Zhang Yuan took the emperor's order and immediately went to see Wang Shouren and Hu Lian.

At this time, Hu Lian had returned to the Central Army camp in the north of the city. After a while, Zhang Yuan decided to see Wang Shouren, who was more experienced in his opinion, who was better at speaking.

Wang Shouren did not have a special yamen in the city, but he used military tents as his temporary yamen in the south camp. When Wang Shouren learned that Zhang Yuan was coming, he was not surprised.

The night was solemn, and Wang Shouren personally went out to greet him. Zhang Yuan's face was filled with indifference as if he was not close to him. When he saw Wang Shouren, he snorted lightly, as if Governor Xuanda in front of him had committed him.

Wang Shouren had no intention of talking outside, so he took Zhang Yuan into his tent directly. Before he could meet, Zhang Yuan began to scold him in a condemnation: "How much guilt does Lord Wang think he should bear for this battle?"

When he came up, he asked for guilt, and a shadow was cast in Wang Shouren's heart.

Although Wang Shouren is not as old as Hu Lian, he has much more qualifications in the court. In addition, he comes from a family of officials and is much more clear about the rules of the officialdom than ordinary people. Therefore, he did not take the initiative to take responsibility and replied calmly: "It's enough to do as much as you should! If Eunuch Zhang comes to raise an army to ask for punishment, just explain your Majesty's imperial order, I will never shirk it."

Zhang Yuan looked at Wang Shouren in surprise, but when he saw that the other party was unruly, he suddenly felt a little angry and shouted: "This battle was caused by Lord Wang's initiative. Now something happened. Lord Wang, you really have no reason to excuse me. It's just that it's not time to ask for the crime. After all, this battle has not yet been finalized!"

"No conclusion?"

Wang Shouren frowned and asked, "Can your Majesty have a new plan to send troops?"

Zhang Yuan walked to the Shuai Case, sat in a noble position on Wang Shouren, fiddling with a paperweight placed on the Shuai Case, shook his head and said, "It is impossible to send troops. Your Majesty has no reason to send troops lightly when his morale is so sluggish. For the sake of the present, it is necessary to wait until all the troops gather together before talking about the decisive battle with the Tatars."

Wang Shouren looked at Zhang Yuan and did not take the initiative to take the initiative to follow up. He understood that the Si Li Supervisor's seal came with a purpose, but he did not understand what the other party was trying to mess around here for the time being.

Zhang Yuan said: "Whose responsibility should be, General Bai has assumed the blame for his failure to lead troops to the war. However, the outcome of this war is unclear. Your Majesty is not good enough to blame him. He can only temporarily deprive General Bai of his position, let him reflect on his few days, and then decide with the final result!"

Hearing this, Wang Shouren suddenly understood what the other party meant. Zhang Yuan repeatedly stated that the outcome of the war was unclear, which means that the emperor did not want to make this failure known to everyone, and it is more likely that he would find reasons to excuse this failure.

For Beijing officials and inland officials, they may not know much about the false report of the results. Wang Shouren did not understand the twists and turns in it before, but now he has been in the Northwest officialdom for several years. He secretly thought about everything:

"Even if Yansui failed to attack in the battle before, it could be promoted by the court as a 'great victory'. This time, His Majesty would have put on the battle personally, so how could he fail easily? In fact, if Bai Yu, who was leading the army, wanted to delay the matter until tomorrow, was His Majesty wanting to twist the matter?"

Seeing that Wang Shouren was silent, Zhang Yuan immediately asked in anger: "Will Mr. Wang make no comments on this?"

Wang Shouren said: "I am naturally responsible for failing to fight this time. What decision does Your Majesty have now? I will listen to it. Where is the right to comment?"

Zhang Yuan pretended to be profound and nodded, "Mr. Wang wants to protect himself. In fact, our family is not the same? The result of this war is not satisfactory, and no one feels good, but this does not mean that a minister can stand by and watch... Otherwise, Lord Wang, you have submitted a memorial with Your Majesty, and this matter will be revealed. What do you think?"

Wang Shouren took a breath and thought to himself: "It turns out that Eunuch Zhang is looking for me to submit a memorial, but he doesn't know if he is writing this memorial or what His Majesty meant?"

Wang Shouren asked: "I don't know, how should this memorial be improved?"

Zhang Yuan smiled and said, "Although this war was initially damaged when it sent troops, the subsequent turnaround from defeat to victory cannot be erased. So... Lord Wang should know how to report it, right?"

There were some things that Zhang Yuan should have made clear, and even said that the emperor had arranged it himself. However, Zhang Yuan is now smart and does not want to be caught in the hands of others. He talks around the bush and lets Wang Shouren figure it out by himself. Fortunately, his hints are already very clear, and anyone who has been in the border army for a long time understands what Zhang Yuan is saying.

Wang Shouren looked embarrassed and asked, "Eunuch Liu means... to say that this battle is a turn of defeat into victory, without mentioning the previous losses?"

Zhang Yuan refused to make the topic clear, so Wang Shouren naturally had to ask clearly. When he finally settled the gains and losses of the entire war, who was responsible was who was responsible. If he couldn't find evidence and asked him to do this, it meant that Wang Shouren would have to bear the infatuation of referring to the deer and the horse to turn black and white into a horse.

Zhang Yuan stood up, walked out of the Shuai Case, and reached out to pat Wang Shouren on the shoulder: "How to report by Lord Wang is not something that our family can decide, but Lord Wang must remember that when it comes to Long Wei, Lord Wang does not want the morale of the army to be disintegrated. The next battle cannot be fought, right? Haha, our family will go home first to wait for Lord Wang's good news and say goodbye!"

...

...

Zhang Yuan said halfway, and he stopped talking, and he didn't plan to see Hu Lian, which was equivalent to entrusting everything to Wang Shouren.

Zhang Yuan understood what he meant very clearly, and Wang Shouren also understood it. He seemed very embarrassed in his opinion, and in the end he had no choice but to meet Hu Lian overnight and inform him of the whole story.

In the tent of the Central Army in Beidaying, Wang Shouren and Hu Lian sat side by side. Wang Shouren explained in detail the incident of Zhang Yuan coming to see him. The more Hu Lian heard, the ugly his face became.

Finally, Hu Lian sternly said: "Zhang Yuan obviously wants to shirk responsibility. This time Zhangjiakou sent troops to meet the enemy, there is no problem strategically. One can find out the enemy situation, and the other can wait for an opportunity to encourage morale with a small victory. It is only because the three Tatar princes suddenly led their troops and led to a defeat. This matter is somewhat accidental. Moreover, we have successfully foresee the unfavorable situation of the war and suggest withdrawing the troops. It is only because Zhang Yuan insists on end that he ends up with a big defeat!"

Wang Shouren shook his head: "We don't know the whole story about the third prince of Tatar, but since Dayan Khan asked his third son to come to Xuanfu, there must be follow-up arrangements, so we should be careful to deal with it!"

Hu Lian frowned and said, "Then you can't say the black ones as white ones!"

“So what if I don’t do this?”

Wang Shouren's tone was helpless, "Now whether the victory or defeat is involved in His Majesty's face. Eunuch Zhang came to see him. In fact, he had already made it clear. I really don't know how to shirk it, so I came to ask you Brother Jinqi."

Hu Lian sneered: "Zhang Yuan wants to shirk responsibility, we can't do it as he wishes, just report it as it is!"

When Hu Lian finished speaking, Wang Shouren shook his head helplessly: "No matter how we make a memorial, the memorial will be passed by Eunuch Zhang. If it is not in his wish, how can we send our memorial to Your Majesty? Besides, before he came to see me, he had gone to meet the saint. The words he hinted to me may be from Your Majesty's instructions! If we ignore your Majesty's face, it will inevitably anger Your Majesty and cause trouble for yourself. At the same time, it is not a benevolent minister who disobeys the emperor."

Hu Lian looked cold and thought for a while, and sighed: "This is not possible, nor that is possible. Can you only follow Zhang Yuan's intention of eunuch and turn black and white upside down?"

Speaking of this, Hu Lian suddenly realized one thing, that is, Wang Shouren did not come to discuss matters with him as he said, but came to say hello to him, and even intended to submit a memorial by the two of them, which was equivalent to spreading the responsibility.

Hu Lian felt uncomfortable at first, but then he was shocked and reminded himself: "Boan is not such a person. He must have wanted to discuss a good countermeasure with me." He said at the moment: "Boan, do you have a good idea, such as how to submit a memorial, or send it to the capital?"

Wang Shouren shook his head and said, "As far as I think, Your Majesty must have asked that the result of the war be made public as soon as possible and be announced everywhere on the nine sides. If it is delayed, all kinds of rumors will inevitably breed. Therefore... the helpless act was to obey Eunuch Zhang's wishes and exaggerate the war as a deceptive defeat first. When the enemy was lured deep into the city, we were defeated by our army, and our Ming Dynasty won a great victory of nearly a thousand enemies."

"This..." Hu Lian was very reluctant.

Although Hu Lian, like Wang Shouren, had the idea of ​​protecting himself, after all, Hu Lian spent a short time in the court, and his promotion was smooth sailing, and he did not encounter so many setbacks, so he acted more "upright".

Wang Shouren said: "If Brother Chongqi doesn't want to submit a memorial like this, I will submit a memorial to Your Majesty alone."

Although Hu Lian also knew that Wang Shouren wanted to advance and retreat with him, which contained coercion, he finally sighed helplessly and shook his head and said, "This matter is not the responsibility of Bo'an, you alone, how can you take it alone? It is better to jointly sign the matter for memorials. Even if there is anything, we can face it together."

Wang Shouren stood up after hearing this and saluted Hu Lian respectfully.

Although Wang Shouren here means to pull Hu Lian off the horse, this is basically the emperor's intention. Wang Shouren felt a little guilty and thought to himself: "Brother, don't blame me. Since Your Majesty intends to reverse the outcome of the war, only you and I can advance and retreat together. Otherwise, I will be the only one who is named, and the memorials will appear inappropriate and the fairness is questioned. When you look back, Your Majesty will blame you for not knowing the current affairs... We will advance and retreat together!"

After the two discussed, Wang Shouren wrote the memorial and deliberately concealed the huge losses suffered by the cavalry in the first stage of the war, and described the final result as the Ming army won a great victory under the wise command of Emperor Zhengde.

...

...

Zhang Yuan was waiting for the news at home, and it was almost the third update. Zang Xiancai hurriedly came to report: "Dadult, Lord Wang and Lord Hu have submitted a joint report!"

"really?"

Zhang Yuan's heart was finally relieved. He took the memorial from the eunuch who was following Zang Xian and read it in detail. Unfortunately, his knowledge cannot be fully understood. Hu Lian and Wang Shouren have very high literary attainments. A summary book sprinkled thousands of words, citing scriptures and not markings. Zhang Yuan tried hard to read for a long time but couldn't understand it, so he had no choice but to hand it over to Zang Xian.

Zhang Yuan asked, "What did you say above?"

After reading it, Zang Xian explained it carefully and said, "Their joint report was handled completely according to the instructions of His Majesty, and there is no problem."

Zhang Yuan smiled and said, "That's good. These two people finally know each other. Just don't learn from Shen Zhihou! Arrange some people and escort our family to meet the saint!"

Even though the yard where he was located was not far from the garrison yamen, Zhang Yuan was still afraid of something unexpected. At this time, someone would need to escort a few steps away.

Zhang Yuan went to see Zhu Houzhao overnight. When he arrived at the garrison yamen, Zhang Yuan realized that Zhu Houzhao was resting at this time, and there was only Concubine Li beside him. This made Zhang Yuanjue feel a little unbelievable for a moment, and he thought to himself: "Your Majesty is usually energetic at night, why are you still sleeping at night?"

Zhang Yuan was afraid that Zhu Houzhao would wake up at any time, so he simply found a chair in the backyard of the garrison yamen, sat down, waited patiently for the news, and fell asleep in a daze.

It was almost dawn, Xiao Tiaozi came over and pushed Zhang Yuan: "Eunuch Zhang, Your Majesty is awake. If you have something to do, you can go in and start the report."

Zhang Yuan tidied up his clothes a little, and then went inside, but saw Zhu Houzhao dressing, and Concubine Li stood beside him to help Zhu Houzhao take care of. When Concubine Li looked over, the brilliance in her eyes made Zhang Yuan feel very dangerous.

"Your Majesty, the memorial of Lord Wang and Lord Hu to jointly request merit has been handed over. Can Your Majesty want to read it?" Zhang Yuan immediately told the news after bowing and greeting.

Zhu Houzhao turned around and looked at it, indicating that Concubine Li didn't need any help. Concubine Li tactfully retreated aside.

Zhu Houzhao walked up to the table with his head held high and sat down casually on the wooden chair with a cool mat. Xiaotie had already poured tea for Zhu Houzhao.

"How do you say their memorial?" Zhu Houzhao asked in a plain tone.

Zhang Yuan looked around again and took out the gaze that Li Fei and Xiao Tiaozi had avoided last night. Zhu Houzhao waved his hand: "You can just say something."

Zhang Yuan had no choice but to truthfully explain the contents of the memorial. Zang Xian explained these contents in detail to him. After Zhang Yuan reported the memorial, he submitted it to the emperor. Zhu Houzhao waved his hand and said:

"Since the Wang Qing family and the Hu Qing family have already requested merit, what else can I say? I have approved this memorial and will be awarded today."

"Your Majesty, don't you take a look?" Zhang Yuan felt something was wrong, but he didn't know what was wrong, and felt that the emperor seemed to be avoiding something.

Zhu Houzhao frowned: "I am very tired and don't want to see these messy things. Just let you take my place on Zhu's behalf... If it's okay, you can leave!"

Zhang Yuan went to see Concubine Li again, but when he saw the woman's eyes became even colder, he thought to himself: "It must be this woman who is making trouble behind her. I didn't know why His Majesty wanted to take her by her side before, but now I finally saw that she was responsible for blowing some wind in His Majesty's ear. Su Daji, who is harming the country and the people, will not die well!"

After being expelled from Zhu Houzhao, Zhang Yuan had no choice but to bow his head and leave.

After waiting for most of the night, he just asked him to go back and Zhu Ju Yu Zhu. Zhang Yuan was naturally unwilling to accept it. But the problem is that Zhu Houzhao does not fully trust him now, especially in major military affairs. Because of the setbacks in this attack, Zhu Houzhao also had doubts about the people involved in the plan in this war.

After Zhang Yuan left, Xiao Guozi also went out tactfully and closed the door from outside.

Concubine Li said: "Your Majesty, I should take my leave."

Zhu Houzhao held Concubine Li in her arms and said with a smile: "The beloved concubine doesn't have to leave. Stay behind and talk to me. Sometimes I feel that I can only feel at ease when I say something to you. Those servants and ministers are always separated from me, but you are the only one..."

Concubine Li shook her head slightly: "Your Majesty has raised me."

Zhu Houzhao said: "I haven't asked you, do you think I've done something wrong this time? I'm going to make a contribution to this battle now, and even the Wang Qing family and the Hu Qing family agree and submit memorials... Alas, I'm afraid that someone will scold me for being so happy about me. Is it clear that I have failed and I have to say victory. Isn't this clearly deceiving the world? Do I feel guilty? "

Seeing that Emperor Zhengde was pretending to behave in front of him, Concubine Li did not think about why, and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty did this just for the future... Now that the war has just begun, yesterday's war was just an appetizer, and in the end, the Ming Dynasty used lancers and artillery to achieve certain victory results, and the morale of the army was also boosted. Such a war had little impact on the overall situation. Since this was the case, of course, we must promote victory to boost the morale of the military and civilians and accumulate strength for the subsequent war!"

Zhu Houzhao smiled and nodded: "The concubine is right. In fact, no one cares about how many people were killed or injured in such a small-scale war. The impact on the outcome of the war does not depend on how much loss the two sides have... but whether the morale of the military and civilians of the Ming Dynasty can be boosted! I did this just to meet the needs. No matter what the result is, as long as the people think that we will win this war!"

Concubine Li nodded in agreement, her eyes full of admiration and admiration, which made Zhu Houguan look proud and said, "I had doubts before that the Tartars might have to restrain the troops of Xuanfu and attack other places, or confronted the troops led by Shangshu Shen who was deeply involved in the grassland. Now it seems that the Tartars have no intention of avoiding war at all, which also means that they have to use Xuanfu as the focus of the battle. The strategy of transferring troops to Xuanfu is not wrong! Next, I will wait for all the troops to gather, and then I can send troops calmly and kill those Tartars without leaving any armor!"

"Your Majesty, the Tartars in front of you may be a partial teacher of the Dayan tribe? Do you think about it again?" Concubine Li tactfully advised.

Concubine Li's heart is as clear as a mirror. She knows that things are not what Zhu Houzhao said, but she cannot point them out directly.

Zhu Houzhao said: "I don't believe that if the Tartars send a few birders, they can cause heavy losses to the elites of the Ming Dynasty! Now they are just a shitty third prince, and then they are probably the Tatar Khan... Humph, you must let them see how powerful I am!"

Seeing that Zhu Houzhao's paranoid idea was deeply rooted, Li Fei could only pretend to be confused even if she understood it. It was because she could not provoke Zhu Houzhao's authority.

Concubine Li thought to herself, "I don't know where Shen Zhihou is now. If he knew that His Majesty believed in slander and stopped facing thousands of Tatars with tens of thousands of soldiers, I don't know what to do? Shen Zhihou's ability in marching and fighting can be said to be unprecedented and no one will come later. He would have never expected this? Then why is his purpose of sending troops to the grassland?"

Zhu Houzhao yawned: "Suddenly, I'm not used to going to bed at night. It's going to dawn soon. Why don't you arrange a fun show for your beloved concubine?"

Concubine Li was stunned and looked at Zhu Houzhao, not quite understanding why the emperor was interested in eating, drinking and having fun again.

Concubine Li said: "Your Majesty, you can't arrange the program for the time being. Didn't you ask me to send all the women in the backyard yesterday?"

Zhu Houzhao smiled and said, "It was to fight at that time, so we couldn't be distracted, but now it seems that it is impossible to fight against the Tartars in a short period of time. We have to wait for all the people to arrive. This period of time will last ten days and half a month. I can't sit in this courtyard these days and do nothing, right? Hehe, you can find a way to arrange the program, and I am very at ease with your ability to do things."

Only then did Concubine Li realize that Zhu Houzhao was going to do his job again, so she stood up and saluted: "Your Majesty has given me the order, I will make arrangements now, but you may have to wait half an hour before you can get the person..."

"Go quickly and go quickly..."

Zhu Houzhao couldn't wait to urge him.
Chapter completed!