Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

"The Great Western Camp has recovered a thousand miles of territory, and Zhang Xianzhong has been awarded the title of the Earl of Xihai!"

This news spread quickly across the capital like a hurricane.

The front-page headlines of almost all newspapers were about the news that Zhang Xianzhong was conferred the title of Earl.

The people in the capital did not know where the recovered homeland of the Daxiying was, nor did they know what tribe Alukeerchin was.

However, because of the martial arts conference, they still had some impression of Zhang Xianzhong. They cheered for his victory.

This was rare good news they had heard since the Jianlu invaded the grasslands in the west.

It was widely publicized that the Khorchin tribe was a vassal of the Jianlu. People knew that the imperial court and King Shunli jointly defeated the Alukhorchin and recovered the Aru River, Kuoluan Lake, Buyuer Lake and other places.

The people, who were worried about the invasion of the Jianlu, praised Zhang Xianzhong highly. Some even compared his achievements with Lan Yu's northern expedition to Buyuerhai:

"Although General Lan won a great victory at Buir Lake, he mobilized 150,000 troops from the Ming Dynasty."

"General Zhang was different. With only 2,000 men, he and Prince Shunli defeated Alukhorchin and recovered Buir Lake and other places."

"The distance of the battle is even longer than Lan Yu's!"

This made those who heard it sneer and refute this person:

"General Lan captured more than 70,000 people in one battle and swept across the entire Mobei region, so he was named Duke of Liang."

"How can Zhang Xianzhong's achievements be compared with General Lan's?"

"Even Dingyuan Hou and others have far surpassed Zhang Xianzhong in achievements!"

After the current emperor rehabilitated Lan Yu's case, Lan Yu's achievements received positive publicity.

The Battle of Buir Lake was especially exaggerated by the descendants of Wang Bi, the Marquis of Dingyuan, who also made contributions.

This family had always been restless, and during the Wanli period they had even asked the King of Chu for their ancestors' wealth. Now that they had been rehabilitated, they hoped to take all the credit for the Battle of Buir Lake and restore their ancestors' titles.

However, this point was not responded to in the court, because with the redress of Lan Yu's case came the stigma of Emperor Jianwen. It was already known that the emperor attributed the Lan Yu case to the fact that Taizu helped Emperor Jianwen pave the way.

Therefore, those who were loyal to Emperor Jianwen and his ministers certainly did not like the descendants of Lan Yu's party. The two groups would quarrel in the newspapers from time to time, exposing each other's shortcomings.

At present, those who are loyal to Emperor Jianwen and his ministers still have the upper hand. However, the descendants of Lan Yu's party are not without the ability to fight back.

The biggest backer of these people is Sun Shenxing, the Nanjing Minister of Personnel. His ancestor, Sun Ke, the Marquis of Quanning, was implicated in the Lan Yu case and died.

Whether Sun Shenxing is willing or not, he must protect the achievements of his ancestors. If someone wants to throw dirty water on his ancestors, he must stand up.

As the leader of the Donglin Party and the initiator of the Red Pill Case, Sun Shenxing was extremely famous. With him in charge of Nanjing, even the southern scholars who generally sympathized with Emperor Jianwen and his ministers did not have any objections to the redress of Lan Yu's case.

Today, the Nanjing Temple of Heroes has been rebuilt and includes the heroes added by the current emperor. Some descendants of heroes are even preparing to go overseas to establish fiefdoms and obtain the hereditary earldom promised by the emperor.

The descendants of Dingyuan Marquis Wang Bi, who were only a hair away from entering the Temple of Meritorious Officials and could only open up a viscount territory, were of course somewhat unwilling to accept this. They had been promoting the achievements of their ancestors, hoping to obtain the hereditary earldom or even the marquisate of their ancestors.

This matter did not cause much trouble before, but now, with the momentum of Zhang Xianzhong being conferred the title of Earl, it has become very popular.

Some people compared the achievements of Lan Yu, Wang Bi and others with those of Zhang Xianzhong, and discussed whether he should be granted the title of Earl:

"Recovering thousands of miles of territory is certainly a great achievement, but Zhang Xianzhong's record is really too small."

"Since he joined the army till now, has he captured five thousand heads?"

"According to the rules of the five thousand barons, it's not his turn to be knighted yet!"

"Duke Liang and Marquis Dingyuan captured 77,000 people in the Battle of Bui'erhai, and a few days later captured another 15,000 households. This is a truly great achievement."

"Compared with them, Zhang Xianzhong's achievements are too small..."

He shook his head repeatedly, thinking that the court praised Zhang Xianzhong too much.

Some even believed that it would be more appropriate for the court to confer the title of baron on the descendants of Dingyuan Hou than to confer the title of baron on Zhang Xianzhong.

Some people agreed with the first part, but few people agreed with the second part.

No matter what, Zhang Xianzhong had made achievements in the expedition to Mobei. Where did the descendants of Dingyuan Hou come from? How could they want to obtain the title of earl based on their status?
Someone slammed the case and refuted:
"General Zhang's achievements are certainly not comparable to those of the Duke of Liang and the Marquis of Dingyuan, but for his contribution in recovering Buir Lake, it is not excessive to make him an earl."

"What's more, the Xihaibo territory will be sealed there. General Zhang wants to bring the Aru River and Buir Lake into the Ming Dynasty forever."

"How can someone who relies on his ancestors' influence compare to such great achievements?"

He then sneered at the person who had just questioned Zhang Xianzhong:
"It's a question whether you can gain a foothold in the Northeast."

"If you can stay in Heilongjiang for a year, I will obey you!"

He mocked these people and then walked away.

Seeing a group of strong men around him, those people did not dare to stop him. They just said some strange things after he left.

After the man left the teahouse, a young man next to him asked:

"Uncle, why did you say something nice to Huang Hu just now?"

"He and our Black Dragon Camp don't get along!"

"Could it be that my uncle knew that he was made an Earl and wanted to..."

Before he could finish his words, he was slapped on the head. The man who spoke for Zhang Xianzhong said harshly:

"Who speaks for Huang Hu?"

"That is to vindicate the soldiers of the Black Dragon Camp!"

"Zhang Huanghu was a member of the Black Dragon Camp anyway. We can scold him among ourselves, but we cannot allow outsiders to slander him."

"We all make a living on the same river, so there will be many areas for us to cooperate in the future!"

"This Huang Hu has become an earl, his status is indeed different from before..."

Speaking of this, he couldn't help feeling a little melancholy.

He thought that his abilities were no less than Zhang Xianzhong's, and after conquering Khorchin last year, he became a guerrilla general like his opponent.

Unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, Zhang Xianzhong became the Earl of Xihai and his position became Lieutenant General, equivalent to his uncle Gao Yingxiang.

This position allows one to command 6,000 soldiers, and the West Sea Lord can also form the West Sea Guard to guard the territory.

As long as Zhang Xianzhong builds all these, he will be a force that cannot be ignored in the upper reaches of the Heilongjiang River in the future.

Their Black Dragon Camp is based in the middle reaches, so it is inevitable that they have dealings with this person.

When Li Zicheng thought of this, he couldn't help but feel envious and hated himself for not being able to achieve such an achievement.

Thinking about his uncle asking him to recruit immigrants, he began to have other ideas. He began to think about whether he should break away from his uncle and lead a battalion on his own.

His nephew Li Guo didn't have so many thoughts, and was still reading the contents of the newspaper. You can't see these in Heilongjiang. He had to ask his uncle for help and came to the capital with him.

Suddenly, he pointed to a piece of news in the newspaper and said:

"The court appointed Kong Zhenyun as the inspector general of Heilongjiang and concurrently the military governor of Andong to govern the Heilongjiang area."

"Uncle, this man will be our immediate superior from now on. Do you want to visit him in advance?"

Li Zicheng was also a little surprised to hear the news. He hurriedly took the newspaper and read the news carefully.

Seeing that the imperial court was going to set up three military and civilian offices in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River, namely Mohe, Heihe and Heishui, and also sent officials such as the Heilongjiang Inspector General to govern, he pondered:
"It seems that the imperial court wants to increase its investment in Heilongjiang by sending so many officials there."

"It's a good thing for us to recruit immigrants. Even if there is a war in the future, there will be more people vying for credit."

This time, Kong Zhenyun took a whole team with him to take up his post. He wanted to set up the Heilongjiang Inspection Office and three military and civilian offices to establish the authority of the court in Heilongjiang.

So Li Zicheng immediately realized that they would not be as comfortable in Heilongjiang as before. Even the opportunity to make meritorious deeds would be fought over by many people.

However, the appointment of these civil servants also brought benefits. For example, they could recruit immigrants and have the inspection office issue official documents, instead of having to spend a lot of time explaining to Shaanxi officials who they were and where they wanted to move the people.

Even in the future, it might be possible to use the relationship with the Inspectorate Office to let the Cangzhou Immigration Camp allocate immigrants. No need to send people to pick up immigrants, just use the fleet to pick up immigrants.

After all the people he was familiar with in his hometown were recruited, Li Zicheng found that it was too difficult to recruit immigrants with his own people. It would be better to hand it over to the court and let the court allocate immigrants.

Thinking of this, Li Zicheng patted his nephew:
"go!"

"Go to Confucius Mansion!"

He took Li Guo and others with him and prepared gifts and went to the Kong Mansion to meet Kong Zhenyun.
-
At this time, Kong Zhenyun's mansion was crowded with people.

Although he was nominally punished when he left the capital, his rank was not promoted when he was sent out.

However, all the ministers in the court knew that Kong Zhenyun still enjoyed the emperor's favor.

Some people also speculated that after Kong Zhenyun had a good time in Heilongjiang, he would most likely be appointed as one of the Nine Ministers or even become a prime minister when he returned next time.

Therefore, many of these ministers sent gifts and asked Kong Zhenyun about the situation of the enfeoffment of Heilongjiang, wondering whether to open up fiefdoms along the Heilongjiang River in the future.

Following the example of these people, the smart people pondered Kong Zhenyun's position and Lin Danhan's position, and realized that the emperor should still send Kong Zhenyun to deal with Lin Danhan. In the future, trade with the grasslands will still not be able to avoid this person.

In fact, because the trading place in Mobei was newly established and not as mature as Zhangjiakou and other places, Kong Zhenyun had a greater say in it.

This led to merchants engaged in trade with the grassland coming to visit Kong Zhenyun.

After learning that Kong Zhenyun had selected officials who were willing to go to Andong, the middle and low-level officials in the court also came to visit. They wanted to see if there was any opportunity for themselves here.

These officials who thought they were unsuccessful wanted to follow Kong Zhenyun and show their talents. If Kong Zhenyun could become a minister in the future, they would have a better chance of becoming successful.

This was the scene that Li Zicheng and his companions saw when they arrived at the Kong Mansion. They were so worried that they would not be able to meet Kong Zhenyun after sending their visiting cards.

Unexpectedly, not long after, someone from the Confucius Mansion came out to greet them and invited them inside.

In the living room, Kong Zhenyun was receiving officials who came to visit him. However, after learning that Li Zicheng was coming, he still did not neglect him and stood up to introduce him to everyone:
"This is General Li Zicheng, serving in the Black Dragon Camp as a guerrilla general."

"He is a talented person praised by the emperor, on par with Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong and others."

The military officer's position was not taken seriously by the civil officials present. In the current situation where civil officials are more important than military officials, not many civil officials take a guerrilla general seriously.

But the following paragraph made them take it seriously, because the emperor actually listed Li Zicheng on the same level as Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong and others.

what does this mean?
This means that Li Zicheng is a person favored by the emperor, and it is not impossible for him to be granted a title of baron like Zhang Xianzhong in the future.

When facing such a person, they must of course show some respect.

Therefore, Li Zicheng was treated with unprecedented courtesy by the civil servants in this hall. All kinds of cordial words made Li Zicheng very happy to hear, and he almost felt that they were not the same kind as the civil servants he had met before.

But he knew that these were all illusions. The reason why he was treated with courtesy was just because the emperor valued him and Kong Zhenyun said so.

Li Zicheng, who knew who had brought all this on, led Li Guo and others to push down the golden mountain and overturn the jade pillar and bow down, saying:

"Greetings to the Protector General!"

"We heard that the Inspector General also serves as the Grand Protector General, so we came here to pay our respects to him."

"I have prepared a small gift, please accept it!"

He ordered someone to deliver the prepared gifts and explain his purpose.

After hearing Li Zicheng asking him to issue an official document to facilitate immigration, Kong Zhenyun smiled and said to the guests:

"Look! This has already happened before I even officially took office."

“Although Heilongjiang is remote, there is a lot going on.”

"You won't enjoy a good life if you follow me, but you will build a career in the frontier."

Taking the opportunity to remind these officials, Kong Zhenyun said to one of them:

"Prefect Lu, Hailanpao is just across the Heihe River and is supervised by your Heihe Military and Civilian Office."

"How about you and I write the paperwork together to make it easier for General Li to do his job?"

Lu Chengyuan immediately stood up and said:

"That would be disrespectful!"

He wrote the document together with Kong Zhenyun and used the seal of Heihe Prefecture.

As the first official to report to Wei Zhongxian during the Chongzhen reign, Lu Chengyuan should have had a successful career after the fall of the eunuch party.

But the reality was that, because he had contributed to overthrowing the eunuch party and was not a member of the Donglin Party, he had no chance of promotion at all.

Until now, he was still the director of the Water Conservancy Department of the Ministry of Works, and served as the Langzhong of the Construction Department with the title of fourth-rank counselor.

This was a reward given to him by the emperor after he cleaned up the Ministry of Works. No one dismissed him from his post, but he was not promoted either. He was only appointed as an acting official after one year, and was in charge of miscellaneous matters in the Construction Department.

Lu Chengyuan was naturally unwilling to accept this and expressed his feelings to the emperor many times. The emperor did not forget him. When the Heilongjiang Inspection Office was established, he appointed him as the deputy inspector, responsible for specific water conservancy projects, route planning, and port and wharf construction.

It can be said that he is the person who actually carries out the implementation of how to manage the Heilongjiang River.

At the same time, due to the lack of officials in Heilongjiang, he, like Kong Zhenyun, concurrently served as the prefect of a prefecture. The prefecture was located in Heihe, opposite to Hailanpao, and was responsible for governing this area.

Faced with Li Zicheng's overtures, he, like Kong Zhenyun, actively accepted them and wrote several letters in succession, asking officials from all over the country to cooperate with the immigration of the Black Dragon Camp.

The Kong family was a happy place for both the host and the guests. Kong Zhenyun and others learned a lot about Heilongjiang from Li Zicheng, and Li Zicheng also became familiar with the people in the Ming officialdom through them.

Afterwards, he handed over the immigration matters to his nephew Li Guo, and at the request of Kong Zhenyun and others, he helped select soldiers. (End of this chapter)