On weekdays, you sit down and talk about your heart, but when in danger, you die to repay the king.
He Tengjiao belongs to this kind of traditional Ming Dynasty official. He is similar to Shi Kefa in nature. He is extremely loyal. Even if he is captured, he will never surrender. He will absolutely impassionedly scold the thieves and die for justice. Even in a dilapidated situation, he can still find ways to maintain his position.
situation.
However, they are very traditional. For example, they firmly believe that officials and traitors are incompatible, and have always maintained a strong class stance. For example, they will always maintain the gentry class from which they were born, and they are even more sworn to the so-called eunuchs and traitors.
stand.
Even if the country is about to be destroyed, we must not forget to eliminate dissidents and persist in party struggle.
People like Ruan Dacheng and Ma Shiying who are flexible are completely different types of people. Of course, people like Qian Qianyi cannot be said to be the same.
Zhu Yihai loves and hates officials like He Tengjiao. What he loves is that they are die-hard and tough-necked, and their position will not change no matter how you induce or threaten them, but he hates these people for their stubborn temper and their inability to change. Zhu Yihai took He Tengjiao away.
He was summoned from Huguang to serve as a bachelor in the DPRK.
It is true that I want him to have merit, but I don't want him to do bad things if he stays in Huguang.
But after he entered the court, his bad temper did not change. He still talked about class and loyalty all day long. He always wanted to liquidate Ma Ruan and other so-called traitors, obedience and rebellion, etc.
Under his insistence, the small court even started to engage in intra-party fighting, which made Zhu Yihai very dissatisfied.
At the foot of Hangzhou City, Zhu Yihai, who had been besieging the city for half a month, was distracted and talked to He Tengjiao.
I didn't have time during the day, so I arranged to talk at night.
"Your Highness summons you? Tonight?"
He Tengjiao usually disliked Zhu Yihai's preference to summon ministers in private to give due diligence, and even always liked to summon him in the middle of the night to talk all night long. Therefore, he often joked that the supervisor had summoned someone to sleep with him again.
Unexpectedly, it was his turn to go to bed today.
"Well, His Highness said that he wanted to have a good talk with He Gebu."
"Can't we talk during the day?"
"Your Highness is not free during the day."
Du Fang, the general manager of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, smiled and replied, He Tengjiao was helpless in the face of this upstart in the inner court. This person was originally an old man who was a close servant of King Lu, with a humble rank, but because of his loyalty and diligence, he was now appointed as the general manager of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs established by the Ministry of Internal Affairs almost controlled the internal money purses of the supervising country. The Dinghai Shipping Department and even the Imperial Merchant and Imperial Village outside were also placed under their control.
"I also ask the Ministry of Hege to prepare in advance and come in on time."
"It's best for the pavilion to take a bath and incense in advance. It would be best if you can prepare a set of pajamas." Du Fang finished speaking and left.
He Tengjiao was left there in a daze, taking a bath and incense in advance, and preparing pajamas?
This is really about sleeping on your own.
Night falls.
Outside the city of Hangzhou, the military barracks are now well built. Zhu Yihai is stationed in a town on the outskirts of Hangzhou. He is guarded by groups from Yulin and Qianniu towns, guarding him like an iron barrel.
He Tengjiao was led all the way by the chamberlain and underwent numerous inspections.
There is a feather forest outside the city, a thousand oxen entering the city, and then there are three guards of Qinxunyi, and finally there are a thousand oxen with swords, waist test cards and fish test talismans.
The majestic Grand Master of the Ministry of Government, with an unbelievable face, insisted on showing the fish charm made under the supervision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs under the supervision of the new order of the country.
Although this kind of goldfish charm imitating the goldfish bag of the Tang Dynasty does add to the official's style and status, He Tengjiao was still very unhappy after passing the test once, especially after he made himself smell good and hugged a set of pajamas.
, becoming more and more impatient.
I don’t know how many checkpoints I passed, but I finally arrived at a large mansion where the supervisor was located.
Zhu Yihai summoned him in the study room of the mansion.
Du Fang met He Tengjiao outside, took him to the side room first, and asked him to change into his pajamas. He even stood there and watched him change his clothes intently.
"Eunuch Du, don't you doubt that I have a knife hidden in my body?" He Tengjiao couldn't hold it back.
"After many inspections by the cabinet, it is impossible to bring even a needle on the body to the imperial court. We are just loyal to our duties. Please forgive me."
He Tengjiao put on her pajamas, untied her hair as required, tied it with a ribbon at the back of her head, and followed her to the study.
"Your Highness, the He Ge Department has arrived."
Zhu Yihai responded with a smile, "Mr. Ge, please come in."
As soon as He Tengjiao came in, he saw that Zhu Yihai was similar to him. He was also wearing loose pajamas. At first glance, they were made of Huzhou silk. They were light and cool, and his hair was tied into a ball.
"Sit down, Mr. Ge."
The room was very bright with candles lit. He Tengjiao sat down and Du Fang exited. There were only two people left in the room. He Tengjiao suddenly felt that the atmosphere was a little strange and he always felt uncomfortable.
"There is no need for the cabinet minister to be nervous. The purpose of summoning him at night is to discuss matters in a relaxed atmosphere."
There is a bamboo couch in the room, which is very spacious. There are a few tables in the middle and a futon on each side. I can sit down and chat.
"In recent times, I have paid close attention to the various memorials given by Mr. Ge, as well as his usual remarks."
"But what did I say wrong?"
"It's not that what Mr. Ge said is wrong, it's just that it's not in line with the current situation. In the face of a powerful enemy, we must unite everything to fight against the enemy, and we must be sincere. For example, if we recruit Shunying and others, Professor
When people are given positions, they are not just showing off, but really accepting them. Therefore, the Battle of Jingzhou and the Battle of Wuchang are the key battles for our restoration of the Ming Dynasty. We do not mean to sit back and watch tigers fight, but to sit back and watch them fight.
this is not right."
He Tengjiao was also upright, "Your Highness, I always think that it is expedient for the moment to recruit bandits and so on, but I still cannot trust these people and must be on guard. Now that the war between Jingxiang and Xiang has begun, I think it is appropriate to let them fight with the Tatars."
, This is a good thing. Wear them first, and you can also see whether they sincerely surrender. Now in the land of Jingxiang, Jianghan, we still have limited strength, especially if we are far out of reach. If we use that precious power too early,
If I put all my money into it, when it’s all gone, I won’t own this Jingxiang land.”
These days, He Tengjiao has been mentioning this matter openly and secretly, saying that Zhongzhen and Zhongwuzhong should open Zhongyong to several outer towns and let them fight with the Qing army, and then go to the imperial court after finishing the fight.
Not only do they need to use practical actions to prove their loyalty and reliability, but they also take the opportunity to weaken them, so that the court can truly have more say.
This statement also won the support of many people.
Many people came forward to express their support, which forced Zhu Yihai to summon He Tengjiao to have a good chat with him.
"Try? What to try? People's hearts cannot stand the test. If the imperial court tries Zhongzhen, Zhongwu and other camps like this, bad things will inevitably happen. When the good situation in Huguangdao collapses, who will bear the final bitter consequences? It is the imperial court.
!”
"In the Cabinet, after the death of Li Zicheng, the Pseudo-Shun camp collapsed, and the Shun camp was left without a master. They were caught in the cracks, and it was difficult to survive. If they were willing to accept our care, they had no way out, but in fact we also need them. Huguang
Do we still have any military strength now? No, you know very well the combat strength of the thirteen towns people you and Du Qing originally formed. It seems to be tens of thousands, but if we really want to fight, it is impossible.
People like Wang Chao Xian and Zhang Xianbi are just trumped-up Zuo Liangyu and Fang Guoan. They cause great harm to the people but cannot fight."
"For the Huguang war, we still have to rely on the Loyalty Battalion and others. They are the backbone of the force, and Huguang is in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. If we want to hold down the Ming Dynasty's flag, we must have the upper reaches to contain the Tatars. In other words, if our side goes well, we can really
To recapture the south of the Yangtze River, judging from the actions of various imperial courts that favored the south of the Yangtze River in history, to defend the Jiangnan, one must defend the Huaihe River, and to defend the Yangtze River, one must defend Jingxiang.
Zhu Yihai pushed a cup of tea in front of He Tengjiao, "In the past few months, we have taken advantage of the Tatars. Their strategic misjudgment gave us a chance to breathe. However, we should all clearly see that, for now,
There is still a huge disparity in power between the Tatars and us, this is an indisputable fact."
"We concentrated all our forces to besiege Hangzhou, but after so many days of siege, you have seen the results. Even if we defeated Hangzhou and caught it by surprise, and even Zhang Cunren abandoned the city and fled, a mere Tian Xiong would guard it with three thousand green troops.
Hangzhou, we have tens of thousands of people, but we are still as hard to attack as a dog biting a hedgehog. It is just a moat outside the city. How many days have we been filling it in?"
"We have more artillery than the Tatars and more soldiers than the Tatars, but the Tatars defended the city and still relied on the tall city walls to kill and wound many of our people."
He Tengjiao said, "That is because His Highness is merciful and does not want to cause more casualties. Otherwise, if we attack with all our strength, Hangzhou may have been captured by now."
"Are you going to risk your life? Although Ci is not in charge of the troops, if we fight as you say, with the current strength of our imperial camp, if we want to capture this city forcefully in a short period of time, we will probably suffer tens of thousands of casualties, even if we win Hangzhou
, I think it’s not worth it. Now that we are facing the Tatars, it is more important to accumulate strength while weakening the Tatars’ strength. It is not cost-effective or even wrong to attack a fortified city and exchange countless lives for the city.
.Without people, how can we defend this city if the Tatars come back at any time?"
"The siege of Hangzhou will continue. Next, we will mainly focus on civil engineering work, digging trenches under the city, using artillery and blasting, and strive to break the city with few casualties. There are only 3,000 green battalions in Hangzhou now, so we don't need to
Too many troops are wasted here."
"Actually, I'll tell you the truth. At this stage, I have no plans to hold on to Hangzhou after taking it. All operations now are based on seizing the initiative and consuming the enemy, rather than fighting for the city."
He Tengjiao was shocked.
"Hangzhou can be won but not defended?"
"It's not time to guard."
He Tengjiao was silent. He couldn't keep up with Zhu Yihai's pace. A big city like Hangzhou, and it was right opposite Shaoxing, but he didn't defend it even if he took it?
But for Zhu Yihai, at this stage, he mainly relies on taking the initiative to attack, finding openings for the enemy, and annihilating his troops. As for the city, it is a dead end. To put it bluntly, if you are reluctant to hold on, you will fall into strategic passivity.
The Tatars still have a fighting advantage, so they are eager to fight a decisive battle of attack and defense.
"If we don't defend Hangzhou, what if the Tatars come to attack Shaoxing?"
"If the Tatars really come to attack Shaoxing, just give it to them. We can retreat temporarily to avoid the edge."
"But, but," He Tengjiao was so angry that he was speechless.
Zhu Yihai said calmly, "When the Tatars come to attack Shaoxing, we will go to attack Nanjing. The Tatars only have so many soldiers. If they gather together to attack us, the rear will inevitably be empty. We can just change the left side."
