In October of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, the battle situation in Jiaxian became extremely strange.

The defeated Sun Chuanting did not return to Shaanxi immediately, and the victorious Li Zicheng did not march quickly. After several days of rest, the two sides finally took the lead in sending envoys from the camp.

This messenger was none other than Li Zhensheng, the imperial governor who was captured in Chengtianfu.

When Zhu Cihong saw Li Zhensheng, he was happy and had a little regret.

He originally thought that Li Zicheng was a hero, but now it seems that he can't sacrifice his partners for the sake of the overall situation. Speaking carefully, if Li Zicheng ignores Liu Zongmin, he will only lose a general, but if he really wants to replace Liu Zongmin, he will lose the initiative in this battle if he says less, and if he says more, he will slow down the pace of seizing the world.

"Your Highness!" When Li Zhensheng saw Zhu Cihong, he cried loudly: "The old minister wanted to die several times, just to make an internal response to the army, so he secretly survived to this day. Now that I have seen His Royal Highness, there is no reason to steal my life, I only ask His Highness to rescue Qiu Zhitao, and the old minister should take the first step! ”

After Li Zhensheng finished speaking, he slammed his head into the pillar of the military tent.

Min Zhanlian's hands were quick, and his waist and legs were already blocked in front of Li Zhensheng, and an arc was drawn in his hand, removing Li Zhensheng's forward force and throwing him to the ground.

"How can this be so, sir!" Zhu Cihong hurriedly got up, and said with an unbelievable look on his face: "Now that the imperial court is employing people, Mr. should leave a useful body to serve the imperial court!" How can it be so lightly abandoned? ”

Li Zhensheng was thrown inexplicably, and when he heard Zhu Cihong's words, he just fell to the ground and cried.

Zhu Cihong glanced at Wu Fu and said in his heart: How can this kind of old man be comforted? You go out and try it.

Wu Fu had no choice but to step forward and say, "Li Zhiyuan is reckless!" The name of the king has its own circulation, how can you abandon the useful body because of some doubts? Now there are very few people under the prince's account, and the hospital is responsible for it! ”

Li Zhensheng had the experience of being captured. Consciously cut off his career, and the only way to ask for sins to return to his hometown is to teach Mengtong. Hearing Wu Fu say this, he suddenly realized that he still had a future to speak of, and he couldn't help but have hope to live again.

"According to the courtyard," Zhu Cihong struck while the iron was hot and asked. "Li Zicheng asked you to come back, didn't you ask for anything else?"

After Li Zhensheng entered the camp, he patronized and cried, and he had not yet said Li Zicheng's conditions.

Who knew that when the prince asked like this, Li Zhensheng even stopped sobbing. He was extremely entangled in his heart, and finally said in a deep voice: "Li Chuang hopes that the imperial court can give him a name and order him to be the governor of Shaanxi, Sichuan, Gansu, and Ning provinces, and not be controlled by the imperial court." Your Highness! This must not be done! In the nearly 300 years since the founding of our emperor, even when he was in the civil fort, he never had a compromise with the traitor! ”

- Yes, it was only the emperor who was taken prisoner. And there is no disaster of destroying the country. Although the emperor is still safe now, the country's society is dying!

Zhu Cihong looked at Li Zhensheng and felt a kind of character called "loyalty". It has to be said that in his previous life, this kind of virtue was so rare that one could only look for it in history books.

"Li Zicheng really said that?" Zhu Cihong almost laughed.

Li Zhensheng nodded, for fear that Zhu Cihong would say something: Then give it to him!

"Then give it to him!" Zhu Cihong really blurted out.

This time, even Wu Fu couldn't stand it. The former cabinet elder stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, this is a big matter. Don't be reckless! ”

"Why? It's not that the imperial court hasn't recruited An, wouldn't it be better to let Li Zicheng go to conquer the western provinces? Zhu Cihong couldn't help laughing. I just feel like it's a big pie falling from the sky. Originally, he only wanted to use Liu Zongmin to delay the army, if he had known earlier that Li Zicheng had such a plan, then what else was there to fight? It would have been possible to sit down and negotiate a long time ago.

Of course, with Li Zicheng's stubborn temper that he would rather ride into the mountain than surrender to the imperial court, he would never have made such a request if he did not win this battle.

"Thieves have no faith, Your Highness. If the Li thief repeats, the crime of negligence will fall on His Highness. Wu Fu persuaded.

"Li Zicheng hasn't cheated yet. He is not Zhang Xianzhong. Zhu Cihong said with a smile: "Besides, the thieves recruited by Yang He and Yang Sichang's father and son have not come back enough?" I didn't see them being blamed by Bixia. ”

"Those thieves never killed the vassal king." Wu Fu said.

Zhu Cihong choked.

Indeed, the killing of the vassal king was Li Zicheng's greatest sin, even greater than his private imperial examinations and the selection of officials.

The Zhu family is a big landlord family. Even relatives who haven't seen each other in a few lifetimes are treated like treasures. Especially these two generations of emperors - Tianqi and Chongzhen are people with great feelings, with Yang Sichang's deep trust, no matter how big the failure is, Chongzhen tolerates, but if the vassal king is killed, he can only hang himself to apologize.

Take 10,000 steps back and say, even if Emperor Chongzhen is willing to endure humiliation and bear the burden, he doesn't care about Li Zicheng killing Zongfan. But in the patriarchal society of the Ming Dynasty, "kissing" is the ethical cornerstone of the whole society. Even the small people in the countryside know that whenever our people are bullied by foreign surnames, we must unite to fight against foreign surnames. If the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, a model of morality, tolerated the killing of his family and knighted the murderer, wouldn't it be a complete loss? How to set an example for the world?

With this article, from the emperor to the court, and even the common people, absolutely no one can accept this reality.

"If the Li thief descends and rebels, that's it." Wu Fu said in a low voice: "If he really consolidates himself, such as the story of Western Xia, what should the imperial court do?" ”

At that time, the imperial court will not be able to break its promise.

Zhu Cihong doesn't care about "breaking his word and getting fat", anyway, there is no excuse for the crime he wants to add. However, Wu Fu's statement reminded him that if Li Zicheng did not rebel, he would only occupy Huguang, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Ningxia, and Gansu...... Wouldn't Zhu Cihong himself have to go back to the palace obediently? Under what pretext do you have to support your army and stand on your own feet?

——By that time, wouldn't the officials of the Eastern Palace Department, especially my Wu Fu, all have done in vain?

When Zhu Cihong looked at Wu Fu again, he read such a realistic sentence from his eyes.

"It's me Meng Lang." Zhu Cihong lowered his voice: "Mr. Wu and Mr. Li are thoughtful, and they are indeed the views of Lao Cheng to seek the country!" ”

"Your Highness's advice is like a stream, the true wise lord!" Li Zhensheng was in great spirits, and he expressed his determination to worship under the East Palace.

Zhu Cihong nodded and said, "He asks for a price all over the sky, let's pay it back on the spot." Niu Jinxing can be put back first, let Li Zicheng return to Xiangyang, and return it to the officers and soldiers north of Nanyang! ”

"Your Highness!" Li Zhensheng was stunned: "Isn't this a plot with a tiger?" If you make peace with the traitor, how will the face of the court remain? ”

- You want to save face, Li Zicheng may not be willing to agree!

"It's a delaying tactic." Zhu Cihong said: "Between this back and forth, it is the time for us to build fortifications and collect the defeated troops!" The order went down, and a military meeting was held three quarters of an hour later, and Qin Du, Niu Chenghu, Chen De, and Xiao Donglou were invited to attend. ”

The crown prince had already arranged the military discussion, and Li Zhensheng naturally couldn't say anything more, so he had to be led out by the eunuch and wash and rest first. He was still worried about Qiu Zhitao's affairs in his heart, and he didn't know what trouble this young man would have in the enemy camp, and his face was still sad, but since he had already said it once, he could only look at the prince's will. Li Zhensheng finally had to sigh, and suddenly his mouth became light, and he was actually hungry.

……

Li Zicheng waited in Jiaxian for two days, and his heart was scorched, so he waited for Niu Jinxing. He narrowed his eyes and looked at what he regarded as Zhuge Kongming's mastermind. It was Niu Venus who ignited his ambition to seize the world, but it was also this person who made him realize that the future was full of thorns, and he couldn't retreat if he wanted to.

"Sir is frightened." Lee became a self-enlightened man.

"Marshal!" Niu Venus's voice choked and said, "It's Venus who has a negative marshal!" ”

"Victory or defeat is a common thing in soldiers, don't take it to heart sir." Li Zicheng paused, and said, "Is there any news of Zong Min?" ”

"General Liu was seriously injured, but fortunately, his life was worry-free." Niu Venus did not dare to lie. Before Prince Zhu released him, he deliberately asked him to meet Liu Zongmin, obviously with the intention of making peace. If you lie now, there will always be a time when it will be exposed later. He saw a flash of joy on Li Zicheng's face, and hurriedly said, "Marshal!" In any case, it can't be delayed, and the troops should be quickly marched to kill the Zhu thief! ”

Li Zicheng's face was pale, but his voice became cold: "Do you care about Zong Min's life or death?" ”

"Marshal!" Niu Jinxing's voice was sharp, and he pointed at the ground with his hand and sword: "Dare to ask the marshal: Is the marshal's personal affection important, or the righteousness of the world!" Is General Liu heavy, or is it the country's social and billions of people! (To be continued......)

PS: Happy New Year everyone!