"That makes sense." Ye Mengxiong said, "Military Advisor Mei, the city walls are now in the hands of the rebels. Every day, they take the lives of our Daming soldiers. If we don't quell the rebellion, the longer it drags on, the more variables there will be. The only thing we can do now is to quell the rebellion at all costs! Only when the rebellion is quelled can we think about how to restore Ningxia. If the rebellion isn't settled, Ningxia is not in our hands. "
Mei Guozhen nodded and said, "I understand this logic. His Majesty heard about the great victory in the northwest and was very happy. He hopes that the army can quell the rebellion as soon as possible. If this drags on, the more His Majesty's expectations are, the more disappointed he will be. That won't be good. From the looks of it, we can only place our hopes on this plan. Zongbing Xiao, you must not fail!"
"I will do my best."
Xiao Ruxun had no choice but to say so.
"Mm." Mei Guozhen nodded slightly, seeming to have a good impression of Xiao Ruxun as well. "That year in the capital, the matter of Eunuch Yang marrying off his beloved daughter to Zongbing Xiao more or less caused a bit of a storm. Many scholars were saying that marrying off a scholarly daughter to a boorish soldier was not logical at all. But looking at it today, Eunuch Yang's foresight was truly sharp, to actually have his eyes set on a talented general! Zongbing Xiao, I heard that you have studied before? "
"Yes. When we were young, my father asked a famous teacher to teach us how to study. Although we did not expect us to participate in the imperial examinations, we at least hoped that the four of us would not be martial artists. Father often said that Fan Zhongyan, a minister of the Song Dynasty, once said to Di Qing, 'If you don't study, you will only be a brave man in the end. At most, you can fight a hundred people. If you study and understand the art of war, you can fight ten thousand people.'"
"Your father is very wise!" Mei Guozhen kept nodding his head. "Those uncultured men who don't know how to read or write, it's already good enough if they can fight bravely against the enemy. Most of them are cowards who kill innocent people to take credit! Every time I see them, I want to kill them with my own hands! In the army, among the nine generals' families, it is rare to find someone like Commander Xiao who is well-versed in the art of war and has the qualifications to become a famous general! "
Xiao Ruxun naturally wouldn't deny this fact, so he said, "The Army Supervisor's words are true, but there are still many good generals and elite soldiers that can be used in the nine regions. For example, Datong's Deputy Commander-In-Chief Ma Gui, who has a good grasp of the overall situation and is able to seize opportunities. I cooperates with him and is like a fish in water. There is also Ningxia's Deputy Commander-In-Chief Li Zhi, who has recovered many territories and can be considered a good general. In addition, there are also Dong Yikui, Zhao Wu, and the others who are all good candidates."
"Yes, I believe that. There are good generals, but they are too few." Mei Guozhen looked at Xiao Ruxun and said, "It's rare to find someone like Zong Bing who has the demeanor of a scholarly general. If Zong Bing Xiao makes a great contribution this time, you might even be granted an audience with His Majesty and be rewarded. You have a bright future ahead of you. You need to work harder during this time of national crisis!"
Xiao Ruxun gave a fist salute and said, "I dare not slack off at all!"
"Yes!" Mei Guozhen was satisfied. "I didn't expect there to be such a great general in the northwest region! Duke Wei and Duke Ye, you can rest assured now! "
Wei Xuezeng and Ye Mengxiong looked at each other and smiled. Then, their expressions changed to one of worry.
"I hate that traitor Bo Bai. I tried to persuade him to surrender, but Bo Bai threw my aide, Mister Liu, into a pot of boiling oil and blew him up! This is a huge blow to our morale! "
Wei Xuezeng thought of his aide who was blown up and felt a heartache.
"What?! There's such a thing?! "Mei Guozhen was shocked." Damn it! Utterly heartless! This barbarian really messed up China's people! We should not have accepted him in the first place! I hate that Wang Chonggu coveted Bo Bai's bravery and ended up like this! Do those Jin merchants really think that no one in the imperial court knows that they colluded with the Mongols to smuggle military equipment?! When I return to the imperial court, I will definitely write a memorial to them! "
Mei Guozhen's indignant expression made Wei Xuezeng and Ye Mengxiong sad. It was not that they did not want to, but they were powerless. The Jin merchants' influence was already set in stone. No matter how powerful Yan Song was, he did not dare to offend the Jin merchants. Although there were capable people in the imperial court who realized that the Jin merchants had betrayed their country, they were powerless.
Xiao Ruxun vaguely remembered that Mei Guozhen was a disciple of Yangming's School of Psychology and was friendly with Li Zhi. Most people did not know about Mei Guozhen and did not know much about Li Zhi. However, when it came to "Book Burning" and "Book Collection", everyone would definitely think of the rebellious old man in the late Ming Dynasty mentioned in the textbooks.
Not only had Mei Guozhen read "Book Burning" and "Book Collection", but he had also written a preface for "Book Collection". As someone who agreed with such rebellious ideas, Mei Guozhen was not only invincible with his sharp tongue, but his martial arts were also quite good. From what Xiao Ruxun saw, Mei Guozhen's hair was glossy black and his voice was full of energy. He was not like the frail body of an ordinary scholar. He must be a martial artist.
In fact, this was the case. Mei Guozhen was one of the few scholars who adhered to the Six Arts of the Gentleman. Not only was he a scholar, he was also proficient in horsemanship and archery. When the city of Ningxia was finally breached, Mei Guozhen personally went into battle with his sword. The main conflict between him and Wei Xuezeng was that Wei Xuezeng hoped to persuade Wei Xuezeng to surrender and protect the city and the people's livelihood. On the other hand, Mei Guozhen could not bear to see Wei Xuezeng's timid manner and forcefully interfered.
As a result, the two of them clashed. Wei Xuezeng was a conservative, while Mei Guozhen was a traitor.
At this time, Xiao Ruxun proposed another plan, which reconciled the conflict between the two of them and prevented the conflict from happening.
Speaking from the bottom of his heart, Xiao Ruxun still admired Mei Guozhen. He was also very clear about how the Jin Merchant Group grew big step by step. After discovering that the Mongols could not make it, they searched all over the world and finally turned to the Manchurian Qing.
These merchants became one of the main groups that benefited from the fall of the Ming Dynasty and the Manchurian Qing's invasion of the pass. They formed the so-called Eight Great Imperial Merchants. With their meticulous planning and rather profound and penetrating vision, they actually saw through the essence of the civil official political system in the late Ming Dynasty!
From supporting the establishment of schools in their hometown, they began to support the students in their hometown. With a large amount of investment and long years of persistence, many scholars and civil officials from Shanxi returned the favor. Gradually, they became influential. After that, they went out of Shanxi and sponsored schools all over the country. A large number of scholars were indebted to the Jin Merchant Group. They used marriage, making friends, partnering up to do business, and other means of human relations to weave their own network step by step. At the latest, they became influential during the Zhengde and Jiajing eras.
At that time, the Eight Tigers of Zhengde had run amok in the world for several years. The powerful minister Yan Song had caused chaos in the imperial court for several decades. Gao Gong had attacked with a heavy fist for several years. Zhang Juzheng had carried out strict reforms for ten years. The eunuch's clique, Wei Zhongxian, had suppressed the world for several years. The Imperial Bodyguard's East Faction Guards had spied all over the world. Every dynasty and dynasty that had monstrous power could not do anything to the Jin Merchant Group's salt merchants.
Now, the Shanxi Merchant Group had allied with the Yangzhou Merchant Group's interests to force the Emperor to not attend court for several decades as a silent protest. In the end, there was even the absurd matter of Zhejiang's tea tax of twelve taels a year!
The farsightedness, the scheming of the heart, the steadiness of the way they handled matters, and the viciousness of the way they looked at people made people tremble in fear. It was the pinnacle of the methods used by the government and merchants to seek benefits. They used the Imperial Censors to form cliques to occupy the peak of morality, but they brought disaster to the country and the people.
If they wanted to save the Daming, they had to eliminate the merchants from two places. One was the Shanxi Merchant Group, and the other was the Yangzhou Merchant Group. If they were not eliminated, the Daming would not be able to be saved. However, the merchants from these two places were powerful gentry. They had long understood their situation. Relying on their many years of investment and persistence, they had already supported a considerable number of people in the imperial court.
Basically, the entire Donglin Party was infiltrated and controlled by them. They were practically invincible and terrifying. It would be difficult to use ordinary methods to deal with them, not to mention his status as a military official. His natural disadvantage made it difficult for him to move an inch. Even the civil officials who did not get along with these merchants would not help him deal with the merchants from these two places.
When he thought of this, Xiao Ruxun couldn't help but feel deeply worried.
As he continued to bury his head in digging the tunnel, Xiao Ruxun was also thinking about his future path. He constantly planned and deduced all kinds of possibilities. Now that he had been reborn, he would not waste the heaven's blessing.
Inside the city, Bo Bai and Liu Dongyang didn't have Xiao Ruxun's long-term concerns. They were only worried about how to survive. Their nerves were highly strained, and their tempers were extremely explosive. Wei Xuezeng had sent people to sow discord between them. This had already caused their nerves to be extremely strained, and they had almost lost their minds. That was why they had ordered Wei Xuezeng's lobbyists to be fried. They had used tyrannical methods to intimidate the Ming Army, and also to intimidate those with impure intentions among their own people. Unfortunately, the rebel army's disadvantages were very clear.
Bo Bai and Liu Dongyang knew very well that if they surrendered, the rebel soldiers might not die. But for them, even if they didn't die at the time, they would not have a good ending in the future. After all, they had killed an inspector and a chief of troops, and they had also occupied one of the nine borders. This had already violated the imperial court's greatest taboo. It would be strange if the imperial court did not kill them. They were very clear about their situation. Only by tightly holding onto the twenty thousand soldiers in Ningxia City would they have a chance of survival!
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