In the Forbidden City at night, palace lights shine everywhere, sprinkling gentle yellow between the carved railings and jade bricks. In the Xinuan Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace, Chongzhen had not slept yet, and there were still a bunch of concerts on the table that he had not finished reading, but his expression was full of joy.

During this period of time, the war between Lushun and northern Henan was what Chongzhen was most worried about, especially the battle situation in Lushun. Wang Ting tried to report three Tang newspapers, saying that the 100,000 army of Jiannu besieged Lushun day and night, and the Dengzhou Left Association suffered heavy losses.

Waiting is always the most tormenting time, after receiving Chen Xin's letter of determination, Chongzhen repeatedly pondered in his heart, if Chen Xin died in battle like those former general soldiers, Chongzhen could hardly think of any hope of recovering Liaodong, always at this time, he would think of Chen Xin's military exploits, and always gave him hope when he was desperate, from the time of the great victory in Gu'an.

Chongzhen couldn't accept the defeat of Dengzhou Town, let alone Chen Xin's death, so the blow to the Ming army might exceed the death of Juniper that year, he personally wrote a letter to ask Wang Tingtry to transfer it to Chen Xin, asking Chen Xin to remember not to experience the war. On the other hand, he urged the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household to ensure that the army was prepared with grain and grass, and even the military rations for the suppression of bandits in Henan were withheld and sent to Lushun. He also ordered Xiong Mingyu to mobilize Liaozhen for rescue. Xiong Mingyu has always said that there are tens of thousands of Jiannu on the west side of the Sancha River, and Liaozhen has fought with them repeatedly, but not a single head has been seen. It was not until yesterday that it was said that he had fought with the Houjin in the place of the original Daling River, and killed thousands of Houjin soldiers, and the heads were being disposed of, and the Houjin army had retreated.

With the lesson of Da Linghe last time, Chongzhen naturally didn't believe in Liaozhen, just waiting to see their heads, just the governor of Liaodong and Xiong Mingyu to see it was not enough, Chongzhen planned to let the military department and the inspectorate send personnel to verify the authenticity of those heads.

Because of the relationship between Zu Dashou. Liaozhen has always made him anxious, this person has a large number of henchmen and heirs in Jiannu, once the persecution is too much, it may cause the loss of the north of Shanhaiguan. Therefore, Chongzhen no longer likes it, and can only allocate Liao salary on schedule, this feeling of being coerced is very unlikely

Today, the news of Lushun finally came, Jiannu had been repulsed, and the Dengzhou army regained Jinzhou with one drum. Chen Xin has been chasing and killing to Fuzhou, beheading more than 10,000 people, although the specific number has not yet come out, but the victory is undoubted, and Dongjiang Town has also been quite successful. It is said that there are more than 1,000 heads.

The military department and the palace were jubilant, and Wen Tiren smiled brightly when he came in the afternoon. This is the first major victory since the Liao Affair, all the elders entered the palace to congratulate Jie, and discussed the way to offer Jiejie and prisoners, even Zhou Yanru, who was full of ants, also came, and praised Chen Xin against his will.

Most of the clouds on Chongzhen's head suddenly dispersed, and he was in the mood to eat bird's nest soup today. This is his favorite snack, and even Wen Tiren, who came to meet him in the afternoon, also enjoyed a bowl.

Putting down the small bowl, Chongzhen stretched out his arm comfortably, stood up and walked a few steps in the hall. Wang Chengen waited diligently on the side. I cleaned up the small bowl, replaced it with a new bowl of bird's nest soup, and served three more plates of desserts.

Seeing that Chongzhen didn't look at the music for the time being, Wang Chengen whispered to the emperor: "Up." It's late at night, so it's better to rest early. If you sleep late, the queen and several concubines will blame the slaves and maids for not taking good care of them."

"Wang Chengen, come and sit down." Chongzhen returned to his seat and said with a smile, pointing to the chair below, Wang Chengen has also enjoyed this treatment many times, moved the chair over a little, and sat carefully.

Chongzhen picked up the bird's nest soup and handed it to Wang Chengen, Wang Chengen knelt on the ground as soon as he grunted, "slave maid ......"

"Slave and maid, what slave and maid, you can only eat what is given to you." Chongzhen's face was full of gentleness.

"Thank you for the emperor's reward." Wang Chengen took it nervously, sat on the stool and took a small sip, the bird's nest soup was like nectar in his mouth, he had eaten it before, but it was the first time that the emperor rewarded him. Chongzhen is relatively simple on weekdays, some unnecessary waste, Chongzhen is canceled, some clothes used to be a new set of clothes every day, Chongzhen changed to a half-moon change after entering the palace, and later changed to a month change, but it was not so hard to patch in later generations.

Chongzhen likes this little eunuch very much, because Wang Chengen is not very old, although he has been in the palace for some days, he still has some simplicity on his body, which is the reason why Chongzhen likes it.

Wang Chengen took a few sips and thanked Chongzhen: "The slave has never eaten such a delicious bird's nest soup, and it is all a blessing from the emperor." ”

Chongzhen smiled and said: "You are blessed by General Chen today, if Lushun does not have this great victory, I don't know when I will be in the mood to eat this thing." ”

"What the emperor said is, but the slave maid has seen Mr. Chen twice, and every time he says that Bo has a small merit, it is all thanks to the emperor's blessing, so in this way, the slave and maid are still entrusted with the emperor's blessing."

Chongzhen laughed, and the laughter was full of joy, and he stopped after a while and shook his head and said: "General Chen is naturally able to speak, and there are not many people who can fight and talk at the same time. ”

Wang Chengen hurriedly added: "There is also the heart of loyalty, the slave and maid feel that this is the rarest thing for General Chen Bing, otherwise they are all like that Liao Town, the more they can fight, the more useless they are." ”

"Mr. Chen is also loyal." Chongzhen said with a faint smile, "It's just that there are many things in the world, you can't always point to a few people to do it, some people are almost capable, just help these loyal and capable people, and this loyal minister has been doing it for a long time." ”

Wang Chengen hurriedly said: "The slave and maid are the ones who are almost capable, and the emperor does not dislike it, so let the slave and maid serve the emperor." Lord Chen was sent by Wuqu Xing to help the emperor. ”

Chongzhen was in a good mood, and said to Wang Chengen: "This year, Dengzhou Town went to the east and the west, Henan leveled Zijinliang, and Liaodong attacked Jiannu, which is naturally a great achievement. However, Cao Zhao and Deng Xi are also very good, and Wang Chengen, the chief soldier with the same name as you, has also made some gains recently. Even that Geng Zhongming can fight some battles, although they are not as good as General Chen, they are also a strong army, a few more strong armies, a hundred flowers compete for beauty, it is better than a single branch. ”

Hearing this, Wang Chengen flattered again, Chongzhen was happy, and also said a few more words to Wang Chengen, and then yawned, "I'm going to rest, Chengen, you prepare the new concerto, I will read it early tomorrow morning, and you can put the rest of it on it today, don't miss the time." ”

Wang Chengen recruited palace maids to serve the emperor to change clothes and rest, because it was late, Chongzhen slept in Xinuan Pavilion as usual.

After Wang Chengen was done, he returned to the side of the imperial case to clean up. He brought in a new stack of notes from the outside, and put the remaining twenty or so copies on top, and he looked left and right, and no one was paying attention, so he pulled out the penultimate copy below, and inserted it to the end.

After walking out of the Xinuan Pavilion, Wang Chengen breathed a sigh of relief, shook his head and muttered: "This General Chen is becoming more and more capable in fighting, but there are more and more people impeached. This is what happened. ”……

On September 28, Chen Xin and Liu Minyou returned to Dengzhou with the ship, along with the headquarters of the Guards Battalion. It is already snowing in Liaodong, and if you go any later, you may freeze one day. It would take a lot of effort to come back by boat.

Chen Xin was determined to run southern Liaoning, and all ministries and departments set up branches in southern Liaoning, among which the military affairs department set up a training base in Nanguan in particular, and built a large number of barracks, and the captured Baoyi and Mongols were the best laborers. The defense line of Nanguan began to take shape, and Chen Xin planned to transfer back to the 3rd Battalion, leaving the 2nd and 4th Battalions in Jinzhou.

Because of the Battle of Arthur. Both Dengzhou and Tianjin transported large quantities of grain to Lushun, enough for the Dengzhou army in southern Liaoning to eat for more than half a year, and Chen Xin harvested a lot in terms of grain, and transported a batch of reserve soldiers from Dengzhou in September. Those who were excellent were then selected from the auxiliaries and garrisons, and they were trained by the Military Affairs Department in Nanguan, and then supplemented in two battalions.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs has also set up relevant institutions, and Liu Minyou has designated a chief of the cantonment department to be in charge. They will make preparations in the winter, and after the beginning of spring, they will go all out to build southern Liaoning. It is inconvenient to transport grain in winter. Therefore, Tunhu has not yet been sent to Liaodong, and it is all under military management before the beginning of spring, and Liu Pojun, the highest commander in Liaodong.

When the winter was frozen, the transportation between southern Liaoning and Dengzhou was inconvenient, and it was quite time-consuming and laborious to transmit a message, but Chen Xin estimated that Houjin suffered heavy losses this time, and he did not have the strength to come to southern Liaoning again in winter, so he handed over all the defense of the Jinzhou Isthmus to Liu Pojun and Zhu Guobin, and rushed back to Denglai, and he still had a lot of things to deal with.

Wang Tingqian and Lu Zhi were both greeted in Shuicheng, and Lu Zhi was elated, and his attitude towards Chen Xin was not at all like that of his superiors. Wang Ting's trial also has no shelf at all. This time, Lushun's military merit distribution, both of them sent personnel to Lushun, and they have discussed it properly, and they will report their military merits in these two days, and everyone will have both benefits and face, so they will naturally be more polite. It stands to reason that Liu Min can't leave Dengzhou without permission because of this regimental training general, and now he went to Lushun without permission, and came back with Chen Xin, Wang Tingqian and Lu Zhi didn't see it, and they didn't even ask Liu Minyou.

They arrived in the morning, and had lunch in the governor's yamen, and did not come out until the afternoon, during which Geng Zhongming and Chen Xin distanced themselves, but Liu Zeqing deliberately flattered them, which made Liu Minyou feel very strange. However, he knows about the Qingzhou General Army, Geng Zhongming is like this now, and he will definitely go to meet Chen Xin after he comes down, and the relationship between the interests of the two is much deeper than Liu Zeqing. As for whether Wang Tingqian really doesn't know or not, Liu Minyou can't guess.

The two came back from the governor's yamen, talking about cotton spinning all the way, and were going to arrange time to inspect the factory area of Lingshanwei, and just arrived at the general military mansion of the east school field in Shuicheng, they saw Zhou Shifa waiting there, he greeted Chen Xin and muttered all the way, Chen Xin began to listen while walking, and then stopped.

Liu Min walked a few more steps, saw that the two did not follow, and stopped to wait. Zhou Shifa said, turned his head to look at Liu Minyou many times, Chen Xin also looked at Liu Minyou twice, Liu Minyou wondered in his heart, what would be related to him about this spy leader.

After a while, Chen Xin walked over and coughed and said, "Brother Liu, I'm afraid you'll have to bring a few more people recently." ”

"Who?"

"Bodyguard, there may be a high-level Jiannu spy in Dengzhou Town, it is said that he can see you often, and you will have to add at least three guards by your side in the future."

Liu Minyou's mouth opened wide, he thought about it in his mind, and his face flashed, they were all down-to-earth and capable people, he really couldn't think of anyone who would be a spy.

Zhou Shifa also came over, "Lord Liu, there is only one piece of news now, and it is impossible to verify it yet." But it's better to believe it, and it's always safer to bring a few more people. ”

Chen Xin nodded and said: "The main thing is that when you meet your subordinates and go out, I will transfer the general guard team to be closely deployed at the mansion, you don't have to worry about it at home, the number of times you go out has been reduced recently, and Li Ranzhu has to do the food and drink by himself, don't fake those helpers, or you simply live in the public house of the Civil Department in the name of overtime." ”

Liu Minyou stayed for a while before saying, "Always guard against something, how can we arrest this person." ”

Chen Xin nodded to Zhou Shifa, and Zhou Shifa said in a low voice: "This matter is the most urgent matter of the Intelligence Bureau, and the subordinates have made a plan overnight, listing those who can often see you, mainly concentrated in the money village, trading company, workshop, civil department, quartermaster department and a few domestic servants in your house, including some women who have dealings with Mrs. Zun, who are being excluded according to the process and identity of their coming to Denglai, and they are usually under surveillance......

"Spying on them?" Liu Minyou frowned, "If they know, I'm afraid it's not too good, don't ruin people's hearts because of one person." ”

Zhou Shifa knew that Liu Min had a character, and hurriedly explained: "They won't know, besides, if this person can often see Lord Liu, it can be seen that his status is not low, if he doesn't dig it out as soon as possible, it will be even worse for Denglai, in case it involves the safety of Lord Liu, his subordinates can't afford it, and monitoring is also a last resort." This surveillance is only one of the means, if it can't be confirmed, you will need to cooperate with Lord Liu, that is, to convene a meeting of the people on the list in batches, and release some special fake news, after the spy gets the news, he will find a way to pass it on, and the flaws will be exposed. ”

"What if they keep their messages secret and can't find out?"

Zhou Shifa said in a low voice: "So it's special fake news, tell different people different news, and finally look at the news that Houjin gets, you can confirm which group of people it is from, and you can narrow down the scope of investigation, and then it will be much easier." ”

Liu Min nodded a little, "Okay, what do you want me to do?" What to say. ”

"There is a first draft here, and the subordinates are not very familiar with the civil affairs, and they should ask the adults to improve it, because most of the people involved are people from the civil department, and the news should not be too obvious, and do not directly talk about the transfer of troops and horses, otherwise it may arouse their suspicions. It is necessary to make arrangements according to the usual practice of adults, and be sure to let them deduce from the arrangements of the civil aspects of adults. The messages are divided into four batches, and different people say different messages. The first news was to transport grain to Lushun, the second was that the workshop had a new type of rocket and needed to arrange materials, the third was to have the trading company prepare a large number of ships, and the sailors should be familiar with the sea routes near the Dongjiang River and Iron Mountain, and the fourth was that ......"