Chapter 167 The Capital

Ye Busuo said: "General Zhu is cooperating with the officials in Yuzhou to gather the bandits and their followers."

"Oh." Ying Yi understood and said, "How did you do it? How many people were gathered?"

Ye Bushou said: "General Zhu will send out troops one at a time and capture more than ten thousand prisoners. After selecting and questioning the guilty, Liangshan will be sent to Nanyang for resettlement."

Ying Yi nodded: "Those who eat and kill people must die. Zhu Bingkun should know what I think."

Ye Bushou said: "Those who eat people and kill people will die. For every ten thousand people, three or four thousand will be beheaded."

Master Li and his disciples on the side were stunned.

Li Zhenren said: "My lord, three or four times out of ten, this is too harsh."

Ying Yi shook his head slightly: "In troubled times, heavy rules are used. Cannibals are already beasts, and so are murderers. If you don't kill them, the people will not be angry."

He smiled and said to the little Taoist priest beside him: "What do Jingming think?"

The little Taoist priest gritted his teeth: "My lord is right."

Ying Yi laughed.

After laughing, he said: "I don't just kill people to pay for my life. Master Li should know that I am not big now and there are too many people to support me. In this case, why don't I raise good people and have to use the already tight food to support those people?" What about the animals? Instead of doing this, why not let the good people eat better?"

Li Zhenren was speechless.

Jiujiu said: "It's just that killing too much is not a good thing."

Ying Yi laughed and said: "The world is in chaos and morals are in ruins. We are about to use iron and blood methods to bring order to the chaos."

Then he said, "Where have Zheng Wu and Zheng Jiu's troops gone?"

"The two generals Zheng Wu and Zheng Jiu are fifty miles away from the bandits' camp and are hiding in the mountains." Ye Busuo said.

Ying Yi said: "Very good."

He added: "How long will it take for Zhu Bingkun to collect all the thieves and followers?"

"It's expected tomorrow." Ye Bushou said.

Ying Yi nodded again: "Okay."

Then he said: "Tell them to always pay attention to the intruders. What I want is a complete Kaifeng, not ruins."

"Here."

Then the two fast horses broke away from the team and soon disappeared into the wilderness.

Ying Yi then smiled at Li Zhenren and said: "I want to open the hearts of the people, and the intruder is my chess piece to conquer the hearts of the people. But I can't go too far. He opens the seal, and I save the seal, but I can't let him break the seal."

Li Zhenren bowed his head and said: "Your Excellency is wise."

Ying Yi waved his hand: "Where is the wisdom? I disdain such methods, but now I have to do it. I need to stabilize the situation in the Central Plains as soon as possible, and I don't have much time to conquer the people's hearts."

Li Zhenren asked suspiciously: "Sir, you seem to be a little impatient?"

Ying Yi raised his head and looked north: "There is a ferocious beast in the north..."

Li Zhenren was startled for a long time, and he suddenly realized: "My lord, are you talking about Tatars?"

Without waiting for Ying Yi to speak, Li Zhenren said: "The Tatars are indeed a ferocious beast. At the beginning of the year, the Ming Dynasty had lost all control of Liaodong. However, Shanhaiguan is naturally dangerous and Guan Ning's army also has some fighting capacity. If the Tatars want to break through, I'm afraid Not easy."

Ying Yi nodded, shook his head, and asked Zhenren Li: "In my opinion, am I afraid of the Tatars?"

Li Zhenren shook his head: "Your Majesty, why are you afraid of the Tatars?"

Ying Yi nodded: "Yes, I am not afraid of the Tatars. I will kill as many as they come. But can the hundreds of millions of people in the north be afraid of the Tatars?"

Li Zhenren was speechless.

Ying Yi said: "Since the rise of the Tatars, they have repeatedly invaded the south. They have treated our Yanhuang Miao and Xia people as livestock and lambs, killing and plundering them wantonly. Their behavior is more vicious than bandits. They are not of my race." "

Mr. Li kept nodding his head.

Ying Yi said: "But in reality, the population of the Tatars is only one million, and their troops are only one hundred thousand. Even though the Ming Dynasty was in decline, how could it not be able to resist it? Because of external control, the Liaodong warlords raised thieves and respected themselves. As for getting out of control."

At this point, he sneered again and again: "To say that you are invincible is a big joke in the world! The Tatars are not copper-headed and iron-armed, so why can't they be invincible? With millions of taels of salary every year, all of them are fed Dog. What else do you expect from the so-called Guan Ningjun?"

He sneered again and again: "They are all beasts. They watch the Tatars kill and plunder their own people, but they do nothing. They only know about those yellow and white things, but they abandon the dignity of their country and the country and let the barbarians trample on them. They all deserve to die."

Master Li and his disciple Wei Ran sighed.

Ying Yi chuckled for a while and said: "The Ming Dynasty should die, but the people should not suffer. I don't have expectations for Guan Ning's army, so I naturally want to strengthen myself quickly. Once the Tatars enter the pass, I must react immediately. Is it possible to wait? Can’t they send troops only after the Tatars have slaughtered all the people in the north?”

He pointed back at Kaifeng: "The millions of households in Kaifeng are where my expectations lie."

He opened his fingers and then closed them again: "The land of the Central Plains is where my expectations lie."

"The people's support belongs to me, but I don't have so much time to grind it out. I can only get it by extraordinary means."

Ying Yi's heroic words seemed to flash before his eyes, scenes of tragedy, such as the Jiading Three Massacres, the Yangzhou Tenth Day...these national tragedies must not happen under his nose!

...

The Central Plains is a pot of porridge, and the capital is also a pot of porridge.

As the heart of the Ming Empire, this ancient city reveals colorful decay under the gray sky.

Refugees, beggars, traffickers, pawns, high-ranking officials, and nobles all live in precarious situations, feasting, drunkenness, and death. Everything is here, and it is vividly reflected.

The refugees are waiting for hunger and cold, the common people are living in poverty, the dignitaries are living in drunken dreams, and the scholars and scholars are invincible. Except for the emperor who lives in the Forbidden City, his head turns gray with sorrow, few people seem to be able to wake up from this dream.

In the Qianqing Palace, a brush statue fell and turned into fragments.

The emperor, who was in his thirties, was like wormwood in the wind. Under his whitish yellow robe, his frail body could not bear the weight of the artifact.

Emperor Chongzhen stared angrily, his pale face flushed strangely, his hands trembling, and he looked away from a memorial with difficulty.

"Why did Sun Chuanting lose? Why did he lose?!"

The emperor slapped the dragon table, causing a large number of memorials to fall all over the floor.

The surrounding eunuchs and maids were as silent as cicadas.

A pair of skinny hands picked up an envelope of memorials scattered on the ground: "Your Majesty, please don't get angry, otherwise you will be ruined by anger."

Emperor Chongzhen took a few deep breaths, suppressed the anger in his heart, and said: "Tell me, what does Sun Chuanting do for food?! I have high hopes for him, and this is how he repays?!"

As he spoke, his anger could no longer be restrained.

Wang Chengen waved his hand, dismissed a group of eunuchs and maids, bowed and said: "Sun Chuanting repays his death with death, why do you want too much?"

He looked at the emperor who was clearly in his thirties and in the prime of his life but had frost-white temples. He sighed secretly in his heart and said: "Although Sun Chuanting was defeated, the Central Plains will not continue to rot. If Ying Yi, the commander-in-chief of Huguang, can fight well, he will be able to break the flow." Thief. Don't worry, Your Majesty, there may be good news in a few days."

When the emperor heard this, his anger subsided: "What I said is right."

Then he said: "I have drawn up a decree for me. Sun Chuanting has failed to suppress the thieves, so he will not be punished, nor will he be granted a posthumous title."