King Lu has been firmly in charge of the Supervisory State for two months. The three firebrands of the new Supervisory State have not aroused any overt resistance, but have won the hearts of the beneficiary classes——

The aggrieved wealthy business class did not dare to resist, and at the same time they were tempted by the promise of the future business class's rising status. At the same time, the poor people were able to reap real benefits from the good governance of the abolition of three rates. This means that the rich did not resist, but the poor did. With more support, the situation can be said to be very good.

Under such a situation, if King Fu wants to make trouble again, the hope is extremely slim. But unfortunately, others may have a way out, but King Fu himself and Liu Liangzuo have no way out. They are absolutely unwilling to sit down and wait for death. .

It's like Zhuge Liang's famous saying in "Later's Discipline": If you don't attack the thieves, the king's career will also perish. If you sit back and wait for death, who will attack them?

Facing the tenth day of the fifth lunar month, King Lu of the State of Supervision once again sent an envoy to Fengyang, and King Fu Zhu Yousong once again chose to continue to complain of illness, and his ink was not moved forward.

The envoy didn't talk much. He only observed Fengyang for a day or two and then returned. He walked for three days and returned to Nanjing. After reporting clearly to the superiors, King Lu sent an imperial doctor as planned, and together with the envoy, the third time Go and urge King Fu to come and accept the treatment.

This can be regarded as giving enough face to the other party, and it also shows the court's cold treatment and merciful generosity, and further wins the hearts of the old Zhu family in the world - we have invited them three times, that is, those hypocrites in ancient times, that is, After saying three words and then accepting it, it is tolerant enough.

On May 19th, two imperial doctors followed the envoy to Fengyang again. This time King Fu simply came and closed the door behind him, and forcibly drove the envoy out.

In fact, before that, King Fu was already preparing to jump over the wall in a hurry.

He sent a series of letters to the only old Zhu family princes in the world who still refused to go around Nanjing like him, just like what King Wu Liu Bi did before the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion in the Han Dynasty to communicate with the kings. Exactly the same.

In this warning letter to rush the ducks to the shelves, King Fu mainly gave the following reasons:

"Although it is said that the late emperor's last words were spread through the mouth of Queen Yi'an, Queen Yi'an has been under arrest and Zheng's thieves are under house arrest in Hangzhou.

King Lu treated his uncle as his nephew and forced Queen Yi'an, who should have enjoyed the treatment of the Queen Mother, to live outside the palace, which is like a monk. It can be said to be unfaithful and unkind, and it is suspected of blocking the inside and outside, and manipulating edicts to disrupt life."

"Even if the late emperor had his last words and ordered King Lu to supervise the country, his original intention was just to ask King Lu to temporarily take charge of the situation when the army was in chaos, pending the appointment of the king, and King Yong fled south to take over the throne.

When I was imprisoned in early March, there was no news from the two kings of Ding and Yong. It was only more than a month since the north and south were blocked. It was still possible to escape and arrive. But now it has been more than three months since the two kings were cut off, which is thousands of miles away. , as long as you are alive, you should arrive.

What's more, the last piece of information about the two kings was that they had died in a massacre by thieves. Therefore, it can be concluded that the two kings are gone now, and the late emperor's original intention of helping the two kings take over the throne and temporarily setting up a prison to oversee the country has been exhausted. Today's plan should be re-evaluated based on ethics and ethics, and a new king should be elected to stabilize the world. How can we tamper with the original intention of the late emperor and steal the divine weapon in vain!"

Finally, of course Zhu Yousong could not help but point out the last crime of King Lu’s supervising regime:

.... King Lu has no queen, and has always been kind and cowardly, with no ambitions. Everyone in this clan knows that. Now he wants to have more power and harms his family members. It must be his son-in-law Zhu Shuren who hijacked the country to do it. Whoever I am The clan of the Ming Dynasty should punish the traitors and traitors, clean up the supervision of the country, and make him feel at ease and return to the virtuous king of Danbo.

There is nothing unusual about this one. Since they are all resisting in tandem to protect themselves, if there is no excuse, they have to find some excuse to describe King Lu as a puppet held hostage by a traitor.

What's more, if Zhu Shuren knew about it, he would not feel that he had been wronged in private. Even when there was no one around, he could admit to the world alone: ​​That's right! I am a sycophant who coerces the emperor and likes to support cowardly puppets. I am still the emperor. The number one thief! But who told the pig-raising princes of Lao Zhu’s family to do bad things!

…

Zhu Yousong's connection could not be very secretive. So while he was claiming illness and resisting, while allowing Liu Liangzuo to prepare frantically for defense, one out of ten of his secret messages to contact the kings were searched and intercepted by court officials -

Zhu Shuren was very alert to this kind of thing, so before leaving the capital, he advised his father-in-law to pay attention to letting local officials monitor the kings, especially those who could not resist.

After Zhu Shuren returned to Wuchang, Shen Tingyang was still in Nanjing after all. Even if he was only in charge of the household department, he would help his son pay attention to these potential risks, so this policy has been well implemented.

After intercepting these series of letters, Shi Kefa knew the priorities and did not immediately announce them officially in the court. Otherwise, the matter would be irreversible and would lead to more princes jumping over the wall.

Therefore, Shi Kefa still chose a small-scale discussion with only three people participating at the first time. He only submitted these secret reports to the supervisor Zhu Changzhen and asked Shen Tingyang to participate in the discussion. The other four ministers kept it in the dark for the first time.

After working together for the past two months, he also realized that Zhu Changzhen was a very benevolent and cowardly prince. He would listen to his subordinates on everything. He would never act arbitrarily, and he would be very humble when listening to the opinions of his cabinet ministers.

Shi Kefa gradually became more comfortable working with such a supervisory prince, and he liked to play alone and in pairs.

This time was no exception. The three people were very easy-going. Shi Kefa got straight to the point and explained the situation.

When Zhu Changzhen heard this, his first reaction was to be startled, but he quickly calmed down - because he was already mentally prepared for Prince Fu's nephew to cause trouble. He had been preparing for it for more than two months and sent people successively. I've asked you two or three times.

At this moment, it's nothing more than the second boot finally landing, which makes people's hearts skip a beat and actually relax.

Zhu Changzhen asked sadly: "What do you think, Qing Shi? We need to raise troops to attack him immediately... Alas, in the past two months, the situation in the north has deteriorated. I heard that the Tatars came to the Yellow River in April. Now it seems that Have you crossed the Taihang Mountains and entered Shanxi?

Even though the terrain of Shanxi is rugged, they may be able to hold off the Tatars for a few months, but it will only be delayed until autumn at most. If the Tatars move quickly, they may move south in autumn. Even if the intruders delay for a while, they will not be able to hold off until the cold winter approaches. If we use troops, at most next spring, our southern half of the Ming Dynasty will inevitably suffer from Tatar soldiers.

At this moment, I really don’t want to see our Han army killing each other, so it would be best if we can kill Prince Fu’s nephew with less killing.”

.... From Zhu Changzhen's words, it is not difficult to see that he is still concerned about current affairs in the past two months. Although he is incompetent in handling government affairs, at least he is not ignorant of the situation. He will report every day when the Ministry of War reports Look, at least let the eunuch read it to him.

Historically, Chongzhen died in March of the 17th year of Chongzhen's reign, and the Battle of One Stone allowed the Tatars to enter the customs in April.

In addition, after the Tatars arrived in Beijing, they had to fight among themselves to confirm the dominance of the Dorgon faction. Therefore, it was not until October of that year that the Tatars were able to completely conquer Hebei, as well as Henan and Shandong north of the old path of the Yellow River.

part.

Then came Azige and Duduo, who divided their forces to march south to deal with Li Zicheng and Nanming respectively. Because of Li Zicheng's procrastination, historically Li Zicheng also launched a counterattack from Kaifeng and Luoyang in Henan to Huaiqing Prefecture north of the old Yellow River route.

, forcing Dodo to take a roundabout way to deal with Azig, wasting several months, and the coldest season of winter was not conducive to using troops, so it was not until February of the following year that he officially attacked the hinterland of Nanming, and reached Huainan in April.

.

In this life, Chongzhen's death was nearly two months earlier, and Li Zicheng's remaining strength when he captured Beijing was still weaker than at the same time in history. Therefore, facing the Tatar attack, the time Li Zicheng could hold out would be slightly longer.

Shorter.

Based on this calculation, according to theoretical deductions, the Tatars may be able to launch attacks on Kaifeng, Luoyang and Shaanxi in Henan in July. In this way, it is very likely that the territory between Henan and Huaibei will be completely destroyed before October.

Then the commander-in-chief of the Qing Army's Southern Expedition might strike at Huainan before the coldest days of winter.

Although these things have not happened yet, people with a little military knowledge can roughly estimate the enemy's progress.

Even Shi Kefa, who was hesitant at the beginning and underestimated the Tatars in history, in this life because of Zhu Shuren's butterfly effect, because of Zhu Shuren's subtle reminder before, and because Li Zicheng was indeed better at what he did than in another time and space, even Shi Kefa has clearly realized:

The greatest threat to the Ming Dynasty has now become the Tatars! Not the thieves!

Of course, all actions of the Nanjing court must be planned around the rhythm of "the first wave of Tatar attacks may be faced in the late autumn and early winter of this year." Shi Kefa and Shen Tingyang also have a consensus:

If the first wave can be withstood, then this offensive is likely to be severely frustrated, forcing the Tatars to withdraw their troops and return to the north to prepare from scratch, so that the south can get at least another year and a half to breathe.

, tidy up the interior.

Because when the winter offensive comes, the longer it is delayed, the less conducive it is to the battle. It needs to be fought quickly. As long as a small defeat is needed, it can be sustained for a long time. Just like Cao Cao's Battle of Chibi, it was also the middle of winter. The horses in the south had no wormwood, and the cavalry troops had no time.

After a while I couldn't hold on anymore.

All the decisions made by the Nanjing court at the moment cannot hinder the core goal of "defending against the potential October offensive"! Otherwise, the world will be destroyed, and it will be useless to win a group of clans fighting!

Shi Kefa also had a thorough consideration of the current situation and had to make a prudent suggestion: "Your Majesty is very worried, and it is actually a blessing to the world. Although we can pacify King Fu with our troops and horses, the Tatars can fight the furthest

The troops and horses are near Huaiqing, Weihui and Linqing.

….If the generals of the Huaihe River and Huaihe River are in chaos because the imperial court takes action against King Fu, the Tatars are likely to change their goals and attack the remaining prefectures in Shandong and Huaibei in advance. As a result, the direct troops of the imperial court are engaged in civil war with the army that was bewitched and coerced by King Fu.

, which makes it even cheaper for the Tatars. We also need to be careful of King Fu, who, in order to save his life, directly surrenders to the Tatars and becomes a puppet for the Tatars.

From this point of view, it is really necessary to be cautious when attacking the Huaibei feudal town. It is better to wait and see first. If the Tatars go south, they might as well fight with the Tatars first. At least those unruly soldiers and horses will not be counted among the Han people.

In the middle of a fight.

In contrast, the imperial court should speed up the use of this opportunity, first capture all the other vassal kings who are in tandem with King Fu, and cut off their wings, so as to consolidate our Ming rear.

Especially looking at these letters from King Fu and what the envoys who captured and interrogated said, the Guangdong and Guangxi regions have the most vassal kings who are in tandem with King Fu, especially the 'King of Jingjiang', who I heard has some ideas. It would be better to let Zhu Shuren, the governor of Huguang, take advantage of the situation and use Huguang as the capital.

The troops marched south, and with lightning speed, they eliminated the collusion between the Guangdong and Guangxi princes.

The other provinces worked together to completely reorganize their internal affairs, and then deal with King Fu, so as to gain a head start and break down the hearts of the officials and generals who were held hostage in the north. They also showed mercy and only punished the culprits, leaving other Huaibei generals except Liu Liangzuo.

, and returned to the imperial court with peace of mind.

If that doesn't work, they can also offer some conditions to the generals including Liu Zeqing. As long as they insist on fighting on the Tatar flanks, even if they are in a state of separatism, the imperial court will praise them. Compare Wu Sangui.

I estimate that when the Tatars attack south, the Laiwu Peninsula in Shandong Province, located to the east of the Tai and Meng Mountains, will definitely not be taken seriously by the Tatars. Those places are surrounded by the sea on three sides and have mountainous areas that are isolated from the Central Plains.

On the transportation thoroughfare going south, as long as Liu Zeqing is willing to avoid it, the Tatars will probably not care about it even if they separatize the Shandong Peninsula.

As long as the imperial court controls this territory and prevents it from being occupied by the Tatars, the local money, food and population are not used by the Tatars, and his troops do not surrender and become traitors, it will be enough. In this way, the imperial court will have hope when the time comes.

By killing only Liu Liang's left wing, King Fu's rebellion will be resolved. The other generals who were coerced will still have a chance to fight for it! Minimize the damage of the civil war!"

Zhu Changzhen was completely relieved after listening to Shi Kefa's long and detailed analysis. After thinking about it carefully, he realized the beauty of Shi Kefa's strategy.

The biggest problem for the Lianghuai separatist forces is that they are now caught in the cracks. Whoever attacks first will suffer losses and may be forced to surrender to the enemy.

In contrast, the potential rebels in Guangdong and Guangxi or other deep south, and those who colluded with King Fu, can only be dealt with by the Nanjing court. If the Nanjing court does not take action, no one else will do it for them - we cannot count on it.

Did the Vietnamese invade Guangdong and Guangxi?

Therefore, to eat good food, of course you have to eat from the bowl and look into the pot. To take bitter medicine, you have to do the opposite. Eat the food in the bowl first. Maybe by the time the bowl is finished, you won’t have to eat the food in the pot yourself.

.... After a secret discussion between the three parties, Zhu Changzhen immediately made a decision and asked Shi Kefa to speed up the search for all the vassal kings who were colluding with Prince Fu to cause rebellion and refused to come to Nanjing.

In southern Zhili and Jiangxi, Shi Kefa took matters into his own hands, while Zhejiang was handed over to Zhang Guowei, the governor of Zhejiang, who was also an old friend of Shen Tingyang and Zhu Shuren.

In other areas of Huguang and Sichuan, there was actually no need to take action. The local vassal kings had already been killed by Zhang Xianzhong back then, and the remaining ones were actively sent by Zhu Shuren in the past two months.

So in the end only Guangdong and Guangxi were left, let Zhu Shuren advance with light troops, lead the troops with secret orders, prepare both hard and soft, and annihilate them with thunder!

…

After the secret decree was issued, all parties quickly took action. Several vassal princes who colluded with King Fu's letters were arrested and questioned before they could react. Those who dared to resist or escape were shot directly. This was also a special period, and the prince was in prison.

It was a special purpose, so there is no problem. These princes have already been caught with clear evidence of their participation in the great rebellion.

Because the news was well sealed, King Fu of Huaibei didn't know until the beginning of June that several of his fellow conspirators who he had secretly colluded with had been captured and killed.

He had no choice but to bite the bullet and on the fifth day of June, relying on the support of Ruan Dacheng and Liu Liangzuo, he hurriedly proclaimed himself emperor. Then he inevitably mentioned the reason for proclaiming emperor, as well as the fact that he had the closest blood relationship with the late emperor and was the former emperor's supervisor.

He said everything about the invalidity of his last words and tried to call on a group of people to follow him.

However, no one in the world who sees his strength clearly will follow him. Only Liu Liangzuo and Xu Dingguo are determined to be traitors and know that the Nanjing court will not forgive them. Even Liu Zeqing from Shandong Peninsula chose to wait and see.

.

Among the civil servants, only Ruan Dacheng, a scumbag of scholars and a great traitor in history, could be pushed out by local officials in Tongcheng and Huaining in later generations. They did not recognize him as the best local man. He chose to take the lead in supporting King Fu, and he was directly betrayed by King Fu.
To be continued...