Approaching the end of November, Chongzhen's Western Patrol team finally entered Lanzhou City with a light snowfall. Zhu Zhihong, the king of Su, and Mei Zhihuan, the governor of Ganning, led civil and military officials to greet the emperor outside the east gate of Lanzhou.

For King Su, who is considered an honest man among the clan vassal kings, Zhu Youzhen is still very polite. It's just that he didn't use a convoy on this trip, so he can't greet this relative to get in the car to talk. As for King Su himself, he had prepared a carriage, but the emperor rode a horse, so he naturally couldn't get on the carriage and sit down, so he could only get a mount from the guards and follow the emperor.

Although Mei Zhihuan was born as a Jinshi, he is a rare talent who is skilled in both civil and military affairs. It is said that when he was young, Meng Lang inadvertently rode into the capital on horseback one day, when a royal historian was reviewing the armament of the Beijing camp, and was extremely dissatisfied with Mei Zhihuan's behavior, so he asked him to compete with the officer to shoot arrows, but Mei Zhihuan was nine shots and nine hits, so he got on the horse and walked away after he was speechless Yu Shi Chang.

A peculiar person like him will naturally not have a smooth career in his career. Therefore, in the primary election of Shu Jishi, he was later appointed to the official department, first impeached the eunuch Li Jun of Dongchang for offending the eunuchs, and then defended Zhang Juzheng for offending the conservative officials in the court, and was finally sent to the local government.

However, Mei Zhihuan is from a family of eunuchs after all, even if he is relegated to a place, no one will be too embarrassed by him. It's just that when he went home to keep filial piety for his parents, he wrote a book about Wei Zhongxian, so he was regarded by the eunuchs as a member of the Donglin Party, so he was suppressed more thoroughly.

After Chongzhen ascended the throne, in order to ease the party strife between the DPRK and China, a group of officials who were dismissed and questioned by Wei Zhongxian were restored, and Mei Zhihuan was recommended by his colleagues to serve as the governor of Gansu. Mei Zhihuan, who was incompatible with his colleagues in the interior, was like a fish in water here, not only reorganizing the army in Gansu, but also controlling the scale of bandits in Gansu and Ningxia caused by the disaster and famine in Shaanxi.

Later, Mei Zhihuan obeyed Chongzhen's orders, regained the Huangshui Valley, and built Xining Zhucheng to control the Qinghai Lake area, thus gaining Chongzhen's trust, and was promoted from the governor of Gansu to the governor of Ganning, responsible for the military and political affairs of Gansu, Ningxia, and Qinghai.

Since the Ming Dynasty lost control of the Western Regions, the trade routes to the Western Regions have become intermittent, which has also caused the Gansu region, known as the Hexi Corridor, to fall into a difficult situation. The Ming Emperors before Chongzhen also had no intention of restoring Ming control over the Western Regions, but only used Gansu as a barrier against invasion from outside the Western Regions, and as a strategic point to separate the Qinghai-Tibet region from the Mongolian region.

Because of this change in regional positioning, the cultural economy of Gansu is declining, and local rebellions and bandit gangs are emerging in an endless stream. Since Chongzhen's accession to the throne, he has been trying to restore trade ties with the Western Regions and Central Asia, and has continued to provide economic support to the army in Gansu, so that the authority of the imperial court has begun to be restored throughout Gansu, not just in a small area near Lanzhou.

When the emperor's inspection team appeared outside Lanzhou, the soldiers and civilians in Gansu finally felt the importance of the central court to the local area, and also increased their centripetal force towards the imperial court by several levels. Chongzhen, who was smiling and waving to the people on both sides of the road, appeared on the streets of Lanzhou with Governor Mei Zhihuan and Su King Zhu Zhihong, and was immediately warmly welcomed by the people of Lanzhou.

The soldiers and civilians of Lanzhou, who were waiting in the snowflakes, not only did not feel the cold weather, but felt inexplicably excited. After all, they didn't think that in such weather, the emperor would not hide in the carriage, but rode forward in the snow and greeted them.

Mei Zhihuan, who was a horse distance behind Chongzhen, silently looked at Chongzhen, who aroused the enthusiasm of the people on both sides of the road, and then looked at King Su, who was shrinking his neck with a painful expression, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart. In his opinion, King Su is already a good figure among the vassal kings in various places, but compared with the emperor in front of him, he is a little out of his hand.

Just riding a horse in the snowflakes today, Chongzhen has changed from the unreachable lord of the world to His Majesty the Emperor by their side in the hearts of the soldiers and civilians of Lanzhou. For the use of this orthodox name to bless his own aura, the emperor is really perfect.

Mei Zhihuan was able to understand why those Donglin comrades in the court could not stop the emperor's self-assertions, and Chongzhen destroyed all the previous restraints on the emperor's behavior one by one. Although he himself supports the reform, Mei Zhihuan does not want this reform to be promoted by the emperor, because such a reform will lead to no one to restrain the imperial power, so when the reform fails, who should brake it?

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Lanzhou City was just a Yellow River crossing and a military fortress, but after the Su Wangfu was moved to Lanzhou City, it gradually became an economic and cultural town. After three expansions, Lanzhou City in the Chongzhen period was already a large city with a city wall surrounding the city for more than 14 miles and nine gates inside and outside.

Suwangfu is located in the northeast of the city and covers a wide area. After Chongzhen arrived, King Su gave up half of the palace for the emperor to stay, and the East Garden, which had the most outstanding scenery in the palace, became the palace where Chongzhen stayed in Lanzhou.

Although Lanzhou is located in the northwest, the Suwang Mansion is an architectural style of Jiangnan gardens. On this snowy day, the scenery is very interesting.

However, these scenery are a bit wasteful for Chongzhen. Since the emperor stayed here, the always clean Su Wang's Mansion has begun to be lively. Chongzhen also knew that Lanzhou City was about the last stop of his western tour, and it was obviously unrealistic to go further west.

Not to mention the obstruction of the civil and military officials in Gansu, even the daily wear and tear of the guards he accompanied was not something that those remote states and counties could afford. So he summoned the county officials and garrison generals from all over the country to Lanzhou in batches, first, to let him recognize his face; The second is to understand the local situation.

For these county officials and generals in the northwest border area, it was a miracle to be able to meet the emperor in person, after all, even if an ordinary imperial historian came to Lanzhou, it may not be something they could see. Therefore, after receiving the order, officials from all over the country quickly rushed to Lanzhou.

The enthusiasm of these officials gave Chongzhen a relatively intuitive impression of Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Tibet, Shaanxi, and other regions in a short period of time.

On this day, when Mei Zhihuan was watching the snow scene in the Shuyu Pavilion in the backyard of the Governor's Palace, her 13-year-old daughter Mei Wanqing finally couldn't help but run to persuade her: "Father, it's cold and wet outside, you have been enjoying the snow for so long, be careful of hurting your body." ”

Although the fifty-seven-year-old Mei Zhihuan has two sons, the one he loves most is the little daughter who is raised by his side. Although under his connivance, this little daughter has been playing wild with horseback archery all day long, but Mei Zhihuan refuses to reprimand her, only feels that this daughter is the most like herself.

Seeing her baby daughter coming over to persuade herself, Mei Zhihuan smiled and said, "Although your father is old, he also rides a bad horse and pulls a hard bow, what can be hurt by such a little cold." But you, who ran out on such a cold day, didn't even wear a cloak, did you want your father to reprimand you? ”

Mei Wanqing subconsciously hid the calfskin boots that had just run in the snow and were stained with slush into her skirt, and then she wanted to change the topic of her father and said: "Daddy's martial arts are praised by Uncle Ma and Uncle Ding, where does my daughter dare to underestimate it." It's just that seeing that her father is often alone these days, her daughter can't help but come over and ask, wanting to share her father's worries. ”

Hearing that her daughter cared so much about herself, Mei Zhihuan was in a good mood and said: "Well, it's pretty much the same, it's not in vain that I love you so much on weekdays." But what I'm thinking about now, you can't share it. If you don't go out and cause trouble for me, it's even if you're worrying about your father. ”

Mei Wanqing, who was familiar with her father's temperament, suddenly stepped forward and grabbed Mei Zhihuan's arm and said, "Daddy didn't say anything, how do you know that your daughter can't share her worries, are you looking down on your daughter?" ”

Mei Zhihuan suddenly laughed and said, "There are some things that tell you, and you won't understand." What your dad thinks these days is that it would be nice if he could be ten years younger. ”

Although Mei Wanqing didn't understand why her father said this, she still said angrily: "Who dislikes my father when he is old, and his father will say it, and wait for his daughter to teach them a lesson..."

Mei Zhihuan looked at his daughter and smiled silently, but he felt a burst of emotion in his heart, Xin Qiji said that he had not succeeded in Shaohua Yi's old achievements, and he didn't expect him to have such a state of mind now.

Looking at the emperor's actions in the past month, it is obvious that he wants to have something to do in the northwest. But Chongzhen never summoned him alone, which made Mei Zhihuan a little unfounded.

The emperor was able to promote him all the way to the governor of Ganning and become a self-appointed feudal minister, Mei Zhihuan was naturally grateful. After all, before he was fifty-two years old, he had never been so appreciated by the emperor. However, the foundation of Gansu and Ningxia is too thin, and there are enemies on three sides, even if it is Mei Zhihuan, who is quite conceited, he can only stabilize the local situation and not deteriorate.

Whether it was the rectification of the Gansu-Ningbo Border Army, the establishment of the Seventh Field Army and the 10th and 11th Cavalry Divisions, or the formulation of a strategy for entering Qinghai, all came from the plan of the General Staff, and Mei Zhihuan did not play an outstanding role in it. If other people were in his position, they would be very happy, because the troubles were taken over by the General Staff, and they only had to wait for the army to share the credit.

But for Mei Zhihuan, who is ambitious and capable, this kind of feeling of being led by others is really uncomfortable. He hoped that he would be able to plan the strategy of the northwest by himself, so as to establish a meritorious work that would leave a name in history, so that his life would not be wasted in vain and finally buried in history as an ordinary bureaucrat.

Chongzhen's western tour, in his opinion, is not a simple tour of the landscape, just by seeing the emperor so frequently meet with officials from all over the country, he knows that the emperor must have a great plan for the northwest. But Chongzhen was slow to confess to him, which made Mei Zhihuan a little worried about whether the emperor planned to exclude him from the plan.

Just as Mei Zhihuan was talking and laughing with his daughter and dispelling the boredom in his heart, a steward hurriedly ran into the garden and said to him: "Master, there is a royal guard outside, saying that His Majesty ordered the master to go to the palace to meet..."