Before hanging himself, Chongzhen lifted the table

Chapter 177
The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is one of the most important traditional festivals in China, the Lantern Festival.

Logically speaking, during the Lantern Festival, there must be a Lantern Festival. Appreciating lanterns, eating glutinous rice balls, eating Yuanxiao, guessing lantern riddles, setting off fireworks, etc. will add to the festive atmosphere and bring the Spring Festival to an end.

But during the Lantern Festival in the 15th year of Chongzhen's reign, there was no lively scene at all in the city of Nanchang, Jiangxi. In other words, there was no atmosphere at all that the Lantern Festival should have.

Occasionally there are pedestrians on the road, and they all walk in a hurry with their heads down, as if there are man-eating tigers on the street.

Not to mention, there are indeed people who can walk arrogantly in the streets and alleys of Nanchang City, and they all have the same characteristic, that is, soldiers wearing military uniforms and holding swords and guns. .

The original Prince Ning's Mansion in Nanchang has now been renamed Prince Lu's Mansion.It's quite lively here, with a somewhat Lantern Festival atmosphere.

In the main hall, Zuo Liangyu, the King of Lu who was wearing a python robe and was conferred by Li Zicheng and declared unpardonable by Emperor Chongzhen, was sitting among everyone, smiling at the dancing in the hall.

There is another table below him. Sitting there is a young man who looks a bit like Zuo Liangyu. He is Zuo Menggeng, Zuo Liangyu’s son. When Zuo Liangyu’s troops rebelled, everyone in his family was killed. That’s it. One son survived because he was with the army.

Below, it is divided into two sides, civil and military, where they sit and have a banquet.

On the civil official side, Huang Shu, the former supervisor of the army sent by the imperial court to Zuo Liangyu, was now named prime minister of Lu by Zuo Liangyu.

On the general side, Zuo Liangyu's trusted generals Ma Shixiu and Hao Zhongzhong were headed, and there were other generals under his control, etc.

I heard Zuo Liangyu sitting at the top, waving his hand to make the singing and dancing retreat, and then said to the people in the hall: "Gugang received a piece of good news from the Dashun Army, saying that the Emperor Mingguo has arrived in Nanjing. , with only 5 men and horses, he ordered Gu Gu to gather the best of the army, and together with His Highness, they would advance by land and water, and hunt down the Nanjing city."

Having said this, he paused and glanced below. When he saw many people being slightly shocked, he spoke again: "His Royal Highness stated that after last year's battle, he has grasped the fate of the Ming Dynasty emperor. Can the Battle of Nanjing be carried out? Once the battle is over, there will be no need for the army to fight tooth and nail under the walls of Nanjing!"

Hearing this, everyone in the hall was shocked.

For them, the past year has been truly unpredictable.

They competed with Li Zicheng for the land of Jingxiang in Huguang, and it felt very difficult. The future was really confusing.

When he heard that Li Zicheng's army had conquered Shanxi and was about to attack the capital, the emperor ordered Qin Wang, and the army was divided.

Some people think that the capital is the most important thing and they should immediately serve the king.

However, more people believe that Li Zicheng's main force is to attack the capital. Now that it is difficult to defeat even one of his partial armies, wouldn't he be willing to die if he wants to go to King Qin?
However, as an official of the imperial court, it would definitely be unjustifiable if he failed to obey the king after receiving the order.

So Zuo Liangyu came up with a strategy to delay the attack, and immediately and solemnly planned a march route to the capital, skipping He Tengjiao, the governor of Huguang, and presented it directly to the emperor, asking for the emperor's approval before leading his troops to King Qin. .

In this way, the world can know, and the emperor can know, look, I really want to serve the king, and I respect the emperor very much. Even if I march, I need the emperor's consent!

In fact, even if you don’t want to be the King of Qin and have to be the King of Qin, you can postpone it until you see the limelight.

If King Qin's army is large and Li Zicheng is going to be defeated, he will definitely become King Qin!If there is no King Qin’s army, or even if there is King Qin, he is defeated by Li Zicheng, then it will be delayed until Li Zicheng captures the capital and the emperor is gone, then King Qin is a piece of shit!

Wishful thinking, slap bang!

As a result, the development of the situation shocked them all.

First, Bai Guangen's troops who surrendered to Li Zicheng went south to help Bai Wang's troops in the battle. Zuo Liangyu also knew that the emperor personally led the army to Ningwuguan to rescue Zhou Yuji.

After hearing about it at that time, everyone in Zuo Liangyu's department didn't believe it at first.

The emperor grew up in the Forbidden City and had never left the capital. How could he lead his troops to fight outside the capital?It is normal to hide in the Forbidden City, trembling, and shouting King Kuaiqin!

Therefore, no one believes it!
However, later on, one day Huang Shu came to Zuo Liangyu in shock with a copy of the Di newspaper, saying that he had been dismissed by the emperor for killing innocent people, plundering people, and ruining the reputation of the court. He was considered a rebel and wanted to arrest him. To uphold the laws of the country.

After hearing the news, Zuo Liangyu was honestly confused.

Your emperor is like a Bodhisattva crossing a river and cannot protect himself. Why do you actually issue such a decree to cause trouble for Zuo Liangyu?

To be honest, he actually didn't care whether he belonged to the imperial army, because all the imperial court could give him was a title, no military pay, no replenishment of troops, and it was all up to him to think of a way.When he arrived at the place, most of the local officials closed the city gates tightly, guarding him as if they were thieves, and would not let him enter the city.It doesn’t matter if it’s the imperial army, or it doesn’t matter if it’s not the imperial army, it makes no difference at all!
In these troubled times, Zuo Liangyu clearly understands that only with soldiers in hand can everything be possible!
The emperor's head was caught in the door, and he actually issued such a decree. Then he had nothing to do with Li Zicheng's army.

So, he began to deceive his men, saying that the emperor would not pardon him and would hold him accountable, so as Zuo Liangyu's men, you will definitely not be able to escape.Follow him, maybe one day the emperor will wake up and beg him again, recruit people again, and they will still be the imperial army.

It's really hard to tell these days. You might be a thief today and a soldier tomorrow!It is also possible that you are a soldier today and a thief tomorrow!

Even Zhang Xianzhong, the eight great kings who lied to the emperor, was able to be relocated to the imperial mausoleum in Fengyang, so what could possibly happen?
After deceiving his men, Zuo Liangyu went to negotiate with Li Zicheng's army.Originally, according to his intention, since both sides were thieves, he should not continue the fight and form an alliance with the imperial court.

Unexpectedly, Yuan Zongdi, who was under Li Zicheng, refused to agree and continued to beat him.He also said that the world would belong to their Dashun country, and Zuo Liangyu would either surrender or be wiped out, and there was no other way out.

Zuo Liangyu used to target Li Zicheng. After so many years, he had a psychological advantage over Li Zicheng. He would not be happy to ask him to surrender, so the two families continued to fight.

However, Yuan Zongdi's answer was obviously confident, and he was stronger than Zuo Liangyu, so much so that Zuo Liangyu retreated steadily and even lost his home base of Wuchang City.

The court did not recognize him, and he could not defend his old lair. Zuo Liangyu himself was about to become the bandit he had been before, fleeing in all directions. The crucial thing was that Li Zicheng also led the army south.

Zuo Liangyu had no choice but to consider letting go of his worthless self-esteem and surrendering to Li Zicheng, when another good news came.

Li Zicheng sent him a message saying that he agreed to his alliance request, and the two families stopped their troops and jointly attacked the Ming Dynasty.

This made Zuo Liangyu happy, and he quickly sent someone to find out the news. The result shocked him for a long time.

Li Zicheng went south not because he captured the capital and sent his troops south, but because he was driven back south by the current emperor's troops.

I really didn't expect that the current emperor really led the troops to fight, and actually won the battle, sending all the main forces led by Li Zicheng back to the south.

How exactly is this done?
Zuo Liangyu couldn't believe it. If the current emperor had such ability, he would still have been in trouble for so many years, and even his ancestral graves were dug up?

So, he was no longer in a hurry, and was perfunctory with Li Zicheng while sending more people to inquire about the emperor. The result was natural, except for shock, there was nothing but shock.

The current emperor defeated Li Zicheng's army several times. Later, Li Zicheng's army even joined forces with the Jianlu army, only to be defeated by the current emperor again.Li Zicheng ran back to the south in panic, and Jianlu ran out of the pass.

Zuo Liangyu confirmed it several times and finally confirmed that the news was true.

So, without any hesitation, he immediately formed an alliance with Li Zicheng, but also put forward his own conditions, which he expected Li Zicheng would agree to.

The result was not what he expected, and he became King of Lu, with the power to obey the instructions but not the announcements.

The two families became one family and worked together to deal with the Ming Dynasty, and Zuo Liangyu developed rapidly. No one was more familiar with developing and building a team in these troubled times than him.

Therefore, he occupied the territory south of the Yangtze River, and Li Zicheng occupied the territory north of the Yangtze River, attacking Yingtian Mansion all the way, trying to seize half of the Ming Dynasty's sky.

In Zuo Liangyu's view, even if the Ming emperor personally went on an expedition, he would definitely fight Li Zicheng in Jiangbei first. He could make some ink and wait for them to decide the outcome.

Unexpectedly, the Ming Emperor had already arrived in Nanjing, and Li Zicheng invited him to attack Nanjing together and find a way to destroy the Ming Emperor.

At this time, after hearing Zuo Liangyu's words, his confidant General Ma Shixiu stood up and asked: "Your Highness, is there any fraud in this?"

Even Zuo Liangyu's son, Zuo Mengeng, turned to look at his father and said, "If Li Zicheng really knows where the current emperor's fate is and can defeat him, why would he want to escape?"

Indeed, this doubt is very reasonable.

They could think of it, and Li Zicheng naturally thought of it too.Therefore, he made it clear in his letter to Zuo Liangyu.

After Zuo Liangyu heard this, he immediately explained: "Your Highness's strategy is also very simple. When the army besieges Nanjing, as long as you set up a posture to dig the imperial tomb, the Ming Emperor will definitely come out of the city to attack. Therefore, dig a trap in advance and be prepared. , then the Ming Emperor will undoubtedly die!"

When Zuo Mengeng heard this, he immediately questioned: "This is impossible. The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is not a fool. He clearly knows that our army outside the city is much larger than his. How could he leave the city? At most, it is just a show!"

Ma Shixiu also echoed: "It's not like the emperor's tomb has never been dug up. No matter how stupid the Ming Dynasty emperor was, he would never leave the city!"

The others listened to their doubts and mostly nodded, acknowledging their doubts.

But who would have thought that Zuo Liangyu patted the piece of news in his hand, and then said with a smile: "This has already happened once."

Seeing that all the people below were surprised, he explained in detail: "The time when the Dashun Army and the Qing Army joined forces, the Qing Dynasty proposed to dig up the imperial tomb, and then used the [-] Dashun Army and the Qing Army to Fifty thousand soldiers went to dig the imperial tomb, but the Ming Emperor collected all the troops and only had [-] to [-] troops. However, the Ming Emperor still took the initiative to go out to the capital to attack..."

Upon hearing this, there was an exclamation of surprise in the hall.

They knew the combat effectiveness of Li Zicheng's troops.There is no doubt that the strength of the Qing soldiers was stronger than that of Li Zicheng's troops.There were a total of 12 troops on both sides, but the Ming Emperor only had 8 troops. How dare he go out of the city to fight in the field?
Who doesn’t know that in a field battle, the Qing soldiers are invincible?
Although everyone in the hall knew that the Ming Emperor was in Nanjing, he should be fine.But each of them could not imagine how the Ming Emperor escaped.
Of course, people who know more information, such as Zuo Liangyu's son, know that the Ming Emperor actually won, but they just don't know how.

Therefore, after everyone in the hall exclaimed, they all looked at Zuo Liangyu and waited for the next explanation.

They only heard Zuo Liangyu say to them: "Unexpectedly, at this critical moment, for some reason, the Qing soldiers suddenly abandoned their allies and left the country. As a result, the great situation that was supposed to determine the world with one battle was overturned by the Ming Emperor. "

"what……"

In the main hall, no one could have imagined such a result, and they were all very surprised.

What's happening here?It was clear that he could annihilate the Ming Emperor's troops in one fell swoop, why did he suddenly come out of seclusion?
No one could figure it out, but Li Zicheng had an explanation, and Zuo Liangyu said: "According to His Highness's subsequent speculation, it may be related to the situation that the Qing Emperor was young and the regent was in power. The civil strife in the Qing Kingdom led to a great situation. The success fell short. It was also because of this time that His Highness concluded that as long as another imperial tomb is dug here in Nanjing, it is still the imperial tomb of Taizu of the Ming Dynasty. It will definitely lead the Ming Dynasty Emperor out of the city and then annihilate him!"

Li Zicheng naturally had reservations when speaking. For example, he did not mention the two defeats of Jianlu; nor did he mention how his [-]-strong army was defeated.

However, even if I mentioned it, no one would believe it!This involves the emperor's personal martial prowess, and will subvert the perceptions of Zuo Liangyu and others.

After Zuo Liangyu finished speaking, he expressed his opinion with a smile: "Your Highness's plan is almost a conspiracy. Even if the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty knew about it, it would be useless. If you don't want to be an unfilial descendant, dare to let others poach you under your nose." The imperial mausoleum of his founding ancestor?"

Upon hearing this, the people in the hall immediately agreed.

Huang Shu, a Jinshi for ten years under Chongzhen, was greedy for money and had no bottom line.

When he was on patrol in Henan, Emperor Chongzhen gave Zhou Wang Zhu Gongzhu [-] gold, and Huang Shu dared to swallow [-] gold and deposit it in the Wei Hui Treasury.In the original history, he surrendered to the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, and then went to Huizhou to work as an internal agent, supporting the Manchu and Qing troops to capture Huizhou.Then he coveted Zheng Chenggong's savings and led the Manchu troops to capture Zhongzuo Suo, which was later known as Xiamen, and robbed Zheng Chenggong's property.His greed for money eventually made even his Manchu masters dissatisfied and dismissed him from office.

At this time, after hearing Zuo Liangyu's words, he immediately reminded: "Your Highness, the wealth of Taizu's imperial mausoleum is absolutely unparalleled. Is there an agreement on how to divide it?"

Zuo Liangyu was stunned after hearing this. After reading the whole article, the purpose of digging the imperial tomb was actually just to lure the current emperor out of Nanjing. He didn't say that he was actually digging it?
As soon as Huang Shu saw Zuo Liangyu's expression, he knew that he had not mentioned this matter, and quickly said: "Your Highness, in today's world, money is never too much, money is needed for everything. Since you have decided to dig up the imperial tomb, let's just fake it. If you do it, you can also reserve more capital for His Highness’ future big things!”

When Zuo Liangyu heard this, he immediately felt it made sense.

If you think about it with your toes, you will know that he is definitely not satisfied with just being the king of Lu, and he also has the brains to not think that Li Zicheng really wants to take over the world, and he will be a one-word king who listens to the tune but not the announcement.Therefore, he also attaches great importance to money and food.And there must be a lot of property in the imperial mausoleum...

While he was thinking about it, several generals under his command who were sitting far away stood up and said, "Your Highness, you must not do this. This is a matter of digging up people's ancestral graves to settle a deadly feud!"

"Yes, Your Highness, you cannot do such immoral things!"

"..."

When Zuo Liangyu heard the sound, he turned around and saw that they were two of Li Zicheng's subordinates who had been recruited into the army and then controlled by him.One is "Hun Shiwan" Ma Jinzhong, and the other is "Hun Tianxing" Hui Dengxiang.

After he saw clearly that it was these two people, he knew what they were thinking.They are just thinking that one day in the future, they can become officers and soldiers of the imperial court and have the dream of being a wife and a shadow!

So, he reminded: "In the next battle in Nanjing, the emperor was killed, and His Highness will probably ascend the throne in Nanjing and proclaim himself emperor. The Ming prince who stayed in the north is just a young boy. How can he be his opponent? Let's start a feud. Does it matter if we don’t make enemies?”

Ma Jinzhong and Hui Deng were speechless when they heard this.

Among the two of them, Prime Minister Hui Deng used to be tied with Li Zicheng. He was one of the earliest rebels. He was originally recruited by the court, but after Luo Rucai rebelled again, he followed suit.Later, when he could not defeat Zuo Liangyu, he was forced to surrender again and became an official of the imperial court.

In the original history, he would have died of illness last year.However, due to the butterfly effect of the time traveler, he did not get sick.

Ma Jinzhong would have lived longer in the original history. After surrendering to Zuo Liangyu, he had been fighting under Zuo Liangyu's command.

Later, Zuo Liangyu died, and his son Zuo Menggeng wanted to lead troops to surrender to the Qing Dynasty. He refused and broke away from Zuo Menggeng's army. Then, he pretended to surrender to the Manchu Qing Azige tribe who was pursuing Li Zicheng in the south. Soon after, He also found an opportunity to break away from the Manchu Army and persisted in resisting the Qing Dynasty. During the Yongli Dynasty, he was granted the title of Prince of Hanyang. He eventually died of illness in the 12th year of Yongli Dynasty.

At this time, the two of them were speechless by Zuo Liangyu, but it also spoiled Zuo Liangyu's interest.Zuo Liangyu realized that there were actually many in his army who were similar to these two people, and they still wanted to be officials in the Ming Dynasty.Unless the Emperor of Ming Dynasty is killed, their thoughts cannot be eliminated.

Based on this, he became serious and said: "Since His Highness's decree has been received, the entire army will be prepared to rush to Nanjing City by land and water soon!"

After finishing speaking, the Lantern Festival banquet broke up.However, although the Lantern Festival banquet was over, Zuo Liangyu still had things to do.

When he and his son were the only ones left in the hall, Zuo Liangyu sent an order for his men to bring two officials wearing Ming Dynasty official costumes.

I saw these two officials, of different ages. The older one had white hair on the temples and was wearing a bright red and crimson official robe. He was obviously a high official in the border area.The other one is younger, but about forty years old. Although he also wears a crimson official robe, his wife is the lowest Yunyan, that is, a fourth-rank official.

After the two people arrived in the palace, their nostrils were pointed towards Zuo Liangyu, or their backs were facing each other. It was obvious that they did not deal with Zuo Liangyu and were very rude to Zuo Liangyu.

However, Zuo Liangyu was not angry at all. He just smiled and even left his position and walked up to the two people.Then he looked at this, then that, and finally said: "Master He, Master Du, it's been so long, haven't you thought about it yet?"

The Master He mentioned by Zuo Liangyu was He Tengjiao, the governor of Huguang in the Ming Dynasty. The other Master Du was Du Yinxi, who was appointed to supervise the army in Changsha at the Wuhan and Huangzhou Military Preparation Road in the Ming Dynasty.

After Zuo Liangyu received the news of the official rebellion, these two people fell into his hands.

But Zuo Liangyu knew that if he wanted to achieve great things, he couldn't do it without advisers.Although he had Huang Shu, Huang Shu was greedy for money, and just one adviser was definitely not enough.

He Tengjiao, with his family background, became a frontier official in the Ming Dynasty, so he must be capable; and Du Yinxi was the prefect of Changsha before, and his talent was also recognized.Therefore, he wanted these two people to be used by him.

But at first, both of them disagreed, so he put them both under house arrest, waiting for them to change their minds.But he didn't expect that half a year had passed and the two of them still had such bad tempers. He was somewhat unhappy in his heart.

Zuo Liangyu naturally didn't know that in the original history, after He Tengjiao was captured by the Manchus, they sent many people to persuade him to surrender. They were promised high-ranking officials and generous salaries, and threatened his family, but He Tengjiao refused to surrender and was eventually killed. .

Zuo Liangyu has something now and wants He Tengjiao to surrender. That is impossible.

Another one, Du Yinxi, tried his best to fight against the Manchus in the original history, and eventually died of illness, without any compromise.

Now, the attitudes of the two of them should not be too normal for them!
Zuo Liangyu said something, but the two of them pretended not to hear it and ignored him at all.

When Zuo Mengeng saw it, he said: "Father, these two are just stones in the pit, smelly and hard, let's just kill them!"

Zuo Liangyu heard his son's words and turned to look at him, thinking that his son's patience was still not enough and needed to be tempered.If you kill someone if you don't get what you want, how can you increase your strength?

With this thought in his mind, he walked slowly back to his seat and sat down, then said calmly: "I have issued an order to attack Nanjing City and kill the Ming Emperor in his mausoleum!"

Hearing this, the two people, who seemed to be deaf at first, suddenly turned their heads, looked at Zuo Liangyu, and all spoke.

"What, His Majesty has arrived at Yingtian Mansion?"

"Imperial Mausoleum, what does this mean?"

Zuo Liangyu saw that both of them were talking, so he looked at them and asked: "Gu killed the Emperor of Ming Dynasty. You have no one to be loyal to. They have all changed dynasties. Can you surrender to Gu?"

Hearing this, He Tengjiao immediately shouted sharply: "If you dare to kill the king, I would like to kill you. How can I be used by you? Stop dreaming!"

After Du Yinxi heard this, he immediately asked: "The city wall of Nanjing is tall and strong. Can you capture Nanjing with just your troops? Isn't it too arrogant?"

When Zuo Liangyu heard what they said, he suddenly smiled strangely, and then said: "You don't have to attack the city, let the outside world know that you two have given me an idea, let me dig the emperor's tomb, and dig the grave of Taizu of the Ming Dynasty. In this way, The emperor of the Ming Dynasty must lead his troops out of the city to protect him, so he fell into Gu's trap and killed him in one fell swoop..."

Before he finished speaking, He Tengjiao's face suddenly turned red and he shouted loudly: "How dare you?"

Zuo Liangyu saw him being so angry, but he laughed and said: "Why don't you dare? Gu has worked for him for most of his life. He doesn't pay military pay or replenish his troops. He only knows how to let Gu suppress the thieves. What can I give him?" Suppressing thieves? Now that it's better, you actually want to face shame, saying that Gu is causing harm to the people, and you want to use Gu to thank the world."

At this point, his expression suddenly changed, his anger welled up, and he immediately shouted: "He is sorry for Gu Zaixian, and Gu is going to die. What does Gu have to worry about? What's wrong with digging his ancestral grave? I just want to Kill him and let him, a mean and unkind king, know that I am not someone he can manipulate!"

He Tengjiao still blushed when he heard his angry shouting, and pointed at him: "You...you..."

You have been talking for a long time, but you are speechless.

One thing is indeed true. The imperial court asked them to work hard, but they could not give out much money and food. Later, there was no money and food at all. They just asked the local government to raise money and food. Who would give the money and food to the soldiers? I had a knife in my hand and I was hungry, so I naturally started to rob.

Although the other Du Yinxi was also angry, he did not blush. He stared at Zuo Liangyu and said: "Your Majesty is a wise king, how could he fall into your trap? Your subordinates have no military discipline at all. Although There are many people, but they are a mob. Your Majesty doesn't need too many people. As long as you gather the three men of Zhou Yuji, Huang Degong and Gao Jie, we can defeat you!"

When Zuo Liangyu heard this, he immediately sneered and said: "Gu and Gu's men are all creditors of that Hunjun. How much food are they owed? If Gu's men fight that Hunjun, they are in debt to the creditor, and their morale must be high. , how can you not defeat it?"

At this point, he suddenly thought of something. He looked at Du Yinxi and said, "You almost turned me around! It was the two of you who came up with Gu's idea to let him go. Then Gu dug a trap in the imperial mausoleum and waited for him."

After finishing speaking, Zuo Liangyu waved his hand and shouted: "Come on, take them down!"

The guard standing at the door heard this and immediately responded. Just as he was about to step forward to escort the two of them, he saw Du Yinxi saying, "If I do something for you, can you please not frame me up?"

When He Tengjiao heard this, he immediately turned to look at Du Yinxi and shouted: "You...are you going to rebel?"

Zuo Liangyu was overjoyed when he heard this. He was afraid that Du Yinxi would change his mind after being told by He Tengjiao, so he quickly replied: "Yes, if Mr. Du can do something for me, this matter was Mr. He's idea. Those who knew clearly If the filial son and grandson of the country are to blame, the only person to blame is Mr. He!"

He Tengjiao was so angry that his face turned red and his neck was thick again. He blocked Yinxi with his finger, then pointed at Zuo Liangyu and shouted sternly: "Such a dirty thing will definitely be struck by five thunders from the sky!"

He could imagine that if Zuo Liangyu really did this, even if the matter was not done in the end and the emperor did not come out, then He Tengjiao's reputation would be ruined and he would be scolded to death by other colleagues!
Zuo Liangyu didn't take it seriously at all when he heard He Tengjiao's stern accusation.If you said you would be struck by five thunderbolts if you did dirty things, the world would have been at peace for a long time. How could it have always been troubled times!

When he was about to say something, he heard Du Yinxi say to He Tengjiao: "Master He, there is no solution to this matter. If you don't want to bear the stigma, you should follow the left... Your Highness!"

When He Tengjiao heard this, he shouted angrily at Du Yinxi: "You have joined the rebels, so you won't bear the stigma? You are really dirty, I... I have a clear conscience!"

"Hahaha..." Zuo Liangyu burst out laughing after hearing this. After a while, he stopped laughing and said, "Master Du knows the current affairs for the sake of heroes! As long as you sincerely serve Gu, you will be indispensable in the future. Your glory and wealth!”

Having said this, he waved his hand and said: "Come on, please bring Mr. He back and let him continue to think about his mistakes behind closed doors!"

Then, Zuo Liangyu took the trouble to give another instruction: "Serve Mr. Du with wine and food, I want to apologize to Mr. Du!"

His two personal guards escorted He Tengjiao out of the hall. In front of Du Yinxi, new tables were placed, and then good wine and food were placed.

Zuo Liangyu sat on his seat, raised his wine glass, and said to Du Yinxi, "Master Du, all the past rights and wrongs are over with just this glass of wine, okay?"

"As your Highness wishes!" Du Yinxi didn't hesitate at all. He immediately raised his glass to greet Zuo Liangyu and drank it all in one gulp.

When Zuo Liangyu saw it, he drank it all in one gulp.

After putting down the cup, he looked at Du Yinxi and asked, "I wonder what Mr. Du has to teach me?"

Du Yinxi also put down his cup, looked at Zuo Liangyu and said, "Wei Chen is a minister of His Highness. He cannot be called Lord Du. Please stop calling him that way!"

Zuo Liangyu was happy when he heard this, so he changed his words and asked, "I wonder what Du Qing can teach you?"

Du Yinxi glanced at Zuo Liangyu's son without speaking, and then answered Zuo Liangyu and said: "Wei Chen thinks that in today's world, there can be divided into Li thieves... Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, the imperial court and Jianlu As well as our five major forces. Among them, the Jianlu are outside the pass, so we can ignore it for the time being. The struggle for hegemony in the Central Plains belongs to the other four. And the imperial court is in the last years of the dynasty, so it is no longer a concern. Zhang Xianzhong retreated to Shu, so, The strongest person is none other than Li Zicheng!"

Seeing that Zuo Liangyu was listening, he continued his analysis: "If nothing else happens, after the imperial court is gone, it will be time for Li Zicheng to annex other forces. If he wants to change the dynasty, he will definitely not tolerate the existence of other forces. Among them , including His Highness’s side.”

"During the Three Kingdoms period, Wei was the strongest, followed by Shu and Wu. Therefore, the Shu-Wu alliance defeated Cao Wei and gained three thirds of the world. From the perspective of a humble minister, Your Highness must also consider this in order to have a place!"

When he saw that Zuo Liangyu and his son were the only two people in the hall, he said these words.

After hearing this, Zuo Liangyu actually agreed with Du Yinxi's statement. He was also afraid of Li Zicheng.

Because Li Zicheng likes to annex other people's forces the most, such as Luo Rucai, Gezuo Fifth Battalion, etc., it might be his turn in the future.

The current alliance was actually forced by both parties. Once the Ming Emperor was destroyed, maybe at that time, Li Zicheng would attack him.

I didn't think much about it before, but now that I heard what Du Yinxi said, I became more aware of this matter.

Du Yinxi saw Zuo Liangyu's thoughtful look and said to him again: "I think it would be best for Your Highness to ally with Zhang Xianzhong or with the imperial court."

Zuo Liangyu couldn't help but smile bitterly after hearing this. At this time, Li Zicheng was still the strongest. The strongest one should be the imperial court, the army led by the emperor!

When he rebelled, he directly detained Du Yinxi and He Tengjiao, so neither Du Yinxi nor He Tengjiao knew the situation outside.For the time being, he didn't want Du Yinxi to know the real situation.

So Zuo Liangyu said to Du Yinxi: "Gu Ben is a general of the imperial court and serves the imperial court. It is the current emperor who forces Gu to rebel. It is not Gu who wants to rebel."

The implication is that there is no possibility of an alliance between him and the imperial court.

While saying this, Zuo Liangyu also began to consider whether to contact Zhang Xianzhong to see if there was a possibility of forming an alliance?
At this time, Du Yinxi heard Zuo Liangyu's words and replied: "Your Highness has been serving the imperial court and fighting for the imperial court. Naturally, the low-ranking ministers saw it. It must have been a treacherous official in the imperial court who bewitched your majesty and separated them." Your Majesty and Your Highness, a situation like this has arisen. I am a humble minister, but I am willing to mediate to resolve the misunderstanding!"

Zuo Liangyu smiled slightly after hearing this, and then said to Du Yinxi: "I'll think about it again."

After saying that, he was ready to let Du Yinxi go down.

But at this moment, he saw a personal guard hurriedly walked in and reported to him: "Your Highness, there is a man outside the palace who claims to be from Nanjing City. He said that he has something important to discuss with you, which will help your Highness."

The three people in the hall were a little surprised when they heard this, and Zuo Liangyu asked: "What is your identity?"

How dare you say something important that will help Zuo Liangyu? Most people can't do this.

"Back to Your Highness, the person who came here refused to reveal his identity. He only said that he came with sincerity. It is up to Your Highness to decide whether to see him or not."

After hearing this, Zuo Liangyu frowned and thought for a while, then looked at Du Yinxi and said to him: "Du Qing goes back to rest first, and Gu will go back and arrange for Du Qing to do things for Gu!"

Du Yinxi understood that this was to drive him away and not want him to hear what happened next.

Zuo Liangyu has already spoken, so there is no reason for him to stay here anymore.Because he himself knew that he definitely did not have Zuo Liangyu's trust at this time.

Therefore, without hesitation, Du Yinxi said goodbye and left the palace, led by Zuo Liangyu's personal guards.

Seeing him leaving, Zuo Mengeng quickly said to Zuo Liangyu: "Father, I think this Yinxi seems to be pretending to surrender. He wants to take the opportunity to escape to Nanjing."

If Zuo Liangyu really agreed to Du Yinxi and let Du Yinxi adjust the relationship between him and the court, then in all likelihood, Du Yinxi would never return.

His son could see this, how could Zuo Liangyu not see it.No, Zuo Liangyu nodded and said, "I know what I am doing."

After saying that, he asked his personal guards to invite the person from Nanjing in. He wanted to see what happened to this person from Nanjing. I am afraid he had a lot of background.
After a while, a man dressed as a businessman was led into the palace by his personal guards.

Zuo Liangyu looked at this person and knew at a glance that this person was a very shrewd person. Facing him, King Lu, he did not act rude or cautious. He was obviously a person with experience in the world.

I saw this man bowing to Zuo Liangyu, then looking at Zuo Mengeng, as if he knew who Zuo Mengeng was, so he turned back, looked at Zuo Liangyu and said, "My master will help His Highness to get rid of the current emperor. "

This opening was shocking. He actually wanted to help Zuo Liangyu get rid of the current emperor!
When Zuo Liangyu heard this, he was frightened and asked immediately: "Who is your master? Why do you want to help Gu get rid of the current emperor? How can Gu believe it?"

"Your Highness does not need to know who my master is. Your Highness only needs to know that my master is indeed sincere and will help His Highness get rid of the current emperor. Otherwise, there is no way that this villain would come to Nanchang specially."

Zuo Mengeng heard that this man was a little rude, so he shouted from the side: "You don't even dare to tell anyone, how can you believe it?"

Hearing the sound, the man glanced at Zuo Mengeng and did not speak. Instead, he turned to look at Zuo Liangyu, and then said: "Your Highness, you will know that my master is sincere if you listen to what the current emperor has done."

After finishing speaking, he took the initiative to talk about the current emperor.

"The current emperor is greedy. When he was still in the capital, he used the name of Emperor Taizu to force people to donate money. Donating less is not enough..."

This man kept talking, describing the things that Emperor Chongzhen did in the capital, including all kinds of blatant house confiscations. No matter whether they were royal relatives or nobles, even hereditary princes, they were all unjustly killed by him and then abolished. Although he had a low status, he destroyed the Kong family in Qufu, and in Yangzhou Prefecture, he found an excuse to kill a large number of officials and big salt merchants, confiscated an unknown amount of grain, and even robbed the salt tax. Go ahead and completely ignore other people’s feelings…

Due to the troubled times and lack of information, Zuo Liangyu heard many things this man said for the first time.

Therefore, after Zuo Liangyu listened to his revelations, he finally realized that the reason why the emperor's army was so powerful was that he ignored 21 and robbed so much money and food.If he had so much money and food, his army would definitely be able to fight!
At the same time, he also vaguely understood that it should be that the current emperor's behavior had offended a large number of royal relatives and nobles, and they were afraid that the current emperor would do the same thing after arriving in Nanjing, so they wanted the current emperor to die.

If this is the case, then there is the possibility of cooperation.

He was thinking, but unexpectedly, he heard this person continue: "... After the current emperor arrived in Nanjing, he didn't even wait for a day's rest. He used the excuse of hoarding food in Nanjing and closed the grain shops and rice shops. He also arrested his boss and forced the civil and military officials of Nanjing City to cough up nearly 1000 million taels of silver under the pretext of investigating corruption. Now he is still investigating the shipwreck case, and he may continue his tyranny in the future..."

(End of this chapter)