Historically, Zhang Tongchang was appointed to the Jinyiwei in the 13th year of Chongzhen as a military official, and later changed to Zhongshu Sheren (in charge of announcing imperial decrees).
After the capital was captured, he traveled around the country, trying to save the Ming Dynasty from danger.
Unfortunately, he was not Zhang Juzheng, and the Ming Dynasty no longer had the national strength it had during the Wanli period.
After the fall of the Hongguang and Longwu regimes, he defected to Prince of Gui Zhu Youlang and served as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War in the Yongli court, and was the governor of all military affairs.
In the fourth year of the Yongli reign, the Qing Dynasty invaded Guangxi, and Zhang Tongchang died bravely.
Zhang Juzheng and his family devoted their lives to the Ming Dynasty until their death.
After Zhang Tongchang finished reading the imperial edict, he handed it to Qin Liangyu, then smiled and said, "Your Majesty was very pleased when he learned that Governor Qin went out of Sichuan and into Chu to hunt down the bandits, and he specially ordered me to come and reward the three armies."
After saying that, he took out a cloth bag from his arms.
After opening the cloth bag, there was a promissory note wrapped in oil paper.
"This is the IOU that Your Majesty borrowed from the King of Shu. Governor Qin, please give it to His Royal Highness the King of Shu."
Qin Liangyu took the IOU, looked at it carefully, and then breathed a sigh of relief.
A year later, Chongzhen finally paid the IOU.
Zhang Tongchang continued, "With this IOU, the King of Shu will have no way to ask Governor Qin for the debt. As for how much silver to reward the three armies, His Majesty said that Governor Qin should decide for himself."
Qin Liangyu was stunned and somewhat doubtful about the authenticity of the news.
To make the decision on her own means that she has the final say on how much silver to give to the soldiers and when to give it.
Although she was the governor of four provinces, her power was not that great.
"Don't doubt it," Zhang Tongchang suddenly stopped smiling and became serious. "Governor Qin will face at least two crucial battles. To put it bluntly, this money is life-saving money, so His Majesty will let Governor Qin make the decision on his own."
Qin Liangyu nodded and put the IOU away carefully.
After they returned to the house and sat down, Zhang Tongchang asked first, "I heard that Governor Qin is attacking Wuguan. How is the battle going?"
"Alas," Qin Liangyu sighed, "the situation is not good! Wuguan is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and I lack siege artillery, so I just pretended to attack Wuguan, but did not actually attack the pass."
"Where are the main forces of Li Chuang and Xian now?" Zhang Tongchang continued to ask.
"The main force of Li Chuang's bandits is in Fuyang and Ru'nan, and the main force of Xian's bandits seems to be near Lu'an."
"Yes," Zhang Tongchang nodded, "Your Majesty specifically asked me to tell Governor Qin to be on guard against the thieves Li Chuang and Xian entering Sichuan again."
Qin Liangyu smiled slightly: "Don't worry, I have already dealt with it."
The two chatted about military affairs for a while, and Qin Liangyu changed the subject and asked, "Bieshan (Zhang Tongchang's courtesy name is Bieshan), how did Your Majesty know that the chieftains of Yunnan would rebel? If the news is correct, I must organize and lead the main force of the Sichuan troops back to Sichuan as soon as possible, and be ready to suppress the rebellion at any time."
"No," Zhang Tongchang shook his head, "The war in Huguang has reached a critical moment now, we must not retreat easily."
"What about Yunnan..." Qin Liangyu looked worried.
Of course she knew that the war in Huguang had reached a critical moment.
If we win this battle, the offensive and defensive situation between the Ming Dynasty and the bandits will change.
Before this, the bandits attacked and the Ming Dynasty defended.
After that, the two sides will enter a stalemate phase, or it will become a situation where the Ming Dynasty attacks and the bandits defend.
However, if the main force is not withdrawn to Sichuan, the military forces in central Sichuan will be empty. Once something happens in Yunnan, Sichuan will be in danger.
Zhang Tongchang stood up and said to Qin Liangyu, "Let's leave the Yunnan affairs to the Duke of Qian. The Mu family has guarded Yunnan for more than 200 years, so they must have a way to suppress the rebellion."
"That's the only way." Qin Liangyu sighed.
The two chatted for a while, and Qin Liangyu suddenly remembered something. She turned around and asked Zhang Tongchang: "How is Ma Shiying?"
"Although Ma Shiying suffered heavy casualties, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, mindful of his meritorious service in defending Fengyang, allowed him to make amends for his crime."
Qin Liangyu was silent for a moment, then hammered the table with her right hand: "Ma Shiying has 50,000 troops, but not only did he not take the initiative to retake Henan, but he was beaten by the bandits and suffered heavy casualties. Isn't it too... merciful for the Crown Prince to do this?"
Zhang Tongchang shook his head: "It's not mercy, but there are difficulties. Now the Nanjing court seems calm on the surface, but undercurrents are surging. Especially the Donglin Party and the Nanjing nobles, they are fighting for power.
"Ma Shiying is not a member of the Donglin Party. If his military power is taken away, the Donglin Party and the nobles will benefit."
"Why?" Qin Liangyu didn't know much about party struggles, so she asked.
"Because the only people available to His Royal Highness are the nobles and the Donglin Party. In order to restrain and balance the forces of all parties, His Royal Highness cannot let the military power fall into their hands. So after much thought, only Ma Shiying is the most suitable."
Qin Liangyu disagreed with Zhang Tongchang's statement. She said: "As far as I know, there are good and bad Donglin Party members, and not all of them are keen on party struggles. For example, Shi Kefa of the Ministry of War and Gao Hongtu of the Ministry of Revenue are all people who are dedicated to working for the court. What's wrong with handing over this power to them?"
"Alas," Zhang Tongchang laughed bitterly, "What Governor Qin said does make sense, but His Royal Highness the Crown Prince doesn't dare to take the risk. After all, they are all members of the Donglin Party, right?"
Qin Liangyu thought about it and nodded.
What Zhang Tongchang said does make sense. The most difficult thing to guess is the human heart, and the human heart is also fickle.
"There is one more thing," Zhang Tongchang said while looking at Ma Wannian who was standing next to him.
Ma Wannian looked around blankly and found that there was no one else around, so he asked, "Master Zhang, what can I do for you?"
Qin Liangyu couldn't bear it any longer, so she coughed and said, "What he meant was that what he was going to say next was a secret of the imperial court, and you can't listen to it."
"Oh, so that's what you mean. Just say it directly next time. I'm not smart enough to understand it." Ma Wannian smiled, turned around and walked out of the room, closing the door.
After seeing Ma Wannian leave, Zhang Tongchang reached out and took out a stack of letters from his arms.
These letters were all in envelopes, the outside of which was empty and had no words written on it.
The seal was sealed with glue, so I don't know what was inside.
Qin Liangyu was confused and pointed at the envelope and asked, "What's in it?"
"It's a secret letter that only the Embroidered Uniform Guard can understand." Zhang Tongchang replied.
"Who are all these letters to? What do they say?"
"Governor Qin, you don't have to think so much. You just need to find a way to get the letter into the hands of the traitor. This is what Ma Jixiang, the commander of the Guangdong Jinyiwei, asked me to do. He said he was acting on orders."
"Oh," Qin Liangyu took the stack of secret letters and promised, "Don't worry, I'll arrange for someone to do it right away."
"Thank you, Governor Qin."
"It's okay, it's just a small favor. You are the descendant of Zhang Wenzhong, and I, Qin Liangyu, will treat you as a distinguished guest. Come on, have a drink with me."
"No need for wine," Zhang Tongchang said with a guilty look on his face, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince asked me to return to Nanjing immediately after delivering the decree, saying that he had something important to discuss."
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