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

Chapter 194: Pleasing Duke Wei

Thousands of miles of warblers sing, green reflects red, water villages and mountain towns have wine flags fluttering in the wind. There are four hundred and eighty temples in the Southern Dynasties, and many pavilions are in the mist and rain.

Nanjing is the ancient capital of six dynasties, and is strategically located.

Lin Shisan and his party went south along the canal and parted ways with Yan Maoqing after arriving in Yangzhou.

In March, in the south of the Yangtze River, Guabu Ferry.

Six official ships, loaded with more than thirty Jinyiwei and their families, were sailing slowly through Guabu Ferry.

Guabudu was a blessed land for the Ming Dynasty.

One hundred and ninety-four years ago, the young Ming king was escorted by Liao Yongzhong to Jinling. When passing through Guabu Ferry, Liao Yongzhong used a trick to make him fall into the water.

The young Ming King capsized and died, and the King of Wu Zhu Yuanzhang gained the legitimacy to become emperor.

One hundred and ninety-four years ago, a guard on the sinking ship of the young Ming King abandoned the ship and survived, starting the legend of the Jinyiwei generation of heroes. This is another story.
Back to the topic, Lin Shisan and Sun Yue were standing on the deck of the lead ship of the six official ships.

The master and the disciple each took a map and studied it carefully.

What Lin Shisan was holding in his hand was a map of the Nanjing garrison.

The Nanjing garrison was divided into two major systems: the garrison troops and the battalion troops.

The military system of the guards was divided into four parts, with a total of 100,000 personnel.

The first part is to keep the five guards, namely the left, right, front, back and center guards.

The second part is Xiaolingwei.

The third part is the six guards of the imperial army, namely the Jinyiwei, Jinwuqianwei, Jinwuweiwei, Yulinzuowei, Yulinyouwei, and Hubenzuowei.

The fourth part is the four navy guards, namely the navy left guard, navy right guard, Jianghuai guard, and Jichuan guard.

The battalion system was divided into Zhenwu Battalion, Xinjiangkou Battalion, Dajiaochang Battalion, Xiaojiaochang Battalion, Chihe Battalion, and Puzikou Battalion, with a total of only 18,000 personnel.

In the 34th year of the Jiajing reign, 100,000 garrison troops watched as dozens of Japanese pirates arrived at the city of Nanjing.

There are two reasons for this. First, the military system of the guards collapsed, and they were in name only and had no combat power at all.

Second, some people wanted to use the Japanese pirates to enter Nanjing City and act as a settlement master, thus hindering the process. However, they failed.

After that farce, Emperor Jiajing realized that the Nanjing Garrison Army was rotten to the core, so he ordered the recruitment of battalion soldiers and the appointment of nobles as commanders.

This is how the six battalions of soldiers came into being.

The most ruthless and least disciplined camp was the Zhenwu Camp. It consisted of 3,000 elite soldiers from various camps and the most agile men from Huai'an and Yangzhou. They were very fierce.

If you want to integrate into Nanjing's military and political system, you must first understand the composition of this system.

Lin Shisan silently recited in his mind the composition of Nanjing's military and political officials in the newly revised "Ming Dynasty Official System".

The Nanjing garrison commander is in charge of Nanjing's military affairs, and is usually a nobleman. The current Nanjing garrison commander is the incompetent Duke Xu Pengju.

The eunuch guarding Nanjing supervised the defense of Nanjing and served as a military supervisor during wartime. The current eunuch guarding Nanjing was an old acquaintance of Lin Shisan, Yang Jinshui, the adopted son of his uncle Lu Fang.

Yang Jinshui managed the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau and the Zhejiang Maritime Customs Bureau in recent years, and made great efforts to help Hu Zongxian raise food and grass to fight against the Japanese pirates, and made great contributions to the Jiajing Emperor's inner treasury. Therefore, he was promoted to the eunuch guarding Nanjing.

When he returns to the capital, he will definitely join the Imperial Household Department as a secretary.

There were two people who helped guard Nanjing. One was Li Tingzhu, Marquis of Linhuai, and the other was Liu Shiyan, Earl of Chengyi. These two people had real skills in leading troops in battle.

Xu, Li and Liu also served as the chief, deputy and assistant chiefs of the Jinyiwei.

In coordination with the garrison, there is also a counselor for the military affairs, who is concurrently the Minister of War in Nanjing, and the current one is Cai Kelian.

This man was as pitiful as his name suggests. He contracted tuberculosis at the age of 49 and was too ill to govern.

Previously, Lao Cai served as the governor of the Grand Canal. He worked diligently in his position and made many political achievements.

Unfortunately, due to this damn tuberculosis, Old Cai was exhausted and had no choice but to ask to be transferred to the Nanjing Military Department for retirement.

Under the Counselor of the Ministry of Finance, there is a Minister of Grain Supervision. The position is concurrently held by the Left Minister of the Ministry of Revenue in Nanjing. The current name is Huang Maoguan.

This Huang Shilang was different from the other officials who stayed in the six ministries. While the others were enjoying their retirement, he was the only one who worked diligently and wholeheartedly.

There is a saying in the officialdom of the Chenghua Dynasty: Among the sixteen ministries in the two capitals, there is only one Wang Shu.

There is a saying in the officialdom of Jiangnan during this dynasty: The Nanjing Garrison has only the help of Mao officials.

The garrison commander, the eunuch in charge of the garrison, the assistant garrison commander, the assistant minister of machinery, and the minister in charge of grain constituted the highest military and political power system in Nanjing City.

As for the governor of Yingtian, he belonged to the local power system. The full title was "General Manager of Grain Storage, Superintendent of Military Affairs, and Governor of Yingtian Prefecture".

It has jurisdiction over twelve places: Yingtian, Chengtian, Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Taiping, Chizhou, Huizhou, Ningguo, Anqing and Guangde.

Any of these twelve places is extremely rich. The grain supply in Jiangnan is in the hands of the Yingtian governor.

Since the Xuande reign, there has been a tacit understanding among officials that the city of Nanjing is under the control of the garrison commander, and the city is under the control of the governor.

When the flood season comes, the Yingtian governor will move his office to Suzhou.

The current governor was Zhao Zhenji, a famous official in the Jiajing period who "did not touch anything", and a student of Xu Jie.

Lin Shisan had a heavy responsibility on his shoulders and was busy all the way, always thinking about the people and things in Nanjing City.

Sun Yue, who was standing aside, was carefully looking at another map, "Nanjing Qinhuai River Tanhua Map".

This map provides detailed markings of the distribution of brothels, the service characteristics of popular prostitutes, and even the prices of the various prostitutes.

One day later, in Nanjing city, Hongwu Street.

After all, it is the old capital of the founding of the country, and the names of its streets and alleys are much more elegant than those in the capital.

On the south side of Hongwu Street there is a magnificent mansion with four big characters "Wei Guogong Mansion" inscribed on it.

This was the Prince of Wu's residence. After the founding of the country and the construction of a new palace, it was given to Xu Da as a duke's residence.

Only the old residence of Longqian dared to use the reign title of Taizu as the street name.

Lin Shisan was wearing a Feiyu suit and an embroidered spring sword on his waist, standing in front of the gate of Duke Wei's mansion.

More than thirty comrades and several hundred family members had just arrived in Nanjing and were temporarily accommodated in the post station.

Before coming here, Lu Bing had ordered the Nanjing Jinyiwei to allocate housing for them. How could it be possible for hundreds of people to live in the post station all the time?

So as soon as he arrived in Nanjing City, Lin Shisan came to ask to see his immediate superior, the Duke of Caoba Xu Pengju.

Lin Shisan could enter the residences of many ministers of the capital directly. Those ministers of the capital all gave Lin Chuanfeng face.

Unexpectedly, he suffered a setback at the Duke of Wei's mansion as soon as he arrived in Nanjing.

The doorman of the Duke's Mansion came forward and asked Lin Shisan, "Which official are you from?"

Lin Shisan replied: "I am the new captain of the Nanjing Jinyiwei, Lin Shisan, and I come to ask to see the Duke of Wei."

The concierge said coldly, "I'll go pass it on. Just wait."

When in the capital, which mansion's doorman dared to speak to Lin Shisan like this?
When you are under someone's roof, you have to bow your head. Lin Shisan could only bow and say, "Thank you, thank you."

Xufu Racecourse.

Xu Pengju was looking at a Dayuan horse named "Qing Qilin" that he bought from a merchant from the Western Regions with a frown on his face.

The horse is a good one, the only flaw is that it kicks.

Six of the ten famous horse trainers in Nanjing were hired before. All of them were beaten black and blue by Qing Qilin.

One of them even broke his thigh, and the orthopedic doctor said that person would walk with a limp for the rest of his life.

Look, five or six servants are carrying a horse trainer in his thirties - the seventh person hired has fallen again.

Xu Pengju didn't like insects or birds, and he wasn't even greedy for money or sex. He just liked good horses and fishing.

This horse cost him five thousand taels of silver. If the horse kept kicking, it would be like the silver wasted.

What’s even more regrettable is that this horse has the bones, body and tendons of a top-quality horse.

Xu Pengju would not accept the fact that the horse would become useless because of its kicking problem.

At this time, a butler came with a message: "My Lord, the new Nanjing Jinyiwei Captain Lin Shisan wants to see you."

Xu Pengju was in a very bad mood. He waved his sleeves and said, "I don't want to see those people who were demoted from the capital. Get them out of here."

As a direct descendant of the eldest son of King Zhongshan, Xu Pengju, a fool, has a sense of pride in his bones.

He is now the most honorable person and the highest military and political official in Nanjing. Not to mention a small Lin Shisan, even if Yan Song and Xu Jie came, he would still ignore them.

He even looked down upon his cousin in the capital, Duke Dingguo Xu Yande: a descendant of a traitor to the Xu family, a traitor who betrayed his master for fame and fortune. What kind of insignificant thing is he?

The butler passed the message to the steward, the steward passed the message to the second gate, the second gate passed the message to the third gate, the third gate passed the message to the fourth gate, and finally the message reached the gatekeeper at the main gate.

The doorman walked up to Lin Shisan and said, "Hey, you! Our Duke has something to do and won't see any guests today. Go back!"

Lin Shisan asked hurriedly: "Did the Duke say when he would see me?" The doorman rolled his eyes: "The Duke has been in a bad mood recently. Maybe in two or three months, when he is in a better mood, he will see you."

Two months in March?

Hundreds of family members cannot live in the inn forever.

Lin Shisan had no choice but to take out a silver note of 100 taels from his sleeve and stuff it into the sleeve of the doorman: "Brother, please be flexible. I have something urgent to discuss with the Duke."

The doorman took out a banknote from his sleeve without any concealment and looked at the denomination.

There is no such thing as wasting money.

When the concierge saw the words "one hundred taels", he smiled and said, "Hey, you are from the capital, right? People from the capital are generous and reasonable."

"What's Lin's official position?"

Lin Shisan replied: "Thousand households."

The doorman nodded and said, "Oh, Captain Lin. You came at an unfortunate time. Our Duke has run into trouble. He is very upset today."

"If he's in a bad mood, let alone a mere thousand households like you, even if a prince comes, he will be turned away. Only the current emperor and Prince Yu can open the door of our Duke's Mansion."

Lin Shisan asked: "What troubles have you encountered, Lord?"

The concierge smiled at Lin Shisan and said, "There is a price for doing business. There is a price for asking about something."

"As for the one hundred taels just now, I can only tell you that the Duke is in a bad mood."

He is really a seventh-rank official in front of the prime minister. Once the lower-class people have a little power, they will definitely become a dog and use that tiny power to the extreme.

Lin Shisan had no choice but to give the doorman another silver note for one hundred taels.

The doorman took the banknote and looked at it. "Well, this is what happened. Our Duke loves horses. He recently spent a lot of money to buy a horse from Dayuan in the Western Regions, named Qing Qilin."

Lin Shisan was surprised: "The four most common colors of Dayuan horses are pale gold, red, silver and pure black. It's been hard to find a blue Dayuan horse for decades!"

The Imperial Horse Administration's stables were also located in the West Garden. Lin Shisan often learned skills from the stable manager, "Huoma Dian".

After all, horses are also a kind of pet.

The doorman nodded. "It's hard to find. But the horse has a problem of kicking. In addition to the horse trainer we hired today, it has injured seven people in a row."

Lin Shisan slapped his head and said, "Hey. That's it! I can tame the Blue Qilin and make it stop kicking!"

After saying that, Lin Shisan took out another hundred taels of silver from his sleeve and stuffed it into the doorman's pocket: "Please inform Duke Wei that I am here to train horses for him!"

The concierge took the banknote and grinned to his ears: "Huh? I didn't know you have the ability to train horses. Wait, I'll pass it on."

On the racecourse.

The butler ran to Xu Pengju out of breath and said, "Duke. That captain named Lin Shisan said that he can tame the Blue Qilin."

Xu Pengju laughed three times: "Hahaha, bragging!"

"Seven of the ten great horse trainers in Nanjing were killed on the back of Qing Qilin. How can a demoted official from the capital be more capable than the ten great horse trainers?"

The gatekeeper did not keep the three hundred taels of silver just now for himself. The second, third, fourth gatekeepers, the steward and the housekeeper all had a share.

It was pretty much the same as when Lin Shisan was seeking favor and was rewarded 200 taels of silver, but only received 10 taels.

The butler was quite righteous. He had received benefits from Lin Shisan, so naturally he had to say something good on his behalf: "My Lord, I heard that this man was originally the one who managed pet affairs in the West Garden."

Xu Pengju's eyes lit up. "The one who is in charge of pet affairs in Xiyuan? Never mind. Let's give it a try! Let him come to the racecourse."

The Duke of Wei's Mansion was the former Prince of Wu's Mansion, and is almost one-third the size of the Imperial Palace.

A moment later, Lin Shisan followed the butler and quickly came to the racecourse.

Lin Shisan bowed his head and said, "I am Lin Shisan, your honor to meet you, Lord Duke!"

Xu Pengju waved his hand and said, "No need for the empty formalities! Get out of here. Do you have a way to tame the Blue Qilin?"

Lin Shisan stood up and said, "Duke, can I take a look at Qing Qilin first?"

Xu Pengju nodded.

Lin Shisan entered the stable and carefully circled Qing Qilin twice, then returned to Xu Pengju and said, "My Lord, are those horse trainers using the 'single-side rein control method'?"

"Tug the reins to one side with all your strength, forcing the horse to turn its head and make it go in a small circle, so as to tame it?"

Xu Pengju sneered: "Humph. Do you need to tell me that? You want to use this method too? It's useless!"

"Those demoted from the capital are all good-for-nothings. Get out!"

Lin Shisan said, "Please wait, Duke. I am using another clever method."

Xu Pengju asked: "What method?"

Lin Shisan asked back, "Does the Duke have any salted dried apricots for the horse prize?"

Xu Pengju took off a brocade bag from his body and threw it to Lin Shisan. The bag was full of salted dried apricots, which were used as horse-training snacks.

Lin Shisan squatted beside the stable, staring at Qing Qilin.

All good horses have tempers. Qing Qilin didn't even bother to look up at Lin Shisan.

Lin Shisan suddenly drew out his Embroidered Spring Knife.

Xu Pengju shouted anxiously: "You want to kill it? I will kill your whole family! No matter how much you act in the capital, Nanjing is my territory!"

Lin Shisan didn't say anything, but used his Xiuchun sword to knock on the stable pillars, "clang clang clang".

The knocking sound attracted Qing Qilin's attention. It raised its head.

Lin Shisan took out a handful of salted dried apricots from his brocade bag and threw them into the trough.

The Qing Qilin horse's nose twitched and it lowered its head to sniff the dried apricots.

It happened in a flash. Lin Shisan took advantage of Qing Qilin's unpreparedness, threw down his embroidered spring knife and jumped onto the saddle. He clamped his legs around the horse's belly like a clamp and held the horse's mane with his right hand.

He raised the scabbard of the Embroidered Spring Sword and hit the horse's buttocks hard.

The Green Qilin trembled, raised its hooves in anger, and ran out of the stable.

Lin Shisan seemed to be glued to the horse's back, hitting the scabbard like raindrops. But he was no longer hitting the horse's buttocks, but its neck.

The force was sometimes light and sometimes heavy, which coincided with the beating of the horse's pulse.

Oddly enough, when horse trainers used the old method of whipping the horse's buttocks, Qing Qilin would definitely kick up his heels.

Lin Shisan hit the horse's neck, but Qing Qilin didn't even kick.

After running for about an incense stick of time, Lin Shisan pulled the reins and dismounted. He poked the scabbard lightly two inches behind the horse's ear.

The Qing Qilin stood still.

"Ah, huh!" Lin Shisan gathered his saliva and spat it into his palm. He stroked the horse's spine slowly and suddenly exerted force.

The Qing Qilin's muscles were knotted and made a "clicking" sound.

Lin Shisan stroked the horse from the back to the joint of the hind hoof. He clenched his fist and suddenly pushed it towards the joint.
Xu Pengju thought to himself: It's over! This idiot pointed his head at Qing Qilin's hind legs. Qing Qilin kicked and was sure to smash his head to pieces.

The Green Qilin let out a long hiss, but did not raise its hind legs to kick!
Xu Pengju was very surprised: "No kick?"

Lin Shisan climbed over again and rode Jade Unicorn around the huge racecourse.

Then he dismounted and handed the reins to Xu Pengju: "Duke, I have tamed the Blue Kirin. Please try to ride it!"

Xu Pengju was dumbfounded. "It took seven horse trainers half a month to figure out a job like this, and you figured it out in just a short while?"

Lin Shisan smiled and said, "Your Excellency, you don't know. All the fine horses in the world kick and kick because of their bad tempers. Horse trainers have to use brute force to suppress their tempers."

"Only the Dayuan horse from the Western Regions kicked its back because its tendons were tangled, and it had to be untangled by following the blood flow."

Xu Pengju was skeptical: "Is there such a thing? Come on, you, try riding it a few times."

Xu Pengju was afraid that Lin Shisan would brag. If he didn't kick just now, someone else would kick immediately. He didn't want to be broken arms and legs because of this.

A servant got on the Qing Qilin and ran four laps along the racecourse.

Qing Qilin is indeed a rare and fine horse. After running four laps, he is still as fast as lightning.

Xu Pengju was relieved: "Get off the horse, I'll give it a try."

He got on the Qing Qilin and ran two more laps. Then he dismounted and threw the reins to the butler. He strode up to Lin Shisan and said, "Ha, you are really capable."

"What's your name?"

Lin Shisan bowed and said, "I am the captain of the Nanjing Jinyiwei, Lin Shisan."

(End of this chapter)