At this moment, the sound of horses' hooves suddenly sounded in the street, and from north to south, a thousand light cavalry troops slowly drove up, and people spontaneously dispersed to both sides, stopping to watch, their faces were full of joy, and their eyebrows were dancing and talking;

The sound of horses' hooves was getting closer and closer, and the leading general was about twenty-five or sixteen years old, burly and dignified, with silver helmets and silver armor and robes, and sat on his war horse with a righteous attitude, and kept thanking the crowd; Behind him was a group of lightly armed cavalry, marching through the street in an orderly manner.

Yuan Wenxin was curious, and asked passers-by and asked, "Who is this general?" What a majesty! ”

Passers-by looked back and said with a smile: "It seems that Gongzi is not from Datong Mansion, this is General Lu Xiangsheng, the chief military officer of our Datong Mansion, no, he led the 'Tianxiong Army' to suppress bandits and quell the rebellion and triumphant!" ”

"The Tianxiong Army?"

"Yes, the emperor's decree is to personally seal the 'Tianxiong Army'!" Passers-by said proudly.

"Tianxiong Army!" King Xin thought to himself!

Accompanied Yuan Wenxin for a whole afternoon, almost played Datong Mansion, Yuan Wenxin was still unsatisfied, and King Xin was like a puppet, exhausted and returned to the inn.

After a brief rest, after dinner, King Shin quietly left the inn alone!

Among the nine important towns of the Ming Dynasty, there are six general generals' mansions, among them, the former general's mansion of the Datong expedition to the west, the former general's mansion of the Liaodong expedition, the general's mansion of Xuanfu Zhenshuo, the general's mansion of Gansu Pingqiang, the general of Ningxia Zhengxi, and the general's mansion of Yansui Pingxi.

Datong Mansion is subordinate to the Shanxi Chengxuan Political Envoy Division, Datong Zhengxi Former General's Mansion, and Jingshi Xuanfu and Liaodong Mansion all belong to the nine-sided important town, and the three ace teams defending the capital.

Datong Mansion is the northwest barrier of Beijing, which has always been a battleground for soldiers, and its strategic position is very important; Especially after the Ming Dynasty moved its capital to Yanjing in the north, Datongfu Town defended the northwest barrier of Kyoto and defended the strategic location of northern Mongolia in the south.

Lu Xiangsheng, then the chief military officer of Datong Mansion, was born in the 28th year of Wanli and was a young general in the Ming Army; Lu Xiangsheng was born in a scholarly family, his grandfather used to be a county magistrate, and his father was a showman.

He was gifted when he was young, familiar with military books and war strategies and historical legends, good at literature and martial arts, riding horses and hunting, and immediately stepping down all of them.

In the second year of the Apocalypse, Lu Xiangsheng was promoted to the rank of Jinshi and awarded the position of head of the household department; In view of his erudition and ability, he successively served as a foreign officer, and was later promoted to the prefect of Hebei Daimyo and Daimyo Dao.

Due to successive natural and man-made disasters, coupled with the use of troops by the imperial court for many years, border soldiers gathered, and the deficit was serious; Shaanxi, Gansu and Shanxi have been plagued one after another, so that the military and economic pressure of the imperial court gradually tend to double pressure, the imperial court ordered Lu Xiangsheng to lead the military affairs of the Datong Mansion, quell the turmoil, and stabilize the northwest barrier of the imperial court.

At this moment, the general's mansion is brightly lit, Lu Xiangsheng sits in the study to read the recent military newspaper of Datong Mansion, and some time ago he exterminated a group of wandering bandits, and he has just returned home.

A personal soldier came to report: "General, there is a guest visiting outside the door? ”

When Lu Xiangsheng heard this, he put down his Chinese book, looked up and asked, "Oh! But who is it? ”

"Back to the general, the person who came is a young man, and he only said that he has something important to discuss with the general!"

Lu Xiangsheng thought for a moment and said, "Well, okay, please wait in the living room, and I'll be there later!" ”

The soldier bowed down and was ordered to withdraw!

After sorting out the scrolls on the bookcase, drinking a cup of tea, and resting for a while, Lu Xiangsheng got up and walked slowly to the living room; When he saw someone at the door, it was really a young man, and when he looked carefully at it with the help of the light, Lu Xiangsheng couldn't help but be stunned!

Just about to step forward to salute, I saw the young man raise his hand to stop him, and pointed to the soldiers on the left and right.

Lu Xiangsheng immediately understood, and immediately retreated from the left and right soldiers and said: "You all go down, without my order, no one is allowed to step into this place ten meters, and those who violate the order will be engaged in military law!" ”

The soldiers bowed down to receive the order, quietly exited the meeting room, closed the door, and patrolled the courtyard.

After all the left and right retreated, Lu Xiangsheng hurriedly stepped forward and saluted: "The last general, Lu Xiangsheng, meet His Highness!" ”

The person who came was His Royal Highness King Xin, who accompanied Yuan Wenxin to go shopping in the afternoon, and happened to meet Lu Xiangsheng who returned from the chaos, so King Xin thought about coming to the General's Mansion to see Lu Xiangsheng in the evening.

"General excuse me! There are no outsiders here, sit down! King Shin raised his hand.

When Lu Xiangsheng served as the head of the household department in the capital, because the fifth prince Zhu Youzhen had just been canonized as the king of Xin, Ni Yuanlu, the secretary of the household department, sent Lu Xiangsheng to the palace of the king of Xin, and he was very familiar with it;

Later, as King Xin came of age, the emperor asked him to supervise the military department and the world's soldiers and horses.

Lu Xiangsheng sat next to King Xin in a proper manner, and asked in a low voice, "When did Your Highness come to Datong Mansion?" ”

"I just arrived the day before yesterday, this time this king is a private visit to Weifu, don't make a statement!" The king of letters commanded.

Lu Xiangsheng nodded, for the young prince in front of him, he was grateful from the bottom of his heart, to be able to go from the head of the household department to the general in charge of the nine-sided town in just a few years, many people even worked hard for a lifetime, it is difficult to achieve such a status.

King Xin took a sip of tea and asked in a harmonious voice, "How is the situation in Datong Mansion?" ”

"Back to Your Highness, some time ago from Shaanxi and Gansu into a group of rogues, the day before yesterday has been exterminated seven or eight out of ten, the rest of the fish escaped back to Shaanxi and Gansu, I have sent a letter to inform the Pingxi Palace."

Lu Xiangsheng thought for a while and continued: "As for the north, it has been closely monitored, and all the traffic arteries leading to the outside of the customs have been patrolled by additional soldiers, and several waves of prohibited smuggling materials have been found before and after!" ”

King Xin nodded with great satisfaction, and said earnestly: "Since you have presided over the military affairs of Datong Mansion, the surrounding governance has been very good, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and the government is harmonious, but! King Xin looked at Lu Xiangsheng and said solemnly:

"It's all military, but is it administrative? As far as I know, the Datong Prefecture is rich in minerals, producing coal, thermal oil, saltpeter, iron ore, etc., and these national strategic reserve materials are all in the hands of the imperial court? Or have you already filled your pockets? ”

When Lu Xiangsheng heard this, his face was pale!

"Now the war in Liaodong is tight, strategic materials are scarce, there are artillery and no ammunition, and a lot of soldiers have to be sacrificed!" King Shin sighed and continued: "Now it is imperative to return the mining rights to the state, reserve strategic materials, and produce firearms and ammunition for the front line. Medicine, once the barbarian iron cavalry moves south, will our army be able to resist it? ”

"What His Highness said is extremely true, and the last general will be convicted!" Lu Xiangsheng's face flushed, and he was ashamed.

"You don't need to blame yourself, this king knows that these are not within your jurisdiction, but in extraordinary times, extraordinary measures are required, and after the statistical investigation is clear, in the name of the military, all mining rights will be withdrawn!"

When Lu Xiangsheng heard this, his face was embarrassed, and he said frankly: "Your Highness, mining is a local administrative matter, and the approval of the mining license is issued by the Yamen of the prefect of Datong Prefecture. ”

"This king didn't say that you should take coercive measures, didn't he say 'wait for the investigation to be clear'?" King Xin smiled, looked at Lu Xiangsheng and said, "Who is the envoy of Jinyi Wei in Datong Mansion now?" ”

"Jinyiwei Zhenfu is a high dive!"

"High dive?" King Xin pondered: "Then what relatives are there in Datong Mansion?" ”

When Lu Xiangsheng heard this, he thought for a long time, and said uncertainly: "It is said that he has a nephew in Datong Mansion, and he was succeeded as a son when he was young, but I don't know too much!" ”

"Well, that's right!" King Xin nodded thoughtfully and said: "The day before yesterday, the Datong Mansion arrested nearly 200 villagers from the Pingyao Coal Mine, and you intervened from this matter, and forcibly took over the Pingyao Coal Mine in the name of quelling the chaos and illegally possessing prohibited materials. ”

"Yes!" Lu Xiangsheng is such a smart person, he suddenly understood when he heard it, so he smiled and said, "I think His Highness already has a plan." ”

Putting down the tea in his hand and slowly standing up, King Xin thought and said, "That's it!" You will take over the Pingyao Coal Mine in the past two days, and as for those villagers, they will need workers to mine in the future, so they must be properly settled! The rest is inconvenient for you to forcibly intervene, and when the time comes, I will naturally inform you! ”

Although Lu Xiangsheng is the chief military officer of Datong Mansion and is in charge of military affairs, according to the Daming Ming Law, the military and political affairs are separated, and the local administrative affairs are responsible for the Yamen of the prefect of Datong Prefecture; At the same time, Datong Mansion set up a 'Jinyi Guard' pacification envoy to supervise the military and political affairs of Datong Prefecture.

At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, in order to supervise and supervise the local military and political affairs, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang set up the 'Jinyi Wei' Governor's Office, which is equivalent to the Supervision Yuan, and there are two commanders and commanders under the Jinyi Wei Governor's Office, one is responsible for arresting and one is responsible for trial;

However, as the emperor's most trusted and powerful institution, the Jinyi Guard was all in charge of the eunuchs of the inner palace; In order to get rid of those ministers who were enough to threaten him, over time, Jinyiwei developed into the most powerful spy organization.

And the main function and task of Jinyiwei is to spy on intelligence for the emperor and supervise hundreds of officials, which can be said to be the emperor's most important eyeliner.