On the morning of February 28, the sixth year of Jiajing, in the Wenhua Hall of the capital, almost all the important ministers of the court and the central government arrived, and Zhu Houxi, the emperor of Jiajing, sat on the throne with a gloomy face, and the ministers held their breath one by one, and the atmosphere was extremely heavy.

It turned out that in the evening of yesterday, Jiajing successively received secret reports from Dongchang and Jinyiwei that Qiu Luan was suddenly attacked by 20,000 cavalry of the Tartars in Duolun, and almost all the troops were wiped out, and the more than ten stone military rations escorted by the army were lost.

This news was like a thunderbolt from the sky, Jiajing's whole person was stunned, and he couldn't come back to his senses for a long time, when he realized that the loss of military rations, the grain route and the back road were cut off, and the adverse impact on Xu Jin's 50,000 main army, he was even more shocked as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, and his heart and lungs were cold.

Jiajing knew Xu Jin's entire Northern Expedition battle plan well, and naturally knew that Xu Jin sacrificed part of his transportation capacity in order to carry as much ammunition as possible, and the grain and grass carried by the army were not much, which was enough to last for about half a month.

After realizing the seriousness of the problem, Jiajing immediately summoned a group of ministers of civil and military affairs early this morning to urgently discuss countermeasures.

At this time, I saw that Xia Yan, a scholar from Hanlin, took the lead and said: "Your Majesty, the top priority is to immediately gather troops and horses, send a general to reinforce the Yasukuni Gong, defeat the Tartars of Duolun, and restore the grain route. ”

Jiajing perked up when he heard this, nodded and said, "The idea of the Xia Qing family coincides with mine, but who is the right person to send?" ”

Xia Yan immediately replied: "The soldiers are very fast, it is too troublesome to temporarily mobilize troops and horses, it just so happens that Jing Dachu, the chief soldier of Xuanfu, is leading an army of 20,000 to attack Yongxiebu on the right flank, which is only seven or eight hundred miles away, so it is better to order him to change his route to the east and gallop east to aid Yasukuni." ”

Jiajing couldn't help frowning when he heard this, if he mobilized Jing Dachu's people, it would be tantamount to disrupting Xu Qing's battle plan, but now that the situation has changed, Xu Qing's 50,000 main forces are in danger, and they can't take care of it so much, so he nodded and said: "Then according to what Xia Qing's family said, but just relying on Jing Dachu's people, will the troops be too thin?" I want to send more people, can the Xia Qing family have a suitable candidate? ”

At this time, Liao Ji, the second assistant of the cabinet, stood up and said: "Your Majesty, in fact, there is no need to be so troublesome at all, the minister has a strategy to solve the problem easily." ”

Hearing this, Jiajing looked at Liao Ji suspiciously, and said in a deep voice: "Liao Qing's family plan will be released?" ”

Liao Ji waved at Jiajing and said: "Your Majesty, what I ask for is nothing more than the Mentu sisters and brothers, as long as the emperor repairs a letter to me to answer, expressing his willingness to stop the war and repair, and return the Mentu sisters and brothers to Tatar, I think that I am also a person who understands affairs, and I will definitely not get an inch again." ”

A trace of anger flashed in Jiajing's eyes, and his face sank instantly, but Liao Ji continued to say as if he hadn't seen it: "The minister was strongly opposed to the Northern Expedition, but the emperor was blinded by Xu Ziqian, who was so happy, and insisted on sending troops to the Northern Expedition.

Ask me to repair the book for peace, although this move will damage the emperor's face, but the so-called people under the eaves, have to bow their heads, once the 50,000 main force overturned, my Beijing camp elite is lost, I replied that if you take advantage of the situation to go south to knock on the pass, then the capital is in danger, I am in danger, I hope the emperor will take care of the overall situation, think twice! ”

Liao Ji's words are very eloquent, but no matter how you listen to it, it tastes like schadenfreude, translate it, which means to say: Look, you didn't listen to the emperor who opposed the Northern Expedition at the beginning, but you wanted to listen to Xu Jin's kid, now it's miserable, right? The 50,000 army is almost over, you better hurry up and write to me to pretend to be a grandson to ask for peace, although it is a bit embarrassing, but you can save the 50,000 elites of the Beijing camp.

Therefore, Liao Ji's words were so harsh and harsh in Jiajing's ears that he was so angry that he trembled, but at present, the Northern Expedition army was indeed defeated, and no matter how angry Jiajing was, what could Liao Ji do, and no matter how angry he was, he had to hold back.

In fact, a veteran officialdom like Liao Ji should never be so irrational, is the emperor's face so easy to beat? To use a fashionable Internet phrase to describe it, that is, it is cool to slap (the emperor) in the face for a while, and the whole family crematorium!

However, our Liao Ge Lao was too aggrieved before, because he strongly opposed the Northern Expedition, he almost went back to his hometown with the first assistant Jin Xianmin to farm, suffered so much "grievance", and held back his wreckage for so long.

After Liao Ge Lao slapped Jiajing's face, he felt like eating ginseng fruit, and all the pores on his body were taking a deep breath, one word: cool!

"Ridiculous, Liao Ge Lao's words are extremely absurd, it is normal for the two armies to fight and win and lose each other, if you only encounter a slight setback and ask the enemy for peace, what kind of prestige can you have?" Xia Yan sneered angrily.

Fang Xianfu, the secretary of the ministry, immediately went out of class and echoed: "What Lord Xia said is extremely true, my Ming Dynasty is the upper kingdom of the Heavenly Dynasty, how can I easily bow down to the barbarians, Liao Ge Lao is really in vain to read the books of sages, and he has no temperament of a scholar, and this official is ashamed to be with him." ”

As soon as these words came out, the audience was in an uproar, Liao Ji was so angry that his beard trembled, and he pointed at Fang Xianfu and scolded: "Fang Shuxian, you are a two-faced and sinister villain, the old man is ashamed to be with people like you, you also had a part in encouraging the emperor to send troops to the Northern Expedition, but now Qiu Luan's 20,000 army has been wiped out, the grain and grass have been lost, and the grain road has been cut off, and Xu Ziqian's 50,000 main force is in danger. Those who send troops to the Northern Expedition are guilty of not being punished! ”

Most of the ministers in the palace couldn't help but change their faces, according to Liao Ji's logic, wouldn't the officials who supported the Northern Expedition have to be punished and killed? At that moment, most of the people present were guilty, and the one sitting on the throne was even more guilty, in the final analysis, the Northern Expedition was the emperor's intention!

Jiajing finally couldn't bear it anymore, slapped it on the imperial case, and shouted: "Presumptuous, sending troops to the Northern Expedition is the result of the discussion of all the ministers, and it was approved by my decree, is it not that I am also guilty of punishment?" Shouldn't I be damned too? ”

Liao Ji shuddered for a moment, only then did he realize that he had lost his words, and as soon as his legs were weak, he fell to his knees and said: "Your Majesty, the old minister didn't mean that, the old minister just said that the emperor was deceived by the greasy ministers like Fang Xianfu, and the old minister was loyal, so I ask the emperor to see it!" ”

Jiajing sneered with a calm face, and was about to continue to reprimand Liao Ji, but saw a little yellow door running into the Wenhua Hall like a burning buttocks, still holding a recital book in both hands, and shouting excitedly: "Your Majesty, great victory!" What a victory! The Yasukuni Gong defeated 100,000 cavalry yesterday and beheaded more than 23,000 ranks! ”

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