With the development of the situation, Xu Xingxia felt more and more that the current development of the White Army lacked high-level talents. After all, Zhang Tianhao is too young and seriously inexperienced. It's okay to be an angry youth, but if you want to take on more significant responsibilities, you need time to exercise. Zuo Guangdou has a certain ability and experience, and can take on great responsibilities. It's a pity that he is a member of the Donglin Party. Considering his inextricable relationship with the Donglin Party, Xu Xingxia certainly didn't dare to tell him too many secrets.

In Xu Xingxia's view, Huang Kezhang and Zhu Xieyuan are both good choices. The two were neither the Donglin Party nor the later Eunuch Party. They represent a neutral force. Their political ideas, relatively speaking, are more open-minded and more receptive to new things. If this neutral force is managed well, it may be able to have some impact on the situation in the Ming Dynasty. Not necessarily anything needs to be forced.

With the current strength of the white-clothed army, with three or five years of development, there is no problem in directly using force against the Forbidden City. With the current strength of the imperial court, it can't stop him at all. To be honest, it is not very difficult to change the dynasty. As a traverser, his advantage is indeed too great. However, compared with the slaughter of his own people, Xu Xingxia was more willing to develop to the west and the north. He preferred to control the Mongolian steppes, then kill the wild boar skins in Liaodong, and then concentrate on the west, conquer the Ottoman Empire, control Europe, and establish a large empire across Europe, Asia and Africa.

As for the Central Plains, some major surgeries will do. What he needs is the Central Plains region, which will provide him with enough war support for his expansion. For example, population resources, capital income, etc. He can attract the population and attract money through some relatively moderate policies. He has a strong technological advantage, and there is no need to plunder wealth by committing massacres everywhere like the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered. Even, he doesn't even need the land resources of the Central Plains. From the perspective of making money, he prefers to regard the Central Plains region as a dumping ground for his goods.

Xu Xingxia pondered that with 500,000 musketeers, he should be able to conquer the entire Eurasian and African continents. To form a 500,000 musketeers, it would probably take more than 10 million people. The population in the jurisdiction is actually not difficult to reach this number. As for the funds for the formation of 500,000 musketeers, there are 30 million taels, which should be about the same. As long as the sales channels of glass, white marble porcelain, green salt, cotton cloth and other materials are normal, it is not difficult to accumulate such funds. What's more, when the battle is won, there are often some captures.

Of course, these are all wishful thinking on the part of Xu Xingxia. He hoped that he would not provoke the imperial court, and the imperial court would not come to provoke him, so that he could expand with peace of mind. If the imperial court keeps attacking him, he doesn't mind fighting back fiercely and using violent means to take power over. If you don't want to be an emperor, just find a puppet.

Slowly putting down the clairvoyant mirror in his hand, Zhu Xieyuan said a little worriedly: "General Xu, do you think Mo Yuegen will attack immediately?" ”

Xu Xingxia shook his head and said, "No, he will wait for Lin Dan Khan's arrival." ”

Zhu Xieyuan nodded thoughtfully, and said slowly: "In this way, isn't he going to give Lin Dan Khan a hand?" This guy is quite insidious when he comes to such a hand! ”

He's also a human spirit. As soon as Xu Xingxia said lightly, he could guess the key behind it. Mo Yuegen was reluctant to attack, but he had to wait for Lin Dan Khan's arrival. Why is that? Once Lin Dan Khan arrives, with Lin Dan Khan's surname, he will definitely have to point fingers.

In other words, it is not a matter of one or two days for Lin Dan Khan to overwhelm Mo Yuegen and become the first person in the desert. With such a good opportunity, Lin Dan Khan will never let it go. At that time, Mo Yuegen is estimated to suffer a little grievance, and on the surface, he will definitely obey Lin Dan Khan's command.

With Mo Yuegen's reputation and prestige, he must be unwilling to let Lin Dan Khan ride on his head in his heart. His subordinates certainly didn't want to. Purely in terms of military exploits, Lin Dan Khan is far behind Mo Yuegen. If Lin Dan Khan doesn't have a good old man, who knows which onion he is? However, he actually did this, it is conceivable that he must have a plan, ready to let Lin Dan Khan come up to take the lead, and seriously consume Lin Dan Khan's strength.

After all, Lin Dan Khan is young, strong-blooded, and loves face, and he was boasted by Mo Yuegen, maybe he would be fooled. He will definitely spare no effort to fight the white-clothed army. Coupled with the stimulation of Mo Yuegen beside him, fanning the flames, Lin Danhan couldn't be fooled if he wanted to. When he comes to his senses, he should regret it.

Xu Xingxia said with a smile: "If you can bend and stretch, you are the husband." ”

Zhu Xieyuan nodded, but sighed helplessly. He understands more and more why Xu Xingxia is so young, but he sees the problem so thoroughly. This guy doesn't look like a young man who has not been deeply involved in the world at all. No wonder Mo Yuegen and Lin Dan Khan have suffered a lot in his hands. However, where did his skills come from?

According to some people, Xu Xingxia once said that his skills were taught by a monk in Youfang. In this case, it can only be deceived children, and it will definitely not be able to deceive Zhu Xieyuan. What kind of wandering monk is so powerful? If he was so powerful, he would have made trouble by himself a long time ago, so why hide behind the scenes? Zhu Xieyuan categorically did not believe this. But if he didn't believe that, he couldn't find a better explanation.

Shaking his head gently, Zhu Xieyuan staggered the topic, and said with a deep expression: "You once asked me, who sent a large number of weapons, equipment and food to Lin Dan Khan to support him in attacking you Now, I can basically be sure." Do you want to know the answer now? ”

Xu Xingxia's heart moved slightly. Zhu Xieyuan is ready to get to the bottom of himself. The purpose of thorough is, of course, to win over oneself. No matter who you are, if you want to win over others, you must show a little sincerity, and you must not always be sloppy. In fact, Xu Xingxia already knew the answer to Zhu Xieyuan's question. As a traverser, he can think of answers with his heels. Xuan Yingwei, led by Wang Qinian, can also find the answer. However, on the surface, he still pretended not to know anything, and said humbly: "Who is it?" ”

Zhu Xieyuan said slowly: "Who else is there besides the one in Luoyang?" ”

That's a pretty straightforward answer. It shows that Zhu Xieyuan is indeed not ready to treat Xu Xingxia as an outsider, and he sincerely wants to win Xu Xingxia over. Also, if he wants to bring Xu Xingxia back to the normal track, it is inevitable that he will put his heart in his heart. Zhu Xieyuan has long felt that Xu Xingxia is not the kind of person who can be fooled. In addition to showing his true feelings, he also had to work hard to persuade him to agree with his political ideas. As the saying goes, like-minded, like-minded, if the most basic "aspirations" are different, how can it be "Tao" together?

There is no need to say clearly what kind of force the one in Luoyang represents. In the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, as long as you talk about the one in Luoyang, everyone knows who you are referring to. And who is closely connected with Luoyang, everyone is also clear. Anyway, in the current imperial court, the most active ones are their group. Jumping up and down, doing everything.

Seeing that Emperor Wanli's physical condition is getting worse and worse, he may die at any time. And the one in Ciqing Palace, the position is getting more and more stable, if the Fuwang Party is not in a hurry, it will be a strange thing. Maybe King Fu himself doesn't have too many ideas, after all, he is still young. But his mother, the famous Concubine Zheng Guifei, was absolutely unwilling to give up. With her ruthless methods, it is estimated that she can do anything for the sake of her son.

Before, if it wasn't for the ministers' stopping, Zheng Guifei's conspiracy would have succeeded a long time ago. However, in the process of stopping Concubine Zheng, the ministers also paid a great price. Just because of the matter of "fighting for the country's foundation", there are enough four first and auxiliary ministers who have been forced to resign. More than 10 ministerial-level officials have been forced to resign or have been severely punished. As for the other officials who were implicated, resigned, or demoted, and sent to prison, there were 300 people. And Zheng Guifei herself didn't lose even a single hair. One can imagine how arrogant her arrogance is. Seeing the last moment, how could she be willing to let go?

What's worse is that with Emperor Wanli's love for her, no matter what she does, it seems that Emperor Wanli Yanjing is not willing to pursue it. With such a talisman, if Zheng Guifei didn't jump up and down, she wouldn't be Zheng Guifei. The original demon book case and the attack case caused a lot of uproar, and in the end, there was obvious evidence, pointing to Zheng Guifei herself, but the result was all closed by Emperor Wanli by dividing it by two. Obviously, this amulet is too easy to use. Even, after the death of Emperor Wanli, he still remembered the edict that he must canonize Zheng Guifei as the queen.

Zhu Xieyuan glanced at Xu Xingxia, and said intentionally or unintentionally: "No, the one in the deep palace is bent on giving himself the title of queen." ”

Xu Xingxia responded casually without thinking: "This is a dream!" Don't! ”

No matter how much Emperor Wanli favors her, Concubine Zheng is always an imperial concubine, never a queen, which is a big heart problem for her. The queen's title is still very bad. Even with the support of Emperor Wanli, it would be quite difficult for her to compete for this title. However, if she is not the queen, she will not be able to compete for the throne of the crown prince for her son, that is, King Fu. For this reason, she can only spare no effort to fight and grab.

The perverted Concubine Zheng happened to meet a group of perverted ministers. In the face of Concubine Zheng's madness, the ministers also seemed crazy. Every time the Wanli Emperor hinted at the ministers to make a suggestion to appoint Concubine Zheng Guifei as the empress, including Shen Shixing, Ye Xianggao, Fang Congzhe and other first and auxiliary ministers, all of them talked about him left and right, pretending not to understand. No matter how explicit the Wanli Emperor suggested, they did not act. Sun Ruyou, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, and others pretended to be deaf and dumb, and they didn't know anything about it. In three days, there was also a concert, satirizing the whimsical nature of Emperor Wanli.

In this regard, the Wanli Emperor had no better way. In order to establish the crown prince, he fought with his ministers for decades, and he felt very tired. He's old. When you get old, you can't help but admit defeat. After all, he was fighting alone. His opponent is a wheel war. They have plenty of time, plenty of energy, and grind with him slowly. To be honest, now he no longer has the ambition he had back then, and he is full of heroism. If he continued to fight with the ministers, he felt that he was not too sure. He didn't want to keep tossing.

There was no way, Emperor Wanli had no choice but to retreat. He decided that when he was dying, he made an edict that after his death, he would also canonize Concubine Zheng as the queen. He felt that his own people were dead, and the ministers always had to give some face. At that time, Concubine Zheng Guifei will also achieve a positive result. Unexpectedly, the officials led by Sun Ruyou, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, resolutely resisted his edict. The reason is simple: there is no one to preside over the canonization.

According to the regulations, the emperor must personally preside over the canonization of the empress. canonized his wife as the empress, of course, only the emperor himself can preside, and no one can do it for him. Now that the emperor is dead, naturally there is no host. Since the host is gone, what kind of queen is there? As a result, Concubine Zheng still did not become a queen. Of course, that's all for later.

Zhu Xieyuan said in surprise: "Oh? Why is Mr. Xu so determined? ”

As soon as he said it so casually, Xu Xingxia understood. This guy is definitely a member of the Tide stall, an enemy of the Fuwang Party, and an enemy of Concubine Zheng. His intention should be to pull himself into the Tide file and become the right-hand man of the Tide file. With his Xu Xingxia's combat effectiveness, if he is willing to join the Tide file and secretly contribute to the Tide file, there will definitely be no problem for the prince to ascend the throne smoothly. When the emperor ascended the throne, military power was still very important.

The historical research of later generations has not been conclusive whether the woman Zheng Guifei is smart or stupid. If you want to say that she is not smart, she has tied Emperor Wanli to her side, and she has almost no interest in other women. In fact, Emperor Wanli's care and love for her has never wavered. Even if she dies, she will leave a testament and canonize her as the queen. To do this as a woman, it is indeed very successful. I think that Yang Guifei was so favored, and when she quarreled with Emperor Tang Ming and ran away from the palace.

If you want to say that she is smart, her actions at some times seem very childish. The case of the assault is a good example of this. She actually thought that by sending someone to take a stick, she would be able to clean up the prince. It's just naïve to do. Politically, her flaws are also more obvious. She called for wind and rain in the deep palace, but she made enemies everywhere in the court. In the entire imperial court, there are so many ministers, and there seem to be few who are willing to follow her.

However, the lack of help in the court definitely does not mean that Zheng Guifei has no help in the local area. In fact, the biggest force of the Fuwang Party is still in the army. Because of the promotion of officers in the Ming army, it has always been chaotic. Reckless and unsupervised. From a small soldier to the commander of the guard of the third grade, it is also a matter of one sentence. It seems that a certain relative of Wei Zhongxian has gone from an ordinary person to a guard commander of Zhengsanpin overnight.

In recent years, the number of cronies planted by the Fuwang Party in Datong Town, Xuanfu Town and other places is very large. Shanxi Town and Jizhen also have many backbones of the Fuwang Party. Although these military towns are garrisoned by civilian officials, the army is subject to civilian supervision. However, these civil officials, intimidated by the power of Concubine Zheng, did not dare to openly attack these officers. On the contrary, in order to prevent themselves from becoming the target of Zheng Guifei's anger, to a certain extent, they also need to curry favor with the Fuwang Party's cronies.

As a result, the cronies of the Fuwang Party gradually mastered the key departments of several military towns. Many people have also become staff generals, guerrilla generals, garrison officials, and so on, holding a certain amount of power. Although it is said that the supreme power is not in their hands, it is very convenient to do things in private. For example, smuggling materials, selling arms, etc., can secretly make a lot of profits.

And for the hands and feet they have done, it is naturally impossible for the governors, governors, and soldiers above to be unaware. However, they can only pretend not to see it. Because, they can refuse to take refuge in Zheng Guifei, but they dare not confront Zheng Guifei's arrogance head-on. If any of them became the target of Zheng Guifei, they would definitely fall.

On the issue of canonizing the crown prince, there is a big deal of right and wrong, and all officials can unite to fight against Zheng Guifei together. However, on some specific things, they cannot unite. Originally, the party strife in the court was very serious, and it had spread to the localities, and all military towns were inevitable. For the sake of one's own safety, it is naturally better to have more than one thing.

Xu Xingxia suddenly said with great interest: "Master Zhu, let's make a bet." If Concubine Zheng Guifei is made queen, I will help you do one thing. If Concubine Zheng Guifei is not made the queen in her lifetime, you can help me do one thing. ”

Zhu Xieyuan frowned, and said in a deep voice: "This is too difficult to deduce. ”

Xu Xingxia smiled slightly, turned his head to look at Zhu Xieyuan, and said meaningfully: "It's just difficult to deduce, it's interesting, isn't it?" It's too simple to challenge the surname. You and I are both smart people, and smart people and smart people shouldn't have to work so hard to talk. ”

Zhu Xieyuan suddenly stared at him with shining eyes, his brows slowly relaxed, and he said in a deep voice: "If I'm not mistaken, you support Ciqing Palace, right?" ”

Xu Xingxia nodded affirmatively, and said word by word: "Yes, I support Ciqing Palace." ”

Zhu Xieyuan breathed a sigh of relief. Xu Xingxia made it clear that his hanging heart was put down. Xu Xingxia clearly supports Ciqing Palace, and he also supports Ciqing Palace. In this way, the two sides have a lot more common language. Of course, he would not suspect that Xu Xingxia would deceive him. This is not necessary. With the combat effectiveness of the white-clothed army, there was no need for Xu Xingxia to lie to him at all. Because, one of the parties he supports will inevitably win in the end.

(To be continued)