The next day, Cao Yue went to visit Shi Kefa, the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department.

This historical celebrity, Cao Yueke, was very much admired, and he was also the person he hoped to be helped after arriving in Nanjing.

Cao Yue had just arrived in Nanjing, and he came to visit him in person the next day, Shi Kefa was still a little surprised, he was speculating about Cao Yue's purpose.

After the two met, Shi Kefa asked Cao Yue straight to the point: "I don't know if Master Ma is here today, what do you have to tell this official?" ”

"I have heard of Lord Shi's reputation for a long time, and I admire him very much, so I will come over today to chatter, disturb the peace of Lord Shi, and invite Haihan," Cao Yue looked at Shi Kefa without humility or arrogance, and smiled with a faint smile, "I will be in charge of Nanjing military affairs under the Commander, and I will work with Lord Shi for a long time in the future." Lord Shi presided over the affairs of Nanjing's military department, and it was a military and political matter such as recruitment and training, and he would often trouble Lord Shi in the future."

"The master of the horse is polite," Shi Kefa also replied to Cao Yue with an indifferent demeanor: "This is the official's business, what does the master of the horse need to do in the palace, and the official will be duty-bound to perform his duties." ”

"Master Shi said this, then you're not welcome, I came to visit Master Shi today, just to discuss something with Master Shi about recruiting soldiers and follow-up training!" Shi Kefa said this, Cao Yue was very happy, what he was most afraid of was dealing with those yin and yang weird people who were full of scheming. "Some things, I really hope that the adults can help one or two, now the country is in danger, the elite of the Ming official army is almost lost, and it is urgent to train a few new troops with combat effectiveness, otherwise there is no way to resist the invasion of Jiannu and Liukou. I hope to recruit new troops as soon as possible and start training as soon as possible. ”

"But it doesn't hurt to say that it's okay, as long as it's not a difficult thing, as long as it's not an unsightly thing, this official will help the horse master!" Emperor Chongzhen had a separate secret decree for Shi Kefa, and Shi Kefa had a good impression of Cao Yue, so he didn't have any hypocrisy today, and directly expressed his intentions. "This official heard about the training of the new army in Datong, it is the Datong army you trained, who defeated Jiannu several times under the city of Datong, Jiannu suffered heavy losses, and the rogues who came to attack were also defeated under your men. This officer is very eager to see how the master of the horse trains and how he trains an elite army. ”

"When I am young, I don't have any special way to train soldiers, but I am just doing things with enthusiasm," Cao Yue said, taking out a copy of the recruitment and training plan he drew up on the way to Beijing, as well as the approximate estimate of the cost of money and food required, after Shi Kefa took over his plan, he said: "Master Shi, these are some plans written below, you can take a look at it first." ”

"Good!" Shi Kefa took the manuscript presented by Cao Yue and read it carefully.

When looking at the training plan in front, Shi Kefa was still very interested, and he was also very touched in his heart, feeling that Cao Yue really had a set of training skills, but after seeing the required use in the back, his brows tightened again.

Cao Yue's training in this way was not an ordinary cost, and to equip the muskets of the new army, it was necessary to use the money and food that Cao Yue's court could not bear. Although Shi Kefa didn't care about money and food, he knew that Cao Yue wanted to get the money and food he needed, which could be described as difficult to ascend to the sky.

Shi Kefa wholeheartedly supported Cao Yue's new army training plan, but he knew that this plan would not be realized. If the imperial court had so much money and food, it would not even be able to pay the military salary, and the rewards for the soldiers would not be able to be cashed. He also spoke out his worries very seriously, and said that Gao Hongtu, the head of the household department in charge of Nanjing's grain competition, was not a good master to get along with, and even if the Nanjing household department had money, Cao Yue would not be able to get it.

Cao Yue was very grateful to Shi Kefa for his reminder, but he didn't care too much about Shi Kefa's reminder, he had already taken these factors into consideration, and he had a way to let Gao Hongtu be at his mercy.

Regarding the recruitment of new troops and follow-up training, Cao Yue and Shi Kefa discussed for a while, but Shi Kefa was not very confident in this, and he thought that Cao Yue's plan could not be realized. Cao Yue planned to recruit at least 100,000 new troops and open several new firearms workshops in Nanjing to produce artillery, muskets, and ammunition. Such a grand plan, of course, Shi Kefa thought it was Cao Yue's wishful thinking.

Seeing Shi Kefa's attitude, he didn't seriously discuss the recruitment and training with him, Cao Yue was not reluctant, and talked about other things. Shi Kefa was very interested in Cao Yue's last surprise attack on Shengjing, and later defeated Jiannu twice under Datong City, and easily defeated Liukou, so he turned the topic to this aspect early.

Cao Yue also told Shi Kefa about the events of these battles, and Shi Kefa was stunned and amazed.

At the end, he once again expressed his heartfelt admiration for Cao Yue, saying that Cao Yue was the reincarnation of the god of the army and the hope of the future of the Ming Dynasty, and wished Cao Yue that he could realize the dream of a rich country and a strong army as soon as possible, and he would do his best to support it.

With Shi Kefa's statement, Cao Yue was greatly satisfied.

Of course, when he came to Nanjing, it was not enough to rely on the support of one Shi Kefa, and other officials also had to win it over.

In order to get the support of these officials, Cao Yue made careful preparations, and people like Jinyiwei, including Chang Yanling, Guo Peimin, Zhang Shize and Cao Chao, were Cao Yue's biggest reliance on subduing these officials.

As an official in Nanjing, of course, he is inferior to the officials in Beijing in terms of power, but the officials in Nanjing are no worse than the officials in Beijing in terms of wealth.

They have also done a lot of unsightly things, and it is not difficult for Jinyiwei to investigate these things.

Before coming to Nanjing, Cao Yue wrote to his second brother Cao Chao, as well as Chang Yanling and others, asking them to help him investigate the situation in this regard. If you don't want people to know, unless you can't do it, in a few months, the black materials that Jin Yiwei has mastered are a bunch.

These black materials have become Cao Yue's most powerful weapon to lure and coerce Nanjing officials.

In the next few days, Cao Yue successively visited He Xiongxiang, the secretary of the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Rites in Nanjing, Gao Hongtu, the secretary of the Ministry of Households, Zhu Tongyi, the king of An, Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei, Zhao Zhilong, the Bo of Xincheng, and Liu Kongzhao, the Bo of Sincerity, and other most powerful people in Nanjing.

The results of the visit were not surprising to Cao Yue, these officials, from the beginning of their disdain and unwillingness to cooperate, finally turned into a frightened bird-like flattery, saying that they would vigorously support Cao Yue's training plan and would never make any stumbling blocks.

In particular, Gao Hongtu, the head of the household department, has reached the point where he is willing to donate part of his family property to Cao Yue for military training.

Other officials have been similar, repeatedly expressing their full support for Cao Yue's training plan and willing to donate some of their family property for military supplies.

Through these coercion and inducements, Cao Yue not only obtained hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, some grain and other military supplies from the Nanjing household, but also collected at least several million taels of silver from the magnates in Nanjing.

Cao Yue is very satisfied with this, although the means are a little unclever, but against these officials who are best at intrigue, often do some unsightly things, and have very rich family assets, Cao Yue does not have a little psychological burden. But he also knew that these officials in Nanjing would definitely hate him to the core, and they might attack him a few times in the future, and he should be fully prepared for this.