My father is Chongzhen? Then I have no choice but to rebel.

Chapter 30 Hong Chengchou’s plan!

The factional struggles in the late Ming Dynasty were complicated and could not be easily dealt with.

Even if we want to use the affairs of the eight imperial merchants to kill a wave of them, it is impossible to kill them all.

Because this involves almost the entire officialdom, and many capable officials are also members of these parties.

In this case, Zhu Cilang can only cultivate new strength and join!
The new force can be called the 'Emperor's Party' or the 'Prince's Party', anyway, it is his force.

As long as this group of people can be trained, we can effectively combat the Donglin Party and rectify the court.

This is also a means of balancing.

It’s a pity that Chongzhen couldn’t use this method, but Zhu Cilang could!

At the same time, Xue Guoguan was somewhat shocked. As a veteran in officialdom, how could he not understand what Zhu Cilang meant?
To put it bluntly, the purpose is to let him continue to fight with the Donglin Party, Chu Party, and Zhejiang Party.

If one person doesn't work, you can get some people to join in the fight, as long as these people are loyal to the prince!
For him, this is a perfect match for his profession!
That's what he used to do!

After figuring this out, Xue Guoguan quickly bowed his head and said:
"Your Highness, I am willing to do so!"

"I am a member of both the Emperor's and the Crown Prince's factions. No matter what His Royal Highness orders, I will do it even if it costs me my life!"

Zhu Cilang nodded with satisfaction.

Then he said:

"In that case, go back and prepare, and come to court tomorrow!"

"The position of the Prime Minister of the Cabinet is now filled, but there is still one position for the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet. You join the cabinet first, and we can discuss the rest later."

"I can guarantee that as a cabinet minister, your power is no less than that of the cabinet's chief minister."

The current chief minister of the cabinet is Zhou Yanru, who was also a relatively mediocre chief minister in history and a genuine member of the Donglin Party.

Originally, the best way would be to get rid of him and let Xue Guoguan take over.

But he had only been promoted to the position of Prime Minister by Chongzhen for only a month. If he were to be attacked directly, Zhu Cilang would not know how to explain it to everyone.

So I can only wait for the right opportunity to take action.

Xue Guoguan was still a little hesitant.

"But Your Highness, I am concerned about your corruption..."

Before Xue Guoguan could finish his words, Zhu Cilang interrupted him with a wave of his hand.

"There has never been any corruption! Do you understand?"

"You didn't embezzle that money; it was a gift from the Emperor. It's just that you're old and confused, so you misremembered things and said the wrong things, causing people to mistakenly think it was embezzled."

"When you go to court tomorrow, no matter how those people accuse you of corruption, you must deny it!"

"I will cooperate with you then!"

"In short, you have never been a corrupt official, but a loyal and upright official of our Ming Dynasty!"

Xue Guoguan was completely shocked!

It turns out that he is an upright official!
The next second, he bowed respectfully to Zhu Cilang again.

"Don't worry, Your Highness, I know what to do!"

"This old minister will never let down the Crown Prince's kindness!"

Zhu Cilang waved his hand.

"Go back! Have a good rest and think about how to deal with those guys tomorrow!"

"Old minister retire!"

After saying this, Xue Guoguan strode away. He no longer looked old at all, as if he had suddenly become ten years younger.

After Xue Guoguan left, Zhu Cilang waved and called Ma Bao over.

"Send someone to the Embroidered Uniform Guard to inform Luo Yangxing and have him handle Xue Guoguan's matter." "Remember to tell him that Xue Guoguan has never been involved in corruption!"

"He knows what to do with the rest!"

"My slave understands!"

Ma Bao responded respectfully and then left.

Luo Yangxing was a very smart man. As long as he was told these words, he knew what to do.

As for whether anyone would die, that was not something Zhu Cilang should consider.
After lunch, another Jinyiwei came to report that the three families of Duke Chengguo and several other nobles had been executed at Caishikou.

The total number of people was 1,232.

After learning about this, Zhu Cilang showed no emotional change. He just nodded lightly to indicate that he understood.

Are you kidding? It's just killing some termites. What's the big deal?
If he hadn't been concerned about certain things, he would have killed even more people!

"Your Highness, Wang Chengen requests an audience!"

Just after hearing the report on the beheading at Caishikou, Ma Bao walked in again.

Wang Chengen?
What is he doing here? Isn't he supposed to accompany the cabinet in handling state affairs?
Zhu Cilang was a little confused, but still said:
"Let him in!"

Immediately afterwards, Wang Chengen appeared in front of Zhu Cilang, holding two memorials in his hands.

"My Lord, the cabinet received two memorials today, but they don't know what to do with them, so they asked me to bring them to you to review and seek your opinion!"

As Wang Chengen spoke, he handed the two memorials to Ma Bao, who then handed them to Zhu Cilang.

Zhu Cilang picked up one of the memorials and took a look at it, and instantly became more energetic.

Because the owner of this memorial was none other than Zu Dashou!
Zu Dashou said in his memorial that Jinzhou had been besieged by Huang Taiji for a long time and he could no longer hold on and needed support as soon as possible!
This memorial is basically no different from the previous ones.

Zhu Cilang picked up another memorial, which was from Hong Chengchou.

In his memorial, Hong Chengchou said that although Jinzhou had been besieged by the Jiannu for a long time, they had been trying to find ways to deliver various supplies and food into the city of Jinzhou.

In addition to the food and grass already available in Jinzhou City, Jinzhou City will not be in danger in the short term.

He had no plans to rescue Jinzhou City for the time being, because he guessed that the reason Huang Taiji besieged Jinzhou City was to force him to rescue it!

Once he really goes there, Huang Taiji will come out in full force and swallow them up in one fell swoop!
At that time, not only Jinzhou City will be in danger, but Ningyuan and Songshan will also be in danger.

In addition, he predicted that the Jiannu would withdraw from the siege around September at the latest due to lack of food and weather conditions.

So we request more food and military pay.

Zhu Cilang closed the memorial and threw it on the table, then pinched his head with a headache.

It's time to come!
Historically, when faced with such a situation, Chongzhen finally chose to let Hong Chengchou rescue Jinzhou City.

After receiving the order, Hong Chengchou had no choice but to lead his army to station in Songshan City and then prepare to rescue Jinzhou from danger.

Everyone knows the final result. Not only was Jinzhou City not rescued, but even Songshan City was surrounded.

Then, the Battle of Songjin was lost.
But this actually cannot be blamed on Chongzhen. After all, at that time, Chongzhen had neither silver nor food, which was not enough to support Hong Chengchou's plan.

But now it’s different. Zhu Cilang has enough money and food to support Hong Chengchou’s plan.

And it must be said that Hong Chengchou's method is currently the safest method.

In the final analysis, it is just one word:

drag!
Wait until the Jiannu's food and supplies are all used up and heavy snow falls in Liaodong. By then, the Jiannu will be unable to capture the city and have no food, so they will naturally withdraw.

Zhu Cilang agreed with this plan, but he was very unhappy!

Why could the Jiannu invade the Ming Dynasty at will and then besiege a city openly, while the best way they could think of was to delay?

This is not the result he wants!
(End of this chapter)