The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Yu Dayou had a reputation as a scholar and was a martial arts scholar in the imperial court. He seemed to be a versatile scholar in both civil and military affairs. However, it can be seen from his failure in the imperial examination that his knowledge may not be good.

Perhaps, if he could go to the north to take the imperial examination, the outcome would be different.

However, it should be noted that Yu Dayou was a rare general in this era who was proficient in land and sea warfare.

Yu Dayou was born in Jinjiang, Quanzhou, near the seaside and is very familiar with the sea.

After he was transferred to the military, he studied tactics carefully. Those who can be admitted as scholars are naturally not stupid, so Yu Dayou has his own unique insights in running the army and fighting.

In this era, although the Ming Dynasty did not completely cut off its relations with overseas countries, it still accepted tribute from surrounding countries, but it did not take the initiative, so there were actually very few generals who were familiar with water warfare.

Even among several naval divisions, there are not many generals who truly understand the methods of water warfare. Most of them hold hereditary official positions.

Therefore, after he entered Zhejiang and Fujian to suppress the Japanese as a general, and after Hu Zongxian replaced Zhang Jing as the governor of the Japanese suppression, Yu Dayou was promoted to the commander-in-chief. He not only commanded the land battlefield to suppress the Japanese, but also commanded the naval forces here, and fought against the Japanese on the sea. Japanese pirates fight.

Yu Dayou would never have thought that Hu Zongxian would take action against him, because at this time, on the battlefield of suppressing Japanese invaders, his position as Yu Dayou could not be replaced by anyone.

According to the evidence, in just two months after being taken into Beijing by Suo, the Ming army could only maintain the suppression of Japanese pirates on land. The naval forces did not dare to patrol the sea after suffering several defeats at sea.

According to Hu Zongxian's plan reported to the court, Tan Lun and Qi Jiguang each trained a new army to suppress the Japanese, and the enemy at sea could only be temporarily abandoned.

In Yu Dayou's view, the most effective way to resist Japanese pirates is to defend the enemy on the sea, which requires a large number of large warships, so he has been applying to Hu Zongxian to build new large ships to defend against the enemy, but the approval he received every time was disappointing. A pitifully small amount.

Yu Dayou knew why Hu Zongxian ordered Tan Lun and Qi Jiguang to organize and train the new army. It was not only to deal with the rampant Japanese pirates, but also to collect accounts. The additional taxes and levies sent each year were not a small number, and there were also fees charged from merchants. They needed some Something to use up the money collected.

Zhigui knows that he actually thought about it after more than ten years of ups and downs in the officialdom. He had already reported these things before, but he didn't expect that he, who originally planned to be with Guang, would do it as long as Hu Zongxian could allocate the money for the suppression of Japanese invaders on time. Suppress the Japanese and don't get involved in other things. Unfortunately, God didn't do what he wanted, and he ended up blocking others' way.

Wei Guangde has already entered the officialdom, and this is the prison of Fusi in Beizhen. He is really not afraid of ears across the wall. Even if there are people, they are sent by Lu Bing, so now Yu Dayou starts to talk to Wei Guangde about his experience as an official over the years. .

He was too upright at the beginning, and was ostracized by his colleagues everywhere. One supervisor even dared to write a letter to talk nonsense about the Japanese military because he was a martial artist. He said angrily: "How can a small school write a letter? He can be beaten with a stick and his position will be taken away."

As a result, the official position of Qianhu in the Kinmen Guards Station was deprived. It was not until Mao Bowen went to Annan and Yu Dayou submitted a letter to offer suggestions that he was noticed by Mao Bowen, then Minister of War, and then used him to guard Tingzhou and Zhangzhou.

Not to mention, after that, the superiors Yu Dayou followed were either jealous of their talents or embezzling military merits. Anyway, because Yu Dayou would not flatter the superiors and give them gold and silver, they rubbed Yu Dayou countless times. Fortunately, the nobles from the capital whom he met when he participated in the martial arts examination were from Only with the help of others can one survive in the army until the Japanese invasion breaks out.

"I don't want to fight with them anymore. I just want to fight for the country and eliminate the invading Japanese pirates this morning. But I still can't escape this prison sentence."

Speaking of this, Yu Dayou couldn't help but feel depressed. He was now in jail. Although judging from the previous two interrogations, Hu Zongxian's accusations against him were completely false, but the presiding court official still asked him to plead guilty. If If it weren't for the protection of the captain in Jinyi, I might have beaten him into submission.

"Uncle Yu didn't ask Mr. Lu to deal with it?"

Wei Guangde didn't understand why Lu Bing openly stood behind Yu Dayou, and those people from the Criminal Department, Dali Temple, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate were still insisting on punishing him.

Regarding Wei Guangde's question, Yu Dayou remained silent.

He had feelings about some things, but had no evidence, so it was useless to say more.

Sometimes, maybe you can get away with it by pretending to be stupid.

He just whispered: "Wenfu privately talked to the Ministry of Punishment and the Dali Temple gang, but they said that the higher-ups had to suppress it and had to do it."

Wei Guangde blinked, knowing something was wrong. It seemed that Hu Zongxian might have said something to Yan Song and Yan Shifan, and it was these two people who wanted to punish Yu Dayou.

If that were the case, what he thought was very simple at first would become complicated, because it was obvious that Yan Shifan's path would not work.

Don't talk about why Wei Guangde thought of the Yan family and his son, isn't that simple?

First, Hu Zongxian is a member of the Yan family. This is a matter well known to the court. Several people knew about Hu Zongxian at the beginning. If Zhao Wenhua had not been the one to pull the strings, Hu Zongxian might still have continued to serve as the censor in Zhejiang.

Secondly, people from the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple still dare to insist on Lu Bing’s public platform. Without the support of the Yan family, it is impossible to do it. Nowadays, only Emperor Jiajing can fight with Lu Bing. Yan Song.

Both of them were trusted by Emperor Jiajing, but the government affairs were left to Yan Song, while the intelligence was left to Lu Bing. The two men had different divisions of labor. It was really uncertain what would happen if the lawsuit went to the imperial court.

"What does Mr. Lu mean?"

Wei Guangde knew that Lu Bing might have a solution, but he didn't know what he planned.

"Let's hold it off for now. It'll be fine if I go to court a few more times. As long as I don't say anything, they won't have any evidence to prove anything."

Yu Dayou shook his head and smiled bitterly.

"For what exactly?"

Although Yu Dayou's words were simple, Wei Guangde generally understood Lu Bing's thoughts. Now that he was in the limelight, he could avoid it for the time being. After all, the case was not tried in Jinyiwei, but in a joint trial of three divisions. His influence on the case was really not as good as that of Yan Jiaqiang.

But what Wei Guangde is concerned about is what Yu Dayou knew that would lead him to where he is today.

Xu Bangrui's letter said that some time ago, many Jiangnan officials collectively defeated Hu, seemingly trying to imitate the previous routine of defeating Zhao Wenhua. Hu Zongxian seemed to think that Yu Dayou was also from this group, so he acted like a chicken and killed the chicken to scare the monkeys.

This time Yu Dayou was silent for a long time before sighing and saying: "It probably has something to do with the battle at Cengang in Zhoushan. Hu Zongxian adjusted the military deployment without informing me, allowing the Japanese pirates to find opportunities to break out. I don't know the rest. .”

Yu Dayou told his guess, but Wei Guangde was frightened.

Hu Zongxian impeached Yu Dayou and let the Japanese pirates escape. At that time, Wei Guangde thought that the situation on the battlefield was changing rapidly, and it was not surprising that something went wrong. The Japanese pirates just escaped because of good luck. Who would have thought that according to Yu Dayou, Hu Zongxian might have deliberately set off the Japanese pirates. In short, it is no wonder why Fujian officials wrote in large numbers to impeach Hu Zongwo.

Many people have noticed it, but there is no evidence.

If so, Yu Dayou would not have to stay in prison.

"Uncle Yu's grievances, Master Lu didn't go to heaven to listen?"

Wei Guangde asked softly again.

"Upon hearing this, it's an act of ignorance. There is no room for redemption."

However, Yu Dayou shook his head and said, "At that point, according to the words of the emperor, for the great cause of suppressing Japanese invaders in Jiangnan, you can only use me to sacrifice the flag. You can't say it, absolutely can't say it."

Wei Guangde nodded. Hu Zongxian was now in charge of the suppression of Japanese pirates in Jiangnan. His status and importance were definitely far greater than that of Yu Dayou. In Emperor Jiajing's view, it might be worth sacrificing a Yu Dayou to succeed Hu Zongxian, as long as he could fully contribute to the suppression of Japanese invaders.

After a while, no one pays attention to this case. If we find another opportunity to make peace with the Yan family, maybe one day Yu Dayou will be able to get out of prison.

At this time, Wei Guangde naturally would not say anything about his original plan. He still thought of going to Yan Shifan to talk to him, but now it seems that he can't.

After coming out of prison, Wei Guangde did not go to see Lu Bing again. He went there when he first arrived. Lu Bing only met him once and arranged for someone to take him to see Yu Dayou, as if there was something important.

Originally, he wanted to help solve Yu Dayou's case. He heard about it when he was in Nanjing. Yu Dayou's case seemed to be a bit troublesome, and it was still being delayed. It turned out that there was an inside story involved, and no wonder Lu Bing couldn't do anything about it.

It's not that he can't deal with Hu Zongxian, but beating a dog depends on the owner. When the time comes, he will definitely have a fight with Emperor Jiajing and Yan Song. He is not an easy person to deal with.

In fact, the relationship between Lu Bing and Yan Song can be said to be very complicated. There is cooperation and opposition. Each of them still holds some handles on the other. Relatively speaking, Lu Bing will suffer a little, so Lu Bing is also a bit jealous.

Wei Guangde returned to his old days, going to the Hanlin Academy on time every day and taking time to visit Taichang Temple and Zhan Shifu every month.

Ordinarily, Wei Guangde's main work should be transferred to Zhan Shifu now, but who made Zhan Shifu have nothing to do all day long?

However, Wei Guangde's leisurely days did not last long. Chen Ju in the palace asked a young eunuch to quietly convey the news to him, and he might be sent out to patrol the border towns again.

To Wei Guangde's surprise, Lu Bing also sent someone to send him the same message the next day.

Such news came from two channels at the same time, making Wei Guangde believe it even if he didn't believe it.

It's just that Chen Ju just handed over the news but didn't explain the reason clearly. When Lu Bing came to Wei Guangde's side, Wei Guangde suddenly understood what was going on.

Two years ago, Xuanfu Town was in emergency. Emperor Jiajing sent Weng Pu, the Minister of War, to lead Wei Guangde on a border patrol. However, halfway through, the Tatars broke through the border wall and entered Xuanfu. Their border patrol ended hastily. Weng Pu He immediately took over the command of the battlefields of Xuanfu and Anda.

Some time ago, the Ministry of Military Affairs reported to Li Yong that a large number of soldiers and civilians in Ji Town fled, which resulted in a significant reduction in Ji Town's military strength and also affected the construction of the border wall.

Emperor Jiajing naturally paid great attention to this memorial after seeing it.

Ji Town is the last barrier of Beijing. If Ji Town is lost, the capital will be in danger, so I also want to find out what is the situation in Ji Town now, and whether the same is true for other military towns, especially Xuanda.

Emperor Jiajing still vaguely remembered a secret report sent by Jin Yiwei two months ago. It was not that important in itself, but it involved a name that was already unfamiliar to him, Shen Lian.

Most people in later generations know that Shen Lian was from Jinyiwei. He was retaliated by the Yan family for impeaching Yan Song and his son for their illegal acts. Emperor Jiajing finally chose to believe Yan Song's words and punished Shen Lian. He was demoted and sent to the border guard for the people.

But what most people don't know is that Shen Lian was not born in the military, but was a Jinshi in the 17th year of Jiajing. He served as magistrate of Liyang County. Because he was appreciated by Lu Bing, he moved to Jinyiwei to serve as a post.

It is very rare for a Jinshi to enter the Imperial Guard, so Emperor Jiajing was still somewhat impressed by this person.

As for punishing him in the first place, there were many reasons. Emperor Jiajing also made the choice to avoid turmoil in the court.

However, this seems to be one of the reasons why Lu Bing and Yan Song turned against each other. You must know that at that time, the two of them had just conspired to kill Qiu Luan, and their relationship was still quite good.

Lu Bing admired Shen Lian very much, but when he tried to intercede with Shen Lian, he was decisively rejected by Yan Shifan, which made Lu Bing quite unhappy at the time.

As for the secret report from Jin Yiwei, Shen Lian was naturally beheaded by Yang Shun, the governor of Xuanda, for having an affair with the White Lotus Sect.

Jin Yiwei, a dignified scholar of the Ming Dynasty, was actually a White Lotus cultist. Although Lu Bing only regarded this matter as an ordinary official news and passed it into the palace, in the eyes of Emperor Jiajing, he naturally understood the reason with his intelligence.

Who is Yang Shun? One of Yan Song's godsons.

Yan Song didn't have many sons, and he didn't have many godsons either. He only had three. Two of them were dead, one was Zhao Wenhua and the other was Qiu Luan. The remaining godson was Yang Shun, the current governor of Xuanda.

Previously, the cabinet suggested that Yang Shun should replace Yang Bo when he went to Xuanda, and Yang Bo would be transferred to the governor of Jiliao. Because Yang Shun had been in the Ministry of War for a long time, Emperor Jiajing readily agreed.

Let Yang Bo guard the north gate of the capital, and he will feel more at ease living in Xiyuan.

But he still didn't expect that Yang Shun would kill Shen Lian and be accused of such a crime just a short time after he left town.

This is a slap in his face, a slap in the face of the Ming Dynasty.

A dignified Jinshi and a Jinyiwei entered the White Lotus Sect. Thanks to Yang Shun, he compiled such a document and was approved by the Ministry of War. How did Xu Lun do it.

Because Shen Lian was punished as a border guard after being reprimanded, the outcome of the case was not reported to the Ministry of Punishment but managed by the Ministry of War.

Now that the problem of Jizhen has been exposed, Emperor Jiajing naturally wants to send someone to visit Jizhen. By the way, he also wants to check out the situation in Xuanfu and Datong to see if the military exploits reported by Yang Shun in the past year are true, because Jinyiwei’s secret report It is mentioned that Shen Lian once reprimanded the two towns of Xuanda and Da for killing good people and taking merit, which offended the governor of Xuanda and other officials.

Shen Lian is really a person who scolds wherever he goes. According to Jin Yiwei, he has offended all the officials in Xuanda University.

Killing good people and claiming merit is not only due to the dereliction of duty by the commander-in-chief, but also the governor and governor-general who bear the responsibility of supervision, so naturally they cannot escape the blame.

In fact, in border towns in this era, the governor-general was in charge of the governor and the general soldier, and the governor could also control the general soldier. It was hard to say who had the greater responsibility.