Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1231 Letter from Gao Gongbao

The clouds were shattered by the snow, the spring breeze thawed, and the trees of Xiao Shu began to sprout little buds.

In the Datong General Military Yamen, Ma Gui held two letters in his hands and pondered for a long time without saying a word.

A [-]- or [-]-year-old majestic boy couldn't help but ask, "Father hesitated for a long time, wondering why he couldn't decide?"

Ma Gui was awakened by the sound of his father, turned his head and glanced at the young man in front of him, and smiled: "It's not that I can't decide, it's just... that's all, I told you that you don't understand. Go, invite your Uncle Ma, and say I have something to discuss."

This young man is none other than Ma Gui's eldest son Ma Chengzhao.Although Ma Chengzhao was young, he had quite the tradition of the Ma family.

Ma Chengzhao didn't seem to be particularly afraid of his father. He heard the words and muttered: "My father didn't tell me, and said I didn't understand, but you always don't tell me anything, so when will I understand?"

Ma Gui was startled, and then suddenly burst out laughing.His voice has always been strong, and this smile is like a tiger's roar, as if even the thin-bodied porcelain vase placed in the hall vibrated.

Ma Chengzhao couldn't help but say, "Father is really powerful." It turned out that he was in the period of changing his voice, and his voice sounded strange, and he was especially envious of his father's voice.

Ma Gui stopped laughing, but still had a smile on his face, and said to Ma Chengzhao, "The way you spoke just now was a bit similar to that of being a father." Then he paused slightly and said with emotion, "Major son of the Ma family. You have been in the military for a long time, and you have already been appointed as an official this year, so I can hear it from you today."

Ma Chengzhao's eyes lit up, and he immediately smiled, looking eager to try.

Ma Gui didn't talk about the business first, but waved at him, pointed to the chair and said, "Sit down."

This made Ma Chengzhao even happier. Originally, he only had to stand in front of his father and listen to the training. Seeing how he looks today, his father seems to be planning to treat him as a general, which is really gratifying.

Ma Chengzhao, who was so excited that his whole body trembled, hurried over and quickly sat down, with his chest and back straight, as if he was waiting for the military order.

Ma Gui only smiled inwardly, but his face became calm, he pondered for a while, and asked, "Since I want to be a general, I am not only your father, but also your official and commander. What ability do you have, I must Take an exam."

Ma Chengzhao heard his waist straight, and said loudly, "Son... Even if the last commander is under the command of the commander, he can at least take thirty or fifty moves."

Ma Gui glanced at him, but didn't make a point, just pretended he didn't hear it, and said lightly: "If you plan to stop at the boss, this little bit of bravery is not useless."

Ma Chengzhao didn't understand the meaning of these words for a while, and said stunned: "But it is the commander who is kind to the last general." After saying this, he reacted, and quickly added: "The last general does not rely on bravery and ruthlessness, but After all, this bravery is also the foundation of being a general, and the former commander is in..."

"Okay, don't brag." Ma Gui interrupted him and asked calmly, "What's going on in Jiubian recently?"

"Nine sides?" Ma Chengzhao thought that his father would ask him about Datong's city defense or frontier defense, but he didn't expect the question to be so big that he said nine sides as soon as he opened his mouth.

Ma Gui didn't say more, Ma Chengzhao had no choice but to quickly recall the Di newspapers he had read recently, and then said: "There are two major events in the Nine Sides, one is that Gansu Town lost Xining City, and the other is that Gao Gongbao also served as the manager of the Seven Towns. ."

Ma Gui nodded and asked again, "What do you think about these two things?"

"Ah, me, the last general..." Ma Chengzhao wanted to say that these two things are too far away from me, what can I think?
He glanced at his father quietly, but saw that Ma Gui had closed his eyes gently, as if he was not in a hurry and waited for him to think about it before answering.

Ma Chengzhao's heart was relieved, it was okay to give him time to think about it, he just thought he wanted him to answer immediately.

After thinking for a while, Ma Chengzhao replied: "The loss of Xining is too far from our Datong, and it is not the place where our Ma family often operates, and from the perspective of the future, Gao Gongbao's attitude towards our Ma family is too far. The use of generals is in Xuanda and Jiliao, which shows that this matter should have little to do with our Ma family."

Ma Gui was noncommittal, and just gave a soft "En" and then went no further, Ma Chengzhao had to bite the bullet and continue to say: "As for Gao Gongbao's concurrent role as the Seven Towns Economics, the general will think that the imperial court is preparing to deal with the Tumen. Get started."

He analyzed: "Gao Gongbao has a great reputation of Annan Dingbei, and he is the emperor's most trusted minister. Coupled with the support of the three Yuanfu, he has left him with a lot of help in the court. The voice of No. 1 selection has always been very high. Now the emperor ordered him to serve as the seven towns' strategist, and I am afraid that it is also a pre-arrangement. It can not only allow him to make some preliminary preparations for the pacification of Chahar, but also prevent other people from temporarily intervening. possibility of it."

Ma Gui closed his eyes and asked softly, "Do you think it's too soon to destroy the Yuan?"

Ma Chengzhao nodded and said, "Yes, the commander thought it was too soon."

"How long is fast?" Ma Gui continued to ask.

"Uh... If I do it this year, it should be faster." Ma Chengzhao thought for a while, and then added: "But Gao Gongbao has to do spring exercises first, so the general always finds it a bit strange, because in this way, if you still There seems to be a little bit of a tight time frame when it comes to attacking this year."

Ma Gui nodded, and although he still didn't open his eyes, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and then said: "You can see that it is inconvenient to send troops this year, so you have used your brain."

Ma Chengzhao said in surprise: "It's really not this year?"

"No." Ma Gui waved his hand and said, "The main focus of the imperial court is to open the ban on the vassal. The main point of the ban is to deal with the back roads of the many clans. Although the father is not a minister of the Ministry of Finance, but think about it and know it is here. The silver that needs to be spent must be at least several million taels. Under such a situation, the court has not added additional sects so far, and it is already very valuable. How could it be possible to send troops to Chahar?"

"But if that's the case, why did the emperor let Gao Gongbao also serve as the manager of the Seven Towns so early?" Ma Chengzhao didn't understand. Isn't it the custom of the imperial court to visit the generals temporarily after a war?

Ma Gui knew what his son meant. He was saying that Gao Gongbao, who served as the military minister and the seven towns' manager, already had great military power. If he didn't fight for a long time, wouldn't the court be afraid that the people under his control would be real? Conquered?You must know that the reason why Daming's highest military general is only a general soldier, the actual strength of his subordinates is generally very limited, that is, he is afraid that excessive military power will be concentrated in someone's hands for a long time.

But Ma Gui had his own opinion, and said lightly: "Gao Gongbao is a civil servant, and he is deeply trusted by the emperor, so it is not something that I can compare with. In addition, if it is not bad for my father, Gao Gongbao's so-called general scriptures are abbreviated. The idea that Xingyuan is set up in Daning is probably just bluffing and deceiving people, he will not go to Daning at all, and he will not even be too far from Beijing."

Ma Chengzhao opened his mouth and hesitated. After thinking for a while, he suddenly said: "Oh, he is trying to scare Tumen? But why?"

"Because Hetao is restless." Ma Gui said, "Given the current situation of Tumen, it would be wishful thinking for him to attack Daming with his current strength, so if he wants to turn the tide, the only way out is to unify Mongolia first— —Even if we don’t mention Vara first, at least we must unify the Tartars first. Only in this way, in the face of the battle to destroy the Yuan that Da Ming is about to launch, will he have the strength to fight.

However, is it easy to unify the Tatars?Since the rise of Altan, the right-wing Mongolia has been pressing the left-wing for many years. Otherwise, how could Chahar move eastward to avoid the edge of Altan?Tumen finally died because of his age. He was about to reach out to the right wing, but he was cut by Gao Gongbao with a knife. He had to go back to his nest to lick the wound.However, because of this, his willingness to recapture Tumet is stronger.

But how to get it back?Not only can Tumert be able to compete with the Chahar Department, but also has the support of the Hetao Ordos Department. In the early years, Qinghai Tumert, etc., could not be won by Chahar alone.Therefore, Tumen wanted to at least not be at a disadvantage in the process of competing with Tumet, and at least one condition must be met, that is, no one could help the King of Shunyi to bring Hannaji except for Tumet itself. "

Ma Chengzhao seemed to have thought of something, but he felt that there was still a key point that he had not grasped, so he could only hesitate to say: "So Gao Gongbao thought that the Tumen might take advantage of the civil strife in Hetao and the opportunity of King Shunyi to attack and naturalize, so Just bluffing, hoping to scare the Tumen?"

Ma Gui said with relief: "You understand? Good, good."

"The last general doesn't really understand..." Ma Chengzhao still frowned and asked: "The court is short of money, shouldn't the military advisor under Tumen not see it? Since the court is short of money, high Even if Kung Pao is also serving as the Seven Towns Strategist, he won't be able to send troops, so why should the Tumen be afraid?"

Ma Gui laughed, raised his chin slightly, and said, "That's why Gao Gongbao can only serve as the director of the Seven Towns."

"Oh?" Ma Chengzhao asked in surprise, "Why is this?"

"Because only the famous name of Gao Gongbao Dian Shi Chengjin can make the people suspicious." Ma Gui said with a smile: "If anyone else does this seven towns economic strategy, the court said that there is no money, and the Jinglue can only stare blankly, a little. There is no way. But if it is Gao Gongbao, this may not be the case.

At least in the eyes of the people, Gao Gongbao can make gold out of stones. Even if the court doesn't seem to be able to come up with silver, Gao Gongbao may not be able to make money.Therefore, in order to be safe, Tumen would definitely not dare to act rashly... At least, when Gao Gongbao was still near the capital or on the front line of Jiliao, he did not dare to leave Chahanhot for half a step. "

Ma Chengzhao finally understood it completely. He slapped his thigh and praised: "This is 'a battle for [-] miles with one body, and a million teachers with one sword.'

Ma Gui smiled and said: "Gao Gongbaozhineng, I saw it with my own eyes more than ten years ago as a father...but I won't mention it today." He paused, raised a letter in his hand, and said, "This is Gao Gongbao sent a private letter, I don't think anyone in the world can guess what he said in the letter."

Ma Chengzhao suddenly became interested and asked, "Father, the content of this letter... can you reveal it?"

"You are both my eldest son and a general under my account, so I don't need to hide this letter from you." Ma Gui said, "Gao Gongbao asked me to prepare, and there may be a war after the spring exercise."

Ma Chengzhao was stunned when he heard it, and said inexplicably, "Didn't you just say that the imperial court had no money to go on an expedition?"

Ma Gui's smile was a bit mysterious: "There is definitely no money to go to Saibei, but if there is civil strife, can this battle not be fought? If the court really has no money, the emperor has no choice but to use the internal money to cover it."

"Civil strife? How could there be civil strife?" Ma Chengzhao was taken aback: "Is it because this year's military salaries have been cut too severely? We shouldn't be in chaos in Datong, right?"

After all, the front line of Jiliao Xuanda is the focus of the imperial court, and it is also the gateway to the capital, so Datong's military salary reduction is still relatively small. Ma Chengzhao asked this question just for this reason.

However, Ma Gui shook his head and said: "Where will the chaos, Gao Gongbao didn't say it clearly, but I thought about it just now and found that he hinted that this place is where I have been out of town..."

"That's bad!" Ma Chengzhao exclaimed: "Father has been in the three towns of Xuanda all these years, and this year Xuanda has not cut much, but Taiyuan seems to cut a little more, and Taiyuan is a prosperous place, and it is very difficult to cut it. I'm afraid that the next thing will be fierce... Could it be that Gao Gongbao is implying that Taiyuan is going to have an accident?"

Ma Gui said: "My father also thought about this just now, but I'm afraid not." He pursed his lips slightly and snorted: "Although Taiyuan is as you said, there are those situations, but you must not forget the current Taiyuan. Who is the commander-in-chief—Li Rusong! This kid brought [-] Liaodong cavalry to Taiyuan to take up his post. He was really a raptor crossing the river.

Although there are 1 to 5000 troops in Shanxi Town today, there are only more than [-] soldiers in Taiyuan City. I am afraid that this number of people is not enough for the Liaodong cavalry to fight. There is no suspense. "

"Mother's, the Li family in Tieling is really rich." Ma Chengzhao mumbled unhappily, and then said: "If it weren't for Taiyuan, then only Xuanda would be, but Datong has a father, and I don't think anyone has this. Do you dare? Could it be that Brother Chengen from the Xuan residence can't hold back?"

Ma Chengen was recommended by Gao Pragmat some time ago to replace Wang Guoxun as the chief soldier of Xuanfu, but Wang Guoxun stepped down because he was old, and Ma Chengen's problem was that he was too young. It's not surprising to worry.

But Ma Gui didn't want to judge his nephew behind his back, but reminded his son: "You still forgot one place - where did the father transfer back to Datong?"

Ma Chengzhao was stunned for a moment, and his eyes widened suddenly: "General Ningxia!" Then he turned pale in shock: "Although Zhang Weizhong is loyal, his father said before that he is a bit lacking in courage, if something happens to his command... …”

Ma Gui nodded solemnly, and then praised another letter, saying: "This is from Cheng'en, and Gao Gongbao also sent him a letter, also asking him to prepare for battle. In addition, give it to me and In the letter to him, Gao Gongbao also mentioned that he also sent a letter to Zhang Weizhong, so that Zhang Weizhong should be careful about the changes in his subordinates... Now I can only hope that Zhang Weizhong will listen to it."
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(End of this chapter)