Ming Empire

Chapter 245

The battle of Liaocheng won a big victory, the Ming Dynasty guards recovered Liaocheng, and the news that Dorgon led the remnants to flee to Daming Mansion was transmitted back to Nanjing immediately.Originally still worried about Cao Yue, Cao Yue, who was afraid of inferior forces, and Sun Chuanting, who was defeated by the resourceful Dorgon, almost fainted happily after seeing the military report.

"This kid really has a few tricks. He went against everyone's persuasion and used firearms as the main means of war. He has achieved such a record." After one sentence, he immediately sent the news to the palace and presented it to the little emperor and the Queen Mother Zhou for review.

Then he immediately encouraged the little emperor to call a group of ministers and announced the matter.

Prior to this, Cao Yue had good news from time to time, and it was because he had recreated the slaves with a small loss.The ministers who were originally worried about this war gradually became relieved as the good news kept coming back.But no one expected that Cao Yue would bring such a surprise to everyone in the end.

After hearing the news that Sun Chuanting announced that Cao Yue led his army to severely injure Jiannu, regained Liaocheng at a very small price, wiped out more than [-] Jiannu, and Dorgon led the remnants to flee Liaocheng in embarrassment, the hall suddenly became a mess. The market became noisy, and the ministers with their own thoughts expressed their excitement in their own ways.

Gao Hongtu, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, was the first to jump out, and praised Cao Yue's bravery in the hall, and said that it was a very wise decision for the emperor to take Cao Yue as the commander-in-chief to control the world's soldiers and horses.The Ming Guards, under the leadership of Cao Yue, a young and energetic governor, severely damaged Jiannu in Liaocheng, and defeated the 10,000+ troops led by Jiannu Regent Dorgon with inferior forces. It is really Daming A rare miracle since the founding of the country.

Then the old slicker Qian Qianyi also stood up and praised this huge victory impassionedly, saying that Cao Yue turned the tide from the crisis and brought Daming out of desperation. There are more surprises to come. Under his leadership, the Ming Guards will surely recover all lost ground and avenge the late emperor.

While Gao Hongtu and Qian Qianyi praised Cao Yue, they also did not forget to ask for credit for him. They believed that Cao Yue had made such great contributions to Daming, and they would reward him heavily. Pass.

These two people took the lead in pleading for credit for Cao Yue, and even Qian Qianyi proposed to make Cao Yue king, which shocked everyone in the hall, even Sun Chuanting.He didn't expect that Cao Yue would treat these two scheming old tricksters so obediently, and he couldn't help admiring them.

After the two stood up to play, the others immediately understood, and Ma Shiying also lowered his old face. After the hall praised Cao Yue, he said that he must reward Cao Yue and the soldiers who made great contributions in this battle.Ma Shiying is an old fox. He didn't want the emperor to make Cao Yue a Duke or a king as straightforwardly as Gao Hongtu and Qian Qianyi. He just said that no matter how the court rewarded him, he didn't think it was too much.

Even Ma Shiying said so, and other ministers, naturally unwilling to be left behind, stood up one after another to ask for credit for Cao Yue.The grand event was so unprecedented that even the young emperor Zhu Cijiong and Sun Chuanting who stood watching the play felt a little unbelievable.

In the end, Sun Chuanting was afraid that Cao Yue would be harmed by this group of people, so he had to stand up, saying that it was not appropriate to designate Cao Yue as a king with a different surname.Now making Cao Yue king is more lame than profitable, this kid is still a son-in-law, if he becomes a prince, then the eldest princess will be a concubine?This is all messed up. If Cao Yue is really to be rewarded, other things are enough.

The little emperor finally obeyed Sun Chuanting's request to establish a slave, and with a swipe of a pen, he drew up an imperial edict, making Cao Yue the Duke of Dingguo.

There is nothing wrong with the princess's husband becoming the Duke of the state. In the Tang Dynasty, Princess Pingyang's husband, Chai Shao, was named Duke Huo for his meritorious service.

In addition to giving Cao Yue the title of Duke, the little emperor also gave generous rewards of money and things, and even Zhu Yu was honored.

All the soldiers who have done meritorious service are also rewarded, and the little emperor Zhu Cijiong, who does not know the height of the sky and the earth, promised a very generous reward like a lion, which made Gao Hongtu, the Minister of the Ministry of household affairs, turn pale with fright.

It's just that these rewards were for Cao Yue and Cao Yue's generals, and he didn't dare to stand up against them, so he could only think about how to squeeze out this huge bounty after he retreated from the court.

In today's Ming Dynasty, the national treasury is still a bit empty, but it is much better than when Emperor Chongzhen was in Beijing. After all, the south is far richer than the north, and after Cao Yue came to Nanjing, he also adopted many measures to encourage commercial trade and expand Taxation channels, strengthening taxation management and other means, the treasury in charge of the Ministry of Households has a lot of money and food, otherwise there is no way to support this war.

It's just that the treasury's money and food are already a bit reluctant to support the war, and a large sum of money is used to reward meritorious generals, making it difficult for Gao Hongtu to be a clever woman.He had no choice but to report his difficulties to Cao Yue who was far away in Liaocheng, hoping that Cao Yue would understand and give him advice, otherwise he would be punished by the little emperor.

Cao Yue received a secret report from Gao Hongtu before the imperial court's reward edict arrived, and he couldn't help being very proud when he learned that the little emperor was going to make him Duke Ding.Because he was in a happy mood, he was not unhappy with Gao Hongtu's call for help, and immediately replied to Gao Hongtu. He only needed to prepare one-third of the total bounty for Gao Hongtu, and he would find a way for the rest.

The industries controlled by the Cao family have gained a lot from military production and trade, food and military supplies, etc. Cao Yue never takes money too seriously. What he pursues is to change history, which is the most important thing. Others A lot of things don't matter.Taking out money from his own pocket to reward the soldiers, he also felt that there was no loss, after all, he could gain a good reputation and buy people's hearts.

Cao Yue didn't pay too much attention to what happened in Nanjing, and he wasn't worried that such pedantic ministers would cause trouble. He could receive news from Nanjing every day through Jinyiwei's channel. It can be said that through Jinyiwei, He can still grasp the speeches of most officials in the court and their fate, so he doesn't have to worry about anything.

What he has to worry about most now is how to consolidate the recovered places and withstand the counterattack of Jiannu that will happen soon.Cao Yue has received the news that Dorgon ordered Duoduo and Azige, who were fighting against Li Zicheng's remnants in Shaanxi, to return to North Zhili. After receiving the order, Duoduo and Azige quickly stopped their campaign against Li Zicheng. , Return to the front line of Shanxi, and in half a month, you can join forces with Dorgon.

After the main forces of Jiannu join forces, there will definitely be big moves. Facing Jiannu who is several times larger than himself, Cao Yue dare not be careless, and he must be fully prepared for this.The two new forces are what he is most looking forward to, one is Cao Bianjiao's men and horses, and the other is the rebel army led by Hong Niangzi.

Just as Cao Yue was looking forward to it, more than [-] volunteers led by Hong Niangzi arrived at the front line of Liaocheng.After hearing the news, Cao Yue was overjoyed and personally led his guards to meet him.

(End of this chapter)