In early April of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, Abatai, who had been ravaging the north for several months, finally led the Houjin Tartars to leave the Guannei, took the direction of Xifengkou, and returned to Liaodong, and the 100,000 Houjin Tartars led by him were divided into two parts, one continued to garrison Jinzhou and Ningyuan and other places, and the other returned to Shenyang, and Abatai also followed back to Shenyang.

Abatai in the North Zhili during the plunder, did not encounter any resistance, he assured bold command and use of troops, no Ming army dared to go head-to-head, the defeat of the Battle of Songshan has completely knocked out the morale of the Ming army, but Abatai is still very attentive to the movements of the Zheng army, always vigilant, he sent countless scouts, reconnaissance of the Zheng army's movements, to see if there is a Zheng army into the North Zhili, at the same time he will not disperse the army, from beginning to end is 100,000 troops to act together.

Until leaving Beizhili, Zheng Jiajun did not appear, which made Abatai very incomprehensible, but Shenyang's Huang Taiji and Fan Wencheng and others understood the reason, they analyzed through all aspects of intelligence that there has been a complete break between Zheng Xunrui and Emperor Chongzhen, and the next main opponent of the Great Qing State is likely to be Zheng Xunrui and Zheng Jiajun.

The Ming Dynasty was divided, Henan and Shanxi had the Liukou led by Li Zicheng, and the Zheng family army led by Zheng Xunrui in Nanzhili and other places, which should have made Huang Taiji happy, and the Qing Dynasty could take advantage of this opportunity to quickly overthrow the Ming Dynasty, but Huang Taiji was not happy at all, he knew very well that if the Qing Dynasty could not make fundamental changes, quickly become stronger, and quickly occupy the Central Plains, the final fate would be to be exterminated by Zheng Xunrui and Zheng Jiajun.

Therefore, after Abatai went to Shenyang to report his achievements, Huang Taiji quickly issued an order, and Prince Rui Dolgon and Abatai, who was promoted to the king of Raoyu County because of his military exploits, led heavy troops and garrisoned Jinzhou and Ningyuan.

The meaning of Huang Taiji's order is very clear. Once there is a chaotic situation in the Ming court, then the Eight Banners Army will take this opportunity to quickly capture Shanhaiguan until it occupies the capital of the Ming Dynasty and completely controls the Central Plains.

Huang Taiji also believes that this day is not far off.

Abatai led the Houjin Tartars to evacuate Beizhili, leaving behind a lonely wilderness and thousands of miles of uninhabited.

Bei Zhili has been completely ravaged by Abatai. The young and strong were plundered, the old and weak women and children were killed, and there were hundreds of miles without people in some places, you must know that this is the location of the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and it was the most stable and prosperous place in the Ming Dynasty.

The news of the evacuation of the Houjin Tartars quickly spread to the capital.

The emperor and the cabinet finally breathed a sigh of relief, and Abatai did not attack the capital from beginning to end, nor did he show such a meaning, which made the emperor believe it. The Houjin Tartars did not yet have the ability to attack the capital, nor did they have the ability to gain a foothold in the Guannai, and their main idea was to loot money.

After the withdrawal of the Golden Tartars, the pressure on many armies was suddenly reduced, what to do next, whether to implement the original deployment determined by the cabinet, this is something that the emperor and the cabinet need to think about and decide.

The people of Beizhili hated the imperial army no less than the Houjin Tartars.

The minds of the imperial army were not at all on the side of resisting the Houjin Tartars. Instead, he shifted his attention to the looting of the people, and the situation of thousands of miles of people in Beizhili was uninhabited. Among them, there are also the merits of the imperial army, and everywhere they go, they brutally plundered the people, and even massively slaughtered the people, killing good people and taking advantage of the merits abounded, of course, all these sins. In the end, it was all calculated to the Houjin Tartars, and the imperial army was not responsible.

What is even more puzzling is that the cabinet has actually received the impeachment of many commanders-in-chief, but it has not done anything about it.

There are still a small number of loyal ministers in the court, who do not care about their own safety. Boldly expose atrocities in the army, but unfortunately their loyalty is not taken seriously, and some of them are forced to resign from their official positions and become civilians.

Zheng Xunrui laid a secret line in the capital, always paying attention to the whereabouts of these officials, and when some officials resigned from their posts and became ordinary people, they took the opportunity to lure these people to Nanjing.

This effect is very good, most of the officials who resigned from their official positions, under the protection of the secret line, left the capital, went to Nanjing, the secret line reported this information to Nanjing, Zheng Xunrui also issued an order, must protect the safety of these people, let them go to Nanjing through Shandong, and the Zheng family army stationed in Shandong, also sent sergeants to protect the safety of these people.

Although the Houjin Tartars have been evacuated, Beizhili has become a lifeless place.

Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

The cabinet ministers, the six shoshus, and the left and right imperial histories of the Imperial Court are all gathered here, and they need to discuss the next steps of the imperial court and make important decisions.

The discussion had been going on for half an hour, and there was still no unanimity of opinion.

A group of people led by Qian Shisheng, the first assistant of the cabinet, believed that under the current situation, the main energy of the imperial court was to calm the wounds in various parts of the northern Zhili, so that the common people could recuperate, and at the same time ordered the Caoyun Governor's Office in Huaibei to start transporting grain to maintain the operation of the north, but encirclement and pacification can be carried out at the same time.

There is no way to reconcile the attitudes of the two parties, which makes Zhu Youzhen unable to make a decision.

Zhu Youzhen now relies on Yang Sichang the most, and he already has some opinions on Qian Shisheng and others, and it is said that he should support the opinions of Yang Sichang and others, but with the current strength of the imperial court, it is indeed very difficult to carry out a large-scale conquest of Li Zicheng and his subordinates.

Zhu Youzhen is not a fool, and he still has some understanding of the situation he is in.

The controversy is still ongoing, as far as the civil and military ministers in the court are concerned, most of the people support Qian Shisheng, thinking that under the current situation, all parts of Beizhili need to be pacified and recuperate, and if the war and killing are triggered again at this time, the court will not be able to maintain it at all, and the people will not be able to bear it.

In the process of this controversy, everyone avoided two issues, one is the document sent by Li Zicheng, willing to be loyal to the imperial court, as long as he can be canonized as the king of Dashun, the other is Zheng Xunrui, the king of Xiang, Zheng Xunrui's practices in the south are completely out of the imperial court, and the emperor's decree and the imperial court's edict have no role in the south, and everything in the south is Zheng Xunrui's final say.

These are two very critical issues, and the Cabinet will not be able to argue clearly if it is unwilling to face these two crucial issues.

The key to the cabinet's avoidance of these two issues lies with the emperor.

The emperor's thoughts, the cabinet is basically clear, so far the emperor is unwilling to admit the defeat he faced, thinking that the south is still under the control of the imperial court, thinking that Li Zicheng is just a rogue who won the victory by luck, and even thinks that the imperial court can finally defeat Li Zicheng completely, and at the same time isolate Zheng Xunrui, so that Zheng Xunrui has to surrender to the imperial court.

The emperor has such an extreme idea, and the cabinet will never touch the forbidden area.

This also led to the fact that the debate was delayed and the final conclusion was not reached, and the emperor could not sway left and right.

The Cabinet was not able to come up with a final decision.

After many cabinet ministers left the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Youzhen's gloomy face softened slightly.

"Wang Chengen, what do you think of the cabinet's proposal?"

"Your Majesty, the slave maid thinks that the cabinet is proposed from their own interests, Lord Qian proposed to stabilize the Northern Zhili, but I don't know that if the north cannot be stabilized, the Northern Zhili will not be stable at all, Lord Yang proposed to conquer Li Zicheng, but I don't know that the imperial court no longer has such a strong support, and the Houjin Tartars looted in the Northern Zhili, which has made the imperial court tired of coping."

Zhu Youzhen's face showed a look of relief, in fact, he also had such thoughts, but he didn't want to say it, or Wang Chengen understood his thoughts.

"Then tell me what I should do."

"Your Majesty, the slave maid thinks that under the current situation, the imperial court first needs to stabilize Zheng Xunrui, and ask the Caoyun Governor's Mansion to restore Caoyun, and at the same time stabilize Zheng Xunrui, send a large army to encircle and suppress Li Zicheng, and the pacification of all parts of Beizhili can be asked to do it."

"Your suggestion is similar to Yang Aiqing's suggestion."

Wang Chengen has a headache, he has clearly put forward the opinion of stabilizing Zheng Xunrui in the proposal, which the cabinet has never put forward at all, to say that this suggestion is completely different, just imagine, the imperial army went to levy the Liukou, Zheng Xunrui took advantage of this time to develop towards the north, wouldn't it be a catastrophe, of course, there is also the suggestion to stabilize the Houjin Tartar, Wang Chengen did not dare to put it forward, and he could not speak casually in front of the emperor.

Seeing that Wang Chengen didn't speak, Zhu Youzhen suddenly understood something, and his face changed instantly, not very good-looking.

"Wang Chengen, what you said makes sense, I understand, I will implement this plan, you will negotiate with Yang Aiqing more in the future, what to do next, Yang Aiqing's suggestion still has some truth."

Such a major discussion, so the coffin was closed, to say that this plan is good, but it is a pity that Wang Chengen did not say all the words, that is, how to stabilize the Houjin Tatar and Zheng Xunrui, on the basis of gathering enough strength, effectively exterminate the Liukou and stabilize the north.

Zhu Youzhen's thinking was already a little extreme, but no one around him reminded him, and no one dared to tell the truth in front of Zhu Youzhen, and the continuous blows made Zhu Youzhen unable to listen to any opinions and suggestions, and also made Zhu Youzhen think that the civil and military ministers of the Manchu Dynasty were all doing things for their own interests, and they did not take into account the world of the Ming Dynasty at all. (To be continued.) )