Since he is a lonely minister, it is more difficult to climb to the position of the head of the cabinet than it is to form a party and become a famous minister. Chen Yanneng can stand here, and he can afford to be called "old gentleman" by the emperor, so he will naturally not be as ignorant and mediocre as his political enemies slander. Just this trick of avoiding the real and stealing the beams and changing the pillars can be seen one or two.

Emperor Chongzhen was really stuck because of the problem of money and food.

The military generals went out on the expedition very simply, and a piece of paper gave them the right to the army, and then they took the military headquarters to the governor's mansion to lead the troops. Every military general who can take charge of himself has his own family, and these family members are the main force of the army, so they naturally help him deal with the affairs of the whole army, and there is no need for additional officials from the imperial court. At most, they only sent the supervising army, as well as the civil officials and scribes who communicated with the grain and grass and recorded the merits and deeds.

It is even simpler for the superintendent to go out on the expedition, as long as the edict is ready, he can go to the front line to supervise the generals. In Yuan Chonghuan's time, even if he was as delicate as Liaozhen Jiangmen, he had to listen to the words of the superintendent, and at most he made some small moves in secret. To this day, even important ministers like Hou Sui and Ding Qirui can't restrain Zuo Liangyu. As for Shanxi, Wang Qiaonian and Fu Zonglong, the two supervisors, were directly abandoned by their generals and died in the battle.

This is also the reason why the scholar Wu Fu is alive and dead, leading the soldiers of the Beijing camp to supervise the place.

If the emperor were to conquer in person, it would be very different.

First of all, there must be no one left behind, and secondly, all the three battalions of the Beijing Division must be dispatched. According to the ancestral system, the Shenji battalion guarded outside, the 3,000 battalions patrolled in the center, and the five military battalions were guarded inside.

In addition to military preparations, the political center also had to follow the emperor, and the cabinet ministers, the six ministers, and the Taigaki ministers also had to accompany them. The official letters of each ministry were transferred from the Beijing division to the Xingzai, and they had to be passed on by stagecoaches day and night, and people ate and chewed horses. If there is no money and food, how can we talk about pro-levy?

In Chen Yan's words, it was clear that he was saying: Emperor Bixia, now that he has no money, Biedong has the idea of pro-conquest. He looked at Chongzhen, whose face was full of entanglement, as if he had been pulled to an egg, and moved flowers and trees again. Changing the topic, he said calmly: "On that day, Bixia belonged to Wu Fu to supervise Huguang, Wu Fu refused to go without soldiers, if Bixia can gather an army, how can Wu Fu shirk?" ”

Wu Fu is a Jinshi in the forty-first year of Wanli, and he was awarded the imperial history during the Apocalypse, and his official career was bumpy, and he went through several ups and downs. In June of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, he was promoted to the secretary of the Ministry of Rites and a scholar of Dongge University, and was the second assistant of the cabinet. The Scholar of Tokaku University has the responsibility of educating the East Palace. When I met the prince, I was at the age of school, so I had to go back and forth to the East Palace, not to say what I really taught, at least I had to be familiar.

Zhu Cihong's impression of Wu Fu is relatively deep, compared with the previous famous ministers of calligraphy and painting, Wu Fu's experience is quite rich. He has the power and wit to fight Wei Zhongxian in the court; There is a character who would rather cut his nationality for the people than bow his head; There is the ruthlessness of the governor of Shanxi to kill the thieves; There is also the mercy of planting flags in front of the army, so that the old and weak women and children can survive.

When Wu Fu entered the cabinet, it coincided with Zhou Yanru as the first assistant. As an old-fashioned first assistant, Zhou Yanru secretly formed a party. And Wu Fu is also able to compete with it. Because of the origins of the two auxiliary ministers, the people of the time called Zhou Yanru the Jiangnan Party. Wu Fu is the Jiangbei Party. It can be seen that this second assistant also has the ability to raise the flag and fight for the party.

Now Wu Fu has been imprisoned by the Jinyi Guard, and there is no exaggeration to say that his fate is on the verge of death.

"Emperor, the East Palace has been ordered to come and is waiting to be summoned." Wang Zhixin saw that Chen Yan mentioned Wu Fu, and knew that this first assistant had the meaning of falling into the well and beating the dog to death. also knew that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had a good impression of Wu Fu, and stepped forward to divert the topic without a trace, expecting that Chen Yan would never dare to climb Wu Fu again in front of the prince.

Chongzhen was unconsciously diverted from the focus of attention, and said, "Please come up from the East Palace." ”

Wang Zhixin hurriedly changed his words, and after a while, he saw Donggong wearing a red dragon robe and coming up steadily. Although the body is not full and thick enough, it has already shown the posture of a dragon and a tiger, which makes people feel awe.

Zhu Cihong went up to the cloud platform, swept it gently, and had already taken the ministers into his eyes.

In addition to the cabinet of several scholars, the seven important ministers have also arrived. Among them, Li Banghua, the imperial history of the left capital, is his own person, Feng Yuanbiao, the central minister, and Li Yuzhi, the minister, are all ministers who have shown a good impression of themselves, and Ni Yuanlu of the household department has taught himself a lesson, and he is also an acquaintance, and most of them are on his side.

Among the seven kings, Zhu Cihong has already achieved a majority, and Zhu Cihong has greater confidence in obtaining the clear decree to supervise the army today.

"The son visits his father, Emperor Bixia." Zhu Cihong stepped forward to worship.

"Xing." Chongzhen raised his arm slightly, and there was a hint of love and pity under his tired face. He ordered the left and right to give seats, and returned to the Huguang military, and said: "The cardinal asks for an order, and wants to raise the prince to Huguang, why does the prince think?" ”

"Sons and daughters should share their worries for their fathers and serve the society!" Zhu Cihong did not shirk and agreed.

Feng Yuanbiao and Li Banghua had long known the prince's ambitions, and they were not surprised. Because Feng Yuanbiao has already played carefully, the task of beating the side drum now falls on Li Banghua's head. The old man coughed lightly and came out of the class to play: "Congratulations Bixia!" Donggong is loyal and brave and pure filial piety, it is really the blessing of Sheji, the blessing of Bixia! ”

The corners of Chongzhen's mouth raised slightly when he heard this, and his eyes swept to the few scholars in front of him.

Chen Yan couldn't mention Wu Fu's matter anymore, and felt a little regretful, but was silent. Jiang Dejing and Wei Zaode usually only heard about the prince, and as a cabinet assistant, they didn't dare to pay too much attention to it, so it was inconvenient to speak. Another cabinet minister, Huang Jingfang, has been asking for advice in recent days, so he is reluctant to make trouble again.

"Chen Qi Bixia," finally Jiang Dejing broke the cold scene, stepped forward and said: "The minister thinks that His Royal Highness is raising the army, and the cost is not inferior to that of the pro-conquest." ”

Zhu Cihong looked at Jiang Dejing, and also stepped forward to follow up: "Father and Emperor Bixia, son and minister to raise the army, it is possible to practice the guest army, and there is no need to pay military salaries from the treasury. The silver taels he got from this epidemic prevention are enough to feed a force of nearly 10,000 people for more than half a year, and this is because the treatment of the East Palace is extremely high, even exceeding the standard of the Qi family army at the time of Qi Jiguang.

And now fundraising has become a trend, and part of the military expenses of the guard camp of the East Palace are listed at a clear price. This part of the silver is used as the cost of the guard battalion to maintain the refugee camp and quarantine camp outside the city, which is equivalent to reimbursing part of the cost of raising soldiers. As for the refugee camps and quarantine camps, there is naturally a separate list, and there is no need for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to worry about.

"Traveling army conventions?" Jiang Dejing's face was expressionless, he just repeated, and secretly said in his heart: The prince grew up in the deep palace, although he is familiar with the regulations, he doesn't know how heavy this "guest army convention" is.

According to the regulations of the Emperor and Ming, the guest army only needed to prepare its own food for three days, and then ate the local state and county from the second day of the garrison. However, there were policies and countermeasures, and when the change occurred, the Qinwang guest army from all over the country rushed to Gyeongshi, and according to the rules, they ate the counties of Gyeonggi from the second day. The military department and the counties were in difficulty, unwilling and unable to supply, so they thought of a way: only let the guest army stay for one night, and then transfer troops to other counties the next day.

Naturally, other counties are also doing the same, refusing to pay military rations. The Qinwang guest army has been turned away, always rushing away, and there is no food and grass supply, how can they fight with the Jin soldiers? Not only could they not fight, but some of the guest troops directly broke up and became chaotic soldiers, and soon became the main force of the later rogues.

In the early years of Chongzhen, the displaced people were in turmoil, where were there any military orders? Didn't you see the imperial army and disperse in a hurry? It was these guest troops, especially those in Xuanfu and Datong, who became the democratic forces of the exiles, which gave the refugees the ability to confront the official army, and finally formed the current situation. Not to mention anything else, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, and even many giants in the Fifth Battalion of Gezuo were once Ming officials and soldiers who had eaten imperial grain.

"I'm afraid there are difficulties in the local area." Jiang Dejing added.

Zhu Cihong responded: "Since the imperial court is going to send reinforcements, no matter who supervises the army, there is a place to eat. They can do it, why can't they do it? ”

Jiang Dejing looked at the prince, not knowing whether the prince was deliberately pretending to be stupid, or if he had another deep meaning. When others lead an army to cross the border, they can collect grain on the spot, because there is enough evil spirit. Haven't you heard of "stealing like a comb, soldiers like a grate"? As the crown prince, can you be as scoundrel and arrogant as those Qiu Ba? If you are reasonable, even if a county official is from a two-rank jinshi, can you really talk about him?

Emperor Chongzhen didn't expect that the rule of officials was so unbearable today, but he felt that his son was reasonable. Since there is a problem of sending anyone out to eat, there is no reason to say that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has to eat more, so that the local government can't bear it. It's just that at his son's age, can he lead the army, and is it necessary to summon the auxiliary ministers under the East Palace? If you see it, I am afraid that those people have the heart to cling, and it will be difficult for the East Palace to suppress it in the future. If you don't see it, you really don't feel at ease. (To be continued......)