At the twilight of the second day of the seventh month of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen,

Chongzhen took the sailor warship from Xia Zhen to the south.

In addition to more than 1,000 prisoners of war, the entourage also included more than 100 eunuchs such as Zhu Cihong, Zhu Cijiong, and Wang Chengen, four nobles such as Gong Yonggu, and more than a dozen generals such as Wang Yinglong.

In addition, there were a number of officials and scholars who fled south.

Among them, the highest position was Wang Yongji, the former governor of Jiliao.

This Wang Butang originally planned to borrow a teacher with Wu Sangui to help suppress it.

But when it came to the end, I found that it was not like that at all.

So Wang Yongji decisively abandoned Wu Sangui, and quietly fled south with only a few dozen family members, and then he bumped into Jiannu without knowing how to do it and became a prisoner.

Then he was rescued by Zheng Hongkui's sailor.

They were accompanied by several soldiers who had fled south through the canal.

Since he was rescued, Wang Yongji has been clamoring to face the saint, but Chongzhen has ignored it.

One is because I've been very busy these days, and the other is that I'm too lazy to see Wang Yongji, a second minister.

In history, this monarch did not surrender to the Qing Dynasty at the first time, but in the end, he still became a second minister, and he was just a second minister, and he also coerced thousands of people to surrender to the Manchu Qing Dynasty with him.

So Chongzhen didn't bother to pay attention to this guy at all.

I was very interested in the rescued soldiers.

At that moment, Chongzhen asked Wang Chengen to invite these scholars.

In a few moments, four men in shirts were ushered into the cabin.

Seeing Chongzhen sitting facing south in the cabin, the four scholars immediately bowed and worshipped.

"Fu Shan, a member of Taiyuan, Zhu Yanzuo, a member of Zhuozhou, Sun Fanzhi, a member of Changping, and Ji Yunhong, a member of Quzhou, knocked to see the saint, and knocked to see His Royal Highness the Prince and His Royal Highness King Ding."

"Let's be flat." Chongzhen's hands were raised.

treats scholars, Chongzhen's attitude is much more friendly.

In any case, the fact that these scholars were willing to abandon their families and businesses and flee to Jiangnan to serve the Ming Dynasty at the risk of being killed by Jiannu is enough to prove that they still retain a pure heart.

Unlike bureaucrats like Wang Yongji, there are only interests and reluctance in their eyes.

Among the four scholars, Chongzhen was most interested in Fu Shan.

This martial arts with the theme of anti-Qing Dynasty restoration during the Republic of China is a grandmaster-level big man, not only strong in martial arts, but also more extraordinary in medical skills, and is known as the holy hand of gynecology.

In the memory of the original Chongzhen, there are also Fu Shan's deeds.

"Master Fu Qing, I remember you." Chongzhen said with a smile, "Back then, for your teacher Yuan Jixian, you once united more than 100 Shanxi students to make trouble in Dali Temple, and the movement was not small. ”

Fu Shan responded with some embarrassment: "The grass people are ashamed, and they were helpless at that time. ”

"Master Fu Qing, you don't have to be ashamed of this, because you are avenging the teacher." Chongzhen said, "You did the right thing, I hope you can keep this enthusiasm forever." ”

"Back to the saints, the grass people will not be dishonored."

Fu Shan felt that there was an inexplicable emotion surging in his heart.

The Chongzhen Emperor in front of him seems to be different from the legend?

The legendary Emperor Chongzhen was mean, self-serving, and suspicious, which can be described as a shortcoming.

However, the first feeling that Emperor Chongzhen gave him in front of him was like Master Yuan who studied in Shanxi back then, gentle and elegant without losing the style of an elder, and he also gave them a lot of encouragement and encouragement.

But in fact, it seems that the current saint is a few years younger than him?

After a few words of greeting with Fu Shan, Chongzhen turned his gaze to Sun Fanzhi again: "Are you a member of Changping Prefecture?" ”

"Back to the saint, the grass people are the students of Changping Prefecture." Sun Fanzhi said busily, "Chongzhen has been studying for fifteen years. ”

Chongzhen smiled and said: "On March 20 of the beginning of the year, I passed through Changping Prefecture after breaking the siege from Beijing. ”

"The grass people know about it." Sun Fanzhi sighed, "It's a pity that the grass people were sick in bed at the time, and they were not in the state city, otherwise they would have followed the saint at that time." ”

Gao Qiqian, who was standing on the side, couldn't help but glance at Sun Fanzhi.

The heart said that if you kid followed the saint at that time, then now he is the minister of the dragon, although it cannot be compared with the Jiuqing who went to the disaster, but Feihuang Tengda is certain.

Chongzhen said again: "After Jiannu issued the shaving order, Changping Prefecture should also be reversed, right?" ”

"Back to the saint, it's the other way around." Sun Fanzhi said, "Almost all the gentry in the state are reversed, and the grass people and more than a dozen classmates also participated in the uprising. ”

Chongzhen sighed lightly and said, "Jiannu must have done a lot of murder in Changping Prefecture, right? ”

"It's murderous." Sun Fanzhi said sadly, "Jiannu really kills people when they see them, even the old people and infant babies refuse to let go, and the grass people's whole family, old and young, are also poisoned by Jiannu." ”

Chongzhen turned his gaze to the other two again: "Jiannu didn't kill people in Zhuozhou and Quzhou, right?" ”

"Jiannu killed a lot more in Zhuozhou than in Changping Prefecture." Zhu Yanzuo, a student from Zhuozhou, said, "Many villages have been wiped out, and only one of the 36 members of the grass people escaped. ”

In the end, Zhu Yanzuo's eyes were red, revealing a look of bitter hatred.

Ji Yunhong, a member of Quzhou County, finally said: "The Jiannu were particularly brutal in Quzhou County, they not only killed people, but also took pleasure in killing, or dissected pregnant women to take out the fetus, or cooked young children, or made Weng's daughter-in-law incest in front of his son, or made the villagers flee and then shot them with arrows, all kinds of barbaric acts are simply too numerous to mention. ”

"It's all to blame." Chongzhen said with a gloomy expression, "It is the greatest dereliction of duty of the Son of Heaven to let the people suffer." ”

Zhu Yanzuo and the others couldn't help but sigh a little when they heard this, they also complained about the saint in their hearts, but when they saw the saint admitting their guilt in front of them, they couldn't bear it, why was the saint innocent? The party disputes between the senior members of the DPRK and the Central Committee have been banned repeatedly, and the corpses of the officials of various ministries and temples are vegetarian, and it is not easy for the saints to be very difficult, which really can't be blamed on him.

What's more, the saint has issued many edicts against himself.

"Please remember this blood debt."

Chongzhen adjusted his emotions and said through gritted teeth: "You all remember, the dignity of the Ming Dynasty cannot be desecrated, and the atrocities inflicted on my people today by Jiannu will definitely be repaid in the coming day!" ”

"One day, our Ming Dynasty will also go north to Youyan and recover the Jingshi."

"One day, we will fight back to Liaoxi and Liaodong, and we will have to step on the white mountains and black waters."

"At that time, what Jiannu treats us today, we will have to retaliate ten times and a hundred times back!"

Hearing this, Fu Shan and the other four scholars' blood boiled all at once, the Son of Heaven is still like this, and he still has the heart of revenge, why worry about not revenge for the family, and why worry about the hatred of the country? Daming ZTE is hopeful!

Sending Fu Shan and the other four away, Chongzhen fell into contemplation in the dim light.

Since starting from Xia Zhen, Chongzhen has been thinking about a question, what should he do in the future?

The current situation has gradually become clear, Li Zicheng has become a mouse, and he wasted his hard work, leaving him Li Yan, a general, but still unable to use it, and the fall of Shanxi is inevitable.

However, there are still a lot of old battalions left in the Dashun army, and it should not be a problem to hold Shaanxi and Gansu.

With Dolgon's wrist, there is no problem in encircling Jiang Xuan, Wu Sangui and other generals.

There were also the gentry of the two provinces of Beizhi and Shanxi, and it was only a matter of time before they succumbed under the combined use of Dolgon's grace.

Therefore, the next situation is likely to form a three-legged trend, Li Zicheng's Dashun army occupies Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningqing, Jiannu occupies Shanxi, Beizhi and Guanwai, and the Ming Dynasty retreats to the area south of the Yellow River.

Oh, and Zhang Xianzhong, Zhang Xianzhong should be about to capture Sichuan, so it can also be said to be a four-country war.

At this stage alone, there is no doubt that the strength of Jiannu is stronger than that of Daming and Dashun, but it may be a little difficult to want to be one-to-two.

So the best choice, of course, is for the Ming and Dashun to join forces to resist the capture and unite with the outside world.

But Chongzhen is very sure that Li Zicheng will not sincerely cooperate with Daming, and the most likely thing is that the disaster will lead to the south, and then sit on the mountain in Guanzhong to watch the tiger fight, and wait until Daming and Jiannu are both defeated.

In other words, if Jiannu fights the Ming Dynasty first, the Dashun army will definitely not save each other.

As for Jiannu, he will definitely try to separate the alliance of Daming and Dashun, and then concentrate his forces to destroy one first, and then concentrate all his efforts to solve the other.

Not surprisingly, Jiannu still hit Dashun first.

At this time, Da Ming could only send troops to contain it.

Chongzhen is not Li Zicheng, he deeply understands the truth of cold lips and teeth.

But the problem is that once the Ming Dynasty sends troops, it will definitely attract the firepower of Jiannu.

At this time, the Huanghuai defense line built by Chongzhen will be put to the real test.

At this time, the 140,000 border troops of the 28 towns in Xuzhou alone may not be enough.

Therefore, it is necessary to mobilize more Xiangyong to go north, to enrich the Huanghuai defense line, and to defend the thousands of Western platforms lined up along the north and south banks of the Yellow River.

In addition to the village bravery, it is necessary to mobilize the scholars to go north.

There are no scholars, and they can hold the Huanghuai defense line by recruiting troops and Xiangyong alone, but if you want to go north to Youyan and recover the Beijing Division, you really don't want to be strong, and you don't have money!

Conscription, to put it bluntly, is mercenaries.

Mercenaries fight for money.

Relying on mercenaries to come to the Northern Expedition to Youyan, how much reward and how much money do you have to pay?

The salary is doubled, the war salary is tripled, 50 taels of silver are killed for killing a real slave, and 5 taels of silver are also rewarded for killing a Han army, a pawn or a clothed slave, if the Northern Expedition to Youyan is successful, how much silver do you have to pay?

Even if the Ming Dynasty has gold and silver, it can't stand it, and the finance can't afford it at all.

Someone said, can you reduce the amount? At least lower the bounty.

I'm really sorry, this matter is absolutely not negotiable, if you really dare to reduce the reward, there will be a mutiny every minute.

Therefore, the border army of the 28 towns is already the limit, and in the later stage, not only can it not be increased, but can only be reduced, and it is best to let these recruits become small landlords on both sides of the Yellow River and become a natural barrier.

And the Northern Expedition must not count on recruitment.

So the question is, who else can the Northern Expedition rely on?

The answer is the new army, and it is time to consider the formation and training of the new army.

Well, it's too early to say that the new army will be trained.

However, it is still possible to reserve a group of officers who have knowledge and faith, are loyal to the Ming Dynasty, and do not need to pay salaries for the new army in the future.