The battle of Liaoxi was a catastrophe for Hong Chengchou, and for Chen Xinjia, the deputy assistant of the cabinet and the secretary of the military department, it was also a blow to the head, he was dedicated to supervising the battle in Liaoxi, and he had been in Shanhaiguan, and the news of the defeat of the imperial army was the first to know, and his hair turned white overnight when he learned the news.

The reason for the failure of the Great War in Liaoxi is that there is a rash attack, there are also Hong Chengchou's command mistakes, and there is a discord between the generals, but none of this is important, and now the main problem is how to prevent Huang Taiji from continuing to attack Shanhaiguan, after all, Shanhaiguan is the last barrier between Beizhili and the Central Plains, once Shanhaiguan is lost, the capital will be in great danger.

There was almost no hesitation, Chen Xinjia thought of negotiating peace, but at this time, what is the effect of negotiating peace, whether the emperor Taiji of Houjin will accept it, or what excessive demands are put forward, etc., Chen Xinjia is not sure, and at this time there is a huge danger in negotiating peace with Houjin, once he is known by the adults in the court, he Chen Xinjia is probably dead and has no place to be buried.

But at this time, if peace is not discussed, there is no other way out for the imperial court.

On the surface, there are still a lot of armies that the imperial court can mobilize, including the army of the southern guards, counting millions of troops, but everyone knows that the armies of the guards have rotted to the roots, and the sergeants do not have the slightest combat effectiveness, even worse than the peasants. It is about 50,000 people led by Xiong Wencan.

The battle of Liaoxi not only caused heavy losses to the imperial army, but also the morale was extremely low, and the lost army was the elite of the imperial court. If Huang Taiji led the Eight Banners Army to continue to attack Shanhaiguan, the imperial court would not be able to deal with it, and Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the military department, would not be able to think of any good way.

Peace became the only way out.

Chen Xinjia, who was helpless, hurriedly rushed to the capital to discuss the major matter of peace with Houjin after instructing Du Xun of the prison army and Wu Sangui, the chief soldier of Ningyuan, and others to stick to Shanhaiguan. It is up to the emperor to make a decision.

Chen Xinjia wouldn't have thought that Huang Taiji would also think about making peace.

The battle of Liaoxi this time, the price for the Qing Dynasty is also heavy, the army killed nearly 40,000 people, the consumption of grain and grass is countless, although it is said that the city of Tashan was conquered, a large amount of grain was obtained, but these grains were only for the expenses of the Eight Banners Army, and the people of the Great Qing Dynasty were already unsustainable.

As the emperor of the Great Qing Dynasty. Of course, Huang Taiji's vision is different, this battle of Liaoxi is for the future of the Qing Dynasty, so he did his best, but after the victory of the battle, it is necessary to consider the recovery of national strength.

The battle of Liaoxi has shaken the foundation of the Ming Dynasty, which Huang Taiji is very clear, but the wealth of the Ming Dynasty. It is still impossible to compare with the Great Qing State, so it is a military victory. To put it aside for the time being, the most important problem now is to get more money and grain from the Ming court to restore the national strength of the Qing Dynasty.

Huang Taiji will not forget Zheng Jiajun in southern Liaoning, and thinking about it from another position, he can almost conclude Zheng Xunrui's thoughts. That is to let the Eight Banners Army and the Ming Army fight desperately, once the battle is carried out to a critical moment, when both sides are struggling to breathe and their strength is greatly reduced, Zheng Xunrui will do it, and at that time the Zheng family army launched a comprehensive attack from southern Liaoning. It directly threatens Liaoyang and other places, and may even kill Shenyang, the capital of the Great Qing Kingdom.

Huang Taiji could never take risks, he needed to do it in moderation.

Dolgon, Duoduo, Azig, Abatai and Yue Tuo and others all suggested that they should go to Shanhaiguan in one go, this proposal was directly vetoed by Huang Taiji, and wanted to capture Shanhaiguan, with more than 100,000 people, it was almost impossible, and a forced attack could only bring huge casualties, and as long as the Eight Banners Army really began to attack Shanhaiguan, the Zheng army would definitely launch a large-scale attack from southern Liaoning, and at that time, the victory of the battle of Liaoxi in the Great Qing Kingdom would be ruined.

Huang Taiji knows in his heart, Jinzhou, Ningyuan and other cities in western Liaoning, all occupied by the Eight Banners Army, the Ming Dynasty only left Shanhaiguan, at this time he Huang Taiji proposed peace, even if the price is higher, the Ming Dynasty will be forced to agree, take advantage of this time, ask for a lot of money, and at the same time ask for the opening of the mutual market with the Central Plains in Liaoxi, etc., all these conditions, even Emperor Chongzhen can not refuse.

Chen Xinjia, who returned to the capital, strongly recommended that he negotiate peace with the Later Jin in western Liaoning.

After Zhu Youzhen lost his temper, he acquiesced in the matter of peace, the Central Plains has become a mess of porridge, if Liaoxi can't be temporarily stabilized, I'm afraid that the Ming Dynasty will really not be able to keep it.

The matter of the peace negotiation was top secret, and Zhu Youzhen handed it over to Chen Xinjia to handle.

It was also at this time that an envoy sent by Huang Taiji sent a letter to Shanhaiguan, which clearly put forward the matter of peace.

Huang Taiji's conditions were 10 million taels of silver, as well as the opening of the mutual market in western Liao, allowing merchants to trade, and allowing the people of the Qing Dynasty to trade with the Ming court.

The letter was quickly sent to Chen Xinjia.

Chen Xinjia was overjoyed, he didn't expect that Huang Taiji would propose to negotiate peace at this time, but the compensation of 10 million taels of silver proposed by Huang Taiji was too high, and the court couldn't take it out at all.

But Chen Xinjia was unwilling to give up this opportunity, and after thinking hard, he proposed a compromise plan, the Ming court promised to compensate, but it should be paid annually, and it was impossible to compensate 10 million taels of silver at one time.

Chen Xinjia's handwritten letter was secretly sent to Ningyuan City.

At this time, Huang Taiji had already returned to Shenyang, and the one temporarily stationed in Ningyuan City was Rao Yu Belle Abatai.

Seeing Chen Xinjia's letter, Abatai was very angry, and wanted to refuse, but thinking about Huang Taiji's entrustment, he still endured this breath and quickly sent the letter to Shenyang.

Half a month later, Huang Taiji's holy decree arrived in Ningyuan, agreeing to the conditions put forward by the Ming court, 10 million taels of silver to be paid in three years, 3 million taels in the first year, 3 million taels in the second year, and 4 million taels in the third year.

Liaoxi was temporarily pacified, and secret negotiations were going on all along.

This makes Chen Xinjia suffer, as the secretary of the Ministry of War, he has to take into account the negotiation with Houjin, and also take into account the two rogues of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, which can be described as a lot of anxiety, but his relationship with Qian Shisheng, the first assistant of the cabinet, is average, and Qian Shisheng seems to be watching the excitement, and he doesn't help with ideas, and he doesn't ask.

Probably because he was too busy, Chen Xinjia put the final documents of the negotiation with Houjin on the study table at home, and the housekeeper was negligent and did not put them away in time, but was seen by Qian Shisheng, the first assistant of the cabinet who came to visit.

This caused an uproar.

The Houjin Tartars are the biggest enemy of the Ming Dynasty, as the second assistant of the cabinet and the secretary of the military department, Chen Xinjia, who did not think about how to defeat the Houjin Tartars and recover the lost land, but thought about making peace with the Houjin Tartars, which was simply a betrayal of the Ming Dynasty, sorry for the emperor and ancestors, and sorry for the hundreds of millions of people.

This matter immediately caused a huge controversy in the court, Chen Xinjia held the emperor's backing, and also defended himself, but he didn't know that the emperor would not publicly support him at this time.

Chen Xinjia was soon thrown into prison, and the matter of negotiating peace with Houjin was over.

A bigger blow followed, after the end of the battle of Liaoxi, the emperor and the court thought that the crown prince Taibao, the military department Shangshu, and the governor of Jiliao, Hong Chengchou, had been killed in battle, and he was crowned as Taibao, in recognition of his deeds of swearing to resist the Houjin Tartars, but I didn't expect that the news soon came from the western Liaoning, Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou and others were captured by the Houjin Tartars, and they had surrendered to Houjin in May.

The emperor, who was furious, revoked all of Hong Chengchou's titles and demoted him to a concubine.

This news of the cold wave of hesitation affected the mood of the whole court.

Qian Shisheng and others took advantage of this trend to ask the emperor to execute Chen Xinjia, who colluded with Houjin.

There are still people of insight in the court, and some people have put it forward in private, thinking that Chen Xinjia and Hou Jin negotiated peace, but also to stabilize the situation in western Liaoxi and allow the imperial court to recuperate, but unfortunately such opinions have long been drowned out by anger.

Chen Xinjia in prison, when he heard the news of Hong Chengchou's surrender, his face was like ashes, he knew that his death was probably coming, in order to be able to live, Chen Xinjia ordered his family to work up and down, in order to let the emperor and the court let him go, and the previous hardness did not exist at the moment.

It's a pity that all Chen Xinjia's efforts have become useless.

Chen Xinjia, who knew that his death was coming, finally despaired, he wrote a letter in prison, secretly handed it over to his family, and the jailer who got a large amount of silver, turned a blind eye and did not ask, as for who this letter was for, no one knows.

In mid-July of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, Chen Xinjia was publicly beheaded.

At this time, the Ming court has fallen into dire straits, Houjin is eyeing in Liaoxi, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong are becoming more and more huge, Li Zicheng's troops have been directly pointed to Taiyuan, Shanxi, and Zhang Xianzhong is to adjust the direction of the attack, the army went to Sichuan, after conquering Kuizhou and other places, the front of the army pointed directly at Chengdu.

Until this time, no one mentioned Zheng Xunrui and Zheng Jiajun, after Chen Xinjia was beheaded, the cabinet was completely controlled by Qian Shisheng and other Donglin Party members, and the power of the East Lin Party was great, and Qian Qianyi and Qu Shiyun, who were sent to Shanhaiguan, all returned to the capital and were released from exile.

The minister of civil and military affairs in the court found that the emperor suddenly became a little depressed, although he said that he still participated in the early dynasty, but his demeanor changed completely, and many times he was stunned and did not say a word, as if he had lost hope in everything. (To be continued......)