"Greetings to Master Zhang, and greetings to all the masters."
After Zhu Ping'an entered the meeting hall, he bowed to Zhang Jing, the Minister of War of Yingtian, and all the officials present, and at the same time glanced at the officials present without leaving a trace.
There were a total of eighteen officials present except Zhang Jing. Judging from the simple official uniforms they wore, most of them were civil officials, and there were relatively few military officers. There were a total of ten civil officials and eight military officers.
Among these eighteen officials, there were three acquaintances: the Zhejiang Circuit Inspector and Censor Hu Zongxian among the civil officials, and the Duke of Wei and the Marquis of Linhuai among the military officials. Both of them smiled and nodded to him.
Zhu Ping'an didn't recognize the other officials present, but there were two people who left a deep impression on him. One was the civil servant who sat above Hu Zongxian. He was wearing a fourth-rank civil servant uniform, with a standard square face full of righteousness. He sat upright, with his back straight, and his eyes sparkling. Although he was a civil servant, he had the air of a military commander. Zhu Ping'an thought that this person should be the Zhejiang Governor Li Tianchong mentioned by the messenger. He was a civil servant with a military air, and he was worthy of having led troops to fight against Japanese pirates.
In fact, the emergence of the post of governor, like the governor-general, is a historical necessity. Emperor Hongwu had previously served as prime minister of a province in the Yuan Dynasty. He knew that the prime minister of a province was in charge of the military and political power of the province. If the power was too great, it would be easy for him to become too powerful and cause rebellion. In order to prevent local officials from having too much power, Emperor Hongwu split the power of the prime minister of a province into three parallel institutions, namely the Military Command (second rank) in charge of military affairs, the Civil Administration (second rank) in charge of civil affairs, and the Censorate (third rank) in charge of criminal justice. The three divisions were separated, commanding military, political, and criminal affairs respectively, and they would conflict with each other, so that the local government would not become too powerful. However, the division of three powers was not conducive to handling major emergencies in the local area.
For example, the current Japanese threat!
In order to coordinate the three local departments, unify the responsibilities, and deal with major emergencies, the post of governor came into being. The governor was in charge of the military and political affairs of a province, ranking above the three local departments and below the governor-general. He was a senior official sent by the Central Censorate to the local area to better handle the relationship between the central and local governments and coordinate local affairs.
At present, the governor and the governor-general are both very important official positions. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, due to various civil unrest and other reasons, more and more positions were set up, and they almost became permanent institutions.
The reason why Li Tianchong sat above Hu Zongxian was very simple. Li Tianchong was the Right Censor-in-Chief and the Governor of Zhejiang. Hu Zongxian was the Provincial Censor of Zhejiang, with a rank of only the seventh rank. Li Tianchong was nominally Hu Zongxian's superior, so he sat above him. However, although the Governor-General had more power than the Provincial Inspector, in fact the Governor-General had no direct authority over the Provincial Inspector. On the contrary, although the Provincial Inspector held a small position, he had the power to impeach and accuse the Governor-General.
Among the military officers, there was one who left a deep impression on Zhu Ping'an. He was a military general who sat below the Duke of Wei and above the Marquis of Linhuai. He was about forty or fifty years old, with a standard square face, a broad back and strong waist, and a body as strong as a bear. His military officer's uniform was bulging. This was a military general. He sat between the thin Duke of Wei and the fat Marquis of Linhuai, making the two of them look pale in comparison.
"Everyone, this is Mr. Zhu Ping'an, the assistant censor of Zhejiang Province. He is also knowledgeable about military affairs." Zhang Jing briefly introduced Zhu Ping'an to everyone and also gave a brief introduction to Zhu Ping'an to everyone present.
Through Zhang Jing's introduction, Zhu Ping'an learned the identities of the two officials who impressed him the most. The civil official was Li Tianchong, and the military official was Yu Dayou.
Hearing the name of Yu Dayou, Zhu Pingan could not help but stand in awe. Yu Dayou was a famous anti-Japanese general who was as famous as Qi Jiguang. He spent almost his entire life fighting against the Japanese pirates and had made great military achievements. He and Qi Jiguang were called "Yu Long Qi Hu". However, Yu Dayou was not as lucky as Qi Jiguang. Although he had made great military achievements, he had a tendency to be blamed. He was often impeached and dismissed from office, and even had his military achievements falsely claimed by others many times. However, Yu Dayou never cared about these things and continued to fight against the Japanese pirates with all his strength, which was even more awe-inspiring.
Other officials present included Shi Pengfei, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, Duan Cong, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and several commanders of the Beijing camp.
"Zhu Ping'an is the number one scholar in this year's special examination, and he is also the nephew-in-law of our Linhuai Marquis. Not only does he have outstanding literary talent, but as Lord Zhang said, he is also knowledgeable about military affairs, and his military strategy is as good as his literary talent." Linhuai Marquis proudly introduced him in a low voice to several commanders of the Beijing camp beside him.
"Hehe, Lord Zhu also calls me uncle. When it comes to Zihou's military and literary skills, that's true. Some time ago, there was a mutiny in our camp, and it was Zihou who helped us two brothers to quell it." The Duke of Wei also came to intervene and added to several commanders of the Beijing camp, so as not to let Marquis Linhuai have all the credit.
"It's unbelievable that such a young top scholar is also knowledgeable about military affairs and has martial arts strategies. He is worthy of being the son-in-law of the Marquis's family." The other commanders of the Beijing camp couldn't help but praise him, and then whispered to the two of them about Zhu Ping'an's situation.
"Lord Zhu is indeed knowledgeable about military affairs. Although I have never met Lord Zhu, I have heard of his great name for a long time. A few months ago, Jiangmen and Tiejingang led a group of more than 10,000 Japanese pirates, sailing more than 700 ships, to invade Taizhou Prefecture. At that time, the seven counties under the jurisdiction of Taizhou Prefecture and the prefectural city were all attacked by the Japanese pirates. For a time, the county towns of five counties were all captured by the Japanese pirates, and even the prefectural city was once in danger. Lord Zhu was the magistrate of Jingnan County at the time. With less than 100 yamen runners and soldiers, he fought against more than 3,000 Japanese pirates who attacked the city. Not only did he successfully defend the county town of Jingnan, but he also captured 824 heads of Japanese pirates. Not only that, Lord Zhu even recovered the neighboring county of Taiping. His achievements shocked the entire Taizhou Prefecture. It was really admirable! I rushed to the Taizhou Prefecture City at that time and fought against this group of Japanese pirates. I know how difficult it is." Yu Dayou, who was sitting between Duke Wei and Marquis Linhuai, nodded and said with emotion.
"General Yu rarely praises others, which shows that the son-in-law of the Hou Mansion is indeed a man of both literary and military skills!"
Hearing Yu Dayou's evaluation of Zhu Ping'an, several commanders of the Beijing camp nodded.
After Zhang Jing finished his introduction, he ordered someone to add a seat below the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and opposite Hu Zongxian, and invited Zhu Ping'an to sit down.
After Zhu Ping'an sat down, Zhang Jing asked, "Master Zhu, just now the doorman informed me that you have urgent military information. What is it?"
Everyone present also turned their eyes to Zhu Ping'an.
Zhu Pingan stood up and saluted, saying, "Your Excellency, after my research, I have concluded that the Japanese pirates who landed in Shangyu will attack Yingtian."
This statement is shocking.
"Ah?!" Upon hearing this, everyone present looked at Zhu Ping'an in amazement, with very interesting expressions on their faces.
Phew…
I don't know who couldn't help but start laughing, and then the room was filled with laughter.