Lu Ming

As the feudal official who single-handedly supported the Cao family, the affairs of Fujian, the Cao family, and the affairs of the family and the world cannot be bypassed by Xiong Wencan, so Master Bu must first meet Xiong Wencan.

Master Bu still has confidence in this meeting: Although Xiong Wencan and the Cao family are politically mutually beneficial, Xiong Wencan is a member of the scholar-officials after all. In the face of Confucianism and the survival of the landlord system that are fundamental to the scholar-bureaucrats, there should be no What can't be said.

Besides, Master Bu is now including Xiong Wencan in the list of people who have been "blinded by Cao Chuan", so whether in public or private, Master Bu needs to save/wake up/wake up Xiong Wencan.

It is actually not easy to meet Xiong Wencan.Don't say that Mr. Bu has become a retired veteran cadre now. Even when he was the deputy envoy of military preparations, he was N ranks behind Xiong Da, so Lao Xiong must not be able to meet him whenever he wants, and he will have to wait for the opportunity.

Master Bu brought three servants this time.After the team arrived in Fuzhou, Master Bu was easily entertained by a Tongnian family, and the four masters and servants lived in an exquisite small courtyard.

The next day after he sent his chief to accompany Bu Gui to the governor's yamen to post and register, Master Bu basically had nothing to do.

After waiting for a full week, the servants of the governor's yamen came to tell Master Bu: Mr. Futai will take a rest tomorrow, and he can meet Master Bu from Xinghua Mansion in the afternoon.After rewarding the yamen servants for running errands, Master Bu came to the governor's yamen early the next afternoon to schedule shifts.

After staring for a while in the waiting room with a group of officials who also begged to see Lao Xiong, Master Bu finally waited for the moment to meet Lao Xiong.

The first time he saw the old bear, Master Bu secretly raised his vigilance: on the coffee table in the flower hall, there were glasses, salt soda, Yellow Crane Tower, lighters... In short, they all belonged to the Cao family.

After seeing the ceremony and watching the seats, Xiong Wencan, who was still wearing Taoist robes, didn't laugh, and asked Master Bu's reason directly: "I don't know what advice Songming (Master Bu's word) has today?"

"Don't dare, the student asked to see Fujun today because he has something important to report." Master Bu took out a few Cao Datou and banknotes that he had prepared from his pocket as soon as he spoke.

"This money was minted by Cao Chuan. Together with these banknotes, there is someone like Cao on it. This is a replica of the year name. It is a crime of disrespect. Master Jun took this dog down in time."

Xiong Wencan was a little dazed at this moment.After he realized what Master Bu said, he couldn't help but smile.

Stretching out his hand to pick up a Cao Datou, Old Xiong first blew professionally. After hearing the sound, he said leisurely: "Song Ming, I'm afraid there may be a misunderstanding. This item was trafficked by a sea merchant from a foreign country. , it just passed Cao's hand. The portrait on it is not Cao Chuan."

"Ah!?" Mr. Bu has calculated thousands of times, but he didn't expect Xiong Wencan to give such an answer today: "The nickname of this thing is Cao Datou! Everyone on the Qizhou Island uses it, so how could it not be Cao Chuan?" avatar?"

"Haha." Xiong Wencan laughed loudly: "This money is beautifully minted, and someone in Fuzhou City has used it for a long time. As for this head...then Cao Chuan will come to Fuya to discuss matters tomorrow. If Song Ming doesn't believe it, he can see him tomorrow." With Cao Chuan on his side, the truth will come out."

Master Bu sat down on the chair.He saw the truth from Xiong Wencan's confident attitude: this avatar is really not Cao Chuan's! ?

Forcibly control the negative mood after own trouble.Bu Daxing, who was well prepared for today's meeting, immediately opened up the second battle: he took out a report from his sleeve and handed it to the old bear with both hands.

Chapter 373

Xiong Wencan rolled his eyes after receiving the note handed over by Master Bu, and found that it was a detailed investigation report.

The report first analyzed the power and eccentricity of the Cao family from the four perspectives of people, wealth, equipment, and food. In the middle, it particularly emphasized the phenomenon that a certain force abused strange prostitution techniques, leading to the vision of "there is no agriculture in the land, and strange crops come out."

Comrade Bu Daxing deliberately introduced some mystical concepts here.In his opinion: using smoke-breathing iron tools to grow strange crops that Ming did not have, this behavior is like those three-legged deformed babies, it is an abnormal demon atmosphere, it is a harbinger of danger, the poison of the country, It needs to be outlawed.

The second part of the report is further reading.

Master Bu still took the farmland as the starting point, emphatically expounding the far-reaching harm that this kind of farming mode that does not require farmers, let alone landlords, brings to the court and gentlemen.

Master Bu pointed out with great foresight that this "sorcery" undoubtedly violated the core interests of the majority of landlords, and Cao Chuan, who promoted the sorcery, was an enemy of famous religion.At this moment, it is necessary for a gentleman of integrity to wake up, not only to cut off the fangs, but also to kill people, destroy all the "institutional damage", and then implement a benevolent government, "persuade the mulberry and persuade the farmers", and drive those farmers who lost their way back. Working in the fields is the best effort.

……

After Xiong Wencan finished reading this passionate and vicious article, he closed his eyes and meditated for a while.Afterwards, he didn't express any attitude, but chatted with Bu Songming, whom he was not familiar with in front of him—as expected by Old Xiong, this person really came back from Yizhou not long ago.

Since the large-scale immigration from the two sides of the Taiwan Strait began, Xiong Wencan has received a lot of information one after another. Of course, many of them are not good for the Cao family... There are many people who can't understand those weird behaviors, not just Mr. Bu.

However, when Mr. Bu came out today, he was the first scholar-bureaucrat in history to formally investigate and summarize the situation in Yizhou, and then write a letter.Old Xiong can ignore the gossip before, but for Old Bu, although Xiong Wencan is angry at the moment, he still intends to say a few more words to him.

So Old Xiong asked kindly: "Then according to Song Ming's opinion, how should we arrange for this matter?"

Bu Songming couldn't see the old bear's tendency from his expression, but it didn't matter, he must be following the routine he had thought up at this time: "My lord, according to the students, this matter should be done sooner rather than later, and it should be sooner rather than later. Then' Demons have become popular in Yizhou now, but luckily they haven't poisoned my Daming yet, please use thunderous means to save my name and teach me, and save my hometown!"

Xiong Wencan was noncommittal when he heard this.He turned back and leaned on the back of the chair, crossed his hands on his lower abdomen, and then continued to ask slowly: "Is there no order to kill the general of the imperial court without authorization? Can Song Ming teach me?"

At this moment, Master Bu stood up and cupped his hands and said: "My lord, this is an act of defending education. I have to follow the authority in a hurry, and I don't care about that much!"

"Afterwards, the imperial court will ask me to go to the prison again? And let you, a fool, see a joke?" After Xiong Wencan slandered this sentence, his heart was already extremely angry.But his skill in nourishing qi is really good, so he still didn't show it on the surface: "What if the soldiers of the Cao family invade Fujian?"

"My lord, this generation is a mob. You only need to remove its leader, and then subdue it with the education of benevolence and the righteousness of the court. It will surely make the rest of the generation feel grateful and be intimidated."

After hearing this sentence, Xiong Wencan finally appraised Master Bu: This is an old master who doesn't know the world and only talks about righteousness.

Thinking of this, the old bear who was originally annoyed suddenly became uninterested.So he said the last sentence of the day to Master Bu with a pleasant face: "Let me think twice about this matter."

After speaking, Old Xiong picked up a transparent glass tea bowl, but didn't drink it.

Master Bu certainly understood the meaning of this action.However, just when he opened his mouth to say something more, the Xiongfu Changsui who was standing aside had already shouted out the word "see off" in a full-fledged aria mode.

So Master Bu had no choice but to turn around and leave. Accompanied by his back was Xiong Wencan's cold gaze.

……

If counted according to the ranks of later generations, officials like Xiong Wencan, who were entrusted with border control, are already at the rank of Zhongyang committee members.According to Lao Xiong's current family members, if he returns to the court tomorrow to serve as an official, Chongzhen will definitely reward him with the position of Jiuqing.

Jiuqing is equivalent to entering the game in later generations. Regardless of ancient or modern times, this level is a top figure who can participate in state affairs.

The top figures are naturally different from ordinary officials.Whether it is information acquisition, or the pattern of looking at the problem, the way of thinking is different from ordinary people, and sometimes it even seems to be the opposite.

In the position of Xiong Wencan, although he is only in charge of Fujian Province, he has a lot of channels to understand the world's major events, and he must understand that if he wants to wear the crown, he must bear its weight. A border that is unclear about the court's movements is not a qualified border.

Under such circumstances, Xiong Wencan really scoffed at the bunch of nonsense Comrade Bu Daxing said today.

Why did Lao Xiong come to Fujian in the first place? …Sea bandits are rampant, officers and soldiers are defeated one after another, the commander in chief is imprisoned, and the coastal areas of Fujian and Guangdong are in turmoil.

Different from the comprehensive sea ban on hard pirates during the Jiajing period, when the broken ship of the Ming Dynasty reached the early years of Chongzhen, there was no navy that could be used to sanction the Zheng Zhilong Group—yes, the fundamental reason why Xiong Wencan came to Fujian at the beginning was that the court had already There is no way to take pirates.

In other words, Xiong Wencan's visit to Fujian itself represented the court's public confession.

So how did things work out in the end?Everyone on the earth knows: Cao Jiajun makes a move, one beats two.Not to mention Zheng's gang, all the pirates in the rest of the Fujian Sea were wiped out by Cao's, and the sea has been calm ever since.

Then in this situation, a man surnamed Bu came to Xiong Wencan and said: Now you capture Cao Chuan and chop him up, the world will be peaceful...

Let’s not talk about whether it can be cut or not, just take [-] steps back, Xiong Wencan really cut off the Cao family, then Cao’s soldiers who went crazy afterward came out from the generals and rebelled against the whole Fujian, what will Xiong Wencan do then?Convince people with virtue?Or do you use your authority to fool the pirates?

In fact, by that time, Lao Xiong probably has no official authority to speak of.Because of Brother Chongzhen's pissing nature, it would be considered worthy of him not to send the old bear who caused the death of the whole Fujian to prison.

However, Mr. Bu doesn't care about these things. His proposition is: no matter Sanqi 21, do it with the surname Cao first.As for the mess afterwards... what does this matter to his old man?He's just a kid, no, just a retired comrade.It might be your Xiong Wencan's fault that it may not be resolved afterwards. Who told you that you didn't study enough sages and benevolence enough to suppress the pirates?

Therefore, Xiong Wencan, who is in charge of actually running the government, has no way of communicating with a righteous gentleman like Mr. Bu.Because a gentleman doesn't take the blame, a gentleman only throws the blame away—there is no edict to kill the generals of the imperial court without authorization, Yuan Chonghuan dares, but does he, the old bear, dare?

Besides, Yuan Chonghuan and Mao Wenlong were in a life-and-death line struggle: Lao Yuan wanted to appease and negotiate a peace, but Mao Wenlong wanted to die as a slave; plus the Liaoshang vested interest group represented by the Guanning warlord and academician Qian Longxi was behind the scenes. , That's why Yuan Chonghuan had the courage to kill Wenlong without order.

And what about him, Xiong Wencan?Does he have any conflict of interest with Cao? ...In fact, everyone on the earth knows that Lao Xiong reached the pinnacle of life by relying on Cao.

The Cao family wiped out all the bandits in Fujian, making the old Xiong change from a miserable and panic-stricken governor of Zhao'an to a capable member of the imperial court overnight, and the emperor's favorite general.

The Cao family transported away hundreds of thousands of hungry people, wiped out countless bandits, and brought food and job opportunities to Fujian, which made local governments harmonious and economically developed.

Mrs. Cao handed over the general agent of glazed wares in Fujian to Xiong Qi of Xiong's mansion, so Lao Xiong sent people to his hometown to transport many "Fujian native products" in the shape of ingots from time to time.

... The above is not a joke. Now, in the eyes of everyone in the court, Xiong Wencan and Cao Chuan are political allies who support each other and make each other successful.

How to say that sentence: "Everyone can surrender Cao, but the general cannot surrender Cao!"

In the same way, there is no difference between Xiong Wencan now and Sun Quan at that time: anyone can shout at Cao Chuan, except the old Xiong who has been closely tied to Cao Chuan can't say that.

As for the mode of production proposed by Mr. Bu that destroyed the tenant landlords, in Lao Xiong's view, it was even more nonsense.

The control power of the Fengjiang Dynasty is quite low, not to mention the small surrounding countries that closed their doors to be emperors, even within the Ming Dynasty, there are still many Tusi areas called Jimi Prefecture, which are actually small kingdoms in remote provinces.

Whether it is a small neighboring country or the so-called Jimi Prefecture, the social forms in these areas are ever-changing. The Wa country has the emperor and daimyo, and the chieftain has slave children... What about the court?The court could only stare blankly.

Let alone interference, as long as these small kingdoms don’t cause trouble, the imperial court will be thankful: Eight years ago, during the She’an Rebellion, the imperial court spent three years mobilizing armies from all walks of life in the southwest, and spent a lot of money and food to wipe out the chieftain She Chongming and his son .

As long as a border chieftain revolts, the Ming Dynasty is already exhausted.Then Cao Chuan, who has conquered the overseas Yizhou that is difficult for soldiers and horses, and is a hundred times more powerful than the chieftain, even if he does not need tenants, but only uses machine iron to plant some "strange grains" on his own land, will the imperial court order to exterminate Cao Chuan because of this? ?If the imperial court really wants to manage Yizhou, will the surrounding slaves and chieftains rebel?

Therefore, in Lao Xiong's view, Comrade Bu Daxing is purely looking for trouble for nothing: if those iron tools for plowing the fields were laid out in Daming, causing the gentry to be dissatisfied, then there would be some talk.And now those iron weapons are still out of reach in Yizhou, why are you jumping up and down?Confucianism will perish tomorrow without you?

"It's really moaning without illness!" Xiong Wencan sat alone in the flower hall, and after slowly drinking a cup of green tea, he finally made such an assertion to Comrade Bu Daxing.

Chapter 374 Official Documents

Time: the next morning.

Location: Fuya.

A team of about 50 people is slowly coming to the governor's office in Fujian.

Two parallel knights are at the forefront.These two men wore helmets and armor, and had big horses under their crotches. They went on a rampage, traveling all the way, staying overnight and retreating.

Followed by gong players and chess players.The gong player is responsible for making noise along the way to drive away the idlers, and the chess player is responsible for holding up the signboard to tell the public which big bug is out again.

Then came the Ming Dynasty-style soldiers in brand-new red fat jackets, leather armors, and bronze helmets.Teams of dozens of people walking in uniform are too common in later generations, but they are unique in this era, so the pedestrians on the side of the road all looked sideways.

Guarded by sergeants in the middle were two identical four-wheeled carriages with dark space films on the bulletproof windows.

Later, when the carriages stopped in front of Fuyamen, guards opened the door of one of them.The next moment, the coastal defense general of the Fujian branch of the Ming Dynasty and the lieutenant general Cao Chuan (pseudo) got off the carriage.

Vice General Cao didn't stop after getting off the car, and soon entered the side entrance of Fuya surrounded by several tall guards.

Same as in the past, after Deputy General Cao entered the door, someone from the side came out to greet him, leading the way.

What's different from the past is that there is a middle-aged man dressed in black straight clothes and dressed as a scribe next to the concierge: Master Bu Daxing.

Standing by the side of the road with his hands behind his back and his chest upright, Master Bu immediately spotted Vice General Cao passing by in front of him. Among them, Master Bu recognized him like a firefly.

Without squinting at Comrade Zhang Dongdong who was striding past, he naturally didn't notice an old man staring at him full of hatred.

And the old man shook his head helplessly after watching the target go away, and then he walked out of the gate of Fuya.

Although Master Bu still had some hope in his heart before coming today, when he saw the true face of "General Cao", he had to admit one thing: the picture on Cao Da's head was not this person.

This is the advantage of exquisite products.Whether it's banknotes or Cao Datou, the portraits on them are lifelike; even if Mr. Bu insists on talking, he can't bring together the faces of Zhang Dongdong and Cao Chuan, who have different faces.

However, even though he has seen the domineering and domineering Cao Chuan himself surrounded by heavy soldiers, for some reason, Master Bu always has an inexplicable feeling: the portrait on those banknotes should be Cao Chuan—because in his judgment, only the opposite Cao Chuan, the leader of the thieves, is qualified and motivated to have his face printed on the banknotes.

Until sitting in the carriage parked outside the Fu Yamen, Mr. Bu, who still couldn't figure out the joint, found himself starting to have a headache.

"Master, are you going back home?" At this moment, the servants outside the car interrupted the master's thinking.

Master Bu, who has been completely disappointed in Xiong Wencan, does not intend to stay here anymore. He is going to a new battlefield: "Go back to the mansion, pack up and salute, book a boat ticket, and go to the mansion of Master Weng."

……

General Cao, who didn't notice the episode at all, went straight to Old Xiong's study, and Comrade Old Xiong was already standing at the door of the study with a smile on his face.

"Cao Chuan, my lord!" Seeing the old bear, Zhang Dongdong took two steps forward and bowed his hands in salute.

It is said that since everyone's life has become better and better in recent years, the relationship between Cao and the officials and businessmen in Fujian headed by Xiong Wencan has become more and more harmonious.

This is certain.In history, Zheng Zhilong only cared about eating alone after being recruited, and he couldn't come up with any business strategy to make everyone rich together.

But it is different here through the public: the strong industrial production capacity and the hunger for raw materials have led to the mobilization of idle capital in the whole of Fujian.The money buried in the ground and a large number of redundant people who would have been the source of social unrest have now found a way out, and resources have been rationally allocated.

In this wave of development frenzy, in addition to the first batch of businessmen who got rich by eating crabs, officials from all over the world who were born with information advantages followed closely.Mining, transportation, wholesale, agency... All kinds of business activities that have exploded allow everyone to make money.

As for the big officials at the top, like Lao Xiong and Cai Shanji, the chief minister, they are making money even more: the agency rights of any in-demand commodity can make the boss eat and drink.

So some happy little annoyances were born inadvertently: some time ago, at a party with a good relationship, several big brothers intentionally or unintentionally hinted at their willingness to help General Cao get a name.

Ancient literati had the habit of naming and choosing characters for their close juniors or warriors.The representative of this is Zheng Chenggong: his childhood name was "Fusong", and later his private school teacher named him "Sen", and when he went to Nanjing Guozijian for further study, his master Shui Tailiang gave him the nickname "Damu". ".

Later, Comrade Zheng Damu bestowed the surname "Zhu" and "Success" on the Ming Dynasty by Emperor Meng Longwu, and granted him the title of Uncle Zhongxiao. Because Emperor Mengyongli named Yanping King, it was called "Zheng Yanping".

In short, it is a kind of goodwill that the big brother is willing to help a rude warrior get his watch.

However, Zhang Dongdong was sitting on the bed at that time.The question of the table characters is a bit similar to the year name. How dare he let several Ming Dynasty officials choose the characters for that emperor?This kind of problem can be big or small, and it can be put on the line when the situation is right. He doesn't want to be put on his head by the gang of rebels who are staying on the island-ah, it's hard to be a puppet!

Fortunately, Zhang Dongdong was quick-witted at the time, so he hurriedly used the fact that there were elders in his family to fool him... people from later generations have almost no concept of "table characters". The reason why the problem is not taken seriously.

Then when Zhang Dongdong's urgent message was sent to the cabinet, people just remembered: it's time to give the emperor a name.

Fortunately, the voting procedure is very convenient, and the question of the wording was settled that night: after dozens of rounds of instant screening on the forum, the final winner was "Pokong", a name with deep connotations and full of strong fantasy .

...It is worth noting that this word was created without the emperor's knowledge. From this, it can be seen that the democratic process within the public is still satisfactory.

So from that day on, Comrade Zhang Dongdong began to be called Biaozi when he appeared in Ming Dynasty officialdom again.

Seeing Xiong Wencan waiting at the door of the study, Zhang Dongdong went up and hurriedly bowed his hands: "Cao Chuan sees your lord."

Xiong Wencan, who was standing in front of the study door to welcome the guests, hastily stretched out his hands to help: "You and I are ministers in the same palace now, so we must not be so polite in the future!"——From the official rank, Cao Chuan, a practical general, hangs The rank of deputy general is from the third rank, and Xiong Wencan's official rank is actually not high: the right deputy governor Yushi is also from the third rank.That's why Xiong Wencan has the phrase "you and I are ministers in the same palace".

Of course, this kind of story of civil and military officials treating each other as equals will only happen in a few cases, such as now.

In the Ming Dynasty, except for the founding period, the status of generals in the future is getting worse day by day.In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the civil servants had completely suppressed Wu Bian. Usually military officials of the fifth and sixth ranks were no farts in front of the civil officials of the seventh rank.

This situation will be completely reversed in the upcoming collapse of the late Ming Dynasty.This has been the case in all dynasties: warriors rebounded in troubled times, and military leaders killed civilian officials like chickens. This is the so-called cycle of chaos.

Now Xiong Wencan is so polite to General Cao, not because he has a premonition that troubled times are coming, but that the two sides have indeed become political allies with equal status: equal rank, each has strength, and resources complement each other.

After a few words of politeness, the two of them entered the study room, and a servant brought tea later.

Then we entered the topic.Xiong Wencan picked up an official document on the table and patted it on the palm of his hand, then he said with a smile: "I invited you here today because of this official document from other places. Let's guess where this document came from?" "

Zhang Dongdong saw that Lao Xiong was very interested today, and he actually sold out, so he started to use his brains: Since it is an official document from another place, and Lao Xiong specially invited him to come here, then this official document cannot escape from the capital in the north and the people in the south. Two places in Guangzhou.