stubborn thief

Governor of Ningxia Wang Ji looked down at the map.

He looked up at the governor Hong Chengchou and the soldier Ding Qirui, and then looked down at the map.

It's not that Wang Ji can't understand the map, he just can't understand the map that Hong Chengchou brought.

The name of this map is Marshal's Mansion Quantu, which Wang Ji recognized, and the handwriting was written by Hong Chengchou himself.

But this map is too complicated, as if I found many maps of different ages and put them together, leaving a large blank space.

Each place marked on the map includes the names of places, people, and tribes, and some even write the history of the origin of the tribe, and the territory covered is too large to be real.

This full picture of the Marshal's Mansion, combined with the seriousness on the faces of Hong Chengchou and Ding Qirui, even brought a great sense of humor to Wang Ji.

It's as if two serious people suddenly cracked a joke, pulled out a fantasy map, and said it was real.

In fact, Wang Ji has always had a good impression of Liu Chengzong.

This is related to his experience. As a senior official on the governor's side of the imperial court, he was a witness and survivor of the Ningyuan Mutiny.

He is a native of Tai'an, Shandong Province. He studied under Song Tao, one of the three masters of Mount Tai. He was a Jinshi in the 47th year of Wanli.

Catch up with the mutiny in Ningyuan, the cabinet and Taoist ministers all died in the mutiny, but he was not affected, so Emperor Chongzhen promoted him to the official position, the reason was that the soldiers who made a lot of money did not resent him, so he must be very happy in office. Be ethical.

Wang Ji is indeed talented and honest, but the Mutiny in Ningyuan took place in the first year of Chongzhen. At that time, the intensity of natural disasters and troubles were relatively low. As a person who witnessed the mutiny, he knew better what it was like.

The situation of the mutiny in Ningyuan was not complicated, and it was even very simple to say. At that time, any official in Liaodong knew that a mutiny was bound to happen.

Because the imperial court was busy changing emperors, the new emperor took over the throne, cleaned up Wei Zhongxian, reorganized the cabinet, and changed the personnel of the six ministries and seven ministers, so he didn't care about Liaodong at all.

At that time, Liaodong himself could not care about Liaodong. The supervisor and governor was Wang Zhichen. Yes, the new governor is called Bi Zisu.

Bi Zisu is the younger brother of Bi Ziyan, Minister of the Household Department, and he knows that Liaodong's food and salary cannot be owed.

Food and salaries can be owed anywhere on the nine sides, why can't Liaodong owe it?Because in other places, the soldiers are locals when they are younger, and they are all fellow villagers when they are older. In Liu Chengzong's Yuhe Fort, one person in the entire fort is from Shaanxi.

The local soldiers were owed wages, and they could find a way from the countryside, even if they borrowed from fellow villagers, they could always survive for a while.

Liaodong is different. Ever since the formation of the Guanning Army to gather elites from all over the world, there are people from everywhere in Liaodong. A battalion of Sichuanese went to the northeast to fight. They were blown up after a month’s lack of food and salary—they had nothing but the leader’s salary. Method.

From May to July, two months after taking office, Bi Zisu sent nine reports to the imperial court asking for food and salary, but the imperial court ignored them and dragged on.

Then there was the payment issue. The Thirteenth Battalion mutinied, only the Liao Battalion of Zu Dale did not mutiny. Firstly, the four-month salary arrears did not affect the locals as much as the guest army. Second, the guest army also guarded against these local soldiers. Will not pull them together to make trouble.

Soldiers from Sichuan and Huguang rushed into the shogunate, tied up the governor Bi Zisu, the commander-in-chief Zhu Mei, the general judge Zhang Shirong, and the pusher Su Hanchun, and took them to the Drum Tower, demanding that they pay their salaries.

Bi Zisu had just taken office for two months, and the court did not allocate any funds to him. He asked the mutiny soldiers to turn his house upside down, but he didn't find any money. In the end, he was beaten until his face was covered with blood.

Later, Guo Guang, the military equipment, embezzled the [-] reward silver given to Mongolia, and borrowed [-] from the merchants.

In the end, Bi Zisu couldn't bear the humiliation, and the more he thought about it, the more angry he became. He went on a hunger strike and then hanged himself, killing himself.

Wang Ji didn't die in that incident, firstly because he was really not greedy for money, and there was no money for him to be greedy at that time, and secondly because he was a small official and didn't even have the qualifications to be tied to the Drum Tower.

In any case, the mutiny gave Wang Ji a lot of experience, helped him enter the emperor's eyes, and gained a higher official position and power. At the same time, because the promotion was too simple and the Ningyuan mutiny was too simple, it made him a little naive.

This kind of experience made him feel that the mutiny was not so terrible, and he even had an illusion in his heart. He felt that if he had been the governor of Guyuan, Guyuan would not have mutinied; if he had been the governor of Yansui, maybe Liu Chengzong would not have raised troops.

He didn't know that the soldiers' tolerance for unpaid wages was high or low, but when the tolerance was low, the mutiny was nothing more than asking for money, cursing the street, and finally beating the governor three times to death. up.

But when the tolerance is high and breaks through the bottom line, these local soldiers have long been unable to retreat. Even if they get the money, they will not be able to go back to serve as soldiers, so they will not stop doing one thing.

But even if he had a good impression of an insurgent from the frontier army like Liu Chengzong, the map Hong Chengchou produced was too outrageous for him.

Wang Ji looked at the expressions of Hong Chengchou and Ding Qirui seriously, trying to find out that this was a joke, but he could only see the seriousness on their faces, and finally asked in disappointment: "The military gate took out this map, did you want to Tell me, the northwest border of the Marshal’s Mansion is not Jiayuguan, but Don’t Lost Eight Miles?”

When he asked this question, he felt that it was outrageous.

Don't Lost Bali is Tingzhou. Although Wang Ji used to be an official in the east, the territory in the west also belongs to the common sense of the governor. It is not the northwest frontier of the Marshal's Mansion, but the territory of the Heshuo Te Department, the leader of the Wara Alliance.

"All the Mongolian tribes supported Liu Chengzong as the Great Khan, signed and issued a notice, and the Wara National Division of the Heshuote tribe ranked third on it."

With that said, Hong Chengchou pointed to the location in the northwest of Tingzhou on the map and said: "The leader of the Wala Junggar tribe entrenched here, Batu Huntaiji ranks fourth."

In fact, there is no need to introduce it in detail, because Ding Qirui, the military officer, unfolded in front of Wang Ji the promulgation of the trilateral governor's office after analysis, and they analyzed every name left on the notice.

Wang Ji just glanced at the series of strange names on it. Thanks to the detailed introduction by Hong Chengchou, Ding Qirui and others later, he can understand who is who.

However, before he could express his approval of Ding Qirui, the soldier's intelligence work, he was already dazzled by the string of "Bo'er" in the names of those people.

For the border ministers of the Ming Dynasty, the surname Bo'er Jijin was nothing special. The king in our lord Wang Ji's name also came from the surname Ji.

But there are too many Bo'er on this list, dozens of them, so many that he almost doesn't know this surname anymore.

Starting from the first name at the beginning, Borjijin Erkonguoluo Ezhe, the heir to the throne of Chahar Khan and Ezhe, the crown prince of the Yuan Dynasty; the second is Borjijin Chaoketutai Ji, that is, Jitutaiji of Chahar; the third Borjijin Turubaihu, the national teacher Khan of the Heshuote Department of Oala.

Then finally there were two Chuoros, namely Batur Huntaiji from Junggar and Dalaitaiji from the Duerbert Department; Bai Yan and Ramolo chased after each other, and the last one was Little Razun.

Then there are relatives and friends of this group of people, either Bor Jijin or Choros, each name represents a Mongolian leader, and there are also powerful generals from the Marshal's Mansion in the middle, and occasionally the names of one or two Tubo local leaders pop up.

It is not the first time that this list has appeared in Wang Ji's eyes, but it is the first time that it has been carefully and carefully analyzed, which map and population are represented behind each name, and finally this strange map is created. The land occupied by the Marshal's Mansion is half larger than that of Daming.

Even the eyes that made Wang Ji look at Hong Chengchou were wrong: "Hong Junmen doesn't know... I really think this is the territory of the Marshal's Mansion, right?"

Hong Chengchou didn't speak, but looked at Wang Ji seriously.

The meaning on the face is obvious: I really believe it.

Wang Ji couldn't help laughing: "You mean that Liu Chengzong went to sea for a few years and beat up everyone within three thousand miles and outside of Ming Dynasty?"

He saw that Lhasa, Beiting, and Chahar are at least three thousand miles away from Xining, and even three thousand miles on the road is less. Liu Chengzong was fighting against Gansu throughout last year, which means that it was only two years. , If you can send troops to a place and come back alive, it will be a high incense.

What's more, the imperial court's intelligence was written in black and white, then Liu Chengzong entered Qinghai with a total of more than ten thousand men and horses, so why did he do such a big business?

This is not the most outrageous, in Wang Ji's view, the most outrageous are the three brothers from Huoluochi's family.

Huo Luochi, this person was not ranked in the past. He belonged to the lord of Tumote Otoke who was pushed out to Qinghai.

In the same generation as him, those who can control the situation of the world are like An Dahan and Zhang Juzheng; there are even more people who can cooperate with these people to establish the situation of the world, such as Qi Jiguang, Li Chengliang, Ma Fang, Zhang Chen, Huang Taiji, Tumen Khan, Chaohua, any one of these people is a ruthless character who can make a place peaceful or chaotic for decades.

Many people are super-class talents.

For example, the lord of Ordos cut off Huang Taiji and only did a few things in his life.

Culture, proficient in Mongolian, Chinese, Uighur and Tibetan, personally wrote the thank-you letter for the king of Shunyi; military, led the army to conquer the Turghut tribe in Oala, and conquered Kazakhs in Suiye City. Sal Khan; economy, which contributed to the tribute relationship between Altan Khan and the Ming Dynasty; politics, as a representative of the right wing, became one of the five ruling powers of Mongolia.

In that era of shining stars, Huo Luochi was like an unlucky guy who left his hometown.

Because his tribe belongs to Otog under the jurisdiction of the right-wing Tumed Wanhu tribe, and Duolun Tumed, one of the twelve Tumeds, has pasture land in Fengzhoutan. When he was stationed in Kaiping, it was the territory of the Huoluochi family. At that time, his father had a good relationship with Daming, and they traded with each other all year round.

But as Tumote moved westward, Huoluochi's father couldn't provoke Alda, so he had to lead his tribe to go outside Gansu and continue to trade with each other; Mott went to Tibet to worship the Buddha, and Huo Luochi also opened up the road to the south, so he simply stayed in Qinghai and did not leave.

But Huo Luochi is also very powerful. After occupying Qinghai, he attacked Oala in the north, conquered Kang District in the south, and invaded Daming in the east. Xiti Daming emperor decreed to abolish the blockade of city rewards for 30 years. Ningxia Chiyuan gave a kick.

Known as Little Liu Chengzong.

But with such a big trouble in the West Frontier of Ming Dynasty, the remaining three sons seemed to recognize their ancestors and return to the old Liu's family after they passed away.

Ever since Liu Chengzong entered Qinghai, Huo Luochi's three eldest sons had never fought a single battle with this land grabber, and they didn't even hesitate to help.

Liu Chengzong wanted to march south, and the three brothers sent troops to help; the Mongolian nobles from Mobei attacked the Generalissimo's backyard, and the three brothers directly left all their family fortunes to Liu Chengzong, and ran to Uzang to find another way to make a living.

In order to help Liu Chengzong, I don't want to leave my hometown. Is it so kind?
Even after entering Tibet, there are still rumors from the snow-capped mountains that affect the entire Mongolian grassland, saying that Daiqing Khitan Khan of Dunta Wulusi is the reincarnation of Genghis Khan and should inherit the throne of the Great Yuan Emperor.

Wang Ji suspected from the bottom of his heart whether those three were the sons of Huo Luochi or Liu Chengzong.

How filial!
Wang Ji shook his head, put the strange thoughts behind him, and then asked Hong Chengchou again: "Hong Junmen, if this is the case, this map should be sent to the palace as soon as possible, and the Marshal's Mansion will go to war brazenly before summer."

After saying this, he felt relieved.

Whether you can find out the territory, population, military strength, and financial resources of the Marshal's Mansion is crucial to the war.

But on the other hand, a Marshal's Mansion that can defeat the Allied Forces of Five Towns with a small force in Hehuang is obviously not at the same level of threat as a Marshal's Mansion that defeated the Allied Forces of Five Towns with a territory half the size of Ming Dynasty.

At least after seeing this picture, Wang Ji knew what the Marshal's Mansion wanted to do the most—entering Guanzhong.

Because apart from Guanzhong, there is no place where Liu Chengzong can afford to support so many people.

Of course, Ningxia is also very dangerous, but the meaning of attacking Ningxia is the same as that of attacking Gansu. It is to create favorable conditions for entering Guanzhong, and the ultimate goal is to enter Guanzhong.

When Hong Chengchou heard this sentence, he knew that Wang Ji had thought of going with him, and immediately replied: "Brother Wang saw this map half an hour ago, and I sent someone to send it to the capital quickly. , and send a copy to Chen Junmen and Lianfutai later, this is definitely not a battle that one town can handle."

"Five provinces and three towns, we must work together from top to bottom."

A great battle was clearly displayed in front of Wang Ji and Hong Chengchou's eyes. In their eyes, this battle was to some extent the first time that Ming's army and the Marshal's Mansion were on the same level, and they had to be coerced by the army. play a game.

The supply of food and grass for the Ming army is completely exhausted, and the marshal's mansion is not much better. Even if the three brothers of the Wala Tartar and the Huoluochi of Uszang are the sons of Liu Chengzong, it is impossible to give him [-] sheep every year. .

It's just that they are all in one mind, Hong Chengchou holds his fists and his eyes are bright, but what he thinks in his heart is: You want to enter Guanzhong, and I want to take Gansu! (end of this chapter)