The battle in Shijiazizhuang lasted for most of the night, until the sky gradually turned white.

When the sky began to brighten, some of the officers and soldiers in charge of the search also began to let out bursts of cheers. The people who can follow Li Zicheng's side, these people are all subordinate to Li Zicheng's hardcore henchmen, and they are also known as Lao Ying. These people have been habitual bandits for so many years, and each of them carries a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry, which also gives the officers and soldiers in charge of cleaning the battlefield an opportunity to make a fortune.

As time passed, the bodies of the robbers and generals who had been killed were also found one by one.

Suddenly, there was a cheer in the distance, "This is Liu Zongmin...... This is Liu Zongmin's corpse, this thief is finally dead, it's a good death! ”

"It's ...... This is Li Guo...... This guy is dead, too! ”

Listening to the cheers from afar, the faces of the Xuan army who were searching nearby were not very good-looking, the role of the Xuan army in this decisive battle was undoubtedly decisive, although the other officers and soldiers under Lu Xiangsheng could not be said to be useless, but compared to the Xuan army, they could only be said to be supporting roles, but these supporting roles were inversely proportional to their combat effectiveness in grabbing credit, and it was not enough to describe it with the word fierce.

Listening to the cheers in the distance, a Xuanda gunsmith spat on the ground and scolded, "Phew...... These guys can't fight wars, but they have a hand in grabbing credit! ”

"Hmph...... If these guys were in our Xuan army, they would have been shot ten times by the military discipline officer. One of the firecrackers snorted angrily.

"Okay, don't complain, hurry up and pay attention to the search, all seizures must be handed over to the public, and then they will be distributed, if you have itchy hands, you will recite military discipline three times in your heart!" Although a commander on the side also despised those friendly troops who were not good at fighting but were extremely diligent in stealing silver, as the commander of everyone, he still had to interrupt everyone's words and give a warning.

The rule of the Xuan army is that all the seizures on the battlefield will be handed over, and then the top will send four parts of the total amount of the seizures to the bottom. If you really like something, you can tell Sima in the army in advance, Sima will record it, and when the time comes, as long as it is not too abrupt and valuable, the thing will be discounted and rewarded to you, which is quite humane for the soldiers in the army.

For example, if you have seized a gold bracelet and want to take it back to the old lady of the family or to your daughter-in-law, you must first hand it over and register, and then make a report, and then after the battle, the superior will decide whether to return it to you according to the amount of merit and reward you have made. However, there is one rule, that is, it must not be seized for personal possession. But if there is a private possession of the seizure, not only you can not get a penny but will also be expelled from the army, strict zhòng will even be dealt with by military law, the Xuanda army has been established for many years, there are not a few people who have planted in this area, so whether it is an officer or a sergeant attaches great importance to this, and there are few people who dare to cross the thunder pool.

After reprimanding these subordinates, the commander waved his hand, and the many soldiers dispersed into a straggler formation and began to examine the corpses on the ground. After a while, the chief noticed something unusual as he rummaged through a pile of dense corpses. He found that the direction and posture of the pile of corpses were a little abnormal, these people seemed to be deliberately protecting something, and the chief found that these corpses on the ground, whether it was the armor on their bodies or the weapons they carried, were obviously more advanced than ordinary rogues, and they looked very much like the guards around the senior generals. Thinking of this, the chief's spirits were a little lifted, and when he turned over the dense corpses, he saw the person at the bottom.

A dead person, to be exact, but this dead man seems to be a little different from ordinary dead people. Although at first glance the corpse was dressed in thick armor like the corpses around it, it was lined with several layers of silk. In these years, silk is a precious commodity. A person who does not have a little status cannot wear it, let alone use silk as the lining of armor.

The chief unraveled the corpse's armor and found that there was a pale yellow silk underwear inside the armor. Although the quiver on his body has been slightly peeled off, it can still be seen to be yellow. Yellow is not a color that anyone can use, except for the emperor, there are only princes and grandchildren, and among the thieves, there are definitely not many people who are so bold and openly wear yellow clothes. Shi Changqiang endured the excitement in his heart and continued to search his body, and soon found a small bag wrapped in a tarpaulin, and after opening the tarpaulin, it was wrapped in silk, and inside the package was a palm-sized seal made of green and white jade.

Shi Chang spat at the seal and then imprinted it on his palm, and then several clear red letters appeared on his palm, and then he read them word by word in a slightly trembling voice.

"Suncheon Initiative Generalissimo Fu!"

"A thief, this is a thief...... The thieves were killed by us! ”

The surrounding soldiers rushed over after hearing the news, and then in order to verify, a thousand generals of the Xuan army pressed a prisoner who had seen Li Zicheng, and it was confirmed that the corpse was indeed Li Zicheng, and soon the deafening cheers resounded in Zhuangzi......

The news of Li Zicheng's killing soon spread all over the world at a lightning speed, and the whole world was shocked, even Chongzhen in the Forbidden City rarely drank high that night after hearing the news, after all, Li Zicheng was known as Xiaoqiang who couldn't be killed. Over the years, I don't know how many times this guy has been forced into a desperate situation with no way to escape by the officials and soldiers, and he can turn the danger into a disaster. No matter how big or small the war is, he has been defeated so many times and has never encountered danger, he is simply protected by the aura of the protagonist, and now that this guy is finally dead, can Comrade Xiao Zhu not be happy.

As soon as Comrade Xiao Zhu is happy, the people below will naturally benefit. From Lu Xiangsheng to the small soldiers, there were rewards, and Lu Xiangsheng was immediately dismissed from the official post of prime minister and governor of the five provinces, and was promoted to the secretary of the military department and immediately went to the capital to take up his post. Someone said, didn't Lu Xiangsheng turn out to be the secretary of the Ministry of War, why is it still the book of the Ministry of War now. In fact, this is not a contradiction, Lu Xiangsheng's original title of the military department is in parentheses, just a name, and now he is the main position.

But not everyone has a reward, at least not the Xuan army. And Chongzhen's holy decree to the Xuan army was to let them immediately turn around and lead their troops to Sichuan to assist Sun Chuanting in exterminating Zhang Xianzhong, and wait until Zhang Xianzhong was eliminated and then rewarded together, but it was because of this holy decree that the problem came.

"What...... You say that the Xuan army refuses to obey the order? Chongzhen's angry voice resounded in the huge Taiji Hall.

Today's early dynasty, the Taiji Hall was full of ministers as usual, led by Zhou Tingru, who was reappointed as the first assistant. Next to him was Lu Xiangsheng, the new secretary of the military department who had just rushed to the capital non-stop, and Comrade Chongzhen was getting up at this time, looking at Lu Xiangsheng who was reporting the military situation to him with angry eyes.

Looking at Chongzhen, who looked angry, Lu Xiangsheng blinked his mouth and said helplessly: "Your Majesty, it's not that the Xuan army refuses to obey the order, but they can't do it!" ”

"What do you mean by that?" Chongzhen glared at Lu Xiangsheng and asked with an unkind face, the meaning is very simple, that is, if you don't say that you are ugly, don't blame me for being unkind.

Lu Xiangsheng smiled bitterly and said an answer that made Chongzhen stunned: "Your Majesty, it's not that the Xuan army doesn't want to march into Sichuan, but the grain and grass of the Xuan army are a little out of supply. ”

"What?"

As soon as he heard this, not only Chongzhen, but also the ministers of the Taiji Hall were stunned.

"Can't supply the grain and grass of the Xuan army?" This sentence sounds like a big joke, who is the Xuanda army? It is the soldiers and horses of Yueyang, the largest landlord of the Ming Dynasty. To say that Yue Yang didn't have enough grain and grass to supply his soldiers and horses, wouldn't that be the biggest joke?

"Can't supply food and grass for the Xuan army? This joke is not funny, Lord Lu, are you not deceiving the emperor and me? Without waiting for Chongzhen to speak, Li Zhiwen on the side took the lead in making trouble.

Lu Xiangsheng turned his head to look at Li and said coldly: "Master Li, why can you see that this official is deceiving His Majesty and you?" ’

Li Zhiwen sneered: "The Marquis of Zhongyong is rich in the world, if even the Marquis of Zhongyong has no food and grass to supply the Xuan army, then all the people in the world will starve to death." ”

Lu Xiangsheng also smiled: "The Marquis of Zhongyong is not known to the official of the rich world, but the official wants to ask, whether the Xuan army is the army of the imperial court?" If the army of the imperial court had to let the Marquis of Zhongyong supply their food? ”

"This ...... You ......" Li was dumb when he asked.

In fact, not only Li Zhiwen, but even the ministers in the hall were all stunned. Is the Xuan army a soldier of the imperial court? The answer is yes. Whoever dares to say half a word, I'm afraid that he will be immediately thrown into the prison by Chongzhen for reflection. But you have to say that it is the soldiers and horses of the imperial court, and now he listens to the tune and does not listen to the Xuan, so although in fact the Xuan army has faintly shown signs of breaking away from the control of the imperial court, no one dares to say that it is not the soldiers and horses of the imperial court.

But in this way, the question arises, since it is the soldiers and horses of the imperial court, why has the imperial court not paid a penny of food? As soon as this question came out, even everyone began to scratch their heads. This is really in line with the old saying, you can't do anything without money.

In fact, the matter has come to this point, and the matter is already very clear, after all, everyone is not stupid, they know that this must be Xuan Dajun's dissatisfaction with the unknown rewards and punishments of the imperial court a few days ago. For most of the past few years, the Xuan army led by Hu Dawei and Yang Guozhu has made much effort in the battle to encircle and suppress Li Zicheng, and everyone can see it. However, although Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting kept handing over the folds of their merits, many court officials, including Chongzhen, seemed to be suffering from collective blindness, and no one even mentioned it. On the contrary, the officers and soldiers who followed them to beat soy sauce were rewarded every once in a while. What's even more excessive is that this time the Xuan army killed Li Zicheng and captured his body, the court didn't even have the least expression, uncle can endure such a thing, aunt can't bear it, so now it's okay, the Xuan army is on strike!

The Taiji Hall fell into a strange silence, in fact, everyone was like a mirror in Chongzhen's mental activities. Although now on the surface, Yue Yang is deeply trusted by Chongzhen, and even married his daughter to him, but the question is whether Chongzhen really trusts him?

The answer is no, because it has nothing to do with trust, but Yueyang's current strength is enough to threaten the rule of the old Zhu family, and the Xuanda army built by Yue Yang has naturally become a force that makes Chongzhen feel uneasy. Since he is uneasy about this force, then Chongzhen naturally subconsciously rejects this force, and it is natural to marginalize it. But Chongzhen forgot that whether it is the army or officials, what they want most is nothing more than honor, power and money, if you block all their paths, something will happen.

"Ahem......" Chongzhen coughed lightly twice, originally wanted to say something, but in the end he found that he couldn't say anything, and he held back for a long time before he said: "Lu Aiqing, is the Xuanda army still in Henan now?" ”

Lu Xiangsheng smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Your Majesty." The minister just got the news today that Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei, the two general soldiers, had already returned to Shanxi with their troops a few days ago. ”

Chongzhen exclaimed: "What...... Did they go back to Shanxi? Lu Aiqing, didn't you say that they had promised to march into Sichuan to help Sun Chuanting exterminate Zhang Xianzhong after they exterminated the thieves? ”

Lu Xiangsheng didn't use this stubble to just be silent, and Chongzhen also understood after exclaiming that Xuan Dajun was expressing his dissatisfaction in this way, and Xuan Dajun's sudden return to Shanxi this time was probably Yueyang's meaning, otherwise he would not dare to withdraw his troops without permission by borrowing the courage of Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei.

This day's early dynasty ended in a strange atmosphere, and this matter also told Sù Chongzhen one thing, don't look at the fact that he has married his daughter to Yue Yang, but if this cheap son-in-law really annoys him, he will lose his temper.

Chongzhen, who was depressed, did not warm up the Xiangge to review the folds, but came to the Kunning Palace where Queen Zhou lived.

Queen Zhou, who got the news, hurriedly greeted her. She has been sitting with Comrade Xiaozhu for many years, she can see at a glance that her husband has something on her mind, and after welcoming Chongzhen into the palace, he sent the palace maid and eunuch out, and then asked: "Your Majesty, the concubine heard that Lord Lu has exterminated Li Zicheng's banditry, and now I have only Zhang Xianzhong, a thief, who is still wandering in Sichuan, but it will be annihilated in the future, but why is the emperor depressed?" ”

There is nothing to hide from this queen Chongzhen, who has accompanied her for so many years, so she told Queen Zhou about today's incident.

After hearing this, Empress Zhou sighed lightly and said, "Your Majesty, the concubines have already advised you a few days ago. For the monarch, the rewards and punishments should be clear, and you must not reward and punish because of your own selfishness, but the emperor, you just don't listen, and now something is wrong. ”

Chongzhen snorted: "Yue Yang is too nonsense. As the so-called thunder, rain and dew are all Jun's grace, I didn't say that I didn't reward him, but he did this kind of thing, did he really think that I couldn't help him? ”

Empress Zhou said quietly: "Your Majesty, do you really have to get him?" ”

Chongzhen was dumbfounded. Now Yueyang is no longer something he can move, sometimes Chongzhen really wants to call Yueyang to the capital and then click him with a knife in his hand, but after thinking about it, Chongzhen still let go of this idea. Today's Xuan army has grown into a terrifying beast. And the reason why this giant beast can still keep to itself is completely because of the pressure of Yue Yang, once its founder is gone, then the Ming Dynasty will have no one to suppress the many arrogant generals under him. Once the control is lost, no one knows what the army armed to the teeth will do, and I am afraid that someone will immediately fight the capital under the banner of the Qing monarch's side. With the combat effectiveness of the Xuan army, Chongzhen really can't think of any army that the Ming can resist.

Seeing that her husband was speechless, Empress Zhou persuaded earnestly: "Your Majesty, in fact, you don't have to be so taboo with Zhenghong, he is also your son-in-law, and he has already offered to ask the master to be his fief, which means that he will not gradually return Shanxi, Shandong and Liaodong to the imperial court, why do you still do such an unwise thing?" ”

Chongzhen smiled bitterly, and said after a while: "It's not that I don't know this truth, but I just can't help it, maybe this is the difference between the emperor and ordinary people." ”

Seeing her husband's rare softness, Queen Zhou didn't say anything anymore. She changed the topic without a trace: "The day before yesterday, I sent a letter, and now I am also pregnant for several months, but Zhenghong is fighting with the Yi people in Dayuan, and there are too many things to accompany him." You also know that once this woman has a child, it is easier to be cranky, do you think you want to send someone to send some supplements to her sister? ”

"Hmm...... That's as it should be. ”

Chongzhen nodded, he also loves this daughter very much, and now he is pregnant, if Zhu Yujiao can give birth to a son, then it will be good for the future of the Zhu family. Although the title of Marquis Zhongyong will definitely be inherited by Yue Yang's eldest son Yue Yao in the future, but as the emperor Chongzhen, he can give his grandson another title, and once Zhu Yujiao gives birth to a son, he can also take his grandson to live in the capital, and let Queen Zhou take him so that in the future, his heart will naturally be close to the royal family, so that once Yueyang gets old in the future, which one of his heirs is not certain, thinking of this, Chongzhen's eyes suddenly lit up, and he immediately said.

"Zitong, you immediately send someone to Shandong and send a batch of gifts to Yu Jiao, after all, our baby daughter is pregnant, so she naturally has to make up for it, and if she is willing, she can also be taken to the capital to give birth. Right...... That's it, you serve a snack, and someone will do it right away. ”

"Okay, Your Majesty, Concubine Ma Shan will do it." Seeing that her husband had finally figured it out, Queen Zhou was also happy, and soon summoned the palace maid to tell the matter to go down...... (To be continued......)