Han Shizu

Chapter 1296 The Current Situation of Wu Desi

The city of Daming Prefecture is called Yuan City. Compared with those famous historical cities, its historical background is not so deep. However, in the past hundred years, it has risen rapidly. The population, land, transportation, and products are all abundant.

more than 20 years ago, due to Khitan's invasion of the south and Du Chongwei's rebellion, Yuancheng suffered serious military damage, and it was silent for several years before it gradually recovered. The population grew steadily, the fields were developed and the products remained full.

However, after more than 20 years of stable development, looking back at Yuancheng, it has already recovered and achieved more prosperity than in any previous era.

In and around Yuancheng alone, the combined permanent and floating population has remained at around 300,000 throughout the year.And Yuancheng, one of the few Han Dynasty cities, was ordered by the imperial court to be expanded and rebuilt. It is one of the "new cities" that have attracted attention both inside and outside the Han Dynasty.

The outer city has a circumference of 42 miles, which is much larger than the Youzhou City in the north. The layout of the city is also in accordance with the style of Tokyo, with the strong style of Emperor Murong.When it was first built, Murong Yanchao even suggested building a detached palace in the inner city to facilitate Emperor Liu's visit, but Emperor Liu naturally rejected it, but this did not hinder the magnificence of Xinyuan City.

The inner city, the government office area, Hebei Road, Daming Mansion, and the yamen under the various central department departments are all concentrated here, including Wu Desi.However, it seems that in keeping with the low-key style of their chief Wude Envoy Li Chongju, the Hebei Wude Si Yamen Office was only set up in a corner, unassuming and inconspicuous.However, no one will underestimate this spy agency with many eyes and ears.

Up to now, there are three special organizations in the Ming Dynasty, the Imperial City Division, the Wude Division, and the Military Intelligence Division. Among them, the Military Intelligence Division has a strong professional attribute and is backed by the big tree of the Privy Council.Under the leadership of Li Chongju, Wu Desi also slowly washed away some of the early stigma, and gradually became accustomed and accepted by people.

This includes not only Li Chongju's norms and constraints, but also the fact that other people have no way to do it. Emperor Liu's power allocation has some inverse scales that cannot be touched, including Wu Desi.At that time, Fan Zhi, Li Tao, Dou Yi and other ministers all argued with Emperor Liu about Wu Desi's status and powers, but they were all ruthlessly rejected and suppressed.

On the other hand, after more than ten years, the Imperial City Secretary jumped out to spread hatred.How can eunuch, spy, surveillance and other attributes be superimposed together without being hated by others.

However, being low-key does not mean weakness, and no one dares to underestimate it. On the contrary, after more than 20 years of development, Wu Desi's authority has been quietly and deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Among other things, the power of apprehension and interrogation of officials below the sixth rank is enough to make most of the big Han officials feel awe. Under Li Chongju's management, Wu Desi lost some of the madness of Wang Jingchong's era and the mystery of Li Shaoyou's era. , but it is a bit more rational, and many regulations have been improved.

The Wude prison is still a dangerous place that officials fear, and the Wude camp, which has expanded to tens of thousands, is distributed in various provinces across the country. Every time a Wude camp is dispatched, it always makes the officials frightened trembling.

Although the Huangcheng Division was initially established and developed with the "help" of the Wu De Division, Zhang Dejun asked Emperor Liu many times for an armed force such as the Wu De Camp, and he has not let go until now.

By the eighth year of Kaibao, Wu Desi was already a giant. The rank of Li Chongju, the Wu De envoy, was not high, only from the third rank, but his power was not inferior to the prime ministers in some respects, especially for those For middle and lower level officials.

Now, from a national perspective, there is no state capital that does not have officials under Wu Desi, and its subordinate officials are all officials at all levels, relative officials, investigators, plus those low-level auxiliary officials and secret agents. , secret agents, the total number of people has reached nearly 30,000 people, although they are not so eye-catching after they are scattered in various places, but if they are notified, it will definitely cause heated discussions.

Of course, among the 30,000 people, those who belong to the official official ranks of the imperial court, registered officials, and receive imperial salaries, the number should be discounted.Even so, there is a lot of financial pressure to support so many people.

After all, it is not easy for the national treasury to provide a large amount of money and food every year to support Wu Desi.Emperor Liu embezzled money from internal funds, and his financial support for Wu Desi lasted until Qianyou 15 years before it was cut off. This was also after the development of the secret public property under Wu Desi matured.

In the past ten years, Wu Desi's work focus has been placed on the north and south sides, and the manpower expansion in the south is the fastest. Because the reunification is not long, many things need Wu Desi to spy on and provide real and effective information to Emperor Liu. And intelligence, escort for the southern governance.

As for the north, Li Chongju, who had a deep understanding of Emperor Liu's ambition for the Northern Expedition, did not dare to relax in the slightest. He invested a lot of financial resources in espionage affairs within the Liao Kingdom, and also lost a lot of capable scouts and meticulous work.

When the imperial court officially launched the Northern Expedition, Li Chongju's work focus was completely on the affairs of the Liao Dynasty and the northern tribes.However, Emperor Liu was not very satisfied with the results during this period, and many intelligence messages could not be delivered in time. Emperor Liu was not satisfied, and Li Chongju was under great pressure.

Li Chongju was also accompanying him on this tour. As the big boss of the Wude Department, when he arrived at the Daming Mansion, he would of course also go to Hebei Wude Department to inspect the work.

Probably because of the nature of the work, Wudesi's yamen in Hebei Road is also in a cold and gloomy atmosphere, and the yamen is all gray and black.

The arrival of Li Chongju did not add much excitement, but only brought heavy pressure.In the lobby, there is a standard Wu De Division hall layout, dog head case, minion chair, and eagle carving background painting wall.

Li Chongju was sitting on the main seat, and there were more than a dozen officials standing in the hall, all of them were the officials who came with him, as well as Hebei Duzhi and his subordinates. The scene was very solemn, and all the attention was on Li Chongju. Waiting for the boss to speak.

Due to his low-key personality and style, Li Chongju seldom used his official authority, but this time, he rarely left his subordinates alone for a long time.Finally, he spoke: "I won't hide it from you, His Majesty is not very satisfied with Wu Desi's recent performance!"

In a word, everyone couldn't help but change their expressions, and most of them lowered their heads even lower.Casually took out an official document on the hall case, glanced at it twice, and Li Chongju turned directly to Hebei Duzhi and said: "If you have any problems, I am not interested in it for the time being, and I don't have the energy to intervene, but self-examination and self-correction I hope you can give me a satisfactory result!"

Hebei Duzhi is a middle-aged man with thick hair and a rough face. It is hard to imagine that he is engaged in intelligence management.However, facing Li Chongju's words at this time, he was very apprehensive, and had no other thoughts at all, but resolutely said: "Yes! This subordinate understands!"

Li Chongju didn't care about his statement at all, his face was very cold, and he continued in a not-so-stern tone: "Hebei's subordinate officials and officials, next, there are two matters! First, Your Majesty's tour, Hebei It is the main inspection area, and it is necessary to see the most real situation of officials, soldiers, soldiers, farmers, businessmen and commerce.

Second, the Northern Expedition is in full swing, and Hebei is the most important logistical support for the army on the East Road. Military affairs, especially military affairs, need to be strengthened. For such a long time, with such a huge mobilization of officials, soldiers and civilians, there has not been a single act of corruption. His Majesty doesn't believe in the abuse of people, do you believe it? "

"It's my subordinate who was careless, please forgive me!" Hebei knew that the capillary sweat on his forehead had already accumulated into sweat and began to drip.

"Get back!" Li Chongju still responded indifferently, and ordered to the Hebei bureaucrats, and then everyone knew after looking at it: "I will borrow your lobby first!"

"This is what it should be! You can do whatever you want!" Du Zhi hurriedly said, even wishing Li Chongju could make more demands.

Li Chongju was noncommittal about his attention to him, pondered for a while, looked at an accompanying official, and said in a deep voice: "Tell me about the latest progress in the north!"

(End of this chapter)