My father Zhu Gaoxu

Chapter 726: Letter of Credence from Jiaozhi
It was late at night, but the lights were still on in Wang Tong's study.

In the room, Wang Tong and Wang Cong, father and son, sat opposite each other. Mr. Jin had already left, but he left the Wang family with a hope.

"Dad, are we really going to Dahan?"

Wang Cong suddenly asked.

Wang Tong was previously worried that going to Dahan would make Zhu Zhanji angry with his family, but Mr. Jin promised that he could send the Wang family to Dahan in advance, so that when Wang Tong finished negotiating with Jiaozhi, he would not even have to return to Ming Dynasty. , you can take a boat directly from Cochin to reunite with your family.

"What if you don't go? If you stay in the Ming Dynasty, as soon as I leave, His Majesty will definitely attack you. At that time, the King of Han... No, it was His Majesty the Emperor of Han who broke into Beijing and captured the prince to threaten His Majesty. From then on, His Majesty I already hate the big man."

Wang Tong sighed at the end.

There are too many bad things in Lao Zhu's family. When they fight with gods, people like Wang Tong suffer.

"By the way, after I go to Jiaozhi to negotiate, you and your mother will be the only ones left in the family. Your mother comes from a womanly family and it is not convenient for her to come forward in some matters. As the eldest son, you must support the family!"

Wang Tong warned his son at this time.

Wang Tong is going to Jiaozhi for negotiations. There will be no one else in the Chengshan residence at that time, and he will also take advantage of this time to move his family members overseas. As the eldest son, Wang Cong must of course shoulder this responsibility.

"I understand. Dad, you can go without worries. I have everything at home!"

Wang Cong patted his chest and promised.

But as soon as he said these words, Wang Tong was so angry that he wanted to slap him to death. What does "go with ease" mean?This sounds like he is cursing himself to die early?

However, Wang Tong was not in the mood to argue with this unreliable son now. He patiently explained some things at home again, for fear that there would be any oversights in the family after he left.

A few days later, the Ministry of War and the Fifth Army Governor's Office jointly interrogated Wang Tong, including some of his generals, to investigate their operations in Jiaozhi, especially Wang Tong's fault in command.

Wang Tong was also very cooperative and did not hide anything about his defeat in Jiaozhi, but he also explained very clearly the retreat process after defeating Li Shan.

At that time, Jiaozhi was already in chaos. With the little force in his hands, he was unable to suppress the rebellion. If he did not retreat, more than [-] soldiers and civilians would die at the hands of the rebels.

As the saying goes, "When generals are out, the emperor will not give you orders." As the commander-in-chief of an army, Wang Tong naturally had the power to act according to the situation, so he felt that he was not wrong in ordering the withdrawal of Jiaozhi.

Wang Tong's soldiers also supported Wang Tong very much. Some people who evacuated from Jiaozhi even wrote letters to plead for Wang Tong when they learned that Wang Tong was being interrogated by the court.

In addition, Zhang Fu, the commander-in-chief of the Fifth Army, and other nobles also wanted to keep Wang Tong, because as military generals, they could better understand Wang Tong's difficulties. If Wang Tong was convicted this time, other military generals would lead the army in the future. When the soldiers are outside, they will definitely be more constrained.

However, the Ministry of War, which was controlled by civilian officials, held the opposite view. They insisted that Wang Tong was mainly responsible for the loss of Cochin. In addition, other civil servants in the court also wrote letters demanding Wang Tong be convicted.

It can be said that Wang Tong's case has now become the focus of the struggle between civil servants and military generals. The civil servant group wants to use this matter to attack the power of nobles. As for the truth, it is not important at all.

Although the nobles of this period had great influence in the court, especially generals such as Zhang Fu who joined the cabinet, the fiasco of Jiaozhi was an irreversible fact. Therefore, the generals were at fault in this matter and naturally At a disadvantage.

Therefore, many discerning people in the court have already seen that Wang Tong may not be able to escape the death penalty this time, and the nobles will also suffer a serious blow. Although it is not yet possible to form a situation where the civil servants are strong and the military is weak, but for the civil servants group That said, it is definitely a significant victory.

However, at this moment, Li Song, the largest rebel leader in Cochin, suddenly sent an envoy to Ming Dynasty to submit his credentials to Ming Dynasty and requested to negotiate with Ming Dynasty to discuss the future diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Li Song's letter of credence was very low-key, indicating to the Ming Dynasty that he was a Han and had no intention of rebellion at first. It was only because Li Shan and other rebels were everywhere that Li Song had to summon his clan members to join the army in order to wipe out Li Shan. Wait for the rebels.

Now that the other rebels have been put down, Li Shan only has a few thousand soldiers left to survive, so Li Song still wants to surrender to the Ming Dynasty, and even begs the Ming Dynasty to grant him a title.

But Li Song also stated in his credentials that he did not trust other Ming people. Only Chengshan Bo Wang Tong once defeated Li Shan and organized the evacuation of Han people. Therefore, Li Song admired Wang Tong very much and asked the Ming sect Wang Tong went to Jiaozhi to discuss it in detail. When the time came for the two countries to divide the national border, Jiaozhi was also willing to become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty from generation to generation.

"What do you think?"

In the Wuying Palace, Zhu Zhanji read the credentials sent by Li Song, then glanced at the ministers in the palace and asked.

"Your Majesty, although Li Song is a Han, the rebels who have defeated Jiaozhi must want to establish themselves as kings. I think it is better to agree to his conditions. After all, it is better for Jiaozhi to fall into his hands than to fall into the hands of that Li Shan. Much stronger."

I saw Huang Fu being the first to stand up and express his position.

In fact, Huang Fu and Zhang Fu had always hoped that Zhu Zhanji could send another army to recover the lost Jiaozhi, but Zhu Zhanji did not want to send any more troops for Jiaozhi, and there was also great resistance from the DPRK. Many officials demanded that Jiaozhi be abandoned. Therefore, it is no longer possible to send troops to recapture Cochin.Under this situation, Huang Fu could only accept the reality. Now that Jiaozhi fell into the hands of the Han people, and the other party was willing to surrender to the Ming Dynasty, this was considered an acceptable result.

"Your Majesty, I also feel that this matter is debatable. Jiaozhi is remote and the people are fierce. Instead of sending troops to waste money and people, it is better to let it govern itself. By then, our Ming Dynasty will have another vassal state, which will be beneficial to the country but not harmful!"

Yang Rong also stood up and agreed at this time.

Yang Rong and Huang Fu expressed their stance, and other officials also expressed their agreement. In the end, even Zhang Fu sighed secretly and stood up to express his agreement. This also meant that the Ming court had completely given up hope of regaining Jiaozhi.

"But the other party named Wang Tong and asked to send Wang Tong to negotiate peace. Do you want someone else to go?"

Zhu Zhanji suddenly said with some hesitation that Wang Tong's charges had not yet been clearly investigated. If he was sent to Jiaozhi, he was worried that something would happen.

"Your Majesty, I think it's okay to send Uncle Cheng Shan there. If we can negotiate favorable terms for our Ming Dynasty, it can be regarded as making him guilty and meritorious."

Xia Yuanji suddenly stood up and suggested.

He originally disapproved of Wang Tong's execution, but now Li Song's credentials finally gave Wang Tong a chance to survive, but in Xia Yuanji's heart, he always felt that this incident was a bit too coincidental.

"My minister agrees!"

Huang Fu and Zhang Fu stood up and said almost at the same time.

The remaining Yang Rong, Yang Pu and others hesitated for a while, but finally agreed. After all, it was more important to settle the Jiaozhi incident than to convict Wang Tong.

But at this moment, Yang Pu suddenly stood up and said: "Your Majesty, in addition to Cheng Shanbo, there is another person who should be held accountable for the defeat of Jiaozhi!"

"Who?"

Zhu Zhanji was stunned and immediately asked.

"Duke Mu Sheng of Guizhou, if his reinforcements hadn't hesitated in Shuiwei County, leaving Wang Tong with no reinforcements behind him, I'm afraid Jiaozhi wouldn't have been lost so easily!"

Yang Pu said unceremoniously.

In addition to sending Liu Sheng to lead troops to Jiaozhi, Zhu Zhanji also ordered Mu Sheng to lead troops from Yunnan to attack Jiaozhi from another route. This was also the court's practice. In the past, every time Zhu Di sent Zhang Fu to Jiaozhi, he would Mu Sheng was ordered to send troops to assist, and this time was no exception.

But after Mu Sheng received the order, he kept dilly-dallying. He finally sent out troops, but refused to go deep into the border of Jiaozhi. Especially when the news of Liu Sheng's death in battle spread, Mu Sheng simply stayed in Shuiwei County. Moving forward, we just sat back and watched Ming Dynasty lose Jiaozhi.

Therefore, it does make sense that Yang Pu is guilty of participating in Mu Sheng. If he could have sent troops in time, Liu Sheng might not have died in the battle. Even if Liu Sheng died in battle, as long as he sent troops to assist Wang Tong, he could still help Wang Tong defend the city. Jiaozhou, without causing the entire territory of Jiaozhi to fall.

"This one……"

Zhu Zhanji also had a look of embarrassment on his face when he heard that Yang Pu had complained to Mu Sheng. Xia Yuanji, Yang Rong and others also had solemn expressions, and the others lowered their heads and remained silent.

Compared with other nobles, the Mu family in Yunnan is very special. They have been stationed in Yunnan all year round and hold military power in their hands, which is equivalent to the princes of the region. In Yunnan, the prestige of the Mu family even exceeds that of the imperial court.

"Your Majesty, Mu Sheng is the Duke of the country, but he cowered during the war. He should be executed according to the law. Please ask your Majesty to judge him!"

Yang Pu saw Zhu Zhanji's hesitation and immediately took a step forward again.

It was not that he had any personal grudge against Mu Sheng, but that he felt that the loss of Jiaozhi had greatly reduced the court's reputation. Wang Tong alone was not enough to shoulder the blame for this crime, and Mu Sheng also had to be dealt with according to law!

"The Mu family has been favored by the emperor and has been guarding Yunnan. It has both merit and hard work. Moreover, Mu Sheng is old, and I can't bear to accuse him. How about this, let someone take back his treasure seal as a punishment! "

Zhu Zhanji hesitated for a moment and finally announced the punishment for Mu Sheng.

The so-called treasure seal is actually the Zhennan General seal given to Mu Sheng by Zhu Gaochi when he was in power. It has no real power in itself and is more like an honor. Therefore, Zhu Zhanji's punishment for Mu Sheng is just to take back the treasure seal, which is equivalent to a verbal Warning, no real harm at all.

Xia Yuanji below heard Zhu Zhanji's punishment of Mu Sheng and couldn't help but sigh inwardly, because he thought that when Zhu Zhanhe and Zhu Di discussed the matter of Jiaozhi, they had said that the Mu family did not want the imperial court to control Jiaozhi, so every day The first time he went to Jiaozhi, Mu Sheng always worked hard and failed to make any effort, and this time was obviously no exception.

Moreover, Mu Sheng's goal was achieved. After the loss of Jiaozhi, the court would only rely more on the Mu family. For example, now Zhu Zhanji does not even dare to punish Mu Sheng.

(End of this chapter)