The father and son talked for a long time in the Qianqing Palace.
Seeing that it was getting dark, Chongzhen patted Zhu Cijiong on the shoulder and said, "Let's stop here today. You are very smart and you can understand some things at a glance. It doesn't matter if you don't understand. You will understand as you gain more experience."
Zhu Cijiong knelt down and kowtowed: "Thank you for your teachings, father. I have one more thing to ask of you."
"Go ahead."
"Although I have soldiers now, I don't have generals to lead them, so I want to borrow a few capable generals from you, my father."
"Who do you want to borrow?"
"I heard that the Jiannu have been completely wiped out, and Korea is willing to bear part of the military expenses. The army that pacifies Liao will return to the interior soon. I would like to borrow General Huang Degong to help me go south to quell the rebellion."
"Haha," Chongzhen smiled, "He is old. He is useful to me but not to you."
Zhu Cijiong didn't understand the meaning of this sentence and could only lower his head and remain silent.
Chongzhen continued: "If you want to borrow, borrow young generals. Only they can become your left and right arms."
Zhu Cijiong thought for a moment and said, "Then I will borrow Li Dingguo and Li Xianzhong."
Chongzhen waved his hand: "Not enough!"
Zhu Cijiong was completely confused. He lowered his head and asked bravely, "I am a stupid son. Please explain it to me, Father."
Chongzhen said solemnly: "Everything has its bright and dark sides! Li Dingguo and Li Xianzhong are only suitable for doing glorious things. Someone else has to do the things that are not presentable."
Zhu Cijiong's main mission in going south was not to quell the rebellion, and Chongzhen never took the rebels seriously.
His main task is to accomplish the redistribution of the means of production.
This is a dirty job that requires specialized personnel.
When accountability is sought afterwards, those who did the dirty work can take the blame.
Li Dingguo and Li Xianzhong were obviously not suitable.
Chongzhen continued, "The surrendered Jiannu generals Bolo and Suksaha, as well as the Mongols, can all take the blame. Pick a few from among them and I will make the arrangements for you."
Zhu Cijiong said quickly: "I will follow your father's instructions."
Chongzhen thought for a moment and said: "In that case, let's transfer Li Dingguo, Li Xianzhong, Bolo, Suksaha and others to the pass for support."
Zhu Cijiong replied: "I obey your order, but..."
"Just what?"
"But Korea is thousands of miles away from the capital. It takes seven or eight days for the news to reach there, and another month for them to lead their troops back to the capital. But if they take a sea ship, they cannot carry a large amount of baggage and war horses..."
Chongzhen waved his hand and said, "That's not a problem. I will order the Guanliao Dengjin Navy to send ships to Korea to bring them and their personal soldiers to Shandong, and then go north from Shandong to meet you. The rest of the troops will return to the capital and go south to meet you."
......
Zhu Cijiong had a solemn expression and complicated thoughts when he walked out of the Qianqing Palace.
At this moment, he understood a truth.
When a common man gets angry, blood will flow for five steps.
The emperor's wrath will cause bloodshed.
He did not leave the imperial city immediately, but walked towards Wenyuan Pavilion.
That is where the cabinet offices are located.
According to the eunuchs, the person on duty today is the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, Xie Sanbin.
When we arrived at Wenyuan Pavilion, Xie Sanbin was having dinner.
Seeing Prince Ding Zhu Cijiong appear at the door, he quickly put down his chopsticks and stood up to salute: "Greetings to His Royal Highness Prince Ding."
Zhu Cijiong stepped forward to support him: "Thank you, sir, there is no need to be so polite."
Looking at the food in Xie Sanbin's bowl, Zhu Cijiong suddenly sighed.
Xie Sanbin was confused and asked, "Why is your highness sighing?"
"Ah!" Zhu Cijiong sighed again: "Thank you, sir, you can still have a full meal, but my people are starving."
"Why do you say that, Your Highness?"
"Why do you say that? Haha!" Zhu Cijiong sneered and took out the transfer order and official seal, shaking them in front of Xie Sanbin: "Although we have soldiers, where is the money and food? We can't let them go to fight the rebels with empty stomachs, right?"
"This..." Xie Sanbin immediately shut his mouth.
The court's deficit has always existed.
In order to allow the army to enter Korea to wipe out the Jiannu, he racked his brains to get more than one million taels of silver.
Now Prince Ding is going south to quell the rebellion and needs money.
He was totally at his wit's end.
Seeing that Xie Sanbin remained silent, Zhu Cijiong stepped forward and pressed the issue, "The Ministry of Revenue can't come up with any money?"
Xie Sanbin kept shaking his head: "The treasury really has no money."
Zhu Cijiong also shook his head: "I don't care. If there is no money, there is no way to fight this war."
Xie Sanbin also knew that Zhu Cijiong was not deliberately making things difficult for him. After thinking hard, an idea suddenly occurred to him: "I heard that there is still some money in the treasury. Your Highness, why don't you discuss it with His Majesty?"
Zhu Cijiong glared and said, "Go borrow it if you want."
Xie Sanbin was so frightened that he shrank his neck and dared not mention the matter again.
Although Chongzhen spent money lavishly, he was essentially a money-loving person.
It is almost impossible to borrow money from him.
As a result, Xie Sanbin had no way to make money.
But the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty were all on his shoulders.
Now that the rebels are about to enter Zhili, he will raise enough military funds for Zhu Cijiong even if he has to sell everything he has.
But where can I get the money?
Just when Xie Sanbin was at a loss, Zhu Cijiong "inadvertently" said: "Ah, the rebels are still foresighted and raised money and food directly on the spot."
Xie Sanbin's eyes lit up at first, then quickly dimmed.
Raising money and food locally can indeed solve the problem of military pay and food wages, but the problems that follow will also be very serious.
In the past, civil officials could use money and food to control the military generals and the army.
Once permissions are relaxed, this situation will no longer exist.
In addition, if the army fails to maintain strict military discipline, the local gentry and people will face a disaster.
After expressing his doubts, Zhu Cijiong slowly replied: "Thank you, sir, rest assured. I will definitely enforce strict military discipline when I lead the troops south this time. However... I will not easily forgive those gentry and common people who voluntarily donated money and food to the rebels."
"Well, alright!" Xie Sanbin, the Minister of Finance and Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty, said helplessly, "This is the only way for now."
Xie Sanbin drafted an official document overnight, which was approved by the Imperial Household Department and then sent to Zhu Cijiong.
The eighth day of the eighth month in the twenty-seventh year of Chongzhen.
After Zhu Cijiong swore an oath outside the capital, he led his troops south.
He had eight thousand cavalry under his command.
Among them were 5,000 Shaanxi border troops and 3,000 Mongolian cavalry.
He divided the team into left and right wings.
He personally led 5,000 Shaanxi border troops as the left wing and 3,000 Mongolian cavalry on the right wing.
The army quickly moved south and headed straight for Shandong.
The imperial decree to transfer Li Dingguo and others to the Pass was also sent to Dengzhou, Shandong and Korea at the same time.
The next afternoon, Gu Yanwu, the magistrate of Quanzhou Prefecture in Fujian, arrived in the capital.
He thought the rebellion would affect the capital.
What he didn't expect was that the people in the capital were still doing what they were doing as usual.
It seems that there is no impact.
After an unknown amount of time, he muttered to himself, "To protect the country, the ruler and his ministers are the ones who work together; to protect the world, even the humblest of men have the responsibility."
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