Chongzhen did not say anything, but signaled with his eyes that Wang Chengen should report the Sanfengtang to Li Banghua.
After reading the newspaper, Li Banghua frowned.
"Lord Li, these people are all my students. You can tell me everything you know today."
Li Banghua nodded without surprise, as the Ming emperor had already informed him about the formation of the imperial party.
In a while, the careers of these students will depend on him, the prime minister of the cabinet!
After all...the emperor doesn't have much energy to arrange all these students into appropriate positions.
"What do you think, Lord Li?" Chongzhen asked in front of all the students.
Li Banghua thought for a moment and replied, "Your Majesty, the Xuanfu Pond News is urgent but not important; the Miyun Pond News is important but not urgent; only the Zhangdefu Pond News is both urgent and important!"
"Well, let's discuss the news from Zhangde Prefecture first!"
"Li Chuang led 50,000 troops to besiege Zhangde Prefecture. Although the defenders of Zhangde Prefecture did not surrender immediately, it was only a matter of time before they lost the city."
A student swallowed his saliva and asked in a humble voice: "Master Li, can you tell me why?"
"Because there is no money, soldiers are unwilling to risk their lives."
Uh...the court fell into a brief silence.
Li Banghua spoke so directly that the students were speechless.
"The most urgent task is to protect Daming Prefecture! Although Daming Prefecture has several thousand guards and Li Xingzhong's ten thousand combat troops, I am afraid they can't hold it."
"Once Damingfu falls, Li Chuang will use the money and food from the kings of Zhao and Zhou to recruit soldiers and horses, and will return to besiege the capital again in due time."
Under the admiring gazes of the students, Li Banghua calmly took out a letter and handed it to Wang Chengen.
After receiving the letter, Wang Chengen immediately handed it to Chongzhen.
When Chongzhen opened the envelope, he was slightly stunned.
This is a letter of confession, written by Gao Jie, the general who came to support the suppression.
"Your Majesty, when Li Zicheng attacked Taiyuan, Gao Jie was stationed in Zezhou (now Jincheng, Shanxi). Later, he heard that Li Zicheng was besieging the capital and thought that the capital was in danger, so he hurriedly retreated south to Anyang Prefecture in Henan."
"Now that the siege of the capital has been lifted, he has sent someone to deliver a confession."
Chongzhen was fine, but after hearing the contents of the memorial, the students became angry and expressed their dissatisfaction with Gao Jie's behavior.
As a military commander, Gao Jie should have gone to Beijing to defend the emperor after learning that Beijing was under siege. But instead of going to Beijing to defend the emperor, he fled southward in an attempt to preserve his strength.
It's really hateful!
"Your Majesty, Gao Jie should be punished. He has his own army and ignores the emperor's wisdom!"
"Yes, it was almost two months after the siege of the capital was lifted that Gao Jie sent someone to deliver a confession. This was obviously an intentional move."
Gao Jie was originally a general under Li Zicheng. Because of his handsome appearance, he was favored by Li Zicheng's wife, Xing. So the two of them cuckolded Li Zicheng.
They were afraid of being discovered by Li Zicheng, so they surrendered to the Ming Dynasty.
Historically, as one of the four towns in Jiangbei, Gao Jie had 30,000 soldiers under his command.
This is not the main point. The main point is that among Gao Jie's 30,000 soldiers and horses, there are 5,000 cavalry! Cavalry means that they can run long distances and become surprise troops.
The only problem with this man was that he liked to plunder, and people everywhere suffered from him.
Chongzhen placed the memorial on the dragon desk and began to think of a trick. With Gao Jie's move, he was no longer satisfied with the status quo.
He wants to kill someone with a borrowed knife! But the timing is not right yet.
"Your Majesty, Gao Jie's crime..." Li Banghua hesitated whether to make a suggestion.
After all, he didn't have any good ideas.
Liu Zeqing and Zuo Liangyu have already been killed. If Gao Jie is killed again, what will be the mentality of the other generals of the Ming Dynasty?
Although these two people committed heinous crimes, they did have military achievements after all.
"Gao Jie is indeed guilty, but the court is in need of talented people right now, so let him make up for his crime by making meritorious contributions!" Chongzhen said calmly.
During the 17th year of Chongzhen, these people who had their own troops had many escape routes, except Gao Jie who had one.
Apart from being loyal to the Ming Dynasty, he had no choice but to surrender to Zhang Xianzhong.
But he looked down on Zhang Xianzhong.
As for the path of surrendering to Li Zicheng, it was blocked from the moment he put a hat on Li Zicheng.
No man could contain that big hat!
"Draft an imperial decree. Gao Jie delayed military affairs. He will be demoted to deputy general of the Aid Suppression Army and fined one year's salary."
"I obey your order!" Li Banghua breathed a sigh of relief.
This punishment would not only make Gao Jie realize the court's dissatisfaction with him, but also allow him to continue leading troops and making meritorious contributions while serving his sentence.
"Everyone, are my rewards and punishments fair?"
"Your Majesty is wise and holy." These students began to flatter him.
They have learned all the essence of the Ming Dynasty court!
"Lord Li, Nanyang where Gao Jie is stationed is 500 miles away from Zhengzhou and more than 900 miles away from Zhangde Prefecture. It is unrealistic to ask him to lift the siege of Zhangde Prefecture."
"Your Majesty, I think we can have Gao Jie attack Luoyang. As long as we take Luoyang, we can cut off Li Chuang's way back to Shanxi."
"That's not right. First of all, Gao Jie may not be able to capture Luoyang. Secondly, even if he captures Luoyang, once the Shaanxi troops and Li Chuang thieves surround Luoyang, Gao Jie will have no way to retreat."
this...
Li Banghua was at a loss for a moment.
Others present did not dare to speak up even if they had ideas.
Can they handle what the emperor and the prime minister can’t handle?
If it were really done, it would be a slap in the face of the emperor and the prime minister.
This kind of thing must be discussed in private.
Chongzhen thought for a moment and came up with an idea. He ordered: "Li Gelao drafted an order to have Gao Jie feint an attack on Zhengzhou, and then take the opportunity to detour north to Damingfu to meet Li Xingzhong. Li Xingzhong has sufficient food and grass, give some to Gao Jie and tell him not to rob the people."
"If he doesn't fall for it, let Gao Jie continue his feint attack. With Gao Jie here, Li Chuang will never dare to attack Daming Mansion with all his might!"
"Da Mingfu will definitely be able to defend it."
"My lord, I obey the order."
"Wang Chengen, draft an imperial decree to the King of Zhao and the King of Zhou, asking them to lend me one million taels of silver in my name. If they refuse... I don't need to say anything else, right?"
Wang Chengen understood immediately!
If they didn't lend it, they would threaten the two princes with asking Li Xingzhong to withdraw his troops. At a critical moment, the two princes should not be so stubborn.
"Okay, now let's talk about Miyuntang News."
"Huang Degong's 40,000 troops are preparing for battle in Miyun. If I'm not mistaken, they have already fought against the Jian Nu!"
Li Banghua nodded helplessly, but he felt worried in his heart.
Huang Degong has been in the south of the Yangtze River for a long time and rarely comes to the north. The southern soldiers are weak and rarely use firearms. Can he stop the Jiannu?
Huang Degong, a hundred miles away, was lying next to a rock at the foot of the mountain. He was holding wild grass in his mouth and looking towards the north from time to time.
After entering the pass from Qiangziling, ten miles west is a fork in the road. Going west is Miyun, and going south is Pinggu.
but.
The road to Pinggu is a mountain road, which not only makes it impossible to give full play to the advantages of cavalry, but also makes it difficult to transport supplies.
A moment later, a cavalryman came galloping on horseback.
"General, here we come!"
"How many Jiannu scouts are there?"
"Eleven people!"
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