After October, the temperature in the north drops rapidly and the climate begins to get colder.

Qian Shisheng, the first assistant of the cabinet, was in almost the same mood as the weather, and he also began to get cold.

Served as the first assistant of the cabinet for nearly five months, it should be said that most of the time Qian Shisheng's mood is very happy, he through the support of the emperor, installed a large number of Donglin party members into the imperial court as officials, and all of them occupy a more important position in the six departments, the Metropolitan Procuratorate and other departments, so that the strength of the Donglin Party began to gradually recover, he is through his own efforts, integrated the power of the cabinet, almost in his own hands, and has been admired by the vast majority of civil and military ministers in the court. Problems such as Houjin Tartar and Zheng Xunrui of Nanzhili, Qian Shisheng also slowly began to deal with them.

Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were stationed in Kaifeng Fucheng, Zhang Xianzhong was stationed in Xuzhou, and Xiong Wencan, the governor of the five provinces, was stationed in Linying, and there was no direct fight between them, and they seemed to be peaceful. The Houjin Tartars in Liaodong and Liaobei also did not move, and the direction of Shanhaiguan reported that it was safe.

This allowed Qian Shisheng to focus his main energy on dealing with Zheng Xunrui, the secretary of the Nanzhili Military Department.

The edict issued by the Ministry of Officials in September was a decision made by Qian Shisheng after careful consideration, he explained in detail the reasons for doing so in front of the emperor, and got the emperor's approval, thinking that this could slowly weaken Zheng Xunrui's power in Nanzhili and other places, and dealt a heavy blow to Zheng Xunrui's prestige in these places.

Zheng Xunrui obviously didn't intend to tear his face at this time, but he wouldn't act completely according to the arrangement of the imperial court.

This is the attitude that makes Qian Shisheng the most headache.

In his heart, Qian Shisheng wanted to make Zheng Xunrui and the emperor sharply opposed. Even if there is a direct conflict, then the emperor will rely more on the Donglin Party people and rely on the Donglin Party people to deal with Zheng Xunrui, and he Qian Shisheng can take this opportunity to install the Donglin Party members in more important positions, so that the Donglin Party people who hold great power will be more powerful. Make the Donglin Party the most powerful party.

Qian Shisheng believes that since it is an exchange, the Donglin Party must also get benefits, otherwise no one will do such a dangerous thing.

But Zheng Xunrui was not fooled, and he didn't use any tough means at all, but tactfully counterattacked.

The official who was forced to resign from the post of magistrate was a member of the Donglin Party, and after this person returned to the capital, Qian Shisheng was furious. Immediately presided over the cabinet deliberations, ready to propose the most severe impeachment against Zheng Xunrui, who knew that the cabinet deputy Chen Xinjia did not agree, Chen Xinjia's reason is also very simple, the Liukou is making chaos in Henan, and the stability that the imperial court needs at this time must not fluctuate.

It was at this time that the situation in Henan changed. Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong both began to move, and Li Zicheng marched in the direction of Shanxi. Zhang Xianzhong marched in the direction of Huguang, and Xiong Wencan, the governor of the five provinces stationed in Linying, wrote several instructions and asked the imperial court to clarify the next battle plan.

Not only that, but there were also problems with the Guanningjin defense line in western Liaoning, and Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, wrote about it. A large number of Houjin Tartar activities were found in the Daling River and Jinzhou area, and their intention seemed to be to attack the city of Jinzhou.

Jinzhou in western Liaoning is already the most important link in the Guanning Jin defense line, once Jinzhou falls, it will directly threaten Songshan, Tashan, Ningyuan and other places, and the defenders in these places will not be able to directly resist the Houjin Tartars. As long as the Houjin Tartars take Jinzhou, they can directly march to Shanhaiguan.

Xiong Wencan and Hong Chengchou's twists and turns made Qian Shisheng's head big all of a sudden.

The head-to-head battle between the imperial court and Zheng Xunrui has just begun, who knows that the situation has changed dramatically, and the imperial court is suddenly facing the most dangerous situation.

It was also at this time that the recital of the Nanjing Ministry of Officials arrived, and a proposal was put forward to adjust some officials, Qian Shisheng was upset and threw the recital aside, who knew that Chen Xinjia, the second assistant of the cabinet, suggested that the cabinet agree to the recital of the Nanjing Ministry of Officials.

Of course, Qian Shisheng would not agree, but he didn't know why, the emperor actually agreed.

Later, Qian Shisheng learned that Chen Xinjia specifically found the emperor, I don't know what to say, the emperor agreed to the proposal of adjusting the Nanjing officials, and since the emperor agreed, Qian Shisheng could not directly oppose it.

Qian Shisheng had to face the harshest and most dangerous situation.

The emperor had to inquire about dealing with the Liukou and Houjin Tartars almost every day, and forced the cabinet to come up with practical opinions and suggestions, Qian Shisheng convened the cabinet ministers and discussed for several days, but did not come up with good suggestions.

Of course, the emperor was not satisfied with this, and simply asked Chen Xinjia, the deputy assistant of the cabinet in charge of military affairs, to directly discuss the countermeasures, obviously excluding Qian Shisheng aside, which greatly stimulated Qian Shisheng.

Chen Xinjia is also angry, in a very short period of time to come up with a way to deal with it, he put forward the suggestion, or combined with Yang Sichang's ten-sided ambush, four positive and six corners of the battle plan, asked Xiong Wencan to lead the army to deal with Zhang Xianzhong's Liukou, Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces of the guard army to contain Li Zicheng's Liukou, as for the Houjin Tartar in western Liao, it is to ask the Jiliao Governor Hong Chengchou to lead the army, Chen Bing Jinzhou, to guard Jinzhou City, but not to take the initiative to provoke a fight with the Houjin Tartars, It is the primary responsibility to stabilize the situation in western Liaoning.

Judging from Chen Xinjia's suggestion, the focus is still on the extermination of the Liukou, with the army led by Xiong Wencan first exterminating Zhang Xianzhong and his subordinates, and stabilizing Li Zicheng with the Weisho troops in Shaanxi and Shanxi, which is exactly the same as the suggestion of the late Sun Chuanting, the former governor of the five provinces.

Chen Xinjia is not particularly worried about the situation in western Liaoning, he thinks that the Houjin Tartars will not take the initiative to attack, after all, in several consecutive battles, the Houjin Tartars have suffered defeats.

Chen Xinjia still has two thoughts that he won't say, one is to ask Zheng Jiajun to participate in the battle and completely exterminate the rogues when the battle is at a critical time, or when it is difficult for the imperial court to clean up, he believes that Zheng Xunrui will do this. In addition, it is to send people to Shenyang to temporarily negotiate peace with Huang Taiji of the Later Jin Dynasty to eliminate the threat of the existence of Liaoxi.

Of course, Chen Xinjia's thoughts will never be said.

Chen Xinjia has bigger ideas, when he entered the cabinet, he was not satisfied, after becoming the second assistant of the cabinet, he was also not satisfied, seeing that Qian Shisheng, the first assistant of the cabinet, was supported by the emperor, seeing Qian Shisheng constantly expanding his own strength, and seeing Qian Shisheng's prestige in the court getting higher and higher, Chen Xinjia must be jealous, especially Qian Shisheng adopted a series of means to integrate the cabinet, making his position as the second assistant of the cabinet more and more embarrassing, and now he can only manage the affairs of the military department. This made Chen Xinjia's dissatisfaction even stronger.

Chen Xinjia wants to be the first assistant of the cabinet, this idea is very strong, he knows very well that the emperor asked Qian Shisheng to be the first assistant of the cabinet, but he is using Qian Shisheng and the Donglin party to deal with Zheng Xunrui, once Qian Shisheng's use value is lost, he will definitely lose the position of the first assistant of the cabinet, and then it will be his opportunity for Chen Xinjia.

Therefore, when the cabinet discussed things, as long as it involved Nan Zhili and Zheng Xunrui, Chen Xinjia could find a reason to embarrass Qian Shisheng, and secretly reported his opinions and suggestions to the emperor.

Under Chen Xinjia's instigation, the emperor already had a certain opinion on Qian Shisheng, especially Qian Shisheng installed a large number of Donglin party members into the imperial court, so that the signs of party strife in the imperial court gradually emerged, and the Donglin party members have formed a group and began to crack down on dissidents in the imperial court, and it is impossible for the emperor not to pay attention to all this.

Qian Shisheng never dreamed that he looked incomparably beautiful on the surface, but he already had a most dangerous opponent by his side.

In mid-October, Liu Zongmin, under Li Zicheng, led an army of 50,000 to leave Kaifeng Fucheng and march towards Zezhou in Shanxi.

Xiong Wencan, the governor of the five provinces, who had received clear instructions from the imperial court, also led a large army to march in the direction of Xiangyang Fucheng, and they were ready for a decisive battle with Zhang Xianzhong.

The army led by Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, was already on the road to Jinzhou City.

Everything looks like it's going according to plan.

Qian Shisheng finally breathed a sigh of relief, the dangerous situation was resolved in a short period of time, he was finally able to free up his hands to deal with Zheng Xunrui again, anyway, this is his most important task, only by doing this well, he and the Donglin Party can get the attention of the emperor, and can they gain a foothold in the court for a long time.

Qian Shisheng still did not give up his thoughts, he hoped that the contradiction between the emperor and Zheng Xunrui would intensify, so that the emperor could rely on and rely on the Donglin party more.

However, Qian Shisheng mentioned the matter of Nanzhili in the cabinet, and repeatedly encountered direct opposition from Chen Xinjia.

Chen Xinjia's opinion is still clear, the imperial court army led by Xiong Wencan is about to start a decisive battle with the Liukou, at such a critical moment, the main attention of the cabinet should be in the elimination of the Liukou, as for other things, you can put it back for a while, and there is no need to deal with it in a hurry.

Qian Shisheng is an old fox, he quickly smelled something wrong, whether it was from the emperor's attitude or from Chen Xinjia's attitude, he saw the problem, Chen Xinjia was very low-key before, why did he suddenly become very strong after putting forward the proposal to deal with Liukou and Houjin Tartar, this is not normal, although Chen Xinjia is the second assistant of the cabinet, but he has very little experience in the cabinet, and he has no support, it is said that he will not do so, unless Chen Xinjia has the direct support of the emperor, or the direct support of the celebrant and eunuch.

Qian Shisheng quickly focused his attention on Chen Xinjia. (To be continued......)