Looking at the secret letter in his hand, Chongzhen was not too surprised.
After Li Zicheng withdrew his troops, he asked Li Ruolian to withdraw most of the Jinyiwei from the capital.
On the one hand, it was to train the Jinyiwei, and on the other hand, it was to restore the Ming Dynasty's intelligence system.
Especially the information around Beijing!
It now appears that the Jinyiwei's intelligence gathering work is being restored in an orderly manner.
Chongzhen opened the envelope, took a look at it, and then handed the secret letter to Li Banghua.
After reading the contents of the secret letter, Li Banghua seemed to have aged a little in an instant, and his already hunched body became even more bent.
He raised his white-haired head and stared with bloodshot eyes: "Your Majesty, this..."
"No problem, read it to everyone."
Li Banghua nodded and began to read: "Liu Fangliang's 15,000 main troops left Hejian Prefecture the day before yesterday morning and retreated towards Zhending Prefecture."
"Withdrawal? That's good!" someone whispered in the court.
"It seems that the bandits are scared after being beaten. It is best for them to retreat! I think we should take this opportunity to attack Hejian Prefecture and restore our Ming territory."
"Not just Hejian Prefecture, I think most of Baoding Prefecture and Zhending Prefecture can be recovered. These bandits are like grasshoppers in autumn, they won't be able to jump for a few more days."
Listening to the optimistic voices of the officials in the court, Chongzhen sighed in his heart.
These people have a very short-sighted military vision. Their only advantage is that they have a good attitude and can treat bad things as good things.
"Let's end the morning court session here. The cabinet and military officers will stay, and the rest of you can leave."
Following Wang Chengen's order, the civil officials slowly left, while the cabinet and military generals stayed to discuss military and national affairs.
It sounds like there are a lot of people, but actually there aren't that many.
Those present included the Governor of the Beijing Camp Liu Wenyao, the Earl of Chengyi Liu Kongzhao, the General of the Beijing Camp He Zhen, and several deputy generals from the three major camps.
Except Liu Wenyao, no one else was present at the Five Military Commandery.
In fact, it is useless even if these governors arrive at the scene.
In the early and middle Ming Dynasty, the entire Ming army was controlled by the Five Military Commissions and the Ministry of War.
After the Ming Dynasty's God of War went abroad, the power of civil servants grew.
The Ministry of War has the sole control over the military.
The right to dispatch and command the army was managed by the Ministry of War, and the power to manage military households’ farming was transferred from the Five Military Commissioners’ Office to the Ministry of Revenue.
After Longqing, the Five Military Commanderies was basically in name only until the end of the Ming Dynasty.
Seeing the optimistic performance of others, the Left General Liu Wenyao was delighted at first, but then frowned.
Chongzhen noticed the changes in Liu Wenyao and felt slightly relieved.
Liu Wenyao is not very strong in martial arts, but he has a very long-term vision and is a useful person.
Li Banghua took the lead and said, "Everyone, what do you think?"
"Your Majesty, I am willing to lead 10,000 troops to recapture Hejian Prefecture!" Liu Kongzhao, Earl of Chengyi, clasped his fists and bowed.
Liu Kongzhao himself is not famous. The one who is really famous is the first Marquis of Chengyi: Liu Bowen!
In fact, nobles like Liu Kongzhao would not have been valued. However, in October of the 16th year of Chongzhen, the Ming emperor remembered something and held a horseback riding and archery competition for the descendants of nobles on Coal Hill (Wansui Hill) that had been stopped for more than 200 years. The competition was called "to prepare for the purpose of building a strong city."
In this horseback archery competition, only Li Guozhen, the Earl of Xiangcheng, hit six arrows in a row, while the other nobles performed poorly.
After the game, Li Guozhen, Earl of Xiangcheng, Zhu Guobi, Marquis of Funing, Liu Kongzhao, Earl of Chengyi and Zhao Zhilong, Earl of Xincheng were used.
Fang Yuegong glanced at Liu Kongzhao and said leisurely, "Why not let Li Xingzhong, the general of Baoding stationed in Liangxiang, go and recapture Hejian Prefecture."
If he were asked to choose a military general to lead the troops, Fang Yuegong would choose Li Xingzhong without hesitation.
These nobles of the Ming Dynasty have not fought a war for more than a hundred years and have long been useless.
But Li Xingzhong was different. He had lived in Liaodong for a long time and had experienced many wars.
Fan Jingwen could not bear to watch this any longer. After all, he had worked in the Ministry of War. He looked far away and said, "Everyone, do we still need to send troops to recapture Hejian Prefecture? Your Majesty only needs to send a eunuch to make the garrison surrender!"
"Your Majesty summoned us here not to discuss who will retake Hejian, but to determine where Li Chuang will attack next based on Liu Fangliang's movements!"
"Then deploy troops!"
After these words were spoken, everyone looked at each other and fell into deep thought.
The war situation in the entire Central Plains seems clear, but in fact it is very unclear.
Shaanxi and Shanxi were all lost, half of Henan was lost, and almost one-third of northern Zhili was lost.
Li Zicheng fought on the move, and no one knew where he would attack next.
But it must be the Central Plains, because it is a place that military strategists must fight for.
After waiting for a long time, these people still couldn't give a convincing reason.
Chongzhen looked at the map in front of him and saw that no one spoke. He said in a deep voice: "Everyone, why did Li Zicheng fight on the move?"
Everyone was stunned and looked at Chongzhen at the same time.
Li Banghua thought for a moment and said, "Wars are fought over money, food and soldiers. Li Zicheng can recruit refugees by roaming around and rob them of money and food for his army."
Chongzhen pointed to the map on the table and asked, "Who is the richest person in Henan?"
Qiu Yu spoke frankly: "Fan..."
He suddenly realized something was wrong halfway through his speech and immediately stopped talking.
Li Zicheng killed so many vassal kings that these two words almost became the emperor's Achilles' heel.
Chongzhen did not mean to blame him. Instead, he continued, "Minister Qiu is right. The princes of the Ming Dynasty are the richest."
"Since the founding of the country, how many vassal kings have there been in Henan? Minister Fan, tell us about the current situation of these vassal kings."
In the early Ming Dynasty, the affairs of the royal clan were all managed by the Zongrenfu. Later, the Zongrenfu was merged into the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Rites took over the affairs of the royal clan.
As the Minister of Rites, Fan Jingwen was well aware of the news: "Yes, Your Majesty, since the founding of the country, Henan has enfeoffed eleven princes."
"Prince Hui hanged himself during the Jiajing reign and was abolished; Prince Yin was abolished during the Jiajing reign; Prince Wei was abolished in the third year of the Zhengtong reign because he had no son; Prince Ru was abolished during the Jiajing reign because he had no son; Prince Xiu was abolished during the Chenghua reign because he had no son."
"Prince Tang was imprisoned in Fengyang by Your Majesty for his crimes; Prince Fu Zhu Yousong took refuge in Huaiqing because of bandits, and later went to Huai'an; Prince Zheng was granted a fiefdom in Huaiqing, and took refuge in Huai'an with Prince Fu; Prince Lu took refuge in Nanjing because of the rebellion of bandits."
"Prince Chong's entire family was killed by the bandit Li Chuang in Biyang in the 16th year of our reign."
"King Zhao lives in Zhangde Prefecture. King Zhou moved to Zhangde Prefecture due to the flood in Kaifeng. A few days ago, we received news that King Zhou had passed away. Your Majesty ordered his grandson Zhu Shaojiong to inherit the throne."
It’s okay for others, after all, the Ming Dynasty was ruled by the Zhu family.
Chongzhen felt sick after hearing the whole thing...
There were eleven vassal kings in Henan alone, and six of them are still in existence.
The Zhu family is so fertile!
However, the most urgent task was not to deal with the issue of vassal kings, but to make military deployments against Li Zicheng.
We can't let him continue to rob. The more places he robs, the more soldiers and money and food he will have.
Regardless of whether the Jiannu entered the pass or not, he had to let Li Zicheng be quiet for a while.
Thinking of this, Chongzhen pointed to the map and said, "That is to say, there are two vassal kings in Henan, namely King Zhao and King Zhou, and they are both in Zhangde Prefecture!"
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