Zhao Junchen couldn't help but smile when he saw the Xingzhou information handed over by Wu Sangui.
But this time, there was nothing fake about the smile on Zhao Junchen's face, it came from the bottom of his heart.
Zhao Junchen is undoubtedly a big thief, the kind who wants to steal the country. As the saying goes, "Thieves never steal the country." He clearly entered Shanhaiguan, met Wu Sangui in person, and discovered the Wu family's crimes and flaws in time.
, but in the end he could not get any benefits, but was forced to wipe the Wu family's butt for free... For Zhao Junchen, this kind of thing was really uncomfortable.
Now, although he still cannot personally punish the Wu family's crimes, he has obtained information about Xingzhou from Wu Sangui, and Zhao Junchen finally feels comfortable.
Objectively speaking, Zhao Junchen is not at a loss, it can even be said to be a big profit, because the Xingzhou Civil War is currently a top priority for Zhao Junchen. The top priority is not only related to the survival of agricultural reforms, but also to the pattern of temples.
its direction.
Xingzhou and Shanhaiguan are not far apart, and there is only Anzhou in between. They are an important part of the Jizhen defense area. Naturally, the Wu family has a lot of informants, especially after the civil uprising broke out in Xingzhou, they will definitely be closely connected
Paying attention and collecting detailed information, including many unknown inside truths, are naturally of great significance in Zhao Junchen's eyes.
Especially considering that the truth behind the Xingzhou Civil Uprising was complicated and most likely involved an overt and secret struggle between Zhao Junchen and the "Zhou Party". When Wu Sangui provided intelligence to Zhao Junchen, he had to risk offending the "Zhou Party".
There are risks, so it can be considered sincere.
Thinking of this, Zhao Junchen nodded with satisfaction, raised his hand to take the stack of information, lowered his head and looked through it carefully.
*
After about a stick of incense, Zhao Junchen finally read the information and couldn't help but look surprised.
The Xingzhou intelligence collected by the Wu family was more detailed and in-depth than Zhao Junchen expected.
After possessing this information, Zhao Junchen became more certain that he could completely overturn the ruling and opposition parties' characterization of the Xingzhou Civil War.
Therefore, Zhao Junchen raised his head and thanked Wu Sangui and said: "Thank you, senior, for the information provided by me. I have benefited a lot from this. Senior, please rest assured that I will definitely fulfill my promise, show up in person to speak out, and clarify misunderstandings to the refugees, so as to ensure the stability of the Wu family."
The reputation will not fall."
Wu Sangui took a deep look at Zhao Junchen and said slowly: "Among the thousands of refugees currently stranded in Shanhaiguan, most of them are from Xingzhou. I will hand them all over to Zhao Gechen, who will lead them personally.
When I return to my hometown in Xingzhou, I think with Zhao Gechen’s wisdom and skills, I will definitely find the best use for these refugees."
Zhao Junchen smiled and said: "For the junior, these refugees are indeed of great use. Senior, it is best if you are willing to hand over all the refugees in Xingzhou to the junior... But as far as the junior knows, the refugees in Shanhaiguan are
Among them, there are still a few people from Liaodong, and the younger generation also hopes that the Wu family can properly resettle them. Even if Shanhaiguan is unable to take them in, they should at least send them back to Liaodong."
Wu Sangui nodded lightly and agreed: "Zhao Gechen, don't worry. Shanhaiguan has always been a small place and cannot take in more refugees. However, it will not deliberately make things difficult for them. They will be properly sent back to their homeland in Liaodong. I will personally keep an eye on this place."
If there is a problem, Minister Zhao can also leave manpower to monitor the progress."
After a pause, Wu Sangui put forward an additional condition: "However, the truth behind the Xingzhou Civil Uprising is extremely complex, involving so many layers and so wide a scope that even an old man can't help but feel frightened after reading it...
…Although my Wu family is nominally in charge of Ji Liao and Ji Liao, its sphere of influence is actually limited to the vicinity of Shanhaiguan, so we are unwilling to participate in this matter, and we dare not participate in this matter. This pool of water is really too deep... so
, I also hope that Minister Zhao will never publicize to the outside world that I once provided information to you."
Zhao Junchen nodded repeatedly and promised again: "This is natural. This junior will never repay kindness with enmity and publicize this matter to the outside world!"
Wu Sangui once again took a deep look at Zhao Junchen's young face, his expression full of envy, and sighed: "Just like Zhao Junchen, when he was young, he was full of confidence, not afraid of anything, and felt that he still had
There is a lot of time to squander, so anything can be done step by step, and any ambition can be realized step by step. I always think that I have the ability to control everything in this world, whether it is my own destiny or the destiny of my family...
But when people grow old, everything becomes sad. Time is getting shorter and shorter, and there are fewer and fewer things that can be done. It is even less clear where the world will change after you die of old age. You become more and more reverent of destiny and more courageous.
If we don’t develop enough, we have long lost our past knowledge of the sky and the earth...
Zhao Gechen is now a very popular minister, but he is still so young. Although the future is still uncertain, he still has enough courage, energy, and time to have the opportunity to control his destiny in his own hands... Let
I am so envious! I am so envious! I hope Zhao Gechen can make good use of this time and never make a wrong step..."
These words seemed to be both an encouragement and a warning.
Having said this, Wu Sangui's face and tone showed signs of fatigue, and he slowly stood up and said: "Next, I will ask Shanhaiguan Deputy General Pang Hai to follow Zhao Gechen in doing things. As long as it is within the scope of Shanhaiguan's capabilities, I will definitely do it."
I will do my best to meet the cabinet minister's request, but now... I am old and frail, and my energy is low. I need to rest as soon as possible, so I will not accompany Zhao cabinet minister to continue the conversation."
After saying that, Wu Sangui stood up and saw off Zhao Junchen, and was helped by others to turn around and leave the lobby of the Governor's Mansion, heading towards the backyard.
Looking at Wu Sangui's leaving figure, Zhao Junchen felt a little surprised.
He originally thought that as the two sides kept going back and forth and giving in to each other, there would be opportunities to negotiate some deeper cooperation. However, he did not expect that Wu Sangui would just leave without any intention of discussing cooperation in depth.
But soon, Zhao Junchen figured out what Wu Sangui was thinking.
Just like Zhao Junchen in the past, the Wu family's foundation was the trust of Emperor Deqing, and they needed to give priority to Emperor Deqing's reaction, so Wu Sangui was absolutely unwilling to get too involved in public with Zhao Junchen.
In the past, Wu Sangui might have tried to take advantage of Zhao Junchen, but after today's contact, Wu Sangui has thoroughly seen Zhao Junchen's strong character of unwillingness to suffer losses and unwillingness to be subordinated, and believes that Zhao Junchen will definitely break out in the future.
The one who caused such a big mess had completely given up the idea of using Zhao Junchen, and became even more unable to avoid it.
For Wu Sangui, transferring detailed information about Xingzhou to Zhao Junchen was the limit, and it was just to resolve Zhao Junchen's hostility and establish a good relationship with each other.
After thinking about this, Zhao Junchen couldn't help but feel disdainful. He only felt that although Wu Sangui was a famous hero in history, he was far behind Zhou Shangjing.
Zhou Shangjing also knew that his life was about to end, but he did not look forward and backward like Wu Sangui and lost his energy. Instead, he wanted to work hard to eliminate all hidden dangers in his eyes before he completely retired.
Both of them are old foxes, but their different performances in their twilight years can make a difference.
But the next moment, Zhao Junchen couldn't help but laugh at himself.
This is because Zhou Shangjing's old age is not a good thing for Zhao Junchen.
After all, in Zhou Shangjing's mind, Zhao Junchen was most likely classified as a "hidden danger", otherwise the Xingzhou Civil Uprising would never have happened.
When his thoughts were changing, Zhao Junchen turned to look at Shanhaiguan Deputy Commander Pang Hai, and said: "You also heard the conversation I had with Senior Wu just now. There is no need to cut off the head of Mr. Shiping.
Send him to the capital and bring him back to the capital, and bury him in accordance with the rules of the Wu family...
Also, I have a tight schedule, so I hope that Deputy General Pang can arrange for me to meet with the imprisoned refugees as soon as possible. After I clarify the truth to the refugees, I will take them to Xingzhou."
*
At Zhao Junchen's request, more than 1,200 refugees detained in Shanhaiguan were quickly released and rescued.
As Zhao Junchen was in Shanhaiguan, he naturally did not dare to break the contract at will and break his promise. Therefore, when he met the refugees, he quickly began to defend and clarify the Wu family, vowing to express the recent actions of the Shanhaiguan defenders.
What we did was not to detain them, but the methods used to place them were "slightly" rougher. The so-called "trafficking of common people" rumors are completely nonsense.
As for the Shanhaiguan garrison's practice of forcing some refugees into sea ships earlier today in order to transport them elsewhere, it was only because Shanhaiguan did not have the resources to support the refugees for a long time, so they wanted to send the refugees to wealthy places for resettlement.
That’s all, we definitely don’t want to sell the refugees into low status, private prostitution, and servants of the world.
Ordinary people in this era place themselves in a very low position. Their needs and desires are not high. As long as they can still live, they always blindly believe in the so-called "big shots" and even take advantage of petty gains.
Completely betray everything about yourself.
Therefore, when they heard the personal statement of Zhao Junchen, the big man, they thought that they had not suffered much losses, and the Wu family also returned part of their stolen property, and even compensated each of them with half a tael of silver, so
These refugees soon no longer cared about their experiences, but instead expressed their gratitude one after another, saying that they were lucky enough to meet "Master Qingtian".
Zhao Junchen condescended to speak to them personally, which is undoubtedly a Qingtian, and the Wu family in Shanhaiguan gave each of them half a tael of silver, which was even more Qingtian.
*
Zhao Junchen really had a tight schedule, so he fulfilled his promise and after safeguarding the reputation of the Wu family, he stopped wasting time and screened out those people who were born in Xingzhou among the refugees overnight, a total of
The thousand people had just begun their journey, and after resting for a night, they led their guards and the Xingzhou refugees to continue heading west when it got dark the next day.
However, the added drag of thousands of refugees greatly slowed down Zhao Junchen's travel speed. It took him a full day to leave the jurisdiction of Shanhaiguan and enter Anzhou between Shanhaiguan and Xingzhou.
Anzhou is the Jizhen defense zone. After seeing Zhao Junchen's appearance, the Anzhou defenders naturally did not dare to neglect and quickly reported it to the police.
So if nothing unexpected happens, after meeting Wu Sangui in Shanhaiguan, when Zhao Junchen rushes to Xingzhou, he will also meet another important figure, that is, a close confidant of Emperor Deqing, as famous as Liang Fuchen
Zhang Su, the commander-in-chief of Jizhen!
After Zhao Junchen found that his travel speed was being slowed down by the refugees, he knew that it was useless to rush, so he simply calmed down and took the opportunity to frequently contact the refugees in Xingzhou.
For Zhao Junchen, this group of refugees is of great use. As long as Zhao Junchen seizes the opportunity and uses it properly, he can quickly shift the focus and conflicts, and reverse the public opinion in Xingzhou in one fell swoop.
In order to achieve this goal, Zhao Junchen needs to find ways to arouse the emotions of the refugees and channel their resentment.
As for Zhao Junchen's specific methods, they are also very simple.
A great man from later generations once said - "Class struggle can be solved as soon as you grasp it"!