Fenghou

Chapter 70 Rewards and Punishments
There are two memorials on the imperial case of the emperor Zhao Gou. One memorial is in the Privy Council. Chen Qing, a martial arts student, led an army to destroy the bandit Zhang Kui. All the generals under his command were promoted to a higher level, and they were invited to commend and reward them.

The other memorial is that Yushitai impeached Chen Qing, a martial arts student, accusing him of brutality and innocence, killing surrendered soldiers, and dividing up the spoils without the consent of the court.

Both memorials were for the same person, and both had instructions from important ministers. In the memorial of the Privy Council, Li Hui, a member of the Privy Council, praised him very much, pointing out that Chen Qing led a mob trip to suppress the rebellion and achieved brilliant results. Winning is not easy.

On the contrary, Fan Zongyin, Zhizheng Shi, also commented on Yushitai’s impeachment memorial, severely criticizing this kind of immorality, massacring soldiers, and accusing this kind of killing of prisoners is no different from the cruelty of the Jurchens, and asked the court to make an example. , this behavior can no longer be allowed.

It stands to reason that such trivial matters about low-level military officers should not appear in the imperial case of the emperor, and were directly approved and dealt with by the prime minister. Now they are actually reported to the imperial study, which shows that there is a big difference between the two memorials.

Zhao Gou pondered for a long time without saying a word. Coincidentally, Zhang Jun's work report had a big disagreement between the court and the court. The debate was fierce and there is still no result. Is there any connection between the two?
At this time, an eunuch whispered at the door: "Officials, they are here!"

Zhao Gou came back to his senses and hurriedly said, "Announce them to come in!"

Not long after, two officials walked in from the outside. The doctor Xue Liang, who was admonished by Zuo, was walking in front, and the person who followed him was Zuo Shiyi Xu Yun.

The two walked into the imperial study room, bowed and saluted, "See Your Majesty!"

Zhao Gou smiled and waved his hands, "The two lovers are flat, and I give you a seat!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

The two officials sat down on the soft couch, Zhao Gou glanced at Xu Yun and said with a smile: "I have read Xu Aiqing's report carefully, and my position is very fair, and I am very pleased, but I still have a few more Doubtful, I want to confirm again.”

Xu Yun hurriedly bowed, "Please speak, Your Majesty!"

"Regarding the matter of killing the prisoners, Xu Aiqing's report is consistent with He Zhizhou's report. I think there should be no problem. But Chen Qing's motive for killing the prisoners, I want to discuss with Xu Aiqing again."

Chen Qing did not move back to Taixue. In fact, their dormitory was still there and was not taken away by Taixue. However, Chen Qing's army was not disbanded, so he should continue to live with the army.

Early the next morning, two officials from the Privy Council came to the barracks to handle various procedures for them. The first was to extend the time limit for secondment, the second was to formally approve their use of the barracks, and the third was to provide supplies.

These things are very cumbersome, Chen Qing asked Zheng Ping to deal with them, he had more important things, Zhang Jun, the governor of Sichuan and Shanxi Province, came to inspect his barracks.

The school field was steaming, some soldiers were practicing marksmanship, some soldiers were practicing bow and crossbow, and hundreds of soldiers were practicing squatting, and there were [-] soldiers running in a circle around them.

Chen Qing accompanied Zhang Jun to the horse training team, Zhang Jun asked with a smile: "There are still stones tied to the legs, is this practice effective?"

Chen Qing said with a smile: "The effect is very good. They have a stable foot and will not fall easily, especially when the two armies are fighting!"

"Then it should be popularized among the armies in the Northwest!"

Zhang Jun turned to his staff and said, "Write it down and remind me later."

Zhang Jun visited other trainings and was full of praise. The ability of a general can be seen from the training of the army.

I was not mistaken, Chen Qing was really good at training the collapsed Ximenxiang Army to such an elite level.

"Is there any difficulty now?"

Chen Qing shook his head: "Today, someone from the Privy Council came to help us solve all the difficulties, so we don't need to bother the envoy for the time being."

Zhang Jun smiled slightly and said: "The Privy Council is not easy to deal with! It takes a lot of begging to ask them to do something. This time you wiped out Zhang Kui, and the political achievements will be counted on the Privy Council's head, so they are willing to take the initiative to help you do things." , but the Ministry of War may not be too happy."

"That can't be helped, it's not a humble decision."

"It's true that it has nothing to do with you, but you are the one who gets hurt in the end!"

Zhang Jun sighed softly, pointed to the tent in the distance, "Let's talk in the big tent!"

A few people came to the tent, Zhang Jun sat down and said: "This time you exterminated Zhang Kui, it is not a big or small contribution. According to the usual practice, you can be promoted to three ranks, and your generals can also be promoted to one rank. Privy Council It has already been reported. The Western Army does not have such a good reward. It is good to be promoted to a higher level. It is also because Muzhou is too close to Lin'an. Everyone pays attention to it. Heavy punishment can be said to have advantages and disadvantages.”

"Understandable!"

"In addition, you and Liu Qiong will represent our Western Army in the military training competition next month. The army you are leading now also represents the Western Army. I hope you will go all out to let the emperor and the court ministers take a good look at our Western Army. style."

Chen Qing clasped his fists and said, "The humble position will never disappoint the envoy!"

Zhang Jun pondered for a while and then said: "Actually, I came to you today for another reason. I think you can guess that Yushitai has already impeached you, impeached you for brutally killing prisoners and privately dividing the spoils of war."

Chen Qing smiled and said: "I met that supervisory censor Wang Huan in Chun'an County, but I didn't expect to be charged with these two crimes, and they think too highly of me."

"This time there is quite a commotion. Yushitai is just a vanguard. The real person who wants to deal with you is Xiangguo Fan Zongyin."

"That's why I said that they think too highly of me."

"They are actually not dealing with you, but against me. If you are successfully impeached, then as the coach and the person who recommended you, I will also be implicated. Many ministers who originally supported me will be silent because of this, while the originally neutral ministers There will be a tendency, so I pay more attention to this matter than you."

Chen Qing said apologetically: "I'm sorry for the humble job, I've got the Xuanfu envoy involved!"

Zhang Jun waved his hand, "I should be the one who got you in trouble. In fact, killing prisoners is not a big problem. It is a bit troublesome to divide the spoils privately. Tell me first, how much did you take?"

Chen Qing shook his head, "I didn't get a penny for the humble job!"

"You tell me the truth!"

"It's true that I didn't take any money, and I didn't take any spoils. All the money in the humble job adds up to only eight taels of silver, which is the rest of the one thousand taels of silver that the envoy rewarded me last time."

"Have you used up all the one thousand taels of silver?"

"The humble job was given to Yang Hua's family who died in battle. His family only had an old mother, his wife, and two young sons. If he died in battle, the family would not be able to survive."

Zhang Jun stared at Chen Qing for a long time, and finally nodded, "I believe you are an upright person, but integrity is not enough in the imperial court struggle, you must learn to defend yourself, you must have sharp fighting methods, talk about it, Do you have any idea?"

Chen Qing thought for a while and thought: "The humble staff thinks that the best way to deal with it is to be open. Any despicable backstabbing can't be used in full view, so the humble staff hopes to have the opportunity to confront Yushitai or Fan Xianggong openly!"

"Makes sense!"

Zhang Jun stroked his beard and said with a smile: "I will try my best to get a place where everyone can see for you to defend."

That night, Zhang Jun visited Prime Minister Lu Yihao. Lu Yihao is the prime minister, and his attitude is particularly important.

More importantly, Lu Yihao grew up on both sides of the Northwest since he was a child, and he is proficient in the military. He was also from the Western Army.

In the guest hall, Lu Yihao picked up a teacup and said with a smile: "Brother Deyuan, when you went to Shaanxi Road to take office, you were full of ambition, and you have become so unconfident in just two years? A small impeachment made you so nervous!"

Zhang Jun smiled bitterly and said, "If it wasn't for Fuping's defeat, I wouldn't be so passive!"

"I have also read the impeachment papers of Yushitai. In fact, there are no charges that are really unacceptable, such as plundering the common people, raping prostitutes, or lax military discipline, indulging and disturbing the people, etc. It shows that you This subordinate is still very good, and he manages rogue soldiers like the Ximenxiang Army submissively, so you don't have to worry too much, those two petty charges won't turn the tide!"

"Lu Xianggong, I also know that the two charges are not serious, but with Yu Shitai's impeachment and Fan Xianggong's prejudice, if one of the charges is not convicted, Fan Xianggong will lose face.

But even a small negligence is not fair to Chen Qing, and it will have a great impact on his future. He is a general of the Western Army who has made great achievements, so I specially recommend him to study martial arts. If he Even if I was convicted innocently, I can't explain to the soldiers of the Western Army! "

Lu Yihao pondered for a moment and said, "On this matter, I'm afraid I can only keep silent!"

Zhang Jun was really disappointed. He originally expected Lu Yihao to stand up and uphold justice, but he didn't expect that he didn't want to offend Fan Zongyin either.

Of course, Zhang Jun also understood in his heart that Lu Yihao actually didn't want to take sides on his own issues.

Helpless, Zhang Jun had no choice but to settle for the next best thing, "In fact, there is no need for Lu Xianggong to intercede for him. I just hope that Lu Xianggong will give Chen Qing a chance to defend himself. Fair."

Now that Zhang Jun has reached this point, Lu Yihao has no choice but to give this face. He thought for a while and said, "There will be an issue of dealing with the traitor Zhang Kui in the morning court the day after tomorrow, so I will arrange Chen Qing as a witness in the morning court the day after tomorrow." In the court, I will add Yushitai's impeachment to it, and then he can defend himself!"

(End of this chapter)