Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 461: Changes in Yunnan (2)

There is an elegant and quiet place in Kunming city, with a plaque on it that reads "Yingchun Tower".

In a dark room in the backyard of Yingchun Tower, Meng Bian was checking a bunch of letters. Most of these letters were letters of loyalty from officials bribed by Qingluan Guard. Or in other words, they did not need to be bribed. Now that Meng Jun was so powerful, as long as the people of Qingluan Guard revealed their identities, a lot of people would come to them.

Meng Bian sneered and threw the disgusting letter of loyalty on the table. Then he shook his head and said, "The world is bustling, all for profit. The world is bustling, all for profit!"

Meng Bian's words were full of sarcasm and disdain for those who curry favor with the powerful. He looked at the letter on the desk, the handwriting was indeed vigorous, but it was full of hypocrisy and greed.

The letter first stated that he was willing to die for the King of Zhou, and then the whole letter was vaguely mentioning how talented he was. Meng Bian only saw from the letter that he wanted to know what kind of official position he would get after the King of Zhou ascended the throne in the future.

"These people are just opportunists." Meng Bian said to Zhou Zhuo beside him, "In the face of power, they are better than anyone else at changing their stance. These people are indeed outstanding!"

Zhou Zhuo nodded and said in agreement: "Your Excellency is wise. These people have seen that the Ming court is no longer on the decline and have long been eager to change sides. These are villains who cannot be trusted."

Meng Bian laughed and said, "That being said, these people can still be used by my Qingluan Guard. I came to Kunming in person this time because I need these shameless people."

After hearing this, Zhou Zhuo didn't dare to ask Meng Bian what he wanted to do specifically. He just bowed and obeyed Meng Bian's orders.

Meng Bian thought for a moment, then said to Zhou Zhuo: "Zhou Zhuo, let these people write a letter of impeachment. I don't care who they want to impeach. I just want to make Kunming City chaotic, so chaotic that even military rations can't be delivered to the front line!"

Zhou Zhuo was startled and raised his head slightly. He suddenly sensed a strange atmosphere in his heart, but he immediately lowered his head and replied to Meng Bian: "Yes, sir, I will arrange it immediately!"

"Yeah," Meng Bian nodded and said, "Remember, when employing people in troubled times, you must be bold but also cautious."

Just as Zhou Zhuo was about to accept the order and leave, Meng Bian suddenly asked, "Have we arranged for our people to enter the city gate?"

Zhou Zhuo quickly responded, "Your Excellency, the East City garrison commander is ours. His family has been secretly sent to Nanjing, and he is surrounded by our people. In an emergency, the city gate can be opened at any time."

Meng Bian nodded, then waved his hand, signaling Zhou Zhuo to go and do what he had arranged.

Zhou Zhuo's work efficiency was indeed high. On the next day, there were always quarrels in the court. On this day, a large number of censors were like crazy, impeaching officials in certain places for providing insufficient amount of military rations to the army, or mixing sand into the grain to increase the weight. Local officials manipulated the grain to sell the military rations, and there were also rumors that the grain merchants' grain came from the army.

Many places were required to check the military rations immediately. Such a large-scale action would inevitably affect Li Dingguo's army. There were also wise people in the Kunming court. The Yunnan Provincial Governor, Cao Mingfeng, said: "Your Majesty, the army of the King of Jin is at a critical juncture. The victory or defeat of the enemy is hanging by a thread. As the old saying goes, the food and grass must go before the troops move. Our army is fighting hard outside. If there is any problem with the military ration supply, it may shake the morale of the army."

Cao Mingfeng paused for a moment and continued, "Warfare is a matter of great importance to a country. It is a matter of life and death, a matter of survival and destruction. We must be careful. We should act quickly first and then slow down. We must not give up because of fear, which will lead to the King of Jin's troops running out of food and grass."

"Therefore, I think it is advisable to immediately suspend the inspection of warehouses in various places and focus on the transportation of military rations. At the same time, more personnel should be assigned to verify the accounts. As for the strict investigation of corruption, it can be dealt with after the situation stabilizes."

However, one censor refuted with excited words: "This is the talk of national destruction. I ask Your Majesty to punish Cao Fengming! Corruption breeds. Even if the army has sufficient rations, it cannot stop the termites. If the corrupt are not punished, then the soldiers at the front will fight bloody battles but can only eat food mixed with sand. The morale of the army will drop greatly. How can we suppress the rebels and stabilize the country?"

The quarrel was so intense that Li Dingguo sent his general Gao Wengui back to Kunming. He angrily rebuked the ministers in the court: "The army is fighting the Wu bandits, why don't you send food from the rear? Your Highness the Prince of Jin has appointed a military baggage transport officer. All military rations must be handed over to the military baggage transport officer according to the list. Anyone who does not have enough or who mixes in sand will be executed!"

As soon as these words were spoken, many people's faces changed. Even Emperor Yongli was a little unhappy. Setting up the official system without authorization, isn't this the same as what Sun Kewang did back then?

An official named Liang stood up with his neck stiffened and said to Gao Wengui: "How can the title of the state be established privately? And what power does the King of Jin have to punish the minister privately? Could it be that the King of Jin is impatient?"

Gao Wengui was furious. He stepped forward, grabbed the man's neck, and beat him so hard that Liang Yanguan fell unconscious to the ground. Yongli hurriedly ordered people to pull the two men apart.

There was a big quarrel in the court. Emperor Yongli had no choice but to compromise. He temporarily set up a grain supervisory office to be responsible for the transportation of grain and fodder. There were two supervisors, a chief and a deputy. The chief was sent by the court, and the deputy was assisted by someone sent by the Prince of Jin. This was considered to save the face of the court.

At the same time, a military grain inspector was appointed to investigate grain warehouse fraud. In order to prevent the army from running out of food and fodder, Emperor Yongli specifically encouraged local grain merchants to donate grain enthusiastically, and said that those who made contributions could be awarded official titles.

Not to mention the subsequent verbal disputes in which many officials criticized the selling of official positions and titles, for now, the storm has just passed.

Meng Bian was a little stunned when he heard what happened in the court. The effect was too obvious. Wasn't it that those high-sounding and important ministers of the country did this? How was this different from those grass-roots teams?

Moreover, according to the secret reports from Qingluan Guard, many of Sun Kewang's former subordinates or officials who had been promoted had leaked information to Wu Sangui. Meng Bian was at a loss whether to laugh or cry after hearing this. The Kunming court could no longer be said to be impenetrable, as it had long been full of big holes.

Even though the storm had passed, many generals in Li Dingguo's army were extremely angry, and many said, "These civil servants are so evil-minded!"

However, the military rations were barely supplied, but often they were of insufficient quality, some of them were stale grain, and some were even rotten grain. Gao Wengui secretly reported that the grain inspector was secretly selling some good grain to grain merchants, and buying some rotten grain from them at low prices. Li Dingguo was so angry that he wrote a handwritten order, ordering Gao Wengui to kill the grain inspector on the spot.

After this incident, those who were plotting against the king restrained themselves a little, but more than ten memorials were issued a day to impeach the King of Jin for his arrogance. When Li Dingguo heard the news from the court, he smiled bitterly and said, "The arrogance of the King was thousands of times greater than mine. Why didn't he listen to these words of loyalty and righteousness?"