In the imperial study, the atmosphere was solemn, silent, so quiet that you could hear the breathing of others and hear your own heartbeat.

Zhu Daolin's eyes were fixed on the Bohai Haikou and Lushun lines on the map, and his heart was full of mixed feelings, and it was difficult to calm down.

He knew that if the history books were correct, Port Arthur, which occupied an important strategic position, would be captured by the Manchu army in July next year, and Huang Long, the last general of Dongjiang Town who was unswervingly and firmly resistant to the Qing after Mao Wenlong's unjust death, would die in Lushun, and the Manchu vanguard general who led the Qing army to attack Lushun and escorted Huanglong's old mother, wife and children to the front of the battle to persuade him to surrender was Kong Youde, who would surrender to the Manchus in March next year.

In Zhu Daolin's view, the impact of Kong Youde's treason and defection to the enemy is far more important than what is recorded in history, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a strategic change.

Kong Youde not only sent 12,000 young rebels to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, who were scarce in manpower, and was willing to become traitors and traitors, but also hijacked more than 3,000 skilled craftsmen from Dengzhou who cast artillery, made gunpowder, and made warships and weapons and armor, and gave them to the Manchus together with more than 100 warships and more than 200 artillery pieces, which made the strength of the Qing army skyrocket overnight, and the ambition to invade the Ming Dynasty was accelerated.

The second major strategic change was that after the Qing army took Lushun, it no longer had any worries, and not only was it able to calmly defeat Korea and force the DPRK to break away from the Ming Dynasty and bow down to it, but also obtained a stable and developing rear area, which accelerated the pace of the Manchu army's invasion of the Ming Dynasty to carry out brutal killing and plundering.

Before entering Beijing, Zhu Daolin still maintained a cold and onlooker position, in order to realize his grand cause, he hoped that the more the army of the decaying Ming Dynasty consumed, the better, and hoped that the insatiable, corrupt and stupid civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty would die as much as possible.

If it weren't for the attack by Kong Youde's rebels on the way to Beijing. aroused Zhu Daolin's anger, if it weren't for the diligence and helplessness shown by Emperor Chongzhen who he saw deeply moved him, I am afraid that Zhu Daolin would still stick to his original position, try his best to get what he wants from the emperor, and then pat his ass and return to Jiangnan in style.

Wang Chengen, Cao Huachun, Zhao Huaizhong, and the two great eunuchs stood nervously around the map, their faces full of panic and worry.

Facing the emperor and Zhu Daolin, who had been silent for a long time. No one dared to speak, not even to breathe loudly.

"If the emperor has any worries, please tell Weichen that as long as the minister can do it, there will be no ambiguity."

Zhu Daolin's sudden words startled the eunuchs around him, his heart that was originally full of contradictions and tormented by difficult choices was much lighter, he knew that after saying this, it was equivalent to making a solemn promise to the emperor that his future fate would be greatly changed.

Emperor Chongzhen did not immediately raise his head, but continued to stare at the map. But his slightly trembling body still fell into the eyes of Zhu Daolin and several big eunuchs, and Wang Chengen, who was kneeling beside the emperor, clearly saw that the emperor's bloodshot eyes gradually lit up.

Zhu Daolin thought for a while and said: "If the emperor allows the minister to be verbose, the minister wants to talk about his understanding of the current situation in Xuanda and Liaodong...... The minister is young and has little knowledge, but he is still somewhat confident in the military, so the minister can only talk about the military, and it is estimated that it may be useful to the emperor. ”

Emperor Chongzhen immediately turned around, grabbed Zhu Daolin's hand and shook it vigorously. Following Zhu Daolin's example, he sat cross-legged by the map and let go of his hand. Pulling the hem of the long-distance running that was suppressed, he stared at Zhu Daolin with a sincere face full of anticipation: "Although Aiqing said bluntly, what I lack around me is talents who are well versed in military affairs!" ”

Zhu Daolin hurriedly stood up, bowed respectfully, walked to the west of the capital on the large map and stood still, and when the emperor came to his side, he helped the emperor to sit down. Stretched out his hand and pointed to Shanhaiguan and began to talk:

"As far as the minister knows, since the previous Shanhaiguan general Ma Shilong went west, Shanhaiguan no longer has the post of chief soldier, and the post of chief soldier is sometimes concurrently held by the governor of Liaodong, and sometimes by Ji Liaojing. In order to appease Zu Dashou, who has not been summoned repeatedly, even if the Jiliao Jinglu has been revoked for more than a year, he has not yet set up a general army at Shanhaiguan, I don't know if what the minister said is right? ”

The group of big eunuchs who gathered around the east side of the map became nervous again, fearing that Zhu Daolin would ignore the scars buried in the emperor's heart and make an uncontrollable ending.

Emperor Chongzhen's heart ached, but he still endured the sourness in his heart and truthfully admitted his mistakes:

"I was too young and impatient! You shouldn't have killed Yuan Chonghuan so early, you should have gritted your teeth and waited for the Qing soldiers to retreat, first stabilize the Guan Ning army, and then kill Yuan Chonghuan, who was arrogant and rebellious and brought disaster to the country and the people......"

"In this way, I will not let Zu Dashou, who has a big tail, lead his troops to escape from the customs, so that I have to take out more than 100,000 taels of silver and more than 100,000 stones of grain every month to support him, and I am always worried that he will commit treason to the enemy, which will make me worry day and night, panic and sleepless!"

Zhu Daolin nodded slightly: "Your Majesty, let's ignore Shanhaiguan for the time being, start from Jimen in Xifengkou, Jizhou, Zunhua, Miyun, Yanqing, Xuanfu, and Datong, and put a total of 600,000 troops along the 1,200 miles south of the Great Wall......

"Among them, there are about 400,000 border troops, and the remaining 200,000 officers and soldiers are mobilized from all over Jiangnan, Northwest, Henan, Huguang and even Sichuan!"

"These 200,000 officers and soldiers come from thousands of miles away, and it is still a trivial matter to be unfamiliar with the terrain and climate of the north, and it is the most important thing to be discriminated against and difficult by the local officials and border officers and soldiers.

"Therefore, they are afraid of the enemy like tigers, flee when they encounter the enemy, and they have become the best scapegoats for the generals of the border army and the governors of various places, and the emperor probably doesn't know who to be angry with, right?"

Emperor Chongzhen sighed: "Yes! It's been a long time, and it's hard to return! ”

Zhu Daolin nodded and continued: "The 200,000 guest troops transferred from various provinces are 200,000 in terms of battle reports and recitals, but in fact, 100,000 is considered good, there are too many dirty things in this, I believe the emperor is helpless, these guest troops transferred from thousands of miles away not only failed to play their due role, but brought a heavy burden to the emperor and the imperial court. ”

"What's even worse is that Jiangnan, Huguang, Xichuan and the northwest are empty of troops, resulting in mobs everywhere, rebellions are difficult to quell, and those cowardly fools in the court often tear down the east wall to make up the west wall and transfer 100,000 guest troops to various places to quell the chaos, making the already chaotic overall situation even more chaotic."

"The border army also has the phenomenon of falsely reporting the number of soldiers and eating empty salaries...... The minister has carefully calculated, all the troops on the front line from Xuanda to Jimen add up to less than 280,000, and the so-called 400,000 border troops are just a joke. ”

"If nothing else, let's talk about the present...... Gonggong Cao, you were appointed to serve as the commander of the Beijing camp in the face of danger, and it has been almost half a year now, do you know how many of the 200,000 officers and soldiers of the Beijing camp who need to be raised by the emperor with a lot of money every year? ”

Cao Huachun shook his head helplessly: "It's good to have 80,000, but our family can't manage it!" The military power is in the hands of the nobles, in the hands of the four chief military officers who have been highly recommended by the Manchu civil and military forces in the past two years...... This admiral of our family is hated every time he asks, and he only hopes that he can shout a few times when he kills the enemy. ”

Emperor Chongzhen closed his eyes in pain.

It's not that he doesn't want to change this long-standing and crisis-ridden status quo, but he can't change it, even if he orders to kill people, he can't kill so much, and most of the people who control the Beijing camp are nobles and relatives, if he offends these people who are most loyal to him, I'm afraid he won't be able to be the emperor.

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