In February of the fourth year of the Apocalypse, which was supposed to be an ordinary month, it was detonated because of a letter of letters.

On 25 February, He Zongyan, a cabinet minister who did not form a party membership, died in office, and Zhu Youxiao presented him with a gift of "Wenyi".

On 26 February, cabinet ministers Zhu Guozuo and Shen Yu successively resigned, and Qi Shijiao and Guan Yingzhen resigned together.

By February 28, the four of them had jointly issued 19 letters within three days, and Zhu Youxiao could only approve and agree.

The four of them retreated, and the three parties of Qi, Chu and Zhejiang were leaderless, which made Zhao Nanxing, the leader of Donglin, shine in his eyes.

It's just that without waiting for Zhao Nanxing to make a move, the officials of the five parties of Qi, Chu, Zhejiang, Xuankun and Kun all went towards Cui Chengxiu, and the power of the eunuch party swelled instantly, and even overwhelmed Donglin and Qi Wang Party in the court situation.

With the increase in the number of officials under his subordinates, the frightened Wei Zhongxian hurriedly went to find Zhu Youxiao, Zhu Youxiao was puzzled, but the Hakka family blew the wind in his ears, so he let Wei Zhongxian go.

Seeing that he was convicted, Wei Zhongxian was also interested, and even suggested that Zhu Youxiao push Gu Bingqian into the cabinet to make profits for the Qi Wang Party.

In order to balance the situation in the court, Zhu Youxiao could only first promote Gu Bingqian to the crown prince and the scholar of the Jianji Palace, and at the same time, sent Cao Huachun, who had just returned to the palace, to the Yanshan camp again.

When the time came to February 30, when Zhu Youzhen of the Yanshan camp finished reading his brother's handwriting, his brows furrowed in an instant.

"This Zhu Guozuo is playing tricks......"

Zhu Guozuo's method, Zhu Youzhen could see it at a glance, because wasn't this method what he used at the beginning?

In the first year of Taichang, why was Zhu Youzhen not noticed by party officials? The first is because the imperial horse supervisor originally belonged to the emperor, and the party officials couldn't control it, and the second was that Zhu Youzhen helped Donglin, which caused Donglin's power to become bigger.

At this time, the Great Huaibei Hunger broke out, and the eyes of the powerful Donglin Party and the Wenchen of the various parties were on the Great Huaibei Hunger.

It was these short months that gave Zhu Youzhen time to develop.

After the party ministers solved the matter of the famine in Huaibei, Zhu Youzhen had already raised tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in the Yanshan camp, and the imperial power had a sword......

So according to this context, why Zhu Guozuo took the initiative to resign, and then why the five parties of Qichu, Zhejiang, Xuankun and Kun defected to the eunuch party, the matter is very easy to explain.

Zhu Guozuo can see that the imperial power cannot act against it at the moment, and if it works against the imperial power, the five parties will inevitably not survive.

Since you can't do it, you can simply join the eunuch party who is more loyal to the emperor than Zhu Youzhen.

Unlike Zhu Youzhen, Zhu Youzhen's strength comes from military power and imperial horse supervisors, that is to say, military power and imperial horse supervisors are first loyal to Zhu Youzhen, and Zhu Youzhen is loyal to Zhu Youxiao.

This leads to the fact that even if Zhu Youxiao doesn't trust Zhu Youzhen one day, if he wants to move Zhu Youzhen, he needs to weigh it again and again, because scruples are needed everywhere.

But what about the eunuchs?

Wei Zhongxian is just a domestic slave under Zhu Youxiao, and Zhu Youxiao can give Wei Zhongxian to death, and then let Wang Tiqian, Liu Ruoyu and others close to the eunuchs continue to govern the eunuchs.

In other words, the five party ministers who joined the eunuch party became the emperor's domestic slave in disguise.

One is a house slave who can be killed at will, and the other is a prince who still needs scruples, no matter how you look at it, as long as they don't take the initiative to jump out and provoke the relationship between Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youzhen, they will all be preserved.

It was impossible for the emperor to kill the eunuchs who had won over him with great difficulty, so after the five parties joined the eunuchs, the imperial power had only one opponent left in the court.

Donglin ......

Thinking of this, riding on horseback, Zhu Youzhen, who was about to go to Duogan Camp to inspect, closed his handbook and said to Cao Huachun, who was hurrying back next to him:

"How many seats are there in the cabinet right now?"

"Back to Your Highness." Cao Huachun opened his mouth and said: "At present, there are only three of them: Ye Ge Lao, Sun Chengzong, and Gu Bingqian. ”

"Only three?" Zhu Youzhen's brows tightened, and he also went through the candidates who could enter the cabinet for balance.

In all fairness, he hoped that Yuan Keli, Bi Ziyan, and Li Changgeng would join the cabinet, but in the current situation, it is not a good thing for Yuan Keli to enter the cabinet as a member of the Donglin Party, and Jiangnan cannot do without Li Changgeng.

Since Li Changgeng assumed the post of secretary of the household department in Nanjing, there has been no delay in the northward movement of money and grain from the southern provinces every year. (This chapter is not finished!) )

Chapter 232: Preparing for the Set

thing, so until Zhu Youzhen finds someone who can replace him, he can't move.

It is not good to recommend only one Bi Ziyan, and the remaining few seats are likely to be blown aside by Wei Zhongxian and the Hakka family, thus making the number of eunuchs too large.

In that case......

"Bi Ziyan, Zhu Xieyuan ......"

"Buzz ......"

Suddenly, Zhu Youzhen, who was talking, had some tinnitus, and a large number of birds flew out of the Yan Mountain in the distance, and the war horse under his crotch was also restlessly kicking up its hooves, and even walking around.

Zhu Youzhen shook the reins of the horse, and exhaled "huh" in his mouth, but he couldn't make him stop.

The war horses in the entire barracks began to neigh, and before everyone could make any moves, Zhu Youzhen and everyone suddenly felt that the surroundings began to shake.

"Earthquake!"

Zhu Youzhen turned over and dismounted, and as soon as he got off the horse, the war horse ran like an arrow off the string, and Cao Huachun also supported Zhu Youzhen:

"Your Highness, the earth dragon has turned over!"

"Boom, boom, boom......"

As soon as Cao Huachun finished speaking, there was a roar in the distance, and the sunlight around him even dimmed a lot in an instant, and then Zhu Youzhen squatted on the ground.

He only felt himself jolting up and down like a horse, and after a few seconds he felt it sway from side to side.

There was a "boom" collapse sound and some other strange noises in the distance, and the surrounding brocade guards gathered next to Zhu Youzhen, until a cup of tea shook over, and everyone stood up with more than one season.

"The earth dragon turned over and ordered someone to go to the capital to see if there was anything going on!"

Zhu Youzhen's first reaction was to think about the safety of his imperial brother, and Cao Huachun also hurriedly responded, and then arranged for a fast horse to run around the Yanshan camp.

The topic of the list of cabinet ministers that was originally going to be talked about was also interrupted, and Zhu You ordered the inspectors to move the tables and chairs to the open-air square, and sat under the canopy to rest.

During this period, Cao Wenzhao, Sun Shoufa and others came one after another, and after seeing that Zhu Youzhen was unhindered, they reported that the military camp was unhindered, and then continued to defend him.

There were several earthquakes in the middle, which made Zhu Youzhen, who experienced the earthquake for the first time, look a little unsightly.

He was worried about Zhu Youxiao, but the Ti Cavalry sent out did not return until the sky was slightly dark, and the Ti Cavalry sent by the expatriate did not come back one after another.

"Returning to His Royal Highness, the earth dragon turned over in the area of Luanzhou, the capital division, Jizhou, Yongping, Shanhaiguan and other places also broke out, and the earth dragon shook and damaged the city, Lushe is not counted, the capital is unhindered, long live is unhindered."

When the news of Tiqi's return came out, Zhu Youzhen breathed a sigh of relief, and then ordered Sun Shoufa and Cao Wenzhao:

"There will be a follow-up after the earth dragon turns over, and the army has been ordered to be vigilant in the past few days, once the earth dragon appears again, everyone will go to the school to take refuge."

"Yes!" Sun Shoufa and Cao Wenzhao responded, and Zhu Youzhen was also frightened by the earthquake.

He ordered someone to set up a tent in the open space, and he was not going to return to the house to sleep in a short time, after all, he didn't know if this earthquake would cause another aftershock on Yanshan's side. @精华\/Shuge Error-free Debut~~

Such days lasted for four days, and it was not until the third day of the first month of March that there were no more aftershocks felt on the Yanshan side, but the earthquake continued in the Luanzhou area.

In this regard, Zhu Youzhen could only send his troops to the disaster area to provide relief after the situation was a little safer, and the news of the earthquake was also collected by Jinyiwei and sent to Zhu Youzhen.

[The Luanzhou earthquake on February 30 caused countless bad houses, and the ground cracked and gushed with foreign bodies. Leting old shop village, the ground cracks and gushes black water, more than a foot high. The sound of relocation was like a huge thunder, and countless houses were destroyed in the city walls. Lu Long shook down many official and civilian houses. 】

[At noon on February 30, the palace in the capital shook with sound, and the water of the copper cylinder shook. 】

[By the second day of the first month of March, Jingshi was shocked three times. The big city was shaken, the roof tiles were shaken, and they didn't dare to sleep at night, and there were many street sleepers. Changli, Xin'an, Zhendingfu, Jizhou, Zunhua, Yutian, Hejianfu, Baodingfu, Tianjin Sanwei, and more than 20 prefectures and counties in Shandong Linyi, Deping, Haifeng, Wuding Prefecture and other counties in the east were all earthquaked, killing and injuring nearly 1,000 people......]

"......" Looking at the documents in his hand, Zhu Youzhen's face was a little ugly.

In terms of the power and scale of this earthquake, it is at least above level 6, and such an earthquake will inevitably be used by people with intentions to make a fuss about it when it breaks out in the capital.

No. (This chapter is not finished!) )

Chapter 232: Preparing for the Set

This is only political, and Zhu Youjian is more concerned about whether the frequent earthquakes represent the early arrival of the Xiaoice River drought.

All his preparations were to meet the Xiaoice River drought in the seventh year of the Apocalypse, and if the drought came early, although the current size of Daming could survive, the famine was enough to take away tens of millions of people.

Therefore, after the earthquake was completely over, he ordered the northern and southern towns to start collecting drought matters in various parts of the world, and for the so-called cabinet list, he only gave the names of Zhu Xieyuan and Bi Ziyan.

When Cao Huachun returned to the capital with the name given by Zhu Youzhen, Zhu Youxiao immediately promoted these two to cabinet ministers, and also promoted Wei Guangwei and Feng Quan of the eunuch party to cabinet ministers.

As a result, the cabinet personnel of the four years of the Apocalypse have formed a situation in which Ye Xianggao, Gu Bingqian, Sun Chengzong, Bi Ziyan, Zhu Xieyuan, Wei Guanghui, Feng Quan, and other seven people belong to several different camps.

Among them, Gu Bingqian naturally firmly hugged Zhu Youzhen's thighs, and Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan, who were recommended by him, although they also have a party, they are actually the same as no party.

Zhu Youzhen doesn't care who the cabinet seat is, as long as he can do things, it's enough not to hold him back.

Especially now......

The replacement of cabinet ministers caused a lot of shock in the court, especially the ascension of Wei Guangwei and Feng Quan.

Donglin officials thought that it would be Han Yi who would take the position this time, but they didn't want these two people to touch a benefit, so many Donglin Wenchen began to continue to put pressure on the eunuch officials.

On March 24, when the capital was in turmoil, Zhu Youzhen received 5 million taels of silver and 8 million stone grains from the six ministries and five temples and the inner treasury.

It's just that although this money and food looks like a lot, it is a drop in the bucket for the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies.

Zhu Youzhen, who got the money and grain, didn't have time to look at them, so he got the news that Man Gui had returned from recruiting troops from the grassland.

He led people out of the Yanshan camp and greeted Man Gui in Xuanfeng Tower.

Just after noon, 20,000 or 30,000 horses appeared in the distance, and Zhu Youzhen picked up clairvoyance to watch, most of them were old and weak women and children.

"Your Highness, it seems that the Mandu Governor didn't raise many soldiers and horses when he went to the grassland this time."

Cao Wenzhao put down his clairvoyance and opened his mouth to Zhu Youzhen next to him, and Zhu Youzhen also bowed slightly when he heard this: "There should be two battalions." ”

While he said this, three thousand cavalry rushed out of the crowd and rushed towards the Xuanfeng Tower, while Man Gui was leading the way in front of the team.

After a cup of tea, Man Gui arrived on his horse and turned over and dismounted to salute:

"Your Highness, this time in the grassland, the last general from Karaqin and the barbarians each raised a battalion of iron cavalry, this uncle and fried flowers are not very reluctant, otherwise according to our military salary, we can raise more."

Man Gui's words were full of dissatisfaction with Bo Huang and fried flowers, and Zhu Youzhen also bowed his head slightly when he heard this:

"It's normal to be dissatisfied, although they don't have the armor to equip these men, but it's better to have men in the tribe than nothing."

"Forced recruitment will only make them unhappy."

"They dare!" Sun Shoufa glared and said, "If you don't listen to Your Highness's military orders, you will send troops and horses to pacify them." ”

Sun Shoufa's words were also the voices of the surrounding generals, after all, after the Battle of Fuliao, the cooperation between the Ming army soared.

Liaodong can also be said to have too little population to sustain a large army out of the fortress, but Beizhili does not have this concern.

As long as the silver and food were given, a large number of men would take the initiative to sign up to transport food for the Ming army.

The cavalry of the Ming army easily attacked the Karaqin and Tuban at the door of their homes.

"Okay, there's no time to clean them up now, let's settle the matter of the Hetao first."

As soon as Zhu Youzhen opened his mouth, all the generals closed their mouths, and when he saw that the generals shut up, he also said to Man Gui:

"More than 6,000 soldiers and horses in the two battalions are already good, and with their joining, this reunion will be a lot easier."

"It just so happened that the money and grain also arrived this morning, you rest for three days, and after three days, take Daning Sanwei and these two battalions of soldiers and horses to Shaanxi, as for the family rolls of these two battalions of soldiers and horses, you can temporarily send them to Datong to rest and recuperate, and give them pastures after the recovery of Liao."

"The last general commands!" Man Gui happily responded, and Zhu Youzhen also signaled them to follow, and then drove his horse back to the Imperial Horse Prison.

。 (This chapter is not finished!) )

Chapter 232: Preparing for the Set

Seeing this, Man Gui turned on his horse and followed with many generals, and Sun Shoufa and Cao Wenzhao were the same.

A group of more than ten people went to the Imperial Horse Prison, and arrived a quarter of an hour later, and they all turned over and dismounted and entered the inside of the yamen.

After coming to the hall, Zhu Youzhen ordered the sand table to be lifted up and motioned for everyone to sit down.

He himself sat down on the throne before he spoke:

"As for the reset, now that we have the money and grain allocation from the imperial court, it seems that we don't have to wait until after the autumn harvest next year, but only wait for the spring of next year to carry it out."

"However, if you want to repeat it, the first thing is to prepare well, especially to clarify the Shaanxi Army's tuntian and herd offices."

"The 16 million acres of land in the herdsmen of Taifu Temple must be recovered from Haoqiang before the autumn harvest, and there are those who dare to obstruct it...... All slashed! ”

"In addition, there is no need to hide the news, it is best to let the Hetao and Ningxia departments know that my Daming Iron Cavalry is about to sweep the set."

"If the army wants to sweep the set, the people are necessary, how to sweep the soldiers and horses this time, where to get out of the set, and how many people are needed, I have prepared this in these days."

While Zhu Youzhen was saying this, the sand table with a length and width of one foot was carried into the hall, and Zhu Youzhen stood up.

Seeing him stand up, all the generals followed suit, and Zhu Youzhen took his pear blossom wood from Cao Wenzhao's hand, and pointed to the sand table and said:

"The army has five outlets, the first is to take the Yaotou Guan Fort in Taiyuan, Shanxi, with about 20,000 foot soldiers, along the Yellow River out of the fortress, sweeping the north captives of the Hetao on the south bank of the Yellow River."

"The second exit is to go to Yansui Town, Shaanxi Province to send troops, more than 10,000 cavalry out of the fortress, more than 10,000 foot soldiers to cover the people to keep up, the army went straight into the red salt pond, cut off the salt of the Hetao."

"The third exit is the Zhenyuan Pass in Ningxia, but the soldiers and horses are divided into two branches, one crosses the Yellow River, and sweeps the northern captives along the north and south of the Dusitu River, with more than 10,000 cavalry and more than 10,000 foot soldiers to cover the people."

"The second is to stand still, wait for news, observe the whereabouts of the Tumut Division, once Tumot's Su Bao leads the troops south to support, immediately put the back set down for me, and the horse infantry can be more than 10,000. @精华\/Shuge*First Update~~"

"As for the fourth exit, go out of the fortress, go to the town and guard out of the fortress, and the two armies and horses will each have more than 10,000 cavalry, and they will surprise Juyanhai and Baitinghai respectively."

"At the last fifth outlet, more than 10,000 horses and infantry marched north along the Zhangye River."

Speaking of this, Zhu Youzhen paused, but continued:

"In addition, my army also needs to garrison a soldier to kill the tiger's mouth in Datong, once the Su bag moves, 30,000 troops will go straight to the city and recover the front set."

"In short, after this battle is over, I want the iron cavalry of the Ming Dynasty to garrison Yinshan, so that the northern captives can wander away from the north of Yinshan!"

Zhu Youzhen's plan to send troops was very ambitious, with 40,000 cavalry alone, 20,000 horse infantry, and 40,000 foot soldiers, totaling 130,000 troops.

The 130,000 army swept the north, which can be said to have given enough face to Ningxia and Hetao, after all, the men of the two departments together did not exceed 100,000.

However, this kind of face-saving is enough to show how determined Zhu Youzhen is to recover the Hetao.

He showed his determination, and after that he made a statement of his republicanism, it was time to reclaim the Loop.

pointed to the front and back sets with pear blossom wood, as well as Zhu Youzhen from Baitinghai, Juyanhai and other places, and continued:

"After the army regained the Hetao, all the soldiers and horses took the men to build cities in these places, and built cities along the rivers."

"The orphan meeting ordered Xu Guangqi, the political envoy of Shaanxi, to move the people of northern Shaanxi to the front and back sets, and to move the people of Longyou to Juyanhai and Baitinghai."

"The number of registered people in Longyou and northern Shaanxi is more than 600,000 recorded in the yellow book, but the actual number should reach one million."

"Therefore, once the war starts, there will be a steady stream of food from the provinces to the front."

"How much grain can be left depends on the time of the war."

"Gu is ready to allocate 18 million stone grains, and the 130,000 army needs at least 400,000 people."

"Every month of this war is fought, millions of stone of grain are consumed, so it must be resolved quickly."

"As for the recruitment of the people's husband, a notice can be issued half a year in advance, and those who are willing to join the army as a civil husband will receive a tael of silver a month, and after laying the Hetao, they can move their families to the Hetao, and the grain and straw cultivated during the three years will be borne by the imperial court."

。 (This chapter is not finished!) )

Chapter 232: Preparing for the Set

Zhu Youjian put down a lot of capital, and the sum of various conditions represented the grain expenditure for laying the Hetao and the next three years, which would not be less than 50 million stones.

This is equivalent to saying that the land endowment of the Ming Dynasty was exchanged for the migration of the people in northern Shaanxi.

If such a move is known to Zhu Youxiao and others, I am afraid they will frown, but only Zhu Youzhen knows how cost-effective it is to use 50 million stone grain to quell the rebellion in northern Shaanxi.

"Your Highness, if you want to send troops like this, then the cavalry must be one man and three horses, but ......"

Man Gui wanted to speak and stopped, that is, the cavalry in the northwest could not reach the level of wealth of one man and three horses, and one man and two horses were in the minority.

If the cavalry of the Ming army can have one person and two horses, it will not be impossible to catch up with the Hetao Department that entered the Kou every time.

In this regard, Zhu Youzhen also bowed slightly, and then said:

"From now on, the war horses from Tuman and Karaqin will be sent to the northwest, so don't worry about this."

"Even if you can't have three horses for one person before the war, you can guarantee two horses for one person. @精华\/Shuge*First Update~~"

"As for the main attack, I will personally lead the four cavalry guards to chase and suppress at that time, and you only need to send a large army to take over all places."

Okay, hearing Zhu Youzhen's words, Man Gui knew that this repetition of the First Battle was not so much a sweep of the 130,000 army, but rather a sweep of 20,000 people by Zhu Youzhen, and the remaining 110,000 people just took over the Hetao.

Perhaps, only the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses who conquered Ningxia can let people experience the fun of sweeping the north.

However, everyone didn't dare to say anything to Zhu Youzhen, after all, His Royal Highness the King of Qi had planned many major battles.

"All right, stand down."

Zhu Youzhen waved his hand and motioned for the generals to retreat, and the generals also withdrew one after another when they heard the words.

After everyone left, Zhu Youzhen asked the Jinyi Wei Qianhu at the door:

"How's going on in the Southwest? Is there still an invasion in Annan? ”

"Back to His Highness, Mu Zeng is still waiting for His Highness's reply, Governor Hong has changed the entire territory of Guizhou to the stream, and left four battalions of soldiers to garrison Guizhou, and arrived in Kunming with five battalions of soldiers and horses."

"Right now, in Yunnan, plus the recruitment of General Ma during this period, there are a total of 12 battalions of soldiers and horses in the Governor's Mansion of our five armies......"

"As for Annan, he has not invaded again during this time." Qianhu replied honestly, and Zhu Youzhen also said to the other party after hearing the other party's words, after thinking about it carefully:

"Send someone to send a message to Hong Chengchou and ask him to draw up a march map for the Tusi of the southwest of Ping."

"In addition, I will send someone to inform Ma Xianglin that he is going to accept the soldiers and horses of the Mu clan in Lijiang, and let him personally tell Mu Zeng that the future Duo Gancheng announced that the political envoy of the political secretary is his."

Zhu Youzhen has already seen Mu Zeng's letter and requirements, and in the final analysis, Mu Zeng's requirements are not difficult to meet.

It is extremely difficult to mine gold and silver in the Duogan area, and Mu Zeng is willing to hand over 20% as a tribute, which is not harmful to Zhu Youzhen.

Xu Duo Gancheng announced the position of political envoy, and he could get more than 30,000 soldiers and horses from the Mu family, and this transaction was not a loss.

However, after Mu Zeng handed over his troops and horses, I am afraid that Mu Changzuo and Mu Qiyuan, who have been holding on, will directly admit it.

As long as the Mu clan is soft, some small toasts with few troops can only accept the Ming Dynasty's land change and return to the stream, as for the remaining big toasts who still want to resist stubbornly......

These people, Hong Chengchou, will clean up for Zhu Youzhen.

Chapter 232: Preparing for the Set