Wanli 1592

Chapter 37 The Rebel Mei Guozhen
"The words are reasonable." Ye Mengxiong said: "Mei Jianjun needs to know that this city wall is now in the hands of the rebels, and they will take the lives of my Ming soldiers every day. If the rebellion is not suppressed, the longer the time, the more variables will become , the only solution for now is to put down the rebellion at all costs! Only when the rebellion subsides can we think about how to restore the affairs of Ningxia. If the rebellion is not settled, Ningxia is not in our hands."

Mei Guozhen nodded and said: "I also understand this truth. Your Majesty is very happy to hear that the Northwest has won a big victory. I hope that the army can put down the rebellion as soon as possible. If it takes a long time, the more your Majesty expects, the more disappointed you will be. That would not be beautiful, from this point of view, we can only place our hopes on this strategy, Xiao Zongbing, we must not miss it!"

"In the end, you will do your best."

This is the only way Xiao Ruxun can express his opinion.

"Yeah." Mei Guozhen nodded slightly, and seemed to have a good impression of Xiao Ruxun: "Back then in the capital, Yang Gong married his beloved daughter to Xiao Zongbing, but there was a bit of wind and rain, and many scholars were there He said that marrying a scholarly daughter to a rough man in the army is unreasonable, but looking at it today, Yang Gong's eyes are so vicious, he has spotted a famous general! Xiao Zongbing, I heard that you Have you ever read a book?"

"Exactly, when I was young, my father asked a famous teacher to enlighten my brother. Although he never expected that we could take part in the imperial examination and gain fame, at least I hope that my four brothers are not martial arts. My father often said that Song Chen Fan Zhongyan once I told Di Qing that if you don't study, you will be no more than a brave man, at most a hundred enemies, but if you read well and understand the art of war, you can be an enemy of ten thousand."

"Your Majesty is so wise!" Mei Guozhen kept nodding: "Those rough men who don't know a lot of Chinese characters, it's not bad if they can bravely kill the enemy, and more people kill good people who take meritorious deeds and covet life and fear death! I see them every time. Of course, I can’t wait to kill him with my own hands! Among the army, there are very few generals like Xiao Zongbing who are well-known in overnight warfare!"

Naturally, Xiao Ruxun would not deny such a fact, so he said: "What the supervisor said is true, but there are still many good generals and sharp soldiers in the Nine Borders, such as Ma Gui, the deputy general of Datong, who has a good view of the overall situation and can spot Fighting opportunities, the last general cooperates with it, and it is always like a fish in water, and the deputy commander of Ningxia, Li Wei, who has recovered many fields, is also a good general, and Dong Yikui, Zhao Wu and others are all good generals."

"Well, I believe that there are good generals, but they are too few." Mei Guozhen looked at Xiao Ruxun: "Confucian generals like Xiao Zongbing are even rarer. If Xiao Zongbing makes great achievements this time, maybe To be received and rewarded by His Majesty has a bright future, and at this time of national calamity, we still need to work hard!"

Xiao Ruxun clasped his fists in salute: "The last general dare not slack off!"

"Yeah!" Mei Guozhen was quite satisfied: "I don't think there is such a general in the northwest! Wei Gong and Ye Gong should feel at ease!"

Wei Xuezeng and Ye Mengxiong looked at each other and smiled, but then changed into a sad expression.

"I hate that traitor who worshiped me. I asked people to persuade him to surrender, but the traitor who worshiped me threw my staff member Mr. Liu into the frying pan and blew it up! It's a big blow to our army's morale!"

Wei Xuezeng thought of the staff who were bombed, and his heart ached.

"What?! There is such a thing?!" Mei Guozhen was shocked: "It's really abominable! It's devoid of conscience! The barbarians are really the people who messed up my China! At the beginning, they should not have accepted him! I hate that Wang Chonggu is greedy! The bravery of worship is what it is today! Those Shanxi merchants really thought that no one in the court knew that they were colluding with the Mongols to smuggle weapons?! When I return to the court, I must join them in a book!"

Mei Guozhen looked at Wei Xuezeng and Ye Mengxiong with a look of righteous indignation. They didn't want to, but they were powerless. The huge power of Shanxi merchants was a foregone conclusion. Capable people are aware of the traitorous behavior of Shanxi merchants, but they can do nothing.

Xiao Ruxun vaguely remembered that Mei Guozhen was a disciple of Yangming Xinxue, and that he was also friendly with Li Zhi. Most people probably didn’t know Mei Guozhen, and they probably didn’t know much about Li Zhi. I will definitely think of the deviant old man in the late Ming Dynasty mentioned in the textbook.

Mei Guozhen has not only read "Burning Books" and "Collecting Books", but also wrote a preface for "Cangshu". Well, from Xiao Ruxun's point of view, Mei Guozhen's hair color is black, his speech is full of vigor, and he is not as weak as ordinary scholars. He must be a practicing family, and he is in fact.

Mei Guozhen is one of the few people among scholars who adhere to the six arts of a gentleman. He is not only a Jinshi, but also proficient in riding and archery. According to historical records, Mei Guozhen personally carried his sword into battle when the city of Ningxia was broken. The main contradiction between him and Wei Xuezeng lies in Wei Xuezeng hoped to persuade the surrender to protect the city and the people's livelihood, but Mei Guozhen couldn't understand Wei Xuezeng's timid way of intervening, and the two had a conflict.

Wei Xuezeng was a conservative, and Mei Guozhen was a rebel.

But at this time, Xiao Ruxun proposed another plan to reconcile the conflict between the two, so that this conflict did not happen.

As far as his heart is concerned, Xiao Ruxun still admires Mei Guozhen very much, and he is also very clear about how the Jinshang Group grew bigger step by step. After discovering that the Mongols were not successful, they searched all over the world, and finally turned to the embrace of Manqing.

These merchants became one of the main beneficiary groups of the Ming Dynasty’s demise and the entry of the Manchu Qing Dynasty into the customs. They have achieved the existence of the so-called Eight Great Imperial Merchants. They have carefully planned, and with a rather far-reaching and penetrating vision, they have an insight into the essence of the civil service system in the late Ming Dynasty. where!
They began to support the students in their hometown from supporting schools in their hometown. With a large amount of capital investment and long-term persistence, many scholars and civil officials from Shanxi reciprocated, and gradually formed a climate. Then they went out of Shanxi and funded schools all over the country, calling a large number of people. Scholars have inherited the love of Shanxi merchants, and weaved their own network of relationships step by step with human means such as marriage, making friends, and doing business in partnership.

At that time, the Eight Tigers of Zhengde have been rampant in the world for several years, the power minister Yan Song has been in charge of cholera for decades, Gao Gong has been fighting hard for several years, Zhang Juzheng has carried out strict reforms for ten years, the eunuch Wei Zhongxian has oppressed the world for several years, Jinyi Weidong Factory spies are all over the world, All the powerful people in the past dynasties have never been able to do anything to the Shanxi merchants and salt merchants.

Nowadays, Shanxi Shanxi Merchants united with Yangzhou Salt Merchants’ interest spokespersons even forced the emperor to stay away from court for decades to make silent protests. In the end, there came out the absurdity of Zhejiang’s tea tax of 12 taels a year !

The far-sighted vision, the deliberate deliberation, the calmness of actions, and the viciousness of people make people shudder. This is actually the peak method of combining government and businessmen to seek benefits in that era. Using words, officials and cliques to occupy the peak of morality, it has caused a heinous disaster to the country and the people. the point.

To save Daming, the merchants of the two places had to be eliminated. One was Shanxi Shanxi merchants, and the other was Yangzhou salt merchants. If all the big merchants in these two places were not eliminated, Daming would not be able to save them. However, most of the merchants in these two places were powerful The gentry have long been aware of their situation, and relying on years of investment and persistence, they have supported a considerable number of discoursers in the court.

Basically, the entire Donglin Party has been infiltrated and controlled by him, and he has almost achieved an invincible golden body. It is quite terrifying. If he wants to deal with it with ordinary means, it may be difficult to succeed, let alone his status as a military officer. His natural disadvantages make it impossible for him to take a single step. Even the civil servants who did not deal with these businessmen would not help them deal with the businessmen in these two places.

Thinking of this, Xiao Ruxun couldn't help feeling worried.

While continuing to bury his head in digging the tunnel, Xiao Ruxun was also thinking about his future path, and he was constantly planning and deducing various possibilities—he would never waste God's favor in vain if he lived again.

However, Xiao Bai and Liu Dongyang in the city did not have such long-term worries as Xiao Ruxun. They only worried about how to survive now. Their nerves were highly tense and their tempers were extremely irritable. In a state of almost losing their minds, they ordered the bombing of Wei Xuezeng's lobbyists, using tyrannical means to deter the Ming army, and also deterred those with impure thoughts among their own people-helplessly, the disadvantages of the rebels are quite clear.

Xiaobai and Liu Dongyang knew very well that if they surrendered, those rebel soldiers might not die, but even if they didn’t die at the time, they would definitely die well in the future. After all, they killed a governor and a general soldier, and occupied one of the nine sides. They have violated the biggest taboo of the imperial court. It would be strange if the imperial court did not kill them. They are very aware of their situation. Only if they seize the [-] soldiers and horses in Ningxia City will they have a chance of survival!
It is a shame that Xiao Ruxun and Ma Gui's troops managed to control the Great Wall pass, and at the last moment repelled their attempt to break out of the encirclement and move reinforcements from the grassland. Now they have been surrounded by the Ming army camp, and the surrounding is impenetrable. It is true that the Ming army can't get in, but they can't get out either. The 30 people in the city eat horse chews every day. Although the food storage can last for three months, but when they think that they will face the desperate situation of death in three months, the two I feel cold from the bottom of my heart.

(End of this chapter)