Zhou Zheng looked at the north and said, "There is a man named Li Dingguo, you can find it for me." ”

Yang Shenwu didn't remember this person at all, after all, he arrested hundreds of people at that time, and said, "Yes, the lower official will order someone to find it." ”

Zhou Zheng came this time, mainly for this person, looking at the north, feeling the cold meaning, and said: "What is the movement in Mongolia?" ”

Yang Shenwu said: "My lord, in recent years, Jianyu has co-opted and suppressed the Mongolian ministries, and the Chahar Department has disappeared, and Jianyu is very close to Mobei and Moxi Mongolia, but there is no Koubian ......"

Under the harsh natural disasters, the Ming Dynasty was certainly hit hard, and the grassland peoples were not much better, but they were sparsely populated and relatively easy to bear, but they also lost their previous prestige, and gradually shrank out and silently resisted the disaster.

Zhou Zheng stared at the north and said: "The Military Intelligence Department is mainly responsible for collecting and spying on military intelligence, and now I am a little stable, but I can't be careless, you have to support the affairs of the Military Intelligence Department." ”

Send some scouts, scouts, or rebel against some people, every commander will do it, Yang Shenwu is not surprised, raised his hand and said: "Don't worry, my lord, the lower officials must be cautious to keep an eye on the north and do a good job in the defense of Gyeonggi." ”

In the second year of Chongzhen, Jianyu entered the fortress from the mouth of Xifeng, and the first person to be killed was the governor of Jizhen.

Zhou Zheng smiled and nodded, and said, "Let's go, go and have a look elsewhere." ”

Yang Shenwu hurriedly responded and accompanied Zhou Zheng to walk around.

In the evening, Zhou Zheng and Yang Shenwu met with officials from all walks of life in Jizhen Town, and after appeasing them for a while, they took advantage of the moonlight to take a slow walk and talk about things.

Zhou Zheng looked at the soldiers patrolling back and forth, and said: "Regarding military salaries, you should know that the imperial court can't pay much, and most of them have to be raised by us or find ways to raise them ourselves." My requirements are not high, you Jizhen out of one percent, the imperial court one percent, the rest, from Liaodong, Tianjin Wei to make up, what do you think? ”

How dare Yang Shenwu have an idea, so he almost knelt on the ground, and hurriedly said: "The lower official has no idea, Jizhen Yicheng, he can still come out." ”

Zhou Zheng hummed, strolled, and said: "Open source and reduce expenditure at the same time, the corruption situation in your Jizhen is also very serious, if you can't do it, this official will send someone." ”

This is probably something that all the higher-ups don't want to do, anti-corruption, this is a thankless job, and it is easy to involve oneself in hard and dangerous work.

Yang Shenwu knew that Liaodong had been doing this, and secretly gritted his teeth and said: "Don't worry, my lord, the lower officials must make up their minds, scrape the bones to cure the poison, and never let the adults be embarrassed!" ”

Zhou Zheng's expression was flat and said, "That's good." Jizhen, the army in Liaodong will soon be rotated, and I will also carry out the necessary verification, you have to be prepared, the armor and weapons will be replaced in a unified manner, and things are more complicated in all aspects. ”

Yang Shenwu gradually heard the taste, this master of the superintendent was going to carry out a strict rectification of the army under his jurisdiction.

Yang Shenwu was silent for a while, and said, "The lower official obeys the order." ”

Zhou Zheng glanced at him, and wanted to say that he would not be able to accept the reorganization of the army, but he estimated that Yang Shenwu might not be able to accept it, and he had to think about it slowly, and said: "Don't have pressure, corruption in the army is not a day or two, and we can't ask for a day to clean it up." ”

Yang Shenwu hurriedly said, "Yes." ”

He put away his previous relaxation and didn't dare to be careless.

The two walked and talked, and soon, a group of soldiers escorted a young man of about twenty and appeared in front of Zhou Zheng and the two.

After the leader of the small flag saluted, he said: "My lord, Li Dingguo has arrived!" ”

Although Li Dingguo was wearing prison uniforms, his hair was scattered, and his face was covered with dust, he still looked very handsome, and he was half a head taller than Zhou Zheng.

His expression was a little gloomy, looking at Zhou Zheng, his eyes were indifferent.

Yang Shenwu snorted coldly and said, "When you see Master Inspector, don't kneel yet!" ”

Li Dingguo glanced at Yang Shenwu, and said in an unkind tone: "Eagle dog of the imperial court, why should I kneel?" If you want to kill or chop, listen to it. ”

Yang Shenwu was suddenly furious, and just as he was about to speak, Zhou Zheng raised his hand to stop him, and said, "It's not easy to kill you?" The reason why Zhang Xianzhong has been able to live until now is nothing more than that the imperial court wants to lure other bandits, and now that the northwest is almost pacified, the time of death is almost coming. ”

Li Dingguo is Zhang Xianzhong's adopted son, and Zhang Xianzhong has great trust in him, so Li Dingguo regards Zhang Xianzhong as his father.

Listening to Zhou Zheng's words, Li Dingguo's face changed suddenly, stared at Zhou Zheng and said coldly: "What can I do if I kill my father-in-law?" Daming should have died a long time ago, do you think you pacified the northwest? Amusing! Do you know how many people in the northwest can't eat, and how many corrupt officials are oppressing the people? Let me tell you, as long as the Ming Dynasty does not die, the northwest will never be pacified! ”

Yang Shenwu showed an angry face, this bandit is really ashamed!

Zhou Zheng looked at Li Dingguo, thought for a while, and said, "I have read your information, and the potential is good." Come with me to Liaodong and give you a future. ”

Li Dingguo opened his mouth and was about to scold and refuse, but looking at Zhou Zheng's eyes that suddenly flashed, the words came to his mouth and swallowed back.

The life and death of his stepfather Zhang Xianzhong is in the hands of Zhou Zheng.

Li Dingguo's face was expressionless and indifferent.

Zhou Zheng was not in a hurry, he had time to train and let people take him away, and continued to talk about things with Yang Shenwu.

By May, the situation in the northwest had improved further. Although the governors and governors competed for power and profit, they also regarded the suppression of bandits as a first-class merit, and the big bandits had been eliminated, so they acted very easily, and all kinds of small bandits in the northwest were further eliminated, and there was the most stable and peaceful situation since the five years of the Apocalypse.

These credits will naturally not be imposed on Zhou Zheng or Yang Sichang, all of them are attributed to the first assistant Zhou Yanru, the prestige of this first assistant suddenly increased greatly, the government and the opposition trusted, and Chongzhen relied on it even more.

With the pacification of the northwest, another big problem has emerged, that is, the 'disaster relief' of the five northwest provinces, not to mention the army's military salary, still needs countless money and food, and under natural disasters, not one year or two.

The embarrassment of the treasury made the imperial court and Chongzhen extremely headache.

The household department already owed more than two million taels of silver to Zhou's ticket number, and Li Shi asked if he didn't want to borrow it again, so the problem was pushed to the top.

In the end, Chongzhen still apportioned a total of 2.7 million taels, which was distributed to each county in the thirteen provinces, and was required to be handed over within a limited time.

Zhou Zheng went back and forth in Liaodong, Tianjin, and Shandong, and he had too many things to do.

After dealing with the affairs in Shandong, on the way to Shanhaiguan, Ding Qi, who was carrying the deputy of the salt department, sat on the carriage and said: "Second brother, I talked to Li Shangshu and wanted to use the silver tickets issued by our ticket number to issue a fortune to the officials in a small area of the imperial court, but I was refused. Li Shangshu seems to be very vigilant about the ticket number recently, and is trying to return our arrears. ”

Zhou Zheng sat in the carriage, and after a little thought, he understood, and said: "This Li Shangshu is quite kind, thinking about paying back the money, if it is someone else, I am afraid that not only will he not pay it back, but he will also think about embezzling us." ”