Beijing City, inside the prison of the Ministry of Justice.

Outside the dark cell at night, footsteps came.

Soon, accompanied by the sound of iron chains when the prison door was opened, the light of torches appeared at the end of the passage.

The movement caused a sudden wail of ghosts in the prison cell, which was originally dead and silent, and the sound of injustice and begging for mercy was heard.

More than a dozen prisoners, guarding a woman in a cloak, walked straight through the passage of the prison room and came to the innermost room of the cell.

With the light emitted by the torch, you can see a figure imprisoned inside. The man was wearing a white prison uniform, with the braid behind his head scattered and sat facing the wall, as if he had been petrified.

"Hong Zhongtang! The Queen Mother is here to see you!" An official opened the door of the cell and reminded him in a pleasing manner.

In this cell, the person who was imprisoned was Hong Chengchou, who suffered a defeat, lost tens of thousands of elite troops in the Qing Dynasty, and caused Shengjing to fall and the two tombs to be humiliated.

After Hong Chengchou was imprisoned and entered the prison, everyone thought he was going to be finished. Not only did the jailer not give him a good face, but he extorted him, and some indignant Eight Banner nobles also came to cause trouble for him.

Many people think that a traitor such a big traitor must have made a lot of money, but Hong Chengchou actually didn't make much money.

Therefore, in the past six months of imprisonment, Hong Chengchou's situation was extremely miserable. He was troubled by the prisoners and the nobles of the Eight Banners. The family had long removed him from the list, and no one ran for him. The prisoners who did not get any benefits to torture him to death.

Hong Chengchou heard the sound behind him, and his whole body was slightly stunned, and his body suddenly became stiff.

At this time, Bumubutai lifted his cloak and walked behind Hong Chengchou. The guards brought a torch to light up Hong Chengchou's figure and the wall in front of him. On it was a map drawn with gravel.

"Hong Zhongtang, you are wronged!" Bumubutai's voice rang behind him.

Hong Chengchou's body trembled, almost burst into tears. He quickly turned around and kowtowed, saying in pain: "The criminal minister pays homage to the Queen Mother, how dare I do this later!"

Bumu Butai saw the officials around him and said majestic: "Give him a seat to Hong Zhongtang!"

The jailers quickly brought tables, chairs and benches. Bumubutai sat down on the seat, and then signaled Hong Chengchou to sit on the small stool, waved his hand to send off the jailer and guards, "You retreat for the time being, the Ai family has important things, and we need to talk to Lord Hong!"

The guard hesitated for a moment, and walked out of the cell under Bumubutai's gaze, but he did not leave too far, but stood outside the cell, and the door was just a false cover. When there was any problem, he could rush in at any time and subdue Hong Chengchou.

In the prison cell, only BumuButai, Hong Chengchou, and two old maids who were serving each other in person were left.

At this time, BumuButai glanced at the blurry map on the wall and said to Hong Chengchou: "Hong Zhongtang still doesn't forget the Qing Dynasty!"

Hong Chengchou hurriedly said: "A scholar died for his confidant. Emperor Taizong's kindness and appreciation will not be forgotten by slaves."

BumuButai nodded slightly, and after a moment of silence, he realized his purpose, "Hong Zhongtang, the Ai family is coming today. It is actually because my Qing Dynasty is in crisis and I want to ask for advice from Zhongtang!"

Hong Chengchou sat upright, "Empress Dowager asked, but the servant knew everything and said nothing until he died!"

Bumubutai first asked: "Does the Zhongtang know about what happened in the imperial court recently?"

Hong Chengchou nodded, "I have heard of it, and the emperor has taken charge of the rule!"

Listening to Hong Chengchou's words, Bumu Butai felt relieved. Although Hong Chengchou was in prison, he did not forget to inquire about the outside world, which showed that he still had some understanding of the situation. Unlike Sun Chuanting, who wrote and painted in prison and studied strategies to combat the thieves, but he did not know that the thieves are different from the past, and have grown to a million people now.

Bumubutai sighed and said, "The south side reported that the pseudo-Ming army captured Wuchang and killed more than 40,000 people including Gongshun. Now, Zhu Yihai and Zhao Ming raised 200,000 troops, attacked Jiangning from the southeast, and the pseudo-Ming Chu-Gan army, 200,000 to 300,000, and pointed directly to Jiangnan. Prince Ying was attacked on both sides, and the court had no reinforcements to send. The Ai family wanted to ask the Zhongtang, the Ai family and the emperor, how should they survive this crisis?"

Hong Chengchou was a little scared, but he didn't expect that the situation would have changed so much in just one year.

At that moment, Hong Chengchou asked about some details and situations, Bumu Butai explained one by one, and finally fell silent in the prison cell.

After a while, when Bumubutai frowned slightly, Hong Chengchou suddenly said two words, "Ask peace!"

"Peace negotiation?" Bumubutai was a little disappointed. After discussing the meeting of the Prince and Ministers, he came to this conclusion. However, in this passive situation, if he took the initiative to seek peace, the Nanming side would definitely speak loudly, and it would be better to fight a battle.

Seeing Bumubutai's expression, Hong Chengchou hurriedly said, "The Queen Mother, it's a peace talk! But it's not a peace talk with the pseudo-Ming court, but a peace talk with Zhu Yihai!"

Bumubutai looked up at Hong Chengchou and asked, "What's the difference?"

Hong Chengchou sneered: "There is a difference, this is a strategy of retreating and sowing discord. The pseudo-Ming Dynasty has many internal factions and fierce struggles. In recent years, there are few internal frictions, but because of the pressure from our Qing Dynasty, they have to unite. Now, the pressure on them is reduced. As long as the Qing Dynasty takes a step back slightly and does not make them feel threatened, they will definitely fight in the internal struggle. This is very clear that the Han people are not afraid of strong enemies and threats. The greater the pressure, the more united they are. The Han people are afraid of comfort. As long as there is no external threat, the Han people will definitely make trouble."

Bumubutai's eyes lit up, "Hong Zhongtang continued!"

Hong Chengchou pondered for a moment and continued, "In the current situation, it is impossible for the court to defend Jiangning. It is better to withdraw Jiangning's troops and preserve the main force in Jiangnan. Then, based on Jiangning as the condition, negotiate with the pseudo-Ming, and give Jiangning to Zhu Yihai before the negotiation results come out. This will kill three soldiers! In this way, Zhu Yihai will obtain Jiangning and the status of the pseudo-Ming emperor Zhu Youjian, and our Qing army retreated to Huaibei. If the pseudo-Ming is less threatened, it will be inevitable that civil unrest will occur soon."

Bumu Butai nodded, feeling it made sense, and Hong Chengchou was inspired, "The Han people talked about the fact that there was no other day. Within the pseudo-Ming, Zhu Youjian and Zhu Yihai formed a restraint. Our Qing Dynasty could demarcate the boundary with the pseudo-Ming and maintain a coherence between the north and the south. If there was internal friction within the pseudo-Ming and Zhu Youjian and Zhu Yihai fought hard, and our Qing Dynasty would launch troops south again to unify the world, which was unknown!"

After hearing Hong Chengchou's words, Bumubutai finally calmed down. She looked at Hong Chengchou and couldn't help but sigh: "I feel wronged Hong Zhongtang!"

Hong Chengchou lost Shengjing, which caused the two tombs to be humiliated. He was too guilty and aroused the anger of the Eight Banners. Bumubutai could not excuse him.

"I am willing to die for the Qing Dynasty!" Hong Chengchou knelt on the ground and kowtowed with a hint of grief and anger.
Chapter completed!