Jiangyang County, in the southwestern frontier camp of Xia Kingdom.
Feng Chu's face was filled with joy, he quickly walked into the commander's tent, bowed to King Qi who was sitting on top of the commander's position, and said loudly:
"Your Highness, good news!"
At this time, King Qi, who was in the position of coach, raised his head slightly, with dark circles under his eyes and a tired look on his sallow face.
During the time he was in charge of Jiangyang County, King Qi needed to reorganize the southwest frontier army, suppress various rebels, mobilize supplies and try his best to weaken the impact of the plague, and maintain the rule of the Xia Kingdom in the southwest from collapse.
And because the Xia Kingdom's court has not yet given full support to the relief effort, King Qi can only maintain the situation with his own strength and work hard. It is natural that he is becoming increasingly haggard.
King Qi looked at the excited Feng Chu, and his eyes lit up at this time.
He knew that what could make Feng Chu lose his composure was definitely great news.
"But have the supplies from the imperial court arrived?" King Qi couldn't help but ask.
Nowadays, the most important thing for these six counties in the southwest is all kinds of food, grass and materials! As long as there are enough materials, King Qi can have the confidence to put everything in order.
When Feng Chu heard this, his joy faded slightly and he said in a deep voice:
"The imperial court has decided to provide relief, but the materials needed are numerous, and Jinling City is still under preparation..."
When King Qi heard this, he shook his head slightly, smiled bitterly, and said:
"I'm afraid that the brothers of this king are holding us back at this time!"
Feng Chu didn't speak, just nodded silently.
Although the Xia Kingdom's court was extremely inefficient due to the intertwined forces of various parties and their mutual attacks.
However, something as big as the plague that swept through six counties in the southwest would not have been delayed to this extent. For several months after the plague broke out, there was not much movement.
The most important reason is that the princes of the Xia Kingdom have gradually begun to fight in the open for the heir apparent.
This time, with the dignity of a prince, King Qi led only a small team of people to the southwest plague-stricken area to take charge of the situation. This performance was already eye-catching. Today, Emperor Xia did not say anything, but repeatedly urged him to express his position in the court.
He already showed his appreciation for King Qi.
If King Qi is really allowed to make such a contribution this time, he will definitely be praised by both the government and the public. Under the general trend, King Qi will become a strong contender for the throne.
How could this make the princes in Jinling City willing? Naturally, they tried their best to hold them back.
In fact, if Emperor Xia hadn't urged him to cancel his subscription many times, and even tried to scare the monkeys in court several times, Jinling City would still not be able to come up with a specific charter, let alone start preparing supplies...
King Qi sighed softly, rubbed his brows tiredly, and then said:
"Since supplies from the court are not delivered, what good news can there be?"
When Feng Chu heard this, he suddenly smiled, cupped his hands and said:
"Although it is not sent by the imperial court, five hundred thousand stones of supplies can relieve His Highness's temporary worries!"
After hearing what Feng Chu said, King Qi suddenly looked up at him and said with surprise:
"Five hundred thousand dan! Seriously?"
Five hundred thousand shi of supplies was naturally not enough to supply the people of the entire six southwestern counties. But as long as these supplies were available, King Qi would support them for a while longer until relief supplies from the Xia Kingdom arrived.
Hearing this, Feng Chu quickly waved his hand and said seriously:
"Your Highness, we have the supplies, even more than 500,000 dan. But these all require gold and silver!"
King Qi quickly stood up and said impatiently:
"There is no harm in gold and silver. The capital of the Southwest General is still sealed in the treasury of Jiangyang County!"
Before the generals of the Southwest were destroyed, they sent troops to plunder the entire six southwest counties. They had an unknown amount of gold, silver and jewels accumulated in their homes. After King Qi led his troops to slaughter them, they all were confiscated and have not yet been escorted to Jinling City.
.
Just like Xiao Cheng had stolen most of Buddhism's six hundred years of savings, the gold and silver in King Qi's hands was piled up like a mountain!
But when he said this, King Qi suddenly froze, frowned, looked at Feng Chu, and said:
"Is this the food and grass sent by Yun Guo?"
After the Yun State annexed the four northern states of the Li Dynasty, the only country bordering the southwest counties of the Xia State was the Yun State!
Feng Chu nodded and said:
"It was shipped from the Yun Kingdom!"
"Will Emperor Yun be so kind?"
"Of course not!"
Having said this, Feng Chu paused, showed a smile, and said:
"Your Highness, please allow me to report them one by one!"
"..."
Listening to what Feng Chu said, King Qi showed a look of trance and astonishment on his face. He couldn't help but look at Feng Chu and said in disbelief:
"This, this, is this the handiwork of the imperial sister?"
Feng Chu nodded solemnly and said:
"Before the princess left, she took away from me the order to order the embroidery envoys of the Yun Kingdom... Previously, His Highness borrowed the hands of Emperor Yun to clean up those disobedient embroidery envoys. Now there are only embroidery envoys in the Yun Kingdom left.
The envoys are all people who can be used. The princess also laid a few secrets in Zhongqing City, which made it so smooth!"
King Qi's eyelids fluttered, and the look of surprise on his face was extremely complicated.
Feng Chu noticed that King Qi still looked a little unbelievable, and lowered his head slightly, but he couldn't help but want to complain in his heart.
These two siblings were obviously born to the same parents, so why are they so different!
So, is it really impossible to substitute someone to assist?
After a long time, King Qi sighed complicatedly, with a hint of guilt on his face, and said in a low voice:
"My king has been neglecting her during these years of fighting in the field. I think she has also suffered a lot of grievances. Otherwise, the emperor's sister would not have developed such a heavy heart..."
Come on, with your sister’s mind-blowing scheming methods, it’s not certain who will be wronged...
Feng Chu looked at the sad and guilty King Qi in front of him, resisted the urge to roll his eyes, and said:
"Your Highness, the most important thing at this time is to receive this batch of supplies as soon as possible!"
King Qi finally came to his senses after being reminded by Feng Chu, with a solemn expression and said in a deep voice:
"Yes, let's take back the supplies first..."
King Qi pondered for a moment, then suddenly clapped his hands and said:
"I remember that the current deputy envoy of the Southwest Transportation Department is called Zhong Zizuo."
After Feng Chu heard this, he thought about it for a moment and immediately reported:
"Yes, Zhong Zizuo was the governor of Fengzhou before. Because Fengzhou city was destroyed, he was captured by Emperor Yun, so he lost his official position. Later, because he had contact with Emperor Yun, he was included in the first batch of envoys
After making great achievements in the regiment, he was moved to the Southwest Transportation Department as deputy envoy."
When King Qi heard this, he nodded and said:
"This Zhong Zizuo was one of my king's men when he was in Fengzhou. Now he is the deputy envoy of the Southwest Transportation Department and manages the dispatch of southwest water transportation. It is just right to use his help to transport materials back through the waterway."
Transporting supplies by waterway consumes less money and avoids a lot of trouble. It is an excellent idea.
When Feng Chu heard this, his eyes lit up and he immediately cupped his hands and said:
"This is the best way, Your Highness is wise!"
King Qi nodded, and immediately pushed away the military newspaper on the desk, found a piece of white paper, took off the commander's seal with a stroke of a pen, and said immediately:
"With my king's order, Zhong Zizuo is ordered to cooperate fully to transport the grain and grass back!"
"yes!"
--------------------------
"Master Hai, this is not a big deal. As long as you send your subordinates to subdue him, it will be over naturally. Why do you need to do this?" Shen Ruiguang persuaded in a low voice with a look of helplessness.
"Your clerk is so stubborn that he actually beat the official in the government office and forced his way into the government treasury to take away a file. At this time, the government officials were filled with righteous indignation and agitated to get a copy from you, Mr. Hai!"
Hai Rui sat across from him and looked up at Shen Ruiguang, who was pretending to be worried. He sneered in his heart and said forcefully:
"The Supervisory Censor, with the imperial mandate, inspects all matters in Jianchang Mansion. Wu Wen was promoted to the Mansion, but he forcibly stopped me from doing my errands. I didn't even say that I wanted to join him, so why did he hit me first!"
When Shen Ruiguang heard this, he was even more happy in his heart, but his face was still worried, and he advised earnestly:
"Master Hai, Master Hai, you don't know something! The county lieutenant of Bei'an County, he is from the frontier army. He is the governor of Jianchang Prefecture, the captain of the county army, the judicial officer, the army, and the recorder. All of them are from the frontier army! "
When Hai Rui heard this, his heart moved. He said nothing, picked up the tea cup and took a sip with a nonchalant expression.
Seeing this, Shen Ruiguang continued:
"When Wang Xiao stole power and took sole control, in order to appease people's hearts and consolidate his power, he sent some middle- and low-level border army generals who were disabled or older to serve as auxiliaries in various prefectures, counties, and counties. Political officials. Mr. Hai, although these people are usually quiet, they have a very deep friendship in the military. Although they are not monolithic, they usually help each other. You have punished the county captains of Bei'an County before, and these people have long been dissatisfied. Yes. This time I find an opportunity to attack, which will be troublesome!"
In early summer, Li and Li invaded, and the situation was critical. For the sake of the overall situation, Xiao Cheng did not punish Wang Xiao for treason.
Instead, he used the Ce card he drew [Dedicated to Serve the Country], the righteousness of his family and country, and Xiao Cheng's own courage and ambition to make hundreds of thousands of Yun Kingdom's border troops surrender.
Then he went on a personal expedition and completely subdued the arrogant generals of the border army with his military exploits.
After Wang Xiao's death, Xiao Cheng did not pursue the case. These officials who came from the border army naturally chose to surrender completely.
Hai Rui's heart sank when he heard this. He immediately put down the tea cup in his hand, frowned tightly and said in a deep voice:
"In all the prefectures and counties in the country, all the officials are from the frontier army?"
When Shen Ruiguang heard this, he was slightly startled. Although he didn't realize why Hai Rui suddenly asked this, he subconsciously replied:
"Ah, that's not all the case. These officials who came from the border army were not familiar with government affairs when they first arrived, so they usually only served as adjutants of the first department or the first house. This was before when the Xia army invaded the northern counties and the administrative agencies in various places were paralyzed. Only then have new officials from all levels been transferred.”
"If one day the war breaks out again, Jianchang Mansion will face the Xia Kingdom's troops. For this reason, the court will transfer officials from these frontier armies."
Shen Ruiguang has been in the officialdom of Yun State for a long time and knows a lot about various things. Coupled with the fact that Tian is now the governor of the Northern Territory, these things are really clear.
After hearing what Shen Ruiguang said, Hai Rui showed a solemn expression, pondered for a moment, then stood up suddenly and said:
"Okay, thank you very much, Governor Shen, for reminding me. But in this matter, I believe that my subordinates did nothing wrong in recording the matter. So, please go back, sir!"
Shen Ruiguang's eyes moved slightly, and he immediately lowered his voice and said with a hint of provocation:
"Master Hai, don't be impulsive! These people from the frontier army have many colleagues serving in the court. If I join you in playing a book together, I'm afraid... I'd better give in and let it go!"
Upon hearing this, Hai Rui turned to look at Shen Ruiguang coldly and said in a strong tone:
"Chief Shen, please come back!"
Shen Ruiguang opened his mouth, shook his head pretending to be helpless, and turned to leave.
When Shen Ruiguang left, Zhidu stepped forward suddenly and said in a deep voice:
"Sir, this..."
When Hai Rui heard this, he immediately waved his hand and said:
"It doesn't matter, you just followed my instructions. Look, you have tested these people out right now!"
Hai Rui paused, stood up, and said in a deep voice:
"It's just that this situation is more serious than I thought before. As the governor, Shen Ruiguang has the power to control the officials in the northern border. But judging from his appearance, it seems that he does not dare to provoke this group of people."
"Don't dare to provoke..."
Noticing what Hai Rui said, Zhang, Tang and Zhi both looked at each other with solemn expressions.
"Sir, are you saying that Shen Ruiguang and these officials who came from the border army are not the same people?"
"Yes, that should be the case. It's impossible for Shen Ruiguang not to know your Lord's temperament. But from his words just now, I heard a hint of provocation, as if he wanted to provoke the Lord and The struggle between officials who came from the frontier army."
Upon hearing this, Hai Rui nodded immediately and said:
"That's right! If it's a group of people, why would Shen Ruiguang come to the door in person and say so many words?"
Having said this, Hai Rui's face darkened and he said:
"I thought I could take this opportunity to try to find out the clues about the person who embezzled the relief food and grass. But now it seems that the person behind the scenes has used a trick to divert trouble to the east, trying to provoke a fight between us and these officials who came from the border army. , so you can fish in troubled waters!"
Hearing this, Zhang Tang pondered for a moment, but couldn't help but said with relief:
"Your Excellency, there is no need to worry too much. This can also prove that the person behind the scenes has not turned all the officials in Jianchang Mansion into his people. In this way, we can have less resistance when we investigate later. Got it!"
At this time, Zhi Du also spoke:
"Sir, after I wait, should I put He Yang's case aside first and fully pursue the case of embezzlement of relief food and grass?"
When Hai Rui heard this, he didn't hesitate at all and said in a deep voice:
"No, continue the investigation! They collude with each other, form secret parties, abuse laws and frame the people. I don't know if these officials of Jianchang Prefecture are still doing some outrageous things in private. In this case, I will never sit idly by and watch. Ignore it. The person behind the scenes wants to use a knife to kill people, so I want to see if it’s my head that’s hard or his knife that’s fast. I don’t believe it, after this knife is broken, it’s not revealed!”
Having said this, Hai Rui paused, took out a token from his sleeve, handed it to Luo Fei, a Legalist disciple at the side, and said:
"The officers and soldiers in Jianchang Prefecture can no longer believe it at this time. With this token, go to the frontier army camp of Huichuan County and secretly meet with Zhenbei General Cheng Bushi and ask him to mobilize his men!"
