Grand Secretary Fu is not within this scope; this person has already transcended the three realms and exists beyond the five elements, even military officers cannot compare to him.
It felt as though as long as this man did not rebel, the Emperor would not be angry no matter what he did.
The matters concerning Datong were set aside for the time being, the main topic of discussion in the Imperial Court was how to govern Taiwan next.
There was no helping it; matters such as whether or not to send reinforcements to Datong were not things these scholar-officials could discuss.
No, that's not quite right. It might be more accurate to say that if civil and military affairs were simply separated, the Emperor has already established a general staff office within the military, which is filled with scholar-officials who possess military knowledge to serve as advisors.
In the future, it seems it can only be divided into civil and military administration.
However, the administration of Taiwan would be a matter of civil governance. First, it had to be decided who would be sent to take over Taiwan, how the officials there, from top to bottom, would be appointed.
The only thing that can be confirmed now is that Zhang Huangyan and Zheng Chenggong are to return to the imperial court.
The appointment of Taiwan officials was not something that could be resolved at a grand court session.
Zhu Ci dismissed the court after delegating the matter to the Grand Secretariat, then immediately turned around and called all the staff from the General Staff Department to convene a meeting.
This time, Fu did not participate.
The Grand Secretariat ultimately still leaned more toward civil administration; even if Zhu Ci subconsciously wanted to discuss matters with Fu, he would still have to follow the rules.
Although he could be considered the successor to Zhu Yousong's throne, in reality, he was not much different from a founding emperor.
Nowadays, the overall system has undergone a massive transformation and is constantly being refined; the rules he himself established must naturally be followed. If even he does not abide by them, things will only become unrecognizable in the future.
Therefore, no matter how much he was unaccustomed to it, he still did not allow Fu Qingsheng to participate in this military meeting.
Just as the military meeting was halfway through, a new battle report arrived.
Zhu Ci glanced at the battle report and casually handed it to Huang Degong, the Acting Chief of Staff who was closest to him.
Huang Degong was once the Marquis of Jing under the Hongguang Era, stationed in Luzhou and Chuzhou to serve as a barrier for Jiangbei, was the only one among the Four Generals of Jiangbei who did not surrender to the Qing Army.
Previously, because the imperial court had collapsed for a time, Huang Degong had no choice but to defend himself; later, when he returned to the court's side, he was investigated for a long time due to the Ma Gao case.
Only after the case was concluded was Huang Degong finally called upon for service.
This man was brave and skilled in battle, having come from a military background himself, possessed a unique insight into military affairs.
The Deputy Chief of Staff was Zhang Mingzhen, who had once held his own against Zhang Huangyan under Zhu Yihai's command; however, because he lacked significant military achievements, Zhu Ci did not trust him.
After receiving the battle report, Huang Degong's expression immediately turned serious. After reading it, he said to Zhang Mingzhen and the remaining staff officers, "Dorgon has captured four cities in succession, occupying Yunchuan, Huairen, Luanling Pass, Lingguan Pass, is continuing his southward advance."
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Li Zicheng, it's not too late to jump out now and beat Dorgon back. Evil kitty slowly draws its blade. jpg
Next update tomorrow morning at six o'clock.
Chapter 233
Huang Degong said with a serious expression, "Your Majesty, the Zhaoxin Battalion is no match for Dorgon; reinforcements must be sent from elsewhere."
People are no longer very concerned about where Li Zicheng is right now; unless he can suddenly appear with an army in Taiyuan and then take Datong back, his appearance or absence will not affect the overall situation much.
Zhu Ci rested his head on one hand, his eyes slightly closed, his face showing no emotion, even his tone was calm: "Let us all discuss who is suitable to lead troops for reinforcements."
The Wuying Hall fell silent instantly. Huang Degong and Zhang Mingzhen looked at each other in bewilderment, no one else spoke.
On the surface, it was a question of who was suitable to go and reinforce, but in reality, it was a question of who had the confidence to defeat Dorgon.
But how could it be that easy? Never mind Zhang Mingzhen; even Huang Degong would not dare claim to be a match for Dorgon. If he had such ability, he wouldn't have allowed the Qing Army to break through all the way to Nanjing in the first place.
After a moment of silence, Huang Degong took a deep breath and said, "Your Majesty, your servant is willing to go."
Zhu Ci shook his head and said, "Chief of Staff Huang is advanced in years; I truly cannot bear to let him go."
Huang Degong smiled bitterly. His age was indeed not small; he was already sixty years old, because he had fought so fiercely in his youth, he had suffered many ailments, his legs and feet were no longer as nimble as they once were.
This was also why, despite having clear seniority and combat achievements, he had never been sent out to lead troops, was ultimately left in the Capital to serve as a Chief of Staff.
Zhang Mingzhen immediately said, "Your servant is willing to go."
Zhu Ci remained silent, thinking to himself, "Forget about it."
Never mind Dorgon, when you were supporting Zhu Yihai, you couldn't even defeat me, let alone Dorgon.
Fortunately, before Zhu Ci could lose face, Huang Degong spoke up: "Vice Commander Zhang lacks experience; the Zhaoxin Battalion might not necessarily be convinced."
You'd better not go. You haven't fought in many battles; wouldn't you just be walking into a slaughter?
The Zhaoxin Battalion Junior Officer Li Guo had, at the very least, followed Chuangwang on numerous campaigns to the south and north; although he was only a sixth-rank Junior Officer, his ability and experience were far superior to yours.
Of course, Zhang Mingzhen was not without his merits; his insight into the situation was very accurate, aside from failing to see Zhu Ci's potential back then.
However, he cannot be blamed for this. Under normal circumstances, Zhu Ci would never have had the chance to compete for the throne, but who could have expected him to have such an unfair advantage?
Zhang Mingzhen sighed with some shame and finally had no choice but to say, "Your Majesty, General Zhang and General Zheng are about to return to the capital; why not let these two generals lead the expedition instead?"
Zhu Ci was also somewhat hesitant. The achievements of Zhang Huangyan and Zheng Chenggong were indeed significant this time, but the two of them were most skilled in naval warfare; their performance in land battles was not particularly outstanding.
For example, after landing, they basically besieged all the important cities until the enemy surrendered.
On the other hand, the Dutch managed to win quite brilliantly when they sent people over for support.
Zhu Ci hesitated repeatedly before finally saying, "Alright."
After Zhang Huangyan and Zheng Chenggong returned from their campaign, they were first granted rewards. Zhu Ci took it easy; Zheng Chenggong was titled the Earl of Yanping, while Zhang Huangyan was titled the Earl of Anyuan.
Both Zhang Huangyan and Zheng Chenggong were very satisfied. Nowadays, titles in the Great Ming are extremely difficult to obtain; just look at the Grand Secretary, who is still the Marquis of Huating, isn't he?
Nowadays, in the entire Great Ming, there are only two Princes, one Duke, two Marquises; there were no Earls before, but now there are two more.
It was evident that the Emperor was quite stingy when it came to granting peerages, but being stingy had its advantages: every single title granted was of immense value.
Regarding the matter of being sent out to assist Li Guo, both Zhang Huangyan and Zheng Chenggong were full of enthusiasm.
The two of them are still young, especially Zheng Chenggong, who is already an Earl at only twenty-four years old; to make further progress, he must accumulate more military achievements.
As for why the two of them were working so hard, it was naturally because peerages in the Great Ming were not hereditary!
After the Emperor ascended the throne, he decreed that initial peerages would not be hereditary; if one wished to pass them down, they would first need to ascend to the next rank.
This was also a new method thought up by Zhu Ci. Titles are something that can easily inflate; if they were all hereditary from the start, then in the future, either the number of titles would keep increasing, or it would become increasingly difficult to grant new ones.
The former is bad for the country, the latter is bad for future generations.
Therefore, Zhu Ci simply subdivided the peerage into finer categories, designating each rank as either hereditary or non-hereditary, with the hereditary ones further divided into how many generations they could be passed down.
This way, the size of the fiefdoms could be controlled, at the same time, stipends could also be controlled. Anyone with a title would receive a monthly stipend even if they didn't work or hold an official position!
Zhu Ci was extremely unhappy. He had to work himself to receive a salary; although the Emperor's salary was a bit higher, why should these people receive a salary without working?
Unfortunately, this was passed down from the ancestors, it cannot be changed.
Not to mention that since this is a time of conquest, besides conviction and ideals, one must also provide people with some sweet rewards.
Because of the redefinition of peerage, once Zhang Huangyan and Zheng Chenggong learned of the current situation of the imperial court, they would have applied for an expedition on their own initiative, even if the Emperor did not issue the order.
After all, the naval battle had already ended, the Great Ming's focus would certainly shift to the mainland next.
Originally, Zhu Ci had been wondering whether he should separate the two of them, after all, during the incident at □□, the two of them had indeed made quite a scene.
Although nothing else happened later, Zhu Ci always worried that the two were merely holding back.
However, it was unexpected that after more than eight months of living together, Zhang Huangyan and Zheng Chenggong actually held each other in high regard.
Even in their private memorials to the throne, they spoke well of one another, it was the kind of praise that came from the bottom of their hearts, truly believing the other was quite remarkable.
In that case, there's no need to beat around the bush; you all can continue working together.
Given the current situation of the Great Ming, Zhang Huangyan, Zheng Chenggong, Li Guo together could already be considered a luxurious lineup, yet they still seem insufficient against Dorgon.
Or perhaps it's not that they are insufficient against Dorgon, but rather that they are somewhat insufficient against Dorgon plus Ajige.
Although Ajige had lost an eye, he had only suffered losses at the hands of Zhu Ci; others were still no match for him.
To deal with these two, Zhang Huangyan, Zheng Chenggong, Li Guo also decided to split their forces.
Li Guo and Zheng Chenggong went to intercept Ajige, while Zhang Huangyan went to deal with Dorgon.
Both Li Guo and Zheng Chenggong were quite resourceful and liked to employ unconventional tactics. Combined with Ajige's own somewhat mediocre abilities, they did indeed successfully block Ajige at Jingping, preventing him from advancing any further, which could be considered a successful defense.
However, Zhang Huangyan felt somewhat overwhelmed when facing Dorgon.
Even though he had done his utmost, Dorgon still managed to sweep through Yingzhou, Shanyin, Mayi from Hunyuanzhou, advancing straight toward Yanmen Pass.
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: It seems he's a bit unaccustomed to being on land after being at sea? A kitty wearing sunglasses, lying on a small boat and sunbathing. jpg
Next update at twelve noon~
Chapter 234
When the news arrived, the court was in a state of panic. Yanmen Pass was a vital checkpoint of the Inner Great Wall; if the Qing Army were to break through, Henan would easily fall, the Tartars would once again threaten Nanjing.
By this time, many scholar-officials could no longer restrain themselves from expressing their opinions.
However, what opinions could they express?
Almost all of the capable generals of the Great Ming had been sent out, the new military laureates of these past few years were not yet able to hold their own.
Compared to the tension and seriousness of everyone at court, Zhu Ci appeared very composed; he even had the mood to tease the Macaw.
Abnormal, it was truly too abnormal.
Grand Secretary Fu was extremely worried about this, fearing that the Little Emperor might have been pushed too far.
While Zhu Ci was teaching the Macaw to sing "If You're Happy and You Know It," Grand Secretary Fu finally couldn't hold back any longer: "Your Majesty.."
Before he could finish his sentence, Zhu Ci set down the corn and said nonchalantly, "Have the preparations made below, while you're at it, send someone to notify Zhang Huangyan. I shall lead a personal expedition."
Fu's expression changed, his tone shifted along with it: "Your Majesty, please reconsider."
“Have I not considered things enough?” Zhu Ci's expression remained calm. “From Wayaokou to Baiyangkou to Datong, then Huairen, Hunyuanzhou, Yingzhou.. where is next? Mayi? Shuozhou? Yanmen Pass? All the way to Nanjing?”
Fu Qingsheng knew at once that the Little Emperor was suppressing a surge of indignation, but he did not blame the soldiers on the front lines, nor did he blame the officials at court.