Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 267: Pots are safer when carried together
"All the troops in Sichuan and Guizhou are led by Fan Yiheng. If Wang Yingxiong is allowed to lead the army, how can his generals obey him?!"

"Fan Yiheng was afraid of the enemy and retreated again and again. Your Majesty has shown your kindness by not blaming him for the loss of territory. How can you entrust the southwest to him?!"

There were bursts of arguing sounds in the Wenhua Hall, as if the elders who were quite strict and dignified in front of outsiders were about to fight in the hall. The young eunuchs serving outside the hall were frightened and silent, obviously they had never seen such a scene before.

It was about two hours. Ever since the ministers came back from His Majesty, the Wenhua Hall had been quiet for a while, then noisy for a while. When it was almost time for dinner, the arguments started again, and the eunuchs didn't know whether to serve the meal or not.

"Go in and ask."

"If you want to ask, go ahead. I'm just refilling the tea. The rest has nothing to do with us."

"How can it have nothing to do with you? Feng Yu didn't divide the tasks so carefully when he arranged them. If you really delay the meal of the ministers, neither you nor I can escape responsibility."

"You!" Hearing this, the young eunuch seemed a little indignant, but after only this one sound he realized that his voice was a little loud, and then he suppressed his voice before continuing: "Didn't we agree on this? Why are you going back on your word now?"

Perhaps the other eunuch also knew that what he had done was wrong. After the eunuch finished speaking angrily, he changed his tone to a softer one and begged: "My dear grandfather, you don't have to say anything for a while, just accompany me in. As long as you accompany me this time, I will give you all the meat for the next month."

It was not known whether the young eunuch felt that he could not stay out of trouble, or was tempted by the meat, but in the end he followed closely behind his companions when they entered the hall to report.

However, Ma and Yuan were arguing with each other until their faces turned red, and even their words were full of anger. When they saw the two little guys coming in, they just waved their hands. Then they seemed to realize that they shouldn't let someone get away with it, and then they turned their eyes to Qian Qianyi at the same time.

"Lord, I still need your advice on this matter."

"Lord, should we recall Wang Yingxiong or Fan Yiheng?"

According to common sense, when two cabinet ministers have different opinions, Qian Qianyi, as the chief minister of the cabinet, should step forward and play the role of making the final decision. However, when faced with the questioning of the two, he, the cabinet minister, hesitated and didn't know how to respond.

Why?

According to his original intention, he wanted to transfer another troop to Guizhou, and then decide who would be in charge of the overall situation in Sichuan and Guizhou after seeing the performance of the two sides.

But now Ma and Yuan are already arguing like this, if he gets involved it will become the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

In this way, the situation will not only become more complicated, but also difficult to control. If others knew that the three cabinet ministers had quarreled, how would he, as the Prime Minister, keep his face?

So after coming out of the Qianqing Palace, after much thought, Lord Qian finally gave up his original plan. It was a good way to stay out of the matter and watch the fight between two tigers.

Honestly speaking, Qian Qianyi wanted very much to be a good Prime Minister and help His Majesty rebuild the Ming Dynasty, but compared with Ma and Yuan, he was far behind in practical matters.

Due to his limited abilities, he not only lost the initiative in front of the emperor, but also lost control of the situation after returning to Wenyuan Pavilion. If Zhu Cilang had not been unable to find a candidate to replace him as the Prime Minister, Qian Qianyi's position as the Prime Minister would have come to an end after today's incident.

At this point, some people may think that this is not the case. Not only is Yuan Jixian, a minister with a frontier record, qualified to be the Prime Minister, but even a treacherous minister like Ma Shiying who has made serious mistakes can temporarily serve in the position. How can it be said that Zhu Cilang has no one at his disposal?
However, judging from the current situation, the conflict between Zhu Cilang and the civil officials will inevitably become increasingly intense with his various actions.

If conflicts broke out one day, he was confident that he could use Qian Qianyi as a tool to suppress the civil servants, but he did not think that Yuan Jixian and Ma Shiying would betray the civil servant group.

Under such circumstances, even if Qian Qianyi was incompetent, Zhu Cilang had no choice but to put him in this position.

Fortunately, Qian Qianyi just lacked practical experience and was not born stupid. After listening to all this, how could he not adjust his ideas?

"In my opinion, neither of them should be recalled."

After the words fell, Ma and Yuan were stunned. After that, before seeing what Ma Shiying did, Yuan Jixian said anxiously: "Sir, placing two governors in one place is a recipe for disaster. How can we stop Zhang Xianzhong with the remaining troops when they are hindering each other?!"

Yuan Jixian was aware of this, and Ma Shiying was even more aware of it, so from the beginning to the end they had always focused their argument on which one should be recalled, but had never thought of keeping both of them in Sichuan and Guizhou together.

In the original history, because the small Southern Ming court was defeated all the way and had no energy to pay attention to local affairs, the issue of appointing two governors of Sichuan has never been corrected.

After this situation lasted for nearly a year, the generals in Sichuan finally became at a loss as they were ordered to leave the two places. When Zhang Xianzhong died and the Qing army launched a large-scale attack, more than a dozen generals in Sichuan had already acted on their own, and the Qing army easily took Tianfu.

"Ji Tong misunderstood." Seeing that Yuan Jixian was a little excited, Qian Qianyi put on a smile. Then he looked at Ma Shiying who was silent, and then continued: "How could I not know that the generals would be at a loss if I led him to go out? But Yaocao's concerns are reasonable, so I thought of letting Wang Yingxiong withdraw from Sichuan and Guizhou and station him in Kuidong in the name of training a new army."

When Yuan Jixian heard the words, he recalled the information about Kuidong in his mind, and Ma Shiying's eyes flickered, and he was obviously also in deep thought.

The so-called Kuidong refers to the large area east of Kuimen, and Kuimen is an important pass into Sichuan.

If Wang Yingxiong were allowed to train troops here, there would be no need to worry about the generals in Sichuan being at a loss because of two superiors. What is even more rare is that once there is a change in Sichuan, the court will not be at a loss as to how to deal with it.

Great!
As soon as Qian Qianyi finished speaking, Ma Shiying couldn't help but have this thought in his mind.

Qian Qianyi's performance today revealed his weaknesses. When he had already lost points, Ma Shiying regarded Yuan Jixian as his main opponent. However, who would have thought that he was delayed with Yuan Jixian for a long time here, which allowed Qian Qianyi to stabilize his position.

Under such circumstances, how could Ma Shiying, who aimed to regain the position of Prime Minister, not feel upset?
At this point, the three of them had no reason to argue any further. Qian Qianyi took the lead, followed by Ma and Yuan. In about half an incense stick's time, they stepped into the Qianqing Palace again.

"Hey, Duke Wei?"

As soon as they entered the palace gate, they saw Xu Yinjue coming towards them. However, this duke who was ordered to be in charge of all matters related to the river defense had a worried look on his face, and they didn't know whether he had met with trouble with the emperor.

"Oh, it's the three elders."

There was a large open space in front of the Qianqing Palace. When the three people saw Xu Yinjue, their figures naturally came into his sight.

Afterwards, several people greeted each other and exchanged pleasantries, but when they parted, the three old guys couldn't help but look at each other.

"Why not wait a little longer?"

Ma Shiying understood clearly that since Xu Yinjue's complexion was not very good, then His Majesty's mood would not necessarily be very good.

Under such circumstances, if the three of them went ahead and pretended to be there, they might get into trouble. It would be better for them to return to Wenyuan Pavilion for a while and report back to His Majesty when His Majesty was in a better mood. Qian Qianyi didn't care about this, but when he was about to agree, he heard Yuan Jixian's voice first.

"The military situation is urgent. How can we afford to delay?"

"Ji Tong's words make sense. We should deal with this matter as soon as possible. Let's report our proposal to His Majesty first before discussing other matters."

Fence-sitter!!

Seeing this situation, Ma Shiying was naturally complaining in his heart, but no matter how much he complained, he could not go back alone and let the two of them take the credit. In this way, no matter how unhappy he was, he had no choice but to submit to the two of them.

A moment later, the three of them arrived in front of the Qianqing Palace, but when they let the young eunuch go in to report, they all felt a sinking feeling in their hearts.

The eyes of these little eunuchs were red, as if they had just cried.

If one person cries, it means he is punished, but if all of them cry.
I'm afraid I'm going to get hung up!
With this in mind, the three of them became more cautious, and only when they heard the voice of being summoned from inside did they walk in carefully.

In fact, according to their understanding of His Majesty, they did not think that he would let an old minister like them lose face. However, the sad face of Duke Wei and the red eyes made them have to be careful.

After all, ministers of their status should resign on their own initiative if His Majesty gave them some hints. How could they put themselves in such an embarrassing situation?
When they entered the hall, Zhu Cilang was having a meal.

Needless to say, there was a round of formalities afterwards. Just when Qian Qianyi was about to report the proposed strategy, he heard Zhu Cilang speaking directly to his side.

"Zhou Quan, add more bowls and chopsticks. The ministers can have lunch with me."

"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. Wenyuan Pavilion has already prepared everything."

"It doesn't matter. You still have to eat on time."

Since His Majesty had said so, the three of them no longer refused. When the three of them sat at the end of the long table, Zhu Cilang pointed at the dishes on the plates and began to speak.

"This tastes good. Let the three elders have a taste."

"It's good for the spleen and stomach. The three ministers should use more."

"Oh, you only use this little bit, how can you share my worries?"

After a while, half of the food on the table was eaten. Just when the three old men felt a little bloated and kept thinking about how to avoid His Majesty's recommendation, Zhu Cilang asked a question out of the blue.

"I think the three elders all know about the Queen Mother's selection of a concubine for me."

Hmm? Why do you mention this?

Hmm? Could this be the reason why Duke Wei looked so sad?
Hmm? Something is wrong. Be careful.

As soon as the words fell, three different thoughts immediately arose in Yuan, Ma and Qian's minds.

Although not everyone knew why Empress Dowager Zou brought Xu Shaoyue to her side, the three of them were the top civil servants in the Ming Dynasty, so even if they did not know, they would inevitably hear some rumors behind the scenes.

It's just that topics always have great inertia, so when Zhu Cilang brought up this matter, the three of them would naturally think more about it.

But then again, Zhu Cilang had a lot of gossip about the emperor in his mind, which made his conversation seem a bit far-fetched.

Under such circumstances, even if the three of them realized that something was wrong, due to the lack of information, how could they guess the real intention of His Majesty's words?
"I have heard some of it," Qian Qianyi paused here, as if he was thinking about the relevant information in his mind, or just paused: "However, I have been in Yingtian all my life, so I don't know much. I can only wait to drink at your majesty's wedding."

After saying this, Qian Qianyi sat on the chair and bowed slightly to Zhu Cilang, then with a smile on his face left the right to speak to others.

"Oh, if this matter is settled, the government will surely be stable. But I wonder which daughter has such good fortune?"

As Yuan Jixian finished speaking, it was Ma Shiying's turn to speak, but he had already thought about it for several rounds while the other two were talking. By now, he not only realized the risks involved, but also realized that he had been tricked by Qian Qianyi.

In this situation, the only way to delay time is to put down the bowl and chopsticks and wipe the corners of the mouth.

At first glance, this seemed like just gossip, but how could there be gossip between the emperor and three cabinet ministers?
If we contact the gloomy Duke of Wei again.
Is Your Majesty dissatisfied with the daughter of the Xu family?
No, Your Majesty has not only met the girl from the Xu family, but has also admired the lotus flowers with her. If he was really dissatisfied with her, how could he have behaved like this?
Is Your Majesty dissatisfied with the Queen Mother's interference in his marriage?

That's not right. If you love a house, you can love everyone in it. If you hate a house, you can hate everyone in it. If he was really dissatisfied, he would not treat the girl from the Xu family like that.

But why is this?
In just three or two moves, Ma Shiying's thoughts turned several rounds in his mind, but no matter how hard he thought, he couldn't figure out what this question was pointing to.

In this case, he could only bite the bullet and answer: "I have been in Hangzhou before, and I know a little about this matter. The Queen Mother favored the only daughter of Duke Wei and took her in to her side to train her for some time. It's just that I haven't informed Your Majesty yet, so I neglected it."

"Well," Zhu Cilang did not say much after hearing the three people's answers, but just nodded slowly. However, when the three people were full of doubts, they heard him continue, "Lord Ma, I wonder how many people the Queen Mother had chosen at the beginning?"

After he finished speaking, Qian and Yuan still sat upright, but apart from their gazes, which they could not change openly, the rest of their attention was on Ma Shiying.

At this point, even though Yuan Jixian was a little slow in understanding such matters, he discovered the weirdness in it.

He certainly didn't know what attitude His Majesty held towards the girl from the Xu family, but from General Xu Yinjue's sad face and His Majesty's seemingly nonsensical question, he could easily tell that there must be something unknown going on.

Of course, this not being known does not necessarily mean it is all bad, but in the officialdom, one must consider failure before victory. Now that no one knows the reasons, how can they act rashly?

Fortunately, Ma Shiying was there to support us.

(End of this chapter)