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

Chapter 452 Sun Yuanhua

Xu Jingqiu finally agreed to Zhu Shenzhui's suggestion and prepared to take the children to Pingshun.

Zhu Shenzhui's words that day made Xu Jingqiu finally understand what her husband was thinking, and she also had a better understanding of the current situation and changes in the Ming Dynasty.

Xu Jingqiu was not a woman who knew nothing. She was a woman from a scholarly family and was much more courageous than ordinary men. She was well-versed in history books and understood from Zhu Shenzhu's analysis that if things continued like this, the Ming Dynasty would be irreversibly in chaos. Once the world was in chaos, anything could happen.

As a member of the Ming royal family, Zhu Shenzhui did not have many choices. If he had been like ordinary members of the royal family, the final result would have been the destruction of his country and himself. Even if he escaped with his life, the ending would not have been much better, not to mention his women and children and their families.

This has been the case in every dynasty, and Xu Jingqiu certainly understood this. At this time, Zhu Shenzhui also told her some of his plans and arrangements. When Xu Jingqiu learned about Zhu Shenzhui's current real strength, she was extremely surprised. Although she knew a little about the situation in the grassland, she had never asked in depth, let alone the arrangements on the Ming side.

After learning this, Xu Jingqiu no longer objected to leaving Pingyang. She was an extremely smart woman, and leaving Pingyang was not only to protect herself and her child, but also to make Zhu Shenzhu feel at ease and without worries.

Just like that, half a month later, Xu Jingqiu, along with her children, sister-in-law Zhang, and niece Qiao'er, left Pingyang in a carriage arranged by Zhu Shenzhui and headed towards Pingshun.

They said they were going to stay at her mother's home in Pingshun for a while, but in fact Zhu Shenzui had already written a letter to his uncle Wang Rong, asking him to let them stay in Pingshun for a few days first, and then settle them in the Luzhou Guard Commander's Mansion, with Wang Rong helping to take care of them.

As for my father-in-law and mother-in-law, there is no need to tell them too much. The more they know, the worse it is. Pingshun is not far from Luzhou Wei anyway. Once there is any change, Wang Rong will be able to respond in time, so there will be no problem with safety.

After seeing his wife, children, and sister-in-law off, the servants in the house also followed them to Luzhou Wei, and the house suddenly became empty and deserted.

As a member of the royal family, Zhu Shenzui cannot leave, but that is only in name, so he has to stay in Pingyang as a cover for the time being. As for leaving Pingyang, he has too many ways to do it. Besides, he is just an ordinary member of the royal family, inconspicuous in his daily life, and no one knows his true situation, so it is very convenient to conceal these from the outside world.

Xu Jingqiu took her children away from Pingyang and wrote a letter to her family before leaving. The letter did not say anything else, nor did it tell them where she was going, but it implicitly reminded her parents to pay attention to the movements in various places and guard against possible problems that might occur there.

Not only did he write a letter to his parents, he also wrote a letter to his younger brother Xu Xiancheng who was far away in the capital.

After the Wanggongchang explosion, Xu Xiancheng was valued by Emperor Tianqi for his good performance and ended his internship in the Ministry of Works ahead of schedule and was officially appointed as an official.

Because Wang Gongchang was destroyed, and Xu Xiancheng himself did not want to be involved in the struggle between the Donglin Party and the Eunuch Party, Xu Xiancheng was responsible for rebuilding the Firearms Bureau and warehouses as the Yuheng Qinglisi Yuwailang of the Ministry of Works, so he often traveled back and forth between the capital, Fengtai and Tianjin.

Away from the political vortex of the capital, Xu Xiancheng finally breathed a sigh of relief. In addition, due to his busy official duties, he could not care about the mess in the capital and devoted himself to his work.

Two years passed in a blink of an eye. During these two years, Xu Xiancheng had preliminarily completed the reconstruction of the Firearms Bureau and the warehouse. His work ability was impeccable. In addition, after the fall of Wei Zhongxian, the political direction of the court changed, and the Donglin Party gradually recovered. In the Jiangnan area, the Fushe Society became more and more famous because of its political views close to the Donglin Party and the special background of its members. It was even known as the Little Donglin.

As a veteran of the Fushe Society, Xu Xiancheng's status naturally rose under such circumstances. With this change, Xu Xiancheng, who had always been outside the political center, inevitably came into the court's sight, including the eyes of Emperor Chongzhen and the cabinet bosses.

Just half a year ago, Xu Xiancheng was promoted from Yuwenlang of the Yuheng Qinglisi of the Ministry of Works to Langzhong, and was promoted from the fifth rank to the fifth rank.

In addition, the court also gave Xu Xiancheng the title of Supervisory Censor. It is said that there seems to be an idea to let Xu Xiancheng go out of the capital to serve as a military governor. However, no matter whether this is true or not, no one is sure. As for where he will go to serve as a military governor, no one knows. But no matter what, it is a fact that Xu Xiancheng has caught the attention of the court. Once he is really allowed to go out of the capital to serve as a military governor, his future career can be said to be smooth. Although the position of a military governor is not high, it has considerable real power. If he does a good job in this position, there is a high probability that he will be promoted from a military governor to a governor. Once he becomes a governor, it is equivalent to stepping into the ranks of senior officials.

The mansion in the capital, this place was where Xu Xiancheng lived in the capital. Over the years, Xu Xiancheng has never moved to that inconspicuous courtyard.

However, compared to before, Xu Xiancheng no longer lives alone. Last year, Xu Xiancheng's good friend Li Xin came to the capital to visit him and stayed in the capital at Xu Xiancheng's invitation. Although Li Xin failed the imperial examination and did not have Xu Xiancheng's talent and luck for the imperial examination, Li Xin was very capable. When he learned that Xu Xiancheng worked in the Ministry of Works and was the Yuheng Qingli Division of the Ministry of Works, in charge of the Firearms Bureau, Li Xin, who was quite interested in firearms, could not help but consult with Xu Xiancheng and discuss these things. Seeing Li Xin like this, Xu Xiancheng happened to need someone he could trust to help him, so he took the initiative to invite Li Xin to come to the capital to help him and stay in the capital to prepare for the imperial examination.

The two were good friends, and Li Xin was a straightforward person, so he agreed immediately. Xu Xiancheng then put a name in the Ministry of Works for Li Xin and found a low-level official position. After all, Li Xin was a juren, and his status was enough to be an official. Although the position he was seeking was insignificant, Li Xin didn't care at all, because he knew that this so-called official position was just a pretext, and what he had to do was to assist Xu Xiancheng's work.

In this way, Li Xin stayed in the capital. Because of their relationship, Li Xin did not find another place to live, but moved directly to live with Xu Xiancheng. Xu Xiancheng naturally welcomed this. Although his courtyard was small, he had plenty of room to live. He was very happy to have Li Xin live with him.

With Li Xin's help, Xu Xiancheng's work in the Ministry of Works became much easier. Li Xin was indeed capable, and with his help, the work of the Yuheng Qinglisi of the Ministry of Works was in good order and he benefited a lot.

As time went by, Xu Xiancheng and Li Xin also made some friends in the capital, among whom the one with whom they had the best relationship was Sun Yuanhua, the head of the Ministry of War.

Because of work reasons, Sun Yuanhua, who worked in the Ministry of War, had frequent interactions with Xu Xiancheng.

Sun Yuanhua was a disciple of Xu Guangqi, who was not only a senior official in the court, but also a leader of Western learning in the Ming Dynasty. Under the influence of his teacher, Sun Yuanhua was quite knowledgeable in mathematics and physics, and had a strong interest in the manufacture and use of firearms. In addition, he was originally an official of the Ministry of War and often dealt with the Ministry of Works due to work needs. As a result, he became acquainted with Xu Xiancheng. Because of their similar temperaments and the same views on the use of firearms, the two soon became good friends.

For this reason, Li Xin met Sun Yuanhua through Xu Xiancheng after he came to the capital, and they became good friends after getting to know each other. The three of them often met in Xu Xiancheng's courtyard, drinking and talking about things, and their friendship became better and better.

"Congratulations, brother Chuyang, you will have great achievements in Liaodong this time. We congratulate you!" Xu Xiancheng raised the wine glass in front of him and sincerely congratulated Sun Yuanhua. Li Xin on the side also congratulated him with a smile.

Just yesterday, Sun Yuanhua was also promoted. Yuan Chonghuan, the governor of Ji-Liao, asked the court for people and specifically asked Sun Yuanhua to go to Liaodong to assist in Liaodong military affairs.

The reason for this is that Sun Yuanhua and Yuan Chonghuan had worked together before. That was in the second year of the Tianqi reign. At the recommendation of Hou Zhenyang, Sun Yuanhua went to Liaodong to assist Yuan Chonghuan. Because he was proficient in firearms, he helped Yuan Chonghuan a lot in garrisoning Ningyuan. In the Ningyuan victory that year, Yuan Chonghuan was able to use firearms to repel Nurhaci's several attacks, and Sun Yuanhua played an indispensable role.

After the Battle of Ningyuan, Yuan Chonghuan resigned from his post as Liaodong Governor due to the serious illness of Emperor Tianqi, and Sun Yuanhua also resigned temporarily and returned home. When Emperor Chongzhen came to power, Yuan Chonghuan was reinstated and further promoted to the governor of Ji-Liao, while Sun Yuanhua also returned to the Ministry of War to continue serving as the chief.

Soon after Yuan Chonghuan took office in Liaodong, he first quelled the Ningyuan mutiny, and then launched a series of rectification work in Liaodong, while asking the court for money, food, and people. Money and food aside, as for the people, one of them was Sun Yuanhua. It was for this reason that Emperor Chongzhen had issued an order to promote Sun Yuanhua and let him go to Liaodong to continue to assist Yuan Chonghuan.

"Thank you, my two dear brothers." Sun Yuanhua finished the wine in the glass with a smile and showed them the bottom of the glass.

Sun Yuanhua was about to go to Liaodong, so the three of them talked about the war in Liaodong today.

The three of them became good friends not only because they had similar personalities, but also because they all had a strong interest in firearms and military affairs. Regarding the current situation in Liaodong, the three of them started to communicate with each other.

As the conversation got more and more lively, the three of them simply used the plates and wine cups on the table as chess pieces. They dipped their fingers in the wine and began to draw a map of Liaodong, pointing out the terrain and starting a discussion.

They were chatting excitedly, laughing from time to time. But at the end, when the three of them talked about the issues of food and military pay in Liaodong, Sun Yuanhua couldn't help but sigh and shook his head, revealing a look of worry.

"Didn't it say before that the court had already allocated military pay to Liaodong? The emperor, the cabinet officials, and the Ministry of Revenue have made arrangements." Li Xin asked.

Sun Yuanhua said sternly, "It's just a drop in the bucket. Although the court has allocated funds, the amount is far from what Commander Yuan needs. The Ningyuan mutiny was caused by unpaid military pay. After Commander Yuan arrived in Liaodong, he suppressed the matter and solved part of the military pay problem, but it is still far from the amount owed. If the court cannot solve this problem as soon as possible, I'm afraid it will still be unstable."

Li Xin looked puzzled, as this seemed to be somewhat different from what he had heard. This year, the imperial court had made a lot of moves. In order to raise military funds for the Liaodong war, not only did they close the post stations, but they also announced the collection of Liaoyang salaries not long ago. With this, the Liaodong military funds should have been made up, so how could there still be a shortfall?
(End of this chapter)