Wang Chengen knocked on the door of Qianqing Palace and waited for a response from inside.

He asked cautiously: "Your Majesty, are you still going to the morning court today?"

A tired voice came from inside Qianqing Palace.

"Not going."

When Wang Chengen heard this order, he continued to wait outside Qianqing Palace.

The emperor has always been a very diligent person.

I haven’t missed every morning court. Since when did the emperor start not going to the morning court often?

It should be the thieves in yellow who took over the Guangdong and Guangxi regions.

The governors of southern Zhili, Zhejiang and other places wrote letters requesting that taxes be retained locally and used to train troops to deal with the threat of yellow-robed thieves.

The emperor disagreed and angrily replaced several local governors, but they failed to collect taxes.

The Ming Dynasty's already precarious finances had lost its Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, tax revenue from the southeast could not be collected, and the Ministry of Household Affairs no longer had a single tael of silver.

Officials' salaries have not been paid for half a year, and many officials do not come to the morning court.

As soon as the emperor went to the morning court, many officials cried out that they were poor and asked the court to distribute their salaries as soon as possible.

There is some money in the internal funds. This is the money collected from mining taxes, which is mainly used to pay the military salaries of Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting, the two armies.

These two armies were the best at fighting, and they were one of the few strong armies of the Ming army that could defeat Hou Jin head-on.

"Eunuch Wang, this is the question book handed over by First Assistant Wen Tiren."

Wang Chengen opened the question book and found some very bad news.

The Ming army was in arrears with pay for a long time, and the Ming army in Datong Military Town collectively made a fuss about pay and was suppressed by the local generals. If the pay was not paid again, it would lead to a mutiny.

During this period, there were already rates mutinies in many places.

But it has not yet developed to the extent that the three major military towns mutinied in the early years of Chongzhen.

Wang Chengen predicted that if wages were not paid, there would be more mutinies in the army.

The military town of Datong, an important city in Jiubian, is making trouble. This is an extremely dangerous signal.

Wang Chengen gently knocked on the door of Qianqing Palace.

After getting permission from Emperor Chongzhen, he walked to Chongzhen with the title book.

When Wang Chengen saw Emperor Chongzhen, his eyes were bloodshot and two very thick dark circles hung on his face.

Her hair was a mess and her clothes were all wrinkled.

Emperor Chongzhen looked very decadent.

Wang Chengen knew that Emperor Chongzhen had not slept well for a long time and woke up from time to time in his dreams.

"Your Majesty, this is the question book handed over by First Assistant Wen Tiren.

The officers and soldiers of Datong Military Town made a noise, and the mutiny failed."

Emperor Chongzhen took the title book handed over by Wang Chengen and simply flipped through a few pages.

The news reported during this period is all bad news.

"Let Wen Tiren find a way to raise money on his own. If he can't think of a way, he doesn't need to be the first assistant."

Emperor Chongzhen simply threw the title book aside.

He has tried his best to solve the problem, but Ming's current expenses are too high and his income is too little, and he has already been unable to make ends meet.

Mainly because of the staggering cost of the war.

The imperial court has increased taxes many times, reaching the point where there is nothing more to be done.

"Call Yang Sichang, the imperial censor of Zuo Qian of the Metropolitan Procuratorate."

When Wang Chengen heard Emperor Chongzhen's order, he immediately sent someone to call Yang Sichang to Qianqing Palace.

Yang Sichang was promoted very quickly, and he was a staunch anti-yellow thieves faction.

He advocated negotiating peace with Hou Jin, trying his best to recruit the rebels, and using all the power of the Ming Dynasty to deal with the yellow-robed thieves.

Yang Sichang disappeared in Beijing some time ago, and no one knows where he went.

At Yang Sichang's home, he looked at a group of gentry and said excitedly: "There are as many as 24,768 gentry killed in Guangdong and Guangxi.

This is the number published by the yellow thief himself in Guangdong Daily and Guilin Daily.

When the thieves in yellow come over, we will have no way to survive.

The rise and fall of a country depends on the kings. We must mobilize more people to resolutely oppose the thieves in yellow.

Some people say that the great enemy of the Ming Dynasty was the Hou Jin Dynasty, and they were just nomads.

Some people say they are rebels from Huguang and Henan. These are illiterate idiots. Their rise is rapid, but their demise is sudden.

Only the thieves in yellow now occupy nearly half of the Ming Dynasty.

He wants to dig up our own roots and cut off the roots of famous religion.

We, the famous priests, are at odds with the thieves in yellow."

Yang Sichang was giving a passionate speech to mobilize more scholars to support him.

A servant at home quickly came to his side.

"Sir, someone is coming from the palace. The Emperor invites you to come into the palace."

Yang Sichang clenched his fists, he had finally waited for this day.

He asked his friends to entertain these scholars, and under the leadership of the young eunuch, they came to Qianqing Palace.

Emperor Chongzhen asked all the maids and eunuchs to stay away from the Qianqing Palace, and he summoned Yang Sichang alone.

"Yang Aiqing gave me a seat in her own right, how did things go?"

"Back to Your Majesty, Hou Jin doesn't want to continue fighting. After many rounds of consultations between us.

We and Houjin have reached an agreement.

The Ming Dynasty and Hou Jin officially had a truce.

We don't need to issue a formal edict to recognize Hou Jin's status, nor do we need to give any money.

The two parties only need to maintain sufficient tacit understanding.

Hou Jin has withdrawn his troops from the Ningjin defense line."

Yang Sichang was a staunch fighter against the yellow-robed thieves, and a staunch capitulator against Hou Jin.

Later Jin first sent Fan Wencheng to Liaodong, hoping to negotiate peace with the Ming Dynasty.

Sun Chuanting sent Fan Wencheng directly to the capital.

Chongzhen discovered that Sun Chuanting was in Liaodong and they could hold the Ningjin defense line.

Sun Chuanting is no longer in Liaodong. If he is replaced by a civil servant who knows the military, he can also defend the Ningjin defense line.

With Sun Chuanting's strength, he is now unable to launch a large-scale attack to regain the lost ground.

It should be used where it is needed more.

Chongzhen saw that the Later Jin Dynasty sent Fan Wencheng to negotiate peace, but many ministers in the court opposed the peace negotiation.

He openly refused to negotiate peace and secretly sent Yang Sichang to negotiate peace.

If this matter is exposed and Yang Sichang goes to negotiate peace privately, he will undoubtedly die.

At first, Hou Jin had a huge appetite, and they were asked to admit that Hou Jin was an equal force to the Ming Dynasty.

Houjin was given five hundred thousand shi of grain and 20,000 bolts of silk every year.

The Ming Dynasty gave the Later Jin Dynasty firearms technology and the craftsmen who made firearms.

When Emperor Chongzhen received this condition, he was extremely angry. This was just giving him a yearly coin to be the emperor.

Ming Dynasty could never agree. He directly asked Yang Sichang to state the bottom line. The two parties would only shrink their defense lines and would not agree to any other conditions.

Emperor Chongzhen has received a report from the Jin Yiwei, and the thieves in yellow have inflicted heavy losses on Hou Jin.

One of the Eight Banners was lost, Huang Taiji's sons died on the battlefield, and Hou Jin was now extremely weak.

Things turned out just as he expected. Hou Jin saw that Daming would never give in, so they had no choice but to compromise.

During the negotiations, Emperor Chongzhen had already asked Sun Chuanting to take part of the Guan Ning Army south to Henan.

Now that the peace talks are successful, he can send part of Guan Ning's army to the pass, so that he can let Huang Degong take part of the forbidden army to the southeast region.

Let the army supervise tax collection and see who dares to resist the tax.

…………………………

Shenyang, Houjin Palace.

Huang Taiji's face was pale and he was leaning on the recliner. His breathing was extremely rapid.

To say a word, you have to take a big breath two or three times, and you may not be able to take a breath at any time.

Dorgon and other Eight Banners leaders all came to Huang Taiji's bedroom.

Now Huang Taiji is not in good health, and the Eight Banners are in charge and assisting in politics.

This is also the method Huang Taiji uses to check and balance these ambitious brothers.

He controls four of the Eight Banners. The Xiangyang Banner has not yet been rebuilt and is the weakest.

The other three banners are the Shangsan Banners, the most powerful of the Eight Banners.

Huang Taiji gasped and said: "What...do you...come here...to do."

The Ming Dynasty...promised...to negotiate...for peace.

We...can concentrate all our forces to deal with the...threat...of the thieves in yellow."
To be continued...