It was late afternoon, the twilight was heavy, Zhu Youzhen woke up from his deep sleep, only to hear the cicadas chirping, and saw Xu Zhaohua snickering out the window on one side, so he couldn't help coughing:

"Youth, it's a pity that I'm old, is Li Dingguo here?"

"Ahh

Xu Zhaohua was stunned for a moment, nodded hurriedly, and said, "Back to my father, Li Dingguo is here, and now I'm waiting outside." ”

"Xuan them come in, as well as Ma Shiying, Li Yan, and Yan Yingyuan", Zhu Youzhen finished speaking, and then asked Xu Zhaohua in a low voice: "Xia Wanchun, that kid kissed you?" ”

"No, no! Father, absolutely not! ”

Xu Zhaohua is the queen's daughter, so Zhu Youzhen is called his father.

"I didn't kiss you, then what are you looking at silly, you keep pursing your lips, as if you have eaten honey", Zhu Youzhen said this, Xu Zhaohua was ashamed and angry, and couldn't help but turn around, as if he didn't want to deal with Zhu Youzhen.

"But I have to say it in front, you are now sixteen years old, and it is okay to fall in love, but you must not forget that you are now the fourth rank of the master of the inner study hall of the celebrant and the young eunuch, once you decide to get married, you will have to resign from your current position."

Zhu Youzhen said this casually, but it was like a basin of cold water poured into Xu Zhaohua's heart, and half of the excitement that was ignited by Xia Wanchun was dispelled by this sentence.

"Internal official Xu Zhaohua understands"!

Xu Zhaohua nodded, and walked out with a lonely face, and at this time, Ma Shiying, a scholar of Wuyingdian University, bowed his hand to Xu Zhaohua very respectfully:

"Master Xu, is Your Majesty awake?"

"Your Majesty is awake, and is about to pass the elder of the pavilion to go in, the elder of the pavilion will go in first, and the lower official will go to pass Li Zhitai to them", Xu Zhaohua blessed Ma Shiying, and Ma Shiying hurriedly waved his hand and said:

"Master Xu! Please don't call yourself an official in front of the old man, you are the head of the master of ceremonies and the queen's daughter, according to the rules, the old man should call you a bad guy, you call the lower official in front of the old man is really tormenting Ma, I heard that Xu Zhangsi Aiqin, Ma Mou's house hides a Jiaowei qin, and sent it to Xu Zhangsi after returning to Beijing, and I hope that Xu Zhangsi will not refuse. ”

Xu Zhaohua just smiled faintly, claiming that when she joined the celebrant supervisor, there would be internal and external officials looking for various ways to get close to her or even show goodwill, she was also used to it, and even enjoyed this feeling of ignoring these old monks, so in front of Ma Shiying, she was the same.

For a while, Xu Zhaohua came to call Li Yan and others, and Li Yan and others were very polite to Xu Zhaohua.

When Xia Wanchun looked over again, she avoided Xia Wanchun's burning eyes, and only ordered Li Dingguo to come in.

"You are Li Dingguo, are you guilty?"

As soon as Li Dingguo came in, Zhu Youzhen was the first to say this sentence, although the language was plain, but Li Dingguo felt that there was a big stone pressing against him, making him breathless: "I don't know what His Majesty the Ming Emperor means by this?" ”

"You were originally my Ming people, why are you a thief, why are you the enemy of my Ming Dynasty, and now when my army surrounds you, you will not have remorse, do you know that with your sin, I will not be too much to cut you with a thousand knives."

Zhu Youzhen looked at Li Dingguo coldly, although he hoped that Li Dingguo could be used for himself, but the monarch should stand, if Li Dingguo refused to admit his guilt first, he could not use it, it was Zhu Youzhen's right to forgive or not, but Li Dingguo must have the consciousness to admit his guilt.

Li Dingguo was silent for a while, he knew that now that he had decided to serve Daming as the master, he could only be willing to confess his guilt and bow to the law, so he knelt down and made a big salute: "Li Dingguo is guilty, and if he wants to kill, he will be at the disposal of His Majesty!" Today, Li Dingguo is attached to the Ming Dynasty and does not dare to survive, but please spare the lives of the soldiers under Li Dingguo's command! ”

"Get up, even if you still have the courage, I don't give you an official title, I only order you to be a small pawn of the guards to kill Hu, are you willing?"

Zhu Youzhen changed the official he had promised to appease Li Zicheng, and decided to test whether Li Dingguo had the ambition to become a high-ranking official.

Li Dingguo didn't expect Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youzhen to ask him this, and he was stunned for a while: "But Your Majesty said that Li Mou's official title in Daxi would be retained." ”

"But I regret it now, and then you ask, which of these feudal princes and marquis under my command has not killed hundreds or thousands of Tartars, I ask you, how many Tartars have you killed, did you kill more Han people or more Tartars? Do you think I've given you a high-ranking official, and you're embarrassed to accept it now! ”

Zhu Youzhen asked such a question, Li Dingguo was so angry that his face was flushed, but he couldn't refute it, so he had to give his hand and say: "Since this is the case, then Li Dingguo is willing to be a pawn of the Northern Expedition, and when he finishes killing the Tartars, he will ask His Majesty to be knighted!" ”

"Very good, I have a lot of ambition, I chose to come to see you because I value your talent, it's not that I can't do anything about you, from now on, you remember, you are a courtier of the Ming Dynasty, a citizen of the Ming Dynasty, I can bear you, but you can't bear me!"

Zhu Youzhen said after speaking: "Passed the decree, Li Dingguo was awarded the Sichuan General Military Officer, the army under Li Dingguo was temporarily changed to the Pinglu Army, Liu Wenxiu was the governor of Sichuan, Fan Yixuan was transferred to the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, Li Yan was the governor of Sichuan, Yang Zhan's troops were transferred to Yunnan to capture Jiazhou, the Pinglu army was transferred to Chengdu, Gao Jie's troops were transferred to Chongqing, and the Seventh Army of the Guards Army was temporarily stationed in Xuzhou. ”

As long as Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu are attached, the entire southwest war will basically be over, and as long as the troops and horses of the Ming Dynasty occupy Jiazhou, Chongqing, Xuzhou and other places, Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu will not be able to unite Sun Kewang in Chengdu to stand on their own.

"I heard that Sun Kewang surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and I also heard that you and he have always had a disagreement, I let you fight Chengdu is to give you a chance, not to resist the order, this is a vote, although Chengdu is flat, but in the end the city is high and the walls are thick, I will let the Seventh Army of the Guards send artillery to assist you, and after recapturing Chengdu, you must not abuse the people, otherwise you will not blame me for being polite!"

Zhu Youzhen said this, and Li Dingguo could only obey the order.

Soon a few days later, Li Dingguo led his army to Chengdu according to Zhu Youzhen's will, while Liu Wenxiu cooperated with Li Yan to take over the local civil affairs of Sichuan and raise money and grain for the Northern Expedition.

Zhu Youzhen demanded that Li Dingguo recover Chengdu Prefecture by 10 September, and clearly issued an order that the Ming army in the southwest should start the northern expedition from 7 October.

Zhu Youzhen appointed Liu Zhaoji, the chief officer of the Seventh Army of the Guards, as the general of the conquest and commanded the Ming armies in the southwest, of which the First Corps of the Seventh Army of the Guards Army went north from Xuzhou to Chengdu and then from Deyang and Mianzhou to Hanzhong.

The Second Corps prepared to capture Shunqing and Baoning and enter Hanzhong, while Li Dingguo's Pingyu Army was the vanguard and marched north on October 1 to seize the pass and enter the fortress, and Gao Jie's troops went from Chongqing to Kuizhou and entered Ankang through the Tieshan Pass of Taiping Agate Mountain.

At the same time, Zhu Youzhen asked Zhou Ze to be prepared for the anti-water as soon as possible and strengthen his control over the Qing army to which he belonged.

(End of chapter)