"What my foster father said is right. Now is a time of great strife in the world. Of course, what we want to select are practical talents who can deal with the world. This article is good to read, but talking about some flashy scenic spots will not be helpful to the country's affairs. What does Gong Shangshu think?
How about it?"
"General Xiao Li!"
When Gong, Jiang Xueyi and others saw that Li Laiheng and his party were also here to check the status of the scientific examination papers, they all stood up and bowed their hands in salute.
Li Guo was still sitting in his original position. He turned his head and looked at Li Laiheng's figure up and down. Soon after, he smiled happily and said: "Laiheng has grown into one of the best generals in the army. He is so heroic and handsome as a young man."
Xiongqi, in the future a hundred years from now, His Highness and I will need your support to conquer this new country conquered by the Chuang Army."
Li Laiheng chuckled and sat directly next to Li Guo. He put his hand on Li Guo's shoulder, leaned into his adoptive father's ear and asked: "I heard that His Highness summoned his adoptive father alone again. Do you want to talk about breaking into the army and founding the country and the East?"
What about the Northern Expedition?”
"You are also a military commander now, so don't be so impetuous. Gong Shangshu is still here, please pay attention to some etiquette." Li Guo shook his head helplessly. Recently, he often worked with Gong to work together because of the preparation for the grand ceremony.
Every day, Gong was indoctrinated with empty talk about court etiquette. Now when he spoke, he sounded like a high-ranking official of the Ming Dynasty.
"Father, what on earth did Your Highness talk about?"
Since Li Zicheng led his troops to lift the siege of Taiyuan, although the generals of the Chu army were defeated in the battles of Tian Jianxiu, Datong and Yanmen, their originally high and conceited fighting enthusiasm was poured some cold water on them.
But not long after, the news that Sun Chuanting was attacked and killed by Wu Sangui at the Huailai banquet caused a sensation in the world. Most of the generals in the Chuang army only had experience fighting the Qin army and Sun Chuanting. Except for Li Laiheng and Liu Fangliang, all the other generals had no experience.
Lack of experience in fighting the Guan Ning Army and the Eight Banners Soldiers.
So in their minds, of course, "the death of Chuanting means the death of Ming Dynasty." Just like what Li Zicheng exclaimed when the news of Sun Chuanting's death reached Taiyuan, "The Ming Dynasty killed Sun Baigu and destroyed the Great Wall. From then on, the capital was like this."
Just like "picking up mustard ears", Sun Chuanting's death added a bigger firewood to the generals of the Chuang Army who had calmed down a little after the defeat of Datong and Yanmen.
Niu Jinxing originally advocated the Northern Expedition when he was in Kaifeng, and even believed that he should directly cross the Yellow River and take the capital from Hebei. Now that Sun Chuanting is dead and the biggest enemy of the Chu army no longer exists, Niu Jinxing naturally becomes more radical and repeatedly tries his best to
Advise Li Zicheng to immediately lead his troops to march eastward to Beijing.
There is also a group of newly surrendered civil servants, all of whom are vying to be the "Conglong Ministers" of the new dynasty. Of course, they are eager to capture Beijing quickly, so as to achieve a true change of dynasty and ensure their own princes for generations.
As for the military generals, although they are all nostalgic for their homeland in Guanzhong, most of them have experienced the glory of returning home in glory during the previous Western Expedition to aid Luo Rucai, and now they also want to fight in the capital to gain some new achievements they have dreamed of for many years.
Experience, new enjoyment.
But there were also some other people who firmly opposed the rash advance, and Li Guo was one of them.
Li Guo explained to Li Laiheng calmly: "Your Highness is enterprising, but I, as well as the Song military advisor, we all feel that the Ming Dynasty has joined forces with the Eastern captives, and the captive cavalry is rampant. Although Sun Chuanting is dead, the Qin army and the Guan Ning army
The military strength is still there, and the total number of soldiers in the Ming and Qing Dynasties should be 200,000. With such a strength, we have to mobilize all our troops in Shaanxi, Henan, Huguang, and Shandong to fight."
"Well, that's my opinion too. My adoptive father, Master Liu, probably has the same idea as us."
"Your Master Liu was seriously injured in the Battle of Baigou River. He has repeatedly told His Highness how powerful and ferocious the Eight Banners soldiers are. But there are always some people in the army who say that Chang Gong was too injured in the Battle of Baigou River.
Heavy, so once he was bitten by a snake, he was afraid of well ropes for ten years. It is said that he was afraid of enemies and captives."
Li Laiheng stared and said: "Do these people dare to say this directly in front of Master Liu? How many shots can they withstand Master Liu!"
"Laiheng, although the invading army is sweeping across the north, in all provinces, except for Huguang, which you have captured for a long time, the foundations of other places are not stable. Both Song and I think that whether it is Henan or Shaanxi,
Both Shanxi and Shandong need to appease the exiles, reward farming, and rest with the people.
Once these places have established a foundation and have sufficient troops and supplies, it will be a matter of course to capture Beijing. In fact, in most of the places occupied by the intruders, the lives of the people have not yet been fundamentally improved, and there is no real improvement.
The hearts of the people are attached to them. In many places, the local villages are also located between the official army and the rebel army. The two ends of the army may change their gates at any time.
I am too anxious to eat hot tofu. Before I can stand firm, I am rushing forward again. If we encounter difficulties, do we have to retreat all the way to Huguang?"
Li Laiheng was shocked and asked quickly: "Father, did you say this directly to His Highness?"
After Li Guo glanced at Li Laiheng, he said softly: "No. I just told His Highness frankly that when we started the uprising, it was just because we didn't have enough to eat and we really couldn't survive. Later, we suppressed the troops and calmed the people.
It is to save lives and relieve the people from dire straits, so it is booming in Henan. The people have been suffering for many years, and we must try to let them live a good life for a few days first, and then we can think about our own promotions, titles, awards and blessings.
.”
Gong stood aside and said with a smile: "Bodhisattva Jinghou is kind-hearted, compassionate towards the elderly and the poor. No wonder His Majesty values Jinghou so much."
Although Li Zicheng has not yet proclaimed himself emperor, a group of newly elected civil servants such as Song Qijiao and Gong have recently begun to address him with the titles of Long Live, Emperor, Holy Emperor, and His Majesty.
After all, the matter of proclaiming himself emperor has become settled in just these few days, and Li Zicheng himself was very happy to be called this.
But when Li Laiheng heard Gong calling Li Guo "Jinghou", his eyelids couldn't help but twitch, and he asked: "Gong Shangshu, this Jinghou is... Has the palace confirmed the titles of the commanders? It's just this
Marquis of Jing...who decided it?"
When Gong heard Li Laiheng's question, his expression changed slightly. He first took a step back, then bowed his head and said, "It was Niu Xiang who suggested it to Your Majesty. Niu Xiang said that the replacement commander, Zeng Guojun, went south to sweep Jingxiang. Since the Chuang Army
The etiquette system of naming the state as marquis has been established, so Prime Minister Niu proposed that the replacement commander should be named Marquis of Jing."
Li Guo didn't know why Li Laiheng specifically asked this question, but Li Laiheng snorted in a low voice and said nothing more. But Gong and Jiang Xueyi, both of whom were high-ranking officials in the Ming Dynasty, looked at Li Laiheng's expression.
He immediately understood that he had seen the hidden connotation of praise and blame in the title "Marquis of Jing".
Fortunately for Gong, Jiang Xueyi next to him was so frightened that he knelt down and bowed to Li Guo, Li Laiheng and his son hurriedly: "The title of Marquis of Jing really has nothing to do with the ceremonial government!"
Li Guo's face was full of doubts, while Li Laiheng helped Jiang Xueyi up and said with a smile: "Of course this family matter of mine has nothing to do with the Li government."
Gong said from the side: "Niu Xiang interfered in the general's family affairs... this..."
Li Guo was even more puzzled and asked Li Laiheng with a frown: "Laiheng, what does this mean?"
Li Laiheng smiled and said: "Father, let Gong Shangshu, who is familiar with etiquette, talk about this matter?"
Gong looked at his nose with his eyes, and his nose at his mouth. He was silent at first, until Jiang Xueyi pulled his sleeve, and then slowly explained: "There is a saying in the Book of Songs, calling Rong Di means cheating, and Jing Shu means punishment.
In the Song Dynasty, people in the old party first gave Wang Anshi the title Duke of Shu, and then changed it to Duke of Jing. The metaphor certainly had a very bad meaning. So from then on, few people used the words Shu and Jing as titles...
…This is probably because Niu Xiangwei didn’t study the Book of Songs carefully.”