October 12, Beijing.

Early in the morning of this day, countless people in the capital rushed to the western suburbs with their families, and before the hour or so, no less than 10,000 people had gathered around the official road, and the originally deserted suburbs suddenly became noisy.

Of course, this is not because the people of the capital are too free to enjoy the beauty of autumn, but because they have been trusted early, before leading the army to the grassland, for the Ming Dynasty to completely break the Tartars, Yang Zhen Yang Dudu will arrive in the capital today.

Originally, Yang Zhen's reputation in Beijing was extremely loud, and he was deeply respected by the people because of his past achievements. This time, his various practices in the north came back, especially after the great debate between the DPRK and China a few months ago, Yang Zhen's reputation among the people was even higher.

Although Beijing is the capital of the Ming Dynasty, because the strategy of the Son of Heaven to defend the country was set early, in fact, it is also the front line of the enemy. For this reason, the people of the capital are not less threatened by the grasslands, and whenever the Mongols invade the border towns, such as Datong and Xuanfu, the people in the capital will feel a sense of unease, for fear that some disaster will befall them.

In fact, this is not that the people are short-sighted and unfounded, such a situation has also happened from time to time in the history of the Ming Dynasty in the past two hundred years. Not to mention the tragic incident of besieging the capital for many days after the Tumubao Incident, just more than 30 years ago, I entered the Kou, and Chen Bing outside the capital brought ruin to the surrounding people.

Therefore, if it is really discussed, the people of Beijing have a worse attitude towards foreign enemies than the natives of the capital of any other dynasty, and they really wish that the imperial court could send a large army to eradicate the Mongolian people in the entire grassland.

It's a pity that in the face of the more mobile and more ferocious Mongolian people, the Ming army has always been in a passive situation, except for the early years of Chengzu, no one has been able to lead troops into the grassland since then, let alone completely exterminate these hateful guys.

And now, how many people's expectations for many years have finally come true, Yang Dudu really led people into the grassland, and also killed those terrible Mongolian Tartars, after the news came out, naturally all the people were jubilant, how many people spontaneously set up an immortal tablet for Yang Zhen in the house, day and night to pray, how many people ran to tell each other, crying bitterly.

And today, it is the day when this great hero returns to Beijing, and the people naturally want to express their gratitude and reverence for Yang Zhen. Therefore, there was no need for the government to initiate it, and after the city gate was opened at dawn, hundreds of people rushed to come, and as time went by, the number of people waiting on both sides of the road gradually increased, and after the hour, this number reached an unprecedented 30,000.

Fortunately, God is still cooperative today, not only is there no wind and no rain, but also the autumn is high and cool, so many people are waiting outside and do not feel uncomfortable. And so many people gathered together, naturally there were various sayings circulating among them, which praised Yang Zhen, today's protagonist, to the sky, saying that he was a martial artist and a light man.

In addition to these people, around noon, the people of the government also drove out of the capital. They were dressed in grand crowns one by one, with solemn expressions, and they looked no different from participating in major celebrations during the New Year.

Seeing this situation, the people were naturally more excited, and the court said so, which shows the great contribution of Yang Dudu, and they all unconsciously gave birth to a sense of honor, and their voices were a little louder.

Those words praising Yang Zhen kept drifting into the ears of several important officials waiting at the end of the official road, causing several of them to frown slightly, quite unhappy.

In addition to Shen Shixing, the first assistant named by the Son of Heaven, and Zhang Xueyan, the secretary of the Ministry of War, there were also officials from the Ministry of Rites and other important yamen of the imperial court who accompanied them to the suburbs, which was enough to give Yang Zhen face, and it was a rare grand treatment in recent years.

In front of these people, all the officials naturally want to show off their official authority, so they all have their chests and bellies, their expressions are solemn, and even fewer of them speak. After all, what they represent is the majesty of the imperial court, how can they be like ordinary people?

But after waiting for a long time, there are people around him constantly touting Yang Zhen, which makes some officials feel very uncomfortable, among them, I am afraid that Zhang Xueyan's mind is the heaviest.

In fact, since the incident last year, he, the secretary of the military department, has been sitting on pins and needles. For this reason, after learning that Yang Zhen actually led his army into the grassland to slaughter the Mongols, he also instigated a targeted impeachment. But the result greatly surprised him, not only did Yang Zhen not get convicted for this, but he put himself on the cusp of the storm, and almost lost his life.

This encounter has made Zhang Xueyan extremely low-key recently, but at the same time, he has become more and more jealous of Yang Zhen. Now listening to the praise of the people, it was as if he was pointing at his Zhang Shangshu's nose and laughing, which made his face a little pale.

Finally, Zhang Xueyan couldn't bear it anymore, glanced at Shen Shixing beside him, and whispered: "Shen Ge Lao, Your Majesty is so grand, and the people respect Yang Zhen so much, in the eyes of the lower officials, it is really not a good thing." ”

Shen Shixing looked at his nose and nose at this time, just smiled faintly, and did not answer the other party's words. He naturally knew the discord between Zhang Xueyan and Yang Zhen, and he didn't want to get involved. But Zhang Shangshu didn't mean to stop, and continued: "If this kind of thing is so respected, in the future, there will be a wind of reckless military force in the court, and then not only will the atmosphere in the country change greatly, but also the minds of those generals will be activated." ”

Hearing this, Shen Shixing's somewhat gray eyebrows jumped suddenly. He didn't mind too much about anything else, but the military generals Zhang Xueyan mentioned at the end were not something he was happy to see.

After the founding of the Ming Dynasty and the Jingjing, the prestige of the military generals in the DPRK and China was far above that of the civil ministers, and the situation of the civil officials at that time was really not good. Finally, because of Chen Ping in the world, coupled with the change of Tumubao, the civilian forces gained the upper hand, and the military attaché had no right to speak. If he returns to the past because of this incident, the responsibility that he, the first assistant, has to bear is too great.

People always have to take their own position as the criterion, and since Shen Shixing, the head of the cabinet, is now the head of the civilian government, he naturally cannot watch the military attache clique have the possibility of seizing power again. Otherwise, the evaluation of him will be a blaming. Even an old fritter in officialdom like him would not dare to be negligent on such issues.

After being silent for a while, Shen Shixing said slowly: "Then according to Zhang Butang's meaning, how should I deal with it?" ”

"Xia Guan thinks that there must be some different voices in the DPRK and China on today's affairs, otherwise it will only contribute to this unhealthy trend. There is also Yang Zhen, although he has made great contributions to the court, but His Majesty's arrangement is still a bit excessive, and someone should come out to correct it. What does Elder Ge think? Zhang Xueyan said again.

Of course, Shen Shixing understood that the other party was also selfish in saying this, but after groaning, he still nodded lightly: "This matter really can't be guarded against...... However, this is a rare big victory and a great joy for the imperial court, and it must not spoil Your Majesty's interest at this time, if you have any ideas, it is not too late to get the charter after this while. ”

Originally, hearing him say this, Zhang Xueyan was still happy, but then he got such a delayed and perfunctory reply, but it made his heart sink again: "It's really a slippery old loach ......" Although he slandered in his heart, he didn't dare to show it, so he had to nod his head.

Just as he was about to say something, the crowd in front of him suddenly stirred, followed by a burst of cheers. The hearts of the officials moved, and at the same time they raised their heads and looked forward, and they saw more than a dozen horses galloping in the distance.

"Here ......" After taking a deep breath, Shen Shixing put all the thoughts just now behind him, looked left and right with a smile and said, "Let's go up and greet us." ”

"Obey the will of the elder." No matter what thoughts they had in their hearts, the other officials hurriedly agreed and followed Shen Shixing forward.

And the people also spontaneously rushed to the front, but they were only on both sides of the official road, and this flat and wide official road was for the officials to walk. But this did not affect their excitement, bursts of cheers have spread out like waves to the front and back, and many people are even more in tears.

Indeed, many elderly people are most emotional at the moment, because they still remember the tragedy of decades ago. Thinking that the Tartars who had brought a lot of blood and tears to the innocent had finally received their due retribution, how could they not burst into tears.

After a long journey, a majestic team finally appeared in front, although it was only two or three thousand people, but it gave people a sense of oppression of thousands of troops. The first person, with a tall body like a pine, wearing a big red flying fish suit, pressing an embroidered spring knife on his waist, and his eyes were patrolling in front like electricity, was not Yang Zhen, the governor of Jinyi Weidu, who else?

Seeing him proudly riding on horseback, many officials who greeted him on foot felt a little uncomfortable in their hearts. But under such momentum, they could only endure it, and Shen Shixing hurried two steps and arched his hand towards Yang Zhenyi: "Yang Dudu has worked hard from afar, and this official is specially ordered to come to greet him on behalf of His Majesty!" ”

The officials behind him, no matter how disdainful they were in their hearts, also bent down and bowed their hands at this time, making a respectful appearance.

Looking at this scene in front of him, Yang Zhen couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion in his heart. He thought of the scene when he first returned to the capital from Shanxi a few years ago. At that time, he also made a meritorious service, but the only person who greeted him was Tan Lun, the secretary of the military department, who was seriously ill at that time.

I didn't expect that now, when I came back again, the courtesy I received was so great. It's a pity that the honest elder who is really capable and generous is long gone......