In June, the flood disaster in Lantian was basically subsided, and the resettlement and compensation of the victims were also in full swing, and everyone in Lantian was busy with their heels not touching the ground.

With the rapid operation of Lantian machinery, the disaster caused by the flood is dissipating at the fastest speed, and Lantian is returning to normal.

Li Chaosheng also had time to take a look at the dynamics of other opponents in the land of Daming during this period of time after this period of busyness.

Hubei Zhang Xianzhong is playing hide and seek with Yang Sichang, gradually strengthening his troops in the movement, Yang Sichang is training, as long as I work hard one day I can level the Liukou look, I have to say that Yang Sichang is a dictatorship, when Lu Xiangsheng was there, he wanted to fight with Lu Xiangsheng wholeheartedly, and even did not hesitate to violate some of his own principles for this.

And when Lu Xiangsheng was killed, he became the person Chongzhen relied on the most, he really did a little bit of his best for Chongzhen, such a person, what should he say about him?

Li Chaosheng's evaluation of him is: narrow-minded, jealous, not a gentleman, but he can't be said to be incompetent.

Hubei, Yang Sichang, Zhang Xianzhong fought each other, other places are still peaceful, Liaodong, after Hong Chengchou arrived, began to deploy, but Hong Chengchou encountered trouble at this time, the cause of the trouble was that his ideas and the princes of the court, and even Chongzhen, who was sitting on the throne, had a disagreement.

Hong Chengchou believes that the Ningjin defense line in eastern Liaodong is a bit laborious, and advocates that the direction of tactical contraction, withdraw from the Ningjin defense line, and form a defense line in the rear, which can greatly reduce the expenses of the Ming Dynasty.

Hong Chengchou calculated an account to push the Manchu defense line forward by 100 miles, and the annual military expenditure would increase by 1 million taels, and if he retreated 100 miles, he could save at least 700,000 taels of military spending, and the large area of land around the Ningjin defense line was not owned by the people, and there were not many people here.

Moreover, if this land is gone, the Manchus will send people to station, and the Manchus will send people, so their military spending will increase.

Hong Chengchou carefully wrote down the advantages and disadvantages of this and handed it to Chongzhen, but at the next day's court meeting, he was criticized by the ministers as useless, and some people directly called him a thief.

To tell the truth, although Hong Chengchou's idea is very inappropriate, but the starting point is good, and for the Ming Dynasty, which is now full of holes, it is not necessarily a bad thing, although this is a bit of a suspicion of losing the land and humiliating the country, but what the Ming Dynasty lacks now is money, that is, the time to regroup, if you can give up Ningjin, a land where the utilization rate of the Ming Dynasty is not high, in exchange for the Ming respite, to be honest, it is worth it.

Exchanging time for geography is not an unacceptable strategic solution.

In Hong Chengchou's view, the land of the Ming Dynasty far exceeds that of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, as long as the land is used to slow down the pace of the Manchu attack, our country will slowly recover its economy by virtue of its vast territory, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty will play with its life, and it will be impossible to drag down a huge empire more than ten times larger than him.

However, Hong Chengchou thought very well, but he ignored a fatal place, that is, although there are very few people in the Ningjin defense line, and the people have very little land, this huge land is not without owners, and there are people with his vested interests in this land.

So who are its vested interests?

Answer: Jiangmen in Liaodong.

That's right, it's Liaodong Jiangmen, it's Zu Dashou, Wu Xiang, Wu Sangui, these Liaodong generals, in fact, a large area of land around the Ningjin defense line is theirs, they are vested interests, and they are associated with many members of the imperial court, and now Hong Chengchou wants to give up this large piece of land, that is, to cut the meat of Liaodong Jiangmen, these major military leaders who support the army, are they so easy to bully?

Of course, they must mobilize their own forces in the DPRK and China to try to prevent such a thing from happening.

More importantly, as soon as the Ningjin defense line is abandoned, the military spending of the Liaodong Front of the Ming Dynasty will begin to decrease, is this the money of the soldiers? No, this is the money of Liaodong Jiangmen.

And this money is not only for the Liaodong generals, but also for the share of the princes of the imperial court.

Okay, you Hong Chengchou has offended so many vested interest groups at once now, how can you get support in the DPRK, and Chongzhen is unwilling to agree to this matter, although Chongzhen has ruined the country's governance, but his bones are very hard, like this kind of voluntary abandonment of the country, Chongzhen is unwilling to do it.

Therefore, Hong Chengchou's suggestion Chongzhen was unwilling to agree, and he also gave severe criticism, and forced Hong Chengchou to give a death order, and not an inch of Liaodong land could be given to Jiannu!

I have to say that Chongzhen's bones are very hard, but unfortunately there is a little less flexibility, and Hong Chengchou decisively closed his mouth after receiving the order and seeing that his subordinates began to listen to him very much, and never said a word to give up the Ningjin defense line.

Because he was smart, he knew at once that he had moved a lot of people's cakes at once, and if this was the case, he, the governor of Jiliao, would not have to do it.

When he learned how deep the water here was, Hong Chengchou chose to give up, and from then on he decided not to think about changing the situation, because he felt that he was very powerless, even if he was the governor of Jiliao, the person with the most soldiers and horses in the world at present, he didn't dare to have this idea, because he was not only facing the princes of the imperial court, but also the Liaodong generals under his command.

These generals have regarded the Ningjin defense line as their own home, why is the Ningjin defense line so strong over the years, the Manchu Qing Dynasty has chosen to avoid the Ningjin defense line several times, and then raided the Ming Dynasty, one of the big reasons is that Liaodong Jiangmen regarded this place as his own private property.

Therefore, when Jiannu attacked, Liaodong Jiangmen would resist with their lives, because Jiannu killed and brought in the troubles were all things from his own family, so Jiannu must not be allowed to come in, and Liaodong Jiangmen would play with his life because of this.

This is also the reason why Jiannu has not been able to take the land of Liaodong, and even Jiannu's final entry from here can only be done after Wu Sangui surrenders, if Wu Sangui does not surrender at that time, but joins forces with Li Zicheng, Jiannu may only be able to live outside the pass.

Therefore, Hong Chengchou's current situation is that the court has to face Chongzhen, who has a very hard bone, and he can't get the support of the emperor, and the court has to face the princes of Gon who have taken the benefits, as long as these bastards give money, they dare to say anything.

And in Liaodong, you have to face the subordinates who have a gap with you, these Liaodong generals, up and down, left and right, are all enemies, what else can you do for Hong Chengchou.

At this time, he couldn't help but think of the man who was far away in Lantian, the people around that man were all doing practical things, and none of them would be like today's court, which made him envy that man, no wonder Lantian would grow up to what it is now, when everyone's hearts come out and work hard in one place, then no matter how weak a force is, there will be a different tomorrow.

It's a pity that he, Hong Chengchou, has to continue to fight with countless people in this intriguing court, he Hong Chengchou is a little tired, but when Li Chaosheng sent a messenger to comfort him, he pretended to be calm.

"What is Li Chaosheng looking for me?"

The envoy smiled and said, "The county lord heard that Lord Hong has been depressed recently, and came to ask, do you have the idea of starting over in another place?" ”

Hong Chengchou hesitated for a moment when he heard this, and said, "How does your county know about the affairs of our army?" ”

The envoy smiled and said, "Lord Hong, since I can safely appear in front of you and convey to you the words of my family's county honor, you should know that you are not airtight here. ”

"You planted a spy on me?"

Hong Chengchou frowned? The envoy smiled: "Don't say it so ugly, our county is just concerned about the border situation, so we sent some people to help the adults." ”

"Help me? Can you let me see me? ”

The envoy smiled and said, "Lord Hong, it's better not to see it, after all, if you let Your Majesty know that you have a connection with Lantian, it will be terrible!" ”

Hong Chengchou's face was ugly when he heard this, and he didn't say a word, and he played a piece of the imperial court Li Chaosheng could know it from thousands of miles away, which simply made Hong Chengchou have no sense of security at all, as if he was standing naked in place.

Hong Chengchou squinted his eyes and looked at the messenger, the messenger smiled like a flower, not afraid at all, with the powerful Lantian as his backing, the envoy was not afraid of anyone.

Hong Chengchou looked at it for a long time, and suddenly laughed and said: "Okay, good, your county is really a person who worries about the country and the people, and he will pass on the word to your county for me, Hong Mou thanks him for his attention, and he may not ask your county for an official position and a career in the future, but now Hong Mou has to fight for the country, so I won't go to your county now." ”

The envoy didn't say much when he heard this, but bowed to Hong Chengchou and said, "Lord Hong is very admirable for the country and the people, but my lord asked me to bring a word to Lord Hong. ”

Hong Chengchou looked at the envoy and said, "What do you say?" ”

The envoy said in a deep voice: "My lord said that if the adult is defeated one day and has no way out, don't think about not opening the refuge in Jiannu and leaving a lasting reputation, please remember that Lantian will always leave a door for the adult." ”

Hong Chengchou frowned and looked at the envoy and said, "Your county lord looks down on me so much, Hong someone, think that I will ignore my shame, betray my ancestors, and surrender to Jiannu?" ”

The envoy smiled and said: "Lord Hong, my county lord just said a possibility, and my county lord also said that even if Lord Hong is defeated, even if he is captured by Jiannu, as long as Lord Hong does not surrender, he can save the adult, but if Lord Hong really forgets that he is a Han and surrenders to Jiannu, then my county lord also said, even if Huang Taiji can't protect you, please be cautious." ”

Hong Chengchou's face was gloomy and ugly when he heard this: "Your county zun is really majestic, but I want to ask you, did your county zun say the same when he recruited Lu Xiangsheng?" ”

The messenger said: "Lu Xiangsheng has been beheaded at the entrance of the market, what do you want him to do?" ”

Hong Chengchou said with a smile: "I don't believe that a person who is valued by Li Chaosheng would be killed so easily, and as far as I know, Lantian has recently had an additional justice, whose name is fierce, and his style of action is very similar to Lu Xiangsheng." ”

"You also have a spy in Lantian?"

The envoy looked at Hong Chengchou in surprise, Hong Chengchou smiled and said: "When your county was still a bandit, I was the political envoy of Shaanxi, didn't your county tell you, his county honor, or did I give him the position of county honor?" ”

The envoy heard this and said: "It is said that the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, and Lord Hong really has some means, but this is nothing, the fox is not a secret in Lantian, and there is no need to hide people, and it is nothing for Lord Hong to know." ”

Hong Chengchou did not deny it when he heard this, the people he stayed in Lantian could indeed only know some basic things in Lantian, but this was enough, Hong Chengchou looked at the messenger, sighed and said: "Alas~ I know that Hong is too tactful, not as good as Lu Xiangsheng, who is not loved by your family, but Hong is not loved by anyone to this day." ”

"Your county is worried that someone Hong will surrender to Jiannu, I'm afraid that I will only see my Hong someone's smoothness, thinking that I will be about to turn apostasy on the big thing, but so I am underestimating my Hong someone, although I am not as desperate as Lu Xiangsheng, but I also know shame and righteousness, if there is still a glimmer of hope in this China, I Hong someone will defend it to the death, this is my commitment to your county respect, and it is also a promise to myself."

Hong Chengchou looked at the envoy with a firm gaze and said: "You can bring my words to your county and tell him that Hong may betray some people, but Hong will never betray his own beliefs, my belief is that the Ming Dynasty will last forever, and the Han people will be forever!" ”

Hong Chengchou stared at the envoy and said, the envoy was stared at by Hong Chengchou and felt uncomfortable, this feeling was as if he was being stared at by a flood beast, the envoy swallowed his saliva, quickly returned to normal, and said to Hong Chengchou with a smile: "If Lord Hong can really do this, I think the county will also look at the adult differently." ”

Hong Chengchou heard this: "The envoy's words have also been brought, whether you can leave or not, this marshal still has official business to do." ”

When the envoy heard this, he arched his hand at Hong Chengchou and said, "Lord Hong, be busy, I'll go first." ”

After saying that, the envoy went out of the camp tent directly, and after leaving the camp tent, the messenger rode all the way south, Hong Chengchou sent people to deduce the location of the spies sent by Li Chaosheng to his side according to the whereabouts of the envoy, and deduced a loneliness, and found that the messenger did not contact anyone along the way, and found a loneliness.

This is also the requirement of Lantian secret spies, if the identity is exposed, it is not allowed to contact any secret spy agency, as long as you rush all the way to Lantian , but although the envoy did not have contact with Lantian secret spy, Hong Chengchou's words were placed on Li Chaosheng's desk in the form of a telegram.

Li Chaosheng looked at the information on the desk, and a trace of complicated melancholy appeared on his face: My belief is that the Ming Dynasty will last forever, and the Han people will be forever!

Hong Chengchou's feelings for Li Chaosheng are very complicated, history records that he is a traitor, a traitor, but a closer look at his life will find that before and after the defeat of Songshan, Hong Chengchou's mental journey has undergone several changes, and his surrender is more of a helplessness, a manifestation of the despair of the Ming Dynasty.

It is precisely because of this that Li Chaosheng wants to pull him.