Without money, what is the point of being a traitor?

Chapter 550 Willing to Share the Worries of Thousand Households
So, is it possible for Chen Xinjian to rise in the next few years and become a great general in the North?
Pei Yuan was very sure about this, it was entirely possible!

Think about Jiang Bin. He was just a captain of the seventh rank before and had no outstanding achievements. However, just by his bravery and ability to fight, he was praised by the court and the public, and his official position soared in a short time.

It can be seen that as long as we seize the right opportunity, it is entirely possible to replicate Jiang Bin's success.

Coincidentally, in the following years, there was a key main line in the North that could greatly increase Chen Xinjian’s reputation and military exploits.

That was the most important battle of Yingzhou during the Zhengde era!
The success or failure of the Battle of Yingzhou will not be discussed here, but the outcome of this battle is a huge controversy.

That is, although this great battle went through six fierce battles and Zhu Houzhao's "imperial carriage was almost trapped", Zhu Houzhao even fought personally and killed one man in the battle.

However, the only military achievement recognized by the Ming court was the beheading of 16 enemy troops, while the Ming army's own losses were 52 deaths and 563 serious injuries.

Is this reasonable?

We can compare it with several barbarian invasions that occurred in previous years.

In the year when Zhu Houzhao first ascended the throne, the barbarians invaded Xuanfu in large numbers and set up camp in the Heilulin of Niuxin Mountain.

The troops from various places in Beizhen gathered 15,000 people to resist.

After a series of battles, the government troops suffered 2,165 deaths, 1,156 injuries, lost more than 6,500 horses, and looted countless men, women, livestock, and equipment. From then on, the enemy became more rampant, robbing people and livestock as if they were in an uninhabited place.

Afterwards, the Hu Lu attacked Wanquan Youwei and killed two generals in succession. Six thousand government troops threw down their armor and prayed for their lives. In order to undermine the will of the soldiers in the north, the Hu Lu shaved the surrendered soldiers' hair and sent them back.

Then, the Hu Lu attacked the Zhenyi Guarding Thousand Households. The commander-in-chief Liu Jing personally supervised the battle, but because he did not wait for reinforcements, he was eventually killed in the battlefield.

In September of the fourth year of the Zhengde reign, the young prince invaded Yansui and besieged the general Wu Jiang in Longzhou City. On the 1st day of the 11th month of the winter, he invaded Huamachi. The governor-general and the general Cao Xiong did not dare to rescue him, and the general secretary Cai Kuan died in the battle.

As for the earthen forts scattered along the border, countless of them were captured during these seven years, and countless soldiers were killed in the smoke, fire and siege.

And every time the Ming Dynasty was defeated in a war, there was a record of a large number of civilians being looted.

All these stories illustrate one thing.

The battle between the Ming army and the northern barbarians was extremely brutal, and it was even more cruel for the people living along the border. There was no such thing as a trifle as deliberately portrayed in history books.

If one simply uses things like "beheading the enemy at level 16" to make fun of it, or treats it with a naughty or mocking attitude, and uses confusing and ambiguous words to negate his efforts, then one can only say that one is either stupid or bad.

Perhaps some people think that there are generals to lead the troops in the war and Zhu Houzhao is of no use at all. Is it just a chance for him to have fun if he leads the troops himself?

So, during the Zhengde period, apart from Wang Shouren, who emerged before Zhao Zige's death, were there any other useful generals?
Yang Yiqing, the commander-in-chief of the three borders, was known for his military knowledge.

As a result, when he gathered a large army to fight the Hu Lu at Huamachi, the troops from various routes either "failed to receive early reports", or "failed to prepare for the enemy", or "were unable to respond in time", or "were not of the same mind and strength".

In this battle, the barbarians came and went freely, and the Ming army gained almost nothing except the death of its commander Zhang Ying.

Yang Yiqing was a very capable civil official.

At least he is much stronger than the commanders of the Zhengde era such as Lu Wan, Ma Zhongxi, Chen Jin, Hong Zhong and Peng Ze, but the results are still so ugly.

The reality is that the only cards the Ming Dynasty had in its hand were incompetent generals, demoralized troops, and border troops that only wanted to avoid making mistakes.

Faced with the barbarians who had gained confidence and invaded in large numbers, who else could unite everyone to fight the battle of Yingzhou, except Zhu Houzhao who personally went into battle wearing the vest of a mighty general?
If Yingzhou can’t hold on, what will happen to the Ming Dynasty?

Even if we fully acknowledge the records of Yang Tinghexiu and simply discuss Zhao Zige's battle based on the numbers on paper, then compared with the past, it at least avoided the casualties of thousands of soldiers and tens of thousands of civilians, right?

Although Pei Yuan had no way of guessing the situation of the entire battle, he had a great opportunity to make a fuss about the point that "not much was gained" which would be criticized by the civil officials.

If Chen Xinjian could have a defensive garrison that he could control independently, and then let the soldiers of this garrison act as roving troops specifically to kill people in the Battle of Yingzhou, then it would be easy for him to make a leap forward after the war.

If Brother Zhaozi encountered such timely help, he would probably be so moved that tears would flow.

Thinking of organizing a mobile force for Chen Xinjian, Pei Yuan immediately thought of two armed forces.

One group consisted of He Huan's two hundred elite cavalrymen, and the other group consisted of Cui Bohou's troops under Han Qianhu.

These two...

Pei Yuan was quickly sorting out his thoughts. Chen Xinjian didn't get a reply from Pei Yuan, so he couldn't help but ask, "Qian Hu, Qian Hu?"

"Hmm?" Pei Yuan looked at Chen Xinjian.

Chen Xinjian said with a slightly unnatural look, "I want to help Qian Hu with his worries!"

Pei Yuan looked at Chen Xinjian with relief, and sighed, "You have good intentions, and I am also worried about this matter. But we don't know how big the trouble Yun Buxian has caused is yet."

Chen Xinjian thought quickly in his mind, and suddenly said boldly, "Isn't Captain Han going to the capital? The trouble caused by Yun Buxian is also the business of the Captain's Office."

“If Qian Hu and Han Qian Hu work together, this matter may be resolved.”

Pei Yuan was stunned for a moment. He had never thought of taking advantage of this before.

However, now is the critical period for him to win over the father and son of the Yun family. He is also planning to take Yun Buxian's money, so subconsciously he doesn't want Han Qianhu to be involved.

He couldn't explain it too clearly, so he could only say vaguely, "Let's wait for Yun Buxian to wake up and ask him clearly before we speak."

Chen Xinjian remained silent upon hearing this, but his eyes moved as he thought about his general Xuan Da's matter.

Pei Yuan was annoyed for a while, and seeing Chen Xinjian in a trance, he asked casually, "What did you gain from running all day?"

Chen Xinjian then hurriedly said, "Captain, there is news from Shandong."

When Pei Yuan heard that it was about Shandong, he forced himself to cheer up and asked him, "What do you mean?"

Chen Xinjian replied, "My brother has received the secret order and has taken people to meet the new Shandong Dusi Commander Yin Zeng. He will go to Jining later to reorganize the Jining Guard."

Pei Yuan had no objection to this. He nodded slightly and said, "Now that the expansion of Luo Sect has slowed down, it's a good opportunity to stabilize the situation first."

"Jining Guard is already in ruins, so it's easy to place people there. We can have him select some of the young and strong men from the Luo Sect or the elite soldiers from Xuzhou to reinforce Jining Guard." Chen Xinjian continued, "Speaking of the elite soldiers from Xuzhou, Sikong Baihu also responded."

"Although Commander Guo of Xuzhou Guard was furious, he had no choice but to obey the imperial decree."

"Now the five Hundred Households have been replenished. Basically, according to the intention of the Thousand Households, the previous elite troops of Xuzhou are used as the skeleton, and a lot of soldiers from Xuzhou Guard are added. These soldiers come from the same source. Several trial Hundred Households also came from Xuzhou Guard. I believe they will be able to run in well soon and form a certain combat power."

Pei Yuan was very satisfied after hearing this.

These five hundred-household offices are the armed forces that Pei Yuan can openly possess.

When a war really breaks out in Yingzhou in the future, if Pei Yuan, the toughest man in the Jinyiwei, is summoned to accompany the emperor, these are the only people he can use.

The backbone of these people are the elite soldiers from Xuzhou who have fought through life and death with Pei Yuan many times. They have paid a lot for Pei Yuan, and the interests of both parties are firmly bound together.

Even if they go and seek refuge with others, others will still be suspicious.

——These people even rebelled against Pei Yuan, with whom I have such a close relationship. How can I control them?

Therefore, Pei Yuan has a high degree of trust in them.

Pei Yuan asked again, "How far has the investigation into Zhang Yong's case progressed?"

Chen Xinjian chuckled, "Of course we are following the plan of Qian Hu. Zhang Xiong's incident has been exposed, but no one dares to offend Zhang Rui, the current governor of the East Factory. Now we can only bite the bullet and continue to drag things out."

"Zhang Rui also knew about this matter. He sent a message to the people of the Three Law Departments. Although he did not give an explanation, he also said that if there is still no clue after another month, he would persuade His Majesty to end the investigation of this case and hand it over to the local officials in Shandong to continue investigating."

"When the people from the Three Law Department heard about this, they naturally had nothing to hold on to. Now they are just killing time."

Chen Xinjian added, "Cheng Leixiang is watching over there the whole time, and the other two commanders of the Tianjin Three Guards also follow his lead. If anyone really finds out something, Cheng Leixiang will immediately cut off the clues, and Zhang Yong's matter will be completely over."

Pei Yuan thought for a moment and asked, "What about Jin Xianmin? Has your brother arranged things?"

Chen Xinjian smiled and replied, "I was just about to tell Qian Hu about his affairs."

"My brother received instructions from the commander last time and has been keeping an eye on Jin Xianmin. He also planted a spy in his home."

"It is said that when Jin Xianmin learned that Yang Yiqing was going to promote him, he sighed and groaned at home every day, looking worried."

"It turned out that he judged that Yang Yiqing was no match for Yang Tinghe and did not want to be wooed by Yang Yiqing. However, he returned to office because he rehabilitated Liu Jin's political chaos. Faced with Yang Yiqing's overtures, he had no room to refuse."

"Later, my brother followed Qian Hu's instructions and the organizers gave him something like the Ten Thousand People Umbrella to try to keep him here."

"Jin Xianmin readily agreed and has asked to stay on in office, using the excuse that 'Shandong is in ruins and it is not advisable to make any major moves.'"

"With the Shandong people's strong pleas to keep him, the imperial court should not cause trouble for such a guy."

Pei Yuan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

In this way, Chen Toutie has begun to infiltrate Shandong Dusi; Linqing and Jining can be controlled at any time through Xuzhou Zuowei and Jiningwei; in addition, there are Luojiao all over Shandong; and there are Xingbaihu Suo which can nail Luojiao to death at any time, and can also be used as five cores to launch Luojiao rebellion at any time.

Pei Yuan's layout in Shandong only required activating the canal's blood-making capacity, eradicating the two major vassal kingships of King De and King Lu, and the matter of the Shandong Anti-Japanese Warfare Command.

In order to activate the canal's hematopoietic capacity, one must counter the influence of the Zhang brothers; the other is to completely end the trade war over soybeans and cotton cloth with the southern trading partners.

As for the lineages of Prince De and Prince Lu, Pei Yuan thought about the intelligence that he had sent to Queen Xia a few days ago, and immediately told Chen Xinjian, "There is something that needs to be done by someone in Shandong."

Chen Xinjian cheered up and said, "Do you want my brother to do something? Just give me your orders."

Pei Yuan shook his head. "Let Cheng Leixiang handle this matter. He is more careful and happens to be in Shandong. When Zhang Yong's case is over in a few days, he can take people away directly and it will be difficult for them to be caught."

Chen Xinjian also knew that Cheng Leixiang was meticulous, and he guessed in his heart that what Captain Pei arranged was not an ordinary matter.

As expected, Pei Yuan instructed, "Tell Cheng Leixiang to find someone to pass a message to Prince De's entourage, saying that Zhu Houzhao is not the Queen Mother's biological son, and that the Queen Mother has some grudges in her heart, so she is more inclined to her own brother."

Chen Xinjian hesitated when he heard this and said, "This... I'm afraid it will be useless."

"This rumor has been around for a few years. During the Hongzhi period, the late emperor had an ambiguous attitude and did not care about it. But the current empress dowager cannot tolerate any sand in her eyes, so wasn't Zheng Wang killed directly?"

"The followers of Prince De must know the taboos. Even if they heard these things, they might not dare to tell others."

Chen Xinjian even felt that with Captain Pei's scheming, it seemed too straightforward to make such an unobvious calculation.

Pei Yuan smiled, obviously having thought about this a long time ago, and said calmly, "It's okay, I'll have someone spread this news in Shandong in the name of Prince De's entourage."

Chen Xinjian didn't follow Pei Yuan's train of thought for a moment.

Pei Yuan smiled and asked, "If you were the prince of De, what would you think if you knew about this?"

Chen Xinjian was stunned, and thought about it from his own perspective, then answered honestly, "I would think that someone must want to murder me, and then I would interrogate my subordinates to find out the reason."

Pei Yuan continued, "What if we find out that some people have heard such things, but they just didn't spread them?"

Chen Xinjian thought about it and continued to think about the matter from the perspective of Prince De.

"I still think that someone is plotting against me, or even the entire Defanation."

Pei Yuan smiled and said, "Very good."

Chen Xinjian was stunned for a moment. How could it be so good? If Prince De really had this idea, then Captain Pei's plan would be exposed!

Pei Yuan continued to persuade him, "What if you, Prince De, found out that someone was plotting against you and took the opportunity to frame De Fan and throw dirty water on him, what would you do?"

Chen Xinjian became more and more confused, but still followed his own logic and said, "I will try to suppress those rumors, and then secretly track down the real culprit behind the scenes."

As he spoke, he added, "As a descendant of the Zhu family, Defan would naturally protect the current emperor when encountering rumors about the royal family. There is definitely no problem with that."

(End of this chapter)