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Seeing that He Zhang's old and tired face was full of incredible anger, even Zhao Junchen, who was thick-skinned and black-hearted, felt a little guilty in his heart for a moment.

After all, for Zhao Junchen's plan to destroy Mongolia, He Zhang has done everything he has for a while, and in the absence of conflict between Zhao Junchen and the center of the imperial court, He Zhang can be regarded as loyal to Zhao Junchen!

However, Zhao Junchen's decision at this time can be said to have betrayed He Zhang in a way.

Of course, he also betrayed the front-line soldiers who died on the battlefield.

But the guilt was only fleeting, and Zhao Junchen didn't have any intention of changing his mind.

Just as Mao Jiadong guessed, Zhao Junchen summoned He Zhang and Fang Zhenshan this time, ostensibly to listen carefully to their opinions, but in fact, Zhao Junchen already had a plan in his heart, and this summoning was just a consultation and persuasion before the official announcement of the decision.

After all, if He Zhang can't be persuaded to accept his opinion in advance, with He Zhang's upright character, he will inevitably oppose it in public when Zhao Junchen officially announces it, in that case, the situation will be deadlocked, and Zhao Junchen will not be able to step down at that time.

In fact, Zhao Junchen's decision was also deliberate and for good reason, at least Zhao Junchen himself did not think that his decision was wrong.

He Zhang is just a general, he only needs to think about the war in front of him, but Zhao Junchen is a politician, he not only has to consider a corner, but also to focus on the whole, not only to consider the current situation, but also to focus on the long-term development of the future!

Because of his own selfishness, Fang Zhenshan violated military orders and advanced in this war, and the front-line soldiers on both battlefields suffered heavy casualties because of him, if such a crime is punished according to military law, then it can only be beheaded to show the public - this is also the result that He Zhang and Mao Jiadong expect to see!

But don't forget, Zhao Junchen's identity on the face is just a disaster relief messenger, he is now presiding over the Shaanxi and Gansu military and political is already seriously overstepping his authority, if nothing else, the imperial court has received the information that Zhao Junchen has set up the trilateral governor Yue Qian to preside over the Shaanxi and Gansu border defense on behalf of Zhao Junchen, which must have caused an uproar, and there will inevitably be a large number of political enemies who are taking the opportunity to attack Zhao Junchen!

It's just that Zhao Junchen presided over the military administration of Shaanxi and Gansu can be said to be forced by the situation and the power is urgent, but what if Zhao Junchen killed Fang Zhenshan, the general soldier of Guyuan?

There are only nine military towns in the Ming Dynasty, and there are only nine commanders in the town, each of whom is an important figure like a feudal official, all of whom are pivotal and well-connected, and they are all numbered in the heart of Emperor Deqing, even if they have a good reason, they are by no means Zhao Junchen has the power to dispose of them at will!

Of course, power is one thing, strength is another!

With Zhao Junchen's current status and influence on the three sides of Shaanxi and Gansu, if he really wants to kill Fang Zhenshan in accordance with military law, Fang Zhenshan will not have any power to resist, but this will only cause countless troubles to Zhao Junchen, which is equivalent to handing over a handle to Emperor Deqing and his political enemies in the imperial court.

Therefore, it is impossible for Zhao Junchen to kill Fang Zhenshan in accordance with military law!

If Fang Zhenshan cannot be killed in accordance with military law, then there are only two ways to choose, one is to deprive Fang Zhenshan of his military power and imprison him in prison to wait for the court's punishment decision, and the other is to let Fang Zhenshan go like this, turn a big incident into a small matter, and pretend not to know Fang Zhenshan's culpability.

Among these two methods, the former seems to be reasonable, the court can't find any fault, and He Zhang won't have any objections, but this method is harmful to Zhao Junchen, and in some ways it is even helping Fang Zhenshan!

After all, once Zhao Junchen realizes the plan to destroy Mongolia, his influence on the three sides of Shaanxi and Gansu will inevitably be in full swing, and the character of Emperor Deqing will inevitably try to balance at that time, and after Zhao Junchen imprisons Fang Zhenshan, the two will become enemies completely, after Emperor Deqing notices this, it is very likely that Fang Zhenshan will be regarded as a chess piece to balance Zhao Junchen's influence on the three sides of Shaanxi and Gansu.

According to Zhao Junchen's speculation, this situation is very likely to happen, and many of Zhao Junchen's plans on the three sides of Shaanxi and Gansu will be in trouble in the future.

Compared to this, Zhao Junchen might as well let Fang Zhenshan go like this by himself, sell Fang Zhenshan a great favor, and take the opportunity to take Fang Zhenshan for his own use!

Moreover, in this way, Fang Zhenshan is equivalent to falling into the hands of Zhao Junchen, and he can no longer resist, Zhao Junchen can easily infiltrate the Guyuan Military Town, and after Fang Zhenshan's effectiveness, Zhao Junchen's many plans on the three sides of Shaanxi and Gansu in the future can also be much smoother - unlike He Zhang's upright character, Fang Zhenshan is Zhao Junchen's kind, and there are many shady things that Zhao Junchen can handle after he controls him!

Since ancient times, officials always like to reuse subordinates with handles, in fact, this is the truth!

In addition, in the temple, there are not many officials who can do practical things, but there are countless officials who are good at picking bones in eggs!

If Zhao Junchen severely punished Fang Zhenshan, the reason must be publicized, and some officials of the imperial court will pay attention to one thing - this battle originally had a chance to win, but in the end it turned into a narrow victory and a miserable victory!

These officials have always stood and talked without backache, and after noticing this, I am afraid that they will also use this as a reason to attack Zhao Junchen - "It was obviously a complete victory, but in the end it turned into a miserable victory, and countless soldiers died for no reason because of this, isn't all this the responsibility of your Zhao Junchen's improper use of people and command mistakes?" If it weren't for you, Zhao Junchen, acting beyond his authority, how could this situation have happened? If someone else had been in charge of the battle, maybe all kinds of accidents could have been avoided and a complete victory could have been achieved! So Zhao Junchen, although you have exterminated the Mongol coalition army, you still have no success! ”

It's not that Zhao Junchen spends the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain, but it's not once or twice that those gentlemen in the court have done this kind of thing.

If that's the case, Zhao Junchen's hard-won military exploits may shrink!

From this point of view, Zhao Junchen also does not want to publicize Fang Zhenshan's crime, just pretend that there is no such thing, in that case, it can save a lot of trouble, this battle is won in terms of results, and no one will find fault with this aspect, and Zhao Junchen's military achievements will not encounter the risk of being reduced!

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But at this time, when facing He Zhang's questioning, of course Zhao Junchen couldn't just say his true thoughts.

However, putting aside Zhao Junchen's various selfish interests, just considering the development of the current war situation, it is not a good choice to kill Fang Zhenshan in accordance with military law like this, Zhao Junchen still has good reasons to convince He Zhang!

Therefore, after hearing He Zhang's loud question, Zhao Junchen's expression was still calm, and he just said slowly: "Old General He, don't be in a hurry to get angry, my decision has also been fully considered, what is my reason for listening to it first?" ”

Seeing Zhao Junchen's attitude, He Zhang couldn't attack for a while, so he had to press the anger in his heart and say in a muffled voice: "Lord Qincha, please speak!" But if your reasons are not sufficient, I am afraid that you will have to argue with you because of your humble temperament. ”

Zhao Junchen nodded lightly, looking humble, still in a calm tone, and asked: "In General He's opinion, this war has developed to this point, have we won or lost?" ”

He Zhang did not hesitate and replied: "Naturally, it was a victory, although it was a sacrifice of more than 20,000 soldiers, and the battle situation was extremely dangerous, but it also exterminated and captured a larger number of Mongols, and the army of the Mongol coalition army that invaded the territory of our dynasty lost nearly half of it in this battle, and it is not an exaggeration to say that this battle is an unprecedented victory for our dynasty in the past hundred years!" After the results of this battle are spread, it will surely arouse the amazement and praise of the world! It's all thanks to Lord Chincha!

However, if it weren't for Fang Zhenshan's greedy exploits, our army could have reaped more results at less cost in this battle, and if everything was according to the plan formulated by the great Qincha in advance, I would have thought that our army would never have sacrificed more than 10,000 soldiers in this battle, and no one in the Mongolian army would have escaped! But in the end, it was because of Fang Zhenshan's violation of military orders that our army's great victory turned into a dangerous and dangerous situation in the end! ”

Zhao Junchen nodded lightly again and said, "That's right!" But the various plans I had drawn up in advance, except for a few high-ranking civil and military officials in the army, not many people knew the details, and after a bloody battle, the soldiers finally completely defeated the two Mongol divisions, but the damage was also extremely heavy, and it can be said that the morale of our army is now in an extremely delicate situation, the joy of victory, the exhaustion of body and mind, and the grief of the death and disability of my comrades...... All kinds of emotions are mixed together! ”

Hearing Zhao Junchen's words, He Zhang had already vaguely guessed what Zhao Junchen meant, his eyes flickered faintly, and he seemed to be a little hesitant!

Zhao Junchen sighed and continued: "At this time, our characterization of the outcome of this war will easily affect the morale of the soldiers, if we only say that this war is an unprecedented victory of our dynasty in the past hundred years, it is of great significance, everyone will reap rich military rewards, and the soldiers will forget their fatigue and pain, and the morale will be greatly boosted, and the stronger the fighting spirit, the more they can defeat the main Mongolian force in Jiezhou City in one go;

But if we say that this battle should have been a complete victory, but because of the selfishness of the high-level generals, it finally turned into a narrow victory and a tragic victory, and most of the soldiers who died on the battlefield were sacrificed in vain, what would the soldiers think? Can morale and fighting spirit be maintained? If the morale of the soldiers is weakened by this, how can we fight against the main Mongol forces? ”

Speaking of this, Zhao Junchen accentuated his tone and continued: "People in the world are always like this, obviously it is a good thing, but if this good thing is not perfect, the eyes of the world will often only stare at the flaws, and good things will become bad things!" Now, the results of this battle are the same, if we publicize Fang Zhenshan's guilt, the soldiers will subconsciously ignore the victory of our army, and will only notice that a big victory has become a tragic victory, at that time, our army seems to be victorious, but the mood of the soldiers is probably not far from the defeat! …… Therefore, Fang Zhenshan's culpability is of course very serious, but considering the battle situation and morale, now is not the time to make it public, nor is it the time to severely punish him! ”

Zhao Junchen's remarks certainly have some truth, and He Zhang is also very aware of the importance of morale.

But this alone is not enough to convince He Zhang!

So, He Zhang asked: "What Lord Qincha said is reasonable, but because of this, I easily let go of Fang Zhenshan, and it is still difficult to be convinced!" ”

Seeing He Zhang's statement, Zhao Junchen still didn't move, and said: "My reason is naturally not so simple...... General He, after I came to Shaanxi and Gansu, I have told you many times that my ambitions are greater, greater than all of you imagined! You may have thought that my ambition was simply to annihilate the Mongol coalition that had invaded our territory, which seemed inconceivable at the time...... But in fact, my ambition from the beginning was not just to annihilate the Mongol coalition army! ”

Zhao Junchen's statement immediately attracted the attention of several people present.

Mao Jiadong couldn't help but ask, "Could it be that Lord Qincha has greater ambitions?" ”

Zhao Junchen nodded with a smile, his eyes flashed, and said, "The war has developed to this point, and I won't hide it from you!" From the very beginning, I not only wanted to completely annihilate the Mongol coalition forces that invaded the country, but also wanted to counterattack to the northern steppe in one go and take the opportunity to recover the Hetao area! ”

When the words fell, everyone was shocked!

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