Chongzhen Sunset Song

?one

The traitor Zhang Xianzhong will rebel——Chongzhen received Xiong Wencan's letter, and without hesitation at all, he immediately ordered Yang Sichang to dispatch troops to reinforce Xiangyang and encircle and suppress Zhang Xianzhong.However, Zhang Xianzhong seemed to have mastered the Ming court's movements. On the third day of May, he raised the banner of rebellion, destroyed the city walls, and robbed the warehouses, making all kinds of rumors and worries come true.

"Zhang Xianzhong has rebelled, and we can't wait any longer!" When the news reached Xiangyang City, Zuo Liangyu couldn't sit still any longer, and went straight to the governor's mansion to ask for orders, "If you don't send troops at this time, I'm afraid the tiger will return to the mountain, and the army will be killed." This has created a serious disaster, the governor must order to allow the subordinates to march into Gucheng no matter what, and chase down the bandits!"

Contrary to Zuo Liangyu's eagerness, Xiong Wencan was still calm and relaxed, not knowing what was going on in his mind, he just told Zuo Liangyu to be calm and not to be impatient. "Zhang Xianzhong is just dissatisfied and gathered a crowd to make trouble. He will calm down in the future. Why is the general so impatient." Xiong Wencan took a sip of tea and said leisurely.

"The fire is imminent, why don't you rush! The city walls have been destroyed, and the governor said he was gathering a crowd to make trouble!" Zuo Liangyu's face, which was as red as a jujube, was even reddened, and he was so anxious that he almost jumped up, "Never mind! I don't argue with the governor, even if he is gathering a crowd to make trouble, please ask the governor to lead the troops to quell the chaos!"

"This..." Zuo Liangyu obeyed his words, Xiong Wencan couldn't say anything more, after thinking about it, he finally nodded and said, "That's fine, he's messing around like this, General Zuo's going this time can kill his vigor .”

"Okay! Let's go, sir!" Zuo Liangyu got the order, turned around hastily and was about to leave, but was stopped by Xiong Wencan behind him: "Wait a minute, general!"

"What else is there for the supervisor?" Zuo Liangyu turned around and asked.

"Hehe." Xiong Wencan got up, thought for a while, and walked forward, "The general has a hard journey, and I should do it for General Zuo." After speaking, he called his servants to come and ordered, "Come here , to prepare the banquet."

"When is it! How can I have time to do this!" Zuo Liangyu opened his eyes wide, surprised and annoyed at the same time, "If you don't send troops, Zhang Xianzhong will really go far, and then let him occupy a good place to fight It’s better to lie in ambush and fight him in the field, I’m afraid our army will suffer!”

"Hey~ why is the general so unconfident?" Xiong Wencan smiled, as if he had a well-thought-out plan, and said unhurriedly, "General Zuo has experienced many battles, is brave and resourceful, even if he is really rebellious, With General Zuo leading the army, how can the victory or defeat care about this moment. The food and wine will be served later, if the general refuses again, it will be a disgrace to the official."

"Impossible! How can the governor know that soldiers are precious and fast, and don't delay for a moment in the battle, otherwise..." Zuo Liangyu wanted to say something, but Xiong Wencan pulled his face and stopped his mouth with a few words, "General Zuo also said This is gathering a crowd to make trouble, even if you let him go, it’s okay to be afraid, and there’s no such thing as being super-fast.” After speaking, Xiong Wencan grinned, and put on a friendly expression, took Zuo Liangyu’s arm, and forcibly held Zuo Liangyu Zuo Liangyu pulled out the door, "Come, come, come, General, please come to the room."

two

Beijing.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Zhang Xianzhong has rebelled!" Wang Chengen hurried to the Hall of Martial Arts, and before he could stand still, he reported the report out of breath.

"What! It's so fast!" Chongzhen was startled, and hurriedly dropped the memorial in his hand, "Can the Xiangyang army hold on? Have the reinforcements from Shaanxi arrived?"

"The reinforcements from Shaanxi haven't arrived in Xiangyang yet..." Wang Chengen wiped off his sweat, bowed and said, "I'm afraid that the news has leaked somewhere, and the bandits are ready. It is said that Mr. Xiong in Xiangyang was also beaten by the bandits all of a sudden. Unprepared, the soldiers will not be able to move out in time, Zhang Xianzhong's entire army has already withdrawn from Gucheng..."

"Hey!" At this point, Chongzhen didn't know what to say, so he sighed heavily.

"And..." Wang Chengen peeked at the emperor, hesitating.

"What else, just say it." Chongzhen waved his hand irritably.

"Return to the emperor," Wang Chengen swallowed, and took out a crumpled piece of soil paper from his sleeve, "When Zhang Xianzhong rebelled, he posted this notice everywhere in Gucheng, saying that since he returned these days, he has been widely criticized. The officials at all levels headed by your lord are blackmailing, if you don’t bribe, it will be difficult to protect yourself. The reason why he rebelled was completely forced by lord Xiong..."

"Is that true?" Chongzhen raised his eyebrows and asked, but his face suddenly darkened, "Can his words be trusted?"

"Yes..." Wang Chengen replied while handing the notice to Xizhao, "The words of thieves are not trustworthy, but this notice clearly lists the names of the officials who asked him for bribes, the amount of bribes, and the location. Together with the date, it really teaches people..."

"It's unreasonable!" Before Wang Chengen could finish speaking, Chongzhen had already glanced over the list of soliciting bribes.He slapped the notice on the table with a bang, old hatred and new anger were catalyzed, and all of them rushed to his heart in an instant—it turned out that those who asked officials to reward Zhang Xianzhong before said that he had not turned his back on his loyalty Yes, all of them were bought with money! "The thieves can't be suppressed, but each of these things is better than the other! Who are the people supported by the court's salary!" Chongzhen paused for a while, calming down a little, "pass the decree, and pass on all the people in this list. All officials involved will be dismissed and investigated, and their homes will be confiscated!"

"Observe the decree." Wang Chengen bowed his body to receive the decree, raised his head again, and said cautiously: "But Mr. Xiong is currently directing the suppression of bandits. The emperor means..."

"Xiong Wencan..." Chongzhen narrowed his eyes, pondered for a moment with a dark face, and said, "He took the lead in extorting bribes, confusing the public, and counting the most good words for thieves, so how can we teach him to escape the punishment. Similarly, all of him The official position is resigned, and since he still needs to be in command to suppress the bandits at this time, let him take the blame and redeem himself for the time being."

three

When the imperial decree to remove the official and stay in office, and to redeem himself was sent to Xiangyang, Xiong Wencan finally panicked and could no longer calm down.Knowing that he was guilty, he hastily ordered Zuo Liangyu to send troops to attack, but at this time Zhang Xianzhong had already retreated into Luohu Mountain, set up camp and deployed troops, and settled down properly. He only waited for the Ming army to attack, so how could he send troops.Zuo Liangyu knew that this battle would be difficult to win, so he made several suggestions, but Xiong Wencan had made up his mind, and the command was hard to disobey, so he had to bite the bullet and march into Luohu Mountain.As a result, he accidentally fell into an ambush by Zhang Xianzhong, the entire army was wiped out, and all the seals were lost. Only a few hundred horsemen fled back to Xiangyang in embarrassment.Zuo Liangyu was annoyed in his heart, and presented a book to Beijing, telling the whole story of how Xiong Wencan deliberately delayed, returned the tiger to the mountain, and forced an attack that led to the defeat, and finally sent Xiong Wencan to the prison in the capital.

At this time, Yang Sichang was walking in the back hall of the Yang Mansion, looking very anxious as he walked.

"My lord, it's time for dinner...Madam has urged me several times." A servant stood at the door and said timidly.

"Hey, don't eat, don't eat!" Yang Sichang waved his hands indiscriminately, with an annoyed expression, "Let them eat by themselves."

"Yes..." The servant bowed and retreated, and after a while, he returned to the back hall.

"grown ups……"

"Don't eat anymore! What are you doing here again!" Yang Sichang glared and said angrily at his servant.

"Your Excellency, calm down...there is a guest outside the door asking to see you." The servant was taken aback and stuttered a bit.

"Is there a guest? No see!" Yang Sichang said in a muffled voice, paused for a while, and said, "Did he give his name?"

"My lord, this person calls himself Chen Xinjia from the Ministry of War." Ding Ding whispered.

"Chen Xinjia?" Yang Sichang raised his head, his eyes lit up, and the annoyance between his brows and eyes receded slightly, "Quickly, invite him in."

In less than a cup of tea, Chen Xinjia was led by his servants to the back hall.This Chen Xinjia was in his early forties, short and thin, with a shriveled face, but his eyes were piercing, and he looked very lean.

"Master Chen, please sit down." Seeing Chen Xinjia coming, Yang Sichang calmed down, concealed his unhappiness, and hurriedly greeted him. "Come here, make a pot of good tea."

"Master Yang, you are welcome." Chen Xinjia bowed his hands politely, and sat on the side seat.

"Recently, I got a very good West Lake Longjing. I wanted to invite Mr. Chen to taste it with me, but I never had the chance." Yang Sichang forced a smile, sat down and said, "How lucky is Mr. Chen to visit my humble house today?"

"It's not because he guessed that Mr. Yang was bored, so he came here to relieve Mr. Yang's worries." Chen Xinjia smiled slightly, and there was something in his words.

"Hey, Mr. Chen really knows me." Yang Sichang sighed, accepted the politeness, lowered his face, and shook his head with a wry smile, "The imperial court has been discussing a lot about the rampage of the prisoner this time, and those officials are getting more and more frustrating every day. I'm just afraid that this officer will sit in prison too much. Who knows that Xiong Wencan has made a mistake again." As he spoke, the servant came in with tea and put the teacups in their hands respectively. When Yang Sichang lifted the lid of the cups, a burst of fragrance overflow. "It's okay to be unfavorable to the thief, but he actually taught Zhang thief to expose the bribery incident! Xiong Wencan was recommended by the official. He did such a good thing, and he can't be punished too much, but this is the responsibility of the official. I have to walk around too much. A few days ago when the public opinion was fierce, His Majesty already had the intention of dismissing me inside and outside the words. Now that something like this has happened again, the imperial decree may arrive in an instant. Mr. Chen, what do you say? , how can I not bother you."

After Yang Sichang finished speaking, he picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea.The warm tea fragrance permeates the spleen and stomach, which makes people feel calm and peaceful.But the peaceful look on Yang Sichang's face only stayed for a moment, and then he was washed away by the chaos again.Chen Xinjia nodded in agreement, took a sip of tea, thought for a while, and said, "Your Excellency's concerns are not unreasonable. I have a countermeasure, which may solve your crisis. I wonder if Your Excellency would listen to your words?"

"I would like to hear the details." Yang Sichang poked his body slightly, his eyes showed a little urgency.

"Now that Xiong Wencan is in prison, there is no leader in the plan to suppress the bandits. Lord Yang, why not take the initiative to ask His Majesty to go to the front line to supervise the teachers, in order to pay for his crimes and make meritorious deeds. In doing so, he will show His Majesty his sincerity to make up for his mistakes, and secondly, His Excellency will take the blame on himself. Stop the mouths of the officials and teach them that they can no longer delve into this matter. When they return from success in the future, who will care about today's old things?"

Hearing Chen Xinjia's words, Yang Sichang nodded slowly while thinking silently, and after thinking for a moment, he suddenly frowned again.

"What Master Chen said is very true. If he returns with success, the old affairs should be written off. However, I have never led a soldier. If the army is defeated in the end and the two crimes are punished together, what should I do?"

"Hey~ Master Yang is well versed in the art of war, and he has a wealth of knowledge. Over the years, Master Yang has been strategizing to suppress bandits and drive captives. This time it is just a different place to plan." Chen Xinjia said with a firm smile, "Besides, Master Yang is probably going to You can't get rid of the relationship, leading troops to suppress bandits no matter the victory or defeat, it's better than staying in the capital and waiting to die."

"Hmm..." Yang Sichang pondered for a long time, finally heaved a deep breath, slapped the table, and made up his mind.

"Okay, just as Master Chen said, I will play Ming Shengshang tomorrow, requesting to go to Xiangyang to supervise!"