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

Chapter 785 Imperial Envoy Chen Xinjia

"What? Can I still lie to you?" Zhu Shenzhui asked back with a smile and curse.

Wang Jinwu scratched his head in embarrassment and said with a chuckle, "Of course, of course... If that's the case, it's indeed inconvenient for me to leave Beijing, but when do you plan to do this? I also need to prepare in advance, in case someone is blind, I don't need you to ask, I will take action directly, to be the first to strike."

"No hurry. The war in Liaodong has not ended yet. We can still handle this matter after the siege of Jinzhou is lifted. Besides, Wen Tiren still needs to make some preparations. Besides Wen Tiren and me, you are the only one who knows about this matter now."

"I understand! I will keep my mouth shut, you can rest assured." Wang Jinwu patted his chest and swore to the sky.

Seeing him like this, Zhu Shenzui raised his foot to kick him rudely, but the boy was smart and dodged quickly. Then he smiled and bowed and said something like "The Regent is busy with all kinds of affairs and I cannot disturb you", and then he ran away.

"This brat!" Looking at the direction where Wang Jinwu left, Zhu Shenzhui felt both amused and angry. He was already a general but was still so jumpy. However, this was also a good thing. Zhu Shenzhui felt extremely pressured after becoming the regent. He even lamented in private many times that his life was not as comfortable as before. But since he had taken this step, he could only bite the bullet and move forward. There was no turning back on this road. Even if there was an abyss ahead, he had to keep moving forward.

The one in a high position is alone and helpless, and he now deeply understands this feeling. Even Zhou Anmin and Xu Xiancheng are not as friendly to him as before. This has nothing to do with loyalty, but is because of the change in his status and identity. Therefore, he is naturally much more respectful in his words and deeds than before.

This kind of alienation is helpless, who makes him the regent now? When he becomes the real emperor in the future, this situation may be even worse. And Wang Jinwu's unreasonable and unreasonable behavior today made Zhu Shenzhu feel a rare closeness, which is why Zhu Shenzhu was not angry at all. Instead, he privately revealed the news of Wen Tihen's persuasion to ascend the throne to him, and told Wang Jinwu that he must stay in the capital at this critical moment to deter all parties with force, just in case.

Although Zhu Shenzhu agreed to Wen Tiren's suggestion that he should first become the King of Wu, and then arrange for Emperor Chongzhen to abdicate and finally ascend the throne, it was not so simple to implement. It was not something that could be done by Zhu Shenzhu's nod today and Wen Tiren's persuasion in the court tomorrow.

The attitudes of all forces in the Ming Dynasty, as well as the reactions of the upper and lower levels, including the local areas, etc., all must be considered. Once Zhu Shenzhu ascends to the position of King of Wu, everyone will immediately understand what this means. Once he ascends to the position of King of Wu, then he will officially replace the previous emperor. Will there be turmoil in the Ming Dynasty? How will the local areas react? These must be taken with caution. Moreover, the internal and external troubles of the Ming Dynasty have not been resolved. The internal bandits are still being encircled and suppressed, and the war in Liaodong is also going on. If the turmoil is too great and the reaction is fierce, it will be counterproductive.

Just like before, stability is paramount, and Zhu Shenzhui cannot be careless. Although Wen Tiren is the chief minister, he must cooperate with Zhu Shenzhui and plan and arrange in advance to ensure that nothing goes wrong. Therefore, in this situation, Wang Jinwu and the troops under his control must not move. As long as Wang Jinwu and the new army are in the capital, the central government of the Ming Dynasty will not be able to make any waves, and any opposing opinions can be easily suppressed. As for the extent to which the influence of the local areas can be suppressed, we can only do our best to eliminate some possibilities as much as possible.

For the sake of stability, Zhu Shenzhu decided to wait until the Liaodong war was over before doing this. As long as the Liaodong war was over, the siege of Jinzhou was lifted, and the external pressure on the Ming Dynasty was reduced, then the control of this matter would be greater, and the possible turmoil would be much less.

The internal division of the Eight Banners also gave Zhu Shenzhui a good opportunity. If he could take this opportunity to completely divide and disintegrate the Eight Banners as discussed today, then the Liaodong issue would be completely resolved in the near future. Even if it could not be done in the most ideal way, it could still create a lot of trouble for Huang Taiji. After the internal strife of the Eight Banners, Huang Taiji would have to solve the internal problems first in order to stabilize his regime. By then, Huang Taiji would not be able to attack the Ming Dynasty as recklessly as before, and the Ming Dynasty would be able to take a breath in Liaodong, so that it could calmly make arrangements for the decisive battle in the future.

The next day after Chen Xinjia received the order, he left the capital and went to Shandong. When he arrived in Shandong, he met Li Xin, told him the purpose of his visit and took out the imperial edict.

Seeing this, Li Xin naturally expressed his full cooperation and gave Chen Xinjia a detailed introduction to the current situation in Shandong, including the troops of Zheng Hongkui and Li You who had crossed the sea. Chen Xinjia was naturally familiar with military affairs, and immediately asked Li Xin for advice and discussed the matter. The two had the same background, both were successful officials, and were also both talented in civil and military affairs. They had a lot in common with each other, and they felt that they had met too late when they met and talked, and in the end they even called each other brothers.

Originally, Li Xin planned to let Chen Xinjia stay in Shandong, and he would find someone to take a boat to Ludao to inform Zheng Hongkui and Li You, and ask them to send warships to bring Jing Wuer and Guan Bao to Laizhou to receive the imperial edict and be conferred the title.

But Chen Xinjia said that it was not necessary to do so. He had thought about it before coming and decided to go to Ludao in person. Now that Huang Taiji's navy had been annihilated by Zheng Hongkui, Ludao was on the sea, some distance away from the Liaodong mainland. With Zheng Hongkui's navy, his safety on Ludao was naturally no problem. Moreover, he came here not only to announce the imperial decree to Jing Wuer and Guan Bao, but also to carry out the subsequent tasks to divide and disintegrate the Eight Banners. How could he command from afar in Shandong? He must lead the front line in person, so that he can grasp first-hand information and be flexible.

Seeing that Chen Xinjia was so persistent, Li Xin stopped persuading him and let him rest for a day while Li Xin arranged a boat to take Chen Xinjia across the sea.

There are many ships in Laizhou now. In addition to the ships seized in the previous auction, merchants in Shandong voluntarily donated ships to the Shandong Navy for the profit in Liaodong to transport the materials. There are more than ten ships of different sizes, which can meet the transportation needs of the Navy outside of military operations. In addition, in the previous naval battles, the Ming army also seized a lot of enemy warships. Except for the intact ones, these warships were directly incorporated into Zheng Hongkui's fleet. The remaining wounded and repaired ones were all pulled back to Shandong. When these warships are repaired, the number of warships of the Shandong Navy will be further increased, greatly enhancing the original strength.

Li Xin quickly made arrangements. He specially dispatched a large merchant ship that was originally scheduled to go to Ludao in three days. This merchant ship had a thousand tons of cargo and was one of the merchant ships that the merchant surnamed Zhao had joined. The large ship sailed relatively smoothly, because they were worried that Chen Xinjia had never been out to sea by boat, and the small boat would be bumpy and unsafe.

In addition to this large ship, there were three warships escorting the ship, which set sail two days in advance. On the day of sailing, Li Xin personally sent Chen Xinjia on board, watched the ship leave the dock, and then set sail northward.

It took Chen Xinjia four days to get to Ludao by boat from Laizhou, and those four days were not very pleasant. Chen Xinjia, who was going out to sea for the first time, vomited a lot soon after the boat set sail, and was very seasick. However, Chen Xinjia was also a man, and he managed to hold on for two days after taking medicine. When he was about to arrive at Ludao on the fourth day, he had adapted a lot. Knowing that Ludao was right in front of him, Chen Xinjia asked someone to bring his official uniform and dressed neatly. When the boat docked at Ludao Pier, Chen Xinjia, wearing a majestic official uniform and a black gauze hat, came out of the cabin, stood steadily on the deck, and looked at the people who greeted him at the pier.

"Your humble servant Zheng Hongkui (your humble servant Li You), the deputy general of Laizhou, pays his respects to Lord Chen." Zheng Hongkui was the main general, so naturally he led the team to greet him. Beside him was Li You. When the two saw Chen Xinjia stepping down the boat and reaching the dock, they hurried forward to greet him and pay their respects.

Behind them were officials from the navy and army at all levels. Two of them were dressed the same but wore slightly different hats on their heads, with a braid showing from behind the hat. Their faces and skin color were slightly different from those of ordinary Ming people, so Chen Xinjia knew without asking that these two people must be Zhang Jingjing Wuer and Guan Bao, the Niulu of the Eight Banners who came to surrender.

"Marshal Zheng, you have worked hard, General Li, you have worked hard, all the soldiers have worked hard..." Chen Xinjia did not put on airs. If it were any other civil official, he would have looked down upon the military officers in such an occasion. But Chen Xinjia was different. He did not look down on the military officers, and was very kind. He took a few steps forward and helped Zheng Hongkui up first, then helped Li You up, and then smiled and thanked all the soldiers for their hard work.

Chen Xinjia's attitude immediately won the favor of the soldiers present. They all felt that this gentleman was very good. Not only did he not look down on them, but he was also so polite.

In fact, on the one hand, Chen Xinjia had stayed at the border for many years and was good at dealing with military men. On the other hand, he also knew the purpose of his visit. To carry out many things, he must have the cooperation of Zheng Hongkui and Li You. In addition, Chen Xinjia knew the background of Zheng Hongkui and Li You better than anyone else.

The former is one of the Zheng brothers. The Zheng family has a huge influence on the sea. Although Zheng Zhilong was recruited, his status in the Ming Dynasty is quite unique. Although his official position is not high, he has great autonomy and ordinary civil servants cannot afford to offend him.

As for Li You, it goes without saying that as the Minister of War, how could he not know that Li You was a disciple of Wang Jinwu? He was also a military commander brought up by Wang Jinwu. And who was Wang Jinwu? He was the cousin of the Regent. There were also rumors that Li You's father, Li Hu, was a sworn brother of the Regent. With such a relationship, how could Chen Xinjia be so powerful?

He met Zheng Hongkui and Li You with a smile on his face and exchanged a few words of greeting. Then Chen Xinjia asked where the two Jurchen warriors who had turned from darkness to light were.

Zheng Hongkui and Li You immediately called Jing Wuer and Guan Bao to come forward and introduce the two to Chen Xinjia. Chen Xinjia was even more enthusiastic towards them. He held their hands, praised them and said many nice words. This made Jing Wuer and Guan Bao, who were straightforward in character, very fond of Chen Xinjia, the imperial envoy and assistant minister of the Ministry of War. They smiled happily, revealing their yellow teeth.

(End of this chapter)