"Mother-"

In the northwest, accompanied by terrible screams, northern Shaanxi suffered a sudden invasion and inhumane plunder.

A group of Mongols on horseback led the way with swords, a group of Mongols drove behind, and a group of Mongols stood in the center to guard the left and right of the group to prevent escape.

In the Huanghuayu Fort on the high slope of the loess, three teams of Mongols drove dozens of people like dogs and sheep, and if they did not move forward, they would be beaten or killed immediately.

The women were tied around their necks with long ropes, which were dragged and the women kept falling and covered in mud.

The streets of the fort were littered with abandoned babies, trampled by horses' hooves or trampled by human feet.

The Mongols set fire to the Huanghuayu Fort, and the fire spread, and those who were still alive because they were hiding in the house or basement were either consumed by the merciless fire or people escaped.

But when they came out, they were divided into piles of fifty or sixty men, and under the supervision of three or four soldiers, they were tied up with ropes.

Before they could respond, the Mongols stabbed them with spears and killed them on the spot, even if they fell to the ground.

Huanghuayu Fort has been turned into a slaughterhouse, the stench of blood is permeated, and there are mutilated corpses everywhere, and all the rules no longer exist.

In the ditch and pond that I passed, I saw that there were corpses piled up inside, hands and feet pillowed, blood flowed into the water, turned into colorful colors, and the pond was filled with corpses......

The streets were littered with corpses, resting on each other, and it was dark to tell who the dead were.

Those who tried to escape from the walls either broke their thighs or fell into the hands of the Mongols, who took them and tortured them, tied them to ropes, and dragged them to death on horseback.

At the foot of the city wall of Huanghuayu, the corpses of the Han people were piled up like fish scales, and the stench of blood was permeated, and there were corpses with mutilated limbs everywhere.

Some of them hid in the heaps of corpses and smeared their bodies with blood and dirt in the hope of avoiding the attention of the Mongols, but the passing Mongols occasionally stabbed the garbage heap with spears until the people inside squirmed like animals and blood flowed from their wounds.

When the soldiers and horses of Yansui Town arrived, there was already a county and nineteen forts in the north of Yan'an Province that had been breached, and the Mongol coalition troops of the Hetao Department had captured tens of thousands of artisan women and left calmly......

"What is this waste for? I paid Yan Sui a military salary, is this how they repay me?! ”

On the fourteenth day of the first month, when the news of the invasion and slaughter of Yan'an by the Hetao Department was made public in Xu Guangqi's recital, Zhu Youxiao, who was above the Chang Dynasty, looked at the ministers in the palace who bowed their heads, and his anger was unabated.

"Hooray! The minister asked the governor Zhang Zhihou to hide the crime! ”

"Long live, ministers and others, please treat Zhang Zhihou, don't hide the crime!"

Seeing that the emperor was angry, a group of ministers raised their voices to impeach.

It's just that in the midst of this impeachment and manipulation, one person stood straight.

Zhu Youxiao looked at this person, his temper was slightly retracted, and he tried to be as kind as possible: "What does my brother think of Yan'an." ”

Zhu Youxiao opened his mouth and asked about Zhu Youzhen, who was standing straight.

seems to want to train Zhu Youzhen, in short, since the last time he was in charge of the country, Zhu Youxiao asked Zhu Youzhen to participate as long as he was in the capital, so every time Chang Chao came to participate.

Not only that, but some side affairs in the DPRK and China are basically asking him.

In this regard, Zhu Youzhen was very helpless, he was reluctant to stay in the capital, but there was no reason to leave for a while, so he could only endure the devastation of being impeached by hundreds of officials above the Chang Dynasty.

Now that I see my royal brother asking myself, what can Zhu Youzhen say?

Zhang Zhihou of the Qi Party did not play, and then was impeached by Xu Guangqi of Donglin, who was recommended by himself, which shows that Zhang Zhihou will not survive.

But the embarrassing point came, his own imperial brother asked himself, obviously not for whether Zhang Zhihou was punished, but to talk about the issue of Yansui Town.

Since I answered the tribute, the Hetao Department, the Tumut Department, and the Ordos Department have honestly traded with each other in the frontier and the Ming Dynasty, and the two sides have not been at war.

However, after the death of Altan Khan, the Huoluo Chibu of the Ordos Department provoked an incident and invaded Daming Taohe and other places.

Although the wife of Alda Khan, Sanniangzi, immediately sent an envoy to ask for the return of Pullik to the east, so that the Peach River Rebellion gradually subsided.

But because of this incident, the estrangement between Da Ming and the third lady reappeared.

After that, the third lady wrote a letter to apologize, and arrested Shi Er, the son-in-law of Pullik, who was making trouble on the side, and sent it to the side, and the Ming Dynasty resumed the mutual market.

By this time, the Ming Dynasty and the three Mongols in the western part of Monan were still in a controllable relationship.

However, with the death of the third lady in the forty-first year of Wanli, among the three Mongolians, in addition to the Tumut Department who was named the king of Shunyi of the Ming Dynasty, the Ordos Department of Ningxia and the Ordos Department of Hetao began to plunder the Ming frontier.

In previous years, the scale of this raid was relatively small, but this year, due to the transfer of Du Wenhuan to the south, this led to a large-scale invasion by the Mongols in the Hetao.

This is not to say that Zhu Youxiao, Ye Xianggao, and Zhu Youzhen did something wrong in transferring Du Wenhuan, on the contrary, this move was right.

But why the Yansui soldiers and horses did not block the invasion of the Hetao Department this time is fundamentally a question for Governor Zhang Zhihou.

According to the military register, Yansui Town, which has more than 27,000 people, can at least save some people if it can't stop more than 20,000 Mongols from entering the fortress for a while, right?

According to Xu Guangqi's recital, Zhang Zhihou did not send troops at all, but waited until the Mongols were gone, and then he slowly cleaned up the mess.

Such a move shows the local problems in Yansui.

If even the governor's problem is so big, then has the money escorted last year been in the hands of the soldiers of Yansui Town, and has it been embezzled? Could it be that the already empty quota can't even be held in northern Shaanxi?

This series of questions is the question that Zhu Youxiao wants to ask, and Zhu Youzhen can only respond:

"The younger brother thinks that Zhang Zhihou should be punished, and another capable governor and military attache will be sent to the general army."

"What about the captive people?" Zhu Youxiao was a little unconvinced, after all, the old slaves were beaten and retreated by the Ming army, how could a small Hetao Department jump off the beam like this?

What's more, he remembered that his younger brother had said that he was going to sweep away the Hetao, why was he so peaceful now?

It's normal for Zhu Youxiao not to understand, after all, he is still a little weak in side affairs, but Zhu Youzhen can't just say that he will send troops.

At present, the southwest looks like a protracted tug-of-war, and Nurhachi in the northeast has also formed an alliance with the Horqin tribe.

At this time, it is a little unreasonable for Zhu Youzhen to insist on recovering the Hetao.

It was he who needed to recover Tieling, Kaiyuan, Fushun and the lost Great Wall in Liaodong first.

It is much better to recapture the Great Wall and garrison troops in the passes and mountain passes than to garrison troops in the plains.

Therefore, he did not say lightly that he would lay down the Hetao, but mainly defended.

It's just that his words are a little weak in the eyes of the officials.

So at that moment, officials led by Yao Zongwen and others began to impeach Zhu Youzhen in a roundabout way.

However, they also knew that impeachment would be counterproductive if it was too heavy, so they did not impeach him directly, but impeached Datong and Taiyuan Town, one of the three towns in Shanxi.

Although this matter is obviously not the turn of the three towns of Shanxi to take care of it, they are impeached.

"Long live, the minister thinks that it is a big mistake for Shanxi to abolish the border towns, and the border towns should be re-established and the two towns of Ningxia and Guyuan should be united."

Soutao, that is, the use of troops on the Hetao, and the one who put forward this proposal was Zou Yuanbiao of the Imperial History of Zuo Yudu.

In his opinion, those who provoke the Ming Dynasty should be punished.

It's just that his words made Zhu Youzhen and Zhu Youxiao frown.

It took them a long time to dismantle the three towns in Shanxi, what does it mean to restore the towns now?

In this regard, Zhu Youzhen was very helpless, so he could only take a step forward:

"Right now, I, Daming, should first recover the lost territory in Liaodong, and then seek to sweep the trap."

Looking at the posture of the civil official, it is estimated that he will not let go of this opportunity for Zhu Youzhen to be "weak", and he has no choice but to step forward and say that he wants to recover the lost territory in Liaodong.

Sure enough, as soon as he said this, the hundred officials above the court instantly shut up, and Zhu Youxiao's eyes lit up and said:

"Brother, tell me more."

"Yes......" sighed in his heart, Zhu Youzhen could only pretend to move troops, but in his heart he was digging a pit for Wenchen:

"Qi Yuanbi has recruited 14,000 Zhejiang soldiers, and he has already arrived in Liaoyang in the north."

"At present, our dynasty has a total of 16,800 soldiers and horses in Liaodong, 27,000 soldiers and horses in Liaoyang, 2,040 soldiers in Shenyang, 6,500 Liao soldiers, 9,000 Ji soldiers, 3,000 Jinzhou Sichuan soldiers, 21,000 Kuandian Ji soldiers, 53,000 Liao soldiers and 27,000 Shanxi guest troops, totaling 165,700 soldiers and horses."

"If you add auxiliaries, the total is 240,000 troops."

Zhu Youzhen's words came out, and the ministers straightened their backs one after another, as if such a good situation in Liaodong was created by them.

But Zhu Youzhen himself, he knows very well that in the so-called 160,000 army, the real ones who can fight are the Zhejiang soldiers and Sichuan soldiers, and a small number of Liao soldiers, Ji soldiers, and Shanxi soldiers.

If you really put it together, plus the soldiers and horses who have to stay to defend the city, you will send 80,000 troops at most.

However, Zhu Youzhen was not worried, because he knew that as long as he said that he wanted to regain the lost territory, then this group of Wenchen who were still clamoring would immediately shut up.

Therefore, full of confidence, he continued to Baiguan and Zhu Youxiao:

"The minister thought that 800 artillery pieces could be transferred from Yanshan to support the three cities of Liaoshen and Kuandian, and the three guards of Daning, and ordered Liaodong Jingluo Xiong Tingbi to command nearly 100,000 soldiers and horses in Liao, Shen, Kuandian and other cities to recover the lost territory within the Great Wall of Liaodong."

"Hooray!"

As soon as Zhu Youzhen's words were finished, someone shouted loudly that he should not stand up.

Zhu Youzhen looked at it, and sure enough, it was Wang Yingjiao, the head of the household, who stood up.

With a worried look on his face, he said:

"Long live, the current national treasury is empty, 100,000 soldiers and horses east of the Liao River, if you want to send troops, you need at least 60,000 auxiliary soldiers, a total of 160,000 people."

"The silver drawn by an army of 160,000 is 800,000 taels of silver."

"This is not counting gunpowder, military rations, mules and horses, etc., if you can't recover the lost territory in the short term, the money and food consumed every month are hundreds of thousands of taels, and the national money can't afford it......"

"Long live ...... think twice"

Sure enough, as Zhu Youzhen expected, this group of guys who were still clamoring before, as soon as they heard Wang Yingjiao's account, immediately changed their radical attitude, which made the emperor think twice.

Zhu You looked at this scene and sneered, and then spoke:

"You know that it will cost so much money and grain to recover Liaodong, don't you know that the money and grain required to sweep the set is not much different from this?"

Zhu Youzhen was really speechless to this group of people who only knew the mouth cannon and didn't know how to understand the opponent, and said directly at the moment:

"There are more than 100,000 people in the Hetao, although they are divided into 42 branches, but there is a vast sandy land as a geographical advantage."

"As soon as the news of my search for the army comes out, they will unite."

"The Hetao is 1,000 miles from east to west, 600 miles from north to south, and if you want to sweep the Hetao, you need at least 40,000 cavalry, with 200,000 people and 80,000 horses."

"Every month, more than 200,000 taels of grain will be consumed, how can the state treasury afford it?"

"After the laid, how to manage the loop? Do you want to relocate people? Do the displaced people need money and food? Do you want to garrison the people? ”

Zhu Youzhen's soul five questions directly left the hundred officials speechless.

This is not to say that all officials are waste, but people like Zhu Tongmeng, Yang Lian, Ye Xianggao, Liu Yixian, Zhu Guozuo and others all know that fighting is money and food, and it just so happens that Daming's money and food are not enough to maintain a big war.

The war in the southwest is still scorching, and the war will start again in the Hetao without authorization, in case Nurhachi attacks Liaodong again, then the Ming Dynasty will have to deal with the three-way war.

Each of these wars is the monthly expenditure of more than 200,000 taels of silver, and the sum of the three places is hundreds of thousands of taels of grain.

With the treasury of the Ming Dynasty, how long can it be supported?

This problem is very fatal to those who are only good at hearsay and performance.

Therefore, everyone stopped clamoring to sweep the trap, and Zhu Youxiao in the palace heard this, and his temper also dropped.

He knew the situation of the internal government and the six departments better than the hundred officials, and naturally knew that it was impossible for the Ming Dynasty to maintain a three-sided battle at the moment.

Before, the blood was hot, and when the blood calmed down, he would naturally be able to make rational arrangements.

"Promote the military department to Zhu Tongmeng, the governor of Yansui, and then transfer Wang Chengen, the general of Shandanshen, to be the chief soldier of Yansui Town."

"Li Rubai, the former commander-in-chief, and Li Ruzhen, the deputy commander-in-chief, set off after raising troops and horses."

"Long live the Shengming ......" Hearing Zhu Youxiao's rational arrangement, the officials began to boast again.

However, when Zhu Youzhen heard this arrangement, he was still more rational.

Gansu's Shandan Wei general Wang Chengen, although he also has the same name as his partner, he does have a talent.

In the first year of the Apocalypse last year, under the command of Mei Zhihuan, he defeated the invasion of the Ordos Department of Ningxia at Shandan Weimashan Lake in Gansu.

Now that he is going to Yansui, I dare not say that he has done better than Du Wenhuan, but at least with the cooperation of Zhu Tongmeng, there should be no such thing again.

Zhu Youzhen breathed a sigh of relief, but his heart was extremely depressed.

After the dispersal of the dynasty, he returned to the Qinqin Palace, but he was a little sullen.

For the Hetao Department to dare to plunder and kill tens of thousands of people in the Ming Dynasty, if he first came to the Ming Dynasty, his reaction must have been the same as many civil servants, clamoring to plow the court and sweep the caves.

But now it's different, he knows the foundation of the court.

When Nurhachi was allied with the Korqin tribe and the southwest was in a tug-of-war, he had already given up the idea of sending troops to the Hetao this year.

But even so, when he thought of the tragic situation in Yan'an, he had a breath in his heart, and he couldn't spit it out or swallow it.

Worried, he got up and walked to the study, grabbing the Yanling knife and a round shield on the shelf.

"Come and practice with me."

He threw the shield to Lu Xiu, the Jinyi guard at the door, and Lu Xiu didn't seem to have done this for the first time, so he immediately walked to the courtyard of the Qingong Palace with Zhu Youzhen.

After all, it is the era of alternating hot and cold weapons, and it is still necessary to practice weapons and fists and feet.

He held the Yanling Knife that was not bladed and was specially used for practice, and Lu Xiu on the opposite side held an iron knife without a blade in one hand and a shield in the other.

The two of them turned left and right in the courtyard, and at the same time changed the knife techniques such as crackling, piercing, teasing, cutting, wiping, belting, spreading, pulling, and intercepting.

The collision between the weapon and the shield released the uncontrollable anger in Zhu Youzhen's heart.

After a quarter of an hour of hand-to-hand practice, Zhu Youzhen, who was sweating profusely, felt a lot of anger, so he put away the Yanling knife and said to Lu Xiu:

"You can also take a day off tomorrow, let Huachun give you two taels of silver, and go home to rest with your family for a day."

"Your Highness Xie, but you haven't married a wife and had children yet." Lu Xiu grinned, every time he practiced with Zhu Youzhen, he could get two taels of silver.

Although most of this silver was used by him to buy wine and drink, it was still good to get two taels of silver for a sparring session.

Thinking about it, Lu Xiu twisted his shoulders, and then said: "I haven't practiced for a month, and His Highness's strength seems to be a little bigger." ”

"Don't say flattering words, you go and call Lu Wenzhao and Huachun." Zhu Youzhen wiped his sweat with a towel, and after giving an order, he walked back to the study.

Seeing this, Lu Xiu also asked people to put away the sword and shield, and then went to find Lu Wenzhao and Cao Huachun.

Zhu Youzhen asked people to help him put water to take a bath, and a fourteen or fifteen-year-old palace maid and an ignorant four or five-year-old palace maid attracted his attention.

"You two are new here?"

Sitting in the wooden barrel, Zhu Youzhen wore his hair loose, leaned on the edge of the wooden barrel and looked at the two palace maids who mixed water for the wooden barrel and asked.

"Back to His Royal Highness, my father was taught by Yanshan to learn Yang Lu, and I heard that Admiral Cao said that the palace needs people, so my father sent the two of us to the palace."

"Hmm......" Hearing that Yang Lu actually sent his two daughters into the palace, Zhu Youzhen didn't feel strange.

In the palace, the palace maids can receive 30 yuan a day for cleaning and serving people, which is a great errand in the eyes of outsiders.

In addition, Yang Lu knew that Zhu Youzhen had a good temper, so he dared to send them to the Qingong Palace to be on duty.

When Zhu Youzhen thought so, Qianrou's hand put on his left arm, and the palace maid scrubbed his body for him, and Zhu Youzhen also asked:

"What's your name and your sister's?"

"The slave maid is called Yang Yuanai, and the sister is called Yang Ai......"

Yang Yuanai carefully washed Zhu Youzhen's body, but as soon as Zhu Youzhen heard the word "Yang Ai", he immediately looked at Yang Ai who was holding a towel next to him.

Yang Ai is only four or five years old, and she is still very ignorant, and when she saw Zhu Youzhen looking at her, she immediately lowered her head.

"How old are you?" Zhu Youzhen felt a little bad in his heart.

"The slave is fourteen years old, and the sister is five years old." As soon as Yang Yuanai spoke, Zhu Youzhen felt empty.

If he remembers correctly, Liu Ruye's real name seems to be Yang Ai, and at this time, he should be four years old and five years old......

Unfortunate in childhood, unclear background, into Wujiang Shengze Town homecoming home prostitute Xu Fojia as a maid.

"Huai'an to Wujiang...... It shouldn't be ......"

Thinking of where Liu Ru made his debut, Zhu Youzhen temporarily put aside this conjecture, and then stood up.

Yang Yuanai scrubbed Zhu Youzhen's body, and after the scrubbing was almost done, she changed a towel to wipe his body clean, and called other palace maids to change clothes for him and wipe his hair.

Sitting on the chair, Zhu Youzhen closed his eyes and asked the palace maids to help him wipe his hair, then tied up his dry hair and changed into a cyan regular clothes.

"Your Highness......"

At this time, Cao Huachun's voice came from the door of the bedroom, and Zhu Youzhen also stood up after cleaning up and walked out of the bedroom.

The moment he opened the door, he saw Lu Wenzhao and Cao Huachun standing at the door, he crossed the two, walked to the main seat in the main hall and sat down, waved his sleeves, leaned on the armrest of the chair, and motioned for the two to take a seat.

Seeing this, the two took their seats, and Lu Wenzhao also took out a military report:

"Your Highness, this is the latest military newspaper in the southwest."

"Well......" Zhu Youzhen asked someone to take it, and after sending it to his hands, he unhurriedly opened the military newspaper.

This military report is a continuation of the follow-up to Zhu Xieyuan's capture of the Yongning Acropolis on the 28th of the lunar month.

On the 29th day of the lunar month, Zhu Xieyuan led his troops eastward, and made peace with Hong Chengchou on the second day, and broke through the city of Linzhou on the seventh day of the first month, and Fan Hu killed himself.

In this way, Yongning Xuanfu Si Hao Chongming's rebellion, after lasting eighty-eight days, ended in the defeat of Gao Chongming.

Such a failure directly led to the fact that the northern part of the Ming army could free up nearly 40,000 troops to encircle and suppress the Tusi in Guizhou.

On the first day of the first lunar month, when all the people of the Ming Dynasty were still happily celebrating the New Year, Zhu Xieyuan ordered all departments to send troops.

Sun Chuanting, Yang Wenyue, Wu Aheng, and Cao Wenzhao led 1,600 men and horses of the headquarters after the war, and Yongning 4,000 soldiers went south to Guiyang to relieve the siege of Guiyang.

At the same time, Zhu Xieyuan, Du Wenhuan, and Hong Chengchou led 16,000 headquarters and 9,000 auxiliary soldiers to the east and went to Zhenyuan Mansion to make peace with Qin Liangyu.

Kai Ya Yi Mu increased the department, received the order to march eastward, and marched to An Bangyan's old nest to weave gold.

For a time, with the extermination of luxury Chongming, the strength of the Ming army and the rebels underwent earth-shaking changes.

In the entire territory of Guizhou, the number of Ming troops reached a terrifying number of more than 80,000, but the rebels still had more than 100,000 soldiers and horses.

Fortunately, the Guizhou Tusi who invaded Guangxi and other places were also defeated by Hu Yingtai and fled back to Guizhou, and the land of the two provinces that had fallen in Guangxi was recovered.

At the same time, Sun Yingyuan led Tengxiang and Wu Xiang to attack Liping Mansion, and recovered the entire territory of Liping Mansion on the ninth day of the first lunar month, while Zhu Xieyuan led his troops to make peace with Qin Liangyu and others.

For a while, the rebels fell back into the situation of being trapped in Guizhou, and such a good news also made Zhu Youzhen feel much more comfortable.

Looking at this posture, it is impossible for An Bangyan to get out of trouble, and he can only carry out a tug-of-war with the Ming army in Guinan and Guinan.

Although the rebels still numbered more than 107,000 people, they lacked firearms, and the only 60 or so guns they had were captured general guns and Franc machine guns, ranging in weight from six to two pounds.

Now as long as the two hundred and thirty artillery guns they had transferred to the southwest arrived, the rebels had only one way to lose.

Demon Museum

However, the karst topography of Guizhou is destined to play a decisive role in the siege of the city.

Mountain warfare still depends on the ability of short soldiers.

Thinking so, Zhu Youzhen handed the military report in his hand to the eunuch next to him and said:

"Show it to the royal brother, and let him be happy and happy."

"In addition, please ask the imperial brother to allocate 100,000 taels of silver to reward the army, and then allocate 200,000 taels from the imperial horse supervisor to Zhu Xieyuan."

"If you can, send Songpan officials to contact Duogan and Wusizang Tusi, and order them to transfer 3,000 men to supplement Cao Wenzhao's Duogan camp."

"The slave and maid receive the order......" Hearing Zhu Youzhen's arrangement, the eunuch responded, and then withdrew from the palace with the military report.

As for Zhu Youzhen, he set his sights on Lu Wenzhao and Cao Huachun, and was about to say something else......