The Forbidden City was as quiet as a cemetery, and the news about the loss of Huaiqing Mansion could not cause a stir. During this period of time, bad news came one after another, and Emperor Chongzhen's mood became more and more perverse and vicious. Only a few days ago, there was
A eunuch who wrote the wrong word was beaten to death, and today another palace official was punished.
The emperor's mood worsened day by day, and the atmosphere in the Forbidden City became darker and darker day by day.
"It's because of my bad behavior that I'm worried about the whole world..."
When Chongzhen heard the news of the fall of Huaiqing yesterday, his mood was not as bad as it is today, because he knew that since Sun Chuanting had supervised the troops back to Beijing and King Qin, it was impossible for local officials alone to stop the invading army from crossing the Yellow River.
But when he heard the news that the two Donglu armies had arrived near the capital and even approached Changping, his mood immediately collapsed. The people and the place fell to the hands of the invading army. This has happened many times, but the ancestors
Tombs and mausoleums are threatened, but not so often.
Especially when Chongzhen thought about the past events of Fengyang being burned, Chengtian being trapped, and the harassment in Changping. Now, would his own mausoleum be humiliated again?
He said to Wang Chengen with tears in his eyes: "Since the death of Yang Sichang, there has been no one to supervise the division, and there is no one available for the ministers of the imperial court. How can we be where we are today!"
Without waiting for Wang Chengen's careful reply, Chongzhen scolded all his assistants and ministers again, citing their improper scheduling and his incompetence. What Chongzhen hated most now was actually Sun Chuanting, who failed in the military campaign in Henan, but he knew
Now Sun Chuanting's army is the last mobile force that the court can rely on, and it is not convenient to directly scold and punish.
In this way, I have no choice but to vent my anger on others.
Chongzhen rummaged through the memorials for a while and decided to use the excuse of losing the Huaiqing Mansion to arrest Wang Han, the governor of Henan, and Su Jing, the governor of Henan, and imprison him. He thought that the Ministry of War must bear responsibility for the failure of the anti-banditry and anti-capitalist military operations, but
Chen Xinjia, the Secretary of the Ministry of War, is still responsible for the important task of secretly negotiating with Donglu and cannot be ignored.
It happened that Feng Yuanbiao, the minister of the Ministry of War, repeatedly accused Emperor Chongzhen of making mistakes in the use of troops. The emperor decided to use him as a channel to vent his anger. He summoned his second assistant Chen Yan and hinted to him his dissatisfaction with Feng Yuanbiao's repeated mistakes.
In order to obtain the position of chief assistant, Chen Yan was trying his best to figure out Emperor Chongzhen's thoughts. As soon as he got the emperor's instructions, he immediately launched a trick to add insult to injury. He proposed that the Chuang army had captured Huaiqing and was endangering Hebei. Sun Chuanting had returned to the army to protect the capital. It was necessary
A man who was familiar with military affairs went to the vicinity of Huaiqing to prepare for the counterattack of various armies.
Naturally, the choice of governor fell on Feng Yuanbiao.
Feng Yuanbiao was not afraid of taking up the post in a critical situation. However, he also pointed out that there were no troops available under the governor of Baoding. Wang Han, the governor of Henan, and Su Jing, the governor of Henan, had just been arrested and questioned, and their camps were dispersed.
, there are still many people who have defected to the Chuang Army, and it is estimated that there are only one or two hundred people left.
Although there are many soldiers and horses in Shanxi, they must guard the key passes in northern Shanxi and cannot move lightly. There are too few troops that can be used to maneuver southward.
Feng Yuanbiao believed that if he wanted to go south to supervise the troops to fight against the Chuang Army's Northern Expedition, he would have to select 10,000 capable soldiers from Wu Sangui, Tang Tong, Ma Ke and other ministries to truly block the enemy's northward march.
Feng Yuanbiao's statement is quite reasonable. After all, going south alone will not help at all. What's more, both the west and east of Beijing are now threatened by the Qing army. Going south alone can't even guarantee personal safety.
But to Chongzhen, these words were completely perfunctory. The emperor thought that Feng Yuanbiao's words were enough to convict him, so he secretly instructed Chen Yan to attack Feng Yuanbiao because he was afraid of the enemy. Secondly,
Feng Yuanbiao was imprisoned for questioning the day after.
Emperor Chongzhen was like Yixiang, a gambler who lost his sights. His temper became more and more extreme and fierce. Whenever bad news was delivered to the capital, he would vent his anger on the palace officials.
and ministers.
Among all the endless bad news, only Sun Chuanting finally sent him good news that made him reluctantly relieved. Because of this good news, Chongzhen endured his anger and did not arrest Sun Chuanting for the crime of defeat in the Battle of Xin'an.
The memorial sent by Sun Chuanting described the situation after he marched near Beijing. According to him, when the Ming army encountered a main force of the Donglu troops in Yizhou, just when everyone was preparing for a hard battle, the Qing army
However, the army ceased its activities and sent envoys to the Ming army's camp, where they released more than 100 captured civilians and returned two carts of goods.
Chongzhen was pleasantly surprised when he saw that the Qing army actually returned two carts of goods. Knowing that Chen Xinjia's secret negotiations and Ma Shaoyu's mission had played a role, he hurriedly continued reading.
After the Qing army sent back some prisoners and property, they carefully hung up the no-war sign and camped opposite the Ming army's camp to rest for the whole night. Sun Chuanting was originally worried that the Qing army would make a sneak attack at night, so he told Gao Jie and others to be careful all night
Be careful, but it turned out that the Qing army really had no intention of fighting the Ming army. After dawn, the Qing army once again sent envoys to return the same amount of people's property as last time.
It's just because Sun Chuanting has already written in the document to Chongzhen that he believes that the turning point for the army to suppress the bandits lies in negotiating a peace with the Eastern captives. After the peace is negotiated, Wu Sangui and other troops who originally defended the Qing army can be mobilized to go south.
It is possible to defeat the intruder and save the day.
But Sun Chuanting didn't know that Chongzhen had come up with bolder ideas based on this peace negotiation, which went further than Sun Chuanting's ideas. Therefore, Sun Chuanting was still cautious about the Qing army, but he also reported to the capital what the Qing army was doing now.
He doesn't seem to want to fight.
Chen Xinjia and Ma Shaoyu had secretly sent the brand-new plan to Shengjing. After Chongzhen received Sun Chuanting's memorial and saw the sudden change of actions of the Qing army, he understood that Chen Xinjia's secret strategy must have played a role.
He was so happy that he asked Wang Chengen to get a pen and paper, and with a free hand, he wrote four powerful characters on the golden paper. When Wang Chengen saw the four characters with the corner of his eye, his eyes widened and he was filled with joy.
There was an expression of disbelief on his face, but he knew Chongzhen's temperament, so he immediately turned back to a calm expression without showing any surprise.
Chongzhen shook the paper, then raised it halfway in the air, and read his pen and ink again under the sunlight. The color of the sunlight was a light golden yellow, and although it was winter, it made Chongzhen feel a strong sense of warmth.
He raised his head and looked outside the door, and suddenly saw frost leaves all over the ground. The east wind blew by and swept away the frost leaves on that area. There were still some ice and snow from the previous day that had not completely melted under the steps, reflecting the reflection.
The sun shines brightly and the Forbidden City is covered in silver, revealing the greatness and beauty of this palace.
All this seems to indicate that the fate of the Ming Dynasty has not yet reached an irreversible turning point.
Chongzhen thought this way... There is still hope for ZTE. No matter what, no matter what means I use, I will not let the Ming Dynasty be destroyed in my hands.
He was in a trance while thinking, and his hands suddenly relaxed. Everything seemed to be a scene arranged by the gods. The winter wind blew, and the wind that came in from the doors and windows actually blew up the yellow paper.
The four big characters were also stirred up by the winter wind, rising and falling suddenly, making it unclear. Wang Chengen quickly lowered his head, he did not dare to look at the four characters on the paper. Chongzhen stared at the yellow characters in the wind.
Paper, he kept looking at it in a trance. In his eyes, he seemed to see the scene of the army retaking the Central Plains and Huguang. He could even clearly imagine every scene of the army retaking Luoyang in great detail.
call……
The wind stops and the paper falls.
The yellow paper fell at Chongzhen's feet. As long as he took one step, he could step on the four big characters under his feet.
Emperor Chongzhen thought for a while and said softly: "Regardless of the land, the common people, the gold, silk, and children, all belong to the Ming Dynasty. What the intruders want is the country and the country of the Ming Dynasty. What the Donglu want is to correct their names and donate to Liao and Korea...
...Which one is more important? Which one is more important?"
He waved his hand, his sleeves vibrating in the wind, and then he picked up the yellow paper very carefully and looked at it again.