In the Yangxin Hall, memorials that have been processed by the cabinet and noted are continuously sent to Xiao Cheng.
Local government affairs, frontline military affairs, grain and grass transportation, material allocation... running the country requires handling trivial and complicated affairs every day, which is already a headache and overwhelming!
Although there are talents such as Zhuge Liang and Di Renjie in the current cabinet to help Xiao Cheng handle government affairs.
However, since most of the current chief officials of the six ministries are former court officials, although they are barely capable of handling government affairs, they are not really competent, and it still adds a lot of unnecessary workload to Xiao Chengping.
In the Yangxin Hall at this time, Xiao Cheng looked at the memorial in his hand and frowned.
Looking up at the ministers kneeling in the palace, he suppressed the anger in his heart and coldly snorted:
"Gong Jing, I entrusted the military department to you. Is this how you told me?"
The power of the emperor was as deep as the sea. And because of many things that happened after he ascended the throne, Xiao Cheng's power and prestige became even higher. The civil and military ministers in the court were both respectful and fearful. They even became more cautious when it came to showing off in front of Xiao Cheng.
At this time, Xiao Cheng only showed a hint of sullenness, and the atmosphere in the entire Yangxin Palace suddenly became extremely depressing. The palace people waiting on the side held their breath subconsciously, not daring to make a sound.
Gong Jing, the minister of the Ministry of War, who was kneeling in the palace, was even more embarrassed at this time.
Hearing Xiao Cheng's accusation, Gong Jing broke into cold sweat on his forehead, trembled slightly, and stammered:
"Please, please, Your Majesty, forgive me!"
Seeing his appearance, Xiao Cheng became even more angry. He slapped the imperial case and cursed:
"Look at the Ministry of Household Affairs. Even rewards and rewards have been prepared a long time ago. However, your Ministry of War, with the help of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion, today has not even been able to complete the statistics of the battle achievements of the frontline soldiers, and it is still licking its face.
May I forgive you?"
Now that the fighting on the front line has stopped, it is natural to start giving rewards based on merit. This matter is related to the morale of the army, so it is naturally a top priority. Yan Song of the Ministry of Revenue has already prepared the pay, silver, rewards, etc.
.
As a result, when we got to the Ministry of War, we were stuck!
It has been half a month since the frontline battle reports were sent back, but the Ministry of War has not yet finished sorting them out. The matter of rewards was directly delayed because of the Ministry of War, so today Xiao Cheng summoned Gong Jing, the minister of the Ministry of War, to make a report
Accountability.
Gong Jing also knew that he was in trouble this time, so he could only cry and apologize, while defending himself:
"Please calm down, Your Majesty! It's not that I'm not trying my best. It's actually that during this period, the situation on the front line has been tense. The allocation of ordnance and the statistics of soldiers killed in battle all need to be handled by the Ministry of War. It is really because of the shortage of manpower and the exhaustion of the officials above and below, so we can do something
There’s a delay.”
Looking at Gong Jing who kept apologizing, Xiao Cheng felt like having a fit, but he held it back.
Because Xiao Cheng knew very well that Gong Jing was not not trying his best, nor was he not loyal enough. In fact, his ability was too average, which led to such a situation.
On the Golden Finger Panel, his literature, wisdom, and command are only around seventy. Such abilities are enough for the government. But he must be in charge of the Yun Kingdom's Ministry of War and coordinate the country's military forces.
The matter of military registration and ordnance was a bit difficult for him!
After all, it is not a game. A talented person can directly accept an official position such as Shangshu or Prime Minister. There must be rules and regulations for the promotion of officials above the court. Xiao Cheng cannot just look at the ministers' attributes panel and appoint them!
If it weren’t for the Ceka examination, the talents who came from the imperial examination would have too little qualifications, so why would Xiao Cheng do this!
Accepting Gong Jing's appointment as Minister of War was Xiao Cheng's choice at the time, and he should have been mentally prepared. At this time, he naturally did not want to express his anger, so he took a deep breath and said coldly:
"I will dispatch a few people from the cabinet to your Ministry of War to assist in government affairs. Within three days, everything must be handled from beginning to end!"
Hearing this, Gong Jing's eyes turned red, he kowtowed heavily to the ground, and said in a trembling voice:
"My lord, thank you for your understanding!"
Xiao Cheng said to the little eunuch beside him with a cold face:
"In passing the decree, Zhuge Liang, Zheng Derong, and Xiang Pei, as ministers in the cabinet, were given the title of chief of the Ministry of War and assisted in the affairs of the Ministry of War!"
When the young eunuch heard the order, he immediately responded and left with Gong Jing.
Xiao Cheng sighed softly and leaned on the dragon chair a little tiredly.
Speaking of which, among the six departments now, the Department of Husbandry, which is represented by Yan Song, and the Department of Punishment, which is in charge of Wen Tiren, are the two most efficient.
These two people are both the best at guessing their intentions. Serving under Xiao Cheng, naturally cannot be measured by their original historical performance. But even if Xiao Cheng knows this very well, every time he wants to praise Xing,
When Hu Liangbu is doing his job effectively, when he sees their names, he always feels a little ridiculous in his heart.
Thinking of this, Xiao Cheng shook his head slightly and said in a deep voice:
"It's still not enough!"
Feng Bao, who was waiting on the side, heard this and immediately asked cautiously:
"Your Majesty, what is not enough?"
Naturally, Xiao Cheng doesn’t have enough talents now!
At first I thought it was almost done, but now I see that there are not enough talents in the Six Ministries of the Central Government, Dali Temple, Yushitai, the Governor's Office of the Fifth Army, and the three local bureaus!
"Nothing!" Xiao Cheng shook his head.
Naturally, Feng Bao would not ask further questions. Seeing that Xiao Cheng was unwilling to answer, he immediately shut up and stopped talking.
Xiao Cheng pondered for a while and then asked:
"Are you fully prepared for the matter in Xia Kingdom?"
When Feng Bao heard this, he quickly said:
"Your Majesty, everything is ready! This time, Shangyu's reserve office will be the main one, and our Dongchang factory will be the auxiliary one. The layout in Yongzhou has been completed!"
Hearing this, Xiao Cheng nodded and warned:
"This time you two are playing together. Although it is just a casual game, it is vaguely related to the future layout of Jinling City. Don't make mistakes, and don't just think about secret competition!"
The functions of Dongchang and Niangan slightly overlapped. Previously, one was focused on the Xia Kingdom and the other on the Li Dynasty. There was not much conflict, so Xiao Cheng would naturally not interfere.
But now, the Li Dynasty has completely surrendered, and Dongchang has mobilized capable manpower to work hard in Xia Kingdom, placing spies, spies, hidden stakes, and friction gaps between the sticky poles.
In order to prevent delays in the future, Xiao Cheng naturally wanted to warn him in advance.
When Feng Bao heard this, he quickly said:
"Your Majesty, please rest assured. Our Dongchang and Shangyu backup offices only know how to serve your Majesty. Naturally, they cooperate sincerely and do not do what he wants!"
When Xiao Cheng heard this, he just nodded casually, lowered his head and started to approve the memorial again.
After waiting for a while, the memorials on the imperial case were almost ready. Feng Bao took advantage of Xiao Cheng to get up and relax and said quickly:
"Your Majesty, the wife of Chiang Mai County is entering the palace today. Didn't Your Majesty say that she wanted to see her before? My servant just went to see her, and today's memorial has been reviewed almost..."
Having said this, Feng Bao paused and continued:
"The county's wife came to Beijing and brought 15,000 Ailao young men with her, and they are now stationed in the capital camp."
Mrs. Liu of Chiangmai County has been helping Xiao Cheng stabilize the Ailao clan. The various policies of the government and the government have also been very cooperative, which has saved Xiao Cheng a lot of worry. This time Xiao Cheng wanted to form the Wudang Fei Army, so he even mobilized
With so many young people from the clan coming, Xiao Cheng could see their attentiveness.
In order to be seen by the government and the public, both at home and abroad, Xiao Cheng would naturally show kindness to him!
Xiao Cheng nodded and said:
"The county lady is here, she wants to meet her, and she just happens to have a look at Shu'er!"
When Feng Bao heard this, he lowered his head in response, and then said loudly:
"Your Majesty sets off to the Changqiu Palace..."
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Xia State, Shaoyang County, Yongzhou.
As the county seat of Shaoyang County, Yongzhou is close to the Tanjiang River, guarding key points and having access to the southwest, making it the most important place for Shaoyang County.
But now, the southwest defense line has been recast, and Yongzhou has become an inaccessible place above the defense line, so it naturally attracts more attention.
In Yongzhou today, in addition to Murong Fu's men recruiting soldiers and horses to garrison, King Qi also continued to mobilize Xia troops into the city to assist in defense under the orders of the imperial court and the Southwest Recruitment Department. The situation became increasingly tense and the atmosphere became more depressing.
Of course, anyone with a discerning eye can see at this time that the increasing tension and atmosphere in the city are not all due to the Yun Army's soldiers approaching the border...
At night, curfew.
The city of Yongzhou, which had suffered from a plague before and had a sharp decline in population, now felt slightly dead. There were few lights on both sides of the streets, and the birds were silent, let alone domestic cats and dogs. The only sounds that could be heard were those patrolling the city.
The soldiers' clothes and armor were rubbing against each other, and there was the sound of uniform steps.
There are two groups of soldiers. One side has soldiers with all armor and armor. They are not many in number, but they are quite elite. On the other side, only a few people are wearing armor. Most of the soldiers are only wearing cloth armor. There are always many soldiers, but at a glance, it is clear that there are no elites on the opposite side.
.
Obviously, one side is the Xia army that has just entered the city to assist in the defense, and the other side is Murong Fu's troops.
In name, the two groups of people were colleagues of Pao Ze. But in fact, the soldiers on both sides were wary of each other. At this time, when they encountered each other during a night patrol, there was also a potential for tension to rise.
At this time, just outside Yongzhou City, a Xia army of hundreds of people was quietly lurking outside the city.
The leading general turned out to be Liao Gu, the commander-in-chief of the southwest frontier army who had been besieged by Wu Zixu with 20,000 soldiers and horses and destroyed an army of hundreds of thousands!
Perhaps he felt ashamed because he had defeated hundreds of thousands of troops in one battle, or he was worried about what the court would do to him in the future. Anyway, Liao Gu was only a month or two old, and he was so emaciated that he was out of shape.
But other than that, he didn't seem to have any other serious injuries.
In the battle of Rongzhou City, Liao Gu was escorted out by his own soldiers and was not killed in the army. Afterwards, he collected the defeated troops and retreated all the way, and even returned to Shaoyang County unharmed.
The situation in the southwest was tense, and King Qi ignored him for a while, so Liao Gu was assigned to lead thousands of broken troops to repair near Yongzhou.
As for why he appears here at this time?
Liao Gu looked at the man dressed as a soldier beside him, lowered his voice and said hastily:
"What are you planning on asking me to come here?"
The man dressed as a soldier smiled slightly and said:
"General Liao, don't worry, my colleagues in the East Factory have already made arrangements!"
Hearing this, Liao Gu glanced at the man again and opened his mouth to speak, but in the end he did not speak. He just swallowed nervously, covered his heart that was beating like a drum, and endured it.
He knew the identity of the person in front of him very well!
Yun Guo, the guards at Niangan...
Just a few days ago, people from the Yun Kingdom suddenly came to the door with a token of King Jin, asking Liao Gu to obey his orders.
Although Liao Gu was a retainer of the King of Jin, he was still grieved by the defeat of Rongzhou City, so he naturally refused the Yun people's solicitation. However, the Yun people made it clear that they could help him get rid of his crime and make meritorious service.
part of the blame.
After destroying hundreds of thousands of troops in the First World War, Liao Gu knew that he would not be able to escape punishment. But an ant could survive in vain, let alone one person?
With the King of Jin's seal and the desire to survive, Liao Gu agreed to Nianganchu's request, selected hundreds of trustworthy soldiers from the defeated army, followed Nianganchu's guards, and secretly lurked outside Yongzhou City.
The guard at Nianzhang, dressed as a soldier, estimated that the time was almost up, so he stood up and looked at the wall of Yongzhou City.
Liao Gu looked along his line of sight, and his eyes suddenly opened with a look of horror.
Suddenly, on the city wall, there was a fire swaying for several times, as if sending some message to the people outside the city.
Liao Gu stood up in panic and said:
"You, you want me to betray the country and seize Yongzhou City for you?"
The reason why Liao Gu agreed to cooperate with Niangan was just to find a way to survive. But in the end, he was still not mentally prepared to commit treason!
The guard at Sticky Rod heard this and said:
"General Liao, please don't say anything. Just wait patiently... I have a cooperative relationship with your Highness, and you are a retainer of King Jin. Even if I want to incite someone to rebel, it won't be yours!"
After all, if Liao Gu rebels and is investigated afterwards, the King of Jin will not be able to escape the blame. This is not in line with the interests of the Yun State!
Liao Gu opened his mouth to speak, but could not speak. He just waited uneasily in his heart.
After a while, I saw a bonfire burning outside the city, the flames soaring into the sky, extremely conspicuous.
Suddenly, a cry for death could be heard in Yongzhou City. Murong Fu's troops took advantage of the Xia army's unpreparedness and took action.
Even though the Xia army was on guard, the number of Xia soldiers and horses in the city was really small, and they were not prepared for Murong Fu's sudden attack. In an instant, the Xia army on the city wall was caught off guard, and they retreated continuously, losing control of the city gate.
The gate of Yongzhou City burst open.
At the same time, there was a rustling sound in the mountains and forests outside the city. At some point, a group of Yun Kingdom soldiers and horses emerged and headed towards Yongzhou City brazenly.
Upon seeing this, the guard at Sticky Post immediately clapped his hands, pointed at the Yun army outside Yongzhou City, and said with a smile:
"General Liao, here's your chance to atone for your sins!"
When Liao Gu heard this, he was stunned and said:
"What?"
"Repulse the Yun army, help the troops in the city quell Murong Fu's rebellion, and defend Yongzhou City. It is a crime and meritorious service... Don't worry, arrangements have been made. This Yun army will retreat at the first touch!" The guard at the sticky pole said solemnly.
"You led the defeated army to renovate in the camp, but by mistake, you noticed a sudden movement of Yun's army. In a hurry, you had to send your own soldiers to warn Yongzhou City. However, because Murong Fu intercepted the military report, Yongzhou City was annexed
No response. In desperation, you had no choice but to lead hundreds of soldiers and horses to follow secretly, and finally fought out under critical circumstances and saved Yongzhou City!"
When the guard at the sticking pole said this, he smiled slightly, looked at Liao Gu, and said:
"Even the military report reporting the movements of the Yun army has been arranged for you. No one will notice anything strange. What do you think, General Liao?"
When Liao Gu heard this, his eyes suddenly widened.
But, why is this...
As soon as the question came out of his mind, Liao Gu immediately thought of the seal of His Royal Highness, Prince Jin, and the guards at Sticky Branch who claimed to be cooperating with both parties, and he immediately swallowed the question back.
It turns out that Yun Guo's stick-stick department was actually targeting Jinling City!
Liao Gu tightened the hilt of the sword in his hand, and looked at Yun Jun below who was shouting for murder and rushing towards Yongzhou City, and his heart beat even harder.
An opportunity to make meritorious deeds...
By protecting Yongzhou City, he can always save his life and continue to serve in the army. With the help of the Yun Kingdom, if His Highness the King of Jin can regain his power, it will be his chance!
Thinking of this, Liao Gu's eyes became firmer.
He slowly drew out the long sword from his waist, walked quickly to the hundreds of soldiers he had brought with him, and said loudly:
"Brothers, here's our chance to make meritorious deeds. Protect Yongzhou City and kill!"
Hundreds of defeated soldiers looked at Yongzhou City where the sound of fighting could be heard in the distance, and the Yun army that was heading towards the city, with panic in their eyes.
They had already seen how powerful Yun Jun was in Rongzhou City, and the shadow in their hearts was still there, so how could they dare to charge forward?
When Liao Gu saw this, he gritted his teeth and said:
"I, the general, will personally lead the troops into battle today. If you don't want to wait for the DPRK and China's military law to deal with you, follow me!"
After saying that, Liao Gu immediately took a few soldiers and rushed towards Yun Jun.
A group of defeated soldiers stayed in place, in a dilemma, with hesitant and embarrassed expressions on their faces.
The guard at the stick smacked his lips and said softly:
"Help them!"
The guards at Nianganchu, who were hiding in the army together and using their identities as Liao Gu's personal soldiers, immediately stood up with murderous intent in their eyes. They drew their weapons and shouted in unison:
"The general has an order. If you don't stop, kill him!"
Under the threat of the bright sword, some of the hesitant soldiers immediately stood up and his follower Liao Gu rushed out, shouting with all his strength:
"Kill!"
The rest of the defeated soldiers, under the threat of the steel sword behind them and driven by their companions around them, took steps to kill towards the front.
"kill!"
Hundreds of soldiers and horses suddenly killed each other and headed towards the Yun army.
Liao Gu rushed to the front. Thinking of the humiliation of the defeat of Rongzhou City, his expression became more ferocious, obviously intending to vent his resentment.
Hundreds of defeated soldiers, under Liao Gu's personal leadership of the charge, gradually regained some of their elite posture. They charged forward with screams, and they actually looked like they were determined to win.
The Yun army, which had been ordered long ago, naturally retreated at the first touch when faced with the sudden attack of the Xia army, and withdrew immediately, completely ignoring the Yongzhou City that was right in front of them.
On the wall of Yongzhou City, Murong Fu, who was waving his long sword like a swimming dragon, was killing the Xia army with all his strength. At this moment, he caught a glimpse of the retreating Yun army. His sword suddenly trembled, his eyes were about to split, and he roared:
"No! Why is this..."
Before he finished speaking, several more masters from the Xia army came out and attacked Murong Fu together.
The roaring sound was gradually submerged in the shouts of killing...