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When the governors of the northwest provinces received the news that the Junggar Khanate had nominally unified all the Mongolian tribes and was about to invade the Ming Dynasty's territory, they were all frightened and afraid of the enemy. They felt that the border troops in various places were completely powerless. If they resist, several provinces in the northwest are in danger of falling and losing their territory.
Therefore, these governors had the idea of appeasement by secretly begging for peace with the Mongolian coalition without telling the court. They actually secretly withheld the court's disaster relief grain and grass, detained people fleeing from various places, and wanted to send these grain, grass and people to the Mongolian coalition. , in exchange for the temporary withdrawal of the Mongolian coalition forces to ensure the temporary tranquility of their respective jurisdictions.
Such a shocking plan was naturally stopped by Zhao Junchen in the end.
However, the northwest provinces were in an extraordinary period when they were invaded by bandits and suffered from consecutive natural disasters. In order to ensure the stability of the political situation and people's hearts, Zhao Junchen did not make the matter public, nor did he immediately severely punish the northwest governors. Instead, he gave them meritorious services. opportunities for them to continue to perform their duties in their respective positions.
On this day, it was already evening. In the governor's office in Taiyuan City, Shanxi Governor Li Xun repeatedly looked at the good news in his hand with a complicated expression.
Li Xun never expected that Zhao Junchen not only blocked the attack of the Mongolian coalition, but also completely wiped out the main force of the Mongolian coalition, establishing in one fell swoop a illustrious military exploit that would go down in history!
When I think about how I once feared the enemy like a tiger, it seems too weak and ridiculous.
Because of this, after Li Xun received the good news, he felt full of regret and worry about gains and losses.
Of course, Li Xun did not regret how bad and cowardly his original decision was, but regretted that he had misjudged the situation when he made that decision. In the end, not only did he not get any benefits, but he ended up with a lot of stinking and humiliating consequences. To prepare for sin.
It is precisely because of his status of punishing crimes and doing meritorious deeds that Li Xun's heart is full of worries about gains and losses.
Zhao Junchen had promised Li Xun at the beginning that as long as Li Xun could assist the border troops from various places to stabilize the Shanxi border defense and properly handle the relief matters for the victims in various places, Zhao Junchen would personally petition the court for him, and then the court would also Then he would not be held accountable for his past crimes, and he might even be rewarded.
To this day, Zhao Junchen has completely annihilated the main force of the Mongolian coalition, and Li Xun has been more diligent and caring than ever before. He not only actively assisted the two major military towns of Taiyuan and Datong to resist the invasion of the Mongolian coalition, but also Properly handling the relief matters for the victims has taken countless efforts and exhausted all means.
Therefore, Li Xun asked himself that he had fully fulfilled Zhao Junchen's original request, and he could be regarded as completing the task of meritorious service. However, his past crimes were too serious after all. How the court would deal with him in the end, Li Xun was still worried about Completely bottomless.
Li Xun did not dare to ask for rewards from the court anymore. As long as the court allowed him to retire and return to his hometown in peace, he would be satisfied.
"I regret it! I regret it! If I had known that the Mongolian coalition forces were just paper tigers, why would I have made such a notorious decision? If I had been braver and firmer at that time and actively presided over the Shanxi border defense, wouldn't I be like this now? Zhao Junchen usually becomes a hero who attracts the attention of the world? How can he become a victim of crime like this, waiting for the imperial court to punish him in fear? I regret it! I regret it! "
Since receiving the good news about the Weishui River, Li Xun has sighed like this countless times.
Just as Li Xun was sighing again, his clan brother and staff member Li Qian suddenly opened the door and entered the room.
After seeing Li Qian, Li Xun immediately became energetic, stood up and asked, "Brother Qian, is everything ready?"
Li Qian nodded repeatedly and said: "Everything has been taken care of! Cousin, all the houses, fields and shops you left in Taiyuan City have been sold. Plus the cash we have accumulated over the years, there is a total of One million, four hundred and seventy thousand taels of silver can be used at any time!"
After hearing what Li Qian said, Li Xun took a long breath and said: "Brother Qian, you also understand my current situation, because the matter of uniting the governors of Shaanxi and Gansu to privately beg for peace with Mongolia must have been violated. The imperial court's grudge, although Brother Wei has worked conscientiously and diligently during this period, and has achieved a lot of achievements, but in the end, whether the merits will be equal to the faults, he is not sure... Now, as the imperial envoy Master Zhao wipes out all If the Mongolian coalition forces are defeated, the imperial court may settle accounts at any time. It is at this time when our life and death are at stake, we must take action, and we must not sit back and wait for death!"
Li Qian said solemnly: "I will obey my cousin's orders in everything!"
Li Xun's expression was full of reluctance, but in the end he gritted his teeth and said: "At this time, it depends on whether there is a powerful official with enough weight who is willing to intercede for me! And for my brother, after thinking about it, all the officials in the court There are only two nobles among them who have the ability to rescue me. One is the powerful Zhou Shangjing, Zhou Ge Lao, and the other is the imperial envoy Zhao Junchen who has just made great achievements! Now we have one hundred and forty-seven in our hands. Wanxianyin, you will take half a million of them to the capital to lobby Mr. Zhou Ge, while I will personally take the other five hundred thousand taels and secretly go to Huamachi Camp to ask for an audience with the imperial envoy Zhao!... As for the remaining four The 170,000 taels of silver were secretly sent to the old house in the country for hiding. If things develop for the worst, our Li family will not be able to recover with this amount of money!"
As a governor, Li Xun had some courage after all. In order to ensure safety, he had to throw away most of his wealth in one fell swoop. '
But Li Qian did not have such courage, and he was inevitably a little distressed, but he hesitated and said: "Cousin, the imperial envoy Zhao has already promised that the imperial court will never pursue any further investigation. Do you still want to ask the imperial court for your merits in person? Again? Why send him another five hundred thousand taels of silver?"
Seeing Li Qian's reluctant look, Li Xun angrily yelled: "Stupid! Zhao Junchen has never been a gentleman who keeps his promises. Now that he is at the height of his success, whether he still remembers this promise or not is a matter of debate. , even if he can keep his promise, but when he vouched for me to the court, whether he tried his best or dealt with it half-heartedly, the effect is completely different! In my opinion, Zhao Junchen has more influence on this matter than Zhou Mr. Ge is even bigger, so I must go see him in person!"
After Li Qian sighed helplessly, he stopped raising questions and just asked: "Cousin, when do you plan to set off?"
Li Xun thought about it and said: "After Zhao Junchen wiped out the main force of the Mongolian coalition, the Mongolian Tatars who are now invading Shanxi, Zhili and other places are just dividing their forces. They will definitely retreat soon. Shanxi border defense is no longer needed. I don’t have anything to worry about anymore, most of the relief work for the victims has come to an end... I will take care of the matters at hand and set off for Huamachi Camp in two days!"
Li Qian nodded and was about to ask some more questions when he suddenly heard a loud noise outside the governor's office. It was the roar of gongs and drums, the sound of firecrackers, and the faint cheers of the people, but it was extremely noisy. noisy.
After hearing such a movement, Li Xun immediately frowned and expressed great dissatisfaction.
Ever since Taiyuan City received the news about the success of the Wei River, the officials and citizens have been rushing to celebrate. It is not surprising that there is such a noise, but the governor's office is an important place of the imperial court after all, and ordinary people are not even allowed to pass by at will, and Li Xun and Li Qian Now we are having a secret conversation in the governor's yamen study, but we are still disturbed by the noise. It is obvious that someone gathered near the governor's yamen to celebrate, which is obviously a violation of the rules.
Seeing Li Xun's dissatisfied expression, Li Qian quickly left the study to inquire about the situation.
After a while, Li Qian returned to the study and reported: "Cousin, it's those Shanxi merchants who are causing trouble! These Shanxi merchants are so rich and generous that they bought all the fireworks in the city and are now setting them off everywhere. , and also hired all the gong and drum troupes, stages, and storytellers in the city to perform for the people in the city free of charge, and set up hundreds of banquets in the four cities of the southeast, northwest, and northwest for the people to eat and drink at will, all for the purpose of celebrating Imperial Envoy Zhao’s Great Victory on the Wei River... Because the scene was so big, it even caused trouble near our Yamen... Cousin, do you want me to drive them away?"
Li Xun shook his head and said: "No need... Now is a sensitive period, and these Shanxi merchants are all wealthy and powerful people. I don't have the right to embarrass them over such a small thing at this time... However, these Shanxi merchants want to You really spent a lot of money to please Zhao Junchen!"
Li Qian whispered: "I also received news about my return. It was said that after these Shanxi businessmen received the news about Zhao Junchen's success, they immediately gathered at Guo Linxiang's house and talked in secret for more than three hours. Who I don’t know what they talked about, but after the secret conversation, the houses of Guo Linxiang, He Zeng, and Chen Gongxing were all preparing carriages and horses, and they seemed to be planning to rush to Huamachi Camp to see Zhao Junchen.”
Hearing what Li Qian said, Li Xun's expression suddenly changed. After pondering for a moment, he said quickly: "Immediately ask the people in the house to prepare the carriages and horses to salute. I won't waste any more time. I will handle it tonight." After finishing all the follow-up matters, we will rush to Huamachi Camp tomorrow morning!"
Li Xun had been in high and low officialdom for many years, but he quickly understood the pros and cons of what the Shanxi merchants did to him!
With all the practices of the Shanxi merchants, it was obvious that they were planning to completely surrender to Zhao Junchen! Guo Linxiang, He Zeng, and Chen Gongxing are the leaders of the Shanxi Merchant Group. When they go out to see Zhao Junchen this time, they must send a big gift to Zhao Junchen to show their sincerity.
The merchants of Shanxi are all wealthy people, so the gift they gave Zhao Junchen must be extraordinary. Li Xun was worried that if he arrived late, Zhao Junchen might not value his five hundred thousand taels of silver, so Will be in a hurry to set off.
After Li Qian was stunned for a moment, he quickly figured this out, nodded quickly and said, "I'll go make arrangements right away!"
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At the beginning, the northwest provinces secretly begged for peace with the Mongolian coalition without telling the court. Hexi Governor Zhang Wenhui and Shanxi Governor Li Xun were also among the participants, so their positions were somewhat similar. At this time, they both felt regretful and worried about gains and losses.
However, unlike Li Xun, who only wanted to retire and return to his hometown, Zhang Wenhui is now in his prime, and his character is somewhat retaliatory and petty. He is not as easy to surrender as Li Xun.
When Zhao Junchen arrived at Huamachi Camp, he immediately placed three governors of the three sides, Wang Zheng, Wang Zheng, Hedong Governor Zhang Wenhui, and Hexi Governor Zhang Wenhui under house arrest. Not only did he take away their power and prevent their peace begging plans, He didn't show any good looks to them either.
Afterwards, although Zhao Junchen asked Zhang Wenhui to return to Hedong to continue performing his duties as governor, Zhang Wenhui also resented Zhao Junchen because of these things. Although he knew that Zhao Junchen's successful defeat of the Mongolian coalition would be the most beneficial to him, he still couldn't help it. Will secretly hope that Zhao Junchen's border defense strategy will fail so that he can watch a good show.
On this day, after Zhang Wenhui received the good news about the Weishui River, he stared at the good news in a daze and couldn't come back to his senses for a long time.
When Zhao Junchen expressed his intention to defeat the Mongolian coalition, Zhang Wenhui only thought that Zhao Junchen was a jester who could only talk and talk on paper, and he would inevitably be defeated in the end. However, he did not expect that Zhao Junchen not only defeated the Mongolian coalition, but also defeated the entire Mongolian coalition. Annihilating the main force of the Mongolian coalition not only fulfilled the original ambition, but also exceeded the mission.
For a moment, Zhang Wenhui was in a complicated mood. He felt that his mentality during this period was like that of a clown. Compared with Zhao Junchen, he was even more like a sparrow knowing the ambition of a swan.
On the other side, after seeing Zhang Wenhui in a daze for a long time without making any statement, a staff member couldn't help but remind him: "Your Majesty, there is also a summons sent to the Hedong Governor's Yamen along with this good news, saying that it is the imperial envoy Zhao Junchen summoned all the governors, generals, and officials of third rank and above from Shaanxi and Gansu to Huamachi Camp to discuss matters... Of course, Zhao Junchen is still just an imperial envoy for disaster relief, and the court has not recognized his status as presiding over the military affairs of Shaanxi and Gansu, so he does not I don’t have the authority to order you. Even if you don’t go, Governor, no one will dare to say anything... How do you think we should respond to this order?"
Affected by Zhang Wenhui's attitude, the staff of the Hedong Governor's Yamen also showed little respect for Zhao Junchen. At this time, they even directly called Zhao Junchen by his name, which shows their attitude.
After hearing this staff member's request, Zhang Wenhui finally came to his senses.
Then, Zhang Wenhui looked furious and reprimanded the staff loudly: "You ungrateful bastard! How can you directly call the Imperial Envoy Zhao by his first name?! He completely annihilated the Mongolian coalition this time. The main force, with such illustrious military exploits, will definitely become the leading figure in the imperial court from now on. Even this governor has deep admiration for him. You are just a mere staff member in the governor's mansion, how can you be arrogant? ?”
Seeing Zhang Wenhui's attitude, the staff only felt that he was wronged. During this period of time, when he and Zhang Wenhui discussed Zhao Junchen, he always called Zhao Junchen by his first name. Zhang Wenhui never thought that his attitude was not respectful enough. On the contrary, once he was The slightest expression of goodwill to Zhao Junchen would arouse Zhang Wenhui's displeasure. Who would have thought that Zhang Wenhui's attitude would immediately change after receiving the good news. This staff member just felt that he could not keep up with the rhythm.
Of course, this staff member also knew the reason for Zhang Wenhui's change of attitude. It was simply that Zhang Wenhui gave in after seeing that he had no hope of overthrowing Zhao Junchen, and that Zhao Junchen would continue to succeed in the future.
Thinking of this, the staff member was also a knowledgeable person. He immediately changed his attitude and asked again: "What the governor taught you is that the students are indeed frivolous! Now the imperial envoy Zhao has sent an order, but he doesn't know that the governor When do you plan to leave for Huamachi Camp?"
Zhang Wenhui said with a serious expression: "Since it is Master Zhao's order, naturally the sooner we leave, the better... However, Master Zhao has established such great achievements, I must prepare a congratulatory gift when I go to Huamachi Camp this time. Yes...send someone to bring all the rare antiques in the warehouse, take out all the money in the accounting room, and pack them all properly. I will rush to Huamachi Camp tomorrow morning!"
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In fact, with the conveyance of the good news on the Wei River, everyone with a discerning eye understood that Zhao Junchen's rise could no longer be stopped. Therefore, after all the main officials in the three borders of Shaanxi and Gansu received Zhao Junchen's order, including Shaanxi Governor Zhang Shengde Wu Min, the governor of Hedong, Lin Huishi, the commander-in-chief of Ningxia, and Wang Yan, the commander-in-chief of Yulin, immediately packed their bags and set off for Huamachi Camp, and they all prepared a generous gift for Zhao Junchen.
And just when the main officials from Shaanxi and Gansu rushed to Huamachiying to meet Zhao Junchen, Zhao Junchen's report finally reached the capital center.
With the delivery of this good news, it naturally caused a shock!
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