The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 342 The sword points to the North Sea
The Great Heat season has just passed, and already there is a sense of autumn in the north.

On the day of Qixi Festival, the Duke of Protectorate held a sumptuous banquet in his house to entertain all his trusted confidants.

Yang Hao, Kang Yingqian, Qiao Yiqi, Pei Dahu, Lin Yu, Wu Xiao, Shen Lian, Liu Xingzuo and others were all present.

Liu Zhaosun advised that everyone should not be bound by etiquette and just have fun.

He carried a teapot and toasted everyone one by one. After three rounds of drinks, Lin Yu, Wu Xiao and others were blushing and the atmosphere gradually became lively.

The Duke of Huguo grabbed a piece of steamed bun and stuffed it into his mouth with the pink venison breast meat, not caring about his image at all. He chewed it with big mouthfuls, looking like a starving ghost.

Without waiting to finish the steamed bun, he took the duck leg from Jin Yuji and tore off half of it in one bite. Suddenly, he remembered something and stopped chewing.

He asked Xie Yang who was sitting diagonally opposite him.

"Director Xie, are Yang Tong and Liu Yue'er getting married soon?"

Xie Guangkun stood up unsteadily. Like Liu Zhaosun, he had an allergic constitution and would pass out after drinking three cups.

Kaiyuan does not emphasize seniority, and Liu Zhaosun treats his subordinates in a friendly manner, but the hierarchy does exist.

Especially on an occasion like today, the Duke of Protectorate entertained everyone with a family dinner. Except for the pregnant Zhang Yan, no one dared to say that they couldn't drink.

"The date is set for the 30th of this month. Civil officials will go to Yang's home to celebrate. Lord Liu and all the generals are invited to join us."

Deng Changxiong, Wang Erhu, and Qi Jin all put down their chopsticks and nodded with a smile when they heard this:
"Yang Chenshi is very happy, we will definitely be there!"

The Protector recalled the tragic incident three years ago that he would never forget:

"Yang Tong was a meritorious official of Kaiyuan. In the first year of Chongzhen's reign, Zu Dashou and Xu Xianchun brought disaster to Kaiyuan. Thanks to him and Liu Yue'er for discovering it in time, otherwise who knows how many more people would have died!"

He suddenly thought of Song Yingxing and wondered how he was doing now.

"What is Song Yingxing doing in Qinghe now?"

Zhang Dong said quickly:
"I worked as a copywriter in the military camp, writing letters home for the soldiers and manuscripts for the instructors."

Song Yingxing was completely implicated by his two brothers and inexplicably became the sinner of Kaiyuan.

Imagining the humiliations this scientific genius suffered in Qinghe, I suddenly felt some sympathy for him.

"Call him back to the capital. This official will see him first."

The Sakhalin expedition team returned, and brought back many rare treasures, including ferret furs, top-grade oriental pearls, and some treasures they didn't recognize.

Liu Zhaosun planned to let them head north and continue exploring further.

Therefore, the next step is to recruit more civilians in Liaodong to join this North Sea expedition.

"Let Song Yingxing also travel to the north and let the songs of the northern border sharpen the character of this official."

While Liu Zhaosun was speaking, Kang Yingqian took the teapot from the Duke of Huguo and continued to pour wine for his colleagues.

He is the most trusted confidant of the Duke of Protectorate.

Everyone was reluctant to offend General Kang, so they had to continue drinking.

But when it was Yang Hao's turn, his father-in-law, the Duke of Protector of the Country, insisted on using the excuse that he couldn't hold his liquor and stopped drinking.

Kang Yingqian was quite embarrassed.

Upon seeing this, Qiao Yiqi quickly took over Lao Kang's wine glass, drank it for his old partner, and patted Kang Jianjun on the shoulder to let him sit down.

Liu Zhaosun knew that there had always been a rift between them.

He was quite interested in the Japanese evil monk who was said to have lived for four hundred years on Mount Unknown, so he changed the subject and asked Wu Xiao and others what they had experienced in Kaga Domain at that time.

"The demon monk is a charlatan. He was originally a magician, but his hidden weapons are indeed powerful, and he can also secretly poison people. If Brother Fujiwara had not seen through his tricks in time that day, Brother Lin Yu and I would have been thrown into the Bagua furnace by the old monk to make elixirs."

Wu Xiao tilted his head back and drank it all in one gulp, as if he was recalling something very distant.

Sen Ti laughed and said:

"Of course, you two are both virgins, so you can use it to make pills. One is worth three! No problem."

Everyone laughed.

Liu Zhaosun had heard Jin Yinghe talk about the Fujiwara brothers and sisters.

He was quite concerned about the two mixed-race children because he heard that they knew several languages and understood Catholic doctrines, and were both multi-talented people.

"Where is Fujiwara Kyoji now?"

The giant Lin Yu, who had been drinking silently with his head down, suddenly looked over here and heard Sen Ti reply:
"Your Excellency, that Japanese man has been assigned to our Training Department and is working for me."

"Why did you keep him in the training camp?"

Dongguanzi quickly explained:
"Lord Protector of the Country, this man can speak Japanese, so he can be used to guard the Japanese prisoners. Don't you know that those Japanese pirates don't work hard in the factories and mines, and they shout that they want to commit seppuku every day..."

"Then let them do it! The first one who commits seppuku, we'll let the dogs bite him halfway through, and see who dares to do it again!"

Liu Zhaosun waved his hand to interrupt Senti and said to Ma Shiying who was sitting next to him:

"Ma Zhizhou, tomorrow I will have the Edo half-blood report to you and take charge of foreign translation and reception. I'll start as an interpreter. We will urgently need such talents when dealing with European countries in the future."

Ma Shiying quickly stood up and agreed.

Qiao Yiqi was already drunk at this point, and when he heard about mixed-race children, he also started to make a fuss:

"What should we do with Fujiwara Kyoji's sister? She's working in a textile factory now. She's taller than... "

Qiao Yiqi touched Sen Ti's forehead and said with a smile:
"She is taller than me, and I heard that she is quite fond of a young man here..." Everyone laughed and looked at Lin Yu who was sitting in the corner.

Lin Yu's face suddenly turned red.

Liu Zhaosun smiled and said:
"Beauty is a match made in heaven. I've said this before: I've never been interested in women or power. If this woman stays in the capital, she can be of use to Kaiyuan. I'll pick a suitable husband for her from the guards. I think Brother Lin is a good match."

~~~~
The Duke of Protector of the Country intended to expand the power of the cabinet to assist him in handling government affairs.

There is currently only one vacancy in the cabinet, which is the position of second-in-command, and one of them needs to be chosen from Kang Yingqian and Yang Hao.

As Zhang Yan became more favored, Kang Yingqian's faction gained more advantages in the Kaiyuan system. Yang Hao obviously could not tolerate this former subordinate suppressing him.

The struggle for power between the two old men has gradually become fierce.

~~~~~~~
That night, Liu Zhaosun woke up from a nightmare.

He dreamed of a thousand miles of barren land in the west, with crows swooping down and drowning the starving people who had died on the plains, their skin and bones just visible.

All that remained on the earth were tree trunks with their bark gnawed away.

I couldn't calm down for a long time after waking up.

Sweat was pouring down his back. Looking at Yang Qing'er lying next to him, snoring evenly and deeply, he quickly covered his wife with a thin blanket.

After half a month of recuperation, the Duke of Huguo fully recovered.

On July 23, the Duke of Huguo petitioned the emperor, suggesting that Yang Hao, the former governor of Liaodong, be summoned to the cabinet and serve as the second assistant.

The imperial censors praised him one after another: the Duke of Protectorate "recommended people without avoiding relatives and recommended people without avoiding enemies", and he had the spirit of an ancient gentleman.

Liu Zhaosun laughed:
He just wanted to further undermine the power of the cabinet, and at the same time wanted his father-in-law to help him revise some memorials.

Of the six cabinet ministers, except Yang Hao and Huang Liji who defected to Kaiyuan, the other four cabinet ministers did not express their stance, but began to consciously keep their distance from the emperor.

Perhaps he was afraid of losing his life in the next "Jingnan" campaign.

Yang Hao's four years of ups and downs in officialdom were more than what he had experienced in the previous fifty years.

As a criminal in the Battle of Sarhu, he was transferred to Tianjin as the Coast Guard. After entering the pass with his son-in-law, he rose to prominence overnight and entered the cabinet.

Things I never dreamed of.

Therefore, in the following days, the review of memorials and presiding over ceremonies, which Emperor Tianqi "voluntarily gave up", were subcontracted by the Duke of Huguo to his father-in-law Yang Hao.

And he began to use his free time to do something more meaningful.

At the end of July, the Duke of Huguo attended the wedding of Yang Tong and Liu Yue'er.

After Zhang Dong was transferred to the Suoyi Guard, the position of chief of the pacification troops became vacant, so Liu Zhaosun appointed Yang Tong to the position.

Ever since Liu Zhaosun encouraged the one-armed sharpshooter and told him that the Great Emperor Zhenwu had only one hand, Yang Tong had made many meritorious deeds, successively cracked a number of major cases in Kaiyuan, and captured a number of spies sent by the court.

This promotion to chief officer is what everyone expected.

At dusk on July 30th, Liu Zhaosun, wearing a first-class robe with a crane patch, looked at Yang Tong and his wife toasting the guests and sighed slightly:

"A brilliant intelligence expert whose career was delayed by sniping."

Yang Tong is now the chief officer of the pacification troops and concurrently serves as the assistant commander of the Five Cities Military Department. He is a fourth-rank official. Liu Zhaosun intends to train him to be the chief officer of the capital's police system.

The newlyweds came to the seat of the Duke of Protector of the Country and toasted Shangguan. Just as Liu Zhaosun was about to take the two glasses of sake, Kang Yinggan coughed lightly.

The Duke of Huguo smiled at Kang Yingqian and said:
"Clerk Yang and Manager Liu are very happy today. I will only drink two cups. That's fine."

Then he raised his glass to bless the two of them:

"Chenshi Yang and Manager Liu are happily married. Love has finally come to life. Chenshi Yang has made tremendous contributions to Kaiyuan over the past two years, and Manager Liu has also made significant contributions by assisting the Chamber of Commerce in trade. Kaiyuan thrives only with people like you. I normally don't drink, and having just recovered from a serious illness, I'm making an exception today."

After saying that, he raised his glass and drank the sake in one gulp.

There was a burst of cheers from the surroundings. Yang Tong's face turned red, like a frozen apple.
"Your Excellency, you are too kind. If it weren't for your encouragement and support at the Seven Stars Tower, I would be a crippled man with a broken arm now. The fact that I could marry Yue'er was also due to the matchmaking of the Duke of Protector..."

Liu Yue'er is so impetuous that you can't tell at all that she is the poor girl from the rural area of Qufu back then.

"Duke Protector of the Country, without Kaiyuan, there would be no Liu Yue'er. Back then, the Kaiyuan Army destroyed the Kong Mansion and saved countless innocent families from being tainted by that Kong. I need no thanks for your kindness. Our friendship is all in this wine. From now on, I, Liu Yue'er, will go through fire and water without blinking an eye."

After saying that, she grabbed the wine jug on the chopping board and drank it down in one gulp.

The generals were shocked and cheered.

"it is good!"

Liu Zhaosun looked at this magical combination and laughed happily.

"Well done! With Shopkeeper Liu's help, I don't need to worry about Kaiyuan Shop anymore!"

The wedding banquet ended, the guests dispersed, and the Duke of Protector returned home surrounded by guards.

As soon as he arrived at the door of the Duke of Protectorate's Mansion, Shen Lian tremblingly handed over a secret report.

"Sir, a major incident has occurred in Shaanxi! The bandit king has conquered five counties and one state, and the Yansui border troops have also mutinied due to unpaid military pay. The bandit rebels have joined forces and are unstoppable!"

Liu Zhaosun grabbed the secret report, read it hurriedly, and angrily tore the paper into pieces.

"There are more and more people in this world who deserve to be punished. Now that the Confucius Mansion is gone, so many rats have appeared. Those bastards in Yansui Town, Xi'an Prefecture! They embezzled so much money and deceived their superiors and subordinates. They deserve to die!"

(End of this chapter)