national surname chiming

Chapter 107
Fang Kongzhen was quite surprised when he heard from Shen Shuren that he was sure to invite Liu Guoneng.

In Fang Kongzhang's impression, Liu Guoneng had an old feud with Zhang Xianzhong, but after he returned to the army, he was not highly valued. He was also afraid of being transferred around as a chess piece, so he had always been relatively arbitrary in combat.

In other words, Liu Guoneng is willing to contribute to killing thieves, but he doesn't listen to specific tactical commands, and prefers to kill thieves in his own way.

It was Xiong Wencan who recruited him at the beginning. When Xiong Wencan was alive, Liu Guoneng could barely be transferred.Later, Xiong Wencan was beheaded by the emperor, and Liu Guoneng became more sensitive, and often overreacted with fear.

Fang Kongxuan then tried to persuade him: "Nephew, you said that you have an old relationship with Liu Guoneng, how confident are you in persuading him to help in the war? You can't trust such a general who is a traitor anyway.

As for your reminder to Mr. Yang Ge, I can help you to convey it euphemistically. After all, you are soft-spoken and don’t understand the defense of Jiangling and Jingmen. If you say it, Mr. Yang Ge may not take it seriously—you don’t think Is this old man greedy for merit? "

Shen Shuren didn't even think about it: "It's just a few reminders, what credit can we talk about? Everything is based on the overall situation. As for the way to persuade Liu Guoneng to help in the war, it's hard to describe in one word... I'll just write a book, please take a look at it later. "

Fang Kongxuan didn't take the airs of Shangguan, and immediately asked Shen Shuren to go to the study next door, and he had his own pen, ink, paper and inkstone to serve him.Time was running out, Fang Kongxuan took care of the junior and picked up the ink stick himself and rubbed it a few times.

Shen Shuren wrote as soon as he picked up the pen, while Fang Kongxuan was watching from the side.

The content of the letter is nothing more than a brief introduction from Chongzhenzhao to the top [-] second-class Jinshi after the palace examination last year.Shen Shuren mentioned that he suggested that Chongzhen "reward and reuse other generals who were appeased by Xiong Wencan at the beginning, but who were able to insist on not being coerced by Zhang Xianzhong after Zhang Xianzhong's rebellion."

He also mentioned that he hoped to help Xiong Wencan reduce his sentence, but the emperor didn't listen in the end, and only helped Xiong Wencan erase part of the charges.

Liu Guoneng may not believe some words directly, but Shen Shuren, as the person involved, must know a lot of insider details.He can also match the timeline, for example, after the palace examination, he asked the correct date in March of that year, when the emperor ordered Xiong Wencan to be executed, and when Liu Guoneng was rewarded.There are a lot of details inside, and Liu Guoneng can't help but believe it.

At the end, Shen Shuren still didn't forget to add a sentence: "At the beginning, it was to save His Majesty's face, so His Majesty demoted me to the last place in the second class, but after the limelight passed, I still used my suggestion. Please read this letter as soon as possible." burn".

Shen Shuren dared to say these words because he knew that Liu Guoneng was a loyal man. In history, he fought to the death with Li Zicheng and refused to surrender. After the defeat, his 11-year-old son and his whole family were killed by Li Zicheng.

If Liu Guoneng is not loyal enough, Shen Shuren is afraid that he will take the opportunity to take advantage of himself - although this kind of reason is not very serious, even if it is spread to Chongzhen's ears, as long as it is not publicized to the public, don't cause the emperor to lose face publicly, Chongzhen will not be chaotic Punishment.

Although Chongzhen punished ministers indiscriminately, he still had a bottom line. What he wanted was public face, and he was not afraid of others' private slander.Because in the last few years of the Ming Dynasty, there were too many people who slandered the emperor in private, and it was impossible to control it.It is already very good to be able to control the public slander, catch the big and let go of the small.

When writing the letter, thinking about the fate of Liu Guoneng’s family in history, Shen Shuren added another item, saying that two years ago, Mr. Yang Ge was worried that the other descendants recruited by Xiong Wencan would be unstable, and wanted their heirs to go to Nanjing Guozijian to study. , held hostage.

But at that time, considering that Liu Guoneng's son was only nine years old, he was not old enough to be imprisoned, so he gave up, and later detained Zheng Chenggong-now, Shen Shuren modified these and wrote them in.

He only said how righteous he was, and how close he was with Wu Meicun, the head of Nanjing Guozijian Mountain. In the past few years, he protected Zheng Chenggong from suffering in Nanjing, so that Mr. Yang Ge and Zheng Zhilong could cooperate harmoniously and sincerely. He recruited a minor civilian official under Huguang Yanfa Road to help seize Lijin.

Therefore, as long as Liu Guoneng is willing, and his son is now 11 years old after two years, Shen Shuren can come forward to mediate and ask Wu Meicun to treat Liu Guoneng's son as an alternate shadow supervisor.

After studying for two years, when the age is up, he will become a formal shadow supervisor. In the future, he will definitely help Liu Guoneng's son run a decent civil servant, just like he is righteous to Zheng Chenggong.

This suggestion is absolutely destructive to Liu Guoneng, because Shen Shuren knows that Liu Guoneng is a very vain person in history, who wants to get closer to the system and get a decent status.

Otherwise, before he died for the country, he would not have insulted Li Zicheng: "I was a thief with Ruo at the beginning, but now I am a king and a minister. Why do you surrender to the thief!"

It can be seen that Liu Guoneng himself looks down on his experience as a thief in those years, and he really wants to wash it off.It's a pity that in the past few years after his surrender, no civil servant in the Ming Dynasty was willing to look at him directly.

And Shen Shuren was very careful, and he also emphasized that his son should be treated as a "shady supervisor". Although this "shady" supervisor is not the best paid, but his parents must be honorable or high-ranking civil servants, in order to seal his wife and son as a supervisor, This is tantamount to "treating Liu Guoneng as if he were treated as a noble or a senior civil servant", and he has already given full face.

At the end of the letter, Shen Shuren also kindly reminded: He asked Liu Guoneng to send his son to prison this time, not for the sake of hostage, but because he heard that Li Zicheng was also wreaking havoc in Henan again, and might be corrupted at any time.Liu Guoneng was guarding Xinyang during the turmoil of the war, so he took his son with him. In case of a little transfer, it would be inconvenient. If he went to Nanjing, he would have no worries.

Watching Shen Shuren finish writing the letter, Fang Kongxuan also admired Shen Shuren's persuasive eloquence. At the same time, he also knew a lot of inside stories, so he felt a little awe.

After all, when Chongzhen summoned new scholars to play the right match last year, Fang Kongxuan didn't know many details. Although his son Fang Yizhi was present, he didn't tell all the details to his family.

"It's really a fearsome future generation. I, the younger generation of officials of the Ming Dynasty, still have such a firm shoulders of morality. They don't care about personal honor and disgrace. They only want to benefit the country. It's really a blessing for the Ming Dynasty.

If the old man was 30 or [-] years younger, he might not have dared to make such outspoken admonitions at the cost of offending the emperor and deposing him as the last name in the second class.Now I know why Zhi'er's letter has so much praise for you. "

Fang Kongxuan sighed a few words from the bottom of his heart.

Shen Shuren discussed the content of the letter with him for a while, and he was sure that he was confident in checking the omissions and filling in the vacancies, so he sealed the letter with the sealing seal:
"Tomorrow, Laofutai will send someone to escort the subordinate official's confidant to Ye County to ask for help with this letter. How about this? When the general entered the city today, he saw Jin Shenghuan, a guard at the city gate, and Wang Deren, the commander-in-chief under his command, were still working hard. Be cautious, martial arts should be good, right? Just bring a hundred cavalry escort."

Fang Kongxuan thought for a while: "These two people really volunteered and worked diligently. How about this—I will make an agreement with you, and let Wang Deren send a cavalry escort this time.

After Wang Deren received Liu Guoneng's reply letter, if Liu Guoneng was guaranteed, he would send troops to harass He Xinyang, encircle Wei and save Zhao.The official sent Jin Shenghuan and Wang Deren's 2000 soldiers and horses to Xiaogan as reinforcements for the nephew.

Counting the time at that time, Erhe's former army should also get the news that He Yilong's lair was raided, and the morale of the army will definitely be unstable.This officer will assist you with two thousand elite soldiers, which should be of great help in chasing down the wavering enemy.If the enemy can be retreated quickly, let these 2000 people return to defend Jingzhou.

However, my virtuous nephew has to promise the old man: once the siege of Suizhou is released and the enemy retreats, not only will my battalion be returned immediately, but also another battalion will be sent to reinforce it. I am already stretched to surround Zhang Xianzhong. The day can still be sustained, and it will inevitably change after a long time. "

Shen Shuren thought for a while, Fang Kongzheng's request was also appropriate, the way to use troops is to gather superior forces as much as possible anytime and anywhere, and beat the time difference to defeat the enemies one by one.

He didn't give reinforcements at the beginning because he thought that Shen Shuren would have a long-term stalemate with Erhe, and the people he sent would be borrowed for a long time, or even not repaid.

But if Liu Guoneng is willing to follow He Yilong's retreat, the war is expected to end in a relatively short period of time, and it will not be a big problem to borrow a little ten days and a half months.Even if Zhang Xianzhong got the news, it would take time.

Fang Kongxuan was also able to set up false flags in Jiangling and other cities, reduce troops and increase stoves, and secretly send troops at night to deceive for a while.

Shen Shuren handed the letter to Shen Fu, and Fang Kongxuan also called Wang Deren in the middle of the night and told them to take a good rest and ride out of the city tomorrow morning to deliver the letter.

At present, the road from Jiangling to Xiangyang and then to Ye County is considered safe, and the bandits have not entered the hinterland of Xiangyang or Nanyang.Although Li Zicheng in the north had escaped from the Shangluo Mountains and entered the Henan area, he was not heading for the Nanyang Basin.

After explaining the matter clearly, Fang Kongxuan admired Shen Shuren quite a lot, and pulled him to exchange a lot of views on military affairs.

Although it was late at night and Shen Shuren was going back to Xiaogan tomorrow, the opportunity was really rare, and Fang Kongxuan was unwilling to let it go.

He ordered people to make tea for Shen Shuren again, and then prepared some supper; all the questions he asked were very practical and could be used immediately.

"Nephew, now that the situation is so bad, this old man has been worrying about something. Do you think that if the thieves become bigger again, the court really can't completely wipe them out.

Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai, Li Zicheng, and He Yilong, which one should be the most important to ensure the extinction?The old man has a bad premonition, alas, if Huang Taiji comes here at this time, even if we fight to the death and wipe out some rogues, the rest will probably be recruited by the remaining thieve chiefs.

If the enemy army cannot be completely wiped out, or at least the captives are reorganized into the official army, only killing the chiefs may help those rogues merge with each other, and those who survive will only become stronger and stronger!well. "

Shen Shuren rode a horse for a whole day, and thought of schemes and writing letters until midnight, and he was completely weak. At this moment, he just poured tea, tried to take a few breaths, and casually grabbed the boring dry biscuits that were always in the study and stuffed them into his mouth.

The snacks that scholars in the Ming Dynasty always prepared were relatively dry and hard. At most, they only added a little sugar. The advantage is that the drier they are, the longer the shelf life. They can be kept in the study for a month without spoiling. The taste is definitely much worse than freshly made ones.

Shen Shuren choked a little uncomfortable, took several sips of tea, and then rubbed his chest and sighed: "I thought that among the four thieves, Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng should be the most dangerous. I want to contribute to the country and destroy them as soon as possible, but in the end I am afraid It’s involuntary, the only choice is to kill whoever is sent to the knife first.”

When he answered, he didn't have the energy to think too carefully, so he simply reported the answer with historical prophets.

However, Fang Kongxuan does not seem to be satisfied with this answer:
"Why? Zhang Xianzhong organized the excavation of the Fengyang Emperor's Mausoleum back then. Although he was the most heinous and most vicious, he was targeted by the court after all. Now he is hiding in the Jingshan Mountains in the east of Sichuan and the west of Hubei. The reinforcement of troops should be relatively weak.

The same is true for Li Zicheng. There were only [-] generals who fled to Shangluo Mountain, and they all regrouped slowly.

Luo Rucai is more scheming and resourceful than these two reckless men. When he was dormant and patient before, his strength was less damaged.

Ma Shouying was the leader of Gezuo's Fifth Battalion. After the other troops were damaged, his number was no less than that of Luo and Li.More importantly, this time we will fight He Jin and He Yilong to the death. If Er He can be wiped out, then we will be fine.

If they were just repelled, or even disintegrated, and the remnants fled to join Ma Shouying, then Ma Shouying's force would definitely grow to the top of the group of thieves—why does the nephew think that only Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong need to be on guard the most? "

Shen Shuren was momentarily at a loss for words.

He is used to copying answers, and never thought about this issue, because in history, it was Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong who finally succeeded, and later history books did not analyze this issue.

But in the eyes of people in the Ming Dynasty, at least the four thieves were at the same level, except for Zhang Xianzhong who organized the digging of the imperial tomb.

"At the time, it is said that he is the best in the world", who dares to underestimate Luo Rucai?
He also had no choice but to prevaricate and procrastinate for time to think slowly: "This is really a long story, the official is very tired today, can you let me take a break and use some midnight snacks to sort out my thoughts."

Fang Kongxuan also realized that he was too eager, and it was really too much to grab a junior who admired him, so he hurriedly let Shen Shuren take care of himself first, and ordered the maid to tidy up his desk, so that Shen Shuren could lean on for a while, He also asked two maids to squeeze Shen Shuren's shoulders, legs, and temples.

After Shen Shuren drank two cups of tea, he finally sorted out some thoughts, which may not be accurate, but at least it can turn the effect into the cause and justify itself.

At this moment, footsteps came from the door of the study, and soon some female relatives came in.In the lead, a middle-aged woman in her forties was not polite to Fang Kongxuan:
"My lord, it's already past midnight, why don't you rest in the middle of the night? The official affairs of the court can be dealt with tomorrow. I also read Zhier's family letter. This is his visit in the same year? Why are you so eager?"

Fang Kongxuan was interrupted, quite annoyed: "What do women know! Shen Bingbei will return to Suizhou tomorrow, and the army is on fire. He came here for help from four hundred miles in two days and one night! It's rare that he understands the situation of the frontline bandits. , is also very knowledgeable, I will ask him for some military insights, you should rest for now."

His wife was robbed of his job. Hearing that the military situation was raging, he didn't dare to make a mistake, but he still couldn't help but stepped forward to take a closer look at the Jinshi of the same year mentioned in his son's family letter.Seeing that Shen Shuren was haggard, he couldn't see his appearance clearly under the dim light.

However, Shen Shuren was quite polite. When he saw Fang's elders coming in, he also stood up and bowed. Standing up immediately made people feel oppressed.

"So tall? I'm afraid he's six feet tall? He's a majestic man." The women of the Fang family subconsciously took two steps back in fear.

Behind Mrs. Fang was a woman who seemed to remember something after stepping back. She quickly put down the tea tray in her hand and saluted Kong Xing:
"The father is doing his military work with peace of mind. My mother-in-law will go back and rest first. This is my child's supper stewed with velvet antler and candied dates. If you stay up late, take care of your health. Don't eat those dry biscuits anymore."

Fang Kongxuan took a bowl and pushed it directly in front of Shen Shuren: "Nephew, eat first, you have to use your brain, the old man just listens, it's okay."

"Together together." Shen Shuren said politely, anyway, it's more than one bowl, it doesn't matter if everyone eats it.After taking a few mouthfuls of the soup containing velvet antler, he soon felt refreshed, his thinking was not so dull, and he actually came up with a set of excuses for him.

(End of this chapter)