"Virtuous nephew, please respect yourself!" Lu Boqi frowned, and withdrew his sleeve from Ma Rencheng's hand: "How can you only say one good word in the world?" I'm a little tired, so let's stop here today! With that, he flicked his sleeves and turned to leave, leaving Ma Rencheng in the room.

"Ma Gongzi, I will persuade the proprietor on the side, don't worry, go back early!" Master said in a low voice.

Ma Rencheng was overjoyed when he heard this, and said in a low voice: "Thank you, master, Ma has kept today's incident in mind and will definitely have something to report." ”

"Well said, well said!" The master smiled slightly, turned and left.

Two days later, Ma Rencheng received a bunch of keys and an official document stamped with the seal of Zhizhou, which said that the Pitang Bureau was granted the right to establish a Yicang to store the money and grain needed for the construction of Pitang.

"Go back and tell your family, and say that things are in order, so don't worry about it."

Beijing, Qianqing Palace, Five Watches.

Emperor Chongzhen knelt on the Danqi, was sincerely burning incense and praying for the war in Liaodong. Ever since he learned a few days ago that the newly built Dalinghe Fort had been besieged by the Houjin army, he burned incense and prayed here every day before going to court at five o'clock. As the person with the highest power in the Ming Dynasty, he was regarded as a half-human and half-god by hundreds of millions of people, and he was actually the loneliest and most helpless one in the empire, whether it was a minister, a eunuch, or a concubine who could not help him at this time, and the lonely man could be said to be the most appropriate portrayal of Chongzhen at this time.

"Emperor, get up, it's not too early!" Cao Huachun said in a low voice.

"Hmm!" Chongzhen nodded, stood up, and when he returned to the hall, he drank a bowl of rock sugar bird's nest soup and ate a piece of Xiaohu cake. He waved his hand, and the well-behaved eunuch hurriedly came up to withdraw early.

"Emperor, let's go in more!" Cao Huachun persuaded in a low voice.

"That's it, it's time for the last dynasty, and I can't eat it!" Chongzhen stood up, and the eunuchs on both sides hurriedly changed into court clothes for him. Put on the crown and take the royal luan to the Imperial Palace. Next is the cumbersome audience ceremony held by the ministers under the command of the salute and the eunuch, in fact, it is impossible to discuss political affairs in this ceremony, although Chongzhen is a little sleepy, but he still persevered, and after the various ceremonies are over, he whispered to Cao Huachun on the side: "Summons the ministers!" ”

Hearing the sharp voice of the eunuch, several auxiliary ministers already knew what it was about, but they were still quite panicked in their hearts. Although they have not yet received a detailed official document, they know that the situation on the side of the Daling River is not very good, because if the war is favorable to the Ming army, I am afraid that the Liaodong side will have already been transferred to Beijing by expedited stagecoach. Zhou Yanru coughed lowly, stood up and took a few steps forward, and stopped at a distance of six or seven meters from Chongzhen, standing there cautiously, not daring to raise his head. Chongzhen had a slightly dissatisfied look on his face. He said softly, "Gentlemen, come closer." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Zhou Yanru reluctantly took two steps forward. The rest of the auxiliaries also followed, each of them walking on thin ice. Chongzhen sighed and said: "Since ancient times, the Holy Emperor Ming King has all respected the teacher, and this dynasty calls the auxiliary ministers Mr., and there is still a will. Qing and others are also my teachers. If you have any questions, you should be crowned! So he stood up, waved at the courtiers, and then continued: "The Sutra says: 'Self-cultivation is also respectful. Respect the ministers, and the ministers of the body'. Today's gift is not an exaggeration. Since ancient times, monarchs and ministers have been like-minded, and there has been no injustice in the world. The political affairs of this dynasty are in charge of the ministries and courts, the presiding is in the bow, and the reconciliation is in the secretary. Now Zuo Zhen Zhongxing, Dian An Zongshe, all of you gentlemen are Lai! “

Chongzhen's words were quite gentle at first, but the more he resigned, the more severe his words became, and Zhou Yanru and other ministers knelt on the ground, already sweating and trembling. Zhou Yanru, as the first assistant, had to reluctantly reply on behalf of everyone: "The ministers and other talents fail to support Your Majesty, and the crime deserves death." I am so honored by the Holy Majesty today, I am really ashamed! “

Chongzhen shook his head and said: "Gentlemen, I should be respected, now that the Northwest People's Rebellion has been largely smoothed down, Yang He has done a good errand." It's just that the Daling River in Liaodong has been surrounded by the Dongyu, and it has been almost a month, I don't know what the battle situation is? ”

Hearing Chongzhen finally ask the most worrying question, Zhou Yanru couldn't help but be shocked. According to the political system of the Ming Dynasty, the cabinet was nothing more than the secretary and adviser of the Son of Heaven, and its greatest power was only to provide advice on the twists and turns of the Shangshu, and could not isolate China and foreign countries and prevent the Son of Heaven from seeing the twists and turns of the front. But even a young and ambitious cabinet minister like Zhou Yanru has at least been on the bureaucratic ladder for nearly twenty years, and with this experience, he can see many things that Chongzhen can't see from the same setback. For example, in the military information document sent by Sun Chengzong to Beijing, it was said that not long ago, the Ming army reinforcements in Songshan and Jinzhou had won the battle and beheaded more than 100 levels of Dongyu, but he said that the weather was cold and the Dongyu was strong, so he had to retreat to Jinzhou and Songshan, and asked Guannai to send additional reinforcements and increase the payment of internal salaries. Zhou Yanru could immediately see that there were many inaccuracies in this document, because Jinzhou and Dalinghe Fort were only more than thirty miles away, and Songshan was not much away, but it was only a day's journey. If the Ming army won this encounter, then the next step should not be the Ming army's withdrawal to Songshan and Jinzhou, but the Later Jin army's relief of the siege of the Daling River to concentrate its forces for a decisive battle with the Ming army. The real situation should be that the Ming army that tried to relieve the siege was repulsed by the Houjin reinforcements after leaving Jinzhou and Songshan, and Sun Chengzong was afraid of being punished before he turned defeat into victory, and wrote this kind of twist and turn. The question is whether I should tell Chongzhen the truth? Zhou Yanru couldn't help but raise his head, his eyes swept to Cao Huachun standing behind Chongzhen, he saw that the other party shook his head slightly, and he was relieved.

"Your Majesty! A few days ago, Weichen received a military intelligence document from Liaodong, saying that in Jinzhou and Songshan, he had suffered a small setback to the Dongyu and beheaded more than 200 ranks, but the Dongyu army was still strong, and the weather was not good, so our army retreated to Songshan and Jinzhou two cities, and waited until the weather improved, and then made a big expansion. Inspector Sun also asked for internal money to be sent to the military in the document and sent reinforcements to him. “

"Well, Mr. Sun is an old adult, it's better to be serious about this military matter, and don't waste the battle!" Hearing Zhou Yanru's words, Chongzhen's mood improved: "As for the money? At the mention of money, Chongzhen's face became gloomy again.

Seeing Chongzhen's face, how could Zhou Yanru not know what the Son of Heaven was thinking at this time? Although this person was included in the "Biography of the Traitorous Minister" in the history of the Ming Dynasty in later generations, to be honest, he is not like Qin Hui and Cai Jing who are traitors and evil people. Zhou Yanru's biggest problem is that he is too greedy for power, so that he has no position of his own, and he thinks about Chongzhen's meaning in everything, so the history books say that he "is evil to the king, and it is very harmful!" "It's not that he's wronged.

"Your Majesty, as Wei Chen sees. It is better to transfer the money and grain given to Yang He in the northwest every month to Liaodong, and then repay it when the siege of the Daling River is relieved. Presumably, with Lord Yang's talents, it should be no problem to support it for two or three months. “

"Well, that's fine!" Having solved the most headache problem, Chongzhen's face looked a lot better: "Then where are the reinforcements drawn from?" “

"Let's transfer the new army trained in Denglai, first, most of them are Liao, don't worry about not adapting to the water and soil; Second, I heard that the Dongyu built a long siege to trap the Daling River, and the new army was coached by Franco. Skilled in firearms, best suited for breaking down barriers; Third, Denglai is just a water away from Liaodong, and it can be reached day and night! “

"Good, good, good!" Listening to Zhou Yanru's words, Chongzhen couldn't help nodding again and again, and several troubles in his heart were solved by Zhou Yanru in a few words, and he was very handsome about this person. The courtiers with excellent manners were a little more respectful, and felt that they had finally found their own ministers. This impatient young man stood up from the throne, bowed to Zhou Yanru again, and said, "I listen to Mr. “

Liaodong, Dalinghe Fort.

At the beginning of October, the land of Liaodong was already covered in snow, and ice and snow had ruled this vast and fertile land. Compared with last year, the first snow of Chongzhen's four years came later, and it was not until a few days ago that a thin layer fell. Stand on the city walls. A few hundred meters from the moat, you can see the yellow and white spots, which are not yet harvested in time, and this crop field stretches to a forest four or five miles away, and the forest is overgrown with tall oaks, red pines, and fir trees. When the north wind blows through the woods, the branches and leaves collide with each other. There was a rattling sound.

There were more than 300 Ming soldiers standing in the urn city, a third of them were cavalrymen, and behind the soldiers were many ragged people, who carried sacks and baskets on their backs, and held sickles in their hands.

"Listen up!" One of the generals shouted loudly: "When the city gate is opened, you can go to collect grain, everyone must collect three buckets of grain to come back, one bucket and a half to you, one bucket and half to us, the excess is yours, don't run around, otherwise military law will be engaged!" Did you hear it all? “

"Hear me clearly!"

"Open the door!"

There was a sparse response from the crowd, and most of them did not make a sound, in order to save every bit of strength, they knew that there was an inexplicable danger waiting for them after leaving the city, but they all looked cold and determined, because there was only one dead end in the city, and the choice between the two was very simple.

"Your Excellency!" After the general finished speaking, he turned to ask for instructions from the capital behind him, and the general, who was wrapped in a fur coat outside the iron armor, nodded, turned to the city gate and shouted, "Open the city!" “

With a creaking and grinding sound, the west gate of Dalinghe City was opened, but the defenders did not open the gate completely, they only opened the gate halfway, and the soldiers rushed out of the gate, first the cavalry, then the infantry, and finally the crowds of civilians. The cavalry and infantry split into two bands in a sparse fan, facing the woods on the outside and the city gate on the inside, and the people spread out inside the fan and began to harvest the wheat, sorghum, and soybeans beneath the snow. Although the weather was cold, the people did not care about getting their clothes and shoes wet by the snow, and cut the grain in the fields with almost frantic speed, even uprooting them and throwing them into the baskets or baskets on their backs. Some people who are really hungry and ruthless simply rub the ears of wheat or beans in their hands and stuff them into their mouths, completely ignoring the sharp wheat pricking in their mouths, and some people fight each other for the crops. Whenever this happens, the surrounding Ming troops will drag it aside and whip it with a leather whip until the blood is dripping and then throw it aside, like a puddle of useless mud.

Soon, the crops inside the fan were almost harvested, the range of the people harvesting was getting larger and larger, and the Ming army on the periphery of the guard began to gradually relax, some people simply loosened the reins, and let their war horses gnaw on ears of wheat and beans in the snow, with the growth of the siege time, the feed of these war horses became more and more tight, and some of the weak have been killed, one can supplement the military rations, and the other can also save some feed.

"Lord Ye Dacheng, it's almost time!" Just now, the general manager consulted Du Si Ye Dacheng.

Ye Dacheng didn't speak, he looked at the woods in the distance, some people with fast hands and feet were almost to the edge of the woods, he hesitated for a while, and said in a low voice: "Forget it, give them another two quarters of an hour, it seems that the siege time is still long, at that time, a mouthful of food is a life, we are soldiers who kill a lot, damage yin virtue, when we can accumulate virtue, let's accumulate more!" ”

"Your Excellency is so kind!" Mr. Tong smiled and said: "But it's okay, if they charge more, we can also have more points, and the weather is cold, and the brothers can also warm up if they eat more!" “

"Hmm!" Ye Dacheng nodded, he pointed to the farthest people with his horsewhip and said, "You go over and drive those people back, damn, they are all running into the forest, and I don't know how to write the dead word!" ”

"Yes, sir!" The commander answered, jumped on the war horse, beckoned a few of his men to beat the horses and ran over, and when he was still a dozen paces away, he shouted: "Come back quickly, don't get too close to the woods, beware of the ambush of the Tartars." ”

As soon as the words fell, there was a bone whistle in the forest, and then a rain of arrows was shot, and before the whole could react, it was shot like a hedgehog, fell off the horse, and then rushed out of the woods A team of cavalry, a lucky Ming army who was not hit by an arrow saw it, and shouted in despair: "Run, it's Sauron!" ”

"Get on your horse and get out of the army!" Ye Dacheng pulled out his waist knife and shouted loudly, he had very good eyesight, and he had already seen the appearance of the ambush soldiers. Although the Ming Dynasty contemptuously referred to the Later Jin regime established by the Jurchens as Donglu, and called the leaders of the Later Jin regimes such as Nurhachi and Huang Taiji slave chieftains, that is, as uneducated barbarians, in fact, the Jianzhou Jurchen, Haidong Jurchen, and Haixi Jurchen under Nurhachi's rule were definitely the most civilized and civilized part of the northeastern tribes, otherwise he would not have been able to establish the Jurchen regime. (To be continued.) )