Signed to Zhu Cihong, Prince of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 142 Chapter 142, Chongzhen in Beijing City was terrified, and the Cihong Army in Jinan Prefecture was discussed
Beijing City.

Chongzhen was in a good mood, because judging from the current situation, Ming Dynasty had obviously begun to gain an advantage in the battle against Li Zicheng.

How could Chongzhen be in a bad mood from when he thought he was going to be the king of subjugation until now?
With such a good mood, Chongzhen said with a smile: "My dear family, let's discuss next time, who should be the envoy of Shandong Cheng?"

Cheng Xuanzhengshi is the highest official of the Chengxuan Political Envoy Division. Simply put, he is equivalent to a high-ranking official in later generations.

All the ministers also spoke one after another.

"The veteran feels that Shi Kefa can take on this role."

"Perhaps Uncle Xiangcheng can also experience it."

"What Lao Chen means is to select from the Six Divisions of Nanjing."

Everyone was arguing for a while, but this atmosphere did not disgust Chongzhen, but gave him a feeling of "everyone is back".

Once upon a time, wasn't this how the ministers of the Chongzhen Dynasty, or the Ming Dynasty, fought fiercely for an official position?
The court situation that was all for war and survival like the previous few months is not the normal court situation of Ming Dynasty at all!
Just when Chongzhen was in a happy mood and was about to exercise the emperor's power to make a final decision, Wang Chengen suddenly walked in with a panicked expression.

"Your Majesty, I just got the news that under the leadership of Dorgon, tens of thousands of Jiannu troops have conquered Datong and are now attacking Taiyuan!"

When the news of Wang Chengen came out, the emperors and ministers of the Ming Dynasty who were present were shocked.

Chongzhen was even more surprised: "What, all the Jian slaves came to Shanxi?"

Datong is one of the important towns on the nine borders of the Ming Dynasty, and it is located in the middle of the nine borders, so its location is extremely important.

Such a place has actually fallen into the hands of Man Qing, which can make Chongzhen less frightened now?
All of a sudden, the topic changed immediately.

Fan Jingwen said worriedly: "Your Majesty, if both Datong and Taiyuan fall into Jiannu's hands, then Jiannu will surround our capital on three sides. We must guard against it!"

Due to the existence of Datong, for a long time the capital only had to worry about attacks from the northeastern Liaoxi direction and the northern Zhangjiakou direction. The fall of Datong would completely change this situation.

Although it is true that Datong is the farthest from Liaodong, the base of the Qing Dynasty, Datong is also the most vulnerable area for Ming to defend against.

Datong is to the west of Taihang Mountain, and the capital is to the east of Taihang Mountain. Since ancient times, Taihang has had the "Taihang Eight Xings" as the road of passage, which means that once Jiannu is killed from the Taihang Mountain, there are too many routes to enter the place where the capital is located. The Hebei Plain can even reach the north bank of the Yellow River directly!

Several other cabinet ministers expressed their opinions one after another, basically repeating Fan Jingwen's words from different angles.

Chongzhen was upset, and said: "This Li Zicheng is really useless, a Datong has only guarded for three days, do you think it is plausible! I just sent a pig to be the commander of Datong, and let the people under it play their own way. That can last at least half a month!"

After scolding Li Zicheng, he still has to face reality.

Chongzhen asked: "How is the battle in Jinan? Is there any news from the prince?"

Wang Cheng'en said: "There is no new news from the prince yet. The British official in Jinan said that the Hongyi cannon has a remarkable effect on destroying the city wall. Jinan should be conquered soon."

The Hongyi cannon helped the Ming army conquer Baoding. Jinan was actually just a large Baoding mansion at this time, and the defenders inside were far inferior to the group that Li Zicheng personally supervised the battle in Baoding mansion before. It is inevitable that the battle will go smoothly.

Chongzhen said in a deep voice: "That's good. After the British Duke takes Jinan, let him go north immediately. Jiannu must not be allowed to be so rampant!"

Li Banghua couldn't help but said: "Your Majesty, then Li Zicheng has already crossed the river, how should we deal with it?"

Chongzhen was directly asked this question, but he quickly answered: "Don't worry about Li Zicheng for now, let's talk about recovering Datong!"

Seeing this, Li Banghua secretly sighed in his heart.

This has been the case in the Ming Dynasty for many years. Whenever there was a chance to kill Li Zicheng, the slaves would always come to cause trouble!
But there is no way, is it just to let Jiannu gain a firm foothold in Datong and Taiyuan?The consequences will be even worse.

The faces of the other Daming Pavilion elders were not good-looking, and they probably had similar thoughts.

At this moment, another eunuch hurried into the palace with a happy face.

"Your Majesty, there is a great victory on the front line. His Royal Highness the Prince and Li Guozhen, the uncle of Xiangcheng, defeated the rebel army Li Yan in Feicheng. The entire army was wiped out and the general Li Yan was captured alive by His Royal Highness the Prince!"

The news immediately cheered up the atmosphere in the hall.

Chongzhen clapped his hands and said with a smile: "I know that my son will not let me down!"

The elders of Daming Pavilion also had smiles on their faces and praised Zhu Cihong one after another.

"Your Highness is indeed a rare handsome talent in our Ming Dynasty, with the style of Taizu and Chengzu back then!"

"Now that Li Yan has been defeated, Li Zicheng can no longer prevent the Ming Dynasty from regaining Jinan."

"Otherwise, let His Highness continue to advance westward, approaching Li Zicheng's Kaifeng, and see if he will come back to help!"

Hearing this, Chongzhen couldn't help shaking his head and said, "Let's forget about Kaifeng. The most important thing right now is Datong, and the safety of the capital!"

No one dared to guarantee whether Jiannu would continue to attack the capital after conquering Datong and Taiyuan!

So in the end, Chongzhen ordered: "Immediately pass on my decree and let the prince go north immediately. If the British prince conquers Jinan, he must go north immediately!"

Jinan must be attacked, if for no other reason than to ensure the supply of various materials to Beijing and open up the transportation route from Jiangnan to Beijing.

In Beijing, prices are soaring and people are struggling to survive. Even the eunuchs and maids at the bottom of the imperial palace can only eat one breakfast and one dinner a day. It is conceivable how urgent the situation is.

After solving the transportation, we have to step up to solve the building slaves!

Another question was raised: "Your Majesty, what if Li Zicheng went north and attacked the capital with Jiannu?"

Chongzhen froze immediately when he heard the words.

Not to mention, it's not impossible.

For Chongzhen, both Jiannu and Li Zicheng were rebels of Ming Dynasty, but Jiannu rebelled decades earlier than Li Zicheng.

It is not impossible for two rebels to form a partnership.

But immediately, Chongzhen made up his mind: "If there is such a thing, let the British prince and the crown prince discuss and decide, and I will not interfere!"

Chongzhen also wanted to understand that for such a thing as war, you have to let someone who can fight!

Just when Chongzhen's will was flying southward, Zhu Cihong and Li Guozhen actually had some arguments.

Li Guozhen said: "Your Highness, it is said that Li Zicheng has crossed the river and gone north. How about we go straight to Kaifeng and encircle Wei and save Zhao?"

Daliang City, the capital of the Wei State during the Warring States Period, was located beneath the current Kaifeng City of the Ming Dynasty. Li Guozhen said this somewhat appropriately.

Zhu Cixiang shook his head and laughed when he heard this: "Why are we going to Kaifeng? Let's go back to Jinan and join the British Association first."

Li Guozhen looked at Zhu Cihong in surprise, in his opinion, this decision was not like Zhu Cihong's style.

Zhu Cihong explained patiently: "For Li Zicheng, Kaifeng is actually just a stronghold. Li Zicheng is from Shaanxi, and the hometown he really values ​​is Xi'an. But with our tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, the Hongyi cannons are all on the British side of Jinan. , What are we going to use to penetrate so many cities in Henan to threaten Xi'an? Therefore, we should go back and see how the British government is doing before we talk about it.”

Li Guozhen was convinced.

Two days later, when the army approached Jinan, two news came from the British Office at the same time.

The first news is that the British have successfully conquered Jinan.

This news did not surprise Zhu Cixiang at all, but the second news surprised Zhu Cixiang.

"Jiannu actually went to Shanxi?"

Zhu Cihong frowned, knowing that the matter was serious now.

That night, Zhu Cihong and Li Guozhen rushed to Jinan City overnight with a small group of guards, and met the British Duke.

The British Duke Zhang Shize was still in good spirits, and smiled at the two of them: "Your Highness, Uncle Xiangcheng, we should have a good celebration, but now it seems that Li Zicheng and Jian Nu are unwilling to give us this time."

Li Guozhen hurriedly said: "The Duke of England is right, but we have a long way to go in Japan. After defeating these enemies of Ming Dynasty, we will have more time to have a good time in the future."

Zhu Cihong did not greet these two people, but stared at the map on the table and fell into deep thought.

The British Duke looked at Zhu Cixi and asked: "Your Highness, what do you think we should do now?"

Like Li Guozhen, the British Duke now trusts Zhu Cihong's military command ability very much.

Zhu Cihong waved his hand and said: "Wait a minute, let Ben Gong think about it first."

Upon seeing this, Li Guozhen put forward his opinion: "Otherwise, let's beat Li Zicheng first. Li Zicheng is very close to us. After defeating Li Zicheng, we will go to regain Datong."

The British public objected: "It's not right. Jiannu's combat effectiveness and harmfulness are stronger than Li Zicheng's. We should send troops to recover Datong first, at least we must guard against the threat of Jiannu to the capital, and then consider Li Zicheng's matter. .”

Although the two had left opinions, they did not quarrel because they were still waiting for Zhu Cihong's opinion.

Suddenly, Zhu Cihong slapped his thigh and said, "Why didn't I think of this before?"

The British Duke was stunned for a moment and said, "What did Your Highness think of?"

Zhu Cixiang smiled and said to Britain fairly: "I have thought of one thing, that is, the Ming Dynasty now has two enemies, Jiannu and Li Zicheng, right?"

The Englishman nodded.

Zhu Cixiang snapped his fingers and said: "So, why should Ming Dynasty consider the order? We can just deal with the two enemies together, isn't that enough?"

(End of this chapter)