Hearing Yang Zhen's answer, Wanli was stunned at first, and then a burst of joy. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

He was stunned that he had not instructed Jinyiwei to conduct a detailed investigation of the trouble in the north, but he was glad that this was what he was most eager to know now. Although Wanli was young, he was not stupid, and he could see that there was something wrong with the abnormal attitude of his courtiers.

So soon, he nodded and said, "Zhun Song, Yang Qing, hurry up and tell me what important things have been found." ”

"Obey. But ......" Yang Zhen said, looking around with some hesitation, there were still more than a dozen eunuchs standing there.

The Son of Heaven immediately understood, and waved his hand: "You all stand down." ”

After agreeing lightly, the attendants retreated, and Sun Hai, who was at the end, also helped them close the door of the palace, so that only Yang Zhen and Wanli were left in this side hall.

"Okay, now it's just me and you here, you don't have to have any scruples, just say what you find. Rest assured, I won't blame you for any mistakes. Wanli urged expectantly.

"It's about my Ming Dynasty, and the minister doesn't dare to talk nonsense." Yang Zhen first emphasized his attitude, and then took out some files that had been prepared in advance from his sleeve and presented them: "Your Majesty, please read these files first, these are all information collected by the Jinyi guards of his subordinates from the border areas. ”

"Huh?" The Emperor took the stack of files with some confusion and flipped through them casually. But after only reading the content of one or two pieces of paper, his face became extremely gloomy, and when he saw the fourth one, he couldn't help it anymore, suddenly raised his head, and said angrily: "Yang Qing, what is written on this is the truth?" ”

"The subordinates of the ministers and Jinyiwei dare not deceive Your Majesty in such a matter." Yang Zhen looked very calm, but just arched his hand.

"As mentioned above, there is a shortage of personnel in every guard of our Ming border army, and it is more than 30 percent, is this true?" Wanli's eyes widened, and even his breathing seemed a little heavy and rapid.

"This is also the truth, and this still refers to important towns such as Jiliao Xuanda, because they may face the invasion of strong enemies at any time, so the soldiers and horses are quite complete, if it is expanded to the whole country, I am afraid that even fifty percent may not be full." Yang Zhen did not flinch because of the anger of the Son of Heaven, but met his gaze and made further explanations as if adding fuel to the fire.

Wanli really wanted to ask if this was true, but as soon as he saw Yang Zhen's solemn appearance, he knew that what he said was absolutely true. This made him really angry and anxious, and he was a little speechless for a while.

The taxes that the Ming Dynasty collected from the treasury have never been much, and compared with the braided dynasty behind, it is really much lighter. As a result, the expenses of the imperial court have always been a big problem. However, in terms of military spending, Wanli has never discounted, and even increases every year, almost more than half of the national treasury revenue.

And now, Yang Zhen told him, you have made up everything, and the silver that you have saved with great difficulty as military expenses has not completely fallen into the hands of the army, but three to fifty percent of them have been eaten empty salaries, how can this not make the emperor feel angry and inexplicable?

Yang Zhen continued: "Although the minister did not dare to say that the crisis of the Xuanfu came because of this, according to the information sent before, many fortresses outside the Xuanfu were easily uprooted by the Mongols because the garrison was too thin, so they let their soldiers come to the city. ”

Wanli took another breath when he heard this. In the past few days, because he was concerned about the affairs of the north, he also really studied the maps of Xuanfu and other places. At that time, he also had some doubts, feeling that those fortresses could not play the role of defending the main city of Xuanfu - don't look at the fortresses that occupy a small area, and the garrison is only a few hundred, but they are like nails and guards, blocking the way for the enemy to invade Xuanfu, so that they cannot smoothly approach the main city - at that time, it was only because the Mongolian people acted quickly or because of their strong combat power, and now it seems that things are far from so simple.

Yang Zhen naturally saw the anger of the Son of Heaven completely, but he didn't mean to stop there, but continued: "The reason why this situation occurs is not only because of the lack of soldiers, but also because most of those who remain in the fortress are old, weak, sick and disabled, and they are really not the elite opponents of the Mongolian people, and their weapons are also the most backward ......."

"How so?" Wanli almost gritted his teeth and asked word by word.

Yang Zhen's answer did not hesitate: "Because those generals don't want their cronies to stay outside, that is the elite of my Ming border army - whether it is ordinary training or weaponry, they are first-class - but they are the foundation of these border army generals, they are unwilling to send them outside to take risks!" ”

"Hah...... Haha......" Wanli suddenly raised his head and laughed tremblingly. But looking at his expression, it was distorted to the extreme, and he was also angry to the extreme.

Indeed, no matter who you are, you will tremble with anger when you know that the money you took out is just to make a wedding dress for someone else. What's more, this is also related to Jiangshan Sheji, when he was still the emperor, this matter was even more serious.

If he had changed to other courtiers and saw the Son of Heaven like this, I am afraid that he would have fallen to his knees in fright and could not speak. But Yang Zhen stood there calmly, and only said after seeing that the emperor stopped trembling: "In addition, as far as the minister knows, in fact, the loss of Xuanfu's troops this time is not as big as written in that song, and the defenders of Xuanfu can block the attack of the Mongols." ”

"Then they did this just to cover up their previous cattiness?" Wanli narrowed his eyes and asked.

"This is only one of the reasons, and the other is to preserve their own strength. They wanted the imperial court to send enough reinforcements to deal with the enemy as soon as possible, so that the losses of the border troops they regarded as private property could be greatly reduced. ”

"Damn! Damn it! Wanli finally couldn't help but scold, and his eyes revealed a thick killing intent.

But when he thought that this situation was already the same for the entire north, he was at a loss for a while, even if he really had the intention to kill these rebellious ministers and thieves, he was afraid that the north would be completely empty, and it might even lead to an even more terrible mutiny......

After suppressing the killing intent in his heart, Wanli had another question: "As you said, if everything is true, then why don't you see the courtiers playing this?" ”

"Because they have long been in collusion in one place, intertwined, and they have lost everything." Yang Zhen did not shy away from saying: "At the end of these files, the minister also listed the details of the relatives and nephews of many important members of the court and the central government who were arranged by them to go to the border to receive merit, which are actually well documented in the copywriting of the military department or the official department.

"It is precisely because those officials before have received not so upright benefits from the border generals that it is difficult to sue the other party under the trap of throwing rats. In addition, there are some adults who are worried that this will cause unrest and turmoil in the border towns, so they have to hide these situations against their will......"

When Yang Zhen said this, Wanli quickly flipped through the file in his hand to the end, and sure enough, he saw the dazzling names, which showed their positions in the border army and their contributions, and finally marked their relationship with the high-ranking officials and magnates in the court. Naturally, all this cannot be fake, because as long as you check it, you can find it out at once.

"Okay, well, these courtiers of mine are really loyal to the country......" Listening to Yang Zhen's statement, looking at the evidence in his hand, Wanli smiled very happily, but the anger in the depths of his eyes became more and more intense.

Only then did he know how far he had been deceived by these courtiers, and what it meant to be a lonely person, and he finally understood the taste of it.

But then Wanli frowned a little puzzled: "It's just that those high-ranking officials in the ministry are controlled because of this, what about those officials in the court?" Don't they have the power to hear? Why didn't they report it to me? Could it be that even they have been bought? "If that's the case, it's terrible, I'm afraid he won't be able to sit on the throne.

In fact, even if the Son of Heaven didn't ask, Yang Zhen would not let go of this matter, and now that he asked, it was even more convenient, so he told in detail what he had found out about how Yan Qing, the secretary of the ministry, used his authority to block the way of speech.

After saying this, the emperor was even more stunned, and he couldn't come back to his senses for a long time. After a long time, he said in an extremely calm voice: "Okay, it's really good." The generals I trusted, cultivating their own forces on the side, regarded our Ming army as a private soldier; The important ministers I rely on only know how to use power for personal gain; Even the high-ranking officials of the ministry are only dedicated to their own consideration and constantly deceive Yu I, just ask if there is such a courtier, how can I be safe? How can it be determined? ”

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger. Now that something has happened and we have found out, there is always a solution. Yang Zhen hurriedly comforted.

"Resolved? But what is the solution? How many more can I believe in this court? Can I remove them all? ”

"Freezing three feet is not a day's cold, and it is not easy to solve such a problem." Yang Zhen arched his hand and said: "The minister risked his life today, and he didn't want His Majesty to arrest all the relevant officials, it would only make the world completely chaotic." ”

"Then you talk about it, but what should you do?" The Emperor was clearly at a loss.

Yang Zhen had already had a countermeasure before coming here, and immediately spoke: "In the humble opinion of the minister, if you want to solve this situation, you must start with the most urgent problem to be solved, and then slowly figure it out. ”

"The most pressing question? What is that? In Wanli's view, everything is a big problem, and it is urgent to solve.

"One is the crisis of the Xuanfu now, and the other is the official book that is related to the promotion and promotion of hundreds of officials!" Yang Zhen stretched out two fingers and said.