Daming Yinghua

Chapter 438: He’s so ruthless, where does the military salary come from?

In the early spring of the third year of Jingtai's reign, at the beginning of the morning, Beijing had just woken up from a sleepless night.

Zheng Haizhu was waiting near the Guandi Temple outside Qipan Street when his subordinate Hong Chengchou arrived as promised.

Neither of them were wearing official uniforms, but were wearing dark, patched cotton robes and soft hats. They were just like those teachers who didn't get along very well in the bizarre capital city, and even earned their living by setting up stalls. A low-level scribe who writes letters to earn a living.

"Here are two pieces of Jiaohuan." Hong Chengchou stopped in front of the breakfast stall and handed over the copper plate.

"Okay," the stall owner who was busy frying the dough responded enthusiastically, and said in a low voice with a false apology, "I feel sorry for you that you can only eat standing up, and the tables are occupied by the gentlemen who are on duty. Well, they like to brag and chatter while eating, and they won’t leave even after they’ve almost eaten..."

Hong Chengchou waved his hand and said it was okay. He took the focus circle wrapped in yellow paper and handed one to Zheng Haizhu.

The two of them lowered their heads and ate pastries. Not far away, at three or four small wooden tables, low-level civil servants from various ministries gathered together and chatted.

"Brother Xian, Brother Yu saw you at Yanchun Teahouse yesterday. It's okay. I can afford to go to a place like that."

"Haha, thanks to the imperial court, I haven't owed any official salary for more than half a year. My wife is good at running the family, and my foolish brother finally has some money."

"Well, it's true. I entered the Sixth Department several years before you guys did. During Wanli's time, official salaries were often replaced by colored objects, which could not be exchanged for much silver."

"In this way, I still have a good eye for discerning people, and the woman I picked out is pretty good. If she hadn't brought the prince to Yanshenggong's mansion to make a big fuss, the Jin gentry over there in Nanzhili wouldn't have So let’s clear the ground honestly?”

"Humph, what's wrong with you? I'm just a traveling businessman, and I'm easy to show off my face. I have extremely bad personal ethics. I support male actors and actresses. Long live the Lord and the cabinet bosses don't care about them. This kind of thing can also compete with our Liubu Tang officials. Same, wearing a red robe?”

"Hey, my dear brother, what you said is biased. Doesn't your minister also have several concubines? Doesn't Quan Jin in the palace also raise a little singer?"

"How can they be compared? She is a woman. So, even if she is a eunuch, she was transformed from a powerful man, right?"

"If you ask me, the three of you haven't seen the point. What does it matter if you can't support a pretty boy? But last year, this woman took King Xin to the outside of the Pass to comfort the Sichuan barbarians over there in Daning Town. , I heard that she also went to Kalaqin, who has a good relationship with Chahar. Guess what she wants to do? "

The blue-robed civil servant opposite the questioner let out a "chi" and laughed at himself: "Hey, we are just a small official in the Ministry of Rites. We only offer incense to the ancestors of the emperor's family. I'm really not as good as you, the chief of the Ministry of War, who are on the sidelines." You have knowledge on the matter, so don’t show off.”

The questioner took out his handkerchief, wiped the soup from his beard, and proudly revealed the answer: "It means she wants to incite the Holy One to attack Ye He's tribe and cut off Nurhachi's north passage to Horqin."

"Then let's fight. We don't need to help. The border troops will do their jobs."

"Are you stupid? How come it has nothing to do with us. When the war breaks out, there is a thousand taels of gold. What's more, this woman, like Xu Guangqi, the old cunning guy who licked the assholes of Thais, especially loves to make firearms. The Sichuan army marched eastward from Daning, plus Kaiyuan The Li family troops in Tieling are all going to Ye He's tribe. How much military salary will they get? Maybe it will be deducted from our official salary."

"Don't you think she has eaten enough to hold herself up..."

"Just to flatter me, I can grab a handful of military uniform firearms by the way."

……

Half an hour later, it was the State Affairs Temple to the north of the official department.

After Zheng Haizhu read the ordinary memorial to be submitted to the Secretary of General Affairs, he asked the Si Cheng and the principals to step aside and switched to Hokkien to talk to Hong Chengchou.

"During the few months I was outside the customs, I worked hard for Hong Shaoqing to plan."

Hong Chengchou was still the same as when he first entered the State Affairs Temple, with a stern face, as if he was sitting in the yamen here wearing this official uniform, facing a female boss who was often arranged for fun by the court officials, and felt indescribably awkward.

But that was just a deceptive mask that had evolved from his original emotions. Of course, Hong Chengchou knew in his heart that Zheng Haizhu, who had just returned to Beijing, suddenly asked to hear what the low-level officials in the capital were talking about. It had nothing to do with her caring about supporting Lufu musicians.

Hong Chengchou said: "The temple minister is ridiculous. In the final analysis, it is because Master Xiong really knows what is going on."

Zheng Haizhu smiled in agreement.

Xiong Tingbi, a mature and pragmatic imperial civil servant, would change his military thinking in dealing with the border situation in Liaodong from "taking persistence as the right thing" to "not letting up when harassing or attacking outside of solid defense." Even if Zheng Haizhu did not have the perspective of God as a time traveler, Even a native can figure it out.

Many years ago, Xiong Tingbi inspected Liaodong for the first time and advocated the defense of farmland as the basis.

But more than ten years later, even if Jiannu suffered a defeat in Fushun, he could still capture Ye He's tribe. Even if the Ming Dynasty closed the border and prohibited mutual trade, he could still obtain grain, cloth and war horses from Zhangjiakou and Horqin.

This is no longer a case of ringworm and scabies.

The Ming army must take the initiative as they did against Bei Yuan. Through well-organized battles, they must eliminate some of the effective forces of the Eight Banners. They must kill the belligerent Beile who is as radical as Nurhaci and support the relatively weak and dovish Little Beile to drive them away. The original habitat of the Haixi Jurchens in the Songhua River area once again became the Jisi Prefecture of the Ming Empire, and was supported by the Ming court to fight against the Russians who came from the east in search of an outlet to the sea.

After Zheng Haizhu came into contact with the Russians on the grassland last winter, he took He Zhuo to the Karaqin tribe. Relying on the introduction of some Yehe people who fled to Karaqin, he visited Karaqin except for the Golden Family. A part of the Mongolian tribe, that is, the descendants of Duoyanwei who were originally recruited for the Ming Dynasty.

After seeing it on the spot, Zheng Haizhu became more and more convinced that if the Mongols outside Xifengkou were not stabilized as soon as possible and the Jianzhou Tatars were driven northeast again, Nurhachi and Huang Taiji would surely take advantage of their bellicose aggression. Lin Dan Khan's conflicts with various Mongolian tribes gained more support from the Mongolian tribes.

Zheng Haizhu wrote a border message based on these findings and sent it back to Hong Chengchou, asking him to make a statement in person, but not to skip Ye Xianggao.

At the same time, Zheng Haizhu asked Huang Zunsu to polish the writing style that was acceptable among scribes, and wrote a letter with sincere words and a seal sealed with lacquer, which he asked Hong Chengchou to submit when he paid a visit to Minister Xiong.

After some preparation, when he returned to Beijing in the first month of the year, Xiong Tingbi came to Zheng Haizhu and asked directly: "What does the minister of the temple ask for in the letter, that the Ministry of War plans to make plans to attack the east and attack the west?"

Zheng Haizhu looked at this capable minister of the Ming Dynasty who worked hard for Liaodong border affairs in history, but was still rumored to be one of the nine frontiers, and began to place bets on him and his own fate.

"Please ask the minister to spread the news and pretend to attack Ye He's tribe. This is one. Second, the minister Xiong goes to Kaitie in person and talks with Li Rubai to ask him to pay."

At this moment, Hong Chengchou, who had "accepted" the acting skills of the actors from the Ministry of War with his boss, felt that he should be able to ask a more in-depth question.

"The little official in the Ministry of Rites who was worried about having his salary deducted today was quite right. Going straight to the Huanglong war would cost an incredible amount of public money."

Zheng Haizhu said: "We don't necessarily have to rely solely on public funds."

Hong Chengchou's eyes showed his intention to study: "Then, is it the internal funds of the Holy Emperor, or the private wealth of the gentry and wealthy businessmen?"

These two sentences were blurted out, and Hong Chengchou himself felt that they were a bit rash.

After changing yamen and being promoted, my boss, Hong Chengchou, always showed no airs to him when communicating in local accents. But who knows what kind of temperament she is? Does he care about the strict hierarchy more than the chamberlain Quan Jun?

But Zheng Haizhu asked gently: "Does Shaoqing think that I will borrow money from Yan Xuanfu, a fellow from southern Fujian, without telling me about my family wealth?"

Hong Chengchou said.

"There must be a way for the car to reach the mountain, and the money will always come when it comes. Shaoqing, you don't have to be in a hurry to know it now. After the Waking of Insects, I will go north again. You continue to watch the wind direction in Beijing. Every ten days, send a letter to Daning Town. It can only be Daning Town.”