Chapter 298 Chapter 297 Killing a Good Person and Claiming Credit

Wei Guangde only rested for one day. Early the next morning, Zhang Ji bought a carriage and left the town on the pretext of sending Wei Guangde to Pinggu County for recuperation. After leaving the town, he walked a short distance south and then headed west, heading straight to the Bohai Sea. And go.

The carriage was loaded with a lot of food and camping materials, so it was naturally prepared to hurry up and travel through the night.

To be safe, Zhang Ji went to the doctor that night to prepare some medicinal soup in case Wei Guangde was not suitable for taking it on the way.

As for the medicine that the doctor prepared for Wei Guangde, the old doctor didn't say anything even if he wanted to kill him. Even if Zhang Ji offered a high price of one hundred taels of silver to buy the medicine, or even threatened to silence him, it was of no use.

Wei Guangde's planned route was to exit customs at Bohai Station, go to Yongning first, and wait for the servant sent to contact Ma Fang in the first two days to bring back the news before considering the next move.

He got the decree too late, and he only got a rough idea from Chen Ju. It was mainly to investigate Shen Lian's affairs, so he had to find out if there was anyone else in Shen Lian's family first and contact him in order to get the most useful information.

Where was Shen Lian sent after being convicted?

Speaking of which, Wei Guangde is quite familiar with it. After all, he has spent a lot of time there, that is Baoan Prefecture.

According to the information given to Wei Guangde by Chen Ju, Yang Shun succeeded Yang Bo as the governor of Xuanda at the end of the 35th year of Jiajing. In the battle with the Mongolian Anta tribe last year, more than 40 border cities and military forts were lost, which was a heavy loss.

However, the record reported in the official newspaper was a large number of beheaded heads. The information that the Jin Yiwei spied on was that there might be some cases of killing good people and taking credit for merit, and Shen Lian was probably killed because he knew the inside story and was silenced.

Emperor Jiajing in the palace didn't know that Lu Bingneng's mention of the term "killing good people and taking merit" in the report was actually very righteous. After all, although the Jinyiwei was a knife in the emperor's hand, it was mainly for intelligence collection. But after all, they are still considered soldiers, so they naturally prefer border towns in some respects.

In three days, the cavalry traveled from Pinggu to Huairou and then to the outside of Bohai Institute, disguised as pedestrians. It took a day to pass through the customs here and enter the boundaries of Xuanfu.

After passing the customs defense, everyone gathered together again, and according to Wei Guangde's plan, they naturally went straight to Yongning.

Yongnian is close to Yanqing Prefecture and is also a large military town. A large number of guards troops are stationed here to guard along the Great Wall.

In order not to reveal their identities, the guards sent by Dong Yiyuan had all changed out of their military uniforms and put on the services of servants. Wei Guangde pretended to be a young master who was traveling. They were all servants sent by his family to protect the young master.

It's just that these people are all professional soldiers, and their temperaments are different whether they walk or talk.

If they were not allowed to dress up as armed servants, they would not be able to hide it from the sergeants of the Xuan Mansion.

A group of more than 20 people rode on horseback and arrived at Yongning City within two days.

Just what he saw when he got close to the city shocked Wei Guangde. When he was fighting with the Anda tribe, he had not seen so many refugees in Huailai and Baoan Prefecture.

You know, there was no fighting during this period, and outside Yongning City, he saw at least thousands of people gathering. They built shacks and crowded under the city wall.

"Go over and ask, where are they from and when did they get here?"

Wei Guangde ordered Zhang Ji to inquire about the situation.

When we passed the Bohai Station, we didn't hear any news that the Xuan Mansion was starting another war. Don't let the twenty or so people of yours accidentally fall into the battlefield.

Soon, Zhang Ji came back on horseback and whispered to Wei Guangde: "Most of them are from the Longmen Guards. Some came last year, and some escaped this year."

Hearing this, Wei Guangde raised his eyebrows. Although he had never been to the Longmen Guards, he had seen the map and knew that it was not far from Zhangjiakou Fort, Baoan Prefecture and Yanqing Prefecture. The cavalry could reach it in three days, and I was there. An area where there were frequent battles between the Ministry of Defense and the Ming Army.

The main areas where Xuanfu fought against the Mongols were Wanquan, which was connected to Datong, and the Longmen Guards. However, there were few attacks from the Anda tribe near Xuanfu Town.

Similarly, the Gaoyang Guards and Tiancheng Guards connecting Xuanfu in the Datong direction were often attacked by the Anda tribe. Once they broke into the Great Wall, they would brutally rape them at the junction of Xuanfu and Datong before leaving.

Ma Fang's current main fighting area is Wanquan's left and right guards. Baoan Prefecture is not within the scope of his management. Wei Guangde only seeks Ma Fang to add insurance.

Before and after the First World War in Baoan Prefecture, Wei Guangde heard more than one person say that anything could happen here if the border was uneasy.

He's been here before, so there's no guarantee he won't be recognized.

The group of them came to investigate the matter in secret. If the other party chose to jump over the wall because of fear, the consequences would be disastrous.

Wei Guangde didn't want to risk his life here in order to fulfill Emperor Jiajing's will.

Now it seems that the Anta Ministry of Baoan Prefecture did not exert its full strength in the First World War. They only took a half-year break to regain their fighting strength, and began to cause trouble on the border of Ming Dynasty again. And looking at these refugees, it seems that they are even more troublesome than before. Dehuan.

Seeing this, Wei Guangde already knew that the so-called achievements reported by Yang Shun last year were mostly untrue. If it were true as he said, the Tatars would have been beaten away long ago. Where did these refugees come from.

Wei Guangde has also heard about the so-called gains reported by Yang Shun last year. The reward issued by Taicang, the capital, was nearly three hundred thousand taels. It would take several thousand Tatar heads to make up this amount. Our department is determined not to bear it. Such a big loss.

Thinking of what Ma Fang said before, there are only more than 20,000 to less than 30,000 elite soldiers in our army, and the number of soldiers is 60,000 to 70,000. Even if we recruit the old and the weak, we can only make up 100,000 troops. Wei Guangde shook his head unconsciously. Yang Shun is too bragging.

When riding into the city, Wei Guangde had neither the time nor the ability to take care of these people. He should first finish the things assigned by the emperor.

After finding an inn in the city, Zhang Ji arranged for someone to go to the city gate to wait for the servants to deliver the message. Wei Guangde also called the captain of the servants left by Dong Yiyuan. The purpose was naturally to know if there were any security guards among his men. State people.

Shen Lian's incident happened in Baoan Prefecture. Naturally, it would be more convenient for people from Baoan Prefecture to go back and inquire about it, so that it would not be exposed easily.

The purpose of looking for Ma Fang was to find someone in the officialdom to inquire about where the other members of the Shen family were being held, to see if there was a chance to contact them and learn more information.

The private search for Ma Fang's family members cannot stop, especially those who have been staying with Shen Lian in Baoan Prefecture.

"Sir, there are two of the villain's men who are military households in Baoan Prefecture. You can ask them to go back and find out the news."

After the team leader knew what Wei Guangde meant, he immediately said.

"Are people smart enough?"

To inquire about information, you need to be smart, otherwise it will be easy to do bad things.

"It's okay. If you're just asking for information and looking for someone, you shouldn't go wrong. They should still have many acquaintances in their hometown, especially their brothers and neighbors. Many of them are serving in the military and working in the city. Quite a few.

As someone who comes from a military household, you know that except for one person who can carry a gun and receive military pay, the rest of us can only fend for ourselves on weekdays, doing whatever we can to make ends meet. "

The team leader smiled and said, although he didn't finish his words completely, he still showed a little confidence.

"Call the people over and I'll give you some more instructions."

When the team leader called the two servants from Bao'an Prefecture according to Wei Guangde's instructions, Wei Guangde secretly explained to them the mission of returning to Bao'an Prefecture, which was to inquire about a man named Shen Lian and whether he was still alive. Family members in Bao'an Prefecture and where they might go.

"Sir, if the Shen family members are outside, we can ask someone to question them, but if they are detained by the government, we have no choice. Most of the family and neighbors are small soldiers in the army, but they are not that big. relation."

One of the servants thought about it and reported it.

"I only ask you to inquire about the information. If you can find someone who is living outside, it would be best to bring him over. If you can't find him, forget it. If he is locked up, there is no need to contact him inside. You can just inquire about the situation."

Wei Guangde didn't expect the two servants to do anything, rob the prison, just think about it.

"That's no problem, but let's go back this time"

When the soldier said this, a worried expression appeared on his face, as if he had something to hide.

Wei Guangde is shrewd and naturally knows what he is for. What else can he do when he goes back? Naturally, he cannot return empty-handed.

"Zhang Ji, give each person twenty. Forget it, give them thirty taels of silver to take with them. It should be enough for you to take care of yourself."

Wei Guangde said to the two people.

The sadness on the face of the man who spoke earlier disappeared and he instantly became happy. He nodded and bowed repeatedly to express his promise to complete Wei Guangde's instructions.

Asking for information will definitely cost money. Although this is doing things for the emperor, there will be no place to reimburse the money in the end, but it is not a big problem. What I want is to get things done and have an explanation from the emperor. , this will help your career, what is a little money?

Now Wei Guangde's expenses in the capital, in addition to the living expenses of his family, include traveling among his colleagues, exchanges of courtesy, and only giving money to Gao Zhong and Chen Ju in the palace.

However, in addition to his own money, his wife's brother Xu Bangrui promised to send 5,000 taels of silver to the capital every year and hand it over to him. The purpose was naturally to manage the relationship in the palace and make preliminary preparations for taking over the Duke of Wei's palace in the future.

As for those who think that having money can help them achieve spiritual enlightenment and just plan to make ends meet, just go to sleep.

For really big things, if you don't spend money to cultivate the relationship in the early stage, people may not be able to help you when the critical moment comes.

Whose money is not money? If you don’t accept it, why can’t you accept other people’s money?

Arrange for two people to go out and ask them to pack up and return to Baoan Prefecture to inquire about the news as soon as possible. Now they have nothing to do. "Let's go out of the city to have a look and listen to what the refugees say. At this time, these people have not been allowed to return. Is there still a war going on over there?”

Wei Guangde gave Zhang Ji instructions and rode out of the city with a few guards.

In a few days, Wei Guangde also found out clearly that most of the people came from military households around Longmen River and Nanhe River. In the past two years, the Mongolian Tatars had made serious troubles in places such as Pine Tree Fort and Dushi Fort. From time to time, they would break through the border walls and rush in.

They should have built forts and defended them, but the current forts were not very well built and the city walls were not high. They could not stop the Tatars from climbing, so they had no choice but to give up defending the forts and flee on a large scale.

As for why they ended up living here in Yongning instead of going to Xuanfu, Yanqing, Baoan and other places, most of the refugees shook their heads, saying that they were more likely to die if they fled to those places.

Obviously, these people also knew something, but looking at the way Wei Guangde and his party dressed and spoke, they seemed to dare not say too much.

People on the border, except for the military, are punished for committing crimes and guarding the border. Naturally, they know a lot of things.

Don't mention that the Ming army attacked its own people, that was really dark. When the Ming army was strong in the past, they often killed people outside the Great Wall. At that time, killing innocent people to claim credit was mainly to attack and kill small tribes of Mongolian Tartars, leaving no men, women, old or young, and then reporting them as military merits to cheat for reward silver.

Now it is a bit difficult to win, and they dare not fight outside the Great Wall, so they kill people inside to get heads, and still disguise themselves and send them to cheat for reward silver, which has become a fucking tradition.

There are many things that the soldiers below can't bear, but they have to obey the orders of their superiors. In the border town, human life is like grass, and disobeying oneself will become a military merit.

As for how to escape, in fact, the smart ones also know that that is, they can't run to several big cities in Xuanfu, either Yanqing or Yongning, which will be a little safer, and other places are not safe.

In such a dull atmosphere, Wei Guangde waited for the news sent back by Ma Fang, but the result shocked him greatly and made him extremely angry.

The news that Chen Ju passed to Wei Guangde was that Shen Lian was beheaded and his family was exiled to the border, but the news from Ma Fang was that Shen Lian was beheaded, and his second and third sons Shen Gun and Shen Bao were beaten to death during interrogation because they refused to admit that they had anything to do with the White Lotus Sect. Shen Lian's wife and her youngest son were exiled to Yunzhou.

The letter also contained news about Shen Lian's eldest son. Shen Lian's eldest son Shen Xiang was a scholar in Shaoxing Prefecture School. Perhaps he was another seed of learning. Yang Shun would naturally not let him grow up. In fact, the two had already formed a deadly feud.

According to the news that Ma Fang had found out, Governor Yang Shun had sent a letter to Zhejiang to bring the imperial prisoner Shen Xiang to justice.

After Shen Lian was beheaded on the charge of being a member of the White Lotus Sect, the charge was confirmed, and there was no need to provide other evidence.

"This is to cut the grass and eradicate the roots."

Wei Guangde put down the letter in his hand and rubbed his temple. Yang Shun was really cruel.

After contacting refugees outside the city a few days ago, Wei Guangde had roughly understood why the generals of the Ming army wanted to kill people to gain credit. Although they were hesitant and unclear about the details, Wei Guangde was not stupid and could roughly guess some clues after several inquiries.

Wei Guangde was a military household in the south, so he naturally didn't know. In the end, he learned the details from the guards sent by Dong Yiyuan.

In fact, the crux of the problem was still in the court. It was not just these generals who were greedy for the reward silver. You have to know that among the people killed, there might be relatives of their own soldiers. It is not easy to guard against being stabbed in the back after killing them.

Behind them, there are often civil officials hinting behind them.

Every time they encounter a major military situation such as the Tartar attacking the border, they must report it, and if they have little gains, they will not be able to be officials.

The Ming army was unable to fight the Tartar head-on, so they often adopted a defensive strategy, just defending the big city, allowing the Tartar to ravage and rob and leave, and then using a pursuit tactic to expel the Tartar and restore the border.

If there is no gain, the only option is to kill innocent people to take credit, otherwise there is no way to explain to the court.

At this point, Wei Guangde knew that the matter was confirmed.