Back to Daming to be a genius

Chapter 160

After shuttling back and forth between the Wei Party and the Royalist Party like a comprador for a few days, the deal between Wei Zhongxian and Zhang Yan was finally concluded with the help of Young Master Zhang. The three harsh conditions set by Wei Zhongxian.Wei Zhongxian was overjoyed, and finally began to try his best to act in front of Ke Baba, persuading his old lover to accept, and after receiving Zhang Yan's pair of luminous pearls and a pair of Kungang jade (Hetian jade) jade pendants, Ke Baba finally let out his words, "Little Hoof, let her give birth. If you dare to go against my aunt in the future, even if she is born, my aunt will let her pup be stuffed back into her stomach!"

Yes, yes, Ke Baba is not a vegetarian, she followed her son Hou Guoxing's suggestion, and also put forward a condition, that she would put one of her nieces in the palace and canonize her as Concubine Shu!After Young Master Zhang forwarded this request to Zhang Weixian, Zhu Chunchen and others, several hardcore royalists almost turned their noses up. Threatening to let go, Zhang Guoji, who was worried about the safety of his daughter and grandson, joined the lineup of Young Master Zhang, but Zhang Weixian and Zhu Chunchen still gritted their teeth and refused to agree.In the end, Young Master Zhang, who always liked to hide behind the dark people, had no other choice, so he told the truth to Zhang Weixian and Zhu Chunchen - Hou Guoxing's proposal to Ke Baba was actually Young Master Zhang bribed Hou Guoxing's cronies, and beat around the bush to Ke Baba What a bad idea!As for the reason, Young Master Zhang didn't say anything, and let Zhang Weixian, Zhu Chunchen and others guess by themselves.

"You want to stir up internal strife between Wei Zhongxian and Ke Baba?" Zhang Weixian's eyes lit up, and he was the first to wake up.Young Master Zhang lowered his face, and said righteously: "Mr. Zhang, why do you think of me so badly? Nine thousand years old is my real father, Mrs. Fengsheng is my godmother, no matter how much I am a son If you are not filial, it is impossible to do something that is unreasonable to provoke your parents, right? The reason why I did this is entirely out of my filial piety to my father and mother - my father's niece and granddaughter entered the palace as a concubine and enjoyed the glory Wealthy, isn’t my mother’s niece from the same family not able to enter the palace and be a concubine? Also enjoy the glory and wealth? Zhang Guogong, you misunderstood that I wanted to provoke a quarrel between my parents and my mother, it really made me sad.”

"Fuck you! Are you pretending in front of me, kid?" Zhang Weixian, who has always been elegant and serious, seldom swears, but there is no anger on his face, only a smile.Only then did Zhu Chunchen and Zhang Guoji come to their senses, and they laughed and bowed their hands to Young Master Zhang, "Tanhualang, Gao! He really is tall! It won't be long before there will be a good show in the palace!"

It's a pity that Young Master Zhang is destined to be unlucky to enjoy the good show. After Wei Zhongxian and Zhang Weixian meet in secret and promise each other to formally conclude the deal, Young Master Zhang has to prepare to return to Jizhou.Before leaving, Young Master Zhang originally hoped to meet Zhang Yan and asked Zhang Yan about some confidential matters in person. He never wanted to bring the news to Zhang Yan through Zhang Guoji, but Zhang Yan flatly refused the request and asked Zhang Guoji Give Young Master Zhang an original sentence - Tell Young Master Zhang not to think about it, Zhang Yan will never forget Master Zhang's contribution and loyalty to Daming!
Faced with Zhang Yan's ambiguous answer, Young Master Zhang was completely confused, but Young Master Zhang didn't have the guts to break into the Kunning Palace to question Zhang Yan face to face. I can see Mei Qingyun.She never thought that Mei Qingyun would refuse more simply, and directly asked Zhang Weixian to tell Young Master Zhang to forget about her and not to see her again in the future.Young Master Zhang was dumbfounded again, he really didn't understand where he offended Mei Qingyun, but Young Master Zhang's schedule was too tight and he didn't have time to entangle Mei Qingyun too much, so he had to plan to find a way to clean up when he came back next time This little girl with fried hair.

On the morning of the third day of September, Young Master Zhang left the capital and returned to Jizhou. Before leaving, Young Master Zhang went to the palace to bid farewell to Wei Zhongxian. After waiting in front of Chengtian Gate for half an hour, Wei Zhongxian came out from the palace.When the father and son met, Young Master Zhang kowtowed and saluted, wishing Wei Zhongxian a long and happy life. Wei Zhongxian also asked Young Master Zhang to take care of his body and not to wear himself out due to official business.After the courtesies were over, Young Master Zhang was about to leave, but Wei Zhongxian suddenly remembered something and said, "By the way, monkey boy, you came just in time. Our family almost forgot. You will go to Jiaozhou to recruit soldiers in June this year. Did you write a letter?" A memorial to intercede for Gao Hongtu, the former censor of the Shaanxi Province, and hope our family can forgive Gao Hongtu?"

Wei Zhongxian didn't mention it, but Young Master Zhang really almost forgot about it. Now that he brought it up, Young Master Zhang hurriedly replied: "Back to my father, there is such a thing. In the name of mining, he extorted the common people and extorted local rich households. However, after the inspection by the Metropolitan Procuratorate, there was nothing wrong with him. My dear father, you dismissed his official position and returned to his hometown with the crime. Later, when the boy arrived in Jiaozhou, Gao Hongtu provided him with A lot of help, and donated a batch of food and money to help the army. Seeing this, the boy still has a little bit of incense from the Shandong fellow, so he wrote to ask his godfather to forgive him this time and give him a chance to start again Come again." Speaking of this, Young Master Zhang peeked at Wei Zhongxian's face, and asked tentatively: "What? Dear father, do you think the child has done something wrong?"

"No, our family doesn't blame you." Wei Zhongxian shook his head, and said in a deep voice: "Last night, Shaanxi Governor Hu Tingyan sent an urgent report that Li Lang, the tax supervisor of Yan'an Prefecture impeached by Gao Hongtu, has been killed."

"Killed? Has the murderer been found out? Has he been arrested and brought to justice?" Young Master Zhang was taken aback, and said to himself that I, a fellow Gao, are really unlucky. suspected.Fortunately, Wei Zhongxian quickly said: "Shaanxi Zoubao, the murderer is a group of farmers in Fugu County, Yan'an, Shaanxi. The two leaders are Wang Jiayin and Wu Yangui. He killed Eunuch Li Lang and the county magistrate of Fugu, Shaanxi Governor Hu Tingyan has sent [-] troops to quell the rebellion."

"Shaanxi peasant uprising?!" Young Master Zhang shuddered, and immediately thought of Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng and other gangsters.Thinking of this, Young Master Zhang hurriedly said: "Father, this matter cannot be indulged. There has been a severe drought in Shaanxi for years, and the hungry people are everywhere, and the imperial court has not been able to provide money and food to relieve the victims. A little carelessness may lead to catastrophe." The boy thinks that Hu Tingyan should not put his hope of suppressing the rebellion on Hu Tingyan alone, and his father should dispatch troops in time to plan ahead. Once Hu Tingyan fails to suppress the rebellion, the second wave of troops can go out immediately to nip the hunger riots in the bud! "

"Do you think Hu Tingyan's power alone can't put down a small Fugu County riot? Hu Tingyan's officers and soldiers can't defeat a group of farmers with hoes and iron forks?" Wei Zhongxian asked suspiciously.Young Master Zhang solemnly replied: "Father, my son thinks that Hu Tingyan is not good. His army has not been on the battlefield for many years, and their weapons training is seriously lacking. The situation in the army is definitely far more serious than that of Jimen and Liaodong. It can be said that there is almost no morale. Since the hungry people in Fugu County have killed officials and rebelled, they will definitely fight with Hu Tingyan's army with the determination to die. On the one hand, there is a united army fighting to lose the battle, and on the other hand, there is a third-rate army with low morale. If you are optimistic about Master Hu, you will be able to put down the rebellion."

Wei Zhongxian was born as a proletarian farmer, and his understanding of the specific situation of the suffering of the people is still higher than that of Young Master Zhang, so he quickly agreed with Young Master Zhang, nodded and said: "Okay, our family will let the Ministry of War go down, let Hu Tingyan continue to mobilize The army is preparing for war, and is ready to go to Fugu to continue suppressing the rebellion at any time! Hmph, the rebellion in the Southwest has just been put down, and our family does not want to see the Northwest become a Southwest again!" Speaking of this, Wei Zhongxian turned the topic back to Gao Hongtu, " Monkey boy, since you are interceding for Gao Hongtu, then our family will sell you face and let Gao Hongtu be the magistrate of Yan'an. Isn't he a good official among the people? The rebellion is expanding. When Gao Hongtu comes to Beijing to take charge, our family will let him go to your place to discuss with you what to do, and you should be ready."

"Thank you dear father." Having won over another private party, Young Master Zhang hurriedly kowtowed to express his thanks.Wei Zhongxian patted Young Master Zhang's head, and said lovingly: "Monkey boy, work hard when you arrive in Jimen, just train your slave-killing army well for our family. You don't have to worry too much about Shaanxi, our family has already ordered the Hu Ting banquet I asked him to try out this year in Shaanxi’s Xi’an Prefecture, and if it really works, it will be promoted throughout Shaanxi next year. By then, the common people will pay less tax and have enough to eat, so the common people will not rebel. Wait until the court After the breath has been relieved, and the money and food are sufficient, our family will send you to Liaodong again, and let you go to settle down and become a slave for our family, make meritorious deeds, and enter the cabinet to pay homage to the minister."

"Old Eunuch Wei, I really don't know how to say hello to you." Young Master Zhang secretly sighed, not knowing how to describe this dead old demon who is vicious, greedy and vicious, and knows a little bit about the sufferings of the people... …

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Unfortunately, the facts were told by Young Master Zhang. On September [-]th, Hu Tingyan’s anti-rebellion army arrived in Fugu County to suppress the rebellion. The peasant rebel army headed by Wang Jiayin and Wu Yangui fought bravely and completely defeated Hu Tingyan’s anti-insurgency army. Three thousand officers and soldiers Most of the descendants joined the rebel army and turned against the Ming army, attacking on all sides under the banner of robbing the rich and helping the poor. In just a few days, three cities in neighboring Baode Prefecture, Shenmu County, and Kelan Prefecture fell one after another. The most outrageous The most striking thing is that when the rebel army attacked Kelan Prefecture, Cao Tianlong, the commander of the Shanxi Town West Guard located in Kelan Prefecture, fled without a fight. As a result, all the officers and soldiers of the Zhenxi Guard surrendered without a fight. The scale rapidly expanded to more than [-] people.

On September 25th, the second wave of anti-insurgency troops prepared by Young Master Zhang and Wei Zhongxian arrived in Quye and fought a decisive battle with the rebel army. After a bloody battle, the rebel army Wu Yangui was finally defeated, abandoned Shenmu and returned to Fugu County to hold on. The army was unable to attack the city several times, and Wang Jiayin's army quickly returned to help from Shanxi. The counter-insurgency Ming army, which was short of food and grass, was attacked on both sides, and had to retreat temporarily to Yulinwei, and the rebel army regained control of Shenmu.After several battles, although Wang Jiayin and Wu Yangui's rebel army was compressed at the junction of Shanxi and Shaanxi and could not make more noise, the government and army were still unable to wipe them out and could only confront them.After so much tossing and tossing, many Shaanxi people who are rebellious in the back of their heads will inevitably have some thoughts, "It turns out that it is not a dangerous thing to rebel and grab food, and the court officers and soldiers are not so effective...."

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On September 28, Gao Hongtu, the former censor of Shaanxi Province who had been appointed as the magistrate of Yan'an by the imperial court, arrived in Jizhou and proposed to meet Young Master Zhang.As soon as they met, Gao Hongtu wept and complained, "Tanhualang, you are so kind, you helped me get rid of the crime, and I helped me get promoted—but why is it that you are the prefect of Yan'an?" Don’t you know, Tanhualang, that there are riots and thieves in that place, and the thieves are still very strong? We are from the same town at least!”

"Don't blame me, and don't blame the imperial court. If you want to blame it, you have to blame Gao, you are too unlucky." Young Master Zhang spread his hands helplessly, and said with a wry smile: "The thieves in Fugu are in chaos. We need both heavy troops to suppress them and capable ministers to appease them. To prevent the rebellion from spreading. It is easy to talk about heavy troops. It is enough to transfer a few troops from Shaanxi and Shanxi. It is difficult to choose such a capable minister. He must be familiar with the local situation, clean and self-disciplined, and have a good official reputation—and you just impeached Mr. Gao I have been to the Yan'an tax supervisor, I have been to the scene, and I have never been in charge of local finances, and I am not suspected of corruption. Of course, the official reputation is passable, so the hat is not big, fat and thin, and it just fell on you, fellow Gao."

"Oh, so I really deserve my bad luck." Gao Hongtu also had no choice but to shake his head and smile wryly.But these words were of course a joke, Young Master Zhang was under pressure to recommend Gao Hongtu who had just offended Wei Zhongxian, the boss of the tax supervisor, to recover.What's more, Gao Hongtu also knows very well that the bigger the problem is, the easier it is to get credit. If the Fugu thieves can be put down in the hands of Gao Hongtu, and there is Young Master Zhang in front of Wei Zhongxian, the speed of Gao Hongtu's promotion is extremely fast. Hurry up, it must be far more than those ordinary officials who are struggling to qualify.So after Gao Hongtu finished making a joke, he took the initiative to put a stack of 3000 taels of silver bills into Young Master Zhang's hands.

"Brother Gao, you should take it back, we are fellow villagers, we don't play with these things." Young Master Zhang, who usually sees money eyes open, suddenly changed his temper, shook his head and returned the silver ticket to Gao Hongtu, and said, "You are here After taking office in Yan'an, there are places where money is spent everywhere, and taking this money to Shaanxi may solve your big trouble."

Seeing that Young Master Zhang insisted on not accepting it, Gao Hongtu was also embarrassed to insist, so he could only take back the bank note embarrassingly, and said: "Tan Hua Lang, you must help me this time, brother, I am from the imperial censor. People are good at tricks, but they have never done this to appease the people and wipe out the thieves. Eunuch Wei also said, Tanhualang, you are a rare pillar of both civil and military skills in my Ming Dynasty, and told me to come to Jizhou first before taking office in Shaanxi. Ask for advice on how to calm the chaos, and ask Tanhua Lang for his advice."

"Brother, you are welcome, what kind of civil and military skills do I have?" The young master Zhang rarely spoke the truth, and then said seriously: "However, how to suppress the rebellion in Fugu, my younger brother has eight words for my elder brother-the first evil must be Do it, no taxation."

"The chief evil must be dealt with? There is no tax collection? Please Tanhua Lang give detailed instructions." Gao Hongtu humbly asked for advice.Young Master Zhang replied: "The culprit must be dealt with, which means that the leaders of the Fugu rebellion, rebels like Wang Jiayin and Wu Yangui, under the encirclement and suppression of the imperial army, no matter whether they surrender or not, they must be executed! Don't give up! The theory of sages says that if they are given a chance to reform themselves, they must be killed as an example to others! You must know that once this precedent is set, other rebels will have the idea of ​​murdering and arson to be recruited, and they will once again gather people to riot with a fluke mentality, leading to the situation Corruption is out of control. So in a word, the leaders must be killed, and it is best to use tricks to trick them into surrendering, and then kill the culprits alive! We must make the young people with ulterior motives timid and dare not give birth to two hearts!"

"Kill the prisoner?!" Gao Hongtu shuddered, thinking that no wonder someone called my fellow villager "Xiao Baiqi" ​​behind his back, it really is cruel!Young Master Zhang went on to say: "The second tax is not to be collected, which means that after you arrive in Yan'an, you must not chase after the people to collect taxes. You must know that Shaanxi has been drought for many years, and the people are so poor that they can't even afford food." Now, what money and food are there to pay taxes and taxes? The imperial court will not be able to provide money and food for relief for a while, and you still force the people to pay taxes and food, aren’t you forcing the people to the side of the rebels?”

"No tax?" Gao Hongtu was dumbfounded, and asked in surprise, "Then how should I explain to the court?"

"Brother Gao, you are the censor of the Shaanxi Province. You have stayed in Shaanxi for several years. In all these years, has Shaanxi paid enough tax money and food to the court? The court ordered to punish the county that did not pay enough money and food. Official?" Young Master Zhang asked back with a smile: "Do you think the court really doesn't know the real cause of the rebellion in Fugu? Years of drought and no disaster relief, the common people don't even have food to eat, can they not rebel? Because the suppression of the Miao chaos in Guizhou and the establishment of slaves in Liaodong required a large amount of money and food, and there was really no way to squeeze out food and silver to help Shaanxi. As a last resort, Nine Thousand Years had no choice but to turn a blind eye to the taxation of Shaanxi and reduce the number of people in different ways. Burden, Shaanxi has been in peace for six consecutive years of drought. It’s just that this year’s drought was too severe, and locusts broke out. I heard that even the bark and grass roots in Fugu were eaten up, and the rebellion finally broke out. So you came to Yan’an From now on, just rest assured that you will be tax-free and tax-free to appease the people, and the imperial court will never hold you accountable."

"Then why don't I just ask the imperial court to directly exempt Yan'an Mansion from taxes this year, wouldn't that be more direct and convenient?" Gao Hongtu asked suspiciously.Young Master Zhang was not polite, and directly shouted: "Brother, are you stupid? If you dare to ask the imperial court for this decree, you will be scolded at nine thousand years old, and you will have to be forced to collect taxes. Tax exemption, isn’t that the same as telling other state capitals that as long as there are thieves in the governance area, they can justly ask the court for tax exemption? Can you, a Taoist censor, not understand the twists and turns of local officials? At that time, the local The government intends to connive, and it is difficult for the thieves to not expand their imaginations! Only if you change your own way to avoid taxes, Jiuqian will turn a blind eye and close your eyes to let you pass!"

"Thank you Tanhualang for your pointers. Brother Yu is stupid. I really didn't expect this." Gao Hongtu wiped off his sweat and said to himself, no wonder this Zhang Haogu has already climbed to the position of governor when he is not half as old as me. I'm afraid I won't be able to learn Shangyi's Linglong mind in this lifetime.

The military situation was raging, so Gao Hongtu didn't dare to stay long, so he only stayed in Jizhou for one night, and asked Young Master Zhang about the specific details of countering the rebellion and running the army. He left and went to Shaanxi to take up his post.When parting, after hesitating for a long time, Young Master Zhang finally said to Gao Hongtu: "Master Gao, this time you go to Yan'an Mansion to take up a post, there is one person, you have to pay attention to it."

"Who?" Gao Hongtu asked casually.Young Master Zhang replied: "His name is Li Hongji, and he is a postman at the post station in Mizhi County, Yan'an Prefecture. After you take office, you should arrest him immediately."

"Why? Did he commit any major crimes?" Gao Hongtu asked inexplicably.

It should be something to do, if Young Master Zhang directly said that he didn't like Li Hongji and wanted to cut him off, then in order to repay Young Master Zhang for his exoneration, Gao Hongtu might really call it something when he arrived in Yan'an Mansion. Li Hongji killed him with one blow.However, considering that Gao Hongtu was born as a Taoist censor who upheld the law and discipline, Young Master Zhang asked him to kill innocent people for no reason. I'm afraid he would find it hard to accept, so after a little calculation, Young Master Zhang said in a strange way: "Master Gao, you also know that I The relationship with Dongchang and Zhenfusi is good. I accidentally learned from their Tiqi that this postman named Li Hongji had some collusion with the rebels Wang Jiayin and Wu Yangui, and he might have colluded with these two rebels. , for the sake of safety, you'd better clean up this person immediately after you take office."

"Thank you Tanhualang for your guidance, Brother Yu understands." Gao Hongtu agreed without hesitation, but he completely misunderstood the meaning of Young Master Zhang, "This fellow Tanhualang really has nothing to say to me. I know that Li Hongji is a traitor through Dongchang and Zhen Fusi. The comrades of Wang Jiayin and Wu Yangui reminded me beforehand. After I take office, I must immediately arrest this Li Hongji—torture him severely, and force him to question the movements of the rebels Wang Jiayin and Wu Yangui!"

(End of this chapter)