Yang Yiqing's face was full of solemnity, as if he didn't hear Qiu Ju's words beside him.
Qiu Ju just came to Jishui Pass yesterday. As a close servant of the emperor, he suddenly came here, obviously with the emperor's will.
However, the emperor's will was clearly for Li Huan, but Li Huan was still on the grassland, and even the angel Qiu Ju could not see Li Huan.
Especially when Qiu Ju learned from Yang Yiqing that the Li Huans were actually blocking the Tatars on the grassland, Qiu Ju almost exploded.
Qiu Ju's reaction even surprised Yang Yiqing. After all, in Yang Yiqing's view, Qiu Ju was a close servant of the emperor, and would normally maintain a certain relationship with foreign ministers like Li Huan.
Even if the two have a close personal relationship, they will not show it to outsiders.
But Qiu Ju's reaction was without any scruples, which surprised Yang Yiqing.
Even though a day had passed, Yang Yiqing had not forgotten how Qiu Ju almost pointed at him and cursed.
Fortunately, Qiu Ju still had some scruples about his identity as the governor of the three sides and did not react too drastically. However, Yang Yiqing remembered that Qiu Ju told him at that time that if anything happened to Li Huan, he, the third governor, would
Governor Bian should be buried with Li Huan.
Now listening to Qiu Ju's words, Yang Yiqing's eyes were still looking at the grassland beyond the wall, and his heart was also full of worry.
Not long ago, Li Wu came back with more than a thousand men. From Li Wu and others, Yang Yiqing learned that Li Huan had gone to attack the Heihe tribe's station. At the same time, the people of the Heihe tribe also gave up their march south.
Lift up and return to the Heihe tribe.
This made Yang Yiqing feel a little relieved, but at the same time, he also felt a little worried about Li Huan and others.
The power of the Heihe tribe is worse than that of the Huli tribe. They even destroyed the Huli tribe. It is said that only those who are not afraid of the Heihe tribe can do this.
But Yang Yiqing knew one thing clearly, that is, they relied on a surprise attack to catch Hulibu off guard, and thus easily destroyed Hulibu without paying any price.
However, the Heihe tribe was different. If Li Huan and others were betted by the Heihe tribe, a fierce battle would be inevitable.
Even though Li Huan's strength is amazing, no one can guarantee whether Li Huan will encounter any accidents during the chaos. If there is no accident, it will be fine. If there is an accident, an imperial envoy will die on the grassland outside the pass.
, just looking at Qiu Ju's reaction, Yang Yiqing could imagine that when the emperor was angry, he, the governor of the three sides, would definitely bear the emperor's thunderous wrath.
Suddenly, Li Wu, who was standing next to Yang Yiqing, had a look of surprise on his face and shouted: "Sir, look, there is someone. It seems that someone is back on the grassland."
In fact, Li Wu didn't need to speak. Everyone standing at the pass could clearly feel the shaking of the earth and the dark shadows in the distance that were getting closer and closer.
As the distance got closer and closer, the movement became louder and louder, but Yang Yiqing and others showed a somewhat solemn look on their faces.
Li Wu said solemnly: "This... this movement is too big, even if it is tens of thousands of people, it is nothing more than this."
As he said this, he didn't know what he was thinking of. Li Wu said with a bit of panic: "Sir, it's not the Tatars who are coming."
Such a big movement, especially the overwhelming blackness in the distance, could only occur if the Tatars marched south to the border in large numbers.
Standing there, Yang Yiqing's face was full of solemnity. Even Qiu Ju couldn't help but take a few steps forward, looked at the black shadow in the distance and said in horror: "If these are adults, where are you, Mr. Li?"
"
At this time, a group of fast horses rushed over. The leader was a small flag officer of the Jin Yiwei, followed by several Jin Yiwei, and went straight to the pass.
Above the city gate, there was no fear on the faces of the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, only calmness, but their hands clenched the weapons in their hands.
They had not experienced it once or twice when the Tatars went south to Kou Pass. Although there may have been more Tatars coming this time, they were just desperate.
When the group of people appeared under the city, the arrows had originally targeted these people. Suddenly, a bright light flashed in Yang Yiqing's eyes. He looked at the city and shouted: "Who is coming?"
The Jinyiwei flag officer who had just stabilized his body heard Yang Yiqing's voice, raised his head and looked above the city gate, and immediately shouted: "Jinyiwei flag officer Lu Qi, on your orders, come here first.
Bing, sir, please quickly send someone to pick us up and escort us into the city."
Everyone heard clearly, and they were all stunned subconsciously, but soon Li Wu and many other generals who had previously left the border with Li Huan all reacted.
Looking at the black shadows getting closer and closer in the distance, it was now vaguely possible to see that those black shadows were not Tatars as they had previously thought, but instead groups of cattle, sheep, good horses, etc.
At a glance, there are countless cattle, sheep, and war horses, probably no less than tens of thousands. Driven by herdsmen and sheepherders, they are rushing towards Jishui Pass. If you don’t know, just looking at the formation, you can’t tell.
I really thought tens of thousands of troops were approaching the city.
Li Wu said excitedly: "My Lord Governor, they are not Tatars. They are the cattle, sheep, war horses and other items captured by the Imperial Envoy. So, the Imperial Envoy must be safe and sound."
Needless to say Li Wu, everyone can also think of this. Just imagine, if Li Huan was in a difficult situation, he might not be able to escort so many trophies back.
Yang Yiqing took a deep breath, glanced at Li Wu and said: "Li Wu, please stay with some people to guard Jishui Pass to prevent accidents. The rest of the people will go with me to greet the imperial envoy."
While talking, Yang Yiqing strode towards the city gate.
Except for some generals who stayed behind to cooperate with Li Wu in controlling Jishui Pass, the rest of the generals seemed to want to show their faces in front of Li Huan, so they all followed Yang Yiqing down the city pass.
A young chamberlain next to Qiu Ju said to Qiu Ju: "Prince, let's..."
Qiu Ju glanced at a few people and said, "Come with our family to see Mr. Li."
As Yang Yiqing led thousands of soldiers and horses out of the city gate and set up a formation outside Jishui Pass, tens of thousands of cattle, sheep, and war horses were also driven by the crowd to arrive at Jishui Pass.
After meeting Du Guang and hundreds of Ming soldiers, and confirming their identities, Yang Yiqing ordered Li Wu to open the door.
At this time, Qiu Ju was staring at Du Guang and said: "Du Guang, where is Mr. Li? Why don't you see Mr. Li?"
I thought that Li Huan should be among this group of people, but I never thought that they didn't see Li Huan at all.
Du Guang was no stranger to Qiu Ju. When Du Guang saw Qiu Ju, he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. He quickly greeted Qiu Ju and said, "I have met Qiu, the eunuch. Isn't the eunuch serving His Majesty in the capital? Why...
"
Qiu Ju said calmly: "We are here to see Brother Li and convey your Majesty's decree."
Qiu Ju stared at Du Guang and said, "Why didn't Brother Li return with you?"
Not seeing Li Huan, Qiu Ju's originally relieved heart became anxious again, and he stared at Du Guang.
Du Guang hurriedly said: "Back to Qiu Supervisor, your Excellency led us to massacre the Heihe tribe and seized these trophies, so you ordered me to take some people to escort these trophies back first, while your Excellency led people to guard against the Heihe tribe's people. As for the
I don’t know what’s happening now, but I don’t know.”
Qiu Ju couldn't help but frowned when he heard this.
The grassland is the territory of the Tatars. Without Li Huan in sight, Qiu Ju was naturally worried that something might happen to Li Huan.
At this moment, Yang Yiqing suddenly said: "If my prediction is correct, Master Li may want to ambush the people of the Heihe tribe who came to rescue Huli, so that he can avoid the people of the Heihe tribe once and for all.
Pursued all the way south."
Du Guang nodded and said: "What the Governor said is true, and that's what my Lord means."
Qiu Ju couldn't help but muttered: "Why don't you just send others to do such dangerous things? Why don't brothers Li take care of themselves? If something happens..."
Yang Yiqing coughed lightly and said to Qiu Ju: "Prince Qiu, don't worry. If nothing happens, Mr. Li will be on his way home now."
Hearing this, Qiu Ju couldn't help snorting coldly and said: "I hope everything is as Governor Yang said, otherwise, our family will definitely ask your Majesty for a copy."
Although he was threatened by Qiu Ju again, Yang Yiqing didn't care at all.
At this time, Yang Yiqing raised his brows, looked at Qiu Ju and said, "Do you dare to go with me, Chief Inspector Qiu, to greet Mr. Li?"
After being stunned for a moment, Qiu Ju couldn't help but glance at Yang Yiqing in surprise, as if he was very surprised by Yang Yiqing's proposal.
Yang Yiqing, on the other hand, stroked his beard and said with some confidence: "I have confidence in Mr. Li. Judging from the time, if everything goes well, Mr. Li may not be far from Jishui Pass at this time."
Qiu Ju nodded and said, "Okay, let's go and greet Brother Li."
After giving some instructions, Yang Yiqing led more than a thousand elite troops and rushed towards the prairie.
More than an hour later, Yang Yiqing and others had penetrated tens of miles into the grassland. At this moment, under Yang Yiqing's order, the large group of people stopped and sent out sentries from all directions, while the rest of the people led the war horses to let them drink water.
At the same time, more than ten miles away from Yang Yiqing and the others, a group of cavalry with overwhelming aura was approaching at a steady speed.
At first glance, this cavalry team is almost composed of one man and two cavalry, with thousands of cavalry and nearly 10,000 horses. It can be said that the momentum is not small.
Although it was said that they were ambushing the Heihe tribe at night and were unable to annihilate all the men and horses of the Heihe tribe, but after checking, it was found that no more than 20% of the Heihe tribe's escapees were possible. Even if these frightened birds could gather together, they would never be able to annihilate them again.
Threaten Li Huan and others.
Therefore, when Li Huan led his troops south to return to the Ming Dynasty, it seemed quite relaxed along the way. It felt like an outing and marching, without any worry about enemies chasing after him.
"My lord, my lord, Governor Yang Yiqing is leading people in front to welcome you back."
Chen Yao looked a little excited and led several sentinels sent by Yang Yiqing to head towards Li Huantong in excitement.
Li Huan couldn't help but raise his brows when he heard this. He didn't seem to have expected that Yang Yiqing would bring people to greet him, but he thought that he had sent Du Guang first to lead people to escort the trophies plundered from the Heihe tribe back.
It seems that Du Guang has returned successfully, so Yang Yiqing brought people to greet him.
Li Huan nodded slightly and roared: "Soldiers, Governor Yang and his people are waiting for us in front. Everyone, speed up and go home!"
Upon hearing this, all the soldiers cheered loudly and accelerated one after another. In an instant, thousands of horses galloped with astonishing momentum.
It was just a matter of time for a cup of tea. Yang Yiqing and his party, who were taking a rest, clearly noticed the shaking of the earth. However, Yang Yiqing and others had already learned the news from the sentry and knew that the person who came was none other than Li Huan.
The men and horses naturally did not panic.
Otherwise, on this prairie, with such a big movement, Yang Yiqing would immediately order everyone to assemble.
Even so, Yang Yiqing quickly gathered his troops and quietly waited for Li Huan and others to arrive.
Not long after, a black torrent swept in from the distance, and as the distance got closer and closer, an evil aura rushed towards the face.
Qiu Ju had never seen such a powerful army before. He couldn't help but change his face, and said with a strange look in his eyes: "What a mighty army."
Li Huan came forward and glanced at Yang Yiqing. When he saw Qiu Ju riding a horse next to Yang Yiqing, Li Huan couldn't help but froze for a moment. He was obviously a little confused by the sudden appearance of Qiu Ju.
stupid.
Qiu Ju was not in the capital to serve the emperor, so why did he suddenly come to this prairie? Could it be that something happened in the capital?
Thinking of this, Li Huan felt inexplicably worried.
Although Li Huan couldn't think of any accident that would happen to Zhu Houzhao, he couldn't stand it. Those people dared to directly murder the emperor and mobilized troops to attack the emperor's carriage. If such a thing can be done, what else can be done?
It's something they don't dare to do.
Taking a deep breath and suppressing his inner worries, Li Huan stepped forward directly, cupped his hands towards Yang Yiqing and said, "Thank you, Governor Yang is here to greet you."
Yang Yiqing said with a smile: "Welcome to the imperial envoy for his triumphant return. Your Majesty slaughtered two large Tatar tribes in one battle. It can be said that you have made outstanding achievements and I am really gratified."
Li Huan smiled lightly and said: "This is not Li's fault, but the credit of all the soldiers fighting to the death."
As he spoke, Li Huan glanced at the thousands of soldiers behind him and said with a smile: "Li will definitely ask for credit for all the soldiers this time."
"My lord is mighty, my lord is mighty!"
Li Huan had previously promised to reward them with silver, and now Li Huan also said that he would help them ask for merit. For these big-headed soldiers who did not know a few Chinese characters, their biggest dream was to be promoted and make a fortune.
Now Li Huan said that he wanted to help them ask for merit, which naturally caused all the soldiers to cheer loudly.
After appeasing the excited soldiers, the large group of troops slowly headed towards Jishui Pass.
At this moment, Li Huan was riding horseback with Qiu Ju. Li Huan couldn't help but said to Qiu Ju: "Brother Qiu, why did you suddenly appear here? Something happened to the capital, right?"
Li Huan had been holding back the worry in his heart just now, so naturally he couldn't help but ask Qiu Ju now.
Qiu Ju saw the worried look on Li Huan's face, smiled and shook his head and said: "Brother Li, there is no need to worry, nothing happened in the capital."
Li Huan breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this, with a somewhat relaxed look on his face. As long as nothing happened to the capital, it would be fine. Then Li Huan said with some curiosity: "Then your Majesty sent Brother Qiu to come, but what does your Majesty have?"
Will it?"
Qiu Ju smiled and nodded and said, "Your Majesty has something to say to Brother Li."
Li Huan looked solemn after hearing this and was about to dismount his horse to receive the order, but Qiu Ju hurriedly said: "Your Majesty said, Brother Li does not have to do this."
Qiu Ju said with a smile: "Your Majesty said that he already knows about the affairs in Shaanxi. Those officials are greedy and have no conscience. Since Your Majesty has given you the right to kill them first and report later, you are allowed to kill these officials on the spot."
There is no need to take him to the capital for execution."
Li Huan looked stern. Although Zhu Houzhao had previously given him the right to kill first and report later, after Li Huan captured many corrupt officials in Shaanxi, he confiscated their property to provide relief to the victims and sent people to collect evidence of their crimes.
It was sent to the capital and handed over to the emperor for inspection.
Li Huan did not directly exercise the right to kill first and report later. The emperor could give that kind of power, but Li Huan used it cautiously.
Although the emperor had great trust in him, Li Huan also worked hard to maintain the emperor's majesty.
Li Huan raised his hands in the direction of the capital and said, "I sincerely obey your Majesty's will."
Seeing this, Qiu Ju smiled and said: "Your Majesty also said that he has sent a group of officials to Shaanxi to take over the vacancy. Now that the disaster in Shaanxi has been calmed down with Li Qing's full relief, Li Qing also
It’s time to go back to Beijing.”
Obviously, Qiu Ju said the last sentence in the tone of the emperor.
Li Huan took a deep breath, bowed in the direction of the capital and said, "Your Majesty is in my heart. Li Huan deeply feels your Majesty's grace."
Qiu Ju looked at Li Huan and said, "Brother Li, Your Majesty has asked our family to come here this time. One is to convey His Majesty's will, and the other is to allow our family to accompany you back to Beijing, Brother Li."
Li Huan was stunned for a moment. After he came to his senses, he looked at Qiu Ju in a rather amused way and said, "Brother Qiu, are you afraid that I won't return to Beijing? He even sent you to supervise me."
Qiu Ju couldn't help but chuckled and said: "It's not you, Brother Li. When His Majesty ordered you to inspect Shaanxi, I thought you would be able to return in ten months. But now, several months have passed. If you never go again,
I’m afraid I may not be able to return to Beijing this year.”
Speaking of this, Qiu Ju joked: "Your Majesty values you very much, Brother Li. He has asked Brother Li many times why you haven't returned to Beijing yet."
Li Huan smiled bitterly and said: "It's not because of Li's refusal to return to Beijing. It's actually the matter in Shaanxi. One after another, most of the officials in Shaanxi have been sacked. I have to make decisions on many things. Before the officials sent by the imperial court arrived,
If I leave, Shaanxi will soon fall into chaos."
Although Li Huan said that he would not deal with specific matters, he was in charge of the Chief Envoy and Inspector's Department of Yan'an Prefecture. Those officials, big and small, who had escaped the disaster could be said to be conscientious and conscientious under Li Huan's fierce power, and they broke out.
Work with full potential and handle Shaanxi government affairs in an orderly manner.
But this was obviously under Li Huan's intimidation. Without Li Huan, it would be equivalent to a leaderless group. Once Li Huan left, no one would take over, and the civil affairs of Shaanxi would inevitably be in chaos.
Hearing this, Qiu Ju smiled and said: "Brother Li, you don't have to worry this time. Your Majesty has appointed more than a dozen officials from Shaanxi and they have now arrived in Yan'an to take up their duties. So brother Li, you can return to the capital with our family at any time."
Li Huan nodded slightly.
The large group of troops successfully entered Jishui Pass and returned to the Ming Dynasty.
After a handover with Yang Yiqing, Li Huan led Guan Zheng and other Zhenwei battalion soldiers, one by one and two by two, towards Yan'an Prefecture.
On this day, Yan'an Mansion was shocked
Imperial Envoy Li Huan personally supervised and beheaded 138 corrupt officials in Shaanxi, ranging from the Chief Envoy to the Chief Envoy to participate in government affairs, and to the county government for inspections and instructions.
These are only officials with official rank. There are also thousands of officials, big and small, involved in the case.
It can be said that in this major corruption case in Shaanxi, the total number of officials, officials and family members implicated totaled thousands.
On the huge execution ground, densely packed thousands of soldiers stood guard around the execution ground.
Thousands of soldiers and horses were dispatched at one time to enforce martial law. You can imagine how many people came to watch around the execution ground.
As the disaster subsided, under Li Huan's arrangement, a large number of victims had been allocated land and dispersed.
In this era, the problem of land annexation was extremely serious. Li Huan confiscated a large number of acres of land through confiscation of homes and extermination of clans. In addition, a large number of refugees died, leaving a lot of ownerless land.
Under Li Huan's statistical arrangements, these lands were used to resettle hundreds of thousands of homeless people, effectively alleviating the problem of land annexation in Shaanxi.
It's a pity that compared to the entire Shaanxi region, the redistribution of hundreds of thousands of people and millions of acres of farmland has nothing to do with the overall situation.
But that was all Li Huan could do. Otherwise, unless he changed the land and changed the land, or massacred all the gentry in Shaanxi, it would not be possible to completely change the situation of land annexation in Shaanxi.
Faced with this situation, even Li Huan knew that before he was absolutely sure, if he really wanted to touch the land of the entire gentry class, the whole of Shaanxi would dare to rebel as soon as he did it.
.
Sitting on the high platform at this moment, Li Huan looked at the officials who were being led to the execution ground, and felt some inexplicable sighs in his heart.
These officials are just some of the corrupt officials he found. Compared to the entire Shaanxi bureaucracy, there are definitely more corrupt officials hidden in them.
It's just that if he really stayed in Shaanxi to investigate and deal with corrupt officials, I'm afraid it wouldn't last more than a year and a half. If he didn't have hundreds or thousands of reserve officials, there would be nothing he could do. He could only try his best to punish these greedy and corrupt officials.
Take it.
The dozen or so unfamiliar faces sitting next to Li Huan were the officials appointed by the imperial court not long ago to take charge of the Shaanxi Chief Envoy and Inspector's Office.
It can be said that these officials are all third- and fourth-grade officials, and they are definitely considered high-ranking officials in this place.
But at this moment, all the officials looked solemn, looked slightly pale, and sat there nervously and with a bit of fear.
These people had long heard that Li Huan was ruthlessly confiscating homes and exterminating clans in Shaanxi. Li Huan had almost emptied most of the top officials in Shaanxi.
When Li Huan returned to Yan'an Mansion, these people were busy going to see Li Huan, but unexpectedly they were brought here by Li Huan.
Li Huan actually wanted to take them here to personally supervise and kill these officials.
Looking at the officials who were being escorted to the prison and beheading platform in extremely embarrassed conditions, these people felt inexplicably a bit like a rabbit dying and a fox hurting its own kind.
Li Huan didn't care what these people were thinking, he just looked at the clock and shouted in a deep voice: "According to your Majesty's order, Wu Wei, the governor of Shaanxi, and other officials who have failed the emperor's favor should have their clans destroyed and beheaded according to their crimes!"
The word "Zhan" sounded like thunder in the ears of the surrounding people and prisoners.
The executioner, who had already been prepared, just sprayed a mouthful of strong wine on the gleaming ghost-headed sword, and then shouted.
Immediately, the heads rolled to the ground, and blood spurted out.
As officials and their relatives who were crying, wailing and cursing were brought in for execution, more than half an hour passed, and hundreds of corpses had fallen on the entire execution ground.
At the beginning, the people around him clapped their hands and applauded, but as more and more corpses piled up, even the people who hated corrupt officials were suffocated by this formation.
Who has ever seen such a situation of killing hundreds or even thousands of prisoners at once?
The dozen or so officials who had taken over the vacancies in Shaanxi were all pale-faced and almost slumped there, obviously frightened by the killing so close at hand.
Li Huan watched the murder of a famous prisoner with a calm expression, without any fluctuation in his eyes, and Li Huan's expression and reaction in the eyes of those officials naturally deepened their fear of Li Huan.
Li Huan naturally saw the reaction of these officials. The reason why he brought these people here to be executed was to let them see the fate of corrupt officials with their own eyes, so that they would have a long memory. He expected to be stimulated today.
, Under normal circumstances, within three or two years, few of these people would dare to be greedy.
By dusk, all the people who were to be executed were lying down, and the bloody atmosphere was soaring to the sky. Even the executioners changed several times, and more than a dozen of the ghost-headed swords were chopped off, which shows that today's killing was intense.
With a slight cough, Li Huan stood up and faced the newly appointed envoy headed by Cheng Wei. The official of the Envoy Department said calmly: "Everyone, the people of Shaanxi are entrusted to you. I hope you can learn from this and live up to your expectations."
The emperor's favor, on the side of the herdsmen, benefits the people."
Cheng Wei and others, who were fighting with each other, stood up, raised their hands to Li Huan cautiously and said: "I am your official... Your Majesty and others will do their best to benefit the people and never let down your majesty's grace."
Li Huan took a deep look at Cheng Wei and others, and suddenly a smile appeared on his lips and said: "I hope all of you will remember what you saw and heard today. Li doesn't want to send all of you on your way one day."
After Li Huan finished speaking, Cheng Wei and others trembled with cold sweat on their foreheads: "I don't dare to do this."
Li Huan waved his sleeves and ignored Cheng Wei and others and said to Qiu Ju who was sitting beside him: "Brother Qiu, we are back to Beijing."
Qiu Ju, who had experienced the killing just now, was still feeling sad. After hearing this, he quickly came to his senses and said solemnly: "It's time to return to Beijing!"
