In Beijing, it also snowed for the first time this year.
Under this snow, I don't know how many victims outside the city will freeze to death. It's pitiful. Maybe the Shuntian Mansion who collects the corpses the next day will know the exact number. Who knows.
In the East Nuan Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace, the charcoal fire was burning, and I couldn't feel the slightest chill, but Chongzhen's face was as gloomy as the sky outside. He looked at Zhou Yanru, Wen Tiren, He Ruchong, Wu Zongda, Zheng Yiwei, Xu Guangqi, several cabinet ministers and the Ministry of War The official Xiong Mingyu looked extremely unhappy.
Zhou Yanru's face was covered with sweat and his face was pale. He stared at the note on the desk. It was a six hundred mile urgent document sent by the Ministry of War half an hour ago. It was lost in Dengzhou.
During the meeting of the Celestial Empire the day before yesterday, the Cabinet and the Ministry of War still patted their chests and said that Dengzhou was impregnable and that the city had enough food and grass that the rebels would not be able to capture it even if they attacked it for a year. Fortunately, now, Dengzhou has fallen in just half a month.[
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He looked at all the ministers angrily and scolded: "This is not a good thing. The more I think about it, the more trouble I get. The bandits in the Central Plains have not been wiped out, but the rebels in Dengzhou have occupied an important town." , It’s become a climate! You tell me, who should I ask for guilt?”
"I accidentally accused Sun Yuanhua. I deserve to die..." Zhou Yanru was frightened, and Xu Guangqi behind him turned pale. At first, he strongly advocated to Zhou Yanru that his student Sun Yuanhua should be the governor of Denglai. Now Sun Yuanhua If something happens, there is no reason why he, the teacher, should not be implicated.
However, Chongzhen interrupted Zhou Yanru impatiently and said in a low voice: "It's not time to investigate the blame for this matter, we should find a safe way! Dengzhou has been lost. If Laizhou is lost again, Kong's thieves will become even more unstoppable. Cleaned up."
Speaking of this, he said bitterly: "That Sun Yuanhua was too lenient with his subordinates and failed in his supervision. He spent tens of thousands of taels of silver in gambling and didn't you know? Such a big mess happened, but he still hid it and refused to report it, trying to cover up his fault. Again. The management was erratic and the response was erroneous. He only wanted to be a good gentleman and recruit leniency. As a result, the rebels were in Shandong and Zhili was overwhelming. Lingxian, Linyi, Shanghe, Qingzhou, and Xincheng were captured. Wow! Now he is a prisoner of others. , no matter how clever the strategy is, it will be useless, the court will lose all face to him!"
Sun Yuanhua was a member of Zhou Yanru, and now that the emperor was angry with Sun Yuanhua, Wen Tiren was naturally secretly happy, but he opened his mouth to relieve Sun Yuanhua and said: "Your Majesty, I thought that Sun Yuanhua also had good intentions, and wanted to put down the mutiny first, atone for his crimes, and then report to the court. I'm afraid he might have expected that things have come to this point."
After hearing this, Chongzhen couldn't help but "hum", "That's not a thorough thought! Then why did you ask the rebels to capture the city? And that Yu Dacheng, when he heard about the mutiny, he was so frightened that he couldn't leave because of his illness. I Due to the strict order, I had no choice but to send the Chinese army Shen Tingyu and the general Tao Tingqin to lead the army to conquer. How could I have failed him before? He actually failed me like this!"
The more Chongzhen talked, the angrier he became. Leng Buding shouted outside: "Here comes someone!"
Hearing the emperor's call, the eunuch on duty trotted in. Chongzhen was furious and ordered him: "Ask Dongchang to bring Yu Dacheng to Beijing and throw him into prison!"
Chongzhen seems to be very angry. If Yu Dacheng is guilty, he should be interrogated by the Ministry of War and the Sanfa Division and detained in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment. He should not be detained in the imperial prison. However, all the ministers knew that the emperor was angry, and no one dared to dissuade him. The eunuch took the order and left.
Xiong Mingyu's eyelids twitched even more when he took over as the military official, but a lot of mess happened. He was afraid that one day he would be like Yu Dacheng and be thrown into prison by the angry emperor.
Chongzhenwu was furious and ordered: "Draw up a decree to remove Sun Yuanhua from the post of governor of Denglai. He will be escorted to Beijing and thrown into prison on the same day. The post of governor of Denglai will be taken over by Xie Lian, the chief envoy."
After hearing this order, everyone was stunned and no one dared to speak. Xu Guangqi just wanted to say a few words for the students, but he was Sun Yuanhua's teacher, so it was not his turn to speak. This kind of discussion must be avoided at all costs.
Otherwise, he would be ganged up by interested people, but he would have violated the emperor's taboo. I could only sigh in my heart, thinking that I would wait until the emperor's anger subsided before asking someone to rescue the students.
Chongzhen was angry, and when he saw the mute voices of the cabinet ministers, he couldn't help but get even more angry. He waved his hands to tell them all to leave, so as not to cause trouble here.
But He Ruchong suddenly stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, according to Wei Chen, the key problem in the situation between Shaanxi and Central Plains is that the officers and soldiers are not under the same command, and the orders are inconsistent. When I heard that at the beginning of the year, our heavenly troops actually drove the thieves into Sichuan, I always thought
The soldiers Cao Wenzhao, Ai Wannian, Deng Qi, Wang Chengen, Yang Jiamo and others all fought on their own and refused to obey the unified deployment. As a result, the traitors and soldiers ran around in disorder, and it was impossible to decide the outcome in a single battle."
Hearing this string of names, Chongzhen felt dizzy. He waved his hand and said, "Tell me the key points."
He Ruchong hurriedly said: "I think that Cao Wen, the commander-in-chief of Yansui, has made great achievements in suppressing the bandits and has always had prestige. He can order the generals in Shanxi and Shaanxi to fight in a unified manner, so that the bandit army can be successfully annihilated. In order to avoid different orders, each army will go their own way.
For war."
Chongzhen tilted his head and thought for a while, and it seemed to make sense, so he said: "It's accurate." Hong Chengchou went to Shaanxi to serve as the governor of the three provinces, and now he asked Cao Wenzhao to control the troops and horses in Shanxi and Shaanxi. According to the ability of the two, the Shanxi thieves
The chaos can be calmed down for a while. All the soldiers and generals on the Henan side have been transferred, and they are all big cities. They cannot be lost in a moment. Chongzhen calmed down a little, but then he had a headache again about Denglai. He looked at all the pavilions.
The minister asked: "Kong Youde is a man of law. Is there no one who can cure him?"
However, Zhou Yanru said: "Although Kong Youde rebelled, he was still a good general and his soldiers were strong. The ministers thought that it was better to appease Kong Youde than to suppress him, so he sent an angel to Dengzhou to persuade him to return to the court with kind words.
, you can also use his hand to fight against the Donglu."
As soon as he said this, Wen Tiren immediately retorted: "What the chief minister said is wrong! We must never appease the Kong thieves again!" Before Zhou Yanru could react, he couldn't wait to say to Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, I thought it was absolutely impossible.
Let’s start the strategy of appeasement again. I think that when the Confucius rebels started, the army was weak, and they should have been put down long ago. But now they have also occupied Dengzhou. The situation has evolved so far. I think it is not because of the incompetence of the officers and soldiers, but because of all the factors.
For the sake of appeasement!”[
After saying that, he took out a memorandum from his sleeve and handed it to the emperor, saying: "I have Laizhou garrison Xu Congzhi here, and Xie Lian jointly wrote a letter saying, 'As soon as the envoys are sent out, the attack on the city will become more urgent. This means that I should not lower the city.
Attack with anger. If you do, you will be attacked and besieged at will. I will hand over my hand and teach him with Laizhou, like Sun Yuanhua who went to Laizhou and then became his caretaker?
The rebels congratulated the ministers and waited for Yuanhua. Yuanhua had gone wrong, and the ministers let him go. Yingting gathered for a meeting, thinking that a piece of paper was worth a hundred thousand, and there were no reinforcements, so he was in charge. I should die as a fierce ghost.
Thieves will not dare to use the word "fu" to overwhelm the supreme, defeat the territory and insult the people's lives."
The general idea is that once you go to appease Kong Youde, he will rebel even more. Kong Youde has already attacked Dengzhou and arrested the governor Sun Yuanhua. Do you want me to follow in his footsteps? Some people in the court thought that a letter of appeasement could be worth one hundred thousand yuan.
He has a great army, so he will not send reinforcements. In this case, I will die, so as not to insult the people's life and betray the emperor's favor.
Xu Congzhi and Xie Lian's resentment towards the recruitment was evident on paper, and their attitudes were very obvious, that is, they refused to agree to the imperial court sending people to recruit Kong Youde again!
Chongzhen took it and looked at it, nodded solemnly, slapped the imperial case with a heavy palm, and said angrily: "What kind of appeasement is all just a scholar's opinion. As long as the thieves and soldiers are loyal and patriotic, they will never do such a thing." My father's beastly behavior has come! What else can you do to appease the beasts of your father? Don't you think my face has been shamed enough?"
The last words were probably directed at Zhou Yanru. Zhou Yanru was so shocked that he immediately lowered his head and his ears turned red.