Capital of the Ming Dynasty, Fengtian Hall in the Forbidden City.

As the Jiannu army bypassed the capital, it marched straight into Shandong.

Together with Yang Wenyue, the governor of Baoding, he led an army of 30,000 troops to Qinwang in Beijing.

The crisis in the capital has been lifted.

But in just half a month, news of the fall of Hebei Province, Shandong Province, more than a dozen prefectures, and dozens of counties reached the capital.

Emperor Chongzhen, wearing a nine-dragon cicada-winged crown and a five-clawed dragon robe, had a gloomy face, his eyebrows were knitted, and his eyes were bursting with rays of light that were as sharp as a knife.

"The life and death of Shandong Governor Qiu Zude is unknown, and the commander-in-chief Yang Yufan died in battle. Shandong fell, and millions of people were exposed to the iron cavalry of the Tatars."

"You are so helpless? What use do I want you to do? What use do you have?"

Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian stood up and stared at the civil and military ministers in the hall with blazing eyes.

Faced with the emperor's anger, all the ministers were possessed by drama and fell to their knees one after another.

"Your Majesty, please punish me for your incompetence."

It is obvious that these civil servants are all smart people. They all knelt on the ground to plead guilty. Even if you are the emperor, you cannot possibly deal with everyone.

Sure enough, when Chongzhen saw this scene, he could only grit his teeth and roar: "Since there is no one in charge of the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty, then I will personally conquer the army and fight to the death with the Jiannu Tatars!"

Hearing that the emperor wanted to lead the expedition in person, Zhou Yanru, the chief minister of the cabinet, thought that his fiftieth birthday was coming soon.

He could only sigh helplessly, and had no choice but to bite the bullet and say: "The king is worried about the labor of his ministers, and the king humiliates his ministers to death. Although the humble minister has no good strategy, he is willing to share your worries for your majesty, lead his troops south, and fight to the death with Jiannu."

Zhou Yanru knew very well that the emperor's statement that he wanted to lead the expedition in person was just a moment of anger.

If he, the chief minister of the cabinet, does not express his position at this time, he will definitely chill the emperor's heart completely.

This means that as the chief minister of the cabinet, he has reached the end.

Sure enough, when Emperor Chongzhen heard Zhou Yanru's words, he was immediately delighted.

After all, Zhou Yanru, the former number one scholar and the cabinet minister who twice served as the chief minister of the cabinet, had always been the person he had high hopes for.

"Mr. Ge, you are truly my loyal minister!" Chongzhen shouted happily: "Wang Daban, bring me my sword and give it to Mr. Ge."

"Thank you for your majesty's trust. I will definitely break my body to pieces to repay your majesty's kindness."

Zhou Yanru took Shang Fang's sword with both hands and made an impassioned statement in front of all the civil and military officials of the court.

Zhou Yanru is tall, handsome and handsome.

He is only fifty years old now. It is not an exaggeration to describe this age with the phrase "spring and autumn".

At this moment, Zhou Yanru, holding Shang Fang's sword, was speaking in front of all the civil and military officials of the entire dynasty, which was a majestic statement, let alone all the civil and military officials of the entire dynasty.

Even Emperor Chongzhen was attracted by his charm and considered him to be the mainstay of the Ming Dynasty.

Then Emperor Chongzhen immediately issued an edict, conferring the title of Taifu on Zhou Yanru and supervising the troops of all the camps in the capital, as well as the troops of Yang Wenyue from Baoding who came to help, and the generals Zhou Yuji, Sun Yingyuan and Huang Degong.

He commanded 60,000 men and horses, known as an army of 100,000, and prepared for the expedition.

The high-spirited Zhou Yanru returned to his mansion after a busy day, only to be poured cold water on him.

"Brother Yusheng, you are confused. How can you accept the important task of commanding the army?" There was no one in the entire dynasty who dared to speak to Zhou Yanru like this.

But when facing Wu Chang, the leader of the DPRK's representative Lin Zhonglin, who promoted him to the cabinet and restored the noble man, Zhou Yanru could not control his temper.

"How do you say this?" Zhou Yanru was still imagining that during this expedition, he should imitate the sages and establish unparalleled achievements.

"Brother Yusheng, don't you hear that soldiers are a matter of life and death? How can it be easily controlled by ordinary people?"

Wu Changshi shook his head and frowned: "If I were in the government at that time, I would definitely recommend a duke to lead the army. In this way, your victory or defeat will be as secure as Mount Tai."

"But you personally lead the troops. Victory is gratifying, but what about defeat? Yang Sichang, Yuan Chonghuan and others can learn from the past."

He was named during the time of Wuchang and became a Jinshi in the seventh year of Chongzhen.

Currently, he is serving as a doctor of literary selection in the Ministry of Personnel, with a fifth-grade official rank. He is also Zhou Yanru's confidant.

As the soul of the Donglin faction in the court, this person is good at understanding people's hearts and is well versed in politics.

If it weren't for the fact that he was too heavily labeled as Donglin and was jealous of the emperor, with his "official" ability, he would have been in the position of Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs long ago.

But even though he was just a doctor in the Ministry of Civil Affairs, because of Zhou Yanru's support, he had great power in the court. Even the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs had to give him three points of courtesy.

What Wu Changshi said made Zhou Yanru break into a cold sweat.

"Come here, what can you do now?" Zhou Yanru quickly asked for advice humbly.

"Jiannu entered the customs several times, just to rob people, food, and wealth." Wu Changshi smiled lightly and said confidently.

"After Brother Yusheng leads his army out of the city, he can set up defenses along the Beitongzhou Canal to defend the capital."

"When the plundering of the Jiannu slaves is over, they will inevitably return to the outside of the pass. By then, you will send your troops south to regain the lost territory, which will be enough to achieve success and fame."

Wu Changshi's words seemed like a brilliant move, but they actually gave up the lives of millions of people in Shandong Province.

Zhou Yanru nodded and laughed after hearing such heart-wrenching words.

"What a great talent."

As the prime minister of the dynasty, Zhou Yanru not only did not oppose Wuchang's suggestion, which was in vain to take into account the lives and property of the seven million people in Shandong, but he laughed with great appreciation.

It has to be said that it is a tragedy for the people of the Ming Dynasty to have such a prime minister and assistant.

A few days later, Zhou Yanru led his army to leave the capital and stationed in Beitongzhou City.

In order to paralyze the emperor, Zhou Yanru sent a newspaper every three or five days to report his victory to the emperor.

The news reported was all victory news. At least two to three hundred slaves were killed, and at most two or three thousand were killed.

Zhou Yanru's literary talents are outstanding, and each of his memorials is eloquent and wonderful.

In the report, he not only reported the number of enemies killed, but also asked for credit from the soldiers, saying that the soldiers faced various dangers every day, and the soldiers of the three armies must fight bravely to kill the enemy, regardless of their lives.

As a result, Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian and Longyan Dayue, who received the report, felt that they had not misjudged the person, and everyone praised Zhou Yanru as the pillar of the country.

He also personally replied to a letter praising Zhou Yanru for his invincible wisdom and bravery, and sent Lieutenant Commander Liu Yuanbin to escort 500,000 taels of silver to the army to reward him.

However, the emperor did not know that the army led by Zhou Yanru was only stationed in Beitongzhou at the gate of the capital.

Not to mention going south to Shandong to kill the enemy, they didn't even leave Hebei.

At this time, in Xuanfu, in the direction of Datong, the 30,000 Ming army led by Cao Bianjiao relied on the fortified city to resist the fierce attack of the 40,000-strong army of Duduo, Prince of Henu, and Prince Azige of Wuying County.

On October 23, the 15th year of Chongzhen, Zhu Yunfei led more than 3,000 Dengzhou troops and 5,000 new troops to return to Changyi City from Shouguang.

As soon as the army entered the city, Zhu Yunfei saw Cao Gui coming in a hurry.

"General, Pingdu has been lost, Jiannu has been attacking Laiyang, and Li Huajing's life and death are unknown at the moment."

Cao Gui, who had a serious look on his face, bowed his head and bowed his hands, looking a little afraid of Zhu Yunfei.

"After all, Li Huajing still lacks experience and cannot take on big responsibilities." Zhu Yunfei sighed, frowned and asked, "What else is there?"

"The people of Pingdu suffered heavy casualties, and the slaves killed and looted in the city for a day and a night."

"This bunch of damn slave builders sent a team of more than 1,500 people to escort the military supplies captured in Pingdu City, as well as a population of more than 10,000 captives."

"We are heading to Laizhou. We are still thirty miles away from Changyi. We plan to camp in Shahe Town on the south bank of Laihe River tonight."

"So Jiannu doesn't know that the soldiers and horses under Laizhou City have been wiped out by us."

Zhu Yunfei suddenly realized the meaning behind this military message.

"That should be the case." Cao Gui nodded and continued.

"Bizhi originally planned to reveal to the other party the news that the Qing army was annihilated outside Laizhou City outside Pingdu City."

"But because of the establishment of this slave army, I refused to disclose the information and instead asked my scouts to spread the news tonight."

"Well done. In intelligence work, you should adapt to changes." Zhu Yunfei expressed his appreciation for Cao Gui's performance.

"By the way, have you reported to Zhao Yue the actions of Jian Nu, a partial division team?"

"I have sent someone to inform Commander Zhao this morning. He plans to lead the soldiers and horses in Laizhou City to raid the slave camp at night, rescue the captured people, and seize back the money, food and supplies that were stolen from Pingdu."

Cao Gui quickly reported Zhao Yue's plan.

"Zhao Yue has thought of the same thing as me." Zhu Yunfei nodded: "Immediately monitor this slave-building army closely and convey my military orders to Zhao Yue."

"Cooperate with our troops in the battle tonight and eat these slaves in one fell swoop."

"I resign from my humble position." Cao Gui resigned happily.

"Yang Cai and Li Zhifang ordered the team to cook in pots and kill the pigs and sheep in the team so that they can have a good meal tonight." Zhu Yunfei then gave instructions to the two people under the account.

"I humbly obey my orders." Yang Cai and Li Zhifang responded with their hands raised.
Chapter completed!