After Huang Taiji succeeded to the throne, he changed his strategy and adopted a combination of military strikes and political co-optation, especially the border break in 1630, which greatly dealt a blow to the prestige of the Ming Dynasty among the Mongol tribes. Then Lin Dan Khan was defeated and died, and the various tribes of Monan were leaderless, but in any case, these tribes can still play a role as a barrier for the second town of Xuanda, if they support Huang Taiji as the Great Khan, it means that the border defense line has been pushed back hundreds of kilometers at once, and the defenders of these two places will face the attack of the Houjin army, and the Ming will fall into the dilemma of being attacked by the enemy on several sides. This is tantamount to adding insult to injury for the Ming Empire, which has long been overstretched. And for such a major matter, as the governor of Shanxi, he actually let the enemy break the border without getting a little wind in advance, which is really unreasonable.

Yang Sichang looked at his fellow villager coldly and didn't say a word. As the son of a criminal minister, not only was he not implicated, but he rose to the top, and in just two years, he climbed to the highest peak of his father's career: the left capital of the imperial history, the right servant of the military department, and the governor of a province, the next step is to enter the cabinet to worship the prime minister, and climb to the peak of the life of the great Ming scholar. Yang Sichang can be said to be deeply gracious, and his father Yang He's advice to him before he died was also to tell him to be filial piety and be loyal and clear his name. Whether it is public or private, Yang Sichang made up his mind before setting off, regardless of personal honor and disgrace, he must do the next career.

"Lord Chen, you are a shepherd, a member of the imperial court, there is no way for Lord Ben to dismiss you, but I will impeach you for the crime of not fighting against the enemy, if there is anything in your family, arrange it first!"

"You ——!" Chen Chunde's eyes widened, he almost couldn't believe his ears, he was the governor of a province, and the other party actually came for the first time, and he clearly said that he wanted to impeach himself at the beginning of his dismissal, and he looked like he was dead, especially that he still had a friendship with him, which was simply appalling in the late Ming Dynasty. He stood up angrily and arched his hand to Yang Sichang: "Yang Wenweak, your hand is on your body, you can write whatever you want, but don't forget, this is the world of the Ming Dynasty, not the world of your Yang family!" With that, he flicked his sleeves and rushed out the door. Then he shouted and cursed in the courtyard: "What a thing! is arrogant, and the end will definitely be the same as his father! ”

Yang Sichang smiled bitterly and stood up. Chen Chunde's words really touched his sore spot. Father did his best for the Ming Dynasty all his life, but in the end he ended up dying in the edict, which is a scar in Yang Sichang's heart that can never heal, but according to feudal ethics and morality: "The monarch wants the minister to die", "The thunder and rain and dew are all the grace of the king", and he can't point the hatred to the source of all this, Emperor Chongzhen, he can only tell himself that he is a traitor who deceived the holy monarch, causing his father to die unjustly. And he himself is now following his father's old path, the only thing he can rely on is the trust of the Son of Heaven, and the heart of heaven has been unpredictable since ancient times, which makes Yang Sichang's heart full of ominous premonitions and the tragedy of martyrs.

"Lonely son, lonely son!" Yang Sichang's face gradually became firm, and he shouted in a deep voice: "Come on, serve the pen and ink, master, I want to go to the court!" ”

As the saying goes, there is no impermeable wall in the world, before noon, the news that the new Governor wants to impeach the Governor to the imperial court has spread all over Datong City, and the civil and military officials in the city are watching this conflict with a kind of rabbit death and fox sadness, most people think that the Governor is unlucky, after all, the Governor is the new official who took office three fires, and the court always wants to sell him a little face, but the remaining about one-third of the people don't think so, because this Lord Chen Chunde is a Jinshi and has a good official reputation, Moreover, the master and the same year were very powerful, and they felt that this time the imperial court should also come to reprimand the governor with a few words, and punish him for a few months, at most he would be transferred to another place as an official. But the development of the matter was beyond everyone's expectations, and the eunuch who came from Beijing ten days later was directly stripped of Chen Chunde's official robe and hat by the captain of Jinyi after the decree was announced, put on a wooden flail, and escorted the Beijing master for questioning.

"Gong Chen, King Sichang is in his life, and he will not be sent away. I hope you take care of yourself on the road, and you will do your best in your family! Yang Sichang sent it outside the festival hall, waved his hand, and his family took five hundred taels of silver and gave it to the eunuch and the captain of the Jinyi Guard, asking him to take good care of Chen Chunde along the way. Chen Chunde sneered, turned his head, but did not speak.

When Yang Sichang returned to the festival hall, the atmosphere in the hall was completely different, and everyone was looking at him with a gaze that was intertwined with fear and awe. A dignified feudal official, the master of the superintendent just stripped off the python robe and hat and went to prison, which has fully explained the weight of Yang Sichang in the heart of the Son of Heaven. Yang Sichang also felt this kind of gaze, and he couldn't help but feel a little sad in his heart, but he also knew that if he wanted to open the situation as soon as possible, it would have to be like this.

Yang Sichang sat down on the chair and said in a deep voice: "Rank, this governor and Governor Chen have no personal enmity, and they have a friendship with fellow villagers, and the reason why he wrote to the court to impeach him is really a last resort. Now there are thieves inside, there are captives outside, the country is not a peaceful world, and it cannot be tolerated for a while, how can a family cry all the way? ”

Yang Sichang's voice echoed in the hall, and the civil and military officials looked at each other, but no one answered. Dozens of people in the hall have a very good personal relationship with Chen Chunde, and some are just nodding friends with Chen Chunde, and even have bad friends, but whether it is good or bad, Yang Sichang is quite complaining about Yang Sichang's practice of stripping off Chen Chunde's official robe without saying a word, and arresting him into Beijing to ask for guilt, in their opinion, what Yang Sichang said is just a pretext, the real reason is that Yang Sichang wants to use the black gauze hat of the governor of Shanxi Province, a feudal official, to establish his authority, they are not just unhappy in their hearts, but also sad and sad, and they bow their heads and are silent. Yang Sichang saw it in his eyes, he couldn't help frowning slightly, and he was secretly angry in his heart, he wanted to continue to say a few words. A person from the ranks of civil officials on the right stepped out, bowed down and said, "There is no thunderbolt method, and there is no bodhisattva's heart." The Governor acted like this just to repel the Eastern Captives as soon as possible, assist the Holy Lord in the cause of the Ming Dynasty, and save the people of the Three Jin Dynasty from fire and water. For the country and the people, the sun and the moon can be revealed. Xi Kongming slashed Ma Jian with tears, and Ma Jian died without complaint. Chen Shou said in "The Biography of Zhuge Liang in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms" that Kong Ming 'does not reward the good, and the evil does not depreciate; Refinement of general affairs, physics is its foundation, name is responsible, hypocrisy is disdainful; Finally, within the state, those who are afraid and loved, and those who have no grievances despite the harshness of the criminal government, admonish Ming Ye with their intentions. ‘。 Master Inspector is really the Marquis of Zhuge Wu today, presumably Lord Chen has no complaints even though he is responsible! ”

Yang Sichang had already seen clearly at this time that the person who came had a long body and a fair face, it was Li Dongguo, the imperial history of Hedong Patrol Salt, he listened to these sycophants, and his heart suddenly felt a lot better, and he smiled and nodded to Li Dongguo, and said with a smile: "Lord Li's words are bad, Zhuge Wuhou is the first person under the three generations, how dare I compare with it?" It's just that the mind is for the country and the people, but it's the same. At this, he glanced at the people in the hall, and there was a stern look in his eyes.

After hearing Li Dongguo's words, everyone scolded Li Dongguo for being shameless, comparing Yang Sichang to Zhuge Liang and Chen Chunde to Ma Tan, Chen Chunde definitely did not agree. It's just that the situation is stronger than people, so it's okay if everyone doesn't speak, and now that Li Dongguo has opened his mouth, if he still pretends to be deaf and dumb, it is blatantly right with Yang Sichang. This new official of the Governor has taken office three times, and he can't afford to fight him. Thinking of this, everyone responded in unison, and the atmosphere in the hall was much warmer for a while.

Yang Sichang saw that everyone was no longer talented, nodded with a smile and said, "Where is Cao Wenzhao, the general of Datong Town?" ”

A burly military general walked out of the ranks, and he bowed to Yang Sichang with his whole body draped and said, "The last general will see Master Inspector!" ”

Seeing the other party salute (in ancient times, the military general saw the boss, and he should be dressed all over his body to be respected. Not only should they wear a helmet and armor, but they should also carry a bow and arrows, which is a tool for holding a bow and a sheath for arrows. When the military general is draped all over his body, he does not need to kneel and bow to the whole body, he can only bow down) Seeing himself, Yang Sichang was secretly happy in his heart: "Three days ago, the Xilu invaded Weiping Fort, General Cao, you led your own soldiers to break it, beheaded more than 200 levels, this governor has written to the court, promoted you to the governor of Tongzhi, the deputy chief soldier of the West Road of Datong Town, and rewarded two thousand taels of silver!" ”

Due to the relationship between Liu Cheng and the traverser, the scale of the Shaanxi Civil Rebellion was much smaller than in history, and Cao Wenzhao, a famous thief general in the late Ming Dynasty, naturally did not rise to the top because of this, and later became the high-ranking governor of the Shaanxi Zhulu official army, at this time he was just an ordinary general. He was taken aback when Yang Sichang called his name just now, and thought that this Inspector was going to make himself as powerful as the Governor, but he didn't want it to be good news, so he hurriedly saluted and said, "Thank you for the Supervisor's favor!" ”

"General Cao, you don't have to thank me!" Yang Sichang said with a smile: "You should be rewarded and promoted if you kill the captives and protect the people." Ranked, this superintendent has always been rewarded for meritorious deeds, and punished for mistakes. I hope you will take Chen Chunde and Cao Wenzhao as examples, obey military orders, kill thieves wholeheartedly, and don't live up to the high expectations of the court and the country! ”

The martial arts in the hall were solemn, and said in unison: "Obey the instructions of the superintendent!" ”

Seeing the reaction of the civil and military subordinates, Yang Sichang nodded with satisfaction, and then he got up and retreated into the inner hall, and invited the civil and military officials to inquire and discuss. He was originally an extremely smart and capable person, and he had accumulated considerable military experience in the garrison border troops in Zunhua, Shanhaiguan and other places, although he did not talk much when talking with his subordinates, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he got to the point, and he also knew a lot about the situation of the Later Jin and Mongolian departments.

Time passed quickly, and it was lunch in a blink of an eye, Yang Sichang only asked the servant to send two pieces of Hu Biscuits and a bowl of chicken soup, and after a few bites, he continued to be busy. At this time, it was Cao Wenzhao's turn, and as soon as he entered the door, he was still seven or eight steps away from Yang Sichang, so he hurriedly knelt on the ground and kowtowed twice: "The kindness cultivated by the Inspector, Cao is the liver and brain, and it is difficult to repay it in case!" ”

"General Cao, please get up!" Compared to Fang Cai on the top of the festival, Yang Sichang's attitude was like the two of them, he even stood up from the chair and stretched out his hand to support it, compared to his identity, this was already an extremely humble move. Cao Wenzhao stood up gratefully and crossed his hands. Yang Sichang did not immediately ask about military affairs, but first asked about the other party's family situation, background, past experience, the number of soldiers under his command, and salary. Cao Wenzhao was grateful for the obvious overture of the Inspector, and he replied respectfully: "I would like to tell you that there should be more than 3,000 people under the command of the last general, but the actual number of soldiers who can fight is only 1,600, and the salary has been signed for more than half a year. ”

Unlike most civilian officials who were not familiar with world affairs, Yang Sichang was very familiar with the many shortcomings in the military and politics at that time. He knows very well that there are more than 3,000 quotas like Cao Wenzhao, and there are 1,000 and 6 soldiers who can fight, which can be regarded as first-class good generals, and many shortages are already old, don't talk about Cao Wenzhao, I'm afraid that even if Emperor Chongzhen comes by himself, he can't get it. What's more, he is at the time of employing people, and some things can't be taken too seriously, and he still understands the truth that when the water is clear, there are no fish.

"General Cao, I understand your difficulties. I immediately asked people to urge the matter of food and salary, and I should be able to make up for it for you in these two days, you can rest assured, as long as you kill the thief with your heart, I Yang will not be able to shorten your military salary for one day when I am in the superintendent. ”

"Thank you, Master!" I didn't expect Yang Sichang to pay the arrears so happily, and made a promise not to pay any more. Regardless of whether this is true or not, when Yang Sichang said such words, he had already sold him a great deal of face. Cao Wenzhao, who was overjoyed, hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed two more times.

"General Cao, if you still have any difficult things there, let's talk about them together, and see if this superintendent can solve them together!"

finally met such an understanding Inspector, and Cao Wenzhao's courage also increased: "Inspector, the battle under the command of the last general is still a little shorter, noncommittal-"

"A battle, right, you open a list to me, or make it, or distribute it by the military department!"

"From the military department?" Cao Wenzhao's face showed a hint of twist: "Master Inspector, can you not transfer it from the military department and let the last general buy it privately." ”

"This guy is too ignorant of advancing and retreating, and even this has to be swallowed privately, could it be that I have seen the wrong person?" A hint of gloom appeared on Yang Sichang's face: "General Cao, this is a militaristic weapon, how can there be any reason to buy it privately?" ”

Cao Wenzhao had already seen Yang Sichang's thoughts, and hurriedly explained: "Master Inspector, it's not that the last general wants to be greedy for ink, it's just that most of the armor soldiers issued by the military department are not lawful, and the materials are shoddy, the armor is thin and the soldiers are dull, and the soldiers are not happy to use it. (To be continued.) )