In 1643, the sixteenth year of the original Chongzhen, the first year of Chongxing, the twelfth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, the crown prince Zhu Cihong, in the suburbs of Jinan, sacrificed to the world, spread the world, and ascended the throne.

The entire enthronement ceremony was all controlled by Li Xiao, a fifteen-year-old child who was still ignorant of his ascension to the throne, and after ascending to the throne, he naturally had an almost all-round dependence on Li Xiao.

Therefore, he was extremely obedient, as drawn up by Chen Zilong, Jiang Yueguang and others, after ascending to the pole, he immediately recited the edict according to the script, crowned Li Xiao as the prince, and appointed him as the generalissimo of the world's soldiers and horses, and everything in the palace was arranged by Li Xiao.

In the eyes of outsiders, Zhu Cihong's arrangement is simply a puppet, and it is really shocking to let himself be controlled by Li Xiao.

And Li Xiao did this, and there was an indescribable taste of coercing the Son of Heaven to order the princes.

However, such an arrangement, for Zhu Cihong, who is now recovering from serious injuries and does not know what governing the country is, such an arrangement is actually the best choice that he can take for himself who has been nervous and tired from physical and psychological conditions for several days.

After all, such an ignorant young man who didn't know what governing the country was, in the drastic changes of the times, was suddenly pushed to the throne in a daze, and he was in extreme panic, so he naturally almost instinctively wanted to find a powerful force so that he could rely on him, and Li Xiao, who fought with his life to save him from Beijing and pushed him to the throne with one hand, naturally became his biggest reliance.

Besides, now in the city of Jinan, he has just ascended the throne as the emperor, because he ascended the throne in a hurry, even the palace and the court and other things are not yet complete, let alone others.

And Zhu Cihong himself simply did not have the time and ability to form his own bureaucratic team. Taking a step back, he doesn't have the slightest cronies, even if he wants to form his own forces and people, it can't be done overnight, so now he is not Li Xiao, who else can he count on if he is still strong and prestigious.

Therefore, the current Zhu Cihong can only obey Li Xiao's arrangement, and he no longer has any opinions.

As a result, Li Xiao gained unprecedented rights and favor from the political choice of supporting Zhu Cihong to ascend the throne as emperor, and it can really be said that one person is under and above ten thousand. There is no one in the world who has such power and glory.

Li Xiao was in the capital that day, almost desperately rescued the crown prince Zhu Cihong, and successfully put him on the throne, and now, finally brought him rich political rewards.

From this point of view, it is really a bit out of the tiger's den, and it tastes like a tiger.

It's just that Li Xiao, who has great power in his hands and is strong, although he is full of ambition in his heart, he always feels a little uneasy.

Because, now, although he supported Zhu Cihong to ascend the throne as the emperor in Jinan, and also issued an edict to the world on the enthronement of the new emperor, but whether this new emperor, who was supported by himself and occupies the name of righteousness, can be recognized by officials and people all over the world, Li Xiao is actually really unsure in his heart.

After all, the crown prince fled from the capital and returned to the throne now, the time is very urgent, like the ministers in Nanjing, who may not have received specific news at all, will they admit that this is the real Zhu Cihong, and will they have doubts about the true identity of Zhu Cihong, the prince?

Even, Li Xiao believes that it is very likely that some careerists will take advantage of this suspicion and take advantage of the fact that there is no owner in the country to appoint another person as the emperor in Nanjing and other places or claim to be the superintendent of the country and divide the land, which is a possible political risk.

It's just that although Li Xiao is worried about these problems, he doesn't particularly pay attention to them.

In the chaotic world, strength is the foundation, and all kinds of conspiracy methods are only auxiliary after all, even if some people have ill intentions and want to take advantage of the opportunity to make trouble, but they are small, and they can do anything about it.

If they really dare to set up other descendants of the Zhu family to oppose them, then don't blame themselves for being polite. He just took advantage of this opportunity to send troops to attack and eradicate the forces that opposed him in one fell swoop, so as to prevent future troubles.

Of course, in order to maintain the unity of the surface, it is better not to use such ruthless tactics in military operations. On the contrary, at this special stage, Li Xiao believes that it is best for him to adopt soft means, and if he can first give co-optation and differentiation to those officials such as those who stay in the capital, it should be the best choice.

Therefore, after the new emperor issued a decree to the world, Li Xiao ordered that Chen Zilong write a letter of appointment and summon the important ministers who still remained in Nanjing, such as Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, Ma Shiying, Wang Duo, Yuan Jixian, Zhao Zhilong, Liu Kongzhao and others, all came to Jinan to take up posts.

If they can come, on this Li Xiao's territory, they can naturally only listen to Li Xiao's arrangements and judgments, which is the best result. If not, Li Xiao didn't particularly care.

Because he doesn't particularly value these former court officials. These people, in Li Xiao's view, are not enough to succeed and more to lose, if it were not for the purpose of uniting most forces as much as possible, Li Xiao would not be willing to look at them at all. Anyway, now that I have my own subordinates, there are actually enough officials available for recruitment, examination and promotion over the years, so I just put them aside.

After the edict was issued, Li Xiao did not slack off, but immediately discussed the next strategic plan with Chen Zilong and Jiang Yueguang, the two most responsible relatives, in the living room.

The theme and focus of this strategic plan is to focus on whether Li Xiao's goal is to dominate the country and straighten out the entire Ming Empire, or to take the lead in attacking and pushing back the rogues and Tartars in the north.

To put it simply, the focus of the current strategic planning is whether to go outside first or to settle inside, and this issue has become the top priority of Li Xiao, Chen Zilong, and Jiang Yueguang.

Jiang Yueguang's opinion is to take the lead in the outside.

He solemnly mentioned to Li Xiao: "King Tang, now that our army has supported the crown prince to ascend the throne as the emperor, for the sake of righteousness, our army should concentrate all its strength and attack northward, strive to recapture the capital division as soon as possible, and drive the thieves back to Shanxi, which is the most important thing." ”

"Oh?"

"Tang King, now the Emperor Chongxing ascended the throne in Jinan, a corner, it is not a long-term strategy, if our army can recapture the Beijing Division, so that the enthroned Emperor Chongxing can return to Beijing from the place where Jinan is located, and return to Beijing to ascend to the throne. In this way, when the hearts of the people of the world can be gathered, and the prestige and prestige of the Tang King can no longer be expected by others, the officials and military leaders in the country will all be afraid of it, and no one will dare to disagree. Then, after the emperor was established in Beijing and returned to the capital, it was very easy for our army to continue to sweep away the thieves, attack the Tartars in the north, or slow down the offensive, but try to calm the situation in the country with all its might. ”

Listening to Jiang Yueguang's words, Li Xiao was silent with a deep face, but Chen Zilong immediately opened his mouth to refute it.

"Said Guang, it is very difficult for Chen to agree with this." Chen Zilong frowned slightly, and said: "Chen thinks that now that the country has gone through this great chaos, the capital has fallen, and the northern territory is a bloody conquest, although the Tang King has re-established the emperor and occupied the name of righteousness, but after all, he acted in a hurry and the foundation is unstable. Next, in the Ming Kingdom, it is very likely that there will be careerists who will support the restless descendants of the Zhu family to claim the title of king in order to oppose the rejuvenating emperor supported by the Tang king. If this is the case, the country will definitely become more and more unstable, and the Ming Dynasty will be in danger of falling apart. There is a saying that if you want to fight abroad, you must first settle the inside, and if the country is unstable and turbulent, how can you concentrate all your efforts to fight against foreign enemies? Therefore, since Chen, the next focus is to stabilize the country first, especially to eliminate the military leaders in the country who have different minds and refuse to accept control, and this matter should be the top priority. ”

When Chen Zilong said this, he sighed lightly and continued: "Besides, Chen thinks that Jiang Zanhua is too optimistic about the current situation, and wants to come to Liukou's current Jingshi and Beizhili and other places, which are still heavily assembled, as many as hundreds of thousands of people, and want to defeat them immediately and drive Li Zicheng out of Beijing, unless the heavy army group attacks together, it cannot achieve such a result." With just one sentence, if you want to recapture the capital division, you want to drive the Liukou back to Shanxi, how can it be so easy! And our army is now, the soldiers and horses of Liaodong have just returned, and in this land of Shandong, only one town of Xingzhong Town is available. Even if you want to concentrate your forces to attack the Northern Expedition, because the rest of the towns are scattered, how can you gather soldiers and horses suddenly in a hurry, and this pile is something that needs to be carefully considered. ”

After Chen Zilong finished saying his opinion, Li Xiao was still silent, without any expression on his face.

Jiang Yueguang shook his head, and immediately retorted: "Wozi, what you said does have a certain truth. However, in your opinion, if our army allows the occupation of Beijing and kills the rogues and Tartars of the first emperor, but only wants to pursue the country, and only thinks about eradicating and controlling the officials and military leaders who are not subject to our army, it is really not a wise move in my opinion. “

"At the moment of such a big enemy, regardless of it, Jiang Mou really found it difficult to agree with the move of fighting for power and profit in his own house. Thinking of coming to poison the north, stealing from the capital, and killing the first emperor, it is really the biggest shame since the founding of the Ming Dynasty! Now that the new emperor has just been established and everything is renewed, it is the opportunity for the people of the world to be excited and eager to be ashamed. If the Tang King didn't think about how to conquer the Liukou, didn't immediately avenge the first emperor, and was ashamed of the Ming Dynasty, anyway, he only thought about the endless infighting, and only attacked the infighting in the Ming Dynasty, wouldn't he fall into fame, and the heart of the people in the cold world would be greatly disappointed? ”

When Jiang Yueguang said this, he also let out a long sigh, and he continued: "Besides, everything in the Ming Kingdom is intertwined and complicated, and all of a sudden, how can it be easily calmed down? If the relocation is delayed for a long time, the affairs of the country are still undecided, and the territory of the rogue is gradually stabilized, and the people in the occupied areas are gradually thinking of allegiance to the thieves in order to survive, will not our army be on both sides? Even if King Tang can successfully pacify the chaos in the country in the future, the foundation of the rogues and the Tartars has been stabilized, and it will be even more difficult to try to do it in the future. Therefore, the minister thought that now the morale of the people is available, and the foundation of the Liukou is still unstable, so take advantage of this great opportunity to try his best to take the Liukou first, and then try to get the Tartars, which is the best policy. At the very least, it is the most important thing to occupy the capital first and welcome the emperor back to Beijing. ”

Listening to the almost diametrically opposed opinions of the two henchmen, Li Xiao was speechless, just brushing his beard slightly, with a contemplative expression.

Chen Zilong and Jiang Yueguang both looked expectantly at this resourceful and powerful Prince of Daming.

Li Xiao coughed lightly, finally broke the silence, and said slowly: "What the two of you said is actually reasonable, but in the eyes of this king, they are biased. ”

"But please tell King Tang in detail."

Li Xiao smiled slightly: "From the perspective of this king, it is very important to say that Guang should be outside and Wozi should be at ease, and they are all things that need to be done now, but the two must not be abandoned." It's just that specific actions should be light and heavy, urgent and slow. ”

Li Xiao's words made the two of them stunned, and Jiang Yueguang asked tentatively: "What does King Tang mean, but you have to control both the outside and the inside, do you have to grasp both with one hand?" ”

Li Xiao nodded and replied in a deep voice: "That's right." The Liukou and the Tartars of our army must work hard to expel the conquest and actively create conditions for the new emperor to return to the capital. In addition, all affairs in the country must also be pacified with great urgency, and chaos must not be easily caused, and careerists or local military leaders must not be allowed to take advantage of the opportunity to cause chaos and harm the country and the people. Only by achieving these two points can this king be regarded as a veritable generalissimo of the world's soldiers and horses, and can he live up to His Majesty's trust and the expectations of the people of the world. ”

"What King Tang said is very true, but can you talk about it more specifically?" Chen Zilong asked.

Li Xiao looked directly at his inquiring gaze, and said calmly: "To attack the thieves in the north and recover the Jingshi, it must be like a big river with a trickle, trickling continuously, gathering strength, and gradually gaining success." In the middle of the Nantu Kingdom, it is necessary to wipe out the local forces and local military leaders who are not obedient to the king as soon as possible. In a word, the matter of attacking the Liukou in the north should be done slowly and bigger, and the domestic affairs in Nanping should be implemented as soon as possible to prevent chaos in the world. ”

"Oh, what King Tang said is very reasonable. It's just that if you really want to act like this, you have to attack the Liukou in the north, and the country in the south, and now I am in Shandong, there are only soldiers and horses in Xingzhong Town, I am afraid that it is really not enough to use, in case there is chaos in the country, or the thieves come to attack, I am afraid that the support will not be enough. Jiang Yueguang reminded with a worried face.

"Yes, both the north and the south have to use troops, not to mention the Tartars further north, our army is now scattered in various towns, if there is something urgent, it is indeed difficult to deal with it." Chen Zilong also looked worried.

As if he had guessed that they would say this, Li Xiao smiled, and then said: "Two, you are worried about the lack of troops, and this king also thinks the same, so this king plans to increase the training of soldiers and horses in the two towns in the land of Shandong for future wars." Moreover, this king intends to go one step further and reorganize the names of each town, as well as the number and collocation of troops, which is the real top priority in the next work of our army. ”（）