Earlier, when Zhu Gaoxu had just left Zhangde Mansion, he had already ordered the political envoys of Beiping and Shandong to report on their work in Beiping.

The Liaodong Prefecture (near Liaoyang) had also received the order, and then ordered that the generals of the guards should set off for the south.

The commander of the Liaodong Metropolitan Division is called Cao Yi, and he has been in command for some years from the last years of Hongwu to the present. Recently, the emperor's northern tour and summoning all the generals to report on their work seem to be relatively normal, but Cao Yi is faintly uneasy.

Today, he pondered this matter again in the government office, and suddenly reported that He Hao, the counselor of Daning City, asked to see him. Cao Yi immediately said to the guards: "Please." ”

He Hao was also one of the people who was going to report on his work, but he first came to Liaodong Dusi. Obviously, He Hao is Cao Yi's cronies.

During the "Battle of Jingyan" that year, King Ning was forced to join the Jingnan Army, and his official guards were all coerced away by Taizong, and he also brought a large group of Mongolian cavalry from the Wuliangha tribes. Daning City was also empty for a while. (Daning City is located in the south of Chifeng City, north of Yanshan, and northwest of the Liaoning West Corridor.) ）

Later, King Ning moved to Jiangxi, Daning City lost the status of the fief of the vassal king, and the Daning Dusi almost existed in name only. During the Yongle period, Daning City was temporarily garrisoned by the Liaodong Metropolitan Division until now. At that time, Cao Yi, the commander of Liaodong, was sent by his general He Hao.

After a while, He Hao walked into the signing room. He is a big man, and his movements are also powerful, he hugged his fists and bowed, and said in a loud voice: "The last general will see Cao Du's envoy." ”

"Okay, okay." Cao Yi, whose beard was already a little gray, nodded in response, and said, "You have to go to Beiping quickly, don't delay too long." ”

He Hao's face was a little confused, probably because he came to the Liaodong Metropolitan Governance Office on this trip, which was what Cao Yi meant. However, He Hao didn't say much, and replied respectfully: "Yes." ”

Cao Yi stood up from the chair, pondered for a while, and suddenly said, "Your business, I'm afraid this time it will come to the saint." Those guards in the west didn't get a share of the benefits, and their eyes were very red, so they didn't take the opportunity to lift the pot? ”

When He Hao heard this, he suddenly said: "Cao Duzhi was worried about this matter, but he already knew about this matter today?" From Yongping Mansion to Daning City, there are no Jinyi guards in the yamen everywhere, and they should have reported to the capital early, but no one has cared about them all these years. Besides, it is not unusual, the merchants brought Korean ginseng or something from outside the customs to the south, and then brought goods from the interior to get them outside the customs, and the guards along the way collected some transit money, which is a long time ago. ”

Cao Yi said: "The brothers should be fine, the old man may have a hurdle." ”

He Hao immediately patted his chest and said: "Cao Du envoy rest assured, everything is made by the last general, and it has nothing to do with Cao Du, who is far away in Liaodong!" ”

"Hmph." Cao Yi made a sound from his nose, noncommittal.

After a while, Cao Yi asked again: "Your business is a bit big, isn't it?" ”

He Hao showed an embarrassed smile, "It is said that it is a deal with Duoyan Sanwei, but in fact, there is more than that person in Sanwei." Before the Tatar tribes ascended the throne from now on, they had been at odds with the Ming Dynasty, and the ordinary mutual market had been cut off. The things needed by the Tatar tribes, such as tea, flour, rice, ironware, etc., were exchanged from the people of the Doyan Sanwei Uryaha. The Uliangha people bought it from us. This business is not small if you want to. ”

He's very

Straightforwardly continued: "Later, we couldn't do it on our own, and we found a few big salt merchants.

One of the ways for those salt merchants to ask for salt is to send military rations to the border gates, get the official documents signed by the border generals, and then exchange them for salt introductions. Another way is to simply spend money to buy salt from the vassal king, and the salt is a holy reward. However, in the past, salt was very expensive, and there were still salt merchants who were willing to send military rations.

The cost of transporting grain was huge, and some salt merchants simply looked for places to open up wasteland around the Liaodong and Daning capitals, and recruited exiles who had settled down or even fled everywhere to farm. Grain was planted on the spot for the border generals in exchange for salt.

However, after the Wude year, the imperial court suddenly stopped the treasure money and minted money with silver and copper; The part of the treasure money that the Holy Lord had rewarded the vassal king with was replaced with salt. Salt has caused too much, and the price has fallen all the way in the past two years. Nowadays, most of the salt merchants are reluctant to send military rations, so they simply spend money to buy them.

At that moment, we found another way for the salt merchants of Daning Dusi to make money. If the people of Wuliangha want to buy something, they will ask the salt merchants to send it to Daning City. When they passed the customs, they said that it was something to be used for clearing the wasteland in the border land, or the goods needed by the Daning garrison, and then they dotted along the road, and it has been very smooth so far. ”

He Hao said and emphasized: "No matter how we investigate, we never trade with the Tatars, only with the Uliangha. This is not a crime of collaborating with the enemy! The Wuliangha people supported Emperor Taizong back then, and now the three guards and the name are also the three guards set up by our Ming Dynasty. ”

Cao Yi looked at He Hao for a while, and said quietly: "The princes of the court and the central government are not fools, and the relationship between the Wuliangha people and the Horqin tribe in the Tatars is inextricably linked. When things are in the hands of the Uliangha people, they are nothing more than a hand. ”

He Hao stretched his neck: "That's the Wuliangha people collaborating with the enemy." ”

"That's it, that's it." Cao Yi shook his head and said, "Don't stay in the Liaodong Dusi, you will be ordered to go to Beiping first." ”

He Hao hugged his fists and said: "The last general obeys the order and retires." ”

Cao Yi watched He Hao walk out of the threshold, and sighed secretly.

I heard from a friend in Beiping that the emperor's northern patrol guard was more than 10,000 foot cavalry. If this person wants to drive the Northern Expedition in person, there are too few, and if they are only escorts, there seem to be more of them. Cao Yi even boldly guessed that the emperor would not come to clean up some disobedient border generals?

The more Cao Yi thought about it, the more scared he became, but there was nothing he could do about it. Today's good war is famous, not to mention that he used to follow Taizong out of the customs and fight, and the "Battle of Jingyan" was Taizong's arm; The "Battle of Crime" ascended to the throne, and it was also fought, and every time with less victory, it crossed the Ming Dynasty from the border of Yunnan and won the throne.

Such an emperor, Cao Yi did not dare to resist after eating a hundred leopards, so he could only lead his neck and wait to be killed. Even if he dared to resist, his men were not willing to follow him to death.

So Cao Yi began to comfort himself and tried his best to think about the good. Compared with now, after ascending to the top, most of the old ministers have not been cleansed, and even some people who have opposed the present are living well; Cao Yi did not get involved in the "battle of crime", so he would not be ruthless to him?

However, Cao Yi soon remembered what happened to Emperor Hong Xi and Jinshang's eldest brother. Cao Yi fell into contemplation again, wondering if such a black-hearted thing was done by the Holy One?

…… The military generals from all over Beiping, who were ordered to go, have arrived one after another. The political envoy of Beiping also wrote a chapter, sent people south, and found the emperor's brigade to deliver it.

Zhu Gaoxu received

At the time of the recital, he had just entered the ground of the Beiping Political Envoy. The army marched and camped on foot and all kinds of vehicles in order, walking very slowly, only walking a few dozen miles a day.

The weather in the north is getting colder and colder, and it is already winter.

This year's snow hasn't fallen yet, and the wind is often dry and cold. The grass and trees along the way are withered, and the dull colors are dotted with a little green leaves, which is much more quaint than the winter in Kyoto. However, Zhu Gaoxu is still quite accustomed to it, and he spent a lot of time in Beiping at the beginning.

In early November, people finally arrived outside the city of Beiping. At this time, there was no vassal king in this big city, and the officials of the three divisions of Beiping went out of the city to greet them, and there were also border generals summoned by Zhu Gaoxu in the crowd to greet them.

After the ceremony, the emperor's guard of honor and guards surrounded Zhu Gaoxu's luan and entered the city gate.

According to the previous arrangement, Zhu Gaoxu did not live in the larger Yan Wangfu and Zhao Wangfu's hometown, and went straight to the Gaoyang County Mansion where he once lived. However, now the plaque of the county king's mansion is gone, because there is no name of Gaoyang county king, people generally call it the old courtyard of Beiping. The gap between the specifications of the Junwang Mansion and the Prince's Mansion is very large, and compared to the previous Gaoyang Junwang Mansion, it really seems to be just a courtyard.

Zhu Gaoxu did not immediately summon the border generals to discuss the matter, but only asked the eunuch to send an edict to repair for a few days. After the welcoming ceremony, everyone went back to the accommodation arranged by the Beiping Dusi.

However, in the afternoon of the same day, Zhu Gaoxu summoned the Wuliangha people to meet with the chickens alone.

What the Mongolian name of the chicken is, Zhu Gaoxu does not know now. I don't know who took this Chinese name, it may be Emperor Taizong Zhu Di. Because Zhu Di also gave the eunuch a name for the dog.

Zhu Gaoxu was in the upper room in the front yard, and when he saw the chickens entering and bowing, he suddenly felt that this Wuliangha man seemed to be a lot older, and his face was wrinkled. I remember that when Ji'er participated in the "Battle of Jingjing" under Zhu Gaoxu, he seemed to be relatively young and strong. Only then did Zhu Gaoxu suddenly think that more than ten years had passed since the "Battle of Jingjing".

"General, please get up and sit in a chair." Zhu Gaoxu personally stepped forward to help him up.

The chicken bowed and said, "Thank you." "He spoke Chinese, with a bit of a strange accent, but it was easy to understand.

Zhu Gaoxu said: "Back then, the general fought with me in the north and south, and he never met again. I first settled in the southwestern borderland, Yunnan Province, thousands of miles apart; Later, Yu Jingshi succeeded to the throne, and he remembered the general several times, but everything went wrong, and it was only today that he finally reunited. ”

When the chicken heard this, there seemed to be a look of emotion on his wrinkled black face: "I don't want the saint to be able to read the minister." ”

Zhu Gaoxu asked, "What is your situation now?" ”

Ji'er said: "It's still the same as before, there are more than 1,000 accounts under his command, which belong to Fuyuwei." However, when we were in Beijing, Emperor Taizong gave a lot of rewards. ”

Zhu Gaoxu said directly: "I should give you more rewards, and there will definitely be opportunities in the future." ”

Ji'er raised his head and looked at Zhu Gaoxu, was silent for a while, and finally spoke: "Holy Lord, Fu Yuwei has difficulties. ”

Zhu Gaoxu changed his sitting posture to appear patient, and said, "If you have anything to say, just say it to me." He had a gut feeling that he would be able to get some useful information from General Chicken's mouth this time. It is right to meet this Uryanha man alone today.