For the next few days, the city of Nanjing was peaceful on the surface, as if nothing major happened.
Zhou Yanru finally searched for Xiaojing, and finally as planned, he will set off northward on the day after the Lantern Festival, taking the canal all the way to Beijing.
Considering that he has to stop and go to collect gold, jewelry, treasures, calligraphy and paintings along the way, it is estimated that he will definitely not be able to reach Beijing in the first month of the year. It would be good to arrive by the end of February. If it is slow, it may be early March——
There will be almost no silver collection in the future. Anyone who wants to send silver to Zhou Yanru must come to Nanjing to deliver it. There will be no such store after passing this village, or they will simply wait until Beijing.
Because only the money collected in Nanjing can be transported immediately back to my hometown in Changzhou. After leaving Nanjing and heading north, everything received along the way must be carried with the fleet and transported all the way to Beijing. Things that are too heavy cannot be transported at all.
Disdainful.
How can silver, a piece of trash with such a low value density, deserve to be collected halfway by the noble Pavilion Elder?
This is why he stayed in Nanjing for a particularly long time and had a special liking for this place.
However, Zhou Yanru can be considered a person who can do things after receiving money. Before leaving, he said hello to Ruan Dacheng:
Sorry, I accepted the 50,000 taels of gold, but Ma Shiying's shortage is not suitable yet. I can only make a low-priced match first and find a place to stuff it.
Then Zhou Yanru gave Ruan Dacheng two options: either go to Henan as governor, or directly fight a tough battle with Li Zicheng. Last year's Henan governor had just been fired because King Fu was killed, leaving a lot of gaps in the officialdom.
If you feel that the governor of Henan is not safe, then you can only build an important prefecture in northern Anhui, such as Fengyang Prefecture as the prefect. You can also have the title of part-time censor of Qiandu, but there is no actual governor's territory.
There are both fourth- and fifth-grade prefects, and the largest superior prefecture is only fourth-grade, and cannot be higher. However, considering the special status of Fengyang Prefecture in the Ming Dynasty, after all, it is the hometown of Zhu Yuanzhang and the central capital of the Ming Dynasty.
Its status is second only to the North and South Beijing.
Zhou Yanru made such adjustments to him, which was considered as an explanation to Ruan Dacheng.
Ruan Dacheng went back to check with Ma Shiying and decisively chose the latter condition. He would rather be the prefect of Fengyang than go to Henan and die.
Ruan Dacheng just reluctantly asked why this incident happened.
Zhou Yanru didn't hide it, and directly explained the whole story clearly: "Lin Chengyang was forced to surrender, and he actually surrendered his weapons and was willing to accept reorganization. Shen Shuren coordinated and made such a great contribution, and he couldn't do it without promotion."
It is true that Zhou Yanru and Shen Shuren have reached a strategic cooperation, but he has no obligation to help Shen Shuren to incite hatred. Shen Shuren has offended others by his promotion, so of course he has to bear it himself.
Ruan Dacheng and Ma Shiying were filled with hatred after hearing the news.
As the main beneficiary, Ma Shiying is pretty good. His character is not as bad as Ruan Dacheng's. He just feels that he is unlucky, while Shen Shuren's achievements are indeed solid and solid, so he is angry for a while.
Ruan Dacheng was different. He paid for the gold, and he also hoped that after Ma Shiying became the governor, he could help him to restore his official position. Now that Ma Shiying is the prefect of Fengyang, it will take years and months to bring him back.
It can be said that Ruan Dacheng hated Shen Shuren to his core, but there was nothing he could do about Shen Shuren at the moment.
…
Chen Shuren's own promotion is expected to be delayed until March. It involves the promotion of a governor, but the process cannot be completed until the new chief assistant officially takes office.
The imperial court had to discuss it for months to evaluate Shen Shuren's achievements.
Therefore, Shen Shuren was not in a hurry, and spent his Lantern Festival in Nanjing peacefully and peacefully under the full moon.
On the other hand, the promotion of some other officials under Shen Shuren is expected to be announced before the end of the first year.
These people are of low rank, the highest being the prefect, or they are deputy generals or generals with military positions, and the decision-making process involved is relatively short.
Zhou Yanru would also write a letter first and have it sent to the capital as soon as possible, asking his staff and old officials who stayed in the capital to help with the remote control operation.
For example, Zhou Yanru's protégé and an important white glove when he was in power, Wu Changshi, had already gone to Beijing in advance to take charge of matters. Zhou Yanru, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, had not yet officially taken office as the chief minister of the cabinet, but Wu Changshi had already become the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
Among the fifth-grade doctors, he is still the most powerful and valuable among the literary selection doctors.
Don't underestimate the Department of Literature and Selection, which was responsible for allocating all civil servant positions in the Ming Dynasty. It was the real power agency that directly controlled the appointment of officials.
It may not be possible to replace the doctor of the Literary and Selection Department with a casual minister from a department with less power.
Zhou Yanru asked Si Baili to send a letter to Wu Changshi as soon as possible, and clearly arranged for several prefects that Shen Shuren wanted.
Although Shen Shuren despised Wu Changshi, a sinister and despicable person, he had no choice but to let him handle the matter of promotion, because he had no choice at all.
As for the procedures at the Staff Department of the Ministry of War, Shen Shuren had his own connections to handle them. Whether it was Yang Sichang or Chen Xinjia, it was all Shen Shuren's own connections. Zhou Yanru only had to hint and not obstruct them.
The north and south capitals are 1,800 miles apart. It takes 400 miles to rush between the two capitals. Including waiting for a reply, and the occasional delay due to military unrest on the way, it only takes twelve or thirteen days at most to get there.
Back and forth.
So Shen Shuren spent every day in Nanjing drinking and drinking, maintaining official relations, but he didn't get a reply until the twenty-eighth day of the first lunar month.
Shen Shuren also left two days to spare and notified Zhang Huangyan in advance that Fang Yizhi, Zheng Chenggong and others would come to Nanjing for a gathering on the 30th of the first lunar month, and stopped by the Nanjing Officials Department to complete the formalities.
Several other generals involved in promotion and transfer were also dealt with in the same way.
After everyone believed in him, they were very excited. They admired the boss's energy more and more, and their hearts of gratitude became more intense.
…
On the 30th day of the first lunar month, in the city of Nanjing, the Ministry of Household Affairs Shen Shilang's Mansion.
Early in the morning, the house was decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, and all preparations were made for the banquet guests.
Several waves of people, riding tall horses, arrived one after another in high spirits. Before coming here, they had already gone to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Personnel in Nanjing to hand over the appointments that had just been sent back from Beijing.
"Treant, thanks to your full mediation this time, otherwise the promotion would not have been so smooth thanks to the merits of the forced landing and recruitment."
As soon as the first group of visitors dismounted at the gate of the house, the leader hugged the man Chen Shuren who came up to them, and they talked and laughed happily.
There is no doubt that among the civil servants under Shen Shuren, the only one who dares to address his cousin directly like him is his cousin Zhang Huangyan.
Although Zhang Huangyan's official position was low, when he arrived at the Shen family, he would not talk about his position, but only his relatives. After entering the inner courtyard, he quickly visited his uncle Shen Tingyang.
After Zhang Huang's words, everyone else was polite. Fang was brave enough to call him "virtuous brother", while Zheng Chenggong was able to call him "big brother".
The other military positions can only be called "Shen Daotai". Some of them who are more aggressive in flattering have already privately called "Shen Futai" in advance, but Shen Shuren will definitely stop it in a pretentious manner.
"Everyone gathers together today. It is a rare occasion. We are all participating in this grand event. From now on, we will work together and continue to serve the imperial court."
Shen Shuren had just said a few words, when Zhang Huangyan made a confession first and interrupted him to introduce someone to him.
Then, with a look from Zhang Huangyan, a rough military general who was nearly forty years old came forward awkwardly and knelt down on one knee: "Sin General Lin is raised, pay homage to Shen Futai!"
Even though Chen Shuren had known for a long time that Lin Chengcheng had been completely subjugated and surrendered, he was a little surprised to see that he actually dared to come to Nanjing to accept the official position and go through the formalities in person.
Some of these generals who were born as thieves were not afraid of being detained by the imperial court.
Chen Shuren said expectantly and playfully: "Since you have abandoned the dark side and turned to the bright side, let's forget about the past. Your willingness to come to the Nanjing Ministry of War to handle it in person shows your sincerity. Tell me what you really think."
Lin Chengcheng was already in the care of others, so he gave up and confessed with all his heart: "The guilty general was taken care of by Governor Xiong three years ago, and he had no intention of rebelling again. He just wanted to get a good family background. He only regretted that Zhang Xianzhong later surrendered and rebelled, killing the local area indiscriminately." Officials, hold us hostage.
The guilty general and others had heard that His Majesty was suspicious and jealous, fearing that the imperial court would not notice, so they had no choice but to follow Zhang Xianzhong in order to protect themselves. Later, I heard that Futai clearly understood everything and tried hard to remonstrate with Liu Guoneng, who persisted in refusing to rebel. The guilty general will know it, sir. You have a mind that no one else in the world can match."
These bandits were not a very determined force to begin with, but when they saw that Shen Shu was powerful and could protect the generals without suspicion, they would of course come to surrender quickly.
Historically, Lin Chengcheng and several other bandit leaders had no choice but to surrender directly to He Tengjiao, the governor of Huguang stationed in Changsha, after the fall of Nanjing during the Nanming Dynasty.
He can even vote for He Tengjiao, why can't he vote for Shen Shuren? It's just that Shen Shuren has more skills and a stronger situation, which can force him to accept more harsh conditions.
Chen Shuren nodded: "Okay, I won't say too much truth. When brother Mi persuaded you to surrender, I must have said everything that needs to be said. Let's open the sky and speak clearly, and reiterate it again: Gezuo Fifth Battalion Three of them have been destroyed, Ma Shou should surrender to Li Zicheng, and I really need a surrender general to persuade him to do good.
You are not as sinful as the other three thieves. As long as you perform well in the future, I will naturally treat you well and join the people far away. I hope you will also seize this opportunity. When I fight with Zhang Xianzhong in the future, you will work hard and make achievements, and your promotion will be easy."
After Chen Shuren finished hammering, he turned around and asked Zhang Huangyan: "What is General Lin's treatment now?"
Zhang Huangyan said in a low voice: "I will give him the rank of deputy general this time. You know, Liu Guoneng is only the commander-in-chief of the army. As for the generals under your command, if Zuo Zixiong is promoted this time, he will only be the deputy general. He can only be the deputy general. Otherwise, it will not be suppressed.
In terms of the soldiers and horses he has surrendered, there are four to five thousand veteran soldiers and more than ten thousand rural warriors. Judging from the size of the army, the generals are a bit small, so there is nothing we can do."
Chen Shuren nodded: "It's not a big deal to join the general. After a few fierce battles with Zhang Xianzhong, I will soon be the deputy general. The general soldier will not have no chance."
Lin Chengcheng had already withdrawn his claws and teeth, and quickly thanked Futai with clasped fists: "Thank you Futai for your support!"
After getting rid of Lin Chengcheng's thorny problem, Shen Shuren asked several other people about their new positions, and everyone reported back one by one. Most of them were no different from expectations.
Zhang Huang was appointed to the magistrate of Huangzhou with his words, and Fang was appointed to the magistrate of Wuchang with his wisdom. The military officers under his command ranged from deputy generals to senior generals, who were engaged in guerrilla warfare.
The only one who was promoted out of the ordinary was Zhang Mingzhen, who was originally only a guerrilla, and was directly promoted to "Deputy General of Haido".
Before Zhang Mingzhen was poached by Shen Shuren last year, he was in charge of coastal defense in the Ningshao area. His position was only as a captain. After being transferred by Shen Shuren, he became a guerrilla with meritorious service.
And this time, letting him come back to take charge of part of the naval force can be regarded as returning to his old career. Other generals under Shen Shuren, such as Zuo Zixiong, Yang Jinjue, and Jin Shenghuan, were not naval generals and were not as professional as Zhang Mingzhen in this regard.
Shen Tingyang asked Zhou Yanru for some coastal defense establishment. This time, he took advantage of the sea route to transport military rations for the new year to Shanhaiguan. He wanted to wait for an opportunity to rescue some elite soldiers from Liaodong. He needed a coastal defense deputy general to coordinate. Shen Shuren thought about it.
, so I ordered Zhang Mingzhen.
Finally, Shen Shuren also adjusted the appointment of Zheng Chenggong. It was originally agreed that he would be transferred to the local area as a co-prefect and look for opportunities to be promoted to the prefect. Now Zheng Chenggong still only wants to be a civil servant, and it is impossible to lead troops.
But now it seems that Chen Shuren has a better plan.
He transferred Zheng Chenggong directly from the yamen in charge of gold in Yanfa Road, Huguang, to the Ministry of Household Affairs in Nanjing, and temporarily placed him under his father as an escort grain supervisor responsible for specific sea and water transportation, and found a suitable title.
Strictly speaking, these two official positions are money and grain officials within the fiscal and taxation system. One is collecting money from the local government, and the other is helping the court to transfer taxes and grain. Moreover, they both make a living on the water, so the Zheng family should be very familiar with them.
As for the danger, Shen Shuren was not worried at all. He sent the eldest son of the Zheng family out to practice and transport military supplies by sea for the imperial court. The Zheng family would naturally send a certain amount of armed forces to help escort the eldest son on a voluntary basis to protect the safety of the eldest son.
This is tantamount to picking up a batch of Zheng family's naval power for nothing and temporarily using it for him.
Zheng Chenggong himself is actually very satisfied with this arrangement. He can go to sea, but he is not a military commander and can maintain his civil official dignity. His eldest brother really cares about him too much.