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

Beijing City, Qianqing Palace.

Emperor Chongzhen seemed to be in a good mood after the morning court session. Even when faced with a mountain of memorials submitted from all over the country, he still had a calm smile on his face.

It can be said that Emperor Chongzhen has been in a good mood ever since the battle report from Guanshan was confirmed.

After all, there is no better news than annihilating almost all the elite troops of the enemy. If there is any, it can only be regaining lost territory.

Judging from the news coming from outside the Great Wall, this is almost a foregone conclusion.

This made Emperor Chongzhen always look forward to hearing news from the Duke of Zhenguo when he woke up every day.

Sometimes I can't help but smile at the ancestral tablets. If others see it, I guess they will be scared.

"Are there any memorials from outside the Great Wall?" Emperor Chongzhen asked Wang Chengen.

There were too many memorials, and although they had to be reviewed sooner or later, he would rather review those from outside the Great Wall earlier.

"Your Majesty, there is only one, and it has been placed at the top. It is the memorial from Lu Xiangsheng, the Grand Commander-in-Chief of the Five Military Commanderies." Wang Chengen said as he handed the memorial to Emperor Chongzhen.

Emperor Chongzhen took it and looked at it without saying anything.

The memorial recorded that the Grand Marshal of the Army ordered Lu Xiangsheng to lead the Tiger Guards to attack the Mongolian tribes south of the desert. Over the past half month, he has led tens of thousands of troops to sweep across five Mongolian tribes south of the desert and is heading towards the sixth tribe.

The Battle of Guanshan was not only a major blow to the Qing Dynasty, but also to the Mongolian tribes that were dependent on the Qing Dynasty.

The elite troops of the Mongolian tribes were all annihilated in the Battle of Guanshan. Having lost the protection of the Qing Dynasty, those Mongolian tribes were simply unable to fight against the highly motivated Tiger and Leopard Army.

As for the motive for the war, it was ostensibly to attack the Qing Dynasty, but in fact the memorial said that gold and copper mines were discovered on the grassland. Of course, it was the Marshal of the Army who discovered them.

However, in the memorial, Lu Xiangsheng seemed to have hidden concerns in his words. He did not say it very directly. Taking Emperor Wu of Han as an example, he seemed to be reminding the emperor to be vigilant against warmongering.

Emperor Chongzhen was originally quite happy, but after reading the letter he squinted his lips and frowned, saying:

"This Lu Xiangsheng, I didn't say a word when the Ming Dynasty was on the brink of collapse. Now that things are finally starting to improve, he's here to make plans for a rainy day with me. He's really annoying."

After saying this, Emperor Chongzhen threw the memorial aside and picked up the tea bowl.

In the entire Ming Dynasty military system, apart from Zhang Shikang, there was almost no one who could be taken seriously by Emperor Chongzhen.

This was not because of the existence of Zhang Shikang. Even when Zhang Shikang was not in the court, Emperor Chongzhen disliked generals such as Lu Xiangsheng, Sun Chuanting, Huang Degong, Sun Weifan, etc.

Of course, this is all in comparison. During those years, Emperor Chongzhen also met many people, such as Yuan Chonghuan, Yang Sichang, Xiong Wencan, etc.

Now that Zhang Shikang has brought new vitality to the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Chongzhen is simply loving Zhang Shikang and looking up to his trusted subordinates.

So when Emperor Chongzhen saw Lu Xiangsheng's worry, he just thought that this guy was too arrogant to even make a fuss about his humerus.

Even Emperor Chongzhen did not quite understand why Zhang Shikang was preparing for a western expedition when the Jiannu in the east and the Mongols in the north had not yet been pacified.

But he still did not allow these courtiers to speculate and slander his humerus.

Because only he understood that someone like Zhang Shikang, who was afraid of power and trouble, would never do anything meaningless.

What's more, he is so lazy.

Wang Chengen also smiled when he saw this:

“Your Majesty’s words make sense, but the Duke of Zhenguo said that knowing the right people for the right positions means that Governor Lu is always capable of commanding the troops.

If what I have found is true and there are indeed gold and copper mines on the grassland, I would like to congratulate the emperor.

If Lord Hai heard this news, he probably wouldn't blame the Duke of Zhenguo for abusing the copper mines and causing a shortage of copper coins among the people.

"Well, if this is true, then God is helping our Ming Dynasty.

I will inform the Ministry of Revenue tomorrow morning and instruct them to make preparations for mining in advance."

As the master and servant were chatting, a young eunuch ran in from outside, handed a box to Wang Chengen, and whispered a few words.

Wang Chengen immediately trotted over to Emperor Chongzhen with the box in his hand.

"Your Majesty, this is the news from over there.

There were two letters, one from Zheng Zhilong and the other from Qin Yiming of the White Spear Army. For some reason, they were delivered together.

Emperor Chongzhen took the two letters, pondered them for a moment, and opened the one from Zheng Zhilong first.

These days, Emperor Chongzhen, in addition to being concerned about the war outside the Great Wall, has also been on guard against the Zheng family.

A few days ago, the Zheng family kept issuing orders and led the navy to cruise in the East China Sea in the name of patrolling the sea. Emperor Chongzhen regarded this as a provocation to the court.

Three days ago, we received news that the Red-haired Barbarians and the Little French had fought a battle with Zheng Zhilong at sea, and it seemed that they had won.

The Ming navy did not fire a single shot during the entire process, and did not even leave the Tianjin military port.

This must be the arrangement Zhang Shikang told him before he went on the expedition.

No matter what, Zheng Zhilong suffered a small loss, but I don’t know why he submitted this memorial.

With this in mind, Emperor Chongzhen opened the letter and began to read.

In the letter, Zheng Zhilong was very respectful, and his words were full of flattery for the court and Emperor Chongzhen. As for the Battle of the East China Sea, in Zheng Zhilong's words, it was the resolute resistance of the Ming Dynasty navy to the invasion of foreign vassal states, and it was he, Zheng Zhilong, who maintained the security of the Ming Dynasty's waters.

If Emperor Chongzhen had not known the inside story, he would probably have thought that it was Zheng Zhilong who fought bravely and drove away the invaders, rather than the thief crying "stop thief".

Emperor Chongzhen simply shook his head slightly at the letter and threw it aside without taking it seriously.

He opened another letter from Qin Yiming of the White Spear Army and found that there was another envelope inside the envelope.

After opening it again, he found that it was still a letter from Zheng Zhilong, but it was written by Zheng Zhilong to Qin Yiming.

It is obvious that Zheng Zhilong wrote two letters, one to the court and the other to Qin Yiming. After all, the Duke of Zhenguo married a woman from the Ma family. According to seniority, the Duke of Zhenguo is actually Qin Yiming's cousin.

With this relationship, Qin Yiming is naturally considered Zhang Shikang's direct descendant.

However, Zheng Zhilong would never have thought that Qin Yiming would deliver the letter directly to the palace, and Emperor Chongzhen unfolded the letter with great interest.

The wording in the letter was completely different from the one written to him. It was very humble and even included a serious apology for the delayed delivery of the warship.

And almost every sentence he said was "I'm your humble servant" or "I'm below".

Emperor Chongzhen had read the previous correspondence between Zheng Zhilong and Zhang Shikang, especially when Zheng Zhilong had ill intentions, his tone was very arrogant.

Now it is really a case of being confident at first and then being respectful. It makes people laugh when they think about it.

"Take a look at it too." Emperor Chongzhen threw the letter to Wang Chengen.

After reading it, Wang Chengen said:

"This old servant guesses that Zheng Zhilong probably learned the outcome of the Battle of Guanshan.

There must be a spy from the Qing Dynasty. I think it is possible that Zheng Zhilong has been in contact with the Qing Dynasty.

This matter must be investigated, Your Majesty."

There was a hint of worry in his words. Now that there was a war in the north, the court really could not afford the supply of food and fodder for fighting on two fronts.

"Humph! What are you even investigating?

Throughout history, those who obey orders but not announcements are all disloyal to the court.

Let him roam around for a few more days. When Wuji comes back, I will make sure the Zheng family is wiped out!"

……