The Ming Dynasty: Starting with the border troops, it was overthrown and the Qing Dynasty was destro

Chapter 97: Light a lamp to vote

Zhao Jinzhong was so frightened by being held in Jiang Han's hand that he almost fainted.

Judging from Jiang Han's words, if he were to shake his head and refuse today, all of them would be dragged out and beheaded.

After much deliberation, he realized his life was more important, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and agree.

"We...we'll obey the general's orders!"

But as the saying goes, once the thought of surrendering to the enemy arises, one suddenly feels the vastness of the world.

After agreeing to Jiang Han's request, Zhao Jinzhong's shrewdness kicked in again.

He had, after all, worked in the palace, and his mind worked incredibly fast.

Zhao Jinzhong realized that if he wanted to survive and keep the lie going, it wouldn't be enough for just him to agree!

Everyone in the know must be implicated!

His eyes darted around, and he quickly moved closer to Jiang Han:

"General, to make this matter flawless, it's not enough to just persuade one of us!"

Jiang Han raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, looking at him with great interest:
"Oh?"

"What insightful opinion does Eunuch Zhao have?"

Zhao Jinzhong smiled obsequiously, but a hint of ruthlessness lurked in his eyes:

"General, you may not know this, but on this trip, in addition to a few eunuchs and clerks who serve me personally, I also brought along several Jinyiwei guards from the Fenzhou Thousand Household Garrison to accompany me."

"According to the rules, there should have been four or five officials from the Ministry of Rites coming to deliver the imperial edict, but they dared not come."

"So the Ministry of Rites sent a minor official to accompany me and be in charge of the ceremony when the imperial edict was announced."

"The general needs to deal with these people carefully to prevent the news from leaking out."

He lowered his voice and offered a solution.
"Killing them all is impossible."

"Those few Imperial Guards and their accompanying clerks and eunuchs are all easy to talk to; they're all greedy for money."

"As long as the general is willing to spend some money, he can drag them down with him."

"but."

Zhao Jinzhong changed the subject, his face showing reluctance.

"Only that official in charge of rites is completely unyielding!"

"This man's surname is Zhang, and he's a stubborn old man! He's read a few books of Confucian classics, but his head is full of pedantic ideas about loyalty to the emperor, serving the country, and sacrificing oneself for righteousness!"

Jiang Han frowned:
"So, according to your opinion?"

A ruthless glint flashed in Zhao Jinzhong's eyes as he slit his throat.
"Let's go all the way and kill him!"

"When the time comes, burn the body and say that he suffered from acclimatization problems, contracted the plague, and died suddenly on the way!"

In order to survive, Zhao Jinzhong had no way out and no longer cared about any bottom line.

He even began to proactively offer advice and suggestions to Jiang Han, and to help him fill in any gaps in his knowledge.

After all, this concerns his life and fortune, and cannot be taken lightly!
Upon hearing this, Jiang Han gasped in shock:
"You eunuchs are ruthless, aren't you? No problem, we'll do it your way!"

The two huddled together and discussed the details carefully for a long time before finalizing the arrangements.

Jiang Han first killed that official in charge of ceremonies, as a warning to others.

Then, he gave Zhao Jinzhong three thousand taels of silver, and Zhao Jinzhong was to go and appease the remaining people.

Make sure they keep quiet and stick to the same story.

After finalizing the details, Zhao Jinzhong leisurely returned to his tent.

Anyway, he wouldn't be leaving anytime soon, and he needed to see Jiang Han handle everything himself before he could go back and report.

Jiang Han had just seen Zhao Jinzhong off and was about to kill the official in charge of ceremonies when a guard rushed in from outside the tent to report:
"Lord Jiang! A man claiming to be a lamplighter has arrived outside the camp. He says he's an old acquaintance of yours and wishes to see you!"

"Light the lamp? Zhao Sheng?!"

Jiang Han was taken aback when he heard this, but then he realized what was going on.

Isn't this Zhang Cunmeng's strategist? How did he find his way here?

Jiang Han was curious and quickly gave instructions to the guards:

"Quick! Let him in!"

Before long, a thin and exhausted scholar was brought into the main tent.

Jiang Han recognized him at a glance; it was indeed Zhao Sheng.

As soon as Zhao Sheng entered the main tent, he saw that Jiang Han was indeed sitting at the head of the table, and he knelt down with a thud:
"General, we've finally found you!"

Seeing this, Jiang Han quickly got up and helped Zhao Sheng up.

"It really is you, Zhao Sheng. What brings you here?"

With a sigh, Zhao Sheng slowly recounted his itinerary over the past few months.

It turned out that after Zhao Sheng and Li Zicheng broke through the encirclement that day, he originally intended to go directly to Yan'an Prefecture to seek refuge with Jiang Han.

But when he arrived near Yan'an Prefecture, Jiang Han had already retreated to Ganquan County.

With government troops surrounding Yan'an Prefecture, Zhao Sheng dared not continue south.

Helpless, he could only return to his hometown of Qingjian, find a village to hide in, and wait for an opportunity.

Not long ago, he heard the news that Jiang Han and others had broken through Yanshui Pass, so he got up and chased them all the way from Shaanxi to Shanxi to join Jiang Han.

Zhao Sheng looked indignant:
"I hate that Zhang Cunmeng didn't listen to advice and insisted on his own way, which led to his army's complete defeat!"
"To save his life, he killed the Twin-Winged Tiger, tied up the Purple-Gold Dragon, and surrendered to the government troops with a few guards." "I and several other brothers feigned surrender and broke through the encirclement, which is how we escaped the government troops' encirclement."

Zhao Sheng sighed.

"Most of the brothers followed the rebel general and Scorpion Block and went to join Wang Jiayin."

"Now I am all alone and have nowhere to go. I hope that the general will take me in, considering our past friendship."

Jiang Han looked helpless after hearing this.

Back in Yan'an Prefecture, I kindly reminded Zhang Mengcun not to hold out to the death and not to surrender easily, but he didn't listen to a word I said.

He's really courting death. Just wait, Hong the Barber will teach him a lesson.

Jiang Han helped Zhao Sheng sit down and continued to ask:
"Zhao Sheng, let's not talk about the past."

"I, Jiang Han, am more than happy to have you come to me for help."

"I just don't know, have you come to join me this time to continue leading troops under my command, or do you have other plans?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Sheng shook his head with a wry smile, a hint of shame on his face.
"Oh, General, please don't make fun of me!"

"I, Zhao Sheng, know my own limitations very well."

"When it comes to leading troops into battle, I can't even come close to the general and the fierce generals under his command! I'm really not cut out for it."

He paused, gathering his thoughts.

"To be honest, General, I only studied for a few days and was lucky enough to pass the county-level exam as a scholar."

"I originally wanted to continue participating in the provincial examination, but I never expected to be forced to become an outlaw by those corrupt officials. I followed that mud-free fellow and became his strategist."

He looked at Jiang Han, a hint of expectation in his eyes.
"If the general would think highly of me, a mere scholar, I could help him with some miscellaneous military affairs."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Han nodded in agreement, as his army was also in dire need of a civilian staff member!
Currently, Li Liyuan is the only person in the military who can write and calculate, but there are many confidential and important matters that Li Liyuan is not suitable to handle at the moment, or rather, Jiang Han is not comfortable entrusting them to him.

This also meant that Jiang Han had to personally handle many matters in the military, which was quite exhausting.

Although Zhao Sheng was not very good at leading troops, he was a scholar after all, so he had some knowledge and his speech was relatively clear.

If it were used to handle daily military affairs, manage money and provisions, or even participate in some military planning, it would be a suitable candidate!
This would not only relieve Li Liyuan's burden, but also free Jiang Han from the tedious daily affairs.

Thinking of this, Jiang Han made a decisive decision and nodded in agreement:

"Very well! Since Mr. Zhao has this intention, I would naturally welcome it with the utmost delight!"

"But the army is still in its infancy and conditions are rudimentary. I'm afraid you'll have to make do with this job as a clerk for now."

"He was mainly responsible for military finances and provisions, as well as post-war arrangements. Of course, he could also participate in military discussions and offer advice to the general."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Sheng was overjoyed and immediately stood up to bow again.

Jiang Han quickly reached out to stop him, and laughed.
"Speaking of which, you've come at just the right time!"

"There is a tricky matter at hand that I need your help, Secretary Zhao."

"General, please speak!" Zhao Sheng immediately said solemnly.

Jiang Han then explained to Zhao Sheng in detail the court's previous plan to pacify Zhao Sheng, and also revealed his plan to substitute one person for another and change the guise of another.

After listening, Zhao Sheng couldn't help but praise him repeatedly:

"Wonderful!"

"If this succeeds, the court probably won't pay any attention to us for at least a year or two."

But Jiang Han was not so optimistic:
"It won't take a year or two. I'll be grateful if I can recover for two or three months."

"Besides, we can't just shut ourselves off and live our own little lives. You should understand the principle of 'if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold'."

"We need to seize the opportunity to help Wang Jiayin and others in Hequ. We can't just stand by and watch them be wiped out by the imperial court."

"Otherwise, once the court deals with Wang Jiayin, we will be left with no one to rely on."

Zhao Sheng nodded; he understood this principle and naturally had no objections.

Jiang Han then continued recounting the matter of pacification:
"I have already sent Li Laowai with two brothers from the division to wipe out Shilou Mountain. I expect that it will not take more than a few days to capture the bandit leader, Shangshanhu."

"But the head of Shangshanhu alone is not enough."

"We still need to deal with the government troops in Guangwuzhuang and Kulongguan, as well as bribe a group of officials in Shilou County."

"There are so many things to do, I'm overwhelmed. I wonder what Secretary Zhao's opinion is?"

Zhao Sheng was a smart man, and he immediately understood Jiang Han's implied meaning and realized that it was time for him to take action.

The key to this matter lies in dealing with those government troops, garrison commanders, and local officials. It requires a combination of kindness and severity, and a careful sense of proportion.

As the commander-in-chief, Jiang Han himself could not possibly go to Guangwu Village, Kulong Pass and other places to negotiate.

Although his subordinate captains were all excellent at leading troops in battle, they were probably not so good at this kind of job that required eloquence, cunning, and negotiation skills.

Perfect timing, since I'm new here, I should at least offer my pledge of allegiance.

Thinking this through, Zhao Sheng no longer hesitated, immediately knelt on one knee, and solemnly cupped his hands towards Jiang Han, saying:

"General! I am a new recruit, and I am deeply grateful for your trust in me and the appointment of me as your secretary."

"But without any achievements, it will be difficult to convince the public!"

"Please entrust this matter to me, General. All I need are a few boxes of silver and a few dozen elite soldiers to accompany and protect me!"

"If it doesn't work, I, Zhao Sheng, will offer my head in return!"

(End of this chapter)