The Yamen of the Celebrant on the side of the Xi'an Gate of the Ming Imperial City, almost at the same time as the Jinyi Guard destroyed the Tartar Jingshi Liaison Station, the Dongji Factory got the news. Zhou Jian'an, who was in charge of the execution of thousands of households, rushed to the ceremonial supervisor to report to Cao Jixiang as soon as possible, worried about the collusion with the Tartars.

Looking at the irrepressible panicked look on Zhou Jian'an's face, Cao Jixiang slapped him on the table on the spot, and scolded angrily: "Anyway, he is also the second-in-command of the East Factory, if something happens, it will be so unbearable, what's the use of raising your group of waste!" ”

Although the East Factory is ranked above Jinyi Wei most of the time, it is commonly known as "Factory" is greater than "Wei". However, Dongchang has no special officials, and it is more like a temporary organization that draws people from Jinyiwei, and only when it is particularly needed, will it be reused by the emperor.

This has led to the fact that in addition to the extremely high power of the admiral and eunuch in Dongchang, the person in charge of the execution of thousands of households can already be regarded as the number two person, and there are no positions such as the same knowledge, servant, and suppression at all levels of Jinyiwei, which is a typical lowly power.

The admiral eunuch of the East Factory, the practice is to be the eunuch Bingbi, the second person of the ceremonial supervisor, but in order to control the intelligence agency, Cao Jixiang broke this convention and was concurrently served by the eunuch of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, so it was passed down, and the governor of the East Factory was the eunuch Wang Cheng.

But Wang Cheng is a paper lake puppet, Cao Jixiang is impossible to hand over the real power of the Dongchang intelligence agency to him, and by chance, the famous Dongji Factory, the highest official is only one person in charge of a thousand households, which is really a bit funny.

"The lower officials know their mistakes, please calm their anger!"

This beat frightened Zhou Jian'an, and then quickly knelt down and kowtowed to make amends, but his performance of fear made Cao Jixiang feel a sense of disgust and disgust in his heart, how can this level be reused?

But Cao Jixiang has no way, he can start from scratch to separate the East Factory from the Jinyiwei system, and he has reached the limit of his ability, and if he wants to recruit talents, it is not a matter that a eunuch can do.

thought that Wang Zhen's power was in the limelight for a while, and he was suffering from the reputation of eunuchs and could not get the refuge of talented civil officials, and he also tried to buy Shen Yichen for his own use. Now Cao Jixiang may have surpassed Wang Zhen in terms of military power, and the other prestige, prestige, intimacy with the emperor, etc., are not as far as Wang Zhen.

Those who are willing to serve him, in addition to his own relatives and people, there are only those in the scholar class who are really desperate, such as Yang Shan, the right capital of Yushi, and it is difficult for others to even find a high-level strategist.

In addition to the reason for their own lack of ability, talented civil and military officials are unwilling to work for it, which also occupies a large factor, and the crooked melons and cracked dates that take refuge are only at this level.

Knowing that no matter how angry he was, Cao Jixiang could only ease his emotions at the moment, and asked: "The official in charge of direct contact with the Tartars in Jingshi is Xie Zhi of the Honglu Temple, you immediately send someone to his mansion to kill him." ”

Cao Jixiang's status and status could not be directly connected with the Tartars in Beijing, and there must be an intermediary to deliver the news, and this intermediary was Xie Zhi, the Sibin Office in charge of foreign and tributary envoys.

Regardless of whether it is ancient or modern, in many cases, the mission itself has the attribute of espionage, and more than half of the members of the Tartar liaison station are the envoys of the Mongolian tribes such as the Uliangha, Warat, Tatar, and Kansai Qiwei.

Now that the Holy Khan also unified the Mongolian tribes first, he will naturally no longer recognize the suzerainty status of the Ming Dynasty, and these former mission members will either return to the bitter cold land of Mobei, or they will take refuge in Yexian, using their familiarity with the Beijing division to spy on intelligence.

First kill the contact person on the Ming side, so as to prevent Jinyiwei from checking along this line, as for those Tartar spies who are dead, they will die, and then they will be replaced.

"Yes, the next official will do it."

After receiving Cao Jixiang's order, Zhou Jian'an hurriedly got up and prepared to carry it out.

But soon Cao Jixiang stopped and said: "Do you still need to be in charge of a thousand households to do this little thing?" ”

"If you don't have enough ability to only do the things of a small soldier, you can simply become a small soldier!"

This shouting and reprimand made beads of sweat the size of soybeans appear on Zhou Jian'an's forehead, Cao Jixiang was originally more ruthless, and he was afraid that he would not only end his career if he made mistakes one after another, but even his head would move.

There is no way, Zhou Jian'an can only kneel on the ground again and beg for mercy, as a subordinate whose life is in the hands of others, this is all he can do.

To tell the truth, for Zhou Jian'an's style, Cao Jixiang really had the heart to kill him. But the problem is that it is easy to kill a thousand households, but it is difficult to find someone who is more capable than him and loyal enough.

"Okay, our family hasn't ascended to heaven yet, don't cry here and call your mother here."

"After getting rid of Xie Zhi, the secretary of the cabinet, immediately go to contact Zhao Ranyuan, the secretary in the cabinet, to see if he is suspected of exposing his identity by Shen Yichen!"

Xie Zhi is a small role that can be replaced at any time for Cao Jixiang, but Zhao Ranyuan, a scholar in the middle school, has tried his best to get the internal response, especially the other party can also pass back the news about Shen Yichen as soon as possible.

If Zhao Ranyuan's identity is exposed, the loss will be great.

"Back to ...... Returning to the prime minister, the lower officials rushed to the way to the celebrant supervisor, as if they heard that Zhao Ranyuan was dead. ”

Hearing Zhou Jian'an's words, Cao Jixiang immediately stood up and asked in an incredulous tone, "Dead?" How the hell did he die? ”

"Jin Yiwei's colleagues said that Zhao Ranyuan committed suicide in fear of crime......"

Suicide in fear of sin?

Faced with this news, Cao Jixiang sat back on the chair blankly, and then thought fiercely in his mind.

Jin Yiwei can use the word "fear of crime" to describe it, which means that they have most likely found out that Zhao Ranyuan has something to do with the Mongolian spy who leaked military information. But the question is whether he leaked anything before he died, and will the Jinyi guard find out the celebrant by the way?

Cao Jixiang honestly didn't care about Jinyi Wei Shunteng's investigation of himself, he had never been directly involved in the collusion with the Tartars, which meant that there was no direct evidence of guilt, with the power and status of the eunuch in charge of his celebrant seal, it was impossible for Jinyiwei to ask him for guilt.

But behind Jinyiwei, there is a Shen Yichen!

After so many years of open and secret fighting, the people who know you best are often your enemies. What kind of ruthless character Shen Yichen is, Cao Jixiang can be said to be very clear, collaborating with the enemy and treason has undoubtedly touched his bottom line, and the other party may really choose to make a move!

I don't know why, even if Cao Jixiang has belittled Shen Yichen countless times inside and out, when he really wants to face this opponent, he still instinctively shows a sense of timidity in his heart.

"What are you doing on your knees, go find out what's going on with Zhao Ranyuan!"

Cao Jixiang, who came to his senses, vented his anger on Zhou Jian'an, who kowtowed and took orders, and then crawled out of the yamen of the celebrant in fright.

Looking at the back of Zhou Jian'an's departure, Cao Jixiang still felt a little uneasy, so he said to Feng Yi, the doorman next to him: "Mr. Feng, you inform Qin'er and Xuan'er of this matter, so that they can be optimistic about Jingying and Tengxiang Siwei, and be ready to deal with emergencies at any time." ”

Military power is Cao Jixiang's biggest reliance, Tengxiang Siwei and Jingying, these hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses are in their hands, not to mention a Shen Yichen, even the emperor has the possibility of being subverted.

If Shen Yichen really dares to make a move on himself, then let's break the net and see who will die at that time!

I have to say that Cao Jixiang does have a bloody nature, but it's a pity that his eunuch status locks the upper limit, otherwise even an unruly and reckless man like Shi Heng, the prince of Zhongguo, may not be as good as him in terms of presumptuousness.

The undercurrent is surging in the capital division, and the situation of Yu Qian's department on the other side is also not optimistic, and the raids for more than a month can be said to have achieved nothing. The plan to feed the war by war was shattered, so the supply could only be pinned on logistics, but the problem was that with the complete melting of the winter snow and the continuous spring rains, many sections of the entire grassland were muddy, and the horse-drawn cart could easily get stuck in the mud for half a day and could not be pushed out.

It is only a matter of time and place, compared with the Ming soldiers and horses, the Mongolian cavalry is obviously more familiar with the grassland. After they breathed a sigh of relief, they began to continuously attack the Daming logistics convoy, which had a great impact on the entire expedition team.

Now the situation of Yu Qian's soldiers and horses is similar to that encountered by the nomads of the Central Plains Dynasty's previous Northern Expeditions, the other party is like a rat who can't find the main force and the tribe to station, but he has to face harassment and bear great logistical pressure.

Often in this case, the Central Plains Dynasty can only be forced to choose to retreat, waiting for the next Northern Expedition to come. So the problem of this choice was placed in front of Yu Qian, the secretary of the Ministry of War, whether to withdraw or not to withdraw?

In the handsome tent, Yu Qian sat on the main seat, and on the left and right sides sat Guo Deng, the Marquis of Dingxiang, and Li Jin, the Bo of Xiangcheng. After nearly two months of searching, in order to prevent being ambushed and counterattacked by the Tartars, the Liaodong Army and the Monan Army have been united.

According to the official title, knighthood means super quality, and it should be ranked above Qian. But this time, Yu Qian supervised the army as the secretary of the military department, and he had the power of the first emperor to appoint the governor of the world's soldiers and horses, so the two soldiers and horses were actually commanded by Yu Qian.

"Summoning two people to come today, it must be clear what is going on, in the past half a month, three logistics have been robbed, more than 1,000 soldiers have been killed or wounded, there are 3,000 people, and 50,000 stones of grain and grass have been burned."

"If this situation continues, the expeditionary army will soon face a shortage of food, and at the same time, it will become more and more difficult to replenish the logistics of grain and grass. The officer believed that the opportunity had been lost, and that the main force of the Tartars might return from the northwest if it was consumed further, and that he had to make a decisive decision on whether to withdraw his troops at the right time. ”

In fact, it is not used to elaborate on the current predicament, and the two lords are also very clear, but so far, this expedition has only found a few small Mongolian pastures with hundreds of people, let alone ploughing and sweeping the caves, and even the most basic casualties cannot be equalized.

If the troops are withdrawn and returned like this, not to mention that the imperial court sees itself in this way, Shen Yichen, the head of the cabinet who led the action, will be difficult to explain to the civil and military officials, and he will be in the name of the expedition of the labor division.

Once the negative image is established, how long will it take for the next Northern Expedition to arrive?

Xiangcheng Bo Li Jin was relatively young, and it was the first time he had officially led the army to fight, so he didn't want to live up to Shen Yichen's trust and expectations for him, so he insisted: "Yu Shaobao, Benbo has already sent dozens of sentry cavalry to search, and I believe that we will soon be able to find the tent of the Tartar Wanhu tribe." ”

"In addition, the spies lurking in the Tartar sweat tent are also trying to find a way to contact during this time, as long as they are connected, they will definitely know where the Tartars are hiding, if they withdraw their troops like this, it will be equivalent to losing the whole game!"

Xiangcheng Bo Li Jin's words were full of unwillingness, although this expedition was not a national Northern Expedition, but it could also be regarded as the Ming Dynasty after the battle of Tumubao, sounded the horn of counterattack against the Tartars, and the offensive and defensive trends of the two sides were different.

If the troops are withdrawn like this, it is equivalent to all the previous efforts in vain, and the soldiers have been on the expedition for several months to achieve nothing!

"The information of our expedition can be known by the Tartars, and our spies who have not been able to contact the Tartar camps must have been known and cleared first."

"The logistics have been robbed several times in a row, which has led to the interruption of our contact with the imperial court, and I don't know how the imperial court will deal with the news of the Tartar spies that this official told Shen Yuanfu earlier. If we don't dig out the traitors behind the scenes, it means that our actions are completely exposed to the eyes of the first people. ”

"Shen Yuanfu has emphasized many times that this person is a hero who has not been born in the grassland for a hundred years, and he must not underestimate the enemy, and if he continues to search, I am afraid that our army will become the target of the Tartars."

In ancient times, it was difficult to transmit military information, and Yu Qian had already cut off contact with the Jingshi side, and he didn't know that Shen Yichen was playing with Cao Jixiang step by step to encroach on the plan.

What Yu Qian is most worried about now is that the whereabouts of his 20,000 soldiers and horses are all under Yexian's control. After a situation of encirclement, there were very few people in the vast grassland who could be killed alive, and Daming could not afford such a loss.

At the same time, Guo Deng, the relatively experienced Marquis of Dingxiang, also agreed: "Yu Shaobao is right, when the enemy is dark and I am clear, it has become impossible to find the Tartar ten thousand households stationed in the tent. ”

"When the interruption continues, it will be chaotic, at this time, the choice to retreat may be on the side of the imperial court, Shen Yuanfu will bear some pressure, as long as there are no serious casualties, it doesn't matter, just wait for the next Northern Expedition to come back again."

"If the 20,000 expeditionary army suffered heavy casualties, the imperial court will definitely return to the state of fearing the enemy like a tiger after the defeat of Tumubao, and we may not be able to wait for the next opportunity for the Northern Expedition."

Guo Deng and Yu Qian were witnesses of the defense battle of the Beijing Division, and they were very aware of the weakness and fear of the civil and military officials of the imperial court during that period. Shen Yichen has finally reversed the trend, if the turning point appears to him again, then he is really sorry for the high hopes of his family and country.

In the face of Guo Deng and Yu Qian, both of whom agreed to withdraw their troops, even if Li Jin, the uncle of Xiangcheng, was unwilling, he understood that the matter was a foregone conclusion, so he could only clench his fists and say: "We will definitely have the next Northern Expedition, and when the time comes, we will not break Loulan and swear not to return to the dynasty!" ”