stubborn thief

Liu Chengzong attached great importance to disaster relief in Shanxi.

Because the Marshal's Office is a violent group mainly composed of people from Shaanxi.

During this era, the relationship between Qin and Jin was not harmonious. On the contrary, there was a lot of hatred caused by confusing issues.

First, there was a severe drought in Yansui. In order to avoid disaster, local officials in Shanxi ordered the closure of grain sales, blocked the Yellow River ferry, blocked the Shanxi-Shaanxi trade route, and prohibited Shanxi grain from entering Qin.

Wu Shen submitted memorials many times and Chongzhen issued edicts many times, but no one listened.

Afterwards, Qin invaded Shanxi several times, often killing and massacring people, so that the image of Qin people was no longer associated with goodness in the minds of Shanxi people.

Liu Chengzong was no exception. Very few people in Shanxi knew him. Even among those he had helped in the past, probably only one in ten survived the disaster and chaos in recent years.

For Liu Shizi, the transfer of Qin grain to Jin was a way to improve the image of the Marshal's Office.

Of course, because the relief was provided indirectly by selling grain to Wu Shen, the effect would not be immediate and would take time to take effect.

But for him, there is no need for people to say good things about him. It is enough as long as he knows that most of the people in Liu Chengzong and the Marshal's Office are normal people with a sense of good and evil.

Therefore, within the scope of his ability, he took all aspects into consideration and made a decision on the amount and price range of grain transfer, and asked Fu Renxi to take it back to Wu Shen for discussion. If it can be done, then do it; if it cannot be done, then forget it.

His consideration was not to touch the government grain.

If he used government grain, he would be sending grain to reverse his image just for disaster relief.

And he certainly would not use the hands of Shanxi officials. He would simply transfer grain to Hancheng and order Zuo Maodi to go to Shanxi to provide disaster relief.

Even if Zuo Maodi didn't want to listen to him, Hancheng still had Xue Guoguan, who was actively helping the emperor and would definitely be happy to make this happen.

Although the Marshal's Office still had food and fodder in Xi'an, there was not much official grain left to support this labor-intensive battle.

Moreover, even if there was still a large surplus of grain in the government granary, famines were inevitable in the future, and Liu Shizi would always have to have some grain on hand to provide relief for himself.

Otherwise, for the Qin people under his command, wouldn't this be a betrayal?
Therefore, this food relief for Shanxi required the mobilization of the people of Shaanxi, or in other words, he was eyeing the surplus grain in the people of Xi'an Prefecture.

Liu Shizi's idea was to have private merchants purchase 30,000 to 50,000 dan of surplus grain on their own and sell it to Hancheng, which would be purchased and shipped from Shanxi. The price of two taels would ensure that people would make a profit and be willing to work, but would also prevent the merchants from making too much profit.

If they earn too much, the huge profit impact will cause a large amount of surplus grain from the people to flow into Shanxi, which will then cause trouble.

Liu Shizi wrote a letter to Zhao Jichang, the prefect of Xi'an, ordering him to recruit merchants to prepare 50,000 shi of grain to be sold into Shanxi.

At the same time, he also wrote a letter to Zuo Maodi in Hancheng to inform him of his plan to sell grain for relief.

Of course, he was not so arrogant as to think that Shanxi Governor Wu Shen would definitely listen to him.

But it didn't really matter whether Wu Shen listened or not. At most, he would pay for the merchants and civilians in Xi'an to buy grain. If the Shanxi government did not buy the grain, he would send Zhang Tianlin to find Wang Ziyong as a guide, and use the army to escort the grain into Shanxi to provide disaster relief.

Anyway, no one can stop him from doing what he wants to do.

However, he did not expect that just after sending Xinjing Tumed back and the army set out eastward for less than two days, Fu Renxi came out in a hurry to chase them.

After Liu Shizi heard the report from the Tang soldiers that Fu Renxi had come again, he thought that Wu Shen was being anxious enough.

He even suspected that the officials on the other side were waiting inside the border wall, and would send Fu Renxi back after the communication.

Unexpectedly, he guessed the beginning but not the middle.

Ming officials were indeed waiting inside the border wall, but the person waiting on the other side of the wall was not Wu Shen, the governor of Shanxi.

It was Liang Tingdong, the governor of the three towns.

Fu Renxi went out to the border again, not for disaster relief.

Liu Chengzong stood beside the road, and the team was still heading eastward along the path trampled by the horses' hooves on the grassland.

Fu Renxi came running out from the dust, his horse led by his personal attendant. He ran all the way to the front and said breathlessly, "General, don't break camp, send troops to the border!"

Liu Shizi's brain didn't react in time, and his facial features were almost wrinkled together.

His army was outside the border of Xuanfu, and the generals and officers of the three towns in Shanxi were unable to sleep at night as if they were guarding against thieves. So why was it that when they saw that he was about to break camp and leave, they pulled and resisted him?

And let him in?
Liu Chengzong got off his horse, fixed his eyes on Fu Renxi's face, and said with a frown, "Did I hear wrongly, or are you crazy? Did you call me just to hear you say such stupid things?"

Fu Renxi propped himself up on his knees, and as soon as he stood up straight, he said, "The last time I went out to the border, the Eastern Tartars fought a few battles in Yanqing Prefecture. The battle reports showed both sides won and lost, but one battle was actually lost."

"It was Li Guoliang of Xuanzhen who led three battalions of soldiers to pursue the Eastern Tartars. They were ambushed and almost reached Juyong Pass. His cavalry was in front and his infantry was behind. Before they could set up camp, he ordered the Tartar cavalry to charge from behind and split the general's formation in two."

"It was only thanks to the desperate fighting of the family servants that they were repelled. The battle report is that seven were killed, thirteen horses were captured, and 130 oxen and mules were captured."

Fu Renxi said: "But I heard that Zhao Yegeng, the lieutenant general of Xuanfu Biaoying, was killed in the rush, and more than 200 people died."

Liu Chengzong found it difficult to understand Fu Renxi's urgency: "The huge army of three battalions was ambushed, but only more than 200 people died, and a lot of cattle and horses were recovered. Even according to what you heard, the battle was very good. If we continue to fight, it seems that Xuanfu alone can wipe out Ajige's army. What does this have to do with letting me enter the border?"

Logically speaking, if Ajige wanted to ambush an army of eight or nine thousand, he must have put all the troops entering the border together.

Apart from anything else, on a huge battlefield with 20,000 to 30,000 people, they were able to keep their formation in check when ambushed, hold their ground with only minor casualties, and force the enemy to retreat.

Even if the three battalions of the Marshal's First Brigade faced such an ambush, they might not have fought better.

In his mind, Liu Shizi's confidence in the current combat effectiveness of the Xuanfu soldiers rose by two levels.

This is not some starving weakling, this is a rare elite in the world!

This is when the plague has messed up Shanxi and there is no supply. How great it would be if these people had enough food!

However, he did not expect that he could not understand Fu Renxi's words, and Fu Renxi could not understand his words either.

The two stared at each other for a moment before Fu Renxi realized where the misunderstanding lay.

He said quickly, "No, Marshal. The three towns in Shanxi are all small camps with insufficient staff. The seven camps under the command of Datong Wang Pu have only 10,000 soldiers and horses. Li Guoliang's three camps have only 2,000 people in total. The one who ambushed him was the more than 1,000 Donglu cavalry who were left behind."

Liu Chengzong glanced at Fu Renxi unhappily and said, "You come to me to deliver the battle report. Are you trying to fool the Ministry of War?"
The difference in the scale of the battlefield between two thousand men being ambushed by one thousand cavalry and three battalions being ambushed is five or six times.

This disparity in military strength can directly turn a victory into a crushing defeat.

"According to what you said, the three camps in Xuanfu have been crippled, with more than 200 killed and wounded. The rest are all injured, so they can't continue the battle."

Fu Renxi nodded decisively. Either Liu Chengzong was the Grand Marshal. Based on this information alone, he could guess the actual situation on the battlefield almost accurately, and the people under him could not fool him at all.

"Liang Junmen said that Li Guoliang had a fight with the Eastern Tartars and was unable to move forward. I knew he had sent people back to Xuanfu to mobilize troops."

"Wang Pu of Datong is waiting for the imperial court's order to transfer him to the throne in the name of guarding against the Marshal's army. He will not leave Datong until the order comes."

"Right now, the Eastern Tartars are dividing their forces to attack the two border walls of Juyong Pass and Changping." Fu Renxi tapped his chest with both hands and said anxiously, "The Liang army is now wearing armor and wants me to lead the battalion. If I go over with so few people, they will be killed."

"The Marshal wants to fight the Eastern Tartars. We have to fight everywhere, both inside and outside the border. So I have come to ask the Marshal to send 5,000 troops to the border to help us fight."

After he said this, Liu Chengzong roughly understood the situation: "So you are not asking me to enter the border, you are here to borrow troops."

Fu Renxi saw hope and nodded repeatedly.

But unexpectedly, Liu Shizi rejected it outright: "Impossible."

This is fantasy.

Fu Renxi lowered his attitude and tried to persuade them, "General, please be kind and righteous. The Eastern Tartars slaughtered our fortresses and looted our children. Even if they are surrendered soldiers and generals, or Northern Tartars and Mongols, as long as you lend me 5,000, no, 3,000 soldiers and horses, and my battalion's 2,000, I will fight them outside Juyong Pass with my life."

"Once they break into the capital, there will be no strategic locations to defend and the population is dense. Then..."

Liu Shizi raised his hand to stop him from continuing and said, "You don't have to tell me this."

He was actually amused by Fu Renxi's idea.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

His troops were stationed outside the border and did not attack Shanxi to take advantage of the situation. He had already done the most he could, and the Ming Dynasty was thankful for it.

Fu Renxi actually wanted to borrow troops from him to fight the Eastern Tartars within the border. Isn't this a dream?

"Although I have many soldiers, the generals are used to being unruly. You can't control them. The soldiers consume a lot of food and grass, and you can't supply them. If they enter the border and get angry, they will fight whoever they see. How will you deal with it? Are you looking for death?"

Liu Shizi: This is just nice talk.

In fact, although his soldiers came from different places, since they had joined his army, no soldier would easily hand over his life to others.

After making his attitude clear, Liu Shizi said to Renxi: "The Jin army has already reached Changbian, and Xuanda can't stop them. You just need to regroup and prepare to go to Beijing to defend the king. Go back and tell Liang Tingdong."

As soon as Liu Chengzong said this, a guard with a small vulture tied to his iron arm came forward and handed Fu Renxi a yellow paper and charcoal pencil.

Very discerning.

At this season, there are not many vultures still following the Marshal's Army on its march.

It is now the time when vultures are incubating eggs. The males and females are taking turns incubating eggs on the cliffs. Only some unlucky ones who have not been mates and some confused ones who treat the camp as their nest will follow the army to eat.

There are not many vultures of both types, only about thirty or so.

As for the one that would be mounted on the Marshal's iron arm restraints to pretend to be an eagle, it was because last year a confused guy used the camp as a nest. Luckily the eggs did not go bad, and only two survivors were hatched.

He has only learned to fly for less than half a year, so his body is not that heavy yet, so he won't be annoying if he is placed on the iron arm restraints.

The big ones, which weighed about 15 or 16 kilograms, were not afraid of people and would sometimes try to rest on the soldiers' arms, but they would often be chased away.

Too heavy.

Of course, they won't just run away. When they get angry, they will often flap their wings and jump up, kicking with both legs at the same time.

But its power is limited. People will be silenced by a kick or two slaps on the head.

When Fu Renxi was ready, Liu Chengzong said, "If he is willing to cooperate, he can report to the court. Chengzong has many brave generals under his command, all of whom have made meritorious contributions. They should all be granted titles, but due to limited finances, they have been delayed again and again. I really feel guilty towards many of my generals."

"I have received the grace of the Emperor, who has made my general Yang Qi a king, granted him a bronze seal and a royal title, and also promised to provide him with rice to help me out of my urgent need, so I am willing to lend a helping hand to the court at this time."

"Move the army outside Jizhen today to block the way back to the Eastern Tartars, and also block the Jin reinforcements from coming east. You can order the Ming army to intercept Ajige's army with all their strength in the capital."

"If the court officials do not trust me, you can quickly transport the rice owed by Han Fan and Su Fan over the years, as well as the annual salary of the new king Yang Qi... a total of 100,000 dan of rice, to outside Jibian. By then, the officials in the court will have no shame and will not have to worry about trivial matters anymore."

"After the salary and grain are delivered, even if the emperor orders Chengzong to follow the will of heaven and serve the king, and sends the governor Tingdong to command the camp, it will only be a matter of the emperor's words."

After Fu Renxi finished writing it down, Liu Shizi clapped his hands and said with a smile, "With this, General Fu can go back and report, right?"

Fu Renxi was a little confused.

It's not that he is really stupid, but his brain works very quickly. He thinks through many things in a short period of time, which makes it a little difficult for him to accept for a while.

As a border general at the beginning, he did not consider the situation outside the border or anything else.

He suggested to Liang Tingdong that he be allowed to borrow troops from outside the border, without thinking too much about it, just for the sake of military merit.

Because Liu Chengzong wanted to fight against the Eastern Tartar, and the Marshal's Army had no merit in taking heads, he came up with the idea of ​​borrowing three to five thousand soldiers and horses to accompany him to the border.

By then, the Marshal's Army can take whatever spoils of war they want, and the heads will definitely be left to Fu Renxi, as they will all be the military merits of his battalion.

But now.

After a little thought, Fu Renxi realized what the status of Ajige's army was in Liu Chengzong's eyes - bait.

It would be impossible for Liu Chengzong to lead his troops into Shanxi to help in the battle because he had to surround the enemy and attack the reinforcements.

After thinking it through, Fu Renxi realized that the Ming army, both in Xuanda, Shanxi and in the capital, were being used by Liu Chengzong in this battle.

If Liu Chengzong did nothing outside the border and just stayed there, the Ming army would eliminate his enemies within the country and lure more enemies over.

Moreover, the letter that Liu Chengzong wanted to give to Liang Tingdong and ask Liang Tingdong to submit a memorial to the court... To be honest, in Fu Renxi's opinion, although it contained only good words, it actually contained nothing but insults and threats.

That is to say, I am stationed outside the border. If you have a clear conscience, you don’t need to be afraid of me. If you are afraid of me, it means you have a guilty conscience.

Why should I feel guilty? Because you mediocre people alienated my generals and even made Yang Qi the king.

I will move my troops to the border of Jizhen, which will be like a sword hanging over your heads. I can march south to take revenge at any time.

If you want to cancel this festival, just send 100,000 shi of grain to the border as tribute, and I will pretend that this incident never happened.

If you are afraid of losing face, just send Governor Liang Tingdong to my camp as a hostage. I can also hold my nose and let you use me for once, and take a look around to show that the food and fodder are not wasted.

All in all, Fu Renxi thought Liu Chengzong was a pretty good person.

They could have just robbed it, and they even left the emperor an excuse to distribute rice as an income to the princes.

The words sound nice and make it seem like a good deal.

"correct."

While Fu Renxi was still studying Liu Chengzong's ideas, he heard Liu Chengzong add: "If the emperor still wants to make my generals kings, I will get a list later. As long as the court helps me solve the salary and rice problem, I will make all the titles I deserve, no matter how many I choose!" (End of this chapter)