Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 247 Zu Dashou Tonglu

After Tingjing, Zhu Youjian clearly noticed that Jin Yiwei was more attentive to his orders.

This is because he fulfilled his promise and saved Wu Biao. The training of Jin Yiwei and patrol battalions has also achieved results.

After more than 20 days of intensive training, the Jin Yiwei and Patrol Battalion finally met Zhu Youjian's requirements and looked like future generations of students after military training.

This made him very satisfied. After the review, he assigned tasks to them. According to the establishment of the three brigades, arrangements were made to go to the guard offices in the east, west and south cities. Use these people to enrich the patrol team, fire brigade, and health team of the Guards Department to ensure public security, firefighting, and health work during the Chinese New Year.

These people were also promised that officials with outstanding performance would be selected and appointed as civilian officers.

This promise made the soldiers in the patrol battalion very excited. After the Wu Biao Incident, the emperor Zhu Youjian's credibility had been established in Jinyiwei. They all believed that the emperor could fulfill his promise and let them serve as officials.

For ordinary patrol battalion soldiers, this is a class leap. In the future, they can continue to rise in the Jinyiwei system.

Therefore, many patrol battalion soldiers want to perform actively and get an official position.

The right to appoint officials of Weiwei Temple that Zhu Youjian had previously won from civil officials began to come into play.

In order to observe whether these people could meet their own requirements and build the urban guard office, Zhu Youjian ordered the Dongchang personnel to supervise the implementation and kept track of the matter. He planned to create an urban guard office modeled on later public safety and fire sanitation agencies. Implement professional management of the capital to prevent cross-flow of sewage and the spread of epidemics.

This matter occupied most of his energy. In addition, as the Chinese New Year was approaching, most officials were in no mood to cause trouble, and the situation in the court gradually stabilized.

Especially on December 24th, Zhu Youjian celebrated his birthday and held a congratulatory ceremony for the Longevity Festival, so he ordered a holiday. After letting each yamen arrange for officials to be on duty, everyone else will have a holiday.

In this way, there will be fewer things in the court, and no one will be troubled.

Zhu Youjian had a rare few days of peace and thought about next year:

"Next year is the first year of Chongzhen, and it is the beginning of my official governance of the world. 』

"Whether we can save the Ming Dynasty depends on how well we do this year. 』

"Shaanxi and Northeast China are the two most critical places. I hope they can stabilize. 』

Today's Ming Dynasty, after its decline in the late Wanli and Tianqi years, is at war in the southwest and northeast. The peasant uprising in the northwest is gaining momentum, and there are also pirates and foreigners in the southeast.

Fortunately, the situation in the southwest is relatively stable now. After recovering Zhu Xieyuan, Fu Zonglong and others, it is possible to complete the final blow and completely put down the She'an rebellion.

Zhu Youjian has also ordered the recruitment of Zheng Zhilong and other pirate groups in the southeast, using these people to check and balance the foreigners and temporarily stabilize the maritime territory.

Those most likely to cause trouble are the refugees affected by the disaster in the northwest and the captives in Liaodong.

At this time, it had been more than three months since Zhu Youjian had revived Sun Chuanting and sent him to Shaanxi to investigate the situation. Even just last month, he asked Sun Chuanting to act as governor of Shaanxi, replacing Hu Tingyan, the original governor of Shaanxi.

During this period, although Zhu Youjian received a letter of gratitude from Sun Chuanting, he did not receive a specific investigation of the situation in Shaanxi. Even the Jin Yiwei who were sent to Shaanxi to investigate the situation had no news. This made Zhu Youjian feel a little worried:

"Is it because they didn't investigate well, or is the situation in Shaanxi so bad that these people don't dare to say anything?" 』

Previously, officials in Beijing were asked to report the situation in Shaanxi, but those people either made false promises or did not know the current situation.

Because Zhu Youjian knew that the peasant uprising in Shaanxi was imminent, he believed that the situation in Shaanxi must be very bad, and did not believe what these people said at all.

Therefore, he expected Sun Chuanting and Jin Yiwei to report the real situation so that he could get specific information.

Worried that something might happen to them in Shaanxi, and in order to facilitate Sun Chuanting's opening up in Shaanxi, Zhu Youjian called over Zheng Shiyi, the palm seal of Jinyiwei, and asked Hou Baoshan to get a "rope and correction" silver medal, and ordered:
"Send this silver medal to Sun Chuanting and tell him that he has always been responsible for supervising the imperial censor."

"Anything illegal can be reported to me."

Zheng Shiyi was ordered to send a guard to be responsible for the secret report of the silver seal, and he was also asked to send a small-flag guard to be responsible for Sun Chuanting's safety.

At the same time, he was asked to send a message to Yuan Shu, the governor of the Northwest Town, the captain of the Shaanxi Weiwei Department, and the son of Yuan Keli, to dispatch the Jinyi Guards in Shaanxi to cooperate with Sun Chuanting's work.

This order undoubtedly shows Zhu Youjian's regard for Sun Chuanting and his concern for Shaanxi.

Then, he ordered Zheng Shiyi to send a message to Zhang Daojun, the governor of Northeast China, and Luo Yangxing, the captain of the Liaodong Guards Department, asking them to report on the situation in Liaodong.

These two people accompanied Sun Chengzong to take office at the end of last month. If we calculate the time, they should have arrived in Liaodong.

Even if they work hard, they should have achieved results.
-
Zhang Daojun, Luo Yangxing and others have indeed arrived in Liaodong and have achieved results.

Shanhaiguan is not far from the capital. On December 10, Sun Chengzong led his entourage to Shanhaiguan from the capital.

Because Jin Yiwei and others wanted to investigate the situation in Liaodong, they separated from Sun Chengzong in advance on the road. When Sun Chengzong and Wang Zhichen handed over and took office as governor of Liaodong, they followed Zhu Youjian's order to investigate the generals of Liaodong.

The leading Northeast Governor Zhang Daojun said to his deputy Luo Yangxing, the captain of the Liaodong Weiwei Department:

"His Majesty explained before leaving that the first thing we should do when we come to Liaodong is to cut off the connection between Liaodong generals and Jianlu."

"Do you have any clue which generals in Liaodong are related to Jianlu now?"

Luo Yangxing's father, Luo Sigong, once served as the palm of the Jinyi Guard. This time I was sent to Liaodong, and I was very reluctant. In his heart, he was unwilling to leave the center of power in the capital. The Jinyiwei in other places were far less influential than the Jinyiwei in the capital.

However, the emperor personally appointed him as the captain of the Liaodong Guards Department, which was obviously a high priority. He had to come and take up this position.

He even knew that if he could not establish some achievements, he would be abandoned by the emperor. You must demonstrate your abilities in order to return to Beijing in the future.

Therefore, before Luo Yangxing took office, he had already discussed with his family and received advice from his father.

After hearing Zhang Daojun's question, Luo Yangxing immediately said:
"Most of the guard posts in Liaodong Dusi fell, and many of the guards' officers surrendered and became prisoners."

"Many of the remaining officials of the Imperial Guard should have connections with Jianlu."

"Today, among the generals who came from the local garrison in Liaodong, the highest-ranking general is Commander-in-Chief Zhu Mei, followed by Deputy Commander-in-Chief Zu Dashou."

"You can definitely get a clue from these two people."

Both of them were Liaodong generals. Zhang Daojun did not dare to do anything without permission. He thought for a while and said:
"Zhu Mei is a frontline general, far away from Shanhaiguan. Moreover, he is the commander-in-chief, and he has no authority to deal with it even with Shang Fangjian. It is not appropriate to investigate at the moment."

"But Zu Dashou, the deputy commander, can investigate."

"He was previously transferred by His Majesty as the Commander-in-Chief of the Liaodong Commandery, and he was stationed next to Shanhaiguan."

"You can touch him first to see if he has any connection with Jianlu."

Zhang Daojun was impressed by the name Zu Dashou. Because before setting off, Zhu Youjian specifically asked to investigate Zu Dashou's background.

Especially the ancestral family from which he was born can now be said to be almost the top of the generals in Liaodong, and will definitely move to the pass in the future. We cannot stay outside the customs and take root here in Liaodong. Therefore, Zhang Daojun planned to use Zu Dashou as a breakthrough to investigate the Liaodong generals.

Jin Yiwei has been investigating officials for hundreds of years and is very familiar with this kind of thing. Especially when Luo Yangxing set out, his father Luo Sigong mobilized a group of elite soldiers and generals to follow him in order to have him perform meritorious service and be transferred back to the capital.

With the efforts of these people, they soon discovered that Zu Dashou was indeed connected with Jianlu. A Jianglu named Yinding was at Zu Dashou's home. Now that his residence has been identified, he can be arrested and questioned at any time.

This discovery made Luo Yangxing very excited. After Zhang Daojun learned the news, he was shocked, thinking of his father Zhang Quan's death in Liaoyang due to betrayal by a traitor. For a moment, I felt resentful in my heart and said:

"go!"

"Meet Governor Sun with the news."

He hurriedly informed Sun Chengzong of this matter and asked him to be careful -

You know, what Zu Dashou is now leading is the standard camp of the Liaodong Governor.

If this person has different intentions and plans to join the Jianlu, not only the governor of Liaodong will be in danger, but also Shanhaiguan may be in danger.

Sun Chengzong had just succeeded Wang Zhichen as the governor of Liaodong, and appointed Bi Zisu and other officials with the emperor's imperial edict. Just when I was thinking about how to open up the situation in Liaodong, I received this news.

For a moment, he, like Zhang Daojun, was a little shocked and couldn't believe it:
He never expected that a deputy commander like Zu Dashou would be connected with Jianlu.

This made him, who had previously been dissatisfied with the emperor's purge of the peacemakers, realize the necessity of this matter.

Based on the current situation in Liaodong, if the peace negotiators are not eliminated, many generals will be like Zu Dashou, who will interact with the Jianlu and gradually become disloyal.

In Sun Chengzong's view, these people are the two-faced faction between Ming Dynasty and Jianlu——

Yes, two-faced, this is Sun Chengzong's definition of Zu Dashou. He did not believe that a deputy commander like Zu Dashou would abandon the glory and wealth of the Ming Dynasty and join the Jianlu to become a barbarian.

But it is possible for people like Zu Dashou to secretly communicate with Jianlu and support the bandits. They wanted to rely on Jianlu and profit from the imperial court.

If the court cannot satisfy them, these people may defect to Jianlu. But now the Ming Dynasty is relatively stable, and the Liao salary is also very generous. Sun Chengzong did not think that they would join the Jianlu and give up their glory and wealth.

Therefore, facing the anxious Zhang Daojun and Luo Yangxing, Sun Chengzong forced himself to calm down and said:

"It is impossible for Zu Dashou to surrender, so there is no need to worry about him leading the 5,000 standard battalion to cause chaos for the time being."

"However, this matter must be properly resolved. If not handled properly, this person may still be surrendered."

"The deputy general of Biaoying is Li Xingzhong, whom your Majesty transferred from the capital. He is from Ning Yuanbo's Li family. He is one of the four generals in your Majesty's handwriting. It is absolutely impossible to surrender."

"This man can be trusted, you bring him here."

Li Xingzhong was appointed before Zhu Youjian, and Biaoying was also ordered to be established after Zhu Youjian ascended to power. The purpose was to wipe out the grassland tribes left by Lin Dan Khan after he moved westward.

Fortunately, Lin Danhan did not move westward in the end, and was dissuaded by Zhu Youjian's Kong Zhenyun. Now these five thousand cavalry drawn from various armies remain under the command of the Liaodong Governor as a direct force.

Zhu Youjian initially asked Zu Dashou to serve as the commander of this army, and he had the intention of letting him separate from the original army. They even thought about transferring him from Liaodong and using him elsewhere.

Li Xingzhong served as deputy general, which also acted as a check and balance on Zu Dashou, preventing him from being able to control the troops in Biaoying.

Now, this arrangement is working.

After Sun Chengzong learned that his ancestor Dashou was a captive, he immediately summoned Li Xingzhong to make arrangements for the Biao camp.

After these arrangements were made, Sun Chengzong summoned the generals of Biaoying to discuss matters. Zu Dashou was still at a loss until Sun Chengzong gave the order and took Yin Ding over and asked:
"Zu Dashou, do you know this person?"

Zu Dashou had left Yin Ding at home for a long time, how could he not recognize him.

One can imagine the panic in his heart when he suddenly saw Yin Ding being captured by the new governor.

I don’t know what Yin Ding confessed, but I also know that I can’t deny it. Zu Dashou thought for a moment, decided to tell the truth, and said selectively:
"This person was sent by Governor Yuan Chonghuan to negotiate peace and was sent by Jianlu."

"Later, Governor Yuan left office and the peace talks failed, so he stayed."

Putting this matter on Yuan Chonghuan shows that he is not secretly colluding with the prisoners.

The arrest of Yin Ding happened after Zu Dashou entered the camp and before he could be interrogated. Sun Chengzong didn't know the inside story. When he heard that it was related to Yuan Chonghuan, he frowned and said:
"It's empty talk. Does anyone know about this? Who can testify?"

When Zu Dashou heard Sun Chengzong ask this, he immediately knew that he still had a chance to escape. Otherwise, you should be dismissed immediately without allowing yourself to defend yourself.

So he slowly let go of his thoughts and said thoughtfully:
"Governor Yuan personally handled the peace negotiation, and Governor Yuan can testify."

"The principal, Shen Qi, also knows about this matter."

"Whether the others know about it, I don't know."

Sun Chengzong was even more shocked when he heard the name Zu Dashou confessed.

Because he realized that, as the emperor expected, there was a peace negotiator secretly in Liaodong.

These people not only wanted to negotiate peace with Jianlu, but also had secret communication channels to communicate with Jianlu behind the back of the court.

Now it seems that this matter has not had much impact. However, as the number of people who have contact with Jianlu increases, the Liaodong general's mind may change.

This made him even more fortunate that the emperor discovered this early, transferred Yuan Chonghuan, the leader of the peace negotiation faction, to serve in the southwest, and asked himself to clean up the peace negotiation faction.

If we wait a few more years and this matter becomes more involved, it may become impossible to clean up.

He has made up his mind to regain Liaodong and strive to become a hero of Zige in the future. Sun Chengzong knew that he had to eliminate Jianlu in order to realize his ambition.

Therefore, of course he could not allow the peace faction to grow. He must clean up these people according to the emperor's order.

He even planned to take this opportunity to complete the emperor's request to relocate the Liaodong generals.

Only by moving these generals away can the land in Liaodong be completely nationalized and the well-field system be implemented outside the customs.

Therefore, Sun Chengzong looked serious and asked his ancestors about their longevity:

"Does the former Liaodong Governor Wang Zhichen know about this matter?" (End of Chapter)

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