The 14th year of Chongzhen was definitely a very painful year for the Ming Dynasty. At the beginning of this year, Luoyang was captured and King Fu was killed. Then Li Zicheng attacked Kaifeng. Not long after, Xiangyang was captured and King Xiang was killed. Then news came that Yang Sichang died of illness.

At this time, bad news also came from the battlefield of Liaodong. On the battlefield of the Battle of Songjin, more than 100,000 troops of the Ming Dynasty collapsed, Hong Chengchou, the governor of Ji Liao of the Ming Dynasty, Qiu Minyang, the governor of Liaodong, Cao Bianjiao, the general of Yutian, and Wang Tingchen, the general of Qiantun Guard, were killed. Only the general of the vanguard, Zu Dashou, led the defeated general of the remnant army to guard the lonely city of Jinzhou, and supported it for twenty days before the city was surrendered.

So far, the two-year Battle of Songjin ended. The Ming Dynasty spent countless money and food. The Liaodong defense system, which had been hard-working for decades, completely collapsed. The entire Liaodong defense system was only Wu Sangui's troops stationed in Shanhaiguan.

After that, the Ming Dynasty's combat situation against the Jurchens was only passive defense and could no longer organize an effective counterattack.

What is most ironic is that after Hong Chengchou was captured, Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty thought he died unyieldingly, so he ordered him to stop the court and give him special sacrifices to the Nine Altars. However, he received a military report when he was sacrificed to the Ninth Altar, saying that Hong Chengchou had surrendered to the Later Jin Dynasty, and the capital city was in an uproar.

Shortly after the defeat in the Battle of Songjin, Li Zicheng began to gallop across the Central Plains again. Emperor Chongzhen was eager to boost morale through a big victory, so he ordered Fu Zonglong to be the governor of the three sides to concentrate on dealing with Li Zicheng.

After the news reached Kaifeng, military and political officials at all levels couldn't help but be excited. Fu Zonglong was a very excellent military commander of the Ming Dynasty, and his ability was no less than that of Yang Sichang. Now Kaifeng is saved and Henan is saved.

However, Ma Mingfeng knew that everything was just a mirror and water. Although the power of the Ming Dynasty was reintegrated, there was another Luo Rucai in Li Zicheng. Li Zicheng was good at siege and Luo Rucai was good at field battles. The cooperation between the two sides made up for their respective weaknesses. This made it difficult for Li Zicheng to have any reinforcements to come to the city of Kaifeng when he besieged Kaifeng.

"So I should go to see Fu Zonglong next and remind him to be careful of this pair."

Ma Mingfeng sighed secretly. He knew that Fu Zonglong might not be able to listen to his advice, but he also had to try his best to persuade him, knowing that he could not do anything but force him.

However, Li Zicheng's power is very powerful now, and he occupies a key place from Luoyang to Kaifeng. If you want to go to Tongguan to meet Fu Zonglong, you must take a detour and keep it confidential. Otherwise, Ma Mingfeng would not be sure whether someone with ulterior motives would reveal the news that he had slipped out or would send someone to ambush him in the middle of the journey...

Therefore, after arranging various government affairs on one day, Ma Mingfeng entrusted his aide Wu Shi to help with daily government affairs and help him conceal the news. Then he led eleven personal soldiers and generals to secretly leave Kaifeng and go to Tongguan to meet Fu Zonglong.

After being transferred from outside, Wu Shi heard about Ma Mingfeng's deeds in resisting the rebel army. He admired Ma Mingfeng's feat, so he resigned from his official position and instead went to Ma Mingfeng's tent to be an aide. Ma Mingfeng considered that although this person was a little sleek, he was good at abilities and had certain vision, so he kept him.

Because Ma Mingfeng and others specially picked up small roads and walked around, while Li Zicheng's army was specializing in the main roads and was determined to conquer the city and was far away from Tongguan, so they were safe along the way and came to the city of Tongguan in just a few days.

"The person who comes stops, otherwise he will shoot an arrow." When the soldiers in the city saw someone approaching, they immediately set off their bows and arrows to warn them down.

Seeing this, the third brother hurriedly clasped his fists and said, "The brothers in Guancheng have invited me. Xiaguan is the messenger under the tent of the governor of Henan, Ma Luan, and the governor in front of you if you have any questions."

After all, it is necessary to keep confidential, Ma Mingfeng cannot directly tell his identity, so he directly said that he was a messenger.

But a person who looked like a leader said, "The messenger under the tent of the governor of Henan? Well, I believe you once. I will put the hanging basket down. Put the letter into the hanging basket, and then wait here for the Governor's reply."

The third brother shook his head and said, "This brother is confidential. We can only hand over our letter to the Governor in person."

The leader immediately shouted angrily: "Bastard! What kind of person is the Governor? In fact, you can meet just by saying that you can see him? Besides, who knows whether your identity is true or false? What if you are a detailed work of the thief army?"

But Ma Mingfeng smiled and said, "Brother, what kind of person is the Governor? How can you not even tell me the details? What's more, the Governor is in the pass and tens of thousands of soldiers are in the pass. Are you afraid that we are the small minions? Moreover, the situation is urgent. If the military and national affairs are delayed, I'm afraid you can't afford it, brother."

The leader was stunned when he heard this and then said, "Well, it's not that he can't meet the Governor, but there can only be one person to go, and it's still a hanging basket. You can consider it. If you want, go up. If you don't want, please go back."

Since the other party said this, Ma Mingfeng didn't want to be in trouble anymore, so he nodded and said, "The lower official is the chief envoy under the command of the governor, so let the lower official go."

"This, sir, you go alone, I'm afraid..." The third brother said with some concern: "It's better to let Mo Zheng go, as these things can be explained clearly."

Ma Mingfeng shook his head and said, "It's not that I don't trust you. It's really important that this matter is important. We just said this casually without evidence. It's not so easy to make the Governor believe it. It requires my 3-inch tongue. What's more, we are officials of the Ming Dynasty, so there will be no danger when we get to the Governor."

Ma Mingfeng patted the third brother on the shoulder, then walked alone under the city wall, and after the hanging basket came down, he sat up calmly.

After Ma Mingfeng went up, he was naturally searched. When he found that Ma Mingfeng was not carrying any weapons, the soldiers took Ma Mingfeng to Fu Zonglong's tent in skepticism and then went in to report.

Soon after, the report soldier came out and looked at Ma Mingfeng and said, "Governor General has his life, let you go in."

After hearing this, Ma Mingfeng sorted out his clothes, then walked into the tent. He secretly looked at it and found a Confucian general who was over fifty years old and had gray hair sitting in the middle army, holding a book in his hand, as if he had not noticed his arrival.

Ma Mingfeng knew that the man must be Fu Zonglong, and bowed respectfully and said, "Gourmet to the Governor."

But the soldiers from Fu Zonglong shouted, "Bold, don't kneel down when you see the Governor!"

However, Ma Mingfeng was unmoved and said respectfully to Fu Zonglong: "Governor General, the lower official has confidential information to report, please send off the idle people and others."

Fu Zonglong waved his hand, and shut out the idle staff, leaving only a few personal soldiers, and then said, "These are my most trusted personal soldiers. If you have anything to do, you can say it."

Ma Mingfeng nodded and quickly bowed and said, "I am humble in the position of the governor of Kaifeng, please pay homage to the Governor."
Chapter completed!