When the Haw Par Army captured the county town of Huairen, which had been burned to ruins, from the rebels, a routine court meeting was in full swing at the Jinluan Hall in Beijing.

In the face of bandits rampant in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court was asked to send reinforcements; It is a natural disaster in the place and asks the court for disaster relief. Since sitting on the dragon chair on the Jinluan Palace, Emperor Chongzhen's frowning brows have not relaxed.

Just after Emperor Chongzhen once again refuted a request for disaster relief from the imperial court, a eunuch suddenly walked in from the side door of the Jinluan Palace. Without anyone paying attention, he handed the two letters to Wang Chengen, the chief eunuch, and whispered a few words.

At the beginning, Wang Chengen, who was still dignified because of Chongzhen's frowns, showed a hint of joy in just the blink of an eye.

Walked quickly to the center of the main hall, bowed to Chongzhen on the dragon chair and said: "Your Majesty, there is good news here....here are two urgent letters sent by the Datong General Military Mansion....The counteroffensive battle of the Tiger and Leopard Army against the Shanxi rebels has begun, and it is the first victory, this is the excerpt of the victory, please read it..."

"Datong Military Report, and it's a great victory...."Chongzhen was still frowning just now, and quickly relaxed. shouted to Wang Chengen: "Then what are you still doing in a daze, come up by express... It's been so long since I've been in court, and I've finally heard good news....Quick, Ome, I'll bring up both of the letters at once..."

The first letter Chongzhen saw was undoubtedly a report signed by the chief soldier Wei Zheng and the supervisor Cao Huachun.

When he saw Cao Huachun's signature and the battle damage of the Tiger and Leopard Army, Emperor Chongzhen, who had always been self-conscious, didn't think about it, and believed the content of the song.

And that's not all. In the case of heavy casualties of the Haw Par Army. Doubts about the self-respect of the Haw Par Army. It also disappeared in an instant.

Then, he ordered Wang Chengen: "Show me another letter of recital, and by the way, read the content of this letter to the courtiers word for word, so that the courtiers will also be happy..."

When Chongzhen finished reading the second letter, his face quickly turned from sunny to cloudy, revealing a trace of embarrassment. Wang Chengen had already finished reading the first letter in front of all the courtiers.

This time. He has always regarded Wei Zheng as his own person, and in the eyes of other forces in the imperial court, Wei Zheng was also classified as his own Jinyi Wei Commander Luo Yangxing, and he was the first to stand up and compliment Emperor Chongzhen.

"Congratulations to Your Majesty, the Tiger and Leopard Army was able to counterattack the rebels in such a short period of time, and won the first battle, all of which were caused by Your Majesty's discernment....If it weren't for Your Majesty's appointment of Gonggong Cao to go to the Tiger and Leopard Army as the supervising army, insisting that Wei Zheng make meritorious service and continue to stay in Datong Mansion as the chief soldier of Datong, this holy war would never have come so quickly..."

After Luo Yangxing finished speaking. The other courtiers reacted to the shocking good news.

At this moment, whether they want to or not. All of them followed behind Luo Yangxing, knelt on the ground with their legs, and said to Chongzhen on the dragon chair: "Congratulations to Your Majesty for your wisdom and pearl ......."

Seeing that the smile on Chongzhen's face only lasted for a blink of an eye, it was quickly replaced by a trace of embarrassment. Luo Yang, who is also very good at observing words and feelings, spoke in a very timely manner.

"Your Majesty, the Haw Par Army has achieved such a great victory in Datong Province, according to this momentum, it will not be long before the rebels entrenched in Shanxi will be wiped out by the Haw Par Army... With such good news, the minister is not very happy about how to look at His Majesty..."

Chongzhen shook his head and replied: "The Haw Par Army lived up to expectations and counterattacked the rebels, and won the first battle, I am very relieved, and I am happy from the bottom of my heart... However, all of you know one truth, fighting a war costs money..."

Speaking of this, Chongzhen directly waved the second letter in his hand, and then spoke.

"This is the second copy of the letter jointly written by the Datong Mansion General Soldier Wei Zheng and the Haw Par Army Supervisor Cao Huachun to the imperial court....Because of the expansion of the Haw Par Army, the Datong General Military Office has reached the point where it cannot make ends meet."

"For the current counteroffensive, the Datong General Military Office has reached the point where it is unable to support it....In this case, in order to ensure that this counteroffensive continues, in order to allow the fallen soldiers to get a full pension, and the meritorious soldiers to get a full amount of rewards. The two of them jointly wrote a letter to me, asking the imperial court to allocate the first payment of silver for this counteroffensive against the rebels, 500,000 taels..."

"Let's talk about whether this 500,000 taels of silver for counteroffensive war preparedness will be allocated or not..."

As soon as Chongzhen spoke, the Hubu Shangshu in the main hall stood up and said with an impassioned face: "Your Majesty, the Hubu has had no silver since last month....even if His Majesty agrees to allocate this salary, the Hubu can't take out a tael of silver." Therefore, the old minister thought that since the imperial court had given the Datong General Military Mansion a holy decree requiring all the food and salary of the Tiger and Leopard Army to raise all their own food, then the 500,000 taels of silver should be solved by the General Guard himself..."

In the imperial court, except for Emperor Chongzhen, the commander of Jinyi Wei Luo Yangxing, and Cao Huachun's direct boss Wang Chengen, none of them wanted to see Wei Zheng make great contributions again, regain the trust of Emperor Chongzhen, and get promoted.

Therefore, as soon as the Household Department Shangshu finished speaking, the Military Department Shangshu followed up and complained: "Your Majesty, not only does the Household Department have no money, but the Military Department also has no money... The old minister thought that the imperial court could completely ignore the twists and turns of the Datong General Military Mansion..."

"yes... Why did the Datong General Military Office ask the imperial court for silver, and the imperial court gave it, and the Shandong General Military Office asked the imperial court for silver, and the imperial court did not... You must know that Shandong's bandits are not much lighter than Shanxi's..."

"If the imperial court really has silver, the most important thing to do should be disaster relief, not to give Datong General Military Mansion... If the imperial court does not carry out disaster relief, those hungry victims are likely to evolve into new rebels..."

In the face of the more he talked, the more energetic he became, but there was only one meaning, that is, the courtiers who refused to give the silver. A trace of helplessness flashed directly on Emperor Chongzhen's face, because, in the case that the imperial court was unable to make ends meet and there was no silver and food in his hands, even if he was the emperor, there was no way to do it.

Helpless and helpless, Chongzhen's heart was very unwilling.

Because, from this compromise, which Cao Huachun and Wei Zheng jointly sent. Chongzhen clearly felt the lack of food and salary for the tiger and leopard army. These 500,000 taels of silver are important for the Haw Par Army to launch this counteroffensive.

Let's put it more bluntly. With these 500,000 taels of silver, the Haw Par Army will have sufficient food and salaries, and their morale will be high, and they will take Huairen and San'in in one fell swoop to destroy the rebels. However, without these 500,000 taels of food, the Haw Par Army not only has no way to destroy the rebels, but it may also face a riot due to the shortage of food.

And this ending. It's definitely not what Emperor Chongzhen wants to see.

Therefore, when the courtiers once again focused their eyes on themselves, Emperor Chongzhen said with the last glimmer of hope: "Ladies and gentlemen, haven't you ever thought about what kind of ending this counteroffensive launched by the Tiger and Leopard Army will end if the imperial court does not give this silver?" ”

"If the Tiger and Leopard Army is defeated, the rebels will definitely take advantage of the situation to launch an attack on Datong Province, and when the time comes, not only Datong Province. The city of Beijing, where we are all located, could be attacked by the rebels..."

"So. What I mean is: Give the Haw Par Army this silver....As for where this money comes from, you Aiqing needs to find a way to solve it yourself......"

Unlike the courtiers who were talking about it, the Jinyi guard commanded Luo Yangxing, with a pair of sharp eyes, and looked at Emperor Chongzhen sitting on the throne from beginning to end.

Facing Chongzhen's holy decree without the slightest tone of discussion, facing Chongzhen's constantly changing face. An idea immediately sprung up in Luo Yangxing's mind: "The Tiger and Leopard Army, the Tiger and Leopard Army under the command of Wei Zheng, has won the trust of Emperor Chongzhen again.

After reminiscing about the content of the fold again, Luo Yangxing immediately found out the key to the problem.

"Although the Haw Par Army won the first battle, it lost 1,500 soldiers in just one victory. For the Haw Par Army, which has a total strength of only 10,000 troops, 1,500 people can definitely be called a nerve-wracking force. ”

"However, in this case, Wei Zheng did not ask the court to withdraw his troops, but asked the court for silver, and continued to attack the rebels regardless of the losses."

"Under such circumstances, it would be ridiculous if someone else said that Wei Zheng had a self-respecting army in Datong Mansion."

"As for why Emperor Chongzhen believes so much in the content of the fold, it is even simpler. For the conceited Emperor Chongzhen, Wei Zheng may not be credible, but Cao Huachun, who signed with Wei Zheng and was picked up by Emperor Chongzhen, is very credible. In other words, as long as Cao Huachun approves of the content of the fold, Chongzhen believes in the fold. ”

After thinking about the cause and effect relationship, a smile full of weirdness quickly flashed away from Luo Yangxing's face.

Because, he has found a way to improve his status in Chongzhen's heart again, and even to fight political opponents in his analysis.

Just when the expectant expression on Chongzhen's face slowly turned into disappointment because of the silence of the courtiers, Luo Yangxing, who had already thought of a rhetoric, stood up decisively.

"Your Majesty, the minister has something to say..."

After receiving Chongzhen's acquiescence, Luo Yangxing did not hesitate any longer, and continued: "As far as the minister knows, His Majesty asked the general soldier of Wei to make meritorious service in the post of chief soldier of Datong Mansion, and sent the supervising army. There are still many ministers in the DPRK and China who preach everywhere that the Haw Par Army has self-respect in Datong Mansion and has a heart of disobedience..."

"However, here today, what the minister wants to say is that the Datong General Soldier Wei Zheng not only does not have any disobedience, but is loyal to my Ming Dynasty and His Majesty, and is a rare loyal minister of my Ming Dynasty..."

"Everyone, please look at the joint performance of Lord Wei and the prison army Cao Gonggong....The Haw Par Army lost 1,500 soldiers in the first battle with the rebels alone....If Lord Wei Zhengwei really intends to support his own troops, and the Haw Par Army has already suffered such heavy losses, will Lord Wei still order the troops to continue to attack the rebels..."

"Therefore, the minister thinks that even in order to restore the reputation of Lord Fùwei and the Tiger and Par Army in the imperial court, the imperial court should allocate the 500,000 taels of silver that His Majesty has already promised... Otherwise, how can the front-line soldiers trust our imperial court, trust Your Majesty, and continue to fight bloody battles on the front line for Your Majesty and the imperial court..."

The hook is ready, just waiting for the fish to take the bait...

Just when Luo Yangxing was silent, he once again shifted his gaze to Chongzhen, who had a moving expression on his face. The squire of the Ministry of Rites, who had always acted as the vanguard of civil officials, stood up and retorted loudly to Wei Zheng.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the commander of the Jinyi Guard has made Lord Luo too strict... None of us know whether the Datong General Military Office sent to the imperial court lied about the military situation, the casualty figures and results in the compromise, and whether there was any falsehood....Therefore, the minister thinks that the suspicion of the Datong General Military Guard's self-respect for the army cannot still be ruled out, please check it out..."

The fish took the bait...

Luo Yangxing secretly thought in his heart, and after a strange smile flashed on his face again, he stood up directly from the rank. Pretending to be angry, he pointed at the servant and asked loudly.

"Lord Wang, do you mean to say that the Datong General Military Mansion to the imperial court is fake..."

The face of the waiter of the Ministry of Rites changed, as if he realized something, and hurriedly replied: "Your Majesty, Lord Luo, the minister did not say that the content of the fold is fake, the minister just suspects....Before sending a messenger to Datong Mansion to confirm, no one can guarantee that the content of the fold is true." ”

What the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, who was in a hurry to argue, didn't see that when he said this, Emperor Chongzhen's expression instantly became solemn.

However, with a solemn face, he did not rush to speak, but watched quietly and waited for the following.

Standing on the main hall, Luo Yangxing, who was also watched by Chongzhen, did not let go of this opportunity to attack political opponents. He said to the waiter of the Ministry of Rites with a-for-tat expression: "Lord Wang, what I want to tell you is that you can suspect other folds, but you must not doubt this one. Because, this letter was jointly written to the imperial court by the general guard of Datong and the supervisor Cao Gonggong. ”

"If you doubt this letter, you suspect Gonggong Cao..."

"Gonggong Cao is the eunuch sent to the Tiger and Leopard Army by His Majesty, and he is the confidant eunuch of His Majesty... Don't you think that doubting Gonggong Cao is doubting His Majesty's vision of employing people? ”

Hearing this, the face of the servant of the ministry, who was still righteous just now, immediately turned pale.

subconsciously knelt on the ground, and begged for mercy loudly at Chongzhen on the throne: "Please forgive your sins, the ministers are all unintentional mistakes, please forgive your sins..."

The whole court meeting was led by the nose by the courtiers, and Chongzhen, who was angry, finally found an outlet, and of course he would not give up.

After waving his hand impatiently, he ordered with an angry face: "The servant of the ministry bullied the king and framed the loyal ministers of the court, and the crime is unforgivable... I have decided to remove him from all his official positions, demote him to a commoner, and from now on, the court will never hire him........."