Do you know: I have a different surname: Wang, uncle Minglan.

Chapter 184: Hundreds of officials in the southeast are terrified
Late April.

Wei Yuan arrived in Mingzhou, Zhejiang Province.

According to the established marching route and time, they should have arrived here around early April.

However, the journey from Haizhou was too long.

At this moment, it is dozens of miles outside the Mingzhou Coastal Defense Camp.

Yang Huairen said to Wei Yuan: "Originally, the period of our triumphant victory was set around June and July. The food and grass prepared by the court can only supply our army until late July."

"Do you think we should ask the imperial court for some food and grass in case of emergency?"

Wei Yuan shook his head and said, "Don't worry for now. The southeast is the imperial granary. If we get to that point, we should first borrow some grain from the local government."

He had reached an agreement with King Wu of Suzhou.

With Suzhou as its support, the New Army would hardly be short of food no matter what.

Wei Yuan waved his hand, passed by everyone, and headed to the observation tower.

Liu Lu was stunned and said: "I have encountered them before. Half a month ago, the Japanese pirates learned that you led troops and plundered many nearby villages, and then went to sea."

Wei Yuan said thoughtfully, "So it's him."

"He once served as the governor of Mingzhou and went to Beijing to serve as an official five years ago."

The subordinate responded: "The army is less than twenty or thirty miles away from here!"

Liu Lu was shocked when Wei Yuan stared at him, and he quickly knelt down on one knee.

Among them, Li Ding liked to impeach Su Shi no matter what, which led to Su Shi being often demoted or imprisoned.

Wei Yuan asked: "Have you ever encountered Japanese pirates in Mingzhou?"

Hearing this, Liu Lu responded respectfully: "Hui Weishuai was built by Mr. Li Ding, the current Tongzhi Jianyuan."

Ten forts are connected in a line, firmly controlling Mingzhou's coastal defense line.

Chen Daniu, who was standing behind Wei Yuan, said coldly:
"Where is Commander Wei going and do I still need to say hello to you?"

How could such a coastal defense camp fight against Japanese pirates?

He looked at the tens of thousands of soldiers and soldiers, couldn't help but tremble in his heart, and secretly admired:

At this moment, the commander in charge of Mingzhou's coastal defense affairs, Liu Lu, was having a drink in the observation deck.

After a pause, he quickly chased after Wei Yuan, stood behind him, bowed his head and bent over, looking extremely humble, and asked with a smile:
"Commander Wei has traveled thousands of miles, why didn't he settle in the city instead of coming here?"

While they were talking, Wei Yuan had already arrived at the observation deck, standing here and looking around.

Wei Yuan is quite satisfied with the coastal defense infrastructure.
"Whose idea was it to build these bunkers?"

Liu Lu just realized it later and saw that Wei Yuan was already walking towards the observation tower.

"General Liu Lu, commander of the Mingzhou Coastal Defense Battalion, pays homage to Uncle Zhongyong!"

Yang Huairen looked at Liu Lu and said, "Commander Wei asks you to get up."

It is worth mentioning that Li Dingnai is a student of Wang Anshi and can be regarded as a practical person.

Mingzhou's observation tower and beacon tower are both in the same place. If the enemy is discovered, the beacon will be lit immediately.

After that, he picked up the firewood on the beacon stand and saw that there were no signs of ignition on it.

Wei Yuan frowned and said, "The smoke of yours shows no sign of being lit. If the Japanese pirates appeared half a month ago, you should have lit the smoke to put people nearby on guard."

The fort can accommodate more than ten people.

Wei Yuan got off his horse and came to Liu Lu. He looked at the Mingzhou coastal defense camp. They were all old, weak, sick and disabled, with only a few young and strong men.

On the left and right sides of the observation tower, every hundred steps, there is a small castle.

Suddenly, a subordinate came to report that Wei Yuan was here.

As for why Li Ding likes to impeach Su Shi, it is most likely because Su Shi once served as an official in the southeast, and the two may have some conflicts.

Half a month ago?

Liu Lu knew that he had said the wrong thing, so he quickly said: "Please forgive me, Lord Zhongyong. Generals should not talk too much."

Liu Lu then led 300 soldiers from the Mingzhou Coastal Defense Battalion to greet the arrival of the Danglu army.

Liu Lu was immediately shocked, "Uncle Zhongyong? He didn't go to Mingzhou City and came to our place?"

I heard Bao Xiaosu say that although the civil servants in the DPRK and China were relatively united on major issues of right and wrong.

If the firewood is burned, some traces can be seen even if it is half a year, let alone half a month.

Liu Lu looked pale, stood up from his chair and said:
"Why are you still standing there? Prepare your horses and go to welcome Uncle Zhongyong!"

Wei Yuan had been in the army for a long time, and he could tell at a glance whether the beacon tower had been used or not.

The beacon fire on the Mingzhou Observatory looks like it has not been used for a long time.

However, privately, there are still some grievances and resentments that cannot be sorted out.

After a while.

"What a force of tigers and wolves, so intimidating!"

Liu Lu hesitated, not knowing how to respond.
"The Commander-in-Chief does not know that the Japanese pirates know that our coastal defense camp is heavily guarded. He, they"

Chen Daniu grabbed his sleeve and said angrily: "Just now you said that the Japanese pirates have gone to sea. How could you not know that you have set up so many bunkers?"

The voice just fell.

Two new soldiers came over and bowed:

"Commander Wei, we took a look and found that all the firewood on the bunker showed no signs of burning."

Wei Yuan nodded, looked at Liu Lu, and said: "We know that the Japanese pirates are afraid of our army and are harassing nearby villages, so we just don't light up the smoke as a warning."

"Why, didn't you stop the Japanese pirates from going to sea?"

Liu Lu's body was trembling, and he knelt on the ground for a moment, "Go back to Commander Wei, I and we stopped him."

Stopped?

"Did they kill or injure the Japanese pirates?" Wei Yuan asked again.

Liu Lu trembled with his lips and trembled all over. When he looked at Wei Yuan, he felt shuddering and couldn't say a word.

At this time, two more Forbidden Army officers drank the remaining half a bottle of wine at the resting place in the observation tower, and even found two women in a secret room in a bunker.

They pulled the remaining drinks and women to the observation deck.

Wei Yuan looked at the two women. They didn't seem to be women from the Central Plains, so he frowned deeply.
"This place is the coastal defense camp, why are you here?"

The moment Liu Lu saw the two women being pulled over, he was instantly devastated.

He was obviously locked in a secret room in the bunker, how could they still find out?

The two women were dressed in ragged clothes, and suddenly each said a "Japanese language".

Chen Daniu said angrily: "Japanese woman?!" Liu Lu quickly knelt down and kowtowed: "Commander Wei, spare your life, Commander Wei!"

"The last general will realize his mistake, and the last general will be confused for a moment!"

Wei Yuan asked: "If you recruit me truthfully, I can still spare your life."

"Where did these two Japanese girls come from?"

Liu Lu panicked, "It's the Japanese pirates who gave me two women to curry favor with me. The general will realize his mistake."

As he spoke, he had already bruised his forehead with blood.

Facing Wei Yuan, the god of death, he really didn't dare to lie.

Wei Yuan arrived too suddenly.

He originally thought that when the new army arrived, they would first enter the city.

I plan to finish drinking today and have some fun, then kill these two Japanese girls.

However, it was too late.

Wei Yuan asked again, "Do you know, apart from you, which other coastal defense battalion commanders were bribed by Japanese pirates?"

Liu Lu thought for a while and said: "The commanders of the coastal defense battalions in Hangzhou and Taizhou have a close relationship with me. They have all received benefits from Japanese pirates!"

"Commander Wei, I have said everything I can say, please spare my life, Commander Wei!"

Wei Yuan nodded, "Don't worry, I won't kill you if I say I won't kill you."

As soon as he finished speaking, he glanced at Chen Daniu beside him, and then slowly turned around.

Chen Daniu pulled out the sword from his waist, and in the blink of an eye, Liu Lu and the two Japanese girls were killed.

"Commander Wei said he wouldn't kill you, but I didn't say that!"

After a pause, Wei Yuan ordered: "Xiao Yuming, Shen Qing, you two, each lead 3,000 people, go to the Hangzhou and Taizhou coastal defense camps, and temporarily take over the coastal defense affairs of these two places."

The two of them bowed together: "No!"

Then he retreated.

Yang Huairen stood beside Wei Yuan and frowned: "I'm afraid that many coastal defense camps along the coast are rotten to the core."

"If we kill them all, it will be no less than a big prison. But if we don't kill them all, it will be difficult for the people along the coast to trust the imperial court."

Wei Yuan said sadly: "Coastal defense camps in various places need to be rectified. This is more urgent than eradicating Japanese pirates."

"There is no end to the Japanese pirates. After we leave, there will be more Japanese pirates invading our waters in the Great Zhou Dynasty, causing unspeakable suffering to the people along the coast."

"I have asked the Imperial City Department to investigate the nobles, merchants, officials, etc. who have had affairs with the Japanese pirates in Liangzhe Road."

"As long as the evidence is solid, we will be severely punished!"

Yang Huairen said: "In this case, Commander Wei is facing a lot of pressure."

Wei Yuan stood with his hands behind his hands, standing on the observation deck, looking at the vast sea in front of him, and murmured:
"Wang Anshi said something right."

"If you are not an official to make decisions for the people, it is better to go home and farm."

"As long as I am in this position, I cannot do nothing."

Yang Huairen nodded and said, "Commander Wei has decided?"

Wei Yuan said seriously: "If you don't offend them, you must offend the people."

"If you offend them, it will cause chaos for a while; if you offend the people, you may cause chaos for the whole world."

Wei Yuan bypassed Mingzhou Prefecture and went directly to the Haiphong Camp. The news of killing the camp's commander soon spread to the Mingzhou Prefecture Yamen.

The governor of Mingzhou went to Hangzhou overnight.

Hangzhou is the capital of Liangzhe Road.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Liangzhejiang Road Transportation Department, also known as the Liangzhedu Transportation Envoy, works in Hangzhou.

The commander of the Transshipment Department is in charge of the finances along the way, and also has the responsibility of supervising all officials. He can be regarded as the official of the frontier.

However, compared with Wei Yuan's current status, his status is slightly embarrassing, ranking behind Wei Yuan and Fan Chunren, equivalent to a high-ranking official or senior official.

It was not just Mingzhou officials who went to Hangzhou.

At this moment, the governors from various states within the two Zhejiang Roads have gathered in the Yamen of the Transportation Department in Hangzhou City.

The current transshipment envoy is named Zhang Xia, who is an expert in river management. Since he handled the affairs of the two Zhejiang provinces, floods have rarely occurred in the area.

Many people said that he was a good official.

Stay overnight at Mingzhou Coast Guard Camp in Weiyuan.

The governors of the fourteen prefectures of Zhejiang and Zhejiang entered Hangzhou as fast as possible overnight, met with Zhang Xia, and said one after another:
"This loyal and brave man killed my commander of the Mingzhou Coastal Defense Battalion as soon as he arrived. I don't know what his intention was."

"According to me, your coastal defense battalion commander should also be killed. Who doesn't know that he neglected his duties and caused Japanese pirates to often harass Mingzhou's coastal areas?"

"Is your Hangzhou Coastal Defense Camp clean? Do you usually turn a blind eye to these things?"

"In the past, we only focused on promoting the local economy and ignored the dangers of Japanese pirates. Now what should the commander-in-chief do if he uses this as an excuse to build the Southeast Prison?"

"Master Zhang, please tell me, what should we big guys do?"

"When Commander Wei arrived in Mingzhou, I led the officials of Mingzhou to wait eagerly for Commander Wei outside the city of Mingzhou. Unexpectedly, I received the news that Liu Lu had been killed. Mr. Zhang, this makes it difficult for the lower officials to sleep and eat well!"

"."

Zhang Xia, who was nearly fifty years old, sat at the head of the table, looking at the restless people in front of him without saying a word.

After they were noisy enough, they suddenly became quiet.

Zhang Xiacai looked at the crowd and sneered: "Keep talking, why don't you stop talking?"

Several people looked at each other.

Zhang Xia snorted coldly: "How do I warn you on weekdays?"

"The people under your command should be guarded more closely."

"We all work for the imperial court. As long as we are upright, why should we be afraid of Wei Yuan?"

"Now that you are coming to see me in a panic, it can be seen that you all have something wrong in your mind."

"If the guard commander really finds out anything, he will be killed and imprisoned. I will never intercede for him."

As soon as these words came out, everyone's faces turned pale.

The vast majority of them did not collude with the Japanese pirates. After all, they were scholar-officials. It was the bottom line not to collude with the foreign bandits.

But apart from that, they also have unclean places.

Saying less can lead to an oversight.

If Wei Yuan, the chief official of the southeastern frontier, is asked to investigate one by one, who can be left alone?
They had to hurry!

(End of this chapter)