342 Monarchs

(Today's chapter is presented, please collect and subscribe!!) ）

Outside the city of Jinan.

The two main Tartar armies led by Dolgon and Yue Tuo completed their convergence outside the city of Jinan, and then prepared to launch an attack on the city of Jinan.

Yue Tuo's side had already received the news of the defeat of Dolgon Jiazhuang, and not only did he not kill Lu Xiangsheng, but Duoduo was also captured by a Ming army.

This made Yue Tuo secretly happy in his heart, Yue Tuo belonged to the faction that supported Huang Taiji among the Tartars, and naturally did not want Dolgon to make too much merit for entering the customs this time.

After Yue Tuo and Dolgon's two armies converged, they immediately launched an attack on the city of Jinan.

Although Jinan City was the capital of Shandong Province at this time, the city wall was tall, and there was a king of De, but in the face of the attack of nearly 50,000 troops of the Tartars, it was impossible to hold out for too long.

The main reason is that at this time, there is no available Ming army in Jinan City, and all of them are a group of old, weak, sick and disabled.

Even if there are more than 10,000 people, there are a lot of them, but in the face of tigers and wolves, they are like sheep.

King De's mansion is even more wealthy, but King De never imagined that one day the army of Tartars could reach the hinterland of the Central Plains and hit his doorstep.

The panicked King immediately sent someone to ask the court for help.

On January 4 of the 11th year of Chongzhen, the palace of the capital was nourished by the heart.

A middle-aged man in a yellow robe was sitting on a pale yellow soft chair, his originally somewhat delicate face showing a haggard look.

There was still a round of obvious dark circles next to his eyes, but there was a trace of anger on the face of the middle-aged man at the moment, and behind him, there was an old man wearing a eunuch uniform with his head down.

This person is the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen.

In front of Chongzhen, there was a man standing at this moment, a man about fifty years old, with an easy-going demeanor, but with a majestic man, with a look of helplessness and anxiety on his face.

"I have just received a letter of help from King De, and now the two armies of the Tartars have joined forces in the city of Jinan, and it is clear that they want to attack Jinan.

At the beginning, you suggested to me and asked the Tartars for peace, but now the Tartars have no intention of peace talks at all, and there is also the dog slave who Gao Qiqian, I handed over the Guanning Iron Horse to him for nothing, but it was useless.

I haven't been able to stop the Tartars so far, so what's the use of what I want you to do! ”

Chongzhen patted the armrest next to the chair and roared, his voice buzzing in the small room.

After Yang Sichang heard Chongzhen's anger, he immediately knelt down and kowtowed, and said, "Your Majesty, the minister is guilty!" ”

"If you are guilty, if you are guilty, you will say that you are guilty, and you can't say something else? If you cut off your heads, the Tartars will be able to retreat! ”

Chongzhen, who was angry, did not save face for his minister, and Chongzhen, who was excited, said that saliva flew and almost sprayed Yang Sichang's face.

Yang Sichang knew Chongzhen's temper very well, and knew that if he opened his mouth to distinguish at this time, it would only arouse Chongzhen's greater anger, so he just knelt on the ground silently, bowing his head and saying nothing.

And at this time, Yang Sichang had already received a secret letter from Gao Qiqian two days ago, saying that Lu Xiangsheng might have been killed by Tartar.

This is big news, Chongzhen is very important to Lu Xiangsheng, this time if it weren't for Yang Sichang and Gao Qiqian secretly encouraging Chongzhen to negotiate peace with the Tartars.

Maybe Chongzhen will really hand over the Guanning Iron Cavalry, as well as the various Ming troops who rushed to King Qin from all over the country, to Lu Xiangsheng to command, and the situation will be very different at that time.

Until this time, Yang Sichang did not report the news of Lu Xiangsheng's death to Chongzhen, but only told Chongzhen that Lu Xiangsheng disappeared after the First Battle of Tartar and has not been found yet.

Lu Xiangsheng died, the impact on the DPRK is not small, you must know that at this time in the DPRK, the officials who support Lu Xiangsheng are not small, and Lu Xiangsheng also has a strong force around him.

Yang Sichang concealed the news of Lu Xiangsheng's death in order to leave some time for himself.

Let him be able to arrange the affairs of the DPRK and China, and when the time comes, it will be difficult to suppress the remnants left by Lu Xiangsheng and strengthen the power of his side.

After Chongzhen scolded for a while, he probably felt tired, so he sat back in his seat and closed his eyes to recuperate.

But he didn't let Yang Sichang, who was kneeling in front of him, get up, and Yang Sichang had to kneel silently on the ground all the time.

After a while, Chongzhen, whose breath had calmed down a little, opened his eyes, looked at Yang Sichang, who was still kneeling on the ground, and asked lightly: "Tired!" ”

Yang Sichang hurriedly replied, "If you go back to the emperor, Weichen is not tired." ”

"Hmph, duplicity." Chongzhen snorted lightly, and gently raised his hand up.

Wang Chengen, who had been standing behind Chongzhen, glanced at Chongzhen and understood what Chongzhen meant.

He hurriedly took a step forward and whispered to Yang Sichang: "Lord Yang, don't you hurry up, do you have to let the emperor invite you?" ”

"Thank you for the emperor's grace, thank you to the princess!"

When Yang Sichang heard Wang Chengen say this, he knew that it was Chongzhen's meaning, and he felt grateful, so he slowly stood up.

Due to Yang Sichang's age, after kneeling for a long time, the blood veins in his legs and feet were a little unsmooth.

When he stood up, his body shook, and seeing that he was about to kneel down again, Wang Chengen, who was beside him, hurriedly stretched out his hand and helped him.

When Chongzhen saw Yang Sichang's appearance, the anger in his heart subsided a little, and he said to Wang Chengen beside him: "Big companion, give him a seat." ”

After Wang Chengen heard Chongzhen's order, he waved his hand, and immediately a little eunuch came from the side, holding a round stool and placing it next to Yang Sichang.

"Emperor Xie!"

Yang Sichang, who understands Chongzhen's temper, knows that Chongzhen can give him a seat, which means that most of his anger has dissipated.

After Yang Sichang thanked the emperor, he sat on the round stool with half of his buttocks, straightened his body, and looked at Chongzhen respectfully.

"Yang Aiqing, do you have a way to rescue Jinan, you must not watch Jinan fall to the Tatars." Chongzhen looked at Yang Sichang and asked.

"Your Majesty, at this time, the army of King Qin from all walks of life is all gathered in the area of the capital, there are as many as three or four hundred thousand, including tens of thousands of horses from Shandong.

But at this time, they didn't rush to Jinan to support King De, so His Majesty ordered them to rush to help Jinan.

At this time, the Guanning iron cavalry in Gao Qiqian's hand could rush to Jinan, but the Guanning iron cavalry in Gao Qiqian's hand was less than 30,000.

And outside the city of Jinan, there are more than 50,000 people in the convergence of the two Tartar armies, and Guan Ningtie rode away, I am afraid that he will also be eaten by the Tartars. ”

Hearing that Guanning Tieqi might be eaten by Tartar in one bite, Chongzhen's face also changed, and Guanning Tieqi at this time was Chongzhen's heart, and no accidents were allowed.

"Hey, don't we care about Jinan?" Chongzhen suddenly felt disheartened, sighed, and asked.

"Your Majesty, the Tartars entered the customs this time completely to plunder their property, and it was bitterly cold outside the customs, and they lacked clothes and food for the winter.

When these Tartars have grabbed enough, they will almost retreat by themselves, and it is not appropriate for us to have a decisive battle with the main force of the Tartars now.

We have a lot of resources, even if we are robbed of some property by the Tartars, it is nothing, but it can buy us some time.

After the summer harvest, the taxes of the imperial court will be collected, and His Majesty will rectify the soldiers and horses, and it will not be too late to find the Tartars to settle the accounts at that time!

At this time, if it was really to rescue Jinan, it would not be worth it to ride in Guanning Iron Cavalry. ”

Yang Sichang was cheeky at this time and said to Chongzhen.

Yang Sichang's meaning is already very obvious, that is, to tell Chongzhen that this time the Tatars entered the customs not for his Ming Dynasty.

It can't be because of the bitter cold outside the Tartar Pass, and I want to enter the customs to grab some property, food, etc. for the winter, we are so big, how much can the Tartars grab.

If the Tartars want to rob it, let them rob it, no matter how important Jinan City is, it can be important to pass the Guanning Iron Ride! Yang Sichang's meaning is to give up Jinan.

Of course, Yang Sichang didn't dare to say this, but Chongzhen was not stupid, and of course he heard the meaning of Yang Sichang's words.

As for what Yang Sichang said, after the summer harvest, he would counterattack the Tartars, and even he didn't believe it.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty collected more than two million taels of silver every year, except for the messy expenditures, barely wanted to do something else for the Liaodong defense line, dreaming.

Moreover, in the past two years, the annual tax collected by the imperial court has become less and less.

There is a great drought in the north of the Ming Dynasty every year, the people have no harvest, they are displaced, they are displaced everywhere, rebellions are rampant, and there are a lot of taxes.

"Haha, I want to be a great tomorrow, but I can't even protect my own people, and now I can't even protect my own brothers, hahaha......"

After Chongzhen listened to Yang Sichang's words, he held back his anger, and then laughed angrily, the laughter was so helpless and unwilling.

Even Wang Chengen, who was behind Chongzhen at this time, stared at Yang Sichang with an angry face, these ministers are useless one by one, and none of them can share the worries of the saint.

There is a Lu Xiangsheng, but now there is no news at all.

Yang Sichang listened to Chongzhen's laughter, lowered his head, and didn't dare to look at Chongzhen.

After Chongzhen laughed angrily, his emotions calmed down, his eyes were full of blood, showing fatigue, he looked at Yang Sichang and asked, "Is there any news about Lu Jiandou?" ”

After Yang Sichang heard Chongzhen ask about Lu Xiangsheng, his heart was also stunned, but then he calmed down, he believed that Chongzhen would never know the news of Lu Xiangsheng's death at this time.

Yang Sichang is in control, and all the channels outside the city that send news to the court must be seen first.

In the past few days, there has indeed been no news about Lu Xiangsheng, and Yang Sichang is even more convinced of the news sent back by Gao Qiqian, and Lu Xiangsheng may really be dead.

"Back to Your Majesty, there is no news from Lord Lu for the time being, but just now Gao Qiqian has sent back the news, two days ago, they fought a battle with Tatar in Jize, and the casualties were not small.

It is said that Lord Lu also fought with the Tartars in Jiazhuang, but unfortunately the high prison army was restrained by the Tartars and could not rush to the rescue, and there was no news of Lord Lu afterwards.

Wechen, I'm afraid...... I'm afraid that Lord Lu will be more auspicious! ”

When Chongzhen heard Yang Sichang's last words, his body shook violently and he almost fell, but fortunately he was held up by Wang Chengen.

Lu Xiangsheng was a minister that Chongzhen relied on very much at this time, although Lu Xiangsheng was resolutely opposed to the matter of peace with the Tartars, which caused Chongzhen's dissatisfaction.

But Chongzhen still has a lot of trust in Lu Xiangsheng's loyalty to Daming and Lu Xiangsheng's ability.

So at this time, the meaning of Yang Sichang's words actually said that Lu Xiangsheng might have died in battle, which made Chongzhen difficult to accept.

"Send an order to Gao Qiqian, immediately find Lu Aiqing's whereabouts for me, I want to get news of Lu Aiqing immediately, go quickly, cough cough ......"

Chongzhen roared at Yang Sichang, and then his chest rose and fell, his face was flushed, and he kept coughing, and Wang Chengen beat Chongzhen's back behind his back.

What Chongzhen didn't know was that Lu Xiangsheng sent his confidants to the imperial court to send the chapter, which was already halfway through, and had already arrived in the capital at this time.

It's just that before sending people back to the capital, Lu Xiangsheng listened to Li Zixiao's suggestion and did not directly send the imperial court to the imperial military department.

Yang Sichang was the secretary of the military department at this time, Lu Xiangsheng listened to Li Zixiao's suggestion, and it happened that Lu Xiangsheng also wanted to take revenge on Gao Qiqian.

Lu Xiangsheng sent back to the imperial court, a total of four copies, one is the most detailed report on the battle situation since he went to war, the focus is on the battle of Jiazhuang.

In addition, there is a letter of recommendation, which is to recommend Li Zixiao, and there is also an impeachment note, which is undoubtedly impeachment of Gao Qi and will not be saved.

The last piece of music is the one of the resignation of the official, and Lu Xiangsheng is ready to pick a son and quit.

Of course, the first three recitals are real, and the last recital is fake, which is nothing more than Lu Xiangsheng resigning to blackmail Chongzhen.

Lu Xiangsheng sent several of his most trusted henchmen, riding fast horses, and rushed back to the capital in a hurry.

After entering Beijing, he found several officials of the DPRK and China who Lu Xiangsheng trusted and asked them to find a way to directly hand over the folds to Chongzhen.

At this time, Chongzhen took more than 1,000 remnants of his army to Jinan, because he knew that the two armies of the Tartars had converged and were attacking Jinan.

Of course, Li Zixiao will not be stupid to follow Lu Xiangsheng back, Li Zixiao is still staying in the Liaocheng area, he is not as loyal to the Ming Dynasty as Lu Xiangsheng.

Now going to Jinan, in Li Zixiao's opinion, is no different from sending him to death, but unfortunately Lu Xiangsheng is brave and loyal, and refuses to watch Jinan easily be captured by the Tartars, and insists on going to Jinan to resist the Tartars.

Li Zixiao tried to persuade him to no avail, so he simply gave up in the end, once this kind of person made up his mind, it was difficult to be persuaded by others.

gave Lu Xiangsheng twenty tiger squat cannons and Furlong machine guns, as well as two hundred new bird guns and sufficient ammunition, as well as a batch of weapons and armor, which can be regarded as supporting Lu Xiangsheng.

After Lu Xiangsheng left, Li Zixiao was of course not idle, at this time he was unwilling to get involved in the battle of Jinan, and he would not let the White Dragon sergeant die.

But Li Zixiao still wants to support Lu Xiangsheng from other aspects, and Li Zixiao certainly doesn't want to watch Tartar really take down Jinan Mansion.

So, Li Zixiao sent someone to send a letter to Dolgon in the Tartar camp outside Jinan, telling Dolgon that if he wanted to save his brother Duoduo, he would immediately stop attacking Jinan City.

Then, let him personally go south to the Linqing area to negotiate with Li Zixiao.

Li Zixiao didn't know if Dolgon would really give up attacking Jinan City in order to save Duoduo.

But no matter what Dolgon decides, he has to negotiate with Dolgon, and the bargaining chip is Dorgon, he wants to rescue Qi Wei and Qi Lin and other soldiers of the White Dragon Army who were captured by the Tartars.