Chapter 85: Shi Kefa

The night was already deep.

In the Yangzhou Mansion, the lights are still on.

At this moment, the largest official position in the Yangzhou Mansion is not the Yangzhou Prefect, but Shi Kefa.

Shi Kefa is now the prime minister of the Nanjing Military Department.

In the system of the Ming Dynasty, the various Shangshu in Nanjing were all errands for the elderly.

The actual power of Nanjing was in the hands of two people, one to guard Nanjing and one to guard the eunuch in Nanjing. The Nanjing garrison is the contemporary Wei Guogong of the Zhongshan king's lineage, and the eunuch is Han Zanzhou. It's just that Xungui's lineage has long been out of shape, otherwise Shi Kefa would not have been allowed to be prime minister.

As for Han Zanzhou, the eunuch guarding the town, although Daming had eunuchs to supervise the army, there was no such thing as eunuchs leading the troops. Therefore, it is impossible for Han Zanzhou to be in charge, and in the battle of Fengyang, the brave guards are in tatters, and Lu Jiude is also killed in battle. This directly affected Han Zanzhou.

However, there are various contradictions within the eunuchs, but the Yongwei battalion has always been an army under the inner court. The defeat of the Yongwei battalion also greatly affected Han Zanzhou's right to speak.

In the face of Fengyang's danger, Huai'an couldn't help but be in a hurry, there were no soldiers to adjust everywhere, even if there were some guards, they were just filled with heads, and there was no combat power at all.

Otherwise, under the danger of the army, Shi Kefa would not have stayed in Yangzhou for so long.

It's not that Shi Kefa is selfish and doesn't dare to go to the country, but Shi Kefa understands too well what the people below are like, and he doesn't dare to enter the army if he doesn't rectify it well, although Shi Kefa has not fought any big battles. But along the way, it is not impossible to talk about ignorance of military affairs. He once served as the deputy envoy of the supervising army in Lu Xiangsheng's army, patrolling Anqing, Chizhou, and supervising the Jiangbei armies to repel the thieves. Later, he was promoted to governor, and the governor of Anqing, Luzhou, Chizhou, and Taiping, as well as Henan, Huguang, and Jiangxi counties. Assist in the defense of the upper reaches of Nanjing. He also served as the governor of Caoyun and the governor of Fengyang. That is, the positions of Ma Shiying and Lu Zhenfei, the governor of Fengyang and the governor of Caoyun are also at the same time in the history of the Ming Dynasty, either for one person or for two people.

Therefore, Shi Kefa came all the way to appease the locality, hoarded grain and grass, and made the dilapidated place populated again, and he was also a cadre, which became the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department.

Shi Kefa is a decent person, can be said to be a moral model, over forty years old, only has a wife and no children, and does not take concubines. It has always been very good from his subordinates, and everyone is called a gentleman.

And even in the middle of the night, Shi Kefa was still busy with official business.

Shi Dewei is a son of the Fuxiang Shi family, that is, a native of Kaifeng Mansion. is Shi Kefa's son and nephew, and Shi Kefa is with him. This was the norm at the time. Stilwell commanded Shi Kefa's personal soldiers, not many, only more than a hundred people.

A letter reached Strwinway. Stilwell hurriedly came over, saw that the light was still on inside, and said, "

Adults, adults. ”

Hearing that no one was talking inside, Stilwell gently pushed the door in, but saw Shi Kefa supporting his head with his hands, his eyes seemed to be closed, as if he was asleep.

Seeing this, Stilwell sighed slightly in his heart, and put this document on the head of Scott. Put on a dress for Shi Kefa, it is now late autumn, and the night is already a little cold. Stilwell knew that during this period of time, Shi Kefa barely closed his eyes.

Nanjing Jingying is almost a waste. Reading paperwork on weekdays, there is no shortage of anything, there are many officials, and if you want to rectify it, it is impossible, so that the nobles will not let their jobs be ruined. As for the formation and training of the new army, it will be necessary to have another piece of silver, and there is not much silver in the Ming Dynasty, and there is not much silver in Shi Kefa's hands.

When it came time to use, Shi Kefa couldn't make a fightable soldier even if he had eight arms on all sides.

There are no available soldiers, the available silver must be temporarily misappropriated, and the available generals will only have one Liu Zhaoji. He was born in Liaodong Jiangmen and was a subordinate of You Shiwei. Because of the defeat of the Liukou, he was dismissed, and he has been seeking revenge, which was collected by Shi Kefa. Admiral of the Nanjing Grand Church.

With Liu Zhaoji here, Shi Kefa took Liu Zhaoji as the core, and during this period of time, the combatable soldiers collected from all over the country could be regarded as having made thousands of soldiers.

These alone made Shi Kefa exhausted his mental strength.

In just half a month, a large army will be gathered, Shi Kefa will coordinate and embezzle everywhere, and appease Lu Zhenfei and the people everywhere in the south of the Yangtze River. Even some time ago, when Li Zicheng's edict arrived in Jiangnan, Cao Ying had not yet crossed the river with a single soldier, and Jiangnan was already in the news.

There were even scoundrels who shouted on the streets of Nanjing: "Cao Ying's army has arrived." ”

For a while, the people who crowded the entire street suddenly became chaotic, and everyone fled everywhere, trampling on and dying, countless people, or the ability of the Nanjing government could not count the number of people.

In this panicked situation, Shi Kefa had to write to the Donglin bigwigs, asking them to appease the people, and swore that there was a danger in the Yangtze River, and it was impossible for thieves to cross the river.

In fact, whether Cao Ying will cross the river or not, whether he can cross the river, Shi Kefa is also very bottomless in his heart, but he knows that if he is not worried about appeasing the hearts of the people, if he can't wait for Cao Ying to fight, Jiangnan himself will be in chaos. After all, in these years, it is not only the north that is chaotic, but also the thieves in Guangdong, and the Huangyao Rebellion in Sichuan. The restlessness of the southwest Tusi, Zheng Zhilong on the coast of Fujian is suppressed, but the interior of Fujian is not free of thieves. Even the place where Jiangnan is located has set off the Xudu Rebellion.

He must calm people's hearts, because Jiangnan will not allow any more chaos.

However, there are some literati and scholars, and students from the Restoration Society came to Shi Kefa, claiming to serve before the army, but there are few useful people and many useless people, and everything is done

If it weren't for Shi Kefa's personal observations, he wouldn't be at ease. In the past few days, he has been working all night, reviewing official documents, urging the requisition of materials from all over the country, and then writing more selfish intentions to all Donglin bosses, all kinds of things, so that he has not slept well for several nights.

Stilwell was by Scofa's side and knew all too well about this. He and Shi Kefa, named subordinates, are actually uncles and nephews. I also feel distressed about this. It's just that Shi Kefa is a human being, but he can't be persuaded. had no choice but to see Shi Kefa fall asleep at this moment.

Naturally, I won't wake him up.

Quietly retreated.

After coming out, I saw the stars and moon in the sky, and I faintly heard the sound of beating in the distance. "Knock, knock, knock. The weather is dry, beware of the candles. ”

Stilwell immediately went over and whispered, and suddenly there was no sound of the watch.

For a while, there was silence in Yangzhou City, and only the occasional sound of birds and insects was left.

A ray of sunlight shone on Shi Kefa's face through the window, and it seemed that the light made Shi Kefa very uncomfortable, and the arm supporting his head suddenly loosened, and Shi Kefa almost fell on the table. Woke up suddenly, and when he saw the situation, he immediately frowned and said, "Dulwich." ”

Stevenway immediately came in from outside and said, "Your Excellency, you called me. ”

"Why don't you wake me up." When Shi Kefa saw the clothes on his body, he knew that Stilwell had already come in.

Stilwell said: "The last general has seen that the adults have not slept for several nights, and I really can't bear it, and the state affairs are like this, so please take care of your health." ”

Shi Kefa sighed, and it was not easy to blame him, and said, "You can't do this in the future." ”

Immediately ordered the servant to make a basin of cold water and wash his face, although Shi Kefa's eyes were bloodshot, he had already started working energetically.

It's just that at this time, suddenly someone outside quickly came to report and said, "Report." Cao Ying's army moved. ”

Stilwell immediately went out to lure the messenger in, took the letter from the messenger, and handed it to Shi Kefa, who opened it and saw that it was written that Cao Ying's army had arrived at the city of Chuzhou. Chuzhou, the Yangtze River is close at hand. Shi Kefa thought of the Yangtze River again, and his heart suddenly panicked.

He took a deep breath, a panicked look on his face. said: "Those who should come will still come, go and invite General Liu." ”

Stilwell arched his hand and said, "Yes." He knew that there was only one person who was called General Liu by Shi Kefa, and that was Liu Zhaoji. Shi Kefa's experienced generals who can fight are the only ones Liu Zhaoji. For such a big event, Stilwell didn't dare to slack off, but after a while, he invited Liu Zhaoji over.

Liu Zhaoji looked at the information, his heart sank, and said: "What do you think adults should do?" ”

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