The three great eunuchs, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, Pang Tianshou, the eunuch of Dongchang, Li Guofu, the eunuch of Bingbi, and the imperial horse eunuch, Yongweiying, Liu Chao, were following Song Zhipu, the minister of the Ministry of Rites and a scholar of Dongge University, and the left deputy, the censor and attendant of the capital.
Chen Hanhui, a bachelor of poetry and governor of Zhejiang, and Ke Xiaqing, a minister of military affairs and a bachelor of Hanlin, looked at the playground while discussing matters.
"Your Highness has changed so much." Pang Tianshou couldn't help but sigh. When he left Beijing for Nanjing last year, he stopped by Yanzhou to confer the title of General Zhu Yihai as the eleventh King of Lu. He still remembers the King of Lu at that time.
Not like this, young and ambitious, but also a little soft.
But now, King Lu was able to kill and execute the Northern Envoy so decisively, and resolutely took the initiative to take the throne to supervise the country. Even the following series of actions were very decisive, including establishing the court, rebuilding the army, and even now he can follow
Those Francois also talked so well.
The sun was scorching hot, and as the Supreme Supervisor of the country, he could still fire cannons and muskets under the poisonous sun, and he didn't care even though his whole body was drenched in sweat. This alone left 99% of the clan members of the Ming Dynasty behind.
Pang Tianshou had served several emperors. Except for Emperor Chongzhen who was particularly diligent in his duties, who else, including Tianqi and Hongguang, could compare to this King of Lu?
Li Guofu was also shocked. He came earlier than Pang Tianshou. He originally fled with Emperor Hongguang, but later fled to Taizhou after Huang Degong's army was defeated. He could feel more clearly that during this period, King Lu
There have been huge changes.
Especially these two days, it feels like a completely different person.
Liu Chaodao, who has been serving Lao Zhu, said, "When a national crisis strikes, those who have the responsibility will naturally be brave enough to take the responsibility."
After a few words, the others felt that this was the right thing to do.
Otherwise, there is no other reason that can explain such a huge change in a person.
Song Zhipu stroked his beard, "Is it true that Your Highness won't even take you with him?"
Liu Chao shook his head.
"His Highness selected some people from the Yongwei Camp and the Shenji Camp to go to Haimen. We wanted to accompany them, but His Highness refused to let them."
Chen Hanhui didn't pay too much attention to this. Instead, he felt that this was the hope of reviving the Ming Dynasty. It was a God-given sage. Now the supervisor of the country has to go to Haimen to meet General Wu Kai in person. It is not a bad thing. The six of them are now the center of the internal and external dynasties of the Ming Dynasty. The supervisor
The imperial court had just been established, and there were too many things to do next, and they had to focus more on this.
"Your Highness went to see Wu Kai in person. We can't be idle. The first thing we need to do is to raise money, rebuild the Yongwei Camp, the Shenji Camp, and recruit soldiers and horses. All of these require money. Raising soldiers for war requires money. There is no money.
It’s hard to move even an inch.”
Ke Xiaqing nodded. He is the new Minister of Rongzheng. This is the seventh Minister established in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. He was separated from the Ministry of War to take charge of the Beijing camp. Originally, the minister of the Ministry of War was also the admiral to oversee the military affairs of the Beijing camp. Later, the Minister of Rongzheng was specially appointed to take charge of the capital.
camp.
Now that Taizhou has been changed to Tokyo and has become the temporary capital of the Ming Dynasty, it is inevitable to restore the capital camp, but it is not easy to rebuild the capital camp. First, we need money, a lot of money.
"I think that while we are recruiting new soldiers and training new troops, we still need to quickly send people to contact Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangxi, and even Jiangxi, Huguang and other places, so that the remaining soldiers and horses from various places can come to Tokyo to serve the king."
Song Zhipu said, "We need to recruit soldiers, train our troops, and recruit King Qin's army. But we also need to gather as many court officials as possible. Just a few of us can't do it. I know Zhang Guowei is in Shaoxing, so I should send someone to invite them."
He came to help the great cause."
Zhang Guowei once served as the governor of the ten prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River in the late Ming Dynasty. During the Hongguang Dynasty, he was summoned to assist in Rongzheng and Prince Shaobao. However, Zhang Guowei resigned at home due to the attack by his chief minister Ma Shiying.
This is a civil servant who has both qualifications, prestige and talent. He is not even a little bit more famous than Song Zhipu and others. This hastily put together supervising court needs such a highly respected boss to preside over the situation.
"There is also Yu Ying, who is guarding Ningshaotai, and is also in Shaoxing. I heard that he is actively recruiting volunteers to resist the Qing army crossing the Qiantang River. We can also invite him."
Chen Hanhui also recommended Zhu Dadian of Jinhua. He was a Jinshi in the Wanli year, an official to the right minister of the Ministry of War, governor of water transportation, and governor of Fengyang. He was later impeached and returned to his hometown in Jinhua. After King Fu came to the throne, he still served as the original official. After the fall of Nanjing, Zhu
Dadian returned to his hometown and was actively recruiting volunteers.
"General Fang Guoan, who once led troops to fight against the Tartars in Hangzhou, is retreating to the Jinhua area with more than 10,000 defeated troops. Someone should be sent to recruit him to lead troops to serve the king..."
King Lu Taizhou came to the throne to supervise the country, which inspired people.
But now, these six central ministers of the imperial court do not dare to relax for a moment. Everyone is full of worry, fearing that the Qing army will move south at any time. With the current number of people in Taizhou, how can they withstand a blow from the Qing army?
King Lu was actively running around to meet with local generals in person, and these ministers naturally also contributed.
"In fact, we should persuade the supervisors to patrol the south." Pang Tianshou said. "The land of southern Fujian and Guangxi is relatively stable now. At this time, we can have more buffer room for the southern patrol. The weather is hot and the Qing captives cannot continue to go south. This
We are being given a chance to regroup, but now King Lu insists on staying here. The war is fierce and dangerous, but the situation is extremely dangerous. Our family really doesn’t understand why the supervisor is so insistent."
Song Zhipu said bluntly, "People's hearts!"
"The Ming Dynasty has already produced a Hongguang and a Lu Jianguo. If Lu Jianguo, who has just ascended the throne, also immediately patrols the south, I am afraid that the people in the world will no longer have any hope for the Ming Dynasty and Lu Jianguo, so they stay here knowingly.
It’s dangerous, but we can’t retreat now.”
"It is a great blessing for the world that the Ming Dynasty can have a responsible leader like King Lu come out to supervise the country when the country and the country are in danger. What else can we do besides bowing down and doing our best?"
The southern patrol to temporarily avoid the Qing army's edge is almost everyone's best choice at the moment.
But when King Lu refused to leave, Song Zhipu, Chen Hanhui and others admired him so much that they were even willing to fight with King Lu even if they died.
Once he ran away, his heart was completely shattered.
Hongguang and Lu Jianguo have shattered the last bit of people's hearts in the Ming Dynasty. Now they must regain people's hearts and win their trust bit by bit.
Pang Tianshou and Li Guofu looked at each other and were speechless.
They all served as the eunuchs of the Chongzhen Dynasty, and were the most powerful eunuchs. After several dynasties, the current King of Lu does have some of the stubbornness and hardness of Emperor Chongzhen, which is certainly more encouraging than the weak Hongguang.
, but it also made them worry that King Lu would inevitably commit suicide and die for his country or be captured as a prisoner.
But deep down in their hearts, the two of them still had a glimmer of hope.
If the Ming Dynasty were gone, Jinshi princes such as Song Zhipu and Chen Hanhui might still be able to become guests of the Qing court immediately, or even high-ranking officials could continue to work. At worst, they could still become wealthy squires by returning to their hometowns and living in seclusion, but it would be different for them who have no eggs.
.
They, the Ming royal slaves, lost their masters and became slaves to the Qing captives?
This is not as simple as changing the master. How could the Qing Dynasty reuse these eggless people like the emperor of tomorrow and let them become internal ministers and participate in decision-making of the country?
Everyone lost their voice together.
On the other hand, Lao Zhu had already granted and rewarded the Portuguese mercenaries and Catholic missionaries, and also made many tempting promises, persuading Lao Bi to return to Macau, borrow money from the Portuguese in Macau, and purchase artillery and muskets.
We even have to recruit more European mercenaries.
Mattim and Nicholas were also lured by Lao Zhu's high-ranking officials and their generous salaries. Their salary of one hundred taels a month made them red-eyed, not to mention that Lao Zhu also promised that the Shenji Camp
If the new recruits are well trained, they will receive extra generous rewards. If they lead the Shenji Battalion's new troops to victory, the rewards will be even greater.
These veterans who survived the quagmire of Europe did not receive much salary during the war in Europe. As mercenaries, the compensation given to them by their employers basically allowed them to rob legally.
Compared to Lao Zhukai's conditions, there is a huge disparity and extremely exciting.
"Do you think Wu Kai can be trusted? What if, our family means what if, he has evil intentions and Na Tian Xiongma succeeds second?"
Hongguang fled, and finally Huang Degong died in battle. His generals Tian Xiong and Ma Degong took the Qing captives who surrendered to Hongguang hostage. Who knew Wu Kai wouldn't do it?
How can you ensure the loyalty of a mere local general?
Pingxi Bo Wu Sangui, who had been favored by the country for a long time, surrendered, not to mention the relatives of the princes and princes in Beijing and Nanjing, who surrendered in countless numbers.
"I always feel that His Highness has great confidence in Wu Kai. Has His Highness had secret contact with Wu Kai before?" Pang Tianshou said. He felt that there was something unusual about King Lu's decisive move to imprison the country. It seemed that he had in his hands.
Is there any killing weapon that he can rely on, otherwise this act would be too reckless, but no matter how he looked at it, he felt that King Lu seemed to have a plan in mind and had planned it in advance.
Thinking this way, maybe King Lu had already reached a secret agreement with General Taizhou.
"hope so!"
Ke Xiaqing, who served on the Tianjin Military Preparation Road, said, "I hope that the hot weather will prevent the northern captives from going south for the time being. If it can give us some breathing time, we can integrate our troops and horses and use the Qiantang River as a natural defense to survive this period."
, then the Northern captives may return to the north first, and we can calmly persuade His Highness to patrol the south and move the capital to Guangzhou."
"But I'm afraid it's not going to be easy right now!" The two eunuchs Pang Tianshou and Li Guofu are very confused about the future prospects. Today's Taizhou Lujian Kingdom's small court, compared with Chongzhen, even Hongguang, or Hangzhou Luwang
When Lu Jianguo was in charge, they were all too weak and they all fell down one by one. Can Lu Jianguo be able to hold on?
The only hope was to run away immediately, but King Lu refused to run.
"I advise you not to think about the southern tour anymore. Previously, Gu Wenguang and Ke Fengyi wholeheartedly advised His Highness to go south, which completely annoyed His Highness. You have also seen the treatment of those two people now." Liu Chao reminded the two of them.
Lu Jianguo cannot tolerate the surrender faction.
Dai Guangda surrendered and led the way, was cut into three pieces, and his home was ransacked after his death. Zhu Ren and other rebels were also demoted five levels in a row. Gu Wenguang and Ke Fengyi were originally the most trusted right-hand men of King Lu. Now, they are
People have been completely kicked out of the core layer of King Lu.
"It seems that His Highness Jianguo is really going to fight against the captors wholeheartedly." Pang Tianshou and Li Guofu both nodded involuntarily, not knowing whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.
"His Royal Highness is about to leave. Everyone, hurry up and see us off together." Liu Chao reminded.
Over there, Lao Zhu didn't care about sweating or the bright sun at noon, but he was about to set off immediately to take a boat to Haimen. Accompanying him were Yu Dafu, the former Taizhou soldier and current general envoy, and the Yongwei guerrilla battalion.
Wang Xiang and Ma Jixiang, the second battalion of guerrillas, each led one hundred brave guards to accompany them. Another three hundred of Portugal's newly formed Shenji Army also accompanied them. A total of five hundred men and horses came down by boat.
He didn't bring the princess's family, nor the cabinet bachelors or eunuchs.
Several ministers from the provisional cabinet came to see him off, and Liu Chao even cried and asked for help from his colleagues.
Pang Tianshou asked Lao Zhu for a decree, hoping to allow him to immediately start drafting women from the private sector in order to enrich his harem. He also said that he would act quickly, and when Lao Zhu came back from Haimen, he would definitely be in place.
Lao Zhu was speechless for a moment.
At this damn time, why are you still drafting girls to enrich your harem?