Hong Rixin, who was studying in Hongwen Hall, asked his father in the study room that at the age of eighteen, he had won a life title as a baron in Nan'an County due to his father's influence. Although he had not yet entered the officialdom, his future was already promising.
His academic performance is also good. He plans to take the next imperial examination and is sure to win the Jinshi.
Hong Chengchou has been looking worried since he returned to Beijing from Xiangshan.
The house he now lives in in Beijing was originally awarded to him by the Qing government in the inner city. Originally, the Qing government stipulated that only bannermen were allowed to live in the inner city, and only a few Han officials were allowed to live there.
This house is located in Luogu Lane, South of Di'anmen East Street, adjacent to Heizhima Hutong in the north. It has a majestic gate and two iron lions outside.
After Zhu Yihai moved back to the old capital, he still rewarded this house to Hong Chengchou. This house was also the residence of Ming Gongqing. After he was captured by the Shao Tian Dynasty, the Qing court confiscated it and rewarded it to a Manchu clan.
"What do you think?"
Hong Chengchou looked at his young and tall son. He was the eldest son he had with his first wife Li. He was like him in every way. He was good at essays, especially parallel rhymes and rhymes. He was also good at writing in Guange style. Under Hong Chengchou's guidance, he had been able to write since he was a child.
He studied martial arts, and now he is also good at riding and shooting. He is a young man who is good at literature and martial arts and understands the art of war.
Hong Chengchou was captured and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and his treatment was good. Huang Taiji made him a third-class light chariot captain. Although he seemed inconspicuous, it was not easy to be knighted as a civilian before entering the customs. Fan Wencheng followed the destiny
He surrendered to the Qing Dynasty in three years, worked for the Qing court for decades, accompanied the army in battles, participated in secrets, established laws and regulations, and made great contributions to the establishment of the Qing Dynasty. He was just a first-class man.
Moreover, Hong Chengchou was specially awarded the title of Xianghuangqi.
Before Hong Chengchou went south and was captured, the Tatars also fell into their final madness. They used to award knights and titles for free, but no longer rewarded them for military merit as they did before entering the customs. Hong Chengchou also successively granted titles to princes, and finally became a prince.
In the Shaotian Dynasty, the court initially announced that he had never surrendered to the Qing Dynasty and had been contacting the court secretly. In the end, he took the opportunity to correct the situation and persuaded many colleagues in the old ministry to rebel, so he was meritorious. In the past two years, he held an important position in the court, and he was also responsible for purging officials and correcting them.
He impeached officials and was deeply appreciated by the emperor, and was awarded the lifelong title of Duke of Fujian.
Although he is a lifelong noble, he is still the Duke of the country.
In the eyes of outsiders, Hong Chengchou and Hong Jiuheng were popular on both sides, and they were respected ministers wherever they went. But Hong Rixin also knew that his father's status was not as stable and prestigious as in the eyes of outsiders.
"Is it difficult to put down the Shaanxi-Gansu rebellion?"
Hong Chengchou shook his head. He met the emperor at Xiangshan Mountain, and the emperor told him a lot in front of the prince. He basically explained his mission to Shaanxi and Gansu very clearly.
It was not just Milayin and Ding Guodong who rebelled in Lanzhou.
The drunkard's intention is not to drink.
The emperor wanted to take this opportunity to comprehensively rectify the Hui and Muslim religions in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia, and then take advantage of the situation to recover the Seven Guards of Hexi and Hami, and destroy the Yarkands who were descendants of the original Mongol Chagatai Khanate and believed in the Crescent Religion.
The emperor wanted to completely regain control of Guanlong and march into the Western Regions.
The ambition is not small and the goal is big.
For this kind of grand strategy, the emperor wanted him to take command, let Wu Sangui be his deputy, and then assigned him four generals: Xu Yong, Zhao Liangdong, Zhang Guozhu, and Gao Jinzhong. They were all very capable, but none of them were direct descendants of the emperor.
Not only that, the emperor also wanted to form a vanguard and left-right army for the Western Expedition from those old troops, surrendered troops, prisoners, etc.
Problems are revealed everywhere.
If the emperor only asked him to be the governor, but instead made him the provincial camp and the imperial camp to march west together, that would make sense.
Now that this is done, coupled with the meaning revealed by the emperor, it is obvious.
"My son, I still don't understand a bit. Please give me some advice from my father."
Hong Chengchou looked at his son, "It's not that you don't understand, but you just don't want to believe it, right?"
"Although my father has some stains, he has been conscientious and loyal to the imperial court and His Majesty in the past few years. He is capable and loyal, but he does not make friends and concentrates on being a lonely minister. Why does the emperor still treat his father like this?"
Hong Rixin also understood that allowing Hong Chengchou to go to Shaanxi and Gansu at this time, and also dispatching Wu Sangui, Xu Yong and others to form a new army, proved that his father Hong Chengchou was in the heart of the emperor, that is, he was in the same category as Wu Sangui, Xu Yong and others.
Now I have not become a person whom the emperor trusts.
Going out to Beijing this time is not reuse, but rejection.
"Why?"
Hong Chengchou also sighed. He sometimes thought that he might have proved his loyalty and worth with actions, and had successfully won the emperor's trust.
But now it seems that they are all false appearances. No matter whether he is admonishing the officials on the left or the censor of the capital on the right, the emperor can no longer truly trust him.
He once surrendered to prison, which was a stain he could not wash away.
"Is it dangerous for my father to leave Beijing for Shaanxi and Gansu this time?"
"No." Hong Chengchou seemed to be much older. This feeling of being rejected made him feel sad. "Guan Long will make a big move this time. I am just the leader. The emperor wants me and Wu Sangui to lead a group of old troops."
, we used to chop and kill indiscriminately, our task is to chop and kill,
To kill the rebels on behalf of the emperor, he would even have to wipe out all those who participated and supported him, and also bring down the Islamists behind the scenes. The emperor did not want to bear the infamy himself, nor did he want to dirty the hands of his confidant Yu Ying, so
Only then did we form this vanguard army again.
We are just going to do the dirty work, suppressing the rebellion and killing people, and maybe even massacre the city, etc. Anyway, we just do all the work that needs to be done, and then the imperial camp will come in to clean the battlefield and take over the territory."
Hong Rixin understood the danger in these words.
This is no ordinary dirty job.
"Will it be safe afterwards?" he asked.
If they do too much dirty work, how will the emperor treat them then? Will he justly accuse them of killing and looting indiscriminately, and then deal with them according to law, or what?
Hong Chengchou sighed.
"I have been in the court for a few years. To be honest, I can't see clearly today. This person's behavior is unpredictable and difficult to predict. You can never guess what his next step will be. Accompanying the king is like accompanying a tiger. You can only
Be careful at all times and don't dare to have any betrayal, otherwise you will definitely end up miserable.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! There were eighteen emperors in the Ming Dynasty, but which emperor was like him?
Turning his hands he turned into clouds, turning his hands into rain, Taizu was not as good as him in some aspects."
On the way back, Hong Chengchou also thought about it. He thought about using illness as an excuse not to go to Shaanxi and Gansu. He even thought about drinking a glass of poisonous wine and asking his son to report that he died of a sudden illness. But in the end he didn't dare.
Knowing Emperor Shaotian, if he dared to die to reject the emperor, the emperor would never spare him. Even if he died, he would still have brothers, sons, and family behind him.
The only thing he can do is follow orders.
The emperor asked him to do dirty work, ask him to kill people, whatever he was asked to do, he had no choice but to do it, and he had to do it according to the emperor's wishes. He didn't have to say it, but he had to do it. As for how to deal with it afterwards, he could only leave it to fate.
.
He could only pray that the emperor would remember some of his merits, and in the end he could at least save his family descendants, which could be regarded as complete atonement.
In addition, it is absolutely impossible to violate the law or even have other plans after arriving in Shaanxi and Gansu. Based on his experience in the past few years in the court, he knew very well that since the emperor dared to let him and Wu Sangui supervise Shaanxi and Gansu to quell the chaos, he would not dare to do so.
Give them a troop of troops and horses, and they will definitely have a backup plan.
There must be imperial camps stationed around Shaanxi and Gansu. Once they dare to mess around or even have the slightest idea, they will probably be killed just like Zhang An of the Jiangxi Longwu New Army before.
They don't even need the imperial camp to quell the chaos, their generals and soldiers will chop off their heads.
Hong Chengchou was not afraid of killing people or doing dirty work. He just felt frustrated. He had done so much dirty work for the emperor, but in the end he still failed to become a person trusted by the emperor.
Don't be afraid of doing dirty work. If you're afraid, you'll spend your whole life doing dirty work and never get ahead.
"Rixin, you don't have to worry about my affairs. I will take care of them. You can concentrate on studying and preparing for the exam. You don't need to worry too much about cavalry, archery and military skills. Concentrate on the imperial examination. From now on, you can concentrate on being a serious civil servant with a double rank.
After passing the exam, I will strive to be elected as a Shujishi, study in the Hanlin Academy for three years, and then strive to be a director in the Sixth Ministry, and then go to the local area to be the magistrate of a large county, and be down-to-earth.
Marry a well-matched daughter of a wealthy family, and when you have sons in the future, you must teach them well to take the imperial examination."
These words were a bit like explaining the funeral affairs, and Hong Shiming burst into tears when he heard them.
"There's no need to be like this. Maybe this time is just a test. Maybe my father will complete the test and escape unscathed, or even go one step further."
"When he goes to the northwest, my father will kill another 100,000 people to make this crazy butcher's reputation even worse. It is not known when he will put away his sword and return to the throne, or whether he will be successful and retire."
Hong Chengchou knew very well that he had the ability and reputation, but because he had surrendered to the captives before, and especially had gained the trust of the Tartars, even if he surrendered to the court, Emperor Shao Tian would never really trust him and trust him.
The more capable you are, the more you can be trusted by the emperor.
However, he is so capable and willing to obey, but he can also be used very well by the emperor, so as long as he knows his position, he can still have a place in the end. The key is to understand the emperor's intentions and do good things for the emperor.
Of course, what he is most worried about this time is that the thing he has to do is too big and dirty, and he will have to bear all the infamy and slander. If the government or the public opinion in the world cannot tolerate him, will the emperor be able to protect him?
If the emperor directly blames him, he can only be used as a scapegoat.
I have to say that Hong Chengchou was very smart. He almost guessed the emperor's thoughts.
But for Zhu Yihai, he used Hong Chengchou and Wu Sangui, although he also intended to use them to do dirty work, but first of all because they were indeed more capable.
Without this ability, the emperor would not use them.
As Hong said to his son, this time the emperor will focus on cleaning up Guanlong and also point his sword at the Western Regions. This time, the emperor will bring stability to the northwest for a hundred years and also open up the Western Regions again.
This time it was a big move. Hong Chengchou, Wu Sangui and the others were just there to clear the way. They would kill first, and only when the area was almost cleared, the imperial camp would enter. Then there would be subsequent appeasement, relocation, etc.
The current situation in the northwest will not be effective if we do not take drastic measures first and directly adopt a soft and appeasement policy.
Directly using the imperial camp to enter the battlefield would also be constraining, so the emperor purposely used those old troops to form a vanguard army to facilitate clearing the battlefield without any taboos.
The combination of Hong Chengchou, Wu Sangui, Xu Yong, Zhao Liangdong, Gao Jinzhong, and Zhang Guozhu was chosen naturally because these people can fight, especially Hong Chengchou, who can understand the emperor's thoughts very well. Otherwise, if you choose someone else, you will cherish your feathers and worry about it.
Reputation, even fear of taking responsibility, handcuffed everywhere, so how can it be done?