Chapter 025: Integrity

If there is a blocked chapter, it's because of the suspected banned words, mainly... Hehe, everyone understands, please collect one, thank you

"You, now it's become a joke in the officialdom of Beijing..."Zhang Wenda said helplessly.

Li Maohui also sat next to him, and the two had a good relationship: "Stinky boy, you are honest, did you give Wei Zhongxian a benefit?" ”

Chen Cao didn't dare to say this: "I misunderstood, no." ”

"No?" Li Maohui is an old fritter in officialdom: "Your Majesty will leave you alone when you don't disperse the dynasty, and go to the Heart Cultivation Palace to ask you about things?" If you say that Wei Zhongxian's gelding dog didn't help you, the old man will resign and leave. Do you know that now the gelding dog is becoming more and more snobbish, His Majesty is young, and most things are handed over to the gelding dog, and the iron-clad old man of Emperor Taizu sees it as useless, you are good, the upright gentleman and the gelding dog keep their distance, but you take the initiative to stammer? ”

Chen Cao understood that the meal before leaving Beijing had become a Hongmen banquet again, and if he didn't make it clear today, he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to go out: "Future father-in-law, you..."

Zhang Wenda smiled and said: "Kecang, the title has changed..."

"Uncle Zhang doesn't want to make fun of it," Chen Cao became serious: "Now that the Liao affair is corrupt, Yuan Yingtai retreats to Liaoyang, the little nephew thinks that he can't hold it for ten days, within this month, the princes of the court and the central government will definitely receive the news of the fall of Liaoyang, and it is unknown whether Yuan Jingluo can cross the Shanhaiguan alive." ”

"Nonsense..."Li Maohui immediately said angrily: "You hairy boy dare to comment on Liao affairs? ”

"Hey Kecang, Liangce once killed the leader of the slave chieftains in Liaodong, and he has seen the means of building slaves, but you can't judge it in vain." Zhang Wenda interrupted Li Maohui's words, and then looked at Chen Cao: "Why do you think so much about good policy?" ”

Chen Cao said: "Yuan Jingluo is impeccable, but he doesn't know the soldiers, let him manage the army, but it is a big failure in the court, Li Zongbing died, Jiannu no longer worry-free, will attack Shenyang, Shenyang is lost, Liaoyang is not guaranteed, the defense line built by Lord Xiong has become an empty pen, and now there are small strongholds such as forts behind Liaoyang." Liaodong is even more dangerous. ”

Zhang Wenda was stunned by what Chen Cao said, and Chen Cao said again: "Uncle Zhang, Chen Cao guarantees with his personality, Liaoyang will be lost, so he will find Wei Zhongxian and ask him to help, and become the commander of the right guard of Nanjing. ”

Hiss...

Zhang Wenda and Li Maohui gasped together, no wonder Chen Cao wanted to bribe Wei Zhongxian to be a commander despite his big joke.

"In my Ming Dynasty, being a civil official is naturally the most promising, you don't see the governor or the strategy of these civil officials restraining military generals abound, if you are just a military general, in the future, at most the general soldier." Zhang Wenda said to himself.

Since Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty, he has been extremely stingy with the title, and he can't seal his relatives, Zhang Wenda's words are clear, Chen Cao has his own plans, and he is not a person who is willing to be a general soldier.

"The little nephew naturally knows the key points, so please rest assured that Uncle Zhang and his future father-in-law will go to train the troops after returning to Nanjing, and strive to train the soldiers within three years, and then I have to ask Uncle Zhang to help say some good things in front of His Majesty, so that I can go to Liaodong to fight."

Zhang Wenda snorted in his nose, and ignored Chen Cao, and then picked up the wine glass to drink, Chen Cao turned his head and knelt down towards Li Maohui: "Son-in-law Chen Cao, meet your father-in-law..."

"You..." Li Maohui didn't stop, thinking about his previous words, and then looking at Chen Cao's performance in front of the palace, he agreed to such a family matter: "I heard that your Chen family only has you and a little sister, so how about you ask your Uncle Zhang to be this matchmaker?" ”

Zhang Wenda smiled: "No need to ask, the old man agreed, tomorrow will be a good day." ”

Chen Cao and Li Xiang's wedding was held in the evening of the next day, Zhang Wenda accepted Chen Cao as his son, they were all high-ranking officials in Beijing, and there were many people, to Chen Cao's surprise, Wu Chun came with Wei Zhongxian's congratulatory gifts, although most of the civil officials present saw Chen Cao's jokes, but now because Wei Zhongxian's power has not expanded, they have also stepped forward.

On the night of the cave house, Chen Cao did not over-conquer, although Li Xiang was eighteen years old, Chen Cao really loved her, and thought that it was not easy to do things in his father-in-law's house, so he made up his mind to clean up Li Xiang after returning to Nanjing.

Chen Cao went to see Luo Sigong the morning before leaving Beijing, and had a secret meeting with him for nearly an hour before leaving, and then went to the Junfu of Tieling Township.

"What are you going to do?" Li Wan'er didn't want to see Chen Cao, but she knew that Chen Cao got married in the capital, although Chen Cao had said it before, she was still a hundred unwilling in her heart, the man in front of her was perfect, but it was this kind of person who made her love and hate.

The tepid words made Chen Cao not feel embarrassed at all: "Shenyang fell, most of the Li family was captured by Jiannu, if Jiannu is surrendered, you will definitely be implicated." ”

"Huh?" Li Wan'er was so frightened that her face was pale.

Chen Cao made up these words, although they have not received news now, but Chen Cao from later generations is clear, the Li family was arrested and lowered, and he also worked for Jiannu.

"If you stay in the capital all the time, I'm afraid you will be implicated," he said, staring at Li Wan'er affectionately: "I like you, I will definitely marry you, but I can't leave you alone in the capital, you just don't want to think about yourself, and you have to think about your mother, a large group of people in the house." ”

"What should I do?" Li Wan'er shed tears and reached out to hug Chen Cao.

Chen Cao stroked her hair bun and said: "I write to ask you to go to Nanjing to pray for the tomb of Taizu, as long as you go to the book, someone will help you, and I will arrange someone to wait for you in Tianjin, and I will take you to Nanjing, believe me." ”

Chen Cao had an important thing to do before leaving Beijing, and rushed to the Yamen of Shuntian Mansion with someone dressed in a brocade guard uniform, and the gatekeeper saw that it was a brocade guard, and he was so frightened that he crawled to the horse, and said: "No... No... I don't know what the adults are doing here? ”

"Can you Bifu Cheng be in the yazhong?" Xu Kai asked first.

"In... In..."The official nodded again and again, and the reputation of Jinyiwei in the capital was not fake: "The little one will go and report to the adults." ”

Bi Maokang thought he was a Qing official, and his brother was still a high-ranking official in the ministry, although he was not very good at Wei Zhongxian's wooing, but he was not afraid of Jinyiwei, Bi Maokang, who was dressed in an official uniform, walked out of the yamen, looked at Chen Cao who was riding on a horse, and frowned: "I don't know what this adult is looking for this official?" If the official commits a crime, he will have to deal with it with the three law divisions. ”

Chen Cao hurriedly dismounted, he knew that Bi Maokang had misunderstood, so he stepped forward and said with a smile: "Master Bi don't need to panic, I am Chen Cao, I have some private matters to consult Master Bi, it is about firearms, and I also ask Lord Bi to give advice." ”

Bi Maokang heard that he was looking for himself to ask about firearms, and he became interested immediately, and everyone knew that this Shuntian Mansion had some individual hobbies: "Okay, please speak in the room." ”

After sitting down in the room, Chen Cao spoke: "Lord Bi, Chen has directly entered the topic, Chen Cao has been appreciated by His Majesty and allowed the establishment of a firearms factory under the supervision of the Ministry of Industry in Nanjing, but there is a lack of a principal, I don't know if Lord Bi is interested?" ”

If you are an ordinary official, Chen Cao's words will definitely be treated as a fool, Shuntianfu Cheng is a foreign official of the fourth grade of Jingshi, a principal official rank is the eighth grade, the comparison between the two sides, a fool will be a principal, but everyone knows that the officials of Shuntianfu and Yingtianfu are the worst, all of them are powerful, no one dares to offend, don't look at the official position, but the power is small, and the officials of Shuntianfu in the past dynasties have nothing good.

Bi Maokang was born as a scholar, but he has not been happy to be an official of this Shuntianfu over the years, and Wei Zhongxian began to show his prominence in the officialdom, this arrogant person is even more unsatisfactory for his career, but this person's biggest hobby in life is to study firearms, and he has innate wisdom for weapons manufacturing, just like the founders of invention and manufacturing in the West, so Chen Cao came to try it before leaving, to see Bi Maokang's reaction, even if it doesn't work now, according to the knowledge of later generations, This guy will also be squeezed out and left to retire in Nanjing.

I saw Bi Maokang groaning for a while, and then said, "I don't know where Lord Chen's firearms factory will go in the future?" ”

Chen Cao knew what this meant, so he said: "I am the commander of the right guard in Nanjing, and I will go to Liaodong with the musket of the firearms factory in the future, as long as I don't die, this factory will not fall, and there will be a way out in the future." ”

Bi Maokang looked at Chen Cao's appearance carefully, and then arched his hand and said: "The so-called good piano can be found, but it is difficult to find bosom friends, and Maxima must have Bole to find it, Lord Chen, please take care of it in the future." ”

Chen Cao's heart beat wildly, as if he had won the lottery jackpot, he stood up immediately and bowed to Bi Maokang: "Chen has the help of Lord Bi, if he is rich and glorious in the future, Lord Bi should be the same as Chen." ”

"Lord Chen is polite, polite..."Bi Maokang said, "I will submit my resignation in a few days, please transfer to the Nanjing Ministry of Industry, and ask Lord Chen to be lenient in time." ”

"You're welcome, Lord Bi, you can inform me at any time when you come to Nanjing, and I will arrange for Jinyi Wei to pick you up at Longjiang Ferry, don't worry."

Bi Maokang arched his hand, and then said: "Lord Chen came to look for me so specially, isn't it what Mr. Xu is referring to?" ”

Chen Cao frowned and said, "I don't know which old Mr. Xu?" ”

"Mr. Xu Guangqi, the former master of the Hanlin Academy, the young man of the Zhan Mansion, is my teacher, and he is the only one who knows my way of studying firearms." Bi Maokang arched his hand.

Chen Cao was shocked, yes, how could he not think of these talented people with strange lewd skills in the late Ming Dynasty, he only thought of Bi Maokang, an expert in firearms, but forgot Xu Guangqi, by the way, there is also a Song Yingxing: "But it is not the guidance of Lord Xu, I heard what Zhang Shangshu said when I came to Beijing, by the way, Lord Bi, do you know that there is such a person as Song Yingxing?" ”

"Song Yingxing?" Bi Maokang was surprised: "What is Lord Chen looking for him?" ”

Really do you know him?

Chen Cao arched his hand: "I can't hide it, I heard that this person also has research on firearms, and I want to find him to do things with you." ”

Bi Maokang said: "But you might as well tell Master Chen that Song Yingxing is my student, he has repeatedly failed the exam, and now he has returned to Jiangxi, and I heard that he went to support his old mother." ”

Chen Cao nodded, a little scheming in his heart.

After the matter was done here, and after getting along with Bi Maokang, Chen Cao took people to leave with the documents issued by the Ministry of War and the Governor's Office of the Fifth Army of Nanjing, and when passing through Tianjin, he told Xu Kaixian to take people to wait for Li Wan'er here, and he took a small flag department to return to Nanjing from the canal by boat.

In addition to the official ships on the canal, the remaining civilian ships are under the direct jurisdiction of the Cao Gang in Shandong, and the livelihood of the people on the canal is under the management of the Cao Gang, and the Cao Yun Governor and the chief military officer of the Cao Patrol have to go through the Cao Gang for the management of the canal.

Shandong has horse thieves in all dynasties, even more so at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the governor of Shandong can't control these, and the general army doesn't do anything, so in the matter of Cao Yun, it all depends on the Cao Gang to escort the ships.

Chen Cao's boat is a two-story ship, a ship belonging to the Ministry of Industry, with the flag of the Ministry of Industry on it, the lower layer holds the things brought back to Nanjing from Beijing, and the upper layer houses people, at this moment Chen Cao and Li Xiang are looking at the scenery on both sides of the canal at the bow of the boat.

"Once I go, I don't know when I will come to the capital again, my father lives alone, hey..."Li Xiang sighed.

"The old man is not short of money," after Chen Cao and Li Xiang got married, he even changed his title: "Besides, with me, the son-in-law of Jinyiwei, no one in the capital dares to look for him, and his Taifu Temple is not a major yamen, no one will target him." ”

"Husband, do you love me?" Li Xiang suddenly made Chen Cao a little confused.

"How?" Chen Cao turned his head and looked at Li Xiang affectionately: "Why do you suddenly ask this, if I don't love you, I will marry you?" ”

"That's not what I mean," Li Xiang looked at the water with a somewhat lonely look: "I heard that you have been to Tieling Township Jun's Mansion a few times, are you interested in that Xiangjun?" Also, I don't care about the concubine room in your family, but others have the decree of the court, how can they become a concubine if they marry you? ”

I see...

Chen Cao breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and then told Li Xiang about Li Wan'er's affairs and experience: "I am responsible for Li Zongbing's death, so I can't harm Wan'er, she will be a flat wife in the future, you have to let her order." ”

Speaking of this, Chen Cao quickly changed the topic and said: "By the way, Xiang'er, do you know a person named Bai Yu in the officialdom of the capital?" ”

"Bai Yu?" Li Xiang thought for a while: "I know, he is a servant of the Criminal Department, what's the matter, you have a grudge against him?" Li Xiang saw that Chen Cao's appearance was a little serious, so he said: "I heard that his daughter was married to the son of the Duke of Baoguo, and the Holy Decree also gave his daughter the identity of the edict. ”

That's right, really.

Chen Cao smiled: "There are some things, the problem is not big, I will ask." ”

"My lord...", the little flag official Zhang Fengnian reported: "The canal ahead is blocked, and I heard that the soldiers patrolling the Yamen are arresting the horse thieves, and they are letting the people on the boat get off the boat one by one for inspection." ”

"During the Wuzong Dynasty, Liu Liu and Liu Qi rebelled, and the horse thieves who constituted the Shandong border were rampant, although the imperial court suppressed it, but there were always groups of horse thieves in the Shandong territory," Li Xiang said to Chen Cao like a Bai Xiaosheng: "Last year, not only was there a great drought in Shaanxi, but even Shandong was thousands of miles away, and these poor people naturally began to rob again." ”

"You will be my military adviser in the future." Chen Cao looked at Li Xiang and said.

"Huh?"

In addition to the officers and soldiers, there are many Cao Gang personnel in civilian clothes, all of whom carry waist knives to let the people on the boat get off the boat for inspection, and those who accept bribes, touch people's concubines' buttocks, and grab other people's breasts while they are in chaos, Chen Cao frowned and looked at these people, and then turned his head to look at his wife Li Xiang, and there was a burst of fire.

"People on board, come down and get checked." A big man led by the Cao Gang pointed at Chen Caodao.

"Presumptuous..."Zhang Fengnian pointed to the big flag on the ship and said, "Don't you see the words of the Ministry of Industry?" The ship in front of it was not allowed to go yet. ”

"Hahaha..."The big man laughed twice, and then scolded: "You turtle grandson, a ship of the Ministry of Industry is so public, even if it is the Ministry of Industry Shangshu and the squire who are on the ship today, they have to get off the ship to be inspected." Listen, if you don't get off the boat again, you will be punished for harboring horse thieves, someone will come..."

As soon as the big man shouted, the surrounding Cao Gang personnel gathered at once, and at a glance, there were twenty or thirty people, all holding waist knives, looking extremely hateful.

"Xiang'er, who is the Governor of Caoyun now?"

Li Xiang thought for a while: "Yang Yipeng..."

"What is this person's official reputation?" Chen Cao asked again.

Li Xiang said: "Very good..."

"I have my own plans, you stay on the boat, and I will personally go down to meet these people for a while." Chen Cao said that he left two guards, and he took Zhang Fengnian and the two lieutenants off the boat together.

Dahan saw that the group of people who came down were dressed in brocade clothes and ribbons, and they were also wearing official boots, they were indeed members of the official family, and in the spirit of seeing the officials, they bowed their hands to Chen Cao very impolitely: "This official, forgive me for being rude, please call all the people on the boat down, I want to check the ship." ”

"Big brother, they are Jinyiwei." A young man next to Dahan whispered in his ear.

Although Zhang Fengnian and the three of them did not wear flying fish suits, what they were holding in their hands was the marker embroidered spring knife, a knife that only Jinyiwei could hold, the big man was shocked, but when he saw that Chen Cao was a little murderous, he was a little respectful: "This adult, I don't know where this trip is going?" What is the official status? The small ones are also good to report to the general army yamen. ”

"Even if Yang Yipeng, the governor of Caoyun, comes, you have to be polite when you see my family, you people, don't mistake yourself." Zhang Fengnian said coldly.

"Who?" A general flag officer came with a team of soldiers, looked up and down, and then looked at the big man, who looked at Chen Cao with a smile on his face: "What does the general flag ask you, who are you?" Who is the surname and where is the place of origin, hurry up and report it. ”

Zhang Fengnian immediately showed the waist card of the Jinyi Guard to the chief flag officer, and when the general flag saw the waist card, he was so frightened that he hurriedly threw his hand towards Chen Cao: "It turned out to be to appease the adult, and the adult is angry, angry..."

Chen Cao spoke: "If you don't want to be the general flag, how about this official send you a command to send me a driving post for my Jinyi Guard?" ”

"Your Excellency, stop your anger...", the chief flag officer immediately knelt down on one knee.

"Can the officer's boat go?" Chen Cao asked coldly.

"Your Excellency, your own convenience," said the Flag Officer respectfully.

"Big brother, look at the little lady on the boat..."

The big man looked at it, Li Xiang was watching by the railing, and suddenly showed a lewd smile: "Beautiful... It's beautiful..."

At night, there are still passing boats in the canal, but only a few, most of them rest at the piers along the coast.

Chen Cao and Li Xiang were eating in the cabin, only to hear a muffled sound of 'dong', and the cabin felt a noticeable shaking.

"What's going on?"

Chen Cao asked, only to see Zhang Fengnian cautiously walk into the cabin, and arched his hand: "My lord, there is a water ghost on the boat." ”

"Huh?" Chen Cao was so frightened that he took two steps back.

The water ghost here refers to the bandits who eat by the canal, Chen Cao was also frightened at first, but fortunately, the knowledgeable Li Xiang explained, and when he heard that it was someone on the boat, Chen Cao stood up immediately, and was not afraid to say: "Copy guy, bring my official uniform." ”

Hearing only the footsteps of 'dong dong dong', a group of watery masked black-clothed people ran to the door of Chen Cao's cabin on the second floor, and a tall man pointed at Chen Cao with a knife and said: "If you know each other, leave the boat and the little lady to leave by yourself, if not, hehe.." Chop it up and throw it into the canal to feed the fish. ”

"Big brother, it's really Jinyiwei." A man next to the tall man whispered.

"Yes," the big man smiled, "Are we killing fewer people?" Just a brocade guard, cut it..."

The corners of Chen Cao's mouth rose with a sneer, and he gently pulled out the embroidered spring knife, blocking Li Xiang at the back, taking a step forward, and looking at the big man with a horizontal knife: "The Liaodong Tartars and the Japanese in Zhejiang are even more rampant than you and have been beheaded by this official, but this official doesn't believe that you have the courage to die." ”

After speaking, he didn't bother with the big man anymore, and took the first step towards the big man, the cabin was not very big, most of the people in black were standing outside the cabin, and there were only five or six people inside, and Chen Cao moved like this, the big man was even a little panicked, if it wasn't for the little brother under his command who blocked Chen Cao's fatal blow with a knife, maybe the big man would have gone to see the king of Hades.

"Dog things toast and don't eat and eat and drink." The big man was exposed, wielding a knife and slashing at Chen Cao, and then the people behind him joined the battle group, and the small flag department behind Zhang Fengnian also joined the battle group, and the two sides started an armed brawl.

Different from previous brawls, this brawl instantly changed as some people fell to the ground and died, Chen Cao cut down five people one after another, and the embroidered spring knife in his hand was also curled, the two sides temporarily retreated, and there were more than a dozen corpses in the cabin, and only Zhang Fengnian and another lieutenant were left in the small flag department on his side, plus three of them, and there were at least ten more people on the side of the man in black.

"My lord, you take your wife to withdraw first, and you will be cut off from your humble position." Zhang Fengnian held a knife in front of Chen Cao.

Chen Cao patted Zhang Fengnian on the shoulder, saw his bleeding back, threw away the bladed knife in his hand, walked to the cabin and picked up a long knife of a man in black, and sneered: "Hey, is it a standard long knife in the army, do you Cao Gang want to rebel?" ”

The man in black was also injured, and he was shocked when he heard this, and then said viciously: "No one is allowed to let go." ”

Chen Cao had a knife in his hand, and took the lead in killing the big man in black, the big man ate Chen Cao's loss, and hurriedly dodged backwards, and several black-clothed people behind him killed with knives...

"Retreat, sir... It is important to protect Mrs...."Zhang Fengnian's face was covered in blood, and the only lieutenant under his command had been cut down, but if you looked closely, there were less than ten people left at most.

There are only two of them on their side, Chen Cao has killed at least a dozen people, and he has already lost some strength, and the injured Yanling's long knife has also been curled: "The Ming official army... No retreat..."

The big man pointed at the long knife, looked at Chen Cao viciously and said: "This official skin is good, it's good to take it back and sew a cushion, kill him..."

"Ahh

Chen Cao let out a roar of rage, and was about to exert his strength, when suddenly a long arrow broke through the window and shot into the body of the man in black who was already approaching.