside Hou Fangyu. The scholars next to them listened carefully, and could only hear the words "in the palace" and "refusal", which made people's hearts itch.

"Good!" Hou Fangyu clapped his hands and hated: "I knew that Yang Thief would be like this, this person is greedy for power, and he has his own way to die!" ”

"Hou Gongzi!" A scholar asked puzzledly: "But after all, Yang Wenqiao is the first minister, and the saint is also on his side, no matter how much we criticize him, as long as he is cheeky, there is nothing he can do about him!" ”

"Don't worry!" Hou Fangyu sneered: "What the Yang thief did was all expected by this son, he will act according to the plan from tomorrow, I already have a future, hum, Yang Wen is weak, Yang Wen is weak, you toast and don't eat and drink!" I wanted to give you a decent end, but it's a pity that you don't know how to lift! ”

Sure enough, the next day, Yang Sichang encountered a raindrop of bullets, mainly accusing him of being jealous of his ability and taking power and misleading the country. According to the unspoken rules of politics in the Ming Dynasty, the impeached minister had to temporarily suspend his administration and think about it behind closed doors in order to show that he was sincerely afraid until the Son of Heaven made a decision. However, Yang Sichang ignored the bullet badge and continued to go to the military aircraft department on duty every day, this arrogant attitude angered the attacker even more, and a few days later, the impeachment had become ten major crimes. However, what makes people feel strange is that Lu Boqi, who is in the whirlpool, has always maintained an ambiguous silence, which makes onlookers feel that there is a lot of shady behind him.

Ten days later, this strange silence was finally broken, and Lü Boqi, who was the governor of Xuanda, wrote to the imperial court, requesting that the ordnance that had not yet been delivered by the Chaoyi arsenal be intercepted and used to train two infantry battalions, on the grounds that the war in the interior had basically ended, and it was no longer necessary to form a new army, and after the battle of the Baiger River, the Ming army in Xuanda Town had been in direct contact with the Houjin, and the next battle would be more intense and more troops would be needed. In addition, Lu Boqi also asked the imperial court to provide 200,000 stone of military rations by August this year for the autumn offensive against the eastern captives. This note is tantamount to a bolt from the blue for Yang Sichang, he knows very well that Lu Boqi is just Liu Cheng's mouthpiece, and this note is actually the asking price list given by Liu Cheng - if you don't agree to the above two conditions, then don't blame me for jumping to the other side.

"Damn!" Yang Sichang hatefully slapped the song on a few cases: "This group of fools, in order to fight for power and profit, actually colluded with Liu Cheng, ignoring the Ming Dynasty's Jiangshan Society, don't they know that this is a tiger skin?" ”

"Skinning a tiger?" Chen Xinjia was stunned when he heard this, and asked hesitantly, "Sir, what do you mean by this?" Could it be that there is someone behind Lord Lu's recital? ”

"Not bad!" Yang Sichang controlled his emotions a little: "The scholars and hundreds of officials wrote on the front foot and said that they should use Lu Boqi to supervise Guanning and Xuanda Erzhen to crusade against Dongyu." He, Lu Boqi, wrote a letter on his hind feet, asking for the purchase of weapons and rations for the crusade against the Eastern Captives this autumn. There is no relationship between the two. It's ridiculous that these fools thought that they had borrowed Liu Cheng's power to overthrow me, but they didn't expect that they had been played by Liu Cheng in the palm of their hands and became a bargaining chip to ask for a price from me, hey! Speaking of this, Yang Sichang sighed: "At this end of the world, such a demon was born, is it true that the Mandate of Heaven is no longer in my dynasty?" ”

"Sir, be careful that the wall has ears!" Seeing this, Chen Xinjia hurriedly persuaded in a low voice: "Sir, is the matter really as serious as you think?" If you don't allow it, then what can Liu Cheng do? ”

"I have to say yes!" Yang Sichang smiled bitterly: "If I don't agree, it will be equivalent to sitting in front of the saint to confirm the accusation that those people impeached me for being jealous of the virtuous and jealous of my ability and taking power and misleading the country." Think about it, last time they wrote to ask Lu Boqi to lead Guanning and Xuanda two towns, I think the country is an important town, and I can't be under one person, otherwise it will be rejected on the grounds that the ancestral family law is broken. This time, Nalu Boqi wrote to add weapons and food, and prepared to take advantage of the victory to defeat the Dongyu this autumn. If I dismiss it again, what do you think the Holy One will think? What will the hundred officials think? What will the people of the world think? As the saying goes, three people become tigers, even if the saint believes in me and the officials believe in me, but the people of the world think that I Yang Wenwan is a traitor who is jealous of the virtuous and jealous, do you think I can still sit in the position of the first assistant? Speaking of this, Yang Sichang sighed: "Liu Cheng, Liu Cheng, you have one move after another, and it is all a series of sets, even if I know that there is a cliff in front of me, I have to jump in with my eyes open!" ”

"Sir, maybe it's not as bad as you think, is it?" When Chen Xinjia saw Yang Sichang's appearance, he comforted: "Then the two things that Liu Cheng invited may really be for the purpose of crusading against the Eastern Prisoners!" ”

"You still don't understand!" Yang Sichang sighed: "The reason why I have not had the disaster of the town in the Ming Dynasty for more than two hundred years is nothing more than two tricks: one is the size of the system; The second system is its food and salary. And most of the generals led by Liu Cheng were Hulu, and even the Han army was in the northwest after fighting with thieves and captives. The life, death, wealth and wealth of these people are in the hands of Liu Cheng alone, and this big and small move is invalid. As for the salary, the fixed salary issued to him by the imperial court over the years is no more than 9,000 foot soldiers, more than 4,000 horsemen, and the rest is made up by himself through the number of salt tea and horses, and this trick is invalid. As the saying goes, the army will die if there is no savings, and the land he is based on in the south of the desert has all kinds of good horses, horses, and sharp soldiers, but as long as the food is insufficient, he must have many scruples in his actions. But if he gets 200,000 stone of military rations at once, based on five liters a day for one person, this is the ration of 100,000 people for 40 days, even if he only saves half of it, it will be enough for him to fight to the Yellow River. There are also those armor weapons, I also know that the armor of the Hongyang is very sharp, so I plan to use these armor battles to build a new army first, and when the new army is completed, I can use this as a backing and take it into the possession of the imperial court. But I don't want Liu Cheng to take the lead, and I want to intercept the delivery that has not yet been delivered. ”

After listening to Yang Sichang's narration, Chen Xinjia's face changed greatly, he never expected that Yang Sichang and Liu Cheng were the same as one person, one was in the court and the other was in the opposition, and they cooperated very tacitly, both of them soared, but at that time, Yang Sichang already had a secret chess to restrain Liu Cheng; And Liu Cheng is no less than Yang Sichang, so quietly he resolved this trick of dark chess. This ability of "calling my brother in person and taking a guy out of my waist" has been perfected. Yang Sichang saw Chen Xinjia's thoughts, and snorted coldly: "People like Liu Cheng are like sharp blades, easy to use, easy to use, but when you pull the knife out of the sheath, you have to think about how to insert him back into the sheath, otherwise sooner or later the person will be injured!" ”

"And what is the gentleman going to do?"

"There is no way to do this game, only to give him up!" Yang Sichang sighed: "Hey, if it weren't for the party struggle in the imperial court, how could I be so restrained?" ”

In the summer of Chongzhen's tenth year, Liu became the righteous son of Abunai and decided to have a family affair, and the bride was the granddaughter of Gushi Khan. Obviously, Liu Cheng did this in order to strengthen the alliance of the iron triangle of himself, Dzungar Batur Khan, and Gushi Khan, and in the past few years, with Liu Cheng's strong support, Gushi Khan has successively defeated Chotu Khan, Zangba Khan, and Baili Tusi in Kang District, and has completely controlled a large area of grassland from Qinghai to northern Tibet; Batur Khan also continued to defeat the Kazakhs and Uzbeks, controlling the vast lands that stretched from the Tien Shan Mountains in the south, the Irtysh, Ob, and Yenisei rivers in the north, the Lake Balkhash region in the west, and the Ural River, forcing the Russians to recognize their hegemony in Central Asia. For Liu Cheng, consolidating his alliance with these two allies would not only ensure his own security to the west, but also devote all his strength to the war with the Houjin; More importantly, by ensuring the smooth trade routes of tea and silk silk, Liu Cheng could obtain a large number of war horses and warriors with rich war experience to supplement the losses of the war, which was indispensable for his future conquest plans. Even without taking into account the above factors, the marriage itself is extremely profitable, and the fact that he can become the father-in-law of the Great Khan of Mongolia makes Gushi Khan very excited, and the dowry sent alone includes 10,000 horses, 4,000 camels, 100,000 cattle, sheep and miscellaneous animals, and the valley is full of people, which is really imposing. Seeing this scene, the Hu and Han people couldn't help but be speechless, and they all discussed: "Even if the Bodhisattva goes down to marry the Great Khan, it is only this formation!" ”

Liu Cheng is handling the happy event of his righteous son, while in Liaodong, a tragedy of cannibalism is staged. As summer approached, the pavement became dry and hard after the snow melted, and the Babutai brothers' delaying tactics finally came to an end. Dolgon finally forced Zilharang and Daishan to agree to settle the problem by force - Liu Cheng would definitely move eastward when the autumn was high and the horses were fat, and if the various tribes could not be reunited before then, the Jurchen tribes would have no choice but to die. And a great deal of information has irrefutably proved one thing - the blue flag of the Babutai brothers has been on another boat.

In June, Dolgon led two white, red, blue and part of the Han army to hunt, coach soldiers, and hoard military rations near Hetuala, which was originally the capital built by Nurhachi in 1603 and was the capital of Houjin until 1621 when it moved to Liaoyang. Arriving at this symbolic place before the expedition, Dorgon's intentions were unclear. The scale of the hunt was huge, with nearly 20,000 warriors alone, and they built a long fence on the east, west, and south sides, while the north was blocked by a river, trapping the prey in it.

The way of hunting is very ancient, first by the old and weak and the clothed with torches and spears, going up the mountain and shouting and slapping, frightening the prey, driving it to the flat ground, and then the hunters shoot it. The shot prey was quickly dragged aside, skinned and marinated for military use, and the skins piled up together like a heap of grain harvested in autumn.

Dolgon, on a green-maned horse, stood on a high ground, and below him was a circle about a hundred paces square. A tiger was in the circle, looking around in horror and roaring angrily. The king of the mountain had just been driven into here by dozens of knights with bows and arrows. According to Jurchen customs, only those who killed a beast alone could receive the title of "Baturu". Whenever hunting before the battle, the beast will be driven into the circle, and the warrior will be selected to fight with it, and the person who can kill the beast will not only get the reputation of "Baturu", but will also be selected by the nobles to be the protector of the army, and get the opportunity to rise to the top.

"Whoever can kill this tiger is my Goshha!" Dorgon shouted to the dozens of Jurchen warriors on the side, and the warriors exchanged glances with eager eyes. Finally, a man in his early twenties stepped forward and bowed to Dolgon: "Lord Belle, I'm willing to give it a try!" ”

"Okay, get the wine!" Dolgon high-fived and laughed, he took the glass from the hand of the guard beside him, and said to the man, "Drink the wine first, and then go and kill this tiger, you are my Goshha!" ”

The man took the glass and drank it all, wrapped the braid around his neck, jumped on his horse, took his spear, and rode into the circle. Seeing this strange enemy, the tiger roared and took two steps back, the muscles of both hind legs bulging.

The Jurchen man grew up in the mountains and forests since he was a child, and he knew very well the habits of tigers, and knew that if he went forward, the tiger would have no way to retreat, and would inevitably pounce on it, and although he still had weapons in his hands on his horse, he might not be able to stop it. So he rode his horse to the back of the tiger's flanks and stabbed the tiger in the back and thighs with his spear. The tiger was in pain, and turned his head, and he drove his horse away, and again and again, the tiger was stabbed one after another, and although it did not penetrate the flesh, it also bled out. The Jurchen warriors watching from the outside of the circle saw him so cunning, and they coaxed: "How can there be a Baturu who dares to stab a tiger from behind, if you are cowardly, retreat quickly, let us come!" ”

The crowd was in the midst of an uproar, when suddenly the tiger roared, turned around like lightning, and soared into the air. The Jurchen man rode his horse and wanted to repeat his old tricks, but he didn't want to be too late, and was knocked off the horse by the tiger. The tiger had already lost his temper at this time, and instead of continuing to attack the man who had fallen to the ground, he climbed onto the back of the horse, bit the horse's neck, dragged it to the ground and tore it up.

The Jurchen warriors who were watching were taken aback when they saw this, and they all drew their bows and arrows, trying to shoot the tiger to death to save people. Dolgon raised his right arm and shouted, "Wait, don't let go of the arrows, since he is in the circle, he must kill the tiger alone." The tiger is ferocious, is it still as fierce as Liu Cheng and the traitors of the Zhenglan Banner? You can shoot a tiger here to save him, so who will save him on the battlefield? ”