Chapter 588: The Envoy's Deterrence
On New Year's Day of the 30th year of the Jiajing reign, there was a heavy snowfall in the capital.
In the early morning, Jiang Qingzhi got up an hour earlier and went to practice as usual.
Once a person develops a habit, if he doesn't do it for one day, he will feel that he owes something, if he doesn't do it for two days, he will feel guilty, if he doesn't do it for three days, he will take it for granted...
Then I started to lie down.
In the martial arts arena, Xia Yan was admiring the snow, while Xu Wei and Hu Zongxian were practicing boxing in the corridor, one seemed vigorous and powerful, while the other seemed calm and relaxed.
Sun Chonglou and Dou Jialan were sparring. Dou Jialan was clearly no match for him, but...
"The kid actually learned to let the opponent win?" Jiang Qingzhi stared in amazement at the fool being chased and hacked by Dou Jialan.
Fu Cheng, however, watched this scene with a smile on his face, and said with satisfaction: "Grown up, grow up!"
Jiang Qingzhi first ran a few laps, then performed a set of punches and kicks, and finally the swordplay.
Although the flintlock rifle came into being, cold weapons still could not be left behind.
A hundred years later, cold weapons are still an indispensable killing weapon on this planet.
It wasn't until the advent of repeating firearms that pistols, which didn't require awkward reloading, replaced the longsword and longsword.
The breakfast was very light, which made Sun Chonglou a little disappointed.
"My wife said that dinner should be big and breakfast should be light," the cook explained.
After finishing a light breakfast, Jiang Qingzhi unexpectedly found himself refreshed and his mind was much clearer.
It turns out that being a vegetarian makes sense.
But not everyone is suitable for being a vegetarian. If some people eat vegetarian food for a long time, their bodies will lack this and that, and eventually they will have a lot of problems.
Is this also fate?
Jiang Qingzhi seemed to be thinking about something.
"Uncle, it's time to worship our ancestors." Fucheng said.
Jiang Qingzhi nodded and then went to the ancestral hall.
The tablets of Jiang’s ancestors are in the middle.
Then there are the tablets of Jiang Gan and Ye.
Jiang Qingzhi and Li Tian entered the ancestral hall.
Light incense and pray...
"I'm fine, I hope you're fine too."
Jiang Qingzhi looked up and put the incense in the incense burner.
He glanced at Li Tian, "What are you thinking about?"
"Thinking about the days before I married you, it seems like they just passed in a flash." Li Tian felt that the days passed too quickly, and the days she spent at her parents' home seemed like just yesterday.
"We still have a long way to go." Jiang Qingzhi smiled and held her hand. Li Tian lowered her head and said, "We've been seen."
"You are my wife, it's above board, what are you afraid of?" Jiang Qingzhi held her hand and said softly, "Let's just walk this path forward."
Li Tian looked up and saw his gentle eyes, and nodded, "Okay."
There was a grand court meeting today, so Jiang Qingzhi got up an hour early.
There was a lot of snow on the streets of the capital, and the laborers were trying their best to sweep the snow. An official stumbled from his horse and fell. He stood up and swore to the sky that he would definitely submit a petition, suggesting that the capital guards be called out to sweep the snow.
"He thinks today's Beijing guards are still watchdogs!"
Sun Bu Tong said, "If he dares to submit a petition, I bet he will be beaten up when he turns around."
Now the morale of the Beijing guards is very high, and they are all waiting for the opportunity to clear the watchdogs in one battle.
Many of the civil officials they met along the way nodded slightly to Jiang Qingzhi, but the military heroes had complicated looks.
Du He brought their conditions a year ago: to allow our children to enter the martial arts school without taking an exam.
They felt that this was a gesture of goodwill and would be a great benefit to Jiang Qingzhi.
So those unmotivated sons and daughters in the family were educated, and told that they should study martial arts hard, and if they were lazy, their legs would be broken when they got home.
But soon Du He spoke on behalf of Jiang Qingzhi.
——No one can enter martial arts without taking the test!
——The children of military heroes are no exception!
All right!
After being slapped in the face by Jiang Qingzhi on New Year's Day, the military heroes were not in the right, so they had to drink alone at home, and while drinking they scolded Jiang Qingzhi for being ungrateful.
"Let's see later. I think Jiang Qingzhi is just pretending." Several military heroes gathered together, and a few horses blocked the middle of the road. The civil officials who were blocked behind secretly criticized the warriors for being vulgar, and then took a detour.
"Does he want us to bow our heads?"
"It is enough for us to send our children to martial arts training. Look at the officials on the street, they are all Confucian disciples. We should bow our heads... and bow to them."
"Bullshit! No one can make me bow my head!"
"I'll try." A military hero rode over.
Wu Xun rode his horse to Jiang Qingzhi's side and asked, "Greetings, Lord Chang Wei. My children and grandchildren have been skilled in archery and horse riding since they were young. Can we have the opportunity to learn martial arts and listen to Lord Chang Wei's teachings?"
Jiang Qingzhi took out the medicinal cigarette and glanced at Wu Xun, "Even if you are a prince, you have to take the exam!"
Wu Xun was secretly angry, "No compromise?"
They planned to arrange for the useless son in the family to learn martial arts. Not to mention taking exams, even archery and horse riding would be difficult for him.
Jiang Qingzhi looked at him and said seriously: "No!"
Fall out!
Not far away, Qiu Luan was secretly happy.
Wu Xun clenched his fists, "Then... that's it!"
At this moment, Jiang Qingzhi was holding the sharp weapon of the flintlock rifle in his hand. Those military heroes who wanted to achieve something in military affairs did not dare to go against him at all.
"Qingzhi!" The old playboy came. The two families drank until the end of the hour of the Ox last night. His eyes were a little swollen at the moment. He came closer and said, "Your sister-in-law has already ordered the first incense stick of the new year. She will take your brother and sister-in-law to worship the gods and Buddhas. Anyway..."
Jiang Qingzhi knew what he was hiding... The fact that he still had no offspring had become a source of ridicule among Confucianists, who said it was retribution and a punishment from heaven.
"I'm really not in a hurry about this." Jiang Qingzhi really wasn't in a hurry, but Zhu Xizhong felt that he was just pretending, "Alas! This man has no children, and he can't even hold his head up high when he goes out."
Du Hece came over immediately and said, "I have many descendants."
Hey!
Zhu Xizhong only had Zhu Shitai as his only child, and Jiang Qingzhi had no sons or daughters to speak of. The two glared at Du He.
Du He chuckled, "Actually, I have a way."
"What method?" The old dandy's eyes lit up. Du He lowered his voice, "Sowing widely and reaping little!"
Hey!
The old dude subconsciously touched his lower back with his backhand.
Jiang Qingzhi felt that if he sowed widely but reaped little, his own kidneys would be ruined before he could even have a child.
The three of them walked leisurely and slowly, and were left behind.
The imperial city was not open yet, but many officials had already arrived.
The envoys from foreign vassal states gathered together, accompanied by officials from the Ministry of Rites.
"Look, that's Yan Song and his son!" A messenger pointed to a place not far away.
The envoy of Altan Khan stood at the front, his strong figure looked quite intimidating.
Since the successful peace talks between the two sides, the envoys of Altan Khan's tribe could finally enter the Ming Dynasty openly without worrying about being beheaded by the Taoist priest and having their heads sent to the nine borders.
The messenger was called Fan Hu, and it was said that he was a warrior under Altan Khan, who had fought a mad horse. He had also studied under a great scholar for several years.
Fan Hu stood with the foreign envoys, but was thinking about the current situation.
As merchants from both sides traveled back and forth, news from the Ming Dynasty continued to reach the grassland.
Confucianism and Mohism fight each other, Jiang Qingzhi is in danger!
Fan Hu had been waiting for the news of Jiang Qingzhi's downfall and then passing it on to the grassland. He believed that this good news would make Altan Khan very happy.
But unexpectedly, Jiang Qingzhi used some unknown method to turn the tables.
If we were to say who in the Ming Dynasty the Altan tribe feared and hated the most, it would definitely be Jiang Qingzhi.
The invincible cavalry under Altan Khan were defeated by him several times, and the Jingguan outside Datong City was a pain in everyone's heart.
The only good news is that Jiang Qingzhi is hated by everyone in Ming Dynasty and has become the mortal enemy of Confucianism. When Fan Hu was sent to Ming Dynasty, he learned that there seemed to be a conflict between Jiang Qingzhi and Wu Xun, and he was overjoyed.
The leader of the White Lotus Sect, Zhao Quan, once said that the Ming people were best at internal strife. If you can add fuel to the flames...
But this news still needs to be confirmed.
At this moment, he was most concerned about what treasure Jiang Qingzhi had brought out that made the Confucians give up and admit defeat. Now the spies of Altan's tribe were frantically trying to get information. According to the person in charge of contacting the spies in the delegation, the leader of the spies said that even if all the spies in the Ming Dynasty died, they had to get the information.
Compared with the Ming Dynasty, Altan Khan had many internal conflicts, and suffered heavy losses in the snowstorm two years ago, so he urgently needed to find a place to plunder to make up for the losses. Altan Khan sent his men to the north to "hunt", but he never expected to encounter a fierce tribe, which beat Altan Khan's arrogant soldiers and generals and made them flee in panic.
There is no way to make up for it in the north for the time being, so we can only look to the south.
The battle between Confucianism and Mohism made Altan watch with great interest, but soon someone discovered something wrong. The Ming Dynasty actually grew stronger quietly in this war...
The cleansing and reorganization of the Beijing Guards has been completed. It is unknown how strong the Beijing Guards are now, but they are definitely not the watchdogs of the past.
As for the reconstruction of the military, it is said that Emperor Jiajing personally served as the chief academic officer, Jiang Qingzhi as the director, and together with the reorganization of the Beijing guards, it can be seen that the Ming Dynasty's determination to rebuild the army has never wavered.
Once the Ming army was reorganized, Altan felt that his best option was to hide in the grassland and not show up unless necessary.
The Suzhou incident let Altan's tribe know one thing: Mohist... Jiang Qingzhi had created a treasure that could increase Ming Dynasty's agricultural income by more than 10%.
More than 10%!
How much land does the Ming Dynasty have?
An increase of more than 10% in revenue is enough to form a strong army.
Can't wait any longer!
People of insight called for a move south.
We must interrupt the Ming Dynasty’s reform process!
The sooner the better!
Otherwise, once the Ming Dynasty feels that it is strong enough, the first thing it will do is to march north!
Fan Hu's mission is to find out the current strength and situation of the Ming Dynasty, especially the war between Confucianism and Mohism. This war can effectively slow down the development of the Ming Dynasty.
Another thing is deterrence!
——This Khan needs time to reorganize the army!
Before leaving, Aldan Khan said this.
Investigate and deter!
Then the Ming Dynasty's response was passed on to the grassland, and Altan could make a decision on when to go south and the scale of the campaign based on it.
Thinking of this, Fan Hu smiled. Just then, an envoy from a foreign vassal said, "Look at those soldiers. They are tall and strong, and they are very powerful."
Fan Hu laughed, "It's just a decoration."
He deliberately raised his voice, and the civil and military officials in front of the imperial city heard it and looked back at him with dissatisfaction.
I want you to do this... Fan Hu said calmly: "Years ago, the Khan sent more than a thousand cavalrymen south to prepare for a close encounter with the Ming army in the nine borders. Who knew that before they even reached the city, the Ming army was facing a formidable enemy, and troops from all over fled into the city in panic, with the city gates tightly closed...
Tsk! There are only a thousand cavalrymen, but there are more than ten thousand soldiers and horses in the city. Why... why is it so? Why is it so!"
"This is a provocation!" Cui Yuan's face turned pale.
Zhao Wenhua was also angry. "You are stirring up trouble on such a festive day as New Year's Day. You bastard, you deserve to be killed!"
Yan Shifan said: "This is not a provocation."
"what is that?"
"Shock!" Yan Shifan glanced at the generals, "Who can suppress his arrogance?"
The generals were silent.
There is no first in literature and no second in martial arts. If you want to suppress your opponent, you must have impressive achievements and abilities.
But all the warriors present lowered their heads.
As the Prime Minister, Yan Song could only sit back and watch the envoy of Altan Khan humiliate the Ming Dynasty. The shame made him exclaim angrily: "What a shame!"
Those warriors were so angry that their faces turned red and they wished they could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
It worked... Fan Hu was overjoyed and said with a smile: "This time the Khan originally wanted me to lead hundreds of cavalrymen to the south to congratulate His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty on the New Year. But some people said that if those hundreds of cavalrymen go south, the Ming Dynasty will be inexplicably panicked! Hahahaha..."
“Who’s panicking?”
A rider came slowly.
Fan Hu said subconsciously: "The civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty!"
The visitor looked down at him from a high position and said, "The messenger can go back and tell Altan Khan that I have been waiting for you in the capital for a long time."
Fan Hu looked at this person, "Who are you?"
"Uncle Ben Jiang Qingzhi!"
(End of this chapter)
