"Your Majesty, the minister suggests that the matter of the battle in Liaoxi be handled flexibly......"

In the Forbidden City, the Qianqing Palace, and the huge palace, only Zhu Youzhen and the cabinet deputy assistant, Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the military department, this is a top-secret report before Chen Xinjia is ready to leave, involving the matter of the expedition in western Liaoning, according to the suggestion of Qian Shisheng, the first assistant of the cabinet, Chen Xinjia needs to go to western Liaoning to supervise the expedition on behalf of the imperial court, and has the power to arbitrarily act on the spot, of course, this power is mainly for the punishment of not being able to resist the Houjin Tartars well and escaping from the battle.

Before Chen Xinjia set off, he repeatedly begged to meet the emperor alone, and finally got permission two days before departure.

Zhu Youzhen's face was expressionless, listening to Chen Xinjia's words, Chen Xinjia's suggestion was to make peace with the Emperor Taiji of the Later Jin Dynasty, so as to temporarily calm the fighting in Liaoxi, so that the imperial court could concentrate on dealing with the increasingly rampant rogues.

It should be said that Chen Xinjia's suggestion is reasonable, the situation in western Liaoning is tense, and almost all the main energy and troops of the imperial court have been transferred to western Liaoning, including the army led by Xiong Wencan, the governor of the five provinces, and 50,000 people have been transferred.

To put it bluntly, the imperial court can only go all out to deal with one aspect.

Under such circumstances, Chen Xinjia put forward such a suggestion, if he got the emperor's permission, when he went to Liaoxi, he would try his best to find the emperor Taiji of Houjin to discuss reconciliation.

Zhu Youzhen was unwilling to make peace with the Emperor Taiji of the Later Jin Dynasty, and in his mind, the Ming Dynasty was supreme. It was too cheap to negotiate peace with Houjin Tatar, but the reality forced him to make a decision, either to agree to the workaround proposed by Chen Xinjia, or to watch the Ming Dynasty fall into a place of no return.

But Zhu Youzhen still has a glimmer of hope in his heart.

After all, the number of troops concentrated in western Liaoning reached nearly 200,000, and the Houjin Tartars faced were only 150,000. Among them, the Khan Eight Banners reached 100,000 people, and the Houjin Tartars were only 50,000 people, in terms of troops, the Ming Dynasty occupied an obvious advantage, and the Eight Banners Army was mainly attacking the city, and the Ming Army was mainly guarding the city, and the difficulties faced by Huang Taiji were much greater.

From this point of view, Zhu Youzhen is easily unwilling to admit defeat.

Having grown up in the deep palace for a long time, Zhu Youzhen does not particularly understand the actual situation in the outside world. There is no direct feeling about the conquest and fighting, and there is always some taste of taking it for granted, thinking that if the army has an advantage, it should be won, and if the sergeant does not dare to fight and conquer, it must be the problem of the commander and so on.

After Chen Xinjia finished speaking, Zhu Youzhen pondered for a while before speaking.

"Chen Aiqing. I see what you mean, but I haven't started the fight yet. Thinking about making peace with the Houjin Tartars, this is not appropriate, I think that doing so will also encounter the opposition of the Manchu Dynasty's civil and military ministers, and it will also encounter the condemnation of the world, what Aiqing said is also the actual situation, the imperial court is facing the Houjin Tartars and Liukou at the same time. It's hard to deal with, and I'll see if I can think of another way. ”

Hearing the emperor say this, Chen Xinjia was a little dumbfounded, he couldn't think of any other way at all, if he said that there was a way to deal with the current situation. The Ministry of War has long put it forward.

Suddenly, Chen Xinjia thought of the crown prince Taibao, Zheng Xunrui, the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, and Zheng Jiajun, could it be that the emperor meant to prepare to send Zheng Jiajun to participate in the fight, if the emperor can have such an idea, then the crisis in western Liaoning and the Liukou in the Central Plains can be dealt with very well.

Looking up at the emperor, Chen Xinjia shut up knowingly, he didn't see this meaning from the emperor's face, as for what kind of idea the emperor had, Chen Xinjia already understood a little.

"The Ministry of War has been worried about the war situation in western Liaoxi and Shanxi, Huguang, Henan and other places, and it is also very hard, seeing that the rogues are becoming more and more rampant, if there is no good way to deal with it, the Central Plains will fall into chaos, which will definitely affect the war situation in western Liaoning, I see this, when Aiqing went to Liaoxi to supervise the battle, he asked Hong Aiqing to take the initiative to attack, if he can repel the attack of Houjin Tatar in the shortest possible time, then Liaoxi will be able to maintain stability for a long time......"

Chen Xinjia felt a little cold in his heart, and his mouth was also bitter, he didn't have this idea, but he didn't have much certainty, you must know that Houjin is Huang Taiji personally led the army to conquer, and the preparation must be very sufficient, if a decisive battle is launched in Liaoxi, what if you can't win, the emperor means that you can't win, consider the matter of peace, but at that time, will Huang Taiji agree to make peace, what to do if the lion opens his mouth.

However, Chen Xinjia is also very clear that under the current situation, he will make peace directly with Huang Taiji, not to mention that he, the deputy assistant of the cabinet and the secretary of the Ministry of War, cannot withstand doubts, even the emperor will not be able to withstand the pressure, and all plans will be in vain at that time.

The Donglin Party headed by Qian Shisheng has always been clamoring to kill the enemy desperately, and there can be no submission, the imperial court must show a righteous and awe-inspiring posture, and the posture of the Donglin Party has also been widely supported, although some sober civil and military ministers think that the two-sided fight is difficult to support, but no one dares to put forward a flexible view.

Seeing that Chen Xinjia did not express his position in time, a trace of unhappiness flashed on Zhu Youzhen's face.

"Chen Aiqing, do you have any other suggestions?"

Chen Xinjia, who came to his senses, hurriedly spoke.

"Your Majesty, the minister means that the court is difficult to support the two-sided conquest and fighting, seeing that the rogues are becoming more and more arrogant, if they can't calm down the inside, then the external things can't be solved, in the current situation, it is best to be able to stabilize one side, and draw the main forces to deal with the fight of the other side, from the actual situation, it is better to make peace with the Houjin Tartars temporarily, and the minister can guarantee to negotiate secretly with the Emperor Taiji of the Houjin......"

Chen Xinjia still did not change his understanding, he believed that the imperial court was not sure of victory in the fight in western Liaoning.

Zhu Youzhen finally couldn't help it, the Houjin Tartars invaded the customs twice, and finally failed, although they were defeated by the Zheng family army every time, but the morale was always hit, in this case, the Houjin Tartars were also strong and couldn't go anywhere, and now the imperial court has concentrated nearly 200,000 troops in Liaoxi to stand by, if they haven't started to fight, they are ready to make peace with Huang Taiji, he, the emperor, can't give an explanation to the court at all, and give an explanation to the people of the world.

"Chen Aiqing, I understand what you mean, this matter of peace, we will discuss it in the future, this time you will go to Liaoxi to supervise the war on behalf of me, the focus is still on the matter of stable defense, I think there can be a fight, but guarding Jinzhou and Ningyuan and other cities is the biggest task......"

When Chen Xinjia left the Qianqing Palace, there was a look of frustration on his face.

After Chen Xinjia left, Zhu Youzhen spoke behind him.

"Wang Chengen, what do you think of Chen Aiqing's suggestion?"

Wang Chengen, who came out of the secret place, lowered his head and replied in a low voice.

"The slave maid thinks that the emperor's consideration is foolproof, and the army of nearly 200,000 in western Liaoxi, if it can't fight with the Houjin Tartars, it is unreasonable, and the prison army Du Xun has already written a recital, saying that Lord Hong is fully prepared to meet the Houjin Tartars......"

Du Xun was originally the supervisor of the Xuanfu, this time he was promoted, became the supervisor of the army, and Hong Chengchou was responsible for the expedition of western Liao, after arriving in Ningyuan, Du Xun wrote many times, reporting on the defense of Jinzhou and Ningyuan city, and in the twists and turns, he was still optimistic about the situation in western Liao.

As the chief eunuch of the ceremonial supervisor, Wang Chengen chose to believe in Du Xun and ignore the twists and turns of Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, he believed that the commander who led the army to fight, no matter what kind of advantage he occupied, would raise many difficulties before the battle began, this is a kind of officialdom knowledge, and constantly raised difficulties, if the battle is won, it is the commander's command, if the battle is lost, then it can also find an excuse.

Wang Chengen thinks so, and Zhu Youzhen also thinks so.

After so many years, his attitude towards eunuchs has completely changed, and he even feels that Wei Zhongxian back then should be capable, but he should not covet the throne, the eunuch is absolutely loyal, there is no doubt about it, as for the civil and military ministers of the Manchu Dynasty, almost all of them are for their own interests, Zheng Xunrui, the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, after his strength became huge, he even directly threatened his Zhu Youzhen's throne and threatened the Ming family of the Zhu family.

"Wang Chengen, what you said is right, I also think that the expedition in Liaoxi cannot be easily abandoned, but the matter of making peace with the Houjin Tartars also needs to be considered, think about it, I am worried about the battle in Liaoxi, it will not be possible to end for a while and a half, and at that time, you need to consider other matters."

Back at home, Chen Xinjia locked himself in the study, and no one was allowed to disturb him.

So far, the only thing he can do is to urge the governor of Jiliao, Hong Chengchou, to lead the army, and quickly start a fight with the Houjin Tartars, and strive to occupy a favorable situation in the battle, so that Huang Taiji has the psychology of retreating, thinking that it is impossible to defeat the Eight Banners Army in a short period of time, so that the Ming court can make peace with Huang Taiji.

As for Zheng Xunrui and Zheng Jiajun, they are not considered for the time being, the emperor does not have this idea, and he Chen Xinjia does not dare to mention it.

However, faintly, Chen Xinjia felt that when things reached a point out of control, the imperial court still had to rely on Zheng Xunrui and Zheng Jiajun, for example, the situation in western Liaoning fell into chaos, and even Hong Chengchou was defeated, at that time, only Zheng Xunrui and Zheng Jiajun could save the Ming court. (To be continued......)