After Lin Dong and a few guards crossed Fan Yongdou's caravan, they entered Zhangjiakou Fort.

In a mansion in the southeast corner of Zhangjiakou Fort, Lin Dong reported to Luo Yangxing, the commander of the Jinyi Guard who had been assigned to Xuanhua by Chongzhen, what he had found out in Laiyuanbao.

"Your Excellency, in the past three months, we have placed men in the main passes and forts inside and outside the Great Wall.

According to our investigation, the military in Xuanhua is inseparable from smuggling activities from top to bottom. Dong Jishu, the chief soldier of the Xuanfu, has a direct interest relationship with various businesses in Zhangjiakou, and with the evidence in our hands, we can already arrest people. ”

Luo Yangxing didn't seem to react to the suggestion of Lin Dong, who was eager to try, he stretched out his hands and baked above the charcoal basin in front of him, looking at the white charcoal ash burned in the basin, and thought for a long time.

Cai Youyou said: "Don't move him first, you continue to let the brothers below collect intelligence, don't alarm them." ”

Lin Dong raised his head and cautiously glanced at Luo Yangxing's face, and then said quite reluctantly: "My lord, the evidence in our hands is already sufficient, enough to arrest Dong Jishu and the generals under him, why do we have to wait?"

Before the imperial court reorganized the Xuanfu army, although Dong Jishu had deep roots in the local area, he could no longer cover the sky in Xuanfu now. Now is really the best time to catch this group of moths in the army.

As long as this big case is solved, with this credit, won't the adults be able to return to the capital? ”

Luo Yangxing glanced at him, and then said lightly: "What, do you want to go back to the capital?" ”

Lin Dong didn't dare to meet his gaze, lowered his head and replied: "This Xuanfu is a bitter cold place, although it has prospered because of trade in the past ten years, but after all, it is not as prosperous as Jingshi.

And only when the adults return to the capital can they return to the center of the Jinyi Guard and gain the trust of His Majesty again. ”

Luo Yangxing was silent for a while, and then he said a few sincere words to this cronie who followed him to Xuanfu to suffer.

"For the sake of your effectiveness in following the official before and after the saddle, and for the sake of no complaints, the official will tell you a few words of truth.

Dong Jishu, the chief soldier of the Xuanfu, opened the door for border traders to make it convenient, and I don't know how many prohibited goods have entered and exited the border wall here over the years.

It was indeed a credit to arrest him and his group of officials who colluded with businessmen and smugglers, but it was not a great achievement.

The Xuanfu has a rated number of 4 or 500,000 soldiers, but the army money and food allocated by the imperial court have only been about half for decades. Xuanfu is a barren land, and the land output is not much, so it is obviously not easy to feed so many sergeants.

Here, the soldiers made a few hard-earned money by conniving at the smuggling of businessmen to support their families, which is a well-known thing in the local area.

If we try to arrest him for colluding with businessmen and conniving at smuggling, I am afraid that the local generals may not be convinced. And the rest of the generals on the nine sides, who will not be involved in smuggling? This is not empty talk.

We used this name to move Dong Jishu, and they were sad that they would treat us as a thorn in their side, which was a public anger.

If you want to move Dong Jishu and his subordinates and tear up the network of relationships he built in Xuanfu, ordinary smuggling activities will not be able to detain him. Unless we can find him, he is involved in arms smuggling, and we can bite him to death. ”

Luo Yangxing paused when he said this, glanced at Lin Dong, who bowed his head and was silent, before continuing.

"Besides, Dong Jishu is indeed a character in Xuanfu, but in Daming and in the capital, what kind of thing is he.

Do you really think that if we get this case out now, Your Majesty will think that this is a great merit?

Now the most talked about thing by the people of the Ming Dynasty is Sun Chengzong's victory over Lin Dan Khan in Fengzhen. If we poke the case out now, a few people in the world will pay attention to this matter, will the princes in charge think that the case we handled is more important than the border army's victory over the Mongols? I can't see it.

That's why I want you to persuade your brothers to be patient for a while, or to wait for evidence of his involvement in the smuggling of arms, or for the situation in the court to change. At that time, what we do will be taken seriously by His Majesty..."

Also in Zhangjiakou Fort, not far from the mansion where Luo Yangxing lived, in the Fan family's mansion, after inviting Fan Wencheng to his study, Fan Yongdou sent away the servants who were waiting around him and personally made a pot of tea for Fan Wencheng.

The two sat around the fireplace in the study, which was small but elegantly furnished, with a delicate brass flue above the stove, so that the room was warm like spring, but there was hardly any smell of fireworks.

Fan Wencheng took a small sip of tea lightly, and couldn't help but praise it a little: "It's really good tea, if you want to drink good tea, you can only taste it in the Guannai." ”

Fan Yongdou said politely: "These teas are shoddy things that I bought a few tea mountains in Huguang, and I produce them at home, if I don't dislike the paperwork, I might as well bring some back to enjoy when I return." ”

Fan Wencheng smiled, didn't answer his words, he took a sip of tea again, then put down the teacup and said: "I was quite embarrassed to see the shopkeeper Fan at the table just now, you deliberately drunk Ma Hujun, do you have something to say to me?" ”

Fan Yongdou really wanted to say something to him, but after listening to Fan Wencheng's words, he was a little hesitant.

Looking at Fan Yongdou's appearance of wanting to speak and stopping, between gains and losses, he was completely shrewd and capable of not being as smart and capable as before, which couldn't help but make Fan Wencheng a little disdainful.

"Sure enough, he was just a profit-seeking businessman, but when it came to the critical moment of the matter, he became hesitant." Fan Wencheng thought so in his heart, but he persuaded with a gentle smile on his face.

"If Shopkeeper Fan encounters any problems, you might as well tell me directly. The so-called one person counts short, and two people count long. Besides, now we are passengers in the same boat as you, and if something goes wrong with the boat, there is nowhere to escape. ”

Hearing Fan Wencheng's persuasion, Fan Yongdou said smoothly: "I invited Fan Wenshu to come to the study alone to talk, it is indeed a little problem in the business of the Great Khan."

That Ma Hujun was impatient, and I didn't dare to tell him directly, so I wanted to talk to the clerk first and discuss a countermeasure first. ”

Fan Wencheng's heart sank, although he and his brother Fan Wenhuan took refuge in the Jurchens after the Later Jin Army captured Fushun. But it was after Huang Taiji ascended the throne that he really gained trust.

In front of this talented Jurchen Sibeile, he has already been subdued from body to mind.

After Fan Wencheng thought that he was Fan Zhongyan of the Northern Song Dynasty, he naturally understood one thing. Whether he and his brother took the initiative to defect to the Jurchens was regarded as the Bank of China who defected to the enemy, or Yelu Chucai, who preserved the famous religion, he only cared about whether the Jurchens could enter the Central Plains.

This is also the goal of the Han gentry who took refuge in the Jurchen in Liaodong and never forgot in their hearts. Therefore, there is such a strange tendency in the Later Jin Kingdom, and the Jurchen relatives and nobles feel that the Later Jin Kingdom and the Ming Kingdom should be bounded by the Great Wall.

The invasion of the land south of Shanhaiguan was not only a heavy burden for the Houjin, but also caused the Jurchens to drain their blood in the pass.

However, after the surrender, the Ming generals of Jin and the large Han families of Liaodong tried their best to persuade the Great Khan of Houjin to go south, taking advantage of the corruption of the Ming ** team and the centrifugation of the people to the imperial court, to enter the Central Plains and become the second Great Yuan.

Han officials, including Fan Wencheng, felt that only when the Jurchens entered the Central Plains could they wash away the shame of their surrender to the barbarians;

Second, they believe that the Ming Dynasty has a vast territory and lush people, and if it is allowed to recuperate for a period of time, it will recover. Don't say that the Jurchens went south to dominate the Central Plains, it is a question whether this Liaodong can be defended.

If the Ming Kingdom really regained its vitality and defeated the Jurchens and recaptured Liaodong, what would they, the Han people who surrendered to the Jurchens, do? Do you sit back and wait for the court to liquidate them, or follow the Jurchens to the old forest to be savages?

However, the Jurchen nobles, under the leadership of Nurhachi, successively won victories against the Ming army, and saw the cowardice and incompetence of the Liaodong Ming and the Ming army, so they also despised these Liaodong Han people who surrendered to them.

They believed that these Han Chinese could not go to the battlefield and were only suitable for use as field slaves or craftsmen, and they were desperately trying to push the Jurchens south, obviously because they were uneasy and kind. It was to let the Jurchens consume on the battlefield of fighting against the Ming people, so that they might be able to find the right opportunity to rebel back to the Ming Kingdom.

And Sibeile Huangtaiji, who took over Nurhachi as the Great Khan of Houjin, was able to get close to them in the atmosphere of discriminatory Han people in the Houjin State, and believed that the Jurchens would definitely be able to enter the Central Plains, but it was not the idea of going south now, which was commendable.

This also made the Han people of Liaodong quickly unite around the new Houjin Khan Huang Taiji. Fan Wencheng knew that in the military system of the Jurchen Eight Banners, the strength of the Houjin Great Khan was the weakest now.

And if you want to enhance Huang Taiji's strength, in addition to politically wooing the young Jurchen relatives and nobles, and carrying out a divide-and-rule policy against the other three major Baylors, the most important thing is to find money and food.

Only when Huang Taiji has a large amount of money and grain in his hands can he buy those middle and lower classes of the Eight Banners who have little savings, and the new generation of Jurchen relatives. This allowed him to gain the broadest support within the Jurchens, thus defeating other political opponents within the Jurchens.

And Fan Yongdou now tells him that there is something wrong with the Great Khan's business, which suddenly makes him lose his normal heart a little.

Fan Wencheng's face changed slightly, and he said in a hurry: "What's going on?" Shopkeeper Fan, how did you boast to the Great Khan about Haikou in Shenyang before? Now that our butts are not hot, you tell me that this business is wrong, what do you want to do? ”

Looking at Fan Wencheng, who had a lot of city government along the way, and now he was starting to get angry, Fan Yongdou comforted himself in his heart, fortunately he didn't let the horse escort come over, otherwise maybe that person would have made trouble on the spot.

"Fan Wenshu, please don't be angry yet, you listen to the truth of the matter first, we are discussing the next countermeasures..."