Under the gaze of Emperor Chongzhen, the Minister of Works wanted to say something in his heart: "All this is caused by the opening of your golden mouth..."

However, this idea is just a thought. No matter how brave the Minister of Works is, the Minister of Works dare not say it.q.e

However, Emperor Chongzhen's question must be answered. Otherwise, the crime of deceiving the emperor alone would be enough to bear it...

After some hesitation and contemplation, the Minister of Works had to answer in a low tone: "Your Majesty, it's not that the old minister is inaction, it's because the old minister is powerless and cannot fulfill the important task assigned by Your Majesty to the Ministry of Works..."

"A few months ago, in order to support the Tiger and Leopard Army in fighting against the Mongolian cavalry, the imperial court directly sent 90% of the craftsmen in the capital, and the best craftsmen, to Datong to help the Tiger and Leopard Army build firearms and fight against the invasion of the Later Jin and Mongols in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces..."

"Now, even if the old minister turned over the entire capital, he could find at most less than two thousand craftsmen. What's more important is that these two thousand craftsmen are all ordinary craftsmen with ordinary skills..."

"For them, it is already a great luxury to build firearms..."

"Under this situation, if you order them to build firearms, there is no speed at all. Therefore, creating 10,000 or 20,000 grenades in one month is the limit of the Ministry of Works... No matter how capable the old minister is, it is impossible for the old minister to transform grenades out of thin air."

Under the vague reminder of the Minister of Works, Emperor Chongzhen finally thought of an imperial edict issued a few months ago when the Mongolian cavalry invaded.

Of course, as an emperor who could not predict the future, when he issued an imperial edict and made a decision, Chongzhen would not have thought that a group of craftsmen with a low status and a large amount of money in the court would have such a great effect.

However, when he realized the role of craftsmen, it was already too late.

In order to reduce the burden on the court, the court not only gave the best craftsmen in the capital to the Tiger and Leopard Army, but also sent their families over. In this case, no matter how capable the court is, it is impossible to get the craftsmen who have settled in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces back...

"Repent... I feel very regretful..." This is the first thought in Emperor Chongzhen's mind at this moment.

At the same time, the hope that had just been ignited again due to a series of simplicity proposed by the Minister of War was once again shattered by this cruel fact...

At this time, the Minister of War, who was highly anticipated by Emperor Chongzhen, spoke again.

"Your Majesty, the old minister thinks that the concerns of the Minister of Works are not a problem at all... There are no craftsmen in the capital, so we can transfer from Shandong and Henan... The only difference is that it takes longer to build these firearms."

"But what the old minister wants to say is that the longer the encirclement and suppression of Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, the more beneficial it is to us..."

"Although the imperial court has temporarily suspended its attacks on Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, this does not mean that the assembly has been completed and the attacking troops gathered around Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces are stationed in place and waiting for military orders. Inaction..."

"We can order these garrisons while waiting for this period of time to further strengthen the blockade of Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces..."

"During the blockade, neither food, cloth nor salt that the people must eat cannot flow into the Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces. In this case, the longer we blockade, the less and less food and salt in the Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces will become... Without food and salt, will the people and tens of thousands of Tiger and Leopard Army soldiers still follow Wei Zheng to fight against the court?"

After Sun Chengzong's original report on the Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, the court officials in the hall knew in their hearts: with the number of military farms and salt reserves in the Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, at least in a short period of time, Wei Zheng did not need to worry about these two things.

Without shortage of food and salt, the turmoil of the people and the military as the Minister of War just mentioned is nowhere to be mentioned.

However, in order to rekindle hope and to make himself more longing for the future, no one pointed it out when facing the idea that the Minister of War was almost self-deception.

As for Emperor Chongzhen, who looked solemn and a little helpless, he saw dozens of civil and military ministers in the hall agreeing with this idea... He had already shattered his hope and ignited hope again.

Then, he made a loud decision to everyone: "Since that's the case, I decided to do what the Minister of War said... In order to wipe out the Tiger and Leopard Army in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, the cabinet and the other five departments must cooperate with the Ministry of War unconditionally... If I find out, anyone who has tampered with this matter related to the destiny of the Ming Dynasty, I don't mind destroying his nine tribes..."

After the imperial edict was issued, Shandong and Henan provinces began to draw craftsmen from various places to send them to the capital.

The various imperial troops scattered around the Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces immediately blocked the major transportation routes connecting Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces. Under the threat of Emperor Chongzhen's extermination of the nine tribes, in addition to the still unobstructed Yellow River waterways, the Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces can be said to have completely cut off contact with other provinces in the Central Plains and become an isolated island on the Central Plains.

However, what the court did not expect was that the court's series of actions against the Tiger and Leopard Army and Shanxi Provinces not only did not cause the people of Shanxi Province to be turbulent and fall into chaos. Instead, it gave Wei Zheng an opportunity to eliminate dissidents and turn Shanxi Provinces into their own bases.

Everyone in the court knew that it would be impossible to turmoil the people of Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces by blockade alone. Therefore, while the court blocked the two provinces, a large number of secret orders also entered the hands of all officials, gentry and landlords in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces who had connections with the court.

As for their task: it is to spread rumors in the two provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi, raise the prices of grain and salt, and give ordinary people a feeling that the tiger and leopard army is about to be unable to hold on. Thus, it will achieve the goal of shaking the hearts of the people and the morale of the two provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi.

The imperial edict for the Shanxi and Shaanxi Governor's Office, the imperial court further strengthened the blockade of Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, had just been issued, and the intelligence personnel of the Tiger and Leopard Army hidden in the capital quickly rushed to send the news to the Shanxi and Shaanxi Governor's Office and Wei Zheng.

After reading the information, Zhou Shuyuan first said: "Master, now it seems that after the crushing defeat in Laizhou Bay, the court already knew that it was afraid... strictly ordered the armies around the Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces to strengthen the blockade of our Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces. There was no court order to prohibit the attack on us without authorization, but they were afraid of our behavior..."

"In the eyes of the Xiaguan, the reason why the imperial court issued this imperial edict was that they were worried that the army they had worked hard to gather would once again lose tens of thousands of people for no reason under our attack..."

Wei Zheng nodded and agreed: "The military advisor is right. Among all the troops in the court, except for the border army, the other generals took them seriously."

"So, when we broke with the court, I said that for our Tiger and Leopard Army, what we are most worried about is not the attack of the court's army, but the blockade of our Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces..."

After saying that, Wei Zheng asked Zhou Shuyuan directly in front of him: "Military advisor, starting from the day we broke with the court, the imperial court has been blocking us for about ten days... During these ten days, are there any abnormal movements in the two provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi..."

"I don't believe that the more than 10 million people and thousands of civil and military officials in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces all support me and want to go the same way as me and continue to confront the court..."

Speaking of serious matters, Zhou Shuyuan's face immediately became serious.

Under Wei Zheng's gaze, he replied in a calm tone as much as possible: "Master, the lower official is preparing to report these things to you..."

"Intellect members scattered in the two provinces have reported to the officials: many officials and gentry in the two provinces have begun to hold secret gatherings. Some local officials are responding to the call of the court and starting to secretly train the army. After the time comes, they will attack us with the imperial army that attacked us inside and outside, and eliminate us..."

"How many people are there like this..." Wei Zheng frowned and asked in a deep voice...

Zhou Shuyuan did not answer immediately, but fell into deep thought.

After taking a deep breath, he replied to Wei Zheng: "For ordinary officials and gentry and businessmen, because there are too many personnel, the officials have not been counted. However, for officials, because they involve our rule and regimes over the Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, the officials have already made it clear..."

"After statistics, these officials are middle-level officials who do not have much ability and are not valued by the Governor's Office, and have basically no promotion. These people include two prefects and eight county magistrates... In addition, there are many former imperial officials who have no longer been officials..."

"Maybe the court gave them some great benefits. These officials who usually seem very pedantic actually dared to recruit servants privately to train soldiers and do things that are unfavorable to our Tiger and Leopard Army..."

"Preliminary statistics show that among the trained soldiers, there are four or five hundred people, and the small ones, there are more than a hundred people. All of them are combined, and there are as many as three thousand people..."

"In addition, these officials are basically scattered around Jinan. The officials suspected that these private activities were organized by the Shanxi patrol supporter Wu Baotian..."

Hearing this, a trace of murderous aura quickly emanated from Wei Zheng.

Zhou Shuyuan, who was sitting in front of him, seemed to realize something, and asked with a tentative look on his face: "Master, do you want to treat them?"

Speaking of this, Zhou Shuyuan directly made a neck wiping action to Wei Zheng.
Chapter completed!