In the official hall of the General Office in Chicheng, Zhang Cheng politely asked Yan Qingrong, the new commander of the Yongning Guards: "I heard that you have a nephew named Yan Kuan, and is he now the commander-in-chief under Sha Zhongwang?"
When Yan Qingrong heard Zhang Cheng mention his nephew, he knew what he meant, but he still replied calmly: "As the marshal said, it was my nephew Yan Kuan who was incompetent, so he was sent to Shashoubei
Tempered in the camp.”
"oh!"
Zhang Cheng said with a smile: "When I heard that Yan Kuan was brave and good at fighting, he immediately dismounted and was very impressive. How come he is said to be incompetent by Master Yan?"
Without waiting for Yan Qingrong to express his views, he turned to Wu Zhizhong and said: "Old Wu, please issue a transfer order to transfer Yan Kuan to Yongning to help you train a new army to fill the vacancy transferred by Song Shanquan."
Wu Zhizhong said with a serious face: "The last general will take orders."
Zhang Cheng said to him again: "One more thing, I have sent out a message to Xiaoxiaoyu. Liu Quan led the Ma Hui Army and other 300 cavalry and 700 infantry to Yongning. You can organize him into a separate army. When I
When we go into battle, we will be under your command for the time being."
Wu Zhizhong clasped his fists again and said: "The last general will take the order."
Then he said with a slight hesitation: "It's just that the commander-in-chief has mobilized Liu Quan's troops, so the security force may be weak."
Zhang Cheng said nonchalantly: "It doesn't matter. I have appointed Sun Dashan to be in charge of the affairs over Laiaoyu. He can select young men from among the hungry people to replenish the number of troops."
He continued: "Also, Zhao Shihu's troops at Muxuanjian will be at your disposal when I go to war. You can make your own decision whenever military needs arise."
"Here!"
At this time, a servant came in and asked Zhang Cheng if he would go back to the inner house for dinner. Zhang Cheng ordered a portion of the food to be divided, and he ate and chatted with Jin Xinpeng, Yan Qingrong, Wu Zhizhong, Jin Yong and others in the side hall next to him.
We learned about some specific affairs of the North Road and the East Road.
Zhang Cheng had just finished dinner when a servant came in and reported: Mr. He, the military commander, please come to the house to have a talk.
After hearing this, Zhang Cheng's lips curled up into a smile and he thought to himself: I think that's what happened!
…………
At dusk, the sun shines in the evening, and the new branches and buds on the tree trunks along the street exude vitality under the rays of the setting sun.
In the side hall of the back hall of the Chicheng Military Preparatory Office, Zhang Cheng, He Chongwu, the military commander, and Qin Shizheng, the grain commander, were sitting across from each other, sipping tea. The color of the tea was excellent in the candlelight, and the fragrance of the tea was even stronger.
He Chongwu invited Zhang Cheng to come over this time because of his transfer.
It turned out that He Chongwu had been in the position of Beilu Military Preparation for three years and was actually promoted to a higher level according to the evaluation. However, Zhang Cheng secretly helped him with the operation. In addition, Beilu had made outstanding achievements in the past two years, so the court agreed to his actual promotion.
Two levels, intending to promote him to be the magistrate of the Daiming.
He was originally the fifth-rank Shanxi Provincial Commissioner Si Qianshi and served as the North Road Military Preparation of Xuanzhen. Now he was promoted to the fourth-rank magistrate. Although he was not happy in his heart, he was naturally very grateful to Zhang Cheng.
But after Zhang Cheng learned this letter, he immediately wrote a letter to He Chongwu and introduced to him in detail the situation of the epidemic in Daming Prefecture. As early as the summer of the 13th year of Chongzhen, Daming Prefecture was the first to suffer from a great epidemic. It was extremely violent and spread rapidly.
quick.
Gu Ai
According to records, "In the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, in Daming Prefecture... there was no rain in the summer, locusts ate all the wheat, plague was widespread, fifty-six out of ten people died, and the year was very bad."
This epidemic was called "Pimple Disease" at the time. "In the summer and autumn epidemic, people occasionally develop a fat bulge and die immediately. It is called Pimple Plague, and everyone suffers from it. In the spring, there will be vomiting of blood."
Otherwise, several members of the family may die together.”
In fact, it was a great plague of unprecedented scale. "Pimple" is a name for the swollen lymph nodes of patients with bubonic plague. At that time, people did not recognize this disease and did not know how to prevent and treat it, so it caused such a large-scale epidemic.
s damage.
Therefore, Zhang Cheng suggested that He Chongwu not go to Daming Prefecture to take up the post, but try to transfer him elsewhere through connections. After getting He Chongwu's consent, he used some money from the court and successfully transferred He Chongwu to the post of prefect of Huaiqing Prefecture in Henan.
He Chongwu invited Zhang Cheng to come over today to thank him for his timely help. Therefore, he also specially invited Qin Shizheng, the grain judge, to come over. The three giants of the North Road gathered together.
It's a pity that Zhang Cheng's family is now the only one!
Faced with He Chongwu's gratitude, Zhang Cheng didn't take it seriously. He promptly stopped He Chongwu from continuing and said: "Master He doesn't have to rush to Yu Province to take up his post. It won't be too late to leave after drinking our wedding wine. I will arrange it then."
A group of cavalry will escort you to Huaiqing."
He Chongwu knocked on the table with his hand and said: "I can't believe that I left Xuanfu, but I still couldn't leave your territory, Marshal Zhang."
"Hahaha……"
The three of them looked at each other and laughed. Now He Chongwu was grateful to Zhang Cheng, and Qin Shizheng seemed to have appointed him. It was no longer the case when Zhang Cheng first came, when he looked down upon him and was hostile to him, so that he targeted him everywhere.
In fact, when Zhang Cheng first came to take office at Beilu, he still respected them very much, but one was wary of him at every step, while the other always ignored him.
He was so helpless that he simply stopped interacting with them too much and just immersed himself in doing his own thing. Anyway, even if they looked unhappy, they were powerless to stop him.
Who would have thought that Zhang Cheng would be so prosperous on the North Road? Not only Xue Liangqing failed to stop his rise, but even the deputy commander Zhang Guowei was uprooted by Zhang Cheng.
Only then did they clearly realize their previous mistakes. However, due to the dignity of civil servants, although they no longer pointed fingers at Zhang Cheng, made judgments about him, and no longer raised eyebrows and glared to find faults, they never took the initiative.
Get closer to Zhang Cheng.
Zhang Cheng still had the style of an ancient general. Before sending troops to Henan Province to aid and suppress the intruders, he took the initiative to visit the two of them. Although they could not completely resolve their past grudges, under Zhang Cheng's proactive show of goodwill, their feelings for Zhang Cheng were greatly reduced.
There has indeed been a huge change in attitude.
According to the current situation, they are actually dispensable to Zhang Cheng. That is to say, having the two of them will not necessarily be of great benefit to Zhang Cheng. But with Zhang Cheng's sincere help, they can survive in such troubled times.
It may become their only reliance to protect their lives and their families.
In this troubled world, how can someone who can reach such a position be a fool?
At this time, Zhang Cheng said to Qin Shizheng: "Master Qin, Zhang is really grateful for the care he received on the North Road. Now that you have been serving as the grain commissioner for a long time, have you ever thought about changing your position?"
Qin Shizheng, like He Chongwu, is still respected by officials in Beilu, but he has been reduced to a mere decoration, with only superficial respect but no real power. How can ambitious civil servants like them endure it?
Just listen to him say: "Zhang Shuai said with a smile, the official position is given by heaven, how can it be that we can make the decision on our own!"
Zhang Cheng saw that he was still a bit embarrassed and said without hesitation, so he said bluntly: "Go back to the household department, or go to the government office, or go to the fantai Yamen, Mr. Qin should choose one!"