Chapter 193
In Wen Mansion, it is late at night, the lights are dim, and the cold wind is howling. Snowflakes were flying outside the window, and the inside and outside of the small courtyard were covered with a light layer of snow. The deep and shallow traces on the bluestone seemed like a few light strokes drawn on plain white rice paper.
Wen Tiren sat frowning under the lamp. Opposite him was Hou Xun, the then Minister of Household Affairs. On the table in front of the two of them, there was a foldout. This was the "Changping Army Training Draft" drafted by Hou Xun. .
The draft was not too large, only about thirty or fifty articles, and it lasted for more than a dozen pages.
This draft has been on Wen Tiren's desk for several hours. From the afternoon to now, he has been reading it over and over again, wanting to pick out every word and eat it. His brows have become tighter and tighter, and he has not said a word for a long time. .
Hou Xun remained silent and drank tea lightly. The boy waiting next to him barely kept his eyes open and was also a little drowsy.
"Master Wen, that warrior!"
The martial artist in Hou Xun's mouth refers specifically to Cheng Shijie.
Wen Tiren nodded and said, "It's no longer controllable!"
Originally, he wanted to take advantage of the brainless Zhang Jin, but the problem was that the queen Zhang Yan was not a brainless person. She told Emperor Chongzhen half-truths about Zhang Jin drugging her and making him unconscious. .
The so-called half-truth is that Zhang Jin brought this medicine to her, and she drank it without warning. Zhang Jin saw that Zhang Yan's sister looked bad, so he wanted to find a doctor to prescribe a prescription for Zhang Yan to calm her nerves.
Zhang Jin told his friends about this incident after drinking. Meng Zhihe, the governor of the Department of General Affairs, was in the seventh rank. Meng Zhihe claimed to know a miracle doctor who would definitely cure the disease with medicine.
Therefore, Zhang Jin did not doubt Meng Zhihe, and took the medicine according to the prescription prescribed by the miracle doctor Meng Zhiqiang found, and gave it to Zhang Yan. Then, the miracle doctor asked Zhang Jin to send Queen Zhang to the Miaoying Temple Fragrance Room to rest, and then ordered Queen Zhang's entourage also had to bathe and change clothes to show their piety to the gods and Buddhas.
They never thought that when Queen Zhang Yan's entourage was bathing in Miaoying Temple, their clothes disappeared, and they didn't know what happened next.
Emperor Chongzhen never doubted Zhang Yan's words, so he ordered Jinyiwei and Wang Zhixin of Dongchang to jointly handle the case. Wang Zhixin took the lead and captured Meng Zhihe, the governor of the General Affairs Department. After being tortured, he could not answer the so-called question anyway. Who is the miracle doctor? As a result, Wen Tiren learned that Meng Zhihe had been arrested and could only temporarily cut off contact with Meng Zhihe.
In this way, Meng Zhihe was silenced in Dongchang and the clues were lost.
Jin Yiwei couldn't find out what happened next, so he could only let it go.
Of course, this idiot Zhang Jin was sent to the Imperial College to study, and he went to the Imperial College in Nanjing. He probably would never return to the capital in this life. Tai Kangbo was fined 40,000 taels of silver.
The key problem is that Wen Tiren's wish to deal with Cheng Shijie failed.
Hou Xun smiled lightly and said: "I have been lonely and helpless for half my life, and I value family most. Once that warrior marries Jinshang, no one can touch him unless he resists. His official position will only get bigger and bigger, and he will not be able to do anything about it." If you do well, I will ride on you and me!"
In this regard, Hou Xun's vision is still very unique. Although Emperor Chongzhen's father, Zhu Changluo, gave birth to seven sons and ten daughters, the problem was that five of these seven sons died in infancy and seven of the ten daughters died in infancy. Emperor Chongzhen now has no brothers and only three sisters left. personal.
Therefore, in this case, unlike other emperors, he did not care about brotherhood.
As Hou Xun analyzed, Emperor Chongzhen has no intention of dealing with Cheng Shijie now, but has great trust in him. You must know that in terms of current power, Cheng Shijie nominally controls the entire Liaodong, but his future general control , definitely not limited to Liaodong.
Now Emperor Chongzhen has posthumously named Cheng Shijie's "biological father" Cheng Yongxing as the Crown Prince's Taibao, Minister of the Ministry of War, and Vice-President of the Fifth Army Governor's Office.
Cheng Yongxing's wife Li Shi posthumously presented her as the wife of a country.
Cheng Shijie's first wife, Xiang, gave him a first-class wife.
Cheng Shijie's eldest son, Cheng Jialong, was the hereditary guard of thousands of households.
These things are also Emperor Chongzhen's attitude, showing his trust in Cheng Shijie and Cheng Shijie's status in Emperor Chongzhen's heart.
At least for a long time in the future, Cheng Shijie's status will be unshakable to them.
Cheng Shijie married Princess Zhu Weiti of Le'an, which is like adding a talisman to him.
Wen Tiren pointed at the herb and said with a smile: "Dazhen, you must have been prepared for this herb!"
"Since the defeat of Linghe, Guan Ning's army ancestor Dashou has not listened to his greetings. This evil dog wants to devour the master and can no longer stay. It's just that he refuses to move his nest and it's not convenient for him to attack!"
Hou Xun's analysis was very accurate. In history, Zu Dashou discovered that he had been cheated during the Battle of Daling River. From then on, his relationship with the court was superficially in harmony but mysteriously alienated, until he surrendered and became a slave.
Hou Xun continued: "The only way we can do now is to have an army in our hands!"
"Lu Jiandou's Tianxiong Army..."
"After all, Lu Jiandou is not of the same mind as us!"
Hou Xun smiled bitterly and said: "Lu Jiandou has changed. He betrayed our fellow officials!"
Wen Tiren naturally understood what Hou Xun meant, but the problem was that he did not want to make Hou Xun's wedding dress. Everyone knew that Zuo Liangyu was Hou Xun's disciple, and also knew that the Changping Army had almost become Hou Xun's private army. With Zuo Liangyu The 8,000 Changping Army under his command is currently insignificant, but the problem is that Hou Xun wants to strengthen the Changping Army.
Wen Tiren hesitated and did not express his position directly.
Hou Xun continued: "Master Wen, Xun has already inquired about it. What the warrior relies on is nothing more than muskets and artillery. Ning Haijun's artillery fires quickly and is powerful. At present, the Military Staff Bureau has no way to imitate it, so it can only use it to that weapon. A warrior buys artillery. That warrior is short of money now. Why not buy 36 artillery pieces from him to establish the Changping Army Artillery Battalion, and then buy 4,000 firecrackers to establish the Changping Army Shenhuo Battalion!"
"How much does this cost?"
"Based on the calculation, it's less than two million taels of silver!"
"Where did these two million taels of silver come from? Does the Ministry of Finance have money?"
"No, but it can be transferred from the salary!"
Hou Xun said with a smile: "Transfer the Changping army to Guangning to garrison. Isn't it solved now?"
Hou Xun's idea is very good. Now that Jiannu has been beaten by Cheng Shijie to the point where he can no longer take care of himself, the original Ningjin front line has now become the safest place.
Transferring Zuo Liangyu to Guangning to guard the west bank of the Liao River can not only embezzle Liao's salary openly, but also give the disobedient Zu Dashou some color. The most important thing is that the big shots in the court did not any losses.
Wen Tiren sighed slightly: "I'm afraid that martial artist won't sell it!"
“There’s nothing I won’t sell, as long as the price is right!”
Wen Tiren shook his head and said, "Let's discuss this later!"
The subtext of "further discussion" is that the chief assistant does not agree.
Hou Xun is now also a big shot in the court. Wen Tiren disagrees. He also knows that he can't handle this matter alone. But as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, he controls the Ming Dynasty's money bag, so he has many ways.
If you can't do it obviously, then do it secretly. Didn't Emperor Chongzhen want to transfer fifteen guards to Liaodong? Directly order Henan Dusi and Shandong Dusi to sell what these fifteen guards can sell.
Although the guard posts are poor, no matter how poor they are, they still have tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of acres of military land. Once these guard posts are moved, the military land becomes the biggest piece of fat for their commanders. There are many people who want to eat it, but it is absolutely impossible to get it into their mouths without giving some benefits to the above.
Under Hou Xun's operation, these fifteen guards and eight independent houses with a thousand households were sold for a total of more than 350,000 taels of silver.
…
"etc!"
Cheng Shijie was about to get married, so he was free, but Sun Chengzong was very busy. Just when Zheng Qi was reporting to Cheng Shijie about the gifts given by various big shots in the court, he suddenly heard Hou Xun's name.
Cheng Shijie asked: "How many gifts did Hou Xun give me?"
"Daxing has 600 acres of fertile land, 600 oxen, and 600 fine horses!"
Cheng Shijie frowned. This gift was too heavy, and he had no contact with Hou Xun. This was beyond the scope of formal exchanges.
If it were left to future generations, this would definitely be punished.
Although the Ming Dynasty had too loose control, the problem was that Cheng Shijie really didn't want to have any human relations with Hou Xun.
Sun Chengzong came over, looked at the gift list, and said with a faint smile: "Beiping, are you not used to this?"
"Yes! Students really don't want to owe them so many favors!"
"I'm afraid you can't help but owe these favors."
"Why?"
"You defeated the Jiannu this time and used artillery to blow up the Jiannu to pieces. Such a brilliant achievement, how can all the generals and generals in the world not be tempted? They tried their best to win you over and gave you money, which is nothing more than They want to buy this kind of cannon from you, because the Artillery Bureau cannot make this kind of artillery, so their only way is to buy it from you!"
Sun Chengzong smiled and said: "If you agree, they will get powerful cannons, the combat effectiveness of the army will also rise sharply, and you will get a large amount of much-needed money, and everyone will be happy; if you don't agree, you will be their enemy, and they will try their best to drag them down from now on." How can your majesty sleep well when your hind legs, such a powerful weapon for ruling the country, are only in your hands?"
Cheng Shijie nodded, he knew very well that as the saying goes, three people make a tiger, and a crowd of words makes a gold, Emperor Chongzhen's ears may not be that hard, I'm afraid he will think too much when the time comes.
The imperial idea is about checks and balances, that is, not putting eggs in one basket.
Sun Chengzong felt a little depressed: "This is normal. If a tree is beautiful in the forest, the wind will destroy it. Now you are the towering tree. If you can't let them get close, they will definitely uproot you by any means... Many people can This is how a good general died, and there is nothing I can do about it."
What Sun Chengzong didn't know was that Cheng Shijie's so-called sharp artillery was actually far from the ceiling. What's more, the technical barriers of the artillery itself were not too big. The key to the problem was nitrocellulose.
Cheng Shijie can sell artillery, or even a monkey version of the three-inch cannon. He only needs to replace the nitrocellulose with granular black powder. This is not difficult for the gun bureau in southern Liaoning.
In fact, this time it was not just Hou Xun who wanted to buy Cheng Shijie's cannons, but the new Governor of the Three Borders, Hong Chengchou, and the new Governor of the Six Prefectures of North Zhili, Lu Xiangsheng, also wanted to buy his cannons.
In fact, Lu Xiangsheng wanted to buy more things, including Ning Haijun's crossbows, armors and sabers. The quality of the Tianxiong Army's soldiers was good, but the problem was that Lu Xiangsheng didn't have Cheng Shijie to manage it, so the Tianxiong Army's equipment was actually not that good. .
In the Ming Dynasty, the equipment of the Tianxiong Army was not even in the top ten. They were either inferior swords and guns from the Weapon Bureau, or they were forged by themselves. But the problem is that not everyone has the ability to develop weapons. Lu Xiangsheng’s internal equipment in the Tianxiong Army The quality of the swords, guns and armor manufactured by the Ordnance Institute is not as good as that of the Arms Bureau.
A firegun would explode within a few shots. The chance of killing the enemy was not as high as the chance of injuring himself. This made Lu Xiangsheng very depressed. After hearing about Cheng Shijie's great victory, he rummaged through all the information. , it was not found that Ning Haijun's muskets had exploded, not one of them, nor the artillery.
Lu Xiangsheng's requirements are a bit low. As long as the barrel does not explode, it is a good gun for him. As long as the artillery does not explode, it is also a good artillery.
Cheng Shijie was very happy to find that so many people wanted to buy his own equipment. You must know that many of his factories are actually people's livelihood factories, and it is impossible for him to make huge profits.
For example, in coal mines, the briquettes produced need to be cheaper than dry firewood. The price of firewood in the Ming Dynasty was not fixed. It was roughly one hundred kilograms of dry firewood, which was equivalent to the price of a bucket of rice.
If the price of rice is five cents, then a bundle of firewood is worth between fifty cents and one hundred cents. In fact, at this time, when the mountains are covered with ice and snow, the price of firewood is slightly higher, reaching one hundred and fifty cents. About ten texts.
However, the price of briquettes is one and a half kilograms each, which is only worth a penny. Even if a coal mine mines 600,000 kilograms a day, it can only be sold for more than one hundred taels of silver.
Among the more than one hundred taels of silver, there is also the miner's salary, food, drink, and diarrhea. In fact, it is not even a tenth. A coal mine with a daily output of 600,000 kilograms of coal can earn 20 to 30 taels of silver a day.
But weapons and equipment are different. This is a hugely profitable industry.
After discovering that many people wanted to buy Cheng Shijie's weapons and equipment, he decided to hold a weapons exhibition specifically in Cheng's mansion. Soon Wu Xun and governor-level officials who came to give gifts to Cheng Shijie all received one. Invitation card.
This includes Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai, Cheng Shijie's immediate boss.
Sun Yuanhua took the invitation letter and saw that it simply read: "Your Excellency xx, Prince Shaobao, Duke of Hai, Governor of Liaodong, General Zhenglu, Commander of the Left, and Ning Navy Commander-in-Chief Cheng Shijie will be at Hainan in Daxing County on XX day. The Ning Navy Equipment Exhibition is being held at the Duke's Mansion, and we sincerely invite you to visit us during the introduction!"
At first, Cheng Shijie considered holding it directly in the capital, but the problem was that the capital was very inconvenient. Crossbows and artillery were prohibited items. You must know that if a cannon is set up at Dongzhimen, it can directly bombard the Forbidden City. Even if it is a Folang machine cannon, It can also hit most of the Forbidden City.
The consequences are too serious and no one dares to do it.
In desperation, Cheng Shijie had no choice but to place the equipment exhibition at his own Haiguogong Mansion in Daxing County. Anyway, it was big enough and he could fire directly at home.
Cheng Shijie's land is surrounded by Duke Hai's mansion. There are no crops in the land now, so he can bomb it at will. It's great to plow the land in advance.
Sun Yuanhua looked at the staff beside him and said, "Did Duke Hai's wedding date change?"
Xu Dacheng shook his head and said: "As far as the students know, there has been no rescheduling!"
Sun Yuanhua looked puzzled and said: "Then isn't this the day he gets married?"
"This...students don't know!"
When Cheng Shijie sent out the invitation, he realized that he had made a big mistake. But the problem was that the invitation had already been sent out. How could this equipment exhibition be held without him hosting it?
Sun Chengzong smiled and said: "Let Yongyan go!"
"That's all it can do!"
Cheng Shijie's marriage process is actually the same as that of ordinary folk marriages. It also requires six rites, including surrender, union, and return.
To put it simply, these three rituals are: getting married, joining the wedding ceremony, and returning home.
The day before the surrender, the officials of the Zongzheng Mansion led the Luan Yi School to carry the princess's dowry to the prince-in-law's house. The prince-son-in-law led his clan members to kneel three times and kowtow nine times to greet her at the Qianqing Gate. After the dowry is delivered, the married woman in charge of the Zongzheng Mansion is responsible for displaying it.
Along with the dowry was sent to the Prince Consort's house a "trial maid".
Princess Le'an was a bit special. In order to avoid accidents, she canceled this procedure because she only had one request, and Queen Zhou, the emperor's sister-in-law, did not object.
When other princesses get married, they will burst into tears and their eyes will be swollen like peaches, but this is not the case for Princess Zhu Weiti of Le'an. She wants to laugh.
She could finally escape from this prison. For her, as long as she could get married, no matter how hard the life was, it would not be as good as being in jail in the Forbidden City.
Zhu Weiti has stayed in the Forbidden City since she was born and has never gone out. She is very eager to see the outside world.
Since Cheng Shijie was taking up his post in Liaonan, and after returning to Ning after marriage, she would follow Cheng Shijie to Liaonan, so she was in a good mood.
Gu Ziyi smiled and said: "Princess, I'm afraid this is not good, right?"
"What's wrong?"
Zhu Weiti smiled disapprovingly and said, "It's such a happy day, why do you have to cry?"
Concubine Li Kang was crying. She choked and said: "My son, what if you surrender and I am bullied?"
"Hey, stop pretending, it's you who always bullies others, how can anyone bully you!"
Li Kangfei smiled: "Don't let people make fun of you!"
"hehe……"
Zhu Weiti smiled lightly: "I can finally leave this hellish place!"
"Be careful!"
"This is a hell of a place!"
Concubine Li Kang put her arms around Zhu Weiti and pulled her into her arms, but Zhu Weiti had grown up. Although she was not as tall as the women of later generations, she was half a head taller than Concubine Li Kang.
"It's not that simple!"
Li Kangfei lowered her voice and said: "Liaodong is booming. If you are well, my mother will be more comfortable in the capital! You have to remember..."
Zhu Weiti said with some confusion: "Remember what?"
Concubine Li Kang said: "Except for Gu Ziyi, the people around you are all the emperor's people. They have bad intentions. When you arrive in Liaonan, find an opportunity to kill them all, or send them far away." !”
Zhu Weiti looked stunned: "This...why is this?"
Concubine Li Kang said solemnly: "When you marry into the Cheng family, you belong to the Cheng family. You don't owe the Zhu family anything. Remember, the Cheng family is the priority in everything. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, you will be the first to suffer, not others." !”
Li Kangfei understood that Zhu Weiti was a tool used to win over Cheng Shijie, but who would be willing to be a tool?
Emperor Chongzhen actually gave a large number of elderly concubines and eunuchs to Cheng Shijie as dowries in order to reduce the cost of the palace. In Emperor Chongzhen's view, Cheng Shijie could support an army of tens of thousands, and two thousand more concubines and eunuchs would be a problem. Not big.
But in Concubine Li Kang's eyes, this matter meant that Emperor Chongzhen was worried about Cheng Shijie and allowed more than 2,000 eunuchs and concubines to marry into the Cheng family. Wasn't this an attempt to evade Cheng Shijie?
As the commander-in-chief of an army, Cheng Shijie has the power of life and death in his hands. How can he let others manipulate him easily?
In this case, the most taboo thing is discord between husband and wife. If husband and wife are at odds, the one who is hurt will definitely be her daughter, not Cheng Shijie. In this regard, women are always in a weak position.
Zhu Weiti looked confused: "How...that's more than two thousand people, more than two thousand people, not all of them are eyeliners!"
"It's better to kill by mistake than let go!"
Concubine Li Kang's eyes were full of murderous intent: "Remember those palace ladies must not marry the generals of the Ning Navy as wives or concubines. Anyone who has strange thoughts must not be leniently spared!"
Concubine Li Kang taught Zhu Weiti her experience.
But Zhu Weiti was so frightened that her little face turned pale with fright and she couldn't even speak clearly.
In the Forbidden City, Cheng Shijie thanked Chongzhen.
Serve tea to Queen Zhou and Queen Zhang.
Queen Zhang looked at Cheng Shijie and let out a long sigh.
"Cheng Qing is indeed a talented person!"
"Thank you for the queen's praise, I am ashamed to deserve it!"
After a ceremony, Emperor Chongzhen took Cheng Shijie's hand and said: "Cheng Qing, sister-in-law, we will be one family from now on. One family. Don't talk about two families. Please tell me the truth. If we destroy Jiannu, you need to How much time!"
Cheng Shijie sighed and said: "If Jiannu's strength had not been damaged before, I can guarantee that Huang Taiji could be captured in front of His Majesty within three years, but now... at least five years!"
Emperor Chongzhen looked puzzled: "Jiannu's strength has not been lost, why did it only take three years but now it takes five years?"
"If in the past, Jian Nu dared to fight when they saw Ning Haijun, even if they had thousands of troops, they would dare to attack Ning Haijun's tens of thousands of troops. But now, they have discovered that their strength is far inferior to Ning Haijun, so they will Stay away!"
This is Cheng Shijie's truth. Now if Cheng Shijie launches an attack on Shenyang with his entire army and the army here is just about to set off, Huang Taiji in Shenyang will definitely run away and go to Horqin or Mobei grassland to circle with Ning Haijun. , once Ning Haijun retreats, they will come back.
When Cheng Shijie explained to Emperor Chongzhen clearly the advantages of Jiannu's cavalry and the difficulties of guerrilla warfare, Emperor Chongzhen said seriously: "Five years is five years, I can afford to wait! My eighth sister has suffered too much. In the future, Be kind to her!”
"I understand, I will definitely do it!"
Emperor Chongzhen patted Cheng Shijie on the shoulder and said: "You will live up to me, and I will live up to you!"
(End of chapter)
