A newly painted map with fresh and bright ink and fragrant parchment was spread out. Because of the huge area, two tables were put together to make it complete and impressive. Nurhachi folded his hands behind his back, lowered his head, and watched carefully without blinking his eyes; the territory of the Houjin Kingdom had expanded to dozens of times the size of the beginning of the war, and the original stronghold of Jianzhou Zuowei was newly painted. The map is already only a small square inch, and you must pay close attention to see it; and every place that expands and extends is the result of blood and sweat in the rain of swords, guns and arrows; now, the entire Liaodong region Nine times out of ten, the banner of Houjin has been planted, and the blood and sweat shed has turned into bright light-he is sincerely satisfied with all of this.

And Liaoyang City on the map is currently the southernmost border of the Houjin Kingdom, surrounded by mountains and rivers, and has thousands of miles of fertile fields; in thinking. After being stationed in Liaoyang, he often fell into thinking involuntarily—his time has come, and of course he must plan carefully—while staring at the map carefully while thinking, there are more special things. place. From Hetuala to Liaoyang, it is a tortuous road, but it has been built for him. The thorns have been pulled out, all the obstacles have disappeared, and the side of the road is full of lush grass and flowers that extend as far as the eye can see; He also had a panoramic view of the road ahead of Liaoyang, and he began to think carefully: "Where can this road lead?"

Following the map, he saw other cities and towns in Liaodong, and those beyond the actual map, he was more willing to close his eyes and think in the distance: "Yueshan Pass—straight to Beijing!" The news had spread to his ears. When he captured Liaoyang, the city of Beijing immediately declared martial law and closed the city gates. Thinking of this, he grinned. It is now six years of his own destiny, and the Kingdom of Houjin has laid a solid foundation, and will quickly build, extend, and expand the road ahead to Beijing; he believes that it only takes a few years of hard work to clear away the thorns and obstacles After that, it will be a broad road for children and grandchildren to walk smoothly.

The bustling scene of Beijing city floated in front of his eyes, the wide streets, neat houses, and resplendent imperial palace. It was the largest capital city in the world; it was what he had always yearned for—he thought of his previous wish: Hetuala has built the scale of Beijing City; now, his wish has changed, and he expects himself to become the new owner of Beijing City! "Another five or ten years!" In the six years of Mandate of Heaven, he already has a new and clear goal, and he is full of confidence that he will definitely be able to achieve it, and he is about to formulate specific implementation methods.

Therefore, his closed eyes instantly opened, shooting out a scorching light, carefully watching the city-states one after another on the map again, and even stretched out his hand, measuring the distance on the map with his fingers, calculating The journey from Liaoyang to the next attack target... However, the city of Beijing, which is already in sight in his heart, is undergoing inevitable changes and struggles, and all the ugliness and evil are concealed under the gorgeous appearance, which accelerates the collapse of the empire. In April, the weather is warm and sunny, and everything grows, and the grand ceremony for the canonization of the queen was held in the palace, which had been postponed to the point where it could no longer be delayed.

The ceremony for the appointment of queens in the Ming Dynasty had a set of procedures formulated as early as the founding of the country by Taizu, which was lengthy and complicated, solemn and gorgeous; the new queen who was registered wore an exquisite and luxurious crown of nine dragons and four phoenixes on her head, and wore a gold thread embroidered phoenix crown. Skirts and beaded shoes, step by step, a whole day of ceremony is required to complete. This time, the woman named Zhang, who was established as Emperor Tianqi's Zhonggong Empress, was fifteen years old; she was selected because of her good looks, knowledge of books and rituals, and became the "mother's world" Empress Tianqi.

However, Emperor Tianqi not only did not feel happy because he held a grand ceremony and got a dignified and virtuous queen, and enjoyed the sweetness of the newlyweds, but suffered from it; He was exhausted physically and mentally, and he gave Ke Qingfeng countless promises and rewards, and even let the illiterate Wei Zhongxian serve as the eunuch for ceremonies; after that, he was even less interested... The newly released Empress Zhang is a fifteen-year-old pure and pure girl, compared to Ke Qingfeng, who is so charming in the bed, she is undoubtedly a piece of wood! On the wedding night, he opened his eyes in a daze until dawn, his heart turned from hot to cold, and his limbs were too lazy to move. Finally, when the cock crowed and the drums rang five times, he jumped off the newly furnished dragon bed and went straight to Keqing. Feng's residence, he burrowed into the chest of Ke Qingfeng, the place he was most familiar with since he was a child, and greedily sucked it. After an entire hour, he fell asleep contentedly.

But for Empress Zhang, it was the beginning of her unfortunate fate; she had just entered the palace gate, the seeds of tragedy had already been planted, and there was no way to retreat, she could only move forward step by step, towards a desperate situation. After waking up in the morning, she sat alone in front of the dressing table, letting the ladies in the court dress her up, change clothes, and put on a crown, and then, surrounded by front and back, she went out of the palace, went to the palace, and accepted the congratulations of the wives according to the rituals; During the whole process, there were sounds of music and congratulations, but there was no feeling of joy in her heart.

She just followed the etiquette and followed the etiquette to complete all the actions and procedures that should be performed to make the whole ceremony complete and correct. The Minister of Civil and Military Affairs of the Manchu Dynasty, who was completely ignorant of the relationship between the newlyweds and their inner world, began to consider taking another action besides the routine congratulations: Several members of the second generation of Donglin, headed by Yang Lian, got together and discussed a result: "Long live Lord has already married, and there is a lord in the middle palace; the Hakka wet nurse is not suitable to live in the palace for a long time; we should Please request the decree, the Hakka family will leave the palace!"

Moreover, the implementation of the sword and footwear was carried out immediately—after the celebration ceremony for the officials on the fourth day after the wedding ceremony, and the ritual ceremony for the bathing ceremony on the fifth day, Yu Shi Bi Zuozhou and Liu Lan took the lead in presenting the memorial, followed by Liu Yijing. speak. Unexpectedly, after a few days, Emperor Tianqi's reply was: "The empress is young and has just entered the palace. Everything is unfamiliar. She depends on the protection and teaching of the nanny. How can I let the nanny go out of the palace and live in another place?"

Moreover, another decree was issued that day: an imperial edict to bestow incense fields on the Hakka family, and to describe Wei Zhongxian's achievements in governing the emperor's mausoleum! Seeing this decree, these few people almost fainted on the spot; moreover, everyone secretly yelled "it's not good" in their hearts: "Long live Lord's idea is so absurd!" A hidden worry rose in their hearts, and the ministers who were familiar with the allusions of the previous dynasty even thought of it: "In the palace, small things will affect the government - now, the Hakka family and Wei Zhongxian are favored by their abnormalities - maybe it is not a good omen!" But when the few people couldn't figure out the reason, they thought of asking Wei Chao to find out, but it was a step too late - Wei Chao had already been thrown into the cold palace. The situation is worse than expected: After Wang An recovered from his illness, he returned to the Supervisor of Ceremonies, but Wei Zhongxian had become the most popular person in the harem. After weighing the situation, he asked Emperor Tianqi to resign from the position of Supervisor of Ceremonies; But under Ke Qingfeng's wink, he agreed to Wang An's speech and replaced him with Wei Zhongxian. Since Wang An has completely lost power, let alone the Wei Dynasty? The shadow became heavier again, everyone's face was covered with a black veil——after a long time, Zuo Guangdou sighed first and said: "We have lost the imperial support in the palace, and we can no longer gain the convenience of 'cooperating from the inside to the outside'. From now on, the only thing we need to do is to work harder on government affairs!" His words not only hide many worries that are inconvenient to talk about, but also contain a sense of self-comfort. However, the upright Yang Lian said without embellishment: "We must beware of Wei Zhongxian's eunuch!" He reacted more violently to things than others, including that he had just experienced a political struggle, and he was in a special mood-it happened in December last year, and the imperial court who impeached him and opposed him Shi Jiajichun continued to attack him persistently, and even slandered him, which made him angry and begged away, and immediately left the city to wait for orders. Fortunately, Emperor Tianqi immediately issued an order to praise him for his loyalty and integrity, and asked him to return to the court; The turmoil calmed down after he was blamed and dismissed as an official. But in fact, what he said is only one tenth or two of what he thinks in his heart, and there are more hidden and suppressed inner voices... After more than half a year, he has faintly felt that the Emperor Tianqi, whom everyone almost desperately defended in the "moving palace" incident, is actually a mentally unsound, abnormal personality, lack of ability, and low intelligence It is actually a very dangerous thing for the Ming Dynasty to be handed over to such an emperor! If Wang An is in power in the palace and Dong Lin is in charge of the government, there is still something to be done; however, Wang An has already lost power. "Wei Zhongxian can squeeze out Wang An in such a short period of time, so he won't be an idler!" It is almost impossible for the seventeen-year-old, attached to a wet nurse, and almost childish and stupid little emperor not to be restrained by such a "non-idle person" who is over half a century old and has experienced storms! Now, the only thing that can be hoped is that Wei Zhongxian's disposition is as upright as Wang An's, so that even if he is in power, he still does the right thing, so that there will be no disturbances in the palace. He secretly thought: "In this dynasty, the Ying Temple was once controlled by the eunuch Wang Zhen, which led to the disaster of 'civilian change'; the Wu Temple was greedy and frolicking, and Liu Jin seized power; Hands, leading to the situation of the government's desolation and the country's declining power--I heard that Wei Zhongxian has introduced a skilled carpenter, castrated him into the palace, and worked as a carpenter in the Qianqing Palace to entertain the sacred heart-ah! Is Wei Zhongxian's heart upright? , It is directly related to the fate of my Ming Dynasty, and no one can control it at present, it seems that we can only let God's will - the continuation and extinction of the Ming Dynasty is no longer determined by human power!" For the first time in the strong man, negative and pessimistic thoughts appeared in his heart, and a faint chill rose from the soles of his feet, and went straight to his heart; Even more afraid to face things, try not to let it stay in the heart. Even, he was afraid that other people would come up with similar ideas, so he had to face it together, so he simply tried to move the topic away from Wei Zhongxian; fortunately, there were too many things that required bothering business and research in the court, so it was not difficult to divert everyone's attention. Attention, and the first one, the problem of Liaodong is already a heavy burden. Not only did no one come up with a good way to completely solve the Liaodong problem, but even the appointment of personnel that was forced in front of us was noisy and at a loss. After several days of delay, no decision could be made; in the end, it was Wei Zhongxian's decisiveness. solved the problem…… Since there are really no talents available, and the situation in Liaodong is already in danger, there is no need to delay, so in the hustle and bustle, someone put forward a suggestion to re-appoint Xiong Tingbi, and then fell into a lengthy process of discussion and discussion, until Emperor Tianqi dozed off sitting on the dragon chair, and Wei Zhongxian next to him couldn't help but screamed, "My lords, please make a decision quickly! Lord Long Live is sleepy and is about to retreat!" His figure is quite strong, with a very straight back, long arms and broad shoulders, and a three-point handsome and three-point handsome appearance - if he hadn't been castrated as a eunuch, he would be a handsome man . And his words also had the effect of "startling dreams" for the ministers. Everyone put away their meaningless conversations and respectfully asked Emperor Tianqi to make a ruling. Therefore, Wei Zhongxian stretched out his hand to wake up Emperor Tianqi, and let Emperor Tianqi make a decision; but the sleepy Emperor Tianqi couldn't hear what the ministers were saying, so he could only say in passing: "Okay, good, good, everything is played by Qing." !" After all the ministers knelt down and kowtowed, his torture-like process of listening to the government finally came to an end, and he drove back to Qianqing Palace surrounded by eunuchs as if he was relieved; Suddenly he asked Wei Zhongxian: "They said just now, who are the people who should be reused?" Although Wei Zhongxian had just gained power and was promoted to the Supervisor of Rituals not long ago, he was not yet familiar with the government and the ministers, but he was smart by nature and had an excellent memory. He could hear every word of the ministers' conversations , I also remembered that I did not miss a single word, and I was able to analyze and summarize it better—so, he reported to Emperor Tianqi in a concise and concise manner: "You adults agreed to re-appoint Xiong Tingbi and punish the crimes of those who impeached Xiong Tingbi before; at the same time, Promote Wang Huazhen to be the censor of Youqian capital and governor of Guangning; replace Yuan Yingtai who died in the line of duty with Xue Guoyong as Liaodong economic strategy!" Emperor Tianqi thought about it for a long time, and his eyes froze for a long time, and then he asked Wei Zhongxian as if he had found a solution: "Xiong Tingbi, I remembered, but who is Wang Huazhen? Who is Xue Guoyong?" His question was very simple, he was a minister of the court, but he had no impression of these two names, that's all; but Nurhachi, who also mentioned these two names soon after, had complicated thoughts in his heart. Adhering to the consistent principle of "knowing yourself and knowing your enemy, you will win every battle", he has already obtained detailed information on Wang Huazhen and Xue Guoyong. Xue Guoyong, who took over Yuan Yingtai's position, had served as the governor of Shandong Youqian. He was originally the governor of Liaodong as the censor of Youqindu. After Yuan Yingtai died, the court called for Xiong Tingbi to reinstate him. However, Xiong Tingbi had returned to his original place, and Daoyuan could not take office immediately. , and Liao's emergency, Xue Guoyong was allowed to succeed immediately while he was in Liao; he is old and sick. Wang Huazhen was a Jinshi in the 41st year of Wanli. He was counseled by Li You, the head of the household department, and was divided into Guangning; As a result, he was praised in the court, and he made up his strategy of "appeasement" from then on. Whenever he was threatened, he would send money to appease him, and kept Guangning safe. For many years, he had no real cure Liao's strategy has never had actual war experience. The conclusion is that these are two mediocre people - the only one that must be dealt with carefully is Xiong Tingbi. However, after all, these two people are in important positions and have other roles; therefore, he pondered over and over again: "What is their relationship with Xiong Tingbi? Will it be support or hindrance? The influence is significant, so ask more—" He will continue to send troops to occupy the entire Liao Dynasty, and then the established plan of taking control of the Central Plains will not change. The three newly appointed officials of the Ming Dynasty are just a small obstacle. As long as you spend more energy, it will not be difficult removed, but not careless; therefore, he doubled his manpower... In June, Xiong Tingbi arrived in Beijing from Jiangxia, Hubei. Since he received the imperial edict from Qifu, he began to think hard about the strategy of defending the Liao Dynasty. The capital, he mentioned it very specifically.Called "Three-Party Arrangement Strategy", the method is based on the overall situation and deployed from three aspects: land and sea: Shanhaiguan as the base camp on land, Guangning as the main force to attack, and Denglai crossing the sea as the surprise force at sea. He also explained in detail that the three sides actually focus on Guangning, and use the horse infantry to meet the Houjin army head-on. Depart from Tianjin and Denglai, and enter Nanwei via the sea supervisor boat division. If you shake the hearts of the post-Golden people and distract you from looking inside, then Liaoyang can recover. As soon as this strategy was put forward, it immediately won the praise and praise of the ministers who had already been helpless about the Liaodong issue. Taoism is the best strategy for Xingliao. Emperor Tianqi, who did not understand the content at all, naturally nodded accordingly; therefore, the cabinet proposed: Denglai Set up a governor such as Tianjin, and send Tao Lang to take up the post first; Shanhaiguan specially set up a strategy to control the three parties and unify the powers. Immediately afterwards, Xiong Tingbi's new position was announced: he was promoted to Minister of the Ministry of War, concurrently the right deputy capital censor, stationed in Shanhaiguan, and managed the military affairs of Eastern Liaodong. And Xiong Tingbi also immediately went to the shuffle. In addition to thanking him, please Shang Fang's sword, and please transfer more than 200,000 troops. Several Liaodong officials were falsely accused. Of course, Emperor Tianqi nodded and agreed to all these; when Xiong Tingbi was about to leave for Liaodong in July, he gave him an unprecedented honor. The reward items are unicorn clothes and colored coins, and, on the outskirts of the banquet, the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs was ordered to accompany him; when he set off, he was specially ordered to escort five thousand soldiers from the Beijing camp... Xiong Tingbi, who had suffered all these blessings, was of course grateful and vowed to repay it with death. Along the way, his thoughts and thoughts were completely focused on how to guard Liaodong with all his wisdom and loyalty... Unexpectedly, as soon as he arrived in Liaodong, he had a conflict with the new governor Wang Huazhen. The reason was that the military deployment planned by Wang Huazhen did not agree with him: After Wang Huazhen arrived in Guangning, he saw that Guangning City was located on a mountain, and he could overlook the city by climbing the mountain; he also relied on the Sancha River as a barrier, and the yellow mud puddles of the Sancha River were shallow and could be waded on foot, so the whole city had no terrain to rely on. Defense; what's more, after the fall of Liaoyang City, most of the soldiers and civilians fled, and there were only five thousand weak soldiers in the city. Once they encountered the enemy, they had no ability to fight back; Contact North Korea for help and appease the refugees; this gradually stabilized the situation in Quang Ninh and made him famous; therefore, he made further deployments and set up six battalions along the river, with one general in each battalion , two guards, divided into two guards; and in Xiping, Zhenwu, Liuhe, Panshan and other key points, each set up garrisons. However, Xiong Tingbi opposed placing troops along the river; because the Ming army's military strength was weak, they should concentrate on defending Guangning; However, Wang Huazhen's personality is self-willed. He doesn't understand military affairs, but he insists on his own opinion, and presents the plan to the court; The ministers of course leaned towards Xiong Tingbi's objection and rejected Wang Huazhen's plan—the knot between the two was thus forged. Nurhachi, who had just heard the news, immediately laughed happily, and then said to He Heli and Huang Taiji, who were accompanying him in the drafting of the new trial procedure, "Xiong Tingbi can no longer hold on to every inch of land in Liaodong." Already!" There was a little excitement in his tone, so it became more sonorous and forceful, and he gave a clearer instruction: "Make all preparations, and send troops as soon as the time comes to attack Xiping, Guangning and other places!" The season is approaching autumn, and it is the right time to prepare for the war. He instructed Huang Taiji: "The surrendered soldiers and generals who returned after the Shenyang and Liaoyang campaigns are not very familiar with my Houjin's military administration, so they must step up their drills; food must be stored first, and equipment and horses are indispensable-these, You have to check it yourself!" It's only been a few short months since I settled in Liaoyang. To get everything on track quickly, I have to be more diligent. Fortunately, my sons are old enough to share the work; especially Huang Taiji, who has become his last A good helper, he is also deliberately honing Huang Taiji, and tries his best to hand over everything to Huang Taiji for execution—he is already sixty-three years old, and he realizes more clearly in his heart that Huang Taiji was born in fifteen brothers. The leader of the group has been faintly formed, and the strength of the "Four Baylors" he established has far surpassed the other three; he is now a helper, and he will be the heir in the future. Of course, he must focus on training. However, when such a thought came to his mind, it inevitably touched another hidden heartstring, which made him involuntarily tranced for a while. The previous wives, Zaqing, Mongolian sister, and Gundai, all passed away. When they moved to Liaoyang, he made Abahai his concubine. Abahai, who came to him at the age of twelve, is already a woman in her thirties, and she also bore him three sons, Azige, Dorgon, and Duoduo; Abahai was smart and beautiful when he was young. He is even more capable and shrewd as an adult, and he is very satisfied with the daily life of serving him, and has long been one of the indispensable people around him; but there is a very special hope in Abahai's heart. There is no woman who does not devote her mind to planning for her children - Abahai is certainly no exception. From the day she was established as a concubine, she indirectly expressed her heart intentionally or unintentionally, hoping that he would pay attention to her son, especially Dorgon, who had just turned ten years old. Even, she pretended to be inadvertent several times and put forward semi-commentary views on her son: "Azig's aptitude is the most suitable for being a military commander, Duduo is still young, and he has to wait until he is older to see the pattern; Dorgon has both civil and military skills, is smart and eager to learn, and is the most regal!" And when he heard these words, he just pretended not to understand, faced it without showing any expression, and only sighed quietly in his heart... Looking back at Huang Taiji again, his emotions became deeper and deeper; but Huang Taiji, who did not understand his complicated thoughts at the moment, was already prepared to put forward his own views on sending troops to Xiping and Guangning to him——Huang Taiji respectful Chen said: "A few days ago, my son selected someone who was familiar with the terrain of Guangning in Liaoyang's surrender, and asked him carefully; he also asked Li Yongfang about Wang Huazhen's situation, and told his father Khan— —”

---

Notes: