Those who could predict that Liu Jin would cause trouble to the court were no one else except Chen Xi. Chen Xi was not so optimistic about Liu Jin's future. In his opinion, as long as Liu Jin could not return to the palace within one or two years, he would not be able to reach the sky as the attendant of the Eastern Palace and then make trouble.

Liu Jin was specialized in government affairs and acted as a blessing. He took advantage of the time when Zhu Houzhao had just ascended the throne and everything in the court was unstable.

The civil servant group could not control an emperor full of fun. Liu Jin took advantage of Zhu Houzhao's favor and quickly took over the throne. Then, as a knife in the emperor's hand, he opened and closed the situation quickly, and quickly helped Zhu Houzhao open up the situation.

Liu Jin has a very bad reputation, but in fact, except for suppressing those ignorant civil officials and taking bribes and self-improvement and abuse of power, he did not do anything that harmed the royal interests or threatened the foundation of the Ming Dynasty.

On the contrary, during the period of power, Liu Jin carried out reforms to some ill-fated policies during the Xiaozong period, such as cracking down on dereliction of duty and corruption by officials, reducing taxes to reduce the burden on farmers, establishing an irregular inspection system for officials, rectifying the salt law, etc., which greatly eased the contradictions within the Ming Dynasty.

Unfortunately, the official history never had any positive comments on autocratic eunuchs, but the several reforms in Longqing and Wanli periods more or less adopted the terms of Liu Jin's reform, which shows that it is not useless.

The reason why Liu Jin was able to cause trouble was entirely because there was a huge conflict between the emperor and the civil servant group.

If a group of old ministers were not the emperors who always wanted to control the young, Zhu Houzhao would not have a rebellious mentality and would prefer powerful officials like Liu Jin.

Zhu Houzhao never considered whether Liu Jin was a loyal or a traitor. There was no problem with him at all. Once he felt that Liu Jin was bullying his superiors and concealing his subordinates and threatening his majesty and authority, Liu Jin would fall to the ground with an order. On the contrary, a group of old ministers in the court could not kill him casually, as this would leave a violent reputation in history.

So when appointing someone, does it take too much to consider which one Zhu Houzhao is close to or who is alienated?

At this time, Chen Xi had no time to consider Liu Jin's issue. He was counting the spoils in the central army tent in Baoqing Prefecture City.

The so-called spoils are not gold, silver, treasures, horses and animals, and exquisite weapons and armor. They are actually ragged prisoners and some broken weapons, plus some vine armor with the smell of tung oil, which is not worth anything at all. In this battle, Chen Xi lost a lot of materials used as bait.

Chen Xi looked at the pile of broken copper and iron in front of him and shook his head and sighed: "I have never fought in battles in the south and north. After a big victory, I not only did not make a profit but also lost money. It's really speechless!"

Wang He led a squad of Gan Army to stand beside him, waiting for Chen Xi to praise him and his soldiers for their bravery and fearlessness. However, he did not expect that Chen Xi would still be so calm after winning such a refreshing victory, as if this victory was common to the governor of the two provinces and was not worthy of happiness at all.

Wang He reminded: "Sir, you are losing the small ones, what are you not satisfied with? Think about it, if you just lose a little food and grass, you can get such great military achievements. No matter how you calculate it, it is worth it!"

Chen Xi looked at Wang He sideways and asked, "Military merits? Of course, the soldiers like it. As one of them, you are no exception, but think about it carefully, what is the use of this official getting these military merits?"

A single sentence turned Wang He into a dull question.

Chen Xi has served as the governor of two provinces. In the Daming civil servants, he did not have the title of Duke and Marquis. No matter how great Chen Xi achieved, it is not as good as the achievements he obtained in the Xuanfu and the defense battle of the capital. The military achievements of the defeated 4,000 rebels were not worth mentioning to Chen Xi.

The contributions made by Chen Xi were not something Wang He could imagine.

In the war against the Tatars, Chen Xi almost turned the situation around with one person. Even the Minister of War Liu Daxia had to affirm Chen Xi's merits, but in the end, due to the resistance of the civil servant group, Chen Xi's merits were not truly calculated, and he was even sent to Huguang and Jianggan as the governor of the two provinces. On the surface, it seemed glorious, but in fact it could not cover up the embarrassment of Chen Xi's rise and fall in secret.

Chen Xi was used to being credited, so he naturally didn't take such a little contribution seriously, while Wang He was full of envy, jealousy and hatred. He thought that if I got such a great contribution, it might be impossible to be a marquis. But he understood that military generals would never be able to obtain the highest military merit, because the current rule of the court is that only civil officials, not military generals.

Chen Xi closed the lid of a few boxes filled with rusty swords and spearheads, pointed to a large pile of vine armor next to it, and said, "Take it out and burn it!"

Wang He asked in surprise: "Sir, these are all obtained from the battlefield. Even if they are not worth it, isn't it good to leave them as a souvenir? Just... burn them like this?"

Chen Xi said angrily: "It's just some rags. Can these rust knives and spearheads be transported back to Wuchang Mansion and rebuilt? He told the people under his command that all the things seized on the battlefield today will be destroyed. According to the rules, this official will convert them into military rewards."

"Don't feel heartbroken for this little profit. Since we have come all the way to suppress the rebellion, we should show the momentum that the official army should have. You are all elite troops led by me. Could it be that the local garrison troops look down on me?"

In one sentence, Chen Xi’s relationship with the soldiers under his command has been much closer.

Not only Wang He, but also the few Gan Army generals and officers next to him, felt that they were straightened. Now he was an elite army praised by Lord Shen himself, and he would also follow Lord Shen to make achievements in the future. If he was a petty family, not only would Lord Shen look down on him, but he would even look down on his surrounding robes.

The generals and schools happily took the spoils to the empty dam far away from the building to burn it, while Chen Xi stayed in the central army's tent and Su Jingyang led his troops back to the city.

Chen Xi wanted to know how many rebels Su Jingyang captured along the way. Judging from the current situation, Chen Xi did not think that Su Jingyang could achieve a great victory. After this battle, Su Jingyang's opinions would definitely not be small. He must calm down Su Jingyang's resentment as soon as possible and let him turn his attention to the next battle.

Balance between the relationship between generals and leaders in the army is a very important knowledge, especially Chen Xi is now deliberately separating Wang He and Su Jingyang's troops, so that the two can form a fierce competitive relationship.

Wang He was happily talking about his experiences on the battlefield: "...Sir, you didn't see that group of cowards. They didn't dare to fight with the official army. Before we could rush up, they were scared and even lost their weapons. They just ran away. They were blocked into a dead end and knelt down and begged for mercy. I don't know how embarrassed it was. If the bastards under Mo Zheng were like these guys, Mo Zheng would have to kill them!"

Chen Xi asked: "Can the number of casualties in the army be sorted out?"

Wang He's face was not so good now. Although he didn't know how many people were killed or injured, he knew that this battle still damaged a lot of people.

After all, it is street fighting, and it is often impossible to guarantee that the number of soldiers under Wang He is not as good as the opponent. In street fighting, when there are fewer fights, some undertrained soldiers cannot avoid them and are directly hit by machetes or gun tips, and are killed or injured.

Chen Xi discovered this situation on the tower, but the soldiers were immersed in the joy of victory before and did not ask to sweep away the morale of the three armies.

Wang He said: "I guess... there are one or two hundred!"

Chen Xi snorted coldly and asked, "Is it one hundred or two hundred? In the army, the number of casualties is very important. You must understand how much vitality you have left after a war, and you cannot finish the battle in a daze... If you don't even know how many people you have in your hands and quickly encounter the second war, how can you deal with it?"

Wang He didn't know how to answer.

The commanders of the province are already very high in terms of quality rank. The specific numbers on the battlefield are mainly collected and sorted by their subordinates. They have no time or energy to pay attention to these "trivial matters".

As the commander-in-chief on the battlefield, Chen Xi's control of the situation is more detailed than Wang He. Wang He can learn more about the battlefield news than Chen Xi.

Chen Xi sighed, "You go down first, sort out the detailed numbers, and then come to see me. I am waiting for General Su here. In order to avoid being angry with him, you should not show up in front of him today!"

Because Su Jingyang left the city and acted as bait, Wang He almost took charge of this battle. Once Su Jingyang came back, he did not dare to get angry with Chen Xi, but would treat Wang He as a thorn in his eyes. In order to avoid a head-on conflict between the two generals under him, Chen Xi could only let Wang He avoid it for the time being.

Wang He muttered: "Old Su isn't so petty, right?"

Chen Xi sneered: "If he robs you of military merits... Don't stand and speak without any pain. I didn't discuss this with him at all. Do you think he can give you a good face when he comes back?"

"Old Wang, don't say that I don't give you a chance. Now you have achieved military merits. You only enjoy the scenery after the war. If you want to consider it more for others, just treat it as giving me face and balancing the relationship in the army. If you are still so aggressive, don't say that I don't give you face and scold you in front of General Su."

"You have to know that I did this to make General Su feel better!"

In terms of human relationships and worldly affairs, Chenxi is always well-rounded.

After hearing what Chen Xi said, Wang He smiled on his face: "What the adults said? Of course, I can understand Lao Su's troubles today. I will not see him after I come back. If I have the opportunity to make achievements in the future, I will just send him there, and I will never fight..."

"Um."

Chen Xi nodded with satisfaction, then waved his hand and signaled that Wang He could get out of here.

***************

ps: The last update in May is here! Unfortunately, it is June 1st now, and the emperor sincerely asks to guarantee the monthly ticket! It will continue to explode today, please support it!
Chapter completed!