prosperous age

Chapter 1058 1149 Li Chengliang's Decision

In the past, the battlefields in Liaodong were mainly fought with crushing blows, and Li Chengliang would never consider encircling and annihilating the enemy.

This time's battle in Yunnan really posed a difficult problem for him, one he had never encountered before.

Just as Li Chengliang was considering how to deal with the insurance, he heard his son's words.

"Dad, where is it?"

Li Rusong pointed to two cities not far behind Baoshan and Shidian, one was Xidian and the other was Yongping.

Yongping was already within his consideration, but Li Chengliang did not consider Xidian.

It’s not that he can’t see the advantages of this location, but this is Wandian, and it is also the territory of the chieftain.

Influenced by Luo Rufang, he was now extremely worried about the local chieftains and naturally did not want to deploy troops there.

However, Li Rusong had obviously considered it, and he continued: "I know your concerns, Dad. When the army enters Xidian, we can just confine the local chieftain and push his men to the front line to be cannon fodder.

If he doesn't know what's best for him, just say he has connections with Myanmar, and I'll have Lao Si lead people to raid his house."

"hiss"

Li Rusong's idea shocked Li Chengliang.

tough enough.

It’s no wonder that Li Rusong was so cruel at such a young age. In the border town, such things were commonplace.

With hatred, some people will take advantage of the opportunity to go to war with surrounding nations to eradicate the roots and get rid of their opponents. Anyway, the goal is to direct the disaster to the enemy.

The higher-ups generally believe in doing less is better and will not make excuses for the dead.

Li Chengliang was able to climb from a garrison commander to the position of general, so his hands were naturally not clean. Not to mention that for his own military merits, he plundered and robbed people, forcibly withdrawing elite soldiers from garrisons across the country to join his own family servants, so naturally he offended many people, young and old.

In order to support the army, he also withheld the military pay allocated by the court and occupied the farmland in Liaodong.

Although they became wealthy relatively late, the Li family's financial resources were already considerable in Liaodong and were definitely among the best.

In fact, in history, the Li family was the natural emperor of Liaodong. It can be said that they were the richest in Liaodong, and there were many families that prospered around the Li family.

Most of the military leaders in Liaodong in the late Ming Dynasty made their fortunes by following the Li family. They were all major landowners and merchants in Liaodong.

As Li Chengliang's eldest son, Li Rusong had been exposed to some extent, so it was not surprising that he proposed such a strategy at this time.

"That's not what I'm worried about."

However, Li Chengliang was a man who had worked his way up from the bottom, and he was even more ruthless than Li Rusong.

This can be seen from the fact that when he led his troops to attack Wang Gao, he immediately issued an order to massacre the city after capturing Gule Village.

Military generals in ancient times mostly regarded human life as worthless.

Not to mention using the heads of ordinary Han people to kill innocent people for credit, there would be no sense of guilt in killing a few chieftains.

However, Li Chengliang was indeed worried, but Li Rusong misunderstood it.

"Dad, what are you worried about?"

After hearing what his father said, Li Rusong immediately asked.

"I have told you about this, the prosperity and wealth of my Li family all depends on this military campaign against Burma.

If we win, our family will have the opportunity to become a noble family and become a family that prospers with the country.

But if you defeat me,

Li Chengliang didn't say anything else, he knew his son should be able to understand what he meant.

As expected, Li Rusong immediately said: "How could we lose? That is impossible."

“Yes, under normal circumstances, it is impossible to lose, but if we follow what we said before and invite the Burmese army into the country.

  The plan is going smoothly, but what if the censor in Yunnan submits a memorial to impeach my father?

When I heard that the Burmese army had breached the Ming border, captured cities and plundered the people, would the imperial court dismiss my father for this? "

Li Chengliang said in a heavy tone.

"hiss"

Li Rusong took a deep breath. He now understood why his old father was hesitant.

They have done this many times in Liaodong in the past.

He deliberately transferred the few Ming troops on the border to create an opportunity for the Tatars to attack the border.

Once they had lured the enemy in, they would use the Li family's retainers to raid the enemy's rear, destroy their food supplies and camps, and then mobilize the Ming army on all sides to encircle them. This would scare the enemy so much that they would take the lead and run away, and they would then chase them all the way.

After the battle, he reported his achievements to the court.

Since it was a surprise attack by the Tartars, it is normal to lose a few castles on the border.

It is normal that General Li led his troops to expel the enemy, recover lost territory, and gain countless victories. Shouldn't the court reward him according to his merits?

It seems that this trick cannot be used in this battle against the Myanmar army.

The Ming army had been prepared for this. If someone still broke through the border cities and entered the Ming territory, the censor would impeach them, and they father and son would have no way to explain themselves.

"Father, how about we report the plan to the Ministry of War in advance?"

Li Rusong hesitated for a moment before speaking.

In his opinion, if he reported it in advance, the court would naturally not accept the impeachment made by the censor.

"Alas, the court will not agree."

Li Chengliang sighed and said, "How could the court agree to our plan? If we really want to implement it, they will definitely order to clear the land and relocate the people on the border to reduce losses.

But if this happens, the plan will be exposed. Will Mang Yinglong still be fooled?"

Li Chengliang's idea was naturally correct. Although officials actually did not care much about the people, when faced with war, they would still falsely express their concern for the common people who were suffering from the flames of war.

If things really went as planned, the army would lure the enemy into a trap and then surround and annihilate them. The court would definitely ask them to evacuate the people to avoid loss of life.

This is to demonstrate the court's concern for the people, and it is possible that some money and food will be allocated for disaster relief.

Of course, whether these things can eventually reach the hands of the people and how much they can get is another matter.

But the court must do this.

Li Chengliang had once devoted himself to literature and wanted to pass the imperial examination to become a Jinshi. Naturally, he had a deep understanding of the hypocritical style of civil servants.

"In that case, why don't we adopt Censor Luo's countermeasures and directly send troops to Mengyang to defeat the Burmese army head-on and defeat Mang Yinglong?"

Li Rusong knew that this strategy would not work, so he immediately made the suggestion.

"Luo Rufang's strategy would be fine if it happened under normal circumstances, but you didn't hear what he said. The chieftains in Qianya, Longchuan and other places are unstable. Who knows if they are secretly colluding with Mang Yinglong of Myanmar?

If there really was collusion, sending troops to Mengyang would be equivalent to handing the grain route into Mang Yinglong's hands.

The army has no logistical supplies. Do you think we have a chance to come back after this trip?"

Li Chengliang's current situation is truly a dilemma.

Fighting out carries the greatest risk, but that is still on the battlefield.

But if he were to step down, the risk would seem even greater, because the court would most likely not give him a chance to display his talents, but would punish him for incompetence, dereliction of duty, and loss of troops and territory.

“Alas, when I was in the capital, I had no idea that things in Yunnan were so complicated, otherwise I would not have agreed to this matter.

I would rather stay in the capital and be a powerless military commander than live in fear like I do now."

Li Chengliang really feels a little regretful now.

In Liaodong, he had the final say and he didn't have as many worries as he does now.

But after Lord Wei explained the situation in Burma to him, he naturally did not take the war in the south seriously according to his previous thinking when he was in Liaodong.

Unfortunately, after arriving in the southwest, he found that the terrain here was more complicated than he had imagined, and was very different from the records in the military registers of the Governor's Office.

In the past few days, I have learned about the characteristics of the war in Myanmar. Although I am confident that I can command the Ming army to defeat the enemy, I have to win beautifully without any mistakes, which is a bit troublesome. The main problem is those chieftains, whose attitude is unpredictable.

Fighting violence with violence is actually the best solution.

The best way to deal with the chieftains who are hard to figure out is to treat them as spies of the Burmese army, but it would be difficult to explain to the imperial court.

There are too many constraints.

"Father, why don't we send a letter of our countermeasures to the capital and hand it over to Elder Wei."

Li Rusong suddenly proposed. He still remembered when his father suddenly came home and told him that he might go to the southwest to fight, he was very excited and said that their Li family was favored by Lord Wei.

Well, at that time they all thought things were simple, that’s why they thought so.

However, Li Rusong still had an impression of what his father said, that Lord Wei valued him very much.

Wei Guangde is a young and powerful official in the court, but his strength is also considerable.

Li Rusong had stayed in the capital for quite some time, so he naturally knew his past in detail.

"Dad, think about it, Elder Wei values ​​you. As long as we tell Elder Wei about our plan, he will agree with it. Even if someone in the court uses this to criticize Father, Elder Wei will naturally help speak for him and take care of it.

To put it bluntly, we are not just defending. As long as we can survive that period, when the time is right, we can send troops to encircle the Burmese army and capture Mang Yinglong alive.

In fact, what my father was worried about was that something unexpected would happen during the waiting period and the court would punish him.

But as long as someone in the court speaks for Dad and buys time, great things can be accomplished."

Li Rusong put forward all his thoughts, and as he spoke he felt that he seemed to be right, and his tone of voice became louder and louder.

"Lord Wei?"

After hearing his son's proposal, Li Chengliang was silent for a moment, then hesitated and asked: "If you tell this to Wei Gelao, will he listen to your father?"

"Dad, as long as you tell us all about the difficulties you are facing now without reservation, it has been widely rumored in the capital that Lord Wei is knowledgeable about military affairs and strategies, and he should understand your difficulties.

As long as he can speak for his father in the court and change the situation, it should be possible."

Li Rusong continued to lobby, he felt that his idea was correct.

Wei Guangde was born into a military family, so he naturally had a good impression of people like them. At least he did not look down on them like those civil servants did.

"But, this matter involves military affairs after all. Shouldn't we consult Minister Tan of the Ministry of War?"

Li Rusong's idea of ​​looking for strong support in Beijing reminded Li Chengliang.

However, Li Chengliang was a little undecided as to whether to choose Wei Guangde or Tan Lun, or even other nobles in the capital.

Most of the military generals were nobles who had taken refuge in the capital.

Even though civil officials are in power in the court now, only the noble families can be considered century-old wealthy families, and their influence in the military is unquestionable.

The civil servants did indeed encroach upon many of their rights, but so what? Everyone knows that the civil servants’ wealth and power only last for a few years.

Therefore, although their power was weakened, few civil servants dared to challenge the nobles.

The so-called loss of rights by the nobles was actually only the right to speak in the court, but as long as the emperor was there, they still had the right to speak.

Moreover, when the nobles and civil officials were fighting, the emperor would generally choose to stand on the side of the nobles and would never speak for the civil officials.

The power of the Ministry of War seems to be in the hands of civil officials, but in fact it is still in the hands of the nobles.

Generals who lead troops outside are closer to the nobles.

Civil officials still rely more on the military department to control the army’s money and food, and indirectly influence the army.

In fact, the nobles were not completely useless. There were many military successful candidates in the imperial examinations every year in the Ming Dynasty, most of whom were related to the nobles, and some of them held high positions.

Li Dongyang, who was from the Jinwu Zuowei, became the chief minister. Now the chief minister and the second chief minister of the cabinet are actually both from the military.

"Zhang Juzheng."

For no reason, Li Chengliang suddenly thought of the Prime Minister again.

"let me think again."

Li Chengliang spoke.

"Dad, I'm afraid this matter cannot be delayed.

Yunnan is not close to the capital. If anything happens in Mengyang, countermeasures must be given here.

It’s better to plan ahead.”

Li Rusong said anxiously.

This matter cannot be delayed. If a decision is not made soon, he will be unable to sleep or eat.

"Okay, so you said to write a letter, who should you write to?"

Li Chengliang glanced at his son and asked.

"Of course it's Elder Wei, he's in charge of the Ministry of War."

Li Rusong said without hesitation.

"Lord Wei is indeed an option, but there are others."

Li Chengliang spoke calmly and reminded: "Tan Lun of the Ministry of War and even Zhang Juzheng, the chief minister of the cabinet, do they understand military affairs?

Everyone should understand that Tan Lun has been in charge of the army for quite some time.

But they are just civil servants. What will happen in a few years or even decades?

The most stable people in the court are the nobles, such as the Duke of Yingguo and the Duke of Chengguo. They have inherited the throne and emperors of all dynasties have placed great trust in them.

Just look at the Beijing Camp and the Imperial City Guards, which are commanded by several dukes in turn. "

"Dad means"

Li Rusong was also a smart man. In his early years, Li Chengliang spent a lot of money to hire a teacher to teach him.

Although literature is not his strong point, he is not a rough man either.

In fact, there were few generals and officers in the Ming army at that time who were not well-educated. They only joined the army and took up military positions because they were unable to learn literature.

"Wei Gelao is indeed the best choice, but he already has Ma Fang, Yu Dayou and Qi Jiguang under his command. Joining him for my father is just icing on the cake."

This was actually what Li Chengliang was planning. Nothing is better than helping someone in need.

Forget about Tan Lun, he is just the Minister of War and will definitely not be able to serve in the cabinet.

But compared with Wei Guangde, does Zhang Juzheng have more advantages?

Li Chengliang was undecided, but Li Rusong saw it clearly.

"Dad, Lord Wei has an advantage that the Prime Minister doesn't have, and that is his relationship with Duke Wei's mansion and Duke Ding's place.

Dad relies on Lord Wei. Even if Lord Wei retires and leaves the court in the future, our Li family can still take advantage of this opportunity to get on board the big ships of the Duke of Wei’s Mansion and the Duke of Ding’s Mansion.

Especially now that we are in the south, is there anyone in the south who is stronger than the Duke of Wei's Mansion?

Whether it is for the present or the future of our Li family, leaning on Elder Wei will give us a better future. "

Li Rusong immediately said what he was thinking, and his words also reminded Li Chengliang.

"Makes sense."

After a little thought, Li Chengliang had to admit that his son's view was correct.

"Then let's write a letter to Lord Wei."

Li Chengliang made the decision.