Zhang Guodong, the director of the Ministry of War, Fan Jin made friends when he was observing politics in the Ministry of War, after so many years, he is still the director, and his position has not changed at all. Zhang Guodong's cousin, the commander of the Terracotta Division, was also involved in the last investigation of Zhu Guochen's case, and not only was his official position difficult to protect, but even his life was actually difficult to say. At that time, Fan Jin raised his hand and let Zhang Guowei go, giving him a chance to bite back, and was sentenced to confiscate the army afterwards.

Fan Jinken's mercy is of course to take into account the need to fight Gao Gong and try to increase the strength of his side, but also to consider his friendship with Zhang Guodong and show mercy to his siblings. Afterwards, Fan Jin didn't go to Zhang Guodong to explain anything, and the latter didn't thank Fan Jin, as if he didn't understand Fan Jin's favor at all. When Fan Jin got married, he also gave four taels of silver to congratulate him, which was not outstanding at all among those gifts at that time, just like his official position, it was not obvious, and no one cared.

This time, he was able to take the initiative to come to the door, which surprised Fan Jin. It's not that he didn't think about looking for Zhang Guodong, but according to his feelings, Zhang Guodong is a bit unfathomable, and it's really uncertain whether he can get help, so he finally gave up the idea of this aspect. Such an official, who has been in charge of the Ministry of Military Affairs for more than ten years, is naturally far more familiar with military affairs than those young ministers. Especially when the two of them chatted while drawing the map, it can be determined that this Director Zhang is definitely a person who knows the soldiers, and his chest is far more than his peers, and it is of great use to come to the door at this time.

After sitting down, Zhang Guodong was not polite, and said: "Tonight, I will definitely disturb the retreat and think about a banquet, and the wine will be full of incense, although there are also on the market now, but they are all hanging signs, not the taste of the palace at all." As for the food, I have been to the restaurant you opened a few times, and the taste of the stir-fried food is not inferior to that of Wu cuisine, and the price is much cheaper, and a poor Jingtang like me can afford to eat it. Today, when I come to your home in the east bed of the prime minister, don't perfunctory me with ordinary dishes, and I won't agree to a few good dishes. ”

Zhang Guodong is a very restrained person, although he is good wine, but he controls himself after only a few glasses and then stops drinking, and only tastes the taste: "Good wine!" Good wine indeed! This full hall incense was originally a thing in the palace, or the eunuchs stole the recipe out to brew it privately in the folk in order to make a profit, so that it could be tasted on the market. To say that the eunuchs have done a lot of bad things, but this thing has been done with immeasurable merit. But these people will always be like that in business, they only admit money and don't know shame. The brand of Mandian Xiang broke out, and began to add flower heads to the wine, and the taste became more and more faint, and now the wine only has its name, and the taste is far less than the original. In fact, most of the things of the dynasty are like this, and the actual things of a brand used back then and now are very different. If you only recognize the brand and don't look at the reality, if you can't wait for a sword to be foolish, you will definitely touch a full head. ”

Brother Zhang said very much. Just like this official position, all six departments have directors, but Brother Zhang is only one. Taking the Ministry of War as an example, there is no one who can replace Brother Zhang's steady seat in charge, and ordinary directors are afraid that they do not have such ability. ”

"It's over. There are countless pillars of the country, and a small halberd is not enough, anyone can do it. The reason why I can not move in this position is simply that there is too little oil and water in the staff, and no one is willing to give in. If it is the fat yamen of the Wuxuan Division and the Wuku Division, who can sit still for ten or eight years? We know the situation of the department, except that the file is the map, the rat and silverfish are our good companions, and there is no other contact, who wants to come to this position. That is, I, a lazy person, are willing to enjoy leisure here, and everyone will be happy to let me be lazy. ”

Fan Jin smiled, "Brother Zhang doesn't have to go around the bend, there is something to say, is it possible to beat the autumn wind of the younger brother?" For the sake of friendship between you and me, as long as Brother Zhang speaks, the younger brother will naturally make no promises. ”

"It's good to say, the merit of rectifying the map in the warehouse that day is immeasurable, but unfortunately the whole work is not completed, and it is a great pity. But to tell the truth, the abilities of the people who drew the original maps were uneven, and their attitudes were not all serious, because the maps themselves were also false. It is better to travel thousands of miles than to read 10,000 books, and to think about going to Xuanda this time, it is just right to refer to the map correction according to the real scene, so as to ensure that the map stored by our military department will not go wrong. ”

While speaking, Zhang Guodong took out a package from his arms and put it on Fan Jin's desk, "Zheng Junmen's three generations of soldiers, when it comes to marching and fighting, he is a good hand, and he naturally knows how to use public opinion. However, there is no one around him who is good at this, and it is impossible for Zheng Junmen to go to the front line to do this kind of rough work. ”

Fan Jin said: "Brother Zhang gave such a generous gift, how should the younger brother repay it?" ”

"The four seas are peaceful, the country is peaceful and the people are safe, the swords and guns are put into Kuma and Nanshan, the three armies do not have to suffer from the battle array, and the Beijing division does not hear the sound of Yuyang's drums, which is the greatest reward for me." Zhang Guodong smiled, raised his glass and drank it all. Then he patted the package lightly with his hand.

"Retreat is a person who has experienced ordinary affairs, and he knows more about the following situation than ordinary people, and his views are not the same as those of the temple lords. In the eyes of the bigwigs, the stability of the border passes depends on the proper handling of the governors, as for the sons and daughters of the three armies, they are just some numbers, and in the eyes of the bigwigs, the casualties and beheadings are nothing more than how much compensation will be paid and how many years of rewards will be awarded. The so-called casualties and losses are all numbers, not people. It's not a big deal, it's just that people are standing in different positions. They are people in the clouds, standing in a high position to see the overall situation, we are people on the ground, and what we can see is the square inch in front of us, so in terms of vision, we are not as good as the big guys, and when it comes to looking at people, we may see more clearly. Sooner or later, I will become a person on the clouds, and at that time, in your eyes, maybe I will also become an ant. While you're still on the ground, I can entrust you to look more at the present and think less about the big picture. The so-called so-called whole world is what you should think about after you become a cloud person, and you should be more grounded now. ”

"Xuanda is the gateway to Beijing, when Gengxu changed, I answered to bypass Datong, and the army arrived in Beijing. In the end, the Beijing camp desperately defended the city, and the captives only burned and killed outside the city, and then retreated. Rao is so, the people of Zhili also suffered a catastrophe, almost ten rooms and nine empty near the Beijing Division, and afterwards the temple was furious, and beheaded the military department as a punishment. To say that a second-grade ministry was pulled to the West Fourth Archway to beheaded, the movement is not small, but for those people who were mutilated by the Tartars, no matter how big an official is, their belongings will not come back, and the house will not be built, what is the point? I heard the old man say that in the earliest years, when someone heard the bell of Luan, they would be scared to pee their pants, and only when the captives rode again, you can see how serious the situation of the people being killed. And this is just a captive pass. The people of Beijing think that the catastrophe is something that the soldiers of the Nine Sides have to face several times a year, and you will know what kind of life they are living. ”

Of course, Fan Jin also understands that the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty belongs to the feet of the Son of Heaven and belongs to the splendid Jiangnan, but for the military and civilians in the land of the nine sides, he has no feeling. Even if Zhang Ju is a Shoufu who cares about side affairs, he can't turn his care into physical things to fill the bellies of those people, or give them peace.

Of course, there are many people in the hinterland who are struggling to die, and running around every day may not be able to fill their bellies, and a plague may take many lives. Compared to the side plugs, they are still worthy of envy. While the people in the vicinity of Jingshi are worried about this year's harvest, what the people at the border pass have to worry about is whether they will live to see the crops ripe, and who will control the land they are on when the crops are ripe. Some people are far from heaven, but they are much happier than those who are born in hell.

"People in that kind of place can't be demanded by the rules of the hinterland. Everyone lives in a different environment, and the rules are different. When the water is clear, there are no fish, and many times people criticize the sins of writing and writing, to put it bluntly, they don't have a backache when they stand and talk, or they are not in that environment at all, and they can't understand their difficulties. Countless great truths are not worth one sentence: I want to live. In order to survive, people do everything normally. ”

"I can understand that."

"It's best if you can understand. Retreat is a reasonable person, a lot of words don't need me to remind myself that I should be able to figure it out, people in the Beijing division like to say that the people of the nine sides are fierce, and the soldiers are not tamed, and the soldiers of the nine sides think that the old man from the Beijing division has no one in his eyes, and he doesn't know the hardships on the side. This is how the contradiction between the two is often generated. As long as you think about others in the first half of the night and think about yourself in the second half of the night, I don't think there will be any conflict. I have faith in retreat, don't let me down. ”

After Zhang Guodong said this, he stopped drinking, only bowed his head to eat, and no longer talked about military affairs. After he left, Fan Jin opened the package and found that in addition to the map, there was also a thick roster. More than 100 names are recorded on the roster, and under each name is a record of their real name, current name, place of origin, family situation, plus business products, contact area, number of subordinates, and finally contact information.

Each name is a caravan leader, and these more than 100 names represent more than 100 caravans. Although after I answered the tribute, the Ming Dynasty opened a horse market on the border to meet the needs of commodity trading, but for those tribes on the grassland, the horse market alone still could not meet the needs of life. In addition, not all tribes are qualified to enter the horse market trade, and to trade with the Ming Dynasty horse market, they must hold a gold seal issued by the imperial court, and this gold seal is in the hands of Altan Khan.

Whoever has the gold seal can stamp the document, and the document with the seal can have the qualification to trade with the Ming Dynasty. If the tribes wanted to trade, they had to try to please me before they could trade their goods for grain, cotton clothing, ironware, silk, and tea. The number of transactions is also controlled, and their own autonomy is not strong.

Many small tribes simply could not survive on the horse market, so another force filled the gap in this market, that is, the merchants on the grassland. These men were also smugglers, who crossed the border walls and brought much-needed supplies to the Mongols in exchange for cattle or gold and silver, making huge profits from them. For these small tribes, the caravan often meant hope of survival, so usually, instead of attacking the caravan, they would protect the merchants, and it was the border troops and the rangers of the large tribes who actually killed the merchants.

Most of the people who eat this bowl of rice are unruly, many of them are horse thieves who make part-time cameos, and the source of the goods is also extremely suspicious. Zhang Guodong actually had such a roster in his hand, which made Fan Jin feel suspicious in his heart, and he was also curious about the identities of these businessmen.

Zhang Shunqing felt normal about this, "The staff department is in charge of the world's public maps, and those maps must also be drawn." Although the border army did not collect at night, they were spying on the military situation, and it was not convenient to draw the map, and it was too far away from the military headquarters. The Ministry of War has its own people who are responsible for drawing maps and exploring the plot by the way, and the bosses of these people are the Department of Staff. This Zhang Guodong is most likely the leader of those people in charge of the department, and the people of these caravans are his subordinates. They trade on the grassland, they can take the opportunity to watch the terrain, they can also spy on the north captives, and if there is any abnormal movement, they can also report it in time, so as not to be caught off guard. Moreover, the business of these people is also a means of the imperial court, so that these small tribes will not have to go to risk without food and clothing, and keep the border as peaceful as possible. They are private businessmen on the surface, but in fact, most of them are members of the imperial court, or have a relationship with the imperial court, and some of them are hereditary military households. ”

Fan Jin also understood that these businessmen were just covering up their identities, but in fact, they could all be counted as military intelligence personnel of the Ming Dynasty, and what Zhang Guodong gave himself was an intelligence officer file. In terms of his identity, it is a bit taboo to do this kind of thing, and he is willing to do it for a reason. Getting the help of these intelligence officers will definitely be of great help to his own actions, but he obviously has to do something as a reward for Zhang Guodong.

Thinking back to what he said, Fan Jin vaguely felt that there might be some very terrible mistakes on the Xuanda border defense, and once they came out, there would be a big mess in the world. Zhang Guodong's intention is clearly to hope that he will make a gap between him and make this matter a big thing a small thing. What is the specific matter, Zhang Guodong will definitely not say, so he can only search for it himself. As for this roster, maybe the people on it are also involved in such a thing, and they themselves are in danger, and they need to be their own backers to help these people get out of the crisis.

Zhang Shunqing frowned, "Zhang Guodong will give people problems." Xianggong wants to help him first when he goes to Shanxi, it's really ...... Go back and say to Daddy and give someone else his errand. ”

"Don't, it's not easy to find someone like him who can't be an official, but can only run errands. For the imperial court, the more such people, the better. He gave me the roster to prove that he had faith in me, and I couldn't fail him. As long as it's not a matter of principle, it doesn't hurt for me to fix it for him. ”

As he spoke, Fan Jin leaned his head on the side of the bed and hummed: When I worshipped Erxian Village, Shan Xiongxin told me heartily. After unveiling the green forest roster, I took Brother Xiangma as a brother......

Twenty days after Zhang Guodong's visit, the imperial court's holy order was finally promulgated, and the content of Zhang Siwei's performance was similar, Fan Jin's official position was appointed as the imperial history of the Imperial Inspectorate, and he patrolled Xuanda, and received 200,000 silver and 8,000 horses of woolen blue cloth from the household department, which was rewarded for the generals of Xuanda.

However, there is a difference from Zhang Siwei's previous protection, Fan Jin went to Xuanda this time not to bring the royal flag, but a Shangfang sword.

In Yanghe City, looking at the imperial palace newspaper, Zheng Luo, the governor of Xuanda, had a cloudy face on his face, and after a long time, he threw away the palace newspaper suddenly, and instructed the servants around him: "Pass my military order, and those who are above the guerrilla positions in Xuanfu, Datong, and Shanxi towns will come to the city to see me!" The official wants to read the report to them, let them know that the imperial court has sent a new patrol with Shang Fang's sword to come over, and these people know what they have done on weekdays, and this time they will wash their necks one by one, and wait for the knife! Zhang Jiangling, this official wants to see how many heads you want to cut in Xuanda and how many yarn hats you want to knock off! The nine sides are not as good as the southeast, and a milky doll who has not dried up comes with Shang Fang's sword, is he afraid that the world will not be chaotic enough? If something big happens here, I'll see how he ends! ”