Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 268 Transferred from Cao Wenzhao

However, before the imperial doctor came to Pingyang Mansion, Zhu Youjian received the news that the plague had spread on a large scale.

Except for Pingyang Mansion, because of Li Jing's early preparations, the entire Pingyang Mansion worked together to take strict precautions, and quickly curbed the spread of the plague in Pingyang Mansion. The rest of the places had no effective means to prevent the spread of the plague.

At the same time, Zhu Youjian also learned that Li Jing can only do this. When the plague spreads in other places, Li Jing has no solution.

Sighing, Zhu Youjian knew that Li Jing was also a human being, not an omnipotent god.

After reading the reports from various places for a while, Zhu Youjian shook his head, turned to Wang Chengen beside him and asked, "Big companion, what do you think of Li Jing's response to the plague?"

Wang Chengen peeked at Zhu Youjian, seeing Zhu Youjian's expressionless face, Wang Chengen couldn't guess what Zhu Youjian meant, so he had to reply cautiously: "Your Majesty, when the old slave arrived at Pingyang Mansion, Li Jing and the old slave Speaking of the plague, it seems that he has long foreseen that there will be a plague, so it is not unusual to take countermeasures."

Zhu Youjian sighed and said: "Seeing the plague happening now, do you admire him? To be honest, I admire him too. Li Jing is a talent! Not only foresaw the plague, but also prepared countermeasures But the officials in other places never thought about the plague, let alone how to deal with it, if the officials in other places can be like Li Jing, why would Ming not be able to rejuvenate!"

Hearing this, Wang Chengen thought to himself: "If all the officials in Daming were like Li Jing, would you still be able to keep your throne? Li Jing had no intention of rebelling, otherwise, I'm afraid he would have led his troops to the capital long ago. !"

To be honest, Wang Chengen has never been able to figure out Li Jing's intentions. It is said that Li Jing wants soldiers, soldiers, money and money, and has no respect for the emperor at all, but he just doesn't rebel. If he were the second person, he would have held high Against the flag.

Seeing that Wang Chengen was silent, Zhu Youjian shook his head and said, "Big companion, how do you think I should treat Li Jing? Needless to say, rewarding money, he is richer than me, so let's get promoted, what position will he give? Is there any way to make him pay?" He has no soldiers in his hands, and he does things for me wholeheartedly?"

Wang Chengen shook his head slightly, Li Jing's soldiers are not taken away at will, even if you appoint him as a civil servant, those soldiers are still his, because these soldiers are raised by Li Jing, worth several million taels a year , who can afford it?
In addition, if Li Jing had no soldiers in hand, who would listen to him?

The last time Li Jing went to Henan for disaster relief, why did those officials follow his orders?Because Li Jing's knife was hanging on the necks of those officials, and those who were disobedient would be removed and killed.

Li Jing holds a knife in one hand and gives money in the other, so those officials will be obedient.

If Li Jing didn't have soldiers, he would be ignored by the officials of Daming.

But Wang Chengen can't say this to Zhu Youjian, it is purely to make himself feel uncomfortable.

After thinking for a while, Wang Cheng'en said: "Your Majesty, Li Jing is a merchant who joined the army. Because of his meritorious service in besieging and suppressing bandits, he was briefly dismissed by the emperor. The emperor has already appointed Li Jing as a general in Shanxi. If he is promoted again, he will be the general of the party. Now, Li Jing is all self-respecting in the army. Once he becomes the general town, I am afraid that he will have to raise troops blatantly. Unless Li Jing is transferred to Beijing to serve as a civilian official, but that is only afraid that the officials in the court will be dissatisfied, and Li Jing will not be happy. Wish, once Li Jing is in a hurry, don't do anything lawless!"

What Wang Chengen said was actually nothing. Zhu Youjian asked him if there was any way, and he gave reasons why it was not feasible throughout the article.

In fact, Wang Chengen didn't say a word: If Li Jing comes to the capital, I'm afraid you, Zhu Youjian, will have even more trouble sleeping and eating.

But Zhu Youjian was very satisfied with Wang Chengen's answer, because although these words were useless, they revealed Wang Chengen's loyalty to Zhu Youjian.

After pondering for a while, Zhu Youjian said: "Since this is the case, Li Jing will not move for the time being, and let him take up the current position. In addition, I am thinking that we can't ask Li Jing for help in everything, and we have to find a way by ourselves. You are in Pingyang Mansion Didn’t you see how Li Jing handles the salt affairs? Let’s use his method to manage the salt affairs, so I’ll leave this to you!”

Wang Chengen was taken aback when he heard that, Li Jing was able to implement the New Deal smoothly because the Salt Lake was under his control, and under Li Jing's strength, no one dared to disagree.

But even if Li Jing is so powerful, if he is not careful, there will be fraudulent activities, and he happened to witness it with his own eyes when it happened.

Zhu Youjian asked him to deal with the salt administration. He was in the middle of the court, and all the things were done by the people below, who couldn't see or listen. Those salt officials and salt merchants still fooled him to death?
Thinking of this, Wang Chengen hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, this old servant is ignorant and lacks the ability to do such a big thing. This old slave just wants to serve the Emperor well! The Emperor should find someone capable to do the matter of salt administration!"

Seeing that Wang Chengen refused this errand, Zhu Youjian stared at Wang Chengen intently. After watching for a while, Zhu Youjian shook his head slightly and sighed: "I know this is an errand that offends others, but if you don't even want to do this for me One thing, who else in this world is willing to do this for me?"

Seeing Zhu Youjian's heartbroken look, Wang Chengen fell to his knees with a thud, and said while kowtowing: "It's not that this old slave refuses to do things for the emperor, it's really a big matter, and the person who does this must first have absolute confidence." The power, even the right to life and death, the old slave is an internal official, if he has such a large power in his hands, the ministers in the court must think that the old slave is a person like Wei Zhongxian, I am afraid that someone will impeach the old slave every day Slave, how will the emperor deal with it then?"

Hearing this, Zhu Youjian couldn't help sighing. He knew better than anyone else the ministers in the court. If he gave Wang Chengen such great power, there would inevitably be a scene that Wang Chengen was worried about. At that time, he really couldn't protect Wang Chengen.

If he can't save Wang Chengen, it would be a joke to let Wang Chengen implement the new salt policy.

Waving his hand, Zhu Youjian said: "Big companion, get up, I don't blame you, it's because I didn't think carefully."

Upon hearing this, Wang Chengen kowtowed three more times before getting up.

Zhu Youjian pondered blankly for a while and suddenly said: "Governor Zhang Zongheng reported that Cao Wenzhao purchased a large number of military horses from outside the mouth, and the total number exceeded [-]. I don't know where Cao Wenzhao got so much money to buy horses. , I don’t know why Cao Wenzhao bought so many horses? Companion, did you meet Cao Wenzhao when you came to Pingyang Mansion?”

Wang Chengen shook his head hastily when he heard this, and said, "I haven't seen Cao Wenzhao in Pingyang Mansion, but I know that Cao Wenzhao met Li Jing a few months ago, so I guess the money for the horse is Li Jing There is no doubt about it, but I don’t know whether Li Jing is buying horses for Cao Wenzhao or for himself.”

Zhu Youjian nodded slightly, sighed and said: "I am worried that Cao Wenzhao has been bought by Li Jing... It is said that Cao Wenzhao's troops in Lu'an Mansion have switched defenses with Li Jing's troops, and Cao Wenzhao's troops have arrived Pingyang Mansion. And Cao Wenzhao didn’t show up when you arrived at Pingyang Mansion, what does he mean?”

Wang Chengen shut up immediately when he heard that, Zhu Youjian was too suspicious, and he had doubts about all the generals who led the army, so he couldn't speak for Cao Wenzhao at this time.

After pondering for a while, Zhu Youjian said: "Cao Wenzhao cannot be allowed to stay in Pingyang Mansion in Shanxi, and let him lead his troops to encircle and suppress the bandits in Hebei, and Chen Qiyu will be under his control."

Wang Chengen opened his mouth wide when he heard this, and thought: Your majesty, you are probably confused, right?Who is Cao Wenzhao?Originally, Cao Wenzhao was the most suitable candidate for encircling and suppressing bandits, but you chose Chen Qiyu, and now Cao Wenzhao is under Chen Qiyu's command, can Chen Qiyu command him?
However, Wang Chengen did not dare to speak for Cao Wenzhao after all, but asked cautiously: "What about the rogues in Shanxi?"

Zhu Youjian waved his hands and said, "There are so many soldiers in Li Jing's hands, let Li Jing go and suppress the bandits in Shanxi!"

Wang Chengen shook his head secretly when he heard this, if Li Jing really wanted to encircle and suppress the bandits, he would have done it long ago, why do you need to make an order?I'm afraid Li Jing won't even pay attention to your will.

Even Cao Wenzhao may not pay much attention to your will now, otherwise, as the commander-in-chief of Shanxi, how could he let the rogues in Zezhou make trouble there but ignore it?
Suddenly Wang Chengen was startled. I'm afraid Cao Wenzhao had already reached an agreement with Li Jing: not to move the rogues in Zezhou area.

Otherwise, why did Cao Wenzhao and Li Jing ignore the bandits in Zezhou?

It is certain that Li Jing raised the thief to respect himself. Presumably Cao Wenzhao must have benefited from Li Jing and let Li Jing raise the thief to respect himself.

Did the emperor really guess right, Cao Wenzhao has been bought by Li Jing?
If Cao Wenzhao had already been bought by Li Jing, then Cao Wenzhao would not follow Chen Qiyu's order if he was sent to Hebei to encircle and suppress the bandits this time.

Thinking of Cao Wenzhao's character, Wang Chengen sighed, if even a loyal general like Cao Wenzhao was no longer loyal to the emperor, then there would be no hope for Ming Dynasty.

However, Wang Chengen still had a glimmer of hope after all, and immediately said: "Your Majesty, this old slave will let Xiong Mingyu (Shangshu of the Ministry of War) pass the order to Cao Wenzhao."

Zhu Youjian nodded slightly.

Wang Chengen saluted Zhu Youjian and hurried out of the palace.

Naturally, Wang Chengen would not go to the Ministry of War to find Xiong Mingyu in person. Firstly, his identities did not match, and he could not bypass the cabinet and directly give orders to the Ministry of War.

In fact, there is no need for Wang Chengen to go in person for such tasks as sending letters. Normally, it is enough to send a small eunuch to send letters to the cabinet, and then call these important ministers to the emperor for Zhu Youjian to order.

However, Zhu Youjian is in a really bad mood now. If the cabinet reports any bad news to Zhu Youjian, then Zhu Youjian may not know what to do.

When Wang Chengen arrived at the cabinet, he saw a rare gathering of cabinet members.

Seeing Wang Chengen, Zhou Yanru, Wen Tiren and others got up one after another.

Wang Chengen greeted several cabinet members and then said: "The emperor ordered Cao Wenzhao to go to the north to encircle and suppress the bandits in Zhili, and Chen Qiyu will take charge of his troops."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yanru picked up a pen and wrote an order, then handed it to the clerk on duty at the gate and said, "Give it to Mr. Xiong immediately."

The little official took Zhou Yanru's warrant and hurried to the yamen of the Ministry of War.

　Monthly pass, monthly pass! !
　　
　
(End of this chapter)