Li Chengliang was originally going to Liaoyang to visit Gao Jingshi, but unfortunately, when he sent someone to Liaoyang to inform him of the trip, Gao Jingshi had already left Liaoyang and boarded the ship and took the waterway, so he did not receive the news at all.
Li Chengliang himself obviously couldn't walk faster than the messenger. He took five hundred servants by land and arrived at Niuzhuang Mayi this afternoon. Then he learned that Gao pragmatically had settled in Dongchang Fort, twenty miles northwest - Gao Pragmatically, we got off the boat at the Sancha River Pier, which is very close to Dongchang Fort.
Li Chengliang was surprised at first, because he didn't know that Gao pragmatic was asked by Zhu Yijun to return to Beijing to report on his work.
After the postmaster of Niuzhuang Mayi took out the official document from Gao Futai ordering Li Chengliang to take full control of military affairs in western Liaoning, Li Chengliang couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief and said to himself: Fortunately, I didn't miss it. If I missed it, I wouldn't see him for at least a month or two, which would be a waste of time. thing.
Then I thought about it and suddenly thought of a big question: Didn't Gao Pragmatic just take up his new job? Why was he immediately called back to Beijing to report on his duties? He has only been in office for two or three months, what can he say? Could it be that the imperial court didn't understand something about Gao Pragmatic's last "market circle plan" and had to ask him to explain it in person?
But this isn’t right either! Ye He is just a Jurchen, with less than 10,000 soldiers. He is not ranked at all in the eyes of the court. Even killing the second chief Ye He is not a big deal. Gao Pragmatic can add troops this time because of the "market circle plan" Right Minister, that's just because the number of beheadings exceeds 2,000...so the court should not recall Gao Pangshi to the capital just for this matter.
Li Chengliang stroked his beard and thought about it, always feeling that there was something strange about this matter. After a while, he expanded the scope of his thinking from Liaodong and thought to himself: Could it be because of the war in Yunnan?
But Gao Pragmatism has little to do with the war in Yunnan. He has patrolled Guangxi and pacified Annan. However, although Yunnan and Guangxi are neighboring provinces, the situation is very different. Even if the emperor trusts this classmate very much, he wants to Asking for advice is also asking for help from the blind!
The similarity between Yunnan and Guangxi is that they both have a lot of toast, but relatively speaking, Guangxi is "simpler" than Yunnan, because Guangxi toast is owned by the internal government, and there are two giants, Cen and Huang. If you can control the Cen and Huang families, you can control the chieftains of Guangxi.
Yunnan is different and the situation is more complicated. First of all, the chieftains in Yunnan are divided into internal subordinates and external subordinates. The triangular relationship between internal subordinates, external subordinates and the imperial court is complicated. The Lucchuan chieftain was originally the most troublesome in the early Ming Dynasty.
Secondly, Yunnan's imperial institutions are also quite special. The main special point is the existence of Prince Mu's Mansion. "Prince Mu's Mansion" is a common name among the people, and the official name of the imperial court is "Prince Mu's Mansion". Since the Mu family has been in Yunnan for a long time and has great authority and "respects the proposed prince", Yunnan people call it "Prince Mu's Mansion".
The Mu family guards Yunnan, and their official position is only to guard Yunnan as the chief military officer. Logically speaking, the troops under their jurisdiction are only the local guards and local chieftains. However, the imperial court had a charter, and it was an ancestral charter, allowing the Mu family to dispatch troops from neighboring provinces in emergencies.
And even if the troops stationed in the next province are not mobilized due to "emergency" reasons, the fact that the Mu family can mobilize the chieftains is also very powerful, because the Mu family lives in Yunnan, and the relationship with the chieftains is obviously a hundred times closer than the governors and other officials who were exiled from the imperial court. Therefore, those chieftains who obeyed the imperial court were actually obeying Mu's orders.
To put it in a more heart-wrenching way, it is "I only recognize Prince Mu, but I don't know Emperor Zhu." In this situation, the situation in Yunnan becomes even more complicated. The governor of Yunnan may also be the governor with the worst ability to suppress the general troops of the province among all the governors of the Ming Dynasty, worse than Liaodong.
Therefore, Li Chengliang does not think that the emperor's recall of Gao Jingshi to Beijing has anything to do with the situation in Yunnan - Gao Jingshi is already the governor, and even a smooth transfer of the Yunnan governor is obviously impossible, because Gao Jingshi relies on his unique background and prestige to stabilize the south and the north. , now even I, Li Chengliang, can't stand it, how can I stand the real Tu Emperor Yunnan Mu Mansion?
If Gao Jingshi really went to Yunnan, he would probably have to start a war between a strong dragon and a local snake before he could reach an agreement with Mu Mansion. This is something the court absolutely does not want to see at this moment.
But if it wasn't because of the market plot or the war in Yunnan, then why did the emperor ask him to return to Beijing? It can't be said that after not seeing each other for more than half a year, the emperor just missed his classmate so much that he threw aside the court rules!
If that were the case, he wouldn't even think about negotiating with Gao Pragmatic. When he went to see him tonight, he could just kowtow and beg for mercy without saying a word.
That being said, Li Chengliang still didn't think the relationship between the two classmates could be as good as this.
After all, there are differences between monarch and minister, and the emperor is new to power, and he doesn't seem to be as out-of-character as Wuzong back then, so he shouldn't be so unreasonable.
This doubt suddenly became another thorn in Li Chengliang's heart. As he thought about it, he became suspicious and thought: Could it be that Gao Pangshi really found out about some big problem in Kaiyuan, so he decided to return to Beijing? Under the guise of debriefing, he actually went to file a complaint in person, right?
This idea shocked Li Chengliang himself. Ning Yuanbo, who had been able to remain calm and composed in the face of tens of thousands of Mongolian cavalry for ten years, was now pounding in his heart, thinking to himself: Could this guy want to frame me?
Li Chengliang knew in his heart that he must be a mess in Kaiyuan, and even more so in Kaiyuan? Tieling, Kaiyuan, Guangning, Liaoyang, Kuandian, Ningyuan, these are just the highlights. In fact, in the entire Liaodong, where is his Li family's property? Gao pragmatism happens to be the owner of the giant beast Jinghua. Can the businessman's affairs be hidden from Jinghua? As long as Gao Pragmatic is willing to investigate, there is no reason why he cannot find out.
However, it stands to reason that which general in the world would not make money? A general who doesn't make money will be damned long ago - if you don't have money, you won't have servants. If you don't have servants, you will lose your life on the battlefield. No matter how powerful you are, it will be in vain.
Qi Jiguang didn't have many servants at the beginning of the war. If he hadn't relied on his own sharp shooting to kill the Japanese pirate leader with one arrow, this commander who had been famous all over the world for decades might have been defeated in the first battle.
Among the current famous generals and marshals or the so-called generals, who is not trying every means to make money? As for whether to support the family or squander it on oneself after making money, that is just a different approach. There is no difference in the matter of making money.
Of course, making money is the same as fighting. There is a difference in level and cost. Although a person like Liu Xian is very capable, he is from a low background and the targets he fights against are "worthless", so it is naturally not good for him to make money.
Ma Fang's conditions are actually better than Liu Xian's. Although he is also from a lower background, his position is good. He is a key border town like Xuanda near the capital, and he also commands cavalry. It is a good place to make money, but In Li Chengliang's opinion, this time the veteran of human origin was not very smart. The money he earned could only support a few cavalrymen, and the remaining money was always spent on building Huihui Temple, which was a waste.
When Li Chengliang was still serving as deputy commander-in-chief in his early years, he thought that if he had been Ma Fang, the cavalry servants under his command would have exceeded 10,000 at least during the Gengshu Incident.
What Li Chengliang is most worried about now is that he still can't figure out why Gao Pragmatic is always targeting him. The last time the family discussed this matter, there was no result.
Now that Gao Pragmatic is suddenly going back to Beijing, this worry is even more serious: since all the military generals in the world are making money, and although I am making a little more, considering my past military exploits and the strength at hand, the emperor should not This reason will destroy the Great Wall. So if Gao Pragmatic wants to bring me down, it is unlikely that he will just start looking for evidence by making money...
Could it be that...he wants to slander me for evil intentions?
Li Chengliang suddenly shuddered.
To be fair, Li Chengliang really doesn't have any evil intentions. If nothing else, let me just say this: Liaodong alone cannot support his 40,000 servants, so he will not foolishly "plot evil".
Liaodong was poor, but it was still possible to support 40,000 cavalry, but that was subject to the precondition that Li Chengliang had to contribute money himself - now he also contributes money, but in a different way.
The current Li Jiajun is paid by the imperial court, but the Li Jiajun does not only rely on military pay, because the standard of military pay is obviously not high enough, and it actually only accounts for about 40% of normal expenses.
The Li Jiajun also had three major financial sources: first, rewards from the imperial court for military exploits; second, looting during the war; and third, the "subsidy" given by Li Chengliang.
The proportions of these three major financial sources are not fixed. Generally speaking, the highest is the military reward from the court, and this amount of money is relatively stable.
The most unstable thing is looting. When attacking Mongolia, you can usually only grab some horses, cattle and sheep. The cattle and sheep are basically used directly as rewards and are digested internally. Most of the horses are used to supplement battle losses or expand stable stocks. It is difficult to “sell” for money;
On the contrary, when fighting the Jurchens, it is more profitable to plunder this area, because the Jurchens are not nomadic, but fishermen and hunters, and many have even started farming. These tribes have stockades, and there are more or less stocks in the stockades, such as furs and ginseng. , deer antlers, dongzhu, etc., anything can be exchanged for money.
However, there is a difference between the Jurchens and the Mongols. The Mongols can fight at will, but the Jurchens cannot. Most of them are subject to the supervision of the court and cannot beat others indiscriminately. This limits the income of the Li family army...
And it is precisely because of the instability of looting profits that the amount of subsidies Li Chengliang needs is also unstable. In financial terms, the amount of looting profits and Li Chengliang's subsidy amount are "negatively related": the more looting, the less people need subsidies. ; The less you grab, the more you need subsidies.
If Li Chengliang really had evil intentions and planned to separatize Liaodong, first of all, there would be no hope of military pay and rewards from the court, and these two sums of money were the bulk of the money. Secondly, it is impossible to plunder at will. Relying on a corner of Liaodong and without the support of the imperial court, if you can hold on to your homeland, you have to burn incense and take the initiative to plunder. That is because you feel that your death is not happy enough.
But if there is no military pay and rewards from the court, and there is no way to go out and plunder, how will these more than 40,000 troops be fed with a lot of money? Li Chengliang could only cover it all himself, but in that case, all the Li family's wealth would be involved, and how Liaodong alone could gain a stable foothold was something that had to be considered.
Therefore, there is really no "intention of evil". Li Chengliang was just afraid of poverty and deeply understood the importance of status and money, so he continued to expand his strength to improve his status in the court and Liaodong, and continued to accumulate wealth. To ensure that this wealth can last long.
It wasn't until Gao Pragmatic started "targeting him everywhere" that he became alert and began to constantly ponder Gao Pragmatic's motives, so much so that he was now so suspicious that he almost had a nervous breakdown.
Fortunately, he has decided to find out the reason tonight.
Li Chengliang was very polite when he came to visit Gao Pangshi. There was far less pomp and circumstance than usual. He only brought 500 servants with him when he went to Liaoyang. When he came to Dongchang Fort from Niuzhuang Mayi, he even brought only More than 20 personal guards were recruited.
Standing in Dongchang Fort, surrounded by the seemingly polite servants of Zhang Wanbang, Li Chengliang tried his best to maintain his demeanor as a Liaodong commander, majestic but not arrogant, distinguished but not overbearing, standing with his hands behind his back, closing his eyes and concentrating.
Until Zhang Wanbang hurried back and said politely: "Commander, I have an invitation from Futai."
Although Zhang Wanbang is a direct descendant of the high pragmatism, after all, Li Chengliang is the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, so according to the system, Zhang Wanbang is his subordinate general, and it is completely reasonable to call him commander-in-chief.
However, Li Chengliang always felt that Zhang Wanbang's "Commander" was very insincere. Although it seemed polite, it clearly showed a kind of alienation, which was far less natural than the local generals in Liaodong.
But Li Chengliang didn't care about Zhang Wanbang's thoughts now. He just opened his eyes and glanced at him, nodded slightly, and then started to untie the cloak.
Although Li Pinghu behind him was withdrawn and arrogant when facing others, he took the initiative to take Li Chengliang's cloak and asked: "Commander, subordinates, wait..."
"Wait." Li Chengliang was not polite and directly told them to wait here. Li Pinghu was not dissatisfied. After receiving the order, he took two steps back and stood still, motionless.
Li Chengliang himself said to Zhang Wanbang: "Sanxi, please help guide the way."
Although Zhang Wanbang didn't have much respect for Li Chengliang, after all, as a subordinate, he still had to follow the rules of face. Hearing this, he hurriedly said: "Commander, you are very polite. Please come with your humble position."
So Zhang Wanbang led Li Chengliang to the courtyard where Gao Jingshi was staying temporarily. At this time, the inside and outside of the courtyard were guarded by Gao Jingshi's Fubiao soldiers. Not to mention the three floors inside and the outside, they also had one sentry every three steps and one post every step. abnormal.
When Li Chengliang saw it, he was a little surprised. He couldn't help but ask Zhang Wanbang: "The public security near Dongchang Fort has been unstable recently? Why is it like facing a formidable enemy?"
In fact, what Li Chengliang was worried about was whether Gao Jingshi's suspicion of him had become so serious that he had to step up his guard even when they met? If that were the case, the problem would not be as serious as usual.
However, Zhang Wanbang grinned and said: "The commander is joking, how can Dongchang Fort be so unstable? Although there are several gangsters in Liaodong, no matter how violent the gangsters are, they can never defeat the Tatars. How can they come here?" Is there something going on in Dongchang Fort?"
He paused slightly and then said: "As for Futai, according to my understanding, it has always been so tightly guarded. After all, you also know that Jinghua..."
Li Chengliang suddenly looked stunned and stopped asking any more questions. He nodded slightly to Zhang Wanbang and walked straight in. At the same time, he reached out and took off his black gauze hat, holding it on his chest with one hand.
After entering the courtyard, there were naturally Fubiao soldiers leading the way. Li Chengliang originally thought that Gao Pragmatic, as the youngest Futai, might be arrogant at this time and sit upright in the hall waiting for him to see him.
Unexpectedly, the two Fubiao guards ushered him into the flower hall, and as soon as he entered the side courtyard, they found Gao Pragmatic, wearing a sapphire blue robe, standing outside the flower hall, looking at him with a smile.
"Brother Ruqi, are you okay?"
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