On March 13 of the ninth year of Chongzhen, a middle-aged man in a yellow robe was sitting on a pale yellow soft chair in the Warm Heart Pavilion of the Beiping Imperial Palace, and his originally somewhat delicate face showed a haggard look, and there was an obvious round of dark circles next to his eyes, but the middle-aged man's face at the moment was with a trace of anger, and behind him stood an old man wearing a eunuch uniform with his head down.

In front of this middle-aged man stood two men, one was about fifty years old and easy-going but with a sense of majesty, and the other was slightly younger than him, elegant with a heroic spirit, and his face revealed a look of no anger and self-authority, but at this moment both of them had a helpless and anxious look on their faces.

"I'm not sure, I'm not sure, the Tartars have surrounded the Jingshi for nearly half a month, and you still say you're not sure, you tell me, can you do things well? If not, I can do it again! The man in the yellow robe slapped the arm next to the chair and roared, his voice buzzing in the small room.

After listening to the anger of the man opposite, the two middle-aged men knelt down and kowtowed, "Your Majesty, the minister is guilty!" "It turns out that these three people in the Warm Heart Hall are the supreme ruler of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Chongzhen, the secretary of the military department, Yang Sichang, and the governor of Xuanfu and the right attendant of the military department, Lu Xiangsheng.

"Sinful, sinful, you can only say sin, can't you say something else?" Chongzhen, who was furious, did not save face for his two ministers at all, he stood up and roared and said: "Now 40,000 Tartars are at the gate of the capital, but you have an army of 80,000 but you dare not fight a decisive battle with the Tartars. ”

Chongzhen, who was excited, said that saliva flew sideways, and almost sprayed on the two of them. Yang Sichang and Lu Xiangsheng knew Chongzhen's temper very well, and knew that if they opened their mouths at this time, they would only arouse Chongzhen's greater anger, so they just knelt on the ground silently and bowed their heads silently.

After scolding for a while, Chongzhen probably felt tired, and sat back in his seat to close his eyes and recuperate, but he didn't let the two in front of him get up, and these two had no choice but to kneel on the ground silently.

After a while, Chongzhen, whose breath had calmed down a little, opened his eyes, looked at the two people who were still kneeling on the ground, and asked lightly, "Are you tired!" ”

The two hurriedly replied, "If you go back to the emperor, Weichen is not tired." ”

"Hmph, you people are duplicitous, and what I don't like the most is you." After Chongzhen snorted lightly, he raised his hand upward.

The eunuch who had been standing behind Chongzhen glanced at Chongzhen, and hurriedly took a step forward before whispering: "Why don't you get up yet, do you have to let the emperor invite you?" ”

"Thank you for the emperor's grace, thank you to the princess!" Yang Sichang and Lu Xiangsheng glanced at each other before slowly standing up, Yang Sichang was older, and his blood was a little unsmooth after kneeling for a long time, and when he stood up, his body shook and looked like he was about to kneel down again, and Lu Xiangsheng next to him quickly stretched out his hand to serve him.

Chongzhen, who originally had anger on his face, saw Yang Sichang's appearance, and the anger in his heart subsided a little, and said to the old eunuch beside him: "Companion, give them a seat, and let the hundred officials say that I, the emperor, abuse the minister." ”

This old eunuch is now Chongzhen's most trusted eunuch Wang Chengen, after hearing Chongzhen's command, he waved his hand, and immediately came from the side of two little eunuchs, each holding two round stools next to Yang Sichang and Lu Xiangsheng.

"Emperor Xie!" The two who knew Chongzhen's temper knew that Chongzhen's ability to give him a seat meant that most of his anger had dissipated, and after thanking the emperor, he sat on the round bench with half of his buttocks, straightened his body, and looked at Chongzhen respectfully.

Chongzhen glanced at the two of them and said angrily: "Come on, don't pretend to be pitiful, now I ask you one last thing, can you drive those Tartars away?" ”

Lu Xiangsheng didn't have any expression behind him, but just glanced at Yang Sichang with slanted eyes, and the meaning was obvious: "Your official is older than me, so let's talk about it!" ”

Yang Sichang sneered in his heart and said secretly, "This Lu Jiandou, others say that although you are a literati, you have the temper of a martial artist, and now it seems that the rumors are wrong." ”

Although he was very dissatisfied with Lu Xiangsheng in his heart, he still said respectfully on his face: "Your Majesty, it's not that the ministers don't fight, but now is not the time, although 80,000 troops have gathered outside the city, but these soldiers come from all over the country, the training is uneven, and it is quite difficult to command. ”

"Hmph, you're an old man." Chongzhen didn't roll his eyelids, but just said lightly such a sentence that I don't know whether it was praise or scolding, and then turned his gaze to Lu Xiangsheng, and said: "Lu Qing's family, others say that you Lu Xiangsheng can fight, but I have never seen it with my own eyes, I called you here today to see with my own eyes your ability to lead troops to fight, do you have this confidence?" ”

Seeing Chongzhen ask himself like this, Lu Xiangsheng's heart was hot, and he stood up and said loudly: "Back to the emperor, it's okay to ask Weichen to fight this battle, but Weichen has a condition, if you can agree to Weichen's condition, although Weichen is not sure to defeat the Tartars, it is still possible to force them to withdraw from the Guanwai." ”

As soon as Lu Xiangsheng's words were finished, Yang Sichang's voice came from the side: "Governor Lu, don't talk too much, you must know that when the water is full, it will overflow." ”

Lu Xiangsheng said angrily: "What do you mean by this? The lower officials are also worrying about the emperor, 80,000 troops confronted the Qing soldiers outside the capital, and the food and salary consumed each time is tens of thousands of taels of silver, if we don't drive those Qing soldiers away as soon as possible, can our household maintain such a large expense? ”

Not to be outdone, Yang Sichang stared at Lu Xiangsheng and sneered: "Then Lord Lu means that these expenses are unnecessary, and it is better to disband the army and let them go back to their respective homes?" ”

"Xiaguan didn't say that, Xiaguan just didn't want the court to be overburdened." Lu Xiangsheng has been embezzling silver in officialdom for so many years, how can he not hear the trap in Yang Sichang's words? He said proudly: "Isn't it right that the lower officials want to drive the target away as soon as possible and share the emperor's worries?" ”

"That's enough, you all shut up." Seeing that the two ministers in front of him were arguing in front of him, Chongzhen frowned and scolded: "You are all first-class members of the imperial court, and you have lost your honor in front of the emperor, what kind of system have you become." ”

Yang Sichang and Lu Xiangsheng saw that Chongzhen was angry, so they stopped arguing and bowed their heads and remained silent.

Everyone didn't speak, and there was a brief calm in the Warm Heart Pavilion, and after a long time, Chongzhen slowly asked, "Lu Qingjia, what did you mean by what you said just now?" If I heard me correctly, are you saying that if you were to take command of the army outside the city, you would be able to defeat or defeat the Tartars outside the city? ”

Lu Xiangsheng lowered his head and said: "This Weichen doesn't dare to guarantee, but what Weichen can guarantee is that even if Weichen dies in battle, he won't let the Tartars look down on me." ”

"Humph! Play for the gallery! Yang Sichang's voice came from the side again. Yang Sichang has always looked at Lu Xiangsheng unpleasantly, although Lu Xiangsheng's age and experience are not as good as his own, but in recent years, Lu Xiangsheng has become more and more valued by Chongzhen is an indisputable fact, and now after the Tartars surround the Beijing Division, the opinions of the two have diverged again, they have a master and a main battle, and they are in trouble, and now he is naturally anxious when he sees Lu Xiangsheng to take over the military power of tens of thousands of Ming troops outside the city. You Lu Xiangsheng You can suppress bandits in Jiangbei, Henan, Shandong, Huguang, Sichuan and other places, and now you return to the capital and want to command the soldiers and horses outside, where do you put me, the secretary of the military department? Therefore, as soon as Lu Xiangsheng's words came out, he immediately spoke out against it without thinking.

"Lord Lu, as a supervisor, your ability to lead the troops is naturally known, but the capital is at the foot of the Son of Heaven, and now the situation of the Tartars is so critical, and our soldiers and horses are so little, if there is a mistake in the decisive battle with the Tartars, you Lu Jiandou can be killed by a hundred, then what should the emperor do, what about my hundreds of years of foundation of the Ming Dynasty?"

Yang Sichang is worthy of being called an insider, and he is stunned to say that a good thing is a bad thing that ignores the safety of the Ming Dynasty and acts recklessly.

Chongzhen also hesitated after listening to Yang Sichang's words, he is a very suspicious person, in his short seventeen years of emperor career, he has changed more than 50 cabinet chiefs, this record until the 21st century in the future no one can break it. However, although his suspicion was very serious, he trusted Lu Xiangsheng very much, so although Yang Sichang's words made him hesitate for a moment, he immediately said: "Needless to say, the two Qing families have made up their minds, and I will make a will later, ordering Lu Aiqing to supervise the soldiers and horses of all walks of life outside the city during the siege of the Tartars, in order to prepare for a decisive battle with the Tartars!" ”

"Thank Emperor Longen!" Lu Xiangsheng, who had his wish fulfilled, immediately bowed down to Chongzhen to thank the emperor.

Chongzhen's expression became serious at this time, he pointed at Lu Xiangsheng and said: "Lu Qingjia, although I gave you the right to fight, but I also gave you a time limit, if you still can't satisfy me within five days, then I will not only take back your military power, but also punish you, are you willing!" ”

Lu Xiangsheng laughed miserably: "If Weichen can't relieve the position of Jingshi within five days, why should the emperor punish the crime, Weichen can make a decision himself." ”

Seeing Lu Xiangsheng's appearance, Chongzhen also couldn't bear to say: "Lu Qingjia, it's not that I'm forcing you, but the Tartars are forcing people too much!" ”

Lu Xiangsheng's face gradually became resolute, and he said loudly: "In this case, the emperor, the minister will take this errand!" ”

Chongzhen nodded and said, "Lu Aiqing, I promise you that I will go to the city wall to cheer you on when I fight the Tartars."

(To be continued)