It's almost summer, and even in the capital, the weather has already warmed up. The warm spring sunshine shines on the earth, and the moisture after the spring rain in the past few days gradually dries up. The flowers in the capital city are in full bloom, and the flowers are a riot of purple and red; the new branches and buds are full of green. Pedestrians on the road seemed to be infected by the spring breeze, and everyone had a smile on their face.
But Mr. Wang Ge, who had just arrived at Shen Yuanfu's room to check in, had a face as dark as water. Not to mention a smile, he could even scrape a few taels of frost off his face.
In the room, Shen Shixing, who was standing with his hands behind his back, turned around with his back to the door. He also had a serious face, which might even be said to be stern, and his eyes showed an extremely rare three points of sharpness.
He looked at Wangge Lao for a while, then slowly spoke, and asked in an emotionless tone: "Brother Yuan Yu's brilliant plan is to hook up with the Japanese pirates, rob the ships, force the Cajun army to riot, and then attack Nanjing." ?”
Wang Xijue's thin cheeks trembled twice, and he suppressed his mood and said in a low voice: "There was a big accident."
"Accident?" Shen Shixing snorted, stared at Wang Xijue and asked, "Colluding with Japanese pirates, is it considered an accident?"
Wang Xijue shook his head and said: "There are no Japanese pirates. There are only about ten real Japanese pirates there. The rest are pirates who have been dispersed by Gao Rixin's fleet over the years. They have already defected to...some people. The same goes for those real Japanese pirates." , now we are all slaves of the noble family."
"If they weren't Japanese pirates, how could they be targeted by the tax police?" Shen Shixing didn't seem to believe it.
"The reason for this matter has not yet been identified, but according to analysis, some coastal families in the south of the Yangtze River may have been under the surveillance of Gao Rixin. These people may have been exposed when they set off from the coast by boat, and the tax police corps in Chongming County (Today's Chongming Island at the mouth of the Yangtze River, but it did not form a whole at this time, and was composed of several sandbars) There is also a bastion with a sea-viewing observation tower... They were probably discovered by the observation post on this tower , and then the Tax Police Corps sent a boat to follow him to Nanjing."
"Is this the accident you are talking about?" Shen Shixing was silent for a moment and asked again.
"No, it's not just this." Wang Xijue sighed and said: "There are many doubts about this incident. Not only is the 'Japanese pirate' ship being followed, but there are many other doubts. For example, I originally asked them to sail between Zhenjiang and Yangzhou. During the operation, for some unknown reason, the gathering place of the Cao army fleet was set in Nanjing.
Brother Rumo, Nanjing is not the first line of the canal. It is more than a hundred miles east of the canal, and you have to take the Yangtze River waterway to get there. Moreover, since Nanjing is a gathering place for Cao troops, it means that the number of local Cao troops far exceeds my expectation. Nanjing's position is crucial. Once a large number of Cao troops rioted, the matter would be serious. How could I not know?
According to my plan, it only aroused more than a thousand cavalry troops to commotion between Zhenjiang and Yangzhou. At this time, the Zhenjiang Guards and Yangzhou Guards locked up the north and south, and the Yizhen Guards in the west blocked them from entering Nanjing. Although the situation was serious, it was determined not to get out of control. .
At the same time, because of this incident, the Cao army in other areas will be disturbed, which is enough to attract the attention of the court. However, the Cao army that caused the rebellion will not be able to accomplish anything if it is held between Zhen and Yang, and the Cao army elsewhere will not be able to do anything. As for the chaos that ensues, the situation is controllable.
However, for some reason, many Cao troops from Jiangnan gathered and went to Nanjing, and the chaos turned into a big chaos. I always feel that this incident is too coincidental, as if someone is deliberately adding fuel to the flames. "
Shen Shixing couldn't help but ponder after hearing this. He basically believed what Wang Xijue said, because he knew that although Wang Xijue was resourceful and decisive, he was by no means reckless. Inciting tens of thousands of Cajun troops to riot like this, and the location was chosen to be in Nanjing. This really does not seem like Wang Xijue's handiwork. After all, once the news leaks out, the consequences will be disastrous.
Besides, this went beyond Wang Xijue's goal. He didn't want to rebel. Why did he instigate such a big turmoil? He just wanted to force the imperial court to recall Gao Jingshi, so that the Northern Expedition would be in vain, and to prevent Gao Jingshi from becoming too popular and overwhelming all opponents.
To achieve this, it is enough to make the court feel that the financial powerhouse in Jiangnan is unstable. The key is that the impact must be large, rather than the situation getting out of control. Things getting out of control will only lead to more unpredictable troubles. It's not Wang Xijue's first day as an official, how could he not know such a simple truth?
From this point of view, Wang Xijue's suspicion at this moment is very reasonable, that is, someone is secretly fueling the situation when this matter develops like this.
The mantis stalks the cicada, followed by the oriole. It seems that the old Wangge was wise, but this time he accidentally became a mantis and was stared at by the oriole behind him. But, who is this "yellow bird"?
Highly pragmatic?
The first thing Shen Shixing thought of was Gao Situ, who had never really suffered a loss in a political dispute. It stands to reason that Gao Pragmatic should also have the motivation to be this oriole. After all, his biggest political opponent is the Xin School, and the current two main pillars of the Xin School are himself and Wang Xijue.
As long as this matter can involve Wang Xijue and pull him down, it will be a great victory for Gao pragmatism. If he can also bring his first assistant, Gao pragmatism will win even more.
From then on, the pragmatic school became the dominant one in the court, and no one could restrain it. Gao Pragmatic, whether he was able to make a contribution in the battle against Yuan Dynasty, or quickly returned to Beijing and took over the task of quelling the chaos in the Cao Army, went to Jiangnan either suppressed or stabilized the Cao army, and it was very possible that he would take the vacant old seat in the cabinet because of his credit.
However, Shen Shixing thought about it and felt that although this possibility was possible, it was really not high. From a highly pragmatic point of view, there is no need for him to regard going south to quell the riots in the Cajun Army as a great success - the success of conquering the Yuan Dynasty is not ten times or a hundred times greater than the success of quelling the riots in the Cajun Army? It is definitely not a pragmatic approach to make a small profit while not taking any credit for defeating the Yuan Dynasty.
What's more, Gao Pragmatic is far away in Daning at the moment. How can he remotely control the trivial matters in Jiangnan? Although as Wang Xijue said, if Gao Pragmatic had been prepared, it was possible for some of his people to know the origin of the "Japanese pirates", but they should not have been able to interfere deeply, let alone add fuel to the flames.
In short, Gao Pragmatic's intervention in this matter not only lacked motivation, but also lacked ability. Huang Que should not be him.
But if not highly pragmatic, then who else can?
Xu Guo and Shen Li's faction? Well, they do hope that Gao Pragmatic will stop fighting Yuan and be recalled to the country, but if Gao Pragmatic is "inadequate", I'm afraid they are even more inadequate, right? You must know that it is not easy to add fuel to the flames. Not only must we accurately understand Wang Xijue's plan, but we must also be able to make corresponding arrangements and changes to change the direction of the situation.
For example: Several Cao troops gathered in Nanjing inexplicably. What happened? Whose order did they follow?
Shen Shixing still looked hesitant, but he still managed to hold back his dissatisfaction and briefly stated these thoughts, intending to see what Wang Xijue thought.
Wang Xijue said decisively: "It's not the people from the Realistic School who are manipulating it. First of all, Gao Rixin Wanquan has no motive. He is a very methodical person. He has never acted blindly in the past twenty years. If he makes any move, he must be fully prepared first." , instead of thinking that it was a reckless act. Moreover, Gao Rixin is not a reckless person. Turning a commotion into a riot, turning a thousand people into tens of thousands or even tens of thousands, is not his style.
As for Xu Yingyang and Shen Longjiang, they may not want to see Gao Rixin in the limelight again, but in any case, they are also Gao Wenzheng's disciples. If they do such a thing, if something goes wrong, they will be exposed to the public. With the eyes and ears of the people in the world, the two of them immediately expressed that the end of ruining their reputations was something they could not bear. "
Shen Shixing became a little annoyed and said: "It's not this, it's not that, it can't be Wang Duinan (Wang Jiaping), right? What position does he have to do this?"
"Of course it's not Wang Duinan. Not only does he have no position to do this, but he also has no ability to do it." Wang Xijue shook his head, paused, and said in deep thought: "Yuan Fu, I suspect...this person may be guilty of something." Inside the Self.”
"What did you say?" Shen Shixing was very surprised. He became nervous and asked hurriedly: "How can you see it?"
Wang Xijue thought hard, his brows already furrowed into a deep frown: "I haven't thought of the motive yet, but... only one person can do this to temporarily send Jiangnan canal ships to Nanjing to gather."
Shen Shixing took a breath and murmured: "Governor of Water Transport...Shu Yinglong?"
Shu Yinglong was born in the 20th year of Jiajing. His courtesy name was Shijian and his nickname was Zhongyang. He was a native of Quanzhou, Guangxi. His grandfather, Shu Wenkui, was a civil servant; his father, Shu Gang, was a civil servant in the 14th year of Hongzhi; his brothers, Yingfeng and Yinglin, were both civil servants.
Shu Yinglong himself was a Jinshi in the 41st year of Jiajing reign, and was first appointed as the county magistrate of Dongguan, Guangdong. He was famous for his ability to "harvest traitors and subjugate them like gods". In the early years of Wanli, he was promoted to the left governor of Guangdong. From the 12th to the 14th year of Wanli, he was appointed as the governor of Guizhou. At the end of the 15th year, he was appointed as the right minister of the Ministry of Hubu. Later, he was appointed as the governor of water transportation to this day.
This person had always been a local official in the Heart School. Although his status was high, he could not be said to be the core. Until he became the right minister of the Ministry of Revenue, because he had entered the basic base of the Real School, he began to be taken seriously by Shen Shixing.
Soon after that, Shu Yinglong began to become one of the important ministers of the Xin School. Although he was not comparable to Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue, among the subordinate ministers, he could be regarded as one of the representatives of the Xin School.
However, since the household department is the basic base of the real school, it means that although people from the heart school can occasionally enter, they will never be able to stay for a long time. Therefore, Shu Yinglong had to be transferred within about a year of being appointed. The Real School didn't care much about where he would be transferred, so Shen Shixing decisively transferred him to the position of Governor of Water Transport.
The Governor of Water Transport was a very powerful person, but it was not a position that the Practical School was very interested in competing for. Therefore, Shu Yinglong served as Governor of Water Transport for several years and no one found fault with him, so his position was quite secure.
Shu Yinglong is fifty-two years old this year, which is still young for an important minister of the imperial court. Shen Shixing had originally planned to transfer back to the capital within a year - but there was a prerequisite for that, that is, there were vacancies in the six ministers.
In addition, considering the actual situation, it is useless if the "Heaven" and "Earth" departments of the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Husbandry are missing. In addition to the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Punishment, and the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of War can occasionally think of ways to see if it can You can't stuff in the hall an official from the Gexin School. There is obviously no shortage at present, so Shen Shixing has not mentioned any plans to promote him.
Shen Shixing thought that Wang Xijue said that Shu Yinglong had the ability to add fuel to the flames, but he didn't know what his motives were. He didn't know whether this was true or not. In fact, after being reminded by Wang Xijue, Shen Shixing discovered that if Shu Yinglong did this on purpose, then his purpose was not difficult to guess.
Shu Yinglong's thinking was probably this. If the Cao army's commotion was only about a thousand people, then the imperial court might not really take this matter as important. What he was betting on was that even if there was a riot of more than 10,000 people in the Cao Army, the court would not necessarily let Gao Pragmatic put it down.
The truth is actually simple: How can you kill a chicken with a bull's knife?
Look at this battle against Yuan Dynasty, Gao Jingshi gathered 600,000 troops in his hands, almost allocating 90% of the troops able to fight in the field among the nine sides, and the emperor also showed great trust in him, putting such an army against The vital military forces of the Ming Dynasty were given full power to him.
Such a person, a person who is known as "the best literary man in the world", would he personally come to Nanjing to suppress the commotion of tens of thousands of people? To put it bluntly, even if he was willing, the emperor would not agree.
The most powerful weapons are not used casually. They are more often used as a specific deterrent. In other words, these "weapons" may be more effective if left unused than if used directly.
Gao pragmatism undoubtedly has this powerful deterrence, so Fa Yuan can use him, but it is obviously not necessary to pacify the Cao army with tens of thousands of people. Moreover, the practice of past dynasties shows that when a famous general needs to deal with everything personally, the court will probably not be able to survive for a few days.
The Ming Dynasty is clearly showing signs of renaissance, and it is completely unreliable to say that it "will not be able to survive for a few days", so even if everything is as deduced, the emperor will not let Gao Pragmatic go south to quell the rebellion.
If Gao Pragmatic doesn't come, who will be responsible for this? The most likely possibility is that Shu Yinglong, the Governor of Water Transport, is directly responsible, because he is the main manager of the Cao Army and is familiar enough with the Cao Army. It is better for him to handle it himself than to be parachuted in from the center.
At this point in the analysis, Shen Shixing thought he had understood the key: if Shu Yinglong was really the mastermind behind the scenes, his intention was to gain an opportunity for himself to make great contributions.
The so-called virtuous officials are rewarded for their merits, and they will naturally be promoted if they have made great achievements. However, he is already the governor of water transportation. He has no chance of promotion at the local level and can only be transferred back to the central government. At that time, the court would have to free up at least one minister's position to make way for him.
Governor Shen Shi sighed, put his hand on his forehead, and said helplessly: "Gao Rixin's attack on Yuan Dynasty, my Xin Xue is already in danger in the court. Although I don't fully agree with Brother Yuan Yu's move, I can't stop it. But my Xin Xin There are actually people within the school who want to take this opportunity to gain credit and reward, it’s really... you can live if you do evil on God’s side, but you can’t live if you do evil on your own.”
Wang Xijue couldn't help but sigh. He had always been tough when beating him, but at this time he adjusted his mentality faster than Shen Shixing, saying: "Brothers are jealous of each other and resist their humiliation. Although Shu Yinglong's move... is definitely wrong, it is not a matter of entanglement at the moment. We need to stabilize the situation first before we can make it right." After all, Shu Yinglong was from Shen Shixing, and Wang Xijue didn't want to speak too harshly.
Shen Shixing snorted softly: "I guess he thinks so too, that's why he is so confident."
That's what he said, but Shen Shixing also knew that what Wang Xijue said was true, so he had to say: "Well, the matter has come to this, and the overall situation must be given priority to. What do you think brother Yuan Yu should do now?"
"Since he wants to take the lead, let him go first." Wang Xijue said: "However, Yuan Fu and I should not distract our energy. Since the matter has reached this stage, it is necessary to shoot the arrow when it is on the string. Nixin will force him back first and then talk about it."
Shen Shixing was silent for a moment and replied solemnly: "At this point, we can only do our best and obey fate."
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