The eunuch's words caused a sneer, and the suspicious Xu Ping set his eyes on the subordinate who attacked the Ming army, who came together in the ins and outs, and he had already learned the secret decree of Emperor Chongzhen from the mouth of this eunuch.

After repeatedly asking the confession of the leader, Xu Ping, who was speechless, waved his hand and ordered all the captives to be taken down.

Soon after, Xu Ping's guards reported that the captured officers and soldiers had only been taken out of Xu Ping's camp and had been killed by the intruding army. For a long time, Xu Ping had strictly forbidden to kill prisoners, and the guards who came to report thought that Xu Ping would be furious because someone violated military discipline, but he didn't want Xu Ping to just hum softly, and went back to sleep without making any indication.

Early the next morning, Chen Zhe argued with Xu Ping about this matter again.

"My subordinates have all been born and died for me for many years, and I can't punish them just because they killed a few people who deserve to be killed." Xu Ping felt that the soldiers were not wrong at all, this kind of behavior similar to tomb robbery was a capital crime there, although there was the emperor's holy decree, but this side is a rebel, right?

"These people really deserve to be killed, but the adults should give this order, and the people below should not be allowed to act without permission." Chen Zhe still believes that this is a serious disciplinary incident that will make the soldiers flout the authority of military discipline, and Chen Zhe is not thinking about whether this group of people should die, but how to execute them.

"Our camp was originally composed of a group of such people," Xu Ping heaved: "Those who respect the law of the country as the constitution of heaven will not follow us." As for the original New Army officers like Xu Ping and Chen Zhe, they have always regarded authority as dung.

"But now it's different," Chen Zhe retorted, "and now we have to rely on authority to maintain military discipline and maintain military morale." ”

"So Brother Chen thinks the new army's previous behavior is right?" Xu Ping asked rhetorically: "Brother Chen now thinks that the New Army's suppression of us is justified?" ”

"At that time I was just a junior officer, of course I felt that they were not doing it right, although it was different in the camp, I was already sitting in the position of those who hated me in the past, but they still did not do it right." Chen Zhe was not stumped by Xu Ping's rhetorical question at all, as if he had carefully considered this issue: "Because of what the new army did, they were defeated, and the biggest mistake of the warriors was to lose the battle, as long as they didn't defeat the battle, then what they did was right." ”

"Oh?"

"The general and the Confucian have stayed for too long, we warriors don't have to think about it so much, for us, right or wrong is to see if we can win, the general doesn't want to think about whether it is good enough, just think - it is enough to do better than the new army." With the continuous improvement of his status, Chen Zhe's position is gradually changing, but his bottom line is that no matter what, he must be stronger than the new army. As for Xu Ping, now Chen Zhe also agrees with Yu Shenhe and Zhou Dongtian's judgment of him - that is, he has no consciousness as a prince.

"I don't want to fight you about this, but I won't punish those soldiers." Xu Ping thought that this violation of military regulations was just an accident, in fact, Chen Zhe didn't think that the matter was too serious, he just wanted Xu Ping to take precautions and eliminate some signs that might cause adverse effects. But this incident made Xu Ping make up his mind, that is, to disband most of the army and let them go to the people to try to survive the winter: "I believe what King Chuang said, that is, no matter how many soldiers we need, the faint king will send them for us." ”

Today, Xu Ping has said that he does not have to keep the decision to disband part of the army secret, and that he himself will personally lecture his loyal subordinates on the matter for many years.

There was not the slightest laughter around the camp, and the previous military training had stopped, and both soldiers and civilians were silently helping their relatives build simple wool sheds, or standing or squatting there in silence. Xu Ping walked up to the temporary platform next to the camp tent, and after seeing him, the soldiers and people who broke into the camp stopped their work and looked at Xu Ping who was standing on a high place.

"I know," Xu Ping raised his arms and shouted to the soldiers and civilians around him: "I know that many of you have always been looking forward to Zhao'an, you all think that the Son of Heaven is a sage, he was only deceived by the traitorous ministers for a while, and one day, one day the Son of Heaven of the Ming Dynasty will repent, will exclude villains and traitors, and avenge you, and we will eventually get Zhao'an, the days of precariousness will end, the war will end, and everyone can go back to live a peaceful life." This kind of thinking is not unique to you, even I hope that one day I will be able to take off this uniform and live a peaceful life again, even your superiors, they are eager to be disarmed and return to the field. Whether you believe it or not, I don't want to fight, and I want to marry a wife, have children, and live and work in peace, but all this is a fantasy, you have lost many relatives, your homes have been razed to the ground, and the land you have worked so hard to cultivate is submerged in water. The Ming Emperor will not pity us, and he will not understand our suffering. ”

Xu Ping paused for a while, and the soldiers and civilians in the audience were still silent:

"I no longer have any illusions about the faint king, there is only *** Ming Court, and there is no second way for me to live well. In the past, I severely punished deserters, but today I have decided to lift this military discipline, and anyone who believes that the Ming Emperor will be merciful and will exempt Henan from paying taxes, will send Qing officials, will understand your suffering, will allow you to live well, and will recruit peace and keep promises, can leave my army! ”

Xu Ping confessed to the audience that he could not guarantee that everyone would be fed and clothed this winter, so most of the soldiers had to leave the camp temporarily and disperse to various villages to survive the winter.

"After the beginning of spring, or after the wheat harvest, according to the actions of the Ming court, I will decide when I need to reconvene everyone. This time, I did not convene everyone to resist food and taxes, not to drive away corrupt officials, or to cry out against the faint king. Those who cannot make up their minds to be a thief do not have to return to my banner, and instead of being angry, I will respect their integrity. "Many soldiers who broke into the camp before—not all of them, but a considerable number of soldiers, including Xu Ping's descendants, always believed that *** was a way to make a sound, and the louder the noise, the more likely the emperor would hear it. Just like in the Water Margin story, the ultimate goal of *** is to make the deceived emperor wake up, and it is the crime of creating corrupt officials and corrupt officials rather than making the emperor the son of heaven, so many people still don't think that they are the thieves of Emperor Chongzhen in their hearts, but help the emperor get rid of the foolish son.

"I will gather everyone next year for only one purpose, Chongzhen Lao'er's actions have disgraced his ancestors, and he is no longer worthy of reigning in the world. Anyone who is determined to be a rebel and thief of the Ming Dynasty is my own brother Xu Ping, let us go straight to the capital together, burn down the palace of the Ming Emperor, and seek justice for the victims in the world. ”

……

"Very well, the general finally confessed to the soldiers what we wanted to do." After Xu Ping's speech, Chen Zhe seemed very happy, although the *** who broke into the camp for a long time have always been thinking about establishing a new dynasty, but the soldiers below said the most about the Qing Jun side. At one time, Chen Zhe even suggested that Xu Ping stick to this slogan, one of the reasons why he opposed the declaration of Guide to Germany was that he was too clear to create the Ming Dynasty, which would make some soldiers waver and hesitate. However, after Chongzhen's death and fortune were exposed, even conservatives like Chen Zhe thought that the time was ripe and there was no need to continue to hide his ambition to break into the camp: "In the future, I want to get a piece of the pie." ”

Hearing this, Xu Ping frowned slightly, since Sun Kewang put forward these ideas, he was not too cautious to leak them, although Xu Ping also showed his subordinates, but he was not willing to discuss this issue openly with his subordinates: "Be cautious. ”

"Is the general afraid that King Chuang will be unhappy when he hears it?" Chen Zhe looked very indifferent: "King Chuang still depends on us to fight the world, he won't say anything." ”

"And after that?"

"For the sake of the future, we have to say even louder, if King Chuang does not object, it will be a tacit acquiescence," Chen Zhe said without scruples.

He believes that if most of the people in the camp have this wish, Li Zicheng will have to satisfy it in the end, and if this idea becomes everyone's common ambition and goal, it can also put more pressure on Li Zicheng: "General Sun is right, we have too many enemies, we can't have no military power in our hands, otherwise we will definitely die without a place to bury." ”

……

Capital

Jin Qiude and Zhao Slowxiong were discussing the court's treatment of Hou Xun, and the Hou of Zhendong himself strongly requested that Hou Xun be ***: "Since the adult has become a marshal, Hou Xun is really of little use." Anyway, not many people know that he was once a lackey of the adult, and presumably he himself would not dare to mention the things he did behind the back of the court, even if he killed him, it would not have any bad impact on the reputation of the adult. ”

"Your lord's current position is not very stable," Zhao Slowxiong also felt that Hou Xun had no use value, but he had always believed in multiple friends and multiple paths, and remembered that Zhendong Hou himself always had this attitude, so he didn't quite understand why Zhendong Hou was so resolute on Hou Xun's issue: "This time the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion was reopened, and the emperor was very jealous of the adults, and there were too many constraints." ”

"I guess-" Jin Qiude thinks that even if there are some constraints, he still has the military power in his hands, and Hou Xun, an almost useless tool, might as well use it in exchange for prestige: "Anyway, the court will not really treat Hou Xun well, what the people of the world see is that the adults are speaking up, and the emperor is as much pampering the traitor as always." ”

"Well, maybe." Zhao Slowxiong didn't think that the imperial court would really be embarrassed for Hou Xun, after all, now that Kaifeng has been lifted, the king of Zhou has been saved, and the threat of breaking into the camp to the Beijing division has also been repulsed: "But the emperor took the opportunity to make a fortune from the dead, and the adults actually don't have to do anything, even if they don't speak up, will the people of the world support an emperor who robs tombs and steals corpses from the bottom of their hearts?" ”

"This, Cao Cao seems to have done it too."

"That's right, but Cao Cao has never been despised because of this, Cao Cao can fight, can win battles, our emperor doesn't have this ability, right?" Zhao Slowxiong smiled slightly: "More than twenty years ago, I thought the path you chose was a dead end that most of the people couldn't go, seventeen years ago, although I admit that the timing was wrong immediately, but I always felt that if you want to go down, immediately *** is probably the only way." I really didn't expect that the emperor could corrupt such a great river and mountain to such a point in just over ten years. ”

"So my lord is still *** far-sighted," the more Jin Qiude now reflects on Zhendonghou's move to give up military power, the more incredible he feels, according to the current situation, soon the Ming will fall apart by itself, and Jin Qiude thought twenty years ago that a huge turmoil was needed to make the rock-solid Ming quickly disintegrate: "If, I mean if Emperor Chongzhen is really the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty." ”

"No if," Zhao said slowly, "I think there is a chance that it will be." ”

"What an incredible last king," Jin Qiude exclaimed, "When the emperor ascended the throne, there was no great turmoil in the world, and it was completely different from the late dynasties; Two million soldiers and officials are loyal and supportive, two capitals and thirteen provinces, without separating the territory and supervising the imperial court, they can rise and fall without a word, not to mention the last emperors of the previous dynasties, in the Tang Dynasty and Song Gao, if there is a foundation when the emperor ascends the throne, I am afraid that he will wake up with a smile in his sleep. ”

"Yes, Huma is outside the Great Wall, no one dares to blatantly intercept the local tax sources, and the right to select and appoint officials is all in front of the emperor, and when the emperor ascends the throne, it is simply a very prosperous world in the previous dynasty." Zhao Wanxiong remembered the changes since Chongzhen ascended the throne, and he also sighed with emotion, now the rule of officials has been chaotic, the world is full of smoke, and the people are desperate for the court: "In just twenty years, this Ming Dynasty is about to collapse?" ”

Jin Qiude once thought that if he wanted to overthrow the Ming Dynasty, he would only have to carry out a rebellion similar to the Anshi Rebellion, since there was no such precursor, then Jin Qiude originally planned to let Zhendong Hou play this role - after all, An Lushan was not without opportunities in history. In Jin Qiude's impression, no court has ever fallen from the peak to the verge of collapse in such a short period of time, Chongzhen Tianzi led the Ming Dynasty to complete the road that took more than 100 years to complete in just 20 years, God, this collapse is so fast that it doesn't even have time to create a powerful warlord: "I'm afraid that our emperor can compare with Emperor Yang of Sui." ”

"Emperor Yang of Sui?" Zhao Slowxiong said leisurely: "Emperor Yang of Sui at least dug the Grand Canal, although the world is in chaos, at least he has done something, not to mention that at that time, older people still remember that the world is not surnamed Yang." And today, what has he done that is worth mentioning, so that the sea is boiling and the people are not living? ”

[Remember the URL . 三五Chinese网]