Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Youzhen, who was sitting on the royal chair, looked not very good, he felt that he was worried about his life, when he was still the king of Xin, the days passed with fear, at that time his brother Emperor Tianqi trusted the eunuchs, Wei Zhongxian's power was very great, Zhu Youzhen because of the love of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, so he stayed in the capital, but the relationship with Wei Zhongxian was not very good, there was a feeling of being excluded, and later the Emperor of the Apocalypse died of illness, Zhu Youzhen ascended the throne and became the emperor, and cleared Wei Zhongxian with lightning speed. It has been well received by the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty.

It's a pity that after eleven years on the throne, Zhu Youzhen hardly lived a comfortable life, first the large-scale rebellion of the peasants in Shaanxi, and slowly formed the climate, followed by the successive disasters and famines in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, and the common people had almost no way to live, and finally the Houjin Tartars of Liaodong gradually became stronger, and the imperial court was in an unusually passive situation in Liaodong, and even the northern Zhili was not at peace, and several times encountered the invasion of the Houjin Tartars.

Zhu Youzhen wanted to revitalize the Ming Dynasty, and he also made a lot of efforts for this, he was diligent in political affairs, thrifty and simple, and used this to influence the civil and military ministers of the Manchu Dynasty, but it didn't seem to have much effect, on the contrary, the Ming Dynasty was like a devastated and broken ship, which had slowly begun to sink.

Of course, Zhu Youzhen wanted to find out the reason, thinking about it, he thought that he had done everything, the problem was that the civil and military disloyalty of the Manchu Dynasty was for his own interests, and he never thought about the world of the Ming Dynasty, so he began to slowly reject the civil and military officials in the court and re-trust the eunuchs around him.

The party struggle in the imperial court, Zhu Youzhen saw it clearly, what Donglin party, Zhejiang party, etc., the game between each other, is for his own power, he hates the party struggle very much, but he can't really stop and eliminate the party struggle.

The rise of Zheng Xunrui was considered a good thing by Zhu Youzhen at first, but as time went by. The suspicion in his heart began to breed wildly, the Zheng family army controlled by Zheng Xunrui was so strong, would it rebel at the right time. Will it be the same as the Liukou, who also thinks about being able to overthrow the world of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Youzhen also understands that Zheng Xunrui has no handle to be caught, and if he is suspicious for no reason, the consequences are beyond his control. Besides, the Zheng family army did establish a great feat, guarding the central capital Fengyang, recovering Lushun and Fuzhou and other places, defeating the Houjin Tartars, so that Huang Taiji had to submit to the Ming court.

The contradiction between Zheng Xunrui and the Donglin Party members, Zhu Youzhen is also clear, this is his opportunity. As long as he can grasp this contradiction well, he will be able to control Zheng Xunrui and the Donglin Party, but after such a long time, he found that Zheng Xunrui is very smart, and he does not have a direct conflict with the Donglin Party at all, but buries himself in his own affairs, constantly strengthens his own strength, and avoids the game between the Donglin Party, which is undoubtedly the smartest approach.

What Zheng Xunrui did in Huaibei also surprised Zhu Youzhen. In terms of dealing with the Donglin Party, Zhu Youzhen's approach was to cut off the root cause and prevent the Donglin Academy, Fushe and Yingshe from existing in Huaibei, which made the Donglin Party helpless. In the long run, the Donglin Party will lose its fundamentals, not to mention competing with Zheng Xunrui, it would be good to be able to keep their own foothold.

It should be said that in the nine years since Chongzhen, the situation in the Ming Dynasty has basically been stable, although the Liukou entrenched in Henan are still in chaos. However, Zhu Youzhen didn't pay special attention to it, he thought that Xiong Wencan could deal with it very well, but at this time, Huang Taiji, who had already expressed his bowing to his subordinates, sent a large army into the pass to loot.

In Zhu Youzhen's heart, the most headache is the Houjin Tartars, the Liaodong garrison reaches hundreds of thousands, and a lot of money and food needs to be consumed every year, and the Houjin Tartars enter the Guannai every few years to plunder, and Huang Taiji has unusual ambitions, he has already proclaimed himself emperor in Shenyang, and established the Great Qing Dynasty, which is obviously against the Ming Dynasty and wants to invade the Central Plains.

However, Zhu Youzhen is not most worried about Huang Taiji, but Zheng Xunrui and the Donglin Party.

On the one hand, he was worried about what happened to the Ming Dynasty again and again, hoping that outstanding talents could appear and rectify the increasingly decadent situation, and on the other hand, he was worried that someone would covet the Zhu family.

There are many twists and turns on the royal table, mainly two aspects, Hong Chengchou, Gao Qiqian and others are needless to say, that is how to deal with the Houjin Tartars, and the other is the Huguang Governor Fang Kongzhi and Henan Governor Wu Fu's twists and turns, the report Liukou is raging in Henan and Huguang and other places, and the action is becoming more and more bold and arrogant.

Zhu Youzhen has no army that can be mobilized, the sergeants of the Nanjing Beijing camp will never dare to move, that is to protect Nanjing, and the number of sergeants in the Nanjing Beijing camp is not much, a total of 50,000 people, not to mention the army of Shanhaiguan, guarding the Guanningjin defense line, once this defense line is lost, it is the capital that is directly threatened, and the rest of the army is almost mobilized to the capital, to deal with the Houjin Tartars, and the imperial court can't take out so much silver, and the mobilization of the army means the loss of a lot of silver, Without allocating money and food, it is impossible for the army to fight.

So far, Zhu Youzhen has only two ways, one is to negotiate peace with Huang Taiji, and the other is to mobilize the Zheng family's army.

Among these two methods, Zhu Youzhen was very hesitant, he knew very well that once the Zheng family army was mobilized, then the imperial court would rely more on Zheng Xunrui and Zheng Jiajun in the future, and it would also make Zheng Jiajun's prestige even higher, so big that as the emperor, he had to be careful, so it was best not to mobilize Zheng Jiajun.

As for negotiating peace with Huang Taiji, this was proposed by Yang Sichang, a cabinet minister and secretary of the Ministry of War, and Wang Chengen, Gao Qiqian, and other eunuchs who were in charge of ceremonies all agreed.

Negotiation is a very sensitive matter, two years ago Huang Taiji bowed to the imperial court, which caused a great repercussion in the court, and even some ministers thought that they did not accept Huang Taiji's peace, and they must do their best to exterminate the Houjin Tartars, and now the emperor wants to negotiate peace with Huang Taiji, that is, to temporarily bow to Huang Taiji, once such a thing is exposed, I don't know how much turmoil it will cause.

The candidate specially recommended by Yang Sichang was Chen Xinjia, the right attendant of the Ministry of War, and asked Chen Xinjia to be responsible for the matter of negotiating peace with the Qing Dynasty.

Chen Xinjia was promoted from the governor of Xuanfu to the right attendant of the military department, which was also recommended by Yang Sichang, it should be said that Chen Xinjia is familiar with the Houjin Tartars, and he has also clashed with the Houjin Tartars many times, because he has served in Liaodong for a long time and is also familiar with the things at the border gates, Yang Sichang recommended Chen Xinjia, which should be a good candidate.

The advantages of negotiating peace are obvious, it can ease the tense situation in Liaodong, it can concentrate on exterminating the rogue, and it can also buy time, so that Zhu Youzhen can concentrate on solving internal problems, such as the problem of Zheng Xunrui and the Donglin party, etc., but the disadvantages of negotiating peace are also very obvious, that is, negotiating peace is very likely to shake the prestige of the Ming court and attract the opposition of the world's scholars.

This is something that Zhu Youzhen has to consider.

Zhu Youzhen didn't want to negotiate peace, once he decided to negotiate peace with Huang Taiji, I don't know how history would evaluate him as an emperor, whether he would be said to be a traitor by future generations, etc., such a reputation Zhu Youzhen could not bear.

After a long time, Zhu Youzhen spoke to Wang Chengen beside him.

"Wang Chengen, my thoughts are a little confused, tell me whether I agree to make peace with Huang Taiji."

Such a top-secret matter, Zhu Youzhen can only talk to the eunuchs around him.

Wang Chengen's reply was very fast, which also surprised Zhu Youzhen.

"Your Majesty, the slave maid thinks that the matter of peace cannot be brought forward for the time being."

Zhu Youzhen looked at Wang Chengen and didn't speak, he didn't have to doubt Wang Chengen's loyalty.

"The slave maid in accordance with the emperor's instructions, and the cabinet of ministers have been in contact, among the cabinet ministers, except for the Ministry of War Shangshu Yang Sichang has the idea of peace, the rest of the adults have no such idea, especially Lord Qian Shisheng and Lord Hou Xun, but also against the matter of peace, slaves and maids can feel from their words, the cabinet chief assistant Zhang Zhifa has always been cautious, but when it comes to the matter of peace, he is also resolutely opposed, without the slightest hesitation, in this case, if the emperor chooses to negotiate peace with the emperor, I am afraid that it will lead to a situation that will be difficult to control. ”

Zhu Youzhen's expression was a little gloomy, and he spoke after a while.

"Could it be that I can only send the Zheng family army to participate in the battle?"

Wang Chengen's expression was also gloomy, although his impression of Zheng Xunrui was good, but once Zheng Xunrui threatened the interests of the emperor, then he did not hesitate to oppose it, the emperor was worried about things, he also understood, starting from the overall situation, he thought that the matter of peace could not be done, which would directly affect the emperor's image, and even threaten the emperor's rule.

"Your Majesty, the slave maid thinks that things have not yet reached that point, the Houjin Tartars are attacking Yanqing Prefecture, Lord Hong Chengchou can fight well, and he will definitely be able to deal with the attack of the Houjin Tartars, Gao Qiqian led the army to reinforce, and the inside and outside should be combined, and the threat of the Houjin Tartars can be lifted, if the situation changes, the emperor will consider the matter of mobilizing the Zheng family's army."

Zhu Youzhen sighed.

"I also hope that the situation can improve, I have issued an edict to mobilize troops from Sichuan and other places, and enter the North Zhili to encircle and suppress the Houjin Tartars, I don't know if Hong Chengchou can withstand it, if the city of Yanqing Prefecture is broken by the Houjin Tartars, the capital will be in danger."

Wang Chengen lowered his head and stopped talking, this is also a situation he does not want to see, in case the situation reaches that point, the final choice may be either to negotiate peace with Huang Taiji, or to send the Zheng family army to the war. (To be continued.) )