Listening to Bi Ziyan's words, Chongzhen's face became more and more difficult to see, although this old minister had never personally supervised the troops and commanded the battle, but he had extremely rich experience in logistics supply. Therefore, it is impossible for him to ignore the other party's advice. At that time, after several large-scale battles at Sarson, Kaiyuan, Tieling, and Guangning, the Later Jin regime actually completely controlled the Liaoshen region, the elite area of eastern Liaodong, while the Ming army only kept the western Liaoning corridor and the coastal areas and coastal islands in southern Liaoning.

In 1629, Yuan Chonghuan killed Mao Wenlong, which not only made the defense of Denglai, which the former governor of Denglai Yuan Keli had painstakingly managed for many years, no longer exist, but also cleared the way for the Later Jin to attack Korea next, and soon after, the Jin bypassed the Shanhai Pass in October 1630 and entered the fortress from Zunhua and other places. However, judging from the overall strategic situation at that time, the Houjin did not have enough resources and weapons to besiege a series of fortresses in the western Liaoning corridor without completely solving the security threats to the rear of North Korea and Mongolia. However, the field combat capability of the Ming army was much lower than that of the Later Jin army, and it was also unable to counterattack Liaodong.

If the Ming can train a combat-ready field army first, or if the Later Jin can preemptively conquer Mongolia and Korea and remove the threat from the rear, they will be able to take the lead and break this balance and turn the war in their favor. After the four cities of Zunhua were recaptured by the Ming army, Huang Taiji did not launch a large-scale military campaign against the Ming in the following time, but turned the spearhead to Lin Dan Khan and Korea; Chongzhen, on the other hand, invested a lot of resources in training the new army for Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai, who was familiar with Western-style firearms, and its main soldiers were fugitives from Liaodong who were familiar with Liao affairs. Obviously, the leaders of both the Ming and the Later Jin sides saw this and were accumulating strength as soon as possible in an attempt to seize the opportunity, while Bi Ziyan pointed out to Chongzhen the crux of the problem from another angle -- if this continues, I am afraid that the Ming government will collapse before the war starts.

"What do you think should be done, Mr. Bi?"

"Either negotiate peace with the eastern captives to temporarily relieve the evils of the world, or abandon the towns of Ningyuan, withdraw the soldiers and civilians of western Liaoxi to the Guannei, strengthen the towns of Xuanda, and send elite troops to Korea."

"Ridiculous!" As soon as Chongzhen heard Bi Ziyan's suggestion, he sneered: "Abandon the land of hundreds of miles without a fight, how can you abandon the territory of your ancestors?" Besides, if all the cities of Ningyuan were discarded, wouldn't it be that the Dongyu Iron Cavalry was approaching the Shanhai Pass? ”

"Your Majesty!" Bi Ziyan continued to persuade with great difficulty: "If my Ming soldiers are strong and will restore my Liaoshen land, then naturally the cities of Ningyuan will be the iron nails that are close to the heart of the enemy chieftain, but now my Ming soldiers are weak, and the defense is more than enough and the attack is insufficient. “

Hearing Bi Ziyan's words, Chongzhen fell silent. As Bi Ziyan said, if the Ming army wants to counterattack Liaodong, Ningyuan Zhucheng can play the role of the attack initiation point, and now the Ming army's field ability is so weak, there is no ability to counterattack in a short period of time, and it is too extravagant to gather the army in these castles and the long supply line is too luxurious. In that case, why not give up these lands and put limited resources where they are more necessary, such as training a new army and strengthening the defensive line west of Shanhaiguan?

"Mr. Bi, if you give up Ningyuan Zhucheng, will it make it more and more difficult to clean up?" Chongzhen asked in a low voice.

"Your Majesty, as far as the old minister knows, the land outside the pass is flat, and what the Donglu lacks is Dingkou instead of the field, and they enter the pass to loot so many raw mouths for this reason, as long as the people are moved into the pass, even if the Donglu gets the land and no one cultivates it, what is the use? Moreover, after abandoning Ningyuan and other forts, the strong walls are clear, and if the eastern captives enter the Kou, they will have to travel hundreds of miles more to transport grain, and they will only be weak. “

"Hmm!" Chongzhen nodded and said, "Mr. Bi, this matter is very important, I have to think carefully before making a decision, you can't tell a third party about this matter." “

"The old minister obeys!" Seeing that Chongzhen's attitude had changed, Bi Ziyan was very happy, he naturally understood that it was impossible for such a major matter to be decided privately under the consultation of two people, and with the political environment at the end of the Ming Dynasty, if the things he just said leaked out, just by abandoning the land for hundreds of miles without a fight, neither Chongzhen nor Bi Ziyan would have to be scolded by the officials.

Looking at the back of Bi Ziyan leaving, Chongzhen suddenly asked, "Cao Daban, do you think what Mr. Bi just said makes sense?" “

"This!" Cao Huachun's face showed a look of embarrassment, although he had received a first-class education and had accumulated considerable experience in political struggles during his many years as a eunuch. However, as a eunuch, Cao Huachun had an extremely fatal flaw in answering such a major military and political question -- he had never served as a local bureaucrat or commanded the army, not even as a military supervisor, which made him extremely unconfident in speaking in this regard. In the end, Cao Huachun said in a low voice: "Emperor, I don't know much about the old slave of Liaoshi!" “

"That's just as well!" Chongzhen sighed: "After all, you entered the palace at the age of thirteen, and you have never left Beijing City a few times. ”

"Emperor, why don't you ask Mr. Zhou from the cabinet to discuss!" Cao Huachun said in a low voice.

"Okay, then I'll summon Mr. Zhou tomorrow to discuss." Chongzhen nodded.

The next day, Qianqing Palace.

"Greetings to Your Majesty, long live long live long live!"

Zhou Yanru meticulously bowed and bowed three times in accordance with the court etiquette, the corners on both sides of the lacquer veil on his head swayed gently with the rise and fall of the body, according to the aesthetics of the time, he was a quite handsome middle-aged man, with a straight nose bridge, fair skin, a very neatly trimmed beard under the chin, and a robe carefully smoked with sandalwood, the only flaw was that his eyes were a little narrow, but this was also made up for by two beautifully shaped eyebrows, and there was always a little smile on his face, which made people can't help but have a good impression at first sight.

"Mr. Zhou, sit down!" Chongzhen, who was sitting behind the imperial case, raised his hand with a smile and helped Zhou Yanru weakly, it is not difficult to see Chongzhen's love and trust for this handsome middle-aged man. He is the Mr. Zhou in Cao Huachun's mouth yesterday - when he was the crown prince and Taibao, a scholar of Wenyuange in the Ministry of Rites, and Zhou Yanru, the first assistant of the court. He is a native of Yixing, Nanzhili, became famous as a young man, won the champion at the age of 21, and then followed the trajectory of the Hanlin Academy's revision - the right Zhongyun is in charge of the Scripture Bureau - Shao Zhan Shi is in charge of the Nanjing Hanlin Academy - the right attendant of the Beijing Ministry of Rites, and at the age of 37, he ascended to the political peak of the Ming Dynasty civil officials - Shoufu.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Zhou Yanru sat down cautiously, but in his heart he was speculating about the purpose of Chongzhen's summoning him. In addition to his own outstanding resume, an important reason why he was able to have such a prominent political career was that he was good at imperialism, and in a language that modern people are more familiar with, he was good at speculating on the intentions of the leadership. This certainly made his official fortune prosperous, but it also brought a new problem -- lack of experience.

If we look at the previous official positions held by this Shoufu Lord, it is not difficult to find that this first civil official of the Ming Dynasty was basically promoted within the system of the Hanlin Academy, and has never served as a pro-people official at the state and county level; if we use an analogy, it is that today, a certain official has gone from within the Central Party School system all the way to the Standing Committee in charge of propaganda work, and finally became a party and state leader, but he has never been to a local leading position. This kind of official resume that is difficult to imagine today was commonplace in the Ming Dynasty, and the more the imperial examination ranked, the more promising the official was less likely to go to the local office.

"Mr. Zhou, what we are talking about today is very important, and we must not talk about outsiders, especially those crows!" In the end, Chongzhen was already violent, and the crows in his mouth were those imperial historians of the Imperial Procuratorate, and these imperial histories had the privilege of hearing about the news, that is, they could impeach the ministers of the court without any evidence, and the impeached ministers generally had to go home and think about it behind closed doors, which was originally just a tool used by the imperial power to check and balance the relative power, but by the end of the Ming Dynasty, it had been alienated into a tool for party struggle within the civil official group. Even Chongzhen himself must take into account the power of the imperial history in many cases, after all, although he is the Son of Heaven, he can't do everything himself if he wants to implement a policy, and he must go through the ministers he trusts, and these ministers were impeached by the hostile faction Yushi, so they had to stop working and go back to the house to think about it behind closed doors, after all, not everyone can have the psychological quality of Zhang Juzheng to ignore the impeachment of the imperial history.

"Your Majesty, rest assured, the minister does not lose his family secretly, and the minister still understands the truth that the king does not lose his country!" Zhou Yanru smiled, but secretly felt a little uneasy, he began to realize that the things that Chongzhen summoned him to talk about today may not be so simple. According to the political system of the Ming Dynasty, the power of the first assistant is a very flexible range, like Zhang Juzheng, who has been in charge of national affairs for more than ten years, and his actual power even exceeds that of many Ming emperors; The small ones were ousted two or three months after coming to power. The reason for this is that although the ministers of the Ming Dynasty are known as prime ministers, they are actually just a senior secretary of the Son of Heaven. Its actual power is directly proportional to the degree of trust that the Son of Heaven has in him, and inversely proportional to the willingness of the Son of Heaven to personally handle political affairs. In other words, if today's son is too lazy to deal with political affairs and trusts Shousuke, then Shousuke is a veritable prime minister, and if the Son of Heaven is diligent, then Shousuke's power will be discounted. Judging from the diligence of today's saints, Zhou Yanru knows very well that the quality of his first assistant may not be enough to make a discount.

"That's good!" Chongzhen smiled slightly, he was quite satisfied with the Shoufu he chose, his appearance was dignified, his opinions on many things were in line with his own mind, and he was very smart, if he was respected by Bi Ziyan Chongzhen and even had a point or two of fear, he was pure love for Zhou Yanru. He picked up a copy of Bi Ziyan's copy from several cases, and Cao Huachun on the side hurriedly took it and sent it to Zhou Yanru.

"Mr. Zhou, look at this excerpt and speak again!"

Zhou Yanru hurriedly stood up, took the copy with both hands, and looked at it carefully. He read the folds quickly, and at the same time carefully guessed Chongzhen's intentions. Like most of the officials in the court at that time, the young Shoufu was a smart man, but as he was evaluated in later historical materials: "Cultivating the party with selfishness, disregarding state affairs", this smart man's mind was more about how to monopolize power for a longer time and obtain greater benefits for his faction, rather than doing more for the Son of Heaven, the court, and the country. Therefore, Zhou Yanru decided to probe Chongzhen's tone first, and then show his attitude, so as not to make a mistake, anger Chongzhen, and lose Juelu.

"Your Majesty, I wonder who made this fold?" Zhou Yanru asked in a low voice.

Chongzhen hesitated for a moment, but decided to tell the truth: "It's Bi Shangshu!" ”

Hearing that it was Bi Ziyan's excerpt, Zhou Yanru couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, he knew very well that although Bi Ziyan was quite trusted by Chongzhen, he didn't have much Austrian aid in the court, such as giving up the fortresses of Ningyuan and relocating hundreds of thousands of Liao militia to save military spending. However, seeing the meaning of the Son of Heaven, he was a little moved, and he couldn't be guilty of being this wicked person. He thought for a moment and said with a smile: "Sure enough, it's Mr. Bi, Weichen just saw this excerpt, and the heart of serving the country with a fist is overflowing, if it weren't for Mr. Bi, who in the court could make this article?" “

"Did Mr. Zhou mean agreed?"

"Your Majesty!" Zhou Yanru said with a smile: "There will be no less than 100,000 soldiers in Liaoxi, and the total number of dependents and people is only 300,000. “

"That's just as well!" Chongzhen nodded, as Zhou Yanru said, if the line of defense is narrowed as Bi Ziyan said, then the hundreds of thousands of people in western Liaoning who enter the customs will be a big problem, these people basically have relatives with the Liao soldiers, and they have fields and houses in western Liaoning, and they can cultivate and eat themselves, but after returning to the pass, they will become homeless people, and the slightest carelessness will provoke a large-scale civil uprising, which is a big headache for any ancient country.

"Your Majesty, the people in the northwest have just been pacified, if there is something more in Liaoxi, the consequences will be unimaginable, and it is better to hold on to it as Wei Chen sees it!"

"What Mr. Zhou said is very true!" Chongzhen was persuaded by Zhou Yanru, and thought to himself: "Is there only peace with those barbarians?" When he thought of this, his heart was filled with irritation.