Participating in this Andingmen meeting, in addition to Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of the Qin King of the Ming Dynasty, Yang Sichang, the first assistant, and Gao Qiqian, the superintendent of the army, there were also two military squires, a court minister, and Chongzhen's cronies, Cao Huachun of the Admiral Dongchang, and several generals who led the three major battalions of the Beijing Division.

On weekdays, when Yang Sichang saw Wang Dehua or Cao Huachun, he was always willing to be in the lower position and let these two great eunuchs sit in the chief. Today's scene is a little embarrassing, just because Lu Xiangsheng has always looked down on this group of eunuchs, thinking that he is a minister of the court, and he should not befriend these yin eunuchs, which will lose the integrity of the doctor, so he made a little humble concession and pulled Yang Sichang to sit on top of the chief.

Although Gao Qiqian and the others were very unhappy in their hearts, they were helpless against this commander who commanded the army and the king of Qin. Lu Xiangsheng, who lived in the upper seat, spoke first, he resolutely fought the main battle, and his words were even more impassioned, compared to everyone present, but they were silent and silent.

Lu Xiangsheng was very angry when he saw this scene, and he shouted and asked the generals present: "The enemy of the eastern captives has already approached the city, and the princes are still wandering like this, can they see the captives riding vertically and horizontally, like a realm where no one is in a situation?"

Everyone was obviously intimidated by his righteousness, Yang Sichang and Gao Qiqian were not angry as an exception, and advised him not to be in a hurry, and to discuss the battle strategy slowly and carefully. Yang and Gao did not say that they themselves did not advocate fighting against the Qing soldiers, but they refused to put forward any positive opinions.

However, Cao Huachun, the eunuch of Dongchang, was dissatisfied with Gao Qiqian who climbed too fast in the past two or three years, and now he is the chief army of the world's Qinwang soldiers and horses, he sat on the seat and said lightly: "After all, what Mr. Lu said is the right thing." ”

The meeting lasted until midnight, and by the time the drums were beating, the meeting was still inconclusive. When everyone discussed the question of whether or not to fight against the Qing troops, Gao Qiqian even said that the matter had a certain degree of complexity and could not be resolved at a meeting; Lu Xiangsheng only emphasized that the morale of some of the Qinwang soldiers under his leadership was available, but Yang Sichang and Gao Qiqian understood that the morale of the Ming army was generally low and that the generals were afraid of the enemy and cowardly fighting.

Yang Sichang felt that Lu Xiangsheng said. Calling on the people of Gyeonggi to join the army and ordering the big officials and gentry in Gyeonggi to pay their salaries is a trick that cannot be done at all, and once they raise salaries, they will certainly be met with strong confrontation from the big officials and gentry, and they will not be able to recruit new soldiers without pay. Therefore, the meeting dragged on until the second half of the night, and there was still no unified result, which only increased the distress and depression in Lu Xiangsheng's heart in vain.

The rumbling cannon sound from the eastern suburbs, every sound seemed to shake Lu Xiangsheng's heart, making him sit on a chair like a pins and needles, and at this moment he wanted to rush back to the Changping army immediately and arrange the battle against the Dongyu, so as not to waste time with these Ming magnates who were eating with these corpses here.

At this time, just after a cannon sounded, Lu Xiangsheng frowned, stood up and walked to the door, he opened the blue cloth curtain with one hand, turned to the east, looked at the fire outside the city, and when he turned around, he arched his hand to everyone present and said sadly: "Tonight, the war in the suburbs is raging, and there are endless disputes in the city, Xiangsheng is really sad and asks for your forgiveness, the students still have military affairs and need to be cooked, let's discuss it another day." ”

Director Jun Gao Qiqian was happy that today's military meeting was hastily ended, and he quickly echoed: "Yes, we will discuss it another day." ”

Everyone got out of the Anding Gate and said goodbye to each other. Lu Xiangsheng was indignant, he jumped on his steed Wu Mingji and galloped away, neither humbly, nor did he turn back to say hello to the princes.

Yang Sichang shook his head and exchanged glances with Gao Qiqian, and he asked Gao Qiqian and Cao Huachun to get on the horse first.

Gao Qiqian did not get on the horse immediately, continued to look at the backs of Lu Xiangsheng and Wu Mingji, and praised him repeatedly: "Good horses, good horses, rare good horses"

Some of the generals of the Beijing camp were unhappy about today's meeting, but they did not dare to speak; some of them were afraid of the enemy like tigers, and when they saw Yang Sichang and Gao Qiqian resolutely advocating seriousness, they let go of their hearts.

Lu Xiangsheng returned to the mansion and made three drums, and his family told Lu Xiangsheng that many friends had come to see him and inquire about the decision of peace and war, and some people did not disperse until nearly three watches.

The next morning, Lu Xiangsheng immediately entered the palace after breakfast. Regarding the matter of entering the palace and resigning, he had already talked to Wang Dehua, the eunuch who was in charge of the seal of the celebrant at yesterday's meeting, so as soon as he arrived at the court, when he waited for a short time, a little eunuch came out and introduced him into the palace and led him to the magnificent Zuoshun Gate.

As in the case of the ministers who went on the expedition, the emperor did not come out to meet Lu Xiangsheng because he entered Beijing to defend himself against foreign invasions, and only a few eunuchs stood in front of the palace in two lines.

Lu Xiangsheng stood alone at the foot of the white marble carved dragon steps, he knelt down respectfully in the direction of the emperor's office, kowtowed three times to the solemn and empty throne, and sang loudly: "Minister Lu Xiangsheng bows to the emperor, may your majesty live long, long live, long live."

Outsiders seem to know that this sentence in his mouth is just an ordinary court etiquette, but when Lu Xiangsheng said it, his own heart was full of pain and passion, and he endured the heartache of the knife, his voice trembled slightly, and he almost couldn't help but shed tears, because there seemed to be an extremely bad premonition in his heart: After this resignation, I am afraid that he will not see the emperor again.

At this time, a eunuch went to the bottom of the steps, orally delivered the holy decree, and gave him a Shang Fang sword. Lu Xiangsheng held Shang Fang's sword with both hands, kowtowed and thanked him, his tears could no longer be controlled, and suddenly burst out of his eyes.

Leaving Zuo Shunmen, he went to the cabinet to bid farewell to Yang Sichang. Limited to the system, Yang Sichang did not let him sit in the cabinet, only sent him out of the noon gate; when parting, he wanted to say a few heartfelt words to Lu Xiangsheng, but his lips moved, and finally he still did not say it.

The two of them were silent for a while, and Yang Sichang finally couldn't help it, he whispered: "Jiuweng, you also understand what the emperor means now." The trouble of the country is not from the outside but inside, and if it is not at home, why should the soldiers of Shanxi and Xuanda be taken away, all of which are the elite of the country. The thieves are not settled, so be sure to leave this little belongings for the emperor. ”

Lu Xiangsheng did not make a sound, made a gesture to him, turned around and left, as soon as he left Chengtianmen, he received a report from Changping, saying that although most of the Qing soldiers moved to the area of Dongbianmen and Guangqumen, there were also rangers to harass the area between Andingmen and Changping.

He decided to return to the Changping army immediately, and said to a family member beside him: "You go and tell Master Yang, just say that I can't go to see him because of the tight military situation, and ask him to move to Changping within a day or two." After the order, he didn't even return to the mansion, quickly changed his clothes, got on the horse outside the right gate of Chang'an and ran to Changping.