The coffin hearse returned to Nanjing, and Chongzhen sent Han Zanzhou, the eunuch of the ceremonial supervisor Bingbi, as the representative, and Shi Kefa, a scholar of the Shoufu University, led the officials of the six departments to greet each other outside the Fengtai Gate.

There are countless mourning sheds on the ten-mile long street, the black cloth curtain flies with the wind, the Qinhuai River silk and bamboo vocal music is forbidden, and there is no banquet and drum music in the city within three days, in order to show the condolences to Chen Jianghe, the prince of Zhongguo.

The two sides of the long street are full of people, everyone looks solemn, and countless merchants on both sides of the street put out spiritual cases in front of the door, on which are placed all kinds of offerings and fruits, to welcome the heroic spirit of the old marquis.

The hearse drove into the city of Nanjing and entered the Pingnan Hou Mansion. Everyone in the entire Hou Mansion was filial piety, and there was a cry when they saw the hearse approaching.

"Big brother, it's killing me!" Du Yuanfei, the head of the Hou Mansion, threw himself on the hearse, cried loudly while holding the coffin, and the people in the mansion cried everywhere.

Du Yuan is the neighbor of the Chen family, and he is also a subordinate military household of Chen Jianghe as the general banner, and there is a real deep relationship between him and Chen Jianghe. Chen Jianghe's death left him heartbroken.

Wu Wan'er stood outside the gate of the mansion in a white filial piety dress, looking at Chen Yue who dismounted with a sad face.

The coffin got down from the hearse, was carried into the palace by 36 guards, and placed in the hall of the Hou Mansion, which had already been arranged into a mourning hall, and the huge word "Dien" was hung on the wall in the middle of the hall.

Han Zanzhou represented the emperor, and Shi Kefa took the officials of the six ministries to salute in front of the spirit, and all the officials mourned according to their ranks.

In the next few days, the court officials, the gentry in the city, and even the shopkeepers of the Four Seas Commercial Bank and the Four Seas Salt Bank came to the Pingnan Hou Mansion to mourn, and only the officials above the third grade or the closest relatives could enter the hall to offer incense, and the others could only kowtow in the front yard of the hall.

After obtaining the consent of Emperor Chongzhen, the virtuous concubine Zhang Xiu'er went out of the palace and came to the Pingnan Hou Mansion, knelt down in front of the spirit and wept. If there was no Chen Jianghe to help back then, she and Aunt Zhang's mother and daughter would never have had a good time, and if there was no Chen family father and son, she would not have become the imperial concubine and have today's status.

Chen Jianghe and Aunt Zhang have become married, in this sense, Chen Jianghe is Zhang Xiuer's stepfather, thinking of her mother who was widowed again, Zhang Xiuer was sad.

With tears in her eyes, Wu Wan'er stepped forward to help Zhang Xiu'er and took her to the inner room to comfort Aunt Zhang, who was even more sad.

Qian Fenglin Shan Minglei came back with the head of the Yangzhou Shogunate, and on the night after the condolences, Chen Yue convened the two to discuss.

In addition to Yang Zhengping, who led the troops in Huai'an to resist the attack of the Shandong Qing Army's Zhun Ta Department, the core personnel of the Pingnan Army gathered together.

Qian Fenglin, Shan Minglei, as well as Wang Yin and Yang Zhengping, these are the real core personnel of the Pingnan Army. And because Wang Yin is responsible for the official position of the imperial court, he must avoid suspicion.

The courtyard where the study is located is heavily guarded, and no one is allowed to approach within ten zhang, Chen Yan personally led people to wind crossbows and fire guns, and was on duty in the courtyard.

"Master Hou, you really shouldn't hand over the military power in your hand and return to Nanjing." Shan Minglei sighed.

"What if you don't hand over the right to the army, do you ignore my father's funeral, is that the Son of Man the doing?" Chen Yue said mutually.

"Brother Shi Jian is too worried, Lu Ge Lao is also his own person, and the commanders of each battalion of the Pingnan Army are all brought out by Hou Ye, what is the difference between handing over the military power and not handing it over?" Qian Fenglin hurriedly said, "By the way, Master Hou, I don't know what you plan to do next?" Is it to keep filial piety after the funeral of the old marquis, or to take revenge? ”

The official's parents died, and according to the Ming etiquette system, they need to abandon their duties and filial piety for three years, but if the situation is special, they can also be reinstated. At present, the Manchu Tartars are newly defeated, the Aobai Department is still wandering in the south of the Yangtze River, the Sichuan thieves are attacking the city, and there are more thieves gathered in Huguang Jingzhou, whether it is taking advantage of the defeat of the Manchu Tartars to restore the mountains and rivers in the north, or exterminating the thieves and thieves, at this time Chen Yue has a reason to regain his feelings.

Hearing Qian Fenglin's question, Shan Minglei also pricked up his ears.

"Will I decide whether to regain my love or not?" Chen Yue smiled bitterly.

Chen Yue can't cry and shout to Chongzhen that he wants to win love, then he will end up with an unfilial reputation. Don't you hear about Zhang Juzheng's love turmoil and his subsequent fate?

And whether he can seize the favor and continue to hold the military power depends more on what Chongzhen thinks, and the court decides.

"If the Hou Ye wants, we can naturally think of it, as long as the front line does a little tricks and creates a situation that the Hou Ye must do, I don't believe that the emperor and the court can sit still!" Shan Minglei sneered.

"Forget it, in the past few years of battlefield battles, my father and I get together less and leave more, and now that my father has died, I just want to accompany him." Chen Yue was a little excited.

"The Qing army of the two roads was annihilated, the Ming Dynasty has turned the crisis into safety, and there is no longer the worry of losing the country, with the wealth of the south, with the cohesion of the current court, the thief is just a disease of scabies, and sooner or later it can be peaceful. At this time, it doesn't make much difference between me coming out and not out. ”

"It is not to be feared to sacrifice thieves and thieves, but what about the Mantars who occupy the north? Didn't Hou Ye want to expel the Manchu Tartars and restore the rivers and mountains? Qian Fenglin asked with a frown.

"Of course I want to, but Brother Qian thinks that with the strength of the Ming Dynasty now, even if I come back, will I have the ability to drive the Mantars out of Beijing?" Chen Yue asked.

"Although the Mantars were defeated, they were still able to collect tens of thousands of elites of the Eight Banners. The Manchu Tartars have always left one-third of their troops to defend their homes, and according to their practice of drawing one out of three, it is not a problem to raise 100,000 troops in a short period of time, although it is not as elite as the annihilated army, but it is much stronger than the ordinary Ming army.

The reason why we were able to win the battle was not how strong our Ming army was, even our Pingnan army had not experienced a real hard battle, Yangzhou and Wuhu, both battles were based on water to break the enemy.

If we rush the Northern Expedition, do we really have the strength to compete with the Manchu cavalry in the Northern Plains? ”

Hearing Chen Yue's question, Qian Fenglin and Shan Minglei fell silent. Many people are easily confused by the great victory of the Ming army, but after calming down and thinking about it carefully, the difference between the strength of the Ming army and the Manchu army is still very large.

In the entire Ming army, only 60,000 Pingnan troops can withstand a battle, and other local armies such as Beijing camp are weak in battle. Relying only on these 60,000 Ping Southern Army, even if all of them are wiped out, they will definitely not be able to recover the north and expel the Manchu Tartars.

"The war with the Manchus was a war to destroy the country, and the future battles relied more on national strength. As long as the food and armor are sufficient, and the army is continuously recruited and trained, even the soldiers can pile up the full tartars to death.

At present, the Ming Dynasty has the richest south, and its national strength is much stronger than that of the Manchu Tartars, who occupy the ruined north, as long as the situation develops steadily, it will not be a problem to destroy the Manchus.

The Manchu Tartars, with a population of hundreds of thousands, occupied the vast areas of Liaodong and the north, overwhelming Mongolia and coercing Korea, and their actions were like swallowing elephants with snakes. If our army persecuts too much, it will inevitably make it a trapped beast fight, and once the Pingnan army is defeated, it is likely that the situation will be turned over in an instant. If it is done slowly, there will inevitably be chaos inside. Mongolia and Korea will certainly not be resigned to their oppression any longer.

In two or three years, our Ming Dynasty recruited and trained elites, gathered grain, grass and soldiers, and sent troops to attack them when the Tartar civil strife was full, and it was not a problem to destroy their clan and pour their country.

Therefore, the time is on the side of the Ming Dynasty, so it is not advisable to rush the Northern Expedition. ”