Daming talker

Chapter 604: Is the Capital in Chaos?

Generally speaking, field battle reports would have to wait until they were verified to be correct before being reported to the capital.

But such an obvious victory as breaking the city cannot deceive anyone, so we will send out the victory report first and add the relevant data later.

Including the capture of Ningxia City, Lin Tailai had won seven major victories since he was sent to the Northwest.

Xining, Ganjun Mountain, Pinglu Fort, Lingzhou, Yuquan, Helan Mountain, Ningxia City, he fought thousands of miles in less than a year, won seven battles in a row, and seemed to have the potential to be a famous general!

After the city was captured, General Li and Lin Jianjun made a simple division of labor. General Li was responsible for dealing with the surrendered soldiers and prisoners, while Lin Jianjun was responsible for patrolling the city and keeping the people safe.

After walking around the six city gates, General Lin felt quite accomplished.

According to the original history, three or four months later, the government troops diverted the Yellow River water to flood the city, which not only destroyed this large northwestern city, but also killed countless people in the city.

In this time and space, the city was breached early, and losses in all aspects were reduced to the minimum. I have made a great contribution.

Just when Beiguan was lamenting that he had done great deeds but was unknown to others, he suddenly received a report that Governor Ye Mengxiong had arrived.

This is normal. The governor will definitely come after the city is captured. After all, most of the post-disaster work still depends on the governor.

Lin Tailai then returned to the city from Beiguan and went to the Censorate to visit Governor Ye.

Li Rusong had arrived first and was discussing the post-handover matters with Governor Ye.

They all seemed to be in a good mood, and their whole bodies were filled with relaxation after the victory. Besides, one was the merit of "strategizing" and the other was the merit of "winning at the critical moment", and everyone had something to gain.

Governor Ye smiled when he saw Lin Tailai, "This department speculates that the court will most likely hold a ceremony to present captives this time.

After all, the achievement of suppressing the rebellion this time was no small matter, as so many troops were mobilized.

So in a few days, you two will probably have to return to the court, and this department will continue to stay."

Lin Tailai did not answer, but frowned.

Governor Ye asked in confusion, "Why does the military supervisor look so unhappy instead of happy?"

Li Rusong was also a little surprised when he heard this. Could it be that General Lin was too ruthless in killing the enemies that night and now he has some psychological sequelae?
Lin Tailai sighed, "After returning to the court, there will be many troubles and troubles. I feel upset just thinking about it.

In comparison, killing enemies on the battlefield is simple and exciting."

With the current atmosphere, the more meritorious one is when returning to the court, the more faults will be picked out under a magnifying glass, under the pretext of learning from history to "check and balance" or "guard against autocracy."

Governor Ye was also a figure in the civil service system, so he certainly understood that what Lin Tailai said was true.

Especially given Lin Tailai's popularity in the court, there would surely be many people willing to help Lin Tailai reflect on himself.

Not to mention rewarding people based on their merits, there are a lot of troubles.

Li Rusong said with a bit of gloating: "Anyway, I am a military officer. Once I return to Beijing and hand over the military power, I will have nothing to do with it. You civil officials can just talk about it slowly."

Lin Tailai glanced at Li Rusong and asked, "Do you want me to make a bet with you?"

Li Rusong asked in surprise: "What bet?"

Lin Tailai said, "I dare to conclude that within half a year your father will be dismissed from his post as the commander-in-chief of Liaodong Town for twenty years and return to Beijing to retire.

Moreover, people will talk about your brother Li Rubai, the deputy general.

In short, your Li family has too much military power, and people will definitely complain about it."

When Li Rusong heard Lin Tailai's prediction, the smile on his face suddenly froze.

Although he couldn't see clearly where the future was heading, he knew that everything Lin Tailai dared to bet on would eventually come true.

Looking at Li Rusong's expression, Governor Ye suddenly felt a little relieved. Fortunately, he did not do much this time, his contribution was not the greatest, and he was not the one who stood out.

Lin Tailai turned to Governor Ye and said, "Do you believe that there will be people who will impeach you for being idle, fearful of the enemy, and greedy for comfort?"

Governor Ye: “.”

This is outrageous! Is it because he wants to hide in the rear and supervise the transportation of food and money? Isn't it because he doesn't want to compete with Lin Tailai?
Besides, it’s important for me to guard Huamachi myself, right?
Otherwise, if the enemy were allowed to break in from Huamachi, the army’s retreat would be completely cut off!
Governor Ye was also upset and said to Lin Tai: "You should take care of yourself! There have always been people trying to impeach you!"

Lin Tailai took out a piece of paper with eight names listed on it.

"This is a list sent from the cabinet, and it contains all the officials who have impeached me!
I was probably impeached for abusing my power, disobeying orders, being greedy for merit, withholding food and wages, bullying the army, forming a clique for personal gain, and other crimes!"

Li Rusong suddenly recalled the scene that day when the plum blossom-shaped armor on Lin Tailai was stained red by blood, and subconsciously said, "Not really!"

Could it be that Lin Tailai was so used to killing people in the border towns that he was still trying to physically destroy them when he came to the capital?

Lin Tailai ignored Li Rusong's nonsense and said viciously:

"I have decided that the first thing I will do when I return to Beijing is to punish all eight censors!

I will kill them all even if I don't want any credit or any reward!"

Governor Ye and General Li looked at each other in bewilderment. If someone else said this, they would think he was crazy, but this was Lin Tailai.

In today's atmosphere, being impeached by censors is a common and everyday thing.

Most people just put up with it most of the time. What else can they do?

The group of censors is like a hornet. Instead of avoiding a hornet when you see it, why would you poke its nest for no reason?
When others were impeached, they would make a big deal out of a small matter or a small matter disappear. But when you, Lin Tailai, were impeached, not only did you not compromise, but you held on to it and fought to the end.

And it is almost impossible for one person to succeed in taking on eight people. What are you trying to do?
Lin Tailai sighed and said, "In this way, I will attract most of the criticism, and you two will be relieved.

I've worked so hard to make life easier for you two.

You must never forget my great kindness in the future."

Governor Ye and General Li: "."

In the end, Governor Ye advised, "Just bear with it. You have made great achievements anyway, so why bother with those censors?"

Lin Tailai shook his head and said, "Zhitai Ye has been in the border province for a long time, and he may not understand the situation in the court very well, so he thinks things are too simple.

This is not something I can tolerate or not. Just wait and see. After I have achieved great success, the court will be in turmoil in the second half of the year. It is not impossible that one or two ministers will fall."

Governor Ye was totally unprepared for this and was shocked. He said, "Why is it so? Since you left the capital for the northwest last year, the court has been generally quite peaceful."

Li Rusong replied intelligently: "Isn't it that Brother Lin is about to return to the capital?
Whether the court is in chaos or not depends mainly on Brother Lin’s decision.”

Lin Tailai: "."

What do you mean by this? Are you so malicious towards your benefactor?

Lin Tailai predicted: "Let's put it this way, in order to dilute my influence, the Qingliu Party will definitely stir up other issues! For example, the tried and tested national foundation issue! And after the national foundation issue is heated up, the first to suffer will be the cabinet!
So something is bound to happen anyway, so why not take the initiative to cause trouble! "

After hearing this, Governor Ye and General Li realized that Lin Tailai was not joking, and they were each thoughtful.

A few days later, an urgent imperial edict from the court was indeed delivered to Ningxia City.

He ordered Governor General Ye Mengxiong to stay in Ningxia and take full responsibility for the aftermath;

He ordered the anti-rebellion commander-in-chief Li Rusong and the military supervisor Lin Tailai to escort the captured rebel generals to the capital to surrender them.

So Li Rusong came to see Lin Jianjun again to discuss the marching route. After it was decided, they would report it along the way and then they could set off.

The task was not only to escort the captured rebel generals back to the capital, but also to dismiss the government troops transferred from Datong, Xuanfu and other towns.

Li Rusong pointed to the map and said: "First, go south from Qingyang, then go east to Yan'an Prefecture, cross the Yellow River to Datong Town."

Lin Tailai also looked at the map and said curiously, "Why do we have to take a detour from Qingyang? We can just go east and go straight!"

Li Rusong replied: "That's outside the border wall!"

Lin Jianjun said arrogantly: "What's wrong with the border wall? Our army has many soldiers and generals, and we have the military prestige of a great victory. We can use the opportunity of marching to show off our military prowess to the northern barbarian tribes outside the border wall and intimidate the barbarian cavalry!"

After thinking about it for a while, Li Rusong felt that what General Lin said made sense.

Besides, when Ma Gui came to Ningxia to provide assistance, he marched outside the border wall to save time. Am I not even as good as Ma Gui?
So after making a plan and taking food and fodder, the government troops from Jingying, Datong Town and Xuanfu Town set out eastward.

At first, nothing happened, but after reaching Datong Town, Lin Jianjun would disappear for a night from time to time.
General Lin's disappearance trick delayed the marching plan for several days, which made the commander Li Rusong very upset.

"I believed your lies!" Li Rusong questioned Lin, "Is this what you mean by showing off your military prowess and shocking the enemy cavalry?"

The exhausted General Lin didn't want to argue with the rude Li Rusong, so he found a car, climbed in and started to catch up on his sleep.

You are a political idiot, what do you know about boasting and intimidation?
Do you understand what it means that the best strategy between two countries is to attack their plans, and the next best strategy is to destroy their relations?
After entering Xuanfu town, they had to stay for a few more days because Li Rusong needed time to disband the Xuanfu town troops.

But General Lin went to Zhangjiakou Fort on the pretext of observing the horse market.

More specifically, it is to the north of Zhangjiakou Fort.

It was not until the day before Li Rusong was about to set out again that the disorganized but undisciplined Lin Jianjun returned leisurely to Xuanfu Town.

General Li, who prided himself on being a strict military commander, muttered silently: "Don't be angry, don't be angry, there are only two hundred miles left anyway."

That night, General Lin stayed in the governor's office. Thanks to the long-term system of border town governors, the governor here had not changed and was still his eldest nephew Wang Xianggan.

There was a family dinner in the evening. Lin Tailai spoke the most serious words in the laziest posture.

"I have been far away in the northwest for a year, so it is inevitable that there will be some mistakes or omissions. Can you tell me more about the situation in Beijing?"

Although Xuanfu is also a border town, it is too close to the capital. Moreover, since the opening of the horse market, there has been a large flow of people between Xuanfu and the capital, so it is well-informed and comprehensive about all aspects of the capital.

Wang Xiangqian smiled and said, "Rather than chatting about the affairs of the capital, I would rather hear about your deeds, especially your feat of being the first to reach the gate of the city."

Lin Tailai then asked, "After the news of my astonishing feat of being the first to reach the gate reached the capital, how did the people in the court react?"

Wang Xiangqian pondered for a while and replied, "If I must use one word to describe the mentality of the people at that time, it would be public anger."

Lin Tailai: "."

What the hell is this word? What kind of low-quality citizens are these? Is there anyone who treats the first heroes like this?

Wang Xiangqian stopped joking and said, "First of all, my father would like to express his gratitude to you on behalf of the Ministry of Revenue.

The Haibai Rebellion has already cost hundreds of thousands of silver coins. If it is delayed any further, the silver in Taicang will run out again!

Fortunately, you attacked the broken city first and were able to stop the loss in time, and the Ministry of Revenue can breathe a sigh of relief.

But my father said that next time you go to war, you must not take such risks again.

Because you are not a person now, but the leader of a group of people, and you are also the husband of my aunt, you can't take your life lightly and recklessly. "

Lin Tailai replied, "I understand. But there will be war in the next one or two years, and there will inevitably be risks involved when going into battle."

Wang Xiangqian knew that Lin Tailai was very opinionated, so just a few words of advice would be enough; any more would be useless.

Then he continued, "The biggest event in the court this year was the death of the Left Censor-in-Chief Wu Shilai, and the most experienced Minister of Justice Lu Guangzu was transferred to the position of Left Censor-in-Chief."

Lin Tailai had nothing to say about this matter.

According to the course of history, Wu Shilai, who was the chief minister of Shenyang, should have died of illness.

Lu Guangzu, who belonged to the Qingliu faction, had already made a name for himself during the last imperial nomination for the Minister of Personnel, and he was also the minister with the longest seniority.

He wants to be the Left Censor-in-Chief, and there is no way to stop him, unless Lin Tailai personally steps in to replace him.

Or maybe Wang Shizhen didn't want to be a Tianguan anymore and fight with Lu Guangzu, which was obviously impossible.

It was just a pity for Prime Minister Shen. He originally had two main supporting factions, but one, the official from the Ministry of Personnel, ran away due to old age, and the other, the Left Censor-in-Chief, died of illness.

No wonder Prime Minister Shen became discouraged and ran away at this time in history.

But in this time and space, it’s not so bad, the Prime Minister still has Lin Tailai, a former guest, to fill the void.

"Since Lu Guangzu became the Left Censor-in-Chief, then who became the Minister of Justice?" Lin Tailai asked again.

It should be during this period of time that the court was promoting the imperial edict, and he was on the march and indeed could not receive any news.

Wang Xiangqian replied: "I heard it was Sun Piyang, the Nanjing Chief Censor."

Lin Tailai frowned. Sun Pi Yang's political spectrum was quite vague.

But judging from the fact that Chen Younian nominated Sun Pi Yang when he was selecting the Minister of Personnel last time, Sun Pi Yang is at least a sympathizer of the Qingliu forces at present.

In this case, the power of the Qingliu Party in the high-level court has rebounded?
Thinking of this, Lin Tailai could not help but complain, "I just don't understand why the situation always gets worse whenever I'm not in the capital!

The last time I took leave to go back to my hometown and was not in the capital, the Qingliu forces even took away two left vice ministers of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Rites!
And this time, the Qingliu forces stole another Shangshu!"

Wang Xiangqian was about to say something to comfort her, but he heard Lin Tai say:

"But it doesn't matter. I'm used to it anyway! Every time I return to the capital, I have to do some reorganization first!
Since they stole a Shangshu this time, let’s kill one of their Shangshu to make peace with them!”

Wang Xiangqian: “…”

I actually wanted to appease Lin Tailai just now, which was completely unnecessary!

(End of this chapter)