The smoke and rumbling of artillery finally calmed down, and after Antony was wounded and sent down for treatment, the remaining Spanish soldiers finally collapsed, and the closed gates were slowly opened by a weak maiden in the rough ravages of a strong man, and a white flag was erected on the city.

"The red-haired ghost has surrendered to Kaicheng!"

"Everyone, rush!"

After the city gate was opened, countless Ming troops swarmed forward and began to pour into the city, although there were also some Spanish soldiers who were unwilling to surrender and rose up to resist, but these did not affect the overall situation, two quarters of an hour later, the gunfire in the city had begun to subside, and Yue Yang came to the outside of the governor's palace under the support of his own soldiers. In this governor's palace, dozens of Spanish soldiers loyal to Antony, under the leadership of Major Bert, were making the last resistance, because the walls of the governor's palace were high and thick, those Spanish soldiers hid behind the wall and fired cold guns, and the Ming army rushed several times and did not rush in, but killed and wounded seven or eight people.

When Yue Yang came to the outside of the Governor's Palace, he saw that Mr. Bai, who was leading the team, was planning to personally lead the team to rush once, Yue Yang stepped forward to stop him and said coldly: "Don't risk the lives of soldiers, you immediately go to the artillery battalion outside the city, let them bring a few artillery, if the people inside don't surrender again, they will bomb his mother." ”

The Bai general manager paused for a moment: "Master Hou, here is the governor of the red-haired devil, what if you bomb him to death?" We ......"

"If you're dead, you're dead, and we can't let us continue to put our brothers' lives on the line for the sake of him as a fool." Yue Yang interrupted President Bai's speech, "You personally take people to go and immediately assist the artillery battalion to pull the artillery in!" ”

"Yes!"

Mr. Bai gritted his teeth and went out of the city with more than 20 soldiers, and sure enough, in less than two quarters of an hour, he pushed two twelve-pounder guns over, accompanied by more than a dozen gunners from the artillery battalion.

Yue Yang stopped the artillery commander who was about to salute him, and pointed directly to the gate of the Governor's Mansion and said, "Ben Hou will give you a quarter of an hour, and immediately blow up this door and the wall next to it!" ”

Looking at Yue Yang's solemn expression, the artillery commander hurriedly looked at the gate of the Governor's Mansion in front of him, and then said, "Master Hou is relieved." If the villain can't blast open the door after a quarter of an hour, the villain will simply wipe his neck. ”

After speaking, the gunner stopped talking nonsense and began to command more than a dozen gunners to set up the artillery busily. A few minutes later, the two guns were erected, the gunpowder and iron pellets were also loaded, and with the order of the gun commander, the two guns let out a roar in unison, and the muzzles of the two guns spewed out two orange-red fires at the same time, and two white smoke poured out, and then a loud rumbling sound was heard in front of them. The gate, which seemed to be sturdy just a moment ago, had been blasted into countless pieces, and the gate began to open.

Seeing that the gate was blasted open, many sergeants let out a cheer, and the Bai Zong was about to lead the soldiers to rush in, but was stopped by Yue Yang, only to see him shouting with a cold face: "Continue to fire the cannon, and blast open the walls next to you!" ”

The two artillery pieces continued to bombard, and soon the walls on both sides of the gate were also damaged by the artillery in several places, and some Spanish soldiers who were hiding behind the wall and firing cold guns were also beaten by the artillery.

When the two guns finally stopped firing, the fortified gate and the row of walls on either side were either missing or in tatters. The cold gunshots that had been fired from time to time also stopped. Yue Yang waved his hand, and this Bai Zong led the soldiers to let out a shout and rushed into the Governor's Mansion.

After the gate and high wall were broken by artillery, the more than a dozen Spanish soldiers who were still stubbornly resisting finally lost their fighting spirit, and they silently threw away their weapons and honestly raised their hands as prisoners. Soon, Yue Yang walked into the Governor's Mansion surrounded by many pro-soldiers.

More than ten minutes later, Yue Yang saw Antony, Major Bert and the others who had woken up in the room of the Governor's Palace.

Looking at Antony, who was lying on the bed with his head wrapped like an Arab, Yue Yang said lightly: "Your Excellency the Governor." The last time we met, you were my guest, but I didn't expect you to become my captive at this meeting, which shows that things in this world are really wonderful! ”

At this time, Anthony had come to his senses. Seeing Yue Yang, his expression quickly changed a few times, and finally said with three points of helplessness, three points of resentment and three points of unwillingness: "I am the governor of the great army appointed by the king of Spain, and it is my duty to protect the big man, if there is still a chance, I will still choose to resist!" ”

"Oh......" Yue Yang looked at him in surprise, and then sneered: "Since this is the case, I respect your choice, then I wish you a happy stay in the prisoner of war camp!" ”

After saying that, Yue Yang was about to turn around and leave, but Major Bert on the side shouted loudly: "Your Excellency Marquis, please wait!" ”

Yue Yang stopped and looked at him, "Major Bert, is there something wrong with you?" ”

Bert took a deep breath and then asked: "Your Excellency the Marquis, Your Excellency the Governor and I are both Spanish nobles, as prisoners of war, we have the right to redeem our freedom with gold coins, you will not deprive us of this right, right?" ”

"Hehe......" Yue Yang laughed out loud, and he said seriously: "Major Bert, in fact, this sentence was also told to me by the Dutch governor Oward last month, but I refused, and my answer to him was that I only have captives and no nobles here. If you want to go back, as long as you have worked here for twenty years, I will naturally send a boat to take you back when the time comes. ”

After speaking, Yue Yang strode around and walked out, leaving only an unwilling roar behind him......

On the sixth day of August in the twelfth year of Chongzhen, the Forbidden City of Beijing Warm Fragrance Pavilion

Chongzhen, who was sitting behind the dragon case, held up two letters: "Ladies and gentlemen, there are two letters here, which were sent by Lu Xiangsheng, Sun Chuanting and Yue Yang, who were suppressing bandits in Hubei and Henan, respectively, take a look!" ”

At this time, standing in the Nuanxiang Pavilion were Zhou Tingru, Liu Yuliang, Xue Guoguan, Xie Sheng, the secretary of the ministry, Li Zhiwen, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Lin Xuji, the emperor of Zuodu, Zhong Ji, etc., it can be said that all the heavyweight civil officials of the Ming Dynasty are here.

Zhou Tingru stepped forward and took the two letters from the hands of the great eunuch Wang Chengen, read them quickly, and then handed them to Liu Yuliang behind him, and then showed joy on his face and said to Chongzhen: "Congratulations to the emperor, congratulations to the emperor, my army is playing a triumphant song, this is a sign of our emperor's blessing to the sky, the Ming Dynasty is very fortunate and the emperor is very lucky!" ”

Just as Zhou Tingru spoke, several ministers next to him also quickly finished reading the two letters, and Liu Yuliang also stepped forward and said: "Lord Zhou is right, this is the blessing of my Ming Dynasty and the blessing of my emperor, and the emperor should issue a decree to praise it." ”

Then. The Ministry of Rites Shangshu Lin Yuji stood up and arched his hand: "Your Majesty, it is indeed gratifying that the Marquis of Zhongyong has recovered the Dayuan, but he said that it is inappropriate to hope that the Emperor will give it as a fief, although the Daguan is the territory of the Marquis Yue, but as the saying goes, it is not the king's land under the clouds, and the land in this world is all the emperor's, so I am afraid that it is not in line with the etiquette to give it to the courtiers?" ”

Hearing this, everyone's expressions also became a little solemn, since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, except for the fact that Comrade Lao Zhu has wantonly divided the land to his son since the beginning of the dynasty, there has never been an example of dividing a piece of land to his courtiers. Now Yue Yang has so openly proposed to name the big man to be his fiefdom, this matter is said to be unknown at best, and at worst it is said that he wants to challenge the imperial power.

"What do you mean?" Chongzhen didn't say anything, and looked at the ministers behind him expressionlessly.

Hubu Shangshu Li hesitated for a moment and stood up and said: "Your Majesty, although what Lord Lin said is also reasonable, but the big man was taken by the Marquis Zhongyong from those red-haired people, and it is understandable that people ask the emperor to give him the big man as a fief. The imperial court did not exert any strength in this matter, but it wanted to forcibly take away his request, but this matter was not very reasonable. ”

Lin Yuji retorted: "Lord Li." The loyal and brave marquis is the courtier of the Ming Dynasty, no matter what he does for the Ming Dynasty, it is right, if he lays down the big man, he will give him the big man as a fief, then if he lays down more places overseas in the future, we will also divide it to him? If others do the same. My Ming Dynasty is not messed up! ”

Li Zhiwen laughed: "Lord Lin, what you say is really strange." In the past, when the big man was in the hands of the Yiren, I didn't see you say that the whole world is not the king's land, but now that the loyal and brave marquis has beaten you, you are in a hurry to jump out, what are your intentions? Besides. The big man is lonely and the miasma is rampant overseas, and there are still many cannibals on the island who are difficult for the imperial court to govern, so dare to ask Lord Lin. If the officials are brought under the imperial court, who will be sent to govern them? Would you like to go? What do you think if you agree to be the first governor of the Governor's office? ”

"I ......"

Facing Li Zhiwen's questioning, Lin Xuji suddenly became dumb, the reason why he opposed it just now was for no other reason, it was purely the exclusive desire in his heart to make trouble, and everyone who was an official had a habit, that is, he would go on when he saw the benefits, and shirk when he encountered problems. As a newly occupied place, if it is nationalized by the imperial court, it is conceivable how many officials can be arranged in such a large place, and there is a shortage of other things in the Ming Dynasty, but there are many people who want to be officials, as long as they operate it well, they can naturally arrange a lot of protégés and former officials, and the benefits will naturally roll in.

But Lin Xiangji forgot that as a newly developed place, the people on the island were already pitiful, and they were lonely overseas, and being an official there was not only a blessing but a crime. Thinking of this and facing Li Zhiwen's sarcastic gaze, Lin wanted to be dumbfounded, and finally had to return to work stupidly.

Seeing that everyone had nothing to say, Chongzhen spoke, "Ladies and gentlemen, Lord Li is right. At this time, the big man is still a barren land outside the country, and the people are poor, and the huge big man has less than 10,000 permanent residents, if it is collected by the imperial court, the court will become a lot of financial resources and manpower to govern, not to mention that the Marquis of Zhongyong has told me before, and I also agreed to it at the time, but at this time, it is not good to regret it, do you say that this is the reason? ”

Zhou Tingru nodded, "The emperor is right, it is indeed not easy for a big man to be isolated overseas, and it would be better if he was given a fief to the Marquis of Zhongyong." First, the nominal Daguan is still the land of the Ming Dynasty, and secondly, the court does not need to spend a single soldier, how can you not agree to such the best of both worlds! ”

Since Yang Sichang left, Zhou Tingru has been the de facto first assistant in today's court, and as soon as he said that everyone naturally had to give some face, the people around him also nodded: "Lord Zhou's words are reasonable, and the ministers seconded it!" ”

"Hmm...... Then it's settled! ”

Chongzhen agreed to this matter very happily, and made a decision on the spot. But soon he put forward another thing: "Zhuqing, in addition to this, the Marquis of Zhongyong also said another thing in the memorabilia, Zheng Zhilong, a guerrilla general of Fujian coastal defense, colluded with the Yi people, openly robbed my Ming merchants at sea, killed people and did all kinds of evil, and even last year he openly sold weapons and armor to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, fortunately it was seized by my sailor, and now the Marquis of Zhongyong has asked the imperial court to remove Zheng Zhilong from his post and arrest him, what do you think?" ”

"Zheng Zhilong?" As soon as this name was mentioned, the faces of many ministers also began to become grim.

Zhong Jiong, the imperial historian of the left capital, first said: "Your Majesty." Zheng Zhilong was born as a pirate, and no one could stop him in the South China Sea for more than ten years, and the court had no choice but to appease him, but this person still went his own way after becoming an official of the imperial court, but because the imperial court sailor had already eroded him, there was no way to take him, and now fortunately the Zhongyong Marquis rebuilt the sailor, and it was when this fang was captured and brought to justice, and the loyal and Yonghou said that the minister agreed! The emperor might as well give a decree to the Marquis of Zhongyong, so that he will send troops to Fujian to capture that Zheng Zhilong in one fell swoop to correct the law of the country! ”

"No!"

As soon as Zhong Yong's words were finished, Xue Guoguan objected: "Marquis Zhongyong is now in charge of Shanxi, Shandong, and the big people. Everything is busy, but it is not appropriate to hand over the affairs of Fujian to him. ”

Everyone was stunned at first when they heard this, and then they were shocked in their hearts. Although Xue Guoguan's words were very vague, who were the people present, it could be said that they were all old foxes and old fritters in the officialdom, so they naturally heard what he meant. Now that Yue Yang has controlled the two provinces of Shanxi and Shandong, and so many places in Dayuan, if he is allowed to stretch out his hand to Fujian again, it will be even more difficult to control it in the future.

Xie Sheng, the secretary of the ministry, frowned and said, "What Lord Liu said is not unreasonable, but then again. At this time, apart from the Zhongyong Marquis, who else in the imperial court can deal with Zheng Zhilong, and Zheng Zhilong has hundreds of warships, where can I have a sailor to compete with in addition to the Zhongyong Marquis? ”

"This ......"

Xue Guoguan pulled his beard and didn't speak, and everyone was speechless. Then it was a little gloomy. When the great Da Ming actually left Yueyang, he couldn't play, if Yue Yang had a bad intention, wouldn't Da Ming be messed up.

Everyone look at me, I look at you, but they feel that the strategies they used to rely on and be proud of are all useless, and it is only now that they understand that all strategies are based on strength.

In the end, everyone who had no choice could only pinch their noses and agree to Zhong Jiong's suggestion. Zhou Tingru drafted an edict for Chongzhen, and ordered Yue Yang to contact Zheng Zhilong's troops on a certain day, and if there was resistance, he could be killed.

When this matter is taken care of. There was a rush of footsteps outside the door, and a middle-aged eunuch stumbled in, knelt down towards Chongzhen with a puff, and said in a trembling voice: "Your Majesty...... Lord Hong Chengchou sent a six-hundred-mile urgency, and the imperial army was defeated in Deyang and lost more than 10,000 people, and now Lord Hong is leading the remnants to retreat to Chengdu to wait for help. ”

"What?"

The entire study room was shocked, and Chongzhen also stood up and pointed at the eunuch and said, "Hong Chengchou's army of more than 20,000 soldiers is strong and strong, how could he be suddenly defeated?" ”

The eunuch knelt on the ground and kowtowed and said, "The slave and maid heard...... I heard that it was because Lord Hong was ordered by Yang Shoufu to exterminate Zhang Xianzhong within a time limit, Lord Hong had no choice but to personally lead his troops to pursue, but he was ambushed by Zhang Xianzhong in Deyang, which led to a great defeat! ”

"This Yang Sichang ...... The imperial court lost tens of thousands of troops...... What a damn one! Chongzhen squirted out such a sentence word by word from between his teeth.

At this time, Chongzhen was eager to arrest Yang Sichang and cut it with a thousand knives, and the more than 20,000 elites led by Hong Chengchou were not easy to cultivate by the imperial court in recent years, and their combat effectiveness was also very good. Chongzhen also attaches great importance to this army, but now it has lost more than half of it at once, and the reason is Yang Sichang's blind command. Thinking of this, Chongzhen ate Yang Sichang's heart.

Just when Chongzhen's heart was like a knife, Zhou Tingru on the side asked a key sentence: "Where is Lord Yang now?" ”

"Lord Yang...... Since the defeat of the army, Lord Yang has been ill and has ...... I passed away a few days ago! ”

"What...... Yang Sichang is dead! ”

This news is no less than an earthquake for everyone, although Yang Sichang has long lost Chongzhen's trust, otherwise he would not have been relegated to Sichuan to suppress bandits, but after all, he is still the nominal Shoufu, and the death of Shoufu is a major event, which is enough to make a huge change in the pattern of the DPRK and China.

Zhou Tingru was taken aback, and hurriedly said to Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, Lord Yang's death is not a trivial matter, we have to quickly send someone to transport Lord Yang's coffin to the capital, and then the court will announce it to the world." ”

"No need!" Chongzhen, who was still angry, waved his hand, "Send the decree to send his coffin back to his hometown directly, so that it doesn't need to be transported to the capital." ”

Everyone glanced at each other, and they all knew that the emperor was angry, if Yang Sichang was still there, he would definitely be taken down by Chongzhen for questioning, but now Yang Sichang is dead, as the saying goes, the dead are the greatest, which also made Chongzhen, who was holding back his anger, have nowhere to vent, and in the end he can only be out of sight and let Yang Sichang's coffin go home directly. After all, according to the rules of the imperial court, the current chief assistant like Yang Sichang died of illness abroad and had to be transported back to the capital to accept the worship of hundreds of officials, and the emperor had to give a title, and then give many rewards before he could be transported back to his hometown, but this procedure has now been waived by Chongzhen, which shows how angry Chongzhen is in his heart.

Although he knew that Chongzhen at this time was like a powder keg that would explode at a moment, Zhou Tingru, as the de facto first assistant at this time, still had to stand up and ask: "Your Majesty, what ......is the Sichuan war situation?"

Chongzhen stood up and said angrily: "You don't need to ask, let's transfer Sun Chuanting over first!" After saying that, he hurried away angrily...... (To be continued......)