Yuan Chonghuan listened to Wen Tiren's alarmist words, but he was also a little scared, and hurriedly arched his hand and said, "The sinner doesn't dare." ”

After that, Yuan Chonghuan lowered his head and pondered for a moment, carefully sorted out his language, and then told Zhou Yanru, Wen Tiren, Ji Qingwen and others present about the situation when he killed Mao Wenlong.

It turned out that at that time, Yuan Chonghuan had just been appointed as the governor of Jiliao for the second time, so he went to Liaodong, but found that the situation in Liaodong had changed greatly from when he was in charge before. The military generals and officials with whom I was familiar before, who were promoted, and who fought side by side have long been dead and wounded, degraded officials, and transferred, and there are only a few left. In order to reverse the war situation in Liaodong, the first thing to do is to unify the power of affairs and concentrate all the military and political power in Liaodong in our own hands.

At that time, the situation in Liaodong, Mangui and Zhao Shujiao, who had some problems with Yuan Chonghuan, were respectively transferred to Xuanfu and Shanhaiguan as commanders-in-chief.

And there is only one exception to this - it is Mao Wenlong, the chief soldier of Phi Dao.

Although Mao Wenlong's official position and resume are a lot inferior to Yuan Chonghuan, his temper is as arrogant and domineering as that of Governor Yuan, and he even dominates fifteen or sixteen large and small islands around Phi Dao. Relying on the convenience of shipping, they traded with Japan in the east, received grain and grass supplies from Shandong in the south, and did business with Korea nearby, and seemed to have some connections with the Manchurians both openly and covertly.

With such a foundation, Mao Wenlong naturally didn't accept anyone, stayed on Phi Island and was in a good mood to send troops to land in Liaodong, harass Huang Taiji's back, robbed him of a few cities, and burned a few of his grain depots; If you're in a bad mood, the cat is on Phi Island, and no one can fight anyway.

In this way, Mao Wenlong, who was only in charge of the land of the projectile of Phi Dao, became a great Bodhisattva in Liaodong - Huang Taiji hated him to the extreme, and wanted to design to encircle and annihilate Mao Wenlong several times, but it was a pity that the Manchurians had no sailors and could not attack Phi Dao across the sea, so they could only let this annoying nail be nailed under their noses; It is not that the imperial court does not want to take back the military power of Phi Dao and unify it into the Guanning defense line, but except for Mao Wenlong, it is difficult for anyone to gain a firm foothold in a place the size of Phi Dao; And the king of Joseon, even if he added up the whole country, he might not be able to beat a single Mao Wenlong, so he could only let him pestle at the mouth of the Yalu River, barely enduring his arrogance.

Yuan Chonghuan is facing such a difficult one, not an opponent's opponent.

At the beginning, Yuan Chonghuan didn't plan to get rid of Mao Wenlong like this, he barely suppressed his arrogant personality, and only took a few pro-soldiers to go to Phi Island to meet Mao Wenlong.

He also did not expect Mao Wenlong to immediately hand over the management and command of Phi Dao, but only hoped that Mao Wenlong would be able to express his stance that in the future offensive and defensive operations, he would be able to obey Yuan Chonghuan's dispatch and open up a second front behind the Manchurians to respond to Yuan Chonghuan's frontal actions.

However, under such conditions, Mao Wenlong refused to agree, only saying that the soldiers on Phi Dao were scarce and had little food, so they could only take advantage of the Manchurians' unpreparedness to sneak attack behind the scenes, and it was difficult to participate in a large-scale offensive, and all actions must fully consider the current actual situation before making a decision on the spot.

Anyway, Mao Wenlong just refused to give in to Yuan Chonghuan, let alone entrust his precious military power.

At this time, Yuan Chonghuan still maintained a rare patience, saying that Phi Dao was pulled out of the throat of the Manchurian Tartars by Mao Wenlong, and now and in the foreseeable future, Phi Dao will always be a fixed industry of the Mao family, just hoping that Mao Wenlong can gradually achieve self-sufficiency, reduce or even cancel the supply of food and salary in the imperial court, so that Yuan Chonghuan can continue to accumulate silver taels and lay the foundation for future counteroffensives.

But Mao Wenlong did not give in at all, saying that raising one more soldier on Phi Island is equivalent to raising ten soldiers in front of the Guanning defense line - the military salary and grain of the imperial court are all used to recruit troops and buy horses, and one or two pieces of silver cannot be missing, and not a single grain can be in arrears.

In this way, Yuan Chonghuan, who was originally in high spirits and rushed to Phi Island, ate a hard nail from Mao Wenlong's bottom businessman, and made no face at all.

But what kind of person is Yuan Chonghuan, according to his personality, as long as it is in Liaodong, you are good if Yuan Chonghuan does not come to cause embarrassment, how can you pretend to be forced to take advantage in front of the dignified Inspector Yuan?

In a fit of rage, Yuan Chonghuan took out the Shang Fang sword, killed Mao Wenlong on the spot, and used the 200,000 taels of silver brought by this trip as a military salary reward, all of which were distributed to the generals stationed on Phi Dao, which barely stabilized the morale of the army, and reused Mao Wenlong's son to let him be in charge of the military affairs of Phi Dao.

After stabilizing the situation on Phi Dao, Yuan Chonghuan suddenly realized that although Mao Wenlong was disobedient, he was also very favored by the emperor, and he could not be killed casually. So Yuan Chonghuan hurriedly gave Emperor Chongzhen a recital to ask for guilt, in addition to introducing the parts that were beneficial to him before and after the matter, he asked for the crime of killing rashly.

Although Mao Wenlong's death made Emperor Chongzhen angry, considering that Yuan Chonghuan was a new official, if Yuan Chonghuan was dismissed and dismissed because of this, it would inevitably shake the morale of the army; And even if Yuan Chonghuan was ruthlessly taken down, he couldn't find other suitable candidates for a while.

Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen could only swallow his anger and reluctantly accepted the fact that Mao Wenlong was beheaded by Yuan Chonghuan, and did not pursue this matter for the time being, but in fact, in the heart of Emperor Chongzhen, Yuan Chonghuan had already made a hard note.

is such a situation where "everyone is at fault, everyone is wrong", that is, Emperor Chongzhen, Yuan Chonghuan, and even Mao Wenlong, who was killed, may not be able to sort out this bad debt, let alone others.

Among so many cabinet ministers in Chongzhen's last years, Wen Tiren can be regarded as flexible and capable, but after listening to Yuan Chonghuan's explanation, coupled with his previous understanding of this matter, he was also confused and inexplicable.

After pondering for a long time, Wen Tiren suddenly came up with a ghost idea, licked his face and turned his head to Zhou Yanru and said with a smile: "Lord Zhou, how should you decide Mao Wenlong's matter?" ”

Zhou Yanru's shrewdness is not below Wen Tiren, and after a glance at Wen Tiren, he guessed his thoughts, and secretly said in his heart: "Okay, your Wen Tiren actually sent such a hot potato to himself!" ”

Thinking of this, how could Zhou Yanru be easily fooled, turned his head and said to Ji Qingwen: "Lord Ji, what do you think of this matter?" ”

Ji Qingwen secretly scolded the "old fox" in his heart, but he still said with a smile: "Don't, two adults." I'm just an observer, and I can't speak even if I turn eight laps! The big idea is still up to a few of you, I'll listen to it, listen to it......"

Dali Siqing, who participated in the trial, knew that he was just a number, and before he heard anyone ask him, he hurriedly said: "It's good for a few adults to be self-centered, and the lower officials have no opinion...... No comments......"

Yuan Chonghuan doesn't know how many times he has seen such a prevarication with each other, and even a major event such as deciding his own life and death is also decided by such a few mediocre and irresponsible officials.

For a while, Yuan Chonghuan actually had a trance-like feeling, feeling that he was having an unbearable nightmare, as if he was caught by a group of cruel and unscrupulous but indecisive imps, playing and playing, but he refused to take his life happily, and he had to slowly kill himself with a blunt knife.

Yuan Chonghuan really wanted to wake up from this unbearable dream, and tried to shake his body, but what he heard was the cold metal impact sound of handcuffs and leg irons being pulled—finally pulling him back to reality: this nightmare was real.

Yuan Chonghuan's move caused Wen Tiren who was sitting in the hall to be nervous, and asked, "Yuan Chonghuan, what are you doing?" Letting you stand for trial is already a special kindness from the official, could it be that you are tired of standing and want to kneel down? Okay, this official will fulfill your ......"

Before Wen Tiren's words fell, Ji Qingwen interrupted: "Why should Lord Wen be like this? You see it's not early now, and a few adults have been interrogating for a long time, so they must be hungry, right? Why don't we just go here today? ”