Xie Qian's mind didn't belong, he didn't hear what Ma Wensheng said clearly, and honestly took the imperial jade pendant...... Although he had already imagined the worst outcome, when he suddenly saw Yu Pei, his mind became confused.

I want the gift of all the monarchs and ministers, give me a whole corpse, send poisoned wine so that I can drink it, send white silk so that I can hang myself, and send me a piece of jade What do you mean, do you want me to hold the jade and knock it to death on the wall?

"Brother Negative Figure, what is this for?"

Xie Qian looked up at Ma Wensheng, "Is there anything else ......?" ”

Ma Wensheng smiled bitterly: "Yu Qiao is not greedy enough, since Your Majesty ascended the throne, how can you ever reward your courtiers with jade, you are not satisfied?" ”

"It's a reward...... Give? ”

Xie Qian looked at the jade pendant in his hand, and it was really a little familiar, the lines on it were nine-clawed golden dragons, which minister dared to wear such a jade pendant on the street, it was not far from killing the head.

"Let's go in and talk, this great victory in Northern Xinjiang, there are still many unclear points, just talk to Yu Qiao about it."

Marven was promoted to the secretary of the military department, and he was greeted by compliments wherever he went, that is, when he arrived at Xie Qian's mansion, he stood at the door and talked for a long time. Now he is an old man in his seventies, and after standing for a long time, his body can no longer support it.

Xie Qian's face was at a loss, the situation in northern Xinjiang took a sharp turn for the worse, the military rations were robbed, Xuanfu, Datong, Taiyuan and other military towns were constantly alerted, and they couldn't go out of retreat, and Liu Daxia was in a desperate situation, where could he achieve a great victory?

However, since he knew that Ma Wensheng was not here to ask the guilt, Xie Qian hurriedly invited the two of them in, while those soldiers stayed outside and waited.

On the way, Xie Qian expressed his opinion:

“…… The news in Beiguan is blocked, don't lie about your achievements, right? I have checked the nine-sided newspapers in recent years, and many of them are strange, and there are often cases of generals in various towns killing good people and making false reports. ”

Ma Wensheng asked: "Then Yu Qiao, do you think Shi Yong is the kind of person who falsely reports his military exploits?" ”

"Is it Liu Shangshu's recital?" Xie Qian was surprised at this time, "This ...... Probably not, but ...... This is a great victory...... Where to start? ”

Xie Qian finally relieved himself at this time.

Even if he has to be held accountable in the end for falsely reporting his military exploits, it has little to do with him in the capital. If you want to investigate Liu Daxia's culpability first, even if you want to punish me, at most it will only be a demotion and punishment, and it will be a big deal for me to apply for Zhishi and return to my hometown for the elderly.

"This is exactly what I don't know, due to the blockage of the road, the situation on the front line is unknown, the first few days of Beiguan everywhere is still in flames, everywhere is in an emergency, especially when Shi Yong went deep into the grassland, was surrounded and intercepted, and there was no military rations, who wanted to come to the urgent report in a blink of an eye, saying that it had successfully withdrawn to Yulinwei, and also defeated the Tatars...... There are many strange things about this. Ma Wensheng sighed.

Liu Daxia led his troops to attack, and lost contact completely for more than half a month, and when the battle report came, Liu Daxia had a narrative from being surrounded by the Tatars to achieving a great victory, but the key point was suspicious...... The battle was reversed in just one day, why did it suddenly burst out with powerful combat effectiveness when retreating to the north bank of the Yuxi River, and the Tartars were defeated, could it be said that the power of the last battle was really so great?

Ma Wensheng, who has been in the army for a long time, knows that things will not be so simple, and then doubts about this "great victory".

Words win without giving up, it has always been a tradition to play at the border. This is also the reason why Ma Wensheng did not dare to let Emperor Hongzhi preach the victory of Beiguan for the first time, for fear that it would end up in a big oolong in the end.

When he entered the Xie Mansion study, the guest and the host sat down, Ma Wensheng took out all the reports he received, and asked Xie Qian to help with the details. Xie Qian knew that he didn't have much military talent, so he picked up the battle report and looked at it, but he couldn't figure it out at all.

"This ...... Is there any special battle report...... The intriguing kind? Xie Qian asked tentatively.

Ma Wensheng picked out one of them: "Then it belongs to this, if it weren't for Shi Yong's final victory being too dazzling, this battle report would ...... It's a rare victory in recent years, right? ”

Xie Qian looked at it, good guy, two thousand Tatar cavalry annihilated more than a thousand, this was completed in just two hours, and his own losses were less than two hundred, and they were all infantry, and the incompetence of the Tatars was fully revealed.

"This ...... Is it too much of a joke? ”

After Xie Qian read it, he felt that this battle report was not reliable compared to Liu Daxia's good news.

Ma Wensheng sighed lightly: "This is also what the old man is worried about, the place of battle is not under the Yulin Acropolis, but a few miles west of the Yulin Acropolis, I can't think of any reason for the soldiers and horses of the Yulin Guard not to stick to the city, and to go to such a mountain to fight this battle?" And it won! At the same time, things happen...... It was only one day before and after Shi Yong's victory. There are too many doubts about this matter......"

Xie Qian thought about it, the problem is indeed not small, no matter how you look at it, it doesn't look like a real victory, and the traces of fraud are too strong. But Liu Daxia did report the victory, others can not believe it, Liu Daxia is an upright minister, and he will not show his merits casually.

"Shen Xi...... What about Shen Yude? ”

Xie Qian suddenly thought of Shen Xi, because this name was what he was thinking about the most in his heart these days.

Ma Wensheng said: "I have noticed that he transported artillery to Datong Town, stayed in Datong Town for a while, and immediately left for Yansui Town after the threat of Datong City was lifted...... Counting the days, the time of his arrival should coincide with the time of the battle in which the two good news were played. ”

Originally, Xie Qian and Ma Wensheng both felt that it was not easy for me to pay attention to such an insignificant little person as Shen Xi, and others would not pay attention to him. But Xie Qian's question was sudden, Ma Wensheng answered more simply, and after finishing speaking, the two glanced at each other and realized a problem, it turned out that the other party was also paying attention to Shen Xi's movements.

Xie Qian said: "Then in these good news, Shen Xi is not mentioned, right?" ”

"Hmm."

Ma Wensheng nodded, "But now that the governor of Yansui is the Duke of Baoguo, Yu Qiao should know what his temperament is." ”

The two looked at each other again and nodded.

Ma Wensheng thought to himself: "I underestimated Yu Qiao before, it turns out that his military talent is so high, and his analysis and grasp of the battle situation are very good. ”

Xie Qian got up and paced back and forth: "This is unreasonable, the imperial court sent artillery to Yansui Town, whether it is useful on the battlefield or not, at least there should be relevant performances, but now there is no mention of it, and there is no description of the details, and even the location of the battle is foggy...... There is only one explanation for this, and the good news is concealed. ”

Xie Qian deserves the nickname of You Kankan, although he doesn't know anything about the situation in Yansui Town, but he only listens to Ma Wensheng say a few words, and he can say some doubts based on his understanding. But because these words just confirmed Ma Wensheng's worries, in Ma Wensheng's ears, it was as convincing as what he heard on the battlefield.

Ma Wensheng said: "Datong Town Song Bao also arrived in the capital, in this report, there was a new artillery used some time ago to deal with the Tatar siege troops and achieved a record of killing, now it seems that the Franc machine artillery effect is quite good, but after all, Shi Yong he is leading the troops to withdraw on the way to defeat the thief army, even if the new artillery is transported to the battlefield, I am afraid it will not be useful." ”

"Reasonable, reasonable."

Xie Qian pretended to nod, but in fact, he only knew a little bit about why artillery could be used in the city, but it couldn't be used in the field, he didn't quite understand, or he understood a little bit before, and he didn't remember it after a while.

Just when the two of them were discussing and considering in detail, Ma Wensheng's guards came to play: "Lord Yushangshu, there are six hundred miles to the border pass to be sent urgently." ”

"Oh, why don't you send it to the military department?" Ma Wensheng frowned, there is an urgent paperwork, which should be sent to the Ministry of War, and the corresponding functional officials will submit it to the Imperial Inspection.

"This is a private message to Ma Shangshu." The guard said.

Ma Wensheng took the letter, and when he saw the words on it, he was relieved, although it was a letter sent through the official station, it was a secret letter to him.

"It was written by Liu Shangshu?" Xie Qian stood up and asked, Xiong Xiu couldn't help but poke his head out and watch.

"Yes."

Ma Wensheng opened the letter, glanced at it a few times, and his face was cold, which made Xie Qian's heart tighten, thinking that the previous good news was indeed a false report, or that he had suffered a catastrophe after the great victory.

It's a pity that the letter was addressed to Ma Wensheng, and he couldn't read it without the owner's permission. I didn't want Ma Wensheng to read it, so he handed the letter to Xie Qian: "Yu Qiao will also take a look." ”

Xie Qian just held the letter paper in his hand, and saw "Imperial Cannon" in the first sentence of the text, and Liu Daxia wrote clearly and straightforwardly: "...... The great victory in the past few days is all in the work of the artillery man, but the solidity of the three armies can not be tied by one person, after the great victory, the city should be solidified, in order to seek stability and do the snake, the meritorious calculation still takes time......"

The meaning of this is very clear, the great victory is certain, and it is a "great victory in successive days", that is, a succession of victories.

The credit is not on others, but on this person who "controls the cannon", in fact, it is easy to think that the person Liu Daxia is talking about is Shen Xi.

Shen Xi's credit is not even enough to include the first credit, but it is all in his body, which means that without him, it is not a big victory but a big defeat.

However, for the sake of the stability of the officers and men of the three armies, as well as the stability of the frontier, and the need for Baoguo Gong and others to be false, they had to suppress Shen Xi's credit, and divide the credit that originally belonged to Shen Xi alone.

After reading the letter, Xie Qian's eyes turned to Ma Wensheng, trying to find a solution from Ma Wensheng's face.

But in the end, Ma Wensheng just sighed lightly and looked at Xie Qian, obviously wanting to ask Xie Qian's intentions.

"Yu Qiao thinks, why is this so?" Ma Wensheng asked.

In this letter, Liu Daxia affirmed the crucial role played by Shen Xi in the "great victory of the day" at the border pass, but did not describe the details of the war clearly, because this kind of letter may fall into the hands of others, and it is too detailed to coincide with the final report, and it cannot be explained to the imperial court.

Xie Qian asked tentatively, "Then this person ...... Is it Shen Xi? ”

"Hmm."

Ma Wensheng nodded, affirming Xie Qian's statement.

Xie Qian took a breath of cool air, according to Liu Daxia's statement, the reason why he finally turned from defeat to victory was all due to Shen Xi's outstanding performance, and the credit was so great that even if it was all distributed to the heads of the soldiers who went out to fight, it was enough for everyone to be added to the rank of knight, and if it was attributed to one person, it would not be too much to be crowned a marquis.

No wonder Liu Daxia would risk leaking secrets and write such a private letter to Ma Wensheng, in fact, to explain the situation, this credit is not mine, the reason why I take credit is to make the three armies stable, so that the imperial court has a way to explain to the border soldiers and the people of the world.

"It's a bit absurd, what can he do, a fourteen-year-old boy who goes to war? Look at his usual work, he is not in shape at all. ”

Xie Qian seemed to be belittling Shen Xi, but it was better to praise Shen Xi in front of Ma Wensheng, this is the person I recommended to the emperor, and even going to the border pass is my strong advocacy, and now that he has achieved such a great achievement, my face is also bright.

Ma Wensheng pondered for a moment and said, "This matter really needs to be considered in the long run. A long-term discussion is equivalent to agreeing with Liu Daxia's approach, sharing Shen Xi's great achievements equally with the border soldiers, and finally letting Shen Xi have a reward, but it can't be too much of an eyesore.

If this credit falls on someone else, even Zhu Hui, it is appropriate, but in Shen Xi, a fledgling champion of the current department and a Hanlin official, it seems indecent, and it is better to compensate him in other aspects. (To be continued.) )