Emperor Ming Fengyunlu

Volume 5: Lying on the salary and tasting the guts

Chapter 4 Painstaking management of the initial army

Section 1: Public Morality and Private Morality

In the first year of Taichang, at the end of December, Qianmen Street in Beijing, Laiyuan Teahouse.

This Laiyuan teahouse is located at the end of Qianmen Street, surrounded by low-rise houses of nearby people, which looks very inconspicuous; At this time, outside the door of a private room on the second floor of the teahouse, guarded by several strong men, no one could get close to this private room within ten steps.

At this time, Liu Yunwei and Yuan Mingxuan were discussing something with a middle-aged man.

I saw that the middle-aged man was talking in a sharp and thin voice, and it was actually a father-in-law: "I said Mr. Liu, these proposals of yours are very difficult for the miscellaneous family, and the ministers in the court will definitely not agree to these proposals." ”

"Father-in-law Wei, there is no way to do this. The money and food allocated by the imperial court to me every month for the Han Wei army are not enough, and now I have to deduct from it, but the last general will not be able to open the pot, and the hundreds of thousands of soldiers under him will be hungry by then! ”

The middle-aged man sitting in front of Liu Yunwei turned out to be Wei Zhongxian, the henchman and eunuch of the Emperor of the Apocalypse!

"Haha, Mr. Liu said too much." Wei Zhongxian said with a smile: "Others don't know, but the miscellaneous family knows very well!" Didn't Mr. Liu have a big military parade in Tongzhou before? Presumably, there are many businessmen in the capital who have donated generously, right? Will you Liu Zongbing still be short of money? ”

Hearing this, Yuan Mingxuan's expression changed slightly, and he secretly said in his heart: "It is said that this matter is not a secret, but this Wei Zhongxian brought up the matter of the military parade at this time, I am afraid that he wants to make conditions with the little general!" ”

Liu Yunwei on the side said with a smile: "My father-in-law Wei, those businessmen are very shrewd, and the money they donated together is not enough for the soldiers of the Hanwei Army to spend a month!" The last general is now nowhere to go, so he will come to ask for help from your father-in-law. ”

"The miscellaneous family is just a dog beside His Majesty, what can he do to help Mr. Liu? Liu Zongbing is a general who holds heavy troops and guards one side. After Wei Zhongxian finished speaking, he picked up the teacup, took a sip of tea, and looked at Liu Yunwei with a playful expression.

Liu Yunwei naturally understood what Wei Zhongxian meant: Now that Emperor Tianqi has just ascended the throne, although he is very fond of Wei Zhongxian, Wei Zhongxian is just an internal official next to Emperor Tianqi, and he has no power except for his sensitive identity. Therefore, Wei Zhongxian wanted to seek a strong foreign helper, or to co-opt a group of henchmen, so that he could establish his own power as soon as possible.

"Where is Father-in-law Wei, you are the number one celebrity around Your Majesty, if your father-in-law does not give up, I will be willing to have more dealings with my father-in-law, and we will have a long time."

Listening to Liu Yunwei's words, Yuan Mingxuan's heart couldn't calm down for a long time: "The little general used to be so upright, but now in order to tide over the current difficulties, he has to make a compromise to a eunuch!" The little general's heart must be very uncomfortable! ”

And Wei Zhongxian listened to Liu Yunwei's words, but his eyes lit up, and then he said with a smile: "Haha, the little general has won the award, what kind of celebrity is the miscellaneous family, but the miscellaneous family has done more things for His Majesty." ”

Liu Yunwei complimented Wei Zhongxian for a while, and then said, "Father-in-law, what about my Han Wei Army, do you see?" ”

Wei Zhongxian thought for a while and said: "Liu Zongbing, the exemption of taxes from Tongzhou Town's military tun and Mintun and the permission of Tongzhou Town to open iron mines and coal mines in the territory mentioned by you is very tricky, but it is not impossible to do, it just depends on Liu Zongbing's sincerity. After speaking, Wei Zhongxian looked at Liu Yunwei with a smile.

Liu Yunwei naturally knew it and said: "Father-in-law Wei can rest assured, no matter whether this matter is successful or not, the last general will not forget his father-in-law's hard work." After speaking, Liu Yunwei gave Yuan Mingxuan a look.

Yuan Mingxuan, who was on the side, respectfully took out a wooden box and opened it in front of Wei Zhongxian. I saw that in the box were ten golden, yellow, orange and orange gold bars neatly stacked, as well as several land and real estate deeds.

Wei Zhongxian laughed when he saw this, and while taking the box, he said, "Mr. Liu is really polite. ”

Liu Yunwei said with a smile: "Where, where, after the matter is completed, the profits from the iron mines and coal mines opened by my Hanwei Army will also be distributed to my father-in-law with a dividend, and my father-in-law will accept it with a smile." ”

Wei Zhongxian was already overjoyed when he heard this, and said: "Since General Liu is so righteous, then the miscellaneous family will not be polite, and those bonus miscellaneous families will send someone to get it at that time." Liu Zongbing will go back and wait for the news first, and the affairs of Tongzhou Town will be the affairs of the miscellaneous family themselves in the future! ”

Liu Yunwei and Yuan Mingxuan were overjoyed when they heard this, and the two hurriedly thanked Wei Zhongxian, and then the two prepared to say goodbye to Wei Zhongxian and leave.

At this time, Wei Zhongxian suddenly said: "By the way, the miscellaneous family still has something to remind Liu Zongbing." ”

Liu Yunwei was stunned for a moment, and said, "Please teach my father-in-law." ”

Liu Zongbing also knows that now Liaodong is restless, and Jiannu is becoming more and more rampant. The Han Wei Army in the hands of General Liu is a trump card prepared by Emperor Daxing (Emperor Wanli), and it must be formed as soon as possible in case the imperial court needs it. In the future, if Liu Zongbing has any difficulties, he can come to the miscellaneous family, as long as the miscellaneous family can do it, he will do his best; Of course, miscellaneous families also need some errand fees, haha. But then again, if General Liu can't train the Hanwei Army into an army for a long time, or just blindly reap benefits for himself, the miscellaneous family will turn around at any time. ”

Liu Yunwei and Yuan Mingxuan were a little stunned after hearing this, neither of them had come to Wei Zhongxian first to say such a thing.

After being stunned for a moment, Liu Yunwei said with a straight face: "Please rest assured, Gonggong Wei has an enmity with Jiannu, and he once vowed to destroy the entire Jiannu clan!" The last general will definitely train the Hanwei army as soon as possible, and there will be no slackness. To be honest, the last general can't wait to go to Liaodong for a long time! ”

"That's the best."

After speaking, Wei Zhongxian began to drink tea alone, and Liu Yunwei and Yuan Mingxuan left with interest when they saw this.

After leaving the capital, Liu Yunwei and his entourage rode to Tongzhou. On the way, Yuan Mingxuan said to Liu Yunwei: "Little general, I have some opinions on today's events. Although we can get things done with Wei Zhongxian's help, but in this way, the name of the eunuch party will fall, and this will be a big stain on us in the future! ”

Liu Yunwei smiled when he heard this, and said, "Lord Yuan, there is a store in front, let's go eat something and then hurry." After speaking, Liu Yunwei beckoned Yuan Mingxuan and the two iron cavalry soldiers to rush towards the small shop in front.

After entering the store, Liu Yunwei and others chose a table in the corner and ordered some food. Then Liu Yunwei said: "Lord Yuan, I also thought about and hesitated about what you said just now. However, I would like to ask Lord Yuan a question now, do you think that Wei Zhongxian is a good person or a bad person? ”

"Bad guys, of course! This Wei Zhongxian will definitely be a eunuch who will bring disaster to the country and the people in the future! ”

"Is it true that as long as you are a eunuch, you must be a bad person?"

"Of course!" Yuan Mingxuan said angrily. In the early years, when Yuan Mingxuan was working in Beizhen Fusi, he was very familiar with eunuchs, and he was also very disgusted, but he suffered a lot of losses from eunuchs back then.

Liu Yunwei shook his head and said, "Lord Yuan, then do you say that Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty was a good person or a bad person?" Was Tong Guan in the Song Dynasty a good guy or a bad guy? Was Zheng He of this dynasty a good guy or a bad guy? ”

Yuan Mingxuan couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this, and lowered his head and thought about it.

Liu Yunwei continued: "Cai Lun papermaking continued my Chinese civilization, Tong Guan consolidated the border defense of the Great Song Dynasty through the northwest, and Zheng He went to the West seven times to promote the prestige of my Ming Dynasty thousands of miles away, these three people are all eunuchs!" Are they good or bad? ”

Yuan Mingxuan said: "These three people have indeed done some good things, but this does not mean that they are good people." Cai Lun's flattery of the queen of the dynasty, chaos in the harem, eradication of dissidents, Tong Guan's corruption and perversion of the law, self-enrichment, Zheng He's covetousness of fame and position, and flattery of officials, these are all despised behaviors by gentlemen! ”

Liu Yunwei knew in his heart that Yuan Mingxuan would have such thoughts, most likely because he experienced some things that he couldn't forget when he was on an errand in Fusi in Beizhen. So, Liu Yunwei continued: "Lord Yuan, what you said is that these three people are not good people in terms of morality, and they all have some flaws. But Lord Yuan, don't forget, what these three have done has made great contributions to the country and China, although they have a loss of personal morality, but they have no flawless public morality! ”

"Private morality? Social morality? ”

"That's right! A person's virtue should be divided into two parts: private virtue and public morality, maybe this person eats, drinks, prostitutes, gambles, does evil, lawlessness, but this can only show that his private virtue is at a loss, if he can contribute to the country and ask for his life for the people, that is, the public morality is flawless, and he can still be said to be a good person! On the contrary, if a person pays lip service to morality, is courteous every day, accumulates virtue and does good, but once the country is in danger and takes refuge in the Tartars and flees to the mountains, then such a person is a loss of public morality, and he is an out-and-out bad person! ”

After Yuan Mingxuan heard this, his heart was full of shock, and he said: "The little general's remarks are really deafening! ”

Liu Yunwei said with a smile: "Lord Yuan has won the award. Dare to ask Lord Yuan, are you willing to associate with a eunuch who is corrupt and perverts the law, but still thinks about the country and the court in his heart, and can do some practical things? Or are you willing to associate with a clear stream who writes moral articles all day long, but only has his own reputation and family in his heart, and does not do anything at all, and only knows empty slogans? ”

When Yuan Mingxuan heard this, he said solemnly: "Little general, I understand, then Wei Zhongxian is a person who has a loss of personal morality, but can still do something for the country. ”

"Yes, at least Wei Zhongxian still knows how to think about the situation in Liaodong, and he also knows that he is worried about whether the Han Wei Army can become an army, for us, this is enough! As for reputation, I don't bother to care! As long as I can eradicate Jiannu and defend China, what use will I have for this reputation! ”