The sky began to slowly change color, and a touch of red glow appeared in the west, bathing the entire city of Beijing in the glow.
More than a dozen porters carried two dark green sedans and hurriedly came to the right gate of Chang'an on the west side of Chengtian Gate and stopped. Fan Fucui and Yang Sichang walked out of the sedans.
The two of them had heavy expressions on their faces. After looking at each other, they sighed in unison and then walked into the imperial city together. In the Ming Dynasty, the cabinet was located on the east side of the Meridian Gate. To keep confidentiality, no one except the cabinet ministers was allowed inside.
However, Fan Fucui and Yang Sichang, one of whom was the first assistant and the other was the second assistant, naturally did not have such concerns. However, it was not that easy to meet the emperor. They had to submit a sign asking for an interview and then wait for a reply.
After the two handed over the sign, they sat together in the cabinet. Although they sat opposite each other, neither of them was interested in talking. They just sat silently on the stool and drank the tea brought by the attendant.
After about a meal, a eunuch came out and told the two of them to come to the platform to meet the driver. The two hurriedly got up and followed the eunuch into the palace. When he walked from the west side of Huangji Hall, he passed through the right side of the palace.
When he walked through the door and walked to the platform, Emperor Chongzhen was already sitting on the Panlong throne waiting. Behind the throne there were eunuchs holding umbrellas and fans, and there were many eunuchs standing on both sides of the throne. Two bronze crane incense burners as tall as one person were emitting fine smoke.
, the hall was filled with strange fragrance, and outside the hall stood two rows of ceremonial guards in royal robes. The honor guards in their hands shone with golden light in the sunset. The two of them performed the usual salute at Danbu, holding ivory ceremonial tablets in their hands and lowering their heads.
He knelt on the ground paved with white marble, waiting for questions. When they heard the eunuch's order telling him to come to the palace, the two of them quickly got up, bowed their waists and climbed the steps from the left, walked into the palace, and saluted again, not even daring to raise their heads.
Come.
Yang Sichang felt very uneasy. This time, Chongzhen did not summon the two people in Nuanxiang Pavilion, but summoned them on the platform. Obviously Chongzhen did not want to treat what he was about to say as a trivial matter. As expected, Chongzhen soon died of exhaustion.
Another suppressed voice sounded in front of the two of them.
"Yang Sichang, Fan Fucui, I invite you to come here this time. You two must already know what is going on, right?"
The two said in unison: "I already know it!"
"The thieves stole Shaanxi the year before last, and now they have led hundreds of thousands of thieves to invade our important territory of Gyeongsang Province. I...I am really ashamed of my ancestors in the Ming Dynasty." After saying this, Chongzhen's eyes immediately became red.
It turned red.
Seeing that the emperor was about to shed tears, Yang Sichang and Yang Sichang were so frightened that they knelt down again. They kowtowed and said, "I deserve to die for my crime, and I deserve to die for my crime!"
"Okay, get up." Chongzhen shook his head gently: "The corruption of the country is not my fault, nor is it entirely the fault of the ministers, but God's will, God's will! Once upon a time, the Tatars invaded our Ming Dynasty.
It has become a common thing, but now even a group of bandits who have been driven into desperation by me dare to invade our important territory of Gyeonggi. Is the Ming Dynasty really going to perish in my hands?"
Listening to the unprecedented frustration and confusion about the future of the Ming Dynasty in Chongzhen's sentences, Fan Fucui, as the chief assistant, naturally shouldered the primary responsibility and said with choked eyes: "Long live my Lord. Don't be so sad.
The thieves and bandits are just a bunch of mobs. Our capital city has high walls and thick walls, and there are still hundreds of thousands of soldiers guarding the capital. What can any bandit bandit do to me?"
Listening to Fan Fucui's words, Yang Sichang just stood silent. Now even the vendors selling sesame cakes in the capital know that the old soldiers in the capital camp may not even be able to defeat the rogues on the street. If they can rely on them, sows can.
Shang Shu. Nowadays, the only one who believes that the Beijing camp still has fighting capacity is Chongzhen, the emperor who was kept in the dark.
But Fan Fucui said this for the time being, and Yang Sichang listened to it as a joke, but if he took it seriously, he would be really stupid.
After hearing what Fan Fucui said, Chongzhen's hanging heart relaxed a little, but then he asked: "Although Fan Aiqing's words are reasonable. But the capital camp has not experienced a battle for a long time, and now the bandits are coming fiercely, so I still can't rest assured."
Ah." At this point, Chongzhen faced Yang Sichang and said: "Yang Aiqing, you have always known military affairs. Do you think you can send troops from Xuanda and Shanxi to the capital to serve the king?"
Yang Sichang thought for a while and shook his head with a wry smile, "Your Majesty, Tatars are frequently in Shanhaiguan, Guan Ning, Xuanda generation, Shanhaiguan commander-in-chief Wu Sangui, Xuanda commander-in-chief Yang Guozhu and others are still shouting for help.
Soldiers need pay, and it would be very difficult to dispatch them to serve the king now."
Having said this, Yang Sichang shook his head and said after a while: "If we want to mobilize soldiers and horses from Xuanda and Shanxi to help, we must raise a large amount of grain, grass and silver. But now the treasury has no money.
this......"
Chongzhen said solemnly: "My dear, if I insist on mobilizing those troops and horses for reinforcements, how much silver will be needed?"
Yang Sichang thought for a while: "If we really want to mobilize those troops and horses to come to the rescue, I'm afraid we won't be able to mobilize them with less than one million taels of silver."
"One million taels of silver!" Chongzhen looked shocked, "Why do you need so many taels of silver?"
Yang Sichang smiled bitterly and said: "Your Majesty, there are so many trivial matters that need to be prepared to mobilize tens of thousands of troops from all over the world. One million taels of silver is an amount that the veteran can only get by cutting off some expenses."
Chongzhen stood up and kept pacing beside the dragon chair. Finally he stopped and looked at the sunset outside the hall, and whispered: "One million...one million."
After Chongzhen stopped, he sighed softly and shook his head: "Now that there is no money in the national treasury and my internal treasury, what can I do if I join the job?"
"How about we issue an edict here and order all the people to mobilize their troops?" Fan Fucui on the side also provided an idea.
"I'm afraid it's not appropriate!" Yang Sichang frowned and said: "The emperor has summoned the world's soldiers twice in recent years, but those were only issued when the Tatars invaded the country. If even a few thieves have to be summoned,
If the king of soldiers and horses in the world say that he is diligent, wouldn’t it be a joke for the people of the world to look at the court?”
"This won't work, and that won't work either. Then what do you want me to do? Do you just rely on the soldiers and horses of the Beijing camp?" Chongzhen was angry. He got up and glared at the two cabinet ministers in front of him. His patience these days
Already exhausted by the bad news, when he heard his two cabinet ministers saying that this was not possible and that was not possible, the pent-up anger couldn't help but burst out immediately.
"Pfft!" Yang Sichang and Fan Fucui knelt on the ground again and bowed their heads silently. Looking at their pitiful looks, Chongzhen shouted angrily: "What kind of cabinet ministers are you? You can't even think of a charter. What use do I need from you?"
If you can’t think of it anymore, just keep kneeling!”
After saying that, Chongzhen sat on the dragon chair angrily, an abnormal blush appeared on his pale face, and stared at the two people kneeling on the ground. Wang Chengen, who was standing behind Chongzhen, looked at it with a sigh.
Chongzhen's temples are gray, and now Chongzhen, who is only thirty years old, has half of his hair white. In order to cover his gray hair, Chongzhen always wears a hat except when sleeping. Only he and Gong who grew up with Chongzhen can do this.
Only then did the empresses in the room realize how miserable the Ninth Five-Year Master of the Ming Dynasty in front of them felt.
After kneeling for a long time, Yang Sichang sighed lowly and said: "Your Majesty, I have an idea at this time, but I still need the Emperor's consent." After saying that, Yang Sichang closed his mouth again.
Chongzhen became anxious and shouted: "Yang Sichang, since when did you become a new daughter-in-law? Tell me!"
"That's what the old minister said." Yang Sichang raised his head and coughed twice before saying: "Your Majesty, we can't move the soldiers and horses on the nine sides, but we still have soldiers and horses in the south of the Yangtze River. Hong Chengchou is doing both at the moment.
Governor of Jiangnan, he has been to Jiangnan for more than a year, and his troops should be almost trained. The emperor can immediately issue an order to Hong Chengchou to lead his troops northward immediately, and take a boat along the canal to reach the capital, so that our reinforcements can
Will it be available soon?"
"yes!"
Chongzhen slapped his thigh and said in surprise: "Yes, Hong Chengchou stayed in Jiangnan for more than a year and took away my Shenji Battalion. It has been more than a year now, so he must have trained one for me.
The elite soldiers are here, yes, bring Hong Chengchou!"
After Yang Sichang's reminder, Chongzhen finally remembered that he had sent his Minister of War to Jiangnan to train troops more than a year ago. He must have been able to train an elite army with the wealth of Jiangnan.
Seeing Chongzhen who was much more excited, Yang Sichang swallowed his saliva and then said bravely: "Your Majesty, I have something to say, please bear with me."
"Well, tell me!"
Chongzhen, who was becoming excited, did not notice Fan Fucui, who was kneeling on the ground, looking at the ground expressionlessly, nor did he notice Yang Sichang, whose face became a little strange. Yang Sichang was still immersed in his imagination, hesitated for a moment, and secretly thought in his heart.
He complained, but he had to pretend to be calm and said: "But the channel of the canal passes through Jinan, which is Pang Gang's territory. If he cuts it off halfway..."
Breathing seemed to have stopped... There was a deathly silence in the hall. Only then did Chongzhen remember that Shandong was no longer the territory of the Ming Dynasty. The guy named Pang Gang had already occupied it.
Think of it as his own kingdom. If Hong Chengchou led a mighty army across the river, he would use a few thick iron cables to barricade the river in a slightly narrow place, and then go to the river again.
Dozens of Hongyi cannons were installed on both sides of the strait. The consequences of this made Chongzhen sweat drop from his head.
Chongzhen gritted his teeth, "Pang Gang, it's Pang Gang again, is he born to fight against me?"!~!
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