Li Dongyang trembled, his expression was cold, the cabinet chief assistant had his own majesty and aura, and the chaotic courtiers felt this pressure, and finally stopped talking with interest.

Li Dongyang said slowly: "Ladies and gentlemen, don't forget your identity, above the court, in front of the emperor, how can you be so presumptuous? Whether the position of the secretary of the military department is suitable for Lu Wan or Jiang Han is suitable, it is not something that can be decided by fighting with a loud voice, who is more suitable, and you need to put forward more practical evaluation words. ”

Xu Guangzuo said coldly: "What Li Shoufu said is, then the old man came to evaluate and evaluate this Lord Lu Wanlu, Lord Lu is indeed in the prime of life, but the position of the secretary of the military department is not something that anyone can do at a young age, if this is used as a basis, a large group of old ministers in this palace can only return to their hometowns." ”

The old ministers in the palace nodded one after another, and someone whispered: "Yes, it is the officials who are elected, and they are not male favorites, so why do you want to be young and beautiful?" This immediately caused a snicker.

Xu Guangzuo continued: "As Lord Shoufu said, who is more suitable depends on whether he has the ability and ability to take charge of the military department; Someone said before that Lu Wan had a meritorious service in suppressing thieves with Lord Song Nan and Song this time, and his bravery and resourcefulness were outstanding, but as far as the old man knew, Lord Lu Wan's appearance of suppressing thieves this time was not satisfactory, not only was he brave and fearless, but on the contrary, he also made a lot of mistakes. ”

"Huh? Is there such a thing? ”

"How did the old man know? What did Lu Wan do? ”

The courtiers were stunned and asked the prime minister, and the three scholars in the cabinet had already voted to elect Lu Wan a few days ago, and they added Lu Wan's expression of this thief to the reason for persuading the officials.

"As far as Lao Chen knows, Lu Wan has repeatedly made mistakes in this anti-thief operation, and the bandit leader Liu Liu has missed the net from the area of Weishan Lake, which is Lu Wan's poor blockade. When suppressing the thieves in the mountains, Lu Wan once refused Song Nan's order and refused to enter the mountains to suppress the thieves. Later, he was reluctant to enter the mountain, but because of a mistake in decision-making, he was deprived of the right to command the soldiers and horses by Xu Tai, and when he attacked the fortress of the thieves in the mountains, he was greedy for life and afraid of death, and did not dare to fight hard, delaying the fighters, causing a large number of casualties among our soldiers. How can such a person be in charge of the military department? It's a joke. ”

As soon as the words came out, everyone was shocked, not only was Zhengde and the courtiers heard such a statement for the first time, but Yang Tinghe and Song Nan were also surprised, Yang Tinghe was surprised that what Xu Guangzuo said was not much different from what Song Nan said when he broke into his house that day, could it be that Song Nan reversed himself and had already informed Xu Guangzuo of these words?

Song Nan frowned, but he was quickly relieved, some of the generals and soldiers and horses under his command were originally the soldiers and horses of the Chinese Military Governor's Mansion, as the Grand Governor of the Governor's Mansion, Xu Guangzuo would naturally have thousands of ways to listen to the news in the army; With Xu Guangzuo's ability, although he can judge the details from his own arrangements and some clues, it is not difficult.

Song Nan raised his head and saw a cold gaze shooting at him, it was Yang Tinghe's eyes full of anger, and Song Nan shrugged innocently.

Zhengde straightened up from the dragon seat, and said with confusion on his face: "Is Dingguo Gong true? How did Dingguo Gong know? ”

Xu Guangzuo didn't hide it, and said in a deep voice: "Don't forget, the emperor must not forget that most of the soldiers participating in the war are under the jurisdiction of the Governor's Mansion of our Chinese army, and after returning to the camp after the war, how can the old ministers not summon them to summarize the gains and losses?" It was from the mouths of the soldiers that he learned about it; I'm afraid that Lord Song doesn't want to publicize this matter, or if it is for Lu Wan to cover up, he probably won't play the emperor truthfully. ”

Zhengde turned to Song Nan with a displeased face and said: "Song Nan, that day I asked you about Lu Wan's appearance in the army, but you refused to speak, but it turned out that you had the intention of covering up; Is what Dingguo Gong said true? This move involves an important candidate for the military department of the outer court, so you don't have to hide it. ”

Finally had to face this matter, Song Nan had no choice but to salute, seeing hundreds of pairs of eyes looking at him in unison, Song Nan hesitated slightly, and said: "Your Majesty, it's no wonder that the ministers that day, the emperor was invited by the Queen Mother to leave on his own, and he asked the ministers to report another day, but the ministers didn't answer." ”

Zhengde thought for a while and raised his forehead and said: "Oh, I'm confused, it's true, then now you can tell me the truth of Lu Wan's performance in the army?" ”

Song Nan smiled and said: "Naturally, but before that, the minister has to make it clear, although the minister has no right to evaluate the two candidates for the post of secretary of the military department, but as the commander of the Jinyi Guard, the minister has the responsibility to carry out the back of all officials. Jing has an understanding. Jiang Han, the chief soldier of Ningxia, who was mentioned just now, felt very familiar to him, and just now he thought about it for a long time, and suddenly remembered a qiē about Jiang Han, the chief soldier of Ningxia, and the minister felt that it was necessary to make this matter public. Because since Lord Jiang Han is a candidate to become the secretary of the military department, he must always know his true character and ability, so that it is convenient for you to make a real evaluation of him, what does the emperor think? ”

Liu Jin, who was staring at Song Nan's eyes and was about to protrude, finally couldn't help but speak: "Song Nan, the emperor is asking about Lu Wan's affairs in the army at this moment, why do you care about him left and right?" Whether Master Jiang Han is suitable or not is only selected by the Ministry of Officials, but you have no part to speak. ”

Xu Guangzuo also said coldly: "Exactly, it's Lu Wan who is asking, could it be that Lord Song wants to continue to hide it for Lu Wan?" ”

Song Nan looked at Zhengde without speaking, Zhengde pinched his chin and pondered for a moment, and said to Song Nan: "Have you checked Jiang Han in Jinyiwei?" ”

Song Nan nodded and said: "I checked, but it was a few months ago, and the minister almost forgot about it, if it wasn't for the mention of this person in the court today, the minister wouldn't want to mention it." ”

Zhengde said: "Since Jinyiwei has checked Jiang Han, you can say it, anyway, today is to make a evaluation of the candidates, and Jinyiwei's investigation may be used as some basis for judgment." ”

Liu Jin said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, Song Nan should talk about Lu Wan's matter first, what does Song Nan obviously intend to hide for Lu Wan, what is his purpose?" He can't be fooled and deceived by the emperor. ”

Zhengde frowned and glanced at Liu Jin, and said coldly: "I know in my heart, do I seem to be a person who can be deceived so easily?" ”

Liu Jin was speechless when he knew that he was in a hurry, and hurriedly said: "The slave and the maid should die, the slave and the maid don't mean this, the slave and the maid ......."

Zhengde waved his hand and said, "Okay, okay, I don't blame you, you don't have to say much." He turned to Song Nan and said loudly: "Song Nan, say it." ”

Song Nan thanked him, got up and said: "Your Majesty, more than three months ago, you should still remember the fact that Yang Yiqing, the chief of the trilateral system, went to the northwest to take office; To tell you the truth, Yang Yiqing and I have always had correspondence, and the reason why I keep in touch with Lord Yang is because Lord Yang is my guarantee, and if the affairs of the trilateral general system are ineffective, I am also responsible, so I have always been concerned about Lord Yang's progress in the northwest. ”

Zhang Mao nodded and said, "This is human nature, but it's nothing." ”

Song Nan glanced at Zhang Mao and said with a smile: "Thank you for your understanding, I'm just afraid that some people will have a dark heart and think there is some conspiracy." At the beginning of the rebellion of Liu Liu and Liu Qi, I received a letter from Lord Yang, and the letter mentioned Jiang Han, the general soldier of Ningxia. ”

The ministers were in high spirits, and they were afraid that they would miss a word, Yang Yiqing was appointed as the general system of the three sides, and Ningxia, Yansui, and Gansu were all under his jurisdiction, but everyone with some brains understood that Yang Yiqing's trip was not a good errand, and if he wanted to override the general army of the border town, there would be many entanglements and contradictions. After the defeat of the inner and outer courts in the struggle for this position, many people had been waiting for the news of the trouble, and some people even instructed the chief military officer and the local generals of the guard to make trouble for this Yang Yiqing, Yang Yiqing clearly saw this, so when he went to the post, he went alone, and even his family did not dare to take it, because no one knew what would happen.

"Lord Yang told me in the letter that the rectification of the trilateral military affairs is really difficult, and the resistance encountered is also great, but compared with Yansui and Gansu, Ningxia has greater resistance, and the name of Jiang Han, the general soldier of Ningxia, is mentioned. Lord Yang Yiqing lamented that this gentleman was unruly and relied on the old and betrayed the old, turned a deaf ear to the orders of the trilateral general government, not only did not carry out Lord Yang's orders, but on the contrary, he also set up obstructions in many ways. ”

Xu Guangzuo said coldly: "This is the matter of the so-called Lord Jiang Han found out by your Jinyi Guard?" These are all contradictions in local military affairs, and besides, just based on Yang Yiqing's words, how can we judge right and wrong? What a joke. ”

Song Nan smiled and said, "Why is Old Master Xu so impatient, I haven't finished my words yet." In order to solve the problem, Lord Yang personally stationed in Ningxia Town, but never thought that after staying in Ningxia Town for ten days, the post house where he lived was attacked three times, and almost lost the seal of the trilateral chief officer, and the last time the entire post house was on fire and burned, almost causing Lord Yang and dozens of accompanying soldiers to die in the fire. ”

"Huh? How could there be such a thing? ”

"This ...... It's incredible. ”

Zhengde also widened his eyes and asked, "Can you find out who did it?" ”

Song Nan said: "The emperor asked the crux of the problem, Lord Yang instructed Jiang Han, the chief soldier of Ningxia, to investigate the matter thoroughly, but the answer he got was that it was done by the thieves and bandits in Ningxia Town, and the culprit could not be caught. Imagine that a border town with heavy troops stationed in a heavy garrison must be severe and strict in terms of public security, and if it is not surprising that there are occasional raids on the post houses of important ministers, it is obviously not something that can be prevaricated on the grounds of thieves and bandits. At that time, when Liu Liu and Liu Qi's anti-thieves were in full swing, I was also lacking in skills, so I ordered the Nanzhen Fusi to send personnel to cooperate with the Tiqi of Ningxia Jinyi Wei Qianhu to conduct a thorough investigation, so many unusual clues were found. ”

Song Nan's voice fell, the hall was silent, the courtiers were not stupid or stupid, in fact, they were much smarter than ordinary people, Song Nan was silent, but most people had already guessed the ending.