Needless to say about the battle of Ningxia, the military officials in the capital were shocked by the 5,000-6,000 beheadings during the battle of Daehan. The Ministry of War sent out more than three hundred people to examine the merits of the battle. After layers of scrutiny and cross-examination, they were faced with mountains of severed heads of Wokou pirates, weapons, battle flags, and the heads of military officers. No one could question the results of the battle.
Xiao Ruxun had killed nearly 200,000 Japanese pirates in the Battle of Daehan and beheaded nearly 40,000. At that time, some supporters of Xiao Ruxun even said that he should be made a duke.
Since then, Xiao Ruxun's battle reports had been recognized as the most credible by the Ministry of War. In addition, the officials in the Ministry of War knew that Minister Shi Xing admired Xiao Ruxun. Therefore, the officials in charge of the examination felt that it was fine even if the report was slightly false. They treated it as a way to please their superiors. However, the results of every examination were not false.
In this environment where all generals made false reports, Xiao Ruxun's appearance was questioned, doubted, and unbelievable. However, as the number of miracles increased, everyone gradually got used to it. Xiao Ruxun was like a golden signboard that was not afraid of fire and fire. He was trustworthy.
Therefore, no one suspected that he had killed 25,000 Northern Barbarians and beheaded more than 4,000 in half a month. It was directly recorded as real data.
In this harsh winter, people indeed needed fiery victory statistics to support their beliefs and restore their trust in the government and the military.
Xiao Ruxun was like a god promoted by the government, a stabilizing force. He gradually became an irreplaceable pillar of the country in people's hearts. They felt that as long as Xiao Ruxun went to battle, he would definitely win.
This kind of psychological factor was something that some people who added fuel to the fire would never have thought about. Because no matter how good a general's reputation was, it could not compare to the popularity accumulated over hundreds of years of imperial examinations.
It did not matter.
Similarly, people only saw the glorious results of the war. Few people noticed the unusual escape route of the Northern Barbarians. Shouldn't they be fleeing north? Why did they keep fleeing south after losing three battles in a row? Wasn't this a very strange thing?
Both Xu Guangqi and Li Zhizao noticed this detail, but they did not pay too much attention to it since the trial was imminent. However, Shi Xing was rather concerned about it. He was curious about the strange escape route of the Northern Invaders, so he wrote a letter to ask Xiao Ruxun about it.
Shen Yicheng also noticed this strange detail, but he did not say anything.
Yang Junmin also noticed this strange detail. His face turned even paler, and he couldn't help but cough a few times. His face was full of fatigue, and he continued to write a letter while enduring the pain.
Shen Li also noticed this strange detail. He thought about it carefully, his face solemn, but in the end, he didn't think too deeply about it.
Of course, Zhu Yijun was the first to know and was the only person in the Imperial Court who knew the truth of this matter. He looked at the detailed secret memorial written by Xiao Ruxun and revealed a satisfied smile.
Xiao Ruxun had already determined that this war was a dog-eat-dog incident caused by some shameful scandals within the Jin Shang.
The reason for the expansion was still unknown. It could be that someone was adding fuel to the fire, or it could be that the Northern Invaders were greedy at the sight of wealth and wanted more. In short, the instigator must not have thought that things would deteriorate to this extent.
After the Northern Barbarians were defeated three times, especially the last two times when Xiao Ruxun caught up with their main force and beat them up, they did not flee north. Instead, they headed south in a frenzy. They kept sending troops to harass the counties, but they were dealt with by Xiao Ruxun's troops a few times. However, they still continued to head south.
This was tantamount to making it clear that their goal was to destroy the Jin Shang Dynasty. Xiao Ruxun didn't even know if these guys had any fear of death. They had clearly been beaten up so badly.
Although the situation was dangerous, to the imperial court and the Emperor, the opportunity was also very obvious. Half of the Jin Shang territory north of Qi County had already been controlled by the army. The Jin Shang families had suffered heavy casualties and were almost completely wiped out. If the Emperor wanted to take control of Shanxi, he had to do it now.
The Northern Barbarians continued to run south. Xiao Ruxun chased after them. He did not dare to let the Northern Barbarians continue to attack the cities. He was the Governor. If they lost more cities, he would have to take responsibility. Although it was a pity that he could not continue to destroy the Jin Merchants south of Qi County, Xiao Ruxun believed that there would be people who could not wait to make a move.
After reading Xiao Ruxun's secret report, Zhu Yijun burned it and summoned the Chief Eunuch Wang De.
"How are the candidates? We need to speed up the deployment. We cannot let the court officials get ahead of us. "
Wang De nodded and replied, "This old servant dares not neglect Master's orders. I have chosen 16 people who have experience in dealing with mining taxes. Your Majesty, please make your choice."
Wang De handed over the list of candidates.
Zhu Yijun flipped through the list and called out the names of six of them. He arranged for them to go to six different areas in Shanxi to supervise the opening of the mines. He also told them that when they arrived, they were to spread their spies among the people and set up a third line of intelligence outside of the Brocade Guards and the East Faction Guards.
Zhu Yijun planned to rebuild the West Faction Guards and even the Inner Faction Guards.
Didn't they say that the Emperor could not do anything if the court officials did not allow it? Did he need the court officials' permission to use eunuchs to do things? Did he need the court officials' permission to use his own funds for funds?
Learning from his previous experience, Zhu Yijun decided to act cautiously and strengthen his wings. When the time was right, he would reveal his true intentions and seize back the power that belonged to him.
Spring was chilly. In the second month of the 26th year of Wanli, the capital was still bitterly cold. Under this serene scenery of ice and snow, undercurrents were surging. Various forces were urgently operating their own schemes. Every village had its own tricks, and it all depended on who could seize the opportunity.
Under such circumstances, on the ninth day of the second month of the 26th year of the reign of the Wanli calendar, the Spring Imperial Examinations began. Thirty-six-year-old Xu Guangqi and his friend, Li Zhizao, rushed to the Imperial Examinations together and began another decisive battle at the top of the examination field.
The three consecutive Imperial Examinations, which lasted for three days each, were like going to a battlefield. They had to endure the chilly wind in the bitter cold, and they had to sit in some leaky, dilapidated, or low-rise barracks. They had to eat hard rations and drink ice-cold water. They had to endure both physical and psychological torture, and their souls and bodies were stiff at the same time.
After three examinations in nine days, his entire person had been sublimated. If he were to think back on it later, it would be a very interesting thing. After all, there were too few people who had the chance to experience something like this.
Although Xu Guangqi was already thirty-six years old, this was the first time he had experienced something like this. It was all thanks to Li Zhizao's advice before the examinations that he did not suffer because of his lack of preparation.
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