Daming talker

Chapter 583 It’s all business!

Lin Tailai suddenly pointed his sword at the Military Affairs Department, and for a moment, the emperor and his ministers in the palace were all confused.

But the specific reasons for being confused are different for each person.

Some people are confused because the Zhifang Division is so important.

You, Lin Tailai, are so blatantly and openly coveting the Zhifang Division, are you really not afraid of getting too much?

Although in terms of system and name, the head of the Ministry of War is the Military Selection Department, just as the head of the Ministry of Personnel is the Civil Selection Department.

But in today's actual work, the Zhifang Division is the first department of the Ministry of War, or even the most core department of the Ministry of War, without a doubt.

In the early days, the military system of the Ming Dynasty was the Wei Suo system. The Wuxuansi was responsible for the promotion of military officers in the Wei Suo, and the logical next step was to be the head of the Ministry of War.

Later, the focus of the Ming Dynasty's military system shifted increasingly to the garrison system and the battalion system, and the role of the guards became increasingly smaller.

The importance of generals, lieutenant generals, guerrilla commanders, and garrison commanders gradually replaced traditional military officers such as commanders-in-chief, thousand-householders, and hundred-householders.

From its inception to the present, the Military Selection Division has only been responsible for the promotion and commendation of military officers in traditional hereditary garrisons.

The military affairs of the garrison camps have always been under the charge of the Zhifangsi. As a result, the selection of garrison officers and camp officers of the Beijing camp are also the responsibility of the Zhifangsi.

Therefore, with the changes in the military system of the Ming Dynasty, the Zhifangsi, which was responsible for the selection of generals, had long surpassed the Wuxuansi, which was responsible for the military officers of the garrisons, in power and became the de facto first department of the Ministry of War.

Not to mention that the Zhifang Division also has responsibilities such as troop deployment and training, city checkpoints, and map drawing. It can be said that most of the power of the Ministry of War lies in the Zhifang Division.

The cronies of Yan Song, a powerful official at that time, included the "two civil and military stewards". The civil steward was the Langzhong of the Wenxuan Division of the Ministry of Personnel, and the military steward was the Langzhong of the Zhifang Division of the Ministry of War. This shows the status and power of the Zhifang Division.

So today, Lin Tailai, inexplicably opened his mouth and criticized the Zhifang Division. Isn't this power-hungry behavior a bit ugly?
Another group of confused people were Prime Minister Shen Shixing and his cronies.

Yang Yuting, the Langzhong of the Ministry of Personnel, is a disciple and follower of Prime Minister Shen, so from Prime Minister Shen's side, he is your Lin Tailai's own man!

You, Lin Tailai, are absolutely insane for screwing over the Zhifang Division like this! You can't tell friend from foe and just bite people indiscriminately!
Yang Yuting, a doctor of the Ministry of Personnel, could not help but ask Lin Tailai, "Why did you impeach the Ministry of Personnel?"

It's not that I'm angry, I'm just purely curious.

Lin Tailai replied confidently: "Huo Luochi has been preparing to make a move for two or three years, and there have been many frictions in the West Sea. This time, the Tatars have crossed the river in large numbers and are heading to the West Sea, which will definitely cause unrest.

It can be said that there were signs of all the accidents in advance, but your department was unaware of the military situation and had no foresight about the border police.

As a result, the court hastily responded to the incident after it happened. Isn't it the fault of the Ministry of Personnel?"

Yang Yuting was still confused and replied, "It was Li Tingyi, the governor of Gansu, who failed to guard the dikes and missed the military situation. He did not report the situation even when it was critical. What does this have to do with our Zhifang Division?"

Lin Tailai asked aggressively, "The collection, analysis, and judgment of foreign military intelligence has nothing to do with your Zhifang Division?"

Yang Yuting said in astonishment: "My official position is in charge of maps, military system, city gods, garrisons, drills, expeditions, cities, passes, and the organization of the army.

As for collecting military intelligence, isn't that the responsibility of the governors of the border towns? How can our military department be in charge of that?"

Regardless of the specific operations, in terms of public accusations, the Military Affairs Bureau does not have the job of collecting foreign military intelligence.

At least at this time, you must not admit it, otherwise you will be blamed.

"What?" Lin Tailai opened his eyes wide, as if he had heard something incredible. "Even your military department doesn't care about gathering military intelligence?"

Anyone with eyes in the hall could see that Lin Tailai's acting was fake.

However, Lin Tailai continued to say in a very exaggerated manner: "Apart from the Military Affairs Department, the Military Selection Department, the Armory Department, and the Chariot Department will not be responsible for collecting military intelligence.

In other words, there are countless government offices in the Ming Dynasty court, and tens of thousands of civil and military officials, but there is not a single professional government office for collecting military intelligence?

The daily collection of military intelligence depends entirely on the initiative of the governors and governors-general of the border towns, and on random inquiries and reports?

No way? No way? The Ming Dynasty is so shabby?"

Originally, the emperor and his ministers did not think this was a big deal, as it had been like this for many years.

But Lin Tailai's tone was extremely exaggerated and harsh. He was simply making a fuss out of nothing and trying to attract attention!

After Prime Minister Shen finished giving psychological counseling to the emperor, he had been sitting on the Diaoyutai, but now he finally couldn't stand it anymore.

If the imperial court was a makeshift team, then what was the role of him, the prime minister who had served for six or seven years?
Then Prime Minister Shen began to rebuke Lin Tailai, saying, "Lin Tailai! Stop being so presumptuous! If you have nothing to say, leave!"

Lin Tailai did not retreat, but instead shouted even louder: "Gentlemen, do you know that the Portuguese and the red-haired barbarians from the West thousands of miles away have already conquered cities and plundered land in Southeast Asia and are approaching the Ming Dynasty?

Do you know that the Portuguese had occupied Luzon, which is located on the outskirts of the South China Sea, 25 years ago, and their Governor of Luzon has been formulating a plan to conquer the Ming Dynasty?

Do you know that the red-haired barbarians send countless large ships to travel across the South Seas every year, and have recently been spying on the islands along the southeast coast, attempting to occupy Penghu off the coast of Fujian?

Do you know that the Japanese nation in the East has ended its civil strife, stationed 300,000 to 400,000 troops, and is attempting to invade the Ming Dynasty with Ningbo as its capital?
Compared with the above military situation, the sea captives are nothing but a minor problem!

No way? No way? The high-ranking officials in the imperial court are already the backbone of the Ming Dynasty, but they know nothing about these military situations outside? "

Everyone: "."

Can't you, Lin Tailai, speak properly? Do you have to use such a provocative tone?

Do you want all the civil and military officials in the palace to beat you up together?

One hundred against one, maybe we can't win? Then forget it.

Yang Yuting, a doctor from the Ministry of Personnel, asked, "How did you know this?"

Lin Tailai replied: "When I was in Jiangzuo, I liked to chat with various sea merchants and listen to overseas news.

After verification from many sources, we can confirm a lot of military intelligence! I, Lin Tailai, can guarantee and confirm that the military intelligence mentioned above is basically correct!"

No one could say anything and could only listen to Lin Tailai's nonsense, because this was a blind spot in most people's knowledge and they didn't know how to refute it.

Lin Tailai turned to Emperor Wanli and said passionately: "As the saying goes, only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you win every battle, but I didn't expect that the Ming Dynasty was so closed-minded and ignorant of the enemy!

In the East China Sea and the South China Sea, countless jackals, tigers and leopards are lurking around the Ming Dynasty, but the imperial court is completely unaware of the situation!

Your Majesty is completely in the dark, whose fault is this? "First, make a few alarmist remarks, and then use rhetorical questions to increase the emperor's sense of involvement. This is called conversation skills!
Upon hearing this, Emperor Wanli said, "You knew about this a long time ago, but you never reported it to the emperor, which resulted in the court not knowing the truth. Isn't that your fault?"

Lin Tailai: "."

Why doesn't His Majesty play by the rules? Is there anyone who talks like that?
But Lin Tailai could only follow the emperor's words and continue: "I was lucky enough to find out a few things, but the power of one person is limited after all. How can it become the norm?"

Emperor Wanli was no fool. He understood the meaning of the music and asked, "Do you mean to assign the task of gathering intelligence to a certain government office? The Zhifangsi?"

Yang Yuting, a doctor at the Ministry of Personnel, had his eyes light up when he heard this. Could it be that Lin Tailai's fundamental purpose was to increase the powers of the Ministry of Personnel?
Then Lin Tailai said, "The affairs handled by the Ministry of Personnel are already extremely complex, and their powers cannot be increased any further!"

This makes sense. One department is responsible for the selection of generals in border towns and camp officers in the capital, the deployment and training of camp soldiers, and the border walls, cities and pass checkpoints. Its authority is already very large.

Then Lin Tailai continued, "So we should set up another office to be responsible for intelligence, and we should also transfer the map work from the Zhifang Department. The office can be temporarily named the Military Intelligence Bureau, or the Intelligence Bureau, or any other name."

Upon hearing this, the ministers felt that the real purpose of Lin Tailai had finally been exposed.

It's nothing more than taking on another official position and the task of collecting intelligence.

However, everyone still couldn't understand why Lin Tailai wanted to take on such a thankless job?

In the traditional power structure of the Ming Dynasty's officialdom, collecting foreign intelligence was definitely a relatively marginalized task.

From a selfish point of view, it is not easy to achieve success in this job and it depends entirely on luck, but it is very easy to be blamed, and it is completely useless in the power game in the court.

Even if foreign intelligence can reveal in detail the color of the female chief's underwear, will it be of any help in the fight for the chancellor or cabinet minister?
Did everyone blame Lin Tailai wrongly? In fact, Lin Tailai was a selfless person who was willing to sacrifice everything for the benefit of the Ming Dynasty?
Emperor Wanli also thought of this and suddenly felt a little moved.

Against the backdrop of people blaming each other for the accident in the border town, it seems particularly refreshing to see someone suddenly willing to take the initiative to shoulder the heavy responsibility and do the thankless job.

So although Emperor Wanli had no interest in setting up a Military Intelligence Bureau, he decided to give it some encouragement. After all, the spirit was commendable.

Then he said to Lin Tai: "If you have any ideas, please tell me in detail."

I'll ask you to say a few more words, and that's it.

Lin Tailai took the opportunity to put forward his ideas in full: "Set up a headquarters in the capital, and then set up a branch office in the southeast, southwest, northwest, and northeast!

The branches set up stations at key transportation hubs, ports, and border towns, each focusing on collecting intelligence in a certain direction.

The officials in charge of the headquarters, branches and stations are of civil servant rank, but the operational and service personnel do not use civilian servants but are directly drawn from the government army.

From top to bottom, we will form an independent and professional intelligence network. When conditions are ripe, we can set up overseas stations in Japan, Southeast Asia, etc."

Just as Lin Tailai was talking endlessly about his future blueprint, he was suddenly interrupted.

"Wait!" Suddenly, Yang Junmin, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, stood up and stopped Lin Tailai from fantasizing.

Then he raised a well-reasoned question: "Your conjecture is fine as far as employing people is concerned, after all, our dynasty does not lack government troops, but where will the funds come from?

You said that we need to set up a headquarters, branches, stations, a large number of operational personnel, and collect overseas intelligence.

Without thinking too much, you will know that it is very expensive and requires long-term investment to maintain its operation.

Taicang is now short of funds and has already started to make losses after only half a year. Where does the money come from for these plans you, Lin Tailai, have mentioned?"

Although Yang Junmin has been Lin Tailai's mortal enemy for many years, what he said was very fair.

Even if the Minister of Revenue Wang Situ stood up, he could not deny Yang Junmin's opinion.

Especially since we are about to conquer the northwest, we will inevitably have to use military forces, which is an additional expense.

From an economic perspective, there is no need to spend a lot of money to build what Lin Tailai called an intelligence network, especially since it sounds like a bottomless pit that requires long-term investment.

Lin Tailai blinked a few times and said to Yang Junmin, "Why are you so anxious, the Minister of Revenue? When did I ever say that we need money from the national treasury?"

Yang Junmin immediately asked in anticipation, "Do you want to spend money from the inner treasury?"

Emperor Wanli's face suddenly tightened and he stared at Lin Tailai.

If you, Lin Tailai, dare to think about using the money in the inner treasury to do your thing, then I will let you feel what the wrath of a king is first!
Lin Tailai quickly reassured the emperor, "Impossible! There is absolutely no way we would use the inner treasury for such a small matter!"

Yang Junmin still asked maliciously: "Where does your money come from? Do you, Lin Tailai, want to pay for it yourself?"

Lin Tailai didn't beat around the bush, "Yang Junmin, haven't you read ancient books like the Spring and Autumn Annals or the Records of the Warring States?

Since ancient times, merchants who traveled between countries were often also responsible for gathering intelligence.

Why can't the Ming Dynasty follow the example of the ancients? Nowadays, whether exporting abroad, going to Southeast Asia or going to the East China Sea, there are a lot of merchants!
The imperial court can completely guide and utilize these merchants by issuing licenses, anti-smuggling, taxation, etc. Let them collect intelligence for the imperial court!

Of course, we also directly organize caravans to collect intelligence on the one hand and earn funds on the other.

In any case, establishing an intelligence network does not require spending money from the national treasury, at most some initial start-up funds may be needed.”

Damn it! The ministers were all shocked when they heard this. Lin Tailai, you really have a complicated heart!

At first I thought you wanted to seize the Zhifang Division, but it turned out that you wanted to set up an intelligence network.

Just when I thought you were selfless and wanted to build an intelligence network, I found out that you were doing it for business! Or to put it more bluntly, to monopolize smuggling!
What is guiding and utilizing foreign trade merchants to collect intelligence? Isn't that just using the power of the court to monopolize smuggling!

At the end of the day, it’s all about business!
Emperor Wanli was stunned for a while, then suddenly warned his ministers earnestly: "Lin Tailai is right. The court is now closed to the outside world and is too ignorant of foreign information.

If the imperial court had previously been able to obtain detailed intelligence on the West Sea and take early preventive measures against the sea invaders, would the Taohe Incident have happened?

Therefore, the gathering of intelligence is urgent and very important. The establishment of an intelligence network must be put on the agenda as soon as possible!"

After expressing his importance and determination, Emperor Wanli gave another instruction: "The idea of ​​using merchants to collect intelligence is also very good, but other private merchants may not be loyal and reliable. They can be used but cannot be completely relied upon.

Therefore, we still need to have exclusive merchants, caravans, and merchant ships. Our own talents are the most reliable foundation."

Ministers: "."

Then there is a legal question. If the emperor personally engages in smuggling, can it be considered smuggling?
(End of this chapter)