Fang Kongzhi heard Shen Shuren say that he was sure to invite Liu Guoneng, and he was quite surprised for a while.

In Fang Kongzhi's impression, it is true that Liu Guoneng has an old enmity with Zhang Xianzhong, but after returning to Shun as an official army, he is not very important, and he is afraid of being transferred around as a pawn to consume, and he has always been more arbitrary in terms of combat.

In other words, Liu Guoneng is willing to contribute to killing thieves, but he doesn't listen to specific tactical commands, and prefers to kill thieves in his own way.

It was Xiong Wencan who appeased him at the beginning, and when Xiong Wencan was alive, Liu Guoneng could barely be transferred. Later, Xiong Wencan was beheaded by the emperor for questioning, and Liu Guoneng became more and more sensitive, and often overreacted in fear.

Fang Kongzhi pondered and persuaded: "Virtuous nephew, you said that you have an old relationship with Liu Guoneng and can persuade him to help in the war, how sure are you?" This kind of thief is a general anyway, you can't believe it.

As for what you reminded Yang Ge Lao, I can help you convey it tactfully, after all, you are a soft-spoken person, and you don't understand the defense of Jiangling and Jingmen, from what you say, Yang Ge Lao may not pay attention to it - you don't think the old man is greedy for merit, right? ”

Shen Shuren didn't even think about it: "Just a few reminders, what credit can we talk about?" It's all about the big picture. As for the way to persuade Liu Guoneng to help in the war, it is difficult to say a word...... The lower official will repair a book, and please take a look at it in a while. ”

Fang Kongzhi didn't take the shelf of Shangguan, and immediately invited Shen Shuren to go to the study next door, and waited for him with his own pen, ink, paper, and inkstone. Time was pressing, and Fang Kongzhi still took good care of the juniors, so he personally picked up the ink block and grinded it a few times.

Shen Shuren picked up the pen and wrote, and Fang Kongzhi watched from the side.

The content of the letter is nothing more than a brief start from Chongzhen's call to the top 60 second-class jinshi after the palace examination last year. Shen Shuren mentioned that he suggested that Chongzhen "should reward and reuse other generals who were appeased by Xiong Wencan at the beginning, and Zhang Xianzhong was able to insist on not being coerced by Zhang Xianzhong after his rebellion."

also mentioned that he wanted to help Xiong Wencan reduce his punishment, but the emperor didn't listen in the end, and only helped Xiong Wencan erase part of the charges.

Some words written directly by Liu Guoneng may not be willing to believe it, but Shen Shuren, as a party concerned, must know a lot of insider details. He can also put the timeline up, such as what day of March of that year was the right one after the palace exam, when the emperor issued an edict to execute Xiong Wencan, and when Liu Guoneng was rewarded. There are a lot of details insider, and Liu Guoneng can't believe it.

came, Shen Shuren did not forget to add a sentence, "It was to save Your Majesty's face, so Your Majesty clearly demoted me to the last place in the second class, but after the limelight passed, I still used my suggestion, and this letter will be burned immediately after reading."

Shen Shuren dared to add these words, it was already based on the fact that he knew that Liu Guoneng was a loyal and righteous man, and in the last time in history, he fought to the death with Li Zicheng and did not surrender, and after the defeat of the army, together with his eleven-year-old son, the whole family was killed by Li Zicheng.

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If Liu Guoneng is not loyal enough, Shen Shuren is afraid that he will take the opportunity to take advantage of his own handle - although this kind of handle is not very serious, even if it reaches Chongzhen's ears, as long as it is not openly publicized to the public, so as not to cause the emperor to lose face in public, Chongzhen will not punish people indiscriminately.

Although Chongzhen punishes the minister indiscriminately, he also has a bottom line, what he wants is to have a public face, and he is not afraid of others slandering him in private. Because in the last few years of the Ming Dynasty, there were too many people who slandered the emperor in private, and they couldn't control it at all. It is already very good to be able to manage the public slander and grasp the big and let go of the small.

When writing the letter, thinking of the fate of Liu Guoneng's family in history, Shen Shuren added another article, saying that two years ago, Yang Ge Lao was worried about the instability of other generals who were appeased by Xiong Wencan, and wanted their heirs to go to Nanjing Guozijian to study and take them hostage.

But at that time, considering that Liu Guoneng's son was only nine years old and had not reached the age of imprisonment at all, he gave up, and later detained Zheng Chenggong - now, Shen Shuren has also written these things in.

only said how righteous he was, and had a strong relationship with Wu Meicun, the head of the Nanjing Guozi Prison, and protected Zheng Chenggong in Nanjing in the past few years, so that Yang Ge Lao and Zheng Zhilong could cooperate harmoniously and sincerely, and finally sent the Buddha to the west, and found a civilian petty official under the Huguang Salt Law Dao for Zheng Chenggong to help collect the money.

Therefore, as long as Liu Guoneng is willing, and his son is now eleven years old after two years, Shen Shuren can come forward to mediate, let Wu Meicun give a favor, and deal with Liu Guoneng's son as an alternate shadow supervisor.

When he reaches the age of studying for a little two years, he will become a formal prison student, and he will definitely help Liu Guoneng's son run a decent civil official in the future, just like he is righteous to Zheng Chenggong.

This suggestion is absolutely lethal to Liu Guoneng, because Shen Shuren knows that Liu Guoneng is a person who loves vanity and wants to get closer to the system and get a decent identity in history.

Otherwise, before he was martyred, he would not have insulted Li Zicheng: "I was a thief with Ruo at the beginning, and now the king and his ministers are also, why did he become a thief!" ”

It can be seen that Liu Guoneng himself looks down on his resume as a thief over the years, and he wants to wash it away very much. It's a pity that in the years since his return, no civil official in the Ming Dynasty has been willing to look at him.

And Shen Shuren is very careful, and also emphasized that he will be treated as a "shadow supervisor", although this "shadow" type of prisoner is not the best treatment, but the father must be a noble or senior civil official in order to be crowned a wife and a shadow into a prisoner, which is equivalent to Liu Guoneng "compared to the treatment of a noble or senior civil official", and the face has been given to the fullest.

At the end of the letter, Shen Shuren also kindly reminded that he asked Liu Guoneng to send his son to prison this time, not for the sake of hostages, but because he heard that Li Zicheng was also wreaking havoc in Henan and could be eroded at any time. Liu Guoneng guarded Xinyang, the army was in chaos, and he took his son with him, in case of a little transfer, it would be inconvenient, if he went to Nanjing, then there would be no worries.

Fang Kongzhi watched Shen Shuren finish writing the letter thoroughly, and he was also impressed by Shen Shuren's persuasion eloquence, and at the same time knew a lot of inside stories, and actually gave birth to a little awe.

After all, when Chongzhen summoned the new science and technology to play the right thing last year, Fang Kongzhi didn't know many details, and although his son Fang Yizhi was present, he didn't tell the family all of them.

"It's really terrifying, my officials of the younger generation of the Ming Dynasty, and such an iron-shouldered morality, not focusing on personal honor and disgrace, only seeking benefits for the country's ministers, it is really the luck of the Ming Dynasty.

If the old man is twenty or thirty years younger, he may not dare to make such a blunt reprimand at the price of angering the Son of Heaven and being deposed as the last name of the second class. Now I know why Zhi'er admires you so much in her letter. ”

Fang Kongzhi sighed a few words from the bottom of his heart.

Shen Shuren discussed the content of the letter with him a little, and made sure that he had a good grasp of the omissions and gaps, so he sealed the letter with fire paint:

"Tomorrow, Lao Futai will send someone to escort the henchmen of the lower officials to Yexian County with this letter for help, it is better to be like this, when the last general enters the city today, he sees a city gate guard Jin Shenghuan, and his Qianzong Wang Deren, are still diligent and cautious, and the martial arts should be good, right? Just bring a hundred and ten cavalry escorts. ”

Fang Kongzhi thought for a while: "These two people do volunteer to do things and work hard. Let's do it this way—this official will make an agreement with you, and let Wang Deren send cavalry to escort you this time.

After Wang Deren received Liu Guoneng's reply, if he was sure that Liu Guoneng would send troops to attack He Xinyang and besiege Wei to save Zhao. The official sent 2,000 soldiers and horses from Jin Shenghuan and Wang Deren's headquarters to Xiaogan to be reinforcements for his nephew.

When the time comes, Erhe's former army should also get the news that He Yilong's lair was copied, and the army's heart will definitely be unstable. This officer will help you with 2,000 elite soldiers, which should be quite helpful in pursuing the wavering enemy. If you can quickly retreat from the enemy, let these 2,000 people return to Jingzhou.

However, the virtuous nephew also has to promise the old man: once the siege of Suizhou is lifted and the enemy retreats, not only must I immediately return my battalion, but also send another battalion to reinforce. ”

Shen Shuren thought about it, Fang Kongzhi's request is also due, the way to use troops is to gather superior forces as much as possible anytime and anywhere, and break the enemy with a time difference.

At first, he didn't give reinforcements, because he felt that Shen Shuren would hold on to Erhe for a long time, and the people he sent didn't know if they would be borrowed until the Year of the Monkey, or even if they were borrowed or not.

But if Liu Guoneng is willing to copy He Yilong's back road, the war is expected to end in a relatively short time, and it will not be a big problem to borrow a little ten days and half a month. Even if Zhang Xianzhong gets the news, it will take time.

Fang Kongzhi can also set up false banners in Jiangling and other cities, reduce troops and increase stoves, and secretly send troops at night to deceive for a while.

Shen Shuren handed the letter to Shen Fu, and Fang Kongzhi also found Wang Deren late at night and instructed them to take a good rest, and they would ride out of the city to deliver the letter early tomorrow morning.

At present, the road from Gangneung to Xiangyang to Yexian is quite safe, and the thieves have not entered the hinterland of Xiangyang or Nanyang. Although Li Zicheng in the north has escaped from the Shangluo Mountains and entered the Henan region, he is not heading towards the Nanyang Basin.

After explaining the matter clearly, Fang Kongzhi admired Shen Shuren a lot, and pulled him to exchange a lot of views on military affairs.

Although it was already late at night, Shen Shuren would return to Xiaogan tomorrow, but the opportunity was really rare, and Fang Kongzhi was unwilling to let it go.

He instructed someone to re-brew tea for the Shenshu people, and then prepare some supper; The questions are also very practical and imminent to be usable.

"Virtuous nephew, the situation is so bad now, the old man has something that has been hanging in his heart and worrying. Do you think that if the thieves become big again, the imperial court really can't completely extinguish it.

Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai, Li Zicheng, He Yilong, which one should be the most important to ensure extermination? The old man had a bad premonition, alas, Huang Taiji came at this time, even if we fought to the death and annihilated some thieves, the rest of the army was estimated to be absorbed by the remaining thief chiefs.

If you can't completely annihilate the enemy army, or at least the prisoners are reorganized back into the official army, and only kill their chiefs, maybe it will help those thieves to merge with each other, and those who survive will only get stronger and stronger! Alas. ”

Shen Shuren rode a horse for a day, and tried to plan and write a letter until midnight, but he was completely weakened, and at this moment he just took the tea and poured it, trying to relieve a few breaths, and casually grabbed the boring dry biscuits that were always available in the study and stuffed them into his mouth.

The snacks that were prepared by the Ming Dynasty scholars were relatively dry and hard, at most only a little sugar was added, and the advantage was that the drier the longer the shelf life, and it could be left in the study for a month without being bad, and the taste was definitely much worse than that made freshly.

Shen Shuren choked a little uncomfortable, and took a few sips of tea before rubbing his chest and sighing: "I thought that among the four thieves, Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng should be the most dangerous." I want to contribute to the country and destroy them as soon as possible, but in the end, I am afraid that I will not be able to help myself, and I can only kill whoever is sent to the knife first. ”

When he answered, he didn't have the energy to think too carefully, so he purely repaid him with a historical prophet.

However, Fang Kongzhi does not seem to be satisfied with this answer:

"Why? Zhang Xianzhong organized the excavation of the Fengyang Emperor's Mausoleum, although it was the most heinous and the most ferocious, but after all, he was targeted by the imperial court, and now he is hiding in the Jingshan Mountains in eastern Sichuan and western Hubei, and the replenishment of troops should be relatively weak.

The same is true for Li Zicheng, there were only 18 generals who fled to Shangluo Mountain, and the troops were slowly regrouped.

Luo Rucai is scheming, and he is better than these two reckless men, and when he was dormant and patient before, his strength was relatively damaged.

Ma Shouying, as the head of the fifth battalion of the left side of the revolution, after the troops of the other parties were damaged, his men and horses were no less than Luo and Li. What's more, this time we will fight to the death with He Jin and He Yilong, if Erhe can be annihilated, it will be fine.

If it was only repulsed, or even dispersed, and the remnants fled to attach to Ma Shouying, then Ma Shouying's strength would definitely grow to the top of the group of thieves - why did the virtuous nephew feel that only Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong needed to be guarded against the most? ”

Shen Shuren was a little speechless for a while.

He was used to copying and plagiarizing, and he never thought about this problem, because in history, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong finally succeeded, and later history books did not analyze this problem.

But in the eyes of the people of the Ming Dynasty at that time, at least the level of these four thieves was a rank, except for Zhang Xianzhong, who organized the greatest crime in digging up the imperial tomb, but at the level of strength, no one felt that there was a difference.

"When it is called exercise, dedication, breaking through and being strong in the world", who dares to underestimate Luo Rucai?

He had no choice but to prevaricate and think slowly: "This is really a long story, Xia Guan is extremely tired today, can you let me rest a little and use some supper to sort out my thoughts." ”

Fang Kongzhi also realized that he was too eager, and he was a bit too much to catch an appreciative junior, so he hurriedly asked Shen Shuren to take care of himself first, and also instructed the maid to sort out his desk, so that Shen Shuren could lean on for a while, and also called two maids to pinch Shen Shuren's shoulders and rub his legs and press his temples.

After drinking two cups of tea, Shen Shuren finally sorted out some ideas a little, which may not be accurate, but at least he can pour the effect into the cause and justify himself.

At this moment, there were a burst of footsteps at the door of the study, and soon some female scrolls came in. The first middle-aged woman in her forties was not polite to Fang Kongzhi:

"Master, it's already past the hour, why don't you rest in the middle of the night? The official affairs of the imperial court can be disposed of tomorrow. I also read Zhi'er's family letter, this is his visit in the same year? How can you be so eager? ”

Fang Kongzhi was interrupted, and he was a little angry: "What do women know!" Shen Bingbei will return to Suizhou tomorrow, the military situation is like fire, he came to ask for help in two days and one night and 400 miles! It's rare for him to understand the front-line thieves, and he has seen extraordinary, so I'll ask him for some military insights, so you can rest first. ”

His wife was robbed, and when he heard that the military situation was like fire, he didn't dare to make a mistake, but he couldn't help but step forward and take a closer look at the same year jinshi mentioned in his son's family letter. Seeing that Shen Shuren was described as haggard, he couldn't see what his appearance was in the dim light.

However, Shen Shuren was still polite, and when he saw the elders of the Fang family coming in, he also got up and made a move, and this standing up immediately made people feel very oppressive.

"So tall? I'm afraid it's six feet, right? It's a great man. The Fang family's female roll subconsciously took two steps back in fear.

There was also a woman behind Mrs. Fang, who seemed to remember something after regressing, and hurriedly put down the tea tray in her hand, and saluted to the other party:

"That father is relieved to work on military affairs, I will help my mother go back and rest first, this is a supper stewed by children, add some deer antler velvet and dates, stay up late to take care of your body, don't eat those dry cakes anymore."

Fang Kongzhi took a bowl and pushed it directly in front of Shen Shuren: "Virtuous nephew, you eat first, you have to use your brain, the old man just listens, it's okay." ”

"Together, together." Shen Shuren said politely, anyway, there is more than one bowl, and it doesn't hurt for everyone to eat it. He took a few sips of the deer antler soup and quickly felt a refreshment, and his thinking was not so dull, so he actually came up with a set of arguments for him.