"Queen Taishang must not, the minister can't afford it!"

In ancient times, men and women could not kiss each other, especially in the palace, there was a layer of royal taboo, Shen Yichen even reached out to help Queen Qian get up, and he could only persuade the other party verbally.

Shen Yichen didn't dare to stretch out his hand, but Queen Qian couldn't take care of it so much, and directly grabbed the hem of his clothes and cried bitterly: "Shen Ge Lao, the emperor's life has been exhausted, and he is trying to raise troops to restore, sooner or later, such a day will come, and the palace knows that the emperor's order is difficult to disobey and does not blame you." ”

"Now I only ask Shen Ge Lao for one thing, and please Shen Ge Lao for the sake of the past monarchs and ministers who have appointed the three yuan and the first, and for the sake of the orphans and widows in the future of this palace, don't shirk ......"

Queen Qian's crying and kneeling behavior caused the brocade guards and Praetorian Guards on duty outside the palace gate to frequently peek inside. After all, whether it is the act of killing the monarch or the Empress Taishang kneeling down to worship the courtiers, I am afraid it is a precedent for the Ming Dynasty and a rare scene.

Seeing that the movement was getting bigger and bigger, Shen Yichen could only stubbornly reply: "Empress Taishang, please speak bluntly, as long as Weichen can do what he can, he will never refuse." ”

"This palace begs the old man of the Shen Pavilion to serve as the prince's teacher, and when the East Palace leaves the pavilion to give lectures, he will officially serve as the prince's teacher!"

Prince Master......

This is the second time Shen Yichen has heard the term, and at the same time, it has brought more impact than before. Standing at the height of history, Shen Yichen knew very well that Ming Xianzong could be called a qualified king, and among the many wonderful emperors in the late Ming Dynasty, Wenzhi and martial arts could even be regarded as outstanding.

But the problem is that Zhu Jianshen is the son of Zhu Qizhen of Ming Yingzong, and he is destined to stand on the opposite side of Emperor Jingtai Zhu Qiyu!

As early as last year, when his wife Chen Qingtong mentioned the matter of the prince's master, Shen Yichen considered and weighed it in his mind, and after all, he could not be like Yu Qian, sacrificing his life for the stability of the country.

Besides, now that history has changed, who dares to guarantee that the prince Zhu Jianji will die early, and the Jingtai Emperor Zhu Qiyu will die young?

Shen Yichen's many adventurous moves were on the cusp of history, pushing him to do it. For example, if you don't take the risk of leading the army to Beijing, the tens of thousands of pro-conscription troops in the rout of the Beijing camp will not survive, let alone fight the beautiful counterattack of the Beijing division behind.

And now that Shen Yichen has a choice, why take those unnecessary risks?

Seeing that Shen Yichen did not respond for a long time, Empress Qian had already realized what the other party was thinking, but she knew better that in the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty, only Shen Yichen's age and merits could ensure the peace of the crown prince Zhu Jianshen for decades to come.

Even if he can't inherit the throne of the unification in the end, at least he can save his life, so that he won't die in Nangong like his father!

I saw Queen Qian dragging her sick body, holding Shen Yichen's arm and begging: "Shen Ge Lao, this palace knows that you are loyal and good, and only you can save the life of the crown prince Zhu Jianshen." ”

"I beg Shen Ge to get old, just leave a bloodline for the Emperor!"

Zhu Qizhen, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who died early, did not have nine sons as in history, and there are only the crown prince Zhu Jianshen and the second son Zhu Jianqing (Zhu Jianyan), who is less than a year old.

In ancient times, the infant mortality rate was extremely high, even if it was royal, not to mention that without the blessing of Zhu Qizhen, who was the emperor in the future, whether the two sons could live to adulthood may have become a question.

The ancients had three unfilial pieties, and no queen was the greatest, and the heir was the most tragic fate for the emperor.

"Shen Ge Lao, you can help the imperial sister-in-law once."

Queen Wang, who was standing on the side, saw Queen Qian's humble and begging posture, and she also burst into tears to persuade Shen Yichen.

She doesn't understand the power struggle of men, Queen Wang only knows that the imperial sister-in-law is in the harem, just a helpless woman. Now that her husband is dead in front of her, if even her son is in jeopardy, how can she live?

Faced with this kind of scene, Shen Yichen had mixed feelings in his heart, and he didn't know what to say for a while.

Suddenly, he admired the methods of Emperor Jingtai Zhu Qiyu, as if he expected this scene to happen, and ordered himself to complete the act of killing the monarch and completely cut off any connection with the heirs of the Emperor Taishang.

Or is it that Chen Qingtong participated in the harem wife "Chaohe Yi", and the dialogue between Empress Dowager Sun and Empress Qian about the crown prince was somehow known by Emperor Jingtai Zhu Qiyu?

If it's the latter, then the control of intelligence is really amazing.

Shen Yichen didn't respond to the request to become the crown prince before, and he just considered the relationship with the emperor and didn't want to become an obstacle on the other party's road to easy storage, so now the situation has become more complicated.

As the crown prince Zhu Jianshen's "father-killing enemy", Queen Qian can understand that the emperor's order is difficult to disobey, and when he grows up, can Zhu Jianshen understand that he has to do it?

Guess it, there is a high probability that you will not be able to let go of this hatred and mustard.

Shen Yichen is not a saint, he can't put his full net worth on the crown prince Zhu Jianshen will become a Ming monarch in the future.

This is doomed, unable to accept Queen Qian's begging.

"Empress Taishang, there is nothing you can do!"

Shen Yichen said this sentence word by word, then kowtowed heavily to Queen Qian, slowly stood up, and in the desperate eyes of the other party, he turned around and left Nangong step by step.

……

History is fragmented, no one knows what the future will be, the news of the death of Emperor Taishang soon spread throughout the entire Jingshi, although the official announcement is that Zhu Qizhen suddenly had a vicious illness and the treatment was ineffective, but the high-level civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty knew the truth about his death, and Shen Yichen was the executioner who killed the king.

In order to block the world's long mouths, Emperor Jingtai Zhu Qiyu announced that Zhu Qizhen had been buried in accordance with the etiquette of the Son of Heaven, and he had been filial piety for 27 days with the courtesy of the monarch and ministers.

On the same day, along with the news of Zhu Qizhen's death that came to the Forbidden City, there was also the news that Empress Taishang Qian begged Shen Yichen to be the prince's teacher. The two empresses left the palace and went to the South Palace, this kind of thing could not be hidden from the emperor's ears and eyes, and being able to go out smoothly itself represented a kind of acquiescence and temptation.

In addition, the dialogue between the two sides was in an open environment, and it was not surprising that Nangong was full of Dongchang's eyeliner, and it was transmitted to Emperor Jingtai's ears in time.

For Shen Yichen's refusal attitude, Jingtai Emperor Zhu Qiyu was very satisfied, after all, he had already moved Yi Chu's mind, and when the matter of the death of the Emperor Taishang was cold, the crown prince would be changed to his son Zhu Jianji.

If Shen Yichen really agrees to become a prince, then he will tear a deep rift between the relationship between the monarch and the minister, and he is destined to be intolerable to the court.

However, at this time, Shen Yichen had no intention of getting involved in the breathless struggle for imperial power, he had already bid farewell to his mother Shen and his wife Chen Qingtong, and led his cronies out of Shanhaiguan along the narrow corridor of western Liaoning, to Guangning City, where the capital of eastern Liaodong was stationed.

Compared with the turbid and depressing officialdom, he prefers the battlefield of happiness and revenge, if Shen Yichen is asked to choose again, I am afraid he will put pen to paper.

Shen Yichen did not take a faster and more comfortable sea route this time, but wanted to personally survey the terrain of Liaodong. In fact, in the ancient North China Plain and the Northeast Plain, it was only connected by a corridor of less than 15 kilometers wide in western Liaoning, and the rest of the country was the Yanshan Mountains, which were not suitable for traffic.

The Liaoxi Corridor in the northeast and the Hexi Corridor in the northwest have been battlegrounds for the soldiers of the Central Plains Dynasty since ancient times. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Hexi Corridor was lost, resulting in the fall of the entire Central Asia and the Western Regions for thousands of years, and the battle line was directly compressed to the Longxi region, and the empire lost a large strategic buffer space and became the Son of Heaven to guard the country.

Once the Liaoxi Corridor is lost, the entire northeast, the outer Khing'an Mountains, and even the farther East Siberian region will be out of the control of the Great Unification Dynasty and directly reduced to a territory slightly larger than that of the weak Song Dynasty.

That's why, no matter what the cost, the Central Dynasty must rule these two corridors, which will determine the rise and fall of an empire!

After leaving Shanhaiguan, the more he walked in the direction of Ningyuan City, Shen Yichen felt that the atmosphere was becoming more and more wrong. You must know that the Liaoxi Corridor is the lifeblood of the Liaodong Capital of the Ming Dynasty, and it must be controlled to the death, but he actually saw the herdsmen of Wuliang Ha Sanwei grazing leisurely.

What's even more shocking is that there are also Mongolian sentinels!

"Mr. Bian, has the Wuliang Ha Sanwei been eroded to this point?"

Shen Yichen knew very early on that Wuliang Ha Sanwei was constantly going south, and he could see their cattle and sheep standing on the wall of Shanhaiguan. It's just that after all, there is a majestic city wall, even if it is close to Chi Qi, it is like a moat that cannot be crossed, and they can't enter the pass no matter what.

But the Liaoxi Corridor of the Jingtai Dynasty is completely different, the passes are not connected by the Ming Great Wall as in the later period, and the figures of the Wuliang Ha Sanwei Sentinels can be seen in this place, which is almost equivalent to them invading the Ming Land!

"The proprietor, the Liaoxi Corridor is hundreds of miles long, and after several major wars, the Liaodong Army is currently less than 50,000, and it has to deter the Jurchens further north and North Korea in the east. After the Tatar tribe was annexed to the Varat tribe in the west, the battle line was even closer. ”

"Compared with the larger enemy Warat, after all, the three guards of Wuliang Ha surrendered to my Ming Dynasty as early as the Taizong period, and they can only be allowed to do so for the time being when the troops are insufficient."

Bian He said the difficulties of the Liaodong Metropolitan Division, if it were not for the connection of the Liaoxi Corridor, at this time, the Liaodong Metropolitan Division of the Ming Dynasty seemed to be a lonely enclave hanging in the northeast, with one side by the sea and three sides betraying the enemy.

The limited number of troops can only give priority to dealing with the capricious tribes of the Warat Department and the Wuliang Ha Sanwei, and for decades, both sides have figured out each other's routines, as long as they do not touch the bottom line and encroach, petty theft is within an acceptable range.

In fact, Shen Yichen knew the difficulties of the Liaodong Army, and the reason why he asked this was more of an aggrieved and unhappy feeling. The land of the Ming Dynasty is in a state of continuous contraction, and if you walk dozens of miles north of the imperial capital, you can see the scene of Mongolian soldiers and horses showing off their might.

Now even in a strategic place like the Liaoxi Corridor, if the Wuliang Ha Sanwei is a little stronger, or if it is more ambitious to integrate, the Liaodong Dusi will repeat the mistakes of the Nuer Gandu Division!

Thinking of this, Shen Yichen turned to the quartermaster who followed behind him and asked, "Jiang Langzhong, how long does it take for the reinforcements led by Feng Zheng under the command of Fujian Weidu to arrive in Ningyuan City?" ”

The original position of the quartermaster was Jiangshiyi, Xiao Yi was in the household department to transport the grain and grass of the Tongzhou warehouse, this person had served under him, and the overall logistics was quite neat and reliable, so this expedition to Wuliang Ha Sanwei was recommended to come over as a quartermaster.

Liaodong Dusi is now less than 50,000 soldiers and horses, as for the Wuliang Ha Sanwei currently how many soldiers and horses no one knows, according to the early palace records, when the division of thousands of households was 80,000 people with armor.

You must know that the Mongol tribes faced a war of conquest, and the rate of troops they sent to the border was completely different. The latter only needs strong soldiers, and the former, under the threat of death, can almost all the people be soldiers.

That is to say, there are 80,000 nominal men with armor, and in the face of the life and death of the Ming army, at least 100,000 people who control the strings can be exploded. Counting the elderly, weak, women and children, etc., Shen Yichen can probably guess that the total population of Wuliang Ha Sanwei is between 300,000 and 500,000.

In order to completely conquer the alien races of this magnitude, the Liaodong Army can only draw out a maximum of twenty or thirty thousand, excluding the defenders of the Acropolis and the inability to deter the Jurchens and Koreans.

Even if Zhu Yi brought out of the Beijing camp, the 30,000 soldiers and horses stationed in Shanhaiguan are still far from enough.

At the beginning of the change of Tumubao, the Qinwang army of the state capitals had the most soldiers and horses in Fujian and Shandong. Now that the Southern Expeditionary Army has left Beijing and Emperor Jingtai's biggest threat has been lifted, then the Qinwang Army that rushed to the aid naturally has to return to the garrison, and it is impossible to be stationed in Beijing forever.

However, before they left Beijing, they were ordered to go to Liaodong to return to Shen Yichen and complete the conquest of Wuliang Ha Sanwei!

As the saying goes, the soldiers and horses go first before the grain and grass are moved, and the Qinwang army of the two guards in Shandong and Fujian has 40,000 soldiers and horses after several battles, which is not a small number. Shen Yichen could travel lightly, but they needed to transport a large number of grain and grass equipment to Liaodong in order to support the follow-up war.

The logistics were handed over to professional people to deal with, so Shen Yichen asked when the reinforcements led by Feng Zheng and others would arrive in Ningyuan City.

"Back to the old Shen Pavilion, as early as the end of April, Da Situ (Jin Lian) prepared for the grain and grass to be sent to Ningyuan City by sea for reserves. The soldiers and horses of King Qin led by General Feng will return to their original station after this battle, and they need to break away from the sequence of the ten battalions of the Beijing Division, and the entire process of drawing will take time. ”

"If everything goes well by sea, we will probably be able to arrive in Ningyuan City in early July."

Hearing Jiang Shiyi's answer, the soldiers and horses led by Feng Zheng were half a month slower than himself, in fact, objectively speaking, with the overall efficiency of the Ming Dynasty, the grain and grass were prepared in just a few months, and the sequence was reorganized, which was already quite fast.

After all, the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses of Zhu Qizhen of Ming Yingzong did not consider logistics at all to set out on a three-day expedition, and there was no second case in history.

But for some reason, Shen Yichen always felt a little uneasy during this time. It may be that in the carriage, the reminder and warning of Zhu Yong, the Duke of Chengguo, made him realize that after testing the deployment of the Nine Sides in various ways, it was time to launch a real offensive.

And this offensive target, not surprisingly, is the Liaodong Division.

As if to confirm Shen Yichen's conjecture, on June 19 of the first year of Jingtai, just when the group had just arrived in Ningyuan City, Wu Rong, a childhood classmate of Ying Tianfu, brought extremely bad news.

The city of Yizhou, the capital of eastern Liaodong, was captured by the Mongolian soldiers and horses led by Ye Xian, directly cutting off the passage between Ningyuan City and Guangning City, where the capital was stationed!