August 13, the 19th year of Chongzhen.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, and the entire capital is filled with festive joy.
The streets and alleys are hung with all kinds of lanterns, which look particularly festive under the sunlight.
The Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival is one of the three major lantern festivals, the other two being the Spring Festival and the Lantern Festival.
"The lanterns at the four gates of the palace must be kept under good watch and must not be extinguished! If they are extinguished, all the eunuchs on duty will be beaten to death!" Wang Chengen ordered the eunuchs.
"Don't worry, Eunuch Wang. We have all remembered it."
"Yeah," Wang Chengen nodded, turned and walked towards the Qianqing Palace.
I had just taken two steps when I heard the sound of running behind me.
Turning around, he saw two eunuchs running towards him from the direction of the cabinet.
They were holding official documents in their hands and their steps were very hurried.
"What's going on?" Wang Chengen asked.
"In reply to Eunuch Wang, the Ministry of War has sent us news of the great victory in Shaanxi!" a eunuch replied.
"What about you?" Wang Chengen asked another person.
"I have in my hand an official document sent from Nanjing by the Cabinet, and also a letter from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"
"A letter from home?" Wang Chengen realized that something big might happen, and hurriedly took the letter from them and ran to the Qianqing Palace.
After listening to Wang Chengen's report, Chongzhen said, "Let's hear the good news from Shaanxi first."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Wang Chengen opened the official document and began to read it.
"On July 23rd of the 19th year of our dynasty, Li Shunzu, the deputy general, led a thousand elite cavalrymen with the surrendered general Hong Niangzi and set out from Xi'an Prefecture. They marched a thousand miles and set up an ambush thirty miles east of Yan'an Prefecture. The bandit Li Chuang was ambushed and defeated. He fled to Liujiapan on the bank of the Yellow River and was surrounded by our army again."
"During the melee, Li Zicheng was stabbed to death by Gao. Liu Zongmin would rather die than surrender, so he embraced Li Zicheng's body and jumped into the river to commit suicide..."
After hearing the report, Chongzhen was not as happy as he had imagined. Instead, he frowned and asked, "So there is no body?"
Cold sweat began to appear on Wang Chengen's forehead.
From what Chongzhen said, it seemed that he suspected Li Shunzu and Qin Liangyu of lying about their achievements.
He quickly read the newspaper again and whispered, "This is what it says in the newspaper."
"Who was present at that time?" Chongzhen continued to ask.
This matter is of great importance and must be clarified.
"In addition to Li Shunzu, Hong Niangzi and more than a thousand soldiers, there were also Liu Tichun, Li Guo, Gao Yigong and other bandit surrendered generals. After Li Shunzu's troops returned to the camp, Qin Liangyu personally questioned them one by one. After confirming that everything was correct, she wrote this report."
Chongzhen did not nod, but waved his hand to let Wang Chengen continue reading.
When you have doubts about the authenticity of a piece of news, you should not rush to draw conclusions, but instead verify it through multiple channels.
The news from the Embroidered Uniform Guard has not arrived yet, so he can't be impatient.
Wang Chengen continued, "The news of Li Chuang's death spread throughout Guanzhong, and all parts of Guanzhong surrendered. Liu Fangliang surrendered with 5,000 baggage soldiers, and He Jin surrendered to Tang Tong and Yan Yingyuan when he saw that the situation was hopeless."
"Your Majesty, Qin Liangyu also asked in the Tangbao how to deal with the surrendered bandits." Wang Chengen read as he looked.
Chongzhen lowered his head and thought for a while, then began to feel troubled.
Qin Liangyu was asking whether to give military power to the surrendered generals.
The other surrendered generals were fine as they did not have many soldiers and horses under their command, so there was no need to worry even if they were given military power.
He Jin and Liu Fangliang are different. The two of them have a combined army of more than 15,000.
If they were given military power, the consequences would be very serious if they rebelled again.
But if they are not given military power, these people will become disloyal. Once the news spreads, no one will surrender to the Ming Dynasty anymore.
Chongzhen thought for a while and then said, "Read Qin Liangyu's letter."
Wang Chengen put down the newspaper, opened the letter and read it word by word.
Although the content of the letter is very long, it can be summarized in two points.
First, the Sichuan soldiers had been fighting outside Sichuan for nearly a year and a half, and many of them were homesick. Now that Li Zicheng was dead and Shaanxi had been recovered, she wanted to stabilize the situation in the northwest before leading the troops back to Sichuan.
Second, Qin Liangyu felt that she was too old to continue to hold an important position, so she planned to resign as the governor of four provinces after returning to Sichuan and return to her hometown to retire.
Chongzhen sighed. Although he was very reluctant, he could only agree: "Write back and tell her that I agree."
This veteran general not only had great military achievements, but also devoted her life to the Ming Dynasty. If she were allowed to continue to fight, she would probably die of illness from overwork in the army.
He would never tolerate such a thing to happen, so he gave Qin Liangyu the opportunity to enjoy her old age!
"Notify the Ministry of War and the Cabinet and have them submit a petition for a title based on Qin Liangyu's merits."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Wang Chengen quickly wrote down the matter and took out the official document from Nanjing.
Before he could even arrive, Wang Zhixin came to ask for a meeting outside the palace.
"Come in," Chongzhen said lazily.
"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you," Wang Zhixin bowed and continued, "Your Majesty, the Jinyiwei of Shaanxi sent a secret letter. The letter said that Li Zicheng was stabbed to death by his wife Gao Guiying near Liujiapan, and Liu Zongmin vowed to never surrender, and threw himself into the Yellow River holding Li Zicheng's body."
Wang Zhixin said this while secretly observing Chongzhen's expression.
Because the Jinyiwei wasted time verifying the news, the secret letter arrived a little later than Qin Liangyu's report.
He was afraid that Chongzhen would blame him for this.
Chongzhen did not mean to blame him, but asked: "Is there any possibility that Liu Zongmin could survive?"
"No," Wang Zhixin said firmly, "Liu Zongmin was wearing armor when he jumped into the river. The armor weighed about 50 kilograms. The Yellow River in the Liujiapan area is turbulent and fast. Not to mention wearing armor, even a good swimmer without armor would not survive if he fell in."
Chongzhen was silent for a while, then he smiled.
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