Chapter 467 466 Nama's Appointment

Telling King Yu was actually for the sake of King Yu's peace of mind. After all, there were rebels with tens of thousands of mercenaries in Jiangnan. King Yu was also worried, but he was just anxious and couldn't do anything.

In fact, this is also the main reason why King Yu supports Yu Dayou so much.

With the Battle of Datong as the foundation and the battle to annihilate Zhang Lian's rebels being directed by Yu Dayou, King Yu would feel more at ease.

After listening to Wei Guangde's report, King Yu rubbed his hands and asked, "Didn't the Ministry of War say who should be appointed as the chief general to suppress thieves?"

"No."

Wei Guangde replied.

"It can't be that Hu Zongxian personally supervises the division."

King Yu said casually.

"Hu Zongxian probably didn't know the plan of the Ministry of War, otherwise he wouldn't have reported it. He suggested setting up deputy general soldiers in southern Jiangxi to guard against Fujian thieves."

Wei Guangde replied immediately.

"Forget it, don't worry about this matter. Seeing that the Ministry of War is so confident, let's keep an eye on it."

King Yu said with some regret that he actually wanted Yu Dayou to make great contributions in wiping out Zhang Lian's rebels. If he could use him more in the future, he could be transferred to Jiubian as a general and stationed in a town. At least he would not have to worry about the north. On defense.

Just as Prince Yu and Wei Guangde were talking, Yan Shifan was already analyzing the meaning of Emperor Jiajing's performance to Yan Song in the cabinet room where Yan Song was on duty.

"Dad, why didn't you take out Hu Zongxian's memorial and directly recommend Shi Deyu to be the deputy commander-in-chief of southern Gansu?"

"Do you think His Majesty will nod?"

"How will you know if you don't try? The Ministry of War knows how to recommend Yu Dayou. What if we don't recommend him?"

The two talked quietly in the room. It was obvious that Yan Song's performance today did not follow Yan Shifan's original plan, which made him very nervous.

"Father, no matter what His Majesty's attitude is, he has not yet made up his mind to let me serve as an official. We must take this opportunity to maximize Ruzhen's rights."

Yan Shifan looked at Yan Song and said word by word: "I don't care about that Yu Dayou. He is just a martial artist and not worthy of attention. But if Ruzhen cannot be allowed to control the entire Jiangnan, our Yan family may really have no way out. ”

"That day when my father entered the palace, His Majesty was very cautious about the memorial and had no intention of agreeing to it."

Yan Song looked up at Yan Shifan and said: "I know that it was your idea to add the deputy commander-in-chief of Nangan to attract the attention of Prince Yu's palace. But you really think that by controlling Jiujiang, you can make those in Nanjing work for you. Used?

"Dad, you have seen the things that I sent people to investigate last time. You said that if those things are known to His Majesty, the tricks Xu Pengju and Liu Shiyan are playing, and those people using waterways to traffic in illicit salt, Your Majesty will How will you deal with them? The income of millions of taels of silver a year is enough for His Majesty to punish them with death. "

Yan Shifan's eyes showed a stern look at this time, "With this handle in hand, we are not afraid that they will not listen to us. With Jiangnan, we are afraid that His Majesty will not care. Only if His Majesty is afraid, our Yan family will not be in danger."

"I am getting old after all, and I will always go back to Jiangxi to retire."

Yan Song glanced at his son and said, "Even if we can use those means to control them for a while, once my father returns to Jiangxi, do you think our family will still be safe?

For those warriors, they can do anything. Can you not imagine what will happen by then? "

"I will let them know the backup plan I have left. If anything happens to the family in my hometown, those things will be sent to His Majesty."

Yan Shifan said harshly.

"That is a double-edged sword. If used improperly, it will push the family into the endless abyss."

Yan Song ignored Yan Shifan's words, just shook his head and said, "Instead of threatening them with those things, it is better to let Mao Qing continue to be on good terms with them and continue to provide them with convenience. With these local snakes around, as long as my father can escape from the capital." Retreat, for their own benefit, they will try their best to protect us.”

"But what if those people in the capital are unwilling to let go?"

Yan Shifan immediately retorted: "If the situation in Jiangnan cannot be controlled, then people will be the slaves and I will be the fish."

When Yan Shifan said this, he suddenly felt a slight chill in his body. He stopped talking and looked at Yan Song.

At this time, Yan Song looked at him with a fierce cold light in his turbid eyes, "Do you think that by working with those people in Nanjing and assisting King Jing, it's really hard to achieve a second peace?

Who are those people in Nanjing? If nothing else, can their troops defeat the Jizhen army? "

"Hu Zongxian"

Yan Shifan wanted to argue again, but Yan Song glared back.

"Ruzhen's group of people listened to him and accepted the money from him. The reason was not because he was the governor-general of military affairs appointed by the emperor. If he rebelled, those people would immediately kill him, Hu Ruzhen." During the rebellion, all evidence was destroyed.

The warriors you look down on can do anything when life and death are at stake. You underestimate those people too much. "

Yan Song said to Yan Shifan, his tone full of regret.

Yan Shifan is very smart, but he uses it in the wrong place. He does not do things with dignity, but likes to use unexpected conspiracies to achieve his goals.

King Jing was obviously exhausted, but he still wanted to change his fate against the will of heaven.

"Please tell Mao Qing to gradually reduce the private salt trade with Nanjing. Don't stop it all at once, and don't reduce it too much. You won't be able to catch them with these methods."

At this time, Yan Song was still trying to persuade Yan Shifan to give up his plan.

"Father, that's an annual income of one million taels. If Your Majesty knew about it, there's no way he wouldn't be tempted."

Yan Shifan still wanted to persist.

"A few years ago, it might have been possible, but it's no longer possible. What His Majesty wants is stability."

Speaking of this, a trace of regret flashed in Yan Song's eyes, "In the early years, for so much money, His Majesty would not have been ruthless, but now it is not possible. Your Majesty will not put the country into turmoil for the sake of money.

Ever since His Majesty fainted, he had actually been making preparations before that.

Everything was too late. From the common people to the local officials, everyone still had their hearts set on the court. They came out to cause trouble at this time, but they just thought they didn't die quickly enough. "

"How exactly do the Ministry of War plan to deal with the Fujian thieves?"

Yan Shifan was silent for a long time, then suddenly asked again.

"Liu Xianchong, the governor of Nanjing, is the chief military officer, and Yu Dayou is his deputy. The two of them will work together with the governor to suppress the bandits. Once they respond to the battle, the guards will listen to the two of them."

Very few people in the Ministry of War know about this plan, only a few people. However, Yan Song has been the chief minister for many years and has laid countless secret and open stakes in the Sixth Ministry. Many people have also been secretly supported by Yan Song to high positions. This is not something that ordinary people can see through. Yes.

"Liu Xian, Yu Dayou."

Yan Shifan murmured, "I told you why Nanjing suddenly wanted to add more camp officers and transferred Sichuan Army General Liu Xian to the camp. At that time, Yang Bo was already prepared."

"You, you still want to maintain the current situation. What good will this do to us?"

Yan Song knew from Yan Shifan's words that his son still wanted to maintain the current chaotic situation in Jiangnan.

Yes, it is indeed in their best interest for Jiangnan to remain as it is now. At least Hu Zongxian's position can be stabilized, and the capital has no reason to take action against them, at least for the time being.

However, if Yan Shifan were to secretly help Zhang Lian and his group, it would be doomed once the incident happened.

Emperor Jiajing would never let go of their Yan family. No matter how much friendship he had with the emperor before, it would be of no use at this time.

"Don't think about helping Zhang Lian's group. They are rebels, not robbers. The emperor will not condone them."

Yan Song warned.

"Father, how could I help the rebels?"

Yan Shifan said easily, but he was obviously confident.

Yan Song sighed, he understood that even if Yan Shifan was allowed to surrender in front of him now and agree, he would still make some small moves later.

"No matter what you do, you must not leave any clues, otherwise it will be difficult to die."

Yan Song could only warn Yan Shifan like this. He didn't want to think that his family would suffer because of this when he got old.

No matter what, he had been assisting Emperor Jiajing for many years without any credit for his hard work. He never had the slightest excuse, just because he could end up well in the end.

Emperor Jiajing was such a person. The more you defended yourself, the deeper his hatred became.

If you don't say anything and let others talk about you, Emperor Jiajing will miss you instead. He has helped the emperor carry everything for so many years, and the emperor will not let him end up no matter what.

As long as the palace doesn't say anything, nothing will happen to him or his descendants. What's more, he has also secretly had private transactions with some people. When the time comes, if they help overtly and covertly, this level will be over.

However, Yan Shifan obviously didn't want to settle down like this, and still wanted to cause trouble.

If you were ten years younger, this might not be an option.

Looking at Yan Shifan's leaving figure, Yan Song could only pray secretly in his heart that Yan Shifan must not leave any clues to be discovered by others.

At first, because of the benefits of sea trade, he intervened in Jiangnan affairs at the instigation of Zhao Wenhua. Thinking about it now, Yan Song felt a little regretful.

There was also Luo Longwen, who kept instilling in Yan Shifan the huge benefits of trading with the Japanese country, asking him to write letters to Hu Zongxian behind his back, delaying the army's encirclement and suppression of Japanese pirates, and indulging Japanese pirates.

What I was afraid of was that after the Japanese pirates were wiped out, Emperor Jiajing would re-impose a more stringent sea ban to prevent them from sending ships to trade with the Japanese country.

The current chaos along the coast is an opportunity for them to take advantage of the fire.

At this moment, outside the duty room of Yang Bo, Minister of the Ministry of War, two third-rank officials were walking hand in hand.

"Is Lord Shangshu here?"

One of them asked the scribe outside the door.

"Master Shangshu is here, please go in and report."

The scribe said to him with a smile on his face, then turned around and walked into the house.

Not long after, the scribe came out and said to the two of them with the same face: "Master Shangshu, please invite Master Ge and Master Zhang to come in."

"Shuzhi, let's go in."

The man known as Mr. Ge spoke.

"Shilang Ge, earlier."

Zhang Shouzhi said hurriedly to Ge Jin.

The two of them entered Yang Bo's check-in room one after another. After clasping fists and saluting, Yang Bo asked them to sit down.

"You two are here for business?"

Ge Jin is the right minister of the Ministry of War, and Zhang Shouzhi is the Minister of Taipusi Temple who took office at the beginning of the year. They came hand in hand. It is absolutely impossible to say that nothing will happen.

"Da Sima, I didn't know until I took up the post of Taipus Temple that Taipus Temple has been in serious shortage of horses in the past two years. The border town and the Ministry of War have been asking me for horses all day long, and they want to see where I can find them."

The person who spoke was Zhang Shouzhi, the minister of Taipus Temple. He was formerly the Shaoqing of Dali Temple and moved to the minister of Taipus Temple at the beginning of the year. This was a complaint.

The horse policy of the Ming Dynasty had actually declined at this time. The private horse herding directly turned into the income of the Changying Treasury. The official horse farms had horses, but that was when they were inspected, and then these horses had to die for various reasons.

As the unofficial history said, "In the Ming Dynasty, a general said: 'If the horses don't die, how can I sell the horses I raise?'

The general said: 'If the horses don't die, where will the money for my horse inspection come from?'

The army said: 'If the horses don't die, how can I get the profit from colluding with the horse owners and the whole family to help buy horses?'"

The Ming Dynasty was full of corruption from bottom to top, and the horse policy was naturally not immune.

However, after the Hongzhi period, the pressure from the Mongolians in the north increased sharply, and the Ming army began to urgently need a large number of war horses. It is hard to say whether this was for preparation for war or something else.

However, as the Minister of War, Yang Bo naturally knew the trick. It was a fact that the border army lacked horses, and it was also a fact that the border army resold horses.

"What do you want?"

Since Zhang Shouzhi and Ge Jin came here together, they must have come here to discuss something.

"Lord Yang, let's not talk about the border army first, let's talk about the lack of horses in the Beijing camp."

Ge Jin spoke first at this time.

"You should have discussed a solution, tell me first."

Yang Bo frowned and said directly.

"I asked the old people in the Imperial Household Department, and they said that when the court was short of horses in the past, it was solved by offering horses and granting positions. This method has many advantages, the most important of which is that it can quickly obtain a large number of horses to solve the problem of horse shortage."

Zhang Shouzhi said frankly, and took out a memorial from his sleeve, "Please take a look at it, Lord Yang, if it is feasible, please ask the Ministry of War to submit it to the emperor for review."

"Offer horses and grant positions? Is this your way to solve the shortage of horses in the Beijing camp?"

Yang Bo naturally knew what offering horses and granting positions was. Although he used the word "offer horses", it was actually solved by exchanging silver.

Those who need to be appointed pay money to the Imperial Household Department to get a promotion, whether they enter the Imperial College to wait for appointment or go somewhere else.

As for the money, the Imperial Household Department will naturally use the silver to buy horses from the surrounding foreign countries and chieftains and hand them over to the army.

As for wanting to send horses directly, is it okay?

The answer is of course no. Although it is called "accepting horses", if everyone sends horses directly, how can the officials responsible for purchasing horses handle this matter.

The Beijing camp is short of horses. Ge Jin went back to the department several times a few days ago and has been negotiating with the Imperial Household Department since then. Today, it is considered a conclusion, but Yang Bo is still a little hesitant about the "accepting horses and appointing positions".

Taking Zhang Shouzhi's official document and taking a look, based on the case of the Imperial Household Department's request to open the acceptance of horses for appointment, Beijing Guards military students who have passed the imperial examination are allowed to pay 240 taels of silver to enter the academy; those who are willing to pay in the civil service examination and the provincial examination, and those who have not passed the imperial examination, pay 320 taels of silver, and those who are military and military surpluses or visiting relatives in Beijing are willing to pay.

Those who have made meritorious service in the border areas of the army are allowed to pay silver to redeem themselves. The governors of the frontiers and the governors-general pay 100 taels of silver, the commanders pay 140 taels of silver, and the commanders-general and above pay 200 taels of silver. Those who have not made full merit and wish to redeem themselves pay less silver in descending order.

The border towns pay the governors-general, and the provinces pay the governors-general and the provincial governors-general to redeem themselves. They will receive a salary based on the days of meritorious service. Soldiers and civilians in Beijing and other places are allowed to pay 20 taels of silver to be granted the honor of a righteous man. If they submit the money, they will be reported to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and if they submit the money, they will be reported to the local officials. If they pay the money, they will be reinstated with a certificate. If they violate the rules, the imperial edict will not be granted.