stubborn thief

Wang Zheng.

Liu Chengzong and Wang Zheng have had a long-standing friendship.

He had read Wang Zheng's book and knew that he was an official with great innovative ability and profound knowledge of machinery.

At the same time, when Wang Zheng organized the Zhongtong Righteous Army in Sanyuan, he taught the craftsman Shi Chengwei the method of casting red cannons, which also provided great help in his campaign.

But there are some problems with the Marshal's Office and Mihara right now.

Years ago, the Ministry of Personnel issued documents to the prefectures of Shaanxi and Gansu, ordering each county to compile a list of local officials, Jinshi, Juren, and Xiucai.

He also posted notices in various places to recruit talents, inviting people with literary and military talents and ambitions to come to Xi'an Prefecture to discuss important matters.

The response from all places was quite good. Even in Zuo Maodi's Hancheng, there were people willing to serve in the Marshal's Office.

Of course, the man from Hancheng was called Xue Xing, a relative of Xue Guoguan, the current Minister of Rites. The central government of the Marshal's Office unanimously believed that this slant-eyed monster was a spy.

But except for Hancheng, the counties of Xi'an Prefecture all reacted poorly on the issue of officials.

It was obviously the place with the most talents, but no one came to the Marshal's Mansion to seek official positions.

At first Liu Chengzong thought that people were just waiting and watching, but later he realized that in Xi'an Prefecture, people from all the counties were hostile to him.

Blood feud.

During the process of the Marshal's Army entering Xi'an Prefecture, the county officials were very weak in their attitude towards the Marshal's Army. Most of them just stood by and watched, or even adopted a semi-cooperative state.

But among the people, gentry in almost every county organized militia to attack his marshal's army.

Those militia organizations that sprang up were naturally like a mantis trying to stop a chariot when they fought against the marshal's army.

Most of them were easily defeated when they encountered Mongolian soldiers grazing on graves. They were able to break through this... which is not really a line of defense. Anyway, there were not many who could fight against the Marshal's army.

Therefore, in Liu Chengzong's eyes, the gentry militia of Xi'an Prefecture had almost no presence.

The only militia organization with a presence comes from Mihara.

The Sanyuan militia had excellent weapons and equipment, a mature organizational structure, and carried red heavy artillery, and fought with full enthusiasm.

Liu Chengzong was impressed by them, mainly because the leader of this organization seemed like an old friend.

It may be that when Wang Zuogua attacked Sanyuan, Wang Zheng took the lead in organizing the Zhongtong armed forces to defend the city, which gave people confidence.

They actually launched an attack on the large group of Mongolian cavalry in the plains with their poorly trained militia and scattered brave formations, pulling the Red Barbarian heavy artillery.

Then they were easily defeated by the Mongolian cavalry who were eating grass on the graves in Shunling.

That old friend was naturally the former Mongol Khan who used armored cavalry to attack the camel city of Oirat and destroyed all of Tutu Taiji's assets with one charge.

Liu Chengzong didn't think much about it at the time, but now thinking about it carefully, the Sanyuan gentry armed forces must have been beaten badly.

Those who could organize militia had to have a background similar to his at least. In a place with prosperous business like Sanyuan, those whose backgrounds were mostly better than his.

Scholars with martial arts skills love to do this kind of thing the most.

Really, Liu Chengzong thought, if the Sanyuan militia had two invincible Portuguese generals, they would not have been defeated so badly that no one would be willing to serve.

But they were pushing the Red Cannon.

The Red Cannon is a good cannon. It has a long range and great power. It is extremely useful in defending and attacking cities. In field battles, it is also very effective against simple fortifications and defensive equipment.

But our Mongolian soldiers are all poor. Fortifications? They don't have any of that.

They scatter as soon as the fight starts, and their defense depends entirely on their movement and hooves. Attacking them with red cannon is like using a cannon to kill a mosquito.

The militia infantry had no good training in battle formations, and when the cavalry charged into the two formations with swords in hand, they were afraid that the formation would be dispersed. Even if there were some students and soldiers who were skilled in archery and horse riding, they would not be able to hold on if the formation was dispersed.

What followed was a one-sided massacre.

This is equivalent to him organizing a militia and being beaten to death, and then someone sends people to his home to ask his brother, old father, and fellow villagers whether they are willing to take up official duties.

The answer is no need to consider it.

Who can rush into officialdom without caring about blood feuds and contempt from neighbors?

Liu Chengzong did not hurriedly send someone to Sanyuan to invite Wang Zheng to serve as an official, but instead called Zhang Jinyan, the official in charge of the provincial government.

This was a surrendered official, and he was the magistrate of Sanyuan County when he surrendered.

In order to reward him for his surrender, he was promoted to the position of Shaanxi Provincial Government.

Liu Chengzong paid close attention to him.

Zhang Jinyan had a clean resume. He was from Weihui Prefecture, Henan Province, and was a Jinshi in the fourth year of Chongzhen.

As soon as Liu Chengzong left Yan'an Prefecture, he filled the vacancy in Qingjian and became the magistrate of the county.

The Yulin Cavalry inquired about his past and surprisingly found that this man had done a good job in Qingjian.

Of course, his performance was not outstanding. In his spare time, he fed cats and rabbits, wrote poetry, painted, and traveled.

This is the most amazing thing. As an official of the Ming Dynasty, this guy can travel around northern Shaanxi with ease.

It’s hard to comment on Liu Chengzong. If you say he was just muddling through, then he was definitely muddling through. But in Qingjian in those days, it was considered amazing that he could just muddle through.

The local roaming peasant soldiers not only did not kill him, but also allowed him to play outside and even provided protection.

The reason was that Zhang Jinyan, relying on his status as a Jinshi, served as a teacher to the leaders and children of the peasant army. He also distributed land to the peasant army and organized the people to build canals and plant trees.

He was very eloquent and told the local elders that they had to study at all times, as the Ming Dynasty would be better and more juren and jinshi would be produced through the imperial examinations.

  If the Ming Dynasty were to fall, the new dynasty would also need scholars. What kind of solution would it be if bandits just robbed and killed people?

He seems to be a very competent official.

No, this was just a way for Zhang Jinyan to report his achievements to the court. At that time, Yang He was still in charge of Shaanxi.

He said that he had recruited several thousand peasant soldiers and stationed them in Qingjian. He only served in Qingjian for a year and a half before being promoted to magistrate of Sanyuan.

Although both were county magistrates, Qingjian was a small county, while Sanyuan was a large county. According to the rules during the Hongwu period, the magistrate of Sanyuan had a higher rank than that of Qingjian.

As soon as the transfer order came, Zhang Jinyan left on the spot without even saying goodbye to his students.

Even now, the village elders in Qingjian still want to settle accounts with him. They have talked a lot and have paid the tuition fees, but he is leaving now.

Why don’t you take our kids away to study?

  Fuck your ancestors, give me your money back!

Really retired.

Moreover, they did not retreat after surrendering the entire county to Liu Chengzong.

As soon as Liu Chengzong led his troops to Xianyang and the battle on the plateau ended, Zhang Jinyan sent people to Qingjian to meet with the elders and explained that he had left in a hurry and sent a letter back after taking office in Sanyuan County, but was blocked by landmines on the way, so he was only able to contact the students now.

He took fifteen young students back to Sanyuan on the spot.

At the same time, Zhang Jinyan also did two other things.

The first was to withhold the taxes from Sanyuan that year and send the actual amount collected to Xi'an Prefecture and Shanxi at the same time.

The second was to send a message to the family members in Weihui Prefecture, Henan, asking them to move to Hancheng as soon as possible.

Hancheng, what a precise timing, what a crucial location.

Zuo Maodi refused to surrender, and Liu Chengzong announced exemption from taxation.

Then the magistrate of Sanyuan moved his family here.

Liu Shizi, by nature, doesn't like people who are not good at surrendering.

Giving Zhang Jinyan a promotion was like pinching his nose for him. He was promoted to the position of provincial governor, which was a higher rank, but in fact it would have been better if he had not been promoted.

Because there was no one in the Shaanxi Provincial Government Office of the Marshal's Office.

When Chen Qiuyu opened the city to surrender, the governor, grain inspector, and register inspector were all released. The garrison troops were not in the city to begin with, and the experience officer was short of people, so the entire government office was basically empty.

Only Ambassador Cang was left, and there were four other gatekeepers.

The four men were all young and distant relatives of Chen Qiuyu. They had families and would not be able to support themselves if they were sent to the city, so Chen Qiuyu had just arranged jobs for them.

After all, Chen Qiuyu is also our river governor, and he has already lost face enough. There is no need for Liu Shizi to offend him on such a matter, so he did not dismiss them and let them stay to guard the gate.

Zhang Jinyan was the second official in the Shaanxi Provincial Government.

The experience officer is actually in charge of the transfer of documents. In the absence of a governor, he is responsible for transferring the official documents reported to the governor's office by various counties to the right places.

It was very obvious from this position arrangement that Liu Chengzong disliked him.

Zhang Jinyan himself knew it, so this former county magistrate, who now worked as a clerk in the mail room, had no complaints and worked hard every day, and really did a great job.

Although there were only six people and a donkey in the yamen, there was not much work to do.

But Zhang Jinyan arranges his daily schedule very full.

As soon as the sun rose, he would fetch water to wash and make himself clean, and then sort out the documents, newspapers and official documents from previous years in the yamen.

When he was almost done, in the afternoon, he went to the garden behind the government office to work, moving the bamboo forest to both sides of the front courtyard corridor, and asked the doorman to help move eight pine trees. When it was getting dark, he asked the doorman to buy wine, but he didn't drink much, just two cups and then wrote poems.

The empty government office still has a breath of life.

Of course, on the third day after taking office, they took inventory of the warehouse and found out that Ambassador Cang, who had not escaped, was corrupt and was thrown into jail. Zhang Jinyan then took on the role of the ninth-rank prison warden of the Provincial Government and had his students deliver meals to Ambassador Cang every day.

The meals were only delivered for two days, and on the sixth day Liu Chengzong arranged for the warehouse keeper to set off.

No killing.

The treasury he embezzled was the Xi'an treasury of the Ming Dynasty, not his provincial government warehouse. Moreover, his crime was not punishable by death, so according to the law he should be kept in jail until next autumn for retrial.

Liu Shizi thought that it was a waste of effort to keep the animal alive, so he simply sentenced him to exile three thousand miles away and sent him to Taimengwei as a soldier.

Someone took him to Lanzhou, and when Chu Huer returned home, he joined other Tianshan tour groups and was sent together to see Zhou Riqiang.

Liu Chengzong had read the poems written by Zhang Jinyan.

The four men under the Chief Secretary are very shrewd.

No matter what Zhang Jinyan did or wrote every day, Chen Qiuyu's family members would go to the Prince of Qin's mansion to find the official to inform him that night.

There is a poem called "The Great Drought", which is very cleverly written. It does not write about Shaanxi, but about the two sides of the Yellow River.

There is too much rain in Henan and the leaves of crops rot. There is no rain in Hebei and the roadside soil is not sprinkled. There is no time to drive the carts on the road, and the people living on the roadside do not cook. The wheat is not enough to cure the old hunger, and the clerks in front of the gate are shouting in anger. When the clerks are angry, no one is at home, and the gates of the marquisates are full of singing and dancing.

Although this person looks calm and normal.

But Liu Chengzong concluded that this thing was just like when he was the magistrate of Qingjian, and he began to highlight his personality.

But it doesn’t matter.

Liu Shizi has realized from Zhang Jinyan's resume that this person's intelligence and ability are indeed top-notch.

He served two terms as an official and had some achievements earned through fraud, but no major problems occurred.

The change of flag and banner was very smooth.

He was very steady and seemed to be able to handle this kind of thing with ease.

But he has bad character.

Forget about the baggage, there is no morality at all.

In order to get promoted, he can coax and deceive anyone. Apart from his personal future, the relationship between the court, the emperor, his father, and the master and apprentice are all external things.

Liu Chengzong was not at all wary of Zhang Jinyan.

There is nothing to be wary of against such a person. As long as the Marshal's Office does not go downhill and he has the opportunity to show his talents, he will be very loyal.

If the Marshal's Office starts to go downhill, Liu Chengzong will have too many people to worry about, and Zhang Jinyan, a civil servant, will not even be able to make the cut.

Zhang Jinyan was in his early thirties, wearing a velvet mink fur coat and dressed neatly, as he entered the lobby of the military government office.

Liu Chengzong looked at his mink coat and asked with a smile, "Have you distributed your winter clothes?"

Zhang Jinyan lowered his head and touched his fur robe, and replied happily, "Yes, it was sent by the Ministry of Rites three days ago. I thank you for your grace, Marshal."

The Marshal's Mansion did not have special material for official robes, only dark gold knife-patterned material for making battle robes.

What Zhang Jinyan was wearing was brought from Lanzhou along with the Marshal's army's winter clothes.

It’s just that the materials of fur robes of different levels are slightly different.

For example, the one Zhang Jinyan is wearing has only a mink fur collar, the rest is wolf fur.

A full mink fur robe was a privilege only afforded to lieutenant generals or prefects.

As for the governors, general officers, and governors, they all wore warm and lightweight lynx fur coats.

But in fact, whether it is sable fur or lynx fur, these things are not scarce in the Marshal's Office. Anyway, the demand is very small compared to the production of Oirats.

The military uniforms of ordinary soldiers are divided into three types.

One is the newly made iron armor and helmets by the Jurwan Arsenal. Relying on the huge stock of fur, they were used wherever fur was suitable, such as the collar of the helmet, the cloth surface of the cloth armor, and the lining of military boots.

The second type is cotton-padded jackets and trousers from the Lanzhou Military Equipment Bureau. The textile industry and craftsmen there were sufficient, and it was the most prosperous territory of the Marshal's Office in the past. Therefore, a large number of old-style cotton-padded jackets and trousers were supplied to the front line.

It was the kind of khaki-colored cotton jacket inlaid with leather that Liu Chengzong had made earlier because he had no dyes.

The style is older, but the cotton material is sufficient.

The three brigades stationed in Xi'an Prefecture are mainly supplemented by the above two types.

The third type is more fashionable, a sleeveless short jacket made of lambskin.

From Cao Yao, he ate too many lambs, so he transported them to Hu Zhishen, the deputy governor of the Dusi, and mobilized the Gansu military craftsmen and women to make a pile of lamb skins.

There are three standards: one size fits all, sleeveless, and short jacket.

So there are all kinds of designs, including round collar, cross collar and even high collar, and the colors are dark and light.

However, the three standards determined that anyone could wear it and could also put it over the mandarin duck battle jacket, which was very warm. It was distributed by Gansu to the Yanqing and Longxi brigades, but it was not yet complete and only three-quarters of it was replenished.

Liu Chengzong once asked Cao Yao why the winter clothes made by Gansu military craftsmen were not given priority to the two brigades in Gansu.

Cao Yao said it was too ugly and he didn’t like to wear it.

There are some veterans of the Marshal's Army in Gansu, and many of them are former Ming border troops. They are guarding their homes and have relatively sufficient clothes and armor, so they all have aesthetic pursuits.

New ones are being made in Gansu now.

In the military government office, Zhang Jinyan was visibly excited when he learned that Liu Chengzong wanted to recruit Wang Zheng.

He realized that his chance to show his talents had come!

He said on the spot: "General, I think that due to the local conditions in the Sanyuan Jingyang area, most gentry are unwilling to serve in the General's Office. If a senior official from the General's Office comes forward, it may be counterproductive."

Liu Chengzong frowned and said, "Is it impossible for me to invite him in person?"

He did have this plan, to visit Wang Zheng's house.

Because Shi Cheng told me that the old man is already very old, and instead of letting others do something that may not succeed, it is better for him to try it himself.

However, Zhang Jinyan heard him say this and immediately recommended himself, saying, "Grand Marshal, why should you condescend to me? Besides, there are many talented people in the Sanyuan and Jingyang areas, not just Wang Zheng."

"If the Marshal can write a letter asking the Ye family in Sanyuan to help, I will invite Wang Zheng to come for you within a month."

"Not only him, but also Jiao Yuanpu, the governor of Datong who is living here at the time."

Liu Chengzong raised his eyebrows.

Zhang Jinyan was indeed smart. The most interesting sentence in his self-recommendation was actually asking for help from Sanyuan County Magistrate Ye Ding.

Liu Chengzong knew very well that Ye Ding could not do anything, he was just a seventeen-year-old child.

Ye Ding was born into a Hehuang Tusi family, and his background was exactly the opposite of Zhang Jinyan's.

When Liu Chengzong attacked Hehuang, his father Ye Guoqi raised a flag to resist in the small town of Binggou Horse Farm. His uncle Ye Bingqian was initially with Liu Chengzong, but was sent back to convey the ultimatum.

The two brothers refused to surrender many times. When Mo Yujing surrendered, they ordered Ye Ding to recognize Mo Yujing as his adoptive father, which was regarded as handing over the descendants of the chieftain to the Marshal's Office.

Later, when the city was breached, the two brothers sought justice and put on armor and swords in the government office, rushed towards the heavy musketeers of the marshal's army, and died in the smoke of gunpowder.

Liu Chengzong admired the loyalty of the two brothers, so he personally arranged a cemetery for them, wrote an epitaph, and then removed the Ye Tusi from the list in Hehuang.

Ye Ding was trained as a chieftain since he was a child. He had both literary talent and martial arts skills. He studied at the Jurwan Academy for another two years.

His adoptive father Mo Yujing took very good care of him. This year, he and his nephew Mo Fuli, who had the title of scholar, were recommended through the back door to join the Yulin Camp.

Liu Chengzong wanted to try out his ability to make cauldrons, but he was also unwilling to put a young man whose father and uncle had died at his hands in front of the door of his palace.

Taking advantage of Zhang Jinyan's promotion, as the post of Sanyuan County Magistrate was vacant, Ye Ding was appointed as the County Magistrate.

But after all, he is still young, and Liu Shizi's attitude is to just do it first, and then find someone else if it doesn't work out well.

Liu Chengzong had a complicated attitude towards Ye Ding.

But in Zhang Jinyan's opinion, Ye Ding's age and resume clearly showed that he was favored by Marshal Liu. He was definitely a favorite in the Marshal's Mansion.

That's why he asked Ye Ding to cooperate. What he meant was that if I succeeded, I must give County Magistrate Ye a share of the credit.

Liu Shizi could see through this little trick clearly.

But it seems that Zhang Jinyan really thinks he can make this happen.

If this guy was good at recruiting knowledgeable people, Liu Chengzong would certainly feel relieved, so he asked with a smile: "Are you serious?"

For Zhang Jinyan, this was tantamount to giving him an opportunity to perform.

The former county magistrate was serious and excited, and immediately clasped his fists and saluted, saying: "I am not lying!" (End of this chapter)