Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 127 Prelude to the Shen Liao War
"Hurry up! Get all the equipment ready, the trench must be deep enough, don't panic!"

At Maoshi on February [-], the first year of Tianqi, with the anger of the generals, a Ming army general outside the city of Shenyang commanded loudly, and thousands of soldiers surrounded the city to dig trenches, and no one dared to slack off.

The surrounding and spring snow had already begun to melt, and although there were still some residues, it could not affect the overall situation.

Behind the parapet wall at the head of Yongning Gate in the east city of Shenyang, Qin Bangping squinted his eyes, looking at the white mountains and black waters in the distance, with a heavy heart.

At this time, hundreds of cavalry appeared outside the city. They galloped under the banner of Youzi and held high the flag of the Ming army.

The Shenyang soldiers who were in charge of digging the trenches withdrew their horses, and hundreds of cavalry crossed the trenches, stepped onto the moat suspension bridge, and rushed into Shenyang city one after another.

Qin Bangping, surrounded by more than a dozen personal guards, turned around and walked down the city wall, but before he reached the lower part of the city wall, he saw You Shigong running up in armor.

"how?"

Seeing You Shigong's return, Qin Bangping asked quickly.

You Shigong went up to the city wall, and after bowing to Qin Bangping, he replied:
"It should be just a test. The old slave didn't lay down any forts. This time, he should send troops to test the strength of each fort. He wants to know if they will attack Shenyang City and whether each fort will have military support."

"However, the situation is not optimistic. Among the several stone forts around Shenyang City, only the Wujing Battalion has more troops, but there are only less than [-] people."

"There are only more than [-] people in Wang Daren's village, only [-] people in Fengji Fort, and only [-] or [-] people in Baitapu, Hunhe Fort, Shendan Fort, and Liutiao Village."

"Dongzhou Castle in the east has long since fallen, and the Weining Camp in the southeast has only a thousand people."

"This time the old slave's army is going out, the number should be about [-], but this time they have prepared ships and water troops, which are estimated to be used to transport food and grass to the south."

"At present, all the horses have withdrawn to the city of Sarhu. I don't know when the old slave will attack."

"It won't be very fast, but it won't be very slow either." After pondering for a few seconds, Qin Bangping said based on past experience:

"Since the old slaves use ships that are not good at transporting grain, it means that their grain and grass are insufficient."

"But the withdrawal to Saarhu City at the moment should be because the equipment for attacking the city is not ready."

"I guess, it should be around the tenth day of March that they will invade Shenyang."

Speaking of this, Qin Bangping asked a scribe next to him:

"Right now, how much civilian food and military food are there in Shenyang City?"

"Return to the general, the civilian rations are about [-] shi, and the army rations are still [-] shi." The officer replied:

"Persistence for half a year is not a problem."

"Hmm..." Hearing this, Qin Bangping nodded, and then said to You Shigong:

"The news of the old slave's invasion, I have sent people eight hundred miles to Liaoyang, Guangning, Changping and Beijing urgently."

"Once the situation in Shenyang is not right, Liaoyang and Guangning will send reinforcements. You can tell the people in the city about this, so don't worry."

Qin Bangping was very confident in defending Shenyang City. After all, he had received the news that Qi Yuanfu had already set off from Tianjin Wei by boat to lead the army. If there were no accidents, he would be able to reach Haizhou in a few days and head north to Liaoyang.

Qi Jin headquarters in Liaoyang, together with Qi Yuanfu, is enough to send tens of thousands of troops to support Shenyang.

As for Guangning, Xiong Tingbi also assured him that there were [-] soldiers, and it would not be a problem to deploy [-] soldiers.

If you can't get out of the siege in this way, then you can only count on His Highness...

Thinking of this, Qin Bangping sighed, and at this time He Shixian, Qin Minping, Qin Banghan and others also walked up to the top of the wall cursing.

Before going to the top of the city, He Shixian complained loudly:
"I'm waiting here to defend the city and protect them, but they are spreading rumors everywhere in the city, and they still believe the old slave's words about dividing the land. They are really fools!"

"What's wrong?" Qin Bangping asked with a slight frown when he heard He Shixian's words.

At this time, Qin Banghan also bowed and said:

"Brother, there are rumors in Shenyang that the old slave is willing to live with the people of Liaodong "to have a house to live with, to have food to eat together, and to have fields to cultivate together. "

"Nonsense!" Qin Bangping scoffed.

With the size of Liaodong, even the [-] or [-] soldiers and horses in Liaozhen can't support them, let alone the [-] people under the old slave's command.

However, ordinary people don't have this concept at all, and it is inevitable that some people will follow the thief.

Thinking of this, Qin Bangping raised his hand and ordered:

"Tell people to keep an eye on the four city gates and guard the granaries. In addition, I will send people to take good care of all the northern captives in the city."

"His Highness the Fifth Highness has explained before that the barbarian northern captives often have affairs with the old slaves, and they might take advantage of the old slaves' siege to rob the city!"

"President Qin, don't worry, with my old He in charge, whoever dares to stand up will have his head cut off!" He Shixian patted his chest, and then said:

"If you want me to say, it would be better for me to lead the headquarters out of the city, cut off hundreds of heads of real captives, and hang them on the top of the city to reassure the people!"

"No, it's important to defend the city." Qin Bangping shook his head. His task was to defend Shenyang and guard it for the imperial court.

If Shenyang is lost, Liaoyang will be unable to protect itself, and the whole of southern Liaonan will fall into the hands of the old slave.

Qin Bangping understood it very well, so he specially said to everyone:
"After the trenches have been dug, the horses have been dug, and the pits have been dug, without my order, except for the Yongchang Gate in the west city, which can receive the grain and grass brought in from Guangning, the other city gates must not be opened."

"Tell all the soldiers in the army that one person will be rewarded with one hundred taels of silver for killing the real captives. After this battle, each will be rewarded with five taels of silver."

"Yes!" Hearing this, everyone was very excited, and Qin Bangping felt a little relieved.
Right now, there is still [-] taels of silver in the Shenyang City Bank, which is enough to deal with this battle.

If it is not enough, then the beheaded head of the real captive is enough to be sent to the Yanshan camp in exchange for reward silver.

Thinking of this, Qin Bangping looked at the distant horizon, and for some reason, his mood became heavy unconsciously.

This kind of feeling was never felt even when leading troops to attack Hailongtun...

------

"Nicely furnished..."

When Qin Bangping was making preparations to defend Shenyang, Zhu Youxiao, who had received urgent requests from Shenyang in the capital, also nodded.

At this moment, he was sitting in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, flipping through Qin Bangping's handwriting. After reading it, he closed it, raised his head and said to Wang An and Wei Zhongxian who were standing in front of him, "What did my brother say?"

"Long live back..." Wang An bowed and said:

"His Highness said that he has already studied the situation in Shenyang, and the only troublesome problem is the issue of food and grass."

"According to Qin Zongbing's handwriting, Shenyang's military rations can last for five or six months, and after five or six months, Liaodong has not yet entered winter, so what we need to do now is to transport rations to Liaodong."

"His Royal Highness has already arranged for people to transfer [-] shi of grain from Yumajian to Tianjin. The grain will be transported to Gaizhou by sea boat and transferred to Liaoyang."

"At present, Qi Jin in Liaoyang is estimated to receive an urgent request, and will transport [-] shi from Liaoyang's grain along the north of Liaoyang and deliver it to Shenyang City."

"The [-] shi of grain, save enough to last until winter, as soon as winter comes, the old slave will retreat."

"Even so, can Shenyang survive?" Zhu Youxiao didn't doubt Zhu Youjian's judgment, but Shenyang was too important to Daming.

Once Shenyang, Liaoyang, and even the Liaodong Peninsula are lost, Houjin, the vicious dog that devours the Lord, can rely on this piece of meat to survive another five or six years.

In five or six years, this represented an annual expenditure of more than four million taels, or even five million taels, which could not be sloppy.

It was just his question, and Wang An quickly answered: "Your Highness said, please long live to trust Qin Zongbing and Qi Zongbing."

"Once nothing can be done, Xiong Jinglue will lead troops to Shenyang for rescue, and His Highness Fifth will order Man Gui to lead troops to rescue Liaodong."

"Hmm..." Zhu Youxiao nodded slightly, and then said:
"But it's impossible for my younger brother to pay for this military ration alone." After finishing speaking, he looked at Wei Zhongxian and said:

"Order the Taipu Temple, the Ministry of Households, and the Ministry of War to jointly raise funds. Ten days later, [-] stone grains and [-] grass bundles will be sent to Guangning."

"In addition..." At this point, Zhu Youxiao said again:

"[-] taels of silver were allocated from domestic funds and shipped to Changping, which is the military salary allocated to the Imperial Horse Supervisor this year."

"The maidservant leads the decree..." Hearing this, Wei Zhongxian felt distressed.

Eight hundred thousand taels, if only it was all his.

Right now, His Highness the Fifth Highness has obtained so many things, and he has to allocate [-] yuan in silver for his own Long Live. This is really...

Wei Zhongxian was in pain, but Wang An said at this time:

"Long live, Elder Ye Ge has already set off on the ninth day of the lunar new year, and arrived in Nanjing three days ago. Sun Gechen and Fang Ge returned home today. The new commander of Jinyiwei, Lu Wenzhao, sent two troops from the general banner to escort them south."

"Hmm..." Hearing the words of Ye Xianggao's departure, Sun Ruyou and Fang Congzhe's return home, and Lu Wenzhao's appointment as the commander of Jinyiwei, Zhu Youxiao nodded slightly and continued to process the memorial.

But after a few seconds, he put down the memorial in his hand again, raised his head and asked:

"Lu Wenzhao, how are you doing?"

One question was obviously not about Wang An, the eunuch in charge of the ceremonies, but Wei Zhongxian, the eunuch in charge of the East Factory.

When Wei Zhongxian heard the question, he said with a smile:

"Commander Lu did not go to Beizhen Fusi, but handled government affairs in Nanzhen Fusi. It seems that everything was prepared before going to Beizhen Fusi."

"Understood." Hearing Wei Zhongxian's words, Zhu Youxiao lost interest, and began to bow his head and continue processing the memorial.

But not long after he finished processing the memorial, a memorial appeared in front of his eyes.

[The Ministry of War issued new recruits to train [-] officers and soldiers from Zhejiang Zhizhi to guard Huang Tiaohuan and Xu Liantong to Liaodong for defense and suppression, and issued [-] taels of silver. I hope His Majesty will allow you to allocate five thousand stones of food]

Looking at the request of the Ministry of War to transfer troops on the memorial, Zhu Youxiao frowned slightly, and then wrote down his opinion:

[Can be, transferred to Liaoyang, for Liaoyang General Army Qi Jin to be the commander-in-chief]

After all, he criticized Hong and put the memorial aside, and began to deal with other memorials.

While he was dealing with the memorial, Jinyiwei North Town Fusi Yamen also ushered in his new principal...

Dressed in crimson-colored clothes and wearing a goose feather saber on his waist, Sanqian Fusi Jinyiwei of Nanzhen came out of various alleys and appeared in Fusi Yamen of Beizhen with a carriage behind him.

Seeing such a battle, someone should have notified the Jinyiwei official on duty at Fusi in Beizhen today.

Soon, Jinyiwei guards from Beizhen Fusi also poured out one after another, and then a man in his mid-thirties, wearing a fourth-rank official uniform of Jinyiwei, walked down the steps among the guards of several thousand households.

"Humble post, Xu Xianchun, the commander of Beizhen Fusi, welcome to the commander!"

Xu Xianchun half-kneeled on the ground without any airs, like a dog welcoming its new owner.

But no one dared to laugh at him. In the entire Jinyiwei, except for him, only the commander of the Nanbei Zhen Fusi and the commander were above him.

Even people of the same level, there are only three of them.

So apart from these few people, if other people dare to laugh at him, it may be difficult to get benefits by various means.

"Den..."

Suddenly, it was the sound of someone standing up in the carriage, and everyone lowered their heads one after another. A Qianhu from Nanzhen Fusi took out a horse stool and put it at the rear of the carriage, and opened the back door of the carriage.

A hand stretched out from the carriage, Qianhu helped the other party step on the horse stool, and landed safely.

Lu Wenzhao, who was wearing a bullfighting uniform, looked at the plaque of Fusi in Beizhen. He never thought that he had a humble official position at the beginning, but he had reached such a level in only half a year.

"Get up..."

Lu Wenzhao didn't look down at Xu Xianchun, but just looked at the plaque of Beizhen Fusi, and spoke with his hands behind his back.

"Thank you Commander!" Xu Xianchun stood up, and at this time seven carriages also came from the periphery.

After the carriage came to a complete stop, seven men in brocade guard uniforms stepped down from it.

The oldest one was wearing the official uniform of the third rank of the commander Tongzhi, the other three were wearing the official uniform of the fourth rank of the commander, and the other three were wearing the official uniform of the thousand households.

"Cui Yingyuan, the commander of the humble Beizhen Fusi Commander (Commander Yang Huan, Commander Li Ruolian, Qianhu Hou Guoxing, Qianhu Hou Keguang, Qianhu Wei Zhao), met the commander!"

The seven people reported their family names. If Zhu Youjian was here, they would probably sneer softly.

Most of the backbone of the future eunuch party appeared here, and three of the five came out in one breath.

However, Lu Wenzhao didn't know about this, he just glanced at the crowd, then nodded and said, "Get up."

The seven people got up one after another, and at this moment Lu Wenzhao directly asked, "Who is Wu Mengming?"

"Commander, the humble position is Wu Mengming!"

At this time, one of the Jinyiwei Qianhu in the crowd spoke, and Xu Xianchun, who was standing next to Lu Wenzhao, felt his heart skip a beat.

Wu Mengming was his assistant, but because Wu Mengming didn't give him filial piety, he targeted Wu Mengming for a long time.

Now the commander asked Wu Mengming as soon as he came, is this kid going to be promoted?
Xu Xianchun hadn't settled down yet, when he heard Lu Wenzhao say:

"Li Ruolian, I have already asked Wansui to ask you to be the commander of Beizhen Fusi. As for Wu Mengming, you can take Li Ruolian's vacant seat and be the commander of Beizhen Fusi."

"Thank you, Commander, for your support!"

Li Ruolian and Wu Mengming quickly knelt down and bowed to Lu Wenzhao, but Cui Yingyuan's heart tightened.

It's just that when Lu Wenzhao heard the words, he didn't show any sadness or joy, but raised his legs and walked towards the Beizhen Fusi Yamen.

Seeing this, other people followed suit one after another, and so did the people from Nanzhen Fusi.

Passing over the gate tower and bypassing the screen wall, you will see a small square twenty feet long and ten feet wide.

"On weekdays, is Commander Luo here to inspect the thousands and hundreds of households in Beijing?"

Lu Wenzhao asked, and Li Ruolian, who was supported next to him, quickly replied:
"When the returning commander and the former commander were here, most of the times were here, but usually at one o'clock on the tenth."

"After that, the rules can be changed..." Lu Wenzhao said as he walked:
"From today onwards, at [-] o'clock every three days, the most important thing is to arrest all the people in the world who dare to pretend to be Jinyiwei!"

When he said this, Lu Wenzhao glanced at Cui Yingyuan, and Cui Yingyuan's heart skipped a beat as he realized that Lu Wenzhao knew that he had pretended to be the captain of Jinyiwei.

But then he felt relieved again, because as far as he was concerned, Lu Wenzhao had no intention of exposing him.

Lu Wenzhao led the people into the main hall of the Zhenfu Division, and after taking the main seat, he motioned for everyone to sit down.

After Cui Yingyuan and others sat down, he opened his mouth and said:

"From now on, the Beizhen Fusi and the Nanzhen Fusi will be directly merged to work together. The Nanzhen Fusi will be on the left, and the Beizhen Fusi will be on the right."

"Beizhen Fusi is responsible for supervising military generals such as Nine Frontiers and Southwest, as well as North Korea, Japan, Jianlu, Beilu, Kansai (Western Regions), Uszang Propaganda and Consolation Division, Annan Metropolitan Envoy Division, Toungoo, and Laos. , Siam, and Southeast Asia.”

"You, Li Ruolian, will take over as Fusi of Beizhen, with Wu Mengming and Xu Xianchun as assistants."

"A lowly official takes orders!" Li Ruolian clenched her fists when she heard that Beizhen Fusi had such great power.

He was originally a Wu Jinshi, but he was not reused by Luo Sigong just because he didn't fit in with the group.

It's all right now, and I can monitor the armament I am interested in.

"Cui Yingyuan..." Lu Wenzhao said suddenly.

"Humble job!" Cui Yingyuan muttered in his heart, feeling a little guilty.

However, Lu Wenzhao said: "From now on, the Fusi of Nanzhen will supervise all officials, as well as all officials in the two capitals and thirteen provinces, and inspect thieves, corrupt officials, and people who pretend to be officials and Jinyiwei."

"You will be in charge of Nanzhen Fusi..."

"Thank you for the humble post!" Cui Yingyuan was terrified, he knew that he had something in Lu Wenzhao's hands, that's why Lu Wenzhao asked himself to supervise all officials.

This is not a good job. Once he offends the civil servants, Cui Yingyuan doesn't know if he will survive to become an official.

But he has no other choice. To monitor is to die later, not to monitor is to die now. He has no third choice.

Therefore, he could only grit his teeth and accept this position and task, and Lu Wenzhao also said:

"Yang Huan, Wei Zhao, Hou Guoxing, Hou Keguang and others are your assistants."

"I want to see all those people who bluff and cheat in the capital locked up in imperial prison within ten days."

"in addition……"

At this time, someone brought tea, and Lu Wenzhao also picked it up and blew on it, then took a sip and said:

"Jin Yiwei has [-] taels of bank money every year, and whoever you find out has the most news, you will send this bank money to whoever."

"Nanbei Town Fusi currently has nearly [-] brocade guards, [-] civil servants, [-] military officers, and feudal lords and nobles..."

Lu Wenzhao lowered his head and took a sip of tea, then continued:

"With so many people, there must be corrupt officials and lawless honorable princes..."

Lu Wenzhao's words made everyone's hair stand on end, after all, whoever touches the vassal king and Xungui will die.

While Li Ruolian was worried, he could only bow and say, "Commander, I don't know who made this..."

"You don't need to care who made the download, as long as you hand in the news and evidence you get."

"In addition, the Jinyiwei who are registered can be checked. Is there really [-] or not?"

"If you dare to eat the empty quota, then I can only reluctantly send you to prison."

Lu Wenzhao's words made Cui Yingyuan and the others sweat coldly on their foreheads. After all, they more or less ate their quota.

But before they could speak, Lu Wenzhao said again:
"After the vacancy is gone, your salary should also be doubled several times."

"Thank you Commander!" Hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

If you really want to use the Jinyiwei salary set at the beginning of the country, it is estimated that at most it can support a whole family, and it can't even support a few servants.

It's just that I don't know how many times Lu Wenzhao said, and how much.

However, everyone can see that if they want to live a prosperous life in the past, they can only fight for the two hundred thousand taels of silver.

This is equivalent to asking everyone to work hard to investigate the case, because from what Lu Wenzhao said, whoever investigates the most cases in the Nanbei Town Fusi will be the most likely to get the Banyin.

That's [-] taels, and [-] taels a year.

Even if Tongzhi, Qianshi, thousands of households, and hundreds of households are divided together, each person can get several thousand taels of silver.

This is a sum of clean money, and the amount is quite a lot.

If you just eat empty pay, even if you eat [-] people, it will be at most [-] taels. Once found out, it will be a capital offense.

But if you can get this class of silver...

Li Ruolian and Cui Yingyuan even had the idea of ​​how to divide the class money in their minds.

"Okay, one month later, I want to see Jin Yiwei's latest yellow book."

Lu Wenzhao stood up, and then, escorted by his confidant Qianhu, he walked towards the town and Fusi.

Li Ruolian, Cui Yingyuan and others followed him one after another, and after sending him into the carriage, they bowed and said:

"Commander slow down!"

"Let's go to work." Lu Wenzhao's voice came from the carriage, followed by Qianhu waving the reins, and the carriage left here with a large number of people from Nanzhen Fusi.

After the carriage went far away, Cui Yingyuan looked at Li Ruolian, frowned slightly, never thought that yesterday he was just a messy guy, but today he was on an equal footing with him.

"Hehe, Li Tongzhi, you and I, Nanbei Town Fusi, should work together well in the future..." Cui Yingyuan put on a smile and bowed kindly to Li Ruolian.

"Well, I just wanted to chat with Cui Tongzhi about the yellow book and the distribution of manpower." Li Ruolian said it was business, which made Cui Yingyuan feel very uncomfortable, but still nodded with a smile:

"It's natural, you and I can't disappoint the commander." After finishing speaking, he led people into the Zhenfu Department, and Li Ruolian also led Wu Mengming, Xu Xianchun, and a few thousand households under him. .

Just when they walked into Zhenfusi, Lu Wenzhao's carriage also arrived at the mansion he had just bought in the capital.

After the confidant Qianhu helped him get off the carriage and entered the courtyard, he asked puzzledly:
"My lord, can your Highness's method really make Li Ruolian and Cui Yingyuan concentrate on investigating the case?"

His question, in a disguised form, revealed that everything Lu Wenzhao said just now was what Zhu Youjian thought, and Lu Wenzhao also turned around with a chuckle and said:

"It's okay, you'll know after a few days..."

　A piece of good news: no sprain
　　The bad news: it's a broken bone and needs to be hospitalized

　　The last piece of good news: two more updates today, and one more to be released soon
　　
　
(End of this chapter)