Yang Sichang, who is in his early fifties, has a round and white face, although the beard under his chin is not luxuriant, but it is well groomed, and his eyes are bright, the whole person is vigorous and vigorous, and his mental state is almost like that of a young man in his thirties. He wore a second-grade brocade chicken supplement, wore a black gauze hat and a rhino belt around his waist, and sat on the Taishi chair facing north and south. In front of him was a large Nanmu table, and the most conspicuous thing on the desk was the big seal wrapped in the four-color ribbon of the cloud and phoenix in the upper left corner. There is no need to open it, everyone present knows that this big seal is engraved with the words "Supervisor and Auxiliary Minister", which means to be in charge of the military affairs of several provinces. And a young deacon standing beside him was holding the sword of the Imperial Gift Shangfang that could "cut first and then act".

There are screens on both sides of the Nanmu table, and under the two screens, Chu Yu and other places come to meet the civil and military solemn sub-stations. Cheng Qiguan walked to the front of the White Tiger Hall and shouted, and from inside the hall to outside the hall, all the guards began to let out a roar symbolizing majesty for a while. The roar was low, but the convergence was long and heavy, shocking and solemn.

Yang Sichang coughed a few times, gestured to the hall, and the continuous low roar immediately stopped. Cheng Qiguan shouted again, "The superintendent opens the account", and the military music that had been prepared immediately began to play. Starting from the governor of Huguang, Fang Kongzhi, civil and military personnel at all levels stepped forward in turn, paid homage and reported their names. Soon it was Zhao Dangshi's turn, he stepped out of the ranks, stepped forward, saluted first, and then said loudly: "Yunxiang General Zhao Dangshi see the envoy!" After saying that, he wanted to turn back to the team like the previous people.

Unexpectedly, his shoulders were just slanted, but Yang Sichang stopped him: "Mr. Zhao." ”

Zhao Dangshi hurriedly straightened his body, bowed down and said solemnly: "Minister." In the Tang and Song dynasties, the prime minister's position was called "envoy", and the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty followed this habit.

Yang Sichang was silent for a moment, and said slowly: "Sure enough, young and heroic. ”

Zhao Dangshi was stunned, hugged his fists and said: "Thank you for your words!" ”

Yang Sichang didn't say anything to him afterwards, and Zhao Dangshi returned to the queue. Other civil and military officials followed, Zhao Dangshi secretly observed, and Yang Sichang did not say a word again throughout the whole process.

By the time everyone had finished, it was a quarter of an hour later. Cheng Qiguan stepped forward and said in a long voice: "He Shuo-"

The so-called "He Shuo" is the act of congratulating the emperor on the first day of each month. Zhao Dangshi, Chen Hongfan, and the old men on the Huguang ground are far away from Emperor Tiangao, and they have no such rules, but Yang Sichang is Emperor Chongzhen's confidant, and he supervises the army on behalf of the Son of Heaven, how can he not have this step from the capital. At present, although Emperor Chongzhen is thousands of miles away, under the leadership of Yang Sichang, all the civil and military officials went north to congratulate Shuo and bow four times in a row. Then, Yang Sichang fell back into the chair, Cheng Qiguan exhaled again, and the military music immediately stopped.

For a while, the atmosphere was quiet, and there was a sound of needles falling.

Yang Sichang coughed and cleared his throat again, and in such a quiet environment, the coughing sound sounded extremely loud.

"This official has inherited the decree of the Holy Lord, and he has a heavy responsibility, and since he has come here, he swears to destroy the thieves. All of you are the pillars of the country, and you should work together to live up to the high expectations of the saints. The establishment of this overseer is to unite you and work together. First of all, you must first get three chapters of the law, one chapter will be rewarded for merit, two chapters will be punished, and three chapters will be punished, and you will know that you will be punished. When Yang Sichang said this, he suddenly stopped, and waited for the deacon who was favored to take a step at the same time, stood in a conspicuous place next to the case, and said, "This sword does not kill thieves, but kills generals." If there are dereliction of duty and lawless people under the governor's door, the general soldier will be punished with this sword, and the general soldier and above will participate in the revolution and punish the crime, and will not lenien! ”

All the civil and military officials said in unison: "Obey the military order!" ”

"The thieves are unfair, and the country is not safe. In front of the Holy Lord, the official promised that within two years, he would destroy all the gangsters, can you have confidence? ”

Chen Hongfan said secretly: "In the past, there was Yuan Inspector for five years of Pingliao, and now there is Yang Ge for two years. ”

Zhao Dangshi smiled and did not speak, when he heard that there were already sycophants shouting loudly "make the prime minister wise" and "destroy the thief to repay the monarchy", he also echoed Chen Hongfan and shouted: "I am willing to make the saddle of the ring and serve the work of dogs and horses!" ”

Yang Sichang was very satisfied with the excitement in the hall, smiled and nodded, looked around for a while, and then reluctantly spoke: "Shaanxi and Yu thieves, poison has been flowing for more than ten years, and it has been suppressed repeatedly. As he spoke, his sleeves fluttered, "Before the official came, he had agreed with the Holy Lord to increase the salary, and the total amount of 5.5 million taels of salary, training salary, and making up for the shortfall was exclusively for the overseer. On top of this, there will be 200,000 soldiers and horses in the province to suppress thieves, and it will be successful! ”

As soon as these words came out, the civil and military officials began to talk one after another, and this situation seemed to be in the hands of Yang Sichang, who twisted his beard and smiled as before, quietly watching the effect of throwing stones into the water.

Zhao Dangshi frowned and said in a low voice: "Liao salary, expulsion salary, and then count this training salary, and now there are three salaries and factions, and the people are poor, so I am afraid that the people will be resentful again." ”

Chen Hongfan's face was as usual, and he said, "It seems that the Holy Lord and Elder Yang Ge plan to cut through the chaos quickly and solve it quickly. But in the final analysis, the son who can really fall into the hands of the governor in the end is only afraid of ...... Hey. His focus is not so much on people's livelihood, but on the actual role of the Pai.

A middle-aged civil official standing not far from the two of them suddenly lowered his head and sighed: "Make a word that causes the suffering of all the people in the world, although it is called a thief, but killing the people is especially more than a thief, I am afraid that it will damage the yin, virtue and longevity." ”

When Zhao Dangshi heard that person reported his name, he was Tao Chongdao, a Taoist minister of Jingnan Province. The "words of Inspector Yang" he said actually contained two things, one was that Yang Sichang, who was still the secretary of the military department two years ago, proposed to increase the dispatch of "salaries" in order to suppress the liukou. Now he has added "training salary", and two of the three salaries are all from his mouth, which together is equivalent to apportioning more than 10 million taels of silver to the people every year, which is to "cause the people of the world to be poor and rich" and "the people are not able to make a living". If it is really beneficial to the thief, once it is useless, it will be a sin.

Tao Chongdao finished silently, his face was unhappy.

Yang Sichang was obviously very confident in his own measures, and did not think much about the negative direction, waiting for the civil and military officials to exchange words and ears, and then said: "In addition, in order to facilitate the overall planning of the superintendent, the superintendent Yuanmen is temporarily stationed in Xiangfu, and the money, grain, weapons and equipment that should be transferred as needed will be distributed in Xiangfu in a unified manner. At the same time, he looked at Fang Kongzhi, the governor of Huguang, who was standing at the top, and said, "Qianfu, tell me about the city defense." ”

Fang Kongzhi responded: "The Dumen is based on Xiangfu, and Sanhao outside the city is built to build a bridge to open and close." Each door has a pair of general soldiers, and the text moves in and out to ridicule and question. ”

As soon as Zhao Dangshi's figure moved on the side, Chen Hongfan had already moved out of the ranks, and he immediately followed with Li Anmin, a guerrilla who was defending the city of Xiangyang City. Their responsibilities all cover the defense of Xiangyang Fucheng, and Yang Sichang wants to set up a new deputy general, which is more or less intersecting with their work content, and he is saying yes.

After that, there were some personnel appointments and dismissals, such as the appointment of Zhang Kejian, the governor of Huguang, as the supervisor of the army, Ma Gan as the commander of the army in eastern Sichuan, and the general of the Chaozhou magistrate Wan Yuan Ji as the pre-military supervisor and discipline, and so on.

After saying this, it was close to noon, and Zhao Dangshi heard that Chen Hongfan's stomach that was tightly strangled by the belt was already growling, and Yang Sichang said at this time: "Holy will, Zhang Xianzhong is guilty of a big crime, and he will be punished." Luo Rucai is below, and it is pardonable to return to justice. As soon as he raised his hand, Cheng Qiguan began to read the proclamation aloud.

"The Emperor ordered the Governor of the Pavilion to declare the emperor's virtue, and the people of the original Fu Zhuying can kill Zhang Xianzhong, those who can dissolve and coerce the refugees to return to their hometowns are allowed to be fu, and those who can cultivate and feed themselves for the good people are allowed to be appeased, this edict."

Chen Hongfan shook his head and said: "Zhang Xianzhong is a wolf, and he has made an unforgivable mistake, so it seems that there will be a day when the corpse will be hung in Beijing." If you knew this, you shouldn't have forgiven him again and again. Between the lines, he revealed his worries about Yang Sichang's settlement after the autumn.

Zhao Dangshi comforted: "Brother Rende, this wood has become a boat, and it is useless to regret it." Looking at the policy of the old thief of Yang Pavilion, Zhang Xian's loyalty is the first priority, and the elder brother is familiar with Zhang Xianzhong, so he will be reused. ”

Chen Hongfan nodded stupidly and remained silent.

After the disposition of the Zhukou was passed on, the meeting was temporarily suspended, Yang Sichang was surrounded by the guards and deacons and others and transferred back to the inner courtyard, and the officials who came from all over the country also left early, leaving only a group of civil and military personnel in Xiangyang Mansion to continue to participate in the afternoon meeting. Because of the notice, the content of the afternoon meeting was relatively trivial, mainly focusing on the specific work of the superintendent yamen, so the irrelevant generals around Xiangyang Mansion could also leave first.

Zhao Dangshi and Chen Hongfan stayed where they were, and they had greeted the Inspector Yamen as early as the end of September.

Sure enough, not long after, the Chengqi official went and returned, and preached: "Please Lord Zhao of Yunxiang Town, Lord Chen of Changping Town!" ”

At the moment, there was a small servant to lead, the two followed him around the lobby, first through a courtyard, and then through the January gate to a hall with three bright and five dark, there is a vermilion lacquer plaque hanging in front of the hall, and there is the word "festival hall" on it. The little guy lifted the scarlet satin plywood curtain with black edges at the entrance of the hall, Zhao Dangshi and Chen Hongfan stepped up the stone steps, leaned in, and saluted to a person standing in front of him: "See the envoy!" ”

But seeing that Yang Sichang had changed into a regimental collar shirt and cloth belt at some point, compared to the majesty of the white tiger's main hall, this regular dress made him look more elegant and peaceful.

Yang Sichang greeted him and asked, "Have you two eaten?" ”

"Not yet. Before we rest, we will enjoy lunch first. ”

"Haha, this official has already eaten." Yang Sichang said with a smile, and pointed to a smooth empty bowl placed not far away. There are a few small dishes in front of the bowl, and the dishes in them are all eaten cleanly, only a little oil and water left, "I am used to it on weekdays, and the cabinet is busy, so I don't have much time to spend on eating." ”

Zhao Dangshi and Chen Hongfan glanced at each other and sighed: "He has done his best for the country and the people, and he is really a model for us!" ”

Yang Sichang arched his hand high towards the north and said: "The soldier dies for his confidant, and he shares his worries for the saint, and the official has no complaints or regrets." ”

The three of them sat down in the festival hall, and Yang Sichang sighed first: "It's a pity that Kunshan has not arrived today, otherwise the generals of Chu Yu will gather, and they can open up the momentum of my supervision." Although it is said that the cloud is light and light, but Zhao Dangshi and Chen Hongfan are both old fritters, "Kunshan" is the word Zuo Liangyu, since Zuo Liangyu was deliberately mentioned, how could they not hear the implicit complaint in Yang Sichang's words.

Zhao Dangshi said: "Zuo Zhen was injured in the battle formation last time, and unfortunately he was contaminated with the wind and cold, so he didn't have a chance to get together. ”

"In ancient times, there were many people who were arrogant because of their merits, and they couldn't cheer up their vitality and protect their current reputation. Every time this official reads history so far, he can't help but sigh. Today, the holy virtue is discerning. On this occasion of employing people, those who are capable will be rewarded, and those who are foolish will be punished. Both of them are pillars of the country, and they have been greatly praised by the Holy Heaven, as long as they continue to be diligent and encouraged, they will be rewarded with the wisdom of the Holy Heaven. Yang Sichang's eyelids drooped and said slowly.

Zhao and Chen both said: "We must swear to kill the thief to the death, so that we can repay the grace of the saint and live up to the high hopes of the envoy!" At the same time, I thought to myself, Yang Sichang is a person who is generous on the surface, but he may not be open-minded. In just one or two sentences, Zuo Liangyu, who was secretly arranging almost every sentence and did not come to see the ceremony, seemed to have never let go of this matter, and was very angry.