On November 27, the seventh year of the Apocalypse, the court meeting was boycotted due to strong winds. Zhu Youzhen ordered to summon Yang Hao, the late Liaodong Jingluo, in the Wenhua Palace.

Under the guidance of the eunuchs, Yang Hao entered through the cultural gate, looking at the long-lost palace scenery along the way, and was a little emotional.

Because after the failure of the Battle of Salhu planned by him, the Ming army successively lost Shenyang, Kaiyuan, Tieling and other strategic places, and the situation in Liaodong was greatly damaged, and he was also impeached and put in prison.

Yang Hao, who originally thought that he would not stay in the prison for a long time, did not want to follow Nurhachi's continuous attack on cities in Liaodong, and finally started the establishment of the country, calling himself the queen of the Houjin Kingdom. The officials who interceded for him began to gradually become scarce, and the voices of those who demanded that those responsible for the serious situation in Liaodong gradually rose in the court.

At this time, Yang Hao knew about it and sentenced him to death, but it was not executed immediately, which was already the result of the Emperor of the Apocalypse trying to protect him.

The situation in Liaodong is very bad, thousands of miles of land have fallen, millions of Liaodong people have fallen into the hands of Jiannu, hundreds of thousands of Ming troops have been lost in the Liaodong war one after another, and millions of taels of Liaodong salaries are levied every year that make the people of the world complain, all of which undoubtedly require someone to stand up and be responsible.

Neither the Donglin Party nor the Eunuch Party are willing to take this responsibility, and although Tianqi knows that Yang Hao is responsible, the responsibility is not as much as the impeachment of the officials, but it is impossible for Tianqi to take the loss of Liaodong on himself for Yang Hao.

Therefore, Yang Hao also gave birth to the heart of the prison, and after Chongzhen ascended the throne, he personally visited him in the prison, although Yang Hao was very moved, but he did not feel that this young son of heaven had the ability to get out of the prison and promote the Ming Dynasty and Hou Jin to negotiate peace. As a civil servant, he knew very well that those courtiers would never agree to the request of peace with Jiannu for the sake of their own name.

When he received Chongzhen's edict, pardoning his death sentence, making him guilty of meritorious service, and serving as an envoy to negotiate peace with Hou Jin, he couldn't believe what he had heard.

Yang Hao changed into a regular uniform without a complement, and when he came to the Cultural Palace, he still hadn't figured out how Chongzhen persuaded those stubborn civil officials.

In the Cultural Palace, Zhu Youzhen glanced at Yang Hao, who had been resting in the Xinwang Mansion for nearly a month, and finally relieved himself after seeing that his face was ruddy and his spirit looked very strong.

Traveling to Shenyang during the lunar month is a physically demanding trip, not to mention dealing with difficult characters like Huang Taiji.

“… Awarded Yang Hao Taichang Temple Shaoqing..."Wang Tiqian stood in front of the throne and read Chongzhen's will to Yang Hao, who was prostrating on the ground.

Although Yang Hao was a little dazed, he had not forgotten the etiquette in the officialdom, and thanked Chongzhen according to the system.

After watching the tedious etiquette completed, Zhu Youzhen finally spoke: "Yang Qing has suffered from prison, I should have given you a few months off, first, to give you a good body, and second, to let you and your family reunite for a few days." However, now that the state affairs are troubled, and the talents are thin, we still need the loyal assistance of the ministers in political affairs. Therefore, I had to ask Yang Qing to postpone the joy of family for the time being, and put state affairs first. ”

"Your Majesty is serious, the sinner Yang Hao is shallow and ugly, and he was released from the cage by His Majesty's grace, which is already a great grace of heaven. How dare you use your personal feelings to ruin your official affairs, but Your Majesty has an order, and sinners will go to the soup and fire. ”

Seeing Yang Hao's five bodies thrown to the ground, his forehead clinging to the floor tiles in the hall, and the urn spoke angrily, Zhu Youzhen smiled and said: "The weather is cold, Yang Qing will stand up and talk back." I don't want to, you haven't left Beijing yet, and you're sick. ”

Yang Ho patted his sleeve and stood up. Only then did he say loudly to Chongzhen: "Now that the weather is cold, the chiefs of Liaodong Jiannu must be hiding in Shenyang Maodong, and the guilty ministers ask Your Majesty for permission to set off for Liaodong immediately." The criminal ministers heard that the great chief of Jiannu, Nurhachi, died of illness last year, and although Huang Taiji, the fourth son of the slave chieftain, succeeded to the throne, he did not dictate the throne, but ruled together in the name of the four great beylers.

In Yichen's view, this proves the fact that after the death of the old slave, there was no one among the Jiannu who had outstanding prestige and could command the Jurchen tribes. Jiannu is governed by the four major bailes, then the government will be multi-faceted, and there will be a power struggle among the four of them.

These slave chiefs may not all be those who are bent on our Ming Dynasty as enemies, and there must be people among them who speak and make a truce. Since His Majesty has already decided to make peace, he should let the guilty ministers send an envoy as soon as possible while the victory or defeat has not yet been decided between these slave chiefs.

If there is a crack in the four beylers of the slave chieftain, it is just the right time for the criminal ministers to take the opportunity to do it, complete the great trust of His Majesty, and let the soldiers and civilians of Liaodong ease their cheeks. ”

Zhu Youzhen glanced at Yang Hao with some surprise, it seems that the report on the situation in Liaodong these days has made this old Liaodong economist roughly guess the internal situation of Jiannu.

This Liaodong economist and strategic war plan promised to be below the level of ordinary people, but in terms of his understanding of political struggle, he was above the level of ordinary people.

It's a pity that in Zhu Youzhen's eyes, he never had much hope for the success of the peace with the post-Jin negotiation.

A figure like Huang Taiji, if he could be bound by a mere peace treaty, he would not be the Emperor Taizong who laid the foundation for the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

Just like Huang Taiji's proposal to make peace with the Ming Dynasty for a truce, it was for the war-weary officers and soldiers inside the Eight Banners to see. Zhu Youzhen's proposal to negotiate peace with Houjin was also for the sake of those soldiers in Liaodong who had illusions about peace talks, and by the way, on the pretext of negotiating peace, he reduced the Liaodong army and suppressed these military leaders who had faintly appeared in the pattern of feudal towns.

In Zhu Youzhen's view, after Huang Taiji saw the peace envoy he sent, he did not use the name of negotiating peace with the Ming Dynasty to appease the 36 Mongolian tribes in eastern Liaodong. It is to temporarily accept the peace negotiation and make every effort to resolve the Mongol Chahar Department that competed with the Jurchens for the dominance of Mongolia in Liaodong.

But whether it is Liaodong, Mongolia, or even North Korea, the output of the Xiaoice era cannot supply the materials consumed every year by a country with millions of people.

As long as the Jurchen tribes can't grab enough supplies from Mongolia and Korea to live, they will inevitably turn their attention to the rich and weak Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, in Zhu Youzhen's heart, it is not really important whether he can successfully negotiate peace with Hou Jin, but what is important is that he has obtained the right to speak on the war in Liaodong and the power to reorganize and restructure the Liaodong army.

Zhu Youzhen pondered for a while before he said to Yang Hao: "It is a prudent matter to negotiate peace with the Later Jin, which is not only related to the relationship between the Later Jin and the Ming Dynasty, but also related to the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and North Korea, the Ming Dynasty and the Mongolian tribes, as well as the feelings of the military and civilians in Liaodong.

The old slave has been dead for more than a year, and even if there is any rift between the four major Baylors, it should be relatively stable now, and it should not be different from this time.

Before Yang Qing went to Houjin to negotiate peace, I hoped to do two things first, so as not to repeat the matter of peace, and then the public opinion of the world would push you and my monarchs and ministers to the forefront. ”

"Your Majesty is young, but his personality is unexpectedly cautious." Yang Hao thought secretly in his heart.

He arched his hand at Chongzhen and said, "Dare to ask Your Majesty, what two things do you want the criminal minister to do?" ”

Zhu Youzhen rubbed the jade pendant hanging on his waist with his left hand, and after thinking for a while, he said with a slight heavy expression: "Since the forty-sixth year of Wanli, after the old slave sued the sky with seven hatreds, my Ming soldiers were defeated in Fushun, two defeated in Salhu, three defeated in Liaoshen, and four defeated in Guangning, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers were buried between the white mountains and black waters in Liaodong, and the corpses have not been cleaned up so far.

I intend to set up a memorial monument to the soldiers of Liaodong in the outer city to comfort the soldiers who died in Liaodong for the Ming Dynasty. In addition to erecting monuments to record the names of these dead soldiers, I also want to comfort the families of these soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country, so as to comfort the souls of the sacrificed soldiers in heaven.

And Yang Qing will send an envoy to Houjin to negotiate peace in the name of collecting the bones of the dead soldiers in Liaodong. As long as Jiannu promised to let the Ming Dynasty collect the corpses of the dead soldiers, I swore as the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty that the two families would strike the army and negotiate peace, and there would be no more swords and soldiers. ”

Listening to Zhu Youzhen's count of the defeats in the Liaodong War, Yang Hao's face was a little hot. But when he heard that Zhu Youzhen asked him to negotiate peace with Houjin in the name of collecting the corpses of Liaodong soldiers, Yang Hao's heart suddenly settled down.

If it weren't for the fact that when the court of the monarch and the ministers was right, Yang Hao couldn't help but shout, this plan was wonderful.

Although it is not known how Chongzhen persecuted him, the courtiers agreed to the request to negotiate peace with Hou Jin.

But Yang Hao also knows that the success or failure of this peace talks is not only related to his net worth and life, but also related to the reputation of Chongzhen, who advocates peace talks.

If the peace talks fail to succeed, or after the peace talks, Houjin tears up the agreement and attacks the Ming Dynasty again, then not only will he Yang Hao become the scapegoat for the breakdown of the peace talks, but even Chongzhen will lose his right to speak on military affairs.

Therefore, Yang Hao is even ready, if he does not succeed, he will become a benevolent, even if the peace talks with Houjin fail, he has made up his mind not to let Chongzhen be implicated.

However, the proposal put forward by Chongzhen today has completely changed the nature of the peace talks. Since ancient times, China has believed in the moral concept that death is great, and entering the earth is safe.

Negotiating peace with Houjin for the sake of the safety of the capital, negotiating peace with Houjin for the sake of reining the remains of the dead soldiers in the ground, and negotiating peace with Houjin are two completely different concepts at the moral level.

The former may be attacked by those Qingliushi people as a loss of power and humiliation of the country, while the latter has completely become Chongzhen's action to endure humiliation and bear the burden of humiliation, and not hesitate to damage his reputation in order to let the soldiers who died in Liaodong rest in peace.

The Ming Dynasty governs the country with benevolence and filial piety, no matter how you look at it, Chongzhen's move firmly occupies the moral high ground of benevolence.

In the name of collecting the corpses of the dead soldiers, even if there is any accident in the peace talks, it is because Jiannu is treacherous and ignorant of China's morality and ethics, and has nothing to do with those who advocate peace talks.

Even the Qingliu scholars, who relied on criticizing the government to gain fame, could not attack Chongzhen and him in this matter.