Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

“Shikang, don’t be careless.

The three towns in the north of the Yangtze River alone have more than 80,000 soldiers and horses. Although the garrison troops have been disused for a long time, with so many garrisons in the south of the Yangtze River, it is not a problem to gather hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses.

The provinces south of the Yangtze River are already wealthy. If the gentry and Donglin were to truly unite and contribute money and grain, they would be able to mobilize a large number of troops in a short period of time.

Not to mention the damn nobles in Nanjing, most of them have martial arts inherited from their families and know some military tactics, especially the Duke of Wei, who has been responsible for the defense of Nanjing. "

After Emperor Chongzhen felt relieved, he began to analyze the current situation, as if he was afraid that Zhang Shikang had underestimated this group of people.

"Your Majesty, you are really..."

It's been more than a year, and there has been no progress at all.

Zhang Shikang sighed, but didn't finish his words.

“It’s not the quantity of soldiers that matters, but their quality.

A group of people who are obsessed with money, living in a dream, and looking down on others, even if they can gather more troops, I am not afraid of them. "

In this land, so far, in thousands of years, there has been only one successful case of a Northern Expedition, and that was by Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang.

In addition, all the rebellions and treason in every dynasty, and those who fought from the south to the north, ended in failure.

The reasons behind this are complex, but generally speaking they are related to climate and environment.

It's not that Zhang Shikang looked down on the people in Jiangnan and let them fight among themselves in the court. Each of them is a capable hand. At least in the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, if Jiangnan rebelled and wanted to succeed in the Northern Expedition, Zhao Gou would have to shake his head when he saw it.

"Gao Jie, Liu Liangzuo, and Liu Zeqing are nothing to be afraid of. Huang Degong alone is enough to block their path."

As early as the end of last year, Zhang Shikang wrote a letter to Huang Degong, in which he mainly raised two points.

First, just focus on training the troops and only provide superficial deterrence for the unrest in the state.

Second, if the other three towns show signs of rebellion, they should be defeated with lightning speed, and while ensuring combat effectiveness, the rebel troops should be driven further south as much as possible.

He had high hopes for Huang Degong's Yongwei Camp. It was also for this reason that after Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng were defeated, Zhang Shikang did not transfer this imperial army back to the capital.

"If General Huang can make meritorious service, I will certainly reward him generously." Upon hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen finally stopped worrying.

“As for the refugees, there is no need to worry too much. I have already started to prepare the Beijing camp a few days ago.

The 40,000 new soldiers have been trained for a while, so it’s a good time to take them out and see some blood.” Zhang Shikang added.

The refugee unrest in the south and north of the Yangtze River is completely different from the bandits in Shanxi and other places.

The civil uprising in Shanxi was caused by the fact that the people were really starving to death and had no choice but to rebel in order to have a chance to survive.

Moreover, the reason why the bandits from Shanxi were running around was because the entire north was hit by a disaster, and there was no money or food anywhere.

But it was different in the south and north of the Yangtze River. The reason these refugees dared to rebel was that they had secret support from local gentry.

It was very dangerous to do so, as it was very easy to get out of control. According to the report from the East Factory, Song Laosan and the bandits in Yingzhou were out of control.

But even so, refugees are refugees. The south and north of the Yangtze River are rich, and just opening a granary or knocking on the local wealthy families would be enough to support these refugees for a long time.

If Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were the final stage of the bandits, then the refugees in Jiangbei probably haven't left the novice village yet.

"I have Shikang, so I can rest assured!" Emperor Chongzhen finally put his mind at ease after hearing this. After saying this, he thought of his own misconduct just now and said:

"I was too anxious earlier and spoke too harshly. Please don't mind it, Shikang."

Arrogant at first but respectful later, it is true that serving the emperor is like serving a tiger. Haha, Zhang Shikang did not say a word.

This made Emperor Chongzhen feel uneasy. He knew that he couldn't help but fall into his old habit just now. He also knew that Zhang Shikang was not an ordinary person. If he was really tired of the court, he might really quit. Seeing that Zhang Shikang didn't say anything, he immediately panicked.

Thinking of this, he waved his hand to dismiss the eunuchs and palace maids in the hall, and even drove Fang Zhenghua and Wang Chengen out.

After a while, only the emperor and his ministers were left in the hall. Emperor Chongzhen stood up from the dragon chair, walked to Zhang Shikang and sat down, whispering:

"I have been thinking a lot lately, going over the past ten years since I ascended the throne in my mind.

Shikang, I am... an emperor with little ability." Emperor Chongzhen hesitated for a moment, his face showing pain, but he spoke out his words word by word.

After saying that, he seemed to be a lot more relaxed.

"Even you often praise me for my diligence, but this world... cannot be governed well by diligence alone. I have only recently realized this truth."

Emperor Chongzhen smiled bitterly.

It is a painful thing to be able to admit one's own incompetence and arrogance. After all, recognizing it and admitting it in person are two different things.

Not to mention, he was an emperor.

But he finally said it frankly.

"I have many shortcomings, but they never dare to tell me about them to my face. Only you dare to do so." Emperor Chongzhen continued, his eyes beginning to moisten.

"Your Majesty, why are you saying this? Why are you like Liu Bei, always wiping away tears? This is really not a good habit."

Seeing Emperor Chongzhen like this, Zhang Shikang half reminded him that he was losing his composure and half teased him.

"Oh, I am the Son of Heaven, that is true, but I am also a human being. From now on, I will cry when I want to cry and laugh when I want to laugh. I will no longer be burdened by a title.

I learned this from you." Emperor Chongzhen did not hold back, but smiled with tears in his eyes.

"And then?" Zhang Shikang was helpless, thinking that since you didn't learn from all of my strengths, you only learned my weakness of being thick-skinned.

You are really good at learning.

"You can't leave me!" Emperor Chongzhen finally stopped pretending and immediately grabbed Zhang Shikang's hand and said earnestly.

He knew that he had made a big mistake just now. He actually began to doubt and blame Zhang Shikang. Thinking about it now, he regretted it so much.

This kid has always wanted to leave the court, become a dandy young man, and do a bunch of things he doesn't understand.

If Zhang Shikang felt resentful because of this, and realized that he had no ability to govern the country, Emperor Chongzhen would be in tears at that time.

The past was too painful to recall. He really couldn't imagine, nor did he want to go back to the past, where he was in endless internal strife in the court with a group of hypocritical guys.

Therefore, he would rather lower his posture as the emperor and try his best to make the incident disappear.

Zhang Shikang's eyes widened and his body trembled. He pulled his hand out as if he had been electrocuted.

"No, Your Majesty, you...I...we...

Alas! I never said I was leaving! "

Zhang Shikang was in great confusion. This was the first time he was defeated by this old man Chongzhen.

If this happened in later generations, it would definitely be considered gay behavior.

I'm a straight man. No matter how excited you are, you shouldn't keep shaking my hand, right?

Damn it, I...I’m not clean anymore!

……