At the end of the conversation, Tang Yin seemed to realize that he had made a mistake, his mind was a little clearer, and returned to the camp to rest with a hazy drunkenness.

When I came to see Chen Xi again the next day, Tang Yin seemed to remember nothing, chatting and laughing, as if he had just had a dream yesterday.

Chen Xi probably knew that Tang Yin was drunk and depressed, so he had so many heartfelt words. He would not speak out, but just thought it was just listening to a dream talk.

Regarding the details of recruiting the rebels, Ma Zhongxi sent a detailed official letter to Chen Xi, which roughly means that the thief leader Liu Liu and Liu Qi have submitted a surrender form to him, and will probably officially surrender in mid-to-late April.

Everything seemed to be going well, but Chen Xi knew that this was just a delaying strategy used by the rebels.

Chen Xi did not raise an tent to discuss matters, and he did not need to listen to his subordinates' opinions on recruiting rebels.

However, Tang Yin was very concerned about this matter. He came to Chen Xi while having lunch. He also learned that there were letters coming from the north in the morning and wanted to know the next move of the army.

“…Nothing big is going on.”

Chen Xi's tone was easy-going, "It was a letter about recruiting the rebels, and I was not responsible for the time being."

Tang Yin nodded: "Shangshu Chen, I drank a few glasses of wine yesterday, and then it seems that I have come back to report to you... I didn't talk nonsense, right?"

Chen Xi smiled and said, "Brother Bo Hu just told me the details of meeting the officials. What else can I say?"

Tang Yin touched his head: "I always feel like I said something yesterday, but I don't remember what it was, for fear that Shangshu Chen would be abrupt."

Chen Xi smiled but said nothing, which made Tang Yin slightly confused, but now Tang Yin is much cheerful and open-minded than before. He would not have thought that he would express so many feelings after getting drunk.

After talking about Tang Yin leaving, he had to contact the local government in the afternoon. After learning the lesson this time, he thought to himself: "I won't drink anymore if I beat him to death!"

Tang Yin had just left here, and Zhang Lun came to see Chen Xi again.

Zhang Lun's purpose is very simple, which is to thank Chen Xi for his help. His letter to British Duke Zhang Mao had been replied to. Zhang Mao praised his grandson's performance and said that the Zhang family had successors, so that Zhang Lun would continue to work hard and study hard with Chen Xi.

Although Zhang Mao did not explain in detail how to learn from Chen Xi, Zhang Lun understood that if he wanted to continue to make achievements, he could only flatter Chen Xi.

"Mr. Shen, I am grateful to you. Bei Zhi understands that the last time I was given the credit. Whoever you asked me to go will be the result in the end... More than 300 defeated soldiers and bandits did not have much threat at all. Bei Zhi has taken such a huge advantage."

Zhang Lun was very cautious, fearing that he would be inappropriate in his words, but Chen Xi was very easy-going, not as unkind as he was when he was promoted to the tent and discussed matters on weekdays.

Chen Xi smiled and waved his hand: "The credit was obtained by you, and sending you there was the best choice at that time... Your family has a lot of knowledge and good abilities. If you don't have the most basic trust, who dares to use the newcomer rashly? Ling Zu actually has no need to thank him. Everything in the army is done according to the rules."

Zhang Lun heard that Chen Xi's words meant to be in business. In his opinion, doing business means being in business means being in distant. In order to balance the relationship between all parties in the military, Chen Xi could not always help.

Suffering from the fact that Suijun had no resources, Zhang Lun stepped forward and whispered: "My ancestor hopes to have a good banquet after Lord Shen returns to the capital and express his gratitude to you."

"hehe."

Chen Xi smiled and shook his head, "I said no thanks. If I do this, others think that I am flattering the powerful and narrow-minded, but it is better to do things in detail... This war is far from over. Moreover, there will be wars to wipe out Japanese pirates along the southeast coast and to quell the rebellion of the chieftains in the mountains of the southwest. There are many opportunities to make contributions."

“Yes, yes.”

Zhang Lun felt very embarrassed. While trying to fulfill Zhang Mao’s instructions, he also felt that it was not easy for generals like Chen Xi who had a clear reward and punishment to take the wrong path and easily obtain credit.

Seeing that Zhang Lun looked entangled, Chen Xi said with a very slanderous expression that he would not give up until he achieved his goal, and immediately said, "Let's do this, there is one thing you can do... Go and pick up the troops of Henan Governor Hu Zhongcheng to go south. I will transfer a thousand-person cavalry team to you. I wonder if you are willing to accept the order?"

"ah!?"

Zhang Lun was stunned at first. From his perspective, if he just went to pick up other people, he would not want to do such a chore. But he is now a subordinate of Chen Xi. Chen Xi actually ordered him to order him, and he had no reason to refuse.

Zhang Lun was born with a noble family and was exposed to the exaggerated habits of aristocratic families. He was not willing to endure hardships, but after hesitating a little, he still took the order: "I am willing to go to the position of a humble position."

Chen Xi nodded, pulled Zhang Lun to the table with the map, pointed to it and said, "Actually not far, it's about a hundred miles away. Let's set off in the afternoon and spend the night in Ningling or Suizhou in the evening. You should be able to meet with Governor Hu before noon tomorrow. The day after tomorrow... you will come back."

Zhang Lun asked, "When will that lord send troops?"

Chen Xi shook his head: "What should be said, I have already said it when I was promoting the tent and discussing matters. There will be no change for the time being. I will wait for the court to further instructions here... The court has not issued an order for the reunion. How do you think this official should make a decision?"

"yes."

Zhang Lun was at a loss. Although he was about the same age as Chen Xi and had the same title in the future, even his British duke was much more valuable than Chen Xi's Duke Chen, but in fact he was incomparable to two ministers like Chen Xi and the imperial sect.

Chen Xi said again: "Then you go back and prepare first. I will let Hu Songyue lead the army with you. If you have subordinates who need to accompany you, you can also take them with you."

Zhang Lun had direct troops in the army, otherwise the British Duke Zhang Mao would not be relieved to hand over his grandson to Chen Xi. However, Zhang Lun seemed very humble at this time, "How can he arrange for a master and act as a humble position, and he does not need to bring his own people there."

Chen Xi smiled and shook his head: "Take some of your own people around you, it is always easier to do things. This time, we focus on stability. If we encounter rebels in the middle, we don't have to fight head-on. The cavalry is mobile and flexible, and it can still be easily avoided... However, the main force of the rebels does not dare to make trouble in the middle of the two-way suppression army. Even if we encounter them, they can only be a small group of bandits. If they handle it properly, they will be wiped out without any problem."

Zhang Lun asked: "Sir, if there is an emergency military situation, do you need to send someone to report to you immediately and cooperate with the elimination of the rebels?"

Chenxidao: "Information should be transmitted naturally, but there is no need to cause unnecessary casualties and injuries to transmit information. Everything is cheap."

...

...

Just a cheap word actually gives Zhang Lun a certain amount of power. He is only a hundred households in the army, but he can stand alone in this operation.

Zhang Lun may not be very capable, but he was the heir appointed by the British Duke. Chen Xi knew that Zhang Mao's health was not as good as before, and he might die in the tenth year of Zhengde as in history. At that time, Zhang Lun would take over Zhang Mao's position in the court.

Chen Xi felt a hidden worry: "The trajectory of the Zhengde Dynasty in history began at the time of the tenth year of Zhengde... The emperor favored his close ministers and had severe frictions with the nobles in the capital. He was deeply intimate. This was also related to the death of Old Man Zhang and the rise of Jiang Bin and others... If Zhang Lu could support the Governor's Office of the Five Army, perhaps the political situation in Zhengde would not have become so bad in the later period."

Even though Chen Xi felt that he could see the situation clearly, many things could not develop completely in the direction he set. After all, history is history, but reality needs to be changed by his efforts.

But he had suffered consecutive failures in changing history, realizing that the trend of history was unstoppable, and that inevitability made Chen Xi powerless.

After Zhang Lun received the order, he went back to make simple preparations.

Hu Songyue was called by Chen Xi and arranged for him to follow Zhang Lun to welcome Hu Lian's troops.

This time, Hu Lian did not achieve any decent results in the quelling of the Central Plains, which is related to the mediocre qualifications of Hu Lian's generals.

When the leader of the army calmed down the Shandong region's horses the year before yesterday, Chen Xi arranged for Hu Lian his own direct troops. After the end of the Battle of Tatars, Chen Xi's direct troops were basically placed in the northwest. Hu Lian was most likely to be surrounded by Ma Ang and other marginal figures. Hu Lian also wanted to transfer Hu Songyue and others to his command before, but he did not get approval from the court.

Hu Lian had enough strength, but found that the army lacked the cooperation of well-trained soldiers. After several battles, Hu Lian began to become cautious and focused on preserving his strength. After all, he could slowly fight for credit, but if he lost all his family's fortune and completely lost the opportunity to make progress, he might also face imprisonment.

Hu Lian had a high political awareness and would rather not win than advance at the risk of failure.

This is also related to Hu Lian having gained a certain position and was reluctant to let go of the jars and jars in his hand.

When a person's ideas change, it is almost impossible to develop according to the original historical trajectory.

Chen Xi himself was also thinking about this question. Whether he made Hu Lian successful or harmed Hu Lian, the result of his forcibly changing history was to push a person who should have been an unknown person at this time to his current high position, but made him mediocre, looked forward and failed to achieve the results he should have.

The same thing happened to Tang Yin.

Chen Xi remembered Tang Yin's drunken feeling and thought: "Maybe it was only then that Tang Yin and Hu Lian knew what they were really pursuing. This change brought them many troubles, but it could not be reflected in Wang Lingzhi and others, because they had never had other thoughts and had never changed their passion."

He seemed to understand something.

"To change the literati of this era is equivalent to changing a thought, which brings much greater butterfly effect than changing a warrior, and the same is true for Xie Laoer. Originally, Xie Laoer had retired at this time, and his children and grandchildren were happy in the countryside, but I forced them to the current position, but Li Dongyang retreated early. Reality has changed, and history is no longer the original history."

...

...

When Chen Xi was stationed in Guide Prefecture City, Lu Wan in Shandong was fighting with the rebels one after another. After several fierce battles, the imperial court won victory one after another, but there were also many soldiers who were killed and injured.

At night, Lu Wan personally visited the injured soldiers in the camp, and his will was a little low.

"Mr. Lu, a local official just came and gave you some consolation gifts and some gifts to you." A man in his thirties came over, wearing a straight Confucian shirt, respected Lu Wan very much and saluted respectfully.

Lu Wan glanced at the man and nodded, "Give all the things to the meritorious soldiers... and the wounded barracks also divided some past."

The person came to look around and said cautiously: "There is not much, why not stay all here with Mr. Lu?"

Lu Wan thought about it again and nodded again: "Well, let's not mention the matter of comforting the soldiers for now. You will talk to me after entering the account."

On the way back to the camp, Lu Wan kept asking about the situation in the capital. This person roughly told him. After hearing this, Lu Wan sighed: "Jiuhe, you shouldn't have come to the army with me. You have experienced the hard work in person. Isn't it easier to be a minister of Hanyuan than here?"

This person is a very famous person in history. Gu Dingchen entered the cabinet during the Jiajing Dynasty. Gu Dingchen was the top scholar in the 18th year of Hongzhi, and was the same year as Xie Pi, but Xie Pi could only live in Tanhua.

Originally, Hanlin officials would not serve in the Sixth Ministry, but Gu Dingchen had appointed Lu Wan as his husband in his early years. There were examples of Chen Xi, who was the top scholar, who had made great contributions. So Gu Dingchen, who had ideals and ambitions, chose to follow his mentor Lu Wan this time, and found opportunities to make achievements in the army and re-take the promotion path of Chen Xi.

Although the Hanlin Academy was noble, there was almost no movement in the first nine years. Just like working qualifications, they would be held until the position of editor of the sixth rank of historian. Now the emperor does not hold a lecture on the lectures on the sutras, and there is no need for teaching the prince of the Eastern Palace. The people in the Hanlin Academy have nothing to do except editing history books. Gu Dingchen could not see any hope of making a comeback, so he asked to follow the army.

Gu Dingchen said: "Students hope to serve the court in the army, so they asked to follow the teacher. The experience along the way is regarded as the students' experience."

Lu Wan turned his head and nodded silently. He was obviously very satisfied with Gu Dingchen. The two of them entered the military tent.

There were more than a dozen boxes in the central army's tent, all of which were sent by local officials. When they opened it, they were all famous calligraphy and paintings, porcelain and antiques. Lu Wan realized that these were not military items at all.

Lu Wan is the left minister of the Ministry of War. Now the emperor is still martial and respects Chen Xi, the Minister of War. There are rumors that Lu Wan will probably replace Chen Xi as the next Minister of War. Taking advantage of Lu Wan's quelling the chaos in Shandong, local officials will naturally curry favor with him.

Unlike Chen Xi's refusal to accept gifts, Lu Wan took a default attitude towards some bad habits in the officialdom, did not do anything concise, did not refuse small gifts, and was even willing to accept them.

“These are all things sent from the place.”

Gu Dingchen introduced the situation, "I didn't even prepare a gift list. It probably means to send it to Mr. Lu for everything... It would be a pity to give these elegant things to the soldiers. After all, they can't use them at all."

Although these boxes are not gold, silver and jewelry, they are all valuable things. Even Lu Wan, who is used to seeing big scenes in the officialdom of Beijing, thinks this gift is too expensive.

Lu Wan looked at it for a while and sighed, "The war has not been finished yet, and the gifts have been sent. Are you trying to report to the censor to impeach me for a reason?"

It is not unreasonable for Xie Qian to attack Lu Wan. Although Lu Wan is very talented and a famous capable minister in Zhengde, he does not mean perfect in terms of self-discipline. At that time, he did not belong to the kind of person who was ruthless in the eunuch party. When Liu Jin was in great success, he was very interested in selling himself and surrendering to him.

It was only after the emperor and Shen Xi were killed that they would not implicate others. This was also in accordance with the laws of historical development, so they did not punish Lu Wan, which was considered to be a capable civil servant for Zhu Houzhao.

Chen Xi understood the principle that water was clear and there was no fish. In an era of conservative times, all officials were required to be strict self-disciplined, which was no different from a fantasy. Even Chen Xi himself was sometimes inevitably inseparable from the officialdom. The supervision system was not sound, and relying solely on self-discipline was pure nonsense.

But Gu Dingchen understood the thoughts of the local officials very well and shook his head and said, "There is no gold and silver, nor jewelry and jade here. It is not an exaggeration to call it a pride. Sir, don't take it too seriously."

Lu Wan smiled and nodded before asking someone to carry the gift. As for how to deal with it, it was not known to Gu Dingchen. At this moment, Lu Wan also asked someone to take out the military map and put it on the table, and greet Gu Dingchen over and discuss it.

"Jiuhe, you are good at learning and have certain attainments in military tactics. Look at the current situation... I want to hear your opinions." Lu Wan pointed to the map and said.

Gu Dingchen approached and looked at the military map carefully. He frowned slowly and said worriedly: "Originally, the thief army was divided into several groups, and they could be divided and annihilated. Now, because of the intervention of Shangshu Chen, he drove the thief to both sides of the canal. There were no less than 100,000 thiefs coming from Shandong. We are under too much pressure."
To be continued...