"Your Majesty, the mountainous roads in Sichuan are difficult to travel. Gao Shiming should not have arrived yet. However... Yuan Jixian should have received the imperial edict."
Yuan Jixian...is just an assistant, it is still unknown whether he can kill Zuo Liangyu.
What's more, the key to success or failure does not lie with him, but with Qin Liangyu, the 70-year-old veteran.
Thinking of this, Chongzhen shook his head and continued to review the battle plans for the three routes of upper, middle and lower in his mind to see if there were any loopholes.
One wrong move could lead to the whole game being lost, so he had to be absolutely sure of his strategy.
Seeing Chongzhen remained silent, Wang Chengen remembered that there was a secret letter from Yan Yingyuan in his sleeve, so he hurriedly handed it over: "Your Majesty, this is a secret letter from Yan Yingyuan to Your Majesty."
Chongzhen took the secret letter, opened it, glanced at it, and frowned.
Those merchants not only helped the Jiannu transport supplies, but also helped the Jiannu pass on internal intelligence of the Ming Dynasty court.
Because the confidentiality work was done very well, the businessmen had no idea who the spy hiding in the court was.
It seems that I have to rely on myself to catch the traitor.
Just as Chongzhen was thinking about this problem, Li Ruolian arrived.
"Your Majesty, Li Ruolian, commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, requests to see you outside the palace." Wang Chengen reported in a low voice for fear of disturbing Chongzhen's thoughts.
"Let him in."
Li Ruolian's eyes were like torches. After entering the palace, he looked around first. After seeing that there was no one else, he knelt down and saluted: "Your Majesty, I, Li Ruolian, kowtow to you."
"Is there any news?" Chongzhen slowly raised his head.
He had previously arranged for the Jinyiwei to secretly monitor officials from the Ministry of War, and it seemed that Li Ruolian had already reaped the rewards.
As expected, Li Ruo Lian immediately replied, "Yes, Your Majesty. As of today, we have found three suspicious persons. They are Jin Zhijun, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, Yang Rucheng, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, and Zhang Fengxiang, the former Minister of Works."
Here it comes!
Chongzhen stood up excitedly. Li Ruolian was a real man who got things done. He had only been given ten days to do the task, and now there were results.
He is indeed a capable person.
But...there are spies outside the Ministry of War?
He had long known that there were bad people in the court, but he didn't expect there were so many of them.
He could understand that there were traitors among the Jiannu in the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue. After all, one was in charge of the country's troops, and the other was in charge of the country's money and grain.
As long as we get news from these two departments, it would be like revealing the secrets of the Ming Dynasty.
Why did the Jiannu dare to enter the pass repeatedly?
He must have obtained intelligence related to the Ministry of War: such as the deployment of troops in the nine important border towns, the city defenses of various towns, and even information about the money and grain reserves in various places of the Ministry of Revenue.
Without this information, Huang Taiji would never dare to enter the pass easily.
If the information about Huang Taiji's first entry into the Pass was provided by Yuan Chonghuan, then where did Huang Taiji get the information after Yuan Chonghuan's death?
Of course it’s the Ministry of War.
But what roles did Yang Rucheng and Zhang Fengxiang play in it?
Li Ruo Lian waited for Chongzhen to nod before continuing, "On the night when the Ministry of War drafted the imperial edict, Jin Zhijun and Yang Rucheng secretly went to Zhang Fengxiang's residence and left late at night."
"In the following days, whenever news came from Xuanfu, Jin Zhijun would try every means to meet with Zhang Fengxiang, and Yang Rucheng would occasionally accompany him."
"In order to avoid alerting the enemy, the Jinyiwei did not find out what they talked about, but early this morning, one of Zhang Fengxiang's servants rode out of the city on horseback and galloped north towards Miyun."
"I followed your majesty's instructions and did not stop him."
Chongzhen calculated on his fingers and found that there was less than a month left until the end of May. If the Jiannu wanted to enter the pass to plunder, they would need to prepare troops, horses, and food in advance.
And the intelligence must be prepared earlier than the food and fodder.
If you want to inform the Jiannu, this time is neither too early nor too late, just right.
"Your Majesty, do you want to take action?" Li Ruolian asked when Chongzhen didn't speak.
"Of course we have to do it!" Chongzhen said without any hesitation.
The message of the traitor passing on false information has already been completed, and there is no point in keeping them around.
In the absence of solid evidence, Chongzhen had no idea where to start the investigation.
When the bandits were besieging the city, he could use underhanded tactics to shift the blame to others. Now that the bandits have retreated, there is no one to take the blame.
After thinking for a while, Chongzhen came up with an idea.
"Check it from Yang Rucheng!"
"Yang Rucheng?" Li Ruo Lian was stunned. "He only accompanied us occasionally. Even if he knew any clues, they were very limited. I suggest that we arrest Jin Zhijun and put him in the imperial prison. I don't believe he won't confess."
Chongzhen smiled faintly, "Let's start with Yang Rucheng. We can quietly arrest him and put him in the imperial prison tonight. We will have results by tomorrow at the latest."
Li Ruolian paused, then took the order and left.
Chongzhen chose Yang Ru as the breakthrough point not because he was in a high position of power, but because he was extremely afraid of death.
According to official history, after Li Zicheng captured Beijing, Yang Rucheng did two things.
The first thing he did was to give all the beautiful concubines in his house to several of Li Zicheng's generals, and then surrender to Li Zicheng with his entire family.
The second thing was to ask someone to pass on the priceless ancient jade and gold pot to Li Zicheng, and accept Li Zicheng's reward and become an official of Dashun.
To show his loyalty, he wrote a letter of surrender in which he called Li Zicheng "Your Majesty" and praised Li Zicheng's great achievements.
However, after Li Zicheng's defeat, Yang Rucheng, for some reason, rushed to the Southern Ming with his wife and children, hoping to get a job. However, his actions had already been reported by the gentry who fled south, and he was executed by order of Hongguang.
Someone who is so afraid of death will never be a match for Li Ruolian.
Sure enough, Li Ruolian was already waiting outside the palace gate before dawn the next day.
"Your Majesty, Li Ruolian is asking for a meeting outside the palace, saying that Yang Rucheng has confessed." Wang Chengen said softly outside the warm room.
Chongzhen immediately became alert. This time he not only let the spy pass on false information, but also eradicated the traitors in the court.
It can be said to kill two birds with one stone.
He put on his clothes and called Li Ruolian into the hall.
Li Ruolian did not look as tired as imagined. Instead, she looked relaxed and full of energy.
"Your Majesty, Yang Rucheng confessed as soon as he entered the prison! I wanted to report last night, but I was afraid of disturbing your Majesty's rest, so I came now. Please punish him."
"What kind of crime is this? Tell me the details."
"Yes, Yang Rucheng said that the culprit was not him and Jin Zhijun, but Zhang Fengxiang!"
It turned out that Zhang Fengxiang was the Jiannu's pawn within the Ming Dynasty.
Zhang Fengxiang served as the Minister of Personnel, Minister of Works, and Minister of War. He was imprisoned in November of the second year of Chongzhen, but he was released but still held a grudge against the court, so he established contact with the Jiannu from then on.
And try every means to pass the message to the Jiannu.
He first used money to lure Yang Rucheng into the water, and then persuaded Jin Zhijun. Seeing the rise of the Jiannu in Liaodong, Jin Zhijun bet on both sides without hesitation.
As a result, these crucial information from within the imperial court was easily obtained by the Jiannu thousands of miles away...
Chongzhen was not as angry as imagined, but just felt a little sad.
One letter from a powerful official could put the soldiers on the front line at risk of being wiped out.
In the end, these powerful officials turned their attention to the generals who led the troops and impeached them for the defeat.
Well, since the powerful ministers are causing chaos, let’s exterminate all nine clans to set things right!
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