Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

"After discussing for so long, I think everyone must be tired. Lord Sun and Lord Lu will stay, and the rest of you can go back to your camps."

Zhang Shikang took a sip of tea and said to the people present.

Upon hearing this, Yang Guozhu and others did not ask any more questions and immediately got up and left the central military tent.

As a military general, the most basic quality is not to say what you shouldn't say and not to ask what you shouldn't ask.

As long as the commander-in-chief can pay the soldiers under him, he can lead his subordinates to help the court win battles, and they themselves can exchange their military exploits for rewards. This is called Qin Shihuang touching the electric wire, and he will win.

As for where the Grand Marshal got the silver from, they didn't care.

"Your Majesty, we have to return to the capital in the afternoon. We must be very tired on the way. Why don't you go and rest for a while?"

Seeing that Brother Chongzhen was sitting still, Zhang Shikang had no choice but to persuade him.

Emperor Chongzhen frowned immediately. He didn't know what Zhang Shikang was up to and he even wanted to hide it from him.

This was once his most taboo thing, but he was angry not because he did not trust Zhang Shikang.

On the contrary, he felt that this guy did not trust him and was hiding the increase in revenue for the court from him, so he immediately said:

"I'm not tired, just tell me if you have something to say." There was a hint of dissatisfaction in his words.

Zhang Shikang felt a bit overwhelmed, so he had to let Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangsheng go out first. When there were only two people left in the big tent, he said:

"Brother, I didn't do anything rash in appointing Sun Chuanting as the governor.

Hong Chengchou did not make any mistakes, so we cannot remove him from his post as governor. If we cannot remove Hong Chengchou from his post, then we can only promote Sun Chuanting.

This is to ensure that Sun Chuanting will not be hindered when he is stationed in Hanzhong. This is also the reason why I don’t like the military supervisor.

Brother, you don't know the difficulties faced by the military garrisons in various places. The imperial court neither pays them nor gives them salaries, and there are military supervisors or other people who make things difficult for them. Even if they are defeated and killed in battle, their deaths are miserable and cowardly.

I still hold the same idea as before: trust people when you employ them, and don't employ people you don't trust. I will promote Sun Chuanting to the position of governor-general and remove him from his position as military supervisor.

Without any constraints and restrictions, it all depends on his performance. If he fails to complete the defensive task, it means he is incompetent. At that time, he will be killed or cut into pieces. The big brother has the final say.

In the past decade or so, there have been countless mutinies caused by lack of money to pay salaries. People like Kong Youde rebelled because of this.

Therefore, before the issue of military pay is resolved, I must not urge the military garrisons to rush to suppress the bandits.

"Defending Hanzhong against bandits is our only option now. Sichuan is already in chaos, and the imperial court is so poor, we must ensure that other provinces can develop steadily without being affected."

Zhang Shikang briefly explained the appointment just now.

Although Brother Chongzhen had given him great military and political power, he still felt it necessary to explain the appointment of the governor, a general second only to him as the Grand Marshal.

But Emperor Chongzhen obviously didn't care about this. He glanced at Zhang Shikang and said unhappily:

"I want to know where you are going to get the military pay, and why are you hiding it from me?"

Emperor Chongzhen was indeed very unhappy. In his opinion, if he trusted someone wholeheartedly, he naturally hoped to gain equal trust from that person.

For this reason, he had even put down his emperor's airs a long time ago, but this kid still wanted to hide some things from him, which made him feel uncomfortable.

Hearing this, Zhang Shikang looked embarrassed, and after thinking for a while, he said:

"I also have a secret that I cannot explain. I would like to ask you, brother, don't you want to be a sage king through the ages?"

Emperor Chongzhen was ignorant of the truth, but an emperor who did not want to be a sage was not a good emperor. But what does this have to do with raising military funds?

Seeing that Brother Chongzhen did not refute, Zhang Shikang continued:

“If there were no bandits, we could slowly negotiate with the court officials, but in the current situation, there is almost no way to break the deadlock without some extraordinary measures.

Brother, although those people deserved to die, what I am about to do next is not very glorious after all.

If you want to be a holy ruler, I will help you, so it is better for you not to know about this matter."

Zhang Shikang did not care about his reputation, and because of this he might be criticized by court officials and even gentry all over the world, or even be discredited in history books.

But he knew very well that someone had to carry the burden forward.

After Zhang Shikang finished speaking, Emperor Chongzhen finally understood that it was not that this guy did not trust him, but that he wanted to help him and bear the infamy for him.

For a moment, Emperor Chongzhen felt extremely ashamed. He pondered for a moment, glanced at Zhang Shikang and said:

"Shikang, you told me yesterday that if the people live and work in peace and the Ming Dynasty has millions of soldiers, no one will dare to say that I am not powerful.

I have thought about it for a long time and agree with it deeply.

You said before that in times of chaos, we should take drastic measures to show our compassion.

Robbing the rich to help the poor, I think this is your thunderous method.

But I don’t agree.”

Emperor Chongzhen spoke slowly and firmly, which stunned Zhang Shikang. He thought to himself, if you don't agree, then all my work has been in vain.

Just as he was about to refute, Emperor Chongzhen said:

"How can I let you bear the blame alone? I am the emperor of Ming Dynasty, and I will bear the blame!

As long as it is beneficial to the country and the people of the world no longer suffer from war, what does it matter if I become a sinner of the Zhu family? "

His tone was both tragic and passionate, as if he had made up his mind.

Zhang Shikang thought to himself, brother, why are you breathing so hard? He thought that this brother didn’t agree with him making money.

"Hey, brother, don't be so tragic. The pen may be in their hands, but how can they defeat the people of the world?

Also, you are wrong. Even if you can make the people live a good life, even if you have done everything you can, there will still be countries that do not submit to you and say that you are a tyrant.

This is human nature, and it is difficult to please everyone. "

Zhang Shikang joked.

Seeing Emperor Chongzhen frowning, Zhang Shikang said:

"But it doesn't matter, just kill them."

Emperor Chongzhen smiled. The misunderstanding was resolved and he felt relieved.

"Actually, it doesn't hurt to tell you. Didn't I seize a lot of supplies before?

There were also many traveling merchants accompanying them, who were responsible for selling stolen goods for the Jiannu.

The day before yesterday, Sun Weifan told me that some people could not stand the torture and not only revealed their stolen goods sales routes, but also revealed their masterminds.

Moreover, these people have been operating like this for many years. According to that person, many of their boss' businesses are outside the Great Wall.

What's even more hateful is that our Ming Dynasty is so short of food, but these people actually transported food outside the Great Wall for profit. As for who the buyers are, you should know.

Merchants have no country. For the sake of profit, these people are willing to sell out even their country.

With high risk and high return, their assets must be very rich now, so I decided to kill the goose that lays the eggs."

In fact, he has been considering the feasibility these two days, as the relationship network of these merchants is complicated.

He was worried that these people were colluding with a certain border town, and if the matter was exposed, it would cause a mutiny.

But now the imperial court really cannot come up with the money to pay the salaries, so he has to do it even if there are risks. Sitting and waiting for death has never been his style.

"Who are they?" Emperor Chongzhen asked coldly.

Zhang Shikang did not hide it and said casually:

“Shanxi merchants.”

……