Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 141 Training
Compared with Wang Rong, Zhu Shenzhui was much more careful. This kind of thing had never happened before. Xu Shaoji was the governor of Shanxi and he was not a fool. Why did he suddenly come up with this idea?
When Zhu Shenzui thought about it, he thought of the war in Liaodong, and his brows couldn't help but frowned. Could it be that Xu Shaoji did this because of the war in Liaodong?
Zhu Shenzhui immediately asked Wang Rong if he had inquired about the reason why Xu Shaoji did this. Wang Rong shook his head and said that he had no intention of inquiring about this. When he arrived at the prefecture and met with the prefect, Wang Rong was furious when he heard about this. If it weren't for the fact that civil officials were more important than military officials in the Ming Dynasty, he, as a commander, would not have been able to directly quarrel with the prefect, otherwise he would have made a scene on the spot.

But even so, Wang Rong did not show any good face to the prefect and the governor's office, and rejected their request outright. Moreover, Wang Rong left a message before telling the prefect that the garrison was under the jurisdiction of the Five Military Commandery, and that the local officials had no right to touch the interests of the garrison unless they had an official document from the Five Military Commandery or an imperial decree from the emperor.

And even if there is such a thing, it is still unclear whether the garrisons can cooperate. As the saying goes, the emperor has no shortage of hungry soldiers. The court has owed the garrisons so many bad debts over the years. These debts should be settled, right? If the old debts are not settled, the garrisons are still required to provide food and manpower? Wishful thinking!

Zhu Shenzhui had no intention of thinking about these trivial matters in the local areas and the garrisons. Although Xu Shaoji was the governor of Shanxi, he had no control over the garrisons. Even though he, a civil official, had a higher status than the military officials, it was useless. The garrisons were not border troops. The pay and food of the border troops were all in the hands of the civil officials, and they had to bow to the civil officials. But the garrisons were different.

However, the Wei Suo has been a special self-sufficient institution since the birth of the system. If Wang Rong says he will ignore them, then he will ignore them. Even if Xu Shaoji's status is much higher than Wang Rong, as long as Wang Rong does not openly oppose Xu Shaoji, but directly delays with soft resistance and adopts an uncooperative attitude, Xu Shaoji will have no way to deal with it.

In addition, there was a commander-in-chief above the guards in Shanxi. The commander-in-chief didn't show up, so why did Wang Rong show up? In this way, Wang Rong sat there for a short time, and then found an excuse to leave without even drinking a few sips of tea.

"If my guess is correct, something might have gone wrong in the border town..." Zhu Shenzhui thought for a while and said.

The Ming Dynasty had nine important border towns, which were the most important military towns on the Ming Dynasty's border. Among the nine border towns, there were two towns in the western border area. Among them, Datong Town had the most critical geographical location and the highest military status.

Once the Liaodong war started, in addition to Liaodong Town and Jizhou Town in Liaodong, Datong Town and Taiyuan Town (Shanxi Town) in Shanxi must have been arranged due to their geographical location. As for the details, Zhu Shenzhu was not clear, but judging from Xu Shaoji's actions, it was probably because of the Liaodong war that the military forces and supplies of these two towns were mobilized.

"When I was on the grassland, I heard that fighting had broken out in Liaodong. I kept asking about it on the way back, but I didn't get any news. Uncle, has the garrison received any news from Liaodong? What's the current situation of the war?"

Wang Rong shook his head. "I don't know about that. There is news that the war in Liaodong has begun, but I don't know how it went. But I hadn't thought about this just now. Now that you mentioned it, I think the situation in Liaodong is not optimistic, otherwise Xu Shaoji wouldn't have done this."

"Dad, since Lord Xu is like this, I'm afraid the situation in Liaodong is very urgent. National affairs are more important. How about you help Lord Xu, our garrison..." Wang Jinwu was listening at the side and couldn't help but interrupt.

After all, he was a young man with blood, and his character was simple and straightforward. When he heard his father and Zhu Shenzhu discussing the war between Liaodong and Later Jin, and analyzing the real reason why Xu Shaoji did this, Wang Jinwu didn't think about it and spoke his thoughts directly.

Wang Jinwu's words made Zhu Shenzhui smile bitterly. Although his cousin had good intentions, his personality was a little naive. Some things were not as simple as he thought.
"Stupid!" Wang Rong glared at his son and cursed him, "Luckily you didn't sit in my position, otherwise you would have been sold out without knowing it."

"Dad! How can you say that? We are all officials of the Ming Dynasty. Isn't it natural for us to contribute to the court?" Wang Jinwu said aggrievedly.

"Of course? Haha." Wang Rong sneered and asked, "What do you mean by of course? Are you the general of Liaodong Town or Jizhou Town? Are you the governor of Liaodong? Or the governor of Shanxi? Are you a minister of the Ministry of War? Or a cabinet minister?"

"Is it your turn as a centurion to speak on national affairs? Besides, you are just a soldier in the garrison. Those civil officials, from the imperial court to the local officials, who would look down on a military household like us?"

"Let's not talk about the fact that the garrison can't give you these things. Even if they do, why should they give them to you? Even if they do, can the credit be yours? Pah! By then, the credit will have been taken away by those hoodlums. Forget about eating meat, you won't even have the chance to drink soup."

"Can you guarantee that Xu Shaoji really did this for the court? For the Liaodong war situation? Son, some things are not as simple as they seem. Let's not talk about how far Liaodong is from Luzhouwei. Even if Xu Shaoji was given, the battle in Liaodong would have been over by the time these preparations were completed. Moreover, the court has never had such a rule. The food and salaries for the nine frontiers have always been allocated directly by the court. Even if they were collected locally, they have never had anything to do with the guards."

"Xu Shaoji didn't go to the court to raise funds, but instead he was thinking about our garrisons. He might be secretly planning to use the garrisons to make up for his deficit. If you really believe his lies, you will be cheated by Xu Shaoji." "Also, there are so many garrisons in Shanxi. Why do you take the lead? Why do you run to Xu Shaoji to show your respect if they don't? He is your father? Doesn't this mean you offend all the garrisons in Shanxi? Why did Xu Shaoji come to your father instead of other garrisons? Isn't it because your father just took the position of commander? He is picking on the weak. Xu Shaoji is really calculating too well. Does he really think I'm a three-year-old kid who knows nothing?"

Wang Rong scolded Wang Jinwu without any hesitation. Wang Jinwu was speechless. He didn't think much about it and just blurted out what he said. Now Wang Rong pointed out the key point directly. Wang Jinwu was not a fool and came to his senses.

"Uncle, please don't talk about Jinwu. After all, he is young and doesn't know how treacherous people are, especially those twists and turns in the officialdom. Officials, especially civil servants, are all old foxes, not to mention people like Xu Shaoji." Seeing Wang Jinwu's face turning red and blue, Zhu Shenzhui hurriedly tried to smooth things over.

"You, listen! Listen to what your sixth brother is saying! Don't just eat and grow without thinking. It was fine when we were in Wangjia Village, but our family is different now. Your father is the commander, and there are so many people watching your father. If you don't think carefully before doing anything, you might be sold out one day."

"Learn from your sixth brother well and don't act on your temper whenever something happens. If you do that, how can I trust you to hand over this business to you in the future?" Wang Rong taught him a lesson with annoyance.

“I know…” Wang Jinwu answered with his head down. He was not stupid. Wang Rong and Zhu Shenzhui had made it so clear, it would be strange if he didn’t come to his senses.

Seeing Wang Jinwu understood, Zhu Shenzhui tried to smooth things over and agreed with him a few times, changing the subject. After all, Wang Jinwu was his cousin, and what he said just now was well-intentioned. Although Wang Rong was right to do so, Zhu Shenzhui couldn't bear to see Wang Jinwu's confidence being undermined too much, so he just stopped there.

Putting aside Xu Shaoji's matter for the time being, Zhu Shenzhui asked Wang Rong about the news of the war in Liaodong. However, Wang Rong did not know much. Liaodong was not close to Luzhouwei, and the news from there was not much different from what Zhu Shenzhui knew, and it was not clear how far the war had progressed.

"You should ask An Min about this matter. The Jinyiwei are well-informed." Wang Rong suggested.

Zhu Shenzhui nodded. He indeed thought so. Since Wang Rong didn’t know, he could only find Zhou Anmin.

Zhou Anmin is also in Luzhou Wei, but the Jinyiwei Yamen and the Wei Suo Yamen are not in the same area, and the two places are quite far apart. It is already late today, and it will be dark soon. It would be better to go to find Zhou Anmin early tomorrow morning than to go now.

Thinking of this, Zhu Shenzhui decided to go to the Jinyiwei Yamen to meet Zhou Anmin tomorrow. Besides, he has not been to his sister and brother-in-law since they came to Luzhouwei. He hasn't seen them for more than two months and he misses them a lot. He doesn't know how they are doing now.

Let's put this matter aside for now. Seeing that it was getting late, Wang Rong asked Wang Jinwu to prepare wine and food. Zhu Shenzhui was coming today, so naturally the uncle and nephew would have a good drink.

After the food and wine came, Wang Rong and his son ate and chatted with Zhu Shenzui. Wang Rong asked Zhu Shenzui about his trip to the grassland. Zhu Shenzui talked to them in detail and also told them that he had reached a long-term trade cooperation with the tribes on the grassland. This time he came not only to see Wang Rong and his friends, but also planned to get a batch of iron weapons and military equipment from the garrison and transport them to the grassland. As for how much the garrison could get and what price they would have to pay, they had to discuss it carefully with Wang Rong.

After hearing what Zhu Shenzui said, Wang Rong was not surprised. What they were doing before was private salt trade, and now transporting supplies to the grassland was also smuggling, but the items and scale of smuggling were different.

As for the military equipment mentioned, although such a thing is illegal, there are many people doing it now. If Zhu Shenzhui doesn't do it, others will do it. Besides, they are sent to the grassland instead of being sold to the Later Jin. At least now the Mongols and the Ming Dynasty can be considered allies. The Ming court has been trying to win over Lin Danhan to deal with the Later Jin together. From this point of view, it is not considered "aiding the enemy."

Wang Rong agreed immediately and discussed it in detail with Zhu Shenzhui. Wang Jinwu on the side didn't say much, but listened attentively with his ears pricked up. The drinking session lasted very late, until midnight, but almost all the things to be discussed were discussed in between drinks. After a good sleep, Zhu Shenzhui would go to see Zhou Anmin tomorrow, and Wang Rong and his son would make preparations as soon as possible.

(End of this chapter)