Capital.

This city of millions of people has finally come out of the atmosphere of panic in the past few days.

The armies of King Qin from all over the country finally arrived one after another.

The plundering activities of the Houjin Tatars were also effectively curbed, and they did not dare to divide their troops to loot anymore.

A few days ago, he suddenly began to retreat, leaving Fangshan, and there were signs of returning to Liaodong along the same road, which made the court breathe a sigh of relief, and the biggest crisis had been lifted.

The gates of the capital have also been opened, commercial activities are allowed, and the flow of people and logistics has been restored.

But that's not something to be happy about.

Because there's no one left.

Many villages and market towns around the capital have been reduced to ruins and turned into ghost domains, and the mournful cries of the survivors have been ceaseless day and night.

Even in the capital, there are many families who have lost their relatives and friends, hang white flags, mourning and crying can be heard throughout the city, and thousands of white affairs will be held every day.

It's like going back to the second year of Chongzhen, but this time the losses of the people of Gyeonggi seem to be even heavier.

After the wail and sadness.

Then came the complaints, the overwhelming complaints of the people against the imperial court:

"What is the use of this court?"

"The Tartars are raging, what are our civil and military officials doing? What is our army doing? What is our Majesty doing again? ”

"The earth dog is still guarding the house, what are the things we raise with the money and food we pay every year? Are we, the people, in their hearts? ”

"Why aren't the people who die from the high-ranking elites, and why are we and the others who always suffer?"

"It's hard to survive in the land of Gyeonggi, where is our paradise when the world is so big?"

"Since this court can't do anything, why should we hand over the money and grain to feed those useless wastes?"

“……”

Public opinion among the people is raging and resentful, and not only civilian officials can hear it.

Through the eyes and ears of Jinyiwei and others, Zhu Youzhen, the Chongzhen Emperor in the palace, also heard a little, even if Jinyiwei specially picked out some gentle and euphemistic remarks, Zhu Youzhen also felt very uncomfortable and heartbroken, and felt embarrassed.

I don't even dare to face some of the questions.

In the last two days, the wind of public opinion has changed again.

There are a lot of words that boast and praise Xu Jiazhuang.

Because Xujiazhuang also sent troops.

As soon as the 8,000-strong Xu family army arrived in Tongzhou, they won a great victory in Tongzhou and wiped out 5,000 Tatar cavalry.

Then he began to sweep the surrounding area, annihilating countless small units of Jiannu who slaughtered and looted in the land of Gyeonggi, I don't know how many young and strong people were rescued, and the Tartars who fought did not dare to disperse, stopped looting, and had to join forces to deal with the Xu army, which indirectly avoided more people from suffering.

It can be said that this time it was Xu Jiajun who saved the people who were in deep suffering, and it was Xu Jiajun who became the savior of countless people, playing a role that the imperial court could not play, and for the victimized people, Tianxiatong Bank also announced that it would provide low-interest relief loans, willing to help them rebuild their homes and get through the most difficult period.

Therefore, this time when Jiannu entered the customs and raged, Xu Jiazhuang and Xu Jiajun became the light of salvation and hope.

Recently, there has been more popular public opinion such as this:

"Did you hear, Xu Jiazhuang sent Xu Jiajun to help this time, not for King Qin, nor to save any people, mainly to protect the market in the north."

"Protecting the market? What do you mean by that? ”

"Because Xujiazhuang has a large number of commercial goods, which are sold to the north, so that Xujiazhuang has benefited a lot, if the Tartars are often raging and the northern market falls into war, Xujiazhuang's interests will also be affected, so in order to protect this market, it is necessary to send an elite army to come."

"Do you mean that Xu Jiazhuang is so active in sending troops to help in order to ensure that he can make money?"

"That's right, mainly for their own benefit."

"Hey, even a merchant like Xu Jiazhuang, in order to make money for a long time, is willing to send a large army to fight with the Tartars, what about our court? Not even a businessman! ”

"Uh...... That's the truth. ”

After Zhu Youzhen learned about these public opinions, he immediately couldn't sit still.

The imperial court is not even as good as a businessman!

This sentence is not very hurtful, but the insult is too strong, not only Chongzhen, but also the officials in the court can't accept it, and there is a feeling of being slapped in the face.

Immediately, a civil official said: These rumors must have been created by someone behind the scenes, and they must be severely cracked down and investigated, and a few people who are misleading the public will be found and punished heavily! Only then can the slander and slander of the imperial court be stopped.

But Zhu Youzhen did not adopt this official's suggestion, the mouth of the people is more important than the defense of Sichuan, this is the truth that the ancients understood, how could he learn from that King Zhou Li.

After October 3.

There is more and more news coming from the front.

First of all, Xu Jiajun took the lead and established a 'Jin Eradication Alliance', which wanted to deal with the Houjin Army specifically, and proclaimed himself the leader of the alliance, claiming to allow any army willing to resist Jin to join, which is simply a big joke in the world, a merchant force, dare to jump out as the leader of the alliance, and want to command the imperial army, I don't know how thick the sky is!

But immediately after that, there was a series of good news reports to the capital, which was dizzying:

"Report! Tongzhou was victorious, Xu Jiajun came to help, and the golden cavalry was 5,000 after the battle! ”

"Report! Daxingzhuang won a great victory, and the Jin Coalition army beheaded 5,000 Mongolian cavalry, and beheaded 18,000 elites of the Eight Banners Headquarters, and our side won a big victory! Later, Jin Junru was broken spine. ”

"Report! In the great victory of Changping, our Jin coalition army broke through the Houjin material camp, killed 7,000 Mongolian cavalry, attached 5,000 to the Han army, surrendered 43,000 people, and our losses were slight. ”

"Report! Juyong Pass was a great victory, I destroyed the Jin Coalition Army, and it only took one day to break through the Xiongguan Juyong Pass, kill 3,000 elites of the Houjin Eight Banners, and behead 20,000 Han troops! ”

"Report! Lu Xiangsheng's army regained Yanqing Prefecture, killed 800 Houjin Tartars, rescued 20,000 young and strong people, recaptured 5,000 livestock, more than 70,000 stones of grain, and 10,000 taels of gold and silver. ”

"Report! Lu Xiangsheng recovered the dragon gate, killed 300 Houjin Tartars, rescued 5,000 young and strong people, captured 3,000 livestock, more than 30,000 stones of grain, and countless other property. ”

"Report! Lu Xiang ascended to heaven and the Xiongjun army broke out in a bloody battle with the Houjin Tatars in the grassland outside the Saiwai, killing 3,000 elites of the Eight Banners, losing 2,000 themselves, unable to fight again, and is returning, but the Houjin army has been expelled from the territory of the Ming Dynasty, with a total loss of more than 100,000 troops. ”

Received so many good news in a row.

Millions of people in the capital cheered and cheered, and congratulated three times a day.

However, Emperor Zhu Youzhen and the civil and military officials of the court were full of disbelief on their faces, seriously doubting the authenticity of these good news, or they did not want to believe it from the bottom of their hearts, and they could not accept it.

Jinluan Palace, above the court meeting.

Wen Tiren, the first assistant of the cabinet, said: "Your Majesty, although the Xu family army is strong, but the Jiannu army is even stronger, and the two are fighting, the minister still thinks that the Xu family army may win a small victory, but it is impossible to win a big victory!" False, all these good news are fake, and the real situation is definitely not the case. ”

Wu Zongda, a scholar, also said: "The Jurchen is invincible, Xu Jiajun gave up his firearms advantage, but wanted to fight hand-to-hand with Jiannu, this is a stupid move to die, Xu Jiajun may have been wiped out, but in order to cover up, in order to bewitch the hearts of the people in the capital, this made up many great victories." ”

Yang Sichang, the secretary of the Ministry of War, said: "Your Majesty! These great victories can not be fully believed, but they are not all made up out of thin air, at least the battle of Tongzhou, there are many soldiers and civilians who have seen it with their own eyes, there must be no possibility of fraud, as for other great victories, even if they squeeze out seventy percent of the water, I am afraid that there are also a lot of real gains, compared with the previous performance of the imperial army, even if only about 1,000 people were beheaded in each battle, it can also be called a great victory. ”

As the secretary of the military department, Yang Sichang got much more intelligence information than ordinary ministers, no matter from which point of view, these great victories created by the Jin Destroying Coalition Army have a high probability of being true, and there are many sources that can confirm it, and the capture is also very amazing, the Xu Jiajun led this Jin Destroying Coalition Army, the combat effectiveness is very amazing, and all the imperial army that joins has been reborn, but he can't say these facts, otherwise his position as the secretary of the military department will soon come to an end.

Yushi Zhang Yandeng immediately scolded him and said: "Yang Sichang, what benefits did you receive from Xujiazhuang, and you also believe in these fabricated victories?" Is it possible to kill thousands of Tartars in each battle? Which army of the Ming Dynasty can do it? No matter how strong the Xu family army is, it will never be Jiannu's opponent! You don't have to fuel Xu Jiazhuang's arrogance anymore. ”

The official Xu Yuqing said simply: "Your Majesty, the minister suspects that Yang Sichang is having an affair with Xu Jiazhuang, and there must be collusion in private, please put this person in prison for strict interrogation!" ”

Yang Sichang immediately knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, the minister is wronged, the minister is sincere and loyal to Your Majesty, and you can learn from it every day!" ”

"Hehe, are you loyal? Do you dare to say that your Yang family's shop has no business dealings with Xujiazhuang? It is said that in the Tianxia Tong Bank, you sent your family to deposit 100,000 taels of silver into it, and the deposit is still a five-year term, Yang Sichang, do you dare to say that you have no interests with Xujiazhuang? ”

The official Xu Yuqing was impeached unrelentingly.

"Alright, no more attacks!"

Emperor Chongzhen had to make a round to let the officials stop attacking, on the one hand, Yang Sichang was talented and won the trust of Zhu Youzhen, and before he did anything too disappointing to him, Zhu Youzhen would not let him down, and secondly, the impeachment remarks of these officials also had a feeling of slapping him in the face of the emperor.

Because the deepest cooperation with Xujiazhuang is the royal family.

The one who has the most deposits in the bank is also the royal family.

If Yang Sichang is impeached for this reason, wouldn't he, the emperor, be even more deserved.

However, today, after the entire court meeting, in the face of so many great victories created by the Jin-destroying coalition army, the unanimous opinion of the civil and military officials is that it is fake, it is all fake, and it cannot be true! They don't believe it.

But from October 7.

Truckloads of salted heads (including the capture of the Battle of Daxingzhuang, which were also snatched up and made in good condition), were sent to the capital and handed over to the officials of the military department for verification.

Batches of captives were also escorted into the capital and dedicated to the Taimiao Singing Jie.

Batches of battlefield seizures, such as grain, cattle, sheep, horses, livestock, utensils, gold and silver goods, and so on, were also sent to the capital, with tens of thousands of carts worth more than 500,000 taels.

There are also weapons used by the Jiannu army, cotton armor and money rat tails, which can be proved to be genuine tartars.

Three days later, on October 10.

After conducting inspections by means of floating water and observing the teeth, the professionals of the military department had to admit that the gains of the anti-gold coalition army were indeed huge.

The number of the heads of the Jiannu True Tartar alone is as high as 26,000, and there is no doubt that it is a real Tartar!

In addition, there are as many as 30,000 Mongolian Tartars and shaved heads belonging to the Han army, which can be clearly identified and difficult to fake.

In the end, the remaining 20,000 heads, with no obvious features, are difficult to identify, or they may be killed or killed, or they may be real gains, so they cannot be counted as captures.

Even so.

There are as many as 56,000 results that have been recognized and endorsed by the professionals of the Ministry of War!

This proves that the great victories achieved by the Jin Destruction Coalition are all true, and they are not exaggerated or falsely reported.

In the face of these ironclad facts.

The military attachés in the court were silent.

There was also a long silence among the military officials.

Emperor Zhu Youzhen didn't know whether to be happy or unhappy, or both, but it was a good thing that Jiannu made this unprecedented heavy blow, and Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Only the civil officials in the court are still stubborn and resolutely refuse to recognize these results.

"It's fake, it's all fake, I don't believe it!"

"It's all about killing good and risking it."

"I don't know where Xu Jiajun got these heads, but Xu Jiazhuang is not a court army, so naturally there is no need to reward them."

"That's right, the reward is a different thought, the court has no money, and if you want to reward the silver, go to Xujiazhuang to ask for it!"

"What if the head is real? It is obviously the army of the imperial court, but it does not listen to the orders of the imperial court, but joins the army of exterminating the gold, how is this move different from treason? When I wanted to reward the silver, I thought of the imperial court, and I wanted to take advantage of the benefits at both ends, how could there be such a good thing in this world? Anyway, the court can't get the reward! ”

The civil officials said one after another that their remarks were shameless, and the face of the emperor Zhu Youzhen who planned to ruin the promise was not appropriate.