Two days later, Li Yuntian set off for Beijing, and the soldiers and civilians of Yangzhou saw each other off at the Yangzhou wharf under the leadership of the prefect Lu Xing and the commander of Yangzhou Wei, Han Hu.

Li Yuntian was followed to the capital not only by Xie Heng and Han Liang, deputy envoys of the Lianghuai Salt Road, but also by Pan Xingmin, the left attendant of the Nanjing Criminal Department, Zhang Tao, the left deputy capital of the Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate, and Qin Ke, the left Shaoqing of the Dali Temple in Nanjing.

At the end of February, Pan Xingmin, Zhang Tao, and Qin Ke had already received an official letter from the Ministry of Officials, asking the three of them to follow Li Yuntian back to Beijing to reply to matters related to the Lianghuai Yandao corruption case.

When Li Yuntian came to Yangzhou, there was only a double-decker ship, but when he left, it was a mighty fleet, and there were as many as 2,000 Xiaowu troops accompanying him.

The reason for this is not to ensure Li Yuntian's safety, but more importantly, to take care of the materials that Li Yuntian seized from the Lianghuai Yandao corruption case, which are worth nearly 100 million taels of silver, all of which are transported to the capital and handed over to the household department for counting, and then distributed to the inner treasury in the palace, the treasury of the household department, and the lecture hall according to the predetermined proportion.

Since the Lianghuai Yandao corruption case was concluded smoothly, the atmosphere during the trip was very relaxed, and Pan Xingmin, Zhang Tao and Qin Ke seemed to be in high spirits, and the three of them had already heard the news from their friends in the capital, and there was a chance that they would be promoted when they went to the capital this time.

Received by officials from various state capitals along the canal, the fleet arrived at the wharf outside the capital in early April, where the official secretary Jianyi and the first assistant of the cabinet, Yang Shiqi, were ordered by Emperor Xuande to lead people to meet them at the wharf.

Guo Zi, the head of the household department, looked at the cargo ships full of gold, silver, jewelry and all kinds of property in the river and was taken aback, he never expected that Li Yuntian would recover so much property, and then excitedly beckoned the officials of the household department to transport those goods back to the treasury of the household department for inventory.

After all, after so many years of hard life in the household department, now it is finally time to turn over, and after those belongings enter the account of the household department, the waist of the household officials is undoubtedly much stronger than before, and they have the confidence to speak outside.

Due to the Ming Dynasty's tax policy of separating the central and local governments, local officials can set up clever names in taxation and put their hands on it, while the treasury of the household department is basically a fixed amount of two or three million taels of silver due to the annual tax revenue, so that the funds of the household department have been very tight and stretched thin over the years.

The money brought by Li Yuntian has undoubtedly solved a problem for the household department for many years, and it has such abundant funds that the Ming household department has not encountered since its establishment.

After entering the city, Li Yuntian went to the Forbidden City under the guidance of Jian Yi and Yang Shiqi to meet Emperor Xuande, who held a banquet in the Qianqing Palace to receive Li Yuntian and wash the dust, and was very satisfied with Li Yuntian's appearance on the Lianghuai Salt Road case.

Li Yuntian stayed in the Qianqing Palace until late at night, and he not only reported to Emperor Xuande about the investigation and handling of the corruption case in the Lianghuai Salt Road, but also gave advice to Emperor Xuande's northern expedition to the Tatars.

Although Emperor Xuande has followed Emperor Yongle to fight in the south and north since he was a child, after all, he was still young at that time, and when it comes to marching and arranging, Li Yuntian is still experienced.

Judging from the information currently available, the Tatar troops that invaded the border this time had 70,000 troops, including 20,000 cavalry and 50,000 infantry.

In order to teach the Tatars a lesson, Emperor Xuande prepared to mobilize 150,000 troops, including the Xiaowu army, to march north, and annihilate the main force of the Tatar troops in one fell swoop.

As Liu Wenqing had guessed before, the reason why Emperor Xuande drove the expedition this time was precisely because Li Yuntian had recovered more than 100 million yuan of property on the corrupt shore of the Lianghuai Salt Road, so that Emperor Xuande had sufficient funds to fight this battle.

By the time Li Yuntian left the Forbidden City in his four-wheeled carriage, it was already dark at night, and the streets were deserted, with no one except for the fifty percent of the soldiers and horses on patrol.

Li Yuntian sat in the carriage and closed his eyes to recuperate, thinking about Emperor Xuande's personal expedition this time, he was not worried about how big a wave the Tatar Ministry could make this time, most of the Jing Nanxun nobles who could fight well in the Ming Dynasty were still alive, even if they didn't need to use the Xiaowu army, they could defeat the Tatar Department with the superior strength of the Ming Dynasty.

It's just that the vitality of the Ming Jingwei has not yet recovered, and the army of the local guard has been embarrassed due to the sparse training and low morale in peacetime, if the Xiaowu army does not participate in the war, I am afraid that the Ming army will have to pay a lot of price.

Although Emperor Xuande had to send people to clean up the army every year, the matter of ping pong military households and concealing the number of soldiers was still repeatedly prohibited, and in the final analysis, this situation was caused by the cantonment system.

The military system of the Ming Dynasty made it possible for the military attachés of the guard to arbitrarily pong their military households and seek benefits from the military households, so that the army's combat effectiveness weakened year by year, morale was low, and where did they have the heart to fight the enemy.

However, if we want to change this stubborn disease of the Ming army, we must move the cantonment system, and the cantonment system is closely related to the interests of military attachés at all levels in the Ming Dynasty. If a mutiny is triggered, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Therefore, although there were already officials in the imperial court who saw the danger of the cantonment system, they were powerless to solve this trouble, because it would anger the hereditary military attachés at all levels of the Ming Dynasty who benefited from the cantonment system.

What is particularly important is that the annual tax revenue of the Ming household department is limited and unable to feed the army, so it can only let the army be self-sufficient, which involves the central and local tax distribution system of the Ming Dynasty, which will touch the interests of the civilian group.

What Li Yuntian is thinking about now is how to exterminate as many invading enemy troops as possible, as long as the Tatar department is defeated, then it will definitely shake the three guards of Wuliangha, and knock on the mountain and shake the tiger, maybe he can relieve the siege of Daning City.

In Li Yuntian's view, although the Tatar Department and the Uliangha Sanwei belong to the same Mongolian tribe, the Uliangha Sanwei has gradually integrated into the Ming Dynasty, while the Tatar Department has always been hostile to the Ming Dynasty.

"Xianggong!" Back at Zhenwuhou Mansion, not long after Li Yuntian entered the courtyard gate, Zhou Yuting greeted him from the living room in the front yard with a happy face.

Originally, everyone had to wait for Li Yuntian to come back, but Zhou Yuting knew that Li Yuntian was going to stay in the palace for a long time, so she asked everyone to go back to rest first.

"Ma'am." Li Yuntian smiled and hugged Zhou Yuting into his arms and hugged him tightly, he had relied on Zhou Yuting to deal with official business and family affairs all these years, and his hard work was no less than him.

Zhou Yuting asked the maid to bring the footwashing water, and personally washed Li Yuntian's feet to fulfill his wife's duties, she was actually very willing to follow Li Yuntian to face the challenge with him, but because of her identity, she had to take charge of the Zhenwuhou Mansion in the capital, so as to avoid Li Yuntian's worries.

"Xianggong, the concubine heard that the emperor is going to rise to the throne tomorrow, and you will be the right deputy capital of the imperial history, and now you can become the youngest official in the Ming Dynasty." After some warmth, Zhou Yuting lay in Li Yuntian's arms, closed her eyes and said with a smile.

Zhou Yuting is not idle in the capital, not only does she often go in and out of the palace to accompany the queen mother and queen, but also has a close relationship with the wives of high-ranking officials and dignitaries, so she knows what is going on in the court.

Because he successfully won the Lianghuai Yandao corruption case, Emperor Xuande proposed at a court meeting at the end of March to promote Li Yuntian to the right deputy capital of the Imperial Palace, and the cabinet elders and the officials of the six ministries all agreed, so the matter was decided.

"Xianggong doesn't care about what officials are or not, if Xianggong has a choice, he would rather live a peaceful life with you." Li Yuntian smiled faintly when he heard this, he had handled a case as big as Lianghuai Yandao, and it was naturally a natural thing for him to be promoted.

"Xianggong, now some people in the imperial court have begun to criticize the martial arts, thinking that the martial arts hall is a place to teach and educate people, and it should not control elite divisions such as Xiaowujun, and the industries under the martial arts should also be under the jurisdiction of the local yamen." Zhou Yuting knew that Li Yuntian was telling the truth, if Li Yuntian had taken refuge in the King of Han back then, the King of Han would definitely be reused for him, so she reached out and stroked Li Yuntian's cheek, smiled and told him something.

"If you hand over the industries of the Xiaowu Army and the Martial Arts Hall to them, they will definitely be defeated within a few years." Li Yuntian knew that someone had begun to blush at those industries and martial arts in the martial arts, and a trace of disdain flashed at the corner of his mouth, "The emperor is wise and wise, how can he not know their thoughts?" ”

"Xianggong, Sister Yuxin sued her concubine today, and the emperor has decided to select a group of royal children to serve in Jiaozhi." Zhou Yuting naturally knew that Emperor Xuande absolutely trusted Li Yuntian now, and said with a smile when she heard this.

The corners of Li Yuntian's mouth showed a smug smile, he not only introduced the royal family and the children of the nobles in the lecture hall, but also absorbed the children of the royal family to Jiaozhi as officials, his intentions can be described as good, which not only balances the concerns of all forces in the lecture hall and Jiaozhi, but also makes Emperor Xuande trust him more, and then avoid the situation that the tail is too big.

Emperor Xuande had discussed with King Fu several times, and also consulted the Empress Dowager's opinion, and finally felt that Li Yuntian was reasonable, and using the children of the imperial family "Fan Ping Jingshi" was indeed an excellent strategy to stabilize the country's foundation, which not only prevented the imperial power from being hollowed out by the vassals, but also sought a way out for the children of the imperial family, so that they would no longer cause trouble in the fiefdom, eat and wait for death.

At the same time, in order to prevent the children of the imperial family from using the status of the imperial family to oppress people after going to the local area, Emperor Xuande decided to abolish the privileges of those children of the imperial family who went to the local government as officials, and only retained their royal titles.

It is worth mentioning that the children of the royal family who were selected to be sent to Jiaozhi as officials all graduated from the six colleges under the jurisdiction of the lecture martial arts, and they were basically the children of the depressed branches of the royal family in the palaces around the country.

Because of his royal blood, the children of the royal family enjoyed the privilege of entering the six academies of the Lecture and Martial Arts Hall without examination, which was also a measure by Li Yuntian to encourage the children of the royal family to participate in politics.

Like the children of the royal family, they also enjoy the privilege of entering the six major academies under the jurisdiction of the Jiangwu Hall without examination, and they are also honored because of the shadow of their ancestors' military exploits.

In fact, Emperor Xuande is very happy to see those side children of the royal palace enter the six colleges of Jiangwutang, although these children are also descendants of the imperial family, but the blood relationship is far away from the monarchy, so Emperor Xuande does not have to worry about them coveting the throne, can be used to contain the civil official group and the Xungui group in the court, this is the true intention of Li Yuntian's "Fan Ping Jingshi", to ensure the balance of forces of all parties in the imperial court, and then consolidate the monarchy.