Chapter 68: Official Career

Dai Yun was beheaded, and the news that the former border army commander made Dai Feng collaborate with the enemy and betray the country soon spread to the border army. But the new commander Wen Minghui has already taken office, and with him, there are a large number of soldiers and horses in Dongfu, although there are many cronies of the Dai family in the border army, but the bird has no head and does not leave, for a while, everyone does not know what to do. They gathered around Ju Immo, hoping that he would lead everyone through the danger. Ju Unswerving really lived up to expectations and came up with a good idea, that is, to let everyone expose Dai Feng's various crimes and show loyalty to the imperial court, including Dai Feng's secret treasury to hide dirty money.

The uncovered documents soon reached the military department. Xie Xiangcun asked for pardon for all the border generals who had committed crimes for following Dai Feng. He also said that they had guarded the border for many years, and even if they were wrong, the credit was still the main one. It was all used by Dai Feng to make mistakes, and now he has made meritorious reports, and it is not appropriate to pursue them again. Qian Hong Zoen granted Xie Xiangcun's request, and ordered Ju to take the soldiers and escort the dirty silver to Hangzhou. The royal decree was officially handed down by decree: Among the generals of the border army, all those who have served for more than ten years can be disarmed and returned to the field, and no matter whether there is a mistake or not, they will not be investigated.

Most of the higher-ranking generals in the border army have been slowly boiled up, and almost all of them have served for more than ten years. Qian Hongzuo's will was very obvious, so that the Dai family's cronies would give up their military power in exchange for being exempted from prosecution. For a time, many officers in the border army who had held important positions submitted their resignations. And Wen Minghui immediately promoted some generals in the former Dongfu, and replaced them with some low-level officers in the border army, completely taking the border army into his own hands. As a result, the Dai family's border army in the army, which was most feared by the royal family, collapsed.

Because Wu Yueguo suddenly gathered heavy troops on the border, Tang expected that the secret alliance with Dai was exposed, and in the absence of internal response, he did not rashly send troops, and the border between the two countries remained calm as usual. Many years later, even trade began, which is already a later story.

After Ju Buyi escorted the dirty silver and arrived safely in Hangzhou, he was appointed by Qian Hongzuo as the deputy of Xie Xiangcun, the squire of the military department. The secret identity of his Leopard Army general has never been revealed.

The garrisons of the states that had not yet been stationed in Tuntian began to plan Tuntian one after another. The more the commander who had a close relationship with the Dai family in the past, the more he was afraid that Xie Xiangcun's Shang Fang sword would one day cut off his head, and the more positive he was about Tuntian. Xie Xiangcun is still working hard and is not good at making false statements, and he has successively gone to various places to inspect the possibility of Tuntian, but he did not completely deny it because Tuntian would hinder military training, but because it was Dai Yun's words, he attached great importance to it and consulted the commanders and envoys of various localities on how to achieve both Tuntian and military training. When he repeatedly consulted with the commanders and envoys of various places, he was humble and calm, but when he decided on things, he made a decision immediately and was extremely decisive. The commanders and envoys everywhere are all talented generals, but none of them dare to despise Xie Xiangcun, who is from a humble background and at a young age. Among them, there is the deterrence of Shang Fang's sword, but more importantly, Xie Xiangcun's rigorous and sharp style.

During Xie Xiangcun's outing, he sat in the military department and commanded with full authority, and the two complemented each other well.

When Xie Xiangcun went out, he really took his master Qu Liuyu to collect folk songs, and he visited the households along the way when he was doing business. Among them, Qu Liuyu was busy recording lyrics and scores, while Xie Xiangcun was assisting the master, and at the same time, he also visited the people's livelihoods, what difficulties there were, and so on. Xie Xiangcun, who was next to the master, was usually dressed in casual clothes, and the master was busy before and after, and at this time, he would show a demeanor and expression that matched his age.

Not long after Xie Xiangcun went out to supervise Tuntian's return to the dynasty, there was a big and small happy event in the palace, that is, the birthday of Princess Zhen Jinshu arrived. Zhen Jinshu is a princess listed under the name of Empress Dowager Xu, although she is a princess with a different surname, her status is similar to that of other princesses and concubines, or even higher. Empress Dowager Xu wanted to hold a birthday banquet for her in the palace, and invited all the concubines and princesses born to them to celebrate.

Zhen's mother and daughter thought that it was inappropriate to hold a banquet and congratulate her birthday because Zhen Jinshu needed to keep filial piety for Zhen Fu for three years, so she politely declined. Therefore, the Empress Dowager Xu decided to celebrate with a small banquet. In the end, there were only five people who participated in this birthday banquet, including Empress Dowager Xu, Qian Hongzuo, Zhen's mother and daughter, and Xie Xiangcun. Among them, Xie Xiangcun's participation was a bit nondescript, but the mother and daughter of the Zhen family insisted on inviting him, and Qian Hongzuo tried his best to promote it.

In this way, in Yangyuan Water Pavilion, a birthday banquet with few visitors but exquisite meals was set up as a banquet, and Empress Dowager Xu, in order to show her kindness to Zhen's mother and daughter, specially instructed that there should be no separate tables, but a group table, so as to show the intimacy of the family.

The people who came to the birthday banquet prepared gifts for Zhen Jinshu. The Empress Dowager Xu and Qian Hongzuo gave them all jewelry; And what Mrs. Zhen gave was a beautiful long dress, and only Xie Xiangcun gave a book. At that time, Zhen Jinshu had given Xie Xiangcun a full set of Zhen Fu's lecture reading volumes that he had copied. Xie Xiangcun copied it again, and although he only copied one volume, he gave it to Zhen Jinshu as a gift on this day. Everyone saw that although Xie Xiangcun's handwriting was not good, he copied it very carefully, and he did not mess up at all, not only did he not laugh at him, but covered it up for him and said that his handwriting was "child's body", and many people couldn't practice it if they deliberately practiced it, Zhen Jinshu saw Xie Xiangcun's lecture and reading volume to Zhen Fu, and he copied it so carefully, and his heart was comforted and moved. She is a famous lady, with a lot of jewelry and clothes, and what makes her most excited on this day is Xie Xiangcun's somewhat simple, but full of sincerity gift.

Because the birthday banquet is mostly for female dependents, although Xie Xiangcun is no longer a servant, he especially cherishes his voice, and still maintains the habit of not eating spicy food and not drinking spirits, so at this day's birthday banquet, a very expensive wine was specially prepared at that time, that is, grape wine purchased from Persia, with glass cups, rare wine and high-end wine glasses, which increased the grade of the banquet a lot.

Empress Dowager Xu first raised wine to bless Zhen Jinshu, and the others also mentioned wine in turn, because Xie Xiangcun had just returned to the court, and everyone asked him what he had seen on the road, which was regarded as a topic. On an absolutely private occasion, Xie Xiangcun proposed a proposal to Qian Hongzuo, his lord and head of Wu Yueguo's household department: because of Dai Yun's party, the recovery of dirty silver from important criminals, Wu Yueguo's treasury was suddenly full. In previous years, when farmers were sown in the spring, due to a lack of cash, they were exploited by usury, Xie Xiang deposited and withdrew: the state treasury borrowed seeds and cash to farmers, and after autumn, the loan was recovered at low interest. For example, in the spring, if a peasant household borrows 10 buckets of grain from the government, they must return 11 buckets after autumn. In this way, the possibility of usury is further excluded and used to increase the revenues of the state treasury.

Everyone felt that this was very feasible, and Qian Hongzuo said with a smile: "If it weren't for the urgency of the Ministry of War, Xie Aiqing would really be the best candidate for the head of the Ministry of Households, that is, caring for the people and being able to broaden financial resources, he is worthy of being a closed disciple of Lord Zhen." ”

Empress Dowager Xu said: "If the saint is really unwilling to concurrently serve as the head of the household department, you can consider having your lecturer-Yuan Banmeng take the position." ”

Qian Hongzuo said: "Mr. Yuan is good at learning, but he is unwilling to ask about the government and politics, and he has no heart to serve the country, although he is a disciple of Confucius and Mencius." But compared with Lord Zhen, it is too far away. The head of the household department is related to the financial lifeline of the country, and the lone king really doesn't dare to entrust him with such an important position. ”