In ancient times, information transmission was a very slow process, because there was no information transmission method such as telephone and telegraph in ancient times, and the transmission of information could only rely on physical objects such as letters, which were transmitted by means of transportation, and the fastest way of information transmission was the 800 miles of the imperial court post station, that is, 800 miles a day.

However, in the second year of Chongzhen, Zhu Youzhen actually abolished the post station drastically, because there was a king Li Zicheng in the post station, so this matter was talked about, but even if there was no Li Zicheng, the post station, as the national communication system at that time, was usually inconspicuous, but in many cases, it could affect the future of a country.

In July of the third year of Chongzhen, Wang Zhi led an army of 10,000 people to extend from the extension, called the Wang Army, all the way to the north, one day to Keyanchuan, three days to Keqingjian.

It is impossible to cover up such a large military activity, Hong Chengchou, who was the governor of Yansui at the time, gathered 10,000 troops to fight to the death with the Wang army under Suide City, the officers and soldiers were defeated, Suide City was broken, and Hong Chengchou and the city were captured.

Such a big defeat is equivalent to piercing the sky, and Zhang Ran, the prefect of Yan'an, can't suppress Wang Zhi's matter, when Wang Zhi arrived at the city of Jiazhou, everyone who knew about it wrote about it, and everyone who was qualified to write a fold wrote. A letter flew towards the capital like a snowflake, including those who simply reported the thief's feelings, those who impeached Zhang Ran for arson, and those who asked for help.

Yang He, the governor of Shaanxi Province who was in Chang'an at the time, also wrote a letter asking for help, the elite soldiers in northern Shaanxi were almost wiped out in this battle, hurry up and let the king's army come back, it is best to get some elite soldiers and strong generals, otherwise you can't beat it!

This kind of request for help issued by the governor of a province is generally eligible for "express delivery." That is, how many hundred miles are expedited. However, now even the post station has been abolished. Where is the courier from delivering the courier?

So such a letter of folding, stumbling on the road for almost a month, was only sent to the capital ten days before Wang Zhi's army entered Yulin City, and then Wang Zhi captured the land of Liangfu.

Because it was a memo sent by the governors of the three sides, the cabinet and the celebrant did not dare to slack off, and this recital was sent to Emperor Chongzhen's desk as soon as possible.

Emperor Chongzhen, named Zhu Youzhen, was the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He succeeded to the throne at the age of sixteen and reigned for seventeen years, and then hanged himself in Jingshan because of the breakthrough of King Li Zicheng's attack on the capital. He can be called the most diligent emperor in history, according to historical records, he was in his twenties, his hair was gray, and his eyes had crow's feet, but diligence and thrift did not mean that he was not mediocre, and most of his faults were in him.

At this time, it was only three years of Chongzhen, and the Ming Dynasty did not show the appearance of a dead country, and Zhu Youzhen was only nineteen years old. It was when the spirit was high that I never thought that those displaced people in northern Shaanxi were the foundation of the country. He only regarded them as hungry people, but the report he received today made him change his opinion about these hungry people.

"10,000 officers and soldiers against 10,000 thieves were killed and defeated, none of them escaped, even the governor was captured, and the elite soldiers of the nine sides were defeated to such a point?"

In the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Youzhen, who was still very young, was furious, when did the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty be weak to this point, and it was understandable that they couldn't beat the Jiannu Tartars, but in the case of equal troops and backed by the big city, they were all wiped out by the thieves who had been chasing and beating, is this God joking?

"Immediately summon the elders of the pavilion and the various departments to meet with the scholars."

Before it was sent to the emperor, it was reviewed by the cabinet, and the cabinet ministers had long expected this scene, so they informed the ministers early, and within a quarter of an hour they gathered in the Qianqing Palace.

Zhou Yanru, a scholar and cabinet minister of Wenyuan Pavilion, stood at the head of the ministers, followed by Wen Tiren, a scholar of the Ministry of Rites and a scholar of Dongge University, and Liang Tingdong, a scholar of the Ministry of War, and Bi Ziyan, a scholar of the Ministry of Households.

Sensing the oppressive atmosphere in the hall, no one refused to be the first bird, and they didn't say a word, waiting for the Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youzhen, who opened the Qingming Dynasty and was the Ming Emperor of the prosperous era, to be furious.

"I really can't understand that 10,000 elite soldiers in border towns were wiped out by the same number of thieves under their own city, do you tell me that the annual border salary of several million taels raises such a group of waste? The Tartars can't be defeated, and now they can't even beat a group of thieves, and the dignified nine-sided town actually wants the imperial court to send reinforcements. Emperor Chongzhen was furious.

Zhou Tingru is about to be promoted to the first assistant, although the appointment has not yet come down, but there is only one procedure left, at this time, it should be him, the first assistant, to go out first, "Your Majesty, the three sides of Shaanxi have all entered the king of Jingqin, so that the three sides of the army are empty, and the rogue can be arrogant." Now that the heavy troops on the three sides have returned, Weichen thinks that once the heavy troops return to Shaanxi, the army will be killed, and the prolonged thieves will be able to strike a blow. ”

In ancient times, the transmission of information was already slow, and Wang Zhi's subordinates also called him a general and never called him by his name, so that the imperial court still did not know who the leader of the Yanchang thieves was and who he was.

"The old minister seconded the proposal." Bi Ziyan, the head of the household department, also stood up and said, let the returning trilateral Qin Wang army go to fight the thieves, there is no need to allocate more money and food, the household department is now empty enough to run mice, how can there be any money to fight.

"I think this is a big mistake." Liang Tingdong, the secretary of the Ministry of War, stood up and said: "The minister heard that the Yan thief is strong and strong, and everyone wears armor. Moreover, it has been active in Yanchang County for a long time, tens of thousands of troops, but the imperial court has never heard of its name, obviously someone deliberately concealed it, such a thief army, can not be regarded only as hungry people, this is clearly someone deliberately rebelled. ”

Thieves and rogues, although they are also doing rebellious business, but they are desperate to take risks because they can't survive, and they can be recruited. But deliberate rebellion is different, this is a deliberate attempt to pull the emperor off the horse, which is absolutely intolerable to the feudal dynasty, and suddenly poked at the sensitive point of Emperor Chongzhen, and the murderous aura in his eyes can almost be condensed into substance: "What does Aiqing think it should be?" ”

"The old minister thinks that he should gather strong troops from all over the country and exterminate the Yanchang thieves with the power of thunder, otherwise if he is allowed to become bigger, he may not become another Liaodong!" Liang Tingdong said worriedly.

Speaking of Liaodong, everyone attaches great importance to it, the scene of the Jiannu soldiers coming to the city last year is still vivid, the Jiannu is the number one henchman of the Ming Dynasty, in order to deal with them, the annual Liaoning salary alone has to spend millions of taels, compared to the Shaanxi Liukou is just a small trouble with scabies.

"Lord Liang is exaggerating!" Bi Ziyan immediately said, don't you need money to gather soldiers and horses, now the household department can't take out so much money, so at the risk of being suspected of being a fellow thief, Bi Ziyan still has to refute: "Just a thief, how can it be compared with Liaodong Jiannu." ”

"Yansui Governor Hong Chengchou, know the military affairs, have many military exploits, he summoned tens of thousands of elite soldiers outside the city of Suide and 10,000 Yanchang thieves to fight a decisive battle, but the result is that the whole army was annihilated, Suide City was broken, Hong Chengchou is said to have also been captured by the enemy, it can be seen that the Yanchang thieves are extraordinary, at least more than the officers and soldiers of the imperial court. And the Qinwang army on the three sides of Shaanxi, with no more than 10,000 troops, and a long journey and insufficient supplies, is it a prolonged opponent of the thief.

Divide the troops to go, if the thieves are extended to repel the attack of several officials and soldiers, the morale of the thieves is greatly increased, and the prestige of the imperial court is greatly reduced, now there is a great drought in Shaanxi, the displaced people are everywhere, it is the time of chaos, if it collects the displaced people, the followers will gather, and the entire northern Shaanxi will fall into the hands of the thieves.

For Jiannu, the imperial court still has the natural danger of Shanhaiguan to stop it, but for this extended thief, what natural danger can be stopped? If we don't take advantage of their weakness to exterminate them with the power of thunder now, and talk about extermination in the future, it will be even more difficult. ”

Although Chongzhen is a little mediocre, it is because he grew up in the deep palace and has no teacher to teach the emperor's art, so he lacks knowledge. This does not mean that he is stupid, the reason why he can tolerate the rogue in Shaanxi and treat him with a policy of appeasement is because the rogue is too weak in combat and can be completely suppressed and beaten by the official army, which is not worth mentioning.

But now in northern Shaanxi, there is a group of elite officers and soldiers who have completely annihilated the elite officers and soldiers who have broken the state city under the condition that the strength and geographical advantages are not superior, and he is also afraid, if it is allowed to develop in northern Shaanxi, wouldn't it be the second Liaodong, and there is a Shanhaiguan to deal with Jiannu, and what is there to deal with Shaanxi thieves? There is nothing but a large army to block it, and the food and salary will be consumed more than the Liao's salary.

"Aiqing is reasonable, and immediately ordered Ma Shilong to lead the Guanning army, together with the Shanxi General Army Wang Guoliang and the Sanbian Qinwang Army, to enter Shaanxi and exterminate the Yanchang thieves."

"Please think twice, Your Majesty, the army is marching westward, spending countless money and grain, and this year, the household has a place to go for money and grain, and there is really no money and grain for the army to use in the west!" Bi Ziyan called the poor Dao, in charge of the finances of a dynasty that was said to have perished because of poverty, and all he could do was to call it poor.

"In that case, let the money and food come out of the inner treasury!" Chongzhen has just succeeded to the throne, and his grandfather Wanli and brother Tianqi still left him a lot of family funds.

Since the emperor planned to pay for it himself and not move the treasury, Bi Ziyan couldn't say anything more, so he returned to his position and kept silent.

At this time, Wen Tiren, who had been playing soy sauce, spoke: "Your Majesty, if the three-way army fights separately, the minister is afraid that it will repeat the mistake of Salhu, and the minister thinks that he should appoint one person to be in charge of the three-way soldiers and horses, so as to concentrate his forces to exterminate the thieves and not give the thieves a chance to break through." ”

"Aiqing has a point." Chongzhen also knew the truth that one army should not have two masters, so he looked at Zhou Yanru and asked him: "Who does Zhou Qing think can be in command?" ”

At this time, Chongzhen still trusted Zhou Tingru very much, otherwise he would not have let him be the first assistant.

"The minister thought that since he had entered the border of Shaanxi to suppress thieves, he should order Yang He, the governor of the three sides of Shaanxi, to be in charge of the three-way soldiers and horses." Zhou Yanru bowed and said.

Whether it is an official position, qualifications and identity, Yang He is very suitable, no one has an opinion, Chongzhen immediately ordered: "Aiqing go down and draft the decree!" (To be continued.) )

PS: Thank you for being Gou Yan, fifty-one stones, and the reward of the Wind ● Thunder Emperor.

In addition, the frostbite cream was smeared, it was useless, now in Jiangxi, the weather is warm, and the hands are much better.