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

The war in the north did not affect the excitement of Nanzhili and Zhejiang and other places, up to the officials of the six departments of Nanjing, down to the ordinary people, are enjoying the atmosphere of reunion and happiness during the Spring Festival, and I don't know why, Zheng Xunrui wrote to the imperial court as the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, and got a response from the cabinet, the emperor's holy purpose arrived in Zhejiang and Shaanxi at the end of the month, Wen Kun served as the governor of Shaanxi, Zhao Danyu served as the governor of Zhejiang, and Wen Zhenheng served as the imperial history of the left capital of the Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Xu Wanghua made a wonderful comment on the emperor's decree, now the capital is already in the wind and rain, there are hidden dangers everywhere, Jinzhou, Shanxi and Huguang in western Liaoning, all of them are in great danger, the emperor has no energy to deal with Zheng Jiajun, and he doesn't want Zheng Jiajun to make trouble at this time, so for any request put forward by Zheng Xunrui, he is promised to come down and talk about it, to put it mildly, the emperor and the court have no capital to refuse at the moment.

Xu Wanghua's analysis is obviously correct, to put it bluntly, Zheng Xunrui has some intention of taking advantage of the fire to rob.

Unlike the situation in Nanzhili and Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the situation in the north has deteriorated significantly.

After Li Zicheng's Liukou entered Shanxi, he attacked the city in a big way, and successively took Zezhou City, Qinshui County and Yangcheng County, and almost captured the entire Zezhou territory.

The army of the Shaanxi Guard has been revoked by Zheng Xunrui, and most of the sergeants of the guard army have entered the garrison yamen of Fuzhou County, or entered the patrol room, and they cannot be transferred in a short time, plus Wen Zhenheng's edict to the Ministry of War. I didn't particularly care about it, and it was impossible for the Third Army of the Zheng Family Army stationed in Shaanxi to transfer a single soldier, which indirectly led to the deterioration of the situation in Shanxi.

After Zhang Xianzhong's liukou left Henan, they advanced in the direction of Huguang, because the imperial army led by Xiong Wencan, the governor of the five provinces, also rushed to Huguang. Zhang Xianzhong avoided the imperial army, and finally chose to return to Yunyang, and did not go to Xiangyang Mansion for the time being, Xiong Wencan and the supervisor Wang Yongji discussed, and decided that the main force of the army was stationed in Xiangyang Mansion to find the right time to attack Zhang Xianzhong, which made the situation in Huguang also complicated.

When the Spring Festival was approaching, Liu Wenxiu under Zhang Xianzhong led some of the rogues. Waiting for the opportunity to enter Sichuan, he launched some small-scale battles with the white pole soldiers under Qin Liangyu, but fortunately, the hussar general Ma Xianglin was very brave and repelled Liu Wenxiu's attack, forcing the liukou to evacuate Sichuan and return to Yunyang Mansion in Huguang.

The most dangerous is still Liaoxi.

At the time of Layue, the emperor and the imperial court already knew that the Houjin Tartars who attacked Liaoxi were personally led by Huang Taiji of Houjin. It can be seen that Houjin Tarzi is determined to take Jinzhou City and Ningyuan City, and the emperor has issued orders to Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, several times. asked him to hold Jinzhou and other places at all costs, but Hong Chengchou took a defensive position and ordered the army under his command to mainly hold Jinzhou, Ningyuan and other cities, as well as the surrounding military forts, and was not allowed to take the initiative to attack without an order, as for other places outside the city. Let the Houjin Tartars occupy it at will.

Hong Chengchou's decision, on the surface, seems to be a sign of weakness, as if waiting for the attack of the Houjin Tartars, very passive, in fact, such a decision is in line with the actual situation. The army held the main cities in western Liaoning, as well as the Shanhai Pass, and no matter how many cities the Houjin Tartars occupied, they all belonged to the rootless Ping and could not gain a foothold.

The only way for the Houjin Tartars is to grit their teeth and capture Jinzhou and Ningyuan and other cities, so that they can really gain a foothold in western Liaoxi and truly destroy the Guanningjin defense line of the Ming Dynasty.

Field combat is the strength of the Houjin Tartars, the army under the command of Hong Chengchou is not an opponent, but the army of the imperial court stationed in the city has a great advantage, many years ago Huang Taiji once led the Houjin Tartars to storm the city of Ningyuan, and finally had no choice but to evacuate.

However, the danger this time is different from the past, the Eight Banners of Khan under the command of Huang Taiji have very good experience in attacking the city, Hong Chengchou is very aware of this, so when he was holding the city, he focused on strengthening the equipment of firearms, and on the city walls of Jinzhou and Ningyuan, he increased the number of Hongyi cannons and Fulang machines to resist the attack of the Houjin Tartars.

After the Houjin Tartars led by Huang Taiji arrived in Liaoxi, they did not immediately launch a large-scale attack, several tentative attacks soon stopped, to Layue, Jinzhou and Ningyuan, the two cities of Jinzhou and Ningyuan, have been completely surrounded by the Houjin Tartars, and have become two veritable lonely cities, Shanhaiguan General Zu Dashou led part of the army to garrison Jinzhou, Hong Chengchou led part of the army stationed in Ningyuan, confronted the Houjin Tartars, stationed in Shanhaiguan Wu Sangui, focusing on guarding Shanhaiguan, and at the same time according to the changes in the battle situation, When necessary, rush to Ningyuan and Jinzhou.

Beijing, Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Youzhen even forgot the existence of the Spring Festival, and the cabinet ministers did not have the Spring Festival anymore, and the situation in the north was so critical that any unexpected situation could occur, and it was impossible for the cabinet ministers to celebrate the festival with peace of mind.

The hardest thing is the cabinet deputy assistant, the military department secretary Chen Xinjia, all the northern conquest matters, need the military department to plan, if the emperor is in a hurry, he is also reprimanded by the cabinet deputy assistant, the military department secretary.

Zhu Youzhen's face had a faint sadness, he wanted to show calmness, but unfortunately there were too many things and too much pressure.

Looking at the many cabinet ministers below, Zhu Youzhen still sighed and spoke.

"Today is the first day of the first lunar month, I should have let you all go home for the Spring Festival, but the situation in western Liaoning is unknown, Li Zicheng is launching an attack in Zezhou, Shanxi, even Yunyang in Huguang is not calm, I am really not in the mood, I summoned you today just to see if there is the best way to resolve the current situation."

Zhu Youzhen has already discovered the signs in the cabinet, that is, the affairs of the Ministry of War are almost Chen Xinjia's sole concern, Qian Shisheng, the first assistant of the cabinet, and other cabinet ministers, almost did not ask about the affairs of the Ministry of War, nor did they directly care about the war in the north, which is very abnormal, of course, the meaning of Zhu Youzhen is clear, but he also wants to use the Donglin Party to deal with Zheng Xunrui, so he will not account so much, and there is a contradiction between the first assistant of the cabinet and the second assistant of the cabinet, which is also conducive to his control.

But at this time, when the situation is really dangerous, the cabinet still has to work together.

Qian Shisheng looked up at the emperor and then spoke.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the biggest problem is still in Liaoxi, and the Emperor Taiji of Houjin personally led the Houjin Tartars to attack, just thinking of taking Jinzhou City and Ningyuan City, the purpose is to destroy the Guanningjin defense line of my Ming Dynasty, so the minister suggested focusing on the conquest of Liaoxi, as for Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, the two rogues ......"

Qian Shisheng hesitated a little and spoke hesitantly.

"Qian Aiqing, say what you think, you are the first assistant of the cabinet, and you are the minister of my humerus, but you have to tell the truth."

"The minister obeyed the order, the minister thought that under the current situation, the imperial court could recruit Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong and others, as long as their demands were not particularly excessive, they could all agree to it, once Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong and others were willing to submit to the imperial court, the crisis in Shanxi, Henan, Huguang and other places could be resolved in an instant."

After Qian Shisheng finished speaking, the emperor did not speak, but Chen Xinjia did.

"The matter of recruiting and surrendering the Liukou, the ministers have different views, the Liukou has rebelled for more than ten years, during which the court has surrendered countless times, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong and other Liukou leaders, have also surrendered to the court several times, but the purpose of their surrender is just to recuperate, and reach out to the court to ask for money and food, the current situation is different, Li Zicheng's momentum is fierce, at this moment to surrender, he is afraid that he will not agree, or the lion opened his mouth, so that the court can not agree to come down, once the surrender fails, the momentum of the Liukou's attack will be more violent, At that time, the situation in the north may get out of control......"

What Chen Xinjia said was the actual situation, at this time, the imperial court had the intention of showing weakness.

It should be said that Qian Shisheng's proposal was not completely thorough, and the imperial court could also use the strategy of delaying the army, and it was necessary for the imperial court to show weakness at a critical moment, for example, in the face of Zheng Xunrui, the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, Qian Shisheng suggested that he should accept it for the time being and stabilize the situation in the south, and at this time, as long as the situation in Shanxi, Henan, Huguang and other places can be stabilized, it is cost-effective to pay some price for the time being.

It's a pity that Qian Shisheng didn't have a thorough understanding of the emperor's thoughts.

Approved Zheng Xunrui's performance, so that the emperor was very angry, and reluctantly agreed, and now he wants to show weakness to the rogue, and the emperor can't agree at all.

After Chen Xinjia finished speaking, the emperor quickly spoke.

"The matter of recruiting and surrendering the Liukou, don't mention it for the time being, Qian Aiqing said that the focus is on Liaoxi, which I agree with, the Liukou took advantage of the crisis of my Ming Dynasty to plunder, the crime is unforgivable, the situation in Henan, Shanxi and Huguang and other places is unstable, I am very worried, the army led by Xiong Aiqing must fix the Liukou in Shanxi, Henan and Huguang and other places, and cannot let the Liukou continue to plunder in other directions, if necessary, you can transfer the border army of Datong, Shanxi......"

Before the emperor's words were finished, the expressions of Qian Shisheng, Chen Xinjia and others changed slightly, and it seemed that the emperor was ready to temporarily abandon Henan, Huguang, Shanxi and other places, and asked Xiong Wencan, the governor of the five provinces, to stabilize the liukou, so that the imperial court could concentrate on dealing with the situation in western Liaoning.

This practice is very dangerous, Henan, Shanxi, Huguang and other places, almost all of them are located in the Central Plains, these places are unstable, will definitely affect the north Zhili, and even directly affect the western Liaoning, resulting in the danger of the battle in western Liaoning.

Chen Xinjia looked at the emperor, looked at Qian Shisheng, lowered his head and did not speak, his inner thoughts did not come out in the end, in fact, at this time, the best way is to send someone to negotiate with Huang Taiji, pay a certain price to stabilize the situation in Liaoxi, and turn back to concentrate on exterminating the Liukou.

It's a pity that this idea is against the sky, and Chen Xinjia doesn't dare to put it forward. (To be continued......)