Sun Chuanting, who had died many times, finally gave up suicide. Li Guodong arranged their family in the Chu Palace. Although Sun Chuanting had given up suicide, at the age of 51, he looked like a seventy-year-old man with all his hair white and his eyes were dull and unconscious. He lay on the bed every day and sighed, and his will was extremely depressed.

"I heard that you have cut down a group of gentry in the Central Plains by the Commander?" Li Guodong walked to his bed and asked.

As soon as he talked about this, Sun Chuanting sat up from his couch: "It should be killed! Those guys who are unkind should be killed! I can't even pay military salaries for them to suppress the thieves, so I asked them to raise money for money. What happened? They were all starved! My soldiers were starving to death. They were so good that they would not even take out a piece of copper plate or a grain of rice every day! Master, do you think those gentry should be killed?"

"Of course, it should be killed! It is good to kill! A guy who is so selfish and puts his personal interests above the court should not be killed? They are still scholars and those who have read the books of sages should know that studying is to serve the country and serve the court, and should know benevolence, righteousness, integrity and shame. However, they are full of benevolence, righteousness, and morality, but behind their backs, they do not take the country and the court seriously at all." Li Guodong said.

The reason why Li Guodong was willing to pay such a great price to rescue Sun Chuanting was not only because he was interested in his wisdom, but also because he was decisive in killing. Not only did some officers who were arrogant and disobedient and refused to obey orders, but even gentry and scholars who belonged to the civil servants and gentry system could also kill them, and they were charged with a crime of communicating with the thief. It can be said that the people killed by Sun Chuanting were indeed dying. In fact, Sun Chuanting not only killed a group of gentry before the last expedition, but also killed some gentry scholars sporadically before. Those who were rich but resisted taxes and donations, and could not bear it, Sun Chuanting cut a group of gentry on the charge of communicating with the thief.

Li Guodong wanted to keep Sun Chuanting's life to deal with those disobedient gentry. He had arranged all the future of Sun Chuanting. After Chongzhen's hunting in the south, Li Guodong would let Sun Chuanting "resurrect" and come back to the cabinet to check and balance southern officials. Sun Chuanting is a northerner. When he goes to Nanjing, he will be a bachelor who has no property. The barefoot one is not afraid of those who wear shoes, and he will be a person who has died twice. He will naturally be more ruthless when he starts.

"But the situation in the world has become shattered. What's the use of killing those gentry?" Sun Chuanting sighed, "I was still defeated in the war, and it was so miserable. I'm sorry to the court!"

"The defeat in Tongguan is not a war crime. It is completely because the emperor does not understand military affairs and has forced the commander to send troops. Only then will he be defeated. If the emperor had not been suspicious of Li and ordered the left thieves to attack Wuchang, Li would have sent troops to assist the supervisor in combating the thieves." Li Guodong sighed.

"Wuweibo, don't talk about the current emperor! Even if there is something wrong with the current emperor, he is our Ming emperor after all, and we are all ministers. How can we criticize the emperor?" Sun Chuanting's face changed, "Wuweibo, what do you mean by taking such a lot of effort to invite me here? If you want to do that unfaithful and unrighteous thing, I would rather die than surrender!"

"Sun General, Li will definitely not let the General Secretary do unfaithful and unrighteous things. I think the General Secretary can help Li destroy Jiannu, quell the bandits in the future, and bring peace to the world."

"Okay, as long as it is not a matter of unfaithfulness or unfaithfulness, as long as it is a matter of loyalty to the emperor and serving the country, I can help you, and it can be regarded as repaying the kindness of Wuweibo, you saved my family." Sun Chuanting's tone finally softened.

Li Guodong chatted with Sun Chuanting for a while, and only heard a sound of firecrackers coming from outside. He sighed: "The Little New Year is here, the sixteenth year of Chongzhen is coming, and the seventeenth year of Chongzhen is coming."

In the 17th year of Chongzhen, this was a special year. Li Zicheng invaded the capital and the Qing Dynasty entered the pass. But only Li Guodong knew that a series of changes would happen, and no one else knew. The New Year was coming, and after Li Guodong's land of Huguang, which was run by more than half a year, the military and civilians who lived a peaceful life were having fun again.

More than 100 villages near Wuchang have been turned into more than 100 military households, each of which is a fortress. After several months of construction, it has been completed.

The styles of these fortresses are similar. The four bastions on the outside are all concave walls. The enemy cannot climb up from the bastion at all. The four bastions can form cross firepower against the enemies attacking in any direction. The bastion is made of stone and cement and is extremely strong. In the military fortress, there are military camps and fortresses on the outside. The structure is a bit like a earthen building, the inner circle is a corridor, and the corridor is a room. These rooms are both housing and fortresses. The outer windows are small windows, which are actually shooting holes.

On the middle commanding height of the fortress is the central fortress, with four six-pound iron cannons installed on it, with a condescending range of more than three miles.

There are all kinds of facilities such as canteens, public bathrooms, shops, stables, warehouses, wells, boiler rooms, etc. In fact, the military office is a small town, but it has a stronger defense than the small town. The defense ability of the fortress is much stronger than that of the county towns of this era.

Because Zuo Liangyu's army is in Jiujiang, next door to Wuchang, before the military fort was completed, the military households lived a trembling life every day. Now that the military fort was completed, the military households and their families were relieved and began to prepare for a peaceful New Year.

The winter wheat has been planted and will be harvested next year.

Everyone had already started preparing New Year's goods. The Huai Army Navy sent a batch of pigs and sheep to everyone. The military households went to the Yangtze River and lakes to catch a lot of fish, shrimps, turtles and crabs. The vegetables harvested in autumn were placed in the cellar and taken out before the New Year. Everyone chopped the dumpling fillings and kneaded noodles and wrapped pork dumplings.

In the chaotic times of the late Ming Dynasty, these military households who were vagrants were able to live such a stable life, which was something they didn't dare to think about before. Now, they can live such a life, and everyone is grateful to Mr. Bo.

Bai Zhengming spent the New Year at Cai's family. Although Cai did not look for a man, the military office also allocated two kilograms of pork, two kilograms of mutton and fifteen kilograms of flour to her family. In addition to the chickens and ducks she raised, the eggs she laid, and the fish and shrimps she caught from the lake, Bai Zhengming also distributed a lot of New Year's goods. He was too lazy to do it alone, so he took them all to Cai's family. The New Year's Eve dinner was very sumptuous.

Looking at the dishes on the table, Cai felt warm. Over the years, the Chinese New Year has been the most comfortable this year. If it were in previous years, how could I imagine that I could have such a sumptuous dinner? The two children were even more happy. The table of good dishes was so happy for the children. The children were young and liked to eat good food when they grew up, especially these children who had suffered since childhood.

In Wuchang City, Li Guodong and his family gathered happily at the dinner table. Li Guodong, his wife He Xiuying, his concubines Liu Rushi, Hai Lanzhu, He Xiang and Mo Zhu, and four daughters and three sons gathered together. He Xiuying gave birth to a daughter and a son for him. Liu Rushi also gave birth to a daughter and a son. Hai Lanzhu gave birth to a son, He Xiang and Mo Zhu each gave birth to a daughter. Now Li Guodong has seven children. The family sits together and enjoys this rare peace and happiness.

The capital thousands of miles away, with lights and firecrackers roaring, and fireworks blooming in the sky, there was no sign of the Ming Dynasty's impending destruction. The officials and gentry were drunk and dreaming, and the extremely corrupt officials and soldiers of the Beijing camp still did their own thing. They never thought that many of them would die in four months at the hands of Li Zicheng.

The Forbidden City seemed a little deserted. Apart from the sound of firecrackers outside the palace, it could remind that this was the New Year, there was no sign of the New Year. Faced with the worsening situation, Emperor Chongzhen's hair was more than half white, and his originally slightly fat face also became thinner.

Sun Chuanting was defeated in the war and was said to have died for his country. Li Zicheng proclaimed himself emperor in Xi'an and his country was named Dashun. Although Huang Taiji outside the pass was dead, the one who was promoted was not the brave and unscheming Haoge, but a puppet little emperor Shunzhi, and the one who was in power was the Regent Dorgon.

Dorgon's talent is second only to Huang Taiji, and he is a difficult opponent to deal with.

The internal and external troubles made Emperor Chongzhen unable to eat. This year was the most bleak New Year he had since ascended the throne.

Chongzhen and his family hurriedly finished the New Year's Eve dinner and returned to his study where memorials and documents were piled up. The prince and the princess went to play. However, Princess Kunxing Zhu Meiyu returned to her boudoir alone. After a while, she couldn't stay anymore and ran to Chongzhen's West Warehouse.

"Son, please see your father." Zhu Mei stood at the door and saluted.

"Kunxing, it's cold outside, come in quickly." Seeing his beloved daughter, Chongzhen felt much more relieved.

"Father, when Mr. Shu was depressed, he came here to accompany him."

"Kunxing, among my children, you are the most sensible. However, after the New Year, you will have to choose a day to get married. Then you have to move out of the palace and move into the princess's mansion."

Zhu Mai lowered her head: "Father, my son will not marry. When my son saw that my father had a few more white hair, my son felt uncomfortable. My son would have to accompany my father for the rest of his life."

In fact, in Zhu Mai's mind at this time, Zhou Shixian was not the perfect man in her mind. He was a white scholar. He could not help his father give advice, nor could he help his father to quell the bandits and resist foreign captives. There was a person in her mind. Although that person was about the same age as his father, he was a great hero in Zhu Mai's mind. Unfortunately, that person is now suspicious of the court and cannot even come to the capital.

Zhu Mai said in her heart: I wonder if you are in the distance? The Ming Dynasty is in danger. If one day the enemy attacks the capital, can you come to save your father and mother?
Chapter completed!