From a distance, the walls of Shanhaiguan are tall and sturdy, like a natural barrier, separating the northern grasslands from the Central Plains.

The towers and lookouts on the city walls stand majestically, showing the majesty of the pass. The rolling hills in the distance and the mist-shrouded mountains complement the flat river valleys nearby, revealing a natural beauty.

The terrain here is dangerous, and the city walls extend directly to the sea, which is worthy of the name of the mountains and seas.

At the same time, this is also the last barrier of Liaodong to resist foreign races, once this place is broken through by foreign people, then the entire Central Plains will open the door.

Ma Shilong, deputy chief soldier of Xuanfu, said: "This place is heavily guarded, and it is an impassable Xiongguan, why is Sun Ge still sullen?" ”

At this time, Sun Chengzong's deep-locked brows relaxed slightly, and he said, "Deputy General Ma, do you think this place is different from the other towns on the nine sides?" ”

Ma Shilong said: "It's not any different, it's just that it's cold winter now, and there are not many pedestrians on the roads in other border towns, but along the way, I found that many people are dragging their families and heading towards the outside of the pass." ”

Now there is a severe drought in the north, and there is hardly much harvest in the military fields on the border of the towns and towns.

Especially in Shaanxi, the two towns of Yulin and Guyuan are almost no harvest, and Liaodong has also suffered from a major drought, but this bitter cold place can continue to attract people to come.

When Li Xianzhong went to Shandong to quell the rebellion last year, he also moved all the more than 200,000 rebels to Liaodong in one fell swoop.

Originally, the cabinet had been worried that Li Jiawei in Liaodong would not be big, if it was only militarily strong, the imperial court could also control the salary and silver, and the military needs could control Li Xianzhong, the Liaodong strategy.

But now the population of Liaodong is increasing, which shows that Li Xianzhong not only lacks food, but also has enough food to attract these displaced people to Liaodong.

This is by no means good news.

Ma Shilong, a military general, naturally couldn't understand Sun Chengzong's worries, and at this time he could only say: "It seems that the Duke of Liao has a good way of governing Liao!" ”

Soon, Li Huaizhong, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan, personally welcomed Sun Chengzong and his party into the city.

Li Huaizhong said: "Shanhaiguan starts from the old dragon head in the south and ends at the nine gates in the north, with a total length of nearly 60 miles, and there are 9 castles, 10 passes, 43 enemy platforms, 51 wall platforms, 26 beacon towers, and 12 pier platforms along the line. ”

"At present, there are a total of 3,000 fine horsemen and 9,000 foot divisions on the whole road of Shanhaiguan, with a total of 12,000 people."

Sun Chengzong said: "I remember that in the forty-eighth year of Wanli, there were 25,000 people on the whole road in Shanhaiguan, and now it is less than half of the original number, these troops are still enough?" ”

Li Huaizhong said: "In fact, there are only 5,000 foot soldiers responsible for guarding Shanhaiguan on weekdays, and 3,000 cavalry are ready to rush to help as a mobile force. In addition, from here all the way to the north of the front office, the front guard, the middle rear station, and the middle right station each garrisoned 500 troops, and Ning Yuanwei garrisoned 2,000 troops. ”

Only then did Sun Chengzong remember that last year, Li Xianzhong revoked Ningyuan Road and divided it into two, with the south of Ning Yuanwei assigned to Shanhaiguan and the north to Guangning.

In fact, the defense area of Shanhaiguan has increased a lot compared with the original.

Li Huaizhong continued: "Now that Jianyu has been fairly determined by the Liao State, Lin Dan Khan of Southern Mongolia is busy competing with the newly rising Taier Khan Zasai for the hegemony of Southern Mongolia, and the two sides have been fighting for several years, and they are simply unable to invade our Ming Dynasty. Now there are enough soldiers and horses to guard here, and the last general can still have 3,000 mobile troops in his hands.

Sun Chengzong nodded with satisfaction.

Only the soldiers and horses of Liaodong Town under Li Xianzhong's rule are real numbers.

At present, the border army generally has only 70 percent of the number of soldiers and horses, and they must feel that the strength is not enough by their standards.

In fact, the monthly salary of one or two halves is still a bit low, and the cabinet has also discussed removing the empty salaries of each town and increasing the monthly salaries of soldiers.

However, in this case, there is a high probability that the expenditure will increase, and the empty salary will continue, and in the end it can only be stopped.

With the current financial situation of the Ming Dynasty, it is inevitable to take the route of elite soldiers, but how easy is it to find out the empty salaries of various towns?

Sometimes he admires Li Xianzhong's methods, it is said that as soon as he took office in Kaiyuan, he strictly checked the empty salary, and took this opportunity to replace all the people who were not of the same heart as him.

The water in Jingying is too deep, and it is already a big risk to let them take the initiative to remove the 30,000 places for empty salaries this time.

Sun Chengzong pointed to the mandarin duck jackets of the Shanhaiguan soldiers and said: "I inspected the towns on the nine sides, and most of the soldiers' jackets have been dilapidated, why do the jackets of the Shanhaiguan soldiers look so brand-new?" ”

When he asked, Li Huaizhong was really stumped, now all the soldiers under the command of Liaodong Town are actually equipped with heavy cloth cotton armor, and these mandarin duck battle jackets are almost not worn at ordinary times, can they not be new?

In order to avoid arousing the jealousy of the imperial court, Li Huaizhong asked some soldiers to change into these mandarin duck battle jackets.

He said: "At the beginning of his tenure, the Duke of Liao ordered the soldiers of Liaodong to strictly implement the regulations of issuing a set of war jackets for three years. The soldiers of Shanhaiguan have just changed into new clothes before the winter, so they naturally cherish it very much! ”

This is another exclusive privilege of Liaodong, and all the towns on the nine sides are officials of the Arsenal Division who are begging for some equipment and materials.

Only Liaodong Town is the opposite, and the Arsenal Division does not dare to deduct Liaodong's military funds at all.

Unless Lang Zhong of the Arsenal Division doesn't want to do it, who would dare to provoke Li Xianzhong, the killing god?

At the beginning, Muku Shirou was directly raided because he offended Li Xianzhong.

In addition, Xiong Tingbi of the Ministry of War is Li Xianzhong's person, and no one dares to make a fuss about Liaodong's military resources.

Sun Chengzong had no choice but to say: "The Liao State is strict in governing the army, and it is really a model for all towns. ”

After leaving Shanhaiguan, they stepped on the official road.

War horses are not affected by the weather or terrain on this concrete road. It can be said that the passage is unimpeded, and the speed of the march has also been greatly improved.

After galloping for a day and night, they actually arrived at Ningyuan, 200 miles away. If it's a one-man, two-horse, or three-horse, it may advance faster.

Of course, Sun Chengzong and others were able to achieve this speed of advancement, thanks to their ability to change horses in time at the post stations along the way.

Sun Chengzong passed through Guangning, Liaoyang, Shenyang, and Tieling along the way, and finally arrived at Kaiyuan City.

Although the Liaodong Governor's Mansion and the Jiliao Governor's residence are in Liaoyang, Li Xianzhong still likes to stay in Kaiyuan.

So at present, the residence of Liaodong Jinglu is in Kaiyuan, and of course his Liaoguo Mansion is also in Kaiyuan.

At this time, Sun Chengzong had already arrived in Kaiyuan City, accompanied by Yan Mingtai, the governor of Jiliao, and Zhang Wenbing, the governor of Liaodong.

Originally, the Kaiyuan City in the thirteenth mile of Zhou could not meet the needs of Kaiyuan, and due to the gathering of a large number of merchants, the land in Kaiyuan City was tight, so Kaiyuan built a new outer city.

The outer city of Kaiyuan is three zhang (about 10 meters) high, slightly lower than the inner city of 3 zhang 5, but the circumference reaches an astonishing 32 li.

Even if you look at the Ming Dynasty, this can be regarded as a big city, even more than Liaoyang, the capital of Liaodong (24 li).

Looking at this large-scale city, Sun Chengzong said: "I didn't expect the scale of this Kaiyuan to be so grand? ”

Zhang Wenbing, the governor of Liaodong, was originally the governor of Kaiyuan, and the city wall of Kaiyuan was naturally his masterpiece.

Zhang Wenbing said: "Sun Ge forgot that Kaiyuan had been upgraded from a road city to a town town last year. Nowadays, there are three towns in the entire eastern Liaodong region, namely Guangning in western Liaoning, Liaoyang in eastern Liaodong and Kaiyuan in northern Liaoning. ”

At this time, Li Xianzhong had already personally greeted Sun Chengzong outside Kaiyuan City.

He said: "Sun Ge Lao has been really hard to inspect the nine sides of the Ming Dynasty all the way, Liaodong is a bitter cold place, and the wind is strong outside the city, please talk about it in the city." ”

After entering the city, Sun Chengzong was even more amazed by the prosperity of Kaiyuan, not only there are many shops in the city, but also all kinds of goods from all over the world, and even the Qinglou and the wine shop are very lively.

At this moment, he didn't feel that he was leaving his side around him, as if he had come to Jiangnan.

Sun Chengzong said: "I'm afraid there are 200,000 people on such a scale in Kaiyuan, right? ”

Zhang Wenbing said: "There are about 150,000 residents and merchants in Kaiyuan City, but there is no problem to accommodate 200,000 people on the scale of Kaiyuan City. ”

Sun Chengzong asked again: "I saw a large number of displaced people pouring into Liaodong along the way, I don't know how many people are in Liaodong now?" ”

Zhang Wenbing said: "Now Liaodong has just set up Pingyu County, and the Kuandian area has been reincorporated into the rule of the Ming Dynasty, so there is a lot of land to be developed, and the population of the entire Liaodong is currently more than 2.7 million, not counting the Jurchen Sanwei!" ”

This figure still surprised Sun Chengzong, because it had exceeded the 2.5 million people in the prosperous period of Liaodong in the early years of Wanli.

He said: "It seems that the development momentum of Liaodong is good, and Governor Zhang is well governed, so he should be able to increase a lot of taxes now, right?" ”

Yan Mingtai and Li Xianzhong on the side kept hinting to Zhang Wenbing with their eyes to say a few words.

As a result, this product seems to be addicted to performance, and under the guidance of Sun Chengzong, he constantly reveals the reality of Liaodong.

How many of Liaodong's achievements were made by him, the governor of Liaodong, didn't he count them himself?

So Yan Mingtai said directly: "The population of Liaodong has increased somewhat, but these newly laid places belong to land reclamation, so they are tax-free in the first year, and they are all halved later." Therefore, we can't see much effect yet, but I believe that in a few years, the tax will increase significantly. ”

Li Xianzhong also said: "Now Liaodong provides copper ore for the imperial court, plus the income of the horse market in Kaiyuan and Guangning, as well as the commercial taxes and field taxes in various places, can now pay more than one million taels of silver to the imperial court a year!" ”

Sun Chengzong said with satisfaction: "Liaodong does have unlimited potential, I believe that it will not take a few years to independently bear the salary of Liaozhen, right?" ”

This Sun Chengzong is really not good!

Li Xianzhong said: "This is natural, the current expenditure of the imperial court in Liaodong is decreasing year by year, but the income is increasing every year, this is a matter of time or time!" ”

"At present, Liaodong is still rich in land, and it can accept some displaced people in the Guan, which can be regarded as solving a big difficulty for the imperial court!"

Sun Chengzong said: "Those remnants of the White Lotus Sect in Shandong last year were quite stable, right? ”

Li Xianzhong said: "They are now in Pingyu County, have their own land, and live a peaceful life. Naturally, he won't think about rebellion anymore, Pinglu County ordered Lu Xiangsheng to do a good job, and Ben Justice wants to reward him! ”

Sun Chengzong said: "This pavilion also wants to go to Pingyu County to take a look, what is the scene of the capital of the Tartars in the past, now under the governance of my Ming Dynasty?" ”

Soon Sun Chengzong discovered that there were not many defenders in Kaiyuan City.

Under normal circumstances, a large city like Kaiyuan, which is located in the border fortress, needs at least 10,000 or 20,000 people to be garrisoned, and it is normal to garrison even 30,000 or 50,000 people when the situation is critical.

He asked: "I saw that the Duke of Liao sent a report to the imperial court, and there were only 12,000 people stationed on the entire Kaiyuan Road. ”

Li Xianzhong said: "The South Pass of the three passes of Kaiyuan is no longer a border pass, so the North Pass and the West Pass are each stationed with 2,000 people, and the South Pass is only stationed with 1,000 people. ”

"Kaiyuan City actually only has 3,000 defenders, but outside the city is the camp of the 'Liaodong Iron Cavalry', so Kaiyuan City is absolutely safe."

Sun Chengzong had now also walked through most of Liaodong's territory, and he found that in fact, Li Xianzhong did not have many defenders left in various places.

Even if it is his own base camp, Kaiyuan City, there is only one defender.

It seems that this disarmament has really embarrassed him.

Soon they came to the Songhe Tower in Kaiyuan City, where Li Xianzhong held a banquet to pick up the wind and wash the dust for Sun Chengzong and others.

Although Li Xianzhong did not open the heavens and the earth here.

However, this Songhe Tower is also a base under the Intelligence Department.

The cupboards here are also trained from heaven and earth.

Therefore, there is a wide variety of cuisines.

There are not only famous dishes such as called flower chicken, Longjing shrimp, Yangzhou lion head, pine nut sea bass and other famous dishes in the south of the Yangtze River, but also boiling water cabbage, Buddha jumping over the wall, Babao chicken and Liaodong's chicken stewed mushrooms, smoked camphor meat, fried deer tendon, roasted whole sheep and so on.

The dazzling variety of dishes really opened the eyes of Ma Shilong and others, who had been running with Sun Chengzong for several months.

Even the well-informed Sun Chengzong is also happy to eat!

After eating and drinking, it is natural to talk about business.

Soon everyone retreated, leaving only Sun Chengzong and Li Xianzhong drinking.

Sun Chengzong said: "This time the pavilion came to Liaodong not to reduce the soldiers and horses in Liaodong. ”

"The soldiers under the command of the Duke of Liao are all full, and 90,000 horses and horses have to be stationed from Shanhaiguan to the distant Nuergandusi, which is already stretched."

Sun Chengzong's words surprised Li Xianzhong, didn't this old man spend several months running all over the entire Nine Sides for himself?

Anyway, Li Xianzhong didn't believe it.

He said: "Elder Sun Ge is very relieved to be able to understand the difficulties of Liaodong! In fact, Liaodong's troops are no longer enough, but since His Majesty intends to reduce the strength of the Nine Sides, this Duke naturally wants to take the lead in setting an example for the Nine Sides! ”

Sun Chengzong said: "In fact, what Your Majesty wants to reduce is the number of empty salaries in each town, not the actual reduction of soldiers and horses under the command of the Duke of Liao. ”

Now that the finances of the Ming court are unbearable, Zhu Youxiao wants to cut the empty salary Thaksin.

But if they didn't target themselves, they burned paper on their graves - fools!

When he proposed to cut 5,000 people, he didn't see Zhu Youxiao stop him, and now he is running to say something cool.

Although he couldn't figure out what kind of medicine Sun Chengzong was selling in his gourd for a while. However, he still said with a smile: "Elder Sun Ge let the Beijing camp cut 30,000 people this time, but it saved a lot of money for the imperial court, and it is really hard work!" ”

Sun Chengzong smiled bitterly: "Others don't know the situation in Jingying, isn't the Duke of Liao still unclear?" ”

"The three major battalions of the Beijing Division are staffing 170,000 people, and the actual strength is probably only 60,000, and cutting 30,000 is only a fraction of the minus!"

Li Xianzhong is naturally clear about the situation in Beijing.

However, he still pretended to be surprised and said: "My father has also heard about the shortage of soldiers in the Beijing camp, but he didn't expect it to be so serious? ”

Sun Chengzong continued: "The Beijing camp is related to the safety of the Jingshi, and it cannot be appointed by non-honorable ministers. In this whole world, I am afraid that the only person who can solve problems for His Majesty is the Duke of Liao? ”

Damn, it turns out that I'm waiting for Lao Tzu here!

Taking over Jingying, what are you kidding?

Let's not say that I will take over the Beijing camp and return to the cage of the Beijing Division.

Nearly 2 million taels of silver are paid in Beijing every year, and almost half of the imperial court eats it.

Who among the senior officials of the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Officials, and the Ministry of Households did not participate in it?

There are also the generals of the entire Beijing camp, and the relevant eunuchs. Even Wei Zhongxian and the cabinet ministers did not take any benefits from the British Gongtong Chengguo, right?

Li Xianzhong even suspected that Wanli had taken benefits from them at the beginning.

Otherwise, with Wanli's character of plucking the feathers of geese, he would never tolerate them eating so much empty salary.

But now that Zhu Youxiao is pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger, ordinary people really can't see through his mind.

It is estimated that his two elder brothers, Cheng Guogong and British Gong, regard him as a "carpenter emperor" who ignores the government, and it is reasonable not to respect him.

Cutting off one's wealth is like killing one's parents.

If he rectified the Beijing camp and almost went against the entire imperial court, it would be a catastrophe.

really provoked these people, they may not dare to kill Zhu Youxiao, but killing themselves is certain.

Even if he is strong in martial arts, there are times when he can't prevent it.

What's more, he still has a wife and children, and now Hazia and Hailanzhu are pregnant, and his third and fourth children are about to be born.

asked himself to offend so many people, Li Xianzhong definitely can't do this!

He said: "Sun Ge Lao Gao has seen that the water in Jingying is too deep. You are the emperor, and you carry the sword of Shang Fang. They only sold His Majesty's face and cut 30,000 people. ”

"If it is replaced by Li, I'm afraid it would be nice to lose 10,000 people!"

At this time, Sun Chengzong's face was a little unsightly, and he said: "Liao Guogong, this is not what Sun meant, but His Majesty's meaning!" Are you really not willing to solve your Majesty's problems? ”

Li Xianzhong said: "It's not that Xianzhong is unwilling, but this matter is beyond the scope of Xianzhong's ability." ”

"If Your Majesty forcibly asks Xianzhong to rectify the Beijing camp, I am afraid it will only backfire and cause turmoil in the court and even the world! Please think again, Your Majesty! ”

"My Li family is favored by the emperor, and I can't watch Daming fall into chaos because of this!"

Sun Chengzong sighed and said, "Your Majesty has high hopes for the Duke of Liao, so you can't turn the tide like Yu Shaobao did at the beginning?" ”

Li Xianzhong said: "Presumably Sun Ge Lao is also very clear about Yu Shaobao's final ending, not to mention that Xianzhong's talent is far inferior to Yu Shaobao, I am afraid that even if he loses this life, he will still delay His Majesty's major event in the end." ”

"My Li family can take care of Liaodong for Daming like the Mu family of the Duke of Qianguo, and I will be satisfied."

"Xianzhong is just a military general, if someone rebels against the Ming Dynasty, Xianzhong will be set to put down the rebellion for His Majesty. Or Your Majesty needs to be loyal to open up the territory for the Ming Dynasty, and you will be loyal to it. ”

"The matter of Jingying is really loveless!"

Li Xianzhong's reaction was actually expected by Sun Chengzong, he originally belonged to picking grass and beating rabbits.

According to the result of his discussion with Zhu Youxiao, it was best to test Li Xianzhong's reaction, if he was willing to take over this hot potato.

If he really didn't want to, Zhu Youxiao wouldn't dare to force him.

Even if Zhu Youxiao is naïve, he will not think that Li Xianzhong, the Duke of Liaoguo, who holds 100,000 elites in Liaodong, will obediently obey because of his holy decree.

So he is ready to pit this Liao Guogong again.

Sun Chengzong was very embarrassed and said: "If the empty salary in Beijing is not solved, now the imperial court is really unable to pay the full salary." ”

"Presumably, the Duke of Liao also knows that the towns on the nine sides have long been in arrears except for Liaodong. If the Duke of Liao is really unwilling to rectify the Beijing camp, then this year's salary in Liaodong can only be half of the first. ”

"But please rest assured, as long as Daming's finances improve, His Majesty will definitely give priority to reissuance."

Li Xianzhong scolded angrily in his heart: Damn, Zhu Youxiao, this little yin B, turned out to be waiting for Lao Tzu here!

Thank you for your monthly passes, recommended tickets, and follow-up support!

Thanks to the book friends "Seven Killers", "Angmar Dirty King", "Mo Shangqian", "Mechanical Transmission", "The Only Demon", and "Touch Ice Blue" for their monthly pass support.

(End of chapter)