stubborn thief

In the fourth month of the ninth year of Chongzhen, outside the border of Xuanda.

The rising beacon flames burned from east to west, and then burned back in Shanxi with great force.

The Ming troops guarding the border followed Fu Renxi's orders to pass on the news repeatedly and report every little movement outside the border.

In fact, Fu Renxi was recorded for his meritorious service last year and was planned to be promoted to the general of Jizhen. The deputy general of Xuanfu was to be the former lieutenant general of Zhongquanying, Kong Dengke, while the former deputy general Zhang Tao was to serve as the general of the newly formed Zhongquanying.

However, before he arrived there to take up his post, the war broke out.

Initially, Fu Renxi did not take it seriously. He thought that it was Taiji Qintu who was trying to seize territory outside the border, which made the Later Jin Dynasty furious, and the two sides were going to fight outside the border.

Therefore, he just sent his servants to investigate the border as usual, and he was more concerned about watching the show, after all, this matter was not his job at the moment.

What Fu Renxi is most concerned about right now is the number of retainers the court will allow him. He wants to get as many veteran soldiers as possible to accompany him to Jizhou, which will make it easier for him to carry out his work when the time comes.

After all, one's own family knows their own affairs.

General Fu’s achievements today are inseparable from the silent support of Ju Kou Yi Xiang Jin behind him.

This unique advantage is difficult to take advantage of in Jizhen.

After all, he couldn't just cover his face and take the Jizhen soldiers to rob Beijing.

So he was quite nervous about taking office in Jizhen.

At this critical moment, there was a commotion outside.

The servant who was sent out was completely in the dark and brought back Liu Chengzong's handwritten letter first.

After reading the letter, Fu Renxi was so scared that he almost fumed, and quickly handed the letter to Li Guoliang, the general of Xuanfu.

Li Guoliang and Fu Renxi have not been together for a long time, but he relies on him very much.

There is no way. The Ming Dynasty is now quite wary of generals from Shaanxi. Officers from Northern Zhili, Liaodong, and Xuanda in Shanxi are generally unwilling to have much contact with them.

As for Fu Renxi, the impression he left on his colleagues, well...it couldn't even be said to be just wild.

He could talk to Yang Sichang, the governor of the three towns in Shanxi, Yang Qi in the southern part of the border area, and Zhang Zhen in Yanqing, Shaanxi.

After winning a battle against the Eastern Tartars on the border two years ago, Fu Renxi became a popular senior general. Last year, he got married and married the daughter of Sun Chuanting, a local gentry from Daizhou.

The year before last, Fu Renxi had performed brilliantly in resisting the Eastern Tartars and recaptured a population of 2,700 people. He did this in Daizhou. 2,700 people meant 2,700 families, so his reputation in Daizhou was like that of a living Bodhisattva, and everyone was grateful to him.

After the war, some local gentry asked him to send instructors to train local militia and teach them how to use firearms and artillery.

Some people also secretly made clay statues of him at home and offered incense to them day and night.

Later, he got engaged to Sun Chuanting's daughter.

As a result, at the wedding ceremony, not only did the Governor-General of the Three Towns Yang Sichang attend in person, but the northern barbarians outside the border also sent several soldiers to give him 27 horses, 27 cows, and 135 sheep.

The gifts were not expensive, but the gift list was very long, including the names of important officials from Monan such as Yang Qi, He Huchen, Wang Chengen, and Taiji Xuantu, as well as E'linchen, Sanang Taiji, Shunyi King Emubu and other 230,000 households.

The servants were singing the gift list outside the mansion gate, the guests were whispering in the yard, Yang Sichang had a complicated expression in the mansion, but Fu Renxi was drunk and his face was flushed.

Even the ridicule from Old Taishan was not heard as good or bad, Sun Chuanting said: "It's just that Han Khan didn't give you a gift."

Fu Renxi waved his hand while holding the wine glass: "Hey, father-in-law doesn't know, it's because I didn't inform him."

These words made Sun Chuanting blush. This son-in-law was quite good at leading troops, but he was not humble when he was drunk and liked to brag.

However, it was a double blessing for Sun Chuanting at that time. Not only did he find a good husband for his daughter, but after living in the village for ten years, his own career also made progress.

The imperial court commended Sun Chuanting for his meritorious services, including building city walls, rewarding soldiers, and leading his family troops to quell rebellions and protect his hometown. Others were afraid of being selected by the emperor as frontier talents, but Sun Chuanting was not afraid and was appointed as the chancellor of Shuntian Prefecture.

Sun Chuanting had no idea that Fu Renxi's greatest strength was his humility.

As long as he was willing to open the gate, let alone send gifts, Liu Shizi would even be able to personally bring gifts to the scene, preside over the wedding ceremony for him to entertain relatives and friends, and call him brother all the time.

After his wedding ceremony, he was impeached many times, but Yang Sichang blocked them all. There were even more people impeaching Yang Sichang.

This is also the reason why the court wanted to transfer Fu Renxi to Jizhen, so that this meritorious person could stay away from his old friends.

Yang Sichang went to the capital to offer advice to the emperor. Not long after, Yang Sichang's stepmother Ding passed away and his father Yang He also fell ill, so he went home to observe mourning and take care of his old father.

The current successor to the Governor-General of Xuanda, Shanxi is called Liang Tingdong, whose name matches well with Li Guoliang, the general of Xuanfu. One is a pillar of the court and the other is a pillar of the country. Anyway, they are two big pillars in the room, which is very good.

Liang Tingdong was also a very capable person. In the third year of Chongzhen's reign, when he was facing a shortage of military pay, he suggested to Chongzhen to add an additional 3 cents to the 9 cents of silver.

At that time, court officials were unwilling to increase salaries, saying that the people were already very poor and that they would not be able to survive if they were given more salaries.

Liang Tingdong told Chongzhen that they were talking nonsense.

I have counted the troops in the nine borders and found that there are no more than 500,000 soldiers and the military pay is no more than 15 million. How is it possible that the imperial court cannot even afford to support such a small number of soldiers?

The people’s poverty has nothing to do with the small amount of money from Liao’s salary. It’s because the officials are too greedy. I’m an official, so how could I not know that?

The annual expenses for paying homage, taking the imperial examination, taking appointments, and promoting one's career would be at least five or six thousand taels. The expenses for inspections, investigations, gifts, and recommendations could reach as much as thirty thousand taels.

After traveling around the country, millions of taels of silver were spent.

If this atmosphere of corruption is not eradicated, the people will still suffer even if the Liao salary is not increased.

Therefore, the problem for the court now is not whether to increase the Liao salary. If the money is not enough, it must be increased. The primary contradiction is to eliminate the middlemen, so that the people pay less and the country collects more.

Chongzhen was very happy. This was how a capable official should be. It was not right that when I said something, the court officials said this and that and couldn't do it. As a minister, wouldn't you have to think about what to do? Would the world be rotten?

Liang Tingdong offended many people because of this suggestion.

They are all officials, and this is how these common practices are followed. No one exposes the unspoken rules, and people outside the circle who don’t know about them will never know, just like the emperor.

Once you say that, the emperor will think that we are all greedy, and only you, Liang Tingdong, have distanced yourself from it. You are a traitor, a bastard who harms others for your own benefit.

In the end, things did not go as Liang Tingdong had imagined and the trend of greed was not curbed.

His original intention was to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, but he took things for granted.

In the final analysis, it was just because of his status and position that he no longer needed to take exams to advance, so he pulled out the ladder once he got to the top.

This is not an easy matter to handle, and it is impossible for the court not to examine the performance of officials. According to Liang Tingdong's idea, the court should not select officials for the time being. Anyway, those selected will be a bunch of garbage. It is better to use this public expenditure to support the army first.

The key point is that this money levied by local governments is not in the court account and does not go into the national treasury at all. Even if the local governments stop levying this money, they will not be able to make money from it.

However, to curb this trend, the court would need to employ a larger group of people, whether for patrols or investigations, which would require more expenditures from the national treasury, which meant starting a new trend.

Therefore, this policy can only be considered half-hearted in the court: You just say whether the Liao salary can be collected. Okay, Liang Tingdong said it should be collected and must be collected.

It was just like Yang Sichang's series of policies of division and containment against the Eastern Tartars and Western Bandits, including enfeoffment of Yang Qi as a king, negotiation with Chengzong, and stationing troops in Korea.

During the reign of Chongzhen, the only option was to confer the title of King on Yang Qi, and he was very proactive and got it done immediately.

After all, it was embarrassing to negotiate peace, and Chongzhen might not be able to avoid losing face, but many court officials could not let Chongzhen lose face.

The garrison costs money, and Chongzhen may not be unable to spend the money, but many court officials cannot let Chongzhen spend it.

The only way to confer the title of king is to use a bronze seal and send an envoy, which everyone can accept.

It even accidentally consumed a gold seal and an envoy of the Later Jin Dynasty.

Not only can it allow you to spend less money, but it can also allow the Later Jin to spend more money. Isn't this a win-win situation?
Although Liang Tingdong's suggestions were not properly implemented, he was bound to be appreciated by Emperor Chongzhen. He took over from Governor Wang Yuanya who committed suicide during the Ji Si Rebellion, and now he took over from Yang Sichang who returned home in mourning, and became the governor of the three towns of Xuanda and Shanxi.

Fu Renxi's intelligence was reported to Liang Tingdong, and the new governor only then discovered that there was such a man of extraordinary means in Xuanda.

He immediately submitted a memorial to the imperial court, requesting that this person be temporarily retained in Xuanda as the commander-in-chief.

Liang Tingdong was a very shrewd person. He could tell Fu Renxi's true identity at a glance based on his circle of friends.

The logic is very simple. What is the duty of the governor of Xuanda Shanxi? It is to defend the three towns. There is no duty to re-enter or attack Shaanxi. It is enough to defend the three towns.

Our own people are in the east and south, and his friends are in the west and north.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Fu Renxi is an invincible person here.

If you transfer such a thing to Jizhen and he gets beaten to death in a couple of days, wouldn't that be a loss to the country?

Of course, Liang Tingdong was also wary of him, so he offered him the position of general of a standard camp and kept him by his side and watched carefully, so that he could both make use of his influence and prevent him from doing anything big.

Fu Renxi was very happy with the new appointment. He mobilized local servants and recruited many local gentry from Daizhou who he had trained himself to form a militia of 2,000 people to supervise the camp.

Originally, according to Liang Tingdong's idea, the newly formed Du Biao Camp was to recruit soldiers widely, but Fu Renxi felt that the Later Jin and the Marshal's Office had been pushed to the border and might rush in at any time, so it would be too late to train soldiers.

It would be better to first draw out the troops, count as many people as possible, prepare for war actively, and just use them when they can be used.

His instinct was right.

In fact, at the same time when he was appointed as the commander-in-chief and was recruiting soldiers to build camps, the Later Jin army had already broken through the border wall from the eastern part of Yunzhou in Xuanfu Town and infiltrated the border.

Even though Liu Chengzong reported military intelligence outside the border, he was unable to catch up with the marching speed of the Later Jin Army.

The area around Longmen in Yunzhou is located outside the western mountainous area of ​​the Yanshan Mountains. Ajige and other Later Jin generals were very familiar with that area.

In the seventh year of Chongzhen, they broke in through that entrance.

This year is no exception. Ajige's most confident area is still the eastern part of Yunzhou.

They used thick-backed machetes to clear a path, used grappling hooks to climb over walls, and used steel drills to chisel open the side walls. The soldiers attacked the garrison at the pass from over the wall, then opened the gate and let the troops in.

The whole process took only two hours, and several forts were captured. The army then drove through the breach without looting, but divided into several routes and rushed straight towards Yanqing Prefecture.

Because this area had been plundered the year before, for Ajige, the castle was dilapidated and there was nothing good to rob. It was also easy to alert the enemy and get blocked. So he had to divide his troops and advance simultaneously, plunder Yanqing Prefecture as quickly as possible, and attack the unprepared Juyongguan in order to successfully break through the border.

Of course, that’s a good idea.

In fact, the 22 banners of the army that entered the border ran wild once they were dispersed, and they were looting everywhere.

No one understood the Later Jin Army better than Emperor Chongde Huang Taiji.

The discipline he repeatedly emphasized was the ideal state of the Eight Banner Army in his mind.

But the repeated reiteration of discipline just shows that there is a huge gap between ideal and reality.

This is just like the sign in the cafeteria saying "No beating of customers allowed". It looks outrageous, but as long as it is there, there must have been someone beating someone.

When the troops were sent out, Huang Taiji told Ajige a lot of military discipline. To put it the other way around, it was the true state of the Later Jin army when Huang Taiji ignored military discipline and did not use punishment to intimidate the Later Jin nobles.

They made noise during the march, left the team without permission, stripped passers-by of their clothes and killed them, ran away when they saw people resisting, and were killed when they obeyed the captives, violated separated couples, made captives guard horses and then the horses ran away, took food without permission and looted and then were killed, ate Han people's cooked food and drank Han people's wine, and finally were poisoned to death by the Han people.

All of these have happened, so Huang Taiji has such experience to share.

When the Xuanyun Ming army received the governor's order to defend the city to the death, signal fire was already spreading everywhere from Yunzhou to Yanqingzhou.

At the same time, the troops guarding the border wall also reported that tens of thousands of cavalrymen from the south of the desert poured out of Jining and spread eastward along the border.

As a result, Li Guoliang of Xuanfu and Wang Pu of Datong were on high alert as if they were facing a powerful enemy.

Although Liu Chengzong was outside the border, he had already written a personal letter and asked the Huben Camp to copy hundreds of copies. He also sent Tang soldiers to deliver it along the border to inform the generals of the three towns that he had sent troops here with no ill intentions towards the Ming border, but to support Yang Qi in Mo Nan.

Li Guoliang believed it.

But Liang Tingdong and Wang Pu didn't dare to believe it.

After all, the Later Jin attacked Juyongguan and entered northern Zhili. The three borders in the central region would definitely obey the imperial edict to defend the country. At that time, they could fight in northern Zhili, but at least the responsibility would not be on King Pu of Datong.

But if you, Liu Chengzong, enter the border, you will definitely have to attack Shanxi and Datong.

What's more, the Later Jin is a wolf that robs and runs away, while you, Liu Chengzong, are the tiger that rushes into your home and builds a den.

However, Liu Chengzong really had no intention of entering the border at this time, as his army was busy chasing after the Bordered Blue Banner.

This northern expedition has come to an end.

After taking Ningxia, Yulin was unable to hold on alone and a large number of people surrendered. Ren Quaner and Zhang Zhen led their troops into the siege of Yulin City.

Reports from frontline generals all indicated that the city of Yulin was determined to resist, and they suggested using siege rather than attack to solve the problem, forcing the Ming army to leave the city for a field battle to decide the outcome in one fell swoop.

Liu Chengzong could understand this.

Yang Jiamo, a hereditary nobleman in Gansu Town, dared to fight him to the death.

There were countless nobles and former generals living in Yulin City, and several generations of them had been receiving salaries from the Ming Dynasty from birth to death.

There is a difference between growing up on a salary and growing up on military pay. The Ming Dynasty has cut off military pay, but it has never cut off salaries. Every one of these people would be considered disloyal if they did not shed their last drop of blood for the Ming Dynasty.

So at this moment, Liu Shizi felt at ease and relaxed.

He led his troops to the east to curb the development of the Later Jin. It didn't matter if their large troops entered the border, as long as they didn't run away, the Ming army would be able to deal with them.

Liu Shizi caught the support troops outside the wall and beat them up.

Whoever stays behind will be beaten, and whoever provides support will be beaten.

In fact, Liu Chengzong was busy sending messages to Yulin, Ningxia and other places, asking the military craftsmen who had just surrendered to forge steel arrowheads and spearheads and transport them to Guihua City.

If there was a chance, he planned to take advantage of this chaos and send a small army to break through the Greater Khingan Range, compete with Khorchin, and carve out a passage.

Send the tiger from the Black True Tribe next to him back to his hometown, and let the Black True and Sauron people armed with steel arrowheads and steel spearheads follow suit and make some trouble in the rear.

We can’t let them grow those big shapes in vain. (End of this chapter)