It was already night, but the Chinese army's tent temporarily stationed in the official army camp near Macheng was still brightly lit. The candles placed around the tent were burning, and even though there was a curtain in the way, there was always a light breeze in the tent, and the candles kept beating in the breeze.

Attracted by the firelight, from time to time, mosquitoes flew to the candle flame in order to pursue the source of light, and then made a slight beep, and were instantly burned out in the flames.

This is the moth to the fire, and all they can remain in this world is nothing but the light of that moment and the smell of burnt after death; Even these will eventually dissipate. Perhaps, for them, they don't care about that.

The tent was quiet, except for the occasional beep, except for the occasional conversation.

In the big tent, Ma Qingze had already told Shi Qiuming, the governor of Huainan Province, about the situation in Yongyang. In addition, it also focused on what Lin Fan did.

Shi Qiuming listened very seriously, and when Ma Qingze was talking, he rarely interjected, only nodded occasionally, and was more often contemplative.

After listening to Ma Qingze's analysis of the current situation, he read Lin Fan's letter again and walked towards the map hanging behind Shuai's case.

Stopping in front of the map and thinking for a long time, he smiled and said, "According to the latest news from the scouts, the main force of the thieves is still gathering near Yongyang, Anzhou, and there is no sign of going south. Combined with the above letter, it can be seen that Yongyang City has not been lost yet, and they have successfully blocked the thieves. ”

"The total number of defenders in Yongyang City is only a few hundred, just these people are trapped in the lonely city, he has blocked tens of thousands of thieves, this Lin Fan is really not simple!"

Ma Qingze asked: "What Lord Ministries is right, judging from the current situation, this Lin Fan is capable. But his reckless behavior has created a big problem for us, what are we going to do? ”

According to the official system of this dynasty, the governor of the exile will generally lead the false title of the secretary of the military department, so that the governor can justifiably govern the military leaders in the territory, so Ma Qingze will call Shi Qiuming the lord of the ministry.

Ma Qingze's words made Shi Qiuming's expression a little solemn, and he sighed: "Since all dynasties, the following crimes have been a sign of chaos!" ”

"Now that the world is chaotic, even the most order-conscious officialdom has also seen something happening, it seems that this troubled world is really coming this time!"

However, he was immediately relieved: "Although this incident came suddenly, it is not an accident. The imperial court is difficult to return, thieves are in turmoil, except for the stability of all parts of the south of the Yangtze River, the rest of the world is not stopped, who can guarantee that all the officials everywhere are conscientious and not afraid of life and death? So it's a matter of time before such a situation occurs, didn't we expect it a long time ago? ”

Shi Qiuming's words made Ma Qingze relax a lot, but he was still a little puzzled: "But...!" ”

Shi Qiuming interrupted him with a smile and said: "It's nothing but that, just because we thought that this matter would appear in Liaodong or Zhongyuan Province and other places where the war is urgent, and we don't have to worry about how to deal with it, so we didn't think too much." ”

"But you never thought that there would be a sudden war in Huainan Province, which has always been stable, and if something like this happened, you would lose your sense of proportion for a while."

Facing Shi Qiuming's playful expression, Ma Qingze was a little ashamed: "My subordinates joined the army as the Governor's Palace, but they underestimated the seriousness of this famine

Since such rapid development, today's situation has been formed, which is a dereliction of duty on the part of subordinates. ”

Shi Qiuming shook his head and said softly: "I don't blame you, even I didn't expect things to be like today." Huainan Province has always been stable, and there has never been a major war, so that the entire Huainan Province officialdom from top to bottom has a fluke mentality, thinking that although the world is not stable now, there will be no major changes in the short term. ”

"At the beginning of the famine, I wrote to Master Liu, the envoy of the Economic Relief Department, asking him to pay more attention to this matter and be prepared to help the victims, so as not to provoke a civil uprising, but unfortunately he did not listen to me."

"I can't do anything about it, as the governor, I can't interfere in local affairs. Although Lord Liu is half a level lower than me in terms of official position, he is the head of the local government, and he is not subject to my control, let alone obey my orders. ”

"On the contrary, if I criticize the local government, it will make him dissatisfied, not only useless, but also may have the opposite effect, so after the letter was not answered, I had to shut up and stop mentioning the matter."

With a wry smile, Shi Qiuming continued: "Actually, even I was lucky at the beginning, thinking that things would not be as bad as I thought. ”

"But you have also seen the current situation, in a short period of time, the thieves have become a prairie fire, if it weren't for this interception of their way south in Yongyang, once the Jiangnan Road, which is heavily endowed by the imperial court, suffers from a military disaster, the consequences will be unimaginable."

"When the time comes, Your Majesty will blame you, I'm afraid it won't be enough to cut off my head, and many people will lose their official positions or lives in the entire Huainan Dao officialdom!"

These words made Ma Qingze break out in a cold sweat, Shi Qiuming had not told him this before, and he was under pressure alone. At this time, Ma Qingze suddenly felt some gratitude to Lin Fan, who had never met, and it was his actions that prevented things from developing towards the worst situation.

Shi Qiuming seemed to know what Ma Qingze was thinking now, and he was the most open to these.

He chuckled softly: "Okay, since the past has passed, then don't talk about him, don't think about it!" Let's go back to the topic we just talked about. ”

What he said just now made Ma Qingze understand that Shi Qiuming had some appreciation for this Lin Fan, but he didn't understand what Shi Qiuming meant, so he said: "Please make it clear to the minister!" ”

Shi Qiuming said: "Not everything can distinguish right from wrong, just take this matter as an example, standing on your own standpoint, none of you are wrong about this matter!" ”

"That Lin Fan killed Tian Wuji, who was greedy for life and afraid of death, and wanted to escape to defend the city, and you were angry with her because he broke the rules. In his opinion, if he doesn't kill Tian Wuji, Yongyang City will definitely not be able to defend it; But in your opinion, it doesn't matter whether Yongyang City can be defended, the stability of officialdom is the overall situation, and once the rules of officialdom are broken, there will be a big mess. ”

"I also know what you wanted to say at the beginning, which is nothing more than to punish Lin Fan and set an example; Let others not dare to cross the thunder pool again. ”

"But if you think about it, is it really useful to do so now that it's already happened? It's easy for you to kill him, but what do you make the world think? ”

"In the eyes of the people of the world, they don't care what the overall situation is important, they only know a good official who desperately protects the people, because he killed a dog official who was greedy for life and afraid of death, he died like this, and then he will be infamous and famous. Maybe it will be written into the book by some famous Confucians, and the pen and paper are like knives, which can be described as murderous and heart-wrenching. ”

"We're like this

Readers, after reading the books of sages for so many years, isn't it just for a name before and after death, so you can really stand it? ”

"Besides, when the troubled times come, there will only be more and more such things, if you kill this one today, there will be another one tomorrow, will you kill it?"

Ma Qingze's expression was gloomy, although he didn't think as deeply as Shi Qiuming, he didn't know this.

He had no choice but to ask, "Then according to the Lord of the Ministry, what should we do?" ”

"Do nothing!"

"Ahh Ma Qingze was a little surprised, sighed, and looked at Shi Qiuming suspiciously.

Shi Qiuming said with a smile: "The world says that although I Shi Qiuming is honest, I am too tactful, and no one in the officialdom can be offended." Therefore, as a protégé of Lao Shoufu, he was able to not receive too much criticism in the DPRK after Lao Shoufu was dismissed for crimes, and he was still able to mix and thrive, gain His Majesty's trust, and go out of the town to seal the territory. ”

"Haha, I'm going to continue to be slick this time. After this battle is over, you can take Lin Fan down, but don't interrogate, let alone torture. As long as this matter is collected into a file, and then the original remittance is sent to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Punishment, how to deal with it, just leave it to those Beijing officials and gentlemen to have a headache! ”

"Good idea, wise men!" Ma Qingze's eyes lit up, and he leaned over and said yes.

"Alright, let's talk about this for now! Now back to the war. Shi Qiuming said.

"This person named Lin Fan made an unreasonable move, although he gave us a problem, but he held Yongyang City, and also began to make the situation develop in the direction of the imperial court."

"Now, the thief's way to the south has been cut off, Zhang Feng'er and other thieves seem to be powerful, but it has become a battle of trapped beasts, as long as the imperial army arrives, it will definitely be scattered. What we have to do now is to find a way to wipe out all the thieves. ”

"It's not difficult to defeat or even defeat the thieves, it's rare not to let anyone slip through the net. Especially Zhang Feng'er and other main figures among the thieves, once they are allowed to escape, these tens of thousands of people will become countless small bandits. ”

"When the time comes, these thieves will scatter all over the place, and they will take root and occupy the mountains as kings, and become a situation of bandits everywhere, which is a big trouble."

"At that time, it would be difficult for the government to deal with these thieves once and for all, and this is what I have been worried about these days."

"But now this Lin Fan has given us a chance to wipe out all of their thieves, these thieves are now gathered near Yongyang, in a dilemma, as long as we arrange it properly, we can completely gather and annihilate them."

Shi Qiuming suddenly paused, as if he remembered something, and then said slowly: "Although it was not explicitly stated in the letter, I think the reason why this Lin Fan dragged the thief here to the death may not have this intention in his heart." ”

Ma Qingze was a little unconvinced: "In a dangerous situation, can this person really be so calm?" Besides, if this is the case, using the example as bait, this person's courage is too great, right? ”

Shi Qiuming smiled: "Who knows if this thing is true or not?" And it doesn't matter. But the world is big, heroes are everywhere, there are countless heroes, Qingze, although we are in a high position, we can't underestimate the people of the world! ”

After beating Ma Qingze a little, Shi Qiuming didn't wait for him to speak, and continued: "The military situation is important, and if you delay for a while, there will be more variables, you go and call them all over, and discuss what to do next." ”