The reason why Yan Song was sure that the two people in the memorial were bound to die was because he was the mastermind behind the two men's crimes.

These two people are Zhang Jing, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, and Li Tianchong, the governor of Zhejiang.

The reason why these two powerful feudal officials were killed was just because a boring person went on a boring business trip.

In November of the 32nd year of Jiajing (1553), Zhang Jing, the censor of the right capital of the Imperial Procuratorate and the right minister of the Ministry of War, and a ministerial official, was appointed governor and went to Zhejiang. He shouldered a special mission - to fight against the Japanese.

Soon after, Li Tianchong, the censor of the capital, the right minister of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, came to Zhejiang according to the order, replaced Wang Yan (Wang Shizhen's father) who was stationed there, and became the new governor of Zhejiang, Zhang Jing's subordinate.

These two brothers were both from the Procuratorate, and they worked well together. Facing the increasingly serious Japanese pirate rebellion, they worked hard and worked hard day and night.

Just as they were working hard, in the thirty-third year of Jiajing (1554), another person also came to Zhejiang. He was Zhao Wenhua, the general envoy of the General Affairs Department and the right minister of the Ministry of Industry, and the deputy ministerial official.

He is neither a governor nor a governor. The reason why he came all the way here is that in addition to sightseeing, he also has a special mission - to worship the sea.

If you are asked to worship the sea, just do it honestly and bring some local specialties back to the capital. But Zhao Shilang is an ambitious man. He has become very interested in the Japanese pirates and wants to join them.

And a handful.

Generally speaking, when the leaders of the capital come to give guidance in person, it is too late for local officials to be happy. However, Governor Zhang Jing did not buy his fault and ignored him, being very cold.

The reason is simple: Zhang Jing's official position is higher than his.

In the Ming Dynasty, the governor-general was not a local official, but a leader assigned by the central government to work in the local area. His salary and household registration were all linked to the central government. For example, Zhang Jing, who was originally the censor of the right capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, was sent down this time with the title, while Zhao Wenhua was just

I was ordered to go on a business trip and do some temporary work.

In terms of qualifications, it is even more difficult to say. Brother Zhang Jing was already the deputy minister of war seventeen years ago (the sixteenth year of Jiajing), while at that time Zhao Wenhua was just a small chief of the criminal department. Everyone is with me.

People in the capital know each other's ins and outs, and senior cadres have seen each other a lot, so their horizons are naturally much higher than those of local cadres.

I am a second-rank minister and the governor of two provinces. You are just a third-rank deputy minister. How dare you show your authority in front of me? Who do you think you are?

In the same way, Li Tianchong, the fourth-rank right-ranking imperial censor of the Central Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the governor of Zhejiang, Li Tianchong, did not want to buy into Zhao Wenhua's fault. He took care of his three meals a day and hoped that he would get out of the house soon.

However, facts have proven that Zhao Wenhua is indeed a green onion, and if you dare to bully me, I will ask my father to deal with you!

His father is Yan Song. Although his surname is Zhao and Yan Song's surname is Yan, there is no need to be surprised as the saying goes that if you have milk, you are your mother, and if you have power, you are your father.

The reason why Yan Song supported his godson Zhao Wenhua was because when he was the principal of the Imperial College, Zhao Wenhua was his student. According to his observation, although this student had no ability, he was very flattering and obedient, so he assigned Zhao Wenhua to

to the General Affairs Department.

Yan Song did not do charity work, so he appointed Zhao Wenhua as the general political envoy, which had a very deep intention.

The General Affairs Department is a deputy ministerial-level department, and the highest official, the General Affairs Envoy, is only a third-rank official. However, this department is extremely important to Yan Song because it is in charge of official documents sent to the capital from all over the country.

Due to such a bad reputation, many censor officials across the country often wrote to impeach Party Yan. Although Yan Song was in the cabinet to suppress the battle, this dear man is already over seventy years old, so it is difficult to guarantee that he will slip through the net. If the emperor is exposed, the matter will be serious. Trouble.

Brother Zhao Wenhua's main job is to stay in the office every day and delete suspicious emails immediately (destroy or suppress them) when he finds them. He is conscientious and does his job very well, and thus becomes the number one backbone of the Strict Party.

After receiving his son's letter of complaint, Father Yan made an unexpected reply. He asked someone to tell Zhao Wenhua that Zhang Jing was not easy to mess with, and it was best to be obedient until he was not completely sure.

Zhao Wenhua was at his wits' end, but this man was a rather persistent man, and he asked the central government for a pretext to observe the enemy's situation, so he insisted on not leaving. He wanted to stay here and wait for Zhang Jing's mistake.

Not long after, he discovered a strange phenomenon.

At that time, the Japanese pirates were very arrogant along the coast of Zhejiang. There were more than 20,000 people entrenched here, and they did not pay attention to the Ming army at all. Zhang Jing was not a person who took it easy. He mobilized his troops everywhere and actively deployed them for several months. But he still didn't move his troops.

Zhao Wenhua urged Zhang Jing repeatedly, but Zhang Jing remained motionless.

The reason why Governor Zhang acted like this has a lot to do with his previous experience.

In the 16th year of Jiajing (1537), Zhang Jing, the governor of the military affairs of Guangdong and Guangxi, and the minister of war, was ordered to quell the Duantengxia rebellion in Guangxi. During the long and arduous mountainous battles, he developed the habit of marching troops steadily. More importantly, in this During this war, he also discovered a very terrifying and special fighting group - wolf soldiers.

The wolf soldiers are mainly from ethnic minorities, most of them are uneducated, they are brave and fierce, and their fighting ability is very strong. They made Zhang Jing suffer a lot back then, which left a deep impression on him.

After arriving in Zhejiang, Zhang Jing discovered that the so-called ragtag Japanese pirates, who were despised by the court ministers, were actually a group of powerful enemies that they had never seen before.

While the emperor and comrades were concentrating on cultivating Taoism and the ministers were concentrating on fighting, Japan was in the extremely chaotic Warring States Period. The country was divided into thirty or forty vassal states. You can run away. Japan is so big, there is not much land, and it often erupts volcanoes and causes earthquakes. It is really not a place for individuals. Therefore, many Japanese people who are looking for a living have traveled thousands of miles to come to China for the sake of the Japanese people's prosperity.

This group of Japanese people came uninvited and burned, killed, looted, and committed all kinds of evil. Therefore, the classics say:

The Japanese are Japanese pirates, and they are Japanese pirates.

But their bad conduct cannot deny their combat effectiveness. Not to mention the martial arts and tactical level of this group of people, just saying that they risked falling into the sea to feed the fish and traveled thousands of miles to rob can fully explain their crimes. Determination and perseverance.

Compared with the Japanese pirates, most of Governor Zhang's soldiers were soldiers from economically developed areas such as Zhejiang and Shandong. They were soldiers just to earn a living. Even if they were not soldiers, they could still farm and there was no need to risk their lives.

So Zhang Jing decided to send wolf soldiers into Zhejiang to fight against the Japanese pirates.

This decision won him a temporary victory, but cost him his life forever.

Zhang Jing never expected that while he was trying his best to mobilize his troops, Zhao Wenhua had already designed a trap and was preparing to put him to death.

Governor Zhang has been in official circles for a long time and is not a good person. In the more than a year since he took office, he has installed his cronies in the local area, and he has also arranged for someone to monitor Zhao Wenhua. In short, the entire Zhejiang Province has become his territory.

However, in this environment, Zhao Wenhua still found an ally, and his name was Hu Zongxian.

Hu Zongxian, courtesy name Ruzhen, was born in Huizhou and was a Jinshi in the 17th year of Jiajing (1538).

Hu Zongxian's test scores were average, but he was lucky. He failed to be selected as a shujishi and was assigned to a local county as a county magistrate. Soon after, due to his excellent performance in the annual assessment, he was promoted to censor and inspected Xuanfu and Datong.

The reason why he is said to be lucky is that in the Ming Dynasty, being a censor was a good job. His main job was to scold people. He was not afraid of anything. He could scold whoever he wanted. If he was lucky, he could figure out the political direction and scold the right person.

If you marry someone, you may be able to have a prosperous official career and soar into the sky.

However, Hu Zongxian's job as censor was a bit special, because Xuanfu and Datong were the military front lines at that time, with swords and swords flashing, and those who stayed here were rough warriors. If you complained casually, you might be chopped up in the dark at night.

.

So Hu Zongxian spent several years there eating dry food honestly. This experience finally made him successful, because it was in that place that this quiet censor began to enter another novel field - the art of war.

Hu Zongxian understood the laws of war on the battlefield where blood and flesh were flying everywhere, and life and death hung on the line. The tragic scenes of Mongolian cavalry burning, killing and looting, refugees' families being destroyed, and people crying for heaven and earth also made him understand the cruelty of war. After experiencing blood,

After the baptism of fire, the nerd who once chatted endlessly and spoke the words of saints has become a taciturn pragmatist.

Because of his good performance at the border, Hu Zongxian was transferred to Zhejiang to serve as Zhejiang's inspector. It seems that to test his ability, just before he left here, God arranged a graduation examination for him.

The Left Guards stationed in Datong at that time suddenly received an order, ordering them to immediately move their garrison to the Yanghe area. Facts have proved that this was a life-threatening order.

Datong is already the front line, and Yanghe is not only further forward, but also has extremely difficult conditions. Soldiers have a hard time, and it is difficult to settle down in the local area. In the blink of an eye, their wives and children are separated, so naturally they will not move until they die.

But the order had to be carried out, so everyone decided to stop making trouble and mutiny!

Now the problem has become serious. The situation was reported to General Datong and a meeting was held to collect opinions: How to solve this problem and who will solve it?

No one answered.

Because everyone knows that this is a super scapegoat. This is not a peasant uprising, but a mutiny by soldiers. They are all professional thugs who copied the guys. They are unreasonable. If they go to negotiate, they will most likely donate themselves to the country.

(The scientific name is Sacrifice for the Country).

But if left unchecked, if these people become rebels, know the truth, and bring the Mongols back to rob, they will be in big trouble. Therefore, the blame must be shouldered. Specifically, someone must take the blame, but no one will take the blame.

this

At that time, Hu Zongxian stood up and said: I will go.

The general was overjoyed and asked: How many people do you want to bring?

Hu Zongxian replied: No, I will go alone.

After a brief moment of stunned silence, everyone stood up and walked outside the tent to bid farewell to the brave Yushi Hu warmly and thank him for sacrificing himself and fulfilling everyone's spirit of taking the blame.

Hu Zongxian is not an idiot, nor does he have a habit of taking the blame. He stepped forward at critical moments just because he was fully confident.

He rode a horse alone to the camp of the mutinous soldiers, and said a few words to the excited people holding weapons, and a miracle happened. The soldiers stopped making noise and returned to their tents quietly.

When everyone saw Hu Zongxian again, they were all extremely surprised and eagerly stepped forward to ask what method he had used to solve such a difficult matter.

Hu Zongxian replied with a relaxed look: It's nothing, I just told them that the order has been cancelled, and they don't need to move.

So everyone was confused again. The relocation was an order from above, and the commander-in-chief (equivalent to the commander of the military region) didn't say anything. How dare you talk nonsense? If you fooled us today, you might directly rebel in two days!

However, Hu Zongxian looked at his frightened colleagues calmly and told them: There is no need to worry at all.

Facts proved Hu Zongxian's prediction. Soon, the superiors issued an order. The previous order was cancelled, and the army was still deployed in place.

Accurate insight into people's hearts and amazing judgment of situations are Hu Zongxian's outstanding talents.

In the thirty-third year of Jiajing (1554), the wizard Hu Zongxian came to Zhejiang, where he would start his great career.

In fact, Hu Zongxian was just a small figure in Zhejiang at that time because his rank was too low (Zhejiang Inspector).

Although there is only one word difference between governor and inspector, their grades are very different. Hu Zongxian is the supervisory censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. He is ordered to patrol Zhejiang and is responsible for supervising disciplinary inspection affairs. His rank is only seventh grade. And Li Tianchong is fourth grade.

The right censor of Qiandu in the Chaoyuan was ordered to patrol Zhejiang and was responsible for the management of the entire province, which was equivalent to the provincial governor.

After all, Zhao Wenhua was a deputy minister. The reason why he fell in love with Hu Zongxian at first sight and called him brother-in-law was because he was too lonely. In the shadow of Zhang Jing, no one wanted to play with him, and only Hu Zongxian treated him with courtesy.

So he confessed his plan to this new friend and made a good wish. As long as the plan succeeds, you will be the new governor of Zhejiang!

Zhao Wenhua is a bad person, an out-and-out bad person, but for a bad person to be a deputy ministerial minister, it shows that he is a capable bad person.

Zhao Shilang's plan was this. He was going to file a black case against Zhang Jing. The charge was that Zhang Jing was afraid of Japanese pirates, took money from the court, did not help the court, and passively avoided the war.

It looks simple, but in fact it is not.

Zhang Jing was not a vegetarian. Shortly after Zhao Wenhua wrote the letter, he received the news, but his reaction was very strange. Not only did he not ask Zhao Wenhua to settle the score, he also did not write a letter to defend himself.

Because he was absolutely sure that the long-planned operation was about to begin, the wolf soldiers were already in place, and all the armies were already in place, just waiting for his order to launch a general attack.

With the help of fierce wolf soldiers, Zhang Jing believed that he would win, and by then, the good news would be the best response to Zhao Wenhua's attack.
To be continued...