Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 479 Recruiting Li Dingguo

It was afternoon, and the dusk was heavy. Zhu Youjian woke up from his deep sleep, only heard the chirping of cicadas, and seeing Xu Zhaohua looking out the window and laughing, he couldn't help coughing:
"Youth, it's a pity that I'm old, is Li Dingguo here?"

"what!"

Xu Zhaohua was stunned for a moment, then nodded quickly and said, "Go back to Emperor Father, Li Dingguo is here, and now he is waiting outside."

"Xuan and the others come in, as well as Ma Shiying, Li Yan, and Yan Yingyuan." After Zhu Youjian finished speaking, he asked Xu Zhaohua in a low voice: "That kid Xia Wanchun kissed you?"

"No, no! Father, absolutely not!"

Xu Zhaohua is the righteous daughter of the queen, so Zhu Youjian is called the father emperor.

"I didn't kiss you, so you looked silly, and kept pursing your lips, as if you had eaten honey." When Zhu Youjian said this, Xu Zhaohua was ashamed and angry, and turned around involuntarily, as if he didn't want to talk to Zhu Youjian.

"However, I have to say something up front. You are 16 years old now, and it is okay to have sex, but don't forget that you are now the fourth-rank director of the inner school of the Silijian. Once you decide to get married , you have to resign from your current position."

Zhu Youjian said this casually, but it was like a basin of cold water pouring on Xu Zhaohua's heart, and the momentary affection for Xia Wanchun was dispelled by half of the excitement because of this sentence.

"Officer Xu Zhaohua understands"!
Xu Zhaohua nodded and walked out with a lonely face. At this time, Ma Shiying, a scholar of the Martial Arts Hall, bowed his hands to Xu Zhaohua respectfully:
"Xu Zhangsi, His Majesty is awake?"

"Your Majesty is awake, and you are about to tell the old man to go in. The old man will go in first, and the next official will tell Li Zhitai and the others." Xu Zhaohua blessed Ma Shiying, and Ma Shiying hurriedly waved his hands and said:
"Xu Zhangsi! Please don't call yourself an official in front of this old man. You are the head of the ceremonial supervisor and the adopted daughter of the queen. According to the rules, this old man should call you a servant, and you should call yourself an official in front of this old man." It’s really frustrating for Ma, I heard that Xu Zhang’s Aiqin is hidden in Ma’s house, and he will give it to Xu Zhang after returning to Beijing, I hope Xu Zhang will not refuse.”

Xu Zhaohua just smiled lightly, claiming that when she entered the post of chief ceremonial supervisor, there would be internal and external officials looking for various ways to get close to her or even show affection to her. Feeling, so in front of Ma Shiying, she is the same.

Suddenly, Xu Zhaohua came to call Li Yan and others, and Li Yan and others were very polite to Xu Zhaohua.

When Xia Wanchun looked over again, she avoided Xia Wanchun's scorching eyes, and only ordered Li Dingguo to come in too.

"You are Li Dingguo, are you convicted?"

As soon as Li Dingguo came in, Zhu Youjian said this sentence first. Although the language was plain, Li Dingguo felt like a big stone was pressing on him, making him breathless: "I don't know what His Majesty the Emperor Ming said?"

"You are a citizen of my Ming Dynasty, why did you become a thief, why did you become an enemy of my Ming Dynasty, and now you have no regrets until my army surrounds you, do you know that for your crime, I will cut you to pieces? Not too much."

Zhu Youjian looked at Li Dingguo coldly. Although he hoped that Li Dingguo could be used by him in his heart, the king's prestige was standing. If Li Dingguo refused to plead guilty first, he could not use it. It was Zhu Youjian's right to forgive, but Li Dingguo had to Consciousness to confess guilt.

Li Dingguo was silent for a while. He knew that now that he had decided to serve Daming as his master, he could only plead guilty and subdue the law willingly, so he knelt down and made a big salute: "Li Dingguo is guilty. If you want to kill him, let His Majesty deal with it! Today, Li Dingguo is not willing to surrender to Daming. Survive, but please spare the lives of Li Dingguo's soldiers!"

"Get up, even if you still have the courage, I will not give you an official title, but only order you to be a small soldier in the guards to kill the Hu, are you willing?"

Zhu Youjian changed the official title he had promised to appease Li Zicheng, and decided to test whether Li Dingguo had any ambition to become a high-ranking official.

Li Dingguo didn't expect Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian to ask himself this question, and he was stunned for a moment: "But your majesty said that Li will keep the official title in Daxi."

"But I've repented now, let me ask you again, which one of the dukes and marquises under my command has killed hundreds of Tartars? Let me ask you, how many Tartars have you killed? Are there more Han people or more Tartars? Do you think I will give you a high-ranking official, and you are willing to accept it now!"

When Zhu Youjian asked such a question, Li Dingguo blushed with anger, but he couldn't refute it, so he had to cup his hands and said: "In this case, Li Dingguo is willing to be a pawn in the Northern Expedition. When Li Dingguo finishes killing the Tartars, I will ask His Majesty to grant you a seal." Jazz!"

"Very good, I have a lot of ambition. I chose to meet you because I value your talent. It's not that I can't do anything about you. From now on, please remember that you are a subject of Daming, a citizen of Daming, and I can take responsibility for you." You, but you can't blame me!"

After Zhu Youjian finished speaking, he said: "Pass down the decree, grant Li Dingguo the commander-in-chief of Sichuan, the army under Li Dingguo's command will be temporarily changed to the Pinglu Army, Liu Wenxiu will be the governor of Sichuan, Fan Yiheng will be transferred to the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, Li Yan will be the governor of Sichuan, and the commander-in-chief of Yunnan will be transferred. Yang Zhan's troops captured Jiazhou, the Pinglu army captured Chengdu, Gao Jie's troops were transferred to Chongqing, and the Seventh Guards Army temporarily stationed in Syria."

This kind of deployment was thought up by Zhu Youjian when he was resting. As long as Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu are attached, the entire southwest war will basically come to an end, and as long as the troops of the Ming Dynasty occupy Jiazhou, Chongqing, Xuzhou and other places However, Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu had no way to unite with Sun Kewang in Chengdu to stand on their own.

"I heard that Sun Kewang surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and I also heard that you and him have always had a rift. I let you fight Chengdu to give you a chance. You must not resist the order. This is a certificate of honor. Although Chengdu is flat, the city has high walls. Hou, I will ask the Seventh Army of the Guards to dispatch artillery to assist you, and after taking back Chengdu, you must not abuse the people, otherwise don’t blame me for being rude!”

When Zhu Youjian said this, Li Dingguo could only obey the order.

A few days later, Li Dingguo led his army to Chengdu according to Zhu Youjian's order, while Liu Wenxiu cooperated with Li Yan to take over the local civil affairs in Sichuan and raise money and food for the Northern Expedition.

Zhu Youjian asked Li Dingguo to recover the Chengdu Mansion before September [-], and made a clear decree that from October [-], the Ming army in the southwestern part would start the Northern Expedition.

Zhu Youjian appointed Liu Zhaoji, the commander-in-chief of the Seventh Army of the Guards Army, as the General Conqueror to lead the Ming armies in the southwest. Among them, the First Corps of the Seventh Army of the Guards went north from Syria to Chengdu, and then went north from Deyang and Mianzhou to Hanzhong. .

The Second Corps was preparing to capture Shunqing and Baoning and enter Hanzhong. Li Dingguo's Pinglu Army was the vanguard and went northward to capture the pass and enter the fortress on October [-]. Gao Jie's troops left from Chongqing to Kuizhou and entered Ankang through Taiping Manao Mountain and Tieshan Pass. .

At the same time, Zhu Youjian asked Zhou Ze to prepare for his betrayal as soon as possible and strengthen his control over the Qing army to which he belonged.

(End of this chapter)