"Shun thieves still occupy Luoyang and Hedong and other places, and they cannot be exterminated for a long time. Last month, Li Guo led his army back to Guanzhong, where he defeated Zheng Sen in Lantian and Zheng Sen had to retreat to Xiangyang. Now the Shun army is in complete control of Shaanxi, threatening Shanxi and Henan provinces. Now that our Northern Expeditionary Army is gathering in Beijing, and the summer grain of the imperial court has also been transported through Caoyun, it is time to send troops to Shanxi to exterminate the thieves. ”

The Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, Zhang Huang, who joined the army, talked eloquently and introduced the current situation in the north. Although Manchu was driven out of the Guanwai, the north was still not peaceful, and some prefectures and counties in Henan Province and Shanxi were still in the hands of the thieves.

Li Yanzhi, the superintendent of the army, said: "Of course, the thieves must be exterminated, but I think we should pay more attention to the Mongols in the north. When Manchu was there, the Mongols were suppressed and did not dare to move. Now that it is gone, the prince strictly prohibits smuggling, and the Mongols have cut off the material channels from the Central Plains, and I am afraid that they will start to attack our Xuanda Second Town again.

Now is summer, when the grassland is lush and the cattle and sheep are fat, the Mongolians will naturally not move, but in winter, without the Central Plains material to supplement, many Mongolians will inevitably not be able to survive the cold winter, and then they will inevitably send troops to plunder, we must take precautions as soon as possible. ”

Since the Ming Dynasty, the Mongols have been the nightmare of the Ming Dynasty, except for the five expeditions of Chengzu Zhu Di to beat the Mongols to cry and cry mother, the rest of the time the Ming Dynasty was pressed and beaten by the Mongols. The change of Tumubao, the elite of the Ming Dynasty was empty, and since then it has been at an absolute disadvantage in the face of the Mongols. can only rely on the side wall nine border defense line to resist hard. Fortunately, for more than 200 years, the Mongols have never had such an eloquent and strategic British lord, and the steppe is often divided and hostile to each other, and the Ming can barely maintain it. However, the threat from the north always existed, and Beijing, the capital division of the Ming Dynasty, was always under the threat of the Mongols, and most of the taxes of the imperial court had to be used to raise troops on the nine sides, which brought heavy pressure to the Ming Dynasty.

As a northerner, Li Yanzhi naturally knew that the biggest threat to the Ming Dynasty came from the grasslands, and now that Manchu was disabled, the Mongols were still there, and they must be taken seriously.

Zhang Huangyan and Li Yanzhi put forward the problems that the Northern Expeditionary Army needed to face now, and everyone else agreed, so they began to discuss ways to deal with them.

The Mongols traditionally sent troops to raid in winter, and now there is time to deal with it in summer. And now that the Ming Dynasty has just been expelled from Manchu, the military power is at its peak, and it is not known whether the Mongols have the courage to rob. However, the defense line of Xuanfu Datong Jizhou still needs to be reorganized, and the side wall needs to be repaired.

"Ladies and gentlemen, why didn't the Mongols dare to send troops to loot when they were Manchurian? Is it just that you are afraid of the power of the Manchurian Army? Gu Junen suddenly asked a question, causing everyone to look at each other.

"What does Master Gu think?" Li Yanzhi asked.

Gu Junen said: "In addition to the military might, the Manchurians also took a measure, that is, border trade. The Manchus traded with the Mongols in Zhangjiakou and other places, and a large number of daily necessities could be obtained through border trade. The Mongols could exchange cattle and sheep for living materials, and naturally they would no longer risk their lives to send troops to rob. Therefore, if we want to maintain long-term peace and stability on the nine sides, opening up border trade is a necessary thing. ”

Li Yan said straightly: "But the opening of trade will make the Mongols more powerful, I'm afraid the imperial court will not allow it." ”

For more than 200 years in the Ming Dynasty, trade with the Mongols was strictly controlled, and many materials were strictly forbidden to leave the customs, which was also a common practice.

Gu Junen has been to Dayuan, he has seen the prosperous sea trade, Chen Yue, the king of Qi, even does business with the Japanese and Xiyi, and it is not a big deal to do business with the Mongols, so he will definitely not object.

"Li Jianjun is bad, as long as we control the type of border trade materials, opening the border trade will not make the Mongols stronger, but will make them weaker.

For example, iron and gunpowder are strictly forbidden to enter the grassland, tea and salt are necessities of life, and the Mongols are inseparable at all, but we can sell them at a high price, encroach on the property of the Mongols, and then dump luxury goods such as silk, porcelain, and wine in exchange for the Mongols' war horses.

In this way, a large amount of money can be earned from the Mongols through border trade, and a large number of war horses can be obtained. Weakening the Mongols and making the Ming army stronger at the same time, why not?

As for the border trade, it needs to be decided by the imperial court, and now the prince is the governor of the capital, fully responsible for the war in the north, and before the imperial court returned to Beijing, the prince represented the imperial court. Only by stabilizing the Mongols can we draw up troops to deal with the thieves, and can we send troops outside the pass again to completely eradicate the Manchus, what is this incomprehensible? How could the court not allow it? ”

Gu Junen's analysis is very convincing, and others have no objections. So Chen Yue made a decision and determined the trade between Kaibian and the Mongols.

Zhang Huangyan felt a little uncomfortable in his heart about Kaibian, because he felt that it should be a power that only the imperial court had, and even the King of Qi could not make such a hasty decision. But because of his identity, he didn't say much, but paid attention to observing everyone in the hall. Then I found that the difference between Chen Yue's subordinates and the princes of the court was very obvious, there were not so many people who talked about it, and everything was mainly pragmatic, and there was almost no empty talk.

Many things, as long as you can explain the relationship clearly, you can get the approval of other people, you can get passed, no one forcibly quibbles, no one oppresses people with things like etiquette. This made Zhang Huangyan very satisfied, if there was such a high efficiency in the court, why did Daming fall into the current situation.

Thus, the matter for the Mongols was settled. In the case that the internal troubles of the Ming Dynasty were not eliminated, the Mongols were mainly appeased by Huai Rou, and at the same time deterred by troops, the possibility of invasion was reduced through border trade. After a few years of complete stabilization of the Ming Dynasty and sufficient soldiers, it was time to completely eliminate the Mongols and even the Manchu threat.

Chen Yue decided on the spot that Wu Ping would be the governor of the three sides, and he would be fully responsible for the border defense of Xuanfu Datong Jizhou. As for border trade, people who know trade will be put in charge.

Then there was the discussion of sending troops to attack the Shun Thief, who occupied Shaanxi, Luoyang and some places in Shanxi, but his strength could not be compared with that of Li Zicheng's victory. Everyone in the hall thought that the thief was not to be worried.

However, at present, the Northern Expeditionary Army has been fighting for half a year, and it is already exhausted, so it should be repaired for a period of time, and then send troops to deal with the thieves. Moreover, the Northern Expeditionary Army has made such great contributions, and it should be commended by the whole army, counted the merits, checked the combat merits, and submitted a list of meritorious personnel to the imperial court.

Now more than 100,000 soldiers are waiting for the commendation, waiting for the reward and waiting for the promotion, where do they still have the heart to attack the thief? In this case, Chen Yue naturally knew that he had already ordered the Zhenfu Division to step up the statistics of the achievements and formulate the standards for rewards and punishments.

The meeting lasted for one day, and all the affairs were arranged one by one. At present, such a vast desert territory newly recovered by Zhili in the northeast of the mountain is under the control of the King of Qi, and all affairs are also handled by the Dadu Governor's Office, and the affairs are extremely complicated.

During the entire deliberations, except for military affairs, Wu Ping remained silent. Seeing that the deliberations were about to end, Shan Minglei was anxious and frequently glanced at Wu Ping.

Wu Ping's face was pale, his body trembled, and his heart was full of struggle. Finally, he made up his mind, and Huo Ran stood up.

"Lord ......"

Chen Yue's face changed, and he looked at Wu Ping coldly.

"Lord Wang, I'm ......" Wu Ping gritted his teeth, and was about to speak according to Shan Minglei's instigation, but Chen Yue waved his hand impatiently.

"We'll talk about you later!" Then Chen Yue said to everyone in the hall, "Today's matter is discussed here, let's go and get busy." ”

Everyone in the hall dispersed, and Shan Minglei looked at Wu Ping as he walked, showing a look of encouragement.

Waiting for everyone to go out, Chen Yue ordered the guards to go out as well, guard the door of the lobby, and then slowly walked in front of Wu Ping.

"What do you have to say to me? Do you want to persuade me to lead the army and stand on my own to replace the Ming Dynasty, have you done a good job in your yellow robe? ”

The words as cold as ice reached Wu Ping's ears, causing a sharp change in his heart. It turns out that every move of himself and Shan Minglei is in the eyes of the prince! But why didn't the prince let himself say it in public?

Wu Ping's mind turned rapidly, and he raised his head suddenly: "Lord Wang, Chongzhen has no way, causing chaos in the world!" Lord Wang, you have the merit of turning things around and stabilizing the society, and you have the ambition to help the world, so you should replace Zhu Ming to establish a new dynasty! ”

"Shut up!" Chen Yue shouted, "You stupid thing, you rushed out after being coaxed by others, you and Shan Minglei have instigated so many people, why don't you come out if others don't come forward!" I see that the more you live, the more stupid you become, all these years you have lived to a dog, and you don't know that you were sold! ”

Thinking about how much trouble Wu Ping and Shan Minglei's actions would cause to him, the more Chen thought about it, the more angry he became, he picked up the horsewhip from the table casually, and hit it with his head and face.

Wu Ping was beaten and his face was covered with blood, but he knelt on the ground and didn't dare to say a word. When was the last time you were beaten? I think I just became a family member a few years ago, and I was beaten because of training. Over the years, following Chen Yue, he has been scolded a lot and beaten a limited number of times, Chen Yue is not a tyrannical person. He knew that Chen Yue was really angry today, which made his heart full of fear.

After dozens of whips, Chen Yue was tired and panting, looking at Wu Ping kneeling on the ground with fear on his face, he couldn't help but think of his sister Wu Wan'er, and his heart couldn't help but soften.

"Tomorrow, you will let Lao Tzu go to Xuanfu, and then dare to think that Lao Tzu will kill you!"

Chen Yue scolded angrily, and kicked Wu Ping on his back to the sky, "Don't get out of here yet!" ”

Wu Ping got up with a stream of urine, opened the door and ran out. The guards outside looked at Wu Ping sympathetically, I don't know what mistake this brother-in-law of the prince made to be beaten like this!

Looking at the back of Wu Ping running out, Chen Yue's expression calmed down. This kid is smart and smart, and he has a lot of thoughts in his heart, and it seems that he will have to beat him from time to time in the future.

"Lord Wang!" He Lu walked in at some point, and stood aside after saluting Chen Yue.

"Have you found out? In addition to Wu Ping and Shan Minglei, who else is involved in this matter? Chen Yue asked lightly.

"I found it out, there are more than 30 people including Ma Chuang, Xu Qingtian, and Li Daozi." He Lu, the head of the internal guard, gently prayed and handed over a list to Chen Yue.

Chen Yue looked at it fixedly, most of them were old brothers from the Xishan Army in the past, and almost all the generals above the deputy general level in the army were there.

"Lord Wang, what should I do with these people?" He Lu asked softly.

Chen Yue sighed: "What else can I do?" ”

More than half of the generals were encouraged by Shan Minglei and Gu Junen, which made Chen Yue feel very relieved when he was troubled. Everyone has selfish intentions, and Chen Yue naturally knows what these people think, if he becomes the emperor, these old brothers who follow him are all founding fathers and hereditary princes. And now that he has the most powerful army in the Ming Dynasty, if he rebels and waves his troops south, it will be easy to defeat the Nanjing Imperial Court, where can he resist this temptation!

Unlike other Ming armies, the army in Chen Yue's hands was self-contained, and since the Xishan Army was independent of the Ming army system, the main generals of the army were all drawn up by Chen Yue, and in their hearts, Chen Yue's orders were far better than the imperial court's holy decrees. Therefore, for the matter of electing Chen Yue as emperor, except for a few new recruits such as Zhang Huangyan, most of the generals were overjoyed.

Looking at the list in his hand, Chen Yue sighed, he is also a mortal, and naturally yearns for that supreme power. But he has too many fetters and too many emotional entanglements, so he can't take this step.

If he really rebelled, how would he face the deep friendship of Princess Kunxing, and how would he face his father under Jiuquan?

The supreme authority of thousands of miles is important, but if people have no feelings, what is the meaning of life? Chen Yue, who came from later generations, couldn't be a person who was desperate after all.

"Pass the order, let Shan Minglei go back to Shandong, and Gu Junen go to Baoding Mansion. Ma Chuang, Xu Qingtian, aren't they very idle? Didn't it happen that tens of thousands of elite soldiers were newly recruited, let them go to Lao Tzu to train the troops! ”

The result of the processing came out of Chen Yue's mouth, which made He Lu also breathe a sigh of relief.

......

"It's all a good thing you did, and I got a good beating!" Wu Ping grabbed Shan Minglei's shirt and roared angrily.

Shan Minglei laughed: "Brother Wu Ping, aren't you just beaten, you have rough skin and thick flesh, and you can't stand it." ”

Wu Ping said stupidly: "That didn't hit you, more than forty whips, each whip is real, Lao Tzu's body is full of whip wounds!" ”

"Didn't my brother come to see you," Shan Minglei said with a smile, "The prince didn't do anything to you, otherwise it wouldn't be as simple as a whip." ”

Wu Ping sneered: "I knew that you didn't have a good heart, and you used Lao Tzu as a gunman!" His mother's group didn't dare to come out, so Lao Tzu was beaten alone. ”

"Who made you the prince's brother-in-law, no matter how angry the prince is, it is impossible to kill you, but it is not necessary to be someone else." Shan Minglei said lightly.

Wu Ping said: "What should I do next?" ”

Shan Minglei smiled mysteriously: "The seed has been planted, you don't have to do anything next, just wait for it to take root and sprout!" ”