At first glance, when he heard Xiong Tingbi's name, Yue Xiang thought that he had heard it wrong, or it was someone with the same name and surname. But when he realized something, he was really shocked.

In his time, anyone who knew a little about the history of the late Ming Dynasty didn't know Xiong Tingbi's name, which was one of the dignified three heroes of Liaodong. After the defeat of Yang Hao, Sahu Xu, he became the economic strategy of Liaodong, and stabilized the precarious situation in Liaodong in only one year, holding more than 100,000 heavy troops, and his power can be called the head of the country's feudal officials. Later, he somehow seemed to be involved in the whirlpool of party disputes in the imperial court, and as a result, the ship capsized and fell, and the Liaoshen defense line he painstakingly managed fell short.

I didn't expect this Xiong Tingbi to appear here, and it was even related to Gao Huai's Tibetan gold. It's unimaginable. How did he get involved with this kind of thing? Yue Xiang secretly smacked his tongue in his heart, what a capable character this Xiong Tingbi is, he will be famous in history. Being able to escape from his hands, Xiao Wan can be regarded as a great blessing.

However, although he knew Xiong Tingbi's name and his general experience, he did not know the details. Besides, now that Sa Huxu has not started fighting, Xiong Tingbi seems to have not come to Liaodong yet, so what does the fall of Gao Huai have to do with him? This was almost ten years ago, could it be that Xiong Tingbi was already in Liaodong at that time?

Xiong Tingbi ...... Oh my God, it's him! Yue Xiang muttered to himself.

"Xianggong has heard of this person?" Xiao Wan looked strange, that Xiong Tingbi was a Beijing official, and it was an old thing a few years ago to serve as the governor of Liaodong, and now he is no longer in Liaodong. But looking at Yue Xiang, it was as if he had known him for a long time. This kind of thing doesn't make sense, what kind of identity is Xiong Tingbi, Yue Xiang has never been an official before, and he has never had a chance to know him.

"Of course I've heard of it...... Ah, I have been the governor of Liaodong, and it is strange that I have not heard of such a prominent figure. Yue Xiang diverted the topic, but he was a little surprised in his heart, he didn't know much about Xiong Tingbi's situation, he didn't know that he had actually done Liaodong's patrol imperial history, it was really amazing, he could be a patrol imperial history, and it seemed that his ability was already a first-class master when he was young.

It must be known that the imperial history of the Ming Dynasty is also divided into three, six, nine and so on, and the average level is not qualified to represent the emperor according to the locality. Being able to make a special difference in Liaodong means that its business level has been among the highest Dacha clubs, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a super royal history.

The Inspector of the Imperial History was a supervision officer in the Ming Dynasty who went to the local area to carry out supervision tasks on behalf of the emperor. Their rank is much lower than that of those feudal officials who live on one side, probably not higher than the sixth rank, but their power is quite large. Because he is the representative of the emperor, he can directly play the emperor's impeachment of local officials at all levels, so the princes of all parties are very troubled by these people.

The system of the central government dispatching inspectors to conduct regular rounds of inspection of local administration has played a great role in China's more than 2,000 years of feudal absolutism, and has accumulated rich experience, especially in the Han, Tang, and Ming dynasties.

During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, there were messengers in straight embroidered clothes who killed criminals, such as mowing the grass and causing the spirits of officials who violated the law and discipline in the world; In the fifth year of Tang Tianbao, Li Longji sent officials to inspect and depose officials according to the customs of the world, and the name of the patrol began here. The Ming generation is a concentrated embodiment of this system, and it can even be said that it is one of the few commendable bureaucratic systems in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was born at the bottom of society and knew that the corruption of the Yuan Dynasty officials was an important reason for his demise. In the second year of Hongwu, he sent the imperial historian to inspect the advantages and disadvantages of local officials on a regular basis. These imperial histories, at first, belonged to the Yushitai, the highest supervisory organ of the central government, and later belonged to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, which is probably equivalent to the current Central Commission for Discipline Inspection or the procuratorate and other institutions, commonly known as patrol presses, patrol parties, press departments, executive departments, and so on.

The candidates for the imperial history are very demanding, and they are strictly scared to death. Unlike the general imperial history, as long as you are proficient in wind and news, pointing at mulberry and scolding Huai, insinuation, upright and daring, and so on, you can be competent. In short, it is necessary to be qualified to be shortlisted only if they are well-versed in economic history and knowledge of the road (the way of governing the country and the people) and the instructors of the Guozijian (National University), in short, all-round talents who are both civil and military, and it is stipulated that only those who have political experience, high moral cultivation, and integrity and no favoritism are eligible to be nominated.

And to really get an appointment, it must be approved by the emperor, and the name is called the difference. Generally speaking, if the imperial history is sent to inspect the imperial history, the two imperial officials are selected by the Metropolitan Procuratorate layer by layer, and finally the two imperial officials are drafted to supervise the imperial officials, just like the nomination stage of the Oscar awards, and finally the imperial history is led to the imperial front during the court meeting, and one of them is designated by the emperor, which can be regarded as a decision.

At this time, this imperial history is not a real patrol royal history, at most it is a quasi-patrol press, and there are still heavy tests waiting for him behind. The Ming Dynasty was divided into large, medium and small according to the distance and complexity of affairs. Desertion for the first appointment of the imperial history of the trial of the errand, the expiration of the trial period, after passing the assessment, must first serve in the poor (special difference), and then can count the difference (patrol), this is the iron fight of the dead rules, any imperial history must go through the exercise again and again, and finally can be cultivated into a positive fruit in the immortal class, become the patrol of the imperial history of the patrol according to the party.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the time of the patrol according to the imperial history was not fixed, there were long and short, and it was possible to send the imperial history to a certain place every month for twelve months of the year; The region is not fixed, and each of the 63 provinces in the south and north of the country is equipped with three or five, and it is temporarily decided who is responsible for which district; The specific route is not fixed, and where to go first and then to each county depends on the personal hobbies of the imperial history, and where to find out. The office location is not fixed, and when you go to a place to check it, you will leave, and the ghosts are similar to the homeless people who do not have a hukou, and most of the officials in various places regard them as the broom stars of the plague god who specially come to the door to find the ballast, but they dare not offend, and they hate and fear them.

Later, in the first year of Hongxi, Zhu Gaochi of Mingrenzong ascended the throne and stipulated the customization of the August patrol every year. A mortgage patrol lasts for one year, and if the patrol is successful, it can be appointed for another year or three years. A patrol according to the imperial history, can also patrol many prefectures and counties, so there is a "eight prefectures patrol". Moreover, in order to prevent the monopoly of the Imperial History Inspectorate, the local government has set up a permanent local supervisory body called the Inspectorate of Punishment and the Imperial History Inspectorate (commonly known as the Soap Division), which is in charge of supervision with the inspector sent by the central government, and supervises and restricts each other.

From the founding of Zhu Yuanzhang to the middle of the Ming Dynasty, and about the 120 or 30 years of Zhu Youtang of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty's patrol and imperial history played a positive role in the Ming Dynasty's rule of Qingming. But after arriving at Xiaozong, the magistrates who had been fighting against these central and subordinate imperial historians for more than a hundred years sadly found that their efforts not only did not shake the status of these mourners, but also the power of these nasty ghosts began to swell in horror.

It turned out that as the emperor became more and more uneasy about the feudal officials, and was afraid that the power would be lost, the imperial court issued a clear order: the inspection of the imperial history assessment and the local punishment according to the inspection envoy, so that the pattern of the central and local supervision of the local government has undergone a fundamental change, and the patrol of the imperial history has lost the mechanism of being supervised and restricted, and has monopolized the power of supervision.

Another major change was that the Inspector of Imperial History was given administrative and military powers that should not have been held by the Ombudsman. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the central government pushed the new policy of the local government, fearing that the local officials would not be active, so they discounted it, and simply let the inspector carry the imperial decree according to the imperial history, and inserted a rod into the end, setting up the local officials.

For example, the "One Whip Law" implemented in Zhejiang, the "One Drawing Law" implemented in Huguang, and the "Junping Lijia Law" implemented in Guangdong were all directly operated by the patrol according to the imperial history. In the implementation of major policies, there is no longer the shadow of the magistrate, that is, the construction of bridges, paving roads and other administrative affairs, the local administration and officials also need to ask the inspector for instructions before they dare to make a decision. Even the patrol according to the imperial history of the military command has gradually become involved, the patrol according to the imperial history does not speak, and the generals do not dare to fight without authorization. The original intention of the emperors was to let the governor check and balance the local autocracy according to the imperial history, but in this way, a new local autocracy was formed. Later, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, many prominent figures who were powerful for a time did patrol the imperial history, and this Xiong Tingbi was one of the representative figures, not to mention that the area he patrolled was Liaodong.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were three places that existed independently as special cases. They are Gansu, Xuanda, and Liaodong. These three places are the most important border military regions, and these three patrols are in the middle of the imperial history, but in the Jiajing period, they still have to choose the difference among the other intermediate and return to the imperial history, which is essentially upgraded to the highest level of the big difference, and the regulations are very strict. As a result, the three regions fought wars year after year, and without outstanding ability, the patrol imperial history could not carry out work here at all.

Not to mention that in this Wanli period, the imperial historians have become the local real power figures who dominate the military and political power, and how to unify the army and subdue the public to resist foreign enemies without two brushes. For example, in the first two years of the Liaodong Patrol according to the first imperial history of the royal court, he was sent to patrol Liaodong, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate was greatly criticized for this, and was condemned as "no one is the heart of the place", causing a lot of turmoil.

The power of the imperial history in the middle and late Ming Dynasty was unimaginable, and it was effortless to rectify the person. No wonder Xiaowan said that Gao Huai's downfall may have a deep relationship with Xiong Tingbi. At that time, he was the governor of Liaodong and was a cadre sent by the central government like Gao Huai, probably because he had the means and ability to attack Gao Huai.

Anyway, in my impression, Xiong Tingbi said in history that he had entered Liaodong three times, and Sa Huxu was the second to enter, and then there was another time when someone else fought a big defeat and affected him, and finally ended up with a pass on the first nine sides. He died after that time, and it was the last, of course. Then the first time he entered Liaodong, he should have come to Liaodong as a patrol of imperial history, is he really like what Xiao Wan said, in fact, his real identity is the secret envoy of Wanli, and he can't come to recover the stolen goods?

I really didn't expect that a mere Gao Huai Tibetan gold would attract the attention of so many cattle people, and heavyweight historical figures such as Nurhachi, Xiong Tingbi and so on were all flashing in it. Thinking that Xiong Tingbi was miraculously able to stabilize the situation in the face of the Ming army's successive defeats and the defeat of the Eight Banners Army, and gathered and unified more than 100,000 troops from all parties to pass the customs, and even had the meaning of gradually forcing the monopoly to defend step by step, it was impossible to do it without a large amount of money.

So where did he get his money? Moreover, according to what Yue Xiang saw and heard with his own eyes, it is estimated that in the later situation, even if there is money, he will not be able to sell grain in Liaodong. Then the cost of transporting grain from the customs is several times higher, as well as the purchase of firearms, cannons, armor, knives and guns, and the salaries issued to the soldiers to boost morale, all of which require thousands of silver to be successful.

And Wanli's love of money is unique in the whole of Chinese history (later his son Fu Wang inherited his foolish character), judging from his consistent performance, it is impossible for him to use his own private money to subsidize the officers and soldiers on the front line, and the treasury has long been empty, so the support of the imperial court must be limited. Xiong Tingbi was able to make such a result in just one year, and I am afraid that he still has to rely on himself to find a way to solve it.

Maybe he's found some unknown source of wealth...... Only in this way can it be explained. Although Xiong Tingbi was known as one of the three heroes of Liaodong by later generations, the three heroes of Liaodong are also human beings, not immortals, and they have to follow the rules of human affairs, and even some difficulties they cannot overcome.

The so-called famous general is not the so-called upper lip, as soon as the lower lip touches the lower lip, exuding the spirit of a king, there are groups of subordinates running in front of him to swear allegiance, most people are going for interests, only let him see the interests of following you to drive them. If you can't even eat enough, who will work for you?

Even Li Zicheng, a rebellious illiterate, still knows how to shout a slogan of not paying food to buy people's hearts, and those old fritters in the officialdom who are full of poetry and books have no reason not to know this truth.

And ordinary soldiers who serve as soldiers are even more realistic: when they are soldiers, they eat food, and they eat food and become soldiers. They haven't even seen what the emperor looks like, they can't read a basket of big characters, and it's useless for you to tell him those idiotic words of loyalty and morality. Moreover, most of the people who say these things are not worthy to say them themselves, so they are even less convincing. Their desire is very simple, to join the army, to have enough to eat, to do the business of pinning their heads to the waistband of their trousers, is such a simple requirement. If even this is not satisfied, no one is interested in dying in vain.

The main body of wars throughout the ages is not some so-called famous generals in history, and he did not win the war alone. Behind these famous generals are countless unknown ordinary soldiers. All the talents of the famous generals must be displayed through their soldiers, and if the soldiers refuse to cooperate, he will not be able to use his full strategy.

The best way to get soldiers to obey is to give them a strong sense of faith and honor, and such an army can overcome even obstacles that are difficult for ordinary armies to overcome. But now this era is an era of general lack of faith, not to mention the sense of honor, it is good that those who are soldiers do not be scolded in front of Qiu Ba.

Therefore, there is only a way to settle for the next best thing and satisfy them in terms of interests. If that doesn't work, it's really no curse. In fact, all wars in the world are determined by the performance of ordinary soldiers, that is to say, in fact, the real masters who operate the battlefield are not officials but soldiers. Their performance directly determines the fate of the country that wins or loses the war, and the sedan chair is carried by everyone, and whether the official is good or not depends on whether the people below are supportive, Xiong Tingbi must understand this truth, not to mention in an era when party strife is popular and will be impeached and sued at any time. If you want to do something, you must first get the sincere support of the people below, even if he is full of military talents, he must first establish his own popularity among his subordinates before he can implement it, the fastest and most effective way to get the support of the soldiers is real money, people die for money, birds die for food, this sentence is also true in another million years. Since he can't conjure wealth out of thin air, it can be guessed that he used other methods.

Xiong Tingbi knew about the existence of Gao Huai Zangjin so early, could it be that he found the secret of Gao Huai Zangjin in history, and only with the strong support of this secret fund could he make such an achievement? and later Sun Chengzong and Yuan Chonghuan...... There is also much to their rise that is not puzzling and ambiguous. Fighting a war is not about having a red-coat cannon to sit back and relax, fighting a war is mainly about logistics, and to put it bluntly, it is about silver. No money...... Unless a miracle happens.

Yue Xiang felt that he seemed to have gradually figured out some clues, Xiong Tingbi ...... Interesting. This famous figure in history actually has another side, he used to be an official in Liaodong, Zou Chuxian and other officers and soldiers should know about him, and he will go to ask someone tomorrow............