When Wang Ji saw this, he knelt down to receive the order.
Bai Gui waved his hand quickly: "Uncle Jingyuan, there is no need to be polite. Your Majesty has ordered that this is a secret order. Just take it and read it yourself."
When Wang Ji heard this, he bowed deeply to the north, then took the secret letter. After carefully confirming that it was intact, he opened the envelope and took out the secret decree. He sat in front of the commander's case and read it carefully.
Wang Ji carefully read every word, but his brows furrowed tighter and tighter.
After reading, Wang Ji interpreted three layers of information. First, the emperor hoped to end the war before this autumn; second, the emperor only requested to temporarily quell the Miao rebellion, and the suppression methods did not need to be too cruel.
These two points were expected, but what really made Wang Ji frown was the third point: among the 100,000 additional troops sent, 40,000 were the original Xuanfu defenders. Although the emperor did not say it explicitly, the implication behind his words was that he directly identified the 40,000 people as rebels and asked Wang Ji to give him "special care".
The frown was a frown, but without too much consideration, Wang Ji decided to obey the order and act as the emperor wished.
Seriously speaking, Wang Ji hated the Xuanfu defenders and Shanxi's civil and military officials more than the emperor.
After reading the secret decree, Wang Ji put it in his pocket and had no intention of sharing it with everyone present.
Everyone just didn't know what to say when they heard Wang Ji say to Qian coldly: "Yu Shangshu, you have brought the army successfully. Your Majesty didn't ask you to command from the front, right? Then I won't keep you. You'd better go early." Let’s go to Nanjing and take up the post.”
Yu Qian and Wang Ji belong to different camps and have always been at odds with each other. Now that the command of the army has been handed over, Yu Qian did not stay long, so he said goodbye and left the military camp.
Watching Yu Qian leave, Wang Ji finally looked much better.
Don't look at Zhu Qiyu's absurd behavior, but think that he is the only one who hates Xuanzong and Sanyang.
In fact, the positions of Zhu Qizhen and Wang Ji are not fundamentally different from Zhu Qiyu.
It's just that the father-son relationship between Zhu Qizhen and Xuanzong is a little deeper, so Zhu Qizhen is willing to keep tabs on his venerable person, which is not very obvious on weekdays.
But political stance cannot be faked. Xuanzong and Sanyang were extremely war-weary and carried out strategic contraction from the east, south, west and north of the empire at the same time. In just ten years, Haoshengsun completely destroyed the offensive that his grandfather had so easily expanded.
Zhu Qizhen, Wang Zhen, and Wang Ji are all hard-line militants. Ever since Zhu Qizhen took charge, they have been fighting against all opinions and using troops on a large scale in an attempt to reconquer the four sides.
As a result, it took a lot of effort to finally wipe Xuanzong's butt clean in Luchuan in the southwest. Within two days of being happy, the troubles Xuanzong had planted in the north completely broke out.
This time it was good, even the majestic Emperor Ming Dynasty and the orthodox emperor were sent away.
That's why Wang Ji became so angry when he saw Yu Qian.
In Wang Ji's view, the defeat of Tumubao was mainly caused by Zhu Qizhen's blind command. But Shanxi's armaments have been depleted to an exaggerated degree. Do Shanxi's civil and military officials have no responsibility at all?
Especially Yu Qian, as a confidant of Xuanzong and Sanyang, he patrolled Shanxi for nineteen years and did not return to Beijing until the thirteenth year of Zhengtong. As a result, in the 14th year of Orthodoxy, the Tumubao Revolution occurred.
The next governor of Shanxi who succeeded Yu Qian had only been in office for a year in total. We can't blame that unlucky guy for the depletion of Shanxi's armaments.
The more Wang Ji thought about it, the angrier he became, so after a few polite words, he asked Shi Heng, Liu Yongcheng and others to go back to the camp to rest.
Although Shi Heng is now a marquis and Wang Ji is an earl, firstly Wang Ji is the coach and has a high official rank; secondly, Shi Heng has suffered two major defeats in Shanxi and feels that he is in the wrong and lacks confidence. So it's hard to say much about Wang Ji's neglect.
After sending everyone away, Wang Ji ordered people to invite Baoding Bo Liangyu and deputy commander Fang Ying.
Then Wang Ji closed his eyes to rest and think carefully about his future.
Regarding Wang Ji's position, both brothers Zhu Qizhen and Zhu Qiyu made a wrong judgment this time.
Zhu Qizhen always believed that he was kind to Wang Ji, and Wang Ji would be loyal to him wholeheartedly.
Coincidentally, Zhu Qiyu also thinks so. Although after succeeding to the throne, Zhu Qiyu has been giving Wang Ji promotions and titles, asking for money, food, and soldiers, without any unfair treatment. But from an inner rational point of view, Zhu Qiyu also felt that his overtures were of little use.
Both Zhu Qizhen and Zhu Qiyu made judgments based on human nature.
In fact, there is no problem with Zhu Qizhen and Zhu Qiyu's ideas. The real problem lies with Wang Ji.
When Zhu Qizhen was in power, he liked to throw ministers into prison. There were very few important ministers in the court who had not been in prison.
Because Xuanzong loved to play with crickets, he was called the Cricket Emperor by later generations. According to Zhu Qizhen's habit of throwing ministers into prison, future generations should call him the Emperor in Prison.
It's a pity that Zhu Qizhen's title of "Emperor of the Gate" was too loud, directly crushing other alternative titles.
As the saying goes, if the king asks the minister to die, the minister must die. Most of the courtiers didn't care too much about being imprisoned. But there are exceptions to everything. Others may not care, but Wang Ji cares.
But in the past, Wang Ji had no choice.
But now, a new emperor has been replaced. He is as hard-line and militant as Zhu Qizhen before him, and he hates Xuanzong and Sanyang who are fatuous and harm the country even more than Zhu Qizhen.
The new emperor was even more capable than the Supreme Emperor. In less than half a year, he defeated Wala and wiped Xuanzong's butt clean in the north.
Although Wang Ji is far away in Guizhou, his disciples and old officials are all over the court, and he can also get news from the capital.
For example, when Zhu Qiyu first ascended the throne, Yu Qian proposed to transfer Chen You and a thousand elites from Nanjing to Wang Ji's army to be responsible for strict surveillance and prevent Wang Ji from making any changes.
However, this proposal was not only flatly rejected by Zhu Qiyu, but also severely scolded.
Although it's not a big deal, it's heart-warming.
Besides, speaking of conscience, Zhu Qiyu has not treated Wang Ji badly at all so far.
Now Wang Ji is more concerned about his title, official position, power, and whether the family's wealth can be continued. I really have little interest in assisting the Emperor in his restoration.
In history, all Wang Ji participated in the coup was not only to pursue the continuation of title and wealth, but also to find a good future for his descendants.
The biggest reason is that I am rejected and depressed. The original position of Minister of War was taken by Yu Qian, so forget it. He was also implicated by Wang Zhen and was sent to Nanjing idle.
Now it's completely the other way around. With the change of imperial power, Wang Ji was not affected at all negatively. Instead, Yu Qian was sent to Nanjing.
Zhu Qiyu wrote clearly in the secret edict just now: Wang Ji not only firmly holds the position of Minister of War, but also suppresses the Miao rebellion, and the Marquis is no problem.
Originally, it was impossible for Wang Ji to believe such nonsense as civil servants being granted the title of marquis.
But Liu Yongcheng, who had just arrived at the military camp, was originally a eunuch in charge of the Royal Horse Guards. The emperor, under tremendous pressure, just made Liu Yongcheng a count.
Although Liu Yongcheng was a legendary eunuch second only to Zheng He in terms of prestige and merit, the emperor's boldness was really scary when he was given the earl as an exception.
The emperor gave Liu Yongcheng the title of earl, which played the role of buying horse bones with a lot of money.
So when Zhu Qiyu mentioned in his secret edict that Wang Ji would be granted the title of Marquis, Wang Ji had no doubt at all and took it seriously.
If you really can get the Marquis, why would you miss the Emperor?
However, around the New Year, news of various fires and the death of King Xi had already reached Wang Ji.
Now Wang Ji's only concern when turning to Zhu Qiyu is whether the new king can give birth to a legitimate son.
It would be best to have an undisputed eldest son, that would be completely stable.
(End of chapter)
