Liu Chengzong was sizing up Zhang Yuanheng, and Zhang Yuanheng was also secretly observing Liu Chengzong.
Liu Shizi is very young, but he has the shadow of a famous tree. The three characters Liu Chengzong are the unique golden sign among the older generation of rebels in northern Shaanxi.
After all, in our Ming Dynasty, there were many people who rebelled, but there were very few people who rebelled to the point of creating a map for the Ming Dynasty.
It only took Zhang Yuanheng twenty-two days to get from Beijing to Xining, but it took him a full twenty-six days to walk through Xikang Road.
Although the quality of the roads was poor, the territory controlled by Liu Chengzong was far larger than Zhang Yuanheng expected. He believed that there were at least 600,000 people under Liu Chengzong's rule, and he couldn't help but worry about the future internal and external troubles of the Ming Empire.
What does 600,000 people mean?
Most of the back money.
It is not the three Jurchen tribes, but more than half of the emerging regime that gathered together the Jianzhou, Haixi, and Yeren tribes as well as the Han, Mongolian, and Korean ethnic groups.
And they also have a corridor, the Hehuang Valley. Zhang Yuanheng believes that Liu Chengzong's next military action will be to cut off the connection between Lanzhou and Gansu, further annex Gansu Town, and seize all the land northwest of the Yellow River, which will cause no less harm to the imperial court than later. Jin's threat in Liaodong.
The most important thing is that Hou Jin started from outside the customs, and there was great resistance to breaking into the customs; Liu Chengzong started in Shaanxi, and there was great resistance for him to stay here, but it was easy to fight back to Shaanxi. Those rural parties who rebelled and did not rebel were all Looking forward to it.
You can't think of this kind of thing. Zhang Yuanheng shudders just thinking about it.
Sunday Qiang was busy greeting Liu Chengzong, smiling and complaining about the fatigue of the journey. Liu Chengzong found it strange that he was doing this, and said with a smile: "I know this is a difficult journey, but you are so happy. It seems that good things have happened to Tongzhi. "
Sunday Qiang's face was full of joy, he looked at Zhang Yuanheng and said: "Thanks to husband Zhang, the commander-in-chief doesn't know anything. He is from my hometown and is also from Baoding Prefecture. When he returns, he will use his brocade clothes to bring my family to Xining."
In an instant, Liu Chengzong's smile paused for a moment, and then he continued to smile: "You have brought your family to the northwest, don't you plan to go back?"
He heard that Zhou Zhouqiang didn't know what he was thinking, so he used these words to save Zhang Yuanheng's life.
Zhou Zhouqiang saw him stunned for a moment, but his expression remained unchanged. He turned around, waved his hands and laughed, "Hey, let's talk about it when we get back. My family is so far away, and I miss you so much!"
Master Zhou thought to himself: Now that we have conquered such a large territory, if we don’t bring our family members, if one day you suddenly claim the title of King Biang, mount an army of 100,000, and launch an Eastern Expedition, the imperial court will not be able to kill you, nor will it be able to kill my family members in Baoding Prefecture. ?
Zhang Yuanheng also heard it and looked at Zhou Zhouqiang secretly, feeling grateful in his heart.
He heard Liu Chengzong say to him: "I heard in Kangning Mansion that Mr. Zhang is a talented man and has the idea of doing things together. That is a family. Stop standing and please sit down."
In this era, the eunuchs who worked under the big eunuchs and had no specific rank were generally called husbands, while the big shots were called eunuchs, which meant supervising their duties and supervising the army.
But on the one hand, Liu Chengzong thought that calling him a eunuch seemed flattering and inconsistent with his status, and calling his husband felt awkward, so he called him "Master" to avoid being a eunuch and give him respect.
"Thank you so much, little man, Generalissimo."
Zhang Yuanheng hurriedly clasped his fists and almost yelled "Master" with his bare mouth. When Sunday Qiang sat down, he slowly sat on the opposite side. He didn't dare to sit down anymore. Still brave, he imitated Sunday Qiang's title and asked: "Commander is called The villain is here, why?"
"You don't have to be so formal. I just heard that the imperial court sent Mr. Zhang to Xining. Liu is in Kangning and can't go far to welcome him, so I have to invite Mr. Zhang to come here and have a chat."
Liu Chengzong smiled easily and asked with interest: "What was Mr. Zhang's official position in the palace in the past?"
He wanted to know why Zhang Yuanheng came to Xining. He mainly wanted to know if he had offended Cao Huachun and someone in the palace wanted him to die.
He wanted to determine two things through this. The first was what the imperial court wanted to do by sending the eunuch; the second was whether this person could be used by him.
Unexpectedly, the expression on Zhang Yuanheng's face was very complicated, a little aggrieved and ashamed, and he said: "The villain dare not deceive the commander-in-chief. The villain has never entered the palace."
Liu Chengzong understood this. At this time, he did not realize that the unlucky man sitting in front of him was a big unlucky man. He nodded and said: "Is that so? In which palace does Mr. Zhang serve?"
Zhang Yuanheng said: "The villain has never entered the palace... I heard that the commander-in-chief took the scholar examination when he was young?"
Oh, you asked me about it!
Liu Chengzong laughed, wondering if he was being too friendly, but he did not change his face. He sympathized with the eunuch very much, so he nodded and said: "Not even when I was young, I passed the examination as a scholar."
"I'm also a student."
When Liu Chengzong heard this, he was dumbfounded: "Well, what about that?"
The young eunuch in front of him didn't look like a scholar at all. Normally, scholars should be a little proud of themselves, but Liu Chengzong didn't see any arrogance in him, and he felt like a lowly eunuch.
He said: "Tell me and listen."
Zhang Yuanheng originally had no desire to talk about his experience, but when Liu Chengzong asked, he didn't dare not tell it, so he told it a little bit.
The expressions on the faces of Liu Chengzong and Sunday Qiang were very complicated.
Zhang Yuanheng's story is full of sorrow, involving both natural and man-made disasters, as well as the results of his personal choices.
I don’t know how to describe it for a moment. Is it unlucky? It is indeed unlucky, but those misfortunes are almost destined to be unavoidable.
A good background gave him knowledge and vision that was higher than others. Natural disasters and family changes caused him to lose the opportunity to move up to a higher level, and he stayed in a position of neither advancement nor inferiority. Entering the palace and becoming a eunuch became a reality. A shortcut to power and wealth.
There are risks when taking shortcuts. People are only willing to listen to those who have succeeded in getting rich and rich through risks. Those who took risks but did not get rewards are mostly unknown.
Zhang Yuanheng looked as normal and said with an apologetic smile: "Before coming to Xining, I mainly moved bricks to build the city in Songpanwei."
Liu Chengzong nodded, basically sure that the court had bad intentions in letting Zhang Yuanheng come to Xining.
This birdman should be a humanoid weapon of the imperial court. In the past ten years, he was caught up in the two major earthquakes in the northeast and southwest, and was sent to Xining. There is no doubt that he was intended to kill him.
But Liu Chengzong had a way to avoid this kind of thing. He looked at Zhang Yuanheng for a long time and said, "You go to Songpanwei."
"ah?"
Zhang Yuanheng was stunned by Liu Chengzong's words. He was so amiable before, but suddenly he wanted to send me away again. Who the hell did I offend?
Liu Chengzong said: "The imperial court asked you to monitor the tea and horse trade in Xining. How many horses do you need to hand over every year?"
Four hundred horses.
Zhang Yuanheng thought in his heart that the court had expected this and knew that it would not be able to get many horses from Xining, so he was satisfied with four hundred horses.
But Zhang Yuanheng couldn't say that. He came up and told Liu Chengzong that the court wanted 400 horses, so Liu Chengzong might only give him 200 horses.
"I don't know. The eunuch guarding Shaanxi asked me to take care of it. I must get a war horse for the court."
"Just let it go, you are so brave." Liu Chengzong laughed: "It means that the eunuch guarding Shaanxi has no intention of letting you get the horse."
Zhang Yuanheng was stunned by what he said and quickly defended: "Commander, this is not what the court meant!"
"It doesn't matter what the court means. I just heard you say that there are no family members in Baoding Mansion. There is only a little sister. She is also married, so she has no worries."
Liu Chengzong waved his hand. He didn't care what the court wanted to do by asking Zhang Yuanheng to come. Anyway, he had to listen to him: "You only have this opportunity to come to Xining. If you don't seize it, you will not be able to display your talents and make money in this life." Gain glory and wealth.”
He raised a finger and said with a smile: "But you have to think about it, even if you complete the order given to you by the court, what will you get? Enter the palace and become a eunuch, living day by day... This is the only wish in this life. ?”
Being a eunuch in the late Ming Dynasty was really a day-to-day job in Liu Shizi's eyes.
If he becomes a great eunuch who wins the king's heart, he will live with the imperial court for more than ten years. If he fails to become a great eunuch and become a little eunuch, he might die earlier than Chongzhen.
Liu Chengzong had a smile on his face and said quickly: "Do you know what the situation in the northwest is now?"
Zhang Yuanheng thought again and again, looked at Liu Chengzong cautiously and said: "The imperial court does not dare to fight in the northwest because of the commander-in-chief."
He did not dare to express his suspicion that Liu Chengzong planned to attack Lanzhou.
Liu Chengzong laughed when he heard this, waved his hands and said: "I am not so arrogant. The imperial court does not want to go to war with me, but it is not because of me. My few soldiers are nothing... The imperial court does not want to go to war, because it does not want to fight for itself." Looking for trouble.”
Liu Chengzong had the desire to talk about his strategy, and said with a smile: "In Xining, if the imperial court wants to attack me, it can only gather troops in Lanzhou, Hezhou, and Taozhou. If the troops from Gansu Town dare to come over the mountains, I will dare to attack them." They all surrendered."
This was a real big talk, he didn't dare.
Before solving the problems of the Mongolian tribes outside Jiayuguan, recruiting soldiers from Gansu Town will make him passive in the overall situation, but this does not prevent him from bragging.
Because this passivity is based on his hope that the world will not lose Jiayuguan. No one except him thinks so much.
"Assembling troops in Lanzhou will only create a confrontation situation. The troops crossing the Yellow River may not be able to defeat me. If we don't cross the Yellow River, it will be meaningless except to increase the burden of money and food."
Liu Chengzong shook his head. He should laugh at this time, but he felt sad from the bottom of his heart that a great country had fallen to this point. He sighed: "This is the reason why the imperial court does not fight with me. Of course I do not deny it. I am in military affairs." There is nothing we can do about Lanzhou."
Liu Chengzong's idea of expanding eastward was not war, but momentum building.
War is necessary, but he understands the frontier army. After all, he is one of them. The frontier army is a group of hard-nosed people. Before the general trend is achieved, it is a siege of one city and one place.
People will surrender, even if they suffer heavy casualties and are unable to fight, even he will surrender.
But until then, most people will fight him to the end.
It's just that he is a Han, and the officers and soldiers will maintain their normal will to resist, instead of like Liaodong, who often fights in battles where all the officers and generals are killed.
But similarly, his army will only maintain its normal offensive will. The sympathy of soldiers on both sides in the war is mutual and cheap, and cannot play a decisive role.
Therefore, he wants to create a general trend in the northwest, that is, it does not matter if he cooperates with Liu Chengzong or even surrenders. Doing so is good for him, and everyone is doing this.
"But the time is on me."
Liu Chengzong looked at Zhang Yuanheng and said: "If you don't work for the imperial court in Xining, the imperial court can't do anything to you. If you want to earn some sheep through smuggling and buy horses from the local people in Taozhou, Hezhou, I won't stop you, but I can give it to you." There are many more than the imperial court."
Zhang Yuanheng took a deep breath, leaned forward and asked, "What do you mean, Marshal?"
"I need farm tools, a lot of farm tools. You can go to Songpanwei or Sichuan." Liu Chengzong said: "Use your status to get me farm tools. The more the better."
"Sichuan, Songpan..."
Zhang Yuanheng felt a little embarrassed. He had been ridiculed by people in Songpanwei. Even if he now had the status of a surveillance eunuch, he did not want to return to that place. He said: "Commander, I bought farm tools from Hanzhong and Shaanxi and changed them to the horse industry." no?"
Liu Chengzong looked at Zhang Yuanheng and smiled. To be honest, he was surprised that Zhang Yuanheng refused to go to Songpanwei to do this, because this is a person who likes to take shortcuts, and taking refuge with him is the biggest shortcut in the northwest.
They had just started to make a fortune, and it was a time when everything was possible, and they were still very safe. Maybe they took the family members by force on Sunday not because they thought it was very reliable to defect to Liu Chengzong, but because they could not defeat the imperial court in the future, so they could retreat to Kangning, but if that was not possible, they could force them on Sunday Their family members can also retreat to Tibet.
To put it bluntly, as a prince, Liu Chengzong faced great resistance in Tibet when he conquered cities and territories, but no one would refuse a court official and his family members to escape the war.
People like Zhou Zhouqiang may not be called the best among people in the Han Dynasty, but in the border areas, his wisdom and knowledge can easily change the politics, economy, military and technology of a kingdom.
"You don't need to make farm tools in Hanzhong. Good opportunities like this are in Songpanwei and Sichuan. It depends on whether you want to do it or not."
Liu Chengzong seduced with a smile: "In the imperial court, no matter how good you are, you are just a eunuch. I am in short supply of officials now, you know, right?"
Zhang Yuanheng felt his mouth was dry and pursed his lips, not daring to speak.
"County magistrate, you do this well. If the court changes your place within three years, you don't have to go. I will guarantee you a county magistrate. The policemen around you also have official positions such as inspections. If you have the talent, , General, it is not impossible. How far you can go in the future depends on you."
Liu Chengzong said: "If you do a good job as magistrate of the county, I can guarantee that within six years, the position of magistrate of the state will be waiting for you."
Zhang Yuanheng took a deep breath and leaned back involuntarily. He shouted in his heart, Xikang Second Prefecture has no state!
Liu Chengzong really planned to annex Gansu!
He had been waiting for an opportunity to be appreciated all his life. Now Liu Chengzong really put the opportunity in front of him, which made him feel numb and he could hardly speak: "Master, the commander just said that he wanted to What do I do?"
"Farming tools, Songpanwei, Sichuan."
"Dry!"
Zhang Yuanheng nodded heavily: "I'll do it!"
Liu Chengzong showed a satisfied smile, smiled forcefully at Sunday, and then looked at Zhang Yuanheng and said: "Sure enough, Mr. Zhang is a hero... When you go to Songpanwei and see the destitute military remnants, or the landless Han people in Sichuan, don't forget to tell them that when you go to Qinghai Marshal Come to the place of government."
"As long as they come, one family, one cow, six sheep, and 200 acres of land."
