Chapter 362

If you want to say that Emperor Chongzhen's trust in Cheng Shijie, it is indeed trusted, and even unreserved, especially when Cheng Shijie led the Ning Navy to cross Liaonan and recover Jinzhou and Lushun, even when Haizhou was victorious, Emperor Chongzhen trusted Cheng Shijie very much.

If you want to say that you began to be afraid of Cheng Shijie, it was actually after the occupation of Liaoyang, after the Ning Navy occupied Liaoyang, and Liaoyang was only less than two hundred miles away from Shenyang.

Especially when Cheng Shijie and Zheng Zhilong were fighting, the so-called freezing three feet, not a day's cold, Zheng Zhilong robbed the merchant ships in Liaodong, didn't Emperor Chongzhen know?

In fact, he knew that Gao Qiqian also asked Emperor Chongzhen to come forward at the behest of Cheng Shijie through two ways, openly and secretly, at that time, Cheng Shijie did have no way to take Zheng Zhilong, although the Ning Navy has a navy, but it is a pocket navy, no matter how arrogant Cheng Shijie is, he is not absolutely sure to defeat Zheng Zhilong.

It's just that Zheng Zhilong is aggressive, Cheng Shijie did not swallow his voice, because Cheng Shijie also knows that even if he retreats, Zheng Zhilong will kick his nose in the face, the development of Liaodong is inseparable from the ocean, and at that time, Liaodong was no longer suitable for farming because of the weather of the Xiaoice River, and Cheng Shijie also needed territory.

In that case, Cheng Shijie could only choose to fight Zheng Zhilong, whether it was before or after the decisive battle, Cheng Shijie understood that his honeymoon period with Emperor Chongzhen was actually over, why did he send silver to Emperor Chongzhen by diving high?

This is actually Cheng Shijie's delaying tactic, in this way, Emperor Chongzhen realized that Cheng Shijie was useful, Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng made a big noise, why not use such a powerful army as Ning Haijun?

It is because Emperor Chongzhen does not want Cheng Shijie to become stronger and stronger, and the more he fights, the more courageous he becomes, and his prestige is getting bigger and bigger.

When the news that Emperor Chongzhen asked the crown prince to come back first reached the ears of Empress Zhou, Empress Zhou, who had nothing to do with political affairs, found Emperor Chongzhen for the first time and asked, "Your Majesty, what's wrong with you?" ”

Chongzhen was slightly stunned, and asked knowingly: "No, it's nothing!" ”

"Then why do you want the prince to come back from Liaodong?"

"Queen, don't worry about it!"

Empress Zhou asked softly, "Is it related to Jiannu?" ”

Chongzhen nodded silently and said, "Yes." ”

Empress Zhou smiled and said: "Your Majesty, don't worry too much, Jiannu is the emperor against the sky, it seems to be rampant, but in fact it is self-defeating." Let's let them run rampant for a while, and when Cheng Qing recovers from his illness, as soon as the Ning Navy comes out, their end will come! ”

The first half of Empress Zhou's words was fine, but when she heard the second half, Chongzhen's brows slowly twisted, and she said with a gloomy face: "Except for the Duke of Haiguo, no one can deal with Jiannu?" ”

Empress Zhou was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly changed her words: "Naturally not, like the champion Hou Lu and the trilateral governor Hong, they are all pillars of the country with both civil and military skills, but the crown of the sea country is brave and invincible, and he has a better chance of winning." ”

"Long hair, short knowledge!"

Emperor Chongzhen ignored the empress and closed his eyes again.

The scene in that dream appeared again and again in front of his eyes, bloody and terrifying, and his heart was terrified. It's not that he is too careful, since ancient times, there will be no good results for weak monarchs and strong ministers, and Queen Zhou's words made Chongzhen realize that Cheng Shijie is fully capable of becoming a figure like Cao Cao and Wang Mang!

He swore in his heart, "I must stop this!" I can't leave such a big hidden danger to the crown prince! ”

At such an instant, Emperor Chongzhen secretly made up his mind.

He must change from a Wen Tianzi to a Wu Tianzi, then he must rebel against the majesty of the Heavenly Family, so that the whole world knows that the power of Heaven is unpredictable. Cheng Shijie's prestige was accumulated in the sea of corpses and blood on the battlefield, and the power technique had no effect on him.

The only thing that can suppress his prestige is to drive his own conquest and destroy Jiannu, so that the whole world will know that the descendants of the Zhu family are also very capable of fighting!

There are no secrets in the inner palace, and when Wang Chengen quietly set off for Liaodong, the cabinet bigwigs got the information, and they knew that Emperor Chongzhen no longer believed in Cheng Shijie, and their opportunity came.

Looking at the excited and dancing ministers in the cabinet, Wen Tiren sighed and said: "We just have a chance, it doesn't mean that we will definitely win!" ”

"Shousuke-sama means ......"

"Now that the treasury is empty, and tens of millions of people in Gyeonggi are waiting to be fed, even if Your Majesty wants to fight, he is powerless!"

Wang Yingxiong said: "That Shoufu Lord means ......"

"If you want to take it, you must give it first!"

The ministers suddenly realized.

The next morning, the ministers were still crying and clamoring to send troops to attack Jiannu.

Chongzhen looked around at the ministers and said slowly: "I have more than enough heart but not enough strength......"

Speaking of this, Wang Yingxiong gritted his teeth and said: "Minister, I know that the state affairs are difficult, and I am willing to donate one year, no, the next three years, to fund military supplies!" ”

Wang Yingxiong is the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Zheng Erpin, 61 stone of Yueyulu, Wenyuan Pavilion University Scholar is 5 products, 16 stone of Yuechenglu, the prince and young master, from the first product, Yueyulu is 72 stones, that is to say, Wang Yingxiong's total monthly Yulu is 149 stones, if according to the beginning of the fourth year of Chongzhen, the price of rice in the capital is 122 coins of silver per stone, he is equivalent to 163 taels of silver per month.

However, it is now May of the ninth year of Chongzhen, and the price of rice in the capital has risen to nine taels of silver, which is equivalent to a monthly salary of 768 taels of silver, and an annual salary of eight thousand three hundred and seventy-one taels of silver, if it is three years, it is twenty-four thousand nine hundred and sixty taels of silver.

As Wang Yingxiong took the lead, Yang Sichang sighed and said, "The minister is willing to follow Lord Wang and donate three years!" ”

Wen Tiren trembled and stood out, bowed down and said: "The old minister is an honest official, and his family resources are not rich, but the state affairs are difficult, and the old minister is willing to donate all his family property, including the coffin book, a total of 12,2059 taels of silver!" ”

Emperor Chongzhen watched coldly and remained silent.

In order to prompt Emperor Chongzhen to send troops, starting from the cabinet, followed by six ministries and twenty-four divisions, nine servants and five eunuchs, and senior officials all wanted to donate their own money or family property.

In fact, being able to become a ministry or department boss is qualified to be corrupt, in this case, the most difficult thing is the officials of the Qingshui Yamen, they have no oil and water, and only live on money, but in the face of the situation, they have made donations.

Although later generations said that the Ming Dynasty exhausted the state finances in order to support the vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty, in all fairness, the financial expenditures of the clan, even in the last years of Chongzhen, did not exceed 30%, and they were only nominal expenditures, in fact, both the imperial court and local officials often embezzled the salaries of the vassal kings.

In fact, the largest expenditure of the Chongzhen Dynasty was military expenditure, which exceeded six or seven million taels of silver per year, and reached more than nine million taels of silver at the most, while the regular tax and the three salaries together amounted to less than 20 million taels of silver, and the expenditure of officials was even more.

At least after such an operation now, he donated more than 1.2 million taels of silver to Emperor Chongzhen, plus more than 3 million stones from Beijing officials. It is equivalent to more than 500 Wang Yingxiong's fortunes.

Of course, being able to donate so much food is of course all false, just like the two or three million soldiers and horses on the military book of the Ming Dynasty, in this case, Emperor Chongzhen took advantage of the slope to step down: "I have decided to send all the elite troops to attack and kill the slaves, so that they know the consequences of going against the sky!" This time, I want to drive the expedition in person, and kill them without leaving a chicken and dog! ”

The ministers were stunned, and it took a while to react, kneeling on the ground and shouting: "My emperor Shengming!" Long live our emperor! ”

In the past, which emperor wanted to drive the expedition in person, I was afraid that the ministers would have to jump up and rebel, but this time even the most eventful officials did not object, but sang an ode: "Your Majesty does not avoid the arrows, the royal drive is a personal expedition, this kind of courage is rare in ancient times, and the Qin Emperor and Han Wu are also greatly inferior, my emperor is really the first emperor of the ages!" ”

Chongzhen was quite intoxicated by this sycophant, and secretly said that he had made the right bet. However, he also knew that he could eat a few bowls of rice, so he ordered: "Eight hundred miles to hurry, summon the champion Hou into Beijing to discuss the war!" As soon as grain, straw, carts, horses, and weapons are needed, the military department and the household department must immediately start raising them, and there must be no mistakes! ”

There was another tsunami-like sound of long live.

From King Hailing to Louis IX, there are really many emperors who have raised troops because of a dream, and no matter whether they have a sweet dream or a nightmare, it will eventually lead to an overwhelming nightmare.

Now Chongzhen has made the same mistake.

In this era of supremacy of monarchy, the will of the emperor is irresistible, and under the order of Emperor Chongzhen, the Ming Empire is slowly and resolutely running.

The galloping horses' hooves and the carrier pigeons flying with their wings spread transmitted the orders of the military headquarters to all units, including the Jingying, Guanning, Changping, Trilateral Army, Shimenchuan Army, Zhejiang Army, including the Henan Army...... All received orders to assemble the main force of Gyeonggi.

The Changping Army and the Guanning Army, which received the order, roared as if they had been beaten with chicken blood, reorganized their armaments, prepared for a big battle of grain and equipment, and were full of vigor and high morale, which made people have the illusion that "what we see must be a fake Ming army."

Then, the most intriguing thing is that as the Ming Dynasty considers itself second, no one dares to recognize the first Ning Navy, but he did not receive orders from the Ministry of War and the Governor's Office of the Five Armies, and the Ning Navy, which has more than 300,000 horses, seems to have been forgotten.

The Liaodongning Navy is in the process of being reorganized on the largest scale since its formation, and the recasting of orders and military flags of various armies, including military uniforms, waist cards, and so on, is a large number, and there are many difficulties.

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen's brain was hot.

Zhou Ning looked at the communication soldier and said, "Has the fire ticket from the military department arrived?" ”

"Back to Chief of Staff Zhou, not yet!"

"Go to the dock and rush!"

Cheng Shijie walked in and said, "Don't bother! ”

"Dashuai!"

The generals saluted Cheng Shijie.

Zhou Ning and Zhang Yu stepped forward and said, "What does Dashuai mean...... The Ministry of War uses our Ning Navy as a surprise soldier? I wonder who is in charge this time? ”

"Who else but to be today?"

Cheng Shijie said with a wry smile on his face: "The imperial court will not use our Ning Navy." ”

"You don't need us, just rely on other armies, except for the Tianxiong Army and the Sichuan Army, which still have some combat effectiveness, by the way, the trilateral army is about the same, at least it is still possible to defend the city!"

Zhou Ning's eyes widened: "Why?" ”

"No why!"

Cheng Shijie said with a smile: "The brain circuits of those people in the military department are incomprehensible to normal people, and only God knows what they think." But no matter what, our Ning Navy has been completely driven to a dead end! ”

Zhang Yu opened his mouth and asked with some puzzlement, "Why?" ”

"In this battle, there are only two results, win or lose!"

Cheng Shijie muttered: "If there is a big victory, Your Majesty will coerce the victorious army to turn south under the deterrence of victory, and deal with our Ning Navy, when the time comes, unless we formally rebel, or we will have a big fight with the imperial army, in fact, the imperial army is defeated, including the Guanning army, the Tianxiong army, the trilateral army, the Beijing camp, the two or three hundred thousand troops are barely able to fight, once they are lost, Jiannu will also take advantage of the opportunity of the big victory to sweep down!" ”

"Whatever the outcome, we must be ready for all-out war!"

"That's right!"

Cheng Shijie said: "Convene all the members of the military management committee of the Ning Navy and prepare for a meeting!" ”

……

Daimyo's Mansion, in the camp where the Tenxiong Army is stationed.

When Lu Xiangsheng received the order, his first reaction was Hu Lai. He was very dissatisfied with the fire ticket of the military department still on the ground: "Those bastards in the military department are really going back more and more!" When there is a shortage of green and yellow, hundreds of thousands of troops must be dispatched out of the fortress, how to solve the problem of military rations, and how to transfer the people to transport grain, what to do with the autumn harvest? Going out on the expedition at this time, isn't that looking for death? ”

Li Chongzhen sighed and said, "Lord Lu, when did those bastards in the military department be reliable?" If they really knew the army, why was it so difficult in the first place? ”

Lei Shisheng said indignantly: "That's it! This group of bastards, they will only come blindly, they all say that the war is dangerous, and it is a matter of life and death for the country, how can it become so light to fight in the eyes of those big masters, they can fight if they want to, and they don't fight if they don't want to? ”

Lu Xiangsheng smiled bitterly and said in a deep voice: "I'm afraid it's not all the chaos of the military department...... Huang Taiji defended the sky and claimed the emperor, which is a great shame for the Ming Dynasty, His Majesty must react, otherwise he will not be able to explain to the people of Li and the ancestors! In terms of timing, this battle should not be fought, but from the perspective of His Majesty, from the perspective of Daming, it will not work if you don't fight! ”

Li Chongzhen and Lei Shisheng could only sigh.

War and politics are always entangled and cannot be separated, and many times they cannot be fought militarily, but politically they must be fought, and they have to be fought even if they know that they may lose; And sometimes you can't fight even if you know you can win!

The emperor is disgraced and the courtier must react.

Although Lu Xiangsheng believes that now is not the time to go on the expedition, it is difficult to solve the problem of military rations, the mobilization and assembly of the army, and the supply of materials are quite difficult, and he has learned the severe cold in the Mobei region, and it is difficult for the soldiers of the Ming army to adapt to the severe cold outside the pass.

What's even worse is that now the Mongols in Mobei and Monan have taken refuge in Huang Taiji, which means that from Gansu to Liaodong, no, Liaodong has been abandoned by Jiannu, and they dare not provoke the Ning Navy, but the problem is that from Gansu to Xuanfu East Road, and even Shanhaiguan, there are places where Jiannu can attack.

If a large army is dispatched to Shengjing at this time, there will be a huge gap in the entire defense line, and the consequences are unpredictable! It should be said that Lu Xiangsheng still has a clear understanding of the battle situation, but unfortunately, his concept of "the king is worried about the humiliation of the ministers, and the king is humiliated by the death of the ministers" is also very heavy, and after hesitating, he still ordered Li Chongzhen's department to accompany him to Beijing, and the Lei Shisheng department immediately went to Beijing as the second echelon.

Lei Shisheng was taken aback and said, "Lord Lu, don't do it!" We have just settled the fields, and if the whole army goes north, then all the grain will be wasted, what will we do next year? ”

Lu Xiangsheng smiled bitterly and said: "After arriving in the capital, I will persuade Your Majesty to let him dispel the idea of attacking Jiannu, and the army will immediately take the division when it comes to showing off its strength outside the pass, and it won't be long before this army will return to Beijing, so you can rest assured." ”

Lei Shi said: "Hundreds of thousands of troops are on an expedition of thousands of miles, and the consumption of grain and grass alone is five or six times that of idle time. ”

Lu Xiangsheng said: "Huang Taiji is the emperor against the sky, if Da Ming doesn't react at all, he will make the world laugh!" ”

When it came to this, Lei Shisheng could only give up: "Then adults must be careful, the danger outside the plug is far greater than ......"

"By the way, you have something important to do!"

"Please command, sir!"

Lu Xiangsheng said solemnly: "You hurry up and go to Liaodong, when you were in Pingding Prefecture, Cheng Shuai owed Lu a favor, and now you need to ask Cheng Shuai to return a favor to Lu, buy five hundred from Cheng Shuai, not eight hundred fire dragons out of the water, but also purchase one hundred and twenty three-inch cannons from him, one hundred and twenty rounds for each cannon, and five thousand firearms!" ”

"But we don't have the money to pay the bills!"

"Lu used his head as a guarantee and owed Cheng Shuai credit!"

Lu Xiangsheng said: "If Lu can't persuade Your Majesty, the Tianxiong Army will be defeated in this battle, and the 500,000 people of the Daimyo Mansion of the Tianxiong Army will use them to pay off their debts!" ”

Li Chongzhen and Lu Xiangsheng quickly drove with more than 20 cannons and went north to Beijing, and Lei Shisheng did not dare to slack off, and quickly went to Liaodong with a team of Tianxiong army cavalry.

When he arrived in the western part of Shandong, he was not stopped by the Dashun army, and arrived in Dengzhou without danger and arrived in Jinzhou by boat.

Lei Shisheng and others arrived in Liaodong, and Cheng Shijie was very happy with the arrival of the Tianxiong Army, and held a banquet in the Ninghai Navy Mansion.

After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, Lei Shisheng told Cheng Shijie about Lu Xiangsheng's plan at 151 o'clock, and Cheng Shijie heard that Lu Xiangsheng was going to use more than 500,000 families of the Tianxiong Army to pay off debts.

Cheng Shijie sighed and said, "Lord Lu is really calculating! ”

Lei Shisheng thought that Cheng Shijie had seen through Lu Xiangsheng's thoughts, and said that the families of more than 500,000 Tianxiong Army soldiers in the Daimyo Mansion were handed over to Cheng Shijie to pay off debts, so why not let Cheng Shijie settle the families of Tianxiong Army soldiers?

Is this debt redemption? This is revenge!

Lei Shisheng looked at Cheng Shijie nervously: "Cheng Shuai means ......"

"This business, Ben Shuai did it!"

Cheng Shijie said with a serious face: "In addition to the fire dragon out of the water, one hundred and twenty cannons, and five thousand firearms, this commander also comes with an additional 50,000 grenades!" ”

(End of chapter)