Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the status of military generals has been like Wang Xiaoer's New Year - getting worse every year.

In this country of civil servants, the emphasis is on using civil officials to control military power.

Although military generals were the ones who led the troops to fight, the governors-general who commanded the troops, the censors who supervised the army, and the military inspectors were all civil servants.

Although the Longqing period was still far from the bizarre situation decades later where a third-rank lieutenant general had to kneel and report to a seventh-rank censor, an unhealthy atmosphere of respecting civil officials and despising military officials had already been created.

Moreover, the civil officials have a natural fear of military generals who hold the swords, and they wish they could tame them all into little lambs so that they can sleep peacefully.

In such an environment, civil officials generally held a suspicious, contemptuous, and even unwarranted hostile attitude towards military generals. If Qi Jiguang was in such an environment, if he followed his own temper, reality would teach him a lesson...

Originally, Qi Jiguang thought that the situation would be better if he was gloriously transferred to the north for his merits in fighting against the Japanese pirates.

After all, he has become the Di Qing of the Ming Dynasty, with contributions known to all. Attacking him will be criticized by the people.

But the more this happened, the more frightened the civil servants became.

When they learned that Qi Jiguang was leading the invincible Qi Family Army northward and would be stationed in Beijing to be in charge of the dreaded Shenjiying, they automatically imagined all kinds of scenes of Qi Jiguang leading his troops to rebel.

Well, after the Battle of Tumu, it took us a hundred years to gain control of the army and generals, and now you are actually training private soldiers who only know the generals but not the court!

What if one day he gets unhappy and sends troops to wipe us out?

Even if we don't rebel, if the emperor hooks up with a general who is loyal, capable and has military power, will he suddenly become arrogant and stop taking us seriously?

It's really scary to think about it this way...

In order to prevent the imagined scene from becoming reality, the vanguard of the civil service group - the censors - took action.

So, while the troops were being transferred from the south to the north, Fujian Provincial Governor Du Huazhong submitted a report to impeach the Qi Family Army's Lieutenant General Wang Rulong, the Guerrilla General Jin Ke, and the Chief Secretary Zhu Jue for corruption, abuse of power, bribery and other crimes.

According to the rules, once a civil or military official of the Ming Dynasty was impeached by the censor, no matter how high or low his official position was, he had to be immediately suspended from his post and stay at home, awaiting further investigation by the court.

As a result, the Censorate and the Ministry of War investigated from last year to this year, but not only did they still not give a clear explanation, but they also implicated Qi Jiguang's deputy general Hu Shouren, saying that he solicited power, accepted bribes, and lobbied to try to exonerate the three people.

Qi Jiguang could no longer sit still, because the one who ordered Hu Shouren to do this was none other than him, the leader of the Qi Family Army.

Seeing that he would be wiped out if he didn't come up with a drastic measure, Qi Jiguang had no choice but to run into the city himself and go to Zhang Juzheng's residence to ask for help from his powerful advisor.

By the way, after Zhang Juzheng entered the cabinet, he was in charge of the Ministry of War.

~~

At this time, Qi Jiguang was worried about slander and ridicule, and was full of confusion. He had completely lost the high spirits he had when he first went north.

Whether you say he did it on purpose or he was really scared by the civil officials, in short, Marshal Qi is now too cautious.

Usually when he went to the Ministry of War to do business, he treated the officials and even the clerks like brothers and treated them with respect.

At this moment, facing a scientific founder who could give lectures in Lingji Palace and teach five Jinshi, Qi Jiguang consciously put his attitude very low...

Zhao Hao felt bad about this, but what else could they say when they met for the first time? He could only use a more polite attitude to comfort Marshal Qi who had suffered injustice.

Fortunately, at this time, the doorman came back and said to Qi Jiguang: "General Qi, my husband wants to see you."

Then he said to Zhao Hao, "Please wait a moment, sir."

"No problem." Zhao Hao nodded. He always followed the principle of first come first served.

What's more, I am willing to let General Qi come first.

When Qi Jiguang followed the doorman in, Zhao Hao sat down on the chair he had just sat on.

Well, I am also a close friend of General Qi.

Just when he was secretly feeling happy, he saw Gao Wu kneeling in front of him, lowering his head and muffledly saying:

"Sir, we just..."

"Get up." Zhao Hao patted Gao Wu's shoulder and said with a nonchalant smile, "I'm not jealous of Marshal Qi."

"Young Master..." Gao Wu looked at the young man in front of him with red eyes, believing that he could die for him.

~~

On the other hand, Qi Jiguang was not taken to the flower hall in the front yard, but was invited to the study in the back house.

Zhang Juzheng was waiting at the door of the study. Although he was at home today, he did not relax in managing his image.

Today, handsome Zhang wore a well-fitting royal blue gown with dark patterns, a black net scarf on his head, and his hair and beard were meticulously combed.

He did not look as imposing as when he was in official uniform. Instead, his always cool face actually revealed a friendly smile.

"Yuan Jing, we meet again."

The cordial greeting made Qi Jiguang, who had been looked down upon recently, immediately tear up and he knelt down on one knee under the pomegranate tree of Mr. Zhang.

"General Qi Jiguang pays homage to you, sir!"

Zhang Juzheng reached out his hand to help him up, made a gesture of invitation, and went into the study with Qi Jiguang, where they sat down as host and guest.

After looking at the tea, Mr. Zhang laughed out loud:

"You were transferred to Beijing by Bu Gu. I've been thinking about you and wanting to have a good chat with you, but I didn't expect you to keep putting it off until today."

"I am flattered to have the honor of meeting you, sir."

Qi Jiguang only half-pulled up his left buttock while sitting on the chair, yet was able to maintain an upright upper body and a difficult posture facing sideways towards Zhang Juzheng, which shows that his skill in combining waist and horse was extraordinary.

"Hey, don't be so nervous." Zhang Juzheng smiled and said, "You were born in the year of Wu Zi, three years younger than Bu Gu. We are about the same age, so let's get along like friends."

"I am terrified." Qi Jiguang felt his heart melt. He thought to himself, who said Zhang Jiangling was arrogant and cold, looking down on others? I think he is more friendly than the lower officials!

Of course, he would not take Mr. Zhang's words seriously. The superior is just making a gesture. If you really call him a brother, how naive would that be?

"Well, there is a long way to go. Yuan Jing will eventually know that Bu Gu is sincere in wanting to be your friend."

Zhang Juzheng also knew that Qi Jiguang would not be able to move freely for a while, so he just let him do it.

"We have guests in the back, so let's make it short. Bu Gu has already asked the Ministry of War about your subordinates, and those three did find some problems..."

Qi Jiguang was about to open his mouth to defend himself, but Zhang Juzheng raised his hand and smiled faintly:

"Bu Gu knows that if they keep finding faults, there will definitely be something they can't find. Compared to these trivial matters, the top priority now is to rectify affairs, train elite troops, and secure the capital!"

At this point, Zhang Juzheng's pretended amiability completely disappeared, and he slammed the table and shouted sternly:

"Isn't last year's lesson enough? Do we have to let Altan stage a Shizhou rebellion once a year? What a bunch of scum!"

Seeing that Zhang Xianggong, who was smiling a moment ago, suddenly exploded, Qi Jiguang was so scared that he dared not even breathe.

"I'm sorry Yuan Jing, I lost my composure. I'm really fed up with those chickens..." Zhang Juzheng waved his hand apologetically and said seriously:

"I have discussed this matter with Wang Zongxian and Huo Butang separately. The Censorate and the Ministry of War will make a favorable reply in the near future. The case should be settled as soon as possible and it should not affect your military training!"

"What will be the result?" Qi Jiguang asked nervously.

"Your deputy general Hu Shouren has protected his subordinates and recommended them arbitrarily. He should be warned." Zhang Juzheng paused, sighed and said:

"As for the three officers, we can't just pretend we didn't see the problems that have been discovered. We should demote them to civilian positions... Otherwise, those chickens will not give up after making trouble for half a year if nothing has been discovered."

Zhang Juzheng had no way of telling Qi Jiguang that, with the connivance of Lord Xu, the censors had become so powerful that they were out of control.

Although he is the second most important figure in Xu's party, if he doesn't give them face, they won't give him face either...

ps. The fifth update, 10500 extra updates, please vote for me loudly, I don’t want to be surpassed by others, the monk who works hard to write deserves everyone’s support!!