On the night of the third day of October in the fourth year of Jiajing, a cold current swept from Siberia across the northern part of the Ming Dynasty, and heavy snow fell in Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Beizhili, and the temperature plummeted, almost dripping into ice.

The night is like ink, although the north wind outside the house roars and the snow falls, but the Dali Temple Qing Zhang Zhang's house is a guest, respectively, Zhan Shifu Shao Zhan Shi Gui Cao, and the left waiter Yan Song of the household department. Needless to say, the relationship between Zhang Xuan and Gui Cao is needless to say, both of them are upstart factions who made their fortunes by discussing gifts, and their relationship is very iron, while Yan Song climbed to a high position after taking Zhang Zhang's path, and not long ago they joined forces to kill Xu Jin, so these three are political allies with close interests.

It is said that since Yang Tinghe left office, the Yang Party has fallen apart, and the upstart faction led by Zhang Xuan and Guixu can be said to have gained the upper hand, and the officials of the Protector faction were overwhelmed in the court, and even almost put Xu Jin to death. However, people are not as good as heaven, Xu Jin not only escaped with his fate, but also turned over because of the siege of the capital by the army, and was appointed by the emperor as the governor of Zhili, and also worshiped the general of Pingyu, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he holds the power of the whole government.

In this way, the upstart factions such as Zhang Xuan and Gui Cao will naturally not be calm, because if Xu Jin repels the Tartars, succeeds in rescuing the king, and makes immortal achievements, he will definitely be more favored by the emperor. You must know that Xu Jin is not a good man and a woman, and when he returns to the court strongly, I am afraid that it will be the time when he and others will be defeated.

As the so-called officialdom is sinister, either the east wind overpowers the west wind, or the west wind overpowers the east wind, and being overwhelmed means losing all the games and losing all your lives. How can Zhang Xuan, Gui Cao and others be calm, how can they be willing to watch Xu Jin return strongly?

There are two stoves burning in the living room, which is warm, and the rice wine in the cup is also warm, but the atmosphere is a little cold. Yan Song coughed lightly and broke the silence and said, "This heavy snow came in time, I heard that Elder Yang Ge has ordered someone to pour water on the city wall into ice, and it will be even more difficult for the Tartars to come in this time." ”

Zhang Xuan shook his head and said: "The inner city is not as good as the outer city, there is no moat to block it, if the Tartar army of more than 100,000 people attacks regardless of casualties, the inner city is estimated to not be able to hold it for a day." ”

Yan Song coughed lightly and pretended to be surprised: "In that case, why did the Tatars take the initiative to sue for peace today?" ”

Gui Cao stroked the sparse beard under his chin, and said a little pretentiously: "Originally, I was still attacking this morning, but as soon as the Bodi Khan arrived, he stopped the attack and took the initiative to send envoys to sue for peace, so it is obvious that there is a disagreement between the Bodi Khan and the Bodi Khan." ”

Zhang Xuan nodded and said: "It is said that after the death of Dayan Khan, the leaders of the Tatar 10,000 households did not obey the words of the successor Great Khan, especially the 30,000 households on the right wing. ”

Yan Song's eyes flashed and said: "In this way, Bodi Khan took the initiative to sue for peace because he wanted to answer?" ”

Gui Cao laughed and said: "Isn't this obvious, I am about to break the city, Bodi suddenly came to this move, not only to stop Me, but also to justifiably take all the benefits, I have to say that this plan is excellent, so it seems that this Bodi Khan is a clever man, or there are masters around him to guide him." ”

Yan Song stroked his palm and said: "This method is indeed clever, so to speak, Bodi Khan should not be a fraud, but really want to negotiate peace with the Ming Dynasty, now that the emperor has met his requirements, he should keep his promise to withdraw from the army, right?" ”

Zhang Xuan and Gui Cao are both clever veterans of officialdom, so they can't hear the tentative meaning in Yan Song's words, and the former said lightly: "Mian'an might as well say it directly, if it comes out of your mouth, it will enter our ears!" ”

Yan Song coughed lightly and said: "As Brother Bingyong said, if the Tartars attack the city with all their might, I am afraid that the inner city will not be able to defend it for a day, instead of stretching out our necks and hoping for Xu Jin to come to save us, it is better for us to persuade the emperor to accept the conditions of Bodi Khan, so that we can not only retreat from the enemy to save themselves, but also avoid Xu Jin's ......."

Yan Song stopped when he said this, everyone is an old bird, there are some things that need not be said thoroughly, everyone understands.

Gui Cao shook his head and said: "The conditions of the Tatars are too harsh, just with the princess and relatives, it is estimated that the emperor will not agree, let alone pay five million taels of silver, this money can almost empty the treasury." Whoever dares to persuade the emperor to accept the conditions of the Tatar Khan will probably fall to the ground immediately. ”

Yan Song couldn't help but shudder when he heard this, and he was silent and no longer spoken, he can come up with ideas, but he should definitely not be a bird.

At this time, Zhang Xuan said thoughtfully: "Actually...... You might as well give it a try! ”

Gui Cao frowned and said: "Brother Bingyong, this matter is not trivial, even if it succeeds, I am afraid it will leave an infamy in the history of Qing." ”

Zhang Xuan said indifferently: "History is written by the victors, isn't "Wuzong Records" also compiled by Yang Tinghe, whether it is good or bad is not a matter of a stroke of the pen." ”

Gui Cao and Yan Song glanced at each other, and the former said a little awkwardly: "Then who will pick this head?" ”

"The criminal department will give Zhou Yuxian in the matter!" Zhang Xuan said indifferently.

Gui Cao and Yan Song couldn't help but smile, the charge was naturally this pawn who crossed the river first, and the impeachment of Xu Jin was also the vanguard of this goods, and now Xu Jin has turned over, and the most panicked person is probably this, anyway, the debt is not pressing, if the emperor can be persuaded to accept the conditions of Bodi Khan, then Xu Jin, the general, will not be useful. Xu Jin doesn't sit big, which is also a good thing for Zhou Yusheng, if this guy is interested, he shouldn't refuse to be this bird.

Here, Zhang Xuan, Gui Cao and Yan Song are secretly discussing, and in the Yamen of Fusi in Jinyi Weibei Town, Lu Bing, who has just been idle, is restless, because he has sent two people to sneak into the Xu Mansion in the early hours of yesterday morning, trying to kill Han Dajie hiding in the Xu Mansion unknowingly, and completely solve this hidden danger, and then until now, the two people he sent out have not returned, as if they have sunk into the sea.

Lu Bing expected that this operation had failed, and he was panicking at the moment, for fear that Xie Xiaowan would catch the handle and run to the emperor to sue him, so Lu Bing not only sent additional people to keep an eye on the Xu Mansion, but also sent brocade guards to watch at the gates of the palace to prevent Xie Xiaowan from entering the palace to meet the emperor.

On the third day of October in the fourth year of Emperor Jiajing, the capital was snowing heavily at night, and in such bad weather, many court officials and nobles walked around each other very frequently.

As the saying goes: if people are not for themselves, the heavens and the earth will be destroyed. In today's critical situation, although there are loyal ministers such as Yang Yiqing and Fei Hong who are willing to live and die with the monarchy, there is no shortage of self-interested people who want to leave a way back for themselves.