cabinet.

Since the Double Ninth Festival, the weather in the capital has become colder and colder, and the temperature in the morning has even reached less than ten degrees. Yang Yiqing, the chief assistant of the cabinet, is 70 years old this year. This man is particularly afraid of the cold when he gets old, so he wears thick clothes and even puts a small charcoal stove next to his feet to keep warm.

At this moment, Yang Ge Lao held the good news sent by Xu Jin in his left hand, stroked his beard with his right hand, and said with a wry smile: "Although the new official took office three times, Xu Ziqian's first fire was too much. Five hundred thousand stones of grain were burned, and the prices in the capital were probably going to rise step by step. But then again, it would not be a loss to exchange for 500,000 stones of grain for 10,000 people of the Tartars. Xu Ziqian's victory came too timely, which will greatly encourage the morale of the Ming army and civilians."

Jia Yong, the third assistant to the cabinet, smiled dryly and said, "It is indeed a fearful young man. I have to ask myself that Xu Ziqian's courage is far from enough, but 500,000 stones of official grain were burned. It is estimated that there will be many officials and gentry in the court to impeach him."

Jia Yong's name is Minghe and nickname is Nanwu. He is 60 and 20 years old this year. The Jinshi in the ninth year of Hongzhi is not mediocre, but his level of governance is not necessarily brilliant. He has been an official for decades. The reason why he was able to enter the cabinet to make up for the gaps was completely the result of the battle between the guardian rituals and the upstarts. To put it bluntly, he was lucky. However, since he entered the cabinet, Jia Yong has not yet won the title of Grand Secretary of the Palace and the Pavilion, and cannot participate in the machinery service. He is only responsible for some clerks and helps to start.

Yang Yiqing handed the good news in his hand to Fei Hong next to him and said calmly: "If it is beneficial to the country's life and death, how can we avoid it because of misfortune and good fortune? In extraordinary times, we should use extraordinary means. Now the one who is about to fall in love is not Xu Ziqian. The person who impeached him at this time is not a short-sighted person, or a villain with evil intentions, and will be despised by the world!"

Jia Yong's face was a little embarrassed when he heard this, and he couldn't say anything. With Yang Yiqing's words in front of him, I'm afraid no one would dare to use this matter to impeach Xu Jin easily.

Fei Hong took the victory and read it carefully, and his eyebrows were locked. In addition to reporting the victory, Xu Jin's victory also roughly explained his combat intention to abandon Tongzhou.

"Sui'an (Yang Yiqing's name), Ziqian abandoned Tongzhou and stationed in Tianjin, and did it. If all the soldiers and soldiers of the king arrived, it would take at least half a month. Can the capital be defended?" Fei Hong said worriedly.

Yang Yiqing once had two generals and fought with Tatars and Turubans. He had rich combat experience and was a talented general and prime minister. He had the most say in military affairs. In fact, he was also responsible for the deployment of defending the city during this period. Therefore, although the Tatars attacked fiercely, the Xizhimen still defended as solid as a rock.

Yang Yiqing stroked his beard and said confidently: "The capital has been built for more than a hundred years. The defense is so strong that it can be broken by a mere 100,000 soldiers of the Tatars. As long as there is no problem inside, not to mention a half month, it will be fine to keep him for a year and a half. After another half month, it will be even more impossible for the Tatars to break the city. However, prices in Beijing have soared recently, and chaos will occur over time and must be calmed down as soon as possible."

Fei Hong nodded and said, "I rely on Brother Sui'an to defend the city, and I will hand over the rest of my affairs to Nanwu (Jia Yonghao)!"

Yang Yiqing was right. Once the news of Xu Jin's fire in Tongzhou was spread, the morale of the military and civilians in the city was greatly boosted.

On the eighth day of the ninth month, Altan led 100,000 cavalry to break through the pass and head south. The road was unstoppable and he was killed at the foot of the capital within one day. The Ming army was invincible and the Ming army was frightened by it. However, now Xu Jin has won two consecutive victories and killed more than 10,000 enemies. This made the Ming army see that the Tartar cavalry was not invincible, and naturally they have increased their courage.

So in the following days, the morale of the defenders in the capital increased, defending Xizhimen and Deshengmen steadily, repelling the Tatars' attacks again and again. In addition, the government opened warehouses and released grain, put the stored cloth, salt and oil and other materials on the market, and the prices in Beijing temporarily calmed down, maintaining internal stability.

Before he knew it, it was late September. The weather became colder and colder. As time went by, the war losses of the Tartars became more and more serious, and Altan became more and more annoyed. He asked Zhao Quan to come and said with a bad expression: "If you continue to fight, I will have to explain all 100,000 troops of my Khan here. What good way does Mr. Zhao have? If you can't break the city, you should withdraw your troops as soon as possible!"

Zhao Quan said calmly: "I have a plan to help Sodokhan break the city."

Altan's eyes lit up and said, "Are you going to have a plan?"

...

Altan outside the city was worried about siege, and Guo Xun in the city was also very distressed and angry recently. As the January period approached, the 350,000 fine silver he owed had not yet been collected. You should know that if the fine silver was not collected at the expiration date, it would be a higher level of crime. Guo Xun's head might be moving.

Guo Xun originally thought that it would not be difficult to raise hundreds of thousands of silver with his connections, but reality slapped him hard. He almost borrowed all the noble circles in Beijing, and there were very few people who were willing to lend him money. Even Xu Pengju, the Duke of Wei, who was the most popular, just lend him 5,000 taels. Some of the excessive ones were not only unwilling to borrow money, but also wanted to acquire the property under Guo Xun's name at a low price and kill him.

It is said that if there are too many friends, the road is easy to walk on, but the fact is that when there are many friends, the so-called friends disappear when there are not many roads, and when there are not many people who can help you.

Guo Xun has now been deposed and the money saved by the family has been fined. It can be said that it is already a salted fish. The complete decline of the Guo family is a foregone conclusion. Which nobleman is willing to lend him money? He is afraid that he will not be able to pay it back if he borrows it.

Therefore, Guo Xun pretended to be a grandson in a low voice, begging grandpa to accept his grandmother but avoided him everywhere. Finally, he understood what the world was cold and what it means to leave. He was mixed with distress and resentment. He often got drunk and went crazy when he got drunk, and scolded anyone who caught him. You should know that Guo Xun had a bad temper on weekdays and his servants were afraid of the tiger, and now he was even more unfamiliar.

On September 25, Guo Xun drank again, but was not drunk. He went to his original wife Zhang's house to have supper, but the simple food on the table made him extremely angry. He kicked the table over and cursed, "Is this food eaten by humans? Is it not eaten for pigs!"

Zhang couldn't help but be furious, pointing at Guo Xun's nose and cried and scolded: "I want to have a good time, so you should take out the money. You incompetent man will only vent your anger at your family and be useless..."

Guo Xun was scolded and blushed, and gave Zhang a big shave with his backhand. The latter covered his face and cried loudly: "Anyway, Qian'er is dead and his family is ruined. I will not live anymore. I will not live anymore, so I can just kill me too."
Chapter completed!