Chapter 426: Sitting in the candle house, the Son of Heaven came unexpectedly

Since Zhu Yuanzhang, the Hongwu Emperor of the early Ming Dynasty, set an example for his diligence and even raided the yamen from time to time to inspect them, it has become a common practice for various ministries and institutes to stay at night, especially in such an important place as the military department. Due to the fact that there are all kinds of military newspapers and documents in the south and north these days, the three court officials and the staff department have become the busiest places. And although the Arsenal Division said that he had some free time after finishing the affairs of Jiaonan, he naturally did not dare to slack off when he looked at the situation in the north.

The Son of Heaven has already said the words of the Northern Tour of Xinghe, who knows if there will be another northern expedition on a whim?

After the dismissal of the government that evening, Zhang Yue sent Lian Sheng home with him to report the news, and asked him not to come back, and immediately asked Lian Hu to go to Qianmen Street to buy food. Because there were still two scribes left tonight, Lian Hu bought more as instructed, and after sending the things to the main house of the division first, he came to the ear room and put the two oiled paper bags on the table with a smile.

The two scribes had brought food early in the morning, and had just arrived at the big room to heat up the meal, but it was only brown rice, turnips, cabbage, etc., with only a few pieces of minced meat. The errand of the Arsenal Division sounds like a good thing, but once Shang Shu Fang Bin is in charge of all the affairs of the military department, he can't hide it from him if he touches it; Second, when Zhang Yue's new officials took office, they couldn't figure out their temper; Thirdly, soldiers are often used now, and the weapons made by the Ordnance Bureau are ready to be used at any time. Therefore, they actually live a poor life in Baoshan, and they don't have much oil and water on weekdays, so they tighten their belts and try their best to save money.

At this time, seeing the two oil-paper bags, the two scribes couldn't help but hesitate. Lian Hu himself was a subordinate, so he didn't understand what they meant, so he smiled and said: "Our family said that you have to stay up late to have strength, so you asked me to prepare more." It is peanuts and braised pork, you hurry up and come to the division room after eating, tonight the adults are preparing to sort out the account books of this year's requisition and distribution of weapons, and the matter of Jiaozhi Tuntian needs to be rechecked with the household department, and tonight we will simply do it together. ”

Hearing this, the middle-aged scribe immediately thanked him with joy: "Thank you, my lord, for your concern, even the little brother please go back to report, and we will come in a while." ”

Zhang Yue and Wan Shijie also ate simply, a large bowl of mutton noodles per person, two bean paste baked cakes, and three times five divided by two to fill the five internal organs temple. After eating, he wiped his hands, Zhang Yue smiled at Wan Shijie: "I also asked Lian Hu to buy noodle tea for supper at night, and when the time comes, you can use boiling water to flush it, plus jujube and pea yellow, at least this night should be enough." ”

"If you don't want to make trouble, I'm afraid someone in your family will have to come to deliver food, and I'm sure I'll follow you with this little blessing!"

Seeing Lian Hu come up to clean up his things, Wan Shijie made a joke, and got up and stretched. Zhang Yue also moved his legs and feet, and seeing that the hour was almost up, he ordered Lian Hu to light two more lamps and candles, and when the two scribes who had finished eating also entered the secretary's room, he assigned the task for the night. After a while, the room fell silent, and the four of them went about their duties, and only occasionally talked when they had a problem. Lian Hu was originally going to keep serving tea and water, but Zhang Yue waved his hand and told him to go to sleep in the ear room next door, but he really had to go.

This was originally an ordinary night, however, at the end of the day, Shang Shufangbin, who had gone home early due to the day's events, suddenly returned to the yamen of the military department, and inspected the past room by room with a straight face. With a gloomy face, he did not immediately reprimand, but coldly brushed his sleeves away. When he came to the door of the Arsenal Division, he stood outside the door, and saw Zhang Yue sitting on the desk inside, and Wan Shijie was holding the account book to say something to the scribe, and no one even noticed him, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, and then went straight to the main hall.

After a while, Zhang Yue, who was looking at the account book, heard someone knocking on the door, and hurriedly stood up, and saw that it was a familiar night soap standing there looking around, he couldn't help but step forward and scolded with a smile: "It's so late, what are you doing sneakily outside the door?" ”

The soap Li looked around for a while, and then laughed in a low voice: "Don't you know?" Just now Fang Shangshu came, a few priests turned around, and as a result, those adults were scared into a cold sweat, and at this time, those who were arrested all went to the main hall to ask for their guilt. My lord, Fang Shangshu should have been here too, didn't he push the door in just now? ”

"Fang Shangshu is here? We really don't know about that. Thank you for reporting the news, but everyone is busy at this time, and I won't keep you. ”

Zhang Yue has always carried a small string of money with him, so he rewarded him at this time, and immediately turned around and entered the door. When the three people in the room heard that Lord Shangshu suddenly attacked and checked the room one by one, Wan Shijie smiled bitterly: "Fortunately, we are not lazy, otherwise we will be faceless if we are caught." It seemed that Fang Shangshu was angry and had a fire in his heart, so he sprinkled the anger on others. The ones who stayed on duty tonight were the busiest of us and the staff department, and the staff department had been busy for several days, even if it was rare to be lazy, it was nothing. I don't know what happened to the Wu Xuan Division, those few are Fang Shangshu's cronies! ”

"Don't talk about them, let's just take care of ourselves!"

Waving his hand, Zhang Yue glanced at the two scribes again, and the four of them sat down again. I don't know how long it took, but the account books for the requisition and distribution of weapons this year were finally completely sorted out. Because there are sub-cases for backup in addition to the regular regulations, Zhang Yue instructed Wanshijie to organize all the items used in the sub-cases of Jiaonan tomorrow. Since there was no business at this time, he gradually felt hungry in his belly, so he said that he would go out and let Lian Hu make noodle tea, but the middle-aged scribe rushed to stand up.

"Since Brother Lian is asleep, let him sleep well. The people in the big room must be lazy at this time, or the small ones go to boil water in person. ”

Seeing that another scribe also said that he wanted to go together, Zhang Yue simply let them go. As soon as the two left, he walked to Wan Shijie's side, because he said: "This time, since there is a spy who said that Alutai is going to commit Xinghe, the emperor ordered the capital of the Yamen to reorganize the armament, and said that he was going to tour the north. ”

"The first two times he beat Arutai once lost his arrogance, and the last time he beat Warat's ambition was completely gone, but when Warat suffered a heavy setback, Arutai recovered again, and I heard that now Warat is suppressed by him and breathless, so it's no wonder that he has any strange thoughts. It's just that when it comes to the Northern Expedition, manpower and material resources are secondary, and this Arutai flees every time he hears the news, and tries in vain to attract a large army into an ambush, which is really difficult to deal with. What's more, it is too difficult to supply the army's food routes. ”

Zhang Yue knew that since Wan Shijie came to the military department, he had also put some effort into military affairs, and although he agreed with the other party's opinion, he had another layer of concerns: "You are right, they are the head snake on this grassland, and they are more familiar with every mound and grassland than us. Although the Northern Expedition could not completely wipe out the remnants of the Meng Yuan, at least it could make it less easy for them to recuperate. If we just stick to it, I'm afraid that after ten or twenty years, we will face a tiger that cannot be controlled. I think that when he first went north, Arutai suffered heavy losses, but now it has only been many years, and he has recovered! Even if you take 10,000 steps back and say that Arutai is destroyed, there will be more powerful tribes on this grassland. ”

At this, both of them fell silent. But as long as you have read the history books, you know that the few powerful tribes that were once rampant on the grassland, from the Xiongnu to the Turks to the Hui to the Khitan, and even the Western Xia Jurchen Mengyuan - one stubble fell but another stubble rose, when the Central Plains was strong, these tribes were suppressed, and when the Central Plains fell, they had to look at their faces and even rule for them, even if there were powerful emperors and empires to suppress them for a while, but they could not suppress a lifetime.

"Thinking about it, a Li Li in Jiaonan will turn the world upside down, let alone the grassland. They are both farmers and soldiers, hundreds of people in a tribe, but these hundreds of people can go into battle, and they don't need to think about any supplies to fight a war, which is naturally different from our Central Plains. ”

"When the GIs go in, they run away, but if a small army attacks, they may be eaten to the bone. I want to be ...... is also a generation of famous generals, but he was forced into a trap and was wiped out. Many of today's nobles are the second generation, although they have made great achievements on the battlefield on weekdays, but their ability to independently command large battles is not even as good as the one who died in the past, and it is not surprising that the emperor can't rest assured. ”

"The Northern Expedition costs too much money and food, but if the Northern Expedition does not allow Meng Yuan to grow further, who dares to say that they do not covet the flower world of the Central Plains, and do not covet the good times when Meng Yuan reigned in the world in the past? To the south is the jumping clown, which can still be appeased; To the north is the wolf, and once given a chance to grow bigger, it will attack the next day. They fight all day long, but you see that if Arutai is strong, they will bully Warat, and if Warat is strong, they will bully Arutai, and there are many tribes waiting to rise next to them......"

At this moment, Zhang Yue and Wan Shijie completely forgot why the two scribes who went to boil water did not come back for a long time, and gradually began to talk about the past and the present. Under the eaves on the right side of the door, Fang Bin peeked at Zhu Di's face nervously, and when he saw the emperor frowning from time to time, he suddenly secretly complained in his heart. As the emperor walked up the steps, he raised his heart to his throat.

However, to his surprise, without taking two steps, Zhu Di actually reflexively went down the steps. Seeing the emperor walking by, he was stunned and couldn't move, and it took him a long time before he pulled his legs and chased after him. However, what made him even more suspicious was that Zhu Di did not go to the main hall of the military department, but walked outside the gate. He trembled and sent the man to the door, only to see the emperor turn his head.

"I didn't expect that in addition to Zhang Yue, there is also a wonderful person in your military department, and it is rare for literati to have this insight."

Fang Bin really couldn't tell whether this was a compliment or a sarcasm, so he could only sneer. Just when he was thinking about how to turn around and beat those two open-mouthed guys, he heard the emperor instruct Yuan Fang, the commander of the Jinyi Guard next to him: "Let go of the two scribes you detained just now, and by the way, send someone to tell that bold boy that I have read his share of the excerpt when he asked for a straight voice last time, although it is not nonsense, but if he wants me to change his course, his reasons are not enough." In addition, the matter of Jiaonan let him avoid suspicion, and he will not be busy with the affairs of the north alone. ”