The first snow in Beijing in the thirteenth year of Ming orthodoxy was obviously earlier than in previous years.

It was only the end of October, and the weather was already extremely cold, and the gloomy clouds pressed on the sky over this ancient and noble capital for several days, until the twenty-fifth day, when the heavy snow that had been brewing for several days finally fell, covering the entire capital with a thick layer of white bedding.

At this time, in the second hall of the Yamen of the Ministry of War, the faces of several important officials were even more gloomy than the sky of the previous two days, and everyone looked at the good news that had just been delivered from the north with complicated eyes, just looking at their faces, it seemed that it was a complete defeat and more good news.

Finally, after a long silence, Shang Shu Kuang Yu smiled bitterly and said: "This is a victory after all, so I have to send this good news to the palace later." ”

"But in this way, the idea of using business to defeat the enemy advocated by Shansi before will be completely denied." Yu Qian glanced at Lu Zhen with some pity and shook his head slightly.

Lu Jin's face was also full of bitterness. Who would have thought that their own efforts would end up with such a result? I don't know what went wrong on the Xuanfu side, and they actually let the Mongolian people send troops to attack, and they also took advantage of this to achieve a great victory of killing hundreds of enemies, which can't be covered.

And once the good news is sent to the palace, Wang Zhen and his party will naturally be able to take advantage of the topic to play, pointing out that his own set is not appropriate, and the antique emperor will use troops against the north again. After several adventures and calculations, the good situation that he had worked so hard for was ruined in one fell swoop.

Suddenly, Lu Jin's heart moved again, and a bold guess had emerged. Wang Zhen was so cooperative before, and he didn't go back on his word, probably not because Hu Hu was there to deter him, but because he was waiting for himself in this matter a long time ago!

The more he thought about it, the more Lu Zhen felt that this was very likely to happen. It must have been Wang Zhen's people who did something in Xuanfu that led to this war. He believed that with the scheming of Wang Zhen and the factory guards, it was indeed not difficult to disrupt the stability of the field over there and completely shatter the already fragile relationship between Ming and Mongolia.

But even if he was eighty percent sure, Lu Zhen still couldn't say it in front of these bosses, let alone take it to the court to accuse Wang Zhen of them. Because he had no evidence at all, it was impossible to guess that he could convict anyone.

blame myself for taking it for granted before, only thinking about using business means to suppress the Mongolian people, but forgetting that this kind of thing can completely overturn the good situation as long as someone is behind it.

So after hearing Yu Qian's words, Lu Zhen could only sigh, and then arched his hand: "A few adults, it is indeed that the lower officials are not thoughtful enough, which has led to the current passive situation. If the Son of Heaven really wants to blame, he is free to take all the blame! ”

"What are you talking about?" Kuang Yu glared at him with some dissatisfaction: "How can this official put the blame on his subordinates?" Since you are a subordinate officer of my army, I naturally want to protect you. And it's just a small mess in a county in Hebei, the Son of Heaven Shengming, so that the whole plan will not be rejected because of this. ”

"Yes, Shansi, you don't have to worry too much, although this incident is a bit unexpected to us, but the problem is still within the scope of solving. On the one hand, we can speak to the Son of Heaven that this is just an accident in one place; In both cases, the imperial court can also send people to the Yanggao area to investigate carefully, and find out the causes and consequences of this war clearly. If someone really is playing right and wrong in it, this official will never spare him. ”

"Thank you for the love of several adults, Lu Jinming is grateful in my heart." Lu Zhen said this with some gratitude.

Just when everyone was about to enter the palace at this time to grasp the initiative, two guards outside suddenly rushed to the door with surprise on their faces, and said loudly: "Ladies and gentlemen, Shanxi good news, my Ming defenders repelled the Tartars and killed more than a thousand ......enemies" He was a little excited before he said half of it, and then stopped, because he saw that the adults in the hall not only did not show any joy at this time, but brought anger to it.

It is naturally impossible for these ordinary soldiers guarding the yamen of the military department to understand what the high-ranking officials above are thinking. In their view, the fact that the border soldiers were able to win a great victory in the battle with the Mongols was a great event worth celebrating. And today, Hebei and Shanxi have delivered two good news one after another, which proves that our Ming Dynasty is prosperous, and the military department is naturally indispensable.

Therefore, as a member of the military department, he also felt honored and excited, and he was also very energetic to come to report the news at this time. But to his surprise, these adults in front of him reacted with a dead old man after hearing this, as if he was avenging defeat.

Fortunately, Yu Qian's reaction was quite fast, and he immediately spoke: "Send the good news forward." In addition, after going out, Haosheng took care of the post man who sent Jie. He knew that such a good news, the border generals would definitely send it with an expedited speed of six hundred miles, and the post guard must be very tired.

Only then did the soldier come to his senses, promised, came in and handed over the good news, and then withdrew with a full stomach full of doubts.

After Kuang Yu sighed, he took the good news with a complicated face and looked at it at a glance, and then his face changed for a while. However, he didn't rush to say anything, but handed it to Yu Qian, who was in the starting place, and after Lu Zhen also read this good news, several people in the hall fell silent again.

The contradictions that occurred in Datong this time were much simpler and clearer than those of Xuanfu. Because the Mongols actually traded with the local people with salt instead of grassland products such as horses that the Ming wanted, the local government quickly made a decision to refuse the trade.

This is actually very easy to understand, although for the merchants of the Ming Dynasty, it is not unacceptable to exchange tea and silk grains for salt, after all, the price of salt is not low, and it is not worrying about not being able to sell. But this is completely contrary to the original intention of Daming to open a field. Even, the Ming Dynasty also has salt in the commodities provided to the grassland, and now people actually use what you don't want to do business, how can the government accept it?

As a result, after the two sides were unable to reach a consensus after some negotiations, the contradictions intensified completely. And this time, the Mongolian people were actually prepared, and immediately gathered thousands of cavalry to attack Hunyuan Prefecture, where the field was located, and killed many unprepared local people and merchants.

In the face of such a reckless attack by the Mongols, Hu Sui also reacted immediately, sending soldiers and horses from the nearby fortress to counterattack. And because they were in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, these Mongolian people were already at a disadvantage in terms of geographical advantages, and there was a huge disparity in military strength, so they finally ended with the victory of the Ming Dynasty. not only drove them back to the grassland, but also beheaded more than 1,000 enemies......

Of course, Kuang Butang, who always dealt with the local garrison, was still skeptical about this number of kills. I'm afraid that among these thousand people, nearly half of them are those who are unprepared and come to the Ming Dynasty to want to trade. But there is no way to verify this matter, and he can only admit it.

But the consequences of this are quite serious. I am afraid that in this way, the Mongolian people will no longer believe what the court says, and the two sides can be regarded as completely settling enemies.

However, at this time, they could no longer worry about this, and with the arrival of this good news, the situation of Lu Jin, or the courtiers who had previously advocated dealing with the Mongols by gentle and peaceful means, would become extremely embarrassing.

Because the border gates have told them that it is very unrealistic to use this kind of trade to coexist peacefully with the Mongolian people. Only by sending troops as strong as Taizu Taizong and defeating them completely is the best way to target the Mongols.

At this time, Yu Qian suddenly frowned and asked a question: "No matter how you look at this matter in Shanxi, it is strange. Haven't the Mongolian people on the grassland always lacked salt? Why did they suddenly come up with a large amount of salt to trade with us, and where did they get the salt? ”

Kuang Wei couldn't help but be stunned, because the incident came suddenly, and the invasion of the Mongolian army attracted attention, he didn't think deeply. Now that Yu Qian is so little, he is also in doubt: Yes, salt has always been an embargo of the Ming Dynasty to the north, how did they get so much salt?

Only Lu Jin, but his expression changed slightly at the moment. Because he quickly figured out the reason, I'm afraid that all this is because of himself.

Because just a few years ago, when he first came to this era, when he was on the grassland, he helped the people of the Raha tribe to extract usable salt from between the cliffs and rock walls. At that time, he did this just to protect himself, and never thought about it deeply. But I didn't expect that a few years later, it would have such a far-reaching impact.

Obviously, although the Raha tribe had been wiped out by the Warat, there were still people who knew how to make salt and fell into the hands of Yexian, so that they also mastered the simplest method of extracting salt.

However, Lu Zhen didn't dare to say this in front of his two bosses. Because once this matter is leaked, his sin will be too great, even if Yu Qian and Kuang Yu want to protect themselves, they may not have this ability. The only thing that can be done is to bury this thing in the bottom of my heart forever and let it rot and disappear completely.

Since he couldn't think of a reason for a while, Kuang Yu didn't force it anymore, but just sighed and said: "In any case, the first thing to do now is to send these two good news to the palace, and everything will be decided by Your Majesty." ”

In this regard, Lu Zhen naturally agreed. Because if it is really Wang Zhen who is secretly working hard behind this, then with the eyes and ears of the factory guard, I am afraid that he will already know about these two good news entering Beijing. At this time, dragging it will only be more realistic. So he also stood up: "Since the lower official has unshirkable responsibility in this matter, then I will also enter the palace with the adults." "As one of the four pinlangs, he is already qualified to ask the Son of Heaven when he encounters something important.