Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

The ninth day of the first month is the ninth day, the legend is the birthday of the Jade Emperor, the common people are going to set off firecrackers on this day, after this day, the New Year's greetings between each other are called the old year. The sound of firecrackers everywhere in the capital began early in the morning, but the palace was very quiet, even with a depressing atmosphere, and the joy of the festival was not visible at all.

Xiangyang Mansion was taken, Xiangwang Zhu Yiming was killed by Liukou, and all the officials of the government and county government in Xiangyang City were killed.

At the beginning, the emperor and the imperial court all thought that it was impossible for Liukou to capture Xiangyang Fucheng, they all thought that Xiangyang Fucheng was surrounded by water on three sides and backed by mountains on one side, and its special terrain made any army that planned to attack suffer heavy losses and was discouraged.

The urgent reversal of the Huguang governor Fang Kongzhi only said that Xiangyang had fallen and was broken by the Liukou, but did not mention the detailed battle situation, and it seemed that it was not particularly clear.

Zhu Youzhen's face was gloomy, he did not hide his anger and dissatisfaction, and finally freed his hands to deal with Zheng Xunrui, it seemed that everything was going well, the officials in Huaibei had adjusted a lot, and Nanjing also wrote a secret letter to Fang Zhenghua, presumably it would not take long to slowly weaken Zheng Xunrui's power, but at this time, the rogue began to act on a large scale, why is this, the rogue who was a small fight before, is it infinitely stronger.

Zhu Youzhen even doubted whether Liukou's large-scale action had anything to do with Zheng Xunrui.

There are many rogues in the Zheng family's army who have surrendered, and in order to be able to muddy the situation, Zheng Xunrui may do such a thing.

Paranoia of the mind plus restlessness. It's not strange to think of anything like that.

The cabinet recovered that Zhou Yanru led many cabinet ministers to stand on the left side of the lower head, and everyone was also silent, while Cao Huachun, Gao Qiqian, Wang Dehua and others stood on the right, also did not speak, and Wang Chengen stood behind Zhu Youzhen.

It is no longer strange that such a situation has occurred in the Qianqing Palace. It is said that eunuchs cannot directly participate in the court meeting and discuss many things, but as the power of the cabinet is weakened, with the emperor's gradual trust in the eunuchs, Wang Chengen and others can not only directly participate in the court meeting, but also make many decisions that are supported by the emperor.

The silent atmosphere of the Qianqing Palace makes people feel depressed, and no one expected such a situation to occur during the Spring Festival.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the city of Xiangyang has fallen. What do you think should be done? ”

The question thrown by Zhu Youzhen is too big, and if you want to answer it clearly, it is not a matter of a while.

Zhou Yanru looked at the people around him and spoke hard.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the top priority is to ask the governor of Huguang to understand the specific situation, and the cabinet will discuss countermeasures according to the situation in Xiangyang Fucheng."

"Zhou Aiqing. The actual situation of Xiangyang Mansion City was that it was captured by the Liukou. Do you want any other practical situations? ”

Zhu Youzhen did not give Zhou Yanru any face.

Wang Chengen looked at the emperor uneasily, he sensitively realized that it was inappropriate for the emperor to do this, in such an occasion, it was necessary to give face to the cabinet minister, in fact, there was no mistake in the coping strategy proposed by Zhou Yanru. Without understanding the actual situation of Xiangyang Fucheng, it is impossible to make any decision, even if the imperial court intends to quickly recover Xiangyang Fucheng, it is necessary to analyze the specific situation, the capital is thousands of miles away from Xiangyang Fucheng. Making a hasty decision can only make the losses even more heavy, and not to mention that Sun Chuanting, the governor of the five provinces, has not yet reached the capital, how the Xiangyang Mansion City fell, and why it fell in such a short period of time, these are all things that need to be specifically understood.

Wang Chengen's prediction was not wrong, and the emperor's reprimand made Zhou Yanru lower his head and stop talking.

The head of the cabinet does not speak, and the others naturally do not compete to speak.

"I think that Fang Kongzhi, the governor of Huguang, and Sun Chuanting, the governor of the five provinces, are both responsible, knowing that the Liukou attacked Xiangyang Mansion City, and did not strengthen the guards, so that the Liukou could easily take Xiangyang, such a dereliction of responsibility, how can it be spared."

The fall of Xiangyang, there is always a need for someone to take responsibility, this is also the practice of the imperial court, there is nothing strange, but in the current situation, it is definitely inappropriate to start holding accountable, Fang Kongzhi and Sun Chuanting, at least know the specific situation, and also understand how to deal with the fierce rogue, if someone else is replaced, at least it will take time to understand the situation, and by that time, the situation in Xiangyang may be even worse.

Wang Chengen's eyes looked at Zhou Yanru, he hoped that Zhou Yanru would speak again, not to refute, at least to make the reason, now is not the time to hold him accountable.

It's a pity that Zhou Yanru didn't look up at all.

Wang Chengen's eyes looked at Qian Shisheng, it should be said that in the cabinet, Qian Shisheng's qualifications are the oldest, and he has also gained the trust of the emperor recently, at this moment Zhou Yanru does not speak, it should be Qian Shisheng who speaks.

Wang Chengen was disappointed again, and Qian Shisheng also lowered his head, without meaning to speak.

When Wang Chengen's gaze was about to shift again, Zhang Fengyi, the deputy assistant of the cabinet, spoke.

"Your Majesty, the minister thought that the fall of Xiangyang Mansion City, the specific reason has not yet been clarified, the Governor of the Five Provinces, Lord Sun Chuanting, and the Governor of Huguang, Lord Fang Kongzhi, there are a lot of twists and turns in the early stage, Lord Sun has already made clear the movements of the Liukou, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong two Liukou, respectively attacked Nanyang Mansion City and Xiangyang Mansion City, Lord Sun led the army to resist Li Zicheng, so he asked Lord Fang to strengthen the defense of Xiangyang Mansion City, Lord Fang's twists and turns, talked about the difficulty of guarding Xiangyang Mansion City, but also made the specific arrangements clear, Huguang General Zuo Liangyu sent 20,000 soldiers to guard Xiangyang Mansion City, there are still 2,000 soldiers guarding the Yamen in Xiangyang Mansion City, and there are 5,000 Xiangyang Naval Divisions outside the city......

Before Zhang Fengyi finished speaking, Zhu Youzhen's face changed again.

"Zhang Aiqing, you mean that I just talked nonsense."

The atmosphere around him suddenly became tense, and the emperor had never said such a thing, let alone facing the cabinet assistant.

Zhang Fengyi did not flinch, and spoke next.

"The minister never dares to blame the emperor, and he doesn't mean this, the minister talks about things, and the cabinet has retained the twists and turns of Lord Sun and Lord Fang, which can be read at any time, and the minister thinks that today's plan is to understand the specific situation of the fall of Xiangyang Mansion City, and at the same time make Lord Sun and Lord Fang propose measures to recover Xiangyang Mansion City."

Although the emperor was still angry at this time, Wang Chengen secretly breathed a sigh of relief, Zhou Yanru, the first assistant to the cabinet, and Zhang Fengyi, the second assistant to the cabinet, both expressed their attitudes, and the emperor must consider it, no matter how big his temper is.

After Zhang Fengyi finished speaking, Yang Sichang, the cabinet minister and secretary of the Ministry of War, followed and spoke.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the suggestions of Lord Zhou and Lord Zhang are feasible."

There was silence again.

After a while, Zhu Youzhen finally spoke.

"I was a little anxious just now, don't mind Aiqing, solve the matter of the fall of Xiangyang Mansion City, according to Zhou Aiqing and Zhang Aiqing's suggestion, the Ministry of War must grasp the situation of the fall of Xiangyang Mansion City, I see Yang Aiqing work hard, go to Huguang, understand the specific situation, and urge Lord Sun and Lord Fang to recover Xiangyang Mansion City as soon as possible and completely exterminate the Liukou."

After a pause, Zhu Youzhen's eyes looked at Gao Qiqian.

"Gao Qiqian, you and Yang Aiqing will go to Huguang together to assist Lord Yang in handling all matters."

Walking out of the Qianqing Palace, Yang Sichang, who was full of thoughts, thought about it for a while, and went directly to Wenyuan Pavilion to find Zhou Yanru, the first assistant of the cabinet, the emperor's arrangement just now, so that he didn't understand very well, it was good to let the military department deal with such a thing, but why arrange the palm print eunuch Gao Qiqian to follow, and also assist in handling all things.

Yang Sichang had a very bad impression of Gao Qiqian, when Gao Qiqian served as the supervisor of the army, the former governors of the five provinces, Lu Xiangsheng and Xiong Wencan, all fell into Gao Qiqian's hands, and Lu Xiangsheng even lost his life for this, but because of the emperor's trust, Gao Qiqian did not suffer any punishment, but became the eunuch of the celebrant and the eunuch.

Although he looked down on Gao Qiqian, Yang Sichang did not dare to publicly offend Gao Qiqian, knowing that doing so would be tantamount to indirectly offending the emperor.

Seeing Yang Sichang come in, Zhou Yanru nodded slightly and motioned for Yang Sichang to close the door.

Yang Sichang was stunned for a moment, then turned around and closed the door.

"Lord Yang, I know why you came here, going to Huguang to investigate, it was a matter of the Ministry of War, but the emperor asked you to investigate, it can be seen that the fall of Xiangyang Mansion is very important, you have arrived in Wuchang Mansion, you must investigate carefully, don't let go of any details."

Yang Sichang nodded, this is necessary, but he came here mainly not to investigate.

"My lord, the emperor sent Gonggong Gao to follow the investigation, and the lower officials are not very clear, and I want to ask the adults for guidance."

A wry smile flashed on Zhou Yanru's face, and it quickly disappeared.

"Lord Yang, this matter is how you grasp it, the emperor has made it clear that the investigation is mainly based on the Ministry of War, and Gonggong Gao is just assisting in the investigation, in my opinion, how to investigate, and what kind of suggestions to put forward, should be decided by you, of course, all matters of investigation should also be known to Gonggong Gao."

Watching Yang Sichang, who was full of thoughts, leave, Zhou Yanru sighed slightly, he already had a premonition that Yang Sichang went to Wuchang Mansion to investigate, I'm afraid it was not that simple, whether the emperor listened to Yang Sichang's opinion or Gao Qiqian's advice, that is an inaccurate thing, not to mention that eunuchs are used to secret reports, God knows what kind of situation Gao Qiqian will report to the emperor during the investigation. (To be continued......)