The volcano will be even hotter in June, and the Chiting crossing will be deserted.

As the time comes to mid-June, the weather in the capital becomes even more sultry and unbearable, and there are few pedestrians on the exposed blue brick streets in the city.

The officials of the six yamen showed their special abilities. Some officials poured water on the ground to cool down, some simply waved their fans with their bare arms, and officials from various departments had already used ice cubes.

This summer seems to be hotter than previous years.

Although the courtyard outside was very welcoming, the ice cubes in the holding room in the main hall of the Ministry of War were slowly melting in the corner, and the whole room was filled with a slight air-conditioning, which was very comfortable.

Lin Haoran, wearing a crimson official uniform, was sitting at the table, dealing with various official duties at hand. He looked very focused. His eyes looked deeper, and he was writing a letter one by one.

Urgent.

Zhao Huan was a young man in his early twenties. He seemed embarrassed when facing this high-ranking teacher. He carefully reported that the military uniform suppliers had arrived and asked him for instructions.

Lin Haoran's writing hand did not stop, and he said calmly without raising his head: "This matter has been decided at the time of writing the day before yesterday. They don't need to ask me anymore. Everything can be carried out according to the established regulations!"

"Yes!" Zhao Huan replied respectfully, then carefully stepped out and gently closed the door.

After Lin Haoran heard the sound of the door closing, he looked over thoughtfully.

After some purges, although the Ministry of War has not yet met his requirements for subordinates, the people below have unconditionally obeyed his instructions, which can be regarded as achieving the initial goal.

Now he still retains several officials from Yang Bo's family. These officials are now honest and do not dare to make decisions on many matters. Instead, they consult him first on many matters.

Lin Haoran didn't know whether these officials had always been so unopinionated in doing things, or whether they were simply testing their own bottom line, but if it was the former, then he would have to kick those people out of the Ministry of War.

If you want to clean up the mess of the Ministry of War, you can't just pretend to be a fool. You must find some capable subordinate officers to help you.

Not long after Zhao Huan left, Lin Fu opened the door and walked in. Soon he led a sturdy young man in. His eyes looked long and slender.

"Wang Kuan, who is of humble rank, pays homage to Mr. Pavilion!" Wang Kuan came to the hall and said respectfully, kneeling on one knee.

"Get up!" Lin Haoran put down the pen gently, looked Wang Kuan up and down, and asked with a solemn expression: "Wang Kuan, is there any movement in the north?"

Each military commander has his own style of doing things. For example, Hu Zongxian spent a lot of money to recruit spies in order to fight against Japanese pirates, while Yang Bo once abandoned spies from the north.

It's just that unlike the previous Ministers of War, Lin Haoran attaches great importance to information warfare. He has already established an intelligence network, not only to understand the movements of the cavalry on the grassland, but also to grasp the turmoil of the grassland.

Since the early Ming Dynasty, Mongolia has always been a sharp sword hanging over the Ming Dynasty, threatening the Ming Dynasty from time to time, and even captured the Yingzong Zhu Qizhen in one fell swoop.

It is different from what many people imagine. Mongolia is not a monolithic interior. Not only does it have many large and small tribes, but there has always been a confrontation between the two major forces of Tartar and Wasi.

After the Tumubao Incident, major changes actually occurred in Mongolia. The Wasac tribe, which was originally the greatest threat to the Ming Dynasty, declined, while the Tatar tribe rose rapidly.

Especially during the Chenghua period, the Tatar tribe occupied the Hetao area and obtained a fertile grassland, which gave them a stronger economic foundation.

An Da is not an orthodox member of the Tartar tribe, nor is he even a successor to his family. But according to Wu Daoxing, some people are destined to be powerful. After the death of his brother Mailigen Jinong, An Da became

The de facto leader of the 30,000 right-wing households.

After gradually becoming stronger, he forced the Chahar tribe, the original grassland overlord, to move to Liaodong, and ordered the Mongolian Khan Bodi Khan to confer him the title of Sodo Khan, thus becoming the de facto king of the Tartar tribe.

Just like this, I answer that the Ming Dynasty is not the only enemy. To the east there is the Chahar tribe, which is eyeing the enemy, and to the northwest there is the Waqi tribe who has been trying to make a comeback.

Not to mention that Anda has never expressed his ambition to invade the Central Plains, and other forces have been eyeing him covetously. Coupled with the Ming Dynasty's economic blockade, in fact he does not have such strength.

But nothing is absolute, and many things will change as the situation changes. This is also the fundamental reason why Lin Haoran attaches great importance to the intelligence network.

"Reporting to Mr. Ge, I have just received a very important piece of news! Although this news has only come from one route so far, this person in Kumeili is very trustworthy. Please take a look at it!" Wang Kuan presented a small bamboo tube to Lin Haoran.

, said very seriously.

Although Wang Kuan is a Han Chinese, because his father Wang Zhongguo worked as a spy in Mongolia, he has Mongolian blood, and his skin is obviously slightly different from that of the Han people.

At that time, he chose to escape from Mongolia and return to the Ming Dynasty. Fortunately, with the help of Lin Haoran, the Yin of Shuntian Prefecture at the time, he obtained the Ming Dynasty registration and lived in the capital.

When Lin Haoran became the Minister of Household Affairs, he had already begun to serve Lin Haoran, and quickly established a secret intelligence network by using the resources he had earlier.

Now that Lin Haoran has officially served as Minister of War, he has also assumed an official status and is fully responsible for Mongolian intelligence.

Lin Haoran knew that Wang Kuan was a very stable person, and knew that although this news had not been verified by other news reporting lines, it should have great credibility.

After taking the bamboo tube, he did not rush to open it, but solemnly warned: "If the information is confirmed to be true, don't be stingy with the money you should give!"

He knew very well that although patriotism allowed spies to ignore rewards, if they wanted to obtain better information, heavy rewards were a must-have, and they were also the rewards those conspirators deserved.

"Put it down, Mr. Ge, you know what to do with your humble position!" Wang Kuan nodded solemnly, then said goodbye and left.

After Wang Kuan left, he took out the small note from the bamboo tube. Looking at the content on it, he couldn't help but frown slightly and murmured: "Xuanfu?"

With the disappearance of the Japanese pirates in the southeast, the biggest threat to the Ming Dynasty is still Mongolia in the north. In the north, a total of nine towns were established, the most important of which are Xuanfu, Datong, Jizhen and Liaodong.

As long as any one of these four towns is broken through, the Mongolian cavalry will be able to reach the foot of the capital. Once it reaches this point, not only will the capital be threatened, but he, the elder, will also face great political risks.

It is precisely because he knows the seriousness of this matter that he understands the darkness of officialdom battles.

Even though he didn't think that Yang Bo would really put the Mongolian cavalry into the pass on purpose, he never took it lightly and had been paying attention to the movements in the direction of Mongolia recently.

But what is supposed to come will eventually come, and there is indeed movement on the Mongolian side. This era seems to be darker than many people imagined.

In the Yamen of the Ministry of War, there is a administrative office.

Three doctors and one foreign doctor were sitting in the hall, while more than ten businessmen were sitting in the hall.

Zhang Guohui cleared his voice and said seriously: "The bidding rules this time have been explained to you! Each person will bring four samples for display. Whoever has the best material and is not easy to fade will get this list!"

After a pause, he continued: "Lao Lin Ge has already told me this time that in order to prevent the wrong version of the goods, the uniforms you provide must not differ by more than 10%, otherwise the Ministry of War will severely punish you by delaying the military aircraft!"

"Mr. Zhang, it's just a batch of military uniforms, don't you need to be so serious?" a Shanxi businessman immediately criticized.

Zhang Guohui had had wine with this Shanxi businessman, and he knew the other person's background, but he shook his head firmly and said: "There is no room for negotiation on this matter! Mr. Lin Ge has already said, if you can handle it, do it, if you can't, let those who can handle it

People do it!”

"Okay, I'll come!" A Henan businessman seemed impatient and immediately stood up to express his position.

But I saw him taking out several sets of clothes from the box and walking forward to distribute them to the four officials present, with a confident look on his face.

this……

Zhang Guohui and others took out their clothes and spread them out, but they couldn't help but frown slightly. A doctor immediately said with disdain: "Our Ministry of War is purchasing autumn clothes. You can't even wear summer clothes!"

"Ma Langzhong, with the little money given by your Ministry of War, you can only make this kind of clothes! If you want something better, give me an additional fifty thousand taels of silver, and I promise to make it until you are satisfied!" the Henan businessman said.

He responded naturally.

The arsenal doctor next to him showed displeasure on his face, but he waved his hand and said: "Go down, next one!"

Next, more than ten businessmen in the hall came on stage one by one, and all of them were collectively suspected by the four officials. Finally, they understood why the border troops had complained about the quality of their uniforms.

"Liang Quan, a businessman from Guangdong, has met four of you!" Liang Quan came to the hall and saluted politely.

Zhang Guohui and others looked at this scholar-looking young man, but they couldn't help but frown slightly, while the driver's doctor, Ma Baigui, said directly: "Isn't your elder here?"

"Master Ma, if you give birth to a late son to inherit your father's legacy, you have full authority to make the decision on this matter!" Liang Quan didn't show any anger on his face, and he bowed his hands politely.

Zhang Guohui didn't have much preference, he just waved his hand and said: "Let's start!"

As the box was opened, four sets of neat autumn military uniforms were presented to the hands of the four adults.

When they saw the uniforms, which were made of thick material and evenly colored, Zhang Guohui and others looked at the young man in shock, and the driving officer, Ma Baigui, asked seriously: "This is no joke, you have to pay for a uniform with this kind of texture."

uniform!"

"That's right, I, a Guangdong businessman, have a reputation for trustworthiness, and I am willing to be punished if there is any discrepancy in product editions!" Liang Quan had already expected their reaction, but he smiled and said with a hand.

this……

Zhang Guohui and others were still suspicious at first, but after hearing what he said so convincingly, they understood that they were not joking about them, and they couldn't help but look at each other in confusion.

The purchase of military uniforms has always been a gray income. Due to layers of corruption and the meager amount of money allocated by the Ministry of Household Affairs, it has become a common practice to withhold materials. Every year, soldiers freeze to death because of cut-and-dried winter clothes.

.

It's just that now, the silver they spent is less than in previous years, but the autumn clothes they get seem to be several times better than in previous years.

After Zhang Guohui and others were shocked, they exchanged opinions again, and Zhang Guohui made the decision: "Okay, this order from the Ministry of War is yours, but the samples will be kept separately by our four departments. Once the goods you hand over are not available,

, then our Ministry of War will definitely punish you!"

"Wansheng will definitely not do such a sloppy thing. I will send the uniform to the military department soon!" Liang Quan responded confidently with a smile on his lips.

When the businessmen heard that the order had been handed over to the young man, they couldn't help but step forward to check the sample, with looks of shock and confusion on their faces.

Zhang Guohui and others ignored what the businessmen thought and immediately signed the contract with Liang Quan, agreeing on a delivery date for both parties. The matter had already achieved a satisfactory result.

"Haha... Guangdong businessman, this matter has nothing to do with that person!"

"It's called a bidding, but it's just a pretext. The essence is to pave the way for that young man!"

"I have been doing this for more than 20 years. There is no profit at all from military uniforms made of that kind of material! It's not that there is no profit, I'm afraid I have to pay a sum of money. There must be something fishy about this!"

…

When they left, this group of businessmen felt that something was wrong, and they always felt that there was something fishy in it.

The Shanxi businessman seemed to have picked up money. After walking out of the gate of the Ministry of War Yamen, he hurriedly walked in the direction of the Yang Mansion.

As dusk approached, officials in the capital went home one after another.

Lin Haoran also put down what he was doing, and when he walked out of the main office, the sedan chair was already waiting here.

On the way back, he sat upright in the sedan chair and closed his eyes slightly, but he did not choose to rest, but kept thinking about something.

Yang Bo's real influence was not with the Ministry of War. After all, there were so many people in the Fourth Division of the Ministry of War, and none of them could personally lead the troops. The real resistance was from the border troops, the generals who were closely related to Yang Bo.

Just how to break this resistance and how to train his own team requires various strategies, and it is also the biggest problem he currently encounters.

In addition, regarding the strategy against Mongolia, he did not believe that enfeoffing tribute and mutual trade was a good means to solve the problem.

If Ming Dynasty did not correct its own mistakes, improve and strengthen Ming Dynasty's military power, but chose to exchange tribute and trade with Mongolia, this would actually leave hidden dangers just like the Song Dynasty's tribute.

What he wants is not short-term peace, nor short-term prosperity. He hopes that Ming Dynasty can have long-term peace and stability, and he also hopes that Ming Dynasty can rise and become the true overlord of the world.

Because of this, he would not let things develop as history did, nor would he agree to solve Mongolia's problems through tribute and mutual trade, but would use Anda's blood to awaken the greatest nation in the world.

While I was thinking wildly, the sedan slowly descended and the curtain of the sedan was opened.

As his identity and status increased, his heart was filled with more and more worries, and his face followed Wu Shan's habit of constricting his face, and he walked out of the sedan without any anger or authority.

"I respectfully welcome your husband back home!" Hua Yingrong was already waiting here as usual, and saluted him in a polite manner.
Chapter completed!