Yong Wang Zhu Ci Zhao came to the Palace of Heavenly Purity and knelt down to greet Chong Zhen: "Your son pays respect to your father!"

Chongzhen did not let him stand up and speak, but asked directly: "What do you think about the prince's matter?"

Zhu Ci Zhao was shocked: "I don't understand, please explain it to me, Father."

"Do you think the prince is serving the king or rebelling?"

"I think there is something fishy about this matter."

"What's strange?"

"The Crown Prince is the heir to the throne, so there is no reason for him to rebel. Therefore, I am more inclined to serve the King."

Chongzhen asked coldly, "Do you mean that Xie Sanbin and Wang Chengen should both die?"

"I dare not. I am only analyzing the Crown Prince's situation. It has nothing to do with others."

"Hey!" Chongzhen sighed and ordered in a vicissitudes of life voice: "Get up."

"Thank you, father!" Zhu Cizhou stood beside him with his head lowered, not daring to look Chongzhen in the eye.

Looking at Zhu Cizhou's embarrassed appearance, Chongzhen felt a little sad.

In the eyes of others, he is the emperor who is high above everyone else.

In Zhu Cizhou's eyes, he was both the supreme emperor and the majestic father.

I'm afraid Zhu Cizhuo has no idea about the family affection that ordinary people can experience.

In order not to delay important matters, Chongzhen stepped forward and patted Zhu Cizhuo on the shoulder: "The prince's affairs have nothing to do with you, but what I will tell you next is related to you."

"Please let me know, Father."

Chongzhen lowered his voice and said, "The rebels in Nanjing have already captured Huai'an and are heading towards Xuzhou. If nothing unexpected happens, Xuzhou will also fall. So we need to choose a place behind Xuzhou to deploy our defenses and prepare food and grass in advance."

Will Xuzhou be lost?

Zhu Ci Zhao was very shocked.

The battle hadn't even started yet, how could his father know that Xuzhou would be lost?

Chongzhen did not intend to explain anything, but continued: "Jinan Prefecture! I want to deploy troops in Jinan Prefecture."

After Zhu Ci Zhao recovered, he asked, "What can I do?"

"Responsible for preparing all the food and fodder."

After the death of Jiading Earl Zhou Kui, his caravan was bought by Zhu Cizhao through an intermediary.

Transporting grain through caravans is the simplest and most effective way.

Zhu Ci Zhao thought for a moment and said, "Father, the grain transport has been cut off. We can't buy rice from the south through normal channels. If we buy a large amount of white rice, we need to smuggle it to the north through merchants in the south. In this way, the price of grain will rise a lot."

Chongzhen said calmly: "Money is not a problem. Tell Wang Chengen how much you need and let him withdraw it from the treasury."

"Your son obeys your order."

"In addition, we need to recruit some cavalry from the various Mongolian tribes to go south to quell the rebellion. It doesn't need to be too many, but they must be elite enough."

Zhu Ci Zhao looked embarrassed: "Father, I have a request."

"explain."

“Can we not let the Mongols get involved?”

"Why?"

"These people are used to living on the grasslands. I'm afraid they will disturb the people when they come to the Central Plains. Not only will it be detrimental to the unity of the army, but it will also damage the reputation of the government army. Besides, your father doesn't need many soldiers. I think we can just mobilize some elite troops from the Beijing camp or Jizhou and Miyun to rush to the front line."

"Also, the procedures for the Mongols to enter the country are too complicated and it will take a while to complete them."

"Haha," Chongzhen smiled slightly, "The purpose of sending them south is not to fight a war."

"We are not fighting a war?" Zhu Cizhuo's brain was running out of ideas. "Why would we recruit them if we are not fighting a war?"

"To assimilate them."

"assimilation...?"

......

It was completely dark when Zhu Ci Zhao left the Qianqing Palace.

His task was heavy, so he returned to his mansion overnight to begin preparing for follow-up matters.

Chongzhen was not idle either.

Start thinking about how to save Jinan Prefecture.

His goal was to lose Xuzhou but keep the rebels south of Jinan.

Why do this?

Because Qufu is south of Jinan and north of Xuzhou.

Only by bringing the war there can he achieve his goal.

In addition, the navy’s base is in Dengzhou.

If Jinan is lost, the Shandong Peninsula will be lost.

Dengzhou on the Shandong Peninsula was not spared.

So Jinan cannot be lost.

But how to keep Jinan became a problem.

If the Beijing camp or border troops were transferred to Jinan in advance, Shi Kefa would transfer them to Xuzhou after learning about it.

Shi Kefa was the governor-general in charge of suppressing the rebellion and had the power to mobilize troops.

The generals must obey orders.

In this way, Xuzhou might have been saved.

If the troops were mobilized only after Xuzhou was lost, Jinan would probably have been lost by the time the army arrived at the front line.

Chongzhen had to find the right time to mobilize troops.

On June 29, the Jinyiwei sent by Li Ruolian arrived in Xuzhou area first.

They did not enter the city, but wandered around disguised as ordinary people, searching for scouts from the "Loyal Army" and the Nanjing Jinyiwei.

Two days later.

They established contact with the Nanjing Jinyiwei.

Under a tree in the field, four Jinyiwei in ordinary cloth clothes sat facing each other.

Two of them were from the Imperial Guards of Beijing, and the other two were from the Imperial Guards of Nanjing.

The Nanjing Jinyiwei was the first to ask: "Who ordered you two brothers to come to the front line?"

The Beijing Jinyiwei replied: "It was an order from the Imperial Household Department."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," the Nanjing Jinyiwei kept clicking their tongues, "Why do you have to obey the eunuch's orders?"

"No way, this is the rule."

"Don't be so unruly. We are His Majesty's swords! His Majesty hasn't shown up for a long time. Don't you two have any doubts?"

"I doubt it, but what can we do? Commander Li didn't say anything, so it's even harder for us low-level Jinyiwei to say anything."

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!