0p0 Chapter 184 Officials in the Southeast are in panic
Chapter 184 Officials in the Southeast are in panic
Late April.
Wei Yuan arrived at Mingzhou, Liangzhe.
According to the established marching route and time, he should have arrived here around the beginning of April.
However, the journey from Haizhou was delayed for too long.
At this moment, dozens of miles outside the Mingzhou coastal defense camp.
Yang Huairen said to Wei Yuan: "Originally, we set the date of triumph to be around June and July, and the food and grass prepared by the court can only supply our army until the end of July."
"Do you think we should ask the court for some more food and grass in case of emergency?"
Wei Yuan shook his head and said: "Don't worry for now. The southeast is the granary of the court. If it really comes to that, borrow some food and grass from the local area first."
He has reached an agreement with the King of Wu in Suzhou.
With Suzhou as a support, the new army will hardly be short of food anyway.
At this moment, the commander in charge of Mingzhou's coastal defense affairs, 'Liu Lu', was drinking in the lookout.
Suddenly, his subordinates came to report that Wei Yuan had arrived.
Liu Lu was shocked, "Lord Zhongyong? He is not going to Mingzhou City, but coming to our side?"
The subordinates responded, "The army is less than 20 or 30 miles away from here!"
Liu Lu's face turned pale, and he stood up from his chair and said, "Why are you still standing there? Prepare the horses and go to welcome Lord Zhongyong!"
After a while.
Liu Lu led 300 soldiers from the Mingzhou Coastal Defense Camp to welcome the arrival of the Danglu Army.
Wei Yuan got off his horse and came to Liu Lu, looking at the Mingzhou Coastal Defense Camp. They were all old, weak, sick and disabled, with only a few young and strong men.
How could such a coastal defense camp fight against Japanese pirates?
Liu Lu was stared at by Wei Yuan and felt scared. He knelt on one knee,
"I am Liu Lu, the commander of the Mingzhou Coastal Defense Camp, and I pay my respects to Lord Zhongyong!"
Wei Yuan waved his hand and passed by everyone and went to the observation tower.
Yang Huairen looked at Liu Lu and said, "Marshal Wei asked you to stand up."
Liu Lu realized it only later, and saw Wei Yuan walking towards the observation tower.
He looked at the tens of thousands of soldiers of the Danglu Army, and couldn't help trembling in his heart, secretly admiring:
"What a fierce army, it's intimidating!"
After a pause, he hurriedly chased Wei Yuan, stood behind him, bowed his head and bent over, looking very humble, and asked with a smile:
"Marshal Wei has come from afar, why don't you stay in the city, but come here instead?"
Chen Daniu, who was standing behind Wei Yuan, said coldly:
"Where is Marshal Wei going? Do you need to say hello to you?"
Liu Lu knew he had said the wrong thing, and hurriedly said, "Please forgive me, Lord Zhongyong, I shouldn't say too much."
While talking, Wei Yuan had already come to the observation tower and stood there looking around.
The observation tower and beacon tower in Mingzhou are in the same place. If the enemy is found, the beacon will be lit immediately.
There is a small castle every hundred steps on the left and right sides of the observation tower.
The fort can accommodate more than ten people.
Ten forts are connected in a line, firmly controlling the coastal defense line of Mingzhou.
Wei Yuan is quite satisfied with the infrastructure of coastal defense.
"Whose idea was it to build these bunkers?"
Hearing this, Liu Lu respectfully responded: "Reply to General Wei, it was the current Tongzhi Jianyuan Li Ding who sent people to build them."
"He was the governor of Mingzhou and went to Beijing to serve as an official five years ago."
Wei Yuan thought, "It turned out to be him."
I heard from Bao Xiaosu that although the civil officials in the court were relatively united on major issues.
However, privately, there were still some grievances and hatreds, which could not be sorted out.
Among them, Li Ding liked to impeach Su Shi whenever he had something to do, which led to Su Shi being often demoted or imprisoned.
It is worth mentioning that Li Ding was a student of Wang Anshi, so he could be regarded as a doer.
As for why Li Ding liked to impeach Su Shi, it was probably because Su Shi had served as an official in the southeast, and the two may have had some conflicts.
Wei Yuan had been in the army for a long time, and he could tell at a glance whether the beacon tower had been used.
The beacon on the Mingzhou observation tower had not been used for a long time.
Wei Yuan asked, "Have you ever encountered Japanese pirates in Mingzhou?"
Liu Lu was stunned and said, "Of course, we have. Half a month ago, the Japanese pirates learned that you were leading troops to come, plundered many nearby villages, and then went out to sea."
Half a month ago?
Wei Yuan frowned and said, "There is no sign of burning on your beacon. If Japanese pirates appeared half a month ago, you should have lit the beacon to alert the people nearby."
After that, he picked up the firewood on the beacon tower and saw that there was no sign of burning on it.
If the firewood was burned, let alone half a month, even half a year, some traces would be seen.
Liu Lu hesitated, not knowing how to respond.
"General Wei, you don't know that the Japanese pirates know that our coastal defense camp is on high alert. He...they..."
Chen Daniu grabbed his sleeve and said angrily: "Just now you said that the Japanese pirates went out to sea. You have set up so many bunkers, how could you not know?"
As soon as the voice fell.
Two new soldiers came over and bowed:
"General Wei, we saw that all the firewood on the bunkers had no signs of burning."
Wei Yuan nodded, looked at Liu Lu, and said: "Knowing that the Japanese pirates were afraid of our army and harassed nearby villages, it would be fine if we didn't light the wolf smoke to warn them."
"Why, you didn't stop the Japanese pirates from going out to sea?"
Liu Lu trembled and knelt on the ground for a while, "Reply to General Wei, we stopped them."
Stopped?
"Did we kill or injure the Japanese pirates?" Wei Yuan asked again.
Liu Lu trembled with his lips and trembled all over. When he looked at Wei Yuan, he felt shuddering and couldn't say a word.
At this time, two more Forbidden Army officers drank the remaining half a bottle of wine at the resting place in the observation tower, and even found two women in a secret room in a bunker.
They pulled the remaining drinks and women to the observation deck.
Wei Yuan looked at the two women. They didn't seem to be women from the Central Plains, so he frowned deeply.
"This is the coastal defense camp. Why are you here?"
The moment Liu Lu saw the two women being pulled over, he was instantly devastated.
He was obviously locked in a secret room in the bunker, how could they still find out?
The two women were in ragged clothes, and suddenly each of them burst out with a "Japanese language".
Chen Daniu said angrily: "Japanese woman?!"
Liu Lu quickly knelt down and kowtowed: "Commander Wei, spare your life, Commander Wei!"
"The last general will realize his mistake, the last general will be confused for a moment!"
Wei Yuan asked: "If you recruit me truthfully, I can still spare your life."
"Where did these two Japanese girls come from?"
Liu Lu panicked, "It's the Japanese pirates who gave me two women to curry favor with me. The general will realize his mistake."
As he spoke, he had already bruised his forehead with blood.
Facing Wei Yuan, the god of death, he really didn't dare to lie.
Wei Yuan arrived too suddenly.
He originally thought that when the new army arrived, they would first enter the city.
I plan to finish drinking today and have some fun, then kill these two Japanese girls.
However, it was too late.
Wei Yuan asked again, "Do you know, apart from you, which other coastal defense battalion commanders were bribed by Japanese pirates?"
Liu Lu thought for a while and said: "The commanders of the coastal defense battalions in Hangzhou and Taizhou have a close relationship with me. They have all received benefits from Japanese pirates!"
"Commander Wei, I have said everything I can say, please spare my life, Commander Wei!"
Wei Yuan nodded, "Don't worry, I won't kill you if I say I won't kill you."
As soon as he finished speaking, he glanced at Chen Daniu beside him, and then slowly turned around.
Chen Daniu drew out the sword from his waist, and in the blink of an eye, Liu Lu and the two Japanese girls were killed.
"Commander Wei said he wouldn't kill you, but I didn't say that!"
After a pause, Wei Yuan ordered: "Xiao Yuming, Shen Qing, you two, each lead 3,000 people, go to the Hangzhou and Taizhou coastal defense camps, and temporarily take over the coastal defense affairs of these two places."
The two of them bowed together: "No!"
Then he retreated.
Yang Huairen stood beside Wei Yuan and frowned: "I'm afraid that many coastal defense camps along the coast are rotten to the core."
"If we kill them all, it will be no less than a big prison. But if we don't kill them all, it will be difficult for the people along the coast to trust the imperial court."
Wei Yuan said sadly: "Coastal defense camps in various places need to be rectified. This is more urgent than eradicating Japanese pirates."
"There is no end to the Japanese pirates. After we leave, there will be more Japanese pirates invading our waters in the Great Zhou Dynasty, causing unspeakable suffering to the people along the coast."
"I have asked the Imperial City Department to investigate the nobles, merchants, officials, etc. who have had affairs with the Japanese pirates in Liangzhe Road."
"As long as the evidence is solid, we will be severely punished!"
Yang Huairen said: "In this case, Commander Wei is facing a lot of pressure."
Wei Yuan stood with his hands behind his hands, standing on the observation deck, looking at the vast sea in front of him, and murmured:
"Wang Anshi said something right."
"If you are not an official to make decisions for the people, it is better to go home and farm."
"As long as I am in this position, I cannot do nothing."
Yang Huairen nodded and said, "Commander Wei has decided?"
Wei Yuan said seriously: "If you don't offend them, you must offend the people."
"If you offend them, it will cause chaos for a while; if you offend the people, you may cause chaos for the whole world."
Wei Yuan bypassed Mingzhou Prefecture and went directly to the Haiphong Camp. The news of killing the commander of the camp soon spread to the Mingzhou Prefecture Yali.
The governor of Mingzhou went to Hangzhou overnight.
Hangzhou is the capital of Liangzhe Road.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Liangzhejiang Road Transportation Department, also known as the Liangzhedu Transportation Envoy, works in Hangzhou.
The commander of the Transshipment Department is in charge of the finances along the way, and also has the responsibility of supervising all officials. He can be regarded as the official of the frontier.
However, compared with Wei Yuan's current status, his status is slightly embarrassing, ranking behind Wei Yuan and Fan Chunren, equivalent to a high-ranking official or senior official.
It was not just Mingzhou officials who went to Hangzhou.
At this moment, the governors from various states within the two Zhejiang Roads have gathered in the Yamen of the Transportation Department in Hangzhou City.
The current transshipment envoy is named Zhang Xia, who is an expert in river management. Since he handled the affairs of Zhejiang and Zhejiang, floods have rarely occurred in the area.
Many people said that he was a good official.
Stay overnight at Mingzhou Coast Guard Camp in Weiyuan.
The governors of the fourteen prefectures of Zhejiang and Zhejiang entered Hangzhou as fast as possible overnight, met with Zhang Xia, and said one after another:
"This loyal and brave man killed my commander of the Mingzhou Coastal Defense Battalion as soon as he arrived. I don't know what his intention was."
"According to me, your coastal defense battalion commander should also be killed. Who doesn't know that he neglected his duties and caused Japanese pirates to often harass Mingzhou's coastal areas?"
"Is your Hangzhou Coastal Defense Camp clean? Do you usually turn a blind eye to these things?"
"In the past, we only focused on promoting the local economy and ignored the dangers of Japanese pirates. Now what should the commander-in-chief do if he uses this as an excuse to build the Southeast Prison?"
"Master Zhang, please tell me, what should we big guys do?"
"When Commander Wei arrived in Mingzhou, I led the officials of Mingzhou to wait eagerly for Commander Wei outside the city of Mingzhou. Unexpectedly, I received the news that Liu Lu had been killed. Mr. Zhang, this makes it difficult for the officials to sleep and eat well!"
"."
Zhang Xia, who was nearly fifty years old, sat in the first seat, looking at the people standing uneasy in front of him, without saying a word.
After they had quarreled for a while, they suddenly became quiet.
Zhang Xia looked at the crowd and sneered: "Keep talking, why don't you talk?"
Several people looked at each other.
Zhang Xia snorted: "What did I warn you on weekdays?"
"You should keep a closer eye on your subordinates."
"We all work for the court. As long as we are upright, why should we be afraid of Wei Yuan?"
"Now you come to see me in a panic, it can be seen that you all have something to hide."
"If that Wei Shuai really finds out something, those who should be killed will be killed, and those who should be imprisoned will be imprisoned. I will never plead for them."
When these words came out, everyone's face turned pale.
Among them, most of them did not collude with the Japanese pirates. After all, they were scholars and officials, and not colluding with foreign bandits was the bottom line.
But apart from that, they also had some unclean places.
At least they could be convicted of negligence.
If the Southeast Frontier Governor Wei Yuan were to investigate one by one, who could remain unscathed?
They had to be anxious!