My father Zhu Gaoxu

Chapter 690 Li Song from Cochin

In a tavern in Xijing City, Li Song was drinking with his head down, feeling unspeakably depressed.

"Brother Li, today is a happy day. No matter what, you are still an official. Gar County is a rich county. If you go there and become a county captain, you will be much better than before!"

A young man next to him toasted Li Song.

"No matter how good Gar County is, I can only take care of the local security when I go there. You also know that I have no ambition here, so what's there to be happy about?"

Li Song poured himself a glass of wine again.

"You can't say that. We are Jiaozhi people. We are different from others. It is not easy for Brother Li to stand out from so many Han people!"

The young man next to him persuaded again.

Except for their darker skin, this young man and Li Song look no different from the Han people. However, they are from Jiaozhi. They were brought to Tianzhu from Jiaozhi by Zhu Gaoxu, mainly to maintain public order in various places.

"How many times have I said that I am not from Jiaozhi. My ancestors were Han from Guangdong and later moved to Jiaozhi. Moreover, we have all come to the Han Dynasty. Naturally, we are all Han people and Han people!"

Li Song obviously disliked being a Cochin native, and immediately retorted with an unhappy look on his face.

"Okay, okay, Brother Li, you are right. We are all Han people, but even Han people have different origins. Han people from the Ming Dynasty are obviously more valued. We Han people from Jiaozhi are always inferior to others. There’s nothing we can do about it.”

The young man looked helpless at the end.

This young man’s name is Ding Li. His ancestors are also Han, but he has settled in Jiaozhi for several generations and has intermarried with the locals in Jiaozhi. Therefore, in the eyes of many Han people, he is no longer a real Han.

After hearing Ding Li's words, Li Song became even more depressed and immediately started drinking again.

Li Song, like ordinary Jiaozhi people, was incorporated into the local garrison to maintain local security.

However, just some time ago, a riot broke out among the natives where they were stationed, and they even wanted to harm the local Han villages.

At that time, Li Song was sent to suppress the rebellion of the natives. He performed well on the battlefield. In the end, he led his brothers to capture the leader of the riot and protected the local Han villages. This was a great achievement.

Li Song was a very ambitious man, and he was not willing to work in the Jiaozhi vassal army for the rest of his life. Therefore, taking advantage of this military achievement, Li Song requested from his superiors that he could be incorporated into the regular army of the Han Dynasty.

Because the regular army of the Han Dynasty was responsible for foreign operations, although it was dangerous, it was also easier to achieve meritorious service. Li Song felt that with his talents, he would be able to achieve greater achievements in the regular army, and he could even make a wife and son with his military merit in the future and achieve a career. .

But unfortunately, Li Song's request was rejected. The superiors only rewarded him based on his merits and arranged for him to be a county captain. Originally, the Ming Dynasty had abolished the county captain, but the Han Dynasty restored the official position of county captain. , mainly in charge of the public security of a county, equivalent to the public security director in later generations.

Li Song became a county captain, which was regarded as officially entering the officialdom system of the Han Dynasty. He would also be promoted in the future, and he would be much better than before in the Jiaozhi vassal army.

But Li Song was not satisfied. Compared with the official position of county lieutenant, he still preferred to realize his ambition in the army. This time he came to Xijing firstly to accept the appointment from the imperial court, and secondly to see if there was any chance to be active. But the reality made him very disappointed. In a place like the capital, he, a small county captain, had no problems at all, and it was impossible to be transferred to the regular army.

Ding Li could also understand Li Song's mood, so he stopped talking and drank with him. In the end, both of them were very drunk. After paying the bill, they helped each other back to the inn and fell asleep.

I don’t know how long I slept for?In the end, Li Song woke up in a daze, but only felt a splitting headache and his mouth was very dry.

"water!"

Li Song instinctively shouted, he was a general before, and there were natives serving him, but he forgot that this was an inn in Xijing.

But just as Li Song finished speaking, he immediately heard the sound of pouring water, and then a cup of tea was handed into his hand.

Li Song's mind was still a mess, and he didn't think much at all. He took the tea and drank it in one gulp, and then he felt his throat felt much better.

This cup of tea also made him finally wake up, thinking that he was in an inn, and there could be no other people in the room.

Li Song was also a person who had been on the battlefield. He was very vigilant. When he felt something was wrong, he immediately rolled on the bed, reached out and grabbed the short knife under the pillow, and pulled it out with a "choking" sound to protect himself.

Only then did Li Song realize that there was a young man sitting there on the chair in front of his bed, sipping tea and looking at him with a smile.

"The reaction is very fast and the vigilance is very high. He is worthy of being the person who killed the native rebels and captured the leader of the thief himself!"

The young man seemed very satisfied with Li Song's reaction, then he put down his tea cup and smiled again.

"Who are you?" Li Song felt that this young man seemed to have no ill intentions, otherwise he could have killed him while he was sleeping, so he put away his dagger and asked.

The young man did not answer Li Song's question directly, but stretched out his hand and showed a sign with the three characters "Jinyiwei" written on it.

This made Li Song startled. He jumped out of bed and saluted: "Your Excellency, Li Song pays homage to you!"

The Han Dynasty followed the example of the Ming Dynasty and set up the Jinyiwei. Although the Jinyiwei of the Han Dynasty mainly collected intelligence from the outside world, they also had the power of internal supervision. Especially for people in the officialdom, the three words "Jinyiwei" have a huge deterrent effect. If it is not necessary, No one wants to deal with these murderous ghosts.

The same is true for Li Song. He has only heard of the name Jin Yiwei before, but has never seen it before. Now he is very uneasy, worried that he did something wrong and attracted Jin Yiwei?
"Don't be nervous. We Jinyiwei are actually the same as you, we all work for the court, but our responsibilities are different."

The young man seemed to see through Li Song's thoughts at a glance, so he comforted him with a smile.

"Yes, Xiaguan is just curious, why did you suddenly come to Xiaguan?"

Li Song asked curiously.

He was just a low-level official from the Cochin vassal army. To put it bluntly, even if he committed a crime, there was no need for the Jinyi Guards to take action.

"I do come to you with something important to discuss with you, but before I talk about it, let me introduce myself first."

The young Jin Yiwei turned over his waist card, and the official title "Jin Yiwei commanded Qianshi" was clearly written on the back. This shocked Li Song again. He knelt down and saluted: "I'm here to pay my respects to Lord Qianshi!" "

The commander-in-chief was a senior official of the fourth rank. In comparison, his county captain was just a junior official who had just joined the ranks. There was a big difference between them, not to mention that the Jinyiwei official was one level higher, so of course Li Song had to ask him salute.

"Get up, my name is Liu Ke. I have followed His Highness the Crown Prince for many years. This time, I have been ordered by His Majesty and His Highness the Crown Prince to help the court find several candidates, and you are one of them."

Liu Ke introduced his identity with a smile.

Hearing that the other party was not only in command, but also an old man next to the prince, Li Song was even more shocked and his attitude became more humble.

"I wonder why Master Qian wants to see me?"

Li Song asked cautiously.

"This matter is related to Jiaozhi. Jiaozhi has not been peaceful recently. There has been another rebellion among the people, and the Ming Dynasty's garrison failed to suppress it..."

As Liu Ke spoke, he explained the current situation in Jiaozhi in detail.

Although Li Song rejected his identity as a Cochin native, he also knew that this matter was related to his future and destiny, so he listened very seriously.

Finally, Liu Ke continued: "After your majesty and the prince learned about the situation in Jiaozhi, they thought that the Ming Dynasty would probably withdraw its troops from Jiaozhi in the future. When the time comes, Jiaozhi will be separated and it will no longer be the territory of the Ming Dynasty. And those of you who are far away in the Han Dynasty will The people of Cochin will be in a more difficult situation!”

Li Song is also a smart man. He immediately understood after hearing Liu Ke's last words. Now that Jiaozhi is within the territory of the Ming Dynasty, they Jiaozhi people can also be regarded as the people of the Ming Dynasty. But even so, the Han people still have some discrimination against them. If Jiaozhi goes out independently, The Han people will not regard them as their own people, and they will only be more marginalized.

"My lord, you came to see me. Could it be that the imperial court wants to send us to take over Jiaozhi?"

Li Song hesitated for a moment before asking again.

In his opinion, the Han Dynasty is now so powerful that even the Timurid Empire is no match for them, so it is normal for the Han Dynasty to lead his troops back to the Ming Dynasty, let alone the small Jiaozhi.

"Absolutely. The imperial court does intend to send you back to Cochin, and give you a certain amount of support behind the scenes, so that you can become powerful locals in Cochin. You don't have to go against the Ming court in normal times, but in case something changes in Cochin, for example, someone rebels and wants to stand on its own. As the king, we hope you can seize the throne of Cochin when the time comes!”

Liu Ke no longer hid it, and directly stated his purpose.

Li Song finally understood after hearing this. It turned out that the imperial court wanted him to lurk in Jiaozhi and establish his own power when necessary. The ultimate goal was to let him seize the throne of Jiaozhi and become the new king of Jiaozhi with the support of the Han Dynasty.

When he thought of this, Li Song couldn't help but get excited. He was an ambitious and ambitious person. His biggest wish before was to join the regular army of the Han Dynasty and earn a fortune for himself with military merit.

But he didn't expect that a bigger opportunity would suddenly appear. If he agreed, he could even become the future king. To him, this was like pie in the sky. For a moment, he wondered if he was hungover. Not awake yet, still in a dream?
"Of course, opportunities and dangers coexist. Although the court will give you a certain amount of support, it will also require you to take great risks. If you are unfortunately killed, your family will be taken care of by the court, and they will be there in the future. A big man lives a worry-free life and becomes a Han Chinese through and through."

Liu Ke finally reminded again.

(End of this chapter)