Emperor Chongzhen's appointment of Zhu Chunchen as the commander of the three armies was not clever, and after Zhu Chunchen took over as the commander of Beijiannu, the first military order was to repeat Emperor Chongzhen's holy decree.

Transferring the trilateral army, the Sichuan army, the Zhejiang army, the Tianxiong army and other armies to assemble in the capital, this order is simply a joke, the Shimen Sichuan army is far away in Sichuan, and the trilateral army is in Shaanxi, Shanxi and Ningxia Tian, they could have set off as a separate army, whether it is to join the Mobei army, or to attack Jiannu from the east and west, but Zhu Chunchen is so brainbroken that he wants hundreds of thousands of troops to gather together.

But the problem is that this is simply a fatal thing, pouring the soldiers of the whole country of the Ming Dynasty, this time mobilizing more than 300,000 troops, including more than 40,000 cavalry alone, these horses need to consume more than 27,000 stone of grain every day when they eat three liters of grain every day, which requires at least more than 2,700 carts to transport.

It was because of this unintelligent order that it cast an ominous shadow on the Northern Expedition from the beginning, and the original high morale of the Ming army was vented.

Chongzhen didn't know anything about this, since the decision to drive the army, the attitude of the ministers towards him has changed a hundred and eighty degrees, and no one deliberately says that he is not, on the contrary, even the most bitter and mean officials also sang praises to his decision, blowing him comparable to the Qin Emperor Han Wu, Tang Dynasty and Song Zu, these sycophants made him a little fluttering.

Lu Xiangsheng wanted to see him many times and made his views clear to him on the matter of the Northern Expedition, but he refused to see him. He, like many ministers, agreed that after being blockaded by the Ming Dynasty for more than two years, especially after Shenyang was conquered, Jiannu had been greatly damaged. As soon as the army led by him arrives, the Qing army will surrender and destroy Jiannu, which is as easy as a snap!

I have to say that people's arrogance is accustomed to come out, if there is no victory in Shenyang, the battle report sent by the Ning Navy was originally beheaded less than 4,700 Jiannu and more than 6,000 Tartars, but it was directly multiplied by the ministers by ten, became, in the battle of Shenyang, the Ning Navy beheaded more than 47,000 and Mongolia tens of thousands.

Although Emperor Chongzhen has great ability, the problem is that in the face of this great victory, he calculated through simple addition and subtraction that the remaining strength of Jiannu will not exceed 30,000 horses. He went out with more than 300,000 troops, how could there be any reason for defeat? If it weren't for that, even if the ministers blew out the flowers, Emperor Chongzhen probably wouldn't have the courage to do anything in person.

Lu Xiangsheng wanted to ask to see Emperor Chongzhen almost every day, but was refused to summon him, Lu Xiangsheng became the only clown in the eyes of the ministers, and the ministers were also sneering at Lu Xiangsheng, because Lu Xiangsheng was a foreign official, without the permission of the Holy Decree and the emperor, he was not like a Beijing official who could participate in the court meeting, and could only be exposed to the sun every day outside the Daming Gate.

Lu Xiangsheng's hard work, instead of being understood, was accused every day that he was worrying about the sky and had nothing to do.

On May 16, the ninth year of Chongzhen, as the commander of the Guanning Army, Zu Dashou led Wu Xiang, Wu Sangui, Zu Dabi, Zu Kefa and other Guanning troops to arrive in the capital first.

Zu Dashou gave Emperor Chongzhen a lot of face this time, not only led more than 65,000 Guanning troops to the capital, but also led more than 8,000 elite cavalry of the ancestral family, plus more than 6,000 cavalry led by Wu Xiang and Wu Sangui, and the Guanning army alone dispatched more than 15,000 cavalry.

More than 65,000 Guanning troops arrived in the capital, and the capital hurriedly built a huge military camp outside the city, and then, more than 6,000 people and horses of Liu Zeqing's Shandong army, which was close to the capital, arrived in Beijing, and the Henan army, the Changping army, the Jizhou army, and the Tianjin Sanwei arrived one after another, and the Beijing camp became a huge military camp.

Zu Dashou, the number one person in the Guanning army, knelt on the cold road, his forehead touched the ground, and he led the army to leave when he was completely out of the battle, and he didn't take Emperor Chongzhen and the military department in his eyes at all, and he had to write a letter from Yuan Zonghuan to persuade him to lead the army into the pass to participate in the war again.

Zu Dashou's attitude was unusually humble: "Your Majesty, the royal conquest is really a major event that has never been seen in the dynasty!" His Majesty's majesty is magnificent, and the Qin Emperor and Han Wu are far inferior! There is His Majesty personally supervising the battle, the three armies are soldiers, it is easy to break through the Jiannu, and the old minister wishes His Majesty a complete victory and captures the slave chieftain alive! ”

Zu Dashou's humble attitude made Emperor Chongzhen extremely satisfied, and he helped Zu Dashou up: "Zu Aiqing, please get up!" I don't know the book of soldiers, this battlefield battle, I still need a lot of trouble from Aiqing! ”

Zu Dashou said: "Your Majesty has an order, how dare the old minister disobey, fight this old bone, but also take down Jiannu, take the head of the slave chief Taiji Xiang, take a bad breath for Your Majesty, and also avenge the Liaodong Han people and Guanning soldiers who died in the hands of Jiannu!" ”

Chongzhen was greatly appreciative, high-fived and shouted: "Good! This is my warrior! With this determination and morale, why worry about the immortality of Jiannu! ”

Outside the capital, it was really a grand scene, with flags covering the sky, boundless, and immense. Hundreds of thousands of troops arrived in the capital, hundreds of thousands of mouths, can eat a mountain in a day, stay in the capital for a long time, eat, drink and Lazar have to be solved by the imperial court, who can stand it?

The common people agree and have quite opinions, not all troops have the same good discipline as the Ning Navy, such as Shandong, Henan and other places of the guards, the combat effectiveness is poor, the discipline is even worse, stealing a chicken and touching a dog is commonplace, the common people have great opinions, it can be said that wailing everywhere.

Wen Tiren and they are also anxious, they get some food just to make money, what if they let these soldiers eat? The food they donated was filled with a huge amount of water, and if it was consumed, it would be eaten up, and most of the military rations were actually only stored on the books, but there was no real food, in case the stuffing was exposed.

The trouble is big, both inside and outside the government and the opposition unanimously urged Chongzhen to hurry up and go on the expedition, don't waste it here, as for the follow-up troops of the Shimenchuan Army and the Qin Army and the Tianxiong Army who have not arrived, let them follow and act as a strategic reserve.

Chongzhen felt that it made sense, so he issued an order to inspect the troops on the outskirts of the capital on June 29, hold a flag sacrifice ceremony, and take out a large amount of money from the internal treasury to reward the three armies, and swore to go on the expedition.

At this time, the capital already has more than 200,000 troops, more than 200,000 Beijing troops, 70,000 troops to participate in the Northern Expedition, plus more than a dozen guest troops, more than 200,000 troops, and embarked on the journey in a mighty way.

The common people who came to see him off were greatly excited, and they all said that they had never seen such a prosperous military appearance since they fought at Tumu Fort. Everywhere I went, all the states and counties ate pot pulp and welcomed them, which made the Northern Expeditionary Army quite encouraged.

Chongzhen is even more confident: "I have such a powerful army, and there is the full support of hundreds of millions of people, how can I not annihilate Jiannu!" ”

On the fifth day of the seventh month of the ninth year of Chongzhen, that is, six days after the departure of the army, Emperor Chongzhen's big drive arrived in Jing'anbao New Town, and then the continuation of the army just left the capital, which means that more than 200,000 Ming troops went out, and the troops stretched for nearly 100 miles.

Although it is only the beginning of July, at night, the temperature is very low, about 10 to 20 degrees, and the temperature is already uncomfortable.

Emperor Chongzhen didn't realize that when the Ming army went out, the soldiers were wearing single clothes, as if in addition to the Tianxiong army preparing cotton clothes and the Guanning army also preparing cotton clothes, more than seventy percent of the Ming army was actually just single clothes.

And no one told Emperor Chongzhen about this.

Since the beginning of June of the ninth year of Chongzhen, the Ning Navy has completed the reorganization of the main force of the six brigades, and at the same time, with the propaganda of newspapers and caravans, Jinzhou City has also become lively.

Unlike the capital, which is bustling with activity because hundreds of thousands of Northern Expeditionary troops have arrived, the bustle in Jinzhou is when a large number of scholars arrive in Jinzhou, who will attend the Enke held in Jinzhou in early September.

Because Cheng Shijie has to take the arithmetic, economics and gewu, in fact, there are not a few scholars who are proficient in arithmetic and general affairs, after all, they only take the imperial examination once every three years, and more than ninety percent of people cannot be admitted to the jinshi, even if it is very difficult to become a lifter, in this case, just like the postgraduate examination in later generations, whether there is anyone who is admitted to graduate school, the answer is yes.

And there are a lot of people, but most people choose to participate in employment after graduating from bachelor's degree, because everyone has to eat, although there are many people who come to Golden State to study, but there are not many people who have a good reputation, most of them are talents or children.

Some Xiucai are very miserable, and they also have to eat.

Cheng Shijie received the news of Emperor Chongzhen's personal expedition, in fact, he had foreseen that Emperor Chongzhen would be defeated, he knew too well the urine of those birdmen, the Ming army had not yet opened the Great Wall, and their troop deployment, marching routes, grain storage locations and other vital information were absolutely placed in front of the Huang Taiji case.

In front of a bookstall surrounded by readers, it can be said that there are so many people that they can't be crowded at all.

"What are they doing?"

Hou Shi stepped forward to inquire, and later Hou Shi reported: "Dashuai, this bookstall is selling the "Liaodong Enke Examination Classic"! ”

Cheng Shijie was slightly stunned: "Could it be that the test paper has been leaked?" ”

Cheng Shijie said: "Go buy a copy and take a look!" ”

In fact, there have been three editions of the Liaodong Enke test paper, which was written by Sun Chengzong, which were excerpted from three questions in the Four Books and Five Classics, accounting for 30% of the score. There are 10 questions in arithmetic, with a total score of 20 percent, as well as two questions on physical affairs, two questions on economics, two questions on general affairs, 10 questions on current affairs, and 10 points on history, with a 100-point system.

However, Cheng Shijie squeezed to the front and looked at the so-called Liaodong Enke Examination Dictionary in his hand, which is a question bank of Liaodong Middle School, with more than 1,300 questions of all kinds, as if it is a driving test book for later generations, if you want to say that this thing is useless, it is not right, as long as you understand these questions, there is absolutely no problem with taking the test of fifty or sixty points.

To say that it is useful, in fact, is not quite accurate.

The peddler who sells exam questions understands eloquence, and when he saw that all the readers scolded one after another, he explained: "Everyone, the small shop also has" famous teacher tutoring, from now on, guide the study for two months, if you can't pass the exam, you won't take a penny, the tuition fee will be refunded in full, and if you are admitted, the tuition fee will naturally not be refunded! ”

"How much is the tuition?"

"Five hundred taels of silver!"

"Five hundred taels of silver, why don't you grab it?"

"Humph!"

"This time, Haiguo is open to Enke, as long as the lowest score in the examination is awarded to the ninth rank official, and the highest is awarded to the fifth grade official, think about it, in case of high school, is it expensive to buy a five-rank official for five hundred taels of silver?"

"If I don't win, I'll get all the tuition refunded?"

"It's natural, we can sign a contract! If you don't get a refund for the tuition, you can go to the yamen to sue me, and of course, during your study, you will take care of your own room and board! ”

When Cheng Shijie heard this, he understood the way this vendor made money. He's teaching a lesson to these readers.

Li Xin happened to see this scene too, he was about to have a seizure, but he saw Cheng Shijie walking directly.

Li Xin caught up with Cheng Shijie and asked puzzledly, "Dashuai, don't you care about this?" ”

"Why bother?"

Cheng Shijie explained: "People do business normally, they don't evade taxes or evade taxes, and they don't break the law, how can they care?" ”

Li Xin said suspiciously: "He...... Isn't it! ”

Li Xin is also a smart person, until now he has understood that the practice of this trader is similar to Cheng Shijie's insurance, in the merchant ships going to the South or Western Oceans, in addition to paying taxes to the Ning Navy, they also have to buy insurance, there are two kinds of insurance, one is natural accident insurance, that is, storms and the like, the ship sinks, and will be compensated according to the reported amount.

The other is man-made accident insurance, that is, if the warship is sacked by pirates, the Ning Navy will also compensate according to the actual value.

In the South China Sea, the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea and other coastal waters, pirates are basically extinct, and natural accidents, there is a certain probability that ten ships go to sea, most of them are actually safe.

Now this vendor is also playing this probability problem, if one out of a thousand people is promoted, he can earn five hundred taels of silver, if there are two people, he can earn one thousand taels of silver, what if it is a hundred people?

More importantly, he must control the food and lodging of these training readers, which is the second money earned.

After listening to Li Xin's statement, Cheng Shijie sighed that Li Xin was really smart.

"They actually have a third way to make money!"

"If he finds ten scholars, he can collect five thousand taels of silver, with two months, and two months' interest."

"What a profiteer!"

Cheng Shijie laughed: "By the way, has the artillery for the Tianxiong Army been shipped?" ”

"Shipped partially!"

"How many, less than a third!"

"They're pulling out too fast, we're too late!"

"Forget it!"

Cheng Shijie smiled faintly: "Your name is Li Xin, a native of Qixian County, Henan, so do you know a person named Li Yan?" ”

"Li Yan?"

Li Xin said with some doubts: "Why is Dashuai looking for this person?" ”

Cheng Shijie looked at Li Xin a little nervously: "Could it be that you are Li Yan?" ”

"It's the door!"

Cheng Shijie showed a sure look, he looked at Li Xin and said, "Li Yan, your plan is about to succeed!" ”

"The subordinates are puzzled, the handsome means ......"

"Meng En, you were bewitched, right?"

Li Yan hurriedly bowed down and said, "Li Yan, please punish!" ”

"What are you going to do?"

Cheng Shijie's eyes looked at the northwest direction, and he sighed and said: "At most, there is still half a month at most, the Northern Expedition army will contact Jiannu, they will definitely lure the enemy deep and drag this army across, Jiannu will definitely take the Northern Expedition army in circles, and then use cavalry to take the capital directly!" ”

"How dare they?"

"For the sake of profit, there is nothing they dare not do!"

Cheng Shijie said: "From now on, the Ning Navy will enter the first level of combat readiness, those bastards should be damned, but the people are innocent, prepare early, and be prepared!" ”

"Yes!"

Li Yan bowed and said.

This expedition on an unprecedented scale, which almost gathered most of the Ming Dynasty's capable army, really excited the Chinese people at the beginning, and then slowly changed its taste. (End of chapter)