The Governor's Office of Guangdong and Guangxi is located in the center of Zhaoqing City. The open square in front of the gate is four acres square, which means "the court governs the four directions". In the middle of the square stands a three-meter-high flagpole with a bucket, on which hangs a royal blue flag with gold characters, which reads "Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi Military Affairs and Imperial Commissioner for Grain and Salary and Salt Law Yin", a long string of awe-inspiring official titles.

Opposite the flagpole is the pair of majestic red sandstone stone lions in front of the gate. On the stone steps in front of the lions stand two rows of the governor's personal soldiers in distinctive armor, standing in high spirits, and no outsiders are allowed to approach the governor's office.

The Governor's Mansion is fully equipped with halls, rooms, pavilions, towers, archways and gardens. It was built in accordance with the regulations of the feudal domain and is comparable to a royal palace.

At this time, in the grand signing room in the back court, the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, Yin Zhengmao, was meeting with the Governor of Guangdong, Lin Run.

Yin Zhengmao was a fellow student of Zhang Juzheng and became a Jinshi in the 26th year of Jiajing. However, he was a whole generation older than Zhang Shentong and was the same age as Gao Gong.

Moreover, he has been in the military for many years, and his temperament is similar to Gao Huzi, with a square face, thick eyebrows and beard, a pair of hawk-like eyes, and deep nasolabial folds. Combined with his profound and majestic temperament, he perfectly interprets what it means to be intimidating without being angry.

In comparison, Lin Run appears to be more gentle and scholarly.

But as the saying goes, one should not judge a person by his appearance. Under the beautiful skin of Lin Zhongcheng, there is an extremely strong soul. He had been sitting in the Governor's signing room for a cup of tea, but Yin Zhengmao kept talking about other things and refused to respond directly, so Lin Run became a little anxious.

"Minister, your time is precious. Please give me a definite answer. When will the troops be dispatched?!"

"Well..." Yin Zhengmao smoothed his gray beard and stopped beating around the bush. "Zhongcheng is also Yuanfu's man, I'll tell you the truth, I don't plan to send out these soldiers in the short term."

“Then we’re just going to sit back and watch Chaozhou City fall and the entire Chaozhou Prefecture suffer?!” Lin Run raised his eyebrows.

"Don't make it sound so serious." Yin Zhengmao waved his hand. "The area in Chaozhou is just like your hometown in Fujian. They all have earthen buildings and enclosures. There is chaos outside, but the enclosures are like spring and autumn. Let alone a few months, even a few years of chaos is not a big deal."

"You can't say that." Lin Run frowned further and said, "It is the government's duty to protect the country and the people. If we let the bandits go unchecked, it will only make the Chaoshan people more alienated from the Ming Dynasty."

"If we save them, will they be grateful?" Yin Zhengmao sneered and said, "I don't think so. Those Chaoshan guys are lawless. They even dared to kill a fourth-rank official and a prefect appointed by the court. How can they still respect the court?!"

"You said it was pirates attacking Chaozhou City, but I think it was a dog-eat-dog fight! Where did those sea lords come from? Either Chaozhou or Zhangzhou! In addition, Lan Yiqing, Lai Yuanjue, Ma Zuchang, Huang Mintai, Zeng Tingfeng, Huang Mingshi, Zeng Wanzhang, Li Zhongshan, Zhuo Ziwang, Ye Jingqing, Zeng Shilong and other bandits have built forts in the mountains of Chaozhou and Huizhou, covering an area of ​​more than 800 miles, with tens of thousands of people! Look, the pirates have them, and the bandits have them. If it were you, Chaozhou would have been rotten with sores on its head and pus on its feet!"

Governor Yin became more and more angry as he spoke. He slammed the table and said angrily, "Wake up, my Minister Lin. Chaoshan is not a place ruled by the king at all. It is a bandit area! We cannot be soft-hearted towards the bandit area. We must be determined to destroy everything and rebuild everything. Only then can Chaozhou return to the king's rule like Yongning Prefecture!"

Yongning Prefecture is the Gutian area where Wei Yinbao started the rebellion. At that time, Wei Yinbao, Huang Chaomeng and others gathered more than 100,000 Yao and Tong natives, occupied eight or nine counties, and approached the provincial capital Guilin. In terms of momentum alone, it was indeed much better than Chaozhou.

Last year, Yin Zhengmao recruited 140,000 Han officers and soldiers from various places, divided them into seven routes, and successively destroyed dozens of nests, killed Huang Chaomeng, captured Wei Yinbao, and then reported to the court, established the Yongning Prefecture, implemented military control over the surrendered areas, and completely put down the Yao Tong rebellion.

This was Yin Zhengmao's life's work, and it also contributed to his extreme confidence in his own route, and he was ready to replicate the "Yongning Model" in Chaozhou.

~~

Lin Run had a different opinion. After the handsome servant had added tea and left, he advised in a deep voice:

"The minister's strategy for Yongning Prefecture is perfect. But the situation in Chaozhou is different. It is a coastal Zou and Lu area where counties were established in the Tang Dynasty! Especially in the coastal plain area, commerce and culture are prosperous, not inferior to the provincial capital Guangzhou. How can it be said that it is not a place ruled by the king?"

“That’s a thing of the past. Chaozhou now, hehe…” Yin Zhengmao took a sip of tea and disagreed.

"Chaozhou does have many problems right now, but the endless rebellions have their own complex reasons, such as the conflicts between the natives and the Hakkas, which have exacerbated the conflicts among the mountain people; the small land area and large population have led to many people going to sea to make a living, etc. However, I think that none of them is unmanageable. At least when Hou Bideng was in power, there was a great drive to ease the situation."

"Are you blaming me?" Yin Zhengmao suddenly asked, narrowing his hawk-like eyes and looking at the other person with unfriendly eyes.

"I don't mean that. I'm just speaking the truth." Lin Run was a combat master who had fought against both the Yan Party and the Xu Party. Naturally, he was not afraid of Yin Zhengmao's threat. He looked at him without hesitation with his eyes that were good at exorcising demons.

The two looked at each other for a moment, and sparks almost flew. It was Yin Zhengmao who laughed first and said, "Brother Ruoyu is indeed worthy of his reputation. I admire you."

"I am unable to change my annoying temper, please bear with me, sir." Seeing that the other party had sounded the horn, Lin Run decided to stop while he was ahead.

"No, no, it's the same for both of us, we should take care of each other." Yin Zhengmao hid the anger in his eyes very well. There was no other way. Although the two of them were of different official positions, they were both imperial envoys and frontier officials. He could not punish the other party. He could only report that he had no respect for his superiors and did not obey orders.

But if the matter reaches the imperial court, it will not be as simple as just looking at the official positions. The past reputations of the two officials will be an important basis for the court to judge right and wrong.

Although Yin Zhengmao had made great contributions, his reputation as a "half-retainer" was too strong. How could his reputation as an official compare to that of Lin Run, who was honest, upright and incorruptible?

So he could only suppress his anger for the time being and look for an opportunity to take revenge later.

"Since Lin Zhongcheng insists on speaking for Chaozhou, I have no choice but to give you this face." Yin Zhengmao hesitated for a moment, then smiled and said, "How about this, I'll give you a year. If the situation in Chaozhou can be greatly improved within a year, then I will admit that they are submitting to the king's rule, and Chaozhou will be yours to govern the people from now on, and I won't mobilize the army."

As he spoke, his eyes became stern and his voice turned cold, "If the situation doesn't improve within a year, then please step aside, Governor. I will personally lead the army to plow through the land and return a clean Chaozhou to the Ming Dynasty!"

"Thank you for your kindness." Lin Run first thanked him, then bowed and said, "But how can we get through this hurdle? Zeng Yiben is already at the gates of the city, we can't just stand by and watch him die, right?"

"Right now, this is the price they have to pay." Unfortunately, Yin Zhengmao's heart is as hard as steel. Once he makes a decision, there is no reason to change it.

"Even if they are under the rule of the king, the local tyrants are getting stronger, right? Let them be in chaos for a while, weaken the power of the local tyrants, and when they are hurt by Zeng Yiben and get scared, they will come to ask for help from the heavenly soldiers." He looked at Lin Run with a fake smile and said, "Right now, haven't they come to Zhaoqing for help? The local tyrants in Chaozhou are not in a hurry, so why should you, the governor, be in a hurry?"

Lin Run's handsome face flushed red. This was the aftereffect of his burns. Whenever he got angry, his pale face would turn red and he couldn't hide his emotions.

He finally understood that the Governor was still waiting for the wealthy families in Chaozhou to bribe him. How could he send troops to help them suppress the rebellion before receiving enough benefits?

Oh, by the way, there is also the matter of Magistrate Li, which the Chaoshan people also had to pay a heavy price to settle.

In short, if the money is not in place, it’s useless to say anything.

I am someone else's source of wealth, no wonder people scold me that the emperor is not anxious but the eunuch is...

Lin Run couldn't help but feel discouraged. Why would Gao Ge Lao employ such a shameless official? Even if he was very capable, he would never tolerate corruption.

Because it would destroy the reputation of the court and damage the national system. Even if such a person could achieve temporary success, in the long run, it would cause endless trouble.

I don't know how many officials will take him as an example, of course not to learn his ability to fight. They can't learn that either, but it's easy for them to learn his corruption, and they will definitely be better than him!

Seeing Lin Run's expression as if he had eaten a fly, Yin Zhengmao smiled, knowing that the clean official's mental cleanliness had come back. He then said indifferently: "Ruoyu, although you don't lead troops, you must have heard the sayings 'The emperor does not send hungry soldiers', 'The troops do not move, but the food and grass must go first', and 'Being a soldier is like buying your life with money'."

"Of course, you have heard of my bad reputation of 'keeping half', but if I don't keep half, all the military funds and fodder allocated by the court will be used to feed those useless garrison soldiers. Can those military households fight? If they rely on them, Yu Long and Qi Hu would have died countless times."

"So fighting a war depends on recruiting soldiers. The Qi Family Army and the Yu Family Army were recruited by them personally, using double the military pay and high rewards. But where did the money come from? From the military budget? At the beginning, Yu Dayou, that idiot, proposed to disband the garrison troops and use the military funds for three soldiers to recruit one elite soldier. Is there anything wrong with this? Absolutely. But what was the result? He offended his colleagues in the army and had to return home."

"So this money cannot be taken out of the military budget openly, and we can only find ways to intercept and embezzle it. Otherwise, how can we say that the commanders are all criminals? If they lose the battle, they will be punished. If they want to win the battle, they have to stretch their hands to get money. For example, the two battalions of the Governor's Office, although Guangdong and Guangxi also give money, it can only be maintained. If you really want them to fight for their lives, you need rewards, a lot of rewards. Guangdong Province can't give this money, and Guangxi Province can't give it either. I can only solve it myself. Can I keep half of it without taking it?"

After Yin Zhengmao finished speaking, he sighed deeply, served tea and sent the guest away, without giving Lin Run a chance to refute.