Ma Rulong sighed after listening to Wang Pu's words: "Okay, this can't be blamed on the emperor, it's really Pang Gangzhi's behavior is too taboo, the reason why the emperor can tolerate him is not because he has a large army in hand, if he is said to enter the army one day, I am afraid"

Speaking of this, Ma Rulong stopped, but anyone could understand the meaning of his words.

Lu Xiangsheng's face was solemn, and he glanced back at Ma Rulong and Wang Pu before saying: "Now is not the time to discuss this, although Pang Gang is unruly, but his men and horses are indeed strong and strong, if we have his help, we are at least two points more sure of defeating the Tartars, for this reason the governor asked for the transfer of him to Beijing, and the emperor did have his reasons for refusing to agree." ”

Lu Xiangsheng is indeed loyal to Chongzhen, and he is still excusing Chongzhen.

As he spoke, the crowd had reached the inner city, and when they arrived at the gate of the inner city, the beggars and homeless people on both sides of the street increased in vain. These days, there is rain and war, and more than 100,000 people have fled into the capital from Tongzhou and the eastern suburbs, but there is nowhere to shelter the capital, and many people can only sleep under the eaves on both sides of the street, and people are crowded into a pile for fear of freezing to death. They shivered in the biting cold wind, groaning, whining, and sighing. The women whispered to the old man, mourning and weeping. The children shrunk together in their mother's arms, crying and crying out for hunger, tearing apart the hearts of adults. But when the patrol soldiers sent by the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses approached, they were patient for the time being, and did not dare to say anything. Since martial law began on 15 July, hundreds of refugees have died every day, and as many as 2 or 300 have died. Although there are porridge factories in all five cities, the mortality rate is increasing, especially among the elderly and children. The northeast wind is blowing tonight, and the cold is terrible, I wonder how many large and small corpses will be carried to the mass grave tomorrow morning?

Looking at the homeless people shivering in the cold wind, Lu Xiangsheng and the others all showed unbearable expressions on their faces, but at this time, they couldn't help it, so they had to forcibly turn their heads and stop watching.

At this time, in the Forbidden City Warm Fragrance Pavilion, Chongzhen is bowing his head and burying his head in the review of the chapter, this year, the situation in the Ming Dynasty has become more and more difficult, a day is chaotic like a day, every day sent into the palace of all kinds of documents like snowflakes, for too many documents, afraid of the province is not in time, missed the important, he took the Song Dynasty used the method, so that the Secretary of the General Administration received the document with yellow paper to write out the reason, paste in front, called Huang, and then use yellow paper to write out the content summary, paste it in the back, called Huang. In this way, he can first take a look at the introduction of yellow and paste yellow, and if it is not too important, he does not need to read the full text in detail, but the emergency military secret and Tang newspaper are still sent to the palace as they arrive, and there is no yellow introduction as usual, let alone yellow pasting. Therefore, despite this method, he still has endless paperwork every day, often sleeping after the third watch, and sometimes sleepless all night. Today, Chongzhen has not left the dragon case since the afternoon until now, Chongzhen put down the imperial pen, stretched his waist, picked up a jasper cup from the rosewood coffee table beside him, took a sip of hot tea, and sighed softly. Only then did he ask: "Have Gao Qiqian and Lu Xiangsheng risen?" ”

At this time, Cao Huachun, who had been waiting by his side, said in a low voice: "Long live Lord Qiqi, Gao Qiqian arrived early, but Lu Xiangsheng has just arrived, and he is now waiting outside the Wenhua Palace." ”

Chongzhen took a few more sips of tea with a frown, put the cup back on the coffee table, and whispered irritably and majestically: "Get up!" ”

When Chongzhen came to the Wenhua Hall on the dragon chariot, Gao Qiqian and Lu Xiangsheng knelt in front of the hall and waited. Chongzhen ignored them, got out of the chariot, walked through the front hall, walked through the back hall of Wenhua, and sat down on a carved dragon chair covered with yellow cushions in the east room.

At this time, Gao Qiqian and Lu Xiangsheng also came in, knelt down again and bowed to Chongzhen.

Chongzhen was silent for a long time before asking, "You guys are even, Lu Aiqing, what is the important thing for you to enter the palace late at night?" ”

Lu Xiangsheng stood up and replied respectfully: "Your Majesty, it is really a last resort for Weichen to enter the palace late at night to disturb the emperor, not to mention the lack of grain and grass in Weichen's camp at this moment, and half of the mobilized people and horses have not yet arrived, how can such soldiers and horses expel the Tartars." Moreover, the Tartars are powerful, and Wechen also implored the emperor to allow the mobilization of Pang Gang, the chief soldier of Shandong Town, to lead his troops into King Qin, Pang Gang's troops are well-equipped and well-trained, and he will have more confidence in driving out the Tartars in Wechen. ”

Chongzhen's face was a little ugly when he heard this, and Gao Qiqian on the side saw that Chongzhen was not very happy, so he hurriedly came out and shouted: "Inspector Lu, can't I fight Tartars if I leave Pang Gang?" Or do you not have confidence in yourself? ”

Lu Xiangsheng's sharp eyes swept over Gao Qiqian, and Gao Qiqian couldn't help but take a step back, and when Gao Qiqian noticed it, he couldn't help but be angry and angry in his heart, and shouted in a sharp voice: "Lu Xiangsheng, if you feel that you are not qualified to meet the emperor's trust, you can make it clear that you don't need to put on such a posture to scare people." ”

Lu Xiangsheng snorted coldly: "Father-in-law Gao, whether someone Lu is qualified for the position of supervisor can only be determined by the emperor, so I don't have to worry about my father-in-law, and Lu also asked Father-in-law Gao not to forget, the Tartars are now harming my Ming people and robbing my Ming money, besides, fighting has always been a matter of military generals, so my father-in-law should not care." ”

"You"

Gao Qiqian has always been known for knowing soldiers in the inner court, but when Lu Xiangsheng said this at this moment, he was suddenly choked and speechless.

"Lu Xiangsheng, we must make you look good!" Gao Qiqian, whose face was flushed, felt that his face was swept away by Lu Xiangsheng at this moment, and a nameless fire suddenly surged from his heart.

"That's enough, I didn't come to see you today to see you quarrel." Chongzhen waved his hand and said with a serious expression: "Lu Xiangsheng, I came to ask you, if I agree with you to mobilize Pang Gang's men and horses to help, can you be sure of repelling the Qing army?" ”

When Lu Xiangsheng heard this, he suddenly smiled bitterly in his heart, how can he be 100% sure of this war, I am afraid that Sun Wu will not dare to say this sentence, but he knows that if he does not agree to come down, the emperor may not be able to mobilize Pang Gang's people to come to King Qin. Therefore, Lu Xiangsheng still bravely raised his head and replied: "Back to the emperor, Weichen is sure!" ”

"Good!" Chongzhen's face looked a little better, and finally nodded: "Then I will allow you to mobilize Pang Gang's subordinates to come to your subordinates to obey orders, but there is one thing you have to pay attention to, you can mobilize Pang Gang's subordinates, but the number of people must not exceed five thousand, otherwise I will not spare you!" ”

"This"

Lu Xiangsheng was stunned, the more troops people transfer, the better, our emperor is good, the mobilization of people and horses only let people drop 5,000, is he so taboo Pang Gang?

Lu Xiangsheng really guessed correctly, Chongzhen is so taboo Pang Gang, although Pang Gang has escorted two million taels of silver into Beijing twice, which solved Chongzhen's urgent need, but Chongzhen's taboo against Pang Gang is getting deeper and deeper, so that it has reached the point of talking about the tiger's color, but under the pressure of Lu Xiangsheng and the Qing soldiers, Chongzhen had to agree to Lu Xiangsheng's request, but he came up with this method to restrict Pang Gang's troops, which shows Chongzhen's inner struggle at this time.

Seeing Lu Xiangsheng stunned on the spot, Chongzhen also felt a little guilty about him, and said to Lu Xiangsheng: "Lu Aiqing, I also know that it is difficult for you to do, but no matter how difficult it is, you have to leave." In order to alleviate your pressure, I specially assigned Gao Qiqian to you as a prisoner, what do you think? ”

"What, let Gao Gao's father-in-law be a prisoner for Weichen?" Hearing this, Lu Xiangsheng couldn't help but be shocked.

"Huh? Why don't you want to? A hint of coldness flashed in Chongzhen's eyes.

"The emperor forgives the sin, this micro-minister is naturally welcome." Lu Xiangsheng hurriedly agreed, jokingly, it was the tradition of the old Zhu family to send eunuchs into the army, did he dare to disagree? I'm afraid that if I dare to come up with half a word, Yuan Chonghuan will be a lesson for me!

"That's good, you go out!" Seeing that Lu Xiangsheng agreed, Chongzhen waved his hand and sent him out.

Chongzhen took a cup of tea from a palace maid, the faint fragrance of tea was refreshing, he smacked it lightly with his lips, and thoughtfully looked at this azure Xuanyao dark dragon cup, admiring the exquisite precious art. After a long time, Chongzhen waved his hand, and a palace maid immediately took a step forward, took the teacup with both hands holding a pile of lacquer and gold plates, and walked out carefully, and the rest of the palace maids and eunuchs all tiptoed out in a few seconds.

At this time, only Chongzhen and Gao Qiqian were left in the hall, Chongzhen stood up, paced back and forth in the hall for a while, and then whispered in a heavy tone: "Gao Qiqian, you have often gone out to supervise the army in recent years, and you still have some experience. I will call you the director of the world this time, this burden is not light. You have to be careful, expel the Tartars, defend the capital, and don't let me down. ”

Gao Qiqian understood very well that the emperor only wanted him to "be careful", and did not want him to fight bravely, and he himself was indeed afraid of the Qing soldiers, but he replied in a generous tone:

"The slave and maid are willing to go to the soup and die on the battlefield, and will never live up to the grace of the emperor for many years."

"Well, get up!" Chongzhen raised his hand falsely, stood up with his head up, and stood up with his hands on the side, not daring to say more.

Chongzhen was a very suspicious person, and often suspected that the courtiers had joined forces to deceive him, so he sent eunuchs to monitor the courtiers, but he still couldn't completely rest assured about the eunuchs around him, so he had to work diligently. But there are some things he can't do for him, so he is very anxious, so he tells Gao Qiqian left and right.

"If you want to caress the tartars, you must caress them!" Chongzhen said in a resolute tone that he deliberately used the word "fu" to cover up the reality of seeking peace with Manchuria, and also did not lose his supreme and lofty status as a great emperor.

"Yes, slave and maid understand!"

"We must take strict precautions against Pang Gang!"

"The slave will do it!"

"And"

With Chongzhen's advice, Gao Qi moved to kill Pang Gang, who had never met before.

(To be continued)