The golden autumn of September is the time of high autumn and coolness. The forty or fifty important ministers of the imperial court who entered the Taihemen were all forbidden, and they all shrank their necks for fear of being discovered by Emperor Chongzhen on the dragon chair, because the current Emperor Chongzhen was on the verge of rage.

"Yesterday I received another excerpt, which was presented by Hou Sui. He even boasted to me that he had sent that son-in-law into the army. ”

Emperor Chongzhen's cheeks had two sickly flushes on both cheeks, and his lips were a little pale, as long as those who were familiar with him knew that he couldn't control his emotions anymore, and it was likely that the next thing would be a big killing.

"That son-in-law sent troops in mid-August, Xuzhou reported on the 20th, and Hou Xun, as the governor's soldiers, turned out to be the 23rd, and it was not sent to the capital until yesterday. So what does Hou Xun want to do? Do you think I am the Emperor Hui of Jin? ”

Speaking of which, several officials in the back row were secretly glancing, and they all knew that Hou Sui was going to be unlucky.

"Luo Yang! How did you become an envoy? That son-in-law has taken out more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, and the people you arranged in Runing don't know? Emperor Chongzhen then pointed the finger at the commander of the Jinyi Guard, Luo Yangxing.

Luo Yangxing immediately knelt down and said: "Your Majesty, Jinyiwei only has a thousand households in Henan, and he has to take care of eight princes and so many county kings and generals, and more than a dozen of them in Runing are also staring at King Chong, it is indeed difficult to find out the truth about General Wu." I hope the emperor forgives his sins! Forgiveness! ”

In Luo Yangxing's heart, in fact, there is still a sentence that has not been spoken, those Jinyiwei in Runing have moved their families to Runing all these years, and the news they reported back is also "safe and sound", so the accuracy of the news they sent back can be imagined. Obviously, these brocade guards were all bought by Wu Shigong or placed under house arrest.

"Where's the East Factory?" Hearing that what Luo Yangxing said made some sense, Emperor Chongzhen was unwilling to punish the old man in the hidden mansion, so he pointed the finger at another secret agency.

Wang Chengen hurriedly walked around to Emperor Chongzhen, knelt down and said, "The East Factory is all in the capital. No purpose will not go out of Beijing. And the Runing Battalion Supervisor is the person of the Imperial Horse Supervisor. ”

At this time, Wang Chengen will not take responsibility, and by the way, he will give some eye medicine to the old opponents of the celebrant supervisor.

But after being choked twice in a row, Emperor Chongzhen also breathed a bad breath in his chest. At this time, he felt dizzy and his chest was stuffy, and in an instant he seemed to want to stop dealing with these troublesome state affairs and escape to the harem to enjoy it in peace. So he waved his hand impatiently and commanded, "Elder Zhou Ge! You and the cabinet come up with a charter, and then let me approve it! Back to the palace! ”

Out of the Taihe Gate is the place where the cabinet directors are located, and Zhou Yanru left all the officials above the six ministries behind, plus the celebrant supervisor, Jinyiwei and other people who attended the meeting. Together, we must make a decision on the dispatch of troops to the Runing Army.

"Shousuke-sama! So where did Wu Dangkou get so many soldiers? What do you think should be done? As soon as he entered the council hall, a scholar asked Zhou Yanru. Although Zhou Yanru is not very good at character and governance, he is very knowledgeable and knowledgeable, and he is very good at figuring out the heart of Emperor Chongzhen, so at this time, those important ministers want to listen to Zhou Yanru's analysis first.

"What to do?" Zhou Yanru smiled bitterly. "Did Wu Runing make anything wrong?"

This sentence choked all the ministers. They pondered it carefully and found that Wu Shigong had actually done nothing wrong. Raise troops to relieve the siege of Kaifeng. Take the initiative to fight the peasant army. It's all the serious work that the imperial court military attache should do. As for his hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, they were all raised by Wu Shigong at his own expense, and he did not let the court spend a penny.

If Wu Shigong raised more troops, then what should Zuo Liangyu's 200,000 soldiers and horses say? The only thing that was not authentic was that Wu Shigong did not tell the court when he sent troops. But this is at most a small procedural error, and it is not a crime at all, although all the ministers present understand that Wu Shigong is indeed against him.

"Is that an order to let Wu Dangkou return to the capital? Give him honor? One minister suggested.

Then the minister noticed that the others were looking at him like fools. It wasn't until one of the minister's fellow villagers was a little overwhelmed that he explained to the minister: "In the past, there was an imperial edict to summon him to Beijing, and Wu Dangkou was assassinated when the decree was announced. The minister suddenly realized. He bowed to the crowd and retreated.

"Can you kill it?" A waiter from the Ministry of Rites suggested. So everyone looked at Zhang Guowei, the new secretary of the Ministry of War.

Zhang Guowei could not shirk either, he said: "According to the news from Texas: In the first battle between the rivers, Wu Dangkou also lost tens of thousands of soldiers, so now the number of his remaining families is up to 8,000, and the only ones who are worried about their horses and Rong are complete, and they will expand to 100,000 in a short time. It's all new recruits, too. ”

"Where did he get all this money? Where do you get so many family members? An official couldn't help but chimed in.

According to the general judgment of the military system of the Ming Dynasty, in fact, the number of men and horses in an army is secondary, and the key is the core of the army - the number of families. In the history of the Ming Dynasty, with the strength of 8,000 families, only the late "King of Liaodong" - Li Chengliang. Therefore, officials who are not familiar with the Ru Ningjun are a little incredulous about Zhang Guowei's statement.

"His father and his father-in-law once supervised the Beijing camp, and I heard that when he left Beijing, he brought many families from the two prefectures, and then received financial support from the two prefectures." Another official, who has lived in Beijing for a long time, explained, but his news is mostly hearsay.

All the officials nodded, and Zhang Guowei also nodded to the official who explained. He continued: "If you want to suppress it, you need to include the people and thieves as well. At least 300,000 soldiers. Now the Liao army can draw out 10,000 or 20,000, the Jin army and Jingying take out 50,000, and the Qin army of Inspector Sun can take out 20,000. In addition, Nanjing Jingying and Fengyang took out 30,000, Lu Jun took out 20,000, and Zuoping thieves also took out 50,000, a total of only 200,000, and 100,000 new soldiers had to be recruited......"

But when it came to this, Hubu Shangshu couldn't help it, and he immediately retorted: "Then the recruitment fee, promotion fee, and military ration of the new army will exceed one million taels, can Lord Zhang come up with the charter first?" ”

You can't do anything without money, but if you really have money, can you recruit so many soldiers? Not to mention that after Wu Shigong, there were two great enemies, the peasant army and the Qing army. Isn't there necessarily a cannibalism within the Ming Dynasty first? So the idea of encircling and suppressing the Runing Army is just a thought.

"Then let him go, anyway, it doesn't matter who dies or lives between Wu Dangkou and the thieves." A minister finally couldn't help it, that couldn't do it, and he said bluntly. (To be continued......)