stubborn thief

Chapter 422
In early autumn, the weather in the north is cold, and the bricks, tiles, plants and trees of the Forbidden City are all dyed golden.

Under the eaves of the corridor, the warm sunlight in the evening passes through the gaps between the overlapping Zhuzhu columns, casting golden light tracks on the wooden floor.

Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian wore a bright yellow robe with twelve chapter patterns, and walked between the light and the dark with the raccoon slave in his arms. The ginkgo leaves falling on the ground outside the palace reminded him and his empire that they had survived another difficult year.

Actually speaking, the situation this year is not too bad compared to before.

Although the Shandong rebels crossed the sea and surrendered to the eastern captives, the famous kings among the captives in the north were eliminated. The imperial court strengthened its military equipment in Xuanfu, and formed a siege against the rebels in Taihang Mountain, Zhenbao and Henan. Liaodong also won a small victory.

The Shandong rebel is Kong Youde, who led more than [-] soldiers and family members across the sea to defect to Houjin in April this year; the famous king of the northern captives is Lin Danhan, and the Ming court's last intelligence about Chahar plunged into Liu Chengzong's arms.

Shanxi, Beizhi, and Henan were encircled by the anti-kings of all roads in Shaanxi. Last year, the Yellow River broke through at Mengjindu, and this year it flooded again. It is foreseeable that the battle will turn around next year.

Xuanfu strengthened its military preparations because although the scourge of the northern captives was eliminated, the courtiers believed that the later Jin would also enter the Xuanfu from the Xuanfu. There are 130 nine cannons including 48 cannons.

In addition, there are 17 catties of gunpowder, more than 43 large and small lead bullets, and more than 95 large and small iron bullets.

As for the small victories in Liaodong, it was the fall of the eastern captives. Zu Dashou found out that the Houjin army set up a camp [-] miles away from Ningyuan, so he sent Shi Dayong, the Chinese army in the camp, to lead an army of [-] people to ambush them to prevent them from invading. Xingshuibao.

This army has battalion generals Zu Zeyuan, Zu Keyong, Wang Tingchen, Li Juzheng, Qian Youlu, the general manager of Zhongqian, Wang Zhidong of the Chinese army under the banner of Tuanlian town, Zhang Tao and Zhang Fengxiang, generals of each battalion, Cheng Jiru, general manager of Qianba, Zhou Yuji and others.

On the next day, hundreds of pioneers of the Jin army really invaded Xingshui Fort. They collided with Cui Shijie, the capital who raised the whistle at night, and Zhang Chengliang, the chief, and retreated after being defeated. Thousands of ambush soldiers rushed to kill, and the two thousand ambush soldiers of the Ming army followed suit, repelling the enemy.

In fact, the fight was not bad, but Emperor Chongzhen was very angry. On the one hand, it was because Shi Dayong, the Chinese army, died in the battle because of the good fight. This is secondary.

More importantly, scratching the tongue can no longer reveal the truth.

The war between the two sides became more and more fierce, and the soldiers of the Eastern Captives became more determined to die. Originally, catching a tongue could ascertain the enemy's situation. In this battle, catching dozens of tongues, but the enemy's strength could not be ascertained.

Among the captives, the strength of Jin Guo's frontier army fluctuated between [-] and [-], and it was impossible to see which one was real and which one was fake.

This led to Emperor Chongzhen... he could only trust the frontline generals.

This incident made the emperor very unhappy. He knew that he should trust the frontline general, but the problem was that the frontline general was Zu Dashou, and his feelings for Zu Dashou were very complicated.

To say that this person is disobedient is indeed disobedient.

Yuan Chonghuan was imprisoned due to the change of himself, and Zu Dashou fled back to the outside of the customs without authorization; Yuan Chonghuan wrote to him and returned, which was regarded as the end of the battle to recover the four cities of Luanzhou and Yongping, but after that Yuan Chonghuan was killed, and Zu Dashou returned to the front line of Jinzhou , Basically never left the barracks again.

In other words, wherever he went, the standard battalion followed him, and the Dongchang fans couldn't catch him even if they wanted to.

But it cannot be said that he was not loyal and did not dare to fight. It is useless to the court. In the battle of Dalinghe, Zu Dashou defended until he ran out of ammunition and food. He ate horses first and then people, and finally surrendered. .

The imperial court had nothing to do with him, because this man was indeed able to fight, and he was indeed willing to fight for the imperial court.

Chongzhen has gradually learned that the emperor can indeed do anything, but the emperor is also a human being, and as a human being, he must bear the price of making decisions.

To a certain extent, he is doing the most difficult job in the world. Ordinary people can make any decision, but they don't necessarily have to bear the price.

Because ordinary people may not be able to make a decision, and if they can’t make it, naturally they don’t need to bear the price; the emperor is different, most of the things the emperor wants to do can be done, he can remove or kill any civil servant or general.

As soon as you think about it, the person is gone, and when the person is gone, the price will come, and there is no time to regret it.

It's one thing to be dissatisfied with the status quo, and Emperor Chongzhen is not sure if changing the status quo will make the situation worse, so Zu Dashou is still alive and well, and he is a great minister.

In fact, although Emperor Chongzhen disliked Zu Dashou very much, he also knew very well that if all the military officers of Ming Dynasty had Zu Dashou's talent and integrity, it would not be a problem to have captives in the east, captives in the north and thieves in the west.

This is a dick who doesn't want to die, but doesn't mind the death of others, but he is also a competent general who uses all methods to attack the enemy.

If you can fight in the field, fight in the field, if you can’t fight in the field, run away, if you have food, you will defend the city, if you run out of food, you will eat horses, if you run out of food, you will eat people, if you have nothing to eat, you will kill your colleagues and surrender, and if you surrender, he will run out and continue defend the city.

Li Yongfang far away, if Li Yongfang had the integrity of his ancestors, Nurhachi would not be able to win Fushun; if Kong Youde, who is near, had the integrity of his ancestors, he should have separatist regime in Shandong until his death, instead of sending cannons to Huangtai Jiqianli.

There are also those general soldiers who were defeated in Hehuang, they should deceive Liu Chengzong, and then escape and fight again!
Hey, why are you thinking so much.

Emperor Chongzhen shook his head, brushed the hair of the raccoon slave in his arms, and walked towards the Qianqing Palace step by step, resigning himself to fate.

In the past two years, Zhu Youjian has become more and more fond of the word resignation.

My heart is very tired, I made some decisions, but I couldn’t tell whether they were right or wrong. Some decisions I later realized were wrong, and the situation worsened; some decisions people thought were right, but the situation still worsened.

But he had to do it. Chongzhen named himself Deyue.

He is very contradictory. Things in the world have become exhausted when he succeeded to the throne. His father killed his mother, and his brother likes to play with little boys.

He longs to restrain himself and the world with morality and etiquette, but his body is full of irritable and irritable blood.

He admitted that he was incompetent, but when state affairs were handed over to officials, those people didn't seem to be able to go anywhere compared to himself, so he just killed them, and things got worse.

What else can I do?Let it be fate.

In Qianqing Palace, there was an interesting invitation waiting for him. The invitation came from Liu Xiangyu, saying that his son Liu Chengzong was getting married.

When Chongzhen learned of this invitation, he immediately became furious. The western thieves captured Hehuang, how dare they send me an invitation?The officials who sent the invitations to the capital counted one by one, and they should all be beheaded.

But soon the anger subsided, I just thought it was funny, sending the invitation card, it is impossible for me to attend the wedding.

It was the first time someone sent him an invitation, which was quite new.

Looking at Liu Xiangyu's letter, Guan Ge's handwriting is square and his tone is smooth, just like the former magistrate of Mizhi, reporting Liu Chengzong's deeds in the past few years, conveying the news of the death of the Mongolian Great Khan and the harvest of Hehuang.

As well as the news that Liu Chengzong was supported by Oala, Outer Mongolia, as Dunta Wulu Sidai Qingqidan Khan, and the news that Liu Chengzong was about to get married.

Well, the letter is very good... The emperor felt very frustrated after reading it, and was so disgusted that he didn't want to correct the memorial all day.

Emperor Chongzhen did not feel unhappy when Liu Chengzong supported the great Khan of Dun Taurus in the northern part of the Great Wall. On the contrary, he was very happy.

As long as he doesn't come to compete in the Central Plains, Liu Chengzong doesn't care if he calls himself the great general of the universe.

Even when he annexed Hehuang, Chongzhen couldn't bear any hatred for the Liu family and his son. If his ancestor Dashou could live in Liaodong without paying a penny or two from the state, so what if he could treat the Donglu submissively and make him the hereditary king of Liao?
Chongzhen can accept these weird things happening in the world.

He has no hatred for most of the rebel leaders in his heart. He can understand why these people rebelled, and he also knows that the cause of the incident is natural disasters and the court's failure to do what the court should do.

But understanding is understanding, he has tried his best, and the situation has not improved at all. Others are rebels, ranging from separatism and self-government, to changing dynasties; he is the emperor, so naturally he must defend his country.

What makes Chongzhen sick is that he is reflecting on it here: Except for Qin Liangyu in the world, he is either a waste or a thorn, and God also trips him up. Floods, droughts, locusts and plagues are happening all over the place. What's going on?
Liu Xiangyu brought his son's certificate of merit and came to give him eye drops. The old Zhu's family had a funeral and the old Liu's had a wedding, which made him very sick.

With state affairs so bad, how could Liu Chengzong have a good time outside?
He is so envious!
In fact, although Chongzhen was incapable of running the country well, he had a way to deal with the emerging regime of Liu Chengzong—making him the trilateral governor of Shaanxi.

Although the inspection of smuggling at sea was very strong, it was not difficult for Chongzhen to know Liu Shizi's governance phalanx in Qinghai.

And this kind of policy, not to mention making the world peaceful, is even impossible to make Hehuang peaceful every year.

Chongzhen knew this very clearly in his heart. Hehuang was peaceful because there was no drought or flood in Hehuang, and they looted Lintao Mansion.

So as long as Liu Chengzong is appointed as the governor of the three sides, Liu Chengzong, who can become a king in the sea, will become a waste like those talented officials in the world.

However, Chongzhen didn't mean to confer this official position, after all Liu Xiangyu sent him an invitation for a happy event, so he didn't need to report a funeral.

Chongzhen did not recognize Liu Chengzong's virtues. Since the first contact a few years ago, he believed that Liu Chengzong lacked the quality of moral character.

Back then, it was agreed to block the traffic of pirates and northern captives, but now he is a pirate himself, and he has also taken the job of Mongolian Khan.

When he said he wanted to guard the fence, he meant pulling out all the pillars of the fence. In the past, the northwestern border of Ming Dynasty was in Xining, but now he has moved it to Lanzhou.

What's more, Lin Dan was sweating profusely before his bones were cold, so he was about to force his eight wives.

But Chongzhen has one good thing, although he is self-willed, he has always been very clear in his heart, he knows who he can offend, and he also knows who he can't offend.

For example, Zu Dashou in Liaodong, his family members, relatives of the emperor, and Liu Chengzong are all people who have no moral bottom line and cannot be provoked. He knows that his emperor speaks like fart in the eyes of these people. Can't live.

He never cared about people he couldn't control.

This is the same as a gentleman can deceive him. Some people have rules in their hearts, and everything in their bodies is brought about by rules, so they can be restrained by rules; but some people have no rules in their hearts, so how can they be restrained by rules? .

When you meet someone who has no rules in their hearts, the power is that if you believe it, you have it, and if you don't believe it, you don't have it.

But Chongzhen recognized his own virtue, although the war between the two sides would be inevitable in the next ten years or even longer, but he didn't mind giving some gifts on such happy occasions.

Thinking of this, he asked the eunuch standing beside him to pass Yang He from the Ministry of Rites into the palace, and then laughed himself in the empty hall, and decided in his heart the candidate for the envoy——Cao Huachun.

Eunuch Cao's face turned green when he knew this.

He said in his heart, who are we guys messing with?

With the emperor's order, you should be able to break through all the caves of dragons and tigers, but this city of Xining, I don't want to go.

"Don't worry, it's a good thing this time. Give him some gifts, and bring me a letter by the way. Then Liu Xiangyu's letter has been delivered. After all, it's an elder, and I should reply."

Cao Huachun was about to cry: "Your Majesty, it was a good thing last time, and he was appointed an official. The Emperor didn't know that the servant had spent a lot of effort to escape, so Liu Shizi would not let the servant go. what!"

"Then what should we do?" Chongzhen sternly said, "There are too many people who have been to Xining, and only you and Yang Shangshu can come back. Do you want me to send Yang Shangshu there again?"

Cao Huachun said heartily, Your Majesty, you also know that no one can come back alive!
Am I afraid that I won't be able to come back?What I'm afraid of is that you and Liu Shizi's father become pen pals!
It’s fine once or twice, when the time comes, the angel will call me to deliver a letter to the dragon’s pool and tiger’s lair, and entering Xining will be like going back to my own home, is that plausible?

But in the end, slaves can't help themselves, Cao Huachun is 1 unwilling to go, and at this juncture, the emperor speaks, he has no choice but to follow the emperor's will and ask: "What does the emperor want to give to that thief Liu?" present?"

"Hetao."

Cao Huachun didn't understand at first, but after he understood it, he was even more puzzled: "Hetao? Grandpa, Hetao is to the north, but Liu thief is to the west, separated from Ningxia, Gansu. This..."

Chongzhen had a smile on his face, this was probably the happiest thing for him recently.

"Ever since the Eastern Prisoners occupied Xuanda's border, they wanted to ask for rewards in Zhangjiakou, and now, although the Eastern Prisoners are rampant, the barbarians are constantly being detained in the north. , is not enough to send troops back.”

Chongzhen said it convincingly: "Since Mrs. Liu has been recognized by the Tartars as a young and foolish son, I will give him the Hetao and teach Datong to trade with him. It is better to give him a good Hetao than to ask the Donglu who killed my millions of children. must go."

"This……"

Cao Huachun didn't dare to answer the question anymore, this matter was beyond his ability to discuss, he needed the ministers of the court to discuss this matter with the emperor, he accidentally left Huduntu, and another even more powerful villain came.

Seeing his expression, Chongzhen smiled relaxedly, and didn't care about Cao Huachun's fear, just gritted his teeth, and said: "If he has the courage to be loyal and brave, and drive his troops back to make a big fight with the Eastern captives, how can I part with it?" Mao Xuntu?"

　good evening!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)