Dawn.

The morning star is still in the western sky, the city of Beijing is dark, several streets near Zhongnanhai are brightly lit, a torch is inserted upside down on the door curtain, burning crackling, several teams of guards keep patrolling back and forth, bayonets are bright, adding a bit of murderous aura to this lonely cold night.

Zhou Peigong ignored the smiling faces of the palace guards, insisted on not going into the hut on the side to rest, and wandered around the Han Wangfu in Zhongnanhai with a gloomy face.

The Battle of Texas had been going on for seventeen days, and he was angry that the battle was stalemate.

Since the year before last Lin Feng personally conquered Liaodong, the Han Dynasty has established an iron law: all matters of the Guards are decided by the Han Wang, and the Yamen of the General Staff is not allowed to interfere, so this time the Guards Army attacked the Dezhou campaign, his General Staff Yamen basically stood next to the side to lay a hand, before the battle was launched, Zhou Peigong was kept in the dark when the personnel and horses were mobilized and the military deployment was made, if it was just like this, it was not a big deal, the Yamen of the General Staff could stand aside and watch coldly, but as the war dragged on, The demand for baggage on the front line is also increasing, and it has long exceeded the limit that the logistics system of the Guards can bear, so it has to pull the general staff yamen to receive it halfway, and it is called "Xiangxie", in fact, people with a discerning eye know that this is simply wiping their butts: after conquering Texas, everyone knows that it is the Han King who is wise and martial, and Lord Ma Jinliang is fierce and brave; And if he is frustrated, among the "sinners" who accompany him, he Zhou Peigong will not be able to run away first.

After about half an hour, the heavy palace gate finally "creaked", flashed open the small door on one side, and a eunuch shouted in a thin voice, "Your Highness, please enter the palace!" ”

Zhou Peigong immediately stood still, looked at Li Guangdi's sedan chair from a distance, and saw the sedan chair leaning slightly, Li Guangdi walked out slowly, and smiled at Zhou Peigong, "Brother Pei, please first-"

The relationship between Zhou Peigong and Li Guangdi has not been very close, but there is no grudge, in fact, this is not surprising, although they are both the right-hand men of the King of Han, but regardless of origin, personality, interests, and intersections are very different, so although colleagues have been in the past few years, there is almost no personal relationship, and when they see each other on weekdays, they often nod their heads, just today, the two are waiting outside the house at the same time, only a few feet apart, but they just said "morning" when they met, and then went their own way, and there was no interest in talking.

If there must be some mystery inside, people with a heart can think that the reason why this civil and military minister is like this is to avoid suspicion, so as not to give King Han the impression of "forming a party", in fact, it is not unreasonable to say so, but in terms of the personalities of the two, the power plot is really secondary, and the two really lack interest in communication.

Li Guangdi is the head of the civil officials, the traditional general officialdom order, although Zhou Peigong is anxious, but where dare he let him walk behind him, he hurriedly bowed slightly, "Don't dare, kill the lower officials - Li Xiang, please!" ”

Li Guangdi smiled slightly, took the lead in stepping through the palace gate, and when the two of them staggered, they turned their heads sideways, arched their hands towards Zhou Peigong, and said with a smile, "Brother Pei Gong is polite, my lord, please-"

Zhou Peigong smiled and returned the salute, dropped half of Li Guangdi's position, and whispered, "Li Xiang, there's news from Texas!" ”

"Oh?!" Li Guangdi nodded, "Ma Jinliang has defeated Texas?!" ”

"Where would it be so fast!" Zhou Peigong only felt bitter in his mouth, shook his head and said, "After fighting for more than half a month, I only entered the inner perimeter of Texas yesterday - according to the speculation of the lower officials, it should be now to bombard the city wall in the fort!" ”

Li Guangdi sighed, "Brother Pei, this year, our big man has fought two big battles in a row, and he finally lived in peace for a few months, but now he has to use troops again, which is really difficult to do!" He smiled bitterly, "The weather in July and August, the weather is very ripe, people everywhere are tight, and the magistrates of the prefectures are complaining bitterly, saying that everyone has been dragged to war by you, and there are only women and children harvesting in the fields, how can this year's autumn endowment be born?!" ”

"What's the way for the lower officials?! This is not ......" Saying this, he couldn't help but cover his mouth, his face was full of embarrassment, and changed his words, "...... The military situation is urgent, and the lord has no choice but to do it! ”

Li Guangdi nodded, there is no interface, if you continue to talk about it, it will inevitably be a little resentful, although you know that the other party will not leak indiscriminately, and with the generosity of the lord, even if you hear it, most of them will laugh, but after all, it is not polite. Under the guidance of the eunuch on duty, the two walked through the palace ban, and there were many sentry posts along the way, and the guards who patrolled everywhere saw the two of them, and they all bowed and saluted from a distance.

After receiving the report from the guards, Lin Feng hurriedly got up in his clothes, wiped his face roughly, and hurried to the front yard, at this time Zhou Peigong and Li Guangdi had already arrived at the door, so they met the two in the study.

When Li Guangdi saw Lin Feng, he was stunned, Lin Feng was not familiar at all at the moment, his long hair was tied behind his head indiscriminately, his eye bubbles were swollen, a few pieces of eye feces were faintly visible, his face was full of sleep, he kept yawning, and when he saw the two of them in a blink of an eye, he raised his hand casually, "No need to salute - the two gentlemen are sitting here!" ”

After the two of them sat down, Lin Feng rubbed his eyes and said, "Looking for me so early, there must be something wrong, right?" No mistakes, no less words! He squinted his eyes and said to Zhou Pei, "The old rules, military affairs first, Pei Gong, you say first." ”

"Yes," Lin Feng was so decadent, Zhou Peigong turned a blind eye, and immediately got up and said, "Back to the lord, just now the General Staff received a report from the Dezhou military that Ma Jinliang had attacked the city wall of Dezhou, but he seemed to have doubts about the siege of the city, and the minister did not dare to be self-conscious, so he entered the palace overnight and petitioned the lord to decide. ”

Lin Feng took the fold, opened it casually, and after only two glances, he understood what Ma Jinliang meant, and couldn't help laughing, "It seems that Wang Chengye really has two brushes, and our General Ma is bitter!" ”

"Yes, Lord Mingjian!" Zhou Peigong said, "In fact, the minister thinks that today's Texas is not the Texas of the past, Shandong has been in business for many years, and its strength cannot be underestimated. ”

"Yes, in fact, we were all too optimistic, think about the fortifications to the fortifications, and the morale to the morale, right? No matter how good the fortifications are, they have to be guarded, and now the situation is so clear, their Shandong soldiers should be demoralized, and they dare not fight to the death, but they didn't expect people to work so hard. ”

"That's right, Ma Jinliang has been repeatedly frustrated now, not because the soldiers are incompetent, not because the soldiers are unfavorable, but because the strategy has not worked!" Zhou Peigong echoed, "The minister thinks that now that Texas is nearly halfway down, the lesson that our Han has taught Shandong is enough, dare to ask the lord, can you appease it?!" ”

"Fu must be caressed, but according to the current situation, how to Fu really doesn't all depend on our ideas," Lin Feng looked at the fold and said regretfully, "Wang Chengye is a talent, Shandong Bing showed a big face this time, what a good head!" ”

Li Guangdi and Zhou Peigong looked at each other and smiled bitterly. Lin Feng continued, "The two Aiqing are both widows, and I won't hide this from you - in fact, our Han and Zhao Shenqiao still have some contacts, a few days ago when the war broke out in Texas, the widow went to Wang Shirong to hand over a letter to Zhao Shenqiao, to see what it meant over there." ”

Zhou Peigong was taken aback, the two armies were fighting, and each other's top leaders were discussing with each other, as the top general of the military, but it was the first time he heard such a thing, and he couldn't help but ask, "Dare to ask the lord, what did Zhao Shenqiao say?!" ”

"I don't know, Wang Shirong hasn't returned yet!" Lin Feng groaned slightly, turned his head and said to Li Ergou who was standing aside, "You go to the military commander's yamen, and ask Wang Shirong to enter the palace immediately!" ”

"Yes!" Li Ergou bowed down to receive the order, and looked up at the night outside the door, "Lord Qiqi, it's still early at this time, and I'm afraid that Lord Wang hasn't ordered yet!" ”

"Then go to his house and tell him to get up at once!" Lin Feng waved his hand, and when Li Ergou went out, he turned his head and said to Zhou Pei, "Actually, this matter is not difficult to figure out, this battle in Texas, the widow doesn't want to fight, Wang Chengye doesn't want to fight, Zhao Shenqiao doesn't want to fight, but he has to fight, why?" It is because the people of Shandong are chaotic, and those corrupt officials want to divide one side and share the spoils and meat of the people, so they wantonly bewitch the people and spread rumors - do you know what they say to the people?! ”

Zhou Peigong was stunned and said, "This ...... Please also make it clear! ”

"Wang Shirong's military commander Yamen reported that now rumors are spreading in Ludi, and the people are panicking, and Shandong officials say to the people that once our Han gets Shandong, they will immediately move millions of people to Liaodong to reclaim the famine, of course, there are other sayings about our Han army, such as red eyebrows and green eyes, digging people's hearts and eating children, communist wives, etc., you say that if we fight over, can people not be afraid?!"

"This is a hateful matter!" Li Guangdi said angrily.

"So this thing is a bit difficult to do, we have to eat Texas!" Lin Feng frowned and said, "If you go to Texas, those corrupt officials who can't go to the stack will definitely be cold, as long as they run away, the next step will be to leave!" ”

Zhou Peigong suddenly said, "Lord Qi, according to the ministers, it is better for us to issue an edict to exempt the registered officials in Shandong from all their crimes, and the original people will be retained, and the position will remain unchanged. ”

Lin Feng shook his head, "I've also thought about this method, but I'm afraid I can't do it!" He touched his chin and said thoughtfully, "Shandong officialdom has been too rampant in recent years, and it is just a matter of scraping the ground, actually blocking the transportation between the north and the south, and causing trouble to the national economy and people's livelihood. ”

Li Guangdi nodded, and said to Zhou Pei, "What the lord said is extremely true, Brother Pei, if Shandong is pardoned today, those greedy and corrupt people will definitely have great confidence and despise the laws and disciplines of the imperial court, so where is the authority of my Han Dynasty?" How to rectify the rule of officials?! ”

Zhou Peigong nodded yes. In fact, he is still not convinced in his heart, in his opinion, everything should be focused on the overall situation at the moment, as long as the military can be successful, then how to sort out the officialdom atmosphere, how to maintain the authority of the central government, there are ways, but since the king of Han and the scholars are the same opinion, this idea can only stay in his heart, he avoided this topic, turned his head to Lin Feng and bowed, "Lord Qi, the minister still has a few military affairs!" ”

"Pei Gong, please speak!"

"This time, we sent troops to Dezhou, Henan Yang Qilong was very frightened, and now more than a dozen states such as Zhangde, Weihui and even Kaifeng have garrisoned a large army, about nearly 100,000 people!" Zhou Peigong said with a smile, "In addition, Yang Qilong's main army is still in Xinyang, and he has been trying to enter Hubei in the past few years, intending to peek into Jiangdong according to Jingxiang!" ”

"I know that." Lin Feng nodded, this information Wang Shirong had already reported, but he was not very worried, the strength of Yang Qilong's group was not good, and with the prolongation of the secession, the internal generals had different hearts, and the cohesion was getting worse and worse, for example, many gang bosses in southern and northern Henan did not listen to him very well, and the places he could really master were only Guide, Kaifeng, Chenzhou and other places in central Henan, southern Henan and some places on the border of Hubei, and the army under his command was also a mixture, with uneven combat effectiveness, and lack of equipment and poor training, Food and salary are insufficient, since the occupation of the important town of Xinyang, several years of repeated attacks on Hubei, but were defeated by the original Prince An Yue Le left behind the Qing army, the results of the battle are extremely weak. Because his performance is so bad, now China's powerful princes, including Taiwan's Zheng Jing and even Guangdong's Shang Zhixin, do not take him seriously, if you want to describe it, you can also borrow a sentence from the Three Kingdoms: "There are dry bones in the grave, there is nothing to worry about." ”

Thinking of this, Lin Feng smiled and said, "Yang Qilong's 100,000 army, how many people can fight?!" ”

"Lord Mingjian," Zhou Peigong also smiled, "The minister listened to the report of the staff officer of the Henan Division, more than ninety percent of these 100,000 people are forcibly coerced small people, and they are actually old and weak, and there are only 10,000 people left, but there are only 10,000 people, and there is little training, no armor, no firearms and cannons - according to the meaning of our General Staff Yamen, this group of miscellaneous soldiers and grass guards in their hometown, it is still a bit troublesome, but if they want to attack my border, I am afraid that even if Sun Tzu is reborn, there is nothing they can do!" ”

"Yang Qilong's matter is ranked behind Shandong, although Henan is barren, but in the end, it is an important place in the Central Plains, and it is a battle for soldiers, and it always has to be won!" Lin Feng looked back at the map behind the bookcase, "But if we take Shandong, I'm afraid we will have to expand the army, and our troops will be a little less!" ”

"Yes, the minister said Henan, it is for this matter!" Zhou Peigong smiled and arched his hand, "Lord Qiqi, although our Han has more than 200,000 troops now, but the territory is too vast. ”

Li Guangdi frowned when he heard this, and said worriedly, "You still want to expand the army?!" …… How much?! Brother Pei, I'm afraid the national strength is not enough, right? No mistakes, no less words! ”

Zhou Peigong smiled bitterly, "It's not that the subordinate officials are stubborn, it's really a compelling situation, and I have to do this!" He pointed to the map from afar and said to Li Guang, "Li Xiang, please see, don't say far, just say that in the northeast of Guanwai, our two provinces of Dahan, Ningjin and Nuergan, have thousands of miles of land and a population of six or seven million, but the garrison army is only Ma Ying's Sixth Cavalry Army and five brigades under the Governor's Mansion, and the total strength is only more than 22,000 people. ”

Li Guangdi was stunned for a moment, and Zhou Peigong added, "Besides, the soldiers of Ma Ying's subordinates will go out in the future, so in these two provinces, I am afraid that there will only be 10,000 people stationed in the garrison of these two provinces-" He pointed to Shanhaiguan, "Li Xiang, please see, such a gateway to the country, our Han Dynasty actually only sent more than 500 soldiers to garrison, so "negligent and ridiculous", if it were in his court, I am afraid that the lower officials would have been drowned by the adults of the court with spittle!" ”

Lin Feng frowned and said, "It's a little less, and if Shandong is conquered this time, I'm afraid we will have to expand the new army and garrison it......" He picked up the tea bowl, took a shallow sip, and said to Li Guang, "Now the imperial court has a lot of troops, and the financial revenue is okay?!" ”

"The lord forgives the sin, my Han has fought again and again, and the head of the Qianqian has no cultivation, so he is not very optimistic!" Li Guangdi's face was ugly, and he confessed, "Lord Qiqi, since the founding of the Han Dynasty, because of the establishment of the Beijing Division, he has accepted a lot of the balance of the previous dynasty, so compared to others, the foundation is still good, but since then, there have been many wars, and this silver has been sprinkled out like water, even if it is a mountain of gold and silver, it can't resist it!" ”

Lin Feng was embarrassed for a while, and said a little annoyed, "Okay, this widow knows that Jin Qing is the housekeeper of our big man, but he bothered!" After a few perfunctory words, he asked, "I'm asking if the army is expanded, can the court still be able to support it?!" ”

"Back to the lord, now my Han has raised more than 250,000 soldiers, and the treasury is half in this army!" Li Guangdi smiled bitterly, "It's okay in the past few years, we still have a little bit of food for the Han Dynasty, and it's not a big problem for the sergeant to eat, but this musket and artillery are old silver, if you want the minister to come to it, the minister wants to tell the truth, I don't know if the lord wants to hear it!" ”

Lin Feng was stunned for a moment, and looked at Li Guangdi fixedly, "Jin Qing, is there anything we can't say?!" ”

"The Lord forgives sins!" Li Guangdi bowed and looked up at Lin Feng directly, "The minister said honestly, now the money of the Han Dynasty is all in the hands of those merchants, as soon as the court fights, muskets, cannons, bullets, cloth, and grain are all purchased from them, and now the court is looking for the people to collect taxes with the left hand, and the silver is given to the merchants with the right hand, and in the long run, I am afraid that something will happen!" ”

Lin Feng's eyebrows furrowed, his face suddenly became gloomy, and he was silent.

Zhou Peigong glanced at Li Guangdi and added, "This matter is true, now most of our court's wealth is used for the military, and the military muskets and artillery are monopolized by the 'Hu Ji Tiexing', the military uniform cotton wool is monopolized by the Hui merchants, and the fuel, wood, and fur miscellaneous utensils are monopolized by the merchants of Liaodong. It's not a day's cold', this kind of thing has been a sign for many years, and now it is even more like a big one! - " He glanced up at Lin Feng, bowed his head and said, "-Please also ask the lord to be clear!" ”

Lin Feng was silent for a long time before he sighed and said with a wry smile, "I also know about this, but ......" He turned his head to look at the two ministers, and suddenly asked rhetorically, "According to your meaning, what should we do?!" ”

What to do?! Li Guangdi and Zhou Peigong looked at each other, really not knowing how to speak. How to strangle merchants, there are many precedents in history to learn from, if it is according to the method of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, it can be completed in less than two years, but will the King of Han agree to do this?!

Lin Feng looked at the faces of the two of them, waved his hand and said, "This is a big topic, if we do it now, we big men will have to break our muscles and bones," he glanced at Li Guangdi, and said in a deep voice, "Military is the most important thing - kill Wu Sangui, Zheng Jing, Geldan, and Bur Yagma first!" ”

Li Guang nodded yes, seeing that Lin Feng's face softened, he said cautiously, "Lord Qiqi, the minister thinks that this matter can also be slowly figured out-" Seeing Lin Feng's surprise, he added, "Why don't we start setting up the imperial court's workshops and workshops now, from now on, all the military supplies of our Han Dynasty are made by ourselves, so that the chamber of commerce and the consortium will not be able to borrow, and the imperial court can be killed, suppressed, and degraded, and there is a lot of way to advance and retreat, wouldn't it be good?!" ”

State enterprises?! Lin Feng was stunned for a while, then suddenly laughed, waved his hand and said, "Aren't Dai Zi and Master Dai of our Ministry of Industry in the mine all year round?" There are so many workshops in the Ministry of Industry, does Jin Qing still want to make a big deal? ! ”

"There are indeed a lot of workshops and smelting houses in the Ministry of Industry," Zhou Peigong frowned, "but for some reason, the output is getting worse, at the beginning, the guns and artillery for military supplies can still be self-sufficient, and now we have a lot of troops, they can't keep up, so when it comes to military weapons, we have to rely on 'Hu Ji Tiexing'......" He glanced at Lin Feng, it is not a secret that King Han has invested in this enterprise, everyone in the government and the opposition knows it, if it is not so, how can this small business house develop so rapidly in just a few years, Even the imperial court and the country are very important, "It is strange to say, the minister is also puzzled, the same workshop craftsmen, our Ministry of Industry has more money, but the cannons of the guns made by the Ministry of Industry are not as good as those made by businessmen, and there is a lot of discussion in the army, saying that Lord Dai Zidai is afraid of his wife, so he let his brother-in-law take his head." ”

Lin Feng smiled dumbly. Judging from Dai Zi's character, it is absolutely impossible to use power for personal gain, and the problem of the imperial court workshop is probably still a problem with the management system, but he does not plan to explain to the two ministers that this problem is a problem of the entire bureaucratic system, and even if the reason is clear, there is no way to solve it.

"Two gentlemen, you must know that now the merchants are a big help to us, without them, I'm afraid our big men can't even afford guns - without guns, how can soldiers go to war?!" Lin Feng frowned and said, "This matter, the widow thinks, it still has to be fussed-so next year's Spring Festival, in addition to the Ming Jing and the law calculation, our Han will also open a business department, so that all businessmen in the world know that if the Han is prosperous, the merchant will prosper, and if the Han is dead, the merchant will die, and we will stand in the same boat......" He turned his head, looked at the two ministers, and said, "What the widow means, can the two Aiqing understand?!" ”

Li Guangdi was taken aback, looked up, and said in amazement, "Industry and Commerce Section......" He wiped his sweat and said at a loss, "The minister is ignorant, this department has been unknown from ancient times to the present, and the minister has never heard of it-dare to ask the lord, even if he opens this business department, then ...... So what's the test?! ”

"This ...... "......Lin Feng was stumped for a while, and after thinking about it carefully, this problem is really difficult to handle, is it possible to test international trade?" Financial management? MLM? He really didn't know what it took to do business administration in the seventeenth century.

Seeing Lin Feng choking for a while, Li Guangdi wiped the cold sweat on his head and breathed a long sigh of relief, "Lord Mingjian, from ancient times to the present, the imperial court has raised scholars based on literature and policy, even if it is regarded as chasing the Tang and Song dynasties, it is not too much poetry, Zhou Yi, and the study of medical Taoism, and the ministers know that the eight shares are really flawed, and the world is dissatisfied, but they don't know that although the eight shares are ugly, they are clear morality, soothing people's hearts, and the righteousness of the Spring and Autumn Period, and my officials in China should be the model of the people, and take the eight shares for the moral hearts of the people, and for the education of the people, so the virtuous kings and wise ministers of the past dynasties, Knowing that the defects are inherited, I dare not replace them easily, and I am ...... here."

Lin Feng waved his hand impatiently and reprimanded, "What kind of virtuous monarchs of the past dynasties or something?" Isn't it Lao Zhu's family? Could it be that Jin Qing meant, I, Lin Feng, am not as good as Zhu Yuanzhang's old rascal? ! ”

"Ahem...... cough ......" Li Guangdi was frightened, and hurriedly knelt down to plead guilty, "The lord forgives the sin, the minister's intention is not here!" ……”

"Oh...... Mr. Jin Qing, please get up, the widow is out of shape! Seeing Li Guangdi's panic, Lin Feng felt a little too much, and after a few words of comfort, he said with a smile, "Well, in fact, I don't mean to change the eight shares...... This eight strands are actually quite good, this ...... I also quite appreciate this eight-strand, this ...... The meaning of this widow is that we big men want to win people's hearts, so we have to do a few more homework! He thought for a while, "Okay, Mr. Jin Qing, you go back and discuss with the Ministry of Rites, find a few textbooks like "Qi Min Yaoshu", "The Complete Book of Agricultural Administration" or "Tiangong Kaiwu", and release the news to the scholars, saying that there will be another quota in the imperial examination and the township examination, so that the students who are interested will study hard!" ……”

"That'...... What about the Kyoshi Dabi?! ”

"Oh, isn't that just the beginning?" Lin Feng smiled, "Let's take the test first!" - Jin Qing, don't be sad, everything has to be tested, right? Besides, this is still miscellaneous after all, the Four Books and Five Classics are still the right way, our Han Dynasty is shallow in its founding days, and the foundation is not very good, so we have to lower the threshold for Shilin and open a few more career paths, isn't it?! ”

Li Guangdi smiled reluctantly, "Lord...... Shengming!! ……”

"Let's talk about the matter of this chamber of commerce consortium, I think it's better not to be too nervous for the time being, the widow means that you have to wait until the battle is over......" Lin Feng was talking, when a guard suddenly knocked on the door frame outside, and reported respectfully, "His Royal Highness the King of the Han Dynasty, the ordnance and grain statistics yamen, and the Han privy envoy Wang Shirong ask to see him outside the palace!" ”

"Oh?! Ji Yun is here?! Lin Feng smiled at Zhou Peigong and said loudly, "Call him in!" ”

Wang Shirong's face was covered with hot sweat, obviously rushing from a distance, as soon as he entered the study, before he could salute, Lin Feng smiled and said, "Don't worry, don't hurry, take a sip of tea first!" "Wait for the attendant to bring tea," Ji Yun, what about Li Ergou? ”

"Master Li?!" Wang Shirong was stunned and said, "Lord Qi, Weichen has never met Master Li!" ”

Lin Feng was stunned and looked at Li Guang on the ground.

Ignoring the tea, Wang Shirong pushed the attendant away, hurriedly took out an urgent report embroidered with a fire stick from his sleeve, and presented it to Lin Feng.

What happened to make Wang Shirong so nervous.

Lin Fenghu glanced at Wang Shirong suspiciously, and slowly opened the letterhead. I only heard Wang Shirong bow down and whispered, "Lord Qiqi, this is Changsha urgent report...... He looked at Li Guangdi on the side and drank Zhou Peigong, his face was extremely solemn, "...... Wu Sangui is dead......"

With a "bang......", Li Guangdi's arm trembled, and the tea bowl fell off and shattered on the blue brick floor.