"There are too many refugees pouring into Hejian Prefecture, and there are also many spies hiding among them, so the security situation here is very poor. There are still some thieves from Shandong and Henan who have crossed the Yellow River to rob and harass. Although we have sent troops to arrest them in many ways, , but it is still difficult to stop it." Li Changbing, the division commander in charge of military control in Hejian Prefecture, reported while presenting some important case files.

Wan Lei looked through these case files and found that the local security situation in Hejian Prefecture was really worrying, and the most terrible thing was along the Yellow River. As winter came and the river froze, some soldiers and bandits from Shandong sneaked across the Yellow River. , constantly causing nuisance along the Yellow River.

These guys are all running around to commit crimes, grabbing a vote and changing places. Before the officers and soldiers arrive, they run away. As soon as the officers and soldiers leave, they will lurk in again, like buzzing flies. They are very annoying. The officers and soldiers were exhausted, so they had to send people to move the people away, turning the area along the Yellow River into a no-man's land, and the large areas of fertile farmland had to be abandoned.

"In this case, there is no need to be sluggish in the future. After giving up the power to govern, your division concentrated on suppressing bandits and sent five reinforced companies to conduct a month-long joint patrol along the Yellow River. When they saw a suspicious Anyone who wants to catch one will keep it until the snow melts."

"I understand. I believe that barbed wire should be pulled up along the Yellow River to prevent bandits from entering. However, my application to the superiors has not been approved. The superiors said that steel is currently in short supply," Li Changbing said.

"Indeed, it is very tight now that steel is used to make railway tracks. In addition, barbed wire fences may not be able to stop the bandits. This is different from Beiping City. The other side of the river is the territory of the Ming Dynasty. If the barbed wire fences are pulled up, the poor people may not want to He is a thief, but he became a thief just to steal wire for money." Wan Lei said.

Wan Lei didn't want to use steel defense lines to encircle Beipingxing Province and create an impregnable territory, but reality told him that no matter how high the barbed wire fence was, it could not stop the greedy nature of the world.

The border between the North Parallel Province and the Ming Dynasty is hundreds of kilometers long. To stretch such a long barbed wire fence, the steel used is enough to support a railway hundreds of kilometers long. And steel is more valuable than ordinary copper and iron. Even the railway tracks need to be watched to prevent thieves from stealing. If you put barbed wire fences on the borders, they might be stolen in a few days.

"Sir, what I'm saying is that I didn't think it through." Li Changbing then realized that his idea was very bad, and he was secretly grateful: Fortunately, the superiors had thought carefully, otherwise there would have been a big problem.

The steel defense line could not be built, and the only way to protect it was to rely on garrison troops. Wan Lei explained some matters that should be paid attention to, and asked Li Changbing to retreat. As soon as Li Changbing left, the prefect Zhang Ziwei quickly walked into Wan Lei's camp. , brought him a message: a mission sent by the Ming Dynasty had arrived in Zhending Mansion and was requesting entry.

The Ming Dynasty sent an envoy? Wan Lei was a little surprised when he heard the news. In the past few years, the Peking Army and the Ming Army have been in a state of hostility. The two sides have never sent envoys to each other. This time, the Ming Dynasty actually Next, I sent an envoy to visit first, which was really beyond Wan Lei's expectation.

Surprised, Wan Lei thought about it carefully and guessed the purpose of the Ming delegation. One of them might want to reach an honest peace agreement. After all, the Ming Dynasty was beset by internal and external difficulties and could not afford to make trouble. The other one was probably trying to get Xu Huizu to Get the family back, after all, no matter who they are, they cannot tolerate traitors "walking free".

"Take them to Hejian County. I want to meet with them." No matter what the purpose of the Ming envoy's visit, Wan Lei wanted to meet and strive to reach a real peace agreement, because after the snow melts in spring, the Peking Army will concentrate its efforts. There is no need to be distracted when dealing with the Tatar tribe.

It is about 40 kilometers from the border of Zhending Mansion to Hejian County. Wan Lei heard the news in the morning, but the Ming envoy did not arrive until the evening, which was very slow. However, Wan Lei was not satisfied with the efficiency of the Ming court officials. I have long given up any hope.

It had been three months since the Peking Army's armistice declaration was issued, and the Ming Dynasty had just sent an envoy. This shows how inefficient its work was. Such an incompetent government would collapse sooner or later.

The leader of this mission is an old man with a gray beard and hair. Judging from the sticker, this old man’s name is Gao Weishan. He is the Minister of Rites and a second-grade senior official. Jingzhongwei has already recorded the files of senior officials in the Ming Dynasty. However, there was no such person as Gao Weishan. Wan Lei could guess without thinking that the Ming court pulled out this old scholar from among the retired officials just to deal with it, and the sincerity in negotiating peace was very low.

Although the envoys were of low rank and were improvised, Wan Lei still received them in person. After a round of nonsensical "greetings", one of the eunuchs in the envoy presented the so-called "letter of credence". This was the first time that the Ming Dynasty looked squarely at the North Parallel Province.

However, although the Ming court no longer regarded the Peiping army as rogues, its attitude was still very arrogant. The words used in the "Certificate of Creation" were very arrogant, and most of the words were accusations. In the end, they used the tone of the suzerainty to ask for this and that, which seemed to make the Beiping The parallel provinces were treated as vassal states.

Wan Lei was not angry after reading this so-called "Certificate of Credence", because he knew that it was useless to be angry with a blind and arrogant person. Only a slap in the face would wake him up. So, he Putting the "letter of credence" aside, he said calmly: "The peace negotiation is of great importance. We need to discuss it. You can stay here first."

"The matter of peace negotiation is not urgent for the time being. Since the imperial court has forgiven you, you should return the fugitives from the imperial court to the imperial court to show your sincerity in negotiating peace." Among the envoys, a man wearing a seventh-grade official uniform stood up and said.

"Who are you?" Wan Lei's face suddenly changed and he yelled at the other party, which made him very unhappy.

"I am Hu Guang, a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy and a minister to the imperial court." The man held his chest out and raised his head, as if he were a high-ranking official in the Celestial Empire.

"Bachelor of the Hanlin Academy and lecturer at the imperial court, haha, not bad, not bad." Wan Lei sneered, looked at the five students who had been accompanying him, and said: "It's rare to meet a learned person, so you have to tell Mr. Hu well. Ask for advice."

Although the five students were young, they had been following Wan Lei for several months. They understood that Wan Lei was speaking sarcastically and agreed with a provocative look on their faces. Liu, the current magistrate of Shuntian Prefecture, Liang Fa's nephew Liu Ziyang stood up directly. He bowed his hand to Hu Guang and said, "I have something unclear, and I would like to ask Mr. Hu for advice. Mr. Hu, what is Chinese orthodoxy?"

"The key to the Five Beginnings of the Law of the Spring and Autumn Period is to examine one's own orthodoxy. If you hold the righteousness of the world and unite the world into one, this is the orthodoxy. What is the righteousness of the world is the Central Plains; who can unite the world into one is also the Ming Dynasty. ." Hu Guang is indeed a well-read man, and he quotes scriptures as soon as he opens his mouth.

As soon as Hu Guang finished speaking, Liu Ziyang shook his head and said with a smile: "What you said is wrong. Orthodoxy is not differentiated by region, let alone people, but by culture. What is China?

Etiquette and righteousness; what are the Yi and Di people? They have no etiquette. The sages are afraid of people entering the Yi and Di, so the laws of the Spring and Autumn Annals are extremely strict. The Master said: It is better for the Yi and Di to have kings than to have all the Xia perish! That’s right.”

"What you said makes sense." Hu Guang's face looked a little bad, but he glanced at Wan Lei with a sorrowful look: "In this world, villains are tempted by it, and they pursue profit day by day. Their cunning heart gradually grows, and their loyalty

I have completely lost my heart, and I am not far away from entering Yi Di."

"What the gentleman said is wrong. In China, there is the beauty of clothes and seals, which is called Hua.

It refers to external etiquette, but refers to spiritual progress. The pursuit of material and spiritual progress together is the root cause of the prosperity of Chinese civilization."

Liu Ziyang paused and then said: ""Guoyu" contains: 'The former kings treated the people by rectifying their virtues and enriching their natures, seeking wealth and making use of their tools; knowing the interests of the country, repairing it with literature, and envoys

Benefit and avoid harm, be virtuous

And fear of power, so it can protect the world and grow. "It is the nature of the world to pursue profit. People with righteousness should cherish their nature, take pleasure in it and benefit from it, so that material and spiritual progress can be made together. Only then can it be called

For the orthodox rule of China."

Everyone here is a well-educated person. Of course, they have read Mandarin. They also understand the general meaning of this sentence: when treating the common people, we must meet their needs for wealth, facilitate their use in utensils, encourage them to make a fortune, and warn them.

If they don't violate criminal laws, people will behave and make a fortune, and in this way the country will continue to grow and develop.

Although this principle is simple, the Ming court did a very poor job in this regard. Not only did the registration system firmly fix the people in their place of origin, but they also focused on agriculture and suppressed business, which seriously curbed the people's initiative and initiative to make a fortune.

When they thought of this, all the envoys present turned ugly, because they could tell that the teenage boy in front of them was denying that the Ming Dynasty was the orthodoxy of China, but he was well-organized and could quote scriptures.

They can't argue.

Liu Ziyang looked at these speechless officials with some disdain, and said, "There are many hypocrites in the world, who pretend to be high-ranking scholars, but their hearts are like merchants; they talk about morality, but they are interested in profit; and there are even those who treat the world as one person and one family.

, levy and expropriate violently, and turn a blind eye to the sufferings of the people in the world, they are actually the common traitors of all peoples."

As soon as Liu Ziyang said this, the faces of the officials below became even more ugly, because Liu Ziyang not only insinuated that the current emperor was a thief, but also bluntly said that they were duplicitous villains. This was really intolerable, and they were about to jump out to refute

,

Wan Lei waved his hands and said: "Let's not talk about orthodoxy or unorthodoxy. Let's talk about business first. The peace negotiation can be discussed later. However, the so-called fugitives in your mouth are all people who have joined our Beiping Province. We will not treat them as

They pushed it into the tiger's mouth."

"You are not sincere in handing over the fugitives. How can we start negotiating peace?" Hu Guang waved his hands angrily, because he had just been insinuated and was being returned when he was about to refute, which made him feel even more unhappy.

Wan Lei was too lazy to pay attention to such a stingy person, and just said calmly: "We will not sell our people in exchange for peace. If you cannot accept this, you can leave on your own."

"I need to ask the court for an order before I can make a decision. Can we wait for a few days before discussing?" Gao Weishan was mature and prudent. Although his beard was trembling with anger just now, he still suppressed his anger.
Chapter completed!