When Chongzhen said the words "Zhao'an the bandits", all the civil and military officials in the court hesitated and no one dared to speak.
Fan Jingwen muttered in his heart: "If Zhao'an could solve the problem, there would be no bandits in the Ming Dynasty long ago."
The Battle of Chexiang Gorge in the seventh year of Chongzhen.
The Ming army had already trapped Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, Zhang Miaoshou, Zhang Xianzhong and others in the canyon.
Chen Qiuyu, the then governor-general of four provinces, believed the other party's surrender, and after obtaining Chongzhen's approval, all these people were accepted by the government army.
After the bandits had rest, they rebelled again.
Historical records show that the bandits and Qi Yu's soldiers drank and exchanged horses, and slept with their feet together. Those bandits without armor were all dressed in good order, those without bows and arrows were all sharpened, and those who had not eaten for several days were all full.
These words may not be true. After all, the pens of Ming Dynasty civil servants were deadly weapons. Even if Chen Qiuyu was stupid, he would not let the government troops sleep with them.
In fact, we cannot blame Chongzhen for his decision. After all, future generations have a God’s perspective.
First of all, in the eyes of Chongzhen and the imperial court at that time, these people were essentially ordinary people of the Ming Dynasty, who just rebelled because they were hungry. So as long as they could surrender, the imperial court would accept them.
Secondly, the government troops were seriously owed wages and unwilling to fight. When they heard that the other side was willing to surrender, they expressed their support from the bottom up.
In the end, Li and Zhang were not powerful enough at that time, and the court did not take them seriously.
Whether or not to rebel again is secondary. The key is who to call for appeasement?
There are now two bandit forces, namely Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong.
Call for amnesty for Li Zicheng?
He first destroyed the Zhu family's ancestral tomb, then proclaimed himself emperor in Shaanxi, and after besieging Beijing, he burned down the nearby imperial mausoleums.
Now that the army has been defeated and retreated to Xuanfu, who dares to issue an order of peace?
Zhang Xianzhong?
He had just killed the King of Chu, so how could he issue an amnesty?
Moreover, this was just the emperor's wishful thinking. Even if the court agreed, these two might not necessarily accept the imperial edict.
Li Banghua, the chief minister of the cabinet, expressed doubt about Chongzhen's view. He cupped his hands and said, "Who will Your Majesty unite with to fight against the Jiannu?"
"Zhang Xianzhong!" Chongzhen opened his mouth slowly and said these three words.
"We will use the strategy of forming alliances to let Zhang Xianzhong contain Li Zicheng, while our army will confront the Jiannu! As long as we defeat the Jiannu once inside the pass, they will not dare to enter the pass to plunder again within two years."
The court was quiet and silent.
The capital had been under siege for so long that they knew nothing about the situation in the south. They could not even grasp the position of the government troops, let alone Zhang Xianzhong.
Seeing that no one spoke, Li Banghua could only speak again to break the deadlock: "Your Majesty... Even if Zhang Xianzhong is willing to accept the amnesty, he will not send troops to attack Li Zicheng. He has only one purpose for accepting the amnesty, which is to take the opportunity to rest and rebel again! If he does so, it is completely equivalent to nurturing an enemy to protect himself!"
"So the condition I set is that he should contain Li Zicheng instead of attacking Li Zicheng! I and the Ming Dynasty need time to rest, and Zhang Xianzhong also needs time to recuperate!" Chongzhen was not afraid of the possibility of harboring an enemy to gain power.
When soldiers come, we will stop them; when water comes, we will block it with earth. The current situation in the north is that there are no soldiers or generals, while the situation in the south is completely the opposite.
Historically, the Ming Dynasty was full of talented people. When Beijing fell and the Southern Ming court was in chaos, the Southern Ming still had Zhang Huangyan, Zheng Chenggong, Huang Degong, Yan Yingyuan, Yuan Jixian, Lu Daqi, He Tengjiao, Zeng Ying and others who turned the tide.
As for the talents from Dashun and Dashi, Chongzhen was somewhat helpless.
If the Jiannu had not entered the pass and Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong had not been killed, they would not have approached the Ming court.
Even if he really fattened up Zhang Xianzhong, he would rather give the world to Zhang Xianzhong than let the Jiannu reap the benefits.
There was another reason why Chongzhen summoned Zhang Xianzhong. He had his eyes on Li Dingguo and had to find a way to get this talented person over.
The Ming Dynasty is not short of talented generals, but it is short of talented commanders.
Especially a talented person like Han Xin.
The repeated defeats in the Liaodong battlefield were caused by the lack of a general like Li Dingguo!
Chongzhen continued, "When Emperor Taizu started his rebellion against the Yuan Dynasty, his purpose was to drive out the Tartars! Now I want to follow the example of Emperor Taizu, drive out the Tartars, and revive the Ming Dynasty! As for Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, as long as the people have enough food to eat, they will collapse sooner or later."
Looking at the "confident" Chongzhen, all the civil and military officials in the court didn't know what to say and could only stand there in silence.
"Since everyone disagrees, let's adjourn for now! After we go back, we will reward everyone according to their merits and perform their duties!"
Seeing that it was almost noon, Chongzhen directly announced the adjournment of the court.
In fact, he only needs to convince the cabinet of the strategy of allying with the enemy to control the foreigners. With Li Banghua around, he doesn't need to worry about the court.
In the court, he deliberately said those words to all the civil and military officials.
His words are his attitude.
What is the attitude: Irreconcilable with the Jiannu!
After the court meeting, Chongzhen kept all four cabinet members and asked the Shangshenjian to prepare lunch in the Qianqing Palace.
The king and his five ministers ate and chatted.
Li Banghua finished his meal in two or three bites. He sat on a stool and said, "Your Majesty, I know your intention. But if the internal thieves are not eliminated, the external threats cannot be resolved. Li Zicheng has just been defeated and will not send troops again in the short term. Zhang Xianzhong is different. He just broke through Kuizhou in the first month of the year and went straight to Chongqing and Chengdu. He will definitely not agree to the amnesty at this time."
Chongzhen put down his chopsticks and said, "So, I need a big victory! Only when Zhang Xianzhong is frightened, will he honestly accept the imperial edict!"
Li Banghua was stunned for a moment, then nodded with a firm look.
The emperor was right, only the winner is qualified to negotiate.
Those who fail are not qualified to negotiate terms.
"It's just that the capital has been under siege for several days, and all the news from the southwest has been sent to Southern Zhili. I don't know where Zhang Xianzhong is causing chaos at this time."
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