In the East Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace in the Forbidden City, Emperor Chongzhen and his cabinet minister Yang Sichang discussed military affairs again.
After Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai and other rogue bandits revolted, Xiong Wencan failed to suppress the campaign and was arrested and interrogated. Yang Sichang accepted the blame because he had sponsored Prime Minister Xiong Wencan's military affairs in five provinces. .
Now, Yang Sichang asked himself to go to Huguang to personally command and supervise the suppression of Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai and other bandits. Emperor Chongzhen also refused because the new Minister of War, Fu Zonglong, had not yet arrived in Beijing. He goes to the front line.
After Yang Sichang resigned, Emperor Chongzhen seemed to feel a little uneasy. He paced back and forth in the pavilion, trying to relieve some fatigue.
Suddenly, he seemed to remember something, and said to the little eunuch waiting on the side: "Send Wang Dehua to come see me!"
After a while, Wang Dehua, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, walked all the way to the East Pavilion. He walked forward to Emperor Chongzhen and called softly: "Your Majesty, what are your orders for calling the slaves?"
Emperor Chongzhen was reading the memorial on the desk. When he heard the sound, he realized that Wang Dehua had arrived. He slowly put down the memorial and asked: "Who is watching in Xuanzhen now?"
…
In fact, as early as the beginning of Emperor Chongzhen's accession to the throne, he also vigorously eliminated the eunuchs. Even though Wei Zhongxian hanged himself and died, Emperor Chongzhen still ordered his body to be buried in the river, and even withdrew all the eunuchs sent to various places during the Tianqi period.
However, the courtiers and generals of the Ming Dynasty did not give credit to Chongzhen, and the eunuchs who were in charge of the army withdrew. The place was still in a state of decay, and the rogue bandits were still inexhaustible, and more and more were being suppressed.
In the sixth year of Chongzhen, because he lost patience and trust in the courtiers and military generals, he ordered eunuchs Chen Daquan, Yan Siyin, Xie Wenju, Sun Maolin, etc. to serve as the inner army, and sent marshals Cao Wenzhao, Zuo Liangyu, and Zhang Yingchang to each battalion respectively. , named Jianjun.
The eunuchs assigned to various border towns were all named surveillance. Gao Qiqian was assigned to monitor Ningyuan and Jinzhou generals.
In the eighth year of Chongzhen's reign, Emperor Chongzhen once again withdrew all the eunuchs and eunuchs sent to various towns. Only Gao Qiqian continued to monitor the Liaodong generals.
In July of the ninth year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen once again sent eunuchs Li Guofu and Xu Jinzhong to guard Zijing and defeat Ma Geguan. Sun Weiwu and Liu Yuanbin guarded Ma Shuihe.
He even specially ordered Gao Qiqian to be the commander-in-chief of the army, and gave him 30,000 gold and 1,000 reward medals. He also ordered eunuchs Zhang Yunhan and Han Zanzhou to assist him.
…
This is how Gao Qiqian's title of Commander-in-Chief of the Army came about, and it lasted until his disappearance in the 11th year of Chongzhen.
Now, Emperor Chongzhen has ordered Wang Dehua, the eunuch in charge of the ceremonial eunuch, to replace Gao Qiqian as the commander-in-chief of the army. However, he still has to stay by the emperor's side, so he is only responsible for supervising the army in various places and monitoring dispatch matters. He has not personally gone out to oversee the army for the time being. military.
When he heard Emperor Chongzhen's question, he blurted out without thinking for a second: "Reporting to your Majesty, the person currently monitoring Xuanzang is Du Xun."
Emperor Chongzhen stood up and left the throne, pacing back and forth in the East Pavilion to relieve his physical and mental fatigue. Wang Dehua did not dare to disturb him, but stood aside with his hands down, waiting for the emperor's questions.
Chongzhen walked around for a while, then he came to the carved window and stopped to look at the sky outside the window, and said, "How can any loyal and military-savvy slave be idle?"
Although Wang Dehua was further away, he kept listening with bated breath. Although Emperor Chongzhen's words were soft, he heard them very clearly. He was always at his master's side. This was their ability to look after the house.
I saw him walking slowly and gently behind Emperor Chongzhen and said: "Back to your lord, Li Guofu just returned from Zijingguan a few days ago."
Emperor Chongzhen looked at the white clouds holding up a red sun outside the window, and a burning expectation was igniting in his heart. He turned to Wang Dehua and said: "It's him, you ask Li Guofu to prepare. In the past few days,
Then set off for Xuanzhen North Road."
Wang Dehua didn't ask any more questions. He followed slowly behind Emperor Chongzhen and answered softly: "I accept your order, slave."
"Ask Li Guofu to take my instructions to Zhang Cheng, so that you can train the new army and don't cause me any trouble." Emperor Chongzhen said and moved out of the East Pavilion. The strong sun was very dazzling.
Wang Dehua slowly followed Emperor Chongzhen behind him and replied: "I have written it down."
Emperor Chongzhen took a few steps forward, then suddenly stopped and said: "Ask Li Guofu to stay on the North Road temporarily and monitor Zhang Cheng's training of the new army nearby. Don't let Zhang Cheng be lazy or slippery."
…………
On June 24, the twelfth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, the sky was clear and cloudless.
At noon, two fast horses rushed into the Yong'an Gate in the south of Dushikou Fort City. They reined in the horses when they came to the General's Office. The two strong horses were still panting "squeaking" and their front hooves were not stopping.
He was scratching the ground restlessly.
Immediately, the two knights turned over and dismounted. One of them quickly took out an iron token from his arms, showed it to Zhang Cheng's soldiers who were guarding the gate, and shouted: "The capital is reporting urgently, please see the general immediately!"
It happened that the official of the team was on duty today and happened to be patrolling the guard. He hurried over and only glanced at the token before saying, "Follow me quickly."
This Fang Han was originally a veteran officer of the Outpost A and C Team under Zhang Cheng. Now he was selected as the officer of the Third Team of the B Bureau of the Pro-Army Guard and became Lin Fangping's subordinate.
Fang Han didn't ask much, he just led the two of them from the west corridor all the way in. He met Lin Fangping in front of the main hall of the central hall. He hurriedly clasped his fists and reported: "This is the boss, two brothers have returned from the capital and want to see them."
General."
Lin Fangping stood still and looked behind Fang Han. He felt that these two people looked familiar. When he thought about it carefully, it turned out that it was Niu Sheng's team who had not seen each other for more than two months. In addition, the two of them looked familiar.
He was so dusty that he couldn't even recognize him at first sight.
He asked the two of them: "You two are in such a hurry, but there is something happening in the capital?"
"Master Niu has a letter and wants to present it to the general!"
Lin Fangping said: "Wait outside the door later."
He turned around and hurried into the official hall. After a while, a soldier came out and invited the two of them to come in.
…
Zhang Cheng put down the letter in his hand, raised his head and said to them: "You two have been running so hard all the way. Fang Ping, please arrange for them to rest."
Lin Fangping took the order and went out, summoned his troops to take him and the two down to arrange a house to have a meal and rest first. After he returned to the official hall, Zhang Cheng ordered: "Fangping, please pass on Master Jin, Master Yan, Wu Zhizhong, Chen Zheng,
Chen Zhong and others are here to discuss matters."
After a while, Jin Xinpeng and others rushed over. After everyone was done, Zhang Cheng took out the first letter from Niu Sheng and said: "Fang Ping, give it to Mr. Jin to read."
Jin Xinpeng just glanced at it for a few times, then said with a smile: "Congratulations to the general, sir."
Yan Qingrong beside him took the letter in confusion and read it carefully. As everyone in the hall passed it around one by one, they all showed happy smiles on their faces.
"Congratulations to the general on his promotion..."