I really don't want to be emperor at the end of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 362 Lu Xiangsheng is repaying kindness with hatred

Chapter 362

To say that Emperor Chongzhen trusted Cheng Shijie, it was indeed trusting, even without reservation, especially when Cheng Shijie led the Ning Navy across southern Liaoning and regained Jinzhou and Lushun. Even during the great victory in Haizhou, Emperor Chongzhen trusted Cheng Shijie. They are all very trusting.

To say that he started to be afraid of Cheng Shijie, it was actually after the Ning Navy occupied Liaoyang, and Liaoyang was less than two hundred miles away from Shenyang. When he discovered that Cheng Shijie's strength was so strong that even Jiannu was afraid, Emperor Chongzhen actually had I started to be afraid of Cheng Shijie.

Especially when Cheng Shijie and Zheng Zhilong were fighting, as the saying goes, it was not as cold as a day. Zheng Zhilong robbed the merchant ships in Liaodong. Didn't Emperor Chongzhen know?
In fact, he knew that Gao Qiqian also used Cheng Shijie's instructions to make the Emperor Chongzhen come forward to make the decision by openly and secretly complaining. At that time, Cheng Shijie really had no way to deal with Zheng Zhilong. Although Ning Haijun had a navy, he was a With a small navy, no matter how arrogant Cheng Shijie was, he was not absolutely sure of defeating Zheng Zhilong.

It's just that Zheng Zhilong was aggressive, but Cheng Shijie didn't swallow his anger, because Cheng Shijie also knew that even if he gave in, Zheng Zhilong would slap him in the face. The development of Liaodong was inseparable from the ocean, and at that time, Liaodong was no longer suitable for farming due to the weather of the Little Glacier. Cheng Shijie also needs territory.

In that case, Cheng Shijie could only choose to fight Zheng Zhilong. Whether before or after the decisive battle, Cheng Shijie understood that his honeymoon period with Emperor Chongzhen was actually over. Why did he sneak into Emperor Chongzhen through Gao Qi? Send money?
This was actually Cheng Shijie's plan to delay the war. In this way, Emperor Chongzhen realized that Cheng Shijie was useful. Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng were making a big fuss. Why not use Ning Haijun's powerful army?
It was because Emperor Chongzhen didn't want Cheng Shijie to become stronger as he fought, become more courageous and more famous as he fought.

When the news that Emperor Chongzhen asked the prince to return first reached the ears of Empress Zhou, Empress Zhou, who was originally not involved in political affairs, went to Emperor Chongzhen for the first time and asked: "Your Majesty, what's wrong with you?"

Chongzhen was slightly startled and asked knowingly: "No, it's nothing!"

"Then why do you want the prince to come back from Liaodong?"

"Queen, please leave it alone!"

Queen Zhou asked softly: "Is it related to the creation of slaves?"

Chongzhen nodded silently and said: "Yes."

Empress Zhou smiled and said: "Your Majesty, don't worry too much. Building slaves and proclaiming emperor against heaven may seem arrogant, but in fact it is seeking death. Let them be rampant for a while first. After Cheng Qing recovers, Ning Haijun will If they get out, their end will come!"

The first half of Queen Zhou's words was fine, but after hearing the second half, Chongzhen's brows slowly knitted together, and he said with a gloomy face: "Except Duke Hai, is there no one who can deal with Jian Nu?"

Empress Zhou was startled, and quickly changed her words: "Of course not, like the champion Mr. Hou Lu and the governor of the three sides, Mr. Hong, are the pillars of the country with both civil and military skills. It's just that the Duke of Haiguo is brave and invincible, so he has a greater chance of winning."

"Long hair, short knowledge!"

Emperor Chongzhen ignored the queen and closed his eyes again.

The scene in that dream appeared repeatedly in front of his eyes. It was bloody and terrifying, making him tremble with fear.It's not that he was careless. Since ancient times, a weak king and a strong minister will not have good results. Queen Zhou's words just now made Chongzhen realize that Cheng Shijie is fully capable of becoming a figure like Cao Cao and Wang Mang!
He secretly swore in his heart: "I must stop all this! I cannot leave such a huge hidden danger to the prince!"

At such a moment, Emperor Chongzhen secretly made up his mind.

He must transform from a Wen Emperor to a Wu Emperor, and then he must defy the majesty of the Heavenly Family again and let the whole world know that the power of Heaven is unpredictable.Cheng Shijie's prestige was accumulated in the mountains of corpses and seas of blood on the battlefield, and power tactics had no effect on him.

The only thing that can suppress his prestige is to personally conquer the Jiannu and let the whole world know that the descendants of the Zhu family are also good at fighting!

There are no secrets in the inner palace. When Wang Chengen quietly set out for Liaodong, the cabinet bosses got the information. They knew that Emperor Chongzhen no longer believed in Cheng Shijie, and their opportunity came.

Looking at the ministers in the cabinet who were dancing with excitement, Wen Tiren sighed and said: "Just because we have a chance, it doesn't mean we will definitely win!"

"What Lord Chief Assistant means is..."

"Now the national treasury is empty, and tens of millions of people in the capital are crying for food. Even if your Majesty wants to fight, he is powerless!"

Wang Yingxiong said: "What Master Shouxu means is..."

"If you want to take it, you must first give it!"

All the ministers suddenly realized.

In the morning of the next day, the officials were still crying and clamoring to send troops to attack Jiannu.

Chongzhen looked around at the ministers and said slowly: "I have more than enough ambition but not enough power..."

Having said this, Wang Yingxiong gritted his teeth and said: "I know that the country is in dire straits, and I am willing to donate one year, no, the next three years' salary to support military supplies!"

Wang Yingxiong is the Minister of Rites, second rank, with a monthly salary of 61 dan. He is a fifth-ranked bachelor of Wenyuan Pavilion, with a monthly salary of 72 dan. He is a junior apprentice to the prince, with a first rank, and a monthly salary of 140 dan. In other words, Wang Yingxiong’s total monthly salary is 160 dan. That's [-] nine shi. If according to the price of rice in the capital at the beginning of the fourth year of Chongzhen's reign, which was one tael and two taels of silver per shi, he would be equivalent to [-] three taels of silver per month.

But now it is May of the ninth year of Chongzhen, and the price of rice in the capital has risen to 768 taels and 370 taels of silver. His monthly salary is equivalent to 960 taels of silver, and the annual salary is [-] taels of silver. If it is three years, that is [-] taels. Two silver coins.

As Wang Yingxiong took the lead, Yang Sichang sighed and said: "I am willing to follow Mr. Wang's example and donate my salary for three years!"

Wen Tiren came out of the queue tremblingly and bowed: "I am an honest official and my family is not rich. However, the national situation is difficult. I am willing to donate all my family property, including the coffin book, with a total of 1 and 59 taels of silver!"

Emperor Chongzhen looked on with cold eyes and said nothing.

In order to prompt Emperor Chongzhen to send troops, starting from the cabinet, then the six ministries, 24 departments, nine attendants and five supervisors, all the high officials had to donate their salaries or family property.

In fact, anyone who can become a minister or department boss is qualified for corruption. In this case, the most difficult thing is the officials of Qingshui Yamen. They have no money and only live on their salaries. However, faced with the situation, they have made donations one after another.

Although later generations said that the Ming Dynasty exhausted the national finance to support the Ming vassals, to be fair, the clan's financial expenditure, even in the last years of Chongzhen, did not exceed 30.00%, and it was only a nominal expenditure. In fact, no matter whether it was the imperial court , or local officials, often embezzled the lord's salary.

In fact, the largest expenditure of the Chongzhen Dynasty was military expenditure, which exceeded 700 to 900 million taels of silver every year, reaching more than 2000 million taels of silver at the most, while the total of regular taxes and three salaries was less than [-] million taels of silver, while officials The expenditure is even more.

At least now, after such operations, more than 120 million taels of silver have been donated to Emperor Chongzhen, plus more than 300 million shi for the salaries of officials in the capital.It is equivalent to the salary of more than 500 Wang Yingxiong.

Of course, being able to donate so much food was all in vain, just like the 300 million soldiers and horses in the military register of the Ming Dynasty. Under such circumstances, Emperor Chongzhen took advantage of the situation and stepped down: "I have decided that as long as possible, Send out elite troops to attack the Jiannu slaves, kill them all, and let them know the consequences of going against heaven! This time, I will personally conquer them and kill them all without leaving a trace!"

All the ministers were stunned, and it took them a long time to react. They knelt down and shouted wildly: "My Holy Emperor! Long live my Emperor!"

In the past, if an emperor wanted to lead a military expedition in person, he would have feared that the officials would jump up and rebel. But this time, even the most meddlesome officials did not object. Instead, they sang a hymn: "Your Majesty will not avoid arrows, and he will lead an expedition in person. From now on, Such courage has been rare in ancient times, and the emperors of Qin and Han are far inferior, but my emperor is truly the most wise emperor in the ages!"

This flattery made Chongzhen quite intoxicated and secretly said that he had made the right bet.However, he also knew how many bowls of rice he could eat, so he ordered: "Eight hundred miles haste, summon the champion prince to the capital to discuss the war! As soon as the food, fodder, chariots, horses and weapons are received, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household Affairs must immediately start to raise them, without any mistakes!"

There was another long live sound like a mountain roar and a tsunami.

From King Wan Yanliang of Hailing to Louis IX, there are quite a few emperors who mobilized troops to fight because of a dream. Regardless of whether they had a sweet dream or a nightmare, it would eventually turn into an overwhelming nightmare.

Now Chongzhen also made the same mistake.

In this era when monarchy was supreme, the emperor's will was irresistible. With Emperor Chongzhen's order, the Ming Empire began to operate slowly but resolutely.

Galloping horse hooves and soaring carrier pigeons conveyed orders from the Ministry of War to various units. The Jingying Army, Guanning Army, Changping Army, Trilateral Army, Shimen Sichuan Army, Zhejiang Army, including Henan Army... all received orders to assemble the main force in Gyeonggi. Order.

After receiving the order, the Changping Army and Guan Ning Army screamed like chicken blood, organized their military preparations, prepared food, fodder and equipment for a big fight. They were so energetic and high-spirited that people felt like "what we saw" It must be a fake Ming army" delusion.

Then, the most intriguing thing is that Ning Haijun, who considers himself second in the Ming Dynasty and no one dares to admit first, has not received orders from the Ministry of War and the Fifth Army Governor's Office. Ning Haijun, with more than 30 troops, seems to have been forgotten. Average.

The Liaodong Ning Navy is undergoing the largest reorganization since it was established as an army. Each army is recasting its command symbols and flags, including military uniforms, waist badges, etc. When the number is large, there are many difficulties.

It happened that at this time, Emperor Chongzhen's mind became hot.Zhou Ning looked at the communications soldiers and said, "Have the fire tickets from the Ministry of War arrived?"

"Reporting to Chief of Staff Zhou, not yet!"

"Go to the dock to hurry!"

Cheng Shijie walked in and said, "No need to bother!"

"Big guy!"

The generals saluted Cheng Shijie.

Zhou Ning and Zhang Yu stepped forward and said: "The commander-in-chief means...the Ministry of War is using our Ning Haijun as a special force? I wonder who is in charge this time?"

"Who else could it be but today's emperor?"

Cheng Shijie said with a wry smile: "The court will not use us Ning Haijun anymore."

"We don't need to rely on other armies. Except for the Tianxiong Army and the Sichuan Army, they still have some combat effectiveness. By the way, the three armies are about the same. At least they can still defend the city!"

Zhou Ning's eyes widened: "Why?"

"No reason!"

Cheng Shijie said dumbfounded: "The brain circuits of the people in the Ministry of War are incomprehensible to normal people. Only God knows what they think. But no matter what, our Ning Haijun is completely forced to a dead end!"

Zhang Yu opened his mouth and asked with some confusion: "Why?"

"This battle has only two outcomes, victory or defeat!"

Cheng Shijie pondered: "If there is a big victory, His Majesty will take the victorious army and turn south to deal with our Ning Navy under the threat of victory. At that time, we will either formally rebel or have a big fight with the imperial army. In fact, The imperial army was severely defeated, including the Guan Ning Army, Tianxiong Army, Trilateral Army, and Jingying. The 30 to [-]-strong army was still barely capable of fighting. Once they were all wiped out, Jiannu would take advantage of the great victory and sweep down. !”

"No matter what the outcome is, we must be prepared for all-out war!"

"That's right!"

Cheng Shijie said: "Convene all the members of Ning Haijun's Military Management Committee and prepare for a meeting!"

……

Daming Mansion, in the camp where Tianxiong Army is stationed.

When Lu Xiangsheng received the order, his first reaction was to act recklessly.He was very dissatisfied that the fire ticket from the Ministry of War was still on the ground: "Those bastards from the Ministry of War are really getting better and better! During the lean period, hundreds of thousands of troops will be dispatched to the fortress. How to solve the problem of military rations and allocate all the people to transport them?" Food, what to do with the autumn harvest? If we go on an expedition at this time, isn’t that asking for death?”

Li Chongzhen sighed and said: "Master Lu, when did those bastards in the Ministry of War become reliable? If they really knew the military, why was it so difficult in the first place?"

Lei Shisheng said angrily: "That's right! These bastards, they just come here blindly. They all say that military war is dangerous and related to the life and death of the country. How come the war has become so easy in the eyes of those big masters? You can fight whenever you want. If you don’t want to fight, why don’t you fight?”

Lu Xiangsheng smiled bitterly and mused: "I'm afraid it's not all because of the Ministry of War's indiscretion... Huang Taiji defied heaven and proclaimed himself emperor, which was a great shame and humiliation for the Ming Dynasty. Your Majesty must respond, otherwise you will not be able to explain to the people of Li and your ancestors! Just In terms of timing, this battle should not be fought, but from the perspective of His Majesty and the Ming Dynasty, it is impossible not to fight!"

Li Chongzhen and Lei Shisheng could only sigh.

War and politics are always entangled and cannot be separated. Many times we cannot fight militarily, but we must fight politically. We have to fight even if we know we may lose; and sometimes we cannot fight even though we know we can win!

Huang Taiji defied heaven and proclaimed himself emperor. The king suffered humiliation, and his ministers had to react.

Although Lu Xiangsheng believes that now is not the time to go on an expedition, there is a shortage of supplies, it is difficult to solve the problem of military rations, the mobilization and assembly of the army, and the supply of materials are very difficult. Moreover, he has experienced the severe cold in the Mobei area. I am afraid that it will be difficult for the Ming army officers and soldiers to adapt to the severe cold outside the pass. .

What's even more terrible is that now the Mongolians in Mobei and Monan have surrendered to Huang Taiji, which means that from Gansu to Liaodong, no, Liaodong has been abandoned by the slaves, and they dare not provoke the Ning Navy. But the problem is, From Gansu to Xuanfu East Road and even Shanhaiguan, there are places where Jiannu can attack.

If a large army is dispatched to Shengjing at this time, there will be a huge gap in the entire defense line, and the consequences are unpredictable!It should be said that Lu Xiangsheng still had a clear understanding of the war situation, but unfortunately, he also had a strong concept of "the emperor is worried about the humiliation of his ministers, and the emperor will humiliate his ministers and die". After much hesitation, he ordered Li Zhongzhen's troops to accompany him to Beijing. The Lei Shi Sound Department immediately headed to Beijing as the second echelon.

Lei Shisheng was shocked and said: "Master Lu, you must not! We have just settled the fields. If the whole army goes north, all the food will be wasted. What will happen next year?"

Lu Xiangsheng smiled bitterly and said: "After arriving in the capital, I will persuade your majesty to give up the idea of ​​attacking Jiannu. The army will go to the outside of the pass to show off its power and immediately reorganize. It won't be long before this army will return to the capital. You can rest assured."

Lei Shisheng said: "Hundreds of thousands of troops marched thousands of miles, and the consumption of food and grass alone was five or six times that of leisure time. Two to three million people go to the border to show off their power. Isn't this a fool's errand?"

Lu Xiangsheng said seriously: "Huang Taiji defied heaven and proclaimed himself emperor. If Ming Dynasty didn't react at all, the world would laugh at him!"

Having said this, Lei Shisheng could only give up: "Then sir, you must be careful. The danger outside the Great Wall is far worse than..."

"By the way, you have something important to do!"

"Please tell me, my lord!"

Lu Xiangsheng said solemnly: "Hurry up and go to Liaodong. When you were in Pingding Prefecture, Cheng Shuai owed Lu a favor. Now you need to let Cheng Shuai return Lu's favor. Buy 120 or 120 fire dragons from Cheng Shuai." , and we also need to purchase [-] three-inch cannons from him, each with [-] rounds of ammunition, and [-] muskets!"

"But we don't have the money to pay the bill!"

"Lu used his head as guarantee and owed Cheng Shuai credit!"

Lu Xiangsheng said: "If Lu cannot persuade His Majesty and the Tianxiong Army is defeated in this battle, the 50 people in the Daming Mansion of the Tianxiong Army will be used to pay off their debts!"

Li Chongzhen and Lu Xiangsheng quickly set off with more than twenty cannons and headed north to Beijing. Lei Shisheng did not dare to neglect and quickly headed for Liaodong with a group of Tianxiong Army cavalry.

When they arrived in eastern Shandong, they were not blocked by the Dashun Army. They arrived in Dengzhou without any danger and arrived in Jinzhou by boat.

When Lei Shisheng and others arrived in Liaodong, Cheng Shijie was extremely happy about the arrival of the Tianxiong Army generals and hosted a banquet in the Ninghai Navy General Mansion.

After three drinks and five dishes, Lei Shisheng told Cheng Shijie about Lu Xiangsheng's plan. Cheng Shijie heard that Lu Xiangsheng was planning to use more than [-] family members of the Tianxiong Army to pay off the debt.

Cheng Shijie sighed and said, "Master Lu is really a good calculator!"

Lei Shisheng thought that Cheng Shijie had seen through Lu Xiangsheng's thoughts and handed over the more than [-] families of Tianxiong Army officers and soldiers in Daming Prefecture to Cheng Shijie to pay off debts. Why not let Cheng Shijie settle the family members of Tianxiong Army officers and soldiers?
Is this debt repayment?This is repaying kindness with hatred!

Lei Shisheng looked at Cheng Shijie uneasily: "Cheng Shuai means..."

"I have done this business!"

Cheng Shijie said seriously: "In addition to the fire dragon water, 120 artillery pieces, and [-] fire blunderbuss, I will also give you an additional [-] grenades!"

(End of this chapter)