Chapter 307 First Snow

The scenery of the north is covered with ice and snow.

Looking inside and outside the Great Wall, there is only wilderness; the great rivers are no longer surging.

The mountains dance like silver snakes, and the plains run like wax elephants, trying to compete with the sky.

It must be a sunny day to see the red dress and white clothes, which are particularly charming.

The mountains and rivers are so beautiful that countless heroes compete to bow down.

…

Time quietly entered winter, and Beijing welcomed the first snow.

The snowflakes fluttered all night, and the next day Beijing was dyed white, even the magnificent Forbidden City.

Beijing seemed very busy during the day. An official sedan came to the Meridian Gate Square and stopped on the periphery of the square.

The Jinwu Guards on the Meridian Gate Tower were wearing armor and standing at their posts to guard the palace gate.

General Chang Feng had a straight back. After the battle to recover Jianzhou, he was fully tempered and now had a bit of the flavor of a young general.

Zizizi...

A fat official in a third-rank official uniform emerged from the official sedan chair. His two wide official boots stepped on the snow, which made a regular sound.

Although Beijing was covered with ice and snow, a warm sun was hanging in the sky, showing the vitality of the empire.

Chen Kun was only thirty years old, but he was already mature beyond his age. He was looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar palace gate with emotion.

In the past, he was just an insignificant official in the Ministry of Revenue, but now he has become the governor of Xuanda with the most important military power, a genuine frontier official.

Chang Feng and Chen Kun's eyes met. The former was surprised at the latter's youth, and the latter also considered the other's age.

One of the characteristics of the Hongzhi Dynasty was that officials and generals gradually became younger, but it broke the tradition of seniority. Many officials and generals who were willing to do practical things would be promoted.

The palaces were surrounded by towering buildings, and the streets were full of splendor.

The wind and clouds are gathering today, and the emperor's family is ancient.

…

After reporting, Chen Kun came out of the summoning room next to him.

He followed the eunuch with excitement and walked into the palace gate. What appeared in front of him was Fengtian Gate Square. At this time, the snow on the palace road had been cleared and it was extending to the back of Fengtian Gate.

Chen Kun walked on this palace road again, and he had an illusion that he was in another world.

After more than a year of serving as the governor of Xuanda, he was fully trained, so he cherished his current position and achievements even more.

This sudden summons to Beijing made him very excited and nervous. The excitement was naturally that he was about to meet the master of the Ming Dynasty, and the uneasiness was that it was hard to predict whether there would be thorns or flowers at the end of this palace road.

But he knew that no matter whether it was reward or punishment, his loyalty to the emperor was his greatest duty as a minister, and it was also the prerequisite for continuing to walk on this palace road.

Ah!

Liu Jin stood outside the Qianqing Gate and suddenly couldn't help sneezing loudly, then stretched out his hand to rub his slightly red nose, not liking this kind of cold winter weather.

"Eunuch Liu, why did you come out?" Chen Kun saw Liu Jin standing in front of the Qianqing Gate from a distance, and immediately greeted him flattered.

Liu Jin waved his hand in disapproval, but said half-truthfully: "It's all because of you! You are now favored by His Majesty, and as His Majesty's servant, I naturally have to come out to greet you!"

"Eunuch Liu, you are embarrassing me, please forgive me! This is just a small token of your kindness, not respect!" Chen Kun knew that Liu Jin was a popular eunuch around the emperor, and immediately forced a handful of food coupons over.

Now the most popular currency in the capital is no longer silver, but this kind of easy-to-carry food coupons.

Although this dynasty has the precedent of the Ming Dynasty treasure notes, due to the bankruptcy of the reputation of the Ming Dynasty treasure notes, the treasure notes in the hands of many people have become waste paper, so there is a natural resistance to paper money.

However, since Hongzhi ascended the throne, he has introduced measures such as rectifying the salt administration, measuring the land and sorting out the finance, especially recovering Jianzhou to resettle millions of disaster victims, which has won the favor of the grassroots people invisibly.

Most importantly, the grain coupons have extremely strong circulation. Not only can they be directly exchanged for rice and grain with rice shops and government offices, but they can also be used to pay taxes to the court.

It is precisely because the Ming Dynasty court recovered the grain coupons issued through taxation and other means, thus giving the grain coupons a high use value, which is quietly replacing the status of silver.

Liu Jin found this Governor of Xuanda, who smiled like Maitreya Buddha, very pleasing to the eye, and immediately smiled and said: "Okay! Lord Chen, come in quickly, don't keep His Majesty waiting for too long!"

The reason why he came out to wait here was that Liu Jin knew Chen Kun was an official who understood the ways of the world, and secondly, he just wanted to bring him to Emperor Hongzhi as soon as possible.

Although he was greedy for a little money, he was more loyal than anyone else, and always took the emperor's happiness as his top priority.

The East Warm Pavilion in the Palace of Heavenly Purity seemed like spring all year round.

Zhu Youtang, who was wearing casual clothes, wrote with a majestic look. Seeing that local officials had already sent up the congratulatory table, he found that time had passed so quickly this year.

Now, he felt that he had not been in the Yangxin Palace for too long, especially since the thawing of the Taiye Lake had not passed for too long, and he had to hide in the East Warm Pavilion to work again.

Fortunately, he was not doing nothing. This year, he not only rectified the financial system, but also recovered Jianzhou, and promoted the land survey in an orderly manner.

Seize the day and make the most of your youth.

Zhu Youtang knew that he had touched upon the interests of the powerful and wealthy, and that the mysterious power in the capital was getting stronger instead of weaker, so he cherished every day even more.

"Chen Kunjing, the Governor-General of Chenxuan, wishes to greet His Majesty!" Chen Kun, who was wearing a third-grade official uniform, walked in and threw himself on the ground with excitement and choked with sobs.

this……

When Liu Jin saw Chen Kun who was full of drama, he didn't expect that this fair and fat man could release his emotions in such a way and live up to the image of a loyal official.

Zhu Youtang was also slightly stunned, but as he looked at Chen Kun kneeling in front of him, his eyes showed warmth: "My blessing! Chen Aiqing, please get back on your feet!"

"Your Majesty, I am willing to kneel. It has been too long since I knelt for Your Majesty, and I want to take this opportunity to make up for it!" Chen Kun was already filled with tears, and he seemed to express his loyalty sincerely.

Zhu Youtang could feel that Chen Kun was indeed very loyal to him. It was undeniable that this was an era where officials who were infatuated with emperors were easy to appear, so he expressed his position calmly: "Chen Qing is guarding the border for me, which comforts my holy heart. As long as If Chen Qing can serve me with all his heart, our monarch and ministers will work together for decades. Chen Qing doesn’t need to be so eager to show his loyalty. Let’s get over it first!”

"I will do my best in the future and be willing to go through fire and water for His Majesty!" Chen Kun found that what Zhu Youtang said made sense, and then he kowtowed three times.

Liu Jin carefully looked at the all-round and exquisite Governor Xuanda, and also faintly felt Chen Kun's loyalty to the emperor. I am afraid that his future achievements will not be much weaker than Liu Zhong's.

Naturally, Zhu Youtang could not recall Chen Kun back for no reason. He immediately picked up the secret book that Chen Kun sent earlier and said, "Chen Qing, are everything you said in the secret book true?"

"Your Majesty, after I took office, I put more emphasis on staying up all night, and at the same time instigated some Beishun herdsmen and leaders to rebel. After repeated verification, this matter is absolutely true. There has indeed been a major disaster in Beishun this winter. Recently, cattle and sheep have died of freezing and starvation. Nearly half dead!" Chen Kun finally knew the emperor's intention of suddenly summoning him back to the capital, and he immediately said with certainty.

Everyone knows that farming societies depend on the weather. Once natural disasters such as floods, droughts or locusts occur, local crops often fail.

It’s just that herdsmen also depend on the weather for their livelihood. In addition to fearing natural disasters such as drought and locusts in the grasslands, they are also afraid of cold winters and plagues.

This winter, Beishun State encountered a major cold wave that has only occurred once in decades, so the temperature was much colder than in previous years.

Due to the sudden drop in temperature, feed and water sources for cattle and sheep have been restricted, and a large number of cattle and sheep have died due to cold and starvation. Coupled with the fact that Manduhai wanted to unify the grassland and continued to conquer, Beishun's ability to resist disasters was actually not strong.

It is worth mentioning that in the history of China, there are actually very few records of disasters in the prairie.

This is easy to understand. Those in power in the previous Ming Dynasty longed to share the blessings of peace. They prayed in their hearts that the Mongolian cavalry would not invade, but they would not take the initiative to pay attention to the disaster on the prairie.

Just because China does not keep records in this area, it does not mean that there are no disasters in Mongolia. In fact, the truth is the biggest weapon to restrain Mongolia's population growth.

The reason why Zhu Youtang recalled Chen Kun to the capital was actually to confirm the disaster situation in Mongolia.

After all, there is no record of this disaster in the original Chinese history. Now it has been confirmed by Chen Kun himself that he does not think that he has changed the direction of history, but that the original dynasty did not pay attention to this disaster.

The real situation is probably that the benevolent emperor Zhu Youtang was influenced by the civil servant group, but he wanted to share the blessings of peace with the surrounding forces, so he had no idea of ​​raising an army at all.

In the original history, even though Dayan Khan called himself Dayan Khan, the Manchu civil and military officials turned a blind eye, but chose to coexist peacefully with Dayan Khan.

It can be seen that the only thing they care about is whether Dayan Khan will lead his troops to invade, but they have never thought of raising troops to deal with Dayan Khan, so naturally they will not care about the disaster in the grassland.

However, history has undergone subtle changes. Although this natural disaster occurred as scheduled, the tyrant Emperor Hongzhi is now sitting on the throne.

Zhu Youtang tapped his fingers lightly on the chair handle, but asked very seriously: "Chen Qing, who is solely responsible for the disaster in Beishun Country this time?"

"Your Majesty, this matter is not difficult to verify! Although Beishun must be led by Dayan Khan every time he goes on an expedition, the real person in power has always been Manduhai, and this time Manduhai is also responsible for disaster relief! Their original plan was They want to buy cotton-padded clothes from us, but Beishun’s national funds are already empty!” Chen Kun attached great importance to the construction of the intelligence system and appeared to report very seriously.

Zhu Youtang looked at the fat young man with eyes, and couldn't help but nodded with satisfaction.

Now that the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia have shaken hands and made peace, especially the Ming Dynasty, he has adopted the Mongolian princess Iksin as his concubine, so the most important thing at this stage is information.

Although the original writers of history promoted Dayan Khan as the leader of ZTE, the history books obviously weakened Manduhai, and even wanted to delete the woman Manduhai.

It's just that although Dayan Khan in history was very capable, fifteen years old was only a junior high school student, so Zhu Youtang didn't think that Dayan Khan could already master everything.

Not to mention, even the orthodox heir, Emperor Wanli, could not take charge until he was twenty years old.

Dayan Khan, who is now only fifteen years old, is not the orthodox heir. He is even regarded as a son-in-law, so he is far inferior to Emperor Wanli politically.

Even though Dayan Khan has become the commander-in-chief of the conquering army, his prestige and team in the army have not been established, and he is especially unlikely to have management skills. Therefore, Manduhai must be the real leader.

On the other hand, Manduhai was a woman who chose to marry a young child to gain power, and she personally raised Dayan Khan. How could she lose power so easily?

That’s why Zhu Youtang knew that his opponent was still Manduhai, the real master of Beishun, not Dayan Khan, who was not yet an adult.

Zhu Youtang had made up his mind now, so he asked very seriously: "Mr. Chen, after the crisis of Beiyuan was resolved, do you know why I kept you in Xuanda?"

"I am stupid!" Chen Kun did not dare to be smart, and immediately bowed respectfully.

Zhu Youtang looked at the fat man and said with his heart: "I hope you can understand one thing: whether it is Beishun or Beiyuan, the north has always been a major concern for the Ming Dynasty! Now Liu Zhong is measuring the land for me in Huguang and solving the problem of hidden land. I also hope that you can slowly work on it and eliminate the trouble in the north for the Ming Dynasty."

Although he chose to take the path of marriage, he knew in his heart that this was actually a short-term stability.

In the original history, the Ming Dynasty court was pursuing this short-term stability, watching Dayan Khan unify Mongolia and gradually expand, which eventually left hidden dangers for the later dynasties.

Although Zhu Youtang granted Dayan Khan the title of King of Beishun, he knew clearly that the relationship between the two sides could not be reconciled at all. Once Mongolia completed its unification, it would definitely point the spearhead at the Ming Dynasty again.

That is why he needed to completely disintegrate the regime before Beishun Kingdom truly achieved unification, rather than letting them become a scourge to China for the sake of temporary stability.

"Your Majesty, I know that Your Majesty is an emperor of the ages, and you have a good plan in mind!" Chen Kun's heart was filled with excitement, and he immediately expressed his attitude seriously.

I thought that the gap between him and Liu Zhong, who was conscientiously measuring the land, was getting bigger and bigger, but I didn't expect that His Majesty still valued me so much, and even compared me with Liu Zhong.

Although Liu Zhong was indeed doing an unparalleled feat, as long as he could get the current things done, his achievements were actually not much weaker than Liu Zhong.

Zhu Youtang's eyes lit up slightly, and he immediately gave Liu Jin a look.

Liu Jin knew that the matter was of great importance, so he immediately sent away the irrelevant people and arranged two big Han generals to guard the door to ensure that the conversation between the monarch and the minister would not be leaked.

About an incense stick of time, Chen Kun left with light steps.

Zhu Youtang looked at the plan handed over by Chen Kun, and suddenly found that officials who were good at dealing with people might not be talents, and he seemed to have picked up a capable minister.

Now he only needs to wait quietly for a year or two, but he hopes that Chen Kun can really bring him a big surprise.