prosperous age

If there were no rumors, the poems written by Zhang Juzheng and the white lotus and white swallows he sent into the palace would have been quite appropriate.

In addition, the young emperor Zhu Yijun will soon choose a queen and get married next year. In fact, some of the so-called "going out in pairs" metaphors may refer to this.

But it’s different now. When rumors spread outside, no one will believe the person involved no matter what he says.

It just goes to show what people say later: silence is acquiescence, explanation is sophistry, and if you stuff mud in your crotch, it's either shit or it's shit.

Wei Guangde actually didn't care about the rumors about Zhang Juzheng, it was just that the timing was too coincidental.

If Zhang Juzheng was forced to step down in disgrace because of this incident, what would happen to the reforms that Zhang Juzheng had not yet completed?
Should we let the great Lord Wei continue to implement it?

Wei Guangde can't do it.

The interests involved are terrifying. Without the courage of "I will go to hell if I don't", it is impossible to do it.

Wei Guangde also considered that if Empress Dowager Li and Zhang Juzheng really had such an affair, sending this poem to the palace might have the purpose of stabilizing his own position.

After all, given Feng Bao's current attitude towards him, he also needs support from the palace.

But the same thing still applies. Wei Guangde thinks it is unlikely that Empress Dowager Li has an affair with Zhang Juzheng.

If that's true, then Li Fang is really blind.

Because of the rumors, the atmosphere in the cabinet and even the entire court was very delicate in the following days.

Although no one discussed this matter in the government office, they could not help but exchange their views on it in private.

Wei Guangde received news that Zhang Juzheng had been very quiet during this period. Apart from working in the cabinet, he would go straight home after office and no longer go out for social events.

Of course, even if Zhang Juzheng did not go out, those officials who were on good terms with him would still come to visit him.

This atmosphere continued until the battle report from Liaodong arrived, in which Qi Jiguang's troops captured Hongli Village and killed Ata and Ahai. Only then did the court finally feel a bit festive.

Yes, although the troops being attacked were the remnants of Wang Gao, the only ones in Liaodong who dared to challenge the Ming Dynasty now were the two children left behind by Wang Gao, who were constantly instigating the Jurchen leaders in Liaodong to rebel.

While they gathered the Jurchen tribes in Liaodong, they also recruited wild Jurchens from further north to strengthen their own strength.

After this period of letting things run wild, the Ming Dynasty had basically figured out which tribes among the Liaodong Jurchens were opposed to the Ming Dynasty.

After capturing Shaji City, Atai and Ahai gathered in Hongli Village, attempting to use the terrain advantage to resist the encirclement and suppression of the Ming army.

At the same time, he summoned his allies, including the chief Tuman of the Chahan tribe and the chief Subahai of the Taining tribe, to lead their troops to provide assistance.

It means that the remnants of Wang Gao were attacked, but in fact, there were also Mongols and other Jurchen tribes mixed in.

The scale of this battle was no weaker than the encirclement and suppression of Wang Gao's troops last year. Qi Jiguang ordered a part of his troops to besiege Hongli Village, while he led the main force to defeat the reinforcements such as the Chahan Tribe and the Taining Tribe. Only after completely defeating the foreign aid enemies did he launch the final general attack on Hongli Village.

In the end, the two brothers died in the war, and Wang Gao's troops were completely wiped out this time.

Without the instigation of Wang Gao and his son, I think the Jurchen tribes in Liaodong would have behaved themselves for a while.

In particular, this time the Jurchens and Mongols deployed an army of 70,000 to 80,000 people, but were eventually defeated by the Ming army.

Even now, Qi Jiguang's troops are still stationed in Shaji City and Hongli Village, and are planning to continue expanding the northern border of the Ming Dynasty northward. Kuandian Liubao is no longer the northernmost border of the Ming Dynasty.

"The Ministry of War must plan carefully and carefully judge whether the occupation of Shaji City and Hongli Village will be beneficial to our Ming Dynasty."

In the duty room of cabinet member Wei Guangde, he was meeting with the Minister of War and two vice ministers in the ministry, and learned the details of the situation in Liaodong.

"It doesn't mean that we must occupy that place and gain the credit for expanding the territory for the court. Instead, we have to consider whether occupying this place is beneficial to the Ming Dynasty and whether our Ming army can occupy it.

If we take over, the situation in Liaodong will become complicated, or the Liaodong Military Commission will be too burdened to stay for a long time. It would be better to directly distribute these villages to other tribes loyal to the Ming Dynasty to strengthen their strength. "

Wei Guangde thought about the situation in Liaodong that Tan Lun and others had mentioned, and also expressed his own thoughts.

Although he really wanted to deploy the Ming army directly to Nurgan City, Wei Guangde also knew that he could not be impatient about this matter and had to proceed step by step.

If the Jurchen tribes cannot be made to completely surrender, the isolated troops sent out will easily suffer huge losses.

At that time, it will be a major event in the court and will cause a big disturbance.

If you do something, you may make mistakes; if you don’t do anything, you will definitely not make mistakes.

It’s not that Wei Guangde was lazy and didn’t want to continue expanding northward, but he knew that the Ming army’s strategy to the north had to be advanced steadily, step by step.

It can be said that Emperor Yongle almost spared no expense to capture the city of Nurgan.

Tens of thousands of troops were stationed on the banks of the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River. Their purpose was to protect the smooth flow of the river and transport supplies to the Nurgan City.

Of course, the army was stationed along the river and also directly controlled the areas near the river basin.

However, the Ming Dynasty could not sustain such expenditure for long.

So in the end, the Ming army had to retreat and move the troops of the Nurgan Regional Military Commission inland, and only continued to nominally control the area by paying tribute to local tribal leaders.

“The Ministry of War must have a clear attitude, that is, the northern frontier of our Ming Dynasty is Nurgan City, and it is definitely not Kuandian Liubao or Hongli Village.

The Liaodong Military Command should have warships that can transport a thousand households to Nurgan City at any time."

Hearing Wei Guangde say this, Tan Lun and the two assistant ministers were slightly surprised, but they just looked at each other and no one spoke.

"It is definitely too late this year, but the Liaodong Regional Military Commission can make preparations. I hope that in the spring and summer of next year, the Liaodong Regional Military Commission can send two or three hundred households to inspect the Nurgan City along the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River.

Liaodong is short of warships, and the Ministry of War needs to coordinate and transfer ships from Shandong or other places."

After Wei Guangde finished speaking, he looked at Tan Lun, waiting for his reply.

"Lord Wei, are you planning to re-station troops in Nurgan City during this northern tour?"

Tan Lun asked directly.

"The court has not known the situation in the north for many years. This time, we mainly want to understand the current situation of Nurgandusi. This fleet is just going there to see if there are other forces infiltrating there.

I remember there was a big island across the sea from Nurgan City, and there were residents on the island.”

Wei Guangde replied.

"You are talking about the Kuyi people, right? There are thousands of them living on the island."

A minister interrupted.

"Kuyi. Kuyeli"

Wei Guangde muttered to himself that the Sakhalin Island in later generations should now be Kuyi Island, but later on, perhaps because people thought the name was not good, they changed it to a phonetic character.

“If possible, let them also visit Kuyi Island and send some gifts to the people there to spread the majesty of our Ming Dynasty.

After so many years, the people there may have forgotten that they were still subjects of the Ming Dynasty."

Wei Guangde continued.

Tan Lun understood Wei Guangde's intention, and was not in a hurry to restore the garrison in the north. Instead, he went to take a look around and remind those people that these were Ming Dynasty lands and they were still Ming Dynasty subjects. "Bring some food, cloth, and cotton, as a reward from the emperor. Go every three to five years."

After Wei Guangde finished speaking, he looked at Tan Lun and said with a smile, "My Lords, you should understand what I mean.

By the way, I heard that the place is very close to Japan, so we should also pay attention to collecting relevant information after the army lands on the island.

As such close neighbors, I believe the Kuyi people should have had contact with the Japanese.

It is necessary to let the Japanese know that Kuyi Island is the territory of our Ming Dynasty, so that they will not think of getting involved. "

After finishing the business, Wei Guangde sent the people from the Ministry of War away, then returned to the duty room to think for a moment, and simply wrote a memorial asking the Liaodong Regional Commander to send troops to patrol the north to Nurgan City.

This matter was not small, after all, it was a military matter, so Wei Guangde planned to talk to Zhang Juzheng later to see what he thought.

The amount of food, cloth and cotton allocated to the soldiers each year is limited and is allocated closely to the border troops.

The extra supplies have to be allocated from the Ministry of Revenue.

The number doesn't need to be too large, just go and take a look at the situation and remind the locals that this was land managed by the Ming Dynasty decades ago.

If just sending some supplies over there for three to five years could make the locals yearn for the Ming Dynasty, Wei Guangde felt that this deal would be worth it.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

After all, it's bitterly cold there, and it's really not easy to live there.

Otherwise, there wouldn't have been so many deserters back then, and in the end the army would have to be withdrawn and the land abandoned due to heavy burdens.

Wei Guangde wrote clearly about the plan and the benefits that the court could get. In fact, memorials to the emperor, if they are about discussing politics, are very simple, that is, congratulatory memorials such as congratulatory letters. However, they require some thought and be written in a flourish.

Anyway, it is similar to the eight-legged essay, constantly piling up words and pursuing gorgeousness.

Wei Guangde just wrote something casually and circulated it among the cabinet ministers. It was naturally not a formal memorial. That thing still had to be submitted by the Ministry of War in the end. It was a long time before the cabinet drafted it and the Imperial Household Department approved it and stamped it.

After finishing writing, Wei Guangde waited for the ink to dry before he got up and went out, directly to Zhang Juzheng's duty room.

"Is the Prime Minister free?"

When they arrived at the door, Wei Guangde asked.

"My Lord is processing official documents. I will report immediately."

The clerk at the door said hurriedly, then apologized and turned into the house.

Soon, someone came out of the room and said, "Master Wei, please come in."

"Ah."

Wei Guangde nodded and walked into the house.

During this period, there were almost no cabinet meetings before the end of the term, after all, there was nothing big to attend.

The biggest event, apart from the selection of a queen by the young Emperor Wanli, was the two foreign wars.

The concubines have already entered the palace to learn the rules and regulations, and have nothing to do with the outer court.

The wars in the southwest and Liaodong were won, and all that remained was the finishing touches and commendation of merits. These would be determined by the Ministry of War and then handed over to the Cabinet and the palace for the final decision.

As for other matters, there is naturally no need to meet. A cabinet minister can just vote according to the rules.

Everyone knew Zhang Juzheng's current situation, so Wei Guangde naturally wouldn't chat with him unless it was necessary.

Zhang Siwei fled to Zhang's house very early. Wei Guangde heard Zhang Ji's report that evening, but he didn't take it seriously.

After entering the room and exchanging greetings, Zhang Juzheng invited Wei Guangde to sit down. Wei Guangde directly took out what he had written and handed it to Zhang Juzheng, and then told him his considerations.

“Although the imperial court sent food and cloth to the Nurgan tribe, which seemed to be a waste of national treasury, they also naturally harvested furs, ginseng and other rare goods from outside the Great Wall as tribute.

With these things sent to the palace, the palace will purchase less this year, so if you calculate the accounts, the loss is not much, but it reaffirms the right of our Ming Dynasty to manage Nuergan. I think the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. "

Zhang Juzheng asked questions as he watched, and Wei Guangde answered them patiently.

What I just talked about was the financial difficulties of the Ministry of Revenue at the end of the year, but it was actually just a shortage of silver.

However, there are still in-kind taxes collected twice a year, such as grain and cloth, and those that are given out naturally do not need to be of very good quality.

In fact, the taxes in kind collected by the Ming Dynasty now, especially cloth, were all sent to the capital for good quality, while the poor quality ones were kept in the local areas and either sold or used to make military uniforms. There were still a lot left, but cotton was a little tight.

It’s just the allocation of materials, the Ministry of Revenue should be able to complete it easily.

"That's good. But how does Shandai plan to deal with this warship?"

Zhang Juzheng thought for a moment and nodded. There were troops in Liaodong, so it would not be a big cost to just transfer a few hundred people from a few hundred households to Nurgan City.

As for sending things, there are also gifts in return.

What's more, they are all supplies and the court can afford them.

But when it comes to the warships heading north, Zhang Juzheng has to ask a question.

Liaodong has a small number of ships along the coast, and they are all small boats. It would be difficult to find enough large ships to carry hundreds of people north, so they can only transfer them from the south.

"Shandong."

Wei Guangde whispered, "Select some of the usable ships from the Denglai Navy and transfer them to the Liaodong Military Command. After the ice forms in the north in winter, return to Denglai. After the ice melts next year, return to the north."

Wei Guangde naturally considered the issue of ships, but he was not sure about the current condition of the Denglai Navy's ships. He only knew that they were in very bad condition and most of them were old ships.

The main force of the South China Sea Navy has not returned yet. Now the new ships in several shipyards in Jiangsu and Zhejiang are all ordered by the South China Sea Navy, and the money is also allocated from the south.

If the capital city wanted to request the ship directly from there, the imperial court would have to pay the money.

As I said, the Ministry of Revenue has no money now, so the money should be paid by the Ministry of Works. However, the Ministry of Works has shifted its focus to the management of the lower reaches of the Yellow River, and it has no money to build ships.

“I will write a letter to the current commander of the Denglai Navy and ask him to select the best warships and hand them over to the Liaodong Commandery. I will also transfer ships from the South China Sea Navy to supplement the Denglai.

When the imperial court has sufficient finances, it will also allocate money to build new large ships for the Denglai Navy. After the Ministry of War issues another order, I don’t think Shandong will have much to complain about.”

The current Denglai Navy is under the management of the Shandong Dusi. Unlike the Nanhai Navy, it is at the same level as the provincial dusi and only follows the orders of the Ministry of War.

But because of this, Wei Guangde did not think that the Governor of Shandong would jump out to oppose the court's order.

After all, his official hat is still in the hands of the cabinet.

Although they cannot appoint or dismiss people directly, their influence is still sufficient. Although it is a bit troublesome to replace people, it is definitely not difficult to do.

"Alas, it's all because of lack of money."

Zhang Juzheng sighed and said, "Has Li Chengliang in the southwest reported how much silver he was able to send back?"

Wei Guangde shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Calculating the time, they should have received the official document from the Ministry of War. Even if they start shipping immediately, it will take at least three to five months." (End of this chapter)