Sun Chuanting's death seemed a little sudden. Obviously, Li Zicheng was weakened last year, why did he finally beat Sun Chuanting to a complete annihilation.

But it can only be said that his life is not good, and those factors that led to the collapse of the morale of the army have all stepped on one side - in history, Chen Xinjia died in late autumn and early winter last year, and it was not delayed until April of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen.

Therefore, in history, the death of Chen Xinjia caused the high-level of the Ming army to deviate from morality, and did not step on the moment of Sun Chuanting and Li Zicheng's decisive battle, and the cooperation between Huang Taiji and Li Zicheng was not as perfect as it is now.

In actual combat, the key to the effect of the blow to morale lies in a dense and concentrated situation, and the frequent outbreak of bad news in a short period of time directly hits the enemy's morale to zero, and the troops will collapse in an instant.

If the news of the morale attack is not dense enough, and the other party is given time to react in the middle, whether it is to send money or urgently find the generals to talk to each other, it is possible to come back. In this case, most of the morale blow becomes an ineffective output.

On the other hand, although Zhu Shuren hit Li Zicheng around Kaifeng last year, Zhu Shuren was also digging the corner of Daming in order to expand his strength.

The remaining backbone elite of Chen Yongfu, the general soldier of Kaifeng, withdrew along Bianshui and Yingchuan south to Xinyang, Fengyang, and Hefei along the south of Bianshui and Yingchuan.

You must know that in history, Li Zicheng's three battles of Kaifeng were not able to break the city until September of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, and finally flooded the city by digging the Yellow River. But after Chen Yongfu was undefended in Kaifeng, he still moved to other areas of Henan and continued to respond to Sun Chuanting.

And in the decisive battle of Sun Chuanting and Li Zicheng in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen in history, he helped Sun Chuanting fight to the end until the complete collapse of the Ming army in Henan.

Now because of Zhu Shuren's poaching, Chen Yongfu's main force of the Henan Ming Army was abducted to the rear in advance to rest, and indirectly fell into the sphere of influence of Zhu Shuren, and did not fight side by side with Sun Chuanting.

Therefore, in the final decisive battle between Sun Chuanting and Li Zicheng, a large part of the combat power of the Henan Ming army was actually removed, and Sun Chuanting's own Shaanxi Ming army could only fight alone, and it was not so strange that the soldiers were defeated and died.

To put it bluntly, Zhu Shuren's Henan operation last year weakened the Henan official army and the thieves at the same time, and the main thing for the thieves was to annihilate and make a forced landing, and for the officials and troops, they mainly wanted to evacuate and preserve their strength.

Li Zicheng's side was wiped out by Zhu Shuren Li Jiyu and Yuan Shizhong's combat power of Henan's new thieves, and the official army was also poached from the most elite backbone of Henan's local defenders.

At this point, Zhu Shuren also knew that Chongzhen would die, and he didn't want Chongzhen to kill each other too much before Chongzhen's death.

Therefore, Chongzhen died early, and he put Li Zicheng in that dilemma position as soon as possible, and let the world see Li Zicheng's true face as soon as possible.

As for Sun Chuanting, there is no way, he has been in a high position for too long, and his status is higher than that of Zhu Shuren, that is the existence of killing Gao Yingxiang back then. Even if Zhu Shuren killed Zhang Xianzhong later, the credit would be about the same level as Sun Chuanting's killing of Gao Yingxiang.

In addition, Sun Chuanting is too loyal and too loyal to Chongzhen, he can't die if Chongzhen doesn't die, so Zhu Shuren has to go with the flow. As long as the status is lower than Zhu Shuren's and the generals who can control it in the future, such as Chen Yongfu, of course, they can catch one.

From now on, the power of the Ming Dynasty does not need to be sandwiched between the thieves and the ***, all the enemies are in the direction of the north, and there is no enemy in the north and south.

……

Chen Xinjia died in April, and Huang Taiji's entry lasted for a month and a half, from the end of April to the beginning of June. Sun Chuanting's death was also in June, which almost overlapped with the final stage of Huang Taiji's entry into the Kou.

Sorting out and understanding this timeline, it is not difficult to understand what kind of mentality Chongzhen had when Zhu Shuren sent Zhang Xianzhong's lime-pickled head and 1,000 pieces of meat, plus the report of success, as well as the performance of Sichuan Governor Fang Kongzhi, Sichuan Soldier Zhang Huangyan and others to the capital.

At this point in time, it is only ten years after Sun Chuanting's death

days or so.

Considering the distance from Xi'an to Beijing, the news of Sun Chuanting's defeat and death was rushed to Beijing in 600 miles, and it took four days on the way.

Therefore, Chongzhen also received the good news just five days after receiving the news of Sun Chuanting's death.

The person who reported the good news to Chongzhen was Zhang Guowei, the newly appointed secretary of the Ministry of War-that is, two and a half years ago, when Chongzhen was thirteen years old, Zhang Guowei who had an intersection with Zhu Shuren when he was in Nanjing.

At that time, in order to implement the policy of centijin, Zhu Shuren had to find a powerful ally to help push it together on the boundary of Nanzhili, so as to show the emperor that "all the provinces in the southern pilot supported the collection of centijin". So he naturally found Zhang Guowei, who was still working as a household servant in Nanjing at that time.

Zhang Guowei later contributed a lot to the promotion of the reform of Lijin, and Zhu Shuren also secretly stuffed him with a lot of money, and after the matter was completed, he helped him operate, so that Zhang Guowei was transferred to Beijing as a household attendant.

At the same time, Zhu Shuren's father, Shen Tingyang, was also in Beijing at that time as a carrier in the Ministry of Households, because of merit can be promoted, but there is no suitable position, so he went to Nanjing to fill the vacancy vacated by Zhang Guowei, and became the Nanjing Household Servant, and later used this as a springboard to promote the Nanjing Household Department Shangshu.

This set of personnel operations can be said to be more slippery than those revolving doors of the Three Realms in Washington in later generations, so Zhang Guowei's friendship with the Shen family is very intertwined.

As early as more than ten years ago, when he was the governor of Su Song, he had a good relationship with Shen Tingyang, and he had already been a hardcore in the officialdom for more than ten years.

In addition, as an aside, Zhang Guowei's succession as the secretary of the military department in Beijing this time is purely a historical inertia, and after Chen Xinjia's death in history, it was Zhang Guowei who took over. Zhu Shuren did not operate or intervene in it.

And the reason why there is so much historical inertia is also because Zhang Guowei is a rare loyal minister.

After the death of his Chongzhen in history, he was still loyal to the Southern Ming Dynasty, Hongguang destroyed him with Fang Guoan to continue to be loyal to the king of Lu, to Fang Guoan's rebellion, he felt that the general trend had gone, a literati was unable to return to the sky, and committed suicide by throwing himself into the lake.

After Chen Xinjia's death this time, everyone in the DPRK and China regarded the position of secretary of the military department as a daunting path, even if he was originally just a squire or even an official at the rank of Langzhong, no one wanted to rise to the top of this vacancy.

Chongzhen also left this position vacant for more than half a month, and originally wanted to take care of it and see who was willing to show loyalty and perform well, so he would let him do it. Who knew that it had been cold for half a month, so I had to put down my face and take the initiative to speak, asking who was willing to take on this important task.

Zhang Guowei took the initiative to ask for his life in this situation, because he was the only one who asked for his life, and Chongzhen couldn't play a trick similar to "civil servants must choose one of the three for promotion, and get a few more spare tires for me to pick".

The process of this bone eye is decent, it's just an equal amount of bidding, whoever comes will be on it.

So Zhang Guowei became the thirteenth secretary of the military department of the Chongzhen Dynasty,

Of the twelve people in front of him, eight are dead, and four are dismissed from their posts.

If nothing else, Zhang Guowei will also be the last person to take the initiative to ask for the order to become the secretary of the Ministry of War, and he will also be the last secretary of the Ministry of War to work hard and seriously after taking office.

(Note: After Zhang Guowei in history, there were two military secretaries, Feng Yuanbiao and Zhang Jinyan, but their terms of office were less than three months, and they were changed by Chongzhen before he died.)

After these two people took office, they didn't do anything, that is, they didn't make any decisions as usual, and they survived with success and mud. In fact, after Chen Xinjia was killed, more than ninety percent of the courtiers had entered a state of inaction, and Zhang Guowei was very disregarding his personal safety.

One of the biggest political characteristics of the Chongzhen Dynasty is: do more wrong, don't do good, do more than reward, and kill if you do wrong. ）

Perhaps, it is also providence that occasionally rewards loyalty and kindness, this time Zhang Guowei has just been in office for more than a month, and he has lost such a big credit. Even if it is Zhu Shuren who directly makes meritorious contributions, he can also follow as the secretary of the military department.

When he entered the palace, Zhang Guowei was still sighing in his heart: If Chen Xinjia's case is delayed for two more months, will Chen Xinjia not have to die? After all, the good news of pacifying Zhang Xianzhong came back, and with the decision and dispatch of the Ministry of War, how could it be offset by his capital crime?

It's really a trick

Naw.

……

After seeing the emperor, Zhang Guowei was full of excitement and explained the cause and effect to the emperor with full confidence.

Chongzhen was originally depressed and had not recovered from Sun Chuanting's death.

After listening to Zhang Guowei's words, his whole person was in a different spirit, his eyes were round, and he was even more nervous than a hyperthyroid patient.

Knowing that Zhang Xianzhong had been given the head, Zhang Xianzhong's main force was destroyed, and only about one-third of the troops remained, led by Sun Kewang, and continued to resist stubbornly in the mountainous areas of western Sichuan and southern Sichuan, Chongzhen's nerves can be described as a roller coaster, counting up and down, of course, the rise must be far greater than the fall.

This is the biggest victory since Gao Yingxiang was cut seven years ago!

The fly in the ointment is that Sun Kewang still ran away, and he still led tens of thousands of people to resist stubbornly, and it is estimated that the harm is not small. And Zhang Xianzhong was not able to escort the capital alive, which can be regarded as a little regret.

Chongzhen could only unwillingly let Zhang Guowei present Zhang Xianzhong's head, let Wang Chengen lift the lid, Chongzhen stared at the head from afar, looked at it for a long time, pulled out his saber and slashed seven or eight swords, which could be regarded as a little venting of his resentment in his chest.

Chopping and chopping, Chongzhen suddenly fell to the ground uncontrollably, and cried again:

"Fathers and fathers! The traitors who took the lead in destroying the ancestral tomb of Fengyang at the beginning have finally been beheaded! Please calm down the grievances of the ancestors and ancestors in the heavenly spirits, and continue to bless the peace of my Ming descendants!"

When Wang Chengen and Zhang Guowei saw this scene, they also looked at each other, and there was a chill behind them. They all know that this majesty has a very strong temperament and is very afraid of being seen by outsiders on his weak side.

Wang Chengen especially knows that if any eunuch in the palace accidentally sees the situation that His Majesty should not cry but cries, it is likely that he will not die well.

But after the two calmed down a little, they quickly realized that this time the situation was special, so they didn't have to worry-

The Ming Dynasty ruled the world with filial piety, and cried for filial piety, not only was it not weak, but it was also a move of great benevolence. When the ancestral tomb of Fengyang was destroyed, Chongzhen also ran to the Taimiao Temple and cried for several days, crying because of his ancestors, which is not ashamed.

After Chongzhen cried this time, he said that he would have to go to the Taimiao Temple again to burn a few pillars of incense and go through the process in two days.

The two waited for Chongzhen to finish venting, and Zhang Guowei carefully asked how to deal with this incident.

The specific handling opinions will definitely have to be decided in a few days when the court meeting is held, of course, it is possible to get such a big good news, Chongzhen will temporarily convene an additional court meeting early tomorrow morning. But today, you can set the tone first.

After Chongzhen thought about it, his first reaction was to further regard Zhu Shuren as a firefighter, so that he could be enslaved, and he would throw him wherever the situation was critical. So he took it back and looked at it a few times, and asked very unwillingly:

"This Sun Kewang escaped, is it really as serious as Zhu Shuren said? Do you still need to occupy as many forces as the official army of Huguang and Sichuan to continue the pursuit?"

It turned out that Zhu Shuren's recital, of course, was that the threat to Sun Kewang could be exaggerated as much as he could, and even the scale of the remnants of Zhang Xianzhong that Sun Kewang took away was blown up, so that Zhu Shuren could continue to delay time.

Zhang Guowei has a good relationship with Zhu Shuren and understands Zhu Shuren's loyal character, so he chose to fully believe in him, and also helped to say good things at the moment:

"Your Majesty, the most economical way to save the country's funds and people's resources is to eliminate all evil. Last year, Zhu Shuren chased and suppressed Zhang Xianzhong, and Chen Xinjia forcibly transferred him to Henan in order to relieve the siege of Kaifeng, which led to the resurgence of Zhang Wei and has been entangled to this day.

As the so-called soup stops boiling, it is better to go to salary, although the carbuncle is painful, it is better than nourishing poison. Once the poisonous sores are in the body, once they are broken, they must be thoroughly squeezed out of the pus and blood and cleaned. If you leave a little bit, it will erode your body again in the future.

Has Your Majesty forgotten that after the previous generation of thieves Gao Yingxiang conferred the title, Li Zicheng quickly took over the name of the thief after only a year or two. If Sun Kewang doesn't take this opportunity to pursue, he may not become the second Zhang Rebellion."

Zhang Guowei's words can be regarded as hitting the nail on the head, and they also gave Zhu Shuren enough face.

Zhang Guowei's loyalty to Chongzhen and Daming has absolutely no doubts, and he really thinks that this is the best for Daming, comprehensively

The cost is the most economical, so as not to spend several times in the future.

Of course, the reason why he said this was also because he had an estimate in his heart of the time it would take to "hunt down and kill Sun Kewang", and this estimate was actually far shorter than the time that Zhu Shuren would delay when he actually carried it out.

Before Zhang Guowei met Jun, he privately estimated that Zhu Shuren had promised to completely kill Zhang Xianzhong in a year and a half. That is, if it is fast, it will be more than half a year, and if it is slow, it will be a little more than a year.

Now in fact, it only took more than half a year to at least destroy Zhang Xianzhong himself. That shows that Zhu Shuren's promise is very reliable and can be trusted.

Now that there is still a little bit of sweeping left, then the time will be halved again, and Zhu Shuren will be promised to get Sun Kewang in three months, and half a year at the latest.

If Chongzhen can't stand it for half a year, and then bargain, it will be on the basis of three months, add a little one or two months, and the slowest cannot exceed four or five months.

That is, in October of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, in November at the latest, all the remaining thieves in the south were completely swept away. Zhang Guowei thinks this rhythm is no problem.

After all, the current Li Zicheng has just killed Sun Chuanting, and he has not yet exposed his greater ambitions. Zhang Guowei is not a traverser, how could he have expected that within two or three months after Li Zicheng killed Sun Chuanting, his ambition would swell to dare to kill all the way to Beijing.

At this point, many people in the Ming Dynasty still have the understanding that "Li Zicheng's victory is indeed a major setback for the imperial court, but the loss of the imperial court is limited to the loss of one or two provinces for a while", and I don't think that this kind of loss will spread to the whole world.

If Li Zicheng really did not have a greater and more radical danger in a short period of time, if the imperial court did not attack him, he would not retaliate against the imperial court. It is definitely cost-effective to let Zhu Shuren completely sweep away the chaos in the southwest, so as not to suffer twice in the future.

Sichuan is far away, the road is difficult and dangerous, and it is not easy for the army to enter Sichuan once.

Chongzhen always felt that something was wrong, but he thought about it, and now he really hasn't heard that the thieves have made more moves, and Shaanxi has already lost it, and it hasn't been bad for a month or two.

Considering that Zhang Guowei has just taken up his new position, this is a loyal minister who has the courage to do things, and today's decision is also the first major decision after Zhang Guowei took over, Chongzhen still decided to give a little more trust and listen to him.

Chongzhen's employment, although he is stubborn and self-serving, still has a little benefit, that is, as long as he is willing to use whom, when the other party has just taken office as a new official, Chongzhen will basically listen to it and give the other party a chance to perform.

Even if Yuan Chonghuan bragged that he had been in Liaoliao for five years, it was so unreliable, but as long as Yuan Chonghuan dared to make a military order, Chongzhen would dare to believe it.

It's a big deal to mess up in the end, and it's not too late to cut it.

And Zhang Guowei's words just now, and the last clever point, just grabbed Chongzhen - what Zhang Guowei said was "Last year, Chen Xinjia forcibly transferred Zhu Shuren to Henan in order to relieve the siege of Kaifeng", and then led to some evil consequences.

But in fact, last year's decision, of course, was not made by Chen Xinjia, in fact, it was forced by Chongzhen himself. It's just that Chen Xinjia is dead, and Zhang Guowei also understands the truth that a companion is like a tiger, and pushes all the questions on the dead, pretending that he doesn't know, and fooling the mud.

When Chongzhen heard this, his heart was slightly empty, and for a moment, he felt a little guilty about the dead Chen Xinjia: Chen Qing helped me carry a pot again.

Under the effect of this kind of shame, he chose to temporarily admonish.

Of course, if Li Zicheng has greater actions and threats in the follow-up, and is not satisfied with entrenching in Shaanxi, Hedong and Heluo, then Chongzhen will definitely immediately change the order and force Zhang Guowei to summon Zhu Shuren to the north.

After thinking about all these twists and turns, Chongzhen said: "Well, in the autumn of the national disaster, last month I was counting on someone to recommend himself to take over the post of secretary of the military department, and in the end, only Zhang Qing and you have the courage to do things, but sigh."

This is the first major advice after Zhang Qing took office, how can I not accept it? It is limited to March, and in replying to Zhu Shuren's will, he must also remind him to be on guard against new changes in Shaanxi thieves at any time.

The imperial court should also keep an eye on it, once it is found that the thieves have taken the initiative to attack and have a tendency to erode, then immediately supplement the order, let Zhu Shuren leave the matter at hand and go to the king of Qin in the north immediately!"

Zhang Guowei wrote down the emperor's guiding ideology one by one, and then asked: "Your Majesty, I don't know if Your Majesty has extrajudicial grace for Zhu Shuren's reward?"

Chongzhen was stunned and a little ashamed. He was also shocked by Sun Chuanting's death, so that after getting the good news today, the first thing he thought of was how to continue to squeeze Zhu Shuren, and he ignored the matter of rewarding.