The Spring Festival of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen has arrived.

Zheng Xunrui is still in Wuchang Mansion and has no time to return to Nanjing to reunite with all his family, Wen Manshan and Bian Yujing are also busy in Wuchang Mansion, they are busy with Qianzhuang's affairs, but the two can accompany Zheng Xunrui for the New Year.

Compared with the busy Zheng Xunrui, Zhu Youzhen in the capital is much more miserable.

Abatai is still in the North Zhili plunder, the capital is still in a state of martial law, has captured the Shanxi Taiyuan Mansion Li Zicheng, actually sent someone to send a document, asking to be named the prince of the Ming court, but also to divide Shanxi and Henan and other places, if the court agrees to Li Zicheng's request, then he will stop the attack on the North Zhili, and will send a large army to fight against the Houjin Tartars, if the court does not agree to his request, then he will definitely attack the capital directly.

Li Zicheng's document made Zhu Youzhen furious, and vetoed his request without hesitation, in Zhu Youzhen's view, Li Zicheng was nothing, he was just a small pawn back then, and after rebelling for many years and having some strength, he actually dared to directly call the court out, which was an insult to the Ming royal family and the court.

In fact, it is not good news, for example, Zheng Jiajun exterminated Zhang Xianzhong's extremely subordinate rogues, Zhang Xianzhong himself was extremely nearly 200,000 rogues, after many years of rebellion, they were finally completely eliminated, but unfortunately, this victory was won by Zheng Xunrui and Zheng Jiajun.

Zheng Xunrui has become an out-and-out demon in Zhu Youzhen's eyes, a demon who poses the greatest threat to the royal family.

Zheng Xunrui's successive twists and turns made Zhu Youqi vomit blood, he suppressed these twists, ignored them, and protested with silent actions, but it was a pity. The governors of Huguang and Sichuan were still adjusted, and the Jinyi guards in the two places sent countless news, all of which reported many things that had happened in the localities.

Zheng Xunrui has no scruples to do it.

This made Zhu Youzhen fall into the abyss, and he could hardly find any way to deal with it.

The actual situation faced by the imperial court was very bad, and Zhu Youzhen's was even effective in the capital at most, and the Houjin Tartars were wreaking havoc in all parts of Beizhili. Li Zicheng occupied most of the places in Henan and Shanxi, while Zheng Xunrui was even more powerful, controlling most of the places such as Nanzhili, Shaanxi, Shandong, Huguang, Sichuan, and Zhejiang, and his power was growing stronger day by day.

These three forces are all invincible to the imperial court, and Zhu Youzhen can conclude that Zheng Xunrui will be able to completely eliminate the other two forces and truly unify the world.

Thinking of Yang Sichang's suggestion not long ago, I thought of the holy decree that Zheng Xunrui was appointed as the king of Xiang, the prince and the prince, and the scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion. Zhu Youzhen didn't even have the strength to be angry, he originally thought that this holy decree could restrain Zheng Xunrui, let Zheng Jiajun help exterminate the liukou, and restore the peace within the Ming Dynasty, who knew that Zheng Xunrui just took advantage of this holy decree and recklessly made a move in Sichuan and Huguang.

This cannot but be said to be a great irony.

On the day of the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, Zhu Youjian fought hard and had a reunion dinner with the concubines of the harem. Then, accompanied by the chief eunuch Wang Chengen, he came to the Qianqing Palace alone. He told Wang Chengen that no one was allowed to disturb him, and he wanted to be quiet in the Qianqing Palace alone, thinking about why this situation occurred.

On the night of the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, the common people are to observe the New Year, and every household is lit with bright lights. Under the light, everyone is looking forward to driving away all the sickness and unhappiness in the coming year, and living a peaceful and stable life.

All the lights in the Qianqing Palace were lit, this was arranged by Wang Chengen, and Zhu Youzhen was no longer in the mood.

There were a lot of recitals on the table. Among them, there are many twists and turns that cannot be suppressed, including Zheng Xunrui's twists and turns, and there are also five provinces Governor Xiong Wencan's plea to revoke the post of governor of the five provinces, as well as the Sichuan Commander-in-Chief Qin Liangyu pleaded to resign from the post of Commander-in-Chief and recommended Zheng Jiajun's general Su Manzi to serve as the commander-in-chief of Sichuan, as well as information sent by Jinyiwei from various places.

Zhu Youzhen, who was sitting quietly on the dragon chair, looked at the folds on the imperial case, his face became more and more pale, and when Wang Chengen cautiously walked into the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Youzhen suddenly stretched out his hand and pushed all the twists and turns to the ground.

The sound was not very loud, but in the unusually quiet Qianqing Palace, the sound was unusually abrupt, so that Wang Chengen's body trembled slightly.

Wang Chengen walked over and squatted down to pick up the pieces scattered on the ground.

"Don't pick it up, I want you not to pick it up......"

Zhu Youzhen suddenly roared, his voice was a little sharp and hoarse, and Wang Chengen, who was squatting on the ground, knelt down.

"The slave and maid disturbed the emperor, and the slave and maid are guilty......"

Looking at Wang Chengen, who was sincerely afraid of kowtowing, Zhu Youzhen sighed slightly, and his mood calmed down a little.

"That's it, get up, I don't blame you, no need to ask for guilt."

Wang Chengen is already one of Zhu Youzhen's most trusted people, and at this moment, Zhu Youzhen no longer believes in any civil and military ministers in the imperial court, including many Donglin Party members.

Zhu Youzhen once pinned his hopes on Qian Shisheng and other Donglin Party members, hoping that relying on the strength of the Donglin Party people could weaken Zheng Xunrui's strength and save the gradually decadent situation of the Ming Dynasty, but unfortunately he was disappointed, after Qian Shisheng became the first assistant of the cabinet, the imperial court suffered a greater blow, the defeat of the Battle of Songshan made the imperial court fall into the abyss in an instant, Li Zicheng captured Taiyuan Fucheng, and the power became huge, so that the imperial court almost lost control of all places in the north.

And one of the things that Zhu Youzhen pinned his hopes on the most, that is, Qian Shisheng dealt with and weakened Zheng Xunrui's strength, this matter was hardly carried out, in the past two years, Qian Shisheng has promoted a large number of Donglin Party members, excluded dissidents, and usurped more power in the court, and has not done anything to deal with Zheng Xunrui at all.

Calculating and calculating, Zhu Youzhen finally calculated himself.

Zhou Yanru and Yang Tingshu and others have defected to Zheng Xunrui, the situation in the north and south of the Ming Dynasty is completely different, Zheng Xunrui occupies the rich south, like a fish in water, the strength of the Zheng family army continues to grow, the number has approached 200,000 people, becoming a force that everyone is afraid of, the wealth of Nanzhili and Zhejiang and other places has attracted a large number of scholars and businessmen to go, and the calamitous North Zhili has left almost all the poor people, and some of the once rich county towns are almost empty.

The palace was quiet again, the folds were still scattered on the ground, Wang Chengen stood aside with his head down, and Zhu Youzhen was still distracted.

A eunuch cautiously walked to the door, and saw Wang Chengen, and when he was about to speak, he saw the folds scattered on the ground, and felt that the situation was wrong, so he immediately retracted his head.

Wang Chengen saw this eunuch, who was his confidant.

Looking up slightly at the emperor who was still deep in thought, Wang Chengen cautiously walked outside the door.

The eunuch took out a letter and said that it was handed in by Lord Yang Sichang, and Lord Yang was still waiting outside.

Wang Chengen took the fold and waved his hand to let the eunuch retreat.

Entering the Qianqing Palace again, Wang Chengen, who was still thinking about how to speak, heard the emperor's voice.

"Wang Chengen, is there something wrong?"

"Your Majesty, Lord Yang Sichang handed me the fold, and the people are still waiting outside."

"Oh, what time is it?"

"Back to the emperor, it's almost time."

"It's so late, Yang Aiqing is still waiting outside the palace, so let's take a look at the fold."

A quarter of an hour later, Zhu Youzhen finished reading the recital, his face was as usual, and he did not see any joy.

Placing the fold on the top of the imperial case, Zhu Youzhen spoke.

"Wang Chengen, tell me, if Zheng Xunrui rebelled, how would he treat me?"

This question is too sharp and too sudden, Wang Chengen can't answer it at all, in fact, this is also the emperor's superfluous words, countless court changes in history, and the final outcome of the last emperor are all there.

"Your Majesty, the slaves and maids feel that the Houjin Tartars, Liukou and Zheng Xunrui will not be able to succeed, the imperial army will definitely be able to defeat them, and the emperor will definitely be able to turn the tide and create a prosperous ......"

Before Wang Chengen finished speaking, Zhu Youzhen waved his hand.

"I am not so magical, now I am embattled, Yang Aiqing said above, he is ready to go to Henan and Shanxi in person, lead the imperial army to defeat the Liukou, stabilize the north, he also said, as long as the Shanhaiguan Pass can be firmly held, the Houjin Tartars will sooner or later evacuate the north Zhili, today's plan, the most important thing is to stabilize the north, and then slowly to the south, many scholars and scholars, their hearts are still loyal to the imperial court, will not follow Zheng Xunrui to rebel......"

After Zhu Youzhen finished speaking, Wang Chengen took the initiative to speak.

"Your Majesty, the slave maid thinks that what Lord Yang said is a high opinion, Lord Yang is brave and strategic, and he will definitely be able to lead the army to defeat the Liukou and stabilize the north."

Zhu Youzhen's pale face always showed a hint of a smile.

"Okay, Wang Chengen, today is Chinese New Year's Eve, I won't see Yang Aiqing, you go to see Yang Aiqing on my behalf, so that he can celebrate the New Year with peace of mind, in the early days after the year, I will not give Yang Aiqing a heavy responsibility......"

Wang Chengen left the Qianqing Palace, the room returned to quiet, Zhu Youzhen was stunned for a while, slowly stood up, walked down to pick up the fold on the ground, when he saw the three words Zheng Xunrui on the fold, he couldn't wait to throw the fold to the ground again, and stepped on it a few times, but what is the use of venting like this.

After putting all the twists and turns on the imperial case, Zhu Youzhen sorted out his emotions again, turned around and left the Qianqing Palace, and walked in the direction of the harem, he still had to keep vigil with the queen, the prince and others.

Finally persuaded Yang Sichang to leave the palace, Wang Chengen hurried to the Qianqing Palace, entered the palace, and no trace of the emperor was gone, and the eunuchs around him whispered, saying that the emperor had left here to go to the harem.

Wang Chengen nodded slightly, as if he was relieved a lot, when he turned around and was about to leave, the two oil lamps in front of him suddenly went out for no reason, Wang Chengen shivered, looked around, and no one deliberately went out.

The oil lamp in the Qianqing Palace went out on the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, which is really not a good sign. (To be continued.) )