A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 357: A Gathering of Stars
Not long after the guard of honor of Chen Xinjia and others passed through Yanqing Prefecture, a series of more powerful guards of honor also passed through Juyongguan, heading for Yanqing and Yongning.

Inside the car bridge, Xue Guoguan, Chief Assistant of the Cabinet, Yang Sichang, Minister of Rites, and others looked out of the car, all showing surprised expressions by coincidence.

Coming from the capital, refugees are everywhere, and all businesses are withered. The vibrant appearance of the East Road gives people a great contrasting impression.In terms of population and business affairs, border towns like Xuanfu Town East Road certainly cannot be compared with other places in the capital.

However, there is a lot of construction here, and the faces of the ragged people have hopeful smiles.Where there is hope, there is vitality, and it gives people a sense of life.In time, East Road would really become a place of prosperity and prosperity, which is very rare in the Nine Sides of Daming.

"Ma Guoxi is talented and sensitive, and he can be regarded as a talent who can be relied on."

Inside the bridge, Xue Guoguan said slowly, expressing his satisfaction with the civil affairs of the East Road.

A confidant next to him hurriedly said: "Crossing thorns, picking up rubble, building things in the wasteland, the east road is now prosperous, and the horse soldiers have contributed a lot."

Xue Guoguan hummed, in fact, with his official position, of course he knew that most of the achievements of the East Road civil affairs were done by General Dingguo Wang Dou.

But on the bright side, Ma Guoxi, as the military equipment of the East Road, of course, ninety-nine percent of his political and political achievements are on his head.

Ma Guoxi is a member of Xue Guoguan's family. He is outstanding in governance. As the chief assistant of the cabinet and the official minister, he also has a bright face.With political achievements in hand, Xue Guoguan will promote Ma Guoxi in the future, and the ministers are not good at talking nonsense.

After crossing the Badaling and entering the East Road, Xue Guoguan had already seen several forts under construction. It is estimated that there will be thousands of people living in one fort, which is equivalent to a newly rising military guard.

Just a large amount of commercial materials needed for the construction of a Tunbao can greatly benefit the gentry and merchants from all over the East Road.Wang Dou's principle is that he can spend money, so he should try not to spend food, and buy as much food as he needs, anyway, he has a lot of money.

If there is money to be made, those merchants are naturally willing to do it for them. A steady stream of grain and goods are shipped in from all over the place. I don’t know how many merchants have found opportunities to make a fortune.And Wang Dou was about to build more than fifty forts. This huge demand made the gentry and businessmen in various cities laugh from ear to ear.It is heard that in order to build more forts in the territory, many gentry fought to the blushes and thick necks.

That Wang Dou was also shrewd, he did not compete with the local gentry for the land for the time being, but reclaimed the wasteland and built water conservancy on his own, so there was no serious conflict with the local gentry, and they were all optimistic about the rise of the fort.How can I say that after the prosperity of Tunbao in the future, there will be countless business opportunities everywhere.

What Xue Guoguan didn't understand was that all the money and food for the construction of the Tunbao came from Wang Dou's warehouse. .

Regardless of where Wang Dou got so much money and food for the time being, Xue Guoguan once heard that in the 11th year of the Chongzhen War, Wang Dou gained a lot. Just because he sold more than 1 horses, he did not know how many taels of silver he got.What surprised Xue Guoguan was that Wang Dou was willing to spend it after getting so much money?

I am afraid that there is no one in the army of the Ming Dynasty who can be as good as Wang Dou.

The more he thought about it, the more Xue Guoguan couldn't figure out what Wang Dou was thinking.

In any case, for Xue Guoguan, someone like Wang Dou to win over his subordinates would be of great benefit and no harm.

Xue Guoguan also shrewdly discovered that after entering the East Road, many factories and mines were also being built.Regardless of quarrying and logging plants, many factories and mines such as coal mining, coking, mining, and iron smelting have sprung up.It's not a big deal, the mining industry in Daming has always been prosperous, although the imperial court can't collect taxes from those mine owners.

However, Wang Dou dared to risk the world's displeasure, and began to collect taxes from merchants and mine owners from all over the East Road. It seemed that the local gentry and merchants had no complaints about this. Could it be that all those who opposed were killed by Wang Dou? ?

After Wang Dou suppressed the merchants on the East Road to go on strike, as many people thought, he unscrupulously collected business taxes.Many officials thought that they should seize Wang Dou's "tail" and vigorously attack.

However, the cabinet was silent, the emperor ignored these memorials, and the east road was quiet, which made those speech officials very bored.

Their target firepower was aimed at Xue Guoguan. This time Xue Guoguan came to the east road, also with the intention of avoiding the wind and rain.

In July, Xue Guoguan offered the strategy of "relying on" to Emperor Chongzhen.In order to solve the financial crisis, Emperor Chongzhen had no choice but to accept Xue Guoguan's strategy. First, he took Li Guorui, Marquis of Wuqing, and asked him to donate 40 taels of silver.

These royal relatives are iron cocks, and they can make a fortune by virtue of their privileges. If they are asked to pay for the country's worries, they will be killed.Li Guorui did not dare to disobey the imperial decree, so he deliberately pretended to be poor, demolished his house, and sold the household sundries on the street, causing disturbances all over the city.

This was simply detrimental to the dignity of the royal family. Emperor Chongzhen was very angry and ordered to deprive Li Guorui of his title. Li Guorui died of panic and fright.

It was like a thunderclap, and everyone's opinions boiled over. Xue Guoguan became the target of everyone's criticism, which made him burnt out.

Looking at the East Road and thinking about his own situation, Xue Guoguan couldn't help but wonder why Wang Dou collected commercial taxes so peacefully, and he just let the rich donate, which is like piercing a hornet's nest, so that he fell into a situation of betrayal?
Right now, Ming Dynasty's national military training is a top priority, and the matter of "relying on" has made Xue Guoguan very anxious, and the public opinion is boiling, and he doesn't know whether the emperor will continue to support him.If the matter of military training can be perfected, at least he still has a solid basis in the cabinet.

……

Following Xue Guoguan is Yang Sichang's car bridge, even though Yang Sichang was favored by Emperor Chongzhen and had power over the world, but in this etiquette system, his car bridge could not be ranked in front of the chief assistant Xue Guoguan.

Not to mention that Xue Guoguan was aggressive after he became the first assistant, and Yang Sichang always chose to avoid it.But...Xue Guoguan was outraged by the public, and he hadn't been jumping around for a few days. Thinking of this, Yang Sichang sneered inwardly.

After entering the East Road, his eyes naturally kept paying attention to the scenery outside the car.What Yang Sichang admired even more was the peace and tranquility of the East Road.There were refugees all over the place in Ming Dynasty, and the gangsters who screamed everywhere disappeared here, which made Yang Sichang think highly of Wang Dou's army strength.

In Yang Sichang's heart, with a strong army like Wang Dou in hand, he would have an important reliance to wipe out the bandits.

The purpose of his trip is to study the formation of Wang Douqiang's army, and to try to win him over.

The emperor's mind became more and more obvious, and he intended to order his supervisor to destroy Zhang Xianzhong and other troops.Before that, Yang Sichang hoped to get Wang Dou's guarantee that he would send troops to fight in the coming day.

Yang Sichang is the clearest about the long-standing disadvantages of the Ming army. To describe it in one sentence: "Arrogance plays, and there is no fighting spirit." For example, He Renlong, Zuo Liangyu and others are domineering, and the army has no combat power.It's different when Wang Dou goes out, Hong Tai, the slave chief, has to give way, so what are the mere bandits?
Emperor Chongzhen also recognized Yang Sichang's intention to transfer Wang Dou to fight. Wang Dou's military strength is getting stronger and closer to Gyeonggi, so it is a good thing to send him more to fight bandits and serve the country.

In fact, with Yang Sichang's power and position, the Ministry of War can just make a call, but Yang Sichang thinks that Wang Dou will be more grateful for his heart-to-heart talk when he comes to Yongning in person.

It's just that Wang Dou can't distinguish between local guards and generals, but gathered officials and generals from all over the country. It's a bit strange for the court and cabinet ministers to come.

With his thoughts in mind, Yang Sichang's chariots and horses meandered all the way forward.

Following him is Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, and the generals of Liaodong, and Sun Chuanting is also in this team...

……

"Haha, Brother Wang, we meet again. This time, we brothers must drink three hundred cups, and we will not go home until we are drunk."

The sun was scorching hot, although the intersection of this official road was covered with awnings for receiving officials, all the officials receiving officials were still flushed and tired from the sun.

Inside and outside the pergola, civil servants of the East Road, headed by Ma Guoxi, the military commander, and Wang Dou, the civil servants and generals of Huailai City, Yanqing Prefecture, Yongning City and other places gathered here to welcome Chen Xinjia, Governor of Xuanda, and his party. people.

As for Zhong Tiaoyang, Xu Zucheng and others of Baoan Prefecture Guard, due to the long distance and the sudden arrival of Chen Xinjia and others, they did not come to Yongning City.

Finally, the sky was full of dust, and the officials cheered up when they saw the guard of honor of Chen Xinjia and others on the loess road.

Amidst the beaming drum music, Chen Xinjia, Ji Shiwei and others came out from the bridge with smiles, accepting the greetings of Ma Guoxi, Wang Dou and others.

Chen Xinjia's words were kind and his behavior was decent. He personally helped up Ma Guoxi and Wang Dou and others, and expressed warm congratulations to the achievements of the officials on the East Road, and emphasized the praise of Ma Guoxi and Wang Douer, the guard general people.

Of course, the rest of the officials also have credit under the leadership of the two, and those who have no credit have hard work, which makes the officials on the East Road smile.

Afterwards, Ji Shiwei, governor of Xuanfu Town, behaved equally decently. Of course, Wang Dou could not be compared with Ma Guoxi, and his official style could be described as impeccable.Even if Chen Xinjia didn't like this official of the Xue family any more, it was undeniable that Ma Guoxi was very good at being a man, and even an official.

After their long and fruitless exchange of pleasantries, Wang Dou's old acquaintance, Guo Yingxian, a general of Yang Guozhu's army, was the first to squeeze forward with his square body twisting.He shook his huge head, patted Wang Dou's shoulder and laughed.

In the hot weather, the armor on his body was dripping with sweat, and a strong smell of sweat came to his nostrils.

Wang Dou didn't take it seriously, and gladly accepted Guo Yingxian's embrace. He and Guo Yingxian had a comrade-in-arms friendship and fought side by side in Julu.The two hadn't seen each other for a long time, and Wang Dou was also very happy to see each other again.

Speaking of which, Guo Yingxian has now been promoted to lieutenant general, and his military rank is higher than Wang Dou's, but he doesn't mind such vulgar etiquette, so why does Wang Dou care?

"Okay, three hundred cups is three hundred cups, brother is the host, and my brother came to Yongning from afar, so I will sacrifice my life to accompany the gentleman!"

"Okay, my old Guo's brother is happy!"

Just as Guo Yingxian let go of Wang Dou's shoulders in satisfaction, a huge head popped out from the other side, but it was Hu Dawei's personal general, Hu Zichen.The two pointed for a while, then patted each other on the shoulder and laughed.Another comrade-in-arms, there are so many acquaintances today.

Guo Yingxian and Hu Zichen were quarreling, pulling Wang Dou's shoulders from left to right, pulling him to see Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei.

"Brother Wang, do you still remember brother, hahahahahahaha..."

Along with the laughter, a handsome general walked up to him, wearing golden lacquer mountain armor, a brocade robe with bare shoulders, and a bright red cloak and a few beautiful feathers on the iron helmet. The laughter flickered.

This kind of dress can be said to be handsome and unrestrained, but there is a little dust on the bright red cloak, which is a fly in the ointment.

Looking at the magnificent armor, Wang Dou knew that Wang Pu, the commander-in-chief of Datong Town, had arrived. He said with a smile, "Wang Junmen is here, and I am sorry for my mistakes."

As soon as Wang Pu came over, there was a pleasant smell of perfume immediately. Could it be that he still has the habit of applying makeup like the disciples of the capital?Before Wang Dou recalled it, Wang Puji came up with a laugh. He hugged Wang Dou's shoulder affectionately and looked him up and down: "Tsk tsk, I haven't seen you for a few months, brother is getting more and more energetic."

He said with a smile: "Brother is famous now, even in Datong, my brother is like a thunderbolt... How about it, I heard that you have started military training? Old Goth comes to ask for advice, you must not hide your secrets."

Wang Dou smiled and said: "I dare not ask for advice, it should be the last general who asks Wang Junmen for advice."

Wang Pu pointed to Wang Dou and said, "Look, you can talk."

With a straight face, he rushed to a group of Datong town generals behind him and said, "Have you come up to meet my good brother, General Dingguo, General Wang Douwang?"

A large group of generals from Datong Town came up behind him, and greeted Wang Doushi laughingly. Among these people, some of them had fought side by side with Wang Pu and Wang Dou, and when they met again, they all looked affectionate.

Later, Wang Dou met Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei, the two veterans helped Wang Dou up with their own hands, and exchanged a few words with gentle expressions.

Seeing that his Shangguan has a lot of friends, the generals of the three towns all look favorably on him, especially Wang Pu, the general of Datong Town, who is even more commensurate with his general brother.All the generals under Wang Dou's command felt that their faces were bright.Yongning City guarded Wang Yide, Huailai guarded Huang Changyi, and others were envious, but at the same time they also felt that it was a wise choice to seek refuge with Wang Dou.

A look of approval and relief flashed in Ji Shiwei's eyes. His son-in-law... Chen Xinjia glanced at Wang Dou unexpectedly. Among the civil servants, only Wu Zhi, the magistrate of Yanqing Prefecture, remained expressionless.

Zhang Guowei, the deputy commander of Xuanfu Town, saw all this in his eyes, and his heart was even more angry. He and Yang Guozhu did not say anything, but Hu Dawei looked indifferent to him. Because of business matters, he deliberately made friends with Datong Town. Commander-in-Chief Wang Pu, after all, the Wang family is a well-known wealthy family in the area.

But Wang Pu ignored him and looked arrogant, but he was so affectionate to Wang Dou, how could Zhang Guowei not be annoyed?
But Wang Dou was appreciated by so many people, beyond his expectation, Zhang Guowei first felt that the young and domineering general was not easy to deal with.Although Zhang Guowei couldn't swallow his breath because the family property was destroyed and the hatred was irreconcilable, but after thinking about it carefully, he had to make a long-term plan and not act rashly.

Behind Zhang Guowei, Li Jianming, Wen Hui, Zhang Xinjing and others also snorted inaudibly. The scene in front of them made them even more jealous.

"If it's a young talent, I can rest assured that there are generals guarding the east road."

When Wang Dou saluted Zhang Guowei, Zhang Guowei also supported Wang Dou with his own hands, his tone full of appreciation.

"The commander shows love, but the last general panics!"

Wang Dou smiled slightly and stood up straight.

……

The situation of Wang Dou and the generals was also noticed by Ma Guoxi, who was preparing for the army. Wang Dou was also favored by the governor, governor, and the generals of the three towns, and there was a hint of flattery.Ma Guoxi knew that Wang Dou was strong, but he didn't expect to be so strong. It would be good or bad for him to have such a warrior sitting on the East Road...

At the same time, he sighed in his heart that the etiquette system is chaotic now, and the warriors are domineering. In the past, such an official reception, except for a few chief officials greeting each other, how could there be such a swarm of warriors, chaotic self-meeting?It's just...it's different now.

Ma Guoxi chuckled, and said: "Chen Duchen and Governor Ji came from a long distance, and the saddle horses are exhausted. The officials and General Dingguo have prepared a banquet for a while, thinking that your lords will clean up the dust. Chen Duchen, Governor Ji, all generals, please ..."

The pergola is very large and wide, and there are a lot of tea tables and chairs. It is also close to the river, with cool breeze.But when it comes to comfort, it is not as good as the mansions in the city, so Ma Guoxi invites everyone to get on the bridge.Yongning City is a few kilometers away, and it is estimated that they will rush there, take a bath and change clothes, and rest for a few hours before attending the dinner party.

Chen Xinjia nodded with a smile, and was about to go up the bridge, when suddenly he rode over and spread the news that Xue Guoguan, the chief minister of the cabinet, Yang Sichang, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, led a group of Liaodong officials and generals, not far from here. .

The news was a sensation immediately, and Wang Dou was also a little surprised. Although the official document came beforehand, Chen Xinjia and others had already arrived in a hurry.Wang Dou estimated that Xue Guoguan and others would arrive in two or three days, but he didn't expect to arrive so soon, it was a coincidence that he and Chen Xinjia arrived one after another.

Chen Xinjia coughed and straightened his clothes unconsciously. After everyone quickly adjusted, they became Chen Xinjia, with Ji Shiwei in front and the rest waiting behind.

Yang Sichang, Xue Guoguan and others arrived with a guard of honor, and it can be said that the momentum is overwhelming, but the pomp of the cabinet ministers is different.All the officials and generals on the East Road were excited, and a large number of high-ranking officials gathered just to observe General Dingguo's military training. Their faces were really big.

Yang Sichang and Hong Chengchou Wang Dou both knew each other, but it was the first time that Xue Guoguan, the chief assistant of the cabinet, met Wang Dou.

He stood behind Chen Xinjia, Ji Shiwei, Yang Guozhu and others and looked. After the bridges arrived, Yang Sichang and Hong Chengchou came out first, and then, with the support of their attendants, a big-eared civil servant got off one of the luxury carriages.

The civil servant was wearing a first-grade scarlet python robe, he looked very wealthy, he knew that this person was Xue Guoguan.The python robe on his body is not simple, it can only be given by the emperor's special gift, and Yang Sichang is also wearing one, which represents the status of the two in Emperor Chongzhen's mind.

Surrounding Xue Guoguan and the other three were a group of Liaodong generals in full armor. Over there, Wang Dou saw a lot of acquaintances.

There are also several generals under the two men who fought side by side during the Battle of Pinggu, especially the young general Yang Shaofan under Cao Bianjiao's command, which impressed Wang Dou very much.Seeing Wang Dou's gaze, he cupped his hands at Wang Dou from a distance.

In addition to these old acquaintances, Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen's two people dressed as general soldiers also attracted Wang Dou's attention.

(End of this chapter)