After Lu Xiangsheng entered the city, he first went to the Ministry of Officials to hand over his errands, and then went to the Ministry of War, but was told that Hong Chengchou, the Ministry of Affairs, had entered the palace. Lu Xiangsheng did not wait much in the military department, but planned to return to his apartment in Beijing first, and wait until tomorrow to enter the palace to see the driver.

Who knew that as soon as he came out of the yamen of the military department, a little eunuch was waiting at the door, saying that the emperor had summoned him to the palace.

In the envious eyes of many officials, Lu Xiangsheng followed the little eunuch and walked towards the palace. At this time, it was not the upper court, of course, it was not possible to go through the noon gate, but entered the palace from the Xihua gate, and went straight to the Qianqing Palace.

When he was about to arrive at the Qianqing Palace, he saw Huang Liji, the first assistant, Sun Chengzong, the cabinet minister, and Hong Chengchou, the secretary of the military department, coming towards him, and Lu Xiangsheng hurriedly stopped to salute.

"I've seen you."

"It's Jiandou, but to see Your Majesty?" Huang Liji stopped, smiled and said a few words. Lu Xiangsheng was a jinshi in the second year of the Apocalypse, and at that time, Huang Li was one of the officials of the Ministry of Etiquette, and he and Lu Xiangsheng also had a teacher-student friendship.

Sun Chengzong just responded lightly and didn't talk much, but Huang Liji didn't leave, and he didn't want to leave first, so he stood aside and waited, looking Lu Xiangsheng up and down with a sharp gaze.

Lu Xiangsheng led the army into Beijing, and his whereabouts were naturally known to the cabinet, Sun Chengzong knew that Lu Xiangsheng had only entered Beijing today, but he did not expect that he would be summoned to the palace as soon as he entered the city, which shows how favored the emperor is to him. However, in addition to his young qualifications, Sun Chengzong is still assured of Lu Xiangsheng's ability. was able to quickly quell the rebellion of King Fu, and led the newly established new army of the Praetorian Guard to northern Shaanxi to quell the rebellion of the displaced people, Lu Xiangsheng's ability to lead the troops was not bad, and Sun Chengzong still believed that he could handle the affairs of Dongjiang Town.

After Huang Liji finished speaking, Hong Chengchou greeted Lu Xiangsheng with a smile, and did not put on the boss's stand, but talked cordially for a few words, agreed to drink together another day, and left with the two scholars.

Looking at the backs of the three of them leaving, Lu Xiangsheng stood silent for a moment and continued to walk towards the Qianqing Palace.

"Weichen Lu Xiangsheng knocked to see Your Majesty." Seeing Emperor Chongzhen again, Lu Xiangsheng was a little excited, and seriously knelt down and bowed three times.

"Haha, Lu Aiqing is here, hurry up and excuse me." Zhu Youzhen smiled, stepped forward, and personally helped Lu Xiangsheng by the arm.

The monarchs and ministers looked at each other, and they all showed knowing smiles.

Lu Xiangsheng, loyal and brave, in Zhu Youzhen's heart, is completely different from other civil officials. Two years ago, when the New Praetorian Guard was established, Lu Xiangsheng was appointed to train the New Praetorian Guard, and the two of them imagined how to expel the Jiannu and recover the old land of Liaodong after the Praetorian Guard was trained, and since then the two have worked together for the same goal.

Then, when the rebellion was quelled in northern Shaanxi, the monarchs and ministers put down the rebellion in northern Shaanxi, jointly punished the bad gentry and evil officials, built villages to recruit new soldiers, and established Yansui Town.

has experienced so much together, in Zhu Youzhen's heart, he no longer only regards Lu Xiangsheng as a courtier, but a real confidant, and even faintly has some feelings between friends, of course, Zhu Youzhen will not admit this.

Of course, Zhu Youzhen also trusts Hong Chengchou, but he is different from Lu Xiangsheng. Hong Chengchou lacks backbone and is not a real loyal and brave minister. Zhu Youzhen trusted him and at the same time was a dike or two. And for Lu Xiangsheng, that's absolute trust, at least for now.

And Lu Xiangsheng also has mixed feelings for Zhu Youzhen. At the beginning, Lu Xiangsheng was only out of loyalty to the monarch, so he did his best to complete all the tasks assigned to him by Zhu Youzhen, and at that time, he was even a little reluctant to agree with Zhu Youzhen's good deeds, such as King Fu's "Mo Rebellious" matter, such as the wanton killing of squires in northern Shaanxi, which exceeded Lu Xiangsheng's psychology.

However, everything that followed confirmed that Zhu Youzhen was right. He confiscated King Fu and obtained a large amount of money, which he used to recruit a new Praetorian Guard army of 10,000 people in Henan. With this new Praetorian Guard army, the rebellion of the displaced people in northern Shaanxi was easily quelled. And killing the squires of northern Shaanxi and raiding their homes made more people in northern Shaanxi survive. And now, on the basis of these people in northern Shaanxi, a powerful army of more than 30,000 people has been formed. The people of northern Shaanxi live in poverty, but they are brave and aggressive, and they can be said to be the best source of soldiers.

Lu Xiangsheng personally trained these 30,000 Praetorian Guards, and he thought that he was not weaker than any army of the Ming Dynasty, which was the biggest proof for the decisive battle to expel Jiannu.

And all this was done in just two years. All this was brought by the emperor in front of him, and he was just the executor, and Lu Xiangsheng still had a clear understanding of this. It can be said that without Zhu Youzhen's behavior, there would be no such Praetorian Guard.

framed King Fu, slaughtered the squires of northern Shaanxi, and even opened the killing ring in Xuanfu, and raided the homes of most Jin merchants, all of which were beyond Lu Xiangsheng's psychological bottom line if they were placed in the past, and they were all acts of tyrants. However, now, Lu Xiangsheng's psychology has long changed. One is that those people have a way to die, and the other is that Zhu Youzhen did all this for the sake of the Ming Dynasty, and the money he copied was all for this new Praetorian Army.

In the two years since he was in charge of the army, no one knows better than Lu Xiangsheng how much money he personally trained the Praetorian Guard. From silver to food, from military clothes and armor to weapons and equipment, including the more than 10,000 people left behind in northern Shaanxi, this Praetorian Guard of more than 40,000 people spent a total of almost 4 million taels of silver! It can be said that the current powerful combat power of this Praetorian Guard is all piled up with silver!

The current situation of the Ming Dynasty is far better than when Zhu Youzhen first ascended the throne, so now Lu Xiangsheng admires Zhu Youzhen very much, and his feelings for Zhu Youzhen also exceed the feelings of the courtiers for the emperor. Although Zhu Youzhen disregarded his family affection for King Fu and slaughtered the squires of northern Shaanxi, in Lu Xiangsheng's heart, Zhu Youzhen can be said to be a real benevolent monarch.

......

"Lu Aiqing, you should be clear about the reason why I summoned you to Beijing, right?" Zhu Youzhen didn't talk nonsense, and said directly.

Lu Xiangsheng nodded: "Since His Majesty ordered the ministers to bring the standard camp into Beijing, the ministers have guessed that it should be time to launch a counterattack against Jiannu. ”

Zhu Youzhen said with a smile: "Aiqing still remembers when I asked you to train the Praetorian Guard, and what I said was the right plan for Jiannu? ”

Lu Xiangsheng said: "Of course I remember, Your Majesty said to the minister at the time that Jiannu could not attack Liaoxi, and would inevitably choose to make a detour to attack Daming from Jibei. I have hundreds of millions of people in the Ming Dynasty, and there are only hundreds of thousands of people in Jiannu, even if ten are exchanged for one, it is a cost-effective deal. Your Majesty, could it be that Jiannu will invade from Jibei this winter? ”

Zhu Youzhen said solemnly: "Almost." Jiannu sent troops to pacify the Duoyan Wuliang Habu, and the Nanu chief Huang Taiji even personally led his troops to the north of Xuanfu, and had already explored the way to the north of Jibei by detouring the grassland.

In the autumn and winter of last year, Jiannu's attack on Liaoxi failed, and for most of the past six months, our Ming Dynasty adopted a strict economic blockade against it, prohibiting any materials from flowing into Liaodong. According to the report of Liaodong Jinyiwei, the prices in Jiannu have soared, and the shortage of materials is extremely short, and it is rumored that the grain has risen to the point of tens of taels of silver and a stone.

If Jiannu doesn't grab food and materials from Daming, he will definitely not be able to survive this winter. The western part of Liaoning is narrow and solid, with Jinzhou Ningyuan in front of it, and Shanhai Xiongguan in the back, and it is difficult for Jiannu to open up the corridor in western Liaoning, so I expect that Jiannu will inevitably choose to invade from Jibei this year. And the time of the invasion will inevitably be before the onset of winter, almost in October! ”

Lu Xiangsheng pondered for a moment, nodded slowly, and agreed with Zhu Youzhen's analysis.

It is very likely that Jiannu will choose to invade from Jibei, because Jiannu has suffered repeated losses in Liaoxi, knowing that Liaoxi is not easy to fight, so Huang Taiji is likely to choose to bypass and choose to attack from the weak Jibei.

And if Jiannu wants to invade, the best time is the late autumn season, the autumn grain has just been harvested, as long as Jiannu invades the territory of the Ming Dynasty, you can grab a large amount of food, and you don't need to worry about supplies at all. And attacking before winter, you can avoid the impact of wind and snow on the march, after all, from Liaoshen to Jibei, you have to walk more than a thousand miles of mountain roads, and the wind and snow weather is not easy to walk.

"Your Majesty is an important minister?" Lu Xiangsheng asked.

"Maybe you've heard that now something happened to Phi Dao again, Liu Xingzuo killed Chen Jisheng, Mao Chenglu and Liu Xingzuo attacked each other, and Dongjiang Town was in chaos. I plan to let you take the opportunity to lead your troops to the Dongjiang River, quickly quell the Dongjiang Rebellion, and wait for the news of the Jiannu invasion to come out, and then send troops from the Dongjiang River to attack the Jiannu lair according to the plan! ”

Zhu Youzhen said, and ordered Wang Chengen to take the huge sheepskin map, spread it on the ground, and pointed in the direction of Phi Dao.

Lu Xiangsheng looked at the map for a while, and said: "If you want to quell the rebellion on Phi Dao, but also send troops to attack the nest of Jiannu, will it be too late in time?" ”

To be honest, Lu Xiangsheng didn't understand the changes in Phi Dao. When he was in Yan'an, he read Mao Wenlong's transfer from Dongjiang to Zhejiang, and he felt very inexplicable at that time. Mao Wenlong single-handedly created Dongjiang Town, and now that Mao Wenlong is gone, the imperial court has not appointed a new Dongjiang commander-in-chief, so Phi Island will inevitably be in turmoil. Now as it happens.

Of course, after thinking about it carefully, Lu Xiangsheng also understood Zhu Youzhen's choice, which was nothing more than being afraid that Jiannu would not invade, except for Mao Wenlong to relieve Jiannu's worries, and then create a reason to send troops to Phi Island to quell the chaos, but this operation was too complicated......

"Zhou Yuji has been training sailors in Dagu for nearly a year, and now has nearly 200 ships of all kinds, which is more than enough to transport 30,000 Praetorian Guards to Phi Island, and some time ago, I sent people to Dagu to transport more than 10 newly built Hongyi cannons, and now Zhou Yuji has more than 100 Hongyi cannons and Franc machine artillery pieces, plus 30,000 Praetorian Guards equipped with new Lu Mi guns, how much time will it take to pacify Phi Island?" Zhu Youzhen asked lightly.

Lu Xiangsheng thought for a while: "If you want to reorganize the Dongjiang Army, it will naturally take some time, and if you just let Mao Chenglu and Liu Xingzuo obey the order, it will naturally be easy." ”

With a strong army and the name of the imperial court, as long as Mao Chenglu and Liu Xingzuo are not bent on rebellion, they naturally dare not fight against the army. As long as they don't accept their military power, they will naturally not cause chaos, and it will naturally be easier.

Zhu Youzhen said: "Everything is mainly about attacking the nest of Jiannu, and the matter of rectifying the Dongjiang Army can be left later." ”

After looking at the map for a while, Lu Xiangsheng said again: "If it is according to our expectations, Jiannu invades from Jibei, and its soldiers and horses are strong, and Beijing will bear the brunt, Your Majesty, the minister heard that Wang Shangshu took 30,000 Beijing camps to Guizhou, if the minister takes all the 30,000 Janissaries away, I am afraid that the Beijing guards will not have enough troops." ”

Zhu Youzhen said: "You don't have to worry about this, there is also a battalion of Praetorian Guards in Xiyuan, 6,000 Xuanfu soldiers reorganized by Hong Chengchou, and there are more than 20,000 people in the Beijing camp, and the garrison is quite sufficient." Besides, the Xuanfu still has tens of thousands of newly formed Xuanfu soldiers, which can be transferred in at that time, and the troops guarding Beijing are sufficient. ”

Lu Xiangsheng asked again: "If Jiannu invades, what will happen to the soldiers of Liaoxi?" Is it transferred to the Guannei King to intercept Jiannu? Or will you launch an attack on Jiannu with your ministers? ”

Zhu Youzhen was silent, he knew what Lu Xiangsheng meant by asking. In addition to the more than 30,000 Praetorian Guards, the Liaoxi soldiers were the strongest. If the Liaoxi soldiers are also used to attack the nest of Jiannu, then the invading Jiannu will have no control, and can only be allowed to wreak havoc in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, hundreds of people will be robbed and slaughtered, and even the city of Beijing is in danger of being captured by it. The price is not insignificant!

On the contrary, if the Liaoxi soldiers are used as reinforcements, there are tens of thousands of Liaoxi soldiers, not to mention anything else, at least the city of Beijing can be protected! If the Ming army is well coordinated, it is not impossible to leave the Jiannu invasion army behind.

"Aiqing thinks that the field battle of the Liaoxi soldiers can stop the main force of Jiannu?" Zhu Youzhen asked slowly.

Lu Xiangsheng shook his head slightly: "Naturally, it can't be stopped." ”

Although the Liaoxi soldiers are strong, they are not the opponents of Jiannu in the field, otherwise they would not have only defended but not attacked in these years.

Of course, it is undeniable that the Liaoxi soldiers also have elites, such as the Liaoxi Iron Cavalry trained by Sun Chuanting, and their combat power is also extraordinary, but the number of this cavalry is only thousands, and it is still not the opponent of the main force of Jiannu.

"The Gyeonggi area is full of plains, and since the Liaoxi soldiers are not the opponents of Jiannu in the field, it is useless to send back reinforcements." Zhu Youzhen said slowly, "The main force of Jiannu poured out of the nest, and most of the banners left behind by it were more than banners, and their combat power was relatively weak, maybe the Liaoxi soldiers could fight with them and fight a dozen." In this case, the main force of the Liaoxi soldiers also participated in the attack on the nest of Jiannu. As long as the news of the attack on the Jiannu nest comes, the invading Jiannu will inevitably retreat. ”

"Your Majesty." Lu Xiangsheng praised sincerely, and his expression was faintly excited.

He never thought that Zhu Youzhen would dare to make such a choice and send the two most elite armies to copy the nest of Jiannu, completely ignoring Beijing City and disregarding his own safety, what courage he was!

"In this way, there will be enough troops to attack the Jiannu Lair, and the probability of winning this battle will be doubled!" Lu Xiang ascended.

Jiannu has always been the main force pouring out of the nest, but there are at least half of the bannermen left behind, and there are at least 30,000 or 40,000 eight banner soldiers in their old nest, with more than 30,000 troops of the Praetorian Guard, it is not easy to plow the pavilion and sweep the hole. But if there are Liaoxi soldiers, especially the Liaoxi Iron Cavalry, they will have a greater advantage in the face of the remaining forces of Jiannu, and they can choose a more flexible tactical strategy, so that this battle can be successful!