The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

After meeting with the minister, Zhu Youtang was very interested.

After returning to Xinuang Pavilion, Zhu Youtang still did not sit down, but paced back and forth as if thinking about something excitedly.

As the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, Chen Kuan had a very low sense of presence and stood silently aside.

Zhu Youtang stopped suddenly, looked out the window and said: "Six groups of people are attacking. The news of the victory should arrive in the next few days."

Chen Kuan was thinking, even if we include the Tatar troops, Wang Shouren, Zhang Mao, Wang Qiong, and Cui Yuan, there are only five groups in total, right? How come there are six routes?

"I haven't seen Bingkuan for a few days, and I don't know how he is doing. Logically speaking, he should come back after finishing his work." Zhu Youtang seemed to miss Zhang Zhou again, and he would find someone to brag about when he had nothing to do. The joy of bragging.

Chen Kuan asked: "Your Majesty, do you want to send someone to urge you?"

Zhu Youtang said: "What are you urging? Even if Bingkuan has finished this thing, maybe he has another thing to do. It's not too late for him to come back after finishing everything."

Chen Kuan felt that he had been tricked by the emperor.

While the emperor was missing Zhang Zhou, he seemed to understand Zhang Zhou very well, and actually gave Zhang Zhou such great autonomy, which Chen Kuan couldn't understand.

"Di Yi are all people who change their minds when they see different things. Only Bingkuan can control these young people. It's just that Bingkuan has to deal with so many things outside, and I always keep him so busy... I really feel sorry for him." Zhu Youtang began to regret again. stand up.

If you have to let Zhang Zhou do something, you will feel sorry for Zhang Zhou.

Chen Kuan said: "Your Majesty, as a minister of the Ming Dynasty, Cai Guogong will probably share your worries."

"Can it be the same?" Zhu Youtang almost wanted to say that he was different from ordinary ministers, but the words did not come out of his mouth, "Bingkuan is busy, I should not treat him badly. A Duke of Cai and the Minister of the Ministry of War are not enough to repay him. He has done so many things for the court, and when he comes back, I should give him a promotion! Go and summon Bachelor Cheng to see you!"

"Yes."

Chen Kuan probably felt that Zhang Zhou was not far away from joining the cabinet.

……

……

Cui Yuan and Zhu Feng sent troops from Jizhou, with 14,000 troops and horses, and headed straight for Daning.

Before sending troops, the two of them had already learned about what happened in Jizhou Town. They learned that Governor Liu Yu was detained by the Jinyi Guards, and that the military affairs of Jizhou were temporarily taken over by Zhang Zhou... which means that Zhang Zhou is now the Ministry of War. The minister is also the governor of Jizhou, but on the surface there is no need to add such an official position to Zhang Zhou.

Regardless of whether Zhang Zhou was the governor or not, the generals below also listened to him.

"Brother Cui, I just got the news that a group of Tatars have arrived in the old city of Daning. How should we deal with them? Should we continue to be on guard, or should we... bypass them and ignore them?"

After the soldiers and horses were stationed that day, Zhu Feng hurried over to find Cui Yuan.

This group of people is led by Cui Yuan, and the eunuch who supervises the army is Mi Kuan. This person is Zhang Yong's disciple, and Mi Kuan has always had a good relationship with Queen Zhang and Princess Yongkang. This means that this group of people can belong to Cui Yuan and perform on his own. .

This was Cui Yuan's first time to formally lead an army. He led 10,000 troops at once, which made him very anxious.

"No...not sure." Cui Yuan stuttered.

Zhu Feng said: "Why is this? Not sure? Is it not clear enough? Brother Cui, if you have anything to ask, just ask."

Zhu Feng thought he was incompetent, but when he met Cui Yuan, he realized what it meant to be famous but it was hard to live up to it.

Cui Yuan looked around and made sure that there was no one else around, then he whispered: "Marquis Anbian, I have heard about many of your heroic deeds before. I learned that you are a fierce general and you have a strategy. You shouldn’t come to ask me for advice on something else, right?”

"How can I do this without asking you...? Your Majesty has a decree. You are the uncle of Jingshan. This time the troops are dispatched and the mobilization of troops and horses are all subject to your orders." Zhu Feng also seemed confused.

A coach actually lets his assistant coach make his own decisions?

Something happened, don't you want to take the blame?

Cui Yuandao: "Your Majesty's intention is to let the censor, who leads the troops, take charge of everything. I am just waiting for orders, just Governor Liu... Alas! Anbianhou, you should also know that this is the first time that I have led troops outside." , it’s hard to sort out a lot of thoughts at once, and I need someone to help me.”

Zhu Feng felt very fresh after hearing this.

He smiled and said: "Brother Cui was able to lead troops to defeat the enemy when he was in Ningxia, and he was able to defeat the enemy despite all opinions. Why is he saying now that he has never had the experience of leading an army?"

Cui Yuan also seemed to be confessing, sighing: "Before I led troops, I was the vanguard. The decision I made was whether to stay temporarily or attack directly. I chose the latter. And at that time, I had no more than a thousand troops. Now that we are out in force, I have to take charge of the food, clothing, housing and transportation of the soldiers, as well as marching and other matters... I am really unable to support myself."

Zhu Feng nodded and said, "It's my first time to bring so many people. It should give me a headache."

"Then...Brother Zhu, can you help me with my advice?" Cui Yuan saw that Zhu Feng was also easy to talk to. Now that you understand my difficulties, isn't it time to help?

Zhu Feng shook his head and said: "Brother Cui, forgive me, I don't have much experience. When I led troops before, I basically followed orders, so..."

So there is nothing I can do to help.

Cui Yuan was a little disappointed after hearing this.

You, Zhu Feng, were so famous before. Although some people say that you relied on the reputation of Cai Guogong, you are not so bad at commanding troops, right?

Zhu Feng added: "Brother Cui, just think about it. If I had the ability to command the three armies, I wouldn't be listening to you in this battle, don't you think so?"

These words made Cui Yuan unable to find fault again.

Think about it too.

He, Cui Yuan, had just been promoted to Jingshan Bo, and was at best a new noble. However, no matter how incompetent Zhu Feng was, he was still Anbian Marquis, with a title just one level higher than him. But now he is the commander-in-chief, with the emperor's ability to recognize people. , how can you not tell which of them is more capable?

"Brother Cui, please give me an idea. What should we do to the Tatars in Daning?" Zhu Feng waited for Cui Yuan to give the order.

Cui Yuandao: "Previously, Cai Guogong said that he wanted to take advantage of the internal chaos in the Tatars to prevent us from attacking the Tatars. So we should ignore them for the time being, but we should send more sentries to investigate their movements. Once we find out that they are up to no good. It’s not too late to fight again then.”

Zhu Feng nodded and said thoughtfully, "Then the initiative is not on our side."

Cui Yuan was also worried and said: "Otherwise, what else can we do? If we directly send troops to fight, it would be against His Majesty's will. Since we want to take advantage of their contradictions, let them go first. If we want to fight, I believe Cai Guo will give us Letter."

……

……

Cui Yuan and Zhu Feng's troops continued northward, passing through more than a hundred miles west of Daning. They wanted to enter the eastern area of ​​​​Chahar.

Because there are more deserts in the north, the soldiers will be stained with dust and loess when crossing the Gobi Desert. They are covered in dust when they rest, but they cannot clean it off. After marching for several days, the soldiers obviously feel tired.

"Don't walk slowly."

Six days after leaving the customs in Jizhou, he was stationed after nightfall. Zhu Feng made arrangements for setting up camp and then came to Cui Yuan. Cui Yuan was already giving up his game this time, and did not study any topographic maps, because he found that after entering the grassland, he could not even understand the topographic maps, and he could not find the road in many places. He was entirely based on impressions, or Said it was walking in the general direction.

As to where the Tartar camp was, he had no idea.

When Cui Yuan heard Zhu Feng's words, he raised his head and looked at Zhu Feng with a blank look on his face: "Zhijie, are you sure you are not walking slowly? I think yesterday's march might be... only fifty or sixty miles."

Zhu Feng said: "Actually, it should be over eighty miles. We have a large number of artillery and baggage in the army. We can march eighty miles a day, which is considered very fast."

Cui Yuan couldn't help but sigh: "There are more than ten thousand soldiers and horses. In fact, the number of elites who can fight is only seven or eight thousand. The rest can only be used for formation defense. If we continue like this, I'm afraid the Tatars If we don't meet them, the morale of the soldiers will be low. How can we fight against the enemy now?"

Zhu Feng smiled and said: "Brother Cui should also know that the Tatars will not take the initiative to invade now."

"But I am also afraid that they will come to attack the camp. The time, place and people are favorable and we will not occupy any of them. It is impossible for the Tatars to give up this opportunity." Cui Yuan analyzed using the military tactics he is familiar with.

Zhu Fengzai smiled and said: "The right time, the right place and the right people are just far-fetched reasons after victory. The most important thing is to be strong enough. No matter how low the morale is, as long as the Tatars come, we will use artillery, and they will With bows and crossbows, we will win.”

Cui Yuan thought for a while and seemed to be unable to find fault, so he could only nod again.

"I wonder how Brother Zhang is doing now. When he left, he seemed to have said he was going to Daning." Zhu Feng said.

Cui Yuan suddenly remembered something and said in surprise: "Zhijie, do you still remember that you said that the Tatars were sneaking around Daning and seemed to have evil intentions? Could they be..."

Zhu Feng also became nervous and said, "You mean, they might be detrimental to Brother Zhang?"

The two of them seemed to suddenly realize that letting Daning's three guards go was a taboo among military strategists.

"Don't worry, don't worry." Zhu Feng comforted himself, "How could Brother Zhang not have expected the ambition of these people? And how could Brother Zhang go to Daning alone? That was an important town in the north of the Ming Dynasty, and the surrounding areas could Contact the soldiers and horses in Liaodong."

At this point, Zhu Feng found that he couldn't convince himself.

Cui Yuandao: "Do you think we should send someone to inform him again? Let Cai Guogong be on guard?"

"Isn't it too late? Brother Zhang...if he had set off two days later than us, he would be almost in Daning now, unless we..."

The two were silent again.

Unless something, it was actually very clear, unless they gave up their current march plan and turned back to Daning, so that they might be able to get timely reinforcements when the negotiators led by Zhang Zhou were in trouble.

In the end, Cui Yuanyi gritted his teeth and said, "We are less than two hundred miles away from Daning now. If we set out overnight, we can arrive before sunset tomorrow at the latest. What do you think?"

"it is good!"

On this matter, the two seemed to hit it off.

Zhu Feng also nodded and said: "Let's go east now. We can't put Brother Zhang in any danger. If the Tatars have any different intentions, they are coveting our territory of the Ming Dynasty. We can't just sit idly by and ignore it!"

……

……

Just when Zhu Feng and Cui Yuan decided to turn back to Daning and prepare to attack Duoyan's three guards in Daning, Zhang Zhouren was still in the Santun camp and had not left the seclusion.

It is said that we want to negotiate with the Tatars, but of course we cannot go to the Tatar territory to negotiate. It seems to be an alliance under the city, but it is more likely that we are in the enemy's hinterland. The Tatars can play tricks.

The place of choice for this negotiation was Santunying, but it was announced to the outside world that it was in Daning.

It was the second day of negotiations between Zhang Zhou and the representatives of Duoyan Sanwei. Zhang Zhou still did not come forward. The one who came forward on his behalf was Sun Shangqi, a member of Qianhu, the Jinyiwei... At this time, Sun Shangqi seemed to be a military attaché, but because of his status as Yongping He was the person in charge of local Jinyiwei affairs, and Zhang Zhou gave him the authority to manage affairs, so that he could serve as a special envoy to deal with the Tatars to a certain extent.

It is also related to the fact that Sun Shangqi once worked as a sentinel in the north and knew a little bit of foreign languages. Although he was not very proficient, he was still familiar with some basic daily expressions.

Sometimes Zhang Zhou would learn a few sentences from him.

Zhang Zhou arrived at the Santun camp. In addition to the task of solving Liu Yu's problem, Zhang Zhou also had to negotiate with the three guards of Duoyan to send troops. He also had another task, which was to sort out the local affairs of Yongping Mansion and eliminate the last trouble for building the port. After all, in the future, when shipping things back from overseas, it is impossible to go through Zhejiang, but should be unloaded directly in Yongping Prefecture.

"Master, Sun Qianhu is back."

Zhang Zhou was still sorting out some expense accounts in Zhao's villa. Wang Mingshan came in with a heroic appearance. It gave Zhang Zhou the feeling that Wang Mingshan had grown up a lot.

"Let him wait first." Zhang Zhou then waved, "Come here."

Wang Mingshan walked up to Zhang Zhou and didn't know what Zhang Zhou was going to do.

"Can you understand these things?" Zhang Zhou asked with a smile.

Wang Mingshan shook her head seriously.

She was very proficient in weapons maps and such, but when it came to accounts, she knew nothing about it.

The key is, if you don't understand something, you can't understand it. If you want to teach something, it's just playing the lute to an unknown person.

If you don’t learn this thing since childhood, it will be difficult to learn it when you grow up...especially if you can’t let Wang Mingshan come into contact with so many things that are familiar to you. What does Wang Mingshan’s family do...It is a family of military commanders. From Wang Yue to Wei Ningbo After losing it again, all they could think about was how to regain their title, and the family members seemed to have given up on studying.

Zhang Zhou sighed: "It seems I should find someone to help me take care of this. But who in the family is suitable?"

Zhang Zhou was actually very worried.

Naturally, it would be more reassuring to leave such an important accounting work to the women around him, but neither Jiang Pingyu, Han Qing, nor Lin Yi seemed to have the ability to handle such accounts, which put him in trouble. .

If you give it to your family, it is a family business.

To give it to others is to find professional managers. Sometimes professional managers are more professional, but after all, they are not reliable...

This brings us back to the question of how to develop the family business...

Although nepotism is not allowed, there are also many troubles associated with nepotism.

"Go and bring over the few people I recruited before. I need them to help me settle the accounts now." Zhang Zhou could only close the account books on hand first.

If he had to do everything himself, what else would the accountant do?

He just needs to know a rough number. (End of chapter)