"Chief Yang," Kuang glanced sideways at the red-robed old eunuch sitting next to him, "This is the Imperial Horse Supervisor's Palm Seal Admiral Xing'an Xing's father-in-law, why don't you come forward and salute?" ”

"Father-in-law of Xing'an?" Yang Muyun had a flash of inspiration in his mind, "It's him, no wonder it's so familiar to him." He said to himself.

The red-robed old eunuch was none other than the nameless gray-clothed old eunuch who sneered at him at the door of the Imperial Horse Prison and played him around.

Seeing that Yang Muyun's face changed several times when he looked at him, Xing'an's pair of gray thick eyebrows raised slightly, "Master Yang, we meet again." ”

"Xia Guan has seen Father-in-law Xing'an." Yang Muyun hurriedly gathered his mind and bowed deeply to him.

"Director Yang is young and promising, and he is capable, no wonder the emperor also values you a lot." The wrinkles on Xing'an's face were crowded together when he looked at him, and his gaze turned to Kuang, "Master Kuang, now that the matter has been done, our family should also go back," he got up and owed to Kuang Wei, "Farewell!" ”

"Father-in-law go slowly" Kuang also stood up and arched his hand slightly, and glanced at Yang Muyun slightly, "Director Yang, send Father-in-law Xing'an with this official." ”

......

"Lord Shangshu," after seeing Xing'an board the carriage, Yang Muyun turned to Kuang and asked, "The errand you handed over to the lower officials yesterday was not completed, please punish you." ”

"Yesterday's errand?" Kuang smiled leisurely, and his eyes flashed, "Director Yang, you are young and promising, and you are capable, and even your father-in-law in Xing'an is quite praised." He smiled, flicked his sleeves, and floated away.

"Lord Shangshu ......" said this sentence Yang Muyun couldn't help but be stunned.

Back in the main room of the Qing Officials Division of the Ministry of War, Yang Muyun had not yet sat down in front of his bookcase, when he saw a scribe come in and say, "Lord Chief, Lord Lang Zhong has something to see you." ”

"Lu Yulin wants to see me?" Yang Muyun responded, and said secretly in his heart: "Lord Shangshu just looked for me, and Lord Langzhong asked me to meet again, how did this matter come together today?" ”

......

Yang Muyun entered Lord Langzhong's signing room full of doubts, only to see Lu Yulin sitting behind the bookcase, and when he saw him, he got up and said, "Master Yang, you are here!" ”

"Lord Langzhong," Yang Muyun bowed, "You don't know what to tell the lower official?" ”

"Chief Yang, sit down and talk!" Lu Yulin said with a smile and a wave.

Yang Muyun saw that he was kind and pleasant, and he was sure in his heart, so he turned around and sat down.

"Director Yang has made a great contribution as soon as he was transferred to our military department," Lu Yulin said with a smile: "He has made outstanding achievements at such a young age, and the coming days will be unlimited!" ”

"What do you mean by that?" As soon as he came in, he was praised by his boss, and Yang Muyun was a little confused.

"Why does Director Yang knowingly ask?" Lu Yulin glanced at him meaningfully, "Father-in-law Xing'an has personally come to our Criminal Department, and you have really shown your face on this errand." ”

The more Yang Muyun listened, the more confused he became, and he couldn't help but say: "Lord Langzhong, yesterday the lower official went to the Imperial Horse Supervisor to ask for 10,000 military horses on the order of Lord Shangshu, and I met that my father-in-law went to New Taicang to receive rice, and the result was ......."

"As a result, you mobilized the merchants in the capital to buy the rice of the father-in-law at the price of one tael of silver and one stone of rice, and quelled the turmoil in the inner court, for which the father-in-law of Xing'an was particularly grateful, and he came to the military department early in the morning to visit Lord Shangshu...... "Lu Yulin said with a smile: "You must know that our military department used to deal with the imperial horse supervisor The most difficult thing to deal with, every time the military department sent someone to them to ask for military horses, the father-in-law of Xing'an was like sending a flower child, and it would be good to give one of ten horses." For this reason, Lord Shangshu did not complain to the emperor about the state of the imperial horse supervisor...... "The more he talked, the more his eyebrows fluttered,

"This time, the father-in-law of Xing'an came to the door in person, and he also brought the approval of 10,000 military horses, and he also praised you in front of Lord Shangshu......" said and laughed.

"I mobilized the merchant to buy the rice of the inner court at a high price?" Yang Muyun was stunned and said: "It's only been a few days since Xia Guan first came to the capital, and he hasn't known a few people, how can he have such great ability......

"The merchants are all under your banner," Lu Yulin glanced at the corner of his eye, "You said that it has nothing to do with this matter, then it's really strange...... Xing'an's father-in-law said that you came to the door to explain the matter to him, would he still admit the wrong person? Lu Yulin saw that he refused to admit it, and said that he was deliberately covering it up.

"If Lord Lang Zhong has nothing else to do, the lower official will go back to the main room," Yang Muyun got up and bowed, "The lower official has official documents to be dealt with, so he won't accompany the lord." ”

"Chief Yang," Lu Yulin hurriedly tugged at the sleeves of his robe, and said sharply: "The lord of the main office doesn't need to be in a hurry to get busy in advance, there is another important matter that this official has to assign you to do." ”

"Lord Langzhong, please speak!" Yang Muyun sat back in the chair when he heard this.

"Director Yang, please take a look......," Lu Yulin said, handing over a few points of the newspaper.

Yang Muyun stretched out his hand to take it, unfolded it and took a look, only to see that it was written: "On August 17, the twelfth year of orthodoxy, thousands of captives attacked Da'ankou, our army and people fought bravely to attack the enemy, captured, garrison Wang Yingliang led the troops to chase him, and met an ambush in Chehe Ridge, in addition to using bows and arrows, the captives were mixed with dozens of firearms during the period, our army was caught off guard, and the casualties were very heavy......

"The Tartars actually have firebolts?" Yang Muyun felt a little unbelievable after reading it, "They don't even have the iron materials to make knives, guns, bows and arrows, how can they make firearms?" And where did they get the gunpowder? ”

Lu Yulin didn't answer, and glanced at Yang Muyun, "Director Yang will look at it again......

Yang Muyun unfolded a newspaper again, "On August 23, the twelfth year of orthodoxy, more than 10,000 captives attacked Fengjiabao at night, commanded the servant Luo Hao to lead the troops to fight hard, beheaded a lot, the corpses of the captives were everywhere under the fort, the captives were a little, and when they came back, when the battle reached Yin, suddenly heard a loud noise, the sound moved the heavens and the earth, the fort wall collapsed more than ten zhang, and the captives swarmed in, Luo Yanshi was covered with dozens of wounds, and died of exhaustion, and the garrison was killed in battle, and more than 5,000 soldiers died......"

Reading this, Yang Muyun frowned, raised his eyes to look at Lu Yulin, "What is written in the Di newspaper should be that the Tartars planted explosives under the city and blew up the city wall, which led to the death of thousands of officers and soldiers under Luo Yanshi, and the fall of Fengjiabao ......" and then muttered: "The wall of the border fort, although it is not as thick as the high wall of Xuanfu Datong City, it will not be easily broken, and the city wall can be blown down, and the explosives required must be a lot, and the Tartars have no fixed place, so a large amount of explosives must not be made by themselves, it must be taken from my Ming ......Dynasty." Seeing Lu Yulin's head bowing slightly, his heart sank, and he said with a solemn face: "Lord Langzhong means that someone in my Ming Dynasty is smuggling arms to the Tartars?" ”

Lu Yulin nodded with a heavy face, "My Ming soldiers are more than Mengren, what they rely on is the sharpness of firearms, and now some people are selling them in large quantities to Saibei, in the long run, the advantage of my Ming soldiers is no longer there, how can I rely on the Great Wall to defend the Beijing Division?" ”

"Who do you think is smuggling arms to the Tartars?" Yang Muyun asked.

"Private arms are forbidden among the people," Lu Yulin's eyes became solemn, "Such a large amount of arms is trafficked to Saibei, it should be ......" said here The voice stopped, and his eyes looked at Yang Muyun.

"My lord is saying that there is a mole within my Ming military?" Yang Muyun said.

Lu Yulin nodded, his eyes became deep, "If the arms are to be transported outside the fortress, they have to go through many passes and check at various levels, if there is no military background, it is impossible to do it." ”

"Does Lord Shangshu know about this?" Yang Muyun asked.

"Such a big thing, what about Lord Shangshu

Will it not smell? Lu Yulin said.

"Then did Lord Shangshu report this matter to the emperor?" Yang Muyun asked again.

Lu Yulin shook his head slightly, and said in a deep voice: "If Lord Shangshu reports this matter to the emperor, the emperor will definitely hand over this matter to Dongchang and Jinyiwei to handle it...... his tone became heavy, "If that happens, those people will definitely concoct charges and uproot our military department...... As a result, not only is the case difficult to solve, but the dispute between the inner and outer courts is in full swing. ”

"Is the battle between the inner and outer courts so powerful?" Yang Muyun was secretly surprised in his heart, and said quietly on his face: "Why did Lord Langzhong tell me this? Don't you know that Xia Guan is also from Jinyiwei? ”

"But Director Yang is my courtier, and he will definitely not do this thing that the relatives are painful and the enemies are happy," Lu Yulin said calmly: "Yesterday's incident has proved that Director Yang is different from other factory guards...... After a pause, he said slowly: "Wang Zhen sent assassins to hide among the fathers-in-law of the inner court, and took advantage of the chaos to assassinate the master of ceremonies and the master of ceremonies, with the intention of blaming the household department, but Director Yang divided the matter one by one in front of the emperor, making it difficult for the prince's conspiracy to succeed and avoiding a dispute between the inner and outer courts. Not only that, but you also mobilized the merchants to buy rice from the fathers-in-law of the inner court, calming the dissatisfaction of the inner court, and the court situation has stabilized because of your own strength. ”

"Lord Langzhong," Yang Muyun was a little moved in his heart when he heard this, "You are too elevated to the lower officials, the lower officials only know how to serve the country loyally, and the lower officials you said really dare not be the lower officials." ”

"Now there is a major matter that needs to be entrusted to Director Yang," Lu Yulin said with some excitement: "The things mentioned in the Di newspaper endanger my Daming safety, and I hope that Director Yang can secretly visit clearly, find out the mastermind behind it, and return me to a peace at the Ming border." ”

"Lord Langzhong," Yang Muyun hurriedly returned the salute, "This matter is very important, when the subordinate first arrived at the military department, he was soft-spoken, and he was not familiar with everything, so I am afraid it will be difficult to take on a big responsibility." ”

"Because of this, it is more appropriate for Director Yang to do this," Lu Yulin said in a low voice: "You are new to the capital, you are born in both people and land, and there are not many people in the military department and the military who are familiar with you, so it is just cheap......"

"But the subordinate officer doesn't know anything about the internal affairs of the army, how can he find out?" Yang Muyun said with a frown.

"It's not difficult, this official can explain a thing or two to you first," Lu Yulin thought for a moment and said: "My Ming capital garrison is mainly divided into three battalions, divided into five military battalions, the Shenji battalion and the three thousand battalions, the main use of the Shenji battalion is firearms, Lord Shangshu has always suspected that firearms are flowing out of the Shenji Battalion, and he has sent someone to go to the Shenji Battalion privately to feel and rehearse, and found that all the firearms are complete, and there is no sign of missing for no reason. ”

"Oh?" Yang Muyun asked, "How did Master Shangshu touch the row?" ”

"Actually, this kind of method is also very easy," Lu Yulin said: "The emperor is concerned about the war in the southwest Luchuan, and wants to send the Shenji Battalion south to participate in the war, and ordered the left attendant of the military department, Lord Hou, to take care of military affairs, and Lord Hou will inspect the armament of the Shenji Battalion in the name of the order, so the situation of the Shenji Battalion will naturally be clear." ”

"Even the firearms of the Shenji Battalion have not flowed out, and the armies of other border armies and guards do not have many firearms, and it is even more impossible for them to flow out in large quantities." Yang Muyun frowned and said.

"That's natural," Lu Yulin agreed, "When there is no major military movement in the imperial court, the distribution of ordnance is only maintained at a minimum level, and the Mongolian people just want to buy arms from the border army, and the border army has not much to give them." ”

"Since the army has no surplus arms to supply to the Mongols, where did the Mongols buy the munitions?" Yang Muyun thought hard, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he asked Lu Yulin: "Lord Langzhong, why don't we start from the source of gunpowder, what are the gunpowder and gunpowder?"