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

Chapter 98 Chongzhen: What? You want me to lead the army in person?
After a moment, Chongzhen looked at Zhu Cilang with complicated eyes:

"Tell me, what do you want to do?"

Zhu Cilang drank a glass of wine and said slowly:
"Half of these officials and generals were probably forced or innocent, so I will spare them. As for the other half, I will kill them all."

When Chongzhen heard this, he said fiercely:

"What's the point of half and half? Why not just kill them all? I'd rather kill one person by mistake than let one go!"

When he said this, Chongzhen's eyes were full of murderous intent, and it was obvious that he was really angry.

If it was just ordinary corruption and bribery, he would just bear with it and it would be fine.

But this time it involves secret communication with the Qing army!
The thought of these guys working together with the eight imperial merchants to supply food, ironware, tea, salt and even intelligence to the Jiannu was heartbreaking.

Chongzhen was so angry!
Zhu Cilang ignored Chongzhen's words and continued:

"Regardless of the situation, Wang Chengyin, the general of Xuanfu, and Guo Zhicong, the governor of Xuanfu, cannot be retained. I have already discussed this with Xue Guoguan and Li Banghua."

"Let Shi Kefa be the governor of Xuanfu, and let Qin Liangyu be the general of Xuanfu."

When Chongzhen heard these two names, he nodded thoughtfully.

He had an impression of both of them, who were rare loyal ministers and capable generals.

Especially Qin Liangyu!

Before, when Qin Liangyu was ordered to serve the king, he had written several poems for her, full of praise.

In his opinion, Qin Liangyu was much more loyal than those nobles.

Thinking of this, Chongzhen could only say helplessly:

"You did a good job."

As for what Zhu Cilang has done so far, he couldn't find any fault even if he wanted to.

Zhu Cilang continued:
"But even so, it still can't solve the problem in Xuanfu, because we still need a big shot who can calm everyone down to go to Xuanfu and make sure that Xuanfu won't get into any trouble because of this matter."

"This person must be of high status and have a way with their words! What they say must be believed by everyone!"

When Chongzhen heard this, he looked at Zhu Cilang in surprise and asked doubtfully:
"Wait, you're going to Xuanfu?"

Zhu Cilang was speechless for a moment.

Please!

I was clearly asking how are you? How did this get brought up on me?
Then, Zhu Cilang said:

"This person is not my son, but you, my father!"

I?
Chongzhen was even more confused, but the next second, he suddenly realized something and said with horror:
"Wait...rebellious son, do you want me to lead the army in person?"

"No! No! This is absolutely not possible!"

Chongzhen stood up suddenly, his face full of resistance.

Because the idea of leading an army in person was too unfamiliar to him, he had never had such an idea before.

Zhu Cilang looked at Chongzhen's reaction and felt funny for a moment.

Chongzhen stayed in Beijing for too long and didn't even dare to leave Beijing!

Then, he explained:

"Your Majesty, you're overthinking it. I just asked you to go over there and intimidate those people. What does this have to do with the Emperor personally leading the army?"

"Besides, Xuanfu is our own territory of the Ming Dynasty. How could we possibly start a fight?"

"To be honest, if I weren't so young, I would have gone there myself!"

"Unfortunately, the young prince is not strong enough to convince the public."

When Chongzhen heard this, he suddenly calmed down.

Because he found that what Zhu Cilang said was right. Such a big thing happened in Xuanfu. If it was really to be investigated, all the officers and soldiers in Xuanfu would be implicated.

Those people are not easy to deal with. If they become desperate and incite all the soldiers to rebel, a large-scale mutiny may occur if we are not careful.

If Xuanfu rebelled, the capital of the Ming Dynasty would be in danger. After all, Xuanfu was only about 400 miles away from the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

After figuring this out, Chongzhen sat back at the table and drank another glass of wine, seemingly thinking about something.

After a moment, he looked at Zhu Cilang and said:
"Rebellious son! If you want me to go to Xuanfu with you, it's not impossible, but haven't you considered one thing?"

"If you need me to follow you and shock everyone, then you can't drug me anymore."

"After all, a sickly emperor has little deterrent power."

"But if you don't give me the drug, aren't you afraid that I will tell others about your rebellion?"

As Chongzhen spoke, he looked at Zhu Cilang with sharp eyes.

Zhu Cilang smiled and said:

"Please rest assured, Father. I have certainly considered this matter and have made corresponding preparations."

When Chongzhen heard this, he felt uneasy and asked:

"What back-up plan?"

Zhu Cilang raised his eyebrows and said in a firm tone:
"If you, Father, dare to tell anyone about this, I will immediately take you away to Liaodong."

"Then we will fight the Jiannu to the death!"

"At that time, either you and I, father and son, will defeat the Jiannu and restore our Ming Dynasty, or you and I, father and son, will die at the hands of the Jiannu and achieve a good reputation."

"This way we can be worthy of the ancestors of the Ming Dynasty!"

"No matter what, I will never allow you to be emperor again, because you will only lead the Ming Dynasty to destruction."

When Chongzhen heard this, his face turned the color of liver. This rebellious son really didn't leave him any chance to survive!

If he dared to expose this rebellious son's rebellion, this rebellious son would take him directly to Liaodong to die!

good good!
He really couldn't do anything about this rebellious son!

In desperation, Chongzhen had to compromise.

He said hatefully:

"Well, it's up to you! When do we leave?"

Zhu Cixi thought for a while and said:

"There are some things that need to be dealt with. Let's do it the day after tomorrow. I'll come pick you up then."

Chongzhen did not refuse this time.

And for some reason, when he knew he was going to Xuanfu, he actually felt a little excited.

Maybe it’s because he has never left Beijing since he was a child?

Deep down in his heart, he might also be longing to leave this place and see the outside world.

After some discussion, Zhu Cilang asked Chongzhen to write two imperial edicts, and then left Kunning Palace with the edicts.

One imperial edict was immediately sent to Xuanfu, and the other was kept by himself.

After leaving Kunning Palace, Zhu Cilang did not rush back to the Eastern Palace, but came to the Eastern Warm Pavilion and asked Wang Chengen to bring all the memorials about Mongolia from the first year of Chongzhen to the present.

After a careful reading, Zhu Cilang finally had a clear understanding of the situation in Mongolia.

As early as 1635, the eighth year of Chongzhen, the Jiannu launched their final offensive against Mongolia.

Completely defeated the Mongolian Khan Ligdan Khan, who was of the Golden Family bloodline, and achieved the possession of Mongolia!
You may wonder why trade in Zhangjiakou continued even though the Jiannu had unified Mongolia?
Isn’t this providing food and fodder for the Jiannu?
Not really!

Although the Chahar tribe, which had the blood of the Golden Family, was in name only, the Jiannu did not truly control Mongolia.

Those Mongols who were unwilling to submit to the Jiannu either joined the Ming army and became border troops, or continued to resist the Jiannu on the prairie.

The trading point in Zhangjiakou was actually set up for them!
Because if there was no Zhangjiakou, these Mongols would not be able to obtain food, tea and salt. In desperation, they could only plunder the Ming Dynasty or surrender to the Jiannu.

So after much consideration, the court decided to retain Zhangjiakou.

This gave the eight imperial merchants an opportunity. They used the excuse of selling grain to the Mongols to sell it to the Jiannu instead.

The general and the governor of Xuanfu must have known about this matter, but because they had accepted bribes, they pretended not to see it.

Zhu Cilang vaguely remembered that the current Great Khan of Mongolia should be the son of Ligdan Khan, Borjigin Erkong Golo Ezhe, or Ezhe for short.

Historically, he surrendered to the Jiannu.

But his younger brother Borjigin Abunai (homophone: Nai) was completely different from him.

Abunai inherited the throne after Ezhe's death and launched a rebellion during the reign of Emperor Kangxi. Although the rebellion was eventually put down, it was enough to show that Abunai was not willing to be ruled by the Jiannu.

Zhu Cilang thought to himself that if he could find a way to win him over to his side, it would surely trigger a major rebellion among the Jiannu!
This completely disrupted the Later Jin's plan!

Although this may require a certain price, as long as it can disrupt the Jiannu's plan, even if there is some cost, it is worth it.

It was not until late at night that Zhu Cilang put down the memorial in his hand and returned to the East Palace.

The next day, because he got up late in the morning, Zhu Cilang simply refused to go to court, and let Wang Chengen find an excuse to get away with it.

After all, he is still young, and I believe those civil and military officials will not care too much.

However, what he did not expect was that not long after, Xue Guoguan and Li Banghua hurried over.

Zhu Cilang didn't even have time to wash his face. He just wiped it briefly before meeting them.

As soon as the two saw Zhu Cilang, they hurriedly prepared to salute.

Zhu Cilang waved his hand to signal them to excuse themselves from the formalities, and then, without waiting for them to speak, he said:

"My Lords, there is some progress on yesterday's matter. I discussed this matter with my father yesterday, and we finally decided that I would go to Xuanfu in person."

"During this period, the affairs of state will depend on you."

When Xue Guoguan and Li Banghua heard this, their hearts suddenly tightened.

In fact, they had already sensed something was wrong as early as this morning when Zhu Cilang failed to attend court.

Hearing this now, I felt like I was falling into an ice cellar.

Xue Guoguan quickly dissuaded him:

"Your Highness, this is impossible! Xuanfu is a key border area, full of mixed people. How can you go there so easily?"

Li Banghua also echoed:
"Your Highness, please reconsider. The court can definitely send other nobles to do this. You don't necessarily have to go in person."

Zhu Cilang looked at the anxious expressions of the two men and couldn't help but laugh in his heart.

Just saying that I was going caused such a big reaction among these two people. If I told them that Chongzhen was going too, wouldn’t these two people be so anxious that they would die?
But he still said seriously:

"You two should also know that this matter concerns the safety of the Ming Dynasty, so I must go."

"And I have ways to suppress those border troops, so you don't have to worry about that!"

"As for my safety, please rest assured, for I am accompanied by Qin Liangyu's 30,000 white-pole soldiers."

"In addition to this, we need to bring another five to six thousand soldiers with us to ensure that nothing goes wrong."

Seeing Zhu Cilang so determined, Xue Guoguan and Li Banghua had no choice but to say no more.

Unlike other ministers in the court, they knew that the prince in front of them was not just a thirteen or fourteen-year-old child.

His strategies and methods are not even inferior to those old guys!

(End of this chapter)