The next morning, in the hall of the Governor's Palace, Ma Shiying sat there with an ugly expression, looking at the sparse few generals sitting on both sides, either the generals guarding Fengyang City, or their own personal captains, all of them were almost three poles above sun, and the general soldiers of the four towns had not yet arrived, and there was an inexplicable unhappiness and restlessness in his heart.

At this moment, four soldiers ran in one after another to report the situation to Ma Shiying.

"Newspaper... Fengyang General Huang Degong is not in the army! ”

"Newspaper... There are rebel troops attacking and harassing the Luzhou capital, and the Luzhou general soldiers can't get out for a while. ”

"Newspaper... The general army of Xuzhou is not in the battalion, and the army cannot be mobilized! ”

......

Gradually, Ma Shiying's heart sank, but he didn't think too much, but explained: "You go to the garrison camps of Luzhou, Fengyang, Xuzhou and Huai'an again, if you don't see the four general soldiers, don't come back." Once the four general soldiers return to the camp, after seeing them, pass on the military order of the officer, be sure to let them go to Fengyang City in person, and the official will be waiting for them here! ”

"Yes, sir."

A day passed, two days passed, and by the time three days came, Ma Shiying could no longer sit still.

In the study, Ma Shiying held a letter in one hand, his expression was uncertain, sometimes anxious, sometimes in a daze, and the staff next to him whispered: "My lord, in the past two days, according to the news sent back by the secret agents, except for Liu Liangzuo, the general soldiers of the other three towns are secretly connecting, and they seem to be plotting something big?" ”

Even if the staff didn't say it, Ma Shiying had already reacted, realized the seriousness of the problem, full of unusual feelings, the generals were out of control, and did not listen to the command, he seemed to have become a bare-bones commander, although he was still the governor of the four provinces, but he had been set aside.

Looking at Ma Shiying's solemn expression, he frowned, and the staff said boldly: "My lord, now, the wind and clouds will meet, and the matter of who will be the emperor in Nanjing City has long been quarrelsome, I'm afraid things have changed~!" ”

"How could I not know?"

Ma Shiying asked a rhetorical question in admiration, raised the letter paper in his hand in the air, and then said: "In two days, Lord Shi Kefa came with six letters, urging them once in the morning, noon and evening, so that the official immediately led his troops to Huai'an Mansion to welcome King Lu into Nanjing City, causing the established facts. ”

While speaking, Ma Shiying handed over the letter.

"Well, look at it, Lord Shi actually used such radical words in his heart, and did not hesitate to attack the reputation of the prince of Fuwang, which shows how fierce the debate in Nanjing is! It can be said that in Nanjing City at this moment, the open and secret battles in the officialdom are no less than the battlefields of real guns and real knives. ”

After the staff took the letter, he immediately read it, his brows instantly twisted, and then reminded: "My lord, you have to make plans early~!" Lord Shi actually used such words, it can be seen that the party led by Lord Shi is in a hurry, and the rumor of supporting the new emperor is gradually tilting towards the prince of Fu, if there is no accident, I am afraid that no one can stop this trend. ”

"How could this suddenly happen?"

Ma Shiying couldn't help but spit out such a sentence anymore, his face was full of incomprehension, no matter what, he didn't expect that almost in a day and night, the situation would be reversed, how could King Lu, who originally had an absolute advantage, be shaken?

At this moment, Ma Shiying did not pay attention to the abnormal behavior of Huang Degong and others, and disobeyed the command one after another, thinking that they had turned their heads to support Zhu Yousong.

"My lord, I think that Huang Degong and the other three general soldiers are probably not rebellious and want to cooperate with the enemy, but have fallen to the side of King Fu's side."

A word to wake up the dreamer!

After figuring it out, Ma Shiying completely figured it out, everything became so logical and completely explainable.

At this moment, Ma Shiying was a little stunned, and even a little sudden, muttering to himself: "That's right, the sudden change in the limelight of Nanjing City is by no means accidental, it happened that it happened in these two days, and these two days were also when Huang Degong and their actions were abnormal." ”

"At this juncture, almost all the officials in Nanjing City are inclined to King Lu ascending the throne as emperor, and if you want to subvert and reverse this situation, the only way to start is to start from the army, with the support and deterrence of the army, the original neutrals and wall grass will definitely fall to the prince of Fuwang. Otherwise, everything cannot be explained. ”

After saying a word, Ma Shiying nodded very firmly, and said: "It must be like this!" ”

"That's... My lord, what shall we do now? The staff asked at the right time, and then asked remindingly: "Do we still want to continue to support Master Shi?" ”

At this time, in Nanjing, Shi Kefa and the Donglin Party were like ants on a hot pot, anxious, restless, very irritable, and during the heated discussion, they did not forget to point fingers at Ma Shiying, who was far away in Fengyang Mansion, without realizing that the overall situation had been decided, and they were defeated, or defeated!

"Master Shi, no, I still have to repair a book, urge Ma Shiying, tell him the benefits and disadvantages, and explain that the prince of King Fu is by no means a suitable candidate for the throne, and let him immediately lead troops to Huai'an Mansion and support King Lu into Nanjing. Once King Fu ascends the throne and becomes the emperor, those eunuchs will once again take power and control the government, and you and I will never have a good life! ”

"Ladies and gentlemen, what I'm worried about now is not my career, but the future of Jiangshan Sheji and Daming. If those eunuchs resurrect and dominate the government again, what if they can really stabilize the situation of the court and think about the people, so as to mobilize people from all sides, block the chaotic army that is eyeing the tiger, and sacrifice the career of you and me? ”

Hearing Shi Kefa say this, a trace of ugliness flashed on the faces of some officials, but more people were admired, and one official immediately sighed.

"Yes, there are still rebel armies in the north, constantly gathering around the south of Zhili, and now at this time, internal unity and unified government orders are most needed. In this way, there is an urgent need for an emperor to preside over the overall situation, as the backbone, in order to coordinate all parties and mobilize all the garrisons in the south to deal with the rebellious army. ”

Another official stepped forward and pointed out the key internal crux of the Ming army, the problem of not being able to defend itself against the rebellious army.

"At this time, the biggest threat to the imperial court is not from the continuous approach of the chaotic army, but the inability of the imperial army to form an effective and unified command, and some generals are not able to command at all, and are almost fighting according to their own wishes."

At this time, an old man who had been an official in the south for decades also stood up, with a worried look, and then said in a particularly low voice: "Such an army cannot be deployed and coordinated in action, although the imperial court still has a million troops, but it is also scattered and cannot fight against the chaotic army." The so-called world cannot be without a king for a day, nothing more than that. ”

"But, my lord, the new emperor should be named after Lixian!" Qian Qianyi, the leader of the Donglin Party, was anxious and shouted unwillingly.

However, although no one objected to this statement, the solemn and different atmosphere showed that these people had reached a consensus, and the creed they adhered to began to loosen.