The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"Do you have any smart people under your command?"

Now that he knows the location of the prison car and the official officer, Wei Guangde must settle the matter as soon as possible and arrange for people to handle it.

As for the final result, he no longer cares, let it be fate.

Originally, it was okay to write a letter and ask Ma Fang to do it, but Wei Guangde also wanted to meet Ma Fang. After all, he had to win over a deputy commander, so he couldn't do it without using some means.

In the past, maybe Wei Guangde could just treat Ma Fang as an ordinary military general, but Ma Fang's promotion from staff general to deputy chief soldier was not his fault. I heard that it was the palace's intention, and Ma Fang fell into the eyes of Emperor Jiajing.

Finally, I came to Xuanfu, met Ma Fang, and inquired about information about Mongolia in the north.

As for asking if Ma Fang has anyone smarter under his command, he naturally plans to let Ma Fang's people do the job of administering the medicine.

"My lord, what you mean is"

Ma Fang naturally didn't know Wei Guangde's plan and asked a little surprised.

"That's it"

Wei Guangde told Ma Fang about the delaying means he had prepared before, "After all, he is a loyal minister and a righteous man. Knowing that if he doesn't save someone, he will always feel uneasy."

"My lord is kind and righteous."

Ma Fang cupped his fists and complimented.

In fact, Wei Guangde's determination to put on a show was also to express his attitude to Ma Fang. Wei Guangde was willing to take action and try every means to save loyal ministers and righteous men.

This is true for strangers, but it's even more different for people within your own circle.

However, Wei Guangde's show ended here. He still carried the imperial order to inspect Jizhen, so naturally he could not stay in Xuanfu for a long time.

Wei Guangde called Zhang Ji and handed the medicine he had prepared before to Ma Fang, "You also know that I still have the emperor's life on me, so I can't stay here for a long time. Find two smart people and find a way to take this medicine." Let Shen Xiang take the medicine, he will be weak for three days, but there will be no fear of his life, and he will gradually get better after that, which is the only thing I can do."

After listening to Wei Guangde's words, Ma Fang was still hesitant.

For the prisoner being escorted, life or death is not important. Even if he is dead, the place where he died will be reported to the local government to verify his identity and stamped with the official seal. Even if there is evidence, for the person being escorted, it is just the prisoner's own fate that is bad and deserves to die.

When the time comes, he gives Shen Xiang the medicine, what will happen if the officials continue on their way regardless?

Wouldn't that mean killing people directly on the road?

Thinking of this, Ma Fang couldn't help but said: "What if the official doesn't care about the life or death of the person and continues on his way?"

"Then just leave it to fate. You absolutely can't stop it."

Intercepting the official officers on their mission is no different from rebelling. Naturally, Wei Guangde would not let Ma Fang do such a thing. "Those official officers did not embarrass Shen Xiang all the way, and the people who wanted to come to his hometown also gave him enough support and understanding." Not like that.”

Seeing that Ma Fang was still worried, Wei Guangde smiled and said, "Life and death are determined by fate, and wealth is in heaven. If Shen Xiang was not destined to die, he would not die here. If we don't stop him, he will not survive if he is sent to Baoan Prefecture. Two days.

It will probably be even worse by then, just like his two brothers who were killed with human sticks. "

Wei Guangde's words reached Ma Fang's ears, which naturally made him less worried.

There were many ways to kill him in prison, and they were as brutal as they could be.

To put it bluntly, death outside may be much luckier than death in prison.

Thinking of this, Ma Fang no longer hesitated. He clasped his hands and said, "Don't worry, sir. I'll leave this matter to the general. We will definitely handle it well. We will send someone there tonight."

Wei Guangde had already said before that he had to rush back to Jizhen to inspect the border towns. He had no reason to stay here in Xuanfu, even if it sounded like he was going to Xuanfu on the secret order of Emperor Jiajing.

As for secret edicts, it doesn't matter if their generals follow the edicts, but if civilian officials follow the edicts, it is up for debate, because the secret edicts mean that there is a high probability that they are official edicts, and are issued without going through the cabinet and the Sixth Section.

The guards were arranged to search in the direction of Baoan Prefecture to find the dispatched guards. After resting for a while, they left Xuanfu and returned to Jizhen along the original road.

Wei Guangde didn't know what he was doing, what Emperor Jiajing would think of him if he found out, but he just wanted to be clear about it.

Anyway, according to Wei Guangde's plan, doing this in Ma Fang's place would be beneficial without any harm.

For more than a year, Wei Guangde also paid attention to collecting information from border towns and knew that there were not many generals in Xuanda who seemed to be able to win the war, and Ma Fang was one of them.

At least among the several victory reports reported, Ma Fang's battle reports accounted for as many as three, accounting for almost half.

Being able to gather such a capable general under his command, Wei Guangde felt very accomplished, but it was a pity for Yu Dayou.

This guy was so famous that it was impossible to win him over. After all, Lu Bing's thighs were much thicker than mine.

Wei Guangde was still thinking about this on the way back. If he could recruit Yu Long and Qi Hu under his command, he would probably be the most capable commander of the army in this era. If he were put in the game, he would be up for grabs. The world is under heaven.

Ma Fang is good at fighting in the northern border towns, that is, large-scale infantry and cavalry battles. He doesn't know much about Qi Jiguang. He only knows that he is good at fighting Japanese pirates. It is probably similar to special operations. After all, the Yuanyang Formation is still very famous in later generations. It is said that it is a small group of soldiers. co-operate.

The war against Japanese invaders that Wei Guangde experienced was originally small in scale, but the scale of the Ming army's dispatch was not small at all.

Even according to Mr. Wei, who went to Zhejiang to suppress Japanese invaders, the Japanese pirates had no concept of battle formations. According to the confessions of the captured Japanese pirates, they all followed the leader to attack and escape. Therefore, the Japanese pirates’ tactics were actually based on the Japanese pirates’ battle formations. The big and small leaders in the gang gathered together in groups, and when they attacked, they rushed out in droves, and when they escaped, they ran away in droves.

From this, Wei Guangde imagined a war scene against Japanese pirates in which groups of Japanese pirates rushed towards the Ming army. If they broke the Ming army's formation at once, the Japanese pirates would win. If they could not defeat the Japanese pirates, they would run away because they would lose.

Then the Ming army would divide into groups to surround the fleeing Japanese pirate teams, large and small, and the scale of the battle would not be very large.

As for Yu Dayou, Wei Guangde naturally knew more. This guy was born on the seaside like Qi Jiguang. However, judging from the battle reports in Zhejiang, Qi Jiguang did not seem to be able to command naval battles. The previous naval battles between the Ming Navy and Japanese pirates were all commanded by Yu Dayou. .

After Yu Dayou was arrested and sent to Beijing, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang navies lost several battles with the Japanese pirates at sea. Since then, they have almost chosen to stay in a few ports and no longer go out to patrol the sea.

In fact, the main reason for this is that Wei Guangde thinks that Yu Dayou is really a treasure. He is actually a very powerful general in water and land battles.

It's just that such a person was actually sent to the capital to retire because of Hu Zongxian's impeachment.

However, Wei Guangde also felt that Emperor Jiajing may not have really believed Hu Zongxian's words before punishing Yu Dayou. Yu Dayou's life in the capital was only limited in movement, but he did not actually suffer.

Perhaps Emperor Jiajing just wanted to meet Hu Zongxian's request, as long as he could solve the Japanese pirate problem as soon as possible.

If you don't like Yu Dayou, then I will take him away so that it will not hinder your efforts to suppress the Japanese.

In fact, both Yu Dayou and Wei Guangde believed that only a powerful naval fleet to intercept Japanese pirates on the sea was the magic weapon to fight against Japanese invaders. If they pinned their hopes on Japanese pirates landing on land and fighting on land, then many innocent people would die in vain. .

After taking away Yu Dayou, now there is no coastal defense, and only the soldiers recruited by Tan Lun and Qi Jiguang can fight against the Japanese pirates. Wei Guangde is not very optimistic about Hu Zongxian's strategy of suppressing Japanese pirates.

But thinking of Qi Jiguang, Wei Guangde could only shake his head. Now this man is doing well under Hu Zongxian. Unless he overthrows Hu Zongxian, forget it. Even if he overthrows Hu Zongxian, how can Qi Jiguang know who Wei Guangde is?

In today's court, who is Wei Guangde?

In fact, with his current official position, it is really not enough.

The main reason why he had some face in the capital was that Emperor Jiajing showed extraordinary appreciation for him, so his colleagues appeared cordial and cordial in front of him, but behind the scenes he was envied, jealous, and hated by many people.

The group of people hurriedly followed the road they came from and entered Jizhen through the Bohai Sea. They followed Tang Shunzhi's team along the avenue.

When Wei Guangde found Tang Shunzhi, they had just inspected the guard posts in Zunhua and Santun Camp. They were now on their way to Yongping Mansion. There were two more guard posts, Funing Guard and Shanhai Guard, to inspect, and then they were on their way back. On the way, he checked the Kaiping Zhongtun Guards and returned to the capital via Xianghe.

In the next half month, Wei Guangde followed Tang Shunzhi to check the number of soldiers and military households in several guard posts, and checked them with the military registration books. At the same time, as deputy envoy, Wei Guangde also had the responsibility of collecting data.

Fortunately, having received the education of later generations, Wei Guangde was completely unlike many Jinshi scholars of this era, who knew nothing except "what they know". Elementary school mathematics knowledge could handle these tasks.

Work that seems very troublesome to others has indeed become extremely simple for Wei Guangde. He does not use an abacus like most people here. Wei Guangde can use that thing, but because he is not skilled, it is not as good as a pen calculation. quick.

It's just that other scribes were surprised to see Wei Guangde using Arabic numerals for calculations instead of using abacus or "calculating chips". In fact, Arabic numerals had already been introduced to China in this era, and it was indeed much more convenient than using Chinese characters for counting, even though Even compared to calculation, there are actually many advantages.

However, Chinese people have long been accustomed to using abacus or arithmetic chips when calculating, so there are very few people who actually use Arabic numerals. People only know this counting method but few use it.

Especially abacus, which can not only perform calculations, but also represent numbers, and is relatively convenient for writing.

When the border patrol team crossed the Xianghe River, Wei Guangde had already checked the numbers submitted by the clerk below. The data was correct, but the actual situation was really shocking.

"Master Tang, is this true?"

Wei Guangde was a little hesitant. He finally understood why Yang Bo asked someone to open the lid of Jizhen when he arrived in Jizhen. It was really scary.

There are no secrets in the capital. Even if Wei Guangde didn't know about it at first, he knew it as time went by. When Yang Bo arrived in Jizhen, he went to various guard posts to understand the situation and passed the news to the capital. His friend Bing Ke reported it to Li Yong. Gently uncovered the tip of the iceberg of the serious shortage of military households in Ji Town.

This trip by Wei Guangde and the others was considered to be a liquidation of Ji Zhen's actual wealth, but Wei Guangde was a little at a loss after seeing the final number.

The shortage of military soldiers exceeds one-third, and the reason is that more than half of the military households have fled. This means that there are 200,000 military households on the register, but in fact, there are still less than 100,000 households after inventory.

Such a large deduction was concealed by the previous governors of Jizhen and the commander-in-chief of the army, and the purpose was naturally to earn free money.

Think about it, if you report according to the facts, these shortfalls must be deducted from the military pay, which is nonsense.

However, it has only been a few years since Anda's troops broke through the border defense of Jizhen. It has been eight years, and Jizhen's defense has not improved at all. I don't know how Emperor Jiajing will react when this memorial is posted.

Tang Shunzhi had been in the Ministry of War for many years, so he had naturally heard about the vacancies at the lower levels, but he did not expect that Ji Town, which protects the safety of the capital, had fallen into this state. What about other military towns?

What is the situation like in Xuanfu, Datong and Yansui?

I didn’t dare to imagine it anymore, but I had to do this errand.

"If you don't report the truth, do you still want to deceive me?"

Tang Shunzhi naturally made the distinction clearly, but Wei Guangde probably was just frightened by the numbers that came out, so he lost his bearings for a while.

To say that Ji Zhen is such a big leak, he, the doctor of the Ministry of War, has a greater responsibility. Wei Guangde is just a soy sauce, but in fact, it is nothing.

After the memorial was posted, he slapped his ass and went back to the Hanlin Academy. They still had to clean up the mess.

If the soldiers are not full, it is easy to deal with it. Just call the remaining soldiers to make up for it, but the military leaders below may not be happy.

Master, it means that they will get a lot of money for less.

As long as you are registered in the army, you will be given some food and salary. If you don't have this person at all, you can eat it all.

As for the escape of military households, it is difficult to deal with it. If civilian households are lured, it will cause chaos in the place again. Who is willing to join the army these days?

Even those families who are so poor that they have no choice but to work hard are only willing to send their children to the military camps, which are recruiting soldiers but not military registration.

If the people know that a large-scale recruitment of military households is planned, people outside Gyeonggi may start to flee. At least avoid the recruitment and come back. Even if they are sued, it is better than joining the military.

Tang Shunzhi felt a big headache, but he couldn't discuss it with Wei Guangde. After all, it had nothing to do with him. He still had to discuss the matter with the ministry after returning to the capital.

I just briefly discussed the content of the report with Wei Guangde. Naturally, all the data will not be reported. It is too eye-catching. The information left on file is naturally complete. It is just that the report to Emperor Jiajing will use some Spring and Autumn writing skills. The emperor will be fooled without asking. never mind.

When they returned to the capital, Tang Shunzhi and Wei Guangde did not bother to go back to rest. They went directly to the General Affairs Department to submit the patrol memorial:

Ji Town originally had an army of more than 91,000 people, but now there are only more than 57,000 people registered and more than 33,000 people have fled. Seeing that there are many who are too old and weak to fight. The reason for the escape was that due to years of building border walls, transporting rocks and logging up the mountain, heavy labor and insufficient strength, loans were made to pay for goods; the generals were corrupt, and civil servants invaded and fished, so the soldiers were poor and had to flee.