The news of the "possible death" of Emperor Chongzhen and the crown prince Zhu Cihong was sent to Dagukou on the morning of April 12, 17th year of Chongzhen, by the secret agents of Fusi of Jinyi Weibei Town.

"Chitose Lord, it has been spread all over the city of Beijing, and it is said that you and the Holy Throne ship were burned by the fire of the Red Lady. Li Zicheng also canonized the Red Lady as a pseudo-Zhigu Bo to praise her military exploits....."

In the capital hall of the Generalissimo Fujun's mansion, Li Ruolian, the commander of the Jinyi Guard, was reporting the news of Beijing to Zhu Cihong.

"This Li is confused, right?" Wu Xiang interjected, "How can you let your subordinates play like this?" ”

Cao Youyi also smiled: "That red lady really dares to blow!" I'm not afraid to blow the cowhide out! ”

Zhu Cihong frowned, and turned his gaze to the three civil officials, Wei Zaode, Hou Xun, Fang Yuegong and Chen Rui. He wanted to hear their opinions first.

In the past few days, the imperial court in exile in Dagukou has also begun to reorganize. Of course, the four scholars of Wei Zaode, Fang Yuegong, Qiu Yu, and Fan Jingwen stayed in office - of course, the four of them had no ability, but they were indeed very good vases. They were all bachelors appointed by Chongzhen, and they supported Zhu Cihong in the Huangjimen Change.

Keeping them can prove the legitimacy of Zhu Cihong's generalissimo of the Fu army!

In addition to the four of them, Zhu Cihong added Hou Sui into the cabinet, and Hou Sui served as a scholar of Dongge University and a secretary of the household department. The other four scholars also sent a scholar, among which Wei Zaode was also the secretary of the Ministry of Officials, Fang Yuegong was also the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Qiu Yu was also the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, and Fan Jingwen was also the secretary of the Criminal Department.

Each of the five scholars is in charge of one each. Every day, two people will be sent to accompany Chongzhen to "play", so that he feels a little like being an emperor, and the remaining three will go to the Generalissimo Fujun Mansion to work - although Zhu Cihong has a Generalissimo Fujun Mansion, he will not kick the court away. Because the set of procedures for drafting, approving red, and handling by the Ministry of Communications symbolizes legitimacy.

If there is no such procedure, but the Generalissimo's Office of the Fujun Army is used to issue orders, I am afraid that many magistrates will not admit it.

Now that the authority of the central government of the Ming Dynasty has dropped significantly, he can no longer smash his own signboard.

Therefore, Zhu Cihong simply asked the elder to go to his own mansion to work, and if there was anything that needed to be handled through the bureaucratic system, he asked Bi Jiucheng to draw up the decree on the spot, and then the elder of the pavilion drafted the decree, and then Zhu Cihong himself approved it, and finally added six departments to sign the matter, and then it would be issued in a grand manner.

The procedure is not wrong at all, the elder of the pavilion only changed one, and he did not take the initiative to replace it, but because the original Dongge University scholar Li Jiantai had surrendered to Li Zicheng. A total of six university scholars in the four halls and two pavilions were originally vacant, and they have not been filled now. It's just that the one who criticized the red changed from Chongzhen to Zhu Cihong......

In addition to the three elders, Zhu Cihong's original teacher Chen Rui also had to go to the Generalissimo's Mansion every day to work, and his current official position was changed to the secretary of the military department.

Because of the appearance of the Generalissimo's Mansion of the Fu Army, almost all the powers of the Ministry of War have been usurped, but it does not mean that Zhu Cihong does not need the signboard of the Ministry of War.

The orders issued through the military commanders of the Generalissimo's Office only worked in the system of the New Army and the Generalissimo's Navy. For other Ming troops, for the time being, they had to be mobilized in the name of the military department or the holy decree. Therefore, the military department is still very important, but it has changed from the yamen in charge of the world's soldiers and horses to the yamen who gives orders for Zhu Cihong.

After a few operations, the cabinet and the six ministries were almost merged.

In addition to the military department books, the other five books are university scholars. Although the secretary of the military department does not have the name of a scholar, he can also make suggestions and suggestions when he attends the meeting of the cabinet-generalissimo's office, and he has also become a de facto cabinet elder.

And Zhu Cihong, the prince of Fujun, is a bit like when Emperor Taizu Gao abolished the prime minister and monopolized power - he turned the old monks into his own staff!

At least in the past few days in Dagukou, no civil official has challenged Zhu Cihong's authority!

......

"Master Chitose," Wei Zaode, a scholar of Shoufu University, thought about it and said to Zhu Cihong, "the rumors spread by the rebels in Beijing must be to calm people's hearts and the hopes of the righteous people, so as to stabilize the situation in Beijing." ”

Zhu Cihong smiled and thought: Those Diao people in the Beijing Division can be regarded as knowing how powerful these days, right? But their bad days have just begun!

Li Zicheng is okay, and there is still "my Daqing" coming when he turns around!

Fang Yuegong, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, continued Wei Zaode's words: "The rebels should stabilize the situation in Beijing in order to send troops on a large scale. Jinyiwei's Tang newspaper said that the traitors had been tortured and forced to pay in Beijing, and they had already earned 30 or 40 million taels. With this silver, the rebellion should be able to reward the three armies, and after the reward is issued, most of them can go on the expedition. ”

Fang Yu suddenly became nervous and said, "Will you come to Dagukou?" His Royal Highness the Prince, now that the left division has been drawn with Su Guansheng, only the middle and right divisions are left behind, if you break into the rebellion and lead the army, I am afraid that ......"

"Don't be afraid!" Chen Rui interjected, "The Dagukou city is also strong, and it is close to water on both sides, so it is easy to defend and difficult to attack. The terrain of Haisha Island is even more dangerous, and it is impossible to come up without a sailor. Moreover, the right division is still building an earthen city on the island according to the style of the outer ocean fort city on the "Shou Yu Quanshu", and when the earth city is completed, before the Weihe River freezes, Haisha Island will be foolproof. ”

The Book of Shou Yuan is a military work written by Han Lin (a Catholic) from Jiangzhou, Shanxi Province, in the eighth year of Chongzhen, using the knowledge he learned from Western missionaries. There's a lot of space to talk about the bastion!

This work was widely circulated among scholars who were keen to build castles. Therefore, after Zhu Cihong proposed yesterday to build a fortress on Haisha Island, several civil officials actually volunteered to help. Zhu Cihong didn't believe that they understood the fortress at first, so he asked Tang Ruowang to take the assessment, only to find out after the assessment that these people were actually familiar with the "Complete Book of Shouyuan"! The knowledge of the fortress is far greater than that of Zhu Cihong himself.

So Zhu Cihong selected a few people from them and asked his teacher, Li Shichun, who was also familiar with the "Shouyuan Quanshu", to take them to be responsible for building the city as the official position of the left squire of the Ministry of Works—there were no good raw materials, just fill the straw bags with soil to build a fortress.

Zhu Cihong squinted his eyes and pondered for a moment, shook his head slightly, and said in a low voice: "You won't come to Dagukou...... It would be good if Li Chuang came to Dagukou, and the palace would not be afraid of him. Now I'm afraid that he won't come to Dagukou, but go straight to Shanhaiguan! ”

"To Shanhaiguan?" Wu Xiang was slightly shocked when he heard Zhu Cihong's words, Prince Zhu is a bit of a crow's mouth, don't tell him again.

"What are you doing at Shanhaiguan?" Wu Xiang asked.

Zhu Cihong glanced at his old father-in-law, and said in his heart: Of course you went to Shanhaiguan to beat your son!

He exhaled: "Shanhaiguan is a good place...... If only Li Chuang's family wants to go, then it will be easy to do, but if Dolgon also wants to go, it will be troublesome! ”

Li Chuang's family went, Wu Sangui may not fall into the water and become a traitor, and Zhu Cihong, a good brother-in-law of the Ming Dynasty, can still save him. But if Dorgon also went...... Can Wu Sangui still resist the Liukou in the west and fight the Eight Banners in the east?

When the time comes, he will most likely choose the next strategy he gives...... I couldn't even choose a strategy, so I just shaved my hair and became a traitor.

......

"Elder Chen Ge, how's it going? Is the injury getting better? ”

"Luo, Commander Luo, the old, the old man is thinking of a way, can you give it a few more days?"

It is now the early morning of April 13 of the first year of Dashun Yongchang, and in the inner city of Beijing, a scene like a usury is being staged in a certain house guarded by blue-clothed and white-hatted Dashun soldiers.

It was Luo Xiushen who came to visit early in the morning, and he was now sent by Liu Zongmin, Marquis of Ru, to command the Beizhen Fusi, who was actually the official in charge of debt collection.

He collected the accounts of the former officials and nobles who could not bear the torture and were willing to exchange their money for their lives—only when he received the accounts would those people escape the torture.

Of course, that doesn't mean you can live.

If it is a civil official and a eunuch, if you have enough money, you can live, if you are a noble, you will have both people and money, and you will have to die a good death.

And the person Luo Xiushen came to see today is a civil official, that is, Chen Yan, the former first assistant of the Ming Dynasty. He owes Liu Zongmin 60,000 taels of Hades, which is overdue.