On the tenth day of the 25th year of Hongwu, General Lan Yu reported that the rebellion of Yuelu Timur, commander of the Huijianchang, had been expatriated for a year, had been put down. Until then, there was no more military affairs in the Ming Empire. The emperor was overjoyed.

"The emperor issued an order on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month to personally preside over the ceremony of the prisoner offering ceremony for the general Liang Guo Duke Lan Yu, who returned in triumphantly. In Beijing, all civil and military officials, the emperor and nobles should not be neglected." Zhu Zhi threw the notice sent by the Ministry of Rites on the table.

Yang Rong said: "The emperor is so kind to Duke Liang."

Zhu Zhi said: "I really don't understand. I just don't match the chiefs of the local vassal states. Is it possible for the father to greet him with such a big pomp?"

Yang Rong said: "Your Highness has something to do. Since Kaiping was gone in Zhongshan, Lan Yu has made many great contributions. The emperor met very well. In the 21st year, General Lan fought north to Mobei. When the emperor sent his army to war, he said that when the army passed away, he would be greeted outside the Meridian Gate. However, when the northern expedition returned, he was detained at night. The officials of the pass could not open the door. Lan Yu led his troops to destroy the pass and entered. The emperor was very unhappy when he knew about it, so he did not hold a ceremony for the prisoners. This time, it must be the promise made by the heroes that day."

Zhu Zhi said, "If this is the case, it would be reasonable." As the two were talking, a doorman outside reported that a plainclothes scholar asked for a meeting at the door, saying that his name was "Tiexuan".

When Zhu Zhi heard this, he jumped up from the chair and said, "Hurry, please come in quickly. Mianren, come with me to greet you." Haha, here, come, my Tie Hyun is finally here. Zhu Zhi couldn't change his clothes, so he slammed the door and walked out to meet you.

When he walked forward, the door had already led Tie Hyun in. Zhu Zhi looked from a distance and saw the person who came in twenty-seven or eight, medium-sized, dark-faced, and ordinary, but his big eyes were bright and bright. Tie Hyun was wearing a blue cloth gown and carrying a bag on his back. From top to bottom, righteousness was permeated with simplicity, just like his name, Tie Hyun and Tie Ding Stone.

Zhu Zhi walked towards him with great strides, and smiled as he walked, "The person who came is an iron tripod, I have been looking forward to you."

Tie Xuan knew that the person who came was his boss, King Liao Zhu Zhi, and hurriedly gave a big gift in the hall: "My minister Tie Xuan bowed to King Liao Qiansui."

Zhu Zhi helped him up and said, "I have been issued for so long, how come the tripod stones come today."

Tie Xuan said: "My father Ding You has just expired a few days ago. After receiving the order from the Ministry of Personnel, he realized that he had become the chief of the royal palace. Xuan did not dare to slack off and rushed back to the capital overnight. Therefore, he came to the royal palace to report to him at this time. Please forgive me."

Zhu Zhi would not blame him. While asking him to sit down and talk, he asked his servants to serve tea. After asking, it turned out that Tie Xuan had just rushed back from his hometown in Dengzhou and arrived at the capital without even returning home. Zhu Zhi cherished him and said, "Dingshi is hard. Although I am eager to seek talent, I cannot delay Dingshi going home to visit him."

Tie Xuan said: "It's okay. Since he has been an official of the Liao King, Xuan should come and report quickly."

Zhu Zhi suddenly noticed Yang Rong standing behind him, and then woke up and did not introduce them to them, saying, "I was happy for a moment and forgot to introduce them to them. This is the iron-die stone of the Changshi Tiexun. This is Jishan Yang Rong's name is Mianren. In the future, both of them will be my right-hand man."

As a subordinate, Yang Rong hurriedly stepped forward and bowed to the ground: "Brother Dingshi's name is well-known. Rong has admired him for a long time. It is a blessing to see him today. I hope Dingshi will give you more suggestions in the future."

Tie Xuan also felt that the King of Liao valued this person quite well, and he also replied: "It's really a hero who is a young man. I hope Brother Ren is polite."

When Tie Xuan was greeting, Zhu Zhi caught a patch sewn on Tie Xuan's sleeve. Zhu Zhi sighed inwardly, he is really a capable official. Since ancient times, in the traditional Chinese concept, a clean official = a good official and a capable official. To measure a person's ability, the first thing to do is to see whether the person is honest. This judgment standard is related to the corruption of officials in China for thousands of years of history. People always believe that only honest officials can become officials based on their true abilities. This simple judgment standard is not so much a victory of moral justice, but is forced out by corruption.

But in fact, can a clean official and a capable official be equated? How much practice has proved that there is no necessary logical relationship between the two. In the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Juzheng, the famous reformer, the chief assistant of the Wanli Dynasty, had no doubt about his ability, but his moral flaws were criticized. When he was confiscated after his death, he found millions of taels of silver. With his salary, what a large deposit of unknown origin is this? In addition, Qi Jiguang, the leading military strategist in the Ming Dynasty, was forced to bribe eunuchs in order to achieve his political ideals. Of course, where did his money come from, he also plundered from below.

Hai Rui, a famous honest official in the Wanli Dynasty, could not even afford to buy a coffin when his family died, but apart from being poor, he did not have any political achievements in his post.

This is the tragic thing about Chinese political history. A clean official may not be able to do it, and those who can do it may not be clear. But Tie Xuan in front of him is really rare. However, Zhu Zhi disagreed with the so-called clean official. What is pure and unclear is not something that can be corrected. In the final analysis, it depends on the system.

When Zhu Zhi woke up from a short circuit of thinking caused by a patch, Tie Xuan and Yang Rong were already having a happy chat. It turned out that both of them were from the Imperial Academy and were talking about interesting things in the school. Tie Xuan twenty-eight and Yang Rong twenty-two, one was called the senior brother and the other was called the junior brother. And both of them were the children of Yang Jing, the Minister of Justice. Seeing that the two got along well at Chuchu, Zhu Zhi was also very happy. After all, these two were their own pillars, so don’t make any disputes.

At this moment, Zhu Zhi kept Tie Hyun for dinner, and introduced Guo Ming, who was the Dianbao, to Tie Hyun during the meal. As a result, there were finally three people in his shogunate. After dinner, Zhu Zhi wanted to bring Tie Hyun to talk about the Liaodong strategy. But Tie Hyun said that at the beginning of his tenure, he was unclear about everything in Liaodong, but instead asked Zhu Zhi for the Liaodong memorials from the past six months and was preparing to go home and study them carefully.

In the political structure of the early Ming Dynasty, the vassal kings and local prefectures were in a relationship of mutual restraint and supervision. The specific political affairs were basically under the jurisdiction of prefectures and counties, and the vassal kings basically could not get involved, except during the war period. In terms of military affairs, the vassal kings had great power, and the mobilization of prefectures and counties had to be approved by the vassal kings. The previous year, the vassal king went to the frontier to fight against the Mongols, and even Lan Yu had to accept the control of the vassal kings.

In this structure, the vassal king's mansion actually plays the role of a military staff office, responsible for the supervision of food and grass transportation and combat planning. Therefore, the chief officer was largely the commander in charge of military affairs. Tie Xuan was to kill two birds with one stone. On the one hand, he served as a Shandong political party in later generations, raised food and grass for the army, proving that he had logistical talents; and his ability on the battlefield was also tested. Therefore, Zhu Zhi very much hoped that Tie Xuan could arrest the military as soon as possible. So when he sent him away, Zhu Zhishu invited him to go to Beidaying the next day to inspect his Yulin Right Guard.

The next morning, Zhu Zhi and Tie Xuan arrived at the camp. Since the Yulin Right Guard conferred Zhu Zhi, the people from the Ministry of War came to hand over the guards of military equipment and other guards. The entire guards have all the left, right, front, back, and middle offices (battalions), with two people in each thousand households and ten people in a hundred households. At present, there are more than 132 officers in the military, and there should be 11,200 soldiers, 8,840 soldiers, and 6,200 horses.

The commander of the guard was named Yang Chun. Zhu Zhi had investigated him. This man joined the army in the fifth year of Hongwu. He fought bravely and participated in various battles such as the expedition of Yunnan and Mongolia. In the 21st year of Hongwu, he accompanied Lan Yuhui to hunt the Mongolian imperial court in the sea of ​​fishing. Yang Chun led a hundred people to break into the Mongolian tent, captured 23 kings and dukes, and beheaded at 800. He was promoted to the commander of the Yulin Right Guard. Originally, the right guard of the Yulin was transferred back to the Liao kingdom, and Yang Chun should have come to pay his respects to the new master, but some time ago, Yang Chun felt a cold and told the court that he was sick at home.

When Zhu Zhi arrived at the gate of the camp, there were already commanders from both sides and left and right commanders leading generals to see the enemy at the gate of the camp. Zhang Rang, the left commander, looked like a scammer, looked like a servant. I really don’t know which ability he relies on to climb this position. Moreover, his name is not nice, and he is the same name as one of the "Ten Evaluations" in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. Zhu Zhi was very disliked by this person; Ma Qing, the right commander, was tall and mighty, but he was a handsome figure.

Among the generals welcoming, Zhu Zhi saw Chu Zhi, Xiao Pony King, Xu Baxian and other familiar people mingling among the generals. When he saw Xiao Pony King, he even made a face to himself, this kid.

Zhu Zhi said to the generals: "This is Tie Xuan, the chief of the royal palace. The emperor personally gave the name Ding Shi." The generals saluted together. In the Ming Dynasty, the generals valued culture over military personnel. It was common for military generals to have higher ranks, but it was common for them to accept civilian leaders with lower ranks. Tie Xuan had served as the governor's office to make matters in the past, and the people in the army also knew his name. After Zhu Zhi met the generals, Zhang Rang hurriedly served to the court to inspect the three armies.

More than 8,000 soldiers from the Right Guard of Yulin were arranged into five formations according to five battalions. They saw people like pine trees, horses like dragons, swords and guns like forests, and distinct armor. The nearly 10,000 teams had no sound when they were inspected. Only the scarlet military flag was rushing in the north wind. It can be seen that this army was well-trained and truly deserved to be a strong army among the Beijing Guards.

The school who had chatted with Zhu Zhi on the court excitedly said to the person next to him: "Look, King Liao, a few months ago, I also chatted with Your Highness with Your Highness. Oh my God, is it that the smoke from my ancestral grave?" The soldier next to him said disdainfully: "Do you know Your Highness? Brag you."...

Zhu Zhi rode a beautiful big-food horse before ten thousand people, and a special feeling of satisfaction rose from the bottom of his heart. This is the capital for me to start a business. With you, I want to compete with the Yan court for a day. Haha, I, Tang Zi, are today.

Zhu Zhi stood on the reviewing stand, and had a particularly urge to wave his hand, "Hello, comrades", "Hello, comrades" and "Hello, comrades"; "Thank you for your hard work", "Serve the people". No, no, they don't understand these words.

Zhu Zhi stood up straight and shouted to the bottom: "What army are you?" The soldiers below looked at Xiaoyan and didn't know how to answer. Zhu Zhi was disappointed and shouted again: "Answer, what army are you?" This time he answered smartly: "Yulin Right Guard", his voice was uneven.

Zhu Zhi held his strength and shouted again: "I can't hear it, what army are you?"

This time the people below shouted together: "Yulin Right Guard!" The voice was not loud enough.

Zhu Zhi shouted, "Didn't you have enough food? I still can't hear it."

"Yulin Right Guard!" This time I was like talking, but my morale was not high enough.

"Speak louder!" Zhu Zhi tried his best to eat.

"Yulin Right Guard!" All the soldiers blushed and shouted these four words desperately. What does it mean to be overwhelmed by mountains and tsunamis?

"Yes, this is the guard of my King of Liao. When others ask you what army you are in the future, you will answer them in such a voice, you are the right guard of my King of Liao. In a short time, you will go to Liaodong with me, between Baishan and Black Water. The heaven and earth of Liaodong are the place where you bravely fight the enemy and make achievements. Those who don't want to go can tell me that you can transfer you to other guards and continue to enjoy the blessing of this fireworks in the south of the Yangtze River. But whoever wants to kill the enemy and make contributions, will follow me if you win his wife and son. Is anyone willing to stay? Answer me." Zhu Zhi learned from the mobilization speeches of later generations and has compiled a set of things.

"No!" It was another tsunami.

Zhu Zhi deliberately flirted his ears and said, "Can't you hear clearly?"

The soldiers yelled desperately with their necks, "No!"

"Okay, this is the warrior of the Ming Dynasty. He killed the enemy on the frontier and wrapped the corpse in the horses." Zhu Zhi ended with a powerful ending.

The little horse king cooperated better, clenched his fist with his right hand and raised it high: "Kill the enemy in the frontier, and the horses are wrapped in corpses!" All the soldiers followed the little horses and shouted frantically: "Kill the enemy in the frontier, and the horses are wrapped in corpses! Kill the enemy in the frontier, and the horses are wrapped in corpses!..."

Zhu Zhi looked at the army with satisfaction, and then they would see them eating porridge or meals. After the inspection, Zhu Zhi came to the central army tent surrounded by officers. Zhu Zhi left behind more than a thousand generals to discuss matters, and the others were scattered.

Zhu Zhi held the military book and asked sternly: "Why does the military book state that there should be 11,200 soldiers, but why are there only 8,840 people now? I know that lying about soldiers is a serious crime?!"

Zhang Rang's little eyes rolled around and said, "Your Highness, you have drawn a group of people to follow General Lan out of the frontier last time. There are losses, so there are not enough people." Ma Qing snorted and said nothing. Zhang Rang's face became less beautiful when he saw him like this.

Zhu Zhi could see clearly in the middle and asked again: "Commander Ma, do you have something to say?"

Ma Qing seemed to want to say something, but at the end he said it turned out: "There is nothing to say at the end."

Zhu Zhi immediately understood the truth and did not continue to ask, saying, "What is the reason? I will not pursue it. I only require that when I am in the vassal next year, I will see a full Yulin Right Guard, soldiers and equipment and horses, the two commanders and magistrates can discuss with the Iron Chief. Do you know?" The generals accepted the order in unison.

After the meeting, Zhu Zhi and Tie Xuan wandered around the camp for a long time and became familiar with the situation of Yulin's Right Guard. While walking, Zhu Zhi suddenly found that a small school had a familiar appearance and couldn't help but stop. The small school quickly knelt down and saluted: "Prince, do you don't know the young one?"

Zhu Zhi suddenly thought of something and said, "You are the one who explained to me in the competition that day."

The school excitedly said, "Yes, it's exactly what I'm going to do. Prince Xie still remembers the little one."

Zhu Zhi said: "What's your name? What's your position."

Xiaoxiao said: "The young man's surname is Su and his courtesy name is Yunwu. He served as the general flag under the official of the Central Camp."

Zhu Zhi patted his shoulder kindly and said, "Do it well. Following me will not let your brothers suffer." This time, a heroic thing happened in the future, so I will not say it here.

Seeing that he had been almost done, Zhu Zhi sent someone to call Xiao Ma Wang to return to the palace together. Along the way, Zhu Zhi asked about the situation of the three commanders of Yulin Guard. Xiao Ma Wang replied: "Commander Yang has been promoted from military merits under General Lan, and everyone in the camp is very impressed. Commander Ma is from the northwest, and it was not ambiguous to kill generals and seize the flag under General Feng's tent back then. Commander Zhang is the brother of Zhuang Cheng, the commander of the vanguard of the government army. He also has an older sister who is the wife of Li Mao, the governor of the Later Army Governor's Office. As for what he is promoted, everyone knows." When talking about Zhang Rang, the little Ma Wang looked disdainful.

Zhu Zhi heard it in his ears and remembered it in his heart, saying, "What's going on in the army?"

Xiao Ma Wang said: "Zhang Rang only said part of it, but that's not the big head. Big heads are all fleeing their hometowns. From the third year of Hongwu to the present, for more than 20 years, people have fled their hometowns every year. It's good that our guards still have nearly 9,000 people. Jianghuai Guards, the second-line guards, and these left-behind guards are less than 2,000 people."

Zhu Zhi said: "Is there no one to care about such a shortage?"

Tie Xuan said: "When my subordinates were in charge of the Governor's Office, they sometimes knew about these things when chatting. When they fled, the commanders of each guard were responsible. At the beginning, someone concealed it. Not only did the superiors not investigate, they also paid the full amount of food and salary, so everyone followed suit. This matter was exposed once in the 20th year of Hongwu. After investigation, every guard had an empty salary. Who can you punish? What should you do if it becomes a mutiny? The Governor's Office was suppressed in vain. Later, the lower part thought of a way, and those rich soldiers hired outsiders to serve, but this was just a drop in the bucket and could not make up for the soldiers. Now this is the case in the Beijing Guards, and the situation in other local guards is even worse. Alas..."

Zhu Zhi said: "It seems that it is quite difficult to replenish the number of troops before departure."

Tie Xuan seemed confident and said, "This is easy to say. Didn't there be any damage to the war last time? Let's leave the other things to his subordinates."

Zhu Zhi laughed and understood what Tie Hyun meant.

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Chapter completed!