Ming Empire

Chapter 151 Confidential Matters

When Cao Bianjiao and his army arrived in Datong that day, Cao Yue and Sun Chuanting went five miles out of the city to meet them, and placed Cao Bianjiao's men and horses in the North Camp outside the city.Cao Bianjiao traveled long distances and experienced another fierce battle. The soldiers were tired and needed to rest and replenish military supplies.Cao Yue also generously took out the small money and food savings in Datong City to meet the needs of Cao Bianjiao's tribe.Cao Bianjiao was very grateful for this, and Cao Yue was also pleasantly surprised by the reinforcements from Cao Bianjiao's tribe. This should be the only team that rescued Datong desperately when it was in crisis.

Although Zhou Yuji, Jiang Xiang, and Jiang Rang brothers agreed to rescue Datong, they did not dare to compete with Jiannu. They only agreed to intercept the bandits for the Datong army. Grateful.And Cao Bianjiao's Dongxie Army fought against Dorgon's army on the way of reinforcements, and lost some troops, Cao Yue had to make compensation no matter what.

After Cao Bianjiao arrived in Datong, the two brothers had a lot of exchanges, but most of them were about the use of troops. The two brothers hadn't talked much about the current situation and the future of the Cao family.Whether it is Cao Yue or Cao Bianjiao, they all know that their brothers have become influential figures now, and the people all over the world know their heroic deeds. The ministers in the court and Emperor Chongzhen also look at them differently.

There must be ministers in the court who praised them greatly, and of course there must be many people who are not convinced, and are even trying to slander and reject them.This is the characteristic of the Ming Dynasty. The intrigue in the court is always fierce, even if the enemy is present.The status of military generals has always been low, and they are very severely squeezed out by civil servants. Oftentimes, military generals who have made great achievements are not treated accordingly, and even suffer unfair treatment. Cao Yue has personal experience of this.

It can also be seen from the fact that Sun Chuanting was wrongly imprisoned and spent several years in prison.

There are many things, the two brothers must have a good discussion and discuss how to deal with them, otherwise there may be troubles.

Sun Chuanting promised that after the victory of the Datong War, he would tell Cao Yue many secrets, and Cao Yue was also going to find an opportunity to have a good chat with Sun Chuanting and find out some inside stories he didn't know.

Of course, the first thing to do is to reward the meritorious soldiers, comfort the dead, and arrange Datong soldiers and civilians.

On this point, Sun Chuanting is more scheming than Cao Yue. When Jiannu arrived at the city of Datong, he had already had a secret discussion with the acting king Zhu Chuanqi, and by means of threats and lures, he successfully got Zhu Chuanqi to agree. After winning the victory and Jiannu being repelled, Zhu Chuanqi must spend at least 100 million taels of silver and enough food to reward the soldiers and arrange for the common people, otherwise the Datong army will leave Datong alone.

Nearly 20 slaves came under pressure. Of course, Zhu Chuanqi was terrified to death. Under the psychological influence that life-saving was the top priority, he was forced to agree to Sun Chuanting's threat.

But after the Battle of Datong, he wanted to repent, but Sun Chuanting had thought of such a trick a long time ago. He took out the written evidence written by Zhu Chuanqi and some evidence proving that Zhu Chuanqi colluded with Jiannu and the rogues. As a result, Zhu Chuanqi could only be soft , Reluctantly took out a huge sum of money and food.

Zhu Chuanqi's family property is very rich, even if he took out 100 million taels of silver and hundreds of thousands of shi of grain, it didn't make him bankrupt, at most it just made his living conditions worse.So much property was extorted by Sun Chuanting and Cao Yue successively, and nearly half of his family property was gone. Zhu Chuanqi was full of resentment towards these two people.

But now, Zhu Chuanqi did not dare to openly quarrel with Sun Chuanting and Cao Yue. After all, he had done a lot of disgraceful things, and some things still fell into the hands of Sun Chuanting and Cao Yue.He needed time, and more importantly, an opportunity, so he took a temporary forbearance.

In the eyes of Sun Chuanting and Cao Yue, Zhu Chuanqi was just a greedy vassal king with little power and little influence on the current situation. They also had evidence that Zhu Chuanqi was doing business with Jiannu and secretly doing business with rogue bandits. Therefore, he was not afraid of Zhu Chuanqi's retaliation, nor did he think too much about whether the prince would retaliate.

After sending troops to move 100 million taels of silver and hundreds of thousands of shi of grain from Zhu Chuanqi's palace to Xingyuan, Cao Yue and Sun Chuanting were very happy.

The issue of military supplies is temporarily resolved, so don't worry about the rewards for the soldiers. The food relief for the common people has been provided for the time being, and the slaves have also retreated. Head north.

Datong is currently very safe, there is no threat, of course they are happy.

After successfully extorting Zhu Chuanqi, the two happily returned to Xingyuan. When drinking tea and bragging together, Cao Yue naturally brought the topic to those matters he cared about.

"Old man Sun, you promised me that when the Battle of Datong is won, you will tell me all the confidential things you know, and give me some ideas. Now that the big things are done, you can also put your Tell me what you know, and give me some advice, so that I don't get punished miserably!"

"Boy, do you know if you are eager to know these things?" Sun Chuanting was not surprised that Cao Yue asked him these things. After taking a sip of tea slowly, he said cheerfully, "Don't worry, I will definitely tell you what I need to tell you." Let me tell you, this old man will not cheat you!"

"Then let's talk about it today. What is the real purpose of coming to Datong this time? It's not just to labor the army, is it? It's to seize the military power of our Datong army, right?" Cao Yue asked bluntly.

"Smart!" Sun Chuanting gave Cao Yue a thumbs up and said with admiration: "Some people in the court are dissatisfied with you for commanding tens of thousands of horses at a young age and guarding one side, and the fighting power of the Datong Army is too strong. After defeating Jiannu, do you think that no one will be jealous of this army? You and Cao Bianjiao's troops are so strong in fighting power, maybe some people don't worry that your Cao brothers will not obey the orders of the court?"

Sun Chuanting's words confirmed some of Cao Yue's worries at once. He smiled wryly and asked Sun Chuanting: "It's His Majesty the Emperor, he doesn't worry about me and my cousin commanding tens of thousands of elite soldiers, right?"

"I didn't say anything, you guessed it yourself!" Sun Chuanting did not answer Cao Yue's question, but smiled mysteriously, "You have trained an army with such combat effectiveness, and now the imperial court can mobilize it. There are not many people, and many generals will not obey the imperial court's orders, or the lions will open their mouths and make many demands on the imperial court. If you want to continue to master your army, you must know what price you will have to pay. So the old man advises you, hand over the army honestly, and ask the court for some conditions by the way. If someone wants to pick your peaches, many of your demands can be met, even some excessive demands. Long live the Lord I value you very much, and my most beloved daughter is going to marry you, so how to do it, you can do whatever you want!"

(End of this chapter)