The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 340 You Have Zhang Liangji

Ministry of War Yamen.

Xie Qian came in a hurry and went directly to the inner hall to meet Ma Wensheng alone.

Ma Wensheng handed over to Xie Qian a copy of Liaodong official affairs. Xie Qian held it in his hand and frowned when he saw that it was a thick stack.

"There is news about the expedition." Ma Wensheng said.

Xie Qian wanted to study the memorial, but when he heard the words, he raised his head with a surprised expression: "The news has arrived? Then... it shouldn't be a good news, right?"

In Xie Qian's view, the emperor has not made any movement this time, and the battle report has been delayed for so many days. If it was a good news, it would have been spread a long time ago. Did you say it in a sneaky way during the inner court's deliberations?

"I don't know yet." Ma Wensheng said, "It's Yizhou who spies on the military at night, and the intelligence is obtained from the grassland, and then reported by the Yizhou locality, and the people on this road don't go to Yizhou. Everything needs to be led by the army." The person's report shall prevail."

Xie Qian couldn't help but laugh.

Ma Wensheng pointed to Xie Qian's report on Liaodong's local affairs, and said: "The cost of this battle is listed on it. I wanted to transfer Jizhou's local affairs, but there is no movement. The closer Where it is, it will be more difficult for the Ministry of War to intervene.”

"Ah."

Xie Qian nodded in understanding.

After all, Jizhou is at the foot of the emperor, and any military situation in this place is very important. If the Ministry of War wants Jizhou to do some military reports, it must follow the rules. The closer it is to the capital, the more military affairs will be involved.

"Then did you win or lose? Or did you return without success? Brother Negative Tu, you have also experienced many battles. At this time, you have to estimate the result. You should be sure of it, right?"

Xie Qian was determined to get an answer from Ma Wensheng.

Just as he was talking, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Ma Wensheng ordered.

Immediately, Yang Mi, the right servant of the Ministry of War, came in.

"Thank you Mr. Ge, Ma Butang." Yang Mi saluted.

"You're welcome." Xie Qian said with a smile, "This military department is really a good place now. I used to feel very calm when I came here. Why do I still feel that this place has become a dragon's pool and a tiger's den?"

Ma Wensheng glanced over and asked, "You mean, because the Ministry of War has an additional Zuo Shilang who also serves as the governor's mansion?"

"Hehe." Xie Qian was very good at gagging, but he didn't break the point.

Yang Mi said: "I checked it specially, and what Yizhou reported was soldiers from Jizhou and Liaozhen. They went all the way from Huangshui to the east, and the destination was Shenyang Zhongwei. We didn't find any Tatar troops along the way. There is no trace of snow on the grassland now, and the weather is very cold after the snow melts, and the roads are muddy and difficult to walk."

"What about the result?" Xie Qian was waiting for a result. Not only did Ma Wensheng not analyze it, but now Yang Mi seemed to be playing sloppy with him.

Yang Mi said helplessly: "There is no result."

Xie Qian stood up, looking very annoyed: "I've never seen such a march and fight. Does it mean that Lu Wan and Wang Xian don't understand the rules? No matter what the result is, it's wrong to run an army and march and fight. Ask about the gains and losses reported, if there is a delay, there will be troubles, as long as one person does not understand this rule, it is fine, and the two do not understand? There are guarding officers in the army, why are they not in a hurry to report?"

Unlike Ma Wensheng, Yang Mi needed to hide and not express his opinion. He said, "Maybe the result is not satisfactory."

Xie Qian said: "Whether it's a defeat, a heavy loss, or no merit, it still needs to be concealed?"

Yang Mi looked at Ma Wensheng, and seeing that Ma Wensheng didn't make any analysis, he continued: "It is precisely because the result is unsatisfactory that there is a need to live with it."

"Ha ha."

Xie Qian seemed to understand.

Yang Mi seemed to be analyzing why Wang Xian and Lu Wan did not report the results for a long time, but in fact, he was implying that the people recommended by Zhang Zhou were criticized by the Korean and Chinese officials for fear of not getting credit, or failing to achieve the results. He was questioned because of the emperor's expectations, so he wanted to hide the results of the battle.

Xie Qian said with a smile: "You mean, they want to hit the rabbits on the way back to Shenyang, to see if they can kill a few border people's heads to get rewards from the court?"

Yang Mi said: "It's not impossible."

Ma Wensheng finally said: "Such a grandiose dispatch of troops, with more than [-] troops from the two groups, regardless of the mobilization of food and supplies, if they want to gain military merit in this way, it is probably unreasonable."

"What do you think of the negative picture?" Xie Qian was a little anxious.

You think what Yang Mi and I have analyzed is wrong, but you yourself can’t explain why. Are you making things difficult for us?

Ma Wensheng sighed: "I can't say it yet, but I always feel that something other than the battlefield will happen. Liaodong and Jizhou will attack. In practice, there will always be a lot of prevarication and perfunctory."

Xie Qian said with emotion: "It's true, Jizhen and Liaozhen send troops in two directions. If the army is led by the general system, or a servant of the military department is sent to control the two sides, it may not be so much. They have to dispatch troops separately, with the same purpose but different errands, I don’t know if Zhang Bingkuan just entered the officialdom and doesn’t understand? Or did he do it on purpose?”

Ma Wensheng said: "That's how things are. If there is anything else, someone will inform you, Qiao."

"Don't." Xie Qian raised his hand and said, "Don't come to inform me, report it normally, if you feel that there are some things that are inconvenient for others to know. Then play it on the cashier, and I will return first."

……

……

Cabinet value.

Liu Jian and Li Dongyang read the Liaodong local military affairs report brought back by Xie Qian, and they seemed to be lost in thought.

Xie Qian said with a smile: "Do you think it's rare? The whereabouts of this group of troops were actually found out by scouts from Yizhou who went out to investigate the enemy's situation. The soldiers and horses are almost entering the border of Daming, but the results of the battle have not yet moved. Binzhi, you You have always been resourceful, what did you say?"

"That means winning." Li Dongyang said.

"Huh?" The smile on Xie Qian's face froze, and he frowned, "He won't report the win?"

Li Dongyang sighed and said: "It's because they didn't lose or return without merit that they didn't rush to report. If it's the former two, they won't change the result if they report early or late. Why do they procrastinate?"

"Hey, why did the words change from your mouth, Li Bin?" Xie Qian obviously didn't want to agree with Li Dongyang's statement.

But it seems that what Li Dongyang said has some truth.

Liu Jian asked with a smile: "In fact, the Ministry of War's guess is not unreasonable, or because the results of the battle were not satisfactory, they wanted to kill the good ones on the way back."

Li Dongyang said: "No, if such a big commotion is just for a few heads, but you have to bear the fault of delaying the report of the war, even if Wang Xian doesn't care, the governor of Liaodong and the guarding officer of Liaodong are absolutely They won't accept it. They still want to operate in Liaodong for a long time, so how could they cause trouble for themselves?"

Xie Qian shook his head: "Binzhi, I don't think so, but I think it is more likely that they will return without success."

At this time, Xie Qian was still very stubborn.

Finally, there was an opportunity to suppress Zhang Zhou, or an opportunity to damage Zhang Zhou's "invincible" reputation. Xie Qian felt that he could not miss it, and he could not lose hope in this regard, and add trouble to himself.

Li Dongyang didn't know how to explain to Xie Qian, so he didn't explain, just said his own thoughts: "It is precisely because they have huge military merits as a basis, but they have problems with the division of merits, so they will report late. I think it is probably because the soldiers of Liao Town did not get much credit, but were made by the soldiers and horses of Ji Town who set up an ambush. That's why Lu Wan, the governor of Liaodong, Zhang Yong, the guard officer, and Shouninghou, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, got it. I want to take advantage of my close relationship with His Majesty and Zhang Bingkuan to overwhelm Jizhen in terms of merit."

"what?"

After hearing this, Xie Qian was instantly stunned.

Liu Jian said: "It seems that everything can be explained by what you said, Binzhi."

Xie Qian glanced over and said, "Mr. Liu Ge also thinks that Bin Zhi is right?"

Liu Jian put down his previous lack of affairs on the Liaodong frontier and said: "This time, Da Ming dispatched so many soldiers and horses, but there was no movement after the war. The military merits are divided, and whichever side gets the head of the Tartars will win the military merit. However, this time the battle was fought in cooperation between Liaodong and Jizhou. Shi, middle officers, and general officers, the regulation is far greater than that of Jizhou, so there will be irreconcilable contradictions after the war, and it will delay the reporting of military exploits."

"Really?" Although Xie Qian didn't want to admit it, after some analysis by Li Dongyang and Liu Jian, he seemed to feel that what they said was very reasonable.

Li Dongyang said: "Then Liu Ge thinks, before this, did Zhang Bingkuan expect the situation today?"

This time Liu Jian shook his head after thinking about it: "Whether it's the soldiers in Liaodong or the generals in Jizhou, they are all recommended by him. Why does he need to let the two groups of people argue?"

"Wait." Xie Qian stretched out his hand to interrupt the conversation between the two, and analyzed himself, "Even if what you said is reasonable and the report was delayed because of a dispute over military merits, then they have already passed so much on the way back to the army. For a long time, from the place where the war took place to the range that can be found in Yebushou, Yizhou, it has been at least seven or eight days before and after, no matter how difficult it is to determine the military achievements, it should be concluded by now, right?"

At this time, it was Li Dongyang's turn to shake his head: "Because there are so few troops in Jizhou, it is impossible for them to come all the way, through the grassland and desert, to Daning, and then from Daning to Jizhou. They have to accompany the Liaozhen troops with a small number of troops. Withdrew to Shenyang Zhongwei, because of the military achievements along the way, it will be unclear."

"People are under the roof." Liu Jian said.

"Yeah." Li Dongyang nodded, "But Wang Weigang was born as a supervisory censor and has an upright personality. Even if he knows that he has no advantage in discussing merits, he will not give in easily. That's why the two sides have not reached a conclusion for a long time."

Xie Qian smiled wryly and said: "You actually think that you have made military achievements, but because of the unequal distribution of the achievements, what happened today? Really... Sigh! I convinced you!"

Liu Jian asked: "So Binzhi, do you think they will reach an agreement next?"

"No." Li Dongyang said, "If I were Wang Weigang, I wouldn't let everyone in Liao Town report their merits. He might give credits in advance, and join forces with Ma Yongcheng, a senior officer in the army, to report credits."

"Shang Datian listen?" Liu Jian frowned.

"No, Ma Yongcheng, Wang Weigang, and Peng Quan can't compare with the three in Liaozhen, no matter how close or distant they are. If he insists on going the route of self-reporting, he will definitely make a fuss to the government and the public in advance, so that the follow-up Liaozhen It is meaningless for people to repay their merits."

Li Dongyang seems to be very aware of Wang Xian's temper.

Xie Qian said: "Binzhi, you said that Wang Xian would report in advance, so wouldn't the Liaodong side report in advance? Lu Wan, Zhang Yong, and Zhang Heling are close to Zhang Bingkuan, and they are all His Majesty's people. What did they say? Will His Majesty and Zhang Bingkuan believe it?"

This time Li Dongyang didn't answer, Liu Jian shook his head first and said: "For such a great contribution, if any party reports it, it must be jointly signed by the other party, unless as Binzhi said, the trouble is known to the government and the public, and the matter is publicized first. It doesn't matter whether the other party's consent is needed. And for this kind of credit, the party with less credit, that is, the party who is at fault, is actually very passive."

"Why passive?" Xie Qian asked.

Liu Jian sighed: "They have to go through the censor inspection first, and if they don't reach an agreement with the other side, and the result is contrary, His Majesty will definitely investigate. Then they will bear the fault of falsely reporting military exploits."

"Oh. You mean, Wang Xian reported it on his own, because his military merits were originally obtained by his side in Jizhou, so he didn't worry about falsely reporting military exploits, he was not afraid of investigation. Is that what you mean?" Xie Qian said, looking aside Li Dongyang.

Neither Liu Jian nor Li Dongyang answered him.

Liu Jian said: "That's why you think, Binzhi, that Zhang Bingkuan may have known about today's situation in advance and deliberately set it up like this?"

Li Dongyang shook his head: "Actually, how to set up is not important. The one who set up the ambush must be the Ji Town's unit who secretly dispatched troops, and the one who contributed and mobilized the troops must also be the Liaodong side. The side that sets up the ambush has a better chance of winning the battle than the side that pursues it openly. Bigger. Now we should think about whether we should help Jizhen or Liaozhen."

"A little early?" Xie Qian said.

Liu Jian nodded and said: "It's too early. Everything is still inconclusive. What if the Jizhou side didn't want the ministers of the court and China to be involved? The credit is not small. No matter how you divide it, Zhang Bingkuan's credit has long been credited to His Majesty." In my heart, what's the point of fighting?"

Li Dongyang said: "Then keep an eye on the stage horses coming from Liaodong. If Wang Weigang really wants to show his credit, then this is his last chance."

……

……

Royal Palace.

Zhu Youtang was also waiting for news from Liaodong, but it was Xiao Jing who brought Zhang Zhou with him after meeting Zhang Zhou and brought the latest news.

"Your Majesty, there is a result." Xiao Jing said in surprise.

Seeing Xiao Jing's reaction, Zhu Youtang instantly turned rosy and asked, "Win?"

Xiao Jing looked at Zhang Zhou, meaning to let Zhang Zhou speak.

Zhang Zhou looked much calmer than Xiao Jing: "Huangshui set up an ambush and killed the two guards of Taining and Duoyan, not counting the bombing, the captives and the severed heads, and the left and right ears that can be counted together , and nearly three thousand."

"Okay, okay!" Zhu Youtang was extremely excited.

Zhang Zhoudao: "Your Majesty, don't be in a hurry to be happy. There is something unexpected."

"What's the matter?" Zhu Youtang looked a little embarrassed.

They all won. Could it be that Daming's side lost more than the other side?
Zhang Zhou seemed to be the roundworm in Zhu Youtang's stomach, and said: "Your Majesty, the loss of Ming's soldiers is very few, not even 100."

"Oh. Hehe, Bingkuan, please explain in detail." Zhu Youtang was delighted when he heard it.

The battle loss ratio is so good, so why worry?

Zhang Zhoudao: "This battle was mainly won by the Jizhou side who ambushed. Most of the heads, ears, and prisoners were taken by them."

Zhu Youtang nodded sternly and said, "Is there a division of military merit? Sigh! They all contributed equally. Liaodong has been tossing around for so many days, and they all deserve credit, and there should be no distinction between them."

"Your Majesty, it's okay if there is no distinction between brothers and sisters, but the problem is that three days after the end of the battle, the governor of Liaodong reported that he had discussed military merits with the Jizhou side before, but there was no result. Both sides insisted on their own opinions. " Zhang Zhou said.

Zhu Youtang said: "Is this why they haven't reported the result of this battle?"

Xiao Jing hurriedly said: "Your Majesty calm down."

"I'm not angry. I'll discuss it if I win. I'm afraid that these leaders will pay more attention to military merit than those soldiers. They all serve for Ming Dynasty. Why should they be so clearly distinguished? Will I treat them badly?"

Zhu Youtang looked fair and impartial.

Zhang Zhoudao: "Lu Wan, jointly named Zhang Yong and Zhang Heling, went up to impeach the generals on the side of Jizhou to rob the military exploits and delayed their trip. As a result, they missed the opportunity to make the three guards of Duoyan on the North Road escape from the encirclement."

"Ugh!"

When Zhu Youtang heard this, he became a little anxious.

The results of the battle were as expected, but after the battle... troubles arose.

Wang Xian thinks that it is better for him to strike first, but in fact Lu Wan is not stupid. While discussing military merits with you, he actually played a part secretly. Go ahead and snatch the heads of those killed Tartars, regardless of the overall strategy, so that the [-] to [-] Duoyan Sanwei troops on the northern line broke out of the encirclement and fled westward smoothly.

Lu Wan is not the kind of person who can't walk after seeing military achievements.

He made Wang Xian think that he was doing it for military merit, but in fact he was doing it to sue in advance.

The matter of military merit cannot withstand investigation, especially when there is Zhang Zhou in the court. In order to gain Zhang Zhou's trust, Lu Wan naturally wanted to say that his side was hardworking, but in the end because Jizhou side wanted to grab merit, And missed the opportunity.

Who gets the military merit may not be important to Lu Wan, but gaining the trust of Zhang Zhou and the emperor is more important.

If Wang Xian likes to fight, go for it. It’s better to make things bigger and let the emperor and Zhang Zhou know that you will do anything for that little military merit. Even if you have great merit, the emperor will suppress you when rewarding you. In the future, it will be impossible for the emperor and Zhang Zhou to pay more attention to a person like you who only cares about military merits.

You, Wang Xian, have a Zhang Liang plan, and I, Lu Wan, have a wall ladder.

of course.

Zhang Heling was not aware of Lu Wan's intentions, and even Zhang Yong might not be able to detect it.

Both Zhang Heling and Zhang Yong only pay attention to the military achievements in front of them, and it doesn't matter whether they will be valued in the future.

Zhang Zhou sighed: "Your Majesty, I'm afraid it's a little difficult to determine whether this is right or wrong."

(End of this chapter)