"Rice bucket! A bunch of rice buckets! ”

In the Warm Heart Pavilion, Chongzhen, who was wearing a bright yellow dragon robe, stood in front of the bookcase and was furious, and in front of him, Wen Tiren and Yang Sichang were all trembling and prostrate on the ground, not even daring to raise their heads.

"Eight thousand people were made dumplings without even touching the side of the house, and even the commander and Qin Cha were arrested alive, Liu Zeqing and Chen Xinjia are two rice buckets, and one of you is the first assistant and the other is the secretary of the military department, you say, what responsibility should you bear!"

Pang Gang's voice roared in the Warm Heart Pavilion, except for Wang Chengen and the two bigwigs in the Warm Heart Pavilion, the rest of the eunuchs and palace maids all shrank outside the hall and did not dare to come in.

Wen Tiren and Yang Sichang adhered to the principle that silence is golden, and fell to the ground without saying a word. They know that Chongzhen is angry now, and whoever speaks is unlucky.

Chongzhen almost threw all the chapters and pen, ink, paper, and inkstones on the bookcase to the ground, if it weren't for the bookcase being too heavy, Chongzhen estimated that he couldn't move it, I'm afraid that even the bookcase would be overturned by him.

"And that traitor has repeatedly received the emperor's favor, and now he dares to fight against the imperial army, ungrateful and shameless!" After scolding Wen Tiren and Yang Sichang, Chongzhen turned away and scolded Pang Ganglai again.

Wen Tiren and Yang Sichang still didn't dare to speak up below, although the two of them had political disagreements with each other, they had the same opinion on Chongzhen's handling of Pang Gang, that is, Chongzhen's handling method this time was too impatient, how could he rashly take people into Beijing to ask for guilt just based on the words of Zhejiang officials? You must know that Pang Gang is not a weak scholar who has no power to restrain the chicken, but a general who commands a side of soldiers and horses, and the rabbit dares to kick the eagle with his foot when he is in a hurry, haven't you considered that if someone is in a hurry, he will give you a lift? Okay now, do you mess people up? Dumbfounded, right?

Looking at the two who had been lying on the ground since they came in, Chongzhen's anger became more and more beaten, he stepped forward and pointed at the two and scolded: "What are you all doing lying on the ground, get up!" Don't think it's okay to pretend to be dead, if you don't come up with a charter for me today, you don't even want to go back! ”

The two laughed bitterly, slowly got up from the ground, patted their knees and sleeves, and Wen Tiren said slowly: "Your Majesty, now General Liu and Chen Shilang are still captured by that Pang Gang, we have to think of ways to get them back, otherwise the majesty of the court and the dignity of the military department will be lost." ”

"Hmm!" Chongzhen nodded, and said in an unkind tone: "Wen Shoufu is reasonable, Yang Aiqing, the responsibility for the defeat of your military department this time is the greatest, how do you plan to deal with the aftermath of the military department?" ”

Yang Sichang secretly hated in his heart, this old man Wen opened his mouth and closed his mouth to talk about the military department, don't you, the first assistant, have no responsibility at all?

But since the emperor asked, he couldn't help but answer: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that this defeat is not a crime of war." ”

"Oh? A crime of war? Chongzhen's eyebrows began to rise again when he heard this, "Then you, Yang Sichang, tell me what the reason is." ”

"The reason why Liu Zongbing and Chen Xinjia were defeated this time and 7,000 soldiers were captured is because Liu Zongbing's soldiers are all from Shandong, and they will inevitably have some resistance to attacking the neighboring Qingzhou. And Liu Zongbing was because he and Pang Gang had resisted the Tartars side by side, so naturally there was some incense in it, so he couldn't bear to be ruthless, so he would naturally be caught off guard by Pang Gang taking the opportunity. Besides, that Pang Gang is not a good person, and the emperor has seen it with his own eyes when he is fighting fiercely against the Tartars in front of the city gate, just imagine, with his unruly surname, how can he be a person who sits and waits to be killed? ”

Speaking of this, Yang Sichang's words already faintly accused Chongzhen of acting impatiently, but Chongzhen did not have a seizure, but just sat on the dragon chair and thought about his thoughts in a daze. A few days ago, as soon as he received the recital from the Zhejiang officials, he was immediately furious, and immediately sent Chen Xinjia, who was recommended by Mao Sui, out, and sent Liu Zeqing to lead the troops to accompany him, but he didn't expect this move to completely force Pang Gang's stunned young man to rebel. Thinking of the scene he saw on the city wall when Pang Gang fought with the Tartars, Chongzhen faintly felt as if he had done something stupid and forced a brave general to the opposite side.

However, these thoughts Chongzhen naturally can't speak, as the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he naturally can't make mistakes, and he won't make mistakes, not to mention the impatient and arbitrary lord like Chongzhen. Since the emperor is not wrong, then the fault is naturally the officials below. Chongzhen snorted lightly and said unhappily: "Yang Sichang, I haven't blamed you yet, do you still have the courage to shirk Chen Xinjia and Liu Zeqing?" I'm asking how to deal with the aftermath, not listening to your quibbles! ”

Seeing that he was forced into a corner, Yang Sichang had no choice but to say: "This depends on whether the emperor wants to continue to encircle and suppress the rebels. ”

Chongzhen said noncommittally: "Then where is it better to transfer troops according to your opinion?" ”

"I have to ask Wen Shoufu about this, after all, this matter still has to be decided by the cabinet, and the emperor's holy judgment can do it." Yang Sichang kicked lightly and kicked the ball to Wen Tiren's feet again.

Wen Tiren was angry when he heard this, this Yang Sichang is really not a thing, and he has been talking for a long time without any construction surname, all nonsense.

But Chongzhen didn't care what he was thinking, and turned his gaze to Wen Tiren, as if to say, you, the head of the cabinet, are not decorations, you have to come up with some opinions.

Wen Tiren gritted his teeth and said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that if you want to annihilate this rebel army, you have to let Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of the five provinces of Xuanfu, come to the court. ”

"What?"

"No!"

Chongzhen and Yang Sichang were shocked, although Chongzhen was impatient, he was not stupid, and immediately reprimanded: "Confused, Lu Xiangsheng has a heavy responsibility, not only to resist the Qing army, but also to guard against the southward movement of Mongolia, how can he move lightly, stupid!" ”

Wen Tiren touched his nose, and his heart became more and more angry, so he simply stopped talking. Chongzhen lost his temper for a while and couldn't do anything, and finally looked up to the sky and sighed: "I can't imagine that I, as the king of a country, would have no choice but to take a general, I am really ashamed of my ancestors and ancestors." ”

At this time, a little eunuch trotted in, came to Chongzhen, knelt down, and held a small box above his head: "Your Majesty, the commander of Qingzhou, and the general of Dingyuan, Pang Gang, has arrived." ”

"Bastard!" When Chongzhen heard this, he was furious, got up and stood up and kicked the little eunuch aside, and said angrily: "Bold slave, I have removed all the duties of the traitor, and you dare to call him General Dingyuan." Come on, drag this minion out and beat him to death! ”

Immediately two sturdy eunuchs came in from outside the door and were about to drag the little eunuch away.

"The emperor spares his life." Unexpectedly, the little eunuch who came out of his mouth was so frightened that he almost lost his soul and sat down on the ground all of a sudden.

Wang Chengen, who had been standing behind Chongzhen without saying a word, saw that Chongzhen's emotions were about to lose control, and hurriedly stood up and pleaded: "The emperor is angry, although this slave is unscrupulous, but after all, he is young, and the emperor still spares this minion's life." According to the old slave's shallow view, the emperor should first see how Pang Gang's self-defense excerpt was written. ”

Wang Chengen is an old man who followed Chongzhen, when Chongzhen was only a believer in the king, he has been loyal to accompany Chongzhen, although Chongzhen's surname is suspicious, but he still trusts the eunuch who has accompanied him since childhood. Therefore, after listening to his words, Chongzhen snorted coldly, "Since the eldest companion intercedes for this minion, I will spare his life, hurry up!" ”

"Thank you for the emperor's grace of not killing, thank the prince for saving his life." The little eunuch who escaped death thanked Chongzhen and Wang Chengen and crawled out.

Wang Chengen came to the bookcase, picked up the small wooden box and opened it, took out a letter, and handed it to Chongzhen with both hands.

Chongzhen snorted and took it: "I want to see, what does this traitor want to say?" Well, it can't be? ”

Chongzhen, who was holding the fold, had a very strange look on his face at this time, red and white, and he couldn't tell whether he was happy or angry, but the hand holding the fold was trembling slightly, and his eyes were straight.

"Your Majesty, what did you say in the fold?" Wen Tiren and Yang Sichang on the side asked almost at the same time.

"Well, I don't know how to tell you." Chongzhen smiled bitterly and handed the envelope to the two.

Yang Sichang relied on his youth, took the fold and took a look at it first, Wen Tiren didn't care about Shoufu's face and leaned his head over to watch, and the two of them looked at each other like Chongzhen just now, constantly changing back and forth, as if they were as wonderful as a kaleidoscope.

After a while, Yang Sichang exclaimed: "This Pang Gang is willing to hand over one million taels of silver to fill the treasury!" ”

"Are you still willing to release Chen Xinjia and Liu Zongbing and the captured officers and soldiers under their command, and I just ask the emperor not to listen to the villain's rumors?" Wen Tiren's words were also full of amazement and doubt.

There was silence in the Warm Heart Pavilion, after all, the impact of this news on them was too great, and they couldn't digest it for a while.

After a long time, Chongzhen asked in a low voice: "Two Aiqing, are you saying that what Pang Gang said is true?" ”

Wen Tiren and Yang Sichang glanced at each other before nodding slowly, things have reached this point I think Pang Gang should not lie, after all, releasing Chen Xinjia and Liu Zeqing may be a trivial matter for him, but handing over a million taels of silver is a real thing, and it can't be faked at all. One million taels of silver, that is two and a half percent of the annual taxes of the Ming Dynasty, with this million taels of silver, the Ming court can do a lot of things.

"Hmph, this Pang Gang, do you think that by letting go of my Qincha, you can let me pardon him by paying some silver? It's not that easy," said Chongzhen's voice later, but it became lower and lower

(To be continued)