stubborn thief

Chapter 282 Time is mine
Liu Chengzong was looking at Zhang Yuanheng, and Zhang Yuanheng was also secretly observing Liu Chengzong.

Liu Shizi is very young, but the shadow of his famous tree, Liu Chengzong, is a unique gold-lettered signboard among the older generation of rebels in northern Shaanxi.

After all, in our Ming Dynasty, there were many rebels, but very few people made the rebellion to open up the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

It only took Zhang Yuanheng 22 days to travel from Beijing to Xining, but it took him a full 26 days to walk Xikang Road.

Of course, there is a reason for the poor quality of roads, but Liu Chengzong's control of the territory is far beyond Zhang Yuanheng's expectations. He believes that there are at least 60 people under Liu Chengzong's rule, and he can't help but feel worried about the future internal and external troubles of the Ming Empire.

What is the concept of 60 people?
Most of the back gold.

Not the three Jurchen tribes, but the Jianzhou, Hercynian, and Savage tribes, as well as more than half of the emerging regime that gathered together the Han, Mongolian, and Korean tribes.

And they also have a corridor, the Hehuang Valley. Zhang Yuanheng believes that Liu Chengzong's next military action will be to cut off the connection between Lanzhou and Gansu, further annex Gansu Town, and take all the land in the northwest of the Yellow River, which will cause no less damage to the court. Jin's threat in Liaodong.

The most important thing is that Houjin started from outside the pass, and there was a lot of resistance to entering the pass; Liu Chengzong started from Shaanxi, and he had great resistance staying here, but it was easy to fight back to Shaanxi. Looking forward to it.

This kind of thing cannot be imagined, Zhang Yuanheng shuddered just thinking about it.

Sunday Qiang was busy greeting Liu Chengzong, smiling and complaining about the tiring journey, Liu Chengzong was surprised to see him like this, and said with a smile: "I know this journey is very difficult, but you are so happy, it seems that Tongzhi has encountered good things. "

Sunday Qiang was full of joy, looked at Zhang Yuanheng and said: "Thanks to Mrs. Zhang, the commander-in-chief doesn't know anything. He is from my hometown and from Baoding Prefecture. When I go back, I will use his brocade clothes to bring my family to Xining."

Immediately, Liu Chengzong's smile paused for a moment, and then continued to smile: "You brought your family to the northwest, don't you plan to go back?"

He heard it, Sunday Qiang didn't know what he was thinking, and used these words to save Zhang Yuanheng's life.

Seeing him stunned for a moment, Sunday Qiang turned his head and waved his hands and laughed, "Hey, let's talk about going back. My family is so far away, and I miss him so much!"

Master Zhou said in his heart: Now that such a large territory has been conquered, if you don’t bring your family members over, one day you will suddenly assume the title of king of Biang and mount an army of [-] to launch the Eastern Expedition. The imperial court will not be able to kill you, nor my family in Baoding ?
Zhang Yuanheng also heard it, and secretly looked at Zhou Riqiang, full of gratitude in his heart.

Then I heard Liu Chengzong say to him: "I heard in Kangning Mansion that Mr. Zhang is a hero, and if he has the idea of ​​doing things together, that is a family. Don't stand still, please sit down."

In this day and age, it is common to call such small eunuchs who do not have a specific rank and work under the great eunuchs as husbands, and those big men are called eunuchs, which means supervisors and military supervisors.

But on the one hand, Liu Chengzong thought that being called an eunuch seemed flattering and incompatible with his identity, and he felt awkward being called a husband, so he called him a master, avoiding his status as an eunuch, and giving him respect.

"Thank you, little man, Generalissimo."

Zhang Yuanheng clasped his fists in a hurry, and almost baldly shouted "Dawang". After Zhou Qiang sat down, he slowly sat opposite him. He didn't dare to sit down anymore. He still held up his courage and imitated Zhou Qiang's address and asked: "The commander-in-chief called!" The villain is here, why?"

"You don't need to be so cautious. I just heard that the imperial court sent Mr. Zhang to Xining. Liu is in Kangning, so he can't meet him far away, so I have to invite Mr. Zhang here to chat."

Liu Chengzong smiled easily, and asked with great interest: "What was the official position of Master Zhang in the palace?"

He wanted to know why Zhang Yuanheng came to Xining, mainly because he had offended Cao Huachun and someone in the palace wanted him to die.

He wants to determine two things through this. The first is what the court sent the eunuch to do; the second is whether this person can be used by him.

Unexpectedly, the expression on Zhang Yuanheng's face was very complicated, with a bit of aggrieved and ashamed, he said: "The villain dare not deceive the commander, the villain has never entered the palace."

Liu Chengzong expressed his understanding for this. At this time, he didn't realize that the person sitting in front of him was a big unlucky guy, so he nodded and said, "That's it, which palace does that master Zhang work in?"

Zhang Yuanheng said: "The villain has never entered the palace...I heard that the commander-in-chief passed the examination for scholar when he was young?"

Yo, you still asked me!
Liu Chengzong laughed and wondered if he was being too friendly, but he didn't change his face. He sympathized with the eunuch very much, so he nodded and said, "It's not considered a child, I passed the scholar examination."

"I'm also a student."

When Liu Chengzong heard this, he was dumbfounded: "Then, what's the matter?"

The little eunuch in front of him didn't look like a student at all. It is said that scholars should have a little pride in themselves. Liu Chengzong didn't see the slightest arrogance in him, and he felt like a lowly eunuch.

He said, "Let's listen."

Zhang Yuanheng had no desire to confide in his experience, but when Liu Chengzong asked, he didn't dare not to say it, so he told it a little bit.

The expressions on the faces of Liu Chengzong and Sunday Qiang were very complicated.

The story of Zhang Yuanheng is full of sorrow, both natural disasters and man-made disasters, and the result of his personal choice.

People don't know how to describe it for a while, unlucky?It is indeed unlucky, but those unlucky ones are almost doomed to be unavoidable.

A good background gave him knowledge and vision higher than others, but natural disasters and family accidents made him lose the opportunity to move up to a higher level, and he stayed in the same position, and entering the palace as a eunuch became an achievement under realistic conditions. A shortcut to power and wealth.

There are risks in taking shortcuts, and people are only willing to listen to the promise of getting rich and safe, and those who take risks but do not get rewards are mostly unknown.

Zhang Yuanheng looked as usual, and said with a smile: "Before coming to Xining, he mainly moved bricks and repaired the city in Songpanwei."

Liu Chengzong nodded, basically sure that the court had no good intentions in letting Zhang Yuanheng come to Xining.

This bird man should be a humanoid weapon of the imperial court. He caught up with the two major earthquakes in the northeast and southwest in the past ten years, and sent him to Xining. There is no doubt that he intends to kill him.

But Liu Chengzong has a way to avoid this kind of thing, he looked at Zhang Yuanheng for a while, and said: "Go to Songpanwei."

"what?"

Zhang Yuanheng was taken aback by Liu Chengzong's words, he was still amiable in front of him, but suddenly he wants to send me out again, who the hell am I provoking?

Liu Chengzong said: "The imperial court asked you to monitor the tea horse trade in Xining. How many horses do you have to pay each year?"

Four hundred horses.

Zhang Yuanheng thought in his heart that the court had expected this matter, knowing that it would not be able to get many horses from Xining, so four hundred war horses were enough.

But Zhang Yuanheng couldn't say that. He came up and told Liu Chengzong that the court wanted [-] horses, so Liu Chengzong might only give him [-] horses.

"I don't know. The eunuch guarding Shaanxi asked me to do it freely. I must get a war horse for the court."

"Let's do it, it's a big face." Liu Chengzong laughed straight: "It means that the guarding eunuch in Shaanxi didn't intend to let you go to the horse at all."

Zhang Yuanheng was taken aback by the words, and quickly defended: "Marshal, that's not what the imperial court meant!"

"It doesn't matter what the imperial court means. I just heard you say that there is no family in Baoding Mansion, only a younger sister, who is also married, so there is nothing to worry about."

Liu Chengzong waved his hand, he didn't care what the imperial court wanted Zhang Yuanheng to do, anyway, he had to listen to him when he came: "You only have the opportunity to come to Xining, if you don't seize it, you will never be able to display your talent and earn money in this life." be rich and prosperous."

He raised a finger and said with a smile: "But you have to think about it, even if you complete the order given to you by the court, what will you get? Enter the palace to be a eunuch, and live every day... This is the only wish in this life. ?”

In the eyes of Liu Shizi, being an eunuch in the late Ming Dynasty was really a day-to-day job.

If you become a great eunuch who won the king's heart, you will die with the court for more than ten years; if you fail to be a great eunuch and become a small eunuch, you may die earlier than Chongzhen.

Liu Chengzong had a smile on his face, and his tone was quick: "Do you know what the situation in Northwest China is like?"

Zhang Yuanheng thought over and over again, looked at Liu Chengzong cautiously and said: "The imperial court dare not speak war in the northwest because of the commander in chief."

He didn't dare to express his speculation about Liu Chengzong's plan to attack Lanzhou.

Liu Chengzong laughed loudly when he heard the words, waved his hands and said: "I'm not so arrogant. The court doesn't fight with me, it's not because of me. My soldiers are nothing... The court doesn't want to go to war, because it doesn't want to fight for myself. Make trouble."

Liu Chengzong had the desire to talk about his strategy, so he said with a smile: "In Xining, the imperial court wanted to attack me, so they had to gather troops in Lanzhou, Hezhou, and Taozhou. They all surrendered."

This is a real big talk, he dare not.

Before solving the problems of the Mongolian tribes west of Jiayuguan, recruiting soldiers from Gansu Town will make him passive in the overall situation, but this does not prevent him from bragging.

Because this passivity is based on his hope that the world will not lose Jiayuguan, no one thinks so much except him.

"Assembling troops in Lanzhou can only form a confrontational situation. The troops who cross the Yellow River may not be able to beat me. If they don't cross the Yellow River, it will be meaningless except to increase the burden of money and food."

Liu Chengzong shook his head. He should laugh at this time, but he felt sad from the bottom of his heart when a great country fell to this point, and sighed: "This is the reason why the imperial court doesn't fight me. Of course I don't deny it. There is nothing we can do about Lanzhou."

Liu Chengzong's idea of ​​expanding eastward was not war, but momentum.

War is necessary, but he understands the frontier army. After all, he is one of them. The frontier army is a gang of hard bones.

People would surrender, and even he would surrender even if there were too many dead and wounded to fight.

But before that, most people will fight him to the end.

It's nothing more than that he is a Han, and the officers and soldiers will maintain a normal will to resist, instead of fighting like Liaodong, where all the chief officers and generals are killed.

But similarly, his army will only maintain a normal will to attack. The sympathy of soldiers on both sides in the war is mutual and cheap, and cannot play a decisive role.

So he wants to create a general trend in the northwest, that is, it doesn't matter if he cooperates with Liu Chengzong or even surrenders. It is good for him to do so, and everyone is doing this.

"But it's my time."

Liu Chengzong looked at Zhang Yuanheng and said, "If you don't do anything for the imperial court in Xining, the imperial court can't do anything to you. You want to earn some sheep by smuggling and buy horses from natives in Taozhou, Hezhou. I won't stop you, but I can give you money." There are many more than the imperial court."

Zhang Yuanheng took a deep breath, leaned forward and asked, "What does the commander mean?"

"I need farm tools, a lot of farm tools, you can go to Songpanwei, or Sichuan." Liu Chengzong said: "Use your identity, get me farm tools, the more the better."

"Sichuan, Songpan..."

Zhang Yuanheng felt a little bit troubled, he had been ridiculed by people in Songpanwei, even now that he had obtained the status of monitoring the eunuch, he did not want to return to that place, he said: "Commander, I bought farm tools from Hanzhong and Shaanxi, and exchanged them for horses no?"

Liu Chengzong looked at Zhang Yuanheng and smiled. To be honest, he was rather surprised that Zhang Yuanheng refused to go to Songpanwei to do this, because he is a person who likes to take shortcuts, and taking refuge in himself is the biggest shortcut in the Northwest.

They have just made their fortunes, and it is the time when everything is possible, and they are still very safe. Maybe Sunday forced to pick up their family members, not because they think it is very reliable to go to Liu Chengzong, but because they can't beat the court in the future, and they can go to Kangning to retreat. It is impossible to force on Sunday family members can also retreat into Tibet.

To put it bluntly, Liu Chengzong, as a vassal, had great resistance in Tibet to attack the city, but no one would refuse a court official and his family to escape the war.

A person like Zhou Riqiang may not be called a dragon and phoenix in the world in the Han area, but in the border area, his wisdom and knowledge can easily change the politics, economy, military and technology of a kingdom.

"You don't need to buy farm tools in Hanzhong. This kind of good opportunity is in Songpanwei and Sichuan. It depends on whether you want to do it."

Liu Chengzong smiled and said seductively: "In the imperial court, no matter how good you are, you are still an eunuch. You know that I am short of officials now, right?"

Zhang Yuanheng felt his mouth dry, he pursed his lips, and dared not speak.

"Magistrate, you do this well. If the imperial court changes places for you within three years, you don't have to go. I will protect you as a magistrate. The people around you will also have official positions such as inspections. If you have the ability , the general is not impossible, how far you can go in the future depends on yourselves."

Liu Chengzong said: "If the magistrate does a good job, I can guarantee that within six years, the seat of magistrate is waiting for you."

Zhang Yuanheng took a deep breath and even leaned back involuntarily. He shouted in his heart, there is no state in the Second Mansion of Xikang!
Liu Chengzong really planned to annex Gansu!
He has been waiting for an opportunity to be appreciated all his life, and now Liu Chengzong really put the opportunity in front of his eyes, which made him numb all over, and he almost couldn't speak: "Big, the commander said just now, I want you to What am I doing?"

"Farm tools, Songpanwei, Sichuan."

"Dry!"

Zhang Yuanheng nodded heavily: "I will do it!"

Liu Chengzong showed a satisfied smile, forced a smile to Sunday, and then looked at Zhang Yuanheng and said, "Sure enough, Mr. Zhang is a hero... Go to Songpanwei, and if you see the desolate soldiers, or the Han people in Sichuan who lost their land, don't forget to tell them, go to Qinghai Marshal from the government."

"As long as they come, one family, one cow, six sheep, and two hundred acres of land."

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)