Jinyi Town Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 112 Is Li Hu a Good Man?
Li Hu sighed: "Oh, my sixth master! You have always been an official in the capital, so you don't know the difficulties of border towns! As a general in the interior, there is no big war in the interior. The generals can drink the blood of soldiers, Eat and eat without pay. Although there are no civil servants who clean up the magistrate for a year, they can live a life of a rich family with a hundred thousand snowflakes. The border town is different! The Tatars will come at any time, and the border town army , it has always been full and full, and I dare not take a single vacancy!"

He Liudao: "Don't pour bitter water on me, saying that you are doing business with the Tatars."

Li Hu said: "Don't worry. Listen to me slowly. As the saying goes, if you don't have money, you don't gather troops. What is the purpose of the soldiers fighting to the death? Isn't it just to get more rewards to support their families? The court and these things Not to mention being generous to the soldiers in the border town, even the limited military pay is often cut off for several months. Without money, the morale of the army will be unstable, and big troubles will happen! The chief soldier of the border town like me, in order to raise money for the Brothers, I have no choice but to trade tea, silk, and porcelain with the Tatars for horses and leather goods. This is an open secret on the Nine Sides! It’s not just me in Datong Wei. Gansu Town, Ningxia Wei, and Xuanfu Wei , All the soldiers in Jizhou Town did the same thing!"

He Liudao: "If you sell some silk, tea, and porcelain to the Tatars, it's harmless. Our Jin Yiwei will naturally turn a blind eye. But how did I hear that what you sell is firearms! "

Li Hu said: "That's because someone sincerely framed it! In the spring and February of last year, I sent someone to transport a batch of tea from Jiangnan to Datong. I planned to export Datong and sell it on the grassland. The governor Zhao Jianzhi has an investigation team, which is in charge of privately dealing with Da Ming merchants. The matter of the Tatar trade. Originally, Zhao Jianzhi and I had always been involved in the inspection camp. He also knew that my business with the Tatars was to raise military pay. Who would have thought that the inspection camp would detain my goods that time? !"

He Liudao: "Then, the inspection camp found firearms in your shipment?"

Li Hu nodded: "That's right! Among the three hundred carts transporting tea, there is a firecracker hidden under each cart! Add up to [-] firecrackers! The conscience of heaven and earth! Those firecrackers are really not made by me. I hid it in a cart! I’m not short of discretion! I sold firearms to the Tatars, and these firearms are not going to be shot at Datong Wei, Li Hu?”

He Liu asked: "You mean, the former governor Zhao Jianzhi framed you?"

Li Hu shook his head: "I don't dare to talk nonsense without real evidence. In the first two years of Zhao Jianzhi's tenure as the governor of Datong, he has lived with me peacefully, and he treats me with respect. But since last year, he has been biting like a mad dog. The matter of the hidden firecrackers in my large convoy was not let go. I gave the court three papers in a row to cooperate with the enemy! Fortunately, my godfather Yan Ge was always in charge of the cabinet, and the papers had to be handed over to the emperor by the cabinet. He was the old man. Risk, suppressed these three folds for me."

He Liu stroked his chin and said, "Interesting. By the way, do you think Zhao Jianzhi really committed self-immolation?"

Li Hu thought for a while and replied: "Oh, I'm afraid it's not self-immolation, right? I worked with him in Datong for three years, and I know him fairly well. He is like me, he cherishes his life! I think he is probably a Tatar. They set fire to his house and burned him to death. His housekeeper told the public that he died by self-immolation for the sake of the master’s face. Self-immolation and martyrdom are higher than being killed and martyrdom.”

After He Liu and Lao Hu interrogated Li Hu, they left the room.

Old Hu said: "If it is true as Li Hu said, then he has been wronged! He got money on the charge of having an affair with Tatars, just to pay more military pay for his brothers. In the end, Nei Ying was so hurt that he lost the city of Datong. , Nine out of ten brothers under his command died...the most wronged person in the world is Li Hu."

He Liudao: "Heh, didn't everyone say that Yan Song's subordinates are all corrupt officials? This time the Yan Party has revealed a loyal minister and good general."

Old Hu said: "Your tone of voice sounds like those idiots in the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Yan Song is greedy, but not all the people under him are idiots who are only greedy for money. Your majesty is so wise, How could he not know about Yan Song's greedy reputation? It's just that Yan Song knows how to use people. Apart from using some corrupt officials to make money for himself, he also uses some capable officials to shield our Ming Dynasty from the wind and rain! Isn't Hu Zongxian the best example? Is it? That's why the emperor can tolerate Yan Song's greed."

The two were talking, when one of He Liu's warriors suddenly stepped forward and said, "Master Liu, the imperial court's report is here!"

The "Di Bao" of the Ming Dynasty, also known as "Di Chao", was a document specially used by the imperial court to inform government orders and the appointment and dismissal of officials.Local officials of the fifth rank and above in other provinces, and imperial envoys from Beijing, everyone has a share.

He Liu took the Di Bao and looked at it.

Old Hu asked: "What's new in the court?"

He Liudao: "The first article in the mansion newspaper said that the emperor revoked the Lianghuai Salt Transport Office and ordered Nanzhili Governor Zhao Zhenji to supervise the Lianghuai Salt Affairs."

Old Hu smiled: "This is the melon of the private salt case in the south of the Yangtze River! Because your sixth son has been tossing around in the south of the Yangtze River, and the world's most fat job-the Lianghuai Salt Transport Envoy has ceased to exist since then! But the salt The affairs of the government should have been handed over to an upright official like Zhao Zhenji a long time ago. If we did this earlier, the salt affairs in the past few years would not have been so short-lived!"

He Liu said again: "The second item is related to the Datong Guard. The emperor handpicked Chen Daonan, who was originally a military officer in the Ministry of War, to be promoted to the chief soldier of the Datong Guard!"

Old Hu laughed: "The promotion of the commander-in-chief of the Commander-in-Chief of Datong is an extraordinary promotion!"

He Liu read a few more things from the mansion newspaper.

Old Hu said: "Lao Liu, what did you see from this mansion newspaper?"

He Liu pondered for a long time, and replied: "As far as I know, Chen Daonan is a confidant of Zhang Juzheng, Shangshu of the Ministry of War. Zhang Juzheng's confidant is naturally a member of the Yuwang Party. Mr. Yan Ge has been recited recently! Datong Wei It was originally controlled by members of the Yan Party, but now it is handed over to people from the Yuwang Party. The Lianghuai Salt Transport Envoy has also been controlled by the Yan Party all these years, but now it is given to the leader of the Yuwang Party-Zhao Zhenji!"

Lao Hu nodded: "Your sixth son is really not a brainless brute! Can you see it? The emperor is deliberately suppressing the strict party and reusing the Yuwang party!"

He Liu suddenly thought of something: "Starting from General Qiu Luanqiu ten years ago, most of the generals of the guards on the Nine Sides of the Ming Dynasty were old people from Yan Ge. Now the emperor is getting old day by day, King Yu Sooner or later, he will take over. The three major battalions in the capital are controlled by the emperor himself. But if the frontier troops on the nine sides are all from Yan Ge, will King Yu be worried that when the emperor Long Yu returns to heaven, Yan Ge will rely on the nine Are the border guards making trouble?"

Lao Hu clapped his hands: "Lao Liu, if you can think of this, it means that the 20-year Jinyiwei has not been in vain! Just look at it, this case of collaborating with the enemy in Datong will definitely involve the big shots in the court!"

(End of this chapter)