That night, in the middle of Beijing.

Zhang Fengyi, the secretary of the Ming Military Department, sat in his small huā hall with a mind and a mist of water, receiving two guests who came to visit all night.

According to the usual etiquette, guests with a certain status must first send servants to the door to post before visiting, make an appointment to greet the time, and only come to the door after getting the permission of the host. Otherwise, it would not be embarrassing for this guest to suddenly come to the door, but the host of the other head is not at home or it is inconvenient to see the guest. And most of the time of the visit will be during the day - in these years there is a curfew at night in the big cities, and at night ordinary people are not allowed to go out, and those who are still entertained at night only prove one thing: it is intended to keep the guests until dawn. Except for those who have a particularly good relationship or prostitutes, serious people generally do not do this.

Of course, the family of the dignified military department is of course an absolutely serious family, and the status of the two guests who came to visit is not low, one of them is even the same level as Zhang Dashangshu, the dignified Ming Rites Department Shangshu Qian Qianyi Qian Ge Lao, and the other young man Although he is young, there is absolutely no official eunuch in the whole of Beijing today who dares to underestimate him - the liaison sent by Qionghai Town in the south in the capital, Chen Tao's name has already been started in the capital.

When Zhang Dashangshu received a report from the servant, saying that such two guests suddenly came to visit, he was really taken aback - you must know that he Zhang Fengyi is usually close to Wen Tiren, and according to the division of political factions in the court today, it should be the opposite of Qian Qianyi and the short-haired group behind Qian someone. Usually walking on the road face to face may not greet each other, but now such a black light suddenly comes to visit. What do you want to do?

If you think about it carefully, the southern shorthair doesn't know how to be polite. It's just that you don't understand the rules, you can pay for the money, but the old man is a Confucian in Donglin, and he is the one who cherishes feathers the most on weekdays, so why do you accompany the short-haired young man to mess around? Don't say hello to one and come over suddenly, if I have arrangements to be at home today, or simply order directly, and reply to "the host is not in good health, and I don't see the guest". Wouldn't it be a big shame to let you have a closed door in the ceremonial department?

But I can only think about it privately in my heart, as a standard Ming Dynasty senior bureaucrat from a Jinshi, this kind of face-to-face behavior will not be done unless it is absolutely necessary. Besides, since people came to the door so suddenly, there must be something important, in the past two years, all the relationships with the southern shorthair have been made, and the money in front of you is the best example. Zhang Fengyi couldn't find a way to get up to it before, but now he has the opportunity to take the initiative to find the door, of course, he won't miss it in vain.

――As for the relationship with Wen Tiren? He just has a better relationship with Wen Tiren, and he is not a slave of the Wen family, who cares if he travels widely? Not to mention the other benefits of having a relationship with Shorthair, the fact that you can get fruits and vegetables from the south in winter is enough to make people envious - in fact, it is the same thing in the eyes of their big men. Watermelons in winter may not be sweeter than those in summer, but the wives of the family think completely differently from men, not to mention the jeweled glassware in the light hall...... Now it has become fashionable for rich and noble people to feast in the capital: one looks at whether there are out-of-season southern goods in the vegetables, and the other is to see if there is glass in the utensils, there are no these two things. You just can't go up this level!

So a moment later, in the small huā hall of the Zhang family. Zhang Shangshu and Qian Shangshu laughed and talked about each other's articles, looking like old friends for a long time. Zhang Fengyi respects Qian Qianyi as a long-term - he is a Jinshi in the 41st year of Wanli, while Qian is a 38-year-old person, and he did not pay attention to this difference at all before, you must know that he is a native of Daizhou, Shanxi Province and Qian Qianyi is a Changshu native of Jiangsu, and there are far fewer people in the north who can pass the Jinshi examination than in the south, and the gold content in the eyes of the world cannot be compared.

However, this time Zhang Fengyi happily recognized Qian Qianyi as a senior, in fact, he refers to the other side - in terms of interaction with the southern shorthair, in this regard, if he wants to make progress, he really has to consult this senior who has single-handedly completed the short-haired recruitment plan.

And Qian Qianyi is also very good-looking, and after a few perfunctory words, he officially introduced Chen Tao to Zhang Shangshu and retreated to the second line. Although Chen Tao's identity is already clear to anyone in the capital who has a little bit of access, after all, he has not dealt with him before, and a person with an identity like Zhang Shangshu must not be familiar with him and say I know you as soon as they meet, and a formal introducer is indispensable.

However, Chen Tao didn't pay attention to these, he was also a lawsuit after receiving the telegram from Shandong, and at this time he was only thinking about handling the things entrusted to him by Wu Nanhai and Chen Jun. There are already quite deficiencies in the sophistication of human feelings, and they can't take care of it at this time. After a brief greeting, he explained his intentions and thoughts, and as he spoke, Zhang Fengyi and Zhang Dashangshu's brains became brighter and brighter-beads of sweat came out.

"What...... What the......? ”

In fact, the news that Chen Tao said can be regarded as a great benefit for any Ming Dynasty official - the two powerful forces of the South and the North are finally going to face each other, and this is exactly the good thing that almost every Ming Dynasty official dreams of! Although what Shorthair said this time was only "assisting the evacuees", as long as the gang of greenskins and Tartars took a picture of each other, with their hard and unafraid virtues, they were afraid that the two sides would not be able to fight?

It's just that Chen Tao's request is also a bit unbelievable -- he asked Zhang Fengyi to issue a document in the name of the military department, ordering the Lushun Ming army to temporarily obey its command when the short-haired army landed, or at least to cooperate with the actions of the short-haired army as much as possible, which is not in line with the original system of the Ming Dynasty -- the guest army should be subject to the garrison.

But Zhang Fengyi can also fully understand the concerns of the short hair, in fact, whenever the situation needs the assistance of troops sent from other places, its local garrison must be useless, and it is not realistic for the strong troops from other places to come in and ask them to obey the local weak brigades, and the solution of the Ming Dynasty is to send higher-status officials as the general system to coordinate and dispatch all the troops in this area.

But Shorthair obviously won't accept this way, what's even worse is that they are extremely tight on time, saying that they will send troops tomorrow and the day after tomorrow! This speed really surprised Zhang Fengyi, who was accustomed to the Ming Dynasty's mutual blame and inefficiency, and said in his heart, Are you short-haired people so uninvited guests? Even the army?

"This ...... It's not in line with my Ming system. "As a veteran Ming bureaucrat, Zhang Fengyi certainly would not lightly agree to such a request to undermine the system." Mr. Chen may not know that although the old man is still the secretary of the military department. However, this kind of demand is not something that the Ministry of War can decide. It's not something that the old man can decide with a word, I'm afraid that the specific matter will have to be reported to the Son of Heaven, and it will only be decided after several elders in the court and the central government have discussed and decided. ”

――It's hard to talk to this shorthair, but the key is that it's not easy to call it. The scholars of the Ming Dynasty called each other, including the honorific title of each other and the humble title of themselves, which were very particular, but they did not seem to be used in front of this young man. After thinking about it, I had to use some informal tones, such as "sir" and "old man", which was quite awkward to say.

But it's awkward and awkward, Zhang Shangshu's Tai Chi pusher is still very beautiful, and he can block things aside with a clever word, and he has won the three flavors of the Ming bureaucratic prevarication skills, but he didn't expect that Chen Tao wouldn't play officialdom tricks with him at all, and said bluntly: "I'm sorry." Zhang Shangshu, I really don't know much about the military system of the Ming court, and this request is indeed a bit hasty -- I myself just received a telegram from Shandong this evening. But on the Weihai side, my companions are making final preparations, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow at the latest. They are going to cross the sea to Lushun to fight directly against the Ming Dynasty, which is also the most vicious enemy of our entire Chinese nation. I can't help anything else here, so I can only help them get the official support of the imperial court, so as not to get a misunderstanding with the local defenders. This is something that is good for both of us, and we ask for your care. ”

Zhang Fengyi smiled. A little hairy kid still plays with me about national righteousness? When we were impassionedly guiding the country in the academy, you hadn't given birth yet. However, there was a solemn and sincere look on his face, and he arched his hand and said: "Mr. Chen's fist is full of fists, and the old man deeply admires it." It's just that the state system and military aircraft are important tasks, and those who are not our courtiers can change it without permission. What your town wants is really beyond the decision of our district and a military department. ”

"That's right......"

Chen Tao muttered, but to Zhang Fengyi's slight surprise, this young man did not have much disappointment on his face, but glanced at the place where Qian Qianyi was sitting behind: "Sure enough, it's the same as Qian Shangshu, you said......

Qian Qianyi stroked his beard and smiled without saying a word, while Chen Tao also stood up: "Then, I'm sorry, Zhang Shangshu, I'm bothering you." ”

As he spoke, he was about to leave, but such a crisp and neat attitude made Zhang Fengyi feel uneasy.

"This ...... Please forgive the old man for being rude, I don't know what Mr. Chen's next plan is? ”

It stands to reason that a bureaucrat would never ask this question when he was involved in foreign affairs normally, and if he said it, he would only be laughed at in vain. But Zhang Fengyi felt that it was impossible to negotiate with these short-haired people "normally", so he simply wanted to say something.

And Chen Tao really gave him an answer: "Continue to find other relevant departments, since I can't get help from your military department, I want to go to Zhou Shoufu's house again, and Jinyiwei's side to try my luck, if it doesn't work, I have to go directly to the palace to find someone - I think the emperor of the Ming Dynasty will definitely be happy to help us remove any obstacles to sending troops to Liaodong." ”

"Huh?" And so on and so forth! ”

Zhang Fengyi's face turned white when he heard this--this kid spoke gloomily, what does it mean to "can't get help from my military department?" "It's your request that doesn't comply with the rules at all, okay! If I dare to issue this order, I am afraid that before the order is issued, the impeachment notes will already fly over the sky - does this kid surnamed Chen know what the six departments are doing? Oh, I don't know, or he wouldn't have said any jokes about finding Zhou Shoufu and Jin Yiwei.

But the problem is that if they don't sign it, the trouble will be just as big - just as Chen Tao said: as long as they are willing to use troops in Liaodong, it will definitely be a joy for the Ming Dynasty...... of good things. But if this kid comes up with a sentence "We can't go because the military department doesn't sign the order"...... Zhang Fengyi can completely imagine that when the time comes, from the Son of Heaven to the civil and military officials, absolutely no one will praise him for adhering to his principles, and they will only sacrifice themselves as scapegoats without hesitation -- if he stands on another angle, he will definitely do this without hesitation.

For a while, Zhang Dashangshu was so aggrieved that he almost wanted to shed tears, why did he somehow become an obstacle to shorthair's troops? This is really a person sitting at home, and the disaster comes from heaven, and it is really not a good thing to receive uninvited guests!

Fortunately, after all, Zhang Fengyi was honed from many years of eunuch sea, and after a little thought, he immediately thought of a countermeasure, he straightened up and asked: "Mr. Chen wants to face the saint, I don't know if he has informed the palace in advance?" ”

"Not yet, the situation is urgent, Qian Ge Lao agreed to take me to try knocking on the palace door to have a look."

Chen Tao's answer made Zhang Fengyi pouted secretly, and said in his heart that it was true. This short-haired guest is still addicted, it doesn't count as running to my house, and I want to go to Zhou Yan Confucianism and Jinyiwei to try my luck? Or even break into the palace at night? When those places are your next-door neighbors, you just want to visit and knock on the door?

If at any time before tonight, when he heard such a ridiculous request, he would definitely laugh three times, and then drive out the two people in front of him as crazy people - if he didn't notify Shuntianfu to arrest people.

However, at this moment, Zhang Fengyi stood up and said with a straight face: "Please wait for a while, wait for the old man to change his clothes, and go with you!" ”

…………

About an hour later, Chen Tao came out of the Ming Dynasty's first assistant, Zhou Yan, the secretary of the ministry, and his face was slightly helpless when he climbed into the four-wheeled carriage, obviously failing to achieve his goal.

But he didn't find nothing - Zhou Yanru's sedan chair was also lifted out of the door, and along with the two in front of him, half of the six books of the Ming Dynasty were already shopping with him. If it weren't for the vacancies in the remaining household books, the Ministry of Industry and the Criminal Department would really not be called a "relevant department", and Chen Tao would not be difficult to drag all the six books to the streets tonight for a night tour of Beijing.

They went to Jinyi Weidu to command Luo Yangxing's house, of course, they didn't get the instructions Chen Tao wanted, but Luo Yangxing also took the initiative to follow - the Ming bureaucrats' thinking about the problem and the way to solve the problem are similar. After that, Chen Tao originally planned to find other "relevant departments" again, but finally couldn't bear it anymore, Zhou Da Shoufu, Qian Zhang, the two Shangshu, and Commander Luo all told him in unison: It's useless for you to find anyone! This matter must only be decided by the Son of Heaven. If you don't want to drag all the civil and military officials into the street parade, you might as well go directly to the palace.

So Chen Tao finally stopped running around the city, but dragged a group of high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty to the Forbidden City, and they became uninvited guests together. (To be continued......)