August of the first year of Tianshun, the capital.

After Liu Juntao arrived in the capital, he was settled in the pavilion by the imperial court, and met Xue Tong, the chief military officer of Datong Town, who had just arrived.

The two were very happy after meeting, after all, the two had fought side by side, and they hadn't seen each other for a long time, and Liu Juntao chatted with Xue Tong as soon as they met.

After some greetings, Xue Tong said in a deep voice: "Mr. Liu, I have heard a lot of rumors when I enter Beijing this time!" ”

"Is it about Shi Heng and Cao Jixiang?"

Xue Tong was taken aback when he heard this, and his voice was immediately lowered a few degrees, and said: "Mr. Liu said cautiously, this is the capital, it is the chassis of Shi Heng and Cao Jixiang, not Shandong, nor Datong!" ”

Liu Juntao didn't care at all, and said: "A wine bag and a rice bag, a eunuch, this town doesn't take these two people seriously!" What can they do to me? ”

Xue Tong broke out in a cold sweat when he heard this, but he didn't have the courage like Liu Juntao, nor did he have such a reliance, after all, Liu Juntao had more than 100,000 Tiance troops as his backing, so he said in a low voice: "Could it be that His Majesty summoned us to Beijing this time, and really wanted to deal with these two people?" I've heard a lot of rumors, all kinds of rumors! ”

"It should be related!"

Liu Juntao thought for a while, and then continued: "So this time when entering Beijing, General Xue should be cautious, but don't have anything to do with Shi Heng and Cao Jixiang, after all, more things are better than less!" ”

Liu Juntao understood that local civil officials and military generals had always come to Beijing to go to Shiheng and Cao Jixiang's mansions to "pay tribute", and Liu Juntao was also worried that Xue Tong would follow the trend and be liquidated by Emperor Tianshun afterwards, so he persuaded him.

Xue Tong immediately clenched his fists and said, "Thank you Mr. Liu for reminding me!" ”

Two days later, Emperor Tianshun received twenty-three commanders from all over the country in the Taiji Palace, and successively inquired about the situation of various military towns.

The whole process of debriefing the general army lasted for two whole days, and Emperor Tianshun also had an intuitive understanding of the actual situation in the military towns in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, instead of going through the layers of "filtering" by the military department and the court as before.

Through the debriefing of the chief military officers in various places, Emperor Tianshun realized how unreliable his previous understanding of the soldiers and horses in the Ming Dynasty was, and it seems that he will not be able to govern the world only by relying on the ministers of the DPRK and China in the future!

On the second day, when the last chief military officer's debriefing report was completed, Tianshun Emperor Long Yan Dayue, the mood was not ordinarily good, so he immediately issued an order to reward the general military officers in various places, and the general military officers in various places were rewarded to varying degrees, among which Liu Juntao, the chief military officer of Shandong Town, and Xue Tong, the chief military officer of Datong Town, were the heaviest.

Of course, Emperor Tianshun's commendation this time was basically some money and goods, and the chief military officers did not have any promotions in their official positions.

After the end of the debriefing the next day, Liu Juntao and Xue Tong walked towards the outside of the palace with the brigade, when a eunuch walked in steps, screened the others, and said in Liu Juntao's ear: "Liu Zongbing, Your Majesty has an invitation, please come with the miscellaneous family." ”

Liu Juntao secretly shouted in his heart, he was worried that the incriminating evidence of Shi Heng, Cao Jixiang and others had no chance to be presented to Emperor Tianshun, and these were just presented in person.

So, Liu Juntao and Xue Tong confessed their crimes, and followed the little eunuch to an inconspicuous side hall after several times.

After Liu Juntao walked in, he saw Emperor Tianshun sitting on a chair thinking about something.

"Minister, Liu Juntao, the chief military officer of Shandong Town, knock to see Your Majesty!"

"Get up!"

Emperor Tianshun looked at Liu Juntao and said: "Speaking of which, I also want to thank Liu Aiqing, when I was in Nangong, among the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty, that is, Liu Aiqing was worried about me!" ”

"Your Majesty......"

As soon as Liu Juntao saw him come in, Emperor Tianshun began to play the emotional card, and he didn't know how to answer for a while.

Emperor Tianshun continued: "Liu Aiqing doesn't need to be nervous, I invited you here this time to discuss important matters. ”

"Your Majesty, but there are orders, the minister will never give up!"

At this time, Liu Juntao had no way out, so he could only show his loyalty in person.

"Well, that's good!"

Then, Emperor Tianshun got up and walked to Liu Juntao's side, and said that he was going to eradicate Shi Heng and Cao Jixiang, and then Emperor Tianshun stared at Liu Juntao.

Liu Juntao immediately said: "Your Majesty! Minister, there is something to play! ”

"Speak!"

Liu Juntao immediately took out the incriminating evidence of Shi Heng and Cao Jixiang that he had prepared, presented it with both hands, and said: "Your Majesty, Shi Heng and Cao Jixiang's crimes are obvious, and it can be said that they are too many to write. ”

"Good!"

Liu Juntao's move to integrate Emperor Tianshun's intentions was taken over.

However, when Emperor Shun opened it that day, his face suddenly became gloomy.

Among these materials of Liu Juntao, the various actions of Shi Heng and Cao Jixiang are recorded in detail, which makes Emperor Tianshun shocked.

Since Shi Heng welcomed back Emperor Tianshun, his desire for power has swelled, and there are more than 50 people in Shi Heng's younger brothers and nephews, and more than 4,000 of Shi Heng's subordinates, relatives, friends, etc.

Since then, Shi Heng's henchmen have spread all over the court and places!

Among the Jingshi, the ministers of the court were often expelled from the court by Shi Heng under the pretext of making room for Shi Heng's henchmen.

Moreover, Shi Heng also accepted bribes to promote Sun Hong to the rank of servant; Chen Ruyan, Xiao Xuan and other six people are Langzhong; Liu Bendao is a waiter, these people are all wine bags and rice bags, and once they get to the top, they start to make crazy money.

For a time, Shi Heng was in flames, Li Ling was dizzy, and some people who tried to be promoted worshiped under his door, and there was a ballad of "Zhu Sanqian, Dragon Eight Hundred" from time to time.

Shi Heng demoted nine people, including Chengzhang and Yushi Ganze, who had given him advice, from their official positions. Not only that, Shi Heng also made a big fuss about being wronged, framed Geng Jiuchou and Yue Zheng, and drove Yang Xuan and Zhang Peng to the border.

Seeing this, Emperor Tianshun also realized that Shi Heng had monopolized power at this time, and even began to interfere in the government as he wanted.

Emperor Tianshun thought that Shi Heng would enter to see him every day, even if he was not summoned, Shi Heng would use the excuse to enter the palace. And what Shi Heng said, Emperor Tianshun disobeyed slightly, and Shi Heng suddenly changed color, and expressed his dissatisfaction without scruples.

During this period of time, the scenes kept flashing in Emperor Tianshun's mind like fragments.

And Emperor Tianshun looked at Cao Jixiang's incriminating evidence, which was also similar to Shi Heng.

Cao Jixiang was very greedy, and when introducing civil and military officials to Emperor Tianshun, Cao Jixiang often only looked at the amount of bribes he paid, regardless of whether the person was competent or not.

And Cao Jixiang has publicly occupied the people's land many times, and even encroached on the Huangzhuang fields, and was repeatedly impeached by the supervision officials, before Emperor Tianshun did not care about these, at this time after reading the evidence collected by Liu Juntao, Emperor Tianshun was also pale, and the anger in his heart was burning.

At this time, Emperor Tianshun remembered another thing, now Cao Jixiang is becoming more and more arrogant, the government and the opposition officials and people are looking at them sideways, dare to be angry but dare not speak, so someone wrote an anonymous letter to Cao Jixiang, Cao Jixiang actually asked himself to make a reward in person to arrest this person!

Emperor Tianshun hadn't taken these things to heart before, after all, Shi Heng and Cao Jixiang were both great contributors to supporting his own restoration, but at this time, after reading a series of evidence submitted by Liu Juntao, coupled with Emperor Tianshun's dissatisfaction with Shi Heng and Cao Jixiang's actions during this period of time, Emperor Tianshun became even more determined to eradicate Shi Heng and Cao Jixiang.

"I, I'm going to eradicate Shi Heng and Cao Jixiang's two parties, can Liu Aiqing help me!"

Liu Juntao said secretly: Just what I want!

So, Liu Juntao immediately saluted and said: "The minister will never give up!" ”

Immediately, Emperor Tianshun ordered Liu Juntao to rush back to Shandong on the same day, mobilize 10,000 elite soldiers within 20 days, and immediately enter Beijing to station, and he will send the next holy decree to Jinan Fucheng as soon as possible.

Emperor Tianshun said: "Liu Aiqing went back this time to mobilize troops and horses, and prepared to participate in the military parade to be held in Deshengmen after January, and I am ready to arrest Shi Heng and Cao Jixiang and their party at that time!" ”

"Minister, Commander!"