In a quiet study, the small room was warmed by a blazing fire, and the brazier burned with fine white charcoal, and the orange flame drove the cold out mercilessly.

Pang Gang sat on a carved wooden chair, slowly sipping tea, and in front of him sat two beautiful women with almost identical appearances, these two were Feng Li and Feng Xuan'er's mother and daughter, and their faces showed sad expressions at this time.

Pang Gang put down the teacup and said slowly: "Mrs. Feng, Miss Feng, the deceased is gone, you don't have to be sad, although Lord Feng has been killed by thieves, but this official believes that the court will not ignore the two of you." This official and Master Feng have never met, but after all, they are ministers in the same hall, if you have any difficulties, just talk to this official, as long as this official can do it, he will definitely not refuse. ”

Feng Li's pretty face showed a look of grievance, and said with a wry smile: "The huge person is serious, the concubine and Xuan'er are already orphans and widows, what else can they ask for, if there is, I just want to see the thief beheaded." ”

Li Zicheng personally killed Feng Longxiu, and their mother and daughter naturally hated the thieves.

Pang Gang frowned and asked, "Mrs. Feng, this official wants to know what your two plans are." Although Lord Feng is gone, you still have to live your life, do you have relatives and friends to take refuge in? ”

Feng Li shook his head sadly: "The concubine was originally from De'an Mansion, and her parents and brothers and sisters were all there, but the thieves were all killed after they came. ”

Pang Gang knocked on his head that was a little swollen, this pair of mothers and daughters who have no relatives and friends is not easy to settle, after all, the identity of the people is there, and they don't look like they can work, they can't drive them to the baggage camp to work like ordinary women, if they really do this, the spittle stars of those official eunuchs have to drown themselves, although they are not afraid, but no one wants to bear the infamy.

Seeing Pang Gang's embarrassed appearance, Feng Li saw through Pang Gang's thoughts, and said lightly: "Don't be embarrassed by the huge person, the concubine was rescued by the general, and he is already grateful, how dare he bother the general anymore, and after the concubine collects the remains of her late husband, she will take the little girl away, and she doesn't dare to embarrass the adult." ”

"Playing the piano, madam, what are these words, do you think this official is so unbearable?" Pang Gang was annoyed when he heard this, if he just let the mother and daughter in distress leave, this army would be chaotic, and there would only be two endings everywhere with their appearance, either becoming someone else's plaything or starving to death.

After thinking about it, Pang Gang said: "Madame, don't worry, in this way, now this official is still leading the troops to fight, and the two of you will live in the governor's yamen now, and after the official recovers Hubei, he will take his wife and young lady back to Qingzhou together and then make arrangements, this official will not believe it, can't this world be so big that it can't accommodate your hard-working mother and daughter?" ”

When Feng Li and Feng Xuan'er heard this, the eyes of the mother and daughter turned red again, and at the same time they stood up and bowed down to Pang Gang Yingying, and said sadly: "The concubine (slave family) has thanked the adults for their great kindness!" ”

"Alright, let's all get up." Pang Gang stood up, stretched out his hand and motioned for the two of them to get up, "Okay, you guys settle down, this official will definitely arrange you properly." You go down first and find a place to stay, and then you will talk about it later, and then you will rest first, and if there is anything to do, let the sergeants outside command. By the way, this governor's yamen is very big, do you want this official to send someone to lead the way for you? ”

As soon as Pang Gang said this, even Feng Li's mood was still in a sad mood, and her daughter Feng Xuan'er also covered her mouth and was silent.

"Ugh"

Pang Gang looked at their expressions, and then remembered that this governor's yamen was originally their home, and after staying here for so many years, I am afraid that they will not go the wrong way with their eyes closed, but they have to send someone to show them the way, isn't it a joke.

Thinking of this, with the thickness of Pang Gang's skin, he couldn't help but blush, coughed lightly and said, "This, you must be hungry too, this official went to see if dinner was ready." After speaking, Pang Gang hurriedly walked out

"Flutter"

Seeing Pang Gang hurriedly walking out, Feng Xuan'er couldn't help laughing, "Mother, this huge person is really interesting, sometimes he looks like a fool, quite stupid." ”

Feng Li shook his head slowly and said: "This huge man is not a fool, he is confused about small things, but he is shrewd in big things, if your father has three things to do, he will not end up in a different place." At this, the two of them became sad again

Pang Gang hurriedly walked out of the room, and after instructing the soldiers guarding the door to settle the mother and daughter in the study, he came to the signing room in the front yard hall.

As soon as Pang Gang came in, all the generals got up in unison and said, "Subordinates and others greet your lord!" ”

"Okay, don't be so polite."

Pang Gang waved his hand to signal the generals to sit down, and said solemnly: "Everyone, our march into Hubei this time, so far we have captured a small half of Hubei, as long as we capture Xiangyang, Jingzhou and other state capitals, Hubei and other places will fall into our hands." Now the question we have to consider is whether to march to Shaanxi or Hunan next, and take advantage of the situation to expand the results. ”

As soon as Pang Gang's words came out, Li Yuan, a militant, immediately shouted: "Then do you need to say it? Now the thieves see us like a mouse and a cat, our army is unstoppable, why not take the opportunity to fight Hunan or Shaanxi, as long as Hunan is occupied again, it will be terrible, it won't be long before Jiangnan is all in our pocket! ”

"Well, that's what you think too?" Pang Gang, who was sitting in the chair, asked noncommittally.

Bin Shiqian, who was next to him, shook his head and said: "No, we only have more than 20,000 soldiers and horses at the moment, and it is already very reluctant to occupy the entire Hubei, but if we attack Hunan or Shaanxi again, we will not be able to do it." ”

"What General Bing said is very true!" Wang Zhi also agreed: "We are different from the Liukou, the Liukou will grab wherever they go, but we are different, we are officials, and the first thing to do in every place is to govern the people's livelihood, in short, it is a matter of trouble." ”

"Right!" Pang Gang also nodded and said: "Liukou is like locusts, their existence is useless except destruction, everyone can think about the current Wuchang Mansion." ”

Speaking of this, everyone thought of the smooth Wuchang City that was now as smooth as being washed by water, and they felt a chill in their hearts, these thieves were really ruthless, not only did they coerce most of the young and strong people in the city into the army, but also abandoned the old and weak women and children in the city, leaving them to starve to death, waiting for the snake and scorpion to be different from the beasts.

Pang Gang's voice continued, "Therefore, our current top priority is not to continue to expand the results of the war, but to mobilize materials from Shandong to continue to come, so that the hearts of the people in Hubei can settle down, and I believe that as long as we recuperate for about two years, Hubei can become our undetermined grain production base, and we will no longer have to worry about food."

All the generals nodded in unison, Hubei is located in the plain, the land is fertile, and the arable area is much more than Shandong.

"Also, our hard-working garrisons in Kaifeng and Luoyang are not learning from Lei Feng to do good deeds, and Henan will have to fall into our pockets sooner or later!"

Speaking of this, a faint coldness appeared on Pang Gang's face, is Lao Tzu's advantage so easy to take advantage of, now that the rogue has been driven away, it is time for you to pay interest.

"That's right! Let's look at the door for those officials in Henan for so long, it's time to collect some interest! Although the generals didn't understand what Lei Feng was talking about, they understood what they meant, they had put in so much effort in Henan, and it was time to reap the fruits.

As long as Henan arrives, Shandong, Henan, and Hubei will be connected, and the entire Jiangnan will naturally become their bag, and as long as Jiangnan can be embraced into their arms, the owner of this country should also change his surname to Pang!

Thinking that if the huge people ascended the throne in the future, they would be able to make marquis and worship the generals, and seek a foundation for their descendants for all generations, even the calmest Wang Zhi couldn't help but shine with a glittering light in his eyes.

In the middle of March of the eleventh year of Chongzhen, after nearly a month of fighting, Pang Gang finally recovered all of Hubei and drove all the Liukou out of Hubei.

The joy is that Hubei has recovered, the imperial court has finally regained a trace of face, and it is Pang Gang who has recovered Hubei, and now the imperial court will not be able to send officials to Hubei in the short term, they know very well that instead of Pang Gang spitting out what he ate in his mouth, it is better to hope for a sudden repentance and go to the temple to convert to Buddhism.

However, although Chongzhen and many officials of the imperial court were disappointed, now Pang Gang has not officially raised the anti-flag, he is still nominally an official of the Ming Dynasty, at least retaining the most basic face of the imperial court. And most of Chongzhen's energy at this time has been attracted by Hunan and Shaanxi, which have been captured by the Liukou. He didn't have time to get angry, and he was busy mobilizing troops to encircle and suppress Li Zicheng, who was growing stronger.

At this time, a general gradually entered Chongzhen's eyes, and this person's name was Zuo Liangyu.

Different from history, Zuo Liangyu at this time was in Changsha, Hunan, as a deputy general, he actually led 10,000 officers and soldiers in Changsha to defeat Liu Zongmin's 50,000 troops who were responsible for attacking Hunan, Liu Zongmin himself was also cut by Zuo Liangyu to the blood, and finally Liu Zongmin led 20,000 remnants to retreat to Sichuan.

When the news reached Yanjing, Chongzhen, who was worried that there was no general in his hands, was overjoyed, and personally ordered Zuo Liangyu to be promoted to the general of Hunan, and the official worship of the "Ping Thief" general, responsible for commanding all the soldiers and horses in Hunan.

But Liu Zongmin is also worthy of being a veteran of the rebellion, and he quickly recovered his vitality, and in July of the eleventh year of Chongzhen. After recovering his vitality, he and Zhang Xianzhong joined forces to conquer Sichuan, and at the same time, Li Zicheng also led 70,000 troops to capture Shaanxi, and the whole world was turbulent for a while.

And at the same time, what is Pang Gang doing? It turned out that after Pang Gang occupied Hubei, he immediately sent a letter to his cheap old man in Jinan, Wei Tongnian, asking him to quickly send a group of officials to take over the political power in various parts of Hubei, and to copy the same set in Shandong to Hubei.

Thanks to Li Zicheng's entry into Hubei, he swept away all the government offices and wealthy gentry in Hubei, and the new policy in Hubei was carried out smoothly, basically without encountering any major resistance, and in just three or four months, the new policy began to enter the right track.

Seeing that Hubei's new policy was on the right track, Pang Gang transferred 20,000 newly trained soldiers from Shandong to Hubei, and appointed Huayan as the new governor of Hubei, and then led the army back to Shandong.

But when Pang Gang entered the territory of Henan, he suddenly turned around the army and drove towards Luoyang, and after arriving in Luoyang, with the help of the defenders stationed in Luoyang, he captured Luoyang and controlled all the officials in Luoyang City, including Zhu Changxun, the king of Fu.

Under the threat of death, most officials had to accept the helpless fact of changing bosses.

But there are exceptions, the former secretary of the military department, Lu Weiqi, is a diehard, he resolutely refused to join Pang Gang's command and scolded Pang Gang on the bustling street, so angry that Li Yuan wanted to arrest him and kill him several times, but was stopped by Pang Gang.

Pang Gang ordered Lu Weiqi and his family and the family of Zhu Changxun, the king of Fu, who was deprived of all their property, to send them out of Luoyang, and sent someone to escort them to Yanjing City.

In this way, Pang Gang grabbed Henan and Hubei provinces in less than half a year, the news came out, Chongzhen was furious, and the Ming court could no longer pretend to be deaf and dumb, Chongzhen in Yanjing quickly issued a holy decree, announcing to the world that Pang Gang was a rebel, and the people of the world discussed it.

And Pang Gang did not show weakness, after capturing Henan, leaving 20,000 soldiers and horses to return to Qingzhou, he began to announce his official separation from the Ming Dynasty, and Wen Renjun personally wrote a payment document, in which Pang Gang listed the top ten crimes of the Ming Dynasty and Chongzhen.

In order to break this status quo, Pang Gang called on people of insight in the world to overthrow this decadent court and re-establish a new order.

As soon as the payment came out, the world shook, and Pang Gang's payment made many people have a hunch that the Ming Dynasty, which had lasted for nearly three hundred years, seemed to be unable to support it for long.

"Boom"

The first heavy rain in midsummer finally fell in the north, and the sky over Yanjing was lightning and thunder, but there were hundreds of officials gathered in the Huangji Palace, because today at the request of the ministers, Chongzhen finally agreed to canonize his eldest son Zhu Cihong as the crown prince, and the ceremony of canonizing the prince was held in the Huangji Hall today.

Today is a big day, Chongzhen wore a regular court dress, went to the Xuanji Treasure Hall and returned to the Qianqing Palace after a grand salute, sat on the throne of the main hall to be congratulated by the queen concubine and the prince, the princess, and then the eunuch with a higher status in the palace. Soon the palace ladies changed him into a strange set of clothes and hats that were congratulated by the court, called the crown. But I saw that the strange hat called the crown was made of soap yarn, and the top was covered with a long board, one foot two inches wide, two feet four inches long, and a thin copper plate made of a tire, covered with fine silk on the outside, black on the surface and red on the inside, round in front and behind, and there were twelve strings of things called Han in the front and back, that is, multicolored jade beads strung with multicolored silk ropes, twelve in each string. The red ribbon is tied under the chin, and a white jade pendant is carried under the chin. There is a black silk rope on each side of the elongated board, with a cotton ball and a topaz pendant hanging from each side. The strange garment called Gon was black and embroidered with eight patterns: the moon, the moon, and the dragon on the shoulders, the stars and mountains on the back, and the fire, pheasants, tigers, and long-tailed apes on the sleeves. As for the very strange pants, knee coverings, shoes, and socks worn underneath. Big belts, jade pendants, etc., in short, are cumbersome enough to make people collapse. But Chongzhen can't wear it, because this system has been handed down from the Western Zhou Dynasty, no matter which dynasty, it is not good to be the emperor to follow the ancient system, otherwise it will not be like the emperor. After the palace maids put on this strange crown dress for him, Chongzhen walked out of the Qianqing Palace, sat on the chariot, and went to the Huangji Palace to be congratulated by hundreds of officials.

Although the state affairs are burning and everything is simple, but now it is said that after all, it is the crown prince, so the royal decoration is still the same as in previous years. Yesterday, Shang Bao Si set up the throne in the center of the Imperial Palace, set up the treasure case in the east of the throne, and the incense case in the south of Dan Majesty. The teaching workshop is located in the middle and Shaole on the east and west sides of the hall, facing north. Today, at dawn, the brocade guards from Danqi, Danma, until the Huangji Gate outside, divided into two rows full of all kinds of halogen books, honor guards, a brocade banner embroidered flag, treasure pearl, gold dazzling. The pasture Chen Zhan horse, rhino, elephant in Wen, Wu Lou Nan, the decoration is gorgeous, both opposite, solemn and unmoving. On the east side of the Danqi is the first to stand Si Chenlang, who is in charge of the time. The two Correction Imperial Records stood on the north side of the Danqi outside the hall. Four salute officials of Hongdong Temple: two stand in the hall, and two stand on the north side of Danqi. In addition, there are officials such as the transmission system and the declaration table, and they stand in the palace. All these officials are paired in pairs, left and right; python robe and jade belt, the costume is delicious; The appearance is dignified and the voice is loud.

The first drum sounded on the noon gate, the hundred officials were neatly dressed, and they stood in line outside the noon gate, and Chongzhen also went to the Zhongji Hall to sit on the dragon chair to rest, as the second male protagonist today, the twelve-year-old prince Zhu Cihong also wore a yellow dragon robe and sat on Chongzhen's left hand, indicating that he would be the authentic successor of this empire from now on.

After all the civil and military officials knelt down, the salute official began to sing the praises endlessly, "When you meet Zhengdan, Sanyang Kaitai, everything is salty and new." His Majesty the Emperor is respectful, and he is always prosperous. The robbers are not prosperous, the disaster is eternal, the four Yi guests are uniform, and the military revolution is flat. The holy world is clear, and the country has peace for ten thousand years; The emperor's grace is vast, and Li Minhe is immeasurably blessed! ”

Immediately afterwards, starting from the first assistant Yang Sichang, the hundred officials began to congratulate the watch one by one, in short, after a series of various "tribulations", this set of the world's most cumbersome rituals finally came to an end, and Chongzhen's father and son finally let out a long breath.

After the ceremony, the court began to talk about business.

(To be continued)