Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 637: Dissuasion is useless
Wu Weiying's words touched the heart of Emperor Chongzhen. When he learned that Zhu Shenzhui had started a rebellion, Emperor Chongzhen was shocked and angry. However, after reading the manifesto, Emperor Chongzhen wished he could pull out Zhu Shenzhui's tendons and skin him alive.

The great emperor of the Ming Dynasty was actually scolded like this by a small clan member. What made people even more angry was that Zhu Shenzhui even said in his manifesto to "clean up the court and pacify the country". You should know that Zhu Di was the emperor who got the throne by pacifying the country. As a descendant of Yongle, Emperor Chongzhen could not tolerate others saying that their lineage was not legitimate. But now Zhu Shenzhui raised the same banner of "pacifying the country" as Zhu Di did back then, which was equivalent to rubbing his head on the ground. The degree of humiliation made him almost explode.

The only thought of Emperor Chongzhen now was to capture Zhu Shenzui, to see exactly what kind of lunatic he was, and then to cut him into pieces to vent his hatred.

Under such circumstances, Wu Weiying and Li Guozhen, who were in charge of the Beijing Camp, took the initiative to volunteer, which made Emperor Chongzhen very pleased. Looking at the Prime Minister and cabinet ministers who didn't say much, Emperor Chongzhen felt that the nobles were considerate. After all, they were marquises who shared the same fate with the country, and they were the only ones who could help him solve his problems at the critical moment.

"Good!" Emperor Chongzhen said loudly: "Gongshun Marquis Wu Weiying! Xiangcheng Earl Li Guozhen!"

"Chen is here!"

"I order you to go into battle, lead the Beijing camp to defeat the rebels, and capture the thief Zhu Shenzhui!"

"I obey your command! I will capture Zhu Shenzhui alive and leave him to Your Majesty to deal with..." Wu Weiying and Li Guozhen said in unison, both of them looked excited and confident.

"No!" At this time, cabinet minister Fan Fucui hurriedly dissuaded him, saying, "Your Majesty, the enemy situation is unclear now. I think we should not act rashly. We should strictly guard the capital, issue an imperial edict to order the nine borders to come to our aid, and then fight the enemy after the foreign troops arrive in Beijing. It will be safer..."

"Master Fan, are you looking down on our soldiers in the Beijing Army?" Wu Weiying couldn't help but interrupt Fan Fucui before he could finish his words, his face extremely ugly: "Zhu Shenzhu, a member of the royal family, rebelled and took Baoding by chance. He forced his troops to the capital. The capital has 200,000 soldiers in the Beijing Army, but he wants help from foreign troops? Isn't this a joke? What's more, Zhu Shenzhu is not well-known, and his troops are at best refugees, bandits, and ruffians, with a few knights at most. What can they accomplish?"

"This is not an invasion by the Jiannu, so why should we worry about these mere rebels? If we avoid the enemy and do not fight, where will the face of our Ming Dynasty be? Where will the dignity of Your Majesty be? Your Majesty! I am willing to issue a military order and lead the Beijing camp to the battle, and I will definitely capture the thief Zhu Shenzhu alive!"

"Your Majesty, I am also willing to receive the military order!" As soon as Wu Weiying finished speaking, Li Guozhen also said so. At the same time, he looked at Fan Fucui with disdain and directly ridiculed Fan Fucui for being too cautious. However, why should the border troops be mobilized for such a traitor? Could it be that their Beijing camp was just a vegetarian?
Without the border troops, he could definitely capture Zhu Shenzhui with the Beijing Camp. In his opinion, Zhu Shenzhui was nothing more than a downtrodden royal family member and an arrogant person. How could he brazenly bring a group of rabble to purge the emperor and pacify the country? It was really ridiculous.

Although it was surprising that Zhu Shenzhui captured Baoding, in his opinion, the loss of Baoding was definitely not a crime committed in war. You have to know that in Baoding there was not only Yang Wenyue, but also Cao Minglei, with four to five thousand soldiers at hand. Even if they were defeated, at least they could deliver the news in time. How could they lose it without any news at all?

Li Guozhen told Emperor Chongzhen that he thought there were only two possibilities for the loss of Baoding. The first possibility was that it was caused by a sneak attack by Zhu Shencui. Perhaps Zhu Shencui used his status as a royal family member to paralyze Yang Wenyue and Cao Minglei, and suddenly launched an attack on them, catching them off guard, which led to Baoding falling into the hands of the thieves.

As for the second possibility, it is that Yang Wenyue and Cao Minglei surrendered to the enemy, or they were in cahoots with Zhu Shenzhui and had already agreed to surrender the city as soon as Zhu Shenzhui arrived in Baoding in order to conspire for great things and seek wealth and glory.

But this possibility is very small. After all, judging from the situations of Yang Wenyue and Cao Minglei, it is hard to understand why they would go to a rebellious royal family without any confidence. Moreover, these two people have no connection with Shanxi. Especially Yang Wenyue, who is a genuine Jinshi, has a good reputation as an official, is loyal to the court and capable, otherwise Emperor Chongzhen would not have appointed him as the governor of Baoding.

Therefore, Li Guozhen believed that the former was the most likely possibility. The loss of Baoding was a complete accident. Zhu Shenzhui had no capable troops at all, and at best they were just a mob. Now that Baoding had been taken, it would be impossible for Zhu Shenzhui to completely recover the Ming army in Baoding and use it for his own purposes in such a short period of time. Moreover, considering that he was stationed in Baoding, Zhu Shenzhui would have to allocate part of his troops to Baoding, so the troops he had would be even fewer.

If we just defend the city and wait for the reinforcements from the nine frontiers to arrive before fighting again, it will take at least ten days or half a month. A lot can be done in this half month. If we don't quickly defeat Zhu Shencui and recapture Baoding, maybe the Ming army in Baoding can be incorporated by Zhu Shencui, and then it will become a force in Zhu Shencui's hands.

As one side gained, the other lost, not only did the prestige of the Ming Dynasty drop, but it also made Emperor Chongzhen lose face, and it would not be so easy to wipe out Zhu Shenzhui's troops in the future. What's more, this matter must be resolved very quickly and must not be delayed. If the news spread to all parts of the Ming Dynasty, it would not only cause local shocks, but also lead to the recurrence of bandit rebellions that had been eased in various places, which would be even more detrimental to the rule of the Ming Dynasty. It can be seen from this that the best option is to send troops immediately with the Beijing Camp as the main force to give Zhu Shenzhui a head-on blow. As long as the rebels are defeated and Zhu Shenzhui is captured, this farce will be settled. The longer it is delayed, the more trouble it will cause.

Li Guozhen was a man of great eloquence and was trusted by Emperor Chongzhen. Not long ago, Emperor Chongzhen summoned Li Guozhen to the palace to discuss with him the plan to reorganize the Beijing Camp. Although the matter had not been finalized, Li Guozhen was now the second-in-command of the Beijing Camp, and his authority was second only to Admiral Wu Weiying.

Emperor Chongzhen might be a little worried about Wu Weiying, but he had absolute trust in Li Guozhen, and he felt that what Li Guozhen said made sense. This must not be delayed. If it was delayed for ten days or half a month, and then waited for the border troops to come to the rescue and start the war, even if Zhu Shenzhu was finally wiped out, at least nearly a month would have passed.

If this is the case, how will the people of the world view him as an emperor? And how will they view the Ming Dynasty? Don't forget that Zhu Shenzhui was raising the banner of clearing the court of corrupt officials and pacifying the country. If other members of the royal family felt that the Ming Dynasty court was strong on the outside but weak on the inside, or if local bandits and generals also had such ideas, and then followed suit, it is easy to imagine what Emperor Chongzhen would face.

Emperor Chongzhen did not hesitate any longer and directly ordered Wu Weiying and Li Guozhen to lead the troops of the Beijing camp to go into battle. They must defeat the rebels in one fell swoop and capture Zhu Shenzhu alive.

The cabinet ministers, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Works and other departments were prepared to cooperate and work together to quell the rebellion.

After saying this, Emperor Chongzhen said no more and ordered people to make preparations immediately. This matter should be done as soon as possible. He was impatient to see Zhu Shenzhui being captured. He wanted to see what this daring royal family member looked like and where he got the courage to rebel and purge the court and quell the national crisis.

"Prime Minister, why didn't you say anything just now?" After leaving the Qianqing Palace and watching Wu Weiying and Li Guozhen leave in a hurry, Fan Fucui said to Prime Minister Wen Tihen with concern.

Just now, during the meeting in front of the emperor, Wen Tihen said a few words at the beginning, and then acted like a clay Buddha. Especially when Emperor Chongzhen agreed to Wu Weiying and Li Guozhen's initiative to volunteer and ordered the Beijing camp to go to the battlefield to quell the rebellion, Wen Tihen did not say a word, which made Fan Fucui very puzzled.

Wen Tiren glanced at Fan Fucui, shook his head slightly and said nothing. He sighed, waved his sleeves and walked away without explaining. Seeing this, Fan Fucui hurried forward to ask more questions, but was stopped by the deputy assistant Zhang Zhifa. Zhang Zhifa pulled him aside and whispered: "Why did Yupo force the chief assistant? Didn't you see the emperor's appearance just now? You also know the emperor's temper. Now that the emperor has made a decision, Wu Weiying and Li Guozhen's words are just going with the flow. The key lies in the emperor's thoughts."

"The Prime Minister has always been a cautious person. How could he possibly offend His Majesty at this time? Even if you, Fan Yupo, persuade him again, His Majesty will never change his mind. In this case, why bother to offend him?"

Fan Fucui's face changed slightly. He couldn't help but said, "Of course I know what Lord Xiansong said, but this matter is serious and we must be careful! Moreover, the enemy army came from afar and was able to capture Baoding in a blink of an eye. I'm afraid it's not as simple as we thought. Once the Beijing camp is defeated, the situation will be out of control. What kind of people are Wu Weiying and Li Guozhen? If others don't know, how could Lord Xiansong not know?"

"In my opinion, we can't be too careful about this matter. The capital is the center of the world. Once the capital camp is defeated, the capital will be in turmoil, and the whole world will be shocked! At that time, it will not be as simple as destroying the bandits. Maybe the capital will be difficult to defend. In this case, it is safest to order the border troops to come to the rescue, and the capital camp will garrison the nine gates first, and wait for the reinforcements to arrive before fighting. Why take such a risk?"

After hearing this, Zhang Zhifa couldn't help but smile and shook his head. He felt that Fan Fucui was too careful and cautious. In his opinion, the Beijing Camp was no longer able to fight, but its size was still there, and the equipment of the Beijing Camp was much better than that of ordinary Ming troops. Even if its combat effectiveness was not as good as that of the border troops, it was still better than that of the garrison troops.

It might be a good thing to let the Beijing Army fight. Even if there are some losses, it can still deal a heavy blow to Zhu Shenzhui. In his opinion, what kind of army can Zhu Shenzhui, a low-ranking member of the royal family, have? It's nothing more than a mob. More importantly, Zhang Zhifa has always been a follower of Prime Minister Wen Tiren. He will support whatever Wen Tiren supports and oppose whatever Wen Tiren opposes. Since Wen Tiren doesn't say anything, why should Zhang Zhifa go to such trouble?
After exchanging a few perfunctory words with Fan Fucui, Zhang Zhifa bowed and took his leave. Watching Zhang Zhifa's figure disappear into the distance and then looking back at the majestic Qianqing Palace behind him, Fan Fucui felt bitter and worried, but as an ordinary cabinet minister he was powerless to do anything. In the end he could only sigh and walk away.

(End of this chapter)