I am a temporary worker in Jinyiwei, how did I become a powerful official?

Chapter 175: Governor Wang was defeated at Luanhe River, Lin Chuanfeng went to Liaodong to look for wine
The tenth day of the second month in the thirty-eighth year of the Jiajing reign.

An officer with a flag in the uniform of a frontier army rode a fast horse into the capital at full speed and did not dismount until he reached the gate of Xiyuan Palace.

He staggered and nearly fell, and the big general on duty quickly supported him.

The flag officer took a leather tube from his back and handed it to the big Han general: "Luan, Luanhe military report. Quick, present it to the emperor."

The Han general took a deep breath and said: Oh no, the border troops have been defeated.

The Ming army had a rule that if they won a battle and rode into Beijing to report their victory, they would shout: "Great victory." They wanted the common people and officials along the way to think, "The Ming army is mighty, and our Ming Dynasty is invincible, hahahaha!"
If a battle was lost, they would not say "great victory", but only "military report".

Soon, the Han general handed the military report to Lu Fang.

Lu Fang walked quickly into the main hall of Yongshou Palace: "Your Majesty, the Governor-General of Ji and Liao, Wang Rong, sent an urgent military report."

Emperor Jiajing had been resting with his eyes closed, but suddenly he opened them and said, "Read!"

Lü Fang said: "Your Highness Wang Rong reports with tears in his eyes that in the first ten days of the first lunar month, several Tatar tribes including Baduer and Xinai, numbering about 20,000 men, gathered together in Huizhou, and took the three guards of Duoyan hostage as guides and marched southward to invade."

"I led 30,000 Jizhen border troops out of the Luan River and stationed them at Panjiakou. Due to lack of food and grass, the army was defeated. I led the remaining 15,000 soldiers to retreat to the Luan River, and transferred 20,000 Jizhen soldiers to assist in the defense of the Luan River. I was defeated again, and lost 18,000 soldiers."

"The northern barbarians have crossed the Luan River and are heading west, heading straight for Zunhua. I beg the court to immediately dispatch a large army to the north to defend the border. February 6, the 38th year of Jiajing."

Emperor Jiajing roared, "Wang Rong is incompetent! Immediately summon all civil officials above the fourth rank and military officials above the third rank in Beijing to the palace for a discussion!"

Wang Rong, a member of the Jiangchen Party, served as the governor of Shandong, presided over the anti-Japanese war in Shandong, and was Qi Jiguang's immediate superior.

In the 31st year of Jiajing's reign, Wang Rong was transferred to be the governor of Zhejiang Province, in charge of Zhejiang's anti-Japanese war.

Later, he was recommended by Yang Bo to serve as the governor of Datong. He was promoted to the governor-general of Ji and Liao just last year.

Wang Rong's eldest son, Wang Shizhen, now served as the military commander of Qingzhou. Wang Shizhen was a well-known talent in the officialdom and was good at writing vernacular novels.

Wang Rong was defeated at Luanhe River, and Emperor Jiajing was furious! Luanhe River is the natural barrier of Jizhou. If the northern barbarians break through Jizhou again, it will be only 200 miles away from the capital! There will be a second Gengxu Incident!
Half an hour later, at the gate of Xiyuan Palace.

Lin Shisan hurriedly crossed the Xuanjin Bridge and arrived at the gate of Xiyuan - Xi'an Gate.

The man with frosty eyebrows in Mao'er's room had diarrhea, and the eunuchs were unable to cure him, so Lin Shisan had to go to the palace overnight.

As soon as he arrived at the gate of Xi'an, he saw a pile of official sedan chairs.

Lin Shisan handed the badge to the big Han general for inspection and asked casually, "What is this in the palace?"

The big Han general lowered his voice and said, "It seems that the north has lost the battle. Captain Lin is here to serve in the palace. If you serve in front of the emperor, you must be more cautious. The emperor is not in a good mood today."

It was not in vain that Lin Shisan treated these big generals who guarded the West Garden to drinks on weekdays.

Lin Shisan thought to himself: What a huge defeat it must have been to have so many blue sedan chairs placed in front of the Yongshou Palace?

Inside the main hall of Yongshou Palace.

Civil officials and military commanders had already gathered. Yang Bo was very puzzled: Wang Rong had always been an expert in military tactics, so how could he have suffered such a huge defeat this time?

The situation was urgent, and Emperor Jiajing didn't bother to ring the bronze bell to be mysterious. He spoke directly: "The Luanhe battle was a failure. What do you think? Yan Song, you are the Prime Minister, you speak first."

Whenever there was a major war in the imperial court, Yan Song would never express any opinions. This was the case during the Gengxu Rebellion.

As the Prime Minister, he keeps silent and plays dead when faced with a battle. This is a typical case of being a charlatan.

Yan Song said: "I think the most urgent task is for the important officials in the court who are familiar with military affairs to plan a strategy to resist the enemy."

It's like saying nothing, it's just nonsense.

Emperor Jiajing frowned and cursed in his heart: When it comes to writing poems, framing and killing people for me, and helping me make money, Yan Song is an expert.

Oh, but when the enemy invades and the situation becomes critical, he is a waste!
At the critical moment, it was Xiaguan Yang Bo, a general who was later promoted to prime minister, who had to take charge.

Yang Bo said: "I, Yang Bo, request the emperor to allow me to send 30,000 soldiers from the imperial camp to Jizhou to strengthen the defense of Jizhou. Keep the Tatars at the gate of Jizhou."

"Also, the capital city should step up preparations for war. The Beijing camp and the imperial army should immediately go up to the city walls for defense to prevent any unexpected events."

Emperor Jiajing made a prompt decision: "Approve Yang Bo's request. Yang Bo, I will hand over Jizhou to you."

Five days later, Yang Bo arrived at Jizhou City with 30,000 soldiers from the Beijing camp.

The lobby of the Ji-Liao Governor's Office.

Yang Bo dismissed his attendants and questioned Wang Rong: "How did you fight the two battles of Panjiayuan and Luanhe? I have read the battle reports. You underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly!"

"If you had held on to Panjiakou, or relied on the Luan River to consolidate your defense, why would you have lost more than 33,000 soldiers? That's half of the Jizhen border army!"

"This is not your fighting style. Tell me! What's going on?"

Wang Rong sat on the ground and pounded his chest hard: "I want to hold on! But can I hold on? The soldiers I took out only have seven days of rations each!"

Yang Bo said angrily: "Nonsense! The grain stored in Ji Town should be enough for three months."

Wang Rong sighed, "You said it all, it should be enough! The military rations allocated by the court in the first month of this year are indeed enough for the army to use for three months. But when it comes to the soldiers, it's only enough for seven days!"

Wang Rong told the whole story.

Since the Governor-General of Xuanda was replaced and the Yan Party lost the power of the border troops, the extremely clever Yan Shifan came up with another way to seize the power of the border town.

I have lost my military power, but soldiers need food. As long as I control the supply of food to the border troops, the Nine Frontiers will still belong to my Yan family.

Therefore, Yan Song and his son tried their best to send their followers to the nine frontiers to serve as grain officials.

Take Jizhen for example. Gao Guang, the grain manager sent by the Ministry of Revenue, and Liu Chongwen, the person in charge, are both members of the Yan Party.

Ma Lian, the head of Miyun Granary, was a member of the Yan Party.

The grain and fodder officers of the various camps in Jizhen, such as Dong Ce, Cao Lin, Wang Shouzhi, Wang Huizheng, etc., were all members of Yan's party.

Yi Jiefu, Zhang Zishun and Yang Yin, the deputy military envoys of Jizhou who were in charge of the transportation of grain and fodder, were all members of the Yan Party.

What’s even more terrible is that the Governor of Jizhou and the Chief Censor Ma Jiude; the Governor of Baoding and the Deputy Chief Censor Ai Xichun were also members of the Yan Party.

Without exception, these people are all corrupt officials who are eager to make money out of nothing.

The Ministry of Revenue allocated food and fodder to Jizhen, but they would not openly embezzle it. That would be too conspicuous.

This group of people has a clever method, and the key to the method lies in the word "drag".

The price of grain was high from December to May of the following year. They found various reasons to delay the distribution of military rations so that the border troops would not starve to death.

They will sell the delayed military rations at a high price.

When the summer harvest comes in June and the grain price drops, they will buy grain at a low price to supplement the military rations.

The key to this way of making money is to take advantage of the time difference and earn the price difference.

This group of corrupt officials of the Yan Party went too far in making money from military rations and became so greedy that they did not care at all about the consequences if war broke out when the price of grain was high.

After Wang Rong finished telling all this, Yang Bo slammed the table and stood up: "The Yan Party, these bastards, deserve to die. But why didn't you report this to me in time?"

Wang Rong said, "With your hot temper, if you knew about this, you would fight to the death with the Yan Party in the court."

"The Yan Party is now very powerful. You will suffer."

Yang Bo was furious: "Wang Rong, you bastard! As a frontier official, you should only consider the border defense. I don't need you to worry about the party struggles in the court!"

"You think too much and fear too much. You will end up hurting yourself! No, you have already hurt yourself!"

"With me and 30,000 reinforcements from the Beijing camp defending Jizhou, Jizhou will not be lost. You should hurry up and write a letter of apology! Your official hat will definitely be lost."

"I will protect you and see if I can save your head!" According to historical records, in February of the 38th year of Jiajing, more than 20,000 Tatar cavalry invaded from Panjiakou, crossed the Luan River to the west, plundered Zunhua, Qian'an, and Yutian, and stayed in the inland for five days, causing a great shock to the capital.

The imperial censors Wang Jian and Fang Lu impeached the governor of Ji and Liao, Wang Rong, for three mistakes and four crimes. The Jiajing Emperor issued an edict to remove Wang Rong from all official posts and imprison him in the imperial prison for trial.

That day, Lin Shisan went to Luo Longwen's house to "cleanse the voice" of a thrush with a dirty mouth.

Lin Shisan said, "Today, our fellows in the Northern Pacification Division Imperial Prison were very busy. They imprisoned more than twenty civil officials and more than thirty military officers at once."

Luo Longwen laughed and said, "They are all Wang Rong and his men, right? They deserve it! I'm telling you, Wang Rong won't survive this time!"

Lin Shisan asked: "Because of the defeat?"

Luo Longwen asked mysteriously, "Do you know who wrote the Golden Lotus to satirize the Grand Master and the Little Grand Master?"

Lin Shisan asked: "Who?"

Luo Longwen replied: "Wang Rong's eldest son, Wang Shizhen, the military commander of Qingzhou! His son dared to write a book to insult the Grand Councilor and the Junior Councilor."

"This time, the father has been defeated. Can the elder and the young elder let their father live?"

Lin Shisan thought to himself: Poor Wang Rong, he fought against the Japanese pirates in Shandong and Zhejiang for so many years, and fought against the Tatars in Datong for so many years. Once Ji and Liao were defeated, all his merits were wiped out. His head would also be wiped out.
Luo Longwen added: "Humph, the Jiangchen Party had previously tripped up the elder, which led to the beheading of Yang Shun, the governor of Xuanda. Their man Wang Chonggu took control of Xuanda."

"This time, the elder and the younger elder can finally make up for it in Ji and Liao."

What could Lin Shisan say? He could only keep silent and concentrate on using clever methods to clean up the dirty-mouthed thrush.

After finishing the work, Luo Longwen reminded: "Third brother, June is the elder's 80th birthday. You have to prepare an outstanding birthday gift in advance."

Lin Shisan nodded: "I know that. But I haven't decided what to give."

"Zhao Butang from the Ministry of Works has already started preparations. A few days ago, he asked me to go to Liaodong to look for Baihua Xianjiu as a birthday gift for the elder."

Luo Longwen laughed out loud: "Zhao Wenhua is crying over the chair in the cabinet. He wants to use the birthday celebration to please the cabinet elder and get a chair in the cabinet."

"You don't have to pay attention to him. If there's an outstanding birthday gift, you can give it yourself. Why should you lend it to him?"

At night, Lu Bing’s residence.

In the secret room of Lu Bing's bedroom, Yang Bo was sitting with an angry look on his face.

Yang Bo said: "General Lu, I have already explained to you the reasons for the defeat at Luanhe."

"Wang Rong can't be saved. But his death cannot be in vain! Those parasites in the Yan Party who are in charge of military rations must pay the price!"

"You and I have never been allies. But I hope that you, as the commander of the Jinyiwei, will do your duty and bring those termites to justice."

Lu Bing said calmly: "On the surface, I am an ally of Lord Yan. Why should I pursue those students and old friends of Lord Yan?"

Yang Bo said seriously: "Because I can see that you are a man with conscience! The Yan Party has shaken the foundation of the country!"

Lu Bing thought for a long time and said, "Okay. I, Lu Bing, will take care of this matter."

Yang Bo stood up and said, "Lu Wenfu, you are indeed a loyal minister. I owe you a favor this time."

Lu Bing said, "You have suffered a loss at the hands of the Yan Party, and you don't want to keep silent about it. Use me as a weapon to fight back against the Yan Party."

"But I tell you, I will not be anyone's gun. I will only be the dagger in the emperor's sleeve to kill the wicked and eliminate the evil."

"It is our duty as the Jinyiwei to crack down on military corruption. I am not doing this for you. I am doing this for the country."

The next morning, Lu Bing gathered four people at the Jinyiwei headquarters.

One is Lu Yi, the Northern Pacification Envoy.

One of them was Captain Liu Shouyou.

One of them was Zhu Xixiao, the assistant commander in charge of the Northern Affairs.

Another one is Deputy Captain Lin Shisan.

Lu Bing told the four people exactly what Yang Bo had said last night about the reasons for the defeat at Luanhe.

Lin Shisan's hair stood on end after hearing this: Because of a group of corrupt officials of the Yan Party, more than 30,000 border troops were killed in vain? Shocking!

Lu Bing said: "I order the four of you to lead people to Xuanfu, Datong, Jizhou, and Liaodong to secretly investigate the corruption of the grain officials of the Yan Party."

"Tell me where you plan to go?"

Zhu Xixiao was the first to speak: "I'll go to Jizhou."

Zhu Xixiao was a close confidant of the crown prince. Lu Bing naturally had to give him face: "Okay, you go to Jizhou."

Lu Yi said: "Then I will go to Xuanfu."

Lu Bing nodded slightly.

Only Datong and Liaodong are left of the four places.

Lin Shisan said, "Master Boss, I am willing to go to Liaodong. Zhao Wenhua, a key member of the Yan Party, asked me to go to Liaodong to look for Baihua Xianjiu."

"I will do the work for him. The local grain officials of Liaodong will definitely compete to curry favor with me and help me find wine."

"I just want to pretend to be friendly with them and investigate the corruption of Liaodong's military rations."

Lu Bing was puzzled: "Hundred Flowers Fairy Wine?"

Lin Shisan explained: "Ancient books record that Baihuaxian wine is a kind of wine brewed by black bears in the dangerous mountains of Liaodong. It is extremely precious. Drinking it can prolong life."

Lu Bing said: "Okay, you go to Liaodong."

Liu Shouyou had no choice but to go to Datong.

After finishing his business in the evening, Lin Shisan came to the residence of Zhao Wenhua, the Minister of Works.

Lin Shisan bowed and said, "Mr. Zhao, I have run into trouble."

Zhao Wenhua asked: "You have the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister and the Emperor backing you up. What difficulties can you encounter?"

Lin Shisan said, "I am too ashamed to speak of this matter. I dare not let Eunuch Lu, Elder Yan, and the Emperor know about it."

"Only Zhao Butang can help me."

Zhao Wenhua said, "Don't keep me in suspense. Just tell me."

Lin Shisan said, "That damn Li Gao led me to gamble with some noble sons. Not only did I lose eight thousand taels of silver in one night, but I also wrote them an IOU for fifty thousand taels."

"Didn't you say that if I could find the Hundred Flowers Fairy Wine for you, you would pay me fifty thousand taels of silver?"

Zhao Wenhua was delighted: "So that's what's going on. It's just fifty thousand taels. I'll take care of it. But you have to bring back the Baihuaxian wine from Liaodong first."

"By the way, what excuse do you want to ask Xiyuan for leave to go to Liaodong?"

Lin Shisan smiled and said, "No need to ask for leave. There is already a bear house in the West Garden, and the palace needs to collect bear gall every year for the emperor to make elixirs. I said I would go to the dangerous mountains to find a bear for the bear house."

Zhao Wenhua clapped his hands: "Great! This is a really great reason."

Lin Shisan added: "It's just that I'm not familiar with Liaodong, so it's not very convenient for me to get things done."

Zhao Wenhua said: "That's easy. There are many local officials in Liaodong who are my students and old friends. I will write to them and ask them to assist you."

(End of this chapter)