"Okay, that's great." Chongzhen beamed with joy and waved vigorously. He stood up from the dragon chair and walked up and down the golden steps in excitement. He then turned to face the crowd at the foot of the golden steps.
The minister said: "At first I insisted that Wu Di go out to the capital to supervise the rebellion, and then mobilized Shang Yi's troops to go south. Now it seems that I have chosen the right person."
All the ministers also hurriedly echoed: "Your Majesty is wise."
After hearing this, Chongzhen couldn't help laughing again. He also accepted all the compliments from the ministers and seemed to be in a very happy mood.
It turned out that Wu Di's report of victory was sent back to Beijing, saying that after more than ten fierce battles by the Ming army, Li Zicheng was defeated in several battles in Guangzhou, Xinyang, Huangzhou, Suizhou and other places, beheading more than 80,000 people and capturing more than 30,000 of his troops.
, beheaded the bandit leader Han Huamei, Liu Rukui, Liu Xiyao and other 27 people, and successively recovered De'an Prefecture, Huangzhou Prefecture, Guangzhou, Xinyang and other places. Of course, Shang Yi's military exploits were also recounted. Wu Di also swore:
Li Ni was defeated, and his ministers would sweep away Huguang and the Central Plains, so as not to worry about a single thief leaving the emperor. Of course, in the end, he asked the court to send Sun Chuanting out of the pass as soon as possible and go south, so as to form a north-south pincer attack with him and defeat Li Zicheng in one fell swoop.
department.
After receiving the report, Chongzhen was naturally very happy. Since Yang Sichang left the capital to supervise the division in the 14th year of Chongzhen (1641) and died of illness while taking office, the imperial court has never achieved any decent victory in suppressing the bandits. On the contrary, it has received
The news was full of bad news about the loss of the city and the great defeat. It had only been more than two months since Wu Zong left the capital to supervise the army, and such good news of a great victory came. In the Shu Dynasty, this had not happened for several years.
Not only Chongzhen was in high spirits, but even the ministers felt refreshed. The news of the great victory would make the emperor feel better, and he would no longer be moody, and he would not have to be in panic every day in court.
All day long.
For Chongzhen, Wu Di's victory has a deeper meaning, because both Wu Di and Shang Yi were personally named by Chongzhen. Now this combination of civil and military, one old and one young is very good, and
It seemed that the bandit rebellion that had tortured the Ming Dynasty for more than ten years finally saw a glimmer of light, and Chongzhen naturally believed that he had a keen eye for recognizing people.
After the excitement subsided a little, Chongzhen said again: "Wu Zhen mentioned that Sun Chuanting should immediately leave the pass and go south to attack Li Ni from the north and the south. What do you think?"
Zhang Fengxiang, the right minister of the Ministry of War, came out and said: "Your Majesty, Sun Chuanting is stationed in Guanzhong and is still the gateway of the imperial court. He sent troops to go south. This move is not a matter for the Central Plains and Huguang. It is related to the safety of the world. It is like a robber in a medicine. It should not be done lightly.
"
Now that Chongzhen was in high spirits, Zhang Fengxiang said this and felt very disappointed. He said: "Now that Wu Zong and Shang Yi have defeated Li Ni in Huguang, which severely damaged his vitality, they concentrated their forces to attack from the north and south to suppress them in one fell swoop.
When Li Ni is being pacified, if Li Ni is allowed to escape into the mountains again, there will be chaos again in the future. What should we do? Not to mention that the northern captives have retreated, the capital is no longer in danger, and Sun Chuanting is out of seclusion, why not?"
After listening to the emperor's words, Zhang Fengxiang also knew that what he said did not please the emperor. Although he was still a little unwilling, he did not dare to persuade him any more.
At this time, Chen Xi, the chief assistant of the cabinet, said: "Your Majesty, I think Sun Chuanting's plan to leave the country must be implemented. Because this morning, I received an urgent report, and Li Ni sent his party member Tian Jianxiu to lead the army.
He stationed himself in Xiangcheng and Jiaxian. His intention to flee north was evident. Therefore, if Sun Chuanting did not come out to stop the attack, Li Ni would surely drive straight into Shanxi and threaten the capital."
As soon as he said his words, the ministers began to discuss again. This time, it seemed that Li Zicheng did have the intention to go north. So Sun Chuanting's departure was not a question of whether it was feasible, but whether he could stop Li Zicheng. Therefore,
No ministers again questioned Sun Chuanting's departure.
Chongzhen said: "Okay, send an order immediately, ordering Sun Chuanting to leave the pass and go south, stationed in Luoyang, to fight against Li Ni. Then he ordered Wu Yi and Shang Yi to immediately send troops to attack Runing Mansion and attack Li Ni. This time, Li Ni must be completely wiped out.
."
As soon as Chongzhen finished speaking, Chen Yan immediately stepped out and said: "Your Majesty, wait a minute, you can't do this."
Chongzhen didn't expect that Chen Yan would come out to stop him. He couldn't help being a little stunned and said: "Chen Aiqing, what do you mean? Just now you said that 'Sun Chuanting's plan to leave the country must be implemented.' Why can't you do the same now?"
Chen Yan was calm and said: "I am not saying that Sun Chuanting cannot go south, but I am saying that Shang Yi cannot go north."
Chongzhen was a little confused by him and said: "Shang Yi cannot go north, what should he do?"
Chen Yandao: "I think Shang Yi should lead his army down the river, attack Wuchang, and annihilate Zhang Xianzhong."
As soon as he said this, the whole place was in an uproar. Feng Yuanbiao, the left minister of the Ministry of War, hurriedly came out of the queue and said: "Your Majesty, this move is absolutely impossible. Li Ni leads his army north to invade the capital. Therefore, Zhang Ni's top priority is not Zhang Ni's.
Li Ni, we should concentrate our elite troops and strong generals, gather them together and destroy him. One can completely annihilate Li Ni, and the other two can relieve the capital's urgent situation. Otherwise, even if Sun Chuanting leads his army out of the pass, he may not be able to support himself alone. If something goes wrong, the world will be in danger.
Exactly. Therefore, it is necessary to mobilize Shang Yi and lead his army to the north, and attack Li Ni with Sun Chuanting in a flanking attack, in order to ensure that everything is safe."
Chen Yandao: "Master Feng, have you ever thought about it? Zhang Ni is currently stationed in Wuchang, and all the imperial troops are stationed in Huguang, so he doesn't dare to act rashly. If Shang Yi leads his army northward and all the imperial troops leave Huguang, then Zhang Ni will never do it.
If we miss this opportunity, what if he leads his army south along the Yangtze River and threatens Nanjing?"
Feng Yuanbiao was also startled. What Chen Yan said was true. Zhang Xianzhong in Wuchang was not an easy man. If all the people in the imperial court left Huguang, he would definitely not stay in Wuchang.
At this time, Zhang Fengxiang came out again and said: "Isn't there Zuo Liangyu stationed in Jiujiang? He has 200,000 troops stationed there, which is enough to resist Zhang Ni."
Chen Yan shook his head and said: "Zuo Liangyu only has a false name. At the beginning, he could not defend Xiangyang and Wuchang. How can he defend Jiujiang now? Nanjing is second only to the capital, how can it be tied to Zuo Liangyu?
A fine jade."
When Chen Yan asked this question, although Zhang Fengxiang disagreed with Chen Yan's proposition, he still couldn't answer it. He couldn't say that he didn't care about Nanjing. After hearing this, Chongzhen felt that what Chen Yan said was not unreasonable. Nanjing's influence on Ming Dynasty
Except for its political significance, its other functions were no less important than those of Beijing. Chongzhen had no hope at all for Zuo Liangyu and did not believe that Zuo Liangyu could stop Zhang Xianzhong, so he hesitated.
At this time, Chen Yan said again: "Now that Li Ni was defeated by Shang Yi in Huguang, his troops were injured and his generals were injured. Now his vitality is severely damaged, and he has long lost his original courage. What is the meaning of the so-called general who defeated the army? It is not enough."
Even if Sun Chuanting was in charge, he could reject it. However, Zhang Ni has been stationed in Wuchang, recuperating his energy, and has not been damaged. His strength is higher than that of Li Ni. Now that Zhang Ni is a serious problem for the imperial court, how can he be the leftist one?
Liang Yu can defeat him. Only Shang Yi's elite and brave men, who are accustomed to fighting, can defeat him. Therefore, the minister thought that as long as Sun Chuanting was stationed in Luoyang, he could block Li Ni's way north and hold him against him.
If you are worried that Sun Chuanting will be unable to fight alone, you can order Wu Zong to send other generals to lead troops to Runing Mansion to assist Sun Chuanting. Then order Shang Yi to lead his army south to attack Wuchang, and then order Zuo Liangyu to leave Jiujiang and go north to Shuojiang River.
, the two armies join forces to attack Zhang Ni, and Zhang Ni will be killed. After Zhang Ni is destroyed, Nanjing will have no worries. At that time, Shang Yi's troops will be transferred north to cut off Li Ni's retreat, and they can defeat Li Ni with one blow. In this way,
, both rebels will be destroyed, and the chaos in the imperial court for more than ten years can be ended in one fell swoop."
It turns out that when news of Wu Di's victory first reached the capital, Chen Yan was very happy. After all, he was the chief minister of the cabinet. It was difficult to destroy the bandits who caused such chaos, and his own life was not easy. Wu Di's victory on the front line could also be alleviated.
He felt some pressure on himself. But as the victories became more and more numerous, it seemed that there was really hope of quelling the bandits. Because Chen Yan was not proficient in military affairs, he did not realize that there was actually a lot of influence in Wu Di's victory.
There is little water, so in his opinion, it is very possible to at least destroy Li Zicheng.
Now Chen Yan became worried again. Once the chaos in Xu Gong was really quelled, Shang Yi would be fine. He was a military attache after all, so it would not affect his status. But Wu Zong was different, he could completely replace him.
He became the chief minister of the cabinet. He worked hard to get to this position. Before his butt was even hot, he had to make room for Wu Zong, but he was really unwilling to do so.
So Chen Yan thought hard for a few days and finally came up with such a way. Although he wanted to suppress the bandit, he could never succeed in suppressing the bandit, at least he couldn't let Wu Zong succeed. Now that Li Zicheng is about to be defeated, then
Wu Di could not get this credit, so Chen Yancai suggested to Chongzhen that Sun Chuanting should deal with Li Zicheng, while Wu Di and Shang Yi should fight Zhang Xianzhong.
Chen Yan's wishful thinking was: Now Wu Di Yijing and Shang Yi have joined forces, which is the most typical combination of civil servants and military generals. Then he must recruit a powerful local official from Long to compete with Wu Di.
And this person can only be Sun Chuanting. Moreover, Li Zicheng has been severely beaten by the classics, and Sun Chuanting should be more than enough to deal with him. This is his own contribution. At the same time, Chen Yan also plans that once Sun Chuanting takes over
When Li Zicheng was completely defeated and dying, he asked the supervisor to take the credit for annihilating Li Zicheng into his own hands.
But now that Zhang Xianzhong is unscathed and his strength is still there, let Wu Di and Shang Yi deal with this hard nut. Even if they can kill Zhang Xianzhong again, their contribution may not be greater than theirs, let alone in Jiujiang.
There is also Zuo Liangyu. Although Chen Yan also knows that Zuo Liangyu cannot be used very much, he can still use him to hinder Wu Di and Shang Yi.
If Wu Di were in the government, he could of course refute Chen Yan's plan as useless. However, it is a pity that in the current government, the talent pool is low and there are almost no people who really understand military affairs. The two ministers of the Ministry of War are actually just talking about military affairs on paper, and the other cabinet minister
Minister Wei Zaode always kept his mouth shut to avoid getting into trouble. Of course, Chongzhen couldn't know what Chen Yan was thinking about Xiao Jiujiu. He also felt that what he said was very reasonable, so after thinking for a moment, he immediately issued an edict.