Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 15 Messenger

In the study room of the palace, Wu Jisi opened the door, walked into the room, and bowed to the young man sitting above.

"Your Majesty, you are looking for me"

"How much do you know about Su Guansheng?"

Zhu Lang pointed to the chair next to him and asked directly

"Uh, I have never heard of this person."

Wu Jisi said confidently that he was actually used to his own prince suddenly asking him to find someone.

It was obvious that the prince had just arrived in Guangxi Province like him, and I didn't know where the prince had found out the names of these people.

"This Su Guansheng should be a Grand Secretary of the Longwu Dynasty. He should be in Guangzhou now. Go and find out his information. By the way, try to find out if this person has submitted any memorials to the court recently."

"Also be careful..."

"Be careful to hide and don't let anyone know"

Wu Jisi interrupted directly and completed what Zhu Lang was about to say.

He has heard this sentence countless times in the past few days.
"As long as you understand"

Zhu Lang was choked and glared at Wu Jisi at the table, but didn't say much.

Although Wu Jisi was only a guard of the palace, he should not have access to the official documents of the previous dynasty. However, snakes have their own ways. Since the rumor in the city last month that the King of Gui would become the regent, Wu Jisi's status as the confidant of the palace has also risen.
Wu Jisi is not good at making friends with people from all walks of life.
Those ministers of the previous dynasty who came from a decent family would not lower themselves to make friends with a small vassal king like Wu Jisi before the situation became clear.
But in addition to the bigwigs, there were also a lot of low-level officials in the previous dynasty. These people had no idea of ​​being proud of their status.
The official documents and letters of the previous dynasty seemed to be in the hands of the court ministers, but in fact, the receipt, delivery and transportation of these letters still depended on the clerks below. If the high and mighty masters could take the trouble to open and read the letters themselves, it would be a sign of loyalty to the country and hard work for the state.
Wu Jisi was interested in making friends with the officials in various government offices. Through these officials, Wu Jisi was able to obtain most of the information of the previous dynasty. This was how he obtained information about Jiao Lian, Li Mingzhong, and others.
Moreover, this channel was extremely secretive. There were many clerks in the government office, and Wu Jisi was either drinking or on his way to drink all day after leaving the palace. No one knew who was his real informant.

"Su Guansheng's identity is somewhat sensitive, so don't be careless."

Seeing Wu Jisi's smug look, as if he could answer the question first, Zhu Lang could not help but remind him again.

Su Guansheng was not on good terms with Ding Kuichu and the other two in the city, and in terms of status, he was no worse than the other three in the city. Although Zhu Lang felt that even if there were more Su Guanshengs, they would not be as good as Li Mingzhong's thousands of soldiers.

But for the three people in the city, Su Guansheng is probably their biggest concern. No matter how much Li Mingzhong is valued by the King of Gui, can he still enter the cabinet? But Su Guansheng really has the title of Grand Secretary.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. We have already done this. Let's use the old method. Cast a wide net and catch more fish. We will ensure that no one will notice and we can fish Su Guansheng out."

Wu Jisi flashed a wicked smile on his face, and suddenly clenched his palms into the air.

Wu Jisi's method was actually very simple. He collected information from multiple people at the same time and hid the person he was really looking for among many targets. Even if people knew he was gathering information, they would not know who he was looking for.
"Then hurry up and go"

Zhu Lang couldn't bear to see Wu Jisi's complacent look, so he simply turned a blind eye and waved his hand to let him go back to work.
Zhu Lang sat at the table and began to add his plan, but before he could think about it, Wu Jisi came back and walked into the study again.
"What's wrong again?" Zhu Lang said with some dissatisfaction

"Your Highness, I think I found Su Guansheng," Wu Jisi said with a strange look on his face.
"What!?"

Zhu Lang looked stunned.
It has been less than half an hour since Wu Jisi left the study, but he has already found out about Su Guansheng's situation. Could it be that Wu Jisi is really a genius?

"How many people have you made friends with? Could it be that all the officials in the government office have been bribed by you?" Zhu Lang looked at Wu Jisi in front of him and said suspiciously.
"Your Highness has misunderstood. I haven't left yet," Wu Jisi waved his hand hurriedly.

"I was thinking that since the prince said that Su Guansheng was a university scholar in the previous dynasty, he must be a man of etiquette. If he sends someone to the city to submit a memorial, he should also come to our palace to pay his respects," Wu Jisi said as if it was a matter of course.
"So I went to the gatehouse of the mansion first and looked for the most recent visiting card in the mansion. I found that Su Guansheng had indeed sent a military supervisor named Chen Bangyan to the mansion yesterday to deliver a letter of greeting and requesting an audience."

"The envoy of Su Guansheng is in the city right now. If Your Majesty wants to know about Su Guansheng's situation, all you need to do is summon the envoy and ask him, then you will know everything."

A proud look appeared on Wu Jisi's face

Look, the things that the prince ordered, Old Wu took action and immediately won in half an hour. Sometimes being too capable is also a kind of trouble. Every day, it is really hard for Old Wu. "What do you think the name of the envoy sent by Su Guansheng is?"

Zhu Lang ignored Wu Jisi's expression. A trace of shock flashed across his face, and he subconsciously asked

"It's a guy called Chen Bangyan"

Wu Jisi also noticed that Zhu Lang looked different, and repeated it again.

"Where is the visiting card? Show it to me."

Wu Jisi pulled out a visiting card from his sleeve. Zhu Lang looked at the name on the visiting card, which was exactly the same as the one he remembered, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
Among the ministers of the Southern Ming Dynasty, the most famous are of course Qu Shisi, Zhang Huangyan, Zheng Chenggong and others. But apart from these household names, the most famous ministers of the Southern Ming Dynasty are the Three Loyalists of Lingnan.

The Three Loyalists of Lingnan, namely Chen Zizhuang, Zhang Jiayu and Chen Bangyan, were all ministers of the Ming Dynasty.
In the previous life, the Qing army captured Guangzhou, and the Yongli court fled to Guangxi Province in a panic. The entire Guangdong Province fell. Then the Qing army launched an attack into Guangxi Province, intending to destroy the Yongli court in one fell swoop.

At this time, Guangdong Province had already surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. However, even in this situation, Chen Bangyan and his two men resolutely raised an army and continuously attacked the Qing army cities in Guangdong Province, forcing the Qing army to return to Guangdong Province.
The Qing army found that Guangdong Province was in chaos, so they had to withdraw their troops and return to Guangdong Province to quell the rebellion. The Yongli court in Guangxi Province had a chance to catch its breath and take the opportunity to re-arrange its defense line.

After the main force of the Qing army returned, Chen Bangyan and his two companions were surrounded and killed by the army.

When the Qing army invaded Guangxi, everyone from the Grand Secretary of the Shaowu Dynasty to the prefects and county magistrates surrendered.
Chen Bangyan and the other two were all civil officials, and the people they recruited were all local soldiers and civilians. However, they still did what they knew was impossible, using their own lives to buy time for the Yongli court far away in Guilin.

It was precisely because of the sacrifice of these three people that the Southern Ming court did not lose Guangxi Province after losing Guangdong Province.
After the three men died, the Qing army had no more scruples and invaded Guangxi Province again. The Yongli court, as usual, fled as soon as they heard the news and hurriedly fled to Hunan Province.
The sacrifice of the three men only delayed the Qing army's advance for half a year.
These three people have always been recorded in Zhu Lang's books. Among the three, Chen Zizhuang is the easiest to find. He was also a university scholar in the Longwu Dynasty. Now he lives in seclusion in Guangdong Province.

Zhu Lang didn't even need to search for him, he already knew the name of this person. After all, although there were many Grand Secretaries conferred by Hongguang and Longwu, which reduced the value of the Grand Secretaries, he was still a cabinet minister after all, and no one dared to ignore him.

Zhu Lang had no idea what to do with the remaining two people. He only knew that they should be in Guangdong Province, but he had no way to find out where exactly.

There are many officials fleeing from Guangdong Province now. After two dynasties of indiscriminate appointments, it is not an exaggeration to say that there are many Shangshu in Guangdong Province now. It is really difficult to find these two people.

Zhu Lang's first priority now is to win over the generals and gain basic self-protection power. He originally planned to send someone to investigate after he was promoted to regent, but he didn't expect that Chen Bangyan would jump out on his own.
Although Qu Shisi was also a loyal minister, his official position was too high. Zhu Lang did not know where to start if he wanted to win him over. However, Chen Bangyan was just the right person.

This person has a firm stance and a low official position. As long as he is transferred to his subordinates, Zhu Lang can easily win him over and cultivate him as a confidant.

"Go and invite Chen Bangyan here. Keep it secret and don't let anyone know."

Zhu Lang paced in front of the table, thinking about the arrangements for Chen Bangyan, and said without raising his head

"I understand. Let's follow General Li's method last time."

Wu Jisi responded and was about to leave, but was suddenly stopped by Zhu Lang.

"The last method won't work. This Chen Bangyan represents Su Guansheng. I must not let anyone in the city know that I have contacted this person."

"Last time you brought Li Mingzhong in, although you asked him to change into the eunuch's clothes, they were too rough and would inevitably be discovered by someone with ulterior motives. How could you, a guard of the palace, bring a eunuch with you to parade through the streets? That is what Li Guoyong should do."

"Go find the eunuch Ma Mingtu in the backyard. It's the time for the first of the month to buy things. Ask him to send a few loyal and capable old men out. When they get there, have Chen Bangyan change into the clothes of a shopper and then have him come back with the people in the mansion. This should keep it a little more secret," Zhu Lang said after a brief thought.
"Yes, Your Majesty"

Wu Jisi was shocked, and the pride in his heart quickly disappeared. He originally thought that his method was quite good, but now it seems that it is indeed easy to be discovered.
Wu Jisi looked at the thoughtful young man and could not help but feel admiration in his heart.

His Highness is not only shrewd and calculating, but he also dealt with the ministers of the previous dynasty very well. Now he is even so skilled in such secret tactics. How come he didn't see it before? I don't know where His Highness learned these skills.

Wu Jisi took the order and went to discuss the matter of secretly picking up the person with Ma Mingtu, the manager of the backyard of the mansion.
Zhu Lang sat back at the table, his eyes thoughtful. He had originally planned to transfer Su Guansheng to the court to appease this man and prevent him from establishing Shaowu again.

But at this time, he found out that Chen Bangyan was actually Su Guansheng's confidant, and he had some other ideas in his mind.
Su Guansheng was guarding Guangzhou at this time. If he entered the court, Guangzhou would inevitably be leaderless. In Zhu Lang's plan, Guangzhou's position was extremely important.
If he could not completely control it, he would rather Guangzhou fall into division, and then deal with it when he was promoted to regent and truly controlled the court.
But when Chen Bangyan, a determined official, appeared, Zhu Lang thought he could take this opportunity to take Guangzhou first.
Thanks to Qingshan for the reward, this is also the first reward for this book, thank you
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(End of this chapter)