The Red House starts from Liaodong

Chapter 146

Liu Chengmin was led into the inner courtyard by Mrs. Zhou. As soon as he entered, the courtyard was full of women and maidservants busy.

As the sister-in-law did more things, the number of people in the family also unknowingly increased.

Seeing the second master coming, the women and maids in the yard stopped their work and bowed their heads.

"Where is sister-in-law?"

"Madam is in the room."

Jin Chuaner laughed.

Liu Chengmin received a letter from his eldest brother, so he had to ask his sister-in-law to confirm some details.

Qin Keqing asked the second master to sit outside.

Liu Chengmin followed Mrs. Zhou in and sat down. After a while, the maids brought tea and snacks.

Qin Keqing's voice came from the curtain.

"Except for Zhou Shi and Qingwen, everyone else should go out, and remember to keep an eye on Xiao Gan."

As the words fell, the women and maids all backed out.

Liu Chengmin took a sip of tea, did not touch the snacks, looked at the figures of some women pushed out, and sorted out the thoughts in his mind.

Most of the generals and civil servants in Jinzhou went to Shicheng Island.

Feng Shengzhi, Zhao Gouyong...

Feng Shengzhi, the highest-ranking civil servant, was recognized by the imperial court and cabinet as a fifth-rank civil servant, and has achieved his achievements from a single person to the present. Feng Shengzhi is very grateful to his elder brother.

But as a scholar, he is also grateful to the imperial court, worked hard in Jinzhou, and handled his errands cautiously.

For example, Zhao Gouyong, the highest-ranking military officer, was originally a third-rank military officer who served as the commander of the Liaodong Capital, but now he has been promoted to the third-rank military officer.

Neither the imperial court nor Liaodong Economic Strategy Shi Nai, including himself before going out to sea with his eldest brother, never thought that his eldest brother would expand so quickly.

A small Beiyu with only [-] members under his command has recovered Jinzhou and Zhenjiang successively in less than three years.

In fact, if this is the case, it is nothing, just tens of thousands of soldiers.

Li Dazu, Liaodong Jiedu envoy of Beizhen, his territory in Beizhen is not small, because he guards the gate of Liaoxi, his army strength reaches up to 10.

In the rear, Jinzhou dispatched the Liaodong Economic Strategy Shi Nai of Liaodong, with a maximum force of 7.

Although he was defeated by the barbarians the year before last, the Liaodong Jiedu made Li Dazu's troops drop to [-], but in the past two years it has recovered to [-].

Jinzhou also has 1 soldiers, and in the name of insufficient military pay, 4 stragglers took the initiative, only [-].

Therefore, the strength of Jinzhou did not arouse extra suspicion from the imperial court, but because the eldest brother was able to win the battle, he had a great reputation in the capital.

According to the letters between the elder brother and Jia's mansion, it was learned that it was Jinzhou's population of more than [-] that worried the court.

There are only more than [-] people in western Liaoning, and they are divided into Jinzhou, Beizhen, and connected to Shanhaiguan, unlike Jinzhou, which is isolated overseas.

According to Jia's letter, the imperial court is in a difficult situation.

Because Liaodong is ruled by the Weisuo, which is different from Guannei.

The inland area is managed by prefectures and counties, but Liaodong has no prefectures and counties because of the needs of the situation, and there are no officials such as prefects and prefects.

The management of Liaodong is a guard system, and Liaodong Dusi is actually a military institution in essence.

That is to say, there is nothing in Jinzhou that violates the system, but it is just in accordance with the usual practice. The court has no precedents to follow, unless the old system is to be changed.

Reformation is not so easy.

It is not easy to change without a valid reason.

Forcibly reforming the system, it is necessary to recognize the more than [-] people in Jinzhou, and it is necessary to appoint officials to manage them, and it is necessary to transport materials to treat these more than [-] people.

Today, Jinzhou, Beizhen, and Jinzhou in the Liaoxi Corridor have become a gold-swallowing behemoth, consuming tens of millions of taels of supplies from the court every year.

These tens of millions of taels are supplied every year. After a few years, the imperial court has been overwhelmed and unable to continue the full supply.

Liaoxi is more important than Jinzhou, so Jinzhou was wronged first, so the eldest brother took the opportunity to feel wronged and took the initiative to disband the [-] troops.

One can make it difficult for the court to easily reduce the share of Jinzhou, and the other can also let the court breathe a sigh of relief, so that it will not be too embarrassing.

Jinzhou's financial resources are so poor that it has reached the point of disarmament. It can be seen that the more than [-] people are really a big burden.

"Second Lord, I don't quite understand the meaning of the general's letter."

Hearing the voice from the curtain, Liu Chengmin came back to his senses and glanced at Zhou Shi and Qingwen.

Needless to say, the Zhou family, her son is the elder brother's adoptive son, and she was also taken in by the elder brother. It can be said that we share weal and woe as one, and it has been four years since Donghai Fort.

As for the girl in front of her who is getting more and more prosperous, although she is also from the Jia family, she is different from Jin Chuan'er.

In the letter written by Jin Chuan'er, he talked about some trivial matters in Jinzhou.

Yuanyang from Jia's mansion wrote back, saying that the old lady was very dissatisfied, saying that since she followed the Qin family to Jinzhou, she was a member of the general's family, so don't spread the affairs of the general's family to the outside world.

No matter whose letter it is, as long as it is sent to Shandong by Jinzhou ship, it will be quietly opened, and then it will be restored and sent out in its original form.

There is a team of people responsible for these matters, which are under the management of Xie Youcheng. After informing the elder brother, the elder brother said that it is not important.

Jin Chuan'er is ignorant, but the old lady of Jia's mansion is a discerning person. Whether it's because she guessed Jinzhou's tricks, or out of caution, nothing happened to both parties.

Qingwen is very different.

She really regarded herself as a member of the General's Mansion, and she had completely forgotten about Jia's Mansion. She didn't even reply to the letters from her aunt and brother's house, but the client sent some silver taels back.

It can be regarded as worthy of the opportunity she had with her elder brother.

Similarly, she should go her own way in the mansion, and no one restrains her.

Only then did Liu Chengmin start talking about confidential matters.

"Last month, the imperial court re-appointed a new eunuch to oversee the Beizhen army, and the candidate for the governor of Liaodong is also under discussion."

"Since the second master mentioned the word "renewal", does it mean that there were eunuchs in Beizhen before, why did they suddenly change to new ones?"

Qin Keqing listened carefully to Liu Chengmin's words outside, trying to figure out every word carefully, for fear that she might miss something.

"At the beginning, it was Beizhen Jiedu Mansion that was responsible for stabilizing Liaodong and expanding its territory. At that time, there were eunuchs supervising the army.

However, with the rise of Liaozuo, and when it was at its strongest, Nuer Gansi was established, and Liaodong Dusi replaced the role of Beizhen Jiedufu.

As a result, Beizhen gradually weakened and became the rear, with only a few thousand battalions.

The status of eunuchs in the army has plummeted, so they have been vacant for many years. There were a long time ago, but they disappeared later.

However, with the demise of the Liaodong capital three years ago, Beizhen's status has risen again, and it is more important than ever, so the imperial court sent eunuchs to supervise the army last month. "

"Is it because of checks and balances?"

Hearing Qin Keqing's words, Liu Chengmin nodded secretly.

His sister-in-law is really not simple.

It turned out that before the sister-in-law came to Jinzhou, the eldest brother told him that his future sister-in-law should not be treated as an ordinary woman, and her ability to adapt to the situation should not be underestimated.

The third brother sent the letter to the elder brother, and the elder brother also showed him the letter, which contained rumors about the Qin family's stay in Jia's house for several months.

For some time, no matter if it is the old lady in the mansion, the mother-in-law or daughter-in-law of each house, or even the tricky servants of Jia's mansion.

Public praise is nothing, but private praise is a big deal.

The third brother joked in the letter that there were servants in Jia's mansion, and privately laughed at him as a monk in Jia's mansion, but this comparison was made by his sister-in-law.

Liu Chengmin left Jinling with his eldest brother and went to the capital by boat. During that time, he had seen the arrogance of Jia's servants.

As for the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in each mansion, of course, I have also heard from Uncle Wu.

Without mentioning anything else, just say that the daughter-in-law of the Rongguo Mansion, Wang Xifeng from the Wang family, has always been extremely proud of herself, but she can regard the Qin family as a confidant.

There are many details, it can be seen that the sister-in-law's way of dealing with people is indeed just like what the elder brother said, which is not comparable to ordinary people.

"Yes, not only that, what my brother thinks is that although Jinzhou is different from Beizhen and Jinzhou, it is isolated overseas to recover or lose ground.

Although more power will be delegated to the eldest brother, similarly, since Beizhen and Jinzhou have begun to check and balance, it will not be long before Jinzhou will do the same.

Either follow the example of Beizhen and send eunuchs to supervise the army, or follow the example of Jinzhou to appoint a governor. According to my eldest brother's guess, it may also be the governor of Shandong.

If it is the governor of Shandong, this is the best ending. The eldest brother said that he is not sure, and now Zhenjiang cannot do without him.

Therefore, Jinzhou needs my sister-in-law and I to maintain it carefully, so as not to let my elder brother's prestige in Jinzhou decline. "

After Liu Chengmin finished speaking, the room fell into silence.

Qin Keqing frowned slightly, thinking carefully, and couldn't talk for a while.

"With the general's governance, Jinzhou's life is getting better now, even if someone is sent to check and balance the general, it will be fine.

But the general said that Jinzhou will have another year or two of hard life in the future, and this is the biggest trouble. "

Qin Keqing thought of the key point.

Liu Chengmin nodded.

The sister-in-law is really unusual, she can grasp the most important things from words.

Hearts change.

There are hundreds of thousands of people in Jinzhou, and everyone is very convinced by the elder brother. It can be said that the elder brother can listen to the tune and not listen to the announcement.

Although the matter will not be so simple and there will be many people who oppose it, it is not a serious problem in Liu Chengmin's eyes, at most it will make him troublesome and messy.

But if it is really as the elder brother said in the letter, it will be very embarrassing.

"I have been in Jinzhou for a year or two, and I have seen the whole Jinzhou work together to tide over the difficulties. The hard days before us have finally passed, but we will continue to suffer.

Even if the general's prestige is very high, some people will be dissatisfied, and at this time, if someone comes to check and balance, it is indeed not easy to dismiss. "

Qin Keqing thought hard.

"Brother said that the next one or two years will be Jinzhou Zhenjiang, the most extreme one or two years of development, and it is also the most dangerous time.

And after these two years, Jinzhou Zhenjiang will be as hard as a rock in the future. "

Hearing Mrs. Qin's worries in the inner room, worrying that the sister-in-law is a woman after all, Liu Chengmin also took the initiative to let go and began to feel relieved.

"The situation is not as serious as my sister-in-law feared. It took at least two or three months to go back and forth when the military supervisor and eunuch in Beizhen decided on the candidate for the governor of Liaodong.

Moreover, the imperial court hasn't talked about Jinzhou yet, so next, it depends on the third brother's methods in the capital.

After such delays, a year and a half had passed by the time the Golden State matters were finalized.

What's more, these are our precautions, maybe the court doesn't have the energy to care about Jinzhou's affairs. "

At the end, Liu Chengmin gradually put away his smile and let out a cold snort.

"Even at the last step, it is not so easy to come to Jinzhou across the sea."

The farm boy back then had long since lost his immaturity, and he was already a decisive and ruthless general.

(End of this chapter)