Late at night, in the city of Beijing.

Inside the Zhengyang Gate, on the chessboard street, a seemingly simple thick velvet sedan chair is marching in the cold wind, and the sedan chair drivers are wearing bulging bags, just to resist the biting cold wind of the early winter in Beijing.

Qipan Street is located on the central axis of Beijing, on both sides of the street is the folk commonly known as the "Five Mansions and Six Departments", the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Punishment, as well as the Yamen such as Qintianjian, Honglu Temple, Dali Temple, etc., are basically concentrated around the Qipan Street.

The mansions of many high-ranking officials in the court are also close to Qipan Street, which is convenient for official business and face saints to enter the palace, and it is also convenient for them to communicate with each other.

At this time, the sedan chair drivers carried the sedan chair steadily, from the chessboard street to the east to the household street, and then from the household street to the Dongjiang rice lane, and finally stopped in front of a vermilion gate, and the vermilion gate above, is a plaque made of mahogany, written with two gold lacquer characters of the Zhou Mansion.

The sedan chair man steadily fell off the sedan chair and pressed the sedan chair, and one person opened the sedan chair curtain respectfully, only to see Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the military department, stepping off the sedan chair, holding a delicate copper hand stove with both hands, and wearing a silk embroidered da, which was both warm and gorgeous.

Chen Xinjia looked at the night sky, at this time, there were dark clouds in the sky, the moon was dark and the stars were haloing, and there were cold winds on the streets and alleys, just like Chen Xinjia's mood, cold and biting.

"Go call the door!"

"Yes."

The palanquin man knocked on the vermilion door and handed Chen Xinjia's name to the porter, and after a while, the door was wide open, and a gorgeously dressed man came out with a smile and said, "This soldier is visiting late at night, and he must have something important to find my father." ”

This man is Zhou Yanru's son Zhou Yiming, who has been Chongzhen for fifteen years.

This person is also a famous traitor in history, since the Qing army entered the customs, he took the initiative to surrender to the Tartars, and also participated in the imperial examination of the Tartars, in the six years of Shunzhi in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, he was admitted to the Jinshi, and later the official was promoted to Jianchang.

Zhou Yiming welcomed Chen Xinjia in with a smile, Chen Xinjia said with a smile: "I was disturbed late at night, I don't know if Zhou Ge Lao has fallen asleep?" ”

"Hehe, not yet, I'm reading a book in the warm pavilion."

Zhou Yiming led Chen Xinjia along the corridor to the inner house, and said, "Please go here for this soldier, and the little nephew will prepare some supper for this soldier later." ”

"Hehe, you're welcome."

After a while, Chen Xinjia walked into the warm pavilion, a warm heat wave came to his face, Chen Xinjia suddenly exhaled a cold breath, withdrew the big hat he was wearing, and handed it to the maid on the side.

Chen Xinjia rubbed his hands and said with a smile: "Elder Ge is really tired, it's so late, and he's still busy with government affairs." ”

Zhou Yanru smiled and waved his hand, let Chen Xinjia sit next to him, and said: "This soldier is hard, and at night, he is still tired from running around in the cold wind. ”

"Hehe, since it's late at night, then I won't go around the bend and talk about things directly, so that the elder can rest earlier."

Zhou Yanru put down the book in his hand, leaned on the pillow behind him, and said, "If the old man guessed correctly, this soldier should be here for Liu Yan's affairs, right?" ”

Chen Xinjia nodded and said, "Elder Ge also heard about it?" ”

"Yes, in the past few days, it has spread throughout the capital and beyond. General Liu was furious, and it was said that he had ordered all battalions of the new army to stand still, and made up his mind not to go north to Beijing. ”

Chen Xinjia smiled bitterly: "Elder Ge also knows, now there is no silver in the treasury."

Son, there were thousands of casualties in Liu Yan's army, those were all first-class elites, and the pension money and grain cost at least 100,000 taels of silver, and the silver in the treasury was all supplied to the Jinzhou war, so he couldn't take out this silver at all. ”

"Let's talk about Liu Yan's reward, he is already the chief military officer of the seal, and he has also been named an earl, and now he is unsealable, do you want Liu Yan to be promoted to the governor of Shandong and take Lu Xiangsheng's position?"

Zhou Yanru looked at Chen Xinjia, who was complaining about the bitter water, with a look of hating iron but not steel, and said: "This soldier is simple to think, Liu Yan is the most capable general in the national dynasty now, and this soldier should hold him, this reward is indeed a little biased." Even if he is promoted to the governor of Shandong, according to the calculation of merit, Liu Yan is also qualified. ”

Chen Xinjia nodded with a smile, but he had already scolded in his heart: "At that time, when the court meeting, wasn't it, you, the head of the cabinet, took the lead in opposing the heavy reward of Liu Yan, thinking that Liu Yan was just a martial artist from a military family, and being a chief military officer was already at the end of the day, so it was better to give more silver." thinks that when Liu Yan sees the silver, his heart will be satisfied. Now come to teach me a lesson, do you want me to carry this black cauldron alone? ”

Chen Xinjia said: "Ge Lao, now the news has been flying all over the sky, Liaodong is in urgent need of reinforcements, the Tartars are about to retreat, as long as Liu Yan leads his troops to kill, he will definitely be able to hit the slaves and thieves hard, it will be another great victory, what kind of status will you and I have in Your Majesty's hearts!" ”

"Didn't the soldiers just say that there is no money and food in the treasury, Liu Yan's new army is tens of thousands, and they have traveled thousands of miles to Liaodong, how to solve the supply problem?"

"Hehe, you can supply it along the way

。 ”

Zhou Yanru smiled and said: "Old man, let's forget it, even if Liu Yan leads his troops to come, there will be no money and food along the way, and those arrogant soldiers and fierce generals will escape halfway, and you and I will not be able to get out of it." ”

Chen Xinjia sighed and said, "What does Elder Ge mean that Liaodong will no longer send troops to support?" ”

"Well, since the slave thief has signs of retreating, and the saint intends to negotiate peace, then the soldier ......"

Chen Xinjia stood up suddenly, and said with a wry smile: "Elder Ge, don't scare me anymore, you can't talk about this peace discussion, otherwise those imperial historians in the court won't tear me apart." ”

"Hehe, this soldier is serious."

Zhou Yanru thought for a moment and said, "The old man already knows the current difficulties of this soldier. The old man thought that he should appease Liu Yan first and not cause trouble in vain. Now the thieves in Henan have finally subsided, Gao Mingheng and Chen Yongfu are chasing down the remnants of the enemy, the war in Jinzhou is also expected to end, and the situation in the world is improving, don't let Liu Yan be dissatisfied, another mutiny, it will be a disaster! ”

Chen Xinjia nodded again and again, and said, "What does the elder mean, to add an official to Liu Yan?" ”

"Huh."

Zhou Yanru said: "This soldier will first find a way to raise some silver, send out the casualties of the new army, and appease the soldiers and horses of the new army." As for Liu Yan, I think it's better to let Yan Jizu, the governor of Shandong, appease him. Let Yan Jizu tell Liu Yan that he should lead his troops to rush to Beijing within the time limit, and when the Jinzhou war is over, the imperial court will definitely add officials to him. ”

Chen Xinjia was stunned and asked, "Do you want to recruit Liu Yanbu to go north to Liaodong?" ”

"Ben Bing, you always

That's not going to work. ”

Zhou Yanru said in an old-fashioned manner: "The purpose of recruiting Liu Yan into Beijing is to observe his trip and see if this person is available. If the imperial court has appeased for a long time, and Liu Yan is still arrogant, then what is the use of such a person? Who would dare to use it? ”

"So, let's let Liu Yan come here, Ben Bing, what do you say?"

When Chen Xinjia walked out of the gate of Zhoufu, it was already the second half of the night, and the cold wind at this time was even stronger, Chen Xinjia tightened his head, and after sitting in the sedan chair, his brows were tightly locked, and he sighed from time to time.

"Silver, where can I find it?"

At the same time, in Zhou Yanru's warm pavilion, Zhou Yiming pushed the door and walked in, and said, "Father, what is the important matter about Chen Xinjia in the middle of the night?" ”

"It's not for Liu Yan's business."

"Oh, I forgot so, this time has been a lot of trouble in the capital."

Zhou Yiming sat next to Zhou Yanru and said: "That Chen Xinjia is also a hard life, and it is not easy to have such a fierce general as Liu Yan, who constantly adds credit to him as the secretary of the military department, but he is so unruly. ”

"Huh!"

Zhou Yanru said: "I can't say that, after all, Liu Yan beheaded more than 200,000 thieves, and his official position remained unchanged, which is indeed unreasonable, and it is normal for people to have resentment in their hearts." ”

"The father is noble, and the child admires."

"You have to keep a low profile these days, just see if Chen Xinjia can stabilize Liu Yan, if something really goes wrong because of the reward, the old man will clean up the mess."

"Yes."

Zhou Yiming said with a smile: "Today's imperial court still needs my father to be in charge, and the saint still has to rely on my father to maintain the situation." ”

"Huh."

Zhou Yanru smiled, but

Still waved his hand and said: "In this case, don't say it when you go out." Although the father is the head of the hundred officials, he can't stand the reputation of those imperial historians in the court, and he wants to use the old man as a ladder to the sky. ”

"Yes, the kid remembers."

A few days later, Chen Xinjia exhausted all means to raise more than 200,000 taels of silver from various places as the pension silver of the new army, and sent the Beijing battalion soldiers and horses to escort them to the capital of Jinan.

Hearing the news, Zhou Yanru also breathed a sigh of relief, and set up a banquet in the warm pavilion, four plates of side dishes, and a pot of hot rice wine.

After Chen Xinjia saw off the carriage and horse escorting the pension money, he hurried to the Zhou Mansion.

"Hehe, this soldier is really a godminister, he has raised more than 200,000 taels of silver in these few days, and Liu Zongbing must be in a good mood when he receives the silver."

Chen Xinjia knew that he was suffering, and said: "Don't make fun of me, the elder of the pavilion, this money was also collected by asking for all the yamen." ”

"Well, this soldier is capable and well-known, but is the money and food in Jinzhou still enough?"

"I'm also about to talk to the elder about this."

Chen Xinjia said: "The war in Jinzhou can no longer be delayed, the money and grain in the treasury can be supported for more than two months at most, and if it drags on any longer, the money and food of the army will be cut off." So ......"

Zhou Yanru was also secretly surprised at this time, and said: "So this soldier wants to urge Hongdu to fight a decisive battle with the slave thief?" ”

"Exactly!"

"Alas!"

Zhou Yanru was entangled for a while and said, "If there is a decisive battle, what are the odds of winning?" ”

Chen Xinjia said confidently: "Now that the slave thief has been discharged, there should be a sixty percent chance of winning the decisive battle at this time!" ”

"It's only sixty percent?"

Zhou Yanru said: "This soldier should know that the battle in Jinzhou was lost

Defeat means something, so you must be cautious in everything, and you must not be Meng Lang. ”

"The old man doesn't know about soldiers, so don't ask about this matter, it's all up to the soldiers!"

Chen Xinjia was dumbfounded, Zhou Yanru hid!

"It's just this, this ......"

"This soldier has something to say."

"The saint still seems to have doubts, Liu Yan insisted that he should not fight quickly, and the saint ...... there"

Zhou Yanru said with a smile: "Okay, then the old man will go to the palace and say a few words for the soldiers." ”

"Hehe, then thank you."

On the same day, Zhou Yanru entered the palace to face the saint, and Emperor Chongzhen saw that Zhou Yanru was very friendly and ordered the king to give him a seat.

"Hehe, Your Majesty."

Then Zhou Yanru led the topic to the battle of Jinzhou, and Emperor Chongzhen looked worried at this time and asked: "Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the military department, told me these days that the war in Jinzhou should be fought with the enemy?" This matter is related to the fate of the country, what is the opinion of the elder of the pavilion, but it doesn't matter. ”

Zhou Yanru said at this time: "Your Majesty, I heard that when the army went out, Your Majesty had summoned the commanders of various towns, among which Liu Yan, the chief soldier of Qinglai Town, once suggested: Our officers and troops should rely on Jinzhou and other cities and defense lines step by step, and must not rush into a decisive battle with the Tartars, so as not to be raided by the Tartars in the rear. ”

"Now Chen Xinjia is just because of lack of money and food, so he wants to push the soldiers of the army outside Jinzhou City to fight a decisive battle in a hurry, this is the heart of the country, Your Majesty must not ignore it!"

Emperor Chongzhen frowned when he heard this, and after a long time, he said: "Since the elder Ge also has this opinion, then the war in Jinzhou should not be rushed, and it is better to recruit Liu Yanbu into Beijing first and then discuss it." ”

"Your Majesty Shengming!"

After Zhou Yanru came out of the palace, he sat down

The thick sedan chair, as the sedan chair slowly lifted, Zhou Yanru's face showed a sneer: "Hmph, Chen Xinjia has been a secretary of the military department for a long time, and he still wants to enter the cabinet, it's really wishful thinking, now the old man will see how you take it!" ”