The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Wei Guangde only rested for one day. Early the next morning, Zhang Ji bought a carriage and left the town on the pretext of sending Wei Guangde to Pinggu County for recuperation. After leaving the town, he walked a short distance south and then headed west, heading straight to the Bohai Sea. And go.

The carriage was loaded with a lot of food and camping materials, so it was naturally prepared to hurry up and travel through the night.

To be safe, Zhang Ji went to the doctor that night to prepare some medicinal soup in case Wei Guangde was not suitable for taking it on the way.

As for what medicine the doctor gave Wei Guangde, the old doctor didn't say anything even if he wanted to kill him. Even if Zhang Ji offered a high price of one hundred taels of silver to buy the medicine, or even threatened to silence him, it was of no use.

Wei Guangde's planned route was to exit customs at Bohai Station, go to Yongning first, wait for the servant sent to contact Ma Fang in the first two days to bring back the news, and then consider the next move.

He got the decree too late, and he only got a rough idea from Chen Ju. It was mainly to investigate Shen Lian's affairs, so he had to first find out if there was anyone else in Shen Lian's family and contact him in order to get the most useful information.

Where was Shen Lian sent to after being convicted?

Speaking of which, Wei Guangde is quite familiar with it. After all, he has spent a lot of time there, that is Baoan Prefecture.

According to the information given to Wei Guangde by Chen Ju, Yang Shun succeeded Yang Bo as the governor of Xuanda at the end of the 35th year of Jiajing. In the battle with the Mongolian Anta tribe last year, more than 40 border cities and military forts were lost, which was a heavy loss.

However, the results reported in the official newspaper showed a large number of beheaded heads. The news that Jin Yiwei spied on was that there might be cases of killing good people and taking credit for merit, 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 the term "killing good people and taking merit" in the report was actually very righteous. After all, although the Jinyiwei was a knife in the emperor's hand, it was mainly for intelligence collection. But after all, they are still considered soldiers, so they naturally prefer border towns in some respects.

In three days, the cavalry traveled from Pinggu to Huairou and then to the outside of Bohai Institute, disguised as pedestrians. It took a day to pass through the customs here and enter the boundaries of Xuanfu.

After passing the customs defense, everyone gathered together again, and according to Wei Guangde's plan, they naturally went straight to Yongning.

Yongnian is close to Yanqing Prefecture and is also a large military town. A large number of guard troops are stationed here to guard along the Great Wall.

In order not to reveal their identities, the guards sent by Dong Yiyuan had all changed out of their military uniforms and put on the services of servants. Wei Guangde pretended to be a young master who was traveling. They were all servants sent by his family to protect the young master.

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

If they were not allowed to dress up as armed servants, they would not be able to hide it from the sergeants of the Xuan Mansion.

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

Just what he saw when he got close to the city shocked Wei Guangde. When he was fighting with the Anda tribe, he had not seen so many refugees in Huailai and Baoan Prefecture.

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

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

Wei Guangde ordered Zhang Ji to inquire about the situation.

When we passed the Bohai Station, we didn't hear any news that the Xuan Mansion was starting another war. Don't let the twenty or so people of yours accidentally fall into the battlefield.

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

Hearing this, Wei Guangde raised his eyebrows. Although he had never been to Longmen Guards, he had seen the map and knew that it was not far from Zhangjiakou Fort, Baoan Prefecture and Yanqing Prefecture. The cavalry could reach it in three days. It was also where I An area where there were frequent battles between the Abu and Ming armies.

The main areas where Xuanfu fought against the Mongols were Wanquan, which was connected to Datong, and the Longmen Guards. However, there were few attacks from the Anda tribe near Xuanfu Town.

Similarly, Gaoyang Guard and Tiancheng Guard, which connect Xuanfu in the Datong direction, are often attacked by the Anda tribe. Once they break into the Great Wall, they will brutally rape them at the junction of Xuanfu and Datong before leaving.

Ma Fang's current main fighting area is Wanquan's left and right guards. Baoan Prefecture is not within the scope of his management. Wei Guangde only seeks Ma Fang to add insurance.

Before and after the First World War in Baoan Prefecture, Wei Guangde heard more than one person say that anything could happen here if the border was uneasy.

He had been here before, so there was no guarantee he wouldn't be recognized.

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

Wei Guangde didn't want to risk his life here in order to fulfill Emperor Jiajing's will.

Now it seems that the Anta Ministry of Baoan Prefecture did not exert its full strength in the First World War. They only took a half-year break to regain their fighting strength, and began to cause trouble on the border of Ming Dynasty again. And looking at these refugees, it seems that they are even more troublesome than before. Dehuan.

Seeing this, Wei Guangde already knew that the so-called achievements reported by Yang Shun last year were mostly untrue. If it were true as he said, the Tatars would have been beaten away long ago. Where did these refugees come from.

Wei Guangde had also heard about the so-called gains reported by Yang Shun last year. The reward issued by Taicang, the capital, was nearly three hundred thousand taels. It would take several thousand Tatar heads to make up this amount. Our department was determined not to be able to afford it. caused such a big loss.

Thinking of what Ma Fang said before, there are only more than 20,000 to less than 30,000 elite troops in the Anda tribe, and the number of soldiers is 60,000 to 70,000. Even if we recruit the old and the weak, we can only make up 100,000 troops. Wei Guangde shook his head unconsciously. Yang Shun is too boastful.

When riding into the city, Wei Guangde had neither the time nor the ability to take care of these people. He should first finish the things assigned by the emperor.

After finding an inn in the city, Zhang Ji asked Zhang Ji to arrange for someone to go to the city gate to wait for the servants who delivered the message. Wei Guangde also called the captain of the servants left by Dong Yiyuan. The purpose was naturally to know if there were any security guards among his men. State people.

Shen Lian's incident happened in Bao'an Prefecture. Naturally, it would be more convenient for people from Bao'an Prefecture to go back and inquire about it, so that it would not be exposed easily.

The purpose of looking for Ma Fang was to find someone in the officialdom to inquire about where the other members of the Shen family were being held, to see if there was a chance to contact them and learn more information.

The private search for Ma Fang's family members cannot stop, especially those who have been staying with Shen Lian in Baoan Prefecture.

"Sir, there are two of the villain's men who are military households in Bao'an Prefecture. You can ask them to go back and find out the news."

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

"Are people smart enough?"

To inquire about information, you need to be smart, otherwise it will be easy to do bad things.

"It's okay. If you're just asking for information, there shouldn't be anything wrong with finding someone. They should still have many acquaintances in their hometown, especially their brothers and neighbors. Many of them are serving in the military and working in the city. Quite a few.

As someone who comes from a military household, you know that except for one person who can carry a gun and receive military pay, the rest of us can only fend for ourselves on weekdays, doing whatever we can to make ends meet. "

The squad leader smiled and said, although he didn't finish his words completely, he still showed a little confidence.

"Call the people here and I'll give you some more instructions."

When the team leader called the two servants from Baoan Prefecture according to Wei Guangde's instructions, Wei Guangde secretly explained to them the mission of returning to Baoan Prefecture, which was to inquire about a man named Shen Lian and whether he was still alive. Family members in Bao'an Prefecture and where they might go.

"Sir, if the Shen family members are outside, we can ask someone to question them, but if they are detained by the government, we have no choice. Most of the family and neighbors are small soldiers in the army, but they are not that big. relation."

One of the servants thought about it and reported it.

"I just want you to inquire about the information. If you can find someone who is living outside, it would be best to bring him over. If you can't find him, forget it. If he is locked up, there is no need to contact him inside. You can just inquire 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 this time."

When the soldier said this, a worried expression appeared on his face, as if he had something to hide.

Wei Guangde is shrewd and naturally knows what he is for. What else can he do when he goes back? Naturally, he cannot return empty-handed.

"Zhang Ji, give each person twenty. Forget it, give them thirty taels of silver to take with them. It should be enough for you to take care of yourself."

Wei Guangde said to the two people.

The sadness on the face of the man who spoke earlier disappeared and he instantly became happy. He nodded and bowed repeatedly to express his promise to complete Wei Guangde's instructions.

Asking for information will definitely cost money. Although this is doing things for the emperor, there will be 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 will help your career, what is a little money?

Now Wei Guangde's expenses in the capital, in addition to the living expenses of his family, include traveling among his colleagues, exchanges of courtesy, and only giving money to Gao Zhong and Chen Ju in the palace.

However, in addition to his own money, his wife's brother Xu Bangrui promised to send 5,000 taels of silver to the capital every year and hand it over to him. The purpose was naturally to manage the relationship in the palace and make preliminary preparations for taking over the Duke of Wei's palace in the future.

As for those who think that having money can help them achieve spiritual enlightenment and just plan to make ends meet, just go to sleep.

For really big things, if you don't spend money to cultivate the relationship in the early stage, people may not be able to help you when the critical moment comes.

Whose money is not money? If you don’t accept it, why can’t you accept other people’s money?

Arrange for two people to go out and ask them to pack up and return to Baoan Prefecture to inquire about the news as soon as possible. Now they have nothing to do. "Let's go out of the city to have a look and listen to what the refugees say. At this time, these people have not been allowed to return. Is there still a war over there?"

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

In a few days, Wei Guangde also found out clearly that most of the people came from military households around Longmen River and Nanhe River. In the past two years, the Mongolian Tatars had made serious troubles in places such as Pine Tree Fort and Dushi Fort. From time to time, they would break through the border walls and rush in.

They should have built forts and defended them, but the current forts were not very well built, and the city walls were not high enough to stop the Tatars from climbing, so they had no choice but to give up defending the forts and flee on a large scale.

As for why they ended up in 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 knew something, but looking at the way Wei Guangde and his party dressed and spoke, they seemed to dare not say too much.

People on the border, except for the military, are punished for committing crimes and guarding the border. Naturally, they know a lot of things.

Not to mention that it was really bad for the Ming army to attack its own people. In the past, when the Ming army was strong, they often went to the outside of the Great Wall. At that time, the main purpose of killing good people and taking credit was to attack and kill small tribes of Mongolian Tatars, leaving no men, women or children behind. , and then they all defrauded the reward money according to the military merit reports.

Now it's a bit unwinnable. I don't dare to fight outside the Great Wall, so I just kill people inside to harvest the heads. I still dress up in disguise and send them to defraud the reward money. It has become a tradition.

Even if the soldiers below could not bear to do many things, they had to obey the orders of the superior officers. In the border town, human life was like a piece of grass, and disobedience would turn into military merit.

As for how to escape, in fact, even those who are smart know that they cannot run to the big cities in Xuanfu, either Yanqing or Yongning. If it is safer, other places are not safe.

In such a dull atmosphere, Wei Guangde waited for the news from Ma Fang, but the result made him shocked and extremely angry.

The news sent by Chen Ju to Wei Guangde was that Shen Lian was beheaded and his family was exiled to Jibian. However, the news sent from Ma Fang was that Shen Lian was beheaded and his second son, Shen Gun, and Shen Baoyin refused to admit their relationship with the White Lotus Sect. Ran was killed with a rod during torture, and Shen Lian's wife and young son were exiled to Yunzhou.

The letter also contains news about Shen Lian's eldest son. Shen Xiang, Shen Lian's eldest son, is a talented scholar at Shaoxing Prefecture School. He may also have a seed for reading. Naturally, Yang Shun will not let him grow up. It seems that he has already formed a deadly feud. .

Ma Fang inquired about the news that Governor Yang Shun had written to Zhejiang to bring Shen Xiang to trial.

After Shen Lian was beheaded on the charge of being a White Lotus cultist, the charges were finally confirmed and there was no need to provide any other evidence.

"This is an attempt to eradicate the root cause."

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

In contact with the refugees outside the city a few days ago, Wei Guangde had roughly understood why the Ming generals wanted to kill good people and take credit. Although they were all hesitant in their words, Wei Guangde was not stupid, and he could still guess some clues after several inquiries.

Wei Guangde was a military householder in the south, so naturally he didn't know. In the end, he learned the details from the guards sent by Dong Yiyuan.

In fact, the crux of the matter still lies with the court, but it is not just these generals who are greedy for the reward money. You must know that among the people who are said to be killed are the relatives of their own soldiers. It is not good to be stabbed in the back after killing them. Be on guard.

Behind their actions, there are often hints from civil servants.

Every time you encounter a major military situation like a Tatar attack on the border, you will naturally have to report it, and if you have little to gain, you will not be able to serve as an official.

The Ming army was unable to fight the Tatars head-on, so they often adopted a defensive strategy, holding the city and allowing the Tatars to plunder and flee. Later, they used pursuit tactics to drive the Tatars back to the border.

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

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