Chapter 188: The long-term plan of Volume B
“Oh, the young man is also from Shaanxi?” the older man asked in surprise.
"No, as I said before, I am from Linqing, Shandong, but I have lived in Datong for many years. I also went to Zhenchuan Fort with my father to defeat Hu Fort, Luoquan Fort, Lao Niuwan Fort, and Jian'an Fort." Feng Ziying He smiled and explained.
The three men were surprised. The addresses mentioned by Feng Ziying were all important areas on the nine sides. From Datong Town through Shanxi Town to Yulin Town, these fortresses along the line built the strongest defense line against the Tatars. .
The older man couldn't help but stood up and took a look at Feng Ziying, "I didn't expect that although Xiao Langjun was young, he could walk along this line. It's rare. This is the first time I heard that someone is willing to walk along this line. , except for us warriors."
“I don’t dare, my father Feng Tang, I am currently studying in the Imperial College.” Feng Ziying will not be pretentious. The best strategy for dealing with these warriors is to be straightforward, which will make it easier to win their recognition and respect.
"It turns out it's Mr. Feng's husband. I'm disrespectful." The older man was startled and quickly stood up to say goodbye. "I'm guarding You Shigong in Xiayulin Town. The two of them are my younger brother You Shiwei and You Shilu. To sum up a thousand sums for a certain subordinate."
The other two people also hurriedly came to see him.
"You Shou Bei is too polite. I am just a student. How can I deserve You Shou Bei's courtesy?" Feng Ziying hurriedly avoided it and repeatedly handed over her hands, "I am also a martial artist and have no fame, so we might as well go our separate ways. how?"
You Shigong is also a cheerful person. Seeing Feng Ziying's sincere attitude, he was not polite and nodded: "In that case, You will respect the young man's wishes."
“Brother You came to the capital city on business?” Feng Ziying motioned for everyone to take their seats and asked with a smile.
Since they are both from martial arts backgrounds, although the Feng family is said to be the descendant of Wu Xun, after all, they have this extra layer of martial relationship, which makes them much closer.
In addition, Feng Tang has served as the commander-in-chief of Datong for many years, and the three brothers of the Feng family have been operating in Datong for decades. They have a deep relationship. Even the neighboring Shanxi Town and Yulin Town have heard about it, and Yulin Town also has people from Datong Town. The generals who were transferred here are familiar to everyone.
Although Feng Tang is currently idle, it is common for such high-ranking generals to return to power. He may be the commander-in-chief again tomorrow, so the three brothers You Shigong are naturally willing to get acquainted with such a high-ranking military commander.
"Since Mr. Young Master has been in the border town for a long time, I'm afraid he should know it. Our Yulin Town has been in arrears of pay for three years. Last winter, we were short of 30% of the military rations. Now the brothers can't stand it any longer. There are so many people fleeing. , No, after being appointed by the Associate General and the General, You also came to the capital city to ask for pay and food. To be honest, Mr. Young, our group is the third group. I also saw him in the next room. The two colleagues who arrived in Gansu Town, hehe, are here to collect food and pay."
Seeing the three You brothers' faces full of bitterness and helplessness, Feng Ziying was also surprised.
Of course he knew that Jiubian was in arrears with pay and food. The Kaizhong method discussed in the academy was aimed at the problem of military food security. Similarly, the Linqing Civil Revolution was also because the emperor wanted to use tax inspectors to directly collect taxes to provide military pay for Jiubian. What?
But how can the one hundred thousand taels of silver be used to pay for the entire nine sides of arrears? To put it bluntly, even if you immediately put ten million taels of silver in front of you, it still wouldn't be able to cover the needs of Jiubian, not to mention how could there be tens of millions of taels of silver in the inner treasury?
Now the imperial court's strategy is to protect Xuan Daji first, then Liaodong and Shanxi. As for Yulin, Ningxia, Guyuan and Gansu towns, they are all at the bottom of the queue. Anyway, even if the Tatars invade from there. , and cannot threaten the capital for a moment.
This is also one of the main reasons why Feng Tang is reluctant to go to Yulin. If he goes there, he will have to worry about military pay, food and grass. These things are almost unsolvable problems in front of him.
Northern Shaanxi is barren, the folk customs are fierce, and the Tatars outside the Great Wall come and go like the wind. There is no way to guarantee military rations and military pay. Even though you, the commander-in-chief, have no worries and can even make money, Feng Tang is unwilling to go. An official like this might rebel one day, and he wouldn't even know it if his head was hanging on the city wall.
“You should go to the Ministry of Household Affairs to ask for food and payment, why do you come to Wang Shilang instead?” Feng Ziying asked.
"Hmph, how could those officials in the Ministry of Revenue take us big-headed soldiers seriously? Even the Assistant Chief Minister and General Soldier came and were turned away. I was just going through the motions. Besides, Everyone knows that the Household Department is empty, and it’s useless to go there.”
Besides, it is only right for soldiers to contact the Ministry of War. If the Ministry of Husbandry does not exist, the Ministry of War must give you an explanation.
It is only natural for soldiers to eat food. We can't let the big soldiers guard the wall and the northwest wind, right? The delay in military pay can be tolerated, but when you don't even have enough to eat, something will really happen.
"Even if Xiao Shangshu doesn't care about the Ministry of War now, you should go find Zhang Shilang." Feng Ziying continued to ask.
You Shigong also didn't expect that this young gentleman would be so familiar with the affairs of the DPRK and the Central Government, and he would think highly of the other party. "I've been there to Mr. Zhang, but it's no use. I waited for two days and couldn't see him. Besides, Wang Shilang is also from our martial arts background, and he can understand the difficulties of our subordinates to some extent. How does Mr. Zhang know this? I'm afraid he doesn't even know where our Yulin Town is, right?"
He couldn't help but made a few complaints. As soon as he said the words, he felt that they were a little inappropriate. You Shigong regretted a little. Once these words were spread, these petty civil servants would probably be in trouble if they had any resentment in their hearts. Walked away.
Feng Ziying never thought that Zhang Jingqiu, who he thought had performed well, would have such a bad image in the minds of the generals below. On the contrary, it seemed that Wang Ziteng would be more recognized by the generals in the border town after his military exploits. This was a big surprise to him. anticipation.
You must know that Wang Ziteng, the right minister of the Ministry of War, actually has nothing to do. Everyone inside and outside the court knows that this is the rule of the Zhou Dynasty, but these border town generals are willing to come to him, which is somewhat intriguing.
Feng Ziying was lost in thought for a while. When the three You brothers saw each other, they suddenly became silent. They didn't know what the other party's intentions were, and they didn't dare to disturb them, so they could only remain silent.
After a while, Feng Ziying suddenly woke up and apologized quickly: "Brothers, I suddenly thought of something and got distracted. I'm really sorry..."
You Shigong was originally a little worried because of his gaffe, but when he saw Feng Ziying being so sincere, he felt relieved, "Young Master is so polite. I wonder if I am here to see the Minister Wang today?"
"Well, I really want to meet the Minister Wang. The Minister Wang is also a family friend of my family. It is appropriate to come and visit during the spring break." Feng Ziying said with a smile: "I am afraid that the three eldest brothers will have to stay in the capital for a long time." How many days?"
"I'm afraid it won't work. We've been here for seven or eight days. It's useless for us to sit here any longer for such things. We just come here to report a message to the court and give a warning. Hmm, I hope the court can understand. I'm waiting for the people below to be in trouble, don't keep doing this..." You Shigong shook his head, and then said: "I originally planned to meet Wang Shilang today, stroll around the capital city tomorrow, and then plan to go back the day after."
“In this case, the three eldest brothers meeting here today are considered destined to meet each other. Why don’t the three eldest brothers leave their addresses, and when the matter is over, the younger brother will come to visit the three eldest brothers...”
Feng Ziying's words surprised the three You Shigong brothers. Scholars have always looked down on military people because of their different paths. Although he is also an official, his father is both a general and a soldier and he doesn't like them. He is the one who did it, and now he is studying in the Imperial College. I am afraid that he will take the civil service path in the future, but he has to come to visit a few of his top soldiers in remote areas. How can he do that?
But it would be inappropriate if he didn't respond to someone with such an attitude. You Shigong pondered for a moment and then said: "I can't afford to be so flattered by my husband. We were supposed to come to pay homage to Mr. Feng, so why not come tomorrow to pay homage to Mr. Feng?" I paid a visit to Mr. Feng at his residence..."
What he wanted was the words of the other party. Feng Ziying smiled extremely happily, "My father must be very happy that the three eldest brothers can come, so it's settled. My father and I will be waiting for the three brothers at home tomorrow morning. …”
After another round of pleasantries, Wang Ziteng came to summon Feng Ziying. Feng Ziying also apologized to the three of them and warned them again before getting up and going to see Wang Ziying.
There were only three You brothers left in the room, and You Shigong's previous smile slowly disappeared. The two younger brothers also knew that the answer was not that simple, but You Shilu couldn't help but said: "Brother, this young man from the Feng family Why are you so polite to us?"
"Well, I am also thinking about this matter." You Shigong shook his head, "You and I are just martial artists, and they are nothing even in Yulin Town. This Feng Langjun is extremely talented. I never thought that he is the son of Feng Gong, and I have heard that Feng Gong has three families and only one legitimate son, but he treats my three brothers with such courtesy, which is puzzling. "
“Could it be that Feng Gong intends to come to our Yulin to serve as the commander-in-chief?” You Shilu’s eyes lit up.
"It's possible that our current Assistant Chief of Staff is afraid of taking matters into his own hands. I'm watching his words and deeds. I'm afraid that he just hopes that the court will send someone as soon as possible so that he can get rid of this hot job. It would be a good thing if Feng Gong can come to Yulin. I heard that Feng Gong also has a lot of military morale in Datong." You Shigong hesitated for a moment, "It's just that there are many generals in our Yulin town in Datong. As a brother, With such a status, it seems that Mr. Feng is not worthy of being so valued."
"Brother, why do you need to belittle yourself? How many generals are there in Yulin Town who are capable of both literary and military skills and have a background in martial arts like my brother?" This time, it was You Shiwei who stood up for his brother and said, "That's it. That's when Feng Gongzhen came to Yulin Town. If he wants to make a difference in Yulin Town, he must use talents like my brother."
(End of this chapter)