During the Ming Dynasty, the governors and governors-general were always nominal imperial envoys, representing the court to stay in the local areas, pacify the people, and supervise the three departments. However, after the Zhengtong period, due to the intensification of social contradictions, the three departments with their separate powers and buck-passing were obviously no longer competent, and it was necessary to centralize power to improve the government's mobilization ability and deal with the endless civil unrest and rebellion.

As a result, the governor-general gradually became a de facto frontier official. Generally, each province had a governor-general who was in charge of the civil affairs, judicial affairs, and military affairs of the province. In some important places where several provinces meet, there were also special governors-general, such as the governor of southern Jiangxi, the governor of Yunyang, and the governor of Liaodong.

In comparison, the court was much more cautious in appointing governors-general, because this official had too much power and was in charge of the finances and military affairs of several provinces. Too many governors-general would make the court uneasy. Apart from the Governor-General of Zhejiang, who was temporarily established to fight against the Japanese pirates, and the Governor-General of the Canal Transport, who was specially established for the grain transport, there were only four permanent governors-general in the country - the Governor-General of Ji-Liao, the Governor-General of Xuan-Da, and the Governor-General of the Three Borders, all of which were specially established to defend against Mongolia. Only the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi was in the south, guarding the chaotic southern border for the court.

In order to take into account the defense of Guangdong and Guangxi, the Governor's Office of Guangdong and Guangxi was not located in Guangzhou. After its establishment in the third year of Jingtai, the Governor's Office of Guangdong and Guangxi has been located in Wuzhou, Guangxi, at the junction of the two provinces. During the Jiajing period, Guangdong was seriously threatened by Japanese pirates and sea pirates became a disaster. The Governor's Office of Guangdong and Guangxi turned its focus to preparing for Japanese pirates. It was not until the 43rd year of Jiajing that the Governor's Office was moved to Zhaoqing, Guangdong.

The governor's office, which was originally in Zhaoqing, was moved to Guangdong City, responsible for guarding the provincial capital which had been repeatedly looted by pirates.

Two years ago, Guangxi was not at peace again. Wei Yinbao led the Yao people to rebel and captured the provincial capital Guilin. The focus of maintaining stability in Guangdong and Guangxi shifted back to Guangxi. At that time, Lin Run, the governor of Guangdong, was still stationed in Zhaoqing, supplying supplies to the Guangxi army to suppress the rebellion.

With the joint efforts of the two provinces, it took several years to finally put down the Wei Yinbao rebellion that almost split Guangxi. The Governor of Guangxi Yin Zhengmao also made great contributions and was promoted to the Minister of War in Nanjing, the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and the Superintendent of Military Affairs, Food and Pay, and the Governor. He seized power in both Guangdong and Guangxi and became the King of Guangdong and Guangxi.

Lin Zhongcheng was now in an awkward situation. He worked hard and was willing to be a hero behind the scenes, but he didn't get the proper reward, and in the end he had an overbearing ancestor.

If it was just a work style issue, it would be fine, but the problem was that Yin Zhengmao was notorious for corruption. When he was appointed as the governor of Guangxi, there was a lot of opposition in the court.

Because everyone knows this guy is notorious for being greedy. When he was a local official, he embezzled the imperial taxes. When he was put in charge of military affairs, he embezzled military funds. He is simply addicted to corruption and can't bear not being greedy for a day. If such a person is used to suppress the rebellion, I'm afraid that the military pay will not be enough for him to embezzle, and he will have to scrape off another three feet of land in Guangxi.

But Gao Gong insisted on using Yin Zhengmao because he had great military talent. Gao Huzi knew that if he wanted to quickly put down the Guangxi Rebellion that had been raging for years, no one except Yin Zhengmao could do it.

Gao Gong was all-powerful, and the situation in Guangxi was indeed corrupt. On average, one governor was sent in every year, but there was still no improvement. No one dared to wade into this muddy water. So the ministers had to hold their noses and pass the imperial recommendation, but they pointed out that even if they used the imperial guards, they must take necessary precautions.

So an official suggested to Gao Gong that he should send another imperial envoy to accompany him to look after the military pay and food to prevent Yin Zhengmao from embezzling. But Gao Gong rejected this seemingly reasonable but actually ridiculous suggestion. Because it was assumed that Yin Zhengmao was guilty, who would obey him? He himself was also tied up and had difficulty in deploying, so how could he decisively suppress the rebellion?

As a result, Yin Zhengmao took office gloriously without any hindrance. In order to repay Gao Gong's kindness, he tried his best in Guangxi and successfully suppressed the rebellion at an extraordinary speed. He brought Wei Yinbao and his son to the capital and executed them by slow slicing, which fired the first shot for Gao Gong to implement the new policy.

Of course, he also made a lot of money. Anyway, everyone thought he was a corrupt official, and no one would believe him if he didn't embezzle. So he might as well let go and make a lot of money. But the rebellion that lasted for several years was quickly put down, saving a lot of military expenses and allowing Guangxi to return to its rule. In the end, the court was the biggest winner.

Gao Gong promoted Yin Zhengmao to the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and encouraged him to make persistent efforts to wipe out the pirates and Japanese pirates in Guangdong and completely pacify the southeastern sea. So Yin Zhengmao went to Guangdong with high spirits, but the feng shui of Guangdong Province was not as good as that of Guangxi Province, and Governor Yin ran into a big snag as soon as he took office.

His favorite general, the newly appointed Chaozhou prefect Li Zuoguo, was ambushed by a local tyrant on his way to take up his post and his whereabouts remain unknown to this day.

Yin Zhengmao was so humiliated that he was furious. But as the world's top scholar, how could he be an impulsive person?

He knew that Chaozhou was the key to pacifying the maritime threat in Fujian and Guangdong. More than 90% of the pirates came from Chaozhou and Zhangzhou, two prefectures at the junction of Fujian and Guangdong. Zhangzhou was under the jurisdiction of Fujian and was not under his jurisdiction, so Yin Zhengmao focused on breaking the situation in Chaozhou. That was why he secretly asked Gao Gong to replace Hou Bideng, who was very close to the local tyrants in Chaozhou, and let his people investigate and see how to take down the pirates' lair.

That's why he was particularly angry when Li Zuoguo got into trouble, but he was also particularly alert, worrying that Chaozhou merchants and pirates would join forces to counterattack him. Therefore, Governor Yin would not act rashly before clarifying the situation and grasping the chances of winning.

~~

Yin Zhengmao was able to keep his composure, but Lin Run couldn't.

A few days ago, he received news that Zeng Yiben had gathered tens of thousands of people, captured Nan'ao Island, and invaded Chaozhou Prefecture. Lin Run hurriedly sent a fast horse to Zhaoqing to ask Governor Yin to send troops to quell the rebellion as soon as possible.

But after waiting for a long time, the Governor's Office only ordered all departments to prepare for war, without revealing when to send troops, or even which troops to send or which generals to select.

When Lin Run learned that Zeng Yiben had already arrived at the city of Chaozhou, he could no longer sit still. He rode a horse to Zhaoqing and personally went to the Governor's Mansion to pay a visit to Yin Zhengmao.

But he was thoughtful and took advantage of the time before meeting Yin Zhengmao to first ask Zhang Yuanxun, the general of Guangdong, who was also under orders in Zhaoqing. The Ming Dynasty used civil officials to control the military, and although Zhang Yuanxun was a second-rank military officer, he was his subordinate.

"What's the situation now? Any signs of departure?" After not seeing each other for several years, Lin Run was still as charming as ever, but the hesitation between his brows was even more evident, which made people feel distressed.

"No." Zhang Yuanxun was from Taizhou Prefecture, Zhejiang Province. Like Hu Shouren, he was born into a hereditary military household, but grew up as a general of the Qi Family Army. Soldiers like them within the system were obviously more trusted by the court and were basically given important positions.

However, the fate of Jin Ke, Wang Rulong, Zhu Jue and other soldiers recruited by Qi Jiguang from miners was completely different. They were basically squeezed out of the Ming army.

However, the fact that Zhang Yuanxun was promoted to the commander-in-chief of a province at the age of less than 40 was also due to his maturity, good military management, and the fact that he was a rare Confucian general.

He studied since childhood, and his poems and essays were admired by everyone. He passed the examination and became a scholar at the age of fifteen. But when he was sixteen, Japanese pirates invaded Taizhou. His father Zhang Kai spent a huge amount of money to train local militia to defend his hometown, but he was weak because the enemy was strong. He died heroically. In order to avenge his father, Zhang Yuanxun gave up his pen and joined the army. He inherited his father's position and served as a hundred households of Xinhe, Haimenwei. He was brave and strategic, and was highly regarded by Tan Lun, the prefect of Taizhou at that time. Later, he was assigned to Qi Jiguang by Tan Lun. He fought with Qi's army for many years and made countless contributions.

In the first year of the Longqing reign, Qi Jiguang went north to train troops, and Zhang Yuanxun stayed in Fujian, where he won many victories in battles against pirates. With the help of his old boss Tan Lun, his official rank rose steadily. This spring, Guangdong General Guo Cheng died in office, and he was promoted from Fujian Deputy General.

Of course, he is only the 'acting commander-in-chief' now, and he has to work for a period of time without any problems before he can be promoted.

Who knows what you fear will come true? Zeng Yiben, who had escaped the joint suppression of Fujian and Guangdong provinces, actually led tens of thousands of people to attack Chaozhou Prefecture. If the prefecture was captured, the court would definitely hold them accountable.

According to the Ming Dynasty's tradition of civil officials taking the limelight and military generals taking the blame, he, as the acting commander-in-chief, would be the first one to be blamed.

Zhang Yuanxun was so anxious that his mouth was full of lumps. When he heard Lin Zhongcheng's question, he shook his head depressedly and said, "Except for the two battalions of soldiers directly under the governor, who are ready to march, the troops under my command have not received any military orders... Until now, they have not been allowed to collect gunpowder and artillery shells, let alone food and wages for the march."

As he spoke, he lowered his voice and said, "Zhongcheng, I think the minister is determined to wait and see."

"Yeah." Lin Run nodded without comment. With the current chaos in Chaozhou, the two battalions have only 6,000 soldiers, and it would be useless even if all of them were deployed. If Yin Zhengmao really wanted to solve the Chaozhou problem, he would have to mobilize at least half of the troops in Guangdong Province to barely be enough, and at least he could not bypass Zhang Yuanxun, the general commander.

"Zhongcheng, we can't go on like this. If Chaozhou City falls, the minister has just taken office and can be exempted from responsibility. We will be in big trouble." Zhang Yuanxun said anxiously, "Please persuade the minister later and don't sit idly by. I don't want anything, just a military order, and I will immediately assemble a large army to rescue Chaozhou City!"

"Of course I will persuade you." Lin Run nodded, still frowning, obviously not optimistic.

"Zhongcheng, if the Ministry does not take any action, should we..." Zhang Yuanxun suddenly lowered his voice and asked, "Contact Chaoyang for emergency help first?"

"We can't quench our thirst with poison unless we have no other choice." Lin Run frowned and said, "Even if we want to ask Lin Daoqian for help, we can't do it by ourselves, otherwise he will definitely take advantage of the opportunity to make it bigger."

"That's right." Zhang Yuanxun nodded. Since Lin Daoqian accepted the amnesty, he has built half of Chaoyang County into an independent kingdom. If the province asks him for help again, he will definitely ask for a lot. Whether he agrees or not, it will cause endless troubles...

"Alas." Lin Run sighed softly, looked towards Chaozhou, and murmured, "It would be great if Zhao Zhuangyuan arrived."

"Ah?" Zhang Yuanxun was stunned, not knowing where Zhongcheng was getting this from.

"Nothing, I just said it casually." Lin Run smiled, stopped talking, stood up and left the camp, saying: "You go back first, and we will discuss everything after we meet the Governor."