Beiyang new warlord

Page 545

These days, the atmosphere in the palace has been delicate.

Just half an hour ago, Wang Chengen dealt with two talkative little eunuchs mercilessly, just because they were whispering in the corner, what is the big defeat of the Eastern captives, 10,000+ people were beheaded and killed, and their heads were piled up He was so furious that he was dragged down and whipped dozens of times, and then dragged to the Shangyi Bureau to work as a coolie.

However, this Wang Chengen was considered kind, because once the news was heard by Emperor Chongzhen, he might be beaten to death!

Indeed, if 10,000+ people were killed in the Eastern Captivity battle, it would be a rare victory in the Liaodong battlefield for decades, but this victory has nothing to do with the emperor's face. , The entire army of the imperial court was annihilated, and let a warlord wipe out the East captive. Wouldn't this damage the face of Emperor Chongzhen even more?

But Wang Cheng'en also knew that the paper could not keep the fire. I don't know where the news came from. The capital that had already spread the news was full of uproar. The only one who was kept in the dark was probably Chongzhen himself.

"How many days is it?"

Suddenly, Emperor Chongzhen's voice came from the Imperial Study Room, and his heart skipped a beat. Wang Chengen hurriedly put on a smile again, and bowed with a pleasant smile.

"Your Majesty, it's the fifth watch, and it's time to go to court!"

"Let Luanjia prepare, and I will finish approving these memorials!"

"Old slave obeys!"

Although the mountains and rivers have fallen, these days, the political situation of the imperial court is looking a little better.

First of all, several main forces were completely annihilated, and a series of important cities such as Luoyang Kaifeng fell. The military pay and royal salary owed to these places did not need to be paid. Moreover, after the Songjin War, there was only Wu Sangui in Shanhaiguan left in Liaozhen. There are tens of thousands of people, and two-thirds of the Liao pay has also gone.

Especially after all, there is Mao Jue in this time and space, and Chongzhen, which made a mess of the capital, did not enter the fortress for 15 years. After more than a year of cultivation, the Hebei area has gradually recovered. If there is a surplus, if it is not for Li Zicheng who has to face an army of millions, even this scene will feel like the world is peaceful.

Uncharacteristically, Emperor Chongzhen actually had a little more smile on his face. After the courtiers shouted long live three times, he sat on the dragon chair with a slight smile.

"Play early if you have something to do, and leave the court if you have nothing to do!"

Looking at the familiar old faces, Wang Chengen's resonant slogans of going to court all have a bit of aesthetic fatigue-like laziness. Although the situation is looking good, in fact, the situation of the Ming Dynasty has not been reversed at all, which is directly reflected in the functions of the court. The Yuan Chonghuan Qin Army in Shaanxi, the Zuo Liangyu Chu Army in Huguang, and the Kong Huizhen Sichuan Army in Sichuan have all been mobilized. The only Nanjing Imperial Army still in the hands of the imperial court is too weak. There are only a few provinces in the north and south Zhili, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi.

In this case, what else can happen?It's nothing more than a quarrel between the officials over trivial matters, and then the officials of various ministries report peace.

It's a pity that Wang Chengen had a good idea, but the cruel reality is that he can't even maintain the false peace. Almost as soon as he finished speaking, a trembling but particularly loud roar rang out in the class.

"In the matter of the military department, the head of the military department is assigned the title of supervising the army in Liaodong, and the minister Ma Shaoyu has a book to play!"

This sentence, like a spoonful of water suddenly poured out of boiling oil, caused the entire court to explode, from the super first-rank university scholar to the seventh-rank eloquent officer, everyone turned their heads in disbelief.

Since the last peace negotiation with the Qing army, Liaodong has not seen any disturbances for a long time. For more than a year, even these ministers have ignored Liaodong. Ma Shaoyu, the former military supervisor, was regarded as a dead person, and now he is back. How can it not be shocking to appear in the court so suddenly.

Even Emperor Chongzhen himself was dazed for a few seconds before suddenly nodding to Wang Chengen.

"Play!"

"Weichen carried the Liaodong battle report. In May of the 16th year of Chongzhen, Mao Jue, the governor of Liaodong, led the Dongjiang towns and Jiannu to fight in Jilin City. Jiannu was defeated and 10,000+ died in the battle. Kaiyuan Tieling was restored one after another! Shenyang and Liaoyang are just around the corner! However, the people in the northern part of the border have been ruled by slaves for a long time, and they have neglected our Ming Dynasty. In order to control Liaodong, Lord Mao, the supervisor, specially asks His Majesty to make him the king of Liao, so as to appease the hearts of the people!"

For a moment, the court hall was so silent that even a needle dropped could be heard clearly, Chongzhen's face instantly turned pale, and then turned blood red again

Chapter 5 Twenty

Leaving aside the matter of the king with a different surname, there is nothing more treasonous than a mere courtier who dares to tell the king what I want.

For a moment, he was so angry that he couldn't speak, his mouth was trembling, and Emperor Chongzhen pointed forward with trembling fingers.Seeing this, Wang Chengen on the side shouted loudly.

"Where is the big Han general?"

"The minister is the speaker, the speaker is not guilty! Besides, the minister really thinks of His Majesty, please be enlightened by Your Majesty!"

Under the astonished stares of Manchu civil and military officials, this Ma Shaoyu slammed his head on the ground.

The role of Zhou Yanru is revealed here. His henchman and one of the founders of the Fushe, Wu Changshi, a doctor in Wenxuan, jumped out with dignity.

"Your Majesty, this thief is full of nonsense, and he is bewitching the public with his demonic words. If he does not kill, he will not be able to satisfy the anger of the common people. I believe that the three divisions of the Ministry of Punishment are here. Your Majesty can try this thief in court, refute his crimes, and let him die speechless." !"

"The minister believes that this move"

A lobbyist is a good talker. This Ma Shaoyu was obviously bought by Dongjiang. He came to be this lobbyist. He said that the official was innocent but did not say that the rebellion was innocent. Just kill him. But if he is allowed to speak in court, the court has always It's a place of right and wrong, maybe he will cause some disturbance, and it will be too late to kill him by then.

Thinking about it, it can be regarded as the most unlucky position in the Chongzhen Dynasty. Zhang Guowei, the No. 13 Minister of the Ministry of War in Chongzhen, opened his mouth to refute, but who knew that he hadn't finished speaking, but a light cough interrupted him.

"Master Bingbu, how much do you know about Dongjiang?"

Zhang Guowei was speechless when he asked a single sentence, but it’s not his fault. Chen Xinjia just finished presiding over the draw in June last year, and fled in July. He, a civil servant who served as the governor of Nanzhili and returned to Beijing to report on his duties, was pushed to the position of Minister of the Ministry of War, and it has only been half a year since he took office.

His main ability is river governance, and he only has a rough knowledge of the military. Since the previous generations of Shangshu Wang, the imperial court has cut off the food support for the Dongjiang River. Correspondingly, the imperial court has no control over the Dongjiang River. , it would be strange for him to know!

Zhang Guowei, who already hated the Minister of the Ministry of War, was dumbfounded, which undoubtedly made Chongzhen even more annoyed, and naturally he couldn't continue speaking.One sentence restrained him, and Li Jiantai, a scholar of Dongge University, bowed to Emperor Chongzhen expressionlessly.

"The Dongjiang thief dared to roar in front of the court. It is really like a mantis holding a chariot and killing himself! However, Sun Tzu's art of war has a saying: if the husband has not fought and the temple is the winner, there are too many! Even if you want to ask Dongjiang to mobilize troops, you must first understand Mr. Ma returned from the Liaodong Supervising Army, he should have paid attention to the situation in Dongjiang!"

"The old minister believes that Mr. Ma should speak out. If he is really guilty, it will not be too late to kill him after his exaggeration!"

The first assistant, Chen Yan, and the second assistant, Wei Zaode, are all incompetent people. They just listen to the emperor's orders if they don't do anything. After all, those who do practical things have been killed by Chongzhen, otherwise they won't be their turn. Li Jiantai is willing to speak up. If there is any responsibility for him to bear, Chen Yan and Wei Zaode were also happy, and kept silent on the sidelines. As for the six books, Hou Xun dared to speak out and proposed to abandon the Central Plains, and he was imprisoned not long ago. This is Zhang Guowei who dared to speak. Suppressed, the rest naturally remained silent. Emperor Chongzhen looked around, and the officials seemed to acquiesce, so he had to suppress his anger and nod.

"Let this guilty minister say, I want to see how he can come up with something!"

His forehead was already wet with beads of sweat. Whether he could save his life and collect the reward from Dongjiang by the way depended on what he said next, and Ma Shaoyu kept knocking his head on the ground again.

"Your servant is dead! I and Zhang Ruolin were defeated by Master Zhang. Before Songshan City was broken, I was entrusted by the former Ji Liao Governor Hong Ni to go to Dongjiang to continue to supervise the battle. However, when I arrived in Tieshan, Master Zhang was captured by Mao Ni. Get off and serve as a pawn in front of the army."

"Dongjiang soldiers are the generals, the Mao thief is proud of himself, the Liao people are afraid of it, and because of his salary, people are greedy for profit, and the Mao thief is even recruiting and rebelling. There are many Japanese pirates and Koryo desperadoes, and there are even more Mongols. Minions, the Dongjiang army already only knows about Mao Dongjiang, but not the emperor, and the ministers have preached the righteousness of the court to his subordinates several times, but no one will listen!"

The last time Mao Jue threatened rebellion nakedly, these Chongzhens were actually clear in their hearts, but Ma Shaoyu said it in court, and once again exposed his pain points, which made the face of this good-faced emperor gloomy again.

"Your Majesty, although the Mao thief is a rebel, he is indeed a good general. His subordinates are also fierce and cruel, warlike and bloodthirsty. Since November last year, his troops have gone south. Where the Dongjiang River passes, there is no grass. Zhai Tuzhai, that hairy thief is especially fond of giving death. The former land of Liaodong is full of mountains and plains, and there are many hanging corpses on the trees. The Eight Banners of Jiannu are so fierce. They have repeatedly broken the official army. But in the battle of Jilin City, more than 13 people were massacred by Mao Ni, and all the iron and steel were broken, Guangning was approaching at night, Liaoshen was also in danger, and the Eastern captives were already in danger!"

"In front of the army, I witnessed the mountains of corpses and seas of blood that they slaughtered with my own eyes. Thousands of guns fired, and the bones of the Dong captives festered. They were defeated for miles, and the blood flowed! The Dongjiang army is really unstoppable! As I expected, this year When winter comes, Shengjing and Liaoyang will fall into the hands of thieves again!"

"Is the Eastern captive going to perish?"

Hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help standing up abruptly. Not only him, but even the officials all turned green. It is true that they have heard a lot of news about Dongjiang's victory these days, but have there been few good news in these years? ?According to the military exploits reported by the Commander-in-Chief's Mansion below, Daming's nearly [-] million people would have been wiped out two or three times, which sounds like a discount.

But this reward is also skillful, beheading 30 people, and reporting that there are at least 90 bandits in the army, so there is a reason for him to fight or lose. Nine times it is true, because if there is no absolute certainty, no general would dare to boast like this.

"Military Department?"

I don't know about such a big event! The Emperor Chongzhen's eyes fell on Zhang Guowei once again, and the murderous intent made the No.13 minister of the Ministry of War in the Chongzhen Dynasty kneel tremblingly on the ground, kowtowing his head to plead guilty.

"Return to Your Majesty, I did hear about it at this time, but I didn't verify it, so I dare not report it!"

Although it was an afterthought, Zhang Guowei heard the meaning of this word. Chongzhen, an old political veteran, didn't understand. He was a member of the Ministry of War and couldn't hear about it, but the officials of the Manchu Dynasty had this right. The war has passed for a while now. After many months, no one came to tell him about the emperor!

Do they still regard themselves as emperors?

Once again, Chongzhen's heart was filled with anger.

Beside him, Wang Chengen couldn't restrain his trembling.