weaving

Chapter 1320 Are you manipulating the political situation?

"Since this is the case, I will not say any more."

Zhang Fuzhen saw that the Earl of Yongning had made up his mind, and knew that it would be difficult to persuade him to change his mind. At the same time, he also felt that Zhang Cheng's talent would surely enable him to wipe out the rebels. It seemed that only Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting could compare with him among all the civil and military officials in the court.

However, Hong Chengchou was stationed in Liaodong and did not dare to leave easily; and Sun Chuanting had just been released from the imperial prison and had just taken up the post of governor of Shaanxi. He had no soldiers at his disposal and was unable to take on this important task; at present, Zhang Cheng, the Earl of Yongning, seemed to be the best candidate.

Although he was still worried about the criticism and obstruction from the civil officials, which might make Zhang Cheng's plan to suppress the bandits come to nothing, but Earl Yongning was determined to give it a try, and it was difficult for him to stop him.

"Zhongchen, what do you think of Liao affairs?"

Seeing that he had changed the subject, Zhang Cheng continued, "Negotiating with me may be the best option at the moment."

"You also agree to negotiate with the slaves?"

"Why not?"

Zhang Cheng admired Zhang Fuzhen very much. In addition, Zhang Fuzhen also cared for him and was able to treat him honestly. Therefore, Zhang Cheng was also very honest and did not have too many reservations in front of him.

"The Liaodong Jiannu and the Central Plains bandits are both the two major sources of trouble for our dynasty. However, the situation in our country is completely unable to support the use of troops on two fronts. We must first stabilize one side and concentrate our strength to completely eliminate one of the two major sources of trouble. Only then can we stabilize the situation in our dynasty and slowly deal with the remaining one.

But looking at the current situation, it is impossible to solve the problem of bandits by pacifying them without bloodshed. It has become a normal situation for bandits to rebel again after being pacified, and there is no credibility anymore. The rebels are even worse. They broke into Luoyang and killed Fu Fan, attacked Kaifeng twice, and killed two governors of Shaanxi successively. Now they even have the intention of changing the dynasty. There is absolutely no reason to pacify them again.

Therefore, although the Jiannu in Liaodong have been a scourge for a long time and have repeatedly invaded the heart of my capital, they have never given up their desire to negotiate peace with my dynasty. We can now make use of this to negotiate with them. As long as the danger in Liaodong is alleviated, I can free up at least 40,000 to 50,000 elite troops and transfer them to the Central Plains to join forces to suppress the bandits, and some of the Liao salary can also be allocated to the war in the Central Plains.

If the bandits are eliminated, why worry about the scabies of the Jiannu?"

"But Jiannu is fickle, how can we know whether he is sincere in his peace proposal or whether he has evil intentions?"

"who cares!"

Zhang Cheng, the Earl of Yongning, said disapprovingly: "We ourselves are not sincere in negotiating peace, it is just a temporary 'delaying tactic', so why should we care whether the Jiannu are sincere or not?"

Zhang Fuzhen was speechless after hearing what Earl Yongning said. He thought: He is a rough man after all, how can he speak so bluntly!

However, although he felt that Zhang Cheng's words were too explicit, he had to admit the fact, so he said: "That being said, who can guarantee that Jiannu...he will not attack Liaodong when we withdraw our troops to aid Henan?"

"In the siege of Jinzhou the year before last, the Jiannu not only did not gain any advantage, nor did they plunder any military supplies, but they also suffered heavy casualties and severe loss of baggage and food. They are no longer able to launch a major offensive against Liaodong.

Moreover, we have been operating in Liaodong for a long time, and we have sufficient food and grass reserves, brave soldiers, excellent armor and weapons, and strong forts. Even if the Jiannu really betray us and lead their troops to attack, we can hold out for some time and wait for reinforcements to come to our rescue."

Zhang Fuzhen was silent for a moment, then said, "So... Zhongchen, you are indeed from Chen Xinjia's faction!"

"Mr. Zhang, what you said is meaningless."

Zhang Cheng smiled and continued, "What's this faction or that faction? In my opinion... as long as one can look at the big picture and work for the court wholeheartedly instead of for personal gain, then he is good. But those who abuse their power for personal gain, form cliques and engage in corruption, and harm the public for their own benefit are bad."

"So are you a good, loyal person... or a bad one?"

"Good and bad are in people's hearts, and it is up to future generations to judge!" Zhang Cheng stood up and walked to the window, looking at the lotus leaves in the pond outside the window, and said: "We just need to do what we think we should do and do it with all our heart and soul. As for right and wrong, it is not that important."

He turned around abruptly and said to Zhang Fuzhen, "I, Zhang Cheng, pride myself on being a man of integrity. How could I be afraid of the criticisms of unethical officials? I just want to have a clear conscience and be worthy of the emperor's grace and the hard work of the common people. As for those unethical civil servants... they are not worthy of me, Zhang Cheng, to do anything for you!"

"Loyalty, I understand your intentions."

Seeing that Earl Yongning had revealed his true feelings to him, Zhang Fuzhen also spoke frankly, saying, "The path you have chosen is extremely difficult and dangerous, and many things cannot be predicted now. Without great perseverance, it will be difficult to make it to the end.

If one is not careful, he will die and his reputation will be ruined, or even his wife and children will be implicated. What's worse, his entire clan will be implicated, and he will become a sinner for all eternity, and will be insulted by future generations for thousands of years.

Loyalty, do you know the consequences of this?"

Zhang Cheng replied with a firm expression: "Yu Shaobao Zhongsu Gong once said, 'I am not afraid of being crushed to pieces, I just want to leave my innocence in the world.'"

"That's fine!"

Zhang Fuzhen seemed to have made up his mind. He said decisively: "I originally wanted to write a letter to the court to ask for resignation from the emperor and return home to serve my parents. But today, I was deeply moved by your heartfelt words. Since you are willing to sacrifice your life for justice, then... I will lend you a helping hand."

"What does Mr. Zhang mean...?"

"Tomorrow I will be ordered to go to the capital to take over the post of Minister of War and help Earl Yongning complete the task of suppressing bandits in Henan."

"Mr. Zhang, there is no need to be so anxious about this matter."

"What does loyalty mean...?"

"Mr. Zhang, I, Chen Xinjia, have been convicted of negotiating a private agreement and am currently in prison awaiting the emperor's judgment. The Prime Minister, Mr. Zhou, has just recommended Hou Xun to come to Henan to replace Mr. Zhang in suppressing the rebels. With all these uncertainties, why should Mr. Zhang rush to the capital to perform his duties?"

"Loyalty means..."

"I guess it won't be long before changes occur in the court. So... Mr. Zhang doesn't need to rush to the capital to take up his post. He should say goodbye to King Zhou first."

Zhang Cheng then smiled mysteriously and said, "In addition, when Mr. Zhang returns to Beijing to perform his duties, he will definitely pass through Zhen and Bao. The local gentry and people are grateful for your kindness and will naturally try their best to keep you and entertain you. Although Mr. Zhang is concerned about state affairs and is extremely anxious, he doesn't want to disappoint the people in southern Ji!"

Zhang Fuzhen didn't pay much attention to the other words, but the sentence "I'm afraid there will be changes in the court" really shocked him. He asked anxiously: "Changes in the court? Zhongchen, how do you know there will be changes in the court? Could it be... Could it be... that you are secretly manipulating the court situation?"

"Mr. Zhang...you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say anything nonsense!"

Yongning Earl Zhang Cheng said with a serious face: "Although I, Zhang Cheng, was granted the title of Yongning Earl by the Emperor, I am still an insignificant general of a border town. How can I control the government with my insignificant influence?"

Zhang Fuzhen also realized that he had said something wrong, so he quickly changed the subject and said, "Then I will not rush back to the capital, but will accompany the Earl of Yongning to meet His Royal Highness the King of Zhou tomorrow. How do you think?"

"Alright."

When Zhang Cheng heard Zhang Fuzhen say this, he stopped bothering with the previous words and said, "I came to Kaifeng this time to first pay a visit to Mr. Zhang; second, to ask Gao Futai and other officials in Kaifeng to continue to recruit civilians to repair the defense works of the new city; third, to ask His Royal Highness King Zhou to allocate more money and food to relieve the urgent situation at the front."