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

Although You Shiwei and others did not dare to interrupt Zhang Shikang's muttering.

But in fact, they all had worries in their hearts, because they all knew very well that the young marshal was not lying.

Throughout the dynasties, the emperor was almost always forced to hand over a country's military power to other people, and there has never been an emperor who took the initiative to do so.

But whether voluntarily or forced, those powerful officials who once had complete control over the military power in history rarely had a good ending.

Although Zhang Shikang did not take it seriously, You Shiwei and others could not help but feel sad for the death of the rabbit and the bows put away when all the birds were gone.

This is generally the fate of military commanders.

However, Zhang Shikang was just muttering casually, he knew that Brother Chongzhen had never thought about it that way at all.

“Don’t think too much. You may have to wait a few days for your arrangements.

But don't have too much hope. Opportunities will be given to you, but whether you can seize them depends on your ability.

It's OK, let's do it this way. I'll let you know when everyone is here in a couple of days."

After saying that, Zhang Shikang stood up, bowed slightly to them, and left the tavern.

After Zhang Shikang left, everyone sat down again with excitement on their faces. Even the store owner couldn't help but ask:

"Generals, who was that man just now?"

The owner of this shop had been familiar with You Shiwei and others for a long time. When Zhang Shikang's servant went to the kitchen of the tavern, he showed him a Jinyiwei sign.

But the shop owner was knowledgeable after all, and knew that just based on the sign, it was not necessary for the generals present to perform such a grand ceremony.

"What's your background? Just do your business well and don't ask questions that you shouldn't ask." Yang Ming reminded him and said:

"Bring two more jars of wine. We have met a distinguished person today. We won't leave until we are drunk!"

"No, Old Yang, I'm not saying anything bad about you, but the reason those civil officials in the court impeached you was because you were drunk. Now that you have another chance, you'd better restrain yourself." Wang Yongzuo shook his head.

"Brother Wang, what you said makes sense. The Marshal just said that whether we can be reinstated depends on our ability.

I thought, the Marshal will test me when the time comes, no, I won’t drink this wine, I have to go back and read the military books! "You Shiwei said as he stood up and left.

"I haven't moved for several years. I have to go back and practice. You guys drink." Zhang Fa also ran away.

Yang Ming and Hou Shiwei looked at each other and said immediately:

"From today on, quit drinking!"

……

In the next few days, Zhang Shikang was happy to have some free time. He just strolled around every day.

In the morning, I went to the Great Wall to check out the military situation there. In the afternoon, I wandered around the city, went to teahouses, taverns, and even brothels to listen to music. Each place has its own dialect, so the music you listen to is naturally very different.

At night, he would occasionally go to places where crowds gathered to watch cockfighting, dog fighting and other performances.

But without brothers like Sun Dasheng, he felt that most of the fun was missing, which made him sigh, thinking that it was not like the travels of his youth.

Yulin is adjacent to Shanxi. Zhang Shikang not only offended the gentry all over the world, but the remnants of the Shanxi merchants also hated him to the core.

In just these few days of free time, he encountered danger twice again. One time was when he was watching a cockfight and was stabbed in the kidney.

Fortunately, he was wearing a layer of specially made chain mail underneath his thick sable fur coat, which was a gift that Sun Chuanting had given to Zhang Shikang last year.

Lu Xiangsheng liked horses and understood horses, while Sun Chuanting liked armor and understood armor.

Lu Xiangsheng gave names to all of his dozen or so war horses and personally participated in feeding and cleaning them.

Sun Chuanting was also outrageous. The two governors did not have much free time, but whenever they had free time, Sun Chuanting would always personally participate in the design and making of armor.

The special chain mail that Zhang Shikang was wearing was tailor-made for him by Sun Chuanting.

In fact, chain mail was not widely used in the Ming army camp at this time. This was mainly because this type of armor was not only difficult to make, but also had inferior defensive power to plate armor.

Although chain mail has its disadvantages, its advantages are also obvious. Although this type of armor cannot resist blunt attacks, it has a good defensive effect against bows and arrows and swords.

Moreover, this kind of armor is very light, unlike other armors that weigh dozens of kilograms.

Sun Chuanting took into consideration that most of the assassinations Zhang Shikang encountered were carried out with swords, daggers and the like. After all, assassins would not use blunt weapons that were too heavy or too large. So he designed it himself and made it with the best steel wire he could find at the moment.

Zhang Shikang was stabbed in the kidney, but the dagger got stuck in his chain mail, saving his life.

The second assassination attempt was even more outrageous. The remnants of the Shanxi merchants actually used the Yangzhou skinny horses to test him. He had encountered this kind of trick in Yangzhou before, so he was particularly careful to avoid disaster.

However, when this matter reached the ears of Ma Chengzhao and others, the people of the Ma family were still frightened.

Given Zhang Shikang's current position in the court and his importance in the eyes of His Majesty, no one can afford the risk of Zhang Shikang encountering an unexpected event in their residence.

Ma Chengzhao ordered the entire city of Yulin to be under martial law and sent 4,000 soldiers to search for the assassin house by house.

What’s even more outrageous is that veterans such as You Shiwei personally participated in the search with knives in hand.

What's even more outrageous is that one of the assassins was actually captured by You Shiwei and others personally, and You Shiwei was as happy as a 200-pound fat man.

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye it was March 21st. The generals and deputy generals from military towns such as Ningxia, Guyuan, and Gansu finally arrived in Yulin.

When these troops came, most of them brought dozens or even hundreds of personal guards with them. The small city of Yulin had never been so lively before.

But none of these generals and deputy generals looked happy.

They all knew about Guan Ningjin's matter, and guessed why the Grand Marshal had summoned them to Yulin this time.

Some generals who had information in several military towns in Shaanxi had even learned that the governors of the three borders of Shaanxi had been transferring tens of thousands of Qin soldiers to the north.

What does this mean? The imperial court was already prepared for unrest.

All the military generals understood that their future was uncertain when they went to Yulin this time.

If the court wanted to punish them, it would be too easy. All the generals of the military towns in the north had committed crimes.

Eating vacant quotas and taking up labor service are child's play. Keeping servants and bullying soldiers are even more common. Even worse are those who kill innocent people to claim credit and resell weapons and armor.

It would be nonsense to say that the court knew nothing about these matters, big and small, but no one knew exactly how much it knew.

After all, no one understood how many spies the Imperial Household Department had deployed in the Ming Dynasty.

But everyone knows that the imperial court is no longer afraid to act rashly, and the reputation of the 100,000 guards has been established.

Closer still, there were Sun Chuanting's 50,000 Qin troops and Lu Xiangsheng's 40,000 Tianxiong troops. Both of them were loyal supporters of the Grand Marshal of the Army.

From any point of view, the court could no longer tolerate their behavior in previous years.

The fear comes from the unknown. Everyone has a worried look on their face because they don't know how the Grand Marshal will deal with them.

After they arrived in Yulin, they all stayed in their own inns, not seeing anyone and not going anywhere, for fear that the factory guards in the city would catch new evidence against them.

Finally, on March 22, Zhang Shikang summoned all the generals to discuss matters in Ma Chengzhao's general's mansion.

……