Cabinet duty.

The performance in the northwest came like snowflakes, especially in early April, after Zhu Hui divided his troops and horses out of the pass in five ways, the trilateral commander-in-chief Qin Hong provided enough support for Zhu Hui's troops, but obviously the soldiers and horses of the Ming Dynasty were in the unfamiliar Hetao field, and it was difficult to play a little level.

Or rather...... A nobleman like Zhu Hui, who has primitive thinking and no foresight, can hardly achieve any achievements on the battlefield.

Xie Qian picked out a few copies of the music from Yansui alone, and after reading it, he put it on the desk in front of Liu Jian, and said: "Send troops from Bitouguan to Yulinwei, more than a dozen major earthen forts, the written report is more than 46,000 soldiers, divided into five roads, the least along the way is only 2,000 soldiers, Baoguo Gong is 20,000 fine cavalry all the way, it is estimated that it will take more than 20 days to walk around the land of Donghetao, and there are no results yet." ”

Li Dongyang raised his head and asked, "Isn't there already a performance that disturbs the people?" ”

"Huh." Xie Qian smiled, "Thieves come like combs, soldiers come like grates, and officials come like shavings." This kind of thing is not uncommon every year, but fortunately, there are more thieves and fewer people in the Hetao, and in the past few years, they have said that they want to immigrate to the Hetao, but Qin Shiying only pays attention to making cars, and this time he is in the northwest and connects with the fort, which seems to be much more negligent than usual. ”

Recently, Xie Qian has come forward to contact people in the military and political system, as if he has also seen through the military and political system of the Ming Dynasty.

The last time Qin Hong was in the northwest, he could be described as high-spirited, and he was still very careful about the defense of the Hetao, but after this time, Qin Hong only focused on the area in front of him, saying that he wanted to calm the people and govern the army in the Hetao, but it was more about dry thunder and no rain.

Liu Jian asked, "There is no movement of the march in Datong?" ”

Xie Qian shook his head and said: "Wang Bo'an since he took over the Xuanda military affairs system, it seems that he has died down, recently he has been very careful about the raising of military food and materials, and has rashly put forward a lot of 'non-sub-requirements' with the imperial court in the name of not meeting his qualifications, but it is also a little good, the Ming Dynasty sent troops from the land of Hetao, he was stuck in Datong this way, Tatar wants to transfer troops from the eastern front to the south, I am afraid to think about whether it will be cut off by him." ”

Li Dongyang said: "As the general system of Xuanfu Datong Military Affairs, no matter what kind of request is made, it is not too much. ”

At this time, Li Dongyang is willing to speak for Wang Shouren.

Although Wang Shouren seems to have been brought up by Zhang Zhou, traditional Wenchen is willing to treat him as an object that can be wooed, especially those like Li Dongyang, who once admired Wang Shouren very much, and they don't want to give up this talent.

"Binzhi, you're right, if I change this son, I will be like Bo'an, make more requests, whether the three sides are important or Xuanda is important, it's hard to say, but if you change others, you don't think so." Xie Qian sighed.

His so-called "non-specific requirements" means that you, Wang Shouren, are obviously not in a good position, and you still make so many demands, which makes it seem that you are very greedy, completely ignoring the overstretched finances of the imperial court in all aspects.

Liu Jian asked: "Now others have any criticism about the military supply in Datong?" ”

"Hmm." Xie Qian nodded, "There are still a lot of criticisms, and some people say that Zhang Bingkuan instructed Wang Bo'an to do this, Datong has been moving a lot recently, as if the important defense of the northwest will be moved to Datong in the future, but now there is no sign of Tatar activities from Maoerzhuang to Weininghai outside Datong. ”

Li Dongyang said with a smile: "Yu Qiao, don't you also say it, Datong has a special terrain, even if it is outside the Hetao, but it can block the east mouth of the Hetao, as long as Wang Bo'an sits in Datong, the Tatars will not dare to invade the Hetao at will, so in this way, Datong is equivalent to a piece of fertile soil outside the Guansai." ”

Liu Jian asked again: "Zhang Bingkuan has not moved recently?" ”

"Cut." Xie Qian said with a bit of disdain in his tone, "I don't know what this kid has been busy with recently, he often goes in and out of the Beijing Division, and he basically doesn't see anyone in the court, and the military department of the Ming Dynasty is still the book, but even the affairs of the ministry have to be handed over to the people below, and even the people in the military department can't stand it, but there are some opinions...... It's dare to think and dare not say. ”

Zhang Zhou "does not do his job", but on the other hand, no one dares to casually impeach Zhang Zhou for not doing his job, which is what Xie Qian is angry about.

Li Dongyang commented: "That's because most of what Zhang Bingkuan has done cannot be replaced by others, and His Majesty believes in him so much, even the most straightforward officials have to retreat, no wonder others." It's also that we didn't suppress his momentum before. ”

In the past, a bunch of old scholars in the cabinet participated in the impeachment of Zhang Zhou, but they didn't do anything about Zhang Zhou's impeachment, and now Zhang Zhou has relied on military merits to occupy a high position, and he is still afraid that the minister will participate in the impeachment?

Xie Qian said: "Then what is he doing?" And how can there be no substitute? ”

Li Dongyang and Liu Jian didn't answer, but looked at Xie Qian with Qi brushing eyes.

It's as if to say, you ask us, who do we ask? Isn't this something you've been talking to?

He has done so many things, not to mention that we can't understand it, let's just say that there is anyone else in this court who can understand? What kind of artillery, guns, who knows how he came up with them? Who knows how the so-called reform of the tactics of war was accomplished in a few years?

It's not clear.

……

……

The situation in the northwest is becoming more and more tense, but Zhang Zhou has actually been very relaxed recently, most of the time he is in the capital, and he does not have to walk between the yamen, and he rarely goes to the palace.

But this does not mean that he has less communication with the emperor.

Most of the recent communication has been done by Li Rong and other eunuchs, that is...... The emperor didn't need to see Zhang Zhou all the time, occasionally the monarch and the ministers met each other, and they were very polite to eat together and talk about family life, but there was less time to talk about official affairs when they met.

Although the Shangting Office is also carrying out military affairs, most of the time it is Wang Qiong to foreman, Wang Qiong seems to have become the chief minister of the Shangting Office, in the northwest military affairs, Wang Qiong's participation is much higher than Zhang Zhou, but also because the northwest military affairs do not involve the marching strategy, more importantly, it is more convenient for the logistics supply to complete, but it is more convenient for Wang Qiong, the household servant, to operate and take over.

Outside the Yansui Pass.

Zhu Hui personally led 20,000 elite cavalry, with more than half of the firearms in the army, and the marching speed was only 60 miles a day, and after five days of marching, he finally walked out of more than 200 miles, but what made Zhu Hui feel was the yellow sand in the sky, and the gray weather with no end in sight.

"Is this the case all year round?"

Zhu Hui has never held any military meetings in the past few days, or he doesn't think it matters, even his 20,000 soldiers and horses are divided into three armies, the front, the middle and the rear, and the distance between the front and back is only a dozen miles.

When he asked a question, there was only one "general" who accompanied the army next to him, that is, Cui Yuan, the eldest princess of Yongkang, who had won the trust of the emperor and received a lot of commendations, but because he had no actual experience in leading troops, he could only accompany Zhu Hui, the commander.

Cui Yuan looked at the map in front of him and said, "To the south, it's all sandy land of Mu Usu, and the southwest wind is blowing these days, so the sand and dust may be relatively large." When I left, I went to visit Qin Lao, and he told me, let's try to pick a place with a river, and if there is more sand, we should march more during the day as much as possible, because the wind and sand are stronger at night, and it is difficult to distinguish the direction. ”

Zhu Hui, as the commander sent by the imperial court to lead the troops, did not directly communicate with Qin Hong.

In other words, he doesn't want to be constrained by civil officials, he also wants to learn from Wang Shouren, who can directly solve the problem with the military and the soldiers, and the civilian official who accompanied the army is Zhang Jin, who is the right governor of Yushi, the temporary governor of Baoding, and the gate pass, although he is an old minister, but his reputation in the court is not obvious, and Zhu Hui does not take Zhang Jin seriously.

"He said that?" Zhu Hui frowned.

Cui Yuan said: "Qin Lao Zhitai has given a lot of assistance to this dispatch of troops, in fact, it is ......"

Cui Yuan originally wanted to show off Qin Hong, but seeing that Zhu Hui's face was wrong, he didn't talk about it.

As he was talking, there was a former army general, General Liu Ning asked for orders to enter the big tent of the Chinese army, and complained to Zhu Hui: "Military commander, the terrain of this place is too bad for dozens of miles, the wind and sand are strong at night, and the water boiled by the soldiers after burying the stove is full of dust. ”

Zhu Hui said angrily: "Won't you cover the pot?" ”

Liu Ning said: "If there is no cover, there will be more dust." ”

"Then I'll eat it when I'm done." Zhu Hui looked annoyed.

Cui Yuan reminded: "Now there should be no more food in the armies, right?" ”

Liu Ning said: "All the armies are complaining, and some say that if we go further north, it will still be like this, so we will avoid places with sand, and some people in this Hetao should not come, and there are people in the army who are dissatisfied with the speed of marching, or they can send a road of men and horses to camp and bury stoves in front of them." ”

Zhu Hui said coldly: "Obey the order, the commander has not yet given the order, and a group of generals still want to rebel against the sky?" Be calm on the march! ”

"Yes." While Liu Ning clenched his fists to receive the order, he asked, "That military commander, how to march tomorrow?" ”

Zhu Hui looked at Cui Yuan, and Cui Yuan hurriedly avoided his gaze.

Zhu Hui said: "Since Mao Usu has already passed, the rest of the road is easy to walk, I saw a few abandoned earthen forts on the way, walked along the river to the north, and settled down at the Xiaoqing River. ”

"Yes......"

Liu Ning didn't hear clearly for a while.

I feel that Zhu Hui has said everything, but it seems that he didn't say anything, and the marching plan for the coming day is ...... Just continuing north?

Isn't there any coping strategy for this yellow sand?

After Liu Ning left with doubts.

Cui Yuancai reminded: "After the beginning of spring, if the wind and sand are too big, you should step up the march. ”

"Maoren."

Zhu Hui tied Cui Yuan to his side, not only did he not want Cui Yuan to make meritorious contributions, but also wanted Cui Yuan to help him make meritorious contributions, and he also had the necessary respect for Cui Yuan, after all, this is a figure that the emperor admires.

"You haven't led soldiers, you don't understand a lot of things, listen to me, let's make no mistakes along the way, don't rush in. No matter how big the wind and sand are, can you drown people? We are not walking in the sand, we are just covering the sky and the sun...... I didn't close the night and found out the situation in front of me clearly, no problem. It's good to be at home, but it's hard to go out for a while...... If Wang Bo'an is replaced to lead the troops, it will not be much better than us! ”

(End of chapter)