prosperous age

Chapter 298 Chapter 297

Wei Guangde only rested for one day. In the early morning of the second day, Zhang Ji bought a carriage and left the small town on the grounds of sending Wei Guangde to Pinggu County for recuperation. After leaving the town, he walked westward and went straight to the Bohai Sea. and go.

There was a lot of food and camping materials on the carriage, which was naturally prepared for the overnight journey as soon as possible.

To be on the safe side, Zhang Ji went to the doctor that night to prepare some medicinal soup, in case Wei Guangde felt unwell on the road.

As for what medicine the doctor gave Wei Guangde, the old doctor didn't say anything about killing him. Even if Zhang Ji offered a high price of 100 taels of silver to buy the prescription, or even threatened to kill him, it was useless.

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

It was too late to get the decree. He only got a general idea from Chen Ju, mainly to check on Shen Lian's affairs, so he had to find out if there was anyone else in Shen Lian's family and get in touch to get the most useful information.

Where was Shen Lian sent after being convicted?

Speaking of it, Wei Guangde is quite familiar with it, after all, he has stayed there for a long time, and that is Baoan Prefecture.

According to the information Chen Ju gave Wei Guangde, at the end of Jiajing 35, Yang Shun succeeded Yang Bo as governor of Xuanda. Last year, he lost more than forty border cities and military forts in the battle with the Mongolian Alta, which can be described as a heavy loss.

However, the record reported by Xuan Dabao is that a large number of heads were beheaded. The news that Jin Yiwei spied on was that there may be some cases of killing good deeds, 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 "killing the good and making meritorious deeds" in the report was actually very meaningful. After all, although Jin Yiwei was a knife in the emperor's hand, it was mainly for information collection. But it is still considered a soldier, and in some respects, it is natural to lean towards the border towns.

In three days, the cavalry went from Pinggu to Huairou and then went to Bohai Institute to dress up as pedestrians. It took a day to pass through the customs here and enter the boundary of Xuanfu.

After passing the barrier, everyone reunited, and according to Wei Guangde's plan, they went straight to Yongning.

Yongnian is close to Yanqing Prefecture, and it is also a large army town. There are a large number of guards stationed here to defend along the Great Wall.

In order not to expose their identities, the guards sent by Dong Yiyuan have already changed their military uniforms and put on servants' services. Wei Guangde pretends to be the young master who is traveling. They are all servants sent by the family to protect the young master.

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

Don't let them dress up as armed servants, it really can't be hidden from the sergeants on the Xuanfu side.

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

Wei Guangde was taken aback by the scene he saw after approaching the city. When he was fighting with the Alta Department, he didn't see so many refugees in Huailai and Baoan Prefecture.

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

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

Wei Guangde told Zhang Ji to inquire about the situation.

When I passed the Bohai Institute, I didn't hear the news that the Xuanfu was going to war again. Don't accidentally fall into the battlefield with more than 20 people. The swords and guns have no eyes.

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

Hearing this, Wei Guangde raised his eyebrows. Although he has never been to the Longmen Guard, he has seen the map and knows that it is not far from Zhangjiakou Fort, Baoan Prefecture and Yanqing Prefecture. The cavalry can kill them in three days. The area where the Ministry of Defense and the Ming army fought frequently.

The main area where Xuanfu fought with the Mongols was Wanquan, which was connected to Datong, and there was the Longmen Guard, but there were few attacks from the Alda tribe near the town of Xuanfu.

Similarly, Gaoyangwei and Tianchengwei, which are connected to Xuanfu in the direction of Datong, are often attacked by the Alda tribe. Once they break into the Great Wall, they will wantonly rape at the junction of Xuanfu and Datong before fleeing.

Ma Fang's main battle area now is in the left and right guards of Wanquan, and Bao'an Prefecture is not within his management scope. Wei Guangde only asked Ma Fang for an insurance policy.

Before and after the First World War in Baoan Prefecture, Wei Guangde heard more than one person say that the border was not peaceful, and anything could happen here.

He had been here before, so there was no guarantee that he would not be recognized.

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

Wei Guangde didn't want to lose his life here just to fulfill Emperor Jiajing's will.

Now it seems that the IDA Department in the first battle of Baoan Prefecture really did not do its best. They only recovered their combat power after half a year of rest, and started making troubles on the Ming border again. And looking at these refugees, it seems that they are even more troublesome than before happy.

Seeing this, Wei Guangde already knew that most of Yang Shun's so-called battle results reported last year were not true. If it was true, the Tatars would have been beaten away long ago. Where did these refugees come from?

Wei Guangde also heard about the so-called gains reported by Yang Shun last year. The reward silver issued by Taicang, the capital city, was nearly 30 taels. It took several thousand Tartar heads to make up the amount. I definitely cannot afford it. Such a big loss.

Thinking of what Ma Fang said before, the elite of our army is less than 2 and less than 3, and the number of soldiers is 10 to [-]. Even if we recruit the old and the weak, we can only make up [-] troops, Wei Guangde shook his head unconsciously, Yang Shun is exaggerating.

Sending horses into the city, Wei Guangde has no time and ability to manage these people, so let's finish what the emperor told him first.

I found an inn in the city, and asked Zhang Ji to arrange for someone to go to the gate of the city to wait for the servant to deliver the letter. Wei Guangde called the captain of the servant Dong Yiyuan left behind. Naturally, the purpose was to know if there were any security guards among his subordinates. state people.

Shen Lian's incident happened in Baoanzhou, so it would be more convenient for people from Baoanzhou to go back and inquire about it, and it would not be easy to expose it.

The purpose of looking for Ma Fang was to find someone to inquire about the official situation. The rest of the Shen family were locked there to see if there was a chance to get in touch and learn more information.

They couldn't stop looking for Ma Fang's family members in private, especially those who stayed by Shen Lian's side in Bao'an Prefecture.

"My lord, there are really two of the villain's subordinates who are military households in Baoan Prefecture. You can let them go back and find out the news."

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

"Are people smart enough?"

To inquire about things like news, one needs to be smart, otherwise it is easy to cause bad things.

"It's okay. If you're just asking for information, you shouldn't make a mistake when looking for someone. They should still have a lot of acquaintances in their hometown, especially their elder brothers and neighbors. Many of them serve in the army and work in the city. Not less.

My lord is from a military family, and I know that except for our military family who can carry guns and get military pay, other people can only make a living by themselves on weekdays, doing anything for food. "

The squad leader smiled, although he didn't finish his words, he also showed a little confidence.

"Call someone here, and I'll give you another order."

When the team leader called the two servants from Baoanzhou according to Wei Guangde's instructions, Wei Guangde secretly explained to them the mission of returning to Baoanzhou this time, which was to inquire about a man named Shen Lian and whether he still had The family is in Baoanzhou and their possible whereabouts.

"My lord, if the members of the Shen family are outside, we can ask someone to ask them, but if they are detained in the government, we have nothing to do. Most of the family and neighbors are soldiers in the army, but they are not that big. relation."

One of the servants thought about it and reported it.

"I just ask you to inquire about the news. If you can find someone living outside, it's best to bring them here. If you can't find them, forget it. If you are locked in a prison, you don't need to contact them inside, just ask 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"

The little soldier had a worried expression on his face when he said this, as if there was something unspeakable.

Wei Guangde is shrewd, so he naturally knows what it is for and what else he can do when he goes back, so naturally he can't go back empty-handed.

"Zhang Ji, give each person twenty, forget it, give them 30 taels of silver and let them bring it, it should be enough for you to take care of it."

Wei Guangde said to those two people.

The face of the person who spoke earlier disappeared, and he became joyful in an instant, nodding and bowing again and again to express his promise to complete Wei Guangde's explanation.

It will definitely cost money for people to inquire about the news. Although this is helping the emperor, there is 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 is beneficial to his career, what is a little money?
Now Wei Guangde's expenses in the capital, besides the living expenses of his family, are the walking among his colleagues, the reciprocity of gifts, and the pure gift of money is from Gao Zhong and Chen Ju in the palace.

However, apart from his own money, brother-in-law Xu Bangrui promised to send 5000 taels of silver to the capital every year and hand it over to him. The purpose is naturally to manage the relationship in the palace and prepare for the future when he will take over the Duke of Wei's mansion.

As for those who think that if you have money, you will be able to reach the gods, and only plan to hold on to the buddha's feet temporarily, let's go to sleep.

For a really big event, there is no need to spend money to cultivate relationships in the early stage, and people may not necessarily help you when it comes to critical times.

Whose silver is not silver, can you not accept others if you don’t accept yours?

Arrange for two people to go out and ask them to pack up and go back to Baoanzhou to inquire about the news as soon as possible. Now they have nothing to do. Is there still a war over there?"

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

In a few days, Wei Guangde also found out that most of the people came from the military households around Longmenchuan and Nanhe. In the past two years, the Mongol Tartars made a lot of noise in Songshubao, Dushibao and other places, breaking through the side walls and rushing in from time to time.

They should have defended the forts, but the current military forts are not well built, and the walls are not high, and they can't stop the Tartars from climbing, so they can only give up the defense of the military forts and flee on a large scale.

As for why they came to 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 know something, but looking at the clothes and speech of Wei Guangde and his party, they don't seem to dare to say too much.

People on the border, except for the military, were punished for committing crimes, so they naturally knew a lot.

Don't explain that the army is really black when it comes to its own people. In the past, when the Ming army was strong, it would often go outside the Great Wall. At that time, the main purpose of killing good people was to attack and kill the small tribes of Mongolian Tartars. Men, women, and children were not left behind , And then go up to defraud the reward silver according to the military merit report.

Now it's a little bit impossible to win. If you don't dare to go out to fight on the Great Wall, you will kill the inside and harvest the head. It is still a tradition to send it up in disguise to deceive the reward.

There are many things that the soldiers below can't bear, but the superior has to obey. In the border town, human life is worthless. If you don't obey, you will become military merit.

As for how to escape, even those who are astute know that they can't run to the big cities in Xuanfu, either Yanqing or Yongning, it will be a little bit safer, and other places are not safe.

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

The news that Chen Ju sent to Wei Guangde was that Shen Lian was beheaded and his family was exiled to the far side, but the news from Ma Fang was that Shen Lian was beheaded, and his second and third sons, Shen Gun and Shen Bao, refused to admit that they had anything to do with the White Lotus Sect. Shen Lian was tortured and killed with a stick, and Shen Lian's wife and young son were exiled in Yunzhou.

There is also news about Shen Lian's eldest son in the letter. Shen Lian's eldest son, Shen Xiang, is a scholar in Shaoxing Prefecture, and perhaps another seed for reading. Naturally, Yang Shun will not let him grow up. He has already forged a deadly feud after talking about it. up.

According to the news obtained by Ma Fang, Governor Yang Shun has already written a letter to Zhejiang, mentioning Chen Xiang's guilt.

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

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

Wei Guangde put down the letter in his hand, stretched out his hand to rub his temples, Yang Shun was really ruthless.

A few days ago, Wei Guangde came into contact with the refugees outside the city, and Wei Guangde already understood why the generals of the Ming army wanted to kill good people and pretend to be meritorious.

Wei Guangde was a military household in the south, so naturally he didn't know, but finally found out the details from the guards sent by Dong Yiyuan.

In fact, the crux of the matter is still in the imperial court, not only because of the greed of those generals, but also the relatives of their soldiers who are not easy to kill. It is not good to be stabbed in the back after killing be on guard.

Behind what they do, there are often hints from civil officials behind them.

Every time there is such a major military situation as the Tartars attacking the border, it is natural to report it, and if there are few gains in hand, the official will not be able to be appointed.

The Ming army was unable to fight the Tartars head-on, so they often adopted defensive strategies, just defending the big city, allowing the Tartars to wreak havoc and looting away, and then pursued tactics to expel the Tartars and return to the border.

If there is no gain, you can only use the strategy of killing the good and pretending to be meritorious, otherwise you will not be able to explain to the court.

By this time, Wei Guangde knew that the matter was settled.

(End of this chapter)