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

Chapter 441 Ningyuan Mutiny
Zhu Shenzhui was very generous. He not only gave Zhou Anmin money, but also helped Zhou Anmin solve the problems after the post station was closed.

It’s not that Zhu Shenzui had so much money that he had no place to spend it. In fact, Zhu Shenzui himself was not well-off and he had many places to spend money.

Now the Tenger tribe has replaced the Bushitu tribe and become the nominal ruler of the Tumed grassland. They have also proclaimed themselves as Jurkhaan and are even requesting the title of King of Shunyi from the imperial court.

The Mongolian envoys sent to the capital have already arrived. In addition to the Mongolian envoys arranged by Zhu Shenzui, even Zhang Xijun quietly mixed in with the envoy team and returned to the capital to help run the matter.

The matter of Wei Zhongxian had been settled, and with the consolidation of Emperor Chongzhen's throne, the crackdown on the eunuch party also came to an end.

Zhang Xijun was not a member of the eunuch party. He just had a personal relationship with Wei Liangqing. He left the capital because he was worried about the harm to the fish pond. He left for safety. Looking at the current situation, it is time to go back. People like Zhang Xijun can only play a significant role in the capital.

Under Zhang Xijun's operation, there would be no problem in obtaining the title of King of Shunyi. It was nothing more than paying some silver to bribe several bigwigs in the court, and then saying some good words in front of Emperor Chongzhen to show a gesture of submission.

At present, the biggest enemy of the Ming Dynasty is still the Liaodong Jiannu. Under such circumstances, it is a good thing for the Ming Dynasty to win over Mongolia. No matter the emperor or the ministers of the Ming Dynasty, they will not refuse the active tribute and submission of the Tenger tribe. As for the title of King Shunyi, it is still somewhat valuable in Mongolia, but it is nothing in the Ming Dynasty. The title of a foreign minister does not cost the Ming Dynasty anything, and it can also win over the other party for its own use. Why not?
In addition to the title, there is another thing that he hopes the Ming Dynasty will reopen border trade and restore the previous bilateral trade. Zhang Xijun is also trying to smooth things over with his connections, and from the current situation it should not be a big problem.

After replacing the Bushitu tribe, the entire Tenger tribe grew a lot, but there was still a lot to do. It would take time to completely annex and digest the Bushitu tribe and truly integrate it with the Tenger tribe. In addition, to the east of the Tumed grassland there were the Chahar tribes that were attached to the Liaodong Jiannu, as well as the Khorchin tribes in the northeast, to the north there was the Khalkha, and to the west, although Lin Danhan had fled to Qinghai, he would never let go of the Tumed, and he might lead his troops back one day.

Tumed was surrounded by enemies on three sides, so the Tengger tribe could not relax at all. Zhu Shenzui had made arrangements before returning to the Ming Dynasty. The tribe had been preparing for war, and through preparations they were integrating the tribe and digesting the legacy left by Bu Shitu.

Although the current Tenger tribe has a huge amount of materials prepared before as support, after replacing Bu Shitu, both the consumption of materials and the expenditure of gold and silver are much greater than before. Therefore, Zhu Shenzhu is under great pressure in these aspects. If the progress in the capital is smooth, the court can confer the title as soon as possible and agree to continue bilateral trade, it will be a great thing for the tribe.

Apart from the Mongolian grasslands, the Ming Dynasty's layout has been continuing. Zhaowuling, Yangtoushan and other places are Zhu Shenzhui's base. In addition, the power controlled by Zhou Anmin and Wang Rong cannot be abandoned.

To maintain it and continue to develop on the original basis, huge amounts of funds would be needed for continuous investment. Even if Zhu Shencui was rich, it would be difficult. But even so, he still gritted his teeth and took out so much silver. He also let Hengtong directly take over the closed post station and relocated the staff of the post station. Of course, it was not because he had too much silver and had no place to spend it. The key was that doing so would bring huge benefits to Zhu Shencui.

As mentioned before, the role of the post station is not simple. After the court abolished the post station, many problems would arise. By taking the post station and those personnel for his own use, Zhu Shenzhui could take over the system directly from the court and make it his own network.

In addition, Zhou Anmin now controls the Shanxi Jinyiwei and has close ties with the post station. The combination of these two aspects is not only a source of intelligence, but also can obtain resources that were originally not available in other places. This is Zhu Shenzui's real purpose.

His arsenic, my honey.

Emperor Chongzhen gave up the post station and the perfect network for a mere 685,000 taels of silver. In addition, he suppressed the secret agencies such as Jinyiwei and Dongchang. It was really an unwise decision. However, Zhu Shenzhu saw clearly that both the post station and Jinyiwei were powerful, and it was worth it to hold them in his hands even if he spent more money. This was the real reason why Zhu Shenzhu did this.

When Zhu Shenzhui began to prepare to take over the Shanxi post station and personnel and was making secret arrangements, the newly appointed governor of Ji-Liao, Yuan Chonghuan, also left the capital and headed for Liaodong.

Before Yuan Chonghuan left Beijing, Emperor Chongzhen met him again and told him that the military pay promised before was already in preparation and would be allocated soon. Because Yuan Chonghuan was about to go to Liaodong, Emperor Chongzhen did not want him to take office empty-handed, so he specially allocated 50,000 taels from the inner treasury to Yuan Chonghuan and asked him to take it with him.

Yuan Chonghuan expressed the emperor's great grace and kowtowed to express his gratitude. Afterwards, Yuan Chonghuan also wrote a poem, in which he said: "I am determined to serve my country and swear to return with a triumphant song..."

Emperor Chongzhen was very happy to hear this, and even treated Yuan Chonghuan as the reincarnation of Yue Fei. He held his hand and was very affectionate. He even escorted him out of the city as a private emperor, and stood on the top of the city wall, watching Yuan Chonghuan go away. After leaving the capital, Yuan Chonghuan went all the way to Liaodong. Who would have thought that when he was halfway there, he received bad news that Bi Zisu, Yuan Chonghuan's old friend, his right-hand man, and the current Liaodong Governor, had died.

Yuan Chonghuan was shocked when he heard the news. He quickly asked the person who summoned him, "Didn't they say Bi Zisu was in good health before? Why did he die suddenly?" After the person explained the situation, he realized that Bi Zisu did not die of illness, but committed suicide.

The cause was a sudden mutiny in Ningyuan, Liaodong, and the mutiny was caused by the issue of military pay.

Since the fall of Wei Zhongxian, the military pay for Liaodong has been cut off. All along, the military pay for Liaodong had been raised by Wei Zhongxian, but naturally there was no one to be responsible after Wei Zhongxian's fall. In addition, the Ministry of Revenue did not have much silver, and it was even more impossible to allocate so much silver to Liaodong to pay the military pay. Therefore, the original 100% military pay was actually paid less than 10%. In addition, due to the continuous deductions and embezzlement of various ministries and officials, the Liaodong army had a serious problem of wage arrears, and the most was owed half a year's pay.

Not only are they not paying their salaries, they are also short of food. The military rations of the Liaodong troops are also extremely scarce. The officials in the court do not care about the situation in Liaodong at all. They are all deaf and dumb and shirking their responsibilities. But if this situation continues for a long time, the soldiers will not be happy. It is natural for soldiers to eat food and get military pay. If the court has financial problems, it is fine to owe money for one or two months, but how can it owe money for half a year?

Especially when there is not enough food, how can we fight without enough food? Do we have to rely on soldiers to dig wild vegetables to survive? Can those wild vegetables fill their stomachs? It's a joke!
As a result, due to serious wage arrears, a mutiny broke out in the Liaodong army, led by some officers who went directly to the Liaodong Governor Bi Zisu to demand military pay.

But where could Bi Zisu get the military pay? Although he was the governor of Liaodong, he was just a temporary replacement. He had no backing in the court, and his prestige in the army was not high. In addition, Bi Zisu never took bribes and was a poor and honest official. If the court did not give him money to pay the military pay, where would he get the money?

Facing the mutinous soldiers, Bi Zisu could only explain to them patiently, telling them that he could not pay the military pay for the time being, and asked them to wait patiently, and he would urge the court to allocate the military pay as soon as possible. Now their actions were a violation of military law, and they were required to immediately restrain their subordinates and return to the camp, otherwise they would be subject to military law.

Although Bi Zisu was a talented man and had served as Yuan Chonghuan's right-hand man, he had never been able to take charge of things on his own. Moreover, his temper and personality were too rigid and he did not know how to be tactful.

It would have been better if he hadn't said this, but this, coupled with the very impolite threat, immediately angered the mutinous soldiers, and someone immediately shouted that the reason they were not paid was definitely because Bi Zisu, the Liaodong governor, had embezzled their military pay.

This rumor spread quickly, and it aroused the anger of the people. The soldiers were all furious, and they didn't care who Bi Zisu was. Even if he was a governor who embezzled military pay, they would not forgive him!

Immediately, the soldiers arrested Bi Zisu and rushed into Bi Zisu's mansion to look for the embezzled military pay. However, after searching everywhere, they only found a few dozen taels of silver and a few tattered clothes in Bi Zisu's house. As for the so-called embezzled military pay, they didn't find a penny.

Faced with this situation, the soldiers were also dumbfounded. They did not expect that what Bi Zisu said was actually true. He, as the governor of Liaodong, did not embezzle or withhold a penny of their military pay. Moreover, considering Bi Zisu's official position and status, his wealth could even be considered extremely shabby.

This is an honest official! And a very honest official!
Although the soldiers mutinied, they still understood reason. They wrongly accused an honest official, which made everyone feel ashamed. They quickly released Bi Zisu, who was tied up, kowtowed to him respectfully to apologize, and left with their people.

Although Bi Zisu proved his innocence in this way, as a scholar and governor of Liaodong, he suffered unprecedented insults.

Bi Zisu, who was of strong character, was unable to get over the situation for a while. He felt extremely aggrieved, but he could not tell anyone. Moreover, as the governor of Liaodong, he could not control his subordinates. He was even tied up by the mutineer soldiers, which made him lose all his dignity and face. Bi Zisu started a hunger strike in anger. He starved himself to death after 13 days of hunger strike. This made the matter even bigger.

After Yuan Chonghuan learned about Bi Zisu's death, he was shocked and asked about the current situation of the various tribes in Liaodong. When he learned that the mutiny had not stopped and the tribes were still clamoring for pay, how could he sit still? He immediately led his men to Liaodong at full speed and arrived at Shanhaiguan three days later. He rested in Shanhaiguan for one night and headed for Ningyuan the next day.

(End of this chapter)