"Yang Tinglin's badge was sent to the cabinet by the emperor, and the ministers have seen it. The minister is a dull material, and he bears the weight of the emperor's appointment, and he really deserves death. The emperor is gracious and does not kill. As long as it is beneficial to the country, the minister will be crushed and willing. Shoufu Yang Sichang made a generous statement, without the slightest idea of putting personal interests above the country.

"I have my own opinions on this matter, and I don't have to take it to heart. Chongzhen is still very relieved of Shoufu's generosity, he said in his heart what a reliable helper he chose, so considerate and willing to endure humiliation, this gentleman is comparable to the cow king, eating grass, squeezed out of all You Beilei.

"The ministers were born in the holy court, and they were deeply blessed with knowledge, not only did they not mind this, but they were willing to take advantage of this to recommend virtuous talents for His Majesty and serve the country. ”

"Who do you want to recommend?" Chongzhen was a little impatient, "Since Yang Qing's family has already won me by teasing coughing, you should accept it when you see it, don't blame me for not giving face if you don't know the times!"

The minister planned to recommend Yang Tinglin as the head of the Ministry of War, and Zuo Lu Xiangsheng praised the military affairs in order to show what he had learned in his life. Yang Sichang said righteously.

It is said that the Ministry of War is an important institution of the Ministry of War, and the director of the Department of War is in charge of the world's books.

"Does he know about marching and fighting?" Chongzhen couldn't help but ask his first assistant suspiciously

"Yang Tinglin usually pays attention to the study of the world, and is also very familiar with ancient and modern military strategies, which is not comparable to ordinary Confucian ministers. If he can be made to help Lu Xiangsheng strategize and manage the military, he can give full play to his talents and serve the country more than he served in the Hanlin Academy. Yang Sichang's words were earnest

Chongzhen saw that Yang Sichang's attitude was sincere and there was no idea of revenge, so he praised it in his heart, and said with a smile: "Qing can donate personal grievances and recommend talents for the imperial court, and he has the style of an ancient minister, which is really gratifying." I know that Yang Tinglin is a bone minister who dares to speak, but he is just a little extreme. ”

"Your Majesty Shengming is well aware of Tinglin, so he will not be guilty of wanton attack. In fact, Tinglin just misheard the gossip and didn't know the truth, but his intentions were excellent. "Shousuke's magnanimity is simply beyond words

The emperor was still very willing to understand who he was willing to believe, he nodded happily, and said happily to Yang Sichang: "Okay, according to the Qing Song, he will be reassigned the title of the head of the department, and he will quickly go to Lu Xiang to praise the painting before the army." ”

"Yes!"

Yang Sichang retreated from the Wenhua Palace, crossed a sandwich road, returned to the cabinet, and walked to Liu Yuliang's room first, and told the story of meeting the emperor.

Liu Yuliang was very happy and thanked him for his help.

When he told the matter of recommending Yang Tinglin, Liu Yuliang and several other auxiliary ministers who came to inquire about the news praised him in unison for having the style of an ancient minister, and Xue Guoguan, whose status was second only to the first assistant, was a very scheming person, and saw through the real purpose of Yang Sichang's recommendation of Yang Tinglin was to drive this Hanlin official who dared to speak out of the court and send him to a place where the soldiers were in danger.

But he smiled and arched his hand and said: "Brother Wen, it's rare, it's rare! As the saying goes, 'the prime minister has a boat in his belly', and that's what it says. ”

Yang Sichang replied: "The student has a family friendship with Boxiang, and there is really no mustard in his heart, and he has always admired his knowledge and style. People in their thirties will inevitably be a little angry, and students will not only not take it to heart, but they will also borrow a lot from him in the future. ”

"Rare! rare!" echoed his colleagues.

Yang Sichang returned to his room, changed into court clothes under the service of the long class, sat in the Taishi chair, took a cup of fragrant tea, took a sip, a sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth, and said in his heart: "Yang Huzi, go to the army of Governor Lu to praise the painting, don't let the empty cannon in the court indiscriminately, go to the army and ask you to lead the teaching, it is not easy to fight with the Manchu Tartars!"

Emperor Chongzhen was still in the Wenhua Palace, casually flipping through the "Zizhi Tongjian", while waiting for Wang Chengen to draft a decree for him. Suddenly, Wang Chengen picked up the draft of the proposed edict. This draft contains two things: one is to send the first assistant Liu Yuliang to supervise the army, and the other is to reassign Yang Tinglin to the head of the Ministry of War, and go to Lu Xiang to praise the painting before he was promoted to the army. Chongzhen looked at the manuscript, changed two words, and added a content, that is, he severely reprimanded Lu Xiangsheng for fearing the enemy and failing to live up to the country's grace, so he was immediately removed from the title of secretary of the military department, demoted to a squire, and continued to serve to see the after-effects.

"Send it out at once, don't delay!" he said, leaning back in his chair wearily.

He originally needed to stay in the Wenhua Palace to rest for a while, but there were still many important documents waiting for him to deal with on the imperial case in the Qianqing Palace, how could he rest? So he yawned, stood up, and whispered:

"Go back to Qianqing Palace!"

In addition to the original documents that had not yet been approved, there were two new urgent reports on the imperial case of the Qianqing Palace. He picked up a copy of the Tang newspaper on it, and saw that it was from Tongguan, so he didn't open it immediately.

Chongzhen thought to himself, "Maybe the dead bodies of Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin and other giant thieves have been found?" Originally, he hoped that it would be best to capture Zicheng and others and hold a ceremony to sacrifice prisoners at the noon gate to boost the morale of the army and the people. ”

Unexpectedly, after the battle on Tongguan Yuan, Li Zicheng and his wife and their important leaders were missing, although the official army did win a great victory, and the "Liukou" was indeed wiped out, but because Li Zicheng and his important leaders were not caught, he finally felt relieved, Sun Chuanting said in the report that Li Zicheng and others seemed to have died in the chaos and were looking for the corpse. He has always been skeptical of this sentence, doubting that it is not inevitable, but he hopes that it can be so. Fortunately, it is winter, and the plateau climate is very cold, and the dead bodies on the battlefield cannot be corrupted for a while. Now before he opened the Tang Newspaper, he hoped to find the corpses of Li Zicheng and others. However, this hope of his disappeared after only a flash in his heart, and he thought that if the body of the "traitor" was found, the new governor of Shaanxi and the Tongguan Provincial Department would rush to Beijing, and it would not be just an urgent report? When he saw it, it was like a scoop of cold water poured on his head, and he couldn't help but shudder, and leaned back in his chair.

The palace maid standing next to her saw the emperor's expression change, and hurriedly held a cup of fragrant tea in front of him.

After a while, Chongzhen picked up the second Tang newspaper, and saw that it was from Henan Mansion, and he knew what was reported without reading the content, but the matter had come to this point, so he had to open it and read it. The eunuchs and palace maids standing beside him looked even more ugly when they saw him, their eyes burned with anger, and a green tendon on their sideburns danced gently. Fearful, they held their breath and stood still, tiptoeing out. Unexpectedly, as soon as they withdrew, they heard a commotion, and the emperor smashed the teacup in his hand.

These eunuchs and palace maids who were waiting hurriedly ran in, knelt in front of Chongzhen, and said in a trembling voice: "Please calm the emperor's anger!"

"Call Yang Sichang to come! Hurry!

A royal sign had just rushed to the door of Rijing in the Qianqing Palace on order, and was chased by another eunuch by him and called back. He thought, it's useless to call Yang Sichang into the palace today, there are no soldiers to adjust, what can he do? He hated Sun Chuanting so much that he gritted his teeth with hatred, suddenly jumped up from the dragon chair, kicked the palace maid who was kneeling on the ground, and shouted: "Get up!" So he had no master, wandering around the pillar in the Qianqing Palace, and almost knocked down the three changes of Furong. After a long time, he returned to the imperial case and sat down, lifted the Zhu pen, and planned to issue a handwritten edict, severely reprimanding Hong Chengchou, demoting the official to three levels, arresting Sun Chuanting into Beijing, and handing it over to the Criminal Department for reconsideration. But after thinking about it again, I put the pen down.

Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting have already led 50,000 Qinwang soldiers out of Niangzi Pass and into Jifu. Chongzhen understood that if Hong Chengchou was demoted and punished at this time, and Sun Chuanting would be arrested and questioned for the crime, this Qinwang army might collapse. Besides, he thought that the ministers had high prestige and experience, and only Hong Chengchou would be able to defend him against the Qing soldiers in Liaodong in the future, and he had better forgive him for his small mistakes, so that he would know more about the Thanksgiving Picture, as for Sun Chuanting, he would never forgive him, but it was not the time yet, and after the Qing soldiers retreated, he would call Sun Chuanting into Beijing to punish him.

He picked up the two copies of the newspaper again and looked at it, and the anger in his heart subsided a little, but he felt extremely anxious and heavy. He threw down the newspaper, leaned back in his chair, looked up at the air, and whispered to himself:

"Alas, what should I do? It turns out that the thief is not dead, but has fled in the Cuihan Mountain! Since he was able to attack Tongguan and Lingbao County, it can be seen that the whole army was not annihilated. Henan is full of hungry people, and if this group of traitors who have slipped through the net is not quickly extinguished, a spark can start a prairie fire...... Oh my God, what should I do?"

After thinking about it, he called a eunuch to send a message to the military department, urging Tongguan Dao and the deputy general He Renlong to quickly go out of the customs to "suppress the thieves", and extinguish the "remnants of the thieves" in the middle of Cuihan Mountain, "Don't let the vines grow". As soon as the eunuch left, Wang Chengen, the eunuch of Bingbi, came in with a letter and respectfully placed it on the top of the imperial case.

"Whose notebook?" Chongzhen asked.

"It's a high dive. ”

"What's the matter?"

He played Lu Xiangsheng to support the army to avoid the battle, and sat back and watched the captives go deeper, and the Qi Fu was eroded. ”

Chongzhen glared at him, picked it up and took a look at it, understood the whole content, and scolded hatefully: "Lu Xiangsheng...... Damn it!"

Wang Chengen, the eunuch who knelt on the ground to listen to the order, knew what the director of the army was and how unreliable his words were, but he only dared to secretly cry out for Lu Xiangsheng in his heart, but he didn't dare to confide in the slightest.

(End of chapter)