Signed to Zhu Cihong, Prince of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 209 Chapter 209, The Little Ice River is coming fiercely, Zhu Cihong's last hope

The city of Nanjing is already a sea of ​​joy.

With a smile on his face, Zhu Cihong also breathed a sigh of relief.

hold on!
The direction of the matter was actually a bit beyond Zhu Cihong's expectation, like Zuo Liangyu suddenly disappeared after beating someone, which was quite surprising.

But anyway, the result is good.

Many times, the results are good enough, and that's enough.

As for Zhang Xianzhong...

Zhu Cihong chuckled twice: "I will settle accounts with you guys."

In addition to the Central Plains, there is another important grain-producing area in Daming, Huguang.

There is a saying that goes, "Huguang is well versed in the world."

Now, Zhang Xianzhong occupies the Hubei area with the most extensive plains among Huguang.

How could it be possible for Zhu Cihong to let him continue to be arrogant on the land of Daming?
But as the saying goes, there are priorities, there are too many things in Daming now, and it needs to be done step by step.

Zhu Cihong turned around, facing admiring eyes.

Zhang Shenyan, Lu Daqi and many important ministers of the Ming Dynasty in Nanjing all saluted Zhu Cihong.

"Thank you, Your Highness, for saving Nanjing from the fire and water!"

Everyone knew that if it wasn't for the young prince in front of him, Nanjing would not be able to survive at all.

Zhu Cihong only brought three thousand soldiers and horses, but they were better than Zuo Liangyu's tens of thousands of soldiers!
Zhu Cixi laughed and said, "Everyone, please report your victory to your father first."

When Chongzhen heard the news, it was already snowing in Beijing.

The first snow in Chongzhen in 17 years came earlier than before.

The severe cold of the Little Ice Age ravaged the land, and many people at the bottom of the city were still struggling with life and death.

This made Chongzhen, who was very diligent in administration, very anxious, and issued five imperial edicts one after another, asking officials to quickly rescue the people.

But what Chongzhen didn't expect was that his will was not well implemented, and he was even pushed back during the cabinet meeting.

Fan Jingwen, the chief minister of the cabinet, sighed and said to Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, I don't have to go against your Majesty, but now... there is really no silver or supplies in the Ming Dynasty's treasury!"

Several other ministers also spoke one after another, and their meanings were basically the same as Fan Jingwen's.

Chongzhen: "..."

No money or supplies, what should I do?
It is impossible to change it out of thin air!

Chongzhen said very unhappy: "Can I just watch my people suffer and die in the ice and snow?"

A moment of silence.

Although it is embarrassing, it must be admitted that the court of the Ming Dynasty really has no other options at the moment. It is true that they can only watch the people at the bottom of the Ming Dynasty struggle to survive.

There is no way, the wars that Ming fought in the past year were too frequent, almost all the supplies were used to deal with the wars, and even Chongzhen himself had two dishes and one soup every day.

With the emperor's life so tight, one can imagine what the state of Ming's treasury will be like.

Li Banghua struggled for a while, and suddenly said: "Your Majesty, I have an idea, maybe it can relieve one or two."

Chongzhen heard the words, like a drowning man who found the last ray of hope, and hurriedly said: "Quickly tell me!"

Li Banghua said seriously: "When Li Zicheng's rebel army besieged the city at the beginning of the year, didn't the prince ask the officials of Daming to help him once? That time he got a lot of money. Your Majesty can adopt this strategy again."

As soon as Li Banghua finished speaking, Fan Jingwen called out directly: "Your Majesty, absolutely not!"

Several other cabinet ministers also objected: "Your Majesty, this is an extraordinary policy. If you use it once, forget it, how can you use it again!" It’s fine to return it, but it’s going to chill the hearts of the ministers to actually have to pay again.” “This is the tyranny of Shang Zhou and Xia Jie, so don’t do it, Your Majesty!”

All the smiles on Chongzhen's face froze.

Chongzhen thought he knew the thoughts of these ministers, didn't he just not want to pay?

But Chongzhen also knew that it was really unrealistic to ask them to pay for the situation in front of him.

The fact that they hit a wall one after another made Chongzhen feel a little bit down for a while, and was about to announce the end of the meeting, when suddenly Wang Chengen walked in quickly, with a happy expression on his face.

"Your Majesty, according to the news just received, His Royal Highness has forced Li Dingguo's [-] troops to retreat in Nanjing City, and the Jiangnan of Ming Dynasty is completely safe!"

This report was like a refreshing break on a hot day, and it immediately lifted Chongzhen's spirit: "Okay, great. I knew that Xinger would not let me down!"

The faces of several other important cabinet ministers also changed from cloudy to sunny, and congratulated Chongzhen.

The atmosphere in the hall became lively again.

Everyone knows that the capital is indeed the number one place of Ming Dynasty, but if it is the turn of the economy, it must be Jiangnan.

Defending Jiangnan is of great significance.

Duke Ying suddenly said, "By the way, isn't Zuo Liangyu the one who attacked Nanjing? Why did he become Li Dingguo? That's Zhang Xianzhong's adopted son."

Chongzhen was also a little confused, so he asked Wang Chengen to read the complete battle report sent by Zhu Cixiang, and then everyone suddenly understood.

"I didn't expect that the battle to defend Nanjing would still be so full of twists and turns."

"Thinking about it, only His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can defend the city of Nanjing in such a situation where we are outnumbered."

"His Royal Highness can always defend the city."

When Chongzhen heard this, he nodded repeatedly.

Suddenly, Chongzhen's heart moved, and he said to the ministers present: "My dear friends, please tell me, if I ask Lang'er to think of a way to raise some supplies, can it be done?"

After Chongzhen finished speaking, the hall suddenly became quiet.

Fan Jingwen's cheeks visibly trembled, and he said, "His Royal Highness...won't you want to kill someone again?"

Several other cabinet ministers looked at each other, and when they were about to speak, Chongzhen was already angry.

"You don't kill people, you can get me some money to see! As long as you can get me money, I don't care how you kill people!"

After saying this, Chongzhen stood up directly and walked away angrily.

The remaining group of ministers looked at each other in the hall.

The British Duke shrugged his shoulders and said, "Actually, I also think that your Majesty is right."

After speaking, the British Duke also left.

Several cabinet ministers stood there and stared. After a long time, Fan Jingwen sighed.

"It's getting harder and harder to be an official!"

Three days later, a decree was carried on the messenger's body, and he headed towards Nanjing at high speed in the snow.

The content of the will is very simple, condensed into one sentence.

"Lang'er, my Daming is short of money, quickly find a way to get some money for me! Remember, don't make too much trouble!"

This was Emperor Chongzhen's new expectation for Zhu Cixiang when he had no choice.

(End of this chapter)