Since Chongzhen succeeded to the throne, the peasant uprisings within the Ming Dynasty have not stopped, and they have become more and more serious. It has gradually developed from attacking the county town to attacking the big city.

The provinces of the Central Plains were in a mess, and the taxes of the imperial court could not be collected at all.

Even Fengyang, the central capital, was captured by thieves twice.

After defeating Wei Zhongxian, the White Lotus Sect, the peasant army, and the Haikou joined forces to wreak havoc, making Chongzhen breathless at all.

He has not slacked off since he succeeded to the throne, only sleeps 2 hours a day, and has never been absent from the morning dynasty, but Daming is getting worse and worse.

Now that the ancestors have finally blessed him, Hong Chengchou captured the thief Gao Yingxiang and annihilated the main force of the thief!

Chongzhen hurriedly went to Taimiao to worship the emperors of the Ming Dynasty and told them the good news!

After Chongzhen, Hong Chengchou was crowned as the prince and the secretary of the military department, rewarded 30,000 taels of silver, 10,000 horses of silk, a mansion of the Beijing master, and gave the hereditary brocade clothes to guard thousands of households (descendants of the shadow).

It can be said that in addition to not being knighted, Hong Chengchou was given great glory.

Many generals who participated in the Chuzhou War were also rewarded, and He Renlong was awarded the Zuo Governor of the Governor's Mansion of the Chinese Army, and commanded the Yulin Battalion, with a reward of 10,000 taels of silver and 3,000 horses of silk.

Yang Wenyue, Liu Zhaoji, Lu Weiqi and others were also crowned accordingly, and Chen Yongfu was promoted to the chief soldier of Kaifeng.

Liu Taigong, the governor of Chuzhou who adhered to the martyrdom of Chuzhou City, was posthumously named the servant of the Ministry of Officials, and Emperor Chongzhen personally drew up the nickname "Wenzhong" for him, and passed a son from his brother under the name of Liu Taigong, hereditary brocade clothes and hundreds of households.

He also ordered the household department to implement the bereavement pension for the fallen soldiers as soon as possible.

Chongzhen also allocated 200,000 taels of silver from his own internal funds for the first time, and gave double monthly salaries to the soldiers who participated in the Chuzhou War!

It can be seen that Chongzhen is really happy.

Zhou Yanru, the first assistant of the cabinet, added the young master and the crown prince, changed the secretary of the ministry, and entered the Jianji Temple University Scholar.

Feng Quan, the secretary of the military department, was crowned the crown prince and Taibao, and entered the clerk's pavilion as a scholar.

On April 23, the thief Gao Yingxiang was escorted to Jingshi, and Emperor Chongzhen sentenced him to Ling Chi!

Chen Qiyu, the premier of the five provinces, was stimulated by Hong Chengchou and began to actively exterminate the peasant armies in Shaanxi and Shanxi.

He set up an ambush in Huayin and defeated "Cao Cao" Luo Rucai, who fled to Hanzhong with only a few dozen horsemen.

Then Chen Qiyu ordered the border army of Xuanda to go south, and broke the fifth battalion of the Zuoge led by Ma Shouying in the Gujishan area in the northwest of Fenzhou, Shanxi.

Ma Shouying was killed in battle, most of his men were annihilated, and only a few men fled to Mopan Mountain to the north.

So far, the peasant army, which has been plagued in the north for three years, has been wiped out by the imperial court.

At this time, Li Zicheng also led his troops to abandon Fengyang, and after sacking Huoqiu County, he retreated to Dabie Mountain to join the rest of Zhang Xianzhong.

Dabie Mountain is located at the junction of Nanzhili, Hubei and Henan provinces, connecting Tongbai Mountain in the west, Yanhuo Mountain (also known as Wanshan Mountain) and Zhangbaling in the east, stretching about 750 miles from east to west, and about 350 miles wide from north to south.

This is the famous "three regardless" area, which has always been rampant with bandits.

Although Hong Chengchou was unwilling to let go of these thieves, in the face of the vast mountains, his little strength was not enough to encircle and suppress.

And they couldn't even touch the thieves.

After his main force entered the mountains, except for encountering small-scale thieves, he couldn't touch the main force of thieves at all.

Just as Hong Chengchou was about to continue to send troops to sweep Dabie Mountain, His Majesty's holy decree came.

Let Hong Chengchou quickly lead the Yulin Battalion to return to Beijing within 30 days.

Dabie Mountain, where Hong Chengchou is located, is 1,700 miles away from Beijing, and he has to carry out sixty miles a day, which is not light.

The decree is not explicitly stated, but there must have been a major change in the Kyoshi.

In desperation, Hong Chengchou had to lead the cavalry to return to Beijing first, let He Renlong lead the infantry to follow, and stipulated that the daily march should not be less than 60 li.

Hong Chengchou was worried that something would happen to the Beijing Division, so he ordered the cavalry of the 10,000 Yulin Battalion to travel day and night, and it took only ten days to arrive at the Beijing Division.

Seeing that Jingshi was not under martial law, Hong Chengchou's hanging heart finally landed.

Although he is now regarded as a powerful faction with heavy troops, he has always been in the local area before, and Hong Chengchou does not have any connections in Beijing at all.

If Chongzhen hadn't rewarded him with a mansion in Beijing, he wouldn't even have a place to stay.

However, this does not mean that no one cares about him, Hong Chengchou has just stepped into the mansion on the front foot, and Zhou Yanru, the first assistant to the cabinet on the back foot, invited him to the cabinet.

In addition to the first assistant Zhou Yanru, Feng Quan, the secretary of the military department, is also there.

Hong Chengchou said: "I have seen the two elders, I don't know that Your Majesty is so anxious to ask Hong to return to the teacher, but there has been a major change in Beijing? ”

Zhou Yanru said helplessly: "There is indeed a big incident in Beijing, according to Your Majesty's temperament, I am afraid that I will summon you directly tomorrow, so this pavilion thinks it is better to let you know the situation in advance, so as not to be caught off guard tomorrow!" ”

Then he glanced at Feng Quan and said, "Let's let the head of Feng Ge come and tell you about it." ”

Feng Quan said: "Nuergan Du Sidu commanded Tongzhi Yuan Chonghuan to enter Beijing to secretly accuse Li Xianzhong, the Duke of Liao, of rebellion, Your Majesty is very angry, this time Governor Hong is urgently recalled to Beijing, I'm afraid I want to hear Ling's opinion?" ”

This matter is really too big, in fact, now Li Xianzhong's Liaodong Town is equivalent to a feudal town.

The Liaodong Imperial Court couldn't intervene at all, everyone already knew, but after all, the two sides didn't tear their faces!

This Yuan Chonghuan is looking for trouble!

He said: "The Duke of Liao has always said the same thing in Liaodong, and it is inevitable that people will be misunderstood and there will be trespassing, and the impeachment in the imperial history of the court is not once or twice. What did Yuan Chonghuan say this time to make His Majesty so angry? ”

Feng Quan said: "This Yuan Chonghuan really dares to say that he said that the Duke of Liao colluded with Haikou Zheng Zhilong, and Zheng Zhilong's East Ryukyu Company was done by the two of them. ”

Feng Quan's words were true and scared Hong Chengchou, if what he said was true, then wouldn't it be said that Li Xianzhong sent troops to occupy the two mansions of Denglai?

What a proper rebellion!

However, there is no way to prove this kind of thing, after all, Li Xianzhong and Zheng Zhilong will not admit it, unless there is an important person in Denglai who has attacked Denglai this time.

Hong Chengchou said: "I don't know if the two elders think this matter is true or false? ”

Feng Quan thought to himself, you Hong Chengchou, we let you know the situation, and you reversed our words.

The people who can get into the cabinet are all human spirits, how can he easily express his position?

Although Feng Quan is a person from the Intelligence Department, he is also unaware of this matter.

However, with his understanding of Li Xianzhong, this matter may be true.

In the whole world, apart from Li Xianzhong, the Duke of Liao, who has the financial resources to build such a huge fleet?

The last time pirates occupied the state capital was when the pirates were rampant, but at that time, the pirates only grabbed a handful and ran, and they did not occupy the state capital for a long time.

There is no shortage of smart people in the court of the Ming Dynasty, and it is not that Li Xianzhong is secretive, but no one is willing to pierce this layer of window paper.

When Li Xianzhong didn't grow big in Liaodong before, there were people in the court who participated in him every day.

But now Liaodong has really become a feudal town, but no one says it.

The emperor has acquiesced, wouldn't it be unpleasant for you to mention this stubble again?

If the imperial court has the ability to raise Liaodong, will Li Xianzhong be allowed to raise Liao with Liao?

As long as he, Li Xianzhong, did not openly rebel, basically no one would talk about Liaodong.

Only a political speculator like Yuan Chonghuan, who is far away from the center of the imperial court and is anxious to ascend to the throne, will directly stab this kind of thing directly to His Majesty.

He was happy, but now the problem was in front of the cabinet.

Feng Quan said: "Yuan Chonghuan reported to His Majesty alone, and I only know a rough idea with Zhou Ge Lao. ”

"But next Your Majesty is likely to use troops, but I don't know whether to use troops to Shandong or Liaodong?"

"Originally, these things should not have been revealed to Governor Hong in advance, but I and Zhou Ge Lao still hope that Governor Hong can be prepared!"

Hong Chengchou immediately thanked the two, and then returned to the mansion.

Feng Quan didn't seem to take a stand, but in fact, he and Zhou Yanru had clearly told Hong Chengchou that the cabinet did not want to use troops against Liaodong.

I hope Hong Chengchou can persuade His Majesty.

If they don't want to stop this from happening, there's no need to do anything else and tell themselves about it.

Sure enough, the next day, Chongzhen summoned Hong Chengchou to the Qianqing Palace.

At this time, Yuan Chonghuan was already here.

Yuan Chonghuan was originally in Ningyuan as a soldier, although he belonged to Liaodong, but he was not Li Xianzhong's descendant, after all, Ningyuan belonged to Liaoxi.

And because the Tartars have been exterminated by Li Xianzhong, Yuan Chonghuan has no chance of promotion at all.

It happened that the imperial court was afraid of Liaodong at that time, so Li Xianzhong took the initiative to ask for the dismissal of Ningyuan.

It seems that he is reducing his own strength, so that the court can rest assured; In fact, he took the opportunity to exclude dissidents and drive his side out of Liaodong.

Yuan Chonghuan became such a victim.

Li Xianzhong, the Duke of Liao, was powerful in Liaodong, and Yuan Chonghuan naturally wanted to tie up.

At that time, Li Xianzhong asked the imperial court to reinstate the Nuergandu Division, so Yuan Chonghuan took the initiative to apply to take up the post.

Although he also got his wish, he was promoted to the position of commander of the capital of Nuergandu.

In the next few years, Yuan Chonghuan also worked hard to do his job well.

They built the port and then built the city of Vladivostok near the port as the seat of Nurgandus.

Then he canonized the leaders of some surrounding tribes in the name of Daming, and asked them to pay tribute to Daming, although it was only a few deerskin bear skins, but it also demonstrated Daming's rule over the Heilongjiang River Valley!

For several years, they followed the Ussuri River all the way north and built a temple street at its confluence with the Heilongjiang River; Then continue north to build Boli near the mouth of the sea north of the Ussuri River.

Then he landed on Sakhalin Island, and built the city of Sakhalin in the south of it.

In the end, they marched all the way west from Heilongjiang, and built Aihui City and Yaksa City respectively, completely controlling the vast area of Heilongjiang and Ussuri River basins south of the Outer Xing'an Mountains.

Although the location of these strongholds with the same name was finally finalized by Li Xianzhong.

However, in this icy and snowy place, it is difficult to complete the construction of these 6 strongholds and garrison them.

After doing all this, Yuan Chonghuan thought that he would always be able to get Li Xianzhong's appreciation, but he only got two sentences of praise that didn't hurt, and he didn't even get an official promotion.

Later, Yuan Chonghuan suggested that Nurgandusi was too far away and cold, and hoped that the soldiers there could be rotated.

As a result, Li Xianzhong rotated all the people in the Nuer Gandu Division, but Yuan Chonghuan was not rotated.

He stayed in this ice and snow for nearly 4 years.

"I would have turned my heart to the bright moon, but why should the bright moon shine on the ditch?"

Once, after getting drunk, the commander of the Nuer Gandu Division, Qian Zong, said inadvertently: "The Duke of Liao ordered them to watch themselves, not to allow themselves to run out of the scope of the Nuergandu Division, and not to allow themselves to return to the Ming Dynasty." ”

It turned out that he was taken as a prisoner by Li Xianzhong and exiled here.

He is just a prisoner wearing a three-grade official uniform, and he has to die for him Li Xianzhong.

Vladivostok's only communication with the outside world is the tri-monthly supply ship.

Yuan Chonghuan began to chat with the sailors on the ship, intentionally or unintentionally.

It turned out that they had been to many places, such as Incheon in North Korea, Nagasaki and Kagoshima in Japan, Naha Port in the Ryukyus, and Keelung and Tainan in Taiwan.

Then he learned about the East Ryukyu Company and the big pirate named Zheng Zhilong.

What's even more terrifying is that the real behind-the-scenes boss of this East Ryukyu Company is actually Li Xianzhong, and his annual income through Zheng Zhilong's group of pirates actually exceeds 5 million taels.

The current Joseon king, Kim Zidian, is actually a puppet of Li Xianzhong, who actually controls the port of Tongincheon in Hwanghae-do.

And the Ming Dynasty's vassal Ryukyu has long been occupied by Li Xianzhong, and not only that, he also occupied the island of Taiwan.

Originally, he couldn't figure out why Li Xianzhong imprisoned himself here.

Now he finally has an answer, it turns out that he Li Xianzhong wants to rebel.

Li Xianzhong naturally won't use a loyal person like himself, he will only use those thieves like him.

In the end, the hard work paid off, Yuan Chonghuan used the gold and pearls accumulated over the years to buy off the captain, and then used his incorruptible tongue to persuade them to expose Li Xianzhong's conspiracy.

At that time, he didn't know that Li Xianzhong had already occupied the second mansion of Denglai in the name of Zheng Zhilong.

When he heard about it, he knew his chance had come.

He not only reported all this to Chongzhen, but also told Chongzhen the rumor that Li Xianzhong had secretly hidden the former Yuan jade seal's "treasure of making Hao".

Li Xianzhong has a heart of disobedience, and Chongzhen has long known it.

Li Xianzhong wants to rebel, but I am afraid it may not be groundless.

But these Chongzhen can be patient, after all, Li Xianzhong has not yet torn his face with the imperial court.

But he used Zheng Zhilong's name to directly occupy the second mansion of Denglai, and Chongzhen could no longer sit idly by.

Originally, he thought that Li Xianzhong only relied on the strength of a corner of Liaodong to fight against the imperial court.

With the passage of time, the imperial court will surely gradually reverse its disadvantage to Liaodong.

But if all this Yuan Chonghuan said is true, then Li Xianzhong's territory is more than one Liaodong at all.

He took advantage of the forbidden sea of the imperial court and completely monopolized trade with Korea and Japan.

Liaodong's annual income even exceeded that of the imperial court.

Chongzhen decided that he couldn't bear it anymore, and he had to curb Li Xianzhong's development.

In addition to Yuan Chonghuan, only the first assistant Zhou Yanru and Feng Quan, the secretary of the military department, and Wang Chengen knew these things.

However, the two ministers both believed that these things were mostly rumors, not necessarily true, and probably exaggerated.

Li Xianzhong is known to be good at business, and it is likely that he only cooperated with Zheng Zhilong in trading.

The imperial court is now financially constrained, and the liukou has just subsided, so it is difficult to maintain it if it directly uses large-scale troops and food against Liaodong at this time.

Chongzhen knew that there was another reason they didn't say, that is, the imperial court couldn't beat Liaodong.

The original 80,000 Yulin battalion has lost nearly 20,000 people after a series of battles.

Sun Chengzong also told himself that if he wanted to turn his face with Li Xianzhong, the imperial court would at least train a new-style army like the 150,000 Yulin Battalion.

Even Wang Chengen advised himself to be cautious and not to start a war lightly!

However, Yuan Chonghuan did not see it that way, he thought that although it was difficult for the imperial court, it would be even more difficult if Liaodong was fought.

Although the Liaodong Army is elite, there are not many real elite soldiers, and once these people are consumed, it will be difficult for Liaodong to replenish reliable soldiers in the future.

But the Ming court is different, His Majesty can order the elite from all over the country to participate in the war against Liaodong, so that Li Xianzhong can only be tired of coping, and Liaodong can no longer develop.

But the imperial court was still able to continue to train new troops.

He also proposed to Chongzhen a strategic concept of "five years of peace".

According to Yuan Chonghuan's inference, the elite of Liaodong under Li Xianzhong in the first year may indeed have the upper hand, after all, they are the elite of a hundred battles who have fought for many years.

However, as long as the imperial court continues to invest troops, the two sides will enter a stalemate stage in the second and third years, and they will begin to win and lose each other.

In the fourth and fifth years, Liaodong will not be able to support it with silver, food, and soldiers, and the imperial court will be able to pacify Liaodong at that time!

Chongzhen still admires Yuan Chonghuan's "Five Years of Pingliao".

He saw the strength of Liaodong, but he did not blindly look down on the imperial court, and pointed out that Liaodong could be consumed through a protracted war.

However, although Yuan Chonghuan has served as a soldier and commanded men and horses to develop the Nuergandu Division, he has not led troops to fight after all!

So he still wanted to hear Hong Chengchou's opinion.

After all, he had just commanded the imperial army to "win more with less" and achieved the "Chuzhou Victory", and he was even more loyal to himself.

Although Zhou Yanru had already greeted them in advance yesterday.

But Hong Chengchou was still startled when he heard Li Xianzhong's truth, he never expected that Liaodong's strength was already so strong.

In fact, it is not difficult to confirm the situation in Denglai, the cabinet did not accuse Yuan Chonghuan of nonsense, it seems that many things should have been confirmed.

However, Yuan Chonghuan's "five-year Pingliao" is a scholar's opinion, and strategically speaking, it does have a certain truth.

But fighting a war is not just a matter of paper.

Now that Shanhaiguan and other passes are under the control of the Liaodong Army, how can the imperial court resist the Liaodong Iron Cavalry in the first year?

Will you directly start the "Battle for the Defense of Beijing"?

In case the Jingshi does not hold and His Majesty is unfortunately captured, the Ming Dynasty will be finished directly, where will you give you 5 years?

However, he also saw His Majesty's thoughts, and this battle must be fought.

No wonder Feng Quan said, "It's not the conquest of Liaodong, or the conquest of Shandong."

He said: "Weichen thinks that now that Liaodong is so powerful, the imperial court really wants to restrict it!" ”

"However, the minister thinks that since the Duke of Liao did not directly send troops to Denglai, it means that he still has some scruples."

"Now the imperial court is not ready to conquer Liaodong on a large scale, so it is not appropriate to directly turn against Li Xianzhong."

"After all, Shanhaiguan is in the hands of Li Xianzhong, and if the imperial court directly crusades against Liaodong, it will face pressure from both Shandong and Liaodong. The Jingshi will face the enemy's attack from both sides, and Caoyun will inevitably be cut off by the enemy. ”

"Therefore, Weichen suggested that the troops and horses should be concentrated to recover Denglai first, on the one hand, the imperial court avoided a two-front battle in the future, and on the other hand, it could also test the reality of the Liaodong Army."

Chongzhen was thoughtful after listening to Hong Chengchou's words.

Finally, he said: "According to Aiqing's meaning, since Qing is the governor of the five provinces of the Central Plains, it is naturally his duty to exterminate the bandits in Shandong. ”

"The soldiers and horses of the Central Plains provinces and the Yulin battalion are at the mercy of Aiqing!"

Hong Chengchou knew that he couldn't hide this time, so he said: "Weichen will definitely live up to His Majesty's imperial grace and recover Denglai for the imperial court!" ”

Chongzhen showed a satisfied smile, and then added: "Yuan Chonghuan has always come from Liaodong, and he is very familiar with the situation of thieves, and he also knows about military affairs, so I appointed Yuan Chonghuan as the supervisor of the army, and followed Hong Qing to conquer Denglai!" ”

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(End of chapter)